Progress and development in communication system Essay

The objective of the study are: To know if people are aware of the progress and development in communication system. To know how can people absorb the rapid change of technologies that affects our communication with other people and making more easy. To let people know how communication affects the fast growing of technologies. Significance of the study: Most of us already have our own mobile phones, it is essential to our everyday life and as time goes by, things have been changing, so it is important for us to know how our technologies changing, how are we affected by these changes, how can this developments improve our social life. Life has been improving because of technology and studying this human invention may improve our life even better. We have the right to know what are the new inventions that are being made to sell out to people. It is important for us to know what are the most advanced technologies that we can use on these days. Limitation of the study We are limiting this study for Engineering students of Lyceum of the Philippines University – Laguna, for both male and female from first year college to higher years, age 16 years old and above with smart mobile phones used for communicating others. Structure and Rationale of the problem Although mobile phones have taken over our current society, they have been around for several decades in some form or another. The first mobile phones, referred to as First Generation or 1G, were introduced to the public market in 1983 by the Motorola Company.

Negative Aspects of Reality Shows

In recent years we have seen how the reality shows have Increasingly Invaded our screens, and there is something that captivates people to the point that change their way of life and are carried away by this â€Å"fever†. Most of the people who watch this kind of shows believe that all what they see is real so they begin to feel identify with them. The audience imitates they behaviors and most of the time it Is negative.They turn violent, Irritable and susceptible to reactions. A big percentage of people who watches this believe that their way of being is normal, but it is not like that. There are certain manners or behaviors that we are used to watch, but it doesn't mean it is normal at the point that we accept it as a way of life. What is true about this is that producers control everything and can alter or distort the actions of the actors. The actors are aware of this because when they sign their contract It Is specified over there.So, can we believe In everything we see? A key for success of these shows is the humiliation of the â€Å"actors†. Like American Idol or many others, because the jury criticizes them In a derogative way so the contestants leave the stage but being teased. The audience assimilates this as a normal process so if they don't have skills they begin to feel shame of it or scared to people who can watch them doing things. Another negative thing is that they can think that humiliation is a necessary step to succeed, thing that is not true.We hooked not allow ourselves to be influenced by these shows and that Is why there are recommendations while watching them, such as: It Is not recommended for children and young people, therefore they can understand and analyze the background and have a very strong personality. All in all we must be alert and aware to see a reality show, because this can lead to unexpected and negative changes. The best one can do is to turn this experience into something good and know how to select those programs that teach us and help us develop.

