Feliks Skrzynecki and Mean Girls

The Poem, ‘Feliks Skrzynecki,’ composed by Peter Skrzyneck, explores a relationship between father and son, and their contrasting experiences of belonging to a new place to call home. My related text, ‘The Perks of being a wallflower,’ a novel composed by Stephen Chbosky, is a story narrated by a teenager who goes by the alias of â€Å"Charlie. † Charlie explains and analyses various scenes in his life by writing a series of letters to an anonymous person whom he does not know personally.When the story begins, Charlie is shy an unpopular, he is a wallflower, but when he decides to be brave enough to talk to the prettiest girl in the school, Sam, his life transforms and he experiences introversion, teenage sexuality, abuse, drug and alcohol use, and the awkward times of adolescence. The opening line of ‘Feliks Skrzynecki,’ ‘My gentle father,’ allows the reader to predict that this poem can not only be considered a noticeable t ribute to the composer’s father, but can also imply a physical journey.This idea of a journey becomes more evident throughout various areas of the poem including the metaphor used is stanza seven, â€Å"After that, like a dumb prophet, watched me pegging my tents further and further south of Hadrian’s wall. † This line allows the reader to understand that the father could foresee the result of his son’s detachment, but chooses to stay quiet to allow his son to learn for himself.The line in stanza three, ‘His polish friends, always shook hands too violently† conveys a feeling of discomfort within the son, it is evident that the son feels detached from the â€Å"violent† ways of his heritage and feels like he does not belong, like he is an outcast. This line strongly relates to a line on page 8 in ‘The perks of being a wallflower’, â€Å"Some kids look at me strange in the hallways because I don't decorate my locker, and I'm the one who beat up Sean and couldn't stop crying after he did it. I guess I'm pretty emotional. I feel these two lines strongly relate because they both explain a feeling of being outkast, they create an uneasy mood in which you are positioned to understand that they don’t feel as though they belong. In stanza six of ‘Feliks Skrzynecki,’ an image of peace, security and belonging is conveyed. â€Å"My father sits out the evening with his dog, smoking, watching stars and street lights come on, Happy as I have ever been,† This stanza creates a harmonious atmosphere through the accumulation of positive images.It conveys a constrast between Feliks’ self sufficiency and Peters discontent. This line also conveys Feliks’ capacity to enjoy a sense of belonging that has come through his experiences of suffering. His mind has been broadened to understand what really matters in life. The line, â€Å"I laid down on his old bed, and I looked through the window at this tree that was probably a lot shorter when my dad looked at it. And I could feel what he felt on the night when he realized that if he didn't leave, it would never be his life.It would be theirs. At least that's how he's put it. ,† from my related text related to the previously mentioned stanza through the sense of their fathers happiness. Both fathers have been through pain and suffering and come to the point where they knew exactly what they needed to be happy, to escape the harsh reality. In stanza one, Skrzynecki writes, â€Å"Loved his garden like an only child, spent years walking its perimeter from sunrise to sleep. Alert, brisk and silent, he swept its paths, then times around the world. The place that Feliks feels most safe is in his garden, it is his sanctuary, it is where he belongs. His experiences of war had led to a chosen state of positive isolation in a safe and secure place that he could control.On page 198, Chbosky writes, â€Å"I laid down o n his old bed, and I looked through the window at this tree that was probably a lot shorter when my dad looked at it. And I could feel what he felt on the night when he realized that if he didn't leave, it would never be his life. It would be theirs. At least that's how he's put it. I feel that these two lines coinside through a sense of belonging, whether it be to a place, a feeling or a memory. At a particular point in time, they were where they belonged. Through evident points, it can be seen that belonging is a feeling of acceptance, as a natural member or part, and that belonging is a basic need for human function and survival. Both texts show a timeline of both good and bad experiences, but convey a feeling of contentness within their chosen ‘homes’ or wherever it is that they feel most comfortable, where they feel they belong most.For Peter, it was his childhood, when everything was easy and nothing hurt. For Feliks, it was in his garden, his only sanctuary and f or Charlie, it was between the two people that made the biggest impact on his life, Sam and Patrick. While the endings to both texts are not overly happy, they challenge the idea of belonging in there own ways and it can be conluded that Social isolation can have negative consequences on an individual or a society and that happiness and belonging go hand in hand. You cannot feel like you belong every second of your life, it just isnt human.

A Canary for One Essay

The story under consideration is entitled A Canary for One and is written by Ernest Hemingway, an American novelist and short-story writer. As for the author I have to mention that his style is characterized by crispness, laconic dialogue and emotional understatement. In his writing Hemingway explored themes of helplessness, defeat and social problems. The story A Canary for One is not an exception. The first idea about the title is that a bird was a present, a canary for somebody. However, following his story-telling iceberg style, Hemingway makes the meaning of the story even more significant. The bird is a symbol of hope for the better future. It is like a means of forgetting the problems and not to be alone. The story is about an American woman returning home with a canary for her daughter. After reading the story we got to know that the main idea is loneliness and the futility of human relationships. This can be proved by the example of the American couple who went to Paris to set up individual residences in Paris. As it often happens with E. Hemingway’s stories, the plot is difficult and thought provoking by its simplicity of language forms. In a train approaching to Paris, an American lady got acquainted with an American couple. In a conversation the woman told another woman about her daughter, who fell in love with a man from Vevey but they had to put an end to their relationships. Mother believed strongly that only an American boy would make a match for her girl. Having arrived at the railway station the couple and the woman said goodbye to one another. Having moved towards the gate the man and a woman went their own ways. The main character of the story is a quite rich and lonely American lady. The author doesn’t even mention her name as it’s unnecessary. In the whole story there are no names at all. What we know of her – she is a bit deaf and has a daughter whose life she destroyed because of her strong beliefs. To describe her character more vividly, to reveal her attitude to other people who are not Americans, the author used the phrases that â€Å"Americans make best husbands† or â€Å"American men are the only men in the world to marry†. The author did it to show the woman`s haughtiness. She stayed deaf both physically and emotionally to the world outside, even to her child. She described everything from a good point of view, but stayed adamant. They were madly in love†, â€Å"He was from a very good family†, â€Å"I took her away, of course†. The problem raised in the story is that people who don`t realize their mistakes, are not willing to understand and improve the situation stay alone in the end. The author doesn`t name the characters to show that there are a lot of such people among us. And this problem still remains a burning one. In conclusion I would like to say that I enjoyed reading the story. It is a very profound one that makes the reader become thoughtful about his own life and desires. All the important things are between the lines.

CSR – Fast Food Industry

Since the late 1960's and early 1970's, the term â€Å"corporate social responsibility† has come into common. The concept of CSR has attracted considerable attention in recent years. However, CSR may have confused many corporations whether CSR brings benefits to the corporations, whether it is worthwhile to contribute organizational resources to CSR. Different studies have brought different answers to those questions. In the following paragraphs, we will briefly discuss whether CSR are necessary and the effectiveness of CSR. As the competitors have started showing they are socially responsible, it becomes necessary for a fast food corporation to consider the need and importance of CSR if it wants to stay at an advantaged position in the fast food industry. As consumers have more choices due to globalization and consider more today, it may be necessary for a corporation to show it is socially responsible to attract consumers. According to Scalet and Kelly (2010), people are demanding CSR, the market incentives are following consumer preferences for CSR activities and the market is producing it. In related to the fast food industry, Schroder and McEachern(2005) ‘s research suggests that â€Å"Most respondents favoured an involvement of global fast-food companies in CSR, whether in the context of providing healthy choices, assuring animal welfare or the sponsoring of community activities. They also suggest that fast-food retailers for example McDonald’s and KFC should emphasize on customer health, food quality and CSR activities in order to maintain and have new customers. On the other hand, some studies argue CSR may not be helpful in developing corporations’ brand and gaining advantages. Nicola (2007) describes â€Å"awareness of CR policies is low† and â€Å"consumers do not act on their beliefs about CR – they will continue to buy brands they know to be irresponsible. Product quality and consumer fairness are more important than CSR in consumers’ mind, most consumers agree corporations should have CSR, but only one-third of them consider CSR when shopping and not more than 4% would really not purchase a product due to the corporation's ethical policy (Peter 2007). John (2006) mentions Milton Friedman, the famous economist, has said â€Å"few trends could so thoroughly undermine the very foundations of our free society as the acceptance by corporate officials of a social responsibility other than to make as much money for their stockholders as possible†. Corporation should not have conscience like a human being as a corporation's nature is to maximize returns to its shareholder without breaching the law. These perspectives supporting the need of CSR show the consumers today choose our products not only depending on the quality of our products and service, but also depending on our contribution to CSR activities. As the whole market is producing it, a corporation has to fulfill the consumer demand of CSR in order to remain competitive. However, it assumes consumers are rational and act like what they think about CSR. In fact, consumers are not always rational and their consuming behavior may not consist with their thought. At the same time, there are some other perspectives showing the corporation contribution to CSR may be useless in gaining advantages. It strongly states that consumers focus much more on the product quality and consumer fairness, rather than CSR. Even the consumers know the corporation is irresponsible, they would still buy its products. It makes CSR seems to be less important than what scholars have described. However, CSR not gaining advantages to the corporation doesn’t mean not gaining advantages to the society. As a responsible corporation, it should have a conscience to keep on committing itself to CSR activities. These perspectives focus too much on what a corporation can gain from a society, but not on what a corporation can give to the society. Only obeying to the law is not enough for a responsible corporation. In conclusion, different perspectives may have certain strengths as well as weaknesses in their arguments. These perspectives supporting CSR provide a clear picture of the necessity of CSR by showing the consumers’ demand for CSR activities and indicating fast food corporations should have more CSR activities to maintain their competitiveness. However, it ignores the fact that consumers are not always rational and they may behave differ from what they think. Those perspectives questioning the effectiveness of CSR place a strong emphasis on that fact that CSR is not consumers' priority and the role of a corporation is to maximum profits. However, it focuses too much on the benefits of the corporation rather than the benefits of the society as it puts the role of corporations in a too utilitarian position. On the whole, although we understand much about CSR through the process of analyzing different claims, it is still hard to have a clear conclusion on those perspectives as obvious contradictory findings do exist and it may need a further research.

