Project Management Ethical Issues

Melwin Fernandes 200083225 Ethics and Other Management Issues (CIS 485) Duncan Jeffries Project Management Issues What is Project Management? Project management  is the  discipline  of  planning,  organizing, and  managing  resources  to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives. It is often closely related to program management (Wikipedia). A  project  is a temporary endeavour, undertaken to meet particular goals and objectives, having a defined beginning and end, usually to bring about beneficial change or added value.The temporary nature of projects stands in contrast to, which are repetitive, permanent or semi-permanent functional work to produce products or services. In practice, the  management  of these two systems is often found to be quite different, and as such requires the development of distinct technical skills and the adoption of separate management. The primary challenge of project management is to achieve al l of the project goals  and objectives while honouring the preconceived project constraints. Typical constraints are  scope, time, and  budget.The secondary challenge is to  optimize  the  allocation  and integration of inputs necessary to meet pre-defined objectives. Project Management Approach There are a number of approaches to managing project activities: 1. The Traditional Approach: A traditional phased approach identifies a sequence of steps to be completed. 2. Critical Chain Project Management  (CCPM): It is a method of planning and managing projects that puts more emphasis on the resources (physical and human) needed in order to execute project tasks. . Extreme Programming: It is used in combination with the process modeling  and management principles of  human interaction management. 4. Event chain methodology: It  is another method that complements  critical path method  and  critical chain  project management methodologies. 5. PRINCE2: It   is a structured approach to project management 6. Agile Project Management: It is based on the principles of  human interaction management  are founded on a process view of human collaboration. Project Management Development StageProject development includes a number of elements: five stages and a control system. Regardless of the methodology used, the project development process will have the same major stages. Major stages generally include: ? Initiation ? Planning or development ? Production or execution ? Monitoring and controlling ? Closing The Use and Misuse of Security Technology The misuse of security Technology is one of the main issues in project management. There are a large number of people over the world with very little or no knowledge of security technology which is why certain projects fail.It is a subject which is under discussed but in today's world with relatively low cost, trusted, security technology is readily available and easy to use. It has become a cult ure among people who are not sufficiently educated with the tools of security technology as it is easy to use and has somewhat become a fashionable trend. Some consider technology to be bad for the society. People have to understand that this is only because of its misuse. Technology does not threaten the society, instead it is humans who are the users who use technology to threaten society.So technology itself is not at fault. In the field of information, technology has increased the speed, quantity and communication with co-workers and clients. Advancements in technology have also contributed to work being completed at home which imbalances their work and life. Lost revenue and productivity has become a reason for an increased need and demand for surveillance techniques to monitor employees. Employers have resorted to creating separate computer security departments or divisions to deal with both the internal and external threats.All companies weather large or small have the pressu re to maintain access to critical information in order to run the business and remain competitive. A corporation with hundreds of offices and thousands of employees would have the same pressure of holding critical information as any other small enterprise. A comprehensive data protection solution is going to involve a lot of consideration and contingencies. There are many things can go wrong with your data and you need to be able to respond to them.There are many companies that have opted to purchase solutions from different vendors to fully address these challenges but can be an extremely expensive approach in terms of acquisition, integration and ongoing management costs. There have also been companies who decided the cost is too high and taken their chances, which is an approach that has often resulted in disaster. In the business world today, the loss of important data can cause significant damage and lead to the demise of your business.The same complex and expensive solutions a s the major players in your industry can be cost-prohibitive and unnecessary. Software and People in Project Management The most comprehensive software solution for assessing security of web application, network systems, end point systems and email users is CORE IMPACT Pro. It allows you to take security testing to the next level by safely replicating a broad range of threats to your organization’s sensitive data and critical infrastructure. You gain extensive visibility into the ause, effect and prevention of data breaches, enabling you to drive effective risk mitigation enterprise-wise. Impact enables you to safely assess an organization's security posture against the attack methods that jeopardize data today. Exploitation of network defenses in operating systems and services, client applications that run on desktop systems, attacks on employees, contractors and other end users via social engineering, manipulation of web applications to access backend data via cross-site sc ripting (XSS), SQL injection and remote file inclusion techniques only.It allows you to utilize penetration testing to assess your information security in such an integrated, comprehensive, in-depth andseamless fashion. CORE IMPACT Pro gives confidence in your security infrastructure by enabling you to validate network vulnerability, end-user threat response and web application exposure on a regular basis. You not only identify but also distinguish critical network vulnerabilities from false positives, identify where your organization is at risk from social engineering threats such as spam, validate security exposure in web applications.With all this you can intelligently plan, prioritize and execute policy adjustments, ensuring cost-effective use of security and development resources while improving overall security posture. Next-generation data protection, or NGDP, is a term that describes a large number of disk-based backup and recovery technologies, including disk-to-disk (D2D), virtual tape library (VTL), snapshots, continuous data protection (CDP), remote office backup consolidation (ROBC), bare machine recovery (BMR), disaster recovery (DR), wide area file services (WAFS) and others.The Tivoli Storage Manager FastBack It integrates to provide organizations with a complete data protection, archive, and retention and recovery solution. It also extends disk-based, block-level incremental data capture to a repository in another location, sending changed blocks of data over a WAN or Internet connection. Tivoli Storage Manager FastBack was designed to be bandwidth efficient to help minimize the impact on other applications that rely on WAN and Internet links.It can be set individually for each location to meet specific needs of the business while avoiding unnecessary costs in bandwidth and storage.. The features also include data differencing (sending only the changes from the previous job run), compression, bundling of small files to help reduce TCP/IP overh ead, bandwidth throttling and multi-threading. There have been a wide variety of industries who have taken Tivoli Storage Manager FastBack to improve backup and recovery performance across a diverse set of support tasks. It helps organizations: Reduce server backup times from hours or days to a few minutes. †¢ Reduce server volume restoration times from hours or days to a few minutes. †¢ Increase backup frequencies from once per week to multiple times per day, without disrupting operations. †¢ Enable rapid recovery of granular Exchange objects that are typically too difficult to recover. With next-generation data protection and recovery solution set at mid-market prices, these solutions can help companies reduce operational risk and costs, increase productivity and resiliency, and improve levels of service.It delivers a common foundation for managing both business and technology requirements and is designed to quickly address most pressing service management needs to changing business demands. The Tivoli portfolio is backed by world-class IBM Services, IBM Support and an active ecosystem of IBM Business Partners. Project Management Software It is a key tool in your effort to consistently finish projects on time and within budget. It allows you to do the critical steps Project Managers must do efficiently.There are a number of benefits that Project Management Software can provide such as spotting problems before it’s too late to fix them, optimizing the use of resources so you can finish early, updating the plan each week so you know where you are and updating everyone’s schedule when things change. These are the basic tools that every Project manager should have. Ideally Project Management Software provides managers with time-saving scheduling and analysis tools as well as archive data for use on future projects.Unfortunately Project Management trainings do not include practical skills in using Project Management Software nor the v alue that comes from archiving data on every project. Tasks like scheduling skills to optimize the use of resources to finish as early as possible and project software to identify problems early are best done with Project Management Software which otherwise can waste a considerable amount of time if done manually. With the appropriate Project Management Software, tracking actual performance in terms of hours of work and completion dates builds a database for estimating on the next project.Practically, there are far too many Project Managers who do not have the training or the tools to optimize their schedule or make efficient use of their resources resulting in projects that are guided by guesses. Project Management Software does not make the managers more effective, it just makes them more efficient. Project Management Software does not teach you how to define scope, communicate to the Project sponsor but just lets you accomplish these tasks more efficiently. There are three genera l classes of software available: Statistical Software: To blend in one direction with relational database software such as Oracle or Sybase. †¢ Mathematical Software: MATLAB in the other direction exhibits not only statistical capabilities flowing from code for matrix manipulation, but also optimization and symbolic manipulation useful for statistical purposes. †¢ Visualization Software: Overlaps to some extent with software intended for exploratory data analysis. The user interfaces common range from command line to graphical user interfaces (GUI) to hybrid drag and drop system interfaces.The Statistical Analysis System is available on PC and UNIX based platforms, as well as on mainframe computers. This modern database technique with queries is very easy to use and also accomplished easily. System for Statistical Analysis among the products are for management of large data bases, time series and most classical statistical problems including multivariate analysis, linear m odels (as well as generalized linear models), and clustering; data visualization and plotting.Users with a need to write an applications program using a matrix language, the product SAS/IML provides the ability to program using matrices as objects. SAS is to a large extent an industry standard statistical software package. The demand for students with SAS skills is greater than with skills other than statistical packages. Other statistical of the same general vintage as SAS are MINITAB, BMDP and SPSS. All of these systems began as mainframe systems, but have evolved to smaller scale systems as computing have evolved.MINITAB Inc was formed more than 20 years ago around its flagship product, MINITAB statistical software. MINITAB Statistical Software provides tools to analyze data across a variety of disciplines, and is targeted for users at every level i. e. Scientists, business and industrial users, faculty, and students. It has broadened the scope of its products to include quality control, designed experiments, chemo metrics and an array of general statistics from the original software that helped faculty to teach basic statistics.MINITAB is available on the most widely-used computer platforms, including Windows, DOS, Macintosh, OpenVMS, and UNIX. BMDP features a comprehensive library of over forty statistical routines and has set the standard for high-end statistical analysis software. It has its roots as a bio-medical analysis package from the late 1960’s and each statistical routine has been thoroughly time-tested based on the most advanced algorithms available. Current versions come in several flavors including the BMDP New System Personal Edition.The Professional Edition combines the full suite of BMDP Classic for PCs Release 7 statistics with the powerful data management and front-end data exploration features of the BMDP New System Personal Edition. SPSS Software products run on most models of all major computers and statistical analysis can now be done on the desktop. It is a multinational software company that provides statistical product and service solution for survey research, marketing and sales analysis, quality scientific research, government reporting and education. e SPSS products are a modular system and includes SPSS Professional Statistics, SPSS Advanced Statistics, SPSS Tables, SPSS Trends, SPSS Categories, SPSS CHAID, SPSS LISREL 7, SPSS Developer's Kit, Exact Tests, Teleform, and MapInfo. S-PLUS is a supported extension of the statistical analysis language. It was originally developed at AT;T Bell labs manufactured and supported by the Statistical Sciences Corporation, now a division of Mathsoft. Some of the code has been contributed by prominent individuals from the academic and industrial communities.MATLAB is an interactive computing environment used for scientific and statistical data analysis and visualization. The basic data object in MATLAB is the matrix with functions for basic data analysis and gra phics which are text files that the user can read and adapt for other uses, giving the ability to create their own M-files functions and script files, thus making MATLAB a programming language. The most useful capability is the tool available for visualizing data. It also provides Handle Graphic and there is a considerable amount of contributed MATLAB code available on the internet.The above descriptions of statistical software cover the most well-established commercially available software packages and among them the most extensively used mathematical packages is MATLAB. MINITAB is used in the educational community for introductory courses. BMDP and SPSS find users among communities in which they originated respectively the biomedical and social sciences community. Mainstream applied statisticians tend to use SAS more extensively whereas on the other hand S-plus seems to be a package that is highly regarded among the more research oriented particularly those interested in computati onal statistics.JAVA is a programming language which represents an extension of the World Wide Web capabilities. Basic documents on the web are constructed using HTML, in the sense that once the server delivers the HTML text to the browser, the server has done its job and the static text is interpreted and displayed by the client’s browser. It is a fully distributed, object oriented programming language which allows for creation of a fully interactive web-based system. The data and tools can be sent to the clients’ browser and allows attributes and methods to be linked together.In particular, JAVA allows applets, small applications or subroutines, to be created and transmitted across the web just as static HTML documents are now transmitted. JAVA is intended to be a secure system although security problems do exist with present implementation. However, access to local data is restricted and the JAVA is a secure environment. JAVA has been declared as is related to stati stical data analysis software of the future because it is a practical implementation of a new paradigm in distributed computing.It allows not only the distribution of text and multimedia but also of computing applications and data. It is a response to the enormous popularity of the World Wide Web and under this framework, new statistical, data analytic and other methodologies could be made available and tried out by practitioners in other research fields on their own data and their own computer. Considering the possibility of extending the web in a natural way to acquire data in the same way we acquire human-consumable information, new mechanisms must be sought to provide for the distribution of that data.Best Practices in Project Planning Project managers deal with sponsors who are organizational levels above them and sign their paychecks so Project Managers can’t really argue about the best way to do the project. Having data to quantify the impact of changes and model alter native ways of solving problems gives them much more credibility to give their executives a solid data on which to make their Project decisions rather than having due dates and budgets plucked out of the air.The ethical issue and its consequences, its resolution and its effect on Management In project management, timing is everything. Justifying, Planning, Activating, Controlling and Ending it the right way is the key to a successful Project. It is a disciplined process and a full circle project management that holds every development project together. The project plan, schedule, budget, resources, risk, scope, motivating the players and launching all project activities with communication play a very essential role in project management.It must be constructed in a way that reaches a busy, important audience with the right amount of the right information, a strategic marketing entity in a tight package that must be backed up with well-researched facts and figures that speak directly to the needs, goals, and problem-solving missions of the business. Present them with the business case report and explain it via a well-crafted, well-rehearsed presentation, accompanied by the sponsors. Starting off with a strong solid foundation of research and a creative solution to a business need do the utmost to obtain approval and present justification for the project.Plan Project produces the detailed project plan, project schedule, project organization, and resources. The approved project plan includes understanding the potential risks and the actions that are necessary to manage them. The goal of every project is to drive it to a successful and appropriate conclusion. Controlling a project is imposed not to create a bureaucratic layer, but to ensure that the project proceeds to its planned and scheduled ending. The activity of the project rests with the Project Manager. He controls, monitors, makes decisions ensuring that the project proceeds as planned taking corrective ac tions when necessary.End Project tasks archive the project materials and release the project resources for use on other projects. Conclusion Project management and project planning processes can contribute to an organization's survival and success, while the absence of project management and project planning processes can lead to an organization's demise. This helps in developing the concept for the project, which in turn is used to secure approvals to proceed to the execution phase of a project. Collectively these five steps form the life-cycle phases of project management, and all steps require adequate attention to ensure that a project is adequately managed.Costs, time-frames, quality targets, and other relevant factors are very essential while considering the planning process. Project management ensures that organizations are able to achieve strategic initiatives that extend beyond normal operations through a recognized process, thus aiding organizations in fulfilling strategic objectives such as new product development, process re-engineering, organizational change or financial growth. In conclusion, project management is needed within organizations to support temporary endeavors that create unique products or services.

