Mcdonald’s Market Structure

Introduction By the late- 1990s fast-food chain McDonalds had enjoyed 40 years of exceptional performance. McDonald's brand mission is to be a customers' favorite place and way to eat. McDonald's worldwide operations are aligned around a global strategy called the Plan to Win, which center on an exceptional customer experience – People, Products, Place, Price and Promotion. They are committed to continuously improving theirs operations and enhancing customers' experience. McDonalds place the customer experience at the core of all they do. McDonald’s customers are the reason for their existence.So, McDonalds’s demonstrate appreciation by providing them with high quality food and superior service in a clean, welcoming environment, at a great value. Their goal is quality, service, cleanliness and value for each and every customer, each and every time. McDonalds are committed to people. They provide opportunity, nurture talent, develop leaders and reward achievement. They believe that a team of well-trained individuals with diverse backgrounds and experiences, working together in an environment that fosters respect and drives high levels of engagement, is essential to continued success.McDonald’s business model, depicted by three-legged stool of owner or operators, suppliers, and company employees, is foundation, and balancing the interests of all three groups is a key. McDonalds operate their business ethically. Sound ethics is good business. At McDonald’s, they hold their selves and conduct the business to high standards of fairness, honesty, and integrity. McDonalds are individually accountable and collectively responsible. McDonalds give back to our communities.They take seriously the responsibilities that come with being a leader. McDonald’s help their customers build better communities, support Ronald McDonald House Charities, and leverage their size, scope and resources to help make the world a better place. McDonald s grow their business profitably. McDonald’s is a publicly traded company. As such, they work to provide sustained profitable growth for their shareholders. This requires a continuous focus on McDonald’s customers and the health of our system. McDonalds strive continually to improve.They are a learning organization that aims to anticipate and respond to changing customer, employee and system needs through constant evolution and innovation. Task 1 History of McDonalds The  McDonald's  restaurant concept was introduced in  San Bernardino, California  by  Dick and Mac McDonald  of  Manchester, New Hampshire. It was modified and expanded by their business partner,  Ray Kroc, of  Oak Park, Illinois, who later bought out the business interests of the McDonald brothers in the concept and went on to found  McDonald's Corporation.In October 1948, after the McDonald brothers realized that most of their profits came from selling hamburgers, they closed down th eir successful carhop  drive-in to establish a streamlined system with a simple menu of just hamburgers, cheeseburgers, french fries, shakes, soft drinks, and apple pie. The carhops were eliminated to make McDonald's a  self-serve  operation. Mac and Dick McDonald had taken great care in setting up their kitchen like an  assembly line  to ensure maximum efficiency. The restaurant's name was again changed, this time to simply â€Å"McDonald's,† and reopened its doors on December 12, 1948.In 1960, the McDonald's advertising campaign â€Å"Look for the  Golden Arches† gave sales a big boost. Kroc believed that advertising was an investment that would in the end come back many times over and advertising has always played a key role in the development of the McDonald's Corporation. Indeed, McDonald's ads have been some of the most identifiable over the years. In 1962, McDonald's introduced its now world-famous Golden Arches logo. A year later, the company sold i ts billionth hamburger and introduced  Ronald McDonald, a red-haired clown designed to appeal to children.Arise of Burger King In the late 1970s, competition from other hamburger chains such as  Burger King began to intensify. Experts believed that the fast-food industry had become as big as it ever would, so the companies began to battle fiercely for market share. A period of aggressive advertising campaigns and price slashing in the early 1980s became known as the â€Å"burger wars. † Burger King suggested to customers: â€Å"have it your way† and had attracted many customer and affected McDonald's sales and market share.The predecessor to what is now the international fast food restaurant chain Burger King was founded in 1953 in  Jacksonville, Florida, as Insta-Burger King. Inspired by the  McDonald brothers'  original store location in  San Bernardino, California, the founders and owners, Keith J. Kramer and his wife's uncle Matthew Burns, began searchi ng for a concept to open a new restaurant around. After purchasing the rights to two pieces of equipment called â€Å"Insta† machines, the two opened their first stores around a cooking device known as the Insta-Broiler.The Insta-Broiler oven proved so successful at cooking burgers, they required all of their franchises to carry the device. After the original company began to falter in 1959, it was purchased by its Miami, Florida, franchisees James McLamore and David R. Edgerton. The two initiated a corporate restructuring of the chain; the first step was to rename the company Burger King. The duo ran the company as an independent entity for eight years, eventually expanding to over 250 locations in the United States, when they sold it to the Pillsbury Company in 1967. |McDonalds| Burger King| The first original McDonalds opened in 1948, a restaurant created by Mac & Dick McDonalds in St. Bernandino| Burger King was founded in 1953 in  Jacksonville, Florida, as Insta-Burger King by , Keith J. Kramer and Matthew Burns| Establish a streamlined system with a simple menu of just hamburgers, cheeseburgers, french fries, shakes, soft drinks, and apple pie. |   Equipment called â€Å"Insta† machines, the two opened their first stores around a cooking device known as the Insta-Broiler| In 1962, McDonald's introduced its now world-famous Golden Arches logo. Expanding to over 250 locations in the United States| Delight each customer with unmatched quality, service, cleanliness and value every time| Dedicated to supporting and investing in our people – employees, franchisees, suppliers and restaurant guests  | Place the customer experience at the core| â€Å"Customers always right†Ã‚  | Comparison of purposes of McDonalds & Burger King Task 2 McDonalds Internal Environment The most important factor comes from the internal company or precisely the management itself.Managers must work closely with other department to come out with a strong marketing plan to boost McDonalds sales and efficiency of the operation. For example, the company management has a clear goals regarding importance of retaining customers by offering satisfaction to all its customers. Supplier Supplier is an important factor in the relation with McDonalds and its consumer. To have a good, continuous and no disruption supply, McDonalds must build a strong relationship with the suppliers. McDonalds must also consider that in the business market environment, it is competing with other fast food operators.Any strike, supply shortages and increasing of prices in market must be monitored closely by McDonalds to ensure it will not affect its bottom line performance. Simple economic rules, the more the input cost, the more the company’s overall cost and pricing will be and thus it affect the volume of sales to customers. However, pricing is not as important as close relationship and integration that McDonalds must achieve with vendors to ensure sust ainability of supplier. Distributers Marketing intermediaries are company that helps other company to promote, sell and distribute the goods to final buyers.McDonalds is a franchise-based business, which headquartered in United States and with franchisee around the world. Franchise system is part of marketing intermediaries to actual corporate McDonalds in United States, which helps to popularize, distribute and expand McDonald’s business concept around the globe. However, in the midst to expand the marketing of its brand around the world it must choose a strong creditable franchisee to ensure their business performance is in line with standards set by corporate. McDonalds also need logistic or physical distribution firm especially to help in distribution nd transportation of goods and materials around the country to its restaurant. Customers Customers whether it is business or household buyer are important factor in microenvironment where McDonalds operates. For McDonalds it is more on household consumers, which is changing fast in the market trend. McDonalds must have a clear market segmentation to differentiate the consumers group and has a special marketing attention to each of them such as kiddies, adult, working professional and teenagers with different taste of its food.Every consumer’s trend will affect the company bottom-line performance and if McDonalds cannot change or adapt to the changes of consumer behavior it might risk losing the market. Competitors Fast food industry has a wide range of competitors from small to big size in term of financial capabilities. For example in Malaysia, we have Kenny Roger’s, KFC, Pizza Hut, A&W and Marry Brown and to smaller scale, we have Ramli burger stall around the street corner serving the niche market. These are competitors of McDonalds, which McDonalds must compete by offering a differentiation in term of value and satisfaction to its customers.Any values and benefits that McDonalds can u tilize to differentiate it apart from all can be a strong marketing point to reach and conquer the market. Marketer must constantly understand ever-changing customer’s needs, needs by special group and develop strategies to strengthen the company positioning in domestic market. Employers The good things for this company is it provide a good training to all staff and especially to those involve in management level. Even in Malaysia, many management staff sent to Chicago to training on managing the operation of McDonald’s outlet.Hamburger University in Illinois Chicago has graduated more than 70,000 managers who leads and manage the operation of McDonald’s outlet in the standard push upon them. Culture of training also prevails at McDonalds with over 32 hours of training for all new employees to ensure they understand the requirement and aspiration of McDonalds for continuation of best fast food restaurant service provider to the customers. McDonalds keen to train its own people and mission to be the best talent developer of people with the most committed individuals to Quality Service, Cleanliness and Value (QSC&V) in the world.Task 3 McDonald’s Pestle Analysis McDonald’s is comprised of more than 30,000 local restaurants and serves 52 million people in more than 100 countries each day. The company is the largest food retailer in the world and is part of the current way of life. In order to remain competitive and an iconic, McDonald’s has developed programs and strategies for organizational behavior in its market environment. As a result, McDonald’s presented an excellent opportunity to observe external macro environment which called Pestle. Pestle stands for political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal factors.POLITICAL FACTOR The international operations of McDonald’s are highly influenced by the individual country’s policies enforced by each government. For instance, there are certain groups in Malaysia, Europe and the United States that take actions pertaining to the health implications of eating fast food. They have indicated that harmful elements like cholesterol and adverse effects like obesity are attributable to consuming fast food products. On the other hand, the company is controlled by the individual policies and regulations of operations.Specific markets focus on different areas of concern such as that of health, worker protection, and environment. All these elements are seen in the government control of the licensing of the restaurants in the respective states of the country. For instance, there is an impending legal dispute in the McDonald’s franchise in Malaysia where certain infringement of rights and violation of religious laws pertaining to the contents of the food. There are also other studies those points to the infringement of McDonald’s Stores with reference to the existing employment laws in the target market.Like an y business venture, these McDonald’s stores have to contend with the issues of employment procedures as well as their tax obligations so as to succeed in the foreign market like Malaysia. Since it is apparent that the company is expanding continuously, it is wise to deal directly with the proper authorities in the respective markets that they intend to operate in. This way, the company can adopt a good way of establishing good relationship with the government. It is advisable that the company rests on the good graces of the government on which they will be penetrating.To do this, all they have to do is accomplish all the prescribed acts and satisfy all the prerequisites for doing business. The company must also be acquainted with the law in order to know what their responsibilities and their possible liabilities. Also McDonalds should protect its workers by ensuring all the hiring, compensation, training or repatriation in accordance to the labour laws. ECONOMICAL FACTOR Orga nizations in the fast food industry are not excused from any disputes and troubles. Specifically, they do have their individual concerns involving economic factors.Branches and franchises of McDonald’s have the tendency to experience hardship in instances where the economies of the respective countries are hit by inflation and changes in the exchange rates. The customers consequently are faced with a stalemate of going over their individual budgets whether or not they should use up more on these foreign fast food chains like McDonalds. Hence, these chains may have to put up with the issues of the effects of the economic environment. Particularly, their problem depends on the response of the consumers on these fundamentals and how it could influence their general sales.In regarding the operations of the company, McDonald’s tend to import much of their raw materials into a specific country’s territories if there is a dearth of supply. Exchange rate fluctuations wi ll also play a significant role in the operations of the company. The company’s international supply as well as the existing exchange rates is merely a part of the overall components needed to guarantee success for the foreign operations of McDonald’s. Moreover, it is imperative that the company be cognizant of the existing tax requirements needed by the individual governments on which they operate.This basically ensures the smooth operations of the McDonald’s franchises. In the same regard, the company will also have to consider the economic standing of the country on which they operate on. The rate at which the economy of that particular country grows determines the purchasing power of the consumers in that country. Hence, if a franchise operates in a particularly economically weak country, their products shall cost higher than the other existing products in the market, then these franchises must take on certain adjustments to maintain the economies of scale.I deally before penetrating the market, the company must carry out a well conducted market research, especially in the movements in the economic environment which McDonalds had done before entering the global market due to which the company has been able to bear the frequency of the shifts in the inflation rate as well as the fluctuations in the exchange rates which affects the operations of any company. SOCIO-CULTURAL FACTORS Articles on the international strategies of McDonald’s seem to function on several fields to guarantee lucrative returns for the organization.To illustrate, the organization improves on establishing a positive mind-set from their core consumers. McDonald’s indulge a particular variety of consumers with definite types of personalities. It has also been noted that the company have given the markets such as the United Kingdom and Malaysia, an option with regards to their dining needs. McDonald’s has launched a sensibly valued set of food that t enders a reliable level of quality for the respective market where it operates.Additionally, those who are aged just below the bracket of thirty-five are said to be the most frequent consumers of McDonald’s franchises. The multifaceted character of business nowadays is reflected in the harsh significance of the information on the subject of the existing market. This procedure is essentially identified in the field as market research. Information with regards to the appeal and potential fields of the market would double as obstructions to the