What Was the Main Cause of the Financial Crisis in 2007-2009?

The intention of this essay is to provide an in depth and critical analysis of the financial crisis that took place between 2007-2009, in particular focusing on some key issues raised by the Foote, Gerardi and Willen paper ‘Why did so many people make so many Ex Post bad decisions? ’ Whilst there were many contributing factors, it is clear that a specific few played a particularly dominant role, primarily the ‘Bubble Theory’, irresponsible regulation, toxic CDO’s and $62 trillion of CDS’s. ‘That’s what bubbles are: they’re examples of mass delusions’ (Norcera, 2011).Bubble theory’s are by no means a new school of thought, in fact they date back to the Dutch Tulip bubble in the 1630’s and it is these types of bubble that are believed, by many economists, to be the primary cause of the foreclosure crisis. The bubble theory explains the crisis as a natural progression of overly optimistic price expectations for a particular asset class, recently the US housing market. When the housing bubble began to enlarge, lenders were lulled into a false sense of security, which lead to large amounts of credit being extended to ‘sub prime’ borrowers, people who had shady or uncertified credit history.However due to the inflating house prices the banks seemed to have little concern towards the credit being repaid. Although this credit was issued to subprime borrowers through the securitised credit market, securitisation was not necessarily the definitive cause of the crisis, but what it did was act as a catalyst allowing borrowers and investors to undertake their desired transactions. With this appetite for risk from lenders and interest rates being cut to 1% by the Fed, institutional investors were eager to chase higher returns.The opportunity encouraged investment banks to anti up their leverage and create a higher yielding product which was directly linked to an ‘ever rising h ousing market’. The emergence of Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV’s) allowed banks to over leverage and buy mortgages which were then bundled together into a special purpose vehicle, proportions of these were then subsequently sold off as a Collateralised Debt obligations (CDO’s), ‘an investment-grade security backed by a pool of bonds, loans and other assets’. The theory behind this SPV was to reduce the lenders liability by pooling hundreds of supposedly ndependent mortgages, meaning that in the event of any mortgage defaults the loss would be contained rather than having a simultaneous effect on the other mortgages pooled within the CDO. Given that house prices were expected to continue along the bubble’s growth path, any losses from mortgage defaults would be naturally offset by house price inflation, or so they thought. Once the Investment banks had packaged these mortgages they then sought to diversify their liability by selling off the mu tual funds to external investors, some more bullish than others and hence the segregation of tranches within the CDO packages.The riskiness of each tranche was determined by the rating agencies, Standard and Poor/Fitch, which ranged from AAA (the lowest risk, but highest price) to CCC (the highest risk, but lowest price). In the event of any mortgage defaults, the highest rated tranche, the senior tranche, was paid out first and any subsequent losses were absorbed by the junior tranches, ie junior tranches were only paid once the other tranches had been paid. Given that the Fed had cut interest rates to 1%, the opportunity proposed by these CDO’s became increasingly more attractive.The excessive demand chasing CDO’s forced banks to lower their credit requirement standard, which inevitably lead to subprime lending. This access to the credit markets for those who ordinarily would have been declined credit meant that CDO’s were becoming filled with comparatively hi gh risk mortgages. This became increasingly problematic when borrowers began to default on their mortgage payments, the domino effect lead to the collapse of house prices and over 2million foreclosures.This left worldwide investors and banks with failing CDO’s who in turn also defaulted on their payments and lead to a global ‘credit crunch’. Even the largest of investment banks such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were so confident in their products that they too maintained large holdings of ‘super senior’ tranches on their balance sheets, thus wiping billions of dollars of their balance sheets too. However whilst it is true that the bankers over zealous nature and thirst to maximise profits lead to the breaching of standards and forfeit of reliable credit checks, they were still allowed to do it.This leads to the plausible involvement of the credit rating agencies and the Governments lack of regulation and in some cases irresponsible regulation. A major concern surrounds the actions of US credit rating agencies, namely Standard & Poor and Fitch. Whilst they may not have anticipated the financial crisis, they, to a large extend suffered from institutional failure. The mathematical models that had been developed and used by the credit rating agencies were inadequate to deal with and provide accurate data concerning the riskiness of sub prime mortgages.The mathematical modelling teams continued to use traditional out-dated 30 year mortgages to asses the likelihood of default. Mortgages issued after 2004 were based on a different credit rating tool, know as FICO. A FICO score takes into account 5 factors to help determine a borrowers credit risk, length of credit history and the various types of credit used, the current level of personal debt, credit history, amount of new credit and passed payment history.These new mortgages were typically non documented adjustable rate mortgages and relied on the FICO score. It became appare nt that the agencies had minimal concern towards the investors. The rating analysts within the agencies expressed their levels of apprehension towards the reliability of certain ratings, but they were cut short and dismissed. The credit rating agencies were simply concerned with maintaining or increasing their market influence by doing their job and providing the ratings that their clients employed them to generate.In many cases these ratings were later downgraded within 6 months implying that their original job was either done with a lack of due diligence or there was an ulterior motive behind providing a flawless AAA rating. This was highlighted in the residential mortgage backed security Delphinus case study where 26 dummy loans were issued that were clearly not of AAA standard, yet sailed through as AAA. This leads us to the issue of the Government and their irresponsible lack of regulation towards preventing a financial crisis.The neoliberalist argument suggests that the US Gov ernment was a big player in the demise of the financial sector. The Governments irresponsible regulation of banks allowed the passing of the Community Reinvestment Act from 1977, ‘the law was designed to encourage commercial banks and savings associations to help meet the needs of borrowers in all segments of their communities, including low and moderate income neighbourhoods’ (Wikipedia). The law actively encouraged low income earners to take out mortgages to buy a house, which in reality they could not afford.To really tempt fate congress later allowed the act to be amended, allowing potential borrowers to opt out of income screening, therefore meaning that no credit worthiness was required to take out a mortgage. It is this link to the CDO market which allowed for such disaster to unravel, had this act not been so irresponsibly been amended, the banks would not have been able to bundle toxic debt and sell it as a repackaged CDO. In fact George Bush Junior actively en couraged it in 2002 when he campaigned for an additional 5. 5million low income homeowners by 2010.By actively holding interest rates below the well-known monetary guide lines it encouraged mass risk taking, not only was money cheap but low interest rates also offered very little return in the banks so investors sought alternatives which lead them to junk CDO’s and CDO2’s. However these junk CDO’s were only half the problem, whilst they were being actively encouraged they were also being bet on and against, implying a magnitude of leveraged risk. In the 1990’s J. P. Morgan developed a strategy to hedge their loan risks know as credit default swaps (CDS’s).Essentially a CDS is a bilateral contract between two parties that provides a level of insurance. A buyer would pay a yearly premium in order to protect the face amount of the particular bond or loan, but the CDS’s unlike a traditional insurance policy were subject to counter party risk onl y. This implication meant that if the counterparty was unable to pay or had gone insolvent then essentially the buyer was no longer covered. What it also allowed for was speculators to gain exposure to markets where they didn’t actually own the underlying assets or credits, which they were now betting on.The crux of the problem arose when CDS’s were taken out on the subprime mortgage securities, which had been largely over rated by the ratings agencies, therefore providing false information upon which the investment decision and insurance policies were taken. When the defaults started to roll in the likes of AIG and Bear Stearns had billions of dollars wiped off their books. To exacerbate the problem almost all the major investment banks and investment houses had insurance underwritten by Bear Stearns, which of course was now insolvent. This domino effect lead to multi billion dollar losses across the globe.The general belief amongst economists was that financial deriv atives and their purpose was to dilute individual risk through risk sharing amid investors. In theory it should create a more efficient allocation of capital and price transparency, it is the mass trading of these derivatives that became problematic and raised a cause for concern. However whilst it is true that CDS’s, CDO’s, a vast lack of regulation and inaccurate credit ratings all facilitated the collapse in the financial sector, it is not clear that they were the actual cause of the financial crisis.What is more evident of the actual cause is the fact that financial institutions and investors, as a whole did not foresee a collapse of housing prices. The collapse of house prices created mass negative equity and consequent defaults on subprime mortgages and also the falling face value of the subprime mortgage securitisations. Investment banks were particularly caught by surprise when the ‘super superior’ AAA rated tranches of CDO’s collapsed in va lue, given that they had relatively few defaults.Another factor which points to the root cause of the financial crises was the levels of excessive leverage combined with large holdings of subprime securitisations. The rapid and unexpected losses from these large investment houses lead to the markets questioning their solvency and so a mass culture of hoarding developed along with a fire sale of assets in order to deleverage their exposure. All this combined resulted in a squeeze of cash flow due to market uncertainty and lenders became unwilling to lend. This unfolding of events lead to the CDS and CDO market getting wrapped up and associated with large losses.It is for these reasons that the financial crisis developed and continues to develop implications for the future of the financial industry. References Nocera, Joe. 2011. â€Å"Inquiry is Missing Bottom Line. † New York Times, page B1. January 29 Journal of Economic Perspectives—Volume 24, Number 1—Winter 2 010—Pages 73–92 Credit Default Swaps and the Credit Crisis Rene M. Stulz Cordell, Larry, Yilin Huang, and Meredith Williams. 2011. â€Å"Collateral Damage: Siz- ing and Assessing the Subprime CDO Crisis. † Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Working Paper Money morningFinancial Crisis Inquiry Commission. 2010. â€Å"Credit Ratings And the Financial Crisis. † Pre- liminary Staff Report, June 2, 2010 The Credit Rating Agencies and TheirContribution to the Financial Crisis MAUR ICE MULLARD http://www. investopedia. com/terms/c/cdo. asp#ixzz2BqfZ28TI Brunnermeier, Markus K. 2008. â€Å"Bubbles. † In The New Palgrave Dictionary of Eco- nomics, eds. Steven N. Durlauf and Lawrence E. Blume, second edition Foote, Christopher L. , Kristopher Gerardi, and Paul S. Willen. 2008. â€Å"Negative Equity and Foreclosure: Theory and Evidence. †

