Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Essay on Philiosophy - 512 Words

Philiosophy Philosophy is an all-important aspect of our lives. It is philosophy that we turn to when have the need to seek out a guiding principle for our lives. Therefore, philosophy holds a prominent place in society and in the world. Basically, everyone is a philosopher, but it takes the creative genius and reasoning of brilliant thinkers to bring about world-shattering concepts. Nevertheless, the common man also ruminates about his life and his unique existence to try to find the meaning of his life. Over a life time, a constitution or a theme is developed to discern the ideas that one can readily accept. Interestingly, the philosophies of men separated by vast chasms of time and space all embrace upon a common theme of†¦show more content†¦What one believes is sacred and my own beliefs, I cherish dearly. In this aspect, philosophy allows us to live our lives with confidence, because we know that ideas cannot be taken from us. In the United States, we can feel free to expr ess our opinions and beliefs as long as we do not impinge upon others rights. This is where a common philosophy has been accepted and adopted by a people. This macrocosmic unity of a nation demonstrates the power of philosophy. In another area, philosophy is vital: religion. Religions are perhaps the largest groups of people who share a common philosophy. Their uniform beliefs cause the members of each religion to philosophize in a common theme in which the religion does not allow any radical deviation. One of philosophys most important aspects is its flexibility. This flexibility allows the individual to endlessly engender new thoughts and theories. It was this flexibility that encouraged great thinkers to expound their ideas. It is dubious that their ideas can change others, but in each stage of transition and growth there is an opportunity for new philosophies to come in and help us live our lives better. Philosophy grants us the chance to live a fulfilled life, full of actions and thoughts true to ourselves. We find enlightenment in philosophy, from ourselves and others. There is always an inenarrable satisfaction when a new idea comes to us. Such is theShow MoreRelatedBehavioral And Emotional Aspect Of Human Thinking774 Words   |  4 Pagesdifferent techniques interchangeably and according to the need of the client at the time. The following techniques are commonly, but selectivly used: o Cognitive Techniques †¢ Teach clients to deal with self defeating statements and encourage a new philiosophy †¢ reframe †¢ teach rational analysis †¢ change the language †¢ disregard irrational beliefs o Emotive Techniques †¢ Teach clients self acceptance †¢ acceptance of others †¢ role play †¢ find value in themselves and others †¢ shame attaching exercise o BehavioralRead MoreChildren Should Be Independent Learners Essay1073 Words   |  5 Pagesthe teacher to guide the child without letting him feel her presence too much, so that she may be always ready to supply the desired help, but may never be the obstacle between the child and his experience. (Montessori 89) Referring back to my philiosophy, I believe in the idea that children should be independent learners. Recently, in our American school systems, the government has decided to do a â€Å"Common Core’ curriculum where the students have to be more independent and the teacher will mostlyRead MoreEssay on Machiavelli1580 Words   |  7 Pages† Niccolo Machiavelli made a statement in history. The Italian Renaissance was an era in history that was full of change. It was full of philosophers and people exploding with new ideas and ready to revolutionize. Niccolo Machiavelli started a philiosophy that not only influenced Italy, but influenced the world and leaders everywhere. Whether people were frightened of him or not, he created a different form of political philosophy that I used today. Even tough he has been dead for over 450 yearsRead MoreItalian Renaissance Humanism in Art1826 Words   |  8 Pagesintelligence, which had not really been displayed in art before this time. With the focus in the Italian Renaissance being individual achievement, self gratification, and the quest for public appraisal, a great many changes occurred in artworks, philiosophy, and literature. The humanist themes that developed in Renaissance Italy helped shape the Reformation and influenced many great European thinkers during the Enlightenment. Had the humanistic views projected during the Italian Renaissance not occurred

Monday, December 23, 2019

Substance Abuse Paper - 1198 Words

Substance abuse is one of the most common comorbid conditions among individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia (Schwartz et al., 2007). Previous studies have shown that nicotine, alcohol, and cannabis were the most frequently used substances in individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia, followed by cocaine and amphetamine. Individuals with substance use disorders have negative long-term outcomes and poorer overall quality of life. Researchers suggest that substance abuse complicates individuals with mental issues and also makes treatments less effective (Schwartz et al., 2007). Researchers also suggest that other predictors such as gender, age and other psychosocial predictors may affect substance abuse in patients with schizophrenia. This†¦show more content†¦Although researchers suggested that the integrated program with a routine care had a positive impact on patients with comorbid schizophrenia and substance use disorders, there were other factors that would have caused pat ients to increase their drug and/or alcohol use. The stress from the patients’ families or stress from the patients not having contact with their family could have caused an increase in drug and alcohol use during the integrated programs and routine care. Researchers Schwartz, Hilscher and Hayhow (2007) wanted to determine if other psychosocial impairments were associated with current drug abuse in patients with schizophrenia. They based their study on previous research that suggested that the substance use was caused by depression, side effects of medication and the effects of the psychotic symptoms in patients and also being a male. Schwartz et al. (2007) tested 223, majority Caucasian and minority African American patients, 18 years or older from a mental health agency. The clients were given psychiatric evaluations (medical, family and social history) and interviews using the Global Assessment of Functioning and Functional Assessment Rating scales to examine the severity of the substance abuse on clients with schizophrenia. These finding suggested that males were highly most likely to engage in substance abuse compared to females. Other predictor factors such as work/schoolShow MoreRelatedVulnerable Populations Paper: Substance Abuse1842 Words   |  8 PagesVulnerable Populations Paper: Substance Abuse Substance abuse disorders is easily defined when an â€Å"individual continues to use the substance despite experiencing negative consequences from their use. These negative consequences can include health problems; difficulties in their family, work, and social life; and financial and legal problems. They are said to be dependent on the substance when,† in addition to theses negative consequences, they build tolerance and experience withdrawal ifRead MoreSubstance Abuse Paper1450 Words   |  6 PagesOver the years substance abuse has been on the rise with many people falling victims. This paper concentrates on substance abuse and addictive disorders in the African American population. When it comes to the scope of the problem regarding the extent to which it affects the people, depression, poverty, and stress is closely connected to alcohol abuse and appears to be the same for both men and women (American Psychological Association, 2000). The National Institutes of Health (NIH) reports thatRead MoreFamily and Substance Abuse Paper1230 Words   |  5 PagesRunning head: FAMILY AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE PAPER Family and Substance Abuse Paper Launita J. Grand Canyon University March 11, 2013 Family and Substance Abuse Paper When an individual has a disorder with substance abuse and how family is involved, it can be a very uncomfortable situation for both the abuser and family members. When the abuser is an adolescent, the program may need consent from the adolescent before communicating with the parent, whether the communication is over the courseRead MorePrison Based Substance Abuse Treatment Paper1641 Words   |  7 PagesResearch has identified that prison based substance abuse treatment for offenders differs greatly for males and females. Female offenders tend to have numerous triggers for their substance abuse with the research showing female offenders being significantly disadvantaged compared with male offenders when entering treatment programs (Messina, Grella, Cartier, Torres, 2010). The following essay will summarise research conducted on the topic of substance abuse treatments for incarcerated females, lookingRead MoreAttention Deficit / Hyperactive Disorder ( Adhd )1166 Words   |  5 Pagesbetween ADHD to substance use and abuse, during childhood and adolescence, since it is such an important developmental stage in life. â€Å"Substance abuse disorder is defined as a physical dependence, abuse of, and withdrawal from drugs and other substances.† (Biederman, 1999) The prevalence of substance use and substance abuse in recent years is a cause for concern and has been a matter of public and scientific debate. There is considerable amounts of literature on the risks of substance abuse among thoseRead MoreSubstance Abuse Disorders And The Lgbtq Community Essay1063 Words   |  5 PagesSubstance Abuse Disorders and the effect on LGBTQ+ Adults This paper is to show the shockingly disproportionate number of LGBTQ+ community members with various substance abuse issues compared to heterosexual community members. This paper will briefly go over the history of Substance Abuse and the LGBTQ+ community. It will also show the evidence of risk factors of this population both current and previous, as well as some ideas to implement while working with the LGBT+ population. History SubstanceRead MoreThe Brain‚Äà ´s Rewarding System Addiction1536 Words   |  7 PagesThe Brain’s Rewarding System Addiction Biopsychology Abstract The purpose of this paper is to examine the article, â€Å"The Brain’s Rewarding System Addiction† (2004) by Katharine P. Bailey, MSN. In this article, I did not find a general hypothesis. Studies in this article show that most drugs directly or indirectly cause selective elevation of dopamine levels in the nucleus accumbens (NA), the ventral tegmental area (VTA), and the limbic system, consequently called theRead MoreDrug Use And The Factors That Influence A Future Drug Addiction1005 Words   |  5 PagesThis paper explores various ways adolescent brain is susceptible to risky behaviors such as drug use and the factors that influence a future drug addiction. Adolescence is a time of growth both physically and mentally as well as emotionally. Risky behaviors, such as drug use, are likely to appear during this time. It isn’t until early adulthood that the prefrontal cortex, the area of our brain responsible for logical thought and reasoning, is developed. Many underlying factors of substance abuse areRead MoreSubstance Use Disorder And Substance Abuse997 Words   |  4 PagesSubstance use disorder is defined as being a pattern of maladaptive behaviors and reactions brought about by repeated use of a substance, sometimes also including tolerance for the substance and withdrawal reactions. (pg. 294). The individual I will be talking about for the project is someone that came to crave a particular substance and rely on it every day. Their choice to devote so much of their time to their substance caused issues between their family and friends. Both family and friends startedRead MoreSubstance Abuse Is A Serious Condition892 Words   |  4 PagesSubstance addiction afflicts one in twelve Americans and involves millions more family members and friends. The statistics are scary; in the United States an estimate of 88,000 deaths a year is a result of excessive alcohol abuse while deaths from cigarette smoke exceed 480,000 a year. About 100 Ame ricans per day died from drug overdose in 2013(Kane, G. 2015). Substance abuse is a serious condition that should not be ignored or minim- ized. It is a devastating disease with serious social consequences

