Indigenous Peoples Essay

The peak of the globalization is mostly felt when every culture around the world is integrated into a centrally focused ideal that encapsulates each unique cultural set-up practiced around the world. When all these cultures are somehow connected in something that both caters to each need of the various cultures of people and introduces an open understanding and tolerance to all the available sub-cultures within a particular state or nation, there is no question that globalization has taken its effect to its most fundamentally successful level. Such is the case after reading the book A Global History of Indigenous Peoples by Ken S. Coates that, according to some reviews, â€Å"examines the history of the indigenous/tribal peoples of the world and the work spans of the period from the pivotal migrations which saw the peopling of the world, and further examines the processes by which tribal peoples established themselves as separate from surplus-based and more material societies (Barnes and Noble). † The book is also a successful introduction to how the impact of the differing policies of global struggles of cultural domination takes place in the world and how the colonization of these changes has impacted the indigenous cultures. As a form of analysis in the chapter of the book entitled Continuing the Struggle: Indigenous Protests, Legal Agendas, and Aboriginal Internationalism, it would be great to highlight how the impact of globalization made the integration of the different indigenous cultures in some leading countries successful. In this aspect, no country is better to analyze and cite as an example than the great cultural history of the indigenous rights movement in Canada. Moreover, the analysis in this given area should focus both on how the indigenous rights movement in Canada has been integrated into the globalization integration of cultures and to how this degree has been made manifest in the uniqueness of the indigenous rights culture of the particular state. Secondly, an analysis on how this uniqueness has been able to relate to the international scenario of protests and processes that are forming the cultural integration of all the major cultures practiced in our time, is also very important. Degree of the Indigenous rights Movement in Canada When we discuss the indigenous rights movement in Canada, the most immediate things we can think about and can connect to the book of Ken S. Coates are the aboriginal nature of Canadians to value the basic human right of living, the practice of democracy in their lifestyle and the value of the self-respect and integrity among their people. In the first indigenous rights movement, the main concern is essentially concentrated on the discrimination shown by the non-indigenous people to the basic rights of living of the indigenous ones. This is mostly felt by the Canadians in the aspect of their housing plans and the way they construct and develop the indigenous livelihood and community. With this problem, the degree of the indigenous rights movement in Canada is in a level so widespread, that it has already caught the attention of the United Nations. In this aspect alone, it could be said that the indigenous rights movement in Canada has been made unique because of its unrelenting value for the preservation of the rights of indigenous living. The second indigenous rights movement that is unique to Canadians is mostly concerned with the practice of democracy in the lifestyle of the indigenous people. The Amnesty International Canada article report laying out the legislative proposals for the respect of the rights of the Indigenous rights of Canadians is one of the great examples on how this movement is unique to the Canadians living an indigenous lifestyle. (Amnesty International Website) The third indigenous rights movement that has created a certain level of high degree of respect and practice among the indigenous Canada is the respect for the rights of women and the condemning of any type of human abuse. This indigenous rights movement is one of those unique Canadian struggles that have been recognized so greatly by the world, the U. N. even made sure that these new requests by the indigenous people would become part of the new legislation addressing indigenous rights across the globe. Connection to broader international protests and processes In a great general approach, it would be safe to say that these unique indigenous rights movement have been so great and effective in attempting to universalize all the other international protests on human rights, that many of the breakthrough movements across the world have already used these ideas as an ideal platform for all future proposals of addressing indigenous rights. One of the many examples we can cite for this connection is the creation of the Indigenous people’s legislation concerning the ratification of ILO Convention 169 (the Indigenous and Tribal peoples) of the United Nations. This, along with the many global movements in addressing the global challenge of integrating indigenous cultures across the globe, is a significant international political process that, among many other things, gives light to the many demands of universalizing the indigenous rights of people in different nations. Secondly, it would also be great to highlight that many of the legislation found in the proposals advancing the rights of ownership, the respect for the rights of women and the anti-discrimination act of Canadian indigenous communities have also become great tools in understanding the great resolution of the differing conflicts between the different religions globally that have been caused by the great misunderstanding of cultures. These are the clear international process that have been caused by the Canadian indigenous rights movement.

External Factor Are Affecting the Ecosystems Essay

The word ecosystem refers to the combined physical and biological components of an environment; these organisms form complex sets of relationships and function as a unit as they interact with their physical environment. Ecosystems are constantly changing naturally, and they’ve got a specific and stable climax, equilibrium. Living as well as non-living factors may have an impact in an ecosystem such as the impact of humans in ecosystems by hunting, fishing, agriculture etc. r climate change may affect an ecosystem and dare it to adapt to the conditions. Will human’s activity affect the equilibrium of the arctic wolves ecosystem? Equilibrium refers to balance, so†¦ will human’s activities affect the balance of the physical and biological components of the tundra? Human activities, which affect the arctic wolf’s ecosystem, the tundra, are pollution, chemical contamination and overdevelopment. All of them are harmful to the ecosystem. Pollution affects in directly the tundra, habitat of the Arctic wolf. Pollution leads to Global Warming and this affect the global temperature, as a result ice melts and the tundra is affected because its an ecosystem nearly made up on ice, so eventually the ecosystem would be endangered and also the species that are contained in the ecosystem. Lately, thousands of â€Å"green† organizations have been generated to promote the green habits and to try to reduce pollution worldwide, reducing also the vulnerability of the tundra biome. Their projects consist in reducing wastes of any kind of energy source and saving any resource we get. This will involve social aspects also in the way that our society must take part and have an impact into world pollution, which will finally affect the tundra ecosystem; it has lately become popular to be ecofriendly. This ecologic movement has also affected the fashion industry which lately looks for looks with more pure materials, not much synthetic ones, also they’ve preferred clothing with pure cotton, even not only the materials of clothing are involved but the message in the clothing’s have taken a very special impact in the society. Hunting, affects directly and indirectly to the ecosystem of the Arctic wolf, it affects the interaction of living organisms by hunting the animals. The overhunting of species such as the musk ox and caribou in Alaska and North America were even near of extinction. This would create unsustainability on the ecosystem because there would not be equilibrium in the food chain and all the animals that have any relationship with the specie would me affected by don’t having a predator or a prey. Hunting in the tundra has had a very negative effect because important species suck as the musk ox have nearly got to extinction. By 1950, herds in North America were reduced by ninety percent, so this made the American population realize what was really going on in their country. They were loosing biodiversity and so laws were created to protect animals. This had an economic impact, because musk ox’s (prey of the arctic wolf) leather was part of the market so it has also a social impact, not only from for hunters but for the fashion industry which had a relation with musk ox’s fur and leather. Chemical contamination also affects the Arctic Wolf’s ecosystem. Lately, Petroleum and Coal or Natural Gas, Iron, Lead or Zinc mines and mineral exploration and exploitation and extraction are increasing worldwide especially in the Arctic. The development affects the Caribou, which are one of the main species present in the Arctic wolf habitat. Overdevelopment indicates to the building of roads and buildings in the tundra, this lead to more circulation. Fragile tundra areas of plants are taken out for the creation of these roads. Without plants to give nutrients to the soil, earth will stop being rich and will abolish the community of flora in the tundra. After discussing all the direct and indirect human impact in the environment, hunting, chemical contamination and overdevelopment are certainly harmful for the ecosystem. These activities attempt to the balance of the ecosystem by attempting against the living organisms that live in the tundra, ecosystem of the arctic wolf and by attempting against the non-living factors in the ecosystem such as climate. Even tough there are solutions for these activities to reduce or to stop, they are not completely efficient. In my opinion after all my investigation, apart from the pollution affecting indirectly to the tundra, the other activities are not a major concern for the arctic wolf’s ecosystem. As seen, human activities impact in the arctic wolf’s ecosystem is not positive (although they don’t damage much the tundra) toward the ecosystem. My final conclusion will be that external factors are definitely against the equilibrium of the arctic wolf’s ecosystem.