Why car seat belts should be a law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Why car seat belts should be a law - Essay Example Research suggests that making seat belt use a primary offense does not result in reduced death rates, enforcement of law to wear seat belts in the car can adversely influence behavior, and risk is an individual factor, hence enforcement of seat belts only affect the external behavior posing higher risk to others including cyclists, pedestrian and other drivers. Proponents of imposing penalties for not using seat belts claim that increasing penalties increases the usage of seat belts, studies suggest otherwise. Even though states treating seal belt usage a primary offense reported that seat belt was used 74% of the times and those as a secondary offense reported usage at 61% times, these data do not prove that usage of seat belts has led to decreased traffic injuries and fatalities. No jurisdiction that has passed a seat belt law has shown evidence of a reduction in road accident deaths (Kopel, 1999). It is important to note that some people wear seat belt with or without enforcement of law. In 1996 in New York, when non usage of seat belt was a primary offense, it was observed that despite 74% usage, 46% of its fatally injured car occupants were wearing seat belts. In Iowa, with 75% usage of seat belts 50% of its fatally injured car occupants were wearing seat belts. Wyoming had no primary law enforcing seat belt usage but 72% usage was re ported. Thus, these data amply suggest that imposing penalties and treating seat belt usage a primary offense has not known to reduce accidents. Secondly, people would use seat belt even if no law is enforced. Enforcement of law to use seat belt in the car can adversely affect human behavior. In a study, when subjects who normally did not wear seat belts, were asked to do SO, they were found to drive faster, followed closely and braked later (Kopel). People who are naturally cautious would wear seat belts voluntarily. When reckless people are forced to wear seat belts, they drive more recklessly. According to Robertson,

Push and pull factors in Syrian migration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Push and pull factors in Syrian migration - Essay Example The last pull factor for the Refugees was humanitarian aid that occurred between 2010 and 2012. The soldiers that came fighting for Bashar Assad, especially due to Political and Economic factors.The negative impact of this civil war on the Syrians is that there were few people to go to work and maintain the growth of the economy (Tarn, 155). The hosting countries also faced negative impact due to this; there were too many people and thus few jobs. The large influx of persons harmed their economy by draining their resources and also to the United Nation country’s resources. Another adverse impact of such migrations was; the government lost some of their taxes. Consequently, Syria lost their populations leading to various family challenges and risks. Kids also lost their friends, parent lost their jobs for a certain period, and there was less space in their houses as there was no enough money for bigger houses. This is attributed to the fact that these countries provided for the refugees. Majority of them migrated to safer countries like United Kingdom, United States of America, and also Australia. The refugees sought for these countries because there were no wars in those countries. The positive impact for this is that the hosting country got more citizens to fill any available job, and this helped the economy. The civil war also spilled to the neighboring countries such as Iraq and Iran. This caused the collapse of Iraq and Syria as well spreading the conflict with the neighboring countries (The Lancet, 383).

Do you need decoration to create a pleasing environment PowerPoint Presentation

Do you need decoration to create a pleasing environment - PowerPoint Presentation Example The modern movement was largely against the use of heavy decorations in architecture and regarded it as unnecessary and a â€Å"waste of labor† by many. However, this is in fact not true. There are numerous historical evidences which point to the contrary, i.e. decoration or the use of decorative elements in architecture has more to offer than an eye pleasing environment. As opposed to the use of structural elements such as stones, trees and ponds, decorative elements or artifacts lend a human touch to a natural scene, where most of them are known to have functional use. For instance lanterns which were extensively used as decorative elements could be used to light pathways in gardens and the water basins used in gardens could alternatively be used for purification prior to a tea ceremony and artifacts such as the Buddhist statues and miniature pagodas carried sacred inscriptions. The new Brazilian architecture (Figure 3) for example, is known for the use of such decorative elements as the glazed tiles and granite blocks of colonial art. However, besides acting as decoration, the extensive use of such materials as, tiles and granite has proved to be an excellent alternative for protection of the exterior of the buildings against rain and sun, where no other material could withhold it, especially in buildings near the sea. Where modernist architects considered the post modernist architecture as â€Å"vulgar† and dominated by heavy decorations, the post modernist architects on the other hand regarded the modernist architecture as mundane and lacking in taste The Piazza of the Campidoglio in Rome is known for its perfect synchronization on an inlaid pavement. The artistic creation and patterns used helps in creating a stunning contrast between the buildings. Although the architecture, might be regarded as lacking in structural relevance it does

Anatomy and physiology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Anatomy and physiology - Essay Example Although my heart was pounding within me as I entered the door, BODIES...The Exhibition eased me into the experience by starting with the skeletal system. There were a few human skeletons in the room but I was fascinated by the expanded skull and complete spinal display. In this section of the exhibition, I was amazed to learn that human bone is five times stronger than steel and that children’s bones grow faster in the spring. Every one of the 206 bones in the human body was on display. The muscular system was more graphic and I had to pause in the gallery for a moment to take in the red and white figures displayed to highlight the movements of the muscles. This section marked the beginning of the display of nearly twenty human bodies displayed in athletic poses to illustrate how the human muscles work in unison with each other. Some of the human specimens were arranged as if they were performing activities such as playing basketball, kicking a football and conducting an orchestra. The real shocker was a skeleton dancing with it’s own skin! Two bodies were displayed holding hands with extended arms to balance each other. I was in sheer disbelief when I realized that it is really one body – one side depicting the muscles and the other depicting the skeleton. These displays helped me understand how our bones and muscles work together as we stretch, hold hands or do any other chores. Although my textbook ‘Essentials of Human Anatomy and Physiologyà ¢â‚¬â„¢ explains the mechanism of muscular movements in great detail, one has to see these muscles displayed the way they are in this exhibition to appreciate what â€Å"actually† goes on under our skin. On display was a skinless male figure posed similar to the famous Rodin sculpture ‘The Thinker’ highlighting the muscular system, the spinal chord and the brain. I was impressed to see how the display

Why did Byzantine culture favour cult images of supernatural origin Essay

Why did Byzantine culture favour cult images of supernatural origin - Essay Example ons that are taken as indisputable truth, indestructible under influence of any circumstances, so-called postulates – definitions, which are taken into account without a logical explanation. Nowadays, people worship God and his Image on the icons. It is believed that the icon is the conductor of the Holy Spirit to Earth. People usually explain icon`s miracles with their supernatural origin. It was believed their appearance and mistique was sanctioned by heaven1. In Byzantium two main branches of mysticism were distributed as well as in relation with iconography. One of them was represented in a contemplative way, being philosophically speculative and characterized by reflection -the desire to reach the deity by systematic abstract logical thinking activity. For this type of mystics it seemed particularly important to create a classification of the states and actions, to chart the bad thoughts, to dismember the steps, which make one closer to the deity. In the other direction o f mystics, which kept on morality and practice, logical thought was obscured with tactile-specific representation on the subject of the approximation of the human with the God: the mystic is trying to develop himself to a stage when he would be able to see the divine`s light, to hear the God`s voice. However, in fact in both cases, the act of salvation is not so much a result of the actions of the clergy, but as an individual feat, accessible to everyone and the holy image  mosaics decorating the church`s walls were the beginning of the Byzantine visual art. What was it said for? Thanks to miracles associated with icons - "through the interaction of social concepts - such as envy, limited goof and the source of illness"2, people began to treat them with trembling. Vestiges of antiquity - demons, angels and divinities - significantly influenced the perception of the world of further generations3. It should be noted, that before the era of iconoclasm, Byzantium was known â€Å"for its relics,

Art as Part of Culture Poses as an Obstruction for Globalisation Assignment

Art as Part of Culture Poses as an Obstruction for Globalisation - Assignment Example The definitions of art and culture are seemingly contrasting to the definition of globalisation, which in turn is defined as the compression and stretching of geographical spaces resulting to a borderless economy characterized by technology, information exchanges, knowledge economy and capital flow thus breaking down the barriers between nations expanding trade opportunities, eliminating monopolies and protectionist policies. (Mullard 83) Globalisation was generally perceived in a negative light more specifically on the economy of a nation. On the aspect of culture, adverse effects of globalization anticipated by nations are the corruption of a nation’s principles, loss of national identity and values as well as a threat to national security. These worries, however, are contested by explanations that the seemingly adverse effect of corrupting the nation’s principles would need the constant reminder of the importance of a nation’s heritage and culture as well as promoting national pride. Concerning national security, this serves as a challenge to improve safety measures of a nation. The definitions of art and culture that generally point towards the individuality of a nation have some disparities with the purpose of globalization to create one nation, which in some ways may need to intermingle some of the cultural differences among nations and in the process some of these cultural values may be compromised. In Hou Hanru’s statement saying, â€Å"To promote cultural difference and hybridity in contemporary art, one must first and foremost consider the need to create alternative contexts.† (Mullard 37) globalization in art does not require compromising a nation’s heritage instead, some alternative approach can be done to still preserve distinct cultures while building cultural crossbreeds in the art that are acceptable for diverse nations. Through ages, art has significantly depicted a country’s identity and rich culture.

