Irish Roman Catholic who describes (B Devlin) her school days

Source D is form an Irish Roman Catholic who describes (B Devlin) her school days, which implies a degree of bias because her Vice Principle â€Å"mother Benignus† had her family suffer at the hands of the British. Her view on Protestants was that they were not Irish, and she even had separate views on teaching about Irish history. This source is an adaptation form b Devlin â€Å"the price of my soul, 1969†, this date indicates that this source could be primary but yet again it could be bias. This source is limited in a way but still gives us sufficient evidence to show how troubles could have broken out, because Protestants and Catholics Were divided as communities and were taught in separate methods, they were also separated so when the two meet either side would contradict each other. Therefore resulting in violence. Source E is a Protestant cartoon from the nineteenth century showing â€Å"ERIN† (Ireland) bound by ropes by a Catholic Priest. This is portraying conflict between the two religions. There is a message portrayed by the cartoon and it is that Catholicism has control of Ireland. But this could be portraying the truth, as Catholicism was the main religion in Ireland. This source is limited but it helps to show how conflict between Catholics and Protestants came about. But this could also be a Propaganda Against the Catholics to try and gain support for Protestants. Source F is a map showing the Gerrymander in Derry in 1966. It is obvious that the Protestants have deliberately placed themselves at an advantage in places where they get the most votes apart from the South Ward, where Catholics had the majority. But this source is very limited, as it cannot give more information than it already holds. Source G is of Protestant images of Catholic attacks on Protestants in 1641. This could be propaganda to recruit more men into raising an army. If any thing I think the Catholics people who are being pushed around because the Protestants have the British behind them so this makes more tension added to what is building up to be the beginning of the troubles. Source H is what some People would call primary evidence that has no bias what so ever. This is true to some extent the photograph shows a civil rights marcher clearly being struck by armed officers. However the photo is limited evidence we cannot see what is outside the perimeter of the photograph or what before or after this incident to cause the RUC officers to strike the marcher. There may be a cause for it and yet it could also be a raged attack by thee RUC officers. We also learn that the police might have attacked without provocation and there is a lot of violence in the blood of both Protestant and Catholics. This source, like others can be read two ways it can show two sides to an uncomprimised story. However it is sources like these that did infact add insult to injury, in that it was probably sold to papers and both Catholics and Protestant would be outraged reading this. One side could feel disgusted that uniformed officers are acting in this way at a peaceful civil rights march. And the other side could say that the media is quick to snap a photograph of a RUC officer beating a marcher but where is the photograph showing the cause for their attack IE violent marchers or perhaps a weapon of some sort. So really this source has not helped either side prove or gain in any way but just aggravated the situation. Source I is a photograph of a violent situation where loyalist ambush civil rights marchers at Burntollet in January 1969. This picture is not very clear and does not tell us much about the ambush. As the picture is not clear you cannot tell whether there is actual violence. This piece of evidence is primary but it could be bias. There seems to be something censored in the photograph as every one is looking in the direction direction were it is censored. This source source doesn't really help add more tension between the two sides but it does stir a little fire I think. Source c is telling us of a man who was in a pub before the incident, where Para troopers told him â€Å"they were going to clear the Bog.† Which when added to what I have read in the â€Å"Bloody Sunday† gives an idea that they had an intention to go in and fire and they were expecting trouble. Source B tells us that as time progressed so did science and so the forensic evidence was able to change for the better, as this source tells us that a lot of evidence was changed. The Para troopers used illegal weapons. I think that this source is linking with source C to say that the Para troopers were abusing Their Powers that day. Source A: Paras in bloody Sunday evidence Storm. Source A is from a newspaper report dated Friday 17th September 1999, bloody Sunday occurred 30th January 1972. There is approximately 27 years and nine months between this event and the report. Although the report is not trying to interperate the events of Bloody Sunday it does them. The report also discusses enquiries that are going on presently about bloody Sunday, again 27 years ago. This is just one example amongst many that clearly illustrates how an event so big in history is discussed even years after it occurs. Although compared to a historical event such as the battle of Hastings, Bloody Sunday is quite recent, it is perhaps this fact that makes it hard to determine what happened that day. For example we have limited source work/ evidence or exact knowledge of the battle of Hastings but for Bloody Sunday we have plentiful, which is why I guess that it makes it harder to judge what really happened. Witnesses and evidence contradict each other through bias in their stories and the sides that they take. Photographic evidence can be read two ways as can scientific and again this will be perceived through the side that you take. It is the evidence that contradicts itself and other hard facts. It is because the evidence can be read in two ways that it has produced so many interpretations and will continue to do so throughout time. Looking at Bloody Sunday is a bit like analyzing the color red. Depending on the perceiver's personality or current state of mind red can be viewed in many different ways. It can show passion, aggression, rage, danger, royalty, love, authority or hate. Neither of the above are correct and neither are incorrect but we can all agree that if there is an underlying emotion that we associate with something visual i.e the color red, it will be enhanced once the two meet. It is in the same way that we may view the events of Bloody Sunday. There is underlying emotions within people concerning that day and these can be brought to light by different factors. Depending on what it is that the person involved has connected as a visual stimulant different things will arouse different emotions.

Programming Languages Essay

The advent of the modern era gave rise to the growth of the importance of computers and technology to the lives of the humans. The ease with which using computers is associated has attracted users to further improve the way computers can better serve humans. One of the ways that computer was improved was through programming languages. Programming languages was developed and was further enhanced. A programming language is defined as an artificial language essential in writing instructions (â€Å"Programming Language†) and computer programs in a series of instructions that humans can understand and compilers and linkers can read. This program is then translated into a machine code that the computer can understand and run (Bolton). Programming languages did not come easy, as its first inventions were difficult to operate. In the 1940s, computer programs required programmers to write the sequences of digits that the computer performed. It was not just difficult but was bound to errors. Programmers were supposed to write memory locations. This was not possible at all times when there are errors (â€Å"Programming Language†). This proved to be inefficient and slow. Soon computer languages were developed to address these problems (Bolton). Some of the programming languages used then are Fortran, Cobol, and Basic. These were the programming languages that were used during the 1960s and the 1970s (Bolton). Fortran, which stands the for Formula Translation, was the first language to be developed by IBM during the late 1950s. This language gives importance to the efficiency of compilation and execution. Cobol, on the other hand, was developed during the 1960s as a business application language for mini and mainframe programming (â€Å"Cobol†). Another programming language that was developed in 1960s that was used for microcomputer programming purposes is BASIC (â€Å"Programming Language†). It stands for Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. BASIC was developed to be an alternative for Fortran (Smillie). Today, the widely used programming languages are C, C++, and Java. The C programming language was developed in 1970s at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for the Operating Systems (Bolton), and was used for commercial applications (â€Å"Programming Language†). It was developed mainly as a systems language for the UNIX environment (Smillie). It is still used today on Unix and Linux systems (Bolton). The C++ programming language, on the other hand, was developed in 1980s at AT&T Bell Laboratories (â€Å"Programming Language†) and is the oldest among the three (Akhverdyan). Its developers considered it to be a superset of C, and both were used for the introductory computing courses (Smillie). The primary purpose for developing the language was adding Object Oriented Programming to C (Bolton). The computer programming industry liked to use C++ because it allows the allocation of memory and deleting it whenever the user wants. Moreover, C++ contains the features that Java offers, and it allows the user to make the program in an â€Å"object oriented manner† (Akhverdyan). Java was developed by Sun, mainly designed to write programs for computer chips in electronic appliances. Later on, Java was discovered to be ideal for designing and implementing programs for the Internet (Smillie). It is easier to use because its commands are English based, and not in numeric codes. Further, humans can easily read and write in Java (Leahy). It is better than the previously mentioned programming languages because it has an applet, a feature that only Java has. Applets are used in the World Wide Web. Another feature of Java is that it is cross-platform, which means that the code written in Windows can be compiled in other operating systems (Bolton). Other characteristics of Java are its ease of use, security, reliability and platform independence (Leahy). Works Cited Akhverdyan, Hamik. 2009 January 5. How to Choose the Right Programming Language. Associated Content. 12 January 2009 . Bolton, David. 2009. What is a Programming Language? Associated Content. 12 January 2009 . â€Å"Cobol. † 2008. Answers. com. 12 January 2009 . Leahy, Paul. 2009. What is Java? About. com. 12 January 2009 . â€Å"Programming Language. † 2008. Answers. com. 12 January 2009 . Smillie, Keith. 2006. â€Å"Programming Then and Now: From the LGP-30 to the laptop. † 12 January 2009 .

Self-Disclosure, Gender, and Communication Research Paper

Self-Disclosure, Gender, and Communication - Research Paper Example Yes, but not too soon. I am answering this from a perspective of a single person. Self-disclosure is a liberating and in deepens a relationship but it should be done with timing and caution. Revealing too much too soon may scare the other party. Self-disclosure is appropriate when a certain degree of intimacy and length of being together has already been established. 3. What about gender differences? Remember, although research has found differences in gender communication, it has also found similarities. What kind of similarities between genders have you experienced?   I agree that each gender has different communication style. This was best illustrated in John Gray’s book Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus that tells that men communicate in exact quantifiable terms while women communicate in descriptive terms (1993). Still, this does not mean that they do not have a convergent point in communication. Both have a need to relate to each other emotionally, to be understood and to be appreciated. I felt that I do not fit into Terri Orbuch’s generalization because her study was based on married couples of which I am not. I would not know how to relate to the conclusion that couples of more than 50 years only communicate no more than three minutes in an hour long dinner (Orbuch, 2011). I agree however on her point of view that real communication involves really knowing and relating to the other person and not just a conversation about certain tasks. Orbuch, Terri (2011). Can we talk? Chicago Tribute. Retrieved from

