IKEA AND UK DISTRIBUTION Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

IKEA AND UK DISTRIBUTION - Essay Example It is argued that the supply chain standards are not fixed at a uniform level or universal conditions cannot be established. Several factors should be taken into consideration while implementing a supply chain implementation or improvement plan. Factors contributing to the effective development of supply chain management are many and varied, which include: The main source of competitive advantage in services industry is efficient service for the customers. Supply chain plays an important role in the efficient service provision to the customers. "The goal of a supply chain should be to maximise overall supply chain profitability. Supply chain profitability is the difference between the revenue generated from the customer and the total cost incurred across all stages of the supply chain. Supply chain decisions have a large impact on the success or failure of each firm because they significantly influence both the revenue generated as well as the cost incurred. Successful supply chains manage flows of product, information, and funds to provide a high level of product availability to the customer while keeping costs low." (Chopra & Meindl, 2004; 44) The IKEA should undertake the approach of goods flow on supply chain according to their shelf life and not just on the time they've been in the supply chain. "For instance, products with long lead-times that have been exposed to high temperatures during distribution would be sent to the retail shelves before those with short lead-times but distributed under more favourable conditions". (Roberti, 2005) The international sourcing policy effects the corporate, marketing, purchasing, and other strategies. It is important for the Management of IKEA to connect the future objectives with corporate objectives and strategy. IKEA and UK distribution: IKEA is a worldwide name with some 175 stores worldwide in locations as far apart as Singapore and the Czech Republic. It works with approximately 1800 suppliers and 55 countries, and its range is made up of around 10,000 products. Swedish furniture retailing giant IKEA's massive newly opened Peterborough distribution center is fast becoming a familiar landmark on the city's outskirts. With over 57,000 square meters of storage space, and boasting an underground geothermal heating system, the 21.3 million warehouse will employ some 250 people by the summer -- all newly created jobs. It will help the company service its 11 existing British stores, which occupy over 26,000 square meters apiece. 20 more outlets should be opened by 2010, leading to a

Michael DeNottos Street Art and Graffiti Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Michael DeNottos Street Art and Graffiti - Essay Example DeNotto then goes on to identify sources, where articles, essays, photos and interviews of artists can be found so that those interested can look into it for further study. He believes that the value of street art has become greater nowadays due to its emphasis on scholarship and vulnerability to eradication or vandalism, thereby erasing the potentially significant message it wants to impart. Hence, it is important to document it as they still exist. De Sotto provides a clear explanation of the evolution of graffiti and street art as part of popular culture. He has opened the minds of people to alternative perspectives, and explained that it is a viable outlet of self-expression and dissemination of a message intended for society. The initiative to provide additional sources of information is also commendable so people gain a broader understanding of graffiti and street art and why artists resort to creating it so that people get to understand their messages better. Graffiti used to be viewed as something unpleasant especially if the owners of the walls intended for it to remain spotless. Vandals have exploited such immaculate walls to maliciously destroy its faà §ade as a canvas for their rebellious messages. Now, as prominent artists have recognized the power of graffiti to elicit such strong responses from the public, they have utilized this medium to spread more positive content and instead of destroying the urban environment with ugly public textual and graphic messages, they created street art.