Economic Nationalism in China Essay

The political economy of a nation is the interplay between its politics and its economy. Economic nationalism, a part of the political economy, wherever it applies, refers to the use of policies that are guided by the idea of protecting domestic consumption, labor, and capital formation, even when these policies require the imposition of tariffs in addition to other restrictions on the movement of labor, goods, and capital. In many cases, economic nationalism is opposed to globalization or unrestricted free trade. Economic nationalism could include doctrines such as protectionism and import substitution (Economic Nationalism 2007). What is more, Japan is a master in the use of policies that define economic nationalism (Hall). China follows Japan’s footsteps closely when it delivers its political economy into the hands of economic nationalism (Gamble 2006). Although the economies of Japan and China differ considerably – that is, the Japanese economy is certainly more developed than the emerging economy of China – there are lessons for China in the Japanese experience of economic nationalism. Lessons from Japan To other nations around the world, Japanese economic nationalism appears as self-seeking behavior. Besides, the self-serving attitude of Japan could drive other nations to also feel particularly touchy about their own national interests with respect to Japan. Thus, Buchanan (1995) writes on behalf of the American people: With the collapse of U. S. – Japan trade talks, the hour of the economic nationalist may be at hand. In British Columbia, U. S. demands that Japan open her markets to more American autos nd parts were rudely rebuffed. Japan’s top negotiator virtually dared us to impose sanctions. We will haul you up before the World Trade Organization. Tokyo warns; and there we will have you branded a violator of the free trade principles you so noisily preach – before an international tribunal you yourselves set up. Angry Clintonites intend to impose 100 percent tariffs on $6 billion of Japan’s exports. This doesn’t even qualify as a spanking. Americans are in a mood for action; and the GOP should demand more serious sanctions. Enough is enough. In 1953, we had 60 percent of Japan’s auto market; by 1960, our share had been slashed to 1 percent. That is all we have now. Since 1970, Japan has purchased 400,000 U. S. cars, while selling us 40 million. Seeing that international trade is a matter of exchanging value for value, the trading partners of nations that indulge in economic nationalism are expected to reduce their trade interests in such nations over time. Nevertheless, nationalism is emotion arousing for the nations that believe in it. Roberts (1998) writes about the subconscious roots of economic nationalism in the Japanese mind. According to the author, these roots lie in an eighteenth century concept of political economy referred to as â€Å"kokueki† or â€Å"national prosperity (Roberts). † The concept of kokueki was articulated in Tosa, only one of more than 230 Japanese domains that made up Japan during the Tokugawa period. The domains were autonomous with regards to internal administration. Even so, they were often expected to sacrifice their own economic interests to meet their obligations to the shogun and his government. During a period of economic crises in the first half of the eighteenth century, Tosa was compelled to adopt mercantilist policies in order to protect its own wellbeing. The concept of kokueki was at the heart of these policies. In this way, Tosa looked upon itself as a nation instead of holding itself responsible for the economic wellbeing of all Japanese domains under the shogun (Roberts). By pursuing the interests of the domain instead of those of the entire government and the shogun, Tosa acted as a model for the rest of the Japanese domains who too began to look upon self-interest as a lucrative attitude. Tosa had thus prepared the ground for the overthrow of the shogun’s government. Eventually, the domain along with few others like itself engineered the fall of the Tokugawa shogunate in the year 1868. Furthermore, Tosa and partners extended the concept of kokueki from their domains to the entire country. This provided the new Meiji government with a model for the establishment of a nationally organized political economy (Roberts). Economic nationalism has worked for Japan for many years, and there is no law on earth against it (Hall). Even so, Buchanan (2006) complains about it once again: â€Å"China and Japan manipulate their currencies and tax polices to promote exports, cut imports and run trade surpluses at America’s expense. † In other words, these countries would like to make profits only for themselves, even if it means that these profits are made at the expense of other nations that have trade interests with them. Besides putting financial pressure on Japan, in the name of tariffs, America seems to have a less burdensome and more reasonable way to convince Japan to move toward liberalization. Tariffs are, of course, burdensome also for American consumers who love Japanese cars. The United States can convince Japan to move toward liberalization more easily by the use of reason, that is, by expressing the fact that economic nationalism failed the nation during the Asian crisis of the 1990s. Prior to Japan’s prolonged doldrums at the time, its economic nationalism was looked upon as its formula for success. But this changed when Japan saw that all of the nations that followed its formula were in crises during the 1990s (Hall). International support was the need of the hour. And so, Japan should have realized that nationalist economic policies have no place in an age of economic globalization (Hall). The fact that Japan did not see economical nationalism as the real problem, however, is the cause of Buchanan’s complaint. All the same, the author may discover that in order to see the changes that he wants to see through in the Japanese economic policies – it is best to appeal to Japanese reason before another crisis occurs. The Case of China Gamble, writing for the International Assessment and Strategy Center, reports that China’s trading partners are â€Å"cautiously expressing dissatisfaction at the country’s growing economic nationalism and failure in fact to liberalize. † Although China had been aggressively courting foreign investment since the mid-1990s and growing its economy dramatically thereby, since the latter part of 2006 the Chinese government has been heard saying that it needs to protect homegrown organizations from unfair international competition. What is more, the Chinese government has put on a multitude of new regulations for foreign firms wanting to do business in the country (Parker 2007). According to Parker, it is evident that China’s political economy is today moving in the direction of economic nationalism or protectionism. As a matter of fact, Americans believe that they may now sell little to China as compared to what the Chinese would sell to them. Furthermore, China has manipulated currency exchange rates to assure this. Hence, Parker writes: â€Å"Now they aren’t even going to let US companies benefit from Chinese economic growth. † American companies are, in fact, pulling back on their China plans now because legal changes are blocking their entry and/or growth in the Chinese market. eBay, for example, has already declared that it would close its website in China because it is difficult to do business in the face of new Chinese regulations that limit the types of financial transactions that foreign companies may conduct. Warner Bros. International Cinemas had also been planning a massive expansion in the Chinese market. However, the company abruptly announced that it would close its operations in China, citing a recent policy change that no longer permits foreign companies to control domestic theatres in the few large cities there are (Parker). Unlike Japan, China had suspended its attitudes of economic nationalism since the 1970s, in order to attract foreign investment and promote export-led economic growth. All the same, the Chinese attitude toward economic nationalism has not changed (Gamble). According to Gamble, the only interesting point concerning Chinese economic nationalism is that the Chinese leaders were able to keep economic nationalism at bay for a long time. The Chinese attitude toward economic nationalism is also deep-rooted like the Japanese attitude toward this aspect of the political economy. In the case of China, an anecdote recalls that in the year 1793, the Qing Emperor, Qianlong, informed his Britannic Majesty’s first Ambassador, Lord George Macartney: â€Å"As your Ambassador can see for himself, we possess all things. I set no value on objects strange or ingenious, and have no use for your country’s manufactures (Gamble). † To put it another way, China has believed in the self-sufficiency of its economic system for a pretty long time (Gamble). At the time that China had suspended its attitudes of economic nationalism, the country was moving toward liberalization only because of its economic desperation after thirty years of Mao style communism. China needed foreign money, management, markets and technology at the time in order to modernize its economy and buy time before reasserting its deep-rooted faith in economic nationalism. Once its economy had been revived through the suspension of economic nationalism, however, the country was to renew its self-seeking policy of economic nationalism through direct obstruction of foreign direct investment. And so, the country introduced a variety of trade barriers to stymie direct investment. As an example, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. , despite its vocal opposition to unions, was forced to accept a union in the country. This union was none other than the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, an arm of the Chinese government (Gamble). Now that its chief interest has been served, that is, the Chinese economy has become a hit in the world economy, the country is also indirectly attacking foreign goods through Chinese regulation. Proctor & Gamble was recently a victim of such an attack when the Shanghai General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine declared that it had found traces of chromium and neodymium in three of the products in one of P&G’s lines of cosmetic products. P&G denied the allegation. Moreover, no contamination was ever proved. Still, P&G’s brand was damaged due to negative publicity and the company was forced to provide refunds. Other international companies that have faced similar attacks include Dell, General Mills, Heinz, KFC, Lipton teas, Colgate-Palmolive, and Sony (Gamble). The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) is the top economic planning agency of China, which has stated that it would now like China to shift to a â€Å"quality, not quantity† policy in terms of FDI (Gamble). Seeing that the Chinese government is now making life very difficult for international companies, even those foreign companies with an emphasis on quality will be thinking twice about investing in China (Gamble). Gamble writes that the Chinese government is now expected to do all that it possibly can to squeeze the highest premium from foreign investors, especially when a foreign company is competing with a local state owned company. Conclusion Like many countries of the European Union that are presently concerned about globalization’s impact on their respective cultures, China would like to protect its age-old customs from foreign infiltration by means of economic nationalism. As a matter of fact, Chinese leadership is returning to the economic policy of the Qing dynasty, disappointing plenty of international corporations that continue to consider China as a fertile ground for investment. The Japanese, on the other hand, had been following the policy of economic nationalism or kokueki even when China had given up on economic nationalism. Both of these nations had, moreover, developed their subconscious roots of economic nationalism around the same time. The economy of Japan is better developed than the economy of China. Hence, Gamble has written that it will not be easy for China to move from its current dependence on exports and foreign investment to internally generated growth. After all, moving from liberalization to economic nationalism is a transition very much like the move that the country had made earlier on from liberalization to economic nationalism. China has been through rather difficult changes in the recent past. Needless to say, the new move is expected to require tremendous effort to boot. It may be that China would consider part liberalization and part economic nationalism for its new economic policies, for it is certain that the country is interested in globalization in addition to economic nationalism at the same time. Japan – the master of economic nationalism – continues to serve as a model for China, prodding it on toward greater economic growth with economic nationalism. The fact that Japan suffered because of economic nationalism during the Asian financial crisis of the 1990s should serve as a lesson for China. However, the fact that the Japanese economy began to recover soon after the crisis is expected to boost China’s confidence in economic nationalism. What is more, the two nations do not seem to be concerned about America’s or the rest of the world’s reaction to their policies of economic nationalism as yet. Only political and economic history in the making would tell how far both countries will go by adhering to their deep-rooted belief in economic nationalism.