DNA Fingerprinting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

DNA Fingerprinting - Essay Example These four bases pair with each other in a unique manner i.e. Adenine-Thymine and Guanine-Cytosine to form the unique DNA structure of every living thing. These bases are also attached to a sugar backbone that twists and turn in a double helix manner and give the molecule of its shape (Crocket 2001). Implications DNA fingerprinting, as the name implies is a technique used for the purpose of identification in many fields of science. Since fingerprints of not two individuals have been found to be similar, it has been proved that just like fingerprints, DNA sequence of every individual is also different and identity of a person in many cases can be found out by using this technique. Although many moral and ethical issues have been raised on the use of this technique but it has been found to be very helpful in the identifying individuals in many cases where it was almost impossible to attain hundred percent identity mainly because only remains of individuals were found or in mass disaste rs where the bodies were totally destroyed that obtaining fingerprints was almost impossible. For example in a mass disaster, the DNA samples of the relatives i.e. parents, siblings or offspring of the victims are taken and then the DNA sequence is matched with that of the victims and identities are generated on the basis of matching of base pairs. Also DNA fingerprints have been used in solving the cases of disputed paternity, identifying a rapist in cases of sexual assault and identifying the species in cases of fragmentary remains. Types and Techniques: The three main types of DNA Fingerprinting are: RFLP (Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism) VNTR (Variable Number Tandem Repeats) STR ( Short Tandem Repeats) RFLPs are the oldest type of DNA fingerprints. For this process, a sample from any part of the body is collected since all the nucleated cells of the body contain DNA. After the sample is collected, DNA is extracted from the sample by using restriction enzymes(Crocket 200 1). Restriction enzymes are highly specific enzymes for specific sequences of DNA and they act on and cleave only the sequences they are programmed for. After the DNA samples are properly extracted, specific band patterns are generated in agarose gel by using the process of Electrophoresis. This is a process in which electric current is applied to each side of the sheet containing the extracted DNA on a sheet and movement of particles is observed which creates a band pattern (Burke 1991).  Ã‚  

The Value of Work and Money Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Value of Work and Money - Essay Example It is always a regular battle for people to find jobs, even to those who graduated from universities. For this reason, some are challenged to take jobs with low salaries or that are not related to their education at all. Some try to make sense of such circumstances, considering it to be a stepping stone, a way of taking some experience on work for them to eventually land the job they want, in time. The perseverance that I have seen in most Chinese makes a one who would not easily give up, no matter how difficult situations are. If John Updike considers that â€Å"one of the advantages of having been a child in the depression is that it takes very little money to gladden the heart† (Updike, 125), I, for one who was raised in a country where applying for one position in a restaurant is a competition among hundreds of applicants, consider it a joy to have a job, no matter how difficult it is. It also follows that regardless of the salary, it easily gladdens the Chinese heart for one to have a job. This probably reflects as well the Chinese upbringing of never being ashamed about small beginnings as most wealthy Chinese worked their way to where they are now through hard work, perseverance and not being choosy of the demands of work. I always considered this to be an admirable character so with the same principle, I volunteered for odd jobs in the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai. The jobs were physically demanding. At night, as I rest on my bed, I felt like my body was badly beaten during the day. Nevertheless, there was the feeling of satisfaction that boosted my value and importance. I usually congratulated myself for a job well done during the day and treat myself to a restful night for me to be able to face another day of hard work. In such times, I felt like I was a true Chinese. I was proud of myself. In addition, I worked for a few days at a Chinese restaurant. There, I learned a lot not only about work but about job. I was challenged to continue with my studies as I observed that a university education greatly helps in the success of a person. I realized that I could actually work hard, maybe in a different manner as when I am an employee at a restaurant; that I could equally be tired but would be more financially rewarded. What I mean is that, if I have a good education that will propel me to get a white collar job, I may work as hard as a waiter, tired as dog by the end of the day, but well compensated. If I have an education that will make me stand out among others, I will not be like most who are just able to work with their hands, feet and common knowledge but I will be armed with a special knowledge and skill that would give me the chance to earn better salaries. I know I can get to the point of being the one giving a tip to the restaurant employee and not the one taking it. I do not mean to minimize the value of such job and situation; I just want to have a higher value for what I do. Studying in the United States, I am cons idered to be stingy. I do not see it that way, though. I understand that the worth of every cent I spend is the value of my parents’ sweat, hard work and long nights. If Updike says, â€Å"coins were once worth their weight in silver or gold†, they are worth my parents’ dreams for me. Nowadays, money can be easily spent. There are a lot of things to buy, many malls and places to go to. Coins and paper money can easily disappear from one’s wallet. Yet, as a person raised in a family where money is spent only in meaningful and

Banking Law (question in instruction) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Banking Law (question in instruction) - Essay Example erefore, the holder can be either the person to whom the cheque was written or the individual in possession of it by virtue of a transfer by negotiation2. In this case, the order which has been fraudulently obtained and negotiated by Clara to their debtor is an illegal order cheque requiring an indorsement by the legitimate holder who in this case is Megan. As such, she reserves the right to file charges of cheque fraud against Clara and seek an injunction against any cashing of the cheque by Jason’s bank for purposes of reclaiming the money amounting to 15,000. Regardless, Megan’s success would depend on her ability to prove that: a) Jason’s bank owes her the duty of care; b) there is proximity between her and the bill collecting bank; and c) cashing the money to Jason would result in material injury upon her. In Yuen Kun-Yeu v Attorney-General of Hong Kong (1987) PC, the plaintiff made deposits of money with an accredited deposit taker, but lost the deposits when it became insolvent3. He argued that the Commission regulating the activities of the deposit taken was liable because it was aware or should have been aware of the difficulties facing the depositor. However, in its decision the court said there was no proximity between the Commission and the deposit taker vis-Ã  -vis the claimant. In respect of this decision, Megan would lose the case, which then allows her the option to seek compensation for a breach of banker-customer relationship if the banker proceeds and authorises payment by a fraudulent indorsement. In Foley v. Hill and Others (1848), the court said the banker owes the customer money that is equivalent to the deposits4. The verdict considered the banker the owner of the deposits and the client the investor taking risk. In light of the verdict, Megan could successfully bring claims against the bank for fraud and obtain a refund of all of her money ‘owned’ by the bank courtesy of the fraudulent Clara and her husband if the banker settled

Business Planning and Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Business Planning and Development - Essay Example The market that we were targeting is broader one. We served the customers with the uniqueness and quality rather than offering them with lower price (Business Dictionary, 2011). The company offered quality and features that were acceptable and valued by the customers. The advantage that the company encountered due to differentiation strategy is the uniqueness among other available products. Now a days people prefer uniqueness even if they have to pay a little extra for it. For this strategy we trained the production team and sales department for creating innovative products and properly market the products. The difficulties that the company faced were that the rivals copied the style and design and offered it at a lower price. This affected our market position and resulted in lesser customers and market share. The other difficulties that our company faced were due to the sales and production teams (Murray, 1988). The differentiation strategy highly depends on these two departments. I f these are strong and reliable the company will flourish. That is why the company hired consultant and increased its production units. The company also got facilitated by the advertising strategy. This helped the company in having greater sales and profit. The company overcame this difficulty by offering quality and services that were worth buying. The biggest challenge for our company was to provide unique services to the customer and to satisfy maximum number of customers (Strategic Management, 2010). In achieving this target, we have competed with the rivals and reflected our decided strategy with our actions and products. The future prospects of the company are to enhance its targeted market and to provide the customers with larger variety and styles. The customers are concerned with the styles and prices of the product. We want to work on it to further collaborate with the customers in providing them products of their choices (Porter, 1997). For achieving this goal, the compan y would have to increase its production and manufacturing units. The company will need the services of more distributors and consultants. For the sake of sales and production enhancements, the company has to bring in more assets and operating resources. As discussed earlier, to achieve these goals the company has applied for loan to expand the finances and resources. The more the company has opportunities for increasing the production units and sales, the more the company can earn profit and efficiency. The target for setting up this system is to increase the sales and profitability. The biggest trade off in this policy is the low cost versus high cost. The benefit that the company may get due to the expansion of production units is the profit and sales. When the company offers a product with extra features at a higher price, only limited number of customers by it. In contrast to this, the people buy products which are cheaper in rate and are imitated products. The company should ha ve enough resources that if the company does not achieve more than it has estimated, the company can recover the loss. The companies offering lower prices can b difficult to tackle but if the customers are loyal the company can gain profit and credibility. For the establishment of this business, I have sacrificed a lot. On a personal note, the commitments that I had to make include the sacrifices of one’s own needs. We have to fully commit and surrender our lives for the establishme

Accounting ratio analysis for Hysan Development Company Limited Essay

Accounting ratio analysis for Hysan Development Company Limited - Essay Example The company has three segments in operating as such in the industry. First, is has its Office segment, which is in charge of leasing of office space and related facilities to various customers from office users. Second, it has its Retail segment, which takes charge of the leasing of space and related facilities, this time to a wide range of retail of retail and leisure operators. Third, it has its Residential segment, which takes charge of the leasing of luxury residential properties and related facilities. The company has continued to expand over the years and as of December 31, 2012, its investment property portfolio has reached an approximate level of more than 4 million gross square feet of office, retail and residential space in Hong Kong. The Companys subsidiaries as of 2012 included HD Treasury Limited, Admmore investments Limited, Hysan China Holdings Limited, Hysan Corporate Services Limited, Hysan (MTN) Limited and Hysan Leasing Company, among others (Reuters, 2014a). Profits are created from the surplus of revenues over expenses. This would require a way to gauge revenues and expenses which are extracted from the financial statements of the companies under study. Various categories of expenses according to functions, get deducted from the revenues for purposes of computing profit or income. First is the direct cost or called cost of sales or revenues is deducted first from revenues to arrive at gross profit. From gross profit, operating income will be derived after deducting further selling and administrative expenses will be deducted to arrive at operating income. From the operating income, net income determination will follow after non-operating incomes or expenses are added/deducted accordingly from the operating income (Johnson, et al, 2003). After producing the various categories of income --- gross profit, operating income and net income, each result

One page reflection essay based on experience Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

One page reflection based on experience - Essay Example ompetition instilled in us an aspect of self-confidence in all we did thus winning every match besides developing additional skills due to practising harder. This is because we aimed at ensuring retaining our position as the leading team during all games we played. Sometimes we lost, but instead of being discouraged, losing to our competitors made us go back to the drawing board to examine and analyse our weak points. By understanding where we went wrong, it became much easier to find the way forward. Competition built teamwork, which uninterruptedly lead to the success of the team. Basketball involves passing of the ball from one player to another whereby without teamwork this will not be effective because there will be aspects of unselfishness. The healthy competition in basketball instilled a winning attitude in us besides discouraging us to be out of our comfort zones. Determination and perseverance enabled us to achieve the victory we badly needed. However, initially it was not that easy on my part to join an already strong team. I had to prove my worth but with persistence not only I made it but turned to be a reliable player. Extending this aggressiveness in life, competition has always encouraged me to set higher goals than that of my competitors. Through the early sport, I learnt to admire my competitors and strive harder to beat them. Not by copying them, but by being more creative and innovative to outdo them. We should therefore embrace competition for the good values it creates in