Sunday, December 15, 2019

Current Trends in Business Communication Free Essays

Technology advancements over the recent years have made communication possible in different ways. Communication in the business world today can range anywhere from e-mails, personal digital assistants, text messaging, instant messaging, and through the use of web-cams, just to name a few. These different communication tools allow employees to communicate both internally and externally in a timely and more efficient manner. We will write a custom essay sample on Current Trends in Business Communication or any similar topic only for you Order Now The current trends in communication within the healthcare industry make it easier for health care professionals to perform their daily tasks, and provide patients with more quality care. The Role of Business Communication in My Workplace Communication is extremely important in my line of work as a nurse. Without good effective communication skills between the various healthcare professionals involved in a patients care and between the healthcare professionals and the patient, the quality of care would or could be grossly impacted. As a nurse, communication takes place in many different forms, whether it is through notes, e-mail, phone, Internet, software used by the facility, or face-to-face communication. Typical internal day-to-day communication activities in my job include checking my work list on the software application that the healthcare facilities use to communicate between the chains of healthcare facilities within the region. The work list may have orders from the doctor to perform certain tasks such as phoning in a prescription to the pharmacy or updating a medication list for a patient. Another type of internal communication that takes place in my day-to-day activities besides oral communication, software communication, and phone communication, is written communication through the use of text messaging. There are times when the doctor will be out of the office and unable to talk directly to a patient or myself and will instead send text messages to my cell phone. Text messaging is not necessarily a daily occurrence but is used regularly. External day-to-day communication that my job requires me to use may include verbal or oral communication with patients either by the use of phone or face-to-face. It is also common to send written material with the patients or to the patients at their home address. Communication with pharmaceutical representatives via e-mail is also common. There may be questions about medications for example, which are not emergent and completely acceptable to send via e-mail to the representative. Text messaging is not an acceptable means of external communication and is never used. The use of the Internet and software has a huge impact on my ability to perform daily activities in a timely manner. Without the ease of communicating electronically simple activities could take could take much more time to complete. Current software has made it easy to re-order prescriptions for patients by just looking up a patient and renewing past prescriptions and sending them to the specific pharmacy that they use. This makes it not only easier for the doctor and the nurse but also for the pharmacist. Also there are times when it is necessary to get ahold of the doctor who could be in a meeting through the use of text messages. This allows important questions to be answered right away instead waiting until the meeting is over. Trends within the Healthcare Industry. Technology has had a big impact in the healthcare industry. My workplace will be going paperless in September of this year. Doctors are preparing for this by making sure that all patient information listed in patient charts such as medication lists and diagnoses’ are put into the system. All internal communication between different facilities will be done through the use of software or by phone. No patient results will be sent through fax or through mail. According to LexisNexis, â€Å"Obama sees the investment in electronic records as a way to improve quality and lower costs. Different Message Types Resulting From Current Trends According to Articlesbase (n. d. ), â€Å"The different message types that result from these current trends are either personal or impersonal. † The different message types resulting from these current communication trends are in the form of e-mails, text messaging, various software, Internet communicatio n, face-to-face video conferencing, instant messaging, and social networking sites such as Twitter or Facebook. Conclusion The current trends in business communication have been greatly influenced by the advancements in technology. The Internet, cell phones, MP3 players, personal digital assistants, social networking sites, and video conferencing among others, has allowed business communication to take place in many forms and from all over the world with ease. These current trends have made it easier for healthcare professionals to communicate more efficiently internally and externally and allow day-to-day activities to get accomplished more quickly than in the past. References: Articlesbase.  (n.d.).  Business Communication: Business Trends and Message Types.  Retrieved from http://www.articlesbase.com/networking-articles/business-communication-business- -trends-and-message-types-4133734.html ASQ.  (n.d.).  Going Paperless Pays Off for Healthcare Industry .  Retrieved from http://asq.org/qualitynews/qnt/execute/displaySetup?newsID=5661 How to cite Current Trends in Business Communication, Papers

Saturday, December 7, 2019

This essay is about President Andrew Jackson free essay sample

Andrew Jackson, our seventh President of the United States, is in rather an k President. Considered as the Peoples President he was very straight forward and honest to his people. He takes his job seriously and possibly the most liberal president in history. His presidency however was neither bad nor good, but shared a fair amount of each. First off, the good qualities he had was the fact he had bold commitment to enforce laws and fight back against secession threats from South.Two high riffs Were passed during 1828 and 1833 which increased taxes on imported foreign goods. The south was outraged by the high taxation so under the Nullification act that allows states to nullify laws they dont like. Soon after the second tariff was issued, they formed a convention to build up an army with the idea of secession. Jackson was so enraged that he was willing to use all the power he has to stop it. We will write a custom essay sample on This essay is about President Andrew Jackson or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Fortunately he was able to make a deal with the Vice President John C.Calhoun, who was in favor of the south, to lower the ax prices. The south backed off from secession and things settled down. Secondly, the bad if not malicious duties Jackson did during his presidency was the force removal of Native Americans from Georgia to the west and the ending the National Bank system. The state of Georgia was against the Supreme Court who was against the removal of the Natives. Even though the Supreme Court won, Georgia as well as Jackson ignored it and forced the Natives out of Georgia to the present state of Oklahoma.Many died before hey even got there. As to the National Bank issue, Jackson believed that it was a monopoly towards the upper class people and as a result refuse to recharge it. Jackson used one of his vetoes, and the Banks congressional supporters did not have enough votes to override him. The Bank ceased to exist when its charter expired in 1836, but even before that Jackson had weakened it considerably by withdrawing millions of dollars of federal funds. This later resulted in contributing to the Panic of 1837.

Saturday, November 30, 2019

The Greenhouse Effect Essay Summary Example For Students

The Greenhouse Effect Essay Summary The Greenhouse EffectThe greenhouse effect, in environmental science, is a popular term forthe effect that certain variable constituents of the Earths lower atmospherehave on surface temperatures. These gaseswater vapor (H2O), carbon dioxide(CO2), and methane (CH4)keep ground temperatures at a global average of about15 degrees C (60 degrees F). Without them the average would be below thefreezing point of H20. The gases have this effect because as incoming solarradiation strikes the surface, the surface gives off infrared radiation, or heat,that the gases trap and keep near ground level. The effect is comparable to theway in which a greenhouse traps heat, hence the term. We will write a custom essay on The Greenhouse Effect Summary specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Environmental scientists are concerned that changes in the variablecontents of the atmosphere (particularly changes caused by human activities)could cause the Earths surface to warm up to a dangerous degree. Even alimited rise in average surface temperature might lead to at least partialmelting of the polar ice caps and hence a major rise in sea level, along withother severe environmental agitation. An example of a runaway greenhouse effectis Earths near-twin planetary neighbor Venus. Because of Venuss thick CO2atmosphere, the planets cloud-covered surface is hot enough to melt lead. Water vapor is an important greenhouse gas. It is a major reason whyhumid regions experience less cooling at night than do dry regions. However,variations in the atmospheres CO2 content are what have played a major role inpast climatic changes. In recent decades there has been a global increase inatmospheric CO2, largely as a result of the burning of fossil fuels. If themany other determinants of the Earths present global climate remain more orless constant, the CO2 increase should raise the average temperature at theEarths surface. As the atmosphere warmed, the amount of H2O would probablyalso increase, because warm air can contain more H2O than can cooler air. Thisprocess might go on indefinitely. On the other hand, reverse processes coulddevelop such as increased cloud cover and increased absorption of CO2 byphytoplankton in the ocean. These would act as natural feedbacks, loweringtemperatures. In fact, a great deal remains unknown about the cycling of carbonthrough the environment, and in particular about the role of oceans in thisatmospheric carbon cycle. Many further uncertainties exist in greenhouse-effectstudies because the temperature records being used tend to represent the warmerurban areas rather than the global environment. Beyond that, the effects of CH4,natural trace gases, and industrial pollutantsindeed, the complex interactionsof all of these climate controls working togetherare only beginning to beunderstood by workers in the environmental sciences. Despite such uncertainties, numerous scientists have maintained that therise in global temperatures in the 1980s and early 1990s is a result of thegreenhouse effect. A report issued in 1990 by the Intergovernmental Panel onClimate Change (IPCC), prepared by 170 scientists worldwide, further warned thatthe effect could continue to increase markedly. Most major Western industrialnations have pledged to stabilize or reduce their CO2 emissions during the 1990s. The U.S. pledge thus far concerns only chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). CFCs attackthe ozone layer and contribute thereby to the greenhouse effect, because theozone layer protects the growth of ocean phytoplankton. would probably alsoincrease, because warm air can contain more water than can cooler air. Thisprocess might go on indefinitely. On the other hand, reverse processes coulddevelop such as increased cloud cover and increased absorption of CO2 byphytoplankton in the ocean. These would act as natural feedbacks, loweringtemperatures. Science

Monday, November 25, 2019

HARMONY AND COURAGE AS PRINCIPLES FOR SURVIVAL essays

HARMONY AND COURAGE AS PRINCIPLES FOR SURVIVAL essays Mononoke Hime is a powerful tale of the struggle between gods and humans. In pursuit of the cause and the cure of his curse, Ashitaka heads west where he is confronted by the bitter battle between the people of Tatara and the guardian-gods of the Forest of the Shishigami, worsened further by the antagonistic presence of the samurais. He is enchanted with the Mononoke Hime, San, a human raised by Moro, the head of the clan of mountain dogs protecting the forest. Given her upbringing, San has grown to hate humans, and has taken it upon herself to war against them for the sake of the forests preservation. Ashitaka later meets Eboshi Gozen, the head of the iron-making village of Tatara. Beloved to her people, composed of social outcasts, Eboshi, for her part, is set out to destroy the forest for the necessary mining activities. In all this, Ashitaka is caught between two factions who are essentially fighting for their respective survival. This dilemma evidently points to a central theme in Japanese religion-ultimately, Japanese life, and that is the close relationship binding gods (kami), humans, and nature to one another (Earhart, 1982, p 7). In contrast to monotheistic religions, the Japanese religion does not rank gods, humans, and nature in a vertical order, but perceive them co-existing in a harmonious relationship. To illustrate this quality of a non-hierarchy, experiences are not exclusive in gods only or in humans only. Case in point, the boar gods Okkotonushi and Naganokami felt immense pain and suffering, causing them to become Tatarigami. In turn, the Japanese believe, every being, including nature, can potentially have kami, in other words, become a god. Harmony is an important element in Japanese life (de Mente, 1994, p 2). It is believed to be rooted in the primitive religion of Japan, Shinto. Anthropologists, de Mente (1994) explained, attributed the need for harmony to the demands of rice cultivation and the ...

