The novel Jekyll and Hyde

Written in the 1880's by famous British author Robert Louis Stephenson, the novel Jekyll and Hyde is about one man with dissociative personalities. Jekyll and Hyde, although are portrayed to be two very different characters all together, are in fact the same man, wanting to fulfil certain â€Å"evil† pleasures whilst still being a well respected member of society. However both of these desires cannot be overcome without a magic potion created by Dr Jekyll, used to transform himself into the ghastly looking and somewhat evil being, known in this book as Hyde – his other half. In the late 1800's there were a few ideas and theories arising which could be what inspired Stephenson to write such an odd and interesting book. The significant developments in ideas which could be associated with this story are Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and Sigmund Freud's psychological theories on dissociative personalities, which came around at the time of Stephenson writing this book. These could be linked to how Hyde is from an era where there was no such thing as morality, Hyde can also link to Freud's id (animal instinct), ego (what controls us in order to achieve others approval) and superego (sense of self), in this way Jekylls id takes over. Stephenson could also be proving a point about the class system at that time in the UK as there was a large class division, where as Jekyll has a rich, well off posh lifestyle and Hyde is a character who is â€Å"crude† and appears to be of a lower class, not at all respected in the society in which he lives. The first example of Stephenson portraying Hyde as being evil comes midway though the first chapter where he is first described as â€Å"a little man stumping along. † Already he is portrayed to have an ugly negative appearance, and his physical descriptions are one of the main ways which Stephenson describes Hyde overall. Next he is shown to knock over a small child in the street, and one may assume this was an accident, and it most likely was, however when Hyde shows no affection to the girl he just knocked over, and literally tramples over her, the audience knows he is a bad character. Mr Enfield (a friend of the lawyer; Mr Utterson) after seeing this describes the incident as â€Å"hellish† and Hyde as â€Å"a damned juggernaut†, which relates Hyde to becoming violent as the Indian God of war known as Jaggernafth. Here he is also compared to Satan, which refers him to evil yet again. Another way in which Stephenson portrays Hyde to be evil is through his physical descriptions, however there is a vagueness of his facial descriptions due to the fact other people find him indescribably ugly. In chapter 8 he is said by Poole (Jekylls butler) to â€Å"have a mask upon his face† as such an appearance is too inhuman and unnatural to be that of a normal man. Also in that chapter Hyde is commonly referred to as â€Å"it† rather than â€Å"him† which suggest he has a lack of humanity. He is also called a â€Å"creature† and described as having a dismal screech, as of mere animal terror. This creates a sense of animal imagery, which is one of the ways that Stephenson portrays Hyde as being evil. Hyde's clothes are described to be far too big, and that is because they are the exact same clothes worn by Dr Jekyll. This therefore shows that Jekyll is considerably taller than Hyde, and Stephenson here could be saying that not only does Jekyll overshadow Hyde in a physical sense, but also in the sense that the good in Jekyll is much greater than the evil in Jekyll. Dr Jekyll is a rather interesting character who wants and respects his good reputation, but still craves some of life's somewhat quirky pleasures. Should we question if Jekyll is as morally good as people, such as his close friends think he is, or if he is simply a scientist with urges to fulfil? In chapter ten Jekyll describes his â€Å"duplicity† and he also describes his first feelings of his â€Å"new life† as Hyde. After the â€Å"racking pangs† of the initial transformations, Jekyll describes himself as feeling â€Å"indescribably new† and â€Å"incredibly sweet†. He feels â€Å"younger, lighter happier in body† and he also talks about the â€Å"freedom† of his soul, what is also interesting is how he felt â€Å"wicked† yet delighted. This is the first point in which the audience know Jekyll and Hyde are in fact one, but also that Jekyll enjoys his transformation from good to evil. This idea of Jekyll enjoying his transformation suggests that maybe Jekyll is actually not so morally good. Also Jekyll describing his † dual nature† and saying â€Å"I concealed my pleasures† also go to show maybe Jekyll isn't the most morally good character which goes beside other character opinions on him such as Dr Lanyon's â€Å"He began to go wrong in the mind. He does however get more pleasing and positive descriptions at the start of the story, where Mr Utterson compliments him, saying he is a â€Å"well-made, smooth faced man† who throws â€Å"pleasant dinners† and who's personality was one of sincerity. As well as himself, his house is described as â€Å"comfortable† & â€Å"warmed† by Utterson which could reflect Dr Jekyll as a person. On top of this, the denotations â€Å"F. R . S. are next to his name, which stand for Fellow of the Royal Society, and to be in such a highly respected club portrays Jekyll as a man with a much esteemed reputation and a man of high intellect. These qualities of Jekyll alongside others like his â€Å"nature to industry† and â€Å"high head† that when put against his dark secrets and new good feelings after his first transformation, show that Jekyll is generally good but is only human so he will have his secrets, which as deep as they may be, show that he is not evil, but nobodies perfect? From reading this book, it is clear to see that Stephenson uses several ways to show the true personalities of Jekyll and Hyde. The first way in which Hyde is depicted to be evil is through the descriptions of his actions, in Chapter one he is described to be stumping along and this creates a sense of negativity rather than just walking. The violence and severity of the verbs Stephenson uses also contribute to the portrayal of Hyde's evil nature. He also uses animal imagery such as â€Å"ape-like fury† which compares him to an animal, a creature with no morals, and of a lower class. Then there is Jekyll, who Stephenson portrays to be the complete opposite of Hyde, and does this by talking about his privileged background, good stature and good looks, and also gives him the title Dr rather than Mr, as anyone would think of a Dr as a well respected and highly intellectual member of society.

On the Waterfront Essay

Kazan does not only use Terry Malloy by establishing him a hero in On the Waterfront to value individual conscience or moral growth above community loyalty or sense of obligation, but also other characters like Edie and Father Barry. Unlike Terry, who has to gain individual conscience, Edie and Father Barry have never been really closely connected to the community, which allows them individual conscience. Their supporting role of Terry’s moral growth is used by Kazan to praise individual conscience, as it also liberates the waterfront. It should not be mistaken that Kazan does support individual conscience in the deaths of Charley and Dugan who had to die for the possession of a sense of justice. Their deaths were portrayed by Kazan as a type of martyrdom and also had a great impact on Terry, which resulted in his portrayal as a hero. Edie Doyle and Father Barry epitomise individual conscience, which Kazan attributes to how they are outsiders and allows this value to waver as both of them become more involved with actions of disruption and protest against the corrupt union on the waterfront. Father Barry was a â€Å"saint [who] hid in the church† believing that â€Å"time and faith were great healers†. It was Edie’s sense of justice which pushed Father Barry out of his passive role to work for social justice, as she bitingly scorned Father Barry’s inability with a close up used so that viewers can tangibly feel her resentment, when Joey had just been pushed off the roof of the tenement. Father Barry had transformed from being a â€Å"potato eater† (demeaning label of an Irish Catholic simpleton), to risk being â€Å"shipped off to Abyssinia† (a pun perhaps as the abyss is death) to break the mob’s corrupt grip on the waterfront. The attack on the church did not faze Father Barry despite the alarming clatter of baseball bats on the pavement and heads being using like baseballs, when the church was under attack by the union. Father Barry’s individual conscience grew as he firmly believed that â€Å"these people (the community) needed help†. This as well as going â€Å"right down to the wire† for Dugan, acted as a catalyst for Father Barry’s growth in individual conscience, which had made him a hero in his own right as he had to triumph over his own inhibitions and the conservative restrictions of and expectations of his role from the church. Edie unlike Father Barry, had already possessed individual conscience (she had contributed to Father Barry’s growth to provide justice), but she like Father Barry refrained from perpetually seeking an end to the corruption on the waterfront. Father Barry had sought to back Dugan as he talked to the crime commissioners so that they could charge the union of corruption, yet when Dugan died from an apparent ‘accident’ Father Barry shied away from taking an active role, preferring to be passive in his involvement, as seen when Terry came to ask for advice of whether he should go testify against the union where Father Barry in a bitter tone said that Terry’s â€Å"own conscience has got to do the asking†. This may suggest Father Barry’s guilt in pushing Dugan to take action which resulted in his death. Edie also refrained from the active role she had taken to find Joey’s killer and unknowingly fighting against the corrupt union, when she realised she loved Terry. Thus not wanting him to die but to â€Å"come to the country, where there is no Johnny Friendly†, who controlled the union, and threatened his life. She may have been trying to protect Terry but she did not consider the impact on those who work on the waterfront, including her own father, Pop Doyle, who would continue to be exploited by the union, thus perhaps compromising her morals to an extent. Unlike Terry, Father Barry and Edie were not empowered to stop the corruption of the union on the waterfront. It is in Father Barry and Edie’s inability to stop corruption that establishes Terry as the hero through his moral growth to individual conscience. Ultimately it is his triumph over the corrupt union to show that individual conscience is valued over community value, when comparing his moral growth to Father Barry and Edie’s. Kazan allowed the audience to follow Terry’s tumultuous moral growth allowing strong connection to form between the bodies. It was loss of Joey that had begun the transformation process that had reignited his bitterness for purposely losing in a boxing final to fulfil Johnny Friendly’s bet. Terry’s relationship with Edie had also contributed to his growth of moral conscience as an individual, as Terry wanted to protect as he confessed she was â€Å"the first nice thing that has ever happened to me† to Father Barry when he was seeking to know whether he should confess to the crime commission about Joey’s death. Father Barry had also encouraged Terry to be truthful to himself to develop individual conscience, allowing Terry to admit he was being used by Johnny Friendly (â€Å"it’s do it or else† when it comes to a favour from Friendly). Terry would not have been a hero with individual conscience if he had not the support from Edie and Father Barry. Terry had to struggle against community loyalty to achieve individual conscience. Kazan uses this struggle to humanise the character making him heroic. Terry had always been â€Å"one of theirs† or part of the union as he was the â€Å"brother of Charlie the Gent†, he was in a sense also an outsider like Edie and Father Barry from the workers of Hoboken on the docks yet he was driven by self-preservation, which led him to adopt the â€Å"D ‘n D† or Deaf and Dumb creed (not speaking up against anything the union did – keeping silent) from the dock workers, which inextricably created a superficial community loyalty as they shared the view that their â€Å"life was not worth a nickel†. It was Charlie’s death that had led to Terry going against community loyalty, as Charlie was his brother and shared a strong connection with each other. Charlie had looked out for Terry as he had sacrificed himself knowing â€Å"10 to 1 they (Johnny Friendly) won’t believe me†. This portrayed Terry as the tragic hero eliciting the sympathy of the audience who will celebrate as Terry topples Johnny Friendly’s position of power, as he stumbled battle worn after violently grappling with Friendly into the warehouse to take his position as the new spiritual leader of the workers, with trumpets in the soundtrack heralding his triumph. His growth to individual conscience had led to Terry’s redemption of Joey and Charlie’s death. Community loyalty would not have achieved this. Kazan valued individual conscience in Edie and Father Barry, but through them has shown that though it may motivate them to defeat corruption they may not be empowered to take action. It is through Terry that Kazan strongly values individual conscience by establishing him as an enduring hero, who had to undergo transformation and go against community loyalty, but also needed support to uproot Johnny Friendly and his corruption.

