Qulity Managment

Quality Management for Organizational Excellence Lecture/Presentation Notes By: Dr. David L. Goetsch and Stanley Davis Based on the book Quality Management for Organizational Excellence (7Th Edition) Presented By; Dr. Rania A. M Shamah Associate Professor of Business Administration 1 One: The Total Quality Approach to Quality Management MAJOR TOPICS †¢ What is Quality? †¢ The Total Quality Approach Defined †¢ Two Views of Quality †¢ Key Elements of Total Quality †¢ Total Quality Pioneers †¢ Keys to Total Quality Success †¢ How is Six Sigma Achieved? †¢ The Future of Quality Management 2One: The Total Quality Approach to Quality Management ? Quality has been defined in a number of ways. ? When viewed from a consumer’s perspective, it means meeting or exceeding customer expectations. ? Quality is a dynamic state associated with products, services, people, processes, and environments that meets or exceeds expectations. ? Total quality is an approach to doing business that attempts to maximize an organization’s competitiveness through the continual improvement of the quality of its ? products, services, people, processes, and environments. 3 The Consequences of Poor Quality Loss of business ? Productivity ? Costs Benefits of Good Quality ? Enhanced reputation for quality ? Ability to command higher prices ? Increased market share ? Greater customer loyalty ? Lower liability costs ? Fewer production or service problems ? Higher profits 4 Responsibility for Quality ? Everyone in the organization has some responsibility for quality, but certain areas of the organization are involved in activities that make them key areas of responsibility. ? Top management ? Design ? Procurement ? Production/operations ? Quality assurance ? Packaging and shipping ? Marketing and sales ?Customer service 5 Costs of Quality ? Failure Costs – costs incurred by defective parts/products or faulty services. †¢ Internal Failure Costs †¢ Costs incurred to fix problems that are detected before the product/service is delivered to the customer. †¢ External Failure Costs †¢ All costs incurred to fix problems that are detected after the product/service is delivered to the customer †¢ Appraisal Costs †¢ Costs of activities designed to ensure quality or uncover defects All TQ training, TQ planning, customer assessment, process control, and quality improvement costs to prevent defects from occurring Prevention Costs †¢ 6 Ethics and Quality ? Substandard work †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Defective products Substandard service Poor designs Shoddy workmanship Substandard parts and materials Having knowledge of this and failing to correct and report it in a timely manner is unethical. 7 Total Quality Management T Q M ? A philosophy that involves everyone in an organization in a continual effort to improve quality and achieve customer satisfaction. ? Total quality is not just on e individual concept. ? It is a number of related concepts pulled together to create a comprehensive approach to doing business. Many people contributed in meaningful ways to the development of the various concepts that are known collectively as total quality TQM Approach 1. Find out what the customer wants 2. Design a product or service that meets or exceeds customer wants 3. Design processes that facilitate doing the job right the first time 4. Keep track of results 5. Extend these concepts throughout the supply chain 8 TQM Elements 1. Continuous improvement 2. Competitive benchmarking 3. Employee empowerment 4. Team approach 5. Decision based on fact, not opinion 6. Knowledge of tools 7.Supplier quality 8. Champion 9. Quality at the source 10. Suppliers are partners in the process 9 Continuous Improvement ? Continuous Improvement †¢ Philosophy that seeks to make never-ending improvements to the process of converting inputs into outputs †¢ Kaizen †¢ Japanese word fo r continuous improvement. Quality at the Source ? The philosophy of making each worker responsible for the quality of his or her work †¢ â€Å"Do it right† and â€Å"If it isn’t right, fix it† 10 The Total Quality Approach Defined Total Quality: What It Is and How It Is Achieved ?Key characteristics of the total quality approach are as follows: strategically based, customer focus, obsession with quality, scientific approach, long-term commitment, teamwork, employee involvement and empowerment, continual process improvement, Each element is explained on slides (12- 14) ? The rationale for total quality can be found in the need to compete in the global marketplace. ? Countries that are competing successfully in the global marketplace are seeing their quality of living improve. ? Those that cannot are seeing theirs decline. 11 The Total Quality Approach DefinedTotal Quality: What It Is and How It Is Achieved Key characteristics of the total quality approach ar e as follows: ? Strategically-based ? Total quality organizations have a comprehensive strategic plan that contains at least the following elements: vision, mission, broad objectives, and activities that must be completed to accomplish the broad objectives. ? The strategic plan for a total quality organization is designed to give it a sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace. ? Customer Focus ? In a total quality setting, the customer is the driver. This applies to both internal and external customers. ? Obsession with Quality ? This means all personnel at all levels approach all aspects of the job from the perspective of â€Å"How can we do this better? † When an organization is obsessed with quality, good enough is never good enough. 12 The Total Quality Approach Defined Total Quality: What It Is and How It Is Achieved Key characteristics of the total quality approach are as follows: ? Scientific Approach ? While it is true that people skills, involvement, and e mpowerment are important in a total quality setting, they represent only a part of the equation. Another important part of the equation is the use of the scientific approach in structuring work and in decision making and problem solving that relates to the work. ? Long-Term Commitment ? Organizations that implement management innovations after attending short-term seminars often fail in their initial attempt to adopt the total quality approach. ? This is because they approach total quality as just another management innovation rather than as a whole new way of doing business that requires a whole new corporate culture. 13 The Total Quality Approach DefinedTotal Quality: What It Is and How It Is Achieved ? Teamwork ? Internal competition tends to use energy that should be focused on improving quality, and, in turn, external competitiveness. ? Continual Improvement of Systems ? In order to continually improve the quality of products or services: which is a fundamental goal in a total quality setting. ? It is necessary to continually improve systems. ? Continual Process Improvement ? Products are developed and services are delivered by people using processes within environments (systems). To continually improve the quality of products and services-which is a fundamental goal in a total quality setting- it is necessary to continually improve the processes that make up the organization’s systems. 14 Three-Legged Stool of Total Quality Measures ? Statistical process control ? Benchmarking ? Quality tools People ? Quality is built in ? Quality is expected not inspected ? Employees are empowered Processes ? Continual improvement ? â€Å"Good enough† is never good enough 15 Perceived Quality Word of Mouth Personal Needs Expected Quality Past Experience Quality Dimensions ? ? ? ? ? Reliability Responsiveness Assurance Empathy TangiblesQuality Assessment 1. Expectations exceeded ESPS (Unacceptable Quality) 16 Perceived Quality Defining Quality Quality is Sa tisfactory.. Dimensions of Quality †¢ Reliability: The ability to Perform promised service dependably and accurately. †¢ Responsiveness: Willingness to help customers and to provide prompt service. †¢ Assurance: The knowledge and courtesy of employees as well as their ability to convey trust and confidence. †¢ Empathy: The provision of caring , individualized attention to customers. Ability to be approachable. †¢ Tangibles: The appearance of Physical facilities equipment, personnel, and ommunication materials.. 17 Quality Gap Model Customer Perceptions Managing the Evidence Communication GAP 4 Customer Satisfaction GAP 5 Customer Expectations Customer / Marketing Research GAP 1 Understanding the Customer Service Delivery Management Perceptions of Customer Expectations Design GAP 2 Conformance GAP 3 Conformance Service Standards Product Design 18 Customer Satisfaction †¢ All customers want to be satisfied. †¢ Customer loyalty is only due to the lack of a better alternative †¢ Giving customers some extra value will delight them by exceeding their expectations and insure their return 19

