The Structure of Education from Early Years to Post-Compulsory Education

The structure of education from early years to post-compulsory education Entitlement & provision for early years education. As part of the every child matters agenda and the Childcare Act 2006 every child aged 3 & 4 is entitled to receive part time early years education of up to 12. 5 hours per week for 38 weeks of the year to ensure that they receive up to 2 years free education before reaching school age. The characteristics of schools & school governance. All schools are seeking to enforce expectations in terms of meeting the national curriculum. Under the National Curriculum there are four Key Stages to education: Foundation4 year olds Key Stage 15 to 7 year olds Key Stage 27 to 11 year olds Key Stage 311 to 14 year olds Key Stage 414 to 16 year olds Mainstream State Schools All children in England aged 5 to 16 are entitled to free education at a state school, most go to state schools. Nursery school: 3 to 4 year olds Reception: 4 year olds Primary: 5 to 11 year olds (Key Stage 1 & 2) Secondary: 11 to 16 (Key Stage 3 & 4) There are 4 main types of state school: Community schools, Foundation & Trust schools, Voluntary aided schools, Voluntary Controlled schools. Community schools These are run & owned by the local authority & cover all 4 Key Stages. Foundation & Trust schools Foundation schools are run by a governing body which employs the staff and sets the entrance criteria. Land and buildings are owned either by the governing body or by a charitable foundation. Trust schools are similar, but are run together with an outside body – usually a business or charity – which has formed an educational trust. Voluntary aided schools Voluntary-aided schools are religious or faith schools. Just like foundation schools, the governing body employs the staff and sets the entrance criteria. School buildings and land are usually owned by a charity, often a church. Voluntary Controlled schools Voluntary-controlled schools are a cross between community and voluntary-aided schools. The local authority employs the staff and sets the entrance criteria, like a community school, but the school land and buildings are owned by a charity, often a church, which also appoints some members of the governing body. Specialist schools State secondaries often specialise, which means they have an extra emphasis in one or two subjects. Schools can specialise in: the arts, maths and computing, business and enterprise, music, engineering, science, humanities, sports, languages, and technology. Special schools Special schools are for the education of students with special needs that addresses the students' individual differences and needs. This could involve the individually planned and systematically monitored arrangement of teaching procedures, adapted equipment and materials, accessible settings designed to help learners with special needs achieve a higher level of success in school and community than would be available if the student were only given access to a typical classroom education. State schools with particular characteristics There are a number of schools within the state schools system with particular characteristics, some may have different admission criteria or funding arrangements but as with other state schools admissions are coordinated by the local authority. Academies Academies are independently managed schools set up by sponsors from business, faith or voluntary groups in partnership with the local authority and the government Department for Children, Schools and Families. City Technology Colleges These are urban-based, independently managed secondary schools geared towards science, technology and the world of work. They offer a range of vocational qualifications as well as GCSEs and A levels. Community and foundation special schools Pupils at a special school have usually been assessed and given a statement of special educational needs (SEN). These may include learning disabilities or physical disabilities. Some special schools are funded by the local education authority. These could be community, voluntary-aided or controlled, or foundation special schools. Some special schools are independent. Faith schools Faith schools are mostly run in the same way as other state schools. However, their faith status may be reflected in their religious education curriculum, admissions criteria ; staffing policies. Grammar schools Grammar schools select all or most of their pupils based on academic ability. Maintained boarding schools Maintained boarding schools offer free tuition, but charge fees for board ; lodging. Independent schools An independent school (also referred to as a private school, or in England as a public school) is a school that is not financed through the taxation system by local or national government and is instead funded by private sources, predominantly in the form of tuition charges, gifts and long-term charitable endowments, and so is not subject to the conditions imposed by accepting state financing. Free schools Free Schools are normally brand-new schools set up by teachers, charities, community or faith groups, universities and groups of parents where there is parental demand. They will be set up as Academies and will be funded in the same way, directly from central government. They also share with Academies a greater control over their finances, the curriculum, and teachers' pay and conditions. Post 16 options for young people & adults. There are more opportunities now than ever before when it comes to post 16 education, previously pupils aged 16 or over either left school and started employment or stayed on to continue their studies. There has been an increase in government funding of education for 14-19 year olds and in particular a focus on reducing the number of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) post 16. Just under an estimated one million 16 to 24-year-olds (979,000 in total) are considered NEET, according to official figures published in August, of these, around 186,000 are aged 16-18. If you are aged 16 or 17 and coming towards the end of a school or college course, the â€Å"September Guarantee† means that you’ll definitely be able to continue learning. The September Guarantee Under the last Labour government the guarantee was as follows: * Full or part-time education in school, sixth form college, independent learning provider or further education (FE) college * An Apprenticeship or programme-led Apprenticeship, which must include both the training element and a job or work placement * Entry to Employment (E2E) * Employment with training to NVQ level 2 By 2013 all pupils will be required to continue in education or training to at least 17 years of age although under new governments this could change.

