Rape in India

Rape in India Brittany Jones As a woman in the United States, rape is the ultimate nightmare, but to women in India it’s everyday life. Many rape victims’ stories just show how the police in India fail to respond adequately to crimes, especially crimes involving children or women. On February 14th, three girls that were five, nine, and 11 were raped and murdered in the village of Lakhni, India. When the girl’s grandfather reported the girls missing to the police nothing was done about it. After two days, the girls were found dead in an old water well.The bodies were reported as â€Å"accidental† deaths. Nobody took any notice to the girl’s deaths until protestors blocked a national highway in uproar of the police inaction. When a television reporter from CNN arrived in the village on Thursday, the girl’s mother said: â€Å"The first day when we filed the complaint [about the girls disappearing], the police didn’t act on it. Had they l ooked for the girls, my girls would have been found. This is nothing but negligence. † The government offered the family about one million rupees (currency) in compensation for their losses.After the offer the mother said â€Å"No amount of money is going to bring my girls back. I appeal to the government to catch the culprits and hang them. † This case is a prime example of the corruption and negligence of the justice system and the government as a whole in India. In the Indian culture women and children are not looked upon as equals to men. This relates to authoritarian personality, the police aren’t handling the situations as abruptly as they would if the case were related to men rather than women or children.Theodor Adnoro concluded that highly prejudice people have deep respect for authority and are submissive to authority figures, especially in matters of religion or sex (Adorno et al. 1950). They concluded that are more of like possessions or something to own instead of human beings. It was only after a mob of people shut down a highway that people actually started to care about what happened to those little girls. Another example of the negligence of the Indian government is when a young girl was brutally ang raped on a bus in Delhi, the government promised better policing and faster legal action to protect women inside their homes and outside in the public. While lawmakers prepared to discuss a new law against sexual offense, they tried to keep the news of the recent rape and murder of three young girls on the down low. It was soon after that people took it into their own hands by rioting and blocking the national highway until they were promised a proper investigation. For a rape crime, capital punishment (the death penalty) is the most extreme measure the state takes.However, it’s shown that the death penalty isn’t administered evenly. Geography wise it can change your sentence just by where you are when you kill so meone. It also can affect the punishment you receive. Another death penalty dependent would be your social class. For instance, it’s very rare that someone of much wealth will be sentenced to death. They may rather receive time with just some fines that they can easily afford anyways. Gender is another big bias with the death penalty. It’s said to be unheard of for women to be sentenced to death, let alone actually be executed.Statistics show that women commit 9. 6% of the murders, but they make up 1. 8% of death row inmates (Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics 2009). On 3 February 2013, after the public made their voices heard about the brutal rape in Delhi, the Indian Government was forced to pass an ordinance which applied the death penalty in cases of rape that leads to death or leaves the victim in a â€Å"persistent vegetative state†. Although the death sentence is very rarely used in India they do believe in the death penalty because they feel it do esn’t involve torture, humiliation, or degrading of oneself.It’s usually carried out by hanging, even when upheld on appeal. In Ohio today the punishments for rape are somewhat different than they are in India. The rape of a young child 13 and under could be served a sentence of up to life. However, unlike India the term is expected to be served rather than the convicted just being executed, or in India’s views, hung. I personally feel that rape is a very serious crime and it’s something that can also affect someone for the rest of their lives. Reading about India and how lightly they take rape crimes just affles me. I can’t imagine what the mother of these three little girls was going through, especially with the police having no interest in the fact that her daughters were missing. It’s sad to think that someone could be so heartless to not care about little girls being brutally raped and murder, however I’m sure had it been the pol ice forces children it would have been a whole different story. People these days are not only bias but they tend to care only about their selves and ignore the feelings of others.I’m from a small community where everyone knows everyone and everyone is willing to lend a helping hand. When someone in our town were to die the entire community would come together to help, even if it was just giving their condolences. I realize however that India’s culture is very different than ours and not to mention the situations seem much more dangerous. Even though rape crimes seem to be a very frequent crime to them, you would think the police force would take a notice and try and stop this constant reoccurrence rather than ignore what’s happening.They are finally passing bills but why did it take a huge riot of the people for them to start taking action. Making the laws is just the first step; actually doing something to make them work is the hard part. They can make the law s but in order for things to change they’ll actually have to make it as big of a deal as it really is. Find the people, punish them, and make sure they know they’ll never harm another women or child again. This article was very interesting to read and it’s interesting to see what’s going on in other cultures today.I never would have imagined how lightly things like rape and murder can be handles, especially just because it’s children and women rather than men. It’s sad to think of all the prejudice and bias going on in our world today, and even worse to think that it will probably never end. India needs to make stricter laws and force the police field to do a better job. Reference Rahman, Maseeh â€Å"India: three girls raped and murdered, ages 5,9, and 11. † The guardian. 21 February 2013.

Middle School Absences Essay

1. Is there is a common reason for the absences? Explain. Absences only occurred for band class at Truman and Jackson Middle Schools. Absences must have been due to something occurring in both Truman and Jackson band courses on May 20th and 21st. (and only May 22nd for Truman) All other attendance is normal in all other classes and Middle Schools and are not suspicious. —see evidence and analysis of evidence for more information– 2. Come up with two testable, clear hypotheses about what you think is behind the absences. Be sure to base your hypotheses on the evidence you have obtained (e.g. , Health Department Restaurant Inspections) and be thorough in your explanation of who, what, why, when, and how to support your hypotheses. Hypothesis #1) The increase in Band absences at Truman middle school are due to a high intensity band event(test or otherwise) starting May 20th and lasting until May 22nd at both Truman and Jackson Middle Schools. Hypothesis #2) Truman and Jackson Band classes encountered the same illness at a location prior to May 20th. 3. Come up with six testable questions that you could ask to help further your investigation and support or disprove your hypotheses. (listed farther down on the page) 4. Is the following statement a suitable hypothesis: â€Å"The Brentwood Indians basketball team lost the state championship because there is bad stuff in the stars happening with Mars in Aquarius†? Explain why or why not. I do not find the hypothesis â€Å"The Brentwood Indians Basketball team lost the state championship because there is bad stuff in the stars happening with Mars in Aquarius† to be a suitable hypothesis, because a hypothesis must be testable. The term â€Å"bad stuff† in this hypothesis does not give the person testing any idea as to what to look for near Mars. Also, the ability to test the happening of Mars and any other place outside Earth for that matter, belongs solely to NASA and makes it unable to be tested again. Also, there would have to be some kind of testable event or correlation between the basketball team and the happenings of Mars in Aquarius. For example, if Mars is here, the team will win the championship, but there are so many other factors to cause the team to win or lose that again the hypothesis could not be tested. EVIDENCE Problem: Truman Middle School May 20th-1/3 absent Band Class Band attendance increased from 5/20-5/22. It began May 20th as 33. 3 percent then decreased to 23. 3 and 13. 3 absent, respectively. After the weekend during of this week, absences were back to an almost average 6. 7 percent. A very similar flux in absent percentage also occurred at Jackson Middle School. Jackson Middle School experienced an absent percentage of 25% on May 20th in band class. No other classes had abnormal absences on this day. May 21st had an absent percentage of 15. 6%. Attendance was back to normal for Jackson Middle Bank on May 22nd. Although Truman experienced just slightly higher absences for May 20th in P. E. (7. 3%) and 7th Grade (8. 6%), the real increase only occurred in Band Class at only Truman and Jackson Middle Schools. There was no affect on absences for this time at Kennedy or Roosevelt Middle Schools. Art classes had no out of the ordinary absent rates for these days. The absences in band slowly decreasing from May 20th-22nd seem to support the evidence of sickness, but since there is no increase in absence in Art, I doubt it was illness. A rise as in absences as much as 33% would most likely (although there are exceptions to everything) would spread beyond one particular class, or even grade level. There is no other abnormal fall in attendance at any of the four middle school or specific classes other than the May 20th-May 22nd time frame and so speculation is resting solely on the events or evidence of these days’ attendances and classes. Testable Questions Was there a Band competition, exam, or any other event during this time period that would encourage students to miss school, not involving health factors, at Jackson and Truman Middle Schools? Were Jackson and Truman band classes in contact with another around the date of May 20th? Did student of Jackson and Truman band classes attend an event prior to May 20th where students of Roosevelt and Kennedy were not present? Were the band teachers of Jackson and Truman Middle Schools present on the days of the increased absences? Is band class before or after lunch? Do the schools serve the same lunch menu? Is band class the last class of the day at Truman and Jackson? Analysis and Explanation of Evidence There may have been a test, competition, intense practice, or other event during May20th-May 22nd. The other option would be an isolated illness only in Truman and Jackson bands. Whatever happened for Band Class at Jackson Middle lasted one day less than what occurred for band class at Truman Middle. So the possible test or practice may have been finished more quickly at Jackson Middle. If Jackson and Truman band classes had come in contact with each other near May 20th, they could have gotten the same illness from one another, causing a decrease in attendance only at these two schools and only in band class, but this is highly unlikely since these students would have to associate with someone outside the band at some point to attend normal courses. If the band teachers were absent themselves on these days of high student absences, possible due to a band teacher conference or meeting for only Truman and Jackson Middle, then students would be more likely to willingly miss school than if the teachers were present. If band class occurs after lunch at both school locations, Truman and Jackson, then this could lead to the possibility of food poisoning causing students to miss only band class on may 20th and leaving a smaller percentage of band students still absent or unable to play instruments (due to using the mouth, etc) until May 21st or May 22nd. If band class is the last class of the day, this would explain students missing only band class on the above mentioned days in May. This is also a much more tempting time of the day for students to leave school early. There may have also been outside events for these particular groups of students found only in Truman and Jackson band classes occurring on these particular days and encouraging students to miss school and attend with band friends.