Punk Rock Essay Example for Free

Punk Rock Essay American exceptionalism is a pivotal concept within the American culture. Stemming from a revolution, this theory shaped a new way of thinking within the United States that seemed far different from many other cultures. Seymour Martin Lipset used this concept to explain, â€Å"why the United States is the only industrialized country which does not have a significant socialist movement or Labor party. † This essentially explains why America is extraordinary. Punk personifies American exceptionalism with its distinct lifestyle to be different from the norm, and is surrounded by independent self-governing thinkers. The United States didn’t become what it is today because of law abiding and passive citizens. This is also a main reason why Punk Rock became so popular in America, and has stayed relevant to teens and young adults all over the world. People began to thrive on understanding the history of this nation, and take pride in the originality of our constitution, and way of life. Punk Rock adds another chapter in the long list of independent concepts and ideas within the American Culture. â€Å"America marches to a different drummer. Its uniqueness is explained by any or all of a variety of reasons: history, size, geography, political institutions, and culture. † This type of â€Å"American† thinking continues to inspire all kinds of musicians, but more so with the Punk Rock genre than any other. It was defines the core competencies of the bands, as well as that of their followers. This defining concept of individualism is also why Punk Rock has stayed relevant for all of these years. This country was built off this impression, as well as Punk Rock. It is hard to break down the barrier of individualism, because everyone is so unique, and Punk Rock simply unites and celebrates all different types of unique thinking. Through lyrics from bands such as the Romones, Blink 182, and The Clash, a colossal following came to Punk Rock. The lyrics almost became anthems to band groupies lives. In â€Å"The Shape of Things to Come† by the Romones, they sing â€Å"Theres a new sun Risin up angry in the sky? And theres a new voice Sayin were not afraid to die. One could argue that that way of thinking was backbone for what soldiers in the American Revolution stood for, and how the United States became to be what it is today. Of course American exceptionalism has its negative aspects to it that can be looked down upon. The United States has at times been exceptionally bad, racist, and violent. This cannot be ignored in the conversation of American exceptionalism. Although some of this demonstrates unfair and harsh governing, it shows that the American spirit still have that Punk Rock â€Å"drive† in them that fuels and strengthens them. This is also another reason why Punk Rock has, and will always continue to stay relevant in todays American Culture

The Issues Facing Mercedes Benz Cyprus Developing Conceptual Framework Business Essay

The Issues Facing Mercedes Benz Cyprus Developing Conceptual Framework Business Essay The project concentrates on the issues facing Mercedes Benz Cyprus developing and implementing an efficient and cost-effective conceptual framework for measuring and managing sales performance. As a concrete outcome of this research, a roadmap and a website for non technical business users will be developed, giving them the capability to apply the conceptual framework to measurable and manageable business activities. The project provides evidence that indicates successful application of measuring and managing sales performance techniques through the use of reports, trainings, communication capabilities and presentation skills. It creates a new political and organisational challenge for the staff of the organisation which in its turn must learn to interact fast and effectively in order to achieve their targets. The main topics that emerged from the research are defined in derived conceptual framework based on the comprehensive review and analysis of the different models and frameworks that can be found in performance measurement literature. Substance considers the external and internal influences impacting on a sales organisation and how management team and staff can offer an actively sought process to monitor business performance on an on-going basis and to generate recommendations for changes. The research indicates that there is no single model or process for developing performance objectives and measures, nor is there a process that will guarantee good results. It has been essential to synthesise and extend the existing models and frameworks with the aim to produce the most suitable conceptual framework based on the size, kind, and available resources. Additional it is difficult to become a successful implementation of a sales performance measurement management system without connecting with a blended training activities based on the culture of continuous improvement with apply of personal professional development of the stakeholders supporting them to identify their weakness for improvement. Preface Award My target award is Doctorate in Professional Studies Development and Implementation Issues for Managing Sales Performance. Sales Performance is the basic term under which this project focuses. I propose to outline a general focus on performance with particular reference to automotive industry. The project report will provide a dynamic, systematic and permanent conceptual framework on management and measurement of sales performance from the view of the business user for the Mercedes- Benz Cyprus. The final product will be a practical user-friendly document and a website, based on sound research, for non technical business users supporting them to measure and manage sales performance. It will provide practical and useful information with real business examples and arguments for measuring and managing sales performance. Furthermore, it will serve as a standard and quick reference for business users, monitoring and evaluating tools and methodologies that are critical in measuring and managing sales performance. The website will be an online learning support area for where you can find online material to support the subject of sales performance together with discussion areas. It is also anticipated to use this programme as an opportunity to my continuous learning and development in the area of sales performance. My favourite motto from the Greek, Athenian statesman, lawgiver and poet Solon is the motivation for my continuous learning and development, I grow in learning as I grow in years (Plutarch Langhorne, 1857). As Kolb (1984) has documented, we seek to grow and develop because we must do so to survive as individuals and as a world community. Coherence of the Programme The bellow topics provide a rationale for the combination of modules and Recognitions and Accreditation of Learning (RAL) claims on the programme and how are argue for the coherence and viability of this proposed programme. DPS 4520: Review of Learning The module of the Review of Learning provided me with a summary and evaluation of my experiences and education to date, and an analysis of their relevance to my future learning and development. My education and work experiences have impacted my personal development, as I have gained a mixture of both academic teaching and hands, on business experience. Most of my experience comes from progressive roles that I have held with Mercedes Benz. With Mercedes Benz, I have been fortunate to have a career that has spanned multiple disciplines including Information Technology, Quality, Sales and Marketing. I present my learning in a chronological and thematic approach, with the following diagram Figure 1:0 to reflect on my learning, which shows my lifelong learning stages. Starting from school and during my first university degree I have had special focus in Mathematics which helped me to develop my analytical and logical thinking for my doctorate project. My first-degree in Mechanical Engineering, as an Engineer, helped me understand how to bring together knowledge of previously solved problems and understand the current need to combine new solutions. Following my first degree as a Mechanical Engineer I chose, and successfully applied, for a Master degree covering a range of subjects related to Business and Operational Research. The subjects of this Master Degree provided an excellent learning opportunity, and greatly broadened my knowledge and understanding of Business issues. It has had an important impact on my professional and academic development. As Neely (2002) states researchers with functional backgrounds as diverse as accounting, operations management, marketing, finance, economics, psychology, and sociology are all actively working in the field of performance measurement. The research project that I have undertaken for my Master dissertation studies was a Statistical Analysis of Labour Accident in Greece. Statistical Analysis can integrate with the business performance management. It helped me develop my Statistical Thinking. Statistical Thinking is the philosophy of learning and the action that builds the foundation for successful decision making in any process (Britz et.al, 2000). Additionally, my Master Dissertation gave me my first opportunity to develop an appropriate research strategy. It has provided me with the basic framework for my research approach to identify the research methods and data collection techniques which are required for my research project. I have worked in engineering as Plant Manager for a year with one of the most important construction companies in Saudi Arabia and Cyprus. Living in Saudi Arabia strengthened my motivation to work in a hard environment and made me challenge my perception of the importance of simple things in our everyday life and work. Furthermore, working in the desert alone with my team represented a new type of knowledge and a different way of learning for me. I learnt about personal influence and negotiation. Leading a team was an excellent learning opportunity for me, and one that was very different from my past ways of learning. I also gained specific skills including project management and managing contractors, as I was responsible for installing equipments at our sites. Having decided to change my direction, I successfully applied to Mercedes Benz Cyprus for the position of the After-sales Analyst. My education and training from DAIMLER A.G, a highly innovative company with a global presence, has enabled me to understand the practical application of theories, especially at the management level. With the need to improve the stock levels and control the transport cost of spare parts, I developed several information systems. Increasingly I became involved in data analysis and interpretation of data, which strengthened my skills in these areas and helped me to develop my thinking about how information is used. In particular, I began to think about how the end-users of information could influence the way in which that data is produced, interpreted and presented, and the way this can change the meaning of information. The Board of Director of Mercedes Benz Cyprus offered me the challenge of the combined position of Assistant Sales Marketing Director and Quality and Business Manager. My duties have three main directions. Firstly, the developing and managing of the passenger car Sales Marketing business at both the importer and retailer levels; secondly the designing, the developing and implementing of new Information System for supporting the Sales Marketing Business and thirdly the developing, carrying out and maintaining of the Quality systems of the organisation. My current role has provided me with valuable experience and opportunities for learning. This has allowed me to develop a deep understanding of various functions including Finance, Sales Marketing, Quality, Service and Human Resources. Finally, the module Review of Learning helped me realise my strengths and weaknesses and identify the areas in which I need to develop skills. Recognition and Accreditation of Learning (RAL 4): Professional Learning The Master Degree in Business Management and Operational Research has had an important impact on my professional and academic development. It equipped me with skills and experiences such as leading me to the research process starting from clarification of the problem until the presentation of the findings to stakeholders which are necessary for my project. An important subject undertaken was Total Quality Management (TQM) and Operational Research. It was my first experience with tools to control and develop business. Another important subject in my Master was Economics and Law which was directed at understanding the basic notions of modern economic science, with emphasis on microeconomic concepts and macroeconomic analysis. The style of teaching in my Master involved a large element of discussion of issues, and involved a major piece of group project work, which greatly contributed to my understanding of group dynamics. I had actively engaged the discipline in a way not possible simply by listening to lectures and reading textbooks, but through the reflection from the process of research. Writing and peer review helped me to understand my own behaviour within a group situation. Another main subject was Management Information System (MIS) . It helped me understand how to develop, analyse and design computer applications for organisation s and offered me the opportunity to see solutions with the help of technology to some of the most important company problems. Recognition and Accreditation of Learning (RAL 4): Research and Development Project Capability This claim is based on the dissertation topic submitted as part of my Master Degree. The study was broad and high-level, focusing on data mining and data statistical analysis with special information systems. Also it was important in the conclusion to forecast the trends of labour accidents in Greece. In planning and designing my research I found tools and methods which gave me the opportunity to forecast the future and helped me understand the past. My ability to analyse and combine information was developed, and my thinking was expanded in terms of working with very different types of information to those that I had been previously used. The experiences with high-level information systems as main tools in my method for my study represented a new type of knowledge. Moreover in the research project I had an extend focus in data preparation, as most real-life data sets contained missing data. This gave me the challenge of understanding data mining, which is one of the most important rules for efficient and effective strategy. RAL 5: Advanced developments in professional practice I have submitted a claim based upon two projects, the design and development of Information Technology and Business Management Systems. They have been supported by theoretical background, literature review in the area of business and management information systems, areas which constitute integral and essential parts of business performance. Project 1: Design, developing, performing and maintaining the Management Quality System ISO 9001:2000 for the Mercedes Benz Cyprus. Since 2003, with the decision of the Board of Directors of our company, I have been leading the project of designing, developing, implementing and maintaining the Management Quality System ISO 9001:2000 for Mercedes Benz Cyprus. I realised that for this significant project it was essential to improve my knowledge in the subject of the Quality Management. I did an extensive literature review on the subject of quality systems, which brought me up to date with what is current in the field. Based on this literature, I have established a system of monitoring, measuring, analyzing and improving business performance so that service conformity was demonstrated, conformity to the Quality Management. An important part of the implementation was the collection and analysis of appropriate data. I have established statistical methods to determine its overall performance and level of customer satisfaction. These analyses were useful in the conversion of market data into market studies, of quality data into quality reports and of customer satisfaction data into information on customer loyalty. As the company developed, there was a greater urgency to focus around the customers, thus allowing management to invest well and wisely to meet their needs. The only way to achieve such a goal was to analyse the data for business and process monitoring. This information was reviewed at management meetings. Data on service problems were collected throughout the process. This data was analysed and prioritised for investigation. Management identified root causes and proposed long-term solutions and preventive actions with mandates for improvement teams. The data analysed included the following: Customer surveys and complaints Audit findings and nonconformity reports Outputs from data analysis Staff suggestions, complaints, training and competence. The procedure for preventive action included the methodology adopted for instituting such action on processes and work operations, which affect process quality. The flowchart presented in Figure 0:2 below outlines the approach taken by the Company to resolve potential nonconformities. Project 2: Design and developing of the live information system for the Sales Department in Mercedes-Benz Cyprus Main targets to achieve for this project were to design an intelligent information system that can quickly give access to the auto customer details, easily keep contact notes, track and manage car sales opportunities, create summaries and reports, and be intuitive and simple for managing new car sales. An important aim to achieve was the time spent by the Salesman in front of the computer screen would be no more of 15% of the total time. In this way, more time remains available for the salesman to establish contact in an active and purposeful manner. For the design and development of the information system project, it was necessary to have a deep knowledge of literature reviews on the theories and approach on how to build an enterprise data warehouse. The interface of the information system, as shown Figure 0:3, came about from the observation of the way in which waiters take orders through a touch screen monitor. Only one screen in front of the users, without menus, only big clickab le icons which are different from user to user and from level to level.

