Sunday, July 5, 2020

The Iran Iraq War And the Superpowers - Free Essay Example

The Iran Iraq War and the Superpowers The Iran-Iraq war was a conflict that spanned about eight years which started with the Iraqi armys cross of the Iran-Iraq border and Irans response to this trespass. The leader responsible for the Iraqi intrusion was president Saddam Hussein, his Iranian counterpart was Ruhollah Khomeini. Khomeini propagated the overthrow of the Iraqi government, and instilled the idea of revolutionary war to the people of Iraq. Khomeinis vision for a united nation was that under him, the union would be brought together under the religion of Islam. This brought on acts of domestic terrorism carried out by Iranian Shiites called on by Khomeini. In Husseins eyes, Khomeinis arrival in Iraq meant a threat to his rule and so war was the only option. The root of the problem began with the Algiers Accords that would have settled some territorial disputes over that Iran-Iraq border, access to waterways and avoid the meddling of either country with each others domestic affairs. As for the U.S., while they looked down in disapproval at Khomeinis Iran, they didnt feel a close relation with Iraq, the fact that the U.S. believed Iraq began the war didnt make matters any better. When Hussein was asked to remove Khomeini from Iraq under the clause against meddling, Khomeini disregarded the clause as an secret understanding between Iraq and the U.S. and went into Iraq anyways, thus beginning a war he didnt realize how many lives and how much money it would cost the middle east. Irans wish for an islamic union caused the ayatollah to continue pushing for terrorism in an Iraq with extremist groups, this threatened American interests due to the frozen assets they held for the Islamic Republic of Iran and a previous connection with Iraq . With the USSR so close to Iran and Iraq, the U.S.s policy towards containment of communism drove Reagans administration to call for other countries of the middle east in support against the USSR. The Reagan Doctrine would support third world countries that held anti-communist views, this was the push-back aimed toward keeping the USSR to their own, therefor making them back either of the two countries that did not partake in the Reagan Doctrine. Iraq was pro-soviet and Iran wasnt warming up to America but per usual, the U.S. needed to take care of its individual economic interests and so when the war was at its beginnings, the declared neutrality. There were two instances where the U.S. had fallen under attack by islamic extremist groups, both resulting in casualties. The detail that dictated who the U.S. would prefer in this war was that both of these extremist groups who had attacked marine barracks and an embassy were funded by the Islamic Republic of Iran. From then on, the U.S. would assist Saddam Hussein in war against Iran by helping with combat and air attack planning, providing arms, and figuring out the location of Iranian troops with technology not readily available to the Iraqis like satellite imaging. Through the conflict, it is that the U.S.s relations with Iraq changed for the better short-term, they were removed from a terrorist-supporting list and they were beginning to be viewed as the tool, (not ally) against Iran. About halfway through the war, the embassies supplying the arms for this war were asked to halt their assistance in this manner due to the worldwide effort of bringing the Iran-Iraq war to an end. This war not only led to the devastation of many lives, but many other countless events connected to it. An example of this would be the fact that the United States was suspected by both Iraqis and Iranians of manipulating both parties. The United States reached out to both Iran and Iraq in secrecy during the war in hopes of building a strategic partnership. The Iran-contra affair between the US and Iran, otherwise known as the arms-for-hostages policy, was one of the main reasons Iraqis believed the United States was playing on both sides of the conflict. The arms-for-hostages policy was a major political scandal in which the United States sold weaponry to Iran in secrecy in hopes of the release of the US hostages. This major political scandal took place during the second term of the Reagan administration. Reagan was featured on national television in order to speak about the weapons sales, which had become public in November of 1986. He did not deny Iran receiving weapons from the United States, but stated that no hostages were obtained from the affair. The ongoing investigation on the affair was obstructed after large amounts of documents that addressed the scandal had been destroyed or withheld by officials in the Reagan administration. Reagan made another appearance on national television in March of 1987. During this televised announcement he took full responsibility of what had happened and made it clear that the original intention was to form a strategic plan in order to get the US hostages back, but it unfortunately turned into a major political scandal in the process. In 1987, the Reagan administration brought forth an executive order that would compromise trade with Iran; said executive order banned imports coming from Iran in order to hinder the sponsoring of terrorists from extremist groups. In another attempt to hurt Irans financial goods, Iraq destroyed some of Irans oil reserves therefore bringing down one of their main sources of income that helped fund both the war and