Aruna in fasting and feasting Essay

2007 was the year in which I failed to finish the Indian novels I started. I read 2 and faltered at the 500 page mark in both. I found Vikram Chandra’s amalgam of literary fiction and crime in Sacred Games remarkably tedious. But my failure with Vikram Seth’s A Suitable Boy was downright weird. An absolute 5-star epic, I was enjoying it. Unfortunately I had listened to an abridged audio a few years before, so I knew where it was heading and I couldn’t motivate myself to read the extra 1000 pages I needed to reach the end. So 2008 heralds a change of tactic. For starters, a short novel by an Indian authoress. Desai was born and educated in India and has spent many years teaching in the States. Well placed, therefore, to write about the similarities and differences of both cultures and she does this with a text that is by turns witty, farcical, poignant and shocking. It’s quite a mix and one that kept the pages turning †¦.. right to the end! It could be argued that this novel is actually two novellas linked only by the character who moves from India to America. Each section is self-contained. Yet separating them would dilute the impact of the message that modern culture (be it Indian or American) is dissatisfying with gender inequality rife in both. In India, MamaPapa (so in tune with each other, they cannot be divided) are raising their two daughters and a son. Aruna is beautiful. Uma is clumsy and plain. But both must be married off. Aruna has her pick of suitors but finding a bridegroom for Uma is a desperate task and the squandering of two dowries is source of much entertaining farce. Flip the coin, however, and the farce becomes tragedy. A failure to marry means a life of humiliating servitude to parents and a life of spinsterly loneliness and suffocation. My heart aches for Uma but it bleeds for Anamika (Uma’s cousin), denied her Oxford scholarship and married off to a family who cared little for her.  She endures 25 years of servitude and married loneliness before †¦. well, you’ve heard the rumours of what happens when unloved wives grow old and a second dowry is required. Desai barbecues American family life as thoroughly as Mr Patton does his steaks. America, the land where freezers are full yet the food cannot be eaten because what would we eat in an emergency? Housewives wear t-shirts with born-to-shop slogans because that is all they are good for! Keep the cupboards full. We’ll help ourselves. The tv is king – forget spending time together and eating at the dinner table. Eating disorders are both cry for attention and rebellion against the profligate overconsumption of the West. Mrs Patton, as neglected as many as Indian bride. seeks to keep herself cheerful with the shopping and her sun-bathing. One day Arun comes home to find her bikini-clad and oiled-up ready for her day in the sun. She might have been on display in the Foodmart, a special offer for the summer, gleaming with invitation. Almost, one feels, one might see a discount sign above it. Surprising that Desai has painted this incident with so cruel a brush? Yet a major point of the novel is that daughters suffer most when their mothers unquestioningly comply with traditions or the lead of their men-folk. Actually not only daughters. Sons too. Arun is damaged by the excess of education and the weight of familial expectation. Seeking solitude and anonymity (the ultimate freedom) when he reaches America, his behaviour unconsciously mirrors that of his sister Uma, back at home. Just one of many echoes which Desai uses to tie her two stories together. Shortlisted for the 1999 Booker prize, Desai’s novel was, in effect, the runner-up. In a rare glimpse of the judging process, Gerald Kaufmann, the chair that year said, â€Å"If we could have a chosen a runner-up, we would undoubtedly have given the runner-up award to Anita Desai and Fasting, Feasting; a most beautiful novel, very moving, very funny, terribly  illustrative of what happens to women in different parts of the world.†

On A Portrait Of A Deaf Man Essay

Lines one and three also have more beats in them than lines two and four. (If you want to get a bit more technical, one and three are tetrameters, two and four trimeters! Tetrameters have four stresses, trimeters have three stresses). Sound As a reminder of ballad metre, think of the Christmas carol O Little Town of Bethlehem. Using ballad metre means that the poem lends itself to being read aloud and has harmony, rhyme and rhythm that are quite lyrical. Imagery The language used creates extremes of mood. A pattern develops whereby Betjeman uses positive, warm images to evoke happy memories: The kind old face, the egg-shaped head,The tie, discreetly loud,The loosely fitting shooting clothes And then he brutally undermines all this with an image related to death in the following line: A closely fitting shroud. This also happens in stanzas two, four and seven. In these stanzas the death imagery is even worse, bordering on horror: But now his mouth is wide to letThe London clay come in. maggots in his eyes †¦now his finger-bonesStick through his finger-ends Attitudes Although the narrator speaks warmly about his late father he doesn’t use euphemisms. (A euphemism is something said to avoid an unpleasant or offensive word or phrase.) Usually the subject of death is full of euphemisms such as ‘passed on’ or ‘gone to a better place’. Betjeman is more direct about the nature of death, although this can be upsetting. Themes Loss: Betjeman has to come to terms with the loss of his father. Lack of faith: the poet has no faith in God. Death: Betjeman is open and even brutal in the physical descriptions in this poem of the effects of death. Ideas One central idea, hinted at throughout the poem but then clearly revealed at the end, is that death is definitely the end of life. We do not go to heaven or anywhere else because there is no God. â€Å"I only see decay†. There is, however, the more positive proposal that one should cherish the time we have with the people we love, as Betjeman obviously did with his father. Comparison Casehistory: Alison (head injury) * Both poems deal with a before-and-after scenario. The present Alison is in some ways an entirely different character from the pre-accident version. Betjeman views the past and present versions of his father in very different ways. * Readers will perhaps experience sympathy in both poems. One might feel sorry for the post-accident Alison who has suffered brain damage. One might also feel sympathy with Betjeman because he has lost his father. * Both poems deal with death in one way or another: Betjeman’s father has died (as has his faith in God, if it ever existed); Alison is still alive but the Alison of the past is dead. Question How does Betjeman present the character of his father in On a Portrait of a Deaf Man? Answer Betjeman’s father has died and the poet writes this elegy to pay tribute to him. In doing so, he does two distinct things. Firstly, he creates an image of the living father as a warm, nice man. Secondly, he talks of the present state of his father – dead, buried and decaying. The first image is usual in an elegy, the second certainly is not. Betjeman creates a warm, positive image of his father in the opening lines: The kind old face, the egg-shaped head,The tie, discreetly loud,The loosely fitting shooting clothes The first adjective he uses to describe his father is â€Å"kind†, setting a pleasant tone. He then paints a picture of how his father looked and dressed. The following line is the beginning of the technique Betjeman uses to create a different character, his father as he is now, a corpse: A closely fitting shroud. Betjeman contrasts the cold image of death with warm memories of life and as a result, it has much more impact. This technique of juxtaposition continues throughout the poem and as we get to know and like Betjeman’s living father, we’re exposed to more graphic imagery of death: And when he could not hear me speakHe smiled and looked so wiseThat now I do not like to thinkOf maggots in his eyes.

Autobiographical Essay Essay Example for Free

Autobiographical Essay Essay My first encounter with fear to a high extent was when I was six years old. I was riding in the car with my mom who was under the influence of alcohol. The fear that rushed through my veins made me think that something as horrible as death could happen. My older brother and younger sister were both in the car. We then pulled into the parking lot of a liquor store. My heart sank to know that my mom was consuming more alcohol to make her blood alcohol level rise. My mom stepped out of the car into the cover of darkness and walked into the store to purchase a fifth of whiskey. When she walked out of the store, I thought to myself that something really bad was going to happen that night. When my mom returned to the car, I looked deep into her eyes and asked her, â€Å"Can you please take us home before anything bad happens?† She looked at me and said, while slurring her words, â€Å"Everything is going to be okay.† I knew that everything was not going to be okay. My mom then started the car, reversed, and drove out of the parking lot of the liquor store to run over the island in the middle of the road. The car tilted from side to side and back onto the smooth road to safety. As I looked out of the window of my door with water filling my eyes, I blurrily saw cops drive past us as though we were invisible. Every part of me wanted to spring out of my car door and bring attention to the danger that was in the atmosphere. Every time a chance came, I let it slip by because I was afraid that my mom would scream at me. All I wanted to do was fall asleep and wake up in my comfy bed at home, but I knew that was impossible. We had been driving for what felt like an hour but it was only five minutes. After I blinked the water from my eyes, I realized that we were in the parking lot of Papa Murphy’s. My mom sent my older brother in to go and get the pizza that she had ordered earlier that afternoon. When he returned my mom got off the car and walked over to a group of guys standing outside of a bar and started hitting on them making a complete fool of her. As I watched those guys scan her body, disgust over took my body. As soon as her door clicked shut, I unbuckled my seatbelt, grabbed to fifth of whiskey out of the cup holder, opened my door, and through the bottle at a nearby tree. The glass bottle shattered into tiny pieces onto the grass around the tree. The relief that rushed through my body gave me hope and actually made me believe that  everything was going to be okay. After my mom finally got back into the car, she looked back at me and my sister in the back seat and said, â€Å"I’m taking you home to eat dinner with your dad now.† When those words came out of her mouth, I was filled with joy. When we finally pulled into our driveway, I unfastened my seatbelt in a flash and bolted into the house, turned the oven on, and ran into my dad’s loving arms as tears ran down my face. The comfort and loving care I felt as my dad wrapped his arms around me, made me know that I was safe. My dad then looked down at me and said with a serious look on his face, â€Å"I’m going to go and talk to your mom and see what she wants to do.† When he closed the slider door behind him, I heard my mom raise her voice in a way that made you think someone was dying. I ran to the slider door to see what was happening. The look on my dad’s face brought tears to my eyes. He was so sickened to see my mom drown herself in alcohol. My mom through her hands into the air, got back into her car, and drove away angrily. My dad then came up the steps of our deck as though he just found out that he had only a week to live. When he finally reached the door, he looked up to see the dry tear marks down my face, opened the door, and embraced me. We then walked into our living room to see my brother and sister watching Sponge Bob, we joined them. My dad then slowly walked into the kitchen to place the pizza in the oven. After about twenty minutes, we all sat down together and had dinner. Soon after, my dad looked at us three kids and said with a smile, â€Å"I have a surprise for you guys!† I looked at my siblings and saw life come into their eyes. My dad then went into the other room and came back out with an enormous bag of candy. As soon as he placed the bag on the table, we kids dog piled that bag of candy like it was the last supply of food on the earth. After we were all satisfied with candy sticking to our faces, we all went into the living room to watch a movie. I sat next to my dad while my siblings sat right in front of the 60 inch television. After, I finally fell asleep in my dad’s arms watching Popeye, I felt secure and safe. The next morning, I woke up to my dad saying to me, â€Å"Your mom got a DUI last night and she has to spend some time in jail.† When I heard that, I immediately thought that maybe my mom had either caused an accident or possibly even killed someone. We then immediately left the house to see if we could go and bail my mom out. We  couldn’t. She had to spend 4 days in jail. Those 4 days were the longest days ever. I loved my mom so much but I hated her when she was under the influence. Losing emotional connection from my mom was a hard thing to go through. I was a â€Å"daddy’s girl† so, my mom just always thought that my dad had to only be there for me. Even when they divorced she was never there for me emotionally. Ever since that day we’ve never emotionally connected. She confessed to me that she had to shut me out because I reminded her of my dad. Aside from all the chaos, I learned a very important lesson; never drink and drive. Experiencing this moment, made me know that alcohol affects everyone; the devout Christian, the highest paid employee, the people who swore they would never drink, and even the Lindsay Lohan’s. I knew from that moment on that if I even dared to drink alcohol, I would not do it front of my children or drive. Ten years after this encounter, my mom has lived her life as a recovered addict from alcohol. She saw how her drinking effected everyone she loved; her kids, husband, mom, dad, nieces, nephews, etc. From that moment on, my mom decided that she wouldn’t use alcohol as a numbing device to the pain. She hasn’t even touched the smallest bit of alcohol since. I am proud of her and am happy to see her live her life in freedom instead of bondage. That day made me know that I didn’t want to be seen by my kids, drinking and driving. I believe this moment was put in my life just so that I would now not to make the mistakes that my mom made and actually live my life in peace. Autobiographical Essay. (2016, Jun 01).

