Report on Tesco as a retailer Lab Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

On Tesco as a retailer - Lab Report Example pread over different countries of the world and has become the third largest retailer after Wal-Mart and Carrefour (TIMELINE-Tescos rise to worlds third largest retailer, November 2007). Tesco has been a consumer or customer centric organization and has gained much important information about their behavior through innovative methods. It has devised many new schemes which would initiates customer behavior which was profitable from the group’s perspective. It launched ‘Club card’ which was used to collect information about the customer or the consumer. These would be highly analysed to gain deep understanding of the consumer behaviors based upon which the company forms its strategies and other plans (Humby C., et al, 2003). Though an International retailer now, yet Tesco’s core market lies in the UK which even accounts for 755 of the total sales and profit of the group. In UK Tesco have 2100 stores and 280000 employees working. Thouh primarily a Food retailer Tesco has also diversified into non-food retail also which is also a part of its overall strategy. The group has got four main retail formats under which it functions and also a fifth one which is on the trial stage and is known as Homeplus. Some of the key pointer the group keeps in mind in context of its retail operations is its continued investment in innovation in terms of new product lines which would satisfy the customers. In this context it has launched various in-house brands like Value, Finest, Free From, Healthy Living, Wholefoods and others to cater to a wide range of consumers. They also follow a labelling system for their packages which contain all pertinent nutritional information and which helps the customer’s decision making. Express, Metro, Superstore and Extra are the names of Tesco’s primary formats and added to this is their trial format known as Homeplus (Core UK, 2009; Store Formats, 2009). Besides food retail Tesco also focuses on non-food retail. Under non-food retail the

Victim’s responsibility Essay Example for Free

Victim’s responsibility Essay According to Karmen (2007), the question of â€Å"victim’s responsibility† can be reduced to six, listed from least to most guilty. The first is 100% guilt free victim, a victim that might be the victim of a random crime. After this, there is victim proneness, the specific kind of victim I have chosen for the first example used. Proneness is actually the adaption of a risky lifestyle that leaves one open to criminal mischief without actually precipitating it in any way. The next stage if victim facilitation, where certain ingredients for a crime are left in the vision of the criminal, such as wearing gold rings in a crime-ridden part of town. Then there is victim precipitation, where the victim has goaded the criminal in some way, leading to a crime. After this is the worst, victim provocation, where the victim has attacked or otherwise abused the criminal to such an extent that the criminal becomes such involuntarily. Lastly, the 100% guilty victim, the victim creating a crime for various motives, getting attention, etc. For this project I have chosen two murder cases: the first, the murder of Lana Clarkson by famed music producer Phil Spector in 2003, and the more recent murder of Meredith Kirchner by Amanda Cox (et al) in 2007. Given the evidence of the two cases thus far it is likely that both perpetrators are guilty. Cox has confessed to the murder of Kirchner, and, while the jury is still out on the Spector case, it does not look good. This essay will, for the sake of the course, assume that both Cox and Spector are guilty. The first case happened in February of 2003. The victim, a long time actress in secondary roles, was working part time in a local, trendy nightclub in Los Angeles. She met Phil Spector, and, only after a few hours, was in his mansion, where she was murdered. Spector says that she killed herself and was complaining of being â€Å"down† (Guardian, 2003). But the question of victimology is given in a (2003) op-ed piece by Wesley Strick, who chides the victim for getting into a limo with a stranger, or, barring that, that Mr. Spector was no strange, and had a reputation for violence and bizarre behavior (Strick, 2003). Hence, this case seems to flirt between victim proneness and Mr. Strick’s clear statement of victim felicitation. While it is true that working as an attractive hostess in a trendy bar is itself risky, the fact that she would have no qualms about getting into Spector’s limo with only a brief amount of time together may well bleed into victim felicitation. The second case I chose was the more recent murder of British college student in Italy, Meredith Kerchner. As of this writing, Amanda Cox, one of her murderers, has been convicted in Italy after a confession (Owen, 2007a). But Owen (2007b) holds that there was a certain level of victim felicitation. The reports of this case show that Miss Cox was mentally unstable, and that some of her roommates were very interested in vampirism and violent images (comics, etc). The reports on this case all suggest that violent sex games were planned Holoween night, and that Miss herchner was killed for refusing to play them. But it also is clear that the victim knew of these propensities, though not of their extent (Owen, 2007a) It seems that staying in this company goes a bit beyond victim proneness (thought this can be argued) and their Halloween antics might show a greater tilt towards victim felicitation, similar to the above case. Regardless, in both cases, the minimum one can claim is that both victims were prone to crime and were living risky lifestyles. At the same time, the decision to get into the car with Spector is parallel with the decision to stay with roommates and friends who had already shown some inclination to bizarre behavior. Hence, one can hold that both victims facilitated the crimes they became the victims of. At the same time, neither of the two victims mentioned above can be convicted of any of the more extreme forms of victim guilt, that of precipitation or provocation, at least with the evidence so far uncovered. If, for example, Miss Kerchner was involved in the sex games, and then withdrew, then one could make the claim that she was precipitating the crime. References: For the Lana Clarkson case: na (2003, 4 February). B-Movie Actress Named as Shooting Victim. Guardian.Strick, Leslie (2007, 18 April) Lana Clarkson’s Fade to Black. Los Angeles Times For the Meredith Kerchner case: Owen, Richard. (2007a, 7 November) Meredith Kerchner Killed After Refusing Orgy. The Times Online (http://www. timesonline. co. uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2821154. ece) . (2007b, 9 November) Meredith Killed for Refusing Violent Sex. Times Online. (http://www. timesonline. co. uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2841412. ece) For the victims typology: Karmen, A (2007) Crime Victims: An Introduction to Victimology. Thompson-Wadsworth.