the terrorist groups that were affiliated with them. During the time of the war France, a superpower during this time, ultimately sided with Iraq. They were one of the top two weapon providers for Iraq behind the USSR and in front of China. The French government feared that if they publically decided to side with Iraq over Iran they would break any friendly alliance they had with Iran and cause violence from Iranians. They were in the middle of deciding between keeping the arms trade and industrial relations with Iraq and breaking the trust and bond they had with Iran. Eventually, the Minister of Foreign Affairs spokesperson spoke about the issue and stated that the commercial relations they had with Iraq did not dictate the trust and bond they shared with Iran. Though the French government had hoped this announcement would reassure both Iran and Iraq that France was not making an enemy out of either side, Iranian representatives flew to Paris and warned them that any further commercial connections with iraq would lead to the end of any relations between Tehran and Paris. France then responded by giving their full dedication and support to Iraq. The Iran-Iraq war lasted a total of eight years. On July 12, 1988 Saddam Hussein ordered the launch of operation Tawakalna ala Allah towards Dehloran. The Iraqis attacked Iranian sectors and recaptured their oil field frontiers, which had been held by Iranians for longer than 5 years. At nightfall, they captured Dehloran, which allowed them the control of a large bridgehead. With the significant amount of territory gained, Saddam Hussein threatened the capital of Iran, Tehran. He stated that if the Iranian army did not extract from Iraqi Kurdistan they would take control of Irans oil wells. That night Iranian leaders decided it would be best to oblige to the orders of Hussein since they were not left with enough men or equipment to fight back, their weakness showing was the last thing they needed. Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani announced the extraction of his his troops from Iraqi Kurdistan on July 15. The next day the rest of Iranian troops receded back to home territory. On July 17, Hussein gave a list of conditions that the opposing party would have to agree on in order to end the war and begin peace. He asked for direct negotiations, immediate cleanup of the Shatt al-Arab, free navigation for Iraq in the Gulf, an end to the attacks on maritime traffic, and a prisoner exchange. At this time, Saddam Hussein ordered his Iraqi troops out of the conquered territory in Iran as an act of peace. Saddam Hussein agreed to order a ceasefire with the exception that Tehran recognized all the terms. When Hussein did this he brought validity to the Algiers Accord, which resulted in the end of the Iran-Iraq war. The Iranian government agreed to all the terms in exchange for a ceasefire. Iraqis began to withdraw slowly after the announcement that the Iranian government would agree to the terms. On August 20, 1988, seven years and 11 months after the start of the war, the ceasefire agreement became effective. Though this marked the ending of the war it did not mean the ending of all problems for the two parties. The Iran-Iraq war is considered one of the most expensive wars fought both in finances and human capital. The part the U.S. played was that of the duplicitous party, they not only openly supported the war on Iraqs side in order to look after their own interests, but The Reagan administration also assisted the opposing side by trading arms in exchange for hostages but not only failed at it, they also happened to be exposed leading to the discovery that they had helped continue the war and possibly even the sponsoring of the extremist groups they themselves were trying to dismantle.

Wednesday, July 1, 2020

The straw man in the standardized testing debate

Frank Bruni wrote  a column in yesterdays  The New York Times, in which he expounded on the virtues of college admission committees decisions to look past marginal test scores in a handful of underprivileged applicants in order to diversify their classes. Depending on your perspective, what Bruni describes  can either be construed as a noble undertaking or the  symptom of a corrupt system that unfairly disadvantages hardworking, middle-class  applicants, but Im actually not concerned with that particular debate here. Rather, my issue with Brunis column is that it  perpetuates a common straw man argument in the debate over college admissions namely, that test scores have traditionally been  the be-all end-all of the admissions game, and that only now are a handful of intrepid admissions officers are willing to look past less-than-stellar scores and consider other aspects of a students application.   