The Second Half of Adolf Hitler’s Life

The world-renowned dictator of Germany, Adolf Hitler, was actually born as Austrian in 1889. It was during the second half of Hitler’s life that he began to realize German nationalism and anti-Semitism in Vienna, Austria.He had internalized and absorbed these ideas and decided to transfer to Munich, Germany where he gave up his Austrian citizenship by seeking the endorsement from the German nation. This happened in the year 1913.In 1914, World War II broke out and Hitler and used this occurrence to prove his loyalty to Germany which he considered as his new homeland. He served as a corporal in an infantry regiment and was decorated after being wounded in 1917 (â€Å"Adolf Hitler Biography,† n.d.).By 1918, Germany declared defeat and eventually surrendered and attributed this failure to the betrayal and treachery of the Jews as well as the Communist’s political rebellion. Hitler believed that in order to avoid this unpleasant incident from transpiring again, these so-called traitor groups must be abolished.Taking a different direction, Hitler decided to involve himself in politics by the year 1919 in that he signed up for the German Workers Party.In a year’s time he became the organization’s leader and later changed its name to National Socialist German Worker's Party or more popularly known as the Nazi. Hitler's platform was simple: create a new nation that included all German people and rebuild the German military forces (â€Å"Adolf Hitler Biography,† n.d.).Following World War I, the German army signed the Treaty of Versailles after which they were trimmed down in number and was obliged to disburse billions of dollars to the Allied powers for war damages thereby downgrading German reputation and resulting to economic depression and downfall.Subsequently, Hitler and the Nazis failed to recapture Germany in the supposed Beer Hal Putsch in 1923. This act was considered treason. As such, Hitler was punished for five years imprisonment, however, he only served it for nine months due to political demands. During Hitler’s stay in the penitentiary, he was able to write Mein Kampf (My Struggle), his political declaration and proposal for a Nazi government.In this manuscript, he proclaimed German superiority above other races and condemned the Jews as tainted among others. After the war, he even ordered the genocide of about six million Jews termed as the Holocaust. Hereon, Hitler advanced a dictatorial leadership to have power over the German population and inhibit those who rebel against him.During the 1930s, Hitler urged for a transformation of the German society upon the advent of political and economic flux and regression and this was heeded by the German people. In 1933, the Nazis gained recognition for these innovative agenda thus Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany.His leadership was tremendous in that he used media and press propaganda, large security force which used terror and inc arcerated Jews in concentration camps to signify Nazi authority in Germany.

Managerial Finance assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Managerial Finance assignment - Essay Example For the current, the company has a total market share of 21.2% in the UK market for timber, second to London Counties. The company has grown significantly over the years because of the marriage of the managing director, who was a sawmill owner to a wealthy forestry owner in the north of England. Being second in the total UK market, the company is poised for a position of growth as its prospects for the future. Wooden Posts Ltd is poised for growth in the future. However, because of changes in the UK timber market the company is presented with three alternatives by an international business consultancy firm. According to the firm, because the market for the companys products may face a slow down in terms of growth, the company has two options to expand, and one option to withdraw or contract. As the timber market in the UK is forecast to face a slow down in terms of growth, the rivalry in the current competition is expected to become more intense. In order to address this, the first option Wooden Posts Ltd has is to acquire a competitor, London Counties, the player with the largest market share in the UK market. This will increase the companys total market share. This is also significant to the company, as Wooden Posts Ltd has faced challenges in terms of increasing costs in the companys production and distribution systems. The logistical problems that give rise to increasing costs can be addressed by expanding the companys facilities in the form of facilities that are owned by one of its competitors. Although this option presents some potential gains to the company in the form of industry consolidation and economies of scale, this option is considered very risk--one, because of the potential failure of mergers, and two, even the merger proves to be successful, it does n ot guarantee that gains from acquisition are huge enough to contribute to the increase in shareholders wealth. The second option to Wooden Posts Ltd is to improve the

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International Hospitality Business - Case Study Example The company holds, administers or franchises a portfolio of world's renowned and highly regarded brands, including Hilton, Embassy Suites Hotels, Hilton Grand Vacations, Conrad Hotels & Resorts, Homewood Suites by Hilton, Hampton Inn, Hampton Inn & Suites, Doubletree, The Waldorf=Astoria Collection and Hilton Garden Inn. After a great success worldwide, the Hilton group remained the key player in exploiting the opportunities in Indian Hotel Industry which is still in a nascent stage by coming up with a joint-venture with the Indian group DLF to open 75 hotels in the country (DLF holds 75% of the stake) in five to seven years time. The DLF group is one of the biggest real estate developers in India. The group has already got over 224 million sq. ft. of existing development where planned projects account to 748 million sq. ft. DLF's core business is development of residential, commercial and retail estates. DLF has recently forayed into the financial services sector, and hotel business in India. Human resource management has been quite a big challenge, as is inherent in the international hospitality industry. The concerns over a potential US recession are a point of concern as it remains to be seen whether buoyancy of New York's occupancy rates will carry on in 2008 or not. This would determine the future of HR in the hotel industry across the board. While on the other hand India is an emerging economy with growth potential. There are approximately 55000-60000 rooms currently under construction where the demand for rooms is doubled over a five year vista. If the overall demand materialises over next 5 years, on an average of 1.5 employees per room, 187000 new jobs are likely to be created. HR would be a key area of concern for Hilton Group as Talent scouting and retention would require a lot of emphasis. All non-operational areas would require constant attention. In this regard, Hilton Hotel needs to train the functional head where an out-and-out effort would be required to understand the cultural and social dynamics of India, and endeavours to meet, the requirements and ambition of a more demanding generation of employees than that of the US hotel Industry. MARKETING In the recent years the Government of India has taken various steps to boost tourism and development within the country which will benefit the hotel industry in the years to come. The key benefits by the Indian government include the removal of the 15% inland air travel tax and removal of a number of impediments on outbound chartered flights. The government's latest pronouncement to treat convention centres as part of core infrastructure has also fuelled the demand for hotel rooms. Furthermore, Liberal foreign Investment policy would enable the hotel industry to witness a boom in the forth coming years. Though the above mentioned issues are a hurdle for Hilton group, the chain of hotels is likely to keep up its head above troubled waters and will significantly benefit by the economic revival in India. India has been endorsing its

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Human Resources Development - Essay Example ge of branded products, â€Å"backwards expansion† strategy (saturating the target’s rural market first), innovative marketing strategy and most important of all, human resource management. Walton, from the very beginning, believed that happy and satisfied employees performed well and were responsible for happy customers. Wal-Mart’s success in human resource management is keeping their workforce of 1.3 million or more from unionizing. In addition to that, Wal-Mart has achieved a very good retention rate of their employees and has also ensured discipline and uniformity in an organization that has been growing at such a rapid pace. Wal-Mart’s distinctive human resource management policies can be listed and analyzed as follows: (1) Recruitment: In the realm of employee recruitment, Wal-Mart has targeted college students to add to their workforce.   Wal-Mart achieves this recruitment by fanning out over 80 college campuses. While they are at these colleges, they are also able to expand their demographics by looking at minority fraternities and sororities, which brings all types of people from different backgrounds, races, and genders together in the Wal-Mart family.   Having a wide variety demographic for a workforce, only serves to attract more people to seek employment with Wal-Mart because they are able to show that they have a very open hiring process. (2) Training and Development: Beyond recruitment, Wal-Mart has taken an additional step with college students by offering management training for college students while they are still in school so they are more developed and prepared upon their graduation. This program serves the purpose of making college students consider careers with Wal-Mart, and over the last few years, the program has had immense success.   The company is also highly committed towards employee development and improving their career prospects. It has a policy of recruiting more than seventy percent of its personnel in managerial

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New Turkish Cinema - Dissertation Example This dissertation discusses the New Turkish Cinema, that is much more than a resurrection of the Turkish film industry after a long dark period. The New Turkish Cinema is also an era of greater creative freedom as a result of the relaxation of Turkey’s censorship laws. The long dark period also provided the New Turkish Cinema filmmakers with a dearth of political and social material from which to work with once the film renaissance begun in the 1990s. As demonstrated throughout this dissertation, the New Turkish Cinema did not hesitate to exploit these experiences of the Turks once film production escalated again in the 1990s. The New Turkish Cinema offers a rare and instructive inspection of the experiences of Turkey’s ordinary and traditionally oppressed citizens in both contemporary Turkey and during the politically and socially turbulent times of the dark ages of Turkey’s film industry. Thus as Turkey itself breaks from tradition in terms of political and dis course, so does Turkey’s film industry. For the most part, the political explorations of the New Turkish Cinema are reproducing the experiences of the politically oppressed. As demonstrated in this dissertation, audiences have seen first-hand the realities of the objectification of women in a largely patriarchal society. Audiences have also seen first-hand the experiences of the official discriminatory policies against the Armenians, the Greeks and other non-Muslim identities. In the final analysis, the New Turkish Cinema can be described as a new Turkish reality.