Discovered Biological Functions Of Rna Health And Social Care Essay

Recently, the figure of ascertained biological maps of RNA has been increasing. In add-on, the range has been expanded, and therefore RNA is non merely a inactive courier of familial information from Deoxyribonucleic acid to proteins makers as had been thought earlier. It has been found that RNA plays of import functions in all of molecular biological science such as transporting familial information ( messenger RNA ) , construing the codification ( ribosomal RNA ) , and reassigning familial codification ( transfer RNA ) . It besides performs different maps which include: catalyzing chemical reactions [ 1 ] , [ 2 ] , directing the site specific alteration of RNA bases, commanding cistron look, modulating protein look and helping in protein localisation [ 3 ] , [ 4 ] . The map of RNA molecules determine many diseases caused by RNA viruses. Identifying the secondary construction of RNA molecules is the cardinal key to understand its biological map [ 5 ] . The RNA construction anticipation methods, is tremendously affected by the quality of alignment [ 6 ] . MSA significantly improves the de novo anticipation truth of proteins or RNAs structures [ 7 ] . For illustration, current RNA secondary construction anticipation methods utilizing aligned sequences is win in deriving higher anticipation truth than those utilizing individual sequence [ 8 ] . Multiple sequence alliance ( MSA ) has become widely used in many different countries in bioinformatics. Multiple alliances are present in most of the computational method used in molecular development to assist happening sequences household, predict the secondary or third construction of new sequences, RNA folding, cistron ordinance and polymerase concatenation reaction primer design [ 9 ] , foretelling maps, predict patient ‘s diseases by comparing DNAs of patients in disease find. MSA is the most natural manner to see the relation between sequences by doing an alliance between the primary sequences so that indistinguishable or similar residues will be aligned in columns. That is why this method is so called multiple sequence alliance ( MSA ) . At kernel, all widely MSA tools used to better the alignment quality of initial alliance [ 10 ] . The sequence alliance job can be considered as an optimisation job in which the aim is to maximise a marking map [ 11 ] . One chief challenge with MSA is how to gauge the quality of computer-aligned sequences. An nonsubjective map ( OF ) is required in the optimisation processes to happen the optimum alliance. The pick of nonsubjective map is critically of import in obtaining high quality alliances [ 12 ] . In add-on, OF acts an indispensable function in optimisation algorithms whereby there is a relation between the alliance mark with the mark computed by the alignment quality. MSA optimisation job is NP-complete [ 13-15 ] , which motivates, the research for heuristics [ 16 ] . Over the last decennary, the evolutionary and meta-heuristic are the recent attacks to work out the optimisation job. Consequently, most of practical MSA algorithms are based on heuristics to obtain moderately accurate MSA within moderate computational clip and normally produce quasi-optimal alliance. Many researches solve MSA job as optimisation job by utilizing familial algorithm [ 17, 18 ] , Particle Swarm [ 11 ] , ant settlement [ 19 ] , and Simulated tempering [ 20 ] . MSA job can be resolve as optimisation job based on harmoniousness hunt algorithm [ 21 ] to maximise the nonsubjective map and happen the optimum alliance. The purpose of this paper is to analyze and examined the correlativity of different nonsubjective maps utilizing standard sets of RNA datasets. The most straightforward OF is the sum-of-pairs ( SP ) score [ 3 ] , weight sum-of-pair [ ] , java [ 22 ] , Xstate [ ] and NorMD [ 23 ] . This paper is organized as follows: Section 2 introduce the multiple sequence alliance job. Section 3 explains the different nonsubjective map from the state-of-the-art. Section 4 explains the proposed methodological analysis. The rating and analysis methodological analysis that is used to measure our comparing is explained in Section 5. Last, Section 6 provides the decision and sum-up of the paper.2.0 Multiple Sequence AllianceA sequence is an ordered list of symbols from a set of alphabet S ( 20 amino acids for protein and 4 bases for RNA/DNA ) . In bioinformatics, a RNA sequence is written as s = AUUUCUGUAA. It is a twine over the set S of bases symbols Adenine ( A ) , Cytosine ( C ) , Guanine ( G ) and Uracil ( U ) : S = [ A, C, G, U ] . Alignment is a method to set up the sequences one over the other in a manner to demo the matching and mismatching between residues. A column, which has lucifer residues, shows no mutant is go oning. Whereas, the column with mismatch symbols shows that several mutant events are go oning. To better the alliance mark, the character â€Å" – † is used to match to a infinite introduced in the sequence. This infinite is normally called a spread. The spread is viewed as interpolation in one sequence and omission in the other. A mark is used to mensurate the alliance public presentation. The highest mark one is the best alliance. For lucidity ‘s interest, the generic MSA job is expressed with the following declaration: â€Å" Insert spreads within a given set of sequences in order to maximise a similarity standard † [ 24 ] . The MSA job can be divided into three troubles, which are scalability, optimisation, and nonsubjective map. Finding an accurate MSA from sequences is really hard. It is a clip consuming and computationally NP-hard job [ 13-15 ] . In fact, that complexness comes from that all three jobs must be solved at the same time. The first job is the scalability, which is to happen the alliance of many long sequences. The 2nd job is the optimisation, which is to happen the alliance with the highest mark based on a given nonsubjective map among sequences. Optimization of even a simple nonsubjective map is an NP-hard job. The 3rd job is the nonsubjective map ( OF ) , which is to rush up the computation in order to mensurate the alliance. Most modern plans for building multiple sequence alliances ( MSAs ) consist of two constituents: an nonsubjective map for measuring the quality of a candidate alliance of a set of input sequences, and an optimisation process for placing the highest scoring alliance with regard to the chosen nonsubjective map [ 25 ] .3.0 Objective mapsAligning multiple sequences is a extremely non-trivial undertaking ( in both a biological and computational sense ) whose truth in pattern depends mostly on the pick of input sequences, the cost ( or aim ) map, and the heuristics employed [ 26 ] . An of import facet of alliance mark is to set up how meaningful a given multiple alliance is. This is to find whether the aligned sequences are in fact optimum and to gauge the mark of the alliance in which there is no anterior cognition of the mention alliance. Objective map is the psyche of iterative algorithms in the sense that it determines the campaigner move to be taken to better the solution quality. In multiple sequence alliance, nonsubjective map Acts of the Apostless as the cardinal factor to command the development of an alliance into a mature one. Using optimisation algorithm to work out any job requires delegating a fittingness map. In harmony hunt algorithm, this map evaluates and ranks harmoniousnesss in the harmoniousness memory harmonizing to their tonss. Harmonies that ain good alliance mark in the harmoniousness memory are retained. In this subdivision different nonsubjective maps are studied. The pick of nonsubjective map is strictly a biological job that lies in the definition of rightness. A mathematical map able to mensurate an alignment biological quality that defines a right alliance and its expected belongingss is called nonsubjective map ( OF ) . Given a perfect map, the mathematically optimum alliance assumes to be biologically optimum. While the map defines a mathematical optimum, it is seldom that this optimum will besides be biologically optimum [ 25 ] . There are different nonsubjective maps to hit the quality of the alliance, viz. sum-of-pairs, leaden sum-of-pairs, and NorMD [ 23 ] , MstatX, amd COFFEE [ 22 ] . They are used in optimizing and iterative alliance methods to better the alliance by seeking to maximise the nonsubjective map [ 27 ] .3.0.1 sum-of-pairsPresently sum-of-pairs nonsubjective map is most widely used [ 28 ] . Carrillo and Lipman [ 29 ] foremost introduced the sum-of-pairs ( SP ) mark map, which defines the tonss of a multiple alliance of N sequences as the amount of the tonss of the N ( N-1 ) /2 pairwise alliances [ 29 ] , [ 30 ] . Although SP mark map has been widely used to measure MSA, it does n't truly supply any biological or probabilistic justification [ 30 ] . Each sequence is scored as if it is descended from the N-1 other sequences alternatively of a individual ascendant. As a consequence, evolutionary events are frequently overestimated. The job worsens as the figure of sequences additions [ 30 ] the sum-of-pairs ( SP ) mark described in [ 31 ] , [ 32 ] , [ 29 ] , [ 33 ] is used to cipher the nonsubjective map ( OF ) where there is no anterior cognition of the mention alliance. The general signifier of OF mark of alignment n sequences consist of m columns is OF = . Where is the similarity mark of the column myocardial infarction, is the spread punishment of the column myocardial infarction and is the sequence length. The similarity mark of the column myocardial infarction can be measured by the sum-of-pairs ( SP ) . The SP-score S ( myocardial infarction ) for the i-th column myocardial infarction is calculated as follows: S ( myocardial infarction ) = , ( ) where is the j-th row in the i-th column. For alining two residues x and y, the permutation matrix s ( x, y ) is used to gives the similarity mark.3.0.2 Weighted sum-of-pairsThe leaden sum-of-pairs ( WSP ) score [ 28 ] , [ 34 ] is an extension of SP mark so that each pairwise alliance mark otherwise contributes to the whole mark. A leaden SP mark map has been proposed in the manner to reflect the relationships between the sequences. The rule is to give a cost to each brace of aligned residues in each column of the alliance ( permutation cost ) , and another cost to the spreads ( spread cost ) . These are added to give the planetary cost of the alliance. Furthermore, each brace of sequences is given a weight related to their similarity to other braces. The WSP calculates a entire mark from the leaden pairwise mark of all the sequences. The undermentioned figure shows the mathematical preparation of the leaden SP mark map. WSP ( A ) = ( ) Where N is the figure of sequences, k the length of aligned sequences, is the weight given to a brace of sequences, and is the similarity cost of two symbol sequence ( ) . The cost map included spread gap and extension punishments for gap and widening spreads. The weight of pairwise aligned sequences may be proportionately score [ 35 ] , [ 36 ] harmonizing to the sum of alone information enclosed in the sequence. These weights try to diminish the influence of excess information from strongly related sequences. A weight represents a per centum equal to a per centum individuality ( PID ) calculated over each brace of aligned sequences [ 24 ] as follows ( excepting spreads ) : PID = ( )3.0.3 Normalized Mean Distancenormalized mean distance ( NorMD ) [ 23 ] is a normalized mean distance ( MD ) mark measures the normalized mean distance between the similarities of the residue braces at each alliance column, introduce in ClustalX, between similarities of residue braces at each alignment column. A mark for each column in the alliance is calculated utilizing the construct of uninterrupted sequence infinite introduced by [ 37 ] and the column tonss are so summed over the full length of the alliance. NorMD take into history the sequence information, such as the figure, length and similarity of the sequences to be aligned. NorMD is used in RASCAL [ 38 ] and AQUA [ 39 ] .3.0.4 Consistency markConsistency-based nonsubjective maps focus on improved marking of lucifers in early alliances by integrating information from of pairwise alliance. This consistence construct was originally introduced by Gotoh [ 40 ] and subsequently refined by Vingron and Argos [ 41 ] . Kececioglu [ 42 ] reformulated this job as a maximal weight hint ( MWT ) job. It was further expanded by Morgenstern [ 43 ] who proposed the first heuristic to work out this job for big cases. Consistency-based marking is used in T-Coffee [ 44 ] , MAFFT [ 45 ] , and Align-m [ 46 ] algorithms. The COFFEE [ 22 ] is a consistency-based which step optimized the figure of aligned residues that were besides aligned in planetary pairwise alliances of the same sequences. Coffee nonsubjective map which evaluates the consistence between a multiple sequence alliance and a antecedently defined library of pair-wise alliances. COFFEE required two constituents: ( I ) a set of pairwise mention alliance by utilizing any method for doing pairwise alliances, ( two ) the OF that evaluate the consistence between a multiple alliance and the pairwise alliances contain in the library. COFFEE plants by first bring forthing the pairwise library of the sequences in the alliance and so calculates the degree of individuality between the current multiple alliance and the pairwise library. COFFEE is non using excess spread punishments so that, it is non sensitive to the permutation tonss of amino acids, the mark is normalized, and the cost of similar braces is place dependent. Coffee is reflect the deg ree of consistence between a multiple sequence alliance and a library containing pairwise alliances of the same sequences. The planetary mark mensurating the quality of the alliance is computed by the undermentioned expression. Coffee mark = ( ) where Len is the length of the MSA ; Aij is the pairwise projection of sequences Si and Sj obtained from the MSA ; Wij is the per centum individuality between the two aligned sequences Si and Sj ; is the figure of residues braces that are shared between Aij and the pairwise. In add-on, utilizing chance in consistence leads to a alleged chance consistency. This hiting map is introduced in ProbCons [ 47 ] . It assigns position-specific permutation tonss based on a step of expected truth derived from a concealed Markov theoretical account. This thought is implemented and extended in the PECAN [ 48 ] , MUMMALS [ 49 ] , PROMALS [ 50 ] , ProbAlign [ 51 ] , ProDA [ 52 ] , and PicXAA [ 53 ] plans.3.0.5 POsition-Specific and consIstency-based nonsubjective function ( POSITION )POSITION [ 54, 55 ] is based on the consistence, it calculates the degree of individuality between the current multiple alliance and the pairwise library. The hiting map for POSITION is shown as under in Eq. ( 5 ) . POSITION = ( 5 ) where N is the figure of the sequences ; Aijl is the brace of residues at index cubic decimeter of the pairwise projection of sequences Si and Sj ; and Occurrence ( Aijl ) is a 0-1 binomial map of whether brace Aijl occurs in the pairwise library. W ( Aijl ) is the weight of Aijl and is assigned to the mean similarity of residue braces around index l. This is an attempt to specify the weight harmonizing to contextual information of residue braces.3.0.6 MaxZMaxZ is a statistical alliance quality mark introduced in [ 56 ] which first quantifies the grade of preservation at each alignment place and so counts the figure of significantly conserved places over the alliance. It used Zscore for mensurating the grade of preservation that is based on profile analysis [ 57 ] Then, by utilizing the importance trying method [ Using the SIR algorithm to imitate posterior distributions. ] , the statistical significance of an observed mark value is calculated. In footings of positional significance degrees, the full alliance mark is calculated.3.0.7 MstatXMstatX calculates the trident statistic of each column in the multiple sequences alliance. Then by stipulate the statistic with the flag options. It can gives many different statistical steps on columns of a multiple alliance like Shannon information, frequence counts, spread counts, and more sophisticated marking. The default statistic is a weighted-entropy which means a Shannon information based on chances computed with the sequence burdening strategy defined by [ 58 ] . Statisticss proposed in MstatX is based on [ 59 ] and [ 60 ] .3.0.8 Maximal expected truth ( MEA )Maximal expected truth ( MEA ) [ 61 ] : The basic thought of MEA is to maximise the expected figure of â€Å" right † aligned residue