Eco-tourism Essay

Eco-tourism is defined by the International Ecotourism Society as â€Å"responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and sustains the well-being of local people. † It is different from the traditional mass tourism in that it provides an incentive to people to be more environmentally and culturally friendly and responsible and thus preserving a better future for the tourists of tomorrow (What is ecotourism? , 2009). One of the continents rich in indigenous cultures is the continent of Australia where various natural wonders of the world lie. It is a place with cultural and natural diversity. It is places where the Sydney Harbor, Ayers Rock and cricket stadiums mark the beauty and diversity of the region. Beautiful rainforests, parks and resorts are found and that need to be preserved and protected. In this article today, we will look into the different organizations working to promote eco-tourism in Victoria, the efforts they have taken, their adequacies, the effect of green washing which should be eliminated the most and the costs and benefits associated with eco-tourism in Australia. Even though there are costs associated with eco-tourism, the benefits certainly outweigh them and thus for the prosperity of tomorrow, eco-tourism is an emerging concept picking up even more pace in today’s difficult times of global warming, environmental threats and extinction of natural habitat at an exceeding fast rate (Brue, 2006). Introduction Eco-tourism, a term, which is gaining more momentum in today’s world due to the ever-more environmentally friendly and conscious approaches being taken to conserve the natural habitats of the world is often confused with similar terminologies. Buzz words such as ‘adventure travel,’ ‘sustainable travel,’ ‘green travel’ and ‘responsible tourism’ are often used interchangeably with eco-tourism, which has a precise and unique meaning to it. Eco-tourism is best defined as a ‘responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the welfare of the local people. ’ It is different from the traditional travel in the sense that it allows travelers to meet the people from different cultures and encourages them to protect the endangered species, plants and animals. The history of eco-tourism began when many countries started setting up lodges near parks and reserves to display the natural wonders to the world. However, little was it helping the local communities as rainforests and endangered species started depleting. In the late seventies did the realization struck that huge resorts such as Acapulco and Cancun and large parks were having disastrous effects on the natural environment, which should in fact be protected thus giving the idea of eco-tourism to be invented (What is ecotourism? , 2009). In this article we will be looking at eco-tourism in the great continent of Australia, home to the most beautiful natural sites in the world. Australia is native to an indigenous culture, marvelous sites and landscapes, rare species and inhabitants that can easily be used to spur up an economy of eco-tourism; the only hindrance is the fact that it lies towards one extreme end of the Earth. Costs and Benefits The benefits of eco-tourism cannot be understated. However, the costs of eco-tourism should also not be overlooked (Case & Fair, 2004). Environmental In today’s worlds where environmental awareness and protection is a key priority in almost all aspects of the economy and in almost all business arenas, eco-tourism also stresses on the sole importance of preservation of the environment and natural habitats. Eco-tourism like any other form of tourism is a means of giving people a break from their mundane lifestyles and giving them an exuberant experience but with a feel of environmental obligation. Eco-tourism has raised awareness among travelers as well as local communities and residents of how to protect their surroundings and the need for it as well. It has made societies more knowledgeable and has raised appreciation for biological diversity and resources and is also encouraging nations to discover new means for better conservation practices. If resources and inhabitants are not protected today, the world’s scarce resources will deplete soon leaving no tourist attraction for the later generations to come (Sustainable Consumption and Production Branch, 2009). Some of the potential costs associated are that if there is no proper regulation and authority, eco-tourism efforts may fail and damage the environment. This is what initially happened in Costa Rica and Nepal where pollution from nearby runaway resorts and hotel development and parks kept rising, signaling a poorly managed eco-tourism business (Martha, 1999). Economic Economically, eco-tourism is growing significantly. Apart from the growth of ecotourism at about a sustained 15% in Australia, there are other potential growth opportunities in other Latin American countries as well. Latin America is seen as the heart of eco-tourism and in Costa Rica, eco-tourism is rising by about 20% each year. Mexico and the Brazil have entered into long term agreements to launch massive eco-tourism projects in places such as the Amazon Basin in order to attract millions of tourists each year. And this as a result is a major contributor to the national GDP and generates millions of dollars each year. Also, eco-tourism has allowed a number of new tourists spots to develop in recent years. USAID promotes nature based tourism by developing new national parks, demarcating and equipping these parks, encouraging more investments into eco-tourism and providing hobs and training to people from such ingenious areas as well as locals and hence reducing unemployment (Dasgupta, 2006). However, one of the major risks that seem to be associated with economic effects of eco-tourism is that with the rise of international tourism, the local economic effects of eco-tourism are depleting. The millions of dollars generated by this industry often leaves the host country and into other nations (Case & fair, 2006). Eco-tourism society through its research finds out that about 55% of total revenues generated from eco-tourism leaves Central And South America. This is not the case so for Australia where a majority of the revenue forms government revenue which is spent back on public development and national preservation of forests and species. This leakage of revenue hampers growth of the local societies and limits the funds that can be re-invested in protecting and conserving the environment. Moreover, the rural people who get the jobs in the eco-tourism industry are often exploited for being cheap labor and often international workers are hired which again means a leakage of funds from the host country. Yet another cost of eco-tourism is that there maybe some spots reserved for tourists and for environmental protection, which will be seen by natives such as farmers as a means of encroaching on their lands and snatching away their rights to farm on those lands and feed the growing population. National heritage and critical sites in the Australia that have long been preserved in their natural forms, are now being encroached upon by locals and greedy foreigners in search for minerals, ore and timber and thus hampering the life of farmers and tribal people living in these areas relying upon ancient farming techniques and production methods for sustenance. Socio-cultural Eco-tourism allows people from different nations to meet people from other cultures with varying customs and unique histories. It is important that tourists have already read about the native locals that they will soon be meeting up with and the places they will go to. The benefits in this are the increase in knowledge of people about other cultures, developing cross-cultural communications and relationships and bridging gaps that may exist. Also, it allows tourists to come out of their stereotyped tourists impression and give a chance to the locals to offer them hospitality and kindness and thus providing a unique opportunity to overcome cultural barriers (Tenenbaum, 2000). However, the one real and most dangerous cost of socio-cultural aspects of eco-tourism is that it has resulted in eroding away the natives’ culture that is so unique and needs to be preserved. This happens in case when eco-tourism is not managed well whereby the tourists needs to be told how to behave with the natives, what code of conduct they need to embrace and what they should talk about and what not. Often when things are not managed well, a sense of inadequacy arises in the natives such as people from high mountains or tribal regions when they see the ‘white’ foreign tourists in such luxury and richness leaving resentment in the natives over their way of life. This has been observed through a research in the Ecuadorian highlands where the natives feel a great sense of deprivation looking at the foreign ‘white’ tourists who come with their own food, has the cash needed for purchases and can afford to have people serve them comfortably. This often leaves behind traces of modern culture and infiltrates the native culture and leaves it at a state that is neither modern nor indigenous. Managing Eco-tourism-Quality Control, Management Practices In order for the objectives of the eco-tourism to be achieved, quality control measures and management techniques should be in place correctly. In conjunction with new Zealand and other surrounding pacific nations, Australia boasts of a large ecotourism joint agreement that has seen all the members of the agreement seeing growth and development in the ecotourism sector for the past five years. Even in South America, various countries have entered into eco-tourism agreements to ensure safer and environmentally responsible tours. Mexico is one of the Latin American countries that tourism and environment leaders have entered into long-term eco-tourism agreements and Brazil has launched a huge eco-tourism project in the Amazon Basin (Martha, 1999). Various organizations have been set up to deal with the quality control issues at hand to ensure that eco-tourism approaches and techniques are able to meet the set standards and goals. Initially, in the past couple of years organizations were exploiting and misusing the label of eco-tourism and offering the traditional tourism plans. However people, conservation minded organizations and the governments realized the importance of eco-tourism in its true meaning and thus have now embraced it in its true form (Brue, 2004). In South America, many eco-tourism specific organizations are providing services to ensure quality control. In Guatemala, a local organization by the name of Pro Peten Conservation International provides training services since 1993 to natives in order for them to act as agents of eco-tourism and as guides for the tourists. They are taught how to behave with tourists, how to interact with them, how to be proud of and protect their indigenous culture and heritage and how not to get swayed away by the tourists’ lifestyles. Another organization is the Ecuadorian Eco-tourism Association that improve the working and training of all those working in the eco-tourism industry by providing field training, workshops for guides, tour operators, lodges and conservationists. Providing training to natives and those working for the industry is essential so that they know which tourists they are going to be dealing with, the level of awareness of those tourists and how well they need to frame their plans in accordance with eco-tourism objectives (Sustainable Consumption and Production Branch, 2009).

