Terrorism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 2

Terrorism - Essay Example In this case paper, discussed are the specific comparisons of motives, ideologies, methods & tactics, and histories of the Ku Klux Klan as a domestic terror organization and the Al Qaeda as an international terror group. The Justice Department describes domestic terrorism as the set of acts with the U.S territory that are deemed dangerous to a civilian population, violating state and federal laws, and those with not real connection with international terrorist groups or terrorists. The motives of domestic terrorists is to coerce citizens, influence domestic governance approach, and affect the governing administration through mass destruction. Under the domestic terrorism, the Ku Klux Klan has is one of the most notorious terror groups that have functioned with the U.S for over a century. The Ku Klux Klan is also regarded as one of the oldest terror groups in the history of the US with various transformation witnessed throughout its existence (United States Department of Justice, 2015). As long ago as 1865, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is known to have existed up to current year, 2015. The KKK has undergone through various transformations as well as disbanding that has left the group non-existent for year before springing up again after civil, political, or social issues erupt in the U.S. The initial form of the organization is reported to have existed shortly after the Civil War but its lifespan only lasted for a few years before the disbanding of the group. 45 years later, the KKK took shape again following a film released under the name The Birth of a Nation. The second wave or version of the group is deemed as having been stronger, organized, and more ruthless than its previous version. In its revived version, the group targeted Catholics, immigrants, blacks, and Jews as well as alcohol establishments. The second stage of the

Proposal - Reclassifying Department of Child Services Investigators as Assignment

Proposal - Reclassifying Department of Child Services Investigators as First Responders - Assignment Example Alternative reactions are also called discrepancy responses, multitrack reactions, and dual-track reactions (McConville & Chui, 2007). In order to best manage these occurrences, the department of child services needs to be reclassified as a first responder. The team of first responders needs to be trained firstly, then sent out in times of need. The escalating cases of violence and terror attacks in malls and supermarkets makes this a target priority for the first responders to be well acquainted with. Therefore, a budget plan needs to be approved for the recruiting and training of the first responders. The main objective of this program is to reclassify the Department of Child Services as a first responder, recruit a team of first responders, train the team thoroughly and deploy them into the field when the need arises. In order to do this, a budget plan was drawn for this purpose and to enable the kick-start of the program. The budget is attached in the appendix section. Various items in the budget needs more clarification and are described as below. The day to day normal operation of the program calls for operating capital. This involves items such as salaries and remunerations among other items. The various marginal benefits are derived from a percentage of the salary. Salary is increased after 3 years by 5% due to inflation. The State Director leads all the operations of the program. He is responsible for; supervising the putting into practice of project doings, coordination with other engagements, development of constituents, endowment of in-service and practice session, conducting consultations and synchronizing with agencies, schemes and guides the assembly, tabulating and deducing of required data, liable for overall program rating and for staff presentation evaluation. Thus, the pay is more eminent than any of the other staff members. Four County directors are just below the State

The Effects Of Social Media Exploitation Media Essay

The Effects Of Social Media Exploitation Media Essay On Jan 25th, 2011, the world for the first time witnessed a revolution that brilliantly leveraged the power of social networking tools to overthrow a corrupt regime. Facebook, twitter and blogs were all used to mobilize people across the State of Egypt and the 30-year dictatorship regime of Mubarak was overthrown in 18 days of peaceful demonstrations. On Feb 11th, 2011, US president Barak Obama said: There are very few moments in our lives where we have the privilege to witness history taking place. This is one of those moments. This is one of those times. The people of Egypt have spoken, their voices have been heard, and Egypt will never be the same. The eRevolution was sparked by a group of young activists on Facebook calling for nationwide demonstrations to restore peoples dignity and demand reform, freedom and social justice. Through the initiation of different Facebook groups, citizens  coordinated their ideas and demonstration logistics via group posts, and comments, while communicating heavily on twitter and sometimes cell phone SMS services. The government blocked twitter, SMS, and Facebook access in the hope of cutting communication lines between protestors and movement organisers. These Egyptian internet filters were easily bypassed by third-party proxies however, and on Jan 28th all internet access across Egypt was shutdown; the first online blackout of such magnitude in history. The move failed to slow the momentum of the revolution as people were already aware of where to go and how. Egyptians still managed to access the internet over land-line dial-up and fax services, transmitting information and updates to sources outside of the country. Google also launched speak2tweet which allowed Egyptians to call a regular landline number in Cairo which used voice recognition software to convert their speech to text. As the regime cracked, a vice president was appointed and a new government took over, with internet access and mobile phone communication restored in a gesture of goodwill to the Egyptian people. This tactic backfired horrendously on Mubarak, with Egyptians now able to upload videos of the violence the police force and thugs had inflicted on protestors. These videos can be sourced on YouTube right now people being run over by cars, shot, snipered, and beaten to death by Molotov cocktail, machete-wielding thugs. First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win Gandhi FACT: 5 million out of 17 million Egyptians use Facebook. Alchemy-a mix of new media, Arab satellite channels and traditional media that informed and helped mobilise protests. In my opinion, if new media were able to foster this revolution, I think it would have happened long before. Much of the content from the revolution that appeared in traditional media originated on Facebook. How much more powerful has the younger demographic been in the uprisings as a result of social media? Source Info More than 50% of the populations of Yemen, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Morocco, and Egypt are currently estimated to be under 25 years of age. A Tunisian youth setting himself on fire initiated the revolution of his nation, Egypt and political rioting all over North Africa and the Middle East. How have governments succeeded and failed in attempting to exert their authority over their nations virtual world? Source Info Jordanian ministers have been engaging with their people in ways that would suggest greater citizen-government interaction in the future and a civic life built around clear rights and duties of