Critical Infrastructure Vulnerability and Protection Case Study

Critical Infrastructure Vulnerability and Protection - Case Study Example It also needs rail and road transport as well as pipeline to supply it with the fuel for generators, water for emotions control and cooling, finance and banking for purchases of fuel, and telecommunications for system status monitoring and e-commerce. Mat times of component failure or emergencies, other critical dependencies on the same infrastructure will be used by the electricity infrastructure, yet within the same infrastructure. A good example is petroleum fuel for the emergency generators and transportation of repair materials. In this example, the supported infrastructure is electricity which is supported by water, telecommunications, transport, and the other infrastructures (Ronaldi, Peeremboom, & Kelly, 2001). Interdependency is bidirectional relationship existing between two infrastructures whereby is correlated or influences the other one’s state. These increase complexity of the system or systems dramatically. They are characterized by infrastructural multiple connections, feed forward and feedback paths as well as intricate, branching topologies. An intricate web is created by the connections, which depending on its linkages characteristics could transmit shocks across the broad swaths of the economy as well as through multiple infrastructures (Ronaldi, Peeremboom, & Kelly, 2001). Infrastructure interconnection causes vulnerability to failure. For instance, a cascading failure will occur when a certain disrupted infrastructure will cause a component of the other infrastructure to fail creating disruption on the infrastructure. An escalating failure will occur when a disruption that is existing disruption in the first infrastructure will intensify an independent commotion in the other infrastructure, normally worsening the situation in terms of recovery time or restoration time of the second failure. A common cause failure will occur when several networks of infrastructure are at the same time disrupted: there is failure in components in each

Body building Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Body building - Research Paper Example Studies like that of Probert, Palmer and Leberman (2007) have shown that both male and female competitive bodybuilders take risks with regard to their health. Using a postal survey in New Zealand based bodybuilders, they found that males were â€Å"competitively aggressive† and had more involvement in the use of steroids while females were more at risk of eating disorders (p. 272). It is seen here that even athlete bodybuilders take health risks. However, it should be noted here that this research was based on professional athletes and not the general public. Many other accounts by newspaper reports and health organizations have pointed out that more and more people are involving in unhealthy and risky practices for body building. For example, in the New York Times, the example of David Abusheikh was given. This boy started weightlifting when he was 15 years old for two hours in six days a week (Quenqua, 2012). Since high school, this body added shakes and protein bars to his diet for putting on more muscles. He said to the newspaper that he wanted something that could help him get â€Å"bigger a little faster† (Quenqua, 2012). The paper put forward the crisis that boys are taking unhealthy risks to achieve perfect bodies. In a study, it was found that more than 40% middle school and high school boys took protein supplements and 6% used steroids (Quenqua, 2012). Supplements are not regulated and so it is difficult to know what they have. So when taken in large quantities, these could be harmful. Moreover, anabolic steroids are spe cially dangerous because they stop the synthesis of the testosterone hormone in men which is very bad because it will affect growth. Even online, boys and teenagers get very engrossed in weight lifting regimens and for popularizing well built ripped body images. In a study, Kanayama, Hudson and Pope (2008) to explore the problem of abuse of anabolic–androgenic steroid (AAS) by the general