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Interracial Friendships - Coursework Example Several, if not most of the dilemmas and challenges confronted by partners in an intercultural romantic relationship are indefinable, such as communication dilemmas with each other and with both parties’ loved ones, the approval or blessings of their immediate families, gender stereotypes, individual aspirations and values, rearing children, and the notion of the nuclear family vis-à  -vis the extended family. Hence, the concern is where to initiate in deciphering the intricacies of intercultural romantic relationships and build up harmony within two very different cultures. The response to this concern is difficult to figure out and will most definitely differ from one intercultural relationship to the next; nevertheless, the fundamental notions are both plain and simple, namely, education, wisdom, communication, respect, and tolerance. Computer-mediated communication can facilitate intercultural relationships mainly through the Internet which provides another perspective and means for people to communicate and meet with unfamiliar people for the first time, set off meaningful and pleasurable discussions or conversations, and construct secure, long-term intercultural relationships, comparable to face-to-face interactions. Through regular and far-reaching verbal communication of social information, couples interacting on the Internet could vigorously commit in self-disclosure and strengthen intimacy and ties. However, CMC could also hinder a good intercultural relationship because of the inherent ambiguities that come from communication technologies such as the Internet. There are things, such as emotional and facial expression, that are important in building a strong intercultural relationship that only a face-to-face interaction can facilitate. Popular culture is the assemblage of concepts, ideas, notions that are popular, trendy or widespread and create the dominant culture. These ideas are profoundly manipulated by mass media.  

Middle-Range Theory Application Assignment Research Paper

Middle-Range Theory Application Assignment - Research Paper Example This paper focuses on the Tidal Model of Mental Health Recovery (Barker, 2001) which is considered as the first model for recovery developed by nurses and practitioners (Brookes, 2006). Over the past decades, psychiatry was mainly focused on the things that were done to the patients, and not with them. Mental illness was contained in order to significantly reduce the disturbances; however, by the end of the 20th century, the belief that professionals can sort out psychiatric problems was dramatically declining (Davidson & Strauss, 1992). With this, the concept of recovery as well as it focus on values had been highlighted, which has driven Barker (2001) to come up with the Tidal Model of Mental Health Recovery.   The philosophy behind this approach was initially driven by research about what individuals need for mental health care. The theorist was encouraged to establish a theory focusing on values as a component of recovery-focused practice, due to the fact that traditional scientific approaches have not been able to address all mental health issues, especially recovery. Generally, the Tidal approach places emphasis on how professionals and practitioners can mo dify care to work with each individual’s needs as well as his story and experiences so the person can be capable of paving the way for recovery (Buchanan-Barker & Barker, 2008). The person plays the main role in the recovery process, though a practitioner can help release the potential for recovery of the individual. The Tidal model is the first model of mental health recovery based on research that has also been developed by nurses as well as the support of individuals who have used or have been using psychiatric services (Brookes, 2006). Numerous approaches on recovery often put emphasis on self-management with which people are helped so they can manage their symptoms and develop plans in order to achieve

The Extinction of Baiji Essay Example for Free

The Extinction of Baiji Essay The Baiji, also known as the Chinese River Dolphin, are part of the family Plantanistiade, the river dolphin family. They had exsited in the Yangtze River in China for thousand of years. Nevertheless, the Baiji was recently declared extinct. The baiji’s demise can be attributed to over fishing, its lethal environment and the Great Leap Forward in China. Excessive and illegal fishing was a great threat to the baiji’s way of life. Electric fishing and the fishing method called â€Å"rolling hooks† were been banned in China. However, fishermen on the Yangtze River still use them out of convenience, and enforcement of the ban was difficult. The expert Zhou states, â€Å"This (electic) fishing method, in which an under waterdevice is used to stun aquatic animals, kills any organism induding what was once the dolphin’s prey.† 40 percent of Dolphins deaths were due to this kind of fishing annually (Gerg Ruland). In addition, rolling hooks, â€Å"long, braided lines with numerous sharp hooks are meant to catch fish, caused a number of baiji death.† As long as the baiji was caught by one of the hooks, it would struggle with more rolling hooks. Finally, the blood flew out of the baiji’s body, and it would die. (Requiem for a Freashwater Dolphin) . The environment in the Yangtze River, where the baiji had settled its habitat in, was fatal to the baiji. Traffic on the Yangtza River, which is the busiest in the world, damaged the audition of the baiji. Lovgren in his article states that, â€Å"The large-ship traffic on the Yangtze, one of the world’s busiest waterways, confounds the sonic wave that the nearly blind dolphin used to depend on to find food.† Moreover, the boats on the Yangtze attracted a number of the baiji to collide with propellers, since the propellers produced much of the sound wave and confused the baiji’s audition (Ruland). Another assignable cause that destroyed the baiji’s habitat was dams along the Yangtze River. Thes dams further destroyed the ecology of the river. And when the biggest dam, the Three Gorges Hydroelectric Dam in 1994, began to be constructed, this â€Å"wreaked havoc on the baiji’s remaining habitat. In 1997, only 13 baiji remained† (The Tragedy of the Yangtze River Dolphin). People take the big advantage of the valuable nature resources, living near by the Yangtze. However, because of the intemperate use, the baiji could not survive in the perishing environment and finally die. However, neither Chinese people nor the Chinese government kept the protection of the species in mind during the time period of the Great Leap Forward, which was the time to change China into a modern, industrialized communist society. The baiji’s population declined dramatically at the time. The baiji was denounced for their historical status, â€Å"Goddess of the Yangtze River† (Smith, et al). As a result people were encouraged to kill the baiji, since the story of this species was regarded as a part of superstition and feudalism. The baiji also killed for their white skin and flesh(Smith, et al) . It was encouraged for the contemporary to kill the baiji, since they treat baiji as their profit and the symbol of the bad traditional influence. In conclusion, the extinction of the baiji resulted from human activities. People who live near by the Yangtze improved their live depended on the destroying the baiji’s habitat and capturing the baiji. The tragedy of the baiji’s extinction came at a price while the living standard of people was promoted.

