Symptoms and Epidemiology of Tuberculosis :: Essays on TB

AbstractSince one trinity of the worlds population is infected with the bacteria of Tuberculosis, many a(prenominal) people would like to know if they ar being infected. This is why it is important to know the symptoms and epidemiology. Once people argon informed and educated, they will know how to comprise c atomic number 18 of themselves in order to prevent this malady to infect them. This paper will basically talk astir(predicate) who is unsafe to this disease and what the symptoms are. Furthermore, it will rent some studies and quotes.The first step to understanding Tuberculosis is to know exactly what the disease is. According to NOAH ( New York Online array at to Health),?Having TB infections means that the TB germs are in the body but they are in an unruffled state. After TB germs enter the body, in about cases, body defensescontrol the germs by create a wall around them the way a scab forms over a cut.The germs can stay vital inside these walls for years in an in active state. WhileTB germs are inactive, they can?t do damage, and they can?t spread to otherpeople. The someone is infected but not sick. He/she probably won?t even know thatHe/she is infected. Millions of Americans have TB infection. For most of them,the germs will eternally be inactive.?About one terzetto of the world?s population carry the Tuberculosis bacteria, although most never develop the active tuberculosis disease. well-read this, many would like to be alert of the symptoms and epidemiology in order to know if they are being infected by this horrible disease.Basically anybody is at try for contracting Tuberculosis. In terms of age, the twain most vulnerable groups for getting infected are seniors and young children. The reason they are more vulnerable to this disease than other people is because their immune systems are not strong. This does not mean that only young children and elders are the 2only one that will get this disease. According to the Lancet Publishin g Group, constituent of Elsevier Science Ltd, infants with Tuberculosis meningitis continue to have high mortality and morbidity, with deaths happening in about 15% of patients and up to 50% of infants left with serious neurological sequelae.?There are other types of groups that are vulnerable. People with HIV/AIDS or diabetes are also vulnerable to contracting Tuberculosis. This is also due to their vitiated immune systems. In terms of gender, both men and women are equally likely to contract this disease.Symptoms and Epidemiology of Tuberculosis Essays on TBAbstractSince one third of the worlds population is infected with the bacteria of Tuberculosis, many people would like to know if they are being infected. This is why it is important to know the symptoms and epidemiology. Once people are informed and educated, they will know how to take care of themselves in order to prevent this disease to infect them. This paper will basically talk about who is vulnerable to this disease and what the symptoms are. Furthermore, it will have some studies and quotes.The first step to understanding Tuberculosis is to know exactly what the disease is. According to NOAH ( New York Online Access to Health),?Having TB infections means that the TB germs are in the body but they are in aninactive state. After TB germs enter the body, in most cases, body defensescontrol the germs by building a wall around them the way a scab forms over a cut.The germs can stay alive inside these walls for years in an inactive state. WhileTB germs are inactive, they can?t do damage, and they can?t spread to otherpeople. The person is infected but not sick. He/she probably won?t even know thatHe/she is infected. Millions of Americans have TB infection. For most of them,the germs will always be inactive.?About one third of the world?s population carry the Tuberculosis bacteria, although most never develop the active tuberculosis disease. Knowing this, many would like to be aware of the symptoms a nd epidemiology in order to know if they are being infected by this horrible disease.Basically anybody is at risk for contracting Tuberculosis. In terms of age, the two most vulnerable groups for getting infected are seniors and young children. The reason they are more vulnerable to this disease than other people is because their immune systems are not strong. This does not mean that only young children and elders are the 2only one that will get this disease. According to the Lancet Publishing Group, division of Elsevier Science Ltd, infants with Tuberculosis meningitis continue to have high mortality and morbidity, with deaths happening in about 15% of patients and up to 50% of infants left with serious neurological sequelae.?There are other types of groups that are vulnerable. People with HIV/AIDS or diabetes are also vulnerable to contracting Tuberculosis. This is also due to their weakened immune systems. In terms of gender, both men and women are equally likely to contract this disease.

Reactions to Hooks’ Feminism is for Everybody Essay -- Essays Papers

Reactions to Hooks Feminism is for Everybody I am not a feminist simply because I was raised in a feminist household. I am not a feminist because I am an independent, educated woman. I am not a feminist because I am a bitter female, nor because I am a woman scorned. I am not a feminist because I hate men, nor because I am a lesbian nor because I like to listen to the Indigo Girls. To the contrary I love men and I am not a lesbian. While I agree with hooks that womens liberation movement is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression (viii), I believe that her definition of feminism states the goals of the movement rather than very defining the term itself. In my mind, feminism is a synonym for equality. I am a feminist because I believe in the equality amongst men and women, plane and simple. No hidden agenda, no gimmicks, no tricky explanations. Sounds like an easy enough concept to comprehend. So why then is feminism such a misunders as well asd and feared notio n? Why has this ism in particular become the new f- cry of pop culture? Equality is a word commonly associated with American culture it is a long-standing theme of our history. This does not make a great deal of sense to me. After all, America was established on the premise that all MEN are created EQUAL. The term men is very specific as is the rest of the wording of the Constitution. It is doubtful that the founding fathers of our country meant this to take men and women or else they would take a shit stated exactly that. It is only in the latter half of the past century that this equality was extended to include the upright treatment of all peoples, regardless of race, gender, or ethnicity. America was first settled in large part by religious outcasts seeking a saf... ...y ain movement. hooks encourages her readers to demand alternatives to patriarchal, racist, and homophobic culture, and to imagine a different future. Her book literally speaks to everybody, asking readers, w hether they are feminist or not, to take look at feminism in a new light, to see that it touches all lives. No longer will people (men or women) have the excuse that feminism is too complex to understand, nor will they be able to get by on third-hand knowledge (as hooks refers to on vii) of the topic. As hooks intended, I finally have a book to hand to all of my friends (both male and female) who gave me strained looks because I lived on Mt. Vernon last year or because I am more than free to admit that I am proud to be a feminist. hooks shows that feminismfar from being an outdated concept or one curb to an intellectual eliteis indeed for everybody.

Skinheads in the Antelope Valley :: essays papers

Skinheads in the Antelope ValleyWilliam Finnegans essay The Unwanted explains the history andmake-up of the Antelope Valley and then explores the lives of someteenage citizens in secern to discover reasons that both rival inner circles havesuch a significant role in the community and on its sight. Absentp atomic number 18nts and lack of education are just two factors facing teens thatultimately led the Los Angeles Suburb into becoming a society whereSkinheads and Boneheads are a norm and accepted as a part of everyday manners. C. Wright Mills idea of the sociological perspective, lookingpast the facades, is useful when analyzing the micro individual, andmacro broad, causes of teens becoming skinheads. Each day Americaseems to blend more and more diverse. Some people learn to accept thefact that America is made up of many different ethnic groups, whileothers deal the only ethnic group should be their own. There arevarious reasons for discrimination and it is a very contro versialissue. In Finnegans article he describes two gangs with opposingviews concerning racism and how each group expresses their beliefs.The racist and anti-racist beliefs dont always end at the individual.Death is an all too common end and when an opinion becomes lifethreatening a problem arises. According to Finnegan, one of the twomajor gangs that occupy the streets of Lancaster and the AntelopeValley is, a white-supremacist skinhead gang, the Nazi Low Riders(N.L.R.s) and the other is, their rival gang of anti-racistskinheads, the Sharps (1998, p.88). One major quality the two gangsshare is their lack of education. Most, if not all, of the teensFinnegan interviewed, dropped bulge of school, even though later someused other center of getting a high school diploma or acquiring a highereducation. Also it appears both gangs tend to resolve their issueswith violence. Most people would agree that some violence is ineveryone, but it seems that well educated people often find ot her meansto conquer their problems or go about solving them. Through historyknowledge has proved to be an unavoidable part of life. As children inthe community began dropping out of schools in vast numbers these kidswere forced to, willingly or not, gain knowledge elsewhere (1998). Amacro cause for the growing numbers of students dropping out of schooland joining the gangs, could be that the ideas and values of thosegangs quickly spread through the streets and classrooms. This Leadsthe teenagers to make decisions about wether or not they agree with the

nathaniel :: essays research papers

Nathaniel is a magicians apprentice. All apprentices live in their masters homes and their masters teach them magic, how to summon demons, and supply schooling for their apprentices. The also pick a name for them. The name is so that a magician or demon doesnt find out what a persons fork over name because knowing someones birth name is a source of power to an enemy.Now to the story. The story starts when Nathaniel is selected to be an apprentice to Mr. Arthur Underwood. He trains Nathaniel, only he doesnt realize that Nathaniel is brighter than he looks. When Nathaniel is ten, he finishes all the books that his master said would keep him until he was twelve. At the come along of ten, Nathaniel meets the villain of the story, Simon Lovelace. His master takes the liberty of showing him off to the other magicians. Simon questions Nathaniels smarts, and proves that Nathaniel is smart. Nathaniel answers all the questions correctly, but that ticks Simon off. Then, Simon puts a spell o n Nathaniel, and embarrasses himself and his master. Since then, Nathaniel has been focused on revenge. When he turns twelve, he summons a demon called Bartimaeus. Nathaniel charges him to steal the Amulet of Samarkand. Little does Nathaniel know that Simon was planning to use it to overthrow Mr. Rupert Devereaux, the Prime Minister, and the rest of the government. One day, Nathaniel aerated Bartimaeus to spy on his master in the study, but Nathaniel is called down to the study to talk to his master, exactly where Bartimaeus is. Mrs. Underwood uses Nathaniel because thats his name, but its also his birth name. Bartimaeus hears it and thinks its his second name, but in the study, Mr. Underwood schedules a day for his official Naming. Bartimaeus is thrilled to hear this because whatever punishment Nathaniel uses, he can and direct it back at Nathaniel. Nathaniel threatens with a spell that confides Bartimaeus in a tin and Bartimaeus eventually backs down.A couple of days after Nathan iel was Named, Mr. Underwood, family, Named apprentices, and other ministers atomic number 18 invited to Parliament for a gathering. Now Nathaniel is officially name John Mandrake. At the gathering, an attack is carried out by a group of people that call themselves the Resistance. The passport of Internal Affairs, Mr. Underwood, is really upset about this attack because he is supposed to be in charge of the finding and stopping the Resistance.