Simulation of low vision Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Simulation of low vision - Essay Example Visual performance may be affected. A person with low vision can use her reduced vision for learning about the world and for planning and doing tasks that need vision† (Low Vision, 2008). The IDEA Amendments of 1997 have yet another definition. They define children with visual impairment as those who have â€Å"visual impairments which even with correction, adversely effects†¦ educational performance.† 1. Generalization of skills: Many students with visual impairments may exhibit difficulty transferring skills acquired in one context to anther. It is important that instruction takes place in natural contexts and at appropriate times so the students internalizes meaning to the task. 2. Concrete versus abstracts learning: some students with visual impairments require hands-on learning experiences through their educational program in order to make sense of concepts and strategies for instructions that are more abstract. Often, the only way that students can learn new skills is through repetitive learning. For example, students who have visual impairments and exhibit cognitive delays may be taught a specific route to the cafeteria. Any change in route may confuse the student. 3. Attention span and distractibility: when initiating instructional programs for students who have visual impairments and other disabilities, the teacher must determine how long a student can attend to a specific task with and without supervision. Also, the environment is an influence on the student’s ability to stay on task and to maintain appropriate behavior. Many students with visual impairments are distracted by loud noises. Examples include the hum of fluorescent lights, a visually cultured classroom, and verbal communication by others in the same environment. They require auditory, tactical, or visual cues to anticipate the transition from one activity to the next. 4. Auditory versus visual learning: most students with visual impairments

Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design Research Paper

Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design - Research Paper Example They have not been as effective as they should have been. According to Lawrence Fennelly and Timothy Crowe (2013), arguably, for the past 180 years criminology has failed to deal effectively with crimes because of its limitedness. The main focus of conventional criminology is on the criminal event, the criminal and the victim, it doesn’t incorporate other factors. All other factors like psychological, legal, social, biological and political theories revolve around the criminal/offender. The other myth surrounding the whole crime investigation is that human beings by nature are criminals, it is something inherent, only an opportunity is required (Fennelly & Crowe, 2013). CPTED stands out from conventional crime prevention measures because it emphasizes more on human activity than on actions. Law enforcement agencies, security and crime prevention organizations find CPTED to be more helpful than other processes as they help more in preventing crimes as well as improve the quality of life and achieve the objectives of human activity (Fennelly & Crowe, 2013). Oscar Newman and Jeffery C. Ray are considered somewhat of an authority when it comes to discussing crime prevention. Newman published his first book, Defensible Space, in 1966 and gave unorthodox methods for crime prevention by making the environment safer. He focused mainly on residential areas. Ray published his book in 1971, Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, and agreed with Newman’s work in its core theory. There is a unison found in both the works of Oscar Newman and Jeffery C. Ray. Ray’s (1971) published work on Crime Prevention through Environmental Design introduced to the world a new way of looking at the world of crime. Jeffery took a step further than Newman as he shifted the focus and spread it on nonresidential areas too such as schools. By incorporating behavioral learning theory, Jeffery argued that removing crime

Coca cola in china market Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Coca cola in china market - Essay Example This proved futile as the local media always gave first preference to the local firms’ products during its advertisement in peak hours. This disadvantaged coke as a whole leading to decrease in sales in the markets. To overcome this, company should have launched its own website (Staff, 2012). This would have helped the company to acquire and control a broader market place. Many customers would have followed the launched online hub to get information about the company’s product. This would have increased the sales as consumers would be at ease to get information on new company products and offers thus creating their commitment to the products. Secondly the company incorporated the initial American culture it had early adopted in the US market in other foreign markets. This led to its failure in many external markets like in Germany. People disliked the idea of coca cola using American culture in advertising and developing its products. The foreign customers were angered by this act of coke using American culture to advertise products in their countries. This they viewed as an infusion of foreign culture that competed with their own culture (Chan, 2012). Many consumers boycotted the coca cola company products and instead shifted to locally produced products. ... This led to few people getting to know of the existence and advantages of the coca cola products. This method adopted by coke proved to be too expensive but very ineffective as it failed to achieve its goal of popularizing coke products in China. Instead coca cola could have invested the money it used to finance the road shows in sponsoring the Olympics. Many Chinese involve themselves in Olympics either as participants or viewers. By getting involved in sponsorship of the Olympic games coca cola would have attracted many Chinese who create their time to watch the Olympics thus creating a large pool of customers across China (Chen, 2012). In china coca cola could have used traditional ways of packaging mostly used to integrate Chinese culture in a product. Coca cola would have succeeded more in China if it adopted a new packaging method with unique features like red stars that mostly appeal to Chinese youths this would have enabled the company to segment a market of the young custome rs (Li, 2012). In its advertisement coca cola used American Santa Claus. In it operation in China it could have used a similar photo but with the Chinese costume. This would have attracted a large pool of customers especially children thus helping the company to segment the market. In it worldwide Olympic campaign that went by the name â€Å"move to the beat† coca cola advertising department decided to use the London national anthem beats in their campaign song. This didn’t go well with the Chinise. Many young Chinese didn’t associate London with music. This costed coca cola a lot as many young potential customers opted to consume other products manufactured by their own local companies. Instead of this error of using Britain national anthem beat in to advertise its

Mandatory Military Service for All Men and Women Essay

Mandatory Military Service for All Men and Women - Essay Example to emerge. Many young people in our society are without goals, direction, discipline or focus. Even worse, there is often no sense of belonging or loyalty, and while this might be considered a generalization, there is much evidence to show that is is an unfortunate yet prevalent aspect of many modern Western societies. If young people, male and female (to adhere to the ethos of the Equal Rights Act), were conscripted to serve their country for two years, either in the military or as a form of national service, the benefits could be huge. For the individual, a sense of purpose, a requirement to follow rules and understand and accept consequences, the opportunity to develop personal skills and to relate to and support others, would become part of their character. The benefits of such socialization would then extend to the community, then to society as a whole. An understanding of true citizenship could be developed, together with a willingness to apply positive behaviors. Ideally, such experience would result in a society which upholds respect, moral values, loyalty, concern for others and a willingness to defend their own rights, and those of others, while protecting and serving th

Universal packaging design Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Universal packaging design - Case Study Example In business, universal packaging design is a framework in which product packaging in a way that captures a wide range of people and circumstances without any special features (Lidwell, William, Kritina Holden, Jill Butler, and Kimberly Elam, 26).For instance, a counter with a universal design will have manifold heights- a standard height for taller people and a shorter height for short people. Universals designs must follow certain principles that define it. They include:1. Equitable use The design has to meet the needs of people with different abilities. It must be equally usable to all users: Identical whenever possible and offer equivalence in utility where it is not identical. It should not segregate or stigmatize any users Must avail specifications of privacy, safety, and security to the all users The design must be appealing to all users.2. Flexible to users The design should accommodate different individual abilities and preferences. The user should be free to make a choice on the methods of use. Right and left-handed persons should also be accommodated The equipments should be able to facilitate accuracy and precision for the user The design should provide room for the users to adapt to any change that may occur.3. Simple and intuitive to use The design should be simple to understand. The experience of the user on its use does not matter. The user’s knowledge, language, skills, or current level of concentration should not matter in the ease to use design. The design should have the ability to eliminate unnecessary complexity It should accommodate different literacy levels and skills. The design should a sequential effect on items according to their level of importance The systems should provide effective feedback during and after the completion of the task 4. Perceptible information The design should communicate information to the user where necessary without special sensory abilities form the user. It uses pictorial, verbal and tactile modes for the redundant presentation of essential information. It should provide sufficient contrast between essential information and its surroundings Essential information should have maximum legibility The readers hold is able to describe different elements i.e. it should make easy for the user to give instructions and directions The design should compatible with a variety of designs or devices used by user with sensory limitations. 5. Tolerance of error The designs should minimize on hazards and adverse consequences of intended and unintended actions Arranges elements to minimize hazards and errors in a way the is understandable to all users. Categories such as, most used elements, hazardous elements eliminated, isolated, or shielded are applicable. Provides warnings of possible hazards and errors that can occur on the instrument or device It provided fail-safe features of the model to the user It should direct the user to avoid unconscious actions in tasks that require vigilance and att entiveness. 6. Low physical effort Users should not use a lot of energy when using the design. There should efficiency and comfort with the most minimum fatigue User should be able to maintain a neutral position of the body when using the design The user should use reasonable operating forces Repetitive actions should be minimal Sustained physical efforts should be minimal 7. Size and space approach of use The size and space approach of a design is the extent to which the use can reach, manipulate, and use the design regardless of their body size, posture or mobility. The design should allow the user to do all that without strain. It should be adjustable to allow users of all body sizes to use it. Important elements must be clearly seen by any sitting or standing user The users should be able to comfortably reach all of the components they need during operations It should accommodate any variations in hand and grip size Space for assistive or personal devices for users should be acc ommodated through sufficient space.

EBays Globalization Strategy Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

EBays Globalization Strategy - Case Study Example The researcher states that the current economic downfall and the uncooperative financial trends of the dollar are other major factors that have worsened the existing scenario. eBay has now decided to revamp the entire website and measures to provide buyers more protections, sellers with loyalty programs are on the anvil. The core competency of eBay is its online auctions. The online auction marketplace model was the main factor that spelled success for eBay over the years. As the company does not think and act like a retailer, their initial strategy of not dealing in any way with the fixed-price market suited their core competency to a very great extent. Now, with its foray into this unvisited and untapped segment of the market, eBay is facing the dire consequences of not sticking to its original plan. This year eBay reported a revenue decline of around 16%, which it’s the first of its kind for this e-commerce company. An analyst at New York-based Sanford C. Bernstein, Lindsay says â€Å"Its a sign that eBay hasn't been able to buck the trend of poor consumer turnout during the holiday season. Unless they can get the core marketplaces business to turn around, and a fair bit of that will depend on the economy, then they're going to have to look at some more strategic measures.† The business model of eBay initially was to mainly help people trade practically anything on earth and conduct commerce through the Internet on a global basis. â€Å"A weakness in consumer spending and strength in the U. S dollar has reduced the value of overseas sales.† EBay’s main aim earlier was to make the process of online buying and selling fun using the system of the auction. Their main focus was using umpteen entrepreneurial strategies and business skills to create smart and efficient tools for the website and use a winning strategy to become the most popular and well-known e-commerce company and the best Internet retailer of all time.