Tourism Issue Research Exercise and Essay Essay Example for Free

Tourism Issue Research Exercise and Essay Essay 1.0Introduction 1.1 Introduction to essay Tourism has increasingly grown as the economy develops well and the level of living style of human being improves, especially in China. (Jordon Ken, 2001)The dramatically growth of tourism has brought several benefits such as enhancing local economic development and the reduction of unemployment rate. (Philip D. Brian R., 1995) However, it is still questionable that whether it is absolutely profitable if the number of tourists continue to rise. The objectives of this essay are to emphasize the negative impacts of tourism to a Chinese destination. This essay is going to cover how the boosting tourism is affecting the quality of water and air in China. 1.2 Introduction to articlelu This article is discussing about the sudden influx of tourists throughout China during China’s National Day golden week and the negative environmental impacts that it caused. 2.0 Main arguments discussion 2.1 The general fact of tourism Over time, there is a significant growth in tourism all over the world. With reference to appendix A, it is significantly shown that the number of international tourist arrivals doubled from 435 millions to 940 millions from 1990 to 2010. Distinctively in the South Asia region, the numbers rose from 3.2 millions to 11.1 millions in the span of ten years, this relatively attracts a higher number of tourists among the strongest growing areas in 2010. As reported in UNWTO Tourism Highlight (2011), the position of china in tourism indicators moves up in both arrivals and receipts, reaching to the third position and the forth place out of the top ten, respectively. 2.2 The factors involving an increase in tourism It is evident that nowadays, more and more people prefer to choose China as their holiday destination, showing an obvious demand for tourism. It is  notable that there was a 20.8% growth of foreign tourists’ (about 85.4 million tourists) arrivals after the Beijing Olympics and Shanghai Expo. (China Daily, 2009) However, there are several crucial reasons that push people to go out to an unfamiliar place and pull them to China, listed below are the push and pull factors respectively. 2.2.1 Push factors There are several factors involved in influencing the increment of tourism, such as economic expansion, social changes, demographic aspects and technological developments. (Weaver, D. B., Oppermann, M. 2000) Being rich and affluent allows most people to be able to achieve a better sense of purchase power. The availability of greater discretionary household income gains various choices rather than just spending on basic living requirement;( Agarwal and Yochum,1999) Moreover, nowadays people tend to travel overseas during their vacation, in order to escape their busy work schedules. Households have also become smaller, so family members can spend less in bringing up children, thus having more money for leisure activities. In addition, the advancement in technology makes it easier for travelers to reach their destination. To sum up, all these factors boost the demand of tourism. (Weaver, D. B., Oppermann, M. 2000) 2.2.2 Pull factors Referring to Appendix B, Asian tourists make up the majority of China’s tourism market due to their geographical advantage. For example, Japan is the biggest tourist-source market for China as both countries are situated near from each other. It is also cheaper for the Japanese to travel to China as it is relatively cheaper than to other countries. Besides, the 5000-year history of China is always attracting tourists all over the world. In addition, the complement of airline systems and expansion of high speed train are more comfortable, continence and efficient. The quality of service has also grown together with the influx of tourists. (Jeffrey, 2008) 3.0 The negative impacts of tourism to environment However, it is questionable whether it is absolutely good if the number of tourist constantly grow yearly. According to this article, it was a common  phenomenon that china was overly congested with people during the Chinese National Day. 20,000 tourists could not find a hotel to settle down in Pu Tuo mountain (a famous mountain in china); During the same period of time, San Ya beach was described to be a dump because 50 tons rubbish was abandoned along the coast, while vehicles were held up on the expressway, which looked like they were parking in car parks. (Lei, 2012) These events are apparently showing a sign that when the sheer number of tourists is overload for a destination, it will lead to a decline in both socio-cultural and natural environment. However, only natural environment will be discussed about thought focusing on two main pollutions that exit during the rapid development of tourism. They are water pollution and air pollution, respectively. 3.1 Water pollution With the boosting tourism, more water resources are developed to attract travelers. Those people who enjoy the natural attractions of beauty and peacefulness like to boat along the waterways and enjoy the scenery.(Jeffrey, 2008) Thus, an increase of water transports like motorboats, will in turn cause oil emissions which would pollute the water ways.( Jeffrey, 2008 ) Moreover, the rubbish dump by travelers is harmful to the quality of water. Furthermore, hotels resorts built along waterways or coastlines will produce a big amount of sewage as well. These series of events would be obviously harmful to local water system during the holiday and would certainly cost a loss in the economy. For example, a number of 360 million yuan(US $43 million) was invested to clean up the Lijiang River by government. (People’s Daily, 2000) 3.2 Air pollution Nowadays, with advanced technology, majority of people prefer to take air transport to their preferred destinations. Refer to Appendix C, half of the total (51%) tourists chose to travel by air in 2010, while the road transport rank at the second popular choice of all mode of transports. All vehicle transport create exhaust fumes. (Simpson et al., 2008) Air pollution caused by tourist transportation has spread to the whole human being living environment, especially from carbon dioxide production because of the usage  of transportation energy. (Majbritt, 2010) In fact, the air in China, especially in the city area, is suffering from heavy pollution. (Gregory C. Chow, 2008) Amongst 20 worst-air-cities around the world, 16 of them belongs to China. (Jeffrey, 2008) 4.0 Conclusion In conclusion, the negative impacts of tourism to Chinese environment such as water pollution and air pollution have been explained above. These are the consequences that booming tourism has to pay. Thus, it is worth noting that the substantial tourism is calling peremptorily. Increasing tourism does bring a lot of profit for economy, but it is a double-edged sword. If left uncontrolled, tourism can cause both social and environmental problems as seen from China’s case. However, although I believe that the Tourism industry in china reaps more positivity on the whole, although there is no concrete panacea to this issue. Methodology This research essay required gathering relevant facts and information from a vast variety of sources, including book literatures, journals, news articles, specified review and online sources, in order to deliver complete understanding of the main topic – Negative impact of tourism to China’s destination. This research paper focused on gathering crucial data from the most valid and credible sources as reliability and credibility were key concerns. The usage of online journals and articles which were accessible on University Of Newcastle Blackboard were definitely useful in gathering information such as essential Annals of Tourism Research and Studies. In addition to this, Google Scholar played an imperative role in providing relevant information on the topics of Tourism in China as well as statistics on relevant areas. Key words like inbound tourism of china, water pollution were used on Google search engine to obtain further detail figures such as the number of tourism to China in 2010. Other than the methods listed above, the Chinese government reports and UNWTO annual reports were also used to describe and further elaborate changing tourism trend and statistics. The main keyword descriptors used to complete the research include: negative impacts of tourism in China, water pollution and air pollution information Reference: Air Pollution in China. (n.d.). FACTS AND DETAILS. Retrieved April 2, 2013, from factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=392catid=10subcatid=66 China Daily. (2009) Tourism in beijing boosts after the olympic games. (2009, 7 29). Cultural China. Retrieved from http://news.cultural-china.com/20090729140321.html Gregory C. Chow (2008): China’s Energy and Environmental Problems and Policies, Asia-Pacific Journal of Accounting and Economics Jeffrey, H. (2008). Facts and details. Retrieved from http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=392catid=10subcatid=66 Jeffrey, H. (2008). Water pollution in china. Retrieved from http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=391 Jordon, S., Ken, W. (2001). Causality between trade and tourism: empirical evidence from china. (1st ed., pp. 279-283). Lei, B, (2012). Crowd throughout the great wall during chinas national day. Chong Qin Wan Bao (2012, 10 8). . Retrieved from (http://tour.rednet.cn/c/2012/10/08/2770150.htm) Majbritt, T. (2010). Tourism, transport and environmental pollution. Retrieved from http://www.viewsontourism.info/2010/tourism-transport-and-environmental-pollution/ Philip D. , A., Brian R., P. (1995). An applied general equilibrium analysis of the economic effects of tourism in a quite small, quite open economy. (Vol. 27, pp. 985-994). Simpson, M. C., Gà ¶ssling, S., Scott, D., Hall, C. M. and Gladin, E. 2008. Climate change adaptation and mitigation in the tourism sector: Frameworks, tools and practices, Paris: UNEP, University of Oxford, UNWTO, WMO. Tourism, Transport and Environmental pollution – Views On Tourism. (n.d.).Views On Tourism Knowledge and inspiration to the Bangladeshi tourism sector.. Retrieved February 4, 2013, from http://www.viewsontourism.info/2010/tourism-transport-and-environmental-pollution/ UNWTO. (2011). Travel Biz Monitor: UNWTO Tourism Highlights: 2011 Edition (Part -II). Travel Biz Monitor: India travel news, travel trends, tourism. Retrieved February 3, 2013, from http://www.travelbizmonitor.com/unwto-tourism-highlights2011-edition-part-ii-14272 V.B. Agarwal, G.R. Yochum(1999): Tourist spending and race of visitors, Journal of Travel Research, (pp. 173–176) Weaver, D. B., Oppermann, M. (2000). Tourism management. Brisbane: John Wiley Sons Australia.(pp. 5-68) Wheeler, D., Dasgupta, S. and Wang, H. 2003. â€Å"Chapter 12: Can China Grow and Safeguard Its Environment? The Case of Industrial Pollution†. In How Far Across the River? Chinese Policy Reform at the Millennium, Edited by: Hope, N., Yang, D. T. and Li, M. Y. Stanford: Stanford University Press