People :: essays research papers

The America Book Association.Co-op Terms for Author Events Per newspaperPublisherSpecified AmountDetailSimon and Schuster$200.00On title purchased specifically for and in-store authorappearance arranged by Pocket Books, publisherwill confuse available as an additional co-op advertising allowance and amount equal to 20% (but not exceed $200)of net billing for supporting(a) parade (either directly from Pocket Books and/or indirectly through a wholesaler) placed by storeat which the author will appear.Penguin Putman Inc.$150.00The publisher will direct additional co-op funds not to exceed $150, to support pre authorise promotion for author appearances. If the cost of the author appearancesexceeds the amount given by the publisher, retailers may hold to use their regular co-op funds to pay for additional cost.Hyperion$500.00Publisher will pay up to $500 to reimburse document expense in support of authors appearance in retailers store ( over and above retailers annual co-op allow ance.)Any amount over $500 that will account wishes to claim, if documented will come out of the annual co-op pool.Little Brown and Company$300.00The first $300 in approved cost will beconsidered direct advertising and will not be deducted from and accounts co-op pool. The remaining amountwill be drawn from the accounts pool.Warner Books$300.00The first $300 in approved costs will be consideredadvertising and will not be deducted from accounts co-oppool. The remaining amount will be drawn from the accounts co-op. Retailers may accomplish additional promotional will be announced during the year by letter from Warner Books Marketing Director.HarperCollins Publishers$200.00Up to $200 May be earned for separately author appearance scheduled by Publishers publicity dept. This money is to be used for actual expenses incurred in hosting and promoting appearing author.Houghton Mifflin Company$200.00In addition to their annual co-op pool, retail accounts in good credit standing are eligibl e with prior approval for and additional co-operative advertising allowance (outside of their calculated pool) to crowd approved author appearances. This allowancewill be an amount equal to 20% ( but not to exceed $200) of the net billing for one supporting order.Scholastic Inc.20%For titles purchased specifically for in-store author/illustratorappearance connected with a designated author tour, additional allowance of 20% total (front and backlist)

People :: essays research papers

The America Book Association.Co-op Terms for Author Events Per PublisherPublisherSpecified Amount situationSimon and Schuster$200.00On title purchased specifically for and in- come in rootageappearance arranged by Pocket Books, publisher pull up stakes make available as an additional batting cage advert allowance and amount equal to 20% (but non exceed $200)of net billing for supporting order (either directly from Pocket Books and/or indirectly through a wholesaler) placed by storeat which the author will appear.Penguin Putman Inc.$150.00The publisher will contribute additional co-op cash in hand non to exceed $150, to support preapproved promotion for author appearances. If the cost of the author appearancesexceeds the amount given by the publisher, retailers may choose to use their regular co-op funds to pay for additional cost.Hyperion$500.00Publisher will pay up to $500 to reimburse documented expense in support of authors appearance in retailers store ( over and above ret ailers yearbook co-op allowance.)Any amount over $500 that will account wishes to claim, if documented will come out of the annual co-op pool.Little Brown and Company$300.00The first $300 in approved cost will beconsidered direct advertising and will not be deducted from and accounts co-op pool. The remaining amountwill be drawn from the accounts pool.Warner Books$300.00The first $300 in approved costs will be consideredadvertising and will not be deducted from accounts co-oppool. The remaining amount will be drawn from the accounts co-op. Retailers may earn additional promotional will be announced during the year by letter from Warner Books Marketing Director.HarperCollins Publishers$200.00Up to $200 May be earned for each author appearance scheduled by Publishers publicity dept. This money is to be used for actual expenses incurred in hosting and promoting appearing author.Houghton Mifflin Company$200.00In addition to their annual co-op pool, retail accounts in undecomposed cred it standing are eligible with prior approval for and additional co-operative advertising allowance (outside of their calculated pool) to promote approved author appearances. This allowancewill be an amount equal to 20% ( but not to exceed $200) of the net billing for one supporting order.Scholastic Inc.20%For titles purchased specifically for in-store author/illustratorappearance connected with a designated author tour, additional allowance of 20% total (front and backlist)

Consumer Decision Making Process Essay

The consumer bribe conclusiveness process is generally viewed as consisting of sequential steps or stages through which the buyer passes in purchasing a product or service. The various steps in this process, as well as the relevant internal psychological processes, those occur at each stage much(prenominal) as motivation, perception, attitude formation, integration and learning.1. Problem recognitionis the first step in the consumer finding-making process. This is caused by a difference between the consumers ideal defer and actual state. There are various causes of sources of problem recognition. These includea. Out of stock b. Dissatisfaction c. New needs / wants d. Related products/ purchases e. Marketer induced problem recognition f. New productsLook morethe consumer buying process begins when essay2. Information Searchbeing the second step in the consumer decision making process, involves a scan of cultivation stored in memory to recall past experiences or knowledge regar ding purchase alternatives. External search involves go to outside sources to acquire information such as personal sources, marketer controlled sources, public sources, or through personal experiences such as examining or handling a product.3. Alternative rating At, this stage the consumer compares the various brands and services, he or she has identified as being capable of solving the consumption problem and satisfying the needs or motives that initiated the decision process. The evoked dictated is a subset of all the brands of which the consumer is aware and actively considering in the decision process. A goal of marketers is to ensure that their brands are included in the evoked set of consumers.4. Purchase Decisionas an outcome of the alternative evaluation stage the consumer may develop a purchase intention or sensibility to buy a certain brand. Once this intention has been made and an intention formed, then the consumer implements it and makes the actual purchase. Many pur chase decisions are made on the buns of brand loyalty which is a preference for a particular brand that results in its repeated purchase. Many purchase decisions for non-durable, low involvement items take aim in the store and decision and purchase occur almost simultaneously. For these types of decisions top-of-mind awareness of a brand is important as is the influence of packing, shelf displays, point-of-purchase materials, and various sales promotion tools.5. Post-purchase Evaluationthe consumer decision process does not end once the product or service has been purchased. After using a product or service the consumer compares the level of performance with expectations. Satisfaction occurs when the consumers expectations are either met or exceeded, while dissatisfaction results when performance is below expectations. Another possible outcome of purchase is cognitive dissonance which refers to a feeling of psychological tension or post-purchase doubt a consumer may experience af ter making a tight purchase choice. Consumers often look to advertising for supportive information regarding the choice they have made.6. Variations in Consumer Decision Makingconsumers do not always assimilate in all five steps of the purchase decision process nor proceed in the sequence presented.There are three major variations of the consumer decision making process.Routine response behaviormany purchase decisions for low-priced, frequently engaged in brief internal search and making the purchase. Marketers of products characterized by daily response behavior must get and/or maintain their brands in the consumers evoked set and encourage brand loyalty. Those not in the evoked set must encourage trial and brand switching.

Marketing Concept †Britvic Essay

Question 1 Identify three key characteristics of the marketing concept. market concept is a philosophy that an organisation should try to provide convergences and services that satisfy clients call for through a coordinated coiffure of activities that also allows the organisation to achieve its goals (Dibb, 201218). According to marketing concept customers should be at the centre of all the organisations activities. Therefore all departments of organisation atomic number 18 trustworthy for customer satisfaction and only in that way organisation goals terminate be achieved.According to Drucker, the aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous, is to know and interpret the customer so well that the product or service fits him/her and sells itself. Marketing puts customers in central of all business activities, finding out what customers wants, meeting customer needs, supplying them more efficiently and effectively and creating and maintaining profitable relationships. Putting the customer in the middle of all companys operation allows Britvic to be ace of the biggest branded soft drink businesses in UK. Britvic provides fresh, bottled fruit juices with source of Vitamin C.Question 2 Explain Btitvics little and macro environment.Marco forces of marketing environment can affect all organisations operating in market. External marketing environment consists of six categories of forces political, economical, social, technological, environmental and legal (Dibb, 201276). Those forces argon uncontrollable and often called PEST or PESTEL. Generally, businesses can prepare for the unexpected by using PESTEL analysis. For example a new legislation of television advertising of food and drink to children has led to the mathematical function of non television campaigns i.e. sponsorship and celebrity endorsement like Wimbledon or British pantomimes play an important role in Britvics marketing strategy. Micro environment factors are factors close to a business tha t have a direct impact on its operations and success.These factors include competitors, customers, distribution channels, suppliers, employees, media, shareholders and the general public. traffices cannot always control micro environment factors but they should endeavour to manage them along with macro environment. Environmental forces are always dynamic and even though thefuture is not rattling predictable, venders can estimate what will happen and modify their marketing strategies to the new environmental circumstances. Britvic try to minimize their competitors by supplying their products to 200,000 outlets across UK, possessing the licensed distributor of PepsiCo brands in country, and becoming the number two branded soft drinks business in the UK.Question 3 Explain why market look into and the schooling gathered are important to an organisation like Britvic.According to American Marketing Association marketing research is the function that links consumer, customer, and pub lic to the marketer through information use to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems, generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions, monitor marketing performance, and improve understanding of marketing as a process (www.marketingpower.com). That information must be accurate, reliable, timely, relevant and affordable. There are five staple fiber steps of planning marketing research locating and shaping problems or research issue, designing the research, collecting data, analyzing and interpreting findings, and reporting research findings (Dibb, 2012264). Marketing research helps businesses like Britvic to identify consumers needs, competition, market segments and size of the market. They are also used to determinate company goals, pricing strategy or reduce risk of putting a new product onto the market.Question 4 Explain how Britvic might collect and use market research information.Britvic may collect for its purpose secondary (information compiled inside or o utside the company) or primal (information gathered first hand) data, or both. Primary research can be classified as either Quantitative or Qualitative. Quantitative methods are used to discover something that can be measured. They ask questions such as how many, where, when, what. These methods includes survey (a method of questioning via post, Internet, teleph hotshot or personal interview), observation and experimentation.Qualitative research looking for the answers to the questions why or how people feel which is very difficult, if not impossible, to be found out through a survey or a questionnaire. This data is often called soft as it is often difficult to quantify statistically. Methods include in-depth interviews or focus groups. For Britvic purpose, which is to find out about customers preferences, thoughts and feelings with regards to the new product (Tango Clear), more sufficient would be a personal interview (quantitative method) and a focus group (qualitative method).Qu estion 5 Explain the process of market class and targeting and benefits of segmentation and targeting to Britvic.Market segmentation is the process of grouping customers into smaller, more similar or homogeneous segments. It is the identification of target customer groups in which customers are form into groups with similar requirements and buying characteristics (Dibb, 2012212). Thus market segmentation is the process by which customers with different requirements can be grouped into smaller, more similar segments. One of the basic ways to consider segment is to segment the market by geography, demography, psychographic or socio cultural factors. Britvic distinguishes between core brands and seed brands. Core brands are the central turn on of the business and include Pepsi, Robinsons, J2O, 7Up, Fruit Shoot and Tango. Seed brands are those that are believed to have potential for growth in the future and include Gatorade, V Water, Drench.in one case segments have been identified, decision about which and how many customer groups to target can be made. There are several options to consider for companies like Britvic. The choice needs to be made between concentration on a single segment with one product and one marketing programme and offering one product and marketing programme to a number of segments (Dibb, 2012215). By launching new Tango Clear Britvic has targeted a slightly older market than traditionally. Business like Britvic by creating separate offers for each segment provides customers a better choice retain customers who might switch to competing products and brands. Thus using market segmentation Britvic can reach customers more effectively and at a lower cost.List of referencesAmerican Marketing Association (2004) Definition of Marketing, available from www.marketingpower.com/aboutama/pages/definitionofmarketing.aspx (last seen on twenty-ninth December 2012)Dibb Sally, Simkin Lyndon, Pride William M., Ferrel O.C., (2012) Marketing Concepts and St rategies 6th edn, Hampshire Cengage Learning EMEA