Autobiography Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Autobiography - Essay Example one brother and one sister. I am the eldest of all my siblings. Starting from the days of my childhood I always had a keen interest in education and that is the reason I decided to pursue some degree to achieve a successful career. Born in Mongolia we never were modern enough to know about a lot of things in the modern world and that is why I had to face several difficulties when I moved from Mongolia. My childhood was a pleasant journey for me as I gained a lot of knowledge during my childhood. After reaching an age of twenty one me and my parents moved over to the United States but had to face several problems because of the new culture that we found here. Now after living here for five years I have become used to this culture and consider myself an important part of USA. My childhood was filled with good memories about my parents and siblings as we used to live together happily as a family. My siblings were always nice to me and had my support in whatever problem that they faced i n their life. As I was the eldest of my siblings I had to take some responsibilities whenever it came to my siblings. I was very possessive about my sister and brother when they were young and solved a lot of problems that they were going through in their childhood. Once my brother was being bullied by his classmates and someone told me about it. I ran to the scene and a fight broke out between the bullies and my friends after which they never even talked to my brother. My sister has always been a powerful figure in life and has solved her problems by herself. She has been quite competitive in her class and is the best amongst us in studies. I started studying when I was at the age of six years. I joined Mongolian Russian joint school to complete my high school. During my school life I had to go through a lot of ups and downs. I was interested in sports and joined the school team of basketball. While I contributed to the sports of my school I also worked hard for my studies and was good in the subjects of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry. I was involved in other activities while I was studying for my high school. After I entered high school I started modelling and went to the competitions of modelling. Although I could not win I learned quite a few things and had exposure in the new arena of modelling. Ever since I entered high school I learned about the concept of diversity. In my class I had many students who belonged to different countries and spoke different languages. Seeing these people I developed a keen interest in their languages and decided to increase my knowledge in the subject of diversity. Ever since my high school I have been interested in learning about new cultures and have gained much about the concept of diversity. Multilingual classrooms proved to be somewhat helpful for me in gaining different concepts. As I developed a keen interest in learning about new culture I also visited several places in Russia and China. Seeing the people over t here at first I got a bit confused as the people living in China and Russia followed different traditions. After viewing their traditions and culture I researched on them and found quite interesting things about them. Visiting China and Russia increased my knowledge about their history which I previously was unknown about. All these points have counted for me so that I can understand life in a better way. I completed my high school at the age of 16 and struggled ahead to complete my educational career. Life in itself is an experience for every

Financial Statements analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Financial Statements analysis - Essay Example KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, T.G.I.-Fridays and Harry Ramsden supplying food to alternative outlets such as schools, airports, military bases, and correctional and healthcare facilities. The company’s own profitable brands are Caffe Ritazz, Cafe Select, Upper Crust, Not Just Donuts, Franks, Sushi Q Restaurants. With an annual turnover of nearly $ 7.9 billion as of 1999, the company has emerged as one of the FTSE 100. The company was formed with the acquisition of Grand Metropolitan’ London catering division and its IPO on London Stock Exchange that followed in 1988. Competitors are Gardner Merchant in UK, Sodexho of France and Aramark of the U.S. When the Gardner and Sodexho merged and became a formidable challenge, Compass retaliated by purchasing Accor’s Eurest International and Accor received 22.5 % share in the equity of Compass. With this, Compass once again emerged as the world’s largest foodservice company (FundingUniverse, 1999). Compass’ major percentage (90) of revenue comes from outside the UK and it claims to be living up to the image of international business now spread over 50 countries. North American region contributes 47 % of the revenue, Europe and Japan contributes 34 % and emerging markets contribute 19 % thus aggregating to a total revenue of 17,557 m GBP in 2013. North American region has been the core growth engine for the company in terms of revenue as well as profitability ever since the business was established in the region in 1994. The company is the 11th largest employer in the private sector in the USA and it serves as many as six million meals per day. It had 506, 699 employees as of 30 September 2013. In terms of corporate responsibility, the company has achieved a reduction of carbon emissions from 7.3 % in 2012 to 6 % in 2013. Total GHG emissions were 119,874 Tonnes in 2013 as against 123, 630 Tonnes in 2012. The company aims at a reduction of 20 % against 2008 baseline by 20 17. Other corporate responsibility

Managerial Decision Making Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Managerial Decision Making - Research Paper Example Managerial Decision Making Decision making is the procedure of identifying opportunities, problems, and solutions to these problems or opportunities. Making decisions involves effort, before and after the actual choice. Decision making occurs at all levels of a business. Frequently, the board of directors makes strategic decisions regarding investment and the course of future growth of a company, among others. Managers can make the tactical decisions regarding how their own department can contribute most effectively to the overall company objectives. Ordinary employees are also expected to make decisions regarding conduct of their own responsibilities, responses to customers and enhancements to business practice. There are two types of decision making; programmed and non-programmed decision making (Richard & Dorothy, 2010). Programmed Decision Making According to Andrew (2011), programmed decisions are made for routine, recurring for well-structured situations using predetermined dec ision rules. These rules normally apply prior experience or practical knowledge about what works in a certain situation. Programmed decisions are resolutions that have been made numerous times in the past; managers have developed guidelines or rules to be applied when certain situations are anticipated to occur. According to Richard & Dorothy (2010), programmed decisions are made to ensure smooth running of the organizational activities. For example, McDonald’s Corporation inventory manager will decide to order certain goods when the company is running out of stock. Few programmed decisions are structured to eliminate individual judgment. In programmed decision making, there are no errors in the decisions since it is routine, and managers normally have the information needed; to create guidelines and rules to be followed by others. Lower level managers are essentially confronted by repetitive and familiar problems; therefore, they typically rely on programmed decisions, such as standard operating procedures. In most cases, lower level managers deal with well-structured problems. If lower level managers come across ill structured problems, they pass on these problems to senior managers in the organizational hierarchy. Similarly, senior managers pass down well structured problems to their subordinates so that they handle more problematic issues. In programmed decision making there is little threat and ambiguity involved, the decision maker is certain on the consequences of his or her actions, pertaining to a certain issue (Andrew, 2011). Non-programmed Decision Making Non-programmed decisio

