Weaknesses Of The Eurozone Economics Essay

Weaknesses Of The Eurozone Economics EssayRobert Mundell described the Bretton Woods System as village with tabu the Prince collectable to the lack of a unified cash in the form of a pecuniary federation expressed as Bancor or Unitas. Given the experience of electromagnetic unit, does this analysis still hold theoretically and/or empirically? Discuss.Introduction of EMUIn 1999, the European Central Bank (ECB) launched the single currency (euro) unneurotic with the foundation of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). The EMU is based on the existence of the euro as a viridity currency. The ECB supervises the execution of instrument of a crude monetary policy. At the beginning of 2002, euro replaced the guinea pig currencies of 12 segment countries for all transactions. Sweden, Denmark, and the United Kingdom joined European Union (EU) hardly did non join the euro. In 2004, there were ten overbold phallus countries joined the EU, five of them joined the euro.The prior mo netary unions argon unsuccessful as they rested on the order of metals (i.e. gold or cash). The money printed should be compulsive by the silver of gold stored, therefore the Metallism monetary system is a stable system since silver and gold atomic number 18 scarce resources.The EMU rests on the euro or chartalism, as fiat money which is issued by a central national bank. The credit level of the issuing body is important to determine the value and stability of the fiat money. The stability of the farming in terms of frugal and political impart in turn determine the credit level. However, when the treasury is unable to finance the deficit, fiat monies crapper become uncertain due to the temptation of the inflationary tax or seigniorage. In order to achieve and sustain the stability, the EMU needs an stintingal union and a monetary union. Economic union is achieved by complying with the Stability and awaygrowth Pact (SGP). The goal of SGP is to maintain fiscal stability th rough implementation of specific fiscal requirements among phallus states of EMU.The strength of the Eurozone rests completely on the credibility of the requirements stripe when the EMU was being implemented and the ECB was established. However, if fraction states argon non respect or follow the set requirements, the credibility level of Eurozone forget be bear upon and as a result negatively affect the euro.Mundells TheoriesThe original idea of a customary currency in Europe was derived from the theory of Robert Mundell on the atomic number 18as of optimal currency. In his paper A plan for a European Currency in 1973, Mundell clarified the gains of European countries if they adopt a common currency. The works of Mundell amaze been classified into ii categories by Ronald McKinnon (2004).Mundell IIn 1961, Mundell published his paper entitled A theory of Optimal Currency Areas which is rooted in Keynesian ideas. The theory of Optimum Currency Areas (OCAs) studies how countr ies with a monetary union and common currency adjust, if these countries are affected by asymmetric frugal shocks. Mundell point out that adjustments are based on whether wages are rigid, take mobility is limited, income transfers are fractious, and differences exist in the labour grocery and growth rates. Mundell claimed that when countries are in a monetary union and use a common currency, they can non absorb asymmetric shocks properly unless, among other(a) circumstances, labour mobility is unlimited.Mundell IIIn Mundells article Uncommon arguments for common currencies which published in 1973, an alternative theory is illustrated. Mundell emphasised the common currency assures an automatic and equal manduction of the risk of the fluctuation, a common currency has advantages in overcoming economic shocks. Mundell II argues that it is easier for member countries to stay inside a monetary union than outside it since the private insurance would assist against asymmetric shocks . More specifically, it will be easier for member countries to borrow in the capital markets of the monetary union when hitting by a negative shock, as a result it will be easier for member countries to smooth consumption. In addition, the alter rate would be a source in arising asymmetric disturbances especially capital mobility of pecuniary market is very soaring.The criticism of Mundell II becomes more obvious in terms of political context. If financial markets in a monetary union provide insurance to reduce asymmetric shocks, the need to integrate national budgets for political means becomes weaker. Hence the motive to form a political union is even weaker. However, the Mundell II point out that if there is no budgetary union, it would be optimistic to say that private financial markets would provide insurance against asymmetric shocks. The financial markets will only provide insurance to those who make high assets stock in the financial markets. Since wealth is not equally distri notwithstandinged, the private provision of insurance will overwhelmingly support the wealthy and keep the poor relatively uninsured. In addition, the Mundell II theory disregard the possibility that countries may involve in a position of a bad equipoise. If there are not adequate instruments to lead the economy out of the bad equilibrium, countries would get caught in the bad equilibrium after a negative shock. It is a major problem for the future of EMU if there is no adequate instrument in a monetary union. This is reinforced by the fact that different member countries of EMU continue to work in different directions due to the absence of a political union.Weaknesses of the EurozoneIn the last ten years, the euro has demonstrated that there are many efficiency gains by adopting a common currency (i.e. reduced transaction be of exchanging currencies, eliminated exchange rate uncertainty, and increased transparency in prices), specially if the currency becomes not only an international currency but also a global currency. However, maintaining miscellaneous standards requires difficult adjustments and unceasing surveillance of every single member state in Eurozone.As the economic crisis has hit the world, certain Eurozone Member States Greece, Portugal and Spain are being seriously affected. The Greek tragedy is making the EU realize that highly indebted countries can put the EMU at risk and that measures must be taken without delay.Institutional Weakness denomination 102.a of the Maastricht Treaty establishes that member states and the community should conduct their economic policies with a view to contributing to the achievement of the objectives of the Community. In order to guide Article 102.a, Article 103 highlights that the correct implementation of economic policies is a matter of common, stating that Member States are to coordinate them within the Council, in accordance with the provisions of Article 102a. Article 103 also highlights th at it is important to avoid luxuriant deficits of all(prenominal) government. in that location is an obvious institutional impuissance in terms of monetary policies. The Maastricht Treaty had defined the objectives of the ECB which is price stability. ECB has defined an inflation rate chthonian 2% as the objective of price stability. In addition, in terms of unemployment, the rest of society is not convinced and will not easily accept the attempt of the ECB to release itself from any responsibility for unemployment. However, the delegating of the responsibility of unemployment to the governments of each member country creates a political problem.The affairs of SGP contain that member countries should avoid excessive debt and deficits and each member country should maintain fiscal stability. There are two important two Council Regulations in SGP (i.e. Regulations 1466/97 and 1467/97). These two regulations require member countries of the EU must comply with to help ease up to the overall climate of stability and financial prudence underpinning the success of the EMU. The Council Regulation 1466/97 set out the details of stability programs (i.e. submission and monitoring regulations) and convergence programs. The ultimate purpose of the multilateral surveillance by the Council is to prevent, at an early stage, the occurrence of excessive general government deficits and to promote the surveillance and coordination of economic policies. The purpose of regulation 1467/97 is to clarify the excessive deficit procedure to deter excessive government deficits (European navigator 1997, 2). However, the SGP is not sustainable due to the lack of accountability of the EU commission. Hence, the national governments are bound to arrive at when conflict arises. The problem will exist as long as national governments continue to possess the sovereignty over spending and taxation.Political integrationDe Grauwe (2006) acknowledged that the EMU is a remarkable accomplishme nt, but the absence of a political union is a major weakness in the Eurozone governance. Grauwes view is conformable with the findings of Nitsch on the political integration. He conclude that political integration is not rapidly followed by economic integration (Nitsch and Wolf 1). Grauwe point out in his article that national governments holding most economic policies decision creates asymmetric shocks. The asymmetric shocks truly affect the sustainability of the monetary union. For example, member countries of the Eurozone consent different emulous positions due to the uncoordinated policies of each member country in relation to national wage.Italy, Ireland, Portugal, Greece and Spain were in constant financial and economic turmoil before the bridal of the euro. The turmoil situation disappeared due to the economic go of the past years. These five countries have barely met the requirements of monetary and economic stability and are becoming increasingly difficult to maintain the stability. For the past years, these countries are not only suffering from excessive deficits and debts, but also economic unbalances (i.e. excessive current account deficits). The current account positions are becoming worse due to, among other reasons, their extremely uncompetitive trade position. As a consequence, they are beginning to blame the euro.The problem that these countries are facing originates from the fact that monetary union amplifies fiscal imbalances. Opting for devaluation of a competitive currency is not an option and the only other alternative stems from forcing differentials of puzzle yield reduced. In 2005 there were almost no yield differentials between the German Bund and the yields of those countries with excessive current-account deficits. In 2009, however, yield spreads has increased government default risks measured by a sudden increase in the demand for credit default swaps. Hence, the current economic crisis has demonstrated that currency risk is replaced by default risk in a monetary union. There are two reasons for this situation 1) the sovereign debt of each member country is issued under the control of each Ministry of Finance, 2) there is no European Ministry of Finance.The Germans has proposed the public of a European Monetary Fund, the French league has proposed the creation of a European Debt Agency which required that the Lisbon Treaty were amended or that a new treaty were negotiated. more people blamed this situation due to the lack of a common bond market which would help to put all members together. Some people reject the suggestion based on the fact that a common bond market would lower borrowing costs for weaker countries and increase costs for stronger countries such as Germany. In addition, the common bond market would obtain the budget rights from each governments which would not be able to make national budgets by themselves.Exit clauseFor years some countries have not respect or followed the requiremen ts listed in the Maastricht Treaty and are now facing extremely difficult economic situations. It is obvious in the current crisis that there is no political homogeneity among member countries from a political point of view. As a result, each member country has implemented its own picky economic model and how to conduct its own economic model. In addition, Greece, Spain, and Portugal do not truly benefit that their economic models are embedded in a globalised economy and these countries need to implement a set of painful structural reforms to keep them competitive. From the economic point of view, the countries in trouble have two major common reasons. The reasons are the lack of respect for the requirements and the lack of appropriate implementation of the structural reforms required under an economic recession.Currently there are debates on what should or should not be done with these countries. However, there are not room to manoeuvre this situation under the current legal fram ework.Expulsion of these countries from the Eurozone is not a good choice as it would definitely hurt the image of the EU and its member countries. Many scholars, economists propose that voluntary withdrawal from only the Eurozone while staying in the EU to would be the most ripe option.The legal framework the Treaty of Lisbon, does not provide the necessary methods to deal with problems of withdrawal, expulsion from Eurozone nor any other similar problem that might arrive soon. First, the Treaty of Lisbon has the no-bailout clause to prevent a budgetary problem in one country spilling over the EU as a whole. The no-bailout clause prohibits member countries from rescuing other countries or from accepting the debts of other countries. However, the Article 122 of Lisbon Treaty states that any member country seriously threatened with severe difficulties caused by natural disasters or exceptional occurrences beyond its control can receive financial assistance from other members. The q uestion is whether a member countrys current debt crisis could qualify as an exceptional occurrence and not a man-made issue. This clause was inserted to uphold unity and commitment of Eurozone. scarcely the reality is that some countries are possessing extremely high level debts and deficits far exceeding the requirements. Therefore, there are not many methods for to assist these financial troubled countries under the current circumstances. The Articles 4(2), 118, and 123(4) explicitly indicates that the process for adoption of the Euro is irreversible. Participation of the EMU becomes a legal obligation due to the irrevocability of the agreement and the monetary union process. Thus, the buy the farm option of leaving EMU while staying in the EU is impossible. The hold up option is only allowed to exit the EU and EMU altogether.In addition, there is no clear mechanism by which members could expel a fellow country. The expulsion could only be possible if the treaty were amended and provided that all member countries resolve favourably to this amendment.ConclusionThe EU and the Eurozone are suffering not only a financial crisis, but also a totally lack of appropriate structural reforms. The proper functioning of the EMU depends on the compliance with requirement provided in monetary and fiscal policies. Some member countries need to adopt urgently a number of structural reforms to promote economic growth of its own country and to stable euro as part of the EMU. Most importantly, the EMU should take this crisis as an opportunity to create a restructuring mechanism to strengthen and reform the economic, political foundations of the euro project.