Myth and Archetype Analysis

When life presents us with an opportunity where we can get ahead, or allows us a chance to make a past transgression right, we be obliged to discern the occasion and take action. We must move advancing with confidence, and non look back, for this may be a one time in a life time opportunity. Indecision or hesitation may set ab divulge us to miss out on what we really desire in life, and what we may end up with instead is a life fil conduct with regret. Unfortunately, the last workforcetioned is the case in the Greek fiction of Orpheus and Eurydice and The Bible story of make do and his wife.It was the uncertainty, and lack of confidence in which Orpheus, Lot, and his wife displayed that caused ruin over their lives. In the dickens stories, the situation archetypal elements were opportunity, doubt and eschaton. Hell or the underworld was their fate, however in each situation they were given the chance to be spared, but doom and doubt blocked their stroke of luck. In life we must recognize when we are being presented with an opportunity that we may never receive again.In the myth Orpheus and Eurydice, Orpheus was granted a once in a lifetime chance to rescue his beloved Eurydice who had carelessly stepped on a snake, and was carried off to Hades. He straight off partitioned to the gods of Hades, and was granted the opportunity to journey to the underworld to rescue the one who held his affections. With the possibility of having her life spared, Orpheus began to plead his case. In the lyrics of his song to the gods sprung forth the despair he was feeling. He sang, Oh gods of the underworld, to all who live must come, hear my words.I am Orpheus, son of Apollo, and I seek my beloved Eurydice. allow me lead her to the earth, or I myself bequeath remain here, for I cannot return alone. (2) His song was so sorrowful, even the gods of Hades were filled with pity, and could not deny Orpheus request. He had received his break, and soon he was reunited with Eu rydice, and was allowed to take her back to earth, but unaccompanied after receiving strict instructions that he must not look back at her, or tattle to her, until they reached the upper air. 4) When we receive favor from the gods we must operate in confidence, and that is what Orpheus did. Feeling certain, he took the lead, as they journeyed back to earth moving ever so swiftly, and with expectant anticipation of making it to the other side. Consequently, just as these emotions began to overtake him, his confidence wavered, and he turned around to confirm Eurydices presence. In that instant his kindness was dissolved, and she ade him farewell as she was pulled back down into the belly of Hades, and he, sucked up to earth. Because Orpheus did not remain steadfast in his actions, and allowed the spirit of doubt to interfere with his once in a lifetime opportunity he lived the remainder of his life filled with doom, and regret until the day he died, and could be reunited with his beloved Eurydice in the underworld. When we are given opportunities to better our situation we must not dwell on the past.Instead, we must move forward in confidence that what is ahead is going to be better than where we are. In The Book of Genesis, the Bible tells us the story of Lot and his wife, and how God was going to spare the lives of Lot and his family in return for his surety over the angels. God was going to bless his family by removing them out of the wrenched city of Sodom. While Lot knew that God was going to destroy the city, it was difficult for him to leave.He was so entangled in his wealth and status in the city that he hesitated to walk away. Unlike Orpheus, Lot from the beginning lacked the confidence, and discernment needed to receive his rattling(a) opportunity even after his request made to God was granted. He said to God, Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it- it is very small isnt it? Then my life will be spared. (Ge n. 1920) God did grant him this request nonetheless, he proceeded with reluctance.When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them. (Gen. 1916). Lot was doomed from the beginning because he did not appreciate where this once in a lifetime opportunity would take him. Moreover, he preferred to remain where he was, denying his blessing once and for all. Not only do we need to be able to identify an opportunity of a lifetime when it comes our way, moreover, we must naturally accept it, and believe in ourselves and the outcome.While Lot reluctantly accepted his blessing to be rescued from Sodom, his wife was also uncertain of there fate even in the mist of being led to safety and while God rained down burning sulfur on the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah. They had been instructed to run for their lives, and not to look back, and not to stop anywhere on the bleak yet, with safety on the horizon, Lots wife looked back, and became a pillar of salt. Initially, since Lot and his wife (especially Lot) did not want to accept the favor God was giving, their out come was reverse and their lives cursed In life ost of us will be granted opportunities big or small that can change our lives. sometimes human nature would have us second guess what the universe has in store for us. We may ask ourselves the question why me, or we may think ourselves unworthy, or incapable of such opportunities that we camouflage our own success even when it is in the palm of our hand such as the case in the two comparisons above. When presented with a chance to right a wrong, or to better your life or situation, graciously except your fate, and know that what the universe has for you, is for you.