success of the company if this area of the operations is neglected.In the case of McDonald’s they establish a good system in determining the needs of the market. The company uses concepts of consumer behavior product personality and purchasing decisions to its advantage which is clearly evident in case of Malaysia as the company was quick in removing their Pork products from Malaysia’s menu. It is said to have a major influe nce on the understanding of the prospective performance of the organization in a particular market. McDonalds should obtain the relevant information from the target market in addition to the individual customers of the organization.It is imperative that before a franchise is granted to a particular market, a well drafted and comprehensive market research should be conducted initially so as to establish the acts that would conform to good customs, public policies, and morals of the said Country’s society. Similarly, the company should find out the shifts in areas like the consumer behavior and purchasing patterns of the market. Fundamentally, this is the key condition for executing a suitable customer relationship management system.Also the company should constantly survey and learn about local culture to better understand and design the best product for them. TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS McDonald’s generates a demand for its own products. The company’s key tool for mar keting is by means of Online Facebook and Google ads, Collaboration with these websites to promote sales in India, television advertisements, banners and hoardings. There are similarly some claims that McDonald’s are inclined to interest the younger populations more. Other demonstration of such a marketing strategy is apparent in the commercials they use.They employ animated depictions of their characters like Grimace, Ronald and Ham burglar. Other advertising operations employ popular celebrities to promote their products. The ‘like’ has become endorsers for McDonald’s worldwide â€Å"I’m loving it† campaign. Moreover, the operations of McDonald’s have significantly been infused with new technology. Elements like the inventory system and the management of the value chain of the company allows for easy payments for their suppliers and other vendors which the individual stores in respective markets deal with.The integration of technolog y in the operations of McDonalds tends to add value to their products. Basically, this is manifested in the improvements on its value chain. The improvement of the inventory system as well as its supply chain allows the company to operate in an international context McDonalds use the internet to their advantage. The cost-effectiveness, interactivity and real- time effects of the communications are a good way to find suppliers. It is also a good way to correspond with the respective McDonald’s headquarters in every Country.The company must also look into the use of IT to enhance their inventory operations. As the operations in its inbound and outbound logistics improve, the company will expect significant savings and reduction of costs in the operations. ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS The social responsibilities of McDonald’s on the country are influential to the operations of the company. These involve accusations of environmental damage. Among the reasons why they are charged with such claims is the employ of non-biodegradable substances for their drinks glasses and Styrofoam coffers for the meals.Several civic groups in Malaysia have made actions to make the McDonald’s franchises in Malaysia aware of the rather abundant use of Styrofoam containers and the resultant abuse of the environment. The company should find out the environmental regime that governs the operations in every market. It should also monitor the waste disposal of the company. McDonald’s should minimize the use of Styrofoam materials and plastic cups. Constant updating of the social corporate responsibility is imperative and implements â€Å"Go Green†.This should also entail that the headquarters should take in hand, a manner of internal control of those that would infringe upon this company objective. LEGAL FACTORS There has been the recurrent bellowing in opposition to the fast food industry. This has similarly made McDonald’s apply a more careful considera tion on their corporate social responsibilities. On the whole, this addressed the need of the company to form its corporate reputation to a more positive one and a more socially responsible company. The reputation of McDonald’s is apparently a huge matter.Seen on the website of the company, it seems that they have acquired strides to take in hand the key social censures that they have been berating them in the past decades. The company has provided their customers the relevant data that they need with reference to the nutritional substances of their products. This is to attend to the arguments of obesity charged against the products of the company. In the same way, the consumers provided freedom in choosing whether or not they want to purchase their meals. This is tied up with the socio-cultural attributes of the market on which they operate.For instance, operations in predominantly Muslim countries require their meat to conform to the Halal requirements of the law. In the sa me regard, those that operate in countries in the European Union should conform to the existing laws banning the use of genetically modified meat products in their food. This was prime reason which forced McDonalds to eliminate beef, pork and Mutton out of India’s product menu. Other legal concepts like tax obligations, employment standards, and quality requirements are only a few of important elements on which the company has to take into consideration.Otherwise, smooth operations shall be hard to achieve. As a certified fast food operator, there are many regulations and procedures that McDonalds should follow. McDonalds should protect its integrity and consumer confidence by ensuring all materials and process are as claimed or must followed. Other legal requirement that the business owner should follow as stipulated in laws are such as operating hours, business registration, tax requirement, labour and employment laws and quality & environment certification (such as ISO) in which the outlet has been certified.The legal requirement is important because the offenders will be fined or have their business prohibited from operating which can be disastrous. The company should hire local counsels to deal with the legal conflicts in individual markets on which the company may encounter. This shall ensure the company that the lawyers that will handle their legal affairs are more versed with the legal regime that would ease out certain problems on their operations. Task 4 Impact of European Union’s Policies on McDonald The European Union (EU) is a unification of  27 member states united to create a political and economic community throughout Europe.Though the idea of the EU might sound simple at the outset, the European Union has a rich history and a unique organization, both of which aid in its current success and its ability to fulfill its mission for the 21st Century. The European Union Policies have an impact on McDonald’s market environment . Economic and Financial Affairs (ECOFIN) Cooperation on economic and political matters is based on several forms of cooperation procedures. A fundamental principle when coordinating their economic policies is that Member States are responsible for their national economic policy.As a result of the crisis, Member States have strengthened the coordination of economic policy. However, Member States continue to place strong emphasis on national sovereignty in economic matters while adhering to common rules. McDonalds Cooperation is registered under (ECOFIN) and has to seek for consultation or in co-decision with the European Council every year. Although each EU Member State is responsible for determining its own tax policy, the EU still cooperates on relevant aspects of taxation. This applies especially to policies which affect international trade and trade among the Member States.The Member States therefore cooperate on certain aspects of taxation with cross-border effects. For instanc e, McDonalds have differentiated taxation rate in various country based on the country exchange rate. Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs (EPSCO) From the very beginning, the free movement for workers has  been one of the basic rights within the European Community and this was the focal point of the first social and employment policy of the EU. The McDonald normally makes decisions in co-decision with the European Council.This procedure applies for instance when the Council passes legislation about the working environment, conditions at work, and the free movement of workers of McDonalds. The EU has the mandate to compliment McDonald’s initiatives in the area of health for the purpose of protecting people from health threats and diseases, promoting healthy lifestyles and helping national authorities in the EU to cooperate on health issues. This is especially relevant when it comes to burgers of McDonalds which is high in cholesterol and may lead to heart disease.Therefore, McDonalds have to modify the ingredient of the burgers. Competitiveness (COMPET) The McDonalds has to follow with industrial policy since the establishment of the EU. A milestone in the EU industrial policy is the establishment of the Single Market, which created a large home market for industry providing businesses with the opportunity to mass produce and profit from large-scale operation like McDonalds. Today, industrial policy is subject to the co-decision procedure, meaning that Competitiveness in business is legalistic. For an example, Burger King is legal competitor for McDonalds.The European research and innovation cooperation and the close connection between research, innovation and education play a decisive role in securing future growth. Therefore, the EU gives high priority to this area and allocates considerable funds annually to finance the McDonalds research programmer. Agriculture and Fisheries (AGRI) Through the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) the EU wants to ensure an economically viable agricultural sector that produces safe, high-quality food based on environmentally sustainable production. Moreover, the CAP contributes to ensuring good business and living conditions in rural areas.By requiring farmers to deliver public goods in return for the financial support, the Common Agricultural Policy is to ensure that beneficiaries deliver public goods on a range of relevant aspects, such as an improved environment and climate, innovation, technology and food quality of McDonalds. EU consumers should be confident that the foods on the market are healthy, safe, of high quality and produced with respect for animal welfare. Improvements of food safety levels in the EU through the harmonization of standards will be of high importance of McDonalds.EU countries have adopted common rules for McDonald’s hygiene and self-monitoring and common rules for authorities’ monitoring of the food industry. An EU inspectorate also mon itors whether the McDonalds implement food legislation correctly. Task 5 Global Factors That Affect McDonalds Businesses are affected by an external environment as much as they are affected by the competitors. Global factors influencing business are legal, political, social, technological and economic. Understanding of these factors is important while developing a business strategy. Social factorsThese factors are related to changes in social structures. These factors provide insights into behavior, tastes, and lifestyles patterns of a population. Buying patterns are greatly influenced by the changes in the structure of the population, and in consumer lifestyles. Age, gender, etc. all determine the buying patterns and understanding of such changes is critical for developing strategies which are in line with the market situations. In a global environment it is important that McDonald’s business strategies are designed keeping in mind the social and cultural differences that va ry from country to country.Consumer religion, language, lifestyle patterns are all important information for successful business management. Legal factors These factors that influence McDonalds business strategies are related to changes in government laws and regulations. For a successful business operation it is important that the businesses consider the legal issues involved in a particular situation and should have the capability to anticipate ways in which changes in laws will affect the way they must behave. Laws keep changing over a period of time.From the point of view of business it is important that they are aware of these changes in the areas of consumer protection legislation, environmental legislation, health & safety and employment law, etc. Economic factors These factors involve changes in the global economy. A rise in living standards would ultimately imply an increase in demand for products thereby, providing greater opportunities for McDonald to make profits. An eco nomy witnesses fluctuations in economic activities. This would imply that in case of a rise in economic activity the demand of the product will increase and hence the price will increase.In case of reduction in demand the prices will go down. Business strategies should be developed keeping in mind these fluctuations. Other economic changes that affect business include changes in the interest rate, wage rates, and the rate of inflation. In case of low interest rates and increase in demand McDonald will be encouraged to expand and take risks. Therefore, business strategies should have room for such fluctuations. Political factors This refers to the changes in government and government policies. Political factors greatly influence the operation of McDonald. This has gained significant importance off late.For example: McDonalds is operated in the European Union have to adopt directives and regulations created by the EU. The political arena has a huge influence upon the regulation of bus inesses, and the spending power of consumers and other businesses. Business must consider the stability of the political environment, government’s policy on the economy. Technological factors These factors greatly influence McDonald’s strategies as they provide opportunities for businesses to adopt new innovations, and inventions. This helps the McDonalds to reduce costs and develop new products.With the advent of modern communication technologies, technological factors have gained great impetus in the business arena. Huge volumes of information can be securely shared by means of databases thereby enabling vast cost reductions, and improvements in service. Organizations need to consider the latest relevant technological advancements for their business and to stay competitive. Technology helps business to gain competitive advantage, and is a major driver of globalization. While designing the business strategies firms must consider if use of technology will allow the fir m to manufacture products and services at a lower cost.Firms can select new modes of distributions with the help of technology. It has become easier for companies to communicate with their customer in any part of the world. Conclusion From the beginning in 1948 as a fast food restaurant in Southern California, McDonalds grew by the end of the twentieth century into the world’s largest food service organization, having served up more than 100 billion hamburgers in half a century of operation. In conclusion, McDonalds are executing all these customers’ service improvement programs to constantly portraying itself as a friendly, healthy and quality food provider to customers.McDonalds is trying to build long-term relationship with customers to ensure the retention rate in the market where competition is tough between all the fast food restaurant operators. The purpose of this paper work is to analyze McDonald’s with its competitor; Burger King, internal microenviron ment, Pestle analyze, impact of EU Policies and global factors on McDonalds. Hereby, I strongly believe that I have reached your expectation on this case study. References McDonald (2012). A short history of McDonald. Available from: http://www. articlesbase. com/a-short-histoty-of-mcdonalds03920. tml [Accessed on 20/2/13] Frank Newman (2009). Burger King: A short Story. Available from: http://www. 21e5-11e4-dsas3-00134fascesds04. html. [Accessed on 20/2/13] Edita Novana (2003). McDonald’s Cooperation Analyze. Available from: http://www. mcdonalds. com-analyze-cooperate-profile-corp. [Accessed on 22/03/12] Edward Dean (2009). European Union Policies. Available from: http://www. ec. europa. eu/policies/index-en. html. [Accessed on 26/2/13] Anita Cameron (2011). Global Issues that affect Business. Available from: http://www. enziarticales. com/? Global-Issues-That-Affect-Business. html. [Accessed on 28/2/13]

