Leadership Approach Essay

Identify and discuss the six trait characteristics in the trait approach to leadership. If one does not have these traits, can he or she still be a leader? Explain your position Six traits characteristics of leadership are as identified by Mann(1959) study of leadership and small groups are as followed, intelligence, masculinity, adjustment, dominance, extraversion, and conservatism. There is many traits to leaders from numerous studies, but the focal point of those studies seem to lay with integrity, intelligence, self-confidence, sociability and are defined below. (Northouse, 2010) Integrity- Honesty, trustworthiness, and quality all traits of integrity give an employee a sense of trust and take responsibility for their actions. Self-confidence- Self-esteem and self-assurance and belief in ones competencies and skills have ability to make an impact. Sociability- Is a leader’s inclination to seek out pleasant social relationships, friendly, outgoing, courteous, tactful and diplomatic. Determination- Determination and desire to get the job done initiative, persistence, dominance, and drive are all key characteristics. Overall when it comes to being a leader you don’t have to have a title to be a leader, as we all have probably been involved with people in leadership positions that are everything but a leader. I think that leaders are molded by their experience, environment and exposure to good and bad leaders and from leadership traits from above. I feel that if you don’t have any of the traits of being a leader you will struggle to be one, but I believe everyone has the traits of being a leader, you just have to dig inside and find that leader inside you. References Northouse, P. G. (2010). Leadership Theory And Practice / Fifth Edition. Los Angles: Sage Publication.

Commitment to Students and Student Learning

1. Committedness to Students and Student Learning: The OCT members are dedicated to showing attention, demoing empathy and passion to pupils They are committed to pupils by endeavoring to understand each pupil and his demands and his abilities which inform the instruction planning. They besides promote diverseness inside and outside the schoolroom to reenforce positive acquisition Members show respect and equitably to pupils to heighten acquisition by provide enabling environment where pupils feel valued, free to portion thoughts and parts. Members encourage pupils to do pick and have entree in the schoolroom which is critical to patterning equity and equity They facilitate pupils ‘ growing by endeavoring to better acquisition installations and schoolroom environment. Members identify pupil ‘s involvement and their strengths in order to assist them develop their acquisition Members are sensitive to the demands of pupils by cognizing what to advance in pupils, accomplishments they need to utilize and how to actuate pupils ‘ larning utilizing differentiated instructions. Students are able to utilize their accomplishments to lend to the development of the communities. 2. Professional Knowledge Forms: Endeavoring and to be current: It is really of import for OCT member to update their professional cognition and remain current in their pattern. There are so many on preparation plans through the Board or the Ontario College which are eligible to members for them to upgrade their cognition. When instructors are current cognition, it improves their pattern and they can easy supply first manus information to their pupil. Understanding and reflecting pupil ‘s development, larning theory, teaching method, course of study, moralss, educational research and related policies and statute law: This involve that the instructor must a better apprehension of his topic, larning theory, teaching method, course of study, professional moralss, educational research and related policies and statute law. The instructor must besides understand the pupil as a whole individual with abilities, failings, strengths, positions and specific demands. It is indispensable for a instructor to reflect on a pupil ‘s acquisition development and place how to better development. 3. Professional Practice Forms: Application of professional cognition and experience: Teachers are expected to use their professional cognition to learning pattern by get the hanging the course of study and teaching method to advance pupil ‘s acquisition, professional cognition is really critical and it is the back bone of instruction. Besides an proverb says â€Å" experience is the best instructor † the more experienced a instructor is the better he is able to use a professional experience to different state of affairss that promote positive acquisition. Appropriate planning and method: It necessary for every instructor in a professional pattern to heighten pupil acquisition by utilizing the appropriate teaching method, carry out appraisal and rating, use assorted resources and engineering to run into the larning demands of every kid. Response to single demands: In professional pattern instructors need to understand each pupil and their single acquisition demands, this will help the instructor to react to the demands of the pupil by utilizing assorted professional instruction method and planning to run into that demands. . Refine professional pattern: All instructors should be brooding practicians. It is compulsory for all members to better on their professional pattern through on traveling enquiry, duologue and contemplation. This will help instructors to detect new ways of making things better. 4. Leadership in Learning Communities Forms: Creation of collaborative and supportive acquisition communities: Teachers should jointly work together as a squad to set about activities that will back up pupils ‘ larning. They should besides work together with parents to supply support for larning community. They should reflect on their activities in order to better pupils ‘ public presentation. Shared duty and leading function: Members should understand the vision of the school and their duties into doing it effectual, nevertheless, they should non merely be involved in the procedure of developing shared vision but brand is a duty to utilize the vision as a usher station in doing determination about learning and larning in the school. Maintain and uphold ethical criterion: Teachers should go on to demo unity, trust in larning communities. They should keep the moral rules of professional moralss by which they set themselves as function theoretical account to pupils, parents and the community in general 5. Ongoing Professional Learning Forms: Committedness to professional acquisition: Ongoing professional preparation is an effectual tool in dispatching instruction pattern and bettering pupils ‘ acquisition. Teacher should go on to develop their professional cognition by reading, transporting out research and reflect on experience. Identify interesting/controversial phrases in each of sphere. 1. Committedness to pupil and pupil acquisition Dedicated in their attention and committedness to pupil larning – interesting 2. Professional Knowledge. Strive to be current and acknowledge its relationship to pattern 3. Professional Practice Polish their professional pattern Apply professional cognition and experience 4. Leadership in Learning Communities Promote and take part in the creative activity of corporate, safe and supportive acquisition communities – controversial 5. Ongoing Professional Learning Acknowledge that a committedness to ongoing professional acquisition is built-in to effectual pattern and to student larning – interesting

Why are Hollywood movies so popular Do you think Hollywood movies are Essay

Why are Hollywood movies so popular Do you think Hollywood movies are the representation of US imperialism Or the representation of universal values - Essay Example It is suggested that undeveloped societies subscribe to value systems and institutions that hinder the development process. (Van) The modernization first appeared in the 1950s, even raised in the 1990s.It has grown significantly making the world a global village. With the presence of the members of the fourth estate. The 1960’s saw a great push for social change. Movies during this time focused on fun, fashion, rock n’ roll, societal shifts like the civil rights movements, and transitions in cultural values. It was also a time of change in the world’s perception of America and its culture, largely influenced by the Vietnam War and continuous shifts in governmental power. The modernization theory explain how society progresses through the adaption of new technologies, economic growth, improvement in living standards and infrastructural development, literacy and cultural development, national identity development. (Anonymous) Historically, the legend of Hollywood began in the early 20th century and it has become an earmark of modern American society rich in history, innovation and technological advancement. The origin of movies and motion pictures began in the late 1800’s, with the invention of â€Å"motion toys† designed to trick the eye into seeing an illusion of motion from a display of still frames. This revealed a significant use of technology. According to the modernization theory, there was greater shift in the social change that was brought by the advancement in technology. By the end of the 1980’s, it was generally recognized that films of that time were intended for audiences who sought simple entertainment, as most pictures were unoriginal and formulaic. (Anonymous) Therefore, many studios sought to capitalize on advancements in special effects technology, instead of taking risks on experimental or thought-provoking concepts VCR’s were still popular at this time, and profits from video rentals were higher than the sales of

The British Constitution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The British Constitution - Essay Example This discussion outlines that parliamentary sovereignty is the main feature of British constitution. Though the constitution is unwritten in one single document, it is not entirely unwritten. It is also mostly embedded in the written form through various statutes, judgments and treaties apart from the conventional principles. In countries like the USA whose democratic origin has been very recent, writing constitution for a new country after their independence from British rule was a necessity. But, parliamentary democracy in Britain has a very long history and the Parliament of UK is one of the oldest democratic institutions in the world. After the merger of the Parliament of Scotland in 1707 and Ireland in 1801 with the English Parliament, it has been known as the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The country has an established judiciary system with a long history and the system has been evolving over the period of time mainly based on precedents in the legal landscape. This paper stresses that that parliamentary sovereignty is the fundamental principle of the un-codified British Constitution. There were controversies at the time of UK’s accession to European community based on the concerns that law-making functions could eventually be transferred to the EC Commission and the Council of Ministers. After the accession of the UK to  European Economic Community, European common law has gained preeminence in the UK which is inevitable. In Thoburn v Sunderland City Council it was observed â€Å"All the specific rights and obligations which EU law creates are by the ECA incorporated into our domestic law and rank supreme.