The Photovoltaic Energy Calculation Engineering Essay

The Photovoltaic Energy Calculation Engineering Essay We used the program PVSYST in order to calculate accurately the output of our photovoltaic installation. PVSYST was the only program we had access to and it is a very widely known industrial program for sizing and designing photovoltaic systems. We used the most up to date version of 5.0.6. Procedure First from the main menu above we choose project design and we select the stand alone system because ours is not connected with an existing grid (i.e. electrical generator) In order to create a project in PVSYST, here is the Eco-friendly bulk carrier, we have to define: The project name, which will identify the project in the file list in our data library. The geographical location. The hourly Meteo file, which is given from the program. A geographical site is defined by: its name, country, and world region, its geographical co-ordinates: latitude, longitude, altitude and time-zone, Monthly meteorological data. To be used in the simulation, the minimum meteorological data include: the monthly Global horizontal irradiation Monthly averages of the ambient temperature. Meteo values are displayed and easily defined on the screen. It is to be noted that for the verification of rather uncertain data, the clearness index Kt is also displayable, which is the irradiation actually received on earth, normalised to extra-terrestrial irradiation in monthly values. The monthly average of Kt should usually lie between about Kt = 0.25 and Kt = 0.75 at any place (PVSYST defaults). Monthly meteo values can be used as a basis for the generation of synthetic daily data. Then we generate a graph for the specific site (i.e. Broome): Where, the blue line is the clear day model (irradiation values with clear sky). The above graph shows us graphically the irradiation sum per month (diffuse and global) with daily change values. The Clearness Index Kt for Broome: We can see that the values range from 0.25 to 0.75 The ambient temperature changes through the year. The above graphs were generated by the program from the below table: Also it is interesting to show the solar path at Broome or what is the solar height with respect of the plane through the day in order to understand how the sun moves from east to west. The graph also shows some landmark dates (denoted as 1 to 7) where the sun changes height: Our next step to the program is to find the albedo Coefficient: The albedo coefficient is the fraction of global incident irradiation reflected by the ground in front of a tilted plane. This effect takes place during the reversal computation of the horizontal irradiation onto a tilted plane. The albedo seen by the plane is of course null for a horizontal plane, and increases with tilt. In the project definition, the albedo values can be adjusted each month in order to take any possible snow-cover into consideration. The value usually admitted in the urban localities is of the order of 0.14 to 0.22, and can go up till 0.8 for a snow-cover. Ideally, the best value is obtained by a direct measurement on the site. But in practice, except for vertical planes, this value does not take on any great importance as the albedo component is relatively weak in the incident global irradiation (this contribution can be visualised in the results of the simulation). The following table gives some usual values for the albedo: We used the 0.35 value of the Albedo coefficient because it matches on our material. After defining the above values through the program we proceeded to the orientation of our PV plane. Our project consist a fixed tilted plane (The plane tilt is defined as the angle between the plane and the horizontal), because we considered placing the panels at the hatches due to the fact that they would be exposed all day to the suns radiation. PVs are placed onto the hatches of the ship with zero tilt (Azimuth is zero as well because it doesnt affect the global on collector plane output. In northern hemisphere, the plane azimuth is defined as the angle between south and collector plane. In southern hemisphere, the plane azimuth is defined as the angle between north and collector plane). As the program calculated, our loss with respect to an optimum orientation is 3.8% and the available irradiation on this tilted plane is 2370kWh/m2 We also considered using various configurations of panels as to maximise the output per m2 before choosing the above configuration. The below configurations was rejected due to the sun is changing place constantly throughout the day and the ships movement reinforces the situation, we decided that the best configuration was the above due to sturdy design (one panel placed along the hatch), high efficiency (sun always hit the panel at any time) and simple installation. Using two panels on each hatch half, tilted for 25o each having an output of 2445 kWh/m2 and the loss to an optimum orientation is 0.7%. Sun hit the panels only east and west when the ship goes north. (Highest efficiency, complex design, not easy installation). Using two panels on each half, tilted for above 25o the output is greatly decreased and we have great loss to an optimum orientation. The next step is to calculate the near shadings effect or shading. Near shadings are partial shadings which affect only a part of the field. The shaded part changes during the day and over the seasons. We call shading factor the ratio of the illuminated part to the total area of the field, or inversely shading loss is its complement. Through the construction/perspective tool we created a model of the ship from the ships particulars with the PVs installed on it in order to calculate the shading loss we have in various positions of the ship: The real effect of partial shadings on the electrical production of the PV field is non-linear, and depends on the interconnections between the modules. In the PV array, the current of each cell string is limited by the current of the worst cell in the series. That is, when one only cell is shaded the entire string is strongly affected (which has also dramatic effects on the I/V(current/voltage) characteristics of the whole array). Even with by-pass protection diodes, this string does not participate more than slightly in the production of the PV array. This phenomenon is too complex to be treated in great detail . Nevertheless, the program provides a simplified method, giving the possibility of partitioning the field into rectangles, each of which supposed to represent a string of modules in series. Then it calculates a Shading factor according to strings, stating that as soon as a string is hit by a shadow, the entire string (rectangle) is considered as electrically unproductive. A lthough not perfect, this approach should give an upper limit for the real shading loss evaluation. In practice, one often observe that (except for regular arrangements like sheds), this upper limit is not so far from the lower limit (that is, the linear loss). And the losses percentage due to shading in any sun height. After we define the natural parameters, we proceeded to the system consumption during a month in the specific site (BROOME). We cannot apply the maximum load 669.64 kW because it is the 100% and it is impossible to achieve it, but we apply an acceptable amount of about 20% of the max output which is 140Kw as a fixed load for 12 hours. After that we proceed to battery set and module selection: Where: LOL Loss-of-load probability This value is the probability that the users needs cannot be supplied (i.e. the time fraction when the battery is disconnected due to the Low charge regulator security). It may be understood as the complement of the Solar fraction (although it is described in terms of time rather than energy). During the sizing process, the LOL requirement allows for determining the PV array size needed, for a given battery capacity. Here the default program value is 5% which is acceptable. Autonomy and battery sizing: In the Presizing process, the proposed battery pack capacity is determined according to the required autonomy of the system, given in days. The autonomy is defined as the time during which the load can be met with the battery alone, without any solar inputs, starting of course from a full charged battery state. With non-constant loads (seasonal or monthly definition, weekly use), this is accounted as the worst case over the year. The calculation takes the minimum state of charge (SOC) disconnecting threshold, and the battery energy efficiency into account. For our project we decided that 4 days is enough autonomy for our ship. Battery Voltage Choice In a stand-alone PV system with direct coupling to the user (without inverter), the battery voltage determines the distribution voltage. As now many DC appliances can be found as well in 24V as in 12V, this choice should be made according to system and/or appliance power, as well as the extension of the planned distribution grid to minimise the ohmic wiring losses. This choice should be done from the early planning of an installation, since the existing appliance voltage usually cannot be changed, and voltage translators will be expensive and not 100% efficient. The rated distribution values could be chosen according to the following criteria (inverter supposed directly connected on the battery pack): 12V: little systems for lighting and TV: Appliance max power 24V: medium size, with fridge and little appliances, or wiring extension to more than 10 m. Appliance max power 48V: special industrial or agricultural use Appliance max power Higher powers require either high DC voltages (special appliances) or AC feeding through inverter. Here we choose 440V The module which we choose was the highest output monocrystalline silicon module in the program database, from SunPower company, constructed in 2009 the specifications of the module are: The batteries specification ,model and Manufaturer: Continuing: below is a brief sketch of the system The battery operating temperature was set to a fixed value of 20oC and the program let us use a default regulator with a DC-DC converter which specs are above. Array Losses Array losses in PVSYST program: Array loss parameters are initially set to reasonable default values by the program, so that modifications only need to be performed during a second step of the system study. PVSYST treats in detail the following loss types in a PV array: Thermal losses Ohmic wiring losses Module quality losses Mismatch losses Incidence angle (IAM) losses. In the simulation results, the effect of each loss will be available in hourly, daily or monthly values. They may be visualized on the Loss diagram. Array Thermal losses Thermal Model The thermal behaviour of the field which strongly influences the electrical performances is determined by a thermal balance between ambient temperature and cells heating up due to incident irradiance: U  · (Tcell Tamb) = Alpha  · Ginc  · (1 Effic) Where Alpha is the absorption coefficient of solar irradiation, and Effic is the PV efficiency (related to the module area), i.e. the removed energy from the module. The usual value of the Absorption coefficient Alpha is 0.9. When possible, the PV efficiency is calculated according to the operating conditions of the module. Otherwise it is taken as 10%. The thermal behaviour is characterised by a thermal loss factor designed here by U (formerly called K-value), which can be splitted into a constant component Uc and a factor proportional to the wind velocity Uv: U = Uc + Uv  · v (U in [W/m ²Ã‚ ·k], v = wind velocity in [m/s]). These factors depend on the mounting mode of the modules. For free circulation, this coefficient refers to both faces, i.e. twice the area of the module. If the back of the modules is more or less thermally insulated, this should be lowered, theoretically up to half the value (i.e. the back side doesnt participate anymore to thermal transfer). Determination of the parameters The determination of the parameters Uc and Uv is indeed a big question. We have some reliable measured data for free mounted arrays, but there is a severe lack of information when the modules are integrated. What value should be chosen according to the air duct sizes under the modules, and the length of the air path? One can observe that the heat capacity of the air is very low. Even with large air vents, the flowing air under the modules may quickly attain the equilibrium with the modules temperature at the end of the duct, leading to no heat exchange at all. Therefore for the top of the array the U value may be the fully insulated U-value; you can have big differences between the regions of the array near the air input, and at the output. The program doesnt take this inhomogeneity of the array temperature into account. On the other hand, the use of the wind dependence is very difficult. On one hand the knowing of the wind velocity is extremely rare. On the other hand the meteo wind velocity (taken at 10 meter height) is not representative of the temperature at the array level (there may be a factor of 2 between them). In this respect the Uv value is obviously not the same for these two definitions of the wind velocity. Default and proposed values The default value is fixed for free-standing arrays, as: Uc = 29 W/m ²Ã‚ ·k, Uv = 0 W/m ²Ã‚ ·k / m/s If you have fully insulated arrays, this should be halved: Uc = 15 W/m ²Ã‚ ·k, Uv = 0 W/m ²Ã‚ ·k / m/s These values suppose an average wind velocity of around 1.5 m/sec at the collectors level. In very windy regions (larger average wind velocities), you can increase the values; but we cannot say by which amount in a reliable way. NOCT Values Some practicians and most of PV modules catalogues usually specify the NOCT coefficient (Nominal Operating Collector Temperature), which is the temperature attained by the PV modules without back coverage under the standard operating conditions defined as: Irradiation = 800 W/m ², Tamb=20 °C, Wind velocity = 1 m/s, Open Circuit. The NOCT factor is related to loss factor U by the thermal balance (from the expression of the top Alpha  · 800 W/m ²  · (1 0) = (Uc + Uv  · 1m/s)  · (NOCT 20 °C). In the definition dialog, the user may define either the U factors or the NOCT. The program immediately gives the equivalence (using Alpha=0.9 and Effic = 10%, without wind dependence). Ohmic wiring losses Ohmic Loss Ratio The Ohmic Loss ratio is referred to the PV array at standard conditions (1000 W/m ², 25 °C), It is the ratio of the wiring ohmic loss Pwir = Rwir * Isc ² compared to the nominal power Pnom(array) = Rarray * Isc ² (SC= short circuit). Where: Rarray = Vmp / Imp at Standard Test Conditions (STC) Rwir = global wiring resistance of the full system. This is computed for a given sub-array as the resistance of all strings wires in parallel, in series with the cables from the intermediate connexion box on the roof to the inverter input. The global wiring resistance Rwir is obtained by putting all the sub-array wiring resistances in parallel. Use in the simulation The Global wiring resistance value finally used during the simulation may be defined here: as an Ohmic Loss ratio (the default value is 1.5% at STC) or given explicitly in mOhm. Wire diameter optimisation and Wiring Resistance Wire sections are determined by the maximum allowable current and the ohmic resistance. Here the proposed diameters are automatically limited to the minimum allowable section, according to the European standards for isolated wires mounted in apparent mounting ducts. Now for a given global loss target (at STC, i.e. maximum operating current), the best section choice is determined by the program in order to minimise: The global copper mass, The ohmic losses behave in a quadratic way with the array current (Ploss = R  · I ²), so that the ratio diminishes linearly with the output current. Therefore the average wiring losses are much lower during the whole running year. Metal resistivity The resistivity of wiring metals is strongly dependent on the temperature, which can widely vary due to dissipating currents. For pure metal, one has: Copper: Rho = 1.68 E-8 * (1 + 0.0068 * Temp [ °C]) [Ohm ·m] Default value: Temp = 50 °C => 22 mOhm ·mm ²/m Aluminium: Rho = 2.7 E-8 * (1 + 0.0043 * Temp [ °C]) [Ohm ·m] Default value: Temp = 50 °C => 33 mOhm ·mm ²/m We use copper which have minimum resistivity. Module quality losses / mismatch Module quality loss It is well-known that most of PV modules series dont match the manufacturer nominal specifications. Up to now, this was one of the greater uncertainties in the PV system performance evaluation. Now, with guaranteed power statements and increasing availability of independent expertise, the situation seems going toward some clarification. Module series are sold with a given tolerance, and actual powers usually lie under the nominal specified power, but stay in the tolerance. We decided that the program default was acceptable. Array mismatch loss Losses due to mismatch are related to the fact that the real modules in the array do not strictly present the same I/V characteristics. The graph below helps for visualising the realistic behaviour of such an array, with a random distribution of the characteristics of short-circuit current for each module. This allows for the quantification of power-loss at the maximum power point, as well as of current-loss when working at fixed voltage. (MPP= maximum power point) Array incidence loss (IAM) The incidence effect (the designated term is IAM, for Incidence Angle Modifier) corresponds to the weakening of the irradiation really reaching the PV cells surface, with respect to irradiation under normal incidence. In principle, this loss obeys Fresnels Laws, (They describe the behaviour of light when moving between media of differing refractive indices. The reflection of light that the equations predict is known as Fresnel reflection), concerning transmission and reflections on the protective layer (the glass), and on the cells surface. In practice, it is often approached using a parameterisation called ASHRAE (as it has become a standard in this American norm), depending on one only parameter bo: FIAM = 1 bo  · (1/cos i 1), with i = incidence angle on the plane. For single-glazed thermal solar modules, the usually accepted value for bo is of the order of 0.1. But in a PV module, the lower interface, in contact with the cell, presents a high refraction index and our specific measurements on real crystalline modules actually indicate a value of bo = 0.05. Final Report for Broome for January