Cinema as an instrument of Nationalism

Cinema as an instrument of Nationalism Cloaks in the colours of soil: Cinema as an instrument of Nationalism The paper aims to highlight the role of cinema in constructing and reconstructing the nationalism of a state. In doing so the paper is divided into three parts. In the first part, I shall conceptualize the notions of nationalism and popular culture with the help of academic sources and then shall try to formulate a link between these two concepts and shall analyse how these are correlated. In the second chapter, I shall explain the role of cinema in constructing and reconstructing the beliefs, practices and objects associated with a popular culture and how these constructions and reconstructions are accepted into a nationalistic discourse. In the final section, to strengthen my previous debate I shall analyse two films, one from India Dil Se (1998) and one from Yugoslavia Underground (1995), to argue that cinema works as an instrument of nationalism through its devices by influencing the consciousness of audiences and results in construction of a nation. Conceptualizing the link between Nationalism and Popular Culture Andrew Vincent describes the nationalism as an ideology that ‘makes national self-consciousness, ethnic or linguistic identity into central planks of a doctrine which seeks political expression† (Vincent, 2010:227). The ethno-linguistic identities are elements of culture associated with a nation, therefore, the nation as an entity is a blend of â€Å"culture and psycho political factors† (Heywood, 2003: 134). Therefore, nationalism has a link with the culture and to be more specific with popular culture. Popular culture has its roots in ‘‘’folk’ or ‘popular’ beliefs, practices, and objects rooted in local traditions as well as mass beliefs, practices, and objects generated from political and commercial centres† (Mukerji Schudson, 1986: 48). Sanjeev Kumar explains popular culture as a â€Å"collective experience† of a society that formulates â€Å"a symmetrical feeling of common tastes† (Kumar, 2013:458). T hese common tastes further give rise to political ideas as many scholars believe that â€Å"popular culture plays a crucial role in mobilizing political action† (Mukerji Schudson, 1986: 47). This political action can be defined as a projection of nationalistic feelings or nationalism. Ernest Gellner in his modernist theory on nationalism and nation asserted the importance of shared common culture in formulating the nationalism of a particular nation by eroding the â€Å"rigid social structures† and argued that ‘nations are products of nationalism, and not vice versa† (OLeary, 1997) (Walicki, 1998). A similar argument can be found in the constructivist perspective of nation that see nations as â€Å"constructs† (Walicki, 1998). Therefore, a nation is not a substance, but the product of a historical process, and a social, political and cultural construct that represent the collects of a nation. The collective consciousness of the nation is described as nationalism. It is important to note that it is not necessary that the beliefs that make up the rhetoric of nationalism are based on historical facts. As many scholars such as Benedict Anderson, David Miller and Anthony D. Smith believes that â€Å"misrepresentation of historical facts† plays significant role in the constitution of nation building and thus â€Å"national identity is often based on false or, worse still, intentionally misleading beliefs†(Tamir, 1995). Cinema as an Instrument of Nationalism In almost every state there is a â€Å"national cinema† that makes films for the masses of that particular state (Walsh, 1996). To attract audiences these films are made by keeping in mind the popular culture of the masses. Cinema like other type of mass media carries meanings and symbols that not only represent beliefs, practices and objects of a particular popular culture associated with a nation, but also structure the process of nation building by influencing the popular culture through reconstruction of these beliefs, practices, and objects. Walsh (1996) characterizes these meanings and symbols as â€Å"national imaginary†. This process leaves an impact on the psyche of the audience and thus influence the collective consciousness of the nation- nationalism. Thus, â€Å"Internalization† of these meanings and symbols into discourse of nationalism happens through national cinema (Walsh, 1996). One way to understand this phenomenon is through focusing on the identity politics of a nation. Identity is a sense of belonging to a particular group that can lead to the possibility of a nationhood. Through this identity individuals of a nation distinguish themselves from individuals of another nation. Thus the collective identity of a group is defined by distinguishing others as foreign. This process can also be utilized against the minority groups within a state. Sanjeev Kumar conceptualizes this as the practice of â€Å"othering† (Kumar, 2013). As he further highlights with the help of a case study of Indian cinema that cinema plays a vital role in offering Muslim minority. Cinema plays a dynamic role in identity formation by reconstructing the beliefs, practices and objects associated with a national identity. Therefore, a â€Å"national imaginary† is created in which some meanings and symbols are promoted and some are subordinated to define identity Furthermore, cinema with its tools also define and reconstruct the geographical, ideological and cultural boundaries of a nation. And these reconstructions are internalized through psychological effects on the collective consciousness of the masses. As Shohat and Stam (1994) with the help of psychoanalysis argue that cinema plays an importance role in acceptance of these recreated imaginary by â€Å"efficiently mobilize[ing] desire in ways responsive to nationalized and imperialized notions of time, plot and history†. Further, they argue that cinema â€Å"homologize† the nation because of collective consumption by the masses and with the help of Benedict Anderson’s argument they declare that â€Å"The nation of course is not a desiring person but a fictive unity imposed on an aggregate of individuals, yet national histories are presented as if they displayed the continuity of the subject-writ-large† (Shohat Stam, 1994). Dil Se (1998) This film attempts to revisit the ideological underpinnings of India after 50 years of independence. The film starts with two extreme positions: Indian nationalism and the nationalism of sub national entities. The protagonist, who is the program executive for All India Radio strolls through North East and Kashmir in an attempt to understand the rationale behind insurgencies and separatist movements in those regions and finds out that insurgents blame Indian government for the poverty and human rights violations and thus justify their violent means to achieve independence. As being a patriotic Indian with a military background he is not convinced by the reasoning of the insurgents and is swayed that Pakistan is helping these movements. Meanwhile, he falls in love with a girl who is a terrorist in disguise and chases her throughout the film. The high point of the movie is the scene where the protagonist learns the real identity of his lover, who is going to attack the parade on the 50t h anniversary of Republic Day, and confronts her and questions her motives. The girl reveals that she had been a rape victim in theKunan Poshpora incidentand that her soul seeks deliverance through hersuicide attack on Republic Day. At this juncture, he replies to her â€Å"you cannot kill innocent people because of the wrongdoing of some people†. It is noteworthy that when this film was released, India was using brutal military force against pro-independence movements and was under much international criticism. The film tries to limit the whole question of pro-independence movements as an issue of governance rather than ideological, cultural or historical as the director makes the insurgents to say so in the beginning of the film. It also puts the responsibility on â€Å"some people† rather than Indian State thus the enemy is â€Å"some people† that exploit their position and force common Indian to pick the gun. This is â€Å"misrepresentation of historical facts† that I mentioned earlier. In addition, it also subordinates the notion of violence and promotes the notion of love as the suicide bomber girl chooses love over violence in the closing scene. Therefore, Indian identity is reconstructed by distinguishing individuals on this principal. This film also attempts to define geographical, ideological and cultural boundaries of Indian nation by creating â€Å"national imaginary†. To define geographical boundaries the film portrays many locations such as Ladakh, Kashmir, North East, Delhi, Kerala and Bengal etc. Ideological boundaries are defined in term of the subject of the film as throughout the movie there is no mention or visualization of the religious origins of violence. Such as the religious identities of terrorists are not indicated. Even their oath that they repeat throughout the film is secular in nature. Thus, this film emphasizes the secular nature of Indian nationalism. Cultural boundaries are defined in term of lyrics, music and choreography that range from work of Bullay Shah to Mirza Ghalib and from South Indian exotic dance to gypsy dance on a moving train. In doing so the film gives the notion that despite insurgencies and separatist movements this whole sphere and its tastes constitute India and thus tries to evoke the sense of belonging to the land in audiences’ consciousness. Underground (1995) This film was produced during Balkan crisis of 1990s during which the former republic of Yugoslavia exploded. The narrative and imaginary of the film indicates that the director Emir Kushturica is still stuck with the dream of the old republic of Yugoslavia as one film critic notes â€Å"if growing up implies the death of the past, there is no area in which Kushturica refuses to grow up. He refuses to believe that his homeland, the country formerly called Yugoslavia, no longer exists† (Yarovskaya, 1997-1998). Therefore, the whole effort of Kushturica is to project the notion of Yugoslavian nationhood on screen and tell the world what went wrong. He does so through historical and psychoanalytical devices in which he blends the history with the lives of main characters Marko and Blacky. The film goes through three eras: World War 2, post-war reconstruction during Tito’s regime and Yugoslav wars. In the first part, the film promotes the idea of â€Å"Brotherhood and Unity† that was the official ideology of Yugoslavia and shows that how with this guiding principal Yugoslavs fought against Nazi power and succeeded. At this juncture, the director introduces enemy that is human desire for power rooted in the subconscious. The film further divides desire into two parts: sexual desire and destructive desire (Yarovskaya, 1997-1998). The next chapter shows the struggle between conscious and subconscious through symbols. The main characters Marko and Blacky are symbols of the subconscious that wanted to grab power and the character of Natalija is a symbol for power. Marko is a symbol of sexual desire and Blacky is a symbol of destructive desire. During this struggle in order to get Natalija Marko makes other characters that are symbols of consciousness, and Blac ky believe that war is still going on so they must hide themselves in an underground cellar and produce guns for the resistance. The revolutionary meaning of underground is resistance and psychological meaning is â€Å"collective consciousness† (Yarovskaya, 1997-1998). On ground level the film portrays the corrupt regime of Tito that grows out of power seeking subconscious. In this regime Marko is right hand man of Tito and an arms dealer. After the death of Tito Yugoslavia starts to disintegrate and soon civil war erupts. Meanwhile, characters that are symbols of collective consciousness come out of hiding and see ruins of their dream by the hand of symbols of the subconscious. Disheartened, some characters commit suicide and others resort themselves to a parallel Yugoslavia that is shown through a sequence of underground tunnels that is inhabited by refugees, Yugoslav warriors and UN peacekeepers. The character of Blacky that is the symbol for destructive desire becomes a warlord and contribute to the Civil war. Therefore, with this film Emir Kushturica tries to promote the guiding principle of â€Å"Brotherhood and Unity† that helped Yugoslavs to win the war, but soon the human desire for power changed the whole Yugoslav society and it became unrecognizable by the time of death of Tito. After the death of Tito destructive desire was unleashed and thus resulted in the Yugoslav Wars. Conclusion Therefore, it is argued that cinema construct and restructure the notion of identity of a nation and define and reconstruct the geographical, ideological and cultural boundaries of a nation through the creation of â€Å"national imaginary† and influence masses by mobilizing desire of nationhood and thus results in homologizing a nation. As a result, cinema works as an instrument of nationalism through its devices by influencing the consciousness of audiences. The analysis of two films strengthen this argument. The first film Dil Se not only justifies military operations against insurgents through â€Å"misrepresentation of historical facts† but also portrays insurgents as murderers of innocent people. This film also attempts to reconstruct Indian identity by subordinating the notion of violence and promoting the notion of love. It also attempts to define geographical, ideological and cultural boundaries of Indian nation by creating â€Å"national imaginary† and tries to evoke sense of belonging to land in audiences’ consciousness. The other film, Underground, promotes and justifies the idea of Yugoslavian nationhood by showing Yugoslav resistance against Nazi Germany. It also attempts to explain the breakup of Yugoslavia by putting all the responsibility on power seeking desire of humans rather than on republic, thus it evokes the desire of belonging to old republic of Yugoslavia in audiences’ consciousness. Bibliography Heywood, A. (2003). Political Ideologies: An Introduction. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Mukerji, Chandra Schudson, Michael. (1986). Popular Culture. Annual Review of Sociology, 12:47-66. OLeary, Brendan. (1997). On the Nature of Nationalism: An Appraisal of Ernest Gellners Writings on Nationalism. British Journal of Political Science, 27(2): 91-222. Ringmar, E. (1998). Nationalism: The Idiocy of Intimacy. The British Journal of Sociology, 49(4): 534-549. Shohat, Ella Stam, Robert, (1994). Unthinking Eurocentrism: Multiculturalism and the Media. New York: Routledge. Tamir, Yael. (1995). The Enigma of Nationalism (Review of the Imagined Communities by Benedict Anderson: Five Roads to Modernity by LIah Greenfeld; National Identity by Anthony D. Smith). World Politics, 47(3): 418-440. .Vincent, A. (2010). Modern Political Ideologies. West Sussex: Wiley. Walicki, Andrzej. (1998). Ernest Gellner and the Constructivist Theory of Nation. Harvard Ukrainian Studies, 22: 611-619 Walsh, Michael. (1996). National Cinema, National Imaginary: Film History, 8(1): 5-17. Yarovskaya, Marianna. (1997-1998). Underground by Emir Kushturica; Pierre Spengler (Review of the Underground by Emir Kushturica). Film Quarterly, 51(2): 50-54.

Lifetime - Television for Women :: Televisaion Media TV

Lifetime - Television for Women Launched on February 1, 1984, Lifetime was created by the merger of Daytime and Cable Health Network. Lifetime was crowned â€Å"Television for women† in 1994 and began an ambitious expansion of original programming and public service initiatives targeted to women. Lifetime is dedicated to providing contemporary, innovative entertainment and information on-air and online that is of particular interest to women. Lifetime shows its commitment to the expansion of women within three main contributors, which are the Lifetime original movies, Lifetime television series, and Lifetime channels. These three categories bring out the point of the Lifetime network and shows exactly what Lifetime strives to achieve, women and making connections. Lifetime television shows feature women in many different aspects of everyday life and how women try to achieve success by overcoming the many obstacles put in their way in their fight to the top. Two of the top television shows on Lifetime include, â€Å"Any day Now,† which is about two women with two different lives trying to get through all of life hardships and are bonded by their incredible lifelong friendship. Another top show is â€Å"Strong Medicine,† which is about two women doctors with very different backgrounds and working styles who come together to take on the world of medicine. These television show are perfect examples of the wonderful types of entertainment Lifetime has to offer. Lifetime movies are one of the many unique features of the network. Each month there is a original movie broadcast. All of the movies are stories of courage, triumph, and success. They give all viewers a look at reality and how women can rise above any challenge. There are two Lifetime channels besides the basic cable network. There is the Lifetime Movie Network and Lifetime Real Women. The Lifetime Movie channel has movies from a women’s perspective and distinctive point of view, movies for and about women that connect with who they are and their experiences. The Lifetime Real Women channel is a place where honest, true-to-life stories important to women are told in a heartfelt meaningful way. Lifetime entertainment has proven to be phenomenally successful with strong ratings and high consumer demand. The networks commitment to its viewers has been recognized over and over again by leading women’s groups and nonprofit organizations.

