If The Launching Of Wal-Mart Organic Product Line May Fail Essay

If The Launching Of Wal-Mart Organic Product Line May Fail - Essay Example This paper illustrates that the benefits of consuming organic foods as opposed to processed items have been acknowledged by a significant faction of society and this notion has gradually progressed into becoming common knowledge there are certain limitations with regard to the consumption of organic foods which potentially restrict buyers from purchasing products which fall under this category. As reported by Charles, the single most significant factor, in this case, is related with the relatively high costs of organic foods which essentially deter the masses from declining to consume processed items which possess a much lower price tag. Moreover, other aspects that can be linked with this prevalent issue are linked to the distribution of organic foods and the inadequacy of current distribution channels that do not fall under the scope of mass retailing. Given the development of the existing scenario, the purpose of this analysis is to examine Wal-Mart’s prospects in the organ ic foods industry by applying the recommendations of Porter’s 5 Forces strategic tool to comprehend the state of the industry in a more comprehensive manner and present pertinent recommendations to the company for achieving future success. The arrival of Wal-Mart in the organic foods market could not be retained for a significant period of time because the company was forced to approve the closure of its organic foods brand by 2007. Thus, as a consequence of this action critics and industry analysts began to raise the question as to whether the mass retailer possesses the capability to make organic food cheap and affordable for the mass market that it serves. As noted previously, the factor of high pricing remains one of the most important considerations with regard to the notion of popularizing organic food consumption amongst the larger population. Thus, gaining an advantage by enhancing cost efficiency can be deemed as one of the most critical factors for acquiring success in the market. Secondly, it is also important to understand those customer motivations for paying more for organic foods must be recognized and highlighted to comprehend the demands of the audience and address them accordingly.

Abortion as an Ethical Issue Essay Example for Free

Abortion as an Ethical Issue Essay In our everyday lives, we have to deal with a variety of different ethical issues. We as individuals with our different thought processes deal and view with these issues in different ways. Abortion is one of the most controversial ethical issues within the health care profession. Abortion is a topic that can cause heated ethical discussions within the healthcare community. Abortion contains legal and ethical issue. Abortion mean ending a pregnancy before the fetus (unborn child) can live independently outside the mother. An induced or â€Å"therapeutic† abortion is caused deliberately in order to end the pregnancy. The practice of abortion is legal in the United States. Abortion law has many sources-constitutions, legislative statues, administrative regulations, and court decisions. The foundation of abortion law is the United States Constitution as interpreted by the Supreme Court (McBride, 2008). Constitutional law does not directly regulate abortion, but it sets limits on the powers of the states and the federal government to regulate abortion. The authority to regulate abortion has been reserved to the states by the Constitution because Article I, which covers the legislative branch. This does not give Congress explicit authority to regulate medical practice. Nonetheless, Congress does get involved in abortion policy through its power to spend money and regulate interstate commerce (McBride, 2008). The Court has established this constitutional law of abortion through a series of decision, called case law, especially Roe v. Wade, Doe v. Bolton, and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. States do not have constitutional authority to prohibit the medical practice of abortion before the fetus is viable; any laws that make abortion criminal before viability would be unconstitutional. After viability, that is, when an unborn child is able to live on its own outside the mother, state governments have the authority, but not the obligation, to prohibit abortion, except when medical judgment decides that abortion is necessary to save the life or health of the mother (McBride, 2008). This means that abortion is legal in the United States without condition before the fetus is viable. After viability, abortion is prohibited in some but not all states except when the health or life of the mother is in danger. Roe v. Wade gave strength to a woman’s right to privacy in the context of matters relating to he own body (Pozgar, 2008). This would include how a pregnancy would end. The Supreme Court also has recognized the interest of the states in protection potential life and has attempted to spell out the extent to which the states may regulate and even prohibit abortions. In Roe v. Wade, the United States Supreme Court held the Texas penal abortion law unconstitutional, stating this: â€Å"State criminal abortion statutes†¦that except from criminality only a lifesaving procedure on behalf of the mother, without regard to the stage of her pregnancy and other interests involved is violating the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment (Pozgar, 2008). With Doe v. Bolton, the Supreme Court went on to describe what regulatory measures a state lawfully may perform during the three stages of pregnancy. In the companion decisions, Doe v. Bolton, where the Court considered a constitutional attack on the Georgia abortion statute, further restrictions were placed on state regulation of the procedure. The provisions of the Georgia statute establishing residency requirements for women seeking abortions and requiring that the procedure be performed in a hospital accredited by The Joint Commission were declared constitutionally invalid (Pozgar, 2008). In the case law Planned Parenthood v. Casey the Supreme court affirmed Pennsylvania law restricting a woman’s right to abortion. The Court was one vote shy of overturning Roe v Wade. The Supreme Court ruling, as enunciated in Roe v. Wade reaffirmed: The constitutional right of women to have an abortion before viability of the fetus, as first enunciated in Roe v. Wade. The state’s power to restrict abortions after fetal viability so long as the law contains exceptions for pregnancies that endanger a woman’s life or health. The principle that the state has legitimate interests from the outset of the pregnancy in protecting the health of the woman and the life of the fetus. About three years ago, a difficult situation presented itself upon me. I was sitting in the doctor’s office six weeks after giving birth to my first-born. I was there to get my Mirena ® birth control. The doctor walks in and asks me if it could be possible that I was pregnant. I told her no I received birth control Depo-Provera ® right before being discharged from the hospital. The doctor then says well let me have my nurse do a blood test so that we can know for sure, and make sure it’s not just a chemical pregnancy. A couple of days passed and I return to the doctor’s office to receive my results. My doctor tells me what I had been dreading. I was pregnant again with our second child. I went home with my newborn and I cried until my husband came home from work. I cried because this news was much unexpected. We had carefully planned the timing for our first-born. We were in a perfect financial situation to be able to commit to one child. Two infants would really be pushing our financial limits. I was thinking how unfair this was. I had taken every precaution to ensure that I would not get pregnant, but I somehow ended up pregnant. When my husband came home that afternoon I was still crying, and I explained the whole situation to him. My husband was overjoyed at the news of having another child. I was confused by his emotions because I thought he would be feeling overwhelmed as I was. After I told my husband, I also told him that I was planning to get an abortion. He wanted to know the reasoning behind my decision. I told him that we were only financially equipped for one child, but two children would cause a financial burden. I refused to bring a child into this world knowing that I could not financially take care of that child. I know that people are quick to say why not give the child up for adoption. Anyone who can say that I know they have never experienced a pregnancy before. Could you imagine the emotional distress of having to give up a child that you have carried around and nurtured from almost ten months? You would also be giving your child up to a couple that you would probably only get to see after passing the baby along. Also, imagine the emotional aspects of the child. The child would be thinking about how their birth parents were able to give them away. My husband and I talked over the financial aspect over it, and decided with help from various family members that we could survive. We would just have to make sacrifices within our everyday lives. During my sonogram appointment when I was four months pregnant I received another dose of bad news. At first the doctor saw what he thought were cysts on the brain. The doctor then told me that I should terminate the pregnancy because of the difficult life the child was about to go through. I thought long and hard about what the doctor was saying. I felt like I had a strong support system that would help me get through any obstacle that life throws my way. Finally, the birth of my youngest takes place, and she was diagnosed with Lissencephaly. Lissencephaly is the condition of having a smooth cerebrum without convolutions(Merriam-Webster). Before we were discharged from the hospital, my husband and I were told to take her home, and treat her as if she is normal, and not to expect her to live past three months old. My daughter just had her third birthday May 5. This is why I have a deontology view on abortion. The deontology view is compatible to the abortion pro-choice decision. Utilitarianism really does not have a lot to say on this issue because there are too many other issues tied into the ethical issue. They would probably have arguments about if the fetus is a person or even if someone has the right to determine what goes on in their own body. They would also argue about if it were okay to kill a baby why not an adult. In my opinion, these are two different topics. We would assume through virtue ethics that killing a human adult is wrong. Don’t get me wrong killing an adult human is wrong because that is life that has already been birthed, and established. Abortion should be a choice that we are able to make on our own. This is my body I should be able to freely decide what to do with it. We are able to freely tattoo and pierce our bodies without any type of interference from the government. So why can I not make a decision to end a pregnancy that I carefully tried to avoid. I also feel that abortion when done early on in the pregnancy would not cause any harm to the fetus. According to pregnancy. rg a fetuses nervous system does not develop until after five weeks into the pregnancy. After that period the baby has already began to develop major organs and the nervous system. An egoist view on abortion would be based on one question. According to socyberty. com, an egoist would focus on what will be in her best interest. This would not mean the woman is selfish or self-centered. For example, maybe the women would be in a predicament where she would be a single mom. On the other hand, maybe she has not emotional of financial support to help er care for the child. In her case, her best interest would be to abort the child because it is in her best interest. Egoism states that everyone should act in her or her own self interest, regardless of the interest of others, unless their interest also serve as hers(http://socyberty. com/issues/abortion-an-ethical-analysis/). With the abortion this women can now complete her education. Others might argue that she could have just gotten a job, and still have been able to attend school. When making decisions you need to think of every possible scenario. What is there is a complication early in the pregnancy that requires complete bed rest or hospitalization. If this were to happen, where would her income come from? She would have to drop out of school. She would then have six months to get back into school or she would have to begin the repayment of her student loans. How can she do any of this without financial support? There are several ethical views on abortion. All the different views would explain why or why not to have an abortion. Abortion can be a controversial ethical topic. No one person will ever have the same stance on the topic. It is one of those topics when you just have to agree to disagree. You will just have to respect and listen to the opinions that others have on this ethical issue.