Friday, November 22, 2019

Bae Hbr

In 1992, two years into construction, the project’s top managers recommended inclusion of an airport-wide integrated baggage-handling system that could dramatically improve the efficiency of luggage delivery. Originally contracted by United Airlines to cover its operations, the system was to be expanded to serve the entire airport. It was expected that the integrated system would improve ground time efficiency, reduce close-out time for hub operations, and decrease time-consuming manual baggage sorting and handling. There were, however, a number of risks inherent in the endeavor: the scale of the large project size; the enormous complexity of the expanded system; the newness of the technology; the large number of resident entities to be served by the same system; the high degree of technical and project definition uncertainty; and the short time span for completion. Due to its significant experience implementing baggage-handling technology on a smaller scale, BAE Automated Systems Inc. , an engineering consulting and manufacturing company based in Carollton, Texas, was awarded the contract. Construction problems kept the new airport from opening on the originally scheduled opening date in October 1993. Subsequently, problems with the implementation of the baggage system forced delays in the opening of the airport another three times in seven months. In May 1994, under growing pressure from shareholders, the business community, Denver residents, Federal 1Fred Isaac, Federal Aviation Administration regional administrator, quoted in â€Å"Denver Still Working Out Kinks as Its First Birthday Arrives,† USA Today (February 28, 1996), p. 4b. Fred Renville, United Airlines employee quoted in â€Å"Denver Still Working Out Kinks as Its First Birthday Arrives,† USA Today (February 28, 1996), p. 4b. Assistant Professor Ramiro Montealegre and Research Associate H. James Nelson of the University of Colorado at Boulder, Research Associate Carin Isabel Knoop, and Professor Lynda M. Applegate prepared this case as the basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate e ither effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation. Some names have been disguised. Copyright  © 1996 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, call 1-800-545-7685 or write Harvard Business School Publishing, Boston, MA 02163. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the permission of Harvard Business School. 1 Purchased by Ashley Matcheck ([emailprotected] com) on April 11, 2012 396-311 BAE Automated Systems (A): Denver International Airport Baggage-Handling System Aviation Administration (FAA) commissioners, and the tenant airlines and concessionaires, Denver mayor Wellington Webb announced that he was hiring the German firm Logplan to help assess the state of the automated baggage system. In July, Logplan issued an 11-page report to the City of Denver that characterized BAE’s system as â€Å"highly advanced† and â€Å"theoretically capable of living up to its promised â€Å"capacities, services and performances,† but acknowledged mechanical and electrical problems that â€Å"make it most improbable to achieve a stable and reliable operation. Logplan suggested that it would take approximately five months to get the complete BAE system working reliably. It also suggested that a backup system of tugs, carts, and conveyor belts could be constructed in less than five months. In August 1994, Mayor Webb approved the construction of a backup baggage system. At the same time, he notified BAE of a $12,000-a-day penalty for not fi nishing the baggage system by DIA’s original October 29, 1993 completion date. Webb also demanded that BAE pay for the $50 million conventional tug-and-cart baggage system. Gene Di Fonso, President of BAE, knew that his company could demonstrate that flaws in the overall design of the airport and an unsystematic approach to project changes had affected implementation of the integrated baggage system. He wondered whether he should just cancel the contract and cut his losses, or attempt to negotiate with the city for the support required to finish the system as specified, despite the severe deterioration in communication and rising hostility. Could the problems with the automated system be overcome with the dedication of additional resources? Given that the system represented a significant departure from conventional technology, would reducing its size and complexity facilitate resolution of the problems that plagued it? And, if the city could be persuaded to accept a simplified system, would the tenant airlines, particularly those with hubbing operations that had been promised more advanced functionality and better performance, be likely to sue? Building the Most Efficient Airport in the World Until about 1970, Denver’s Stapleton Airport had managed to accommodate an ever-growing number of airplanes and passengers. Its operational capacity was severely limited by runway layout; Stapleton had two parallel north-south runways and two additional parallel east-west runways that accommodated only commuter air carriers. Denver’s economy grew and expanded greatly in the early 1980s, consequent to booms in the oil, real estate, and tourism industries. An aging and saturated Stapleton Airport was increasingly seen as a liability that limited the attractiveness of the region to the many businesses that were flocking to it. Delays had become chronic. Neither the north-south nor east-west parallel runways had sufficient lateral separation to accommodate simultaneous parallel arrival streams during poor weather conditions when instrument flight rules were in effect. This lack of runway separation and the layout of Stapleton’s taxiways tended to cause delays during high-traffic periods, even when weather conditions were good. Denver’s geographic location and the growing size of its population and commerce made it an attractive location for airline hubbing operations. At one point, Stapleton had housed four airline hubs, more than any other airport in the United States. In poor weather and during periods of hightraffic volume, however, its limitations disrupted connection schedules that were important to maintaining these operations. A local storm could easily congest air traffic across the entire United States. 3 3According to James Barnes [1993], â€Å"By 1994, Stapleton was one of the top five most constrained airports in the US. There were over 50,000 hours of delay in 1988 and by 1997 the FAA had projected that Stapleton would experience over 100,000 hours of delay per year. † 2 Purchased by Ashley Matcheck ([emailprotected] com) on April 11, 2012 BAE Automated Systems (A): Denver International Airport Baggage-Handling System 396-311 The City and County of Denver had determined in the mid-1970s that Stapleton International Airport was in need of expansion or replacement. In July 1979, a study to assess the airports needs was commissioned by the City of Denver to the Denver Regional Council of Governments. Upon completion of the study in 1983, a report was issued saying that, due to its size and geographic location, and strong commitments by United and Continental Airlines, Denver would remain a significant hub for at least one major U. S. arrier. The study recommended expansion of Stapleton’s capacity. Political Situation4 The City of Denver’s 1983 mayoral race precipitated initiatives to improve the airfield infrastructure. Three candidates were vying for mayor: Monte Pascoe, Dale Tooley, and Frederico Pena. Pascoe, a prominent Denver attorney and former State Democratic Party co-chair, seized upon the airport i ssue, forcing other candidates to adopt stronger positions on airport expansion than they might have otherwise. 5 Pena and Tooley, however, drew the highest numbers of votes in the general election, and were forced into a runoff. At the persistent urging of the Colorado Forum (a collection of 50 of the state’s top business executives), Pena and Tooley signed a joint statement committing themselves to airport expansion. Pena won the runoff. Committed by a public promise that could have been enforced, if necessary, by the most highly motivated members of the region’s business leadership, Pena immediately restated his intent to expand Stapleton. The City of Denver and neighboring Adams County began to develop plans for long-term airport development in 1984. In 1985, a new site northeast of Denver was chosen. Consummation of the airport siting issue, however, was left to Adams County voters, which had to vote to permit the City of Denver to annex property therein. The city hired a consulting firm to help organize its resources and its efforts to work through the legal process. The data that was gathered through the master planning and environmental assessment later proved useful for public education. An â€Å"Annexation Agreement† between Adams County and the City of Denver was reached on April 21, 1988. Adams Country voters approved a plan to let Denver annex 43. 3 square miles for the construction of an airport. In a special election on May 16, 1989, voters of Denver endorsed a â€Å"New Airport† by a margin of 62. 7% to 37. 3%. According to Edmond, â€Å"Those two referendums passed largely on the merits of the economic benefits: jobs and sales tax revenues. † Economic Considerations A number of trends and events in the mid-1980s alarmed bank economists and other of the regions business leaders in the mid-1980s. The collapse of oil shale ventures between 1982 and 1986 saw mining employment fall from 42,000 to 26,000 jobs, while service support jobs fell from 25,300 jobs to 13,700. Construction jobs fell from 50,700 to 36,600 jobs, and the value of private construction plummeted from $24 billion to $9. 5 billion. 7 A lackluster economy led many government officials in counties and municipalities as well as in Denver to embark upon an unprecedented policy of massive public construction to save the region from what was regarded in 1987 as an economic free-fall. A $180 million-plu s municipal bond was issued for public improvements, including a new downtown library, neighborhood and major roadway improvements, and a host of overdue infrastructure investments. During the same period, 4Extracted from: Moore, S. T. : â€Å"Between Growth Machine and Garbage Can: Determining Whether to Expand the Denver Airport, 1982-1988,† Annual Meeting of the Southern Political Science Association, Atlanta, Georgia, November 4, 1994. 5Ibid. 6 7 Colorado Business Outlook Forum, University of Colorado School of Business, 1990. Small Area Employment Estimates; Construction Review, U. S. Department of Commerce, 1990 3 Purchased by Ashley Matcheck ([emailprotected] com) on April 11, 2012 396-311 BAE Automated Systems (A): Denver International Airport Baggage-Handling System he Pena administration moved decisively to confront an increasingly aggressive Chamber of Commerce leadership that was promoting airport relocation. The determination of the â€Å"pro-New-Airport† clan was growing. The project was being marketed as a technologically advanced, state-of-the-art structure to draw businesses, import federal capital, and fund the creation of new job s with bonded debts to overcome the short-term decline in the economy. The airport was to become a grandiose project to revive the Colorado economy and a master showcase for the Public Works Department. The entire business community, recalled a member of the Mayors administrative team: The Chamber of Commerce, members of the city council, the mayor, and state legislators, participated in informational discussions with other cities that had recently built airports. [This enabled] everybody to understand the magnitude of the project. So we studied the other two airports that had been built in the United States in the last 50 years and said, Tell us everything that you went through and all the places you think there will be problems. We were not going into it blindly. Forecasts of aviation activity at Stapleton by the Airport Consultant team, the FAA, and others, however, did not anticipate events such as a new phase of post-deregulation consolidation, the acquisition in 1986 of Frontier Airlines by Texas Air (the owner of Continental), significant increases in air fares for flights in and out of Stapleton, and the bankruptcy of Continental. Consequently, the level of aviation activity in Denver was overestimated. Instead of rising, Stapleton’s share of total U. S. domestic passenger enplanements fell 4% per year from 1986 through 1989. 8 The Master Plan The City of Denvers approach to preparing a master plan for the airport was typical. â€Å"One hires the best consultants on airfield layout, noise impacts, terminal layout, on-site roadways, off-site roadways, cost estimating, financial analysis, and forecasting,† observed DIA administrator Gail Edmond. â€Å"They brainstorm and generate as many alternate layouts as possible. † Alternatives were discussed and eliminated at periodic joint working sessions, and a technical subcommittee was organized to gather input from the eventual airport users, airlines, pilots, and the FAA. â€Å"Everybody knows how to begin an airport master plan,† Edmond added. Following a bid, the consulting contract was awarded to the joint venture of Greiner, Inc. and Morrison-Knudsen Engineers for their combined expertise in the fields of transportation and construction. The consulting team, working under the direction of the DIA Director of Aviation, focused first on four elements: site selection; the master plan; the environmental assessment; and developing support by educating the public on economic benefit. The final master plan presented to the city by the team in the fall of 1987 called for the construction of the world’s most efficient airport. It was to be created from the ground up with no predetermined limitations. The plan was to allow the airport to grow and expand without compromising efficiency. Twice the size of Manhattan at 53 square miles, the nations largest airport was to be designed for steady traffic flow in all weather conditions. It was to comprise a terminal with east and west buildings joined by an atrium structure, three concourses, an automated underground people mover, and five parallel 12,000-foot-long runways on which as many as 1,750 planes could take off and land daily. Its flow-through traffic patterns would allow planes to land, taxi to concourse gates, and take 8 Furthermore, when selling the project to voters, planners at one point forecast up to 36 weekly flights to Europe by 1993. The number recorded in 1993, however, was four. The number of passengers departing form Denver was to rise from 16 million in 1985 to some 26 million by 1995. The 1994 figure, however, was about the same as the number of passengers in 1985, or half of Stapleton’s capacity. 4 Purchased by Ashley Matcheck ([emailprotected] om) on April 11, 2012 BAE Automated Systems (A): Denver International Airport Baggage-Handling System 396-311 off again all in one direction. The ultimate buildout, projected for the year 2020, was to include up to 12 full service runways, more than 200 gates, and a capacity of 110 million passengers annually. Estimated cost (excluding land acquisition and pre-1990 planning costs) was $2 billion. By the end of 1991, the estimated cost had incr eased to $2. 66 billion. Plans called for the projects completion by the fall of 1993. In September 1989, Federal officials signed a $60 million grant agreement for the new airport, which was to be financed in multiple ways—by issuing revenue bonds and securing federal grants— supplemented by a sizable investment by the city [county of Denver 1991]. Estimated federal grants for the new airport originally totaled $501 million. Portions of these were forthcoming from the FAA, for federal fiscal year 1990 in the amount of $90 million and for federal fiscal year 1991 in the amount of $25 million. The remainder of the $501 million letter of intent was to be received on an annual basis through fiscal year 1997. The revenue bonds assumed the â€Å"Date of Beneficial Occupancy† (DBO) to be January 1, 1994, with bond repayments to begin on that date. At that time, the city determined that DIA would meet the DBO no later than October 31, 1993. A member of the Mayor’s administrative team described the approach. What we did was plan the DBO date and then we planned an extra six months just in case there was a lag in the opening, which, in essence, allowed us to create stability in the market. The other thing we did was that we conservatively financed and filled every reserve account to the maximum. So we borrowed as much money as we could at the lower interest rate and were able to average the debt cost down, not up, as we thought it would be. A Build-Design Project By the time construction began at DIA in November 1989, a transfer of authority was taking place in the City of Denver. Wellington Webb was elected the new mayor. According to one of his assistants, the Pena administration had announced that the airport would be operational in October 1993. â€Å"This was a build-design project, which means that we were building the airport [while] we were designing it,† he explained. Because of the delays early on in the project, we had to accelerate construction immediately. There was a lot of pressure and too many players. This was an airport built by committee. We had regular meetings to straighten things out, but it didn’t always work. † Although the Webb administration inherited the airport project without a commitment on the part of the major carriers, the support and input of concerned airlines were absolutely key, not only financially but also in terms of input on overall airport layout, scope, and capacity, and supporting systems such as fueling and baggage handling. Denver launched the DIA program without specific commitments from either of Stapleton airports two major tenant airlines, United and Continental, which together accounted for more than 70% of existing passenger traffic. Continental committed to the new airport in February 1990, United in December 1991. Fundamental changes were made to the airport layout plan and facilities (some already under construction) to accommodate the operational needs of these carriers. The Webb administration followed the predecessor administration’s