China High School Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

China High School - Essay Example Shang society was based on aristocrats with a king on the head. He had a centralized power and also was military supreme. The religion at that time was paganism and was based on ancestor worship. People were in resentment by his ruling but the king of the rival Zhou kingdom that was a part of Shang kingdom killed him. So Zhou became the ruling dynasty (1066 - 256 BC) and that was the period of extension of the Chinese civilization. The territory that dynasty's leaders had to cover was very large so due to the poor means of communication so they had to appoint people to oversee each territory and at that time this territories began to shape into cities. The lords of the territories received their titles through inheritance. As Shang dynasty Zhou dynasty was also agricultural country. The religion was paganism. The main god was god of heaven Shang Ti that at that time was called T'ien. The rulers of Zhou dynasty believed that they got their power to rule from heaven (Robert, 1999). In 770 BC the Zhou kings lost their territories that they had accredited to their lords. The lords rebelled and defeated the capital. The new capital was formed in the farther East and the period of Eastern Zhou began. The territories became more powerful and there was economical growth even through the continuous war between the territories. This was also the time when China entered the Iron Age that had a great influence on the people life and also it helped to enhance state power. Also at the period of Eastern Zhou is famous because then was a golden age of Chinese philosophy. The most famous philosopher of that period is Confucius (Morton and Lewes, 2004: 51). From the 4th century BC the state of Qin began to accumulate power and to reform its administration, economy and military. It grows stronger at the same time when Zhou kingdom weakened and died. Soon Qin conquered seven warring states and became the ruling dynasty (221 - 206 BC). The Qin dynasty was that one that put the beginning to China. The emperor wanted to conquer the warring states and he succeeded, so China became the united state. Also emperor pronounced himself as the first emperor of China or Shih Huang Ti. The first emperor unified China, standardized writing, weights, and measures throughout his kingdom. At this period was built the Great Wall of China. By this time the emperor became old and after the wrong treatment had died. Then followed the rebellion against the Qin dynasty that lead to the next dynasty the Han (221 - 206 AD). Liu Pang, took the control of the former Qin empire. He proclaimed himself emperor in 206 BC. He established the Han dynasty which would become the most durable dynasty of the imperial age. The Han Empire used all achievements of Qin dynasty and also modified politics. The Han Empire reached the peak of its development during the emperor Wu Ti (140 - 87 BC). He wanted to expand his kingdom but his reforms led to the revolt (Gascoigne, 2000: 73). During a revolt Wang Ming - a courtier, deposed emperor and established short Xin dynasty. At this period slavery was abolished and he tried to rearrange land politics but it caused a large rebellion during which the emperor was killed

An Unpredicted New kind Of Warfare Essay Example for Free

An Unpredicted New kind Of Warfare Essay World war one continued for four years across a vast and stretching from the English Channel to the northern Swiss border. In 1914 the prediction was that the war would be over by Christmas. At the beginning of the war, The Germans thought they could capture France before invading Russia therefore preventing a war on two fronts. But because of the failure of tactics they couldnt succeed, and this was one of the main reasons the war lasted for such a long period. It was no longer each side trying to capture the other in the war but stopping the enemies movements in trench warfare and using new technology to soften up enemy, if it didnt back fire. Defense was now the key to winning the war and was far superior than the offensive. The trenches were hard to capture by advancing troops because of increasing firepower from machine guns. Crossing no-mans land was committing suicide for the troops as machine guns could inflict enormous damage on advancing infantry. The realization of the advantage of defense resulted in the enhanced rate of advancing technology. This was one of the core reasons for stalemate upon the Western Front because technology was advancing at such a rapid rate and new inventions were being introduced in a hasty manner. Many of the new inventions were not sufficiently tested and many of the ideas were not thoroughly thought through which resulted in unnecessary delays. Aircraft at the start of the war was used primarily for reconnaissance work, spotting enemy trenches and movements before a possible attack. But this alerted the enemys attention and gave them time to prepare resulting in the attackers job being more costly and difficult to undertake. Barbed wire was massed produced on an industrial scale by both sides as barbed wire entanglements were unbreakable for troops, stopped cavalry in their tracks, and slowed troops down completely. Attempts were made to destroy barbed wire with shellfire but the barbed wire is just lifted and often ends up in a bigger mess than before. Chlorine gas was first introduced in April 1915 by the German army against the French army. Chlorine gas destroyed your respiratory organs and you had a long slow death. But poisonous gas was an extremely unreliable method of attack as the direction of the wind may change at any time and return the poison in the direction of the attacker killing your own troops. Also, as with many other weapons that were developed it can only be used once to an advantage, as their element of surprise is lost. Gas masks were quickly distributed to both sides and gas was not such a great fear as it was first thought Tanks were invented to be the technical solution to the major problem of both barbed wire and machine guns. They had an armour plate to protect troops whilst attacking and caterpillar traction to allow them to cross-hilly and muddy ground. But the first Mark I tank was a weak and variable weapon. It was used at the Somme in 1916 but neither their performance nor numbers could help win the battle. It was not until Cambrai in 1917 that tanks were used on a large scale. They crunched their way over the barbed wire and German trenches creating a huge hole in the German defenses. A General on horseback commanded his armies in battle up until 1914. After 1914 telephones were working. Battles could be safely won from far away behind a desk. But though this development in communications may seem a great success, but telephones in reality were useless in attack, because the commanders didnt have a good perspective of the war and didnt know everything as they would be if they were sitting on horse and overlooking the battle which led to troops often pulling back because of lack of communications and broad view of the battle. In 1914 neither the French nor the British armies were trained for trench warfare. They had to adapt which took them several years and accounted for several of their failures and delays. French generals felt infantry charges were a necessity to win the war despite the huge advances in technology. And Germen generals thought that with enough ammunition and man power and gradually wearing down the enemy they would win the war. Eventually in 1917 the French army refused to attack any more, only to defend because of the horrific numbers of casualties lost for only a few miles gained. A term to explain this was the cannon fodder. The battle of Somme in 1916 is a good example for a shocking case of awful miscalculations by the leadership of both sides; Britain lost around 419,000 men for only a strip of land about 25 km long and 6km wide. These huge loses were due to bad planning. The men were untrained and advanced towards the enemy walking and carrying heavy packs on their backs. These big pushes which was a belief shared by British Kitchener and Haig were mere execution of sides troops as they were walking straight into machine gun fire. The first World War was the first war between two vastly industrialized economies and factories on both sides mass-produced inconceivable amounts of artillery and ammunition. Industry was under an incredible amount of strain and it was not until 1917 that the munitions industry was able to produce adequate quantities of ammunitions. Railways played a major part in the transportation of troops form one area of the western front to the next along with food and other supplies. Both sides were also both able to keep going because of the huge numbers of men and supplies continuously brought by trains and trucks. Basically both the central powers and allies were never in a drought of resources. At the outbreak of war on the Western Front, the Allies and the Germans were relatively equal in their strengths and weaknesses. Bad leadership held up many of the British and French attacks resulting in unnecessary numbers of casualties. Germany spread its men out over many of the fronts not only in the eastern front, but also in the Western Front. One argument is that if perhaps they had concentrated on only one front they may have had a chance of success as opposed to spreading out the troops over a large area. The deadlock ended in 1918 when it was broken by eventual collapse of the central powers. It was ultimately attrition that proved the crucial decider but it was a series of events and inventions that had not happened before which gave way to the end result. The submarine campaign was important as it brought America into the war with fresh troops and much needed resources and resulted in a huge blow to the German morale. In conclusion, there was no one true reason for deadlock on the western front, but that it was due to several problems. Technology advanced too rapidly, generals were not adequately trained for trench warfare. As one quote would say The great war was fought with 20th century weapons and 19th century tactics. The war was able to be kept going due to the fact they were both vastly industrialized economies and neither side was able to eliminate the other since and the governments of both sides directed the industries towards mass production of uniforms, ammunitions, ships, explosives etc

