Pan Europa Essay

Background Pan Europa Foods is company, located in Brussels, Belgium, producing high-quality ice cream, yogurts, bottled water and fruit juices. Its products are sold throughout Scandinavia, Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxemburg, western Germany and northern France. In January 1993, the senior-management committee of Pan-Europa Foods must decide which major projects to fund for that year. The available funds for implementation is set as 80 million euros. However various managers, have proposed projects totalling 208 million euro. Capital rationing has been identified as the main problem that the management of the company has to deal with. The management has to identify projects that would best achieve benefits of strategic importance. Problem statement According to case there is no evidence that projects would be proposed with some alignment to any strategy, mission or vision. There are only few criteria defined that projects should apply to, like Minimum Payback period, expected IRR, etc. There is no strictly defined project selection methodology in place. The project selection is based on the discussions and voting by the seven managing directors. The financial tests were the payback period and internal rate of return, which meant that the time value of money was ignored. Analysis The current funding for Pan Europa is mainly rooted in debt financing – debt-to-equity ratio is 125%, that is more higher than most of they peers have. After price war is over, Pan Europa bankers strongly recommended to reduce debt level significantly. Therefore company should pay attention on actions how to decrease capital spending. There might be several finance based methods for project evaluation in place, like NPV, Annuity (due to project characteristics), IRR, etc. And the results for evaluation might differ significantly. Like, if we are looking for long term activities, then, using annuity calculation we will find that preferred project would be the Strategic Acquisition. Projects sorted by this figure would be: Strategic Acquisition Eastward Expansion Snack Foods Southward Expansion Inventory Control System Artificial Sweeteners New Plant Expanded Plant Automation Conveyor System Expand Truck Fleet Effluent Treatment Program (which has no NPV) While the Effluent Treatment Program has no formal NPV it can be considered an investment of 4M now to save a cost of 10M in 4 years. In fact, there are many aspects that could invalidate the simple NPV analysis of the projects. They include Risk Political considerations Regulatory issues including health, safety and environmental Incompatibility with corporate strategy Resource availability Strictly speaking there are no ‘must to do’ projects on the desk. Water treatment project (Effluent Treatment) is upcoming in nearest future. But right now there is no evidence that this project has to be started right now. The new regulation might come in 4 years, but might be postponed as well. Of course this project shouldn’t be forgotten. All existing project might be split in a following sections: Increase efficiency Extension (either new plant building or new market capturing) R&D Regarding risk assessment, Projects that involve small technology changes like expanding the truck fleet would have low risk. Increasing levels of technological sophistication such as automation or introducing artificial sweeteners into products would also increase implementation risks. From financial perspective as the risk area we should consider that any producer in a capitalist environment is attempting to increase markets with new products in new areas. The prospective customers may simply choose to not buy the product. There are many risks regarding project implementation itself, like project size, complexity and length of the period of return, etc. Meanwhile tangible risks, there are several aspects, like correlation between several projects. For instance market expansions will come together with necessity to increase ability to deliver goods to consumers location (most probably truck fleet upgrade will be required). All projects mentioned in case are evaluated against financial figures, but besides  financial aspects, there are several non-quantitative points included. Projects that impact the company’s regulator compliance such as effluent treatment (environment) and warehouse automation safety. Several of the projects could impact the company’s image. For example, the focus on low fat products (artificial sweetener project) might increase companies reputation. Prospective Project evaluation should be done based on several factors. One of the most important points is financial benefits evaluation. There might be following characteristics taken in account for evaluation: Does the project fits in corporate strategy? Expected cost level, does it exceeds Tolerable Cost Value. Maximum payback period analysis. IRR evaluation, does the project meet minimum IRR? Risk analysis – does the project incur high risk? Financial characteristics were chosen due to significant information presence in case. Besides financial aspects several other might be taken in consideration, for instance – social factors (staff treatment), then company would focusses more on projects improving environment for labor force. Applying screens and criteria mentioned above and strictly following companies internal rules, the following projects would be eliminated outright: Truck Fleet upgrade because it does not meet the minimum IRR and exceeds the maximum payback period dictated by company policy. New Plant, Plant Expansion, Artificial Sweetener and Plant Automation all because they exceed the maximum payback period dictated by company policy. Strategic Acquisition would be eliminated due to excessive risk.

Critical Analysis of the poem “Breaking Through” Essay

The poem Breaking Through written by Myrna Peňa-Reyes is very profound in terms of its appeal to the reader. The poem is all about the filial relationship between a son/daughter and a father. The poem basically revolves around the father and his son/daughter. The plot of the poem tells the reader that a certain persona in the first stanza  receives a parcel that came during that morning. The persona lamely opened the small box and it takes for him/her a short labor to undo the tie. Although the box is just small, it is being tied skillfully and very well. It is not stated in the first stanza where the package does came from but lately, it is being mentioned that it’s from the persona’s father. The package box came all the way across 10, 000 miles of ocean. While opening the box, the persona can feel the love of his/her father that binds them together. Breaking Through if examined could be the literal meaning of breaking through or the undoing of the strong thread of two or three strands that are being twisted together tied around the package box received by the persona from his/her father. The title its self could be the connotation of the applied effort of a certain persona in the poem in executing a little labor by untying the box. This effort of the persona in the poem is very present from line 1 to 7 of the first stanza. It says that, â€Å"Haltingly I undo the knots around your parcel that came this morning. A small box should require little labor, but you’ve always been thorough, tying things tight and well. The twine lengthens, curls beside the box.† The title Breaking Through is the metaphorical representation of the filial devotion of the persona to his/her father. The title could be the denotation of the persona in the poem of the lessons that he/she had learned from his/her father. It could also mean â€Å"love† as supported from the last two lines of the second stanza. The line say that â€Å"my father, this undoing is what binds us.† Although it’s not directly mentioned that love is the breaking through, it is showed indirectly through subliminal meaning of the phrase â€Å"this undoing is what binds us.† What makes the father and the persona bind? The clear and not vague answer is love, nothing more. The author also used symbols in the poem. The first symbol is the box. As an assertion, the box highly symbolizes the love of the father to the persona that is being away from him. It is distant because the author mentioned in the last lines of the first stanza. It says that the package box came across 10, 000 miles of ocean. The box also represents the longing of the father to  his son/daughter that is away from him for a long time. Through the box, the father extends his warm filial love to his son/daughter. The knots around the parcel also represents that the father’s love is true and fair to the persona. The love that is true and fair can be supported by lines from 6-7 of stanza 1 that says â€Å"but you’ve always been thorough, tying things tight and well. The twine lengthens† and lines from 11-12 of stanza 1 that says â€Å"you hoped the package would hold its shape across 10, 000 miles of ocean.† In those lines, the father of the persona tied the knots thoroughly to keep the package in its original shape from the father’s home until it reaches the persona’s hand. It only signifies that he wanted that his best regards and love would remain in tact after journeying across 10, 000 miles across the ocean. The knots also symbolized of how patient the persona’s father, it definitely reflects the he tied the box. In the poem, there is a mention of belt in the 10th line of first stanza. It says, â€Å"once your belt slapped sharply against my skin,† it is being enclosed in the parenthesis for further emphasis. The belt that the author projects in line 10 only symbolizes that the persona’s father is a man of discipline. He slaps the persona sometime in his/her childhood to discipline him/her. Through the belt, it shaped the persona for he/she no. through the father’s slapping, the persona learned things between bad and good, and right or wrong. The belt also symbolizes display or the manifestation of power. It only shows that during childhood of the persona, he/she exists in the patriarchal world. Indeed, during the persona’s childhood, he/she exists in te patriarchal society for he/she experienced being beaten by the father. Not using the scissors in cutting could also mean a lot in the poem. As an assertion, the persona did not use the scissors to unravel the tight knots of the box because the persona wanted to savor the moment of unraveling with love. If the person uses the scissors, it will project that the persona is non-appreciative of the love of the father. Not using the scissors could also mean that the persona prolonged the excitement by opening it very lamely. It also means that the persona had learned the craft of patience from his/her father. The author had also left its readers the dramatic impact by not revealing what is inside the box. It poses questions of what is inside the box. Is it a food? Books? Dress? Bag or anything that is liquid? The reader can’t figure out for its not revealed. A strong assertion is that, no matter what’s inside the box, it surely resembles the love of the father to the persona of the poem. In a contemporary setting, if the author is mentioning about across 10, 000 miles of oceans, the first that comes into the mind of the reader is that, the persona is situated abroad or in states. If being assumed that the father is in Philippines, maybe the persona is in West Asia, America, Europe, Australia and others. The reader does not also know if the persona is working abroad, married, touring and etc. because it’s not directly stated. What is very vivid in the context is that they are away from each other and they haven’t seen each other for a long period of time. The tone of the poem is about longing and sadness. In the first part of the poem, the persona undoes the box haltingly. Haltingly in other words could mean lamely. In this thought alone, an assertion came in that the persona is sad because it made him/her feel home sick as the box arrives. The tone of longing could also be sensed. As the persona is undoing the knots of the box, the persona reminisce his/her father-his teaching, disciplinary actions and love. Through the presence of the box, the persona can imagine his/her home that heightened his/her sadness and longing. Characterization of the father in the poem is also very effective. In the context, the father is portrayed as caring for he sends the persona a package box although its very far. Unlike other father figure, the father in the poem is very mild-not ruthless and cruel. Though there is a use of belt slapping in the poem, it is being done to discipline his child. The father did do it for a good purpose, for the benefit of the child when he/she grew up but not in the abusive manner. The father figure in here is perhaps a gentle and amiable father. The author also used strong images to convey the meaning of the poem. The delivery is very suggestive images like the undoing of the box; the scene is very vivid and understandable. Through this clear description, it brought the reader the catharsis of emotions or eliminating its complexity, the author effectively carried out the essence and meaning of the poem. In terms of form and structure, the author unconsciously celebrated the form over the content. Like T. S. Eliot, she has done it for she chose to write in free verse or blank verse. She does not follow rhymes and meters, what she did is the total deviation of the traditional metered poems. The style is very contemporary, or maybe it belongs to the Romantics. In general, the Breaking Through is a superb poem. It tackles a rarely touched theme in poetry, filial love. Through this theme, it makes the poem unique and notable.