Analysis of Internationalisation Strategy Tesco and Lidl Essay

Question 1: Globalisation has, in the last few decades, been one of the dominant trends in retailing. Retailers around the globe are striving for higher global market shares. The food retailing industry which has an oligopolistic market, especially, has strong competition although, with a few large firms dominating the market. Among them Tesco and Lidl are one of the major European retailers. Tesco is the UK’s largest retailer with 28.7% market share, which is 11% more than its closest rival, ASDA (Statista.com, 2015), and is the 5th largest retailer in the world (Deloitte, 2015). And Lidl is the main retail chain (accounting for more than 70% of its sales) of Schwarz group, which is the 4th largest retailer in the world (Deloitte, 2015). Both of these firms are based in Europe with Tesco being a British firm and Lidl a German. These firms are similar not only in their revenues and market shares but also in the generic strategy they have adopted. In terms of business operation, both firms follow Porter’s cost leadership strategy. However, Tesco also incorporates the differentiation strategy (Baroto et al., 2012), hence pursuing a hybrid strategy combining the two, while Lidl solely follows the no-frills cost leadership strategy (Geppert et al., 2015). Both these firms have internationalized in different countries around the globe. Lidl has mainly focused its internationalisation in the European markets, while Tesco, in addition to expanding in different eastern European countries, has also started its operations in drastically different markets such as South Korea, China, India and The USA. However, they have followed different strategies in their modes of entry into foreign markets, with different levels of success. The decision to and the outcome of internationalisation for these two firms have depended on different factors like government regulation, availability of the factors of production, their business operation strategy and so on. One of the main criteria for internationalisation for firms is to possess some sort of competitive advantage, in order to overcome the threats and difficulties usually associated with entering into a new foreign market (Vernon 1966). Lidl being a discounter has a huge advantage in terms of price compared to other supermarkets and hypermarkets. As a result of its no-frills strategy, Lidl can significantly reduce costs in different stages of its logistics and supply chain. Entering into a new country has a lot of challenges and firm  size is one of the things a firm must consider when choosing a country for internationalisation. If th e firm does not have significant market share in its domestic market, it will find it difficult to maintain its operations in foreign markets. In Lidl’s case, they have built a very strong domestic market and therefore, had a strong foundation for further expansion to foreign markets. From Lidl’s previous Foreign Direct Investments, it is evident that that the firm has adopted both acquisition strategy as well as Greenfield investment. However, it has mostly focused on Greenfield investments (Nayak, 2011). Greenfield investment, which entails starting the operations from scratch, gives firms more freedom in selecting their business strategy in terms of choosing suppliers and managing logistics etc. This market entry strategy allows firms to fully utilize their company-specific advantages (Ando, 2005). One of the reasons Lidl chooses this strategy as their international mode of entry, is because of its consistency with their business model. Lidl, like other hard discounters, follows a global standardised strategy (Bartlett & Ghoshal, 1989), where majority of the decisions are made by the corporate headquarters, in things like variation of product assortment, design of store outlets or policies and procedures and there is very little localisation (Geppert,201 5). This allows Lidl to implement its own strategic model into a new business in a foreign market. However, in addition to centralizing the strategic aspect of the business, they also centralize some physical aspects of it. â€Å"A global retail strategy relies on standardization to achieve economies of scale and of replication. This means that in different countries similar product lines, distribution system, communication, service level and store design are used† (McGoldrick 2002). Lidl’s business strategy includes a standardized supply chain which allows it to efficiently operate its business in different countries and also provides an economies of scale. Upon entering a foreign market, they set up regional distribution centres (RDCs) to service a significant number of their stores in a certain region. They source their products (except perishables) through their headquarters in Germany and those products are distributed through the RDCs to their respective regional stores. Each of the RDC is linked to a regional management headquarters and they supply around 60 a nd 120 stores (Geppert, 2011). Through this kind of horizontal FDI, Lidl operates in its foreign  markets just as it does in its domestic market. Also, the fact that Lidl has expanded into countries that are geographically closer makes this strategy and business model very effective. This strategy is also consistent with the gravity model of bilateral trade which states that volume of trade is inversely proportional to the distance between the countries and directly proportional to the size of the economies. Lidl’s operating countries are geographically closer to each other and they, as a result, incur less transaction costs, which allows a discounter like Lidl, to adhere to its cost leadership strategy in its foreign markets as well. Moreover, Germany’s central location in Europe as well as it being the largest economy in Europe increases the prospect and efficiency of trade. Furthermore, due to Lidl’s choice of internationalisation strategy, factor abundance plays an integral role, especially in terms of land and space. Greenfield investment requires land to build new stores or the availability of already built stores. â€Å"Discounters’ stores are standardized not only in neighbouring markets, but worldwide, which allows for efficient in-store processes† (Warschun, 2011). Therefore, Lidl which follows a similar standardization strategy, requires specific sizes of land and stores in different parts of the country it wants to expand to. An exception in this case is Sweden, which is geographically a bit farther relative to other countries. Lidl, establishing a Greenfield investment, built their own warehouse in South West of Sweden, however, the warehouse was still served by the same logistics firm used by Lidl in Germany, Pape (Nyberg, 2007). This still allowed for the standard distribution process to be implemented, as Pape is already familiar with Lidl’s business model and distribution modes. Government policies, in both domestic and foreign markets, also have a significant effect on food retailers and their decision to internationalise. In 1968, a retail planning policy was devised in Germany in order to protect the small stores by limiting the size of stores outside city centres and special zones (Geppert et.al, 2015). This helped discount stores like Lidl by stopping bigger competitors from introducing huge supermarkets and hypermarkets. As a result, Lidl gained a significant portion of the market share in the German food retailing market. This strong position in their domestic market meant they had the resources and the motivation to expand  into other markets and a strong domestic presence also benefits Lidl’s centralised business model. Since then, Lidl has expanded rapidly, mostly in European markets, and the number of Lidl stores in Lidl’s major operating countries can be seen from the table below. The table above shows that the total number of stores Lidl had in 2011 in its foreign markets is three times its number of stores in Germany, its domestic market. This shows that Lidl’s endeavours in foreign markets have been successful as majority of their international efforts have resulted in a profit. Lidl doesn’t publish country-by country profit figures, although, its turnover in the UK in 2012, which was  £202 million, increasing by around 40% in the five years since the recession hit (Gibb, 2013), shows that it is making a profit. In 2012, Lidl’s overall profits were up by 37% (Kantarretail, 2012). This can partly be attributed to the recession, because of which the demand for cheaper discounted goods increased, however, it can also be attributed to Lidl’s mode of entry into new markets and its business strategy which takes into account the local culture of the community and country in its foreign markets. For example: Lidl locally sources its pe rishable food products in the UK locally and uses it as its marketing strategy to attract local consumers and to create a friendly brand image. Similarly to Lidl, Tesco also has a very strong presence in its domestic market as it is the market leader in the UK. Being among the top five retailers in the world, Tesco has stores in various countries in Asia and Europe. After achieving rapid growth and gaining the highest market share in the UK, the move to enter foreign markets was part of Tesco’s disciplined international growth strategy (Tesco Annual Report, 2014). Tesco has also adopted Horizontal Foreign Direct Investment in most of its international expansions, usually acquiring existing retailers in foreign markets and implementing its own business strategy like undercutting competitors and introducing own brand products and its club card scheme and so on (corporatewatch.org, 2004). For example: Tesco’s acquisition of American company K-mart’s stores in Czech Republic in 1996 (tescoplc.com) and it currently has more than 300 stores there (Tescopoly.org) Tesco’s first  attempts at internationa lisation were not very successful as their acquisitions of relatively small supermarket chains in Ireland and France were divested soon after acquisition (Geppert et al., 2011). Tesco, then changed their strategy in acquisitions by acquiring larger foreign firms rather than smaller ones. In addition to the acquisition of K-mart in 1996, they acquired 26 S-Mart stores in Hungary in 1995, and ventured into the Irish market again in 1997, this time acquiring the market leader Associated British Food (ABF) (Geppert et al. 2011). As they grew Tesco has favoured large hypermarkets for its international stores rather than supermarkets, since in most countries it is easier to get planning permission for these than it is in the UK. (corporatewatch.org, 2004). One of Tesco’s main strategy in internationalisation has been to understand the market and operate in accordance with the local shopping culture to build better relationship with the consumers as well as suppliers. This is much easier to achieve in choosing acquisitions or joint ventures than through Greenfield investments. Through acquisitions, as a result of the knowledge of local customs and associations on part of the acquired firm, the investing firm can take advantage of pre-existing business network with suppliers and distribution chains. It also takes over the brands (in some cases), the reputation and the existing market share of the acquired firm and this can result in a stronger market presence very quickly (Marinescu & Constantin, 2008). Therefore, using an entry strategy suitable with a lot of market research, Tesco has had success in its foreign expansion in European markets. Some examples include its operations in Hungary, where they strongly focus on local suppliers and 85% of their sales are through local products and In India where they operate a scheme to donate to local charities and organisations (tescoplc.com). The following table with Tesco’s number of stores in 2011, shows that unlike Lidl, Tesco has more stores in its home market compared to all of its international inves tments and the proportion of sales is higher in its domestic market as well since it brings in about two thirds of its total revenues from its home market (Thomas et al., 2013). Contrary to its success in the European markets, Tesco has recently suffered some major setbacks in internationalisation in Asian markets like Japan and  China, and the US. Tesco entered the US market in 2007 and instead of using their tried and tested approach of acquisitions or joint ventures, they preferred to adopt a different strategy and entered the market by establishing a new wholly owned subsidiary as a Greenfield investment. This meant that they did not possess the local knowledge about the market and consumer behaviour. In addition, they initially filled their management positions with mostly British expats instead of hiring locally (Silverthorne, 2010). Competing as a new business in a highly oligopolistic market requires a strong strategy and considerable market research and knowledge about the consumer base so, a lack of that meant Tesco could not entice American consumers. Moreover, their timing of internationalisation was also unfortunate as recession had seriously effected Tesco’s chosen states of California, Nevada and Arizona. Tesco is estimated to have made more than  £1 billion in accumulated loss (Finch & Walsh, 2012). Similarly, also in China in 2013, Tesco had to fold its unprofitable business into a state-run company as a minority partner; this was attributed to a difficulty foreign companies like Tesco, have in negotiating with suppliers and regulators in a fast-growing but tricky market. Furthermore, Tesco also withdrew from the Japanese market in 2012 in a â€Å"move that follows decisions to†¦ focus on investing in its British home market† (Thomas et al., 2013). Tesco’s exit from Taiwan can be credited to low factor abundance, as all the most attractive sites for expansion already been developed or were held under future development option by Carrefour, who had been a well-established retailer in the country. In addition, the highly complex land ownership system was a hindrance for Tesco’s as it obstructed the transfer its skills in site location analysis and property development (Lowe & Wrigley, 2010). However, Tesco has had success in Asia, with Thailand, and South Korea, which is its largest foreign market. Tesco outperformed its global rivals Wal-Mart and Carrefour in South Korea and they were forced to exit the market leaving Tesco as the dominant international retailer there (Lowe & Wrigley, 2010). Tesco had entered both South Korea and Thailand through joint ventures rather than acquisition, this key difference helped the firm massively as the partnerships with local firms offered Tesco the knowledge of local business/regulatory conditions and consumer culture, plus it provided the opportunity to build upon the ‘local’ appeal, especially in  South Korea where Tesco had partnered with Samsung and the use of the name, Samsung-Tesco, proved to be vital (Lowe & Wrigley, 2010). Tesco’s failures in internationalization in some of the Asian and the American markets does show to some extent that geographical distance might have played a part even though the size of the economies involved were quite large. The culture of these markets were very different and as per Krug man’s love of variety model, individuals’ tastes are even more diverse, and Tesco could not adapt to these vastly different markets. In these kind of markets, a joint venture, like it adopted in its Korean and Thai markets, seemed to be the preferable option. Comparing and analysing the strategies of Tesco and Lidl’s shows that, in order to have a successful internationalisation and subsequently continue to have a strong foreign market, the firms must be strong in its domestic market. Both firms use different primary strategy to enter into foreign markets but their internationalisation strategy suits their respective business strategy, as Tesco’s opts for quick growth and seeks to be a market leader in all of its markets usually by acquiring large existing retailers, while Lidl opts for greenfield investments in order to maintain its cost leadership and utilize its standardized supply and distribution chains. Both firms use Horizontal FDI, which does decrease international trade as their services are usually aimed at host country, however, individual governments welcome Horizontal FDI as it boosts the local economy by providing jobs as well as increases competition. In Tesco’s case, it has recently turned its focus on its home market, as it has been losing market share in the UK and two thirds of its revenue come from the UK, however Lidl is growing more internationally and plans to open more stores in its already existing international markets like the UK (Butler, 2014). The world is very small now, especially with the ability to replicate technology easily and the power to move freely between countries. However, the strategies these two forms have used and their effectiveness in different countries show that, although there are fewer differences in consumer cultures and market structures, these differences still matter and play an important role in the success and failure of firms. The ability of a firm to understand the consumer culture is key when it comes to internationalisation. Furthermore, the gravity model does hold to an extent even in the case of internationalisation of firms, as evident from Tesco’s  failure to penetrate most Asian markets they entered compared to their successes in most European markets they ventured into. Tesco’s success in Thailand and Korea shows that a Joint venture with a locally established company would be the ideal mode of entry into risky markets. And a firm’s Internationalisation strategy must also be consistent with its business strategy in order to have a consistent growth in the foreign market after a successful entry. Reference: Baroto, M. B., Abdullah, M. M. B. and Wan, H. L. (2012) ‘Hybrid Strategy: A New Strategy for Competitive Advantage’, International Journal of Business and Management, 7. doi: 10.5539/ijbm.v7n20p120. Bartlett C.A., Ghoshal, S. (1989): Managing across Borders. The Transnational Solution. Boston., Mass: Harvard Business School press Butler, S. (2014a) ‘Lidl launches  £220m UK store expansion programme’, The Guardian, 27 June. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/jun/27/lidl-launches-store-expansion-programme (Accessed: 7 April 2015). Corporate Watch (2004) Tesco Plc, Corporate Watch. Available at: http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/company-profiles/tesco-plc#international (Accessed: 9 April 2015). Deloitte (2014) http://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/tw/Documents/consumer-business/tw-cb-retailing2014-en.pdf, Deloitte. Available at: http://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/tw/Documents/consumer-business/tw-cb-retailing2014-en.pdf ( Accessed: 8 April 2015). Finch, J. and Walsh, F. (2012) ‘Tesco’s American dream over as US retreat confirmed’, The Guardian, 5 December. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/dec/05/tesco-american-dream-retreat-us-fresh-easy (Accessed: 6 April 2015). Geppert, M., Williams, K. and Wortmann, M. (2014) ‘Micro-political game playing in Lidl: A comparison of store-level employment relations’, European Journal of Industrial Relations. doi: 10.1177/0959680114544015. Geppert, M., Wortmann, M., Czarzasty, J., KaÄŸnicioÄŸlu, D., Kohler, H.-D., Rà ¼ckert, Y., Royle, T., Uà §kan, B. and Williams, K. (2011) Work and Employment Relations of European Multinational Grocery Retailers – Discounters and Hypermarkets. Hans-Bà ¶ckler-Stiftung. Available at: http://www.boeckler.de/pdf_fof/S-2009-317-1-1.pdf (Accessed: 6