Message to Garcia Synopsis Essay

The message to Garcia describes the average human mindset, action and reactions toward a given task. Many men and women from past to present want work, status, money and reputation; but feel work is not needed. It describes not all but many situations pertaining to people having lack of initiative. In this book Elbert Hubbard states people on average will ask one or many question about the task being given to them. How I do it, where can I find it, who can I get to help, what time does it have to be done; are all examples. People get lazy and complacent, instead of getting some initiative and finding out the answers to their questions themselves. Message to Garcia isn’t saying every task has to be accomplished but, rather ideations of how problems could be solved through statistics and opinions. Many situations Hubbard has explained have facts about men and woman in today’s society. How many times have we heard â€Å"Go take this to†¦Ã¢â‚¬  and the person being tasked asks multiple questions about the task the he himself could very well find. By asking questions the employer or task giver is being held up from completing other tasks he has been issued, to explain to this person where, when, why, how. In a lot of cases today, by the time we have completed explaining the task; we ourselves could’ve completed it. By no means is Hubbard expressing to us readers we shouldn’t task out our subordinates but do our jobs as well. On the other hand he is also elaborating on his belief no matter the details, many or few, the task should be done when given to. I feel Message to Garcia was trying to get a point across to us readers; that many of us desire great things but, in order to achieve great things we must do great works. We cannot want and not give anything; little effort will bring little fortune. I don’t believe the book is trying to tell us how we should go about our business day to day, yet allowing us to ponder ideas on how to eradicate these issues. Make pragmatic decisions during tasks given rather than giving up early or not doing it at all. By giving our undivided attention to our job, and not stopping until it is complete or no other outcome is possible to accomplish it. I believe everybody plays a role in a job; it is everyone’s duty to do their part and not pass it to another person or not complete it. When we all do our jobs an elliptical motion continues, rolling smoothly.

Civil Engineering - Experinece Record Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Civil Engineering - Experinece Record - Essay Example Furthermore, calculations were performed for sizing and hydraulic gradient calculations in storm drain systems. Job title and brief description of responasabilities: Civil Engineer Designer- help civil engineers plan and oversee, wastewater treatment systems, and other structures as well as functionally participate in related research projects. Local codes were considered in each situation. The boundary site was provided, it was then necessary to begin with the site layout considering the Howard County Zoning regulations. Based on the RR-DEO zoning of the site, eleven lots were created, sized one acre or more. The Storm Water Management area is two acres, and the rest is for road, and forest conservation easement. The following report contains justification and proposed methodology to the stormwater management obligations that are associated with this site, in accordance with the â€Å"Maryland 2000 Stormwater Management Manual†. The five (5) main obligations that were considered in our analysis are: The site consists of 23.66 acres, more or less. The site is identified as Parcel 36 on tax map no. 15 in the third election district of Howard County, Maryland. The existing property contains one (1) large lot residential dwelling and outbuilding. The property is one third wooded and the remainder is lawn and meadow. A first order stream flows southeast to northwest along the western boundary. The site topography consists of moderate to steeply sloping land draining southeast to northwest. The hydrologic soil types of all soils within the property and surrounding properties in our study area are predominately type ‘B’ drainage class soils. The site is located within the Middle Patuxent Watershed of the Patuxent River (02-13-11-06) a Use I waterway. Proposed impervious areas consist of the impervious areas generated by the construction of 11 single-family lots and driveways

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International Business Strategy Case Study - Essay Example The later developments in the project suggested that the Shell has not been able to maintain the same level of control in the project. The overall bargaining power of Shell continuously declined owing to different factors despite the fact that it has been able to secure the relative favor from the government in the initial phase of the project. What is also important to understand that the negotiation process does not involved all the stakeholders in the project and resultant the take off of the project fell victim of the pressure to the various stakeholders involved in the project? According to the analysts, the deal has been in favor of both the parties owing to the fact that both the parties were better off during the negotiation process. One of the essential elements of good negotiation process is to ensure that a win win situation emerges for every player involved in the negotiation process. In these negotiations, both the parties to the negotiation were given the share in the p roject in such a manner that both the parties were better off at the end of negotiation. ... This was only the direct result of not involving all the stakeholders during the negotiation process. The overall shift in the bargaining power from Shell to Russian government therefore was owing to the fact that all the stakeholders were not adequately involved in the process thus resulting into a shift towards the greater bargaining power for the Russian government. This shift was also a result of the Russian policy of gaining direct control of the oil and gas exploration facilities while at the same time allowing foreign firms to actively involved in the exploration services while remaining under the direct control or supervision of State owned organizations such as Gazprom. Assessment of the group processes During the completion of the assignment and attending of different sessions, it became clear for me that the case study approach can provide students an opportunity to actually look into the real life examples and learn from them. The range of different case studies therefore provided a set of interesting case studies which held the overall interest and allowed me to learn the practical side of managing different aspects of an organization. What also went good were the composition of the class and the diversity of the students in the class. People of different background and experiences therefore allowed to put case studies in different perspectives and understand and explored different dynamics of the case studies. It is also important to note that the split of the tasks also allowed us to save time while at the same time gather more information about Russia and its oil and gas sector. This also allowed us to discuss with the students having specialized knowledge about oil and gas sector in order to broaden our overall scope of

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Strategic Management report - Essay Example It is this factor alone that has got it 70% of the US market in 2000 and about 50% share of the market outside the US. Over the last 3 years Gillette has been trying to recover its lost glory that it enjoyed for the decade up to 1997. In 1986 its sales were $ 2.8 billion and rose to $ 9.08 billion in 1987. Since then it has hovered around the $ 9 billion and this stagnation has eroded its stock value but fortunately not its market share. Due to its innovative approach to product development which Gillette has maintained for over a century, it retains market leadership in this segment. Gillette has unsuccessfully tried to add to its product portfolio for over 50 year. The redeeming feature has been the Safety Razor sections for men and women. A SWOT analysis of the product also suggests that this core product range is the company’s real strength. The weakness is the quarterly sales strategy of loading sales to retailers. The opportunity lies in improving its sales strategies. There are really no threats to the company from are competition. While the majority of shares is held in public but a sizable stakeholders are employees, both present and retired ones. The single largest share holder is Buffet Warren who holds about 10% of the company stock. They are worried over the declining stock prices especially since 1997 through 2001. The decline has been sharp from a valuation of $ 4.8 billion to $ 1.9 billion. They need a quick turnaround or they fear the company will be a takeover target once again. Historically Gillette has always scored over the competition primarily due to its customer loyalty which has come about due to its innovations in products. This is its main strength even today. It also has a wide distribution base worldwide and its products range from entry level to premium level catering across all segments of customers. It can therefore rely on its R & D to continue to offer strong product lines in this core sector. It

CMT3321 Coursework 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

CMT3321 Coursework 2 - Essay Example cesses and spaces for people find themselves stretching the provisions of prototyping elements to communicate and explore what it will require to integrate or understand the design concepts that are being developed. In this project, prototype has been used as a representation of the model made prior to the final artifact. It has been created to direct the design decisions and design process of the game. Generally, prototypes range from illustrations (sketches) and various kinds of models at different levels-â€Å"works like†, â€Å"behaves like† â€Å"looks like†-to find and find and inform on the propositions relating to the model and its background (Wilson, 2010). Within the modeled interactive system, prototype is key activity. Many a group of researchers and designers have been acting in extending the limits of prototyping the provisions of traditional techniques. They have also developed the understanding of the importance of different kinds of prototypes. For example, Hill and Houde discuss different purposes for archetypes as being important in the function an artifact all will achieve, its â€Å"feel and look† and how the system will be configured. Other works have described such as different degrees of reliability, archetypes for various audiences and designs for use in the setting of participatory models. Experience, in the context of prototyping, refers to the subjective, complex and dynamic phenomenon in an activity. Whether in the classroom or general environment, experience in prototype design depends on the perception of several characters of a model, interpreted via filters connected to contextual elements. With respect to the prototype used in this project, the perception of experience relates to Hill and Houde’s description of experience as the â€Å"feel and look† of a system or product. However, experience surpasses the feel and look of a system. The game designed in this project has the ability to serve an extra function in the life of the