Research Proposal With Credible Sources Included 6 different subjects Essay

Research Proposal With Credible Sources Included 6 different subjects - Essay Example soned On Their First Offense† at customwritingtips.com http://customwritingtips.com/component/k2/item/14745-drunk-drivers-should-be-imprisoned-on-their-first-offense.html â€Å"Drivers Convicted of Drunk Driving Should Be Imprisoned on their First Offense† at scribd.com http://www.scribd.com/doc/142448055/Drivers-convicted-of-drunk-driving-should-be-imprisoned-on-their-first-offense The neglected art of letter writing should be enkindled because; unlike emails, letters are pieces of memory and not just messages; letters express the feelings, emotions and personality of the writer and it’s a wonderful way to reflect and connect. Workers in essential services (police force and military for instance) should be permitted to strike by virtue of need for collective voice to enable balance of power between them and their employers, in case they are made to perform unethical tasks in the guise of humanization, also the right to strike is a constitutional right for every employee. â€Å"The Right to Strike: Essential Services and Minimum Service Agreements† at werksmans.com http://www.werksmans.com/legal-briefs-view/the-right-to-strike-essential-services-and-minimum-service-agreements/ â€Å"2000+ Reasons Why GMOs Are Safe to Eat and Environmentally Sustainable† at forbes.com

Harrison Bergeron Essay Example for Free

Harrison Bergeron Essay In the short story, â€Å"Harrison Bergeron†, Kurt Vonnegut portrays a society in which â€Å"everyone is equal†. Through the efforts of the Handicapper General, all persons who were endowed with anything more than moderate talents are forced to wear various devices meant to make everyone equal, intellectually and physically. Through showing his audience what a truly â€Å"equal† society could be, as well as how government could regulate equality, Kurt Vonnegut clearly makes the point that truly equality leads to a loss of true individuality within a society. Each person in society has talents that another does not, which is what creates diversity in our communities and careers. By removing this diversity from society by making every person equal, the government is inviting its own demise. The first example of how idealistic equality creates a lack of individuality is in the scene where George and Hazel Bergeron are watching ballerinas on television. George notes, â€Å"They weren’t really very good – no better than anybody else would have been, anyway†. By leveling the playing field, and forcing ballerinas to wear weights and masks to hide their talent and beauty, the Handicapper General has taken away from the dancers their unique talents for dancing and eliminating any competition between ballerinas. If all dancers must be equal, this eliminates the need for any one ballerina to spend extra time practicing, or trying to be a better ballerina. This, in turn, could create a less than desirable work ethic, as the ballerinas do not have to work as hard to be competitive. As Philip Fetzer explains, â€Å"†¦ even if it were possible to create a society based on equality of ability, it would not be desirable to do so. A society without differences of ability would generate no leaders, no great works of art or literature, no new ideas. The society would quickly stagnate†. The second instance in which Vonnegut shows his readers the impact of an equal society is when George and Hazel are talking about what society would be like without handicaps to make everyone equal. George cannot think for more than a few seconds at a time because of the handicap that he must wear in his ear, to distract him from his thoughts by blaring loud noises at random. All people who have above â€Å"average† intelligence are required to wear such a device to eliminate any unfair intellectual advantage over others. However, by scaring off the thoughts of truly intelligent people, the government is also creating a society in which nothing will ever change. Without the truly intelligent men and women in any society, there are no new inventions or new ideas that, in the past, have revolutionized a society. By making all people intellectually equal, the government and the society itself will remain unchanged and unadvanced. Ironically, George believes that without handicaps to keep everyone equal, â€Å"pretty soon we’d be right back to the dark ages again, with everybody competing against everybody else†. However, without competition, society would revert to the dark ages, unable to compete with other societies and develop new technology and innovation. As Christopher Alexion points out, human beings must be careful with creating equality, because of the risk of taking it â€Å"to extremes that eventually destroy whatever it was we were trying to protect. Thats why our efforts toward equality need vitally to be guided by a love of liberty. Naked equality is just another name for tyranny – for if everyones going to be equal in all aspects, then no one can really be free†. The final example of the effect of a truly equal society occurs when Harrison Bergeron appears on television with all of his clanking weights and extreme handicaps. Harrison is athletic and intelligent, and has an obscene amount of handicaps because of this. Harrison attempts to overthrow the government, by declaring himself â€Å"the Emperor†, and removing all of his handicaps, as well as those of his chosen Empress. By having independent thoughts and beliefs, Harrison leads his own revolution in an attempt to change society for the better. Harrison sees that the constant equality means that people are no longer competitive, and he decides to try to change that. However, he is killed by the government in the process, and any dreams of change die with him. As Steven Saus notes, â€Å"The maximization of human potential and the potential of society can only be achieved by allowing all individuals to have the best opportunity to succeed within the limits of their primary characteristics†. Any person who has new ideas or tries to initiate change within an equal society would be met with the same fate, and consequently, nothing would ever change. By creating a society in which every person is equal, Kurt Vonnegut is able to show his readers how devastating to a society equality could be. At a time when political correctness is a must, and society strives for equality, it is easy to see how true equality could lead to a lack of diversity and competition within a society. Although Vonnegut’s society was a fictional one, a society similar to the one in â€Å"Harrison Bergeron† would become a stagnant and unmotivated environment, falling behind in innovation and invention. Ultimately, the equality in this story will lead to the demise of the society.

Companies And Organizations Definitely Have Systematic Strategic Management Marketing Essay