KOSOVO independence AND KOSOVO FACTS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

KOSOVO independence AND KOSOVO FACTS - Essay Example In exchange, Kosovo will eventually gain self governance as guided by EU. Last year (September 10, 2012), Kosovo was given full autonomy when UN and EU peacekeeping forces withdraw its forces from Kosovo after 13 years of UN and EU oversight. Kosovo’s Declaration of Independence was adopted on February 17, 2008 at a meeting of the Assembly of Kosovo declaring itself to be independent from its former host country Serbia. The declaration of independence meant that it will be accorded its own national symbols such as a flag and coat and arms and have its own territory demarcated on its borders. This declaration however was rejected and not recognized by Serbia. Negotiations ensued and when the negotiation did not improve, Kosovo declared its independence unilaterally as Republic of Kosovo with the sight of abiding with the Ahtisaari plan in full when it formulated its own Constitution drafted by Constitutionalist both local and abroad. The law was to take effect in June of 2008, meaning, Kosovo’s formal independence will take into effect and its commitment to Ahtisaari plan of minorities guarantee of their rights and representation in the new government. The Declaration of Independence by Kosovo drew mixed reactions. For one, the northern region which is composed mainly Serbs were sympathetic towards Serbia and thus remained under Serbia’s effective control of which the latter refused to relinquish control despite UN’s order in exchange of full membership in the EU. As expected, the declaration of independence of Kosovo was also contested by Serbia in the UN’s International Court of Justice claiming that it was illegal. The court however decided in favor of Kosovo in October of 2008 by declaring that Kosovo’s declaration of its own independence did not violate any international law. Until now, Kosovo is still in the process of creating its own

Customer Protection Laws, Law of Torts and the Contract Act Essay

Customer Protection Laws, Law of Torts and the Contract Act - Essay Example On the part of the Company, it would be the purchase price consideration. Consideration, according to Jill Poole, in her book, Text Book on Contract Law, could be described as the action, inaction or promise thereof by one party, which stimulates action, inaction, or promise of another. (Poole 1996-2008, P. 3). The following case illustration would drive home the aspects regarding the law applicable in this case. A arranges with a lorry transport Company, B, to transfer his chattels and also paid advance towards this arrangement. However, during the actual movement of goods, the cases fall into the river. B is under contract with A and therefore, a breach of contract has resulted. Again, in this case, if A could prove negligence, B may be held negligible under Tort. Therefore, under such circumstances, the transport company could be held liable for actions under Contract, and also under Tort law, or both. In the Henderson v. Merritt Syndicate Limited case, the learned jury, Lord Goff observed â€Å"Approached as a matter of principle, therefore, it is right to attribute to that assumption of responsibility, together with its concomitant reliance, a tortuous liability and then to inquire whether or not that liability is excluded by the contract because the latter is inconsistent with it.† (Poole 1996-2008, P. 6). In this case study, it is seen that the product stopped functioning during the warranty period. This warranty is termed as â€Å"warranty of fitness† whereby the buyer agrees to purchase the laptop upon the express condition that, in the event of non-functioning within a period of six months, it would be repaired free of cost Answer.com: Consumer protection: Warranties. (Consumer protection. 2008).In this case, it could be said that there is an Express warranty that assures the quality, description, or performance of the product. These warranties may be less apparent than are product advertisements.  

A Comparison of the Characterization of Sherlock Holmes Essay

A Comparison of the Characterization of Sherlock Holmes - Essay Example Sherlock Holmes is the most prominent creation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Since Holmes’s first fictional appearance in 1887, he has become the model of the amateur private detective. Although Sherlock Holmes is not one of the first private detectives who came into the fiction world, the fame he attained after his literary origin dwarfed his fictional ancestors and started his way to eternity. Together with his friend Dr. Watson, they have frequently appeared in all sorts of literature, movies and TV series. In the movie, the novel and the show, Sherlock Holmes is character is portrayed differently and similarly. Similarities: In the novel and in the movie, Sherlock Holmes is a detective; he is brilliant and intelligent, and very knowledgeable. Differences: In the novel, Sherlock Holmes is portrayed as a musician because he plays the violin so well, he his knowledgeable in many fields like literature, politics, botany, geology, chemistry, British law and anatomy. He is also an expert in boxing; he is a swordsman and a singlestick player. In the movie Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey) he is portrayed differently as rude, dangerous, emotional and tricky. The main difference in the show Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch) is the mode of dressing because he puts on a big coat every time the time and is at all times professionally clad, and he sometimes stays away from the old styled hat, large oversized coat, and piped trouser that he has always had in past years. The other difference is that he possesses the art of assumption.

Article 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Article 4 - Essay Example Seemingly, a rush decision to implement what has not been sufficiently exhausted may elicit a regressive effect rather than a progressive one. Generally, the article expresses confidence in the new technology but expresses reservations of its actualization in the absence of utter scrutiny from all the concerned stakeholders. R-DNA plays a pivotal role in expediting the time within which DNA results are obtained (Asplen par. 1). In the past, the experience has always been waiting for lengthy durations for the determination of DNA results. The problem with that was that the further away the results were from the time of the commission of a crime, the more problems it paused for the investigation team. The DNA played the role of a component in the investigation because it could not be sufficiently relied to isolate the identity of a suspect. However, with a possibility of getting the DNA results within a record ninety minutes to one hour, the DNA test will assume the role of driving the investigations and not merely being a component. R-DNA is poised to free government labs of various tests that previously conducted there. Such a move will see the government labs intensify lab usage for sophisticated tests that require human intervention to figure out the conclusion. According to Asplen (par. 3), the room created in the labs will enable specialists to curl through evidence to come up with a hidden information to expedite the judicial process. R-DNA is also likely to prove useful to government agencies that are not criminal in nature (Asplen par. 6). For example, border patrol may wish to establish the authenticity people’s identifications through this test. Current mechanisms for establishing a person’s identification are culpable of artificial alterations, thereby compromising the integrity of the system. For example, use of fingerprints may prove

Masters Level - Project Management in Construction Essay

Masters Level - Project Management in Construction - Essay Example However, these ideas remained a distant reality given the technological challenges posed by such a project. Nonetheless speculation thrived on the issue especially throughout the sixties and the seventies. It became clear that the only viable method of bridging up Great Britain to mainland Europe was a tunnel under the sea. The idea seemed simple at first. The project required the boring of three distinct tunnels from one side of the English Channel to the other. Tunnelling or more specifically boring had been carried out extensively even before the Channel Tunnel project so technical expertise was available on the issue. One thing that was noticeable about the Channel Tunnel project upfront was the fact that boring had never been taken up on such a massive scale before this project. While the Channel Tunnel project can be seen as a major achievement in terms of technical progress, by any other measure, it has been seen as a pure project management failure. There is little doubt in anyone’s mind that the Channel Tunnel project was less than a Pyrrhic victory. The initial costing for the project was estimated at some  £3.5 billion but the eventual execution cost the project team some  £9 billion. There was little change in the overall scope of the project but there were myriad changes in the details of the project scope. It was decided initially that the Channel Tunnel would consist of a 32 mile (51.5 kilometres) tunnel under the sea to serve two railway links separately. These two main railway tracks under the sea would be supported by a smaller tunnel in the middle of these tunnels to service shuttle trains carrying vehicles. Once construction commenced, it became apparent that air conditioning was more of a necessity than an auxiliary for the projec t. One of the more troubling aspects of the Channel Tunnel project was the involvement of the governmental machinery