Analysis of Unilever’s Risks and Risk Management Strategies Essay

With the rapid development of modern economy, companies are always exposed to risks which are penetrating to all walks of life and not only exist in the products market, but also exist in financial market (Ballou, 2005). It is undoubtedly that risks jeopardize the company’s development in that they may increase the cost of a company’s operation and make it harder for a company to make a crucial decision. Accordingly, it is essential to know risks and find out risk management strategies. This essay will firstly map out Unilever’s business model and have a brief analysis on it. Following this, it will illustrate specifically risks Unilever is exposed to in light of the business model. Meanwhile, it will point out some risks Unilever has not managing enough. Next, the essay will assess some risk management strategies Unilever has taken to mitigate or avoid the risks. Finally, it will recommend the company some more risk management strategies in order to help it mitigate or prevent risks. Analysis of Unilever’s Business Model Business Model A business model, strictly speaking, is the organization’s core logic for creating value (Jane & Susan, 2000). After over 80 years’ development, Unilever has become one of the largest suppliers of consumer products in the world. Its strong portfolio of foods, home and personal care brands is trusted by consumers the world over. Unilever’s top 13 brands account for total sales of over EUR23 billion and top 25 brands represent nearly 75% of the sales (Unilever Annual Report, 2009). Unilever is a well-operated company, and its business model is mapped out as follows: Key Partners Suppliers Contractors Distributors Key Activities Research Design Production Sale Value Proposition Produce innovative and good-quality personal and household care goods for consumers and try to make people feel good and comfortable every day; Produce and sell nutritious foods, such as tea, ice cream, dressing to people and to make them enjoy a better life. Customer Relationships Deliver goods to customers via various channels Customer Segments Huge segment of customers Customers all over the world Key Resources Brands /Labels Employees Production Sites & Lines Technology Information, Intellectual Property, Embracing Diversity Channels Malls Supermarkets Stores Groceries Pharmacies Terminal Markets Cost Structure Research cost, design cost, production cost, supply and sale cost, marketing and promotional spend, management cost Revenue Structure Sales of the consumer goods the company researches, designs and produces. Analysis of the Business Model The business model mapped out above indicates that a multi-national enterprise like Unilever has an integrated and inseparable business chain which is global on the one hand, and multi-level on the other hand, that is, its economic activities involve employees, suppliers, producers, storage, terminal markets, retailers, customers and other beneficiaries (Ian, 2009). Such business model enables Unilever to become a world top supplier of consumer products. However, each coin has two sides. Since the Unilever’s business chain connects each other so closely and relates to numerous parties and factors, thus the company’s whole operation is rather vulnerable and is easily subject to various risks. Risks Exposed to Unilever in light of the Business Model Market Uncertainties As a top supplier of consumer products, Unilever’s business activities are operated within a global, vigorous and competitive market. Its business development is subject to the condition and change of the whole market. Firstly, economic condition plays a crucial role on the development of Unilever’s business as consumption demand and purchase ability of consumers directly influence the sale of the products. 2008 and 2009 were relatively tough years for Unilever due to the global economic crisis (Unilever Annual Report, 2009). The economic downturn reduces consumers’ wealth and makes them unable to buy as many products as before. Meanwhile, customers purchasing ability was greatly undermined and turned to buy those inexpensive but substantial products rather than those top-grade products. Customers’ reactions affect Unilever’s turnover, profit and cash flow. Next, more and more companies are targeting the market of consumer goods due to the attraction of billions of consumers. Thus, the market of consumer goods is just like a piece of pie and is shared by more and more competitors. Therefore, the whole market is uncertain and Unilever has to be well prepared for the fight against the economic uncertainties and the industrial fierce competition. Financial Instability The interest rate risk is a risk brought to the value or the cash flow or profitability of a company when the change of the interest rate occurs. To clarify it more specifically, the floating interest rate exposes the company to the risk of the increased interest cost and the increased borrowing afterwards; while the fixed interest rate makes the company subject to the risk of the loss of the fair value. Meanwhile, as a multinational company whose business activities are operated in more than 180 countries, Unilever is exposed to the risk of the fluctuation of the exchange rate during the process of the change of currencies and the actual value of the currency may be decreased due to such fluctuation (Unilever Annual Report, 2009). Provided that Unilever does not handle the issue of interest rate and exchange rate well, the company may be subject to the exposure of the reduction of cash flow, turnover, profits which may subsequently adversely impact the company’s credit rating, ability to raise funds and confidence of investors. Environmental Risk As a top producer of consumer goods, some waste water is generated for disposal and the company also discharges some CO2 from energy that the company uses in the process of the production (Unilever Annual Report, 2009). In case the said issues are not dealt with appropriately, the environment will probably be polluted. One of the Unilever factories in Brazil discharged a great deal of stink smell to the air due to the false operation in 2008 which impacted upon more than 100 thousand people’s normal life and Unilever was imposed a fine of 10 million Brazilian Real by the Brazilian government due to such pollution (Unilever Annual Report, 2009). Similar accidents will greatly damage the reputation of the company as not only the government but also common people’s awareness of environmental protection has been greatly improved nowadays. Accordingly, Unilever is exposed to the environmental risk which may result in the heavy fine and adverse reputation. Loss of Customers Unilever’s extraordinary achievement obtained nowadays is on the one hand because of the superior products it supplies and on the other hand is inseparable to the customers’ sufficient trust of the company and its brands. However, the following three factors may undermine customers’ trust to the company and its brandsï ¼Å¡ a. Products fail to meet high product safety standards. Quality inspectors in each state have set many standards and are doing lots of inspection work to ensure the safety of products sold in the market. In case the product is found insecure or with any shortcomings, customers will feel disappointed; b. Lack of new products and technical capability. Customers have quite high requirements on products. Lack of new products and technical capability will push customers to other supplier of similar consumer goods; c. The service and product provided by the competitive company is better than Unilever. Loss of customers’ trust may be caused by several reasons, while the result is simply the loss of the company’s cash flow and the damage of the company’s growth and profitability. Operation Risk Each step of Unilever’s business activity is separable to each other (Unilever Annual Report, 2009). For example, the company’s production of goods is conditioned by the timely and secure supply of the raw-material, while the successful sale of goods needs effective storage and distribution capability. However, the supply of the company’s raw material, mostly agriculture products, is based on the secure and sufficient agricultural production which may be influenced by weather, water scarcity, and farming practices. Similarly, the storage and distribution of products is usually influenced by the storage and distribution capability, the cost of it and the local social stability. Any issue of the foregoing may badly influence Unilever’s normal production and sale and subsequent cash flow, turnover, and profit and other business indexes. Risk of Employees and Talents Unilever is a company with more than 300 operation agencies in 88 countries, more than 1000 well-known brands and sells its products in more than 150 countries. Thus the successful operation of the company not only depends on the superior products, but also needs appropriately qualified employees. In the event that the company suffers high employment turnover rate, it may be exposed to the risk of high cost of training, suspended market share and loss of some investment opportunities which will impact the smooth development of the company and undermine the company’s capability of competitiveness in the market. Legal Risk Unilever is doing business in more than 150 countries. Different country has very different legal system and regulations concerning the employment, the product safety, the pricing, the intellectual property rights, the disclosure, the environment and other factors (Ian, 2009). Legal risk may probably bring a suit to the company and will do harm to the company’s reputation in local market. Other Risks exposed to but not identified or Elaborated by Unilever Unilever has found out and elaborated some risks exposed to the company; however, there are some risks which have not aroused Unilever’s great attention: Risk of New products Exploitation In order to confront the industrial competition, Unilever needs to exploit continually new products to attract customers and consolidate the relationship with customers. The exploitation of a new product basically involves following steps: design, research, selection of the scheme, the involvement and allocation of the resources, the production and promotion of the products. However, there are some uncertain factors existing in the process of new products exploitation, such as technology, market, fund and environment and each uncertain factor may lead to the unsuccessful exploitation, loss of cost or negative reputation to the company (Michel, 2001). Physical Risk A company is unavoidably exposed to some natural disasters or accidents (Jane, 2000), such as fire, windstorm or earthquake which will cause the property damage or employees’ body injury. Such damage or injury will cause the company’s normal operation affected and subsequently, turnover, cash flow and profitability will be impacted. Other risks The company is also exposed to other risks such as fiscal, tax and so on. Interaction of Risk Factors Economic Downturn ↠ → Market Uncertainties ↙â†â€" ↓↑ Risk of New Product Exploitation↠ → Financial Instability ↓↑ â†â€"↘ ↓↑ Legal Risk ↠ → Loss of Customers ↓↑ ↙â†â€" ↓↑ Risk of Employees and Talents ↠ → Operation Risk All risks illustrated above do not exist independently but rather influence interactively (Geert, 2008). The economic downturn will lead to the financial instability which may cause the company to operate adversely and the subsequent poor operation may cause the company to face more fierce industrial competition and environmental risk. The said issues are easy to lead to the loss of employees and talents which may also subsequently lead to poor operation and vice versa. To sum up, the factors function with each other and the company has to take some effective and holistic measures to defend these risks. Assessment of Unilever’s Risk Management Strategies Unilever has recognized that most of the risks exposed to it may become material obstacles to the company’s further development. Accordingly, it has tried to taken some effective and structured measures to identify and then exploit the key risk management strategies for the business (Michael, 2007). The specific risk management strategies it has exploited are as follows: 1. Unilever has been carefully monitoring economic indicators and consumer behavior in different areas through extensive and professional research in order to respond quickly and take new and flexible measures to meet the changing demand of customers. 2. In order to deal with the issue of financial instability, the company has been making efforts to get access to global debt markets through various ways such as short-term or long-term debt programs. Unilever attaches great importance to the fluctuation of interest rate, trying to have different types of financial services and balance the risks between floating and fixed rate interest after a professional prediction and assessment of the interest rate; Regarding to the foreign exchange rate, Unilever sets a policy which limits the operating companies’ financial foreign exchange exposures so as to minimize such risk. 3. Unilever has made a series of standards and policies for the procedure of design, manufacture, and distribution of products to ensure the high standards of products’ quality. Unilever also has a â€Å"Sustainable Development Group† which is comprised of five external specialists, engaging in the company’s development of the strategy. Unilever also has specific policy concerning products recall in case there’s products quality incident. 4.Unilever has set complete and effective contingency measures and system to ensure the material supply or to share the production task between different production sites or to use substitute materials in case of the lack of the material. The company also calculates the cost of transportation and distribution from time to time and to adjust the policy and service promptly to optimize the cost. These measures enable the company to operate well. 5. Unilever needs to find a way to attract, develop, train and retain qualified employees. The company has an admiring human resource system. It has established Resource Committees to identify employees’ skill and capability, define employees’ career paths. It also provides numerous opportunities for employees to improve their skills, leadership abilities through training and coaching. Meanwhile, Unilever shall take measures to enhance employee’s risk management ability. Ballou and Heiger (2005) propose â€Å"shifting the employee’s attitudes about risk management to include monitoring, measuring, and controlling certain risks while sharing, avoiding, and accepting that other risks will not occur effectively in a short period of time†. 6. Unilever has set policies to make sure employees follow policies and abide by local laws and regulations in all relevant aspects concerning its business and activities. Regarding those crucial issues and activities, the prior legal check and consent are needed in the company. In a word, Unilever has been making great efforts to build effective, reasonable and practicable strategies for risk management. The boards have overall responsibility for Unilever’s risk management and the company has a Code of Business Principles which stipulates the standards of business operation and requires employees to abide by the code. The above strategies enable Unilever to operate its business well in the global market. New Risks Exposed to Unilever and Recommended Risk Management Strategies Besides risk management strategies mentioned above, the writer will recommend some more strategies for Unilever and try to give it some ideas on better monitor and manage its risks. Transfer and Divert Risks In order to avoid the damages and losses brought by such risks to the development of the company, Unilever may select to transfer risks by applying for insurance. Modern insurance system is the idealist way to transfer risks (Mike, 2006). For example, Unilever may transfer the risks of property, employers’ liability and business interruption by applying for the insurance of Property All Risks, Employer’s Liability and Business Interruption so as to transfer risks to the insurance company. Establish an Effective Control System Risk management is not only to establish a risk management for business procedure, more importantly, the company shall establish a comprehensive and effective risk management control system to make sure the effective implementation of the risk management strategy. The company can establish a Risk Management Committee in the head office and shall be directly responsible for the board of directors. â€Å"The board needs to be consulted on matters of risk management and it needs to be able to give guidance to the risk management committee in its deliberations. To do this effectively the board needs to ensure the whole company is engaged in managing risk, thereby making it an intrinsic part of the company culture†. (Corporate Governance: An International Review, 2009, 546-558). The function of the Risk Management Committee is to implement the risk management, to be especially responsible for the risk supervision of the whole company and to make unified risk management policy and procedure; each branch of the company shall establish an independent risk supervisor, responsible for the risk management and to report the matter of risk to Risk Management Committee without consent of the local manager. Establish a Database of Risk Accidents Database of risk accidents is a tool to effectively predict and assess the risk. The data in the database shall include both internal and external data concerning risk accidents. â€Å" We can try to estimate how bad this problem is by looking at the historical severity of these events in relation to any risk factors that we define and then examining the prevalence of these risk factors†(Michel, Dan and Robert, 2001). Through correct analysis of such data, the company will learn a lesson and consider its risk management policy and procedure so as to judge whether the company will prevent the occurrence of the risk accident and how to take precautious measures to avoid the occurrence of similar accidents. Conclusion In conclusion, risks exist in the whole process of business operation, any company shall attach great importance to the risk management to effectively predict and avoid the risk. Unilever is a company which has well recognized its major risks and taken effective risk management strategies. Research on risk and risk management strategy is a long journey and need all employees of the company to make effort and abide by the policy and standards to monitor and manage risks proactively. References Ballou, B. & Heitger, D. L.2005. A building-block approach for implementation COSO: Enterprise risk management-integrated framework. Management Accounting Quarterly, 6(2):1-10. Geert Bouckaert and John Halligan, 2008, Managing performance: international comparisons. Routledge, 2008, pp221-225. Ian Brown, Adam Steen, and Julie Foreman. 2009. Risk Management in Corporate Governance. A Review and Proposal Corporate Governance: An International Review, 2009, 17(5):546-558. Jane Linder, Susan Cantrell, 2000, Changing Business Models: Surveying the Landscape, Business Publisher: Accenture, Pages: 1-15 Michel C., Dan G. and Robert M., 2001, Risk Management, McGraw-Hill. Michael R. Czinkota, Ilkka A. Ronkainen, 2007, International marketing, Cengage Learning, 2007, p417-422. Mike Walker. 2006. Managing international risk. International Business Briefings. The Institute of Risk Management. 2006. P 5-6. Unilever Annual Report, 2009, Unilever Annual Report, from: http://annualreport09.unilever.com/downloads/Unilever_AR09.pdf (Accessed on May, 25, 2011)