free expression for citizens and authorities. Social media has been used to champion the rights of Internet users, journalists, citizens, and bloggers who have been arrested, imprisoned or prevented from reporting, during the Egyptian parliamentary elections in late 2010. Bahraini authorities arrested an estimated 250 Shiite men who had allegedly been planning to carry out acts of terrorism. Human rights groups labelled it as a crackdown aimed at cementing control before October parliamentary elections. Social media campaigns expressing outrage at the extent to which governments tried to exert control over the digital space, appear to have influenced government decisions to scale back proposed laws and regulations. After a draft law by the Jordanian government was widely criticised by news websites and activists claiming it would restrict media freedoms, it was amended. A similar situation occurred in Lebanon. Arab government are investing in censorship technologies supplied by American firms. In what ways has social media influenced the uprisings? Source Info Development of new political and civil society engagement Changed individual and collective capacities to communicate, mobilise, and gain technical knowledge; leading to greater voice, political influence and participation. Arab world has experienced an awakening of free expression that has now entered the politics of Tunisia and Egypt, breaking down the stranglehold of state-sponsored media and information monopolies. Even a channel like al-Jazeera, where people have so much hope invested in, is not as open to all those views that social media has raised such as issues of sexuality, gender, and minority rights. Social media has enabled the masses to establish their own agendas. Social networking services have expanded the tools available to exercise individual freedom of expression. The number of Facebook users in the Arab world (17m) has surpassed the copies of newspapers sold (14m) Facebook and other social media platforms are now beginning to define how people discover and share information, shape opinion, and interact. In Jordan, people dont interact, they are in small groups and they dont open up easily Social networking and media platforms are serving as a bridge to build communities in both the virtual and physical worlds. Aggregating, putting the story into context, amplifying and then using Twitter as a main broadcaster, because Twitter is the platform where journalists are following the story. Few can deny that social media has enabled the most significant advance in freedom of expression and association in contemporary Arab history. Social media aggregated, disseminated and accelerated vital news and information. But in the end, Facebook and YouTube are tools and tools alone cannot bring about the changes the world has witnessed in recent weeksà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Deep-seated social ills repression from the top and political and economic frustrations from below are at the core of protests sweeping the Arab world, much as they have been in revolutions throughout history. Key question: How powerful has online social networking been in the Arab uprisings of 2011? Sub-questions: How much more powerful has the younger demographic been in the uprisings as a result of social networking services? How have governments succeeded and failed in attempting to exert their authority over their nations virtual world? In what ways has social networking influenced the uprisings? How did the exploitation of social networking services affect the course of the Egyptian Revolution? My name is freedom. Born in Tunisia, raised in Egypt, studied in Yemen, fought in Libya and Ill grow up in the Arab world. Information is power, but 21st century technology has unleashed an information revolution, and now the genie is out of the bottle. Youtube, Facebook and Twitter have become the new weapons of mass mobilisation; geeks have taken on dictators; bloggers  are dissidents; and social networks have become rallying forces for social justice. As people around the world challenge authorities, from Iran to Tunisia,  Egypt to Yemen, entire societies are being transformed as ordinary citizens see the difference, imagine the alternative, and come together to organise for a better future. So, are social networks triggering social revolution?  And where will the next domino fall? http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/empire/2011/02/201121614532116986.html# Social media is chronicling and amplifying the revolution that is happening on the streets. http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/these-are-not-just-facebook-revolutions-20110222-1b41x.html http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/documents/CIMA_SocialMediaintheArabWorld_LeadinguptotheUprisingsof2011.pdf http://www.channel4.com/news/arab-revolt-social-media-and-the-peoples-revolution details about what the fb pages said for all the different countries protests.

Marlow’s Narrative Voice as a Rejection of the African People Essay

In â€Å"An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness†, Chinua Achebe says that â€Å"it is the desire ¬Ã¢â‚¬â€one might indeed say the need—in Western psychology to set Africa up as a foil to Europe† (337). Indeed it is wise for Achebe to make this claim while discussing Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, a short novel that presents the relationship between Europe and Africa as an entirely one-sided narrative which denies the African people their right to personage. For a majority of the novel, Marlow’s narration of a story goes so above and beyond telling one narrative, that it works toward preventing the African people from developing a voice of their own. Edward Said, in Culture and Imperialism, provides perhaps the most efficient explanation as to how the narrative that Marlow tells in the novel works against the African people: As one critic has suggested, nations themselves are narrations. The power to narrate, or to block other narratives from forming and emerging, is very important to culture and imperialism, and constitutes one of the main connections between them. (xiii) Marlow possesses the power to narrate, and therefore the power to block the African people from possessing their own voice. Achebe is right in saying that Marlow’s depiction of Africa â€Å"projects the image of Africa as ‘the other world,’ the antithesis of Europe and therefore of civilization† (338). However, beyond preventing a narrative from happen through the telling his own, Marlow performs a narrative that works toward creating a separation between â€Å"us†, the Europeans, and â€Å"them†, the Africans (xiii). His narrative, for the benefit of European identity, denies the African people any voice at all in the affairs between the two continents. Therefore, Marl... ...tz has been aligned with by his confrontation of the darkness, the same savagery that ultimately consumes him, finds it’s only voice in his last words: â€Å"The horror! The horror!†, but regardless, Marlow cannot allow them to become a part of the final narrative. He knows better than to allow the voice of a savage, which Kurtz became through becoming so engulfed in the darkness, have a voice in his narrative. Once again, the narrative denies the Africans, even in the voice of a European man, ever from having a voice in a narrative that primarily takes place on their territory. Marlow, as a man of Europe, appears to make the decision as to whether or not tell the intended Kurtz last words, but he knows that he could not since they would be a voice of the Congo. In conclusion, Marlow’s narrative is the narrative of the European city which exploits the African colony.