Missing White Woman Syndrome Essay

Missing white woman syndrome, also known as missing pretty girl syndrome, is a tongue-in-cheek term coined by some media critics to reference a form of media hype in which excessive news coverage is devoted to a specific missing or murdered white women and girls, while virtually ignoring missing men, non-white women, or other news stories. According to these critics, reporting of these stories often lasts for several days or weeks, sometimes even months, and displaces reporting on other current events that some people consider more newsworthy, such as economics and politics. This syndrome appears to be most prevalent in U. S. media, but famous examples can also be found elsewhere in the world, e. g. the United Kingdom. The essential features of a missing person said to give rise to Missing White Woman Syndrome are sex, her race, (relative) prettiness, and age. These features are said to provoke positive discrimination in the reporting as news of the disappearance of a young white woman, and so to increase public interest in her disappearance. Missing people claims that cases which generate greatest publicity are those where missing persons are white, middle-class, female and from stable two-parent families, and where is no indication that such a missing person ran away from home. A working-class boy or an older woman is less likely to receive news coverage. Even in cases where foul play is suspected, if the victim is male, is of Afro-Caribbean or Asian descent, is a prostitute, has drug problems, is a persistent runaway, or has been in foster care, reporters are said to decide that their readership is less likely to relate to or empathize with the victim, and they reduce their coverage accordingly. The typical profile that must be fit: blonde, attractive, if possible blue-eyed, young, petite, vivacious and of a middle class or higher economic background creates the cases of MPWW which involve every local or national news to provide regular daily coverage of any and all developments, accompanied by lengthy discussions about the meaning of such developments. Speculations about evidence, suspects, motives that caused the disappearance rise and family members are called in order to offer more information and to show pictures of the victim. As the story gains momentum and begins to pick up steam like a runaway locomotive more talk shows and news media search details and turn the event into a national issue. The typical case lasts for days, weeks, months, forever and ever resulting in some families creating a website about the case, or a reward is posted, flyers and leaflets are posted all over and cover all neighborhoods. However, if we take a look at the Doe Network, which is one of the resources that handles missing adult cases, we find out that: a) there are more missing black women in the US than women of all other races combined, b) there are more missing men than women, and c) there are far, far more missing long-term missing persons than most people even dream about. Moreover, from the news you would never know that most missing Americans are men, not women, that nearly a third of the missing are black, and that even ugliness will not save a woman from becoming missing and turning up dead. [pic] Missing People Chart. [pic]http://abagond. wordpress. com/2007/12/27/the-missing-white-woman-syndrome/ The Missing White Woman Syndrome should be taken into account and treated as a huge problem, but at times some cases are emphasize more than others and thus discrimination appears. What is more, â€Å"Missing White Woman Syndrome† seems to be interjecting racism into a situation that is much more complex than simple racism, as very often the disappearance of black women is neglected or if at the same time a white woman and a black one are reported missing it is only the white one that catches the media attention and soon becomes national news. Some critics say that pretty, white damsels in distress draw viewers, whereas missing women who are black, Latino, Asian, old, fat or ugly do not. For example, in May 2004, a young black woman was missing. It was not until 14 months later that they found her body. Her aunt worked in public relations but the press was not all that interested. Yet during all those months, when she went missing cable news went on and on about other missing women who were white. So, it could be the media’s fault for not covering every subject properly, and at times this does not resume just to Missing White Woman Syndrome, but to other news as well. It is a matter of interpretation of every situation and the media tends to draw the attention upon a certain area of a subject so that it should turn the whole thing into a business as it is often considered. For example, an automobile accident that kills five people is â€Å"newsworthy†, but five separate fatalities are not. A coal mine accident that kills a dozen is covered by every media outlet, but scores of miners who die from black lung every year are ignored. It is the shocking news that get the attention, as a means of manipulating the audience. Some claim that the media offers its viewers what they want, as it is like any other market driven much the same way that demand for certain automobiles drives production. It is said that is not just pretty white women, because people are drawn to stories about â€Å"pretty† people in general. Good looking actors get more face time than not so goof looking ones. Overweight people are now the majority in the U. S. , yet â€Å"full figured† models don’t turn up in Victoria Secret magazines. A plump homely missing child will likely not draw the attention that a good looking child would. Maybe people are drawn to â€Å"attractive†, because it is what we want to be. Then when bad things happen to attractive people we feel bad because something happened to the concept of what we’d like to see ourselves as – attractive. Attractive is pleasing to the eye and to the mind, and we are drawn to the things that please us†¦ Government intervention could be the only solution, if it subsidized the news media to insure the reporting of certain events even though they may not be in demand. However, there are opponents who claim that this is a social matter and not an economic one, mainly focused on racism and the way it is still perceived in America. Missing White Woman Syndrome is spread not only in the United States, but in other countries as well and it apparently attract millions of viewers. During the last year in Romania there ahs been a continuous debate on a similar case of a missing white woman, a lawyer, whose case has been analyzed from every angle and it is still discussed. Some even say that it became a brand, as there was a TV-show that kept up with all the details of the case. In the meanwhile many other teenagers or children have gone missing but the attention is still drawn to this never-ending case that some even consider not to be true. There is also the cult of true womanhood which teaches that white women are to be rescued, therefore they are helpless and in need of protection, while black women are assumed as being â€Å"in control† of the situation. It is a matter of perception upon the entire world, thus including prejudices and mentalities that grow into racism and into different forms of seeing others of a different race or sex or social status as capable of certain things. Here we could mention the view of people on a missing black woman who is later found dead, as either a drug addict or an easy woman. The questions â€Å"How do you save a black man from drowning? You take off your foot of his head. † and â€Å"What do you get if a white man falls of a skyscraper? Who cares. † best summon the idea that it is spread worldwide not just on the Missing White Woman Syndrome, but in other cases of discrimination and also national opinion upon a certain topic. The abagond. wordpress. com refers to the missing white woman syndrome as â€Å"missing pretty girls syndrome† or â€Å"damsel in distress syndrome† and it also makes references of TV episodes where the syndrome was clearly present. That is in â€Å"Without a Trace† episode â€Å"White Balance† in which the agents investigate two cases: that of a white teenage girl and that of a black teenage boy. They must cope with the white girl’s case getting constant attention and the black boy’s getting none. The episode concludes with a No Ending, as we are told that one lives and one dies, but not which is which. In one episode of â€Å"Law and Order Criminal Intent†, the disappearance of a white girl on a school trip becomes the subject of a media frenzy, and is eventually tied to the disappearance of a local black girl. The mother of the black girl accuses the authorities of coming to her only when her daughter’s disappearance was tied up with the white girl’s. The msnbc. msn. com refers to unconscious bias stating that â€Å"Quoting those FBI statistics – its like saying ‘99percent of the nations in the world are not at war, so why are focusing on the war? ’ But Iraq is an extraordinary event involving Americans† said Mark Effron, vice president of news at MSNBC TV. â€Å"What makes news is the unexpected. † Also, ironically the site gives another quote which refers to the Missing White Woman Syndrome, that is â€Å"If you are missing, it helps to be young, white, female. † Maybe this statement should raise a question mark that can make everyone see the real meaning of this â€Å"syndrome† that does not occur only among white women, but among black or Asian women as well, thus making all of them equal in front of the world and in the media articles. CNN has often been accused of not taking into account all missing cases and of observing and broadcasting only those of white pretty women, ignoring missing black women. The news media does not only entertain viewers, but also sells newspapers and you rarely, if ever, see in the news a woman â€Å"of color† who has gone missing. The Missing White Woman Syndrome is another embodiment of racism that makes you concentrate only on a small part of the problem and thus ignore the rest as if it never exists. There are thousands of people who go missing every day, but who, for not fitting the profile do not make it to the front page or the news. Those attractive women who are reported try to create that perfect image of the world where everyone seeks the beauty and the perfection and these cases of disappearances or deaths often ruin or at least shake the confidence in these stereotypes. But it is very clear that one does not have to be young, blonde and blue-eyed in order to be abducted and moreover breaking the news does not necessarily help bring back the missing person. Here is a matter of police involvement as well and the way in which authorities do everything in their power to find whoever has gone missing. Nevertheless, it is somehow ironical how statistics show that there are more males missing than women, and yet rarely are these cases reported. The percentage of missing white women is not higher than that of black women, but we only speak about a Missing White Woman Syndrome and not about a Missing Black Woman Syndrome. There are also a lot of children gone missing and most of them are not blond, blue-eyed and yet they are those who everyone talks about and even become icons of the â€Å"syndrome†. It is a creation of a fake world where we only focus on what we want to see and not on what there really is out there. Bibliography: www. msnbc. msn. com www. tvtropes. org www. abagond. wordpress. com Monica Radu, 1st year student of American Studies.

Lab Safety Report Essay

The lab safety video has provided valuable information to better prepare me to be safe in lab and go by the Seminole State College Lab protocol. I watched the lab video link-http://flash.seminolestate.edu/vod/chemistry/startingwithsafety/startingwithsafety.html, and learned lab safety. The topics addressed were dressing appropriately, how to handle chemicals safely, Bunsen burner and glassware safety, and the emergency equipment available in the lab. I feel I have been informed of the proper procedures and rules to stay safe and protect my classmates, teacher and my personal safety in the laboratory setting. Before entering a lab one should consider the rules that need to be applied. The attire considered necessary are proper googles, long pants, long sleeves (not too loose), jewelry removed, gloves (if required), and apron (if necessary). Also a student is responsible for their behavior and should store personal items, not fool around, and never bring food and drinks to the lab. Then a lab can be conducted in a safe manner with the additional awareness provided in the following topics. The first topic addressed was how to handle chemicals safely. When using acids or bases in a lab proper eyewear, gloves, and aprons should be worn if necessary. The chemicals should be kept from the eyes and skin, and if happen to get in eyes use an eye wash or shower immediately. When mixing chemicals: read and reread labels, only mix chemicals when told to by teacher and use the proper sized (usually smaller) container. When using acid only add acid to water, not the reverse order. In the case of an accident, report the spill to teacher immediately. Upon lab clean up, throw materials in proper containers and do not pour acids down the sink. The second topic addressed was Bunsen burner and glassware safety. The Bunsen burner is dangerous and therefore precaution needs to be taken. The setup should start with the proper connection of the gas hose, and when ignited stand clear. The burner should be turned off immediately if the flame goes out, sputters or flames happen, or there is a smell of gas. The Bunsen burner can be used with glass beakers for heating chemicals. However,  the glassware should be checked for cracks, and once hot should be removed with tongs or gloves. When using fragile glass tubes, hands should be protected with leather gloves and lubrication should be used with rubber inserter and then washed off. If a thermometer is needed the appropriate temperature (alcohol or mercury- depending on temperature range) should be used and understood that no shaking is necessary. The Bunsen burner is among some of the equipment used frequently but can cause harm if used improperly. The final topic addressed the emergency procedures and equipment needed if accidents were to arise in the laboratory. The lab room is equip with first aid kits, fire extinguishers, fire blankets, eye wash stations, emergency chemical showers, and proper deposal containers. However, hopefully one will not need to be used with careful precautions and common sense. For example, if a breaker is on fire simply cover it to contain the flame before a fire extinguisher or evacuation is needed. The emergency equipment is there to ensure safety in case of an accident or emergency and should be used appropriately. In conclusion, the laboratory is a dangerous place if the proper concern for safety is not taken seriously. Therefore the video has given the proper guidelines and protocols needs to operate a safe lab for all to enjoy.

Communication 380 Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Communication 380 - Coursework Example What is the pattern of the pronunciation variation? The pattern of the variation is in the chorus line. The first two times the group uses the phrase â€Å"stick witch you†, whereas in the third usage in the chorus it is â€Å"with you†. 2. What is the effect of such deliberate dialect code switching on you personally? I would not have noticed it if it had not been pointed out to me, and since it has been, I find it irritating and annoying. 3. Do you think that other people listening to the song will react differently to it than you? Yes, I do think that others will react differently. As with most popular song lyrics, unless a word or phrase used garners an emotional reaction, it goes unnoticed. 4. Do you think this song is aimed for a male or female audience? I think that this song is aimed more towards a female audience, since people have a strong tendency to notice chorus lines that â€Å"speak† to them. In turn, this initiates an emotional reaction, which the n starts the person’s thought processes about someone in their life. 5. Why does she vary her pronunciation? She varies her pronunciation because of the rhythm of the song itself. In the first two instances of using â€Å"stick witch you†, the beat of the music is slightly faster than in the third instance, which is also the ending of the chorus line. 3 Part 3: Matching current words to their historical roots 1. Kingdom correlates to F. Anglo Saxon cyne, meaning â€Å"royal† 2. Toast (as in â€Å"to your health†) correlates to H. Scottish toss as in â€Å"toss a drink† 3. Wedlock correlates to E. Anglo Saxon wed, meaning â€Å"pledge or engagement† and lac, meaning â€Å"offering or giftâ€Å". 4. Fancy (as in imagination) correlates to G. French pensee, meaning â€Å"thought† 5. Cutlet correlates to A. Latin costa, meaning â€Å"rib† 6. Cockatoo correlates to B. Hindustani kakatua, a word imitative of its cry 7. Country Danc e correlates to D. French contre meaning â€Å"opposite† 8. Cold Slaw (or Cole Slaw) correlates to C. Dutch kool meaning â€Å"cabbage† and sla meaning â€Å"salad†. 4 Part 4: Misanalyses 1. Sick-as-hell anemia is â€Å"sickle cell anemia† 2. Old-timer’s disease is â€Å"Alzheimer’s disease† 3. Smiling Mighty Jesus is â€Å"spinal meningitis† 4. For all intensive purposes is â€Å"for all intents and purposes† 5. A blessing in the skies is â€Å"a blessing in disguise† 6. Spitting image is â€Å"splitting image† 5 Part 5: â€Å"Chat with A.L.I.C.E.† (pandorabots.com) 1. Are A.L.I.C.E.’s responses semantically appropriate? The semantics of A.L.I.C.E.’s responses are determined by the use of language, and how they are worded to her. Oftentimes, they are not appropriate, i.e. she asked how I was doing, and I responded with â€Å"I am lovely†. Her response was if that â€Å"made me feel superior†. 2. Are they pragmatically appropriat