Early Chinese-Americans and Manifest Destiny Essay

Early Chinese-Americans and Manifest Destiny - Essay Example From the image, it shows two races, the Chinese and the American in the nineteen Century. The photo depicts anti-Chinese racial prejudices by the Americans during the years 1820s to the end of the Century when the Chinese immigrants arrived in America. The American is represented by the woman who cuts the Chinese man hair to represent hate, resentment, prejudice of the Chinese Culture during this era. The early Chinese immigrants came from the south China’s Guangdong Province to in 1820 to America to escaping the political and economic instability experienced under the Qing Dynasty government, internal attack from the Taiping Rebels and external pressures from the Opium Wars. Their population increased from 325 men in 1849 (before the Californian Gold Rush) to 25,000 by 1852 and 105,465 by 1880 during the transcontinental railroad (Carlisle 29). They provided cheap labor compared to the Americans during the time. However they were mistreated, highly taxed, worked under harsh c onditions during the summer heat and also during cold winter days. Most of them lost their lives but for those who survived, settled in America for what its worth. In conclusion, although the Chinese were a source of cheap labor they were overworked under very harsh conditions in the mines field, received little pay were highly taxed. They were seen by the Americans as an inferior race of people, with differing language, color and physical appearance (short, plump, the male had kept strange long hair which the Americans represented by the lady in the image cutting

Job Fair Brochure and Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Job Fair Brochure and - Research Paper Example People know the company very well and this approach has established credibility and integrity of the company. Over the past few years, especially with the addition of Suptuous Ballroom, the profit margins have improved, sales increased and operating expenses have be reduced from 45% to 40%. Size/Growth – its effect and how management perceives it: Two staff accounts managers work under the company founder Rudy Electrum, each one handling a portfolio of clients. But positive aspect of being of small size is that company is more organic and lenient. The employees know each other very well and trust in each other. Vision/Mission Statement – What it says about the firm, and how management works toward it: There is no vision as such communicated by the management and CEO of the company but still employees have a dream of making Sumptuous Cuisine Cataering, a global catering company. Company has a mission to make the clients believe in them and trust them. Core Competencies: Company has a specific methodology of providing service according to international standards which is transparent, fluid and specialized. Moreover, its employees have high integrity, professionalism and dedication that assists them to mange and exceede client’s expectations. Client preferences, intersts and vision is held primary even if it requires unpopular decisions. Culture: The company has an informal atmosphere and all the employees know each other well. They work like a team and understand each other and work with coordination and collaboration. Due to long lasting relationship of the employees with the company, the employees understand the values and core competencies of the company which help them to perform their responsibilities well. Company has no international affiliation at this moment. The employees are self motivated to help the company to achieve its short term and long term goals. Employs believe the achievement of goals of the company as their reward. Lead ership/Decision Making: Company works under highly centralized decision making but as environment is like a team and family structure, so democracy helps in making some decisions but ultimate power lies with the founding partners Rudy Electrum and Tosca Cabrini. Leadership is very much encouraged in the company but only if you have guts and skills. Talent, skills and proposals of good projects are encouraged. Self motivation is there in the employees but as decision making is centralized, there is very limited empowerment. Recognizing & Rewarding Performance: There are no special rewards and recognitions, but only those of normal course of business. Employees believe themselves to be the incredible parts of the company and are self motivated. Innovation – Management’s perspective & the firm’s goals: Sumptuous Cuisine Catering is planning to open a Sumptuous Ballroom, to enable the company attain its future goals of becoming a â€Å"true one-stop shop† for all-inclusive events by creative competitive edge. Interaction – Marketing, personalization, and customization: Sumptuous Cuisine Catering is a professional organization and it follows the various media strategies for the promotion of its new Sumptuous Ballrom. Company is still new in the locality yet it has developed a strong credibility and integrity. People know the company very well. So marketing happens through word of mouth and transfer of business cards at dinners and in the events. Mostly, we reach our customers through the

