Progresso You Gotta Taste This Soup Essay

Progresso grew from an Italian Import Company to a Quality Soup Company with an Italian Heritage. The company seal and name Progresso (meaning â€Å"progress† in Italian) was designed to communicate the vision of progress, a cornerstone of the Progresso philosophy. The first Progresso soups were taken from real family recipes; made with the same ingredients and in the same way as the homemade soups. In 1949 Progresso introduced the first canned ready-to-serve soup in America and has grown to become the No. 1 ready-to-eat soup brand in America by using quality ingredients. Progresso continues to build on its rich history of flavorful products that delight the consumer. Gender & Age: Their commercials appear to target both men and women – mostly women. Those who are middle aged as opposed to teen and younger or senior citizen and those who are looking for something that is nostalgic and from their past. The reason I think they appeal mostly to women is because their message is positive and focuses on how it can improve and help a women’s life. They involve them with the brand and tell stories that resonate with females. One commercial shows a woman in a wedding dress calling to tell the Progresso Soup kitchen thanks for the help to achieve that goal. When the kitchen asks when’s the big day, she says â€Å"Oh, it was years ago, but the dress still fits! † Education & Income: I’m assuming their education levels are higher than high school as many of the commercials show people who are in offices or nice home settings which would mean their income is more middle class as opposed to lower or upper. ? Ethnic Group: Their company history can be traced back to Italy. Their soups like Traditional, Classic and Rich & Hearty all suggest a homemade flavor like Grandma’s. One commercial shows a woman in an office calling the kitchen asking if she can talk to her Grandma. They tell her she’s in the garden picking herbs to which she says, â€Å"She’s so cute, I’ll hold. † In 2010, Progresso stepped up its emphasis on superior taste with the rollout of World Recipes soups and the first four are Mexican-inspired flavors. Psychographics: I think the customers Progresso is reaching out to are Thinkers, Achievers and Believers. All three of these have similar qualities; conservative, focus on family, tradition. Thinkers and Achievers look further for functionality, value and brands that demonstrate success to their peers. One commercial shows how a soup with fiber doesn’t have to compromise good taste making it convenient for consumers to get more fiber in their diets while enjoying a wholesome, satisfying meal. Believers also favor American-made products and here’s where I think Progresso’s packaging is effective. The can colors are blue, the lettering is mostly white and their Progresso banner resembles a flag and has red trim – what is more American than Red, White & Blue? Benefit Segmentation & Usage: Progresso focuses on the advantages their customers receive rather on the characteristics of the customers themselves; mostly weight loss and receiving fresh ingredients. One commercial shows a guy calling to ask if the clams are fresh in his Clam Chowder soup. The kitchen â€Å"connects† him to the boat to talk to the captain. ? Product Positioning Progresso Soups have almost 50 flavors from which to choose and seven categories, each targeting a different market segment: Traditional, Vegetable Classics, Rich & Hearty, Reduced Sodium, Light, High Fiber and World Recipes. Their biggest attribute is their endorsement from Weight Watchers. They are the only soup endorsed by Weight Watchers. As for their competition, they show contrast by showing their soup is for grownups and it’s better than condensed soup (Campbells Chicken & Stars). They show different uses for their soup by creating recipes that can be found on Pillsbury. com or WeightWatchersOnline. com. Their price/quality relationship is shown when their commercials show whole, fresh vegetables going into the top of the can and their tagline over the years has been â€Å"It’s time to go to the better taste of Progresso. † Their product user is targeted, I think, to those who are looking for their past weight. Progresso Soup is a sponsor for The Biggest Loser and they hold contests for people who’ve lost weight using their product to receive makeovers. One lady who won said she had to â€Å"get my life back† and this was easy. Many of their commercials suggest that one will lose weight by eating Progresso. One shows a woman calling the kitchen to say her husband has been eating their soup and now looks like he did 20 years ago. Not only that, he’s wearing the clothes he wore 20 years ago and when the other can phone rings it’s him to say, â€Å"Relax and enjoy the view! † The funniest part, he’s wearing clothes from the 70’s complete with tube socks. Another is when a lady calls the kitchen to say she’s been eating Progresso and now her favorite old jeans fit. It’s easy to see that there are many benefits when eating Progresso Soups; as they said in their commercials from the 80’s, â€Å"P. S. I love you. †

Rearch on Inventory

Topic7 Inventory 1 Identify the primary authoritative guidance for the accounting for inventories. What is the predecessor literature? FASB ASC 330 Inventory provides primary authoritative guidance for the accounting for inventory. The predecessor literature about it is Accounting Research Bulletins (ARB) No. 43 Chapter 4, paragraph 4 (Issued June, 1953) and Statement of Financial Accounting Standard (FAS) NO. 151 Inventory cost- an amendment of ARB No. 43, Chapter 4 (Issued November, 2004). 2 List the three types of goods that are classified as inventory. What characteristic will automatically exclude an item from being classified as inventory? Answer: Glossary (FASB ASC 330-10-20) 10-20: Inventory The term inventory embraces goods awaiting sale (the merchandise of a trading concern and the finished goods of a manufacturer), goods in the course of production (work in process), and goods to be consumed directly or indirectly in production (raw materials and supplies). This definition of inventories excludes long-term assets subject to depreciation accounting, or goods which, when put into use, will be so classified. The fact that a depreciable asset is retired from regular use and held for sale does not indicate that the item should be classified as part of the inventory. 3 Define â€Å"market† as used in the phrase â€Å"lower-of-cost-or-market† Answer: Glossary (FASB ASC 330-10-20) 10-20 Market: As used in the phrase lower of cost or market, the term market means current replacement cost (by purchase or by reproduction, as the case may be) provided that it meets both of the following conditions a. Market shall not exceed the net realizable value b. Market shall not be less than net realizable value reduced by an allowance for an approximately normal profit margin. 4 Explain when it is acceptable to state inventory above cost and which industries allow this practice. Answer: Stating Inventories Above Cost (FASB ASC 330-35) 35-16: It is generally recognized that income accrues only at the time of sale, and that gains may not be anticipated by reflecting assets at their current sales prices. However, exceptions for reflecting assets at selling prices are permissible for both of the following: a. Inventories of gold and silver,when there is an effective government-controlled market at a fixed monetary value b. Inventories representing agricultural, mineral, and other products, with all of the following criteria: 1. Units of which are interchangeable 2. Units of which have an immediate marketability at quoted prices 3. Units for which appropriate costs may be difficult to obtain. Where such inventories are stated at sales prices, they shall be reduced by expenditures to be incurred in disposal. 35-15: Only in exceptional cases may inventories properly be stated above cost. For example, precious metals having a fixed monetary value with no substantial cost of marketing may be stated at such monetary value; any other exceptions must be justifiable by inability to determine appropriate approximate costs, immediate marketability at quoted market price, and the characteristic of unit interchangeability. A brief summary about predecessor standards ARB NO. 43 Chapter4 (issued June, 1953), is predecessor standards that corresponds to the Codification. This chapter sets forth the general principles applicable to the pricing of inventories of mercantile and manufacturing enterprises. The standard gives a major objective of accounting for inventories and the primary basis of accounting, including how to allocate variable production overheads incurred in bringing an article to its existing condition and location. Cost for inventory purposes may be determined under several assumptions as to the flow of cost factors and enterprises should select one that most clearly reflects periodic income. This chapter also presents some of the valuation and estimation concepts that companies use to develop relevant inventory information. The basis of stating inventories must be consistently applied and should be isclosed in the financial statements. Statement of Financial Accounting Standard NO. 151 Inventory Costs amends the guidance in ARB No. 43, Chapter 4, â€Å"Inventory Pricing,† in order to clarify the accounting for abnormal amounts of idle facility expense, freight, handling costs, and wasted material (spoilage). In addition, this Statement requires that allocatio n of fixed production overheads to the costs of conversion be based on the normal capacity of the production facilities. This amendment is issued in November 2004 and effective for inventory costs incurred during fiscal years beginning after June15, 2005

Management Capacity Resume Essay

The purpose of this letter is to express my interest in working with your company in a management capacity.   I have over 15 years experience working for a major bottling company utilizing my Sales and Operations management skills which would be an asset to your organization. My diverse background includes serving in the United States Army Reserve.   In both my military and professional career, I have demonstrated excellent leadership abilities and exceptional customer service skills.   I successfully built a solid sales team consistently mentoring and motivating staff to meet and exceed company sales quotas. In addition to the skills noted on my resume, I can also offer your company: An enthusiastic individual seeking new endeavors, accomplishing personal and professional goals. A multi-tasking individual leveraging sales and marketing skills to exceed sales quotas. Excellent analytical ability with solid verbal and written communication skills. I look forward to speaking with you further to discuss my skills and qualifications.   You can reach me at the number listed above.