Start Up Decisions and Adjustments Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Start Up Decisions and Adjustments - Coursework Example First, the business purchased the Green Theme Furniture for the business at $4,000 as opposed to the used furniture that whose cost was $2000 and the auto four high capacity espressos for $6000 as opposed to a two-cup espresso machine whose price was $3000. Such decisions came with an added cost as well as an added advantage; for instance, though the four-cup espresso maker was expensive, it was 30% faster than the two-cup espresso, thus guaranteeing fast and effective while serving customers, and therefore, lowering the demand for a large number of servers. In addition, the green theme furniture choice was aimed at attracting a wide variety of customers. Our business is located in a busy street, which includes businesspeople, students, and staff. Therefore, the furniture is supposed to fit their status and act as an attraction to many customers. In staff recruitment, we started with two managers, but later on added one more because the cafe opened on weekends. Six servers were hired and each was paid $7.75 per hour, however, their salaries were increased to $9.00 per hour as an effort of motivating them and avoiding the high turnover rate. The managers were paid $650 a week; however, their wages were increased to $670 to maintain them and reduce the rate of quitting. The prices of coffee were as follows, the small cup at $2.00, medium cup at $3.00 and the large cup went for $4.00. With the above prices, business was favorable and our customers suggested that our prices were great; however, there were long queues due to demand. The management decided to offer coffee in three different sizes as a means of product differentiation, whereby, this service differentiated our cafe from the rest by catering for all kinds of customers. In advertisement and promotion, the business preferred only newspaper for a start in order to minimize on costs. The operations decisions included opening hours, which raged from 9am to 9pm as from Monday to Saturday; however, the managem ent wished it had changed the opening hours from 9am to 8am in order to serve the ‘early birds’. If this decision had been made early enough, the cafe would have made some extra income. Nevertheless, there was no need of an insurance cover at first, as it was expensive; but with time, it will be considered. The business decision to purchase organic coffee was a tough one, as it is expensive compared to normal coffee. However, for the sake of our customer’s health, we had to compromise. Nevertheless, the prices should have changed due to the high price of organic coffee. Therefore, the small coffee cup increased by one dollar as the medium one increase by 50cents while the large cup remained the same. These changes are aimed at increasing revenues, while at the same time considering customers’ affordability; hence, the prices are not too high. Final modification on the business plan The main aim of this cafe business is to attract, satisfy, and retain custo mers, as they are the key to the success of business. The more customers the cafe retains, the more profits it accumulates. Therefore, the business is determined to maintain its position as the cost leader and still offer unique services, as strategies of attracting customers. The customer survey reports rate our customer satisfaction at 57%, which is somehow favorable;

Origins, Development And History Of Classical Sonata Genre Essay

Origins, Development And History Of Classical Sonata Genre - Essay Example This genre of music has experienced contributions made by some of the best musicians that have ever existed. These musicians are said to be the founding fathers of the music that we experience in the 21st century. The first contributor of sonata is believed to be Arcangelo Corelli who developed two forms of Sonata including the ones that were deemed as suitable to be played within church area and the second form was considered appropriate to be used in courts in which a dance usually followed a particular prologue and these musical displays were made following the similar key (Bbc.co.uk 1). The sonata that was played in churches usually comprised of playing of one or two violins which usually started at a slower tone. After the slow tone, the tone used to be increased a bit and towards the end the pitch of the tone used to be quite lively to match the tunes of dance. In the beginning the pitch of the tones was not quite clearly to differentiate between different tones but with the us e of violin the tones became quite clear. On the other hand the sonata that was considered as appropriate for the church used to be completely based on dance based tunes. Later on a mix of both kinds of sonatas used to be experienced. Major percentage of the sonatas was contributed by Sebastian Bach but his focus was less on this form of music as compared to the others (Geck 585).