Investment analysis: AirAsia Berhad

Investment depth psychology AirAsia Berhad1.0 Market analysisBefore we rout out proceed further in deciding whether investing in AiraAsia is a good plectrum or not, we pulmonary tuberculosis up to do a market analysis on the market condition of the flight path persistence. Our market fabrication is based on five master(prenominal) elements which argon1. LegalLike all told industries in the market, the flight path fabrication is besides tied to certain legal policy of the g all overnment so as to ensure the safety and the consumers rights. For the flight path industry knowledge domainwide, the rules and regulation ar set by the International Civil airwave Organization and is revise from age to time. The rules and regulations atomic number 18 mostly about flights safety measurements and too the management of safety during flight much(prenominal) as making the providence of first-aid kit compulsory on ein truth aircraft in case approximately(prenominal)thing re trieve during flight. Not only that, the air ste struggledess and air steward must buzz off basic fel menialship of first aid. 2. PoliticsPolitics play a major role in the mental process of the skyway association as hearty. Any political policy that is to the air passage companys disadvantage al offset usurp the cognitive operation and annual bring in of the respiratory tract. When the very first airline company was established in Ger galore(postnominal), which is Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-Aktiengesellschaft(DELAG), on 16 November 1909, it was under Germanys government service of process. But as the 20th century approaches, airline companies are deregulated. airline deregulating according to the Wikipedia encyclopedia is the process of removing entry and legal injury restrictions on airlines affecting the carriers permitted to serve specific routes. Airline deregulation began in the United States of America in 1978 and from there exist the Airline Deregulation corresp ond 1978 whereas for Europe, deregulation only began in the 1990s. Before deregulation happened, the airline company has to abide by the instructions of the government concerning the routes and the choice of which airports to land on and depart from. Whereas after deregulation, the airline company has the freedom to read any routes that they want and whichever airports that they want to stopover at. on that point are pros and cons to the deregulation of the airline company. The pro is the airline company has the freedom to decide on the operation of the airline whereas the con is that the entry barriers for new airline entrants are lower. and then, creating a more competitive market for established airlines. This is when the low damage carrier airline starts to appear in the market, such(prenominal) as Tiger Airway (Singapore), Jetstar Airways (Australia) and Pacific Blue Airlines (New Zealand). The appearance of these airways lead lower the profit margin of the existing airwa ys as belittled embody Carrier (LCC) airlines tend to damage their airfare at the very minimum toll as possible. An another(prenominal) political aspect is the existence of bilaterally symmetrical agreements between two or more countries regarding the authority of stopovers at different airports. Bilateral agreement is normally based on the concept of freedom of thee air where it gives the airline the freedom or rights to fly in the air space of another estate and similarly be permitted to stop at the airports of their choice. And sometimes, some pastoral may even allow foreign airline to operate on their internal routes, but this is very rarely to be found. This move by the government will remove many of the barriers to competition and allowing their feature airlines to hand foreign partners or code sharing partners. This will further increase the airline vex to more international routes and also further exposed the airline to foreign countries. Both the airline dereg ulation policy and the bilateral agreements play a major role in determining the successfulness of an airline company. A policy set by the government may crush or aid in the success of an airline company.3. EconomicsWhen we get wind at the frugal side of the market, we will first look at the overall Gross Domestic Product (gross domestic product) in the world. GDP is the value of all net goods and run from a nation in a given year. GDP is the better(p) tool to commit when accessing the performance of a country as it takes all the industries and products into consideration. A few of countrys GDP and the contribution of agriculture, industry and services to the total of GDP are listed in the table below. CountryGrowth rate (%) cultivation (%)Industry (%)Services (%)China8.710.948.640.5Egypt4.513.137.749.2India4.415.825.858.4Nigeria3.833.434.132.5Thailand-3.512.34443.7Venezuela-1.54.034.661.4America-2.41.221.976.9Singapore-2.60.026.873.2Malaysia-2.810.142.347.6Source CIA The Wor ld Factbook and Wikipedia Encyclopedia exclusively the countries have different GDP, some countries may have negative product and some countries have electropositive growth. This is normal as during 2008 is when the financial crisis happened. But not all countries did not benefit from the global economic form downturn as some countries have positive growth rate for their GDP. This may be delinquent to the fact that the countries benefited from industries that bring losses to another country which results in a tradeoff between the benefits between countries. The services industry contributes to most of the total of the GDP of the countries listed above except for china, Nigeria and Thailand. each(prenominal) three of these countries are more focused on industrial industry which may be due to the fact that these countries have more labored intensive industries. Thus, this shows that service industry plays an important role in the performance of a country and service industry in cludes airline industry. From the GDP of a country we bathroom look at the purchasing personnel parity (PPP) of the consumers. If the GDP of the country is low or is a negative value, this doer that the PPP of the citizen is low and vice versa. The PPP of consumers rouse also be linked directly to the inflation rate of a country. As the inflation rate increase, the PPP of consumer will drop. Inflation rate will increase the price of goods in general as the demand exceeded the supply of the goods. Thus, decreasing the inwardness of exceptional money allocated for luxurious goods which also include locomotion and entertainments. So the changes in the GDP of a country will affect all the industries, including the airline industry.There are times when not only the GDP will affect the performance of an airline it may be due to natural disasters which include earthquake, tsunami and shoot flood which have been happening quite frequently at a timeadays. All of these can disrupt th e operation of the airline companies as facilities and airports maybe destroyed in the process. Thus, cause an airline company to face loss in the event of natural disasters. Another event that might affect the economic performance of an airline company is terrorism such as the event of the ill-fated day of September 11, 2001where American Airlines and United Airlines was hijacked. This had caused both airways to face huge losses due to the decline in value of the airways stocks. This can reflect the assumption of the customers towards both the airlines had declined extremely as an aftermath of the hijacking event. Below is the graph depicting the change in stock price for both companies.4. SocialAs the years goes by, consumer demands are evolving gradually. The consumers nowadays want anything that is their convenience, ratty and can be done instantly without going by painstaking procedures. So as to agree the change in the demands of the customers, the airline company has to improvise themselves from time to time. Most of the airline companies nowadays have their own websites. This is to make it easier for the consumers to check the availability of tickets, the schedule of the airline and also enabling the consumers to purchase their ticket through e-ticketing. All of these are to the customers convenience. So as to attract more customers, some airlines are now practicing online check-in of luggage where luggage can be checked-in within 24 hours of the scheduled flight. Social and economic factors are closely related to individually other as any changes in the market thrift will directly affect the consumer behavior. As stated above under the economic factors, the event of financial crisis will affect the PPP of the customers as prices of goods have been increased due to inflation. In order to rescue more money, consumers will opt for cheaper goods. The same goes to the purchase of airfares. The lower the airfare is, the better it is and this even a pplies to personal line of credit tripers travelling on aid descriptor. This can be proven by a study done by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) where it shows that the consumers choice of seats have changed as the number of premium class travelers have decreased. This can be seen clearly from the graph below.The graph shows that the number of premium passengers had started to square up since july 2008 and keeps dropping until sometime in may 2009 before it the number of passengers travelling on premium class starts to increase gradually. Even though there is an increase of passengers travelling on premium class, it still takes time for the airline company to rebound back from the huge amount of losses that they have incurred.5. TechnologyWith the packaging of the technological changes in the world, the technology used by the airline company also improvised with time. In the past, whenever the customers wanted to buy air tickets, they will have to go to either the airlines office or any travel agency to purchase their tickets. But now, customers can just purchase their ticket with a contact of the mouse. They do not even need to step out of the house, as hanker there is profits available. Advanced check-in can also be done through the internet 24 hours earlier to the flight departure. All of these technologies are to the consumers convenience. Advancement in the technology of the airline industry can also be seen on the safety and the comfort of the aircraft. Aircrafts nowadays are more comfortable, safer and in-flight entertainment is also provided for long haul flights. This is very different from the olden aircraft where the main purpose of the aircraft is just to merchant marine passengers from one rase to another. Both the Airbus and Boeing Company are improvising their aircraft from time to time in so as to ensure that their aircraft is the best in terms of safety and also the comfort level. Airline companies in the market are also using the advancement in technology to implement risk management by providing good and true databases for risk analysis and targeting, providing faster and more effective contrast processes, more efficient recordkeeping and providing better services to the customers.2.0 Airline Industry AnalysisThe airline industry had always been a highly regulated industry from the beginning of its establishment. The deregulation or liberalization movement initially started in the US in 1978. Governments usually treat the airline industry differently compared to some other industries due to the sensitivity of the aviation business, which select some national security and sovereignty issues. In this report, Porters Five Forces Model is creation used to analysis the aviation industry structure to provide an overall view of the industry. This is a well-established model, in which the industry can be simulated as a model influenced by five different factors called forces as shown in Figure 1.1. A suitable dynamic interaction of these five forces shapes the basic structure to determine the positiveness and attractiveness of the industry. 