Developing Oral Language Summary Essay

Oral language and written language are essential skills that are needed for comprehension. Comprehension is defined as an understanding of oral and written language. In order for a child to comprehend what they are reading, several factors must come into play. Reading and decoding the words effortlessly without errors is the main step toward comprehension. When a child is reading text, they are experiencing phonemic awareness by sounding out the words in their mind. Writing is the next step toward comprehension. Writing goes hand in hand with reading. When a child is writing, they are also sounding out the words in their mind. Adults play a huge role in how children develop oral language skills. Automatic language is part of our everyday routines and children learn by â€Å"listening and speaking, phonological awareness and alphabetic knowledge, print awareness, comprehension, and writing† (Virginia.gov, n.d.). When students are learning to read and write, they do so simultaneously. It used to be thought that students should learn how to read first and then learn how to write. However, research has shown that learning to write while learning to read is important and vital in the development of reading (Pearson, D. 2007). A student needs to be able to read and write fluently in order to comprehend the material. In order to comprehend academic language, which is what students will use in school, there are certain concepts that a student must learn. Students need to learn syntax which is how words are formed to be able to create sentences void of errors. Students need to semantics which is defined as the meaning of language. Students should be able to cognitively understand and think about what they are reading. They also need to know how to use the language which is known as pragmatics. Through the use of various resources, students build up their vocabulary and strengthen their abilities to read fluently. â€Å"†¦the larger the reader’s vocabulary (either oral or print), the easier it is to make sense of the text† (National Institute,.n.d.). At this point, they will learn text structure and how sentences are strewn together. Of course, this all depends on what genre of text they are attempting to read and how complex the text in regards to the grade specific text they are reading. Being able to comprehend what one is reading all depends on what mood the student is in at the time. The student should be motivated and interested in the reading material. They need to understand the purpose of the reading; is it for enjoyment or for a school assignment? All of these are key factors that lead to comprehension. Another element of comprehension is cognitive targets. Cognitive targets are defined as the way a person comprehends or thinks about what is being read. The targets are locate and recall, integrate and interpret, and critique and evaluate. Locate and recall refers to locating or recalling something specific, such as the main idea, about the text they have read. Integrate and interpret refers to how a student can explain or compare what they have read. Critique and evaluate refers to how a student exams the text or evaluates certain parts of the text. Students practice these cognitive targets in both literary and informational texts. Examples of literary text include poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. â€Å"Informational texts include three broad categories: exposition; argumentation and persuasive text; and procedural text and documents texts† (NAEP). There are specific forms of instruction to improve comprehension and are most effective when taught together if possible. Comprehension monitoring is when a person is aware that they understand what is being read. Cooperative learning is when a group of students learn to read together. Graphic and semantic organizers are tools that readers use to represent material so that it is easier to comprehend. Question generation and question answering is when a reader asks themselves questions about the text and answers questions from the teacher. Story structure is when students are able to remember the main part of the story and answer questions about the story. Summarization is when a student reads text material and is able to generalize the entire text into a shorter passage. According to the article, Writing to Read, â€Å"instructional recommendations have shown clear results for improving students’ reading† (Graham S., Hebert. M., 2010). When these are other instructional methods are implemented into the reading process, comprehension can be very effective. This is especially true if these methods are built on top of an already developed language, strong background knowledge, and a high vocabulary. When teaching students comprehension through oral language and writing, teachers need to incorporate English language learners into their curriculum. English language learners may have linguistic issues and cultural background issues that are not only preventing comprehension, but also preventing reading and writing to begin with. As a teacher, it is crucial to first assess the ELL’s reading status to find out exactly where they are in the reading process. If so, what strategies can be implemented to better teacher the ELL’s. Also, a teacher needs to assess whether the student’s cultural background is preventing them from understanding the language. If this is the case, the teacher needs to learn the student’s background in order to assess where they are coming from academically. Not unlike native English learners, socioeconomic background can have an effect on how an ELL student is doing in school. According to the article, Cultural and Linguistic Impact, Patricia C. Salazar explains, â€Å"A student who comes from an educated middle-class family will have a different approach to learning than one who comes from a war-torn region of the world where food is scarce, and tragedy and trauma are daily occurrences† (Salazar, PC. 2009). Teaching an ELL student how to develop oral and written language will come from a successful assessment of the student. In order for a student to be successful at comprehension, oral language and written language skills must be mastered first. Reading is enhanced by written language and writing is enhanced by oral language. To facilitate a child’s learning, parents and teachers should provide as many resources as possible to accomplish this. In order to comprehend oral and written language, the student needs to be motivated and be reading grade specific text in order for the student to retain what they are reading. Cognitive targets are useful in facilitating comprehension and used regularly. Teachers also use different forms of instruction when teaching students how to build oral and written language. Finally, when teaching English language learners how to develop oral and written language, it is imperative that the teacher first learn of any linguistic or background issues and adjust their curriculum accordingly. It is crucial that educators teach students how to develop oral and written language in order to be successful academically. References Graham, S. & Hebert, M. (2010). Writing to Read: Evidence for how Writing can Improve Reading. Vanderbilt University. Carnegie Corporation, NY. Retrieved from: http://carnegie.org/fileadmin/Media/Publications/WritingToRead_01.pdf Language Development. (n.d.). Retrieved from: http://languagedevelopment.tripod.com/id11.html Language and Literacy Language. (n.d.). Retrieved from: and Literacy http://www.dss.virginia.gov/files/division/cc/provider_training_development/intro_page/publications/milestones/milestones_individually/05.pdf National Center for Education Statistics. (n.d.). National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Retrieved from: http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/reading/whatmeasure.asp National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (2000). What Works in Comprehension Instruction. Retrieved from: http://www.readingrockets.org/article/105/ Pearson, D.P. (2007). Reading Researcher Advocates Strengthening Literacy Programs Through Reading-Writing Synergy. Retrieved from: https://portal.flsouthern.edu/ICS/icsfs/reading_writing_synergy.pdf?target=7fde5bd4-34ca-4c2a-9b7b-3cf7f64718b8

Research proposal Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Research proposal - Dissertation Example In view of the same, the concept of total quality management is deemed of paramount importance to these outsourced companies. Hence, the main focus of this paper is to look into the manner by which total quality management principles are incorporated into the processes adopted by the outsourced industries. Total quality management is defined as that philosophy for management concerned with the continuous improvement of the quality of products and processes (Ahire 1997). This particular management concept is used all over the world. The functions related thereto are based on the fact that the quality of products and processes is the responsible of everyone who is engaged in the creation or consumption of the products or services that are offered by the organization. In this sense, Total quality management entails the involvement of the management, workforce, suppliers and even customers in order to ensure that the expectations of the customers are met (Ahire 1997). Hakes (1991) on the other hand, also mentioned that total quality management is essential to all successful organizations. ... Literature Review To provide a solid ground to this study, the researcher reviews extant literature with respect to outsourcing and total quality management. This literature review covers pertinent areas related to the same. To ensure an extensive discussion as regards the subject matter at hand, this section is divided into the following sub-sections: (1) Total Quality Management: An Overview and (2) The Outsourced Information Industry: The Need for Total Quality Management. Total Quality Management: An Overview. As earlier stated, the importance of total quality management as an essential part of the management philosophy is grounded on the fact that it ensures the performance of a certain firm in accordance with the expectations of the customers and at the same time, to enable it to cope with the ever changing global market places. Usually, total quality management results into two important consequences for the firms: first, increase in productivity; and second, customer satisfac tion. One of the main characteristics of Total Quality Management is related to the need to identify the root causes of quality problems and at the same time, correcting them from the source. This is basically in line with the efforts to incorporate quality in all aspects of the organizations. Thus, it usually involves all the people in the organizations such as the customers, the employees and the suppliers. According to the article entitled â€Å"Total Quality Management† (n.d.), total quality management often has the following aspects: (1) Customer Focus; (2) Continuous Improvement; (3) Employee Empowerment; (4) Use of Quality Tools; (5) Product Design; (6) Process Management; and lastly, (7) the Management of Supplier Quality. The focus of the

American Environment History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

American Environment History - Essay Example These environmental events were selected for these distinctively exhibit the impacts of socio-political and technological activities affect the natural environment. However, this paper acknowledges its limitations as there are other significant environmental phenomenon across the history of the U.S. Dust Bowl The Dust Bowl in the U.S. during the 1930s was an environmental disaster characterized by the erosion of the large portion of the Great Plains. Dust storms have brushed off top soils resulting in a 75 percent loss of the original land in the 1940s (Hornbeck 2012). This phenomenon affected Oklahoma, New Mexico, Kansas, Colorado, and Texas, whose lands dried up and blown away. Simply, the drought in this area caused the soil to dry up and converted into dust (Heinrichs 7). The Dust Bowl phenomenon has caused massive damages to the lives, properties, and livelihood of the people in the Great Plains during the 20th century. This environmental catastrophe may be associated with the i ncreasing development of the country. Prior to the incident, the Great Plains was considered to be a conducive area for living. Thus, human civilization and activities transformed the grassland into settlements (Porter 20). This is the first manifestation of how technology and advancement may reshape the conditions of the environment. Further activities and development in the area includes the rise of their economy, whereby encouraging the increase of population. As people inhabited the area, technological advancements like trains and farming activities were visible and increasing in the Great Plains (Porter 20). These human activities together with the improper land use contributed to the existence of the Dust Bowl. Again, this demonstrates how advancements and industrialization affect the environment. In effect of these poor practices and the drought, dusts were wiped of the land surface that covered most of the Plains. This has damaged agricultural land and domestication, which i n turn impact the lives and livelihood of many families in the Plains. Hence, food production in the area has become very difficult. For instance, 50 percent of the cattle in the Great Plains were destroyed while the others were given to the Federal Surplus Relief Corporation as it has become unfit for consumption (Timeline). Nuclear Power Generation Nuclear power is a technological advancement from aid communities in generating electricity at a low cost. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, nuclear energy or power stems from the â€Å"splitting of uranium† or fission, which in turn will produce steam to generate electricity. In the U.S., commercial nuclear power has been one of the most important sources of electricity with a 20 percent contribution to the country’s electricity source from the 90s to today (Rogers 6). Although nuclear power generation has less utilization, it cannot be denied that nuclear power has adverse impacts to the env ironment, which is evident in the environment in the 20th to the early 21st century. However, the country still continues to maximize nuclear power due to low operational costs and high reliability. This technological advancement impacts the environment through thermal pollution. That is, nuclear reactors is capable of producing â€Å"waste heat† (Hester and Harrison 93-94). A nuclear power plant may produce 50 percent more heat than

E-commerce Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 7500 words

E-commerce - Coursework Example E-commerce is about using the internet to buy and sell goods and services online. Selling through websites is the fastest growing method of trading worldwide (Wigand, R.T. 1997). The two forms which comprise e-commerce are business to business trading where companies trade and exchange information using the worldwide web and the business to customer trading where companies deal directly with customers through web pages, and ordering is carried out online (Wigand, R.T. 1997). This research will primarily be concerned with the impact of building e-commerce website for business activity. Trading online enables business to reach much wider audiences while cutting the costs of traditional retailing methods. Although the website is substantial the potential benefits are enormous in providing most types of business with a competitive advantage. In the organizational landscape, the new and reasonable means that is perhaps the most encouraging of all drivers is E-commerce. It seems to have revolutionized the manner in which business processes and procedures are being undertaken (Margolis, 1999). Some of the goals that it has been able to effectively carry out are the improvement of the dealings among buyers, vendors, and suppliers, greater cost-efficiency and widening E-commerce website's scope in the global economy. This has accorded businesses more opportunities for growth and expansion (PC Week, 1999). Through an advocacy of more personalized approaches in business, it has given a new definition to competitiveness. Customer information and data are now being yielded by vendors from their consumers. The significant volume of data also allows these individuals to leverage on promotional offers and the best buys. Online trading has been successful at endorsing price competitiveness and compels online vendors to work towards this end goal (Munk, 1999). Within the retailing industry, the increased availability and accessibility of cyber trading has been the key to its immense popularity and steady rise. This also implies high cost efficiency, without the necessity of expenses such as rent, manpower cost or labor. The intense competition in physical markets and the very high fixed costs are just grateful for this innovative solution (PC Week, 1999). The broad array of products and services are appreciated and patronized by consumers. The substantial volumes of online data also compel online vendors to leverage on cost. The relative ease accorded by online shopping has allowed consumers to optimize their management of time (Mellahi & Johnson, 2000). Numerous online vendors have adapted the online store and a novel online shopping experience as concepts on the new online age. An outcome of this occurrence is the birth of the terms "cyber shops, virtual shops, e-tail, and online shops" were brought forth (Mellahi & Johnson, 2000). Physi cal vendors are pressured to cope or run the risk of being tagged obsolete. This resulted in the mushrooming of websites (PC Week, 1999). A contemporary investigation conducted by the World Trade Organization has indicated that a specifically promising future is waiting for firms who