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 8

Assignment Example The Ss eliminate waste that emanates from a disorganized workplace (Rubin and Hirano 16). The Ss intend to accomplish the objective of establishing an organized workplace that makes it easy for employees or production operators to locate what they need in a short period, thus eliminating time wasting. When the workplace is extremely disorganized and production items are not kept in an orderly manner, it is possible that employees will waste a lot of time trying to locate what they need in order to execute their daily tasks. The Ss have direct link with Lean in that they ensure that the organization is organized so as to minimize waste such as time wasting and material wasting among others (Rubin and Hirano 19). Lean focuses on reducing considerable the time taken to produce a product and distribute it to consumers by encouraging high level of efficiency in the production plant. The Ss ensure that the workplace is highly organized so that materials and tools can be located with ease and within the shortest time possible, thus reducing wastage of time. Consequently, both Ss and Lean focus on a mutual goal of eliminating time waste and speeding up the rate at which products are delivered to customers. They both reduce product cycle time. One of the most important Ss that the employer should be concerned about is the fourth stage, Standardize. The phase of the 5s entails the establishment of consistent strategies and guidelines for executing tasks within the organization. Standardization demands high level of orderliness supported with visual controls. This S will enable the employer to create clear and comprehensive guidelines that direct employees on how they are expected to execute their tasks. It will allow the organization to adopt the best production methods, which reduces cycle time in the production process while observing quality issues. Without Standardization, there is high Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 212 Assignment Example use its fails to incorporate a scientific category and most essential because the application of this law is likely to result in the conclusion of several communities that didn’t not have any law for this era. One major agreement among majority of the theorists is that the concept of law is comprised of two essential classes namely; law in terms of real patterns of behaviors and secondly; law is viewed in terms of the national law model (Brian, 1995). The author states that no despite any definition of law, it is evident that researchers and theorists are repeatedly taken back to the state law of institutions and standards. All societies ought to have laws, but they have the right of objecting any law that is on the grounds of the state law model. This is because state law is a contingent development that is not likely to be present in all societies in a fully functional manner. The author seems to have analyzed the connection between law, oppression, and ethics and has also tried to explain the question of whether all laws may be correctly theorized as coercive guidelines or as moral guidelines. There exists no rationally indispensable connection between law and coercion or in the middle of law and ethics. Categorizing all laws as coercive guidelines or as moral guidelines is overgeneralizing the connection between law, coercion, and ethics. Today’s researchers disapprove the concept of law which was expressed by John Aus tin (Brian, 1995). This article maintains that a social fact idea of law is emphasizing foundations and recognition principles, it also extends that this positivism to integrate requirements of publicness in law, The components of law in the efflorescent sector of international administrative law ‘is inherent in public law, state self-governing jurisprudence, and progressively in international governance, whereby the law is applicable to public persons rather than to distinguishable universal publics. Principles that are relevant to

Contemporary Issues in Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Contemporary Issues in Management - Essay Example This in turn has created issues and challenges for the companies operating in different industries and in different regions (Chiaroni, Chiesa, and Frattni, 2011). Most companies tend to invest loads of money in research and development. They invest huge amount of money in research and development regardless if they are getting results in days, months or in years. These companies know that if by doing research they can bring innovation which will eventually lead them towards the glorification of brand name and business. However, in order to manage innovation in effective and efficient manner it is important for the organisations to make sure that the innovation is supported by the other organisational elements as well (Chiaroni, Chiesa, and Frattni, 2011). In this report working of Zara and Hennes and Mauritz fashion retailers will be put under consideration with lime light on structural factors these companies has including how much they spend on research and development, what kind o f organizational structure they have, concept of decision making, empowerment and strategies alliances with regard of innovation. Furthermore the effective use of corporate culture in order to get innovation for instance by giving flexible timings to worker, the concept of knowledge sharing, project initiation or by project organization giving different teams different projects will also be a part of this report. Finally policies of human resource will be discussed and its aptitude how these companies deals with human resource policies in order to encourage innovation. How they resolve staffing issues by hiring new or by retaining the current best staff in order to get productivity and innovation. Innovation Management: Innovation management is the process of managing the innovation by coming up with different related strategies and techniques. Different organisations are coming up with rapid innovations and new products and business methods in order to remain competitive in the ind ustry. The innovations are not only in the form of providing the customers with new products or services but also revolve around the improvement of different business processes and operations. In order to make sure that the innovation is implemented and managed in effective and efficient manner it is important to come up with appropriate innovation management strategies. It is also important to keep in mind that innovation management is an ongoing process and the organisation should carefully monitor, design, and execute different strategies. In order to make sure that innovation is a success it is important to adapt the other organisational elements accordingly (Rowley, Baregheh, and Sambrook, 2011). For instance, the company should have supportive corporate culture, organisational structure, and human resource management policy. The three elements or factors which should be given special attention in this regard are as follow: 1. Structural Factors: the structural factors include the structure of the research and development department, the structure of the organisation, different systems for encouraging innovation, and other related factors. 2. Corporate Culture: the corporate culture is used to come up with a supportive atmosphere for creative and innovative ideas

Web-based HR Company Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Web-based HR Company Analysis - Essay Example The role of human resource management has therefore changed significantly, evolving from the traditional administrative task of predominantly payroll regulation and support to a more strategic role in a company’s administration. Some of the emerging new roles include occupation development, travel administration, production scheduling. Many companies have recognized that enhanced staff morale not only generates agreeable employee relations but also translates to higher productivity to the company. The establishment of a web-based human resources strategy has proven to be an effective way of solving many of the contemporary employee problems which have habitually plagued the employee relations between the employer and staff leading to low productivity levels especially in large firms that have complex staff problems. According to Richard Hubbard a director at Watson Wyatts Worldwide, a leading global consulting firm as, â€Å"compensation and benefits continue to become more c omplicated at most companies †¦the variety of health plan choices and the number of changes in the pension arena, employees constantly hunger for more information. As a result, there’s a growing demand to put data at employees’ fingertips through Web-based tools.† (Watson-Wyatts, 1). Hawking and Stein (2003) however argue that although there has been a lot of emphasis on business to business (B2B) and business to customer (B2C) planning, there has been minimal development on the potential of business to employee (B2E).

Energy Utilization in a Hand Soap Manufacturing Plant Essay

Energy Utilization in a Hand Soap Manufacturing Plant - Essay Example On the other hand, electrical energy is primarily utilized for lighting, refrigeration, generation of compressed air, and conveyance of raw materials and final products. Thermal energy could be generated from a wide array of boiler fuels, ranging from coal and firewood to diesel combustion. The main processes that utilize energy include those using thermal equipment like saponification, vacuum drying, mixing and plodding. In contrast, electric equipment constitutes air compressors, lighting system, and refrigeration plant, machines that handle material, boilers, electrical drives, and diesel generators, among others. Better understanding of energy consumption can be gained from consideration of the soap production processes individually (Wansbrough, 2013). The first process of significance is saponification. During this manufacturing phase, raw materials or fats are treated using thermal heat. The latter form of energy is usually in form of steam. Thermal treatment is conducted in pr esence of caustic soda, an alkali, resulting in formation of glycerin and soap. The thermal heat promotes reaction of raw fats with alkali forming grains of soap. Further boiling of the mixture with alkali makes it possible to create more soap grains. The resultant soap during this phase comprises of approximately 65% soap and 35% water, among other trace materials like salt and glycerin. The subsequent production stage involves soap washing. This is necessary to remove the excess glycerin and water presently in the soap mixture.

Annotated Bibiliography 3 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Annotated Bibiliography 3 - Assignment Example Such presentations include tests for students on their abilities to drive while texting: those who want to test their abilities have to navigate around set obstacles and answer seemingly easy questions. Penning says that even though the questions are easy, they distract teens a lot and does not allow them driving properly. Very often, both adults and teens believe that they are the only ones who can perform several tasks at a time. In reality, it is not so. About 90 percent of all collisions result from distracted driving, with the majority of cases resulting from texting while driving. The latter is more dangerous than talking on the phone or to passengers while at the wheel. As Pennings says, conversations tend to overshadow driving. Before cell phones, the problem of distraction while driving existed as drivers were talking to the passengers. Overall, when being engaged in a conversation, an average driver sees only a half of what appears in frony of him / her on the road. There is a wide range of no-texting apps for cell phones that send calls to voice mail, silence texts etc. when inside a moving vehicle; all of them can be downloaded from the Google Play or App Store. Pennings argues that these apps will not change the situation for the better because governments cannot make citizens use them. The author of the article refers to the experience of a person who is directly connected to the problem of texting while driving. Brian Pennings is an expert in his field, and his own ideas and statistical data he quotes make the source under consideration reliable and worth using in the research. In addition to this, the author of the article refers to Pennings’ ideas and discusses quite an interesting and, more importantly, innovative way of eliminating driving distractions in the form of cell phones, which is the use of apps for cell phones. This article may contribute