Problems And Solutions For Information Poverty India Sociology Essay

Problems And Solutions For Information Poverty India Sociology Essay Introduction Todays world has become a small place due to the expansion and understanding of technology; globalisation is another major contributing factor that must receive credit for this expansion throughout the globe. This report will attempt to discuss and analyse some of the issues that surround information poverty with regards, to India. As a developing country, India is forecasted to become one of the worlds major player interns of economic power, globally. Before this can happen, India needs to make a transition from a developing country towards a developed country. It is the objective of this report to critically analyse, issues as well as suggesting solutions for them. This paper will attempt to introduce some of the theories and concepts that can be applied and analysing as well, some of the problems and then finally, discussing the issues in order to give recommendations with regards to India. India Currently over 1 billion people call India home, it is a wide and diverse culture that can trace its history back to the Indus Valley civilisation, which is a civilisation that can trace its history back over 4000 years (Stearns, 2006). It has seen numerous other civilisations that have invaded its borders and it has most recently been ruled by the British Empire. Although Britain profited from Indias resources it did leave an infrastructure which is still beneficial for India, in the form of its railways. India sought and received independence from its colonial masters in 1947. India is also one of only a select few countries throughout the globe that can claim nuclear capabilities as one of their achievements. It is also seen as one of the major developing markets throughout the globe but it has significant overpopulation mixed in with a large number of its citizens living in poverty and as with a lot of other countries throughout the globe it suffers from widespread corruption. In addition to this it still operates a caste system throughout its culture they can segregate its citizens to the point that the people at the bottom in some cases, must physically not even touch any superior caste (outcastes) (Stearns, 2006). It is estimated that in 2008 29% of its total population lived in urbanised areas and it is also estimated that its literacy rate currently stands at 61% (CIA, 2010). Information Society In order to understand what information poverty is, it is critical to understand what information Society is. In this section of the report the author will be looking at what information society is, by looking at the different theories that exist. authors such as Wiener (1948) highlighted in the early stages how information and communication would be significant in the future and later on other authors such as Bell (1973) continued to support this argument; it is fair to assume that Wiener (1948) and Bell (1973) did not realise how significant their papers would be with regards to todays world and new academics such as Freeman and Louc (2001) have had to highlight the changes that have occurred in ideologies with regards to the revolution That has occurred in todays world. Throughout the literature that is available, information Society has also been labelled differently by academics, examples of this include, information economy, post-modern society, surveillance society and as well as knowledge society. This also links to globalisation as it is a general consensus that globalisation has been significantly boosted by information and technology. Numerous authors such as Berman (2008); Floridi (2009); Hilbert, et al (2010); Poel, et al (2010) and Webster (1995) are in agreement that information Society theories have been drawn up in order to understand how information can flow throughout society as well as how it can be used and controlled. This is important as information and knowledge can be critical to an organisation as well as societies throughout the globe, it is also valuable as it affects everyone, from the top down. Berman, (2008) goes on to highlight how the theory of data pyramid can significantly add to a societys value by firstly (starting at the bottom) by increasing individual value this will lead on to the progression of community value which ultimately results in increased value throughout society as a whole. He goes on to highlight that with the increase through digital data collection society can benefit greatly through increasing infrastructure as well as stability, although responsibility is also increase d it has an overall side-effect that decreases the risk of any loss or damage to a nation. When it comes to information poverty authors such as Hilbert, et al (2010); Cullen, (2001); and significantly with Norriss (2001) paper that highlights the inequality and digital divide that can exist through a wide range of factors that include ethnicity, geography and more significantly factors such as income and education. It is crucial to understand that change can only exist by the impact of new technologies and strategies and these results in a complex level of change that will also alter social factors (Van Dijk and Hacker, 2003 and Warschauer 2003). When it comes to information poverty there are numerous papers that relate to the digital divide but it has created significant differences throughout the authors opinions as some authors such as Howard, et al (2009) highlight how in todays world, with the opening up of Borders there tends to be an increased level of parity with regards to bridging the gulf between the divide that currently exist, but another school of thought con cludes that this divide is in fact deepening (James, 2008 and Van Dijk and Hacker, 2003); Hilbert, et al (2010) draw attention to how that this issue has been attempted to be resolved in order to give a definitive answer, he states various compound measures have been created, so-called e-readiness indices, such as the ICT Development Index . Even though numerous authors have attempted to answer definitively the contentious issue that relates to the digital divide and even with implementations of indexes, there still lies a great level of confusion as there is no real consensus; this issue is compounded by the fact that any attempt to analyse the different mediums such as the Internet, given the increased level of complexity by communication and technology. Issues and examples The divide Some issues that relate to India with regards to information poverty surround the significant divide between the rich and poor, which can easily be seen throughout India. Although India is a developing country and it is expected to become one of the Worlds powerhouses, it can be assumed that in the future there would still be a divide with regards to wealth be it monetary value as well as access to information. This will lead to an underclass that would have restricted access throughout its citizens. As discussed previously by James, (2008); Van Dijk and Hacker, (2003); Hilbert, et al (2010); and Howard, et al (2009), there is a digital divide that relates to nations as well as globally. Consciousness The consciences of India is arguably, significantly less than those of Western countries due to the lack of exposure and access to mediums that will enable its citizens to expand their understanding with regards to accessing information as easily as those of developed countries. As numerous nations throughout the globe have realised that they need to alter their level of consciousness and awareness with regards to being informed of what is occurring around them, be it through policies or with the expansion of globalisation as an example. This can be shown by nations such as United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia understanding that planning for the future is a necessity in order to guarantee the success of its nation. Both these countries have worked tirelessly in order to improve the communication infrastructure as well as drawing upon expertise from all corners of the globe in order to consult an aide the development of their nation. Outsourcing India is one of the centres of the World with regards to globalisation as it has seen a significant amount of multinational and national corporations outsourcing their operations to Indian organisations. Most British citizens are aware that they are numerous companies outsourcing their call centres to India in order to reduce costs, but a significant proportion of the population might not know that India in fact has been receiving a steady supply of corporations that are willing to move departments and operations to India due to the amount of its citizens who have specialised in software and hardware development. This is a significant step forward in the development of information within India but it is crucial to understand that the intellectual property rights of the work that is being done within Indias borders tends to revert back to the country of origin. Infrastructure India is a wide and vast country with an estimated 1,173,108,018 (July 2010) people living within its borders and as such the level of its citizens that are Internet users only accounts for 81 million (2008, 4th in the world), which causes problems with regards to the clusters of its citizens who live in poverty and there are a large amount of its population that do not even have access to indoor plumbing let alone having access to Internet and telecommunications services. This clearly shows the level of information poverty that surrounds India such as the level of the population that have Telephones main lines, which only stands at 36.76 million as of 2010. Although major cities can see the development of its infrastructure with regards to the availability of Internet access but this cannot be said for rural India. Solutions The divide It is a myth to think that developed countries have perfect societies and democracies when it comes to society and politics and this can also be said for a developing country. Inroads must be made in order to try and bridge the gap between the haves and have-nots. This can only be done through a change of traditions and culture as well as the assistants of the elitist powers that be, who tend control Indias policies and wealth. A new social movement is required, one that does not take into account geography and the caste system. Consciousness By allowing Indias gifted students the opportunity to study abroad in order to experience different perspectives and knowledge skills then India can hopefully boost its level of consciousness within a society. Indias education system must also attempt to benefit those at the bottom with regards to enriching their experiences and knowledge. Programs which have been previously broadcasted on the BBC relating to informational videos provided by the Open University. It is a great way of highlighting how the media can assist its citizens by attempting to educate them in order to hopefully aid with its issue of information poverty. Outsourcing It is a common consensus that nations require four key ingredients for growth, land, labour and capital. The fourth is probably the most significant when it comes to this issue and it relates to entrepreneurship. India must attempt to tackle the brain drain that is occurring currently with regards to outsourcing. Although outsourcing is a crucial factor, India must attempt to produce its own intellectual property in order to capitalise more significantly on the ability to considerably increase its profits in order to increase its capital, to benefit India as a whole. Infrastructure Information poverty can be tackled significantly with the investment in its infrastructure. This has to be done by allowing the whole of the nation to have access to other information mediums. It is understandable that India is vast but instead of attempting to have access to every home, it should start by having centres in remote regions so they can experience some of the knowledge gained and this will require a significant amount of investment. Although the physical infrastructure is lacking it is key to note that further access can be done by mobile phone technology as there is approximately 545,000,000 Mobile telephones that exist currently. It is key to note that urban areas have a significant level of coverage compared to those of rural areas that are still lacking but crucially have seen a steady increase in its coverage. Recommendations As the examples above clearly show that there are numerous issues that relate to India with regards to information poverty. It is important to note that these are only a few of a vast array of issues that surround information society within India. Although numerous authors have different opinions as to whether there is an increase or a decrease with regards to the divide between the haves and have-nots; both points of views are valid as some assumptions can be made such as with globalisation, undeveloped and developing nations are rapidly closing the gap as a whole to those of developed nations, but on the other hand you can see with the likes of India; that although India is rapidly closing the gap to other nations, the same cannot be said if you look within India. An example of this is that urbanised areas are clearly rapidly improving whilst rural areas have not seen the same level of development. In order to address the issues that relate to information poverty, it is vital for India to first significantly invest in programs such as developing its infrastructure to those citizens that are lacking access to information. Through the support of the government, India can attempt to address these issues and it would also be beneficial to them with regards to aiding and bolstering their current success, as can be seen with the impressive figures from recent years that have shown its noteworthy growth (monetary value and influence). It is clear that for India to proceed with this plan it draw upon its knowledge and understanding in order to be able to negotiate freely with all parties to ultimately achieve its goals. Although throughout western countries you can see different levels of influence such as the upper-class, middle-class and working class, these distinctions have been somewhat skewed overtime as whole Bloodlines can no longer be categorised easily; this cannot be said of India as cultural differences are still a major influencing factor and as such it must be tackled through a wide range of policies such as equal opportunities laws and more significantly from some can of social movement, again this would require the support of both the people and most crucially the government in order to introduce political and legal legislations to tackle this issue.