Regulatory Framework for UK Banks

Regulatory Framework for UK Banks Introduction Berger, Molyneux and Wilson (2010) are of the view that banks provide a full range of financial services like banking, securities, and insurance under a single corporate structure and must be supported by the single capital base, the term â€Å"universal bank† has multiple meanings, but commonly it refers to the commercial banking that is making loans and collecting deposits along with investment banking in which there are issuing of underwriting and trading in securities. Ryan-Collins and Goodhart (2012) point out the broader view that universal banks offer a wide range of financial services including commercial banking, investment banking with other activities like insurance, it seems like the multipurpose financial market which provided both banking and financial services. Financial Times (2015) terms refers universal banking as financial services of retail, wholesale and investment banking services under one roof. Demirguc-Kunt (2010) refers that universal banking is a com bination of large banks operate extensive networks of branches, providing multiple services, holding claims that firms about participation in corporate management of firms. Forsyth and Verdier (2003) are of the view that universal banking began almost in 1930 to 1940 and Europe is the home of Universal Banking, although other countries also adopted it. Structure of United Kingdom Banking System Schumpeter (1939) refers the connection between banking and financial system in economic growth and it is most old history of this specified reference of this field. Beck and Rahman (2006) speculate that in the recent economic literature, banking system measures a reasonable ratio and access like banking, loan ratios in gross domestic products, and it is a direction to analyse other financial markets. Banking systems have many other multiple dimensions that bank assets may be kept in one house, the bank required few branches or a large number of branches, but it was very true in the early stages of banking when banks were in their development phase. Heffernan (1996) describes the financial system refers some points very clearly that the system can provide payments, can give support between savers and borrows and play major role in insurance against risk. The British banking industry has many changes from the last 20 years, besides forces which have the power to change the supply and demand functions, change has also been made due to domestic deregulations. Hsbcnet.com (2015) reports that The Bank of England has always shown keen interest in the structure of the financial system because financial stability may have an effect on cost and availability. Many new products emerged over the past 50 years and the United Kingdom banks have full range of financial services and become larger. United Kingdom banking system made a dramatic shift in size from past 40 years and the total assists rise from 100% to 450% of the nominal Gross Domestic Product, banking giants claiming that the UK banking system keeps this pace in future also. Salina and Peltonen (2013) describe that financial stability depends the potential impact size of UK banking, so ultimately there must be some factors behind this huge banking size, description about those factors is important and these are financial hub benefits, comparative advantages and historical factors. Bush, Knott and Peacock (2015) d escribe the size of the UK banking system as shown in figure 1.1 and figure 1.2 refers below. Size of GDP of UK Banking System (2013) Regulatory Challenges of Universal Banking Models Alworth and Bhattacharaya (1998) are in the view that in the recent decades, the banking sector has undergone due to the forces of globalization and lack of technology, secondly it is also recognized de-regulation is due to that higher degree of freedom to financial institutions as a so it requires strong supervisory authorities. Changes in the nature of banking risks, off-balance sheet business and complexity in the nature of transactions all these need strong internal risk management and strengthening of existing capital requirements in 1980 and early 1990 numbers of bank failures were due to the way banks were regulated. Quinn (2012) is in the view of that change is needed in the banking sector, there is some need to show the market trends of entry and switching are enough for competition where customer focus is on the front line. Different advance economies adopted structural bank regulation measures to face the regulatory challenges and one element is mandatory upon them that se paration of commercial banking from certain securities market activities. Treanor (2011) reported in the â€Å"Guardian†, that the United Kingdom is going to act upon Vickers Commission suggestions as a major measure the report, in which Sir John Vicker recommends to Britian biggest banks to implement reforms until 2019, this is going to be initiating after the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008. Conway (2011) is in the view that Vicker’s recommendation is going through to ring-fencing in the United Kingdom banking sector. The Economist (2012) reveils the report that universal banks merging investment banking complexities with commercial banking services, in one extent it is good offering services to the customer while on the other hand analyst have no second thoughts also, the famous universal banking giant Sandy Weill, the mergers of Citigroup saying that the megabanks should be broken up. Shrivastava, Pandey and Vidyarthi (2007) describe the view that banks facing information imbalance which will cause the lack of public confidence in the banking system, so there is the need to protect it from this high risk taking by banks. Because banks are critical for mobilizing the public savings, its safety and return to savers also, so banks need for their heavy regulation in this sense also. Mostly challenges have faced by bank regulators in the early 80s, due to deregulation of economic system, financial innovation waves and internationalization of financial flows all these challenges arise the potential of doubts about the bank’s risk management procedures. Orbell and Turton (2001) speculate that banks take deposits from public to investing these deposits in risky assets and businesses, ultimately banks are in a position to take risks excessively, secondly market discipline, where these deposited are invested, is a mechanism which curb the incentive in taking excessive risk more costly for banks. So after recent events of severe market and re gulatory failure in Europe and United States a point arisen that there should be need for reforms. While on the other hand single regulator model of United Kingdom widely accepted across the globe. Regulatory Challenges, and British Economy Kim and McKenzie (2010) argue that financial crises faced globally in 2008 laid many questions for strong measures to prevent any resemblance in future, bankers, regulators, politicians or economists nobody want accept the blames of crises. Particularly in British banking which has a rich history, which spread out on centuries, founding of the Bank of England in 1694. Bank of England has always had a dominant position in the British economy while other banks were underdeveloped. So due to small in size other country banks were inherently fragile, which made to face them financial crises in early nineteenth centuries, one major example is crises of 1825, and then the first time the Bank of England understood the role of lender of last resort. Gregory (1929) quoted ‘The Economist’ that â€Å"the limited liability of the wealthy may not be expected to prove as good if not better security than the unlimited liability of the poor†. Mullineus and Murinde (2003) urges th at the in 1986, main clearing banks ranked them fully integrated banking, invested more than one billion in the securities business. British banks highly enhanced their standing globally, commercial banking was higher profit gaining business in the United Kingdom and have much concern about the level of competition. Conway (2011) describes that the time of financial crises all had become universal banks, amalgamation of commercial and investment banking activities, on the other hand Barclays, HSBC and Standard Charted faced crises without government support. Treanor (2011) describes that British’s fifth largest mortgage lender Northern Rock, is going to run on, and this disaster situation was not seen in United Kingdom from over 100 years, most dramatic symptom of Northern Rock crises indicated the low grip on financial markets in the United Kingdom. Northern Rock has good use of structured products in funding before to the crises, but still impacted by the turmoil in America ’s mortgage market. The bank has a low deposit ration to loan failed to renew its short term financing and was forced to beg to the Bank of England for assistance. As soon as news broke, the customer quickly withdrew their savings, such panic situation which was not experienced in the United Kingdom since 1866. Salina and Peltonen (2013) describe that at the time of crises United Kingdom government need to inject billions into the industry, also the Bank of England funded many banks for keeping them in running and this bail out costs raised real concerns. Some lesson has been learned from Northern Rock incidents that the regulation of banks on liquidity along capital should be centralized, because Northern Rock faced reduction in the liquidity for securities mortgages rather than the inadequacy of capital. Financial crises and reactions of Regulatory Authorities The Economist (2012) explained that after 2007 to 2010 financial crises banking and finance market faced severe consequences specially on supervision and regulation aspects, the question was not only to build the public confidence again, which is also a very difficult in its but also the future evolution of the financial industry and banks at larger scale. Regulator and supervisors worked hard after crises and there was a lot of analysis has been conducted towards the causes and their solutions. Some of the measures have been taken by regulatory authorities which describes here one by one (i) Adjusting budgetary problems; failure of banks in many countries faced the common budgetary problems, there are many ways that can affect the real economy and budgets. (ii) Rebuilding the structure of responsibilities; in 1999, the G20 was established and made lots of contributions to shaping up international finance regulation. Biannual meeting was held in the early years, but greater frequency of meeting done in 2009 and 2010 due to the issuance of declarations and progress report. Multinational agency standards have been formalized and Finance Stability Board in 2009 formed with core responsibilities of coordination between national financial authorities and international standard setter. Bank of England (2014) in its news release reveals that The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) introduces a new (iii) accountability regime about insurance sector, PRA also consulted same regime for banking sector in July 2014. This regime will also take care and account of the need of new measures which relate to governance of individuals as a part of solvency. (iv) new international standards are coming into being both for regulatory activities for financial firms along with quantitative and qualitative approaches. Besides that there are many agreements done for betterment of the regulatory process, but it has also been clear that individual nations not waited for agreements on in ternational standards to regulate financial sectors. Financial Stability Board, (2010) issue a list of scope and scale of activities about reforms which is a) reforming compensations b) refurbish accounting standards c) strengthening supervisory and regulatory standards d) refining the regulatory perimeters. Brunnermeier et al. (2009) argue that (v) reforms in corporate governance were certainly needed to avoid futuristic failure of financial institutions and this was the main lesson to come out of the crises. (vi) Revision in remuneration structure also required as the mentioned structures of remuneration was very poor in financial institutions. The Financial Stability Board also produced some principles for solid compensation practices. (vii) Reforms in risk management practices also observed, as the failure of risk management systems is the most critical, unfortunately, it is shown in a lot of institutions like international banks specially. Johnson and Kwak (2010) speculate that the (viii) accounting reforms, accounting are a basic component of regulatory regime for example calculation of capital is cor dependent on reported, assessed values, one of the core areas of reforms is required in valuation and provisioning of accounting. One of the other lessons drawn from crises that is regarding (ix) risk identification and mitigation, actually authorities, in some views, are not good to identify or projecting the risk so capabilities to resolve these kind of issues need to be improved and financial policies need to follow proportionate principle. The bank should (x) act like a social contract, in the new regulatory paradigm, it is a major challenge that how bank again focuses on retail business, most banks are in the risk business about the turning liquid to liquid loans, while doing this job banks are badly failing in fulfilling their social contarct part and they need to build it up again. There should be (xi) new business models required as in the phase of crises no business model looked fixer of crises, the diversified banking model required in the scenario and that will help to secure the banking business as well as revenues and customers also. Salina and Peltonen (2013) posit the view that (xii) false sense of security is the core reason of financial disaster, describing further that capital provisions are important but only capital is not only sufficient to address the issue. It was also observed that (xiii) there is a need to redefine systemic risk, in current crises which reflects the unpredictable size of the losses and who will bear that losses. Loss distribution will come as battle in financial crises, bailing out also not a good practice and seems to be taking from one to give others. Regulatory Framework – Suggestions Some overhauling required in regulatory framework facing worst financial disaster in Europe and the rest of the world also, reforms are required on regulatory framework internationally in general, and the United Kingdom in particular. Including reinforcing macro-prudential oversight, giving the strength in the overall resilience of banks and shadow banking (or unregulated sectors needs to be in regulation). (i) Optimistic about pricing the assets and risks, much precaution required to observe in risk taking secondly, there is need to be more awareness about regulated and non-regulated structures on information sharing. (ii) Cross border banking resolution required in national and international approaches. (iii) Far-reaching changes required for shaping and functioning of financial institutions with the high pitch of transparency in regard to the financial instruments (iv) In future crises may differ in nature like size, type and its cross border exposure so consolidation and coordina tion among banks should required on local and international level, one other thing should remain in mind that for the survival, some business models may disappear but some may strengthen their risk management. (v) Measures which could be taken in the middle of crises need to be more supportive rather to hide them, it must be planned whether mega project should remain in the market or there is no need of them, there should be some policies without exacerbating the present crises for the long term view of financial systems. (vi) Financial sector scrutiny perimeter need to be expanded to a wider range of better prevention of banking sector and other financial institution. (vii) Management needs to encourage incentives and discourage regulatory arbitrage. (viii) Need to adopt the concept of systematic risk factoring among funding and effects of leverage. (ix) Buffering between good times and bad time, which can help for liquidity norms of capital provisioning (x) Progress required to ta ckle the regulation and resolution of cross border institutions for legal hitches. (xi) Flexibility for central banks in providing liquidity, focus also required in the attention on credit and asset booms. Many central banks, especially in emerging markets facing capital outflows so the provision for extra liquidity may more complex regarding foreign exchange reserves and may work fuel to drain for this. (xii) Better crises responses and fiscal support required from national authorities regarding to increase the concern about credit risk and realization of losses there also needs a clear exit policy for withdrawing market or transit to new markets. (xiii) Market discipline must not ineffective for constraining risk taking other than the banking sector. Consolidation rules required more strict specially for entities and risks, particularly with off balance sheet activities.