Bruni is the author of  Where You Go is not Who Youll Be,  a book that very validly  emphasizes  the questionable  relationship between name-brand colleges and overall success in life, but in terms of actual admissions,  his  authority appears to stem primarily from the  fact that he turned down Yale to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and still managed to land a job as a columnist at the  Times. Although hes generally familiar with the field, he is not  actually an expert in admissions the way, say, Paul Krugman is an expert in economics. As a result, its hardly a surprise that he misrepresents some of  the issues at play. In short, what is news to Bruni is a long-established practice known as  holistic admissions a practice that  was, incidentally, introduced in the  1920s, when the Ivies first decided to consider character  in order to limit the number of Jews. Since then, the purpose of evaluating applicants according to factors beyond grades and test scores has  changed again and again, but colleges continue to select  students  according to their particular set of institutional needs be it diversity, donors, athletics, or physics  research   and test scores play a role in that process only insofar as they garner universities freshman classes  with the desired characteristics. For example,  a major reason  for inflating scores on the new SAT was presumably to allow colleges that arent quite ready to go test-optional to admit more  applicants from under-represented demographics without compromising their USNWR rankings. The College Board has danced around this fact with v arious euphemisms about opportunity, but it is difficult not to conclude that  this type of demographic manipulation was not a driving force.   For at least four  decades, though, admissions committees willingness to  give disadvantaged applicants a boost has had a very real effect  on thousands of students life-altering effects, in many cases. When people attack colleges for relying too heavily on test scores, theyre obviously  thinking of all the other thousands of applicants who didnt get that boost. Whats interesting (but not at all surprising), though, is that the other  side of the argument is almost never considered   that is, the students who are given every advantage but who never achieve scores anywhere remotely what they would need to be competitive applicants at top colleges  are rarely mentioned. Yes, the majority of students achieving high scores are well-off, but it does not follow that every well-off student achieves high scores. As Ive pointed out before, the  lowest-scoring students I worked with tended to be  from the wealthiest families.   As a result, I  left Mr. Bruni the following comment,  which can be viewed  here (and which, might I add, was selected as a  Times top pick!): Frank, With all due respect, what you describe in this column is holistic admissions, which has long been the policy at the vast majority of selective private colleges in the United States. Theres a reason that schools do not publish and, to the best of my knowledge, have not ever published official cut-off scores for applicants. Admissions committees are well aware that applicants come from a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds, and that some applicants face far more obstacles than others. That said, what about the opposite end of the spectrum, e.g. a student who has spent 10+ years in a $40K/year Manhattan private school and whose parents have doled out an additional $10K or more for tutoring, but who can barely break 600 on any section of the (old) SAT? These numbers are not exaggerations, by the way: I tutored students in that demographic for a considerable period, and some of them could not in fact achieve scores that would make them even remotely competitive at most top-25 or s o schools. (In case anyone is wondering, money and connections only get you so far). Some of those students were reasonably bright and hardworking, but their scores were also very accurate reflection [sic] of their academic limitations. The fact that there is a correlation between scores and family income does not in itself mean that scores cannot provide an important piece of information when considered in their full context. The real problem is that test scores mean such different things for different applicants. Sometimes they reveal an awful lot, and sometimes very little.   In my experience, scores for the most privileged applicants do tend to be a roughly accurate reflection of what those students know.   A slew of 750+ scores  from a student at a top  private school is  by no means indicative of brilliance, but 500/600-range scores from a student at the same school are usually a sign that there are some real gaps. Thats a  significant  piece of information for an admissions committee to have when evaluating those students against their classmates,  as well  30,000 other applicants.   On the other hand, how is a  committee supposed to judge 500-range test scores in an applicant from an academically marginal  school  and a single-parent household with an income of less than $20,000/year?  It would be obtuse to believe that that applicants scores did not also reveal some gaps (even though  500-range scores are actually quite an achievement in that context); but the question is  what sort of potential other aspects of the application reveal, whether  and to what extent they outweigh the test scores, and whether the college has the resources in place to help that student catch up academically to his or her peers.   The fragmented nature of the American school system and the relationship  between real-estate prices and school quality ensures that these are not apples-to-apples comparisons. Theyre not even apples-to-bananas comparisons. Theyre more like apples-to-skyscrapers comparisons. Scores are not everything. Admissions officers  know this. They struggle with these kinds of calculations every for day, for months, and in the end they just cant take everyone. Exactly  what  role test scores should play in the process  is  up for debate. But to suggest that everyone has  just been  playing a straightforward numbers game all long†¦ well thats just not true.