Analysis of the Dutch Healthcare System Real Estate

Analysis of the Dutch Healthcare System Real Estate Chapter 2: Hospitals, corporate real estate management and alternative real estate financing structures Healthcare systems across the globe are under continuous reform. Thus, it is important to note that healthcare systems are still evolving. Moreover, in Europe a distinction is made between so-called Bismarck mixed and Beveridge healthcare models. Bismarck systems are based on social insurance, and characterized by a multitude of insurance organizations, who are organizationally independent of public and private healthcare providers. Examples are such as in France, the Netherlands and Germany (Krankenkassen). In Beveridge systems, however, financing and provision are handled within one organizational system and based on taxation. This implies healthcare financing bodies and providers are completely or partially within one organization, such as the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK and Spain (Lameire, et al. 1999; Finfacts, 2007). Throughout history, healthcare systems across the world have evolved from Bismarck into Beveridge systems and vice versa. Usually, such reforms are a bone of contention. A recent example is the highly controversial debate in US politics on reform of the American healthcare system, which is unique in its application of the Private Insurance model (Lameire, et al. 1999). Democrats have long called for a universal health insurance program, which involves the expansion of coverage and restricting the power of insurance companies. Proponents argue that health insurance should be affordable and accessible to all, while opponents (mainly Republicans) fear too large a role of the government and the use of tax money to finance the arguably enormous costs involved. Both parties seem to agree that the power of insurance companies should be restricted by banning underwriting practices that prevent many Americans from obtaining affordable health insurance. However, though U.S. president Obama has praised various aspects of the Dutch social security-based (Bismarck) healthcare system, a similar evolution of the American healthcare system yet has to commence (NY Times, 2009). This section begins with a brief historic overview of the Dutch hospital (or cure) sector, with a focus on its evolution. Second, the interdependencies between healthcare real estate, (strategic) corporate real estate management, and alternative real estate financing structures will be elaborated upon by using corporate real estate management (CREM) theory and comparing various sources from academic literature. These are intertwined since healthcare heavily depends on real estate as a resource in fulfilling its core business activity. By opting for alternative ways to finance real estate, hospitals are able to free up additional capital to support their clinical activities. As the Dutch healthcare system currently is under reform and hospitals become responsible for real estate investments themselves, they are under increasing pressure to consider more cost-efficient options and enhance their competitive position. Alternative real estate financing structures such as public-private partnerships, where hospitals profit from the knowledge and experience of private sector parties through various partnership agreements, could provide a alternative feasible alternative here to more traditional real estate financing structures. For example, hospitals could opt for a sale-lease-back agreement, where hospital real estate is sold to a private party and leased-back to the hospital for an annual fee. By analyzing the above, this theory and literature review will provide the reader with an answer to the following sub-questions: How are Dutch hospitals regulated and financed? How can corporate real estate management add value to hospital real estate? How do alternative real estate financing structures relate to hospital real estate? The Dutch hospital sector The origins of healthcare in the Netherlands can be traced mainly to the activities of voluntary organizations, which often provided healthcare on a charitable base. These organizations used to be run mainly on religious or ideological foundations, resulting in the creation of healthcare facilities with a Protestant, Roman Catholic, Jewish or humanistic foundation (Folter, 2002). The Dutch healthcare tradition reflects the changing relationship between the government and voluntary organizations. Dutch hospitals largely originated from private and often charitable initiatives; virtually all are non-profit and most are still private organizations. However, today they are no longer organized along denominational lines. Though private ownership predominates, the Dutch government heavily regulates the healthcare system. In the postwar era of the 1950s, there was a focus on hospital construction, part of the broader effort to rebuild the country. In 1971, an extensive planning system was undertaken under the Hospital Provision Act (WZV) to regulate hospital capacity, the main motive being that many people felt hospitals were too concentrated in the urban areas and too few were located in other parts of the country (Den Exter, et al. 2004). Planning, regulation and management In the 1960s and 1970s, the expansion of health technology and healthcare resulted in a steep increase in health care costs. The main cause of the cost increase was attributed to the building of new hospitals and healthcare institutions. The Hospital Provision Act (WZV) of 1971 became the Dutch governments most important hospital planning tool, enabling the government to regulate construction of all healthcare institutions. The responsibility for its implementation was allocated to the provincial health authorities. The overarching goal of the WZV was to regulate the supply and promote the efficiency of hospital care. Hospitals were not to be constructed or renovated without successfully passing a declaration and licensing process. Approval of the building project rested on a detailed plan for each hospital service affected in a specific geographic region, which included a description of the existing service capacity, the suggested change of capacity, and a schedule to complete the project. The planning process began with the issuance of an instruction from the Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport to the provincial government. The instruction described the categories of hospital facilities for which plans were to be developed, the geographical region covered, and the deadline to complete this. Provincial governments considered a number of regulations and guidelines in the process. Regulations related to the planning process and guidelines to the content of the plan. Many stakeholders were involved in the formation of regulations, including hospitals, patients and consumer organizations, local authorities, and insurance companies. In the initial stage, the provincial government prepared a draft plan. This plan included: an inventory of existing capacities; an evaluation of the existing situation in terms of shortages and weaknesses; a description of construction, renovation and expansion proposals; and an implementation plan and time schedule. Subsequently, the draft was forwarded to the health minister for approval. The health minister, after counseling the Hospital Provision Board (CBZ), determined whether or not the draft was acceptable. The draft plan formed the foundation for the issuance of so-called acknowledgements, which allowed hospitals to receive reimbursement for services from health insurers. The drawbacks of the initial hospital planning process under the Hospital Provision Act (WZV) were its complexity and lack of flexibility. Therefore, in January 2000, in order to improve the planning process, a new Act, the Special Medical Procedures Act (WBMV), came into existence. The focus of this Act was on quality of care rather than cost containment and aimed at promoting healthcare with maximum quality and minimum risk to patients at affordable cost (Den Exter et al., 2004). Decentralization According to Den Exter et al., in the Netherlands policy traditionally has been prepared and implemented by a massive neocorporate bureaucracy, uniting government agencies, quasi-governmental organizations (the advisory and executive bodies), suppliers and providers in the private sector, and insurance companies. This national body has a significant degree of control over decisions regarding the number and distribution of hospital beds and specialist places, and on investment decisions and management costs in health care. In the 1970s, centralized government coordination and planning became the leading principle in the Dutch healthcare system. However, the 1974 policy paper Structuring health care (Structuurnota Gezondheidszorg), contained proposals for decentralized administration by regional and local authorities (Second Chamber of Parliament, 1974). In 1986, the coalition government departed from the centralized model by undertaking major reforms, especially in the field of social health insurance. The integration of different insurance schemes into one social insurance for all Dutch citizens (with largely income-related contributions) was a bone of contention. The aim was to increase solidarity in healthcare financing. Under these reforms, all insurance companies would function as independent and risk-bearing insurers and compete for insured patients under the same regulations. A central fund (centrale kas) was to provide budgets for all the insurers. A key issue in the reforms was the shift of the insurance risk from the public funding system to the individual insurance plan, justified by the less government, more market trend. The shift of insurance risk involved a policy of transferring regulating competencies from the collective to the private sector, such as providers and insurance companies. In the Netherlands, this policy is called functional decentralization. This has mainly occurred in the cure-sector, which entails acute care and both specialist and general medicine. By means of negotiations and contracts, an increasing number of health insurers and providers have become important determinants in shaping and interpreting healthcare today, while the government and administrative agencies used to assume these roles in the past. This is emphasized by the new role assumed by medical specialists in hospital care. For example, they have acquired an independent coordinating position versus both hospital management and sickness funds (Scholten and van der Grinten, 1998). Hospital budget reforms In the Netherlands, today all hospitals and other healthcare institutions are required to have an overall annual budget. This is in line with the governments cost-containment policy. If the hospital exceeds its budget, there is no possibility of recalculation or compensation. Specialist fees are an exception to this overall hospital budget. Below follows an overview of the budget reforms that have taken place up until 2009. Function-directed budgeting (1988 2000) The old budget system, which was in use since 1988, was a function-directed budget system. The budget was divided in four cost components: location costs, fixed costs, semi-fixed costs, and variable costs. Location costs concern infrastructure, for example buildings and equipment including depreciation and interest. In the old budget system, these investments required approval by the health minister under the Hospital Provision Act (WZV). Second, fixed costs are costs that do not generally vary with the activity volume. For example, the number of people served by a hospital in the region. Thirdly, semi-fixed costs are not affected by the scale of production of a hospital in the short run. These are capacity-based costs, and include the number of beds and specialist units. Finally, variable costs are directly related to the activity volume or the production (production units) of the hospital. Parameters for variable costs include admissions, outpatient visits, nursing days, day care and day treatments (Den Exter et al., 2004). In the old system, the hospital budget was determined as follows: Number of persons in service area (x tariff) + number of licensed hospital beds (x tariff) + number of licensed specialist units (x tariff) + negotiated volumes of production units, for example hospital admissions (x tariff), inpatient days (x tariff), first outpatient contacts (x tariff), day surgery (x tariff) and special treatments (x tariff) Tariffs varied with hospital size, implying larger hospitals were allocated higher tariffs than smaller hospitals. In addition, hospitals were allocated capital expense budgets. For example, rebuilding projects and new hospital construction projects were covered by a 100% mark-up applied for 50 years. This implies payment was guaranteed for 50 years through a mark-up in the day rate. As a result, hospitals were not exposed to financial risk regarding major capital expenses. Further, hospitals received a standardized budget for small investments, such as maintenance. These investments did not require the approval of the health minister. Performance-driven budgeting (2000 2005) Until 2000, hospitals still received the full budget when it produced less inpatient days than estimated under the principle budget=budget. However, this was changed into a performance-driven payment system implying hospitals would get paid less if they would produce less inpatient days than agreed upon with health insurers. The underlying notion of this change was to increase hospital production, in order to put a halt to waiting lists. However, this transition brought a number of new problems along: Hospital budgets were unable to keep up with the increase in demand for hospital care. While patients paid insurance, they were unable to benefit from hospital service directly because of waiting lists. The admissions, inpatient days and day surgery tariffs used to set the budget proved completely artificial, not reflecting true costs. Incentives for efficiency were weak. The budgeting system did not stimulate hospitals to inform insurers and patients about their performance. This is a politically sensitive issue, as hospitals received extra money to combat waiting lists but were reluctant to explain for what goals they used this money. DBC-budgeting and dot (2005 present) Therefore, a new gradual transition is currently taking place to a Diagnosebehandelings-combinatie (Diagnosis Treatment Combination, DBC) financing system. The DBC system has the following implications: a transition to output pricing with defined and priced patient-treatment categories; location costs remain fixed and all other maintenance costs will be integrated into the location cost center of hospital budgets (set by the College Tarieven Gezondheidszorg, CTG, Healthcare Tariffs Council); and hospitals are contracted by sickness funds based on patient-treatment categories. The main notion is that hospitals are reimbursed for the costs they incur resulting from medical treatments. The DBC-A segment tariffs (acute care) remains government regulated (through the NZa, Dutch Healthcare Authority) and concerns acute care, whereas hospitals are largely free to negotiate tariffs with healthcare insurers in the DBC-B-segment (non-acute care) in an effort to promote market forces. Currently , about 34% of the DBCs is allocated to the B-segment; the Dutch Health Ministry aims to increase this proportion to 50-60% by 2011 (Van Poucke, 2009). The DBC system is comparable to the DRG (Diagnosis Related Group) system used abroad. However, there