John Q Adams :: American History

John Q Adams John Adams had three remarkable careers in his lifetime. One as an enemy of British oppression and champion of independence. As an American diplomat in Europe and as the first vice-president and second president of the United States. His diary, letters and speeches showed him to be very patriotic, a stong family man and tough-minded philosopher. Adams was born in Quincy, Mass. on October 30, 1735. He was born in a small house that is still standing and open to visitors. His father was a Deacon and fifth generation farmer. His parents were both fond of reading, wrote John and give him a good education. He became the first of his family to go to college when he entered Harvard in 1751. For the next six years he read intensly while he taught school and studied law in Boston. In 1762 he began a fourteen year successful law career. In 1761 he began to think, write and act against British oppression and for the right of colonies to self-government. He was patriotic and held many local offices. In 1770 he insured that the British soldiers accused of the Boston Massacre received a fair hearing. He defended the soldiers at their trial. He spoke out against mob violence and other forms of social disintegration. In 1774 to 1776 Adams was a deligate to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. He was a champion of American rights in Congress and helped draft the Declaration of Independence. John Adams' presidency that lasted from 1797 to 1801 was a troubled one. Adams made many contributions during his term. He gave the Government stability by continuing practices established under Washington. The crisis he faced was the difficult relations with France.When in the XYZ affair peace commissioners retuned from Paris with stories of bribery and deceit, Adams built up the armed forces and took many national security measures. Jefferson and the Republicans and Hamilton and some Federalists wanted war with France for economic reasons, but Adams kept his nerve and when the opportunity was there he sent another peace commissioner to France and defused the crisis. Because of his opponents, he has forced out of office after one term. After his presidency, he and his wife Abigail moved back to Mass.

The Saltation of Malcolm X Essay examples -- History Civil Rights Pape

The Saltation of Malcolm X Saltation is a geological term used to explain how a stream current transports and erodes a rock. The rock starts out as a sharp, coarse edged fragment on a stream bed. The current then lifts the rock from the stream bed and transports it down stream. The current, which rotates and spins the rock, slowly smoothes its edges. In saltation, a counter current or other events causes the rock to slam against the stream-bed and grind its ruff edges into a smooth exterior. Eventually after it is lifted off the bed, the current adds the finishing touch. A rock which travels in a stream will always be eroded into a smooth sphere, but a rock that undergoes the process of saltation will always be more quickly eroded. Saltation is an easy way to apply the necessity of the revolutionary philosophy of Malcolm X to the Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights Movement was the stream, a powerful stream which had been gaining its volume since the first black individual was enslaved in America. The American conscious is represented by the coarse edged rock, a rock that grew coarser with the birth and education of every American. Malcolm X is the variable which causes the rock to undergo a sort of saltation, in which the American conscious became more aware of its racial problems. The American conscious was then carried on by the Civil Rights Movement to become a fully integrated, accepting conscious. Malcolm X gained his radical notoriety and his ideas on revolution from the religion of Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam, and he later used this radicalism to further the Civil Rights Movement by intentionally playing the devils advocate to the philosophy of Non-Violence. When he was affiliated with the Nation... ...n Books, 1993. Black Man’s History by Malcolm X. @ www. uky.edu/StudentOrgs/AWARE/archives/MalcolmX/history.html Breitman, george. Malcolm X Speaks, Selected Speeches And Statements. New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1990. Karim, Benjamin. Remembering Malcolm. New York: Carroll and Graf Publishers Inc., 1992. King, Coretta Scott. My Life With Martin Luther King Jr. New York: Holt, Reinhardt, and Winston, 1969. leland.stanford.edu/group/King/KingBios/breifbio.htm Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site @ www.nps.gov/malu/ Novak, Philip. The World’s Wisdom. New Jersey: Castle Books, 1994. Pinkney, Alphonso. Black Americans. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1993. Playboy. Malcolm X/ Alex Haley Interview. @ www.uidaho.edu/~yusuf921/malcolm x.html Washington, James. I Have A Dream, Writings And Speeches That Changed The World. San Francisco: Harper

3M Case Study

3M CASE STUDY Q1) Conservative Approach: Three Product Concepts * Mandate from management * Should not risk new process; Dunlop may use â€Å"revolution† against new method * Need to validate method at least once before basing major strategic decisions on it. * Not enough data yet to make such a drastic recommendation * Three concepts appear very promising and are enough of a â€Å"success† already. Radical Approach: New Business Unit Strategy * Team was charged with finding breakthroughs; Medical-Surgical business needs growth * Team is empowered and should report all relevant information. Fits the defiant 3M culture * Fits 3M’s new strategic mission even though Dunlop does not buy into it. Q2) Incrementalism worked well because it†¦ Has allowed for leveraging pre-existing product platforms such as Post-it notes and Scotch brand tape can reduce development costs while exploiting 3M’S pre-existing marketing channels and relationship. . . . Q3) Traditi onal 3M Development Process * Developers, in recent decades, lack direct contact with customers * Developers are not directly accountable for understanding customer’s needs. Marketing research is outsourced to third parties or â€Å"thrown over the wall† * Traditional methods are linear and tend to support primarily incremental innovations Lead User Research Process * Puts developers in direct contact with users * Focus on a few individuals (Lead Users and lead use experts) with extremely rich need and solution-specific information In lead user research, a considerable amount of time is spent in people networking in order to find the right ‘lead users’ to work with, as opposed to traditional market research methods which only collect information from users who are at the center of the target market Developers learn from users outside traditional business focus * -picked up from a market that is either loosely related or even unrelated to the target market as in the case with the makeup artist they use in the 3M lead user research group * Pushes developers toward leading edge with radical new concepts * Can be complement with traditional market research techniques (during validation) * Use traditional market research to check validity of research Lead users vs Leading-edge customersAs opposed to leading edge customers who provide need- related information, lead users provide need & solution information as they have innovated themselves. In traditional methods, marketers only seek to identify the problem, not necessarily the solution Companies may carry out focus groups and analyze customer complaints to find the issues. Later product developers analyze this research and use their own ideas to find possible solutions for a new product.Conversely, lead user research methods collect data on both the problem and the available solutions from markets that have similar needs. The development team then uses the ideas that were found in these markets and comes up with a set of possible new product ideas that suit the company’s needs based on ideas from the lead users and expertise†¦ meeting a real customer need Lead users can be found in target or analogous markets. Lead use experts in a target market are often useful in identifying †¦ Q4)Stakeholders| Incentives/Motives| Methods| Senior Management| Financial results| Demonstrate how breakthrough products can affect bottom line. Evidence from other firms. Allow senior managers to take credit for new innovation strategy| Middle Management| Employee ProductivityMotivationProject performance| Seminars, pilot studiesSenior management involvementRegular updates of progress| ScientistsEngineers| Ease or workEmpowermentFlexibilityInteresting work| Interaction with previous usersShare excitement and praise efforts. Trust them. |