Organ donation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Organ donation - Essay Example Many individuals do not become organ donors due to misconceptions about organ donation. One of the common misconceptions is doctors let organ donors die to harvest organs. This is not true. When an organ donor comes to the hospital, a doctor will try to save their lives. Organ doctors do not see live patients. Organ specialists only see dead patients. Rich people receive organs first is another misconception. This is not true. Everyone goes on a list that is a need based list. The worst illness goes to the top of the list. More of the truth about this issue needs to be available to the public. Jehovah Witnesses, certain sects of Jews, certain sects of Christians, and other religious groups do not donate organs. These people cannot be convinced. Jehovah Witnesses do not accept blood transfusions, even if rejection means death. If religious individuals will die before accepting a blood transfusion or organ donation, little hope can be had to change their minds. Those who are not organ donors need to be more informed on the subject. Although religious reasons are hard to overcome, it is not impossible. Organ donation is a gift. More organ donor recipients need to speak out about the gift they have received. Organ specialist need to speak about their process. If more spokespeople are active than more information can be given. More information is essential to having more organ

Age Discrimination in the Society Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Age Discrimination in the Society - Term Paper Example When employment becomes scarce and population continues to increase, there is a tendency to change job qualifications from skill-focused to the overall qualities of the prospective employee. This includes the age, when it is not really necessary for the job description. The law protects the employment of the citizens aged 40 and above, and is not applicable for any "reasonable factor other than age" (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, n.d.). The law against age discrimination provides an equal employment opportunity for all Americans and helps them reach their full potential as employees with regard to their qualifications. Age discrimination hurts not only the people directly affected by it, but also in the overall effect of morality and the country’s economic thrusts. Age Discrimination and the Society Joyce Kalivas-Griffin, 57, and an experienced school teacher, believes that she failed to get a job she applied for because of her age (Linn, 2010). While she cries for age discrimination, Joyce's situation is not a solitary case in the world of employment. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reports that there is a "33 percent increase in the number of age discrimination complaints filed during the past two fiscal years combined" (Linn, 2010). The impact of age discrimination does not only magnify the unequal treatment of aged employees despite their contribution and experience, but also reflects the superficial perspective of employers when it comes to choosing the right candidate for a job position. The law states, however, that the employer has the right to advertise age requirement only if it is necessary for the job. ... For instance, a man in his mid-50 was laid off because of his age. He is the breadwinner of his family and the sole provider for his children concerning education, food and shelter. His wife, on the other hand, is a plain housewife. His loss of employment has an immediate effect to him and to his family in a sense that the source of income is completely gone. Consider the effect it would bring to this 50-year old man. For so long, his family has been relying on him when it comes to everyday sustenance, and when unemployment comes as a shock, it would be harder for him to recover both financially and emotionally. The feeling of worthlessness enslaves the discriminated man and consequently affects his health due to stress. The money saved within the duration of employment reserved for his retirement years would be spent. The worst thing is, the savings may not be enough to compensate and would force him to resort to debts. According to McDowell (n.d.), the struggle of the victims of ag e discrimination may range from economic difficulties to psychological problems. Denial is a common form of self-preservation in this kind of case. When discriminated because of age, old people tend to do everything just to look younger and prove that they are still capable of doing the task as efficiently as the younger ones. They also resort to self-pity, detrimental to their overall psychological health. Butler (1975) said that victims of age discrimination wished â€Å"they were dead† at a certain point in their senior lives. Personal effects of age discrimination affect the person in all aspects of his life. What is unseen, however, is the impact it can bring to the nation’s economy as a whole. Personal debt is one of the economic constraints of employment discrimination, but

Humanities - Modernism in Art, Literature and Film Essay

Humanities - Modernism in Art, Literature and Film - Essay Example The essay "Humanities - Modernism in Art, Literature and Film" gives a detailed information about the art. literature and film of postmodernism era. The first half of the nineteenth century Europe witnessed a large number of wars and revolution that consequently lead to â€Å"turning away† form traditional form of aesthetics and evolved a new genre of art, culture and social activities. Modernism rejected the doctrine of the conviction in â€Å"Enlightenment Thinking† and negated the existence of an empathetic and omnipotent creator. But these essentially doesn’t mean that the movement of modernism negated the existence for all kinds of religion and existence of god, nor do they rejected every kind of â€Å"Enlightened Thought†, to be more precise rather, modernism was a movement that challenged and questioned the maxims of the previous age. Modernism, therefore, marks a very distinguishing difference with the Victorian bourgeois morality and a complete de viation from the nineteenth century optimism. It profoundly displayed pessimistic scenario of a culture in disorder. Modernism, as a movement and as an aesthetic form, is subjected to myriads of criticism. Charles Baudelaire is treated as one of the major poets of the modernist movement and a staunch follower and patron of modern art and literature. Baudelaire was the first author of the symbolist tradition. In his ‘To the Bourgeois and The Heroism of Modern Life, from Salons of 1845 and 1846’, Baudelaire wrote, â€Å"It is true that the great tradition has been lost..."

Propaganda Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Propaganda - Essay Example The first image which represents the Nazi propaganda under the leadership of Hitler strongly suggests that the medium used by Hitler in his propaganda has been very effective. Hitler was able to successfully win the trust and support of its people in Germany. In fact, â€Å"even the youngest want to take Hitler’s picture†6. The second image is similar with the first image in the sense that Obama also managed to use effective medium in his propaganda. This explains why Obama won in the presidential election in the United States. â€Å"Time† is all about being able to disseminate the message across the target audiences at the right moment of time7. Hitler’s and Obama’s timing was both made at the right moment. For instance, to win the support of the majority of the Americans for his presidential campaign back in 2008, Obama’s propaganda is to create more jobs and make healthcare accessible to all8, 9. The timing of Obama’s propaganda was just right since majority of the people has been badly affected by the economic recession in the United States. ... Hitler was known for being a totalitarian12. Therefore, to win the people’s trust, he publicly announced that one of his goals is to gather the German people together so as to establish a national body strong enough to â€Å"resist destruction†13. All types of propaganda are based on either the â€Å"truth† of what most people assume to be the truth14. For example, Hitler said that â€Å"if the negative forces of destruction are to be overcome, the positive forces of preservation must be enhanced†15. Without the application of critical thinking, it is true that strengthening the positive forces is necessary to counteract the negative forces that will trigger destruction in a society. But, if one is to analyze Hitler’s statement carefully, people who are against his political agenda are considered as â€Å"the negative forces of destruction†16. Therefore, â€Å"positive forces of preservation† is actually referring to the need to remove all people who are against his political agenda17. Unfortunately, there is a hidden truth in all propagandas. Because of Hitler’s personal desire to manipulate and control the social order throughout the entire Germany, millions of people who were against his propaganda suffered and died18. On top of those who died in the battlefields, almost 6 million Jews and other less dominant races were murdered under his leadership19. Even though the political propaganda of Barak Obama was based on â€Å"a good cause†, it is clear that there is a personal interest behind the â€Å"observable truth† which is to create and offer more jobs for the local people20. It is true that each person has the right to receive health care services. However, if

Manufacturing process of concrete Research Paper

Manufacturing process of concrete - Research Paper Example Earlier clay was also used as bonding material to prepare the concrete by the Assyrians and Babylonian. The Egyptians introduced the use of lime and gypsum cement to make concrete. In 1756, the first modern concrete was invented by the British engineer John Smeaton. He used pebbles as coarse aggregate substances and mixing powered bricks in to the cement for the formation of concrete. In 1984, English inventor by Joseph Aspdin first time made the Portland cement that still play major role in the composition of modern day concrete. It is believed that the invention of Portland cement is the first and major landmark achieved in the history of modern concrete because it was the first true artificial cement produced by burning of limestone and clay together (Stella, 1996). Due to burning some chemical changes occurred in the properties of limestone and clay and their combination become stronger cement as compared with that produced with the plain crushed limestone. Along with cement aggr egates are also used in the composition of concrete like sand, crushed stones, slag and ashes etc. Along with time several new materials were added as aggregate to bring variations in concrete. For instance, the reinforced concrete or Ferro-concrete was introduced in which metal like steel is imbedded. This concrete was invented in 1849 by a Parisian gardener Joseph Moneir. He made several garden pots and tubs with the concrete in which he used meshed iron as aggregate. His invention was exhibit in 1867 in Paris Exposition in which he not only show the use of reinforced concrete for making tubs and pots but also for the construction of railways, pipes, bridges and arches (Robert and Hutchinson, 1999). The invention o f the reinforced concrete was another important... After mixing the material is transported to the site where the concrete is placed and compacted. This process occurs just after the mixing process in order to avoid the separation of any ingredient from the mixture and to prevent the entrance of air bubbles into the mixture. An internal or external vibrator is used for compacting of the concrete or it is also done with the help of vibrating tables in which there are two shafts rotating in opposite directions for creating vertical vibration.   After placement, the concrete is cured so that it could be prevented from drying too fast (Neville and Brooks, 1987). The moisture level at the time of hardening of the concrete determines the durability and strength of the concrete. When the concrete dries it decreases in size because the cement solidifies and reduces the size of the concrete. The concrete becomes week if the concrete is prevented from contracting and tensile stresses also develop in the concrete so the concrete is kept damp for several days when it is set for hardening. After curing the necessary quality assurance checks and tests are conducted using quality assurance charts and other tools that assure the strength of the concrete before it is used for the construction purpose (Lancaster, 2005).   Properties of concreteThe concrete could be examined according to its properties including strength, elasticity, tension and shrinkage cracking and expansion and shrinkage.   The simple tensile strength of concrete is usually around 10-15 percent.

The Legal Drinking Age Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Legal Drinking Age - Essay Example The country does allow its citizen to do everything else like voting or marrying but they are forbidden to take alcohol until they turn 21. The legal age has always been a subject of discussion but it seems right to believe that if a person is old enough to take part in a war then is definitely old enough to drink as well. In the US, a person is considered adult when he turns 18 years of age. However, it is not legal to drink until a person turns 21. This does not make much sense. When a person can own a car, marry at will and make up his or her mind to adopt or abort children at the age of 18 then he or she should be given the right to drink at the same age where he or she can perform all these different activities as mentioned above (Hanson, 2013). Adults can make the right and wise choices for themselves. It is not right and fair that the government has placed a restriction on drinking up to the age of 21 when people are considered mentally and physically matures at 18 years of age. At 18 years of age young adults can vote and go to war in the United States of America. This means that the government believes that they have the ability to think in order to choose the right candidate or politician to run the country (Thio, 2011). If people have the ability to understand the vision of the politician and they are in the position to understand their body and to consume alcohol to their needs. Placing restrictions on young adults who can vote for the better future of the United States of America by voting but cannot consume alcohol only contradicts the judgment of the law-enforcing agencies in the country. If they are big enough to vote then they are big enough to drink alcohol (Thio, 2011). More confusing is the fact that in the United States of America an 18-year-old young adult could go to war in Iraq and Afghanistan but cannot drink a mug of beer.  