Ermogenous V Greek Orthodox Community of Sa Inc. [2002] Essay

1. CITATION. Ermogenous v Greek Orthodox Community of SA Inc. [2002] HCA 8; 209 CLR 95; 76 ALJR 465; 187 ALR 92 (7 March 2002) 2. COURT. HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA FULL COURT GAUDRON, McHUGH, KIRBY, HAYNE and CALLINAN JJ ERMOGENOUS, Spyridon APPELLANT v GREEK ORTHODOX COMMUNITY OF SA INC RESPONDENT 3. BRIEF STATEMENT OF MATERIAL FACTS. [1] The appellant alleged that he had been employed by the respondent since 18 March 1970 but had not received any entitlements to annual leave or long service leave upon termination of his employment in December 1993. The Magistrate from the Industrial Relations Court of South Australia found in favour of the appellant in the first instance but the Supreme Court of South Australia overturned the Industrial Magistrates ruling at the first appeal. It has been re-appealed to the Full Court of the High Court of Australia. 4. PROCEDURAL HISTORY. South Australia Industrial Relations Court [2] The case was first brought to the South Australia Industrial Relations Court and was heard by the Industrial Magistrate. The Magistrate found in favour of the appellant stating that the appellant had been employed under a contract of employment by the respondent for 23 years. [3] The respondent’s statement that there in fact was no contract of employment was rejected on the grounds that the appellant was recruited from America for the purpose of appointment as Archbishop and the role as head of the Australian autocephalous church. He met with â€Å"members of the committee of management of the South Australian Community† and at such a time an agreement was reached that he â€Å"would be paid similarly to the priest† and would be referred to as one of the â€Å"employees†. [4] Further evidence of the existence of legal relations between the parties was the respondent’s actions. The respondent deducted tax from the appellant’s salary, which was then forwarded to the Australian Tax Office (ATO). The respondent also provided evidence in the form of certificates stating the existence of an employer relationship to  the appellant, who was the employee. Supreme Court of South Australia [5] The decision of the Industrial Court was appealed to the Supreme Court of South Australia whereupon the case was heard by Doyle CJ and Bleby J. It was proposed that the presence of intention to enter into contractual relations should not be presumed, particularly when considering â€Å"remuneration and maintenance and support of a minister of religion†. [6] The Supreme Court reconsidered the Industrial Magistrates ruling that the parties had entered legal relations and had shown intention to do so. [7] His Honour Doyle CJ stated that â€Å"it is important to bear in mind that the [respondent] is not a church, in which the [appellant] held a clerical office†¦ The [respondent] is a body that fosters Greek culture in South Australia in the broadest sense†. He later went on to say â€Å"[i]n considering the inference to be drawn from the discussions in Adelaide, it is also relevant that the [appellant] was not providing services to the [respondent], but to members of the local Greek Orthodox Church†. 5. GROUNDS FOR APPEAL AND/OR ISSUES TO BE DECIDED. [8] Four issues were raised as the grounds for appeal. The first being whether the Full Court of the Supreme Court of South Australia had erred in any way in their decision that the Magistrate of the Industrial Relations Court of South Australia failed in considering if enforceable contractual relations had actually been entered into by the parties. [9] Secondly, relevant upon a negative decision of the first issue, whether the Supreme Court failed to consider the Industrial Magistrate’s reasons for deciding in regards to the issue of intention to create legal relations. [10] The third issue brought to the attention of the court was whether the Industrial Magistrate erred in his reasoning that enforceable contractual relations had been entered into by the parties on the consideration of the spiritual profession of one, or both, of the parties. [11] The final issue raised in the grounds of appeal was whether the Industrial Magistrate was correct in concluding that the parties h ad indeed entered into a contractual relation, being a contract of employment. 6. SUMMARY OF COURT’S ANALYSIS OF LAW. [12] The Court agreed with the Industrial Magistrate’s rejection of the proposition â€Å"that the relationship of a minister of religion to those who  provided for the minister’s necessities of life was, of its nature, incompatible with a contract of employment†. [13] As mentioned in Intention & Privity (2007), â€Å"discerning intention warrants intricate analysis of the facts – intention cannot be presumed purely based on the context or type of the agreement†. Similarly, the court considered the following matters: What was the subject matter of the agreement? What was the status of each party to the formation of the agreement? And, what was the relationship the parties held to each other? [14] The Archbishop was successful in establishing a ‘meeting of the minds’ during the initial talks and negotiations held in Adelaide in 1970 and as a result the Court found in favour of the appellant and that a contract of employment had been en tered into between the parties and further was enforceable by law. 7. PRINCIPLE OF LAW TO BE APPLIED. [15] The principle of law to be applied to the case is ‘intention to create legal relations’ and whether relationships involving the basis of religion would have an effect on the existence of a contractual relationship. [16] Their Honours made note that â€Å"it is said that it may be presumed that there are some â€Å"family arrangements† which are not intended to give rise to legal obligations and it was said in this case that it should not be presumed that there was an intention to create legal relations because it was a matter concerning the engagement of a minister of religion. For our part, we doubt the utility of using the language of presumptions in this context. †¦ Reference to presumptions may serve only to distract attention from that more basic and important proposition.† 8. DESCRIPTION OF HOW LAW APPLIED TO THE FACTS. [17] The character of the employment arrangement is continuously evolving, but in this case, their Honours interpreted the respondent’s actions: the respondent arranged to have income tax deducted from the appellant’s salary as well as issuing to the appellant cheques for travel and a variety of other incurred expenses. It was then reasonable to conclude that both parties had in fact entered into contractual relations of an employment nature which is enforceable at law. 9. DECISION. [18] The case was found in favour of the appellant with the first issue raised being decided in the affirmative, leaving the second issue non-existent as it does not arise. The decision of the third issue was negative. The fourth issue was remitted back to the Supreme Court for decision under the Full Court. 10. ORDER MADE BY THE COURT. [19] The appeal was allowed with costs and the issue of â€Å"[whether] the Industrial Magistrate correctly held that the relationship between the parties was regulated by a contract enforceable at law, it was, as he found, a contract characterised as a contract of employment†. Remit the matter to that Court for further hearing and determination conformably with the reasons of this Court. 11. SOCIAL OR CULTURAL CONTEXT. [20] Maria Keyes and Kylie Burns discussed the social context of the case in Contract and the Family: Whether Intention. They claim that â€Å"intention to create a contractually enforceable agreement is regarded as an immovable aspect of modern contract doctrine†. They continued to discuss the case in length, referring to the joint judgement given in the High Court: â€Å"The joint judgment recognised that the presumptions had been elevated to such an extent that they had become difficult, if not impossible, to rebut. Their Honours believed–correctly, in our view–that the presumptions of fact, which should merely signify where the onus of proof falls, had ossified into strict rules of law†. [21] Rogers CJ stated in Banque Brussels Lambert SA v Australian National Industries Ltd (1989) 21 NSWLR 502 that â€Å"[t]he whole thrust of the law today is to attempt to give proper effect to commercial transactions†¦. If the statements are appropriately promi ssory in character, courts should enforce them when they are uttered in the course of business and there is no clear indication that they are not intended to be legally enforceable†. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. (1997) 64 SAIR 622 at 651. [ 2 ]. (1997) 64 SAIR 622 at 651-652. [ 3 ]. [2000] SASC 329; (2000) 77 SASR 523 at 524-525 [4] per Doyle CJ, 575-576 [207] per Bleby J. [ 4 ]. (2000) 77 SASR 523 at 526 [9] [ 5 ]. (2000) 77 SASR 523 at 528 [17] [ 6 ]. [2002] HCA 8 at 56 [ 7 ]. 2007, Intention & Privity, The Future Role of Presumptions, StudentAtLaw [ 8 ]. (2002) 209 CLR 95 [ 9 ]. [2002] HCA 8 at 80 [ 10 ]. [2002] HCA 8 at 53 [ 11 ]. [2002] HCA 8 at 52 [ 12 ]. Keyes, Maria and Burns, Kylie 2002, Contract And The Family: Whether Intention? [ 13 ]. Keyes, Maria and Burns, Kylie 2002, Contract And The Family: Whether Intention? [ 14 ]. Banque Brussels Lambert SA v Australian National Industries Ltd (1989) 21 NSWLR 502, 523 and Keyes, Maria and Burns, Kylie 2002, Contract And The Family: Whether Intention?

