In Our Modern Urban Lifestyle Essay

Following the development of technology, the quality of life becomes better off. It is attractive enough to live in cities, because people can enjoy a lot of convenient facilities. However, some people believe that many people do not know their neighbours and the sense of community has been lost with the increasing number of people in cities. In this essay the effect of the modern urban lifestyle in cities will be discussed. Nowadays, many people tend to live in cities for different reasons. They move into cities mainly for work. Because they leave early in the morning and come back home late in the evening. They do not want to waste their time on a train or bus. If they live in cities, they do not need to wake up early to take a train or bus. Furthermore, living in cities means that they can easily find places or facilities to fill their every need in the urban life, which is valued in the individual lifestyle rather than the sense of community. On the other hand, many people seem to be more isolated than ever before. Because of focusing on the individual lifestyle in modern time, it is hard to have an opportunity to make a deep relationship with people living around. People do not usually know what happens to their neighbours. Humans are social creatures that cannot be independent of others. As a result, even if there are a lot of convenient places in cities, they cannot fulfil satisfaction of people. Most people in cities fall into the sense of isolation. They need to realise the negative effect of their lifestyle and make effort to join in communities in their lives, so that they can live in a simpler way of life.

San Diego School System

Question 1: What is the appropriate discount rate for a government agency such as the San Diego City Schools? The appropriate discount rate should be determined from the federal risk free interest rate plus a small risk premium. The federal risk free interest rate in 2002 averaged 5. 4%. Using this as the base, a government agency other than the federal government would need to add a small risk premium to compensate investors for the additionalrisk associated with being a school district instead of the federal government. San Diego would also need to add additional compensation to account for tax factors. With these factors in mind, San Diego should use a discount factor of approximately 7. 8% (5. 4% risk free rate + . 5% risk premium + 1. 9% tax compensation). Question 2: Calculate the ROI for San Diego’s ERP system. How can you quantify the soft benefits of the system and include them in the analysis? The soft benefits can be quantified through creative assumptions. These assumptions can come from experiences others had when implementing similar solutions or from drawing on similarities between other quantifiable benefits. Other principals compared their successful implementation like receiving an additional recruiting team, valued at $320K/year, this can be used as the estimate for Weiman’simproved recruiting due to the HR solution. Likewise, SDCS spent $400k/year on an internal audit team to provide access to HR data, this team could be disbanded with the implementation of an HR solution leading to a $400k/year benefit. Improved employee morale and productivity could be measured by a lower turnover rate, leading to lower training costs and recruitment costs, as well as higher output rates leading to lower clerical demands and improved service. {draw:frame} Question 3: With the information you have access to, what should Weimann present and recommend at the board meeting? Specifically, would you recommend going forward with the HR system implementation? If not, what alternatives would you suggest? Currently, payroll is managed through paper time cards and time sheets, leading to errors and wasted hours for correction. Over twenty eight different forms are used to process various pay actions. With an ERP HR solution, these forms could be simplified, transitioned to paperless and would become more convenient as a result. The ERP HR solution would also result in fewer errors, with employees checking in and out through the system instead of paper cards. Employees would also be able to frequently check their timecard and make payroll aware of any errors, before paychecks were distributed eliminating, or greatly reducing, the need for any out of period paychecks which increased payroll processing costs dramatically. Employee benefits are currently handled by the benefits department which also monitors payments by employees and the benefits status of each employee. With an ERP solution, employees could be held responsible for their own payments and ensure good standing by monitoring their accounts. Question 4: What are the risks associated with the project? Would you advise the school board of these risks? As presenting the program to the school board, risks would be brought up in order to ensure no corners were cut after initial implementation. In would be advised and urged that the risks of implementation are natural and inevitable with any technological system. As with any ERP system, many setbacks will be crossed. However, the benefits clearly outweigh the risks and should implementation succeed, the school board will greatly benefit with long term cost reductions.

Creative Writing – It was just like any normal day in the picturesque suburb of Massapequa, N.Y.

It was just like any normal day in the picturesque suburb of Massapequa, N. Y. It was in the middle of fall and leaves were scattered on people's front lawns. It was a completely ordinary Sunday morning with people either going to the shops or just casually lazing around on their verrandahs, everyone leading a deceptively offhand style. But all was not the same for the Rediros. This family were living descendants and a modern replica of the infamous Gambino family. Amongst the Rediros' neighbourhood they present themselves differently and carry out their lives in a normal manner around home and try to show the residents they are average people living an uneventful, debonair life with a nonchalant attitude to life. Most of the criminal activity comes from the father of the family, Al Rediro, he was so high up in the ranks of the elusive New York crime family he practically had his own army there was talk from amongst his father's friends that Al Rediro was to become il capo di tutti cappi, the boss of bosses, godfather and chosen heir to Paul Castellano. Al Rediro made his money from owning various strip joints, bars, nightclubs, drug dealing, money laundering, prostitution and owning New York's biggest illicit stolen car ring. Carlo was one of the many people visiting the shops that day; he popped along to get some bread and milk. But once he returned he was in for a shock, a very big shock. He encroached his six bed-roomed well furnished house walking up the drive to notice the front door open; it all seemed a bit peculiar to Carlo for a neat family, leaving there front door open shows means there showing the neighbourhood into their lives. He could view through the illustrious and grand front door and immediately spotted furniture upturned and out of place; the house looked surprisingly out of touch for the neat family. He slowly peered his head inside and got more than he bargained for, he could blatantly tell someone had forced an entry quite simply ransacked the place, whether they had done anything else was for him to find out. He wondered around the ground floor and looked around, â€Å"hello, anyone there† he asked. He stood there looking helpless with a great big white, blank face as a sign of fear and desperation, wishing for a member of his family to reply. Silence. Carlo began to step around in his hallway cautiously watching where his feet landed amongst the furniture left wrecked around his house. He found nothing of use to him in finding his family, so he backed up against one of the walls and threw a book through the living room door on his left side, to show he's there in case anyone was in there. Then carefully, very slowly, he gently moved his head so only one eye could see in, he saw nothing wrong but could only see half of the room. Then suddenly he plucked up enough courage inside him and quickly jumped in to witness the tragic scene of his sister Ella lying with her back down on the sofa. That was the sofa the family would sit on and enjoy nights in and sing songs with the rest of the family, but now this time it was very different for his sister, Ella had been brutally stabbed in the back, the claret-red blood was all over her back saturating the back of her shirt, it was dripping off her nose from her face and staining the sofa all over. Carlo stood there about ten yards from her body standing completely shocked and dismayed. Carlo was now engaged in an emotional outburst crying out loud as any other 12 year old boy would seeing a dead body, especially his sister's, he began to sprint aimlessly around the house not having a clue what to do. Carlo dashed in and out of every room on his ground floor of his three storey house hoping to find a member of his family alive, but there was nothing to be seen, just more wreckage of their once beautifully kept house with beautiful dicor. He sprinted through his hallway, past the front door he arrived through and tore it up his staircase screaming for aid, help and to see his family. Once at the top to see he saw straight across the landing, his worst nightmare had just got even worse, he had now found his mother hanging from a noose in her bedroom doorway. The coldest part was when Carlo unexpectedly witnessed a gruesome sight of blood stemming profusely from her stomach. She had been riddled with bullets from an automatic gun across her torso to make sure she never survived her slow death of hanging. Continuously crying, Carlo was becoming more and more desperate by the minute. He carried running in and out of the bedrooms and had noticed Robbi, Carlo's nineteen year old brother had his window wide open. Carlo ran across and by now had learnt to expect the worst. He looked out everywhere to witness nothing wrong but peered his head out a bit more to look straight down and see Robbi square on the patio lying cold. Courageously he vowed to continue looking for his last possible living family member, his father, Al. Undoubtedly this attack on the family was from someone who knew Al and were never going to leave him be they were certain to chillingly kill him just like every other member of Carlo's family. In utter desperation Carlo continued searching. He had combed the whole house, apart from the basement where Carlo knew Al spent a lot of time. He sprinted down the steps to see fresh blood still wet on the floor. He followed one end of the trail to lead him to a laundry basket; quickly he opened it and straight away recognised a body but no head. He immediately followed the other end of the trail of blood to stand in front of the washing machine; he looked through the transparent screen to see his father's head knocking around. Carlo, screaming senselessly in a fit of anger, he was completely deluded as if he was in his worst nightmare, he knew he'd hit rock bottom. Without any hesitations he ran straight up the steps and across the hallway and exited through the front door and ran down the block heading for the park where he plays with his friends after school. But Carlo bumped into a man he recognised but hadn't introduced himself ever before, Carlo recognised him from the trips he had made to the grocery store throughout his childhood. The man introduced himself as Zack and immediately could tell something major had gone on in Carlo's life very recently. Carlo described to him the situation he was in and they wondered back to his flat and from then on they hit it off, they had a lot of things in common and they were more or less from the same background, Zack felt for Carlo and Carlo moved in with him. That night they watched the news and discovered the attack was an event waiting to happen amongst the underworld for many weeks. Ever since the trial of Vince Vandetti, Al de Miro had been waiting for it. Al de Miro had committed the biggest unwritten rule for anyone in the underworld, grassing. Al testified against Vince in his trial for the numerous money laundering arrangements he had made. Al wouldn't have done it but he gave in to the Courts, he was gong to risk jail for all his illicit businesses had it not been for all the deceitful and corrupt judges. They had struck a deal with Al, he testified and he would get immunity. Carlo had learnt everything now, everything was fitting into place but couldn't forget his father, his father had completely let the family down. For the next few weeks Carlo settled into Zack's two bed-roomed apartment. Together they worked well; they bonded to the extent that Zack became his legal guardian. But one day Carlo noticed something that would turn his life around – again. Zack was cleaning the barrel of a handgun. Carlo shocked with disbelief thought his days of lies and crime were over questioned Zack, â€Å"Why have you got a gun? † Zack replied calmly â€Å"this is my job Carlo. I'm a cleaner; I get paid to do this†. Carlo was in an outrage. â€Å"Did you kill my family? † Zack told Carlo he would never do such a thing because he has two rules:- 1. No women 2. No children He also told him he doesn't know who killed his family. Carlo is a soloist who does jobs for the Mafia and proclaimed he has never had links with Vince Vandetti. From then on Carlo agreed with him and believed him, he changed also as a person and began to train with Zack for the skills he needed, Zack became an inspiration and Carlo declared he wanted to be a cleaner as well. After over 9 months of intensive training and expert tips Carlo turned into a one time 15 year old with a scrawny figure to a muscle bounding, flesh hungry assassin. They were beginning jobs together and by the age of 17, Carlo had killed 12 men. There was one job though that the Mafia gave Carlo and Zack, this was thought to be a good incentive for Carlo, it was to eliminate Vince Vandetti from life. The job was also aimed to take out the whole Vandetti family, Vince had got off lightly as some of the charges against him were dropped for a lack of evidence, this meant he was only in prison for two years. Once out Vince and his own family had severed links with the Mafia as Al de Miro was much loved within the Mafia. Since out of prison Vince grew links down south with the Columbian Mafia. So for Zack and Carlo to do their job they went there, they posed as drug dealers and arranged a meeting with him at a casino. However, they had other things on their mind and set up a post on the roof of a building with their sniper and night-vision scope. They found him dressed in a long dark grey jacket on the crowded street, the setting was perfect as they would never be caught as everyone would be panicking, then they aimed at him and Carlo fired with pleasure. They decided between themselves that he was definitely dead quickly before a mass crowd occurred around him; they fled the scene and got on the next plane to New York. All was well, they touched down safely and got on with the rest of their lives and carried on doing more jobs. Three months later word must have spread, Carlo and Zack had been found out and on a normal trip to the grocery store they were both wrestled by two men into a dark alley and executed in the head as part of a reprisal. They paid the consequences for just one of their many jobs, people said Carlo should have given up and left the New York crime scene since the loss of his family and set up life elsewhere and continued with the rest of his childhood but he didn't and ultimately paid the price. But people who remembered Carlo and Zack, the only people who can consecrate their memory, were fellow callous minded members of the Mafia from the New York underground crime scene turned up to their joint funeral to give their condolences to two very loyal colleagues killed on the job.