Global Exploration and Global Empires 1500-1700 Essay

Global Exploration and Global Empires 1500-1700 - Essay Example During this time, the Portuguese and the Spanish begun to explore the European oversees (Annenberg Media, 2007). This exploration aimed at the Atlantic Ocean and Western Mediterranean instead of the East as it was common in the past exploration. The reasons presented in this essay motivated the exploration by the Portuguese and the Spanish during this time (Abernethy, 2007). Economic factors The first motive was that the financial system in Europe- towards the end of the 15th century- was growing and carrying out well. It is recorded that in case the financial system of a nation is flourishing, it aims at importing and exporting its goods. They needed new markets to market their commodities. Italian traders had dominated the market with the East, therefore Europeans, particularly the Portuguese started to abandon the Mediterranean and attempted to enter the Atlantic (McDowell, 1992). There was a shortage of silver in Europe and they had no possibility for a new supply. They discovere d that large quantities of gold were in Africa, though they were not amused with the current system whereby they purchased gold from Northern Africa (Abernethy, 2007). The gold went through numerous distributors before getting to the Arabs (Abernethy, 2007). ... trading positions in Africa and finally sailed from place to place in Africa and started trading positions in Southern Arabia and India (Abernethy, 2007). Geographical factors The first moved during the exploration involved their tactical geographic setting, which offered an effortless entrance to the south towards Africa or the west towards the Americans. Another, possibly important, influence for these explorers leading opinion in their exploration was the eras purchase and use of old Arabic information and knowledge in math’s, geography and astronomy (Abernethy, 2007). This period of exploration introduced the communities of Europe to the presence of new philosophies across the globe (Abernethy, 2007). Before this era, the Europeans had enough details of the individuals and locations beyond the limitations of Europe, mainly Asia and Africa. Before the innovation and invention of the Americas, the Europeans were not aware of other existence. Europeans assumed that the world was small than it was in reality (Abernethy, 2007). This motivated the initial pioneers like Magellan and Columbus to believe that discovering new paths to the East was going to be easier than the way they discovered it (Overy, 2004). Philosophical misconceptions around natural features and the beliefs of local populaces would transform gradually through the initial centuries of these exploration (Abernethy, 2007). By the 16th century, European plans started to increase their representations and accounts to incorporate new physical discoveries (Abernethy, 2007). However, because of the powerful political conflicts taking place during the time, European nations protected their geographic findings and data from one another (Abernethy, 2007). Therefore, we can say that, though the need to

Knowledge Management within the Education Profession Essay

Knowledge Management within the Education Profession - Essay Example This report discovers the practice of knowledge management within the education profession as a tool for improving the efficiency of the administrative services and the effectiveness of academic programs. Knowledge management within the educational profession refers to a set of procedures that makes eminent sense through a combination of practical expertise gained through experience, good intuition, and a feel of what can be likely described as a set of emerging theories that focus on effective knowledge management continuum within educational institutions (Hansen, 2000). Pertinent to the field of education with regard to knowledge management entail two fundamental aspects; how to embrace and integrate knowledge management principles and how to avoid misunderstanding of such principles. Evidently, application of such knowledge management principles is in essence important with regard to improving educational efficiency. In the recent past, educational administrators have attempted to improve the efficiency of their tasks through knowledge management. Therefore, this report aims at investigating how knowledge management enables educators in an institution to develop and set effective practices to collect information and share what they know will ultimately lead to improved educational outcomes. In making this attempt, however, this report explicitly clarifies that people, in this regard educators, processes, and technology are important aspects in ensuring effective knowledge management.... 1. Educational administrators have been improving the efficiency of their task through employing knowledge management tools. Instructors within the education profession have been utilizing management tools for a considerable number of years to improve the efficiency of administrative services and the effectiveness of academic programs. From the past, the practice of knowledge management within the education profession has primarily been focusing on the technical systems that are implemented to collect, organize, and disseminate the institution’s expanse of quantitative data in areas such as accounting, finance, and enrolment planning. With the increasing number of trustees, state legislatures, teachers, administrators, faculty members, students, and parents begun to seek better education outcomes or at least have a better sense of what current outcomes measure, in the case of higher education, most educational institutions and systems have invested in technology to generate da ta that can provide answers to those seeking improved performance. Among the primary benefits of knowledge management underpins the fact that it actively addresses both the information culture and technology culture unique to the organizational context of the college, school, or university (Kellick, 2011, P. 150). The technology culture can be thought of as the institution’s use and integration of technology in planning, development, operations, and assessment. The information culture, on the other hand, involves information processes and politics for sharing information within and across the organization. 2. Knowledge management enables educators in an institution to develop and set practices to collect information and share what they know, leading to action

Singapore Airlines Essay Example for Free

Singapore Airlines Essay Over the past four decades, it has earned a stellar reputation in the ï ¬ ercely competitive commercial aviation business by providing customers with high-quality service and dominating the business-travel segments.  World’s Best Airline award from Condà © Nast  Traveler 21 out of the 22 times it has been  awarded and Skytrax’s Airline of the Year  award three times over the past decade. What’s not so well known is that despite the  quality of its services, SIA is also one of the industry’s most cost-effective operators. From 2001 to 2009, its costs per available seat kilometer (ASK) were just 4.58 cents. According to a 2007 International Air Transport Association  study, costs for full-service European airlines  were 8 to 16 cents, for U.S. airlines 7 to 8 cents,  and for Asian airlines 5 to 7 cents. In fact, SIA  had lower costs than most European and  American budget carriers, which ranged from  4 to 8 cents and 5 to 6 cents respectively. It’s intriguing that SIA has combined the  supposedly incompatible strategies of differ-  harvard business review †¢ july–august 2010  entiation—which it pursues through service  excellence and continuous innovation—and  cost leadership. Few enterprises have executed a dual strategy proï ¬ tably; indeed, management experts such as Michael Porter argue that it’s impossible to do so for a sustained period since dual strategies entail contradictory investments and organizational processes. Yet pursuing dual strategies is becoming an imperative. The demand for valuefor-money products and services has shot up since the recent recession, particularly in developed countries, so even producers of premium offerings have to ï ¬ gure out how to grab opportunities in the middle and the low end  of the market. Moreover, multinational corporations face competition from rivals— many of them from emerging markets—that  use new technologies and business models to  provide good-enough offerings at attractive  prices. Incumbents can ï ¬ ght back by cutting  prices or further differentiating products and  services, but it’s often a losing battle.