Was Nelson Mandela's decision to support the move to armed struggle Essay

Was Nelson Mandela's decision to support the move to armed struggle justified - Essay Example Totally within and entirely dependent on South Africa is the small independent nation of Lesotho. Colonization in South Africa In the 1870s, the British operating from their main base in Cape Colony attempted to try and bring about a total political unification of the various states that they ruled in the region. The Anglo-Boer South African war that was fought between 1899-1902 allowed the entire South Africa to come completely under the rule of the British for the first time and with this, the movement by the British to try and secure the total unification of the four colonies was considerably intensified. Despite the union having a constitution that was heavily white supremacist and the region being mainly dominated by Afrikaners, the British were seen to welcome the formation of the new union (Page, 2003). After 1910, the South African government was seen to mostly be in the hands of several advocates who were advocating for a general policy of conciliation in South Africa. In 19 48 the â€Å"Purified† Nationalists party finally managed to come into power in South Africa and managed to hold on to power for over 40 years, until 1994. It was during this period that the party oversaw the creation and general implementation of the South African apartheid policy (Page, 2003). The Apartheid System in South Africa To a large extent, the South African National Party was seen to largely seen to build on a general principle of racial segregation that had been largely existent even before the establishment of the Union of South Africa. Various legislation governing urban and land in the country that had been established during 1923 and 1913 had for the most part set the necessary frame work that was needed for the successful formation of a segregationist society. In 1943 and 1946, the government formed legislation that helped it segregate Natal Indians with 1926 seen the extension of the job color bar (Riccucci, 1995). All the Individuals who came into power in South Africa in the year 1948 were all seen to believe that they had an actual formula that would aid them in ensuring the successful future of white minority rule in South Africa. Some of the measures implemented during this period in South Africa included the removal of blacks from the common voters’ roll, the continual tightening of the job color bar, the provision of an extremely inferior and separate education system for black in the country. To further advance these segregationist policies, all persons in the country were forced to live in specific racially defined â€Å"group areas† while various black African territories that were referred to as â€Å"Bantustans† were also created. These Bantustans were designed to allow black Africans to exercise their political rights strictly within the confines of these areas. The apartheid’s government Population Registration Act was seen to arbitrarily classify all South African’s based on their race, while the 1953 Reservation of separate Amenities Act was also seen to considerably tighten â€Å"petty apartheid† so as to try and eliminate any possible contact between different races (Stasiulis and Yuval-Davis, 1995). Malan’s Successor, H. F. Verwoerd believed that these Bantustan areas could be lead to some form of independence and in time, four of these Bantustan a

Assignment 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Assignment 1 - Essay Example The passages 34-38 (Quinones 460) prove the fact that Jeremy had no intention to make himself a hero, he was truly worried about the kids and did his best to save them. The same intentions I noticed in the interview with that fireman I read years ago and this was really surprising for me, because usually when people do something good they want others to see their good actions and evaluate the person who does something moral as a virtuous kind of personality. However, the fireman from that article was extremely unpretentious telling the stories about all those people he had saved like it was his routine working responsibilities. Thus he claimed that it was just his job, like if it was something equal in its value to what people do in offices or something like that. The fireman wasn’t thinking of being a hero, he was just doing his job, as well as Jeremy was doing what he knew he had to do, so he wasn’t even considering any other options except helping those kids. Iâ€⠄¢m pretty sure that in that moment he wasn’t even thinking â€Å"I have to save the kids†, he was just doing it without thinking, as his actions were absolutely automatic. Hence, it is possible to say that the actions of both the fireman and John were truly heroic, as there wasn’t the intention to become a hero in none of them, because real heroism is essentially simply kind and thoughtful. The Michaej’s Weiskopf story about him losing his hand and saving the three other people in fact reveals an interesting definition of heroism as a â€Å"quick response to a changing environment† (Weiskopf, 467). Probably, the story indeed proves the thesis, however, the story of another journalist, Robert Cox, demonstrates the kind of journalistic heroism that is not engaged with self-preservation instinct but the one based on sacrifice of one’s own life for the sake of justice and truth. Robert Cox was

Environmental protection Essay Example for Free

Environmental protection Essay Environmental protection has become a major concern for society. Admittedly, with the rapid development of economy, our environment is faced with new challenges. People increasingly attach importance to the protection. So it has been common that teachers and students discuss environmental protection in class. City planners take environmental problems into consideration as well. Factories are no exception. They begin to try reducing pollution to meet the needs of environmental protection instead of the short-term interest. The main reasons are listed as follows: firstly, the serious air and water pollution affects everyone. In addition, only by making joint efforts to protect our environment can cities survive. Last but not least, businesses to make a profit pay more attention to environmental protection for their interest in the long run. From the picture above, we can see even the communication between parents and son rely on the Internet. With the rapid development of advanced science and technology, people increasingly make full use of the Internet to communicate with each other instead of face-to-face contact. As far as I am concerned, electronic communication only partly replace face-to-face contact. Admittedly, the Internet’s being put into use widely is the inevitable result of social development. It is indispensable to our daily communication. In addition, there is no denying that the electronic communication does save plenty of time for us, we can communicate easily beyond the limit of time and place. But every cion has its two sides. People are meeting increasingly on the Internet, on television screens. Undoubtedly, it is not beneficial to the deepen the emotions and between people. We cannot express our feelings fully without face-to-face contact as well. Some body language like a hug of comfort or a kiss of love will never be express through the electronic communication. Therefore, though the electronic communication bring convenience to us, to some degree, electronic communication can never replace face-to-face contact. My View on Traffic Accidents In recent years, plenty of news about people injured or killed by cars on roads can be heard , which shows us that traffic accidents have been risen. But why are there so many such terrible events? As far as I am concerned, to begin with, it is the result of more cars are running on the roads with the development of economy. Increasing accidents follow the increasing cars. In addition, there is no denying that the road conditions sometimes cant meet  the requirement of cars. But I think the most important one point is the lack of the safety awareness. And when being drunk, most people insist driving .As we all know, quite a lot of traffic accidents are due to the drivers who drive cars after drinking. Drunk drivers mind is vague, and they cant control themselves and the car well, so they can easily get into trouble out of consciousness.

Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Vaccine Formulation

Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Vaccine Formulation Abstract Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the leading cause of upper and lower respiratory tract infections in both children and elderly people. In this study we evaluated the short- and long-term protective efficacy of the single intranasal immunization of RSV vaccine formulation consisting of the fusion (F) protein formulated with a polyIC, an innate defense regulator peptide and a polyphosphazene (ΆF/TriAdj). This vaccine induced significant systemic and local immunity, including RSV F-specific IgG1 and IgG2a, IgA and virus neutralizing antibodies, and IFN-ÃŽÂ ³-secreting T cells in mice. Furthermore, this vaccination promoted the induction of RSV F85-93-specific CD8+ effector T cells with no virus replication in the lungs. To evaluate the duration of immunity induced by single intranasal vaccination, mice were challenged with RSV after five months of immunization. Significantly higher levels of IgG1, IgG2a and virus neutralizing antibodies were detected in ΆF/Tr iAdj vaccinated animals. Moreover, this vaccine formulation induced high local IgA secreting memory B cell development and B cell IgA production and conferred complete protection against subsequent RSV challenge without priming for enhanced disease. In conclusion, a single nasal vaccination of RSV ΆF protein formulated with TriAdj enhanced robust, long- term protective immune responses against RSV infection. Introduction Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major cause of severe lower respiratory tract disease in infants, older and immunocompromised individuals worldwide {Falsey, 2005 #586}. Many RSV vaccine candidates, including live attenuated strains, vectored and viral protein subunit vaccines are underway. Currently, there is no licensed RSV vaccine or specific treatments other than prophylaxis with passive antibody therapy (Palivizumab) {Group, 1998 #599}. The first RSV vaccine clinical trial with formalin-inactivated RSV (FI-RSV) failed to induce neutralizing antibodies and caused enhanced respiratory disease after natural RSV infection {Kim, 1969 #589}. RSV is an enveloped virus, containing three transmembrane surface glycoproteins: the major attachment protein G, fusion protein F and small hydrophobic SH protein. The F protein is highly conserved and mediates fusion of the virus into host cells and subsequent formation of syncytia, making it a major target for subunit vaccine and antiviral drug development {Collins, 2008 #597}. However, mucosal vaccination with RSV F protein alone does not induce protective immunity {Vaux-Peretz, 1992 #648;Garlapati, 2012 #650} therefore, this protein needs to be combined with an adjuvant to induce strong, long-lasting protective immune responses. Previously, we developed a novel combination adjuvant platform (TriAdj) comprising of three components, namely a polyI:C, innate defense regulator peptide (IDRs) and polyphosphazene (PCEP). Synthetic double-stranded RNA, polyIC, known to recognize TLR3 and retinoic acid-inducible gene 1(RIG-I) leading to induction of proinflammatory cytokines, which in turn activates various immune cells {Sivori, 2004 #581`, Longhi`, 2009 `#573;Longhi, 2009 #573}. To stabilize and protect the polyIC from degradation, two other immunmodulators an innate defense regulator (IDR) peptide and a polyphosphazene were added. Innate defense regulator (IDR) peptides are derivatives of natural host defense peptides with microbicidal, chemotactic properties {Yeung, 2011 #608}. Poly[di(sodium carboxylatoethylphenoxy)]-phosphazene (PCEP) is a synthetic biodegradable water-soluble polymer with immunostimulatory properties. It forms non-covalent complexes with antigens and/or other adjuvants to increase their stabil ity and allow multimeric presentation {Andrianov, 2009 #618;Kovacs-Nolan, 2009 #621}. Previously, we developed a novel vaccine candidate against RSV (ΆF/TriAdj) consisting of a truncated version of the RSV fusion protein (ΆF) formulated with TriAdj. We have shown that double vaccination regime such as prime and boost intranasal immunization with this vaccine candidate establishes long-lasting humoral and cell-mediated protective immune responses without any evidence of immunopathology {Garg, 2014 #60;Garg, 2015 #63}{Garg, 2014 #60}{Garg, 2014 #60}{Garg, 2014 #60}{Garg, 2014 #60}{Garg, 2014 #60}. In the present study we demonstrated that after single IN delivery with ΆF/TriAdj, vaccine elicits mucosal and systemic immune responses and offers complete protection from RSV challenge in mice. Furthermore, ΆF/TriAdj induced effective local CD8+ T cells, which is one of the hallmarks for successful vaccination against many viral infections. To evaluate the duration of immunity induced by this vaccine candidate after single intranasal vaccination, we carried out long-term trials. Five month after the vaccination, RSV ΆF formulated with TriAdj induced robust mucosal and systemic immune responses and complete protection from RSV challenge in mice. Furthermore, ΆF/TriAdj elicited long-lived local IgA secreting memory B cell development and B cell IgA production, as well as memory T cells. It is well known that an RSV vaccine needs to induce a balanced Th1/Th2 adaptive immune response, which stimulates the generation of high-affinity neutralizing antibodies with effector cytotoxic CD8+ T cells {Graham, 2011 #642}. Results Single mucosal vaccination with ΆF/TriAdj induces strong systemic immune responses: Antibodies play a major role in protection against many viruses. To characterize the quality of the humoral immune responses induced by single vaccination of ΆF/TriAdj, IgG1 and IgG2a titers were measured in the serum. As shown in Fig. 1A B, the mice immunized with ΆF/TriAdj developed significantly higher IgG1 and IgG2a levels, than placebo groups both before and after challenge with RSV. These results indicate that formulation of ΆF protein with TriAdj promotes a balanced humoral immune response. Neutralizing antibody plays a protective role against viral infections. In order to evaluate the biological function of the ΆF-specific serum antibodies, Virus neutralization (VN) titers were determined. Mice immunized with ΆF/TriAdj developed significantly higher neutralizing antibody titers than the ones immunized with PBS both before and after challenge with RSV (Fig 1C). To investigate the phenotype of the cellular immune response, the ΆF-induced secretion of IFN-ÃŽÂ ³ and IL-5 by splenocytes was measured four days after challenge. Significantly higher numbers of IFN-ÃŽÂ ³ secreting cells were generated from mice vaccinated with ΆF/TriAdj formulation, while the number of IL-5 secreting cells was low in vaccinated mice (Fig 1D). This suggests the addition of RSVΆF protein to the TriAdj resulted in a stronger, Th1-biased immune response, which is in also agreement with the enhanced IgG2a production. Intranasal vaccination with single dose of ΆF protein formulated with TriAdj induces robust protective mucosal immune: Mucosal immune response play a crucial role in first line defense of host by blocking the spreading of RSV infection in the lungs. Thus, an effective RSV vaccine should induce local IgA antibodies in the respiratory tract. To evaluate the mucosal immune responses induced by ΆF/TriAdj, we measured ΆF-specific IgA antibody levels in the lungs. Significantly higher IgA production was observed in mice immunized with ΆF/TriAdj in comparison with mice immunized with PBS (Fig 2A). To determine whether single IN vaccination with the ΆF/Triadj formulations would affect viral clearance, all mice except those in one of the two Placebo groups were challenged IN with RSV. No infectious virus was recovered in lungs of mice immunized with ΆF/TriAdj, showing full protection from infection (Fig 2B). In order to investigate whether protection is correlated with higher cross-presentation and cell-mediated immune responses, we evaluated RSV F-specific CD8+ T cells infiltration with RSV F85-93 pentamers in the lungs after RSV challenge. The ΆF/TriAdj induced a significantly higher number of F85-93 specific CD8+ T cells influx in the lungs (Fig 6A), which suggests that vaccination with ΆF/TriAdj promotes a cytolytic CD8+ T cell response to RSV infection. Virus-specific effector CD8+ T-cell response has been shown to play a critical role in RSV clearance {Graham, 2011 #642}. Therefore, we analyzed the effecter function of the CD8+ T cells according to their expression of the IFN-ÃŽÂ ³ by à ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ow cytometry. After RSV challenge, the ΆF/TriAdj-immunized group showed higher frequencies of IFN-ÃŽÂ ³-expressing CD8+ T cells than PBS-immunized, RSV-challenged mice in the lungs (Fig 6). This suggests that ΆF/TriAdj promotes a stronger ef fector CD8+ T cell response to RSV. Single nasal vaccination with ΆF/TriAdj induces Long-term systemic immune responses: To assess the long term memory effect induced by single intranasal vaccination with ΆF/TriAdj, serum IgG and VN antibody levels were measured periodically over five months. The mice immunized with ΆF/TriAdj developed strong IgG and VN titers compare to placebo control group for approximately 25 weeks (Fig 3A B). We next examined whether IN vaccination promoted the induction of long term ΆF-specific serum IgG1 and IgG2a. The ΆF/TriAdj- vaccinated mice developed significantly higher ΆF-specific serum IgG1 and IgG2a titers than placebo groups both before and after challenge with RSV (Fig 4A B). VN titers were also determined to evaluate the functional quality of the ΆF-specific serum antibodies after RSV challenge. Mice immunized with ΆF/TriAdj developed significantly higher neutralizing antibody titers compared to PBS gro up (Fig 4C). To further define the phonotype of the immune response, the ΆF-induced secretion of IFN-ÃŽÂ ³ and IL-5 by splenocytes was measured four days after challenge with RSV. The ΆF/TriAdj formulation generated a significantly higher frequency of IFN-ÃŽÂ ³ secreting cells compared to the placebo. The numbers of IL-5 secreting cells were low in all vaccinated mice (Fig 4D), which suggests Th1 bias immune responses. Mucosal vaccination with Single dose of ΆF/TriAdj induces Long-term protective mucosal immune response: Local antibody play a major role in protection from respiratory viruses such as RSV in the lung. To access the long term local immune responses with ΆF/TriAdj vaccination, induction of ΆF-specific IgA in the lungs was examined by ELISA. Mice immunized with ΆF/TriAdj developed significantly higher IgA levels when compared to placebo and placebo virus challenged groups (Fig 5A). Furthermore, we checked the development of IgA-secreting memory B cells in lungs after RSV challenge. ΆF/TriAdj formulations generated a significantly higher frequency of RSV ΆF-specific IgA-secreting memory B cells in lungs in comparison to PBS (Fig 5B). In summary, single dose of ΆF/TriAdj via IN vaccination stimulated strong IgA-secreting memory B cell development and B cell IgA production. To determine viral clearance after single vaccination with ΆF/TriAdj, all mice except those in one of the two placebo groups were challenged IN with RSV on day 150. The mice were sacrificed after four days, and virus titers in the lungs were determined. No infectious virus particle was recovered from mice vaccinated with ΆF/TriAdj, showing that these mice still had sufficient immunity to be completely protected from challenge virus replication in the lungs (Fig 5C). Discussion RSV is one of the major global burdens of causing a broad spectrum of respiratory illnesses in children and older population worldwide. There is still no licensed RSV vaccine, in part due to the disastrous outcomes observed following vaccination of naÃÆ' ¯ve children with FI-RSV {Kim, 1969 #589}. Natural infection with RSV fails to protect against subsequent infection because it stimulate modest immunogenicity and short-lived immunological memory against virus. Similar to natural RSV infection, many promising RSV vaccine have failed to generate long-lasting, protective immune responses {Power, 2008 #769;Hall, 2001 #789}. For wide clinical application, RSV vaccine will need to be safe, easy to administer and must stimulate strong long-term protective immunity than natural RSV infection {Pulendran, 2011 #796}. Protein subunit vaccines have a high safety profile, but are generally poorly immunogenic and induce short-lived humoral and cellular immunity {Graham, 2011 #642}. So adjuvant s are added to subunit vaccines to stimulate faster, stronger, and long-lasting immune responses to vaccines. At the clinical level, multi dose vaccination is expensive and has potential safety problems. Whereas, single vaccination formats are cost effective, safe (no risk for vaccine contamination) and more convenient to health worker. In the present study, we demonstrated the short as well as long term protective efficacy including stable systemic IgG, local IgA production and neutralizing antibody titers of a RSV ΆF protein formulated with TriAdj in mice after single IN immunization. Furthermore, ΆF/TriAdj promoted an effector CD8+ T cells with compete protection against RSV infection without inducing vaccine-enhanced pathology