Case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 21

Case Study Example Additionally, â€Å"Persuasion  is a matter of persuaders engineering actors decisions to produce the desired action† (Funkhouser & Parker, 1999, p.28). Jill presents raw data to her guests that require her to breakdown for them so that they may be emotionally appealed. She further makes the assumption that once they leave they will read the information in the folder that she presents to them. Jill completely fails to communicate to her guests effectively because of the lack of emphasis to the significance of her proposed research. Effective communication requires adequate appeal to the passion, logic and the character of an individual. Jill’s does not appeal to these aspects hence she is not able to convince her guests to donate towards her research. As pointed out by Barker (2010), â€Å"the key to effective persuasion is having powerful ideas and delivering them well† (p.75). Though Jill presents herself and her work in a systematic and orderly way, she does not convince the guests to be passionate about her work. In addition, she does not appeal to their logic by demonstrating clearly in very basic language how the project would be helpful to the society as well as the donors. Instead, she assumes that the guests (donors) will understand what she is up to. Nothstine & Michael (1989) have mentioned that â€Å"most people have never been trained in formal logic and reasoning† (p. 47). On the other hand, the potential donors are people that are rich and their character may be based on the need for self-actualization. Jill fails to clearly communicate to the guests by appealing to their character. It is clear that there is an aspect that is lacking in the communication, as well put by Mayo and Jarvis (1992), â€Å"Persuasive  communication  is more effective when salespeople create a sense of togetherness with those with whom they speak† (p.1). At the ends of the day, she ends up not getting any correspondence from

Ernest Hemingway Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Ernest Hemingway - Research Paper Example Ernest Hemingway lived a colorful and heroic life, and the reflection of the incidents he encountered, some of them near death situations, the two World Wars and the holocaust make his literature the storehouse of rich experiences. His writing style is unhurried and unique. Ernest Hemingway: Biography Ernest Miller Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois and he is the second child of his parents Grace Hall and Clarence Edmonds Hemingway. His father was a medial practitioner and his mother was a teacher of music. They took interest in serving the Church and did their duties there. Hemingway’s latent literary genius was showing as a student, but his teacher had problems with his handwriting. After graduation, he shifted to Kansas City and joined as a cub reporter for the Star Newspaper. The ongoing World War excited him and he joined Red Cross as an ambulance driver. He was injured in the war and during the course of his recuperation, he met Agnes von Kurowsky. Ernest took the relationship seriously but Agnes treated him as a kid. The result of his war-related experiences was the book â€Å"A Farewell to Arms†. He returned to America to be honored as a war hero. With the termination of relationship with Agnes, Hemingway was heart-broken. In Chicago, when on freelance assignments, he met Hadley Richardson and they got married in 1921. Both of them moved to Paris, on the advice of a friend, to live in association with other writers. That move brought Hemingway to the limelight in the world of literature. Ernest Hemingway was on the move on the literary canvas. In Paris he did some writing for the Toronto Star newspaper. In 1923, His work â€Å"Three Stories and Ten Poems† was published I n Paris. His first child was born, a son who was affectionately called â€Å"Bumby†. â€Å"The Sun Also Rises,† a novel published in 1926 brought him to the international circuit in literature. Soon the marriage with Hadley ended , but Hemingway remarried Pauline Pfeiffer and they moved to Key West, Florida. His father committed suicide while he was completing â€Å"A Farewell to Arms† and his writing was interrupted. By then Hemingway had taken to heavy drinking. They had two sons during the period 1928 to 1931. He had a disciplined approach to hid work, notwithstanding his drinking habit. Further books followed like, â€Å"Death In the Afternoon†, â€Å"The Snows of Kilimanjaro†, and â€Å"The Green Hills of Africa.† The marriage again was on the rocks and he went to Spain accompanied by his new love Martha Gellhorn. In 1940, he was celebrating the publication of â€Å"For Whom the Bell Tolls† and in the same year he divorced Pauline. They jointly bought a house in Cuba and World War II broke out and Hemingway went to Europe to cover the war. Martha was already there to work. Their relationship however ended in 1945. He was in love again and he married Mary Welsh in the y ear 1946.They returned to Cuba and Hemingway was on his writing assignments again. Soon his great novel, â€Å"The Old Man and The Sea† was published and that fetched to him the Pulitzer Prize. In 1954 he won the Nobel Prize for literature. He met with an accident; as such he was unable to remain present in the Nobel Award presentation ceremony. The next phase in his life was full of tragedies. Ernest and Mary were enjoying a safari in Africa, and they were involved in a plane crash. The injuries were minor and the rescue plane

Important Sex Linked Disorder That Affects Humans Assignment

Important Sex Linked Disorder That Affects Humans - Assignment Example Crossing a female with the disease with a male that doesn’t have it will result in all male offspring having the disease and all females being carriers. Finally, crossing a female and a male both that have the disease will result in all offspring having it. Many genetic disorders are inherited recessively. As such the child must have two copies of the allele for it to show phenotypically. One such disorder is cystic fibrosis. This condition results in the excess build up of mucus in many organs including the lungs and liver, as well as increased susceptibility to developing infections. Without treatment, the disease often results in death at early childhood. A cross between a female carrier (Cc) and a male with the disease (CC) would result in 50% of the offspring having the disease, and the other 50% being carriers. A cross between two carriers (Cc) would result in a quarter of the offspring having the disease, half being carriers and the final quarter not inheriting the alle le. Lastly, a cross between two individuals with the disease would result in all of the offspring having the disease. ... Thus, a cross between two carriers (heterozygotes) would result in three-quarters of the offspring having the disease and one not. A cross between a female that did not have the disease and a male carrier (heterozygote) would result in half of the offspring having the disease and the other half not. Finally, a cross between two individuals with the disease depends on the genotypes of each. If both have only one copy of the disease allele, the one-quarterer of their offspring will not have the disease. However, if even one of them is homozygous, then all offspring will have the disease.

Conflict Management - Intrapersonal, Intergroup and Interpersonal Research Paper

Conflict Management - Intrapersonal, Intergroup and Interpersonal Types of Conflicts - Research Paper Example Organizations undergo changes due to new technological, political and social developments that affect them or due to changes in the competitive force. As people may hold a different view about the change and the future direction of an organization, conflicts may arise (Mullins). Personality Clashes: Individuals' personalities differ widely due to differences in their levels of maturity, emotional stability and their behaviour. When they do not recognize or appreciate these differences, conflicts occur. Differences in the value set: Different people have different opinions, values and beliefs. When people with contradicting values and beliefs interact with each other, conflicts are likely to occur. These conflicts are often irrational and difficult to be resolved (Newstorm). Threats to status: Most individuals associate their identity with their status in society or organizations. When an individual feels that another person's acts may harm or damage his image, which in turn may affect his status, conflict is likely to arise. Differences in Perceptions: People perceive different things, issues and their environment differently. When they act as though their perception is the only reality, without attempting to understand or accept another person's view, conflicts arise (Newstorm). Conflicts are common in all organizations and occur when people fail to arrive at a consensus regarding the organizational goals or the means to achieve them (Falletta). Organizational conflicts can be classified as follows: According to most behavioural theories, people are motivated to achieve a goal either when meeting the goal results in the satisfaction of a need, or when the incentives for achieving the goal are attractive. However, this is not as simple as it seems.

Debate Between The Epicureans And The Stoics Term Paper

Debate Between The Epicureans And The Stoics - Term Paper Example The Epicureans were contributed by Epicurus who was a Greek philosopher who lived between 341 BC and 270 BC. Epicurus founded the Garden in Athens in which he and his followers lived and practiced Epicurus’ philosophical ways of life. At the entrance of this place, they hanged a writing stating that Stranger, here you will do well to tarry. Here our highest good is pleasure’1. From this writing among others, the Epicureans are considered hedonists who believe that humanity should fulfill their earthly desires and pleasures and should never try or live according to the will of God in the same way as the Stoics. In other words, they note that humanity should try to live in some sort of happiness and pleasure while they are still on earth or before their death. Notably, the contribution attributed to these two schools of thoughts can be narrowed down to the Aristotelian school of thought that dictates that "the sort of person one is and the lifestyle one adopts will indeed have an immediate bearing on the actions one performs." Nonetheless, the Stoic is more plausible than the Epicureans school of thought. The Epicurean school of thought is divided into two axial lines of desires including natural and unnatural fulfillments. Some of these fulfillments may be considered necessary in life while others are considered unnecessary. Form these distinctions; it is apparent only some of the natural and necessary desires can be fulfilled while the other branch of categories, the unnatural and unnecessary desires are irrelevant and cannot be fulfilled. Nearly all the unnatural and unnecessary class of desires prescribed by Epicureans never exists. This is because only what natural desires are truly necessary and they are what exist. In other words, even the natural and unnecessary desires are never vital to the human life; thus, they must be considered void since they never satisfy human needs but they can only lead to confusion and disturbance of inner self s ufficient or the autarkeia2. Notably, from this classification of desires, it is apparent that their something or desires that are never necessary in human life and living them as means of self-fulfillment will only lead to destabilization of an individual’s inner self sufficiency. These two schools of thoughts also address their concerns on pleasure. Epicureanism classifies sexual intercourse as natural but unnecessary desire. In this case, Epicurus does not spell out total abstinence from sexual pleasures, but he thinks that such pleasure should be sampled carefully so that they are not confused with natural and necessary human desires. Epicurus once stated "Sexual intercourse never helped anyone, and one must be satisfied if it has not harmed3." In other words, he was noting that natural but unnecessary desires should be enjoyed while balancing such acts carefully in clear thinking minds. According Epicurus, for an individual â€Å"To enjoy these unnecessary desires and t o not make of them necessities, to take free pleasure in the unnecessary, this is the highest achievement4." However, this contribution varies Stoics that states that former believes makes make a person more virtuous that they can easily and effective sample natural and unnecessary without them being overwhelmed by these choices. In other words, Stoics contributes the fact that all human desires are governed by some natural forces that humanity must be answerable to; thus, it worth examining and individuals’ experience in order to define his or her next move. Additionally, Stoics argue that pleasure may lead threaten an individual tranquility; thus, it should be avoided at all costs. Additionally, other than pleasure, these two schools o

Meeting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Meeting - Essay Example As the first order of business under delegations/recognition the Spotlight on Excellence was awarded to a Pre-AP English teacher and Coach at Alamo Heights High School. Secondly, Alamo Heights Public Relations Awards were highlighted. Specifically, the Alamo Heights School Foundation and District Communication Office had received three state awards from the Texas School Relations Association. The specifics of those awards were discussed. Individual students’ achievement in state academic and sport competitions were recognized. Alamo Heights High School Student Council was also recognized for achieving the 2011 National Gold Council of Excellence Award from the National Association of Student Councils. The meeting then turned to possible items for action. A new format for elementary report cards were presented and the meeting informed that the new designs will be introduced in Fall 2011. No details were provided. Similarly, a strategic plan update was recorded in the meetings w ith scant information. The only information recorded was that the an update was provided concerning the plans for the â€Å"multiple lines of district communication† (Board Briefs, 2011). Other presentations were recorded similarly. For instance a revised dual language program and lottery procedures were presented without the benefit of any other details.