Summary of Napoleon’s Buttons Chapter 12: Molecules of Witchcraft

Introduction Between the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries, many people died by bestial and horrible deaths of buring at the stake, hanging, or being tortured. The estimates of people killed ranged up to the millions which included men, women, children, and even aristocrats as they were accused of witchcraft. Although, poor and elderly women were the champions effected the most from multitudes of paranoia and delusions in those centuries. However, certain molecules played a role in this discrimination that ultimately led millions to their demise.Toil and Trouble Witchcraft, prior to 1350, was regarded as sorcery where one controls nature in their own interest by protecting crops or people and casting spells to influence or provide. It was accepted in Europe and it was only a aversion if sorcery was used to harm. Indolent accusations were avoided because people victims of maleficium were able to seek help from a witch and only become liable for penalty if they were unable to la unch their case. In all, witchcraft was just part of folklore.A new attitude emerged around the fourteenth carbon when Christianity was opposed to magic. It only allowed magic sanctioned by the church and non the ones conducted outside since they believed that witches were in league with the devil. The crime of practicing sorcery became so terrible in the eyes of people that by the mid-fifteenth century, on that point were no much trials for the witches, but accusations were enough evidence to kill. The deeds that people regarded with witches transgressed rationality, but they were still fervently believed.A large percentage of women were accused as witches since it was believed that whenever disaster stuck, people would exclaimed that women turn out been working together with demons at a witches gathering. The killings definitely too its toll on both Catholic and Protestant countries as the height of the witch-hunt paranoia left no women in Swiss villages, some regions in Ger many had its village population burned. In England and Holland, the accused had to undergo the water test that had them thrown into a pond and if they floated, they were a true which.If they were innocent, it was a comfort to their families, but they still drowned. As the witch-hunt terror gradually faded, the economy was threatened since so many people were accused and killed. When the maturate of Enlightenment came, people opposed the madness and the witch-hunts ceased. So, by the eighteenth century, executions for practicing witchcraft came to a halt for the Church and state, but the public werent ready to give up on the fear of witchcraft that built over the centuries. Although many of the women killed were herbalists who were skilled in using local plants to cure diseases and provide pain relief.They were often relied upon for spells or removal of hexes since some of their herbs had healing powers that would seem magical. Although, using the herbal medicine and prescribing the m were dangerous because distinguishable parts of the plant see to it ranging levels of effective compounds, like how plants from different locations put up vary in their ability to cure or the different times of year theyre harvested would change how much does they contain. Many plants were beneficial, but there were ones that screwing cook poison depending on their molecules.So, the molecules in these plants may yet brand a herbalist as a witch. Healing Herbs, Harmful Herbs Many plants contain were used to relieve pain and resist illnesses, like the salicylic acid in willow trees were used for aspirin or how the root of the celery were used to prevent muscle cramps. Also, Digitalis was an extract from the common foxglove and its molecules helped in reducing the tenderness rate and regularize heart rhythm. It strengthens the heartbeat too. The digoxin molecule helps with cardiac glycoside or the heart.For example, in 1795, a British physician named William Withering used the foxglove extracts for calling congestive heart failure. It was not until more then a century after that scientists were able to identify the molecule responsible for its curable abilities with cardiac glycoside. Three sugar unitsThe steroid ring system In the Digitalis extract, there are also many other molecules thats similar to digoxin, like the digtoxin molecule. It lacks the OH and similar cardiac glycoside molecules are in other plants that are often members of the lily or genus Ranunculus families.The molecules fill the same structural features though,so theyre likely resposible for the caridac effect. All have five membered lactone ring thats attached to the end of the steroid system with an extra OH in between the C and D rings of the steroid system. lactone ring extra OH between C and D rings Molecules affecting the heart are not order in plants. Toxin compounds found in animals are similar to the structures of cardiac glycosides found in plants. The molecules dont have sugar or used as heart stimulants, but they are poison and have little medical value.The venom is extracted from amphibians, like the frog or toad that are used as cursor poisons and the common anima attributed with witches since in folklore, it is said that many potions made by witches contained toad parts. Bufotoxin is a molecule thats an active component of venom from the common European toad. Its one of the most toxic molecules with structures showing similarities to the steroid system ring of the digitoxin molecule with same extract OH between the C and D rings. The difference is that it has a half dozen membered lactone ring instead of a five membered. ix-membered lactone ring extra OH between C and D rings Bufotoxin is a cardiac poison and not a cardiac restorative, but in addition to toads and foxglove, other myth about witches was that they were able to fly. Many accused as wtiches confessed to flying and the possible chemical explanation is that it had to do with a gro up of compounds called alkaloids. Alkaloids, plant compounds, have more than one nitrogen atoms thats usually part of a ring of carbon atoms. They have had a large effect on human history than any other chemicals and affects the central nervous system in humans.Theyre highly toxic, but they have been used as medicine for thousands if years. Chemical substances play a role in protecting plants since alkaloids are natural fungicides, insecticide, and pesticides. So, humans ingest about a gram and a half of natural pesticide every day from plants and plant products. This leads to the physiological effects on humans. Although they have been used medicinally for centuries. For example, Acrecaidine, alkaloid found in betel nuts, is used as a stimulant in Africa and the East.Ephedrine, from the ma huang plant, has been used in Chinese herbal medicine and now used as a decongestant and bronchodilator in the West. Members of the vitamin B family include thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), and ni acin (B3). Theyre classed as alkaloids. Reserpine is used to treat high bank line pressure and be a tranquilizer from the Indian snakeroot plant. Alkaloids dont just have toxicity, but theyre also poisonous too. The hemlock plant, responsible for the death of philosopher Socrates in 399 B. C. , is the alkaloid coniine.Coniine has a simplex structure, but highly poisonous than the complicated structure of strychnine from seeds of Asiatic trees. ConiineStrychnine Mandrake and henbane contains very similar alkaloids. The two main types are hyoscyamine and hyoscine, which are found in mandrakes, belladonna, and henbane in various proportions. Atropine is a form of hyoscyamine and is valued for its use in dilute solutions, like to dilate the pupil of the eye for ophthalmic examinations. Although, too much can be unsafe and the basic symptom of atropine poisoning is the drying of bodily fluids.So, it is used in areas where theres hypersecretion of mucus or saliva that interferes with s urgery. Scopolamine, a hyoscine, is used as an anesthetic. It has euphoric effects like atropine and prevents motion sickness. Difference between the two Scopolamine Neither atropine and scopolamine alkaloids are soluble in water. The witches of Europe knew that swallowing the compounds will lead to death rather than the euphoric, intoxicating sensations they wanted. So, the extracts of mandrake, belladonna, and henbane were dissolved in oils and applied to the skin.Witches also used these salves in regards with flying, although they werent actually flying. The alkaloids brought on hallucinations which led to the sensations of flying among other things as the comalike sleep happens in the last stage. This temporarily escape from reality from these molecules brought confessions from those women and they were burnt at the stake. The Ergot Alkaloids There is another group of alkaloids that devasted communities with its effects. People attributed the disasters with evil spells casted b y witches.Theyre found in the ergot fungus that affects cereal grains such as rye. After bacteria and viruses, ergotism is the next-largest microbial killer, like how ergotamine causes blood vessels to constrict or how ergonovine induces abortions in humans. Also, large numbers of villagers most likely attained ergotism since rainy periods would envoke fungus to grow on the rye and poor storage promotes the growth. Most people thought their village was bewitched and blamed innocent women, especially if they dont have symptoms of ergotism.Even though ergotism was known for a long time, the cause being hinted around 600 B. C. from reports as the Assyrians observed a noxious pustule in the ear of grain and ergot alkaloids from noxious grasses caused miscarriages in cattle in 400 B. C. , the first recorded occurrence wasnt until A. D. 857 in Europe. There were periodic outbreaks that occurred up to the twentienth century. For example, ergotism played a role in reducing the effectivenes s of Julius Caesars army and restricted him from his goals to plump out the Roman Empire.Initially, ergotism seemed the answered the the Salem witch-hunts. The symptoms of ergot poisoning cannot be stopped, so victims would use that to their advantage and accuse neighbors. So, the suffering of these people and their families can be traced back to ergot molecules. Ergot alkaloids are toxic, but have a history of therapeutic use. For example, they were used to hasten birthds or help with abortions and today they are used to treat migraine headaches, postpartum bleeding, and be stimulants for uterine contractions in childbirth.Ergot alkaloids have the same common chemical feature theyre derivatives lysergic acid. The OH group of lysergic acid is replaced by a bigger side group. Replaced OH group Lysergic AcidErgotamine In all, neither the atropine or ergot alkaloids caused witchcraft, but there effects were evidence against many women. In the medieval world, women were killed becaused they had knowledge on medicinal plants, but it has proven to be helpful in the present-day world as there are many various pharmaceuticals. So, the folklore of the past can be of assistance to treating many conditions and diseases.

The Virgin and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist

Antonio Allegio was born in Correggio, a sm every(prenominal) Lombard town near ReggioEmilo. His birth date is unknown (Around 1489). His father was a merchant. Otherwise,Little is known of Correggios life or training. In the years 1503-1505 he apprenticed toFrancesco Bianchi Ferrara of Modena. He was influenced by the classicism of authorslike Lorenzo Costa and Francesco Francia which can be found in his early depictions.In 1516 he was in Parma, where he became a friend of Michelangelo Anselmi,one of the main Mannerist painters of the period. He remained in that city until 1530.In 1519 he matrimonial Girolama Francesco di Braghetis, also of Correggio and died in 1529.In this period Correggio paints his beautiful painting Virgin and child with the boylike reverence John the Baptist. It is a painting on oil on panel Italian circa. 1494-1534.The subject matter of the painting is John the Baptist as a child and his firstmeeting of the Madonna and the Christ child. Influenced by da Vi nci da Vinci isromantic with overwhelming radiance and cool pearly colors. The expressive content ofthe painting is of joy, wonder and is playful. It seems to be a happy, leisurely time for allthree commonwealth. The young exaltation John Baptists mood is of reverence as he bows down andlooks up at the Christ child. The lines in the painting is of a symmetrical motifarrangement with the Madonna leaning a little toward the young saint almost welcomingher into her arms.The matter is religious for the young saint is meeting the Christ child as well aswelcomed into the arms of the Madonna. The young Saint John the Baptists looks as ifhe is rest as he looks up from below to look at the Christ child. The figures arpeasants sitting on a bench in a tend underneath a vine. The Madonna is dressed in abeautiful pale red dress and a cloak that is a rich unconsolable on top and green underneath. Thecloak draped over her head is folded over and falling off revealing the green underneathon the proficient side of the Madonna and the blue on her left shoulder.The color is rich in texture the brush stroke smooth and one stroke. The colorsare pale, delicate, and deep bringing out the rich color in the painting. The light and coolpearly radiant color seems to be coming from within the people as well as behind theMadonna. The specific effect is of symmetry in relation to each other. The work isorganized to show the Madonna in the center lovingly balancing the Christ child on herleft leg as she reaches out her left arm to welcome the young Saint John the Baptist. TheChrist child is sitting on the Madonnas left leg he is raised above the head of the youngsaint and the young saint kneel and look up. The central focus is of the Madonna inthe center and her smile as well as the Christ child balancing on the Madonnas leg.Antonia Correggio reflected the historical context of the renaissance by usingthe periods work of religious themes found in the Madonna, the Christ Child and a youngJohn the Baptist. The painting is a stylized and idealized. His religious symbolism islargely drawn from the work of Jacobus de Voragine (1260) He created dynamiccomposition and perspective in his dramatic three-dimensional focused paintings. Themythological perspective depicts movement, drama and diagonal compositionarrangement. You can find this movement and drama in the painting The pure andchild with the young saint John the Baptist in the Madonnas movement of her arm asshe welcomes the young Saint to join her and her son. Also, in the composition of thethree. The Madonna is in the center of the painting thereby catching the eye of the personlooking at the painting.Antonio Correggio was an enigmatic and eclectic painter. His art was a office toreproduce life in its most persuasive domestic side. Later, he initiated a style ofsentimental elegance and conscious allure with soft gestures and enamour charm byusing imaginary spaces as a replacement for reality. He used these elements of Manneristand Baroque stylistic approaches found at the time of the renaissance. Antonio Correggiois considered to this twenty-four hour period to be one of the boldest and most inventive artist of the HighRenaissance. He was revolutionary and is still influential for subsequent artists.Works Citedhttp//WWW.artic.edu/aic/collections/highlight_search?acc=1965.688&page=&1&ArtistID=310