Tuesday, May 19, 2020

How to Get Started on a Literature Review

If you are an undergraduate or graduate student, there is a good chance that you will be asked to conduct at least one literature review during your coursework. A literature review is a paper, or a part of a larger research paper, that reviews the critical points of current knowledge on a particular topic. It includes substantive findings as well as theoretical and methodological contributions that others bring to the subject. Its ultimate goal is to bring the reader up to date with current literature on a topic and usually forms the basis for another goal, such as future research that needs to be done in the area or serves as part of a thesis or dissertation. A literature review should be unbiased and does not report any new or original work. Starting the process of conducting and writing a literature review can be overwhelming. Here are a few tips on how to get started that will hopefully make the process a little less daunting. Determine Your Topic When choosing a topic to research, it helps to have a clear understanding of what it is you want to research before setting out on your literature search. If you have a very broad and general topic, your literature search is likely to be very lengthy and time-consuming. For example, if your topic was simply â€Å"self-esteem among adolescents,† you will find hundreds of journal articles and it would be nearly impossible to read, comprehend, and summarize every one of them. If you refine the topic, however, to â€Å"adolescent self-esteem in relation to substance abuse,† you will narrow your search result significantly. It is also important not to be so narrow and specific to where you find fewer than a dozen or so related papers. Conduct Your Search One good place to start your literature search is online. Google Scholar is one resource that I think is a great place to start. Choose several keywords that relate to your topic and do a search using each term separately and in combination with each other. For example, if I searched for articles related to my topic above (adolescent self-esteem in relation to substance abuse), I would conduct a search for each of these words/phrases: adolescent self-esteem drug use, adolescent self-esteem drugs, adolescent self-esteem smoking, adolescent self-esteem tobacco, adolescent self-esteem cigarettes, adolescent self-esteem cigars, adolescent self-esteem chewing tobacco, adolescent self-esteem alcohol use, adolescent self-esteem drinking, adolescent self-esteem cocaine, etc. As you start the process you will find that there are dozens of possible search terms for you to use, no matter what your topic is. Some of the articles that you find will be available through Google Scholar or whichever search engine you choose. If the full article is not available via this route, your school library is a good place to turn. Most college or university libraries have access to most or all academic journals, many of which are available online. You will likely have to go through your school’s library website to access them. If you need help, contact someone at your school’s library for assistance. In addition to Google Scholar, check your school’s library website for other online databases that you could use to search for journal articles. Also, using the reference list from articles that you gather is another great way to find articles. Organize Your Results Now that you have all of your journal articles, it is time to organize them in a way that works for you so that you don’t get overwhelmed when you sit down to write the literature review. If you have them all organized in some fashion, this will make writing a lot easier. What may work for you is to organize my articles by category (one pile for articles related to drug use, one pile for those related to alcohol use, one pile for those related to smoking, etc.). Then, after you are done reading each article, summarize that article in a table that can be used for quick reference during the writing process. Below is an example of such a table. Begin Writing You should now be ready to begin writing the literature review. The guidelines for writing will likely be determined by your professor, mentor, or the journal you are submitting to if you are writing a manuscript for publication. Example of a Literature Grid Author(s) Journal, Year Subject/Keywords Sample Methodology Statistical Method Main Findings Finding Relevant to My Research Question Abernathy, Massad, and Dwyer Adolescence, 1995 Self-esteem, smoking 6,530 students; 3 waves (6th grade at w1, 9th grade at w3) Longitudinal questionnaire, 3 waves Logistic regression Among males, no association between smoking and self-esteem. Among females, low self-esteem in grade 6 led to greater risk of smoking in grade 9. Shows that self-esteem is a predictor of smoking in adolescent girls. Andrews and Duncan Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 1997 Self-esteem, marijuana use 435 adolescents 13-17 years old Questionnaires, 12-year longitudinal study (Global Self-worth subscale) Generalized estimating equations (GEE) Self-esteem mediated the relationship between academic motivation and marijuana use. Shows that decreases in self-esteem associated with increases in marijuana use.

Corporate Social Responsibility Walmart - 1134 Words