bpo management system Essay

1. Introduction 1.1 Purpose This document describes the high level design for the CHART/EORS Intranet Mapping Application and the CHART Internet Mapping Application. The purpose of this design is to show the high-level technical approach to meeting the requirements defined in system requirements specification. This serves to identify the architecture of the system and high-level interactions between major system components. 1.2 Objectives Identify and describe the software architecture for the system. Provide  high-level approaches to various technical challenges. Provide a guide for future development efforts, such as detailed design and coding. 1.3 Scope This high level design encompasses the approach for meeting the requirements as defined in the documents CHART/EORS Intranet Mapping System Requirement Specification and CHART Internet Mapping System Requirement Specification. 2. System Architecture 2.1 Overview The following diagram shows the system architecture used by CHART mapping applications.  The system design utilizes web based multi-tier system architecture. The data storage is managed at the data tier by the databases. The main business logics are hosted in the two applications in the web server. Because mapping is an area that there are many requirements related to client side interactions with the graphic content of the application, application logics are partitioned based on the most appropriate location to execute them. Some are located on the client browsers to provide instantaneous feedback to the user. The general system operation flow involves the following: 1. Data updates from various sources such as the CHART II CORBA events, EORS data inputs, device and event editing modules are stored in the databases. 2. When a mapping application receives a mapping request, it sends the image map generation request to the ArcIMS map server. The ArcIMS server retrieves the map data from the databases and creates a rendering of the map and saves it as a raster image file. The mapping application generates HTML pages embedded with the image and sends it to the browser client. 3. For the CHART Intranet mapping client, the application also generates the dynamic content in VML format, which encodes the device and event information in vector format. This enables the application to update the dynamic data without having to reload the whole map image. This avoids the heavy load on the map server when the application scales up. 4. When the images and VML  data arrives at the client browser, the client displays the map to the user. The user can interact with this data on the client. 2.2 SQL Server and ArcSDE ArcSDE from ESRI allows managing of geographic information in commercial databases such as SQL Server, Oracle, DB2 and Informix. ArcSDE provides functionalities to efficiently store and retrieve spatial information using spatial indexing mechanisms. ArcSDE provides a set of API and administrative utilities that help manage the spatial data storage. For the CHART mapping systems, the combination of ArcSDE and SQL Server manages the spatial information in the relational database. ArcSDE adds spatial functionalities without disrupting standard SQL database capabilities. 2.3 Map Server (ArcIMS) ArcIMS includes a few components that will play important roles in the CHART mapping application. The workhorse component that processes the data and generates maps is the spatial server. Managing the spatial servers is the ArcIMS Application Server, which monitors each spatial server’s activity and brokers map requests to the least busy spatial server. The detailed interaction of a map request is as the following: When the ASP.Net page receives a map request, it parses it and uses the ActiveX Connector object model to construct a map request. The connector then sends the map request in ArcXML format to the Application Server. The Application Server then finds the least busy spatial server and forwards the map request to it. The spatial server performs the query against the ArcSDE database, retrieves the data and renders them into a raster image file. The location of the file is then sent back to the connector and the ASP.Net page writes it back to the client as HTML page with the image embedded in it. 2.4 Web Server (IIS) .Net Framework and ASP.Net The web server hosts and publishes content to the client browser. In the case of the CHART mapping applications, most of the content is dynamic content generated by ASP.Net modules. When IIS recognizes a page being an ASP.Net module (an aspx extension), it passes the request to the .Net Framework to load the module and handle the request. The ASP.Net pages are then loaded into memory and executed. The .Net Framework provides many utilities such as garbage collection, tracing, just-in-time compilation that manages the execution of ASP.Net modules. The ASP.Net page modules are where the CHART mapping application logic is coded. The web server also provides security via the Secured Socket Layer (SSL), allowing interactions between the user’s browser and the web server to be encrypted when necessary. 2.5 Security 2.5.1 Network Level Security Network layer security will be managed by the network security configurations like firewall and RSA secure ID. 2.5.2 Secured Socket Layer (SSL) MDOT has a certificate server to provide digital certificates for the SSL configuration. The server name must remain consistent with the certificate. All links shall use the same server name, otherwise, if the server is referred using an IP address or a local server name, etc., the user will see an alert indicating the certificate is in-consistent with the resource. IIS supports the configuration of one folder in the web application requiring SSL while other portion does not. The session information remains consistent between SSL portion of the web site and the non-SSL portion. 2.5.3 Enterprise User Enters Read-Only View Many of the CHART mapping functionalities are for display and reviewing data, i.e. a read-only view. The design allows enterprise viewers and CHART users to access the read-only portion of the web site without having to input user name and password. This also enables CHART users to reach the viewing area without having to enter their login information again. When system receives a user request to enter the secured area, the system checks whether the current session has been authenticated. If not, system displays login screen. The user shall enter their CHART user name and password. Upon receipt of the user name and password, the system checks it  against the CHART II database’s user tables. If they are authenticated, the system stores the user information in the session. The session will be managed in the server until the configured timeout expires. All subsequent requests from the same user session will inherit the same authorization information for the user. 2.5.4 CHART User Enters Editing Area Other applications, like future versions of CHART II and CHART Lite, can launch the map editing URL via the HTTPS protocol. The user name and password can be sent via https request. The system verifies their authentication information against the CHART II user database using an OLEDB/ODBC connection. If the authentication information is correct, the system will store this information in the session. The user will be redirected to the map page. If the authentication is rejected, the user request will be redirected to the login screen to reenter the authentication information. Associating a CHART user with an op-center/default map view area: Based on CHART II R1B3 database design, users are not associated with an op-center; rather, the user specifies an op-center during logon. In order to display a default map view area based on an op-center, an external application launching the CHART mapping application will also need to pass in the operation center name to initialize the map to the associated extent. Passing user name and password in URL request: The mapping site shall have a module that verifies the user name and password, then forward the page to the map page, hence avoiding showing the password on URL address box. At the current time, without the full integration with CHART II and CHART Lite, the system will expect plain text user name and password. In the future, an encryption/decryption algorithms agreed between the systems can be added to achieve higher security. 2.5.5 EORS Security Currently, the EORS security has not been implemented. EORS functions will be hard-coded with security configuration. 3. Network Configuration The design above depicts CHART network configuration as the Internal network, a Demilitarization Zone (DMZ) network for hosting the web server and connecting out to the external Internet network. There will be two firewalls, one between the Internet and the DMZ network and another one between the DMZ network and the internal network. The map server and database servers are to be hosted in the internal network for maximum security. The initial configuration calls for two physical computers to host the map servers and database servers. In the future, if the system needs to scale up, additional physical servers can be added. The Intranet web server can optionally be hosted on the load-balanced virtual server too. 3.1.1 Map Server Load Balancing The design achieves load balancing by a combination of Windows 2000 Advanced Server Network Load Balancing (NLB) Service and the ArcIMS Application Server. The system utilizes two physical server computers. The two servers are configured with NLB. NLB works on the TCP/IP level. Any incoming traffic from web server to the virtual server IP address is load balanced between the two application servers by NLB. ArcIMS Application Server operates at the application level, monitoring each spatial server’s load and operation. When a spatial server is busy, it directs the map request to idling spatial server(s). Each physical map server hosts one ArcIMS Application Server and two ArcIMS Spatial Server instances. An application server failure forces NLB to direct new connections to the remaining application server. When the failed server is recovered, new client connections should once again be shared between the two servers. The two spatial server instances are â€Å"cross registered† to the application servers. As shown in the diagram, Spatial Server A1 and A2 are registered to Application Server B and A correspondingly. This arrangement ensures that when a spatial server is down, the application server can still  utilize the spatial server from the other server to serve the map request and the application server continue to function. Also, this configuration also allows ArcIMS to load balance at the Spatial Server level as opposed to just the network traffic level, which is what NLB provides. This configuration can withstand an Application Server failure, a Spatial Server failure, a simultaneous Application/Spatial Server failure or hardware failure of one of the physical map servers. Using two map servers with network load balancing should provide high-availability load balanced ArcIMS web site. 3.1.2 Database Load Balancing By running two SQL Server and ArcSDE instances with NLB to balance the load, the system can achieve high availability at the database server layer. The database servers are completely independent and share no hardware components. This type of availability is achievable with the standard edition of SQL Server. The two database servers are setup with Transactional replication. One of the two SQL Servers is configured as the publisher and the other one as a subscriber. All the data modification such as insert, delete and update will be performed on the publisher and changes are replicated to the subscriber. Transactional replication can provide very low latency to Subscribers. Subscribers receiving data using a push subscription usually receive changes from the Publisher within one minute or sooner, provided that the network link and adequate processing resources are available (latency of a few seconds can often be achieved). When the web server and map server requests use the virtual IP address on the load-balanced group of database servers, they are directed to the database server with the least amount of load. If one of the database servers goes down due to hardware failure, NLB detects that this server is down and no longer directs database requests to this machine. The remaining machine handles the database requests and apart from a slight drop in performance the users are unaware that a database server has failed. When the hardware is fixed the offending machine can be brought back online. One limitation exists for this design. It happens when the publisher database is down. In this situation the data updates cannot be committed until the publisher database comes back. But at the same time, all read access from the Internet and Intranet server could still be directed to the secondary server. In the case when the publisher data is going to be down for extended time period, system configuration need to allow system administrator to change the configuration so that the replica will serve as the main database. Compared with clustering solution, this system design provides the maximum database availability and performance benefit. The databases that need to be replicated would include: 1. Background map database. Background map data does not change often. A snapshot replication is sufficient for replicating data updates in one database to the other. 2. CHART/EORS Spatial Database CHART/EORS spatial database stores CHART and EORS device and event information with spatial data. They are dynamically updated throughout the day. Transactional replication will be setup to ensure that data change in one database gets replicated to the other one. 3. SDE metadata. In general, the system can continue to provide access of map and data to both the Internet and Intranet users in the case of failure of any one component in the system. The only exception is that when the publisher database is down, the new data cannot be updated into the system. Users will get delayed information. 