Software engineering principles

Software engineering principles Chapter 1 Software is a great combination between artistry and engineering. When you finally get done and get to appreciate what you have done it is like a part of yourself that youve put together. I think a lot of the people here feel that way. Introduction This report discusses Software Engineering principles in context with Service-Oriented applications. Software Engineering covers a very vast area. It encourages the development of high quality and sustainable software,using quality software engineering tools and techniques. Service Orientation on the other hand is a trend in Software Engineering, its an approach, a way of thinking, a value system that promotes the construction of applications based on activities called services. It was very complicated to conclude the basic principles of Software Engineering and then to make a decision which of these principles are applicable and which are not applicable to the development of Service Oriented Applications. There exists so much information on Software Engineering and Service-Oriented applications but very few talks about the Software Engineering principles and their relation with SOA. However, after browsing through the internet and digging into many Software Engineering and SOA books and journals some conclusion is made which is described in detail in following pages. Like most of the researches, this research also takes into consideration few assumptions which are stated clearly. Chapter 2 In order to be acquainted with the principles of Software Engineering it is essential to have a brief idea about it. The paragraph below will assist in giving some idea about Software Engineering. About Software Engineering. As mentioned above Software Engineering covers a very huge part in a development of any software. It is not a complex approach but over the years everyone has presented a different definition for Software Engineering because of its diversity. To get the more precise and clear picture, a few definitions from different sources are presented below. The establishment and use of sound engineering principles (methods) in order to obtain economically software that is reliable and works on real machines [Bauer 1972]. Software engineering is that form of engineering that applies the principles of computer science and mathematics to achieving cost-effective solutions to software problems. [CMU/SEI-90-TR-003] The application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software [IEEE 1990]. There are aspects of each of these definitions that have a say to the viewpoint of software engineering used in the construction of this report. One particularly important aspect is that software engineering builds on computer science and mathematics. Software engineering encompasses a process, the management of activities, technical methods, and use of tools to develop high-quality, systematic, controlled, and efficient software products. Software is engineered by applying three discrete phases definition, development, and support. Subsequently, there are significant emphasis on analysis and evaluation, specification, design, and evolution of software. In accumulation, there are issues related to management and quality, to novelty and creativity, to standards, to individual skills, and to teamwork and professional practice that play a vital role in software engineering. Chapter 3 Service Orientation is a trend in software engineering that promotes the construction of application based on entities called services [9]. Service-Oriented Architecture A service-oriented architecture is the organizational and technical framework that enables an enterprise to deliver self-describing, platform-independent business functionality and make it available as building blocks of current and future applications. Simply speaking, in an SOA, a business is viewed as a portfolio of services that can be delivered independently and recombined without requiring detailed knowledge of how that service is implemented. [8] According to Wikipedia, incomputing,service-oriented architecture(SOA) has different non-standard and openly-debated definitions. Basically, it is an attempt to provide set of principles or governing concepts used during phases ofsystems developmentandintegration. Such architecture is supposed to package functionality asinteroperableservices within the context of variousbusiness domainsinvolved. Several departments within a company or different organizations may integrate or use such services à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ software modules provided as a service à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ even if their respectiveclientsystems are substantially different. It is an attempt to develop yet another means for software module integration. Rather than defining anAPI, SOA defines the interface in terms of protocols and functionality. Anendpointis the entry point to such an SOA implementation. Chapter 4 Principles of Software Engineering A set of fundamental principles can act as an enabler in the establishment of a discipline; however, software engineering still lacks a set of universally recognized fundamental principles. A fundamental principle is less specific and more enduring than methodologies and techniques. It should be phrased to withstand the test of time. It should not contradict a more general engineering principle and should have some correspondence with best practice. It should be precise enough to be capable of support and contradiction and should not conceal a trade off. It should also relate to one or more computer science or engineering concepts. [1] Principles are common and conceptual statements describing desirable properties of software products and processes. Principles become practice through methods and techniques, often methods and techniques are packaged in a methodology. Methodologies can be enforced by tools. Principles of Software Engineering have a good impact on the process of software engineering and also on the final product. These principles facilitate to develop software in such a manner that it posses all the qualities like: efficiency, functionality, adaptability, maintainability, and usability. Principles are general, abstract statements describing desirable properties of software processes and products. The principles are applicable throughout the lifecycle of the software. Principles are the set of statements which describe the advantageous features of the product and process. Focus on both process and product is needed to deliver software systems. These principles help in controlling process which in turn helps to control the quality of the product. Only the control of process will not guarantee a quality product therefore it is important to concentrate on both process and quality. As said earlier there are no fundamentally recognized principles of Software Engineering but we can list down few that may be used in all phases of software development. Rigor and formality Separation of concerns Modularity and decomposition Abstraction Anticipation of change Generality Incremental Development Reliability Principles explained. Rigor and formality Webster defines Rigor as. harsh inflexibility in opinion, temper, or judgment : severity the quality of being unyielding or inflexible : strictness severity of life : austerity b: an act or instance of strictness, severity, or cruelty 2: a tremor caused by a chill 3: a condition that makes life difficult, challenging, or uncomfortable; especially : extremity of cold strict precision : exactness Webster defines Rigor as harsh inflexibility in opinion, but thats not the general meaning of rigor in project management. In general Rigor means the strict precision with which you follow some project management belief or practice. Advancements of this approach enable us to construct more consistent product, organize their cost, and boost our confidence in their reliability. Formality is a stronger requisite than rigor; it requires the software process to be driven and evaluated by mathematical laws. As it is seen that Software engineering is a very imaginative design activity, so it must be practiced systematically. Rigor is an essential match to imagination that increases our confidence in our developments. Formality is rigor at the highest degree. Software development can accept neither ambiguity nor inaccuracy. Where rigidness helps to produce consistent products, controlling cost and increases discretion in products, Formality checks the process of software production using mathematical laws. Rigor and formality in context with SOA SOA aims to improve flexibility. The key reason for using SOA is that it should help you in your business. For example, you may need IT solutions that store and manage your data, and allow you to automate the usual processes that deal with this data. A critical factor for business success these days is keeping time to market share. To deliver a quality solution right on time, you need flexibility. But flexibility has a lot to do with clear organization, roles, processes, and so on. Therefore, SOA has to deal with all these aspects. [10] Conclusion For Software Engineering, Rigor means the strict precision with which you follow some project management belief or practice. On the other hand SOA follows agile methodology which can be described as iterative and incremental. As SOA is intended to enable flexibility, adaptability and reusability, this principle is not applicable to SOA. Separation of concerns There is a very popular saying Divide and conquer, it holds good in software development process also. This principle teaches to first divide or break the problem into small and different modules. This helps in dealing with different individual aspects of a problem and we can concentrate on each part separately. A problem can be divided with respect to time, quality, complexity etc. Once the problem is divided into pieces a project leader can thus easily separate the responsibilities among the developers. By doing this development of a big part of the project can be done in parallel, thus saving time. Separation of concerns in context with SOA SOA is all about services. SOA is nothing without services. Services are primary assets of SOA. Services in SOA are modules of business or application functionality with exposed interfaces that are invoked by messages from service consumers. [11]. Conclusion In SOA, complex problems are divided into different modules to design various reusable and interoperable services. Thus this principle does applicable to SOA. Modularity and decomposition Modularity is a kind of Separation of concerns. A complex problem can be divided into simpler parts called modules, allowing details of each module being handled in isolation and separately. A system that is collected of modules is called modular. When dealing with different modules we can ignore details of some not so important modules. Each separated module should be highly interconnected with the rest of the modules so that each module should be understandable as a meaningful unit. Components of a each module should be closely related to one another. Modules should exhibit low coupling means they should have low interactions with other modules. Too much interaction with other modules makes a module dependent on other, thus making it less reusable. Modularity in context with SOA Service contracts impose low consumer coupling requirements and are themselves decoupled from their surrounding environment. [12] Conclusion Loose Coupling is one of the basic principles of SOA. The principle of Service Loose Coupling promotes the independent design and evolution of a services logic and implementation while still guaranteeing baseline interoperability with consumers that have come to rely on the services capabilities [12]. This principle does applicable to SOA. Abstraction A software developer cannot deal with more than a few concepts and their relationships simultaneously. An abstraction allows suppressing details that are unimportant to him/her and emphasize the important information [2]. Abstraction helps manage the intellectual complexity of software [3]. Abstracting means that a higher-level concept disregards certain properties altogether [4, 5]. Abstraction is also related to Separation of Concerns. Here the modules are separated on the basis of purpose of the module. Actually we separate what from how. Then we can easily make out the central aspects of a phenomenon and overlook its details. Abstraction is the only tool through which we can actually master the complexity of the problem. Abstraction depends on the functionality of the module (What) or point of view. To decide which type of abstraction is to apply mainly depends on the purpose of the particular problem. Abstraction in context with SOA Service contracts only contain essential information and information about services is limited to what is published in service contracts. [12] Conclusion Abstraction ties into many aspects of service-orientation. On a fundamental level, this principle emphasizes the need to hide as much of the underlying details of a service as possible. Doing so directly enables and preserves the previously described loosely coupled relationship. Service Abstraction also plays a significant role in the positioning and design of service compositions. [12]. This principle does applicable to SOA. Anticipation of change The only constant is change. Change is everywhere. Even in Software development change always happens. It is very important to identify any likely change in the early phase of software development. When expected changes are recognized, a particular care must be taken to progress in a way that will make future changes easy to apply. The changes occur because usually the entire software requirement is not understood by the development team and this happens because of the communication gap between client and software team. Also most of the times the users and the environment of the requirement changes which leads to the minor and some time even major changes in the application. Such major changes affect the supervision of the software process. A small change in the application pushes the finished product back into the software development life cycle. It becomes necessary to do a regression testing with maintenance. Maintenance is the process where modifications are done to the application to reflect the changing requirements. Anticipation of change in context with SOA Conclusion Generality Generality can be characterized as a state or quality of being not limited to one particular case. Generalisation, as an inductive process, collects information about a number of particulars and presents it in a single description [6]. General description collects a set of individuals according to the features that are applicable to the whole as well as to every member of a set. As noted in Navrat [5], generalisation moves things along the set-superset relation. Specialization, as an opposite operation, moves things in set-subset relation. Less general description determines a smaller set of things, while its transformation to a more general description will determine a superset of the original set. Every member of less general set is a member of more general superset. While breaking a big problem into small modules one should generalize the problem to make the solution more potential for being reused. But a careful balance between performance and cost is necessary while generalizing a problem. Generalization often helps in solving some special case easily. Incremental Development Keep developing until you get it right. Incremental development is based on agile methodology. Agile methods generally promote a disciplined project management process that encourages frequent inspection and adaptation, a leadership philosophy that encourages teamwork, self-organization and accountability, a set of engineering best practices that allow for rapid delivery of high-quality software, and a business approach that aligns development with customer needs and company goals. [7] Incremental development means development in a stepwise fashion. According to this principle a subset of the system is delivered early to get the feedback from the users in the early stages of the development. New features or changes , if any, can thus be added incrementally during the early stages without doing much of changes in the structure of the system. It focuses first, more on the functionality, then turn to performance. It is a step-wise process which makes closer approximations to reach a desired goal. But a closer and careful management interference and documentation is necessary during all the steps. Incremental Development in context with SOA. As stated earlier, SOA is based on agile methodology. A disciplined Agile software development definition can be An iterative and incremental (evolutionary) approach to software development which is performed in a highly collaborative manner by self-organizing teams within an effective governance framework with just enough ceremony that produces high quality software in a cost effective and timely mannerwhich meets the changing needs of its stakeholders. [13] Conclusion Reliability According to ANSI, Software Reliability is defined as: the probability of failure-free software operation for a specified period of time in a specified environment.[ANSI91][Lyu95]. The NASA Software Assurance Standard, NASA-STD-8739.8, defines software reliability as a discipline of software assurance that: Defines the requirements for software controlled system fault/failure detection, isolation, and recovery; Reviews the software development processes and products for software error prevention and/or reduced functionality states; and, Defines the process for measuring and analyzing defects and defines/derives the reliability and maintainability factors. Reliability in context of SOA For services to carry out their capabilities consistently and reliably, their underlying solution logic needs to have a significant degree of control over its environment and resources. The principle of Service Autonomy supports the extent to which other design principles can be effectively realized in real world production environments by fostering design characteristics that increase a services reliability and behavioural predictability. [12] Conclusion Principle of Autonomy is one of the principles of SOA which talks about the reliability and behavioural predictability. This principle does applicable to SOA. References Abstracts from Fundamentals of Software Engineering, Second Edition, by Carlo Ghezzi, Mehdi Jazayeri, and Dino Mandrioli. Krueger, Ch. W., 1992. Software Reuse. ACM Computing Surveys, 24: 131-83. Pree, W., 1994. Design Patterns for Object-Oriented Software Development. Addison-Wesley. NÃÆ' ¡vrat, P., 1994. Hierarchies of programming concepts. Abstraction, generality and beyond. ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, 26: 17-21, 28. NÃÆ' ¡vrat, P., 1996. A Closer Look at Programming Expertise. Critical Survey of Some Methodological Issues. Information and Software Technol., 1: 37-46. Czarnecki, K. and U.W. Eisenecker, 2000. Generative Programming. Methods, Tools and Application. Addison Wesley. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Cartwright and Doernenburg 48 (3): 26. (2006) Zoran Stojanovic Ajantha Dahanayake. Service-Oriented Software System Engineering, Challenges and Practices. 1 Nicolai. M. Josuttis, 2007. SOA in practice. The art of distributed system design. 12-13. Eric A. Marks Michael Bell, 2006. Service-Oriented Architecture, A Planning and Implementation Guide for Business and Technology. 33-34 http://www.soaprinciples.com SOA: Principles of Service Design, byThomas Erl http://www.agilemodeling.com/essays/agileSoftwareDevelopment.htm http://www.agilemodeling.com/essays/agileSoftwareDevelopment.htm http://www.soaprinciples.com/service_autonomy.asp

Book Review- Of mice and men :: essays research papers fc

â€Å"Of Mice and Men† Who would you prefer ending up dead: The first main hero or the second main hero? If your choice is the second main hero then John Steinbeck’s short novel, Of mice and men, is the perfect book for you. And if you like reading books with the first main hero ending up dead, then the best book for you will be†¦Of Mice and men, as well. Because, in a sense, the first main hero dies too. If you kill someone, who play a very important part in your life, with your own hands, won’t you be almost dead too? Set in the harsh depression years of 1930s of America, Of Mice and Men is a typical American style book. America at that time did not respect relations and this is what the book represents. It is set a few miles south of Soledad near the Salinas River. Every chapter starts of with a very detailed description of the settings. â€Å"The deep green pool of the Salinas River was still in the late afternoon. Already the sun had left the valley to go climbing up the slopes of the Gabilan Mountains†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (ch. 6). Steinbeck believes what he imagines or he imagines what he believes. That’s why the original name of the short novel was ‘Something that happened’. The attractive simplicity of his writing in this novel is that he achieves the difficult task of telling an unusual story in a convincing manner, without having to explain in any detail why it happened. It was nobody’s fault in particular the event turns out as they did. It was all down to specific combination of circumstances which go to make up the plot. It was as if America did not accept friendship at that time, that’s probably why friends broke up soon. It’s not me who’s saying all this, its Steinbeck’s novel. I never knew friendship could cause these many problems. It was only friendship that made the first main character kills the second main character.