David Milgaard

l Saskatoon man failed by the Canadian justice system The potential of an innocent person wrongfully being arrested, convicted, and punished has always been a risk and a fear on our justice system. As the justice system is handled by humans, it is bound to make mistakes and such errors can lead to circumstances in which an innocent is found guilty; this is called a miscarriage of justice. Miscarriage of justice means the failure of a judicial system or court in the administration of justice, especially when an innocent is convicted in a crime.An example would be the wrongful conviction of David Milgaard involving the rape and murder of Gail Miller back in 1969. The Canadian justice system failed tremendously wasted millions of dollars and lost the public confidence of the system. More importantly, this even took away two decades of one man’s life. The factors of social perception of deviance, the influence of the media, and the misconception of investigating police and prosecu tion played a substantial role in the resulting miscarriage of justice.The Canadian justice system did indeed fail David Milgaard because there was not enough valid evidence to hold him as guilty in the time since his conviction. Media of all types were a part of this miscarriage of justice as there was misinformation and facts that was being spread around about David Milgaard. There is no valid reason why media sources had to target Milgaard in the eye of the nation and say false information to the rest of the country. All the media was doing was putting fear into the heads of people who lived in Saskatoon.Even the police were pressured knowing that the public wanted a killer to go in to jail. The police already thought it was Milgaard, who was the one that did the raping and killing of Miller but in May of 1969, Saskatoon police were getting desperate to find Miller’s murderer. It had already been four months since the time that she was murdered and since Milgaard had a bad history, it seemed perfect to police to look at him as the suspect. At the time when Miller was murdered, there were a number of other women who were raped throughout Saskatoon.In a coincidence, one of Miller’s neighbours had been sexually assaulted right after Milgaard was arrested there were newspapers that mentioned Miller’s murderer was possibly responsible for up to 3 other rapes in that community that could potentially been Larry Fisher. This was just one way that the media picked on Milgaard, and the fact that the media wanted to push some fear into the community. In the community that Gail was living in, there were posters that were posted publicly. All the posters would have a picture of Miller and just above that it would say â€Å"MURDERER†.It was just a matter of time where everything and everyone seemed to be pointing to one person, David Milgaard. Everything started to go downhill once Milgaard was arrested. The media was the main force behind thi s case. The media know the in and outs of finding unique events and they try to make it like it is an everyday occurrence. The media was feeding on the fact that the community that Miller was murdered in was a quiet community. There were no crimes of this size that was made in that particular community until the day Miller was murdered.Because of this the media made it look like Milgaard a serial rapist. Since all the pressure was on Milgaard, both the community and everyone else in the country wanted him to be locked up in jail. At the time of Milgaard’s arrest, he was only 16 years-old, but at the time of the trial, Milgaard was 17 years-old. Milgaard was tried as an adult. Since Milgaard was tried as an adult, this helped by comforting people’s concerns. In Milgaard’s conviction, the Canadian media and society’s image of deviance played a major role.The professional and institutional misconduct was also held responsible for the major injustice that has fell upon Milgaard and his family. There was barely any evidence for police to arrest Milgaard. The main reason why the police arrested Milgaard was because of they thought that they saw characteristics of a crime, so they decided that a crime control approach would be needed. But clearly, there was no characteristic that was shown by Milgaard that proves that he committed a murder in any way.The Saskatoon police started an investigation into Milgaard’s life once Albert Cadrain (a friend of Milgaard’s, who mentioned that Milgaard was the one who committed the murder). The police wanted to find out if there was any motive as to why Miller may have been killed by Milgaard. The police were unsuccessful on realizing Cadrain's claim. The police did recover illustration of truthful facts. Since police had a fixed mind so they decided to neglect the truth. In the present circumstances police figured Milgaard was a clear suspect.Milgaard was a teenager whose appearance looks like a hippie and he was involved in drugs with his friends. According to Melvyn Green, Milgaard was in the â€Å"eye† of public and police. The police decided to neglect the truth. Police had single vision and they ignored to expand on the investigation and follow the facts which they found. So rather than investigating and discovering the true offender who has committed the act, the Saskatoon police singled Milgaard as prime suspect of the murder of Gail Miller After the trial, Milgaard was then put to life in prison for a crime that both he and his family did not do.The Crown attorney did prosecute a case whose goal was totally wrong. During his time in jail, there were multiple times where Milgaard tried to get a new trial, but was rejected. While in jail, Milgaard's mother tried to reopen the case multiple times; it took roughly twelve years for her efforts to pay off. During those 12 years, the case eventually opened and Milgaard was then released from prison after the courts concluded that he was wrongfully convicted. Furthermore, his mother spent some of the 12 years trying to clean Milgaard’s name. By doing so, his record was cleared.David Milgaard was broken down by the Canadian justice system during the time of his conviction due to lack of accurate evidence claiming that he was guilty. After David Milgaard had gotten out of jail, he had lost 23 years of his life. This tragedy could have been prevented if this case was more thoroughly investigated. This is just one of the few cases that prove to show that the Canadian criminal justice system is not perfect. The public’s opinion of Milgaard was heavily swayed by the media, which had a direct impact on his prison sentence.His bad behavior in high school also made him an easy target. These factors had a profound effect on the jury’s position and the witness testimony. In the prosecution of the case, the trial ended in a guilty verdict due to the misconceptions that the Canad ian criminal justice system created around the case. There were three main issues behind the wrongful conviction of David Milgaard, each and every one of these played their own role in the ruling. Work Cited †¢ CBC News. September26, 2008. Joyce Milgaard ‘delighted' by report recommendations. April 29th, 2012. CBC News. Feburary20th, 2004. Alberta judge to head up Milgaard inquiry. April30th, 2012. †¢ Ryerson University. Wrongful Convictions in Canada. April29th,2012. †¢ Adam, Ann, Betty. June15th, 2005. Commission of Inquiry into the Wrongful Conviction of David Milgaard. April27th, 2012. †¢ Michael Wood. November26th, 2011. Milgaard charged with assault, uttering threats. April28th, 2012. †¢ Murderpedia. Larry Fisher. April26th, 2012 †¢ Adam, Ann, Betty. January19, 2005. Commission of Inquiry Into the Wrongful Conviction of David Milgaard. May1st, 2012.

Cultural relativism Essay

Cultural relativism is the view that all cultures that is beliefs, customs and ethics are relative the individual within his social context. It simply means what is right or wrong is culture specific because what may be considered moral in one society may be considered immoral in another. Therefore, because there is no universal measure to standards of morality in the society, no one has the right to judge the other on what is wrong or right (Martin 1950). According to Kenneth (1981) an anthropologists, no culture is superior to the other, for example you cannot be allowed to condemn a terrorist community or vampires or night runners as evil. Cultural relativism sees nothing inherently wrong or good in any cultural set up. Therefore, viewing one culture as immoral due to their moral beliefs could be seen as ethnocentrism. Cultures are diverse and even those with conflicting moral beliefs should not be viewed in terms of right and wrong or good and bad. We can therefore conclude that cultural relativism is being widely accepted in modern anthropology. Cultural relativism has touched on all aspects of life and computers and information technology has not been spared either. Computer revolution has necessitated the need for future global ethics or information ethics. Computers through information technology and the internet have created a global community. With the creation of global community and therefore giving rise to the need for unification of moral systems or what has been referred to as global ethics. Therefore, unifying ethical rules have to be constructed within a cyberspace that can serve a new global ethic. Cultural relativism has had great influence on computer ethics especially on information technology. The main affected areas are privacy, intellectual property rights and freedom of information. Information ethics could be looked at from cross cultural and inter cultural contexts. In cross cultural context differences exist between moral systems of different cultures which have very important implications for moral attitudes towards uses of information and information technology. In intercultural information ethics context we reflect moral questions regarding information technology and use of information on the basis of different cultural conditions. This should be focused comparative study of moral systems. Its overall aim would be to interpret compare and critically evaluate moral systems in different cultures regarding their moral attitudes and behavior towards information and information technology (Brey 2007). We need to specifically look into these three areas that is privacy, freedom of information and intellectual property rights whose ethics differ is relative especially between western and non western countries. These countries have different policies regarding the ethics governing those three issues due to different moral attitudes on information systems. Privacy of information is well instituted in some countries while in others there are no policies governing privacy. Privacy is an individual right, however such right may not be recognized in countries that belief in collective interests which take priority over individual rights. For example in non western countries like china Japan and Thai have no concept of privacy. So probably privacy laws let alone on information are not enacted (Martin 1950). For instance, what they refer as private sphere in Thai and Japan has different meaning in western countries (David 2006). In china, a word close to privacy is â€Å"yinsi† which means â€Å"shameful secret† and is associated with shameful things. In Japan, they have a word for private, â€Å"watakusi† meaning partial’, secret and selfish (Bao and Xiang 2006). Although these words have started to take the privacy meaning in the recent past due to western influence, the individual rights have not been well implemented in those countries. Japan, china and Thai have only recently implemented privacy laws; however though Thai privacy laws are hardly enacted may be due to western influence. This cannot be narrowed to those countries only, there are many more through out the world who believe in collective recognition due to their cultural beliefs (Brey 2007). Intellectual property rights are another issue characterizing the revolution of computers. This touches on those individuals and companies that develop soft ware and other applications and who feel that there intellectual property should be protected by for example copyrights. In the west the governments are keen on protecting such rights, unlike, taking a case study of china where due to communist rule such property is not protected by the government. To them all means of production like farms and factories are communally owned until very recently. However due to economic reforms and increased interaction with the west they have had to institute IPRs (intellectual property rights) only to harmonize Chinese economic systems with the rest of the world. China is still struggling with this concept up to date. In such countries which have communist culture, piracy cannot be labeled as crime but copyrights and patents are viewed as selfishness (Paul 1955). Freedom of information is another issue that has displayed an aspect of cultural relativism in computers. Freedom of information comprise two principles: freedom of speech which is expressing ones opinion or ideas in speech freely or in writing and secondly freedom of access to information. Freedom to express one self through publication can be viewed as the third principle (Brey 2007). In western countries freedom of information is basically a constitutional and inalienable right to every individual. The government can only be allowed to sensor information in extreme cases like hate speech and information undermining national security. In such countries people post all types of information on the internet and it is upon the parent and other individuals to protect their children from information that should not be accessible to the children especially pornography and bad eating habits (Paul 1955). On the contrary in other non western countries freedom of information is not a guiding principle and there are many practices interfering with freedom of information. This is because of their reserved culture or their religious beliefs. In these countries the internet, databases and libraries are censored especially when they are accused of disseminating â€Å"inappropriate† information to the society. Mass media being government owned, they see it as the right thing to do to protect its citizens and ensure they have access to the â€Å"right† information (Brey 2007). The values of privacy, freedom of information and intellectual property are central in analyzing cultural relativity in computer world and information ethics. In western world information is accessible to everyone and there is respect for individual information ethics and is not concentrated on morality that is the values that are central in western information ethics are not the values central in many non western systems of morality (David 2006). We can immensely conclude that cultural relativism is true for computers through information systems. In conclusion, cultural relativism touches on every aspect of human life and in the recent part it is becoming more widely acceptable. The value systems of different countries influence the way they perceive computer and information ethics. At least two different approaches to morality are found in the world; a virtue centered morality that emphasizes good for the community and are found in traditional cultures like southern and eastern Asia and in Africa, and rights center morality that that stresses value of individual freedom like the west. Despite the modern technology and some expected rules to play along like Christianity, cultural relativism is here to stay and it is really gaining ground despite its challenges. Reference: Bao, X & Xiang, Y. (2006). Ethics and information digitalization: Digitalization and global ethics Journal. (8), 41-47. Brey, P. (2007). Global information ethics and the challenges of cultural relativism. New York: SAGE. David, Wong (2006). A defense of pluralistic relativism. New York: Oxford University Press. Kenneth, E. Goodpaster. (1981). Relativism in ethics. New York: HBS Case Services. Martin, Gardner. (1950). Beyond Cultural Relativism. Ethics Journal, (1):38-45. Paul, F. Schmidt (1955). Some Criticisms of Cultural Relativism. Journal of Philosophy, (25):780-791.