How to Improve Our Government Essay Example for Free

How to Improve Our Government Essay People every day make mistakes, and find flaws in their everyday tasks. No one person in this country can consider his, or herself, perfect. Knowledgeable people do exist in this world though, and our government strives to find and elect these representatives. These representatives then make decisions that affect our country in ways some might find positive, though others perceive as negative. Representatives could make decisions that would only impact our government in a negative way. Our government has its flaws, along with the people running it. I can think of several ways to help to improve the government and its efficiency. A decrease in government funding for our National Defense would increase funding in other important areas. People across our nation need jobs, and are struggling to find a source of income. If we used some of the funding that we attribute to our Nation Defense, then this money might benefit in the use of creating new jobs and opportunities for people. Not only would we have money to provide jobs, but this funding could be used to help create and search for new information in the field of Cancer Research. The government funds provide people that lack occupations and have no source of income, with a reliable way of obtaining money for themselves to provide for his or her, and/or his or her family. These welfare recipients may draw unemployment after applying and meeting the requirements need to obtain this welfare money. These requirements may not be strict enough, which would lead to the allowance of the unemployed to gather money while being lazy in the process. Due to the lack of work ethic found in people, drug use may attribute to this laziness. A requirement may need to be added in order for the recipients to pass a drug test (a test for multiple drugs) in order to draw unemployment, in return saving the wasted money the government provides to the unworthy. The government could invest much of their funding in renewable energy sources. The post installation outcome of these windmills, energy providing dams, etc. would help save money later on in the future. With these funds being provided to help â€Å"Go Green†, the earth itself would take a drastic increase in cleanliness. The government then might avoid conflicts  with foreign nations in the search for the fossil fuels, of which we currently use as energy. Doing this might then allow us to pull our troops out of these foreign nations, saving lives and money provided for the troops. The government has a reliable system that has gotten our country out of some troubled times, and may be one of the most united governments the world has seen. As previously stated though, nothing and no single person is perfect. With these little changes in the way the government goes about, it may impact funding, our unity, and occupations for the people of the United States, allowing people to live and prosper, with freedom and peace throughout.