Country Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Country Analysis - Essay Example The network identifies a business opportunity, amasses the capital and influences the investors to start a business in a viable market. Additionally, through the network the investors have increased control of the operations of the companies since the business owners elect a board of governors and appoint the chief executive among other influential individuals to run the companies. The American companies operating in France through such networks include LeBlanc Corporation, Allied Signal Laminate system, Trane Company and L.B White Company among others. Notably, the above companies belong to business people from the state of Wisconsin. LeBlanc, formerly known as the Noblet firm is a leading manufacturer of wind instruments in Europe. The company operates in a unique market targeting the elite societies in Europe who prefer the use of clean energy. The business that began in France’s LaCouture Boussey village has expanded its operation and is currently accessing other marketing in the region. Communication in the company occurs in French a feature that influences the operations of the company. Notably, the company further accesses other French speaking countries besides France such as Belgium and Quebec among others. The presence of the US chamber of commerce in France has therefore pioneered economic growth in the country since such business networks seek to intensify economic activities in the country. The development of such companies as Noblet firm currently known as the LeBlanc in 1904 portrays the fact that the business networks began early in time and have pioneered the growth of numerous companies in France thereby contributing to the economy of the country (Joseph, 1918). The expansion of markets as fostered by the American chamber of commerce in France helps grow the economies of both countries. By setting up companies in foreign countries, the networks provide

Analysis of the movie October Sky in terms of socialization Essay

Analysis of the movie October Sky in terms of socialization - Essay Example He is unable to 'think big' in the context of intellectual freedom and the procedure is just the extension of the local neighborhood, or in other words, the coal mines. As we have seen in the novel "Germinal" by Emil Zola, the local characters other than Homer tends to be engrossed by the day to day living and livelihood of the mines and are just unable to think beyond the parameters of their circumstances. "That is simply what happens to kids in Coalwood, at least those who can't escape by means of a football scholarship. They become coal miners, fighting to make a living, threatening to strike, and choking on coal dust." (Chastain, Norman Transcript) In this scenario, Homer finds himself in a situation where he finds no alternative other than rockets to opt for a better living. He tries to influence other kids to help him build rockets. The two other teens who agreed to help him out in this matter appears to be no as foresighted as Homer and are generally reluctant with a tint of amusement included to it. But all is not that muted after all. As in our social life, Homer finds a supportive hand in his mother and his school teacher.

Introduction to macroeconomics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Introduction to macroeconomics - Essay Example However, during recessions, when unemployment rate rises, the demand will still be met by the supply, although the demand level will be lower. This is why in the goods market prices and quantity will settle at the equilibrium but high unemployment can still be present in the economy. This has been termed as the â€Å"Keynesian unemployment†. As what has been described earlier, in determining output to meet the demands, there are two views—the Keynesian and the classical view. The classical view argues that prices and wages are flexible, in such a way that excesses in either demand or supply will quickly be absorbed by the economy and resume full employment of resources after economic shocks—or abrupt changes in the aggregate demand and supply curves. The Keynesian view on the other hand argues, as apparent in its sticky theory of prices and wages which says that these two factors are sticky in the short run because of contractual rigidities such as agreements made with different interest groups such as the labor unions. In the latter situation, the one proposed by Keynes, higher levels of aggregate demands are needed for output to respond positively because aggregate supply curve is relatively flat especially when output levels are low. In this situation, the economy can have long periods of unemployment b ecause prices and wages are slow to adjust to shocks, and reaching full employment of resources is slow to reach. When classical economists argue that unemployment results from the interaction of the labor demand and supply curves, and lowering the wages will spread the labor supply which can curb unemployment in the process, Keynes argue that such is not applicable when unemployment is due to business cycle downturns, when because of lower demands of products in the economy, demand for labor is also low. The lower demand for goods results into lower demands for

Econometrics Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Econometrics - Assignment Example Q.2.Suppose the impact of institutions on growth differed between African countries and the rest of the world. First, comment on why the model in equation (1) cannot capture this effect. Second, write out a model which can allow for this differential African effect. Third, develop a test that would allow you to statistically discern if this effect is actually supported by the data. Yi is the impact of institution growth in a country i, Ri the protection against expropriation, Lati is the latitude country I (measured as the distance from the equator, and scaled to lie between 0 and 1), D Africa is a dummy for country i is in Africa and D Other i is a dummy capturing if country I is in any other and continent ÃŽ ² as the observations made. From table 1, the dummy for Asia is –0.62 and the dummy for Africa is -1.00. This indicates that African countries have little protection against expropriation. The values are natural logarithms of the stated values over a given base sample. Inverses of the natural logs give 0.5379 for Asia and 0.3679 for Africa. The difference is thus 0.1700. This is also equal to 32.1% growth difference. By measuring latitude as a raw number, the effect of climate on performance would not be as precise as it is when measured from the equator, which is the central latitude and the correlation between distance from the equator and economic performance would be known, but with extremes. This changes the coefficient of the index of institutions growth. The estimates would increase, errors would increase as well and the regression, now based on raw numbers for latitudes would significantly reduce. The ordinary least squares are used in testing the heteroskedasticity. The first step is to make OLS estimates, and the residuals saved in exponents squared. Then the squared exponents are regressed on all the variables and their squares. Then obtain R2. If nR2 is too large, the null hypothesis Ho is rejected. The auxiliary model can be seen as

BIOLOGY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

BIOLOGY - Essay Example An outer membrane which forms the outer covering of the organelle and inner membrane which is twisted n folds to form specific structure called Cistae. There are granules attached in the inner folds of cistae and the inside of a mitochondrial is filled with mitochondrial matrix. The main function of mitochondria is to produce energy for the cell in the form of ATP hence the name ‘power house of the cell’. Ans3. Centrifuge is process through which we can obtain different cell organelles. The process works in a way that when a solution containing cells is centrifuged, the supernatant fluid containing our required cell organelles separates out on the surface which is then collected and observed under the microscope to study required cell organelle. Ans4. Hemoglobin is present in red blood cells and is a necessary component for living things to survive. Hemoglobin’s main function is transport of oxygen. When deoxygenated blood goes through the lungs, the hemoglobin in RBCs attracts oxygen towards it. Oxygen binds with hemoglobin in the blood cells and is carried out to the body tissues where it is released from the hemoglobin and blood once again goes to lungs for oxygenation. Ans5. The main mechanisms of transport through cell membrane are 1) Diffusion 2) Active transport and 3) passive transport. Diffusion is the simple moving of molecules through the cell membrane across a concentration gradient. Active transport occurs when a molecule is supposed to be transported against the concentration gradient. Active transport takes place with the help of specific carriers that carry our required molecules against the concentration gradient through specific channels and this process requires energy. Passive transport occurs when a molecules uses another channel to move across the cell membrane. Ans7. DNA consists of two ribose sugar strands which are joined by nucleic acids Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine, Thymine. These bases form the inner