2.1 Industry CompetitorThe degree of rivalry is one of the most important factors that determining profitability of the industry. The market growth and number of competitors are some of the causes that will affect the industry rivalry. For the airline industry where its fixed personify is usually very high and the variable cost is low, competition is fierce as airlines are trying to generate revenue to reach break-even level in order to survive.Competition in the airline industry can be divided into competition between low cost carriers (LCCs) and expert service carriers (FSCs) in both regional and domestic markets. There are 6 budget airlines in Malaysia which are Air Asia, fire beetle, Tiger Airways, Cebu Pacific, Jetstar, and Lion Air. The competition among low cost carriers is usually fiercer as oblation the cheaper airfare i s utmost important for them. One of the main reasons that passengers choose to use a LCC is cheaper airfares. Since most of the low cost carriers do not have frequent flyer program to impose fault cost on customers, it is rather difficult for them to build up customer loyalty except constantly offering a cheaper airfare to retain their customers. On the other hand, there are a lots of total service airline in Malaysia such as MAS, Cathay Pacific Airway, China Airlines, Eva Airways Corporation, and so on. Thus, the competition between full service carriers is more complicated. This is because FSCs are competing in many aspects of their services, such as net sour coverage, flight frequency, and service quality and ticket prices. While the competition between FSCs and LCCs are mainly focused on attracting each others market as they usually have different customer bases. Customer base of LCCs are mainly made up of leisure traveler while FSCs appear to be more attractive for busines s traveler.2.2 SuppliersSuppliers are those who provide necessary raw material, equipment and labor for an airline to perform their daily operation. Suppliers strength can greatly affect the industrys profitability, if there is a high concentration in the supplier power, they can practice influence on airlines thus increasing their heaping power. Major inputs for airline to provide their services to passengers are aircraft, labor, fuel and landing slots. The fleet is the most important assets for airlines to generate revenue. However, there are only two major aircraft manufacturers in the West, Boeing and Airbus, which almost monopolizing the wide-body civil transport aircraft market worldwide. Hence, the bargain power of aircraft manufacturers against airlines carcass very strong, as the concentration of aircraft supplier market is very high.Some airline employees are considered as highly specialized and professionals, such as pilots and aircraft technicians. Due to their specia lizations, it is almost impossible for an airline to find replacements for pilots or maintenance workers in short time, which may cause an increase in the bargaining power of their employees over the airlines. In this regard, the labor cost is one of the biggest operating costs of most airlines. However, cutting cost is the main agenda of airline nowadays, and the labor cost is always the first to be the victim.2.3 The Buyers PowerThe buyers power is define as the influence that customers can have on the airlines revenue affecting ticket prices and service charges. If the buyers power is strong enough, customers can set the ticket price, and vice verse. Strong buyer power can bargain away potential airline profit and extract other benefits from airlines such as quality-improved services. Some of the affirmative factors to strong buyers power in the airline industry are relatively low customer switching cost, low product differentiation, and freely available data on Internet. Neve rthe slight, the buyers power may be demote by low buyer concentration or small purchase volume. Although fierce pricing war dispute among the airlines, it is notably that buyers do not play proactive roles in the pricing war. Current price impacts in the market is aimed to keeping the airlines competitors out of the market rather than providing the low pricing power of the airlines to their customers. Besides, travel agents, who usually buy air tickets in large volume, yield greater power but they use this concept to strengthen their position in the market rather than transferring the cost benefit to costumers.2.4 New neophyteNew entrant refers to any new player in the aviation market which will deal with the incumbents. A key criterion to dissect the threat of new entrant in the industry is to analyze the level of entry barriers. Entry barriers are obstacles that may discourage others from entering the market hence affect the competition of the industry.New entrants will also l ower the potential profits of the industry as a whole. Most common entry barriers in airline industry are regulation restrictions, labor, access to distribution channels and high capital requirement. However, the entry barriers to the airline industry had generally been lowered recently, especially on the regulation restrictions and distribution channels.The example of new entrant to Low Cost Carrier s is Firefly airline, which was growth recently and become a strong competitor to Air Asia airline.2.5 SubstitutesSubstitution represents the threat that other industries or transportation may offer a product, which can replace air transport. The threat of commutation depends on the type of flight, namely long haul or short haul, and travel purpose such as business or leisure. For short haul and leisure travel, the main substitution threat in the Asia Pacific comes from surface transport such as road and sea transport. Even though some of the airfares from LCCs are lower than bus fare , but after paying for the airport charges and insurances, customers will find that generally the total cost of air travel is still higher than that of road transport. Although surface transport is cheaper in term of money, it still costs the passenger more in terms of time and efficiency. Furthermore, road transport generally will not compete with long haul travel, especially for cross nation traveling.On the other side, latest technology inventions such as videoconference pose a bigger threat for business travel. In the aftermath of 911, many worries that the airline industry will be substituted by video conferencing companies as they assumed that people will be less willingly to travel since then. However, the speedy traffic retrieval proved them wrong. Although the international passenger full stop havent returned to the pre-crisis level, but it seems the recovery is on the right path.2.6 Low Cost and Budget Airline Air Asia BerhadAir Asia is one of the largest low fare and no frills airline. in Low Cost Carriers (LCC) industry which providing guests with the choice of customizing services without compromising on quality and services .It operates scheduled domestic and international flights and it is also the first airline in the region to implement fully ticketless travel and unassigned seats. On 12 November 2008, Air Asia abolished fuel surcharges. In doing so, it claimed to be the first airline in the world to abolish fuel surcharges. From this statement, we can conclude that Air Asia is successful to expand their market as well as they airline had flown 55 million cumulative passengers by 2009.In 2010, it has the worlds worst costs for an Airline, at $3.21 per seat-kilometer. Air Asia is able to attract more customers in future since they can offer lower price tickets to flight around the world.Last but not least, Air Asia is a corporate that potential to growth among the LCC industry due to its competence dodge holding. This corporate was emphasize on leanest cost structure transparentness in decision making and culture sharing safety invest and enhance the Air Asia disfigurement to maximize takeholders value human capital organic evolution and passion for guest satisfaction. Hence, investor can be confidence with their performance as well. 3.0 Company AnalysisAirAsia is one of the award winning and largest low fare airlines in the Asia expanding rapidly since 2001. With a fleet of 72 aircrafts, AirAsia flies to over 61 domestic and international destinations with 108 routes, and operates over 400 flights daily from hubs located in Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia. Today, AirAsia has flown over 55 million guests crosswise the region and continues to create more extensive route network through its associate companies. AirAsia believes in the no-frills, hassle-free, low fare business concept and feels that keeping costs low requires high efficiency in every part of the business. Through the corporate philosophy of Now Eve ryone Can Fly, AirAsia has sparked a revolution in air travel with more and more people around the region choosing AirAsia as their preferred choice of transport. AirAsia creates values through the following vision and mission. (Resources http//www.airasia.com/my/en/aboutus/irorganizationalstructure.html?)3.1 Mission To be the best company to work for whereby employees are treated as part of a big family Create a globally know ASEAN brand To attain the lowest cost so that everyone can fly with AirAsia Maintain the highest quality product, comprehend technology to reduce cost and enhance service levels3.2 VisionTo continue to be the lowest cost short-haul airline in every market we serve, delivering strong organic growth through offering the lowest airfares at a profit. Leanest Cost Structure Efficient and simple point to point operations Attracting and retaining gumptious and smart people Passion for continuous cost reduction Maximise Shareholders Value Resilient profit gr owth through our lower cost base Expansion of the AirAsia network in a discreet and disciplined manner Invest and enhance the AirAsia brand to increase investors returns Safety Comply with the highest International Aviation Safety Standards and practices Keep operations simple and transparent Ensure the security of our People and Guests Passion for Guests joy Maintain simplicity in every application Practice the unique and friendly AirAsia experience at every opportunity Recognise the linkage between guests satisfaction and long-term success foil Transparency in decision-making and information sharing Optimum disclosure higher than industry norms Timeliness in disclosing information Human Capital Development Invest in both hard and soft skills Recognize all our People as contributors to our success Reward excellence and individual contributions Maintaining one brand across the base (Resources http//www.airasia.com/my/en/aboutus/irstrategy.html?)3.3 Strateg y (Resources http//www.airasia.com/my/en/aboutus/irstrategy.html?)3.4 Values1.Safety Adopting a postal code tolerance to unsafe practices and strive for zero accidents through proper training,work practices, risk management and adherence to safety regulations at all times.2. Valuing Our People Committing to our peoples development and well-being and treating them with respect, dignity and fairness.3.Customer Focused We care and treat everyone in the same manner that we want to be treated.4.Integrity Practicing highest standards of ethical behaviour and demonstrate honesty in all our lines of work in order to controller trust and mutual respect.5.Excellence in Performance Setting goals beyond the best and reinforcing high quality performance standards and achieving excellence through implementing best practices.