Astronomy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 11

Astronomy - Essay Example Yes, this makes sense because its authenticity can be determined by the high degree of accuracy with the use simple methods adopted since time in memorial. With the help of modern technologies like the Magnetic compass or Polaris (Northern star) the cardinal point will easily be identified. The main purpose of this site is to help people understand the Whole set up of Astronomy. It begins by focusing on the motion of the stars. These are artificial and fascinating natural objects that continue to illuminate light in the universe. As a result many people all over the universe have been wondering what these stars, how far and their arrangement in the sky. These intimate questions have led to emergency of Astronomists who can help people try to understand what is happening in the universe. Unlike the ancient people who intimately familiarized themselves with night sky the modern people do not have that time thus the need for assistance from the specialists in sky matters. It is also important to note that the as the stay stars move in the sky they maintain the same pattern hence prompting the specialists come up with constellations. As far as astronomy is concerned there are only 88 official constellations recognized by the astronomers. In order for one to carefully understand this arrangement the study of sky motion applet comes in handy. The distance between the two points in the sky can only be estimated by measuring of angles. This is done by measuring the two imaginary lines that are always seen running from the eyes and the two points. In order to understand the motion of the sky the ancient people had to come up with a mechanical model that would aid in clarifying this movement. The logic behind this is that all stars are entangled on a huge rigid celestial sphere that engulfs the earth and rotates around after every 23 hours and 56

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

515 - Essay Example Considering one success application among all are the intelligent decision support systems. Advanced forms of decision support systems can be fore fronted by a user-friendly layout. Slight intelligent modifications in a set of possible answer values enables smart end results that are in accordance with the output expected by the user interacting with the system. These systems are often self adaptive in nature and learn from every word the user types. Being futuristic machines their evolution involves the embedding of input data from the user’s conversation into their own repository of answers, learning from each interaction they make. It is potentially not possible for human business personnel to remain online twenty four hours a day for the query justification of their customers. The customer may be present in any part of the world. Thus, the best usage of chatbots is in call centers. Chatbots.org quotes as follows: â€Å"It provides information, services and assistance about web pages, and supports a wide range of applications in business, education, government, healthcare, and entertainment. Sometimes the term Virtual Assistant is also used in assistance of employees of an organization instead of external audiences.† (Chatbots.org, n.d.) Chatbox based interactive question answering systems having become an essential part of businesses today. Since voice enabled chatbots (interactive systems that have chat box technology embedded in them) are becoming increasingly common the Economist is quoted to have mentioned the benefits of their installation as follows: "Speech recognition: At long last, speech is becoming an important interface between man and machine. In the process, it is helping to slash costs in business, create new services on the Internet, and make cars a lot safer and easier to drive." Human Realization of interaction with a Virtual Representative automatically reduced any

Quantitative Marketing. Data Driven Marketing Term Paper

Quantitative Marketing. Data Driven Marketing - Term Paper Example Part ii One of the main concern that arises from this study is the fact that the sample is quite small considerate the size of the market that is being investigated. Given that the service bend sold is a product that can be sold to all people across the United States, taking a sample of only one thousand people may not have provided a reliable sample to represent the whole population that that is the target market. The other issue that arises from the survey is that it was not targeted at a particular market segment. In this regard, the results are not entirely reliable because some of the respondents may not have answered the questions with openness. To be more effective, the survey should have tried to narrow done to a specific segment of the market. This should have been done by identifying which segment of the market, depending on gender, age, or social class that the subscription would be most relevant to. This, combined with a bigger survey sample would have given a more reliab le result. Such a survey can be very subjective if the sample is not big enough and if the sample is not chosen correctly. This is specialized product and therefore doing a shopping mall survey is not the best way to get the relevant information regarding the market for the product because the sample was most likely contaminated by questioning the wrong cohort of respondents. The other issue with the study is that the demonstration that was given to the respondents was not enough and this could mean that they did not have enough time to process the product and make an informed decision. By this virtue, there is a high possibility that most of the customers answered the questions based on gut feeling. For instance, because they did not have enough time to understand the products, they were only concerned about the cost as opposed to understanding the products and then judging the cost based in value the product it is giving them compared to the cost. Phase II Given the elasticity of demand as shown, it would be better to decrease the price of the subscription to increase the rates of subscription. This would mean that the company would need to lower the rates of subscription to the lowest rate possible to increase the revenues through increased subscriptions. There is one special thing about the said product. Since this product is a content product which means that it will be affected by the Metcalfe law of networks which indicates that the usability or relevance of a network increases with the number of network users. For instance, in this case, the more the number of network users, the more useful the network will be and the more it will be able to attract even more subscribers thus increasing the revenues. As the number of subscribers increase, the company will be able to reduce the subscription rates and still make enough profits. The above recommendation is subject to whether or not the demand will continue to be elastic to the maximum or the elasticity of the demand will stop at certain point. If the demand is not as elastic as it is thought to be, it may mean that the recommendation will not be right and that a better pricing strategy would need to be looked at. At the same time, it is important to note that the there will be other factors that may arise as time goes by. For instance, if a similar product comes into the market, the competition will bring new challenges to the market. In this kind of a scenario, it

Anthropology Final Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Anthropology Final - Essay Example It aims at creating a concrete feeling of enjoyment for an audience, most commonly manifested in a physical display consisting of displays of pleasure including smiles and laughter.† 1 Another definition of humour, â€Å"is the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement† 2 Not all people are talented enough to be humorous. Someone needs to be creative and imaginative. In this case, there is what we call â€Å"humour formula† Root components of humour are being reflective of or imitative of reality and surprise/misdirection, contradiction/paradox, ambiguity. Therefore, methods to create humour include hyperbole, metaphor, farce, reframing and timing. 3 Our society has evolved in different angles. We have learned from our parents, siblings and friends knowing which laughable jokes are and which are not. Sometimes when people are stressed from their work, when they laugh at jokes, it gives them a relaxing feeling, releasing stress. It is therefore healthy to laugh at jokes. But that is not the focus of my paper. I just want to make this paper an informative material to others who may be reading this in the future. I laughed and I learned humour. In our subject Anthropology 2040-1, I thought we will just study how to create jokes and learn the tricks of being a stand-up comedian. It was more of a deep understanding about the origins of humour and how Jewish people are important in the anthropological study of humour. But why did our forefathers like Plato, Socrates and others became curious about the elements of Humour. Who doesn’t want to hear jokes? Of course everyone does. But sometimes people became abusive of their sense of humour. Having a sense of humour is a great talent. It means that you can make everyone laugh, and sometimes people make money for this ability. In some television shows, competition is always present. So, instead of naming the person or show, they use jokes against thei r competitors. Especially if one T.V. show claimed they are number 1 in the ratings, others react and use other means to prove to people they are number 1 too. Humour is sometimes used by people who think they are more superior to the others. Like in schools, the usual scenes are some rich kids prank over poor kids, good looking students prank on not so good looking students. But how far is too far when it comes to humour? Honestly, we are influenced by our society when it comes to humour verbals and visuals. We selectively and consciously laugh at areas we found defects or we found out of the ordinary. Anything that is not perfect in our subconscious is not ordinary and therefore we can say, we laugh about it sometimes because it is not how we expect it should appear. According to Ted Cohen, when a joke involves logic running wild, the joke will present an absurdity – an absurdity in itself or an absurd response to a normal overture or a kind of doubling of absurdity. 4 Reli gious humour is by far the most controversial part of our modern society. Most of the readings about this concept points towards Jewish people. But before we go to Jewish people, let’s first understand why religion entails humour by defining religious

Collective bargaining report Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Collective bargaining report - Assignment Example It is worthy noting that, collective bargaining is a recognized approach of creating a system of industrial jurisprudence. It acts as a method of introducing civil rights in the industry. It is vital to note that, this procedure enhances management by rules and diminishes management characterized by arbitrary decision-making. More over, collective bargaining is a proven procedure that aid in the establishment of regulations, which define and restrict the traditional authority exercised by the management. There are numerous benefits attributed to collective bargaining process2. They include chances of increasing the strength of the employees consequently their bargaining capacity as a team. On the same note, this study establishes that, collective bargaining increases the self-esteem and productivity of the workforce3. Furthermore, it restrains management’s freedom for arbitrary and unilateral actions against the employees. In addition, collective bargaining has played a fundam ental role in ensuring that, fair settlement of the workers’ grievances is secured. This is possible through the provision of a flexible approach for the adjustment of wages and employment conditions to economic and technological changes in the business. This is owing to the reduced chances for conflicts4. On the side of the employers, collective bargaining aid in easier resolving of issues at the bargaining point rather than taking up complaints of individual employees. In addition, collective bargaining widens the channel of communication amid the employees and thereby reducing the cost of labour turnover to management consequently increases employee involvement in decision-making. Furthermore, collective bargaining is fundamental in resolving industrial disputes. Besides benefits of collective bargaining towards both the employee and the employer, this study examines the gains of collective bargaining attributed to the society. The society gains in terms of industrial peac e stability in the country. More over, it facilitates the establishment of a harmonious industrial climate that aid the country to grow economically and socially. Another significant benefit credited to collective bargaining to the society involves constant check of worker’s exploitation and discrimination. The process of negotiation and substance bargaining is complex since it entails numerous stages, which sometimes remain derailed due to disagreements and conditions. Evaluation and selection strategy A negotiation process starts with evaluation and selection of a strategy, which is intended to guide the problem solving5. This normally involves diverse approaches or procedures of mediation or arbitration. Making contact with other parties The second stage involves making contact with the other party or parties this stage enhances building of personal credibility and promoting commitment tot he procedures set. Collection and analysis of background information The third stage involves the collection and analyzing the background information. The relevant information collected is fundamental in understanding the dynamism exhibited by the participants. In addition, it enhances verification of the data accuracy and minimizes unavailable data. Designing of the negotiation plan The fourth stage involves designing of a detailed plan for negotiation. This