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Management Planning Paper Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Management Planning Paper - Case Study Example In order to highlight the planning function of the management, this paper will look at the company's future direction as stated in its 2007 Annual Report. Boeing clearly recognizes the importance of the leadership of its workforce in the success of the business organization. CEO Jim Nerney states that "Without incremental improvements generated by thousands upon thousands of Boeing employees last year, we would not have met what was-to be sure-a very challenging business plan" (Annual Report 2007). The mention of the company's business plan highlights the company's commitment in making decisions for the company in advance which they implement through the members of its team. The launch of Boeing 787 Dreamliner has been precendented by careful planning of the structure, components, and how it will be marketed in the market. With its phenomenal success in the market Boeing had taken steps by planning the release of new variants in the market. Recognizing that its operation is shaped by various factors in its business environment, Boeing strives to keep up its success and performance in the market by taking note of how stakeholders are affected. With the rapid development in the market, legal, ethical and corporate social responsibility issues are taken care of as customers look beyond price and product quality as the bases in making a purchase. Studies show that customers are willing to pay a premium to purchase a product which is a produced by a business organization who gives back to the society they operate in (Kotler 2005). This is recognized by Boeing indicated by its passion and commitment in creating an image of a socially, ethically, and legally responsible entity. In the future, Boeing's main plan is to strengthen its position in the industry by keeping abreast with technological advancement. In its Annual Report, it states: "Our greatest contribution will come through pioneering new technologies with improved environmental performance" (Annual Report 2007). The company's commitment of operating profitably is now coupled with its aim of being an ethical organization by being concerned of how its processes and aircrafts affect the environment. Boeing identifies itself as socially responsible business organization by funding programs and activities which improves the plight of the society where it operates in. This commitment of becoming socially responsible is highlighted in the management planning. According to its 2007 Philanthropy report, "our communities are included among our company's key stakeholders in the management model that guides how we do business around the world." This statement supports that the company's plans are being aligned at how it helps to address pressing and compelling social issues. Thus, Boeing actively seeks to help communities in five core areas namely, education, environment, health and human services, arts and culture, and civics. Analyze at least three factors that influence the company's strategic, tactical, operational, and contingency planning. Operating in a capital intensive business environment, technological change becomes one of the most

Market of alcoholic and non alcoholic products Research Paper

Market of alcoholic and non alcoholic products - Research Paper Example Hence products with low sugar carbonated beverages and health drinks will help the industry to witness quick survival.In order to survive in this marketplace, Pepsi must consider the recent market trends that will shape the performance in the forthcoming years. The marketing mix of Pepsi is described below:-Product: The products of Pepsi contain all the similar ingredients that are also found in other soft drinks. It includes carbonated water, caffeine, phosphoric acid and other required elements. The major brands of Pepsi are Mirinda, Mountain dew, Slice, Pepsi Max, Pepsi etc. All the mentioned products are available in different quantities. Price: Pepsi prices its product according to the price of the competition. In other words, the company undertakes competitive pricing. The company is also very flexible in case of their pricing. It can readily decrease the price when needed. Though price lowering helps the company to attract customers but covering up the cost of production will take time. Place: Pepsi has a worldwide presence. In order to enter a new country, it either merges with a company or looks for a partner. The company mainly distributes by retailing. It has distributors appointed at various places for distribution purposes. Promotion: The Company mainly promotes its product through television advertisement. Nowadays Pepsi has appointed brand ambassadors in many countries in order to connect with the target audience with ease. However, the company mostly promotes by sponsoring cricketing events.

Multi-national operation and risk management of Debenhams plc Essay

Multi-national operation and risk management of Debenhams plc - Essay Example It is in light of this that Debenhams has been brought under the spotlight for a through market analysis on how the company presents itself on the international market and seeks to better its financial performance through the engagement of various forms of globalisation strategies. Whiles initiating globalisation strategies, it is also admitted that there are risks that can easily prevent the company from growing to the level it desires. Risks management strategies within the company are therefore scrutinised to balance the discussion. Company Description Not only is Debenhams listed on the London Stock Exchange but it is also a member of the FTSE 250 index (Davidson, 2010). Currently, the company emphasises on UK, Ireland and Denmark as its major market destinations. This notwithstanding, there are number of international franchise that operate under the name of the company. As of 2012, the total number of UK, Denmark and Ireland based locations for the company were 172 and those op erating as international franchise were 68 stores across 25 countries (Alter, McLaughlin & Melniker, 2008). The company is currently engaged in retail chain departmental stores, which means that it is not a manufacturer of the products that it sells out to customers. In effect, the company does not source raw materials but depend on suppliers who deal directly with the manufacturers of the various products that the company displays on its shelves. The operational industry of the company mainly focuses on the sale of electrical and electronic products, clothes, accessories, cosmetics, gifts, toys, shoes and home furniture. The operating income with which the company went into the 2012 annual market was ?158.3 million, out which ?2,229.8 million was produced as revenue and ?125.3 million as net income (Kingdon, 2013). The operations of the company in all its local and international stores are run by a powerful 29,000 employee base that undertake all forms of duties ranging from manage rial positions to cleaning (Kloha, Weissert & Kleine, 2005). Financial Performance and Globalisation Strategies Gross transaction value Since 2008, Debenhams has focused its strength on competitive global marketing on two larger market segments, which are UK and International market segments. Together, these two form the group market for the company. To measure its profitability ratio, there is a lot of emphasis on the gross transaction value that the company creates, as this value represents the unadulterated quantum of revenue accrued by the company over given period of time (Groves, Godsey & Shulman, 2012). From the table below, it would be noted that there has been a steady rise in the physical quantum of gross transaction value for both UK and international markets. However, these increases have not come at an even interval of growth as the figure shows that there are years that the percentage rise goes down even though they do not represent negative growth trends. What is more , the margin of percentage growth has always only been minimal, indicating that the company

Submitted Resume and Cover Letter Essay Example for Free

Submitted Resume and Cover Letter Essay Dear Customer: Regarding your kindly submitted resume and cover letter, please review the following suggested empowerments: Selection of a strong font, supplementing this with varying sizes for headings and body, bolding, and bullets. Use a strong letterhead style for the cover letter. Use the maximum effect of white page and dark print contrasts. Add a very strong, empowering Objective that targets the specific career position(s) that you want – one to three specific careers or job titles. Add an Executive Summary. Add a Qualifications section Addition of strong skills statements and strong verbs. Add specific numbers for accomplishments, including estimated dollars saved or increased in sales, percentages of time, number of new products/ processes designed, etc. Add an Educations and Certifications section to include any licenses or certificates or any training courses that are relevant. Add volunteer work if you have performed such. Add a Special Skills section to include computer programs and software known, various equipment, any foreign languages (reading, writing, or fluent), and/or other skills that others candidates applying for these types of jobs you target may not have and which can make you a standout job candidate. Use bullet points and more powerful specific language in the cover letter as a sharp, eye-catching appeal to new employers. Thank you for the opportunity to review your resume and cover letter. Best regards.