braces [ 62 ] . It has been used in PRIME [ 63 ] , and ProbCons [ 47 ] algorithms.3.0.9 Segment-to-segment nonsubjective mapSegment-to-segment nonsubjective map: It is used by DIALIGN [ 64 ] to build an alliance through comparing of the whole sections of the sequences instead than the residue-to-residue comparing.3.0.10 Profile markProfile hiting map uses a marking map which is defined for a brace of profile places. In add-on to SP, MUSCLE [ 65 ] uses a new profile map which is called the log-expectation ( LE ) mark. Some of these nonsubjective maps integrated into other nonsubjective maps, each have its ain advantages and disadvantages. The nonsubjective map presently used in DIALIGN that is segment-to-segment nonsubjective map is flawed [ 66 ] . On the other manus T-Coffee is excessively memory demanding [ 12 ] . Sum-of-pairs is the most popular marking method because of its comparative velocity and hardiness. The velocity advantage is chiefly because the sum-of-pairs method does non necessitate a tree [ 67 ] . Some nonsubjective maps use permutations matrices whereas other used consistence construct by involve pairwise alliance. [ 68 ] disadvantage of these permutations matrices is that they are intended to rate the similarity between two sequences at a clip merely, and in order to widen them to multiple sequences, it is common to happen that they are scaled by adding up each pairwise similarity to obtain the mark for the multiple sequence alliance [ 5 ] .4.0 Alignment QualityQ ( Quality ) is a quality map to gauge the comparing between the alliance and the mention alliance. Q mark is the figure of right aligned residue braces in the trial alliance divided by the figure of residue braces in the mention alliance. This has been termed as the developer mark [ 69 ] and SPS [ 31 ] .5.0 MATERIALS AND METHODSHarmony hunt algorithm – which is out of range of this paper – is used to happen the optimal or a close optimum alliance harmonizing to the nonsubjective map. Given a perfect map, the mathematically optimum alliance will besides be biologically optimum. While the map defines a mathematical optimum, it is seldom have an statement that this optimum will besides be biologically optimum. two type of dataset are chosen ( I ) the subset of BRAliBase which are extremely variable and suited for local MSA ; ( two ) LocalEXtR, an extension of BRAliBase 2.1, consisting large-scale trial groups and patterned on BRAliBase 2.1 ; The series of experiments has been conducted in order to analyze the relationship of the corresponding nonsubjective map mark with the alignment quality. The experiment has been done in the term of correlativity coefficient between the nonsubjective map mark and the alignment quality mark in one side and the consuming clip in another side. First, the different nonsubjective maps are used as a fittingness map in HS algorithm and the relationship between them are studied. Second compare the quality tonss of 5 nonsubjective map utilizing database In pattern, it is hence ever recommended to utilize as many different methods. hence analysis did non curtail to merely a few of the best alignment methods but aimed to utilize as many methods as possible [ 12 ] . One of the primary challenges in sequence alliance is to happen a biologically meaningful nonsubjective map. A common pick of many alliance algorithms has been the ‘sum-of-pairs ‘ ( SP ) mark, which merely takes the amount of the tonss of all pairwise alliances in a given multiple alliance. To day of the month, there is no nonsubjective map that has been every bit good accepted for multiple alliances [ 70 ] as similarity has been for pairwise alliance. Alignment quality requires a mention alliance from database benchmark. The comparing is between the trial alliance and the mention alliance and it is called here alignment quality.Performance ratingTwo scenarios are done in different manner, The first scenarios, it uses an nonsubjective map in the HS Improvising procedure and analyze the relationship between the alliance mark with alignment quality for concluding alliance. This is repeated with all nonsubjective map. The motive for mark the alliance many times in every loop was the fact that alliances generated prior to the several iterative polish are frequently rather different from the concluding alliance [ 12 ] . Second scenarios, it measures alignment mark and alignment quality for the same alliance which is the concluding alliance by every nonsubjective maps individually. Alignment mark and its quality are compared for each alliance. This seneraio is to compare the consequence of different nonsubjective map on the same alliance These experiments to cognize how strong is the relation between them in each nonsubjective map individually. A comprehensive reappraisal of all methods will non be given here, but the common nonsubjective maps will be focus on.a. Harmony hunt algorithmHarmony hunt algorithm ( HS ) is developed by Geem [ 21 ] . HS is a meta-heuristic optimisation algorithm based on music. HS is imitating a squad of instrumentalists together seeking to seek the best province of harmoniousness. Each participant generates a sound based on one of three options ( memory consideration, pitch accommodation, and random choice ) . This is tantamount to happen the optimum solution in optimisation procedure. Geem et Al. [ 21 ] theoretical accounts HS constituents into three quantitative optimisation procedure as follows: first procedure, the Harmony memory ( HM ) : It used to maintain good harmoniousnesss. A harmoniousness from HM is selected indiscriminately based on the parametric quantity called harmony memory sing ( or accepting ) rate, HMCR ?„ [ 0,1 ] . It typically uses HMCR = 0.7 ~ 0.95. Second procedure, the pitch accommodation: it is similar to local hunt. It is used to bring forth a somewhat different solution from the HM depend on pitch-adjusting rate ( PAR ) values. PAR control the grade of the accommodation by the pitch bandwidth ( brange ) . It normally uses PAR = 0.1~0.5 in most applications. Third procedure, the random choice: a new harmoniousness is generated indiscriminately to increase the diverseness of the solutions. The chance of randomisation is Prandom = 1- HMCR, and the existent chance of the pitch accommodation is Ppitch = HMCR A- PAR. The pseudo codification of the basic HS algorithm with these three constituents is summarized in Figure 1. Harmony Search Algorithm Get down Declare the nonsubjective map degree Fahrenheit ( x ) , ten = ( x1, x2, aˆÂ ¦ , xn ) Initialize the harmoniousness memory accepting rate ( HMCR ) Initialize pitch seting rate ( PAR ) and other parametric quantities Initialize Harmony Memory with random harmoniousnesss While ( t & lt ; max figure of loops ) If ( rand & lt ; HMCR ) , Choose a value from HM If ( rand & lt ; PAR ) , Adjust the value by adding certain sum End if Else Choose a new random value End if End while Measure the solution by utilizing nonsubjective map Accept the new harmoniousness ( solution ) if better Update HM End while Find the current best solution in HM End Figure 1 Pseudo Code of the Harmony Search Algorithm [ 71 ] The HS algorithm has been applied to assorted optimisation jobs [ 72 ] that include Real-world applications, Computer scientific discipline jobs, Electrical technology jobs, Civil technology jobs, Mechanical technology jobs, and Bio & A ; medical applications.B. Benchmark DatasetThree type of dataset are chosen ( I ) the subset of BRAliBase which are extremely variable and suited for local MSA ; ( two ) LocalEXtR, an extension of BRAliBase 2.1, consisting large-scale trial groups and patterned on BRAliBase 2.1 ; ( three ) Lset, a brace of large-scale trial sets representative of current biological job. The subset of the BRAliBase 2.1 are selected from the most variable dataset within the suite. They are from THI, Glycine riboswitch and Yybp-Tkoy RNA households, and contain 232 trial datasets. LocalExtR uses the same seed alliances from Rfam that BRAliBase uses and signifiers big trial groups. BRAliBase is label a trial group qi, where I is the figure of sequences for each trial set in the group. The tabular array ( 1 ) and ( 2 ) show the inside informations of the dataset and the description information about each trial set. Table 1: Trial Dataset Number of each Test Group trial Group gcvT Family THI Family yybp-ykoy Family BRALiBase 2.1 ( 232 datasets ) k5 22 69 33 k7 12 32 18 k10 3 17 12 k15 1 5 8 LocalExtR ( 90 datasets ) k20 10 10 10 k40 10 10 5 k60 10 10 0 k80 5 10 0 Entire 73 163 86 Table 2: Sequence length of each Test Group sequence length trial Group Avg. Min. BRALiBase 2.1 ( 232 datasets ) k5 109 96 k7 110 94 k10 108 94 k15 110 88 LocalExtR ( 90 datasets ) k20 115 90 k40 114 87 k60 107 81 k80 106 775.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONOne chief challenge with MSA is how to gauge the quality of computer-aligned sequences. Therefore, an nonsubjective map ( OF ) is required in the optimisation processes. The pick of nonsubjective map and heuristics is critically of import in obtaining high quality alliances [ 12 ] . In add-on, OF acts an indispensable function in optimisation algorithms whereby the alliance is optimized against a mark computed by the OF [ 2 ] . The most straightforward OF is the sum-of-pairs ( SP ) score [ 3 ] , weight sum-of-pair [ ] , java [ 22 ] , Xstate [ ] and NorMD [ 23 ] .5.1 Correlation between Objective maps Score and alignment qualityTheoretically, an OF should ever give higher tonss for alliance with better quality [ ] . In world, nevertheless, since the nonsubjective map tonss and the alliance qualities are measured utilizing different standards, incompatibility happens. Correlation between alignment quality and different nonsubjective maps score were practiced on each experimental. Correlation coefficients ( R2 ) were so computed for each nonsubjective map and Q mark of the alignment quality. Two scenarios are performed to look into the correlativity the first one where utilizing the nonsubjective map as the HS Improvising procedure, the 2nd one where mark a concluding alliance by different nonsubjective maps. ( a ) First Scenario: utilizing the nonsubjective map in the generator procedure Five experiments are carried by utilizing an nonsubjective map and compared alignment mark with alignment quality in each experiment. Each experiment has been repeated 5 times for the same dataset and the norm is calculated. In this experiment, each nonsubjective map have been used individually as a fittingness map. Then, the correlativity of the nonsubjective map mark and the alignment quality mark is calculate utilizing the Correlation coefficients ( R2 ) . Each instance has been repeated 5 tallies for same dataset and calculated the norm for each nonsubjective map theoretical accounts. The figure of loop in each tally, is fixed in all the experimental in this experiment to 10,000. 322 trials set are used and their inside informations are summarized in Mistake: Reference beginning non found HS parametric quantities and others parametric quantities are setup to default puting for all nonsubjective map. Alliance Generator OF1 Alliance Mark |qualityaˆÂ ¦Alliance Generator OF2 Alliance Mark |qualityaˆÂ ¦In this experimental BHS-MSA is used to bring forth the alliance. Within the optimisation processes the nonsubjective map theoretical accounts, sum-of-pairs, weight sum-of-pair, java, Xstate and NorMD were used individually to give the good alliance quality. The concluding alliances were measured and evaluated by comparing with the mentions utilizing the rating map Quality ( Q ) and Entire column Score ( TC ) . The mean correlativity coefficient value of all dataset is listed and the spread secret plan graphs are listed as shown in Figure 2. shows the R indicated that the java and sum-of-pairs nonsubjective map has better positive correlativity with alignment quality than others does. The relation is positive that mean when the nonsubjective map is increase the alignment quality is increase this is clear shows in the Figure 3. Table 3: Correlation coefficients ( R2 ) of option Objective maps for scenario 1 SP WSP NorMD MstatX Coffee Correlation coefficients ( R2 ) 0.9216 0.7278 0.7613 0.8259 0.9642 fig 2 copy.jpg Figure 2: Scatter secret plan of alternate nonsubjective Functions for scenario 1 ( B ) Second Scenario: step a concluding alliance by different nonsubjective maps. In this experimental, 10 experiments are transporting out and alliance are bring forthing indiscriminately. Final alliance is measured by each nonsubjective map individually. Then, the correlativity of the nonsubjective map mark and the alignment quality mark is calculate utilizing the Correlation coefficients ( R2 ) [ 12 ] . This scenario is to back up the old 1. The correlativity on different nonsubjective map on alliances is study here by another manner where the nonsubjective maps are step the same alliance together and the relationship between the alliance mark with alignment quality are studied individually for each nonsubjective map. For ocular review, matching spread secret plans for all nonsubjective maps are presented. Alliance Generator OF1 Alliance Mark |qualityaˆÂ ¦aˆÂ ¦aˆÂ ¦OF2 Mark |qualityaˆÂ ¦aˆÂ ¦aˆÂ ¦HS and MSA parametric quantity are fixed to same values in all experimental. The mean correlativity coefficient value of all dataset is listed in Table 4 and the spread secret plan graphs are shown in Figure aˆZ3 Table4 shows the R indicated that the java and sum-of-pairs nonsubjective map has better positive correlativity with alignment quality than others does. The relation is positive that mean when the nonsubjective map is increase the alignment quality is increase this is clear shows in the Figure aˆZ3 Table 4: Correlation coefficients ( R2 ) of option Objective maps for scenario two sum-of-pairs ( R ) wsop ( R ) NorMD ( R ) Xstat ( R ) Coffee ( R ) Correlation coefficients ( R2 ) 0.8319 0.7558 0.6762 0.8028 0.9494 fig 3 copy.jpg Figure aˆZ3: Scatter secret plans of alternate nonsubjective maps for scenario two5.2 Study of Coffee and SP Objective maps based on clip costObjective map is the most computationally time-consuming constituent of MSA alliance method. The clip complexness of calculating an nonsubjective mark additions linearly with length of alliance and the figure of sequences. Figure aˆZ shows that increasing the sequence figure lead to increase the clip cost for calculate the nonsubjective map for the java and SP nonsubjective maps. Table5: Time cost of each Test Group Test Group No. of Seqs. sequence length Avg. Time Avg. min soap SP BRALiBase 2.1 ( 232 datasets ) k5 5 109 96 125 0.16 k7 7 110 94 131 0.32 k10 10 108 94 129 0.66 k15 15 110 88 137 1.60 LocalExtR ( 90 datasets ) k20 20 115 90 172 3.52 k40 40 114 87 180 16.96 k60 60 107 81 189 42.72 k80 80 106 77 204 88.01 Based on the correlativity shown in 4, the correlativity between the alliances hiting and the alignment quality utilizing the COFFEE nonsubjective map and sum-of-pairs were better than those found utilizing the NorMd, MstatX, and WSP nonsubjective maps. Coffee and sum-of-pairs nonsubjective maps have the highest correlativity. Based on the clip cost shown in Table5: Time cost of each Test Group and figure 4, the cost clip used by sum-of-pairs is better than java nonsubjective map for all trial groups. Figure aˆZ4: Coffee and SPS Objective map clip6.0 DecisionThe alliance of multiple sequences remains a challenging job today. Here, we do non discourse possible schemes to better alliance quality, but alternatively concentrate on the maps used to measure the quality of completed alliances. The relationship of the alliance mark and alignment quality of different nonsubjective map is the aim of this paper. It is recommended to run several maps and compare their consequences to happen the most suitable one. The consequence shows that the correlativity between the alliances tonss and the alignment quality utilizing the COFFEE nonsubjective map and sum-of-pairs were better than those found utilizing the NorMd, MstatX, and WSP nonsubjective maps. Coffee and sum-of-pairs nonsubjective maps have the highest correlativity. It besides shows that the alliance marking by sum-of-pairs is better than java nonsubjective map for all trial groups in footings of consuming clip The tonss produced by sum-of-pairs and java are better correlated to the existent alliance truths than tonss produced by other methods.7.0 RecognitionThe writers would wish to appreciate the School of Computer Sciences every bit good as University Science Malaysia for their installations and aid. The writers are appreciative of the attempts of the referees for their helpful remarks.