Automation in IT Industry: Uses and Benefits

Automation in IT Industry: Uses and Benefits Automate IT processes Abstract Here is the procedure to analyzing the errors or bugs related to the Project in the IT industry using the automation tools. From this analysis we are able to find the processes of errors caused due to soundness or for syntactical errors Due to this errors the organization is non profitable or losing its profit sales it also lead to downfall of the shareholder values What are the reasons for IT process Automation? This Analysis is very important to the each and every organization to discuss within the company in all aspects of benefits that are achieved through the Automation, key value characteristics should be considered throughout the workflow of automation, and it should be challenged experience to the automation process Overview Now a days IT industry is more Complex than before. Cumulating the number of Apps, Servers , composite scope of Systems, and huge Records: all of this need to be maintained And managed , which is very big difficult task for IT industry in all the aspects like money, manpower.etc.. So Organizations of different Size is looking for an alternative Source which is related to maintain it with more efficiently. In almost all Societies records could be preserved trustworthy and safely. This are all leads to the customized applications As the size of the data increase it implies to the increase on organization administration software and computerization to preserve a reliability in the IT organization with additional professionally to influence on Manpower and increase awareness and retaining of the problematic finish. Monitoring, Ticketing, and change and configuration management are some of the categories for system management product Introduction Why Automation It is used to Save time and manpower it is used to increase efficiency Decrease Mean Time to Repair and increase Mean Biome Between failures man can make a mistake but machine cannot All size of Organizations (Small and Big) are processing there work flow through Automation. It is the best Suitable techniques to increase the Business in all the fields For every Societies a special team of members is organized to maintain the Automation Process This shows the Automation in IT Industry The above scenario shows the infrastructure of IT industry necessary steps to be take part in the growth of Organization Aim To deliver a systematic management solution to the client to procedure with the smooth workflow of an Application Intentions 1. Systematizing the remediation of events and warnings Many of the IT industry have Adopted the advanced technology to have a keen observation on the performance of their growing in IT infrastructures compare to the Other orginisation.There will be a quick alert is produced when any incidents occurred to the infrastructure. When such incidents happened there will automatic solution then and there itself. In IT Automation process, you can automate the remediation of many incidents occurred through: self-initiated, automatic work flow can be done from monitoring tools or manual operator automatic workflow execution through the data center is more faster than the manual process Automatic remediation, like complex servers and infrastructures can be balanced through network load With this system IT infrastructures is secure and safe 2. Authorizing forefront IT professionals to determine additional events Research have been declared that in many of the organizations half of the incident occurred in the infrastructure are estimated beyond the frontline to the notice of the network administrators and management. This incident result to the less productivity and a conference calls to resolve this issue in the personal time as nights, and weekends It Automation process is used to help in transformation of manual big data effect in to sequence and standardized workflows. When an incident happened the workflow automatically imitated compile and execute to the better efficiency. A trigger is automatically starts when the estimated cross the frontline to the knowledge of level 3 administrator 3. Reducing alert abundances There is more chance of Alert happens when IT systems staff concentrate with the alert. They are more active in the alert due to lack the data to know which alert is more active and which is more and just noise. Even a little sound of alert makes the IT staff to be more productive and focus on the critical issue to reduce the noise. Like this IT process automatic initiated to monitor and ticketing product and reaches the frontline operator to take quick action on the alert. The following are the examples for the automation alert in management process: à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ·Monitoring tool to identify the incident and make a trigger. à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · To make the workflow automatically when the trigger and take the appropriate action from the noise alert and create the ticket for the necessary action. Using the trigger frontline operator produce a ticket to resolve the action in this scenario work load is decreased by using this technology. 4. Create a reliable, repeatable procedure for coordinating modification Now a days IT Organizations is supporting large number of applications, servers and devices, as this number can rapidly grow. Among this some of the Organizations have a well format of documentation and consistently change in the process and some does not have a will documentation, and also produce without updating and changes of the previous due to the three will be consistently raise of issue which feel very difficult for frontline operators to resolve and reactive on the productive issue. For the above aspect IT process automation gives the significant and automatic changes in the configuration management process. The set of automation process is imitated by the IT system administrator to check the workflow of application and servers for the status and trigger, network and automation process for updating. This changes is updated to the thousands of application through the servers, create a document according to the requirements. It process tool is used to improve the overall cost efficiency for configuration management previously manual uses automation process for end-to-end changes in the system management product. This lead to the compact and responsiveness. Observing the previous action in the IT automation helps you to react more efficiently for changes in the business needs it also reduce the time of deployment of new infrastructure? An Organization can see a 70 percent of reduction for the new infrastructure 5. Develop relations between ITIL event administration and difficult management procedure It operators goes to a fire-fighting mode due to continuous receiving and resolving hundreds and thousands of alerts a day. They have to react as quickly as possible to the incident and respond to that alert to maintain critical application uptime. However ticket is not generated as soon as the relevant troubleshooting and resolving the alert. IT automation process can be linked to the incident management to the more effective problem management.IT automation let you to quickly react to the alert and trigger according to the action. For example software application can be checked by checking the server status, network status, application build status, and then database status and relocate to the cogent page for the slow productivity and alert, the record is noticed and repaired. If it is necessary the automation process is restarted for triggering. the data is redirected to the server due to insufficient of memory in the server or application issues. Perform data analysis for the input and output. 6. Capture instance determination review paths and generate procedure documentation It automation process create automatically a value according to the automation alert and incident resolving, due to this there will an increase in uptime and let them to focus on the strategic issues. It automation process also capture each and every information automatically for each step of flow. This information is secure and store in the database for the automation product. Automation process automatically create documentation from the automation flow. Each and every flow of step is described in the new created documentation from the created flow. As a result automation documentation is referred to save the time instead of manual document. In this document each and every step is clearly mentioned from alert triggered to the resolution 7. Incorporate role-based contact mechanism into our event determination procedure Many of the IT industry more struggle for exchange of information between2-3 level support. This exchange of information occurred in the middle of night without observing the capabilities of the current state of system If this is properly implemented, the following features in observed automatically: Role-based access control Capture of input and output data Role based access control is used to capture input, output data.so that automation workflow is done automatically as it is atomized as we discussed in the previously Automation process require credentials for the smooth flow of automation steps. Aping is required according to the credentials of the administrator service of proper credentials When this two features are used together as a result in fewer and more escalations. Automation escalation flows only when the frontline operator does not have a proper permissions or when it requires experts operators interest this are more easy as 2-3 level operators can be determined. 8. Capture structural information in a practical and supportable mode Each and every IT organizations is having a very big challenge to other IT industry in all the fields of business in a continue manner. The talent of IT is rated to the uncompleted document and outdated.so IT Organization completely rely on knowledge produced to the incident happened. When the professionals leave the industry they take away the core knowledge with them and leave the Organization to struggle the alerts. With the help of IT process automation, IT process and procedures are implied as automation flows. These flows are managed as current as they constantly execute repair actions. In IT automation process two way of communication is possible with the CMDB it is used to help to create record, discover changes and updated automatically in the infrastructure in this IT processor change automatically. 9. Systematized maintenance processes Automatic trigger should happen at a particular time or at any periodically interval of time. In addition to this key value pair should be matched to trigger the action. This process of trigger action is a time consuming action in manual process, so automation process is better to apply. Action and task are pre-loaded in the system to generate the ticket and resolve automatically Some are the best examples which suit this action: Shutdown, start, restart are scheduled action. Change of password for the security purpose at a regular interval of time Rebooting and configuring setting at a particular service time Refreshing of data at a scheduled time. Due to this intermittently action. You can atomize the section in IT industry as IT automation process. It is executed according to the workflow defined in the process We can trace back the situation happened which is used to generate the report to the operator. This process helps to growth of Organization in the critical scenario of business. 10. Incorporate distinct systems management implements and procedures Management system product is a mixer of partially deployed, and most of them are not well integrated worth the other network system products. Most of the industry runs on Non-homogeneous management products through multiple vendors. In this process IT industry need the support to maintain large size of data center and multiple network operator centers. It also needs the support of the heterogeneous enterprise to their system product. Due to the large size of data centers and network operators, system management product maintained large integrated business enterprise to automate the It process. The combination of management product and process integration leads to the efficient growth and proactive IT organization Conclusion The beginning is very easy. Now you can start up your Automation of data center operations by implementing IT process automation. In few key areas more focus to be applied, a related experienced in IT industry can efficiently achieve to retain the investment and reduce the industry complexity. This can reduce the investment. This also provide more security to the data Bibliography Books: Marshall, C. (2008) The Executive Guide To IT Process Automation: Opalis. Andrzej, C., Abdelsala, H., Marek, R. (1998) Workflow and Process Automation Concepts and Technology : Kluwer Academic Bruno, V., Thecle, A.(1998) Advanced in Production Management System : Springer Paul, H. (2001) Business Process Change A Manager’s Guide to Improving Redesigning and Automation Processes : Edward Wade Arthut, H., Wil, M., Michel, A., Russell, N. (1998) Modern Business Process Automation : Springer – Verlag Berlin Sanjay, M. (2009) Business Process Automation: PHI Learning Ltd Helmut, R., Norbert, P., Wolfgang, S.( (2012) ISSE 2012 Securing Electronic Business Processes : Springer Vieweg Singh, S.K. (2003) Industrial Instrumentation and Control : Tata McGraw Journal Richard, H. (2005) ‘Intellectual Preperty Key Processes for Managing Patent Automation Strategy Need Strengthening’, Report to Congress Committee, 9(1), pp. 22-34 Russell, R. (2001) ‘Reengineering Business Processes Can Improve Efficiency of State Department License Reviews’, Report to the Chairman and Ranking Minority Member US, pp. 10-17 Newspaper Article Naren, K. (2010) ‘ Role of Automation in the Indian IT Industry’, Deccan Chronicle, 30 May, p.11 Website https://www.netiq.com/products/aegis/ http://www.networkautomation.com/overview/ http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager/archive/2009/12/17/demo-extending-service-manager-to-automate-it-processes.aspx http://www.sap.com/solution/lob/it/software/it-process-automation/index.html http://www.computerweekly.com/guides/A-guide-to-business-process-automation-software http://www.slideshare.net/Ayehu/it-processautomationsurvivalguidefreeebook http://kissflow.com/process_playbook/5-reasons-why-you-should-automate-your-business-process/ Terrorism: Definitions, origins, responses and interventions. Terrorism: Definitions, origins, responses and interventions. Chapter One: Defining Terrorism Part One What is Terrorism The Etymology of Terrorism The etymological meaning of the English world terrorism was first adopted in medieval Britain but was first coined in medieval France from the Latin word terrere meaning to frighten (Jeffery 2006: 24). The suffix of ism on the end of the word terror can be constructed as a systematic activity aiming to promote and advance a certain ideological stance. For instance, Marxism argues society can, and will, change when the material conditions are in place to precipitate this change (Marx and Engels 1848: 27). Therefore, because Marxs belief promotes a certain branch of communist philosophy the suffix ism is used to establish his particular ideological viewpoint. Conversely, if one chooses to ignore the political connotation associated with the phrase terrorism, the etymology of terrorism, one could say, is to simply promote the systematic advancement of fear. For example, the parents of a child may simply choose to apply the metaphor of terrorist to personify their expression that their c hild annoy so frequently and unexpectedly that one fears what could come next. Further to this, the etymology of terrorism brings fourth two observations. Firstly, terrorisms rooted meaning has undergone a transformation (the historical context of terrorism will be highlighted later in chapter two, but I will give you a brief outline). Terrorism was first used within the latter part of the ninetieth century as a regime or system of governance, wielded to establish a revolutionary State against the enemies of the people (Williamson 2009: 43). Terrorism, in modern society, is now more commonly used to describe terrorist acts committed by non-state or sub-national identities against the State. In 1848, terrorism in Europe and Russia was originated by its exponents as comprising a kind of action against tyrannical States. German radicalist, Karl Henizen, underpinned the policy of terrorism directed at tyrannical States as he argued while murder was forbidden in principle, this prohibition did not apply to politics, and the murder of political leaders might well be a physical necessity (Laqueur 1980: 27). Henizen was therefore, perhaps, the first scholar to provide a doctrine for modern terrorism. Moreover, when Jacobins used the term terrorism to describe their regime during the French Revolution (1789-1794), it had a positive connotation, whereas now most commentators agree that the term terrorism is inherently a negative, pejorative term (Crenshaw 1989, Barker 2002). Thus, it is evident that the term terrorism has undergone a transformation both in meaning and in perception. The second observation one identifies with in relation to the etymology of terrorism is that since its inception, the term terrorism has been linked to various ideals such as justice, liberty and morality. This idealism continued to be attached to terrorism into the mid-1800s, even though a transition had occurred in the meaning of the term (Kravchinsky 1884: 508). These idealistic principles upon the term terrorism continue today. For instance, many modern organisations, considered as terrorist organisations, have chosen for themselves names which suggest that they are idealistic. One example of this is the terrorist organisation Al Qaeda. The term Al Qaeda roughly translates into The Base which suggests a certain level of moral unity among its organisation. Additionally, the perception that exists between how terrorists see themselves and how the way that others, particularly target governments, see them, can be explained by the well-known phrase one mans terrorist is another mans freedom fight (I will explain different societal constructions of terrorism later on in this chapter as a critique towards defining the concept terrorism). This phrase, therefore, represents the idea that terrorism is a political term and therefore has to be noted that the political, ideological and religious objectives, which have been an integral aspect of terrorism since its inception is what differentiates terrorism from mere criminal violence which has no greater criminal goal in mind and which is carried out for instant gratification (Williamson 2009: 45). Thus, whereas Osama bin Laden is deemed as a crazed killer within western society, among the east, especially parts of Pakistan and the Saudi kingdom he is deemed as a martyr (Gupta 2008: 8). And so, because of this, we need to adopt a politically scientific approach in helping to understand the definition of terrorism. Applying Political Science to help Understand the Definition of Terrorism The modern political usage of the phrase terrorism can be traced back to 1795 (Laqueur 2001: 6). It is reported that Edmund Burke was the first person to use the word in English, in order to warn people about what he called those thousand of hell hounds called terrorist (McDowell and Langford 1992: 87). The word first appeared in 1798 in the supplement of the Dictionnaire of the Academie Francaise where it was politically defined as a systeme, regime de la terreur (a system, reign of terror). The entry that first appeared in the Academie Francaise conjures up numerous observations that suggest that the term terrorism is political in nature. Firstly, it is clear that to any native French speaker, in the phrase systeme, regime de la terreur fear and terror play a predominant role. Therefore, in this respect, the definition of the Academie Francaise is to be taken more or less as equivalent to terrorism in its broadest sense which we were previously speaking about. Secondly, the politic al context regime furthers the argument that the term terrorism is inherently political in nature. And finally, there seems to be a hint of another condition embedded within the phrase that was placed in Academie Francaise, namely that most terrorist activity is carried out by non-private individuals (thus systeme). Therefore, presumably, these individuals were, or aspired to become legitimate rulers of a recognised States. Moreover, it appears that the definition of Academie Francaise solely aims to define rebel or revolutionary violence, rather than terrorism in its contemporary sense. However, it has only been within the last thirty-five years that political science has enlightened us on terrorist campaigns, groups, activities, tactics, motives, finances, State support and trends (Enders and Sandler 2006: 9). This comparative approach towards defining terrorism has taught us much about what is common and what is different among terrorist activity. For example, a majority of political scientists have characterised many European terrorist organisations as fighting communist organisations with a focused Marxist-Lenin ideology, an anticapitalist orientation, a desire to limit casualties, and a need for external constituency (Alexander and Pluchinsky 1992: 27). Over the last few decades, political scientists have furthered these comparative approaches towards the definition terrorism in which they have identified the changing nature of terrorism for instance, the rise of State sponsorship in the early 1980s to the more modern increase in Islamic fundamentalism in post modern society. Political scientists have also analysed the effectiveness of antiterrorist policies in helping to define the term terrorism, but without the need to apply social statistics. Further to this, Wilkinson maintains that political science defines the phrase terrorism by dividing its definition into three distinctive typologies, these include; revolutionary terrorism, sub-revolutionary terrorism and repressive terrorism. The first typology defines the phrase terrorism as the use of systematic tactics of terroristic violence with the objective of bringing about political revolution (Wilkinson 1975: 74). Wilkinson furthers the typology of revolutionary terrorism by characterising it into four major attributes; (1) it is always a group, not an individual phenomenon, even though the groups may be very small; (2) both the revolution and the use of terror in its furtherance are always justified by some revolutionary ideology or programme; (3) there exists leaders capable of mobilising people for terrorism and (4) alternative institutional structures are created because the revolutionary movement must partake action in the political system and therefore must develop its own policy-making bodies and codification of behaviour (Wilkinson 1975: 79). To give a more detailed picture of Wilkinsons typology of revolutionary terrorism towards the political definition