Case Study for Student Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Case Study for Student Analysis - Essay Example Upon realization Carl robin find himself in a very puzzled situation where he thinks that every thing is not going very well and he might not be able to complete his task successfully. New employees data was not organized and pre-orientation tasks were not completed. Moreover orientation room was also not free for the orientation day. The main problems that lead Carl to this dilemma were his mismanagement and not organizing everything ahead. He was not quite ready for this task and shouldn't have taken the challenge for the big project. It was his first project, which should be rather small than this one. Apart from having past experience he was less familiar with the working disciplines in his new organization. He was not well coordinated and then he mismanaged his time. While working on his very first project with a new company, he was expected to be more upright and alert. He did not communicated well though and was not aware of the situation until it was very late. Being new at his job, he was not being supervised and there was no communication in any of his matters. Carl was new at his job, only six months had passed and in this time this was his first recruitment. It would have been good for him to start from small project then taking up the challenge for the big one. His company shouldn't have allowed him to take up the responsibility on the first place. It will be considered more of the company's fault than his own. In spite of this there was no monitoring of his job and he did not pursue communication at any moment in any of his matter. When there is no movement and no aggression while he is working, it is obvious that things are going smooth or he is unaware of the real situation. The fact is that he was not aware of the situation until it was too late proves that he was not well experienced and well equipped to perform the task. I would consider this as a company fault to allow him to take the responsibility of this project. After taking up the challenged Carl didn't work on a straight plan, as a matter of fact there was no plan. There was no paper work involved. When he interviewed the employees he didn't ask them to come with all their transcripts and other official paper required. He had not planned to inform the newly hired of the drug tests. He didn't communication with the newly hires as well as in his organization for things that were left to be done. He did not double-checked for the missing documents well before the time. The recruitment process was not organized and there were no planned steps that he followed. He had not drafted his work and due to this he was unable to monitor his performance and to find where he was lagging. There was no such body where he would become aware of such potential issues. He was disorganized in all of his matters. On May 15 he was reminded of important tasks, which he overlooked yet again. His approach to the project overall made him a total failure. The key to his job was communication. Communicating with the concerned departments to make sure he is on the right track. He was well aware that on June 15 is the big day and orientation will be held on that day and he never thought that he should be reserving orientation room for that day. This was his high priority but he was unable to figure it out. The cause to all of his problems was his mismanagement and not organizing every thing ahead. Moreover he was not ready for this project and his disability to handle the burden lead

The resurrection of the Democratic party in Texas Research Paper

The resurrection of the Democratic party in Texas - Research Paper Example They were inclined to get involved in factional strife. Democrats have always been protective of the existing state of affairs. They are known to be quiet resistant to change. The political culture of Texans has been remarkably stable despite historic changes. The existence of the Democratic Party since it started in Texas can be categorized into two main periods. The first period from 1836, their independence, to 1952 when there was a presidential election. During this period, the Democratic Party was the only feasible party and dominated all levels of politics (Texas Politics Website). The second period from 1952 in which the Democratic Party faced numerous challenges from the previously ineffective Republican Party in the control of state affairs. Due to the lack of organization in the political parties before 1848, personalities dominated the political force. Contests eventually evolved to a more definite stage of competition after the Democratic Party formally became part of the electoral process in 1848 during the presidential campaign. However, it is important to note that it took sometime before the Texan democrats could adopt a statewide network and organize conventions. Nevertheless, partisanship developed steadily between annexation and 1861. Democrats started facing opposition at different sources. Initially it was the Whig party, followed by the American party and finally the Constitutional Union party. In the mid 1850s there was rapid growth in the mechanism of party discipline. In 1854, the party was influenced by the upheaval in national politics. This made the Texans move from Jacksonian nationalism and associate themselves closely with rights of state of the lower south. The governor elections in 1895 demonstrated that there... In 1854, the party was influenced by the upheaval in national politics. This made the Texans move from Jacksonian nationalism and associate themselves closely with rights of state of the lower south. The governor elections in 1895 demonstrated that there was division in the Texas’ political structure. During the civil war, democrats in Texas brought partisan activity to a stop after they became closely associated with extreme pro-slavery side that the Democratic Party supported in the Confederation (Texas Politics Website).  Ã‚  In February 1861 when Texas seceded from the Union, democrats had the highest number of officer holders (Worth). Moreover, most of those elected in the state government and those appointed in high military positions were also democrats. After the civil war, the U.S. Congress stopped senior Confederate military and political officials from holding offices or voting. The Republican Party dominated the politics in Texas between 1865, the end of the war, and the end of Reconstruction ten years later. In the early 1870s Confederates who had formerly stopped holding office were allowed back into the electorate and the resumed control of Texas state politics.  After the civil war, there was another split between the Secessionist and the Unionist democrats which was an immediate aftermath. Since the strongest Unionist had moved north and left the political scene, the remaining active members supported the Confederacy.

Athanasius and Arius in light of Nicaea council Research Paper

Athanasius and Arius in light of Nicaea council - Research Paper Example Alexander’s position†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦10 4.3 The debate results†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..†¦10 5.0 Conclusion†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦......11 6.0 Bibliography..†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦12 Athanasius and Arius in light of Nicaea council 1.0 Introduction The development of the Trinity doctrine might be said to have been the refi nement’s history of philosophical and terms categories. The proper terminology could be said to have been the primary ecumenical council’s issue of the 4th and 5th centuries, together with the thought precision as well as the philosophical categories that had been used in order to mark the Christological and Trinitarian doctrines. Nicaea council may be said to have the Jesus deity question although might have resulted to a further dissent as regards the divine and human natures of Jesus. The issues may be said to have sprouted within a doctrine’s expression at Chalcedon (Leithart, 426). The impressive debate and thought that swept over the Councils of Chalcedon and Nicaea might have come up with biblically sound and intellectually virtuous doctrines. Bruce F. F. may be noted to express the significance of an accurate language within the respective creeds. From these, it might be crucial to mention that the development of doctrines may require extremely rigorous, intellectual skills together with sound philosophic categories in order to make accurate use of the revelation from God. Thomas Torrance may also have been noted to underscore the significance of making use of intelligent reasoning into theology in order to ensure that God’s rationality spreads its maximal light on the entire area covered by the human knowledge and experience. The fight for clarity as regards thoughts and terms within the orthodoxy expression of Christology and the Trinity may also be said to be characterized by the soundness of its philosophy. The rational doctrines’ development might be considered a considerable example that relates creative interchange between philosophy and theology where both of these doctrines may be said to be equally significant. 1 2. 0Thesis statement This paper would like to review Arius and Athanasius issues in the light of Nicaea Council. In order to have a clear understanding of the context and depth of the happenings, I would like to review two key questions throughout my essay: How can Origen’s view of the relationship between the Incarnate Logos and the supreme God be understood? Athanasius and Arius held different stands on this issue. Which of these stands coheres with the Bible? Which of these stands can present the purpose of God in his salvation offered by His own Son? 3.0 Oregon’s contribution Improper and inefficient exegesis might be said to have been the key cause for the heresies, which arose immediately after the church’s early period. The persons’ plurality’s denial often referred to as Monarchianism within the trinity might be said to have limited its citations only towards the texts which might have taught individuals concerning God’s unity yet neglecting the texts that might have implied his real yet inadequately modal trinity. Arius may be said to have tracked down the second

Macro and Micro Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Macro and Micro Analysis - Essay Example Biometrics technology has emerged as an effective weapon in this game, and identification of each and every individual entering a state and safeguard own territory from becoming a terrorist breeding ground or a target has become a foremost priority for the governments today. Singapore too has planned to embrace biometric technology in a big way with some pioneering measures and some hesitant ones. With its diverse demography, Singapore too needs to study implications of implementing this technology in contemporary security scenario in its neighbourhood. This study aims to analyse the relevance of using Biometric technologies in Singapore to collect, store and use this biometric information and personal particulars of its local residents and foreigners for security and other purposes. The two essential uses of Biometrics are verification and identification. While verification involves "one-to-one" matching to determine whether there is a match between the person's presented biometric and biometric templates in a database, identification involves "one-to-many" matching where available biometric is compared with a database to establish identity of a person. It could be positive, i.e. to establish biometric matching or negative, i.e. to establish biometric presented does not match with available database (Rosenzweig, Alane Kochems and Ari Schwartz, 2004). At present, there are about ten types of biometric technologies in use or under development. They are fingerprint scanning, iris scanning, facial scanning, voice recognition, hand and/or finger recognition, retina scanning, thermo scanning, signature recognition, keystroke dynamic recognition, and DNA comparison (Steve TAI, 2005). Some others being developed include hand veins, ear recognition, gait (way of walking), facial thermograms, odor and palm prints. The basic advantages for selection of biometrics technology include their uniqueness, permanence, collectivity, performance, acceptability and circumvention of techniques. The current preferred ones in Singapore are basic fingerprint, facial, and hand/finger scanning. STEPS ANALYSIS Now that we are aware of the basic characteristics of biometrics, let us now discuss the various pros and cons of implementing a system of recording and maintaining biometrics data. Social Aspects Following few aspects refer to social requirements of a society in regard to biometrics technology: Some quarters are apprehensive of likelihood of physical harm to individuals like ones due to unsanitary conditions of scans, danger due to secured items theft etc. Serious concerns about misuse, illegal tampering or selling of personal information in biometric data are also prevalent. The biometric information can be used in an unauthorised manner without consent of the individual causing personal or financial harm to an individual. Technology Technological aspects governing adoption of biometrics technology include the following concerns: For information security, preferred storage option should be reducing the biometric to a template than a stored image. While images are easier to encrypt,

Discuss the risk management process and its interactions with the Essay

Discuss the risk management process and its interactions with the project lifecycle - Essay Example Risk management is a process that leads to identification of the uncertainties that may arise in the future and provide remedies and precautions for handling these risks. Risks faced by an organisation may create a negative impact on its assets and the reputation it has gained. The aim of Risk management is to identify the potential risks that the company might face and develop resources for mitigating the adverse effects of such losses. An organisation may face various types of risks like financial risks, operational risks, perimeter risks and lastly strategic risks. Financial risks may result in the losses related to cost of claims and liability of judgments (Conrow 2003). Operational risks may be faced by the organisation in the form of labor strikes and strategic risks involve risks related to changes in management or loss of reputation. Risk management has a pivotal role to play in effective project management. The following paper, will throw light on crucial objectives of risk management, the process of risk management and interactions between risk management the project lifecycle. Objectives of Risk Management The process of risk management aims at identification of the potentially hazardous and harmful situations. ... The purpose of risk management is to develop strategies and plans for managing and mitigating the potential risks faced by the organisation. In this manner, risk management aims at preventing the organisations from various types of risks that it may face in the long run and provide effective tools for setting appropriate strategies. Risk Management Process Assessment of risks has a fundamental process that involves five steps in implementing an appropriate system of control so that risks can be minimised. It helps in the identification and analysis of the various risks that are harmful for the workplace and negatively impact the organisation. Therefore, risk assessment is a straightforward examination of the dangerous elements that can harm the people, as well as the reputation of the organisation in the long run. So there is a need to take proper precautions for eliminating all kind of risks in order to minimise the fuss that is created in the functioning of the organisation (Culp 2 001). The first step of risk management process involves identification of hazards and the harmful effects that these hazards possess. For this purpose, it is necessary to identify how people would be affected by the potential danger that is created by the risks. It is required that proper ramifications are undertaken for mitigating the possibilities of such risks. Various strategies and tools are identified to be crucial, for mitigating the dangerous effects of the risks. At this level, sources through which risks can be avoided are analysed, and appropriate measures are undertaken to keep the things at place. These sources of risks can be internal or external to the organisation. An example of internal and external sources of risks can be the employees and the operational