Investment analysis: AirAsia Berhad

Investment analysis: AirAsia Berhad 1.0 Market analysis Before we can proceed further in deciding whether investing in AiraAsia is a good choice or not, we have to do a market analysis on the market condition of the airline industry. Our market industry is based on five main elements which are: 1. Legal Like all industries in the market, the airline industry is also tied to certain legal policy of the government so as to ensure the safety and the consumers rights. For the airline industry worldwide, the rules and regulation are set by the International Civil Aviation Organization and is revised from time to time. The rules and regulations are mostly about flights safety measurements and also the management of safety during flight such as making the providence of first-aid kit compulsory on every aircraft in case anything happen during flight. Not only that, the air stewardess and air steward must have basic knowledge of first aid. 2. Politics Politics play a major role in the performance of the airline company as well. Any political policy that is to the airline companys disadvantage will affect the performance and annual profit of the airline. When the very first airline company was established in Germany, which is Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-Aktiengesellschaft(DELAG), on 16 November 1909, it was under Germanys government service. But as the 20th century approaches, airline companies are ‘deregulated. Airline deregulation according to the Wikipedia encyclopedia is the process of removing entry and price restrictions on airlines affecting the carriers permitted to serve specific routes. Airline deregulation began in the United States of America in 1978 and from there exist the Airline Deregulation Act 1978 whereas for Europe, deregulation only began in the 1990s. Before deregulation happened, the airline company has to abide by the instructions of the government concerning the routes and the choice of which airports to land on and depart from. Whereas after deregulation, the airline company has the freedom to choose any routes that they want and whichever airports that they want to stopover at. There are pros and cons to the deregulation of the airline company. The pro is the airline company has the freedom to decide on the operation of the airline whereas the con is that the entry barriers for new airline entrants are lower. Thus, creating a more competitive market for established airlines. This is when the low cost carrier airline starts to appear in the market, such as Tiger Airway (Singapore), Jetstar Airways (Australia) and Pacific Blue Airlines (New Zealand). The appearance of these airways will lower the profit margin of the existing airways as Low Cost Carrier (LCC) airlines tend to price their airfare at the very minimum price as possible. Another political aspect is the existence of bilateral agreements between two or more countries regarding the authority of stopovers at different airports. Bilateral agreement is normally based on the concept of ‘freedom of thee air where it gives the airline the freedom or rights to fly in the air space of another country and also be permitted to stop at the airports of their choice. And sometimes, some country may even allow foreign airline to operate on their domestic routes, but this is very rarely to be found. This move by the government will remove many of the barriers to competition and allowing their own airlines to have foreign partners or code sharing partners. This will further increase the airline access to more international routes and also further exposed the airline to foreign countries. Both the airline deregulation policy and the bilateral agreements play a major role in determining the successfulness of an airline company. A policy set by the government may in hibit or aid in the success of an airline company. 3. Economics When we look at the economic side of the market, we will first look at the overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the world. GDP is the value of all final goods and services from a nation in a given year. GDP is the best tool to use when accessing the performance of a country as it takes all the industries and products into consideration. A few of countrys GDP and the contribution of agriculture, industry and services to the total of GDP are listed in the table below. Country Growth rate (%) Agriculture (%) Industry (%) Services (%) China 8.7 10.9 48.6 40.5 Egypt 4.5 13.1 37.7 49.2 India 4.4 15.8 25.8 58.4 Nigeria 3.8 33.4 34.1 32.5 Thailand -3.5 12.3 44 43.7 Venezuela -1.5 4.0 34.6 61.4 America -2.4 1.2 21.9 76.9 Singapore -2.6 0.0 26.8 73.2 Malaysia -2.8 10.1 42.3 47.6 Source: CIA The World Factbook and Wikipedia Encyclopedia All the countries have different GDP, some countries may have negative growth and some countries have positive growth. This is normal as during 2008 is when the financial crisis happened. But not all countries did not benefit from the global economy downturn as some countries have positive growth rate for their GDP. This may be due to the fact that the countries benefited from industries that bring losses to another country which results in a tradeoff between the benefits between countries. The services industry contributes to most of the total of the GDP of the countries listed above except for china, Nigeria and Thailand. All three of these countries are more focused on industrial industry which may be due to the fact that these countries have more labored intensive industries. Thus, this shows that service industry plays an important role in the performance of a country and service industry includes airline industry. From the GDP of a country; we can look at the purchasing power parity (PPP) of the consumers. If the GDP of the country is low or is a negative value, this means that the PPP of the citizen is low and vice versa. The PPP of consumers can also be linked directly to the inflation rate of a country. As the inflation rate increase, the PPP of consumer will drop. Inflation rate will increase the price of goods in general as the demand exceeded the supply of the goods. Thus, decreasing the amount of extra money allocated for luxurious goods which also include travelling and entertainments. So the changes in the GDP of a country will affect all the industries, including the airline industry. There are times when not only the GDP will affect the performance of an airline; it may be due to natural disasters which include earthquake, tsunami and flash flood which have been happening quite frequently nowadays. All of these can disrupt the operation of the airline companies as facilities and airports maybe destroyed in the process. Thus, causing an airline company to face loss in the event of natural disasters. Another event that might affect the economic performance of an airline company is terrorism such as the event of the ill-fated day of September 11, 2001where American Airlines and United Airlines was hijacked. This had caused both airways to face huge losses due to the decline in value of the airways stocks. This can reflect the confidence of the customers towards both the airlines had declined extremely as an aftermath of the hijacking event. Below is the graph depicting the change in stock price for both companies. 4. Social As the years goes by, consumer demands are evolving gradually. The consumers nowadays want anything that is their convenience, cheap and can be done instantly without going through painstaking procedures. So as to accommodate the change in the demands of the customers, the airline company has to improvise themselves from time to time. Most of the airline companies nowadays have their own websites. This is to make it easier for the consumers to check the availability of tickets, the schedule of the airline and also enabling the consumers to purchase their ticket through e-ticketing. All of these are to the customers convenience. So as to attract more customers, some airlines are now practicing online check-in of luggage where luggage can be checked-in within 24 hours of the scheduled flight. Social and economic factors are closely related to each other as any changes in the market economy will directly affect the consumer behavior. As stated above under the economic factors, the event of financial crisis will affect the PPP of the customers as prices of goods have been increased due to inflation. In order to save more money, consumers will opt for cheaper goods. The same goes to the purchase of airfares. The lower the airfare is, the better it is and this even applies to business travelers travelling on premium class. This can be proven by a study done by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) where it shows that the consumers choice of seats have changed as the number of premium class travelers have decreased. This can be seen clearly from the graph below. The graph shows that the number of premium passengers had started to fall since july 2008 and keeps dropping until sometime in may 2009 before it the number of passengers travelling on premium class starts to increase gradually. Even though there is an increase of passengers travelling on premium class, it still takes time for the airline company to rebound back from the huge amount of losses that they have incurred. 5. Technology With the advancement of the technological changes in the world, the technology used by the airline company also improvised with time. In the past, whenever the customers wanted to buy air tickets, they will have to go to either the airlines office or any travel agency to purchase their tickets. But now, customers can just purchase their ticket with a click of the mouse. They do not even need to step out of the house, as long there is internet available. Advanced check-in can also be done through the internet 24 hours prior to the flight departure. All of these technologies are to the consumers convenience. Advancement in the technology of the airline industry can also be seen on the safety and the comfort of the aircraft. Aircrafts nowadays are more comfortable, safer and in-flight entertainment is also provided for long haul flights. This is very different from the olden aircraft where the main purpose of the aircraft is just to transport passengers from one point to another. Both the Airbus and Boeing Company are improvising their aircraft from time to time in so as to ensure that their aircraft is the best in terms of safety and also the comfort level. Airline companies in the market are also using the advancement in technology to implement risk management by providing good and reliable databases for risk analysis and targeting, providing faster and more effective business processes, more efficient recordkeeping and providing better services to the customers. 2.0 Airline Industry Analysis The airline industry had always been a highly regulated industry from the beginning of its establishment. The deregulation or liberalization movement initially started in the US in 1978. Governments usually treat the airline industry differently compared to some other industries due to the sensitivity of the aviation business, which involve some national security and sovereignty issues. In this report, Porters Five Forces Model is being used to analysis the aviation industry structure to provide an overall view of the industry. This is a well-established model, in which the industry can be simulated as a model influenced by five different factors called ‘forces as shown in Figure 1.1. A suitable dynamic interaction of these five forces shapes the basic structure to determine the profitability and attractiveness of the industry. 2.1 Industry Competitor The degree of rivalry is one of the most important factors that determining profitability of the industry. The market growth and number of competitors are some of the causes that will affect the industry rivalry. For the airline industry where its fixed cost is usually very high and the variable cost is low, competition is fierce as airlines are trying to generate revenue to reach break-even level in order to survive. Competition in the airline industry can be divided into competition between low cost carriers (LCCs) and full service carriers (FSCs) in both regional and domestic markets. There are 6 budget airlines in Malaysia which are Air Asia, Firefly, Tiger Airways, Cebu Pacific, Jetstar, and Lion Air. The competition among low cost carriers is usually fiercer as offering the cheaper airfare is utmost important for them. One of the main reasons that passengers choose to use a LCC is â€Å"cheaper airfares†. Since most of the low cost carriers do not have frequent flyer program to impose switching cost on customers, it is rather difficult for them to build up customer loyalty except constantly offering a cheaper airfare to retain their customers. On the other hand, there are a lots of full service airline in Malaysia such as MAS, Cathay Pacific Airway, China Airlines, Eva Airways Corporation, and so on. Thus, the competition between full service carriers is more complicated. This is because FSCs are competing in many aspects of their services, such as network coverage, flight frequency, and service quality and ticket prices. While the competition between FSCs and LCCs are mainly focused on attracting each others market as they usually have different customer groups. Customer base of LCCs are largely made up of leisure traveler while FSCs appear to be more attractive for business traveler. 2.2 Suppliers Suppliers are those who provide necessary raw material, equipment and labor for an airline to perform their daily operation. Suppliers strength can greatly affect the industrys profitability, if there is a high concentration in the supplier power, they can exert influence on airlines thus increasing their bargaining power. Major inputs for airline to provide their services to passengers are aircraft, labor, fuel and landing slots. The fleet is the most important assets for airlines to generate revenue. However, there are only two major aircraft manufacturers in the West, Boeing and Airbus, which almost monopolizing the wide-body civil transport aircraft market worldwide. Hence, the bargain power of aircraft manufacturers against airlines remains very strong, as the concentration of aircraft supplier market is very high. Some airline employees are considered as highly specialized and professionals, such as pilots and aircraft technicians. Due to their specializations, it is almost impossible for an airline to find replacements for pilots or maintenance workers in short time, which may cause an increase in the bargaining power of their employees over the airlines. In this regard, the labor cost is one of the biggest operating costs of most airlines. However, cutting cost is the main agenda of airline nowadays, and the labor cost is always the first to be the victim. 2.3 The Buyers Power The buyers power is defined as the influence that customers can have on the airlines revenue affecting ticket prices and service charges. If the buyers power is strong enough, customers can set the ticket price, and vice verse. Strong buyer power can bargain away potential airline profit and extract other benefits from airlines such as quality-improved services. Some of the favorable factors to strong buyers power in the airline industry are relatively low customer switching cost, low product differentiation, and freely available information on Internet. Nevertheless, the buyers power may be weaken by low buyer concentration or small purchase volume. Although fierce pricing war dispute among the airlines, it is notably that buyers do not play proactive roles in the pricing war. Current price impacts in the market is aimed to keeping the airlines competitors out of the market rather than providing the low pricing power of the airlines to their customers. Besides, travel agents, who us ually buy air tickets in large volume, yield greater power but they use this concept to strengthen their position in the market rather than transferring the cost benefit to costumers. 2.4 New Entrant â€Å"New entrant† refers to any new player in the aviation market which will compete with the incumbents. A key criterion to analyze the threat of new entrant in the industry is to analyze the level of entry barriers. Entry barriers are obstacles that may discourage others from entering the market hence affect the competition of the industry. New entrants will also lower the potential profits of the industry as a whole. Most common entry barriers in airline industry are regulation restrictions, labor, access to distribution channels and high capital requirement. However, the entry barriers to the airline industry had generally been lowered recently, especially on the regulation restrictions and distribution channels. The example of new entrant to Low Cost Carrier s is Firefly airline, which was growth recently and become a strong competitor to Air Asia airline. 