Companies And Organizations Definitely Have Systematic Strategic Management Marketing Essay Companies and organizations definitely have systematic strategic management process in order to achieve competitive advantage over its rivals in the industries. The same goes to Hwa Tai Industries Berhad (HTIB). HTIB has been conducting strategic analysis to analysis the external and internal environment of HTIB. HTIB formulates strategies after analyzing the environment and implements the strategies formulated. Strategic analysis of HTIB It is undeniable that HTIB has a good strategic management that eventually drives it to success. Wheelen Hunger (2006,p.3) states that the set of managerial decisions and actions that determines the long-run performance of a corporation is strategic management which consists of environmental scanning, strategy formulation, strategy implementation, evaluation and control. Porters Five Forces as analytical tool for external environmental scanning The external environment of HTIB includes the general environment and competitive environment. Talking about the competitive environment, HTIB has been scanning it via Porters five forces. Michael E. Porter is the one who develops the five-forces model to describe the specific environment in an industry (Ketchen et al,2009). The threat of new entrants The threat of new entrants refers to the possibility that the profits of established firms in the industry may be eroded by new competitors(Greenwald Kahn 2005) . We cannot deny that fact that HTIB is the second best biscuit manufacturing company in Malaysia market( Hwa Tai rationalizes business process 2009). It has a stable position in the biscuit manufacturing industry and thus the threat of entry by newcomers is low. The newcomers like Gloria Biscuit faces with high entry barriers because HTIB which is their existing competitor has strong brand identification. Consumers are loyal to HTIBs products and its product differentiation has created a high barrier to entry to Gloria Biscuit. Gloria Biscuit has to spend a lot to defeat the existing customer loyalty on the products of HTIB. Therefore, it is not easy for the newcomers to entry the biscuit manufacturing industry and affect the position of HTIB. This is an opportunity to HTIB to own its market with fewer new entrants after having the SWOT analysis. HTIB will always be the strong biscuit manufacturer and last long in the market. The bargaining power of buyers Buyers can affect an industry through their ability to force down prices, bargain for higher-quality or more services, and to play competitors off against each other. (Henry 2008). The bargaining power of buyers of HTIB is high. There are many other biscuit manufacturing companies in the market and the products from the industry have standard or undifferentiated. Buyers can easily get the alternative suppliers from the market such as Munchy, Hup Seng, Julies, Shoon Fatt, and so on. Since it is an ease to get standard products and have alternative suppliers, buyers emphasize the prices of the products more than which biscuits taste better. The products of HTIB is not very expensive compared with others biscuits of other brands and many buyers choose the products of HTIB now. This finally creates high bargaining power of buyers of HTIB. Large-volume purchases by buyers are important to HTIB. The higher sales of HTIB enable it to gain higher profit margin. The bargaining power of suppliers Supplier can exert bargaining power over participants in an industry by threatening to raise prices or reduces the quality of purchased goods and services.( Ketchen et al,2009). HTIB has the low bargaining power of supplier. This is because the ingredients of manufacturing biscuits and cakes such as eggs, flour, sugars and others can be found everywhere from any suppliers. Many traders supply those ingredients in the market. Thus, HTIB can have ingredients anytime without worrying lack of inputs. More importantly, the bargaining power of supplier is low because the switching cost to other suppliers is low. Suppliers products are very crucial to HTIB to have effective production to fulfill the demand of buyers and production of high quality products to the public. Besides raw materials, another important input to HTIB is the supply of labor. HTIB does not only own the domestic market but also own the international market. It exports its products to many foreign countries, hence, it needs a lot of labor to contribute to the high production of biscuits. The threat of substitute products and services Due to the technological advancement nowadays, there are a lot of substitute products with different appearance but have the same function to satisfy the same need as another product in the market. According to Porter, Substitutes limit the potential returns of an industry by placing a ceiling on the prices firm in the industry can profitably charge.(Porter 1980). The threat of substitute products is high because there are a lot of products which able to satisfy the need of consumers, too besides the products of HTIB. For instance, the Kelloggs rice krispies cereal can be a substitute product for the biscuits by HTIB. Consumers can have the rice cereal as breakfast in stead of HTIB s biscuits. Consumers can also eat instant noodles MAGGI in stead of eating cakes by HTIB, and even the Gardenia bread can replace the biscuits and cakes by HTIB for meal. The prices of the substitute products bring effect to the products of HTIB and finally influence the return and profit of HTIB. This i s the threat of HTIB as what the SWOT analysis shown. Technological advancement is also one of the element of PEST analysis for general environment which brings effect to HTIB itself. The intensity of rivalry among competitors in food processing industry Rivalry among the firms occurs when rivals sense the pressure or act on an opportunity to improve their position. HTIB faces intense rivalry in the food processing industry. The rivalry is very intense because there are numerous or equally balanced rivals in the market. Nestle, Kellooggs, Hup Seng, IKO and others which are the direct rivals compete with HTIB for the consumers. Each of the companies manufactures biscuits ,cakes and snacks. Super, High 5, Gardenia and so on are the indirect rivals of HTIB. Diversity of risk occurs since the rivals compete with each other with different ideas to challenge the position of HTIB. It is clearly depicted when Kelloggs and Nestle advertise their products through the media to introduce their products to the public to increase their sales. The intense rivalry brings some impacts to HTIB as the rivalry will erode its profitability and may decreasing its sales of 72,106,000 in 2009 in the future (appendix no4). SWOT analysis as analytical tool for internal and external environmental scanning SWOT analysis (Andrew 1971) refers to strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, a framework for analyzing a companys internal and external environment. Albert Humphrey is the one who create SWOT analysis. (Friesner, T 2007).Strength and weakness are referred to the internal environment of the HTIB whereas opportunity and threat are referred to the external environment of HTIB. Strength of HTIB Strengths are areas where the organization excels in comparison with its competitors. HTIB has its own strengths in order to be the second best biscuit manufacturing company in Malaysia market. HTIB has strong research and development ( RD )focus. HTIB do RD to produce better quality products. It can be said that HTIB has core competence of strategic capability. Having better and special products enable HTIB to achieve competitive advantage. HTIB possesses tangible resources and intangible resources to compete more successfully. In term of tangible resources which include physical resources, HTIB has its own lab and professionals to conduct RD. HTIB has also intangible resources which is technological resource to renovate the existing products and as fast as what consumers expect. Good allocation of resources enables HTIB achieve cost effectiveness without waste. The effort of HTIB has driven it to have high brand equity and eventually gains a lot of awards for its biscuit products such as Malaysia Power Brand Award 2008 ( appendix no2) by the Asia Entrepreneur Alliance Worldwide. 2.2.2 Weakness of HTIB Weakness are areas where the organization may be at a comparative disadvantage. HTIB has its own weakness although it has been achieving success. HTIB has limited presence in organic food market. Consumers more and more care about their healthy. They prefer organic food to normal food because they think that organic food is free from chemical. Among the products of HTIB, only the biscuits with the brand name of LUXURY almost fulfill the requirement as organic food because they contain whole meal, wheat bran and others which consumers think that they are nutritious. However, the other products of HTIB still not be grouped as organic food. This may lead HTIB lost some market which loves organic food and their sales will not be as high as what HTIB targeted. Opportunities of HTIB After analyzing HTIB, there are opportunities that enable HTIB to gain profit and growth. HTIB has the opportunity to own the manufacturing agreement with London Biscuits Bhd (Hwa Tai to market London Biscuits Swiss rolls 2007). HTIB is in collaboration with London Biscuits Bhd and it really brings a lot of opportunities to HTIB because it gives HTIB instant expanded production capacity and opportunities to create a new variety of cakes by the sharing of technology between them. HTIB is appointed to market and distribute the best-selling product, Lonbisco Swiss rolls. HTIB is the key distributor to mini-markets, supermarket and hypermarket in Peninsular Malaysia. These opportunities have widen HTIBs market and it will definitely progress rapidly within few years. Threats of HTIB Threats are something from external environment of the company that will deter the company from obtaining success. HTIB faces some threats that deter it from having smooth production. Expensive raw materials is the main threat faced by HTIB. It contributes towards the increasing of cost of production of HTIB. Although HTIB has the opportunities to own manufacturing agreement with London Biscuits Bhd, high production cost is a burden to HTIB. HTIB has to prepare a lump sum of money from time to time in order to have smooth production. Due to the high cost of production, HTIB is not able to increase the number of countries for its exportation. Such situation is really a barrier to HTIB to enter the bigger market. Internal analysis(Benchmarking as analytical tool for internal environmental Scanning) Benchmarking is a systematic comparison of organizational processes and performance to create new standards or to improve processes. (Benchmarking methods 2009).After analyzing HTIB, Nestle is a more success company compared to HTIB. Nestle has diversification and manufactured a variety of products. Nestle has much more range of products compared with HTIB. HTIB should improve and increase its types of new products besides the existing type of products although it has been making upmarket biscuits and non-traditional product such as baked potato chips to suit the consumers taste (Hwa Tai makes upmarket biscuit to suit new tastes(656)1999).HTIB has only three types of food which consist of biscuits, cakes, and snacks whereas Nestle has more types of food such as drinks, instant noodles, biscuits, cakes, snacks and so on. Wider range of food enables company to gain wider market and higher sales. If HTIB does as what Nestle did, HTIB will as successful as Nestle. 3.0 Strategy formulation of HTIB Either the weaknesses or threats of HTIB are clearly depicted after analyzing the company through SWOT analysis and Porters five forces. Strategy formulation should be conducted with the aid of the opportunities and strengths of HTIB to tackle its weaknesses and threats in order to accomplish sustainable competitive advantage within the food processing industry. 3.1 Business level strategy Business level strategy is a means of separating out and formulation a competitive strategy at the level of the individual business unit.(Henry, A 2008) There are five generic competitive strategies which are generated by Michael Porter (1980) to achieve the competitive advantage and only low cost strategy is the most suitable way to HTIB because he stated that low cost strategy and differentiation will be stuck in the middle if using both at the same time (Henry 2008). 3.1.1 Low cost strategy Low cost strategy is used by the companies which produce their products and services at the lowest costs within an industry without sacrificing the products quality and market them at a broad market. This strategy is suitable to HTIB to tackle its threat of high cost of production. This strategy implies low overall costs in term of raw material, production, transportation and so on. HTIB can achieve low cost strategy through economic of scale. Economic of scale arises when the cost per unit falls as output increases(Economic of scale 2008). HTIB has low bargaining power related to its suppliers since it will order high quantities of raw materials at a cheaper price from any suppliers for its production and eventually contribute towards cheap cost of production. Besides, HTIB has its strength of strong research and development (RD). It should utilize its strong RD to find out the better product designing for efficient production like easy-to-use manufacturing technologies so that costs can be reduced and increase quantities without affecting quality. Workers should be sent for training so that skilled workers available in the production and able to work in team effectively and deliver the lowest possible costs of production. HTIB should also signing contract with certain logistic company so that to get lower costs of transportation. This is win-win strategy since the logistic company gain profit from HTIB for longer duration whereas HTIB able to reduce its cost of transportation. The effort of HTIB in reducing overall costs enables HTIB to have lower costs of production and lower selling price for its products than its competitors. For instance, cream sandwish biscuit of HTIB costs RM2.99 a packet whereas Lexus of Munchys costs RM 4.60 a packet, that is 35% cheaper than Munchys product. HTIB drives its cost-based competitive advantage into price advantage to the customers and gain high market share eventually. HTIB can be price leadership finally because it can adjust the price as it like. Its price can act as the entry barrier to the new entrants, too since newcomers are not afford to set lower price for their products to compete with HTIB. HTIB will be able to overcome its threats after utilizing low cost strategy because it enables HTIB to settle the threat of expensive raw material and enter bigger market. More importantly, HTIB able to reduce the threat of substitute products because buyers prefer to buy biscuits, cakes and snacks with high quality and c heaper prices. Having low costs strategy, HTIB will be able to compete with its competitors , General Mills which also conducting low costs strategy . Low costs strategy is really a better strategy for HTIB to settle its weakness and threats as well. 3.2 Corporate level strategy Corporate strategy is primarily about the choice of direction for a firm as a whole and the management of its business or product portfolio. (Wheelen Hunger 2006,p.3). Growth strategy from the directional strategy is the most suitable strategy for HTIB. A directional strategy is any trading or investment strategy that entails taking a net long or short position in a market.(Directional trading strategy 2005). 3.2.1 Growth strategy There are many aspects that needed to be grow so that HTIB can become more competitive in the market. Growth in the aspects of sales, assets, profits, or some combinations are crucial to HTIB. Ansoff (1965) devised a matrix to analyse the different strategic directions organizations can pursue . 3.2.1.1 Market penetration Market penetration is the effort of increasing the market share in the existing market with the existing products. HTIB has been exporting its products to foreign markets and domestic market. HTIB has a lot of consumers who eat its biscuits, cakes and snacks worldwide. However, HTIB should keep on its effort to increase its market share in the existing market by attracting more new consumers to buy its existing products. HTIB should also make sure that the existing consumers to eat more its products. With the capabilities and resources of HTIB, this strategy is not risky because HTIB do not need to do anything unless increase its products quality to meet the consumers needs and wants. Improving its quality is not a problem to HTIB as it has professionals for RD. 3.2.1.2 Market development Market development is the entry of the new market with the existing products. HTIB should aim at other market segments and geographical areas as well. For instance, the products of HTIB are not HALAL since HTIB not yet apply for that. Malays are not allowed to eat food without HALAL and they are not dare to buy the biscuits of HTIB. HTIB should target at demographic segmentation in term of religion in order to develop new market for its existing products. HTIB should put their effort to work on it and apply for HALAL so that Malays market segment can be another new market for HTIB and increase its sales. Besides, HTIB should export its products to more foreign countries other than its existing international market. New geographical areas should be found so that its products can be distributed to more countries such as Malays countries to increase its sales. Although it is a risk to distribute products to new market or geographical areas due to unfamiliar with their habits and culture, HTIB is yet able to distribute its products to more Malays countries since HTIB which based in Malay country, Malaysia already know thoroughly about the culture of Malays. It becomes less risky if HTIB chooses the right market segment. 3.2.1.3 Diversification Diversification occurs when an organization seeks to broaden its scope of activities by moving into new products and new markets. Diversification is actually a suitable strategy for HTIB because it helps to spread risk by reducing reliance on any one market or product(Ketchen2009). For instance, HTIB should have diversification by producing new products like organic food to new market especially health-conscious market. HTIB will face lesser competition if having new market. If one of the existing product is not in high sales, HTIB is still safe because consumers from other market may buy its other products. The risk of low revenue will be spread among different products. HTIB will be afford to implement diversification because it will earn a lot after implementing the low cost strategy. HTIB itself do not need to find more capital from other resources to sustain the diversification of products. As the result of benchmarking, having diversification is crucial in order to own sustaina ble competitive advantage forever. Related diversification HTIB has limited presence in the organic food market and this is the weakness of HTIB. It is suggested that HTIB should implement the related diversification because HTIB itself has the capabilities and resources of entering the organic food industry which there are some links with its own existing value chain. HTIB should diversify its products by manufacturing organic food to meet the needs of health-conscious consumers. Horizontal integration should be done by HTIB to take over its competitors and offer organic food as complementary products at the same stage within its value chain. If HTIB ables to do so, HTIB does not only has biscuits, cakes and snacks but also has organic food to new market. Its competitors like Nestle and Kelloggs do not have organic food at all and HTIB will be able to take over them. 4.0 Strategy Implementation of HTIB Strategy implementation is the sum total of the activities and choices required for the execution of a strategic plan.( Wheelen Hunger 2006,p.3). HTIB is trying to achieve efficiency after achieving effectiveness through strategy formulation. Having efficient implementation of strategies assist in building a capable HTIB in term of staffing, structuring and having core competencies and capabilities within the biscuit industry to achieve its vision of being the main players in biscuit industry with its quality products. 4.1 Management issue of HTIB ( division restructuring and rightsizing) Since HTIB needs to implement market penetration, market development and diversification as well, it needs more capital to succeed them. Therefore, division restructuring and rightsizing are better ways to gain more capital for those developments and improve the productivity and efficiency of the management team. Both ways help in low-cost strategy by reducing the expenses on tangible and intangible resources and salary. For instance, accounting department should combine with the financial department. This is because costs can be saved in term of expenses of stationery and office equipments and salary of employees because they can share resources when working together. Both departments deal with the same people for their range of works. Hence, the number of employees should be reduced by letting off the poor performers after combining both departments to reduce the expenses on salary. Top Performer Profiling (TPP) should be implemented to judge the employees according to their knowle dge and experience, skills and abilities, and behavior and characteristics ( rightsizing for profitability2009). In doing so, the employees are laid off fairly without affecting their motivation to work. HTIB is able to minimize its input by reducing cost and able to let the talented employees to enact adaptable workforce planning. They will fully utilize their talent on business needs to bring competitive advantage to HTIB (Rightsizing in challenging times 2008). The capital saved can be used for other purposes like market penetration , market development and diversification which help in maximizing the profit. Although diversification requires some cost but the low cost strategy implemented by division restructuring and rightsizing already save lots of cost and the capital is enough for the implementation of diversification since HTIB is not a poor company. 4.2 Marketing issue of HTIB 4.2.1 Market segmentation Marketing variables will influence the success or failure of strategy implementation of HTIB. It depends on how HTIB chooses the suitable market segmentation for its products. Market is being subdivided into distinct subsets of customers regarding to the needs and buying habits of consumers. Having appropriate market segmentation helps a lot in market development and market penetration as well. HTIB can spend wisely if allocate resources to the appropriate market segmentation. For instance, besides the market segmentation in term of religion as mentioned in strategy formulation, market segmentation in term of occupation has high possibility to bring high profit margin to HTIB. Students and the office workers consume the products of HTIB more than the other people with other occupation. This is because biscuits and cakes of HTIB are packed conveniently and easily brought everywhere. Cakes and biscuits are sufficient to the students and office workers who use less energy for their work and daily school activities. Products of HTIB are better choices for them because their prices are reasonable and not heavy and fulfill their needs. If HTIB invest in this market segment besides the Malay market segment, HTIB can earn a lot in the future. 4.2.2 Marketing mix Price Having the appropriate market segmentation, it is actually directly affecting the marketing mix variables too. Marketing mix consists of price, promotion, place and product. It is very acute that HTIB should pay more attention on fixing the selling price. Since it is suggested to conduct low cost strategy, HTIB affords to set lower selling price because of its low cost of production. For instance, HTIB should set reasonable price to the market because its main consumers are come from well-off family and not all from rich family. It is clearly depicted through the chart (appendix no3)which shows that the earnings of HTIB increase from 2009 to 2010 when its price of products decrease. This shows that lower selling prices assist in increasing profit margin of HTIB and HTIB should continues it by having lower prices for its products. HTIB should not set the higher price because its number of consumers may reduce especially the number of students who are not afford to buy expensive biscui ts and cakes daily. In doing so, HTIB will be the price leader within the industry and able to compete with its main competitors like Nestle and Kelloggs. Promotion HTIB should promote its products to the market segment targeted so that the targeted consumers spend on its products. For example, HTIB should promote its products through advertising. Advertising may bring deeper impression to the market segments targeted especially the students. Students can be said glued to the television screen more than loafing in supermarket. Students will be exposed to its products more if advertise snacks and cakes through advertisement. Place Place is very crucial because it determines how easy the consumers to get HTIBs products. Fortunately, HTIB already distributed its products to all the supermarkets ranging from small grocery shops to large supermarket like Giant and Jusco. However, it is suggested that HTIB should also distribute its products to the canteens of schools. In doing so, students will be able to buy its products easily and this way helps in promotion indirectly because students will promote the biscuits among themselves. Product Products are the main output of HTIB. HTIB ensures its products which including biscuits, cakes and snacks are of high quality from time to time although they are produced in high quantity. Besides quality, HTIB is suggested to change its existing packaging (appendix no1) to attract the consumers. Since one of its targeted markets is the students, attractive packaging is better because students are normally buy biscuits and cakes with nice packaging besides considering about their price. Nice packaging brings deep impression to the consumers. 4.3 Leadership HTIB already has good leadership from Mr Soo Thien [emailprotected] Thien See (CEO) in leading the employees to the direction which already set for HTIB. However, it is suggested that HTIB should also implement Theory O as stated by BEER and Nohria (2000) in order to achieve the vision and mission of HTIB. The leaders should adapt softer approach to overcome the change effectively. Leaders should affect the corporate culture by creating the culture of creative thinking and hardworking and the way the employees work. For example, after implementing rightsizing, leaders should encourage the employees who are able to remain in HTIB to have the creative thinking culture by organizing training and development, some internal competitions for the employees and others to them so that employees have contributions more to the strategy of diversification. 5.0 Conclusion HTIB should continue its effort on improving its sales and revenue. Analyzing its internal and external environment is crucial to aware of its resources and capabilities as well as its competitors in order to find out better strategies to achieve its vision and mission. Good allocation of resources and fully utilization of capabilities is important to HTIB so that to achieve efficiency when implementing any strategies and meeting effectiveness as required. HTIB should evaluate and control itself from time to time so that it always competitive in the biscuits manufacturing industry forever. (4499 words) Prepared by ____________ (NG PEI LING)