French Revolution :: essays research papers

Napoleon’s return to an autocratic government saved the French revolution, and all it stood for; and saving France from a near potentially anarchic situation. Napoleon although an autocratic dictator, was nothing like his predecessors (nor was he like king Louis XVI). Napoleon was in touch with all French men and worked for the good of all French people, and introduced new reforms and change. Napoleon’s autocratic government made many important decisions that were duly welcomed by many French people. Napoleon changed the way of life for many French people, which placed increased confidence in French government and leadership; by instituting the destruction of the corrupt directory(or also known as the Coup d’etat). France’s political changes and restructure, paved the way for radical social changes in many areas of French society (e.g. personal rights & freedom, education, roads, public works and laws etc). Increased territory to the France (on napoleons command) meant further glory to France, and inturn meant increased wealth for the French government. The most important of all Napoleons achievements was the formation of the Bank of France; this generated positive interest in the French economy and encouraged investment in France.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The coup d'etat was an act by Napoleon and Emmanuel Sieyes to overthrow the Directory. The Directory was a new form of government that was established in 1795. It consisted of five members that were elected by both houses of the legislature. This form of government was proved even less effective than the Legislative Assembly and the national convention. Within the Directory there was incompetence and corruption that was putting France in a major debt. It didn't do much to solve the financial problems and military problems in France.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Attacks on the republic and other conservatives increased. Rising prices and disrupted production drove some groups in France to armed protests. And foreign hostility to France continued. Then when Napoleon, Sieyes, and their followers got their chance they executed the coup d'etat. Armed soldiers forced legislators from their chambers, and abolished the directory. France proclaimed a new form of government that Napoleon called the Consulate. Three consuls headed it, and Napoleon was the first consul. Being first consuls mean that Napoleon assumed practically most power. Napoleons power allowed him to do the things that needed to be done, and even allowed him to become consul for life, later to become emperor of France. Napoleon them reorganized almost everything in France, and made way for a better French society.

Earth Climate Change Paper Essay

Article 1: Man Influenced Event Prothero, Donald R. â€Å"How We Know Global Warming is Real and Human Caused.† Skeptic 17 (2012): 2. This article was written following an opinionated editorial that was published challenging the evidence of human-induced climate change. In this article there are numerous lines of evidence that the author claims leans toward the fact that global climate change is manmade. He states that carbon dioxide in our atmosphere has increased over the last 200 years. With this evidence compared to ice cores revealing direct measurements over the last 900 year, the increase in temperature stand outs immensely. The temperature increased during the Industrial Revolution, a time period in which humans released massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere through deforestation and the burning of large amounts of coal, gas, and oil. A second Reason that he states humans are the reason behind global climate changes is the polar ice caps melting. The polar ice caps are melting at an alarming rate and will result in less than half of the Artic covered in ice by the time summer comes around. Also with the polar ice caps melting there is also the melting of glaciers. They are retreating at the highest rates ever documented. With the retreating of these glaciers is the depletion of the freshwater supply. The author rebuts the statements of those who believe climate change is natural by saying that the climate is warmer than other warm phase the Earth has been through. The reason the Earth is going through this period of abnormal warmth is due to the climate not having been exposed to the greenhouse gases previously. He states that the amount of heat that the sun provides has been decreasing since 1940 and that the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been thrown off by human’s excess production of it. Article 2: Man Influenced Event Pawlik, Kurt. â€Å"The Psychology of Global Environmental Change: Some Basic Data and an Agenda for Cooperative International Research.† Taylor and Francis. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2013.. The article is based on global climate change being a man-made event. In the first portion of this paper, existing evidence, mostly from earth and atmospheric sciences, on global climatic changes and the effect of human action is briefly reviewed. The author describes the term â€Å"Global Change† of having different meanings, some more general and others more restricted. Data that is shown in this article reflects the last post-glacial cycle of variations in air temperature and air carbon dioxide concentration in a time scale of 100,000 to 150,000 years, an increase in mean air temperature at the earth’s surface over the last 100 years, and summarizes carbon dioxide concentration measures obtained from the analysis of Antarctic ice cores and at the Mauna Loa Observatory. As described by the author, there are greenhouse gases other than carbon dioxide, including methane, nitrous oxide, tropospheric ozone and chlorofluorocarbons. To a large extent, the concentration of these greenhouse gases is due to increased burning of biomass or fossil fuel, and chemical waste from rapidly growing populations, including man. The rapid growth in human world population, its wasteful use of land and of natural resources, and waste from growing industrialization and traffic, are among the primary sources of the human-made global warming. These causes and effects are coincidental with several worldwide changes in human living conditions. These other aspects of global change relate to increasing stratospheric ozone depletion, acid deposition specifically in acid rain, loss of biodiversity, and a sharp increase in human world population. In conclusion of this paper, without suitable intervention, the greenhouse effect as described today will be amplified substantially due to growth in world population, resulting in still increasing rates of emission of organic and industrial waste and substances. Article 3: Man Influenced Event Schiermeier, Quirin. â€Å"At least three-quarters of climate change is man-made† nature.com. 4 December 2011. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=three-quarters-of-climate Quirin Schiermeier stated that at least 74 percent of the global warming occurring on earth is caused by man. During his research, he analyzed the  massive increase in atmospheric Carbon Dioxide concentrations. He also stated that in the past 60 years the earth’s temperature has increased more than 0.5 degree Celsius. He stated that human are increasing the amount of fossil fuels and coal being burned. Schiermeier stated that the CO2 levels were not the ultimate culprit, that the rises in other greenhouse gases are playing a large role in the increasing temperatures on earth. Schiermeier used the optimal fingerprint method to complete his research. This method was used to â€Å"compare observed patterns of surface air temperature over time with the modeled climate response to greenhouse gases, solar radiation and aerosols from volcanoes and other sources†. While claiming only one-quarter of the climate change can be natural he states that he is using a new â€Å"attribution† method when it comes to separating whether or not the changes are man or nature caused. He believes that the increase in CO2 have increased greatly since the pre-industrial period. Article 4: Man Influenced Event Freedman, Andrew â€Å"New Reports Show Impact of Manmade Global Warming† Climate Central. 11 July 2012. http://www.climatecentral.org/news/two-new-reports-underscore-impact-of-manmade-global-warming/ Texas suffered from a drought and a heat wave in 2011. Freedman stated that manmade global warming has â€Å"a probability of many extreme weather and climate events, making heat waves, droughts, and other events more likely to occur within the United States†. He stated that the drought that occurred in Texas also expanded across less than 48 states. The drought affected about 56 percent of the United States. Freedman then stated that the US had its warmest 12 month period and was the warmest year to date in 2011. From peer-reviewed reports the data shows that human activity is evident in the increase of global climate temperatures and other effects in the past. He believes that the world will hit the 400 parts per million of Carbon Dioxide by the year 2016. He stated that the Arctic Circle experienced a record 86 straight days where the temperature did not drop below freezing. He later stated that while Texas is in a drought there are deadly floods occurring in Thailand. The study concluded that, due to manmade global warming, La  Nina-related heat waves are now 20 times more likely to occur in Texas than they were 50 years ago. Article 1: Nature Influenced Event Singer, S. Fred â€Å"Global Warming: Man-Made or Natural?† Hillsdale Edu. 25 October 2012 http://ww.hillsdale.edu/news/imprimis/archive/issue.asp?year=2007&month=08 â€Å"Continental drifts, mountain-building, changes in the Earth’s orbit, volcanic eruptions, and solar variability are all natural processes† says Singer. He also believes that the Sun is affecting fluctuations of solar irradiance, variability of UV portion of solar spectrum, and the variations in the solar wind that modulate the intensity of cosmic rays. He gathered his data from Proxy data which has now made it possible to detect the impact of the Sun on Earth. â€Å"Human activities are not influencing the global climate in a perceptible way. Climate will continue to change, as it always has in the past, warming and cooling on different time scales and for different reasons, regardless of human action. I would also argue that—should it occur—a modest warming would be on the whole beneficial.† Singer argues that nothing the humans are doing at this point in time is really affecting the rate at which the earth is warming or not warming. Singer states that global warming is a problem, but it is a political one. He states the reaction that the government can doing something about climate can cause other problems that can affect the health and well-being or the human race. Article 2: Nature Influenced Event  Lindzen, Richard S. â€Å"Global Warming: The Origin and Nature of the Alleged Scientific Consensus† Cato Institute. 25 October 2012 http://www.cato.org?pubs/regulation/rev15n2/reg15n2g.html. Lindzen believes that the money spent on â€Å"research† is unneeded. Misperceptions coupled by sincere desire to â€Å"save the planet† are distracting people from what Mother Nature is telling us. He believes that the media immediately adopts an idea that is accepted by the public and brings them more money and popularity. He said that the computer models were not accurate in any way and therefore people believe the media and get scared. He states that when the skeptics began to get air time that it  created controversy among the media and the opinions of the people following such media. Scientists began to contest each other and began to prepare speech and other forms of rebuttal. One large problem with education and the media is the way that greenhouse gases are presented and taught at a young age, when in fact the process is far more complicated than the people care to understand. Lindzen claims that while global warming can become a crisis in the future, as a scientist, the human, plant, animal populations would have little to no difficulty adapting to the warmer temperatures and the affects to go along with it. He says that the people have a contorted view of what global warming is and how it really works within the earth. Article 3: Nature Influenced Event  Mandia, Scott A. â€Å"Climate Change: Natural Causes† Sunnysuttolk.edu 2011 http://www2.sunnysunnysuffolk.edu/mandias/global_warming/natural_causes_climate_change.html. Mandia believes that chemical weather can cause cooler climates and can also remove atmospheric carbon. Although volcanoes achieve the exact opposite effect, volcano magma contains carbon and therefore puts carbon back into the atmosphere. Volcanoes can cause a range of different effects the atmosphere and the climate including, gases into the atmosphere, ash into the air, and carbon increase. Volcanoes have the effects of all the human pollution in just one small eruption. Some volcanoes contribute far more than man could ever produce in affecting the atmosphere and the climate of the earth. Mandia believes that the Earth is just going through a climate cycle as it has done multiple times before over the course of history. The Sun has a cycle of its own and that can contribute to the climate on Earth as well. Other aspects of the Earth such as the wobble, the tilt, and the rotation around the sun and its axis affect the global climate to some degree as well. Multiple natural forms like the oceans can also affect the Earth’s temperature. Aspects such as the oceans and the animals on earth can work to heat and cool the earth over an extended period of time and contribute to the overall climate of the earth. Article 4: Nature Influenced   Thompson LG. â€Å"Kilimanjaro Ice Core Records: Evidence of Holocene Climate Change in Tropical Africa† sciencemag.com 18 October 2002 http://www.sciencemag.org/content/298/5593/589.full â€Å"Six ice core from Kilimanjaro provide an approximately 11.7 thousand-year record of Holocene and environmental variability for eastern Africa† says Thompson. The ice cores suggest that the fluctuating lake levels in the cores record multiple droughts during the African Humid Period. The author is in short telling readers that during these thousands of years the Earth cooled and warmed to fill and dry these lakes. The author is trying to show that while the earth does warm it also cools typically with a pattern to go along with it and records to support these patterns. Earth has a cycle and every so often that cycle will start over and the temperatures will fluctuate making the temperature rise and fall. These ices cores are just a small part of what is happening all over the world at any given point in time. The earth’s climate effected very little if any at all by man and the activities that man partakes in on the earth. Man covers a very small portion of the ear th and will never cover enough to majorly affect the climate of the Earth that can change the pattern that it is currently on. My Opinion: The Earth is not a constant in this universe and nothing is constant within that inconsistency. The climate of the Earth has always changed and will always continue to change. The climate of the earth is a very complex area of science and it is something that current scientists may never come to understand. Who is to say that there is an answer to the question that is Global Climate Change? The climate of earth is not an easy topic to discuss even though it is constantly discussed all over the world. Nothing is ever constant in the science of global warming. Scientists are always changing their theories and models to fit the changing opinion that is climate change. Not one specific factor can be used to describe climate change but rather an abundance of theories and ideas that we might have about why the temperatures are changing the way that they are. Not one scientist can say that none of the  research has been disproven by another scientist research in this area of science. Man consumes about 1 percent of the earth in total (Nature Article 4). Man does burn fossil fuels and coal and other materials that release toxins into the air but one natural event in the world can mask almost every mistake that man has made in their entire existence. Man does create pollution without a doubt but not a single human being would be willing to give up their quality of life to completely end the burning of fuels and other harmful chemicals in the earth. Pollution increased during the industrial revolution and has been decreasing since then. Man isn’t perfect and never will be, but the effects that man has on climate change are minimal in comparison to the effects of nature. Humans have no control over the volcanoes, earthquakes, animals, plants and any other events and biotic factors on earth. All of these things contribute to global warming in some way or another. One volcano eruption can release more toxins and cause more damage than most of what man has done in their entire existence (Nature Article 3). Other events can upset the pattern in which the earth rotates and that can lead to changes in the climate. Man can only help and hurt so much in their short existence on earth. The earth will likely outlast any human that will walk on it. People are just going to make the most of what they have at hand and when we are gone a new beginning will occur just as it has done in the past of the present conditions to exist. Nothing is guaranteed in this place we call Earth and that will always continue to be the case. Man cannot change what nature has already set forth for the fate of the population. The earth has a plan and it will be carried out regardless of the influence that man tries to inflict on this plan. Nature has a course and it will run no matter what is put onto the earth and the damage that it inflicts on the earth. Man has little to any influence on the effects of the earth and all of the aspects within it, including climate change. Nothing that man has done or will do can affect the earth more than nature will. Nature holds great contributions to the human race and it is beyond anything that man can accomplish the only thing that can truly hurt nat ure is nature itself.