Corporate social responsibility has two parts. First, CSR means a company should seriously consider the impact of its actions on society. Second CSR, requires that a company or individual be responsible for how their actions impact the society. Walmart is a corporation that some can defend does display CSR, while other can defend that it does not. Walmart was the epitome of what a retail chain store should be. Sam Walton took what he learned from the JCPenny model and transformed it into something better. He was responsible for the social responsibility innovations of the â€Å"Buy American† plan and the â€Å"Environmental Awareness† campaign. These innovations display how CSR was displayed by Walmart. The â€Å"Buy American† plan showed corporate responsibility because when Walton discovered that his company outsourcing was contributing to American job loses he devised a plan to showcase the domestically purchased merchandise that Walmart was now stocking. This was an ideal way to incorporate the second definition of CSR into the corporation because Walmart was considering the impact it had on the society. However, the corporate responsibility Walmart once tried to incorporate was lost when it became one of the largest purchasers of goods made over-seas, which in turn forced US manufacturers out of business. In early 2013, Walmart announced they would be buying American again, however, it is a struggle to find vendors that will meet Walmart’s price points. Walmart could have avoided thisShow MoreRelatedEthical Issues Of Walmart s Corporate Social Responsibility Using The Four Part Csr Model1052 Words   |  5 PagesWhat are the major ethical issues in the case? One of the most prevalent ethical issues in the Walmart case is their labor practice. There are several violations against Walmart regarding wages and work hours of its employees. â€Å"Its labor practices have been increasingly questioned. THe company has been accused of paying wages so low that workers cannot live off them, making employees work ‘off the clock’ without overtime pay, paying few and low benefits, and taking advantage of illegal immigrants†Read MoreWalmart Is The Worlds Largest Corporation1232 Words   |  5 PagesBackground Walmart is the world’s largest corporation. Though it started out as a single store in a small Middle America town, Walmart is now the largest private employer in the United States. To minimize operating costs and maintain low prices, Walmart pays relatively low wages, provides minimal employee benefits, and contracts with international manufacturing firms in the form of sweatshops. Further, Walmart’s aggressive marketing, its purchasing power and intent to provide very inexpensiveRead MoreSwot Analysis : Corporate Social Responsibility785 Words   |  4 PagesThe term â€Å"corporate social responsibility† (CSR), is described by the International Organization for Standardization (known as ISO) strategic advisory group on CSR as â€Å"a balanced approach† which organizations use to handle economic, social and environmental issues in order to benefit people, communities and society (ISO, 2002). Also, Burchell (2008: 252) believes that CSR has â€Å"the power to rebuild† the values of the contemporary corporation and the subsequent behavior and practice that such valuesRead MoreCorporate Social Responsibility Essay882 Words   |  4 Pagesvariety of social issues and problems; some directly related to their operations, some are not. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) can be defined as â€Å"the actions of an organization that are targeted toward achieving a social benefit over and above maximizing profits for its shareholders and meeting all its legal obligations† (Ghillyer 78). If this is the case, establishing appropriate and practical ethical guidelines in the workplace seems to be a reasonable request as a basis for corporate operationsRead MoreCorporate Social Responsibility Programs Work843 Words   |  4 PagesCorporate Social Responsibility Programs Work Benjamin Franklin said It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it (Good Deeds Quotes. n.d.). Multinational corporations have operations in multiple countries which in turn brings together many cultures. Saying a multinational corporation has no moral or social responsibility to engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs goes against what a company should strive to be. In recent years, firmsRead MoreWal-Mart Case Study on Csr1616 Words   |  7 Pagesaccording to Milton Friedman and utilitarianism. Also, it will discuss how the plans announced by Wal-Mart deal with the global responsibility. Moreover, how should government involve in this situation. Problem: Low-wages for the Employee 1. Milton Friedman According to Milton Friedman, an American economist and philosopher, the most important social responsibility of a corporation is to maximize profit for its owner- stockholder (Friedman, 1970). He suggested that if a corporation put the focusRead MoreAn Understanding Of Corporate Social Responsibility1343 Words   |  6 Pagesestablish an understanding of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Sustainability, Ethics and their applied application by a multinational corporation (MNC) like Walmart. This report is based on the case study ‘Walmart: Love, Earth ®Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ which identifies key points which are the criticism faced by the multinational corporation (MNC), business practices that are/were unethical and which ethical theories did/ do they violate and why do MNCs like Walmart address their social and environmental impacts. TheRead MoreCsr And How It Affects The Bottom Line1388 Words   |  6 Pagesmanufactured and how production effects the environment and the economic s tatus of their community. We cannot continue to mass produce without regard to our social responsibility. In this paper, I will show why there is a need for CSR and how this affects the bottom line. INTRODUCTION CSR is everyone’s business. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) refers to a business practice that involves participating in initiatives that benefit society, Liz Maw, CEO of nonprofit organization Net Impact, notedRead MoreThe Social Responsibility Of Wal Mart862 Words   |  4 Pages It is said that â€Å"The only social responsibility that there is, is to obey laws and pay taxes,† but according to Milton Friedman, â€Å"social responsibility is to increase profits.† This kind of responsibility also a form of giving back. Many people believe that the future of Wal-Mart is sustainability. Wal-Mart Stakeholders are the associates, otherwise known as employees, the suppliers, and the investors of this company. I believe that Wal-Mart is doing enough to become more sustainable both locallyRead MoreThe Pyramid Of Corporate Social Responsibility1262 Words   |  6 Pages It’s the responsibility of the top managers in an organization/business to conduct the business in accordance with the intent to follow all the company guidelines. In fact, this would allow the organization to make as much money as possible while maintain the basic rules of society, both of the embodied of the law and those of the ethical custom. In today’s business world any corporations who spend shareholder’s money if they invested any money in their company would be face with penalties and charges