emphasis on assuring that the project’s greatest beneficiaries would be local businesses. The desire was to involve as many individual firms as practicable and to use Denver area talent. It was reasoned that local talent was easily accessible to the program management team (PMT), knew Denver building codes and practices, and had available the necessary professional labor pool to accomplish the design in accordance with the demanding schedule. In addition, existing law stated that 30% minority-owned firms and 6% women-owned firms had to participate in a public works program. The result was a contracting philosophy that maximized opportunities for regional businesses and the local workforce to compete for the work. At least five of 60 contracts awarded for the design of DIA went to Denverarea firms. These 60 design contracts generated 110 construction contracts. Eighty-eight professional service contracts also had to be coordinated. Many local firms had to be hired and the program was 5 Purchased by Ashley Matcheck ([emailprotected] com) on April 11, 2012 396-311 BAE Automated Systems (A): Denver International Airport Baggage-Handling System chopped up into many small projects. Involvement totaled 200 to 300 firms and reached 400 during the construction phase. Five different firms designed the runways, four the terminal. The citys emphasis on encouraging everyone to compete and yet be part of the project increased the potential for interface and coordination problems. Denver’s flat economy led the administration to keep construction money within the city. Although this benefited the city, it introduced an additional burden on administration. As many as 40-50 concurrent contracts involved many interrelated milestones and contiguous or overlapping operational areas. The estimated daily on-site work force population exceeded 2,500 workers for a 15 to 18-month period beginning in mid-1991 and peaked at between 9,000 and 10,000 in mid-1992. Adding to the human resource coordination problems was a forecasted 4,000 deliveries daily. Construction volume for six months in mid-1992 exceeded $100 million per month. The prolonged period of assessment and negotiation prior to final approval of the project, and the financial plan selected (which required that bond repayments begin on January 1, 1994), pressured the PMT to push the project ahead at all cost. Because the project had to assume the characteristics of a â€Å"fast-track† project early in the construction startup, the compressed design period precipitated a more dynamic construction effort han might be anticipated for a competitively bid, fixed price program. Reliance on a design/build method for the project was, according to one DIA official, unusual because projects this complex normally happen during separate stages. For example, you need to finish up the site selection before you begin the master planning. † Moreover, communication channels between th e city, project management team, and consultants were neither well defined or controlled. If a contractor fell behind, a resident engineer who reported to one of the area managers said, the resident engineer would alert the contractor and document this. The resident engineer would document what would have to be done and what additional resources were necessary to get back on schedule and finish the contract on time. As a public agency it was enormous, the amount of documentation that we did. I don’t know how many trees we cut down just for this project. The resident engineer had about five to eight 12-drawer filing cabinets of documentation and this was nothing compared to what the area manager had. It was just incredible. There were at least four to six copies of everything. The scheduling manager described the evolution of the tracking system that was used. One of the biggest problems we had was keeping track of all the changes. So we developed a database system that was installed at each one of the resident engineer’s trailers and each contract administrator was then charged with keeping that system up to date and feeding us disks, which we would then merge together periodically to produce an integrated report. But every party had developed their own tracking system before the start of the project. That worked well for each group, but there was no way to take each one of these divergent systems and combine it into one, comprehensive report. So when we introduced the change tracking system everybody said, fine, that’s wonderful, and I’ll update it when I get to it and when I get time. It took three years to implement the tracking system. Project Management In a fast-moving, ever-changing environment such as the development of a new airport, the management structure must be able to rapidly produce engineering alternatives and the supporting 6 Purchased by Ashley Matcheck ([emailprotected] com) on April 11, 2012 BAE Automated Systems (A): Denver International Airport Baggage-Handling System 396-311 ost and schedule data. 9 But because DIA was financed by many sources and was a public works program, project administrators had to balance administrative, political, and social imperatives. 10 The City of Denver staff and consultant team shared leadership of the project and coordinated the initial facets of DIA design. â€Å"The initial thought, reflected one staff member, was that the city staff would do their thing and the consulting staff do theirs and later we would coordinate. It became evident within a very short time that we were doing duplicate duties, which was inefficient. Finally the city decided to coordinate resources. † The city selected a team of city employees and consultants and drafted a work scope document that clearly separated the city’s from the consultants’ responsibilities. The elements the city did not delegate to consultants included ultimate policy and facility decisions, approval of payments, negotiation and execution of contracts, facilitation of FAA approvals, affirmative action, settlement of contractor claims and disputes, selection of consultants, and utility agreements. The city delegated some elements such as value engineering, construction market analysis, claim management, on-site staff and organization, and state-of-the-art project control (computerized management of budget and schedule). Exhibit 1 depicts the DIA management structure. The program management team became the organization dedicated to overseeing planning and development for the new airport. Headed by the associate director of aviation, the team was partially staffed by city career service employees. To add experience and capability, the city augmented the PMT with personnel from the joint venture of Greiner Engineering and MorrisonKnudsen Engineers, the consulting team. Observed one program management team member, â€Å"This working partnership of the City of Denver and consulting joint venture team developed into a fully integrated single organization, capitalizing on the best to be offered by all participants, and optimizing the use of personnel resources. † DIA’s operational project structure comprised five different areas subdivided into smaller units. The working areas were: site development (earthmoving, grading, and drainage); roadways and on-grade parking (service roads, on-airport roads, and off-airport roads connecting to highways); airfield paving; building design (people-mover/baggage-handler, tunnel, concourses, passenger bridge, terminal, and parking); and utility/special systems and other facilities (electrical transmission, oil, and gas line removal and relocation). An area manager controlled construction within each area. Area managers were responsible for the administration of all assigned contracts and, in coordination with other area managers, for management of the portion of the overall site in which their work took place. United Airlines’ Baggage System From the public’s perspective, the â€Å"friendliness† of any airport is measured by time. No matter how architecturally stimulating a new airport structure, the perception of business or leisure travelers is often registered in terms of efficiency in checking luggage at the departure area or waiting to claim a bag in the arrival area. The larger the airport, the more critical the efficient handling of baggage. Remote concourses connected by underground tunnels present special problems for airport planners and operators because of the great distances passengers and baggage must travel. The purpose of an airport being to move passengers as efficiently as possible, moving bags as quickly is 9 The DIA project used the so-called fast-tracking method, which made it possible to compress some activities along the critical path and manage the construction project as a series of overlapping tasks. 0 These included considerations such as affirmative action, local participation, neighborhood concerns, civic pride, input from the disabled community, art, secondary employment benefits of contract packaging, concern for the environment, and political interest. 7 Purchased by Ashley Matcheck ([emailprotected] com) on April 11, 2012 396-311 BAE Automated Systems (A): Denver International Airport Baggage-Handling System part and pa rcel of that responsibility. Rapid transport of frequent flyers accomplishes very little if bags are left behind. DIAs Concourse A, which was to house Continental Airlines, was situated some 400 meters, and United Airlines’ Concourse B nearly 1,000 meters, north of the main terminal. Concourse C, home to other carriers including American, Delta, Northwest, America West, and TWA, sat parallel to the other two concourses more than 1,600 meters north of the main terminal. The initial project design did not incorporate an airport-wide baggage system; the airport expected the individual airlines to build their own systems as in most other American airports. 1 United Airlines, which in June 1991 signed on to use DIA as its second-largest hub airport, proceeded to do just that. Needing an automated baggage handling system if it was to turn aircraft around in less than 30 minutes, United, in December 1991, commissioned BAE Automatic Systems, Inc. , a world leader in the design and implementation of material handling systems, to develop an automated baggage handling system for its B Concourse at D IA. The contract, which included engineering and early parts procurement only, was valued at $20 million; and the task was estimated to be completed in two and one-half years. We began working at DIA under a contract directly with United Airlines, recalled Di Fonso. Obviously, United Airlines has experience with airports. They concluded that the schedule had gotten totally out of control from the standpoint of baggage and they acted to serve their own needs, basically to protect themselves. We contracted with United and were already designing their portion of the system before the city went out for competitive bidding. BAE was founded as a division of Docutel Corporation in 1968. Docutel, which had developed the Telecar (a track-mounted automated baggage system), constructed an automated baggage system for United Airlines at San Francisco airport in 1978. When Docutel ran into financial difficulties during this installation, United asked Boeing, a major supplier of its aircraft, to take over the company. Boeing agreed and the new company, a wholly-owned subsidiary dubbed Boeing Airport Equipment, completed the San Francisco installation. In 1982, Boeing sold the company to its senior management, which renamed it BAE Automated Systems. In August 1985, BAE became an operating unit of Clarkson Industries, a wholly-owned subsidiary of London-based BTR plc. BTR plc (formerly British Tire and Rubber), was a $10 billion conglomerate with global interests in building, paper and printing products, and agricultural and aircraft equipment. In 1994, BAEs 365 employees worked on projects across the United States and in Europe and Australia. In-house engineering, manufacturing, and field support capabilities enabled BAE to develop, design, manufacture, install, and support every project it undertook from start to finish. BAE also provided consulting, engineering, and management services for airport projects and a variety of material handling applications. With sales of $100 million in 1994, up from approximately $40 million in 1991, BAE accounted for 90% of U. S. baggage sorting equipment sales. Between 1972 and 1994, the company had successfully designed, manufactured, and installed nearly 70 automated baggage handling systems (worth almost $500 million dollars) at major airports in the United States, in New York, Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta, Miami, Newark, and Pittsburgh. It had also installed systems in Vancouver and London and was selected, in 1992, as a consultant to the $550 million main terminal for the New Seoul Metropolitan Airport in South Korea. BAE was a very self-contained, integrated company structured along two business lines: manufacturing and engineering. Its approximately 200,000 square foot manufacturing facility was capable of producing nearly all of the components required by BAE systems save motors, gearboxes, and bearings. The engineering department was structured according to major projects. Each project was assigned a project manager who reported directly to the company president. 1 Rifkin, G. : â€Å"What Really Happened at Denver’s Airport,† Forbes, SAP Supplement, August 29, 1994. 8 Purchased by Ashley Matcheck ([emailprotected] com) on April 11, 2012 BAE Automated Systems (A): Denver International Airport Baggage-Handling System 396-311 Implementing an Integrated Baggage-Handling System BAE had already commence d work on Uniteds baggage system when the PMT recognized the potential benefits of an airport-wide integrated baggage system. Moreover, as one DIA senior manager explained, â€Å"airlines other than United simply were not coming forward with plans to develop their own baggage systems. Airport planners and consultants began to draw up specifications and the city sent out a request for bids. Of 16 companies contacted, both in the United States and abroad, only three responded. A consulting firm recommended against the submitted designs, on the grounds that the configurations would not meet the airport’s needs. BAE was among the companies that had decided not to bid for the job. BAE had installed the Telecar system at a number of other airports and the basic technologies of the Telecar, laser barcode readers, and conveyor belt systems were not new. What was new was the size and complexity of the system. A grand airport like DIA needs a complex baggage system, explained Di Fonso , Therefore the type of technology to be used for such a system is the kind of decision that must be made very early in a project. If there is a surprise like no bidders there is still time to react. At DIA, this never happened. Working with United Airlines, we had concluded that destination-coded vehicles moving at high speed was the technology needed. But quite honestly, although we had that technology developed, its implementation in a complex project like this would have required significantly greater time than the city had left available. A United project manager concurred: â€Å"BAE told them from the beginning that they were going to need at least one more year to get the system up and running, but no one wanted to hear that. † The City of Denver was getting the same story from the technical advisers to the Franz Josef Strauss Airport in Munich. The Munich Airport had an automated baggage system, but one far less complex than DIA’s. Nevertheless, Munich’s technical advisors had spent two years testing the system and the system had been running 24 hours a day for six months before the airport opened. Formulating Intentions As BAE was already working on United’s automated baggage handling system and enjoyed a world-wide reputation as a superior baggage system builder, Denver approached the company. BAE was asked to study how the United concept could be expanded into an integrated airport system that could serve the other carriers in the various concourses. BAE presented the City of Denver with a proposal to develop the â€Å"most complex automated baggage system ever built,† according to Di Fonso. It was to be effective in delivering bags to and from passengers, and efficient in terms of operating reliability, maintainability, and future flexibility. The system was to be capable of directing bags (including suitcases of all sizes, skis, and golf clubs) from the main terminal through a tunnel into a remote concourse and directly to a gate. Such efficient delivery would save precious ground time, reduce close-out time for hub operations, and cut time-consuming manual baggage sorting and handling. Although an automated system was more expensive initially than simple tugs and baggage carts, it was expected that it would reduce the manpower which was required to distribute bags to the correct locations. Bags unloaded from an aircraft arriving at a particular concourse would barely be touched by human hands. Moved through the airport at speeds up to 20 mph, they would be waiting when passengers arrived at the terminal. To prove the capability of its mechanical aspects, and demonstrate the proposed system to the airlines and politicians, BAE built a prototype automated baggage handling system in a 50,000 square foot warehouse near its manufacturing plant in Carrollton, Texas. The prototype system convinced Chief Airport Engineer Walter Slinger that the automated system would work. [The City of Denver] approached us based on one core concept, recalled Di Fonso. They wanted to have a fully integrated, airport-wide baggage system. The city 9 Purchased by Ashley Matcheck ([emailprotected] com) on April 11, 2012 396-311 BAE Automated Systems (A): Denver International Airport Baggage-Handling System had two major concerns. First, they had no acceptable proposal. Second, United was probably going to go ahead and build what it needed and the rest of the airport would have been equipped with something else. Di Fonso continued, When we arrived on the scene, we were faced with fully defined project specs, which obviously in the long run proved to be a major planning error. The city had fallen into a trap, which historically architects and engineers tend to fall into as they severely underplay the importance and significance of some of the requirements of a baggage system, that is, arranging things for the space into which it must fit, accommodating the weight it may impose on the building structure, the power it requires to run, and the ventilation and air conditioning that may be necessary to dissipate the heat it generates. In April 1992, BAE was awarded the $175. 