Sainsbury Case Study

Introduction Sainsbury’s is now the third most important food retailer in the United Kingdom. In 1995, Tesco overtook the company to become the market leader after more than 20 years of constant growing. It has recently been pushed back by Asda in 2003. Sainsbury’s Supermarkets employ over 145,000 people, including Sava Centre. A large Sainsbury’s Supermarket offers over 23,000 products, 40% of these are Sainsbury’s own brand. The Sainsbury’s supermarkets serve over 11 million customers a week and as at June 2002 had 463 stores throughout the UK. In the year ended March 2003 it reported worldwide group turnover of over ? 17. 4 billion and profits of ? 454 million, with a total of over 170,000 full-time and part- time staff. The enterprise was founded in 1869 from an idea of John James Sainsbury’s and his wife Mary Ann. The first store was opened in Holborn, London and was selling fresh foods and later specialised into packaged groceries. Their strategy was â€Å"Quality perfect, prices lower†. The stores were very innovative by having their own label lines and presenting the products to consumers in a new way. They had marble counters, mosaic floors, as well as staff uniforms. The success was sudden and many other similar stores were created in London. On every shop, there was a high cast iron sign saying ‘J. Sainsbury’s. In 1922, it became the Uk's largest grocery group, and so got incorporated as a private company under the name of ‘J. Sainsbury Limited'. During these times they promoted quality fresh food produced with their own label line which made them extremely successful. The firm kept on growing even though it had to face the recession during the World War 2. Many stores got destroyed during London's bombardment and the decrease of the national income weakened the society. But in 1956, Alan Sainsbury’s became chairman after his father, John Benjamin' Sainsbury’s death. He came up with a new idea of promoting self-service supermarkets in the Uk after a trip to America. Their goal was to match quality of nationally branded goods with lower prices. The company went through its golden times. Innovative ideas and low cost of production gave the company a strong market position when it went public in July 1973. At the time, the family owned 85% of the firm's shares. It was the largest ever flotation on the London Stock Exchange with ? 14. 5 million available shares. The future of the company looked bright and they start replacing their 10 000 sq. ft. high street stores with self-service supermarkets above 20 000 sq. ft. New stores were opening in all England and the company invested in new technology. In 1991, the group was generating major profits and raised ? 489 million in new equity to fund the expansion of the superstores. In 1992, the long time CEO John Sainsbury’s retired and was succeeded by his cousin, David Sainsbury’s. He had different plans for the firm and decided to bring a change in the management style. But wrong decisions such as reluctance to move into non-food retailing or the indecision between quality or value made the company go down. Problems such as increasing infrastructure costs, stronger and consolidated competition from other stores were starting to rise. The firm was not focusing on low prices anymore but more on the store look and supply chain improvements. Their market and share loss to Asda shows quite well that marketing mix is important to customers. Macroenvironment Political factors Political factors are about how and to what extent the government intervenes into the organization. These interactions may include: * Labor law * Environmental law * Tariffs and quotas * Political stability * Tax policy * Trade restrictions For example, the fact of European Union extensions and new countries joining it, has an impact on the variety of products sold in Sainsbury’s. We can now see some foreign products as Polish beers or Cypriot yoghurts sold in the local supermarket. The goal behind this is to attract new customers by giving them the products they are used to buying in their own countries before coming to the UK. For employment legislations, the government encourages large retailers as Sainsbury’s to offer a mix of vacancies from flexible, lower-paid and locally-based jobs to highly-skilled, higher-paid and centrally-located jobs, as well as employing students, elderly people and working parents. Sainsbury’s offers thousands of jobs to people in the UK, being a labor-intensive sector and having a great impact on the employment rate by hiring large numbers of students, disabled and elderly people. The wages paid to this category might be the minimum wages, but at least the unemployment rate is slightly reduced. In an industry with a typically high staff turnover, these employees provide a higher level of loyalty and try to give their full abilities at the workplace. Trade restrictions between the UK and the rest of the world greatly affect supermarkets like Sainsbury’s as the buyers are not able to find what they are looking for in stores. All the foods imported must pass a strict control in order for us to see them on the shelves. Political stability around the world may also bring a chaos into our fridge. In the case of demonstrations, protests or more serious political conflicts, we can have delays or even cancellations in the arrivals on products in the country. If we just imagine that Brazil went on strike for a week, where would we be getting our coffees from every morning? Socio-cultural factors Socio-cultural factors are about how new trends and styles emerging in the world around us can affect our economy. Our world is changing and developing every day with people adapting new habits and getting aware of new things going on. These can include: * Career attitudes * Safety emphasis Age distribution * Population growth rate * Community works Sainsbury’s can be so called the modern supermarket, following all the new market trends and rapidly responding to all the new demands consumers might possess. It is operating under a good reputation and always following the responsibility for the society and the surroundings, by organizing charity events, sponsoring games, competitions , etc. The last few decades, the population in the UK has been ageing as there is a low birth rate, so Sainsbury’s in return has been hiring elderly employees to satisfy the unemployment gap in that age section. Elderly buyers are looking to purchase affordable, healthy foods which makes supermarkets take actions. In general, there has been a great shift of people wanting to eat healthy and quickly, thus Sainsbury’s has introduced vegetable packets and healthy meal deals. Consumers are always in a hurry not having time to get home and cook a proper meal, so more frozen, ready meals have been offered to them. An increase in immigration of buyers from the Eastern Europe has made Sainsbury’s introduce new recipes and more variety of goods for that group of customers. That is now why we can see Lithuanian or Romanian products as sausages sold in Sainsbury’s. A large number of people from the Middle East living in the UK have also made a big impact, this is why we now see Halal meat or an enormous variety of spices in our local store. Legal factors * Discrimination Law * Antitrust Law * Employment Law * Consumer Law * Health and Safety Law Legal factors are related to the legal environment in which the company operates. Sainsbury’s is in the boundaries of legal factors in all three fields: locally, nationally and globally. There have been many changes in the laws passed in the UK over the last few years, one of the examples being the age discrimination law. This law says that all people, regardless their age should be treated the same at their workplace and promotions should be allocated regardless the age. The upper age for payment of Statutory Sick Pay has been removed, meaning that people over 65 who are still working are entitled to SSP the same way other employees are. This of course has had a big impact on supermarkets as Sainsbury’s as the management has to be very careful when selecting people filling the vacancies and obeying this law. Another example of a legal factor was when The Food Retailing Commission suggested an enforceable Code of Practice should be set up banning many of the current practices, such as demanding payments from suppliers and changing agreed prices without notice. (Mintel Report, 2004) On the 1st of October 2011, the minimum wage in the UK for an adult(over 21) has been changed from 5. 