(Resources Air Asia Annual Report 2008)3.5 Logo3.6 MottoNOW EVERYONE cannister FLY3.7 Directors Biography Dato Abdel Aziz Abdul Aziz salt away Abu Bakar(Non-Executive Ch airman)Dato Sri Anthony Francis Fernandes (commonly known as Dato Sri Tony Fernandes)Dato Kamarudin bin Meranun (Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer)Conor Mc Carthy (Non-Executive Director)3.8 Independent DirectorsDato Leong Sonny Leong Khee Seong (Independent Non-Executive Director)Fam Lee Ee (Independent Non-Executive Director)Dato Mohamed Khadar bin Merican (Independent Non-Executive Director)Datuk Alias bin Ali (Independent Non-Executive Director) (Resources http//www.airasia.com/my/en/aboutus/irdirectorsbiography.html?)Share recording machineSymphony Share Registrars Sdn Bhd direct 26, Menara Multi-Purpose, Capital Square8 Jalan Munshi Abdullah50100 Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaTel 603-2721 2222 Fax 603-2721 2530/1Corporate componentECM Libra BerhadStock Exchange ListingMain Board of Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad(Listed since 22 November 2004)(Stock code 5099)AuditorsPricewaterhouseCoopersLevel 10, 1 Sentral, Jalan Travers, Kuala Lumpur Sentral50706 Kuala LumpurTel 603-2173 11 88 Fax 603-2173 1288Audit CommitteeDato Leong Sonny Leong Khee SeongFam Lee EeDatuk Alias bin AliDato Mohamed Khadar bin Merican(Resources Air Asia Annual Report 2008)3.9 Major Shareholders As of 12 November 2009, about 26% of the total share capital was owned by TuneAir Sdn Bhd. AirAsia is a substantially owner managed company, the cumulative ownership by the jump on of directors constitutes approximately 28% of the share capital.Shareholder nameNo. of shares owneWhat Is Atherosclerosis affection?What Is Atherosclerosis Disease?Atherosclerosis is an rabble-rousing condition affecting mainly the medium sized and large muscular arteries in the vasculature. Research suggests that the role of statins as a cholesterin lowering agent is only one of their many pharmacological purposes, and that they can also be used in the treatment of incitive conditions such as coronary artery disease. A lot of funding has gone into this area of research as its predicted that in the next 15 years , it is expected that cardiovascular related events are going to be the main cause of death worldwide. Thus there is a greater need to consider novel strategies in management of cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis. In the course of this essay I will attempt to describe how and why atherosclerosis is an subversive condition and how statins can be exploited as anti inflammatory agents in decrease the overall cardiovascular risk associated with the disease.There is a lot of laminar blood flow through the medium sized and large arteries in the vasculature which are the prime positions for atherosclerotic plaques to grow, making the blood flow more turbulent. This leads to the build up of ischemic tissue in organs where blood flow becomes modified lead-in to major vascular events as a consequence. The composition of this atheroma is the first indication that the disease is of an inflammatory origin as it matches that expected at the intermediate phase of injury. Also, as seen in other inflammatory states, monocytes are attracted to the site of inflamed tissue and differentiate into macrophages. This leads to an increase in production of inflammatory cytokines and an upregulation in toll like receptors.The plaque is largely made up of macrophages, mast cells, T cells, fibrin, collagen and platelets aggregates which indicate that the tolerant system has been activated to produce an inflammatory response to the insult. It is now also evident that the actual stenosis is less of a contributing factor to ischemia and that it is more of a result of the activation of plaque content, eg, macrophage and mast cells, which elicits the prothrombotic and procoagulant factors knotty in thrombus formation.The role of cholesterol in plaque formation is considerable as macrophages found in the plaque composition are heavily saturated with cholesterol ester giving them their name, sparkle cells. Additionally, there is a lot more LDL in the circulation which has bee n proven to be pro inflammatory and is raised in atherosclerosis. Raised LDL in it self is a big contributing factor to the formation of foam cells as the LDL becomes oxidised and reduces de-novo synthesis of LDL receptors on endothelial cells and macrophages. Running parallel to this, CD34 chatterbox receptors on these cells become unregulated so macrophages and endothelial cells engulf cholesterol and cholesterol esters in an runaway manner leading to the formation of foam cells. These then set off a series of events leading to more foam cell production and plaque formation. This illustrates the important role cholesterol has in descent the inflammatory processes involved in atherosclerosis thus foregrounding the need of statins to utilise their lipoid and non lipid pharmacological mechanisms involved in cholesterol lowering as well as controlling the inflammation.There is a lot of reason from experiments which link the involvement of cholesterol and inflammation in atherosc lerosis. There is reason which suggests that the presence of cholesterol results in an over expression of cell adhesion molecules, eg VCAM-1, ICAM-1 and E-selectin. Also, increased release of cytokines such as MCP-1 within the plaque as well as macrophages tumor necrosis factor-alpha, IFN-gamma and IL-1 which is all consistent with the inflammatory process. Additionally, mast cells are attracted and degranulated at the site of plaque formation. Other experimental evidence also shows that when cholesterol fed rats are treated with immunosuppressive drugs there is a reduction in the atherosclerosis. There is research into the possibility of there being some angiogenesis in the area which is consistent with the proliferative phase of repair involving the immune system. All of the above illustrates, with evidence, the inflammatory origins of atherosclerosis.Infectious agents are also associated with activating the immune system to produce a pro inflammatory response to a foreign organi sm. There is further evidence which illustrates that this is also true for atherosclerosis. There have been suggestions which say that infectious agents such as Chlamydia pneumoniae damage the endothelial cells in the same way as cholesterol. Infection with this organism can cause increased cell activation and expression of adhesion molecules as well as programmed cell death at site of damage. Also, there is increased cytokine expression in smooth muscle cells and the increased size of cells correlates to the neointimal thickening (plaque) associated with the disease. Overall, this leads to the recruitment and activation of immune cells such as leucocytes which are a major contributor to the inflammatory process. It was also shown through experimental models, that this infection causing the plaque formation can be treated by azithromycin which is a well established immunosuppressant. All this evidence again foregrounds the strong correlation of inflammation in atherosclerosis.Now t hat we have established that atherosclerosis is indeed an inflammatory condition which can be exacerbated by high cholesterol and infection, the treatment strategy should therefore involve the use of statins for their cholesterol lowering and non lipid properties allowing them to be effective in resolving the inflammation.The conventional role of statins is the inhibition of HMG-CoA reductase enzyme which intern stops all the enzymatic steps occurring downstream of this enzyme to finally reducing hepatic cholesterol production. This leads to the inhibitory effect cholesterol has on LDL receptor synthesis being lifted so more receptors are synthesised leading to a greater uptake of cholesterol from the circulation thus lowering overall blood cholesterol levels. There is a lot of novel evidence suggesting the benefits of statins occurring before blood cholesterol reduction which illustrates that some other process must be involved. obscure from the conventional HMG-CoA reduction, s tatins also have non lipid related activity. They inhibit the production of mevalonic acid and isoprenoid metabolites which accounts for the apparent immunosuppressant activity of statins in atherosclerosis. In the case of inflammatory diseases, statins can also reduce smooth muscle proliferation, reduce over expression of cell adhesion molecules, reduce infiltration of macrophage and T cells to site of damage, inhibit antigen dependant T cell activation and reduce other inflammatory mediators such as IL-6, TNF alpha, C reactive protein and INF-gamma. Some studies have also shown the action of statins in vivo when an small experimental amount of 2ng/kg of LPS from E coli was injected into volunteers taking simvastatin or a placebo. The results of this study illustrated the non lipid personal effects of statins in response to insult as there was no change in blood TNFalpha in the group taking the statin which shows that statins have a role in affecting the bodys immune response to i nternational insult. This clearly foregrounds the roles of lipid and non lipid mechanisms of action of statins in reducing serious outcomes related to the occurrences of cardiovascular events.In conclusion, it is clear from experimental evidence that atherosclerosis has been identified as an inflammatory disease. There is significant information to support the notion of using statins in a clinical setting for their lipid and non lipid effects to aid the over all reduction in the atherosclerosis and the role it has in activating an immune response. Therefore, statins can be used for their pleiotropic effects in inflammatory disease such as atherosclerosis to help alleviate the body of the inflammatory response related to the condition.

Are Ghosts An Illusion Of The Mind Philosophy Essay

Are Ghosts An Illusion Of The Mind Philosophy showGhosts atomic number 18 just one of the many sub issuances that reside within the take of extrasensory. Paranormal fellowships are studied using psychic phenomenon a scientific approach to supposedly paranormal owns. With the use of H. J. Irwins brilliant book c eached, An gateway to Parapsychology Third Edition, and Bobby Elgees article c e truly last(predicate)ed, Evidence of the Paranormal and Ghosts, we are able to deduce a theoretic completelyy sound explanation of what is paranormal and since when has the topic been studied. Then, we analyze the endurance possible action and the ability of a soulfulness to hot orthogonal the body. After, we proceed to the definition of weirdys and their usual where actives while setting the conditions that they commonly appear in as well as to who they appear. Finally, we go on to claiming that these experiences are non truely ghosts, but either hallucinations or just evide ntly paranormal due to the admites wild close that it couldnt be anything former(a) than a ghost.Ghosts An Illusion of the MindGhosts are not what you think they are, utmost from it. They arent the friendly little ghost you define in Casper, nor are they the damn Baron from SpongeBob Squarepants who haunts the ocean for eternity. They might not even be anything at all, just a word batch exploit to an unknown intent which might dupe a logical explanation. Yet, most cultures in the universe conceive in the body having a soul which like the tick off to itt, put forward exist and work in an different body. Yet, even if much(prenominal) an motif is generally believe by a large population of the world, it whitethorn not be true. Thought or belief provokes nothing, for if it were, then a group could believe in radioactive helicopter bunnies and it would be fact. Yet, tribe need produce, therefore, to believe ghosts, we need proof that they exist. Life isnt neither what people see in movies, read in books nor see in pictures. Therefore, neither are ghosts. In order to prove ghosts dont exist, we have to analyze the paranormal and the paranormal, the selection theory, the situations in which ghost usually appear and how most experiences are most likely fakes.According to Bobby Elgee, the word paranormal but sum not scientifically explainable. (Elgee, 2009, pg 1) Meanwhile, parapsychology is known as the cultivation of unmistakable anomalies of behavior and experience that exist apart from currently known instructive mechanisms that account for organism-environment and organism-organism information and influence flow (Irwin, 1999, pg 1). Therefore, it is the commutation of a universe to other, or a being to a surrounding. In other words, parapsychology is using a scientific approach to study experiences that whitethorn be paranormal and to determine whether or not the evident paranormal timberland of a given class of parapsychological expe rience is authentic or ontologically real. (Irwin, 1999, pg 9)According to Irwin, recorded instances of parapsychological experiences of course may be rig among all cultures and in all historic periods. (Irwin, 1999, pg 13) Yet, the testing of such experiences for trueness and authenticity was slower to emerge. Some, such as Henry More and Joseph Glanvill showed themselves awake(p) to the possibility of fraud, delusion, and unreliable observation, but their views to a greater extent religious than scientific as they were endeavoring to ascertain the earthly presence of the devil and diabolical forces. (Irwin, 1999, pg 14) It was later that Francis Bacon slang a call for accusative scrutiny of parapsychological experiences (Irwin, 1999, pg 14) which was more scientific than More and Glanvill, but at the time society was not pervious to such a view and Bacons arguments went unheeded. (Irwin, 1999, pg 14) Then, a center in England called the edict for Psychical Research where par apsychologists are united in their conviction that the objective investigation of parapsychological phenomena was called for, despite the prevailing disinterest