Quality Engineering And Management Systems Education Essay

SamplingA is that portion ofA statisticalA pattern concerned with the choice of an indifferent orA randomA subset of single observations within a population of persons intended to give some cognition about theA populationA of concern, particularly for the intents of doing anticipations based onA statistical illation. Sampling is an of import facet ofA informations collection.AL The three chief advantages of trying are that the cost is lower, informations aggregation is faster, and since the information set is smaller it is possible to guarantee homogeneousness and to better the truth and quality of the informations. EachA observationA mensurate one or more belongingss ( such as weight, location, colour ) of discernible organic structures distinguished as independent objects or persons. InA study sampling, study weights can be applied to the informations to set for theA sample design. Results fromA chance theoryA andA statistical theoryA are employed to steer pattern. Stipulating aA trying frame, aA setA of points or events possible to mensurate Stipulating aA trying methodA for choosing points or events from the frame Successful statistical pattern is based on focussed job definition. In trying, this includes specifying theA populationA from which our sample is drawn. A population can be defined as including all people or points with the characteristic one want to understand. Because there is really seldom adequate clip or money to garner information from everyone or everything in a population, the end becomes happening a representative sample ( or subset ) of that population. Although the population of involvement frequently consists of physical objects, sometimes we need to try over clip, infinite, or some combination of these dimensions. For case, an probe of supermarket staffing could analyze check-out procedure line length at assorted times, or a survey on endangered penguins might take to understand their use of assorted runing evidences over clip. For the clip dimension, the focal point may be on periods or distinct occasions.Sampling frameIn the most straightforward instance, such as the sentencing of a batch of stuff from production ( credence sampling by tonss ) , it is possible to place and mensurate every individual point in the population and to include any one of them in our sample. However, in the more general instance this is non possible. There is no manner to place all rats in the set of all rats. Not all frames explicitly list population elements. For illustration, a street map can be used as a frame for a door-to-door study ; although i t does n't demo single houses, we can choose streets from the map and so see all houses on those streets. The sampling frame must be representative of the population and this is a inquiry outside the range of statistical theory demanding the judgement of experts in the peculiar capable affair being studied. All the above frames omit some people who will vote at the following election and incorporate some people who will non ; some frames will incorporate multiple records for the same individual. Peoples non in the frame have no chance of being sampled. Statistical theory Tells us about the uncertainnesss in generalizing from a sample to the frame. In generalizing from frame to population, its function is motivational and implicative. A frame may besides supply extra ‘auxiliary information ‘ about its elements ; when this information is related to variables or groups of involvement, it may be used to better study design.Probability and non chance tryingAA chance samplingA strategy is one in which every unit in the population has a opportunity ( greater than zero ) of being selected in the sample, and this chance can be accurately determined. The combination of these traits makes it possible to bring forth indifferent estimations of population sums, by burdening sampled units harmonizing to their chance of choice. Probability trying includes: Simple Random Sampling, Systematic Sampling, and Stratified Sampling, Probability Proportional to Size Sampling, and Cluster or Multistage Sampling. These assorted ways of chance trying have two things in common: Every component has a known nonzero chance of being sampled and Involves random choice at some point. Nonprobability samplingA is any trying method where some elements of the population haveA noA opportunity of choice, or where the chance of choice ca n't be accurately determined. It involves the choice of elements based on premises sing the population of involvement, which forms the standard for choice. Hence, because the choice of elements is nonrandom, nonprobability sampling does non let the appraisal of trying mistakes. These conditions place bounds on how much information a sample can supply about the population. Information about the relationship between sample and population is limited, doing it hard to generalize from the sample to the population. Nonprobability Sampling includes: A Accidental Sampling, A Quota SamplingA andA Purposive Sampling. In add-on, nonresponse effects may turnA anyA chance design into a nonprobability design if the features of nonresponse are non good understood, since nonresponse efficaciously modifies each component ‘s chance of being sampled.Sampling methodsWithin any of the types of frame identified above, a assortment of trying methods can be employed, separately or in combination. Factors normally act uponing the pick between these designs include: Nature and quality of the frame Handiness of subsidiary information about units on the frame Accuracy demands, and the demand to mensurate truth Whether detailed analysis of the sample is expected Cost/operational concernsSimple random tryingIn aA simple random sampleA ( ‘SRS ‘ ) of a given size, all such subsets of the frame are given an equal chance. Each component of the frame therefore has an equal chance of choice: the frame is non subdivided or partitioned. Furthermore, any givenA pairA of elements has the same opportunity of choice as any other such brace ( and likewise for three-base hits, and so on ) . This minimises prejudice and simplifies analysis of consequences. In peculiar, the discrepancy between single consequences within the sample is a good index of discrepancy in the overall population, which makes it comparatively easy to gauge the truth of consequences. However, SRS can be vulnerable to trying mistake because the entropy of the choice may ensue in a sample that does n't reflect the make-up of the population. For case, a simple random sample of 10 people from a given state willA on averageA produce five work forces and five adult females, but any given test is likely to overrepresent one sex and underrepresent the other.A SRS may besides be cumbrous and boring when trying from an remarkably big mark population. In some instances, research workers are interested in research inquiries specific to subgroups of the population. For illustration, research workers might be interested in analyzing whether cognitive ability as a forecaster of occupation public presentation is every bit applicable across racial groups. SRS can non suit the demands of research workers in this state of affairs because it does non supply subsamples of the population.Systematic samplingSystematic samplingA relies on set uping the mark population harmonizing to some telling strategy and so choosing elements at regular intervals through that ordered list. Systematic trying involves a random start and so returns with the choice of everyA kth component from so onwards. In this instance, A k= ( population size/sample size ) . It is of import that the starting point is non automatically the first in the list, but is alternatively indiscr iminately chosen from within the first to theA kth component in the list. Equally long as the get downing point isA randomized, systematic sampling is a type ofA chance trying. It is easy to implement and theA stratificationA induced can do it efficient, A ifA the variable by which the list is ordered is correlated with the variable of involvement. However, systematic sampling is particularly vulnerable to cyclicities in the list. If cyclicity is present and the period is a multiple or factor of the interval used, the sample is particularly likely to beA unrepresentative of the overall population, doing the strategy less accurate than simple random sampling. Another drawback of systematic sampling is that even in scenarios where it is more accurate than SRS, its theoretical belongingss make it hard toA quantifyA that truth. Systematic sampling is an EPS method, because all elements have the same chance of choice.Stratified samplingWhere the population embraces a figure of distinguishable classs, the frame can be organized by these classs into separate â€Å" strata. † Each stratum is so sampled as an independent sub-population, out of which single elements can be indiscriminately selected. There are several possible benefits to stratified sampling. First, spliting the population into distinguishable, independent strata can enable research workers to pull illations about specific subgroups that may be lost in a more generalised random sample. Second, using a graded sampling method can take to more efficient statistical estimations ( provided that strata are selected based upon relevancy to the standard in inquiry, alternatively of handiness of the samples ) . Even if a graded sampling attack does non take to increased statistical efficiency, such a maneuver will non ensue in less efficiency than would simple random sampling, provided that each stratum is relative to the group ‘s size in the population. Third, it is sometimes the instance that informations are more readily available for single, preexistent strata within a population than for the overall population ; in such instances, utilizing a graded sampling attack may be more convenient than aggregating informations across groups ( though this may potentially be at odds with the antecedently noted importance of using criterion-relevant strata ) . Finally, since each stratum is treated as an independent population, different trying attacks can be applied to different strata, potentially enabling research workers to utilize the attack best suited ( or most cost-efficient ) for each identified subgroup within the population.A graded sampling attack is most effectual when three conditions are metVariability within strata are minimized Variability between strata are maximized The variables upon which the population is stratified are strongly correlated with the coveted dependant variable.Advantages over other trying methodsFocuss on of import subpopulations and ignores irrelevant 1s. Allows usage of different trying techniques for different subpopulations. Improves the accuracy/efficiency of appraisal. Licenses greater reconciliation of statistical power of trials of differences between strata by trying equal Numberss from strata changing widely in size.DisadvantagesRequires choice of relevant stratification variables which can be hard. Is non utile when there are no homogenous subgroups. Can be expensive to implement.Probability proportional to size samplingIn some instances the sample interior decorator has entree to an â€Å" subsidiary variable † or â€Å" size step † , believed to be correlated to the variable of involvement, for each component in the population. This information can be used to better truth in sample design. One option is to utilize the subsidiary variable as a footing for stratification, as discussed above. Another option is probability-proportional-to-size ( ‘PPS ‘ ) sampling, in which the choice chance for each component is set to be relative to its size step, up to a upper limit of 1. In a simple PPS design, these choice chances can so be used as the footing forA Poisson sampling. However, this has the drawbacks of variable sample size, and different parts of the population may still be over- or under-represented due to opportunity fluctuation in choices. To turn to this job, PPS may be combined with a systematic attack. The PPS attack can better truth for a given sample size by concentrating sample on big elements that have the greatest impact on population estimations. PPS sampling is normally used for studies of concerns, where component size varies greatly and subsidiary information is frequently available – for case, a study trying to mensurate the figure of guest-nights spent in hotels might utilize each hotel ‘s figure of suites as an subsidiary variable. In some instances, an older measuring of the variable of involvement can be used as an subsidiary variable when trying to bring forth more current estimations.Bunch tryingSometimes it is cheaper to ‘cluster ‘ the sample in some manner e.g. by choosing respondents from certain countries merely, or certain time-periods merely. ( About all samples are in some sense ‘clustered ‘ in clip – although this is seldom taken into history in the analysis. ) Cluster samplingA is an illustration of ‘two-stage trying ‘ or ‘multistage trying ‘ : in the first phase a sample of countries is chosen ; in the 2nd phase a sample of respondentsA withinA those countries is selected. This can cut down travel and other administrative costs. It besides means that one does non necessitate aA trying frameA naming all elements in the mark population. Alternatively, bunchs can be chosen from a cluster-level frame, with an element-level frame created merely for the selected bunchs. Cluster trying by and large increases the variableness of sample estimations above that of simple random sampling, depending on how the bunchs differ between themselves, as compared with the within-cluster fluctuation. However, some of the disadvantages of bunch trying are the trust of sample estimation preciseness on the existent bunchs chosen. If bunchs chosen are biased in a certain manner, illations drawn about population parametric quantities from these sample estimations will be far off from being accurate.Matched random tryingA method of delegating participants to groups in which brace of participants are foremost matched on some characteristic and so separately assigned indiscriminately to groups. The process for matched random sampling can be briefed with the following contexts, Two samples in which the members are clearly paired, or are matched explicitly by the research worker. For illustration, IQ measurings or braces of indistinguishable twins. Those samples in which the same property, or variable, is measured twice on each topic, under different fortunes. Normally called perennial steps. Examples include the times of a group of jocks for 1500m before and after a hebdomad of particular preparation ; the milk outputs of cattles before and after being fed a peculiar diet.Quota tryingInA quota sampling, the population is foremost segmented intoA reciprocally exclusiveA sub-groups, merely as inA stratified trying. Then judgement is used to choose the topics or units from each section based on a specified proportion. For illustration, an interviewer may be told to try 200 females and 300 males between the age of 45 and 60. It is this 2nd measure which makes the technique one of non-probability sampling. In quota trying the choice of the sample is non-random. For illustration interviewers might be tempted to interview those who look most helpful. The job is that these samples may be biased because non everyone gets a opportunity of choice. This random component is its greatest failing and quota versus chance has been a affair of contention for many old agesConvenience samplingConvenience samplingA is a type of nonprobability trying which involves the sample being drawn from that portion of the population which is close to manus. That is, a sample population selected because it is readily available and convenient. The research worker utilizing such a sample can non scientifically do generalisations about the entire population from this sample because it would non be representative plenty. For illustration, if the interviewer was to carry on such a study at a shopping centre early in the forenoon on a giv en twenty-four hours, the people that he/she could interview would be limited to those given there at that given clip, which would non stand for the positions of other members of society in such an country, if the study was to be conducted at different times of twenty-four hours and several times per hebdomad. This type of trying is most utile for pilot proving. Several of import considerations for research workers utilizing convenience samples include: Are there controls within the research design or experiment which can function to decrease the impact of a non-random, convenience sample whereby guaranting the consequences will be more representative of the population? Is at that place good ground to believe that a peculiar convenience sample would or should react or act otherwise than a random sample from the same population? Is the inquiry being asked by the research 1 that can adequately be answered utilizing a convenience sample?Panel samplingPanel samplingA is the method of first choosing a group of participants through a random trying method and so inquiring that group for the same information once more several times over a period of clip. Therefore, each participant is given the same study or interview at two or more clip points ; each period of informations aggregation is called a â€Å" moving ridge † . This trying methodological analysis is frequently chosen for big graduated table or nation-wide surveies in order to estimate alterations in the population with respect to any figure of variables from chronic unwellness to occupation emphasis to weekly nutrient outgos. Panel sampling can besides be used to inform research workers about within-person wellness alterations due to age or aid explicate alterations in uninterrupted dependent variables such as bridal interaction. There have been se veral proposed methods of analysing panel sample informations, including MANOVA, growing curves, and structural equation patterning with lagged effects.Replacement of selected unitsSampling strategies may beA without replacementA orA with replacing. For illustration, if we catch fish, mensurate them, and instantly return them to the H2O before go oning with the sample, this is a WR design, because we might stop up catching and mensurating the same fish more than one time. However, if we do non return the fish to the H2O ( e.g. if we eat the fish ) , this becomes a WOR design.FormulasWhere the frame and population are indistinguishable, statistical theory outputs exact recommendations onA sample size. However, where it is non straightforward to specify a frame representative of the population, it is more of import to understand theA cause systemA of which the population are results and to guarantee that all beginnings of fluctuation are embraced in the frame. Large Numberss of observ ations are of no value if major beginnings of fluctuation are neglected in the survey. In other words, it is taking a sample group that matches the study class and is easy to study. Research Information Technology, Learning, and Performance JournalA that provides an account of Cochran ‘s expression. A treatment and illustration of sample size expressions, including the expression for seting the sample size for smaller populations, is included. A tabular array is provided that can be used to choose the sample size for a research job based on three alpha degrees and a set mistake rate.Stairss for utilizing sample size tabular arraiesContend the consequence size of involvement, I ± , and I? . Check sample size tabular array Choose the tabular array matching to the selected I ± Locate the row matching to the coveted power Locate the column matching to the estimated consequence size The intersection of the column and row is the minimal sample size required.Sampling and informations aggregationGood informations aggregation involves: Following the defined sampling procedure Keeping the information in clip order Noting remarks and other contextual events Recording non-responses Most sampling books and documents written by non-statisticians focused merely in the informations aggregation facet, which is merely a little though of import portion of the sampling procedure.Mistakes in researchThere are ever mistakes in a research. By trying, the entire mistakes can be classified into trying mistakes and non-sampling mistakes.Sampling mistakeSampling mistakes are caused by trying design. It includes: ( 1 ) A Selection mistake: Incorrect choice chances are used. ( 2 ) A Estimation mistake: Biased parametric quantity estimation because of the elements in these samples.Non-sampling mistakeNon-sampling mistakes are caused by the errors in informations processing. It includes: ( 1 ) A Overcoverage: Inclusion of informations from exterior of the population. ( 2 ) A Undercoverage: Sampling frame does non include elements in the population. ( 3 ) A Measurement mistake: The respondents misunderstand the inquiry. ( 4 ) A Processing mistake: Mistakes in informations cryptography. In many state of affairss the sample fraction may be varied by stratum and informations will hold to be weighted to right stand for the population. Thus for illustration, a simple random sample of persons in the United Kingdom might include some in distant Scots islands who would be extraordinarily expensive to try. A cheaper method would be to utilize a graded sample with urban and rural strata. The rural sample could be under-represented in the sample, but weighted up suitably in the analysis to counterbalance. More by and large, informations should normally be weighted if the sample design does non give each person an equal opportunity of being selected. For case, when families have equal choice chances but one individual is interviewed from within each family, this gives people from big families a smaller opportunity of being interviewed. This can be accounted for utilizing study weights. Similarly, families with more than one telephone line have a greater opportunity of being selected in a random figure dialing sample, and weights can set for this.