3.1.3 DMZ Configuration CHART is currently implementing a Demilitarization Zone (DMZ) network to enhance the network security. This entails creating a separate network for the web server computer(s) and separating it from the internal network with a firewall. In an ideal world, the DMZ would have no physical connection to the internal network. This would require two separate map server setups to serve the  Internet and Intranet users. The recommended way to implement is to disallow any access from the DMZ to the internal network, but allow access from the internal network to the DMZ. In other words, allow out-bound connections. On each of the ArcIMS server computers, mount a network drive to a shared drive on the Web server. Each ArcIMS spatial server would write the output raster image files to the location on the web server to be delivered to the Internet client browsers. 4. Database Organization To reduce the dependency and operation interference between the spatial data and the attribute data, the EORS spatial database and CHART spatial database will be created as two SQL Server databases. To reduce the performance overhead when joining data between the spatial and attribute data, the EORS spatial database will reside on the same database server(s) as the EORS database. 5. Technical Challenges 5.1 Map Display Mechanism CHART Intranet mapping application requires that changes in event and device data be reflected on all map clients in a near-real-time fashion (within 5 seconds). To do so via the traditional raster map publishing mechanism will result in all clients retrieving updated map every 5 seconds or at least when event/device status update requires a new map to be generated. When there is large number of users of the system, it will result in a high map server load in a concentrated short time period. To resolve this issue, the project team reviewed various technical approaches and summarizes their advantages and disadvantages as the following: 5.1.1 Raster (JPEG, GIF or PNG) Image This is a popular approach that utilizes the basic image display functionality of web browsers. It utilizes the server processing power efficiently. The disadvantages are that the images have limited client side intelligence, leaving most of the computation concentrated on the server. It’s capability of handling large number of concurrent map requests is limited. Generally, one map server can support 4-8 requests per second. For  CHART’s situation, when an event changes status, if a new map image needs to be generated, it would be about 40 requests per second (200 users at 5 second update interval). Many servers will be required to support the load. With the license fee involved with using GIF format, we will not use GIF for map publishing. Compared with JPG format, PNG graphics do not have the â€Å"bleeding† effect inherent with the JPEG compression algorithm. With the map displaying lines rather than continuous tone images, it is much cleaner. PNG also results in a smaller file, which translates into faster download times for client. The only JPG advantage is server side image generation times. It is recommended to utilize PNG for the Intranet application to produce highest quality images for standardized IE browser while utilizing JPG for the Internet to allow for support of as many browsers as possible. Also, the reduction in image processing time should deliver better web image generation performance. 5.1.2 XML Based Vector Graphics 5.1.2.1 Vector Markup Language (VML) VML is a XML based W3C standard in describing vector graphics. Basically, it encodes the vector coordinates of points, lines and polygons in XML format. The support of VML is included in Internet Explorer 5.0 and later. There is no download needed to display VML encoded vector graphics. It also has built-in support for style sheet and scripting. This makes it possible to modify the display properties and positions of the vector graphics using the JavaScript on the client-side browser. Using this functionality, we can dynamically update the display of devices and events. 5.1.2.2 Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) Scalable Vector Graphics is another XML-based W3C standard format for vector graphics. Compared with VML, it requires Java or ActiveX based plug-in to be displayed. Also, based on review of the plug-ins (SVG Viewer by Adobe), there is not as much support for scripting as for VML. 5.1.3 ArcIMS Java Viewer ArcIMS includes a Java Viewer, which provides a Java Applet that can be customized to a certain extent to display vector encoded GIS data on the client side. It requires a download to the client. The Java Viewer reads vector data from ArcIMS feature server encoded using an ESRI proprietary compression format, which makes it difficult to implement special features such as WSMS offsetted road networks because they need to be offset dynamically based on map scale. 5.1.4 MapObjects Java MapObjects Java from ESRI provides a set of Java-based objects for GIS functionalities. It has an extensive set of functionality that can satisfy the requirements. But, it requires a license fee of $100/seat, or comparable server-based licensing. It also requires a download to client machine to run it. 5.1.5 Summary Based on the research above, the project team recommends the following design: Use raster map for background map display (background data with SHA grid map are often large amount of data, suitable for server side processing) Use XML data format to transport the device and event data from server to browser client. Use JavaScript to create and update the VML vector data elements to display the dynamic layers including all the CHART/EORS devices and events. The diagram above illustrates the map display mechanism: 1. Map server reads the spatial data from background database and sends the published map image to the client browser to be displayed as background. 2. Device and event information is broadcasted from the CHART II system in the form of CORBA events. 3. CORBA event listener receives the event broadcast and saves the data into CHART spatial database. 4. CHART/EORS device and event data are published in XML format to the client. Client browser parses the XML into a XML Document Object Model (DOM) using the XML parser. 5. The client browser then iterate through the DOM tree structure and create corresponding VML elements based on the XML device and event data. The VML elements are displayed on the top of the background raster map image. 6. At a pre-configured interval, the browser client retrieves update of device and event data from the IIS server in XML format and update the VML display  based on the updated information. 5.2 Automated Refresh of Device and Event Data CHART/EORS device and event information needs to be updated at a pre-configured interval. They should be updated separate from the background map to reduce the load on the map server. The technical approach to achieve this will be to use a hidden frame to send the request to retrieve updated device and event data and receive the response. The response will package the data in XML file to be parsed into a document object model (DOM) and display the data on map. The request can be to retrieve all data or only retrieve data newer than last retrieval. When the new device/event is received and it requires changing the display of the device/events, the style assignment for the elements can be changed to update the device and event display.   The VML elements will be sent using real-world coordinates (Maryland State Plane 1983). After the data has been retrieved to the client side, the VML map layers can be dynamically projected using the â€Å"local coordinate space†. When user zooms or pan the map, the VML will be projected using the updated coordinates to fit the new map extent without going back to the server to retrieve new data set. 5.3 Inter-Frame Client Script Synchronization The map page has a few frames and the browser loads them asynchronously. Scripts in one frame may call scripts in another frame that may not have been loaded. The approach to resolve this is to add client-side exception handling and verification routine to ensure that the script is called always after the frame is loaded. 5.4 Assigning and Editing Event Location The dynamic nature of VML elements in the browser allows adding and modifying VML elements by scripting. When the user clicks or drags the mouse on the map, client-side script manages the transformation of screen coordinates and real-world map coordinates. The coordinates are sent back to the server’s secured URL where the information is extracted and saved to the database. 5.5 Scalability The CHART mapping application serves not only the Intranet users, but also Internet browser clients. During emergency situations, the load on both the Internet and Intranet servers could get extremely high. The system must be able to scale up to serve large amount of users. The technical approach to solve this issue involves two main facets. As described in the network configuration section, the system will employ network load balancing and allows adding additional hardware in the future. The system should also be able to utilize the caching feature of IIS and ASP.Net to scale up without significantly increase hardware investment. ASP.Net allows caching configuration for individual page modules, such as whether the page is cached and how long it is cached. After the application is deployed, these caching settings can be configured on the web pages. For example, if it is determined that the Internet mapping can be up to 3 seconds late, by setting caching time to 3 seconds, all requests from the Internet will receive a cached response without creating additional load on the map and database server. 5.6 Exception Management and Recovery CHART II keeps its clients updated via a push model using the CORBA Event Service. The Event Service does not guarantee delivery; therefore it is possible for event data to be lost/dropped (although in practice, this is rare). To account for this possibility, the CHART Web Event Listener will refresh its information about the status of devices and traffic events from CHART II at a configurable interval. Also, each time the Event Listener is started, it will retrieve all relevant data from CHART II. Thus, the update model becomes a push model with an occasional pull to be safe. This process will be used to recover from the following situations: 1. The Event Listener was down and did not receive new data from CHART II. 2. CHART II CORBA event(s) occasionally dropped while the Event Listener is up and running. Another likely scenario is that the CHART II server or service(s) restart. After a typical restart, the CORBA Event Service CORBA objects will be  recreated with the same characteristics allowing the Event Listener to continue to automatically receive CHART II CORBA events. As the CHART II services will not be processing events during this time, no events are likely to be missed. Therefore, the Event Listener does not need to do anything special to handle a CHART II server or service(s) restart. Sometimes CHART II maintenance will require that new (and different) Event Service CORBA objects be created. This might happen during a CHART II upgrade, for example. In this case, the Event Listener will need to be restarted so that it can pick up the new objects. Since this type of maintenance does not occur often and the Event Listener restarting is fast, the restart can be handled as part of the CHART II upgrade procedures. 5.7 Integration with ASP Code in EORS and CHART Web Application The CHART Intranet Mapping, replacing the existing EORS mapping application, will still be launched as a separate window by a URL string with a few parameters identifying the district, view type, etc. The impact on EORS web application should be limited to modifying the URL links. The current CHART Internet Mapping site uses â€Å"include† statement to include site navigation pages from upper level CHART web site’s pages. When upgrading Internet Mapping to ASP.Net, â€Å"include† statement is no longer used. Instead, a ServerXMLHTTP request can be formulated to request the text from the included ASP page and merge them into the mapping ASP.Net pages. The limitation of this implementation would be that the ASP.Net application couldn’t share the session and application variables from the ASP application. Currently, there are only a couple of them, such as database connection string. The ASP.Net mapping application will maintain a separate set of application variables. 6. User Interface Design 6.1 Intranet Map Site User Interface Design Here following is a high-level frame structure for the Intranet mapping site: 1. AppFrame is the highest-level frame that includes all the child frames. On the top of the page, there will be the title frame, which will host the  CHART icon. Also inside the title frame will be a group of tabs, such as Traffic, Roadway Weather, Message Sign, etc. 2. ToolsFrame hosts the map navigation and other map related tools. The ToolsFrame will also host menu system that allows the user to bring up data and other detailed information. 3. HiddenFrame will be used to submit and receive information from the server. 4. ContentFrame is further divided to a map frame on the left and a data frame on the right. The user shall be able rearrange the frame boundary to give more space to the map or data area. Data frame will display data as well as legend, layer control and other items when needed. 5. PromptFrame will display the current tool selected and instructions for user activities. Here is a screen shot of the preliminary user interface design: 6.2 Internet Map Site User Interface The overall CHART Internet mapping web site design will stay the same as current web site. The site will stay as part of the overall CHART web site by including the CHART navigation menus into the site. The site will not be using frames; instead, all elements will be laid out as HTML tables. 7. References 1. CHART/EORS Intranet Mapping System Requirement Specification 2. CHART Internet Mapping System Requirement Specification 3. Security and ArcIMS – ESRI White Paper 4. ArcSDE Configuration and Tuning Guide for Microsoft SQL Server – ESRI White Paper 5. ArcIMS 4.0 High-Availability Configuration Testing Using Network Load Balancing –ESRI White Paper 6. Vector Markup Language (VML) Specification – W3C 8. Terms and Glossary ArcXML – ESRI’s map request/response specification in XML format CORBA – Common Object Request Broker Architecture CSS – Cascading Style Sheets DOM – Document Object Model ESRI – Environment System Research Institute GIS – Geographic Information System GML – Geography Markup Language NLB – Network Load Balancing SSL – Secure Socket Layer SVG – Scalable Vector Graphics VML – Vector Markup Language XML – Extensible Markup Language