in the lungs. A vaccine requiring only a single administration to be effective would be highly practical, as it would improve patient compliance Therefore, single intranasal immunization with RSV ΆF protein formulated with Tri Adj is a promising approach to induce a long-lasting protective RSV-specific immune response. Mucosal immunization via IN route is invasive and suitable for generation of both local and systemic immunity. RSV infect through respiratory tract, therefore mucosal antibodies specifically IgA play an important role in prevention and clearance of virus. Previously it has been shown that protection against RSV infection is more correlated to the levels of mucosal IgA rather than to systemic antibody in human {Watt, 1990 #687}. In mice, single RSV infection induces short-lived neutralizing antibodies with absence of antibody-secreting memory B cells {Schmidt, 2012 #869}. Interestingly, we have recently demonstrated that the RSV infected mice were showed significantly lower level of local B cell IgA production and IgA secreting memory B cell development that indicates an impaired local antibody response that allows RSV re-infection and explain the short-term protective immunity with natural infection with RSV{Garg, 2016 #1340}. In contrast, intranasal vaccination with single dose of R SV ΆF protein formulated with TriAdj promotes the induction of long-lasting local IgA secreting memory B cell development and B cell IgA production which is a major criterion for an effective RSV vaccine. Previously, we and others have reported that strong, effective and protective immune responses were induced only after a booster immunization with RSV F protein with adjuvant {Garg, 2014 #891}{Blanco, 2014 #1423}{Lambert, 2015 #1442}. A single mucosal vaccination of adenovirus-based RSV vaccine had also been proved effective in short term {Kim, 2010 #1443}. But this is the first report showing the long term protective efficacy of single mucosal vaccination of an adjuvanted RSV F protein subunit vaccine in mice. Clinical trial with FI-RSV failed to induce protection against RSV due to generation of poor neutralizing antibodies and TLR activation that led to vaccine-associated enhanced disease {Delgado, 2009 #513}. The inclusion of polyI:C as TLR ligand in vaccine formulation, is expected to overcome the limitations of inactivated RSV vaccines. The adjuvant effect such as long-lasting T cell immunity of polyI:C is likely caused by the direct interaction with PRRs such as TLR3, MDA5 and RIG-I, leading to production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, and chemokines. Interestingly, it has been shown that alveolar macrophages and lung DCs induced strong IgA and IgG antibodies by addition of TLR3 ligands, which were probably linked to secretion of BAFF/APRIL cytokines and activated B cells {Xu, 2008 #686}. However, we and others have been shown that IN administration of higher doses of polyIC caused marked production of inflammatory cytokines/chemokines accompanied by impaired lung function {Stowell, 2009 #682;Boukhvalova, 2010 #685;Aeffner, 2011 #750} suggesting excessive stimulation of local immune responses can result in detrimental effects. In contrast, ΆF/TriAdj has an advantage over polyIC alone as it has shown full protection form RSV infection without any exacerbation of chronic pulmonary disease. This demonstrates that a combination of polyIC, IDR and PCEP mediates optimal enhancement of the RSV-specific immune response without vaccine enhanced disease. We believe that IDRs is one of the major anti-inflammatory components in our vaccine formulation as it has been previously shown to enhance cell-mediated immune responses and to modulate excessive consequences of TLR signaling {Bowdish, 2005 #766;Hancock, 2006 #767}, whereas polyphosphazenes enhance antigen-specific humoral immunity through the formation of non-covalent complexes with protein {Andrianov, 2005 #667}, suggesting major roles from both of these compounds in this vaccine formulation. An important factor for successful vaccine against RSV requires the generation of effective CD8+ T cell in the lungs. Previously, it has been shown that mild to severe infection with RSV failed to induce virus-specific IFN-ÃŽÂ ³ recall responses in the infants {Lee, 2007 #806}. To define the stimulation of local effective CD8+ T cell responses induced by ΆF/TriAdj, RSV F specific pentamer staining demonstrated marked induction of IFN-ÃŽÂ ³ secreting RSV-specific CD8+ T cells in lungs. Similarly, exogenous IFN-ÃŽÂ ³ expression protects against RSV infection in the lungs of BALB/c mice {Kumar, 1999 #805}. This evidence suggests that complete protection against RSV was associated with the presence of IFN-ÃŽÂ ³+ RSV-specific CD8+ T cells. In summary, our data show that RSV ΆF protein formulated with TriAdj vaccine represents a safe, effective and promising RSV vaccine candidate. The major advantages associated with this mucosal RSV vaccine is to induction of long-term protective immunity with a single mucosal vaccination by stimulating long-lived RSV-specific neutralizing antibodies, memory B and CD8+ T cells, therefore warranting additional evaluation as a vaccine against RSV in clinical trials. MATERIALS AND METHODS Virus and vaccine formulation: The RSV (A2 strain) was propagated in Hep-2 cells (American Type Culture Collection, VR-1540). The RSV ΆF protein with his-tag was produced and purified as described previously {Garlapati, 2012 #650}. Briefly, HEK-293T cells were transfected with an episomal vector expressing the ΆF protein using Turbofect (Fermentas, R0534). The ΆF protein with his-tag was purified using TALON Superflow resin (Clontech,) according to the manufacturers instructions. The ΆF protein was formulated with 10  µg poly (I:C) (Invivogen, tlrl-picw), 20  µg IDR1002 (Genscript, 818360) and 10  µg PCEP (Idaho National Laboratory) in PBS (ΆF/TriAdj) as described previously. Animals, immunizations and challenge: Six to eight week old female BALB/c mice (Charles River Laboratories, Wilmington, MA, USA) were immunized once IN with ΆF/TriAdj. Two additional groups of mice received PBS IN (Placebo control). Three week (short-term trial) and twenty weeks (long term trial) post-vaccination, all except one of the Placebo groups were challenged IN with RSV strain A2 (5 x 105 PFU/50 µl). Mice were euthanized four days after RSV challenge for detection of immune response and virus in the lungs. Blood samples were drawn by cardiac puncture under anesthesia prior to challenge and at regular intervals afterwards. All procedures were approved by the University Animal Ethics Committee in accordance with the standards stipulated by the Canadian Council on Animal Care. Lung fragment cultures and ELISA: Lavaged lungs of euthanized mice were cut into small pieces and lung fragment cultures were prepared as described previously {Mapletoft, 2008 #591}. ELISA was performed as described previously {Garg, 2014 #942}. RSV ΆF-specific IgG1, IgG2a and IgA were detected using biotin-labeled goat anti-mouse IgG1, IgG2a (Southern Biotech, 1070-08, 1080-08) or IgA (Gibco, M3115) followed by streptavidin-alkaline phosphatase (AP) (Jackson ImmunoResearch Laboratories Inc.,016-050-084), and developed with p-nitrophenyl phosphate (Sigma-Aldrich, N3254) substrate. Enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT) assays: ELISPOT assays were performed on splenocytes and LNs cells as previously described {Garlapati, 2012 #650}. Briefly, cells were stimulated with ΆF protein (2  µg/ml) and spots were developed using biotinylated IFN-ÃŽÂ ³- or IL-5- (BD Biosciences, 554410, 554397) or goat anti-mouse IgA specific antibody, AP-conjugated streptavidin and BCIP/NBT (Sigma-Aldrich, B5655) as the substrate. Analysis of CD8+ T cells from lungs by flow cytometry: Lung single-cell suspensions were generated as previously described {Garg, 2014 #942}. To analysis of RSV F85-93-specific CD8+ T cells, lung mononuclear cells were surface stained with H-2Kd-F85-93 MHC Class I pentamer (ProImmune, F149) together with labeled antibodies specific for CD8+ T cells (BD Pharmingen, 553031). For intracellular detection of IFN-ÃŽÂ ³ in CD8+ T cells, lung mononuclear cells were stimulated with 1 ÃŽÂ ¼M of F85-93 peptide (KYKNAVTEL) and cell surface staining was performed, followed by intracellular cytokine staining using Cytofix/Cytoperm (BD Pharmingen, 554715) and APC- conjugated anti-IFN-ÃŽÂ ³ antibody (BD Biosciences, 554413). After staining, cells were acquired by flow cytometry (BD Biosciences), and data were analyzed using Kaluza Software (Version 1.2). Cells were gated for live cells, singlets and lymphocytes and then analyzed for indicated markers. Virus titration and virus neutralization assay: Virus titrations were performed with individual lungs at day 4 post- challenge as described previously {Garg, 2014 #942}. Results are expressed as PFU/g of lung tissue. RSV-specific neutralization titers were determined by plaque reduction assays. Serum samples were mixed with 500 PFU/well of RSV strain A2 for 1 h at 37 °C. The sample-virus mixtures were transferred to HEp-2 cell monolayers and incubated for 4 days at 37  °C, and the cells were fixed and stained with 0.5% crystal violet. Statistical analysis: All data were analyzed using GraphPad PRISM version 6 for Windows (GraphPad Software, Inc., La Jolla, CA, USA). Differences among all groups were examined using Student t-tests, one-way ANOVA, followed by a Newman-Keuls post test. Differences were considered significant if P Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank Elisa C. Martinez, Wayne Connor, and Michael Theaker for technical assistance, as well as Sherry Tetland and Jan Erickson for the handling and care of the animals. This work was supported by the Krembil Foundation, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Published as VIDO manuscript number . Figure legends Fig. 1. RSV ΆF-specific systemic humoral immune responses in mice. (A) Serum IgG1 and IgG2a titers before challenge (B/C), (B) Serum IgG1 and IgG2a titers after challenge (A/C) with RSV, (C) Serum VN antibody titers determined before (B/C) and after (A/C) RSV challenge, and (D) Numbers of IFN-ÃŽÂ ³ and IL-5 secreting splenocytes determined in response to in vitro restimulation with ΆF protein. BALB/c mice were immunized once IN with ΆF formulated with TriAdj and challenged three weeks later with RSV. Control groups were immunized with PBS and challenged with RSV (Placebo) or mock-challenged (Placebo/mock). ELISA titers are expressed as the reciprocal of the highest dilution resulting in a value of two standard deviations above the negative control serum. Virus neutralization titers are expressed as the highest dilution of serum that resulted in Fig. 2. Mucosal immune responses to RSV ΆF protein in mice after challenge with RSV. The IgA titer (A), Virus titer (B), Percentages of ΆF-specific CD8+ T cells (C), and ΆF-specific IFN-ÃŽÂ ³ secreting CD8+ T cells (D) were measured in the lung after RSV challenge. Mice were immunized and challenged as described in the legend for Fig. 1. ELISA titers are expressed as the reciprocal of the highest dilution resulting in a value of two standard deviations above the negative control serum. Virus replication in the lungs is expressed as pfu per gram of lung tissue. Bars represent median values with interquartile ranges. *P Fig 3. Long-term systemic immune responses to RSV ΆF protein. IgG (A) and VN (B) titers were measured at different times after vaccination. BALB/c mice were immunized once IN with ΆF formulated with TriAdj and challenged with RSV on day 150. Control groups were immunized with PBS and challenged with RSV (Placebo) or mock-challenged (Placebo/mock). ELISA titers are expressed as the reciprocal of the highest dilution resulting in a value of two standard deviations above the negative control serum. Virus neutralization titers are expressed as the highest dilution of serum that resulted in Fig 4. Systemic immune responses to RSV ΆF protein. (A) Serum IgG1 and IgG2a titers before challenge (B/C), (B) Serum IgG1 and IgG2a titers after challenge (A/C) with RSV, (C) Serum VN antibody titers determined after (A/C) RSV challenge, and (D) Numbers of IFN-ÃŽÂ ³ and IL-5 secreting splenocytes determined in response to in vitro restimulation with ΆF protein. Mice were immunized and challenged with RSV as described in the legend for Fig. 3. ELISA titers are expressed as the reciprocal of the highest dilution resulting in a value of two standard deviations above the negative control serum. Virus neutralization titers are expressed as the highest dilution of serum that resulted in Fig 5. Long term mucosal immune responses to RSV ΆF protein. IgA titers (A), numbers of IgA secreting LNs cells (B), Virus titers (C) were determined after (A/C) RSV challenge. Mice were immunized and challenged with RSV as described in the legend for Fig. 3. ELISA titers are expressed as the reciprocal of the highest dilution resulting in a value of two standard deviations above the negative control serum. IgA secreting cell numbers are expressed as the difference in the number of spots between ΆF-stimulated wells and medium-control wells. Virus replication in the lungs is expressed as pfu per gram of lung tissue. Bars represent median values with interquartile ranges. **P