Marketing Plan Part B Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Marketing Plan Part B - Essay Example The Jacob’s Coffee Shop will try to make sure that the customer gets a good experience as they consume the products of the business. This is why the Jacob’s Coffee Shop has decided to use an app that the customer can use in choosing the design and nature of the product. Not many coffee shops offer the customer with a way to be in command of the way he gets his product. This will be very useful in making sure that the customer is engaged and maintained at Jacob’s Coffee Shop. The business will have the name of Jacob’s Coffee Shop. The name is inspired by a story in the bible where one person sold his inheritance for a bowl of well cooked soup. The soup that was served to him was so good that he could not resist and even sold his highly valued inheritance just for one bowl. In this regard, the Jacob’s Coffee Shop will provide its customers with such good coffee and beverage products that the customers will come back for more. While the main product for Jacob’s Coffee Shop will be coffee served at the coffee shop, Jacob’s Coffee Shop will take advantage of the available market to make sure that it has more business. In this regard, Jacob’s Coffee Shop will also offer deliveries especially to functions where coffee is needed in large quantities, at the request of the customer. As Gibson (2013) says, coffee shops must know how to extend their services in order to increase their revenues and profits. Word of mouth will be an important way to promote the business. All the initial customers will be asked kindly to spread the information about the shop to their friends and family. At the same time, to help the word of mouth strategy to work, there will be well designed colorful leaflets that will be made and each customer given a number of them to give to their friends and family. To engage the customers, the social media will be used. There are several social media that are available and they all offer both

The Role of E-Learning In Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Role of E-Learning In Education - Essay Example The starting point or etymology of e-learning is contested, with e-letter not necessarily meaning electronic as per the cases of e-mail or e-business and between 1998 and 2000, e-learning became initially attached to either a distance learning system or it was used surprisingly at the CBT service gatherings or rather seminars and since then the terminology has been used broadly to refer to the use of online services or education system which is vital. It is clear that in some countries there are rules and regulations regarding this field of education. As per the scholars, a great number of universities in Europe have adopted the e-learning system and also they have included them as a part of their school curriculum. The e-book article shows clearly that e-learning processes are encouraged by the accessibility of free materials for documentation hence the universities have felt that it was more or less a better source of concentrating on materials since they simply need to provide con nection to the internet for students to access the advanced campuses (Brigitte et al. 2006, p. 11). This source is reliable to me since it gives vivid and detailed information on that; it is simple to understand the crucial arguments and the main ideas. The source is also loaded with a considerable measure of crucial information concerning the research theme mentioned above. Some courses, for example, the general courses in relational abilities and HIV AIDS aptitudes are exclusively being offered through the e-learning projects. Some years back, e-learning received an awful perspective, as numerous people had that perspective that allowing computers into the classrooms would eradicate that human element that learners need to acquire from their teachers, however as time has gone by, technology has progressed, and nowadays we accepted and support the use of smartphones in the classrooms and as well utilizing a wealth of interactive designs that makes distance learning engaging for the users, as well as valuable  as a lesson delivery medium.

Economical Development of Chine Literature review

Economical Development of Chine - Literature review Example From the 1979 to 2005, the GDP of China has grown at an average of 9.6% annually (Morrison, 2006, p.3). At this pace at the end of the year 2010 China has became the second largest economy of the world after the United States. Before the year, the economy of Japan was the second largest economy. During the financial crisis, the export business of Japan has decreased but in the other hand the manufacturing industry of China has grown. The pace of economic growth of China has made the analysts to forecast that China will replace the United States as the largest economy of the world (BBC, 2011). The economic prosperity of a country can measure by the per capita personal income of the people of the country, the employment growth of the country, the population growth of the country, the average educational qualification of the people of the country (Muskegon Area Sustainability Coalition, 2012). For developing a country, it is necessary to develop all the parameters, which has mentioned e arlier by the researcher. Therefore, for developing all these parameters the banks and the government have to take necessary steps like to form some policies, which would help to increase the income of the fellow citizens. China has taken such steps for improving the financial condition of the people and the country. In the decade of 1960 and 1970s, the banks acted as the cahier of the Chinese government. There was no equity market that time in China. In the decade of 1980s, two major reforms changed the structure of the Chinese economy. The commercial banking function of the country has separated from the central banking function. The mono-banking system of the country also broke by the government. There are three tiers in the banking system. The first tier of the banking system comprises of the policy banks of China, which includes the Agricultural Development Bank, Import and Export bank and the state development banks. The objective of these banks is to provide the needed financ e to the government for various projects. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Construction Bank of China and Bank of China are among the second tier banks of China. During the reform period, the second tier banks have provided a large amount of loan to the government and the people also. The third tier banks of China include Huaxia bank, Shenzhen Development Bank, Pudong Development Bank, which are the regional banks of China, and the main financer of the state owned enterprises. There are also the financial institutions like the urban credit cooperatives and the rural credit cooperatives. The third tier banks and the non-banking financial institutions of China are more profit-oriented organizations. The loan rate of these organizations is more flexible and they are not there to lend to the government like the first and second tier banks. The first and second tier banks i.e. the policy banks and the four main banks (which are of the second tier) owne d by the central government completely, where, the third tier banks are owned by the states, or the large state owned enterprises or they owned by multiple shareholders. From the year 2001, the Chinese government has agreed to list minority stakes of the commercial bank in the stock market and the stakes are there for the foreign investors. Though it has been reported that the development was not so successful; but