Hybrid Vehicles: the Dark Side Essay

Abstract In the past decade, hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) have been making a big commotion with the innovative, gas saving technologies that accompany them. The illusion that HEVs are 100 percent environmentally friendly in all aspects also follows the HEV wave. Sadly the illusion often wins over unsuspecting customers the instant better gas mileage is offered. This review on the environmental impact of the hybrid electric vehicle observes the unseen sides of the automotive â€Å"green movement.† The piece compares how an ordinary gasoline vehicle (non-HEV) can achieve gas mileage that is just as good, if not better, than the more expensive hybrid option. This reality check on the newest technologies uproots what manufacturers do not want anyone to know or think about when buying a vehicle including: environmental pollution of the hybrid electric vehicle, non-HEV fuel economy, the lack of pay-back from owning an HEV, and how the HEV lacks the level of versatility required for many Am erican families. Hybrid Electric Vehicles The Dark Side Thesis: Hybrid Electric Vehicles should cease to be produced because of four main issues: environmental pollution has not reduced, better fuel economy can be achieved in non-hybrid vehicles, there is no payback in owning a hybrid, and hybrid vehicles do not possess the same versatility many American families need. I. Environmental Pollution and the Hybrid Electric Vehicle A. Batteries contain Nickel, Lithium, and Lead 1. Mining these materials is hazardous, causes acid rain 2. Shipping these materials is costly and [the transportation vehicle] contributes to pollution B. Car accidents happen 3. Vehicular accidents happen all of the time, HEV batteries are prone to damage and can leak harmful materials (acids) into the environment. 4. Recycling batteries is impossible right now. Where do the batteries go? II. Non-HEV Fuel Economy C. European Diesels vs. HEV 5. For decades European automotive companies have been producing diesel powered cars achieving mpg in the 40-90 range depending on the size of the vehicle 6. Americans have yet to adopt this technology due to discrepancies in emissions controls and standards. D. Alternative Fuel Technologies 7. Hydrogen power is becoming more available to the consumers in larger cities such as Los Angeles and New York City. 8. The technology is still rather expensive, but if the government stopped wasting money on HEV development and started spending on the development of Hydrogen Power, our depending on foreign oil would diminish and we would have a reliable, renewable, and ecologically sound energy III. HEVs Do Not Pay To Own E. Non-HEV vs. HEV 9. Most non-HEVs will tend to pay themselves off in a matter of years because they have small maintenance costs and relatively easy upkeep. 10. HEVs have many new features that are expensive to keep up in today’s market, especially with limited accessibility to replacement parts. F. Maintenance 11. HEVs are filled with a plethora of new costs that can drain a wallet dry! Depending on how long an HEV is owned the owner must maintain both the electric and gas motor along with the battery. 12. A battery costs upwards of an expensive $2,000. IV. HEVs and the Population G. Urban Population and HEV Use 13. Many Americans live in congested cities where fuel consumption is tremendous and pollution is a major problem. 14. HEVs offer the convenience of shutting off the gas motor while stopped and operating only the electric motor when in stop-and-go traffic. 15. More accidents happen in and around the city; it is more likely for a hybrid to be subject to accidents in the city. H. Rural Population and HEV Use 16. Many people living in small towns and villages need four-wheel drive vehicles that can take hard labor. 17. Gas mileage is indispensible to this population. 18. HEV applications in trucks and sport utility vehicles have failed to deliver gas mileage vastly superior to that of non-HEVs. 19. Blue collar workers need vehicles with muscle and power, HEVs do not offer that. Conclusion Hybrid Electric Vehicles The Dark Side The hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) has become an extremely popular choice for many Americans in the past decade. Because it has become so popular, the HEV has lead to many new and harsh environmental impacts on a global level. Hybrids have been viewed as the answer to the United States’ oil dependency. Providing superior fuel economy and lower emissions, a hybrid car was sure to be a hit among city-dwelling citizens; however, the popularity of the HEV is beginning to look like a bad thing. HEVs require a battery to power the electric motor. The batteries contain chemicals that can be released into the environment in the case of an accident or disposal. This is a serious problem that needs to be addressed. Hybrid Electric Vehicles should cease to be produced because of four main issues: environmental pollution has not reduced, better fuel economy can be achieved in non-hybrid vehicles, there is no payback in owning a hybrid, and hybrid vehicles do not possess the same versatility many American families need. Environmental Pollution and the Hybrid Electric Vehicle Smog infested cities have been searching for an answer to pollution; the hybrid vehicle was the response or so it seemed. HEVs have been around long enough to leave both a positive and a negative impact on the environment. A hybrid was meant to reduce fuel consumption and minimize harmful emissions and it does the job well; however, the people who see a hybrid as â€Å"eco-friendly† do not see the polluting monster that hides behind the cloak. Hybrids require a plethora of different parts that normal cars do not typically need. The entire process requires a tremendous amount of energy from other sources, such as diesel power. The process through which HEV batteries are made emits more impurities than an HEV will produce in its lifetime. Not only can HEVs produce pollution before they are made, but they can also contribute to pollution while driving down the road. If one of these vehicles were to get in a major accident, the harmful chemicals within the battery could leak into the ground and contaminate water supplies. The same thing happens when HEVs are sent to the wrecking yard. The batteries are not easy to recycle and there has yet to be an efficient and environmentally safe way to dispose of the hazardous materials. The hybrid electric vehicle has started to fuel controversy over the true environmental impact of such vehicles. Most batteries found in HEVs today consist of nickel metal hydride (NiMH), or lithium ion (Li-Ion); two very toxic chemicals. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (2011), the most environmentally vulnerable component of a hybrid vehicle is the battery. Disposing of the batteries is a major concern and manufacturers have yet to present proper disposal instructions. The largest environmental problem with batteries is the mining and manufacturing of the raw materials that go into them. Many human and machine workers are needed to extract the materials from the Earth, producing immense amounts pollution and damaging the health of the humans in the mines (para. 8). HEVs have a long way to go before becoming the optimal eco-friendly vehicle; Dr. Dominic Notter of Empa Technology and Society Laboratory (2010) writes that â€Å"15 percent of the total [environmental] burden can be ascribed to the battery (including its manufacture, maintenance and disposal),† (para. 7). Notter suggests that lithium batteries are not as environmentally bad as they were first understood to be. The Empa team speculates that the biggest environmental impact by HEVs is the sources where the electricity is produced to charge the batteries. The sources can be an assortment of nuclear, coal-fired, and hydroelectric power creating a heavily offset balance between the emissions of the source and the battery itself. In short, HEVs are indirectly responsible for the environmental impacts caused by the batteries (Niederà ¶st, 2010). Non-HEV Fuel Economy Setting aside the problems associated with HEVs, Non-HEVs are plenty capable of achieving tremendously better fuel economy. European diesel technology has come a great distance in the past ten years. Many small diesel cars are able to achieve seventy to eighty miles per gallon with stock configuration, compared to standard gasoline which in most small cars only achieves thirty miles per gallon. Thirty miles per gallon by U.S. standards is pretty good, but it can be better. Today there are large trucks that can achieve twenty-two miles per gallon on diesel fuel, yet smaller gas trucks will get only fifteen miles per gallon. The technology to make Non-HEVs more fuel efficient is there; it just needs to be utilized and executed. Part of the reason that the U.S. has not used new diesel technology is because of the emissions standards difference from Europe’s current standards, but there is no acceptable reason why the U.S. cannot invest bringing smaller, cleaner diesels to the mar ket. Engineers have been improving the efficiency of internal combustion engines for over one hundred years. The article â€Å"Fuel Economy Today—Alt Fuels Tomorrow† (2010) suggests that â€Å"the king of fluid energy efficiency is diesel fuel,† (para. 3). Diesel fuel is a major driving force in the U.S. economy by propelling nearly â€Å"1.3 million long haul semi trucks† on U.S. roads every day (â€Å"Aerodynamic†, 2011, para. 2). Nearly every item on today’s market is delivered by either diesel burning semi truck or locomotive, which constantly raises demand for the most updated diesel technologies as the U.S. economy strives to go green. On another front, diesel is becoming a popular option on smaller, lighter duty vehicles meaning diesel could be the next gasoline. This transition could lead buyers away from the hybrid market as most small diesels provide decent fuel economy and in the long run are a better deal. According to â€Å"Gasoline Panic 2011: Hybrid/Electric Vehicles Not the Answer† (2011), Joe Wiesenfelder, senior editor of Cars.com, believes that, for economic purposes, the purchase of an HEV because of fuel costs makes little sense. â€Å"Buying a [Nissan] Leaf or [Chevy] Volt now is no more logical – and probably less- due to market realities. The new compacts like the Chevy Cruze, Ford Focus and Hyundai Elantra are a better choice in the