Rachel Carson and the Fight Against Indiscriminate Pesticide Use Essay Example for Free

Rachel Carson and the Fight Against Indiscriminate Pesticide Use Essay In her 1962 book, Silent Spring, Rachel Carson details the dangers of indiscriminate pesticide use, which had â€Å"already silenced the voice of spring in countless towns in America† (Carson (1962) page 3). ‘Miss Carson,’ as many of her detractors referred to her, received ridicule from academics, industry leaders and professional journals for over a decade. Years after her death, conservative and libertarian groups such as the Cato Institute, American Enterprise Institute and the Competitive Enterprise Institute attacked her and the apparent successes for environmentalism in the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and the ban of DDT to provide an example of a ‘failed’ government program. Rachel Carson revealed the dangers imposed by indiscriminate pesticide use in her 1962 book, Silent Spring. Although Carson used DDT as her focus, the chemical was an example of the numerous synthesized pesticides employed in many aspects of mankind’s daily lives. As a biologist with the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Carson was alerted to the â€Å"numerous case reports of damage to birds and fish after DDT application† and believed that â€Å"because DDT was so effective, it unbalanced ecosystems† (Oreskes (2010) page 219). Carson expanded her research and eventually published her revealing book to alert the public and bring an end to indiscriminate use. The book made numerous claims against pesticides, illustrated the destruction caused by prior use and warned of a future in which â€Å"over increasingly large areas†¦ spring comes unheralded by the return of the birds, and the early mornings are strangely silent where once they were filled with the beauty of bird song† (Carson (1962) page 88). These â€Å"elixers of death,† she warned, are less insecticides as they are â€Å"biocides† (Carson (1962) pages 15, 8), infiltrating water supplies, food supplies and organisms from the bald eagle to man. â€Å"If [Silent Spring] stimulated the public to press for unwise and ill-conceived restrictions on the production, use or development of new chemicals, it will be the consumer who suffers.† Dr. William Darby, 1962 Heralded as one of the most influential books in the environmental movement, Carson’s writing was less scientific and more thought provoking. Her often-extreme word choices and diction provided a sense of urgency for some, but drew many detractors. Doctor William Darby, a Professor of Biochemistry at Vanderbilt University, reviewed Silent Spring shortly after its publishing. According to Darby, the â€Å"dramatic description[s]† were simply a ploy to mask other scientific findings are mislead the public (Darby (1962)). Darby accused Carson of â€Å"name-drops by quoting or referring to renowned scientists out of context†¦ [leading] the reader to conclude that the authority mentioned is in accord with the author’s position† (Darby (1962)). To further refute her claims, Darby refers to her as â€Å"Miss Carson† throughout his essay. This treatment of certainly harmed, or was an attempt to harm, her credibility in the scientific field. He continues â€Å"her ignorance or biases on some of the considerations throw doubt on her competence to judge policy† (Darby (1962)). Darby stated that â€Å"if it stimulated the public to press for unwise and ill-conceived restrictions on the production, use or development of new chemicals, it will be the consumer who suffers.† Here was an academic, in the field of biochemistry, blatantly denouncing Carson and her conclusions. In The Chemicals Around Us, a viewpoint published in Chemical Weekly in July 1962, Carson was referred to as a â€Å"crank† and that her writing style was more indicative of â€Å"a lawyer preparing a brief† (Chemical Weekly (1962)). Obviously a somewhat biased publication, the article continued to claim that although â€Å"her facts are correct, her conclusions less certain, and her innuendos misleading†¦ such a public be damned attitude was outmoded some years ago and†¦ too many people are watching.† The phrase, â€Å"too many people are watching† referred to the chemical industry and pro-chemical government, implying that despite her efforts, they would fight back against such erroneous claims with ease. Carson’s detractors were not publishing this information against her for publicity, but were concerned. They were not concerned about the indiscriminate use of pesticides, but rather the ability of public outrage and the future of the chemicals industry. By attacking Carson’s conclusions and writing style, they could distract from the dangerous scientific findings. Facing harsh criticism, Carson’s urgent push for policy against indiscriminate pesticide use seemed to stall. When President Kennedy tasked the President’s Science Advisory Committee with investigating the claims, a new hope emerged. Although the committee did not back or deny Carson’s claims, they lay the burden of proof â€Å"on those who argued that persistent pesticides w ere safe† (Oreskes (2010) page 222). The paradigm shifted against the chemical industry. The findings established that the industry itself was tasked with proving the pesticides used were not a danger to human health or the environment, â€Å"explicitly invoking the standard of reasonable doubt,† rather than those against indiscriminate use proving pesticides were a danger (Oreskes (2010) pages 220-224). According to Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway in their 2010 book, Merchants of Doubt, â€Å"the legal phrase reasonable doubt suggests that they were guided by existing legal frameworks†¦ to demonstrate the safety of their products,† and that â€Å"manufacturers had not demonstrated the safety of DDT, and reasonable people now had reason to doubt it† (Oreskes (2010) page 222). It took two more Presidential Administrations before President Nixon authorized the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970 and in 1972, the ban on the use of DDT in the United States. The environmental movement, the work done by Rachel Carson, the President’s Science Advisory Committee, numerous scientists and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and banning of DDT was often heralded as a true governmental policy success story. Not until the early 2000s did the evidence exist that DDT was in fact harmful to humans, and a dangerous carcinogen (Oreskes (2010) page 229). For three decades, the establishment of the EPA was used as an example to follow for the creation of new social, economic and environmental policies. As conservative and libertarian think tanks in the mid 1990s were facing new policies and government regulation conflicting with their ideals, a new strategy for combat emerged. By slandering Carson, â€Å"freemarketeers realized [they] could strengthen the argument against regulation in general. (Oreskes (2010) page 218). To argue against regulation, they would destroy the main example of successful policy and regulation: the establishment of the EPA and banning of DDT. In the late 1990s, groups such as the Cato Institute, American Enterprise Institute and the Competitive Enterprise Institute renewed the attacks on Rachel Carson and the â€Å"junk-science†Ã¢â‚¬â€scientific findings that could not be explained under the free-market system—that led to the ban of DDT in the United States. These think tanks, backed monetarily by Philip Morris and other corporation, â€Å"organized off-the record briefings [with members of Congress], wrote and placed op-ed pieces, and organized radio interviews† (Oreskes, (2010) page 234). The Heartland Institute, focused on â€Å"free-market solutions to social and economic problems†¦ insist[ed] that some one million†¦lives could be saved annually† in developing countries around the world through the use of DDT (Oreskes (2010) page 2 33). There were even claims that her â€Å"false alarm† about pesticides led to the death of millions, making her â€Å"worse than Hitler† (Oreskes (2010) page 217). By destroying Carson’s reputation at the expense of key facts and scientific findings, these groups were changing history. â€Å"Orwell understood that those in power will always seek to control history, because whoever controls the past controls the present† (Oreskes (2010) page 238). Conservative and Libertarian think tanks believed they could control history to derail the progress of regulatory authority in the United States. In the forward to Silent Spring, Carson quotes Albert Schweitzer, â€Å"Man has lost the capacity to foresee and to forestall, He will end by destroying the earth† (Carson (1962) Forward). According to Carson, â€Å"it took hundreds of millions of years for life to produce the life that now inhabits the earth†¦ [and] to adjust to these chemicals would require time on the scale that is nature’s, it would require not merely the years of a man’s life but he life of generations† (Carson (1962) page 7). Rachel Carson believed indiscriminate pesticide use and the continued development of synthetic chemicals would devastate our planet in a way that would require generations for the environment to reach equilibrium. E. B. White, an American essayist once wrote, â€Å"I am pessimistic about the human race because it is too ingenious for its own good. Our approach to nature is to beat it into submission. We would stand a better chance of survival is we accommodated ourselves to the planet and viewed it appreciatively instead of skeptically and dictatorially† (Carson (1962) Forward). By allowing the leaders of this nation to be manipulated by groups controlling history, we failed not only Rachel Carson, but ourselves, our environment and our future. Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin Co, 1962. (Carson (1962)) â€Å"The Chemicals Around Us.† Viewpoint, Chemical Weekly. July 14, 1962: 5. (Chemical Weekly (1962)) Darby, William J. Text from Jukes, Thomas, 1962. â€Å"A Town in Harmony.† Chemical Engineering News (Aug 18): 5. (Darby (1962)) Oreskes, Naomi, and Erik M. Conway. Chapter 7: Denial Rides Again. Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming. New York: Bloomsbury, 2010. (Oreskes (2010))