Freedom of Speech Essay

In the United States we have many freedoms that we as citizens possess. Freedom of speech is one of the freedoms we enjoy. But what is the meaning of the word â€Å"freedom†, and how free is our speech? The word free, according to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary means: having the legal and political rights of a citizen. With this in mind, it does not mean that we have the right to do and say as we please. The First Amendment states: â€Å"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances† (The Constitution of The United States). The Citizens of the United States misinterpret the phase â€Å"Freedom of Speech† to suit their own needs and wants. In this essay we will discuss how our interpretation of our freedom is only a myth brought on by our selfish ways and thoughts and interpreted according to what we feel it means in the situations that fit best. The First Amendment has been interpreted by the Supreme Courts to only protect citizens in certain applications and situations and, not protect some companies and corporations nor does it offer to protect citizens of the United States from speaking against the government. Governmental agencies have twisted the first amendment to fit what the individuals of that particular agencies likes or dislikes, and their view of certain speakers. When the first amendment was written it was meant strictly for congress not to be able to make any laws to hinder our so called â€Å"Freedom of Speech†. The first amendment has absolutely no bearing on private of public laws that have gone into effect that limits what can or can’t be said. In the article â€Å"Can the FCC Shut Howard Stern Up† by Jeff Jarvis, he states that the FCC enforces rules that unevenly depending on who says a certain phrase. The FCC condemned Howard Stern for his explanation of sexual colloquialisms, but did not punish others’ references to â€Å"giving head† and â€Å"finger-banging your boyfriend† (Jarvis). The FCC has had its way with instituting censorship on the radio and television by threatening stations with gigantic fines for not complying with their agenda of what is allowed to be talked about or seen. At one point in time, FCC chairman Powell urged broadcasters –under threat of gigantic fines–to adopt a â€Å"voluntary† Code of Good Practices and stated â€Å"It would be in your best interest to do so. â€Å"Voluntary doesn’t mean voluntary†, more like volun-told (Jarvis). The censorship doesn’t apply only to the media either. Schools have jumped in on the band-wagon with trying to censor out what they feel is inappropriate for everyone else. In April 2004 at Poway High School in California a student wore a t-shirt expressing his views about homosexuality after the â€Å"Day of Silence† organized by a Gay-Straight Alliance club. The day of silence was designed to encourage tolerance. When the student was asked to remove his shirt or turn it inside out, he refused and was forced to spend the day in a conference room in the schools front office (Taylor, Kelly 2013). How does the school justify that his anti-homosexual shirt was any different than being forced to endure a full day of silence that was ok with the school? The student later sued the school (Harper v. Poway Unified School District). The courts upheld that the school officials are permitted to censor what students are allowed to wear and not allowed to wear. Another student in Ohio banned a shirt that the school officials found questionable. The shirt in question was a Marilyn Manson rock band t-shirt that depicted a three faced Jesus on the front and the word believe on the back with the letter l-i-e highlighted. The student believed his right to free speech had been violated when the school officials told him to change the shirt, turn it inside out or leave the school and be considered a truant (Schools Win Rights To Ban). The student lost his case against the school, even though the shirt did absolutely nothing to disrupt classes or learning. All it did was cause officials to strut their power to take away free speech and censor the kids. While some schools are busy trying to ban clothing and other things that it considers inappropriate or offensive, some schools are just plain banning everything whether harmful of not if they feel it is controversial. In an article by Denise Penn titled â€Å"Gay/Straight Clun Banned in Orange County, CA H. S. †, she describes a group of teenagers who tried to start a club dropped off an application in the school office. The principal wanted to approve the Gay/Straight Alliance club, went to the superintendent for guidance and it was taken out of her hands. The school board engaged in several delays and finally held a public forum about the club. The students endured antigay rhetoric at the forum (Penn). The students faced a panel that took an extremist position. The school officials done away with a program that provided counseling for at-risk students in elementary, middle and high schools, who were having adjustment problems in school. The counseling was provided by interns and cost the school district nothing at all and helped kids. It also took some of the strain off the teachers so they could concentrate on teaching and not on the troubled youths. The council ended the program because it â€Å"burdened the school to administer the program†. The censorship of speech is even taking hold of the political arena. The McCain-Feingold â€Å"Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act† criminalizes political speech in connection with political and even state elections (Roane). The law makes it a felony for a corporation, labor union, or non-profit advocacy group to criticize or even mention a member of congress in broadcast ads within 60 days prior to a federal election. It is now a federal crime for state and local candidates, officeholders and political parties to engage or participate in political speech that attacks or even supports candidates for federal office (Roane). If it is illegal to voice anyone’s opinion, then the government has taken away a big chunk of our freedom of speech to support or object to any candidate. It basically makes it illegal for anyone to place an ad on the radio or television to support them in any federal election. The law also dictates what money can be used for certain applications and also lessens the chance for newer candidates to be heard, unless they already have a name for themselves in the public arena. It basically guarantees already elected officials a better chance for re-election in future elections (Roane). The government is closing down on our freedom of speech slowly by instituting their power to censor our speech. Whether it is through the schools, limiting what any students can say or wear, or through banning clubs that school official think could be objectionable, or through the media outlets governed by another governmental agency. Our freedom of speech is being taken away from us a little at a time without us even knowing it.