How is religion a human response in the search for meaning? Essay

Every culture has some kind of religion, and all faiths answer the question â€Å"What is the meaning of life?† Humanity’s search for an answer to this question is one of the main reasons that people are drawn to religion. The answers, although different from religion to religion, give people’s lives purpose, meaning, and hope. Religion is found in all ages and all cultures. Its principles and values have given motivation and guidance to every human society. The function of religion in a society is often to explain to people their primal origins, the nature of life, the function and aims of life and reasons for living. Religion is just one of many answers to the questions that most human beings spend their lives searching for. Maybe that’s why so many strongly religious people are so at peace with themselves and with the world. Everyone’s looking for meaning in life, from all kinds of different sources. It’s human nature to want connection, a sense of belonging to something greater than ourselves, and a sense of community. This is derived from the human characteristic of curiosity. We want connection to our pasts and our heritage. We want answers to the big questions: Where do we come from? What’s the meaning of life? Why do good people suffer? Why is evil often rewarded? Religion provides solutions to many of these questions, to those who believe, but it also provides many new questions. Religion is a human response to the search for meaning for some people, but ultimately all are looking for the answers. Whether their path is through religion, obsessive meditation, staring at crystals, running 47 kilometers a day or talking to walls, everyone has to come to their answers on their own terms. Some people use religion for this purpose. When trying to find answers to life’s mysteries, religious impulse begins. When the mystery is understood, you come to understand the religious life as more as a quest than a destination. Steve Tyler of Aerosmith once sang â€Å"Life’s a journey, not a destination†. Maybe life is a journey of the search for meaning, its not something that your trying to accomplish, more something that you work through and once you’ve reached it then its over, which seems so much more purposeful than simply spending each day killing time. The study of philosophy seeks to develop intellectual abilities important for life as a whole. Properly pursued, philosophy enhances analytical, critical and interpretive capacities that may be applied to any academic field. In a world where religion often plays a central role in political, social and even economic events, there is a vital need for an ongoing critical analysis, reflection and understanding of religious traditions, issues and ideas. Taken together, philosophy and religious studies develops how to critically examine, analyze and appreciate these traditions and ideas. Proverbs 4:7 says â€Å"Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.† To me this seems to state that to understand something, one must have knowledge and astuteness of the subject. Therefore maybe the philosophy of religion is the path to realisation†¦ Religion is a source of meaning because it provides a way of addressing such diverse foundational questions as those raised by the facts of life and death or the very existence of the universe. Even more importantly, in terms of the meaning of everyday life, all religions provide a value structure within which the quality of human life or human progress can be measured. Religion acknowledges the validity of the quest for human happiness and all religions claim to be able to offer a map that traces the path by which happiness can be attained. All religions provide a sense of personal identity within which human life  can be structured. They also provide a social context that allows us to understand ourselves as part of a community with rights and responsibilities to that community and ways of relating to other communities. Obviously it is possible to find alternative ways of shaping one’s personal and social identity. However, history suggests that there are few ways that can match religion in catering for this key requirement in the search for meaning.