Human and Addiction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Human and Addiction - Essay Example Television Addiction It is satirical that many people globally are mostly harmed with what they love most. Things that lead people to addiction and eventually land them to problems are not basic things, but luxury things. It is not compulsory for people to take alcohol especially those who do not have control of it because they know that they will eventually land into problems. Strong desire of things is not only associated to physical substances. Those obsessed to gambling find it to be uncontrollable while those who are addicted to sex find it to be fanatical. Globally people are addicted to televisions, when somebody does not have appetite of a certain meal or he does not want to share in a discussion, they usually take the remote control to get consolation from the television. Parents are bothered with how their children are watching television yet they too have the same problems. Researchers have concluded that people who are addicted to television usually engage in conversation s while their eyes are stuck to the television. It does not matter whether the conversation is important, these people cannot turn their eyes away from the television (Kubey and Csikszentmihalyi 1). ... They usually have a strong desire to watch the television, albeit they wish to stop watching the television excessively, but they usually fail to control themselves. These people continue watching television despite the consequences it accompanies. These characteristics are mainly connected to people who watch television frequently. It should be noted that watching television is not challenging because it entertains, educates and informs people. The problem usually sets in when the individual has a strong desire of watching the television and he cannot control it. The amount of time spent in watching television is unbelievable because many people save their time of work and others even sacrifice their sleep to watch television. Due to these trends, people who are age eighty have watched television for ten good years. Many broadcasters argue that people who watch television do it out of their own will but what is not understood is why this people usually complain on their watch to the television. When explorations were carried out, more than half of the populace complained of disproportionate TV watching (Kubey and Csikszentmihalyi 2). Various researches have been carried out to detect people reactions in watching television with the use of highly sophisticated equipments in the laboratory. The work of these machines is to detect how the brain, skin and heartbeat react to watching television. Another method that was used to detect reactions of watching television in normal life apart from the controlled environment in the laboratory was Experience Sampling Method. In this method, the participants were required to carry around a beeper in their pockets and they were alerted six to eight times so as they could write what they were doing