Once upon a time

Once upon a time there was peace between the people of England and the settlers of the American colonies. But as time went on and England began to take advantage of the colonies this great peace left and turned into a bloody revolution which would change the world. This revolution resulted the end of the great English power and the birth of a new country America. Before the actual fighting really started the relationship between the colonists and Great Britain was stretched out to the breaking point as the Americans Representation was very important to the American colonists. The Americans felt that they needed to be represented when issues were brought up that dealt with the welfare of the American colonists. England felt the colonists should do and act on how they felt. To England the Americans were a private gold mine. The colonists could only take so much before rebelling. The Boston Tea Party is just one example of the Americans being fet up with the suffocating grasp which the British held over them. Taxation without representation became a well known cry from the colonists that could The term sovereignty meant nothing to the Royal family which felt they had total control and overall power of the American colonies settled in the English name. But to the American colonists the term sovereignty meant they had the right to rule themselves as their own nation . Part of coming to the American colonies in the early days was the fact that you had certain freedoms that were not permitted in England. The people of America became used to these freedoms and were not about to change their ways when England needed the raw materials and the business. In England there was no such thing as a constitution. The word existed, but their was no piece of paper telling the people of England what rights they had and did not have. It was all knows in a sense by word of mouth. The Amer

Mills Utilitarianism Essays - Utilitarianism, Classical Liberalism

Mills Utilitarianism Essays - Utilitarianism, Classical Liberalism Mill's Utilitarianism When faced with a moral dilemma, utilitarianism identifies the appropriate considerations, but offers no realistic way to gather the necessary information to make the required calculations. This lack of information is a problem both in evaluating the welfare issues and in evaluating the consequentialist issues which utilitarianism requires be weighed when making moral decisions. Utilitarianism attempts to solve both of these difficulties by appealing to experience; however, no method of reconciling an individual decision with the rules of experience is suggested, and no relative weights are assigned to the various considerations. In deciding whether or not to torture a terrorist who has planted a bomb in New York City, a utilitarian must evaluate both the overall welfare of the people involved or effected by the action taken, and the consequences of the action taken. To calculate the welfare of the people involved in or effected by an action, utilitarianism requires that all individuals be considered equally. Quantitative utilitarians would weigh the pleasure and pain which would be caused by the bomb exploding against the pleasure and pain that would be caused by torturing the terrorist. Then, the amounts would be summed and compared. The problem with this method is that it is impossible to know beforehand how much pain would be caused by the bomb exploding or how much pain would be caused by the torture. Utilitarianism offers no practical way to make the interpersonal comparison of utility necessary to compare the pains. In the case of the bomb exploding, it at least seems highly probable that a greater amount of pain would be caused, at least in the present, by the bomb exploding. This probability suffices for a quantitative utilitarian, but it does not account for the consequences, which create an entirely different problem, which will be discussed below. The probability also does not hold for Mill's utilitarianism. Mill's Utilitarianism insists on qualitative utilitarianism, which requires that one consider not only the amount of pain or pleasure, but also the quality of such pain and pleasure. Mill suggests that to distinguish between different pains and pleasures we should ask people who have experienced both types which is more pleasurable or more painful. This solution does not work for the question of torture compared to death in an explosion. There is no one who has experienced both, therefore, there is no one who can be consulted. Even if we agree that the pain caused by the number of deaths in the explosion is greater than the pain of the terrorist being tortured, this assessment only accounts for the welfare half of the utilitarian's considerations. Furthermore, one has no way to measure how much more pain is caused by allowing the bomb to explode than by torturing the terrorist. After settling the issues surrounding the welfare, a utilitarian must also consider the consequences of an action. In weighing the consequences, there are two important considerations. The first, which is especially important to objectivist Utilitarianism, is which people will be killed. The second is the precedent which will be set by the action. Unfortunately for the decision maker, the information necessary to make either of these calculations is unavailable. There is no way to determine which people will be killed and weigh whether their deaths would be good for society. Utilitarianism requires that one compare the good that the people would do for society with the harm they would do society if they were not killed. For example, if a young Adolf Hitler were in the building, it might do more good for society to allow the building to explode. Unfortunately for an individual attempting to use utilitarianism to make for decisions, there is no way to know beforehand what a person will do. Furthermore, without even knowing which building the bomb is in, there is no way to predict which people will surely be in the building. A subjectivist utilitarian would dismiss this consideration and would examine only what a rational person would consider to be the consequence; however, even the subjectivist utilitarian must face the question of precedent setting. Utilitarianism considers justice and humane treatment to be good for society as a whole and therefore instrumentally good as a means

Analysis Of Sweat By Zora Neale Hurston English Literature Essay

Analysis Of Sweat By Zora Neale Hurston English Literature Essay All through literature and stories, words and characters will always represent different meanings and symbols. Readers will continue to venture deeper and deeper into the meanings of the words a writer puts on paper. The writer of the story may not even have a deeper meaning to the writing but we as humans have a need to explore. The short story known as â€Å"Sweat† by Zora Neale Hurston may also be one of those types of stories. The short English literature story â€Å"Sweat,† written by Zora Neale Hurston, shows Sykes as the husband of the leading character Delia in the story. During the story it seems as though Sykes gets easily upset and angered at his wife Delia.  Ã‚  Sykes takes his frustration out on Delia all throughout the story by hurting her physically, cheating with another woman, and teasing her with one of her biggest frights, which are snakes.  Ã‚  Even though Sykes’ behavior should not be accepted or followed, he possibly could show signs of a mental problem that is not fully addressed or dug into during the story. Sykes may also feel threatened because Delia is the sole provider of the house. He wants to feel as if he still has the â€Å"man† power and control over the marriage. More often than once he tries to take Delia and make her feel lesser to him as he feels it should be.    During this time many women may have backed down after being yelled at or threatened by their husbands but Delia did not back down however. She took a stand against Sykes by saying to him,†Mah tub of suds is filled yo’ belly with vittles more than yo’ hands is filled it.  Ã‚  Mah sweat is done paid for this house and Ah reckon Ah kin keep on sweatin’ in it† (Hurston 408). In the story the reader can almost tell and feel that Sykes also does not want to be reminded that he was unsuccessful in making a complete family or the fact that he has failed to take care and provide for his family. Betty Nosa m writes in the book, â€Å"Sweat, Looking for a Man`s place†, â€Å"In Sweat, the husband named Sykes is frequently exposed to his let down and failures to provide for his family, his wife by her recurring talks of ‘her’ carriage, pony, other physical items† (Nosam 66).   Hollering, screaming and yelling all seem to fail, which will make Sykes feel the need to resort to other means of making Delia listen, violence.  Ã‚  All Through the story Sykes will be threatening Delia and informing her that he will hit her physically in one way or another. Author of the book,  forming a Straight punch with a curved fist, Loren Bruckheimer, will explain how, â€Å"Zora Neale Hurston uses descriptions of the whip to propose a people of manliness expressed in an over powering nature and deeply seeded in ethnic tyranny† (Bruckheimer 44).  Ã‚  This would imply that Sykes hits Delia only because the only way of manliness that he has known is the kind that th e white townsmen seem to portray.

Love and the supernatural in methamorphosis ey ovid and midsummers Essay

Love and the supernatural in methamorphosis ey ovid and midsummers night dream by shakespeare - Essay Example While the former uses love and supernaturalism in order to transcend the material and induce a feeling of goodness about the world at the end, the latter, uses these two themes to criticize and disapprove the contemporary political and scientific theories. Though the literary pieces under consideration were composed at a gap of centuries, yet influences of Ovid can be detected in Shakespeare’s play. It is analysed by critics that the ‘gods and goddesses ’of Metamorphoses’ had influenced the construction of ‘fairies’ in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. It may be claimed that Ovid’s construction of a mythological and mystic world through the random use of immortal characters and supernatural elements, has been attempted by Shakespeare to recreate in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ by using elements like magic and fairies. Whether both the texts establish the same idea, or are widely different from one anothe r is the subject of the analysis below. There is a prevalent use of supernatural elements in the plays of Shakespeare. Be it ghosts, witches, or fairies, or the technique of prediction and foretelling, paranormal and bizarre factors have always played a major role in the plot and thematic structure of the plays. The people of the Elizabethan period to which Shakespeare belonged to, were much superstitious, and their belief in supernaturalism dictated their life and actions to large extent. It may be said that Shakespeare’s use of elements of supernatural in his works shows the Elizabethans’ obsession with mythical beliefs. Though he was much influenced and pressurized by the demands of the contemporary stage goers to include supernatural elements in the plays, Shakespeare’s inherent genius was such that nowhere in the plays, the supernatural constituents appear incoherent or unnecessary to the plot. Those were incorporated ingeniously and made an dispensable

Equity and Trusts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Equity and Trusts - Essay Example The elements are that there is an intention that there be property given to a trustee for use of a beneficiary or beneficiaries.1 Moreover, there must be a certainty that a trust is what was truly was intended, and not a bailment, gift or agency relationship.2 Additionally, there must be certainty about the terms of the trust – what is the property, and who is to benefit from the property.3 The trust must also be for the benefit of people, and not for a purpose, which means that the beneficiaries may be able to decide how to use the property.4 This is known as the three certainties – there must be a certainty of intention, subject matter and object.5 There must also be, for an express trust, a transfer of property to the trustee.6 There is some question, however, about this particular trust. While it appears to be for the benefit of beneficiaries, in that the people of the company are who would benefit from the trust, the trust might also be construed as a purpose trust , which means that the trust is set up for the fulfillment of a purpose, not the for the benefit of a person.7 The court might construe the trust as being a purpose trust, because it was set up for the purpose of providing medical care and rest and recuperation care to the employees. ... Another possibility is that this money would be treated as a resulting trust.8 This would occur if the court assumes that the settlor of the trust are the people who contributed the money into the trust, and the trust itself fails, because of the lack of certainty of the objects of the trust.9 A resulting trust can also result when the objectives of the trust no longer become possible or relevant by the time of the transfer to the trustee.10 Alternatively, the trust could treated as a quistclose trust, which occurs when a creditor lends money to a debtor for a particular purpose.11 If the trust fails, because the purpose that the debtor was to use the property fails or cannot be fulfilled, then the money reverts back to the creditor.12 Either way, the money would be considered to be a resulting trust, which would mean that the settlors would retain the value of the money.13 This would mean, of course, that the trustees would not be able to use the money for other purposes – as with a quistclose trust, the money in the trust fund was to be used for a very specific purpose, which is to be pay for medical care and rest and recuperation care for any employee or the family of an employee who suffers injury or a medical condition arising from their work. This is what the fund was specifically set up for, and, since this purpose is no longer valid, the settlors would retain the money. This would mean that the people who contributed the money into the fund would retain the rights to the money, and the trustees would not be able to divert the funds for other things. Even if the court does not treat the trust as a resulting trust, it is still doubtful that the trustees would be able to use the funds for something else. Assuming that the trust is considered to be

The Cultural Diversity and its Impact on the Organization Case Study - 1

The Cultural Diversity and its Impact on the Organization - Case Study Example Additionally, each organization had developed its cultural practices, but now they have to make amendments that will make them compatible. This means that the human resource management ought to be firm in managing the culture of the company. Most importantly, the department must determine the culture and study that culture (Symes 2011, 47). Moreover, there are cultural differences between the merging and the acquired company. This could be issues like how each organization measures or defines their success, working terms, insurance, benefits for the employees, form or mode of management, the attitude of the employees, how they handled the problems and the functions conducted by the managers as they operated the company’s functions (Symes 2011, 48). Therefore, this paper focuses on indicating that human resource has a role to manage the culture of organizations that merge or in the acquisition. It is known that when the merger or acquisition of an organization fails, the blame is usually placed on the culture. Interestingly, culture shock could lead to failure where there is lack of effective human resource management (Gitelson et al. 2000, 105). It even gets worse when the merge includes two or more organizations from different countries. Arguably, the conflicts arise many times when the purchasing organization that made the initial move make deals and offers around finances. Additionally, the human resource department forms the larger company acquire some benefits that will help establish the problem. For example, insurance covers and pension plans that will cause a significant amount on the organization. Besides, the company needs to know or agree on the offers it will make after the merger or acquisition. However, when the major issues are to be addressed wisely, the combination can lead to an effective organization.  