General Information and Cure for Alzheimer’s Disease

This research paper in general provides various details about the Alzheimer’s disease. The various symptoms and the various methods used to detect this disease. It also provides in general information about the methods that are used to cure the disease. Some of the natural techniques used to cure it. The various social and physiological issue faced by people suffering from this disease. Introduction Alzheimer's disease is an irreversible brain disorder which has no cure.This disease affects its victims slowly over a period of time and leaves them with no or very little control of their mind. Some of the affects of Alzheimer's disease are partial or total memory loss, they are not in control of their mind to make judgments, it leads to personality changes in the affected person and many a times they loose their control over their language skills. Alzheimer’s disease is one of the disease that affect its patients over a long span of time and with out a warning.The symptom s of Alzheimer’s disease are very similar to that of old age and are many times misinterpreted as old age and by the time people realize the actual problem it is too late. Some of the most common and early signs of Alzheimer’s disease is the loss of short term memory and this is one of the ignored by many and slowly and steadily becomes worse over a period of time. There are a number of organizations that have been started to find a cure for the disease and also to help the victims cope with the stigma faced by them in the general public.One of the major organizations started to help this cause is the Alzheimer's Disease Research (ADR) which was established way back in 1985 to provide funds to organizations performing research on Alzheimer's disease and also to educate the general public about the disease and raise awareness about the same. Alzheimer’s disease Alzheimer's disease was first detected by a German physiotherapist way back in 1901 when a patient was brought to him by her husband as he was not able to take care of her due to her ever diminishing mental health.He noticed that the patient was suffering from short term memory loss and cloud not remember a thing. He continued research on these symptoms for the next 5 years and presented the same at the 37th Assembly of Southwest German Psychiatrists. The name Alzheimer's disease became popular after it was written about by Emil Kraepelin in his book called â€Å"Textbook for Students and Doctors†. However in the whole 20th century this disease was assumed to affect only the people who were of age 60 and above.However in early 1980s it was realized that this disease could affect anyone in any age group and the name Alzheimer's disease was used to refer to all the patients who were contacted with this disease (Alzheimer’s Research Foundation). Alzheimer's disease stops the normal functioning of the brains and reduces its capabilities to perform normal everyday activities . The disease grows over a span of time and the affected persons control over his brain lessens as time passes. Alzheimer's disease is an irreversible disease which has no found cure.The person who is contacted with this has no or very little control his brain and is not able to think and understand things correctly. The patient many have short term memory loss and may forget his name and many a times it has been noted that the patient will walk away from home and wander around not knowing what is to be done. The first sign of Alzheimer's disease is the loss of short term memory. This is a sign which is ignored by many as a sign of old age and by the time one realizes the issue it is too late.Over a span of time the person looses his thinking abilities and finally it leads to a change in the personality of the person suffering from Alzheimer's disease. In the last stage the person become fully dependent on others for his day to day activity and has to be kept under supervision at al l times. The person may get infected by an infection which may eventually lead to his death. It is said that usually people over the age of 65 are contracted with this disease however one can come in contact with Alzheimer's disease at any age.However age is the key factor for people who suffer from this disease as it ahs been noted that the chances of a person having this disease increase as the person grows older (Wikipedia). Some of the common symptoms of Alzheimer's disease are as follows; Short term Memory loss (Cohen): There are a number of symptoms that will be noticed in a person who is suffering Alzheimer's disease, however the most common and one of the symptoms that can be noticed in all the patients is the loss of short term memory.All the patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease loose there short term memory and are known to become forgetful. Short term memory loss is considered to be one of the key symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. However many time patients avoid te lling this fact to people around them and are know to smartly hide this issue. This is done by them to avoid being made fun by their family members and friends. Confusion and Wandering: Memory loss is followed by problems related to confusion where the affected person finds it difficult to perform even their everyday work properly.They find it difficult to perform some easy everyday work like cooking, eating etc very difficult to do. It becomes very difficlut for them to remember the name of people and places. It worsens to such an extent that they forget the names of their own children and grandchildren. This further worsens and the patient looses track of direction and finds it difficult to find his way around the house and many a times once he goes away from the house, does not know the way back home and is then referred to as a wanderer.In the beinging the affected person will not realize the problem and as time passes things will worsen and the person will find it very difficul t to find his way back home. Personal Care: The personal hygiene of the person suffering from Alzheimer's disease will deteriorate over the span of time. A person who would really take care of his hygiene will start ignoring it. The person will not want to have bath or brush his hair everyday, will forget to brush their teeth etc.Many times the person will start having a weird sense of dressing and will start wearing inappropriate dressing. In this stage a personal care taker will be needed to take care of the everyday work of the person and the patient will require constant help in doing their everyday activities. Mood Swings: A patient suffering from Alzheimer's disease will have massive mood swings and the person will behave differently on a day to day basis. There will also be sudden and quick changes in the person; they might start laughing when they would have been crying only a minute back.They might even start having fights and arguments with themselves or a non living objec t like the floor or even the television. They will start fighting with anyone around and will always be restless. They might even start talking to themselves and mumbling. Sundowner Syndrome: During the stage when the person starts having mood swings, he also starts suffering from the Sundowner Syndrome where the sunset has a very bad affect on the patients brain and the person becomes every restless and becomes over active during the night and early morning hours (Richter & Richter).Diagnosis (Alzheimer's Disease): The diagnosis of a person Alzheimer's Disease is a long and lengthy process and is based on the observations made by the physician over a period of time. A series of tests to check the memory of the person are done over a period of weeks or months to asses the condition. The physician performs number of other tests too to rule out any other disease that the person might be facing. This is done only to check for the symptoms of other diseases, as no clinical test has been proven to diagnose Alzheimer's Disease completely.All the diagnosis is based on the experience and knowledge of a physician who specializes in memory related disorders. The only guaranteed way to detect the Alzheimer's Disease is to do a micro scopic examination of the tissues of the brain. Causes of Alzheimer's Disease (Cohen): There are a number for theories have been formed about the causes that lead to Alzheimer's Disease, many of these have been accepted universally and on some of the other theories research is still on.Some of the causes of Alzheimer's disease are as follow (Richter & Richter)s: Bacterial Infection: Bacterial infection is considered to be one of the major causes of Alzheimer's Disease. Chlamydia Pneumoniae is a virus that usually affect the lungs, nose and sinusus of the infected, however it has been noted that this virus is very prominentnt in the brains of people suffering from Alzheimer's Disease. In a research doen recently seventeen out of ninteen patien ts suffering from Alzheimer's Disease had the virus in their brains.Brain Damage or Head Injury: The chances of a person having Alzheimer's Disease become very high after a person has an head injury. The trauma that the brain has when a person has a head injury leaves traces of amyloid which is know to cause Alzheimer's Disease. Age Factor: Another major factor that increases the risk of Alzheimer's disease is the age of the person. It is said that the chances of Alzheimer's disease occurring increases after the age of 65 and every 5 years after that the risk increases by about 5 percent.Genetic Cause: It has not been scientifically proven that Alzheimer's Disease is a genetic disorder and people who have family memebers suffering from the diesease have a high risk of having the disease. However it has also been proven that genetic factors only increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease. Environmental Causes: There is also an argument about how high levels of aluminum in the environme nt increases the risk of Alzheimer's disease, however there is not scientific proof of this actually being a cause.Some of the steps to be taken to reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease are as follows; Intellectual Stimulation: One of good ways to reduce the risks of Alzheimer's disease is by doing metal exercise and doing things that requires one to work their brain. This helps in keeping the brain healthy and in good shape. Regular exercise: Another good way to reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease is by doing regular physical exercise. This helps reduces the amount of cholesterol in the body and also reduces the fat. This reduces the risk of Alzheimer's disease.Healthy Diet: The risk of Alzheimer's disease can be reduced by having food that is rich in vitamins and proteins. Also reducing the intake of fat also helps in reducing the risk of Alzheimer's disease. Lowering Cholesterol Levels: Reducing the levels of cholesterol in the blood also helps in reducing the chances of a pe rson having the disease. Many clinical trails are also on to check the risk factor. There is another study that has found that compounds found in marijuana known as cannabinoids helps in preventing Alzheimer's disease.However they have not been able to prove it for a fact or replicate the same. Some of the important facts about Alzheimer's disease are as follows (Alzheimer’s Research Foundation); 1. Over a 100 billion dollars are spent a year to do research and to find a cure for the disease. 2. Around 24 million people around the world suffer from Alzheimer's disease. 3. Around 5 million Americans are suffering from Alzheimer's disease. 4. It is estimated that over 81 million people around the world will be suffering from Alzheimer's disease by 2020.Conclusion It can be clearly understood the gravity of the disease and the problems faced by a person suffering from the disease. It is very important for a person to lead a healthy life and be careful if they have Alzheimer's di sease in their family as there are chances that they may have the disease themselves. It is also necessary that one does not ignore the symptoms of short term memory loss as this can be the beginning of the disease and if found at the right stage it is possible to slow down the process of it damaging your brain.Research is on to find out a cure for the disease and reduce the risks the disease. References Alzheimer’s Research Foundation. (n. d. ). Retrieved from http://www. alzinfo. org/alzheimers-disease-information. asp? mtc=google&kwd=alzheimer's_disease&gclid=CIuZgcqL34sCFQIFEAodcyncXg Alzheimer's Disease. (n. d. ). Retrieved from Wikipedia: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Alzheimer's_disease#History Cohen, E. Alzheimer's Disease. Richter, W. R. , & Richter, B. Z. Alzheimer's Disease.

Steve Jobs Informative

Outline for Informative Speech Topic: Steve JobsGeneral Purpose: To Inform SpecificPurpose: To inform my audience about the life of Steve Jobs Thesis: Technology would never be the same ever since the arrival of the great Steve Jobs. * Introduction Attention Getter: In 1984 the first cd play or â€Å"Walk-man† was released. The first laptop came out in 1982 and cost a mere $8,150 which comes out to $19,630 today. In 2001 the first smartphone was released. All of these devices since have been outdated and updated. And the company that runs them all is Apple Co.And Apple would not be where it is if not for the mastermind behind it all, Steve Jobs Significance: Almost everyone, everywhere either own or have owned an IPod, IPhone, or Macbook.Credibility: According to CNN. net â€Å"Apple IPhone controls half of the web traffic produced by all smartphones. † And according to Amazon. com 4/10 laptops sold are Macbooks. Thesis: Steve Jobs has changed the technology world and t he way that the world uses technology. Preview: Specifically I will talk about Jobs upbringing, how apple got started, and what they did to become a powerhouse in technology. Transition: The reason Steve Jobs named it apple was because he used to work for Atari and Apple got in the phone book before it.BodyTo first understand the genius that is Steve Jobs we have to look at his upbringing and his past. According to biography. com Steve Jobs was born Steve Paul in San Francisco, California on February 24th, 1955 Steve Jobs was adopted almost right after birth by Clara and Paul Jobs. While at a young age Jobs showed an interest in technology mainly because his family moved to Los Altos, California.And in Los Altos was Hewitt-Packard one of the biggest technology companies of the time. While young Steve and Paul would work on electronics in the garage. Paul taught Steve how to take apart and reconstruct them, a hobby that would inspire jobs to his dream. While Jobs was always a thinker , he had a difficult time in school. His Fourth grade teacher even had to bribe him to focus However he tested so well the school board wanted to bump him to high school but his parents declined * Transition: Jobs didn’t start his own company alone nor was it a success right away.Body 2In 1971 Jobs enrolled at Homestead High School Not long after that did he was introduced to his future partner in business Steve Wozniak through a friend. Wozniak was attending University of Michigan when they met. Wozniak once said in an interview with ABC News â€Å"We both loved electronics and the way we used to hook up digital chips,† Wozniak said. â€Å"Very few people, especially back then had any idea what chips were, how they worked and what they could do. I had designed many computers so I was way ahead of him in electronics and computer design, but we still had common interests.We both had pretty much sort of an independent attitude about things in the world. † After Hi gh School Jobs enrolled at Reed College in Oregon Lacking focus and direction Jobs dropped out after only 6 months but still continued to go to some Art classes Jobs then took a game testing job for Atari in 1974 He left after 7 months to go to India to find spiritual enlightenment in India While he did this he experimented with psychogenic drugs and traveled the world. In 1976, when Jobs was just 21 he and Wozniak started Apple Computers They started the company out of Jobs parents garageThey funded Apple by Jobs selling his car and Wozniak selling his scientific calculator * Transition: From this point Apple would excel and grow in fameBody 3Jobs and Wozniak were credited with revolutionizing the computer industry They did this by making the computer smaller, cheaper, and available to an everyday consumer. They first came out with the Apple I The computer first listed at $700. 00 a piece It made the company $774,000 3 years after the release of Apple II their sales increase 700% T his made Apple worth $139 million. In 1980, Apple became a publically traded company with a value of $1. billion on the first day of trade. After this, Apple would come out with a couple of failures and lose popularity to IBM CO. The Apple board began to think Jobs was hurting apple and phased him out * Transition: Jobs was not always an Apple man, but opened multiple Big named companies we all know about.Body 4In 1985, Jobs stepped down as Apple’s CEO to begin a new hardware and software company called NeXT Inc. The next following years NeXT grew and Jobs bought out an animation studio called Pixar. Jobs had high faith in Pixar so he invested $50 million of his own money in it.Pixar released very popular movies such as Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and The Incredibles Pixar’s films netted $4 billion In 2006 the studio merged with Walt Disney, making Steve Jobs Disney’s largest shareholder. Apple then bought out NeXT in 1997 for $429 million That same year Jobs retur ned to his post as Apple’s CEO Jobs then put apple back on top With a new management team and altered stock options and only taking an annual salary of $1 Also coming out with new devices, marketing techniques, and cool looking designs he recaptured the world’s attention.Conclusion After all this commotion, going from top, to bottom, back on top Steve Jobs has marked his name in history for many companies and big time in the technology industry. Sadly on October 5, 2011 Apple Inc. announced that co-founder Steve Jobs had died at the age of 56 of pancreatic cancer. Even though Jobs is gone his legacy will live on. I have now attempted to tell you on who Steve Jobs was growing up, on how Apple was created, how it became successful, and how Steve Jobs was the mastermind behind it all.