Digital Image Enhancement Methods for Multimedia Technology

Digital Image Enhancement Methods for Multimedia Technology Chapter 1 1.1 Introduction In today’s communications networks, multimedia is a growing field. There are increasing demands on incorporating visual aspect to other modes of communications. It is therefore unable to be avoided to have situations in which the video and transmitted images being corrupted or degraded in their perceptual quality by variety of ways. 1.2Digital Image Processing An image is defined as two- dimensional function, f(x,y), where x,y are plane coordinates and the amplitude of ‘f’ at any pair of coordinates (x,y) is called the intensity or gray level of the image. When x, y and the intensity values of f are all finite and discrete quantities, we call the image a digital image. To processing the image by means of computer algorithms is called as digital image processing. As compared to analog image processing, digital image processing has many advantages. It can avoid problems such as signal distortion, image degradation and build-up of noise during processing. 1.2 Image Restoration and Enhancement Methods: Now day’s digital images have covered the complete world. Images are acquired by photo electronic or photochemical methods. The sensing devices tend to reduce a quality of the digital images by introducing the noise and blur due to motion or misfocus of camera. One of the first applications of digital images was in the news paper industry, when pictures were sent by submarine cable between New York and London. Introduction of cable picture transmission system in the early 1920’s reduced the time required to transport a picture across Atlantic from more than a week to less than three hours. Some of the initial problems in improving the visual quality of these early digital pictures were related to the selection of printing procedures and distribution of intensity levels. Digital image processing techniques began in the late 1960s and early 1970s to be used in medical imaging, remote Earth resources observations and astronomy. Tomography was invented independently by Sir Godfrey N. Hounsfield and Professor Allan M.Cormack who shared the 1979 Nobel Prize in medicine for their invention. But, X-rays were discovered in 1985 by Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen. Geographers use the similar technique to study the pollution patterns from aerial and satellite imagery. Image enhancement and restoration procedures are used to process the degraded images of unrecoverable objects or experimental results too expensive to duplicate. The use of a gray level transformation which transforms a given empirical distribution function of gray level values in an image into a uniform distribution has been used as an image enhancement as well as for a normalization procedure.( I. Pitas) Image enhancement refers to increase the image quality by sharpening certain image features (edges, boundaries and contrast) and reducing the noise. Digital image enhancement and restoration are two dimensional filters. They are broadly classified into linear digital filters and non linear filters. Linear digital filter can be designed or implemented either spatial domain or Frequency domain. (K.S. Thyagarajan) In Spatial Domain methods refers to the image plane itself .Image processing methods, spatial domain methods are based on direct manipulation of pixels in an image. The intensity transformations and spatial filtering are two principal categories of spatial domain methods. In Frequency domain methods, first image is transformed to frequency domain. It means that, the Fourier transform of the image is computed and performed all processing on the Fourier transform of the image. Finally Inverse Fourier transform is performed to get the resultant image. (Rafael C.Gonzalez and Richard E.Woods) Image Enhancement Techniques are Median filtering Neighborhood averaging Edge Detection Histogram techniques In 1980, recent work on c.c.d. scanners is reviewed and solid-state scanners which include on-chip signal processing functions are described. Future trends are towards `smart’ scanners; these are scanners with on-chip real-time processing functions, such as analogue-to-digital conversion, thresholding, data compaction, edge enhancement and other real-time image processing functions.( Chamberlain,1980) The image enhancement algorithm first separates an image into its lows (low-pass filtered form) and highs (high-pass filtered form) components. The lows component then controls the amplitude of the highs component to increase the local contrast. The lows component is then subjected to a non-linearity to modify the local luminance mean of the image and is combined with the processed highs component. The performance of this algorithm when applied to enhance typical undegraded images, images with large shaded areas, and also images degraded by cloud cover will be illustrated by way of examples. (Peli, T., 1981) Enhancement algorithms based on local medians and interquartile distances are more effective than those using means and standard deviations for the removal of spike noise, preserve edge sharpness better and introduce fewer artifacts around high contrast edges. They are not as fast as the mean-standard deviation equivalents but are suitable for large data sets treated in small machines in production quantities.( Scollar,I.,1983) Filtering CT images to remove noise, and thereby enhance the signal-to-noise ratio in the images, is a difficult process because CT noise is of a broad-band spatial-frequency character, overlapping frequencies of interest in the signal.A measurement of the noise power spectrum of a CT scanner and some form of spatially variant filtering of CT images can be beneficial if the filtering process is based upon the differences between the frequency characteristics of the noise and the signal. For evaluating the performance, used a percentage standard deviation, an index representing contrast, a frequency spectral pattern, and several CT images processed with the filter. (Okada., 1985) A two-dimensional least-mean-square (TDLMS) adaptive algorithm based on the method of steepest decent is proposed and applied to noise reduction in images. The adaptive property of the TDLMS algorithm enables the filter to have an improved tracking performance in nonstationary images. The results presented show that the TDLMS algorithm can be used successfully to reduce noise in images. The algorithm complexity is 2(NÃâ€"N) multiplications and the same number of additions per image sample, where N is the parameter-matrix dimension. The algorithm can be used in a number of two-dimensional applications such as image enhancement and image data processing.( Hadhoud,M.M.,1988) Image processing techniques are used to determine the range and alignment of a land vehicle. The approach taken is to establish a state vector of quantities derived from an image sequence, and to refine this over the mission. The image processing techniques applied fall into the generic categories of enhancement, detection, segmentation, and classification. Approaches to estimating the alignment and range of a vehicle in computationally efficient ways are presented. The estimates of quantities extracted from single image frames are subject to errors. This approach facilitates the integration of results from multiple images, and from multiple sensor systems.( Atherton, T.J.,1990) The JPEG coder has proven to be extremely useful in coding image data. For low bit-rate image coding (0.75 bit or less per pixel), however, the block effect becomes very annoying. The edges also display `wave-like appearance. An enhancement algorithm is proposed to enhance the subjective quality of the reconstructed images. First, the pixels of the coded image are classified into three broad categories: (a) pixels belonging to quasi-constant regions where the pixel intensity values vary slowly, (b) pixels belonging to dominant-edge (DE) regions which are characterized by few sharp and dominant edges and (c) pixels belonging to textured regions which are characterized by many small edges and thin-line signals. An adaptive mixture of some well-known spatial filters which uses the pixel labeling information for its adaptation is used as the adaptive optimal spatial filter for image enhancement. (Kundu, A.1995) The videotexts are low-resolution and mixed with complex backgrounds; image enhancement is a key to successful recognition of the videotexts. Especially in Hangul characters, several consonants cannot be distinguished without sophisticated image enhancement techniques. In this experiment, after multiple videotext frames containing the same captions are detected and the caption area in each frame is extracted, five different image enhancement techniques are serially applied to the image: multi-frame integration, resolution enhancement, contrast enhancement, advanced binarization, and morphological smoothing operations and tested the proposed techniques with the video caption images containing both Hangul and English characters from various video sources such as cinema, news, sports, etc. The character recognition results are greatly improved by using enhanced images in the experiment. (Sangshin Kwak.,2000). The use of an adaptive image enhancement system that implements the human visual system (HVS) has the properties for contrast enhancement of X-ray images. X-ray images are poor quality and are usually interpreted visually. The HVS properties considered are its adaptive nature, multichannel mechanism and high nonlinearity. This method is adaptive, nonlinear and multichannel, and combines adaptive filters and homomorphic processing. The median filtering method is a simple and efficient way to remove impulse noise from digital images. This novel method has two stages. The first stage is to detect the impulse noise in the image. In this stage, first one identify the noise pixel and second one the pixels are roughly divided into two classes, which are noise-free pixel and noise pixel. Then, the second stage is to eliminate the impulse noise from the image. In this stage, only the noise-pixels are processed. The â€Å"noise -free pixels† are directly copied to the output image. Here, hybrid of adaptive median filter with switching median filter method is used. The adaptive median filter framework in order to enable the flexibility of the filter to change it size accordingly based on the approximation of local noise density. The switching median filter framework in order to speed up the process and also allows local details in the image to be preserved. (Kong, NSP., 2008) One of the advantages of Level-2 Improved tolerance based selective arithmetic mean filtering technique is that this filtering technique is to detect and remove the noisy pixels and restore the noise free information. However the removal of impulse noise is often accomplished at the expense of blurred and distorted features of edges. Therefore it is necessary to preserve the edges and fine details during filtering. (Deivalakshmi,S., 2010) An efficient non-linear cascade filter is used to removal of high density salt and pepper noise in image and video. This method consists of two stages to enhance the filtering. The first stage is the Decision based Median Filter (DMF) which is used to identify pixels likely to be contaminated by salt and pepper noise and replaces them by the median value. The second stage is the Unsymmetrical Trimmed Filter, either Mean Filter (UTMF) or Midpoint Filter (UTMP) which is used to trim the noisy pixels in an unsymmetrical