Does mother earth have the capacity to sustain continued population growth

That is the question I am going to answer in the following essay. We will be looking at two persons who gave there opinion about the principal of population growth and their solutions. One called, Robert Malthus, the other person called Ester Boserup. They both differ a lot of each other in opinion. Boserup was more optimistic about it, although on the other hand Malthus was very sceptic and pessimistic. I will include their arguments and their way of looking at population growth later on, combined with my own view. Several facts are concurring about population growth. When the world would collapse of its own infirmity, it will be due different factors. One of them will be due global warming. This is also one of the arguments of Malthus which influences his credo1. Population growth is a very important issue for geographers now a day. These geographers are certainly divided into 2 groups. One group focuses more on the Malthusian-way of thinking and the other support Ester Boserups her ideas, which are more optimistic. Worries about population growth are not new. About 200 years ago, Malthus published a essay called; The Principal of Population Growth. His main arguments in this essay were about the geometrically grow of population, while the resources available to support it tend to grow arithmetically. He presented his theory in response to optimists who thought that mankind can master environment bottomless. They verified this idea with some new cures such as DDT which eliminates misquotes born with malaria, anti-biotics. During the same period, the â€Å"Green Revolution† greatly boosted food output through the cultivation of new disease-resistant rice and other food crops, and the use of fertilizers and more effective farming methods. These changes have contributed to a dramatic increase in human population growth rates2. Global Warming is causing a big impact on population growth. The carbon dioxide is sacrificing the earths nature causing a enormous impact on water altitude. Increasing water altitude causes the sea level to rise. This will finally result in floods of areas were people life. Due this fact, people will have to move because otherwise they risk another deluge. Because of this process it will contribute to the fact that the earths living surface can decrease. As more people are settling on earth then people leaving it will result that there isn't enough space for such an amount of inhabitants. If you look at the facts of Population Growth, it will tell you that, every minute there are 5 babies born. This means that every year 87 million people are added to the world. In 1999 the World Watchers institute said that population growth is slowing down due the fact of rising Death Rates. They estimated a 8,9 billion people on the world instead of the predicted 9,4 billion. Two-thirds of this drop is because of falling birth rates, but one-third is due rising death rates. Three factors are pushing the death rates up, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian sub-continent3: the HIV epidemic the depletion of aquifers shrinking cropland area per person. We analyze the worlds carrying capacity with Net Primary Productivity. It represents the total food resource on earth. It has been calculated that we are using 40% of the terrestrial food supply. This leaves 60% left on earth, theoreticly human population would therefore be 2.5x the current level that is 2.5Ãâ€"5.9 = 15 billion, a number that will be reached within the next century if present trends continue4. Overall, the answer would be No to the question we asked earlier. Mother earth cannot sustain continuing population growth. Scientist keep making solutions to provide human better health care, but when you look at it, medicine cure people, which influences Mortality rate obviously. So on the other hand it speaks against itself. Population growth is increasing last few years as it never did before and it is going to move on. As there are coming more inhabitants, there won't be enough space one day, to grow crops and shelters at the same time. Global warming is causing the world the heat up, increasing sea level and destroy rainforest (one of our big food resources on earth)

Structural steel design Literature review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Structural steel design - Literature review Example When restoration was completed, the new skeleton had to be hoisted on to supports. These were composed of steel compression struts that are hollow, with a capacity of 50 tons. They were coupled to node points found at the end of each of the cradle frames where they stuck out through the hull. The external support’s lower ends were linked to plates cast into the dry dock’s steps. Since the steps had started crumbling, they had to be dug out and reinforced with grouted steel piles before connecting supports and lifting the ship. A series of arms offered lateral wind load restraint. The arms were bolted to strengthened concrete tension piles at the top of the dry dock (Douglas 2012, pg. 69). The connection nodes are also required as secondary support to the glass canopy. The members’ structural steel grades are of  S355 J2 to BS EN 10025.   Lifting the ship was done at intermediate phases using 24 200Te SWL cylinder jacks, each under every node point. The whole process took 2 days and was aided by the installation of a series of 96 strain sensors to check loads in the metal frame of the ship and the supporting tie rods and props that held up the ship (Beedle, Ali & Armstrong 2007, pg. 32). Consultants AV Technology (AVT) installed the sensors. Deteriorated timber was replaced with equivalent wood; the objective was to replace like with like where possible. The tween was restored using new Douglas fir and hemp was used to caulk it traditionally. Hemp was used because it was easier to install and maintain since it was forced into position to create a tight deck. Composite construction used on the main deck, with a new teak upper layer and plywood lower layers (Crevello & Noyce 2008, pg. 52). The upper teak planks as well as the first lower rock elm planks were restored and reinstalled on the ship. The original plan was rock elm below the water line and teak above the water line. This is because elm

Term project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Term project - Essay Example Having done all of this, we adjusted the highway in accordance with the circumstances. Procedure: At the first, we set up the overall site of which the highway had to go over. Having done with the site work, we started to set up the highway. The first highway had only straight lines with no curves at all. Therefore, we had to bring in some curves in the highway. Having done with that, we started to set up the highway’s vertical alignment. However, there was a problem in the structure of the highway as at one particular point, the highway had to go through a piece of land. Moreover, at one point, there had to be a piece of land placed below the highway. We must include in the report that we had to remove the soil from the point where the high way needed to go through in order to fill the empty space under the high way. Discussion: We have to consider many issues when designing the highway and include all of them in the report. For example, traction is one of the main issues. We have to make the curves of the road on an incline in order to offer good traction. This means that there must be an incline for every curve on the highway. Apart from this, another issue is the two sections of the highway in which soil needs to be removed to fill the empty space under the highway. It will not only offer a good level of stability for the highway but also will lower the cost for making the highway strong. Conclusion: To sum it up, we had to set up a terrain for this project and then had to make a vertical, as well as a horizontal alignment of a highway on that particular terrain. Therefore, we had to adjust the highway by considering the potential obstacles and issues. Such problems include strength of the highway, traction, and the financial

On-Job Training And E-Learning In The Petrochemical Plants Research Paper

On-Job Training And E-Learning In The Petrochemical Plants - Research Paper Example The researcher states that training has become a need of organizations of today. This has encouraged me to conduct research on one of the most important industries of the economy, Petrochemical industry. The petrochemical industry is critical to the success of any economy and therefore I got interested in analyzing and identifying how businesses in the petrochemical industry train its employees. Technology has influenced businesses and it has changed how businesses train its employees. Therefore I am interested in analyzing and comparing two of the most used training techniques in the petrochemical industry; On-Job Training And E-Learning. This research study aims to analyze the impact of training on the performance of employees in the petrochemical industry. Two important training techniques are analyzed; on-job training and e-learning. The report, therefore, analyzes whether on-job training and e-learning have a positive or a negative impact on the performance of employees in the p etrochemical industry. The report also analyzes which of the two techniques are more effective to enhance the performance of the employees in the petrochemical industry. The petrochemical industry has become highly competitive. It is believed success is dependent on three important factors in this competitive market and these factors are efficiency, quality, and product development. In the petrochemical industry, there are different types of reactants, toxic gas emissions, and other chemicals that have potential for toxic and are flammable. Therefore training of employees is significant in ensuring that health and safety measures are made and employees are safe. Training is helpful in improving the efficiency of the employees as well.