are a number of differences: DRGs are coded at the beginning of the treatment, while DBCs are coded afterwards. A patient can be coded in more than one DBC. In the DBC system the coding is not done by special personnel but by a medical specialist. The physician salary is included in the DBC, giving physicians an incentive for upcoding. In the DBC system, more flexibility is granted to parties that negotiate at the local level on production, number of treatments, and number of specialists. Furthermore, efforts are being made to integrate the fee-for-service system for specialists and the hospital budget system into a single integrated budget (Den Exter 2004). However, since the system is still in early development, the effects of DBC financing on hospitals are still ambiguous. As a result, improvements have been proposed which will be implemented as of January 1 2011 under the DOT (DBCs Op weg naar Transparantie, DBCs on the road to Transparency). This implies that the 100,000 DBC products will be sized down to only 3,000 in order to increase transparency for the patient, healthcare practitioners and healthcare insurers (DBC Onderhoud, 2009). Real estate investment reforms Until 2008, the Dutch healthcare system applied a publicly supported healthcare real estate budget system. However, since 2008, Dutch healthcare institutions have become financially responsible for the return and risks of their real estate investments (see Chapter 5: Real estate investments). Moreover, the Dutch healthcare system is changing toward a regulated market system with increased competition between healthcare providers. According to Van der Zwart et al. (2009), these developments are likely to change the way healthcare institutions will manage and finance their real estate, the location choices they make and the building typology they choose. Furthermore, real estate is becoming an increasingly strategic fifth source of profitability and overall performance, similar to capital, human resources, information and technology (see figure 2.1). For hospitals, considering and using real estate as a strategic production asset can reap added value, as will be explained in section 2.2.2. Financing hospital real estate: from supply-driven to regulated market forces As health insurers now negotiate quality and quantity agreements with hospitals and patients are broadening their horizons, the importance of an integrated approach to the product hospital care. Hospitals should be able to use their real estate as a distinguishing element in attracting customers (the patient). As a result, real estate is being transformed into a strategic resource for hospitals as well and hospital executives are paying growing attention to real estate management, including location management (what to do where), business plans (do investments yield positive returns) and real estate asset valuation. Building plans are based on functional clustering: hospitals divide new buildings into hotels (patient rooms), hot floors (operating rooms), offices (simple treatments, patient consults), and industrial plants (medical support/facilitating functions). As hospitals are no longer required to own their real estate assets, some are seeking partners willing to take over some o f their real estate management (Windhorst 2006). The Dutch government used to be in charge of allocating the budget of healthcare real estate investment, but is moving toward a regulated market system to keep healthcare affordable in the future. This deregulation gives healthcare institutions the opportunity to make their own decisions, translating into more individual responsibility and a higher risk exposure of investments. The government no longer guarantees financial support for real estate investments, and thus real estate investments have to be financed by the production and delivery of healthcare services. As a result, the need for competitive advantage will also increase (Van der Zwart, et al., 2009). The Dutch government used to apply a strict approval system in the former real estate budget system in order to regulate the capacity and costs of hospital health care. All initiatives to build, renovate or demolish a hospital building were evaluated in terms of their fit with a regulated overall capacity per service area, square meter guidelines per hospital bed and per function, and a maximum standard of costs per square meter (Van der Zwart, et al., 2009: 2). The initiatives were approved by the Minister of Health, Welfare and Sports, who was advised by the Netherlands Board for Healthcare Institutions. The real estate capital costs (depreciation, rent, maintenance costs and so on) were guaranteed by the government. The healthcare providers real estate budget was independent of the production of healthcare services. According to Van der Zwart et al., hospitals did not bear any responsibility for the risks of their real estate investments in the old system. Furthermore, they were not responsible for the running costs and a possible deficit if production decreased. As a result, hospitals attempted to obtain the maximum amount of square meters and were not encouraged to be either cost efficient or cost effective. In March 2005, the Dutch Minister of Health, Welfare and Sports announced the modification of this real estate budget system and the introduction of a healthcare system with regulated market forces (Hoogervorst, 2005). The main goal is to keep healthcare affordable by stimulating competition and, as a result, reduce healthcare costs. This deregulation provides healthcare institutions with more flexibility in the briefing, design and management of hospital buildings and real estate investments. Similar to the old system, private not-for-profit initiatives are still the main force behind the capacity of hospitals, but in the new system hospitals are themselves responsible for the return on real estate investment and the effects of real estate decisions on utility value, investment costs and running costs. Since January 2008, hospitals have to finance real estate investments and capital costs from their product and service revenues. This implies a switch from a centrally steered real estate budget system with governmental ex ante testing of building plans and investment proposals into a performance driven and regulated finance system on the output (Van der Zwart, 2009: 3). To ensure a smooth transition, there is a transition phase until 2012 with a standardized and maximized budget for capital costs per m ². This trend will have a strong effect on the briefing, design and management of hospital real estate (Van der Voordt, 2009). Hospitals will get new opportunities while experiencing higher risks at the same time and hospitals will have to aim more at competitive advantage. Furthermore, partnerships with private partners will be more common. According to Fritzsche et al. (2005) and van Hasselt (2005), this transition has a number of implications, as illustrated in table 2.1 and figure 2.1. Moreover, organizational changes (e.g. mergers and network organizations), demographic changes (ageing of the population, multicultural diversity), technological developments (e.g. new medical equipment, new installation techniques), fluctuations in the economy and changing views on healthcare and the responsibility of government, healthcare organizations, market players and healthcare consumers play their role, too (Van der Voort, 2009: 2). As a result of mergers and the growth in hospital functions, hospitals are likely to grow even larger than before. Van der Voordt argues that all these changes affect the healthcare real estate stock and cause a need for new health care real estate management strategies. Christensen et al. (2000) warn for the entrenched and change-averse nature of healthcare systems. They argue governments and institutions should be more open to business models that may seem to threaten the status quo at first, but will eventually enhance the quality of healthcare for the end-user: the patient. New institutions with disruptive business models adapted to new technologies and markets should replace entrenched and old-fashioned institutions. Thus, they conclude that government and healthcare sector leaders should help insurers, regulators, hospitals and health professionals to facilitate disruption instead of preventing it. Current challenges The practical implications for hospitals of the current transition to a new healthcare system in terms of capital financing and real estate investments will be further explained in chapter 4 and 5. First, the following section will elaborate on the theoretical foundations of corporate real estate management. Corporate real estate management In order to make well considered decisions with regard to new building projects, rebuilding projects and the sale of real estate property, a deep knowledge of the real estate property and the many related internal and external developments is required. For example, what actions need to be taken in order to eliminate or reduce discrepancies between demand and supply? And how effectively does real estate support the main business processes? Corporate Real Estate Management is one of the disciplines that addresses such questions. The key issue at stake here is to align the supply (e.g. locations, properties) with the requirements related to the primary process (demand) and the strategic goals of the organization. The overall aim is to create maximum added value for the organization while ensuring a maximum contribution to total organizational performance (Van der Voort, 2009). Increasingly, (corporate) real estate is becoming a substantial resource for firms and other institutions. For example, firms are looking at real estate to provide both stability and capital growth to their portfolios. It thus presents an attractive return compared to the volatility in equity prices (DTZ, 2006). Already in the early 1990s, researchers began to call attention to the largely unrecognized importance of corporate real estate to many businesses. They pointed at the substantial balance sheet value of real estate and the large proportion of operating expenses resulting from real estate services (Roulac, 2001). For example, Veale (1989) concluded corporate space costs account for 10% to 20% of operating expenses or nearly 50% of net operating income. In their paper, Rediscover your Companys Real Estate, Zeckhauser and Silverman (1983) estimate corporate real estate accounts for 25 to 40 % of the total assets of the average firm. Many firms underestimate the intrinsic value of their real estate portfolio, even though the magnitude of costs related to owning properties are second only to payroll costs (Veale, 1989). Zeckhauser and Silvermans survey results mention 7 important steps a firm can take to make more efficient use of its real estate assets. For example, firms should manage real estate responsibly and set achievable goals in order to generate profits from its real estate assets or limit costs. Furthermore, a firms choice of real estate activities other than managing property depends on the nature of the business it operates in and the historical record of its real estate portfolio. This implies that firms that more heavily depend on real estate for their business activities might be more actively involved with their proper ty management. Zeckhauser and Silverman conclude that every firm should review and adjust its real estate policies to reconcile operating objectives with real estate values and opportunities, and evaluate the intrinsic value of its property. Though the return on real estate is generally lower than the return on the core business activity, real estate may provide other forms of added value, such as efficiency and effectiveness of the activities in the firm. Kaplan and Nortons (1992) balanced score card approach describes the performance of a corporation as being defined by a combination of financial, internal business, customer, and innovation and learning perspectives. In addition to the financial value of real estate, unique characteristics such as the design of a building transform real estate into an asset that can be difficult to imitate, substitute, or trade. Furthermore, the physical image of a building may function as a marketing tool, attracting attention to a firms services. Thus, when buildings reflect the business purpose and promote important work relationships they can contribute significantly to corporate strategy and serve to distinguish a firm from its competitors (Krumm de Vries, 2003). Strategic corporate real estate management Roulac (2001), with his Aligning corporation real property with corporate strategy-model, links real estate strategies with sources of competitive advantage. A corporate business strategy addresses key elements such as customers, employees and processes. A corporate property strategy affects employee satisfaction, production factor economics, (realized and foregone) business opportunities, risk management decisions and other effects on business value. Thus, it is crucial in enhancing or inhibiting the companys expression of its core competency and the extent to which it can realize its core capabilities to their full potential (Roulac, 2001). The existing scientific research in this field has resulted in the conclusion that it is generally more advantageous for firms to rent, rather than own the real estate they use, enabling them to free up capital to invest in the things they are good at (Brounen and Eichholtz, 2003). The shares of firms who sell their real estate typically outperform the average and firms with large corporate real estate holdings are typically associated with relatively low performance. However, within the field of real estate finance, little research has been conducted on the effects of alternative real estate financing structures on the performance of non-profit organizations, such as hospitals. Though Eichholtz and Kok (2007) examined the performance effects of alternative real estate financing on the American senior healthcare sector, little is known about the performance of hospitals owned and/or operated through alternative real estate financing structures such as, for example, public private partnerships (PPPs). In 1993, real estate expert Michael Joroff (1993) expressed the need for a move in real estate management from a purely operational approach to a more strategic one, including a strong emphasis on the role of real estate in achieving corporate goals. According to Joroff, this requires a switch from a day-to-day focus on building management (manager) and controlling accommodation costs (controller) towards standardized real estate utilization (trader), adapting real estate assets to the market (entrepreneur), and eventually ensuring strategic real estate decisions contribute to corporate goals (strategist). See figure 2.2 below. An organization often finds itself in a combination of different stages. According to Fritzsche (2005) hospitals still need to make the move to the upper stages. Thus, when hospitals make a transformation to more business-like entities, they will find themselves in the entrepreneur or strategist stage. However, it is debatable whether hospitals should be located in the final stage, as hospitals in essence are non-profit foundations and do not have the same goals and core-business activities as business organizations. This is where the classical debate regarding public versus private provision of a public good (healthcare) enters the arena; this will be discussed further in section 2.3. The added values of real estate According to De Jonge (2002), several ways