GEOL - Meteorology and Space Science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

GEOL - Meteorology and Space Science - Essay Example Latitudinal variations that produce the differential heating of air, water and land lead to creation of ocean currents (driven by wind, and differences in temperature and salinity) and global winds. As for elevation, with the increasing of altitude, the corresponding temperature of air decreases. It depends on the shape of the land (relief) how cold or hot it is going to be. The higher above the sea level the place is, the colder it is going to be. The water bodies of near water are providers of moisture for the land masses of the world. 3. The KÃ ¶ppen climate classification system is most widely used for classifying the climates of the world. Realizing that the best expression of climate is native vegetation, KÃ ¶ppen divided the Earth’s surface into climatic regions having in mind the vegetation distribution. 4. There are five groups based on the monthly and annual averages of temperature and precipitation. A)Moist tropical/megathermal climates (constant high temperature at sea level or low elevation; the temperature is around 18Â °C or higher all year; no winter season); B)Dry (arid and semiarid) climates (Precipitation is exceeded by potential evaporation throughout the year); C)Mild temperate/mesothermal climates (average temperature is above 10Â °C in the warmest months, April to September, and 3Â °C-18Â ° in the coldest month); D) Continental/microthermal climate (average temperature above 10 Â °C in the warmest and below −3 Â °C in the coldest month); E)Polar climates (the average temperature is below 10 Â °C all year) 5. A group climate can be found on the margins of the tropical zone, while B group is in foggy coastal steppes. Climates C and D often co-occur. Southern planes are located in the mild C group, while locations that are north are in the colder D group. The climates of E group occur on the near the islands of the North American Eurasian landmasses and some islands near the Antarctic

Colon Cancer in Tissue Engineering Literature review

Colon Cancer in Tissue Engineering - Literature review Example The reason being that reconstructive surgery does not replace the biological functioning of an organ or tissue 4. Medical researchers have had to be innovative. Their innovation has led to tissue engineering (TE), which is the initiation of the regeneration of organs and tissues by taking advantage of the individual’s self-healing capability 5. Normally, tissue engineering purposes to control cells to trigger the regrowth of the respective tissue 6. A process that is termed as therapeutic because it replaces the biological role of the damaged or malfunctioning tissues or organs 7. What does TE involve? TE comprises of the artificial stimulation of the capacity of cell differentiation, synthesis, and increase 8. It utilizes two tactics. The transplantation of cells 9 and the use of biomaterials and biomedical machinery 10. In the utilization of biomaterials and associated technologies, there needs to be the creation of in vivo like conditions. What is the purpose of these in vivo like conditions? The in vivo like environment is developed to ensure that the cells are able to boost their differentiation and proliferation to a sufficient standard that allows the biological capability of tissue regrowth 11. Hence, a cell-manipulated natural healing of the particular organ and tissue is attained without the need of transplanting cells. In addition, transplantation of cells is undertaken by transferring cells that have a huge capability for the differentiation and growth of cells to activate the regeneration of tissue in accordance with its potential 12. In this technique, the transfer is done using the infusion tactic 13 or the bolus injection method 14. However, in the use of biomedical and biomaterial technologies, bio signaling and cell scaffolds techniques have been used to deliver the necessary biomaterials that avail the required conditions for tissue regrowth.

Aviation Maintenance Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Aviation Maintenance - Article Example With the use of X2 technology to trounce the design related challenges in the aircraft industry.The aircraft keep up with the advancing technology by being designed in a way that it can be flown by wire. So far the electronic control of the aircraft has shown superb performance than the human-directed, this is despite the fact the system has been in use for a short period. At the same time, there is increased acceleration and deceleration speed which is of the essence in the military planes more so for the fact that the aircraft at some point may be subjected to sudden landing and taking off for the security purposes. The new innovative ways of production and employment of the innovation in the aviation industry give room for more advanced and reliable products that meet the advanced needs of the clients. The aircraft in its form flies faster and for longer distances than the less technologically advanced planes in use. At the same time, there is increased the higher limit of the loa d.However, with increased technology and production of new technologically advanced aircraft, there is a need also to have an increased number of the maintained technology experts. With an increased surge of the new aircrafts, the world over with few people to maintain the same has made the industry and the maintenance of the modern aircrafts unbearable in terms of maintenance costs. Therefore, must a company to roll out technicians as well now that there is a shortage even for the present workload.

Electric cars vs hybrid cars Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Electric cars vs hybrid cars - Research Paper Example This paper analyses the advantages and disadvantages of electric and hybrid cars as a move to reduce the rate at which CO2 is emitted in the atmosphere, and explains the reasons as to why hybrid cars are preferable than electric cars. First, what is an electric car? An electric car is powered or propelled by an electric motor that is powered by a rechargeable battery pack. These batteries can be recharged by household electricity. These cars do not use gasoline, instead they get their power from a controller which regulates the amount of power based on the acceleration rate (â€Å"Electric Cars a definitive guide†, n.d). Electric cars are environmentally friendly because they emit less or do not emit carbons than their counterparts that use gasoline but they do use rare metals that are used in manufacturing their batteries. This means zero emission of carbons to the environment; they do not contribute to climate change like those vehicles that use gasoline. In addition, electric cars do not use fossil fuels; they do not have internal combustion engines because they completely depend on rechargeable batteries. Furthermore, when the engine of an electric car is on, there is no noise as compared to gas-powered vehicle thus giving people a quiet ride. Further, the silent nature of electric cars makes them not associated with the issue of noise pollution (â€Å"Advantages and disadvantages of electric cars†, n.d). Another, advantage of electric cars is that they reduce air pollution since they do not emit pollutants. Furthermore, they have reduced green house gas emissions from the onboard source of energy depending on the technology and fuel used for generation of electricity to charge the batteries is clean (â€Å"Electric cars a look into the future†, n.d). In addition, there advantages of electric cars is that they have high energy efficient level since electric motors have the capability to convert 75% of the chemical energy from the

Jurisprudence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Jurisprudence - Essay Example In order for a society to gain such a reliable reputation, there needs to be a backbone, which in this case would be a code of law.† (2006: p 1) Man makes laws and crafts amendments in them according to the prevailing circumstances and situation. The basic motive behind devising the statutes of law was the prevention of crimes from the society. Since crime is a social phenomenon and exists in each and every culture of the world from the most primitive human tribes and clans to the modern contemporary society, no civilization can deny its subsistence at all. â€Å"Community disorganization†, according to Vedder, Koenig & Clark, â€Å"has been found to be related to several social problems, including crime and delinquency.† (1973: p 7). It is actually an act that disturbs and destroys the peace and harmony of a society. With increase in population of the world at large, the tribes and communities grew widely and developed into society. The crime rate also got its place along with the growth of civilization with an upward trend and increase. The need of rules and system was felt to preserve calm and harmony. Subsequently, social norms, folkways, mores and taboos came into being to bring regularity in society. Socio-cultural and political authorities were also established, to evade turbulence and control crimes in the prescribed manners prevailing in an area. There are two types of offences i.e. one which is against the law enforced by the state, called criminal acts, and the other that is against religious beliefs as well as existing norms that is called deviancy and immorality. Deviant behaviour and perversion refer to the breaking of the prevailing norms and values. Prostitution, incest, homosexuality, bestiality, buggery, exhibitionism, voyeurism and masochism etc are the examples of moral offenc es or perversion. The parliament of the Old Land, has decided to pass a bill in order to criminalize sexual intercourse

Developmental Model of Health and Nursing Essay

Developmental Model of Health and Nursing - Essay Example Allen sought to introduce a strength-based model of practice in nursing. Having interest in practicing nursing to promote health within the family has influenced my choice for this model. This approach involved a transformation in the way nurses handled issues concerning health. In the context defined by Allen, health was one of the social issues, and there was great potential of socializing it within the family setting. Therefore, Allen highlighted the urgency for nurses to initiate partnerships with the patient and family (Bomar, 2004). Moreover, the new approach required nurses to shift from the traditional perspective that focused on illness, deficit, and problems. They needed to replace such thinking with a perspective that identified the strengths of the individual and his family. With the new perspective, the nurse would then concentrate on motivating families to utilize their inherent strengths, and available resources in their efforts to achieve health goals. Moyra Allen con structed frameworks that nurses needed to adhere to, in their venture to embrace the new approach of nursing (Allen, & Warner, 2002). Prior to the description of the new approach, many nurses sought to identify the problem with the patients, and then advanced to identify viable solutions to the problem (Bomar, 2004). However, the developmental model of health and nursing sought to discourage nursing from the identification of problems as the initial step towards promotion of health. According to the basics of this model, adopting an approach that centers on identifying problems introduces setbacks to promotion of health. The family embraces the problem as a stigmatizing label, and triggers the negative feeling of helplessness. With such a negative attitude,... This report stresses that Allen sought to introduce a strength-based model of practice in nursing. Having interest in practicing nursing to promote health within the family has influenced my choice for this model. This approach involved a transformation in the way nurses handled issues concerning health. In the context defined by Allen, health was one of the social issues, and there was great potential of socializing it within the family setting. Therefore, Allen highlighted the urgency for nurses to initiate partnerships with the patient and family. This paper makes a conclusion that the new approach required nurses to shift from the traditional perspective that focused on illness, deficit, and problems. They needed to replace such thinking with a perspective that identified the strengths of the individual and his family. With the new perspective, the nurse would then concentrate on motivating families to utilize their inherent strengths, and available resources in their efforts to achieve health goals. The McGill model seeks to build a rapport between the nurse and the family of the patient. Contrary to the deficit perspective that dominated the nursing field, this model highlighted the need for a strength perspective that focused on the capacity that the family possessed and that would serve the critical role of promoting health. Allen highlighted that focusing on capacities, resources and capacities of the family was the most critical step in establishing a working partnerships between the family and the nurse.

Advanced SQL Queries for the Pine Valley Furniture Company Database Term Paper

Advanced SQL Queries for the Pine Valley Furniture Company Database - Term Paper Example To get the result, we need to sort the prices of the products and choose the one that is the least among them all. In the parameters for the queries, we indicate that we would like to pick the top item from the field whose values have been sorted in ascending order. From then on, we display the top 1 item to show us the least item in terms of the price. This query is obtained from the employee table and the work center table. From the employee table, we get the employee identifications and the names of the employees. The work center table is only meant to give us the work center identifications for the employees. Once we get the values from both of the tables, we make the query. The above query is made on the order line table of the database. This table contains both the order ids as well as the product identification numbers. In order to know which different products are contained in the order number 1006, we design the query in such a way that we display the order ids for all the product lines while indicating the product line number 1006 as the only restriction on the query. In order to know the discounted product prices for the products manufactured by the product line 3, we need to calculate the discounted prices and display them on a different column. The operands for the calculation are the Standard_Price for all the products, and 0.9.