Geodemographic report using SPSS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Geodemographic report using SPSS - Essay Example Combining the dynamics of human population with the spatial and locational differences enabled researchers to comprehend the characteristics of population in different locations. Based on the demographic data, marketers target particular communities for various purposes ranging from marketing to politics. Essentially, geodemography is the comprehension of complicated socio-economic information by the use of structured statistical methods (Brimicombe, 2007). SPSS is one of the most commonly employed computer programme to analyze statistics and its manual of this programme stands as one of the most high-ranking books in sociology. Some of the other functions performed by this programme include deploying surveys, extracting data, analysis of text and collaboration and usage. SPSS is a relatively user-friendly programme that is in practical use to undertake research. It facilitates mining information from questionnaires and converting it into totals and percentages. In addition, it allow s statistical calculations to be performed that help in estimating the significance of results. 2. Aim of The Area Classification The objective of my classification is to identify areas within the local authority (Worthing in West Sussex) where it is most suitable to start a charity campaign by targeting wealthier areas. This report contains the methodology, analysis and results of an independent appraisal and evaluation of the community in Worthing, West Sussex placed under wealth analysis. The goal of my classification and research was to identify different socio-economic and demographic areas within the local authority in Worthing, West Sussex. Based on this information, the community can then be segmented into different socio-economic strata. The charity campaigners can then easily differentiate between the wealthy and impoverished areas. The chances of receiving donations will escalate by targeting the affluent segment of society as indicated by studies on the matter (Gertner, 2008). Alternatively, the accumulated funds can be invested for the welfare of the underprivileged section of the society. The specific aims of the research are: 1. To identify income disparities; 2. To find out the level of qualifications and education in the community; 3. To provide financial support to the unemployed and boost the number of people in employment; 4. Increase the amount of volunteers in social care and promote a wider range of volunteer activities that people can undertake after adequate training and support; 5. To shift resources and change cultural norms away from wealth constituted in a few hands to a more equitable distribution of wealth. 3. Methodology and Practical Work In order to carry out a statistical analysis of the population segments in the target area, the statistics were gathered from the 2001 Aggregate Statistics Datasets. These data sets also had digital boundary data included with them in order to facilitate geodemographic concerns. The statistics were obtained by specifying the applicable district, county, region and country which in this case was Worthing in West Sussex. The major statistics were chosen from the Key Statistics dataset tables and were moved using a query designed in Microsoft Excel. This was followed by extracting the digital boundary for the target area. Excel was then used to calculate the percentage

LEsson VII Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

LEsson VII - Research Paper Example To achieve this, it is important to understand the return on the investment of the ICT infrastructure. The IS department is also responsible for providing the operating parameters for the users of the ICT component through training, and for providing data assurance (Kawalek2007). Another responsibility of the IS department is to ensure the functionality of the infrastructure. This is achieved through proper installation and maintenance of the ICT components, developing operating applications and assisting the users in data management and software use. The information systems department is comprised of various groups namely; technicians help desk staff, business analysts and programmers. The desktop technicians are responsible for maintaining and repairing the ICT hardware equipment. This involves repairing faulty equipment and installing new equipment. Business analysts are involved in the strategic planning within an organization, and in executing plans to ensure the organization ac hieves its objectives. The programmers are involved in developing and repairing operating applications. They are also responsible for providing system applications. ... These are some of the actions I would take in response to the following irregularities on the use of the ICT equipment. If someone from the IS department notifies me that one of my employees is spending 3 hours a day writing messages on twitter, I would ask them to identify the employee that has been spending time on twitter, and send them to the management.I would also ask the IS department to suspend all the internet connections on the employee’s computer. I would then penalize the employee by suspending all internet related tasks for them over a specific period of time (Kroenke 2007). If I ask how the IS department knows about the employee and find out that it is by secretly monitoring the computer usage, I would not be against such monitoring of internet usage because the use of the internet should be for issues related to the company, and should be used for the benefit of the company (Kawalek2007). I would, however, limit the monitoring of the internet usage to only one t rustworthy staff member in the IS department or implement an application that automatically alerts the management when the user accesses certain sites. If someone from the IS department notifies me that one of my employees is sending many personal emails, and admits to reading the mails as a precautionary measure against any suspicious emails, I would be against such monitoring because it invades the privacy of the other employees. It would also be illegal because all the employees have the right to communication. Ethically speaking, it would not be correct to view the messages personally directed to another person (Kroenke 2007). I would, however, caution the employee because it is against the company’s rules to send and receive personal emails. If as an employee

Pros and Cons of Cloud Computing Essay Example for Free

Pros and Cons of Cloud Computing Essay With the unprecedented growth and spread of information, there is no wonder why large Information Technology companies have been investing in the â€Å"cloud†. To expand, when referring to Cloud Computing, this means to access and store information not stored with in your computer whether it be public, private, or hybrid cloud computing. In technological terms, the server you are accessing is somewhere else and therefore, the information and tools you are using are â€Å"up in the clouds† but more so stored in another server space. However, whether you are paying for services through software, total usage, or free usage (hence the types of cloud services) Cloud Computing seems to be everywhere. Yet, it is important to recognize what is to gain by using cloud computing from big businesses to individual users and what are some risky moves when utilizing cloud storage over the Internet. Hence, the content of this paper will discuss the pros and cons of cloud computing and where cloud computing is headed in todays online society. Discussion: Moving forward, large companies use private cloud computing on the grounds that it is far more affordable to store and run programs in a server space designed for processing, saving and running information applications and so on. The biggest noticeable advantages in cloud computing have to be the ease of running programs with out installing any new applications (since the provider installs it for you in their cloud), and payment depends on membership, and which billing method you chose; for example, monitored payment or a flat rate (Mitchell). However, there are competing companies such as Google Apps Marketplace, Windows Azure, Amazon Web Services, Success Factors, and so on, that make cloud computing affordable on different user levels. These levels range from individual interest to larger company interests. For example, a company may need thousands of gigabytes worth of storage while I may need a few gigabytes of storage. So when paying for space I will be able to only buy what I need. Additionally, using the cloud allows a user greater mobility since an individual with an account can access the cloud from any computing device (laptop, desktop, tablet, or phone) that has available Internet access. More importantly, it’s easier for multiple users to access the same document and not overload the system and backs up data without someone having to worry about the location. Therefore, utilizing a third-party system server, Cloud Computing perks offer cheaper, reliable storage and retrieval of information. Figure [ 1 ] Although Cloud Computing sounds like a convenient service for businesses and users to take advantage of, there are downsides for paying or using cloud servers. Instances include, system shut downs for maintenance, access of data after canceling a membership, and more importantly privacy. Yet, a simple downside would be â€Å"What if someone uploads data into the cloud server and suddenly loses Internet connection?† The answer would be lost time and an incomplete data upload, not to mention the hassle of finding Internet connection again to access the cloud’s server only to attempt to upload the same work once more. On the other hand, looking back at the 2011 Google Docs incident, when an outage delayed user interaction for an hour starting in the UK and then reached the US (McCaney). Many organizations and people couldn’t access or exchange files via the cloud. So accidents happen, and although people lost out on time and information sharing, no files were reportedly lost. Even so, accidents including shutdown to outages, are rare natural occurrences, yet, inevitable for the current time. Not only are there outages to worry for also, according to Hamad Subani, he asserts that â€Å"Since most of the major Cloud Computing servers are operated by companies based in the United States, data you put on your Cloud is subject to American law.†   Which is also true since authorities only need to file a subpoena to get the information, yet, once information is shared warrants are needed and such (Subani). Hence, privacy is compromised, but to an extent. If someone is engaging in illegal file transfers on a cloud server, it already violates the consumer to provider contract; therefore a person is better off keeping their illegal activities to themselves. Other than that, cloud computing is relatively safe. | Cloud Computing Simplified| Pros| Cheap services, reliable, extra storage space, no worry about the server location| Cons| No privacy, and you must have internet access, maintenance. | After going through the pros and cons of cloud computing, it is necessary to analyze where such services are headed in the near to distant future. According to Brian Donaghy,   Ã¢â‚¬Å"Market Research Media says the cloud market will reach $270 billion in 2012 and Gartner predicts it will be over the $148 billion mark by 2014, much greater than Forrester’s forecast of over $118 billion for the same year.† Without a doubt, cloud computing will continue to rake in the profits since increasing needs for IT services are inflating the cloud’s development. In perspective, social networks (like YouTube or Skype) outsource their work to cloud services to help store user data. More so, it seems as if digital life is linked to the storage systems of cloud servers. Think about it, with out a back up storage in the cloud, there wouldn’t be a free YouTube, Tumbler, and blogging would essentially be news posts by big businesses. Cloud computing will continue to advance in ways that further accommodates all online users. About the only disadvantage of this are those with out Internet connection, the people left out of the Internet community. However, for the time being, cloud computing’s growth in the United States and American websites using cloud resources, prove to be helpful in the spreading of information from social to private perspectives of data usage. Conclusion: Hence, it is evident that cloud computing will be growing exponentially so long as the Information Technology sector continues to be in high demand. Therefore it is up to the consumers individual needs to decide if cloud computing would help them keep tabs with their data usage online or if using their own memory on their computer is a better decision. On the other end, companies should use Cloud Computing servers as a cheaper form of Information Technology management. Especially since investing in a mainframe computer would be far more costly than having some other company do all the work for you for a smaller fee. Therefore, cloud computing will definitely be a primary factor in the growth and facilitation of online data usage and continue to revolutionize modern technology. Bibliography Bauer, Eric and Randee Adams. The Reliability and Availability of Cloud Computing. Hoboken: Wiley, 2012. Donaghy, Brian. Where is Cloud Computing Headed in 2013? 8 November 2012. 1 February 2013 http://www.wired.com/insights/2012/11/where-is-cloud-computing-headed-in-2013/. McCaney, Kevin. Google, Microsoft cloud crashes: Is this the new normal? 12 September 2011. 15 February 2013 http://gcn.com/articles/2011/09/12/google-microsoft-cloud-outages.aspx. Mitchell, Bradley. What is Cloud Computing. 2013. 15 February 2013 http://compnetworking.about.com/od/internetaccessbestuses/f/cloud-computing.htm. Mururgesan, San. Cloud Computing: The New Normal? January 2013. IEEE Xplore (digital library). 1 February 2013. Subani, Hamad. Ten Reasons Why Cloud Computing is a Bad Idea. 2 June 2009. 14 February 2013 http://www.techtangerine.com/2009/06/02/ten-reasons-why-cloud-computing-is-a-bad-idea/. Weinman, Joe. Cloudonomics: the business value of cloud computing. 4 September 2012. WorldCat (databas e engine). 1 February 2013.