6 million contract to build the entire airport system. According to Di Fonso, company executives and city officials hammered out a deal in three intense working sessions. We placed a number of conditions on accepting the job, he observed. The design was not to be changed beyond a given date and there would be a number of freeze dates for mechanical design, software design, permanent power requirements and the like. The contract made it obvious that both signatory parties were very concerned about the ability to complete. The provisions dealt mostly with all-around access, timely completion of certain areas, provision of permanent power, provision of computer rooms. All these elements were delineated as milestones. Denver officials accepted these requirements and, in addition, committed to unrestricted access for BAE equipment. Because of the tight deadlines, BAE would have priority in any area where it needed to install the system. Di Fonso elaborated, When we entered into the contract, Continental Airlines was still under bankruptcy law protection. The city was very concerned that they would be unable to pay for their concourse. They only contracted for about 40% of the equipment that is now in concourse A, which was the concourse that Continental had leased. Beyond that, concourse C had no signatory airlines as leaseholders at the time. The city, therefore, wanted the simplest, most elementary baggage system possible for concourse C. The outputs and inputs were very, very crude, intentionally crude to keep the costs down because the city had no assurance of revenue stream at that point in time. The city did not get the airlines together or ask them what they wanted or needed to operate. The approach was more along the lines of we will build the apartment building and then you come in and rent a set of rooms. Project Organization and Management No major organizational changes to accommodate the new baggage system were deemed necessary, although some managerial adjustments were made on the DIA project. Design of the United baggage system was frozen on May 15, 1992, when the PMT assumed managerial responsibility for the integrated baggage system. The direct relationship with BAE was delegated to Working Area 4, which also had responsibility for building design efforts such as the people-mover, airside concourse building, passenger bridge main landside building complex and parking garage, and various other smaller structures. The area manager, although he had no experience in airport construction, baggage system technologies, or the introduction of new technologies, possessed vast experience in construction project control management. BAE had to change its working structure to conform to DIAs project management structure. Di Fonso explained, 10 Purchased by Ashley Matcheck ([emailprotected] com) on April 11, 2012 BAE Automated Systems (A): Denver International Airport Baggage-Handling System 396-311 There was a senior manager for each of the concourses and a manager for the main terminal. The bag system, however, traversed all of them. If I had to argue a case for right of way I would have to go to all the managers because I was traversing all four empires. In addition, because changes were happening fast at each of these sites, there was no time to have an information system to see what is concourse A deciding and what is concourse B deciding. We had to be personally involved to understand what was going on. There was no one to tie it all together and overlap all these effects because the basic organization was to manage it as discrete areas. It was pandemonium. We would keep saying that over and over again. Who is in charge? For the first two years of the project, Di Fonso was the project manager. The project was divided into three general areas of expertise: mechanical engineering, industrial control, and software design. Mechanical engineering was responsible for all mechanical components and their installation, industrial control for industrial control design, logic controller programming, and motor control panels, and software design for writing real-time process control software to manage the system. At the time the contract with BAE was signed, construction had already begun on the terminal and concourses. Substantial changes had to be made to the overall design of the terminal and some construction already completed had to be taken out and reinstalled to accommodate the expanded system. Installation of the expanded system was initially estimated to require more than $100 million in construction work. Walls had to be removed and a new floor installed in the terminal building to support the new system. Moreover, major changes in project governance were taking place during the baggage system negotiations. In May 1992, shortly after the baggage system negotiations commenced, the head of the DIA project resigned. The death in October 1992 of Chief Airport Engineer Slinger, who had been a strong proponent of the baggage system and closely involved in negotiations with BAE, also exerted a significant impact on the project. His cooperation had been essential because of the amount of heavy machinery and track that had to be moved and installed and the amount of construction work required to accommodate the system. His replacement, Gail Edmond, was selected because she had worked closely with him and knew all the players. Her managerial style, however, was quite different from Slinger’s. A Public Works manager recalled his first reaction to the change: â€Å"[The airport] is not going to be open on time. † A United Airlines project manager summarized Edmond’s challenge thus: Slinger was a real problem solver. He was controversial because of his attitude, but he was never afraid to address problems. He had a lot of autonomy and could get things done. Gail was in a completely different position. Basically, she had a good understanding of how the project was organized and who the key players were, but didn’t know much about the actual construction. Also, the city council didn’t give her anywhere near the autonomy and the authority that Slinger had and she had to get approval from the council on just about all decisions. They really tied her hands and everyone knew it. Di Fonso echoed the project managers assessment: Walter [Slinger] understood that one of the things we had to have was unrestricted access. I think he clearly understood the problem the city was facing and he understood the short timeframe under which we were operating. He was the one that accepted all of the contractual conditions, all the milestones of the original contract. He really had no opportunity to influence the outcome of this project, however, because he died within months after the contract was signed. I think Gail 11 Purchased by Ashley Matcheck ([emailprotected] com) on April 11, 2012 96-311 BAE Automated Systems (A): Denver International Airport Baggage-Handling System did an excellent job [but] she was overwhelmed. 12 She just had too much. The layers below focused inward, worrying about their own little corners of the world. â€Å"Not only did we not get the unrestricted access that was agreed upon,† Di Fonso emphasized, â€Å"we didn’t even have reas onable access. † Ten days after Slinger’s death, a BAE millwright found a truck from Hensel Phelps, the contractor building Concourse C, blocking her work site. She asked someone to move the truck or leave the keys so it could be moved. According to a BAE superintendent, â€Å"she was told that ‘This is not a BAE job and we can park anywhere we please: is that clear? ’† Elsewhere, BAE electricians had to leave work areas where concrete grinders were creating clouds of dust. Fumes from chemical sealants forced other BAE workers to flee. Di Fonso pleaded with the city for help. â€Å"We ask that the city take prompt action to assure BAE the ability to continue its work in an uninterrupted manner,† he wrote. â€Å"Without the city’s help, the delays to BAE’s work will quickly become unrecoverable. 13 To further complicate matters, the airlines began requesting changes to the system’s design even though the mechanical and software designs were supposed to be frozen. â€Å"Six months prior to opening the airport,† Di Fonso recalled, â€Å"we were still moving equipment around, changing controls, changing software design. † In August 1992, for example, United altered plans for a transfer system for bags changing planes, requesting that BAE eliminate an entire loop of track from Concourse B. Rather than two complete loops of track, United would have only one. This change saved approximately $20 million, but required a system redesign. Additional ski-claim devices and odd-size baggage elevators added in four of the six sections of the terminal added $1. 61 million to the cost of the system. One month later, Continental requested that automated baggage sorting systems be added to its west basement at an additional cost of $4. 67 million. The ski claim area length was first changed from 94 feet to 127 feet, then in January 1993, shortened to 112 feet. The first change added $295,800, the second subtracted $125,000, from the cost. The same month, maintenance tracks were added to permit the Telecars to be serviced without having to lift them off the main tracks at an additional cost of $912,000. One year later, United requested alterations to its odd-size baggage inputs—cost of the change: $432,000. Another problem was the city’s inability to supply â€Å"clean† electricity to the baggage system. The motors and circuitry used in the system were extremely sensitive to power surges and fluctuations. When electrical feedback tripped circuit breakers on hundreds of motors, an engineer was called in to design filters to correct the problem. Although ordered at that time, the filters still had not arrived several months later. A city worker had canceled a contract without realizing that the filters were part of it. The filters finally arrived in March 1994. A third, albeit disputed, complication related to Denver’s requirement, and city law, that a certain percentage of jobs be contracted to minority-owned companies. The City of Denver had denied BAE’s original contract because it did not comply with hiring requirements, where upon BAE engaged some outside contractors in lieu of BAE employees. Di Fonso estimated that this increased costs by approximately $6 million, a claim ejected by the Mayors Office of Contract Compliance. Then, in September 1993, BAE’s contract negotiations with the City of Denver over maintenance of the system resulted in a two-day strike of 300 millwrights that was joined by some 200 electricians. BAE negotiated with Denver for maintenance workers to earn $12 per hour on certai n jobs that the union contended should be worth $20 per hour. As a result, BAE lost the maintenance contract. 12 In addition to her role as Chief Airport Engineer, Edmond kept her previous responsibilities as Chief of Construction and Acting Director of Aviation. 3 Rocky Mountain News, January 29, 1995 12 Purchased by Ashley Matcheck ([emailprotected] com) on April 11, 2012 BAE Automated Systems (A): Denver International Airport Baggage-Handling System 396-311 Project Relations Much of the effort for implementing the baggage system was directed within one of the four working areas. The relationship with the management team was very poor, recalled Di Fonso. The management team had no prior baggage handling competence or experience. This was treated as a major public works project. The management team treated the baggage system as similar to pouring concrete or putting in air-conditioning ducts. When we would make our complaints about delays and access and so forth, other contractors would argue their position. The standard answer was, Go work it out among yourselves. . . . With contractors basically on their own, this led almost to anarchy. Everyone was doing his or her own thing. Another perspective was offered by a project manager from Stone Webster, a consultant to the PMT, reflecting on the work done by BAE: â€Å"This contractor simply did not respond to the obvious incredible workload they were faced with. Their inexperienced project management vastly underestimated their task. Their work ethic was deplorable. †14 PMT management insisted that access and mechanical issues weren’t the problem. They were running cars in Concourse B all summer (1993), Edmund observed. The problem was that the programming was not done and BAE had full control of the programming. †15 Lawsuits and a Backup Baggage System In February 1993, Mayor Webb delayed the scheduled October 1993 airport opening to December 19, 1993. Later, this December date was changed to March 9, 1994. Everybody got into the panic mode of trying to get to this magical date that nobody was ready for,† a senior vicepresident for BAE recalled. In September 1993, the opening was again postponed—this time until May 15, 1994. In late April 1994, the City of Denver invited reporters to observe the first test of the baggage system, without notifying BAE. Seven thousand bags were to be moved to Continentalâ€℠¢s Concourse A and United’s Concourse B. So many problems were discovered that testing had to be halted. Reporters saw piles of disgorged clothes and other personal items lying beneath the Telecar’s tracks. Most of the problems related to errors in the system’s computer software, but mechanical problems also played a part. The software that controlled the delivery of empty cars to the terminal building, for example, often sent the cars back to the waiting pool. Another problem was â€Å"jam logic† software, which was designed to shut down a section of track behind a jammed car, but instead shut down an entire loop of track. Optical sensors designed to detect and monitor cars were dirty causing the system to believe that a section of track was empty when, in fact, it had held a stopped car. Collisions between cars dumped baggage on tracks and on the floor; jammed cars jumped the track and bent the rails; faulty switches caused the Telecars to dump luggage onto the tracks or against the walls of the tunnels. After the test, Mayor Webb delayed the airport’s opening yet again, this time indefinitely. â€Å"Clearly, the automated baggage system now underway at DIA is not yet at a level that meets the requirements of the city, the airlines, or the traveling public,† the mayor stated. The city set the costs of the delay at $330,000 per month. Recognizing that his reputation was staked on his ability to have a baggage system performing to a point at which the new airport could be opened, Mayor Webb engaged, in May 1994, the German firm Logplan to assess the state of the automated baggage system. In July, Logplan isolated a loop of track that contained every feature of the automated baggage 14 15 Forbes, ASAP Supplement, August 29, 1994. Forbes, ASAP Supplement, August 29, 1994. 13 Purchased by Ashley Matcheck ([emailprotected] com) on April 11, 2012 396-311 BAE Automated Systems (A): Denver International Airport Baggage-Handling System ystem and intended to run it for an extended period to test the reliability of the Telecars. Jams on the conveyor belts and collisions between cars caused the test to be halted. The system did not run long enough to determine if there was a basic design flaw or to analyze where the problems were. Logplan recommended construction of a backup baggage system, and suggested using Rapistan Demag, a firm it had worked with in the past. Construction of a backup system was announced in August 1994. The system itself cost $10. million, but electrical upgrades and major building modifications raised the projected cost to $50 million. In the meantime, the City of Denver, as well as many major airlines, hired legal firms to assist with negotiations and future litigation. â€Å"We will have enough legal action for the rest of this century,† a city administrator mused. The City of Denver had to communicate with such parties as the United States Federal grand jury, Securities Exchange Commission, and the General Accounting Office. The federal grand jury was conducting a general investigation concerning DIA. The SEC was investigating the sale of $3. 2 billion in bonds to finance DIA’s construction, and GAO the use of Congressional funds. Di Fonso, reviewing Mayor Webb’s letter and requests that BAE pay a $12,000-a-day penalty for missing DIA’s original October 29, 1993 completion date, as well as assuming the costs of building the $50 million conventional tug-and-cart baggage system, summed up the situation thus: We have gotten to the point with the city that literally we are not talking to each other. Consultants recommended a backup baggage system, and the minute that the decision was made, the city had to defend it. We are left out in limbo. 14 Purchased by Ashley Matcheck ([emailprotected] com) on April 11, 2012 396-311 -15- Exhibit 1 Organization Chart Acting Associate Director of Aviation Denver International Airport City Attorneys Contract Compliance DIA Coordinator Tenant Facilities Administrative Assistant Marketing/Public Information Manager Planner Program Manager Computer Systems Administration Deputy Program Manager Airline Specialty Systems Environmental Engineer Contracts Risk Management Financial Manager of Design Contract Administration Administrative Assistant Manager of Project Controls Architectural Supervisor Engineering Supervisor Document Control Contracts Staff Clerical Staff MIS Schedule Cost Estimating Project Managers Support Staff Manager of Construction Project Controls Support Staff Safety Manager Senior Project Engineer QA/QC Manager Employee Relations Area 12 Manager Area 3 Manager Area 4A Manager Area 4B Manager Area 5 Manager Construction Support Staff Source: City and County of Denver, Colorado, Airport System Review Bonds, Series 1991D, October 1991. Purchased by Ashley Matcheck ([emailprotected] com) on April 11, 2012