The Reinsurance Expected Loss Cost Formula

The Reinsurance Expected Loss Cost Formula ELCF is the excess loss cost factor (as a percentage of total lost cost). PCP is the primary company/subject premium. PCPLR is the primary company permissible loss ratio (including any loss adjustment expenses covered as a part of loss) RCF is the rate correction factor which is the reinsurers adjustment for the estimated adequacy or inadequacy of the primary rate Given that the coverage of this treaty is per-occurrence, we must also weigh the manual difference rate for the clash exposure. In order to determine the reinsurers excess share the ALAE is added to each claim, and therefore claims from policy limits which are below the attachment point will be introduced into the excess layer. The reinsure may have own data that describe the bi-variate distribution of indemnity and ALAE, or such information can be obtained from ISO or similar organization outside of United States of America. With these data the reinsurer is able to construct the increased limits tables with ALAE added to the loss instead of residing in its entirety in the basic limits coverage. Another more simple alternative is to adjust the manual increased limits factors so that they to account for the addition of the ALAE to the loss. A basic way of doing this is to use the assumption that the ALAE for each and every claim is a deterministic function of indemnity amount for the claim, which means adding exactly ÃŽÂ ³% to each claim value for the range of claim sizes that are near the layer of interest. This ÃŽÂ ³ factor is smaller than the overall ratio of ALAE to ground-up indemnity loss, as much of the total ALAE relates to small claims or claims closed with no indemnity. Assumption: when ALAE is added to loss, every claim with indemnity greater than $300,000 = (1+ ÃŽÂ ³) enters the layer $1,400,000 excess of $600,000, and that the loss amount in the layer reaches $1,400,000 when the ground-up indemnity reaches $2,000,000 = (1+ ÃŽÂ ³). From this the standard increased limits factors can be modified to account for ALAE added to the loss. In this liability context, Formula for RELC can be used with PCP as the basic limit premium and PCPLR can be used as the primary company permissible basic limits loss ratio. Assumption: Given the clash exposure an overall loss loading of ÃŽÂ ´% is sufficient enough to adjust the loss cost for this layer predicted from the stand-alone policies. Then ELCF determines the excess loss in the layer $1,400,000 with excess of $600,000 which arises from each policy limit and plus its contribution to the clash losses as a percentage of the basic limits loss that arise from the same policy limit. The formula for ELCF which is evaluated at limit (Lim) is as follows: Formula : Liability ELCF for ALAE Added to Indemnity Loss ELCF(Lim) = 0 Where Attachment Point AP = $600,000 Reinsurance Limit RLim = $1,400,000 Clash loading ÃŽÂ ´ = 5% Excess ALAE loading ÃŽÂ ³ = 20% The table 2 displays this method for a part of Allstates exposure using the hypothetical increased limits factors to calculate the excess loss cost factors with both ALAE and risk load excluded. Table 2: Excess Loss Cost Factors with ALAE Added to Indemnity Loss at 20% add-on and a Clash Loading of 5% Table : Excess Loss Cost Factors with ALAE Added to Indemnity Loss at 20% add-on and a Clash Loading of 5% (1) Policy Limit in $ (2) ILF w/o risk load and w/o ALAE (3) ELCF 200,000 1.0000 0 500,000 1.2486 0 600,000 1.2942 0.0575 1,000,000 1.4094 0.2026 1,666,666 1.5273 0.3512 2,000,000 or more 1.5687 0.4033 Source: own calculation based on Patrik (2001) Using the Formula 4., the ELCF($600,000) = 1.20*1.05*(1.2942-1.2486) = 0.0575, and ELCF($2,000,000) =1.20*1.05*(1.5687-1.2486) = 0.4033. Assumption1: for this exposure the Allstates permissible basic limit loss ratio is PCPLR = 70%. Assumption2: reinsurers evaluation indicates that the cedants rates and offsets are sufficient and therefore RCF is 1.00. The reinsurer can now calculate the exposure rate RELC and the reinsurers undiscounted estimate of loss cost in the excess layer as can be seen in the table 3. Table 3: Reinsurance Expected Loss Cost (undiscounted) Table : Reinsurance Expected Loss Cost (undiscounted) (1) Policy Limit in $ (2) Estimated Subject Premium Year 2009 in $ (3) Manual ILF (4) Estimated Basic Limit Loss Cost 0.70x(2)/(3) (5) ELCF (6) RELC in $ (4)x(5) Below 600,000 2,000,000 1.10 (avg.) 1272727.27 0 0 600,000 2,000,000 1.35 1,037,037.04 0.0575 59,629.63 1,000,000 2,000,000 1.50 933,333.33 0.2026 189,093.33 2,000,000 or more 4,000,000 1.75 (avg.) 1,600,000.00 0.3512 562,920.00 Total 10,000,000 n.a. 4,843,197.64 n.a. 811,642.96 Source: own calculation based on Patrik (2001) An exposure loss cost can be estimated using probability models of the claim size distributions. This directly gives the reinsurer the claim count and the claim severity information which the reinsurer can use in the simple risk theoretic model for the aggregate loss. Assumption: the indemnity loss distribution underlying Table 2 is Pareto with q =1.1 and b =5,000. Then the simple model of adding the 20% ALAE to the indemnity per-occurrence changes the indemnity of a Pareto distribution to a new Pareto with q =1.1and b=5,000*1.20 = 6,000. The reinsurer has to adjust the layer severity for a clash and this can be done by multiplying with 1+ÃŽÂ ´ =1.05. The reinsurer can therefore calculate from each policy limit the excess expected claim sizes, after dividing the expected claim size by the RELC for each limit the reinsurer obtains the estimates of expected claim count. This is done in Table 4. The expected claim size can be calculated as follows: Firstly the expected excess claim severity over the attachment point d and subject to the reinsurance limit RLim for a policy limit ÃŽÂ » can has to be calculated. This can be done as follows: For ÃŽÂ »= 600,000 For ÃŽÂ »=1,000,000 For ÃŽÂ »=2,000,000 The reinsurer is now able to calculate the expected claim count, the estimation can be seen in the table 4: Table 4: Excess Expected Loss, Claim Severity and Claim Count Table : Excess Expected Loss, Claim Severity and Claim Count Policy Count in $ (2) RELC in $ (3) Expected Claim Size in $ (4) Expected Claim Count (2)/(3) 600,000 59,629.63 113,928 0.523 1,000,000 189,093.33 423,164 0.447 2,000,000 or more 562,920.00 819,557 0.687 Total 811,642.96 1,356,649 1.68 Source: own calculation based on Patrik (2001) The total excess expected claim size for this exposure is $1,356,649. If the independence of claim events across all of the exposures can be assumed, the reinsurer can also obtain total estimates of the overall excess expected occurrence (claim) size and the expected occurrence (claim) count. Now we are going to estimate the experience rating. Step 3: Gather and reconcile primary claims data segregated by major rating class groups. As in the Example of property quota share treaties, the reinsurer needs the claims data separated as the exposure data, and the reinsurer also wants some history of the individual large claims. The reinsurer usually receives information on all claims which are greater than one-half of the proposed attachment point, but it is important to receive as much data as possible. Assumption: a claims review has been performed and the reinsurer received a detailed history for each known claim larger than $100,000 occurring 2000-2010, which were evaluated 12/31/00, 12/31/01à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦, 12/31/09, and 6/30/10. Step 4: Filter the major catastrophic claims out of the claims data. The reinsurer wants to identify clash claims and the mass tort claims which are significant. By separating out the clash claims, the reinsurer can estimate their size and their frequency and how they relate to the non-clash claims. These statistics should be compared to the values that the reinsurer knows from other cedants and therefore is able to get a better approximation for the ÃŽÂ ´ loading. Step 5: Trend the claims data to the rating period. As with the example for the property-quota share treaties, the trending should be for the inflation and also for other changes in the exposure (e.g. higher policy limits) which may affect the loss potential, but unlike with the proportional coverage, this step cannot be skipped. The reason for this is the leveraged effect which has the inflation upon the excess claims. The constant inflation rate increases the aggregate loss beyond any attachment point and it increases faster than the aggregate loss below, as the claims grow into the excess layer, whereas their value below is stopped at the attachment point. Each ground-up claim value is trended at each evaluation, including ALAE, from year of occurrence to 2011. For example, consider the treatment of a 2003 claim in the table 5. Table 5: Trending an Accident Year 2003 Claim Table : Trending an Accident Year 2003 Claim (1) Evaluation Date (2) Value at Evaluation In $ (3) Trend factor (4) 2011 Level Value in 4 (5) Excess Amount in$ 12/31/03 0 1.62 0 0 12/31/04 0 1.62 0 0 12/31/05 250,000 1.62 405,000 0 12/31/06 250,000 1.62 405,000 0 12/31/07 300,000 1.62 486,000 0 12/31/08 400,000 1.62 648,000 48,000 12/31/09 400,000 1.62 648,000 48,000 06/30/10 400,000 1.62 648,000 48,000 Source: own calculation based on Patrik (2001) The reasoning for a single trend factor in this example is that the trend affects the claim values according to the accident date and not by an evaluation date. The trending of the policy limits is a delicate issue, because if a 2003 claim on a policy which has limit that is less than $500,000 inflates to above $600,000 ( plus ALAE), will be the policy limit that will be sold in the year 2011 greater than $500,000? It seems that over long periods of time, that the policy limits change with inflation. Therefore the reinsurer should over time, if possible, receive information on the Allstates policy limit distributions. Step 6: Develop the claims data to settlement values. The next step is to construct the historical accident year, thus we want to develop the year triangles for each type of a large claim from the data which was produced in column (5) of Table 5. Typically all claims should be combined together by major line of business. Afterwards the loss development factors should be estimated and applied on the excess claims data while using the standard methods. Also in order to check for reasonableness and comparable coverages we want to compare the development patterns that were estimated from Allstates data to our own expectations which have their basis in our own historical data. When considering the claim in Table 5 we see that only $48,000 is over the attachment point, and also only at the fifth development point Table 6: Trended Historical Claims in the Layer $1,400,000 Excess of $600,000 (in $1,000s) Table : Trended Historical Claims in the Layer $1,400,000 Excess of $600,000 (in $1,000s) Assumption: our triangle looks like the Table 6: Acc. Year Age 1 in $ Age 2 in $ Age 3 in $ à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Age 9 in $ Age 10 in $ Age 10.5 in $ 2000 0 90 264 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ 259 351 351 2001 0 0 154 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ 763 798 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ 2008 77 117 256 2009 0 0 2010 0 ATA 4.336 1.573 