long run due to lower price and respectable fuel economy,† asserts Wiesenfelder (para. 6). Non-HEVs may not be as efficient as a gas/electric hybrid, but the extra expenses associated with HEVs are enough to say that Non-HEVs are the most economically reasonable choice when purchasing a new car. Alternative energy is another way America can eliminate its dependence on foreign oil. One of the most popular developing fuels is hydrogen. Hydrogen is an extremely efficient fuel that emits only water, while regular 87 octane gas is tremendously inefficient and it emits poisonous gases. If the U.S. strongly invested in the development of hydrogen within the next century, the nation could be fully independent of foreign oil and fuel prices would be minimal. Today hydrogen vehicles are available for lease in some major cities. Currently the technology is not quite ready for mass production as the system is not durable enough for mass production and the technology is still too expensive to make any giant leaps in progress. Politics are the major issue behind the slow progression of hydrogen fuel technologies. Jonathan Gal (2009) noted that the reason why alternative energies are not being pushed for with as much excitement is because the idea is worth billions of dollars and oil companies are taking advantage of the situation and jacking up prices on oil-based products. Big companies know that once alternative fuels become widely available to the public the profits will immediately disintegrate (para.3). Oil barons have been fighting against the move for alternative fuels, which is understandable; however, they do see the profitability in accommodating alternative fuels and are quickly scooping up companies that want to produce the new energies. Hydrogen is a great fuel for America to renew itself. In opposition to the use of hydrogen as an alternative fuel, one might argue that it is far too explosive to use in a passenger car and is simply not safe; the Hindenburg is a prime example of its dangerousness. The Hindenburg was a German airship that was filled with hydrogen and coated with a powdered aluminum and iron oxide paint. The myth is that hydrogen was the main cause of the Hindenburg catastrophe. Although hydrogen was a key player, it was the highly reactive coating that ignited the flame to start the hydrogen on fire. Of course there is more to that story, but it proves that hydrogen is only as dangerous as the machines it is engineered into. HEVs Do Not Pay to Own Over the last decade it has been speculated that owning an HEV will never pay to own within the lifetime of possession. The average non-HEV will typically take five years to pay for itself. Americans want a car that will be useful, reliable, and will pay to own. Typical American families will run their cars for ten to fifteen years before getting a new vehicle because with all other expenses taken into account a new car is the last expense a growing family needs to worry about. HEVs are packed with relatively new technologies that are not easily and economically replaced. Replacement HEV parts are difficult to find and are never cheap. A typical battery for a HEV can run up a bill of more than $2,000. Fleming, Privott, Taylor, and McDuffie (n.d.) have done research regarding the lifetime of a typical HEV battery. Granted many HEVs have not been around long enough to need replacement, the team used a figure of ten years to estimate the annual cost of battery maintenance and replacemen t. After meeting with automotive dealers to gather prices of replacement HEV batteries, the team produced the price of an HEV battery to be â€Å"†¦about $2600, there would be an additional cost of approximately $3400 for installation.† Compare this information with the cost of a Non-HEV battery price of about $30-$40 and the price differential becomes extremely apparent (p.6). Expensive repairs make a vehicle incredibly difficult to pay off within the lifetime of the ownership. Non-HEVs have been around long enough to the point where paying for repairs is relatively cheap and parts are easy to find; many components are interchangeable and can be installed by anybody. The internal combustion engine, according to Virginia Tech’s Consortium on Energy Restructuring (2007), has been the most preferred method of supplying energy to major companies globally because the machines are easy to maintain, familiar to all ages, and high dependability (para.4). Although HEVs are advertised to be the new family vehicle, it is obvious there are many issues that need to be taken into account before the HEV will truly be a family and economically friendly vehicle. HEVs and the Population There are billions of people on this planet, but only a few select groups of the populace really need or want HEVs. Many of the people who live in heavily urbanized areas, such as Chicago, New York City, and Los Angeles are the only populations who could benefit from using an HEV. A convenience offered by an HEV is that it can shut off the gas motor when stopped and run solely on the electric motor to reduce the harmful emissions that all major cities are prone to. The use of the electric motor also eliminates gas consumption during stop-and-go traffic, which is when most pollution from exhaust accumulates. Cities are victim to a large number of accidents every year. From fender benders to pile-ups, all types of accidents are highly likely in a city setting. HEVs are equipped with all of the latest safety technologies, but what is most dangerous is the leaking and spreading of battery acid during an accident and afterword, not to mention hybrids are also quieter than gas vehicles making the hearing impaired pedestrian more likely to end up on the hood of an oncoming HEV. Joanne Silburner of NPR’s Health Blog, suggests that without the engine noise, blind people and people listening to music are the most likely to walk in front of an HEV without knowing any better. Silburner also points out that the uneducated driver of an HEV might be a possible risk to pedestrians as HEV engines shut off when the car is not moving; leading to what could be a panic reaction from the driver (para.6-7). In small towns and rural areas across the U.S. many families need fuel efficient, people-moving, and reliable vehicles that are easy to maintain. HEVs do not make the cut when it comes to meeting the needs of a rural-dwelling family. In rural areas, places and locations are commonly spaced widely apart and highways or two lane roads connect them. HEVs are known to get worse gas mileage on the highway than in the city, which is incredibly unappealing to the long distance commuters. Automotive companies have tried to address these problems with hybrid trucks and sport utility vehicles; however, the performance of the vehicles was too poor to achieve a tremendous upgrade in gas mileage. The failure to produce an efficient hybrid truck brought the automotive companies back to the drawing board. Today there are large diesel trucks that can achieve an impressive twenty-two miles per gallon while hauling heavy loads. According to U.S. Department of Energy (2011), diesel vehicles meet the same emissions standards and regular gas vehicles and the diesels are â€Å"more powerful and fuel efficient than similar sized gas engines (about 30-35% more efficient),† (para.1). With the technologies available today humans can fine-tune machines, like car engines, to run at top efficiency and still produce vast amounts of power to add both thrill and utility to the drive. Conclusion HEVs are popular; it is unlikely that the major automakers of the world will even consider pulling HEVs from their lineup of vehicles. The consequences in the marketplace would be too large. Being eco-friendly is a major perk to most people; companies need to accommodate their respective customer base. This accommodation restricts the companies from taking back their promises and providing a true eco-friendly product. Overlooked environmental pollution, non-HEV improvements, HEV cost of ownership and population demands are all reminders of how the eco-friendly revolution has blinded the general public from what happens behind the â€Å"green† screen. It is up to the people to understand that HEVs are not the key to a bright future, but are another obstruction to achieving the real eco-vehicle. References Aerodynamic add-ons reduce fuel consumption of semi trucks by 7-12%. (2011, February 16). Retrieved March 16, 2011, from http://missionzero.org/categories/12-Transportation/saved_entries/8007-Aerodynamic-add-ons-reduce-fuel-consumption-of-semi-trucks-by-7-12- Consortium on Energy Restructuring, Virginia Tech. (2007). Internal Combustion Engines. Retrieved March 23, 2010 from http://www.dg.history.vt.edu/ch5/ices.html Fleming, D., Privott, T., Taylor, J.R., & McDuffie, T. (n.d.). Hybrid electric vehicles vs. internal combustion engine vehicles: Which gives you more bang for your buck?. Retrieved March 22, 2011 from http://education.uncc.edu/cmste/summer%20ventures/2010%20World%20View%20of%20Math%20and%20Data%20Analysis/THomas%20Privott-%20Davis%20Fleming.pdf Fuel economy today: Alt fuels tomorrow. (2010) Fleet Equipment 36(3), 14. General Reference Center Gold. Web. Retrieved March 16, 2011 Gal, J. (2009, July 06). The politics of alternative energy. Retrieved March 24, 2011 from http://www.prlog.org/10275672-the-politics-of-alternative-energy.html Gasoline Panic 2011: Hybrid/Electric Vehicles Not the Answer. (2011, March 4). PR Newswire. General Reference Center Gold. Web. Retrieved March 16, 2011 Niderà ¶st, R. (Ed.). (2010, August 27). The eco-balance of Li-ion rechargeable batteries for electric cars â€Å"greener† than expected. Retrieved from EMPA Materials Science and Technology, Switzerland. Retrieved February 24, 2011, from http://www.empa.ch/plugin/template/empa/*/99149/—/l=1 Silberner, J. (2010, April 19). Hybrid cars’ silence just one factor in high pedestrian death rate. Retrieved on March 24, 2010 from http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/04/hybrid_cars_silence_just_one_f.html United States Department of Energy. (2011, March 24). Diesel Vehicles. Retrieved on March 24, 2011 from http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/di_diesels.shtml United States Environmental Protection Agency. (2011, February 18). Environmental impacts from automobiles. Retrieved February 22, 2011, from http://yosemite.epa.gov/R10/OWCM.NSF/product+stewardship/autos-impacts#batteries