2.5 Substitutes â€Å"Substitution† represents the threat that other industries or transportation may offer a product, which can replace air transport. The threat of substitution depends on the type of flight, namely long haul or short haul, and travel purpose such as business or leisure. For short haul and leisure travel, the main substitution threat in the Asia Pacific comes from surface transport such as road and sea transport. Even though some of the airfares from LCCs are lower than bus fare, but after paying for the airport charges and insurances, customers will find that generally the total cost of air travel is still higher than that of road transport. Although surface transport is cheaper in term of money, it still costs the passenger more in terms of time and efficiency. Furthermore, road transport generally will not compete with long haul travel, especially for cross nation traveling. On the other side, latest technology inventions such as videoconference pose a bigger threat for business travel. In the aftermath of 911, many worries that the airline industry will be substituted by video conferencing companies as they assumed that people will be less willingly to travel since then. However, the speedy traffic recovery proved them wrong. Although the international passenger flow havent returned to the pre-crisis level, but it seems the recovery is on the right path. 2.6 Low Cost and Budget Airline Air Asia Berhad Air Asia is one of the largest low fare and no frills airline. in Low Cost Carriers (LCC) industry which providing guests with the choice of customizing services without compromising on quality and services . It operates scheduled domestic and international flights and it is also the first airline in the region to implement fully ticketless travel and unassigned seats. On 12 November 2008, Air Asia abolished fuel surcharges. In doing so, it claimed to be the first airline in the world to abolish fuel surcharges. From this statement, we can conclude that Air Asia is successful to expand their market as well as they airline had flown 55 million cumulative passengers by 2009. In 2010, it has the worlds lowest costs for an Airline, at $3.21 per seat-kilometer. Air Asia is able to attract more customers in future since they can offer lower price tickets to flight around the world. Last but not least, Air Asia is a corporate that potential to growth among the LCC industry due to its competence strategy holding. This corporate was emphasize on leanest cost structure; transparency in decision making and information sharing; safety; invest and enhance the Air Asia brand to maximize shareholder`s value; human capital development; and passion for guest satisfaction. Hence, investor can be confidence with their performance as well. 3.0 Company Analysis AirAsia is one of the award winning and largest low fare airlines in the Asia expanding rapidly since 2001. With a fleet of 72 aircrafts, AirAsia flies to over 61 domestic and international destinations with 108 routes, and operates over 400 flights daily from hubs located in Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia. Today, AirAsia has flown over 55 million guests across the region and continues to create more extensive route network through its associate companies. AirAsia believes in the no-frills, hassle-free, low fare business concept and feels that keeping costs low requires high efficiency in every part of the business. Through the corporate philosophy of â€Å"Now Everyone Can Fly†, AirAsia has sparked a revolution in air travel with more and more people around the region choosing AirAsia as their preferred choice of transport. AirAsia creates values through the following vision and mission. (Resources : http://www.airasia.com/my/en/aboutus/irorganizationalstructure.html?) 3.1 Mission †¢ To be the best company to work for whereby employees are treated as part of a big family †¢ Create a globally recognized ASEAN brand †¢ To attain the lowest cost so that everyone can fly with AirAsia †¢ Maintain the highest quality product, embracing technology to reduce cost and enhance service levels 3.2 Vision To continue to be the lowest cost short-haul airline in every market we serve, delivering strong organic growth through offering the lowest airfares at a profit. Leanest Cost Structure †¢ Efficient and simple point to point operations †¢ Attracting and retaining hardworking and smart people †¢ Passion for continuous cost reduction Maximise Shareholders Value †¢ Resilient profit growth through our lower cost base †¢ Expansion of the AirAsia network in a prudent and disciplined manner †¢ Invest and enhance the AirAsia brand to increase investors returns Safety †¢ Comply with the highest International Aviation Safety Standards and practices †¢ Keep operations simple and transparent †¢ Ensure the security of our People and Guests Passion for Guests Satisfaction †¢ Maintain simplicity in every application †¢ Practice the unique and friendly AirAsia experience at every opportunity †¢ Recognise the linkage between guests satisfaction and long-term success Transparency †¢ Transparency in decision-making and information sharing †¢ Optimum disclosure higher than industry norms †¢ Timeliness in disclosing information Human Capital Development †¢ Invest in both hard and soft skills †¢ Recognize all our People as contributors to our success †¢ Reward excellence and individual contributions †¢ Maintaining one brand across the Group (Resources : http://www.airasia.com/my/en/aboutus/irstrategy.html?) 3.3 Strategy (Resources : http://www.airasia.com/my/en/aboutus/irstrategy.html?) 3.4 Values 1.Safety Adopting a zero tolerance to unsafe practices and strive for zero accidents through proper training,work practices, risk management and adherence to safety regulations at all times. 2. Valuing Our People Committing to our peoples development and well-being and treating them with respect, dignity and fairness. 3.Customer Focused We care and treat everyone in the same manner that we want to be treated. 4.Integrity Practicing highest standards of ethical behaviour and demonstrate honesty in all our lines of work in order to command trust and mutual respect. 5.Excellence in Performance Setting goals beyond the best and reinforcing high quality performance standards and achieving excellence through implementing best practices. (Resources : Air Asia Annual Report 2008) 3.5 Logo 3.6 Motto â€Å"NOW EVERYONE CAN FLY† 3.7 Directors Biography Dato Abdel Aziz @ Abdul Aziz bin Abu Bakar(Non-Executive Chairman) Dato Sri Anthony Francis Fernandes (commonly known as Dato Sri Tony Fernandes) Dato Kamarudin bin Meranun (Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer) Conor Mc Carthy (Non-Executive Director) 3.8 Independent Directors Dato Leong Sonny @ Leong Khee Seong (Independent Non-Executive Director) Fam Lee Ee (Independent Non-Executive Director) Dato Mohamed Khadar bin Merican (Independent Non-Executive Director) Datuk Alias bin Ali (Independent Non-Executive Director) (Resources : http://www.airasia.com/my/en/aboutus/irdirectorsbiography.html?) Share Registrar Symphony Share Registrars Sdn Bhd Level 26, Menara Multi-Purpose, Capital Square 8 Jalan Munshi Abdullah 50100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Tel: 603-2721 2222 Fax: 603-2721 2530/1 Corporate Broker ECM Libra Berhad Stock Exchange Listing Main Board of Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad (Listed since 22 November 2004) (Stock code: 5099) Auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers Level 10, 1 Sentral, Jalan Travers, Kuala Lumpur Sentral 50706 Kuala Lumpur Tel: 603-2173 1188 Fax: 603-2173 1288 Audit Committee Dato Leong Sonny @ Leong Khee Seong Fam Lee Ee Datuk Alias bin Ali Dato Mohamed Khadar bin Merican (Resources : Air Asia Annual Report 2008) 3.9 Major Shareholders As of 12 November 2009, about 26% of the total share capital was owned by TuneAir Sdn Bhd. AirAsia is a substantially owner managed company, the cumulative ownership by the board of directors constitutes approximately 28% of the share capital. Shareholder name No. of shares owne What Is Atherosclerosis Disease? What Is Atherosclerosis Disease? Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory condition affecting mainly the medium sized and large muscular arteries in the vasculature. Research suggests that the role of statins as a cholesterol lowering agent is only one of their many pharmacological purposes, and that they can also be used in the treatment of inflammatory conditions such as atherosclerosis. A lot of funding has gone into this area of research as its predicted that in the next 15 years, it is expected that cardiovascular related events are going to be the main cause of death worldwide. Thus there is a greater need to consider novel strategies in management of cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis. In the course of this essay I will attempt to describe how and why atherosclerosis is an inflammatory condition and how statins can be exploited as anti inflammatory agents in reducing the overall cardiovascular risk associated with the disease. There is a lot of laminar blood flow through the medium sized and large arteries in the vasculature which are the prime positions for atherosclerotic plaques to grow, making the blood flow more turbulent. This leads to the build up of ischemic tissue in organs where blood flow becomes limited leading to major vascular events as a consequence. The composition of this atheroma is the first indication that the disease is of an inflammatory origin as it matches that expected at the intermediate phase of injury. Also, as seen in other inflammatory states, monocytes are attracted to the site of inflamed tissue and differentiate into macrophages. This leads to an increase in production of inflammatory cytokines and an upregulation in toll like receptors. The plaque is largely made up of macrophages, mast cells, T cells, fibrin, collagen and platelets aggregates which indicate that the immune system has been activated to produce an inflammatory response to the insult. It is now also evident that the actual stenosis is less of a contributing factor to ischemia and that it is more of a result of the activation of plaque content, eg, macrophage and mast cells, which elicits the prothrombotic and procoagulant factors involved in thrombus formation. The role of cholesterol in plaque formation is considerable as macrophages found in the plaque composition are heavily saturated with cholesterol ester giving them their name, foam cells. Additionally, there is a lot more LDL in the circulation which has been proven to be pro inflammatory and is raised in atherosclerosis. Raised LDL in it self is a big contributing factor to the formation of foam cells as the LDL becomes oxidised and reduces de-novo synthesis of LDL receptors on endothelial cells and macrophages. Running parallel to this, CD34 scavenger receptors on these cells become unregulated so macrophages and endothelial cells engulf cholesterol and cholesterol esters in an uncontrolled manner leading to the formation of foam cells. These then set off a series of events leading to more foam cell production and plaque formation. This illustrates the important role cholesterol has in worsening the inflammatory processes involved in atherosclerosis thus foregrounding the need of s tatins to utilise their lipid and non lipid pharmacological mechanisms involved in cholesterol lowering as well as controlling the inflammation. There is a lot of evidence from experiments which link the involvement of cholesterol and inflammation in atherosclerosis. There is evidence which suggests that the presence of cholesterol results in an over expression of cell adhesion molecules, eg VCAM-1, ICAM-1 and E-selectin. Also, increased release of cytokines such as MCP-1 within the plaque as well as macrophages TNF-alpha, IFN-gamma and IL-1 which is all consistent with the inflammatory process. Additionally, mast cells are attracted and degranulated at the site of plaque formation. Other experimental evidence also shows that when cholesterol fed rats are treated with immunosuppressants; there is a reduction in the atherosclerosis. There is research into the possibility of there being some angiogenesis in the area which is consistent with the proliferative phase of repair involving the immune system. All of the above illustrates, with evidence, the inflammatory origins of atherosclerosis. Infectious agents are also associated with activating the immune system to produce a pro inflammatory response to a foreign organism. There is further evidence which illustrates that this is also true for atherosclerosis. There have been suggestions which say that infectious agents such as Chlamydia pneumoniae damage the endothelial cells in the same way as cholesterol. Infection with this organism can cause increased cell activation and expression of adhesion molecules as well as programmed cell death at site of damage. Also, there is increased cytokine expression in smooth muscle cells and the increased size of cells correlates to the neointimal thickening (plaque) associated with the disease. Overall, this leads to the recruitment and activation of immune cells such as leucocytes which are a major contributor to the inflammatory process. It was also shown through experimental models, that this infection causing the plaque formation can be treated by azithromycin which is a well es tablished immunosuppressant. All this evidence again foregrounds the strong correlation of inflammation in atherosclerosis. Now that we have established that atherosclerosis is indeed an inflammatory condition which can be exacerbated by high cholesterol and infection, the treatment strategy should therefore involve the use of statins for their cholesterol lowering and non lipid properties allowing them to be effective in resolving the inflammation. The conventional role of statins is the inhibition of HMG-CoA reductase enzyme which intern stops all the enzymatic steps occurring downstream of this enzyme to ultimately reducing hepatic cholesterol production. This leads to the inhibitory effect cholesterol has on LDL receptor synthesis being lifted so more receptors are synthesised leading to a greater uptake of cholesterol from the circulation thus lowering overall blood cholesterol levels. There is a lot of novel evidence suggesting the benefits of statins occurring before blood cholesterol reduction which illustrates that some other process must be involved. Apart from the conventional HMG-CoA reduction, statins also have non lipid related activity. They inhibit the production of mevalonic acid and isoprenoid metabolites which accounts for the apparent immunosuppressant activity of statins in atherosclerosis. In the case of inflammatory diseases, statins can also reduce smooth muscle proliferation, reduce over expression of ce ll adhesion molecules, reduce infiltration of macrophage and T cells to site of damage, inhibit antigen dependant T cell activation and reduce other inflammatory mediators such as IL-6, TNF alpha, C reactive protein and INF-gamma. Some studies have also shown the action of statins in vivo when an small experimental amount of 2ng/kg of LPS from E coli was injected into volunteers taking simvastatin or a placebo. The results of this study illustrated the non lipid effects of statins in response to insult as there was no change in blood TNFalpha in the group taking the statin which shows that statins have a role in affecting the bodys immune response to external insult. This clearly foregrounds the roles of lipid and non lipid mechanisms of action of statins in reducing serious outcomes related to the occurrences of cardiovascular events. In conclusion, it is clear from experimental evidence that atherosclerosis has been identified as an inflammatory disease. There is significant information to support the notion of using statins in a clinical setting for their lipid and non lipid effects to aid the over all reduction in the atherosclerosis and the role it has in activating an immune response. Therefore, statins can be used for their pleiotropic effects in inflammatory disease such as atherosclerosis to help alleviate the body of the inflammatory response related to the condition.