Comparison of Hinduism and Jainism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Comparison of Hinduism and Jainism - Essay Example Hinduism may be everywhere for it is the third largest religion in the world, but primarily a substantial large number of its followers are in India and Nepal (Houdmann, 2013). According to Houdmann, one of the foundational beliefs of Hinduism includes believing Brahma as the supreme god among the said religion’s recognized million gods. However, Houdmann explains that just as Hinduism adheres to believing more than one god, Hindu theology can be monistic, pantheistic, panentheistic, theistic, atheistic, deistic, or nihilistic. Houdmann therefore concluded that with these diverse views and varied belief systems, Vedas, if they are considered sacred books containing myth, theology, and history can only determine if it is truly about Hinduism in the first place. Another fundamental belief of Hinduism according to Houdmann is the thought that mankind is divine, just as Brahma could be everything as a divine being. Therefore, Hinduism believes that everything or any sort of realit y outside Brahma could just be an illusion. Man should be released from this illusion to be one with Brahma. Thus, Hinduism believes in reincarnation as a fundamental way for a man to achieve self-realization of the truth, and this will strongly to be affected by Karma, which means people should do well in the past to live with a good future. On the other hand, just as Christianity surfaced from Judaism, Jainism has its essential foundation from Hinduism. Jainism is simply a variant of Hinduism in the Indian sub-continent just as the same time in the development of Buddhism. The religion is claimed to be founded by Mahavira, the contemporary of Buddha. However, what is more profound in Jainism is the practice of Ascetism for the release of the soul towards enlightenment as the believers of Jainism believe that one should acquire the freedom from the continuous transmigrations of the soul at the death of the body (Gill, 2013). In line with the practice of Ascetism and the release of the soul to elevate it higher in the next reincarnation, Gill added that there should be an essential practice of the right faith, knowledge, and conduct, as Karma binds the soul to the body. Similarities and Differences Unlike Hinduism, Jainism is a non-theistic religion, believing in no god, but only in a fundamental principle of goodness that will lead the soul to greatness and enlightenment that will lead further to a more fulfilling reincarnated life in the future. Both religions believe in Karma and which is the ultimate principle to consider in achieving better spiritual future in the next life through the reincarnation of the human soul. However, Hinduism believes that reincarnation will be a continuous process not until the entire life is totally transformed in the past. This means that an individual unless will not be able to achieve the ultimate goodness, will continue to be reincarnated until reaching to the self-realization of the truth. Jainism deviates from this view, for it adheres to the point that enlightenment follows right after the implementation of right faith, knowledge, and conduct, which will determine the elevation of the soul to a higher level in the next reincarnation. Common to these beliefs however is the infinite possibility of reincarnation, as the point of life eternal. These religions therefore believe that life will never end, but it will be transformed right after the death of the physical body and rebirth will then be imminent again, giving the

The Great Athena Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Great Athena - Essay Example LeQuire found out that the original sculptor, Pheidias, built the Athena on with curved ivory on a wooden framework. The ivory acted as the gold wardrobe and skin for the original Athena. After sufficient research, LeQuire began to reconstruct the Athena. LeQuire began by first creating small clay models of the statue. From these models as starting points, the sculptor spent more than three years in enlarging the statue. This also involved the casting process which led to the building of the full Athena of Parthenon. The artist assembled the Great Athena by casting gymnasium cement in the Parthenon. The assembly involved casting of many moulds that enlarged the statue while giving it its beautiful look. In order to ensure that the statue had sufficient support, LeQuire attached each of the sections of the Athena into an armature made of steel. There are several different materials which were used in the surface materials of the statues. The most obvious of these is gold, which can be seen on Athena’s tunic, helmet, shield, and spear. However, the other elements used in the statue were ivory and silver. The sculptor put a Sphinx likeness in the center of the statue’s helmet to make it more appealing. The statue was const ructed and made upright with griffins on both sides of its helmet. The head of the status is one of the pieces of the work which is made of ivory, with a long, golden tunic that goes down to the Athena’s feet. Most of the elements of the statue, in addition to supplying it with physical beauty and attractiveness, were designed in order to have symbolic references to Athena’s role as a goddess. For example, the spear is held on the hand of the Athena which is symbolic of war. In the other hand, the Athena holds the statue of victory to signify successful engagement in a war. The shield in the feet of the Athena is symbolic of protection from the serpent which is near the shield. It is argued that the serpent was meant to

Did Imperial Germany remain a 'disunited nation' until 1914 Essay

Did Imperial Germany remain a 'disunited nation' until 1914 - Essay Example Although imperial Germany was held together by the brilliant diplomatic policies of Bismarck, it is a fact that there was too much diversity and suspicion in Germany. The political and religious conflicts left Germany a disunited nation and created an environment of hatred and one-upmanship that resulted in isolation of many minorities such as German Jews and the Catholics.2 The causes of the disunited state of Germany lie with its very unification process. Although there did exist a common language in the region, the unity of Germany didn’t manifest itself before Napoleonic wars. The resentment towards French occupation made German speaking people realize the need for freedom.3 This could only be possible if German speaking states of Prussia and Austria came together and formed a separate country. There also occurred many other significant events which promoted feeling of unity among German people. The Prussian empire had achieved military success in three separate wars. Peop le were also influenced by the rise of French nationalism which followed the French revolution. A sense of unity cannot exist if the different societies or communities are not aware of each other’s existence. ... The development and spread of German literature identified the existence of Germany. The literary works of The Brothers Grimm and Karl Baedekar glorified the natural beauty and cultural heritage of various German states. There were many common grounds of which formation of a German state was an inevitable consequence. But there were many factors which dampened any sudden rise of nationalism. For long, the two German empires of Austria and Prussia had been involved in political and economic rivalry. A great deal of ‘threshold’ energy was required to break the current sequence of political pattern and motivate people to aspire for a single country. The remarkable leadership of Bismarck and his manipulation of events in 1866 and 1870 led to the creation of the imperial Germany.4 The initial years of the imperial Germany were marked by huge divisions at various levels. To begin with, there was stark contrast in the economic status of Germans. The rich class of Prussian landl ords and elites continued to exercise significant amount of influence over the political structure of the new empire.5The junkers, as they were called, were immensely powerful as the formation of the German empire occurred without any political upheaval or social revolution. Unlike other revolutions, there wasn’t any redistribution of land or restructuring of the political system. The diversity of a country cannot be counted as the only sign of disunity. There are many countries in the world which have class conflict but they stay together. Even the revolutions such as French revolution and Russian revolution don’t create a disunited country. The revolutions may increase or decrease the territorial size of a country but they hardly have an impact on the very concept of a

Alhajry English Unit 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Alhajry English Unit 4 - Essay Example Additionally, people get jobs but still prefer to further their education without inconveniencing their employers. Online learning thus comes in handy to such group of learners who tailor their timetable to their convenience (Wyldeck 22). The current increase in online learning has had myriad effects on both the learners and the learning institutions. Currently, universities strive to diversify their course and have online learning capabilities in a bid to tap on the global market. Additionally, learners have more convenience as they overcome some of the challenges previously presented by the need to travel to schools and classes in order to attend classes. They cut on costs but still obtain the same quality education (Wood 61). Part II: Contrast Online schools thus refer to schools that offer their services over the internet. Such schools have several similarities and differences with the traditional schools where learners would have to confirm their physical attendance. In both the schools, teachers have a definite curriculum that guides the nature of every course. The curriculum provides the concepts taught, the mode of teaching, the type of assessment and the duration of the course. The curriculum is therefore a fundamental tool in schools that helps facilitate the teaching and learning process. Additionally, in both cases, there are the learners and the teachers and the two maintain an effective interaction that improves both the learning and teaching process. Among the underlying differences between the two is that online schools do not require a physical address and physical classrooms since the teachers interact with their learners from different regions. The teachers thus interact with their students on the internet through video conferencing and share study materials through electronic mail services offered by service providers on the internet. The interaction among learners and their teachers is more intense in the traditional schools since the two h ave unlimited access of each other. Online schools on the other hand restrict interactions among the parties since they incur connection charges that may be costly depending on the prevailing policies in the different countries. Part III: Define I am an introvert, a personality feature that has caused me several opportunities since people do not understand me easily. Introverts are people who do not socialize easily with others. Unlike extroverts who would easily interact with others, introverts would always seek to win the trust of their colleagues before they begin constructive interactions. Extroverts therefore maintain smaller social circles but base heir interactions and social circles of trust and mutual understanding. As an extrovert, I demand a lot of attention from my peer. Unfortunately, not everyone I interact with will always have the patience to develop a relationship capable of developing trust (Upi?ts 11). Extroverts are not weak as commonly perceived given their with drawn personality, such people may exhibit shyness but they have strong personalities and often make good communicators. The personality trait results from the upbringing of an individual and may often depict low self-esteem. Parents should therefore develop their children from younger age by exposing them to

Book Report on Earth in the Balance by Al Gore Essay

Book Report on Earth in the Balance by Al Gore - Essay Example Everyday there is a threat posed to our climate, water, soil, and diversity of plant and animal life. A passionate, lifelong defender of the environment, Gore describes in brave and unforgettable terms how human actions and decisions can endanger or safeguard the vulnerable ecosystem that sustains us. Al Gore's passion for the environment started when he was a boy growing up on a farm. His parents taught him the importance of soil erosion, having to stop river gullies before they got started. His mother read Rachel Carlson's book, Silent Spring in 1962 and he remembers how she told everyone the dangers of pesticide abuse like DDT are doing to the environment. She had emphasized to him and his sister that the book was different from others, and it was important. As a student in college his professor Roger Revelle had introduced the idea of carbon dioxides threat on the global environment. Revelle started sampling the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in 1958 only to watch it rise from 315-360 parts per million. The cover of Earth in the Balance is strikingly meaningful in black and red with the globe displayed at the background right. The book mainly touches topics on the globalecologicalsystem, dysfunctionalcivilization, climateequilibrium, and GlobalMarshallPlan. In writing this book, Al Gore said, "The time has long since come to take more political risks - and endure more political criticism - by proposing tougher, more effective solutions and fighting hard for their enactments." The book is arranged into three sections: the first describes the plagues; the second looks at how we got ourselves into this mess; and the final chapters presents solutions. By way of introduction, the book talks about the importance of the 1992 Earth Summit. This was a world-wide meeting to discuss and implement a new generation of global treaties aimed at promoting sustainable economic progress and healing the relationship between civilization and the fragile ecological system of the Earth. At the summit the Bush administration declined to sign the treaty to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, hence disappointing many other countries. The book soonest ships in the desert, talks about Al Gore's many travels and horrifying discoveries that are murdering our environment. First, Al Gore went to the Aral Sea which at one time was the 4th largest and now to an irrigation scheme to grow cotton in the desert it has greatly diminished. Then he spoke of the white sea in 1990 where millions of starfish where killed because the military dumped radioactive waste. All across the world, mysterious mass deaths have been happening in our oceans; some scientists say it is because of accumulated environmental stress. The Trans-Antarctic Mountains was Al Gores next stop to see for himself the studies of the effects of glaciers. He discovered from ice core samples that a small reduction in one country's emissions from the Clean Air Act had changed the amount of pollution found in the remote and least accessible place on Earth. He recounted that in 1989 the Amazon rain forest was being burned to provide pastures for fast food beef. The amount burnt added up to the state of Tennessee, killing thousands of species. According to Al Gore, a record of living species of plants and animals are now vanishing around the world one thousand

Sullivan Ballous Letter to His Wife Before the Battle of Bull Run Essay Example for Free