The Industrial Revolution and Romanticism

The Industrial Revolution and the Romantic Spirit The Industrial Revolution refers to a series of significant shifts in traditional practices of agriculture, manufacturing, and transportation, as well as the development of new mechanical technologies that took place between the late 18th and 19th centuries in much of the Western world. During this time, the United Kingdom, as well as the rest of Europe and the United States soon after, underwent drastic socio-economic and cultural changes during this time.These changes in part gave rise to the English Romantic spirit, especially in the United Kingdom. During the late 18th century, the United Kingdom's economic system of manual and animal based labor shifted toward a system of machine manufacturing while more readily navigable roads, canals, and railroads for trade began to develop. Steam power underpinned the dramatic increase in production capacity, as did the rather sudden development of metal tools and complex machines for manufac turing purposes.The Industrial Revolution had a profound effect upon society in the United Kingdom. It gave rise to the working and middle classes and allowed them to overcome the long-standing economic oppression that they had endured for centuries beneath the gentry and nobility. However, while employment opportunities increased for common working people throughout the country and members of the middle class were able to become business owners more easily, the conditions workers often labored under were brutal.Further, many of them were barely able to live off of the wages they earned. During this time, the industrial factory was created (which, in turn, gave rise to the modern city). Conditions within these factories were often dirty and, by today's standards, unethical: children were frequently used and abused for labor purposes and long hours were required for work. A group of people in the United Kingdom now as the Ululated felt that industrialization was ultimately inhumane a nd took to protesting and sometimes sabotaging industrial machines and factories.While industrialization led to incredible technological developments throughout the Western world, many historians now argue that industrialization also caused severe reductions in living standards for workers both within the United Kingdom and throughout the rest of the industrialized Western world. However, the new middle and working classes that industrialism had established led to arbitration throughout industrial cultures, drastic population increases, and the introduction of relatively new economic system known as capitalism.The Romantic Movement developed in the United Kingdom in the wake of, and in some measure as a response to, the Industrial Revolution. Many English intellectuals and artists in the early 19th century considered industrialism inhumane and unnatural and revolted?sometimes quite violently?against what they felt to be the increasingly inhumane and unnatural mechanization of modern life. Poets such as Lord Byron (particular in his addresses to the House of Lords) and William Blake (most notably in his poem â€Å"The Chimney Sweeper†) spoke out?and wrote extensively bout?the psychological and social affects of the Sailor URL: http://www. Layer. Org/ courses/engaged/ The Sailor Foundation Sailor. Org Page 1 of 2 newly industrial world upon the individual and felt rampant industrialization to be entirely counter to the human spirit and intrinsic rights of men. Many English Romantic intellectuals and artists felt that the modern industrial world was harsh and deadening to the senses and spirit and called for a return, both in life and in spirit, to the emotional and natural, as well as the ideals of the pre-industrial past. Sailor URL: http://www. Sailor. Org/courses/engaged/ Page 2 of 2

Discuss the definitions and characteristics of White Collar Crime Essay

Discuss the definitions and characteristics of White Collar Crime - Essay Example White collar fraud does not carry any act of violence with it. The chief trait of this fraud is to beguile the victims and making them the ‘ insects towards lamp’. Perpetrators are not easily caught and punished, since most of the victims do not make a complaint of their loss at an early stage. By the time the victims realise their plight of being cheated and try to make the issue open to the society, the perpetrators either vacate the scene or gain still more strength of popularity that shields them from the punishments. Naturally neither an individual nor a group of people award punishment for the lapse of the self. At the point of realisation, the question of awarding punishment to the self disappears. Thus analysis of crime and awarding punishment are always carried out in second person only and not in first person. The power of punishing is usually vested with people of higher status of socio economic arena. Crime is simply human. Status difference are not actually correlated to what is termed activities of crime. But since, the powered people are capable of making and breaking the rules, crimes committed by them are generally not treated as violent as the crimes of blue collar people. Sutherland’s definition of white collar crime goes this way: ‘white collar crime is the crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation†. Hazel Croall, (2001), has scrutinised this definition and found some deficiencies in it. He has pointed out that Sutherland’s definition is silent on the issue of identifying the activities of white collar crime. He was very much concerned about the miniature mentioning of white collar crime in many research findings and the low tone in the expressly declared results. The Marxist approach of criminology, which used to control the activities of the low powered or powerless, did keep

Could the United States continue as one nation What values resided at Essay

Could the United States continue as one nation What values resided at the core of the nations identity And What did they believe it meant to be an American - Essay Example The first example of this is when the colonists moved the Native Americans off their own land. This caused a lot of fighting such as the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794, where 3,000 U.S. soldiers fought and beat 2,000 Native Americans. Other Indians were forced to move from their land and live on reservations. Another terrible event with the Native Americans was the Trail of Tears in 1838. About 15,000 Cherokees were forced to leave their possessions and homes in Georgia and go to Oklahoma. About 4,000 of the Indians died on the trail. Another race that was discriminated by Americans was the Africans. Americans thought they were superior and they enslaved the Africans. They thought that Africans were racially inferior. Africans were taken from their homes, crammed on to ships, and then sold as slaves. They were treated bad and did not have rights. Finally after the Civil War, slavery was abolished. Even though there was still racism, this was viewed as a good change. Change is generally thought of as a good thing to Americans. Change is thought of as improvement, progress, and advancement in the American society. Nevertheless, in older and more traditional cultures, change is thought to be disparaging and troublesome. New technology is always being introduced and welcomed in the U.S. This could be because many inventors lived in America and introduced these new inventions. One of the first great inventors in America was Benjamin Franklin. In the mid 1700s, Franklin did many activities to help the technology in the U.S. get better, including experiments with lightning. Thomas Edison invented many things to fuel this characteristic of Americans, such as the incandescent light bulb. Between 1867 and 1931, Edison had patented over 1,000 inventions. Another great inventor was Alexander Graham Bell who invented the telephone in 1876. Before 1860, the U.S. Patent Office had only issued 36,000 patents, but

SABMiller's Strategic Position by 2011 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

SABMiller's Strategic Position by 2011 - Essay Example According to the research findings SABMiller is a globally renowned corporation that endears itself as an excellent beer producer and renowned bottler for handful corporations with a global spread. The prime dealing of the organization is the production of beer, malts and an assortment of soft drinks, in particular, the carbonated archetypes. The company is reputable for a number of varied global brands that include Urquell, Peroni Nastro Azzuro, Miller genuine draft and an equally enormous base of local brands that serve its dissimilar macro and micro marketplaces spread across the globe. These localized brands include Miller Lite, Aguila, Tyskie and snow. Overall, the organization claims patent of over 200 dissimilar alcoholic brands. With headquarters in London, the corporation claims presence in all sections of the globe. This massive marketplace is steered by a global staff of 70000 professionals spread across its key five worldwide sections. The sections are regionally lumped c onstituting critical administrative units for their extensive supply chain. These sections include South Africa, Africa and Asia, Europe, North America and Latin America. From SABMiller, it is evident that the organization has endeavored to achieve sustainable advancements through its evident ambitions for accelerated growth while keeping in line with both the global and internal manufacturing standards. Its ambitious expansion efforts are evident in its 2002 acquisition of the American Miller brewing corporation as well as its recent accelerated expansion agendas. According to SABMiller 2011, it recently acquired a lucrative bottling deal with coca cola as well as the reported takeover of the Australian's Foster's brewing corporation. These are evidence of its ambitious expansion programs that has seen it raise to the second global leading beer manufacturer. Obviously, this beer manufacturer has employed key strategies that has responsibly sailed it through the past riskier yet inc reasingly lucrative outlays. Additionally, a critical examination reveals that its key value of owning its own expansion strategies is responsible for the enormous expansions of the preceding decade. Additionally, its ownership of a critical value chain component in the form of brand is central for its extensive success. a. PESTEL Analysis Politically, the organization has increasingly faced a number of drawbacks in regards its key area of specialty. Johnson, Whittington & Scholes (2011) observe that, over the past year, numerous nations have instituted regulations that stringently direct alcohol utilization. Observably, the state control is the result of the recent examinations of the physiological and psychological consequences of alcohol consumption which revealed repugnant results. Similarly, despite the huge market inherited in the Miller deal, the American market remains among the stringently proscribed alcohol marketplace. Economically, the organization's rapid expansions hav e seen it embrace marketplaces with huge dissimilar economic constructs. According to Johnson, Whittington & Scholes (2011), the Miller deal attracted huge costs in comparison to other division across the Africa and Asian sections. SABMiller (2011) is cognizant of the regular alcoholic drink policy issuance across its subsidiaries to enforce its social responsibility of enlightening on responsible alcoholic consumption. Similarly, the report is observant of their involvement with HIV campaigns across the globe to assist the on going efforts in curbing the predicament. Additionally, SABMiller has persistently contributed to the global technological enhancements through introduction of novel manufacturing procedures as well as newer brands of produce. Johnson,

RCT Appraisal Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

RCT Appraisal - Article Example The study explores the various support services that are offered within the hospital to parents who have lost their child during or after birth. The hospital staffs play a vital role in helping the parents especially the mother to fully understand the cause and significance of the death of their child which would greatly help them to come to terms with the loss. The study analyses the current services that are being offered and also provides recommendations to improve the quality of support provided to mother who have lost their children due to stillbirth or neonatal death. This is an exploratory research as there is no evidence of prior research conducted on the experiences of bereaved mothers at Gauteng. The interviews were conducted by the one of the study authors and the respondent details, requirement of support, services that is being provided at the hospital including formal services such as counseling and suggestions for improving the present services were collected. No conflict of interest has been identified. The purpose of the study was to analyze the support services that are being offered to mothers who have lost their child due to stillbirth or neonatal death by hospital staff and to determine whether these services are sufficient. To include any recommendations provided by the mothers included in the study and other suggestions to improve the quality of hospital services in such cases. The study design included both quantitative and qualitative approaches with the quantitative approach more dominant than the later. A one-shot case study was employed by which a single group of mother who had the same experience were selected and research was conducted through as series of semi-structured personal interviews on the nature of the support services that are provided with the hospital and their suggestions to improve the present services were also incorporated. As the interviews were structured the quantitative data