93 to 6. 08 pounds an hour, promising there will be room for more generous change in the future as the economy recovers from the financial recession. This has hit the Sainsbury’s pockets’. 5 pence an hour for each employee can add up to hundreds of thousands of pounds per week for Sainsbury’s. In January 2010, it has been announced that a new law was going to be issued that all under 21s will have to show an ID card when buying alcohol in the supermarket. There were also rises in the alcohol prices during this campaign to discourage people from drinking. This has given Sainsbury’s a hard time, as less people are able to buy alcoholic drinks either due to age limit or high prices. No one can take a wine bottle through the till without proof of age anymore. ) Economical factors Each government has an important impact on each company. Like other companies, Sainsbury’s was affected by a lot of economical factors as: * Taxation charges * Economic growth * Inflation * Exchange rates * Changes in income Each factor has a different impact on company. For example, the taxation charges force the company to increase the price of products to achieve the desired profit. If the taxation charges are low the price of products is lower and when the taxation charges are high, the price is higher. Another factor is inflation. Inflation changes from year to year and affects more and more the customer. If in 2000 with 100? you bought 100kg of sugar, now in 2011 you can buy only 50kg of sugar. The economic growth can affect your company in a bad manner or in a good manner. For example, now we deal with a crisis period and large companies like Sainsbury’s suffer a lot. The economic growth also has some employment effects. We can see a rise in the number of people employed by Sainsbury’s and this affects the United Kingdom economy. Now in 2011 we deal with a crisis period and appear some changes in population income. The number of companies that went in a bankrupt or are nearly to bankrupt has been increased and this results a large number of unemployed people, which means a decrease in sales. Sainsbury’s also established a bank in 1997, part of Lloyds Banking group. Sainsbury’s Bank offers a lot of services like travel money, car, health and life, pet insurances. Also Sainsbury’s Bank covers loans, savings accounts and has its own credit card and security plans. 2) Technological factors â€Å"Forces that create new technologies, creating new product and market opportunities† – Kotler P. amp; Armstrong G. , 2008. Principles of Marketing, 12th Edition. Technology for Sainsbury’s is significant because it helps control the population and attracts new and potential customers. With technology, Sainsbury’s can create new sort of products useful for population. Technological process is improving from year to year and helps company to decrease the product ion costs. In these processes are increasingly used machines and robots and because of this many people lose their jobs. By introducing more machines than people can reduce the waste of products and other costs. The products also are more complex with new facilities. In all these years of existence, Sainsbury’s developed some technological strategies of product selling. The Sainsbury’s improvements of product selling are: * Online shopping * Online recruitment * Bar coding * Self service counter Online shopping improves a lot the sales because it helps the consumers to buy directly the product, without going to the store. The customer has more time to choose the product, compare with other products and also compare the price. Sainsbury’s has also an online recruitment service. This service would save the company ? 4million a year in administration costs. It helps you to become an employee of Sainsbury’s by only sending your CV to their Online Recruitment Office and they will choose one. Bar coding it is a very innovative method of sorting the product. The bar coding helps the company to be more ordered and the customer also. For example, some kind of mobile applications that can scan the bar code and shows you the best price for product. Self service counter is another technological process which reduces the workforce costs and with this service the customer can avoid queues. For example, If you are in a hurry or you have only two or three products and you do not want or have time to sit at the queue you can use self service counter for a fast way to pay for products. 3) Environmental factors Environmental factors refer to ecological and environmental aspects such as weather and climate which can affect a company and may change the number of sales in a large company like Sainsbury’s. A company cannot change the environmental factors, but it does have fair amount of control over impact on its performance. For example, if the number of rainy days will increase, maybe the number of raincoats and umbrellas will increase too. That is how environmental factors affect a company and can have good parts and bad parts. Sainsbury’s also adopt an ecological factor which can reduce pollution. Sainsbury’s Recycle offers customer the opportunity to recycle every old mobile phone, digital camera, MP3 or games consoles and finally the customer receives money. Also Sainsbury’s introduced some sort of facilities for customers to reduce the non-renewable materials (such as oil, coal, gas) and use renewable materials (such as forests). These facilities are: * Home insulation – a facility for your house to stop the heat escaping from your house * Solar electricity – Solar Photovoltaic (PV) panels allow you to generate your own electricity * Feed-in tariff – The Feed-in Tariff is a Government initiative that encourages and rewards people for generating their own low carbon energy through a renewable source. Ecogen – Generate electricity with your boiler – An Ecogen Micro Combined Heat and Power (CHP) system replaces your boiler, burning gas to create heat and hot water, and on average it generates about 30% of the electricity a household needs Sainsbury’s drew up a partnership with British Gas and they established their own gas stations. This partnership aims to help the customers to save energy (non-renewable materials like gas) and reduce the costs by introducing Nectar. With Nectar Collector you can collect points on every day shopping and then you can spend points however you want. Microeconomic environment The general discussion in this part is the market research and the structure of Sainsbury’s market. These factors influence what sort of competition the organisation is facing and how does the organisation manipulate the 7Ps. We are going to look at the internal factors like: Product and services, relationship with customers, charities and supplies. Product and Services To be successful, Sainsbury’s operates through an important market research. Their aim is to increase their sales and to do that they take into account the four marketing mix e. . product, price, place and promotion. Sainsbury’s is in the oligopoly category and as not many firms are in this important category they are always trying to gain market share. The product research is one of the key to achieve their goals. Sainsbury’s is well known for their quality and this is important to beat the competitors. They need to focus on what the customer wants before any othe r company does. In today’s society everybody is attracted by a product with a good quality and Sainsbury’s is able to provide permanently high quality goods. During the year 2004 they have invested in their food ranges and have improved/ developed over 3200 products and Sainsbury’s have constant supply of fresh fruits and vegetables on shelves 24 hours. † To be sure that all the goods are fresh they have a special staff to make sure that the products are not expired. Sainsbury’s is one of the first market