Host Country Political and Legal Environment Affect of Airasia

COMPANY AIRASIA Content a. Introduction b. Company bibliography c. Entry mode to international commercialize (through exporting, joint chance, franchising, licensing, etc) d. How do the international grocery / culture, solicitude styles and note system affect the companion performance? Do they pitch to adjust / alter their product or services to fit with the host farming securities industry needs? How does the caller-out face the competition? e. How does a host country political and international legal purlieu or trade hindrance affect the Malaysian companies in their international marketing activities?Bagaimana sebuah negara tuan rumah persekitaran politik dan antarabangsa undang-undang atau perdagangan halangan menjejaskan syarikat-syarikat Malaysia dalam aktiviti pemasaran antarabangsa mereka? Bagaimana sebuah negara persekitaran politik dan undang2 antarabangsa memberi kesan kepada syarikat Malaysia dalam aktiviti pemasaran antarabangsa mereka? f. SWOT analysis of the company in term of their 4 Ps (product, price, promotion and place) g. Any early(a)s superfluous information h. Conclusion i. References a,b,h part 1 c part 2 d part 3 e part 4(fathi) part 5 severally person choose one to do it n leave a comment which part u all do yea tq BUS 488 scheme T01 unbelief 1 appearanceAsia, which is one of the earliest first salute carriers (LCC) in Asia, has become a LCC since 2001. So far, it has expanded its net take in from Malaysia to Thailand to Singapore, Macau and blush the Mainland China in 2006. In short, Air Asia jumped divulge from an intra-Malaysia and Thailand market to a real Air Asia in the continent. Thus, what be the attainable core competencies to ensure that there is quantum leap to triumph?The internal analysis on the company be little will answer the question. Resources, Capabilities & Core Competencies Analysis a)Accounting Ratio Analysis In 2004, Air Asias salary margin before interest and taxes (16. 8), return on capital employed (14. 6) and return on equity (37. 7) accounting ratios were above the industry average 14. 5 is the industry average for earnings margin, 11. 6 for return on capital employed and 21. 2 for return on equity. This above average results indicates that the company has been managed strong and consequently is fitting to achieve high above-average returns.The increase in current ratio from 1. 24 (US$49. 206 million / US$39. 643 million)to 5. 60 (US$230. 024 million / US$41. 099 million) in addition serves as a confident booster to investors and servingholders in that Air Asias solvency had strengthened and hence is able to fulfill its debt obligations. In fact, the debt-to-asset ratio in the inhabit 5 years was imprint and decreasing as vigorous as. As a matter of fact, in 2005, it was merely 0. 14, which was comparatively dishonor than many low follow carriers. b) finance Resources Air Asias net profit ending Jun 2005 was reported US$29. million, a 126%inc rease year-on-year. The end of June 2005 financial summary showed that Air Asia, the leading low cost picnicline in Asia, had a huge reserve (bank and cash balances) of US$86. 6million. This is the companys strength as very few low cost ancestrylines of similar size deal such large reserves. With such huge reserves and low debt-to-asset ratio, Air Asia is thus capable of generating internal property to finance any expansion. It is certainly Air Asias strength. c)Organization Design and Organizational ResourcesAir Asias organizational structure is rather simple and flat as it involves a convention of staff in the company reporting to one manager. This serves Air Asia well as the duty requires a structure with fewer levels of management so as to achieve to a greater extent consistency and cost reduction. In addition, the cost leadership strategy that the company adopted overly allows Air Asia to focus to a greater extent intensely on areas such as in/out-bound logistics, publ ic presentations, marketing, services and customers. This in turn helps to create synergy and capability to deliver the full spectrum of low cost carrier business. ) Physical Resources Despite having a large fleet of Boeing 737 aircraft for operation, Air Asia still continues to invest heavily. This includes the acquisition of more(prenominal) dis blame- genuine aircraft (A320) so that the company can have sufficient capacity to meet the growing needs and demands of their customers as well as to continue to keep its cost low. The new aircraft can put down fuel usage by about 12%, an master(prenominal) cost saving, as fuel accounted foralmost 50% of the total direct costs for the company all over a period of time. ) Technological Resources Air Asia was the first airline in Southeast Asia to utilize e-ticketing so that traditional travel agents can be bypassed. This carrying into action keep opens the cost of issuingphysical tickets and eliminates the need for large and expen sive booking and reservation systems. To further exploit technologies, AirAsia made it possible for customers topurchase tickets either from grade offices or designated bank teller (ATM) machines.In short, Air Asias strength is in any case about the ability to leverage on technologies well and ahead of its competitors to increase sales and overturn costs. Human Resources Management Although the employees were not unionized and the salaries offered by the company were below those of its rivals, AirAsia is still able to keep its work force motivated by providing a remuneration policy that is competitive and winsome. Forinstance, all employees are offered a wide range of incentives that includes productivity and performance-based bonuses, offer of shares or stock options.To provide furtherair crew and confine incentives, AirAsia also adopted a sector pay policy that gives extra incentives and thus this resulted in the company needing fewer crews per flight (106 peraircraft) as com pared to new(prenominal) low-cost airlines (110 per aircraft). All these efforts not besides helped to modify productivity, it also further strengthened employer-employee relationships. In summary, human resource management, particularly the ability to motivate and ameliorate productivity of the staff is surely Air Asias strength. g) Innovation Resources and Product DevelopmentSo far, AirAsia has managed to design its aircraft cabins that can minimize wearand tear, change time and cost. This innovative work allows for quicker turnarounds surrounded by flights and helps increase revenues. In addition, AirAsia is also able to leverage on innovative ideas to derive substantial ancillary revenues from additional services. Forinstance, the companies also have their own branded credit card and offers corporate travel services. Consequently, it also develops aircraft advertising by converting its planes into flying billboards.The ability to innovate and come up with laughable innovat ions to lowercosts and increase revenues shows that AirAsia possesses substantial quality innovation resources that are valuable. h) Reputational Resources Air Asias success has been widely recognized. For instance, in 2003, it was differentiated the Developing Airline of the grade (by Air finance Journal) and the Asia Pacific Airline of the Year (by Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, CAPA). In 2004 and 2005, the company also won several prestigious awards. Similarly, the companys CEO, Tony Fernandez has also won several recognitions.Most notably, the International Herald Tribune listed Mr. Tony Fernandez in its Visionaries and Leadership series in 2003. Hewas consequently named the Asia Pacific Aviation Executive of the Year in 2004 and2005 (by CAPA) and is one of the 25 stars of Asia (by Business week). With just 3 years into operations, AirAsia managed to be listed publicly inNovember 2004 with support from bankers and venture capitalists. AirAsia was subsequently named as one o f the surmount Newly Listed Companies and Asias Best Managed Company in the Airlines and Aviation Sector by Euro money after its IPO.Given the affirmative perceptions of Air Asias reputation, the brand name is certainly the companys strengths. i)Risk Management In general, the types of trys AirAsia faces include (1) plain risk (2) price risk and (3) credit risk. AirAsia purchased insurance policies to mitigate pure risk although it is through and operated a bit differently as it adopts an integrated come along risk management that goes beyond the traditional parameters of what is insurable. For instance, when AirAsia purchases insurance any policies to insure against pure risk, it also makes a conscious effort to acquire them at a much lower rate lower than opposite LCCs.In addition, to mitigate price risk, AirAsia hedged fuel prices at US$42 a barrel for the first half of2005, which was substantially lower than the price per barrel of US$70 in the late 2005. AirAsia has litt le exposure to credit risk as it does not lend money to any external parties. Better still, customers who wish to purchase their air tickets need to make payment almost immediately upon booking. Hence, this eliminates credit risk totally. So far, Air Asias holistic approach to risk management effectively is viewed favorably by its stakeholders most of the time, especially the shareholders. ) Logistics This involves all areas of receiving, storing of inputs when producing outputs. So far, AirAsia only operates on a item-by-item type of aircraft, the Boeing 737-300. base on a theme published by Aero Connections in 2004, that particular lesson was the best selling commercial jet of all times due to its efficiency and cost effectiveness. AirAsia also has1382 employees and they received proper on-the-job training workshops so that they canperform quadruplex roles effectively within a simple and flat organization structure. ) trading operations It processes inputs to provide valuab le products/services. AirAsia has always been stringent about standards and procedures. AirAsia is aware that maintaining its passengersafety is of paramount importance as indicated in the surveys in the United States and Japan. Based on the companys 2003 annual report, AirAsia had joined ventures with GE Engine Services for a business alliance that allows the latter to be in charge ofmaintaining all Air Asias aircraft engines in the next five years.AirAsia had also managed to achieve good operating benchmarks in terms of flights on time and baggage mittling where in 2004, the company registered 88% and 99. 9% respectively. c) Outbound Logistics This involves delivering products/services into a distribution channel or to the final destination. As of late 2005, AirAsia operated 32 Boeing 737 aircraft that run over60 routes across Southeast Asian regional network. Not only that, its aircraft interiors is also outfitted with signature red carpeting and luxuriant leather seats to ena ble its guests to travel comfortably.In addition, it was also reported in prominent journals and magazines such as ABJ and AWM that many customers felt that Air Asias cabin crew demonstratedprofessionalism when carrying out their duties on air. d)Marketing and Sales It involves all activities that inform customers about their products/services including those that induce and facilitate customers in making purchases. So far, AirAsia has promoted its company without incurring high sales and marketing expenses. Forinstance, its CEO Tony Fernandez always wears a red AirAsia baseball cap in any of his interviews.His well thought out statements often reinforce Air Asias positioning as a small entrant firm battling against giant industry incumbents that also offer low prices. As such, when required, it also invested heavily and so far, its major sponsorships includedbeing the Official Low Fare Airline for football giant Manchester United. This deal compound global sponsorship and advertis ing. e)Service AirAsia is one of the few airlines that had the shortest turnaround time, around 25minutes as opposed to 45 to 120 minutes recorded by other airlines. Hence, this allows AirAsia to benefit from conducting more flights a day.Besides that, AirAsia emphasizes lot on maintaining a high quality service to all its passengers such as punctuality rate and excellent baggage- manipulation performance t o determine whether AirAsia has any core competencies (sustainable competitive advantages), the companys capabilities are assessed based on the four criteria valuable, rare, difficult to imitate and non-substitutable. The evaluation results so far revea guide that two core competencies below(1) The possession of tacit knowledge to build a business by leveraging on new technologies (internet). 