1.166 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ 1,349 n.a. n.a. ATU 15.036 3.547 2.345 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ 1.401 1.050 = tail Smoothed Lags 11.9% 28.7% 47.7% à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ 93.1% 95.3% 96.7% Source: own calculation based on Patrik (2001) Where: ATA is Age-To-Age development factor ATU is Age-To-Ultimate development factor Lag(t) is the percentage of loss reported at time t The selection of the tail factor of 1.05 is based upon the general information about the development for this type of an exposure beyond ten years. By changing to the inverse for the point of view from the age-to-ultimate factors, the time lags of the claim dollar reporting, the loss reporting view is transformed to that of the cumulative distribution function (CDF) whose domain is [0,), this transformation gives a better outlook of the loss development pattern. It also allows considering and measuring the average (expected) lag and some other moments, that are comparable to the moments of loss development patterns from other exposures. Given the chaotic development of excess claims, it is a important to employ smoothing technique. If the smoothed factors are correctly estimated they should more credible loss development estimates which are more credible. They also allow to evaluate the function Lag( ) at every positive time. The smoothing which was introduced in the last row of Table 6 is based on a Gamma distribution with a mean of 4 (years) and a standard deviation of 3. It is also usually useful to analyze the large claim paid data, if possible, both to estimate the patterns of the excess claims payment and also to supplement the ultimate estimates which are based only on the reported claims that were used above. Sometimes the only data available are the data on aggregate excess claims, which would be the historical accident year per development year $1,400,000 excess of $600,000 aggregate loss triangle. Pricing without specific information about the large claims in such a situation, is very risky, but it is occasionally done. Step 7: Estimate the catastrophic loss potential. The mass tort claims such as pollution clean-up claims distort the historical data and therefore need special treatment. As with the property coverage, the analysis of Allstates exposures may allow us to predict some suitable loading for the future mass tort claim potential. As was said in the Step 4, the reinsurer needs to identify the clash claims. With the separation of the clash claims, for each claim, the various parts are then added together to be applied to the occurrence loss amount at the attachment point and at the reinsurance limit. If it is not possible to identify the clash claims, then the estimation of the experience of RELC has to include a clash loading which is based on judgment of the general type of exposure. Step 8: Adjust the historical exposures to the rating period. As in the example on the property quota-share treaties the historical exposure (premium) data has to be adjusted in such a manner that makes the data are reasonably relevant to the rating period, therefore the trending should be for the primary rate, for the underwriting changes and also for other changes in exposure that may affect the loss potential of the treaty.. Step 9: Estimate an experience expected loss cost, PVRELC, and, if desirable, a loss cost rate, PVRELC/PCP. Assumption: we have trended and developed excess losses for all classes of Allstates casualty exposure. The standard practice is to add the pieces up as seen in the table 7. Table 7: Allstate Insurance Company Casualty Business Table : Allstate Insurance Company Casualty Business (1) Accident Year (2) Onlevel PCP in $ (3) Trended and Developed Loss and Excess Loss (estimated RELC) in $ (4) Estimated Cost Rate in % (3)/(2) 2002 171,694 6,714 3.91 2003 175,906 9,288 5.28 2004 178,152 13,522 7.59 2005 185.894 10,820 5.82 2006 188,344 9,134 4.58 2007 191,348 6,658 3.48 2008 197122 8,536 4.33 2009 198,452 12,840 6.47 2010 99,500 2,826 2.84 Total 1,586,412 80,336 5.06 Total w/o 2010 1,486,912 77,510 5.21 Source: own calculation based on Patrik (2001) The average loss cost rate for eight years is 5.21%, where the data from the year 2010 was eliminated as it is too green (undeveloped) and there does not seem to be a particular trend from year to year. Table 7 gives us the experience-based estimate, RELC=PCP =5.21%, but this estimate has to be loaded for the existing mass tort exposure, and also for the clash claims if we had insufficient information on the clash claims in the claims data. Step 10: Estimate a credibility loss cost or loss cost rate from the exposure and experience loss costs or loss cost rates The experience loss cost rate has to be weighed against the exposure loss cost rate that we already calculated. If there is more than one answer with different various answers that cannot be further reconciled, the final answers for the $1.400, 000 excess of $600,000 claim count and for the severity may be based on the credibility balancing of these separate estimates. All the differences should however not be ignored, but should be included in the estimates of the parameter (and model) uncertainty, and therefore providing a rise to a more realistic measures of the variances, etc., and of the risk. Assumption: simple situation, where there are weighed together only the experience loss cost estimate and the exposure loss cost estimate. The six considerations for deciding on how much weight should be given to the exposure loss cost estimate are: The accuracy of the estimate of RCF, the primary rate correction factor, and thus the accuracy of the primary expected loss cost or loss ratio The accuracy of the predicted distribution of subject premium by line of business For excess coverage, the accuracy of the predicted distribution of subject premium by increased limits table for liability, by state for workers compensation, or by type of insured for property, within a line of business For excess coverage, the accuracy of the predicted distribution of subject premium by policy limit within increased limits table for liability, by hazard group for workers compensation, by amount insured for property For excess coverage, the accuracy of the excess loss cost factors for coverage above the attachment point For excess coverage, the degree of potential exposure not contemplated by the excess loss cost factors The credibility of the exposure loss cost estimation decreases if there are problems with any of these six items listed. Also the six considerations from which can be decided how much weight can be given to the experience loss cost estimate are: The accuracy of the estimates of claims cost inflation The accuracy of the estimates of loss development The accuracy of the subject premium on-level factors The stability of the loss cost, or loss cost rate, over time The possibility of changes in the underlying exposure over time For excess coverage, the possibility of changes in the distribution of policy limits over time The credibility of the experience loss cost estimate lessens with problems with any of the six items. Assumption: the credibility loss cost rate is RELC/PCP = 5.75%. For each of the exposure category a loss discount factor is estimated, which is based on the expected loss payment pattern for the exposure in the layer $1,400,000 excess of $600,000, and on a chosen investment yield. Most actuaries support the use of a risk-free yield, such as U.S. Treasuries for U.S. business, for the approximation of the maturity of the average claim payment lag. Discounting is significant only for longer tail business. On a practical base for a bond maturity which is between five to ten years it is better to use a single, constant fixed rate. Assumption: the overall discount factor for the loss cost rate of 5.75% is RDF= 75%, which gives PVRELC/PCP = RDF*RELC/PCP =0.75*5.75%= 4.31%, or PVRELC= 4.31% * $200,000,000 = $8,620,000. The steps 11 and 12 with this example are reversed. Step 12: Specify values for RCR, RIXL, and RTER Assumption: the standard guidelines for this size and type of a contract and this type of an exposure specify RIXL = 5% and RTER = 15%. The reinsurance pure premium RPP can be calculated as RPP = PVRLC/(1-RTER) = $8,620,000/0.85 = $10,141,176 with an expected profit as RPP PVRELC = $10,141,176 $8,620,000 = $1,521,176 for the risk transfer. As the RCR = 0% we can calculate the technical reinsurance premium of RP = RPP/(1-RIXL) = $10,141,176 /0.95 = $10,674,922. This technical premium is therefore above the maximum of $10,000,000 which was specified by the Allstate Insurance Company. If there is nothing wrong with technical calculations, then the reinsurer has two options. The first one is to accept the expected reinsurance premium of $10,000,000 at a rate of 5%, with the expected profit reduced to $10,000,000 $8,620,000 = $1,380,000 Or secondly the reinsurer can propose a variable rate contract, with the reinsurance rate varying due to the reinsurance loss experience, which in this case is a retrospectively rated contract. As the Allstate Insurance Company is asking for a retrospectively rated contract we select the second possibility. To construct a fair and balanced rating plan, the distribution of the reinsurance of an aggregate loss has to be estimated. Now we proceed with step 11. Step 11: Estimate the probability distribution of the aggregate reinsurance loss if desirable, and perhaps other distributions such as for claims payment timing. In this step the Gamma distribution approximation will be used. As our example is lower (excess) claim frequency situation, the standard risk theoretic model for aggregate losses will be used together with the first two moments of the claim count and the claim severity distributions to approximate the distribution of aggregate reinsurance loss. The aggregate loss in the standard model is written as the sum of the individual claims, as follows. Formula : Aggregate Loss L=X1 + X2 +à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦+ XN with L as a random variable (rv) for aggregate loss N as a rv for number of claims (events, occurrences) Xi as rv for the dollar size of the ith claim The N and Xi are referring to the amount of the ith claim and to the excess number of claims. To see how the standard risk theoretic model relates to the distributions of L, N and the Xis see Patrik (2001). We are working with the assumption that the Xis are both identically and independently distributed and also independent of N, further we assume that the kth moment of L is determined completely by the first k moments of N and the Xis. There is following relationships. Formula : First Two Central Moments of the Distribution of Aggregate Loss under the Standard Risk Theoretic Model E[L] = E[N] x E[X] Var[L] = E[N] x E[X2] + (Var[N] E[N]) x E[X]2 Assumption: the E[L] = RELC =5.75%*$200,000,000 = $11,500,000 (undiscounted). We assume simplistically independent and identical distribution of the excess claim sizes and also the independency of the excess claim (occurrence) count. Usually this is a reasonable assumption. For our layer $1,400,000 excess of $600,000, our modeling assumptions and results are shown in the formula below. Formula : Allstate $1,400,000 Excess of $600,000 Aggregate Loss Modeling Assumptions and Results