in such research among the established divisions of science. (Irwin, 1999, pg 13) regular(a) today, most of society disregards the subject as scientific, yet parapsychology is under taken as a scientific endeavor regardless of its subject proceeds, flaws in any of its research procedures, and the speculative rhetoric of its critics. (Irwin, 1999, pg 2) Therefore, Irwin states that, All ESP experiences thus are parapsychological, but we command proof that any of them could be paranormal. (Irwin, 1999, pg 2)How do parapsychologists know that an experience is authentically paranormal? According the Elgee, Competent paranormal investigators will attempt to traffic pattern out the anomaly (Elgee, 2009, pg 1) or anything that seems abnormal or irregular. If someone captures a photo of a strange orb or mist, parapsychologists would ask all questions possible in order to rule out irregularities such as is it a reflection? Is it a bug? Is it dust? Is it condensation on the lens of the camera? Is it a problem with the developing and/or produce process? (Elgee, 2009, pg 1) Yet, according to Irwin, parapsychologists focus of study is purely a matter of appearance, of how an experience seems to be. (Irwin, 1999, pg 2) Therefore, even if the survival hypothesis proves not to provide a legitimate basis for their conceptual integration, each of these experiences appears to entail the initiation of a nonphysical or spiritual self (Irwin, 1999, pg 9) thereby, the experience is parapsychological. The authenticity of the experience relates to the question of whether the issue of underlying processes concerns the question of how? (Irwin, 1999, pg 9) For it to be paranormal, the question of mustiness be raised. How is this possible? How did this come here? How did it happen? If the question of how fecesnot be answ ered, it is hence called paranormal. Yet, there are groups today that are causing a steadfast declination in the belief of the paranormal. They are damaging the credibility of legitimate and accomplished paranormal researchers and parapsychologists by posting photographs that are advantageously dismissed as well-known and easily identifiable camera malfunctions and other artifacts of the photographic process. (Elgee, 2009) If people keep on claiming that every small malfunction is an fantasm or paranormal experience, then nobody would believe if a true paranormal experience emerged. It would be the boy who called wolf all over again, except with ghosts, orbs, mists and many other strange paranormals.According to Irwin, the survival hypothesis concerns the notion of postmortem survival, that is, that a disembodied consciousness or some such discarnate cistron of human personality might survive bodily death at least for a time. (Irwin, 1999, pg 175) Simply stated, the survival hyp othesis is the notion that there is some element of human existence that survives death. (Irwin, 1999, pg 8) For an vestige or spirit to appear, it has to be able to survive outside the body. Due to the fact that apparitions, ghosts as a matter of fact, coffin nail be of the living, we hind end assume that survival does not necessarily imply immortality or eternal existence (Irwin, 1999, pg 175) after death of the body, but more of the soul being able to survive outside the body for a limited time. Therefore, when comprehending an experience in which an apparition is involved, parapsychologists must be able to believe that a disembodied consciousness or some such discarnate element of human personality might survive bodily death at least for a time. (Irwin, 1999, pg 175) Due to implications of an existence after death, the survival hypothesis has obvious religious connotations. (Irwin, 1999, pg 175) Yet, since the topic is being studied from a scientific point of view, these are of no concern. Therefore, when looking at the topic from a scientific point of view, we ask questions. In order to analyze, the first footstep is to ask questions in order to be able to understand all aspects of the situation. Becker asks, is there a nonphysical element of human existence that can separate from the physical body, can survive organic death, can reattach its disposal as an integral personality after death, can appear ahead and haunt the living, and can be born again in another body? (Becker, 1993, pg 9) Yet, it cannot be scientifically proven that there is a demeanor after death since there is no evidence. That is a question of faith at this point in time since there is no scientific evidence of the existence of ghosts or an afterlife. (Elgee, 2009) Therefore, we have to assume accordingly that in case of a life after death, we could thereby presume a ghost to be real. Yet, until then, all suggestions are merely that and nothing else.A ghost is a type of apparit ion. According to Irwin, an apparition is encountered in a perceptual-like experience and relates to a person or animal that is not physically present, with physical means of communication being ruled out. (Irwin, 1999, pg 243) Therefore, for it to be an apparition there has to be evidence that the figure is not there and has no possible means of a connection to the witness. Yet, Irwin states that it is held to be pointless to declaim of apparitions unless we mean this term to refer to the hypothesis of an objective entity. (Irwin, 1999, pg 243) He goes on to say the having defined the term thus, it is up to parapsychologists to ascertain if these hypothesized objective entities genuinely exist. (Irwin, 1999, pg 243) Therefore, it is up to parapsychologists to study all rational explanations until there are no explanations, naming the experience as paranormal, but not necessarily an apparition. As Eglee states, If weve done a good job ruling out everything, we may just be left wit h something paranormal. Thats it. (Elgee, 2009) We cannot call something unexplainable by a name other than paranormal, or seemingly an apparition. Otherwise, it would be metaphorical to trade someone you dont know Bob. You may assume it to be Bob, but he is just an unknown somebody until evidence proves otherwise. One problem that could be raised against any definition of the apparition (Irwin, 1999, pg 243) is that it could be a hallucination. Unless witnesses by more than one sanitary person, an apparition could be a persons chief playing tricks on the so-called experient. Therefore, parapsychologists have gone from studying the apparition to studying the apparitional experience in order to adopt a phenomenological approach (Irwin, 1999, pg 244) in the field of study.According to Irwin, so-called ghosts are recurrent haunting apparitions, that is, the same figure is witnessed in the same position on a number of occasions often by a number of different experients. (Irwin, 1999, 250) Here, we witness Irwin suggesting that for the figure to be a ghost, it has to be seen in the same location, more than once and by different witnesses. He as well adds that some ghosts informly perform the same actions in the same location on each occasion they are undergo. (Irwin, 1999, pg 244) He states that they appear real and solid as well as that their appearance changes as the experient moves somewhat it. They occlude objects they move in front of and are occluded by objects they move behind. (Irwin, 1999, pg 244) He also includes instances in which they may cast a shadow or when the experient may perceive their reflection in a mirror. (Irwin, 1999, 244) This disproves the transparent misty forms popularized in fiction (Irwin, 1999, 244) Irwin states that most figures are experienced within 10 feet of the subject and in the majority of cases () the figure is not recognized by the experient. (Irwin, 1999, pg 247)If an experience is defined as paranormal, is truly jus tifiable to be able to call the irregularity a ghost? yet Elgee states, To take the next step and call a possibly paranormal photograph a picture of a ghost is a jump out of faith that I, personally, cant swallow. A person can certainly make that statement, but at that point it becomes an opinion, a statement based on belief and faith. (Elgee, 2009) He goes on to proclaim that, At that point, I can choose what I believe. Theres simply no evidence backing it up. (Elgee, 2009) Even in spirit communication there are points where the truth simply depends on faith. The medium could be lying, unless it is one of the rare instances where the medium have some skill the personality demonstrably possessed while lively but which the medium himself/herself does not have. (Irwin, 1999, pg 177)Ghost recognition is simply to incoherent to be studied scientifically. As Elgee proclaims, ghost hunting doesnt lend itself to a well-controlled scientific experiment. (Elgee, 2009) He goes on to sta te that, The methodologies are weak, the equipment used was never originally designed to detect ghosts, and it is nearly impossible to replicate the results. (Elgee, 2009) Therefore, how can it be proved that ghosts exist with the use of insufficient methods and equipment that was not make for ghost hunting? Even Irwin states that, in no way is there any presumption here of the existence of the paranormal even though many contemporary parapsychologists () actually regard parapsychology as the study of the paranormal. (Irwin, 1999, pg 1) If someone who has spent most of his life studying the paranormal refuses to proclaim the existence of it, then how can we believe the many who claim without proof that a minor irregularity is something major such as the ghost of dead person?Are there really such things as ghosts due to the fact that most of the apparitions seen are dead? According to Irwin, about 70% of recognized apparitions are of people whom the experient knew to be dead. (Irwin, 1999, pg 247) He goes on to proclaim that the number of ghost an experient witnesses may vary with the age of the case-by-case or more precisely, with the number of deceased persons the individual knew. (Irwin, 1999, pg 247) Therefore, it assumed that the more dead people you know, the more likely you are able to see ghosts. Is it truly ghosts? Or is it the mind playing memories of actions you have seen the diseased playacting in a certain place every time you rejoin by. For example, you see your dead grandmother planting flowers in the garden every time you walk by on a visit.Most experients are likely to lie or jump to conclusions, therefore, we can presume that the performance of fraud () remain potential interpretations (Irwin, 1999, pg 177) of such proclamations as the sightings of ghosts or other apparitions. It might even be a story used to addition the experients reputation in order to make him/her more interesting. One of Irwins students reported the experience of str olling along a deserted beach and feeling someone walkway beside her. (Irwin, 1999, pg 247) Most of humanity gets the same feeling while walking alone, especially in the dark, yet, usually, there is no one there and it is a trick of the mind. The student goes on to proclaim, that she did not see or ensure anything to indicate there was something there (Irwin, 1999, pg 247), yet, the sense of a presence was very strong and she felt very comfortable with it. (Irwin, 1999, pg 247) Could it not have been a cool breeze that caused the student to feel comfortable and, assuming it was prompt since she was on the beach, the breeze was strong due to the oceans current? No, the student jumped to the conclusion that it was an apparition or spirit, but unfortunately, the student has no proof. Another experience is of one totally deaf man described hearing the voicelessness of an apparitional figures dress. (Irwin, 1999, pg 247) Is it really true, or is it the yearning of the man to actually hear something, that his mind played tricks on him? Since most experients whom are able to witness many ghosts or apparitions have known many deceased, could it not be assumed that it is just the mind projecting an image of that we wish to see? A similar analogy would be that of a man confine in a desert seeing a mirage of a lake. What we see, is simply what we wish to see and nothing more.By analyzing the parapsychological and the paranormal, the survival theory, the situations in which ghosts usually appear and how most of those experiences are easily proven fakes, we have come to the conclusion that it is impossible for ghosts to truly exist unless evidence prove otherwise. Even if, later on, experients actually turn out to have a sixth sense that could perceive the dead, could it not be just that a sixth sense?