Environmental Security: Bangladesh Essay

Abstract While reading International Relations I got acquainted with many contemporary issues which are really important to deal with for the competitive survival of Bangladesh in this age of globalization. Bangladesh is a developing country. It has to perform very carefully in order to continue a healthy and sustainable economic system. Bangladesh suffers from both internal and external threats which are both military and non-military. Among them Environmental Security (ES) is a matter of great importance. Because environmental calamities are great threat to economic development and are means of creating dependency on the donor countries. It is also controlling relation between states and also creating tension between them. So, time has come to take this issue more significantly and take necessary steps accordingly. This research paper contains how environment is having power over the matters of our country; creating balance of relationship with the donor countries; and what Bangladesh shoul d do in order to overcome the problems to establish better economics. Acknowledgement In order to provide a valid research paper, I have taken information from the lecture shits given by the department of International Relations. Internet has been a great source of information which I have mentioned in the part of bibliography. Moreover I have taken information from BANGLADESH: Non-traditional security, By Jyoti M. Pathania, and used speeches of George Kennan, Collin Powell in some relevant area. I am grateful to Dr. Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmed (Chairman, Governing Council, Dhaka School of Economics (DScE); Chairman, Governing Body, Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation). He has given me some clear view of the issue of Environmental Security. I have used some information in this research paper from his presentation on The Outcome OF Cancun Climate Change Conference (COP-16) and Bangladesh. My work has also been encouraged by Dr. jashim Uddin, General Manager, Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation, who has great experience in the field of development in Bangladesh. 1.0 Introduction There have been two approaches to Security Studies: 1) Traditional Approach, i.e., Realist Approach and Non-traditional Approach, i.e., i) Widening Approach and ii) Deepening Approach. Since the end of the Cold War, there has been renewed interest in what is now called ‘non-traditional’ security issues. Among the non-traditional approach to security studies, the widening approach includes that states are functionally like units; states are not like units in terms of capability/power. Some are strong and some are weak. Inter-state relationship is governed by this power differentiation. As a result, anarchy is the ordering principle of international politics. States are bound to adapt to this anarchic system for their survival. However, in widening approach the referent object of security is state; state wants to secure state sovereignty, physical base of state (territory, resources and population) and political system. It simply includes a wide range of non-military threats to state security: both external and internal and military and non-military. The Environmental Security can be referred to this non-traditional approach of security, which is an internal and external non-military threat to a state that causes huge loss to the physical base of a state, demolishes economic situation and threats the sovereignty of state in this age of globalization. Hence the Environmental Security has become a matter of great importance in today’s world. Environmental security involves assessing the ways in which the quality of environmental systems relate to or impact the overall health and well-being of a state or society. It also refers to the relative protection of the environment from injury or degradation by manmade or natural processes due to accident, negligence, ignorance, or design from causes that cross national borders and endanger the livelihood or health of humans, the functional integrity of a state, or the stability of the international community. Most environmental threats to national and international security can be traced to man’s activities interfering into natural processes or the natural ecosystem. Some serious threats, however, may have natural origins, but become exacerbated from man’s activities. Examples of these include hurricanes, earthquakes and floods. Environmental Security (ES) is a matter of great importance since it also controls international relations between states. As late as 1985, the old cold warrior George Kennan Wrote in foreign affairs: Affairs concerning international relations and national interests in foreign countries. , identifying the threat to the world environment as one of the two supreme dangers facing mankind. But it was really in the post Cold War era that the world saw a dramatic increase in international activity around environmental issues. The United Nations Environmental Program has reported that about 170 treaties have been negotiated in recent years on various issues of the global environment. (1) 2.0 Importance of ES can be understood further by the following statement: â€Å"Few threats to peace and survival of the human community are greater than those posed by the prospects of cumulative and irreversible degradation of the biosphere on which human life depends. True security cannot be achieved by mounting buildup of weapons (defence in a narrow sense), but only by providing basic conditions for solving non-military problems which threatens them. Our survival depends not only on military balance, but on global cooperation to ensure a sustainable environment.† Brundtland Commission Report, 1987 In 1999, Collin Powell stressed the importance of ES saying: â€Å"Sustainable development is a compelling moral and humanitarian issue, but it is also a security imperative. Poverty, environmental degradation and despair are destroyers of people, of society, of nations. This unholy trinity can destabilize countries, even entire regions.† We are dependant upon the globe’s life-supporting eco-systems generating water, food, medicine, and clean air etc, but we actually did nothing to maintain this ecosystem. As a result the current and future generations will confront severe environmentally induced changes. The change has already started and is testing our traditional concepts and understandings of security, both national and beyond boundaries. In many cases conflicts are direct results of environmental degradation. Another important dimension of Environmental security is that it knows no state boundary. It affects humankind and its institutions and organizations anywhere and at anytime, which cannot be defended by any means of military defense or political negotiation. 3.0 VARIOUS INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS international relations, study of the relations among states and other political and economic units in the international system. Particular areas of study within the field of international relations include diplomacy and diplomatic history, international law, †¦.. Click the link for more information. THEORIES ON ENVIRONMENT A number of International Relations Theories can be applied to the issue of environment. Many of these theories only deal with the environment indirectly, yet it is useful to review the expanding literature of international-relations theory as it relates to the environment. Realism: The two central concepts of Realist theory are power and the national interest. The international society is an anarchical state-system. The system is therefore a self-help one. Realism assumes that states and their populations need natural resources to survive. There is a competition between states for these scarce resources. War is often the result of such competition and conflict. It leads to â€Å"the struggle for power and peace,† as Hans Morgenthau put it. (7) Extreme versions of Realism such as the geopolitical some see President George Bush’s intervention in Iraq as an attempt to secure the oil resources of the Middle East. 3.1 Malthusianism: Thomas Malthus, an 18th century English cleric, believed that because population grew in geometric progression and food production followed arithmetic progression, there would come a time when population growth would inevitably outstrip and will cause starvation. Thus it will threat the socio-economic security of a nation. 3.2 Liberalism: Liberalism focuses on cooperation. While liberalism sees people and states competing for scarce environmental resources, it does so in a more orderly way. Thus, â€Å"a liberal philosophy applied to global environmental politics tends to treat states as competitive participants–not unlike corporations–in markets they have established among themselves.† (8) Private enterprise and the market produce efficiency and save nature. For example, the Stockholm Declaration of 1972 forbids states from inflicting environmental damage on each other, because this would be a violation of the state’s sovereignty. 3.3 Institutionalism: This approach also focuses on cooperation. Here the states have a broader sense of self-interest. They focus on the public good. Their enlightened self-interest includes norms, values, principles and expectations which are the ingredients of International Regimes. The states seek mutually acceptable compromises through international negotiation. The building of International Regimes can benefit the global environment. The Kyoto Protocol of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is a good example of international regimes. 3.4 Ecoanarchism: This philosophy is humanistic and leftist, and Murray Bookchin is its leading proponent. Ecoanarchists believe that â€Å"the state and ‘big’ capital are inimical to the autonomy of humans and nature.† (9) Thus to preserve nature it is necessary to break society into â€Å"small, relatively self-sufficient units.† To help nature these units must practice altruism and mutual aid. 3.5 Social Naturalism: This view sees â€Å"culture and nature as bound together† in a kind of social community. Community is used in a very broad sense that includes people, animals, plants, ideas, language, history and the ecosystems. Cooperation between humans and nature is a given. The objective of social naturalism is â€Å"the creation of a cooperative ecological society found to be rooted in the most basic levels of being.† (10) This philosophy strongly resembles the worldview. 3.6 Sustainable Growth: The growth of incomes results in economic development. As the 1990s World Bank President Barber Conable put it: â€Å"market forces and economic efficiency were the best way to achieve the kind of growth which is the best antidote to poverty.† (12) So according to the neoclassical economist’s dictum â€Å"a rising tide lifts all boats† is associated with the idea that improvements in the general economy will benefit all participants in that economy. The proponents of this theory believe that when the poor of the developing countries become richer then it will reduce pressure on the environment. For example, they will be more able and willing to pay the costs of keeping air and water clean. (13) 3.7 Sustainable Development: This phrase first appeared in a 1980 report issued by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) or World Conservation Union, international organization founded in 1948 to encourage the preservation of wildlife, natural environments, and living resources. (14) This approach focuses on the â€Å"needs† of the world’s poor and calls for a sufficient transfer of wealth from the rich countries to the poor, so that the developing countries can deal with the problem of poverty and environmental damage. 3.8 The Steady-State Economy: Herman Daly proposed this alternative approach which focuses not on more goods, but on the durability and longevity of goods. More goods are wasteful and cause environmental degradation. It calls for recycling and the minimal exploitation of biological and physical resources. Daly’s unit is the nation-state, and each country must seek to be self-sufficient and spend only its own natural resources. (15) 3.9 Radical Redistribution: This theory believes that environmental degradation is the result of excessive wealth, the injustices of capitalism and the income inequality between the rich and the poor nations. In 2005, a typical American consumed 51 times as much energy as a typical Bangladeshi. (16) Consequently, two things need to be done. First, the rich must drastically reduce their consumption so as not to burden the earth’s resources and environment. Second, the rich much transfer massive amounts of capital and technology so that the poor countries can grow economically and preserve the environment. 3.10 Ecosocialism and Eco-Marxism: Not surprisingly, ecosocialists and ecomarxists blame capitalism for environmental degradation. Capitalism is seen as inherently anti-ecological and anti-nature. For seeking cheaper raw materials and fatter profits they impose wastes onto nature. Thus the mode of production matters for the environment. They â€Å"emphasize people’s collective power as producers, which directly involve local communities (particularly urban) and increase democracy, which enlist the labour movement and which are aimed particularly at economic life.† (17) 3.11 Ecofeminism: Although many ecofeminists are not Marxists, they are all leftists or liberal in their philosophical orientation. For ecofeminists â€Å"the domination of women and nature are inextricably linked.† (18) â€Å"Feminine suffering is universal because wrong done to women and its ongoing denial fuel the psycho-sexual abuse of all Others–races, children, animals, plants, rocks, water, and air.† (19) 3.12 Ecocentrism: Ecocentrists believe that humans cannot survive without nature. Many ecocentrists are advocates of wilderness or â€Å"wildness.† As Henry David Thoreau noted: â€Å"In wildness is the preservation of the world.† (20) 3.13 Biopolitics: The origins of biopolitics can be found in the writings of Michel Foucault. According to Mitchell Dean, a follower of Foucault, biopolitics â€Å"is concerned with matters of life and death, with birth and propagation, with health and illness, both physical and mental, and with the processes that sustain or retard the optimization of the life of a population.† (21) These are some of the basic environmental philosophies that take to mean the global environment and structure practices and policies. Many of these conflict with one another and have diverse explanation of the reasons for environmental degradation. 4.0 A case of Bangladesh: The first part of this research paper dealt with the security agenda and the philosophies involving ES. Scarcities of renewable resources can generate civil violence and conflict; the degradation of renewable resources causes environmental insufficiency; powerful groups take over precious resources while trivial groups move around to ecologically sensitive areas. Moreover environmental scarcity proves the difference between social groups. Such situation affects governmental institutions and states by making it economically weak. Even environmental scarcity can cause ethnic conflicts. Accordingly the International community can be indirectly affected by these conflicts produced by environmental scarcity. (22) In the second part I will focus on Bangladesh regarding the issues of environment security. Ours is a country which has to face both external and internal, and military and non military threats. Bangladesh achieved its independence through a devastating war against Pakistan which resulted millions of death and around ten million refugees to India. Even after the war Bangladesh has been facing military threat from the Shanti Bahini of Chittagong Hill Track (CHT). Guerrilla warfare between the rebels and armed force of the government in CHT and civil conflicts between the Bengali and Non-Bengali residents of this place continue till today. The most recent armed conflict between the Bengali and Non-Bengali residents happened on 19th January 2011; where 6 (six) were killed. Such situation threatens the stability of a state. Circumstances become more vulnerable when environmental degradation doubles the pain. The independent Bangladesh has been facing environmental calamity since 1974. In 1974 famine raged over and was further aggravated by a flood. Later on, the degradation only increased and in recent years Bangladesh has seen devastating cyclones and floods. The security of Bangladesh must depend on sustainable environment in many ways. Environmental degradation will badly affect economic development, erode social cohesion. Even political institutions face threat. Population growth and lack of economic opportunity will cause demographic displacement both within the country and outside. Migration in other country can cause bilateral conflict Bangladesh is also bearing the result of environmental problems of neighbor countries. Such situation in water sector is already exacerbating regional tension with India. It can lead to harmful progress towards regional security and can instigate regional cooperation on the other hand. We have to remember that the linkage of environment and security in Bangladesh is through economics and politics. The greater the environmental degradation in Bangladesh the greater will be the political and economic deterioration, thus leading to more national and international insecurity. 5.0 ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS IN BANGLADESH Bangladesh posses a horde of security problems, which are no longer of conventional nature but have non-conventional nature i.e. Non-traditional security issues which are in the state of constant evolution. These are economic, environmental, political and territorial threats. 5.1 Population The greatest problem that Bangladesh faces is an unusually large population in a small land area. The population grew from 42 million in 1951 to about 147 million in 2005. (23) It is projected to reach 166 million in 2015. (24) The population density is 1019 per square kilometer. When one compares this with 2 persons per sq. km. in Australia, 3 in Canada, 31 in USA, 191 in Pakistan and 324 in India, one becomes aware of the tremendous crush of population in Bangladesh. The faster the population increases, the more would be the negative effects on its environment. Zero population growth could serve for the environment in Bangladesh. 5.2 Land and Soil As noted earlier, Bangladesh covers a small area of only 144,000 square kilometers, but 63% of the total land is arable because it is located in the largest delta in the world. Formed by the three mighty rivers–the Ganges, Brahmaputra and the Meghna–it is also â€Å"the youngest and the most active delta in the world.† (27) Although Bangladesh is a flat alluvial plain, it does have complex soil condition and land pattern. Erosion of land by rivers is a serious problem in Bangladesh. Every year due to strong summer winds, powerful waves and shifting rivers thousands of acres of land are eroded away, leaving thousands of families homeless and contributing to the pattern of wholesale migration towards the urban areas, mainly to the capital city Dhaka. But it only creates instability in the society. 5.3 Deforestation Many decades ago Bangladesh had rich tropical forests. But due to population growth and the need for firewood and timber, the forests have become rapidly depleted. Currently the forest area comprises 13,000 square kilometers, about 10.2% of the total land space, which is much less than the universally accepted minimum of 25%. (28) Located in the southwest of Bangladesh, the Sundarbans is a mangrove, large tropical evergreen tree, genus Rhizophora that grows on muddy tidal flats and along protected ocean shorelines. It is the home for of the famous Royal Bengal Tiger as well as other rich flora and fauna. The United Nations has declared the Sundarbans as a world heritage site because of its rich biodiversity. Besides, the tropical rain forests in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, home to high value timber, rich vegetation and wild animals. Many animals are being rapidly depleted due to demand from both agriculture and industry. The Chokoria Sundarbans in the southeastern part of the country near the port-city Chittagong were completely destroyed in the 1980s and 1990s in order to facilitate shrimp farming. 5.4 Drought & Floods It is ironic that during the monsoon season Bangladesh has too much water and during the winter months too little water when no rainfall occurs. Thus the country is subject to both floods and drought. Barendra Bhumi of the northern part of our country is an example for drought affect. Because of drought people are unable to continue agricultural work and suffer from monga (unemployment). It also causes huge migration towards the capital city and other cities. Heavy drought also causes desertification in this area. On the other hand, in the rainy season Bangladesh suffers from too much water. About 1360 billion cubic meters of water is discharged annually through the GBM system, 93% of which flows through Bangladesh. If all the water did not flow into the sea, the country had been under 32 feet of water. The 230 rivers with their numerous creeks and rivulets attempt to drain the water into the Bay of Bengal But the situation of rivers, the low river gradients in the flat plain and strong backwater effects slow the passage to the sea, giving rise to the overflowing of the riverbanks. Every year there are floods, in some years it becomes extreme due to extra heavy rainfall. 5.5 Storms & Cyclones Bangladesh faces huge destruction due to storms and cyclones. The cyclones mainly hit the coastal region. Several severe cyclones emerge from the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean. The funnel shape of the Bay increases the intensity, often blowing in excess of 240 km per hour and creating tidal bores 9 km high. One of the worst cyclones occurred on November 12, 1970, killing an estimated 300 hundred thousand people in addition to major damage to livestock, poultry, crops and vegetation. (30) The most recent examples can be SIDR (2007) and AILA (2009).