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Economic Essay 1 - 1017 Words

Economic Essay 1 Although the people of North and South Korea speak the same language, they have many different ideas and cultures that have developed after the two countries split apart. The market economy of South Korea has done a lot to improve the overall economy of the country, and the gross national product has been on the rise. The economy of North Korea has had many challenges, largely due to the self-reliant and closed economic system that they use. Overall, the government and economy of South Korea has been more prosperous and successful than North Korea. Much of this is due to the fact that in North Korea, they have a completely closed and centrally planned economic system which tends to inhibit their growth. The fact†¦show more content†¦Export goods is minerals, metallurgical products, manufactures (including armaments), textiles, agricultural and fishery products. Main export partners is China 42%, South Korea 38% and India 5% (2008). Import goods is petroleum , coking coal, machinery and equipment, textiles and grain. Main import partners is China 57%, South Korea 25%, Russia 3% and Singapore 3% (2008). Gross external debt is $12.5 billion (2001 est.). For public finances, revenues is $2.88 billion and Expenses is $2.98 billion. For the market economy system in South Korea, there are many type of statistics. GDP is PPP: $1.423 trillion (2010 est.), Nominal: $986.3 billion (2010 est.). GDP growth is 6.1% (2010). GDP per capita is PPP: $30,200 (2010 est.), Nominal: $20,265 (2010 est.). GDP by sector is agriculture (3.0%), industry (39.4%), services (57.6%) (2008 est.). Inflation (CPI) is 2.8% (2009 est.). Gini index is 31.3 (2007). Labour force is 24.37 million (2009 est.). Labour force by occupation is agriculture (7.2%), industry (25.1%), services (67.7%) (2008 est.). Unemployment is 3.7% (2009 est.). 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Individuals all workRead MoreManagerial Economics Applied Problems Chp 1 and 2 Essay examples667 Words   |  3 PagesChapter 1 – Applied Problem 1  §Ã‚  Ã‚  Explicit costs are  monetary costs  of using market-supplied resources.   Explicit Costs | | Cost of Products and Services | $355,000 | Selling Expenses | $155,000 | Administrative Expenses | $45,000 | Interest Expense | $45,000 | Legal Expenses | $28,000 | Income Taxes | $165,000 | Total Explicit Costs | $793,000 |     §Ã‚  Ã‚  Implicit costs are  non-monetary  costs of using owner-supplied resources.   Implicit Costs | | Forgone Salary | $175,000Read MoreAp Exam Essays1660 Words   |  7 PagesAP Exam Essays 2001-2010 2010 AP Exam Essays 1. In what ways did ideas and values held by Puritans influence the political, economic, and social development of the New England colonies from 1630 through the 1660s? 2. Analyze the political, diplomatic, and military reasons for the United States victory in the Revolutionary War. Confine your answer to the period 1775–1783. 3. Analyze the ways in which controversy over the extension of slavery into western territories contributed to the comingRead MoreThe Economizing Problem - and Its Direct Effect on the Economy at Large. a Short Essay from Islamic Perspective by Mustafa Aydemir V0.41664 Words   |  7 Pages   These Short Essays are partial fulfillment of Paper IE1001 of Part 1 of Certified Islamic Finance Professional (CIFP) [DRAFT V0.4] INCEIF Student Name: Mustafa Aydemir Student ID: 1200279 IE1001 Assignment in Islamic Economics - Short Essay No 1 by Mustafa Aydemir - Version 0.4.doc -1-    Bismillahirrahmanirrahim The economizing problem - And its direct effect on the economy at large. 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Different Analytical Processes Of Strategic Management

â€Å"Strategic management is a continuous process that involves attempts to match or fit the organization with its changing environment in the most advantageous way possible† (Digman, 1990, p.7). This clearly states the utmost importance strategic management plays in business environment making it a vital part to achieving company goals. Telecommunications industry is thriving, and in the recent years has advanced to an extraordinary level, therefore the major companies controlling this sector, such as Apple Inc. and Samsung have to compete with each other in order to stay in charge. The biggest challenge for the forthcoming years is to stay innovative and keep growing, â€Å"Telecom companies need to invest – expanding their footprint, updating technology and infrastructure, acquiring spectrum and funding RD. Companies that don’t, or can’t, maintain focus on rapid innovation may lose out to those that do.† (Wigginton, 2014). 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Emergence of the Autonomous Car Technology