Higher education Essay Example for Free

Higher education Essay Security, quality education, access to healthcare, prospects of a reasonable job on merit and sound economy are the ingredients to be provided by the state to its citizens to run the state and the society smoothly. Growth of successful nations is denoted particularly to the education. There was a time when people believed that higher education should be available to people of all social classes and, obviously, it was freely available to all who wanted it. The fact that it is not, that public education was once available and now it is very hard to access is indicative of deep problems in Pakistan. Encouraging colleges and universities to raise their own resources by charging higher fees has clearly excluded a significant section of students belonging to poor sections of the society. Education in Pakistan is now so expensive that poor can’t even imagine of their children becoming doctors and engineers. Our education system is passing through a very bad phase now and it is regarded as perhaps amongst the poorest in the world. Cream of the Pakistani brain is either becoming idle due to non-availability of ever rising cost of education or going to other countries. UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS Article 1 provides; every child has the right to have equal access to an education, irrespective of their color, creed, nationality, ethnicity, or social and financial status, so they may obtain gainful employment and contribute to the growth of their society, being born free and equal in dignity and rights. Life for a common man in Pakistan in this so called â€Å"democratic† regime has already become difficult owing to the all-round price rise across the country. Inflation, combined with policies of privatization, has caused a complete deterioration in living standards of the people. Frankly speaking, there is no such thing as democracy in Pakistan. This type of â€Å"democracy† has often left the common man in constant struggle for survival. Majority of Pakistanis are living in poverty and unsustainable economic conditions; when they are struggling for their livelihood education loses its utility in their eyes and it becomes far from their desire. But for the riches and powerful corrupt politicians, things are very rosy. Pakistan is suffering terribly for that, with socio-political and economic crises strewn all over the society like a straw hut in a typhoon. Lack of good education and unemployment in Pakistan would contribute many social ills, including crime, prostitution, and the break down in law and order. In Pakistan, providing education to the masses had always been state responsibility. Now there has been a major push for the private provision of educational services. Moreover, corrupt politicians, feudalism, injustice are such problems which have further pressed the most pressed people of the country. Education is a tremendous tool for social change as well as an opportunity out of poverty traps. People trapped in the lower classes have trouble climbing out of it because they lack the tools to do so, because they live in a feudal society that actively works to keep them there, and education can be a form of escape hatch. But Education System in Pakistan In Human development Report Pakistan is placed at 136th position for having just 49. 9% educated population. In addition to that, Pakistan is ranked at 113th out of 120 registered UN members according to the research conducted by UNESCO et. all. Some of the very basic flaws of the education system in Pakistan contribute to the economic, ethnic and sociopolitical crisis within the country. Flaws of Education System in Pakistan Firstly, the education system of Pakistan is based on unequal lines. Medium of education is different in both, public and private sector. This create a sort of disparity among people, dividing them into two segments. Such a distraught infrastructure is a basic cause of high illiteracy rate in Pakistan and high drop out rates in rural areas and public school. Secondly, regional disparity is also a major cause. The schools in Balochistan (the largest province of Pakistan by Area) are not that much groomed as that of Punjab (the largest province Of Pakistan by Population). In FATA, the literacy rate is deplorable constituting 29. 5% in males and 3% in females. The third major cause of flawed education system in Pakistan is gender discrimination. The current primary school ratio of boys and girls is 10:4, which is a cause of huge concern. For the last few years there has been an increase in the growth of private schools. It is believed that Pakistan is among the most prominent states affected by gender discrimination. That not only harms the quality of education in Pakistan but create a gap among haves and have nots. Fourthly, the lack of technical education is a biggest flaw in the education policy that has never been focused before. Therefore, less technical people means low standard of education. Fifthly, the allocation of funds for education are very low. It is only 1. 5 to 2. 0 percent of the total GDP. It should be around 7% of the total GDP. At that budget allocation, the illiteracy rate in Pakistan would not decrease but rather increase. The federal and provincial governments need to cut down their expenditures in other areas and spend a bigger proportion of income on education. Moreover, the quality of education in most of the public schools and colleges is well below par; the teachers in government schools are not well trained. People who do not get job in any other sector, they try their luck in educational system. They are not professionally trained teachers so they are unable to train a nation. Quality of teaching needs special attention in rural areas where the teachers lack in all departments. In America, Europe and most of the developed countries, the emphasis of the states is on developing virtual education systems i. e. provision of education through online networks. The idea of online education is gathering momentum and many online institutions have been set up which offer online courses and online degrees. The Higher Education Commission and Education ministry need to focus on developing a strong online education network so that students through out the country can benefit. Universities such as Harvard, Berkley and MIT are offering online courses and degrees. It reflects the importance of online education in todays modern high tech world. Finally, Poverty is also another factor that restrict the parents to send their children to public or private schools. So, they prefer to send their children to Madrassas where education is totally free. The government has to make changes to financial infrastructure to improve the situation. Bank loans for education purposes should not be interest based as it discourages the people of Pakistan to acquire loans. Education loans are offered at low rates through out the world and it enable people to acquire quality education. Social awareness regarding all these issues need to be spread and we, the people of Pakistan have to work hand in hand with the government authorities to improve the current system. Our children should not be deprived of their basic right to acquire knowledge. All these issues contribute to high illiteracy rate, which in turn result in economic crisis in shape of high unemployment rate and below-par quality of labor. Moreover, the country suffers on social, political and technological front! There are hundred other problems which need attention but the core-issues need to be addressed as soon as possible. You can read my article Pakistans Educational System which is an overview of the education infra-structure within the country. In todays world, the benchmark for excellence is education. Moreover, if a country has a distraught academic infrastructure, the chances to survive in current competitive world are petite. The illiteracy rate in Pakistan is alarmingly high which calls for critical attention. The federal and provincial governments need to work together towards elimination of flaws of education system in Pakistan. The first time I thought about education and its significance to this society was when I went on a field trip to a school set up by an NGO in the late 1990s. It is now a rightly famous NGO but back then during my sixth grade field trip it just seemed like a project of a group of cranky Karachi businessmen who had decided to spit against the wind of the government’s non-interest in providing education to its people. These rich grouches had  gotten together in the chaos of 1995 Karachi and seeing the government more interested in massacring hard-boiled militants than provide social services, they decided to simply pool their own money and build their own schools. How benevolent of them. I would love to see these rich men’s tax receipts. The citizens of a country shouldn’t be dependent on the benevolent charity of rich men. Through their own democratic political process, citizens must enforce upon their richest members the income taxes necessary to fund an education system that reaches every child in the state. The fact that Pakistanis have not done so points towards the weakness of their political system in dealing with its population’s educational needs. There is no real shortcut from the state actually enforcing a tax system that extracts the adequate revenue needed to fund the creation of a school near every human settlement in Pakistan. The goal I have described of having a school near every human settlement in Pakistan, is what Pakistan is obligated to do under its current international treaties and the simplest and most straightforward way it can be done. It is certainly not impossible. Pakistan has managed to make sure that no human settlement lacks a mosque. The same needs to be done for schools. Where we went wrong Nationalisation of schools, as was done by the Z. A. Bhutto administration, was a shortcut that cannot be used, and was actually instrumental in ruining government schools. The provincial governments that ran education departments became overstretched then to the point of breaking. The schools that were nationalised saw the prospect of future capital and human investment in them pointless, as the former owners were now dispossessed of their old stake in the schools. Good teachers left, rather than become government employees to be posted in far flung places, and the lack of good teacher training colleges, a necessity unacknowledged up until recently, saw little competent replacement. By nationalising the missionary (Christian), faith-based (Muslim) and private schools, an unwieldy, unplanned expansion of Pakistan’s school system reduced the status of government school teachers to the corrupted, incompetent, ineffective place it finds itself in today. Teachers do not come to classes, and if they do, they are ill-prepared to teach. It becomes difficult to weed out and penalise underperforming teachers because their status as government employees prevents them from being penalised as they would be in the private sector. As much as this rhetoric may sound similar to the United States, Pakistan’s teachers’ unions continue to shelter wildly incompetent teachers, who beyond being simply bad at teaching, many times do not even show up. Anti-participatory environment We are not helped either by large class sizes, low teacher to student ratios, non-production of teachers in a sufficient quantity and quality by the low number of Pakistani teacher-training colleges. Central to this remains the criminally low expenditure on education by Pakistan, and the failure to collect or divert enough revenue to the education sector. Taking the education emergency of Pakistan seriously would mean finding means to increase the amounts spent on education in Pakistan, on a war footing. Students cannot themselves push for an effective learning environment. Despite the fact that some students actually do want to learn, the environment that exists in classrooms, does not brook dissent. This discourages students from bringing up flaws in their educational setting. This anti-participatory environment in classrooms is facilitated by excessively large class sizes, which discourages teachers from having more individualised interactions with students. This anti-participatory trend in classrooms is complemented by an anti-democratic trend in schools, where no voting is done to elect new prefects or monitors, rather the relevant students are appointed by the school administration. Giving students an opportunity to actually vote for their school leaders might inculcate democratic and participatory values in them at an earlier age, and teach them the responsibility of making their own decisions. If and when these students reach Pakistani universities, they can adequately recognise the entrenched authoritarianism accumulated in many of Pakistan’s universities over the last three decades. Student politics This persistent anti-democratic trend within Pakistan’s educational establishments has reinforced the low academic quality of these institutions. There is little legitimate input from the student bodies on how their education is conducted. Since the 1980s student union elections have been either banned or delayed, witnessing unrest in a violent country like Pakistan ripple into campuses as violence, as opposed to measured  debate. The situation turned chaotic in the 1990s when the general mayhem of the city of Karachi coincided with violence on the Karachi University campus. The presence of such violence made the students of that decade disinterested in participatory politics. This suited the authoritarian and bureaucratic administrations of varsities, as well as the sclerotic, unelected leadership of Pakistan’s political parties. They did not mind that the students of Pakistan slid into political apathy. However, the importance of student politics was re-kindled in the 2007 lawyer-led movement against the dictatorship of General Musharraf. The importance of student politics was even acknowledged by the government that won against Musharraf in 2008, when it lifted the ban on student and trade union elections. However, the twist in the tale has been the glaring domestic democratic deficit of this government. The anti-participatory atmosphere on campuses has not lifted as no memorable student elections have been held. Neither have any well-publicised trade union elections been held. And most significantly, no internal party elections have been held in any party that maintains a decisive number of seats in parliament. What the lack of student democracy has to do with Pakistan’s state of education is that there is no feedback from students, who are the objects of education. There is no diminishment in the cruel authoritarian atmosphere of Pakistani government classrooms, where teachers, in negligent enough environments can still use sticks to punish students. I never really thought about education in society as a child. That would have been expected of any 11 year old. But when I visited a third grade NGO school classroom in the late ’90s and saw another 11 year old struggling with phrases I would read just for fun, it hit me how serious the problem of illiteracy was for Pakistani society. In a misbegotten decade as that one, beyond the Gordian knot we had witnessed of Karachi’s bloody politics, the reality of children’s mis-education struck me as a crueler fate, a dire issue that had to be resolved immediately. That’s because these ill-educated children would not remain children much longer. They would soon be badly-educated adults. And if this cruel act of omission by Pakistani society was not amended quick enough, then one more generation would see their adulthoods wasting away under the 21st century curse of illiteracy. Tax the rich, teach the kids. We have an education emergency on our hands. The Education System of Pakistan is divided into five levels 1. Primary level (Class 1 to 5) 2. Middle level (Class 5 to 8th) 3. Secondary level (S. S. C) 4. Intermediate level (H. S. C) 5. University level (Graduation, Masters and Research) Another division of Education System in Pakistan according to the School System 1. 