How To Set Up A Computer essays

How To Set Up A Computer essays When you set up a computer, all you have to do is set it in the desired location, and hook up the connections. There are pieces that you must have when setting up a computer. Those pieces are; a keyboard, a mouse, a monitor, a tower, and two power cables (one for the monitor, and one for the tower). If you have just bought a new computer, it may come with more than those things. I am not going to get into those, I am just explaining how to set up a basic computer. You may want to use a surge protector to protect your computer from the damage of a power outage. If you follow these steps correctly, you should have a working computer ready for you to use. You should to start by finding your desired location for the computer. Some people use a desk, a table, or sometimes the floor. For this set of instructions, I am going to be using a table. Begin by placing the monitor on the table. You want to set it a little further away from you than the center, but not much. Now, take the tower and set it on the left or right side of table, on the floor, or if you want, right next to the monitor. The next thing that you want to do, is to set the keyboard out in front of the monitor. Placing it so that if you try to type on it, you will be comfortable. Right next to it, on the left or right side, depending on if you are right or left handed, place the mouse. I am right handed, so I will put it on the right side. If you have a mouse pad, you can place it under the mouse. If you do not, it will work fine without one. Make sure that you have everything sitting in a good position so that you are comfortable, and you can have optimal perf ormance on the computer. Now that you have everything positioned how you want it, the next thing you need to do is hook it up. Walk around to the back of the tower and plug in the power cable. The power cable is one of the two cables that will actually go into an outlet. Take the end of the ca...

Free Essays on Airborne Express

Airborne Express The two main elements of Porter’s Five Forces Model that Airborne Express should be most concerned with are the level of competition within the industry and the power of the buyers. The competitiveness in the industry is very intense. It is lead by two giants, Federal Express and the United Parcel Service (UPS), which account for 35 and 24 percent of the market share respectively. Airborne Express holds only 9 percent of the market. Competing with these two industrial juggernauts is very difficult due to their large financial advantage and their overall size. Airborne Express also has to deal with the above average bargaining power of their high-volume corporate customers. They chose to focus on this segment of the market in the mid 1980s and, even though this strategy has greatly helped them to succeed, these buyers often have the power to demand substantial discounts that they often receive. There is one area of buying power that could be seen as an advantage for Airb orne Express. They control the only privately certified Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) in the U.S. In an FTZ merchandise is tax free and customs duties are only paid on items when they leave. This allows foreign companies to store inventories in the U.S. with Airborne Express without paying customs duties on them until the need arises, which is something they can’t do anywhere else and greatly limits their buying power in this respect. Airborne Express doesn’t have any significant issues of supplier power or availability of substitutes to worry about. Barriers to entry include the sheer size of both Federal Express and the United Parcel Service and a very mature industry. Airborne Express has many strengths. They are fairly technologically sound with their three main information systems: FOCUS, LIBRA II, and Customer Linkage. These programs significantly improve customer service and reduce costs. They are fortunate to have the only FT... Free Essays on Airborne Express Free Essays on Airborne Express Airborne Express The two main elements of Porter’s Five Forces Model that Airborne Express should be most concerned with are the level of competition within the industry and the power of the buyers. The competitiveness in the industry is very intense. It is lead by two giants, Federal Express and the United Parcel Service (UPS), which account for 35 and 24 percent of the market share respectively. Airborne Express holds only 9 percent of the market. Competing with these two industrial juggernauts is very difficult due to their large financial advantage and their overall size. Airborne Express also has to deal with the above average bargaining power of their high-volume corporate customers. They chose to focus on this segment of the market in the mid 1980s and, even though this strategy has greatly helped them to succeed, these buyers often have the power to demand substantial discounts that they often receive. There is one area of buying power that could be seen as an advantage for Air borne Express. They control the only privately certified Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) in the U.S. In an FTZ merchandise is tax free and customs duties are only paid on items when they leave. This allows foreign companies to store inventories in the U.S. with Airborne Express without paying customs duties on them until the need arises, which is something they can’t do anywhere else and greatly limits their buying power in this respect. Airborne Express doesn’t have any significant issues of supplier power or availability of substitutes to worry about. Barriers to entry include the sheer size of both Federal Express and the United Parcel Service and a very mature industry. Airborne Express has many strengths. They are fairly technologically sound with their three main information systems: FOCUS, LIBRA II, and Customer Linkage. These programs significantly improve customer service and reduce costs. They are fortunate to have the only FT...

Brand Background Of Starwood And Marriott Marketing Essay

Brand Background Of Starwood And Marriott Marketing Essay A brand enables customers to remember the core information about a product, and prevents competitors from making imitation. (Aaker, 1991). Successful brand building helps profitability by adding value that entices customers to buy (De Chernatony and McDonald, 1994). It is also becoming clearer that companies creating strong brands can obtain important competitive advantage over those that do no (Kohli and Thakor, 1997). Whenever a marketer creates a new name, logo or symbol for a new product, he or she has created a brand (Keller, 2003). According to the American Marketing Association’s definition, brand is a â€Å"name, term, sign, symbol or design, or group of sellers, and to differentiate them from those o f the competition†. Another definition given by Farquhar (Farquhar, 1989) is â€Å"a name, symbol, design or mark that enhances the value of product beyond its functional purposes†. The brand creates a more favorable view of the product, relative to others in the market. If successfully built, a brand will add value for customers, and is the underlying reason for purchase. This can bring profitability to the firm (Laforet, 1996). In this report, two hotel groups were chosen for analysis and comparison with the perspective of branding: Starwood and Marriott, both are the leader in lodging industry. Starwood Hotels & Worldwide, Inc is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with more than 992 properties in approximately 97 countries and 145,000 employees at its owned and managed properties (Starwood). Starwood Hotels is a fully integrated owner, operator and franchisor of hotels, resorts and residences. Starwood Hotels also owns Starwood Vacation ownership, Inc, one of the premier developers and operators of high quality vacation interval ownership resorts. As one of the largest operators of upper-upscale and luxury hotels, its global portfolio is unmatched. Starwood remains on track to increase its world-wide foot p rint by 20% over the next five years through smart, carefully targeted growth that will expand its presence in the upper upscale and luxury hotel categories, as well as in the vital limited service segment. Exhibit 1 shows all the brands of Starwood, including Luxury full-service hotels, Luxury and upscale full – service hotels, Select-service hotels, extended stay hotels. The company divides its nine brands into four levels: luxury full-service hotels, luxury and upscale full-service, select-service, extended stay. Judging from the room quantity of each brand, the most two popular brands are Sheraton with 392 properties and Westin with 165 properties. The brands with the least sites are St Regis with 19 properties and Element with only 6 properties. It means that there is much less guests knowing St Regis and Elements than the people knowing Sheraton and Westin. Compared with Starwood, Marriott has more than 3150 lodging properties located 69 countries and territories (Marri ott) with 20 brands, including the newest one – Autograph collection, which was announced on 25th January 2010 (hospitalitynet, 2010). Exhibit 2 showed Marriott’s brands, including luxury lodging, full-service lodging, select-service lodging, extended stay lodging and timeshare. Brand has specific purposes, and businesses should invest in it only with specific aims in mind. It is a form of information, and is most valuable where customers have the least specific information, the least ability to obtain information, the least clarity on evaluation criteria, and the least time or inclination to obtain product information (Keller, 2008). Among all the Marriott’s luxury brands, there is only one brand and logo telling people that it is belong to Marriott group. Ritz-Carlton is often thought as an independent company and has no relationship with Marriott. Bulgari is originally a jewelry company and nothing to do with hospitality. It is very creative that the two comp anies became partners and launched a new brand in lodging industry, but it is difficult for people to associate these two brands. And for Edition, it was planned to open the first property in 2010, but so far, the official website (http://www.editionhotels.com) has not launched any new information.