Question: Describe about the Emergence of the Autonomous Car Technology. Answer: Historical issues: The background of the study explains the emergence of the autonomous car technology. The first successful autonomous car was introduced in the market during the 1980 (Geiger et al., 2012). Since that time, several research organizations as well as corporations have worked relentlessly towards the development of the prototype autonomous cars. The advancement in the technologies in the automobile industry has led to the development of the autonomous car technology that can offer greater reliability as well as safety than the cars in earlier period. As per reports, the inattention of the driver can be considered as one of the most important factors that can lead to 25% of the road accidents. The use of the autonomous cars however can increase the level of safety and help in relieving stress by using the automatics. The driver of an autonomous car can pay less attention to different situations related to the road traffic and thereafter identify the signs of an approaching accident. Howev er, from the perspective of safety both the autonomous cars and the manual cars have no decisive benefit over one another. However, the emergence of the autonomous car technology is also free from criticism as it is believed that the refined system of engineering can also not be associated to the level of complexity of the human brain (Ota et al., 2012). Figure 1: Consumer Preference towards the autonomous car technology Source: (Operations Research and Financial Engineering, 2016). Several surveys conducted on the autonomous car technology reveal the fact that the more number of consumers trust driverless automated vehicles. Facts and figures on the matter indicate that more than half of the global population that is around 57% of the consumers worldwide prefer the automated cars (Advisory, Assurance, Tax, Transaction Services, 2016). The above figures indicate the country wise preference towards the driverless cars and want their kids to ride the same. Figure 2: Trend Indicators Source: (Operations Research and Financial Engineering, 2016) In addition to this, surveys and researches conducted by UN World Urbanization Prospects, Navigant Research and many others reflects the fact that the introduction of the autonomous vehicles has brought about a paradigm shift to the entire mobility ecosystem. The researchers conducted by different agencies worldwide reveals the fact 95% of the road accidents are primarily caused due to the different human errors. Furthermore, there are several other reasons that have initiated the need and the preference for the Autonomous Car Technology (Inventivio - Innovative Software Products, 2016). Timeline of the driverless shows that the introduction of the automated cars was first introduced in the market during 1939 at the time when General Motors first presented the concept. Thereafter the concept further evolved with emergence with more advanced technologies. The diagram below explains the gradual evolution of the autonomous car technology with time. Figure 3: Timeline of the evolution of the driverless car technology Source: (Inventivio - Innovative Software Products, 2016). Impact of the environment Political As rightly put forward by Beiker (2012), the political factors affecting the car industry concentrates on the primary rules and regulations, laws, measures of security and at the same time different restrictions that can be implemented to the industry as a whole. The government interventions depend on several situations and encompasses around lowering levels of taxes, rates of interest and the economic devaluation. The government in United States upholds the technological advancements to improve overall economic circumstances. For instance, Ford uses government incentives for supporting environment friendly products as well as sustainability. The developing nations also require political intervention for the development of the infrastructure especially the transportation infrastructure for increasing the demand for these technologically advanced vehicles (Jo et al., 2015). The governing units of United States normally do not prohibit the introduction of the automated vehicles. Howeve r, the District of Columbia has enforced laws that adequately address the operations of the autonomous vehicles. Again, the Nevada Legislature passed different laws in order to authorize the process of utilizing the autonomous cars. In accordance to the law, the governing units such as the laid down by the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles is responsible for setting safety and performance standards and the agency is responsible for designating areas where autonomous cars may be tested (Floreano Wood, 2015). Economic The economic factors that affect the autonomous car industry include the growth rate of the US economy, high rate of growth of different developing markets and the strengthened value of dollar (Anderson et al., 2014). The economic factors are dissimilar and are associated to different rate of exchange, global economical growth and different business settings that in turn affect the industry. The high rate of cars manufactured at a particular period of time can lead to an increase in the revenue and development of new and advanced products. The automobile industry in the country faced a surplus of approximately 80% capacity during the year 2004 that again froze to 1.4 billion euro of the automobile sector (Anderson et al., 2014). Again, the prices of the automobile industry have not decreased much owing to the fall in the rate of inflation. A crucial factor that affects the external price elasticity is reliance on oil. In addition to this, the high prices of petrol do not lead to a decrease in demand of automobiles as more number of cars is fuelefficient. The autonomous cars are nowadays more fuel efficient than the older products and offers the consumers an opportunity to save money. Furthermore, the currency alterations have an immense impact on the overall competitiveness as well as supplies of the selected products and services in this increasingly developing global m arket. Social The social factors that affect the autonomous car industry include the alterations in the culture, tastes and preferences, demographics, pattern of purchasing and capacity among many others. The social factors that affect the autonomous car industry include: Outlook of the consumer towards the label of the autonomous car Demographics of the consumers. For instance, a person having