Municipal Solid Waste Management Essay

Municipal Solid Waste Management Essay Waste management is the collection, transport, processing, recycling or disposal, and monitoring of waste materials. The term usually relates to materials produced by human activity and is generally undertaken to reduce their effect on health, the environment or aesthetics. Waste management is also carried out to recover resources from it. Waste management can involve solid, liquid, gaseous or radioactive substances, with different methods and fields of expertise for each. Waste Management is the term that refers to the collection, processing, recycling, transport, and monitoring of waste products. The waste products means the various materials produced by human activity and is undertaken for reducing their effect on health, environment or aesthetics. Another application of the waste management is to recover the various resources from it. It involves the management of solid, liquid, and gaseous wastes. Each type of waste requires a different methods and fields of expertise. The practices of waste management differ from developed and developing nations. In fact, there is difference in methods used in the urban and rural areas, and also for industrial or residential producers. It is the responsibility of local government authorities to manage non-hazardous residential and institutional waste in metro areas. However, the management for non-hazardous commercial and industrial waste is done by the generator. There are various methods of waste disposal including integrated waste management, Plasma gasification, Landfill, Supercritical water decomposition and Incineration. There are lots of concepts about waste management which differ in their usage as per the varying regions or countries. Some of the widely used concepts include Waste hierarchy, Extended producer responsibility and Polluter pays principle. The waste hierarchy points to the reduce, reuse and recycle that classify waste management strategies as per their effectiveness in regards to waste minimization. The waste hierarchy is the cornerstone of majority of waste minimization strategies. It focuses on taking out the maximum practical advantages from products and generating least amount of waste. The Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is a strategy that is intended for the integration of all costs related with products across their life cycles into the market price of the product. The Polluter Pays Principle suggests that in case of waste leading to any impact on the environment, the polluting party is held responsible and it needs to pays for it. The waste management refers to the need for a waste producer to pay for proper waste disposal. Effective Techniques of waste management:- 1) LANDFILL: it is one of the inexpensive methods of waste management. In this waste is dumped on an abandoned land. Be cautious that no toxic or hazardous waste gets dumped in landfill. 2) INCINERATION: Toxic substances that cannot be dumped are burnt. This method is not much in action as this emits harmful pollutants leading to pollution. 3) COMPOSTING: Organic wastes from homes garden eg- food, plants, etc are decomposed, recycled used as manure for agriculture purpose. 4) MECHANICAL BIOLOGICALTREATMENT: Glass, plastic other recyclable waste is put into waste treatment plant. Recyclable content from waste is taken converted to calorific fuel that in turn is used by power plants. 5) PYROLYSIS GASIFICATION: Waste products are treated at high temperature7 high pressure. Its a thermal technique. In pyrolysis, waste is converted into solid liquid, in which solid is refined into carbon form liquid got from the waste is used as energy giving oil. In gasification, waste is converted into synthetic gases: that are burnt to give high energy. (6) Disposal: Non recyclable wastes are dumped into a vast abandoned land. This is called landfills. Only care should be taken that toxic waste does not enter the soil and water system. The people in charge of landfill department must supervise approve the dumping site. Care should be taken about depth allowed till dumping, the nature of the waste dumped, etc must be approved MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE 1. Municipal Solid Waste Garbage is generally referred to Waste and is also termed as rubbish, trash, junk, unwanted or undesired material.As per the Municipal Solid Waste (Management Handling) Rule,2000 garbage is define as Municipal Solid Waste which includes commercial and residential wastes generated in a municipal or notified areas in either solid or semi-solid form excluding industrial hazardous wastes but including treated bio-medical wastes Municipal solid waste consists of household waste, construction and demolition debris, sanitation residue, and waste from streets. This garbage is generated mainly from residential and commercial complexes. 2. Main Sources of Municipal Waste House hold waste Commercials: Street sweeping Hotels and restaurants Clinics and dispensaries Construction and demolition Horticulture Sludge 3. Composition of Municipal Solid Waste in India In India, the biodegradable portion dominates the bulk of Municipal Solid Waste. Generally, the biodegradable portion is mainly due to food and yard waste With rising urbanisation and change in lifestyle and food habits, the amount of municipal solid waste has been increasing rapidly and its composition changing. There are different categories of waste generated, each takes their own time to degenerate (as illustrated in the table below). 4. Life Cycle of Municipal Solid Waste 5. Municipal Solid Waste Management Practices in India The term municipal solid waste refers to solid waste from houses, streets and public places, shops, offices, and hospitals. Management of these types of waste is most often the responsibility of Municipal or other Governmental authorities. Except in the metropolitan cities, SWM is the responsibility of a health officer who is assisted by the engineering department in the transportation work. The activity is mostly labour intensive, and 2-3 workers are provided per 1000 residents served. The municipal agencies spend 5-25% of their budget on SWM A typical waste management system in a low- or middle-income country like India includes the following elements: Waste generation and storage Segregation, reuse, and recycling at the household level Primary waste collection and transport to a transfer station or community bin Street sweeping and cleansing of public places Management of the transfer station or community bin Secondary collection and transport to the waste disposal site Waste disposal in landfills But in most of the Indian cities open dumping is the Common Practices which is adversely affecting on environment and Public health. 6. Adverse Effect of open dump An open dumping is defined as a land disposal site at which solid wastes are disposed of in a manner that does not protect the environment, are susceptible to open burning, and are exposed to the elements, vectors, and scavengers. Open dumping can include solid waste disposal facilities or practices that pose a reasonable probability of adverse effects on health or the environment. Health Effect The health risks associated with illegal dumping are significant. Areas used for open dumping may be easily accessible to people, especially children, who are vulnerable to the physical (protruding nails or sharp edges) and chemical (harmful fluids or dust) hazards posed by wastes. Rodents, insects, and other vermin attracted to open dump sites may also pose health risks. Dump sites with scrap tires provide an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes, which can multiply 100 times faster than normal in the warm stagnant water standing in scrap tire causing several illnesses. Poisoning and chemical burns resulting from contact with small amounts of hazardous, chemical waste mixed with general waste during collection transportation. Burns and other injuries can occur resulting from occupational accidents and methane gas exposure at waste disposal sites. Environment pollution Air pollution Dust generated from on-site vehicle movements, and placement of waste and materials Water pollution Runoff from open dump sites containing chemicals may contaminate wells and surface water used as sources of drinking water open dumping can also impact proper drainage of runoff, making areas more susceptible to flooding when wastes block ravines, creeks, culverts, and drainage basins also contamination of groundwater resources and surface water from leachate emissions. Soil Contamination Permanent or temporary loss of productive land Global Warming and Climate Change In most of the cities towns, the municipal solid waste is being dumped burnt in open spaces without understanding the adverse impacts on the environment. The waste in the dumping ground undergoes various anaerobic reactions produces offensive Green House gases such as CO2, CH4 etc. These gases are contributing potentially to Global Warming Climate Change phenomenon. 7. Integrated Solid waste Management Integrated Solid Waste Management (ISWM) is a tool to determine the most energy-efficient, least-polluting ways to deal with the various components items of a communitys Solid Waste stream. The twin goals of ISWM are to: Retain as much as possible of that energy those materials in a useful state. Avoid releasing that energy or matter into the environment as a pollutant. Benefits of Integrated Solid waste management The concept of ISWM plan derives from the necessity to look at alternative sources of collection, transportation and most importantly, disposal to ensure a healthy living environment in urban cities. Local and regional economies benefit by the continued exchange value of the reclaimed materials and products and the jobs created in reprocessing and reselling them. National and global resource natural depletion is reduced, contributing to a more sustainable long-term economy. Pollution from landfills is reduced because many toxic or otherwise polluting materials are diverted from the landfills, and because the overall volume of land filled material is reduced. 8. Legal framework for Municipal Solid Waste in India Municipal Solid Waste (Managment Handling ) Rule was notified by the Ministry of Environment and Forest, Govt. of India [vide No.S.O.908 (B) dated the 25th September 2000]. The objective of these Rules was to make every municipal authority responsible for the implementation of the various provisions of the Rules within its territorial area and also to develop an effective infrastructure for collection, storage, segregation, transportation, processing and disposal of Municipal Solid Wastes. The Civic bodies have the responsibility to enforce these rules.

It is Time to Raise Teachers Salaries Essays -- Argumentative Persuasi

It is Time to Raise Teachers Salaries    Offer me enough money, and I will do almost anything.   Why?   Because I can exchange money for goods and services, and I want goods and services.    My willingness to ``do things'' for money can be explained by the fundamental economics principle of supply and demand: without much exception, an increase in demand for a good or service increases the price of that good and service, and an increase in supply of a good or service decreases the price of that good or service.   In other words, given a large free market economy and a lot of dough, you can accomplish almost anything.   Hence, if my ``goods'' or ``services'' are in high enough demand (the price is high enough), then I will submit to the wonders of capitalism.    Now, there is widespread belief that United States primary and secondary education is not as exemplary as it can and should be (and definitely not as exemplary as say, er, our military).   There are of course a myriad of reasons why our basic education system should be exemplary, all of which basically boil down to the supposition that we need educated people to maintain (and increase!) US prosperity.   I suggest that we use our current prosperity (money) and our free market economy to bolster our education system.   We can acquire more able teachers by raising teacher salaries, thereby increasing the effectiveness of our childrens' education and, in turn, prosperity.    In terms of supply and demand, the supply is measured by the size of the pool of available teaching jobs, and the demand is measured by how many people want them.   If there are not enough teaching j... ...an to 'educate' anyways?    In 1997 (according to the 1998 Digest of Education Statistics -- http://nces.ed.gov/pubs99/1999036.pdf), students' combined SAT scores steadily rose from 856 to 1116 in positive correlation with parental education, from high school dropout to graduate degree.   A similar correlation existed with family income: 873 for families making less than $10,000, increasing to 1130 for families making more than $100,000.    Perhaps parenting matters more than teaching, or perhaps more educated parents bought 'better' education with their higher salaries (through private schooling and/or by living in more affluent school districts). Perhaps both.   Regardless, the free market principles are clear: more money yields higher test scores and higher test scores yields more money.    Invest in prosperity.