(Dual Relationship) discuss the statment that in examing dual Essay

(Dual Relationship) discuss the statment that in examing dual relationships the most important issue is exploitation not duality - Essay Example Dual relationship in psychotherapy can be focused on the fact that the therapist has other existing or subsequent relationship to the patient. This relationship can either be in terms of the social aspect, financial aspect or even profession aspect. When the term dual is attributed it does not limit the issue on the concurrent relationships. Based on the opinions of the professionals the, it is important to prevent dual relationships due to the effects that can be brought about in the treatment of the patients. Basically, the relationship between therapists and patients should remain purely professional due to the probability that the medical treatments and interventions can be affected by the dual relationships that occur between the therapists and the patients. The optimum level of health care that can be given cannot be achieved if the main concern of the therapist can be affected by other issues due to the other relationship with the patient. In this case, the professionalism and the ethical issues are often considered and needed as guidelines. There are other issues that are needed to be co... But is important to consider that the cases wherein blood ties are considered as the connection between the therapist and the patient, it is still considered as a situation that is below the optimum expected. Another issue is related to the ethical considerations that can be attached to such relationships (Pope and Vetter, 1992). A. Types of Dual Relationships The main types of dual relationships are considered to be able to determine the proper actions that can be undertaken. These types are considered as the major ones which include the double roles, the double professions, the double financial relationships and the unavoidable dual relationships. The double roles can be defined as the type wherein the client or the therapist is connected in other ways. An example is the therapist may be a former student of the client. The said relationship can still be considered to have certain effects on the performance of the procedure. The relationship can be considered as relevant since it is one of the most common categories (Borys and Pope, 1989). Double professions on the other hand deals with the people that are into different professions and lines of work simultaneously. This is one of the reasons that these professionals meet people that may get their professional service. For example the therapist can at the same time be into the academe, thus students can also be clients (Borys and Pope, 1989). There are also cases of dual relationships that can be considered as inevitable and at some point a necessity. This can occur in cases such as the military wherein the officers may at the same time be therapists and medical professionals, thus are licensed to

Gender in Magazine Discourse Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Gender in Magazine Discourse - Essay Example Whereas female magazines like Elle and Martha Stewart Living, revolve within beauty, dating tips, gender equality, relationships and celebrities. Even more in the Cosmopolitan. Just as well, there are discourse similarities too such as money, careers, health and religion. As such, male magazines often feature sexist discourse and imagery in emphasizing physical attributes of female personalities, thus objectify women. In contrast, a female magazine would also feature a woman, and thus personify her as a social pillar or role model in a particular discipline for purposes of gender empowerment to all women. Additionally, articles engage and use various activities that ultimately set the pace in defining fashion trends and identifying with society’s perceptions of the ideal man or woman. In manly magazines, like Attitude featuring Alan Cummings, car races, hunting sprees and boxing are prime examples. For female types; Glamour magazine featuring gardening tips, tend to lean toward; remodeling, recipes, shopping, interior design and dà ©cor or even gossip. Through discourse these activities define society’s unwritten social statuses where more often than not, gender identities are tailored to fit traditional masculinity or alpha male identity. Articles therefore embody use of political, socio-cultural, verbal and body language signs as channels of communication to further their discourse (Gill 196). However, I do not conform to the depiction of gender in magazines because whatever is portrayed through them is often a discriminative blind fold that not only overlooks divergent and different views but also reproduces biased stereotypes to society’s

Marketing transportation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Marketing transportation - Essay Example Managers within the mid-level within the business division make them. Functional-level strategies concerns single functional undertakings and related concepts that allow for the establishment of tactical decision. It concentrates on comparatively limited plan offering objectives for various functions, allotment of resources amongst diverse operations within certain functional divisions. The logistic strategy bears connections with the corporate strategy since logistics offers input in the creation of corporate strategy. Logistic strategy is affected the objectives presented by corporate and business-level strategies. Additionally, logistic strategies are affected by the strategic decisions made in various sectors of functional divisions of marketing with manufacturing. The capacity of logistic function to effect the triumph of a corporation grounds from the capacity of the logistic manager to create and employ strategies that are associated with corporate strategy. Performance measurement can be considered intricate within a global logistic context given that in the measurements, there is assortment or diversity in various equipments utilized in terms of category, magnitude and commodities. Therefore, the measurements cannot be considered simple since measurements have to be established for every component. Information is considered quite influential in relation to supply management and logistics. Extensive familiarity and visibility within these areas allows for replacement of inventories with data. Extensive knowledge concerning consumer demands through sale point information assists in improving planning and lessens inconsistency with the supply chain. It allows for excellent synchronization of various concepts such as marketing and supply via ERP tools. It ensures updated order processing and diminished lead times achieved through synchronized logistic data arrangements. Utilization of

Consumer Price Index Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Consumer Price Index - Essay Example Controlling inflation has been no doubt one of the most challenging tasks faced by major economies of the world, mostly them being the third world economies. Another way of explaining the concept of inflation is that as it rises, each particular unit or currency will be able to buy comparatively lesser quantity of goods as compared earlier. People often mix up the consumer price index with inflation and consider both of them to be the same thing. However, to understand it in very simple words, the percentage change in CPI is what gives a figure for inflation in a particular economy. Measuring inflation is a difficult problem, however it is done by determining the price of a â€Å"basket of goods† from time to time. This basket of goods contains those goods which are mostly consumed by households. A price index is determined this way which can be defined as the price of this basket of goods today and then consequently the movement is this price index gives the figure for inflation. Determining the values for the consumer price index, it can be concluded that during the course of previous 12 months the â€Å"all item index† rose by by three percent before any account was made for seasonal adjustments. Similarly the CPI witnessed a 1.5 percent increase in the previous year, 2010. Since the overall CPI is determined by movements in the price of the â€Å"basket of good†, one needs to consider how these individual items effect the overall price index. Energy prices witnessed a 6.6 percent increase in the current year which was a comparatively lower figure to 7.7 percent in the previous year. Similarly, the gasoline witnessed a 9.9 percent increase in the year 2011, compared to about 13.8 percent in the previous year, 2010. The household index on the other hand rose to 1.8%, being up from 0.8 percent in the previous calender year (Ball,

Market Research and Marketing Research Essay Example for Free

Market Research and Marketing Research Essay Research is the process of gathering, processing and analyzing information on markets. The scope of such research is limited to the study of markets and does not include studies on the brand or product to be marketed. Market research is a subset of marketing research. Marketing Research is the process of gathering, processing and analyzing information for the purpose of marketing a product. It includes, but is not limited to market research. Marketing research extends to other areas of marketing activity like: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Studies on consumer behavior Brand and positioning research Research on product and packaging Research on communication strategies and advertising channels and their effectiveness Studies on sales promotion strategies and effects of discounts and sales promotion strategies on customer buying and consumption habits 6. Brand perception studies 1 Difference between Qualitative vs. Quantitative 2 Importance of Marketing Research The importance of marketing research in management extends to intelligent decision making, maximizing profits, increasing the sales, minimizing the risks and ascertaining whether a new product will be profitable in a given market at a given time. What is Marketing Research? This research can be defined as the process of gathering recording and analyzing the data related to certain products and services. This need for market research is derived from the concept that only by understanding the needs and wants of the target audience and by effectively meeting them, you will be able to achieve the organizational goals and surpass the competition n the specific market. Thus, arises the need to collect data about the customers, competitors, and other forces in the marketplace. This data in turn is collected and analyzed to make relevant marketing decisions, be it in relation to setting up a business, developing a product, creating a brand or coming up with an advertising campaign. What is t he Importance of Marketing Research? To Make Marketing Decisions: This research helps the marketers to make a decision about the product or service. Sometimes a marketer might believe that the new product or service is useful for the customers. However, research may show that customers do not need a product or are meeting their needs with a certain competitor product and so on. Similarly good research strives to provide options for the successful introduction of new products and services. This makes the market entry of a new product or service less risky. Survive the Competition: Marketing research helps in ascertaining and understanding competitor information such as their identity, marketing network, customer focus and scale of operations. This helps in surviving and in certain cases, even leaving behind the competition. Moreover, with market research you can also help understand the under-served consumer segments and consumer needs that have not 3 been met. Helps to Decide Target Markets: Research helps provide customer information in terms of their location, age, buying behavior and gender. This helps the marketers zero in on the target markets and customers for their products and services. Maximize Profits: Apart from profit maximizing steps such as item optimization, customer profitability analysis, and price elasticity, marketing research allows you to find out methods that can help you maximize profits. For example, a products price elasticity research can help you ascertain the impact of an increased price on the sales and the profits of a product. This emphasis on profitability also helps the companys focus to shift from maximizing sales to increasing the profits of a company. This helps the company survive in the long run and maximize its profits. Increasing the Sales: Increasing the sales of your products or services helps a company in maximizing its profits. By understanding the customers needs, wants and attitude towards the products and determining whether your products fit the bill, marketers can increase their sales. This helps in not only increasing the sales to the target customers and people already using the product but also converting the non users into customers for the product. With an understanding of the customer, competitors, products and the overall industry needs, this research can equip the management with the power to make better decisions. However, the importance of marketing research is limited to just being a marketing tool that helps you make an informed decision. So rather than basing all your management decisions on a customer survey, use this tool as a guide and supplement it with intelligent decision making.