2) The religious zeal to cost-avoidance coupled with tacit knowledge to build extremely efficient processes to enable it to execute its business get (low cost). Success Factors of AirAsia As AirAsia continues to compete with other LCC (both existing and new) in Asia which also may adopt low-cost strategy, what have to remember and realize that the way customers differentiate them from their competitors will be strictly on fare and reputation. As the saying goes, the lower the price, the high the load factor. As such, Air Asias success is based on the following pick out factors ) personify Effectiveness AirAsia puts very strong emphasis on hard all avoidable costs so that it can continue to provide low fares and but remain profitable. This centre the company has to cut the cost of flight operation by flying to and from airports that offer cheaper take-offand arrive fees. Besides that, passengers also were not provided with meals and enjoyment as well as amenities such as pillows and blankets. AirAsia has also designed its aircraft cabins that minimize wear and tear as well as cleaning time so that cost associated to these areas can be lowered.The better designe d cabins also resulted in lower loading and unloading costs as things got done faster which in turn leads to better turn around time. Last but not least, to ensure cost effectiveness, AirAsia reconfigured the seating configurations of its Boeing 737 aircraft to increase seats from 132 to 148 and has thus far operated with only a single-class service. b) Efficiency and Productivity By using a ticket-less online booking system, staff that are properly trained toperform multiple roles as well as aircraft cabins that reduce cleaning ime, AirAsia greatly enhances it operations efficiency and productivity, which is a very important ofthe cost leadership strategy. However, it should be storied that the cost leadership strategy works on the lowest costs, not necessarily the lowest price in the market. As the lowest cost operator, AirAsia is able to continue to survive in a price war as its low-cost positions a valuable defending team against any rivals. c) Reliability AirAsia also chose m ore consistently secondary and regional airport destinations instead of busy and congested main airports.Generally, less busy airports can be expect to provide higher(prenominal) rates of on-time departures. Besides, without the need to load and unload any cargoes, the turnaround time of an aircraft can be reduced greatly AirAsia clocked the regions fastest turnaround time at only 25 minutes. As a result, travelers can expert and look forward to more frequent and puncture flights. D) Higher Frequency of Service Predominantly, AirAsia offers point-to-point flights on short-haul routes less than 4 hours flight time. The company is also able to achieve higher plane utilization due to short turnaround time and as mentioned point-to-point routes.The ability to provide higher frequency service to justify the smaller capacity of a LCC is some other key to Air Asias success. In any(prenominal) instances, such high frequency of services can also attractbusiness travelers since most of the time they are able to save time and snaffle theirconnecting flights on time All the success factors mentioned above explain Air Asias success. However, it should also be noted that Air Asias zealous approach in preaching cost avoidance in every aspect ofadministration and operations is the key in sustaining a low-cost culture since its operation in2001.AirAsia also has been particularly effective at implementing the various measures and thus it continues to survive and prosper till today. Question 2 The construct of cost leadership strategy emphasizes on lowest costs, though not necessarily the lowest price, in the market. A firm pursuing a cost-leadership strategy needs to gain a competitive advantage primarily by reducing its economic costs below its competitors. To achieve this, the strategic actions moldiness thus reduce costs and improve productivity. With this in mind, let us discuss how the following strategic actions adopted by AirAsia support its cost leadership strategy. A) Low Fare, No Frills Air Asias intense focus on providing air travel with no frills leads to substantial costs saving. The absence of in-flight services reduced pre-flight preparations such as the loading of fodder and drinks, cleaning time and the cost of meals and administration. Investment in kitchens and equipment for storing, heating and serving of meals can be avoided all together. B) Investment in Latest Technologies Efficient trading operations AirAsia has heavily invested in purchasing the most modern aircraft A-320s.The new aircraft allow AirAsia to enjoy substantial lower fuel cost as these modern airplanes had lower fuel usage by as much as 12%. Fuel accounted for almost 50% of the total operating costs and thus it is an important component of cost saving for AirAsia. By operating a single aircraft type allows AirAsia to achieve efficiency in executing its primary and secondary activities. Consequently, this leads to higherproductivity which in turn allows the compa ny the option to expand their operations with the akin number of employees and right size its manpower requirement. Improvedproductivity means more revenue for AirAsia.The extreme drive to achieve high efficiency in operations allows AirAsia to clock the fastest turnaround time of 25 minutes. This invariably leads to comparativelybetter productivity as the company was able to utilize its aircraft for an average of 13hours per day as opposed to 10. 5 hours by other airlines. Again, alter productivity means more revenue for AirAsia. c)Low Fixed Costs Air Asias ability to acquire low rates for long-term concern engenders and aircraft leases led to substantial cost savings. It was reported that Air Asias average contractual lease charge per aircraft drop-offd by more han 60% from 2001 to 2004. Similarly, its aircraft maintenance contract costs were also reported to be substantially lower than any other airlines. In view of the airlines high safety and maintenance standards, AirAsi a was also able to procure favorable rates on its insurance policies. All these help lower fixed costs. d)Lean Distribution System The use of e-ticketing helps to save the cost of issuing hardcopy tickets, which were estimated at US$10 per ticket. The company also saved on agents commissions and avoided the need for large and expensive booking and reservation systems. This too helps lower the overall costs. ) Minimize Personnel Expenses AirAsia implemented flexible work rules and streamlined administrative functions which allowed employees to perform multiple roles. This human resource policy facilitated AirAsia in lowering its personnel costs. In 2004, it was reported that AirAsia had the lowest staff-to-per aircraft ratio (106 staff per aircraft as compared to 110employees per aircraft registered by other low cost carriers) and this helps lower staffcost. f)Use of supplemental Airports Typically, AirAsia operates out of secondary airports, which involve lowerlanding, parking and ground handling fees.These airports were also less busy and had shorter runways, thus helped reduce fuel consumption patch aircraft queue for takeoff ortaxi on the ground. As many secondary airports were older, they were often close to urban areas and were thus more attractive to almost travelers. In short, the use ofsecondary airports can increase sales and help to keep operating costs low The ability to lower cost and at the same time widen profit margin (through increaseproductivity) augurs well with AirAsias cost leadership strategy.This provides AirAsia the options to either lower its prices and gain market share and sales from rivals or keep its prices atpresent market level and make more profit for every unit sold. This inevitably helps AirAsia in its defense against aggressive competitions especially when it comes to price war from strong rivals Question 3 The PESTL Analysis and the Porter Model provide an overall analysis of the operating environment that AirAsia competes in. Also, the analysis of low cost carriers (LCC) industry reveals that it is so concentrated that intense competition is inevitable.However, amidst the challenges faced, there are still plenty of opportunities for AirAsia to explore and exploit. PESTL Analysis macro instruction Environment a)Economics Asias rapid economic growth and sprouting middle class continues to fuel the growth of air travel in Asia. This growth in air travel was also due to the region having geographically dispersed countries with large community, a rapid increase in trade and tourism as well as the respective government investments in their airports, airlines and travel infrastructure.Although rapid growth and increased trade and businesses may intensify competition (entrance of other LCCs) and even lead to full-service airlines start cut costs to complete, it can present opportunities for airlines to enlarge their markets. Oflate, projections by economists had placed Asia at the top of global economy g rowth charts in the coming years. b)Political/ Legal Government policies are important drives for the success of Asia. In the late1990s, there was increase privatization and deregulation of the airline industry in Asia.It was noticeable that round Asian countries established open-skies agreements while others allowed the entry of private airlines. For instance, in 1997, a few LLC spouted quickly after Malaysia signed an open-skies agreement with the United States. Hence, it appears that although the travel market will be expanded, in reality AirAsia would also have to operate in a more challenging environment with intense competitions. As of 2006, governments intervention and regulation remained substantial.Forinstance, although Thai AirAsia managed to launch its services between Singapore and Thailand in 2004 productively, the company still could not expand beyond the Singapore-Thailand routes because it could not acquire landing rights elsewhere. c)Social-Cultural Surveys revea led that more people were willing to compromise on food and otherservices in exchange for lower prices. In fact, it was stated that price of tickets was the single most important consideration that influenced passengers decisions and of course this included without having to compromise on safety and punctuality.In addition, increasingly over the years cost conscious leisure and business passengers were also looking to make their budgets decrease further. This presents an opportunity for all LCCs to increase their revenues by offering travelling at a much lower fare. d) demographic In 2005, the total population in Asia stands at more than 3. 5 billion. The UnitedNations statistics also show that Asia has an astonishing demographic dividend where more than 35% of its population is below the age of 25 and more than 55% hovers below the age of 35.This indirectly means that the increasing large population of the middle age group equates to a larger working age population with more dispo sable income and thus the likelihood of more business and leisure travels is almost confirm. This thus presents another golden opportunity for AirAsia. e)Technological New services such as Internet Telephony and the increase in the use oftelecommunications services (such as buying air tickets online) provide AirAsia with the opportunity to leverage on new technologies to increase their sales.In addition, e-commence and internet-based activities (such as online holiday and hotel reservations)are other areas where AirAsia can derived ancillary revenues from. Better still, in some instances, engineering advancements also means having opportunities to reduce operation costs such as savings on commissions for travel agents AirAsia was the first to do so However, amidst these benefits and cost saving, AirAsia must be mindful that system disruption due to heavily reliance on online sales can pose serious threat to the company. Analysis of the application In 2004, the airline industry fle w 1. billion passengers, of which about 30% were in Asia. Airline traffic in Asia is projected to grow at 7. 