Realism And Naturalism In The Literary World English Literature Essay

Realism And Naturalism In The Literary World English Literature Essay When people think of what is real, that often think of what is natural. When people think of what is natural, they often think of something real. However, these statements do not apply to literature. Although Realism and Naturalism seem as if they should be the same exact concepts, they have completely different meanings in the literary world. The movement towards Realism began after the Romanticism period when people became more interested in stories that could relate to their everyday lives. From there, Naturalism was invented. Realism is writing about something that is real, or possible. It has everyday people, ordinary scenarios, and familiar language to that culture. Although Naturalism captures some of the same ideas, it is often much darker and filled with a more Gothic feel of literary devices. The Death of Ivan Ilyich is a great example of a literary work from the Realism era. A work that describes the later movement to Naturalism is The Lost Phoebe. By contrasting these two examples, I believe you can identify the differences between Realism and Naturalism. The Death of Ivan Ilyich is the story of a man who has worked his way into a high social standing, married a good wife, and started what seems to be the perfect family. When a fatal illness takes over, Ivan starts to see himself change not only physically, but mentally as well. This story is a piece from the Realism movement. All the characters are living normal, ordinary lives. What seems to be the perfect family to outsiders is not so perfect on the inside. Everything that revolves around this piece could be true, or real, for other families. It was created to make a social change, often a principle of Realism. The idea was to use their own methods to reveal the cruelty of the society that many people, like Ivan Ilyich, take such pride in. In the beginning of the story, Mr. Ilyichs coworkers are all discussing his death and the effects that his death could cause. He had been ill for some weeks with an illness said to be incurable. His post had been kept open for him, but there had been conjectures that in case of his death Alexeev might receive his appointment, and that either Vinnikov or Shtabel would succeed Alexeev. The people that he spent most of his time with in a single day did not care about the fact he was ill or hurting in pain. The only thing that came to mind is how they could better themselves. This is a problem that we see in society from the past and now; it is a real idea yet told in a fiction setting. Another sad but true, realistic idea that is discussed in the story is marriage and love. Ivan Ilyich did not marry his wife for love. Several people tend to not marry for this reason and find other comfort areas like finance and success. To say that Ivan Ilyich married because he fell in love with Praskovya Fedorovna and found that she sympathized with his views of life would be as incorrect as to say that he married because his social circle approved of the match. Another point of view this story steps on is selfishness. Ivan had tried to give his only daughter the best possible life, even if it meant not being home most of the nights. When he becomes ill, she has no way to show love for her father because of the other things that are more important in her life. Their daughter came in in full evening dress, her fresh young flesh exposed, strong, healthy, evidently in love, and impatient with illness, suffering, and death, because they interfered with her happiness. Its hard to think from my own point of view how someone could act in such a way towards their own family; the Realism of this story is that scenarios like this happen everyday. Someone can pinpoint how the struggles in this mans life could be similar to what someone else is going through and how it could also correct us in the way that we live our own. The major point of view revolves around his life and the decisions he made on how to live. It was his choice and when death came upon him, he could decide if he made the right ones. In the story of The Lost Phoebe, an elderly man and his wife live together with the little money they have and they little food they can put on the table. Even though circumstances are not the best, happiness seems to come from just them being together. In the period of Naturalism, many of the ideas were focused around characters of a lower rank in life. It believed that life is deterministic; man is not a free agent, but he is an animal motivated by his chemistry, heredity, and environment of circumstances. Henry, the old man, seemed to find motivation in the love for his wife Phoebe. The ideas of this literary work still speculate around realism including original language of ordinary characters, but in this work, it seems to be a darker story with a semi-twisted happy ending. Henry had been married to the love of his life for 48 years. Old Henry and his wife Phoebe were as fond of each other as it is possible for two old people to be who have nothing else in this life to be fond o f. Henry always accused his dear wife of misplacing his belongings even though they most likely had no importance at all; other than that, their lives together were peaceful and sympathetic. Phoebe, Wheres my corn-knife? You aint never minded to let my things alone no more. Now you hush, Henry. If you dont, Ill leave yuh. Ill git up and walk out of here someday, and then where would y be? Y aint got anybody but me to look after yuh, so yuh just behave yourself. His wife always knew how to calm him and take control of the situation. Not long afterwards, Henrys wife passed away. Im sure he felt almost as if the whole world around him had fallen apart. He had not order to his life and the only thing that kept him motivated was Phoebe. Up into this part of the story, everything can relate to Realism. On the night that Henry spots the bright light of the moon, he takes a turn toward the unknown and becomes eager to fins his long lost Phoebe. Henry somehow took a illness that destroyed th e memory of his wifes death. He finally makes the decision to set out and search for her. He remembered her threat had always been, Yuhll not find me it I ever leave yuh. I guess I kin git some place where yuh cant find me. Henrys desperate attempt to find Phoebe lasted for seven long years going door to door and looking under every rock and in every hole until it eventually came to an end. Of a sudden there came to him now for the first time in many years the full charm of her girlish figure as he had known it in boyhood, the pleasing, sympathetic smile, the brown hair, the blue sash she had once worn about her waist at a picnic, her gay, graceful movements. He walked around the base of the tree, straining with his eyes, forgetting for once his cane and utensils, and following eagerly after. He thought he had finally found his one true love, Phoebe. In desperation to follow her and finally get her to come back home, Henry jumps to his death and to his Phoebe. You could think of thi s story with a tragic ending; a man who jumped off a cliff chasing after nothing but a dark shadow in the middle of the night. I think of this story as a love story; a man who had searched for his long lost love for seven straight years and he finally found her, through death. This work includes several of the same ideas of that of Realism; however, the main theories behind both of them differ completely. The Lost Phoebe includes many Romantic, Gothic ideations with a sense of Realism; the idea that creates Naturalism. In The Death of Ivan Ilyich, the author is reaching out through a real life scenario to make a change within a community and within peoples lives, a principle of Realism. It includes ordinary characters, familiar language, and a realistic point of view. In The Lost Phoebe, the meaning is much deeper. A man in search for his true love, but in all actuality, he never finds her. They learned to live in peace with the lesser things in life. Naturalism incorporated the same ideas as Realism just in a deeper and darker way.