McDonalds Workplace Hygeine

McDonalds Workplace Hygeine Executive Summary This report is to apply the HACCP to check and evaluate the food safety procedures in one of the most famous fast-food company; the McDonald .and also aims at offering some suggestions to correct some of the non-satisfactory procedures. The report will describe it from the following aspects: personal hygiene, cleaning and sanitizing, pest control, garbage disposal, receiving foods, storing foods, cooling defrosting, cooking and holding. McDonald is a leading food service retailer. Just in the USA, it has more than 12,300 traditional restaurants, plus approximately 1320 satellite locations in facilities like hospitals. They serve more than 21.8 million customers a day. So how dose the food safety procedures go on in McDonald is of great importance, which is related to the health of consumers. In order to apply the HACCP to check the food safety procedure, this report does a study of the food safety procedure in the McDonald, and find out that as a successful enterprise, McDonald develops detailed provisions to ensure the food safety procedure, making food safety a key factor to its success. Introduction Produce and serve safe food is the final goal for foodservice operations (Yi-Mei Sun, 2005). It was reported that HACCP system have not yet been homogeneously implemented across all of the food industry (Panisello and Quantick, 2001; G.Campbell-Platt, 2002). The key action, known as critical control points can be taken to reduce or eliminate the risk of the hazards being realized. It is used in the food industry to identify potential food safety hazards at all stages of food production and preparation processes. McDonald, as the biggest fast food retailer in the world, take the food safety as a never-ending process, from raw materials, through the facilities and distribution centers, and all the way to the restaurants. It„ ¢s a top priority at McDonald„ ¢s. (Sarah Fister Gale, 2006). Situational Analysis Personal Hygiene Personal hygiene of the workers is probably one of the most important thing, because the workers need to interact with the customers, and in the McDonald, they are responsible for the dinning environment. McDonald has specific regulations for workers„ ¢ personal hygiene as follows: 1. Clothes must be clean and appropriate. 2. Keep hair clean, ladies„ ¢ face should not be covered by the hair. 3. Men„ ¢s hair should be above the collar, long hair is not allowed. 4. Men need to shave and manicure everyday. 5. Ladies should wear the appropriate make-up. And too much decoration is not allowed. 6. Keep the fingernail clean and short. 7. Maintain oral hygiene and regular bathing. 8. Members of the McDonald„ ¢s restaurant management group need to wear uniforms. 9. Wash hand before going to workstation. Of all the McDonald„ ¢s hygiene standards, most of the regulations are carried out by nearly all the workers in McDonald. But there is the told by one of the workers in McDonald: Sorry to ruin your idea about McDonald„ ¢s and hand washing. I„ ¢ve worked at McDonald„ ¢s for three months, and I never see anyone wear gloves, or wash their hands, managers included. Since this comments comes from the forum, it is difficult for us the judge its reliability. However, the suggestions for the McDonald manager is that, they need to pay more attention to the workers personal hygiene, and try their best the make the situation much better. Cleaning and Sanitizing Cleaning and Sanitizing are necessary processes to create a clean and nice environment for the customers in the McDonald. According to the HACCP, cleaning and sanitizing should follow four steps: pre-clean, main clean, sanities and drying. Regulations concerned about cleaning and sanitizing in the McDonald are: Pre-clean: 1. The dining tables, chairs ,windows and equipment should be spotless. 2. All the tableware and machine should be completely cleaned and sanitizing after work. 3. The glass must be rub everyday 4. The parking lot must be flush everyday 5. The trash bin must be brushed everyday Main clean: McDonald makes a readily cleaning regulation to main clean. Readily cleaning regulation means anybody in any position must clean the peripheral position to keep the position clean. What is more, the McDonald has its own special method to simplify the clean and sanitizing job and save the time spent on clean and sanitizing. Firstly, they use lots of paper, plastic and other disposable tableware. This means, the worker only needs to put the table wares which are left by the customers when they finish into the garbage bin, and clean the table. Then everything is done. Secondly, they use trays and trays of paper, which are convenient for the customers to carry, and reduce the chance to dirt the desk. And as a result ,save the time spent on cleaning the table. Finally, all the kitchen equipments are of stainless steel surface. As the stainless steel surface is easy to clean, the efficiency of cleaning work is improved. Pest control Pest control is also of great importance. Nobody likes the presence of pests which transmit diseases. Here is what has been done in McDonald concerned about pest control: 1.McDonald especially focus on the controlling of cockroach. 2 In the entrance of the distribution center, a kind of special yellow light has been designed to drive the fly. 3 The inside of the distribution center has been painted white, especially the floor around the warehouse. Then it will be much easy to trace the cockroach and the mouse. and some actions can be taken to prevent bad ting from happening. In McDonald, the keys to successful pest controls are as follows: 1. Correct identification of the pest is the first step in control, because information on pest biology, ecology, and behavior can be easily obtained if the pest is known. 2. It is important to detect pest problems early. Careful visual inspections can help in early detection of infestations. 3. Control measures must be timed to target the most vulnerable stage of pests. as many pests are susceptible to control measures at certain times in their lives. Garbage disposal There are many garbage need to dispose everyday in McDonald. In order to protect the environment , McDonald uses paper bags instead of bags. Here are the regulations related to garbage disposal in McDonald: 1 Disposal garbage day and never leave them until tomorrow. 2 Workers must clean the place around them at anytime. 3 Use different trash bins to separate the different kinds of garbage. 4 Wear gloves when dispose garbage 5 Wash hand after disposing garbage Although garbage disposal is a small little thing, attention should be paid to, otherwise it will be harmful to the cleaning procedure. Receiving foods According to the HACCP, the receiving contains the following aspects, and this report wills analysis the situation in the McDonald following the HACCP: 1. Approved source. To make all the products has the same flavor, the McDonald especially focus on the standardization of raw materials. And all the materials must be offered by the McDonald distribution center. 2. Choosing the suppliers Knowing that suppliers are a major player in fulfilling its promise and adhering to its social responsibility, McDonal„ ¢s ensures 100% eligibility before adding any resource to its database of approved suppliers. To quality as a McDonald„ ¢s supplier, they must meet the McDonald„ ¢s internal food safety standards, product specification and farm biosecurity policies 3. Guality supervision and inspection The McDonald has stringent procurement standards. The purchasing department is responsible for quality supervision and inspection of the raw materials of the suppliers. When a defective product is found, it should be return immediately. And the suppliers should solve the problem as soon as possible. If the suppliers can not solve the problem before the deadline, their qualification for suppliers will be canceled. So the goods receiving procedure of the McDonald is following the HACCP. Storing Foods Storing foods is a funny thing for McDonald. According to the HACCP, the McDonald can store the hamburger that is not sold out as well as the method is correct and proper. 1. The French fries must be thrown away, if it can not be sold out within seven minutes. 2. The hamburger must be thrown away, if it can not be sold out within ten minutes. It is not because of food decay or food defect. The McDonald insists on offering the most valuable and qualified food to the customers. And this is just right the reason why the McDonald does what is mentioned above. So, storing foods is in fact not only a funny thing for McDonald but also a serious thing for McDonald. And through the following statements one can see, how serious it is: 1. The temperature inside the house for cold storage should be between 1 and 4, and the temperature of the house for cold storage should be between -22ÃÆ'‚ °~18ÃÆ'‚ °. 2. Special attention should be paid to the storage of hamburger, otherwise accident will be easy to happen ,if it is not storied under the standard temperature. 3. The storage of food and materials should be obey to the regulations. And it definitely follows the HACCP, or even does a greater job. Cooling and Defrosting Cooling is a useful way to keep most of the food or materials fresh. When inspect whether the food is fresh or not, McDonald pays much attention to the test of temperature, especially the temperature control of the frozen food. The workers much inspect every product to make sure it is under the condition of cooling. The main principle for the refrigerate is insisting -FIFO , the FIFO stands for first in first out. Special methods have been made, concerned about how to organize the food, for example, there can only be six boxes of French fries up forward. Before the food being cooled, the manager need to inspect the temperature and the quality of the goods. Cooking and Holding The reported foodborne illness cases per year were 76 millions in the US(Tauxe, 2002) and 9.4 millions in the UK(Walker, et al, 2003).Improper food handling is responsible for 97% of food borne illness associated catering(Griffith CJ, 2000). The McDonald pays much attention to cooking and handling procedure. The main principle for cooking is -less amount many time  which can ensure the high quality and high fresh level of the food. For instance, twelve hamburgers should be made in four minutes; workers can not cook the twelve hamburgers at one time. The time figured out for making one hamburger is one handured and forty-five senconds, take the additional time into consideration, humburgers can be made in ten minutes. Nearly all foods in the McDonald have the specific holding time, the holding time for humbuegers is ten minutes, for french fries is seven minutes, for apple pie is ten minutes, and for coffee is thirty minutes, and the temperature of the milk sent by the supplier mus t be under 4ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒâ€¦Ã‚ ¾Ãƒâ€  , otherwise, it will be returned. Conclusions In conclusion, workplace hygiene is very important to McDonald which does a good job in such eight aspects above-mentioned. McDonald„ ¢s ways to manage the workplace hygiene can be good references for other similar establishments. Beause of the work for hygiene is systematic, there may be some behaviours not conform to specified requirements exsit, for instance, some worker may omit washing, McDonald still needs to make better use of the HACCP to make the situation even better. References Griffith, CJ 2000. Food safety in catering establishments, in: Safe Handling of Foods, JM Farber and ECD Todd, Eds., Marcel Dekker, New York, 235-256. G.Campbell-Platt 2002. HACCP/food safety objectives. Food Control ,13, PP. 353. Panisello,P.J, Quantick,P.C 2001. Technical barriers to hazard analysis critical control point. Food Control,12(3), PP. 165-173. Sarah Fister Gale 2006. CASE STUDIES IN FOOD PROTECTION McDonaldds USA: A Golden Arch of Supply Chain Food Safety. Food Safety Magazine [Online] Issue February/March 2006, Available at:http://www.foodsafetymagazine.com/article.asp?id=491sub=sub1 [Accessed 12 Sep 2009] Tauxe, R.V 2002. Surveillance and investigation of food borne diseases. Food Control,13,PP. 363-369. Walker, E.,Pritchard,C., Forsythe,S. 2003. Hazard analysis critical control point and prerequisite programme implementation in small and medium size food business. Food Control,14, PP. 169-174. Yi-Mei Sun., H.W.Ockerman 2005. A review of the needs and current applications of hazard analysis and critical control point(HACCP) system in foodservice areas. Food Control,16, PP. 325-332.