1. Public Schools or Government Schools These schools are managed and financed by the government. Unfortunately, the majority of the schools are in poor condition.  » There is no any merit system; teachers and other staff are appointed by the ministers on their own wishes.  » There is no any accountability; a large number of GHOST SCHOOLS AND GHOST TEACHERS are listed in the documents. They are receiving funds and pays, but, in reality they did not exists.  » In Rural areas, the buildings of public schools are mostly held by Waderas and Feudal. They use them as marriage halls, otaks, bethaks etc. â€Å"Public schools are the nurseries of all vice and immorality. † (Henry Fielding) 1. 2. Elite Class Schools (private schools) Due to badly failure of government in providing the Education, the Elite Class Education System in Pakistan got successes very quickly. Today, even poor prefer to send their child in these private schools but because of high fee structure many aspirants are unable to part this Education System. It is generally accepted that, the standard of Elite Class Education System is more reliable and first-rate than Public Schools and Madarsas. There is accountability, transparency and checking system. Generally, the students of private schools are more competent than those of public schools and Madarsas. The government should take lessons from this Education System. These are successive models for the government i. e. CITY SCHOOL, BEACON SCHOOLS, PAK-TURK SCHOOLS etc. 1. 3. Madarsas Madarsas are the largest NGOs of the world. Today in Pakistan about 8000 Madarsas are working. They provide not only Education but also accommodation and food. They provide Islamic as well as worldlyEducation. Mostly, poor parents who are unable to educate their child prefer this Education System. The government should introduce the reforms for the Madarsas and improve their standard. This will be helpful in two ways. Firstly, it will provide free of cost education to poor child. Secondly, it will lessen the burden the government. Before the 18th Amendment, the EducationSystem in Pakistan was the responsibility of Federal Government. The Ministry of Education at Federal level was responsible for formulating Policies, Planning and Promotion of Educational facilities across the country. But, after the passing of 18th Amendment, the responsibilities of Education System are divided among the Federation and the Provinces. The responsibilities of the Provinces 1. To set the Curriculum 2. To set the Syllabus 3. Standards of Education up to Grade 12 (F. Sc, H. S. C, I. Com, etc). 4. Islamic Education The responsibilities of Federation are following 1. Planning and Policy 2. External Affairs; Signing, implementation and monitoring of Bilateral and Multi-lateral Educational Agreements, Pacts, Protocols, MoUs 3. Controlling of Libraries, museums, and similar institutions 4. Federal agencies i. e. FATA 5. Special Studies 6. Inter-provincial matters and co-ordination. † 7. Legal, medical and other professions. 8. National planning and national economic coordination including planning and coordination of scientific and technological research. 9. National Education Policy and clear cut Domain over the following acts. 1. 1. Centres of Excellence Act 1974 2. Area Study Centres Act 1975 3. Pakistan Study Centres Act 1976 4. National Book Foundation Act 1972 5. Fed. Board of Intermediate Sec Education Act 1975 6. Federal Directorate of Education Isb. [Article 142 (d)] 7. Federal Supervision of Curricula, Textbooks and Standards of Education Act 1976 8. National Education Foundation Ordinance 2002. Source: http://www. defence. pk/forums/national-political-issues/125588-education-system-pakistan-good-bad. html#ixzz2PKkMjbtM Flaws hovering over Pakistan’s education system Filed under ISSUES 0 According to the reports of Human development our country is placed at 136th with just 49. 9 percent educated population. There is lack of uniform education system. Private and Govt. educational institutions has different syllabus. The flaws in education system lead to sociopolitical, economic and ethical issues in our society. Our education system is based on uneven lines. Even the medium of education is different in private and public educational institutions. This inequality has divided people among two segments. Such a distressed educational infrastructure is a crucial cause of increasing rate of illiteracy in Pakistan. The regional discrepancy is also main reason illiteracy in Pakistan. The schools in largest province of Pakistan Baluchistan are not establish and sparked as schools in Punjab. There is lack of awareness among people about the significance of education. In FATA the literacy rate is very poor constituting 29. 5% in men and 3% in women. The gender discrimination is also one of the major causes of educational flaws in country which is projecting the boys and girls primary schools ratio 10:4 correspondingly. In the last few years many new primacy schools for girls and boys are established but still there is need to establish more and more primary schools to meet the educational needs of increasing population. In the last decade the growth of private sector schools is tremendously increased. The private schools trend not just harms the quality of education but also created a huge gap between rich and poor. The people of lower class couldn’t afford the fees of private educational schools and colleges. In public schools there is lack of quality education. There is also shortage of required facilities like qualified, train staff, furniture and school buildings etc. Our educational policy doesn’t focus on technical education. There are very few technical institutions and less technical trained people in country. The funds allocated for the education are not sufficient the funds are just about 1. 5 % to 2. 0% of total GDP. Although to promote the education the funds must be about 7 percent of total country GDP. With increased education budget the literacy rate in country will surely increased. The provincial and federal Government both need spend a larger portion of their income on promoting education. Author: Rizwan Ghani Posted On: Tuesday, August 02, 2011 Source/Reference: www. pakobserver. net Total Views :1320| After 18th Amendment, improvement of education in Pakistan to international standards can be done with help of international frameworks including Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and boards like National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME). Federal and provincial governments have to address the issue of teaching language (English, Urdu or regional languages), standardization of curriculum, and dealing with two-track education system- Urdu and English medium to take local and international exams. These tested frameworks can bring the progress of decades in Pakistan while saving billions of dollars. Thus, Pakistan needs to adopt appropriate policies to raise education standards, sustain economy and earn foreign exchange. The political, social and education complexities of teaching language can be controlled with help of international frameworks. PISA does not require the member states to change curriculums, teaching languages and teaching methodologies. It allows governments to periodically monitor outcomes of national education systems within internationally agreed framework. It provides a basis for international collaboration in defining and implementing educational goals and skills that are relevant to adult life (professional and social). PISA reading, mathematics and general science frameworks help bring national education at par with international standards. Around half a million 15-year-olds from 75 countries representing 28 million students, participated in PISA 2009 assessments and surveys. Pakistan can use PISA to improving national education standards in all provincial languages (www. pisa. oecd. org). Teaching in local languages can improve Pakistan’s education standards internationally. According to the 2011 Writing Framework for National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) of America, good writing instruction empowers students to acquire new knowledge and to develop critical thinking skills. This is true of writing in all subject areas, not just English language http //www. state. nj. us/education/assessment/naep/results/writing/2011naep. PISA and NAEP framework rubrics allow student evaluations irrespective of language. Learning and teaching in mother tongue is a universal human right recognized by UN. China, was a top scorers in 2009 PISA testing http //www. nytimes. com/2010/12/07/education/07education. html. It shows education in mother tongue does not affect nation’s international competitiveness and national education standards. Since education is a provincial subject, therefore provinces should be free to impart education in local languages, make English and Urdu as optional languages. Provinces can issue degrees with pass/fail with English/Urdu or both to free the country from politics of language. It will allow students to continue higher education without passing compulsory languages, which is a major contributor to school and college dropouts. It will allow the students to join job market who do not wish to continue with further education. The employer can omit or consider language(s) pass/fail status of candidate at the time of employment. On the other hand, the higher education institutions can keep compulsory languages as part of admission criteria. In line with many American universities, a six months period can be given to first year university students to clear compulsory languages. In terms of syllabus, international frameworks and boards can help Pakistan’s policy makers develop required syllabuses, fulfill demands of local market, and meet national education objectives to bring national and international education at par. They allow improving exam testing and incorporating modern technology in reading and writing. In addition, they facilitate linking of national boards to international boards like NBME (www. nbme. org). NBME model allows state medical qualified doctors to take national level exams, upgrade national education and examination standards and link them to rest of the world. It allows tens of thousands of international medical graduates to take United States Medical Licensing Exam without actually studying in American medical colleges. It is equally true for British, Australian and New Zealand medical boards. This model can help cut cost of professional education and fight poverty in Pakistan. Based on these frameworks and models, federal and provincial governments of Pakistan should collaborate to standardize local education and bring it equal to international standards. Islamabad should hold annual summits with China and western countries in line with reports of annual Indo-US higher education summits planning collaboration of universities in both countries. In addition, Pakistan needs to allow private publishers to print books according to the contents of given courses. It will improve concepts of students, standard of books and education. The existing control of federal government on higher education needs to be changed by allowing provinces complete control of universities, scholarships, hiring, training etc. Federal government needs to become a regulatory body instead of controlling authority and facilitates provinces to standardize higher education, provincial education and bring it equal to international levels. Federal education setup should work with ministry of labor and manpower to identify and develop human resource for interprovincial and overseas market, work with foreign missions to issue annual forecast of overseas jobs and train foreign workers and students. Pakistan needs to organize education to cater to local and international needs, attract foreign investors and earn foreign revenue. Reportedly, America and Britain earned $31bn and ? 8 bn in 2010 from foreign students respectively. China is charging $5333 boarding lodging fee annually for a five-year MBBS and one-year internship. It is also offering seven-year specialization degree programs (5 years MBBS and 2 years specialization) in most medical fields. Beijing has gained international recognition through standardized tuition fees, transparency, qualified staff and allowing foreign students and teachers in local universities (http //www.4icu. org/cn/). The Chinese model can help Pakistan cut prices of professional education by 50 percent and train surplus number of local and foreign students to sustain domestic and international needs. In line with China, Pakistan should also take necessary steps to attract flocks of foreign students, interns and investors. Finally, a debate is going on in China on two-track system- one for national college entrance exam (the gaokao) and other for international exams. Imran Khan’s PTI is deliberating about single education system. Pakistan can overcome challenge of teaching language, two-track system (English and Urdu medium) and bringing local education at par with international with help of international frameworks, NBME and more freedom to provinces. | Pakistans Education System and Links to Extremism Author: Jayshree Bajoria October 7, 2009 * Introduction * A Dysfunctional System * Government Reform Plans * The Madrassa Myth? * Reforming Madrassas * U. S. Policy Implications - Introduction Pakistans poor education system has increasingly become a matter of international concern. Lack of access to quality education, which in turn limits economic opportunity, makes young Pakistanis targets for extremist groups, some experts say. The World Bank says nearly half the adult population of Pakistan cant read, and net primary enrollment rates remain thelowest in South Asia. Experts say the system suffers from inadequate government investment, corruption, lack of institutional capacity, and a poor curriculum that often incites intolerance. In August 2009, chief counterterrorism adviser to the White House John Brennan, summing up a concern held by many U. S. terrorism experts, said extremist groups in Pakistan have exploited this weakness. It is why they offer free education to impoverished Pakistani children, where they can recruit and indoctrinate the next generation, he said. There have been some efforts by the Pakistani government, Western governments, and the World Bank to reform the system, but serious challenges remain. A Dysfunctional System According to the Pakistani governments National Education Policy 2009 (PDF), three parallel streams in educationpublic schools, private schools, and Islamic religious schools, or madrassashave created unequal opportunities for students. Of the total number of students going to primary school (grades 1 to 5), 73 percent go to public or government schools, 26 percent to private schools, and less than 1 percent to madrassas, according to the Karachi-based policy research institute Social Policy and Development Center. Within the public and the private sector, there are elite schools catering to a small minority of students. The majority of students attend low-quality private and public schools with poor curriculum, limited teaching materials, and inadequate number of properly trained teachers, or in many cases absent teachers. [N]o Pakistani leader has had the courage to implement serious [education] reforms- Pervez Hoodbhoy The government-mandated curriculum is a major concern for Western observers who say it encourages intolerance and a narrow worldview. Except in some elite private schools, which do not follow the government-prescribed curriculum, all public schools and registered private schools have been required to teach Islamiyat, or Islamic studies, for nearly thirty years. In addition to Islamiyat, many scholars have noted that the government curriculum uses Islam for a wide array of controversial ideological objectives, writes C. Christine Fair in the 2008 book The Madrassah Challenge.