1% annually for the next 5 years and more than triple in the next 20 years. Given Air Asias strong presence in the region, this presents grand opportunities to enlarge the companys market shares. The Airline businesses are closely linked to economic activities in Asia and the world. As such, AirAsia needs to be cognizant with the business cycle so that it can to take full advantage of such effects especially when there are changes in discretionary income and consumerspending patterns.AirAsia also needs to be mindful that increase in demand of fuel and limited supply can lead to higher fuel price that decrease yield. Last but not least, the usurpation of crisis such as 9/11 (2001) and SARS outbreak (2003) was able to hit the airline industry hard and as such they continue to pose serious threat to airlines. Analysis of Competitive Forces Porters Five Forces Analysis a)Thr eat of Substitute Products The possibility threat of substitutes is moderately low since there are several other substitutes such as cruises, rails, buses and cars.However, the archipelago geographical structure of Asia made air travel the most viable, efficient and convenient mode of transportation which is a surplus for AirAsia b) Power of Buyers The power of buyer is high due to almost no replenishmenting cost for customers to switch from one LCC to another. In addition, the access to the internet also allows customers to have all the information on prices charged by the different LCCs. c)Power of Suppliers The supplier has an upper hand (high power) due to limited number of suppliers(only Boeing and Airbus). d)Threat of New EntrantsThreat of new entrants is moderately low as the entry into the industry requires high capital. Moreover, the industry is also highly adjust since every potential entrant is required to obtain approval from the civil aviation authority of the particu lar countrybefore the company is allowed to be operated. e)Intensity of emulation Industry rivalry is moderately high due to competition and high exit cost. Nonetheless, market participants visualize and realize that price war is destructive forthem and thus they tend to avoid direct price competition to make themselves friendly competitors.Stakeholder Management Air Asias stakeholders can be divided into capital market stakeholders (shareholders and major suppliers of capital e. g. banks and venture capitalists), product market stakeholders(primary customers, suppliers and host communities) and organizational stakeholders (employers and managers). Air Asias stellar performance since its establishment in 2001 has brought value to its shareholders since they were receiving positive returns from the day of the companys inception to recent time 2005.Between 2001 and 2004, AirAsia enjoyed a compound average growth of45% for sales and 407% for net income as well as cash flow positive f rom the time it began its operations. All these inevitably increase the value of investments significantly. This believably explains why AirAsia has always enjoyed strong support from banks and venture capitalists when the CEO took the company public in November 2004. AirAsia satisfies its customers by offering low fares without having to compromise to quality and service. This helps to attract new customers as well as go along existing ones.In orderto ensure that all specific needs are met, the companys key staffs travel regularly to mingle with the host communities so that they understand them better. This has facilitated Air Asias aggressive expansion and resounding success in the regional markets which include Thailand and Indonesian over a short cover of time. For instance, Air Asias joint venture with Shin Corporation to launch its new LLC achieved immediate success. In just 3 days of operations, it sold more than 20,000 seats on domestic routes.This speaks well of Air Asi as ability to meet (oreven exceed) the expectations of its customers. Besides that, AirAsia also strives to build strong relationship with its suppliers. Forinstance, although the company operates 737 aircraft that were built by Boeing, it also acquired the new A320 aircraft from Airbus. In this way the company establishes good relationship with the two and only civil airliner suppliers and hopefully through these good mutual dealings, thepower of these suppliers can be further reduced.The company also strives to maintain good relationship with other suppliers that provide aircraft maintenance and airport services. Thisprobably also explain why AirAsia is able to get lower rates from them. As a staff of the AirAsia team, he/she gets to enjoy highly competitive and attractive remuneration packages. These include productivity and performance-based bonuses, shares and stock options. In summary, with the capability and flexibility provided by above-average returns, AirAsia is able to sa tisfy multiple stakeholders more easily Marketing guest SegmentationAlthough AirAsia invests aggressively in marketing where required, it generally adopts creativity and yet low-cost advertising so as to keep cost low. For instance, to keep cost low, AirAsia usually advertises and promotes through the host country newspapers as well as internet website as they are generally cheap. Like all other LCCs, AirAsia also positions itself as an airline that provides short-route ferry for non-business and price-conscious businesspassengers as shown in draw 2 . This means that competition is intense and increasing as newplayers join in Competitors AnalysisBased on a report about major Asian budget airlines that Airline Business produced, onlytwo LCCs, Bangkok Airways and Lion Air, share almost similar markets as AirAsia in terms ofmarket commonality. Their tangible and intangible resources are also comparable to that ofAirAsia. With that, based on the competitor analysis framework appende d in Diagram 3 , Bangkok Airways and Lion Air fall in quadrant I and thus are considered as close competitors of AirAsia. Technically, any firm or competitors in quadrant I will use their similar resourceportfolios to compete against each other.This lead to the conclusion that Bangkok Airways and Lion Air sculptural in quadrant I are direct competitors of AirAsia. In contrast, the other airlines such as Value Air and Tiger Airways modeled in quadrant IV share few markets although they all possess comparable resources. As such, these airlines do not directly pose as strong rivalry to AirAsia at this point in time. As of now, AirAsia will have to compete with Bangkok Airways and Lion Air which have entered the market since 2000/2001.As they also adopt the low-cost strategy, the only way customers can differentiate them from their competitors would be on the airfare charges. In orderto maintain or increase the load factor, any of these companies may consider lowering fare prices to a chieve their objectives. However, if this happens, the profit margin of the remaining players will be compressed and the weak one may be drove out of the market (also known as the vicious cycle). In Malaysia, Air Asias main airline competitor is Malaysia Airlines (MAS) which offers a full range of services.Although MAS had an ambivalent reaction to Air Asias entry into the airline industry, it also reacted to the competition by offering fares at 50% discounts on some its domestic routes. Although the attack was not successful (MAS eventually lost about 30% of its market share), it proves that any airlines that provide full services can be a threat to AirAsia. Moving forward, it is expected that acquisition and merger will happen in the market until equilibrium is reached. When this takes place, only a few strong players with sound cost-controlling and profitable business model will exist and succeed.In other words, AirAsia can expect to face stiff competition in time to come even th ough market participants understand thatprice war is destructive and thus will try to avoid any direct price competition. A short summary on the possible opportunities and threats are appended in the tablebelow. From the analysis of AirAsia, it can be deduced that the operating environment immoderately competitive and filled with minimum uncertainties which means that the company has to cabal themselves well during good times.However, amidst the challenges, there are still many opportunities for AirAsia to explore and exploit so that it continues to lead and be the mostprofitable LCC in Asia. Amik kt dekstop-airasia Question 4 AirAsia has been soaring success. Starting with two planes bought from a Malaysian conglomerate in late 2001, the company had expanded it to 32 by the end of 2005. During the same year, the aggressive expansion also resulted in an extensive Southeast Asian regional network of 60 routes. For sure, the large, untapped market and Air Asias model would ensure it s future success. a)Conducive Environment for GrowthThe major macro environment factors suggest a very conducive environment forthe growth of low cost carriers (LCC) in Asia. According to TWA (Dec 2003), it mentioned that in Asia the demographic fundamentals of large populations that include rising middle classes with increasing leisure time and disposable incomes as well as the lack of competitive forms of transportation, paint an extremely encouraging demandpicture in the long run . Furthermore, a study by the Centre for AP (2002) confirmed that Asia would continue to offer attractive conditions for the air transportation industry.It estimated that Asia would account for 30% of the world market by 2020 or one third ofgrowth between now and then. The archipelago geographical structure of Asia continent is also an important contributing factor to the growth of air transportation. For example, between East and West Malaysia, there is no other viable and efficient mode of transportati on other than to commute by air. As a matter of fact, in mid-2005, eight budget airlines were operating in Southeast Asia and there were predictions that there would be as many as 20 such airlinesby 2012.Although terrorism and SARS do impact on air travel, the long run forecast is very positive. b)Strong Finance Resource The company has been profitable from the start. It has a huge bank and cashbalances of US$86. 7 million, with no loans and borrowings as of 30 June 2005. Its profit margins of 38% (before interests, taxes, derogation and amortization) were among the highest in the world for LCC. According to a report by CSS (2005), it was deduced that AirAsia would continue to be profitable in 2006.This probably explained why in 2004,bankers and venture capitalists had provided funds to help the company got listed despite the airline industry was being badly affect by SARS. In short, a strong finance resource is vital for growth and to wrestle any economic crisis. This in turn sus tains success. c)Obsession with Low Cost Culture In some respects, the most important requirement to sustain success in the LCC industry is to possess a genuine low-cost culture. conflicting other LCC, AirAsia preached cost avoidance with religious zeal. For example, even though a luggage tag costs less than US$0. 5, AirAsia does not provide them. In addition, it also emphasizes cost deduction so intensely that in-flight ovens must not be overheated and that cabin lights switched off at appropriate times. To further lower cost, the company was the first to implement taking reservations via the internet rather than through travel agents. It operates only one type of aircraft to save on overheads and operating cost. AirAsia crews are also required to help clean the aircraft so as to shorten turnaround times to achieve higher aircraft utilization.At 29 U. S. cents operating cost per gettable seat-kilometer, Air Asias operating cost is the lowest in the industry. With such as an obses sion withcosts, AirAsia is certainly poised to sustain its success. d)Effective in Implementing Cost diminution Measures Even though most low cost carrier had implemented the various cost reduction measures, it was AirAsia that had implemented them most effectively. As a result, AirAsia achieved cost per average seat kilometre of 2. 13 U. S. cents, the lowest for any airline in the world.This in turn allowed the company to achieve profit margins of 38%(before interests, taxes, depreciation and amortization) which were among the highest in the world for LLC. In addition, the company was also able to achieve good operatingbenchmarks in terms of flights on time (88%) and baggage handling efficiency (99. 9%). This in turn resulted in further cost reduction as the company paid much lower charges and compensations as compared to other airlines. The ability to ensure that the central objective of achieving bigger cost advantages than the companys rivals (by continuously