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

The influence of media (such as video games, violent television, etc.) Term Paper

The influence of media (such as video games, violent television, etc.) on children - Term Paper Example Our children are being raised in an increasingly media dependent world. From the day they are born we use the silencing melodies from the radio to hush them to sleep. As toddlers and preschoolers we rely on television to help us teach them their basic counting and reading skills. Once they hit grade school, television is one way by which we hope to keep them occupied long enough for us to get other work done around the house before helping them with their studies and assignments. We get them on the internet in order to do research that is necessary for the completion of their homework. They stay in touch with their group study and class project team mates via twitter and Facebook. Obviously mass media has become a very important tool in the mental and social development of our children. The question is, how much of this influence that we allow them to be exposed to is positive? And when does it cross the line towards the negative? We have to admit that media is something that we can no longer do without in our lives. It is the greatest mover, shaker, and shaper of our cultural values and social identities. The impact of media over our lifestyle can easily be seen in the way our attitudes and beliefs change over time. This is also a change that is reflected in the way our children are growing up. (Oak, â€Å"Positive Effects of Media†). Experts have coined the term â€Å"Viewtrition† in order to describe the method by which parents should oversee the quality of the television that their children are watching ( Durrani, â€Å"TV Is Positive Influence On Child Development†). When questioned as to whether television delivered any positive impact on their childs lives, parents responded that: â€Å"Despite the negativity often associated with children watching TV, eight out of 10 parents questioned believed it has a positive effect on their childs development, including

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

An economic analysis of the causes of serfdomslavery Essay

An economic analysis of the causes of serfdomslavery - Essay Example Serfdom on the other hand, is also a social economic system whose conditions of bondage are bound but not limited to the fields of landowners. This is in return for protection and the right to work in their leased fields. Basing on these definitions, serfs are also slaves, only that serfs are entitled to property rights, therefore, free, in a way, to do what he thinks is fit for his land. In an analysis paper on the causes of slavery or serfdom in relation to agrarian capitalism, the author distinguishes the two systems by the following context. This is with the assumption that: "A slave can be forced to supply unskilled labor when supervised by a farm operator but he cannot be forced to surrender his non traded skills. This captures the idea that you cannot make a slave a residual claimant without also giving them a substantial degree of independent control over how they allocate labor between their tenancy and labor services to the landlord. A slave owes labor service in return for nothing other than a subsistence wage, whereas serfs were typically peasant farmers who maintained access to land in exchange for payment to a landlord which may or not have included significant labor-service obligation." (Jonathan Conning, p.10) It was during the medieval times, with the rise of feudalism in Europe, that the era of serfdom and slavery became rampant. In the feudal system, the society was divided into three social classes, namely the religious, the nobles and the laborers. The serfs and the slaves were under the third class, whose tasks mainly consist of household duties. The nature of slavery and serfdom prior to the colonization of America was described in an online article at the following context: "Most slaves in Africa, in the Islamic world, and in the New World prior to European colonization worked as farmers or household servants, or served as concubines or eunuchs. They were symbols of prestige, luxury, and power rather than a source of labor." (Digital History online textbook) The Rise of Capitalism This social economic system developed further in Medieval Europe. Though it declined in Western Europe, in the later middle ages, it spread out on Eastern Europe. With the Europeans desire for colonization, it expanded to Africa and shortly thereafter, to Americas. An online article also pointed out that "It was only in the New World that slavery provided labor force for a high-pressure profit-making capitalist system of plantation agriculture producing cotton, sugar, coffee, and cocoa for distant markets." (Mintz, S.) This is when the nature of serfdom and slavery transformed and evolved. During this process of exploration and colonization, emerged the "triangular trade" between the colonies. The triangular trade is derived from the three ports or regions that participated in the trade namely West Africa, West Indies and Europe. The trade evolved where commodities that are not needed in one region are shipped (export) to other regions that needs and receives it (import). In this trading system, the products of slave labor like sugar, molasses, tobacco and rice were brought to England where an exchange of goods took place. The goods were also shipped to Africa in