a big family can prefer a big and spacious car to suit the entire family (Kritayakirana Gerdes, 2012). Changes in the purchasing pattern of the consumers are also affected by the economic recessions. The economic recessions affect the entire market and at the same time affect the purchasing power of the consumers. Technological The technological factors that are associated to the autonomous car industry include the following: technology involved in the process of reduction of the emissions of the CO2 and the reduction of the overall speed of the loss of the battery The autonomous cars that can successfully detect surroundings can make use of the advanced techniques that include the radar, GPS, computer vision, lidar as well as GPS among many others The autonomous cars that maintain self control can appropriately interpret different sensory information for the purpose of identification of the navigation paths, barriers as well as applicable signage. Environmental The technological innovations associated to the autonomous cars can lead to improvement of the lives of people in the society. However, the autonomous cars or else the driverless vehicles can affect the entire environment of the society (Geiger et al., 2012). The autonomous cars can be represented as the scene as well as the possible solution to different climate alteration. However, the developed nations were ultimately successful in curbing the rate of carbon emissions and penetrate into an innovative paradigm of eco-friendly path technology. Moral and ethical issues In case of the autonomous cars, the drivers are compelled to arrive at moral as well as ethical decisions that can influence both the safety of their own and that of the others. The drivers also need to operate faster than the speed limit to remain consistent with the traffic flow. The practical factors and moral elements in the process of decision making make use of combination of different sensors as well as pre-programmed judgment in order to evaluate and at the same time react to diverse situations. The different situations include sharing paths with different other cars or vehicles, pedestrians and many others. Therefore, drivers in the autonomous cars can take into consideration the concerns among different technologists as well as ethicists (Beiker, 2012). Cultural Implications The autonomous car technology has brought about a change in the society form of mobility. The driverless cars have radically altered the cities and have introduced new forms of business as well self employment opportunities. Nowadays, the driverless cars can be used for saving the gas as well as electricity by carrying a package on the roads, advertiser sponsored trips and many others. The self driving cars have also generated a new car culture as these cars have become a place to live in and not merely a device that can carry people from one place to another. Consumers can use the high quality music systems, speakers; enjoy the benefit of teleconferencing, gain the advantage of wireless plans based on cars provided by different carriers as well as Wi-Fi providers. The technologically advanced cars have changed the entire trips of the cars. The families have also become more furnished to take pleasurable trips and sit in silence and stay connected to different devices. Again, the sel f-driving car owners can subscribe to different specially made tours generated by others. The earlier generations utilized cars for different make-out sessions at drive-in theatres; however, the next generations can possibly hook up at the time people are driving. Conclusion and Recommendation In conclusion it can be said that the autonomous car industry is immensely affected by different components of the environment that include the political, social and cultural, economic, technological as well as environmental. At the beginning, the present study elucidates in detail the background or else the historical issues associated to the emergence of the autonomous cars in the market. Consequently, the present study illustrates different factors of the environment that exerts immense impact on the overall industry of autonomous cars. Different facets of the business environment therefore help in understanding that the autonomous car industry can help in creation of revolution of the transportation industry both economically as well as culturally. References Advisory, Assurance, Tax, Transaction Services. (2016).Ey.com. Retrieved 1 August 2016, from https://www.ey.com Anderson, J. M., Nidhi, K., Stanley, K. D., Sorensen, P., Samaras, C., Oluwatola, O. A. (2014).Autonomous vehicle technology: A guide for policymakers. Rand Corporation. Beiker, S. A. (2012). Legal aspects of autonomous driving.Santa Clara L. Rev.,52, 1145. Floreano, D., Wood, R. J. (2015). Science, technology and the future of small autonomous drones.Nature,521(7553), 460-466. Geiger, A., Lenz, P., Urtasun, R. (2012). Are we ready for autonomous driving? the kitti vision benchmark suite. InComputer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR), 2012 IEEE Conference on(pp. 3354-3361). IEEE. Inventivio - Innovative Software Products!. (2016).Inventivio.com. Retrieved 1 August 2016, from https://www.inventivio.com Jo, K., Kim, J., Kim, D., Jang, C., Sunwoo, M. (2015). Development of autonomous carPart ii: A case study on the implementation of an autonomous driving system based on distributed architecture.IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics,62(8), 5119-5132. Kritayakirana, K., Gerdes, J. C. (2012). Autonomous vehicle control at the limits of handling.International Journal of Vehicle Autonomous Systems,10(4), 271-296. Operations Research and Financial Engineering. (2016).Orfe.princeton.edu. Retrieved 1 August 2016, from https://orfe.princeton.edu Ota, Y., Taniguchi, H., Nakajima, T., Liyanage, K. M., Baba, J., Yokoyama, A. (2012). Autonomous distributed V2G (vehicle-to-grid) satisfying scheduled charging.IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid,3(1), 559-564.