Evolution vs Creationism Essay Example for Free

Evolution vs Creationism Essay Many people have their different opinions on how the world came to be. In some cases, people think that the world came to existence from what we call The Big Bang Theory, and others think it was The Almighty God that created the world. I will begin to explain what each is, the origin they came from and their evidence to support their own explanation of how the world was created. What is evolution? Well, evolution can be a difficult concept for people to come to terms with, especially if they do not have much experience with life sciences. Unfortunately, there are too many examples of people who do not understand any of it with many of these people tries to criticize evolution while promoting creationism. Evolution is not a minor matter; it is, in fact, the cornerstone of all modern biology. What is creationism? Like evolution, creationism can have more than one meaning. At its most basic, creationism is the belief that the universe was created by The Almighty God. In some cases, it even is stated that creationism is someone who believes in a god who is absolute creator of heaven and earth, out of nothing, by an act of free will. Many might say that the origins of the evolution came to terms that the universe, with all it contains (space, time, matter and energy) exploded from nothing which is considered The Big Bang, and is the accepted theory among the majority of evolutionists. Evolution is a very unique â€Å"science.† Unlike the origin of creationism, were people believe that it came from The Almighty God. This generally means the taking of the Bible, particularly the early chapters of Genesis, as literally true guides to the history of the universe and to the history of life, including us humans, down here on earth. In a way, creationism is more of a restricted sense of a variety of beliefs that people have in this century and previous ones as well. The evidence that support these findings is very different in many aspects. People say that with evolution, the evidence is very visible. For example, there is biochemical evidence, genetic evidence, and also fossil evidence for how evolution came about. But in creationism, there isn’t any evidence to support it whatsoever. Understanding evolution over creationism is greatly aided by a better understanding of what kinds of evidence exist out there as well as how and why all the evidence clearly supports evolutionary theory but not creationist religion.