Organised Crime and the Criminal Justice Process

Organised Crime and the Criminal Justice Process This essay will begin with a brief outline of the historical work of organised crime. Then the definition of organised crime will be given with examples of areas associated with organised crime. The Criminal Justice Process will then be explained and the role of the Serious Organised Crime Agency including the Assets Recovery Agency with statistics showing the economic and social impact of organised crime. Finally a brief outline of Cohen’s view of organised crime will be given and the role of the victims of crime as key players in the Criminal Justice Process and ending with Box’s clues to understand most serious crimes. According to King et al; (2000) â€Å"the battle over the origins of organized crime is one being constantly fought, and historians have utilized archive data, such as police and judicial reports, economic evidence, pamphlets, diaries and biographies, to disinter the professional and organized criminal†. Furthermore, King et al; (2000) states that â€Å"organised crime seems to have been a feature of British society from Elizabethan times onwards and British studies of professional criminals, some of them displaying elements of organization, indicate a wide range of activities†. However, by the eighteenth century professional and organized criminal gangs, armed with a variety of criminal strategies from petty theft and violence to fraud, were firmly established in Britain (King et al; 2000). Criminals not only established their activities in London where the market place was most affluent and the control of the emerging working class was at its most ineffective, but also in coastal, rural and provincial areas (King et al; 2000). The definition of Organised crime is broadly seen as economically motivated offending which involves more than two people (Hale et al; 2005). Furthermore, Hale et al; (2005) suggests that â€Å"unlike legally defined crimes or predicate offences such as murder, drug trafficking and money laundering, organised crime tends to be confined to its structures and relationships and the general nature of crimes committed by such associations†. According to Hale et al; (2005) Article 2 of the ‘United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime’ states that an â€Å"organised criminal group must have at least three members operating in concert to commit a serious crime as part of an internally structured organization which has been in existence over a period of time preceding and subsequent to the commission of the criminal act†. Whilst such a definition provides a general framework of understanding, it can in practice undermine effective law enforcement responses (Hale et al; 2005). An organised crime group can include anything from a four person, low level racketeering group to a highly complex, international networks involved in human trafficking or money laundering (Hale et al; 2005). Get help with your essay from our expert essay writers Furthermore according to Marshall, (1998) â€Å"organised crime is a term used for situations where a large number of people in a hierarchical structure are engaged in an on-going pattern of criminal activities†. The most common areas associated with organised crime are extortion and the provision of illegal goods and services, such as drink, drugs, gambling, money laundering and prostitution (Marshall, 1998). According to Marshall, (1998) â€Å"these activities involve continuous relations with the victims or clients, who have contact with the lower echelons of the organization†. In order to succeed organised or syndicate crime involves some element of corruption or intimidation of the police or other law enforcement agents (Marshall, 1998). Marshall, (1998) suggests that â€Å"organised crime is often thought to be synonymous with a secret society, such as the Tongs of the Chinese diaspora, the Camorra of the nineteenth century Naples and the Mafia of Sicily and Costa Nostra in the United States†. Although, according to Marshall, (1998) â€Å"it seems more likely that if such societies exist at all, they do not actually run criminal activities, but rather act as a fraternal organisations for some of the racketeers†. On the other hand, according to Marshall, (1998) â€Å"organised crime is associated with violence and threats in the course of extortion, but also in the maintenance of control over subordinates, and struggles for power within groups and the struggles for monopoly control between groups†. Furthermore, Hale et al; (2005) points out that â€Å"organised crime can be argued as primarily a reactive phenomenon, exploiting gaps in a diverse and lucrative market†. Also according to Hale et al; (2005) â€Å"Its clientele are, for the most part, ‘ordinary’ folk who seek, alternative routes to satisfying needs unmet or proscribed by the legislatures of the countries they inhabit or pass through†. However, according to Hale et al; (2005) â€Å"In many cases clients are also victims, obliged or enticed into cooperation, as in the trafficking of women and children and in areas of economic decline and acute social inequality organised crime can provide alternative employment and a reinstatement of status, a situation currently common in former communist states†. According to Kelbie, (2007) â€Å"Human trafficking is a growing trade and it is estimated that around 700,000 people are trafficked in Europe every year, and most of them are women and girls who are forced into prostitution, while others are brought in to work illegally†. Furthermore, Kelbie, (2007) estimates â€Å"that 4,000 women are trafficked into Britain each year and are forced to work in the multi-million pound sex industry†. As more numbers of Eastern European and African Girls are trafficked into Britain, some as young as 12 years old, the traffickers are shifting their trade outside major cities (Kelbie, 2007). Consequently, as a result of this growing trade in Human Trafficking, Glasgow is the only city outside London to provide help and support to victims of sexual exploitation (Kelbie, 2007). Furthermore, according to Kelbie, (2007) â€Å"the city’s organised sex industry is worth approximately 7 million pounds a year, earned from the exploitation of women who are forced to work in saunas, private flats and as escorts†. The women forced to work in these places are regularly sold and re-sold between organised criminals operating in all of Britain’s major cities (Kelbie, 2007). Meanwhile, there are millions of incidences of online crime in Britain each year (Sharp, 2007). Furthermore, according to Sharp, (2007) â€Å"around 3 million internet crimes were committed in the UK last year and one of the most common is identity theft†. In 2004, two people were arrested in connection with an internet crime ring, the Shadow Crew, who planned to defraud consumers and banks out of hundreds of millions dollars (Sharp, 2007). British organised crime has it’s ‘families’ modelled along the lines of Mafia families in the United States. One of the most powerful recent criminal families has been the Arifs from Stockwell, in South London. They were involved in armed robberies and drug smuggling in the 1980s, and also owned a string of pubs, restaurant and clubs, and it is certain that these establishments were bought from the proceeds of their criminal activities (Giddens, 1977). According to Giddens, (1977) â€Å"Bekir Arif was jailed for five years at the end of the 1980s after being convicted of robbery with violence, and the reign of the Arifs ended in the early 1990s, following a series of police operations†. The head of the family, Dogan Arif is currently serving a fourteen year prison sentence for his part in a  £8.5 million drug smuggling deal (Giddens, 1977). In order to regulate and manage the risks that organised crime presents, investigation and law enforcement play important roles in bringing offenders to justice. According to Davies et al; (1998) â€Å"in exploring what a criminal justice aims to do, we need to distinguish between the goals of the system as a whole, and the functions of the different agencies who make up the system†. The cross-system goals of the criminal justice system according to Davies et al; (1998) are â€Å"protecting the public by preventing and deterring crime, by rehabilitating offenders and incapacitating others who constitute a persistent threat to the community, upholding and promoting the rule of law and respect for the law, by ensuring due process and proper treatment of suspects, arrestees, defendants and those held in custody, successfully prosecuting criminals and acquitting innocent people accused of crime†. Furthermore, â€Å"maintaining law and order, punishing criminals with regard to the principles of just deserts, and registering social disapproval of censured behaviour by punishing criminals, and finally aiding and advising the victims of crime†(Davies et al; 1998). The ‘National Crime Squad’ was put into effect by the Police Act 1997 and came into operation on the 1st April 1998 (Newburn, 2003). Furthermore, it merged with all regional crime squads. They targeted serious and organised crime, such as immigration crime, illegal arms and drug trafficking crimes and money laundering and counterfeiting (Davies et al; 2005). Following the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005, the Serious Organised Crime Agency was created and the agency officially came into being in April 2006, and its function was to tackle the growing problem of international criminal gangs. (Home Office, 2008). The agency was formed from the amalgamation of the National Crime Squad, the National Criminal Intelligence Service, the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit, the investigative and intelligence sections of HM Revenue and Customs on serious drugs trafficking and the UK Immigration Service responsible for organised immigration crime (Home Office, 2008). The Serious Fraud Office continues to be a separate agency. According to the (Home Office, 