dealing with their own products for example; soft drinks and glossaries. Furthermore, it is one of the first supermarkets in the UK to provide its services with a home delivery service. They provide this service to help the older people and to make their customer life easier. Moreover, to improve their sales and make a big growth they have specialised staff trying to take the customers comments and needs. Therefore they can improve the product with most negative comments and vice versa. In Sainsbury’s, the promotion is an important factor to introduce a new product on the market. It has to be advertised to be sure that the customer is aware of it. The concept is to create a message which is directly targeted to the people. To make sure that the new product is going to be very popular they make promotion on it for example during the first month. In addition they make different offers in every period of the year. During the summer it is going to be on the fruits and frozen products while during Christmas they make discounts on every product to influence the customer to buy more. All these advantages allow them to be well differentiated from their competitors. Finally, Sainsbury’s have different types of stores which are providing different types of services. When customers want to buy a small amount of goods they can go to the local Sainsbury’s which providing less goods. For larger amount of foods, the customers can go to the large stores. They have more products and more services around e. g. public transports and car park facilities. Relationship with customers The relationship with the customer is very important and it is a factor creating more popularity for the firm. In every business the customer is seen as the most important ‘key’ for the company to work well. If the customer is not enough satisfied the company will loose its popularity. For Sainsbury’s, it is very important to keep a close relationship with their customers by providing good quality food but at a fair price. The Human Resources department involves the management of people and them different key areas. One of the most important one is the customer service assistance. Employees are trained to give a great service to the customer. For instance; in Sainsbury’s there are the cashiers but customer may also see some employees who help the customers with the selection of goods and packaging. One more key attribute about Sainsbury’s is that they provide good relationship to their customers and have an internet- based services which have deliver efficient home delivery and 93% of UK households are currently using their internet services. Furthermore, after a survey in 2004/05 were they mention capitalist from the sacrifices made by J Sainsbury’s to continue good relationship with their customers. In 2004/05 also reduces prices on 7. 000 products and the typical week’s shopping cost 1. 6 % less than a year ago. Moreover, J Sainsbury’s were named organic supermarket for the third time in 2004/05 period time. And supported Taste of Success in a link which promotes Food education and cooking in Schools and for this activity have participated more than 250. 000 children. Moreover, customers are attracted by a product not only for the price and the quality but also by the package. Even if they don’t think it pass through their mind when they buy the product, the package is one of the most important things and the sales are going to be higher with a coloured and attractive package. Finally, the main aim is to have customers who are dependent on the supermarket. Therefore, Sainsbury’s try to keep regular opening hours and they make sure that the queuing times are not excessive. Moreover, they make sure that the products are always available because when you have to deal with an accustomed customer, you can’t say to him that the product is out of stock because there is a chance that this customer is just coming for one product only. To reduce the cost, Sainsbury’s is always equipped with a store manager. His job is to ensure that the actions are fast with good quality. If all the operations are done effectively then, the costs will be low. Charity J Sainsbury's is one of the big companies which strongly believed that success is not only how to increase the profits of the business and also a different section that works on how to help people that have any kind of problems. For example J Sainsbury's in 2004/05 supported several national charities and donating food and equipment. Moreover in 2005 J Sainsbury’s customers were using coins machines in their stores. The machines take a 7% commission which raised the following sums in 2004/05: Children in Need gave ? 15. 233 also for British Red Cross gave ? 17. 881. Moreover, gave ? 18. 015 for Cancer Research and ? 9. 361 for Unicef. Furthermore, J Sainsbury's gave for British Heart Foundation ? 9. 627 and ? 5. 533 for WWF and for Red Nose Day 05 gave ? 3. 300. In addition, J Sainsbury's have donated 150. 000 thousand pounds to Children Society in support to encourage young people to eat healthy. Also, all J Sainsbury’s stores have charity boxes where customers can donate their change to local charity. However, J Sainsbury’s after all these benefits which helped a lot of people is still continuing to provide help to people with needs. In 2004 J Sainsbury’s collected a total of ? 1. 7 million from collogues throughout the company and from customers at various stores which then donated it to the affected populations of the Tsunami in Thailand. Also J Sainsbury’s for one more time revealed their sensitivity for people who need financial support. Last May colleagues have raised ? 3. 000 for charity which helps children in need with shortened life expectancy . Children with illnesses require expensive equipment and J Sainsbury’s brand raised the money and the charity is able to provide some of this equipment. According to the aforementioned, the humanitarian efforts from people that work in J Sainsbury’s give pleasure and happiness in people with needs. Phillip Wardman , online groceries manager at J Sainsbury’s York store dedicates his leisure time to support the Yorkshire Air Ambulance which relies solely on donations from the public. This year he organized a 24- hour bike ride from Edinburg to York covering 210 miles. Moreover, Phillip Wardman said he wanted to do something different for the charity and this certainly was challenge. However, he had been named ‘’Local Hero ‘’ by the York store and he was also awarded by their Chief Executive, Justin King. In my opinion the success for all the kind of businesses is not only to find profit and loss the end of the season and perform accounting procedures . Of course it is essential for all the businesses to find out how well the sales went the previous year but it is also important to think how you can help people who are unable to have the same benefits and the chances as the others. Services J Sainsbury’s brand aim in every day basis is to provide an easy access to customers. At present J Sainsbury’s are experimenting new approaches which can reduce queuing times at checkouts. Moreover, in 34 stores customers can use a hand-held scanner to scan theirs items while they shop at Sainsbury’s. Also, they have introduced self services checkouts in 58 stores nationwide. J Sainsbury’s have been reported to have 600 drivers operating more than 400 vans providing services in 2005/2006 and were serving 38. 