Sullivan Ballous Letter to His Wife Before the Battle of Bull Run Essay Love of country is not unique to Americans, but in a democracy, sending citizens to war requires far more than a dictators fiat. In 1861, men on both sides of the conflict were willing to lay down their lives for what they believed to be right. Southerners fought for states rights and a society built upon human slavery, which many considered the natural order of the universe. When the war started, few volunteers in the northern army marched off to end slavery, but many were ready to fight and die to preserve the Union. One such soldier was Major Sullivan Ballou of the Second Regiment, Rhode Island Volunteers. Then thirty-two years old, Ballou had overcome his familys poverty to start a promising career as a lawyer. He and his wife Sarah wanted to build a better life for their two boys, Edgar and Willie. An ardent Republican and a devoted supporter of Abraham Lincoln, Ballou had volunteered in the spring of 1861, and on June 19 he and his men had left Providence for Washington, D.C. He wrote the following letter to his wife from a camp just outside the nations capital, and it is at once a passionate love letter as well as a profound meditation on the meaning of the Union. It caught national importance 129 years after he wrote it, when it was read on the widely watched television series, The Civil War, produced by Ken Burns. The beauty of the language as well as the passion of the sentiments touched the popular imagination, and brought home to Americans once again what defense of democracy entailed. Ballou wrote the letter July 14, while awaiting orders that would take him to Manassas, where he and twenty-seven of his men would die one week later at the Battle of Bull Run. LETTER TO HIS WIFE (1861) My very dear Sarah: The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days perhaps tomorrow. Lest I should not be able to write you again, I feel impelled to write lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more. Our movement may be one of a few days duration and full of pleasure and it may be one of severe conflict and death to me. Not my will, but thine O God, be done. If it is necessary that I should fall on the battlefield for my country, I am ready. I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in, the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how strongly American Civilization now leans upon the triumph of the Government, and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and suffering of the Revolution. And I am willing perfectly willing to lay down all my joys in this life, to help maintain this Government, and to pay that debt. But, my dear wife, when I know that with my own joys I lay down nearly all of yours, and replace them in this life with cares and sorrows when, after having eaten for long years the bitter fruit of orphanage myself, I must offer it as their only sustenance to my dear little children is it weak or dishonorable, while the banner of my purpose floats calmly and proudly in the breeze, that my unbounded love for you, my darling wife and children, should struggle in fierce, though useless, contest with my love of country? I cannot describe to you my feelings on this calm summer night, when two thousand men are sleeping around me, many of them enjoying the last, perhaps, before that of death and I, suspicious that Death is creeping behind me with his fatal dart, am communing with God, my country, and thee. I have sought most closely and diligently, and often in my breast, for a wrong motive in thus hazarding the happiness of those I loved and I could not find one. A pure love of my country and of the principles I have often advocated before the people and the name of honor that I love more than I fear death have called upon me, and I have obeyed. Sarah, my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me to you with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break; and yet my love of Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly on with all these chains to the battlefield. The memories of the blissful moments I have spent with you come creeping over me, and I feel most gratified to God and to you that I have enjoyed them so long. And hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes of future years, when God willing, we might still have lived and loved together, and seen our sons grow up to honorable manhood around us. I have, I know, but few and small claims upon Divine Providence, but something whispers to me perhaps it is the wafted prayer of my little Edgar that I shall return to my loved ones unharmed. If I do not, my dear Sarah, never forget how much I love you, and when my last breath escapes me on the battlefield, it will whisper your name. Forgive my many faults, and the many pains I have caused you. How thoughtless and foolish I have oftentimes been! How gladly would I wash out with my tears every little spot upon your happiness, and struggle with all the misfortune of this world, to shield you and my children from harm. But I cannot. I must watch you from the spirit land and hover near you, while you buffet the storms with your precious little freight, and wait with sad patience till we meet to part no more. But, O Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you; in the garish day and in the darkest night amidst your happiest scenes and gloomiest hours always, always; and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath; or the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by. Sarah, do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for thee, for we shall meet again. As for my little boys, they will grow as I have done, and never know a fathers love and care. Little Willie is too young to remember me long, and my blue-eyed Edgar will keep my frolics with him among the dimmest memories of his childhood. Sarah, I have unlimited confidence in your maternal care and your development of their characters. Tell my two mothers his and hers I call Gods blessing upon them. O Sarah, I wait for you there! Come to me, and lead thither my children.

Nike Inc Analysis of Marketing

Nike Inc Analysis of Marketing Nike Inc. was founded in  1962 by Bill Bower man and Philip H.  Knight as a  partnership under the  name, Blue  Ribbon Sports.  Since Germany conquered  the domestic market in America, Nike came with low-cost and high quality products for the American people. Today, Nike manufactures and distributes athletic shoes in the global market and 40% of  its sales come from athletic apparel, sports equipment, and subsidiary ventures and they have  traditional  as  well  as  non-traditional  distribution  channels  in  more  than  100countries globally. Nike has attained a premier position in the market but in 1998, the company has to face the issue of exploiting overseas workers and the altering consumer  needs negatively pretentious the sales of Nike. In this report, I have discussed the case history of Nike that majorly covers the child labor  problem and the problem of change in consumers preferences after which I have done the SWOT analysis and h ave come up with strategic objectives, market driven strategy Objectives. Furthermore, the marketing strategy is discussed that covers the segmentation strategy, targeting, positioning and channel distribution of Nike and the product, price and promotional strategy it must approve.  In the  end, I  have given some  recommendations to Nikes management to force it towards success. Contents INTRODUCTION: The company stable out just an airplane built-up in arranges to make happy path job at Stanford University. Mr. Phil knight a adapt student at Stanford University and a comprehensive space messenger firm that he would create small price organization shoes in Japan and then advertise them in USA. Knight solicits the help of a history teacher Bill Bower man to help him in his big business project. Knight called his first shoe Tiger and began allocation at path meet. Blue Ribbon in 1971 earned its Swoosh and knight introduces the most important Nike brand line. In 1978 the Blue Ribbon becomes Nike and both years their earnings grow steadily. Due to Nike attention in informal shoes in the 1980, they missed the leaning to aerobic shoe and cut down after allowing Reebok to manage the marketplace. MISSION AND VISION: Nike states in its mission declaration that it entail responsibility commerce in a guilty way, most important to sustainable monetary increase. With the advance in knowledge, Human resource practices, the healthy knowledgeable and skilled employment power, here is extremely small deficient to distinguish organization. Living being seen to go added than the lowest amount necessary on community issue can draw and keep patrons. This bottle sea green modification attracts concentration to the association; they are view as thoughtful and public liable (Mullins, L. 2005). A speech, on the construction put into practice of Nike during its make obtainable sequence accuse the association of individual concerned in limited operational circumstances, defiance of hard work civil rights, low salary and pestering of its labor force. Nike takes this information seriously. On the basis of the learning answer the business has make stronger the check of its dealer (Hummels, H and Timmer, D.2004) OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY: The SWOT examination aim to suggest the participate government of the Sà ¶derkà ¶ping growth with an instrument to charge their past giving in the Sà ¶derkà ¶ping procedure as fit as to appraise the choice for the modus operandi to bear on after the conclusion of the in progress development in February 2009. SWOT ANALYSIS: Strengths Nike is a very competitive organization. Phil Knight (Founder and CEO) is frequently quoted as saying that Business is war without bullets. Nike has a healthy aversion of is competitors. At the Atlanta Olympics, Reebok went to the outlay of sponsoring the games. Nike did not. However Nike sponsored the top athletes and gained valuable reporting. Nike has no factories. It does not tie up cash in buildings and manufacturing workers. This makes a very lean organization. Nike is tough at research and development, as is evidenced by its evolving and innovative product range. They then manufacture wherever they can produce high quality product at the lowest possible price. If prices rise, and products can be made more cheaply elsewhere (to the same or better specification), Nike will move production. (ynkamat, 2009) Nike is a global brand. It is the number one sports brand in the World. Its famous Swoosh is instantly familiar, and Phil Knight even has it tattooed on his ankle Nike is quite strong regarding its research and development; quite marked regarding its evolving and innovative product choice. They manufacture high quality at the lowest potential price, if prices rise due to price hike then the production process is made cheaper by changing the place of production. It belongs to the  Fortune 500 companies. Nike employs about more than 30.000 people worldwide. It has a strong sense of marketing promotion by sponsoring top athletes. It uses linarite foam and flies wire materials in order to make the manufactured shoes lighter and more convenient. (Adam, 2009) Its standing for high quality and innovative footwear .Nike is also known for its innovative marketing .Nike ads are part of the pop culture an impressive achievement. Famous campaigns feature bo Jackson, Michael Jordon, and Tiger Woods the Nikes swoosh is highly recognizable world wide .Nikes recent comeback has been greatly helped by increased sales of Nikes apparel. (Robert N. Lussier, 2009) Political Analysis According to PEST analysis the political enviourment can be taken as strength The government must create economic policies that will foster the growth of businesses. Nike, fortunately, has been helped by the US policies which enable it to advance its products. The support accorded to Nike by the US government, particularly in the general macroeconomic stability, low interest rates, stable currency conditions and the international competitiveness of the tax system, form the foundation critical to Nikes growth. (Cuizon, 2009) Society Analysis According to PEST analysis the social enviourment can be taken as strength People are more health conscious currently. Diet and health are getting more prominence. Consequently, more and more people are joining fitness clubs. There is an accompanying demand for fitness products particularly exercise apparel, shoes and equipment. Nike is at the front position of this surge in demand as people are looking for sports shoes, apparel and equipment. (Cuizon, 2009) Technology Analysis Political Analysis According to PEST analysis the technological enviourment can be taken as strength Nike uses IT in its marketing information systems very effectively. Nike applies marketing information systems to the economics of improvement, segmentation and differentiation for nearly all of its businesses. Nikes leadership status owes in large part to the use of extremely valuable Information Technology, and applying it to every aspect of the product from development to distribution. Nike, being the world leader in the athletic footwear industry, is able to effectively harness its environment to boost its marketing efforts. This strategy has translated into robust sales of Nikes products. (Cuizon, 2009) Weaknesses The organization does have a diversified range of sports products. However, the income of the business is still heavily dependent upon its share of the footwear market. This may leave it vulnerable if for any reason its market share erodes. The retail sector is very price sensitive. Nike does have its own retailer in Nike Town. However, most of its income is derived from selling into retailers. Retailers tend to offer a very similar experience to the consumer. Can you tell one sports retailer from another? So margins tend to get squeezed as retailers try to pass some of the low price competition pressure onto Nike. Nike was for quite some time unwilling to disclose any type of information concerning its partnering companies. It was charged with the violation of overtime and  minimum wage  rates in Vietnam, 1996, that was seen as having poor working conditions, and that it was also charged for exploiting cheap workforce overseas. (ynkamat, 2009) Nike was also reported to have applied child labor in Pakistan and Cambodia to produce  soccer balls. It was positioned as a subject of criticism by anti-globalization groups due to its unruly and exploited manner that was quite a disaster for its reputation. (Adam, 2009) In late 2005 founder phil knight resigned from the CEO position at Nike. Since that time Nike has had two CEO s. Nike brand co president mark parker is the companies new president and chief executive officer following the resignation of William D. Perez will Nike ever be able to replace the larger than life founder Phil knight? Another question on the area concerning is that global sales, such as Europe and Asia ,have instead at a much faster pace than domestic sales in the United States. (Robert N. Lussier, 2009) Economic Analysis According to PEST analysis the economic enviourment can be taken as weakness In economy, the biggest threat for Nike would be economic recession. During recession, Nikes growth will be adversely affected. The US economy is experiencing a downturn right now. Consumer purchases are slowing down. Currently, Nikes feeling the pinch of the economic recession. The Asian economic crisis also affects Nike since its goods are manufactured in Asia. The labor costs and material prices are going up. Nikes growth is not just affected by the local economy but also in the international economy. A weak Euro and an Asian recession could mean weak sales for Nike. The overall results in the sales generated by Nike in athletic footwear, however, remained stable. The global market makes up for the variances in sales particularly between peak and lean seasons. (Cuizon, 2009) Society Analysis According to PEST analysis the social enviourment can be taken as weakness Nike, however, failed to foresee problems brought about by a sweatshop expose pertaining to labor and factory conditions at production locations in Asia. This caused bad publicity and declining sales as society and consumers Opportunities Product development offers Nike many opportunities. The brand is fiercely defended by its owners whom truly believe that Nike is not a fashion brand. However, like it or not, consumers that wear Nike product do not always buy it to participate in sport. Some would argue that in youth culture especially, Nike is a fashion brand. This creates its own opportunities, since product could become unfashionable before it wears out i.e. consumers need to replace shoes. There is also the opportunity to develop products such as sport wear, sunglasses and jewellery. Such high value items do tend to have associated with them, high profits. The business could also be developed internationally, building upon its strong global brand recognition. There are many markets that have the disposable income to spend on high value sports goods. For example, emerging markets such as China and India have a new richer generation of consumers. There are also global marketing events that can be utilized to support the brand such as the World Cup (soccer) and The Olympics. (ynkamat, 2009) The brand is sternly defended by its owners who believe that Nike is not a fashion brand, however, a large number of consumers wear Nike product because they derive a fashion  trend  rather than to participate in a sport. It is mostly argued that in youth culture, Nike is a fashion brand which also creates  opportunities  for Nike since its products would become outdated before even the product wears out i.e. consumers will feel the need to replace the product with a newer  trend. There are many international regions that still need tapping and there is need for sportswear and with Nikes strong global brand recognition, it can initiate in many markets that have the disposable income to spend on high value sports goods. Nike gives a lot of effort on its corporate marketing mainly through the  promotion of  corporate brand  and sponsorship agreements. (Adam, 2009) Nike has an opportunity to capitalize on its own Nike Technology. This is a sensor placed in Nike footwear that interacts with Apples iPod to record the distance a runner has completed and the calories that have been burned. Another opportunity will be to capitalize on an endorsement deal with LeBorn James after his NBA playoffs and championship series appearances. Additionally, Tiger woods yearly attempt to win all four major Golf Tourments automatically allows Nike to build product campaigns around the Tournaments. (Robert N. Lussier, 2009) Threats Nike is exposed to the international nature of trade. It buys and sells in different currencies and so costs and margins are not stable over long periods of time. Such an exposure could mean that Nike may be manufacturing and/or selling at a loss. This is an issue that faces all global brands. The market for sports shoes and garments is very competitive. The model developed by Phil Knight in his Stamford Business School days (high value branded product manufactured at a low cost) is now commonly used and to an extent is no longer a basis for sustainable competitive advantage. Competitors are developing alternative brands to take away Nikes market share. As discussed above in weaknesses, the retail sector is becoming price competitive. This ultimately means that consumers are shopping around for a better deal. So if one store charges a price for a pair of sports shoes, the consumer could go to the store along the street to compare prices for the exactly the same item, and buy the cheaper of the two. Such consumer price sensitivity is a potential external threat to Nike. (ynkamat, 2009) Consumers are constantly shopping around for a better deal that conveys a good quality and if one store charges a higher price for the products, the consumer would try to seek a better deal of the same product in the premises that delivers the same value but cheaper of the two, this type of price sensitivity among the consumers is a potential threat to Nike. The textile industry unpleasantly upsets the atmosphere, and therefore the organization is constantly struggling to retain its eco-friendly reputation. A recession may lead to job shortages in most of Nikes worldwide branches. The organization has experienced many adverse publicity feedbacks due to its widespread advertising If you have a body, you are an athlete   Bill Bower man said this couple of decades ago. The guy was right. It defines how he viewed the world, and it defines how Nike pursues its destiny. Ours is a language of sports, a universally understood lexicon of passion and competition. A lot has happened at Nike in the 30 years (Adam, 2009) Specific threat is the contracts that Reebok (now part of Adidas) signed with the NBA and NFL for its apparel businesses. Another threat is the ongoing public relationship s problem pertaining to working environments in the factories producing Nike sneakers. Nike has striven to overcome images of sweatshop conditions, but the problem has been difficult to solve. (Robert N. Lussier, 2009) Porters five forces Source:http://www.google.co.in/images?hl=enq=porters+5+diagramum=1ie=UTF-8source=univei=8UhZTfaOCoXJrQfarcnuBwsa=Xoi=image_result_groupct=titleresnum=1ved=0CCIQsAQwAAbiw=1366bih=643 Potential Entrants Low Bargaining power of buyers High Bargaining power of suppliers Low Threats of substitutes Low Industries rivalry High Refer to appendix 1 CONCLUSION: SWOT analysis should always be measured by all companies as it helps show companies all their weaknesses and threats. At the same time it also shows what the companies strengths and opportunities. Using this analysis companies can spotlight on their good part of the business and focus more on the bad part to make it good. Also a company can see what factors are external or internal which helps the business in a long run to be more capable REFERENCES Adam, 2009. Nike SWOT Analysis. [Online] Available at: HYPERLINK http://www.mba-tutorials.com/marketing/240-nike-swot-analysis.html http://www.mba-tutorials.com/marketing/240-nike-swot-analysis.html [Accessed February 2011]. angeletti3, 2005. Nike versus Adidas Case Study and Competitive Analysis. [Online] Available at: HYPERLINK http://www.echeat.com/essay.php?t=27606 http://www.echeat.com/essay.php?t=27606 [Accessed February 2011]. Cuizon, G., 2009. Marketing Audit of Nikes Strategies. [Online] Available at: HYPERLINK http://www.suite101.com/content/marketing-audit-of-nikes-strategies-a94402 http://www.suite101.com/content/marketing-audit-of-nikes-strategies-a94402 [Accessed February 2011]. E, P.M., 1998. In Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors. Free Press. Gerry Johnson, K.S.W., 2008. In P. Education, ed. Exploring Corporate Strategy. 7th ed. Phil Knight, 2011. Company History. [Online] Available at: HYPERLINK http://www.nike.com/nikeihm/about/history.shtml http://www.nike.com/nikeihm/about/history.shtml . Robert N. Lussier, D.K., 2009. Applied Sport Management Skills. Human Kinetics. ynkamat, 2009. SWOT of Nike. [Online] Available at: HYPERLINK http://www.scribd.com/doc/13163456/swot-of-nike http://www.scribd.com/doc/13163456/swot-of-nike [Accessed February 2011].