25 Weird, Witty, and Wonderful Language-Related Terms

25 Weird, Witty, and Wonderful Language-Related Terms Grammar nerds everywhere will appreciate these weird, witty, and wonderful terms used to describe language. Use them to amuse and perplex your friends and teachers.   Allegro speech: the deliberate misspelling, respelling, or non-standard alternative spelling of words (as in the Chick-fil-A slogan Eat Mor Chikin)Bicapitalization  (also known as  CamelCase, embedded caps, InterCaps,  and  midcaps): the use of a capital letter in the middle of a word or name- as in iMac or eBayClitic:   a word or part of a word thats structurally dependent on a neighboring word and cant stand on its own (such as the contracted nt in  cant)Diazeugma:  a sentence construction in which a single subject is accompanied by multiple verbs (as in the sentence Reality lives, loves, laughs, cries, shouts, gets angry, bleeds, and dies, sometimes all in the same instant)Dirimens copulatio:  a statement (or a series of statements) that balances one idea with a contrasting idea (as in Ben Franklins counsel not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment)Feghoot: an anecdote or short story that concludes with an elaborate pun Grawlix:  the series of typographical symbols (*!#*!) used in cartoons and comic strips to represent swear wordsHaplology:  a sound change involving the loss of a syllable when its next to a phonetically identical (or similar) syllable (such as the pronunciation of  probably  as probly)Hidden verb:  a noun-verb combination used in place of a single, more forceful verb (for example,  Ã¢â‚¬â€¹make an improvement  in place of  improve)  Malaphor:  a blend of two aphorisms, idioms, or clichà ©s (as in Thats the way the cookie bounces)Metanoia:  the act of self-correction in speech or writing (or to put that a better way, self-editing)Miranym:  a word thats midway in meaning between two opposite extremes (like the word translucent, which falls between transparent and opaque)Moses illusion:  the phenomenon whereby readers or listeners fail to recognize an inaccuracy in a textMountweazel:  a bogus entry deliberately inserted in a reference work as a safeguard ag ainst copyright infringementNegative-positive restatement:  a method of achieving emphasis by stating an idea twice, first in negative terms and then in positive terms (as when John Cleese said, Its not pining, its passed on. This parrot is no more!) Paralepsis:  the rhetorical strategy of emphasizing a point by  seeming  to pass over it (as when Dr. House remarked, I dont want to say anything bad about another doctor, especially one whos a useless drunk)Paraprosdokian:  an unexpected shift in meaning (often for comic effect) at the end of a sentence, stanza, or short passagePhrop:  a phrase (such as I dont like to boast . . .) that often means the opposite of what it saysPoliteness strategies:  speech acts that express concern for others and minimize threats to self-esteem in particular social contexts (for instance, Would you mind stepping aside?)Pseudoword:  a fake word- that is, a string of letters that resembles a real word (such as  cigbet  or  snepd) but doesnt actually exist in the language  RAS syndrome:  the redundant use of a word thats already included in an acronym or initialism (for example, PIN number)Restaurantese:   the specialized language (or jargon) used by restaurant employees and on menus (such as any item described as farm-fresh, succulent, or artisanal) Rhyming compound:  a compound word that contains rhyming elements, like fuddy duddy, pooper-scooper, and  voodooSluicing:  a type of ellipsis in which an interrogative element is understood as a complete question (as in My folks were fighting last week, but  I dont know what about)Word word:  a word or name thats repeated to distinguish it from a seemingly  identical word or name (Oh, youre talking about  grass  grass)

protective features of the constitution essays

protective features of the constitution essays The United States democratic system includes certain features that are intended to protect against the abuse of the power by the government and public officials. Some protective features include: judicial review, impeachment process, freedom of expression, protection against unreasonable searches, equal protection under the law, and the rights of the accused. One important protective feature is judicial review. Judicial review is the power of the courts to review laws and determine whether or not they are unconstitutional. The Judiciary Act of 1789 stated that all citizens of the United States are separate but equal, referring to segregation. Blacks were supposed to be treated equally and fairly, without discrimination just as whites were, but they were to have separate facilities, schools, etc. In the case of Marbury v. Madison, on John Quincy Adams last night in office, he appointed 82 new Federalist Justices. These "midnight judges" as they were called represented a threat to incoming President Thomas Jerreson, a Democrat-Republican. Jefferson feared Federalist interpretation of the law for the next 20 years, a fear that ended up coming to fruition. Among these midnight judges was one William Marbury. Jefferson ordered his Secretary of State, John Madison, not to deliver the official documents granting Marbury his position. Bec ause of the Judiciary Act of 1801, Marbury appealed directly to the Supreme Court asking for a "writ of mandamus" or an order to act. Chief Justice John Mashall recognized he would be correct in ordering Madison to deliver the papers but feared weakening the image of the Court if President Jefferson refused to comply. Instead Marshall ruled that the Judiciary Act of 1801, which Marbury had used to submit his claim directly to the Court wa s unconstitional, and it was. In this way the Court was able to rule a law unconstitutional and therefore created the important precedent...