Aaron Burr :: essays research papers

Aaron Burr Aaron Burr was a central figure in American public life for nearly three decades, but is remembered mainly for two episodes in his life: his duel with Alexander Hamilton in 1804 and his schemes of empire-building that formed the basis for his treason trial in 1807. Aaron Burr was Vice President from 1801-1809,and while in office Aaron Burr was never impeached for his actions towards Alexander Hamilton, which resulted in the later death, and for his schemes of empire, which resulted in his trial and acquittal on charges of treason. Burr was born in Newark, New Jersey on February 6, 1756. In 1702 burr opened a law practice in Albany, and in 1791 Burr had become a powerful political figure. Burr also had many dreams that went unrealized. Aaron Burr was a central figure to American public life, having never been impeached for killing Alexander Hamilton the prosecution left Burr disgraced and faced with constant harassment by creditors. Burr was born in Newark, New Jersey on February 6, 1756. Burr's parents died at an early age, leaving him in the care of an uncle who sometimes beat him in his young life. Despite his hardships, Burr developed into an adventuresome and precocious child. At age 16, Burr graduated from Princeton. Burr served on Benedict Arnold’s staff, where he met James Wilkinson, who was to figure in his later plans. He then served briefly with George Washington and later with General Israel Putnam. In July 1777, as a lieutenant colonel, he took over commanded of regiment. He fought in the Battle of Monmouth the next year and resigned because of ill health in 1779. In 1782, Burr stood for the bar in Albany and opened a law practice. That same year Burr married Theodosia Prevost, a woman ten years his senior with whom he would enjoy a close and loving relationship until her death in 1794. The other great love in Burr's life was his superbly talented daughter, also named Theodosia, born a year after the couple's marriage. (His hopes for Theosia's career, and insistence that she not be denied opportunities open to men, have led some historians to call Burr America's "first male feminist.") By 1791, Burr had become a powerful political figure, having been elected United States Senator from New York. Burr's politics were marked by his liberal instincts and his dreams to expand. In the election of 1800, Burr tied Thomas Jefferson in the Electoral College.

Physics of MiniDisk Players Essay -- physics electronics minidisk

Introduction: In 1986, designers at Sony began the quest to develop a sound medium that combined the benefits of the compact disc, such as sound quality and track accessibility, with the recordability of the cassette tape, in a player with unprecedented portability. They gave engineers the task of creating what would later be called the Minidisc, a wallet sized unit that could record, play, and store music on cartridge enclosed discs. Engineers integrated several technologies to produce the Minidisc, all utilizing the laws of physics. They found that: -Laser optics would be the obvious choice for reading data. -Magneto optic technology would be created to record information. -To allow recordability, new disc properties had to be defined. -Compression and acoustic principles would be incorporated to store information on a disc 1/5 the size of the compact disc. The laser used in the minidisc player serves two purposes. Its primary role is to read digital information in a similar fashion as a CD player. Its secondary, but equally important, function is to supply focused heat to the minidisc itself during the recording process. LASER HEAT: The minidisc recording system takes advantage of a discovery by Pierre Curie in the 1880's. He found that when iron is heated up to a certain temperature, now called the Curie point, it loses its magnetic properties. Similarly, when the minidisc laser is directed at a tiny point of the disc during recording, it heats that spot up to 180 degrees celsius, and the disc material loses its magnetic properties. A magnetic field can then be "frozen" onto that point once it moves past the laser beam, storing data. For more information on the recording process, visit... ...o-acoustic principles, which states that the ear is more sensitive to some frequencies of sound than others. Psychoacoustics also explores the relationship between the intensity of sound (its decibel level) and its frequency. As you can see from the equi-loudness curve below, a low frequency, high intensity wave will produce the same loudness as a high frequency, low intensity wave.The masking of sound is another factor considered during the compression process. This occurs when one sound blocks another sound from being heard. For example, on a crisp fall day you would be able to hear leaves rustling in the wind until a marching band stomps by. ATRAC would omit the rustling leaves data that was masked by the band, saving storage space. Once the audible sound data is singled out, it can easily be compressed and stored with an inperceivable change in sound quality.

Is Human Cloning Another Frankenstein? Essay -- Argumentative Persuasi

Is Human Cloning Another Frankenstein? Â   The creation of life by unnatural method is a question that Mary Shelley's Frankenstein addresses. Through the events that result from Victor's attempt to bestow life to the inanimate, Shelley concludes that it is inappropriate for man to play god. With the advent of the science of creation, cloning, scientists now face the same problem that Shelley raised years ago. The applications of such research are numerous, all varying in severity. In what way the users for cloning are developed and performed is of much debate. Unfortunately, there is no absolute answer for the issue. Â   A popular suggestion is to develop cloning technology for medical use on humans. The creation of animals for use at man's discretion, such as livestock for food, is an ancient and generally accepted practice. However, when creating a human clone, for its organs, can it be said that such an act is murder? Aldous Huxley illustrates another vision of cloning in Brave New World. The novel depicts people created from basic templates to fit in a given level of society. Should people have the ability to design the type of child they get? The implications of creating custom humans raise many moral problems. In Shelley's Frankenstein, the act of creation resulted in an abhorred being. Using cloning, there is the potentiality for someone to develop a genetically enhanced being for malicious purposes. The question of how to regulate potential uses and misuses of the aforementioned ideals is of much debate. Several acceptable answers have been suggested, but each has its own weaknesses and group of detractors. Â   As an answer to the moral questions that the advent of cloning has raised, several coun... ... will be formulated. Â   With the exploration of various solutions and issues that arise when dealing with these approaches to the moral dilemma faced, one can only conclude that the best solution is already being developed. The human race is not ready to control the formation of life, for there are too many potential abuses and no way to control them. A peremptory ban on human cloning research should not be necessary with the current level of cloning technology possessed. However, the strict limiting of which areas of this research are pursued, and who pursues the research is most critical. As new ideas appear confusion arises, and understanding of all aspects of the new ideas cause rise to necessary changes in society. The popular approval of the idea of human cloning is indispensable to the efforts of those who wish to advance the science of human cloning.