Effect of Obesity on Children

Effect of Obesity on Children Chapter One: Introduction Overweight and obesity have turn out to be the most serious health problem in children, adolescents and adults. â€Å"Overweight in children and adolescents was defined as ≠¥ 85th percentile according to BMI-for-age growth sex-specific charts, whereas obesity ≠¥ 95th percentile of the BMI-for-age growth, sex-specific charts â€Å"(Ogden et al., 2010). In the United States and Canada, 30% of adolescents were obese or overweight while the percentage doubled in adult (Anis et al., 2010). Obesity in adolescents’ population tripled in the last 30 years at both countries (Ogden et al., 2002). Several chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancers were observed in obese adults (Panel, 1998). Adipose tissue is composed of subcutaneous and visceral adipocytes (Chowdhury et al., 1994). Visceral fat accounts for 20% of total body fat in men compared to only 6% in premenstrual women (Krotkiewski et al., 1983). The etiology of visceral tissue dispositi on in humans is still indistinct (Samaras et al., 1999, Batra and Siegmund, 2012). In the last decade, blood pressure increased among children and adolescents (Muntner et al., 2004). Furthermore, children with high BMI are more probable to have elevated blood pressure and lipid profile (Freedman et al., 2007). Additionally, premature mortality is attributed to elevated blood pressure by increasing the incidence of cardiovascular disease (Stamler et al., 1993, Vasan et al., 2001).On the other hand, treatment of childhood obesity initiates reduction in blood pressure among adults which leads to cardiovascular disease prevention(Freedman et al., 1999). In 2008, Khader and colleagues estimated that 28.1% of north Jordanian adult men were obese. Whereas, in 2009 the obesity rate, as regards to studies conducted on children in north Jordan, was 18.8% of the targeted population(Khader et al., 2008, Khader et al., 2009). Comparing those studies, there is domination of obesity among adults rather than adolescents which leads to a prediction of escalating the obesity problem by age in north Jordan. This study aims to estimate abdominal and total fat among Jordanian adolescents and its relation to blood pressure. Many studies have shown that blood pressure is associated with being overweight in children and adolescents of Western countries (Genovesi et al., 2005, Ebbeling et al., 2002). Therefore, the aim of this study aims to estimate abdominal and total fat among Jordanian adolescents and its relation to blood pressure. Chapter Two: Literature Review. High body mass index is usually associated with elevated blood pressure (Cercato et al., 2004). Relation of trunk, waist circumferences and visceral fat with blood pressure were considered predictor indicators in children and adolescents for cardiovascular mortality (Welborn and Dhaliwal, 2007). The prevalence of hypertension among adolescents population has not been acknowledged as in adults. Adolescents with elevated blood pressure (BP) can develop several chronic diseases and body organ damage also they will increase risk of cardiovascular disease in adulthood. Therefore, prevention of obesity will help to limit the disease burden due to hypertension (Lande et al., 2006, Must et al., 1992). In several studies conducted in Western countries, prevalence of high blood pressure among children ranged from 7 to 19% (Sorof et al., 2004, Paradis et al., 2004). However, few studies have been conducted in adolescence at developing countries (Mehdad et al., 2013, Abdulle et al., 2014, Abolfotouh et al., 2011). Fat accumulation especially in abdominal region: More than one third of obese children remained obese at adulthood (Serdula et al., 1993). A study showed that 77% of obese adults was related to overweight in childhood (Freedman et al., 2001). Another longitudinal study pointed that only1.6% of adolescents’ in the transition to young adulthood shifted from obese to non-obese, while 9.4% remained obese (Gordon-Larsen et al., 2004). Presence of abdominal fat was observed among non-obese children (Goran et al., 1995) and adolescents (Fox et al., 1993, De Ridder et al., 1992). In the topic of obesity, especially the android type of obesity , an observation of high mortality rate was recorded among the Danish population in a study with 27178 men and 29875 women. Mortality rate was 10% higher among 136 men than 130 women who were having increased waist circumferences. A similar observation was detected among smokers, overweight or obese participants (Bigaard et al., 2005). A study was in Morocco on 167 adolescents aged from 11- 17 years (123 girls and 44 boys) were, 42% overweight and/ or obese in addition to 58% were at normal weight. Significant relation between BMI and each of fat mass percent body fat in both genders. Waist circumferences could be predictor tool for fatness among adolescents (Neovius et al., 2004, Wang et al., 2007). In Kuwait, a study on adolescents 4,219 participants aged from 11 to 19, Boys who had waist circumference ≠¥ 90th percentile account 8- 30.3%, mean of waist circumference was higher in boys than it was in Kuwaiti girls. Also, increase in percentage of boys who had ≠¥ 90th percentile observed in boys unlike girls (Jackson et al., 2010). Peeters and colleagues (2003) detected a remarkable decrease in life expectancy by 7.1 and 5.7 years in nonsmoking males and females respectively at 40 years old. While, a lower life expectancy of 13.3-13.7 years identified in obese smoking females and males respectively (Peeters et al., 2003). Relation between smoking among adolescents and excessive fat in abdominal region young adults (men and women) has been investigated (Saarni et al., 2009). Intra-abdominal fat increases cardiovascular risks such as hypertension and dyslipidemia. Cardiovascular disease risks rise when accompanied with smoking which leads to modifications in the physiological functions of adipokines, endothelial, insulin and proatherogenic status (Ritchie and Connell, 2007). Other studies confirmed the association between abdominal obesity and smoking. Both abdominal fat and smoking were at tributed to the same risk factors, which were unhealthy dietary behavior (Wingard et al., 1982, Keski-Rahkonen et al., 2003), low education (Pierce, 1989, Green et al., 2007) and low physical inactivity (Aarnio et al., 2002, Escobedo et al., 1993), the etiology of this causal link remained unclear. The reason could be related to the change in glucocorticoid metabolism and psychosocial stress that has been caused mainly by smoking (Cohen et al., 2006, Lahiri et al., 2007, Rohleder and Kirschbaum, 2006) may be in charge with abdominal fat (Bjà ¶rntorp and Rosmond, 2000, Bjà ¶rntorp, 2001). Visceral tissue were more sensitive to lipolytic stimuli than other fatty tissue make fatty acid from triglycerides turnover increased in blood stream by portal vein, this led to, increasing hepatic fatty acid release make liver exposing to fatty acid also increased hepatic gluconeogenesis and secretion of LDLs moreover to inhibit hepatic role of insulin riddance to develop hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance (Bjà ¶rntorp, 1992). Studies showed that ischemic heart disease, independent lipid level changes (Desprà ©s et al., 1996) and metabolic abnormalities were associated to patients with fasting hyperinsulinemia (Haffner et al., 1992). A hypothesis studied by Randle suggested a reduction in insulin resistance and glucose uptake because of reduce the need for glucose oxidation when fat oxidation increased (Randle et al., 1963). Dietary effects on visceral fat, a study on white non-obese men, explains visceral and subcutaneous fat and dietary effect. Fat intake explained only 1.4% of the variance in subcutaneous fat and no variance in visceral fat. On the other hand, 2% of the variance appear in total adiposity, which make dietary factors have a minor role in total adiposity and with no effect on visceral fat (Larson et al., 1996). In Bogalusa Heart Study, children and adolescents aged from 6-18 years demonstrate that high fat in truncal region associated with elevated LDL and VLDL cholesterol concentrations (Freedman, 1995). Total and visceral fat were inversely affected by dietary fibers intake; that effect was significantly observed among adolescent boys without a significant effect on girls in sample aged 14-18 years old in total participants of 559. Moreover, it linked between dietary fiber intake and inflammation markers include adiponectin and C-reactive protein (Parikh et al., 2012). Aerobic exercise among adolescents for 8 weeks had significant effect on decreasing total fat 700 g by (0.6 %); the majority of the lost fat was observed in abdominal region, but, no significant changes were noticed in subcutaneous fat to alteration in body compositions (Watts et al., 2004). Risk for elevated blood pressure and it’s relation to total and abdominal fat: Hypertension raised atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease outcomes by 2 to 3 folds. Moreover, Hypertension is the most influential accompaniment with cardiovascular disease that leads to death in a prospective longitudinal analysis (Kannel, 1996). In Bogalusa Heart Study, prevalence of adult patients with hypertension who were diagnosed clinically, they were significantly higher in those who had elevated blood pressure at childhood (Bao et al., 1995). In young boys, an increase in blood pressure from pubescence to 18 years was observed (Cornoni-Huntley et al., 1979). Relation between blood pressure and fat distribution had a marked variance upon sexual difference among adolescents. Boys had an elevated blood pressure associated to adiposity that was enhanced by visceral and peripheral fat, unlike girls where blood pressure was affected by peripheral adiposity but no significant effect by visceral adiposity (Pausova et al., 2012). Low averages at cognitive test scores were observed among 5077 children and adolescents from 6 to 16 years when systolic blood pressure were ≠¥90th percentile and diastolic ≠¥ 90th percentile (Lande et al., 2003). In adolescents, 9-17years old, cardiovascular risk factors associated with fat accumulation areas, which was analyzed by Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) (Daniels et al., 1999). Android type of obesity and cardiovascular disease risk factors as blood pressure produced a powerful relation among African-American and Caucasian children (He et al., 2002). Abdominal fat distribution that was measured by DEXA and skinfold- thikness among 920 healthy children and adolescents (American, Asian, and Caucasian aged from 5 to 18 years) was predictor for blood pressure in boys but not in girls (He et al., 2002). Systolic and diastolic blood pressure relation to total fat and fat distribution by using DEXA on 127 adolescents aged from 9-17 years, systolic blood pressure have significant relation to total body fat and fat distribution but diastolic blood pressure was significant with total body fat but was not with fat distribution (Daniels et al., 1999). Evidence approved that truncal fat was associated to high cardiovascular risks such as hypertension compared with peripheral fat (Kannel et al., 1991, Sardinha et al., 2000). Adolescents with left ventricular hypertrophy were associated with high rate of essential hypertension; those who developed severe hypertrophy and abnormal left ventricular geometry were in high degree of the risk to cardiovascular disease and increase in morbidity rate (Daniels, 1999). Abdominal fat could be estimated by using waist circumferences as a better indicator for abdominal fat rather than waist to hip ratio among children and adolescent because waist to hip ratio reflected changes in fat amount less than bones and muscular changes when children and adolescent were growing (Kissebah and Krakower, 1994). Waist circumference had relevance to blood pressure adolescents of both sexes and showed, by a study applied on multivariate models instead of visceral fat, no association between blood pressure and visceral fat, which made waist circumference an inappropriate tool to evaluate visceral fat in adolescents (Pausova et al., 2012). Adults, who deposited fat viscerally, rather than elsewhere in the body, were at a higher risk for hypertension (Hayashi et al., 2003, Fox et al., 2007). This relationship was shown to be stronger in men than in women (Fox et al., 2007). Insulin absence, resistance and hyperinsulinemia were associated to obesity chiefly in abdominal region. insulin was responsible to elevated blood pressure due to obesity. One of the mechanisms to protect body from gaining weight, hypothesized by Landsberg, was activating the sympathetic nervous system when consuming high calories which lead to increasing thermogenesis (LANDSBERG, 1986). Mikhail and Tuck. 2000 observed an alteration in artery structure include thickness and artery flexibility in hemodynamic effects of insulin. Abdominal obesity related to increased plasma renin activity is the possible key to blood pressure elevation (Licata et al., 1994). Strong evidence showed that management of hypertension was related to obesity by block renin-angiotensin system (RAS), which was active in obese subjects (Sharma, 2004). In mice, adipocyte differentiation and growth effect by adipocyte-derived angiotensinogen which secreted into the bloodstream, redounding blood pool of angiotensin ogen (Massià ©ra et al., 2001). It was recently found that mice have greater angiotensinogen gene expression in visceral fat at variance with other fat tissue when it was on high fat diet to induce obesity (Rahmouni et al., 2004). Patients who accumulated fat, especially visceral fat, were associated with elevated plasma aldosterone (Goodfriend and Calhoun, 2004). Elevated blood pressure could be induced by aldosterone by effect on mineralocorticoid receptors situated on tissue as in brain, kidney and vasculature to make Aldosterone have a significant relation on obesity-hypertension (Rahmouni et al., 2005). Aldosterone relation to obesity-hypertension, explained by De Paula, showed blocking mineralocorticoid receptors with the specific antagonist eplerenone. A remarkable blood pressure increase was inhibited without development of weight on dogs even on the high fat fed ones (de Paula et al., 2004). Vasculature health preservation depended on endothelium status when nitric oxide was released which was characterized by antiatherogenic properties (Vita and Keaney, 2002). Exercise was one of interventions that could be applied to improve nitric oxide dilator function (Maiorana et al., 2000, Maiorana et al., 2001), considering cardio-protective factors. Normalizing in vascular function and alteration in body compositions by increasing muscular strength were results for exercise training to minimize cardiovascular disease in future. Detection and treatment of endothelial dysfunction for 19 obese subjects aged 14.3  ± 1.5 in early stages were known as primary strategy role to prevent to prevent adolescents who were susceptible from developing cardiovascular disease in adulthood (Watts et al., 2004).