Political and Economic Experience for the Puerto Rican Essay

Political and Economic Experience for the Puerto Rican - Essay Example Their migration to the U.S has had major impact to their growth since the 19th century including the strife to maintain their culture. Their relationship with U.S government has led to great economic growth and development through trade, cultural activities and sport. Other major activities in politics have had impacts on the society at large and have cemented the network politically, socially and economically. The country now faces major technological and international integration as a result of these ties which have led to good economic growth. Political advancements have had great impacts and the in terms of economic and political experiences which have modulated the trade and economic development. Politics have transformed the living standard of the citizen and given them a position of power. Politically, Puerto Ricans in the U.S began running for state elections and seats and promoting their own members for the parliamentary seat in the year 1937 (Carmen & Vazquez-Herna ndez 9). Long since very many have been advanced and much social standing has been enhanced. This has also seen a big advancement like educational institutions, sporting facilities, improved transport and improvement in the defense sector through funding. Political standings have seen the positive impacts of interrelations. The migrant to the U.S has led to both positive and negative consequences to those involved. The migrants gain control politically and the strong ones may dominate in the long run. Most of the political aspirants gain experience in the world of politics and the experiences that come with governance. They learn to exercise their rights politically and basing on the fair statutes some may venture to the civil sector to create awareness. On the other hand, these exercises may lead to danger and harassment by the opponents

Homo Religiosus by Karen Armstrong, p. 22-38 Essay

Homo Religiosus by Karen Armstrong, p. 22-38 - Essay Example It is essential to acknowledge that loss of self is desirable according to Armstrong’s arguments hence influencing homo religiosus. Firstly, Armstrong argues that loss of self is desirable since it enabled ancient societies to believe and worship idols in shrines hence they are aware that this is against God’s will. The ancient society believed that these labyrinths served as sacred places where they could perform all sorts of rituals. According to some historians’ arguments, the purpose of these labyrinths was generally pragmatic (Armstrong 22). Despite how deed these labyrinths were, the loss of self enabled them to enter although, it took lots of ours to reach the innermost core. However, loss of self seems desirable since these innermost cores were very dangerous, uneconomical, exhausting, and time-consuming. The consensus with the ancient communities was that these sacred caves served as sanctuaries, and similar to all temples, the caves’ iconography portrayed a vision, which was extremely different from the vision of the outside world (Armstrong 23). This showed how loss of self was de sirable. Although the ancient practices were extremely painful, difficult, and even traumatic, their loss of self seemed desirable as this enabled them to involve and practice some difficult rituals such as that of hunters. Animal sacrifice, for instance, which served as the central rite with all religious societies in antiquity, portrayed prehistoric hunting celebration and they continued to give honor to a beast that surrendered its life for humankind sake (Armstrong 24). The main aims of practicing these rituals were to bring to mind an anxiety in a way that ancient society must confront and take control of it. From the beginning, this shows that homo religiosus life was centered in the tragic facts that life focus upon destruction of these creatures. Some of the

Grief Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Grief - Assignment Example The struggles to search for him were characterized by sleepless nights and huge expenditures as we all offered ourselves to ensure his survival. K.L was the most supportive member of the family who all of us admired. He was humble, honest, and charming; this made us love him the most. When he went missing and finally died in unknown circumstances, we were hurt more than if it was someone else. The saying by Lewis revived my pain and grief. I now feel as if the sorrowful events that I experienced during the period of lose have just recurred. After reading the saying, I tried to compare what I feel when people in the neighborhood die and what I felt for K.L.; there is a big difference between in the pain and grief I experience when a distant person dies or encounters worst situations. Lewis’s saying reflected on my experiences by reminding me the intense pain and grief I experienced after the disappearance and burial of K.L. According to Winokuer and Harris (2012), reading statements of grief and pain resets the painful and grievous memories of the past found in the sub-conscious mind. This is true because as human beings forget the past, anything related to their life events makes them recall past occurrences. I belief that there is a way we would be honest with ourselves and have it in a different way. Pain and grief are natural elements that all human beings must experience as long as they love. However, we should not anguish forever and destroy our lives. Winokuer and Harris (2012 assert that people experiencing grief should seek the services of a counselor to enable them appreciate situations and take care of their lives. Grief manifests itself through several ways, and it occurs in stages with each stage bringing different emotions (Holleran, 2006). Grief manifests itself through shock; shock constitutes a natural form of adaptation that prevents the victims from the impact of death

Overcoming Terrorist Issues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Overcoming Terrorist Issues - Essay Example Thousands of people could have been affected and even killed if the terrorists had carried out their plan. The terrorists do not plan on only using physical weapons in public places. They have also decided to use biological terrorism by sending viruses into public areas. An example comes from the office of Tom Daschle, when the noted Anthrax virus was sent out in the mail. While nobody at the office was affected by this, it does help to underline the fear of a biological agent being released into society. Biological agents have been a known means of warfare and have been in existence for some time. For example, when the Cold War was in effect, both the United States and the Soviet Union had developed means of biological warfare. One that is currently largely feared to be used by the terrorists is the concept of botulism. Botulism, which is a very harsh form of food poisoning, could be spread among the agriculture of the United States and could thus cause widespread sickness and panic in the country (Medicine, n.d.). The terrorists could easily use both large scale and small scale concepts to spread this disease if they choose to. It has been widely admitted by the United States and many doctors that work in America that the country is not prepared for any large scale attack of biological warfare (Yungher, 2008). ... Since botulism is such an ardent fear and such a horrible disease, the only way to overcome it and to avoid a widespread panic would be to develop vaccinations against it (Center for Disease Control, n.d.). Furthermore, the vaccinations would have to be readily available and inexpensive for individuals to afford. Therefore, the government will have to put up its own money in order to invest in the wellness of its people. This will be important for assisting and protecting the Americans against any kind of biological attack, or biological warfare. Botulism is one of the most marked fears when it comes to biological terrorism, but other diseases are also causes for concern. Therefore, the government should fund a program that will focus on finding remedies for agents that might be used in a case of biological warfare. This department should also make sure that enough medicine is available if a wide crisis does ensue. Preparation for this kind of panic is one of the best ways to counter -act it. If the United States does not begin to prepare, it could have a very severe issue on its hands, and its population could be easily decimated and destroyed by sickness. 2. From a Jihad perspective, justify the choice of joining the cause. Explain your reasoning for supporting it. Why would one who was a Muslim wish to join the Jihad on America What would be the reasons for joining the cause There are several reasons why this concept is attractive to many people in Islamic countries. First, the concept of Jihad fits into the perspective of the Islamic religion. While most sects of Islam that take Jihad in its full seriousness are considered radicals, it can be

A New Company Valuation Model and its Application On the Royal Bank of Essay

A New Company Valuation Model and its Application On the Royal Bank of Scotland Plc - Essay Example Bank of Scotland consortium, where the transaction price was approximately â‚ ¬72billion and in the end, this investment was found to be worth nearly zero. Investors have lost billions of pounds and dollars amidst hypes of valuations in practically everything where one may look for an opportunity to invest safely and expect returns. One of the reasons for such losses is that investors are not sufficiently well informed about their investment decisions that they are making or the risks that they are taking on. Buyers tend to depend upon market information published by various organisations or rating agencies. The irony is, these agencies themselves have been inflating the values amidst their own problems. Accordingly, the valuation of companies should no longer be treated as sacrosanct. The specialised lengthy and complex process that companies carry out to make decisions pertaining to mergers and acquisitions can no longer be taken for what it is. Every investor buying shares in a listed company should have reasonable visibility into the value of the company so that he/she can judge the risks and develop balanced portfolios. This dissertation will document comprehensively the current generally accepted concepts and methodologies of company valuation techniques. In addition it will be my endeavour to propose an integrated model in which the investors can apply data and information and evaluate the company value with a reasonable level of accuracy. In this dissertation an effort has been made to address the problems related to the methodology of valuations that has been adopted recently to predict the net worth of companies. The current financial valuation techniques of a company primarily comprise of four methods (Jacob, 2004: pp1-4 and Fernandes, 2007: pp2-19); All four methods result in different ways of thinking and often in different valuations. The investors normally do not understand which method is more suitable for them to use for making the most informed

Competitive Review of PepsiCo Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Competitive Review of PepsiCo - Term Paper Example PepsiCo is one of the biggest soft drink, beverage, and convenient snacks companies. Pepsi has been bringing refreshments to its customers for over 100 years. It has almost 18 brands in its portfolio. The soft drink and beverage market is highly competitive with changing customer tastes and preferences and therefore to maintain sustainable growth the management constantly has to introduce new marketing strategies, conduct market research and thereby position and reposition their brands or introduce new brands. Introduction of new brands has always been a favorite marketing strategy with PepsiCo management.    Pepsi has 18 mega brands available in nearly 200 countries and generates sales at the retail level of more than $1 billion. (See appendix 2 for PepsiCo mega brands and annual retail sales of each) Demand for non-alcoholic beverages is driven by consumer tastes and demographics. The profitability of individual companies depends on effective marketing. Large manufacturers have economies of scale in production and distribution, with average annual revenue per production worker close to $1 million. Small companies can compete by producing new products, catering to local tastes, or selling at lower prices.    Coca Cola is the world’s number 1 producer of carbonated soft drinks is Pepsi’s biggest rival. In the soft drinks industry, Coca Cola and Pepsi together have a market share of 95%. Where Coca Cola has a market share of 43.1% and Pepsi has a market share of 39.2%.    The target customers for Pepsi customers are mostly teens and young adults between the ages of 12 to 35 who are fast and lively. They have high expectations in life and are very mobile and active. Pepsi promotes itself as the choice of the â€Å"New Generation†.   One of its recent advertisement slogans is â€Å"Taste the one that's forever young ". â€Å"According to the Competitive Advantage model of Porter, a competitive strategy takes offensive or defensive action to create a defendable position in an industry, in order to cope successfully with competitive forces and generate a superior Return on Investment†(competitive advantage Porter).