Lines and Angles in ACT Math Review and Practice

Lines and Angles in ACT Math Review and Practice SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips There are several math topics that act as foundations for understanding ACT Math, even though there are not many questions specifically dedicated to the topic. This is most certainly the case for line and angle problems. Though it is rare to see a pure line and angle problem (without the addition of other geometric shapes), you’ll need to know just how lines and angles work and how to solve for all your missing measures before you can take on those more complex problems. This will be your complete guide to lines and angles on the ACT- what they are, how you’ll see them on the test, and how to solve these types of questions to maximize your points on test day. Properties of Lines and Angles Before we get into how lines and angles function, let’s define our terms. A line is a completely straight marker, meaning it has no curvature. It can either have termination points (and will be called a â€Å"line segment†) or go on infinitely. Its degree measure is always 180 °. Parallel lines are two or more lines that are a set distance apart (equidistant) and never meet. They travel in the same direction continuously. Perpendicular lines meet each other at 90 degree angles. An angle is the meeting of two lines. The measure of how they meet is expressed in degrees, and the point at which they intersect is called the angle’s â€Å"vertex.† Line and Angle Equalities Most of what you’ll need to know about lines and angles on the ACT is how to identify when and how they will be equal or supplementary to one another. Equal angles (or lines) are angles (or lines) that have the same measurement. Supplementary angles are angles that add up to 180 degrees. Because all these angles form a straight line and a straight line equals 180 degrees, the three angles are supplementary. Opposite Angles When two (or more) lines intersect, they form a series of opposite angles. Angles that are exactly opposite will always be equal to one another. Both sets of opposite angles will be equal. Opposite Interior Angles When there are two parallel lines that are crossed by another line (called a transversal), the angles on alternate interiors will be equal to one another. And the angles that are on the same side of the transversal line and the same side of their respective parallel lines will also be equal. That may be difficult to picture, so let’s look at a diagram: The marked angles are all congruent (equal) and the unmarked angles are all congruent. (Note: when you are told that two lines are parallel on ACT Math, the problem will almost always involve opposite interior angles in some way.) Now let’s look at an opposite interior angle ACT problem. Here, the test has made it slightly tricky by asking you for supplementary angles instead of equal ones. But the principle remains the same- we must identify angle measurements/equalities by using opposite interior angle equalities. We can see straight away that $x$ lies on a straight line with both 1 and 2, so angles 1 and 2 will be supplementary with $x$. We can also see that angles 1 and 10 are opposite interior angles and so will be equal to one another. And angle 9 is opposite angle 10 and thus will also be equal. This means that angle $1 = 2 = 9 = 10$ and all are supplementary to $x$. Finally, we can ignore the angles 4, 5, 6, 7 and 12, 13, 14, 15. Why? Because lines $c$ and $d$ are not parallel and so do not have opposite interior angle equalities. This means that $x$ is only supplementary to angles 1, 2, 9, 10. Our final answer is H. Equal lines and equal angles can be quite disorientingin the right hands. Typical Line and Angle Problems Almost every line and angle problem on the ACT is given to you as a diagram problem. You will be presented with a series of givens and then told to find a missing value of some kind. Almost always, this requires multiple steps and the use of multiple pieces of line/angle knowledge. The other notable feature of lines and angle problems on the ACT is that you will be given a â€Å"pure† line and angle problem very rarely. Most of them involve other geometric shapes in some way, most commonly triangles. The good news is that you will generally not need to know more than the fact that all the interior angles in a triangle add up to 180 degrees, but check out our guide to ACT triangles if you are unfamiliar with or unused to working with triangles. Now, we are told that two lines are parallel, so there’s a good chance we’ll need to use our opposite interior angle knowledge. With that in mind, let us expand the drawing we are given so that we can see our opposite interior angles more clearly. Using our opposite interior angles, we know that angle BAC is 82, which means that angle ACX must also be 82 degrees. We can also see that angles ACX and ACD make a straight line. Their sum must therefore be 180 degrees. $ACX + ACD = 180$ $82 + ACD = 180$ $ACD = 98$ We are also told that lines AE and CE are bisectors, which means they cut their respective angles exactly in half. This means that angle EAC = $82/2 = 41$ And angle ECA = $98/2 = 49$ Now, we also know that a the interior angles of a triangle add up to 180 degrees, so we are able to find our angle measure AEC by: $AEC + EAC + ECA = 180$ $AEC + 41 + 49 = 180$ $AEC + 90 = 180$ $AEC = 90$ Our final answer is C, angle AEC is 90 degrees. As we said before, this question is representative of most line and angle problems you’ll see on the test. Based on your givens, you must use your knowledge of opposite interior angles (opposite interiors are equal) and your knowledge of the degree measure of a line (a line is 180 degrees) in order to put together all the clues and solve your problem. And yet, in addition to understanding the properties of lines and angles by themselves, you must also understand the basics of triangles. Because many ACT problems that involve lines and angles also use triangles, your knowledge of lines and angles should definitely be supplemented with triangle study. So don’t forget to brush up on your ACT triangles! Now let's check out our angle tips and tricks. Tips for Solving a Line and/or Angle Problem Most of the time, you must solve a line and angle question piece by piece in order to unlock the final solution. This means you must be careful and vigilant that you keep not only your facts and equalities straight, but your variables as well. As you go through this process, keep in mind these three tips: Tip 1: Write in your givens If you are given a diagram in which your givens are NOT written in, then write them in yourself! Sometimes, seeing the numbers on the page can make all the difference in the world between a difficult problem and an easy one. You’ll also be far less likely to mix up your numbers and variables if you keep your work on the page instead of in your head. Tip 2: Work from your givens to find the next puzzle piece Sometimes, it can be tricky to know where or when or in what order to work through a problem. Take a moment to find what you can before you worry about how to go forward. If you have opposite angles, write in the measure of the angle opposite your given. If you have angles that make a straight line, find the value of the missing variable. Immediately find the missing pieces that you can, and that bounty of information will often lead you straight to your solution. Tip 3: If necessary, use plugging in answers or plugging in numbers If you find yourself stuck (or there is literally no other way to solve the problem), then whip out your PIA or PIN knowledge. Sometimes the process can be slower than a straight solve, but these strategies will almost always get you where you need to go and so can be worth the extra seconds. Ready to put your knowledge to the test? Test Your Knowledge 1. 2. 3. 4. Answers: C, J, B, B Answer Explanations: 1. This problem requires multiple steps, so definitely write in your angle measurements as you find them. In order to find out how many angles measure 50 degrees, we must find the measures of all our angles, so let's go through the process. To begin with, we can see that the 130 degree angle lies on a straight line, so its supplementary angle will be: $180 - 130 = 50$ degrees. Now, we also know that opposite angles are equal, so the angle opposite 50 degrees must also be 50 degrees. We also know that a triangle adds up to be 180 degrees and that our figure in the center is a triangle. So: $180 - 80 - 50 = 50$ degrees. This means that the missing value in our triangle is also 50 degrees. Again, we know that opposite angles equal one another, so the angle opposite this 50 degrees will also be 50 degrees. Based on opposite interior angle equalities, the full angle at the opposite 130 degrees will also be 130 degrees. Because the full angle is 130 degrees and part of it is made up of an 80 degree angle, which means that we can find the other angle by saying: $130 - 80 = 50$ And again, the angle opposite this 50 degree angle will also be 50 degrees. We can also see that the 80 degree angle, plus the 50 degree angle, plus one of the unmarked angles will equal 180 degrees, since they make up a straight line. So we can find the unmarked angle by saying: $180 - 80 - 50 = 50$ Finally, we can use opposite angle equalities to find the last unmarked angle. We have found all our angle equalities, so all that's left is to count how many angles are equal to 50 degrees. There are a total of 8, 50 degree angles. Our final answer is C, 8. 2. For this question, we must use our knowledge that both straight lines and the sum of the interior angles in a triangle equal 180 degrees. First, let us find the measure of angle $y$. Angle $y$ makes a straight line with the 72 degree angle, so: $y + 72 = 180$ $y = 108$ Now, we can use the same process to find angle $x$, which forms a straight line with the 57 degree angle. $x + 57 = 180$ $x = 123$ Now, let us find angle $z$ by first finding the third, unknown, angle in the triangle (which we will call angle $a$). The interior angles in a triangle add up to 180 degrees, so: $a + 57 + 72 = 180$ $a + 129 = 180$ $a = 51$ Now, let’s use that angle to find $z$. The two angles make a straight line, so their sum will be 180. $a + z = 180$ $51 + z = 180$ $z = 129$ (Note: you may notice that the sum of the two non-adjacent interior angles of the triangle is equal to the exterior angle. This is not a coincidence and is in fact one of the many rules of triangles. But don’t worry about having to memorize this rule- you can always find the exterior angles using the properties of straight lines just how we did!) Now, we must find the sum of angles $x, y,$ and $z$, so let’s add our values together. $108 + 123 + 129$ $360$ Our final answer is J, 360. 3. Here, we are dealing with several bisecting angles. This means that the angles are cut exactly in half. This means that angle ABD = DBE and angle DBE = EBC. And because DBE is equal to both ABD and EBC, it means that angles ABD and EBC are also equal. This means that we have three equal angles, all making one line. And we know a line equals 180 degrees, so: $x + x + x = 180$ $3x = 180$ $x = 60$ Each angle measure is 60 degrees, which means that angle DBE is 60 degrees. Our final answer is B, 60 degrees. 4. We can see that angle BAC is part of a triangle. And we know that we need two angle measures of a triangle in order to determine the third. But we can also see that the 45 degree angle is opposite one of our unknown interior triangle angles. Because opposite angles are equal, this means that our second unknown interior angle of the triangle is 45 degrees. We now have two angle measures of the triangle, so let us find the measure of BAC. $BAC + 35 + 45 = 180$ $BAC + 80 = 180$ $BAC = 100$ Measure BAC is 100 degrees. Our final answer is B, 100 degrees. These problems require multiple steps, but the process is often simpler than it looks. So don't tire yourself out prematurely. The Take-Aways The trickiest aspect about line and angles questions is the fact that they require multiple steps and several different numbers and measurements. It can be easy to mix-up your solutions and your work due to careless error, so make sure you take steps to avoid doing so. Remember your equalities, keep your work organized, and do your best to avoid careless errors. Once you’ve locked down lines and angles, you will be well equipped to take on the more and more complex geometry problems the ACT will throw at you over the course of the test. What’s Next? Now that you've learned all about your lines and angles, make sure you're up to speed on the rest of your must-know math topics and formulas for the ACT. Look to our ACT Math tag for all of our guides to ACT Math, including ratios, solid geometry, and more. Studying last minute? Check out our tips for making your time count before test day. Running out of time on the ACT math section? Make sure you review how to buy yourself extra time as you go through your test. Looking to get a perfect score? Perfection is far from unobtainable, so check out our article on how to get a 36 on ACT Math, written by a perfect scorer. Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes what you study to your strengths and weaknesses. If you liked this Math lesson, you'll love our program. Along with more detailed lessons, you'll get thousands of practice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Check out our 5-day free trial:

Customer Relationship Management Bachelor Essay

Customer Relationship Management Bachelor - Essay Example This paper seeks to highlight the conditions when a comprehensive CRM program becomes useful even necessary for an organization, what processes and operational aspects should be the focus of this program, its possible risks and benefits, and what is the best CRM model a company experiencing a particular customer relationship problem can adopt. For this purpose, the essay sets a scenario involving a manufacturing firm, which we shall call Company A, whose interaction with customers can stand improvement. With this in mind, one of the company executives presented a blueprint for a CRM program for the consideration of top management. Management was duly impressed and appointed the executive as consultant to study and handle the program's implementation. Two weeks after the consultant's appointment, the Managing Director calls his attention to complaints over the way company operations and employees' behavior fail to promote good customer relations. In effect, the problem is laid at the door of the Operations Manager, who has direct responsibility for company processes and people that affect its dealings with customers. Thus, operations become the main target of the consultant's study to determine how the company can adopt and benefit from CRM. This paper assumes the role of the consultant as it evaluates the problem and proposes a specific CRM plan based on a study of how the company's people, processes and operations can be realigned and managed for them to interact better with customers. 2. The Problem in Perspective CRM is all about systematic gathering and retrieval of customer-related data and is thus associated with the Internet and computers, which skill is not among the criteria used in hiring managers, especially operations managers. Operations managers are usually hired more for their decision-making and people handling abilities than for their computer skills, such that insufficient knowledge of information management restricts their control of overall operations (Boughman, 2003). They may be knowledgeable about the company's processes and people but this does not make for good customer relations if the operations manager has no access to the wealth of information about customers offered by a CRM system. The problem is worse at Company A, where the study found that the operations manager lacks control even over the attitudes of the staff, which as a rule has been described as flippant and rude to customers. There is no open line of communication between the front office and the backroom office. This lack of coordination often results in the gathering of customer records that are either inaccurate or incomplete, while purchase orders often get lost in the shuffle. Missing in customer records are such vital data as names, addresses, purchase histories, service and support contacts. Readily available knowledge about customers and their buying patterns is considered one of the most valuable assets of a business organization. A company without any geographic and demographic