Benefits Behind Mergers And Acquisitions Economics Essay

Benefits Behind Mergers And Acquisitions Economics Essay This assignment is going to include a discussion of the theoretical benefits behind mergers and acquisitions, a review of the empirical evidence and also two real world examples, one where value was created and one where it was destroyed. Theory The benefits of mergers and acquisitions stem from a concept known as synergy which can be illustrated using a formula, PVab =PVa + PVb + gains (Arnold, 2008: 866) also represented as, 2+2=5. The theory behind this is that a combined unit would be greater in value than the sum of its parts, basically meaning two firms together are worth more than the value of the firms if they were apart. One benefit of this is the increase in market power which is a firms ability to exercise a degree of control over the price of a product. This can be achieved in more than one way but for example if a firm merged with another and then found itself in a monopoly position it would have the ability to push up the price of its products because consumers would have fewer alternative suppliers. Another advantage is the increase in economies of scale achievable. In most cases the larger the size of a firm the lower the cost per unit of output because of cost advantages being better exploited. For example i f two firms in the same industry merged they could gain marketing economies of scale through joint advertising perhaps and also administration economies by sharing administrative activities and accounting. There would also be financial economies as funds borrowed on the capital market would be provided at lower costs and with more favourable rates of borrowing. Internalisation of transactions is also a benefit; if two firms at different stages of the production chain merged, a greater efficiency of co-ordination of the different levels may be the outcome. This could be achieved because of reductions in costs such as communication, monitoring, contract enforcement and bargaining. Usually entering in to a new market or industry takes years of effort and during the early period losses may even be incurred, however through the process of mergers and acquisitions this once daunting task can become much easier. By acquiring an existing firm that already posses the required skills and mark et strength it eliminates the need for them to be generated internally. There are also tax advantages of acquisitions in some countries because losses of subsidiaries can be used to offset present taxable profits of the parent company meaning a lower tax bill. Therefore acquiring firms which have accumulated tax losses may be beneficial; however this benefit is not present in the UK due to much stricter rules being in place. Another benefit of mergers and acquisitions would be risk diversification. A firm may be viewed as less volatile if its cash flows come from a wider range of sources meaning shareholders gain from a reduction in risk but with no decrease in return. The greater stability of earnings may also be appealing to lenders which could result in lower interest rates. Mergers and acquisitions are usually used as an instrument to create shareholder value (Sudarsanam 2003), this is the main objective; however there also seem to be managerial motives present. When a firm acquires another is consequently becomes a larger enterprise meaning managers have more responsibility and so may be justified to receive a much larger salary. Some may feel more successful and important because of this and this sense of achievement may become a personal driver for managers to carry out mergers and acquisitions. Another reason could be survival, the management team may begin to feel the best way to avoid being taken over or dominated is to grow themselves, especially if regular mergers are occurring in the industry the firm operates in. This could lead to firms not merging for just the benefit of shareholders but also to try and assure the survival of the management team. A question one may wish to ask is how the value of the benefits of mergers and acquisitions can be measured? The benefits of acquisitions are usually not easy or straightforward to put in to numerical form. For example the application of superior managerial skills or entry in to a new market cannot accurately be measured; even things such as competitive position and reputation with customers, the list goes on. These items will not be found on balance sheets so therefore the true value of a firm may not be presented; however one indicator which could perhaps value the benefit may be the firms share price. Empirical evidence Although the theory behind mergers and acquisitions suggest that they create value for both the shareholders of the offeror and offeree companies the empirical evidence doesnt always seem to support this. (Meeks 1977) conducted a statistical test to represent the effects of mergers, he took profits from the merged companies after the merger and compared them with the weighted average of the participants profits had they not merged based on their earnings prior to the merger. His conclusion was that merged profits were less than those that the participants would have received had they not joined forces. However some have questioned Meeks research There are weaknesses in Meekss work (Ulen, 1980: 234). This being said Alan Gregorys review of the long run performance of UK acquiring firms reached a similar conclusion the long-run shareholder wealth effects of recent acquisitions in the UK have been, on average, significantly negative (Gregory, 1997: 984). However a study to evaluate take overs in the UK from 1955-1985 suggest that both offeror and offeree company shareholders gain from mergers we find that mergers have, on average, been value-creating for shareholders as measured by equity market prices around the merger announcement date. Shareholders of targets gain, and bidder shareholders gain or do not lose. (Franks and Harris, 1989: 247). Empirical evidence of the overall wealth gains of target shareholders from stock mergers were reviewed by (Loughran and Vijh 1997). They found that target shareholders that sold out soon after the acquisition date gain from all acquisitions; however those who held on to the acquirers stock find their gains diminish over time. Studies on post merger performance of acquiring firms seem to generally forecast negative results as can be seen here We find that stockholders of the acquiring firms suffer a statistically significant wealth loss of about 10% over the five years following the merger completion. (Agrawal, Jaffe Mandelke r 1992: 1618) and also here We find that these takeovers have a positive but not always significant impact on profitability, and a negative impact on short and long run returns (Cosh, guest and Hughes 2005: 489). Real world examples In 2006 Disney bought Pixar for $7.4billion. The two companies had been working together prior to the merger but with two different sets of shareholders there were barriers that existed, however with the merger the two companies became able to collaborate freely and with ease. Pixar has doubled its yearly film output something that would have been unthinkable before the merger and with expert advice from Disney has improved vastly in fields such as advertising and merchandising. Pixar  movies tend to perform better than animated movies developed by Disney itself (Garrahan, 2010: 16), Toy Story 3 is on course to become the biggest grossing animated film ever released by Walt Disney after generating $630.2m in its first month in cinemas (Garrahan, 2010: 16). In 1994 BMW acquired Rover for  £800 million. Only six years later and after millions of pounds worth of investment they sold the company, The brand had declined too far to be rescued. The German group ploughed {XEU} 4bn into its English patient before getting out in 2000. (The financial times, 2005) The company was sold to the phoenix four for  £10! Who  bought Rover  from  BMW for [pounds sterling] 10 (Eaglesham Peel, 2008: 5). This was a huge disaster, some blamed it on communication When  BMW bought  the  Rover  business, communication with the German managers was even worse (exacerbated by political infighting on the German side). Failure was the inevitable and bitter result. (Lester, 2007: 8) and others on the fact that Rover may have been a lost cause to begin with Even the mighty  BMW, which  bought Rover  in 1994, had to accept in the end that the brand had declined too far or at least to give it a future would cost far too much money. (The financia l times, 2005) Conclusion To conclude having researched for example Meeks and Gregorys financial analysis of the empirical evidence and reviewing the real world examples discussed above one may argue that mergers and acquisitions on average may not be beneficial to the shareholders of the acquiring firms. Management tends to underestimate the level of organisation required and therefore take off more than they can chew. However as seen in the Disney-Pixar case mergers can benefit both the offeror and offeree at times. Wordcount: 1492