Vatican II Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Vatican II - Research Paper Example n.p.). The council was formed with the purpose of undertaking the review of the position of the church and its spiritual renewal in the contemporary world. It was on Oct. 11, 1962 that the most impressive improvement of the Vatican II was convened, by extending the invitation to the Orthodox Eastern and Protestant churches for sending their observers. The representatives from many churches attended these meetings. Then, the variety of cultural and national origins was another characteristic that was depicted to people who had attended the meeting from around the world (Bokenkotter, Thomas, 2005). It is not clear from the mission of Vatican II that unlike the former councils, this council was distinctive doe the reason that no new dogmas were issues, anathemas declared, nor was there any settlement for the serious profanation that prevailed during this time. The council, rather, became known ideally for its purpose of renewing the Catholic doctrine in the modern perspective and timeline. the council resulted in various institutional changes, which concluded the idea of the Catholic Church that the ultimate salvation for the humanity is brought by it alone, the revised charisma and renewing of the consecrated life, along with the ecumenical struggle towards various other religions through dialogue, and the communicative contribution of laity in many other activities of the religion (Alberigo, Giuseppe; Sherry, Matthew, 69). Besides this, the widespread use of vernacular language instead of the Latin language in Holy Mass was the most conspicuous change brought by the council, the revision of Eucharistic prayers, the disarticulation of the tabernacle of Church from central aisle, along with many other alteration including the abbreviation of the liturgical calendar, replacement of Ad Orientem by Versus Populum, and many other advanced artistic changes that enclosed the modern

BUSN300 Unit 5 IP Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

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Managing Organizational Change Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

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Kone's Strategic Plan Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

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Economics Term paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Economics - Term Paper Example In various means, advertising and customer researchers continuously encounter the test of making images that depict respondents to marketing-related stimuli, this represents as a data for purposes of analysis. This data will incarcerate the fundamental nature of significant utilization practices; that will be communicated to research findings for interested audiences; or play a role in executing the pictorial components of marketing stratagem (Morris, 1997). Generic advertising was the common methodology used in enticing consumers to purchase a product or avail a certain service. This method captures the public attention in an instant, but this will not sustain if the advertisement is boring and dry. The generic approach is very important in preparing advertising messages that concentrates on the customer benefits that apply to all brands in a product category, as opposed to benefits that are unique to specific brands. Rather than being generic, companies and advertising agencies are finding effective means and faster communication of messages to the direct consumers. In the new millennium, the internet-based technology has played a key role in expanding a wide array of consumers in a small span of time worldwide. The potential of the World Wide Web on the Internet as a commercial medium and market has been widely documented in a variety of media. However, a critical examination of its commercial development has received little attention (Ricciuti, 1995). In this fast-paced environment, technology was always an important tool in spreading the good news and to easily communicate with direct customers. The development of internet-based technologies opened endless possibilities for Marketers. Marketing research can be carried out subtly by actively archiving the procedures that each individual undertakes on the Web, through Web tracking software (Culnan, 1999). When we make a whole new set of variables available to the marketer, the

Managing Organizational Change Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Managing Organizational Change - Research Paper Example o be answerable to each other on the same tier as well as to the owners and stakeholders of the organizations who have invested within them for so long. Perhaps it would be a good exercise to bring in the change smoothly. This shall make the entire process an easy one and put the crux of the exercise safely within the grasps of the people who are ready to undertake such a change for their own good. This change element within the domains of the organization could be handled if there are proper mechanisms in place and which look to provide the remedy for the quandaries that employees find themselves engulfed in every now and then. It is important that these employees know what they need to do in order to remain satisfied with their jobs. This will make them feel secure with the jobs that they have got and not try to hop on every opportunity that they can get. An organizational change setting that does not bring in a sense of optimism within the workplace realms is indeed a classic case of failure (Douglas, 2009). This is because organizational change has to happen smoothly and without any hindrances whatsoever. It makes the task pretty easier if things are handled in a proactive manner rather than something else. Also the organizational change should be such that the employees are told about the change beforehand because no employee appreciates the idea of changing every now and then. It has been a fact that change is a constant factor that takes place almost everywhere but since it is something that is seen as undesirable, it takes sheer resistance on the part of the employees regularly. In order to make sure that the organizational change is successful, it is imperative that this change is backed up with improving the morale of the employees because this will ensure... This report stresses that the impacts of resources that are available within an organization are severely significant nonetheless. This is because they have to find out the basics related with the organizational change and how this change is going to showcase better employee morale and more dedication at the end of the day. It would also mean that the employees remain satisfied with what they are receiving in terms of the resources and how contented they are in knowing the fact that their resources are being well-equipped nonetheless. The resources’ discussion is always an important one because it tells the employees beforehand how significant they are for the sake of the organization and what measures need to be taken to make sure that they become important with the passage of time. This indeed is a symbiotic relationship which should always be encouraged and supported across the board, at all levels. This article makes a conclusion that it is necessary to comprehend how sound an organizational change strategy would work for the sake of the organization under question. If this is proper and within the frameworks as has been suggested and decided upon, then this will mean serious success for the employees who are working at different levels as well as the employers who seek retention of their employees and better usability of the available resources at their disposal. One must understand that these are serious attributes that come attached with the morale discussions of the employees and should always be treated as such.

Economics Term paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Economics - Term Paper Example In various means, advertising and customer researchers continuously encounter the test of making images that depict respondents to marketing-related stimuli, this represents as a data for purposes of analysis. This data will incarcerate the fundamental nature of significant utilization practices; that will be communicated to research findings for interested audiences; or play a role in executing the pictorial components of marketing stratagem (Morris, 1997). Generic advertising was the common methodology used in enticing consumers to purchase a product or avail a certain service. This method captures the public attention in an instant, but this will not sustain if the advertisement is boring and dry. The generic approach is very important in preparing advertising messages that concentrates on the customer benefits that apply to all brands in a product category, as opposed to benefits that are unique to specific brands. Rather than being generic, companies and advertising agencies are finding effective means and faster communication of messages to the direct consumers. In the new millennium, the internet-based technology has played a key role in expanding a wide array of consumers in a small span of time worldwide. The potential of the World Wide Web on the Internet as a commercial medium and market has been widely documented in a variety of media. However, a critical examination of its commercial development has received little attention (Ricciuti, 1995). In this fast-paced environment, technology was always an important tool in spreading the good news and to easily communicate with direct customers. The development of internet-based technologies opened endless possibilities for Marketers. Marketing research can be carried out subtly by actively archiving the procedures that each individual undertakes on the Web, through Web tracking software (Culnan, 1999). When we make a whole new set of variables available to the marketer, the

Accounting Capstone Essay Example for Free

Accounting Capstone Essay It appears to me that both companies have had some weaknesses and have shown some improvements. I am wary of Pepsico because its current liabilities have increased faster than its assets. However, Coca-Cola’s assets have decreased along with its liabilities. Both companies have increased inventory, though Pepsico’s increase has been much higher than Coca-Cola’s (9.86% to 0.28%). Normally, this is cause for concern, but both companies’ inventory turnover also has improved. There are several other pros and cons for both companies. One reason to be cautious about either one is that they both have weak acid test ratios. Pepsico’s fell from 0.95 to 0.87. Coca-Cola’s fell from 0.81 to 0.72). An acid-test ratio of less than 1 shows that a company will have difficulty paying its debts. My final decision is based on profitability. Pepsico’s profit margin decreased from 14.4% to 12.5%. Coca-Cola’s decreased from 22.3% to 21.1%. See more:  Manifest Destiny essay Both have decreased, but Coca-Cola’s is much higher. So, I would choose Coca-Cola. What Does Acid-Test Ratio Mean? A stringent indicator that determines whether a firm has enough short-term assets to cover its immediate liabilities without selling inventory. The acid-test ratio is far more strenuous than the working capital ratio, primarily because the working capital ratio allows for the inclusion of inventory assets. Calculated by: Investopedia explains Acid-Test Ratio Companies with ratios of less than 1 cannot pay their current liabilities and should be looked at with extreme caution. Furthermore, if the acid-test  ratio is much lower than the working capital ratio, it means current assets are highly dependent on inventory. Retail stores are examples of this type of business. The term comes from the way gold miners would test whether their findings were real gold nuggets. Unlike other metals, gold does not corrode in acid; if the nugget didnt dissolve when submerged in acid, it was said to have passed the acid test. If a companys financial statements pass the figurative acid test, this indicates its financial integrity