Kuwait unversity is loosing its ranking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Kuwait unversity is loosing its ranking - Essay Example This population accounts for at least half the population of Kuwait; thereby raising alarm amongst scholars and educators alike as to whether this drop in world rank is representative of a drop in the quality of skills and competency transfer within the institution? What does this portend on the institution’s capacity to attract international students in light of an ever globalizing world? To a country whose population comprised almost half by teens aged 18-24 years, the youth represent a significant component towards the future development of Kuwait as a country. The former Minister for education in Kuwait, Noria Al-Sabeeh ably identified that, â€Å"investing in young people is actually investing in the future.† But this is not so evident at the university. In a 21st century environment, the use of ICT learning is one of the most revolutionary concepts for all proactive educators. According to the Kuwait University 2011-2012 catalogue, there seems to be a failure to reconcile this thought in its academic policies. Emphasis is still being placed on student’s physical attendance in class without providing clear stipulations as to how open-distance learning can be effected. Subsequently, with the high levels of student intake it seems clear that the existing four campuses were inadequate for the increasing student level approximated at over 19,000 in 2005. The continued falling of teacher-student ratio nationally which currently stands at a paltry 0.06:1 may have contributed to a decline in the state university ranking (StateUniversity.com). The educational statistics for 1997-98 shows a greater decline of Kuwaiti educators at university level; the tendency to rely on foreign educators has an indirect impact on the student performance because learning cannot be effectively â€Å"localized† in the sense of practical exemplification of theoretical concepts; development and assessment of student projects and proposals. Finally, the occurrence of

Antarctic sea ice melt and its implications Essay

Antarctic sea ice melt and its implications - Essay Example mosphere and polar oceans; and changes the force of ocean buoyancy by redistributing fresh water through transportation and subsequent melting of comparatively fresh sea ice. Thesis Statement: The purpose of this essay is to investigate Antarctica sea ice melt, examine the ocean-atmosphere interaction, and evaluate the environmental and societal impact of rising sea levels and other impacts of the sea ice melt. Globally, there is a decline of snow and ice over the past several years, particularly since 1980, with an increasing downturn during the last decade. In the South Pole, the east and west Antarctic Ice Sheets are â€Å"two unequal parts, with different histories and characteristics† (Mercer 1978: 323), Figure 1 below. Unlike the vast, older and mostly land-based ice sheet in East Antarctica, the Western Antarctic ice sheet is younger, much smaller and marine-based, anchored to a distance of 2,500 meters below sea level. Further, West Antarctica is not a single continent, but is a series of islands covered by ice, touching the ocean floor, and not based on land (NASA 2010). Two-thirds of the continent is East Antarctica, a high, frozen desert. If all the ice melted, it would increase the global sea level by about 60 meters or 197 feet. The results from a recent National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/ German Aerospace Center’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) study, indicate that since 2006 there has been greater ice loss from interior East Antarctica than earlier believed (Chen et al 2009). In the Southern Ocean, sea ice forms a fringe around the entire Antarctic continent (Figure 2. below) which is surrounded by the waters of different seas. The Antarctica is subdivided into 5 sectors by researchers, each impacted by diverse geography and weather conditions. This results in greater yearly variations in Antarctic sea ice, as compared to Arctic sea ice (Nasa.Gov 2010). â€Å"Across the Antarctic Peninsula lies one of the

The Role of the Uniqueness of the Holocaust in two Jewish religious Essay

The Role of the Uniqueness of the Holocaust in two Jewish religious responses to the Holocaust - Essay Example His priority is to document and explain the Jewish experience of the Shoah evaluating its impact on Judaism. Jacobs begins by describing the ‘holocaust’ as murder, debunking the historical connotations that word has of a ‘burnt sacrifice’. He prefers Shoah which means ‘total destruction’. He considers this to be an important distinction given that it was not Germans who were sacrificed, but Jews who were put to death. Jacobs refers to the Shoah as ‘unprecedented’ rather than ‘unique’. 'unprecedented' rather than 'unique'. It was Katz1 who first referred to the 'unique' intentionality of the holocaust, distinguishing 'genocide as the intent to destroy the national, religious, or ethnic identity of a group' from 'the intent to destroy physically all persons who identify with and are identified by a given national, religious or ethnic identity'. Denialists argue that this mystifies and removes the event from its place in history, denying the historical fact that others were subjected to similar genocide, and -- ironically - to make all those who experienced the Shoah less human. "those Jews who suffered did not think of themselves as victims of a "Holocaust." Nor did [they] use such terms as "Churban" or "Shoah," . Rather, one typically spoke about the "recent Jewish catastrophe," or the "disaster."2 Denialists claim that the original goal was resettlement in Madagascar or Russia; it shifted to extermination for expediency. What, they argue, is 'unique' about that Ethnic cleansing is quite common. Look at the Interahamwe of Uganda, the Bosnian Serb paramilitaries led by Karadi and Mladi, or the anti-independence militias of East Timor. American - Indian Ward Churchill views Steven Katz as a member of an exclusive tribe of Jewish historians who "argue the uniqueness of Jewish victimization" and who consequently "downgrade and shunt into historical oblivion" the suffering "not only the victims of the many genocides occurring outside the framework of Nazism, but non-Jews targeted for elimination within the Holocaust itself," specifically Gypsies and Slavs. Jewish theologians continue to disagree with the Denialists, since "it was never the quality of [the Shoah's] sheer terror or unlimited suffering that set it aside from other catastrophes but the meaning of this suffering, its causes and effects, what has been called the intentionality of the Holocaustt"3. Katz responds to Particularists (eg Jacobs) and Universalists (eg Denialists) as follows: 'the Nazi program of genocide, if understood as a war against a self-conscious Jewish identify, is neither unique in Jewish historical terms nor world historical ones'4 Further, 'Quantity and proportion are not sufficient by themselves to establish a judgment to uniqueness pro or contra'5 Why then do Jewish theologians believe that the Jews were intentionally treated differently from other proscribed races Hitler said; 'If with the help of his Marxist creed, the Jew is victorious over the other peoples of the world, his crown will be the funeral wreath of humanity and this planet will, as it did thousands of years ago, move through the ether devoid of menby defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting the work of the Lord.'6 The Nazis dehumanized Jews and embellished their own rhetoric with demonic

TV show The First 48 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

TV show The First 48 - Essay Example This paper aims at gathering statistics of the number of homicides cases in New York City, United States. The First 48 Hours is an American documentary television series on A&E. This series has been filmed in various parts of the United States, and it offers an insight into the real –life of homicide investigators. The series often track the investigations to the end, and it focuses on the first forty-eight hours hence the title. In each of the episodes, there is one or more homicide in the diverse cities, which shows how investigators use witness evidence, forensic evidence, and other investigation skills to get the suspect. Most cases are solved in 48 hrs while others take the time to get solved. The First 48 was selected as the best distinguished documentary by the International Documentary Association but later lost to American Experience. In season 6, The First 48 was the highest rated factual Justice series on the television, and it gained important applause along with criticism. The purpose of this television show is to air the number of crimes that are happening in the Ne w York City. Statics shows that the First 48 Hours is one the most watched documentary with approximately 30 percent of the total television viewers. People are interested in this show to know the homicide is happening in the city and know the suspects. Nielsen Ratings are used to determine the size and composition of the audience watching a particular television show in United States. A Nielsen rating has become the primary source of measuring the audience watching a television show (Turnbull, 2005). The size of the audience who watch the series The First 48 Hours has been determined through Nielsen ratings. Nielsen ratings are gathered using two ways: Viewer diaries, where a target audience self-records the viewing habits. By aiming at different demographics, the collected statistical models provide a representation of the audience of the television

The Truth outside Society in Penns Into the Wild Essay

The Truth outside Society in Penns Into the Wild - Essay Example Chris McCandless (Emile Hirsch) is a modern version of Thoreau and Into the Wild is his Walden. Director Sean Penn uses Jon Krakauer’s book that has the same title to depict the inspiring life of McCandles. McCandless leaves everything behind- his family, savings, and material belongings- so that he can experience what it means to truly live. Some people might think that McCandless is a reckless nut and a narcissist, but he can also be seen in a more complex way. McCandless is reckless in a way that he is not fully knowledgeable enough to survive his â€Å"great Alaska adventure,† but he is not a wacko and a narcissist; instead, he should be admired for his naturalist idealism on human existence, wherein he reconnects to his soul through nature, while at the same time stimulating others to search inward for their happiness too. McCandless is reckless in a way because he fails to understand the range of skills and knowledge required to survive his lifelong dream. His lif elong dream is more than escaping the bitterness of his family’s reality because since he was a young child, he found happiness in his wanderings. He tells Ron Franz (Hal Holbrook) that he does not live alone and in the wild because he is â€Å"destitute,† but because it is his choice. He believes that travelling is the best way to live. Being a â€Å"tramp,† which refers to people like him who are nomads by choice, however, is not easy, especially in the wild. McCandless buys a book on local flora and fauna, but because of his lack of knowledge and skills in understanding the difference among plants, he eats a poisonous plant that looks like a wild potato root. This plant has the side effect of starvation and death if left untreated. His death is a product of his lack of full understanding of the forces that he must be able to handle in the wild. The scene where he dies alone is one of the reasons why some people criticize McCandless as a narcissist because he thinks he is good enough to survive alone. Instead of seeing him as a narcissist, he is more of a reckless inexperienced young man who has not attained critical knowledge and skills for long-run survival in Alaska. Perhaps if he studied Alaska for a few years, it could have increased his chances for survival. But he is impatient and he wants to live his dream immediately and because of this, he faces higher risks. McCandless’ recklessness is in his reluctance to wait and to be the best supertramp for his Alaska adventure. Despite some degree of recklessness, McCandless is not a wacko because he is prepared for his journey physically and mentally. Physically, he is an athlete, so he has the stamina to live off the land. He has the physical framework that gives him the strength and endurance for long-run walking and running. Moreover, McCandless has mentally prepared himself for the physical demands of trekking, hunting, and cooking and keeping himself warm during winter season . McCandless knows the risks of his tramp lifestyle and makes necessary preparations to ensure his self-reliance. For instance, he learned how to survive in Alaska from a friend. His friend told him what to do with his food once he kills it. McCandless also worked on a calisthenics program through exercise and walking steep mountains every day, so that his body can withstand the physical rigors of continuous mountain hiking. Also, in the beginning of the film, McCandless sends a note that he has bought a book on local flora and fauna, which means that he wants to know about the land, so that he can survive it alone. He adds that he has â€Å"stocked all necessary comforts to live off the land for a few months.† He used his money from the last job he held at Burger King to buy essential supplies. These preparations indicate that he used his