Linguistic and Narrative Cohesion in An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridg E

Linguistic and Narrative Cohesion in An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge    The reader's bewilderment at the end of Ambrose Bierce's "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" is less a result of Peyton Farquhar's death than the timely coordination of this man's violent execution with the reader's sudden realization that instead of a detached objective reading he has been cajoled into a subjective experience (Ames 53). The reader is able to cross over into the consciousness of the protagonist at the moment when experience ends because of the story's cohesion and coherence. A focused examination of specific passages and themes in each of the story's sections demonstrates how Bierce satisfies the expectations of the reader and provides a reasonable subjective experience through known-new contracts of sentence structure and narrative style. Martha Kolln points out that the study of cohesion "concerns the connection of sentences to one another, to the 'flow' of a text, to the ways in which a paragraph of separate sentences becomes a unified whole" (19). The known-new sequence is a rhetorical technique to provide cohesion between sentences, paragraphs, and even ideas. Specifically, it is a contract in which "old, or known, information . . . will appear in the subject slot, with the new information in the predicate" (236). Narrative style can also be validated by the preceding schema network. Each section is defined by its predecessor. Birece's story is divided into three sections: the first describes the final preparations for the military execution of a civilian prisoner, the second flashes back to the incident that led up to his capture, and the third recounts the sensations, thoughts, and feelings of the condemned man as he drea... ...e Story and Its Writer: Resources for Teaching. 4th Ed. Boston: St. Martin's, 1995. Cheatham, George. "Bierce's 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.'" Explicator, Washington, DC 43:1 (Fall 1984): 45-47. Conlogue, William. "Bierce's 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.'" Explicator, Washington, DC 48:1 (Fall 1989): 37-38. Kolln, Martha. Rhetorical Grammar: Grammatical Choices, Rhetorical Effects. 2nd Ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1996. Linkin, Harriet Kramer. "Narrative Technique in 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.'" Journal of Narrative Technique 18:2 (Spring 1988): 137-52. Stoicheff, Peter. "'Something Uncanny': The Dream Structure in Ambrose Bierce's 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.'" Studies in Short Fiction 30:3 (Summer 1993): 349-58. Williams, Joseph M. Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity & Grace. 4th Ed. NY: HarperCollins, 1994.    Linguistic and Narrative Cohesion in An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridg E Linguistic and Narrative Cohesion in An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge    The reader's bewilderment at the end of Ambrose Bierce's "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" is less a result of Peyton Farquhar's death than the timely coordination of this man's violent execution with the reader's sudden realization that instead of a detached objective reading he has been cajoled into a subjective experience (Ames 53). The reader is able to cross over into the consciousness of the protagonist at the moment when experience ends because of the story's cohesion and coherence. A focused examination of specific passages and themes in each of the story's sections demonstrates how Bierce satisfies the expectations of the reader and provides a reasonable subjective experience through known-new contracts of sentence structure and narrative style. Martha Kolln points out that the study of cohesion "concerns the connection of sentences to one another, to the 'flow' of a text, to the ways in which a paragraph of separate sentences becomes a unified whole" (19). The known-new sequence is a rhetorical technique to provide cohesion between sentences, paragraphs, and even ideas. Specifically, it is a contract in which "old, or known, information . . . will appear in the subject slot, with the new information in the predicate" (236). Narrative style can also be validated by the preceding schema network. Each section is defined by its predecessor. Birece's story is divided into three sections: the first describes the final preparations for the military execution of a civilian prisoner, the second flashes back to the incident that led up to his capture, and the third recounts the sensations, thoughts, and feelings of the condemned man as he drea... ...e Story and Its Writer: Resources for Teaching. 4th Ed. Boston: St. Martin's, 1995. Cheatham, George. "Bierce's 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.'" Explicator, Washington, DC 43:1 (Fall 1984): 45-47. Conlogue, William. "Bierce's 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.'" Explicator, Washington, DC 48:1 (Fall 1989): 37-38. Kolln, Martha. Rhetorical Grammar: Grammatical Choices, Rhetorical Effects. 2nd Ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1996. Linkin, Harriet Kramer. "Narrative Technique in 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.'" Journal of Narrative Technique 18:2 (Spring 1988): 137-52. Stoicheff, Peter. "'Something Uncanny': The Dream Structure in Ambrose Bierce's 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.'" Studies in Short Fiction 30:3 (Summer 1993): 349-58. Williams, Joseph M. Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity & Grace. 4th Ed. NY: HarperCollins, 1994.   

Overcoming my Fear of Roller Coasters Essay example -- Personal Narrat

I have this fear that causes my body to shake. When I think about it, my skin becomes pale and cold. It’s death speeding through my mind. Once I have seen these monstrous roller coasters, the only thing in my mind was fear. Knowing that I’m afraid to go on these rides, I didn’t want to look like a fool in front of my friends. My mind is thinking of deadly thoughts. My palms were sweaty and I was twitching like a fish. I was petrified of heights. We pulled into the roller coaster park in our Ford Excursion truck. It was me and my dearest friends. Our stomachs were growling like mountain lions. We haven’t had a chance to get something to eat during the trip. I opened the container of ham and cheese sandwiches and have had three sandwiches faster than a track star. My un-calm hands couldn’t even open a bottle of wild cherry soda. Thinking about what I’m going to do when we enter the park. After eating our sack lunches, our group of five decided to enter the park. I can hear the roller coaster tracks and machinery almost sounding like a train, watching the faces of the people. After...

Character Study : Harry Hobson :: English Literature

Character Study : Harry Hobson Harold Brighouse Although a prolific and popular playwright and novelist during his lifetime, the reputation of Harold Brighouse today rests almost entirely on his play Hobson’s Choice. Born in Eccles near Salford on 26 July 1882, his mother was a teacher and his father was in the cotton business. Despite gaining a scholarship to Manchester Grammar School, Harold was not a keen student; at seventeen he left school to start work in the textile industry. Henry Hobson, a boot shop owner in Salford, not a very successful one either. Henry has three children, all girls, Maggie, who is thirty, Alice, twenty-three and finally Victoria, known as ‘Vickey’ who is twenty-one. All of the girls work for Hobson, but do not receive any form of wage. Hobson treats the three girls with no respect whatsoever; we understand that this is true by the tone and aggression in Hobson’s voice when he interacts with them. He is the most hypocritical man in ‘Hobson’s Choice’; this is proven by the change in his tone and body language when Ms Hepworth, a high classed customer, enters his shop. When Hobson greets Ms. Hepworth he immediately rushes to pull up a chair for her to sit on. Ms Hepworth questions Henry Hobson about who made her shoes, which she had recently purchased in this shop. Hobson does not give her a straight answer so Ms. Hepworth uses a different, more violent approach to receive an answer. Maggie immediately calls, â€Å"Tubby!† while pulling up the trap door from the pavement referring to Tubby Wadlow, a shoemaker who works for Hobson. Henry assures Ms. Hepworth that he is responsible for all work done in the premises. Tubby is also asked if he made the boots to which he replied, â€Å"They are Willie’s making, those.† Ms. Hepworth then asked who Willie was, when Henry Hobson rushed to answering by saying that he â€Å"is capable of making the man suffer for it†.