United States and South Korea Policies Essay -- Foreign Policy

The United States (US) and the Republic of South Korea (ROK) has had several significant policy agreements and disagreements between each other for several decades after the Korean War. During President George W. Bush’s tenure in office at the White House, a couple key policy agreements between the US and ROK came to light, such as President Kim Dae Jung’s â€Å"Sunshine Policy1† officially known as the Policy of Reconciliation and Cooperation toward North Korea. The Sunshine Policy did not fare to well with Bush’s administration and they considered Kim naà ¯ve and completely annulled the Policy all together. This was due to the ROK’s passive stance on North Korea’s ongoing nuclear program. The title of â€Å"The Sunshine Policy† originates from a fable told by Aesop called, â€Å"The North Wind and the Sun2.† This fable is how the sun and the wind competed with each other to take off a man’s coat. Eventually, the sun won this challenge by just using his sunlight on the man, caused the man to become hot, which resulted in him taking off his coat. On the other hand, the wind used his brute force in an attempt to blow off the man’s coat, which only had him hold on to it tighter. This analogy was to compare the hard and soft approaches of power to counter the North Korean threat to the ROK and the rest of the world. Kim led the way to culminate and drive the ROK towards a bilateral forum between North and South Korea, which eventually held place in Pyongyang in 2000 between the two leaders of the Korean peninsula. The policy bears six characteristics to be used accordingly with North Korea3: 1. â€Å"First it is a policy with historical precedence in its favor.† Policies that attempted to utilize a hard approach in seceding authoritarian... ...a/1999/reunification22.html Assessed May 11, 2012. Syner, Scott A. â€Å"South Korea’s Roh Moo hyun: An Impossible Idealist.† Council of Foreign Relations, May 23, 2009. Web: http://www.cfr.org/south-korea/south-koreas-roh-moo-hyun-impossible-idealist/p19487 Assessed May 6, 2012. United States Institute of Peace. â€Å"Six-Party Talks: Defining a Roadmap for Success.† Web: http://www.usip.org/publications/six-party-talks-defining-realistic-roadmap-success Assessed May 10, 2012. Wald, Mary. â€Å"Kim Dae Jung: A Hero for Peace.† Huff Post World, August 18, 2009. Web: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mary-wald/kim-dae-jung-a-hero-for-p_b_262296.html Assessed May 10, 2012. Yang, Sung Chul. â€Å"South Korea’s Sunshine Policy.† Asiansociety.org, December 4, 2000. Web: http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/apcity/unpan005966.pdf Assessed May 7, 2012.

Magic :: essays research papers

Doing this research paper didn’t really help me find anything extraordinary about the word magic. I pretty much knew what the word magic meant, from the comic books I read and the television I watch. It did however, make me view the word in more depth. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not implying in any way that the word magic, is dull, because it is just the opposite. I’m simply stating that because of my fascination with the subject of magic, I am already familiar with its background and capabilities. I chose the word magic because the concept of any human being possessing unexplainable, supernatural powers intrigues me to the point where I wish I had been endowed with those powers. If I had to choose a favorite; I would have to go with the two poems I obtained from the Concordance to Shakespeare and the Granger’s Index to Poetry. It all started when we received our word list. I looked for a word that I interested me, and that I thought would be easy to f ind information on. I guess, for the most part I was right. All the references available in our school library were pretty easy to find; such as the Roget’s Thesaurus, the Unabridged Dictionary, and surprisingly the Book of Quotations and the Concordance to the Bible. On one day there, at the St. Paul library four were down and there were four to go, which wasn’t too shabby for the first day. I figured I was doing well getting half of my list taken care of before Christmas vacation, and then during vacation I would finish the job.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Well as any normal teenager would agree the plan of doing work during vacation vanished as soon the final bell rang to start vacation. On the first day back to school I took a trip to a local library near my house. I already knew that I wouldn’t find everything that I needed, but I checked it out any ways. I was only able to find the Oxford English Dictionary, but luckily I bumped into my wonderful English teacher Ms. Frausto who informed me that the Uptown Whittier Library would have the sufficient amount of information I needed to complete my research. In deed, my very wise mentor was right. I did find the rest of the items I was in search of, which were a periodical, a poem, and an excerpt from a Shakespeare play.

Solvong the Education Equation

Josh Irish English 101 6 March, 2013 Solving the Education Equation ?The myth of education in America works like a broken function box; what we are putting in is not coming out complete, thus leaving an unsolved equation. This unsolved equation is the education system in America, which continuously crams numbers into the function, without yielding any results. This myth America has constructed has been debated by many, benefited few, and has encompassed us all. It was created by the culmination of false goals by a system that does not cater to society as a whole or been proven successful.The original mission statements of public education in a democracy set out by Horace Mann were to â€Å"Equalize all conditions of men, in order to balance the wheel of the social machinery† (Mann 116). I believe that the America’s current public education system is not fulfilling these goals set for all citizens of this nation. ?There are numerous projected goals of American education that have been set out, in writing, by the trusted officials of America’s government. These goals are aimed at creating a thriving society occupied by well rounded individual citizens.In Horace Mann’s address to the Massachusetts board of education he states, â€Å"It may be safely affirmed that the common school, improved and energized as it can easily be, may become the most effective and benignant of all forces of civilization† (Mann 117). Mann was suggesting that education can be very adaptable, suiting all facets of society to be the sole beneficiary creating good citizens. I believe that his vision was and is still true if America follows his advice, creating a system more adaptable around its constituents.I believe the main goals of education in a democracy should include individual empowerment, creating honest citizens, equal opportunity for success, and political knowledge of your government. In regards to political knowledge, Michael Moore in idiot nat ion states, â€Å"A nation that goes out of its way to remain ignorant and stupid, is not one that should be running the world – at least not until its citizens can locate Kosovo(or any other country it has bombed) on the map† (Moore 129). This shows just about how little Americans seem to know about their own government’s practices and decision making.The apathetic attitude many Americans have towards politics as well shows disregard for their own well being, since the government’s decisions will inevitably affect them. regarding success, John Gatto states that â€Å" We have been taught in this country to think of success as synonymous to, or at least dependent upon schooling, but historically that isn’t true in either an intellectual or a financial sense† (Gatto 150). This alludes to the common phrase money doesn’t buy happiness, in comparison to â€Å"schooling† not automatically bringing â€Å"success†.This is the m ain myth of our education system, which falsely advertises the transition of schooling into success. ?With every projected goal the government has for education, there are just as many ways our democracy is not fulfilling them. For starters, schools are massively overcrowded with an increasing student to teacher ratio, creating less interaction and communication between the two. On top of this problem, teachers are being highly underpaid although they must work harder trying to account for the larger amount of students.These problems stem from the fact that our education system is not adequately funded and resources are hard to come by. Michael Moore states the hypocritical nature of political funding in Idiot Nation when he says â€Å"The ultimate irony is that the very politicians who refuse to fund education in America are the same ones that go ballistic over how kids have fallen behind the Japanese, Germans, and just about every country with running water and an economy not bas ed on the sale of Chiclets† (Moore 138).Another problem we face is the current system being designed to merely push students along until the end, whether they are ready or not, based on George bush’s No Child Left Behind initiative. John Gatto reveals a solution to this in Against School when he states â€Å"If we wanted we could easily jettison the old, stupid structures and help kids take an education, rather than merely receive schooling. we could encourage the best qualities of youthfulness simply by being more flexible†¦ and giving each student what autonomy he or she needs in order to take a risk every now and then† (Gatto 149).The clearest problem we can see in education system is the separation of social classes within schools. schools are clearly still a separate and still unequal institution when you examine the differences between working class, middle class, affluent, and elite schools in America. Each of these levels of schools has a hidden curr iculum of work designed for that specific social class’s educational upbringing. Working class schools follow steps of procedure, involving mechanical behavior, with little decision or choice making. In Middle class schools, work is getting the right answer.Therefore one must follow directions to get the right answers, and accumulate right answers to get a good grade. In affluent schools, students work independently with creative activity, and are asked to express ideas and concepts. This also involves individual thought and expression rather than listening to others. Lastly, elite schools develop ones analytical, intellectual powers by work that challenges both reason and logic through problems. All these levels of curriculum between schools correspond to students’ future â€Å"designation† or career path in society’s workplace.Jean Anyon describes this complex in Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work when she says â€Å"Public schools in compl ex industrial societies like our own make available different types of educational experience and curriculum knowledge to students in different social classes† (Anyon 170). The hidden curriculum of schools in our public education system is clearly a problem and the biggest obstacle to creating equal opportunities for all students in America. ?Education creates empowerment. In theory, yes, this statement is true.However in the current state of education in America, this is false advertisement when you include the obstacles such as overcrowded schools, incompetent teachers, outdated information sources and hidden curriculum in schools. In order to make that statement more than a myth we need to become aware of the industrial complex that our government has made public education into and start changing the system. We as a nation must demand adequate funding for schools, relevant information sources and diminish class from being intertwined with our education.We live in a thriving , complex society that has become an idiot nation due to our passivity and apathetic attitude towards education. We must wake up and take back the very foundation of the American dream, our education. Once our nation achieves this we will solve the equation of the education system and function properly as a country. Works Cited Anyo, Jean. â€Å"Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work. † Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford of St. Martin's, 1992. 70. Print. Gatto, John. â€Å"Against School. † Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford of St. Martin's, 1992. 149. Print. Gatto, John. â€Å"Against School. † Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford of St. Martin's, 1992. 150. Print. Mann, Horace. â€Å"Report of the Massachusetts Board of Education. † Rereading America: Cultural Context s for Critical Thinking and Writing. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford of St. Martin's, 1992. 116.Print. Mann, Horace. â€Å"Report of the Massachusetts Board of Education. † Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford of St. Martin's, 1992. 117. Print. Moore, Michael. â€Å"Idiot Nation. † Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford of St. Martin's, 1992. 129. Print. Moore, Michael. â€Å"Idiot Nation. † Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford of St. Martin's, 1992. 138. Print.