manner and processes with the remaining pixels The basic idea is that, though the level of denoising in the first stage is lesser at high noise densities, the second stage helps to increase the noise suppression. Hence, this method is very suitable for low, medium as well as high noise densities even above 90%. This algorithm shows better image and video quality in terms of visual appearance and quantitative measures. ( Balasubramanian, S.,2009) The enhancement algorithm enhances CR image detail and CR image enhanced has good visual effect, so the method id suit for edge detail enhancement of CR medicine radiation image. (Zhang., 2010). Three dimensional TV is considered as next generation broadcasting service.TOF sensors are a relatively new technology allowing real time capture of both photometric and geometric scene information. In order to generate the natural 3D video, first we develop a practical pipeline including TOF data processing and MPEG-4 based data transmission and reception. Then we acquire colour and depth videos from TOF range sensor. Then Alpha matting and enhancement are performed to handle fuzzy and hairy objects (Ji-Ho Cho Sung-Yeol Kim Lee, 2010). Chapter 2 2.1 Median Filtering Median Filtering is a non -linear signal enhancement technique for the smoothing of signals, the suppression of impulse noise, and preserving of edges. In the one dimensional case it consists of sliding a window of an odd number of elements along the signal, replacing the centre sample by the median of the samples in the window. Noise is any undesirable signal. Noise is everywhere and thus we have to learn to live with it. Noise gets introduced into data via any electrical system used for storage, transmission, and/or processing. In addition, nature will always play a â€Å"noisy† trick or two with data under observation. When encountering an image corrupted with noise you will want to improve its appearance for a specific application. The Techniques applied are application-oriented. Also, different procedures are related to the types of noise introduced to the image. Some important types of noise are: Gaussian or white, Rayleigh, Salt-pepper or impulse noise, periodic, sinusoidal or coherent, uncorrelated, and granular. In statistics, a median is described as the numeric value separating the higher half of a sample, a population, or a probability distribution, from the lower half. The median of a finite list of numbers can be found by arranging all the numbers from lowest value to highest value and picking the middle one. For example: The observations are [7,5,6,8,1,3,8,5,4]. First, we are arranging in ascending order or lowest value to highest value. [1, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8] Then the middle one is picked. Here, number of observations n=9, it is an odd number. The middle value=5. So, the median =5. If there is an even number of observations, then there is no single middle value; the median is then usually defined to be the mean of the two middle values. For example: observations are [7,5,6,8,1,3,8,5,4,6]. First, we are arranging in ascending order or lowest value to highest value. [1, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 8] Then the middle one is picked. Here, number of observations n=10, it is an even number. So, averaging the observation 5 and 6 and gets the median value. The observation values are 5 and 6. The averaging value of 5 and 6 gives 5.5. So, the median =5.5. Most scanned images contain noise caused by the scanning method (sensor and its calibration-electrical components, radio frequency spikes) this noise may look like dots of black and white. Median filter helps us by erasing the black dots, called the Pepper, and it also fills in white holes in an image, called salt â€Å"Impulse Noise†. It’s like the mean filter but is better in pixels and will not affect the other pixels significantly. This means that mean does that. Preserving sharp edges Median value is much like neighbourhood Median filtering is popular in removing salt and pepper noise and works by replacing the pixel value with the median value in the neighbourhood of that pixel. When applied on: 1. We do brightness -ranking by first placing the brightness values of the pixels from each neighbourhood in ascending order. 2. The median or middle value of this ordered sequence is then selected as the representative brightness value for that neighbourhood. 2.2Median Filter Action The median filter is also sliding -window spatial filter, but it replaces the centre pixel value in the window by the median of all pixel values in the window. As for the mean filter, the kernel is usually square but can be any shape rectangular, circular, etc depends on an image. An example of median filtering of a single 3*3 window of values is shown in figure 2.1. To arrange the pixel value in ascending order: 0,2,3,3,4,6,19,97 The median value=4(Here no of items=9) The centre pixel value 97 is replaced by the median value 4 as shown below. Figure 2.2 This illustrates one of the celebrated features of the median filter: its ability to remove ‘impulse’ noise. The median filter is also widely claimed to be ‘edge-preserving’ since it theoretically preserves step edges without blurring. However, in the presence of noise it blurs edges in images slightly. 2.3 Synthetic Image Let us consider 6*6 window size. Here, we take 3*3 mask size, to find out the median value. The order of the pixel value:1,2,3,3,3,4,5,7,8.The median value of this mask size=3. Here, the centre pixel value 3 is replaced by the median value 3. Here, we find out the A to P value as shown in figure 2.5. First, we find out the median value for 3*3 mask size and replacing the original centre pixel value by these values. To find A: Order: 1, 2, 3,3,3,4,5,7,8. Median=3. To find B: Order: 1, 3, 3,3,4,4,5,6,8. Median=4. To find C: Order: 2, 3, 3,4,4,5,6,8,9. Median=4. To find D: Order: 1, 2, 2,3,4,5,6,8,9. Median=4. Similar way, we have to calculate F to P. To find P: Order: 2, 4,5,5,5,8,8,9 Median=5. The final output of synthetic image of â€Å"6*6† window as shown in figure 2.6. By checking the synthetic image output by using Matlab. To Refer the Matlab Coding in Appendix A. Output: 3 1 5 6 9 2 7 3 4 4 4 1 2 4 4 4 4 8 1 4 4 4 5 7 1 4 4 5 5 8 3 5 7 9 8 2 Both Hand calculation synthetic image output and Matlab synthetic image output are same. 2.4 Median Filter Implementation on Mat lab: In past years, linear filters become the most popular filters in image processing. The reason of their popularity is caused by the existence of robust mathematical models which can be used for their analysis and design. However, there exist many areas in which the nonlinear filters provide significantly better results. The advantage of non linear filters lies in their ability to preserve edges and suppress the noise without loss of details. The success of nonlinear filters is caused by the fact that image signals as well as existing noise types are usually nonlinear. Due to the imperfection of image sensors, images are often corrupted by noise. The impulse noise is the most frequently referred type of noise. The most cases, impulse noise is caused by malfunctioning pixels in camera sensors, faulty memory locations in hardware, or errors in data transmission. We distinguish two common types of impulse noise. They are Salt-and-Pepper noise and the random valued shot noise. For images corrupted by salt-and-pepper noise, the noisy pixels have only maximum or minimum values. In case of random valued shot noise, the noisy pixels have arbitrary value. Traditionally, the impulse noise is removed by a median filter which is the most popular non linear filter .A standard median filter gives poor performance for images corrupted by impulse noise with higher intensity. A simple median filter utilizing 3*3 or 5*5 pixel window is sufficient only when the noise intensity is less than approximately 10-20%. Here, we implement the median filter using Matlab. To refer the Matlab coding in Appendix B. Output: problem The Noisy Image is corrupted by Salt-and-Pepper noise. By using median filter, 3*3 mask size most of noise has been eliminated. If we smooth the noisy image with larger median filter 7*7 mask size, all the noisy pixels disappear as shown above figure. 3.0 Neighbourhood Averaging Filters Neighborhood averaging filters are similar to mean filters. The Neighborhood averaging filter is the simplest low pass filter; here all coefficients are identical. These filters sometimes are called Averaging filters. The characteristics of neighborhood averaging are defined by kernel height, width and shape. When Kernel size increases, the smoothing effect also increases. The idea behind these filters is straight forward. By replacing the every pixel value in an image by the average of the intensity levels in the neighborhood defined by the filter mask, this process results in an image with reduced â€Å"sharp† transitions in intensity levels. The window is usually square, but can be any shape like rectangular, circular, etc. depending on the size of an image. Each point in the smoothed image, is f(x,y)obtained from the average pixel value in a neighbourhood of (x,y) in the input image. For example, if we use a 33 neighbourhood around each pixel we would use the mask Each pixel value is multiplied by 1/9, summed, and then the result placed in the output image. This mask is successively moved across the image until every pixel has been covered. That is, the image is convolved with this smoothing mask (also known as a spatial filter or kernel). However, one usually expects the value of a pixel to be more closely related to the values of pixels close to it than to those further away. This is because most points in an image are spatially coherent with their neighbours; indeed it is generally only at edge or feature points where this hypothesis is not valid. Accordingly it is usual to weight the pixels near the centre of the mask more strongly than those at the edge. Some common weighting functions include the rectangular weighting function above (which just takes the average over the window), a triangular weighting function, or a Gaussian. In practice one doesnt notice much difference between different weighting functions, although Gaussian smoothing is the most commonly used. Gaussian smoothing has the attribute that the frequency components of the image are modified in a smooth manner. Smoothing reduces or attenuates the higher frequencies in the image. Mask shapes other than the Gaussian can do odd things to the frequency spectrum, but as far as the appearance of the image is concerned we usually dont notice much. The arithmetic mean is the standard average, often simply called the mean. The mean may be confused with the median, mode or range. The mean is the average of a set of values, or distribution; however, for probability distributions, the mean is not necessarily the same as the median, or the mode. For example: The observations are [7,5,6,8,1,3,8,5,4]. First, we find out the total value for these observations. Total=7+5+6+8+1+3+8+5+4=47 Then, finding the average one. Here, number of observations n=9. Average=total/9. =47/9 Average=5.22(Equivalent to 5) So, the average =5. 3.1 Synthetic image Let us consider 6*6 window size. Figure 3.1 Here, we take 3*3 mask size, to find out the Neighbourhood averaging value. The order of the pixel value:1,2,3,3,3,4,5,7,8.The averaging value of this mask size=4. Here , the centre pixel value 3 is replaced by the averaging value 4. By using this method, we have to calculate the median value for whole window size 6*6. 3 1 5 6 9 2 7 A B