There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so Term Paper

There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so - Term Paper Example have heard a lot of medical professionals who talks about the positive effects of meditation therapy or counseling over the health progress of a sick person. Upon reflecting what these people are trying to convey, I have realized that it is by having a positive attitude and outlook in life that enables a sick person to easily recover from his/her illnesses as compared to another person who has developed a negative outlook in life. There are many situations that can prove that there is neither good nor bad and that the way we think makes something good or bad. We have always been told that cigarette smoking could lead to the development of cancer. Despite all the scientific evidences that can prove this idea right, we can still find a lot of medical practitioners who are chain smokers. Is it really difficult to quit smoking? Is cigarette smoking the only way to control work-related stress? Of course, we all know that the answer is â€Å"NO†. Have you ever wondered why most of these medical professionals find it very difficult for them to quit smoking whereas there are some people without medical background who could easily resist the temptation of smoking? If cigarette smoking is really addicting, how come there are some people who smoke but can anytime control their mind and convince themselves not to smoke? It is given that each person is subject to either internal and/or environmental stressor. Although stressor is always present in our daily life, each individual has their own strategy on how they choose to manage stress. In the book entitled â€Å"Psychology Applied to Modern Life: Adjustment in the 21st Century†, it was mentioned that mediation as a form of therapy is effective in terms of converting negative emotions such as the feeling of stress into a positive one (Weiten, Lloyd, Dunn, & Hammer, 2009, p. 130). This explanation mentioned in the book clearly suggests that it is how a person thinks that makes something either good or bad. Perhaps, some of

Feasibility Experimental Research and Bias pertaining to a Hypothesis Essay

Feasibility Experimental Research and Bias pertaining to a Hypothesis - Essay Example It has been suggested that the use of human growth hormone therapy (HGHT) helps among other things to reduce body fat, give higher energy levels, enhance the strength of bones and enhance sexual performance among the old population among other benefits (Artwelle, 2008, 67). Today, the use human growth hormone in treating adults has been approved in many countries and the obtained results have been shown it to be popularly effective. The effectiveness of human growth hormone therapy in treating age related illnesses has however been questioned by many including researchers and practical patients. This sets the basis for the first hypothesis that the paper aims to prove; that human growth hormone therapy is not as effective as many clinical experiments have indicated. Further, it can be argued that many people are reluctant to use the therapy to treat their age related illnesses and thus the second hypothesis that as age increases, many patients are reluctant to use HGHT to solve their health problems. To test the first hypothesis, experimental study design will be used to test the variables with the dependent variable here been the type of age related illness and the independent variable been the effectiveness of HGHT in treating the particular illness. ... Simple random criteria will be used in selecting the participants from a population of two hundred patients. For one to be considered as a potential participants, he or she must be above the specified age limit, be suffering from a given age related illness and be willing to participate in the study. Here, the type of age related illness will not be a major determining factor though the patients must be suffering from diseases that are claimed to be potentially healed through HGHM. The methodology to be used in testing this hypothesis will incorporate statistical tests and in particular the Z-test in which case statistical calculations will be carried out based on the results obtained. In this case, significance level of 0. 05 will be assumed and where the z-score assumes a negative value, the hypothesis will be discarded as null or void (Rand, 2005, 231). Testing the first hypothesis is however susceptible to participants' bias as participants may give false or contradicting results. For example, where the health problem is decreased sexual activity, an old person may lie about his sexual participation due to shyness or other factors. To avoid or mitigate this bias, only individuals with testable illnesses will be selected to participate and the success or failure of the therapy will be recorded at minimal time intervals preferably after every fifteen days. To test the second hypothesis, observation study design will be used in which case interaction with the selected population will be relied in giving concrete results. In this case, research assistance will be contracted to interact with the chosen participants drawn from a population of age bracket of between 35 and 79 years.

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

Injustice - Essay Example Thrasymachus points out that justice is the advantage of the stronger. He claims that rulers and makers of law do not commit errors in their decrees and that they make laws that are best for themselves. Thrasymachus argues that subjects have no chance but to do as the decrees of their ruler without question. This argument makes injustice act solely for the interest of the rulers. According to Thrasymachus, injustice is stronger if it is on a larger scale, and it is more masterly than justice is. Injustice always gets more(Plato. 343b-344c). Glaucon view on justice is that it is a necessary evil that people allow themselves to suffer to avoid a much greater evil of impunity (Plato. 438b-e). Injustice is thus a much better preference than justice is as justice is just a burden that we engage in out of fear. People participate in justice, as they are afraid of the punishment of injustice. Injustice rewards all that practice it, with honor and wealth, as it allows one to indulge in all his urges (Plato. 357a-367e). Adeimantus claims that justice does not act solely but for something more: for the rewards, that one reaps in the current life and aftermath. One seeks injustice for one’s sake while justice is only for something more, the rewards it brings along (Plato. 357a-367e). Conclusion In light of the arguments proposed above, it is apparent that the three favor injustice rather than justice. Injustice is a practice of free will that satisfies the body, unlike justice that is a bondage of something more.