Novel: 19 Minutes Essay

As kids grow up, they go through several stages to find out who they truly are. Some kids are very social and have many friends, when others are shy and not considered the coolest kids around. Jodi Picoult demonstrates isolation impeccably in her novel Nineteen Minutes by delving beneath the surface of a small town to explore what it means to be different in today’s society. She shows how one can lose a friend, how people make someone feel bad; in order to feel good about themselves, and how isolation can lead to death related situations. Teenagers and kids in general, as they grow up they tend to change their friends multiple times. In the novel, Peter Houghton and Josie Cormier are very close friends since their childhood. Josie, unlike Peter, stands up for herself and even Peter sometimes, since he is mostly picked on. One day, when Josie and Peter are young, he decides to show her his father’s shotgun, which he uses to hunt with. Alex, Josie’s mothers, catche s them, and was furious saying â€Å"My daughter has been coming over to your house for how long, and you’ve got guns lying around† (Picoult 81)? The mothers from this day on stop being friends, which leads the kids to stop going to each other’s houses, although they still manage to play at school. Josie did not want to isolate Peter, because they are really good friends. Another thing that occurs in the novel, is that when a new girl joined Peter and Josie’s class, she is not very noticed. One day Peter â€Å"notice[s] that [she is] sitting in the middle of an ink stain† (Picoult 158). After Peter realizes that this is not an ink stain and the girl has actually got her period, he screams out: â€Å"Dolores has her period† (Picoult 158)! And then the whole class joins and starts laughing, including Josie. Peter, for a while, enjoys not being the one made fun of for once, but once they kids start teasing her, Peter decides to put a â€Å"sto p†(Picoult 159) to it. After this incident, Josie along with the popular kids continue†¦