000 customers per week. In addition, J Sainsbury’s was the first chain store to sing up to the guide dogs for blind people street charter in 2005. This aims to provide the right support for blind or partially sighted customers. SWOT of Sainsbury’s SWOT analysis is a strategic management method used to assess the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, as well as threats associated with a project or a business venture. It involves laying down main objectives of a business project in addition to identifying the favorable and unfavorable internal and external factors that may affect the achievement of a given objective. It also helps in identifying suitable areas for development. Identification of SWOTs is essential because subsequent steps in the planning process for achievement of the objective may be derived from it. First, the decision makers, using SWOTs, ought to determine whether the objective is achievable. In the event that the objective is not achievable, the process is repeated after selecting a different objective. The aim of any SWOT analysis is to establish the key internal and external factors affecting the achievement of an objective. The internal factors are strengths and weaknesses, which are dynamics from within an organization while opportunities and threats are forces from outside of an organization are the external factors. These come from within the company's unique value chain. Sainsbury’s is an internationally recognized chain of supermarkets based in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are situated in London which is a strategic place due to ease of accessibility. It owns J Sainsbury’s plc. : This is the main company of Sainsbury’s Supermarkets Ltd. The main competitors of Sainsbury’s are Tesco and ASDA who overtook it as market leaders. Their other investments are in banking sectors and property management. In 2004, Sainsbury’s performance improved and this has been attributed to Justin King, its current CEO. In our analysis of Sainsbury’s, we focus on their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Strengths Strengths are features of a business that are used as a basis for developing competitive advantage. Sainsbury’s has been in market for a substantially long period of time. This is enough to make it popular among its loyal customers, therefore is has used marketing and unique branding techniques to capitalize on the U. K market. Differentiation of products and services offered has been determining factor to Sainsbury’s success because it states what the company stands for. Not only does it serve United Kingdom customers but it also has other chains stores, self selection stores and supermarket across major European countries. The companies’ logo was designed with a conspicuously orange color, which is a key factor in its identity. With its current Chief Executive Officer, Sainsbury’s has seen total transformation symbolized by its growth rate, a high stock turnover and huge profit margins after tax and dividend deductions. Justin King has managed to employ and upraise his current staff and this has been a major step towards facing competition posed by ASDA and Tesco. Furthermore Sainsbury's has been involved in community initiated programs. As a company it appreciates its place in society and it is obliged to give back to the community through social responsibility. This has won the company not only customers approval but also favors from environmental activists who portray it as having a good brand. Another factor that has seen Sainsbury’s through the hard hit times to become strengths is use of advertisements. Advertisement is an art, which should be done skillfully to create a lasting impression in the eyes of customers. Keeping this in mind, Sainsbury’s chain of supermarkets has used celebrities to advertise specific product groups boosting sales. Embracing online advertisement has been a major factor in promoting its products both locally and internationally where interested customers then transact through e-commerce. In summary, the main strengths portrayed in Sainsbury’s SWOT analysis include; reputable management, skilled labor force, advertisement, loyal customers and a strong brand name. Weaknesses Weaknesses are characteristics that place a business at a disadvantage relative to others. The absence of certain strengths may be viewed as a weakness. For example; a weak brand name, high cost structure, lack of patent protection, poor reputation among customers, lack of access to key distribution channels and lack of access to natural resources. In some cases, a weakness may be the flip side of strength. Sainsbury’s has failed to protect its markets against threats and potential new entrants. Being better placed with high competitive advantage, it ought to have utilized the opportunity as the first chain of supermarkets in the U. K to remain a market leader. To implement this it could consider being a price leader of the entire market enjoying economies of scale to the disadvantage of its competitors. By so doing Tesco and ASDA could have found the market too harsh for them to compete therefore reducing their activities. Lack of brand visibility has been a lacking factor in the success of Sainsbury’s. For products to sale they have to be organized and properly arranged on the supermarkets shelves for customers to see and select. Therefore supermarket shelves need to be spacious enough to accommodate oods and allow ease of access incase a customer picks on a given product. In trying to fix the problem of inventory display and shelf space, the results were even more disastrous. The new arrangement format was more confusing to customers. Opportunities Opportunities are external chances to improve performance in a business environment. The external environmental analysis may reveal certain new opportunitie s for profit and growth. Examples of opportunities include; use of new technology, loosening of government regulations, removal of tariffs and trade barriers. Sainsbury’s has great opportunities, which could see it back to the top. They have a great opportunity to win back the trust of their target customers through better customer service. Loyalty program is another great way of safeguarding repeat sales and committed customers. The company also has shares in financial services sector, though there might be new business opportunities to explore. Alternatively, Sainsbury's could use its chain of supermarkets and other business investments to secure its financial future just incase of economic recession or as a prospect for investment. Threats Threats are external elements in the environment that could cause trouble for the business. Changes in the external environmental also may present threats to the firm. Examples of threats include: a change in consumer tastes in favor of competitors products, presence of substitute goods in the market and stringent barriers to trade. Sainsbury’s needs to invest in more environmental programs despite knowing that it will not directly benefit its stakeholders. Economic meltdowns are beyond an organizations control, therefore the shaking world economy is a threat to Sainsbury’s group of businesses. REFERENCES 1. Brassington F. and Petit S. , 2006. Principles of Marketing, 4th ed. 2. Prentice Hall; Pearson Education. 3. Kotler P. nd Armstrong G. , (2008), Principles of Marketing Twelfth Edition 4. Brassington F. and Petit S. , (2009), Principles of Marketing Fourth Edition 5. Katameni,2010. Macro environment and The marketing mix used by Sainsbury’s [online] Available at: [Accessed 19 November 2011] 6. User: ukstudent , 2008. SWOT, PESTEL and Porter's 5 For ces analyses of Sainsbury's [online]. Available at[Accessed 20 November 2011] 7. Mark Tran, 2006. Sainsbury's introduces compostable packaging [online]. Available at;URL:http://www. guardian. co. uk/environment/2006/sep/08/supermarkets. business;[Accessed 20 November 2011] 8. Anonymous, 2011. Products and services[online]. Available at: ;URL:http://www. sainsburysenergy. com/products-and-services. html? bghlinkid=HP1016; [Accessed 22 November 2011] 9. Anonymous, 2011. Save ; Create[online]. Available at: ;URL:http://www. sainsburysenergy. com/save-and-create. html; [Accessed 22 November 2011] 10. Frances B, Stephen P (2006) Principles of Marketing, 4th Edition, Pearson Education Limited Publisher 11. Sainsbury’s (2011) Retrieved from (online) at http://www. sainsburys. co. uk/home. htm [Accessed on:19/11/2011] 12. Sainsbury’s  (2011)  142 years of history,  [online] Available at: http://www. j-sainsbury. co. uk/about-us/sainsburys-story/ [Accessed: 18th Nov 2011]. 13. Race to the top  (2011)  Sainsbury's results,[online] Available at: http://www. racetothetop. org/results/result6/page_1. htm [Accessed: 17th Nov 2011]. 14. Wikipedia  (2011)  Sainsbury's results,  [online] Available at: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Sainsbury's [Accessed: 16th Nov 2011].