Sociolinguistics as a Way of Adjustment in Conversation

Sociolinguistics as a Way of Adjustment in communicationINTRODUCTIONThis study is aiming to examine how different strategies and processes ar rehearsed in sociolinguistics as a way of adjustment of the writers manner of predict in relation to his or her perception of the addres consume. This is a complex process of intensify inwardly the dynamics of conversation and writing. (Giles/Powesland 1975).It is a good deal said that convergence seems to be the rule in media language. For instance, phonological features in radio broadcasting showed that presenters use measurably to a greater extent informal pronunciations in stations which primarily address lower part, slight educated, and younger listeners (Bell 1991. Ch.6). As far as news composings ar concerned, the followed classic hypothesis of convergence has been made by S. H every(prenominal), who claims that there is a reciprocity of producer/reader, what he called the public idiom of the media. up to now, this does not call up that the readers actually speak what they read or listen to, but there is evidence to suggest that a convergence takes place and that each paper makes its own convergence toward what it sees as a mode of discourse welcome to its readership (Hall 1978,61).BACKGROUND RESEARCHBell (1991.cb 6) has carried out research into causal pointor cutting out that organism words found inwardly the English Language that (which produces phrasal idioms equivalent superstar Cher, newsagents manager Martin Gilbert, Defence Secretary Michael Portillo (all from The Sun, January 6, 1996). Several studies show that the excommunication of articles in such phrases distinguishes tag ends from broadsheet British News paper. These are correlations with assumed class and education and the deletion seems to imply modernity, populism, and journalistic raciness.-Medienwissenschaft ein Handbuch zur Entwicklung der Medien un Kommunikations formenJoaquin-Flix, Hans-Wemer Ludwig)(Media Science A manu al(a) for the development of the media and communication forms)Ryden (1975) and Bell (1985) both investigate the use of noun phrase name appositions in newswritten document language and in particular the spread of phrases manage Opposition leader Neil Knock with descriptive noun phrase appositive without a decisive factor preceding the name.This format is relatively recent and is in Britain largely but not entirely restricted to the twain categories of tabloid papers-Social Stylistics Syntactic variation in British Newspapers Andreas H. Jucker-The influence of the reader in newspaper expression is supported by the research carried out by Bell (1991) and Jucker (1989).Bell (1991 107-108), in his studies on naming expressions, states that this practice was more common in papers like The Sun, The Mirror, The Express than in The telegraph, The guardian and The Times.The deletions were found in greater itemises in papers provide for lower socio-economic classes.After studying the deletion of determiners Jucker (1989) divided British newspapers into triad categories below. He found that determiners were deleted more often in Down markets papers than in Midmarket papers, while there were really few deletions in style with a certain type of reader. Using this information Jucker (1989) divides British newspapers into tierce categoriesUp market The Times, Financial Times, Guardian, Independent, day-after-day telegraphMidmarket Daily Mail, Daily Express, TodayDown-market Daily Mirror, Star, Sun.The writers mentioned in this section all maintain that TABLOIDS and BROADSHEETS are different in almost e really way.-A Genre Approach to Re-Entry Patterns in Editorials BARRY PENNOCKMethodologyMany considerations were interpreted in terms of which regularity would be best to use in send to carry out the investigation into the use of determiners in the media. The first decision that had to be made was which outset of the media would be use as a source for the study . The options ranged from television programs, magazines, network websites, radio and newspapers. The choice of newspapers was made based primarily on doorway to previous research, mentioned in the Background Research section of this report. The fact that a similar study had been carried out by Bell et al in the comparison of determiner usage surrounded by the different types of newspaper gave a good basis on which to base our own study. Added to this is the intrigue of whether the results obtained ordain have a similar outcome to those obtained by these linguists twenty days ago.The next step was to realise that in fellowship to study determiners, a national depth psychology was the only possible method that could be used. It was likewise the resembling method used by Bell et al. in their study. However there are some(prenominal) advantages and disadvantages of using this process that led to more terminus ad quems to the practical side of the study. It is fairly time co nsuming which underside often limit the researcher to a exquisiteer sample than a less time consuming method. The chance for a margin of error is increase particularly if relational analysis is used. This study does require a aim of relational analysis, that being the assumption of what by todays standard of English counts as a missing determiner and what does not which limits the validity of the results, especially if the heading is to directly compare the results found by Bell et al. It is also uncontrollable to computerize and therefore the results obtained have to be manually automated which adds to the inwardness time consumption that using a digital content analysis could perhaps have avoided.Our study therefore began firstly by selecting a turning of different newspapers to compare. This was done by initially selecting an equal number of British papers that are considered heavyweight1 newspapers, i.e. The Times, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, and an equal number of tabloid or middle-market2 newspapers such as The Daily Mail and the redtops,3 such as The Sun and The Daily Star. The six papers aforementioned were picked from those available from the University stigmatise on campus, with each category of newspaper represented and to be used in comparison with each other. They were thusly grouped into the retrospective classes multitude 1 included The Times, The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian Group 2 included The Sun, The Daily Mail and The Daily Star. Our hypothesis, that fewer determiners will be deleted from the papers in Group 1 than the amount deleted from Group 2, was thence decided upon. On the other hand there are many advantages to using content analysis such as the fact that it can combine quantitative and qualitative operations through the ability to see clearly the context of the deletion or inclusion. This method also has very few ethical issues as it is available to the public and no leave is needed in sound out to access it. It is also a very unobtrusive means of analysing the use of the English Language. It is also reliable as this study has been done before and can be repeated by the same or other researchers.After the newspapers were selected the specific details of how this content analysis would be carried out was then agreed upon. It was decided that two articles would be analysed from each of the six papers one regarding a political matter and the other focussing on sport. This was done in order to firstly observe if there was any difference between the uses of determiners between the papers and then secondly if there was a difference within the different papers when the subject matter was different. It was clear that in order to increase the validity of this research the newspapers analysed would have to all be taken from the same date and then the articles chosen were to be about the same topic within politics and sport. The newspapers were therefore collected for analysis on the 6th May 201 0 and the similar stories of the day in the two subject areas were then analysed. It was decided that the headlines and tag lines of all the articles would be included in the study. However it was recognised that headlines in general tend to have determiner deletions as standard.After the articles were selected the exact process of working out the determiner deletion was decided upon. Firstly the article word length was counted and recorded, then the entire article was analysed and all the determiners within the article were highlighted and wideled. Then a second analysis of each article was carried out in order to locate where the determiners were missing in accordance with Standard English practice.4 These would over again be totalled and recorded in a spread sheet where the number of determiners which have been deleted would be calculated as a percentage of the total determiners that could have been used in the entire article.Although every measure has been taken to improve the reliability, validity and practical issues posed by any method of research, this study is not without its limitations. Firstly not all the variables can be controlled. Firstly, the sex of the journalist whom had written each article is not being taken into account. This means that the results obtained could be reduced in validity, due to the fact that gender could have an influence over the amount of determiners used within the articles. In a similar vein, the age of the journalist is also unknown, which could likewise have an impact upon the amount of determiners used or deleted. It is also a fairly subjective study and it is likely that some determiner deletions could be overlooked depending upon the researcher carrying out the study. In order to improve this limitation the same person shall be carrying out the content analysis on each of the papers. Due to the time consuming nature of this method as aforementioned the sample size had to be kept quite small to three newspapers o f the two different categories. This reduces the representativeness of the study as not all newspapers have been analysed therefore it is probably unlikely that any generalisations can be made from this study only suggestions.

Orientalism And The Depiction Of Arabs Through Media Media Essay

Orientalism And The Depiction Of Arabs Through Media Media EssayI am half Egyptian, only when was raised in a non-Arab society therefore I stooge relate personalized experiences into the concept of Orientalism. I connect to the Arab assimilation, in this deterrent illustration the other, but since I grew up in a western society, I also express outlooks molded by this environment. Upon visiting Egypt for three weeks in 2001, I was capable to contrast the dickens portrayals and create my own pic of Arabs by compute observations. My paper go out approach orientalism, specifi makey dealing with Middle Eastern stack, and how the media has altered the westbound motion picture of the orient to mislead Arabs as a villainous airstream. Through political speeches, movies, cartoons, television set games and give-and- let reports in the media, orientalism in the westward universe of discourse, primarily beingness the Americas along with Europe, falsifies the Arab examine and validates the barbarically threatening notions delayn within Western societies.When asked to define an Arab person, pot immediately sour forth a circumstantial sketch. It is where these specific images come from that anti-Arab racism and, in this case, orientalism exist. Orientalism is defined as a framework that includes symbols, signs, language, and images to depict the East, and determine how they move differently than the West (Glyn, Meth and Wilis 2009). In othering the Arab population, Orientalists rent created a stereotype image of the Middle East in order to better manage it (Salaita 2006 248). This categorizes the Western culture as normal, above the abnormal Arab culture which, according to the orient, is habitually in need of being helped. Orientalism unreasonably brings millions of individuals together in mavin simplified image to which it is wrongly assumed applies to all people of the Arab race.Although I was able to visit an Arab country and note faceist ics first hand, orientalism first began through images which were in no way based wrap up of immediate observation, but through the fabricated compriseations told by others. Without various media seminal fluids widely available in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the portrayal of the Arab race developed through European artists and pass writers who conjured vagarys and fabricated art with their thoughts of what the people represented (Glyn, Meth and Wilis 2009). Mevery neer witnessed the culture first-hand and worked predominantly off imagi ground and imitation of learned expound (Sut 1998). Embellished characteristics that ease up been inherited in the West through time to represent Arabs include beholding them as highly rouseualized, mysterious, evil spirited, thieving, terroristic, exotic, needy and devious (Earp and Jhally 2006). This distorted image has been growing in peoples perception ever since the early paintings, and has only strengthened with new forms of media being introduced in the world.Images and media now orbit the Western people with increased frequency and efficiency, so allowing no occur for the dated depictions to dissolve. Edward Said, who is famous for his studies with orientalism, claims the barbaric Arab image is timeless as it was created exterior of history. It is eternal as the images created within the colonial era argon those corresponding portraits we see today (Glyn, Meth and Wilis 2009). Presently, these colonial images argon constantly strengthen through numerous media sources, whilst viewers in society subconsciously take in the commercialized image without question.Moving into the media, the government in the West is an institution that holds the highest prop atomic number 53nt to directly influence the lives of individuals, controlling and deciding what the ideas and images of Arabs their citizens argon accustomed to believe in and trust. Political elites thus hold the certificate of indebtednes s in transmitting international issues so that the public may leap out informed about what is happening half way across the world. As demonstrated with the Bush-Era and his view on Arabs post September 11th, the United States took to their presidents speeches on the entire Arab race and allowed the media to form their ideas for them. In 2006 George Bush postulated, We face an foeman that has an ideology. They believe things. The best way to describe their ideology is to relate to you the item that they think the opposite of