E-commerce in Developing Countries

Commerce is the exchange of goods and services for a consideration, commonly money. Thus e-commerce is exchange of goods and services facilitated electronically. For the purpose of this paper we will adopt the broad definition of e-commerce to mean any use of information and communications technology by a business that helps it improve its interactions with a customer or a supplier (Payne E. J 2003). E-commerce uses the internet, telephone and fax. This are all those that allow for business to be conducted in near real time conditions.In advanced countries, e-commerce has led to a boom in Business Processing Operations (B.P. O’s) and Call Centers. While the developing world is gearing itself to catch up to e-commerce, some countries have displayed outstanding achievements; India is worth mentioning in this context.Indeed India’s advancements in e-commerce even rival those in advanced countries, and in some cases, surpass them. Today, maybe as a consequence, India is eme rging as a technological superpower. One crucial benefit that developing countries are envisioning to gain from e-commerce is the expanded market for commodities and services while at the same time eradicating the role played by middle men in traditional distribution chains.For example, in Kenya the mobile phone has helped the farmer many kilometers from major markets access the current prevailing prices thus avoid exploitation by the middlemen. Developing countries are keen to replicate the achievements made by advanced countries together with India in e-commerce. This is with the view of reaping the economic gains that are obvious to all stake holders to date. However certain difficult decisions have to be made in the journey to establishing a vibrant e-commerce sector in these countries.Worth noting is that the infrastructure in the developing world is in dire need of a major upgrade. For example, the internet and the World Wide Web are absolutely vital for the realization of suc cessful e-commerce. The systems in place in majority of the developing world are both costly and far below the expected standards necessary for the implementation of near real time trade. These costly infrastructural improvements will bring about the following: ? Faster connection speeds to the internet to facilitate data transfer.? Clearer and superior voice and sound clarity to enable fulfillment of intra global trade involving conferencing and discussion over the World Wide Web. ? Extremely low operating costs together with higher output capacities which facilitate business profitability and sustainability. This paper is of the view that though e-commerce has high set up costs, major organizational adjustments and infrastructural considerations, developing countries stand to gain massive economic benefits offered by a successful harnessing of the e-commerce sector. Main TextModes of E-commerce There are different modes of e-commerce – Phone, Fax and Internet. Phone e-comme rce happens where the provider of the goods or service communicates with the buyer through a phone. Phones come in various application modes such as satellite phone, mobile phone, telephone etc. Fax e-commerce is where communication between the buyer and seller is done over the fax. Its advantages are in the speed of transactions, the reach available and the lower cost implication compared to face to face conversation or other traditional modes.The Internet and the World Wide Web are the latest major additions to e-commerce and they have brought remarkable solutions in voice and data communications that were erstwhile unimagined. For example, the concept of a twenty four hour mobile office where goods and services are available to all and sundry on the globe in the comfort of ones residence is still strange in many business people in the developing world. Arguments against E-commerce in developing countries. There has been much of the debate on e-commerce especially regarding the ro le played by the internet and the World Wide Web.The major issues raised are listed below: ? Infrastructural cost. ? Change of mindsets to embrace the new forms of technological advancement. The present infrastructure needs major adjustments to enable it support e-commerce. Firstly, energy costs in developing countries are among the highest in the world. Per unit charge in consumption of electricity in the developing countries need to be brought down to levels comparable to those in advanced nations. For this to happen, the systems for power generation need to be upgraded to the latest technologies which tout higher efficiency at extremely low operating and maintenance costs.In addition to this, it has become almost general knowledge that much of the populations in the developing countries do not have access to electricity in the homes. The situation is grave since electricity supply can only be guaranteed in urban centers only, while the majority of the people live in rural areas. Secondly, the technology that supports internet and World Wide Web connections is inferior to those employed in advanced countries. This inferiority is in terms of its weak performance characteristics whereby it is slow and expensive in terms of data exchange, and cannot support a consistent voice dialog over the internet.This is issues can only be rectified with the introduction of the technology available abroad that includes installation of fiber optic cable connection, and inexpensive commercial satellite uplink among other technologies geared towards cutting down the cost of communication while improving performance. Other considerations take the nature and form of those that Pare D. J. (2002) brings to light. The cost of doing business will include, but not confined to network security and regulatory environment.Where as the business in a developed country would comfortably produce goods or services in the standards of the environment it operates in, it is forced to adopt stan dards of the buyer (receiver of the goods and services) who happens to be based in a more advanced country. Problems therefore emerge such as how to remit payments in a secure way, how to confirm that the items selected for purchase are as those displayed over the World Wide Web and other security oriented fears. ARGUMENT FOR E-COMMERCE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES.Developing countries are faced with surging unemployment levels that cause discontent and saps development gains by straining resources and amenities. These economies have long held the notion that by expanding the sectors in there economy, they will be able to have more participation of its people in viable income generating activities. E-commerce is touted as one such sector that, as evidenced by the Indian success, millions of people can be absorbed in this sector which has positive trickle down effects and sound complementarities with other existing sectors in the economy.In addition, a positive labour diffusion process wi ll arise were by now-skilled laborers from developing countries migrate to advanced countries to get jobs that promise higher wages. It has been found that these nationals are responsible for shipping large amounts of foreign currency back home to assist there relatives. This foreign income is enables these countries to improve there balance of payments, hence accelerating development. A case in point is the dynamic tertiary sector in India that is spurred by the computer technology industry.India has remarkable strength in software development, which employs a large number of Indian technocrats. In fact, India produces such a large number of skilled personnel that major multi national firms in IT set up base in India. The dynamics here are that the large number of skilled labor concentrated in one area pushes down wages as competition for employment thrives. Due to these dynamics, India has at its disposal an abundance of relatively less expensive and highly learned work force.Ther e is, as a consequence, a high population of Asians of Indian origin fulfilling duties in the IT sectors of major world powers, including the United States of America and Great Britain. This export of human labor accounts for a significant amount of foreign currency transfer back home. I agree with (Humphrey J. et. al) when he argues that e-commerce will create a new culture. By embracing the way the world wants things done, developed countries will by extension be taking the initiative in creating home grown solutions to global problems, thus providing unique solutions that are customized to suit local contexts.This will create anew breed of workers unique to the developing countries. It is thus clear that where as e-commerce will be pretty expensive to embrace in the short term. In the long run however, the benefits accruing easily outweigh the costs. By embracing e-commerce the developing countries will be killing two birds with the same stone; generating economic growth and expa nsion by providing the necessary infrastructure and creating a new economy and culture for the learned in the country.Added to this is the bonus of providing a bigger market for its entrepreneurs, and a break away from the well known reliance that developing countries’ economies have in there primary and secondary sectors. THE KENYAN CASE In Kenya, the pioneer company in e-commerce is Kencall Ltd. Its basic vision is to lead the way in outsourcing business [Kencall. com]. Being the first major outsourcing company in Kenya, it was faced with a myriad of problems. Some of these problems are listed below: ? Lack of a pool of experienced labor force as is the case in India and South Africa.? Attempting to change local mindsets with its new concept, largely unknown in that part of the world. Where as BPO was already been taken to developing countries namely India and South Africa this was still a very strange idea in Kenya. ? Expensive telecommunication infrastructures, coupled wi th slow reforms in the Kenyan communications sector to enable it adjust to global developments. There was need for fast internet uplink to allow for real time transfer of data and voice to the clients. This particular problem was not easy to overcome.With the gateway controlled by the government and operating on obsolete technology with a knack for breaking down. It was another eighteen months before Internet gateways were liberalized and the company could now get good speeds courtesy of dedicated satellite uplinks. ? Under performance of the Kenyan economy coupled with a less than friendly relationship atmosphere that existed between Kenya and its development partners. Although this situation was improving, the pace was slow as the government pledged top implement much needed reforms in government.These altogether impacts negatively on investments and industry expansion. ? An unstable political climate in Kenya that was characterized by an over politicized climate. This has the eff ect of shifting concentration from economic growth and development issues to politics. With the implementation of certain reform pledges that led to restored confidence between Kenya and its development partners, there came a turn around in the Kenyan economy. It started to grow. The industry specific results were a marked expansion in investment, higher employment and an increase in per capita incomes.In addition there was a wider pool of returning graduates from developed countries who knew what BPO was all about. They came with much needed know how and information on the role of e-commerce in development. These included the directors of Kencall Ltd, in particular Mr. Nick Nesbitt [Kencall. com]. His contribution to the Kenyan economy has led him to be recognized by the government in through an honorary award bestowed to him by the president of the republic. With the realization by the government that in e-commerce lay a ‘goldmine’ [kencall.com], they sought to exploi t it by first laying a fiber optic cable all around Nairobi. By connecting to this the speeds were greatly enhanced although the costs still remain high. To reduce cost the government sought to lay an underground fiber optic cable. With partnership of Southern African countries they wanted to have the cable running from Cape Town to Somali. Politics has put this noble idea in the back burner. The Kenyan government on its part has chosen to go it alone, as it recognizes the importance of e-commerce. Plans are already at an advance stage to have a cable between Mombasa and Fujaira in Oman.In anticipation of this, a fibre optic cable has already been laid between Nairobi and Mombasa with the rest of the nation in the pipeline. All this has lead to a proliferation of BPO providers. Skyweb and Pacis have already joined into the fray. Smaller firms are doing the same but on a small scale. On Wed 11th July, Skyweb launched into the market a solution that allows a firm offer BPO on the stre ngth of only 5 computers. Expect in the next year to be a growth in this area. Safaricom, the biggest mobile phone operator has thrown a challenge to BPO providers.To show they can handle around 100,000 calls a day while maintaining quality and they will be given the account. This is a challenge to be taken seriously if e-commerce is to grow to match if not pass the pioneers like India and China. Due to the time difference, while other one part of the world sleeping the other is in the middle of a trading day, while another is waking up. There is need for a 24 hr approach to e-commerce in order to take advantage of all situations arising. Kencall has overcome this by operating on 8hr shifts for 24 hrs. This has been made possible by the good security provided by the government.Kencall Ltd [Daily Nation (2007)] has grown from an initial work force of 20 members to the present over 300 staff. The have also had to move location to a more spacious building where growth is possible. The amount of work handled ahs also grown six fold. This has led to Kenya been recognized as an upcoming force in e-commerce. By extension businesses in Developed countries feel comfortable when dealing with Kencall since they have the capacity to deliver. With the technological strides, Kencall can with a degree of certainty claim to be in a position to guarantee the integrity of its business partner’s information.In addition, Ken call has with itself the unique opportunity of spinning itself into and e-hub provider. With its wealth of experience, it can mitigate high turnover by providing training to would be e-commerce players. This way it will eliminate the need for people to seek employment only for them to quit after six to twelve months once they are trained and have an understanding of e-commerce and by extension BPO. CONCLUSION: Pare D. J 2003 is of the opinion that the mere bringing of total strangers together in an online environment will not necessarily reduce overall transactional cost to achieve long-term economic gains.This paper has tried to disprove this by clearly showing that the opposite is true. By improvement of the working environment, the long term economic gain is clear for any to see. The fibre optic link currently being enjoyed by all not only Kencall Ltd. More effective security is but one of the major achievements being enjoyed by Kenyans. On their part Kencall Ltd is reaping the fruits of persistence. They are defining the parameters in e-commerce simply because they have been longer in the game on the Kenyan context.Any new entrant will have to start form a point of disadvantage as compared to Kencall at present. With the present business environment where businesses are looking to outsource labour intensive operations, Kencall stands at an advantage. In addition, with all the people trained by Kencall, Kenya is at an advantageous position to exploit new business in e-commerce. The completion of the fibre optic link will great ly enhance this. Not only will the cost of doing business come down, it will also enable Kenya position itself as the regional hub of e-commerce.The reference point to all who desire to enter into this business – this will be all who know what is geed for them. The local producers now have the whole world open to them. The floriculture industry is a good example of successful exploitation of e-commerce in sourcing markets. It has taken only a decade for Kenya to command a healthy 30% of cut flowers sold in the world. This growth and success can be replicated in other areas. For example the floriculture industry is faced with rapid expansion problems and it is investing in technology from Israel and other countries leading in floriculture to fulfill this needs.Kenya can turn the big swaths of land on the northern part of Kenya to be great producers of horticulture as the global demand in Kenyan cut flowers increases, albeit stimulated by the easy access to market information f acilitated by e-commerce. Hence a concerted effort involving both the citizens and the government is needed to enhance awareness and accelerate infrastructure provision to enhance the benefits of e-commerce in providing remarkable industry specific economic solutions. As Annan K. rightly put it, e-commerce is the most visible example to how ICT can contribute to economic growth.By improving trading efficiency and helping developing countries integrate into the world economy. Allowing entrepreneurs to compete more create more jobs and by extension create more wealth. REFERENCE: Payne, Judith E. [2003]. E-Commerce readiness for SME’s in developing Countries: A guide for development professionals. Pare, Daniel J. [2003]. Does this site deliver? B2B E-Commerce services for developing countries: Humphrey, J. Mansell, R. Pare, and D Schmitz, H. [2003] . The reality of E-Commerce in developing countries: Does e-commerce provide developing country businesses with easy access to globa l markets?Annan, K [2003]. UNCTAD Secretariat, E -Commerce and Development Report 2003, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, United Nations, New York and Geneva. (In Forward). Okuttah. M. Outsourcing: The latent goldmine: http://www. kencall. com/goldmine. htm OTHER SOURCES http://www1. worldbank. org/devoutreach/spring00/article. asp? id=79 E-commerce for Developing Countries: Expectations and Reality, Volume 35, Number 1, 1 January 2004 , pp. 31-39(9) http://learnlink. aed. org/Publications/Concept_Papers/ecommerce_readiness. pdf