Discuss the role that the Bank of England plays within the UK economy. :: Economics

Discuss the role that the Bank of England plays within the UK economy. The Bank of England was founded in 1694 to act upon the government as its banker and debt-manager. Since it was founded, its role has developed and evolved into what we have today, with its role centred on the management of the nations monetary unit, the pound and it is the infrastructure of the UK’s financial system. (http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/about/history/index.htm visited 27th October 2005 last updated 12th June 2002 by Anon) The history of the Bank is one of great interest in this country, but also of continuing relevance and importance to the bank today. Events that have taken place within the last three hundred years have helped to shape and influence the role and the general responsibilities of the Bank. The Bank has moulded the culture and traditions and the expertise of the Bank as a central unit to the early years of the 21st century. Much of the history of the bank runs in tandem to the financial and economic history of this country, and often too the political history of the UK more generally. There have been many key points in the history of the Bank which have guided its future in this country. In the early years the Bank system was weak in the rule of King William and Queen Mary. Over the years though, various progressions have been made with the introduction of loans, interest rates and various other things which make up the Bank today. The Bank of England is controlled by the level of interest rates it sets via the manipulation of short term interest rates. This is controlled by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). If the MPC think that the demand is set to rise too fast, then they will increase the interest rate, but if they think demand is growing at a slow rate, or maybe even possibly falling, they will then reduce the interest rate. This is known as the transmission mechanism. The MPC is made up of nine members. Five of them are from within the Bank of England and include the Governor and two Deputy Governors, the other four are called external members and are appointed by the Chancellor. At each monthly meeting the members vote on what they believe should happen to the interest rates. If the vote is equal, then the Governor of the Bank of England has the casting vote. There are many different internal consumer demand changes that will affect the general public. Firstly there is consumer borrowing. Many consumers use this method to borrow money in the form of credit cards

Critical Barriers to Progress of Retinitis Pigmentosa Essay -- Health

CRITICAL BARRIERS TO PROGRESS The lack of homogeneity and progressive nature of RP poses a crucial problem to the development of novel therapies (Marmor 1979, Greenwald 2009).RP is typically late in its onset and progresses slowly; as such an accurate determination of age of onset is problematic (Tsujikawa 2008). This is particularly troublesome as no efficient therapies are currently available with genetic counseling being key in the treatment of the disease, and without an accurate age of onset, counseling can be troublesome at best (Tsujikawa 2008). Diversity exists not only in disease onset and progression rate, but underlying genetics as well (Chow 2004); over 180 gene mutations are associated with photoreceptor diseases without cures or effective therapies (Greenwald 2009). This makes the development of molecular based therapies difficult as one therapy may only aid one specific type of RP, with a variance in efficacy mirroring the variance in phenotype severity. Even within a single family, a specific muta tion may result in a variety of phenotypes (Sohocki 2000). Also, within a single gene, multiple mutations may occur, each with its own retinal degeneration phenotype (Gamundi 2005). Even if these issues with known genetic causes could be mitigated, cases of adRP exist where all known RP associated genes have been excluded, suggesting additional genetic heterogeneity (Alvarez 2007). Within Caucasian populations, 50-60% of cases of RP are diagnosed as â€Å"sporadic† due to the inability to pinpoint inheritance patterns (Ziviello 2005). In one study of Italian families with adRP, only 27% of cases could be linked to a known gene, with 73% of cases having alterations in unknown genes (Ziviello 2005). Because of the challenges mo... ...ir mobility and independence indirectly, resulting in an overall greater increase in quality of life. Additionally, this study will improve our knowledge of retinal degenerations and the ability of degenerated photoreceptors with mostly preserved retinal circuitry to be stimulated more effectively through differential brightness/contrast/exposures to increase visual perception. Success of the aims of this study will alter treatments and services in the field as optometrists will have access to a potential prosthesis and resource to give their patients to improve their quality of life once diagnosed with RP. Additionally, this device will give a non-invasive alternative to those patients with early stage disease progression, those RP patients with unknown underlying genetic determinants, and those end-stage patients that do not wish to have subretinal implantation.

The National Forest Management Act

Writing Assignment Resource Management Policy The National Forest Management Act (NFMA) of 1976 is a federal law that reorganized, expanded and amended the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974, which called for the management of renewable resources on national forest lands. The National Forest Management Act requires the Secretary of Agriculture to assess forest lands, develop a management program based on multiple-use, sustained-yield principles, and implement a resource management plan for each unit of the National Forest System.It is the primary statute governing the administration of national forests. The NFMA had a particular focus in regulating when, where, and how much timber could be harvested and in requiring public involvement in preparing and revising the plans. In 1982 the NFMA published the Planning Regulations, a process that planned to integrate the many interests concerning the forests. There are ten major steps to this process.Identify issues , concerns, and opportunities (ICOs); Develop planning criteria; Collect data and information necessary to address ICOs; Analyze the management situation (AMS); Formulate a broad range of alternatives including a ‘no action, alternative; Estimate the effects of each alternative on the environment, the economy, and society; Evaluate alternatives by comparing how well each resolves the ICOs; Select a preferred alternative; Implement the plan by updating all uses of the forest into conformity of the forest plan; and monitor and evaluate the plan by comparing the actual biological effects of the plan to the projections.The NFMA has started many legal suits regarding the degree of involvement required by both the forest service and the public, but the most famous was the Ohio Forestry Association v. Sierra Club. The Sierra Club claimed that the logging practices allowed in the Wayne National Forest in Southeast Ohio were unlawful under NFMA because the Act requires ongoing input an d management from the Forest Service.The Court rejected the claims of the Sierra Club and stated the Forest Service is not an agency required to perform ongoing action or involvement in the forest plans. BIBLIOGRAPHY: * Pegg, J. r. â€Å"Bush Converts National Forest Management to Corporate Model. †Ã‚  Environment News Service. Web. 14 Nov. 2011. ;http://www. ens-newswire. com/ens/dec2004/2004-12-23-10. html;. * â€Å"National Forest Management Act of 1976. †Ã‚  Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 14 Nov. 2011. ;http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/National_Forest_Management_Act_of_1976;.

No one in Gattaca is who they seem to be and everyone

The science fiction thriller film ‘Cattle', directed and written by Andrew Niccole, set In the â€Å"not too distant future†, It portrays a society In which genetic engineering has created an advanced yet dyspepsia world. In this world, we can clearly see that people have secrets and they are willing to Ill, cheat and even kill to get where they want to be and to be their very best. No one is who they seem to be and everyone has something to hide. Throughout the film, there are 3 main characters that have something to conceal and these characters are Jerome Eugene Morrow, VincentFreeman and Doctor Lamar. Jerome Eugene Morrow is a very relentless and arrogant person but on the inside he is caring, Vincent Freeman is an Invalid' who dreams of flying to Titan and to achieve his dreams, he has to become a towered ladder' with the help of Eugene, and Doctor Lamar helps Vincent achieve his dreams by concealing Vincent secret. Jerome Eugene Morrow is a valid in Cattle. He Is wh at is considered as close to perfection that's possible. After a suicide attempt, It left Eugene a crippled, depressed and an arrogant person.Niccole proves this when he Is calling the policeman a flatfoot†. He places this personality upon himself because he Is too scared to show anyone the real him; sensitive and caring. Throughout the film, we see that he in fact conceals his true personality by helping Vincent. The amount of energy he put into helping Vincent, shows us that on the inside he is actually a caring friend who is willing to sacrifice his life to help others. From this we see that no one is who they seem, and Eugene is even willing to lend his own identity to another person.Only the Valid' class is told they can truly succeed in the world of ‘Cattle', so if an ‘invalid' tries to succeed, they must put their lives around the concealment of their genetic identity. Niccole places Vincent, an ‘invalid' whose dreams are achievable only in the Valid' world. In order to enter that world, Vincent becomes a ‘borrowed ladder' using Eugene Morrow's Identity. The opening scene of the film shows this dramatically, as we see Vincent hair and skin painfully removed In an extreme close-up. Vincent does this routine every day and It Is courageous. Learn more about this routine In a later, slowly paced sequence that details the processes the system Vincent must go through each day just to reach his goals. Niccole makes us aware that Vincent is not alone in this class of people by showing the label ‘confidentiality guaranteed' written on the dry cleaning plastic wrap. It is clear that being a borrowed ladder is an all interesting Job and for Vincent, a relatively lonely one. Doctor Lamar is the main doctor at Cattle, and although he lies under the radar, he is a crucial part of Vincent Journey to Titan.When Lamar says â€Å"right men don't hold it with their left†, it suggests to the viewer that he is in fact fully aware o f Vincent true identity, and that he has most likely known for a while. At the beginning of the film It seems that Lamar Is convinced, as is everyone else In Cattle, that Vincent Is a true valid. However, near the end, It becomes obvious he has known the truth all along. Lamar Lies and effectively cheats the system by turning a blind eye to Vincent true identity and allowing him to continue on his journey. He possible for his son to make it into the world.Even with this status as a doctor t Cattle, Lamar is willing to lie and risk his own Job in order to let Vincent dreams come true. Niccole portrays Cattle as this developed world that has minimized the level of imperfection, where there is no room for invalids and the genetically engineered people. However, as the story develops, we start to see the ‘perfect' people also have flaws and we see that even in this ‘perfect' world, lying and cheating still happens. Everyone has something to conceal, and no matter what their status, they are willing to commit fraud acts, whether it is for their benefit or to benefit there.It seems that although people in Cattle seem perfect and innocent, no one is without flaw, and everyone has a secret. The science fiction thriller film ‘Cattle', directed and written by Andrew Niccole, set in the â€Å"not too distant future†, it portrays a society in which genetic engineering has people have secrets and they are willing to lie, cheat and even kill to get where they person but on the inside he is caring, Vincent Freeman is an ‘invalid' who dreams of flying to Titan and to achieve his dreams, he has to become a ‘borrowed ladder' with unceasing Vincent secret.Jerome Eugene Morrow is a valid in Cattle. He is what is considered as close to perfection that's possible. After a suicide attempt, it left Eugene a crippled, depressed and an arrogant person. Niccole proves this when he is calling the policeman a â€Å"f**kicking flatfoot†. He place s this personality upon himself because he is too scared to show anyone the real him; sensitive and caring. Vincent becomes a ‘borrowed ladder' using Eugene Morrows identity. The opening removed in an extreme close-up. Vincent does this routine every day and it is courageous.We learn more about this routine in a later, slowly paced sequence that details the processes the system Vincent must go through each day Just to reach his says â€Å"right men don't hold it with their left†, it suggests to the viewer that he is in fact the beginning of the film it seems that Lamar is convinced, as is everyone else in Cattle, that Vincent is a true valid. However, near the end, it becomes obvious he has known the truth all along. Lamar lies and effectively cheats the system by turning a blind eye to Vincent true identity and allowing him to continue on his Journey.He goes this because his son is also an invalid and if Vincent can make it, it could be Vincent becomes a ‘borrowe d ladder' using Eugene Morrow's identity. The opening possible for his son to make it into the â€Å"valid† world. Even with this status as a doctor Doctor Lamar is the main doctor at Cattle, and although he lies under the radar, he is a crucial part of Vincent Journey to Titan. When Lamar says â€Å"right men don't hold it with their left†, it suggests to the viewer that he is in fact fully aware of Vincent true identity, and that he has most likely known for a while.At the beginning of the elm it seems that Lamar is convinced, as is everyone else in Cattle, that Vincent is a true valid. However, near the end, it becomes obvious he has known the truth all along. Lamar lies and effectively cheats the system by turning a blind eye to Vincent true identity and allowing him to continue on his Journey. He does this because his son is also an invalid and if Vincent can make it, it could be possible for his son to make it into the world. Even with this status as a doctor at Cattle, Lamar is willing to lie and risk his own Job in order to let Vincent dreams come true.