Inequality and Global Environmental Crisis: Exploring Nexus

Inequality and Global Environmental Crisis: Exploring Nexus Introduction The planet today is at a crossroads with unrestrained consumption and production transgressing planetary thresholds, jeopardising the generativity of the earth and the social structures that are dependent on it (Magdoff Foster, 2011). A lot of environmentalists, scientists, business enterprises are all offering solution to the problem; green consumption, growth of capital markets, technocratic fixes etc. A closer examination indicates that most of these fixes elucidates an implicit optimism in the market mechanism and fails to â€Å"embed ecological challenges in tangible social realities†(Laurent, 2014) . The mainstream approaches to the environmental crisis attempt a symptomatic treatment of the issue and often fails to trace the root cause of the crisis. Understanding causation is essential to make a deeper sense of the question, â€Å"who produces what kind of socio-ecological configurations for whom† (Heynen, Kaika, and Swyngedouw 2006 pg.7). The mainstream or neo classical paradigm locates the origins of all environmental problems including climate change, to the absence of a well-functioning market for environmental goods. The source of environmental damage is that preferences for environmental goods are not revealed in market prices, and then the solution is to ensure that they are (O’Neill, 2001). When private and social costs diverge externalities arise. The term externality when used in mainstream language denotes that these factors are presumed to exist outside the purview of the system’s operation (Nadeau, 2010). Environmental externalities exist outside the purview of market and hence market prices fail to reflect the real cost of environmental damage. Thus it calls for internalising the externalities through tradable property rights or alternatively constructs shadow prices for environmental goods by ascertaining what individuals would pay for them, were there a market (O’Neill, 2001). Contrary to the neo classical conception markets are open systems that are integrated and embedded within the socio-ecological environments. The neo classical process of rationalisation involves artificial separation of different fields of human life and the narrow means end rationality fails to consider these dimensions in an integrated way (Lejano Stokols, 2013). International negotiations on climate change underplay the social costs embedded in the production process, there-by attempting only a symptomatic treatment of the issue. O’Neill 2001 argues that the origins of the environmental crisis can be traced back to the spread of market mechanisms and norms where they are completely inappropriate. The fundamental question the critics of the neo classical paradigm pose is, Can the structure which generated the environmental crisis find fixes within itself? Bookchin 1996 articulates that man’s relationship with nature reflects realities of social domination in the form of hierarchies, class, race among others. The failure of neoclassical economics is evident now with the world reeling under the twin crisis, economic and ecological. Foster 2008 argues that the mainstream fixes to ecological problems comprises of three automated responses namely â€Å"(1) technological bullets, (2) extending the market to all aspects of nature, and (3) creating what are intended as mere islands of preservation in a world of almost universal exploitation and destruction of natural habitats†. The Marxist argument directly links the production relation in the existing system of capitalism to the climate change phenomenon. Foster and Clark 2009 gives a convincing explanation for the crisis. In their language, the process of disrupting the metabolic relation of man with nature is called metabolic rift’. Metabolic rift creates a distance between the site of production and consumption. Mostly this widens the divide between urban-rural and centre-periphery, causing serious environmental hazards for bot h (Foster Clark, 2009). The ecological crisis according to Marxist argument is an inherent feature of the capitalist system which they believe is good at fermenting crisis. Environmental questions are all encompasses and all interconnected. Capitalism and its conceptualization of nature as an object separate from humankind opened the possibility of ecologically harmful methods of capitalist production. Beck 1992 argues that the modern society is a risk society and the social production of wealth is often accompanied by social production of risk. Most often the havoc wreaked by the capitalist accumulation remains unknown and is even passed on to generations. Inequalities in the form of class and strata, leads to springing up of social risk positions. (ibid). The diffusion and commercialisation of risks also creates winners who profit from the risk as well as losers who bear the costs associated with it (Beck, 1992; Boyce, 2013). The mainstream fixes of the global environmental crisis attempted within the system also typically create a group of winners who benefit and capitalise from the climate crisis. Disaster capitalism as it is popularly called precipitates disasters and employs these disasters as an opportunity to facilitate its expansion (Fletcher, 2012). The political economy of environmental degradation depicts a strong reciprocal and complex relation linking inequality and the environmental crisis. This is an outcome of the questions of class and other forms of socio economic inequality that is built into the current system of production and consumption (Magdoff Foster, 2011). Social and economic inequalities based on class race ethnicity and gender translates into environmental inequalities. Climate change, the most catastrophic form of environmental crisis was also manufactured in a concoction of socio economic inequalities generated by neo liberal exploitation and unjust appropriation of global carbon space by the developed countries. Per contra the hazards associated with climate change fluctuates rapidly among different social groups, falling disproportionately on the eco system communities, the working classes and the marginalised reflecting highly nonlinear relationship between climate and outcomes (Ribot, 2009). Szasz and Meuser 1997 notes that the distributional implications of the environmental crisis are juxtaposed on the existing coalitions of power and wealth, generated by ‘the normal workings of international political economy’. They depict â€Å"environmental inequalities as a necessary and inevitable facet of social inequalities embedded in the very fabric of modern societies† (ibid pg.113). Thus it can be argued that socio economic inequalities often act as a driver of the environmental crisis and this in turn aggravates the existing inequities and disturbs the societal resilience. On the contrary environmental crisis exacerbates and also creates new forms of inequality triggering dynamic social consequences (Laurent, 2014). Human well-being is contingent up on natural capital and eco system services. Rogers et al. 2012 puts it like this, â€Å"Key components of human well-being are dependent on well-functioning ecosystems and biosphere. Conversely maintaining a healthy environment and making the transition to environmental sustainability requires human societies that function well†. Hence it is of crucial importance to understand the process that create and contribute to the existence and sustenance of environmental inequalities. The ecological and the economic crisis the planet is reeling under today calls for a fresh perspective in economic thinking. It points to a complete failure of the traditional economic models obsessed with the religion of economic growth, the outcome of which is a system where inequalities are generated and perpetuated in a vicious circle. However it is crucial to understand the nexus or relation between inequalities and environmental degradation for the evolution of clear compelling and viable alternatives. The following section looks explicitly at this relationship and arrives at a framework that depicts how inequalities trigger environmental degradation and the resultant crisis on one hand and how the environmental crisis can exacerbate the existing inequalities and create new ones. Herein, the chapter locates the origin of current ecological crisis within the structural inequalities and resultant power differentials implicit in the current mode of production and consumption. The multiple entanglements between inequality and environmental degradation are examined to arrive at a comprehensive framework that depicts a vicious circle relationship where the former and the later mutually reinforce one another. How do inequalities lead to environmental degradation and the resultant crisis? The nexus between inequality and environmental degradation have been developed by the pioneering work of James.K.Boyce. He has an extensive array of work which exclusively explores the nexus between inequality and environmental degradation. He underpins that the quality of natural environment is a reflection of how power and wealth are distributed (Boyce, 2002, 2013). The mainstream environmental thinkers and scholars juxtapose nature to humans where environment is often treated as a subset of the economy. Contrary to the popular notion Boyce argues that humans are a part of nature and not apart from it. Environmental inequalities are an inevitable reflection of social inequalities embedded in the very fabric of a capitalist society. Hence it is of crucial importance to understand the dynamics of allocating the risks and benefits of environmental degradation. Boyce argues that environmentally degrading economic activities need to be analyses through three basic questions (Boyce, 201 3, p. 9). Who benefits or in other words who pollutes? Boyce argues that environmentally degrading activities typically creates winners who benefit from the activities and losers who bear the costs. The benefits from economic activities that generate environmental harm accrue to rich in the form of savings that accrue to the consumers in the form of cost externalisation since they consume more. For the producers the benefits accrue in the form of profits from cost externalisation (Boyce 2013:14). Inequalities in the form of income and class, among others fuels luxurious consumption patterns. In societies with higher levels of inequality, consumption is a means to seek social certification and status (Wisman, 2010). Pickett and Wilkinson 2010 notes that consumption decisions are triggered by pressures of status competition, often intensified by higher levels of inequality. Bourdieu describes consumption as a way for the higher social classes to distinguish themselves from the lower social classes (as cited in Gram-Hanssen, 2004). Bourdieu distinguishes between three types of classes the bourgeoisie, petit bourgeoisie and the working class. According to him â€Å"the taste of the bourgeoisie is closely connected with appreciating what requires much money (economic capital) or a high cultural competence (cultural capital) which other classes do not possess.The taste of the petit bourgeoisie is defined by their trying to emulate the taste and norms of the bourgeoisie whereas the taste of the working class is defined by the choice of necessity (ibid)†. Another feature of status competition is that it biases consumption in favour of private goods as opposed to public ones such as quality of the environment. [i]A lot of popular approaches link poverty to environmental degradation where the poor degrade the environment in their quest to survive. Thus the capitalist fix for the problem calls for more economic growth to uplift the poor ,the benefits of which does not often trickle done and leads to further degradation as humanity so far has not been able to isolate growth from its negative environmental effects (Wisman, 2010). Boyce depicts that if the amount of degradation per dollar were roughly the same for both groups, the richest 20 percent of the world’s people would account for 140 times as much environmental degradation as the poorest 20 percent (Boyce, 2002, p. 6). Thus it can be argued that socio economic inequality remains at the core of unsustainable consumption patterns that are energy and resource intensive (Rogers et al., 2012). The debates on sustainable consumption are dominated by powerful actors who still propagate the agenda that sustainability is compatible with increasing levels of consumption made possible by technological innovations. The absolute reductions in consumption patterns are often put off the table by powerful actors â€Å"who set the agendas and influence people’s behaviour options and their impacts†(Fuchs et al., 2015). Thus the rationale for altered consumption patterns and lifestyle is often underplayed, which puts excessive pressure on the current resource base of the planet. Who bears the cost? The very existence of socio economic inequalities renders as invisible certain groups of people. Schlosberg, 2012 notes that mal recognition promotes distributive injustices on the line of class, race, income, gender etc. When people are not recognised and their voices muted, they lose control over their own lives. Ribot, 2009 notes that the impact of a similar climate hazard varies considerably among different groups of people at the same time. Thus vulnerability to environmental change inherently exists within the system or the communities who are exposed to it. Inherent vulnerability is an outcome of underlying political economy that determines assets and patterns of access (Brooks, 2003). Sen and Nussbaum develops this notion further through the capabilities approach which focuses not only distributive inequities but also capacity to lead functioning lives (Schlosberg, 2012).Wisner, Blaikie, Cannon, Davis, 2003 notes that socio economic exclusion and marginalisation renders acce ss to livelihoods and resources that are insecure and unrewarding. Socio economic inequalities thus determines the inherent vulnerability of as system or social vulnerability defined as â€Å"those properties of a system independent of the hazard(s) to which it is exposed, that mediate the outcome of a hazard event† (Brooks, 2003, p. 5). The vulnerability associated with a natural hazard is produced when social vulnerability acts upon a triggering natural event and hence it becomes a determinant of bio physical vulnerability. Thus as Laurent, 2014 notes â€Å"inequality acts as a multiplier of social damage caused by environmental shocks†. Why is it so? The politics of risk transfer The history of risk distribution shows that like wealth risks also adheres to the class pattern; only inversely wealth accumulates at the top risk at the bottom. Newell, 2005 notes that environmental bads are distributed along the rooted structures of socio economic inequality along the lines of race, class, gender etc. The difference between the winners and the losers is attributed to power differentials. With greater inequality in the distribution of power those agents with more power are able to impose high external costs on those with less power and this there by affect the slice of the pollution pie as well as how it is sliced. Bullard depicts this clearly in his pioneering work on environmental justice â€Å"Dumping in the Dixie†(Bullard, 2000). For e.g. he shows that out of 8 garbage incinerators in Houston 6 were in black neighbourhoods and one in a Hispanic neighbourhood. All the 5 landfills in the city were also located in black neighbourhoods. He contends that sitin g decisions merely followed the path of least resistance. â€Å"The unequal sharing of benefit and burden engenders feelings of unfair treatment and reinforces racial and class distinction† (Bullard, 2000, p. 88). Boyce explains this with the help of â€Å"power-weighted social decision rule†. â€Å"When the winners are powerful relative to the losers, more environmental degradation occurs than in the reverse situation†(Boyce, 2013, p. 38). The greater the inequality of power, greater will be the social cost of environmental degradation. The process of risk transfer where the costs of environmental degradation are passed on to those who are not responsible for it is conditioned through differences in power often made possible through state intervention. Boyce depicts this as differences in purchasing power and political power which are often correlated with one another. Both these forms of power render it impossible to arrive at the optimum level of pollution prescribed by the cost benefit analysis (ibid). Besides a clean and safe environment is not a pure public good and it is also possible to purchase private insulation from public bad using the clout of purchasing and political power. Beck puts it like this, â€Å"Exponential growth of risks, impossibility of escaping them, political abstinence and the announcement and sale of private escape opportunities condition one another†. The costs to the losers are sim ply ignored by the winners who pursue the activity as long as it remains privately beneficial for them to do so, i.e. as long as they are not held accountable. Thus as Laurent, 2014 notes inequality renders the rich unaccountable for their actions by creating conducive conditions for transferring the associated environmental damages to the poor and the powerless. Environmental crisis and Inequalities The link between environmental crisis and inequalities can be examined through the notion of strong sustainability which highlights the limited substitutability of natural capital for human existence and well-being, in a unique way such that it cannot be replaced by any other forms of capital (Ekins, Simon, Deutsch, Folke, De Groot, 2003; Pelenc, Lompo, Ballet, Dubois, 2013). Ekins et al., 2003 et al depicts these contributions in the form of resources provided by the ecosystem components, life support and regulation functions that maintain stability and resilience, as well as a sink for absorption of waste from human activities. This leads to a concept of Critical Natural Capital that performs essential eco system services to present and future wellbeing characterised by its irreversibility when thresholds are crossed provoking an ecological crisis (Pelenc, 2010). Brand, 2009 notes that nature constitutes an integral part of the socio cultural identity for many indigenous communit ies and social groups often entwined with their food and livelihood security. The environmental crisis like climate change disproportionately affects those communities who are directly dependant on eco system services. Hence erosion of eco system services through its unsustainable use and degradation could lead to loss of capabilities for present generations and to some extend future generations. Thus environment crisis primarily impairs the socio ecological resilience of resource dependent communities. The welfare impact of erosion of ecosystem services as an outcome of the environmental crisis is mediated through existing power relations where certain actors can mobilise certain endowments to make effective use of some others. (eg.when rainfall decreases the rich farmers can invest capital and artificially irrigate their land through sprinklers etc.) Anu Kapur opinions that â€Å"Vulnerability is like a leak that allows forces agents and processes to break in and thus impact† (Kapur, 2008, p. 196). Environmnetal degradation or environmental crisis acts on the inherent vulnerability in a place, community or social group there by acting as a crisis catalyst.