Influence on the General Motors Corporation Essay

This report analyzes the primary internal and external influence on the General Motors Corporation and the influence of changing political environment on policy making and response of the corporation. Then the report discusses the changing political environment in and its influence. The influences of political environment on policies and decision making to the corporation are analyzed. The corporation response to the political environment changing is critically evaluated. At last, some improvement suggestion for the corporation in the response of the changing political environment is demonstrated. IntroductionGeneral Motors Corporation is the largest automobile manufactures in the world. The corporation, which is located in Detroit, employs more than 260 millions people and sells cars and trucks in about 35 countries. The corporation has a dominant influence in automobile market in the United States and other developed market such as the United Kingdom, Canada and so on. The corporation also enjoys a large market share in the rapid growing market of developing countries such as China and Brazil. However, the corporation is in face of changing internal and external environment. Discussion and AnalysisIn the first part of the report, the primary internal and external influence is analyzed following the SWOT Matrix, which is a modern tool for analysis of internal and external environment. In the SWOT Matrix, the S stands for strengths, W for weaknesses, O for opportunities, and T for threats. The strengths and weaknesses are the analysis of internal influence while the opportunities and threats stand for the influence of external environments. In the following part of the report, the strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats that have influence of the organization is discussed one by one. Internal influence: Strengths This section analyzes the internal strengths of the corporation. The General Motors are rich in brands and product lines. The General Motors Corporation acquired and mergers many brands and auto companies in the early stage of its history. The General Motors Corporation acquired Buick and Oldsmobile after it is founded. Then it brought Cadillac, Elmore and Oakland and so on. As a result, the corporation owns many brands  which are fit for different segmented markets. Comparing to Ford’s only providing black Model T cars in the early years the General Motors Corporation provides various models, colors and brands for different markets. For example, the practical and economical Chevrolet are designed for entry level consumers, the Buick are make for middle class buyer and luxury Cadillac for high end consumers. (Warell, 2008) The advantage of multi brands strategy is to satisfy the needs and wants of different group of consumers to enter more segmented markets. The multi brands make GM a giant automaker and enjoys large market share. The General Motors Corporation has the strength that it governs the advance technology and has an influencing power in the distribution channel. The General Motors Corporation has developed for a century since it is founded in 1908. During the time, the technology and channel influence is accumulating and increasing. The technology is of great importance in the motor industry, but the technology accumulating needs a long period. The General Motors Corporation now governs the advanced technology that it can make more sophisticated automobiles which are more durable, more safety, and have a rapider speed. On the other hand, the General Motors Corporation has a dominant power in the distribution channel. The General Motors Corporation has been the top automobile manufacturer for a long time accordingly it has a strong bargaining power in the distribution channel. The corporation can distribute it product in the United States and all around the world. The technology and distribution chan nel can be a great assistant in the further development of the organization. Internal influence: Weaknesses This section analyzes the internal weaknesses of the corporation. One of the most significant weaknesses is that the cost of production is too high. The Japanese automakers such as Toyota are dangerous competitors for the General Motors Corporation and the have scrambled for quite a large part of market shares if the GM in America and the global markets. The Japanese competitors cut down the cost tremendously by lean production. However, the production cost is still high in the General Motors Corporation. And the inefficiency of production cause the high price of its automobiles and the market share shrinks accordingly.  (Coffey, 2005) Especially in face of the financial crisis, the General Motors Corporation has much to learn form lean production to cut down its production prices. The bureaucratic culture is another weakness in the corporation. The General Motors Corporation employs more than 260 millions staff, which composes a huge and complex organization. The General Motors Corporation had taken the lead in organization. For example, the corporation had injected into matrix organization that combined the functional and project patterns of department in the same corporation in early years. The General Motors Corporation also organized with strategic business unit that classified products and product lines in the same independent business department in ahead of other corporations. The decentralization makes each department a profit centre. However, after ages of development the departments and business units concerns more on their own benefits and become bureaucratic. The well defined division of departments and united became deficiency and resistance to change. Formal and informal networks formed in the corporation. The bureaucratic culture is accumulating and hander the further development of the corporation. External influence: Opportunities This section analyzes the external opportunities of the corporation. The emerging markets of developing countries provide a great opportunity for the General Motors Corporation. The market of developed countries is fully covered and closed to saturation in the modern days. For example, in the United States there are two cars in a family in average so the market can not keep a rapid growing rate. On the country, market in developing countries shows their potential. The sales volume in China and Brazil is second only to the market of the United States. Many international automaker groups are scrambling for these markets. The large and potential markets of developing countries will provide opportunities for the corporation. The achievement in technology is a great opportunities for the General Motors Corporation. The technology makes breakthrough achievement in fields of information, manufacturing, fuel and so on. The advance of information  technology and implementation of management information system make it possible to collect and analysis accurate data and information all around the huge organization. The computers and instant communication tool help the corporation to organize and manage the supply chain. The new methods in manufacturing, such as lean production, can increase the efficiency of production while cutting down the cost. The leading edge achievement on fuel and new energy engine can promote the upgrade of automobiles. The General Motors Corporation is huge enough to afford the cost of R&D center and the implement of new technology, which in turn can raise the competency of the corporation. (Sengi et al, 2004) External influence: Threats This section analyzes the external threats of the corporation. The increasingly growing price of petroleum is a threat to the General Motors Corporation. On the one hand, consumers turn to other transport tools when they can not afford the high petro price. On the other hand, they want to purchase energy saving automobiles. Many products of the General Motors Corporation are large in size and heavy in weight and they are high fuel consumption motors. The fluctuation of oil price has a negative effect on the sales volume of the automobile of the General Motors Corporation. Some political affaires such as wars and conflictions in the Middle East, the â€Å"oil shock† caused by OPEC with economic and political purpose, the environment protection organizations anti-automobile movement and so on, enhance the threats of oil price turbulence. The competition, both in the United States and the global market, is a vital threat to the General Motors Corporation. There are three automaker giants in the United States. They are the General Motors, Ford, and Daimler Chrysler. They compete fierce in the United States and in global market. In the Europe, there are strong competitors such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Peugeot etc. In the 1970s, with the raising of oil price, some Japanese automakers gradually seized the automobile market shares. The low cost and energy saving cars, such as Toyota, Honda and so on became world famous brands. More and more automobile brands enter into the United States and they also scramble the global automobile market. (Loomis, 2006) They compete and try to meet consumers’ different needs and wants with lower production cost. The competition in and abroad America is fierce and threats the  survival of the General Motors Corporation. The following is the second part of the report. This section of the report discusses the changing environment in and aboard the United States. First, the influences of political environment on policies and decision making to the General Motors Corporation will be analyzed. Second, the corporation response to the political environment changing will be critically evaluated. At last, some improvement suggestion for the corporation in the response of the changing political environment will be demonstrated. Influence on policies and decision makingThis section analyzes the influence of political environment change on the policies and decision making of the corporation. The political environment has great influence on the operation of the General Motors Corporation. One of the key political influences of the General Motors Corporation and automobile industry is the increased protectionism for fear of the decline of employment in the industry. The major automakers employ so many employees that the decline of automobile sales volume will cause the significant increase of unemployment in a country. As a result, many governments tend to support the automobile industry, no matter in the form of fund assistant, protective tariff or quota. The government of the United States has a tradition of protecting its automobile industry. For example, the America government used high protective tariff to protect the automakers from the competitors from Europe and Japan in the last century. The government also gave financial assistant to the automaker that is at the verge of bankruptcy such as Chrysler. In the modern time, the automakers fall into trap again and the financial crisis enhance the tendency. The America government aims to give a large quantity of money to the automakers and use other protection methods to protect the automobile industry. It can be seem that the changing of political environment has significant influence on the policy and decision making of the General Motors Corporation. (Bowler et al, 1996) However, different presents and its government in the United States may have different attitudes on the protectionism of the Automobile industry. The General Motors Corporation should take serious consideration on the change of political environment and make full use of it. The Country Alliances and Economic Blocs and other regional cooperation organizations are another main tendency of the political environment. The competition extends form national to blocs, even global. (Cho, 1998) The North American Free Trade Agreement, which including the United States, Canada, and Mexico, formed in 1994 with the purpose of freeing the trade, eliminating tax barriers and promoting fair trade in the North America. The NAFTA also extended to Free Trade Area of the Americas, which including country in the North America, Latin America and Caribbean countries. Many European countries ally with each other to form the European Union. After years of development, the union own 27 membership countries and creates a common economic area, in which people move and trade freely. There are many other Country Alliances and Economic Blocs such as Association of Southeast Asian and so on. The political tendency of regional cooperation requires the top managers of the General Motors Corporation to consider and resolve the benefit conflicts between one power countries blogs and another when making decisions and policies. The Country Alliances and Economic Blocs and other regional cooperation organizations provide opportunities for the automobile manufacturers but the organizations in other area also became threat to the United States. The decisions and policies makers of the General Motors Corporation have to make strategy to cope with the tariff and nontariff barriers within and between the Country Alliances and Economic Blocs. The corporation should rethink its strategy. (Tay, 2007) The structure of the corporation according to different regional cooperation organizations should be considered when making decisions and policies. (Sastry, 1997) The new staffing and leading methods to deal with culture diversity also influence the policy and decision making of the Genera l Motors Corporation. The labor union, environmental organization and other political groups are gaining more and more power. The United Auto Workers is a key labor union in the automobile manufacturing industry. The union fights for the benefits of workers such as less working hours, more salaries, health insurance and pensions and so on. The labor union cause the high cost of the General Motors Corporation. The total expense on employees is almost twice as much as the workers in other industry in the United States, and much more than  the employees in competitors’ factories, such as Honda and Toyota. (Benders and Morita, 2004) The union is blamed as the reason of the uncompetitive of the General Motors Corporation and the crisis of the automobile industry. However, the methods to deal with the strong political power are the problem to the policies and decisions makers of the General Motors Corporation. In 2007, the United Auto Workers went on a strike against the General Motors Corporation, which causes tremendously negative effects on the General Motors Corporation. So the policies and decisions of the corporation should balance the interest of the employees. The environmental organizations are gaining more and more power. With the increasingly dangerous environment problems, many green groups, which become independent and influencing political power, claim for the protection of the earth. Motor vehicle exhaust is considered as the main effects of the greenhouse effect. Some green groups are against the using of automobiles, which cause the decline of the automobile sales volume. As the increasing of environment protection power and the widely acceptance of the green opinion, the managers should make new policies and decisions such as designing alternative fuels vehicles. Evaluation of GM’s responseThis section critically evaluates the corporation’s response to the changing political environment. In face of the dynamic changing political environment, the General Motors Corporation makes some responses accordingly. The General Motors Corporation makes full use of the protectionism policies and financial assistance of the government to maximize its benefits. In order to be more influence in political, the General Motors Corporation spends a lot of money on political contributions. Statistics shows that the General Motors Corporation spent quite a lot of money as the political contribution for both the Democrats and the Republicans. The spending on lobbying the members of parliament is also quite large. Besides the political contributions, the General Motors Corporation also spends plenty of money on charities. For example, the General Motors Corporation is the exclusive financial source of â€Å"Safe Kids Buckle Up† program, which p rotect the children through education and inspection. The political and charitable contributions are positive and active response to the changing political environment. On the one hand, the General Motors Corporation strengthens its influence and enhances the  connection with the government. On the other hand, the corporation undertaken its social responsibility, which wins the corporation positive reputation so the General Motors Corporation can easily get the support when in crisis and consumers tend to purchase automobiles of the corporation. In the behavior of giving political and charitable contribution, the General Motors Corporation well response to the political change and gain more political influence, which helps the corporation get protection from the government. The Country Alliances and Economic Blocs and other regional cooperation organizations are a main political change these decades. In order to minimize the hindrance and the conflict between different Economic Blocs, the General Motors Corporation makes trade strategy, ally with other automaker group, and establish joint venture in some countries. For example, the United States and China have different ideologies and economic situations and they belong to different Country Alliances and Economic Blocs. The Chinese government forbids the wholly foreign owned subsidiary in the automobile industry. The China customs also charge tariff on the automobiles. In order to enter the market of other Country Alliances and Economic Blocs, the General Motors Corporation establishes joint venture with Chinese company. The Shanghai GM joint venture is created by the General Motors Corporation and a Chinese company, in which the automobiles of China’s market were manufactured. The General Motors Corporation brings advance technology, operation experience to the venture. The joint venture employs local workers whose salaries are quite low comparing with the workers of the United Auto Union. The joint venture brings profits for both sides and the General Motors Corporation avoids the high tariff and nontariff protection between different countries and different Economic Blocs. The General Motors Corporation makes an effective response to cover the gap between the Country Alliances and Economic Blocs. The labor union and environmental organization become increasingly influencing political powers. The General Motors Corporation tries hard to response properly to the increasingly strong power of the labor union. The United Auto Union is blame as the cause of uncompetitive of the General Motors Corporation for the members’ salaries in the union are much higher than its foreign competitors. The General Motors Corporation tries to cut down costs of the workforces in face of the financial crisis and problem of the automobile industry. The General Motors Corporation makes a policy of eliminating the lifetime health benefits of the white collar retirees. It is a hard decision after negotiation to response the political environment change and the automobile industry crisis. The General Motors Corporation has a long way to go, but it has taken a constructive step to response to the changing of political environment. In response to the political force of green groups, the General Motors Corporation designs energy saving vehicles which implement alternative fuels and electric. The corporation researches and designs some alternative technology vehicles and some flex fuel burning vehicles. The General Motors Corporation also builds an automotive battery laboratory to research on battery for the electric vehicles. The hybrid electric vehicles are a more practicable automobile in the future. The General Motors Corporation introduced the hybrid concept vehicle in 2005. Up to now, the corporation owes several hybrid electric automobile models and even all electric vehicles. The General Motors Corporation does a good job in developing alternative fuels and electric vehicles in response to the environment protection political power. Areas for improvementThis section demonstrates some areas for improvement of the corporation. The General Motors Corporation does well in response to the challenge of changing political environment. However, there are still some areas for improvement for the corporation. The most important improvement area is to raise the manufacturing efficiency. The average cost of manufacturing in the General Motors Corporation is high comparing with its main competitors such as Toyota. The Toyota is scrambling the market share of the GM little by little in the United States and all around the world. The competitiveness of Toyota come form the low cost caused from lean production. The core spirit of lean product is more value with less work. The purpose of production is to provide value to the final consumers. The expense for other goals is considered as a waste, by which the waste of resource is eliminated and the manufacturing efficiency promoted. It can introduce advance assembly line and reorg anize the logistic department,  through which the supply chain is organized. (Kochan, 2003) The lean production and be combined with six sigma quality and total quality management to maximize the efficiency and cut down the cost. (Dahlgaard and Dahlgaard-Park, 2006)The General Motors Corporation can make a reform on culture. It can build a harmonious culture as in Japanese automobile manufacturing factories to coordinate the relationship and benefits between managers and workers. On the one hand, the harm of the Union Auto Workers can be minimized and the cost of manufacture can be cut down. On the other hand, the harmonious culture can promote the efficiency of manufacturing. The General Motors Corporation also needs to fight against the bureaucratic culture. The organization structure can be reformed and reconstructed break out the barriers between different departments and stimulate the cooperation of different profit centers. Different methods can also be implemented to motivate confidence, communicate and collaborate between staff in different level. ConclusionThis report analyzes the internal and external environment of the General Motors Corporation in the first paragraph and then discusses the changing political environment of the corporation. In analysis, the strengths of branding strategy and advantage in technology and channel, the weaknesses of high production cost and bureaucratic culture, the opportunities of emerging markets and achievement of technology, and the threats of petroleum price fluctuation and strong competitors are analyzed with the SWOT model. In the second part of the report, the influence of political environment change is discussed in three perspectives. They are the protectionism from government, the tendency of Country Alliances and Economic Blocs, and the growing in strength of labor union, green groups and other political groups. Their influence on policies and decision making and the response of the corporation are analyzed and critically evaluated. Then some suggestions are given on several areas for improvement of the corporation. Recommendations As is analyzed in above, the General Motors Corporation can improve in two ways. First, the corporation can introduce new manufacturing methods, such as the lean production, the six sigma quality and total  quality management and so on. By implementing advanced manufacture methods, the corporation can promote its efficiency in manufacturing while reducing the cost. Second, the corporation can build a harmonious culture and fight against the bureaucratic culture, through which the barriers between different departments are broken while the staff in the corporation is motivated. Reference: Benders, J. and Morita, M. (2004), ‘Changes in Toyota Motors’ operations management’, International Journal of Production Research, 42(3), pp: 433-45. Bowler, S. et al. (1996), ‘The growth of the political marketing industry and the California initiative proces’ European Journal of Marketing, 30(10/11), pp: 166-78. Cho, D.S. (1998), ‘From national competitiveness to bloc and global competitiveness’ Competitiveness Review, 8(1), pp: 11-23. Coffey, D. (2005), ‘Delineating comparative flexibility in car assembly: the problem of wide selection’ International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management, 5(1), pp: 18-31. Dahlgaard, J.J. and Dahlgaard-Park, S.M. (2006), ‘Lean production, six sigma quality, TQM and company culture’ The TQM Magazine, 18(3), pp: 263-81. Kochan, A. (2003), ‘GM creates flexible assembly line at its Ellesmere Port plant in the UK’ Assembly Automation, 23(1), pp: 32-5. Loomis, C.J. (2006), ‘The tragedy of General Motors’, Fortune, 153 (3), pp: 31-45. Sastry, M.A. (1997), ‘Problems and paradoxes in a model of punctuated organizational change’, Administrative Science Quarterly, 42(2), pp: 237-75. Sengir, G.H. et al (2004), ‘Modeling relationship dynamics in GM’s research-institution partnerships’, Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, 15(7), pp: 541-59. Tay, H.K. (2007), ‘Rethinking competition in the world auto market: cultural determinants, strategic’ Strategy & Leadership, 35(4), pp: 31-7. Warell, A. (2008), ‘Multi-modal visual experience of brand-specific automobile design’ The TQM Journal, 20(4), pp: 356-71.