of terrorism we should add Hutchinsons list of essential properties, these are; (1) it is part of a revolutionary strategy; (2) it is manifested through acts of socially and politically unacceptable violence; (3) there is a pattern of symbolic or representative selection of victims or objects of acts of terrorism and (4) the revolutionary movement deliberately intends these actions to create a psychological effect on specific groups and thereby to change their political behaviour and attitudes (Hutchinson 1978: 18). The second category in Wilkinsons typology to define the political definition of terrorism is sub-revolutionary terrorism. Sub-revolutionary terrorism is defined as terror used for political motives other than revolution or governmental repression (Wilkinson 1975: 81). Whereas revolutionary terrorism seeks total change, Wilkinson argues that sub-revolutionary terrorism is aimed at more limited goals such as forcing the government to change its policy on some issues, warning or punishing specific public officials, or retaliating against government action seen as reprehensible by terrorist (Wilkinson 1975: 82). Therefore, in this respect, under the typology of sub-revolutionary terrorism pressure groups such as Fathers for Justice and Green Peace may be deemed as terrorist organisations. Wilkinsons third typology, repressive terrorism, is defined as the systematic use of terroristic acts of violence for the purpose of suppressing, putting down, quelling, or restraining certain groups, individuals or forms of behaviour deemed to be undesirable by the oppressor (Wilkinson 1975: 83). Therefore, the political definition of terrorism under the typology of repressive terrorism relies heavily upon the services of specialised agencies whose members are trained to torture, murder, and deceive. The terror apparatus is then deployed against specific opposition groups and can be later directed against much wider groups (Wilkinson 1975: 84). One example of this is Nazi Germany, where the Schutzstaffel (SS), the specialised agency, deployed terroristic apparatus against the opposition group, the Jews. Moreover, the main advantage of applying a politically scientific approach to defining terrorism has been its electric, multidisciplinary viewpoint encompassing historical, sociological, and psychological studies. Historical studies identify common features among terrorist campaigns and indicate how the phrase terrorism has evolved over time. In sociological studies, sociologists analyses societal norms and social structure within terrorist organisations. And, by using psychological studies, researchers have identified internal and external variables associated with the escalation of violence in a terrorist event (Enders and Sandler 2006: 10). Furthermore, some factors, for example, may induce an individual to become a suicide bomber, for example, include sociological the approval of a group and psychological factors personal mentality. Thus, certain fields may interlink to accompany political science in helping to define terrorism. Another field that has helped revolutionised the way we perceive the definition of terrorism is law and to illustrate this point one is about to examine the definition of terrorism under general international law. Defining Terrorism under General International Law Recent interest in the utility or propriety of a definition of terrorism under general international law has been driven by larger issues, such as the need to build international solidarity within the war of terrorism, and the opposing need felt by some of guarding any such possible definition of terrorism from any undue weightage likely to be given to the unilateral belief of any one State, and particularly the meaning likely to be or already given to the term terrorism in the foreign policy of any one State (Hor et al 2005: 37). Therefore, the need to define terrorism, comprehensively, under international law cannot be divorced from such over-riding political concerns which, together with some old diplomatic obstacles, continued to plague the negotiations towards the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism in 2005. The rationale behind such a comprehensive treaty to define the phrase terrorism was a response to calls beginning within the 1990s for a departure from a reg ime of variegated subject-specific treaties. The initiative for such a treaty to define terrorism derived from India (United Nations General Assembly 2005: 166). The treaty established the United Nations General Assembly resolution 51/210 of 17 December 1996, which had established an Ad Hoc Committee together with a United Nations Sixth (Legal) Committee, which was tasked with negotiating on the Draft Comprehensive Convention (Reichard 2002: 18). However, one would like to focus upon the question of whether a customary or general international legal definition of terrorism already exists, and if so, what does a customary definition look like. Legal guidance to define terrorism under general international law lies at least as much in international custom as it does under the Comprehensive Convention of International Terrorism treaty. This is partly due to the time-lag that occurred between the completed text-based treaty and widespread participation that took place within the new treaty regime. Moreover, it is due to the fact that much of the new comprehensive definition was not all that new, thus proving the United Nations are a long way off achieving essential combinations of (1) having a precise formation that would necessarily prove useful in defining terrorism and (2) at the same time, attracting the necessary widespread participation of States to make such a comprehensive regime a success (Lim and Elias 1997: 27). State-sponsored terrorism is a good exemplar over what terrorism might be taken to mean in the eyes of general international law. Professor Brownlie concurs with this statement as he maintains that State-sponsored terrorism is governed mainly, if not exclusively, by the available categories of international legal thought such as the prohibition of the use of force in international relations, the doctrine of imputability in establishing State responsibility for acts of the individual and the self-defence doctrine. He argues there is no category of the law on terrorism and the problems must be characterised in accordance with the applicable sectors of general international law: jurisdiction, international criminal justice, state responsibility, and so forth (Brownlie: 2004: 713). However, this may to true insofar as international law has not yet evolved to encompass an agreed definition of terrorism, the various subject-specific rules of international law which focus on individual criminal responsibility for different acts of terror such as hijacking, terrorist financing, and so on, can neither be insulated from nor absorbed wholly by the currently existing international law rules which may be brought to bear on State-sponsored terrorism. Several States leading up to the Rome statute, for example, viewed terrorism, under international law, as a distinct criminal event which imposes individual criminal responsibility for State-sponsored terrorism. In this respect, the definition of terrorism differs when defining the phrase terrorism under State-sponsored terrorism and from what the definition of terrorism means under the International Court of Justice. For example, in the Nicaragua case, Nicaragua had brought a claim against the United States for alleged covert support given by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to armed insurgents operating in Nicaraguan territory in response to the Sandinista Governments covert support of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front in El Salvador. The issue was that there were interstate in international law rules pertaining to breach of the United States legal responses owed to Nicaragua by allegedly financing, supporting, equipping, arming, training and providing strategic guidance to Nicaraguan rebels seeking to overthrow the Sandinista Government (McCoubrey and White 1995: 12). In short, the case of Nicaragua was about defining the phrase terrorism through state responsibility and not solely as a means of political violence. On the other hand, Professor Mani recently suggested that what we call terrorism today is, in fact, very much state-sponsored terrorism. This, he suggests, is a direct result of the prohibition in Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter of the use of the force in international relations, which would nonetheless attract individual responsibility for such acts. Therefore, the legal definition of terrorism may be seized by the figure of Osama bin Laden, and we may be startled that by the late twentieth century the only superpower in the world was required to go to war with a mere individual, but that does not change the fact that, for the most part, the definition of terrorism is closely linked to state-sponsorship (Murphy 1999: 161). The difference, therefore, between Professor Manis and Professor Brownlies viewponts is one that has marked debate among the social sciences for a number of years. For example, a majority of scholars adopt Brownlies viewpoint that the definition of terrorism, especially State-sponsored terrorism, is solely a product of individual extreme criminality. But we must not ignore Manis argument that the definition of terrorism under State-sponsorship, which has become an ongoing growing phenomenon, and has become a powerful focal-point for advocating the plight of the Palestinian people, for example. Therefore, in a world where we have learnt to view some States as rogue or parish, calling States such as Israel a terrorist State serves to highlight the Palestinian cause, and stigmatise the perceived wrongdoer all at the same time (Jansen 2001: 47). Thus, by defining the phrase terrorism under the use of general international law no one can pinpoint a precise definition of the phrase terrori sm as the word itself is unattainable. To further this discussion one will now begin to highlight the problems associated with defining the phrase terrorism in which one will begin by examining terrorism as a moral problem. Part Two Problems in Defining Terrorism Definition of Terrorism as a Moral Problem A major stumbling block towards defining terrorism is that, at base, terrorism is a moral problem. This is, therefore, one of the major reasons for the difficulty over defining of terrorism. Attempts at defining the phrase terrorism are often predicted on the assumption that some classes of political violence are justifiable whereas others are not. Many would label the latter as terrorism whilst being loathe to condemn the former with a term that is usually used as an epithet. So, in order, for a definition to be universally accepted it must transcend behavioural description to include individual motivation, social milieu, and political purpose (Wardlaw 1989: 4). The same behaviour will or will not, therefore, be viewed as terrorism by any particular observer according to differences in these other factors. However, if the definition is to be of use to a wider audience than the individual who constructs it, students of violence will have to try and divest themselves of the traditiona l ways of its definition. Just as an increasing number of commentators seem to be able to even-handedly apply the term terrorist to non-State and State actors they will have to apply it even-handedly to those groups with whose cause they agree and those with whose cause they conflict (Wardlaw 1989: 4). The difficulty here is, however, is that different groups of users of definitions find it more or less easy to utilise definitions which focus on behaviour and their effects as opposed to these factors tempered by considerations of motives and politics. Thus many academic students of terrorism seem to find it a little difficult in labelling an event as terrorist without making a moral judgement about the act. Furthermore, many politicians, law enforcement and governmental officials, and citizens find themselves unable to take such a detached view (Wardlaw 1985: 4). For this reason, it may not be too difficult to construct an acceptable definition within this given reference group, but the problem arises when each group attempts to engage into dialogue with each other. This communication problem is of more than academic importance. This is because it is one of the root causes of both the vacillations in policy which characterises the response of most individual states to terrorism and of the complete failure of the international community to launch any effective multi-lateral initiatives to combat the problem (Wardlaw 1989: 5). Therefore, those who study terrorism within any given community often cannot communicate with the policy-makers and law enforcers because the latter groups often reject the analytical techniques of the former as being of insufficient relevance to the real world. This is partly due to the latter groups seeing the lack of relevance as an inability to distinguish between right and wrong acts. Moreover, at an international level, political support given to sectional interests militates against a universal definition that could form the basis for international law and action (Wardlaw 1989: 5). Thus, for example, the Palestine Lib eration Organisation (PLO) is seen by some nations as a terrorist group having no political legitimacy and using morally unjustifiable methods of violence to achieve unacceptable ends. Conversely, other nations deem the actions of the PLO as acceptable legitimate representation of opposed people using necessary and justifiable violence (not terrorism, one needs to emphasise) to achieve a just and inevitable end. Therefore, the problem within defining the phrase terrorism rests upon moral justification. However, in order to further illustrate ones argument into the problems of defining terrorism one needs to seek to explain such a phenomenon, and not solely justify the problems in defining terrorism wholly on moral justification. And so, in this respect, we need to assess the identity of terrorism in order to seek the problem of its definition. Difficulties in Defining Terrorism Due to Identification Another factor that deserves to be noted within the process of identifying the problems associated with defining the concept of terrorism is identification. The reasoning for this is down to the fact that identification is key to its rhetorical success. Thus, an act will become to be seen as terrorist if people identify with the victim of the act. One example of this is the role of media in reporting terrorism. To explain, the media tend to portray terrorist acts as newsworthy because it acts as an instrument of legitimation. Other example of this happening are within areas of muggings, environment crime, and white-collar crime. Therefore, if the identification of the terrorist act, in the perpetrators eyes, is positive the implication for official regimes becomes positive. Take State-sponsored terrorism as an example, if such States are industrialised societies than industries are active participating actors within the official terrorist regime. Furthering the example, because State -sponsored terrorism usually involves bureaucracy (police, armed forces, intelligence agencies, secret police, immigration control, and information control) it becomes the administration of terror thus identifying the definition of terrorism as a positive outcome. Moreover, Thornton describes the identification of terrorism as a problem of its definition by suggesting its a process of disorientation, the most characteristic use of terror (Thornton 2002: 86). However, it is important to emphasise that in Thorntons quotation of terrorism he places emphasis on terrorisms extranormal quality. Firstly, one would like to highlight the use of terror in Thorntons quotation is solely placed within the upper levels of the continuum of political agitation and therefore is not representational of terrorism as a whole but only political motivated terrorism. Furthermore, Thornton is placed with the difficulty of defining extranormal a difficulty which is not resolved throughout his argument. One maintains that it would be more productive to seek other ways by which the identification of the definition of terrorism could be more distinguishable from other forms of crime, for example, muggings both of which have the effect of producing State terror in the v ictim. One way terrorism can be distinguishes from other forms of crime is that it has an audience wider than the primary victim, although, the same can be said about muggings. For instance, if a number of muggings take place in certain location, intense fear will be engendered in many other individuals who have cause to be or in the same places. The identifiable feature, that distinguishes terrorism to other forms of crime, therefore, is the design to create anxiety rather than the extranormality of the anxiety, which Thornton discussed. Terrorism is further characterised by its highly symbolic content. Thornton contends that the symbolic nature of terrorism contributes significantly to its relatively high efficacy. Thus; If the terrorist comprehends that he is seeking a demonstration effect, he will attack targets with a maximum symbolic value. The symbols of the State are particularly important, but perhaps even more are those referring to the normative structures and relationships that constitute the supporting framework of society. By showing the weakness of this framework, the insurgents demonstrate not only their own strength and the weakness of the incumbents but also the inability of the society to provide support for its members in a time of crises. (Thornton: 2002: 91) To further the claim that the problem in defining the phrase terrorism is down to identification we must strengthen Thorntons argument by introducing two terrorist approaches, these are enforcement terrorism and agitational terrorism. A Tale of Two Terrorist Approaches Enforcement Terror and Agitational Terror Within Thorntons broad definition of terrorism, he has distinguished two categories of how terrorism can be defined. These are through the uses of enforcement terror and agitational terror within terrorist activities. The first approach, enforcement terror, is used by those in power who wish to annihilate challenges to their authority, and the second approach, agitational terror, describes the terroristic activities of those who wish to disrupt the existing status quo and ascend to political power (Thornton 2002: 117). For instance, Nazi Germany and Stalin Russia can be said to inhabit examples of enforcement terror as each government would use fear tactics such as the murder of their citizens to shock them into not establishing a rebellion. Whereas, it could be argued that some socio-political groups such as the Irish Republic Army (IRA) use agitational terror such as the bombing of public places in order to achieve political power. Similarly, May (1974: 285) also observed a divide into the broad definition of terrorism, he theorises these as; the regime of terror and the siege of terror. The former, May refers to, is terrorism in service of establishing order, while the latter refers to terrorism in service of revolutionary movements. May accedes that the regime of terror is more important of the two but also notes how the siege of terror is also what grips societys attention, as May states revolutionary terrorism, derivative and reflexive though it may be, exposes a level of perception into the universe of killing and being killed that may be even more revealing than state terrorism (May 1974: 290). The argument May puts forth about the regime of terror versus the siege of terror is in fact one of the most interesting puzzles of anyone studying terrorism to come to grips with as most commentators and scholars often focus their attention on the insurgence of terrorism rather than the incumbent nature of terrorism. There are a number of apparent explanations for this. Firstly, one of the hallmarks of insurgence terrorism is that it is dramatic and thus newsworthy. The reason why insurgence terrorism is newsworthy is that it is atypical in nature, it can be addressed stereotypically, and it can be contrasted against a backdrop of normality which is largely overly-typical (Cohen and Young 1981: 52). Thus, when terrorism becomes institutionalised as a form of governance it makes headlines less often simply because it has less news value than a high jacking of an airliner. Another reason for the lack of attention paid toward what May called the regime of terror may be traced back to t he processes of constructing social realities. To explain, the portrayal of official terrorists as rational beings compared to the lunatic and out-of-control nature of the individual terrorist encourages the mass of society to see the threat to their physical and psychic integrity coming from the latter direction (Reddy 1998: 163). Many academics adopt this notion that while states that enforce a regime of terror may be undesirable, the immediate fear from society perhaps mostly from imagery projected into the public persona from the mass media is individual terrorism. It is this component of uncertainly that plays a large part here. For instance, state terrorist activities may be brutal and unjust (Chomsky 2005: 185), but, in general, one knows what activities not to indulge in in order to escape its immediate and person intrusion. Moreover, it also has to be noted that individual terrorism by contrast bears no necessary relation to ones own behaviour. It appears random and dangerous. Here again we hear the echoes of the impact the media has on reporting such events. Furthermore, it must be remembered that many states currently experiencing terrorism are authoritarian states that exert to some extent control over what the news reports. In said cases, therefore, the media can hardly castigate authoritarian go vernments for their excesses thus fearing reprisals such as license cancellation but they can, and do, bring the threat of terrorism by small groups and individuals into the homes of the masses. The view of terrorism therefore is fostered of a society plagued by dangerous extremists damaging the fabric of everyday life and threatening the sate whilst ignoring the greater damage that is being perpetrated as a result of government policies and action plans. However, it is of course much easier to focus greater emphasis on a specific perpetrator than on one amorphous system. There is, therefore, are some sensible practical reasons for the reluctance of scholars studying the phenomenon of state terrorism. For instance, Gloom noted; Historians find it difficult to think themselves into the mores of Robespierres or a Stalins regime of terror and it is dangerous to conduct field research in contemporary regime of terror. It is far easier to conceptualise the use of terror as a weapon to achieve a specific goal rather than a form of a regular and normal government (Gloom 1978: 73) Further to this, the only systematic effort develop general theory of terrorism based on an analysis o