Reflective essays -- essays research papers

The classic tragedy, as defined by Aristotle, has six major parts. These parts include a plot, characters, theme, melody, spectacle, and language. All stories, according to Aristotle must have a beginning, middle, and end, and must follow a logical sequence according to these six elements.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The plot is the series of events, or sequence in which the action of the play occurs. Plot must follow a cause and effect relationship, which follows a logical pattern. Characters are the people in the play, who have certain qualities that can be determined by what they say, do and what others say about them. The theme of the play is the general feeling or statement made by the author that presents an observation or thought to the audience. Melody is the musical quality of the play, which includes a change of pitch by the voice, musical instruments , and also includes the high and low points of the play giving it an overall melodic quality. Spectacle includes the visual elements of the play, anything that is observed by sight. Often in modern movies and plays spectacle can be overdone, especially if a reason for the spectacle cannot be found. Language is the dialog or speech that makes up the story, and is used by characters to present the play to the audience.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Aristotle lays out a very specific definition of what a tragedy should include, and how each element should be presented. He tells us that the tragedy must include these six elements and that they must be laid out in a logical manner. Aristotle sets up the framework for a tragedy that is used with or without the playwright’s knowledge for innumerable classical and modern plays. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Along with giving us the six elements of a tragedy, Aristotle also gives us four parts that should be included in a tragic hero. Sophocles’ character Oedipus is considered to be the classic example of a tragic hero. This is attributed to the fact that Oedipus clearly demonstrates all four of the characteristics that make up the tragic hero as defined by Aristotle. According to Aristotle, the tragic hero must be a good, as well as great person. What this means is that he must hold high moral goals and ideals for himself as well as being of high or noble stature in society. The tragic hero must have a character flaw, this could be some excess or... ...ey† may not be the first comedy, nor is it the sole creation of Homer, however these things are attributed to it, because it was the first to be written down.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Odysseus is considered to be the â€Å"quintessential† comic hero. Even though he is of great stature, he represents â€Å"every man† or the common man. He is sent on a long journey by Poseidon where he must use his cunning and shrewdness to make his way home. Odysseus must come up with a scheme in order to regain his homeland. Mistaken identity and deliberate deception are often used together and are used throughout this epic. Mistaken identity is when a character believes they are seeing someone, but it is not really that person, adding an element of dramatic irony. Deliberate deception is very similar, but the character is intending to deceive others and often uses a disguise. These elements are used several times by Athena, who comes to mortals in the form of people around them. Odysseus also disguises himself as a beggar when he gets back to Ithaca. Several elements of the modern comedy can be found in the â€Å"Odyssey,† and because of i ts home coming, or happy ending it is considered the first comedy.

Chondrichthyes vs Arthropod :: essays papers

Chondrichthyes vs Arthropod The black widow is most easily recognized by the hourglass marking on the underside of its abdomen. When bitten, a neurotoxin is released that can cause dull pain and cramping in muscles, that can be accompanied by sweating and vomiting. Less than 1% of black widow bites result in death. Black widow spiders are usually not aggressive. If disturbed, they will retreat to a corner of their web. These spiders are more aggressive if they are protecting an egg sac. The natural habitat of a black widow is outdoors, under rocks, brush or piles of debris. Indoors, these spiders can usually be found behind furniture, in storage boxes, etc. A black widow's eyes are on top and near the front of its head. They have 8 eyes, arranged in 2 rows of 4 each. Some spiders have better vision than others. For example, hunting spiders have good eyesight at short distances. Their eyesight enables them to form images of their prey and mate. Web-building spiders (the black widow) have poor eyesight. Their eyes are used for detecting changes in light. A black widow's mouth opening is bellow its eyes. It does not have chewing mouth parts, and they eat only liquids. Various appendages around the mouth opening form a short "straw" through which the spider sucks the body fluid of its victim. The black widow can eat some of the solid tissue of its prey by predigesting it. To do this, the spider sprays digestive juices on the tissue. Chelicerae are a pair of appendages that the spider uses to seize and kill its prey. The chelicerae are above the mouth opening and just below the spider's eyes. Each chelicera ends in a hard, hollow, pointed claw, and these claws are the spider's fangs. An opening in the tip of the fang connects with the poison glands. When the black widow stabs an insect with its chelicerae, poison flows into the wound and paralyzes or kills the victim. The fangs of tarantulas point straight down from the head, and the poison glands are in the chelicerae. In the black widow, the fangs point crosswise, and the poison gla nds extend back into the cephalothorax. They also crush thier prey with their chelicerae. Pedipalpi are a pair of appendages that look like small legs. One pedipalp is attached to each side of the spider's mouth, and they form the sides of the mouth.