Benefits of Lawn to the Environment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Benefits of Lawn to the Environment - Essay Example A lawn refers to an area of land planted with grasses or other durable plants that are maintained at a short height. The lawns are mainly used for recreational and aesthetic purposes. The common characteristics of a lawn are that it consists only of grass species, it is subject to pest and weed control, and it is regularly cut to maintain required length. The Americans love lawn due to aesthetics, psychology, and economics reasons. The paper explains the benefits that lawns have on the environment, which raises the need of promoting lawns. Apart from the aesthetic and psychological purposes, the lawn also has beneficial functions including promotion of safety and health. Grass can act as a firebreak in some areas thus prevents wildfires from spreading. Therefore, lawns are important to the environment because they prevent the occurrence of wildfires thus ensuring that there is no loss of biodiversity. The turf grass is useful in reducing pollution of the environment by trapping some pollutants and pollens that lead to the development of allergies. â€Å"Even before scientists discovered that turf can trap some pollutants and pollens that cause allergies, Walt Whitman called grass the handkerchief of the Lord† (Bormann et al., 9). The green plants can act as reservoirs of clean air that leads to the creation of healthy environments. The lawns are also useful in performing ecological functions that help to conserve the environment.

ACCOR Group's Expansion Strategy Research Paper

ACCOR Group's Expansion Strategy - Research Paper Example 8,121 + 6.8 EBITDAR 2,321 11.4 EBITDAR margin 28.6% 1.2 Operating profit Before tax 907 24.8 The growth rates for the company in revenues for year 2007 were as per the following: Revenues + 6.5% Expansion + 4.3% Impacts of the currency (decline of dollar against Euro) - 2.7% Disposals - 1.3% Growth rate + 6.8% Analysis Amnt In m 9000 - 8000 -7000 - 6000 - - 5000 - 4000 - 3000 - 2000 - 1000 - Revenue EBITDAR Profit (before tax) Graph of the two financial statements; Revenue, EBITDAR, profit (before tax) Year 2004 Year 2007 11 -10 - 9.0 - 8.0 -7.0 - 6.0 - - % 5.0 - 4.0 - 3.0 - 2.0 - 1.0 - Revenue EBITDAR Profit (before tax) Graph of the two financial statements; Revenue (reported change), EBITDAR (reported change), profit before tax (reported change) Year 2004 Year 2007 i. Before implementation of the new strategies As per the above table, the company's profit before taxation amounted to 592 million which was13.2% for that year. In the same year, the company's consolidated revenues shot up by 4.3% which were the same as moving from 295 million to 7,123 million. Not including...While carrying out the research regarding ACCOR group of companies, importance of selecting the appropriate paradigm is emphasized. This includes the opinions on how to carry out the research as well as the necessary approach of data collection and analysis. The methods used to collect the appropriate data included a quantitative data collection approach: getting the relevant data from the company's management information systems where it has provided its financial reports before the implementation of the strategies and after this period. The collected data is then analyzed using tables and charts in order to draw conclusion on whether the strategies made any changes to the company. There is also analysis of the strategies used by two other major rivals of ACCOR group of companies which are used to corroborate the hypothesis to be deductive. Roy 1995As per the above table, the company's profit before taxation amounted to 592 million which was13.2% for that year. In the same year, the company's consolidated revenues shot up by 4.3% which were the same as moving from 295 million to 7,123 million. Not including the effects of transitions in scope of exchange rates and consolidation, the revenues went up by 4.6% for the same year as well as 5.1% in the fourth section of the year. This indicated the company's demand in the group's activities.

Open topic logos based argumentative paper Essay

Open topic logos based argumentative paper - Essay Example Most Congressmen admit to not have reading the Act before voting to pass it but those voting in favor were overwhelming. Only one of 99 Senators (Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold) and 66 of 423 Representatives voted against the law. The PATRIOT Act, as many citizens and legal experts alike have argued, violates the fundamental rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution’s first ten amendments, the Bill of Rights (Savage, 2006). This includes the freedom of speech and assembly (First Amendment); the freedom from unreasonable search and seizure (Fourth Amendment); the right to due process of law (Fifth Amendment); the right to a speedy, public and fair trial along with the right to counsel and to confront the accuser, (Sixth Amendment), the freedom from cruel and unusual punishment (Eighth Amendment) and freedom from punishment without conviction (13th Amendment). One of the most obvious tactics in the ‘War on Terror’ and the PATRIOT Act is the widespread use of racial profiling, described as when law enforcement officials use race, ethnicity, religion and even color of skin to determine which persons are more probable to commit a crime such as terrorism. The term ‘War on Terror’ has been continually invoked to justify breaches of the Constitution as well as the basic civil liberties of citizens and foreigners alike. The invocation of this phrase has repeatedly prohibited rational discussions regarding civil injustices such as profiling individuals based on their race. Therefore racial profiling has continued unabated including the profiling of young black men since September 11, 2001. The not-so-subtle insinuation is that â€Å"one cannot condemn racial profiling because to do so will hinder the war on terrorism and undermine national security† (McDonald, 2001). The popularly stated position is that racial profiling is necessary because not using this tool of law enforcement would compromise the effort against terrorism thus

Importance of Corporate Diversity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Importance of Corporate Diversity - Essay Example Married households with children drove that drop as they went from 40% to 23%. What is most compelling about this change is the increase in Non-traditional households which have grown from 12% to 22%. This group is made up of all sorts of new family and household formations - mostly single parent households. Single-mother families grew from 3 million in 1970 to 10 million in 2003, while the number or single-father families grew from half a million to 2 million. Non-Traditional household formations also include gay and lesbian households and a newer phenomenon whereby older, single people (single parents are the drive) find long-term roommates to help alleviate the financial burdens that often come with living alone. As the number of combinations and permutations of how people lead their lives continues to grow, traditional demographics work less productively as proxies for attitudes. Therefore, truly understanding the needs and wants of consumers and building products that meet their unique circumstances becomes more and more challenging. A growing concept is that companies that incorporate diversity in their work force are more likely to innovative compared to those firms that do not. Therefore, it can be seen that diversity is now forcing firms to recruit, retain and develop employees from varying multicultural backgrounds, different ethnicities, minorities, and also from the socially disadvantageous groups in the society. This diversity affects businesses in several ways; firms can increase their product sales as efforts by executives having diverse background can bring and bring new ideas that enhance sales; a diverse work force brings in new customers because their diverse backgrounds help in serving the customers better according to their needs, a diverse workforce questions and challenges that they think might affect the customer base because of advertisements, slogans or product contents being offensive to a particular customer group; other issues such as globalization demands it; having a diverse work force also is supposed to increase the bottom line of the company since the company incorporating diversity is looked upon favorably by employees, customers and also by the legal and the regulatory authorities. Some of the benefits that organizations are experiencing as a result of work force diversity also include lower costs since firms now face lesser law suit costs by hiring the diverse workforce, which previously they tend to reject and faced lawsuits over it. The diverse work force strengthens and reinforces the culture that promotes creativity and innovation. As mentioned, diversity generally enhances the bottom line i.e. the profits, firms are also seen as favorable in stock markets thus trading at premium and are also seen as likely targets for mergers. Firms when growing in size are in dire need of new and more recruits, selecting from the diverse pool of human resources give them a broad base to select from. Diverse population has different and varying lifestyles, thus firm can use this to its own advantage by utilizing some at one time and some other when special circumstances occur. Diversity can

I have a choice of 2 topics. Agression or Understanding Self Essay

I have a choice of 2 topics. Agression or Understanding Self - Essay Example But the Aggression in simple terms signifies an act of hostility initiated to cause physical or mental harm or injury. An accidental harm or injury caused cannot be termed as aggression. The act of aggression is often deliberate. The type of aggression mostly stems from its causes, and hence has various forms and categories. However, in the most basic form, aggression can be categorized as physical, verbal and mental. According to Moyer (1968), Aggression or aggressive behavior can be further categorized into seven different types such as Predatory aggression, Inter – male aggression, Fear induced aggression, irritable aggression, territorial aggression, maternal aggression and instrumental aggression. However, in humans, aggression can also be caused / learned by imitation for instance, prolonged exposure to violence through media, either television; internet or video games may cause aggressive behavior in young children. Some other significant contributing factors which might lead to aggressive behavior include consumption of alcohol, mental pain or discomfort, frustration, etc. Continuous exposure to discomfort may cause irritation and provoke aggressive responses for instance, working in extreme temperatures hot / cold. There have been several researches and studies that suggest that even the presence of a violent object such as gun or knife, may trigger aggressive behavior. Gender and age also plays a significant role in stimulating anger or aggression. Various studies suggest that males are generally more physically aggressive as compared to females. This major difference is found to be the most major gender difference across all cultures and age groups. However, even young children display aggressive behavioral characteristics especially when exposed to fear, or during exposure to family conflicts as well as while undergoing mental trauma. This section describes and discusses various aspects /