Digital Comm Tutorial

The process of quantisation introduces an error or noise component into the quantised signal. Derive an equation for the mean-squared quantisation error in terms of the quantization interval ‘a’. ii) Hence show that the peak signal-to-quantisation noise ratio (SQNR) is SQNR = ( 6n + 4. 8 ) dB Where 2 n is the number of quantisation levels. b)i) Linear quantisation is used prior to binary PCM encoding of an analogue baseband signal which has a uniform probability density function. The signal-to-quantisation noise ratio must be no less than 35 dB.How many binary bits are required to code each quansation level? ii) If the bit rate is 104 bits per second, what should be the maximum bandwidth of the analogue signal prior to sampling? Q2. a)i) Explain how nonlinear quantisation can be used to reduce the number of levels required to quantise a signal. ii) Explain why logarithmic quantisation is preferred. iii) What types of signal is most suitable to be processed by non-linear quantisation? b) Sketch the A-law companding curved. Explain why companding is used in voice transmission systems. c) Show that the dynamic range of the logarithmic portion of the A-law compander is 38. dB and that the improvement in signal to quantisation noise ratio realized for small signals, compared with linear quantisation , is 24 dB.d) For an 8-bit A-law companded PCM system, calculate the SQNR obtainable and the PCM bit rate. Assume the sampling frequency is 8 KHz. Q3. a) Explain (qualitatively) how Differential Pulse Code Modulation (DPCM) can reduce the transmission bandwidth required. b) Explain what is delta modulation. Why it is particularly suited to speech signals? c) For an input sinusoid of frequency 1 kHz, estimate and compare the signal-to-error ratios of a linear PCM coder using a sampling rate of 2. kHz and 7 bits per sample quantisation with a single-integration delta modulator producing the same gross bit rate. BASEBAND REGERATOR / ERROR PROBABILITY / LINE COD E Q4. a) Digital transmission systems provide better received signal quality compare to analogue transmission systems when implementing a long distance communication link. Explain briefly why this is so. b) A PCM transmission link employed 8 bit coding and uses baseband regenerator as repeater. Determine the Signal-to-Noise ratio obtainable at the receiver assuming no bit error occurred. c) An analogue transmission system required amplifiers to be spaced every 2 km apart.Assume the Signal-to-Noise ratio of the amplifier is 65 dB, determine the maximum distance of the link before the quality of the received signal is lower than the PCM link above. d) A RF binary PSK system operates with phase states separated by 180o. The bit rate is 2. 0 Mbit/s and the noise power spectral density at the input to an ideal matched filter detector is 1. 0 pW/Hz. If the transmission loss between transmitter and detector is 40 dB, what power must be transmitted to achieve a probability of bit error of 1 ( 10-6 ? For binary PSK , Pe = ? [1- erf(Eb/No)1/2] Error function tables are provided. Q5. ) Draw a simplified block diagram of a PCM regenerative repeater. b) An ideal 18 – section, copper cable, PCM link employs unipolar , NRZ, rectangular pulses on each section and a center point detection process at each repeater. The probability of error versus SNR for this transmission and detection scheme is given by [pic] If all sections were identical, and operated with a section SNR of precisely 18 dB, what would be the overall probability of error for the entire link? Q6.(a) Sketch the typical, long term, spectrum of a speech waveform. Show on your sketch the bandwidth normally considered sufficient for telephone quality transmission. b) i) If the voice signal in part (a) is to be transmitted using 8-bit PCM and use the bandwidth upper frequency limit shown on your sketch to find the required PCM bit rate. ii) What channel bandwidth, in principle, would be required if the PCM bits were to be transmitted as perfectly rectangular pulses without distortions? iii) What is the minimum theoretical bandwidth which would allow the PCM bits to be transmitted independently (i. e. without inter-symbol interference (ISI) at the receiver sampling instants)? Explain your answer. (c) i) What is the main functions of line codes? i) The bit stream shown in Fig. Q7 is to be line-coded using the high-density substitutiontechnique HDB3. Sketch a version of the resulting coded signal.What are the features of HDB3 which makes it an attractive line code? [pic] Fig. Q6 TDM / PDH / SDH Q7. a)i) Describe, with the aid of a diagram, the way in which analogue telephone channels plus signalling and service information are combined in a plesiochronous time-division multiplexed system to form the primary multiplex group. ii) What sampling rate would be appropriate for each telephone channel and what would be the gross bit rate of the multiplex group? )i) Show how primary multiplex groups may be combined to form higher level multiplexes and to provide access for wideband signals. ii) Explain why it is necessary in a high order Plesiochronous digital hierarchy (PDH ) to de-multiplex down to the lowest order whenever a single channel is to be extracted or inserted.c) Calculate the number of telephone channels which can be accommodated at level 4 of a PDH. d) In the PDH, explain why the bit rate at a given level is not exactly an integer multiple of the bit rate at the level below. Q8. a) Explain why bit justification is required in a PDH network, and describe how it may be performed. ) i) Determine the minimum and maximum input channel rates accommodated by an CEPT2 multiplexer. ii) Determine the rate of CEPT1 misframes caused by erroneous interpretation of a stuffed bit. Assume channel bit error rate Pe is 10-6. CEPT2 parameters: Bit rate8. 448 Mbit/s Master frame length848 bits Message length/channel205 bits Framing bits12 bits Stuffing control bits12 bits Stuff bits 4 bits c)i) Explain what is frame slip. ii) In a PDH network, the primary multiplex clock generators have frequency stability of 1 part in 107. Calculate the average number of frames slips per hours in a connection of 5 inter-exchange links.Q9. a) Describe the essential features of the Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy (PDH). b) Plesiochronous networks have a number of disadvantages by comparisons with the Synchronous Digital Hierarchy. State and explain two of them. c) Draw a block diagram illustrating the SDH. Show on your diagram the nominal STMbit rates associated with each SDH level. d)i) Describe the SDH primary-rate frame structure with particular reference to the location within the frame of the section overheads, the (administrative unit) pointers and the STM-1 payload. ii) What are the main functions of pointer? SIGNALLINGQ10. a)i) Explain the need for signaling in a telecommunication system. ii) List the minimum basic signaling requirements, and show how they may be obtain ed in the subscriber loop of a typical telephone network. b) Draw a simple block diagram illustrating the essential difference between channel-associated signaling (CAS) and common channel signaling (CCS). c) List the advantages of CCS over CAS. d) Modern digital switching systems using Stored Program Control (SPC) employ CCS. Draw a block diagram showing how CCS may be implemented. e) What is the disadvantage of CCS and how are they overcome? Q11. ) Show how the ITU-T (formerly CCITT ) signaling systems No. 7 conform to theInternational Standard Organisation, Open Systems Interconnection (ISO-OSI ) model. b) What are the three types of signal units employ by the ITU-T SS No. 7? What is the function of each? c)i) How is the channel associated signaling handled by the 30+2 PCM primary multiplex frame? ii) Calculate the bit rate of the signaling channel with one voice channel. TELETRAFFIC THEORY Q12. a) In a switching system for which blocked calls are lost, the average number of call s per hour is 200 with an average holding time of 3 minutes.Estimate the number of trunks required to achieve a grade of service of 0. 