â€Å"Any weakness is susceptible to exploitation. Natural forces can roam and rein free in a land where people are disadvantaged† (Kapur, 2008, p. 205). Boyce, 2013 argues that unequal vulnerabilities before and during a disaster often continue to play out in the period of disaster. After a disaster they have great difficulty in recovering from disasters due to less insurance,lower incomes,fewer savings,unemployment,access to resources etc.(ibid).When evaluated through the cost benefit analysis lens, public policies place a lower priority on less valuable people and their assets. Thus the resilience capacity of any social group or population is not determined just by external factors such as disasters or climate shocks but the regenerative capacity of a social or an ecological system as defined by socio economic and political conditions (Ribot, 2009). Adaptation and mitigation strategies following an environmental crisis places more value on the assets of the rich and powerful. When the costs of climate protection are measured by â€Å"willingness to pay† approaches the whole issue burns down to a question of haves and have not’s. Willingness to pay is contingent on ability to pay and hence the preferences revealed in the market need not necessarily depict the preferences for environmental quality. Boyce illustrates this with a striking example (Boyce, 2014). He proposes an imaginary solution will cause world incomes to fall by 25%. For the majority of the marginalised and the poor who live on one dollar a day it leads to a loss of mere 25 cents. However this small amount entails a question of survival for them. On the other hand a real estate baron with an income of about $2000 per day will lose 500 $ daily. In monetary terms the loss is much higher for the baron and thus traditional economic models will be biased t owards protecting the baron’s interest because it rests on logic of economic efficiency that counts each dollar equally. Boyce argues that this attitude was visible brutally in the 1992 memorandum signed by Lawrence Summers ,then chief economist of the world bank when he stated that the economic logic of dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest-wage country is impeccable and we should face up to that. The ecological crisis also mystifies inequalities on ground through the emergence of new market fixes for the same. Termed as disaster capitalism by Naomi Klein it is defined by her as orchestrated raids on the public sphere in the wake of catastrophic events combined with treatment of disasters as exciting market opportunities (Klein, 2007). Neo liberal policies seek to harness crisis as opportunities for continued economic expansion. The neo liberal fixes for the ecological crisis includes commodification of nature, privatisation of state controlled resources, restricting participation of local communities by transferring governance to non-state actors, increased exploitation of dwindling natural resource for short term profits etc. (Naidu Panayiotis, 2010). Termed as accumulation by dispossession by Harvey, solution to the environmental crisis promotes exclusion by alienating the minority of their rights to use nature (ibid). Beck, 1992 argues that in the risk society, risk thems elves becomes big business opportunities. As the environmental crisis enfolds we see these patterns emerging. For e.g. under the name of CDM we see the developed countries displacing or transferring their emissions to poorer societies by paying the latter to reduce their own emissions. Neo liberal capitalism has succeeded in commodifying not just environment but also environmental concern in the form of green economy, green consumerism, and carbon markets to address climate change among others. Thus as Laurent argues contemporary ecological crisis poses a severe threat to social justice through the rise of environmental inequalities (Laurent, 2014). [i] This aspect is discussed in detail in Chapter 2. Abenomics: Summary and Analysis Abenomics: Summary and Analysis Introduction Japans fares rate a month ago at the quickest yearly rate in more than two years. The weaker yen additionally helped the vitality overwhelming import bill, despite the fact that the rose 10 for every penny from a year prior, economists said the net impact of the yens retreat stayed positive, in light of the fact that higher fare incomes decipher into higher exporter income and hence more financing and laborers rewards. Japans stock exchange is overwhelming on sending out, The Prime Minister Abes administration additionally trusts that the fare windfall will shore up general business and customer trust. This is approach to mean to haul Japan out of its liquidity trap and end about two decades’ years of monetary stagnation and flattening. This article will talk about foundation and adequacy of Abenomics and how the Japanese government ought to take care of this issue. The Prime Minister Shinzo Abe recommended monetary strategies which are called as Abenomics. Abenomics has three (3) shafts; An enormous financial jolt, More forceful fiscal moving from the Bank of Japan and Structural changes to support Japans intensity. (B. Mclannahan, B. Haslett and K. Carnie, 2013). What is Abenomics? The financial strategies that Abe backings incorporate a forceful set of money related, monetary, and structural changes intended for impelling swelling and hauling Japan out of its decades-long deflationary droop. The expansive objective is to help yearly GDP development, which right now remains at 2 percent, and raise expansion to 2 percent through fleeting boost using, money related moving, and changes that will support household work markets and expand exchange associations. Emulating the takeoff of previous national bank senator Masaaki Shirakawa, Japans national bank set an expansion focus of 2 percent in January 2013, which it swore to accomplish through quantitative maneuvering that would purchase up for the most part fleeting government obligation in an advantage buy arrange because of begin in 2014. Haruhiko Kuroda, a defender of forceful maneuvering strategies, was introduced in February 2013 as the new leader of the national bank in a move that Abe roundly touted as an administration change at the BOJ. Abe additionally requested a weighty 10.3 trillion yen fleeting jolt bundle, affirmed by the bureau in January 2013, which will run to framework ventures with a concentrate on building scaffolds, shafts, and quake safe streets. Around a third of the bundle, which is Japans second-biggest ever, is reserved to invigorate private financing, including steps to push clean vitality. Abe advertised in October 2013 that he would bring the utilization expense up in April 2014 from 5 percent to 8 percent; this is anticipated to expand to 10 percent in 2015. Some expect that the ascent could end recuperation, as higher costs havent yet been matched by higher wages. The International Monetary Fund cautioned that Japanese monetary development would moderate from 2 percent to 1.2 percent in 2014 because of the trek. While fiscal and financial strategies will do the majority of the overwhelming lifting in the short term, structural changes, which the BOJ has contended are long past due, will be the long haul linchpin of Abes arrangements. Japans alarming demographic scene the number of inhabitants in Japanese laborers between ages fifteen and sixty-four has shrunk by 6 percent in the previous decade—has been one of the biggest guilty parties in hampering development. Activities to check this pattern incorporate empowering more prominent female support in the workforce by embracing more extensive tyke forethought help strategies. Abes legislature has likewise laid out particular activities to redesign regulations in key segments like, nature, and social insurance. In October 2013, Japans parliament started debating the third shaft of its financial arrangement, albeit a few themes, including Japans work laws and medicinal protection, will probably be left off the table. As a few commercial ventures with critical political clout have passionately dissented against Japans support. The horticulture business, for example, has contended that the division would take a hit from outside rivalry because of the evacuation of high taxes and other defensive measures on imports. Some human services suppliers have additionally whined that Japans national wellbeing protection framework would be unfavorably influenced as the TPP would constrain Japanese nationals to purchase remote delivered pharmaceuticals and therapeutic gadgets. Regardless of these residential sensitivities, Abe in any case demanded that Japan required exploiting the last risk it needed to remain an investment control in. Recognize that the presumption of r = r* was dropped, which is a mathematical statement for a little economy that cant impact the world investment rate. As Japan is the third biggest economy on the planet, the suspicion that it has little impact on the world money related business sector must be dropped. Hence, the investment rate was dealt with as an endogenous variable. Accordingly, LM bend got a positive incline, as opposed to being vertical. As a matter of first importance, the Bank of Japan is focusing on a 2% CPI swelling rate and expanding the cash supply coursing in the economy by purchasing different budgetary stakes, for example, the legislature security, which is basically financial extension policy. It could be said that this inconclusive quantitative maneuvering is the center of Abenomics. On the diagram over, the expand in the cash supply moves the LM bend to the right, raising the pay from Y1 to Y2, and bringing down the genuine premium rate from r1 to r2. The decline in the genuine investment rate then builds the net capital surge as is shown on the second diagram. As the net capital outpouring builds from Cf1 to Cf2, the supply of Japanese yen in the business sector for remote trade expands. The swapping scale tumbles from e1 to e2, deteriorating the Japanese yen. This makes the Japanese merchandise moderately less expensive to remote products and the net fare climbs from Nx1 to Nx2. There are two channels for this system. In the first place, as the money related extension brings down the premium rate, this invigorates the speculation. Second, as the fiscal arrangement causes the money to devalue in the business sector for remote trade, this empowers net fares. The three arrows Abenomics incorporates a financial administration shift, monetary boost measures, and structural changes, otherwise called the three arrows. Early success of the first arrow Abenomics first bolt forceful money related maneuvering with swelling focusing on has been on target and working astoundingly well. It began to have a positive effect on the Japanese economy well before the Bank of Japan advertised strong qualitative and quantitative maneuvering in April 2013 as an intends to attain its swelling focus of 2%. It was striking that relentless talk of these arrangements changed speculator desires even without cash market intercession. Between November 2012 and spring 2013, the yen deteriorated by 20% against the US dollar and stock costs climbed by half. The resultant riches impact from higher stock costs supported utilization for the first and second quarters of 2013. Today, the yen/US dollar swapping scale stays at around 100 yen, an agreeable level for Japans exporters. Fiscal policy challenge: Second arrow The second shaft, adaptable financial approach, in spite of the fact that additionally on target, has been all the more difficult. It would have been composed as a brisk fix to lift the economy out of flattening, notwithstanding Japans disintegrating sovereign obligation circumstance. Japans horrible open obligation is in excess of 200% of the nations terrible local item and its monetary shortfalls have been approaching a disturbing half of government plan. With the Japanese government effectively one of the leanest amongst created economies, the nation would need to depend predominantly on expense expands to guarantee financial maintainability in the medium term. The second bolt is testing in light of the fact that it includes a transitory expand in government using to attain a lasting duty trek for financial combination. In the first and second quarters of 2013, Japan upped its monetary consumptions. Together with the first shaft, the nations investment development rate was briefly helped to a lively 4% in the second quarter of 2013. The quicker development rate made expense expands more worthy to the Japanese open. In October 2013, Mr. Abe chose to proceed with a utilization expense expand from 5% to 10% in two stages by 2015. To pad the effect of the first stage 3% utilization expense expands in April 2014, Japans Cabinet sanctions an extra $53 billion in financial jolt in December 2013. Source: International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database, October 2012. Third arrow yet to be released (structural changes) This is the most shapeless a piece of the method and the most hard to establish in this present reality as genuine structural changes include gigantic migration. Japan experiences a declining conception rate – each Japanese lady creates 1.36 kids on normal, well underneath substitution rate. To keep on making the same welfare installments to the maturing Japanese workforce over the impending decade, Japan needs 16m foreigners. At present, net migration as indicated by the World Bank is around 70,000 a year. Whats more even in the impossible occasion that Japan gets to be altogether less separate and additionally inviting to mass migration, the British test shows that those 16m specialists will likely accompany a further 16m wards, making a cyclical requirement for more movement to blanket the qualifications of the new outsiders. The Japanese open have demonstrated no voracity for mass migration in this way, nor for monstrous families, and I uncertainty a whole lot that they wi ll do so now whatever the long haul budgetary results. Problems and Risks Associated with Abenomics There is a climbing incredulity towards whether Abenomics would truly revitalize the Japanese economy as the conversion scale acknowledged breaking the 100 JPY/USD limit and as Nikkei Index smashed. Despite the fact that, hypothetically, Abenomics has a sound Keynesian foundation, a lot of people are bringing up the way that it is excessively centered around the interest side of its economy, not on the supply side. One of the principal issues that Japan is confronting is its maturing populace. As the populace pyramid gets rearranged, the work populace is contracting consistently. This achieves number of issues for the Japanese economy. To start with, the administration responsibility in using on annuities, restorative costs and government managed savings will persistently go about as a generous trouble to the effectively obliged nation with an open obligation of 240% its GDP. This will further compound the money related trustworthiness of the Japanese government prompting a disintegration of universal certainty in Japanese economy. This would bother the circumstances and bring down the aggregate wage in the Japanese economy. This then would incite the premium rates to discourage the costs of budgetary holdings, which will then decrease the guarantee being utilized as bank advances. Therefore, this will prompt fiscal issues for Japan, further intensifying the issues. Also, its diminishing workforce cant maintain the monetary yield level that is kept up in the future. As it is demonstrated on the information, the demography will definitely change so more youngsters will need to backing for the more established populace, which intimates that this change in demography is the fundamental offender throughout the previous two many years of emptying and stagnant financial growth. This has an alternate ramifications to why the shopper interest may be falling behind. There is an alternate danger connected with Abenomics. As the yen deteriorates, net fare expands as down home items gets less expensive abroad; then again, imports get more unreasonable. This is a huge issue for Japan as following the time when the Fukushima atomic debacle, the saying vitality emergencys was waiting around the Japanese daily papers for two years. As Japanese open declined to utilize atomic force, the Japanese government needed to turn to more costly foreign made vitality, for example, LPG, oil and naphtha, expanding the month to month estimation of Japanese vitality imports from 1.4 trillion yen to 2.2 trillion yen. This could crumble the aggressiveness of Japanese organizations, as vitality costs go up. Moreover, fare represents just something like 14% of its economy. So the center of Abenomics ought to be so as to restore the household economy, not through fare. The build in vitality costs could raise the down home customer costs without really enhancing the wage o f the Japanese firms and shoppers. Consequently, there is a danger towards Abenomics in that costly vitality imports will drag the Japanese economy into an alternate lost decade. Conclusion Taking everything into account, Abenomics is a sound Keynesian arrangement that could spare the Japanese economy from emptying. The Mundell-Fleming Model was utilized to represent the financial hypothesis behind Abenomics. Then again, there were significant dangers connected with Abenomics, for example, the maturing populace, poor gainfulness and the vitality emergency. The way to accomplishment for Abenomics would be subject to whether the Japanese government adequately deals with these dangers and faces the basic changes that would enhance the supply side of its economy. Abenomics first and second bolts have put the Japanese economy solidly on the way to recuperation. The nation is currently anticipating the arrival of the third shaft. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics supplement the Abenomics technique by displaying a brilliant chance to take care of Japans obligation maintainable quality issue. In the event that the Japanese government is shrewd to build utilization charges before the 2020 Olympics, then the obligation issue that began after the 1964 Olympic Games might be ceased in 2020.