Swot Crayola Essay Example for Free

Swot Crayola Essay Crayola Manufacturing is a 120 year old company that makes safe, dependable art supplies for children. Because most consumers have never heard of Binney Smith, the Crayola maker changed its name in 2007 to reflect its brand name. Crayola has many different lines of products; as well as services, which vary from just crayons and markers. They produce 3 billion crayons a year, plus craft and character licensed activities. Crayola began as Binney Smith back in 1885 when Joseph Binney partnered with his son and nephew. Binney and Smith sold their first Crayola crayons in 1903, when a box of eight cost only a nickel. The small business began in New York and moved to Easton, Pennsylvania (where they remain today), producing the dustless chalk. In 1958 the Crayola 64-crayon box, which included 16 new colors and a built-in sharpener, made its debut on the Captain Kangaroo Show. This Crayola box became part of the collective history and experiences of generations of Americans, and a symbol of the color and fun of childhood. Crayola estimates that the average U. S. child wears down 730 crayons by age ten. And, in the same spirit, the Smithsonian Institutions National Museum of American History placed an actual 1958 Crayola 64-crayon box and an assortment of 20th century Crayola advertising in the permanent collection of the Division of Cultural History. The companys products are packaged in many languages and are sold worldwide. Safety in art materials was the main focus for Crayola resulting in non-toxic colors. Crayola also has a creative factory and offers services for creative minds to run free and party space availability with all of their branded products. In 1984 Hallmark purchased Crayola and has kept the company on top of their industry with products ranging on a wide scale from markers, pencils, chalk, watercolors to silly putty and even ornaments and die cast collectables. Strengths †¢ Crayola is a recognized and highly trusted brand name and logo. In fact, 98 out of every 100 Americans recognize it. Children age 2-10, their target market, love Crayola products and have selective demand for it. Children demand the products and then influence their parents to purchase them. The Crayola brand name is synonymous with high quality and high brand loyalty. They are a global company, with a wide spectrum of individuals who use Crayola products all over the world. †¢ Crayola has built up a highly successful distribution system. Their products are available everywhere, including grocery stores, drug stores, Internet sales, hospitals, doctors offices, schools, gas stations, airports, theme parks, hotels and restaurants. They sell retail and also in bulk to organizational buyers at a lower cost. Schools all over the US and in other countries like The UK, Canada, Australia, and Mexico all utilize Crayola art materials. Crayolas website is geared for children, parents, and educators. They provide free ideas for crafts and printable coloring pages. The website is used for booking, ordering, promotional information, marketing, and more. Crayola even provides advice on how to remove stains on their official website. †¢ Crayola is well-established due to their innovation (keeping the company out of saturation and decline). Crayola has been in service for many years and knows how to cater to the needs of the consumer. Crayola is constantly bui lding new products and the growth targets many individual needs. Crayola also developed art products that emphasized international diversity by launching Crayola My World multicultural crayons. The company hoped that by using crayons, markers, paints, and modeling compounds that reflected the variety of skin tones, children would build a positive sense of self as well as respect for cultural diversity. †¢ Crayolas price range is reflective of their core target market, middle and lower upper class Americans; and their products are priced competitively with their major competitor, Rose Art. The consumer feels that the price reflects the quality. Crayola uses all non-toxic, child-safe materials that are cost effective and efficient. They use a variety of colors with fun memorable names, which appeal to children and adults. Crayola is environmentally friendly as well. They have scented products for sensory skills. They have easy grip products for motor skills. †¢ They have licensing deals with major childrens characters, including all Disney characters, and Nickelodeon characters, which increases their appeal to children. †¢ The majority of their retail promotion consists of television commercials, magazine ads, and point of purchase  displays.  Their promotion impacts and targets children primarily and foremost, however, it is a pull strategy to create an influence purchase by the parents. In most large retail stores, Crayola has their own aisle! Weaknesses †¢ In addition to its Ink Tank line, Crayola serves the professional market with its Portfolio Series collection of color pencils, oil pastels, and acrylic paints. Because they are most well-known for childrens art products, they have yet to achieve high market share in this division, and most art professionals do not use Crayola products. Crayola launched an unsuccessful line of childrens clothing in the 1980s, and it was scaled back to include only newborn layette sets. In 2007 they launched a test market campaign for Crayola branded bottled water, which was also unsuccessful, as consumers were hesitant to buy it because they antic ipated that the water would actually taste like crayons. †¢ Also in the late 1980s sales began to decline due to increased competition and the company began to slip into saturation, they began a campaign to increase demand by urging parents to purchase a fresh box. †¢ Crayolas attempt to build a solar power plant was sidelined in 2008.  They intended the power plant be used to help run their manufacturing facility in Pennsylvania, however, they have run into problems finding partners to make it a reality. †¢ Crayola still ranks behind in sales and market share in their marker product line. In 2007, Sanford Sharpie had a 31% market share, with sales (at Wal-Mart) of $56 million, while Crayola had a 22% market share, with sales of $37 million (at Wal-Mart). Opportunities †¢ In 2009 they introduced two innovative lines of products for babies and toddlers; including products that allow babies to explore colors even before they can use a crayon.  The products for toddlers are large enough so that they can grasp them, an d even color in the bathtub, which allows for easy clean up, therefore appealing to the primary purchaser, parents. †¢ In July 2009 Crayola launched a school social media campaign on Twitter and Facebook. It is geared towards moms (their core purchaser) and features innovative ways to be creative and save money during back to school shopping. †¢ In the spring of 2009 they created a summer wellness campaign to encourage children to play outside more. Threats With the advent of computers and web based learning, sales of crayons are projected to decrease as children leave behind hand held art supplies at a younger and younger age. Its called KGOY-kids growing older younger, and many companies have suffered because of it, most recognizable is Mattel, the maker of Barbie dolls. In the 1990s the average age of a child in their target market was 10 years old, and in 2000 it dropped to 3 years old. As children reach the age of four and five, old enough to play on the computer, they become less interested in toys and crayons and begin to desire electronics such as cell phones and video games.   Crayola is slowly falling victim to the same phenomena, how will they innovate to overcome this? †¢ In the downturned economy, parents and schools are spending less on school supplies. A survey from Deloitte found that 64% of consumers said they would spend less on school purchases. Nationwide, parents plan to spend an average of $548 to send their children back to school; and estimates range from a decline of 7. 7%, forecast by the National Retail Federation, to as much as 12% in 2009, according to Americas Research Group.

International Economic Essay Example for Free

International Economic Essay Globalization process refers to the worldwide incorporation of economic, cultural, political as well as religious and social arrangements. There are other definitions with the IMF referring it as the growing economic interdependence of nations globally through improving quantity and range of inter-country trade, free international capital flows and extensive widespread of technological knowledge. Economically, it’s defined as the union of prices, products, wages as well as interest rates and margins to fit in the developed countries standards. Globalization has various advantages such as appearance of global production, markets as well as wider access to a variety of internationally produced goods for consumers and producers. Secondly, there is emergence of international economic markets and greater access to external funds for; local, national and other borrowers. Thirdly, it’s economically beneficial in that there is recognition of an international common market depending on the autonomous exchange of commodities between nations. Fourthly, there is a formation of world political government that maintains the relationship between nations and ensures the freedom arising from social and economic internationalization. In addition, there is a greater information flows between different countries hence enhancing communication, while encouraging intercultural contacts and adoption of other cultural ideas hence promoting the adoption of new technology and practices therefore encouraging unity and harmony. Finally, it encourages global cooperation which assists in solving environmental challenges such as water and air pollution, over fishing of the seas and climate change. Similarly, it encourages health competition between nations and industries hence ensuring efficiency and effectiveness in the production of commodities. This ensures that goods produced are of high quality and charged fairly. This ensures that consumers are not exploited by producers who may produce counterfeit goods and charge high prices. In the wake of internationalization, productivity is essential so as to meet the international demand for goods and services and remain competitive in the world market. At the same time, nations which experience economic growth are fairly placed and their commodities are highly demanded in the world market. It also ensures that can trade with others effectively and efficiently by meeting the required standards as they can afford the current technology and production techniques. Tariffs refers to a tax on foreign goods once they are imported i. e. immediately on arrival at the port, the custom officer examines the goods and imposes a levy as per the custom formula. There are various types of tariffs such as: an ad valorem tariff which is a percentage of the value of a commodity while specific tariff is charged on a commodity as per its weight, volume or surface, but not to its value. It shows many units of a currency are charged per amount or area. There is also a revenue tariff that refers to a group of levies imposed mainly to raise income for the government while protective tariff is mainly imposed to temporarily raise the prices of imports while protecting the local or domestic industries from foreign competition and dumping of unwanted commodities or imports. However, they raise the price of a commodity as per the imposed levy, hence exploiting the consumers of the good or manufacturers who utilize as a raw material, at the same time ii can lead to trade war when it doesn’t favor the imposing country. Trade blocks are formed to minimize or eliminate tariffs against trade with each other and impose protective tariffs on imports outside the block, while custom union has a common external tariff as per agreed strategy; the member countries divide the revenue from the tariff on commodities entering the union among themselves. Economic theories argue that tariffs are unnecessary disruption of consumers’ sovereignty and the rule of free market. They argue that it is unjust to the consumers and generally unfavorable for a nation to protect a non performing industry, it’s healthier to let it collapse and give way a new efficient one to grow in its position. Others claim that protective tariffs that assist in protecting infant industries permit them to develop and withstand competition in the international trade once they expand their size. Similarly, tariffs can be used as a political tool to define the boundaries of an independent country as absence of tariffs establishes a free market system with no borders. However, it has been argued that tariffs assist developing countries as they are easy to collect, and these countries lack institutional capability to efficiently raise revenue and sales taxes. Non tariff barriers to trade are ways to avoid free trade regulations such as those of European Union (EU), World trade organization (WTO) etc. hat restrict imposition of tariffs such as anti dumping regulations and counterfeit goods measures, which have similar results as tariffs though imposed in special conditions. Other non tariff barriers are in form of processing or production requirements of a commodity with an import ban imposed on those goods which do not meet the requirement or condition. Some trade barriers are openly allowed in very limited conditions, when reckoned important to safeguard health, safety, sanitation or depletable resources. Non tariff barriers to trade take many forms such as state subsidies that favor an individual or industry hence disadvantaging others subsidizing, therefore becoming more competitive in the market as well as national regulations on safety, health, employment and product classification which tend to discriminate some business while favoring others. Quotas are also form of barriers as an industry can’t produce more than the recommended quantity, hence regulating its production capacity and trade in general. imilarly, foreign exchange control and multiplicity forms a non trade barrier as countries or industries that do not access it cant participate in foreign trade easily, hence it acts as a form of trade barrier as well patents and copyright laws that give an individual or industry the ultimate powers to produce a commodity alone, therefore regulating trade. Others include bribery, corruption, unfair customs procedures, restrictive licenses, import bans and restrictive import regimes which act as an obstacle to trade.