Airlines In Aviation Industry Of Malaysia Marketing Essay

Airlines In Aviation Industry Of Malaysia Marketing Essay Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is the government-owned flag carrier of Malaysia. It is the largest and last long airlines in aviation industry of Malaysia. There are two factors that are affecting the performance of MAS which are Macro and Micro Business Environment. Macro environment factors will be the beginning. Firstly, the political environment are newly set or amended by the government. Malaysia has a Civil Aviation Act 1969 [Act 3]  [1]  that makes better provision in the law relating to Civil Aviation and for matters connected therewith and ancillary to it. Secondly is the social cultural environment. The social and cultural dimensions of the environment consist of customs, lifestyles, and values that characterize the society in which the firm operates. MAS have take action to fulfill their social responsibility to participate in the carbon offset program and the Kyoto Protocol. Carbon offset program is one of the efforts made by people to slow down global warming and Kyoto Protocol is to stabilized the atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations at an appropriate level, thus preventing severe damage of climate change on human. Next will be the technological environment. MAS airline had advanced their technology to meet their customer needs in information technology such as provide online services. Demographic play an important role in affecting sales of MAS. As the population increase, the number of potential customers will also increase. The last one will be the economic environment. MAS have many connections throughout the world and it will give a big impact to the company if there are any changes in economy level. Second main factors will be the micro environment factors. Competitors are the main issue in the highly competitive market, thus MAS keep an eye on their competitors and try to predict their likely next moves in order to survive. Other than that, customers are the main resources of revenue to the airlines. MAS have to be able to find out the customers needs on the flight services. The quality of employees services has been upgraded to a different level by having the training program and academy the provided by MAS. Besides, the intermediaries are also playing an important role. Access to effective intermediaries can be decisive for marketing success. MAS got their own intermediaries to help them sell the flight tickets. The media helps MAS to create awareness to the public about the MAS and its activities or promotions. We have undertaken SWOT analysis to identify the company strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Our recommendations had been based upon the analysis. Business Environment in Malaysia According to World Bank, Malaysia ranks 24th in the Ease of doing business. Malaysia is an excellent destination to do business. Malaysia has a favorable demographic structure and geographically advantages. Meanwhile, the economy condition is stable at the moment. Malaysia government are welcoming foreign investment in Malaysia and establish legal requirement to guide and protect foreign investment  [2]  .  (Malaysia Business Environment, 2010) The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Malaysia expanded at an annual rate of 2.40 percent in the second quarter of 2010 from the previous quarter. From 2000 until 2010, Malaysias average quarterly GDP Growth was 1.18 percent reaching an historical high of 5.70 percent in September of 2009 and a record low of -7.80 percent in March of 2009 (Refer appendix 1.1). The inflation rate in Malaysia was last reported at 1.90 percent in July of 2010. From 2005 until 2010, the average inflation rate in Malaysia was 2.77 percent reaching an historical high of 8.50 percent in July of 2008 and a record low of -2.40 percent in July of 2009. Inflation rate refers to a general rise in prices measured against a standard level of purchasing power  [3]  (Refer appendix 1.2). (Trading Economics, 2010) Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Malaysia is set up following the holding of at least 10% of the total equity in a resident company by a non-resident investor.  Malaysia has been one of the most successful Southeast Asian countries in attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).  Malaysia has been an encouraging economy to foreign investors. The FDI movement is derived from financial institutions and non transaction factors like foreign exchanges, price changes, and other changes during the reference period  [4]  . (Trade Chakra Website, 2010) Foreign envoys have commended Malaysias Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), an action plan that will see the country becoming a high-income economy by 2020.The comprehensive ETP, which was launched on 25 October, has 131 entry-point projects (EPPs), 12 reporting labs and 60 business opportunities, which will eventually create some 3.3 million new jobs  [5]  . (MIDA Official Website, 2010) The unemployment rate in Malaysia was last reported at 3.70 percent in March of 2010. From 1998 until 2010, Malaysias Unemployment Rate averaged 3.43 percent reaching an historical high of 4.50 percent in March of 1999 and a record low of 2.90 percent in March of 1998  [6]  (Refer appendix 1.3).  (Trading Economics, 2010) Malaysia is now moving-up the value chain and is currently focusing on attracting high-technology, high value-added, knowledge-based and skills intensive industries, incorporating activities such as design and development and research and development. The last decade has seen a deepening and widening of Malaysias industrial base as well as the further development of its services sector. As such, a strong foundation has been laid for the economy to move forward into the new globalised environment. Company Background Malaysian Airline System Berhad, also known as Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is the government-owned flag carrier of Malaysia. Malaysia Airlines operates flights from its home base, Kuala Lumpur International Airport, and its secondary hub in Kota Kinabalu. It has its headquarters on the grounds of Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Subang, Selangor. Malaysia Airlines had its humble beginning in the golden age of travel. A joint initiative of the Ocean Steamship Company of Liverpool, the Straits Steamship of Singapore and Imperial Airways led to a proposal to the government of the Colonial Straits Settlement to run an air service between Penang and Singapore. The result was the incorporation of Malayan Airways Limited (MAL) on 12 October 1937. On 2 April 1947, MAL took to the skies with its first commercial flight as the national airline. Fuelled by a young and dynamic team of visionaries, the domestic carrier turned into an international airline in less than a decade. With the formation of Malaysia in 1963, the airline changed its name to Malaysian Airlines Limited and soon after, Borneo Airways was incorporated into MAL. Within 20 years, MAL grew from a single aircraft operator into a company with 2,400 employees and a fleet operator using the then latest Comet IV jet aircraft, 6 F27s, 8 DCs and 2 Pioneers. In 1965, with the separation of Singapore from Malaysia, MAL became a bi-national airline and was renamed Malaysia-Singapore Airlines (MSA). A new logo was introduced and the airline grew exponentially with new services to Perth, Taipei, Rome and London. However, in 1973, the partners went separate ways; Malaysia introduced Malaysian Airline Limited, which was subsequently renamed Malaysian Airline System, or simply known as Malaysia Airlines. Today, Malaysia Airlines flies nearly 50,000 passengers daily to some 100 destinations worldwide.   The airline holds a lengthy record of service and best practices excellence, having received more than 100 awards in the last 10 years. The most notable ones include being the first airline with the Worlds Best Cabin Crew by Skytrax UK consecutively from 2001 until 2004, 5-star Airline in 2005 and 2006, as well as No.1 for Economy Class Onboard Excellence 2006 also by Skytrax UK. It is one of only six airlines to be given a 5-star status airline by Skytrax (the other 5 are Asiana Airlines from South Korea, Cathay Pacific from Hong Kong, Qatar Airways from Qatar, Singapore Airlines from Singapore and Kingfisher Airlines from India).  [7]  (Malaysia Airlines Home Page, 2010) Macro Environment Political and legal environment The political environment is one of the less predictable elements in an organizations business environment. Political environment has a great impact on the opportunity and threats of Malaysia Airlines. The ASEAN open sky agreement took effect in December 2008 and is scheduled to be fully implemented by 2015  [8]  (Wikipedia, 2010). The agreement will allow regional air carriers to make unlimited flights to all 10 ASEAN member states. According to Minister of Transport Malaysia Dato Seri Kong Cho Ha, the agreement will further expand and open cities in ASEAN member nations and from all routes, and he also believes that it will bring regions positive development of the aviation industry. This development plan is including flight liberalization, aviation safety, air traffic management, aviation technology, aviation environmental protection, air management framework and human resources development. As the biggest government owned flag carrier of Malaysia, MAS also be protected and to consolidate its international image in the ASEAN. The Malaysian government has never had a clear written commercial air transport policy. The national carrier MAS was asked to operate both domestic and international services but in the early years, more emphasis was placed on domestic services. The case of the emergence of AirAsias approval to operate low-fare services both for domestic and international services cause a ridiculous situation where MAS had to compete with AirAsia which was charging low fares, being a low-cost carrier as MAS fares and rates were controlled by the government. However, since 2007, MAS has been allowed to charge its own domestic fares. By this, MAS can meet the demand of the public for low fares with a fair and balanced consideration  [9]  . (The Malay Mail Homepage, 2010) Besides, the policy of the other countries will also affect MAS performance. For example, the airport tax of Changi Airport in Singapore will be rise in 2011. The airlines and travelers using Changi Airport will have to pay more start from April next year. The travelers subjected to a passenger service charge and a security service charge which will be added to the price of the air ticket. This will result in budget travelers also paying more. This might reduce the number of customers to take flight with MAS to go to Singapore as they need to pay more on the tickets price  [10]  . (Airport Charge Website, 2010) The legal environment serves to define what organizations can and cannot do at a particular point in time. Normally acts and regulations are not directly affected MAS daily operation; it is only a way to decease the criminal. The following are Aviation Acts and Regulations: Civil Aviation Act 1969 [Act 3] An act to make better provision in the law relating to Civil Aviation and for matters connected therewith and ancillary to it. Carriage By Air Act 1974 [Act 148] An act to give effect to certain Conventions relating to carriage by air and to provide for matters connected therewith and ancillary thereto. Civil Aviation Offences Act 1984 [Act 307] An act to give effect to the Convention on Offences and Certain other Acts Committed on Board Aircraft signed at Tokyo on 14 September 1963, the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft signed at The Hague on 16 December 1970, the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation signed at Montreal on 23 September 1971, and the Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts of Violence at Airports Serving International Civil Aviation, concluded at Montreal on 24 February 1988 and for purposes connected therewith. Airport and Aviation Services (Operating Company) Act 1991 [Act 467] An act to provide for the vesting of property, rights and liabilities of the Government of Malaysia relating to civil aviation in a company, to make financial arrangements for that company, to provide for matters relating to staff and for other matters connected therewith. International Interest In Mobile Equipment (Aircraft) Act 2006 [Act 659] An Act to implement the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment and the Protocol to the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment on Matters Specific to Aircraft Equipment. Social and cultural environment The social and cultural dimensions of the environment consist of customs, lifestyles, and values that characterize the society in which the firm operates. Social and cultural components of the environment influence the ability of the firm to obtain resources, make its goods and services, and function within the society. Social and cultural factors include anything within the context of society that has the potential to affect an organization. Population demographics, rising educational levels, norms and values, and attitudes toward social responsibility are examples of Social and cultural variables. MAS airline are not only do their business on Malaysia and also on other countries, especially Southeast Asia, East Asia, South Asia, Middle East and on the Kangaroo Route between Europe and Australasia. Every social and cultural factor of those countries may affect MAS airlines operation. MAS airline are trying many way to match all different cultural and social factors to gain their profit. And now MAS airline was co-operation with 31 airlines those from different countries to know more about the local cultural and social. As we know MAS airline has more 50 years doing their business in Malaysia, so they are always no forget the Malaysia people. We can know that from their uniform, female flight attendants are wearing Sarong Kebaya which are superimposed on the kelarai motif is a mixture of Malaysian flora, such as the cempaka, jasmine and the leaves of the hibiscus. Recently, MAS airline was launched some new services and promotions for their lovely Malaysia local people. Such as Balik Kampung, it means going back to hometown, the super low fares are also perfect for customer business and holiday trips with 5-star airline come standard at no extra charge. MAS have take action to fulfill their social responsibility to participate in the carbon offset program and the Kyoto Protocol. Carbon offset program is one of the efforts made by people to slow down global warming  [11]  (Refer appendix 2.1). With this environmentally friendly manner, MAS calculates the required economic cost to offset these carbon dioxide emissions, and then contribute to the specialized enterprises or institutions after aware that 2% of the worlds carbon emissions of greenhouse