ASSIGNMENT Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Assignment Example Users can then withdraw money from their NationHela cards using the readily available mobile phone money transfer schemes. Alternatively, a user can pay for purchases using the loaded NationHela card at outlets that accept debit cards. Using a NationHela debit card is extremely convenient for most people as it eliminates the risks involved in carrying cash. One does not also need to go to the bank for each withdrawal since the system allows users to withdraw money through their mobile phones. NationHela is the best money transfer method, for Kenyan freelancers to use in receiving money from abroad because it is dependable, trustworthy, and versatile. The advert is trying to sell NationHela as dependable way of receiving money from abroad and does so in a manner that psychologically and visually convinces the reader. It employs factors such as symbolism, color, and psychological manipulation. The African people have always visualized the dollar as a symbol of financial freedom and ema ncipation from poverty. Portraying the money in US dollars plays with the reader’s mind such that it gives the impression of added wealth. This way, a reader is convinced that they are going to experience the much needed financial liberation if they use the NationHela card. Therefore, NationHela is a dependable way for freelancers to improve their financial status. Color plays a significant role in conveying messages. The lady in the picture is wearing a pink top, pink necklace, pink earrings, and a blue pair of jeans. In addition, she is carrying a black and white stripped handbag and portrays an image of a successful, well-groomed woman. These features influence the female customers to think that using NationHela will give them success in life. Pink is a symbol of feminism mostly associated with affluence. The use of pink works on the psychology of potential female customers. It convinces them that they will be able to acquire beauty and style with the money received via Na tionHela. A handbag is a lady’s accessory that primarily carries money among other things. The handbag in the advertisement consists of black and white. Black symbolizes wealth and power in Western culture (Symbolism of color. Using color for meaning) whereas white symbolizes simplicity and precision. Therefore, a combination of the two colors on the handbag implies that the woman is carrying power and wealth and that this wealth has been obtained in an effortless and precise manner. A blue NationHela debit card is included at the bottom left corner of the advert. People perceive blue as â€Å"trustworthy, dependable, and committed† (â€Å"Color: Meaning, Symbolism and Psychology†). Thus, the blue debit card together with the symbolism of other colors in the advert give the impression that NationHela is a trustworthy venture for freelancers, making it the best money transfer method. A lucrative commercial also employs the right models to portray the intended mes sage correctly. The advert uses two models, a male and a female. The female model has a pleasantly surprised look on her face, seems extremely happy, and looks back at an outstretched hand holding 500 US dollar notes. It looks as if like she was on her way to a different place before a hand holding cash beckoned her. The other model’s appearance is not fully shown with only the hand appearing in the picture. In spite of this, one can deduce

500 Word Essay Essay Example for Free

500 Word Essay Essay What a thing of beauty is the well-written 500-word essay. In some ways, it is the perfect length to express a certain level of knowledge about a particular subject. It is long enough to allow the writer to show familiarity, and possibly expertise, regarding her chosen topic. But it is not a length that requires copious amounts of research. When sufficiently motivated, one can manage to research, write, and revise such an essay in an hour or two, given enough practice. Given the fact that students will write dozens, if not hundreds, of essays in their high school and college careers, it can be advantageous to become familiar with the mechanics, tools, and resources associated with essay writing. The mechanics of a paper include such elements as accurate spelling, correct grammar, and proper formatting. The conscientious writer does not simply rely on spell check to make sure his paper does not contain misspellings. A thorough proofreading will catch mistakes that spell check misses. For instance, spell check might not know the difference between homophones such as â€Å"there,† â€Å"their,† and â€Å"they’re. † A careful review by the writer (or a friend) should catch these errors. Using correct grammar in all its forms – the parts of speech, subject-verb agreement, and punctuation – can ensure that brilliant writing is not overshadowed by careless or sloppy mechanics (Writing Mechanics). The â€Å"look† of the paper is important as well. High school teachers and college professors alike appreciate readable papers with a consistent appearance. This means using the Times New Roman font, size 12, and double-spacing the body of the essay. The title should also be a size 12 font, center justified, with the first word, the last word, and other important words all capitalized. The default margin settings of one inch at the top, bottom, left, and right, give the paper a professional look. While having a crisp, clean look is valuable, the substance of the paper is of the greatest importance. Supplementing one’s own personal knowledge with well-researched material is the key to a terrific essay. A 500-word essay is not going to require as much research as a six- or ten-page paper. The individual assignment and the topic will determine where to seek out information. But once the research is done, the bibliography (or Works Cited list) can be assembled quite easily using EasyBib (EasyBib). What used to be quite a laborious task – putting sources in the correct MLA format, then alphabetizing them all – is now a fairly automatic process using this handy website. Some students are intimidated when given a writing assignment. Hopefully, the hints given in this essay will make it easier for students to get started on their own essays. Becoming fairly automatic about formatting a paper prevents too much time from being wasted â€Å"reinventing the wheel. † Using viable, trustworthy websites and resources for research will help writers supplement their own knowledge. Knowing how to organize these resources into a coherent bibliography will cap off the paper quite nicely. Using these â€Å"tricks of the trade† should help students concentrate on the composition of their papers, and not obsess on the minutiae.