Community Health Visit: Klinik Kesihatan

Community Health Visit: Klinik Kesihatan An Introduction to the Malaysian Healthcare System Most of us have been exposed to the Malaysian healthecare system one way another, be it, private clinics or government ones, even hospitals at times. The Malaysian healthcare system can be said to consist of a broad umbrella structure that encompasses the provision of healthcare to both urban, not to mentioni also, the rural regions of our beloved country. In general however, it can be classified under the public or private sector, which is very obvious in our country. The public sector which is backed financially by the government, constitutes a whopping 80% of the total health services in our country, the remaining 20%, needless to say, is provided by the private sector. The backbone, or in other words, basis of Malaysian Healthcare, is formed on the foundations of the complementary network of private and government clinics together with hospitals that are available to the public. Each state of our country have their respective General Hospitals located in the states capital. District hospitals will be present in most administrative districts. Health Centers (Klinik Kesihatan) will supplement these district hospitals. Under Health Centers, are the Rural Clinics (Klinik Desa). Comparing the healthcare system in Malaysia with other first world countries such as the United States of America and the United Kingdom, the healthcare system in Malaysia is heavily subsidized by our government, in the aforementioned first world countries, treatment costs can rocket sky high. Our government has made sure that the price the people pay for treatment from the public sector his reasonable and affordable to the majority of citizens. At least 5% of the national budget is allocated to healthcare system expenditures. Our government has listed the 8 elements of primary healthcare. To fulfill the 8 ELEMENTS, they provide these services as follows: Maternal and Child Healthcare Outpatient services Basic Dental Health Nutrition Environmental sanitation Essential drugs Control of Communicable Diseases Health Education Laboratory services Organization of Klinik Kesihatan Bukit Pelanduk Klinik Kesihatan Bukit Pelanduk is located in the state of Negeri Sembilan, Port Dickson to be even more specific. There are 12 villages in the Jimah District area, and this Klinik Kesihatan is located there. On the 29th of July 1986, operations begin to go on in this clinic and the clinic has served as major centre for the treatment and recovery of the Japanese Encephalities and Nipah virus infected patients. The vaccination for the deadly Nipah virus. There are subsidiary clinics such as Klinik Desa Chuah under the jurisdiction of Klinik Kesihatan Bukit Pelanduk that provides the medical services such as maternal and child healthcare services. Klinik Kesihatan Bukit Pelanduk is also located within the radius of 30 km from the Tuanku Jaafar Hospital and the Port Dickson Hospital in Negeri Sembilan Oganisation Chart Community nurse Public Health assistant U19 (6) U17 (1) Altogether there are 33 staff workers. Klinik Kesihatan Mantin is headed by an Administrative Doctor, who is directly responsible to the District Health Officer. Under the Administrative Doctor are two posts, which are the Assistant Medical Officer, and the Head Nurse. The Head Nurse is an authoritative figure, there are 7 components of the staff directly under her, which are the Assistant Pharmaceutical officer Medical Lab Technician, Assistant Medical officer, Senior Community nurse, Public Health nurse, Health nurse, and the Trained nurse. Under the Senior Community nurse would be the Community nurse, and the Public Health assistant. Components of Health Services. The Klinik Kesihatan Bukit Pelandok has 6 main departments which are the Outpatient, Maternal and Child Health, Pharmacy, Laboratory, Dental Health, and Emergency Department. The outpatient department is by far the biggest service rendered to the public and can be broken down in the diagram below The outpatient department consists of the diabetic, hypertension, mental health, healthy teen and out patient clinic. The out patient procedures of obtaining medical services is shown in the diagram on the left. The outpatient department in other words, functions as the primary healthcare clinic. It is headed by an Administrator doctor( Medical Office). The out patient clinic sees an estimated 100 patients every single day. And the head nurse and assistant medical officers will do their utmost best to carry out their respective responsibilities to assist the Administrator doctor in any duties relevant to them. The Maternal and Child Health Clinic is headed together by the administrator doctor and the head nurse. This helps in reducing the workload of the administrator doctor. The head nurse together with the staff under her will such as community nurses, will conduct frequent home visits and provide antenatal check-ups for pregnant women within that area. Diagram on the left shows a brief summary of Maternal and Child Health services. The Laboratory Department, which is headed by a medical lab technician. The medical laboratory is not as well equipped as those major hospitals, hence the Laboratory Department of Klinik Kesihatan will collaborate with the Laboratory Department of the Tuanku JaafarHospital such as urine protein tests, thyroid function tests, lipid profile and renal function tests. Diagram on left shows a brief summary of services provided by the Laboratory Department of Bukit Pelandok. Another important component of Klinik Kesihatan Bukit Pelandok. After consulting the medical officers, patients who are eligible for prescriptions, will have their medication prescriptions handed to the assistant pharmaceutical officer, who will then supply the patients and inform them of the usage of the medication. Klinik Kesihatan Bukit Pelandok also has a dental department, the dental functions under the same operational hours of the clinic. Tooth extraction, filling, scaling, whitening are provided services. Major oral surgeries however would be referred to the Tuanku Jaafar and Port Dickson hospitals. Last but not least, there is also an Emergency Department, this department is equipped to handle minor emergencies, it also has an ambulance and paramedics. The bar chart on the left shows the ethnicity of the total number of patients in 2010. Services Provided by Klinik Kesihatan Bukit Pelandok. I have already stated the various departments of Klinik Kesihatan Bukit Pelandok in the Components of Health Services provided section. The departments of this clinic provides a wide range of treatment modalities, hence allowing the clinic to ensure that patients enjoy effective treatment. The outpatient department is the most busy of all the departments. The purposes of the outpatient department are to provide immediate treatment to patients who are acutely or chronically sick, and also to act as a control for the clinic against infective disease such as Tuberculosis. Klinik Kesihatan Bukit Pelandok also provides the Tuberculosis Direct Observed Therapy Short-course treatment. Moving on to the Maternal and Child Health care department, the clinic mainly focuses on prenatal, antenatal, not to forget postnatal care of both the mother and foetus. There is a target to be achieved, which is the target of zero maternal deaths. They are accomplishing this target in a certain number of ways which include immediate diagnosis and treatment of pre-eclampsia, immunization of the mother and frequent antenatal check-ups up until the estimated delivery date. There are also activities scheduled by the department for disabled children on a case by case basis. For the Laboratory Department, their main role is to enable the clinician in conducting relevant laboratory studies that will help in the diagnosis and management of the disease. The Laboratory Department allows the clinic to receive results much faster compared to the time it takes to receive results from a nearby hospital. Some common tests conducted by this department are as follows: Blood tests for HbA1c, lipid profile, platelet count, ESR Light microscopy on blood smears to detect blood disorders such as anemia, or parasites in the blood smears. Urinalysis for toxins, glycosuria, urea and red blood cell casts. Pregnancy test Other more intricate and complicated tests such as FTA-Abs for treponema pallidum, would require samples to be obtained and sent to the Tuanku Jaafar or Port Dickson General Hospital for processing. The pharmacy is responsible for dispensing medication in safe and legal amounts to patients, and to advise patients on practicing compliance in taking their medications. Patients will also be counseled on the side effects and contraindications of the drugs. Reflections From observing the complex structure of roles and responsibilities held by the different components and departments of Klinik Kesihatan Bukit Pelandok, it brings to light the vast value of this particular clinic in the provision and primary healthcare of the residents in Bukit Pelandok. Many of the patients who visit this clinic are of the Malay ethnicity, I for particular, am one who is not fluent in Bahasa Melayu compared to the English language. I learnt that this could be a barrier in communicating with patients who can only speak the Malay language. I have decided that I will brush up my Bahasa Melayu, and master a few of the colloquial terms so that next time I would be able to communicate even better in the Malay language. This clinic visit has taught me that every component of the staff has a part to play, and has managed to teach me invaluable lessons of becoming a team player. Section II: Household Survey Introduction Bukit Pelanduk is most famous for the Nipah outbreak. Prior to the outbreak, during the 90s, it contain the largest pig farming communities in Southeast Asia. In between October 1998 and May 1999, that was the darkest time in Bukit Pelanduk recent history, there were approximately 104 deaths out of 258 cases of Nipah infected patients. Towards the Chinese new year in the middle of March 1999, a pig breeder from Sungai Nipah, which is located south of seremban, died suddenly triggering massive panic. Nearly half the population of the village migrated elsewhere out of fear towards the killer disease. The virus spread like a raging wildfire out of control causing many pig farmers not to mention villagers to abandon their farms and homes in panic. By March 1999, Bukit Pelanduk had become something like a ghost town due to the mass exodus. The ministry of health then decided to raise the level of this epidemic to the level of national crisis. A Cabinet-level task force was set up, and then headed by the then Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. What was confusing was that at that time, the government adamantly insisted that it was right in tagging the disease as Japanese Encephalities, however both farmers and scientists opposed this theory and suspected that it was a different strain or virus altogether. The virus then spread to Kampung Sawah, Kampung India and even Sepang. Farmers consulted temple mediums, and promptly put up red banners at the mediums advice in and around their houses to ward off the angel of death. After months of futility in treating the outbreak as Japanese Encephalitis, the government finally decided to call in the Department of Medical Micribiology of University of Malaysas medical faculty for assistance in dealing with this disease. Dr Chua Kaw Bing was the doctor who managed to isolate the virus in five days. 12 days later, it was identified as a new Hendra-like virus and tagged as Nipah. Over one million pigs, or half our contrys pig population at that time, were culled. Around 36000 ppl suffered unemployment due to the destruction of farms. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, it is estimated close to RM 500 million of pig production was lost. Today, pig farming is no longer allowed legally in Bukit Pelanduk. Since the outbreak, the young had drifted elsewhere in search of a living. Only the old remain, to live out their days. Objectives The objectives of the study are To describe the social demographic of community To identify vectors and pests To comprehend health seeking behaviour To determine the housing conditions To understand food, nutrition and health awareness To determine working environment And to determine the knowledge, attitude and practices on dengue among the community. Methodology (Methods and Materials) The household group consisting of 15 members. We met up before going to Bukit Pelandok in IMU to discuss our strategies and to plan ahead before the Bukit Pelandok visit. Household questions and objectives for the Bukit Pelandok visit was meticulously discussed and great care was poured into the formation of our questionnaire. The questionnaire was in the English language and pretested to make sure no discrepancies arose when certain terms were used. After countless hours of discussion we finally agreed on a descriptive cross-sectional study upon the target population which were the residents of Bukit Pelandok. Due to obvious time constraints, not to mention logistical ones, the art of the convenience sampling technique was called to the fore with households being identified as the basic unit of due analysis. The survey was conducted over 2 working days around the 7 housing areas within a five kilometer radius which are as follows Kampung Sawah Kampung Pachitan Kampung Jawa Kampung Cina Kampung India   Rumah Rakyat Taman Bayan Most of us were well conversant in English as well as the Malay language, and we were able to translate all of the questions confidently into Mandarin as well. As names and specific home addresses were not included as part and parcel of the questionnaire, we managed to obtain consent of participants as well as guaranteeing their anonymity and confidentiality of their responses in the survey. To display the results in an attractive and efficient manner, descriptive statistics were employed in the formulation of the results which would be put under the results chapter. Formulation of results in this survey was done with the SPSS 18 program together with the dedication of the data entry and analysis team. The following is a brief summary of the study: Study location: Bukit Pelandok, Negeri Sembilan Study period: 17-18 February 2011. Total population of Port Dickson: 90 000 people Target population: Community in the 7 areas mentioned above. Sampling technique: Convenience sampling technique Sample size: 234 Basic unit of analysis: Household Study design: Descriptive cross sectional study Study instruments: Pre-coded and pretested questionnaires in the English language via face to face verbal interviews. Data entry and analysis: SPSS 18 Operational definitions Results Table 2.2 above shows the literacy level of respondents. For the male population, 50 out of 79 males ,63.29 % are literate whereas for the female population, 108 out of 155, 69.68% are literate. Women have a higher literacy level than men it appears. Figure 2.3 Figure 2.3 shows that the most common occupation of respondents are housewives, 108 out of 234, or 46.15%. the second most common occupation is the skilled manual/clerical which stands at 38 respondents, or 16.24%. Only 5 of the respondents were students, representing only a meager 2.14%. Figure 2.4 Figure 2.4 shows that the most of the respondents have a monthly household income of around RM 1000-RM1999 which was 84 out of 234, 35.90%. There were 11 respondents, 4.70% who were of the highest income bracket (>RM 5000) Figure 2.5 Figure 2.5 above shows that majority houses in Bukit Pelandok are of the detached type, 65.81%. Figure 2.6 Figure 2.6 shows that 53.2% of houses are made out of brick whereas 39.5% and 7.3% are made out of brick and wood, and wood respectively. Table 2.3 : The Housing Characteristics of Respondents in Bukit Pelandok (n = 234) Table 2.3 shows that 97.9% of the houses have 24 hour availability of electricity whereas 98.7 % have availability of piped water supply. Garbage collection facility was low as only 46.2% of the houses had that facility. Availability of a proper sewage system was high too at 85.9%. 231 out of 234 respondents did know where the nearest health clinic was, a 98.7% majority of them. 219, 93.7% of them claim they will seek medical assistance if sick. 70.5% would choose the government clinic for medical assistance whereas 26.9% will go to seek medical assistance from a private clinic. Discussion From Figure 2.3, the bar chart shows that a huge number of respondents are housewives. This is because the time we carried out the survey was during office working hours. Hence most respondents who were the most likely to be at home during this period of time tend to be housewives. From Table 2.3 more than half of respondents claim that they do not enjoy proper garbage collection privileges. When we asked more about garbage disposal practices in that area, we found out that about once a week, rubbish is brought to a place designated by the village chief (ketua kampung). There the rubbish is either burnt or buried. If villagers feel that this is a complicated process, they would burn or bury their own rubbish in their own backyards. From Figure 2.4, the majority of respondents household income can be appreciated to be below the RM 2000 mark. Most of the residents of this area belong to the skilled/ unskilled manual field of profession as stated in the operational definitions, hence their income is lower. Limitations While conducting the study, the survey team realized that we ran into several limitations. That was inevitable. And we will list it down below. The first limitation encountered by our team was the coverage in the area of our study. A limited area makes it difficult for any study to be effectively correlated and to allow for generalizations to be made. Certain questions in the survey were not specific for respondents such as the awareness of job related risks. If the head of household is not there to answer the questionnaire, the respondent might not be able to give a very accurate answer. Therefore certain conclusions about the population of Bukit Pelandok could not be accurately derived. There were variations between the way interviewers would ask the questions. Hence there might be a slight discrepancy between explanations of questions and answers from one interviewer to another. This means that the standardized understanding of questions by respondents would have been slightly affected. The reliability of the information provided by the respondents is very hard to verify also. We depend on truthful answers and had no concrete way to validate whatever the respondent answered. There were instances also where non responses were encountered. During the survey there were also noticeable language barriers between interviewers and respondents. There was an instance where an Indian lady could only communicate well in Mandarin, hence the Malay interviewers would have had a real difficult time if not for his Mandarin-speaking partner. Conclusion Bukit Pelandok is an area where the residents put more faith in western medicine and most of them will seek medical treatment and advice from the Government Health Clinic. Local authorities need to beef up their services and improve garbage collection facilities among this area to prevent air pollution which results from open burning. Reflections I feel that this project has taught me some very important lessons and even practical skills, for example, in the entering and formulation of graphs and tables by the SPSS 18 program. This will help me in my future career as a medical doctor in the world of medical presenting, teaching and learning. This project also gave me an experience of conducting a household survey together with my batch mates, we learnt how to delegate and carry out our respective responsibilities as a team. We also managed to learn from our mentors on how to facilitate this type of household survey research. Section III-Research Report Abstract The objectives of this research survey conducted were to investigate the social status of the community and the knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) on dengue among rural communities in Bukit Pelandok, Negeri Sembilan. Convenient sampling was used as time was a major limiting factor. 234 and 250 people participated in the household and research survey respectively. Participants age were 18 years old and above, had the ability to converse and communicate in the Malay, English, and Mandarin language, resided permanently in the area, and holding a Malaysian citizenship. In our survey, we used a pretested, precoded, and well structured questionnaire in the English language for data collection via a face to face interview with participants. Introduction According to the WHO, the Dengue virus is transmitted through infected Aedes mosquitos with any single one of four dengue viruses when it bites a human being. This virus is more prevalent in the tropical and sub-tropical areas on Earth. After an infective bite, symptoms start presenting within the next 3-14 days. As the name dengue fever implies, it is a febrile illness that affects humans in all stages of life be it infants, young children or adults. The symptoms present with a wide range from a mild fever, to an immobilizing high fever, which is usually accompanied by severe headaches, muscle, joint pain and the occasional bout of rashes. Up to the present day, sadly, there are still no specific antiviral medicines to battle dengue. Hydration is of utmost importance when managing a patient with dengue fever. Aspirin or non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are not recommended for the treatment of dengue fever. The most widely feared complication is the dengue haemorrhagic fever which is accompanied with fever, abdominal pain, bleeding and vomiting. It is potentially lethal and usually this complication affects children. Prompt clinical diagnosis and meticulous clinical management by experienced doctors and nurses usually increase the rate of survival of patients. Over the past decade, dengue has emerged as one of the most common mosquito-borne viral disease among humans. On a global scale, an estimated 2.5 billion people reside in areas where the dengue viruse can be easily transmitted. From a geographical point of view, the spread of both the vectors (Aedes mosquito) and the dengue viruses has led to a resurgence globally of an epidemic dengue fever. Together with this epidemic, there is emergence of the dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) in the past quarter of the century. The main vector of dengue is the Aedes aegypti ¼Ã…’ there are four different but related viruses that cause dengue. The recovery from infection by one type will provide lifelong immunity only against that particular serotype. In other words, it means a human being can be infected by another serotype of dengue virus for a subsequent time. Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever was first identified during the 1950s in the Philippines and Thailand when those two countries experienced dengue epidemics. Around 1970, about nine countries had witnessed the DHF epidemic and continues to rise in our present day. All four dengue viruses are endemic in the Americas and Asia and has become one of the leading causes of hospitalization and mortalities among children in a few of their countries. Until now, vector control is the most widely used method for the dengue and DHF prevention. Broad research on dengue vaccines are still being conducted. Literature Review. A number of literature reviews provided me with a very handy guide to the socio-demography and KAP regarding dengue among the community of Bukit Pelandok, Negeri Sembilan. Since i had limited time to conduct the research, the literature reviews gave me an overview and acted as a stepping stone to getting the research report together. Even for professionals, literature reviews are useful reports that keep them updated about what is current in their field. 4 journals from the internet and online journal communities were reviewed before writing this report. This included studies on KAP among the adult population in Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar. The quality of the journals was merely acceptable as most of them used convenience sampling. Only one journal used a cross sectional multistage sampling, this was the journal regarding Dengue-related Knowledge among Caregivers in Myanmar. From these journals, the group conducting the research managed to fine tune the questions in the questionnaire that was used so that the answers would be helpful and informative. According to the journal by Dr Farizah Hairi, out of all of the 200 respondents surveyed in Kuala Kangsar, only one had never heard of dengue. And the main source of information came from the television or radio. 88.5 % of the of the respondents thought that the cause of dengue was mosquitoes whereas only 2.5% knew it was the dengue virus to be exact. Out of these 200 respondents, only 91 could name Aedes as the type of mosquito that could transmit the dengue virus. The knowledge on the Aedes mosquito was quite poor. Only 25 percent of the respondents were able to mention that covering the stored water as a prevention method. The good news was that 192 (96%) of the respondents understood that presence of Aedes larvae in their residence was against the law. The practice of dengue control , the most common forms of prevention were using mosquito coils together with insecticides. Majority of respondents (96%) did consider the dengue virus as a very serious disease. All of the 200 respondents stated that they would seek treatment if they were infected with dengue. Out of the 200, 192 which is a large proportion felt that prevention was better than cure. 90.5% of the respondents support programmes or activities which are organized by the health authorities targeted at the elimination of Aedes mosquitoes. 91% of respondents too felt it was justified to punish those guilty of harbouring Aedes larvae in their residence. Based on the type of scoring system used which was described in the methodology of that particular journal, 68.5% of respondents possessed good knowledge of dengue and Aedes, whereas 91.5% had a positive attitude towards dengue control. What was disappointing was that only 51.5% of respondents actually adopted measures to prevent and control dengue and its vector. Research Question The following is the main research question that all the questions in the questionnaire are helping to answer. What is the current level of knowledge, attitudes practices for prevention of the Dengue virus among the semi-urban community? Objectives General objective To assess the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice on Dengue among the Bukit Pelanduk community. Specific Objectives: To determine the level of knowledge of the local communities on Dengue To appraise the attitude of the local communities towards Dengue To describe the practices taken by the local community to prevent Dengue infection Methodology For the KAP of dengue research survey, we used a cross-sectional study in Bukit Pelandok. Type of sampling used was convenience sampling. The sample size of the study was targeted at 250, we managed to hit that mark. A pre-tested and well structured questionnaire on KAP of Dengue was used. The household survey was carried out within the range of a 5 km radius around the Bukit Pelanduk Health Clinic which included -Kampung Chuah -Kampung Sawah -Kampung Pachitan -Kampung Cina -Rumah Rakyat -Taman Bayan From the 14th to the 16th of February 2011, we did some brainstorming to finalise the topic and questions. After that we sent the questionnaires for printing. 