Process Strategy and Analysis: Toyota Motors Case study Essay

Toyota Motor Corporation, Japan’s largest and the world’s #4 carmaker by 2003 sales (after General Motors, Ford, and Daimler Chrysler), had a wide range of products and strong brand names with high quality image. Toyota’s growing reputation for quality and very small numbers of technical problems in its vehicles generated interesting customer loyalty and a growing demand for its products. Toyota management was managing the company’s inventory, costs and capacity very successfully and was applying cost reduction programs very well. Toyota had riving ambition to become greener. The company made a hybrid-powered (gas and electric) sedan- the prius- that had already being snapped up in U.S. and European markets. Toyota also made huge investments in developing fuel-cell technology for its vehicles. Its gas-powered cars, pick-ups, minivans, and SUVs included such models as the Camry, Celica, Corolla, 4Runner, Echo, Land Cruiser, Sienna, the luxury Lexus line, and a full-sized pick-up truck, the v-8 Tundra. Toyota also was making forklifts and manufactured housing, and was offering consumer financial services. With its wide distribution channels, strong channel efficiency and effectiveness, Toyota was both successfully competing with the world’s upper three auto makers and poised to replace GM in the top spot this decade. Toyota was known world-wide for its up-to-date vehicles, strong vehicle design, comfortableness, safety, strong resistance to wind and rollover, low fuel consumption, presence of electronic and other devices in the vehicles, and strong reputation for luxury. Surveys, however, rated the attractiveness and comfort of its passenger cars as mediocre. Also rated mediocre was the off-road excellence of its SUVs. Toyota was a leader in technological improvements, such as drive, production and vehicle construction technology and had a solid ability to design and innovates new products, to differentiate its products, to innovate new vehicle lines, or to extend existing vehicle lines. Global sales of Toyota vehicles were increasing every year beginning in 2001. Toyota showed a growth of 20% in its sales from March 2002 to March 2003 and growth of 49.6% in its net income for the same period. This increase reflected not only the quality of its vehicles, but also Toyota’s strong efficiency in sale operations, applying one-to-one marketing, entering into partnership and joint ventures with other companies world-wide, being price competitive, strongly applying sales incentives such as warranty extensions, and applying advertisement tools such as TV commercials, ads in magazines and newspapers and exhibition presentations. Toyota needed little use of financing packages and radio commercials in its sale incentive programs. Also, Toyota was known for strong after-sale services that helped the company to strengthen relationships with its customers and quality of service provided to them. Toyota had a strong, unique corporate culture that helped the company remain very well organised and highly competitive. Toyota also had strong co-operation with its partners and among its divisions that allowed Toyota to further co-ordinate interdivisional operations. In comparison to its big three competitors, Toyota had strong manufacturing operations with the ability to produce highly innovative products, taking advantage of low cost structures, ability to open new manufacturing plants, benefiting from economies of scale. Transplant assembling. Availability of technology for its production, and availability and standards of sources, the ability to enter new markets, and the like, Also, Toyota had strongly balanced its activities both domestically and internationally. There are five basis ways in approve: (1) reduce resources, (2) reduce errors, (3) meet or exceed expectations of downstream customers, (4) make the process safer, and (5) make the process more satisfying to the person doing it. First, a process that uses more resources than necessary is wasteful. Reports that are distributed to more people than necessary wastes copying and distribution time, material, user read time, and, eventually, life space. Second, for the most part, errors are a sign of poor workmanship and require rework. Typing errors that are detected after the computer printout require opening the file, making the correction, and printing the revised document. Third, meeting or exceeding expectations of downstream customers improves the process. For example, the better the weld, the less grinding required, making the appearance of a finish paint more The fourth way a process can be improved is by making it safer. A safer workplace is a more productive one with fewer lost-time accidents and less workers compensation claims. The fifth way to improve process is to increase the satisfaction of the individual performing the process. Sometimes a little change, such as an ergonomically Make a substantial change in a person’s attitude toward their work. Manufacturing cycle The manufacturing cycle typically occurs at the distributor/manufacturer for retailer/ manufacturer) interface and includes all processes involved in replenishing distributor (or retailer) inventory. The manufacturing cycle is triggered by customer orders or by the forecast of customer demand and current product availability in the manufacturer’s finished-goods warehouse. One extreme in a manufacturing cycle is an integrated steel mill that collects orders that is similar enough to enable the manufacturer to produce in large quantities. In this case, the manufacturing cycle is reacting to customer demand (referred to as a pull process). Another extreme is a consumer products firm that must produce in anticipation of demand. In this case the manufacturing cycle is anticipating customer demand (referred to as a push process). The processes involved in the manufacturing cycle Order arrival from the finished-goods warehouse, distributor, retailer, or customer Production scheduling Manufacturing and shipping Receiving at the distributor, retailer, or customer Order arrival During this process a finished- goods warehouse or distributor sets a replenishment order trigger based on the forecast of future demand and current product inventories. The resulting orders are then conveyed to the manufacturer. In some cases the customer or retailer may be ordering directly from the manufacturer. In other cases a manufacturer may be producing to stock a finished products warehouse. In the latter situation, the order is triggered based on product availability and a forecast of future demand. This process is similar to the retail order trigger process in the replenishment cycle. Production scheduling This process is similar to the order entry process in the replenishment cycle where inventory is allocated to an order. During the production scheduling process, orders (or forecasted orders) are allocated to a production plan. Given the desired production quantities for each product, the manufacturer must decide on the precise production sequence. If there are multiple lines, the manufacturer must also decide which products to allocate to each line. The objective of the production scheduling process is to maximise the proportion of orders filled on time while keeping costs down. Manufacturing and Shipping This process is equivalent to the order fulfilment process described in the replenishment cycle. During the manufacturing phase of the process, the manufacturer produces to the production schedule. During the shipping phase of this process, the product is shipped to the customer, retailer, distributor, or finished-product warehouse. The objective of the manufacturing and shipping process is to create and ship the product by the promised due date while meeting quality requirements and keeping costs down. Distribution Toyota used the traditional distribution channels; vehicles from the production places were distributed to national or regional distribution, which then distributed the vehicles to the local dealers. The three units of Toyota that produced passenger cars, SUVs, light trucks, and mini vans. Toyota was also entering into partnerships with other carmakers world-wide, such as South Korean Hyundai and Chinese carmakers, and used their distribution channels to enter the markets where these partners were predominant. With these activities, Toyota was trying to balance its distribution channels world-wide and to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their distribution channels. Manufacturing Toyota had manufacturing facilities in 37 countries and sold its products in 200 countries around the world. As the situation deteriorated in 2003, manufacturers were increasingly experiencing inventory problems as they were unable to shift their growing stockpile of cars into the saturated fleet market. With the increasing costs of product storage and reduced retail revenues, coupled with relaxed consumer demand, production cuts was likely to occur in the company. Also, Toyota was looking for ways to open production places in regions like China and Mexico, in order to benefit from cheap labour force and gain competitive advantage. In this process the product is received at the distributor, finished-goods warehouse, retailer, or customer and inventory records are updated. Other processes related to storage and fund transfers also take place. Few companies in the world excel at continuous improvement on a corporate-wide basis like Toyota Motor Corporation. Toyota is perhaps best known for its highly effective production system, dubbed â€Å"lean manufacturing† by an MIT study in the 1980’s (Womack et. Al, 1990). But interestingly, history’s most efficient method of production was not born from a sudden brainstorm by an ingenious individual (although Toyota has had plenty of those over the years). Rather, it evolved into its present state over decades of sustained, high level of continuous improvement activity (Cusumano, 1985). Toyota’s efficiency extends not only to the production floor, but also to product development, prototyping, testing, and all other business operations. Manufacturers the world over have been emulating Toyota’s practices, and have done so with much success (Liker, 1998). However, unlike Toyota, much of the success has been confined to the production floor and little success elsewhere. Toyota’s product development system, the first author found this tool to be used pervasively and with incredible power and effectiveness (Sobek, 1997). Toyota uses it to systematically guide problem-solvers through a rigorous process, document the key outcomes of that process, and propose improvements. The tool is used so pervasively that it forms a keystone in Toyota’s world-famous continuous improvement program. Toyota calls this tool the A3 report. The A3 Problem-Solving Report The A3 report is so named because it is written on an A3 sized paper (metric equivalent of 11† x 17†). Toyota has developed several kinds of A3 reports for different applications. Every report starts with a â€Å"theme† or title. The theme indicates the problem being addressed, and is fairly descriptive. The theme should focus on the problem, and not advocate a particular solution Theme: Every report starts with a â€Å"theme† or title. The theme indicates the problem being addressed, and is fairly descriptive. The theme should focus on the problem, and not advocate a particular solution As Spear and Bowen (1999) elucidate, Toyota indoctrinates its people with its own version of the scientific method—every improvement is designed as an experiment. The A3 problem-solving process is a structure to implement the scientific method. The current condition and root cause constitutes the necessary background research, the target condition and implementation plan outline the experimental design and the follow-up plan states the hypothesis. TQM is based on a number of ideas. It means thinking about quality in terms of all functions of the enterprise and is a start is a start-to-finish process that integrates interrelated functions at all levels. It is a systems approach that considers every interaction between the various elements of the organisation. Thus, the overall effectiveness of the system is higher than the sum of the individual outputs from the subsystems. The subsystems include all the organisational functions in the life cycle of a product, such as (!) design, (2) planning, (3) production, (4) distribution, and (5) field service. The management subsystems also require integration, including (1) strategy with a customer focus, (2) the tools of quality and (3) employee involvement (the linking process that integrates the whole). A corollary is that any product, process, or service can be improved, and a successful organisation is one that consciously seeks and exploits opportunities for improvement at all levels. The load-bearing structure is customer satisfaction. The watchword is continuous improvement. (Ross, 2) Hence TQM requires six basic concepts: A committed and involved management to provide long-term top-to bottom organisational support. An unwavering focus on the customer, both internally and externally. Effective involvement and utilisation of the entire work force. Continuous improvement of the business and production process. Treating suppliers as partners. Establish performance measures for the processes. (Besterfield, Michna, Besterfied & Sacre, p.2) (Crosby, 1979) presented the following steps in order to undertake TQM effectively. Management Commitment: Top management must become convinced of the need for quality and must clearly communicate this to the entire company be written policy, starting that each person is expected to perform according to the requirement or cause the requirement to be officially changed to what the company and the customers really need. Quality improvement team: From a team composed of department heads to oversee improvements in their departments and in the company as a whole. Quality measurement: Establish measurements appropriate to every activity in order to identify areas in need of improvement. Cost of quality: Estimate the costs of quality in order to identify areas where improvements would be profitable. Quality awareness: Raise quality awareness among employees. They non-conformance. Corrective action: Take corrective action as a result of steps 3 and 4. Zero defects planning: From a committee to plan a program appropriate to the company and its culture. Supervisor training: All levels of management must be trained in how to implement their part of the quality improvement program. Zero defects day: Schedule a day to signal to employees that the company has a new standard. Goal setting: Individuals must establish improvement goals for themselves and their groups. Error causes removal: Employees should be encouraged to inform management of any problems that prevent them from performing error free work. Recognition: Give public, non-financial appreciation to those who meet their quality goals or perform outstandingly. Quality councils: Composed of quality professionals and team chairpersons, quality councils should meet regularly to share experiences, problems, and ideas. Does it all over again: Repeat steps 1 to 13 in order to emphasise the never-ending process of quality improvement. (Ross, p. 6-7) Management must participate in the quality program. A quality council must be established to develop a clear vision, set long-term goals, and direct the program. Quality goals are included in the business plan. An annual quality improvement program is established and involves input from the entire work force. Managers participate on quality improvement teams and also act as coaches to other teams. TQM is a continual activity that must be entrenched in the culture- it is not just a one-shot program. TQM must be communicated to all people. The key to an effective TQM program is its focus on the customer. An excellent place to start is by satisfying internal customers. We must listen to the voice of the customer and emphasise design quality and defect prevention. Do it right the first time and every time, for customer satisfaction is the most important consideration. TQM is an organisation-wide challenge that is everyone’s responsibility. All personnel must be trained in TQM, statistical process control (SPC), and other appropriate quality improvement skills so they can effectively participate on project teams. Including internal customers and, for that matter, internal suppliers on project teams are an excellent approach. They understand the process better than anyone else does. Changing behaviour is the goal. People must come to work not only to do their jobs, but also to think about how to improve their jobs. People must be empowered at the lowest possible level to perform processes in an optimum manner. There must be a continued effort to improve all business and production processes. Quality improvement projects, such as on-time delivery, order entry efficiency, billing error rate, customer satisfaction, cycle time, scrap reduction, and supplier management, are good places to begin technical techniques such as SPC, benchmarking, quality function deployment, and designed experiments are excellent for problem solving. On the average 40% of pounds is purchased product or service; therefore, the supplier quality must-be outstanding. A partnering relationship rather than an adversarial one must be developed. Both parties have as much to gain or lose based on the success or failure of the product or service. The focus should be on quality and life-cycle costs rather than price. Suppliers should be few in numbers so that true partnering can occur. Performance measures such as uptime, percent non-conforming, absenteeism, and customer satisfaction should be determined for each functional area. These measures should be posted for everyone to see. Quantitative data are necessary to measure the continuous quality improvement activity. (Besterfield, Michna, Besterfied & Sacre, p.3) The purpose of TQM is to provide a quality product and/or service to customers, which will, in turn, increase productivity and lower cost. With a higher quality product and lower price, competitive position in the marketplace will be enhanced. This series of events will allow the organisation to achieve the objectives of profit and growth with greater case. In addition, the work force will have job security, which will create a satisfying place to work. As previously stated. TQM requires a cultural change. The change is substantial and will not be accomplished in a short period of time. Small organisations will be able to make the transformation much faster than large organisations. (Besterfield, Michna, Besterfied & Sacre, p.3) Hence summarising the key points discussed above, productivity is a major concern of managers. It implies measurement, an essential step in the control process. The productivity measurement of skill workers is generally easier than that of knowledge workers such as managers. Yet managerial productivity is very important, especially for organisations operating in a competitive environment. Production management refers to those activities necessary to manufacture products; it may also include purchasing, warehousing, transportation, and other operations. Operations management has a similar meaning, referring to activities necessary to produce and deliver a service as well as a physical product. The operations management systems model show inputs, the transformation process, outputs, and the feedback system. A variety of tools and techniques make operations more productive. Seven steps are often involved in planning and designing a product and its production. Companies can choose from six different kinds of production layouts. In order to operate the system, the managerial functions of organising, staffing, and leading must be carried out effectively. Controlling requires an information system often supported by computers. (Koontz and Weihrich, 1994; p.653) Among the various tools for planning and controlling operations is operations research, which is the application of scientific methods to the study of alternatives in a problem situation to obtain a quantitative basis for arriving at the best solution. The operation research procedure consists of six steps. Examples of tools are linear programming, inventory planning and control, the just-in time inventory system, and distribution logistics. Other tools and techniques are time-event inventory system, engineering, work simplification, quality circles, total quality management, and a variety of computer-aided approaches. (Koontz and Weihrich, 1994; p.653) References Besterfield, D. H., Michna, C. B., Besterfied, G., H.,   & Sacre, B.   S., (no date available). Total Quality Management, Third Edition, pp. 1-3. Crosby, P., (1979). Quality is Free, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1979. Cusumano, M.A., 1985, The Japanese Automobile Industry: Technology and Management at Nissan and Toyota, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA. Koontz, H., and Weihrich, H., (1994). Management: A Global Perspective, Tenth Edition, McGraw-Hill, International Editions, pp.633-653 Ross, J. E., (no date available). Total Quality Management: Text, Cases and Readings, Second Edition, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida, pp. 1-3   Liker, J.K. (ed.), 1998, Becoming Lean: Inside Stories of U.S. Manufacturers, Productivity Press, Portland, OR. Sobek, II, D.K., 1997, Principles that Shape Product Development Systems: A Toyota-Chrysler Comparison, Ph.D. dissertation, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Spear, S. and H.K. Bowen, 1999, â€Å"Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System,† Harvard Business Review, Sept.-Oct., 77(5), 97-106. Womack, J., D.T. Jones, and D. Roos, 1990, The Machine that Changed the World: The Story of Lean Production, HarperPerennial, New York.