Physical Education Observation Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

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Portfolio of work completed with supporting narrative paper Essay

Portfolio of work completed with supporting narrative paper - Essay Example Over the more than 20 years it has been in operation in the industry, it has gained super advantages in terms of the logistics, the production technology and dissemination of information to the market in terms of its sales and marketing ability (SDITC). The company has a history of production of only quality products and does not reciprocate on quality in the market. This goes hand in hand with promotion of excellence in the market that it operates in. some of the products that the company produces are; ceramic tiles, carpet tiles, floor tiles, mosaic marble and many different types of tile products. With an employee total range of 100-500 at any one time in its operation, the company has developed to become a high stake in the industry and with the slightly over 20 years of operation, it has developed a very strong manufacturing in technology based production. Its sales and marketing to the market is also a very efficient strategy in that the company has good customer relations whic h have made it dominate the Chinese market for a good length of time. Therefore, undertaking internship at such a company exposes the subject to very objective experience in the respective field of study. With its technology applications, the company introduces the learner to the most current methods of sales and marketing. Description of Work Experiences A typical day week was comprised of a range of activities that were carried periodically either on day to day basis or weekly basis. There are those activities that were based on appointments and had to be referred to on a weekly basis. As a sales assistant at the company, there was a vast range of activities that were relevant to the course which was being done. One of the duties was that of an assistant sales staff work at the company. In this capacity, the work involved constituted helping potential customers to access purchases at the company. Tracking customers was another sales activity that was involved in at the company. Th is was tracking the orders that the company was to implement. When a company was having a pool of activities involving the use of orders, there was need to get a follow up activity that was used to make the customers be able to create continuous sales activities in the company. Tracking of the orders is used to make a follow up on the orders made to customers so that there is no single lost market for the company. Communication is very important in marketing. This marketing and sales is based on the fact that one is able to communicate and convince the customers to be able to purchase and be able to purchase again when another chance like that presents itself. Sound communication was therefore important in tracking the customers in their whereabouts and then initializing the programs that would make a positive transaction between the company and the customer. Once some of the business activities had been initialized, it was necessary creating a link through the available communicati on channels at the company to make sure that new sales opportunities are created to new customers. This was created through enough business networking through the internet and all the technological sources available. Development of new customers is a very strong progressive step towards the development of the company sales. In creation of new customers, there is always need to create a safe and

The Cultural Diversity and its Impact on the Organization Case Study - 1

The Cultural Diversity and its Impact on the Organization - Case Study Example Additionally, each organization had developed its cultural practices, but now they have to make amendments that will make them compatible. This means that the human resource management ought to be firm in managing the culture of the company. Most importantly, the department must determine the culture and study that culture (Symes 2011, 47). Moreover, there are cultural differences between the merging and the acquired company. This could be issues like how each organization measures or defines their success, working terms, insurance, benefits for the employees, form or mode of management, the attitude of the employees, how they handled the problems and the functions conducted by the managers as they operated the company’s functions (Symes 2011, 48). Therefore, this paper focuses on indicating that human resource has a role to manage the culture of organizations that merge or in the acquisition. It is known that when the merger or acquisition of an organization fails, the blame is usually placed on the culture. Interestingly, culture shock could lead to failure where there is lack of effective human resource management (Gitelson et al. 2000, 105). It even gets worse when the merge includes two or more organizations from different countries. Arguably, the conflicts arise many times when the purchasing organization that made the initial move make deals and offers around finances. Additionally, the human resource department forms the larger company acquire some benefits that will help establish the problem. For example, insurance covers and pension plans that will cause a significant amount on the organization. Besides, the company needs to know or agree on the offers it will make after the merger or acquisition. However, when the major issues are to be addressed wisely, the combination can lead to an effective organization.  

Portfolio of work completed with supporting narrative paper Essay

Portfolio of work completed with supporting narrative paper - Essay Example Over the more than 20 years it has been in operation in the industry, it has gained super advantages in terms of the logistics, the production technology and dissemination of information to the market in terms of its sales and marketing ability (SDITC). The company has a history of production of only quality products and does not reciprocate on quality in the market. This goes hand in hand with promotion of excellence in the market that it operates in. some of the products that the company produces are; ceramic tiles, carpet tiles, floor tiles, mosaic marble and many different types of tile products. With an employee total range of 100-500 at any one time in its operation, the company has developed to become a high stake in the industry and with the slightly over 20 years of operation, it has developed a very strong manufacturing in technology based production. Its sales and marketing to the market is also a very efficient strategy in that the company has good customer relations whic h have made it dominate the Chinese market for a good length of time. Therefore, undertaking internship at such a company exposes the subject to very objective experience in the respective field of study. With its technology applications, the company introduces the learner to the most current methods of sales and marketing. Description of Work Experiences A typical day week was comprised of a range of activities that were carried periodically either on day to day basis or weekly basis. There are those activities that were based on appointments and had to be referred to on a weekly basis. As a sales assistant at the company, there was a vast range of activities that were relevant to the course which was being done. One of the duties was that of an assistant sales staff work at the company. In this capacity, the work involved constituted helping potential customers to access purchases at the company. Tracking customers was another sales activity that was involved in at the company. Th is was tracking the orders that the company was to implement. When a company was having a pool of activities involving the use of orders, there was need to get a follow up activity that was used to make the customers be able to create continuous sales activities in the company. Tracking of the orders is used to make a follow up on the orders made to customers so that there is no single lost market for the company. Communication is very important in marketing. This marketing and sales is based on the fact that one is able to communicate and convince the customers to be able to purchase and be able to purchase again when another chance like that presents itself. Sound communication was therefore important in tracking the customers in their whereabouts and then initializing the programs that would make a positive transaction between the company and the customer. Once some of the business activities had been initialized, it was necessary creating a link through the available communicati on channels at the company to make sure that new sales opportunities are created to new customers. This was created through enough business networking through the internet and all the technological sources available. Development of new customers is a very strong progressive step towards the development of the company sales. In creation of new customers, there is always need to create a safe and

Aggressive acts in popular TV programmes Essay Example for Free

Aggressive acts in popular TV programmes Essay In this piece of coursework I am trying to find out whether aggressive acts in popular TV programmes cause children to act more violently. The participants used in this experiment will be children aged between 5 and 10. I think that the more aggressive acts there are in the popular TV programmes the more aggressive the child will act after watching the programme.  Most of us recognise aggression when we see it but the reason the person is being aggressive we find hard to determine. One common way to determine aggression is by saying there are 2 types instrumental and hostile aggression. Instrumental aggression is used to achieve a specific goal, perhaps to protect yourself or to try and get your own way. This form of aggression is not always accompanied by anger. Hostile aggression is aimed at damaging someone or something, and is often done in anger. The social learning theory says that we learn not only through reinforcement but also by observing other people and imitating their behaviour, which is called observational learning. A psychologist named Albert Bandura studies of aggression are based on the teachings of the social learning theory. He found out the following points:  Observation  Always we are watching people, and children in particular spend a lot of time observing others. While observing others they pick up on what they say and how they say it. The see how other people react to what is said or done, and observe the consequences of other peoples behaviour. If the behaviour is imitated by the observer we know the behaviour has been learned. For example a boy might kick his teddy bear in the same way as he seen his hero in a cartoon punch another character. The child may imitate the sounds which the hero in a cartoon makes. If the hero was rewarded or shown admiration for its actions in the cartoon then the child is more likely to imitate the heros behaviour. This is an example of vicarious reinforcement. Reinforcement  If the child is rewarded for its actions it is more likely to perform the behaviour. If the boy imitates a character on the TV and is rewarded by the carer the behaviour is likely to continue. If the carer disapproves of the behaviour of the child and punishes then the child is less likely to perform the behaviour again.  Albert Banduras Research On Aggression  Albert Bandura performed a number of experiments which focused on the effect of children watching an adult behave aggressively. For example, Bandura and friends (1961) arranged for an adult to hit and kick a large inflatable doll (called a Bobo doll) whilst the child was in the room. Afterwards the child had a chance to play with a variety of toys, including the doll, whilst the adult was present. Bandura in later experiments changed this procedure, because he showed a child a film of someone being aggressive to the doll in the environmental condition. In the control condition children watched a non-violent film. They were watched afterwards whilst playing and a number of incidents of aggression were noted. When participants were asked to replicate as much of the models behaviour as they could remember, most were able to do so accurately regardless of whether the model had been reinforced or punished. Some of the children who had not been aggressive towards the doll, even though they could do so accurately when asked. These children had learned the behaviour even though they did not imitate it. The Role Of The Media In Aggression  Banduras research indicated that children could learn new ways of being aggressive from their observation of models. This raised the question of what role the media might play in encouraging aggression and violence in society. The way aggression and violence in films, cartoons, TV programmes, computer games and books are presented provides models which children and adults may imitate. As a result of this, there was a huge increase in the research to discover the level and type of violence shown in the media, and what role the medias presentation of violence might play in aggressive behaviour. T. Williams and colleagues (1986), studied children in three Canadian towns and were compared to discover whether television had an influence on their levels of aggression. At the start of the study, one town had no television (Notel), another town had one channel (Unitel) and a third had several channels (Multitel). A year later Notel had one channel, Unitel had two channels. The researchers measured childrens levels of aggression before channels were added and again one year afterwards. The observed the children in playgrounds, and asked teachers and children to rate aggression. Aggression both verbally and physically increased after Notel children began watching TV, and this for both boys and girls. In addition Williams found a positive correlation between the amount of time a child watched TV and the amount of aggression he or she showed.