2008) â€Å"the economic and social impact of organised crime in the UK is staggering and statistics show that global profits from people smuggling is estimated to be $10 billion annually, 280,000 problem drug users cause half of all crime, every  £1 spent on heroin is estimated to generate about  £4 of damage to the national economy and there are around 400 organised crime bosses in the UK with an amassed criminal wealth of approximately  £440 million†. The economic and social cost of organised crime is estimated to be in the region of  £20 to  £40 billion per year (Home Office, 2008). Furthermore, the Home Office, (2004) strategic plan for Criminal Justice 2004-2008 was â€Å"the criminal justice process will relentlessly target the top 15-20 prolific offenders in each Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership area, and more in bigger areas, and give the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the |Serious Organised Crime Agency the powers they need to take on the most serious and organised criminals†. Also, the police, Crown Prosecution Service, courts and other agencies like the Serious Organised Crime Agency would be able to keep at least 50% of the value of all the criminal assets they help to seize (Home Office, 2004). The recovery of criminal assets would be the role of the Assets Recovery Agency which was set up under the Proceeds of Crime act 2002 and plays an important part in the government’s plans to seize the profit out of crime, and separate and prevent the criminal organizations from continuing with their activities by removing the money which motivates their activities and their major source of income (Assets Recovery Agency, 2008). Meanwhile, the (Assets Recovery Agency, 2008) has three strategic aims â€Å"to disrupt organised criminal enterprises through the recovery of criminal assets, thereby alleviating the effect of crime on communities, to promote the use of financial investigation as an integral part of criminal investigation, within and outside the Agency, domestically and internationally, through training and continuing professional development and to operate the agency in accordance with its vision and values†. As, the Assets Recovery Agency was formed to stop organised criminal activities through the recovery of assets, on the 16th January 2007, the government introduced the Serious Crime Bill to Parliament setting out their suggestion to amalgamate the operational elements of the Assets Recovery Agency with the Serious Organised Crime Agency, and the Agency’s training and accreditation function with the National Policing Improvement Agency (Assets Recovery Agency, 2008). On the 1st April 2008 the operational section of the Assets Recovery Agency merged with the Serious Organised Crime Agency. Commenting on the merger Hughes, of SOCA, (2008) said â€Å"we are gaining important skills and expertise with the arrival of Assets Recovery Agency staff and we welcome them into SOCA. Now that the merger has taken place we will get on with the job that parliament want us to do, namely depriving crooks of their ill-gotten gains†. However, the Home Office minister Coaker, of SOCA, (2008) said that â€Å"assets recovery is critical in the fight against all levels of crime and we are determined to stop criminals profiting from crimes which affect the lives of law abiding majority†. Meanwhile, Goggins, SOCA, (2008) said â€Å"this merger will strengthen the fight against crime in Northern Ireland as it combines the intelligence expertise of SOCA with the hands on practical experience of ARA. This combination will make the recovery of assets even more effective and strengthen our fight against those who profit from organised crime†. Under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 on 17th January 2008 the Asset Recovery Agency recovered assets worth at least  £4 million from the High Court in Belfast. Also, on 5th February 2008 the agency obtained a Civil Recovery Order in the High Court in London worth an estimated  £750,000 from a couple who had obtained the assets through the human trafficking of people, mainly from Eastern Europe into Britain to work in brothels (Assets Recovery Agency, 2008). According to the Home Office, (2008) â€Å"the Serious Organised Crime Agency Second Annual Report showed another record year in the war against drugs with almost 90 tonnes of class A drugs seized with partners at home and abroad, a 20 per cent increase on the previous year. The cocaine alone, cut to usual UK street quality, could have realised  £6bn†. Furthermore, according to the Home Office, (2008) â€Å"53 disclosure notices, requiring individuals to co-operate with investigations by producing documents or answering questions, and 46 warnings on crime threats issued to over 2,500 private sector organisations throughout the UK. Meanwhile, the Home office, (2008) quotes â€Å"over  £46m criminal assets restrained by the domestic courts†. All SOCA operations now include financial investigations with an additional 35 financial investigators appointed during 2007/2008. According to Wright, (2006) â€Å"For Cohen, it is necessary to map the interactions, processes and patterned relationships both within and outside organisations in a more holistic way. It is necessary to establish the social context of the criminal activities of ‘organised criminals’, as well as the structure of their associations†. Furthermore, for Wright, (2006) â€Å"Cohen points out that criminology has done little work on the nature of organisational processes in crime groups. It has overlooked such things as recruitment, socialisation of members within organisations, and the way in which subcultures are developed and maintained. It has also to a large extent ignored such things as the protection and insulation of participants from the impact of conventional moral definitions†. For Cohen, according to Wright, (2006) â€Å"criminal groups should be subject to assessment of their internal structures and to analysis of all societal activity as it bears upon the production of their criminal behaviour. It is necessary to show that the functional problems of human systems take a distinctive form in criminal enterprise and that this distinctiveness provides a justification for the specialised study of criminal organisation†. Victims of crime are now recognised as key players in the Criminal Justice Process. According to Zedner, (2002) â€Å"without the cooperation of the victim in reporting crime, furnishing evidence, identifying the offender, and acting as a witness in court, most crimes would remain unknown and unpunished. The reliance of the Criminal Justice System on the victim has proved to be a powerful bargaining tool in the recognition of the victims’ interests†. The Victims Charter was first published by the Home Office in 1990 and at the time signified an important way forward in the recognition of victims’ interests, though it had been criticized for offering little by way of enforceable standards (Zedner, 2002). The clues to understanding most serious crimes according to Box, (1983) â€Å"can be located in power, not weakness, in privilege, not disadvantage, in wealth, not poverty†. In conclusion, since the launch of the Serious Organised Crime Agency in April 2006 and the merging of the Assets Recovery Agency in April 2008, the Criminal Justice process in dealing with serious organised crime has had a huge impact on criminal gangs operating within the UK, with the recovery of their assets from their criminal activities and to make it harder for them to continue in their criminal ways. BIBLIOGRAPHY Assets Recovery Agency, (2008), â€Å"Making Sure Crime Doesn’t Pay†. Available at: http://www.assetsrecovery.gov.uk http://www.assetsrecovery.gov.uk/AboutARA/AimsandObjectives/ http://www.assetsrecovery.gov.uk/AboutARA/History/ Box, S. (1983), Power, Crime and Mystification, Tavistock Publications, London. Davies, M; Croall, H. and Tyrer, J. (1998), Criminal Justice: An Introduction to the Criminal Justice System in England and Wales, (2nd Edition), Pearson Education Ltd, Harlow, Essex. Davies, M; Croall, H. and Tyrer, J. (2005), Criminal Justice: An Introduction to the Criminal Justice System in England and Wales, (3rd Edition), Pearson Education Ltd, Harlow, Essex. Giddens, A. (1997), Sociology, Polity Press, Cambridge. Hale, C; Hayward, K; Wahidin, A. and Wincup, E. (2005), Criminology, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Home Office, (2004), Cutting Crime, Delivering Justice: A Strategic Plan for Criminal Justice 2004-08. Home Office, London. Home Office, (2008), â€Å"Organised and International Crime†. Available at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/crime-victims/reducing-crime/organised-crime/ Kelbie, P. (2007) â€Å"Kirk acts on human trafficking in Scotland†. Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/may/20/humanrights.internationalcrime/print King, D.R; and Wincup, E. (2000), Doing Research on Crime and Justice, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Marshall, G. (1998), Oxford Dictionary of Sociology, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Newburn, T. (2003), Crime and Criminal Justice Policy, Harlow, Pearson. News Distribution Service, (2008), Home Office (National), â€Å"Tackling serious organised crime in new and different ways†. Available at: http://nds.coi.gov.uk/content/detail.asp?ReleaseID=367603NewsAreaID=2Navig.. Proceeds of Crime Update, (2008). Available at: http://www.assetsrecovery.gov.uk/MediaCentre/ProceedsOfCrimeUpdate/2008/ Serious Organised Crime Agency, (2008), â€Å"Merger of SOCA and ARA strengthens Government drive to deprive criminals of their assets†. Available at: http://www.soca.gov.uk Sharp, R. (2007), â€Å"Cybercrime†: Uncovered. Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/cybercrime-uncove Wright, A. (2006), Organised Crime, William Publishing, Devon. Zedner, L. (2002), ‘Victims’, in M. Maguire; R. Morgan and R. Reiner (eds), The |Oxford Handbook of Criminology (3rd edition), Oxford University Press.