The Commerce Clause Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Commerce Clause - Case Study Example The state’s statute establishes that all trucks and trailers that are entering and operating within the state’s soil and roads must have contoured rear-fender mudguards and explicitly illegalizes trucks and trailers using straight mudguards. In so doing, the Georgian state government deliberately barred and interfered with trade and commerce across states by enacting a law legalizing unstandardized truck mudguards. The state contravened Artic 1, Section 8 of the American constitution that gave congress authority to regulate commerce and trade with foreign nations and between states (TA 102). When Georgia singles itself out to have its legal recommendation for trucks and trailers’ mudguards, it becomes as situation of business and commerce seclusion from other states. Georgia also contravened the legal tradition established and held by the Supreme Court in 1824 that the American government possesses the legal authority to regulate commerce if other states are substantially affected, as well. Georgia sought to single itself out at the expense of other states. However, there was a possibility of the impacts rebound back to t in 1824, that and trailers unstandardized 0000000000000000000000000000000Georgia in the case of trade and commercial excommunication and

International Human Resource Management CZ18 Essay

International Human Resource Management CZ18 - Essay Example There is a very close relationship between national culture and the human resource management as the document analyzes. The essay analyzes the impact of national cultural on the human resource management. The national culture framework by Hofstede attributes national culture to aspects such as collectiveness versus individualism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance as well as femininity versus masculinity. The national culture of various countries will handle these aspects from different points of view. These aspects entail the feelings of people and human thinking which tends to create basic problems in every society that every society is expected solve. These problems, however, manifest in varying dimensions from one country to the other. Selection, as well as recruitment, is a chief function of the human resource management. Before an organization starts the process of recruiting and selecting, it is essential for the human resource professional to carry out an analysis of that country’s national culture (Davila & Elvira 2008). If the national culture of that nation is individualistic in nature, the human resource management professionals have to develop strategies that are in line with the national culture of that country. In a nation that uses individualism, the HR professionals will have an assurance that the employees they acquire are transferable to any part of that nation as well as outside that nation. This is because these people are concentrating on their individual career only and are not expected to take care of their immediate family. However, if the cultural dimension of a particular nation is collective in nature, the HR professionals have to come up with strategies bearing in mind that the people they will attain are family conscious. This clearly shows that for the business will acquire the employees as per the culture of the respective nature. Moreover, the

Neural Networks Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Neural Networks - Movie Review Example able to check their payload; the load capacity they can contain in any operation and there be able to know the maximum load beyond which it fails or develop dramatic loss in accuracy. In the story, it is very clear that through neural networks robots can be controlled remotely through gestures and be directed to perform some tasks depending their interpretation of those gestures or symbols shown. Neural networks have been used for robot control over long time now and have evolved to high levels of control that are intricate. Firstly, a robot can be learn through the neural networks; this is achieved a neural network brain for the robot. An example of a good robot learning task is navigational tasks that may include learning to detect objects or obstacles like a wall and to move about a space in a defined path. Through the learning, the robots can develop maps in their ‘brains’ for the environment they are in after being taught. This includes recognizing as well as being able to predict behaviors and upcoming obstacles on their paths through voice recognition and may be light detecting sensors within them. Critical decision-making can be inculcated in robots by neural networks where it is supposed to weigh the negative and positive effects of its actions depending the outcomes of the action it is about to take. This shows the analytical characteristics involved and measurement of the levels of effects caused by the activities undertaken by the robots. For example, given more than one task to perform which have different slack times to be finished on their due dates, the robot will determine the best option by choosing the task with the least slack times to be performed first. Another area where the neural networks have been used is in the control of the robots movements in the joints as it performs it tasks. It can offer a continuous movement or a discontinuous movement that is stepped. Depending on the pace of the tasks it is expected to perform the robot is

Individual Project 1 EDU 620 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Individual Project 1 EDU 620 - Essay Example Thus, it demands a more dynamic personality having skills in analysis, planning, management, and implementation. Most importantly, it requires a learning attitude that leads toward continuous personal and professional development. Discipline of Instructional Design Wills(2009) states that instructional design is a discipline based on scientific principals and a specific set of assumptions verified by empirical data. Upon the base of this data, the professionals design their instructions to meet the specific learning needs of the particular audience. Hence, instruction is a science and instructional design is a technology based upon the science. (Merrill, Drake, Lacy, Pratt, & the ID2 Research Group, 1996).Further, it is a process that includes planning, management, implementation and assessment. Thus instructional design is a process to improve how instructions gets designed and delivered better. However, some scholars consider it not just a science but an art as well. Instructional Design as a Science The scholars who claim instructional design as aligned with science say that instruction is based upon some scientific principals—a huge body of research. Supporting this view point Rowland (1993) establishes that the principles that can explain cause and effect relationship are to be said scientific.

Are Concerns over Immigration to Do with Culture of Economic Reasons Essay Example for Free

Are Concerns over Immigration to Do with Culture of Economic Reasons Essay Almost all economists are in agreement that immigration has positive economic effects. Indeed in the United States it â€Å"provides natives with a net benefit of at least $80,000 per immigrant, or as much as $10 billion annually† (Bolin, 2006). However despite this there are huge numbers of advocacy groups pushing the pros and cons immigration to the populations of the host countries, with natives having negative views towards immigration (McLaren Johnson, 2007). Through the course of this essay I will examine whether the root cause of these often xenophobic views towards immigration have root causes in economic reasons (immigrants taking jobs from natives, and leading to lower wages) or symbolic reasons, where the natives are fearful that the immigrants will bring their culture to the host country and cause change. Enoch Powell, the Conservative British politician, gave a warning that immigrants were causing such strife that â€Å"like the Roman, I seem to see the River Tiber foaming with much blood† (Powell, 1969). This turned out to be nonsense, and his advice that immigrants should be encouraged to leave, would have left Britain, and many other countries that rely on cheap foreign labour in a horrific state of affairs. Immigrants are now taking far longer to integrate into their host country and this is upsetting many natives. â€Å"In the past a third-generation migrant, for example in America, would have been expected to have shed much of his grandparents’ identity† (The Economist, 2008), not speaking his mother tongue and having little loyalty to the country his family originated from. This is changing â€Å"as migrants feel loyalty to more than one country† (The Economist, 2008). For example, Moroccans in Europe, even fourth generation, are encouraged by the Government to identify with the African country, and are granted Moroccan citizenship under the constitution. As many source countries such as India and China grow intent on gaining remittances from their emigres, â€Å"migrants even several generations on may come under great pressure to retain some of their old identity† (The Economist, 2008). This can all lead to immigrants never becoming fully integrated into the host country, causing social problems such as immigrants bunching together in the same place. Due to globalisation and time-space compression, it has become far easier for migrants to emigrate further away from their own country, this causes problems as they subsequently have little in common with their host country and find it harder to integrate into the community. Traveling long distances to emigrate is no longer a problem and in the future there will be the problem of â€Å"people moving greater distances and settling among different ethnic, religious and cultural groups† (The Economist, 2008), meaning they will have problems integrating. â€Å"Danes in Sweden or Albanians in Greece have little trouble integrating into the relatively familiar societies next door. Even Poles in Ireland prosper, perhaps thanks to the incomers’ good standard of education and skill and the shared Catholic faith. But Iraqis in Sweden, Somalis in Canada or Pakistanis in Norway typically find integration harder† (The Economist, 2008). Samuel Huntington blames this on the â€Å"great divisions among humankind† (Huntington, 1993) that are the differences between civilisations. He believes that immigration will ‘intensify civilization consciousness and awareness of differences between civilizations and commonalities within civilizations’ (Huntington, 1993). This leads to a ‘them versus us’ attitude, with the natives having the xenophobic view that the immigrants are qualitatively different from themselves. As the natives of the host country would have spent time constructing â€Å"discursive practices that attempt to fix meanings which enable the differentiation between the inside and the outside to be made† (Doty, 1996), they will resent immigrants not properly integrating themselves into the community. Research on social identity appears to conclude that identity is highly important to individuals, with individuals protecting these identities even if they have no realistic meaning (Monroe, et al. , 2000). People use these identities to provide a sense of self (Sniderman, et al. 2004), partly in order that they may distinguish between those similar to themselves and those different. The ‘identities tend to have their basis in perceptions of differences’ (McLaren Johnson, 2007)with those viewed as outsiders thought to have radically different values and approaches to life. â€Å"The threat posed by minorities and immigrants may be symbolic in nature and may stem from concerns about the loss of certain values or ways of life† (McLaren Johnson, 2007), due to immigrants having a significant presence in the host country. Immigrants also often congregate in areas of the host country, London for example has a huge immigrant and minority presence with only 44. 9% classing themselves as ‘White British’ (Gye, 2012), in the 2011 census. This all means that natives are fearful that immigrants will cause them to adapt or change their ways of life. Migrants who preserve â€Å"a strong religious sense that cuts across any national loyalty may be the hardest of all to assimilate into broadly secular Western societies†. In the post-9/11 world Muslims are often seen as being the greatest cultural threat to Western societies. In a recent survey McLaren and Johnson measured anti-Muslim feeling in the United Kingdom. They found that 62% of people agreed with the statement that British Muslims are more loyal to Muslims around the world, than to other Britons, only 12% disagreed. Only 30% of Britons felt that Muslims living in Britain were committed to Britain, with 47% feeling that they could never be committed to Britain. 52% of people thought that Britain would begin to lose its identity if more Muslims came to live there. Clearly there is considerable anti-Muslim feeling in Britain and concern that British-Muslims pose a threat to the identity and culture of Britain (McLaren Johnson, 2007). Most economists are in agreement that immigration has very little effect on native’s wages; this should mean that natives won’t oppose immigration based on the misbelief that immigrants lower wages. Although conventional economic wisdom states that an increase in supply of labour will lead to a decrease in price, this doesn’t happen. Friedberg and Hunt conclude that a 10% increase in immigrant levels in the population, decreases wages by 1% (Friedberg Hunt, 1995). Economist Francisco Revera-Batiz came to the same conclusion, noting that although immigration has increased the supply of low skilled workers into the United States, there has been very little impact on the wages of high school dropouts, the lowest skilled people in America (Rivera-Batiz, 1998). One of the most influential studies is Card’s 1990 study on the Miami Labour market after the sudden influx of 125,000 Cuban immigrants in 1980 due to a sharp downturn in the Cuban economy. Surprisingly the arrival of so many immigrants didn’t affect native wages, although it did lower the overall wage level in Miami; due to the immigrants being employed in low-wage jobs (Card, 1990). This tallies with the outcomes of other natural experiments in recent history such as the homecoming of 600,000 Portuguese after the collapse of their empire in Africa in 1974-76, the return of 900,000 Frenchmen from Algeria in 1962 (The Economist, 2008) or the influx of 610,000 Russian Jews into Israel 1990-94, increasing the labour force by 12%; all had negligible effects on native wages. Immigrants don’t decrease wages because as well as increasing the supply of labour, they become a domestic consumer for goods as well as services, they â€Å"create jobs as consumers and fill jobs as producers† (Bolin, 2006). A higher total population, ceteris parabus, will lead to the production of more goods and services, boosting the host countries gross domestic product (GDP). In some rare cases immigrants can even boost native’s wages. Illegal Mexican immigrants, who are â€Å"predominantly low skilled† (Bolin, 2006), have a positive effect on other workers’ wages (Bean, et al. 1998). This is due to immigration increasing the productivity of native workers by â€Å"taking low-skilled jobs, freeing higher-skilled workers to work in higher-skilled employment where they can be more productive† (Bolin, 2006). Based on the results of a range of economists, using results based on a â€Å"range of methodologies† (Bolin, 2006), it can be seen that immigrants have a small negative impact on native wages, although mainly low-skilled workers. Based on this, natives shouldn’t be concerned over immigration levels based on their own wages falling. The popular theory that immigrants ‘come over here and take our jobs’, has been shown to hold very little truth, as most studies â€Å"find no or negligible effect[s]† (Bolin, 2006) on employment rates. The ‘lump of labour fallacy’ is the mistaken idea that there are a set number of jobs in the economy, and when an immigrant takes one of those jobs, it is a job lost for a native. This is incorrect for three reasons. Firstly, by coming to a country â€Å"immigrants increase the supply of labour and hence reduce wages. In turn, cheaper labour increases the potential return to employers to build new factories or expand their operations. In so doing, they create extra demand for workers† (Grinda, 2006), and more jobs are created. Secondly, immigrants are consumers as well as producers. When there is a large influx of immigrants such as the 610,000 Russian-Jews into Israel in the early 1990’s, they are in need of goods and services. People are employed to provide these goods and services, meaning more jobs added to the economy, and immigrants simply enlarge the economy. Thirdly, immigrants are 10 to 20 percent more likely to become entrepreneurs and start their own business than natives (Briggs Moore, 1994). In 1999, The Wall Street Journal reported that â€Å"Chinese and Indian immigrants run nearly 25% of the high-companies started in [Silicon] Valley since 1980†¦The 2,775 immigrant-run companies had total sales of $16. 8 billion and more than 58,000 employees† (Thurm, 1999). â€Å"Immigrants not only take jobs, they make jobs. They open new businesses that employ natives as well as other immigrants and themselves. And they do so in important numbers† (Simon, 1999). Similarly, the findings by Friedberg and Hunt discovers â€Å"no evidence of economically significant reductions in native employment†. Card, as well as examining the impact of the Muriel boatlift on wages also examined the impact of it on employment. Even though Miami’s workforce was increased by 7%, virtually overnight, with an influx of relatively unskilled Cuban workers he finds â€Å"no evidence of an increase in unemployment among less skilled blacks or other non-Cuban workers. Rather the data analysis suggests a remarkably rapid absorption of the Muriel immigrants into the Miami labour force† (Card, 1990). Again with immigrant’s impact on wages, the evidence seems to suggest that a lack of evidence that immigration causes native unemployment. This should mean that concerns over immigration should not be linked to worries over employment. Due to immigrants being â€Å"disproportionately low-skill[ed]† (Bolin, 2006) they tend to have lower wages than natives. It is often assumed therefore that they depend more upon the welfare system than natives. The level of benefits are often higher in the host country than the source country, and it is often suggested that it is this difference that brings in migrants. Borjas coined the term â€Å"welfare magnet effect† (Borjas, 1999), making the point that immigrants are drawn to the country with the highest benefits. This however has all been shown to be completely false, and many economists believe that over the long term immigrants more than pay for the public services they use (Simon, 1999). In the United States â€Å"most immigrants, including Mexicans, are usually less likely than comparable natives to receive welfare†, with the per capita cost of social welfare for immigrants being 8% less than the per capita cost for natives (Bean, et al. 1998). It is plain to see that objections to immigration come from those who are worried about the identity and culture of their nation being eroded, rather than for economic reasons. Immigrants are solving many problems for the host countries, such as the problems of aging populations and those participating in the workforce being increasing choosy about the jobs they do. Immigrants have few economic disadvantages, although high immigration may bring about a small decrease in jobs for the natives, the tax revenue that they bring in more than displaces this negative effect. As the immigrants have little impact on jobs, and simply create more jobs in the economy, disproving the lump of labour fallacy, they don’t have a negative impact on wages which is a positive for the economy as a whole. The argument that immigrants have a negative impact on the identity and culture of a nation holds some truth. Due to the fact that a nation’s identity is made up of what its inhabitants believe it to be, immigrants having different views, can water this identity down.