The Genre Of Documentary Photography

The Genre Of Documentary Photography In his examination of Lt. Col. Oliver L. Norths portrait, taken by Harry Benson for Life Magazine (1987), Andy Grundberg (1988) emphasizes the importance of the camera position, background elements and attitude of the subject towards a heroic appearance, even though the reality was somewhat different, visible in another, less interesting news photograph of Colonel North facing the full house of Congress. The juxtaposition of the two photographs makes one think of the kind of information photographs leave behind. Is it an actual reflection of the actuality or something more interpretable and selective? Putting this into the perspective of the pre-photographic history one could say that photographs are better representations of the historical events than say, paintings or drawings. Nevertheless this is not entirely true because photography can also be biased exactly as a painting using different capturing techniques, angles, and recently computer aided photo manipulation which makes everything so much easier to tamper with. John Griersons which is generally accepted as being the father of the documentary genre characterized it as the creative treatment of actuality. The first question that comes to my mind is why did he use the term actuality and not reality? For this we have to take a look at the definition of actuality. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary actual means existing in fact or reality. In my opinion reality is what you interpret and you think something is, and actuality is what it really is by looking at the facts. Reality and actuality are strongly connected and one can say that reality is what you perceive from actuality. John Tagg (p.172, 1988) argued that It is not a question of the struggle for truth but, rather, of a struggle around the status of truth and the economic and political role it plays. One of the iconic photographs that apply to this statement is Dorothea Langes Migrant Mother and the extensive debates around the truthfulness of the photograph. Is it that important that the photograph was staged, edited and cropped or not? The point is that even though it might be a staged photograph it still conveys the reality of the time. Lange was sent on assignment for the Farms Security Administration to document the poverty of the share-croppers. The story she associated with the image was not entirely true but it efficiently showed the condition of the migrant workers. It is arguable that the changes made to the original Migrant Mother photograph created the notoriety of the image (i.e. the editing out of the thumb, and the possible staging of the photograph). If we look at some of the other images from the shoot we can see clearly that at least one of the children is smiling. This could lead to the belief that Lange posed the two children with their faces behind her mother to hide their light heartedness. The final portray and the iconic image of the Migrant Mother is relating to what Grierson refers as creative treatment of actuality and nevertheless a reality for everyone who saw the image at the time. Another very well-known photograph which had a lot of debate whether is true or not, is one made by Duane Michals called This Photograph is My Proof. Duane admitted  [1]  he is gay in many of his interviews, so how can this photograph be true? He realised he is gay before his 20s and the photograph is taken when he was in his 30s thus leading us to think the photograph was staged. Tagg (p.16, 1993) argued that The camera seems to declare: This really happened. The camera was there. See for yourself. Ask yourself under what conditions would a photograph of the Loch Ness Monster or an Unidentified Flying Object become acceptable as proof of their existence? It seems that for Tagg the actuality of a photograph can only be proven by other means and not only by the photo on itself. The general belief is that photography is an objective medium able to portray an objective reality, but if we think about it one photograph is just one point of view. Just by changing the angle in which you take the photograph you can change its whole meaning. Edward Weston and Paul Strand were among the ones that strongly believed the mechanical nature of the camera is the most powerful argument for the truthfulness of photographs. In the book On photography, Sontag argues that (p176, To us, the difference between the photographer as an individual eye and the photographer as an objective recorder seems fundamental, the difference often regarded, mistakenly, as separating photography as art from photography as document. But both are logical extensions of what photography means: note-taking on, potentially, everything in the world, from every possible angle. This approach suggests that every image taken for artistic purposes or for recording purposes has a documentary quality. It means that even though someone took a photograph for aesthetic purposes its still a recording, but from another point of view. She further explains that the two attitudes underlie the presumption that anything in the world is material to the camera. If we could photograph the same subject from every angle by many different creative eyes we could end up with a series of images that show the actuality. Martin Parr had a different approach on documentary photography adding humour and irony to almost If not all of his photographs. He has a unique way of telling a story which is often harsh. His creative style is covered in irony, and this generates a very strong statement about society. His approach seems to be very close to actuality even if his unique style is very distinct. In her book called Documentary Dilemmas, Caroline Anderson (p.1, 1991) talks about Frederick Wiseman and his documentary film Titicut Follies saying that he (i.e. Wiseman) considered his films as reality fictions. Anderson (p.1, 1991) argues that Wiseman didnt want to be responsible for representing social actuality in an objective manner. He used the ambiguous term of reality fiction as an excuse to be able to classify his work in both documentary genre and as an artistic creation. Anderson (p.2, 1991) claims that Wiseman used the term of reality fiction as a claim upon film theory and not to point at the inevitable tension between actuality and film. Nevertheless Titicut Follies is still a documentary film. Elizabeth Cowie (p.22, 2011) referring to the recording of actuality in both photography and film, claims that two different predilections exist. There is the need for reality as a fact and the ability to review it, and on the other hand there is the need of rational knowledge, conveyed through logical interpretation. This idea reflects upon John Griersons creative treatment of actuality in a sense that a documentary creation has to represent the actuality but also to help the viewer see the reality which the creator wants to deliver. Looking at my own photographs for an example of Griersons statement I chose a photograph which shows a woman sleeping on the pavement between two bags that read A bag For Life. This photograph was taken a few steps from my place and could be a good example of the creative treatment of actuality. My intention was to articulate the fact that the woman was homeless but the reality is she can be anyone and anything and she just happened to enjoy the sunshine. A while ago I was asking myself if documentary photography is the middle ground between art and actuality. I was putting actuality, documentary photography and fine art photography in a hierarchy, fine art photography being on the highest ranks. This is because actuality on its own is not interesting, it does not have that spark of genius documentary photography and it does not have the creative approach of fine art photography. One of the best examples of how documentary photography shed light on the social injustices around the world is the Magnum Agency. Founded by Robert Capa, Henri Cartier- Bresson, George Rodger and David Chim Seymour the agency had, and still has, the purpose of chronicle the world through the distinctive eyes of each member thus creating a complete image of the society. Documentary photography indeed can be seen as a genre which binds the aspirations of photojournalism with the ones of photographic art, thus becoming a kind of bridge or grey area, if you like. The main characteristic of documentary photography is the appetite for social subjects that go beyond the simple story in the newspaper, becoming increasingly subjective but at the same time holding a grip to actuality and truth. For me creativity represents the fingerprint which the photographer applies to the raw actuality with the purpose of creating his own reality to share with the world.

Racism and White Privilege in the Education System Essay -- Finding Fr

Many people in the United States society believe that people of all cultures, races, and ethnicities are now on an even playing field. People with this belief support their logic with the argument that since equal rights for people of color and women have been required by law for some time now, we are all inherently as equal as claimed in the Declaration of Independence. Many believe that race is no longer an issue, a viewpoint frequently referred to as color-blindness. National polling data indicated that a majority of whites now believe discrimination against racial minorities no longer exists. (Gallagher, 96) Color-blindness allows a white person to define himself or herself as politically and racially tolerant and then proclaim their adherence to a belief system that does not see or judge individuals by the â€Å"color of their skin.† (Gallagher, 98) Many Caucasians in particular are of the opinion that because they listen to hip-hop or cheer for their favorite black, prof essional sports player that they are not racist. Still others believe that because they have a black president, we see black people in the commercial of products we consume, or enjoy television shows with black people that they are actually acknowledging race. In order to examine and dismantle this series of misconceptions, we will turn to the work of various scholars of social justice and privilege, including Peggy McIntosh, Patricia Hinchey and Johnathon Kozol as well as the story of Patricia J Williams. Through a careful examination of these works with the support of some key statistics, it is the goal of this paper to demonstrate the existence of a privileged and unprivileged America, despite the color-blindness many may profess to have integrated into their p... ...hools. New York: Crown Pub. McIntosh, P. (1988). White Privilege and Male Privilege. Wellesley College Center for Research on Women: Working Paper No. 189, 1-20. SueN. (2011, Nov 10). Thom Hartmann Program. Retrieved from Transcript: Thom Hartmann: The Big Picture: A "Race Based" Bake Sale? 26 September '11: http://www.thomhartmann.com/blog/2011/11/transcript-thom-hartmann-big-picture-race-based-bake-sale-26-september-11 Wight, V. R., Chau, M., & Aratani, Y. (2010, Jan). National Center for Children in Poverty. Retrieved from Who are America’s Poor Children?: http://www.nccp.org/publications/pub_912.html Williams, P. (2010). Of race and risk. In Race, Class, & Gender: An Anthology (7th ed.). Belmont: Wadsworth. Zinn, H. (2007). Why Students Should Study History. In W. e. Au, Rethinking Our Classrooms, Volume 1 (pp. 179-181). Milwaukee: Rethinking Schools.