Open topic logos based argumentative paper Essay

Open topic logos based argumentative paper - Essay Example Most Congressmen admit to not have reading the Act before voting to pass it but those voting in favor were overwhelming. Only one of 99 Senators (Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold) and 66 of 423 Representatives voted against the law. The PATRIOT Act, as many citizens and legal experts alike have argued, violates the fundamental rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution’s first ten amendments, the Bill of Rights (Savage, 2006). This includes the freedom of speech and assembly (First Amendment); the freedom from unreasonable search and seizure (Fourth Amendment); the right to due process of law (Fifth Amendment); the right to a speedy, public and fair trial along with the right to counsel and to confront the accuser, (Sixth Amendment), the freedom from cruel and unusual punishment (Eighth Amendment) and freedom from punishment without conviction (13th Amendment). One of the most obvious tactics in the ‘War on Terror’ and the PATRIOT Act is the widespread use of racial profiling, described as when law enforcement officials use race, ethnicity, religion and even color of skin to determine which persons are more probable to commit a crime such as terrorism. The term ‘War on Terror’ has been continually invoked to justify breaches of the Constitution as well as the basic civil liberties of citizens and foreigners alike. The invocation of this phrase has repeatedly prohibited rational discussions regarding civil injustices such as profiling individuals based on their race. Therefore racial profiling has continued unabated including the profiling of young black men since September 11, 2001. The not-so-subtle insinuation is that â€Å"one cannot condemn racial profiling because to do so will hinder the war on terrorism and undermine national security† (McDonald, 2001). The popularly stated position is that racial profiling is necessary because not using this tool of law enforcement would compromise the effort against terrorism thus

I have a choice of 2 topics. Agression or Understanding Self Essay

I have a choice of 2 topics. Agression or Understanding Self - Essay Example But the Aggression in simple terms signifies an act of hostility initiated to cause physical or mental harm or injury. An accidental harm or injury caused cannot be termed as aggression. The act of aggression is often deliberate. The type of aggression mostly stems from its causes, and hence has various forms and categories. However, in the most basic form, aggression can be categorized as physical, verbal and mental. According to Moyer (1968), Aggression or aggressive behavior can be further categorized into seven different types such as Predatory aggression, Inter – male aggression, Fear induced aggression, irritable aggression, territorial aggression, maternal aggression and instrumental aggression. However, in humans, aggression can also be caused / learned by imitation for instance, prolonged exposure to violence through media, either television; internet or video games may cause aggressive behavior in young children. Some other significant contributing factors which might lead to aggressive behavior include consumption of alcohol, mental pain or discomfort, frustration, etc. Continuous exposure to discomfort may cause irritation and provoke aggressive responses for instance, working in extreme temperatures hot / cold. There have been several researches and studies that suggest that even the presence of a violent object such as gun or knife, may trigger aggressive behavior. Gender and age also plays a significant role in stimulating anger or aggression. Various studies suggest that males are generally more physically aggressive as compared to females. This major difference is found to be the most major gender difference across all cultures and age groups. However, even young children display aggressive behavioral characteristics especially when exposed to fear, or during exposure to family conflicts as well as while undergoing mental trauma. This section describes and discusses various aspects /

Environmental Laws Essay Example for Free

Environmental Laws Essay The constant North South divide over enforcement of international environmental law plagues the operationalisation of many international treaties. Most developing countries are caught in a cleft stick. Whilst understanding the need for environmental action, they also require increasing industrial activity for achieving economic growth and poverty alleviation objectives, activities that entail definite enhancements in greenhouse emission. They are additionally constrained by their lack of resources and do not wish to divert what is available from developmental needs. Many developing countries also suffer from lack of necessary infrastructure and underdeveloped legal and judicial systems to be able to carry out treaty obligations in an organised and systemic manner. (Bell Russell, 2002) Whilst many international agreements are worded to ensure their legal binding on signatory nations, these treaties do not become enforceable within a country until their enactment into domestic law is complete. Australia, for example, has signed on the Montreal Protocol and the World Heritage Convention and carried out appropriate domestic legislation. Apart from taking these legislative measures, the nation has enacted several laws for environmental regulation. (Lyster, 2004) The Environment protection and Biodiversity Act, 1999, is a key legislation that gives effect to the country’s international law obligations. Numerous other enactments like the amended Fisheries Management Act, 1991, The Maritime Legislation Amendment (Prevention of Pollution from Ships) Act, 2006, the Protection of the Sea (Harmful Anti-fouling Systems) Act 2006 also work towards enhancing environmental protection and bringing the domestic legal system in line with its international treaty obligations. (Australian Legal Information Institute, 2007) Domestic enactment of new laws, (as well as amendment of existing laws) is necessary because it makes the country’s commitment towards international environmental laws concrete and their provisions enforceable. In the absence of specific domestic legislation little action can be taken against environmental offenders and controlling environmental degradation becomes well nigh impossible. Compared to the Australian approach, which involves legal enactment and resolute enforcement of international law obligations, the actions adopted by a developing country like Bangladesh appear to be significantly inadequate. The country, (which became independent only in 1971), drafted a broad ranging environmental policy in 1991 but is still to enact any of its major features into law even though sixteen years have passed since. Factors like internal strife, lack of developed legal systems, and scarce resources, have prevented the country from moving forward on environmental action. Whilst economies like India and South Africa have been able to make significant progress on the environmental front, many developing countries in Africa, Asia and South America share Bangladesh’s problems and are thus unable or unwilling to abide by international environmental law obligations. (Mastny French, 2002) 3. Conclusion The inherent weaknesses in rules of international diplomacy render many environmental treaties practically pointless. Seeing the abject non implementation of most environmental treaties by developing nations, international organisations are seeking new ways to toughen these agreements. While most such laws impose few penalties, peer pressure is emerging as a potent tool for this purpose. Some treaties also ask nations to report on the progress of promises made at the time of agreement. Beyond persuasion and embarrassment, trade incentives also help in securing compliance. Members of the Montreal Protocol, for example, are forbidden to purchase CFCs or products containing them from nations that have not agreed to the treaty, a condition that has led many nations to join the treaty and take action to reduce ozone depletion. (Bell Russell, 2002) International agencies, sympathetic nations and NGOs can encourage soft laws through funding decisions and public campaigns. Soft laws tend to establish certain expectations-or create an international mindset-that can then form the basis for more permanent agreements. A large part of the inability of developing nations to act on accord occurs because of their poverty and constrained resources. Redressing this imbalance will depend largely on providing financial and technical assistance to developing nations-and ensuring that funds are well spent. References ASEAN Ministers Okay Agreement on Environmental Laws. (2006, November 12). Manila Bulletin, p. NA. Australian Legal Information Institute, 2007, Retrieved September 25, 2007 from www. austlii. edu. au Barrett, S. (2005). Environment and Statecraft: The Strategy of Environmental Treaty-Making. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