Fundamental Principle of Arbitration Essay Example for Free

Fundamental Principle of Arbitration Essay In other word, arbitration is the outcome of a private agreement between parties to settle their disputes from the courts, and submit it to the decision of a private tribunal. If the principle of privacy is breached, the arbitration will be effected. The second principle is confidentiality. It is when that all takes place at arbitration is confidential. Either party or tribunal cannot disclose to third person without the consent of the other except for the purpose of the proper conduct of the arbitration. However, there is a question regarding to these two principles which is whether privacy automatically results in confidentiality or does it automatically demand confidentiality. There are two main areas of confidentiality which are confidentiality prior to award and confidentiality after award. According to English law, there are two opinions regarding with this issue. First, if it was absence of an express term in an arbitration clause providing for confidentiality, the presumption of confidentiality will applies. Second, the general duty of confidentiality cannot be implied in a silent clause for arbitration in an agreement. However, this opinion has been criticized since it is a break with the general principle of confidentiality. In Malaysia, there is no doubt that privacy and confidentiality are regarded as essential features for the parties to the arbitration. An arbitrator in breach of the confidentiality requirements would be exposed to misconduct proceedings. Finally, the duty of confidentiality is not absolute and was subject to limited qualifications or exceptions such as consent, compulsion of law, disclosure by leave of the court or disclosure necessary for the purpose necessary of protecting the interest of an arbitrating party.