Anatomy, Atoms, Cells

Please define the terms anatomy and physiology. Explain the connection between anatomy and physiology within the human body; basically how do they influence one another? Then using the terminology of the anatomical landmarks/regions and directional terms, please write 2 example sentences with proper usage. For example, â€Å"the axilla region is superior to the cubital region of the body†.Anatomy is the study of internal and external structure and the physical relationship between body parts (which means cutting open). Physiology is the study of how living organisms perform their vital functions ( Another word for Greek). The connection between anatomy and physiology within the human body is that structure and function are always presented. You can not have physiology without anatomy because physiology is the study of the function of anatomical structures. Two examples: 1.) â€Å"The Abdomen is located in the Epigastria region of the body.† 2.) â€Å"The calf is inferi or to the hips.†2.Compare and contrast the two feedback mechanisms our bodies use to maintain homeostasis. What would happen if our thermoregulation (temperature control) used a positive feedback to maintain homeostasis?There are two feedback mechanisms our body uses to maintain homeostasis, they are negative feedback and positive feedback. Both feedbacks signal a response to the situation. Negative feedback however will correct the situation where positive feedback drags the process on or exaggerates the situation. If our thermoregulation used a positive feedback to maintain homeostasis our system would start to fail, malfunction or even produce a disease. This is because homeostasis would not be able to fully compensate itself correctly.3.Please define pH and briefly describe the pH scale. Do you think all of our body fluids (stomach juice or blood, as examples) are the same pH? Why or why not? How do pH changes affect protein (enzyme) function? How could this interfere with the body's physiology?pH is the negative exponent of the hydrogen ion concentration, expressed in moles per liter. The pH scale is a solution with a pH of 7 is neutral. pH above 7 is called basic or alkaline, pH below 7 is acidic. I do not think that all our body fluids are the same pH because some things have extreme acidic some are neutral and some are extremely basic. pH changes the shape and enzymes functions start to deteriorate. This is because the pH shifts out of normal limits. This could interfere with out body’s physiology by slowing down the reactions to support life. It could alter our chemical reactions to make them permanently change itself.4.The plasma membrane (cell membrane) is a dynamic component of the cell. What is the plasma membrane composed (made) of? Compare and contrast active and passive transport.Plasma membrane is composed of phospholipids, steroids, proteins and carbohydrates. Passive transport moves ions or molecules across the plasma membrane w ithout any energy expenditure by the cell. Active transport is the high energy bond in APT provides the energy needed to move ions or molecules across the membrane. Both active and passive transport can provide for the Carrier-Mediated Transport.5.What would happen to the cell and body function if there were damage to the mitochondria? Damage to the Ribosomes? Damage to the DNA? Damage to the receptors on the plasma (cell) membrane?If there were damage to the mitochondria the cell and body function would lose energy. This is because mitochondrion is a organelles that provides energy to a cell. If there were damage to the Ribosome the cell and body function would lose manufacture proteins. If there were damage to the DNA the cell and body function would not be able to collect genes or hold the information needed to synthesize thousands of proteins. If there is damage to the receptors on the plasma membrane the cell and body function would  lose the ability to bind materials togethe r or trigger the cells activity.