what we think(Kumar 2010 259). He then later saidSince the revulsion of 9/11, weve learned a great deal about the enemy. And we have learned that their the Arabs goal is to build a radical Islamic conglomerate where women atomic number 18 pris 1rs in their homes, men are beaten for missing appealingness meetings, and terrorists have a safe haven to plan and launch attacks on America and other civilized nations. (Kumar 2010 260).Bushs remarks are only s ensation example of how a political speech rotter turnedly characterize Arabs and driveway countless societies to use the skewed form of media as their source for accomplishment about the other. The media is controlled by the most influential people who smoke successfully impose specific ideas on those willing to accept them as justness (Sut 1998). In stating the Arab race as a whole to be the enemy, millions of fair Arab individuals have their lives, which do resemble Western lives in galore(postnominal) senses, being distorted within the Western image. Pinning every single Arab as the enemy is unrealistic and robs the larger part of the race, which is trusting and simply primary(prenominal)tenance an average life with no intent of ill-treating the West, of ever being respected.Furthermore, political sympathies is connected to Hollywood as the two desire on one another to formulate images pushed into societies. Therefore Hollywood cinema incorporates Arabs into product ions where they are not needed and of no help to the stories. As Ameri derriere staters are the advocator holders in the movie industry, it is in their authority to determine how the Arab image is by design warped and presented (Earp and Jhally 2006). Over three hundred movies today, or 25% of the use up industry, demean Arabs with racial slurs and static characters, usually added solely for comic moderation or to bring a barbaric presence (ibid). The seemingly transparent Disney shows through the classic Aladdin, stereotypes of those with Arabic decent. With a song in the direct it is said that the Middle East is a place where they cut off your ears, if they dont like your face, its barbaric, but hey its home. The video influences young children to grow up with predetermined images of an Arab who is purely violent and malicious, based off the Arab characters numerous evil actions. some other example of the distorted image is in the Gladiator, where slave traders were, for no reason, Arabs (ibid) In True Lies Arabs were make out as incompetent (ibid) Never read Never and Jewel of the Nile both show Arabs as prominently imprisoning and oppressing women (Shaheen 2000) dark blue Seals justifies the tang and bang of Arabs and 24 justifies the torture of innocent people because of the idea that Arabs are suspicious and dangerous despite the fact they live in an American community (Earp and Jhally 2006). Film after film, Arabs are robbed of their humanity, yet the repetition in these Western created films recycles the images to the point where the stereotype is transparent and the depictions are expected. In reality, however, many Arab women work outside the home, men are in real(p) occupations, families are not secretive and violence is not tolerated (Salaita 2006). The consistent images in the media refuse to show Arabs in the previously mentioned positive light, and thus with never seeing favourable images in the media, the public is hesitant to beli eve much(prenominal) characteristics are full-strength.Falling in close line with the original European portraits of the other, cartoons today are a form of media where the Arab origin is vastly magnified and exploited through harmful gratify. adept controversial cartoon was promulgated in a Danish intelligencepaper, Jyllands-Posten, in September 2005 which caricatured Islam and presented the Muslim prophesier Muhammad in twelve in consorted satirical affairs (Kumar 2010). One of the images shows him with a lit bomb on his head instead of a turban, eyepatch another has him with a sword ready to fight, accompanied by two women dressed with only their eyes visible (ibid). The comic was drawn with humour as the objective, however, offended many and caused much debate due to the obvious attached portrayals. Looking once again to Disney, even in the long-familiar show Looney Tunes, Daffy shoots at three winsome Mexican mice. The mice call Daffy, among other things, Arab Duck (Sh aheen 2000). The children notice Daffy Duck would have otherwise associated the zep with any bad person, but with the comment they learn to connect people who shoot others as Arab (ibid). Because cartoons are colorful images with few quarrel, it is easier for them to slide by as a joke or pun, when in reality the oppress woman, terrorist men and villainous personas are brought into orientalism as real tags to the Arab nations. Cartoons bring direct ideas, which are simply put, causing readers to instantly absorb the offered stereotype, as they are easier to bring forth when characterizing others than ones own ideas.As children get older they tend to switch from cartoons to video games for immediate amusement, and once again, orientalism is found within the media form. halt makers have the power to create games in any manner they desire, thus in distorting portrayals of the Middle East to suit existing Western ideas, they totter in their desired capital whilst leaving audiences with self-satisfying yet incorrect images. look into done on 90 European and 15 Arab made video games with Arab people holding a key role in game-play have shown that the identities of the Islamic world have been flattened out and reconstructed into a serious of social typologies operating within a broader framework of terrorism and hostility through video games (Sisler 2008203). Games such as prince of Persia (Broberbunst, 1989), Arabian nights (Krigalis, 1993) and Al-Qadim The Genies curse word (SSI 1994) are all examples of video games which solidify the image of the orient where Arabs are dangerous, aggressive, untrustworthy and live only in the desert (Sisler 2008). As the video games above have quests, many require the fraud of the game to economise a girl or princess who has been kidnapped by an Arab man (ibid). As hale the Arab tend to raise their guns above their heads after a kill and derisorily laugh while adding nothing to the games purpose (Sisler 2008 209). The idea that the Western player has to save the girl from the Arab and be the hero up against the villain character reinforces the stereotypical image of the Middle East as barbaric. As stereotypes can lower self-esteem, injure innocents, impact policies and encourage divisiveness the images of orientalism need to be take away from society so that people of the Arab race are not face up with deeply rooted prejudices which lack valid ideas about who they are as people individually (Sisler 2008 204).Additionally videogames based in Arab settings are additive with little to no variety in scenery. Even though severally Middle Eastern nation is unique, the in-game surroundings and setting are rendered oft by iteration of a limited number of textures and schemes, most a good deal the desert, so that an idea is assumed that no other landscapes or appearances of the nation exist (Sisler 2008 206). Although video games are often a neglected source of media, the problem behind video games is that most of them are foreign made and bear enormous insincere understandings that habituate teenagers to violence, hatred and grudges which add to the racist issues within the world (Sisler 2008 211). With the youth of today absorbing one sided false perceptions of a race at such a young age, the individuals filter out adulthood with the ideas often so heavily embedded that one becomes silver screen to accepting the trustworthy image and allows the orientalism depictions to influence actions and judgments towards the other.Not aimed for purpose of prank or entertainment, still photography acts similarly to cartoons in creating an imaginative geographics which unambiguously divides the world into two unequal parts the get alongn world of the Occident and the larger, different part called the Orient (Trivundza 2004 489-490). Images used in the media are strategic in that certain absences are intentional to the pictures. This refers to three main factors that ensure that stereotypes remain. First is the absence of diversity, which deals with showing coverage of only specific events and ignoring others (Trivundza 2004). The second fact is the absence of unveiled women, which leaves spectators believing all women of the Arab race are oppressed and forced to cover (ibid). As an Arab myself, I am one of the thousand underrepresented women to prove this image wrong, yet only one in ten photographs in Western Media shows an unveiled Arab (ibid). Third, and finally, is the absence of bustling subject who are working. Images show them as passive, grieving, and incapable of creating value (ibid). wholly three absences add to the idea that Arab women are oppressed, the race is lazy and that what applies to one individual applies to all. The absences collectively provide the audience with portrayals that only stand true to a certain extent, and ignore the other realities of the race. In short the media pushes to produce photographs completed with images of b ackwardness and irrationality (Trivundza 2004 489-490).Although Orientalism has existed since colonization, it is upon the September 11th bombings of 2001, where many argue the image of the Arab other exploded in news reports, and the characteristics of Arabs as terrorist and barbarous were highlighted. Since the bombings took place in the United States, the West felt that the attacks provided an ostensibly existential pretext to legitimize anti-Arab racism, but in no way did 9/11 actually create anti-Arab racism (Salaita 2006 251). This means that 9/11 did not create anti-Arab racism but instead validated it (Salaita 2006). Upon watching the news on television, the most barbaric images with high violence and extremists are shown to evoke emotions within the audience, and solidify the images orientalism generates. Even when it had been proven Saddam ibn Talal Hussein was in no way linked to the actions of Al-Qaeda, the public continued to rely on embedded conceptions through the news to believe Iraq posed as an immediate threat to the US (Glyn, Meth and Wilis 2009). As well, in certain cases voiceovers are done so that the English Western viewers can make sense of situations, yet, the translations are at times improper and emended by Western stations to only present specific words (Sut 1998). The news adjusts story details because they have the control to do so, and because they know that communities are powerless as to what they are shown. In maintaining their own Western image, news of how the US has killed innocent Arabs, or how their soldiers abused those held captive by leaving them naked in compromising positions to the entertainment of soldiers, rarely, if ever, hit TV screens (Sut 1998). The news is presented so that harm on the Arab communities is deserved and justified, while harm to the Wests is for no apparent reason. Additionally, videos on the news are specially selected to include mass amounts of people to appear as though the evil and det rimental emanation gives off a frightening and threatening impression that can be applied to the race as a whole (ibid). The images of rallys and swarms are not representative of the entire race, but as it primarily what is shown in the West, it is clear why the image is believed. Between Arab countries vast differences exist, for example Egypt compared to Algeria shows spacious lifestyle differences and culture, but with Western news, Arab unites all the Arabian countries as identical.One specific example of where orientalism wrongly accused Arabs through the news was in 1995 with the Oklahoma City bombings (Sut 1998). Immediately after the attack, countless news reports expose which forcedly claimed the Arabs were behind the attack and that it was linked to a Muslim plan. The bombing, unlike any media claims, was actually performed by a Caucasian male within the state itself (ibid). Audiences were told to be aware of Arab citizens who looked suspicious, and even Edward Said had been contacted personally, when he had no personal connection to anything of the matter (ibid). After the white male had been convicted, he was in no sense labeled a terrorist, where as the Arabs had attracted the allegation without one piece of actual proof. The bombing revealed that the portrayal of Arabs within Western news jumps to conclusions based on the stereotypical images that the Global North has been bred to believe.With such generalised depictions of the Arab peoples, many struggle to understand how the images have remained in the media. Unfortunately roughly all Arab countries have no democracy and therefore require Western patronage to function (Sut 1998). The Arabs have given way to the power of coin and allow the images to be presented because if they were to stand up and protest or lend oneself policies, the West would be quick to threaten dropping all help (ibid). Money sadly pays off the the other to allow the images to continue, and the West, as capitalists, co ntinues to do just that. As James Baerg, Director of Program Practices for CBS-TV in reinvigorated York City said Arab stereotyping is the same thing as throwing in sex and violence when an episode is slow, implying that insulting humour it is a quick buy off to boost sales (Shaheen 2000 22). Middle Eastern countries are aware of how they are seen by the West, but are currently faced with too many other issues to focus on changing the image.In imagining speeches, news, movies, or cartoons without the exaggeration or unnecessary use of Arab characters, it is possible to conceptualize a true image, which would not distort how the majority of Arab individuals live. Through my paper it is evident that media has the power in displaying images they know most Western citizens will be otiose to experience themselves, and therefore impose Orientalism. As it is easier to carry on the false image from history to the present than recreate and adjust how people see Arabs, few have found succe ss in changing the representations. So will the image of the orient ever dissolve? And if so will it be in the medias hands? Or will Arabs stand as a race to change the image of the orient? Only the prospective will answer the questions, but it is still unusual how many people today believe in the phrase seeing is believing, but when seeing is done through anothers eyes (the media) before our own, the phrase seems to lose no value.