Analysis of the Oil and Gas Industries

Analysis of the Oil and Gas Industries CHAPTER 1 Introduction EYs OG Business Today As at 2008, global OG revenues are approximately $850m per annum and are forecast to remain relatively static over the next few years. Within that our OCA and GP account revenues which are predominately IOC driven are declining significantly whilst our core and SGM revenues are growing healthily. However, our revenue from NOCs is less than 10%. Our global client portfolio of OCAs and GPs reflects the industry dynamics of five years ago and needs to be significantly realigned to reflect the dynamics of today. Our service portfolio provides a solid foundation but considerable scope exists to provide more industry content-rich specific services to our clients and to develop new services and extend others to support new trends in the global oil industry. Currently our main people capability to support the oil industry lies in Western Europe and North America with smaller pockets in areas such as the Middle East, Russia and Australia. It is clear that our capability to develop new business and deliver the resulting OG services needs to be significantly enhanced in the newly emerged economies. Worryingly this lack of strength and depth in our oil industry service capability in the newly emerged economies is leaving the firm exposed to potentially significant service failures, subsequent client loss and litigation. Fundamental change in the Oil and Gas industry The Oil and Gas industry came into being in the late 1800s and over the last century has seen several structural changes and important transformations. One of most important of these changes took place in the early part of the 20th century and was the breakup of Standard Oil in the U.S. which led to the growth of large, globalized â€Å"oil majors† which had headquarters all over the world. The ever changing and evolving business environment has led to increasing amount of consolidation and merger activity in recent decades giving rise to a handful of supermajors. There has been widespread nationalization of oil assets, primarily in Arab nations, former communist countries and also developing economies. This process of nationalization has led to the creation of a new breed of National Oil Companies (NOCs) that in many cases have grown to become far larger than the largest of their private sector counterparts. Modern economies are driven by oil and gas and issues relating to the industry have become of increasing importance for all nations. The Oil Gas Industry is undergoing its most fundamental change since its formation in the first half of the 20th century, with a major shift in power from the International Oil Companies (IOCs) such as Exxon Mobil, Shell and BP to the National Oil Companies (NOCs) such as Saudi Aramco, Petro China and Gazprom. Only a decade ago the IOCs had access to and led the development of the vast majority of the worlds Oil Gas resources. Today the market landscape has seen dramatic changes and it is the NOCs which now own over 85% of the worlds remaining reserves and are becoming increasingly determined to lead the exploitation themselves. Five years ago it would have been unthinkable that one of the top three IOCs could be taken over by a NOC or a Sovereign Wealth Fund but that has all changed now as anything is possible in the current market. Mature and developed NOCs like Petronas have built up significant capabilities and other NOCs like Sinopec and Petrochina are following in their footsteps. IOCs are now redrawing their old strategies and are looking to partner with NOCs for large projects. There is ever increasing competition for the limited resources available and the uncertain and unstable nature of crude oil prices coupled with the global credit crunch have put immense pressure on companies in the industry to control project costs and operating risks. There is a rapid increase in energy demand from China, India and non-OECD Asia Pacific region. With maturing oil reserves, exploration and production activities have increased in Middle East, Brazil, Australia, Russia, West Africa and Canada. Major players scouting for reserves for ensuring sustainable future supply. Downstream margins are declining because of high competition. There has been renewed focus on Green Energy and increased efforts in exploring alternative energy sources. Increasing pressure on oil and gas companies to use better technologies and invest in cleaner technologies. Major private equity players taking bets on companies operating in clean energy area. Major risks in Oil and Gas Industry RISK RADAR Risks Access to reserves: political constraints and competition for proven reserves Price volatility Uncertain energy policy Cost containment Human Capital Deficit Aging oil and gas infrastructure Supply shocks Overlapping service offerings for international oil companies and oil field service companies Climate and environmental concerns Immense Opportunity for EY This fundamental change presents our global firm with an immense opportunity to present new global and regional service campaigns to attract new clients and also strengthen and solidify relationships with existing clients. The IOCs will continue to restructure and consolidate operations to reduce costs to increase their profitability, in an era when it will be increasingly difficult to increase their top line growth, other than by market driven oil price rises. The NOCs will be growing rapidly both organically and by acquisition, internationalising their businesses and establishing new global operating models, as indeed will the larger oil field service companies. Undoubtedly the individual IOCs, NOCs and Service Companies will need significant advisory and assurance support. This will play to the full range of our traditional EY services as well as creating opportunities to develop new EY services to support their drive into emerging areas such as clean technologies, carbon capture and trading, LNG and climate change. However, these EY services will need to be sold and delivered in the recently emerged and increasingly important economies in the CIS, Middle East, Africa, India, Far East and Latin America as well as EYs traditional OG geographies of Europe and North America. Asia- Pacific Oil and Gas Sector The oil gas market consists of the activities of exploration, development, production, refining, storage, transportation and marketing of oil gas. It is being projected that oil and gas will be the primary source of energy to meet demands for economic growth in the foreseeable future. Even though there has been significant progress in the renewable energy space their role will be limited for next 25-30 years. The Asia-Pacific oil gas market generated total revenues of $922.9 billion in 2008, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 26.8% for the period spanning 2004-2008. In comparison, the Chinese and Japanese markets grew with CAGRs of 36.8% and 26.7%, respectively, over the same period, to reach respective values of $314.7 billion and $270 billion in 2008.The performance of the market is forecast to decelerate, with an anticipated CAGR of 1.6% for the five-year period 2008-2013, which is expected to drive the market to a value of $998.5 billion by the end of 2013. Crude oil sales proved the most lucrative for the Asia-Pacific oil and gas market, generating 88.1% of the total revenues. In comparison, sales of natural gas account for the remaining 11.9% of the markets revenue. China accounts for 34.1% of the Asia-Pacific oil and gas markets value. In comparison, Japan accounts for a further 29.3% of the markets revenue. China The Chinese oil and gas industry has displayed dramatic growth in recent years and even though a slight decline is anticipated due to the global recession the market is expected to bounce back quickly and return to solid growth s. Latest forecasts from BMI suggest that china will account 32.3% of Asia/Pacific regional oil demand by 2010, while also providing 46% of total supply. Regional oil demand in the region is expected to grow from 25.36 million barrels per day in 2007 to 27.34 million barrels per day in 2010. The oil and gas industry in China remains primarily under state control and is only privatised to a small extent. CNOOC, PetroChina and Sinopec are the main players in the industry and are responsible for most of the domestic production. The oil and gas sector in China generated total revenues USD$ 314.7 billion in 2008 representing a CAGR of 36.8% for the period 2004-2008. Crude oil sales have been the biggest revenue generator for the Chinese oil and gas market in 2008 generating total revenues of USD$ 299.9 billion and representing 95.3% of the overall market value. Natural gas sales generated USD$ 14.8 billion in revenues for the same period accounting for 4.7% of the market. The market is expected to be at a value of about USD$ 352.7 billion by 2013 at a CAGR of 2.3% due to the deceleration expected in the industry and overall economy. Chinese oil consumption is expected to grow by 28% from 2006 to 2011 which will equal around 9.39 million barrels per day by 2011. This increase in demand will be driven by economic growth of about 10% per year which will result in China becoming the largest single driver of growth in oil consumption during the next decade. The domestic production of around 3.54 million barrels per day will leave a gap of 5.85 million barrels per day which will have to be filled by domestic companies expanding production or through increasing imports. This provides significant opportunities for oil and gas players to make investments to expand production through organic or inorganic growth routes. Chinas dependency on oil imports currently stands at around 50% making it the worlds second largest importer of oil after the US and followed by Japan. The market for processing is controlled by a few state owned enterprises with Sinopec holding a 60% share of total crude distillation capacity and PetroChina holding about 38%. Even though the natural gas market constitutes only 3% of the total energy mix, it is seeing rapid development due to increases in demand from the chemicals industry and household needs for heating and cooking fuel. In June 2006 China took steps to develop its natural gas sector by becoming a natural gas importer for the first time with the opening of the Guangdong liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal, which is supplied mainly from Australia. Natural gas imports are expected to grow in the future with other LNG import terminals and pipelines being planned that would connect major demand areas in China to suppliers in Russia and Central Asia. South Korea The oil and gas industry in South Korea grew by 26.8% in 2008 to reach a value of USD$ 115.8 billion. The market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.6% to reach a value of USD$ 112.3 billion by 2013. Crude oil sales generated the maximum revenues for the industry with about 85.3% of total revenues. Natural gas sales accounted for 14.5% of total market revenues generating total revenues of USD$ 16.8 billion. The South Korean market accounts for about 12.6% of the Asia-Pacific oil and gas industry. The global slowdown is expected to slow down the growth of the sector to an anticipated CAGR of 1.1% for the period 2008-2013 to value of USD$ 122.3 billion. Market consumption in the region increased with a CAGR of 1.8% for the period 2004-2008 to reach 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) in 2008. This volume is expected to grow at a CAGR of 1.2% for the period 2008-2013 to reach 1.1 billion BOE. South Korea has no oil reserves and its entire oil requirement must be fulfilled through imports. Oil makes up most of the total energy consumption and though this proportion has been declining in recent years. South Korea consumes about 2.72% of the worlds oil and is the fifth largest net importer of oil in the world. South Korea has a refinery capacity of about 2667.6 thousand barrels per day which constitutes 3.03% of the world total. South Korea is also the worlds second largest importer of natural gas after Japan. The consumption of natural gas in 2008 was 36.97 billion cubic meters which is about 1.26% of the world total. The Korean Gas Corporation (KOGAS) is the only importer and distributor of natural gas in the country and also the largest purchaser of LNG in the world. Some of the largest oil companies in South Korea are the Hyundai Oil Bank, SK Corporation and S-Oil Refinery. The S-Oil Corporation is planning to spend $1.2 billion on the expansion of its Onsan Refinery. Most Korean refineries have problems of over capacity and low operating rates. The expansion will be completed by 2011. The Korean National Oil Corporation is planning to acquire five to ten midsized foreign oil companies. The targets have already been identified and the due diligence process is set to begin soon. South Korea is targeting energy self sufficiency of 30% by 2016 which stood at 5.7% in 2008 and 7.4% in 2009. The government also plans to spend $5.4 billion over the next 14 years to expand the gas distribution network and storage capabilities of the country. Philippines There is very limited domestic oil production in the country and the existing production began in the 70s. The period from 1996 to 2000 saw absolutely no oil production in the country. It is one of the few oil producing countries of the world that has seen a decrease in oil consumption over the last decade. Philippines oil demand will constitute 1.12% of total oil demand in the Asia-Pacific region and also contribute 0.77% of total supply. It is expected that oil production in the country will reach its peak at around 70000 barrels per day in 2013 and will then see a decline of 14.24% to reach 51000 barrels per day in 2019. Consumption of oil is expected to grow by 31.78% from 2009 to 2019 with the first 5 years seeing a 3% per annum growth, taking the demand at the end of 2014 to around 325000 barrels per day. This would leave an import requirement of around 258000 barrels per day in 2014. The second five years from 2014 to 2019 will see a decrease in consumption growth to 2% per annum taking the demand at the end of 2019 to 369000 barrels per day. The gas production capabilities will also increase from 3.4 billion cubic metres in 2009 to 8 billion cubic metres and gas demand is being forecast to grow by 164.71% during the same period making the import requirement around 1 billion cubic metres. The recent development of offshore oil deposits has led to an increase in production to 23,000 barrels per day. The country has about 3.48 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves which are mostly found at the Malaympaya gas field. There are two oil refining facilities at Petron Corp.s plants in Limay and Bataan and also at Shells Tabango refinery with a capacity of about 282,000 barrels per day. The country is planning a major divestment in the upstream arm of Philippine National Oil Company in order to finance the countrys budget deficit. The government of Philippines is planning to raise around $300-$320 million from the sale of 60% stake in the PNOC Exploration Corporation. Exxon Mobil is also planning an investment of around $100 million for exploration in south western Philippines in the Sandakan Basin of the Sulu Sea. Major companies of the region include: * Philippine National Oil Company * Petron Corp. * Shell Philippines Taiwan The island of Taiwan is densely populated and not abundant in natural resources. Taiwan is heavily dependent on imports and about 97% of its total energy requirements