Cost Theory

Cost Theory in Economics A central economic concept is that getting something requires giving up something else. For example, earning more money may require working more hours, which costs more leisure time. Economists use cost theory to provide a framework for understanding how individuals and firms allocate resources in such a way that keeps costs low and benefits high. 1. Function * Economists view costs as what an individual or firm must give up to get something else. Opening a manufacturing plant to produce goods requires an outlay of money.Once a plant owner spends money to manufacture goods, that money is no longer available for something else. Production facilities, machinery used in the production process and plant workers are all examples of costs. Cost theory offers an approach to understanding the costs of production that allows firms to determine the level of output that reaps the greatest level of profit at the least cost. 2. Features * Cost theory contains various meas ures of costs. These include a firm's fixed costs and variable costs. The former do not vary with the quantity of goods produced.Rent on a facility is an example of a fixed cost. Variable costs change with the quantity produced. If increased production requires more workers, for example, those workers' wages are variable costs. The sum of fixed and variable costs is a firm's total costs. * Additional Measures * Cost theory derives two additional cost measures. Average total cost is the total cost divided by the number of goods produced. Marginal cost is the increase in total cost that results from increasing production by one unit of output.Marginals–including marginal costs and marginal revenue–are key concepts in mainstream economic thought. Falling and Rising Costs * Economists often use graphs, similar to supply-and-demand charts, to illustrate cost theory and firms' decisions about production. An average total cost curve is a U-shaped curve on an economic diagram. This shape illustrates how average total costs decline as output rises and then rise as marginal costs increase. Average total costs decline at first because as production rises, average costs are distributed over a larger number of units of output.Eventually, marginal costs of increasing output rise, which increases average total costs. Maximizing Profits * Economic theory holds that the goal of a firm is to maximize profit, which equals total revenue minus total cost. Determining a level of production that generates the greatest level of profit is an important consideration, one that means paying attention to marginal costs, as well as marginal revenue (the increase in revenue arising from an increase in output). Under cost theory, as long as marginal revenue exceeds marginal cost, increasing production will raise profit.Types of Cost Economics Economists factor costs in many different ways. Though you may read the cost of a soup can at $1 as it’s listed on the grocery sto re shelf, economists view the cost of the soup can in very different ways. For example, an economist asks what you are giving up to buy that can of soup over another item. They measure the firm’s cost of producing that soup can as it relates to their output and factors of production. Thus, the different types of economic costs are varied. 1. Sunk Cost * A sunk cost is an expense that cannot be recouped.Mark Hirschy, author of the book, â€Å"Fundamentals of Managerial Economics,† explains that sunk costs should not factor into a decision when deciding between alternatives. For example, say a person spent $50,000 on a degree in education and earns $60,000 as a teacher. She is later offered a job in marketing that pays her $80,000. Though she may be tempted to factor in her education degree as reason to stay in her current teaching job, her $50,000 degree is regarded as a sunk cost. She already spent this money, and it cannot be recouped.In this case, she should only com pare the respective salaries of the positions. If all else is held equal, she should pursue the marketing job. Opportunity Cost * An opportunity cost is the value of an alternative choice. Though the word â€Å"cost† usually equates to a numerical value, like a dollar figure, this is not always the case. William Baumol and Alan Blinder, authors of the book, â€Å"Economics: Principles and Policy,† state that an opportunity cost calculates intangible things like time, location and job satisfaction.They explain opportunity costs are what you give up to follow one course of action. For example, a college graduate is deciding between a job as a tech consultant in Seattle or an investment broker in New York City. If the grad pursues the investment broker position, the opportunity costs of foregoing the job in Seattle could be a slower pace of life, $10,000 higher salary and lower costs of living like rent and food. * Marginal Cost * A marginal cost is the amount it takes to produce one more item.Under this view of costs, they vary along the production line and in most cases the cost to produce a good reduces over time. Intuitively, this makes sense: the more proficient you become at producing a good, the faster you can do it and less waste is produced. The savings in labor and material as you achieve â€Å"economies of scale† means the cost of production usually decreases. The way economists find the marginal cost is by taking the derivative of the total costs as it relates to the total output. How to Find Marginal Cost in EconomicsDeciding whether to produce more units is often based on marginal cost. The economic concept of marginal cost is the cost associated with producing one additional unit. This information is important to businesses because it allows the company to decide if the additional unit is worth producing from a financial standpoint. When a company produces a small amount of product, the cost of additional units often decrease. However, marginal costs increase when additional units are added once the production level reaches a minimum. This is based on the law of diminishing marginal returns.Instructions 1. * 1 Calculate the change in total variable cost. This is the amount that the costs increased by after additional units are produced. For example, if you'd like to produce more T-shirts and the increase in output would change the costs by $100, then the total variable cost is $100. * 2 Find the change in quantity produced. This represents how many additional units you would like to produce in the given scenario. For example, the change in quantity would be 50 if you'd like to produce 300 T-shirts instead of 250. * 3 Divide the change in total variable costs from Step 1 by the change in quantity from Step 2. This will give you the marginal cost (marginal cost = the change in total variable cost/the change in quantity). For this example, $100 (the change in total variable cost) / 50 (the change in quantity ) = $2 in marginal costs, which is the cost of producing each additional T-shirt. What Is the Relationship Between Production ; Cost? Production costs are linked to the cost of materials and labor.The relationship between production and cost in any manufacturing process varies based on volume produced and whether any part of the manufacturing process is outsourced or performed by subcontractors. Additionally, production and cost ratios vary based on the amount of automation involved in production and the amount of human oversight and involvement required. 1. Factors of Production * The main factors of production are labor, capital and supply costs. Capital is defined as equipment, cash reserves, and physical location or production facility.Labor is defined as the amount of and cost of manpower required to bring a product to market. This includes not only the physical labor and oversight related to product production, but also the associated costs of salaries of positions such as man agers, delivery drivers, warehouse supervisors, marketing directors and even administrative assistance. Supply costs are any fee associated with securing necessary materials for production. Subcontractor or outsourced work is considered a supply cost as well, as the manufacturer is essentially purchasing a product or service for use in the production process.In this example, work such as offsite creation of product packaging or assembly of minor components of a finished product are considered supply costs in the same way the purchase of raw materials are considered supply costs. Volume of Production * Volume of production figures signify the amount of products being produced. Typically, the greater the volume the lower the cost per unit as raw material suppliers often offer discounts on mass or bulk orders. Volume of production is based on a company’s anticipated product needs, past sales records and placed orders. *Volume of Business * The relationship between production and cost is frequently determined by the volume of business a company is doing. An example that illustrates this point is a multinational vitamin supplement company that produces vitamins in bulk compared to a small health food chain that produces its own vitamin line in small quantities. The cost of the product produced by the small company will typically be greater than the cost of the product offered by the bulk manufacturer because the smaller company produces its product in smaller volumes. Price Points The more it costs a company to produce a product, the greater price the company will have to charge consumers. A company’s production costs include the price of materials, the cost of manpower, the production and packaging process, advertising, and distribution. Mass producers may be able to offer more competitive pricing to end users because they have the luxury of working on a thin margin due to the large volume of production. In microeconomics, the long run is the concept ual time period in which there are no fixed factors of production as to changing the output level by changing the capital stock or by entering or leaving an industry.The long run contrasts with the short run, in which some factors are variable and others are fixed, constraining entry or exit from an industry. In macroeconomics, the long run is the period when the general price level, contractual wage rates, and expectations adjust fully to the state of the economy, in contrast to the short run when these variables may not fully adjust. [1] In the long run, firms change production levels in response to (expected) economic profits or losses, and the land, labor, capital goods and entrepreneurship vary to reach associated long-run average cost.In the simplified case of plant capacity as the only fixed factor, a generic firm can make these changes in the long run: * enter an industry in response to (expected) profits * leave an industry in response to losses * increase its plant in resp onse to profits * decrease its plant in response to losses. Long-run average-cost curve with economies of scale to Q2 and diseconomies of scale thereafter. The long run is associated with the long-run average cost (LRAC) curve in microeconomic models along which a firm would minimize its average cost (cost per unit) for each respective long-run quantity of output.Long-run marginal cost (LRMC) is the added cost of providing an additional unit of service or commodity from changing capacity level to reach the lowest cost associated with that extra output. LRMC equalling price is efficient as to resource allocation in the long run. The concept of long-run cost is also used in determining whether the long-run expected to induce the firm to remain in the industry or shut down production there. In long-run equilibrium of an industry in which perfect competition prevails, the LRMC = Long run average LRAC at the minimum LRAC and associated output.The shape of the long-run marginal and averag e costs curves is determined by economies of scale. The long run is a planning and implementation stage. [2][3] Here a firm may decide that it needs to produce on a larger scale by building a new plant or adding a production line. The firm may decide that new technology should be incorporated into its production process. The firm thus considers all its long-run production options and selects the optimal combination of inputs and technology for its long-run urposes. [4] The optimal combination of inputs is the least-cost combination of inputs for desired level of output when all inputs are variable. [3] Once the decisions are made and implemented and production begins, the firm is operating in the short run with fixed and variable inputs. [3][5] Short run All production in real time occurs in the short run. The short run is the conceptual time period in which at least one factor of production is fixed in amount and others are variable in amount.Costs that are fixed, say from existing plant size, have no impact on a firm's short-run decisions, since only variable costs and revenues affect short-run profits. Such fixed costs raise the associated short-run average cost of an output long-run average cost if the amount of the fixed factor is better suited for a different output level. In the short run, a firm can raise output by increasing the amount of the variable factor(s), say labor through overtime. A generic firm already producing in an industry can make three changes in the short run as a response to reach a posited equilibrium: * increase production decrease production * shut down. In the short run, a profit-maximizing firm will: * increase production if marginal cost is less than marginal revenue (added revenue per additional unit of output); * decrease production if marginal cost is greater than marginal revenue; * continue producing if average variable cost is less than price per unit, even if average total cost is greater than price; * shut down if avera ge variable cost is greater than price at each level of output. Transition from short run to long runThe transition from the short run to the long run may be done by considering some short-run equilibrium that is also a long-run equilibrium as to supply and demand, then comparing that state against a new short-run and long-run equilibrium state from a change that disturbs equilibrium, say in the sales-tax rate, tracing out the short-run adjustment first, then the long-run adjustment. Each is an example of comparative statics. Alfred Marshall (1890) pioneered in comparative-static period analysis. [6] He istinguished between the temporary or market period (with output fixed), the short period, and the long period. â€Å"Classic† contemporary graphical and formal treatments include those of Jacob Viner (1931),[7] John Hicks (1939),[8] and Paul Samuelson (1947). [9] The law of diminishing marginal returns The law of diminishing marginal returns to a variable factor applies to th e short run. [10] It posits an effect of decreased added or marginal product of from variable factors, which increases the supply price of added output. [11] The law is related to a positive slope of the short-run marginal-cost curve. 12] Macroeconomic usages The usage of ‘long run' and ‘short run' in macroeconomics differs somewhat from the above microeconomic usage. J. M. Keynes (1936) emphasized fundamental factors of a market economy that might result in prolonged periods away from full-employment. [13] In later macro usage, the long run is the period in which the price level for the economy is completely flexible as to shifts in aggregate demand and aggregate supply. In addition there is full mobility of labor and capital between sectors of the economy and full capital mobility between nations.In the short run none of these conditions need fully hold. The price is sticky or fixed as to changes in aggregate demand or supply, capital is not fully mobile between sector s, and capital is not fully mobile to interest rate differences among countries & fixed exchange rates. [14] A famous critique of neglecting short-run analysis was by John Maynard Keynes, who wrote that â€Å"In the long run, we are all dead,† referring to the long-run proposition of the quantity theory of, for example, a doubling of the money supply doubling the price level. 15] Marginal  Analysis Thinking at the  Margin From Mike Moffatt, former About. com Guide From an economist's perspective, making choices involves making decisions ‘at the margin' – that is, making decisions based on small changes in resources: * How should I spend the next hour? * How should I spend the next dollar? On the surface, this seems like a strange way of considering the choices made by people and firms. It is rare that someone would consciously ask themselves – ‘How will I spend dollar number 24,387? ‘, ‘How will I spend dollar number 24,388? . Treatin g the problem in this matter does have some distinct advantages: * Doing so leads to the optimal decisions being made, subject to preferences, resources and informational constraints. * It makes the problem less messy from an analytic point of view, as we are not trying to analyze a million decisions at once. * While this does not exactly mimic conscious decision making processes, it does provide results similar to the decisions people actually make. That is, people may not think using this method, but the decisions they make are as if they do.Marginal Analysis – An Example Consider the decision on how many hours to work, as given by the following chart: Hour – Hourly Wage – Value of Time Hour 1 – $10 – $2 Hour 2 – $10 – $2 Hour 3 – $10 – $3 Hour 4 – $10 – $3 Hour 5 – $10 – $4 Hour 6 – $10 – $5 Hour 7 – $10 – $6 Hour 8 – $10 – $8 Hour 9 – $15 â €“ $9 Hour 10 – $15 – $12 Hour 11 – $15 – $18 Hour 12 – $15 – $20 The hourly wage represents what I earn for working an extra hour – it is the marginal gain or the marginal benefit. The value of time is essentially an opportunity cost – it is how much I value having that hour off.In this example it represents a marginal cost – what it costs me by working an additional hour. The increase in marginal costs is a common phenomenon; I do not mind working a few hours since there are 24 hours in a day. I still have plenty of time to do other things. However, as I start to work more hours it reduces the number of hours I have for other activities. I have to start giving up more and more valuable opportunities to work those extra hours. It is clear that I should work the first hour, as I gain $10 in marginal benefits and lose only $2 in marginal costs, for a net gain of $8.By the same logic I should work the second and third hours as well. I will want to work until which time the marginal cost exceeds the marginal benefit. I will want to work the 10th hour as I receive a net benefit of #3 (marginal benefit of $15, marginal cost of $12). However, I will not want to work the 11th hour, as the marginal cost ($18) exceeds the marginal benefit ($15) by three dollars. Thus marginal analysis suggests that rational maximizing behavior is to work for 10 hours. Next Lesson: Market Distortions: Altering the Supply and Demand Equilibrium.Marginal Analysis * Marginal Revenue – Glossary – Dictionary Definition of Marginal Revenue * Marginal Significance Value – Glossary – Dictionary Definition of Marginal Si†¦ * Marginal Revenue and Marginal Cost Practice Question Related Articles * Running a Private Practice – Working with Animals * Work Stress – Long Work Hours Are Not the Culprit * Open for Business: Scheduling Your Week – Being a Personal Trainer * Three Union Work Rules That Increase the Cost of Operating Transit * Hold On to Your Sanity – Start Your Own Business AN INTRODUCTION TOCOST BENEFIT ANALYSIS| * Background * Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) estimates and totals up the equivalent money value of the benefits and costs to the community of projects to establish whether they are worthwhile. These projects may be dams and highways or can be training programs and health care systems. * The idea of this economic accounting originated with Jules Dupuit, a French engineer whose 1848 article is still worth reading. The British economist, Alfred Marshall, formulated some of the formal concepts that are at the foundation of CBA.But the practical development of CBA came as a result of the impetus provided by the Federal Navigation Act of 1936. This act required that the U. S. Corps of Engineers carry out projects for the improvement of the waterway system when the total benefits of a project to whomsoever they accrue exceed the costs of t hat project. Thus, the Corps of Engineers had created systematic methods for measuring such benefits and costs. The engineers of the Corps did this without much, if any, assistance from the economics profession.It wasn't until about twenty years later in the 1950's that