Bruce Dawe Poem Analysis Essay Example for Free

Bruce Dawe Poem Analysis Essay Decode the question: How has the composer represented the concept of heroism in the film Gladiator? Make specific reference to two key scenes in the film. You MUST NOT choose scenes which have been analysed already in the course work (i.e. scenes I-III, XI-XIII, and XXVI). Write approximately 1000 words. Select Two key scenes: XXXI -Maximus has defeated the greatest gladiator ever to fight XLVI The Final Battle Create a mind map Organise ideas, texts references: Summary, presentation of Heroic concept, references to 2 keyed scenes with quotes notes Draft Do the draft as needed above Edit draft Edit as necessary Submit draft in Final written essay The Essay: Maximus was a powerful Roman General (strong belief, inner strength never dies, stood up for his belief no matter the consequences), loved by the people and the aging Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, known in history as the final of the Five Good Emperors. Before his death, the Emperor chose Maximus to be his heir over his own son, Commodus in an attempt to allow Rome to once more become a Republic. Then a power struggle left Maximus and his family condemned to death. The powerful General was unable to save his family, and his loss let him captured and put into slavery and trained as a Gladiator  by Proximo until he died. The only desire that fueled him at the time was the chance to rise to the top so that he would be able to look into the eyes of the man who would feel his revenge and fulfill the dying wish of his emperor. The time came when Proximos troupe was called to Rome to participate in a marathon of gladiator games held at the behest of the new emperor, Commodus. Once in Rome, Maximus wasted no time in making his presence known, and was soon involved in a plot to overthrow the emperor with his former-love Lucilla, Commodus sister, after whom he lusted, and also the widowed mother of Lucius, heir to the empire after his uncle, and democratic-minded senator, Gracchus was reinstated for Rome to republic. The composer has set up the representation of the heroism concept (50-60%) throughout the Gladiator film, from the opening scene, when the Hero leaves his pleasant vision (his wife and child) to return to the Germania battle field and to: face the 1st execution 1st fight as a gladiator release his name fight against the greatest warrior face Commodus fight in the Final battle As the opening scene and the above listed 3 scenes where the heroic concept has been discussed in the course work, the responder can also find the concept of heroism in the fight against the greatest gladiator and in the Final battle. The fight against the greatest gladiator Tigris turns to Caesars box, with swords crossed, he bows, We who are about to die salute you. Maximus stands by, showing no salute whatsoever. As Maximus gets ready to fight the large doors to the arena are thrown open, surprising Maximus. From each door emerges a team of men, who run into the arena. Each team picks up a chain from the sand. Maximus becomes distracted and Tigris kicks sand into Maximus face and begins the fight. As the fight continues and as Maximus is thrown to the ground, a trap door opens and out jumps a large tiger, pouncing at the fighting gladiators. Maximus is now  having to escape the claws of the tigers as he battles Tigris. In the background can be heard loose, loose, loose and pull, pull, pull as the handlers coordinate their efforts in handling each of the tigers that are now on the arena floor growling and charging at Maximus.] [Maximus manages to disarm Tigris, switching his sword from one hand to the other, Maximus stands ready to finish off Tigris. Suddenly, a fourth tiger jumps out of a trap door and jumps at Maximus. In that split second, Maximus turns and the tiger is speared with his sword. Maximus is thrown to the sand as the large beast lays atop him. Maximus stabs the beast repeatedly, killing it. The crowds cheer wildly. Tigris moves in for an attack. Maximus, on his back with the beast still on him, manages to grab Tigris own hatchet and with great force spikes him in the foot. Tigris bends over in pain, blood pouring from the opening of his mask. Maximus stands and kicks Tigris over to the ground. He is finished. The Final battle The trap door to the arena opens as the lift rises, encircled with the Praetorian as they stand behind their black shields. In the middle, the white clad Commodus, gazing upwardly, basking in the sun and the wounded, dying Maximus stand. All the while, Quintus staring at Maximus. As they reach the arena, the Praetorian take their place at the perimeter of the arena. Maximus stumbles to the center, slowly stooping to pick up a handful of sand, with a watchful eye on Quintus. Maximus rubs the sand in his hands and reaches for his sword but Quintus tosses it aside, and out of reach. Maximus painfully moves to where the sword has been tossed and picks it up, immediately swinging at Commodus. The two do battle. Maximus roars as he attacks Commodus. Commodus manages to cut Maximus leg. Although wounded, Maximus cuts Commodus arm causing him to drop his sword.] [Maximus begins to drift into the after-life and as he sees the gate to his home, the sword drops from his hand. Meanwhile, Commodus is calling Quintus for his sword but Quintus does not comply. Commodus then turns to the Praetorian, calling out sword. The guards begin to pull their swords when Quintus quickly tells them to sheath your swords and they quickly comply. As Commodus reaches for his hidden dagger, Maximus quickly returns to this life and, unarmed but for his strength and determination, does battle with Commodus, turning Commodus knife against him. Commodus tries relentlessly to fight  Maximus off but Maximus slowly plunges the knife into Commodus throat, further and further until it can go no further. Commodus falls to the ground. The fight over, Maximus begins to drift as he reaches out his bloodied hand, to push open the gate that leads to his home. Peace, once again, overcomes Maximus when Qu intus calls to him. Maximus, Maximus. Maximus regains consciousness.] To bring to life ancient Rome, director Ridley Scott employed great period costumes, chariots and horses, lots of dark-haired actors and actresses, and an amazing looking coliseum in the time period set in the movie. The musical score was possibly the best feature of this film, as the music is haunting and perfectly punctuates the dramatic action in soft, then ever-increasing tempos. It was a real trick to make music that would accentuate the flavor of this historical piece, and not distract it. The film used a very potent combination of long shots and close-ups to heighten the drama and yet propel responder into the immensity of the situation: the overwhelming doom that seems to be around any and every corner in Rome. For instance, at this scene where Maximus has defeated the greatest gladiator ever to fight, in a long, drawn-out battle. The bested warrior lies fallen at Maximus’ feet, awaiting his demise. The crowd chants Kill, Kill, Kill! The long shot shows Emperor Commodu s watching Maximus, and in the shot, the emperor is shown in the foreground, and Maximus appears small in the background. In this way the responder get a sense of the power that Commodus holds over Maximus. Now a medium-long shot of the crowd to get a sense of how many people are chanting for the vanquished opponent’s death; they all appear in unison, willfully they crave blood. Next a close-up of the emperor as he dramatically steps forward, arm extended. If he gives a thumbs up, the opponent should live. If he gives a thumbs-down, the opponent should be killed. His arm hangs outward and all eyes in the coliseum fall upon his hand. He gives the thumbs-down, and the crowd goes wild with roars of approval. Finally, a close-up of Maximus as he throws down his own sword in complete defiance to the emperor and to the people. The skillful editing helps contrast the morals Maximus and Commodus possess: Commodus is ruthless and political, Maximus does only what he has to, no more no less, and he is a man of his own conviction. This scene helps responder to understand why earlier the dying emperor Marcus Aurelius wanted Maximus to succeed him, he knew Maximus would do the right thing and not be  swayed easily by popular opinion. A leader must lead, not follow. Whenever the composer wanted the responder to get a sense of the size of this coliseum, he employed the cinematographer to use long range shots. When he wanted responder to get a sense of the hustle and bustle of Rome, a hand-held camera was used. The Final battle: The composer used a number of different techniques during the filming of the Final battle, including muted, washed out colors in the Coliseum. The scene is bright and colour comes across perfectly, setting the mood for the scene of battle. The fighting is filmed replete with quick cuts and a frenetic filming process; its disorienting but not so much that we cant keep track of whos who and what each participant is doing in said battle. The fighting is realistic without zooming in on the gore, as the violence speaks for itself. The composer correctly makes the scenes exciting without the need for a barf bucket.. Combat is supposed to be jarring and disorienting and the filming process actually communicates this sense to the responder very well. The responderd have to agree, as the scenes outstanding in special effects. They are seeing the Coliseum when it is a new(100 years old) and its grand structure, as it would have been in ancient Rome. Stunts are well coordinated and real tigers were used in a particular fight scene, grabbing out just inches from Maximus and his opponent. He earned his act on those days of shooting. Sound The soundtrack with its haunting score, is very memorable its scope and theme. Sound track manages to take a main character theme and vary it depending on the action, making it subtle and sweet at times, brooding and depressing at others. Throughout the film, the same musical elements are applied, bring unity and depth to the story. Besides digital sound, Dolby 5.1 is also included on the same disc