are fulfilled through imports. Oil and gas therefore play an important role in economic development and have been a major source of modernization and development of the country. The country will make up 3.93% of total oil demand from the Asia-Pacific region and will not have any significant contribution to supply. Taiwan has oil reserves of only about 2.5 million barrels and consumed an average of 1123.08 thousand barrels of oil per day in 2008 which constituted 1.32% of the worlds consumption. Taiwan has compensated for its lack of reserves by building huge refining capacity of 1197 thousand barrels per day which make up 90% of total oil production through refinery gain. The prevalent trends of globalization have had a great impact on Taiwanese energy policy and the government now actively promotes privatisation in the oil and gas sector to develop new refineries and power plants. The industry is dominated by the national oil company of Taiwan, the Chinese Petroleum Corporation and even though oil exploration activity has been ongoing for the last 50 years there has never been any significant discovery of oil production. The Taiwanese oil and gas industry experienced a vibrant 48% growth rate in 2008 to reach total revenues of USD$ 39.7 billion which represented a CAGR of 28.9% for the period from 2004-2008. The effects of the global recession will be felt in the Taiwanese oil and gas market which will experience a slowdown in the growth rate till 2013. Market growth rate for the period 2008 to 2013 is expected at a CAGR of 2.2% which will take total revenues from the sector to USD$ 44.2 billion by 2013. Consumption of oil in Taiwan has seen an increase with a CAGR of 1.6% from 2004 to 2008 and stands at 434.9 million BOE. Future consumption growth is being projected at a CAGR of 0.9% for the period 2008 to 2013 and is expected to reach 455.1 million BOE by 2013. A majority of total revenues in the sector were generated from crude oil sales at USD$ 34.4 billion or 86.7% of the total market value. The remaining 13.3% came from natural gas sales which generated USD$ 5.3 billion in 2008. Taiwan is 5th largest importer of natural gas in the world and has a natural gas consumption of 11.77 billion cubic metres. The gas consumption in Taiwan made up 2.64% of total consumption in the region and is expected to decrease to 2.49% by 2014. VIETNAM Vietnam had 0.27 % of the worlds reserves at the end of 2007 according to the 2008 BP Statistical Energy Survey. Bach Ho is the largest offshore oil reserve among 9 offshore reserves of Vietnam. It produced an average of 340 thousand barrels of crude oil per day in 2007 according to the 2008 BP Statistical Energy Survey. Top Asia-Pacific Oil Producers in 2006 Vietnam Oil Gas Corporation (PetroVietnam) dominates oil and gas sector in Vietnam. It is under the control of the Ministry of Industry. It has formed partnerships with other international oil companies such as BP, ConocoPhillips, (KNOC), Nippon Oil (Japan), Malaysias Petronas, Korea National Oil Corporation and Talisman. Vietnams Natural Gas Production and Consumption from 1995 to 2005 As of January 2007, Vietnam had 6.8 Tcf of proven gas reserves according to Oil and Gas Journal. According to Business Monitor International forecasts Vietnam will account for 1.59% of Asia Pacific regional oil demand by 2014 and provide 4.33% of supply. Regional oil use of 21.40mn barrels per day (b/d) in 2001 for Asia Pacific reached an estimated 25.44mn b/d in 2009. The usage should average 25.93mn b/d in 2010 before rising to around 28.99mn b/d by 2014. Regional oil production is set to increase to 8.59mn b/d by 2014. Regional imports have increased on an average from 12.99mn b/d of oil in 2001 to estimated 16.94mn b/d in 2009. It is forecasted to reach 20.41mn b/d by 2014. China, Japan, India and South Korea will be principal importers. In terms of natural gas, only Malaysia will be net exporter in 2014. In 2009, region consumption was estimated to be 459bn cubic metres (bcm) and it is expected to increase to 582bcm by 2014. Net imports will ease from current 83bcm to 72bcm by 2013. In 2009, Vietnams share of gas consumption was expected to be 2.40 but its share of production is approximated at 2.91%. It is expected to account 4.72% to regional production and 4.12% consumption. For 2009, with an average OPEC basket price of US$59.00 per barrel (bbl), a decline of 37.3% year-on-year (y-o-y). For 2010, it is expected that there will be a significant OPEC basket price recovery to US$83.00/bbl for the OPEC basket price. It is expected to gain further ground to US$85.00/bbl in 2011 and increasing to US$90.00/bbl in 2012 and beyond. According to BMI forecast, there will be 7.3% average annual growth in 2010-2014. Growing number of international oil companies are partnering with Petro Vietnam in finding and developing hydrocarbon resources mainly gas. This will lead to rise in exploration success in Vietnam. As per BMI assumption, oil and gas production will peak at 400,000b/d in 2010 and will ease back to 372,000b/d by 2014. Beyond 2009, an increase of around 5-7% per annum is forecasted till 2014 thereby implying demand of 460,000b/d by 2014. Estimated 2009 of 11bcm for gas supply and demand is forecasted to increase to 24bcm by 2014. From 2009 to 2019, a decrease of 7.14% in oil production in Vietnam is forecasted by BMI. Crude volumes will peak in 2010 with 400,000 b/d and will decrease to 325,000 b/d later by 2019. With Vietnamese growth projections ranging from 5% to 7% per annum between 2009 and 2019, oil consumption is expected to rise by 78.22% and gas production is expected to rise from 11bcm to 27bcm. Amendments to Vietnams Petroleum Law have paved the way for a more open and transparent licensing round scheme for international investors. Vietnam held its first licensing round during 2004-2005. A second bidding round, which included 7 blocks in the Song Hong Basin, was launched in April 2007. Petrovietnam has claimed that these blocks hold in the region of 5 billion barrels of oil equivalent. Vietnam amended its Petroleum Law which paved the way for more open and transparent licensing round for international investors. Vietnam had 2 licensing rounds till 2007. KEY OIL AND GAS PLAYERS 1. Petro Vietnam 2. KNOC 3. BP Vietnam 4. Vietgazprom THAILAND Thailand is second largest oil importer in South East Asia. It has limited domestic oil production. It has only 290 million barrels of proven oil reverses according to Oil and Gas Journal in January 2007. In 2008, according to BP Statistical Energy Survey, it consumed 910.73 thousand barrels of oil per day compared to production of only 309.1 thousand barrels of oil per day. Majority of natural gas reserves are located offshore in the Gulf of Thailand. Though domestic gas production has risen significantly but still it is not sufficient to cater to local demand. In 2007, Thailand had proven natural gas reserves on 0.33 trillion cubic meters according to BP Statistical Energy Survey. PTT is the biggest player in oil sector in Thailand. It was earlier known as The Petroleum Authority of Thailand. Thailands Ministry of Energy through Energy Policy and Planning Office (EPPO) oversees all aspects of the countrys energy policies such as natural gas, oil and power sectors. PTTEP has stake in countrys natural gas producing fields such as Bongkot, the largest field. Chevron, being the largest foreign operator, currently accounts for estimated 70 percent of countrys gas production. According to Business Monitor International forecasts Thailand will account for 3.62% of Asia/Pacific regional oil demand by 2010 simultaneously providing 3.27% of supply. Regional Oil demand is expected to reach 27.64 mn b/d by 2010 from 24.74 mn b/d in 2009. Gas consumption is expected to reach 602bcm for 2010. By the end of the decade, gas production should reach 490bcm from last years 342bcm. In 2006, Thailands share of consumption was approximately 7.64%, and its share of production was at 6.64%. Its share of demand is forecasted to be 6.64% by 2010 and will still contribute approximately 6.7% of share in supply. For 2009, with an average OPEC basket price of US$59.00 per barrel (bbl), a decline of 37.3% year-on-year (y-o-y). For 2010, it is expected that there will be a significant OPEC basket price recovery to US$83.00/bbl for the OPEC basket price. It is expected to gain further ground to US$85.00/bbl in 2011 and increasing to US$90.00/bbl in 2012 and beyond. PTTEP and international partners are working hard to explore oil and gas fields. Thailand has an acceptable licensing framework and has made reasonable progress in terms of deregulation. Privatisation and consolidation would lead to improvement in the competitive landscape. With leading International Oil Companies such as Shell quitting (both the upstream and refining segments), it is apparent that Thailand is not an attractive destination for IOCs. Key Oil and Gas Players: 1. PTT 2. Esso Thailand 3. Thai Shell Co 4. Total MALAYSIA Malaysia is the eighth largest holder of natural gas reserves in the world. It was the second largest exporter of LNG after Qatar in 2007 As of January 2009, Malaysia held 83 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves according to Oil and Gas Journal. While majority of domestic oil reserves are found off Peninsular Malaysia, much of the Malaysias natural gas production comes from Eastern Malaysia, offshore Sabah and Sarawak. Top World LNG Exporters, 2007 State-owned Petronas dominates both in oil sector and natural gas sector. It has a monopoly on all upstream natural gas developments. It also plays a leading role in LNG trade and downstream activities. Natural gas production has risen steadily and it reached 2.3 Tcf in 200. Simultaneously domestic natural gas consumption has also increased and has reached 1.2 Tcf in 2007. Many important ongoing projects are expected to expand natural gas production over the near term in Malaysia. Oil and Gas Companies are continuously focussing on offshore areas, especially deepwater blocks for exploration and production. Malaysian Natural Gas Production and Consumption, 1987-2007 Malaysia-Thailand Joint Development Area It is one of the important and active natural gas EP areas and is located in lower part of Gulf of Thailand. The joint development area is divided into three blocks: Block A18, Block B17, and Block C19. Malaysia-Thailand Joint Authority jointly administers this area. The blocks reportedly hold 9.5 TCF of proved and probable natural gas reserves. Block A-18 is operated by a joint venture (the Carigali-Triton Operating Company (CTOC)) between Petronas Carigali and Hess. Blocks B-17 and C-19 are operated by a joint venture (the Carigali-PTTEP Operating Company (CPOC) of Thailand and Malaysias national oil company, In Asia, Malaysia has the most extensive gas pipeline networks. With completion of the Peninsular Gas Utilization (PGU) project in 1998 the gas transmission network extended to Peninsular Malaysia. It spans more than 880 miles. It has a capacity to transport 2 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas. Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore are connected through pipelines. The Trans-Thailand-Malaysia Gas Pipeline System enables Malaysia to transport/pipe natural gas from the Malaysia-Thailand Joint Development Area to its domestic pipeline system. This regional pipeline network marks a significant step towards a transnational pipeline network â€Å"Trans-ASEAN Gas Pipeline† (TAGP) system linking the regional natural gas producers and consumers. Malaysia has the natural advantage of its location and is the best candidate to serve as hub for this ambitious project. Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan were the 3 primary purchasers of natural gas exported by Malaysia. Malaysia International Shipping Corporation (MISC) transports LNG through own 27 LNG tankers,. PETRONAS is the majority holder in MISC with 62% stake. MISC also has significant contribution in oil shipping activities. Malaysia has 3 LNG processing plants and PETRONAS has majority interests in all. They are located in a complex at Bintulu, Sarawak (East Malaysia) and receive supplies by the Sarawak offshore natural gas fields. It is the largest LNG complex in the world and has 8 production trains. It has a total liquefaction capacity of 1.1 TCF per year. Japan being one of the major importers of LNG, it has played a critical role in financing Malaysias LNG facilities. Malaysia has third highest oil reserves in the Asia-Pacific region Top 5 asia pacific oil reserve holders, 2009 As of January 2009, Malaysia has proven oil reserves of 4 billion barrels according to Oil and Gas Journal. Major proportion of countrys oil comes from offshore fields which can be divided into three: Malay, Sabah and Sarawak basins. Malay basin contains majority of reserves which are of high quality. Tapis field contributes to more than 50% of countrys oil production. Malaysias Oil Production and Conumptionl 1988-2008 Malaysia is domestically able to meet countrys demand for petroleum products. It has heavily invested in downstream activities such as refining in last 20 years. As of January 2009, Malaysia has about 515,000 bbl/d of refining capacity at 6 facilities according to OSJ. Three refineries operated by PETRONAS (259,000 bbl/d total capacity), two by Shell (170,000 bbl/d total capacity), and remaining one by ExxonMobil (86,000 bbl/d). Key Oil and Gas Players: 1. PETRONAS 2. ExxonMobil 3. ConocoPhillips 4. BP 5. Murphy Oil 6. Chevron SINGAPORE Singapore has strengthened its position in global oil and gas industry over the years. It has become a major oil trading centre both in terms of physical delivery and in term of financial instruments. CAGR growth in OG market in Singapore from 2004-08 has been 33.2%. It has encouraged energy majors by marketing its strategic location for production and exportation to South East Asian emerging countries. It is among worlds top bunkering ports. Singapore doesnt have domestic oil reserves. It has consumed on an average 0.92 million barrels of oil per day and 6610 million cubic meters of natural gas in 2007. Singapore has many domestic oil companies which actively are engaged in exploration and production in foreign countries. Singapore Petroleum Company Ltd being the major one holding twenty percent participating interest in Vietnam Blocks 102 and 106. In South East Asia, Singapore is a major refining centre and had 1.3 million barrels refining capacity per day in 2007. Oil consumption has increased in recent years but it has not been as significant as natural gas consumption growth in last few years. Singapore Government has encouraged natural gas consumption in recent years and it led to increase in natural gas consumption. Key Oil and Gas Players in Singapore are Singapore Petroleum, Esso, Royal Dutch Shell, Ezar holdings (OFS) and many medium and small players. CHAPTER 2 QUESTIONNAIRE ANALYSIS We conducted primary research with Account Coordinators of our priority accounts, which are expected to contribute more than 50% of future EYs revenues. Due to busy period and traveling of the account coordinators, we were able to get qualitative responses from only 5 accounts. For the rest of the accounts, we conducted secondary research. The key notings from primary research are as follows: * Revenue growth and sustainability is essentially a factor of business that can be drawn from clients in current market conditions. Oil stability, political situation and environment and health concerns are few of the key factors required for revenue stability. Moreover, the volume of business