Short Duration Voltage Variations Engineering Essay

Short Duration Voltage Variations Engineering Essay For long time, the main concern of consumers in power system was the reliability of supply which means that the continuity of electricity. However, it is not only the reliability that consumers want these days, quality of electricity supply is also very important for consumers. The term, electric power quality, broadly refers to maintaining a nearly sinusoidal bus voltage at specified magnitude and frequency in an uninterrupted manner from the reliability point of view. For a well-designed generating plant, which generates voltages almost perfectly sinusoidal at rated magnitude and frequency, power quality problems start with transmission system and stay applicable until end users in distribution system. The power quality in power system are categorized as temporary phenomena and steady state phenomena The power qualities are characterized in the power system by different terms suggested by Padiyar, K.R.,(2007) under these two categorizes are summarized as follows: 1.2. TEMPORARY PHENOMENA Transients: Transients are short-duration, high-amplitude pulses superimposed on a normal voltage waveform. They can vary widely from twice the normal voltage to several thousand volts and last from less than a microsecond up to a few hundredths of a second. Transients can be classified as impulsive transients and oscillatory transients. Impulse transients are mainly caused by the impact of lightning strikes to the power system. The typical causes of oscillatory transients are capacitor or transformer energization and converter switching. While impulsive transient is a sudden and has non-power frequency change in voltage and current with a fast rise and decaying time, oscillatory transient has one or more sinusoidal components with frequencies in the range from power frequency (50Hz) to 500 kHz and decays in time. Short Duration Voltage Variations: Short Duration Voltage Variations are defined as the variations in the supply voltage for durations not exceeding one minute and caused by faults, energization of large loads that having large inrush currents or rapidly varying large reactive power demands of the loads. These are further classified as voltage sags, voltage swells and interruption. Long Duration Voltage Variations: Long Duration Voltage Variations are defined as the rms variations in the supply voltage at fundamental frequency for exceeding one minute, such as overvoltage, under voltage and sustained interruption. The causes of overvoltage (or under voltage) may be the switching off (or on) of a large load having poor power factor, or the energization of a large capacitor bank or reactors. Voltage Unbalance: Voltage Unbalance is the condition in which three phase voltages of the supply are not equal in magnitude and may not be equally displaced in time. The primary causes are the single phase loads, open circuit in any one phase of a balanced 3phase loads and unequal loads connected in each phase of a poly phase systems. Waveform Distortion: Waveform Distortion is defined as steady-state deviation in the voltage or current waveform from an ideal sine wave. These distortions are classified as dc-offset, harmonics and notching. The causes of dc offsets in power systems are geomagnetic disturbances, especially at higher altitudes and half-wave rectifications. These may increase the peak value of the flux in the transformer, pushing it into saturation and resulting in heating in the transformer. Power electronics equipments like UPS, adjustable speed drives injects harmonics in the power systems. Notching is a periodic voltage distortion due to the operation of power converters when current commutates from one phase to another. Voltage Fluctuations: Voltage Fluctuations are defined as the rapid, systematic and random variations in the supply voltage. This is also called as Voltage Flicker and is caused by rapid and large variations in current magnitude of loads having poor power factor such as arc furnaces. These large variations in load current causes severe dip in the supply voltage unless the supply bus is very stiff. Power Frequency Variations: Power Frequency Variations are the variations that are caused by rapid changes in the load connected to the system, such as the operation of draglines connected to a comparatively low inertia system. Since the frequency is directly related to rotational speeds of the generators, large variations in power frequency may reduce the life span of turbine blades on the shaft connected to the generator. Although these above terms are not new, customer awareness on power quality has increased. In recent times, power quality issues and custom solutions have generated tremendous amount of interest among power system authorities and engineers. International Electro technical Commission (IEC) and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) have proposed various standards on power quality. This led to more stringent regulations and limits imposed by electricity authorities although they differ from one country to another in a limited extend. Although terms of power quality are valid for transmission and distribution systems, their approach to power quality has different concerns. An engineer of transmission system deals with the control of active and reactive power flow in order to maximize both the loading capability and stability limits of the transmission system. On the other hand, an engineer of distribution system deals with load compensation either by means of individua l or group compensation in order to maintain power quality for each load in the distribution system (Sankaran.C, 2002, John J.Paserba et al, 2000). The utilization of power electronic based power conditioning devices brought the solution for these power quality issues in distribution system. 1.2 FACTS CONTROLLERS In recent years, many multinational software companies and automobile industries established their units in India. In turn, it initiates many other small industries to supply their needs. The growth of these industries is found to be very fast and it pollutes the power system by injecting harmonics into it. These industries need electrical power for its operation. Establishing new power generation unit is not so easy in India due to the initial cost. In addition it has many constraints like fuel constraints, political constraints, economical constraints and technological constraints. This makes to think an alternate solution for the scarcity of power by improving the quality of existing power. Reducing the wastages and improving the quality of available power is equivalent to generation of power. To improve the reliability and deliver energy at the lowest possible cost with improved power quality, power supply industries require increased flexibility in the transmission and in the di stribution systems. The power industries are handling these challenges with the power electronics based technology of Flexible AC Transmission systems (FACTS). This term covers the whole family of power electronic controllers, some of which may have achieved maturity within the industries, while some others are yet in the design stage. As Higorani et al (1999) described the various VSC based FACTS controllers are available for power quality improvement. FACTs has been defined by the IEEE as follows. Power electronics based system and other static equipment that provide control of one or more AC transmission system parameters to enhance controllability and increase power transfer capability. In general, FACTs controllers can be classified as follows Series Controllers Shunt Controllers Combined series and shunt Controllers Combined shunt and series Controllers Based on the power electronic devices used in the controller, the FACTS controllers can be classified as: (A) Variable impedance type FACTS Controller (B) Voltage Source Converter (VSC) based FACTS Controller The variable impedance type controllers include: (i) Shunt connected- Static Var Compensator (SVC) (ii) Series Connected-Thyristors Controlled Series Capacitor or Compensator (TCSC) (iii) Combined shunt and series connected Thyristors Controlled Phase Shifting Transformer (TCPST) of Static PST The VSC based FACTS controllers are: (i) Static synchronous Compensator (STATCOM) (shunt connected) (ii) Static Synchronous Series Compensator (SSSC) (series connected) (iii) Interline Power Flow Controller (IPFC) (combined series-series) (iv) Unified Power Flow Controller (UPFC) (combined shunt-series) The VSC based FACTS controllers have several advantages over the variable impedance type. VSC based STATCOM response is much faster than a variable impedance type SVC. STATCOM requires less space than SVC for same rating. It can supply required reactive power even at low values of the bus voltage. In addition, a STATCOM can supply active power if it has an energy source or large energy storage at its DC terminals. It can also be designed to have in built, short-term overload capability. The only drawback with VSC based controllers is that it requires use of self-commutating power semiconductor switches such as Gate Turn-off (GTO) thyristors, Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBT), Integrated Gate Commutated Thyristors (IGCT). However, the VSC based controllers build with emerging power semiconductor devices using silicon carbide technology will lead to the wide spread use of VSC based controllers in future. Among FACTs controllers, the shunt controllers have shown feasibility in terms of cost effectiveness in a wide range of problem solving from transmission to distribution levels. For more than a decade, it has been recognized that the transmittable power through transmission lines could be increased and the voltage profile along the transmission line could be controlled by an appropriate amount of compensated reactive power. Moreover, the shunt controller can improve transient stability and can damp power oscillation during a post-fault event. Using a high speed power converter, the shunt controller can further alleviate the flicker problem caused by electrical arc furnaces. .1 SERIES CONTROLLERS Static synchronous series compensator (SSSC) is series reactive power compensation devices used in transmission level. The series compensation is obtained by controlling the equivalent impedance of a transmission line, to regulate the power flow through the line. The SSSC can be considered as a static synchronous generator that acts as a series compensator whose output voltage is fully controllable, independent of line current and kept in quadrature with it, with the aim of increasing or decreasing the voltage drop across the line, thus controlling the power flow. The basic structure of a SSSC connected with the network is shown in Figure 1.1. Line C VSC TF Figure.1.1 Series Connected SSSC The SSSC injects a voltage Vq in quadrature with line current. It can provide either capacitive compensation if Vq leads the line current by à Ã¢â€š ¬/2 rad or inductive compensation if Vq lags line current by à Ã¢â€š ¬/2 rad. A relatively small active power exchange is required to compensate for coupling transformer and switching losses, and maintain the required DC voltage. 1.2.2 SHUNT CONTROLLERS STATCOM The schematic diagram of a STATCOM is shown in Figure.1.2. In principle, all shunt type controllers inject additional current into the system at the point of common coupling (PCC). VSC that uses charged capacitors as the input dc source and produces a 3à Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ ac voltage output in synchronism and in phase with the ac systems. The converter is connected in shunt to a bus by means of the impedance of a coupling transformer. A control on the output voltage of this converter is either lower or higher than the connecting bus voltage, controls the reactive power drawn from or supplied to the connected bus. The impedance of the shunt controller, which is connected to the line causes a variable current to flow and hence represents an injection of current into the line. As long as the injected current is in phase quadrature with the line voltage, the shunt controller can either supply or consume variable reactive power. Line C VSC TF Figure.1.2 Shunt Connected STATCOM A six pulse Voltage Source Converter (VSC) with suitable controller, the phase angle and the magnitude of the AC voltage injected by the VSC can be controlled. The Phase Lock Loop (PLL) ensures that the sinusoidal component of the injected voltage is synchronized (matching in frequency and required phase angle) with the AC bus voltage to which VSC is connected through a coupling inductor. Often, the leakage impedance of the interconnecting transformer serves as the coupling inductor. It also serves as harmonic filter for the voltage injected by the VSC. The injection of harmonic voltages can also be minimized by multi-pulse (12, 24 or 48), and/or multilevel convertors. At low power levels, the pulse width modulation (PWM) technique is sufficient to control the magnitude of the fundamental component of the injected voltage. The high voltage IGBT devices can be switched at high frequency (2 kHz and above) of sinusoidal modulation enables the use of simple LC-low pass filters to reduce harmonic components. 1.2.3 COMBINED SHUNT AND SERIES CONTROLLERS (a). Unified Power Flow Controller (UPFC): The Unified Power Flow Controller (UPFC) is the most versatile FACTS controller for the regulation of voltage and power flow in a transmission line. It consists of two-voltage source converters (VSC) in which one connected in shunt and the other one connected in series. The DC capacitors of the two converters are connected as shown in Figure.1.3. the shunt connected converters work as STATCOM and controls the reactive current injected in to the line. Series connected converter work as SSSC and control reactive voltage injected series with the line. The combination of these two converters enables to exchange active power flow between the two converters. The series connected converter can supply or absorb the active power. VSC Line VSC C STATCOM SSSC Figure 1.3 Schematic of UPFC The controllable power source on the DC side of the series connected converter, results in the control of both real and reactive power flow in the line at the receiving end of the line. The shunt-connected converter provides the required reactive power and injects the reactive current at the converter bus. Thus, a UPFC has 3 degrees of freedom whereas other FACTS controllers have only one degree of freedom or control variable. The concept of combining two or more converters can be extended to provide flexibility and additional degrees of freedom. A Generalized UPFC refers to the use of three or more converters out of which one shunt connected while the remaining converters are series connected (b). Interline Power Flow Controller (IPFC): An Interline Power Flow Controller (IPFC) refers to the configuration of two or more series connected voltage source converters sharing a common DC bus as shown in Figure 1.4. The Interline Power Flow Controller (IPFC) is used reactive (series) compensation of each individual line. In addition to this, the IPFC is capable of exchanging real power between the two or more compensated lines. To achieve this AC side of the series connected VSCs are connected in different lines and on the DC side, all the DC capacitors of individual converters are connected in parallel. This is possible because all the series converters are located inside the substation in close proximity. VSC1 Line-1 VSC2 C SSSC1 SSSC-2 Line-2 Figure 1.4 Schematic of IPFC for two transmission line using two VSC An IPFC is similar to a UPFC in that the magnitude and phase angle of the injected voltage in the line (main system) can be controlled by exchanging real power with the second line (support system) in which a series converter is connected. The basic difference with a UPFC is that the support system in the UPFC is the shunt converter instead of a series converter. The series converter associated with the main system of one IPFC is termed as the master converter while the series converter associated with the support system is termed as the slave converter. The master converter controls both active and reactive voltage within limits while the slave converter controls the DC voltage across the capacitor and the reactive voltage magnitude. 