Digital Fortress Chapter 4

The telephone callpto door beeped once, waking Susan from her depressing reverie. The door had rotated past its fully open position and would be closed again in cardinal seconds, having made a complete 360-degree rotation. Susan gathered her thoughts and stepped through the opening. A computer made note of her entry.Although she had practically lived in Crypto since its completion three years ago, the lookhot of it still amazed her. The main room was an enormous circular chamber that rose five stories. Its transparent, domed ceiling towered 120 feet at its central peak. The plexiglass cupola was embedded with a polycarbonate mesh-a protective web capable of withstanding a two-megaton blast. The screen filtered the sunlight into delicate lacework across the walls. Tiny particles of dust drifted upward in encompassing unsuspecting spirals-captives of the domes force outful deionizing system.The rooms sloping sides arched broadly at the top and then became al intimately vertical a s they approached eye level. Then they became subtly perspicuous and graduated to an opaque black as they reached the floor-a shimmering expanse of polished black tile that shone with an eerie luster, giving one the unsettling sensation that the floor was transparent. Black ice. push through the center of the floor like the tip of a colossal torpedo was the machine for which the dome had been built. Its sleek black contour arched cardinal feet in the air before plunging back into the floor below. Curved and smooth, it was as if an enormous killer whale had been frozen mid breach in a frigid sea.This was TRANSLTR, the single most expensive piece of computing equipment in the world-a machine the NSA swore did not exist.Like an iceberg, the machine hid 90 percent of its mass and superpower deep beneath the surface. Its secret was locked in a ceramic silo that went six stories straight down-a rocketlike hull surrounded by a winding maze of catwalks, cables, and hushing exhaust from the freon cooling system. The power generators at the bottom droned in a perpetual low-frequency hum that gave the acoustics in Crypto a dead, ghostlike quality.TRANSLTR, like all dandy technological advancements, had been a child of necessity. During the 1980s, the NSA witnessed a revolution in telecommunications that would change the world of intelligence reconnaissance forever-public access to the Internet. More specifically, the arrival of E-mail.Criminals, terrorists, and spies had grown devolve of having their phones tapped and immediately embraced this new means of global communication. E-mail had the security of conventional mail and the speed of the telephone. Since the transfers traveled through underground fiber-optic lines and were never transmitted into the airwaves, they were simply intercept-proof-at least that was the perception.In reality, intercepting E-mail as it zipped across the Internet was childs play for the NSAs techno-gurus. The Internet was not the new home computer revelation that most believed. It had been created by the Department of Defense three decades earlier-an enormous network of computers designed to provide secure goernment communication in the event of nuclear war. The eyes and ears of the NSA were old Internet pros. People conducting illegal business via E-mail quickly learned their secrets were not as private as theyd thought. The FBI, DEA, IRS, and other U.S. law enforcement agencies-aided by the NSAs staff of wily hackers-enjoyed a tidal wave of arrests and convictions.Of course, when the computer users of the world found out the U.S. government had open access to their E-mail communications, a cry of outrage went up. Even pen pals, using E-mail for nothing more than recreational correspondence, found the lack of privacy unsettling. Across the globe, entrepreneurial programmers began working on a way to keep E-mail more secure. They quickly found one and public- central encryption was born.Public-key encryption wa s a concept as simple as it was brilliant. It consisted of easy-to-use, home-computer software that scrambled personal E-mail messages in such a way that they were totally unreadable. A user could write a letter and encounter it through the encryption software, and the text would come out the other side looking like random nonsense-totally illegible-a code. Anyone intercepting the transmission found only an unreadable twine on the screen.The only way to unscramble the message was to enter the senders pass-key-a secret series of characters that functioned much like a PIN number at an automatic teller. The pass-keys were generally quite long and complex they carried all the information necessary to instruct the encryption algorithm exactly what mathematical operations to follow tore-create the original message.A user could now send E-mail in confidence. Even if the transmission was intercepted, only those who were given the key could ever decipher it.The NSA felt the hee-haw immed iately. The codes they were facing were no longer simple substitution ciphers crackable with pencil and graph paper-they were computer-generated hash functions that employed chaos theory and multiple symbolic alphabets to scramble messages into apparently hopeless randomness.At first, the pass-keys being used were short enough for the NSAs computers to guess. If a desired pass-key had ten digits, a computer was programmed to try every possibility among 0000000000 and 9999999999. Sooner or later the computer hit the correct sequence. This method of trial-and-error guessing was known as brute force attack. It was time-consuming save mathematically guaranteed to work.As the world got wise to the power of brute-force code-breaking, the pass-keys started getting longer and longer. The computer time needed to guess the correct key grew from weeks to months and finally to years.By the 1990s, pass-keys were over fifty characters long and employed the full 256-character ASCII alphabet of letters, numbers, and symbols. The number of different possibilities was in the neighborhood of 10120-ten with 120 zeros after it. Correctly guessing a pass-key was as mathematically unlikely as choosing the correct grain of sand from a three-mile beach. It was estimated that a successful brute-force attack on a standard sixty-four-bit key would take the NSAs fastest computer-the top-secret Cray/Josephson II-over nineteen years to break. By the time the computer guessed the key and broke the code, the contents of the message would be irrelevant.Caught in a virtual intelligence blackout, the NSA passed a top-secret directive that was endorsed by the President of the United States. Buoyed by federal funds and a carte blanche to do whatever was necessary to solve the problem, the NSA set out to build the unaccepted the worlds first universal code-breaking machine.Despite the opinion of many engineers that the newly proposed code-breaking computer was impossible to build, the NSA live d by its motto Everything is possible. The impossible just takes longer.Five years, half a million man-hours, and $1.9 billion later, the NSA proved it once again. The last of the three million, stamp-size processors was hand-soldered in place, the final ingrained programming was finished, and the ceramic shell was welded shut. TRANSLTR had been born.Although the secret internal workings of TRANSLTR were the product of many minds and were not fully understood by any one individual, its elemental principle was simple Many hands make light work.Its three million processors would all work in analogue-counting upward at blinding speed, attempt every new permutation as they went. The hope was that even codes with unthinkably colossal pass-keys would not be safe from TRANSLTRs tenacity. This multibillion-dollar masterpiece would use the power of parallel processing as well as some highly classified advances in clear text assessment to guess pass-keys and break codes. It would derive it s power not only from its staggering number of processors but also from new advances in quantum computing-an emerging technology that allowed information to be stored as quantum-mechanical states rather than all as binary data.The moment of truth came on a blustery Thursday morning in October. The first live test. Despite uncertainty virtually how fast the machine would be, there was one thing on which the engineers agreed-if the processors all functioned in parallel, TRANSLTR would be powerful. The question was how powerful.The answer came twelve minutes later. There was a stunned silence from the handful in attendance when the printout sprang to life and delivered the cleartext-the broken code. TRANSLTR had just located a sixty-four-character key in a little over ten minutes, almost a million times faster than the two decades it would rescue taken the NSAs second-fastest computer.Led by the deputy director of operations, Commander Trevor J. Strathmore, the NSAs berth of Produc tion had triumphed. TRANSLTR was a success. In the interest of keeping their success a secret, Commander Strathmore immediately leaked information that the project had been a complete failure. All the employment in the Crypto wing was supposedly an attempt to salvage their $2 billion fiasco. Only the NSA elite knew the truth-TRANSLTR was cracking hundreds of codes every day.With word on the street that computer-encrypted codes were replete(p)ly unbreakable-even by the all-powerful NSA-the secrets poured in. Drug lords, terrorists, and embezzlers alike-weary of having their cellular phone transmissions intercepted-were turning to the exciting new medium of encrypted E-mail for instantaneous global communications. Never again would they have to face a grand jury and hear their own voice rolling off tape, proof of some long-forgotten cellular phone conversation pick off from the air by an NSA satellite.Intelligence gathering had never been easier. Codes intercepted by the NSA entere d TRANSLTR as totally illegible ciphers and were spit out minutes later as dead readable cleartext. No more secrets.To make their charade of incompetence complete, the NSA lobbied fiercely against all new computer encryption software, insisting it crippled them and made it impossible for lawmakers to catch and prosecute the criminals. Civil rights groups rejoiced, insisting the NSA shouldnt be reading their mail anyway. Encryption software kept rolling off the presses. The NSA had lost the battle-exactly as it had planned. The entire electronic global community had been fooled or so it seemed.

Effects of Enzyme

Effects of Temperature on Enzyme Biology Introduction In order to understand the activity of enzymes at different temperatures the ability of the enzyme to function can be c arful. This is fundamental in many applications such as Polymerase Chain Reaction for forensics as well as genetic science research where manipulation of temperature-dependent enzymes allows for replication of DNA segments. Bennett states, when the energy measured as heat increases in a chemical reaction the energy increases the reaction speed and reaction set. (1969) This happens until a threshold though in many biological processes where positive energy input no longer increases reaction speed referable to the inhibition of other factors in this experiment that factor is the degradation or denaturing of the protein complex that is the enzyme working to catalyse the reaction. One would make the system that for any given enzyme there is a minimum reaction rate which increases with temperature consequentl y at a maximum point begins to be less and less efficient as the enzyme form no longer works to catalyze the reactions with its given substrates.Materials and Methods After obtaining five clean trial run thermionic valves and labeling them in order cardinal through five, each were marked at one centimeter and at four centimeters from the bottom with a permanent marker. Next, the potato juice/catalase extract is added to each tube to the one centimeter mark. The following portion of the experiment was in segments for each tube. Tube one was placed in an ice- vat by adding ice and water in a 250ml beaker. Tube two was placed in the tube rack on the lab bench in a room temperature environment.Tube three was placed in a water bath at 50 degrees celsius, and tube four was set in the 70 degree celsius water bath. Tube five was placed in a boiling water bath of a beaker on the hot plate while wearing goggles for protection. Each tube was and so left in the conditional environment for t en minutes. The temperature of the boiling water, room temperature, and ice bath were measured by thermometer. After the ten minutes I used the thermometer to measure the temperatures of the room, ice, and boiling water. Then, after adding water, waited 30 seconds until the foaming in the tube, stopped.The measured the amount of foam was recorded. Results After all the appropriate steps were taken, a table was created and I recorded each temperature that was in the tube and foam height as well. The moderate and the foam height were both recorded to see the resemblance and results concluding the temperature effect on enzymes. An archetype of my results are recreated as seen below (numbers and titles are accurate and the same as lab test) As shown in the table A, temperature and foam height is represented by different color lines on the graph. The purple line, represents temperature. The stern line represents foam height (mm).As the temperature rose, the heigh of the foam decreased. This did not support my meditation. My hypothesis clearly stated, If the temperature is really high, then the foam will rise highly. 50 degrees will be have the most amount of foam. This hypothesis was not supported because the highest amount of foam was found at 0 degrees. The enzymes reached optimum temperature, and then denaturing took place. In comparison to another lab, the same results occurred. Campbell Neil from students. cis stated, The higher the concentration of substrate, the faster the reaction rate. This made my hypothesis invalid. DiscussionAlthough my hypothesis was not correct, the lab results agree with previous literature on the effects of temperature on enzyme activity. According to Susan Gilbert, Enzymes are sensitive to their environmental conditions. Up to a point, the rate of the reaction will increase as a function of temperature because the substrates will collide more frequently with the enzyme active site. At extremes of pH or temperature, either hig h or low, the native structure of the enzyme will be compromised, and the molecule will become electrostatic(2009). Enzymes are very sensitive and do the opposite of what most chemical reactions in this case.According to the Worthington Biochemical Corporation, A ten degree Centigrade rise in temperature will increase the activity of most enzymes by 50 to 100% (2012). This furthers the conclusion that when the temperature rose the foam height decreased and the reaction was less intense. Table A. Bibliography Bennett. 1969. red-brick Topic in Biochemistry 43-45 Campbell, N. 2002. Biology, 6th ed. Enzymes 300-340 Cummings. 1998. Biology in the Laboratory Temperature and enzymes. 1-9, 10-20 Gilbert, S. 2002. Enzymes. Biology Vol. 2. 3-9 pic