Effects of South West Monsoon (SWM) on Cloud Cover and Shape

Effects of South West Monsoon (SWM) on Cloud Cover and Shape INTRODUCTION An investigation of the cloud shape stability and the cloud covering is presented on the immediate pre and post south-west monsoon (SWM) commencement. The study focuses on Sri Lankan region bounded by longitude 700E-950E latitude 00-200N during the months April, May June in the years 2012 and 2013. Monsoon onset is a remarkably abrupt event and has established the criterion to determine the onset date which is noticeably controversial and a complicated issue. The prime aim of this paper is to understand the vagaries of the cloud dynamics on the before, inception after the SW monsoon and the analysis are carried out purely based on the computer based image processing rather than chemical physical processes. Cloud shape stability which is determined by the pixel orientation based on the neighbourhood begins to drop in April-May and remains in that low level in subsequent months of both years while cloud cover which is determined by the brightness of the pixel starts to go up in the same period and remains in that high level in the following months as well. The south-west (SW) monsoon brings somewhat organized heavy rainfall to Sri Lanka. The economy of the country is largely influenced by the SW monsoon because major industries such as agriculture and power generation are highly depended on rainfall. Therefore, studying the commencement of SW monsoon and its structure is significant. There is no universally accepted definition or criterion to determine the monsoon onset and previous studies exhibited considerable year to year variation of SW monsoon onset [1]. Further, the climate system is a highly uncertain dynamical system which involves large number of factors such as precipitation, temperature, outgoing long wave radiation, wind speed and direction, humidity etc. Monsoon is also an onset-active-break-revival life cycle phenomenon [11]. Therefore, the establishment of a criterion to determine the onset is a noticeably controversial and complicated task. Major monsoon area of the world exists in South and East Asia and the Indian Ocean monsoon interact with the South China Sea monsoon [10]. Most of the previous studies relating to the monsoon onset were based on wind, precipitation, outgoing long-wave radiation (OLR) and brightness temperature [1, 9, 11]. According to the summarization done by Wang et al from 1992 to 2001, only in one among seventeen (17) stud ies was involved with cloud data [1]. However, Wonsick et al document the seasonal progression of the Asian monsoon by analysing clouds and convection in the pre-peak and post-monsoon season [6]. Moreover, maximum cloud zone and the ITCZ (Inter Tropical Convergence Zone) over the Indian region during the SW monsoon was investigated by Sikka et al and it has been found that the two maximum cloud zones are present during June-September, one of 150N and the other of equatorial region [4]. Most of the monsoon studies based on clouds as well as other variables were highly pertinent to China and Indian region. To the best of our knowledge, there have been no or very little research have been done to investigate the monsoon commencement in Sri Lankan region using the cloud patterns. In addition to the monsoon studies, there are certain studies relating to clouds. Among those, identification of tracer clouds done by Nilanjan et al [7] and automated cloud classification done by Bryan et al [3] motivated us to study the seasonal c loud dynamics. Thirty minute interval cloud images were downloaded from the http://202.54.31.45/ARCHIVE/ASIA-SECTOR/INFRARED. Images are taken from the Indian National Satellite System (INSAT) KALPANA 1 geostationary satellite. These images are derived from the emission by the earth and its atmosphere at thermal infrared wavelength of 10.5-12.5 Â µm and they cover the latitude range 100S-500N and the longitude range 450E – 1050E. The ground resolution at the sub satellite point is nominally 8 Km x 8 Km. Images are stored in the above web site as colour RGB JPEG format. Pixel resolution of the images is about 1200 x 1024 (72 dpi x 72 dpi) with 24bits depth including image header. The region bounded by the longitude 700E-950E and the latitude 00-200N extracted from the original image and the grey converted image is used for this study. This extracted bounded region provides a good coverage for the island of Sri Lanka. Moreover, this study investigates the cloud images from January 2012 to July 2013. Our objective of this research is to distinguish the strange behaviour of the clouds during the potential SW monsoon onset period. Sequel of this paper is as follows: next section describes the methodology followed by the results and discussion. The last section is allocated for a conclusions and recommendations. METHODOLOGY Local orientation which is used as a feature of a satellite image is a major contributor to determine the cloud shape life time. Local orientation which is also called the linear symmetry (LS) is characteristics by the least change of grey value in one direction and maximal change in the orthogonal direction [2,5]. Therefore, a linear symmetry tensor for an image is constructed with respect to the local neighbourhood for each pixel of the image. In this way, local symmetry tensors of the concerned bounded area of the 30 minute interval satellite images were constructed. By preserving the first image as the reference image, comparison takes place with its LS tensor and that of the subsequent images till the correlation drops below a specified threshold. In this study the threshold is 0.9. As long as this correlation of the subsequent image is higher than the threshold, is considered as the same cloud shape with the reference image. The time period until the drop of the correlation of the LS tensors below the threshold is considered as the life time of that particular cloud shape. This process was continued by taking the next immediate image as the new reference image and mean value of the life times is taken as the cloud shape life time for the particular day. In addition, the cloud cover was determined in the said area of the image using the feature of brightness of the pixel. If the pixel brightness is higher than the global threshold which is determined by the otsu’s method, it is considered as the cloudy pixel. As such the cloud cover area was calculated for the chosen area of image by counting the number of cloudy pixels. Similarly, the average was taken as the cloud cover of the particular day. Finally, the cloud shape life time and the cloud cover were analysed in the months of April, May and June which include the SW monsoon potential onset period [8, 10], of the years 2012 2013 which is presented in the following section. All calculations and analysis were done using the software MATLAB and Microsoft Excel. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION To look at the vagaries of the cloud dynamics in the immediate pre and post south-west monsoon commencement, monthly variation of cloud shape life time and cover from January 2012 to July 2013 are calculated and presented in figure 1 with the standard deviation. In both years, cloud shape stability life time start to drop in April-May and after the drop, this low level sustains during the entire peak monsoon period (June-September) in year 2012. Similar trend can be seen up to July in the year 2013. On the other hand, cloud cover starts to increase in same period and remains in that higher value during the whole peak period of monsoon in year 2012. Once again that trend can also be observed up to July 2013. According to the previous studies, Wang et al (2004), Wonsick et al (2009) and Tsing-Change Chen et al monsoon build up on average from 2nd week of May to 1st week of June[1, 6, 8, 10]. When we closely look at how a cloud behaves in this previously identified monsoon onset period, interestingly, we can see a remarkable change of behaviour in both cloud shape life time and the cloud cover occurred in the data considered for this study. First of all, highest cloud cover is increased by 48.56% than the previous day on May 19, 2012. Similarly in 2013, this happens on May 25 which is a 48.47% increase than the previous day. After goes up that high level of cloud cover is averagely 40 per cent or higher in 2013 while it is 40 per cent or higher in most of the days in 2012 remains till mid-June. This is shown in the figure 2. While cloud cover is increased on May 19 2012, the cloud shape stability time is strangely dropped by 51% on the same day when compared with that in the previous day. As shown in figure 3, after this drop the average low life time sustains till mid-June. For example, cloud shape life time of May 18, 19 and 20 are 12.42, 6.08 and 7.36 hours respectively and then it does not increase to a level as high as 12 hours. Similar behaviour can be observed in 2013 too. As higher cloud cover increased occurred on May 25, 2013, cloud shape life time brings to 6.42 hours on that day from 9.83 hours on previous day. This is a 34.75% drop which remains at that low life time as low as 5 hours up to mid-June. We can also see that the cloud shape life time drop occurred on May 20, 2013 by 37.66% than the previous day. However, the following day again it goes up by 50%. In addition, on May 28, 2013, once again we can observe the life time diminish by 38.98% but that drop brings 4.92 hours of life time on May 27 to 3.0 hours on May 28 which is not higher than 5.0 hours either of days and it is not a reasonably long run downward trend. Therefore, the life time drop occurred in May 25, 2013 is unusual. According to the literature, summer monsoon first appeared in South China Sea (SCS) and moves progressively northward [1]. The consistency between the above said dates and onset dates of the previous studies on south china sea and indian monsoon region are significant [1, 9]. In the literature, we can find a considerable amount of studies for defining onset of the monsoon. Some of them are based on multivariable. Certain studies have tried to define the onset using a single variable. However, resulting onset dates for some years were greatly divers because the choice of local variables are sensitivity to the region [1]. One of salient feature of most definitions is that a remarkable change the value of chosen factor or factors and sustains that value to some reasonable period. For instance, Wang et al define the South China Sea (SCS) summer monsoon onset as an index of 850 hPazonal winds average over the central SCS (USCS) is positive and remains positive on subsequent days (3 pentads) with accumulating mean greater than one [1]. Moreover, according to Tsing Chen et al wind field and rainfall are other important widely used factors for determining the onset. Again, these factors reach a certain critical amount and sustain that value for some consecutive d ays which is adopted as the criterion of monsoon onset [10].Similarly, we are able to identify the remarkable change of cloud shape life time and the cloud amount and sustain that change a considerable number of days in the same fashion. conclusions/RECOMMENDATIONS In 2012, within the potential SW monsoon onset period of 2nd week of May to 1st week of June (according to the previous studies), highest cloud cover increase occurred on May 19 and it is 48.56% higher than the previous day. After it goes up it remains in that value of around 40 per cent most of the days till mid-June and averagely higher in the entire peak SW monsoon period (June-September). On the other hand, cloud shape stability on the same day is dropped by 51 per cent than the previous day. Again this is the highest drop within the monsoon onset potential period. Similarly after the cloud shape life time goes down, it remains till mid-June and mean value is as low as the same within the whole monsoon peak period. Similar observation can be seen in that period of 2013 too. Highest cloud cover increase of 48.47% than the previous day is occurred on 25th May, 2013 and it remains till mid-June at as high as 40%. Moreover, the cloud shape life time too behaves as same as the previou s year. When compared with the previous day it is dropped by 34.75% on 25th May and that this low value remains in subsequent days till mid-June. In the light of the above findings, there is a sound reason to explain that the level of cloud cover and their shape life time are good indicators for determining the arrival date of the SW monsoon. On the other hand determining the monsoon structure such as arrival and withdrawal date, break time and its strength is a challenging demand. In the future, we expect to develop the image processing tools for capturing the structural information of the satellite cloud images in order to describe and figure out weather patterns as well as monsoon. REFERENCES B. Wang, Linho, Yongsheng Zhang, and M. M. Lu, 2004: Definition of South China Sea Monsoon Onset and Commencement of the East Asia Monsoon, Journal of Climate, 17, 699-710 Bigun, J., Gosta, H. Grandlund, Optimal Orientation Detection of Linear Symmetry, 1987, Proceedings of the IEEE First International Conference of Computer Vision. London, IEEE Computer Society Press, pp 433-438 Bryan A Baum, Vasanth Tovinkere, Jay Titlow, and Ronald M Welch, 1997: Automated Cloud Classification of Global AVHRR Data Using a Fuzzy Logic Approach, Journal of Applied Meteorology, 36, 1519-1540 D. R. Sikka, and Sulochana Gadgil, 1980: On the Maximum Cloud Zone and the ITCZ over Indian Longitudes during the Southwest monsoon, Monthly Weather Review, 1840-1853 H. L. Premaratne and J Bigun, 2002: Recognition of Printed Sinhala Characters Using Linear Symmetry, The 5th Asian Conference on Computer Vision, Melbourne, Australia, 23-25 January 2002 Margaret M Wonsick, Rachel T Pinker and Yves Govaerts, 2009: Cloud Variability over the Indian Monsoon Region as Observed from Satellites, Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 48, 1803-1821 Nilanjan Ray, Dipti Prasad Mukherjee and Jyotirmoy Das, 1999: Identification of Tracer Clouds: A Shape-based Approach, Current Science, 76, 916-923 S. Ramanayake, Lareef Zubair, and H. B. Nayakekorala, 1998: Week of Onset and Withdrawal of the Southwest Monsoon in Sri Lanka, SLAAS annual conference 54:251-252, December 1998 Tsing Change Chen and Ming Cheng Yen, 1994: Interannual Variation of the Indian Monsoon Simulated by the NCAR Community Climate Model: Effect of the Tropical Pasific SST, Journal of Climate, 7, 1403-1415 Tsing Change Chen and Jau-Ming Chen, 1995: An Observational Study of the South China Sea Monsoon during the 1979 Summer: Onset and Life Cycle, Monthly Weather Review, 123, 2295-2318 Tsing Change Chen, Ren Yow Tzeng and Ming Cheng Yen, 1988: Development and Life Cycle of the Indian Monsoon: Effect of the 30-50 Day Oscillation, Monthly Weather Review, 116, 2183-2199