gases are contributed by the aviation industry. (Wikipedia, 2010) The purpose of the Kyoto Protocol is stabilized the atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations at an appropriate level, thus preventing severe damage of climate change on human  [12]  . Malaysia as one of the signatories, MAS also has an obligation to perform their responsibilities to restore the harsh environment of earth. Besides that, MAS also implement the Green Plan Concept in their operation and management that consist of Reduce, Recycle, and Re-use. The plan not only focuses to reduce material and energy consumption, reduce emissions of harmful substances, but also concerned in make products and components to facilitate the separate collection and recycling or re-use. (Wikipedia, 2010) Technology environment Technology is another aspect of the environment a firm should consider in developing strategic plans. Changing technology may affect the demand for a firms products and services, its production processes, and raw materials. Technological changes may create new opportunities for the firm, or threaten the survival of a product, firm, or industry. Technological innovation continues to move at an increasingly rapid rate. MAS airline had advanced their technology to meet their customer needs in information technology such as provide online services (tickets selling) that able to reserve the seats their needs (Refer appendix 2.2). MAS airline was providing e-ticketing, its an easy way for their customer to purchase ticket but only can allow a party of 9 passengers and below in a single booking. There is a 6 alphanumeric character given during booking and also printed on your E-Ticket. It is also referred to as Booking Reference, Reloc MH etc. This information technology has a certain role in promoting the number of airline passenger. MAS continue to improve airport facilities technology such as airport construction and equipment installation, new energy and environmental technologies airport, airport lighting, airport barrier-free facilities and technology, airport construction steel, ground support equipment and services etc to promote the development of the airport and increase the satisfaction of passengers. Most of Malaysia Airlines aircraft are made by Boeing Company (Refer appendix 2.3); Boeing Company is the world leader in the aerospace industry company and the worlds largest manufacturer of civil and military aircraft. It also increases the confidence of passengers on MAS airplanes. In addition, the rotor design and manufacture, electronic systems and advanced information and communications systems of Boeing aircraft are effective in helping Malaysia Airlines to provide the best in-flight services. Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is considering an additional aircraft type for its new fleet plan- the A350, B787 Dreamliner or Boeings latest B777 variant, B777-300. MAS already have three B737-800s on lease. The airline, in an effort to lock in its financing costs early, has also issued out request for financing proposals to cover its deliveries until 2012. MAS plan to receive 14 B737-800s, eight A330-300s and five A380s by the end of 2012. Economy environment Economic factors refer to the character and direction of the economic system within which the firm operates. Economic factors include the balance of payments, the state of the business cycle, the distribution of income within the population, and governmental monetary and fiscal policies. The impact of economic factors may also differ between industries. From the perspective of the world economy, world trade growth will slow down; the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis has caused turmoil in international financial markets and the slowing U.S. economy, and to some degree of drag on the global economic growth. This also affected the MAS must holding a conservative approach in decision making to reduce the risk. But according to optimistic forecasts by senior economist at HSBC Global Research, economic growth in Malaysia is expected up 7.3% this year supported by the strong rebound in exports and soaring commodity prices. The overall level of consumer prices rise about 8% and domestic economic development will benefit the entire aviation industry. As one of the company airlines, MAS airline has many connections throughout the world and it will give a big impact to the company if there are any changes in economy level. As we know economy of Malaysia are growing slightly, people purchasing power are growing slightly also. More and more people are spending their money for travelling either out of Malaysia or in Malaysia. Normally, people will purchase more during some season especially the school holiday. MAS was providing some promotion to increase their revenue, such as ASEAN Pass, Balik Kampung, MAS Holidays Packages, etc. Demographic Environment The population growth has a great impact on the sales of Malaysia Airlines. The population in Malaysia was increasing from 23,274,690 (2000) to 28,306,700 (2009)(Refer appendix 2.4). The increasing numbers of population in Malaysia will affect MAS sales indirectly. As the population increase, the number of potential customers will also increase. At the same time, the demand for MAS services and products will also increase. Due to this reason, MAS should satisfy the needs of the future customers in order to increase the sales. Based on the statistic, the population of East Malaysia in year 2009 is 5,793,700 and the population of West Malaysia in year 2009 is 22,513,000 (Refer appendix 2.4). This shows that the population of West Malaysia is more than East Malaysia. Therefore, MAS should pay more attention to the West Malaysia because there has a higher opportunity and faster growth for MAS. Micro Environment There are some factors or elements in an organizations immediate area of operations that affect its performance and decision making freedom. These factors include competitors, customers, intermediaries, employees, media and shareholders. Competitors Competitors exist in all the industry. In airlines industry, MAS have many competitors such as Air Asia, Tiger airway, Jetstar and others. The major competitor for MAS is Air Asia. In this highly competitive market, MAS should keep an eye on their competitors and try to predict their likely next moves. Air Asia offers a device called e-player that allow customers to select and switch between movies, tv shows, music and games by pressing the screen (Refer appendix 3.1). Due to this, MAS also offer customers their very own 10.4 LCD touch screen monitor to watch any one of 12 video channels of their choice in their personal space (Refer appendix 3.2). The screen monitor also becomes a video game console if the customer needs extra excitement  [13]  . (The business environment 6th edition ,Adrian Palmer Bob Hartley 1.3.4 ,pg15) Although they have many competitors, but MAS also can outstanding. This is because MAS use the non-price decision strategy. They use this strategy to remove themselves from the price competition. MAS competes their competitors by providing the best services to the customers. For examples, MAS provides a comfortable seat (versatile new flat bed seat) to their customer (Refer appendix 3.3). Besides that, MAS and their competitors also got provide the online services like purchase tickets or check the schedule of the flight to the customers (Refer appendix 2.2). But MAS always upgrade their website to ensure the customers can browse their website faster and not waste the consumer time. At the other sides, MAS also provide the high quality of food and drinks to the customers. All the food that they provide is clean and healthy. Customers Malaysia Airline System (MAS) is the largest airline in Malaysia. The target market for MAS is frequent travelers, businessmen, families with young children and new marriage couples. The airline industry is full of operators that fly to many locations form many other locations. Therefore it is possible for a customer wanting to travel to be able to select from a whole range of companies. No one company has a monopoly on flights to a country. This means that the customer will have a lot of power and be able to select when they want to fly at the price that they are willing to pay. Hence, MAS should pay attention on the behaviors and demand of the customers. Businessmen always travel around the world to do businesses. There is a statistic shows that businessmen are the most frequent people that taking flight. It is important for MAS to do research about the businessmens demand on flight services as businessmen are the biggest group of customers for them. MAS introduce a frequent flyer program called Enrich by Malaysia Airlines (Refer appendix 3.4). This program is for frequent travelers that comprises a variety of airlines, banks, credit-card issuers, hotels and lifestyle retailers around the world. Therefore, the businessmens demand can be fulfilled by this program. Additionally, research shows that the number of teenagers taking flight is increasing. Nowadays, teenagers are doing everything online include buying stuff, checking for information and so on. Since teenagers are the future potential customer, thus, MAS provide online services such as online tickets booking, online schedule checking, tickets price checking, hotel booking and so on (Refer appendix 2.2). Intermediaries Access to effective intermediaries can be decisive for marketing success. MAS got their own intermediaries to help them sell the flight tickets. Travel agency is one of the intermediaries of MAS. The travel agency provides many packages of tour to customers and the ticket of MAS. Travel agency introduced some tour packages with flight tickets. Most customers will buy the whole packages include the tickets from the travel agency directly because the price of the tickets are cheaper. This can also helps the customers to save their time to go book or buy tickets online. Besides that, MAS also established the ticket office in many place. The ticket office will help MAS to sell the tickets to customers. It will convenient the customer that live far away from the airport. Other than that, hotel also considers as an intermediary for MAS. MAS also provided hotel booking services to the customers for their convenient and benefits them such as will get cash refund with term and condition (Refer appendix 3.5). Transportation service is also provided in the packages to customers between airport and hotel when they reach their destination. At the other sides, MAS also hire the agents to help them sell the tickets. The agents will sell the ticket in Matta Travel Fair and others. Many customers will buy the tickets from agents because it is cheaper and easy to get. Employees An employee contribution to an organization is very important. Employees are one of the main reasons for MAS to obtain the achievement for today. Employing the right staff and keeping these staff motivated is a necessary move for an organization. MAS give academy for the employees to provide the training program to their employees and train their employee become professional (Refer appendix 3.6). The academy includes operations management, business and finance, people and technology, jeppesen training, service training and so on. Like this, the customers will get the professional services from the employees of MAS. And MAS can gain competitive advantages from doing this  [14]  . (Malaysia Airlines Homepage, 2010) Besides that, MAS also provide many offers to their employees. They will give free tickets to their employees and travel to other country. On the other hands, MAS also will give more discounts to the family members of their employees. MAS also give the high salary and allowance to their employees. At the other sides, MAS also give high bonus to their employees. Like this, their employees will more hardworking to work and also provide the best services to the consumers. Media Malaysia Airlines (MAS) advertising campaign designed to create awareness to public about the MAS and its activities or promotions. The media is use to improve the communication between MAS and public. MAS internet website is update frequently in order to update customer knowledge about MAS services and activities.MAS also hired advertising agency to design a series of ads to promote their flight plans and catches the attention of customers (Refer appendix 3.7). MAS also advertise on the television to emphasize the quality of services provided by the crew cabin on the plane. This strategy can increase interest of the customers to take a flight with MAS. MAS were on television to promote their Air Bus A380 one kind of their airplane to their customers to build confidence on five-star air services. SWOT Analysis SWOT stand for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. SWOT analysis is an instrumental for examining the overall strategic position of a business and its environment. In other words, SWOT analysis is use to analyze the Strengths and Weaknesses of your organization, as well as the Opportunities and Threats revealed by the information you have gathered on the external environment. Strengths MAS Has World Class Image Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is a well-known government-owned flag carrier of Malaysia. It is the pride of a nation, their success is important to the country. This means that they are funded by the government. Based on the statistic from Sep 15, 2010 through Nov 15, 2010, the current on-time performance of MAS is 96% which is one of the highest in worldwide (Refer appendix 4.1). MAS have an average delay of 11.0 minutes and it is a better performance than other flights (Refer appendix 4.1). Unless there is terrorism or disease burst out, otherwise MAS market prospects are better with growth of tourism and increase in disposable incomes. The benefits can only be easily gained if both Changi and KL International Airport maintain similar facilities and procedures. Besides, Malaysia Airlines is being ranked as the worlds top 10 airlines. And it is also one of the only six airlines to be given a 5-star status airline by Skytrax  [15]  . (Flight Stats Website) MAS Has Good Facilities MAS have invested a large amount of money on IT and they use this IT to the benefits of satisfied their customers needs and enhanced their overall performance. MAS provide comfortable seats, safeties, and food and beverage supplies. The versatile new flat bed seat that MAS provide allow the customers to enjoy the comfort afforded by several preset positions accessible just at the touch of a button (Refer appendix 3.3). The headrest is adjustable and the massage elements provide maximum comfort to customers. In addition, the best part about MAS versatile new flat bed seat was that each chair had a liquid crystal display television (Refer appendix 3.2). The 10.4 LCD touch screen monitor had video game console and it allows customers to watch any one of 12 video channels of your choice in your personal