The Skeletal System Essay -- essays research papers

Chapter 7 I.Bone Structure A.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Bone Classification 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  4 Classes – Long, Short, flat and irregular 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Example of a long bone- forearm and thigh bones. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Short Bones are shaped like cubes 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ex. Of short bones are in wrists and ankle bones 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Flat bones are platelike structures 6.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ex of Flat bones are platelike structures 7.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Irregular bones vary in size 8.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Irregular bones vary in size 9.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Examples of irregular bones are those of the vertebra and some facial bones 10.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Round bones are also called sesamoid bones i.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  They are small and modular and embedded in tendons ii.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Example is the patella (kneecap) B.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Parts of a long bone 1.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   An expanded end of a long bone is an epiphysis 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  An epiphysis articulates with another bone 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Articular Cartilage is located on the epiphysis 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The shaft of a long bone is called a diaphysis 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Periosteum functions t form and repair bone tissue 6.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Periosteum is a tough, vascular, fibrous membrane covering the diaphysis of a bone 7.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Processes provide sites for attachment of tendons or ligaments 8.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The wall of the diaphysis is composed of compact bone 9.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Compact bone has no gaps 10.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ephiphysis is composed of spongy bone 11.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Spongy bone consists of bony plates called trabeculae 12.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A bone is composed of spongy and compact bone 13.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A canal called the medullary cavity runs through the diaphysis 14.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The endosteum lines this cavity and spaces of the spongy bone 15.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Endosteum contains bone forming cells 16.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The tissue that fills the spaces of the bone is called marrow 17.  Ã‚  &nb... ...ome osteocytes 11.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Periosteum comes from cells of the primitive conncective tissue that persist outside of the developing bone. 12.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Compact bone is formed by osteoblasts on the inside of periosteum 13.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Intramembranous ossification is the process if replacing connective tissue to form an intramembranous bone. D.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Endochondral Bones 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Most of the bones are these types of bone 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  They develop as masses of hyaline cartilage 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Eventually the cartilage decompses forming periosteum from connective tissue that encircles that developing structure 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Blood vessels and undifferentiated connective tissue cells invade the disintegrating tissue 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Some of these cells become osteoblasts 6.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ostoeblasts form the spongy bone in the spaces previously housed by cartilage 7.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Endochondral ossification is the process of forming an endochondral bone by the replacement of hyaline cartilage.