Binswangers Disease :: Biology Essays Research Papers

Binswanger's Disease Even though I knew my grandmother for 17 years before she died my mother told me that I had never met her. According to her my grandmother had not been "herself" for years because the affects of her advanced age had basically destroyed the person she once was and turner her into a living zombie. Although humans live an average of 85 years, things such as memory loss and lack of motor control can completely change a person and in a way kill her years before she dies. Vascular Dementia has the same general symptoms as "old age" only it typically occurs in younger people. Binswanger's Disease is a specific type of vascular dementia, probably the most common form, which affects people at approximately age 60. Most people diagnosed with this disease do not live past five years of its onset(1). Currently, not much is known about Binswanger's Disease; in many ways it resembles various other neurological disorders making it difficult to diagnose. The trademark of this disease is damage to th e blood vessels in the deep white matter of the brain(1),(4),(5). The pons, basal ganglia, and thalamus are typical sites for these lesions(5),(7). A Magnetic Resonance Imaging scan is one of the most reliable ways to see this damage(5),(6). However, with outward symptoms such as depression, strokes, and disease of heart valves(1),(2),(3),(5) an MRI is not typically one of the first diagnostic tool used and the disease proceeds unchecked. My original thought surrounding Binswanger's Disease related to my mother's opinion of my grandmother; the people with the disease became different people due to the changes in their brains. In other words, one of the physical changes that takes place in the brain must somehow affect the victim's I-function effectually transforming him or her into a different individual. From the point of view that brain equals behavior and there is nothing else this analysis made logical sense. However, it seemed like a very simplistic summary of the disease's effects, and after deeper investigation into the course of the disease I realized that the answer would not be so easy. One of the facts I uncovered is that occasionally victims will partially recover and stabilize for a period of time, thus reverting to their pre-Binswanger's Disease selves(1),(5). So the I-function cannot, most probably, be destroyed in these instances since the victims return to their original behavior, even though their br ains have undergone alterations. Binswanger's Disease :: Biology Essays Research Papers Binswanger's Disease Even though I knew my grandmother for 17 years before she died my mother told me that I had never met her. According to her my grandmother had not been "herself" for years because the affects of her advanced age had basically destroyed the person she once was and turner her into a living zombie. Although humans live an average of 85 years, things such as memory loss and lack of motor control can completely change a person and in a way kill her years before she dies. Vascular Dementia has the same general symptoms as "old age" only it typically occurs in younger people. Binswanger's Disease is a specific type of vascular dementia, probably the most common form, which affects people at approximately age 60. Most people diagnosed with this disease do not live past five years of its onset(1). Currently, not much is known about Binswanger's Disease; in many ways it resembles various other neurological disorders making it difficult to diagnose. The trademark of this disease is damage to th e blood vessels in the deep white matter of the brain(1),(4),(5). The pons, basal ganglia, and thalamus are typical sites for these lesions(5),(7). A Magnetic Resonance Imaging scan is one of the most reliable ways to see this damage(5),(6). However, with outward symptoms such as depression, strokes, and disease of heart valves(1),(2),(3),(5) an MRI is not typically one of the first diagnostic tool used and the disease proceeds unchecked. My original thought surrounding Binswanger's Disease related to my mother's opinion of my grandmother; the people with the disease became different people due to the changes in their brains. In other words, one of the physical changes that takes place in the brain must somehow affect the victim's I-function effectually transforming him or her into a different individual. From the point of view that brain equals behavior and there is nothing else this analysis made logical sense. However, it seemed like a very simplistic summary of the disease's effects, and after deeper investigation into the course of the disease I realized that the answer would not be so easy. One of the facts I uncovered is that occasionally victims will partially recover and stabilize for a period of time, thus reverting to their pre-Binswanger's Disease selves(1),(5). So the I-function cannot, most probably, be destroyed in these instances since the victims return to their original behavior, even though their br ains have undergone alterations.

Essay on the Character of Caleb Trask in John Steinbecks East of Eden :: East Eden Essays

The Character of Caleb Trask in East of Eden Cal Trask is one of the most complex characters in John Steinbeck's East of Eden. Through Cal's childhood experiences, his personal motives, and his internal conflict, Steinbeck shows the development of Cal's character. First of all, the most important childhood experience which affects Cal's life is Adam's 12 year abandonment of his sons. Since Cathy ran away, the twins have no mother figure to give them tenderness as they grow up. This absence of open affection leaves Cal unable to express his needs for love and attention. Only Lee, the Chinese servant, is there to guide Cal and Aron. Since Cal is the more dominant of the two brothers, he learns to manipulate Aron and others around him. He takes this role because, while "no one liked Cal very much... Aron drew love from every side"(Steinbeck 551). Lee observes that "he's [Cal] fighting for his life and his brother doesn't have to fight [for his father's love and affection]"(386). Cal's well-intentioned motives are mostly aimed at winning his father's love. He sacrifices his pride and asks Will Hamilton to help him raise money to replace the money Adam lost in the lettuce adventure. When Adam rejects the money, he in effect rejects Cal, which is "brutal, and unfeeling, and this after he had begun a cordial relationship with his son"(Fontenrose 375). Cal is so distraught that he lashes out at Aron, his father's favorite son, by telling him the truth about their mother. This act is a contrast to a similar crossroad earlier in the novel when Cal doesn't tell Aron the truth about his mother because "he didn't think Aron could handle it at all" (586). Cal also withholds the information in an effort to be "good," and because Cal knows that the revelation of his knowledge of this secret would bring pain to Adam, the man he loves the most. Finally, Cal is faced with his internal struggle of good versus evil. This struggle is partly caused by his traumatic child experiences. He struggles with the question of whether his evil actions are the result of his own evilness or his mother's wickedness. He tries to combat this wickedness that he sees within himself by trying to acquire affection, especially his father's, through good deeds and being more pleasant towards other. However, he strikes out at others whenever he feels rejected by Adam, and he fights the urge to strike out at Aron, who Cal believes is Adam's favorite son, by using his most devastating weapon---the truth about their mother.

Cosmetic Surgery on Teenagers

Cosmetic surgery on teenagers Both texts, Valerie Ulene, â€Å"Plastic surgery for teens†, an article from Los Angeles Times website, January 12, 2009 and Camille Sweeney, â€Å"Seeking Self-Esteem Through Surgery†, an article from New York Times website, January 15, 2009, agree on the view on cosmetic surgery and query the idea of increased self-esteem to a certain point. Text 1, â€Å"Plastic surgery for teens†, focuses more on the surgery itself whereas text 2, Seeking Self-Esteem Through Surgery†, focuses more on the psychological part of cosmetic surgery.Even though they show two different sides of plastic surgery they still share some of the same statements of problems such as: which consequences surgery can lead to and which image issues teenagers’ face today. The fact that Diana Zuckerman, The president of the National Research center for Women and Families, appears in both articles makes them look alike in some cases, due to the similar chos en subjects. In text 1 Valerie Ulene emphasizes the issues of the modern world’s view on beauty and unrealistic ideals.These are some the primary problems that she discusses. In her discussion she actually refers to a study that shows no evidence of improved self-esteem after undergoing surgery. Valerie Ulene questions the surgeons, and that is where Dr. John Canedy, president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, comes in. Dr. John Canedy himself seems to have a critical view on cosmetic procedures among teens as well. He doesn’t exclude improved self-esteem, but he thinks that the surgeons should select the patients carefully and after long consideration.As I mentioned before text 2, â€Å"Seeking Self-Esteem Through Surgery†, focuses a lot on the beauty and psychological issues such as: celebrity obsession and makeover TV shows. Another person who shares some of the same views is Jean Kilbourne, the co-author of â€Å"So Sexy, So Soon†. He talks about the impossibilities of meeting the standards and values of beauty. Ann Kearney-Cooke, likes to characterize this phenomena as â€Å"an epidemic of low self-esteem among girls†.Diana Zuckerman, which appears in both articles, says that teens often forget or ignore the fact that they aren’t guaranteed a better life afterwards and that’s a big problem. Valerie Ulene engages the readers in several ways. One of the methods she uses in the text is to personalize it by referring to herself and her beauty problems, more specifically her nose. This is something that appears throughout the text. She even mentions her teen daughter: â€Å"With a 14-year-old daughter of my own, I recognize how difficult it can be†.By this she also refers to parents banning teen plastic surgery, and that engages the readers personally. Most people could probably relate to most of the problems Valerie Ulene talks about and has experienced. By choosing such a big issue she gets a lot of readers who are more likely to find the article interesting. Another method of engaging the readers is to strengthen the reliability. She does this by including several experts, who uses facts and creates different views: â€Å"there is really no data to suggest that it improves their overall body image or self-esteem†, as Diana Zuckerman comments.The data doesn’t only support the experts but it also supports the importance of these issues. The debate of banning plastic surgery for teens is an all time debate that keeps reappearing, maybe not much here in Denmark, but other places like Brazil, USA, UK etc. The arguments are mostly the same when it comes to issues like this: on one side banning it would be necessary in some cases; on the other side we live in a modern world where people can be held responsible for their actions.This is also the general view in this case. On one side we’ve got the Australian state of Queensland which finds it necessary to ban plastic surgeries for teens, like Dr. Pete Constantino says: â€Å"If they aren’t old enough to sign their own surgical consent for a medically necessary procedure, then they shouldn’t be able to induce their parent to do for cosmetic surgery†. Teenagers are incapable of making such a big decision at that age.On the other side: is that limiting teenagers’ needs both psychologically and physically? The question is whether the government should decide which values, morals and norms are correct. In this case the best thing is to bane cosmetic surgeries for teenagers. Your body is still developing, and most teenagers aren’t responsible enough to make such big decisions. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. Page 3, line 58. [ 2 ]. Page 2, line 26-17. [ 3 ]. Page 6, line 23-24.