Philippine Gaming Industry

Despite the surge of Pagcor income that has succeeded immensely in supporting the cash-strapped government, several lawmakers, nongovernment organizations and especially the religious sector are still firmly against government engaging in the business of operating casinos. Edward King, spokesman for Pagcor chairman Efraim Genuino, told The Manila Times that first and foremost, one thing that people should remember is that Pagcor is a creation of law. Pagcor, a government-owned and controlled corporation was established to regulate all games of chance in the Philippines. It was born in 1976, created by then-President Marcos to oversee the operation of gaming casinos, to generate funds for the government’s developmental projects and to help curb illegal gambling. An unaudited Pagcor report shows that Pagcor, â€Å"a vital arm of the government in nation building, â€Å" netted P25. 4 billion in income making it one of the biggest earners for 2006. † So is Pagcor a proof that casinos and legalized gaming can be a valuable source of government funding and an effective engine for national development? â€Å"We are created by law, we are just following what the law orders us to do. It is not a question that is up to us to decide. We must obey the law,† King said. Under the law, he explained, Pagcor is required to run casinos. He said that the most important thing about the government running casinos is that all funds that generated from Pagcor goes back to the government â€Å"100 percent. † â€Å"We are operating the casinos but here is where everything lies: 100 percent of the income that we generate goes back to the government,† King said. The state-run gaming firm surpassed its earlier record-breaking P21. 9-billion total annual income in 2004 and breached its target income of P23. 1 billion for 2005. It surpassed the P24. 5 billion target for 2006 as well. Pagcor’s 2005 total income of P23. 4 billion was 6. 8 percent higher than the P21. 9 billion it posted a year before. The issue of privatizing Pagcor is also very controversial, with several lawmakers pushing for it and even more congressmen against it. King said that while the act can be considered purely from the noble and idealistic viewpoint that government should not be in the business of gambling, one has to think from the point of view of generating funds for the government. He said that if the government would privatize Pagcor, then all income goes to the private sector leaving only a small amount in taxes being paid to the government coffers. â€Å"If you give Pagcor to the private, they will just be paying taxes. There is a huge difference between a fraction of income from taxes to 100 percent,† King said. An official from Pagcor who requested anonymity even claimed that perhaps the lawmakers have their own personal agenda. Maybe they want to be the ones who will buy and operate Pagcor, they said. Its simple, privatize Pagcor they get the income, the lawmakers may perhaps be getting their own kickbacks from certain lobby groups who want Pagcor for their personal purpose,† the official said. King merely laughed at the statement of the official adding that he did not want to comment, not wanting to get into trouble with the congressmen. King, however, added that if Pagcor is run privately, all measures such as that of the antimoney launderi ng might be removed and the private personalities owning it may use the gaming for the bad purposes that the antimoney-laundering council wants to prevent. Pagcor is created by law with the purpose of bringing much needed funds to the government. Certainly if you are run privately mahirap bantayan. How can you impose legislation on it which means how can we protect ourselves now from money laundering, how do we prevent this money going out of the country,† he said. â€Å"We are able to ensure that these things do not happen since the protective mechanism are all in place here. ’Yung mga private casinos for instance maaaring lumalabas iyang pera at magamit for money laundering once they are privately owned,† he said. We do what we can,† King said. King also thanked Congress for granting them a fresh 25-year franchise. King explained that government departments are dependent on Pagcor. The Department of Education is seeking more money from us. Even many church organizations get donations from Pagcor despite the opposition to Pagcor of some bishops. Pagcor, in President Arroyo’s own words, is an important part of Philippine nation building. In its endeavor to generate more funds for the governmen t’s pressing concerns, Pagcor has ventured beyond casino management. To meet the challenges of the new millennium, the gaming corporation is constantly looking for ways to improve its gaming products and maximizing the efficiency of its gaming operations. Philippine Gaming Market Sports betting is, to a vast population of Filipinos, a way of life from cockfighting to horseracing and basketball. Betting on number combination games such as lotteries and basketball â€Å"ending† offered by illegal bookies, has become part of millions of Filipinos’ daily routine. The gaming market in the Philippines is estimated to be over P100 billion a year. Illegal gaming accounts for half of the country’s gaming industry revenues. Internet Gaming Market The Internet gaming global market is estimated to be US$10 billion in 2002 and is predicted to reach US$14. 5 billion in year 2006. Internet Sports Betting and Internet Casino dominates most of the revenues. Although US now accounts for half of industry revenues, the gaming market is changing and the biggest area of growth is in places like Europe and Asia. Pagcor aims to go global and is keen on gaining a share of the Internet gaming revenue. Internet gaming will allow Pagcor to reach out to local and foreign gaming enthusiasts with less investment cost. About Philweb Capitalizing on its Internet technology experience, Philweb in early 2003 made a deliberate decision to focus on Internet Gaming. It established partner relationship with leading software providers in addition to establishing its own gaming software capability. On the basis of this expertise, Philweb was successful in concluding a contract with Pagcor, whereby Philweb became Pagcor’s overall service provider for Internet Gaming technology. To date, Philweb has concluded 2 Internet Gaming agreements with Pagcor, as follows: Acknowledging the Filipino’s yearning for sports and gaming as well as the continuing popularity of local sports betting, Pagcor, in partnership with Philweb Corp. , designed and deployed a new and innovative way to utilize Internet technology in fueling the Filipino’s passion for sports—Internet Sports Betting. Pagcor aims to compete head on with illegal bookies and migrate most, if not all, of the illegal gaming revenues into additional source of income for the government. Recognizing Philweb’s extensive knowledge in Internet technology, software development expertise and its nationwide marketing distribution network, Pagcor signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Philweb on November 28, 2002, engaging the latter as its technology service provider and marketing consultant for Internet Sports Betting. Subsequently, Philweb and Pagcor likewise entered into several supplemental agreements to cover the expansion programs of Pagcor on Internet Sports Betting. Philweb is a PLDT subsidiary. Pagcor license for Internet casino Pagcor has decided to offer casino games outside the land-based casinos via Internet Casino Stations. Compared with the land-based counterpart, Internet Casino Stations require less investment because of their low overhead as well as operating and marketing costs. Also, Internet Casino offers gaming enthusiasts the opportunity to play casino games in the privacy and comfort of their homes at any time of the day and at their own pace. As an additional feature, a prepaid card system will be incorporated in Pagcor’s Internet Casino betting platform to avoid credit card fraud and fast-track its nationwide distribution. Philweb is partnering once more with Pagcor to accelerate the market entry of the latter’s Internet Casino products in the Philippines. With a management team rich with Internet Casino business expertise, Philweb expects to realize with Pagcor the revenue potential of Internet Casino. Currently, Pagcor and Philweb are pursuing for the expansion of their Internet Gaming relationship to now include Internet Casino. Philweb will provide its technology and marketing services to Pagcor. These services shall include the following: Recently, Philweb, the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) affiliate that oversees the operation of an Internet casino business on behalf of the government, expects to report a full-year profit for 2006, the first since it was set up in 2000. Philweb reported net profit of P42 million ($861,848) in the first nine months of 2006. The company, which oversees 45 Internet casino stations, most of them in Manila, said gross betting volume in online casinos had surged from P562 million in 2004 to P10. 8 billion in 2005. It is likely to rise by another 30 percent in 2006, according to Dennis Valdes, the company’s president. That forecast looked optimistic on a recent Saturday night in Manila on the basis of competition between a bookmaker’s office, crowded with laborers betting on horses, and an Internet casino station a few feet away where no-one was queuing to play. But the relative quiet outside the online casino belies the vast and rapid flow of money into the newest game of chance to hit Manila. On entry into what looks like an Internet cafe, where about 25 desktop computers are linked to a powerful server running gambling software, customers are asked to buy at least P500 worth of credits, and it is not uncommon for players to spend P1,000 in just 15 minutes. â€Å"We started out as an ISP [Internet service provider] and it was only recently that the company refocused on Internet gambling,† said Valdes. In November 2002, Philweb won a contract to provide consultancy services to the state gambling monopoly, which is trying to curb an illegal market that it estimates to be worth about P50 billion a year. Stock market investors are making a big bet on Philweb, whose share price more than doubled in 2006 and has risen by about a 10th so far this year. Its market capitalization of P3. 9 billion is now almost a quarter more than the combined market value of the two bigger and older companies that run horse races.