Frederick Douglass’s Narrative :: Essays Papers

Frederick Douglass’s Narrative In Frederick Douglass’s Narrative, Douglas himself narrates the novel using story telling to bring both the reader into the story, and the theme into focus. Through his narration, Douglass also uses narrative strategies like anecdotes, and plot twists. Even with it being a true story, Douglass brings the readers’ attention to a peak with these techniques making the story interesting and appealing. The most influential technique used by Douglass is story telling. He uses little stories, or stories-within-a-story, to make the reader pay attention. With descriptive tales of the plantations he worked on, the beatings and torture of slaves, and learning to read and write, he not only gets the attention of the readers, but he gets them to understand his point of view. For example at the beginning of the narrative Douglass tells a story of his aunt being beating, â€Å"I have often been awakened at the dawn of day by the most heart-rendering shrieks of an own aunt of mine,† (3). He goes on and gets even more graphic and descriptive, â€Å"The louder she screamed, the harder he whipped; and where the blood ran fastest, there he whipped longest.† (4). Also early in the novel, Douglass writes of the plantation he grew up on, â€Å"There were no beds given the slaves, unless one coarse blanket be considered such,† (6). Soon after being sold to Mr. and Mrs. Au ld, he was taught the alphabet. He uses this experience to show to his audience that he is very literate despite his masters’ wishes, â€Å"If you teach that nigger how to read there would be no keeping him,† (20). So this story shows some more cruelty from his master. Just for reading he would be sold, which shows unfair treatment to the reader. Another similar technique used by Douglass very effectively is anecdotes. He uses anecdotes throughout the story to bring a humorous or interesting little side story into the readers’ minds. One good example of this is when he is talking about slave songs, â€Å"I have often been utterly astonished, since I came to the north, to find persons who could speak of the singing, among slaves, as evidence of their contentment and happiness.† (9). This shows the readers of his concerns by just adding a brief story in to interest the reader.

Censorship Of The Internet And The Tyranny Of Our Government :: essays research papers fc

Censorship of the Internet and the Tyranny of Our Government "To curtail free expression strikes twice at intellectual freedom, for whoever deprives another of the right to state unpopular views also deprives others of the right to listen to those views," said Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr(Censorship and the U.S. Government 1). I completely agree with Mr. Holmes, and when the question of censoring the Internet arises, I cringe. Governing the Internet dominates many debates, censorship leading the fight. The Internet is the largest and most accessible form of mass media available today. It allows anyone with a few simple tools to consume, and produce, information and ideas to hundreds of people at a practically non-existent cost. Numerous factors indicate censorship of this force is not possible, and not the government's place. It should be left up to the users to decide what is broadcast. Most importantly, censorship of the Internet impairs the expression of ideas and infringes against the First Amendment of the Constitution. First of all, censoring the Internet as a whole is not possible, so why even try? Cyberspace is the most decentralized form of communication today making policing the Internet a virtually futile task. Unlike television or radio, the Internet consists of thousands of individual computers and networks, with thousands of speakers, information providers and information users, and no centralized distribution point (ACLU vs. Reno Brief 1). No guards watch to see who goes where and if that place is appropriate. The Internet has grown to be a global network. Just because one country deems something inappropriate does not mean that another will comply with the decision and follow the ruling. If posting pictures of bestiality was banned in China, for example, someone in Switzerland could post those pictures and the Chinese would have access to every single bit of data. Another example, this being completely factual, occurred in Ontario concerning the Karla Homolka/Paul Bernado trial. The courts decided that in order not to influence the jurors outside of the courtroom that a gag order would be put on media coverage of the trial. Conventional media complied, but an Internet site appeared. This was in turn shut down by the police, but still another appeared (Censorship and the Internet 1). There exists today no way of effectively tracking and determining from where a bulletin was posted, especially with the automatic dialing and encryption technology available. Thus even trying to censor the Internet as a whole would be only an exercise in futility. Although pornography and potentially destructive material exist on the Internet, not all potentially offensive material shows violent sex acts with

A Mongoliod Child Handling Shells On The Beach by Robert Snyder :: essays research papers

Diction, Theme and Imagery in Richard Snyders Intro To Poetry "A Mongoloid Child Handling Shells on the Beach" When you first read Richard Snyders narrative poem, "A Mongoloid Child Handling Shells on the Beach", it may be perceived that the poem is indeed about a child, happily gathering shells upon the shore. However, if we closely consider the diction and connotations that Synder uses, we can speculate that the meaning of the poem depicts a deeper and darker theme. The title itself gives us an idea from the beginning. The word Mongoloid, as identified in Websters New World Dictionary (675), is an early term for Down's Syndrome, a state of mental retardation. Therefore I believe that the poem represents the child as an outcast from the norm of society. There are several words in the text that refer to the child that we usually wouldn't associate with youth. An early clue would again be found in the title, "A Mongoloid Child Handling Shells on the Beach". Notice that Snyder used the word "handling" instead of playing or collecting, words wich we might think of while envisioning a young girl investigating sea shells. Snyder also uses the word 'slow' to describe the child on more than one occasion, as we see in line one and line eight : "She turns them over in her slow hands/ ...hums back to it its slow vowels." Yet another example could be in line four, which reads: " they are the calmest things on this sand." Calm is yet another word that we would not most likely use to portray a young child. It very well could be that the author is trying to paint a picture of her impairment and symbolize her condition through her actions. Considering Snyder depicted the ocean as "..the mazarine maze,"(3) instead of simply stating that it is the "deep blue sea", it is easy to speculate that the ocean represents life itself. Her being outside of the water while all the other children are swimming is a key example of her being isolated. The way that she is presented, which is slow and rather solemn, contrasts with the other children who are "rough as surf, gay as their nesting towels."(6). I feel that this kind of symbolism is repeated throughout the remainder of the poem. The sea shells, for instance, are another important representation of her isolation. It reads in line three: " broken bits from a mazarine maze,". If we look at the mazarine maze as being life, and the shells are broken bits of it washed ashore, it becomes clear that

Location options for retail and service businesses

INTRODUCTIONA firm location of determines how it operates and what factors hinder or enabling the firm to operate effectively. Localization of industry is beneficial in many instances, and at the same time has its demerits. Concentration of businesses service in the same location gives firm economies of externalities. These externalities come in form of backward linkages to the services from other firms, pulling a training school for manpower development and workers training.ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF LOCALIZATION OF FIRMSAdvantages of Central Business District include:I. Encourage the development of supportive service centers;ІІ.   Access to high skilled labors;ІІІ. Access to operational tools and spare parts;ІV. Access to modern technology and information technology;V. Encourage development of common training centers for staffers and clients orientation.Disadvantages of locating a service firm in a business district include:I.   Increase in   comp etition level among service firms;II.   Increase in cost of operation due to congested industry and business district.Advantages of Neighborhood locationІ. Having opportunity to get feedback from customers and clients;ІІ. Easy advertisement of services to clients;ІІІ.   Personal services are easily tailored to client taste.ІV. Assess to raw material for retail stores.Disadvantages of Neighborhood locationІ.   Service provision are restricted to those in the neighborhood;ІІ.  High cost for introducing new technology and workforce training.Advantages of Shopping Centers and Malls locationІ.  One time shopping is easily carried out by customers;ІІ.  Attraction of different categories of customers are encourages   due to product and services differentiationDisadvantages of Shopping Centers and Malls location:І.   Shop lifting are easily carried out due to many differentiated products;ІІ.  Customers may be tempted to buy the wrong product due to plethora of appealing products in the   window dressing;Advantages of store near competitors:І.  Ã‚   New strategy and business idea are learn from rivals;ІІ.  Ã‚   Cost reduction are reduced due to the competition among firms;ІІІ.   Raw materials are easily accessed;ІV.  Ã‚  Innovation are encouraged due to healthy competition among firmsV.     Encourage introduction of modern technologyDisadvantages of store near competitors:І    Organization strategies are counterpart thereby rendering the operations ineffective;ІІ    Unhealthy competition leads to blackmailing and sabotaging activities against rivalsAdvantages of outlying areasІ       Proper structure and market planning is encouraged;ІІ      Ã‚  Easy transportation of goods are enabledІІІ       Easy location of service and goods to an outletDisadvantages of outlying areasІ      Few operat ors are encouraged in the market which results in price hike;ІІ    Customers cannot make all service shopping in one location.Advantages of Home based location:І      Backward linkage to local raw materials is encouraged;ІІ      Cheap labor and cost reduction is easily accessed;ІІІ    Local taste and culture is easily recognized and upheld  Disadvantages of Home based locationІ      Varieties of product and service are restricted due to local taste and wants;ІІ       Difficulty in introducing new technologiesCONCLUSIONThe location of retail or service businesses influences how well such firm operates. The location may  Ã‚   result in the advancement of the business operations or may hinder it depending on the location and business type. It is then germane that adequate assessment is conducted to weigh the pros and cons of a place where a business would be located in order to derive maximum advantages.