Networking And Routing Protocols

Networking And Routing Protocols At present, internet plays a vital role in many of our daily life. It made a dramatic revolution on communication which we enjoy today. The revolution offered web appliances, e-commerce, video conferences, online gaming and so on. All these became possible and operating on the backbone called networks. On the first hand, before discussing about routing and routing protocols well go through and networking. Initially U.S. government funded researches on sharing information within computers for scientific and military[1] purposes. Though there were many contributed to the foundation of internet J. C. R. Licklider was the first among them. As a leader of Information Processing Technology Office (IPTO) he demonstrated the concept of time sharing and promoted the researches and concepts on networking. Time sharing made a major evolution in the IT world. It became the basis for networking as well. Licks successors as leaders of IPTO, Ivan Sutherland and Bob Taylor influenced by Intergalactic Network lead the researches of Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA)s IPTO. The three people Paul Baran, Leonard Kleinrock and Donald Davies developed fundamentals for ARPANET with their own concepts such as packet switching and so on. After continuous researches on implementation of networks, the first ARPANET interconnected and became success in 1969. Being limited for military and research purposes by universities ARPANET has gone through several modifications and adopted many mechanisms. By 1990 networks gradually became for public and from their several other technologies emerged based on networks. When the networks used by general public, it began to grow massive and more complex. So there was a need for a man in the middle kind of device to handle the routes for networks. So that experts coined the device called router. Router is a networking device used to forward the data to an interface to route the data towards its destination. Again the network administrator had to do a hectic job of adding static routes and updating each and every route in a network. For instance, if a link goes down all the routers should be updated manually to cope with it. So to handle these messy situations experts came up with the routing protocols. Though there were plenty of contributors and technology shifts in various occasions in the industry, the above paragraphs covers the milestones in the history. Routing Concept Routing is the process of directing a packet towards the destination with the help of router. The router receives a packet from one interface, determine which interface to be forwarded based on routing algorithm and destination address and then send the packet to the interface. To route a packet the router should satisfy at least following, Router should know Destination address subnet mask Discover Neighbor routers where it can identify the routes for remote routers Identify all possible routes for all remote networks The best path for routing the packet The process of maintaining and verifying the routing table and routing information In general, routing can be categorized as static and dynamic routing. Static routing is the process of adding the routes manually in the router table. The Static routes have the administrative distance of 1 by default. IP route 172.16.30.0 255.255.255.0 172.16.20.2 Dest n/w subnet mask next hope Static routing has no overhead on router CPU or bandwidth of the link and secure compared to dynamic routing. However, static routing doesnt have fault tolerant and its a tedious job to add routes manually. In a wide area network, adding all the routes is definitely a hardest job. Then again when a topology changes or a link goes down again the network administrator have to run all over the place to update. However in some scenarios, static routing remains handy. For instance, in stub networks where all the traffic routed towards a gateway static routing is inevitable with default routes. So static routing consume less resources, easy to configure, more secure and can handle multiple networks. Default routing is a category of static routing where only the exiting interface is specified. IP route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 serial1 Dest n/w Subnet Exit interface Administrative distance for default routing is 0. Default routing is used to send packets to remote networks when the router doesnt have information about it on routing table. The next crucial, widely used category is dynamic routing which is concerned in this project. Dynamic routing is the process of keeping the routing table up to date with instant updates from routing protocols. These protocols dynamically share the information and able to update the routing table when topology changes occur. Further, these protocols determine the best path based on metric calculations. So that dynamic routing protocols remain crucial in large scale corporate networks to update their routing tables. Dynamic routing protocols provide fault tolerance by broadcasting updates when links goes down or server shutdown. To update the router tables the routing protocols define the rules for communicating with the neighbor routers. The rules specify the method and algorithm to exchange information between neighbors. All in all though dynamic protocols consume more CPU power and bandwidth when compared, they are robust and more reliable in networks, especially large scale. Routin g protocols can be categorized in various ways based on their characteristics. Initially, protocols can be divided into routing and routed protocols. Routed protocols are responsible for actual data transfer. The protocols under this category are TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, and apple talk. Routing protocols exchange the routing information between routers. They include RIP, RIP v.2, IGRP, EIGRP, OSPF BGP and so on. Further dynamic protocols can be classified as, Interior gateway protocols (IGP) and Exterior gateway protocol(EGP) Class-full and Class-less Distance vector ,Link-state and hybrid protocols IGP and EGP are characterized based on autonomous system. Autonomous system (AS) is the collection of networks within one administrative domain. IGP protocols are used to exchange router information between same AS number and EGP is between different AS numbers. Rip, Rip v.2, IGRP, EGRP, OSPF, IS-IS come under IGP and BGP is under EGP. Class-full routing protocols do not advertise the subnet mask but class-full address in advertisement. Class-less protocols advertise subnet mask. RIP and IGRP are class-full and RIP v.2 EIGRP, OSPF and IS-IS are classless. The other important characterization is Distance vector, Link state and hybrid. Distance vector protocols Advertise periodically Advertise full routing table Advertise only for directly connected routers High convergence time Limited no of hops Suffer from routing loop Do not establish neighbor relationship Protocols RIP, IGRP Link state protocols Advertise only when network triggered Advertise only the update Flood the advertisement Convergence is low No limits in hop count and suitable for large network No routing loops Establish neighbor relation in formal way Protocols OSPF IS-IS Hybrid protocols Its a combination of both Distance vector and Link-state. EIGRP share such routing characteristics. Dynamic routing Protocols Routing Information Protocol (RIPv1) Routing information protocol version 1 known as RIP is the initial routing protocol to be implemented in ARPANET in 1967. As classified before RIP is a class-full, distance vector and interior gateway protocol (IGP). RIP was developed based on Bellman-Ford algorithm and use hop count as the metric value. It uses the lowest hop count to calculate the best path. Rip limits the number of hosts it supports in a network to prevent routing loops and maintain stability. It supports a maximum of 15 hops in a network. 16th hop is defined as in infinite administrative distance and they become unreachable and un-shareable. It uses broadcast address 255.255.255.255 to send updates between routers. Administrative distance for RIP is 120. Rip use several timers in the advertising and updating process. Routing update timer, route timeout timer, and route flush timer are the timers used by RIP. Routing update timer is used to determine the time interval between each update from rip implemented router. Usually a full update is sent every 30 seconds from router. This became a problem when all the routers simultaneously try to send updates every 30 seconds and consuming the bandwidth since they are synchronized. So that when the timer is reset random time is added in addition to the 30 seconds to prevent such congestion. Route timeout timer is the time frame until a record remains valid before it gets an update with same record. If the router doesnt get the update again within the time frame router marks the record for deletion and hold it until the flush time expire. After the flush time expires the record will be purged permanently from the table. Rip protocol preserve stability by limiting the number of hops to prohibit routing loops propagation. RIP implements split horizon, route poisoning and timing mechanisms to prevent erroneous information propagation. However, limitation on number of hops becomes a setback in large scale networks. Limiting only to class-full advertising is another drawback in RIP. Further, routing updates are not capable for authentication process which is a security concern with version1. Despite rip being emerged ages ago it still exists in routers. Because it is easy to configure, stable, suits well for stub networks and widely used. Routing Information Protocol (RIPV2) Rip version 2 was standardized and released in 1993 due to lack of some important features in version 1 as mentioned above. Version 2 is an enhancement for variable length subnet masking (VLSM). Ripv2 designed to support classless routing with subnet masks which was a critical update from earlier version. Version2 updates carry more information with simple authentication enabled on it. It uses multicast address 224.0.0.9 to send updates. Multicasting avoids the hosts which are not part of routing from receiving update. This version also maintains the maximum number of hops to 15. Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) Routing Protocol Open shortest past first (OSPF) plays a key role in IP networks for several reasons. It was drafted to be used with the internet protocol suite with high functionality as a non proprietary protocol. OSPF is an interior gateway routing protocol which routes packets between the same autonomous systems. It has an administrative distance of 110. It is designed to fully support VLSM (Variable Length Subnet Masking) or CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing).Also it supports for manual summarized advertisement. Its a link state protocol. So it scales well[2], converges quickly and offer loop free routing. On a topology change or link down it converges quick enough to provide a new loop free route. It uses cost to calculate the metric value. The shortest path is calculated based on Dijkstra algorithm to find the best path. OSPF use multicast addresses for updates. The addresses are, 224.0.0.5 is for sending updates and 224.0.0.6 is to receive updates. OSPF maintains three types of tables namely, routing table, neighbor table and database table. It uses Hello protocol to establish neighbor relation and maintain a neighbor table. Hello protocols attributes are, Router ID Priority (default 1) Hello interval (10 sec) Dead interval (40 sec) Authentication bit Stub area flag Process ID The relationship is established based on the router ID. To establish a neighbor relationship timers (hello dead), network mask, area ID and authentication password should be same. It uses area to communicate among routers. OSPF can be configured as single area or multi-area network. Areas are introduced to constrain the flooding of update into a single area. An OSPF domain is split into areas and labeled with 32 bit identifiers to limit the updates and calculation of best path with Dijkstra algorithm into one area. Areas should be carefully designed and configured to group the hosts and routers to a logical area. Each area maintains its own link state database which is distributed via a connecting router to other networks. Such design reduces the traffic flow between areas and keeps the topology anonymous to other areas. In single area OSPF the entire interface in that network belongs to same network. The diagram below explains a configuration in single area OSPF. In multi-area, all other areas must connect to the back bone area (area 0) directly or virtually. The diagram below is a sample of multi-area configuration. A multiple area OSPF must contain at least one backbone / zero area and may have several non-backbones. Zero area remains as the core area for all the other areas. All the other areas connect to backbone area to get updated. OSPF allows configuring stub networks as well. In OSPF stub networks external updates are not flooded in to the stub area. This will result in reducing the size of database size and thereby memory consumption. When stub network area is configured default routing will be used to connect to the external areas. OSPF defines the following router states, Area border router (ABR) Autonomous system boundary router (ASBR) Internal router (IR) Backbone router (BR) The routers could play one or more roles as mentioned above in an OSPF network. The router identifier should be defined in a dotted decimal format to associate each OSPF instance with an ID. If it is not explicitly specified, the highest logical IP will be assigned as the router ID. Area border router (ABR) is the common router which placed on the edge of the backbone area to connect other areas via its interfaces. The ABR keeps a copy of the link state databases of both the backbone and of the areas which it is connected to in its memory. Autonomous system boundary router (ASBR) is the router which connects an autonomous system and a non-OSPF network. ASBR remains as a gateway to connect an AS to other routing protocol networks such as EIGRP, RIP, BGP, static and so on. It also used to exchange routes which it learned from other AS number through its own AS number. The router which has all its interfaces and neighbor relationship within an area is called as Internal Router (IR). All the routers which are part of the backbone area are backbone router (BR). It may be a backbone internal router or an area border router. ABR is also a BR since it is connected to backbone via a physical or logical link. From OSPF configurations the routers elect designated router (DR) and backup designated router (BDR). A designated router (DR) is elected on a multi-access network segment to exchange routing information with other routers. The job of the DR is multicasting the router update which it received to the other routers. So other routers listen only to the DR instead of listening to broadcast. DR elected to act as one-to-many instead of many-to-many routing update. So updates are sent only to the DR router and it updates all the routers within the segment. This election mechanism reduces the network traffic a lot. The router with the highest priority among the routers will be elected as the Designated Router. If more than one router has same priority Router ID will be used as the tie breaker. In multi access networks Backup designated router (BDR) must be elected next. BDR is a standby router for DR if DR becomes unavailable. The router which becomes the second in the election process will be the BDR. If both become unavailable the election process will be held again. The BDR receives updates from adjacent routers but doesnt multicast them. OSPF adjacency is established to share the routing updates directly to each other. Establishing adjacency depends on the OSPF configuration in routers. From OSPF configuration point of view networks can be categorized as, Broadcast multi-access In broadcast multi-access networks routers have direct access to all the routers via direct links. Some of the examples for Broadcast multi-access are Ethernet, and Token ring. Through Ethernet multiple devices are allowed to access the same network. So when an OSPF packet is sent on the network itll be broadcasted and all the routers will receive it. With OSPF DR and BDR should be elected for broadcast multi-access network. Non-broadcast Multi Access (NBMA) NBMA network allows data transmission over a virtual link or across a switching device between the hosts in the network. Typical examples for NBMA are X.25, ATM and Frame relay. In NBMA, all the devices are connected through a shared medium. It doesnt support broadcast or multicast. Instead, OSPF sends the hello packet to each router in the network one at a time. As a result OSPF should be configured specially and the neighbor relationship should be specified properly. Power Line Communication (PLC) is also categorized as Non-broadcast Multiple Access network. Point-to-point In Point-to-point connections, both routers endpoints are connected point to point to provide a single path for communication. High-Level Data Link Control (HDLC) and Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) could be the examples for P2P. In point to point network, it may be a serial cable connecting the endpoints directly or a virtual link which connects two routers apart in greater distance. But both scenarios eliminate the need for election of DR and BDR in OSPF implementation. The neighbors will be identified automatically with P2P. Point-to-multipoint Point-to-multipoint topology refers to connecting a single interface of a router to multiple destination routers. All the devices in Point-to-multipoint will be in a same network. Conventionally the routers could identify their neighbors automatically in broadcast network. Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP) Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP) is a proprietary, hybrid protocol owned by Cisco. It was developed by CISCO as a successor of IGRP. Though its not a version of IGRP; its completely different. It behaves as both link state and distance vector protocol. Its a classless protocol as well. Administrative distance for EIGRP is 90. It exercises a different algorithm from previous protocols which is known as Diffusing update algorithm (DUAL). DUAL algorithm ensures to find the best path with faster convergence and loop free routing. EIGRP supports unequal cost balancing as well. It uses multicast address 224.0.0.0 to send updates. EIGRP also use autonomous system number. It maintains three types of tables, Neighbor table maintains data about the neighboring routers which are directly connected and accessible. Hello packets with timers are employed to keep the record with precision. Topology table The topology table contains all the destinations advertised by its neighbor routers. It maintains the table as an aggregation of all advertised routes with adjoining metrics. In addition from the aggregation a successor and feasible successor will be identified and stored. The successor path is the best path to reach a destination based on the least sum of advertised distance from a neighbor and the distance to reach that neighbor. This route will be installed in the router. The optional feasible successor has the metric higher than successor, which qualify to be the next successor. This route doesnt get installed but kept in the topology table as an alternative. The router will automatically add the feasible route as successor when the successor becomes unavailable. The state of a route for destination can be marked as active or passive in the table. When the router find successor unavailable with no backup routes it query the neighbor routers. This state is called a s active and when it gets a reply it changes to passive state. This whole process ensures a loop free path for destinations. Routing table This table store the actual routes for all destinations. This table is build from the previous topology table calculation. A successor route and an optional feasible route will be stored in this table. Network Modelling Basically Network modelling is a main concept of network deployment into network planning, designing and implementation. Modelling is used to describe concept of the project. Network analysis and network designing should be defined before create network modelling. Define the requirements, objectives and problem areas should be created in network analysis part. So at this stage describe about the router and routing concept towards how they are using routing protocol to route the packets and how to configure with those routing protocols. After this stage implementation part considers all fulfil requirements. Finally design part where we define appropriate network deployment. Network modelling is giving a lot of helps to think more ideas to create best possible network model. Because of that I selected OPNET simulator in this project to create network models. OPNET Modeller 15.0 (Optimized Network Engineering Tools) Currently OPNET is one of the best tools among many network modelling tools in the network technologies. It provides us to designing network model using all kind of network equipments. Networking designers are gained better understanding of designing before development process. It helps to reduce time manner and expense of prototyping hardware equipments. We can able to analyse, measure the performance and behaviour of proposed Model system from event simulations. OPNET tool contains many features. There are main three editors in the OPNET Æ’ËÅ" Project Editor: It contains graphical interface of network topology nodes such as subnet, hub, switch, router, etc and much kind of links to communicate among those devices. All are designed with graphical user interface such as easy to end users. Æ’ËÅ" Node Editor: It is describe clear picture of internal architecture of the nodes by investigate the data flow between useful nodes. Node model can send, receive and create network traffic with other node model through the packets. Æ’ËÅ" Process Editor: It describes about the processes and events create by implementation of specific process operation on the network such as behaviour and functionality of the node model. During the simulation time each node model may create a process of any event, so that it gives the state of process and its functionality. Completely we cant compare simulated network with real world time traffic. But it will give some of information such as how much required bandwidth, where the jamming can occur and how to handle to avoid these problems.