1.3 APPLICATION FACTS CONTROLLERS IN DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS Although the concept of FACTS was developed originally for transmission network, later on this has been extended since last decade for improvement of Power Quality (PQ) in distribution systems operating at low or medium voltages. In the early days, the power quality referred primarily to the uninterrupted power supply at acceptable voltage and frequency. In the modern context, power quality problem is defined as any problem manifested in voltage, current or frequency deviations that result in failure or malfunctioning of customer equipment. However, the increase in the use of computers, microprocessors and power electronic systems has resulted in power quality issues involving transient disturbances in voltage magnitude, waveform and frequency. The nonlinear loads not only cause power quality (PQ) problems but also very sensitive to the voltage deviations. The unbalanced load in the distribution system like single-phase railway loading creates power quality problem at the distributio n level. The highly inductive load like arc furnace is a major source of creating power quality problems in distribution network. Hingorani et al (1999), was the first to propose FACTS controllers for improving power quality in distribution systems. They have called it as Custom Power Devices. These are based on VSC with appropriate controller. Based on the types of connection with the distribution network the custom power devices classifications are given below; 1. Series connected Dynamic Voltage Restorer (DVR) 2. Shunt connected Distribution STATCOM (DSTATCOM) 3. Combined shunt and series connected Unified Power Quality Conditioner (UPQC). The Dynamic Voltage Restorer (DVR) is a series connected custom power device in the distribution systems. The DVR is analogous to a SSSC in the transmission system. The main function of a DVR is to reduce voltage sags seen by sensitive loads such as semiconductor manufacturing plant or a paper mill. They have been designed to compensate three phase voltage sags up to 35% for duration of time less than half a second (depending on the requirement). If the voltage sag occurs only in one phase as in the case of Single Line to Ground (SLG) faults then the DVR may be designed to provide compensation for sags exceeding 50%. The capacitor is designed to store energy in the range of 0.2 to 0.4 MJ per MW of load served. A DVR is connected in series with the distribution feeder through a transformer. The low voltage winding of the transformer is connected to the converter. If a DVR is used mainly to regulate the voltage at the load bus, it injects a series voltage of the required magnitude if i t detects a voltage sag else remains in stand-by mode during which the converter is bypassed or it is not injecting voltage. It is necessary to protect the DVR against the fault currents as in the case of a SSSC. A DVR with IGBT/IGCT devices can be controlled to act as a series active filter to reduce the voltage harmonics on the source side. It is also possible to balance the voltage on the load side by injecting negative and/or zero sequence voltages in addition to harmonic voltages. The distribution STATCOM (DSTATCOM) is similar to a STATCOM in transmission system that it uses a VSC of the required rating. However, the VSC used in a DSTATCOM is a 6-pulse converter with SPWM or Space Vector Modulated PWM (SVPWM) control over the magnitude of the injected AC voltage while maintaining a constant DC voltage across the capacitor. In DSTATCOM, faster power semiconductor devices such as IGBT or IGCT are used instead of GTO as in STATCOM. The rapid switching capability provided by IGBT (or IGCT) switches enables the use of DSTATCOM for balancing, active filtering and flicker mitigation. The unbalanced system is balanced by injecting negative sequence current to the system. The active filtering is done by injecting harmonic currents in the system. A DSTATCOM can be viewed as a controlled variable current source. If more power that is reactive is required for compensation in distribution system, dynamic capacitor rating is increased. To increase the dynamic rating in the capacitive range, a fixed capacitor can be connected in parallel with DSTATCOM. By connecting energy storage device such as a Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES) or a battery charged by a separate charging system on the DC side, it is possible to exchange real power with the network for momentary interruptions or large voltage sags for a limited time. The combination of shunt and series active filters which are connected on the common DC side as shown in Figure.1.5 used as Unified Power Quality Conditioner. This configuration is inspired by the UPFC in the transmission system. Akagi.H (1996), suggest the possibility of a centralized UPQC at the distribution substation that will provide harmonic isolation between the sub-transmission system and distribution system. The series branch of UPQC provides this harmonic isolation in addition to voltage regulation and imbalance compensation. The shunt branch provides for harmonic and negative sequence current compensation in addition to DC link voltage regulation. A UPQC can be considered as the combination of DSTATCOM and DVR. A DSTATCOM is utilized to eliminate the harmonics from the source currents and balance them in addition to providing reactive power compensation to improve power factor or regulate the load bus voltage (Padiyar.K.R. 2007). DVR DSTATCOM Load VSC1 Line VSC2 C Vs PCC I_AF VL +VAF Figure 1.5 Schematic of a Unified Power Quality Controller (UPQC) The terminology is yet to be standardized. The term `active filters or `power conditioners is also employed to describe the custom power devices. Irrespective of the name, the trend is to increasingly apply VSC based compensators for power quality improvement. LITERATURE REVIEW Development of gate turn off capability of semiconductor switches opened a way to second-generation FACTs controller using voltage source converter (VSC). This VSC can be operated at high switching frequency to provide a faster response. The STATCOM is a shunt connected power converter based compensating device. Van Zyl. A, et.al proposed an idea for Converter based solution to power quality problems on radial distribution lines (1996). This is a first power converter based shunt compensator. The concept of STATCOM was disclosed by Gyuayi,.L (1988). The concept gives the characteristics of VSC that are suitable for grid connected FACTS controller application. In the older version of reactive power compensation device, the reactive power is drawn from energy storage devices such as capacitor in the case of Static Var Compensator (SVC), but in STATCOM power is circulated within the connected network. The energy storage components used in the STATCOM is much smaller in capacity than tho se used in the SVC. In 1995, the first +100MVA STATCOM was installed at the Sullivan substation of Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in northeastern Tennessee. This device is mainly used to regulate 161kV bus during the daily load variation to reduce the operation of the tap changer of a 1.2GVA 161kV/500kV transformer. The VSC used in this STATCOM is made up of eight two level VSC resulting a 48 pulse VSC. The output of each VSC is integrated by a complex interface zigzag connected interfacing transformers, because this is a two-level VSC, a series connection of five of gate-turn-off (GTO) thyristor is used as a main switch. The staircase type switching scheme at fundamental frequency (60Hz) was used as a control scheme for this STATCOM. Due to slow switching speed of the GTOs; the firing angles of the output wave form are fixed. Therefore, the amplitude of each output waveform is controlled by exchanging real power of the DC-link capacitor with the power grid. The power quality problem at distribution level like voltage regulation, harmonics reduction, power factor correction, reactive power compensation and unbalance compensations need to be carried out at distribution level. The DSTATCOM, connected to the grid through the coupling inductor at the point of common coupling (PCC) is controlled in such a way that it exchanges only reactive power with the grid. This is achieved by injecting current in quadrature with the grid voltage. The DSTATCOM is developed from the STATCOM used in transmission system for voltage regulation. Hingorani, N.G,. et al (1999) explored the concept and technology of Flexible AC Transmission Systems. The detailed modeling and average modeling of DSTATCOM and its performance for voltage regulation application is studied by Pierre Giroux et al (2000). This gives the concept of PWM controlled DSTATCOM in dq coordinate system. Sen Sarma. P.S., et al (2001) Analyzed and evaluated the performance of a distribution STATCOM for compensating voltage Fluctuations. Sao, C.K et al (2002) proposed the application of DSTATCOM from voltage regulation to reactive power compensation, power factor correction, mitigation of voltage sag and swell in distribution system and created a benchmark system to test all these performance. This DSTATCOM is controlled by PI controller in dq coordinate using parks transformation matrix. This work reduced the computation time of the controller by avoiding Inverse Parks transformation. The application of DSTATCOM is extended to compensate the reactive power for isolated induction generator by Bhim Singh et al (2003). This gave the mathematical modeling of induction generator and DSTATCOM. As the DSTATCOM is suitable for distribution system and stand alone system researcher focused to increase the performance of the controller. The concept of using DSTATCOM as a shunt active filter to reduce the current harmonics in the industrial application and gradually extended to power systems application by Georges, S. et al (2006) and Kannan, H.Y. et al (2008). The concept of Generalized Instantaneous Reactive Power Theory for Three-phase Power Systems is exploited by Akagi, P., et al (1984) and Fang Z heng Peng et al (1996). The concept of instantaneous reactive and real power is brought by them in to the design of controller for closed loop operation of VSC. A Survey of Current Control Techniques for Three-Phase Voltage-Source PWM Converters is brought by Marian P., et al (1998). These current control techniques provided a path way for direct control of VSC output current. Design and Implementation of DSTATCOM for fast load compensation of unbalanced loads was implemented by Wei-Neng Chang et al (2009). The controller for unbalanced system was built by phase sequence method and pulses are generated by current regulated PWM method. The Space Vector Modulation (SVM) PWM technique was an emerging control technique used in Voltage Source Converter (VSC) for controlling its output voltage by Atif Iqbal et al (2010). A New Vector-Based Hysteresis Current Control Scheme for Three-Phase PWM Voltage-Source Inverters was developed by Mansour Mohseni et al (2010). This thesis tries to appl y Vector-Based Hysteresis Current Control Scheme for DSTATCOM for power factor improvement. This research is focusing to use the SVM based PWM technique for DSTATCOM operation in addition to PI controlled SPWM in dq coordinate systems. This also extends the application SVM based HCC from inverter to DSTATCOM. 1.5 PROBLEM STATEMENT The voltage at distribution systems need to be maintained at 1pu at all conditions. The reactive power control plays an important role in maintaining the bus voltage at 1pu in the distribution bus.Classical reactive power controllers like fixed capacitors, switched capacitors, TCR, SVC etc have slow response and bulky. A DSTATCOM, though a costlier device it has faster response. Hence it is preferred when faster correction of voltages is required. It is required to design specific controllers for voltage regulation, power factor correction and unbalanced system compensations. All the above problems can be solved by installing a DSTATCOM with proper controllers. 1.6 OBJECTIVES The main aim of this thesis is to design and implement the controller for DSTATCOM to improve the power quality namely voltage regulation, voltage sag or swell, reactive power compensation, power factor improvement and unbalance compensation. The controllers presented in this work will aid the design engineers to develop an integrated controller with multiple control objectives. The main objectives of this thesis include To study the concepts of DSTATCOM and bring out the design procedure of it. To understand the controller principle for various applications and explore it for novel controller design. To design the new control algorithm namely PI controlled Space Vector Pulse Width modulation method and Study the performance of DSTATCOM for this controller to improve the power quality issues such as voltage regulation, power factor improvement and reactive power compensation. To compare this SVPWM controller performance with the performance of existing Sine Pulse Width Modulation (SPWM) method. To modify the basic SVPWM method so as to extend its controller to directly control the flow of current of DSTATCOM. This method of controller is called SVPWM based Hysteris Current Controller (HCC) method. To suggest a new control techniques for unbalanced system compensations using sequence analyzing method and validate its performance for power quality improve improvement. To explore the design of DSTATCOM components. To identify the controller for compensating balanced and unbalanced systems. 1.7 THESIS ORGANISATION This thesis contains seven chapters summarized as follows: In Chapter 1 need for improving the quality of power is discussed the power quality issues and various Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS) controllers available for the power quality improvements in the transmission systems and distribution systems. This chapter also includes the review of the literature, outlines the research objectives and the organization of the thesis. Chapter 2 describes the general method for designing a DSTATCOM for power quality improvement. The DSTATCOM consists of a DC capacitor, a VSC, a coupling inductor and the controller. This chapter gives a method of designing the coupling inductor, the DC capacitor and selecting the power electronic switches for the VSC. It also focuses on analyzing the controllers of DSTATCOM for power quality improvements. In Chapter 3, the mathematical modeling of a two-level VSC based DSTATCOM is described. This Chapter also presents the PI controlled Sine Pulse Width Modulation (SPWM) and Space Vector PWM (SVPWM) switching techniques for voltage regulation applications. The comparative performance of these switching techniques is carried out. The control logic is developed from the power invariant property of the Parks transformation of