Darkest Child

In the novel The Darkest Child the author Delores Phillips displays the activities and likely hood of growing up in the still racist Deep South. The main character Tangy Mae encounters hardships and tribulations amongst her family. Her mother Rozelle Quinn displays negative habits of a mother by being over controlling of her kids. Rozelle often beat and called her children names out of frustration and rage. Tangy Mae and her siblings must step up to the plate in order for the family to make a living without a father figure while dealing with their scolding mother.In the story the Darkest Child the mother Rozelle Quinn is a thirty – five year old tall slender lady with dark grey eyes and so fair-skinned that she can pass for white is the mother of ten children including Tangy Mae who all lived in fear of her moods and temper. Rozelle favors her light-skinned kids, but insists that they all love and obey her unquestioningly. Tangy Mae is her smartest and darkest colored child, a nd her mother treated her different because of that.Tangy Mae went to school longer than all of her other siblings and wanted to continue but her mother wouldn’t allow her to because she wanted her to work like the rest of her siblings. Her mother would often beat her and her other siblings an example from the book is â€Å"The belt looped through the air in a rush, but instead of striking Martha Jean it cut into my shoulders, neck, and back. It knocked me off balance. †(Phillips 119) Her mother would always tell her things like she was ugly.She would talk to her kids anyway she would like and always threatened them to get her point across for example â€Å"Effortlessly, Mama wrapped her other arm around Martha Jean’s neck and breathed into her ear, dumb bitch. You no-good, dumb bitch. I’ll break yo’ goddam neck. †(Phillips 118) But somehow through all the stressful situations Tangy somehow still managed to keep her head up and stay strong t hrough it all. Their mother had a mental illness she would â€Å"Satan’s in here, she said in a hollow voice, her gaze darting about the room.While I was gone, one of yall let satan in my house. Who was it? No one spoke. Don’t sit there like idiots. I wanna know who did it. †(Phillips 69-70) This shows that Tangy Mae’s mother suffers from an mental illness. Tangy Mae and her siblings have been through it all from racism to being baldly mistreated by their mother. Their mother wanted to be in control of their whole life and if her kids ever went against something she said and didn’t obey her rules she would brutally hit them and call them all types of names.

Charles Dickens & Nicholas Nickleby’ Essay

The way Dickens presents the children as being so weak and vulnerable is yet another of the key ways in which Dickens convinces us that the way they are treated is unfair and wrong. An example of this is when they are described in the shop as ‘children with the countenances of old men, deformities with irons upon their limbs†¦ ‘ this shows that these children have all been ruined beyond repair by the all the awful treatment they have received. This makes the reader feel ever more sympathetic towards the children and all the while more disconcerted as to how children may be treated in the real world. The last but certainly not least character I am going to explore that is used by Dickens to attain sympathy is Smike. This character was originally one of the students at Dotheboys Hall but the payments then stopped coming and so Squeers kept him as a slave. When we see Smike for the second time is when we get a real impression about how sad his life has been. When Nicolas looks at him what he sees is a look that was ‘†¦ a very painful one†¦ for it told a long and very sad history. ‘ This shows that there is no limit as to how low a child’s welfare can drop in all things positive as Smike has dropped from being a over punished pupil, to a cruelly treated slave. The readers reaction to this is clearly one of compassion for the character, and then for children in similar situations in real life. To conclude, this book quite possibly has an important historical context as to how the lives of children have changed in Britain since that time. There is a good chance it may have changed the opinions of many of its readers and informed those who were unaware and opened the eyes of the people who were turning a blind one. The fact that it could have had such affect on the matter of the treatment of children makes it clear to me that Dickens wrote this book far more as a message to the people, than just as a source of monetary gain.

Bis Corporation Essay

Prepare a written report with the results organized in tables. Submit your project to me via email by the deadline. In your email should include your written report in pdf format and your Excel implementation. Attach the two documents to your email separately, do not compress the two into an archive file, e.g. zip, rar, 7z. This can be undertaken as a group project or you may choose to work individually. You may work as a team of maximum of 4 students. Significant points will be deducted if you fail to follow the above instructions, submit only an Excel document, or submit the work of someone else. Bis Corporation Recall the Bis Corporation example covered in class. SKUs are aggregated into 3 groups. Customers are aggregated into 25 groups. Project data is uploaded as an Excel workbook. In this workbook SKU groups value, volume and weight data are given. Monthly demand AVG and STD values for each customer group are given in SKUs. Highway distances between all Turkish cities are given. The distances in the diagonal of the matrix corresponds to the average distance of two points (e.g. factory-warehouse or warehouse-customer) within the same city. There are two factories: Kocaeli plant produces S01 and S02 groups only, Adana plant produces S03 group only. Warehouse parameters and annual fixed costs are given. Inbound transportation is carried out on semi-trailer trucks, outbound transportation on regular trucks. There two alternatives to be compared: A1 with 2 warehouses and A2 with 5 warehouses. a) Calculate and present in a table inbound and outbound unit cost of transportation of each SKU group. For each SKU group and truck type first find whether the truck capacity (number of SKUs that can be loaded) is limited by volume or weight. Then use the load factor to calculate how many SKUs can be loaded on average. Then calculate the cost of transporting one SKU to a distance of 100km. b) For alternative A1 calculate monthly costs. Calculate the monthly outbound transportation costs for each customer group and SKU group. Calculate the monthly inbound cost of transporting SKUs from factories warehouses. Calculate the average inventory levels at each warehouse by volume and value. Calculate the required warehouse capacities and then which warehouse choice will be made. Then find the corresponding warehouse fixed cost (convert it into a monthly cost). Calculate the monthly holding costs and handling costs at each warehouse. Finally calculate the monthly total cost as the sum of all costs. c) Repeat part (b) for alternative A2.

Compare curanderismo, espiritualismo, with Afro-Caribbean Santeria, Essay

Compare curanderismo, espiritualismo, with Afro-Caribbean Santeria, Pentecostalism - Essay Example Moreover, there are several objects that are used by the practitioners. They include the holy water, crucifixes, lemons, eggs, candles, saints, incense, candles, spices, eggs, limes, and oils. Evidently, curanderismo originated from the Mexican culture following its colonization by Mexico. It derives its meaning from the word curar which is Spanish for ‘to heal.’ Incidentally, curanderismo is a combination of the indigenous Latin American folk medicine and Catholicism. Presently, curanderismo is practiced in a number of Latin American countries and also in the United States. To this end, it has retained its popularity among certain Mexican-American people as an alternative mode of medicine. Its popularity is largely due to the belief that it offers spiritual alleviation from ailments that are beyond conventional medicine. Espiritualismo involves the practice of spiritualism. Evidently its practice is based on the belief that the spirit world can offer intervention within the human world. To this end, it is practised by a majority of Caribbean’s and also by some citizens from Latin America. However, it is different from Santeria since there are rituals c haracterized by animal sacrifices. Espiritualismo is further regarded as a philosophical movement that is based on reverence to God and the soul, the spiritual and moral principles, and the immortality of being. Moreover, espiritualismo believes in reincarnation, survival ideals of the soul, and the relation between the disembodied and embodied. The general principles of espiritualismo include the belief in God, his helpers and angels; spiritual adoration and worship; the original root of religion and other manifestations of religion; and the divine reverence of the Great Spirit known as ‘God.’ Moreover, mineral, plants, oils, prayers, trees, candles, flowers, and music equally play a pertinent role in the belief of espiritualismo. Evidently, the doctrines of espiritualismo espouse that when a person is born, he or she is a constituent of two bodies. The first body is the physical and visible entity which is earthly and temporary. The second body is the spiritual entity which is eternal and invisible. Furthermore, after death the physical body ceases to exist but the spiritual body continues in an eternal existence under the control of God. On the other hand, Santeria is a combination of religious beliefs and traditions that constitutes a similar African traditional religion. Evidently, its origin can be traced back to Brazil and Cuba. It is characterized by a combination of the worship elements of Catholicism and the traditional Yoruba faith. The Santeria religion is based on creating relationships between the human beings and mortal spirits which are powerful and known as the Orishas. Evidently, the Orisha is a reflection of the god also known as Olodumare. In this regard, the adherents of Santeria believed that the spirits provided them with the gift of life when they performed satisfactory rituals. This consequently enabled them to be blessed with the destiny bestowed upon them before their birth. Interestingly, the Santeria religion exhibits a relation with the Roman Catholic church through the association between Orishas and the Catholic Saints. For example, Our Lady of Charity was known as Ochun in the Santeria religion. She is the Yoruba goddess in charge of the river. The goddess was equally associated with love, sweets, water, love and yellow. Saint Lazarus was the alternate version of Babalu-Aye in Santeria religion.

Lebanon Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Lebanon - Essay Example Early settlement in Lebanon evidence was found in Byblos. In 5000 BC the city was occupied by people. Lebanon was the homeland of Canaanite descendants as it was part of Northern Canaan. The famous colonies of Lebanon rulers were Cadiz and Carthage which are currently known as Tunisia and Spain respectively. The country became one of the succeeding empires in recent times. The empires include Persian, Roman, Assyrian and Crusader among others (Harris 6). Music, literature and art in Lebanon are rooted in Levantine and Mediterranean norms. The art of Lebanon started after the civil war in 1991 in Beirut. The start of the art was marked by alternative Anita Toutikian artwork. Lebanon has more literature writers like Khalil Gibran who wrote the book called, â€Å"The Prophet†. Other local literature writers include Amin Maalouf and Elias Khoury among other. Lebanon mostly practice the traditional folk music. Currently, the society practices the modern music involving Arabic and Western styles and pop (Harris 35). Lebanon is favorable for tourism since it has many places to visit like Mim Museum, Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque and National Museum of Beirut among others. There are hotels for accommodation and they include Sonesta Maho Beach Resort and Sonesta Great Bay Beach among others (Harris 10). In conclusion, Lebanon is a country which has undergone many stages of development. The societies in Lebanon have interacted with different communities that participated in brining up the Lebanon culture. The country is a good place to tour since it is peaceful and has many tourism attraction features (Harris