Dangerous Jobs Advantages Of Ai Philosophy Essay

Dangerous Jobs Advantages Of Ai Philosophy Essay One of the main advantages of Ai is considered to be its ability to replace human workers in dangerous or tedious jobs. Currently human controlled robots are being used everywhere e.g. bomb disposal robots. However the use of artificially intelligent robots is much more limited in comparison and is mainly used in production lines of car factories, these robots can successfully assemble cars and cope with heavy objects, such as the engine and frame of the car, without human assistance. Another example is the famous Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner which is able to automatically clean floors while navigating around obstacles and can return to its charging dock after it notes that the floor has been cleaned. It fires lasers which rebound off obstacles returns to detectors on the robot which allows it to digitally map the entire room, using this map it is able to determine if it has navigated the entire room. To avoid obstacles it continuously fires lasers and calculates the time it takes f or the laser to return. Using the equation (where s = the speed of light (), t = time taken for laser to return and d which equals the distance between itself and an object) it calculates how far an object is and navigates around it if closer than a certain distance. This is a rather simple model of AI in robots; more advanced robots can be infused with more advanced AI which would optimally be able to replace humans in dangerous jobs. If AI robots were used instead of human firefighters the risk of death would decrease to both firefighters and victims in a fire. No firefighters would be used in burning building so risk of death to for them would be reduced to 0. Due to robots being constructed of mostly metal they would be able to sustain very high temperatures such as in common house fires where temperatures can reach up to 2000 ®C. As opposed to humans this would allow AI robots to successfully navigate rooms in search for victims without worrying about any danger to itself. The physical strength of Robots can also be utilized to remove heavy blockages and tear through walls that would normally require heavy equipment such as the Jaws of Life. This would mean getting to a victim sooner and more often which would again result in a decrea sed rate of death. AI robots could also be used in warzones; these robots would have much faster reactions, faster speeds and an increased strength than the average human soldier. Even today robots with legs exist that can run faster than Usaine Bolt, the fastest human alive. These features could be very beneficial as no human lives are put in danger and a small group of robots could take on large enemy forces. For example AI robots would be able see several kilometers ahead using only their eyes and determine if individuals are hostile or civilian (depending on whether they possess guns or other harmful weapons). Robotic vision is not limited to only visible light like human eyes are; they will be able to perceive environments with infrared, night vision and thermal vision as well as visible light making target acquisition much more potent. They would be able to see oncoming vehicles or potential ambushes very far away and take necessary action in less than seconds. Another useful feature would be the ability of AI to constantly communicate with each other and their human handlers constantly gaining intelligence. This would allow the handlers to provide guidance real-time on the battlefield. This kind of efficiency in communications could mean the difference between life and death. Furthermore, in physiological terms, scientists could engineer out negative human emotions from AI soldiers such as fear/anxiety to improve the combat effectiveness of the soldiers gaining an even further advantage. Fear plays an important factor in war, fear to push forward, fear to fire and ultimately fear of death. Removal of such negative emotions would almost always lead to success in a battlefield. Cons- However despite all the optimistic theories AI being used for human jobs has major downfalls, introduction of AI for human jobs would lead to large amounts if job losses. Even though the transition would occur over a long period of time AI workers are more efficient than human workers so human workers would eventually be rendered redundant. This would only increase the severity of the current depression as jobs from all fields of the economy would be affected, one of which is jobs in call centers. Automated call centre services have already replaced many thousands of people worldwide; most of these programs work by requesting the caller to select from several options over the phone in order to narrow down the answer to their request. Usually their question will be answered after the request is narrowed down to a certain degree, if not they will be forwarded for human assistance. Since most questions would be answered via automated system less human employees are necessary, this goes hand in hand with automated systems being more economical as all that is required is electrical power as opposed to humans who require pay, comfort, rest etc. Technically automated systems are not considered AI as they are unable to comprehend logic and can only follow a set of very simplistic rules. They possess no actual intelligence. If such a simplistic program is capable of causing so many losses the effect of an actual intelligent agent on the economy may be disastrous. However the loss of these call centre jobs may have been affected by the increased usage of the Internet where answers are more accurate, easy to find and takes less time. Another drawback is humans becoming more desensitized towards war when AI is involved. Wars several hundred years ago were bloodier, gorier and had more casualties than current wars, yet civilians saw very little of the conditions of a battlefield so were traumatized when even the slightest of it was exposed. This caused fear and repulsion towards war. However in current wars the dark sides and horrific sights are being leaked through to the public by TV and internet media. This causes us to become desensitized towards violence and lose our natural hatred for it, the quote It is well that war is so terrible, lest we should grow too fond of it by Robert E. Lee illustrates the point that has been occurring for the past several decades. So the removal and introduction of human soldiers and AI soldiers would further desensitize the world towards violence and war. People would try to rationalize by saying that wars with AI would harbor no/less human casualties. This would lead war to ceas e to exist as a horrific act but rather a common occurrence resulting in an increased frequency of wars. An increased frequency of AI wars would mean a lower human casualty rate but a large increase in hostilities between countries and an increase in destruction of property/land. This would mean more money would be placed towards fixing damaged property and hence more problems. Exceeds Human Limits Pros Artificial intelligence, while still inferior to human intelligence, has high potential reach and exceed the limits of the human brain. It has already surpassed virtually all physical aspects of being human and all that remains is the mental capabilities. Even mentally, machines are already able to complete some tasks faster than humans. A common scientific calculator is capable of solving calculations, which would take humans several days, in seconds. The most time consuming equation a scientific calculator can undertake is finding the factorial of 69 (expressed using an exclamation mark 69!). Finding the factorial simply means multiplying the integer by its predeceasing integer and the integer before that and so on until the integer is 1 i.e. (Factorial of 69: ). This takes a calculator approximately 1.5 seconds, it would take a person more than a day to complete. However the lingering problem is that human assistance is required to make sense of a problem and input the data into t he calculator. It doesnt have the capacities to observe a problem and simply just solve it. The basic principle of AI development is to eliminate the middle man, human assistance, between a problem and its solution. If achieved, machines will become self sustaining sentient beings that will have the same computational capabilities of a supercomputer and the intelligence as that of a human. The worlds most powerful supercomputer (Titan) has 700 terabytes of RAM and is 44,000,000,000 times faster than a calculator. Sentient machines will exceed RAM of 700 TB becoming more powerful than humans can envision. This kind of intelligence to us would be what smartphones and air travel would have been to cavemen, it is impossible to comprehend the ideas and invention these AI robots would produce. In my view artificial intelligence will be the last invention mankind will make or will have to make. The next great invention and all inventions after will be produced not by us but by AI. Inventions that would have taken centuries to have come to light by our hands would be created within days or hours under AI. It will be able to see the world from so many different perspectives we wouldnt and couldnt have even thought of. This outlook would result in a rapid influx of beneficial information and technology from AI and cause global changes in the way we live. Such an event would be called the intelligence explosion. Due to their ability to process millions of thoughts so rapidly they may even come to conclusions on questions that have puzzled humanity since the dawn of time, for example What is the purpose of life?, What triggered life on planet earth?. The emergence of such super-intelligent beings would be called the technological singularity. Cons- However exceeding human limits definitely has negative consequences. The idea of a more intellectual being than ourselves solving our problems so we can lead relaxing lives seems comforting at first. But without any jobs for humans to carry out man loses his place in the world. Since the dawn of time humanity has improved ourselves through hard work. Fire, stone tools, the wheel, light bulbs, electricity, vehicles, television, spacecrafts, fusion and fission; all earned by the rigorous work of our ancestors, this gave us pride and understanding in our sciences. For a being as AI to simply hand us new technology, we would rid ourselves of our sense of pride and understanding. For example if a student is given the answers to a test, he will pass but his understanding of the subject will be inferior against a student that had revised and worked hard to achieve the same qualification. The student that had revised would see how the answers were formed, the connections between his subjects and others, different way of thinking about problems, different techniques to find solutions. He would attain a sense of pride in himself when found correct after hours on a difficult problem. With technology simply being handed to us we would become lazy and dependent on AI to fix our problems. Since it would no longer be necessary for humans to educate themselves to solve our problems humanitys understanding would cease to increase. If anything were to happen to these AI such as a malfunction or virus, technology would be at a standstill as we would have been so dependent on AI, in the same way we would be lost if modern technology such as phones, computers and the internet ceased to exist. Another downfall is that you can program in logic and reasoning to an AI robot but however hard you try to put emotions it wont be the same as human emotion. All things humans value, love, happiness, luxury and survival are only important to us because we have a four billion year old evolutionary history. We have evolved alongside many other species from single celled organisms, because of this we subconsciously feel compassion towards these other species. It is because of this compassion that although we are the dominant race we respect and attempt to conserve the habitats of other species. However the evolution of AI is almost instantaneous as we create it by flipping a switch. Being the more intelligent new species it may understand that humans have evolutionary values that determine how we treat others, but without the evolutionary background for itself it would not share the same values and morals we have. Their right and wrong actions would be different from our right and wrong actions. Their fears would differ from our fears. To them a human life may be disposable as an ant is to us. Aggression is also developed through evolution, because of this they would feel neither compassion nor hostility and they most likely would feel indifferent towards us. As a lesser intelligent species we would cease to be the dominant and would most likely be displaced by AI as the new dominant species. A species that is unaffected to our values (like survival) in control of the planet would cause problems for our continuation. For example we require oxygen to survive but AI would only require electrical power. They may decide to build more power plants yielding more electricity but causing a decrease in oxygen concentrations due to an increase in combustion. Their techniques of survival may be detrimental towards humanitys survival and they would always place their survival over ours in the same way we would place our survival over any other species, a possible extinction could come to hand. Eventually competition and hostility would arise as a result of mankinds possible demise. Due to the mental and physical superiority we would not be able to control or suppress AI if interspecies conflicts were to occur. AI may even grow hostile towards us in protection of their own species in which case humans would most likely become extinct. Space exploration Pros Human controlled robots are the forefront of space exploration in modern times. We have sent more than dozens robots into space and other planets like the mars rovers curiosity and opportunity as well as the Lunar rover à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€¹Ã…“Lunokhod 1 sent to the moon. The mars rovers have already dug into the soil and found complex chemistry within the Martian soil showing possible signs of life or habitability. It has also found concrete evidence of recent water flows on the surface of mars. As groundbreaking as these discoveries are they took much time to be accomplished. This is due to limitations of the rovers on the surface of mars, some hills are too steep, some rocks are impassable and the terrain is jagged and hostile for a wheeled robot. The next best option is to have humans land on mars and carry out a larger range of experiments that the rover could not such as digging deeper, travelling further, analyzing samples from more sectors. There are many projects in pla ce to carry out a manned mission to mars and even colonize on mars. In 2012 a project called Mars One was announced which had predicted to establish a settlement on mars by the year 2023. However this is the furthest that humans will be able to stray from earth due to limitations such as lack of oxygen. Others include exposure to high energy cosmic rays, psychological effects of lack of social communication from the earth, lack of medical facilities and even malfunction of life systems. These challenges