Financial Comparison of Ryanair and British Airways Essay

Ryanair is considered as the pioneer of the low-cost business model, while British Airways is constantly ranked amongst the world’s best legacy carriers. Both of these airlines are dominant companies in their segment with high passenger numbers and vast network coverage. Therefore the following question rises – how these airlines are different in terms of finance and which business model is more fruitful in the middle of an economic downturn? In order to find the answer a thorough financial investigation has been conducted relying on the data outlined in the airlines’ annual reports. In the first section of the report the emphasis is put on the current financial situation of the airlines, while outlining the existing sources of finance. These sources are investigated thoroughly in the second part. The final section evaluates the possible or available sources to finance future investments. Review of Ryanair’s and British Airway’s current financial situation Ryanair in the fiscal year of 2012 has generated a total of â‚ ¬4,390.2m operating revenue mainly through scheduled revenues. The company has increased its operating revenues since 2010 by â‚ ¬1,2bn primarily due to fare increases. In 2012 the total operating expense was â‚ ¬3,707m. This is also the peak in the last three years, mostly attributable to fuel and oil costs, which have almost doubled since 2010. Hence the net profit for the 2012 fiscal year was â‚ ¬560.4m, the highest in the history of the company. British Airways in the fiscal year ended 2011 December 31 accounted a profit of  £672m after paying the taxes. This can be considered as a significant improvement after 2010’s profit of  £170m. These figures do not provide enough in-depth information on the airlines’ real situation. In order to identify the sources of finance and the real position of BA and Ryanair further investigation with the use of ratios is required. Liquidity Current ratio is a liquidity measure that compares the liquid or current assets of the airline with its current liabilities. (Atrill, McLaney 2002) For the fiscal year of 2012 Ryanair’s CR was 2.1355, which represents high liquidity. Generally the higher ratio is considered to be the better. According to Morrell the industry general ratio is 1.00. This suggests that Ryanair is capable of financing its short term commitments towards banks and suppliers However, it must be noticed that the airline has significantly high cash reserves, namely â‚ ¬2.7bn. Such rate suggests for the banks and suppliers that the company is low risk for investment and has high liquidity, but also proposes that the cash is being accumulated to finance future aircraft orders or other investments. The fact that the cash reserves has grown with â‚ ¬1.2bn in the last two years also underpins these assumptions.(Morrell 2007) British Airways has a low current ratio of 0.7531. It points out the problem that BA cannot finance its current assets from its current liabilities. Thus, it can be assumed that the short term debts are financed through the more expensive long term loans. The company’s cash reserves are  £1.7bn, which is considerably lower in comparison to Ryanair’s reserves. This can result in higher interest rates as the airline is not considered as a safe investment for lenders. According to Moody’s credit rating company BA’s credit ratings were B1 and BB in 2011. Also being a legacy airline BA works with more third party suppliers like travel agents and these issues can mean that the pay-outs are delayed. It is important to note that Ryanair and the low-cost business model do not use travel agents. Performance and earning The operating margin gives an indication of management efficiency in controlling costs and increasing revenues as it represents the operating profit as the percentage of total revenues. Comparing to last year’s results, both airline’s ratios have remained flat, namely 14% for Ryanair and 5.2% for BA. It means that on every pound or euro BA makes  £0.05 profit, while Ryanair â‚ ¬0.14. However, the low-cost model seems to be more profitable, but it must be taken into account that they are also operating in a lower cost structure. Also, BA has managed to generate a positive operational margin as in 2008 and 2009 its values were negative. Return on Equity (RoE) is the net profit after interest and tax expressed as percentage of shareholder’s funds. BA has achieved a 26.2% RoE in 2011, while the same value for Ryanair was 16.9%. It means that BA is making more profit from the shareholders money. The shareholder’s money is only the one-third of BA’s asset, while Ryanair is half founded by the investors. Solvency Gearing ratio is a measurement of the contribution of long-term lenders to the long term capital structure of a business. Ryanair’s gearing ratio was 53.98% in 2012, which is considerably high for a low-cost airline. In other words it means that the company is financed half from borrowing and half from own capital. The lower the gearing ratio of the airline the greater the firm’s capacity to borrow more money at a lower interest rate, due to the lower risk to banks and lenders. Oppositely, BA has an even higher gearing ratio of 65.5%. Around one third of British Airways’ capital is funded by the shareholders, while the remaining is sourced from long-term loans and debts. The following table summarises the previously outlined performance and liquidity ratios of the airlines. BA( £) Airline Ryanair(â‚ ¬) 9,987 Total revenue 4,390.2m 672m Profit after tax 560.4m 0,7531 Current Ratio 2,135 63,80% Gearing Ratio 53,98% 570m Cash Reserve 2708m 26.2% ROE 16.9% 5.2% Operating Margin 14% Fleet commitments Ryanair Replacing the aircrafts is not only increases the airline’s prestige but can mean a significant reduction in operating costs as the new generation of aircrafts are much more fuel efficient or can carry more passengers than the predecessors. As the core of the LCC business model Ryanair only flies Boeing 737-800s thus reducing the maintenance costs significantly. The carrier has one live contract from 2005 with the American aircraft manufacturer that covers the procurement of 197 brand new 737800s for which the unit cost is $51m. (Ryanair 2012) ï‚ · Ryanair’s long-term debt for aircraft commitments, including current maturities was â‚ ¬3,625.2m at March 31, 2012. The airline has funded a significant portion of its acquisition of new aircraft and equipment through borrowings under facilities provided by international financial institutions on the basis of guarantees issued by Ex-Im Bank. At the end of fiscal year 2012 the carrier had a fleet of 294 Boeing aircraft of which 199 were funded by Ex-Im Bank guaranteed financing. Other sources to cover aircraft costs are Japanese Operating Leases with call options (30 aircrafts) and commercial debt financing (6 aircrafts). According to the bookings, 235 aircraft are owned by Ryanair, which are financed through long-term bank loans. Operational leases funded 59 aircrafts at March 31, which means that Ryanair operate these aircrafts, but does not own them. The aircrafts are leased to provide flexibility within the aircraft delivery programme. 55 aircrafts is being financed through fix-rate debts, while for the remaining 4 aircraft Ryanair is paying variable rental payments. Out of the 25 aircraft, which has been delivered in the 2012 financial year, 11 were funded through sale-and-leaseback financing and the remainder through Ex-Im Bank guaranteed financing. To convert a portion of the floating-rate debts into the fixed rate debts, Ryanair has used interest rate swaps and cross currency rate swaps. As a result â‚ ¬1,314.7m of the aircraft loans are remained at floating rates. The remaining â‚ ¬2,310.5m is in fixed-rate euro-denominated debts with the maturities of 7 to 12 years. On all of the above mentioned borrowings the weighted average interest rate was 2.9%. The effective rate is the rough estimate for the weighted average cost of capital. It is calculated by dividing the interest paid for the year with the long term borrowings. For Ryanair it is 3.01%, which is really close to their given figures. Accordingly their cost of long term borrowings is 109.2m, which can be considered as low. The low rate also represents trust from the lenders and investors. But, on the other hand it must be noted that at March 31, 2012 aircrafts with a net book value of â‚ ¬4.8bn were mortgaged to lenders as security for loans. This may be the explanation for the low interest rates. In general, Ryanair has been able to generate sufficient funds from operations to meet its nonaircraft acquisition-related working capital requirements. Between 2008 and 2012 March Ryanair had sold and re-delivered a total of 39 aircrafts and also the company plans to dispose 8 additional before March 2014. Ryanair may choose to dispose of aircraft through sale and or non-renewal of the operating leases as they expiree between 2012 and 2013. In the next year the company has a total obligations of â‚ ¬1,143.3m out of which the third, around â‚ ¬571.8m is â€Å"purchase obligations†, i.e. buying the remaining 15 aircrafts. Each of the aircraft loans have similar terms – maturity of 12 years from drawdown date and being secured by a first priority mortgage. The overall aircraft debts (â‚ ¬3,625.2m) represent around 80% of all long-term liabilities, hence if the airline is capable of paying these commitments Ryanair should be able to preserve its current financial status in the upcoming years. As it can be seen the low cost carrier Ryanair has built up a well-functioning system to finance all its aircrafts, including the 15 Boeing 737s that will be delivered in the future. Furthermore by currency swapping and low interest rates the company is in total control of its costs. British Airways The transparency of BA’s financial situation is significantly lower comparing it to Ryanair’s. This can be explained in two ways, either they prefer not to reveal their financial strategy and sources as it can provide valuable information for the competitors or the company does not have the adequate financial background to finance its long term commitments. British Airways has a completely different fleet to cover both its short- and long-haul routes. The fleet is owned by the company or held in finance and operational leases. The 245 aircrafts take up two thirds ( £5.7bn) of the company’s total non-current assets. Also, 95% of the overall revenue is generated through the fleet. The aircrafts comprise different sized jets from various manufacturers making the operational and maintenance costs higher. In the annual report of year ended in December 31, 2011 BA outlined its current fleet and future aircraft deliveries and options. These include 50 firm orders and 84 options. The new fleet is made up from A320s, A380s, Boeing 777-300s and 787s, which are expected to enter service between 2012 and 2017. Furthermore, in Note 13 the airline states that the cost of these aircrafts is going to be  £4.1bn. But, no other information is provided about the sources that will cover these expenditures, thus it can be assumed that the future cash flows contain relevant information on these funds, but they have not been published yet. (British Airways 2012) The non-current liabilities of loans, finance- and operational leases add up to  £4.904, which is 30% more than Ryanair’s â‚ ¬3.8bn total long-term commitments. According to BA the bank and other loans at the end of 2011 equalled  £1,324m, comprised of fixed- and floating rate loans.  £693m is in floating-rate debts, while the remaining  £823m is in fixed rate loans and bonds. The average interest rate for the fixed rate debts is around 6.5%, which is significantly higher than Ryanair’s 2.9%. The floating rate loans are generally determined to be 0,5%+LIBOR. The lenders consider the airline as a higher risk firm that is why the interest rates are higher. Generally, the loans are repayable between 2014 and 2018, with one exception none of the loans need to be repaid until 2014 and on. Such conditions allow BA to use the debt to generate cash in the next 2-4 years. BA uses finance leases and hire contracts to acquire aircraft. These leases have both renewal options and purchase options. The total finance lease contracts worth  £2.227bn and similarly like Ryanair, it consist of different currencies namely US dollar, Euro, Japanese yen and Sterling. The non-current side of these contracts are  £1.12b, but around half of this is due obligatory in five or more years. Four of the new 777-300s are being leased through GE Commercial Aviation Services (GECAS). The finance lease agreements are mainly in place to fund the existing fleet. Therefore additional leases are required, if the new fleet is wished to be funded through such construction. The operating leases for BA’s aircraft range from five years and some leases contain options for renewal. However, this type of contract accounts for only  £316m of which is  £253 is not payable within one year. Comparing to 2010 BA has halved its operational leases from  £635m, it can be assumed that company took the lease contract for an aircraft or more, which was expected to be delivered in 2011, but it has been delayed so the company terminated the contractual agreement until the new aircrafts are delivered. Accordingly, it can be assumed that operational lease commitments are going to rise in the next two financial years. Unlike Ryanair, British Airways does not provide any kind of information about the structure of the leases. The following assumption can be made though; BA offered worse interest terms with the loan contracts than Ryanair because of its weaker liquidity and performance. British Airway’s effective rate shows the same trend as its 4.301%. The company paid  £161m in 2011 as cost for long term borrowings. Financing in the short run As it has been outlined above, Ryanair has a current ratio of 2.1, which provides a solid base for the assumption that the airline is financing its short-term liabilities from its current assets and operational profit. In fact Ryanair could repay all its short term liabilities from its â‚ ¬2.7bn cash reserve and would still be left with â‚ ¬0.9bn cash. Moreover, Ryanair’s current liabilities are half of BA’s short run commitments. In less than 1 year Ryanair will need to finance 1,1bn for obligations, like current maturities of long term debts and purchase obligations. But then again, Ryanair has the capacity to pay these. BA is more interesting in the short run as the airline’s current ratio is 0.75. Logically the question arises – if the short-term liabilities cannot be covered from the operating revenue then how is it financed? Possibly the long-term loans are used in such case which is leading to future liquidity issues. The main problem is the â€Å"trade and other payables† entry which accounts for  £3,117m within current liabilities. But, from this total amount the real credit is  £1,457m, which is the money BA owes to creditors like suppliers and travel agents. The remaining are mostly prepaid flights that the airline will accomplish in the new financial year. Having the suppliers wait for their money is a way to improve cash flow. The cash operating cycle for the company has been calculated by dividing the trade payables with operation expenses (less employee costs and depreciation). The average pay out period for British Airways is 80.1 days, which can be considered as high and nevertheless it also shores up the liquidity problems of the airline. On the other hand, Ryanair makes these to the creditors payments within 22.1 days. Note 28 describes BA’s liquidity risk in more detail. The results suggest that within the next 12 months British Airways is going to need around  £2.203bn to finance all its commitments for that period. Where the money is coming from? This question remains unanswered, but it can be presumed that BA is going to need new sources to fund this  £2.203bn short-term liability combined with the  £4.1bn commitments for the new fleets. Shareholders’ equity and dividend policy Ryanair has significant retained earnings, namely â‚ ¬2.4bn, even though there was a â‚ ¬500m dividend pay-out in 2010 October and also a similar sized one is planned in 2012 November. Seeing the results and pay-outs it can be assumed that the shareholders are happy with the dividend policy and this can serve as a basis for future capital injections, if necessary. On the other hand BA’s directors declare that no dividend to be paid for the years of 2011, 2010 and 2009. Such dividend strategy can be explained by the airline’s current liquidity problems. Depreciation Both companies included their depreciation strategies in the annual reports. Ryanair states accounts the Boeings for 23 years, while British Airways calculate with 18-25 years of lifetime for their aircrafts. From these numbers it can be assumed to lower the depreciation costs the amortisation rates are underestimated by both airlines thus saving millions in the accounts. British Airways 50 2012-2017  £4.104bn 4.301%  £161m  £3.683bn  £4.904bn Data not disclosed 80.1 days 31 March 2012 Airline Fleet commitments (no. of aircrafts) Delivery date Capital commitments for new aircrafts Effective rate Long term cost of borrowing/year Total current liabilities Total non-current liabilities Total non-current liabilities for fleet Average pay out period Financial year ended Ryanair 193 2007-2014 ~$10bn 3.01% â‚ ¬109.2m â‚ ¬1.815bn â‚ ¬3.879bn â‚ ¬3,625bn 22.1 days 31 December 2011 Future financing Ryanair Through the analysis of the financial statements it has been revealed that Ryanair has a stable financial structure that is capable to fund the various liabilities in the short- and long-run. The remaining aircraft deliveries are funded through operational revenues and cash reserves. But, it must be kept in mind that the latest fleet contract is from 2005 and all aircrafts will be delivered by 2014. The next couple of months are going to be important in terms of long term strategy for Ryanair. The accumulated cash reserves point that the airline is preparing for some sort of investment. It can be the acquisition of Aer Lingus or the procurement of new aircrafts. The acquisition of the Irish carrier is currently delayed by the EU, but Ryanair is putting all the effort to buy become major shareholder in the firm, which would enable them to appear on the long-haul market through Aer Lingus. It also has been outlined in the annual report that Boeing has granted to give significantly lower prices for Ryanair in return of bulk orders, promotional and other activities. In other words, they are inspiring the airline to go invest into a new fleet in the middle of an economic downturn. In such case the shareholders might be willing to finance the new requirements as they are kept â€Å"happy† and also the airline has been maintaining a steady growth rate both in profits and network coverage. Banks are also aware of the securitized aircrafts also of the vast amount of cash reserves. This background could enable Ryanair to obtain loans with lower interest rate. Ryanair is aware of the favourable contract conditions with Ex-Im Bank as the carrier has stated that they expect any future commitments or guarantees issued by Ex-Im Bank to contain similar conditions. Any inability to obtain financing for the new aircraft on advantageous term might have an adverse effect on the business, operations and financial conditions. However, easyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou calls for a slower fleet expansion plans in the next years as he believes that the annual growth is not equal with the number of aircrafts on order. Ryanair should also consider this perspective of growth as they ground 80 of their aircraft for the winter period. A great bulk of aircrafts without sufficient demand could destabilise the airline’s financial position and could make Ryanair to reassess its financial sources. (Rothwell 2012) British Airways Additionally to the current-liability problems (see above), the other main financial issue for BA is to pay for the new fleet. Like mentioned above the company has firm orders for 50 aircrafts for  £4.1bn and options for additional 84. The following question needs to be answered pretty soon – who is going to lend money for British Airways? How much is it going to cost the airline? ï‚ · The British flag carrier could try to increase its funds from shareholders money, but it can be assumed that due to the lack of the profitable dividend policy shareholders are not ready to invest more money into the airline. Also, BA belongs to International Airlines Group (IAG) which also incorporates the Spanish carrier Iberia. The problem is Iberia is making losses, thus even if British Airways makes profit this or next year IAG is going to use that money to reduce the losses at Iberia. In other words, the Spanish carrier is pulling British Airways back at the moment. Shareholders may consider additional funds risky, therefore BA need to show that it can preserve its leading position as a legacy airline. ï‚ · Cash can be generated by selling off assets or reducing costs. In December 2011 BA had only  £39m available-for-sale financial asset. The airline has different amount of equities in various companies – these could be sold as well to gain cash in the short run. By selling aircrafts, which are not necessary needed, the airline could generate income. It would not be unreasonable if BA focused more on the long-haul routes and would reduce the number of aircrafts (114) flying within Europe as the company may not be making sufficient operational profit on some of these routes due to the low cost carriers. The third option for the company to finance its future commitments is to obtain loans from banks, financial institutes or sovereign wealth funds. The latter is a possible solution as Chinese or Gulf wealth funds could be willing to inject capital into the airline, but the question is at what interest rate? The lenders know that BA is struggling with the payment of the shortterm liabilities and they are using the long-term loans, the â€Å"more expensive† money to fund the operational commitments, hence the interest rate for the credit can expected to be high. This would solve the liquidity question in the upcoming years, but such financial funding would also mean difficulties in the period after 5 years. However, if the carrier can continue its recovery from the downturn then there is a good chance for a financially stable British Airways that can pay all its liabilities. Financial and operational leases may work, but they would only relate to the aircrafts. Also, it can be assumed from the drop in the operational lease that BA has these contracts ready and sorted out, they are not just not live as the new aircrafts have not been delivered yet. Conclusion The report has investigated two different business model’s financial structure. Results show the quantity’s victory over quality. Ryanair can maintain its market leading position and increase profits from year to year. This is attributable to the steady and well-functioning financial and operational system, which enables growth, investments and also controls liabilities and aircraft commitments. The search for new financial sources is only necessary, if Ryanair decides on a fleet expansion plan and the airline cannot agree with Ex-Im Bank about future fleet procurement. On the other hand, British Airways seem to struggle with its existing funds hence new financial sources are required to survive the upcoming years. The decision on these funds is hard as in BA’s current situation none of them can be called advantageous. But, to choose the best solution financial advice is recommended for the carrier. Despite all the differences, the two airlines have one thing in common – the next twelve months are going to have a great effect on both carriers’ long term operations. Reference list ATRILL, P. and MCLANEY, E., eds, 2002. Accounting and Finance for Non-Specialists Fourth edn. Pearson Education Limited. BRITISH AIRWAYS, 2012. Annual Report and Accounts Year ended 31 December 2011. British Airways. MORRELL, P.S., ed, 2007. Airline Finance Fourth edn. Ashgate.