Project management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Project management - Essay Example This research shows that the project had clear goals but unclear requirements and the frequent changes required rescheduling and resulted in budget overruns. Although the project had budget overruns, it however met the desired outcomes. This study has shown that the key elements of project management are critically important in meeting the objectives and goals of project and giving the desired outcomes. Project management is an art and a science that involves organizing, securing, planning and managing of resources with an aim to accomplish specified goals. A project can be defined as a short-term or temporary endeavor whose beginning and the end is clearly defined. Project management plays a significant role in facilitating execution of projects such as new software development, installation of new hardware or building a facility. As mentioned by Wessels, project management helps in selecting, managing and supporting of projects that are of significant importance in accomplishment o f an organization’s objectives, making it vibrant at marketplace and maximizing shareholders wealth. In an organization set up, various divisions and departments compete for scarce human and financial resources; project management plays an important role in rational decision framework enabling people to make the appropriate project investment decisions. Project management plays a critical role in management of outcomes mainly the cost, time and performance of the project. Projects are selected based on cost and benefit analysis where their return on investment is evaluated against cost of implementation. Role of project manager According to Lewis (2004, p. 19), project manager has the total responsibility to ensure that all project details are handled properly, this requires them to be highly proactive and not reactive. Project manager should follow up on things ordered or scheduled ensuring that things like requisition and purchasing are effectively running, project manager helps in project planning, controlling, monitoring and organization of project resources. Project manager plays a significant role in giving a project economic approach by determining its (ROI) return on investment. Project manager is also responsible for project risk management; he must identify risks, monitor and design effective response. He is also responsible for project reporting to the management of the organization. Key elements in project management Key elements in project management include managing and controlling project scope through clearly established aims, objectives and goals, managing cost element, managing risks, managing human resources, managing time planning, control and scheduling, and managing quality to meet the desired standards (Lock, 2007, p. 78). Project integration, management communications, procurement processes, and quality are also key element in project management. Managing the project scope Project management plays a critical role in ensuring that the aims, goals and objectives of the project are clearly and articulately established. Many projects fail due to wrong or unclear goals and requirements. With unclear goals, project experiences problems, however, with wrong goals, projects fail spectacularly (Rusell 2007, p. 45). Scottish Parliament has clear and articulate goals and objectives but had no clear requirements. Scottish parliament changed requirements of that projects several times, for instance they increased functions of the building demanding for more size and space, these changes caused various difficulties to the project team causing budget

Should government provide free public education to children of illegal Research Paper

Should government provide free public education to children of illegal immigrants - Research Paper Example The right can only be contested from the standpoint of reason. Based on this, lawmakers can make laws or amend the constitution 3. It is difficult to sustain, the expenses that will be required to implement the law is likely huge and American social order can be threatened IV. Conclusion The rights of children of illegal immigrants to free education accorded to citizens of the United States must be rescinded because it threatens order in American society Should children of illegal immigrants be given rights to free education? I. Introduction Offer (2012, p. 187) revealed that â€Å"undocumented children still face numerous obstacles when attempting to access public school education.† New questions have been raised on the â€Å"right of children on non-immigrant visas to enroll in school† (Ofer, 2012, pp. 187-188). Addressing the questions is important because around 12 million unauthorized immigrants live in the United States and the past 10 years has recorded an averag e of about 500,000 illegal entrants to the United States each year (Hanson, 2009). The problem of illegal immigrants appear difficult to solve as illegal immigration continues even large volume of resources have been poured in â€Å"securing US borders, ports, and airports; and since 2006, a growing rate of policies have targeted unauthorized immigrants within the country and their employers† (Hanson, 2009, p. 1). ... 11). This is specially the case when the expense is taken â€Å"relative to the potential gains from eliminating illegal entry† (Hanson, 2009, p. 11). Earlier, Hanson (2007, p. 5) also pointed out that there is even â€Å"little evidence that legal immigration is economically preferable to illegal immigration.† A related question is: should illegal immigrants be given right to free education in the same manner accorded to US citizens? II. Arguments supporting the rights of children of illegal immigrants to free education According to Ofer (2012, p. 187), â€Å"thirty years ago, the Supreme Court ruled in Plyler v. Doe that undocumented children have the same rights to access a public school education as a children who are United States citizens or immigrant lawfully admitted to the United States.† According to Ofer (2012, p. 188), â€Å"in 1982, the Supreme Court ruled in Plyler v. Doe that states must not deny the equal protection of the laws to a subclass of c hildren based solely on their immigration status, and that undocumented children have the same right as children who are U.S. citizens or immigrant children lawfully admitted to the United States.† According to Ofer (2012), based on the Supreme Court decision, the right of undocumented children to access free education in the same manner granted to citizens is guaranteed under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. According to Ofer (2012, p. 191), â€Å"the Equal Protection Clause provides that no state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.† Most importantly, Offer (2012, p. 192) pointed out that â€Å"the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution is not confined to the protection of citizens† as the

The Crossrail railway project-Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Crossrail railway project-Report - Essay Example ing connections between the city of London and those in the East and the West thought direct linkages, employment of thousands of workers and creation of business opportunities, significant reduction of time taken by commuters while travelling, and most importantly eases perennial congestion of commuters through increased capacity of existing railways and the construction of others (House of Lords, 2005:62). Easing up of congestion has been highlighted as the most important benefit the Crossrail project will deliver. It is envisaged that over 20 trains will operate every hour when the project is officially opened in the year 2014, with each train having a capacity to ferry about 1400 commuters. As such, it is estimated that annually, over 200 million passengers will use the Crossrail (Pagan, 2011:54). The Crossrail is without doubt a very ambitious project which will have significant impact to the economy of Europe once completed. In this paper, we will look at the factors that are contributing to its success across the stages of presentation of the bill to parliament, building, and being ready to commence operations. We will also look at the practices employed, both bad and good, in its management and development against skill and managerial primary elements usually used in the management of such projects. Factors that have contributed to the success of the development of the Crossrail development project include political good will, especially in funding, identification of reliable sponsors, and time tracking to ensure completion of project is on schedule. The Crossrail bill was introduced to parliament in the year 2005 for discussion, deliberations and possible approvals (Colville, 2008:34). The support accorded to it has been very positive so far, with the bill being granted a royal assent in 2008, effectively making it an act of parliament, that is, the Crossrail Act of 2008 (Bernand, 2008:29). One of the good practices employed in the management and

Should there be limits on international trade Essay

Should there be limits on international trade - Essay Example The strategic initiatives undertaken by the international trade regimes are deemed as pivotal towards understanding how organizations work to good effect within the industrial basis which are spanning all over the world. Therefore what one must comprehend is the fact that international trade will remain supreme no matter how tough or trying the times are in the future and what kind of conditions the world is going to engulf. Advantages International trade and world output are interlinked. Their relation is made stronger by the fact that there is a supply and demand relationship which exists between the two. The trade output in essence depends upon the world output and hence the relation seems to affect one another in a number of different ways. If the world output is less in a specified period of time, say for instance in any single year, then it would imply that the trade output has remained low as well (Warburton, 2010). If the world output has been higher during this while, the tr ade output would essentially go up and be stable as well. However when there are times of financial hardship and misery, recession will have drastic effects on the people as well. They would not mingle within the purchase domains as such and hence try to make do with whatever has been made available to them. The purchase of the products would go down and thus these people will derive comfort from the fact that they have made their financial future secure already. It is also a fact that during such recessionary times, the country’s currency will become weak and hence having imports from different countries with which it regularly has such a trade link will also become quite costly. It would be in the interest of this country if it disengages from the trade regime and tries to focus on making the trade output higher (Amin, 2008). This will eventually up the world output by quite a fair value and hence no problems would be encountered when there is another economic recession wit hin the country. The advantages of international trade are immensely driven by the desire to set things right for the sake of the people spread in all parts of the world. These advantages are significant towards gaining the vital understanding of the international trade realms. Disadvantages The problem with international trade is such that it depends on the stakeholders with which this trade is coming into actual basis. The trade links work wonders for the different trade organizations and lobby associations. If the market is not functioning in a proper and cohesive fashion, there could be problems for the international trade to happen. Also on the global front, international trade can take a nosedive if there are significant issues related with political tensions across the borders. This could mean that a particular country has trouble in importing goods from its links that have already been established over a period of time. Similarly this could mean that the international trade suffers when exportation of these goods is about to take place, but since the political climate is not appropriate at a certain time, these international trade links would come to a halt (Nkowani, 2009). There could be a multitude of reasons behind having

Decisions in Paradise Part III Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Decisions in Paradise Part III - Essay Example Capital One plans to open in Kava four banking branches with full ATM infrastructure across the island and a customer service call center to serve Capital One’s global customers. Factors affecting implementation Several factors affect the implementation plans of Capital One at Kava. The firm needs to identify four possible locations for its banks. The company can either rent several buildings or built its own locations. A problem with constructing the buildings is that it takes time and the bad weather in Kava could cause further delays in the project completion time. The firm can rent the four buildings and perform internal layouts redesigns to prepare the banks following similar layouts used by Capital One in the United States. The company will need to recruit employees for its financial services operation and for the call center. The island may have a shortage of talent in technical fields such as finance and accounting. The firm can import talent from its global operations into Kava. The best option would be to transfer employees from its US operations to Kava. An advantage of this strategy is getting trained employees that know the corporate culture of the firm. A third factor that affect the implementation plan is cultural and language barriers. ... The right locations are necessary to achieve maximum customer traffic. The company has to set up the ATM network across Kava. It should take the company one month to complete installation of the ATM’s. The firm has to recruit the employees for both operations. The company needs approximately 50 workers for the banks and 200 employees to work at the call center. There is a shortage of talent in accounting and finance in Kava. The banks needs employees with a financial background to work in the branches. To solve that problem the firm will transfer employees from its United States branches. To motivate the US workers to apply for a transfer the firm will offer a $25,000 relocation incentive package. Financial incentives are a way to motivate employees (Tutor2u, 2011). The call center requires 200 employees. All the employees will be recruited from the internal talent pool of Kava residents. The recruiting process of employees has a timetable of two months. After hiring the emplo yees these workers need training. The training period for the bank workers is one month and the call centers employees will receive two weeks of training. Due to the unstable weather conditions and the possibility of shutdown due to natural disasters the firm needs to have good Internet infrastructure. The small size of the island makes this island a perfect candidate for the implementation of a Wi-Max network. A Wi-Max network is an IP based wireless broadband technology that can provide wireless access up to 30 miles for fixed station (Wimax, 2011). The Wi-Max network serves several purposes. The network will provide the company with reliable Internet connectivity at all times. The system will serve as an emergency channel for employees to use to connect the