Relationships Between Risk And Criminology

Relationships Between Risk And Criminology Explore the relationship between risk and criminology. To what extent, if any, have ideas about risk influenced our concepts and management of crime? This essay will explore the relationship between risk and criminology. In doing so, it will examine arguments surrounding a modern day society of risk, to demonstrate a strong intrinsic link between the two. This argument will show the direct link by highlighting how crime prevention approaches seem to control and manage the opportunities for crime. It will shown how arguments and the foundations of risk communication (Beck, 1992: 4; Denney, 2005: 82-103) have helped shape the modern day view of crime management, by presenting examples formulated from a perspective of risk management. Early theoretical attempts to crime management, as suggested by Foucault (1977), revolve around the individual where rehabilitation or conformity is obtained from the individual via controls, such as surveillance (Denney, 2005: 114-6). Prisons are particularly relevant, where Foucault progresses theses ideas of attempting to regulate the individual into an accepted behaviour. Foucault (1977: 25) was suggesting that society had developed technologies of power which were then used to discipline and punish individuals who strayed from what society felt tolerable. Furedi (2002: 12) states: an enlightened society recognizes that human beings need to take risks and that in so doing, they will sometimes experience an adverse outcome. Risk is part of life and a society that adopts the view that preventing injury is an end in itself will have to ban a variety of creative and challenging activities. By offering this definition, Furedi was accepting that we live in a risk society as described by Hardy (2006: 41) as technical factors outweigh social ones and risk analysis is increasingly developed in relation to technological domain and therefore demonstrates how technology has been used in society to determine risk within that society. Thus offering evidence of high risk areas utilising insurance models, as endorsed by the Home Office, to construct crime reduction strategies. OMalley (2009b) also highlights that risk society is an integral part of modern day life and connects risk management techniques to most problems, including criminology. OMalley (2003: 449) eludes to the fact that there has been a noticed shift from crime management of individuals where behaviour control was the kingpin, drawing on actuarial and insurance based approaches. Cohen (1985: 82) was the first to highlight the fact that there was a rapid change to crime prevention involving situational crime prevention, which involved mapping out opportunities for crime and reducing the risk of its occurrence. Feeley and Simon (1994: 175) view risk as the use of statistical models of prediction to reduce harm, whilst Rose (2000: 322) claims that risk involves the use of non-statistical models to minimise risk based on models of uncertainty. Criminologists appear to favour a mixture of both since Haggerty (2003: 193-194) points out that crime prevention techniques seem to involve the management of risk with little reference to statistical models but involves encouraging members of the community to keep a watchful eye over their surroundings, i.e. Neighbourho od Watch. Risk is viewed by people in many different ways for example, victims view risk in terms of the fear of crime a factor becoming more focused by the Government and the actual risks that a criminal is prepared to take in order to achieve their goal or reward. OMalley (2009a: 2) highlights two reports published in the 80s: The Floud Report (1982) and the Greenwood Report (Rand Corporation 1982) which brought in a new approach to crime management by recommending that risk considerations should be embedded in to the Criminal Justice System. OMalley (2009a: 2) writes that recommendations from the Floud Report included implementation of protective sentences which he argued could restructure risk and would not focus on the individual but on the size of the community most at risk from the offender. Likewise, he states that the Greenwood Report argued that the use of statistical models to identify high risk offenders would be an efficient way to allocate longer sentences in order to minimise the risk they present to the community. The resultant was that a few Criminologists (Cohen, 1985; Feely and Simon, 1992; OMalley, 2003) began to shift from correctional theories to develop predictive models to manage crime. Feeley and Simon (1994) pushed the idea of actuarial justice for decisions on sentencing durations by displacement due to incapacitation, thus managing the offender via the Criminal Justice System. A working example of this is the Prolific Priority Offender (PPO), where an individual is categorised and then receives enhanced attention via the Criminal Justice system, (Home Office, 2008). Generally, this approach has been met with criticism (Rose, 2000: 333) where predictive models may criminalise and incapacitate individuals who may not re-offend. There is also a danger of creating further offenders via the labelling theory (Vold et al, 2002: 210-216; Newman and Marongiu, 1997: 158-9). Both the American three strike rule and fact that within the UK convicted sex offenders must inform the Police of their address in order to be risk managed signalled a move within the Criminal Justice System where risk assessment was a part of the whole process. Baumann (2000: 208-10) identified the use of risk management within the pe nal system creating two separate groups the high risk ones who are not given much rehabilitation and the lower risk groups who are viewed with high suspicion regarding their ability to reform and are then excluded from society. Feeley and Simons (1994) research goes a long way to corroborate Baumanns position as it found that predictive models of actuarial justice appeared to target Black and Hispanic working class people in America. Risk management within the Criminal Justice System attempt to minimise the opportunity for criminals to re-offend. As part of risk management, the UK Government has expanded its Protective Services and ensures that agencies work closely together in order to manage specific risk offenders. The probation Service leads DMAPP and CMAPP meetings where an offender on licence can be judged to be a risk to the community and if so may have some draconian powers utilised to restrict and control them. As pointed out by OMalley (2003: 450) situational crime prevention is not concerned with causes of crime and does not encroach on rehabilitation or incarceration of the offender. Instead, it is concerned with how to manage the risk of crime. OMalley recognises the actuarial characteristics of situational crime prevention is more aligned with neo-conservative, rationalist and the New Right whose beliefs are concerned with population management, increased punishment for offenders and displacing the risk to help reduce the fear of crime and enhance societies economic status. Previous theories identified opportunities such as open windows as a high crime risk, situational crime prevention goes further and introduces the concept of the offender having a rational choice (Vold et al, 2002: 203). Cornish and Clarke (2003: 43) allude to prompts and suggest that situational cues are what can trigger criminal behaviour. Therefore, whilst situational crime prevention is concerned with risk manag ement, it introduces the concept that the offender chooses to offend for specific reasons. Rational choice (Vold et al, 2002: 203) suggests that the offender weighs up the risks associated with committing the offence against the benefits from successfully completing the actions to see if the crime is worth committing. Therefore, OMalley (2003) proposes that actuarial justice draws heavily from rational choice theory by doubting the reasons for the offence and constructs the individual as abstract, universal and rational (OMalley, 2003: 451). In the same way that individuals feel they have a right to freedom, rational choice allows such freedoms to do good and therefore when an individual chooses to do harm, then they must be judged accordingly. Foucault noticed that the Criminal Justice System was created with a notion that there were other factors responsible for crime, thus reducing the opportunity for responsibility (Foucault, 1977: 252). OMalley (2003: 451) maintains that the criminal abstract, using an arterial justice framework, the issue of responsibility and its place within the Criminal Justice framework is once again prominent and matched by the New Right philosophy of punitive and just deserts sentencing framework. Incapacitation seems to be the main argument used by supporters of situational crime prevention because they feel it removes the offender from the opportunity of committing further crime and indeed the prison population in the UK and America are at an all time high. Race, class, gender are not routinely a considered factor within situational crime prevention and when they are, OMalley (2003) states: If bothered with at all, they are taken to be predictive of behaviours, not explanatory of meaningful actions (OMalley, 2003: 452). Situational crime prevention brings the victim back to the centre of crime management and criminal justice techniques, placing public safety at the forefront. Although situational crime draws from rational choice theory to explain the behaviour of the offender, it does the same for the victim. This model is about the victim also taking a lead role and being part of the crime prevention model by being aware of any vulnerabilities they are exposing by the surroundings or their actions. This thinking, as proposed by Cohen and Felson (1979) are the foundations of Routine Activity Theory. They claim that criminology concentrated on the offender and paid little attention to the criminal act itself. They increased the argument that lifestyle changes, such as employment, leisure and education influenced the occurrence of crimes and that individuals needed to evaluate these risks and make rational decisions, thus making them less likely to be targets. Cohen and Felson (1979: 593-7) concentrat ed on the location where the crime actually occurred and the surrounding conditions that contributed to making the crime viable. Routine activity theory articulates that a crime can only happen when one or more criminals are motivated and the individuals see an opportunity to commit the crime. The associated argument that managing risk is part of routine activity theory further supports the fact that the criminal must be able to observe few preventative barriers that would make the commission of the crime unsuccessful. From these arguments, Cohen and Felson (1979: 588) highlighted that changes in the way property and valuables are dealt with would have an impact upon the opportunity for crime. The impact of risk analysis, according to Cohen and Felson (1979: 588) is significant, as the risk of crime can be reduced by implementing preventative measures which make the commission of the crime unattractive to the criminal. Smith, Clarke and Pease (2002: 75) highlight research that shows crime prevention initiatives often have anticipatory benefits. These benefits broadly surround change, but are ultimately connected to communication a risk to the potential offender. These principle ideas on managing risk have had a tremendous influence on how crime is policed. Interestingly, Felson (1987) extended his application of routine activity theory to include white collar crime and organised crime. With the development of situational crime prevention Felson (1987) hoped to prevent crimes that were caused by changes in routine activity. Situational crime prevention sees the offender calculating the risks associated with committing the crime, for example, the likelihood that they will not be apprehended. By causing this, the consequences are a reduction in crime by reducing the opportunities. Therefore the risk considerations for both the victim and offender are significant in crime prevention strategies such as improved street lighting (Farrington and Welsh, 2006: 209-224) and the installation and use of closed circuit television (CCTV) (Welsh and Farrington, 2006: 193-208), together with more police patrols (Poyserm, 2004). Policing is increasingly using situational crime prevention strategies and techniques through risk assessment to study crime patterns and implement intervention. As part of the analysis, police use crime data together with environmental and social factors in vulnerable areas to identify who are likely targets and for what reasons. By utilising these techniques they are able to develop bespoke crime reduction strategies for that specific problem. Hamilton-Smith and Kent (2005: 423-5) explain have situational crime prevention techniques have been tailored to target dwelling burglary. They recognise and acknowledge that there have been many models developed to help achieve the reductions and management, but specifically highlight a recognised model by Cornish and Clarke, which is called the 25 techniques (Hamilton-Smith and Kent, 2005: 423; Cornish and Clarke, 2003: 42). Jones (2005: 471) utilises the Oxford English Dictionary (1989) to give a suitable definition of surveillance, which appears quite appropriate: Watch or guard kept over a person, etc., especially over a person, a prisoner; or the like often, spying, supervision; [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] supervision for the purpose of control, superintendence. [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] of devices, vessels, etc., used in military or police surveillance. Modern crime fighting techniques have positively developed from new forms of surveillance, starting with the prison which was the focus of Foucaults (1977) gaze and saw authorities monitoring the behaviour of prisoners in a structured manner. Braithwaite (2000: 224) took inspiration from Foucaults (1991) reference to the term governmentality and suggested that the state had developed many technological models to manage the risk of deviant behaviour and ensure order is kept to that considered acceptable by general society. These technologies concentrate on the management of risk to control crime and maintain social order. These methods are usually directed at crime control in order to affect social order. The management of some technologies are governed by legislation such as Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, (OPSI, 2000), yet they can still be abused, which can taint public perception (Big Brother Watch, 2009). Rose (2000) progresses the theory of modulation where the behaviour of social members is controlled by various agencies. Rose believes that this is also a form of risk management aimed at reducing deviance. Rose states: Control society is one of constant and never ending modulation where the modulation occurs within the flows and transactions between the forces and capacities of the human subject and the practices in which he or she participates. (Rose, 2000: 325) The view of Rose supports that of Deleuze (1995: 3-7) who states we live in societies of control. Basically, both commentators hypothesis that prison is no longer the sole place where deviance and risk are controlled, but where the use of digital technology are an important part of the risk assessment toolbox in order to monitor behavior and reduce crime through analyzing risky situations. Melossi (2000: 296-7) argues that the representation of the criminal is not static and therefore surveillance methods and crime control have to change to reflect this contextual dynamism. It is for this reason that continuous risk assessments of hot spots, vulnerable areas and criminal behavior is touted by supporters of situational crime prevention as necessary in order to maintain public order, protection of the public and to control the fear of crime. A relatively new concept in policing is the introduction of hotspots which are used to enhance the service and reduction of crime in a cost effective manner. Hotspots (Braga, 2006: 179-190) are usually busy urban areas, low level crime but high frequency or a pocket of heavy crime occurrence. Risk management is not without its issues and when things go wrong they can have a significant impact on the publics confidence with agencies designed to prevent such failings (BBC News, 2008; BBC News, 2010). The Police service is reacting and learning from these and similar failings and by using risk management techniques has brought a new term in to their daily assessment process, this being People Susceptible to Harm (PSH). Sherman and Weisburd (1995: 634) feel that strategic work around hotspots is more successful than general beat patrolling. They suggest that the police often do not have enough resources to adequately offer sufficient patrols, therefore by concentrating on hotspots, this will give the police a greater chance of observing the hotspot areas and increase the risks for the criminal, thus reducing their likelihood of committing a crime. This argument was supported by their research in Kansas, United States, where they analyzed the influence of police presence in hotspot areas. They found that the increase in patrols in hotspot areas reduced crime which was attributed to criminals apprehension of being caught. Risk has also contributed to the development of community policing within the UK. The success of community policing is based on the ethos that individuals who belong to a community are more likely to be attentive to reducing crime opportunities in their area. It also encourages the community to work with the police to improve crime prevention and their environment, such as lack of good street lighting, overgrown shrubs in alleyways and Neighborhood Watch Schemes. Skogan (2006: 29-31) proposes that community policing incorporates three factors that help police manage the risk of crime: community involvement, problem solving and decentralization. By depending upon the public to provide information to help the police in order for them to reduce the risk of crime, it is clear that modern policing shows how important managing the risk of crime is. Community Forums, where the community members are invited to help set policing priorities and together with other agencies, help tackle crime i s now well embedded in to all areas of the UK (Communities 2010). The application of the broken windows theory within policing has influenced crime management. According to the broken windows theory, consistent public disorder within a community that goes unchecked will lead to more and more serious crime and a downward spiral of urban decay (Kelling and Coles, 1996: 20). Drawing from situational crime prevention, the UK police encourage the community members to report litter, damage, graffiti and broken windows since it is thought that if they are left unchecked this would contribute to the deterioration of society and contribute to crime. The increased use of CCTV is further evidence of risk management influencing crime prevention. The use of CCTV may deter crime due to the increased risk the criminal will be aware of (Brown, 1995: 1-2). This point is extended by Edwards and Tilley (1994: 12) who demonstrate that the use of CCTV reduces crime due to its ability to provide evidence to help convict the offender. Not only does it act as a crime deterrent, but it also acts as a sign for potential victims who are then more aware of the need for them to take preventative steps to reduce potential opportunities for crime. An example of CCTV being used as a risk management tool to reduce crime is in publicity and visibility of the cameras, such as in many public car parks and trains. Such use of CCTV has significantly assisted in the reduction of theft and robberies on the transport system (Laycock and Tilley, 1995: 535). Hayden, Williamson and Webber (2007: 298-304) demonstrated how Nottinghamshire police used risk assessment methods to identify youth offending and correlated post codes to highlight areas of high anti-social behaviour among young people in specific locations for targeting. They show how police in the UK employ the use of geodemographic classifications, alongside statistical and operational data gathered from the police crime reports, and analyze the data using GIS system. There has been a significant increase in the use of GIS in many parts of the UK to map crime and use spatial analysis to identify hotspots for many kinds of crime and therefore inform policing measures to counter these occurrences. The increased effort to manipulate environmental factors which could cause crime and to encourage safer communities is directly linked to the polices use of risk management. Community crime prevention is a major part of social justice and community cohesion in the UK. The implementation of community prevention initiatives, such as Safer Cities, Safer Communities, Sure Start programmes are examples of how risk considerations have influenced crime prevention in the UK (Home Office, 2004). While they do not wholly employ a risk model, by rejecting socio-economic circumstances of offenders, they rely on risk management principles to identify areas which need policing and individuals who are at risk to commit crimes. Ekblom and Tilley (2000: 377) highlight that the police concentrate on the origin of the offence and distribute resources accordingly to make committing an offence more complex for the offender, which is another example of how risk management has influenced crime reduction. Crime prevention technologies, such as electronic tags (Denney, 2005: 128; McDougall et al, 2006: 123-4) and how police have increased their technology to monitor receivers, demonstrates the modern day crime prevention strategies in identifying and managing various risks of crime to occur. Installing and maintaining adequate street lighting is a technique used to enhance the belief by the offender that they are more likely to be observed and apprehended. Painter and Farrington (1999: 80-83) conducted research in to street lighting as a method of crime prevention which reported some success. Their case study of street lighting improvements in Stoke-on-Trent found that crime was reduced in areas which had lighting u pgrades. The theory of using street lighting to control the commission of crime is based on the theory that the offender will form the opinion that there will be a reduced reward and increased risk of being caught. A knock on effect is reducing the fear of crime within the community which has the effect of improving community cohesion (Painter and Farrington, 1999: 82). Likewise, the introduction of electronic entry/exit systems to hotspot areas such as estate buildings and problematic car parks increases the publics awareness and encourages them to burglar proof their dwellings and park their cars in garages as often as they can is evidence of risk management influencing crime control policy. The basic philosophy being that of reducing the appeal of potential targets to potential offenders. More recently, particularly after 9/11, risk management led crime prevention measures have contributed to intelligence led policing and how the crime authorities are able to prevent and respond to terrorism (Birkland, 2004: 186-89). The speed in which the London bombers were apprehended demonstrates the successful use of intelligence led policing (Denny, 2005: 136-138). Risk management strategies were effective in intercepting terrorist activities, especially via the use of CCTV. This is an example demonstrating that risk analysis of situational circumstances open to terrorists for crime have assisted policing in this area. Intelligence led policing is informed by problem oriented policing which seeks to analyze crime patterns to minimize the motivation of likely offenders and also to analyze and assess the police response to crimes committed and their effectiveness. In this manner, the policing of crime is constantly being improved in response to changing environmental and motivatio nal factors for crime (McGarrell et al, 2007: 143). Despite this, critics such as Hobsbawn (1994: 53) point out that increased risk assessments aimed to prevent situational crime has not reduced the crime rate. The UK is currently seeing its highest rate of prison population and this is expected to continue to increase further. One explanation for this increase in the recorded and detection of crimes is the rate of technological advancements, especially in relation to surveillance and intense policing. Hobsbawn (1994: 570) deliberates that modern day society is now in the crisis decades, whereby disorganization has reached unthinkable excesses. Melossi (2000: 314) contends that what we see today is the state increasing its control and risk technologies to temper the seemingly fractured and disorderly watched masses, while the imprisoned population increase and crime continues. It is clearly evident that there is now an intrinsic link between risk and criminology as the use of actuarial risk analysis methodologies is now an essential crime management tool within policing. Risk analysis in criminology is entrenched in the belief that man has a rational choice and the freedom to decide to do what is right or wrong. While risk methods have not being fully employed to secure incarcerations, measures such as Megans law in the United States the three strikes law, and the necessity for convicted sex offenders to report their addresses to police indicate that risk is being used to prevent crime. Furthermore, the prevalence of technologies such as CCTV, tagging, GIS to determine crime hot spots and increased street lighting initiatives demonstrate how actuarial models of risk are being employed effectively within criminology on a daily basis. Likewise situational crime prevention models are also being used on a daily basis to evaluate the risks of crime and reduce their opportunities.