1 %. b) On the average during the busy hour, traffic generated in exchange A and exchange B is shown in table Q13. Assume no tandem traffic, estimate the number of trunk channels (two way connections) required for a grade service of 1 %: i) if the same lines are used for incoming and outgoing calls, ii) if separate lines are used for incoming and outgoing calls. Evaluate the above options and propose a cost effective solution. What is the minimum number of trunk lines required to serve the two exchanges? |Exchange A |Exchange B | |Exchange A |- |36 Erlang | |Exchange B |43 Erlang |- | Table Q13 c) Calculate the number of channels needed in a seven-cell re-use pattern cellular systems to achieve a blocking probability of 1 % if there are 2800 calls per cell per hour, each of average duration of 1. 8 minutes. (use traffic table). Q13.a) Define traffic intensity and congestion. ) Explain why it is necessary to determine the traffic variations as a function of time for a telephone exchange. c)For a telephone exchange designed based on blocked call lost assumption, the probability of there being k calls in progress with N trunks carrying traffic A Erlang is given by: [pic][pic] i) Explain what is meant by blocked call lost. Give an evaluation the effect of this assumption. ii) Derive an equation for the probability all servers are busy and the subscriber encountered call blocking. State the assumptions made for the above equation to be valid. ) A PBX with 250 internal lines has 10 trunks to the public network. i) What is the probability of call blocking if each internal line is involved in four external calls with an average duration of 2. 5 minutes per call, per eight-hour working day? ii) How many additional trunk connections would be required to improve the grade-of service to better than 0. 5 %? Q14. a) In a queueing system, the average rate of packet transmission is ( frames per second, and the average arrival rate of data is ( packets per second. The probability that therewill be n packets in the queue isPn = (1 – ( )( ( ) nwhere ( = ( / ( b) Derive an equation for the average number of packets in the queue and show how this varies with the parameter ( . c) How would you use this equation to design the node in a packet-switched system? d) If the switching node has a transmission capacity of 800 packets per second and the packet arrival rate is 500 packets per second. i) Calculate the average number of packets in the queue and hence ii) Calculate the average waiting time per packet. iii) What is the mean delay introduced by the switching node on a packet? ) A common –channel signalling system uses a 64 kbits/s data link to serve a group of 1500 speech circuits on a route between two exchanges. The busy-hour traffic is 1000 E and the average call duration is two minutes.On average each call r equires transmission of ten messages (five signals plus five responses) and the average message length is 20 octets. Calculate the percentage of messages which encounter delay and the mean delay for these messages. DATA COMMUNICATION NETWORK Q15. a)i) Describe the principle of data communication by packet switching. ii) Evaluate the advantages of this strategy by comparison with circuit switching. )Show how the format of a packet can allow inclusion of routing, error correction, synchronisation and data. c)A packet switch has a single outgoing link at 2. 048 Mbit/s. The average length of each packet is 960 bytes. If the average packet delay through the switch must be less than 20 ms, assuming an M/M/1 queue, determine the i) maximum total packet arrival rate ii) average length of the queue. Q16a) Outline the ISO-OSI data communication network model. b) i) At which layer of the ISO-OSI model does the routing information provided? ii) Name and describe briefly two common routing proto cols for the Wide Area Network (WAN).ii) Compare the relative performance of the protocols. iv) give an example of the connection standard applicable to each. c) Describe the format of a High-level Data Link Control (HDLC) packet and describe how this could be employed to implement call set-up, data transfer and call clearing in a virtual circuit. ISDN / B-ISDN Q17. a) Most national tele-traffic networks have evolved from systems using analogue telephonyand signaling and electromechanical switching. Show, using diagrams, how it has been possible to develop Integrated Digital Networks (IDN) whilst retaining much of the transmission network. ) An IDN is required to provide communication of information in addition to digital telephony signals. Describe the others signals necessary to operate an IDN and show how these can be integrated within a single network. c) Outline the potential benefits of an ISDN. d) Describe the data handling capabilities of Basic Rate Access and Primary Rate A ccess ISDN services. What are the gross bit rates in each case? Q18. a) Describe the process which takes place in a packet speech transmission system and outline the transmission delay which might be expected. ) In a packet communication network packets arrive at a switch according to a Poisson distribution with a mean arrival rate of 4 packet/s.The service time is exponentially distributed with a mean value of 100 ms. Assuming that each packet contains 70 bytes and the output transmission rate is 5. 6 kbit/s. How long, on average, does a packet have to wait in the queue? If the switch in part (c) is limited in length to 10 packets, what is the probability of losing packets? c) What extensions to these access processes will be required to handle multi-media terminals and what data transfer method will be most appropriate? ) What are the numerical values of the following: i) ATM cell size. ii) ATM information field size. iii) SDH STM-1 bit rate. iv) PCM voice channel bit rate. e) Use your answer in part (d) to find the expected total network delay (including packetisation delay) experienced by a voice signal transmitted over an ATM network connection operating at the SDH STM-1 bit rate. The connection traverse 8 switching centers, each of which introduces a mean delay equal to 98 ATM cells. The transmission path length is 350 km in total, and the specific delay of the transmission medium is 5 (s/km.