Causes of Parturition in Cattle

Causes of Parturition in Cattle 1.0 Introduction Parturition in cattle is known to be a complicated physiological process, where the onset is generally accepted to be initiated by the fetus (Thorburn et al., 1977; Thorburn, 1979). In normal circumstances, this complicated process involving several hormonal interactions and should conclude without any human interference, leaving a healthy cow with a vigorous calf. However, in reality a large proportion of calving require assistance to varying degrees that may result in a stillborn calf (Meijering, 1984). Domestication and breeding programmes in the dairy industry select for cows that produce calves that are relatively larger when compared to their dams; a regular occurrence in cattle compared to most other mammals (McClintock, 2004). As dystocia is highly related to the pelvic area (Price and Wiltbank, 1978), being able to measure the pelvic dimensions is beneficial. The process of measuring the internal and external capacity and diameter of the pelvis is known as pelvimetry (Studdert et al., 2011). This is elucidated in studies which reveal that there is value in using external pelvimetry as a predictor for the internal pelvic measurements (Murray et al., 2002), while others show that withers height and heart girth were the best predictors of internal pelvic sizes (Kolkman et al., 2012; Coopman et al., 2003). Hence, it would be easier if the farmer had an alternate method to measure internal pelvic dimensions, such as predicting those dimensions through measurements of external morphometry which could be done directly using measuring tape. Therefore, the ability to accurately determine the possibility of dystocia will allow early and appropriate intervention, which then decreases the morbidity and mortality of t he dam and fetus, improving animal welfare and reducing economic losses (Linden et al., 2009). There is a need for information regarding associations between internal pelvic measurements and external morphometry, which may have value in determining dams with larger pelvic opening that increases calving ease (Bellows et al., 1971). Currently, no research has been done to study the association between the intrapelvic measurements and the external morphometric measurements in Friesian cross cattle in Malaysia. Hence, the objective of this study was to determine the relationship between intrapelvic area, morphometric measurements, age, body weight and body condition score in Friesian cross cattle which could be of value in determining dams with larger pelvic openings and thereby reducing the risk of dystocia. It is hypothesized that there is an association between the intrapelvic measurements and external morphometry in Friesian cross cattle.       2.0 Literature Review 2.1 Dystocia Dystocia, defined as delayed or difficult parturition (Mushtaq, 2016), is usually classified into two main causes which are direct factors and indirect factors (Meijering, 1984). The former usually being anatomical and physiological factors such as malpresentation of the calf in the birth canal and uterine torsion in the dam. The latter is related to phenotypic effects that are related to the calf such as calf birth weight, multiple calvings and perinatal mortality, as well as, phenotypic effects associated with the cow such as cow pelvic area, cow body weight at calving, cow body condition score, gestation length and calving assistance. Indirect factors also include non-genetic factors such as cow age, parity of cow, calf sex, nutrition and other disorders, while genetic factors involve cow, bull and calf breeds (Zaborski et al., 2009). The most common cause of dystocia is a physical incompatibility between the size of the foetus and maternal pelvic size, also known as feto-pelvic i ncompatibility. The pelvic size of the dam is mainly influenced by the stage of maturity of the cow. As a result, a smaller size of the pelvis contributes to the higher incidence of dystocia in heifers (Haskell and Barrier, 2014) and vice versa where dams with larger pelvic openings experience less calving difficulty (Barrier et al., 2013). 2.2 Breed Comparisons Several studies have shown that there are significant differences in pelvic dimensions between breeds of beef and dairy cattle (Ramin et al., 1995; Laster 1974; Meijering and Pastma, 1984; McElhenney et al., 1985). There are also differences between herds within breeds, purebreds and crossbreeds, and small breeds and large breeds. The pelvic height and pelvic width increase greatly with advancing age, which shows that the pelvic area is larger in mature cows in comparison to heifers. The mean pelvic heights in beef and dairy heifers can vary from 13.5 cm to 19.3 cm, the pelvic width from 12.6 cm to 18 cm, and the mean pelvic area from 170 cm2 to 290 cm2. 2.3 Impact of Dystocia on Dam The occurrence of dystocia has shown to have an adverse effect on the reproductive performance of dairy cows, where the first oestrus, days open and the calving interval were significantly longer (Gaafar et al., 2010). Fertility is further impaired as a result of dystocia as it causes a reduction in conception rate and an increase in the number of services per conception (Lopez de Maturana et al., 2007). Total milk yield also tends to be lower in cows that have experienced dystocia at calving compared to those that calved normally (Berry et al., 2007). Furthermore, there is a significant increase in the mortality rate of cows experiencing dystocia in comparison to those that calved without assistance and the number is highest in cows that require serious intervention during parturition (Dematawewa and Berger, 1997). 2.4 Impact of Dystocia on Calf Majority of stillbirths were reported to be a direct result of dystocia (Meyer et al., 2000; Lombard et al., 2007). During parturition, there are several dramatic physiological changes that can have adverse effects on the foetal oxygen concentration (Lombard and Garry, 2013). The foetus can experience neonatal asphyxia during the calving process due to hypoxia, decreased blood flow as a result of occlusions of the placenta, or ischaemia. Hypoxia can progress to anoxia, which can be prolonged with instances of dystocia resulting in foetal death (Bluel et al., 2008). The calf can also have hypercapnia, which can cause respiratory acidosis. However, during dystocia the respiratory acidosis will be pronounced and in addition to this, the hypoxia can lead to anaerobic metabolism within the body that results in metabolic acidosis. The acidotic condition of the foetus can negatively affect the central nervous system resulting in lowered vigour, depression and decreased physical activity, wh ich is referred to as weak calf syndrome or dummy calf syndrome (Ravary-Plumioà «n, 2009). The dystocic calves were slower to express most of the neonatal behaviours, particularly those that lead up to reaching the udder, and usually lay recumbent (Barrier et al., 2012). This results in the failure of transfer of passive immunity as the calf is unable to absorb an adequate quantity of colostrum (Johnson et al., 2007; Weaver et al., 2000). This has been linked with an increase in calf morbidity and mortality and a reduction in the calf growth rate (Robison et al., 1988; Donovan et al., 1998). 2.5 Economic Impacts In a United Kingdom dairy herd, the total cost of a slightly difficult calving was estimated to be roughly  £110, while a more serious difficult calving can range from  £350 to  £400. This takes into account the labour and veterinary costs, including the cost of caesarean deliveries, the mortality of dams and calves and the culled cows, the losses incurred due to a decreased milk production and poor reproductive performance (McGuirk et al., 2007). In Australian Friesian Holstein herds, the cost of dystocia for a herd can go up to $5100 per year, where 30% of the losses is due to reduced fertility, 20% due to culling or dam death, veterinary costs were about 10% and labour costs were 20%. The cost of dystocia in primiparous cows was about $48.49, while it was $19.15 in mature cows. The overall losses associated with calving difficulties in the Australian dairy industry can be estimated to be in excess of $44 million annually (McClintook, 2004). In a study by Dematewewa Berger ( 1997), the estimated costs of dystocia were $0.00, $50.45, $96.48, $159.82 and $379.61 for dystocia scores 1 to 5 (1 representing no problem to 5 representing extreme difficulty). which showed that losses incurred increase as the difficulty of calving increases. 2.6 Pelvimetry Internal pelvimetry involves the measurement of the pelvic height and the pelvic width, which allows the pelvic area to be determined (Rice and Wiltbank, 1972; Bellows et al., 1971; Morrison et al., 1986; Johnson et al., 1988). The internal dimensions are measured using a sliding calliper device that is referred to as a Rice pelvimeter. Other instruments have also been developed such as the Krautmann-Litton Bovine pelvic meter and the EquiBov Bovine pelvimeter (Deutscher, 1987). The external pelvimetry is mostly done in correlation to the internal pelvic dimensions where the measurements are taken on the external body of the animal; for example, the pin width, hook width, rump length and hook to pin length (Bellows et al., 1971; Johnson et al., 1988; Coopman et al., 2003). Pelvimetry is a relatively simple and reliable method to determine pelvic parameters of cows with the basis that the larger the pelvic area, the lower the calving difficulty. However, a farmer would require the ser vices of a veterinarian with the skills and knowledge to peform this technique, which would increase costs to the farm (Kolkman et al., 2012). 2.7 Welfare The measurement of internal pelvic parameters is invasive and carries a risk of trauma to the rectal mucosa. It has been recommended to administer epidural anaesthesia which allows the cow to stand normally without arching her back or attempting to strain. However, the administration of the epidural anaesthesia requires specialised veterinary training (Murray et al., 2002). Despite the risk for injury, if the internal pelvimetry is done properly and gently with the use of adequate quantities of lubrication, damage to the rectal mucosa can be prevented (Hiew and Constable, 2015). 3.0 Materials and Methods Data was collected from 50 Friesian cross dairy cattle (23 from Ladang 16, Taman Pertanian Universiti (TPU), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and 27 others from two dairy cattle farms in Bangi, Selangor and Lenggeng, Negeri Sembilan that were part of the Ladang Angkat Programme) within a period of 2 weeks using convenience sampling. All of the cows were between 2-14 years of age and weighed between 200-750 kg. The ages of the cows at TPU were taken from recrodsm, whereas the ages of the other cattle were determined using dentition (Lawrence et al., 2001). This study was approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), with the reference number: UPM/IACUC/FYP.2016/FPV.71 The external morphometry that was measured was the thoracic circumference, abdominal circumference, hook width and pin width. Thoracic circumference (Figure 1) was determined using a measuring tape (tailor fibreglass measuring tape) placed immediately caudal to the scapula and forelimbs. The abdominal circumference (Figure 2) was determined by placing the same tape tape cranial to the hind limbs, tuber coxae and udder, and was measured in centimetres (West, 1997) (Figure 3). The hook width (Figure 4) was measured using the linear distance between the most lateral surfaces of the wings of the ileum or tuber coxae. The pin width (Figure 5) is the linear distance between the most lateral surfaces of the tuber ischium (Singh et al., 1984) (Figure 6). These distances were measured in centimetres using straight rulers and a tape measure whereby one straight metal ruler was placed vertically at the lateral aspect of the tuber coxarum or tuber ischium and the other straight metal ruler was p laced vertically at the lateral aspect of the opposite tuberosity with the measuring tape stretched tautly between the two rulers (Craig, 1941). The body condition score was measured using a 5-point scoring method with quarter-point increments from an established scoring system from Elanco Animal Health (1997). The body weight was determined by measuring the thoracic circumference using a calibrated heart girth tape[MH1], in kilograms. Figure 3: External morphometry; a. Thoracic circumference, b. Abdominal circumference (Elanco Animal Health, 1997) Figure 4: Measuring the distance between the tuber coxae Figure 5: measuring the distance between the tuber ischii Figure 6: External morphometry; a. The distance between tuber coxae, b. The distance between tuber ischii (Elanco Animal Health, 1997) The internal pelvimetry was measured using a Rice pelvimeter (Lane Manufacturing Inc., Colorado, U.S.A.) (Figure 3) that provides measurements in centimetres with a gradient of 0.25 cm. Faeces were manually evacuated from the rectum and the pelvimeter was well lubricated using an aqueous based lubricant (BOVIVET Gel granulate). The closed pelvimeter was gently and slowly introduced into the rectum in a closed position by the hand, with the arm of the investigator protected using a disposable rectal sleeve (KRUTEX super sensitive disposable examination gloves) The pelvic height (Figure 4) was measured by opening the device within the pelvic canal and recording the distance between the dorsal aspect of the pubic symphysis on the floor of the pelvis and the ventral aspect of the sacral vertebrae. The pelvimeter was then closed and rotated 90 ° to measure the pelvic width, (Figure 5) which is defined as the horizontal distance at the widest point between the left and right ileal shafts at right angle to where the height was measured (Bellows et al., 1971). One limitation of the Rice pelvimeter is that it has a maximum reading of 20 cm, but in this study none of the cows had pelvic measurements that exceeded 20 cm. The intrapelvic area was calculated as the area of a rectangle by multiplying the pelvic width and the pelvic height (Gaines et al., 1993; Ramin et al., 1995; Green et al., 1988). The intrapelvic area can also be measured as an ellipse with the equation PA = PH ÃÆ'- PW ÃÆ'- à Ã¢â€š ¬/4 (David, 1960). Despite the higher degree of accuracy offered by the ellipsoidal equation, the rectangle equation was used for calculation because the ellipsoidal equation offered no advantage of predicting the risk of dystocia and did not differ when ranking pelvic size (Rice and Wiltbank, 1972). All measurements taken were measured three times consecutively by the same person and the resulting mean values were used for analyses. Data was placed on a data capture sheet for each farm, and transferred to an Excel spread sheet (Microsoft Office Excel, 2016). The data was then analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 22. Data was expressed as mean  ± standard deviation. Shapiro-Wilk test was used as a numerical means of assessing normality, and the output of a normal Q-Q plot was used to determine this graphically. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to examine the relationship of age categories (2 3 years, 3 4 years, 4 5 years, 5 6 years and > 6 years) on the external morphometry and internal pelvic measurements. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient (r) was used to determine the association between internal pelvic dimensions and external morphometry, age, body weight and body condition score. Regression analysis was performed to determine the ability of external morphometry, age, body weight and body condition score to predict internal pelvic dimensions. The data collected were used to develop multiple regression equations that estimate the inner pelvic sizes from the external measurements. 4.0 Results The descriptive statistics for age, body weight, body condition score, external morphometry and internal pelvic measurements for the 50 Friesian cross cows are given in Table 1. Table 1: Age, body condition score, body weight, external morphometry and internal pelvic measurements for 50 Friesian cross cattle. Trait Minimum Maximum Mean S.E. S.D. Median Age (months) 24.00 165.00 60.16 4.17 29.16 54.00 Body condition score (1-5) 2.50 4.00 3.21 0.05 0.36 3.25 Body weight (kg) 277.3 722.7 456.9 14.0 98.7 437.8 Thoracic circumference (cm) 151.5 206.2 177.0 1.8 12.4 175.9 Abdominal circumference (cm) 152.0 227.8 189.2 2.2 15.8 189.4 Distance between tuber coxae (cm) 38.3 57.2 47.5 0.6 4.4 47.7 Distance between tuber ischae (cm) 20.0 45.6 31.5 0.8 5.7 31.8 Pelvic height (cm) 12.42 19.50 16.64 0.22 1.59 17.13 Pelvic width (cm) 11.67 19.08 15.64 0.24 1.69 15.50 Pelvic area (cm2) 158.31 398.86 263.28 7.21 51.02 262.43 There was no significant difference between the mean pelvic area of the cows sampled and the minimum pelvic size of Friesian-Holsteins that was determined to have a low incidence of dystocia, where cows which had pelvic sizes greater than the determined value of   260 cm2 would have a reduced risk of dystocia (Hoffman et al., 1996). The mean pelvic size of the sampled cows was 3.28 cm2 larger than the determined value of 260 cm2. In this sample, 24 cows out of the 50 (48%) had pelvic areas below 260 cm2, with the smallest pelvic area being 158.31 cm2. 4.1 Analysis of variance (ANOVA) The analysis of variance showed that there was a statistically significant difference between the age and: thoracic circumference (P = 0.008), abdominal circumference (P = 0.046), distance between tuber coxae (P = 0.046) and distance between tuber ischii (P = 0.009). However, there was no difference when it came to pelvic height, pelvic width and pelvic area (P > 0.05) amongst the age categories. The post-hoc comparisons using the Tukey HSD test gave indications that the means for thoracic circumference was lower for the age categories 2    3 years (170.1  ± 10.7 cm, P = 0.021), 3 4 years (172.4  ± 12.4 cm, P = 0.017) compared to the category > 6 years (189.4  ± 12.9 cm). There was a significant difference (P = 0.034) for abdominal circumference when comparing age category 4 5 years (180  ± 13.3 cm) to > 6 years (201.6  ± 15.3 cm). 4.2 Pearsons Product-Moment Correlation Table 2 illustrates the correlations between the external morphometry and internal pelvic dimensions, using Pearsons Product-Moment Correlation. This reveals that the external morphometric parameters of thoracic circumference, abdominal circumference, distance between tuber coxae, and distance between tuber ischii have a moderately, positive correlation with the internal pelvic measurements of pelvic height, pelvic width and pelvic area that were statistically significant (P = 0.01). Age in months had a weak and positive correlation with pelvic height (r = 0.35) and pelvic area (r = 0.29) at the level of P = 0.05. However, there was no correlation between age and pelvic width (r = 0.25, P = 0.86). Table 2: Correlations between the external morphometry and internal pelvic parameters. Traits Pelvic Height Pelvic Width Pelvic Area Thoracic circumference 0.50** 0.53** 0.48** Abdominal circumference 0.60** 0.52** 0.52** Distance between tuber coxae 0.46** 0.49** 0.43** Distance between tuber ischae 0.47** 0.54** 0.50** ** Correlation coefficient (r) is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed) Body weight (kg) showed a moderate positive correlation with pelvic height (r = 0.40), pelvic width (r = 0.50) and pelvic area (r = 0.44) at a level of P = 0.01. Body weight also displayed a very strong positive correlation with: thoracic circumference (r = 0.99), abdominal circumference (r = 0.76), distance between tuber coxae (r = 0.77) and the distance between tuber ischae (r = 0.73) at a level of P = 0.01. There were no correlations between the intrapelvic height (r = 0.11, P = 0.55), intrapelvic width (r = -0.10, P = 0.47) and intrapelvic area (r = -0.08, P = 0.60)and the body condition score (-0.104 . There were positive correlations between age in months and thoracic circumference, abdominal circumference, distance between the tuber coxae and distance between tuber ischii, all of which are significant at the level of P = 0.01 (Table 3). There is also a significant correlation between age in months and the body weight (r = 0.58, P Table 3: Correlations between the age (months) and external morphometry in 50 Friesian cross cattle. Age (months) with Correlation P-value Thoracic circumference 0.56 Abdominal circumference 0.48 Distance between tuber coxae 0.45 Distance between tuber ischae 0.63 The correlations between the external morphometry measurements are given in Table 4. There is significant, strong and positive correlation between each of the external morphometric measurements that were taken, where P Table 4 Correlations between the external morphometry of 50 Friesian cross cattle. Traits Thoracic circumference Abdominal circumference Distance between tuber coxae Thoracic circumference Abdominal circumference 0.76** Distance between tuber coxae 0.78** 0.72** Distance between tuber ischae 0.72** 0.64** 0.77** ** Correlation coefficient (r) is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed) 4.3 Regression analysis Several models were developed using linear and multiple regression analyses, which can be used to predict internal pelvic parameters using the external morphometric measurements that are given in Table 5. The best predictors for pelvic height would be body weight and the external parameters of thoracic circumference and abdominal circumference, where these parameters explain 58% of the variability of pelvic height. For pelvic width, the ideal predictor would be the distance between the tuber ischii which explains 29% of the variability of the pelvic width. Body weight, thoracic circumference and the distance between tuber ischii were the best predictors for pelvic area where they explain 40% of the variability of the pelvic area. Table 5 Models to predict inner pelvic sizes from easily accessible external morphometry Y Model R2 S.E. Pelvic Height Y = -50.57 0.06 ÃÆ'- BW + 0.47 ÃÆ'- Th + 0.05 ÃÆ'- Abd 0.58 1.13 Y = -48.90 0.05 ÃÆ'- BW + 0.52 ÃÆ'- Th 0.40 1.25 Y = 5.13 + 0.06 ÃÆ'- Abd 0.37 1.38 Pelvic Width Y = 6.74 + 0.19 ÃÆ'- TcTc 0.24 1.49 Y = 10.61 + 0.16 ÃÆ'- TiTi 0.29 1.45 Pelvic Area Y = -1549.01 1.54 ÃÆ'- BW + 14.22 ÃÆ'- Th 0.33 42.51 Y = 1585.33 1.56 ÃÆ'- BW + 13.22 ÃÆ'- Th + 1.17 ÃÆ'- Abd 0.39 41.15