Saturday, November 16, 2019

The internal ans external environmental forces Essay Example for Free

The internal ans external environmental forces Essay SWOTT Analysis: Candy BusinessThis paper examines the internal and external environmental forces and trends to consider when opening a candy business. This paper will look at the legal and regulatory forces of a sole proprietorship and social external trends to consider. The internal forces and trends that will be analysis are strategy, structures, goals, culture, and leadership. Legal and regulatoryThis business is going to have a sole proprietorship which means that the candy shop will be owned by one individual. This will leave the owner responsible for all the legal and financial liabilities of the business. Sole Proprietorships are probably the simplest and cheapest forms of business organization. They do not require registration with local, state or federal governments (other than taxes and special regulatory agencies). They are businesses which have one owner and they do not have stock. The sole proprietor owns all assets and is responsible for all debts. If the business cannot pay its bills, creditors can sue the owner to collect. The company does not conduct legal or contractual transactions, rather the owner does. Advantages of the sole proprietorship include:†¢Ease of formation no legal registrations†¢Low overhead income reported as ordinary income to the owners. Taxes tend to be straight-forward†¢Easy control and direction established by the owner no boards or advisors. †¢Suitable business form for many types of products, services and enterprises (Sole Proprietorship, 2008). Being a sole proprietor means that the owner will need watch their competition to make sure that they do not lose customers to the competitions that also sale sugar-free candy. Sole proprietor also means the owner assumes all liability risk. SocialThe candy business will work to promote a healthier environment by advertising their sugar free candies more then regular candy. But they are in the business to sale candy; this will also give their customers an opportunity to make a healthier choice when it comes to candy. The candy business will sale their candy online, to ensure the safety of their web  site orders, credit card numbers are never stored. The information is never sent to a database to retain the information. The only information that is kept is customer names, addresses, and emails so that they can follow up with customers if something goes wrong with their purchase (Van Otis Chocolates, 2005). StrategyThe proposed candy business has a very unique business strategy because of the specialized product that the business sells. The candies sold are considered to be top of the line product that is only available in certain stores, which keeps the stature of the candy high. The candy business has centered sales around the sales of their sugar free candies for those people who love candy, but need to watch their sugar intake for different health reasons. StructuresThe candy business will operate both as a brick and mortar business in a mall and an ecommerce business. This way the business will reach more customers and the candy business will try to keep consistency between their ecommerce site and their brick and mortar store. That way if customers see something on the web site but do not want to purchase on the site they can come to the store and make their purchase. The candy business will offer all the same products to help satisfy the consumers needs. GoalsOne of the number one goals of the candy business is the availability of all products offered in the store to be available on the website. This is important because their candy is the favorite to people all over the country who wish to have the entire store available to them. Another goal of the candy business is to sale Weight Watchers candy in the store. This will bring those customers that are trying to loss weight but need something sweet sometime. This will also help with the growth of the business. Even though there are other candy stores out there who also sale sugar free candy, this will help pull customers to this store and that Weight Watchers candy is available in this store that other candy store to not sale. CultureCandy in general is deemed childrens food, just as toys in general are labeled for childs play. Most likely, a person would expect an event  intended for children to be a more appropriate venue to serve candy than an event intended for adults. But surprisingly, adults lead the way in candy consumption. In fact, according to the National Confectioners Association, adults over age 18 consume 65% of all candy (Hudak, 2008). Americans did not always have a sweet tooth. When candy was first made and sold in the United States, most people considered it a frivolous luxury for women of means (Knowlton, 1999). Most dentist will tell their patients not to eat a great deal of candy, but if a person rinse, brush and floss faithfully they can keep from getting cavities just like with any other type of food. LeadershipA sole proprietor has complete control and decision-making power over the business. All responsibilities and business decisions fall on the shoulders of the sole proprietor and investors will not usually invest in sole proprietorships. A sole proprietorship can hire any number of employees. A strong leadership is needed to grow the business. Without good leadership and a management system the business could close. Management needs a measurement and improvement system that makes the orchestration of day-to-day activities possible so there is true business-needs alignment-a system that not only monitors operations, but also provides the entire workforce with information that can be used up and down the line to make sure everyones performance supports corporate strategies for any business to succeed (Breyfogle, 2007). When opening a business there are many things that need to be considered. Doing a SWOTT analysis can help a business to know where they need to focus their needs to grow their business. Having a strong management system and good leadership skill can help a business grow and be successful. References Breyfogle. F.W. (2007). Quality Management. Retrieved July 21, 2008, fromhttp://www.qualitymag.com/CDA/Articles/Feature_Article/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A_10000000000000105938Hudak, D. (2008). Pop Rocks: A Discussion of Childrens Culture and Candy Consumption. Retrieved July 20, 2008, from http://www.candyfavorites.com/shop/pop-rocks-history.phpKnowlton, B. (1999). American Topics: How Candy Became Dandy. Retrieved July 18, 2008,from http://www.iht.com/articles/1999/07/22/topics.2.t_5.phpVan Otis Chocolates. (2005). Social and Legal Issues. Retrieved July 20, 2008, fromhttp://it.snhu.edu/classof2006/mcgannheather/vanotis/Social_Legal.htmSole Proprietorship, (2008). Retrieved July 19, 2008, fromhttp://www.companiesinc.com/incorporate/businesstypes/soleprop.asp

Thursday, November 14, 2019

The Physics Behind Remote Sensing :: Physics

Remote Sensing is the science of acquiring, processing and interpreting images that record the interaction between the electromagnetic energy and matter (Sabins, 1997). Remote sensing offers extensive applications in almost every area of science from monitoring forest fires to geologic mapping . Although many aspects of remote sensing are complex and difficult to understand the basic theory behind remote sensing is simple physics. There are four major stages of remote sensing. The first stage is the source of energy, usually the sun, which sends energy to a target. The second stage is the interactions that the energy will go through as it passes through a vacuum and the earth’s atmosphere. There is then interactions that occurs with the body on earth’s surface. The energy again, goes through the atmosphere and finally the sensor is able to detect and record the electromagnetic energy. Electromagnetic Energy Electromagnetic energy is a dynamic form of energy that is caused by the acceleration or oscillation of a charged particle. All substances above absolute zero (0 Kelvin) emit a range of electromagnetic energy. The sun emits electromagnetic energy and practically all of the natural electromagnetic energy injected into the earth is produced by the sun (Prakush, 2002). Electromagnetic Radiation Electromagnetic Radiation is the streams of mass-less particles, traveling in a harmonic, sinusoidal fusion at the velocity of light each possessing a specific amount of energy. The distance from one peak to the next is the wavelength and the number of peaks passing through a fixed point per unit time is the wave frequency (Lillesand and Kiefer, 1994). Electromagnetic radiation is Electromagnetic energy in motion and can be described by the basic wave theory. Electromagnetic Spectrum Electromagnetic waves are characterized by their wavelength location within the electromagnetic spectrum which is most commonly measured in micrometers. Names are often assigned to regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, but there is no clear cut dividing lines from one region to the next (Lillesand and Kiefer, 1994). Stefan - Boltzmann Law How much energy any objects radiates is a function of its surface temperature. The Stefan - Boltzmann equations tells one that as a temperature of a body increase the total radiance of the body will also increase. (Sabins, 1997). Interactions The way electromagnetic radation interacts with matter can be detected with different sensors. How the radation interacts depends upon the properties of the medium, the wavelength of the incedent radation and the incident angle. There are four major types of interactions that occur: transmission, reflection, scattering and absorption (Lillesand and Kiefer, 1994).