Ryanair Internal and External Analysis

Ryanair Internal and External Analysis 1.0 Introduction Organisations need to establish clear corporate strategies in order to gain full competitive advantages. This objective report is to carry out an in-depth analysis of the both the internal and external environments of Ryanair by using the strategic models. Ryanair is a low cost passenger airline that operates short haul between Ireland, UK and Continental Europe (Gill, 2005). The analyses are important in order for the company to improve its competitive strategies and also achieve its organisational objectives. This will fulfill Porter (1996) theory that organisations need to continually evaluate their strategies in order to improve their business operations (Richard Lynch, 2000) 2.0 The analysis of low-cost airline environment and industry There are many strategic models that can be used to analyse an organisations internal and external environments (Richard Lynch, 2000). This includes PEST, SWOT, Value Chain, Porters five forces, Porters generic model etc. For the purpose of this report, the appropriate tools would be used in order to identify the problems and issues that are confronting Ryanair and find lasting solutions through the development of appropriate strategies. 2.1 Environment analysis of Ryanair using PESTLE model (P)olitical factors affecting Ryanairs operations Political situation in the Middle East is causing a hike in fuel prices and high maintenance costs which is affecting Ryanairs low price strategy (Penelope Butcher et al, 2005). Other political factors including terrorists activities have prompted Ryanair to increase its security measures thereby increasing high costs. This has adverse effects and impact on its low price objective. The changes in government policies such as the enforcement of climate change charges on airlines is affecting Ryanair business strategies (Penelope Butcher et al, 2005). The European Union (EU) abolished the duty free sales which affected the numbers of tourist passengers (Scholes et al, 2005). In February 2004, the EU ruled that Ryanair has been receiving state subsidies for its base airport at Charleroi Airport and this led to the repayment between à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬2.5 million to 7million to the regional government (Scholes et al, 2005). The EU also devised new rules to cover overbooking of flights and automatic compensation for cancelled flights (Scholes et al, 2005). (E)conomic factors that affects Ryanair operations and strategies Fuel price increases: The continuous increase in the price of fuels has made it difficult to meet it low cost objective (Penelope Butcher et al, 2005). The increase in air-flights price has made passengers to seek alternative cheaper means of transport such as rail thereby leading to loss of earnings. Fluctuating currencies: The instability in the price of US dollars, Euro and the British Pound is affecting the business operations of Ryanair because Ryanair engages in Fuel hedging and this could lead to high business risks. Potential economic recession and downturn: economic recession has had adverse effect on the airline industry due to a reduction in the number of travelers. (S)ocial/cultural factors effecting Ryanair business environments Aging populations: Aging populations travel less and also factors such as cocooning effect have prevented passengers from travelling i.e. terrorist activities countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan etc (Penelope Butcher et al, 2005) Low cost strategy/wider demography: Lower cost of fares provided by Ryanair means that they attract wider demography of consumer The expansion of EU: The EU has increased the number of passengers travelling across Europe and been also been increase in business trips will lead to more customers base. (T)echnological factors affecting Ryanair business environments. Wireless technology expansion: The development of internet has increase online sales of air ticket and it is now used for online checking in Information and communication development: technological developments such as video conferencing, instant messaging, and mobile communications has led to less travelling for business travelers. Other developments: such as high-speed trains i.e. Euro star will lead to a decrease in air passengers and it will affect air passengers (L)egal factors Many new EU laws and regulations have affected the operations of Ryanair air. Other new EU laws which have legal rulings that are affecting the operations of Ryanair include overbooked passenger compensation, cancelled flight compensation and other laws. (E)nvironmental factors The promotion of environmental sustainability by the regulatory, governmental and non-governmental organisation has led to the introduction of other charges on the airline. These include carbon emission charges, climate change protection charges etc. The environmental factor has also lead to the introduction of voluntary carbon-offset charge from the airlines to the passengers. 2.2 Environmental analysis of Ryanair using Michael Porters five forces The first forces is applied to Ryan air and Porter (1996) identified five forces namely; threat of new entrants, the power of buyers, the power of suppliers, the threat of substitutes, and competitive rivalry. Threats of new entrants: New entrants protection by EU regulation- Many new competitors such as BMI, Easy Jet and other European airlines are being protected by the EU laws and price regulations according to European Union101 article 86 regarding competition and fair trade. There are barriers to entry that are faced by Ryanair in the past but some of these barriers have been reduced due to the increase in regional and secondary airports that are very lucrative for Ryanair business operations because the airports are less congested. Bargaining power of suppliers In the airline industry, the aircraft suppliers are two major players Boeing of the US and Airbus (European Consortium). There has been great competition between Boeing and Airbus which has averted price fixing and thus creates advantages for the airlines. In 2002, Ryanair set up a Dutch auction between Boeing and Airbus, and Boeing won the auction based on the fact that it gives better discounts to Ryanair (Stanley, 2005). The power of buyers The customers are more associated with lower costs and the internet has been used to exploit this. The strong desire for customer loyalty because of low switching costs is affecting Ryanair negatively. Threat of substitutes Alternative systems of transportation The alternative systems of transportation affect the market of airlines operations such as Ryanair. These include: Bus services such as Euro lines that have a European network of road transportation (Penelope Butcher et al, 2005) Rail services including Euro Star is creating a stiffer competitive environment for Ryanair. Videoconferencing: Technologies such as video-conferencing, web-mail, etc. have reduced the need for face-to-face meetings. This has greatly affected the turnout of business travellers. Rivalry among existing firms Ryan Air has many rivals including BMI baby, MytravelLite, Easy Jet, and Buzz. This competition has affected Ryanairs markets (Penelope Butcher et al, 2005) The analysis of the fives forces of porter and the PESTLE analysis indicate that Ryanair business environment is dominated by stiff competition which are affecting its operations. This has led to the development of new competitive strategies by the CEO. The strategies are entirely customer focused, based on providing low and competitive prices, excellent quality services and less operational charges on passengers as will be discussed below. 3.0 The analysis of the strategic capability of Ryanair and the identification of the key strengths and weaknesses (S)trengths of Ryanair Low cost due to its no-frills approach High financial capability- Ryanair has good financial capability that has a great impact on its finances and its ability to withstand increasing legislations and unfavourable economic conditions such as fuel price increase, unstable foreign exchange markets etc. (Ryanair corporate report, 2010) Good Customer Service- Ryanairs strategy is to deliver the best customer service performance among its competitors. Based on Association of European Airlines reports and its own published statistics, Ryanair has achieved highest punctuality, fewer lost luggage and fewer cancellations because it operates from low congested airports. Good technological base By utilising the power of Information technology such as internet, in January 2000, Ryanair converted its host reservation system from the BABS (British Airways Booking System) to a new system called Flightspeed, which it operates under a 10 year hosting agreement with Accenture Open Skies (Open Skies). High publicity: due to its chief executive Michael O Learys controversial issues High financial capability: see Appendix 1 (W)eaknesses of Ryanair Legislative issues with authorities Ryanair has been engaged in legislative issues with the Airline regulators and the EU commission. Secondary and provincial airports The use of secondary and regional airports by Ryanair has adverse effects on the passengers who spend more money to get to the cities. Over time customers may find this as big inconvenience. Prone to bad press Ryanair is perceived as arrogant and the slightest incident gets a lot of press coverage. Niche market Restricted expansion possibility 3.3 Ryanair strategic capabilities: value chain and core competences Low fares: The provision of low fare air tickets by Ryanair is the strategy in order to gain full market leadership. The low fares stimulate demand and the targets are business and leisure travellers. Ryanairs frequent Point-to-Point Flights on Short-Haul Routes. Ryanair provides frequent point-to-point service on short-haul routes to secondary and regional airports in and around major population centres and travel destinations has a major impact on the passengers who are keen to take short flights to their destination Low Operating Costs: Ryanair achieves its low operating costs by operating in secondary and regional airports where there are low congestion and less airport charges (Gill, 2005) Maximising and Utilising and the use of the Internet and other technologies: Ryanair has been utilising the internet technologies to improve its sales through online sales and the renting of its own servers for operations (Gill, 2005). This has led to an increase in its sales figures as shown in the account of the company. Improvement of operations by offering ancillary services: Ryanair provides ancillary services such as hotels, car rentals, in-flight sale of beverages, hostel rentals, internet services and holiday bookings in order to increase its sales and customer base. These services have increased the competitive positioning of the company over its main rivals such as BMI baby, easy Jet etc. Contracting out of services. Ryanair only maintained its own staff and services at Dublin Airport, aircraft handling, ticketing, baggage handling and other functions had been contracted out to third parties (Gill, 2005). 4.0 Conclusion Ryanair is a reputable European airline that has gained competitive advantages over its competitors through the implementation of appropriate corporate, business, marketing strategies. The application of low operational costs discussed such as use of regional and secondary airports, customer satisfaction and low price strategies have all made Ryanair a highly competitive airline that will continue to dominate the market. While its external environment has proved to be highly competitive and not very conducive to business, it appears that Ryanair strategic capabilities have helped to build and maintain its success.