Foreign Investment In The Philippines Marketing Essay

Foreign Investment In The Philippines Marketing Essay After researching the background of the Philippines economically, politically and socially, our company believes that it is ready to venture our business into the Philippines. What kind of business sector should the company look into that is not only suitable for the local but also profitable to the corporation? In year 2012, Philippines population has reached 103,775,002 and the increasing numbers of population has made the country the 12th largest population in the world today (Central Intelligence Agency, 2012). Due to the increasing population, it has opened up opportunity for foreign companies such as ours to create business investments in the Philippines. There are numbers of industry that our corporation can look into when thinking of doing business in the Philippines, for example the hotel industry. Philippines is well known for their beautiful beaches islands and attractive tourist destination thus tourism is one of the main economy in the Philippines. The spokesperson of Philippines Tourism, Abigail Valte, states that tourism has contributed US$12.83billion for the country and it has not only helps the economics of citizens of Philippines but it also contributes to their improved standard of living (Eturbonews, 2012). Besides the hotel industry, it is recommended that our company looks at stepping into the food and beverage industry. This is because eating good food has become one of the Filipinos habits. An average person will consume three heavy meals in a day but an average Pinoy can actually eat about 7 to 8 heavy meals which consists of the normal breakfast, snacks, lunch and dinner and additional of three meals which are merienda, pica-pica, pulutan. (Matthew Sutherland, 2010). Not only that, their love of food is proven when 0.8 out of 1 of their advertisements talks about food whether you are in a bus or cab, and advertisements on television channels also will include food (Panda B, 2011). Lastly, venturing into the fashion retail industry in the Philippines can be another option. Retailing has been one of the major contributors in job offering to the locals as well as one of the reasons behind of the success of the Philippines economy. According to The Philippine Retailers Association, retailing has contributed 15 percent of their gross national product (The Philippine Retailers Association, 2012). Other than that, Americans and the Spanish have exposed Filipinos to Western culture since the colonization. In addition, pinoys always wanted to look for new gadgets and clothes that are in the current market. Moreover, because of globalization and the use of the Internet, famous clothing brands such as Zara is successful within the Philippines. Retail Clothing Industry Our company should also consider venturing into the retail fashion and clothing industry in the Philippines. Retail clothing or apparel refers to the sales of products such as menswear, womens wear, and childrens clothes to consumers usually from a physical store in an area. The retail industry has seen tremendous growth over the past several years in the Philippines. According to the Philippine Retailers Association (2012), the retail industry contributes about 15% to the total gross national product (GNP) of Philippines. Furthermore, the retail sector creates employment for approximately 5.25 million people, equivalent to 18% of the labor force in the Philippines. Retail industry constitutes 33% to the Philippine service sector (Philippine Retailers Association, 2012). Therefore, it is possible for our company to benefit from the retail sector in the Philippines. The growth potential in the retail sector for our company is relatively positive. In 2010, Business Monitor International (BMI) reported in the Q111 BMI Philippines Retail Report that retail sales were forecasted to grow from PHP1.40 trillion (US$31.42 billion)  in 2011 to PHP1.65 trillion (US$37.06 billion)  by 2014 (Business Monitor International, 2010). This is due to consumer spending and the increasing level of income. Furthermore, an increase in dual-income families and young professionals can also potentially enhance retail sales. In recent years, in order to attract foreign investment and maintain global competitiveness, the Philippine government has also opened up its retail sector to foreign companies. In 2000, this is done through the Republic Act 8762, which is also known as the Retail Trade Liberalization Act. Section 2 of the Retail Trade Liberalization Act states that it is the policy of the State to promote consumer welfare in attracting promoting and welcoming productive investment that will bring down price for the Filipino consumer, create more jobs, promote tourism, assist small manufacturers, stimulate economic growth and enable Philippine goods and services to become globally competitive through the liberalization of the retail trade sector. Pursuant to this policy, the Philippine retail industry is hereby liberalized to encourage Filipino and competitive retail trade sector in the interest of empower the Filipino consumer through lower prices, higher quality goods, better services and wider cho ices (Republic Act 8762, 2000). This gives our company the opportunity to benefit from the incentives provided by this trade liberalization act when we venture into the clothing and fashion stores in the Philippines. As fashion and clothing lines generally targeted towards the young adult demographic, Philippines growing younger population play an important role in retail consumption. Based on UN data, Filipinos between the ages of 20 to 44 has been forecasted to increase to about 39% by 2015, 63% of the population will be economically active in 2015 and 70% of the population will be located in urban areas (Business Monitor International, 2010). The Philippines also has a thriving fashion industry and the citizens are fashion conscious, especially in the metropolitan areas such as Manila and other major cities. Every season, the Philippine Fashion Week is hosted to display designs from top brands around the world and local Philippine designers as well. In order for this firm to venture into the fashion business in the Philippines, the firm would need a platform in which to create exposure for the product and the Philippine Fashion Week can be an ideal place to start building brand recognition for our firm. Moreover, our company can also take advantage of the local talent pool and hire Filipino design experts with superior knowledge of the fashion industry in the Philippines. Entry Mode There are several ways that our company can enter the retail clothing industry in the Philippines. There are many ways to sell and distribute clothing in this todays world. Some retailers market and sell their clothes and products online, shipping directly to the consumer. Others open a physical boutique or retail outlet in locations such as shopping malls, flea markets, and so on. We suggest the company to look into establishing its own clothing brand or committing to a joint venture by procuring a stake in an existing brand of clothing in the Philippines. These two methods of entering the retail market have its own benefits and drawbacks to our company. Our company can look into building its own brand by producing and selling its own garments in retail outlets in the Philippines. As a foreign brand, the Philippines is an ideal market to establish the companys foothold as a retail clothing brand because Filipinos are receptive to foreign clothing brands such as Zara, Topshop and Gap. The younger urban Philippine citizens often purchase foreign brands; therefore, our company should look into setting up its new branch in a major city such as Manila before expanding the business to other parts of the country. Furthermore, our company can also set up an online platform in order to reach customers in the broader Philippine region as well. Setting up an entire new clothing brand can be challenging for our company as well as costly. However, our company should look into reducing production costs by manufacturing within the Philippines to reduce cost of transporting or lower manufacturing costs by outsourcing the production to a country with cheaper labor. The United States Department of Labor (2011) found that the hourly compensation costs in manufacturing in 2010 in the Philippines is $1.90, which is the lowest among all the countries compared in its study including Mexico, Taiwan and Brazil and others. On the other hand, our company can look into creating a joint venture with a local brand or a local designer. The Philippines has many talented local fashion designers that may not have the resources to manufacture and sell their clothing. Our company can provide the funds necessary for these designers to create a clothing line to sell to consumers. In this sense, our company saves cost in conducting market research, hiring new personnel to observe the industry trends and hiring designers to come up with new clothing because the designers are equipped with the knowledge of the fashion industry in the Philippines and are better versed in the fashion industry. This option is less risky than Greenfield venture because the company has limited liability should the venture fail. The company will only have fewer losses from the capital provided to the designer as compared to capital losses from creating an entire new brand from scratch. Food and Beverage Industry There are a few business sectors that our company could consider venturing in the Philippines. One of it is the Food Beverage (FB) industry. FB is an industry that specializes in the making of, conceptualization, and delivery of foods. The biggest sector in FB employees are in restaurants and bars, which includes hotels, resorts, and casinos. Based on statistics by the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) in Victoria (2009), Philippines is one of the worlds youngest population and fastest growing populations, which is 96 million and 65% of its people below 30 years of age. The difference between the rich and poor is large with 30% of them living below the poverty line. This wide gulf results in very contrasting food consumptions trends in the Philippines. In general, locally produced products are consumed and low-medium priced imported products are consumed by traditional markets whereas medium-high priced imported products are mainly found in five star hotel restaurants and foreign owned supermarkets in major urban centres such as Manila. The majority of food consumed by the Filipinos are mainly manufactured by local companies such as San Miguel and RFM Corporation, which produces all major food sectors, such as processed meat products, processed fruit and vegetables products, dairy products and snacks. These manufactured food plus with fresh meat, fruits and vegetables are the typical food for the low-middle class Filipinos, who are the dominant consumer in the Philippines. However, middle-high income earners are demanding for non-traditional and imported foods that are ready-to-eat and in turn for a modernization in the food-retailing sector. This is a good opportunity for our company to venture in the Philippines by exporting our local goods to meet their demands. According to a company that organizes trade expositions (2012), this year itself the foods and beverages industry is expected to grow around 5% to 10%, stimulated by the demand of healthier foods and beverages. As said by Mildred Caballero (2012), president of Tradecon, Right now, there is more focus on health food and health-related products. Now, when people buy food, they look for health benefits. That is the strength of the industry right now, in an interview at the fifth annual Philippines International Food and Beverage Expo. Other factors that influence and shape the countrys demand for food and beverage products are the Filipinos food-oriented culture that stresses on frequent snacking, the youth oriented food market (35% of the population is below 15 years old), the increasing workforce participation by women and dual income households, which results in greater demand for convenience food that is easy to prepare, and also the western influence on the food and beverage market . Entry Mode As consumers in the Philippines are becoming more health conscious, our company could export our local products and increase the range of their organic products. Although countries like United States and New Zealand are the top exporters of packaged foods to the Philippines, there is still opportunity for our company to provide them with healthier packaged food products such as seafood-based, vegetarian, all natural and organic products. It is also expected that more Filipinos are moving to urban areas due to better job opportunities and demand for easy meal preparation packaged food products will definitely increase. Apart from their traditional Filipino dishes being the majority meal solution, there are still opportunities for our local cuisine as the market slowly evolves to globalization. Despite that, we will have to consider factors like affordability due to limited disposable income of most households. Hotels and Accommodation The other business that is suitable in the Philippines is the hotel and resort business. As we know that, the hotel industry is related to the tourism industry in one country. Anticipating the tourism industry in the country can bring the answer whether to enter the market of hotel industry in that country is a valid decision. The tourism industry of Philippines had kept on building up as visitor arrivals from January to September 2012 had reached an amount of 3,149,985 for a 9.08% topping over last years arrivals of 2,887,715 for the same time of the year. Most markets throughout the mentioned period had showed increasing growth rates. Korea continued as the Philippiness top tourist market with 752,918 arrivals, for 23.90% of the total visitor volume, and displaying an expansion of 9.61%. Korea is followed by the U.S.A., which made up 485,484 or 15.41% of the total visitor arrivals. This market increase 4.01% from the 466,767 visitors registered for the same time last year. In the meantime, Japan supplied 311,008 arrivals for 9.87% share to total visitor volume, increasing the percentage up by 8.52% from 2011. China positioned at the fourth place with 6.25% share of the total visitor volume or total visitor arrivals of 196,926. This market registered total visitor arrivals of 171, 981 versus its double-digit expansion of 14.50% a year ago. Taiwan is positioned at fifth with 171,420 arrivals for a 5.44% share of the total visitor volume. This market expanded by 25.39% from 136,713 arrivals registered last year, therefore, setting the uppermost growth rate amongst the top five markets. After examining the tourism aspect of the Philippines, we also took the business environment of Philippines into consideration. With the lifting of restrictions on the foreign investment law, 100% foreign equity may be approved in all sectors of investment apart from those held in reserve for Filipinos by consent of the Philippine Constitution and existing laws. A foreign corporation has to initially acquire the essential licenses or registrations from the proper government organization. For corporations or partnerships, the required incorporation documents from the Securities and Exchange Commission must be attained. The government of Philippines appreciates the critical role of private sector investments and, thus, pledges to constantly improve the business environment. Foreign investments are inspired to fulfill capital gaps, assist in provide employment, enhance production, and supply a base for the overall growth of the economy.  Investment laws and regulations have therefore been loosened to ease the entry of foreign investments. Entry Mode There are a few form of entry that can be considered in entering the hotel industry in Philippines. The form of entry that is deemed suitable is through merger and acquisition. Mergers and acquisitions  (M A) is a common term used to signify the combining of companies. A merger is the merging of two companies to create a new company, whereas an acquisition is the acquirement of a company by another where no new company is established. (Investopedia, 2012) We have chosen this form of entry with valid reasons. Due to the established market in Philippines, it is appropriate to use this form of entry to enter the market. Using MA also provides a certain advantage that is to minimize the time needed to start the business which includes building a hotel or resort from scratches. The effort of gathering human resources to manage the business is also nullified to the minimum since the basic labor force has already existed and the company only needs to delegate the management sector of the business. Since the hotel industry is a high capital and high risk business, we avoid using the Greenfield form of entry for the risk it imposes. Currency and the International Monetary Policy The currency in Philippines is Peso or officially piso. The currency code or an international abbreviation for Peso is PHP and the symbol of it would be P (a line or a double line in the middle of the capital P). The currency rankings show that the most popular Philippines Peso exchange rate is the PHP to USD rate. Peso is divided into 100 centavos (officially centimo). Currently in November 2012, the U.S. dollar is worth about 41 pesos and the Euro about 52 pesos. Current are coins of 1, 5, 10, and 25 centavos and 1 and 5 pesos, and bank notes of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1000 pesos. Five and ten peso note is no longer printed, but still legal tender. In 1997, all old Philippine currency was replaced by new banknotes and coins. Notes from before 1997 cannot be used anymore. In December 2010, a new series of banknotes was announced. The old notes will remain valid for at least three more years. New coins have been announced for 2012. The Security Plant Complex of the Bangko Se ntral ng Pilipinas is where the coins and banknotes are made. In 2009, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas announced that has launched a massive redesign for current banknotes and coins to further enhance security features and improve durability. Sources from Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the members of the numismatic committee include Bangko Sentral Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo and Dr. Ambeth Ocampo Chairman of the National Historical Institute. The new banknote designs feature famous Filipinos and iconic natural wonders. Philippine national symbols will be depicted on coins. The BSP started releasing the initial batch of new banknotes in December 2010 while new coins will be introduced beginning 2012. Current banknotes will remain legal tender for at least three years exactly in December 2013. Table below is the current exchange rates taken last updated on Tuesday, 6 November 16:00 Currency Code Rate Rate pesos / foreign currency foreign currency / peso US dollar USD 41.251 0.024242 Euro EUR 52.801 0.018939 Japanese yen JPY 0.51463 1.9431 Australian dollar AUD 43.057 0.023225 Brasilian real BRL 20.282 0.049304 Bulgarian lev BGN 26.997 0.037041 Canadian dollar CAD 41.504 0.024094 Chinese yuan renminbi CNY 6.5865 0.15183 Croatian kuna HRK 7.0098 0.14266 Czech koruna CZK 2.0866 0.47925 Danish krone DKK 7.0777 0.14129 Hong Kong dollar HKD 5.3225 0.18788 Hungarian forint HUF 0.18737 5.3370 Indian rupee INR 0.75780 1.3196 Indonesian rupiah IDR 0.0042883 233.20 Israeli New Shekel ILS 10.588 0.094443 Latvian lats LVL 75.831 0.013187 Lithuanian litas LTL 15.292 0.065393 Malaysian ringgit MYR 13.463 0.074277 Mexican peso MXN 3.1699 0.31546 New Romanian leu RON 11.684 0.085586 New Turkish lira TRY 23.218 0.043069 New Zealand dollar NZD 34.173 0.029263 Norwegian krone NOK 7.2113 0.13867 Polish zloty PLN 12.813 0.078048 Pound sterling GBP 65.923 0.015169 Russian rouble RUB 1.3100 0.76335 Singapore dollar SGD 33.715 0.029660 South African rand ZAR 4.7359 0.21115 South Korean won KRW 0.037819 26.442 Swedish krona SEK 6.1596 0.16235 Swiss franc CHF 43.728 0.022869 Thai baht THB 1.3410 0.74569 The Philippines has used the floating exchange rate system for many years. As a result, it was not one of the Asian Tigers that thrived under fixed exchange rates. When the tiger economies moved to the floating exchange rate system, their economies collapsed in what is was called the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997. In recent years, the Philippines have moved away from a strict application of the floating exchange rate system (Central Banks description of policy). Philippine banks are allowed to purchase foreign currency for their own accounts, following the Central Banks guidelines. These guidelines require depository banks to maintain 100% cover for their foreign currency liabilities (except for US dollar denominated repurchase agreements with the Central Bank- Section 73). In addition, the Central Bank admits that it intervenes in the market to stabilize the currency and ensure the competitiveness of Philippine products. From the official foreign reserves, the Philippines now build up official foreign reserves and since 2003 has had current account surpluses. Its foreign investments have increased from the equivalent of 2.6 months imports in 1995 to the equivalent of more than 9 months imports in 2009. It appears to be stabilizing the exchange rate and raising its foreign reserves. This movement away from the strict application of Friedmans floating exchange rate system is injecting new money into the Philippine economy, thereby stimulating economic growth, which reached 8% in real terms in 2007. At the same time, it is improving the external balance of payments position of its economy. In addition, it is contributing to the economic growth of the Philippines. The graph below shows the growth imports and exports in the Philippines. The global financial crisis has reduced exports in 2008 and 2009 and reduced imports in 2009. http://www.buoyanteconomies.com/Philip1.gif Exports and Imports in current dollar terms (source Central Bank of the Philippines) Even so, further reform to monetary policy of the Philippines could see that economy grow more rapidly to utilize the existing high level of unemployed resources while maintaining balance of payments stability.