Monday, November 11, 2019

Media : empowering women in globalize world Essay

â€Å"Women must not accept; she must challenge she must not be awed by that it has been built up around her she must reverence that woman in her which struggles for expression†. -Margaret Sanger â€Å"There is no chance of the welfare of the world unless the condition of women is improved. It is not possible for a bird to fly on one wing.† – Swami Vivekananda Media is a part of culture and society. It is widely accepted that media are transmitters of culture and engines behind globalizing cultures. We live in a globalizing age in which people around the world participate in a single information order. Because of globalization and the power of internet,  people from Caracas to Cairo are able to receive the same popular music, news, films and television programs. There is a clear intersection between women’s empowerment and media development in the globalizing world. Media were explicitly implicated in the second and third waves of women’s empowerment. The proliferation of media, the explosion of new technologies and the emergence of social media in many parts of the world have provided multiple sources for access to gender related information and knowledge. While inequalities and gender stereotypes exist in social structures and the minds of people, media have the potential to propagate and perpetuate or ameliorate these. S o, media workers can play an important role in opening up thinking of gender equality and gender-based stereotypes through media. Before discussing the topic â€Å"Media: empowering women in a globalize world†- it is important to define the concept of ‘media’, ‘empowerment’ and ‘globalization’ What is media? The term media is defined as a means of communication that operates on a large scale, reaching and involving virtually everyone in the society to a greater or lesser degree. Media feed the people with the latest information and create the need for change in contemporary society. Media plays a vital role in dissemination of information. Media is the today’s most powerful vehicle in molding of beliefs, attitudes, values and lifestyles. By becoming more gender aware in content and language, media can present a clearer and more accurate picture of the roles and responsibilities of both men and women in the society. It also paved the way for greater courage of human rights issues, and the condition of marginalized social groups. Media: Types and Influences Media has become an integral part of our lives and cannot be separated from our lives. The media include a wide variety of forms including print media, electronic media and new age media. Print media includes newspapers, books and pamphlets. Electronic media includes television and radio while the new age media include the internet and mobile phones. It is worth remembering  that there have been three recent revolutions in the history, i.e. agrarian revolution in farming, industry revolution & mass production and information revolution that provides global access. We are now in the midst of information revolution. Due to continuing developments in media technology, we are flooded by a huge volume of non-stop information. Media technologies allow us to take part ‘virtually ‘in occasions and activities in other parts of the world. Definition of empowerment of Women Empowerment is about people- women and men- taking control over their lives, setting their own agendas, gaining skills, building self-confidence, participating in decision-making process and solving problems. Empowerment requires having access to and control over resources and the benefits that are derived from development efforts. It is both a process and an outcome. Economic empowerment of women means – ensure women’s full participation in mainstream economic activities including decision making, implementation, access & control and enjoy equal benefits. Social empowerment of women means – the transformation of attitudes and beliefs about the rights, roles and capacities of women has enabled them to participate more fully in various spheres of life. Political empowerments of women means- take positive discrimination measures for women to ensure equal participation of women in politics. WHAT IS GLOBALIZATION? Globalization means to know about the social, political and economic empowerment of the women through their status. Globalization is a mode of sharing of the experiences, exchange of ideas, technology and network of the institutions and organizations through bilateral and multilateral arrangements. There are various means by which globalization mitigate the cross border problems with the help of air planes, telephone services, e-mails and instant capital flows. Globalization strengthening partnerships with civil society, particularly women organizations. It is the phenomenon of increased integration of the world economy as evidenced by the international trade and factor mobility. In the feminist analysis of  globalization, two views are existent regarding the impact of globalization on women and these reveal two divert directions: (1)The critics of globalization. These views identified four major criticisms. These include: The gendered division of labor Women’s marginalization in the informal sector of the economy The exploitative nature of Multi-National Corporations Negative impact of Structural Adjustment programmes imposed in the name of globalization. (2)The second believe that are many positives and advantages for women bringing about women’s advancement. These including: Enhanced employment opportunities for women Helping to ease the problem of poverty Strengthening women’s networks Improving the access of women to health, micro-credit, employment opportunities and information in general. Globalization and the Media Until the 1970s, the media industry was differentiated into distinct sectors-for the most part, cinema, print media, radio and television broadcasting all operated independently of one another. In the past three decades, profound transformations have taken place within the media industry. National markets have given way to a fluid global market, while new technologies have led to the fusion of forms of media that were once distinct. By the start of the twenty-first century, the global media market was dominated by a group of about twenty multinational corporations whose role in the production, distribution and marketing of news and entertainment of news could be felt in almost every country in the world. These are the six major shifts that have contributed to bringing about the global media order: †¢Increasing concentration of ownership: The global media is now dominated by a small number of powerful corporations. Small-scale, independent media companies have gradually been incorporated into highly centralized media conglomerates. †¢A shift from public to private ownership: In the past few decades, the  liberalization of the business environment and the relaxing of regulations has led to the privatizations of media companies in many countries. †¢Transnational corporation structures: Media companies no longer operate strictly within national boundaries. Likewise, media ownership rules have been loosened to allow cross-border investment and acquisition. †¢Diversification over a variety of media products: The media industry has diversified and is much less segmented than in previous times. Enormous media conglomerates, such as AOL-Time warner profiled below, produce and distribute a mix of media content, including music, news, print media and television programming. †¢A growing number of corporate media mergers: There has been a trend towards alliances between companies in different segments of the media industry. Telecommunication firms, computer hardware and software manufactures and media content producers are increasingly involved in corporate mergers as media forms become increasingly integrated. †¢Contribution to the women’s empowerment: Today, media has an important role to play – to create awakening in women to achieve their potential as the prime movers of change in society. Gender sensitive indicators for media 76% of the people heard or read about in the world’s news are male. The world seen in news media remains largely a male one.† –Who Makes the News, Global Media Monitoring Project, 2010 The aim of the Gender-Sensitive Indicators for Media (GSIM) is to contribute to gender equality and women’s empowerment in and through media of all forms, irrespective of the technology used. The media are a channel to examine the right to freedom of opinion and expression. For empowerment efforts to be successful, women must be able to exercise their rights in the same manner and to the same extent as their male counterparts. Yet, being able to exercise a universally declared human right is insufficient for empowerment. Allowing women access to communication systems, such as media, does not guarantee that their opinions will be expressed equally or that their participation in the media will be mainstreamed: stereotyping and alienation of women by the media are still remarkably widespread phenomena (WACC 2010). According to the International Federation of Journalists (2009), â€Å"If we continue at the current rate of progress, it will take another 75 years to achieve gender equality in media.† Indicators pertaining to gender equality measure the extent to which women participate and are fairly represented in the media. Two main categories make up the gender sensitive indicators for media. These are: Category A: Actions to foster gender equality within media organizations Gender balance at decision-making level. Gender equality in work and working conditions. Gender equality in unions, associations, clubs and organizations of journalists, other media professionals and media self-regulatory bodies. Media organizations promote ethical codes and policies in favor of gender equality in media content. Gender balance in education and training. Category B: Gender portrayal in media content Gender portrayal in news & current affairs. Gender portrayal in advertising. Media’s Role in empowerment of women in a globalize world Communication is extremely important for women’s development and media play significant role. Growths of women’s education and their entries into employment have contributed to the growth of media. In all spheres of life whether for controlling population growth, spread of literacy or improving quality of life for vast masses, women have crucial role to play. However, women can be expected to play this role when they become conscious of their strength and are not deliberately marginalized by male domination. In this context, media has an important role to play – to create awakening in women to achieve their potential as the prime movers of change in society. In  today’s world, print, electronic and social media play a vital role in effectively conveying message that needs to be conveyed. Electronic and Print media: Empowerment of women Electronic media such as radio and television as well as print media such as books play a vital role in empowering women. In this context, media has an important role to play – to create awakening in women to achieve their potential as the prime movers of change in society. In today’s world, print and electronic media play a vital role in effectively conveying message that needs to be conveyed. â€Å"Family, society and workplace – women journalists have to deal with all three – the family allows them to work as pilots or doctors, but not as journalists† – Participant at roundtable in Dhaka, Bangladesh In such a rapidly changing environment, women in media have a large responsibility in not only changing attitude towards women but also shaping public opinion. In today’s world, with women holding responsible position in newspapers or electronic media, their competency is extend to a wider area and a range of issues. More importantly, a woman journalist is expected to show more sensitivity to issues relating to women and to more meaningful insights and perspectives. A significant number of women journalists are very successful in magazines dealing with various problems of women and child. With sensitivity and skill for analyzing events in depth, issues such as women abuse and exploitation, harassment of women at workplace and the trauma of HIV infected women, female infanticide in rural areas find a prominent place in such magazines. The magazines deal with the issues more in depth compared to newspapers and women are considered competent to handle such stories. As per a study in the NCR there are around 900 women journalists and even in cities like Chennai the number is impressive 200. Journalism is no more a male domain. This new trend has also led to a change in the portrayal of women in the media in general and newspaper in particular. It is important to mention here the success of ‘Khabar Lahariya’. A group of eight women belonging to backward class bring out this paper from the Bundelkhand region. This paper which is being funded by an NGO was started with an aim to encourage women to fight for their own rights. Such kinds of initiative are required in every nook and corner of our country, so as to empower the women at grass root level.  But on the other hand, the risks women in the media face, both in the urban and rural areas, have also to be seriously considered. As we move down, from the metropolitan towns and the state capitals, the risks increase. In remoter rural areas a woman journalist and particularly a reporter is a novelty not easily accepted and assimilated in the social milieu. Zakia Zaki, shot dead in her home in Afganistan Nadia Sharmeen was attacked and hospitalized in Bangladesh. She was harassed because of our religious fundamentalism. Despite these environments, It is noticed that more and more young graduates are joining the journalism degree and diploma courses, with an ambition to make a mark in the profession, and quite a good proportion of them are girls. With the rapid expansion, almost a proliferation of the electronic media through satellite channels, with the popularity of the FM on the radio and with the growth of the print media, notwithstanding the electronic media, now there is a good scope for absorption of both men and women qualified journalists in various media outlets. Women, young and old, are prepared to weather the risks. The society, therefore, must make arrangements to provide adequate security to the vulnerable section of women in the media to promote their participation at all levels. At last, it can be said that, now-a-days both electronic and print media play an extremely significant role in spreading awareness, promoting alternative-empowered images of women, breaking down stereotypes and shaping mindset. Women entering the labor market are at its peak, there is increase in the number of educated women, and heightened awareness of their mobilization to fight against the unjust and discrimination. Social Media: A tool for Women Empowerment Social media play a vital role for empowering women. Social media could enhance women’s participation in economic and political life, and allows them to increase their self-expression and promote social change, and this is a strong belief that has risen up in the society. For example, large segments of the population have been empowered by the sweeping societal and political transformations in the Arab region, where women became the main drivers for regional change and more engaged in civic and political actions  and took over a leading role in the historic changes sweeping over the region. However, at the regional and global levels reached a debate about the role of social media in these transformations, making it to the policy making circles. This graph shows to what extent the following statements (below each bar) regarding women and social media are valid- Fimage When analyzing the graph, it appears that the most popular use for social media as a tool of empowerment being communication and self-expression is followed by civic participation and social change. It was found at that more men (65%) than women (62%) believed that social media can be used for the political empowerment of women (Dubai School of Government Report, 2011). Women advancement through the blogosphere Blogging has become a solitary platform for free speech in the world. Many female bloggers in the world face a unique challenge: to speak out about women’s issues often means going against the grain of family and society, but there are well-known female bloggers discussing issues unique to women. Being part of the blogosphere will create a psychological support for women who are hesitant about starting their own blog. This is a key factor in advancing women’s courage to take their own personal initiatives. Against oppression and injustice in their communities, women can freely speak out with no censorship of their voices, through their blogs. Blogs are used as public diaries where women discuss personal and public issues in their life and development. Storytelling used by women in blogs to introduce their thoughts has been proven to have its major effect. The image of woman portrayed in mainstream media is that of a submissive stereotypical image. Alternative media concept originally aroused from the mainstream media’s black out of alternative opinion. It can be defined by rediscovering the purpose of mass communication. Alternative media are media inclusive of newspapers, radio, TV, magazines, movies, internet, etc. which provide alternative information to the mainstream media in a given context, whether the mainstream media are commercial, publicly supported or government owned. The main characteristics of alternative media are: †¢ Small scale and oriented towards specific communities, possibly disadvantaged groups, respecting their diversity; †¢ Independent of state and market †¢ Horizontally structured, allowing for the facilitation of audience access and participation within the frame of democratization and multiplicity †¢ Carriers of non – dominant discourses and representations, stressing the importance of self-representation. The main objective of alternative media towards woman’s empowerment is to support social struggles, awaken women’s consciousness to their subordination, advocate and defend rights. It also aims to promote various groups reflection and popular communication.  Alternative media provides an alternative platform to voice the plight of woman against various marginalization and it connects amongst the weaker sections of the society who are deprived of their will to fight against their basic human rights. Various alternative media practices in the world: Woman’s community radio: It is a kind of alternative media effectively nurtures equality, diversity and promotes democratic values amongst women. It help in promoting the grassroots activism and gives a whole range of platform to a â€Å"feminist public sphere† and serve as tool for woman’s empowerment. World pulse magazine: It was founded in 2003 and a nonprofit NY media organization in which ground level initiatives network of people has grown into an international network connecting women across borders and building and rising pulse of women’s empowerment across the globe. Such media help woman to become voice of change. GAMCOTRAP: It is a movement organization which is abbreviated as Gambia committee on traditional practices that affect health of women and children is a space where women speak in their own language – the very personnel and intimate experiences to express the challenges they face and share the coping strategies they have employed. NYC grassroots media coalition: It is the coalition which works to build the capacity of diverse communities to communicate, collaborate and strategize ways to increase awareness and participation in independent media and social justice movements. Democracy now: An alternative news service hosted by Amy Goodman. It plays a more subtle role which serves to sow powerful seeds of misinformation in a way that the ‘compromised’ mainstream media cannot. Black music radio or pirate radio: a form of alternative media that defies narrow definitions focused on radical content and social movement. Indy media: It is the Independent Media Centre â€Å"is a network of collectively run media outlets for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate telling of the truth.† AlterNet is news-magazine and online community that challenges the right wing media in the United States. OneWorld.net: It brings together the latest news and views from over 1,600 organizations promoting human rights awareness and fighting poverty worldwide. Jay’s Leftist & â€Å"Progressive† Internet Resources Directory is a vast site. Check on the Alternative Media topic, (under Subjects), which includes magazines (such as the New Internationalist, Third World Resurgence and Resurgence), publishers, e-zines and radio/TV. Community Broadcasting Online: It provides background information and links to Australian community radio and television. Alternative Radio is a source for public affairs programming which is made available without charge to all public radio stations. The Common Dreams News Center: It provides â€Å"news & views for the progressive community† as does Z-Net and the Alternative Press Review – all are American. Z-net also has an Alternative Media Watch page. Global Voices Online: It scans the international community of bloggers to bring attention to news that otherwise might go unseen. Conclusion â€Å"If you educate a man you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman you educate an entire family†. – Mahatma Gandhi So, education is also one of the prime needs of women towards its development and empowerment in the society. With education, media can act as a platform or bridge to surpass the barrier of essential communication and