Just Dessert

Just Dessert Name: ADJ/215 Date: Instructor: Just Dessert It is a normal feeling for people in our society to want someone to be punished for the crime they commit. Without any type of punishment it feels like justice was not served especially when there is a victim involved. This in many people’s eyes is a way to justify punishment and it is based on the just dessert theory. With this theory it is the belief that a person should be punished based on the harm they caused and the crime they committed. In other words the punishment should fit the crime. People who are for just dessert believe that retribution justifies punishment because it is deserving based on the crime. Where the opposing side believes that justification of punishment lies in the ability to prevent or minimize future harm. Arguments in Favor of Just Dessert When researching just dessert I found three particular arguments in favor of the just dessert theory. The first argument is that the punishment should be the same for all offenders based on the crime they committed. This is considered to be fair and justified punishment because it is deserving of the crime committed. The second argument supports that just dessert encompasses fair treatment both to the vulnerable in society and victims rather than just the offenders. This allows the victims of crimes to know what type of justice they can expect. And finally the third argument believes that the just desert theory is the best way to explain the death penalty for murder because if an offender takes a life they would understand and expect that their punishment would be a sentence of death. Arguments Against Just Dessert There are many arguments against the just desserts theory. Two significant arguments against the just dessert theory are that it gives an inadequate justification of bias or hate crimes and cannot explain the state’s democratic duty to protect the most vulnerable victims. Many opponents are concerned that the state legislatures will set unreasonably high sentences. Just dessert is also thought to be inflexible and fixed for every offender; very little if any consideration is given to the circumstances surrounding his or her crime. There is also a fear that just dessert would remove the rehabilitation aspect from prisons across the country. Those that choose to argue in favor of just dessert to support the continued use of the death penalty in the United States are missing, or choose to ignore, many fallacies with the argument of just dessert in support of the death penalty. An important point to keep in mind is that the United State is the only democracy in the world that still uses the death penalty as a possible punishment. (Foley, 2006). My Position is Against Just Dessert My position was assigned to be against just dessert. While researching just dessert and exploring both sides of the argument I can understand why people are against just dessert. It would seem that this theory would not be beneficial when it comes to certain types of crimes. â€Å"When dealing with a case of a single individual who has committed a crime, participants appeared insensitive to the factors that should drive sentencing when utilitarian goals are the motivating force; it was the factors relevant to the just deserts perspective that determined sentencing. (Carlsmith, Darley, & Robinson, 2002). The sentence at an individual level seems to come from a strictly deservingness-based stance rather than taking into consideration the circumstances surrounding the crime when it comes to deciding punishment. Although the type of crime may be similar, no crime is the same or committed for the same reason. The theory of just dessert is retrospective rather than prospective. â€Å"The punisher need not be concerned with future outcomes, only with providing punishment appropriate to the given harm. Although it is certainly preferable that the punishment serve a secondary function of inhibiting future harmdoing, its justification lies in righting a wrong, not in achieving some future benefit. † (Carlsmith, Darley, & Robinson, 2002). The belief is that the punishment should be proportionate to the harm the person caused. The problem becomes that our judicial system is not perfect and there are times when innocent people are convicted of a crime. If we utilize the just dessert theory with someone ho was convicted of murder we would sentence them to death. If the person was later found to be not guilty we would have murdered an innocent person based on this theory. References Carlsmith, K. M. , Darley, J. M. , & Robinson, P. H. (2002). Why Do We Punish? : Deterrence and just deserts as motives for punishment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(2), 284-299. doi:10. 1037/0022-3514. 83. 2. 284 Foley, M. (2006). Toward Understanding the Death Penalty Debate. Retriev ed from http://www. ala. org/ala/acrl/acrlpmbs/choice/content/essay. cfm

Studying Mangroves

Water temperature was measured using a thermometer. The pH was determined using a pH meter, and salinity was measured using the handheld TOGA refractors. Mangrove Damage and Recovery Assessment The methods employed In this study were based from Roth (1992) and Taylor et al. (2013) with some modifications. In the island of Butting, seven 100 mm plots were established. The plots established were based on the vegetation types present. L. Species Composition All mangroves rooted within the plots were recorded and Identified In slut. The Handbook of Mangroves in the Philippines – Panky by Primeval et al. 004) and Field Guide to Philippine Mangroves also by Primeval (2009) were used as principal resources in identifying the species. Mangroves were categorized into three: trees, saplings, and seedlings. For Individuals having greater than or equal to 2. 5 CM DAB (girth at breast height, or 1. 3 m above ground level), they were categorized as trees. GHB (CM) of each tree was measured using a measuring tape. For forking or branching stems, measurement was done separately. For the seedlings and saplings, they were only identified and counted.Other observations, such as debris and abstract type, were also noted. II. Recovery Typhoon Impacts on the areas were recorded. Trees wealth the plots were Judged as dead or alive, and assigned to one of three structural impact categories: standing, fallen, or snapped. The approximate height of breakage for snapped trees was also whether well reformatted, poorly reformatted, or dead were recorded. Ill. Regenerative Capacity In assessing the regenerative capacity, the number of seedlings and saplings were monitored every month from February until April 2014. Live and dead plants were noted. Data AnalysesThe forest vegetation was evaluated using the following formula described by Croà »ton teal in 1984. Density was measured species wise and total in each plot as follows: Total density of all species = sum of all species densiti es (2) Basal area was measured species wise and total in each plot as follows: Basal area (mm) of each species = 0. 005 x DAB (7) Importance value of a species = relative density + relative dominance + relative frequency Species diversity was described according to the Shannon index (H) based on importance value of a species (N') and sum of importance value for all the species (N). H = NUN log NUN (10)

Illusion vs. Reality A Streetcar Named Desire Essay

Tennessee Williams uses the constant battle between illusion and reality as a theme throughout his play A Streetcar Named Desire. Many use illusion to escape the reality they are living in. This theme is present in all of his characters in different ways. Each character is shown to live their life in either the way of illusion or reality. Harold Mitchell, also known as Mitch buys into Blanches illusions. He is overtaken by her charm, but in the end finally faces reality. Stella who is Blanches sister is always wishing for everything to be perfect with her and Stanley even though he abuses her. She overlooks Stanley’s downfalls to escape her reality. Blanche is the center of all illusion. She fishes for complements and believes she is a step up from all people. Lying to herself and to others allows her to make it seem as if her life appears as it should be rather than how it is. To Blanche the loss of Bell Reve was as dramatic as if she lost her castle. Because of this she pretends that her life in Laurel didn’t occur. She cannot stand the light because she is living in fear that people will notice that she is older and is in denial about it. Each of these characters show how powerful illusion can be. Williams includes specific situations where illusion is portrayed. Such as, in Blanche and Mitch’s relationship. Blanche wants Mitch to want her and creates illusion of what she should be. From this she wants to seem more appealing and lies about her age to him and hides in the darkness she he will not see her clearly. Blanche owns a costume trunk filled with things that are dear to her. Meanwhile, they have no true value. She wears the crown she owns with the costume jewelry and goes through moments where she can pretend she lives the life of a princess to escape reality. Shep Huntleigh is a rich character who works in the oil business whom we never truly find out exists. To Blanche he is a man who she made an escape plan for him to take her and Stella away to Miami. Stella doesn’t want to leave because she thinks Stanley her husband is true to her. In all of these instances illusion plays a key role in a way for the characters to do away with the lives they do not want to be living. Although, not all characters are living in illusion Tennessee Williams does include some who face reality. Stanley Kowalski, Stella’s husband, is strictly a reality based character. He is constantly looking into Blanches real past. He sees through all of her illusions and wants the truth to things. This is proved in the rape scene when Stanley turns Blanche into the victim as she had made herself out to be throughout the play. Eunice the character who lives in the upstairs of the house with the Kowalski’s. She knows how untrue Stanley is to Stella and is always telling her to face reality and not put up with how she is treated like garbage from him. Towards the end of the play Mitch finally overlooks Blanches illusions and begins to question her by telling her how he has never seen her in the light and asks her age. Mitch’s sick mother helps to keep him focused in the real things in his life by having him put aside all other things to take care of the one who cared for him. Escaping your reality and living in an illusion world will leave you blind to the things around you. In some cases, if you are strong enough to withhold from the illusions around you, you may end up in the reality, like Mitch. Both Stella and Blanche found it best in their minds to live in a fantasy but if you live in it too long it can take over your reality.