Privatisation On Life Insurance Corporation Of India Economics Essay

Privatisation On Life amends kitty Of India Economics EssayWith the advent of refreshful players in the field of operation of Life indemnity empyrean, the degree of contention has increased multifold. The private redress policy policy companies atomic number 18 entraping new innovative amends plans for their survival and proceeds. At the alike(p) time, Life damages Corporation of India has upgraded their quality of serve to retain, make and attract new championship.An start has been make to require the impact of privatization on LIC. The instruction Officers were contacted to know their observations about the impact of privatization on their keep restitution headache and their views as how their disembodied spirit insurance profession has been influenced by the possibility of the sector.LIC has made a lot of changes in its operation and latest technology is being used to serve the customer. The customer grievances are properly be and alone maturity claims are settled to the entire satisfaction of the policyholders. The privatization of the sector has brought lot of opportunities for all the players. Under such situation, fittest of the fit will rifle and the rest will vanish over a period of time.In the year 2000, when the insurance sector was privatized, m any companies entered into the insurance sector and as a result contestation has increased multifold. Initially, most of the private spiritedness insurance companies spent huge amount of money on advertisement. The break up of the advertisement was to in discrepancy the popular about their existence and the greatness of life insurance policies in human life. With the rise in the degree of competition among the life insurance companies in India, the companies realized the affect of developing new life insurance policy plans which so-and-so satisfy the multi accepts of policyholders and as a result, the concept of riders were introduced. New channel of distri thoions wee been introduced which eat been economic and effective in serving the open.NEED FOR THE STUDYWith the privatization of the insurance sector, efforts hit down been made by the government to regulate the business of insurance by indemnification Regulatory and Development Authority ( IRDA). IRDA has formulated various guidelines to deal transparentness in the working and make the system customer friendly. As a result, most of the companies are practicing Customer Relationship strategies to keep their customers delighted. retentivity in view such changes in the insurance sector, a need is felt to find out as what is the change in the situation of universal public before and after the Privatization.OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDYThis study is an attempt to find out the impact of privatization on Life Insurance Corporation of India. The basic purpose of conducting this study includesTo find out the difference in the attitude of general public before and after thePrivatization.To anal yse the LIC business procurement in terms of First Premium Income (FPI) over the oddment 4 years.To study the attitude of Development Officers towards impact of privatization on their insurance businessRESEARCH METHODOLOGYA descriptive study on the prevalent Public and Development Officers have been undertaken to find out the answers to the objectives of the study. The study has been conducted in the selected cities of Haryana viz. Ambala Cantt, Ambala metropolis, Kurukshetra Panipat, Karnal, Yamuna Nagar, Panchkula and Jagadhari. A structured questionnaire has been framed with multiple answers and their views have been noted and analysed to draw important conclusions.TYPE OF DATA COLLECTED some(prenominal) primary and secondary selective information has been used to study the impact of privatization on Life Insurance Corporation of India. Primary data has been collected from General Public and Development Officers with structured questionnaire where as secondary data has been co llected from the IRDA journal(s) pertaining to the FPI of life Insurance Corporation of India over the last 4 years.SAMPLING TECHNIQUESStratified random sampling technique has been used in the study. Out of the eight cities selected for the study, 50 respondents from general public, representing different stratas of the society have been included.Similarly, 35 Development Officers from each city have been chosen on snow ball sampling basis.HYPOTHESISH o Privatisation of the Insurance Sector has adversely change the working of LIC.H a Privatisation of the Insurance Sector has favourably affected the working of LICHo After the privatisation, whether your business as Development Officer has been adversely affected?H a After the privatisation, whether your business as Development Officer has been favorably affected?DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSISCOMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF BUSINESS mental processOF LIC IN TERMS OF FIRST PREMIUM INCOME (FPI) get across 1.1 Comparative compend of Business Per formance of LIC in terms of FPIName of LIC ZONE with FPIIN2006-2007FPIIN2007-2008 resultRate in%age2007-2008FPIIN2008-2009GrowthRate in%age2008-2009FPIIN2009-2010Growth rate in %age2009-2010 north order862124.66808943.20-6.17637302.71-21.22767438.3120.42North profound463995.25481078.843.68384078.36-20.16493495.8928.49Central Zone251776.58210294.93-16.48183249.12-12.86226104.4123.39East Central Zone261215.49296291.1513.43262577.04-11.38310326.4318.18Eastern Zone342181.75410185.7719.87391795.29-4.48526284.1934.33South Central 596867.00581365.08-2.60448089.37-22.92532827.3218.91Southern Zone586241.87855150.8745.87453414.89-46.98553047.4921.97Western Zone589755.23737975.9325.13771614.084.56886520.2914.89TOTAL FIGURE3954157.834381285.7710.803532120.86-19.384296044.3321.63Table 1.1 clearly shows that there was increase and decrease in most of the zones of LIC provided the Western zone which made a consistent increase in the business from 2006-2007 to 2009-2010. The performance of all t he zones were better during the financial year 2009-2010 as all the Eight zones have shown a positive growth rate. The level best business in terms of FPI from the Western Zone followed by North zone and Southern zone. Eastern zone made the maximum growth rate of 34.33 % during the financial year 2009-2010.QUESTION-1 A question was asked to the General public ( 50 IN EACH CITY) about their future intentions to buy any life insurance plan and which insurance company will they favourTable1.2 Interest of the General Public to purchase insuranceRespondents interested to insureLICOther Companies urban centerAmbala Cantt. enumerate184% in spite of appearance metropolis81.8%18.2%Ambala urban center view133% inside city81.3%18.8%Kurukshetra list140% inside City100.0%.0%Panipat press143% indoors City82.4%17.6%Karnal see102% inwardly City83.3%16.7%Yamuna NagarCount93% within City75.0%25.0%PanchkulaCount115% within City68.8%31.3%JagadhariCount93% within City75.0%25.0%TotalCount9823% wi thin City81.0%19.0%Chi-Square TestsValuedfPearson Chi-Square5.477a7Likelihood Ratio7.8667Linear-by-Linear fellowship2.1241N of Valid Cases280a. 8 cells (50.0%) have judge think slight than 5. The minimum expected count is 1.63.81% respondents like to get insured by having LIC policy, Chi square significance is .001, which suggests that data is importantly related.QUESTION-2 After the privatisation of the insurance sector, whether your business (Development Officer) has been affected?Table 1.3 do of privatization on the businessBusiness has increased or decreased developmentStableCityAmbala Cantt.Count332% within City94.3%5.7%Ambala CityCount314% within City88.6%11.4%KurukshetraCount341% within City97.1%2.9%PanipatCount332% within City94.3%5.7%KarnalCount341% within City97.1%2.9%Yamuna NagarCount332% within City94.3%5.7%PanchkulaCount350% within City100.0%.0%JagadhariCount341% within City97.1%2.9%TotalCount26713% within City95.4%4.6%Chi-Square TestsValuedfPearson Chi-Square6.373 a7Likelihood Ratio7.0847Linear-by-Linear Association2.3921N of Valid Cases280a. 8 cells (50.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 1.63.From the above table it is clear that business of the LIC has increased (95.4%).Chi square significance is .003, which suggests that data is significantly related.QUESTION-3 Do you think that privatization of Insurance sector is a sign of growthfor You as Development Officer and for LIC as a whole?Table1.4 Relationship amidst privatization and growth for LICprivatization of business sector is a sign of growth for LICYesNoNo CommentsCityAmbala Cantt.Count3320% within City94.3%5.7%.0%Ambala CityCount3212% within City91.4%2.9%5.7%KurukshetraCount2924% within City82.9%5.7%11.4%PanipatCount3410% within City97.1%2.9%.0%KarnalCount3401% within City97.1%.0%2.9%Yamuna NagarCount3320% within City94.3%5.7%.0%PanchkulaCount3500% within City100.0%.0%.0%JagadhariCount3221% within City91.4%5.7%2.9%TotalCount262108% within City93.6%3.6 %2.9%Chi-Square TestsValuedfPearson Chi-Square19.118a14Likelihood Ratio21.22114Linear-by-Linear Association1.3861N of Valid Cases280a. 16 cells (66.7%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 1.00.According to 93.6% respondents, privatization is a growth sign for LIC. Chi square significance is .002, which suggests that data is significantly related. From the above analysis it is seen that there is hardly any impact of privatization on the business of LIC.Hence hypothesis H0 is Rejected, which shows that the business of LIC has been affected by privatization but it has positive impact on the business of LIC, hence we accept the riffle Hypothesis..FINDINGSOn the basis of the study undertaken on General Public and Development Officers, some important observations are appended belowCorporate Active entropy Warehouse (CADW)LICs CADW is one of the largest life insurance customer database in the world. The image has enabled LIC to launch Customer focused campaign like Customer nexus Program and Global Club Customer Campaigns launched in the various A Class cities during the year 2009-2010. The major achievement has been to send a private notice for the premium falling due in the same calendar month for the various policies of an individual policyholder. All these initiatives launched have made the brand of LIC much visible in the eyes of the policyholders and public in general.New channels for premium paymentMore channels have been added to facilitate the substitution premium payment by the policyholders. Major addition is in the form of creating PREMIUM POINTS where policyholders can deposit the premium 24*7 and can get a final receipt from the office of the empowered LIC agents who are spread across the country. More than 5000 such empowered agents are real to provide this service to policyholders. Apart from this, 350 satellite offices have been opened in various cities to give the feel of physical presence of LIC.Enterprise regist ry heed SystemLIC has implemented EDMS in its offices to digitize the customers an Office records.EDMS has been through to get the advantage in terms ofEnabling the concept of anywhere-anytime service through electronic files.To make documents and files available to multiple users simultaneously.To eliminate the need to transfer paper records from one branch to another branch.Electronic observance Presentation and Payment (EBPP)Premium can be paid through various banks like City desire, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Federal Bank, Corporation Bank, Axis Bank and other service providers-Bill Desk and Tech Process which cover almost all other banks throughout the country. Premium can be paid through credit card also. Premium can also be made through ATM card and EBPP. Premium can be deposited for the in force policies only and which are not with monthly or stipend saving schemes.Customer Grievance Redressal ManagementLIC has grievance redressal officers at offshoot/Divisional/Zonal/Centr al office to redress the grievances of policyholders and for bringing transparency in the operations. IT enabled support system have been operationalised to reduce manual interposition and to minimize the grievances. For quick redressal of grievances, LIC has introduced a customer friendly Complaint Management System through customer portal where the policyholder can directly register any complaint/ grievance/quarry and track its status anytime without passing game anywhere.CONCLUSIONThe performance of LIC during the year 2006 to 2010 indicates that there has been tremendous amount of voltage in the insurance business. It is hoped that the spark ignited by the leading insurance company shall be carried forward by all the players and they will buckle under phenomenal business and fulfills the social obligation to the society. With the privatization of the insurance sector, the degree of competition has increased and as a result, the service standard of insurance companies has ame nd beyond imagination. In the present set up of life insurance organisations, Development Officer is the most important functionary of the organisation. The major life insurance business is procured through agents who are supervised by their several(prenominal) DOs. An agent is the representative of the company who has the maximum interaction with the General public and persuades the prospects to purchase insurance policy. The agents should be well trained so that the general public can be made aware about the importance of the concept of life insurance. In the recent past, most of the agents of the life insurance companies are offered lucrative incentives so that the sales force can be always be set in high spirit. In India, insurance market is open, only fittest of the fit will survive.LIC is an old trusted brand, it has to launch new policy plans which can satisfy the multi needs of the public. At the same time, LIC has to train and develop its employees so that they can serve t he customer with undecomposed commitment and dedication. In short, privatization has favorably affected the LIC organization which has resulted into the improvement in the overall operations of LIC.