Psychology Theories of Motivation

Psychology Theories of Motivation The evolution of motivation PART 1 – BRAIN PARTS IN EVOLUTION Human motivation is a psychological construct that has its basis in the brain. The brain is an organ comprised of nervous cells and comprises the nervous system in most organisms, with the exception of certain invertebrates. One view suggests that different parts of the brain are specialized for different functions. Being the most complex organ in a vertebrate’s body, the brain has been associated with several functions. Among these, the brain is responsible for perception, motor control, information processing, but it also has more complex functions for the human species, those of learning and memory. One particularly interesting function of the brain is that of motivation. Motivation is frequently associated with the limbic system. Often called the â€Å"reptilian brain†, the limbic system also accounts for other functions, such as spatial memory, olfaction, learning and emotion. This brain structure is located on both sides of the thalamus, under the cerebrum and is comprised of the telencephalon, diencephalon and mesencephalon. The structures include other numerous areas, among which the hippocampus (memory and spatial navigation), the amygdala (emotions) [LeDoux, 2000]., the olfactory bulbs (processing social and environmental stimuli) and the basal ganglion are contained. The basal ganglion is being associated with motivation, due to its role in reward-punishment process. The basal ganglia are located at the base of the forebrain, representing a set of interconnected areas. Looking at motivation from an evolutionary perspective, it is argued that organisms’ behavior is genetically programmed to ensure survival and reproductive fitness. It is argued that his motivational system of the brain is the basis for the motivational behaviors in which organisms’ engage. Some scholars (Paul D. MacLean) argued that the limbic system is the oldest part of the fore-brain, developing to manage the flight or fight response. When looking at the evolution of brain components, it is important to consider the fact that evolution is selecting on function. This process is mediated by the metabolic cost of the behavioral function. Developmental demands need to come to a certain compromise with developmental variation in order to ensure a positive outcome in terms of function and costs. The limbic system is thus seen as a â€Å"unit of development† due to its patterned change in the compromises taken. Some evidence supports the view that the limbic system is a unit of development [Reep, 1984; Squire, 1992; LeDoux, 2000]. The limbic system has a diversity of functions; however, it acts statistically as a single function. The components of the segmental structures of the forebrain are linked, offering the possibility of a pleiotropic effect on the evolution of behaviour. Thus, it would mean that selecting for one component would mean selecting for all of them. For instance, selecting for a visual component in humans would result for a certain election of structures utilised for different functions, such as motivation. The authors looked at how the scale of the limbic system changed throughout time. They found similar patterns of scaling across all taxa. For primates, insectivores, ungulate and marine mammals, reduced limbic structures were associated with increased volumes of the isocortex. One possible cause explaining this was suggested. They argued that the† expansion and contraction of the domains of regulatory gene expression† which is associated with prosomeres could be a source of such structure. In primates in particularly, the arrangement of neural components by prosomeres suggest the possibility of the inverse relationships between limbic system and isocortex volumes. Put how the limbic system actually decreased Another way one could understand the evolution of the primate brain would be to consider the trade-offs between factors. There has been a reduction in the primate limbic system which could be attributed to a reduction of the olfactory system because of the dependence primates have on vision. Another explanation could be that this reduction is secondary to another adaptation; that of expansion of cortical systems specialised in memory. This unfortunate decrease in the limbic system could be only a minor side effect for the beneficial adaptation the increase of the cortex has brought- storage of long-term memory mediating increasingly social interactions. An evolutionary look at how the structure and function of the basal ganglia changed with time passage shows that it underwent a big elaboration in the transition from amphibians to reptiles. This change consisted in the increase of cells in the basal ganglia, as well as receiving more dopaminergic and serotonergic inputs (hormones). Moreover, more neural circuitry (neuron rich) basal ganglia were found in modern mammals, birds and reptiles. The implications of this change are that amniotes might have had the ability to learn or execute more sophisticated behaviours and movements. This ability could be what allowed the amniotes to better adapt to a fully terrestrial habitat. As for the mammals, it appears that a divergence from this reptile lineage represented by the emergence of the cerebral cortex which became the target of the basal ganglia circuitry’s function in the control of movement. Thus, rudimentary basal ganglia are likely to have been present in the common ancestor of the jawed and jawless vertebrates that live today. The implications of this increase in complexity of the brain can be seen in the behaviour repertoires of animals. The reptiles and mammals have a more complex behaviour than amniotes. This alongside the shift in habitat brought in the need to deal with more complex and variable situations, requiring more complex and adaptive behaviour in order to acquire food, avoid predators and survive. These changes were promoted by the increase in the visual and hearing apparatus -> allowed for more control over behaviour.  Conenct back to motivation – how did the decrease in limbic system affect motivation? Because there is a high interconnectedness between the limbic system and the cerebral cortex, cognitive processes can modify the effect of the limbic system on the functions of the hypothalamus (hormone production), which plays a role in the reward-punishment process – the basis for motivational behavior. The basal ganglia receive information about the body position and motivational state from the cerebral cortex – integrates this information and facilitates for the appropriate (motor) behavior. The role of the basal ganglia in motivated behavior has been explained by Cunha et. al (2012). It consists of the basal ganglia selecting for unconditioned/conditioned responses, goal-directed actions and stimulus-response habits. This is done by the activation of striatal neurons (input neurons of the basal ganglia) by cortical and subcortical neurons encoding those processes. Levels of extracellular dopamine influence the strength of the synapses which signal outcomes that are better or worse than â€Å"expected†. Moreover, the dopamine release in response to the unconditioned/conditioned responses can â€Å"energize† the execution of selected actions. This is why the basal ganglia is thought to play a role in the selection of action processes that are needed to express unconscious and long-term memories, which play a role in motivation. PART 2 – PERSPECTIVES ON MOTIVATION The biological thus shows what the basis of motivation is. It does not, however, explain the cognitive aspect of it. Several attempts to model and explain motivation from an evolutionary psychological way have been proposed. There are different perspectives taken in the study of motivation. Behavioral, cognitive and biological. Art 9 ->Batali and Grundy (1996)  tried to present a model of the evolution of motivation by referring to how they could become integrated into generational adaptive behavior, they tries to establish how the innate and learned components of the motivational mechanisms that generate behavior are connected. They used the concept of motivational system to investigate this process. A motivation system, for them, is the mechanism that allows an organism to feel pleasure and pain as responses to certain environmental conditions; pleasure in response to conditions that are beneficial for the organism’s fitness and pain in adverse conditions. What they argue is that this motivational system evolves alongside the behaviors evaluated by it. They used James Mark Baldwin’s idea through which he argued that an organism’s ability to undergo ontogenetic adaptation, through which the congenital and phylogenetic adaptation that are kept in existence are those which favor adapti ve modifications during the lifetime of organisms which have them. This is how various ontogenetic modes of action, such as learning, can work in synergy with evolution. Thus, organisms that have the ability to learn are more likely to improve their behavior, which in turn offers them an advantage over others. Possessing the improvements that learning offers can result in selection of organisms that carry those traits innately. This is how, he argues, species can evolve in directions endorsed by intelligence. This proposition is similar to Throndike’s â€Å"law of effect†, in which he suggested that animals will repeat the actions that have the most satisfying outcomes and avoid the ones that are displeasing. The mechanism that offers the possibility of feeling this pleasure and pain is the motivation system. This system can also be involved in the process of selecting actions which are expected to be favorably appraised. Evaluations depend on physiological and environ mental factors. Subtle changes in any characteristics of the environment or animal physiology can have drastic impacts on fitness. The authors of this article tried, thus, to model motivation using different complexity world simulations of the evolution of populations that contained designs that generated action and learning. Their findings showed that some organisms developed motivation systems that were accurate enough to direct learning in a direction that increases the fitness of actions performed by the agents. Moreover, their results showed that the motivation systems were attuned to the worlds they were a part of. The systematic distortions present in the worlds could be seen in the structure of the motivational system in such way that the distortions increased the adaptiveness of the generated behaviour. These results show how simple designs can be used to model motivation, implying that the complicated perspective in motivation of the cognitive perspective is somewhat unnecessary. Thus, members of population that incorporated learning tended to evolve more quickly and have higher performance than the organisms whose behaviour was innate. The adaptive behaviour that early generations must learn had the tendency to become more and more innate. This process occurs when there is an evolved motivational system that directs the learning of structures used to cause actions. All in all, this study showed that motivational systems can coevolve with the learning of the behaviours it assesses. =>cognition and motivation: Evidence for the co-evolution of motivation and cognition was found by Ermer et al. (2008)  when investigating whether status plays a role in regulating risky decision-making regarding resources in men. They discussed how access to relevant resources brings about intersexual competition in men, which also serves as a determinant for status. What they discovered was that motivation for risk-taking behaviour appeared in situations where men were of equal status and had resource loss problems. This suggests that the motivational systems that mediate status related problems in the social world also regulate cognitive operations which generate risky decision-making processes in men, implying that motivational and cognitive mechanisms co-evolved to function in synergetic, domain-specific ways. The motivation’s role in this process is to determine what state or good an individual wants to attain – it refers to their aspirations. The controversial point of this finding is that instead of desires or other motivations serving as inputs for domain-general decision regulations, it proposes that responses are produced by a motivational system that is specialized in regulating competitive interactions, being equipped with its own decision rules. It also shows that motivational systems are activated by cues. Another attempt to explain human social motivation from an evolutionary perspective has been done by Buss (1997) through discussing the Terror Management Theory (TMT). Being a theory anchored in evolutionary biology, TMT assumes that the major motive of any organism is survival. What the author argues is that this theory of social motivation should recognize that the engine that drives the evolutionary process is reproduction, and not survival. Thus, it is important to recognise the real causal process of evolution in order to establish what stands behind motivation.