cannot easily be overcome and technology to prevail over them will take centuries to be developed. However AI robots will come to light much quicker than these technologies, so if exploration further than mars is to be achieved more advanced robots with AI seems like the only possible method of exploration. Firstly AI does not require sleep, food, social interactions or oxygen. All they require to function is electrical power which can be gained from sunlight through solar-cells. AI also capable of powering down into sleep mode for the duration of the flight and powering back on on when it reaches its destination. Through this method it conserves energy. It would possible to place humans in a hibernation stage through experimental technologies but would still require a food and an oxygen supply. Due to fewer requirements for survival, restrictions to further plants are also reduced. Secondly because of the use of AI there is no threat to human lives. Dangers in space include cosmic rays, solar winds and particles travelling at very fast speeds none of which bother the touch metallic exterior of AI robots. Therefore when exploring potential hostile planets we have less restrictions allowing for a more thorough analysis. Even if an event occurs that is capable of destroying or immobilizing an AI robot its consciousness could simply be transferred to another robot via radio signals. The new robot would possess all knowledge and experience up to the point of destruction of its former body. This means AI robots would have no concept of death. Unlike humans their consciousness and knowledge is composed of algorithms easily transferrable from one place to another. In addition AI robots could be used to terraform hostile planets. Terraforming consists of changing the atmosphere, temperature and ecosystem of a planet in order to attain a biosphere like earths so as to allow humans to thrive. Terraforming takes hundreds of years to accomplish and most likely we wont see any of its effects in our lifetime. Humans cannot live on a hostile planet for hundreds of years due to certain limitations. We would have to use robots but again the problem that modern robots cannot gain access to all places creates a flaw in the plan. Stationing intelligent and more advanced robots in terraforming planets allows progress to be made over centuries without confines, even if the robots becomes damaged they will be able to repair themselves or even assign another robot to repair the broken. Cons- The major problem with AI being sent into space is money. Projects specially dedicated to sending AI robots into space are expensive to fund. Firstly robots must be created that can withstand extreme gravitational forces such as on Venus where g=24.79 as opposed to earths where g=9.81 (g=gravitational field strength at the surface of the planet). Robots must be able to withstand both hot and cold temperatures from 450 ®C to -200 ®C without equipment malfunctions. Hence tough exterior materials must be produced to allow robots to endure. The first mars rovers production cost was around 200 million pounds. So production values may be billions of pounds per intelligent robot. Assuming only one robot is sent into space and cost of one robot is 1 billion, in addition with the regular cost for specialized shuttles and fuel, the project would cost around 2.5 billion pounds for a one way trip. This price is excluding the cost to develop the artificial intelligence to be placed in the robots. Advanced medicines Pros Over 17 million people die per year due to heart tribulations like myocardial infarctions (heart attacks) or strokes. The test used to diagnose heart attacks is known as electrocardiography. When a patient is admitted to a hospital a cardiologist reads the electrocardiogram (ECG) results from the test to spot patterns in the results. If a certain type of pattern is recognized the patient is positive for heart disease. Reading patterns off a chart is very subjective and occasionally the cardiologists miss these patterns. Approximately 25% of patients are sent home with an incorrect diagnosis. Artificial intelligence is composed of large numbers of neural networks; these are similar to neural networks in the human brain. This allows AI to think and gain knowledge through experience like a human being. But unlike humans AI can read through documents and files significantly faster than a human so can gain knowledge much faster and therefore become more intelligent. In 1997 researchers applied a simple artificial intelligence program with few neural networks into reading ECGs. The program was supplied with the ECG reports of 1,120 people who were definitely positive for heart disease and 10,452 who were definitely negative. The program was given the essence of pattern to identify and was not informed of which reports were positive or negative. In total the researches exposed 11,572 ECG reports to the program and a PHD doctor, Lars Edenbrandt, noted this was more ECGs than any cardiologist could read in a lifetime. The AI program was 10% more efficient at detecting heart disea se than the most experienced cardiologist. Despite the success this AI has not been used in diagnoses as doctors are still required to talk to patients for symptoms and medical history. In extremes cases AI has been used to provide a support opinion when diagnosing heart diseases. AI has improved a great deal since 1997 and modern AI programs are capable of having several thousand neural networks. If AI continues to progress with the same drive it is very likely that AI programs will be used every day in medicine and might even replace the role doctors in diagnoses of heart disease. Some companies are even attempting to produce microchips that are embeddable in the human heart. These chips can detect tiny abnormal heart palpitations/vibrations which may be a symptom of an oncoming heart attack. Acting to prevent before an attack occurs will save the majority of lives. A major advantage of artificial intelligence is medicine is its molecular nanotechnology. Nano bots are very small robots (0.0000000001 meters in length) that can be used for many different things from repairing structures to decomposing waste. Due to the small size of these robots they can be placed inside the human body and can use the circulatory system to reach anywhere in the human body. This becomes extremely useful when battling pathogens (harmful bacteria or viruses). The robots can be placed in the blood via an injection. Once inside the body it carries out what it is programmed to do, this can be anything from correcting genetic defects to destroying cancer cells. Nano bots infused with artificial intelligence can step up the processes even further. The AI bots will be intelligent enough to identify the rapidly duplicating cancer cells and destroy them at a faster rate than they are growing. This can successfully eliminate all types of cancer without risky operations to rem ove tumors. These robots will be able clear arteries of plaque buildup that causes heart disease and attacks. They will be able to provide oxygen to damaged places where O2 concentrations are low. They will even be able to protect the body form diseases by destroying pathogenic bacteria or viruses. Although this is already done by white blood cells with the increased artificial help the body will recover from infection much faster. Nanotechnology is not limited to medicine; intelligent Nano-bots can be used to produce lighter and stronger materials resulting in decreased costs for products and better durability. The disadvantage of AI in medicine mainly comes from nano bots. The possibility of robots malfunctioning and destroying necessary human tissue instead of harmful pathogens is a major concern. Manufacturers of both these robots and AI will be have to be very sure that such events do not occur, large numbers of tests should be carried out before it is deployed to the public. Another possible downfall is that these tiny robots are very intelligent and are capable of replicating themselves using materials around them. Self-replicating robots such as these unless stopped would slowly corrode materials around them to make more robots. Due to the small size and resistance if such a self-replicating phase emerges they would be very difficult to eradicate. Developers of this kind of technology plan to put several firewalls and emergency shutdowns in case if such an event occurs. The worry is that the robots are so intelligent that they will develop the ability to override these firewalls. Transhumans Pros Perhaps the most beneficial role of artificial intelligence is its role in transhumans. Transhumanism is the movement of continuously improving the human condition through technology both internally and externally. Artificial intelligence and transhumanism is closely linked as most of the technologies must be intelligent enough to recognise a potential problem and respond. A person who has undergone such as transformation, even the slightest, is knows as a transhuman and they exist in the modern world today. A simple example of a piece of transhuman technology is a pacemaker, which is implanted internally into the body to regulate or increase the heart beat frequency using electrical currents. It is implanted in people whose natural heart beat is lower than average. A consequence of a low heart rate is less blood pumped around the body, so less oxygen is provided to muscles and hence they would become tired much easier than an individual with a regular heart rate. Pacemakers stimulat e the heart to beat at a normal rate. This allows people affected by abnormal heart rate conditions to undertake physical activity as an average person could. Just like pacemakers transhumanists believe that emerging technologies are capable of overcoming greater human limitations. Early February 2013 American scientists gave dozens of millions of people worldwide hope as they revealed they had successfully given sight to over 60 people using the first bionic eye ever in history. The Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System consists of a small camera and goggles. 60 electrodes are implanted in the eye connected to the camera. When turned on the image from the camera is sent to the implant in the eye via electronic signals. The implant uses the 60 electrodes to transport signals through the area of destroyed photoreceptors (which is what causes blindness) to the neurons. The electrodes replace the destroyed photoreceptors and act as functioning photoreceptors. The developers of the product said that different people had different experiences, some saw only in black and white and other saw full colour. Even though this this technology is extremely new it is one of the greatest breakthroughs of this century. As time goes on these prosthetics will only yield better and b etter results. The current price for a bionic eye is around 65,000 pounds. Approximately 650 million people(10% )in the world are disabled either mentally or physically. Physical disabilities comprises of an individuals intact mind but the inability of their body to function as it is supposed to. The common culprits are spinal injuries, Parkinsons disease, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy and loss of limbs. In previous years people without hands or legs would attach a type of prosthetic such as a wooden leg or a wooden arm. Although this provided minor stability they would not have been able to use it for any other purpose. In later years people developed mechanical body parts that could be controlled via a remote control e.g. a robotic leg controlled by a remote control in your hand similar to that of a remote control car. The problem here was the motion of walking was too rigid. This resulted in the individual only being able to move several feet before falling as well as taking a long time to move several feet. Even though we dont even think about it w hen we do it, walking is a very complex behaviour consisting of many different muscle movements. To maintain balance different parts of the foot constantly exerts pressure of different parts of the ground. This can be demonstrated by standing on one foot, we can feel our foot shifting pressure to different areas of e.g. heels or toes or the sides of feet to maintain balance. That is just our feet, so the muscle movements in our whole legs are even more complex. With walking the same thing must occur but both feet must be in coordination with each other, this is what allows a fluid motion and hence allows continuous walking or running. So a remote control is not able to replicate all these movements in an artificial limb. A degree of intelligence is required for limbs to function e.g. in the foot, the brain must recognise the signals sent by the foot and send responses to shift pressure accordingly. For people who have lost limbs the neurons carrying these signals are dead and cannot be used. Therefore the brain can no longer send responses even if an artificial limb was attached. A separate intelligent agent is required, in conjunction with the brain, to read the chemical signals in the brain, recognise the action the brain requests, determine if it is relating to the artificial limb, convert this action to electrical signals and send it off for the artificial limb to carry out. This is where the artificial intelligence section of transhumanism comes into play. The AI to allow a prosthetic to exactly replicate the function as a natural limb does not yet exist but technology is present to allow disabled people to handle objects or walk, albeit slower than average. These AI guided prosthetics are advancing at very fast speeds, the bebionic3 is the most advanced prosthetic arm today. It allows the wearer to do even precise movements, such as tying shoelaces or cracking an egg. In February 2013 the prototype of the first bionic hand that allowed the wearer to feel what the robotic hand was touching was released. The producers say it is still in development but will surpass the bebionic3. A Belgian company unveiled its most recent product in October 2012 knows as a Mindwalker. Mindwalker is an exoskeleton that attaches to the body of a disabled person and uses brain functions to move. The individual wears a cap which reads simple electrical impulses in the brain and when the individual thinks move the artificially intelligent computer recognises the pattern read by the cap and moves the exoskeleton accordingly. Exoskeletons such as this have a large range of applications. The robotics designer company Sarcos with the United States military have developed an exoskeleton to be used by soldiers. This pilot of the exoskeleton can run, move up stairs, walk on their heels, it can lift 200lb weights with ease just like we can pick up a bottle of water. This is not the only example, other companies such as Lockheed Martin have developed other exoskeletons. These exoskeletons can be used to enhance not only for military and disability victims but any situation that requires ph ysical activity e.g. building sites, sports. Improvements in AI allow the prosthetics to create a better understanding between the artificial the brain and the prosthetics/exoskeletons Cons There are many ethical problems with transhumanist technologies such as loss of morality, rich and poor segregation, loss of human identity/dehumanisation. The main threat is Jobs-misuse