economists tried to provide a rigorous, consistent set of methods for measuring benefits and costs and deciding whether a project is worthwhile. Some technical issues of CBA have not been wholly resolved even now but the fundamental presented in the following are well established. * Principles of Cost Benefit Analysis * One of the problems of CBA is that the computation of many components of benefits and costs is intuitively obvious but that there are others for which intuition fails to suggest methods of measurement. Therefore some basic principles are needed as a guide. There Must Be a Common Unit of Measurement * In order to reach a conclusion as to the desirability of a project all aspects of the project, positiv e and negative, must be expressed in terms of a common unit; i. e. , there must be a â€Å"bottom line. † The most convenient common unit is money. This means that all benefits and costs of a project should be measured in terms of their equivalent money value. A program may provide benefits which are not directly expressed in terms of dollars but there is some amount of money the recipients of the benefits would consider just as good as the project's benefits.For example, a project may provide for the elderly in an area a free monthly visit to a doctor. The value of that benefit to an elderly recipient is the minimum amount of money that that recipient would take instead of the medical care. This could be less than the market value of the medical care provided. It is assumed that more esoteric benefits such as from preserving open space or historic sites have a finite equivalent money value to the public. * Not only do the benefits and costs of a project have to be expressed in terms of equivalent money value, but they have to be expressed in terms of dollars of a particular time.This is not just due to the differences in the value of dollars at different times because of inflation. A dollar available five years from now is not as good as a dollar available now. This is because a dollar available now can be invested and earn interest for five years and would be worth more than a dollar in five years. If the interest rate is r then a dollar invested for t years will grow to be (1+r)t. Therefore the amount of money that would have to be deposited now so that it would grow to be one dollar t years in the future is (1+r)-t.This called the discounted value or present value of a dollar available t years in the future. * When the dollar value of benefits at some time in the future is multiplied by the discounted value of one dollar at that time in the future the result is discounted present value of that benefit of the project. The same thing applies to costs. The net benefit of the projects is just the sum of the present value of the benefits less the present value of the costs. * The choice of the appropriate interest rate to use for the discounting is a separate issue that will be treated later in this paper. CBA Valuations Should Represent Consumers or Producers Valuations As Revealed by Their Actual Behavior * The valuation of benefits and costs should reflect preferences revealed by choices which have been made. For example, improvements in transportation frequently involve saving time. The question is how to measure the money value of that time saved. The value should not be merely what transportation planners think time should be worth or even what people say their time is worth. The value of time should be that which the public reveals their time is worth through choices involving tradeoffs between time and money.If people have a choice of parking close to their destination for a fee of 50 cents or parking farther away and spend ing 5 minutes more walking and they always choose to spend the money and save the time and effort then they have revealed that their time is more valuable to them than 10 cents per minute. If they were indifferent between the two choices they would have revealed that the value of their time to them was exactly 10 cents per minute. * The most challenging part of CBA is finding past choices which reveal the tradeoffs and equivalencies in preferences.For example, the valuation of the benefit of cleaner air could be established by finding how much less people paid for housing in more polluted areas which otherwise was identical in characteristics and location to housing in less polluted areas. Generally the value of cleaner air to people as revealed by the hard market choices seems to be less than their rhetorical valuation of clean air. * Benefits Are Usually Measured by Market Choices * When consumers make purchases at market prices they reveal that the things they buy are at least as beneficial to them as the money they relinquish.Consumers will increase their consumption of any commodity up to the point where the benefit of an additional unit (marginal benefit) is equal to the marginal cost to them of that unit, the market price. Therefore for any consumer buying some of a commodity, the marginal benefit is equal to the market price. The marginal benefit will decline with the amount consumed just as the market price has to decline to get consumers to consume a greater quantity of the commodity. The relationship between the market price and the quantity consumed is called the demand schedule.Thus the demand schedule provides the information about marginal benefit that is needed to place a money value on an increase in consumption. * Gross Benefits of an Increase in Consumption is an Area Under the Demand Curve * The increase in benefits resulting from an increase in consumption is the sum of the marginal benefit times each incremental increase in consumption. A s the incremental increases considered are taken as smaller and smaller the sum goes to the area under the marginal benefit curve. But the marginal benefit curve is the same as the demand curve so the increase in benefits is the area under the demand curve.As shown in Figure 1 the area is over the range from the lower limit of consumption before the increase to consumption after the increase. * Figure 1 * When the increase in consumption is small compared to the total consumption the gross benefit is adequately approximated, as is shown in a welfare analysis, by the market value of the increased consumption; i. e. , market price times the increase in consumption. * Some Measurements of Benefits Require the Valuation of Human Life * It is sometimes necessary in CBA to evaluate the benefit of saving human lives.There is considerable antipathy in the general public to the idea of placing a dollar value on human life. Economists recognize that it is impossible to fund every project whic h promises to save a human life and that some rational basis is needed to select which projects are approved and which are turned down. The controversy is defused when it is recognized that the benefit of such projects is in reducing the risk of death. There are many cases in which people voluntarily accept increased risks in return for higher pay, such as in the oil fields or mining, or for time savings in higher speed in automobile travel.These choices can be used to estimate the personal cost people place on increased risk and thus the value to them of reduced risk. This computation is equivalent to placing an economic value on the expected number of lives saved. * The Analysis of a Project Should Involve a With Versus Without Comparison * The impact of a project is the difference between what the situation in the study area would be with and without the project. This that when a project is being evaluated the analysis must estimate not only what the situation would be with the p roject but also what it would be without the project.For example, in determining the impact of a fixed guideway rapid transit system such as the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) in the San Francisco Bay Area the number of rides that would have been taken on an expansion of the bus system should be deducted from the rides provided by BART and likewise the additional costs of such an expanded bus system would be deducted from the costs of BART. In other words, the alternative to the project must be explicitly specified and considered in the evaluation of the project. Note that the with-and-without comparison is not the same as a before-and-after comparison. Another example shows the importance of considering the impacts of a project and a with-and-without comparison. Suppose an irrigation project proposes to increase cotton production in Arizona. If the United States Department of Agriculture limits the cotton production in the U. S. by a system of quotas then expanded cotton production in Arizona might be offset by a reduction in the cotton production quota for Mississippi. Thus the impact of the project on cotton production in the U. S. might be zero rather than being the amount of cotton produced by the project. * Cost Benefit Analysis Involves a Particular Study Area The impacts of a project are defined for a particular study area, be it a city, region, state, nation or the world. In the above example concerning cotton the impact of the project might be zero for the nation but still be a positive amount for Arizona. * The nature of the study area is usually specified by the organization sponsoring the analysis. Many effects of a project may â€Å"net out† over one study area but not over a smaller one. The specification of the study area may be arbitrary but it may significantly affect the conclusions of the analysis. * Double Counting of Benefits or Costs Must be Avoided Sometimes an impact of a project can be measured in two or more ways. For example, when an improved highway reduces travel time and the risk of injury the value of property in areas served by the highway will be enhanced. The increase in property values due to the project is a very good way, at least in principle, to measure the benefits of a project. But if the increased property values are included then it is unnecessary to include the value of the time and lives saved by the improvement in the highway. The property value went up because of the benefits of the time saving and the reduced risks.To include both the increase in property values and the time saving and risk reduction would involve double counting. * Decision Criteria for Projects * If the discounted present value of the benefits exceeds the discounted present value of the costs then the project is worthwhile. This is equivalent to the condition that the net benefit must be positive. Another equivalent condition is that the ratio of the present value of the benefits to the present value of the costs m ust be greater than one. * If there are more than one mutually exclusive project that have positive net present value then there has to be further analysis.From the set of mutually exclusive projects the one that should be selected is the one with the highest net present value. * If the funds required for carrying out all of the projects with positive net present value are less than the funds available this means the discount rate used in computing the present values is too low and does not reflect the true cost of capital. The present values must be recomputed using a higher discount rate. It may take some trial and error to find a discount rate such that the funds required for the projects with a positive net present value is no more than the funds available.Sometimes as an alternative to this procedure people try to select the best projects on the basis of some measure of goodness such as the internal rate of return or the benefit/cost ratio. This is not valid for several reasons . * The magnitude of the ratio of benefits to costs is to a degree arbitrary because some costs such as operating costs may be deducted from benefits and thus not be included in the cost figure. This is called netting out of operating costs. This netting out may be done for some projects and not for others.This manipulation of the benefits and costs will not affect the net benefits but it may change the benefit/cost ratio. However it will not raise the benefit cost ratio which is less than one to above one. For more on this topic see Benefit/ cost Ratio Magnitude. * An Example * To illustrate how CBA might be applied to a project, let us consider a highway improvement such as the extension of Highway 101 into San Jose. The local four-lane highway which carried the freeway and commuter traffic into San Jose did not have a median divider and its inordinate number of fatal head-on collisions led to the name â€Å"Blood Alley. The improvement of the highway would lead to more capacity which produces time saving and lowers the risk. But inevitably there will be more traffic than was carried by the old highway. * The following is a highly abbreviated analysis using hypothetical data. TRIP DATA| No Extension, â€Å"Blood Alley† Only| 101 Extension and â€Å"Blood Alley†| Rush Hours|   |   | Passenger Trips (per hour)| 3,000| 4,000| Trip Time (minutes)| 50| 30| Value of Time ($/minute)| $0. 10| $0. 10| Nonrush Hours|   |   | Passenger Trips (per hour)| 500| 555. 55| Trip Time (minutes)| 35| 25| Value of Time ($/minute)| $0. 08| $0. 08| Traffic Fatalities per year)| 12| 6| * The data indicates that for rush-hour trips the time cost of a trip is $5 without the project and $3 with it. It is assumed that the operating cost for a vehicle is unaffected by the project and is $4. * The project lowers the cost of a trip and the public responds by increasing the number of trips taken. There is an increase in consumer surplus both for the trips which would have been taken without the project and for the trips which are stimulated by the project. * For trips which would have been taken anyway the benefit of the project equals the value of the time saved times the number of trips.For the rush-hour trip the project saves $2 and for the nonrush-hour trip it saves $0. 80. For the trips generated by the project the benefit is equal to one half of the value of the time saved times the increase in the number of trips. * The benefits per hour are: TYPE| Trips Which Would Be Taken Anyway| Trips Generated By the Project| Total| Rush Hour| 6,000. 00| 1,000. 00| 7,000. 00| Nonrush Hour| 400. 00| 22. 22| 422. 22| * To convert the benefits to an annual basis one multiplies the hourly benefits of each type of trip times the number of hours per year for that type of trip.There are 260 week days per year and at six rush hours per weekday there are 1560 rush hours per year. This leaves 7200 nonrush hours per year. With these figures the annual benefits are: TYPE| Trips Which Would Be Taken Anyway| Trips Generated By the Project| Total| Rush Hour| $9,360,000| $1,560,000| $10,020,000| Nonrush Hour| $2,880,000| $160,000| $3,040,000| Total| $12,240,000| $1,720,000| $13,960,000| * The value of the reduced fatalities may be computed in terms of the equivalent economic value people place upon their lives when making choices concerning risk and money.If the labor market has wages for occupations of different risks such that people accept an increase in the risk of death of 1/1,000 per year in return for an increase in income of $400 per year then a project that reduces the risk of death in a year by 1/1000 gives a benefit to each person affected by it of $400 per year. The implicit valuation of a life in this case is $400,000. Thus benefit of the reduced risk project is the expected number of lives saved times the implicit value of a life. For the highway project this is 6x$400,000= $2,400,000 annually. * The annual benefits of the proje ct are thus:TYPE OF BENEFIT| VALUE OF BENEFITS PER YEAR| Time Saving| $13,960,000| Reduced Risk| $2,400,000| * Let us assume that this level of benefits continues at a constant rate over a thirty-year lifetime of the project. * The cost of the highway consists of the costs for its right-of-way, its construction and its maintenance. The cost of the right-of-way is the cost of the land and any structures upon it which must be purchased before the construction of the highway can begin. For purposes of this example the cost of right-of-way is taken to be $100 million and it must be paid before any construction can begin.At least part of the right-of- way cost for a highway can be recovered at the end of the lifetime of the highway if it is not rebuilt. For the example it is assumed that all of the right-of-way cost is recoverable at the end of the thirty-year lifetime of the project. The construction cost is $200 million spread evenly over a four-year period. Maintenance cost is $1 mill ion per year once the highway is completed. * The schedule of benefits and costs for the project are as follows: TIME (year)| BENEFITS ($millions)| RIGHT-OF -WAY ($millions)| CONSTRUCTION COSTS $millions)| MAINTENANCE ($millions)| 0| 0| 100| 0| 0| 1-4| 0| 0| 50| 0| 5-29| 16. 36| 0| 0| 1| 30| 16. 36| -100| 0| 1| * The benefits and costs are in constant value dollars; i. e. , there was no price increase included in the analysis. Therefore the discount rate used must be the real interest rate. If the interest rate on long term bonds is 8 percent and the rate of inflation is 6 percent then the real rate of interest is 2 percent. Present value of the streams of benefits and costs discounted at a 2 percent back to time zero are as follows:   | PRESENT VALUE $ millions)| Benefits| 304. 11| Costs|   | Right-of-Way| 44. 79| Construction| 190. 39| Maintenance| 18. 59| Total Costs| 253. 77| |   | | Net Benefits| 50. 35| | *independent rounding| * The positive net present value of $50. 35 million and benefit/cost ratio of 1. 2 indicate that the project is worthwhile if the cost of capital is 2 percent. When a discount rate of 3 percent is the benefit/cost ratio is slightly under 1. 0. This means that the internal rate of return is just under 3 percent. When the cost of capital is 3 percent the project is not worthwhile. It should be noted that the market value of the right-of-way understates the opportunity cost of having the land devoted to the highway. The land has a value of $100 million because of its income after property taxes. The economy is paying more for its alternate use but some of the payment is diverted for taxes. The discounted presented value of the payments for the alternate use might be more like $150 million instead of $100 million. Another way of making this point is that one of the costs of the highway is that the local governments lose the property tax on the land used. * Summary By reducing the positive and negative impacts of a project to the ir equivalent money value Cost-Benefit Analysis determines whether on balance the project is worthwhile. The equivalent money value are based upon information derived from consumer and producer market choices; i. e. , the demand and supply schedules for the goods and services affected by the project. Care must be taken to properly allow for such things as inflation. When all this has been considered a worthwhile project is one for which the discounted value of the benefits exceeds the discounted value of the costs; i. . , the net benefits are positive. This is equivalent to the benefit/cost ratio being greater than one and the internal rate of return being greater than the cost of capital. * History of Cost-Benefit Analysis * CBA has its origins in the water development projects of the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps of Engineers had its origins in the French engineers hired by George Washington in the American Revolution. For years the only school of engineering in the Uni ted States was the Military Academy at West Point, New York. In 1879, Congress created the Mississippi River Commission to â€Å"prevent destructive floods. † The Commission included civilians but the president had to be an Army engineer and the Corps of Engineers always had veto power over any decision by the Commission. * In 1936 Congress passed the Flood Control Act which contained the wording, â€Å"the Federal Government should improve or participate in the improvement of navigable waters or their tributaries, including watersheds thereof, for flood-control purposes if the benefits to whomsoever they may accrue are in excess of the estimated costs. The phrase if the benefits to whomsoever they may accrue are in excess of the estimated costs established cost-benefit analysis. Initially the Corps of Engineers developed ad hoc methods for estimating benefits and costs. It wasn't until the 1950s that academic economists discovered that the Corps had developed a system for t he economic analysis of public investments. Economists have influenced and improved the Corps' methods since then and cost-benefit analysis has been adapted to most areas of public decision-making.