History Of Weibull Distribution

History Of Weibull Distribution In probability theory and statistics, the Weibull distribution is one of the most important continuous probability distributions. It was, first introduced by W. Weibull in 1939 when he was studying the issue of structural strength and life data analysis, and was formally named after him later in 1951. He proposed the chain model to explain the structural strength. Based on the assumption that a structure is composed of several small components (n pieces) in series, we could consider the structure as being composed of an n-rings chain, the strength of which (or life) completely depends on the weakest rings strength (or life). In his model, with the assumption that the strength of different rings are independent and identically distributed, finding the strength distribution of the chain become the problem of finding the distribution of the weakest ring. Due to the result of research conducted by Gnedenko (1943), no matter what the original distribution of the variable is, the asymptotic distribution of the minimum could only be three different forms. The Weibull distribution is one of them. Since Weibull distribution is established on the weakest link model, which could sufficiently reflect the defect of material and the effects of stress concentration, it has been considered as appropriate model to describe strength of fiber material in practical application. 1.2 Stress-Strength Analysis Stress-Strength Analysis is the analysis of the survival of materials subjected to a random stress. Stress-Strength Analysis is a commonly used tool in reliability engineering. The stress-strength reliability is given by Where is the pdf of the strength distribution and is the cumulative distribution function of the stress distribution. In this case, the data for the strength set would be actual data that is indicative of the strength of the material (i.e. maximum applied stress to cause failure), and the stress data would be actual stress data of the material under use conditions. 1.3 Research Motivation Target Judging from physical of carbon fibers, microscopic flaws cause tensile failure to occur below the intrinsic strength of the fiber. Therefore, analysis of tensile failure data should provide insight into the distribution of flaws within fiber. The fiber might be viewed as a chain of interlocking links, with the flaws acting as weak links in the chain. As the same model mentioned previously, the chain will fail at its weakest link. Usually tensile data do not confirm to rigid statistical distributions. Therefore, they cannot be represented by the specific fixed statistical distribution accurately. Instead, it is necessary to use a flexible distribution that enables the shape of the distribution function to be altered by the data itself. Under this situation, the Weibull distribution is one the natural choice.[] Although based on the theoretical model, Weibull distribution should be an appropriate description strength distribution for carbon fibers. However, judging from empirical data, it always suggests that the Weibull distribution is not an appropriate model for carbon fibers. One plausible problem is validity of independency assumption in the chain of links model. In that model, we assume a physical system is consisted of n identical units or items connected in series and each unit should be independently and identically distributed. However, in practice, this strict assumption cannot be guaranteed, which will cause the discrepancy of between real strength and Weibull distribution. For example, if there is a defect hole on n-th link, this defect hole will probably expend to adjacent link(n-1-th and n+1-th). That causes the problem of dependency. Another popular plausible explanation is clamp effects which is analysed in detail by Phoenix and Sexsmith[]. In building upon this work, Stoner[] developed new end-effect Weibull model, in which distinct Weibull distributions were used to characterize failures from true flaws and from artifacts in carbon fibers. Although, to some extent, the end-effect Weibull model accurately descripts the data upon which it was based, it provokes our interests in pre-stress issue applied on carbon fiber before it got tested. Because in practice, such as in the strength test, fiber always suffer stress before they can be tested. For example, in the popular experiment proposed by Bader Pries[], there is no guaranty that single fiber could be distinguished without any slight press of damage. Thus, in that experiment, they stress the fibers before they get tested, which will cause the strength test result representing all fibers performance survived from pre-stress. This question arise our interest in study of pre-stress Weibull distribution. In the problem we will discuss in this thesis, we assume that original strength of fiber is Weibull distributed. Therefore, if there is no pre-stress applied on fiber material, the final strength will be also Weibull distributed without any changes from origins. However, judging from common sense, pre-stress could not be avoided exclusively before the strength test. They usually could occur in shipping procedure, and pre-test preparation procedure. Our goal is to find out under what conditions these pre-stressed fiber have a (approximately) Weibull distribution. In the second chapter, the results of survival fiber strength distribution under multi-type pre-stressed condition have been given out. At same time, a minimum censoring proportion has been set up to assure the pre-stress has a significant effect on original fiber material. In the third chapter, MSE is used to measure the fitness of the pre-stressed censored sample and nearest Weibull distribution. Moreover, we discuss the goodness of fit test applied to the pre-stressed censored sample and Weibull distribution with parameters value equal to MLEs from censored sample, which is considered as nearest Weibull distribution based on the censored sample. In the fourth chapter, the simulation results of two methods proposed in the third chapter have been discussed and analyzed. Finally, we will give out a conclusion about survival distribution of pre-stress Weibull distribution. Chapter 2 Weibull Family and Pre-Stressed Censored Sample 2.1 Basic Properties of Weibull Distribution The probability density function of a Weibull random variable is The parameter is the shape parameter, is the scale parameter, and is the location parameter of the distribution. When , this reduces to the usual two-parameter Weibull distribution. The Weibull distribution is related to many other probability distributions; in particular, it interpolates between the exponential distribution () and the Rayleigh distribution (). The CDF The cumulative distribution function for the two parameter Weibull distribution is for , and for . The failure rate (or hazard rate) is given by: The Mean The mean, , of Weibull pdf is given by: Where is the gamma function evaluated at the value of . The Median The median, , is given by: The Mode The mode, , is given by: The Standard Deviation The standard deviation, is given by: Applications The Weibull distribution has multiple applications in practical world. Survival analysis Reliability engineering Weather forecasting General insurance 2.2 Censored Weibull Sample Because our primary interest is to study strength distribution of fiber material after pre-stressed, we need to generate various censored Weibull sample which is applied multi-type pre-stress. Given and are independent random variables where represent original strength of material and pre-strength individually. So the problem of our interest is what distribution does variable have? To state the problem more clearly, we assume the original strength of material always yield to Weibull distribution family. And the pre-stress yield to three different distribution families which are Weibull, Normal and Gamma. Based on different parameter choice, we will try to find out what values of the parameters give us that survival strength yield to or approximately yield to Weibull distribution. Mentioned in Chapter 1, we assume is weibull distributed with different shape and scale parameter. In this paper, we will from (pre-stress variable) from three different distribution: Weibull distribution, Gamma distribution, and Normal distribution. Also as similar as original strength set, in each distribution option, different parameters are chosen to generate various censored Weibull sample. Meanwhile, since trivial results are not what we expected, a certain censoring ratio has been set up to guarantee there is a significant effect of pre-stress applied on original fiber carbon material. Serving to this purpose, samples with censoring proportion is 0.5 or greater than 0.5 will be kept, which is considered as plausible limit of censoring ratio. Chapter 3 Mean Squared Error and Goodness of Fit Test The Mean Squared Error (MSE) is a measure of how close fitted curve is to data points. For every data point, the vertical distance from the point to the corresponding value on the fitted curve (the error) will be taken, and the value will be squared. Then those squared values have been added up for all data points, and been divided by the number of points, which is considered as a mean. Since all errors have been switched into positive values on matter what original sign they have, negative values do not cancel positive values. The smaller the Mean Squared Error, the closer the fit curve is to the data points. MSE has been widely used for quantitative performance metric in the field of statistical regression and engineering, such as signal processing. 3.1 Comparison of MSE of Censored Weibull Sample Based on the censored Weibull Sample we got, we will calculate out MLE of parameters for Weibull distribution, noted as and , which is considered as nearest Weibull distribution to censored weibull sample. Since our objective is to measure fitness of censored Weibull sample and nearest Weibull distribution, MSE between of censored Weibull sample and Weibull distribution with parameters and . We establish the MSE as following way: Where are censored Weibull sample which is sorted as . is empirical CDF at sample point . is defined as sample size. And is CDF of Weibull distribution with parameter , which is MLEs got based on censored Weibull sample. In addition, a baseline of MSE comparison is established by calculating MSE between the sample of size from Weibull() and Weibull() distribution. Where consist the sample of size from Weibull(), which is sorted as ascending order: . is empirical CDF at sample point . And is CDF of Weibull distribution with parameter . 3.2 Comparison via Simulation Result We conducted a large-scale simulation study to compare of the performance of difference between base MSE and sample MSE depends on different censoring stress distribution and parameter chosen. For example, let original strength distribution yields to Weibull(1,1), and censoring stress distribution is Gamma distribution with parameter value chosen from the range 0.25 to 2.5, then we will focus on the performance of fitness of cersored sample to Weibull distribution from various aspects such as censoring proportion, shape parameter value of censoring distribution and scale parameter value of censoring distribution. From above figure, we could not hardly see that the MSE increases with increasing of cersoring proportion, which could be simply interpreted as survival data will go off the original strength distribution when considerable proportion of original strength failed the pre-stress test. Meanwhile, the base MSE keeps relatively stable, since it will not be affected by different pre-stress distribution. Therefore, it is obvious to tell that difference between MSE and base MSE is raised up when the censoring proportion increases, which indicates fitness will go worse at same time. The series of comparison MSE chart are arranged by the ascending order of value of Shape Parameter of Gamma Distribution. If we focus on the changing trend of Average Difference between Sample MSE and Base MSE, we could easily figure out that the Average Difference decreases as long as value of shape parameter become smaller and smaller. This shows that fitness of sample is improved by using smaller shape parameter of pre-stress Gamma distribution. On the other side, if we focus on each individual chart, it is not too hard to find that when the value of Scale increases, difference between Sample MSE and Baseline decreases, which indicates fitness is improved by larger scale parameter chosen. This phenomenon could be interpreted as larger scale brings in less spread compared with smaller ones create absolute peak in pdf, which breaks the continuity of censored sample. Above figure is overall behavior of MSE based on different choice of shape and scale parameter of pre-stress gamma distribution. To summary up, In general MSE boosts up where is smaller scale value and larger shape values. Fitness performance indicates censored sample is still Weibull (or approximately Weibull) distributed when shape and scale parameter choice close to minimum and maximum individually. Chapter 4 Fit Study Based on Weibull Goodness-of-Fit Tests In order to study whether the censored weibull distribution data yields to a weibull distribution, we first generate different censored weibull samples based on different censoring function. Then we use the weibull distribution with parameters value equal to MLE of censored sample as hypothesis. Three Goodness-of-Fit Tests are manipulated to censored weibull samples. We check whether simulation results shows censored weibull sample still yields to a weibull distribution. Goodness-of-fit tests Goodness-of-fit tests for the two-parameter Weibull distributions have drawn considerable attention since its critical importance. Mann and others (1973), Smith and Bain (1976), Stephens (1977), Littell and others (1979), Chandra and others (1981), Tiku and Singh (1981), Wozniak and Warren (1984), and James and others (1989) have gave out universal discussion of this problem. Mann and others (1973) and Tiku and Singh (1981) proposed new statistics to test the goodness-of-fit of two-parameter Weibull distribution. ), Smith and Bain (1976) proposed a test statistic to test normality which is analogous to the Shapiro-Francis statistic. The Smith and Bain statistic was derived from the sample correlation between the order statistics of a sample and the expected value of the order statistics under the assumption that the sample comes from a two-parameter Weibull distribution. They provided critical values for samples containing 8, 20, 40, 60, 80 observations. Stephens (1977) provided tabl es of the asymptotic critical values of the Anderson-Darling statistic and the Cramer-von Mises statistic for various significance levels. Littell and others (1979) made a comparison among the Mann, Scheuer, and Fertig statistic, the Smith and Bain statistic, the modified Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistic, the modified Anderson-Darling statistic, and the modified Cramer-von Mises statistics through a various of power studies for sample size n = 10 to 40. Critical values for the , , and statistics for n = 10 to 40 have been calculated and provided at the same time. Chandra and others (1981) calculated critical values for the Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistic for n = 10, 20, 50 and infinity for three situations. James and others produced extensive tables of goodness-of-fit critical values for the two parameter Weibull distributions developed through simulation for the Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistic, the Anderson-Darling statistic, and Shapiro-Wilk-type correlation statistics. Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistic Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (Chakravart, Laha, and Roy, 1967) is widely used for comparing a sample with a reference probability distribution (one-sample K-S test), or for comparing two samples (two-sample K-S test). Since it is highly sensitive to distinguish the difference of the empirical cumulative distribution functions of the tested samples, it has been considered as one of the most useful nonparametric methods for comparing two samples. Kolomogorov-Smirnov test is based on the distance between the empirical distribution function of the sample and the cumulative distribution function of the reference distribution, or between the two samples empirical distribution functions. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test has been modified to serve as a goodness of fit test here. The modified Komogorov-Smirnov D statistic is given by where is the empirical distribution function of the sample and is the fitted distribution. Anderson-Darling statistic Anderson-Darling test (Stephens, 1974) is used to test whether the data follow a particular distribution. It is named after Theodore Wilbur Anderson and Donald A. Darling who proposed it in 1952. Anderson-Darling test is based on Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and enjoys superior property of more sensitive due to specific distribution application in calculating critical values. Contrarily, its disadvantage is that critical values must be calculated for each distribution. Anderson-Darling test has been modified to serve as a goodness of fit test here. The modified Anderson-Darling statistic is given by Where and is the th-order statistic. Shapiro-Wilk-Type correlation statistics In statistics, the Shapiro-Wilk test is used as the tester of goodness-of-fit test of normal distribution. It has the superior power compared with other statistics in detecting the data comes from a relatively wide range of other distributions for testing goodness-of-fit of normal distributions which has been proposed from Monte-Carlo study of Shapiro and others (1968). Shapiro-Wilk test has been modified to serve as a goodness of fit test here. The statistic first proposed by Shapiro and Francia (1972) but with approximate scores suggested by Filliben (1975) and modified form fitting for good-of-fit test for Weibull distributions is given by: And Is the median score, in the spirit of Filliben, except that these scores depend upon the maximum likelihood estimate the Weibull shape parameter . If a variable has the two-parameter Weibull distribution, the variable has an extreme value distribution. Calculating goodness-of-fit on this scale has advantages. Since the extreme value distributions are defined by location and scale parameters, the critical values for the correlation statistic are not dependent on the true shape parameter. Thus, for two-parameter Weibull distribution, we propose the correlation-type statistic , where And Simulation Result