2 members of the group were sent to Bukit Pelandok to check out the area before the day we went to conduct the research. We then had to divide determine the criteria of interviewees which would be fit for selection to answer the questionnaires. The criteria the interviewees must fulfil is that they be above 18 years old, a resident of that household, and a Malaysian citizen. Our questionnaire had 4 main components which included socio-demographics, knowledge, attitude and practices. The medium used to conduct the interview were the Malay, English, and Mandarin language. On the 17th to 18th of February 2011, we proceeded to the execution of the research study. We divided the research group into 13 pairs. On the 1st day, we covered areas within walking distance, which was as far as up to Kampung Cina and Kampung Sawah. The 2nd day , we were dropped off by group members who had cars and managed to cover further areas as far as up to Taman Bayan and Chuah. As like the previous household survey, there was a key emphasis placed on obtaining consent from respondents of the survey as well as maintaining their anonymity and confidentiality of any of their responses to the survey. The descriptive statistics program, SPSS 18, was employed in the formulation of the results of the survey. The SPSS 18 greatly helped in data entry together with analysis. A P-value of less than 0.05 was used to prove the validity of the collected data unless otherwise stated. The scoring system used is as follows. Knowledge 10 vital questions à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¥ 7 correct GOOD knowledge Attitude 6 vital questions à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¥ 4 Yes GOOD attitude Practice 7 vital questions à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¥ 4 Yes GOOD practice There were some protocols that we followed to reduce bias or error while conducting the interview. We did our best to avoid suggestive questions, and the questionnaire was pretested among our own group members. There was a briefing held to convey the standardization of questioning. House allocations were done to prevent overlap and we tried our best to extensive coverage of Bukit Pelandok. Our group also double checked the SPSS data after input. Results Socio Demographic data Gender Figure 3.1 shows the gender of respondents .60.4% and 39.6% were female and male respectively out of 250 respondents. Age group Figure 3.2 shows the age group of the respondents, a majority, 40.4% were middle aged. Ethinicity Figure 3.3 shows the Malay ethnicity is 59.6%, the majority. Figure 3.4 shows the educa Literature Review: Methods Of Virus Protection Literature Review: Methods Of Virus Protection Computer viruses are most critical area in computer science. All computer users in the world are suffering from this threat. Viruses reproduce themselves and spread through computer to computer as well as network to network. There are some antivirus software and some best practices to prevent from computer viruses. As well as this literature review contains the present situation of computer viruses, protection from computer viruses and how new antivirus software performs on computer viruses. end{abstract} section{Introduction} The only secure computer is one thats unplugged, locked in a safe and buried 20 feet under the ground in a secret locationÃÆ' ¯Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½ Dennis Huges, FBI begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} The above statement shows the current security situation of computers and the role computer viruses play in computer world. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} Computer virus is a program that can execute itself with the help of another infected executable program without knowledge of computer user and infect to computer. Viruses usually copy itself in current host and another new host also. So generally viruses are infecting to executable files. Some kinds of viruses only reproduce itself within the current host and from the current host to another host and spread in the host. Those are harmless than viruses that damage to the computer program, activities and data in the computer. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} But there are some other malicious software other than the viruses. Those are called malware. These malicious software can spread without help of executable program. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} Computer viruses are also computer programs. So anyone who has a personal computer can create a virus program with few lines of codes. This means birth places of viruses are widely available. Also a virus is activated in host computer; the infection can spread through network (LAN or Internet) to other computers. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} Virus attaches itself to other program and spreads with them. Most of the time virus attaches to executable program, when the infected executable program is running then virus is also executing behind that process. Also computer viruses can infiltrate to operating system. So all operating systems like MS Windows, PC Dos, Unix and Macintosh OS have probability to infect with viruses. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} Some viruses do some destruction as soon as they enter a system. But some of others are programmed to lie dormant until activate by some signal. The signal may be mouse click, specific date, time or specific common sequence of keystrokes. As an example the famous Michelangelo virus, it is set to activate his birthday March 6. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} Protecting the computers from the malicious software is the most challenging thing. But there are many ways to protect the computers from computer viruses. Although there are lots of methods to protect the computers from viruses, the computer users also have a responsibility to protect the computers from computer viruses. From the next section of review is considered about different types of Malware. cite{1} newpage section{Different types of Malware} There are different types of Malware spread in computer world. But it can mainly identified as follow. begin{itemize} item Viruses item Worms item Trojan Horses item Logic Bomb end{itemize} begin{figure}[h] par includegraphics[bb =0 0 100 325 ]{virus.png} caption{Malware Growth by Year} cite{10} par end{figure} newpage subsection{Viruses} Virus is block of executable code that is attached itself to another executable program by attaching external code, overwriting or replacing of the executable program code. When the computer user execute the infected program the automatically activate virus also by executing the hide block of code. This is the way how virus is infected to computer without knowing of user. But viruses get help from computer user to propagate in his machine. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} There are several types of viruses; they are categorized into various categories according to the way how they infect to system and what part of system is. Figure1 shows how Malware growth with year. It clearly show increase of Malware in year by year. cite{1,5} begin{itemize} item Boot sector viruses item Macro viruses item File infecting viruses item Polymorphic viruses item Stealth viruses item Multi-partite viruses item Resident viruses item Companion viruses item FAT viruses end{itemize} subsubsection{Boot sector viruses} Boot sector viruses are infected to the boot sector of computer otherwise master boot record of computer. Boot sector viruses are very difficult to detect because the master boot sector is the first thing loaded when computer started. So if this virus effect to computer, the virus get fully control of the machine. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} When boot sector virus infect to computer, they first move or replace the original boot code with infected boot code. Then the original boot code move to another sector of on disk and labeled that part as bad sector. So it will not use in future. The important thing is 75 per cent of viruses attacks are reported from boot sector viruses. The main and only way computer can infected with this virus is boot computer using infected disk. So some modern anti-virus software is designed to check infected disk, when boot using disk and before boot strap is loaded.cite{1,2} subsubsection{Macro viruses} In computing macro virus is virus that is crated using macro language. Macro language built into software such as word processor. So macro viruses propagate with applications which are used macros. In most of the time macro viruses infected with MS Office Word, MS Office Excel. However many of windows applications have to potential infected macro viruses too. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} Because some applications allow macro program to be embedded in documents. So when the document is opening the macro run automatically. Also macro viruses spread rapidly because of peoples share data, documents and also use internet to get data and email document. Therefore Microsoft suggests opening file without macros or user can verify there is no damage macro with the document. But these methods are also not worked at all macro viruses.cite{2,3} subsubsection{File infecting viruses } File infecting viruses are infected to flies, and sometime they are allocated memory of computer. Files infecting viruses are infected with executable files, but most of the time it infect to executable files with extensions .COM, .EXE and .OVL. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} Consider with boot sector viruses these are easy to detect. If the file infecting virus infects to some document, usually it increases the size of the file. Therefore Anti-virus software can detect those viruses using that feature.cite{1} subsubsection{Polymorphic viruses} Polymorphic viruses are change there appearance in each time when it infect to computer. So it is very difficult to detect theses type of viruses. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} Polymorphic viruses also block of programming code, so they are encrypting there code using different algorithms every time they attack to system. Some polymorphic viruses can assume over two billion different guises. Therefore anti-virus software should make with good algorithmic scanning techniques instead of simple string based scanning techniques.cite{1,4} subsubsection{Stealth viruses} Stealth virus is a virus that hides its track after infecting to system. These types of viruses also try to hide from operating system and Anti-virus software. Therefore stealth viruses always stay in memory then they can intercept all attempts to use the operating system. Therefore these viruses waste memory available for user and hide it form both user and Anti-virus software. It hides changes it creates to files, directory structure and operating system also. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} When detected theses type of viruses using Anti-viruses software, then first it should disable the virus before correct the memory location in memory because stealth viruses also stay in memory.cite{1,6} subsubsection{Multi-partite viruses} Multi-partite viruses infect both boot sector and executable program. Therefore this type of virus very difficulty detected.cite{1} subsubsection{Resident viruses} Permanent viruses reside in the RAM.cite{7} subsubsection{Companion viruses} These are working like resident viruses or direct action viruses. subsubsection{FAT viruses} These infect to the file allocation table. subsection{Worms} Worms is a self-replicating computer malware type. It spread copy of itself to other host using computer network. Worms different than viruses how the reproduce and spread. It was known viruses want host program or boot sector to activate it need file transfer (infected file) to another computer to spread to it. But worms did not want any host files to execute and they can execute independently and spread using network. Therefore they normally find addresses to propagate and they pick addresses in three ways, begin{itemize} item Randomly generate addresses item Find addresses in system tables item Find addresses in a program end{itemize} begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} The threat of worms is equivalent to that of viruses. Computer worms can damage and destroyed some important files and it can crash critical programs to stop working sometime. The very prominent examples of worms are the MS-Blaster and Sasser worms.cite{1,2,8} subsection{Trojan horses} Trojan horses are distractive programs that hide in some valuable and useful software in internet. Some time worms and viruses hide within Trojan horses. The different between virus an Trojan hours is Trojan did not spread itself. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} Normally Trojan hours spread into two parts those are client side and server side. When the client Trojan executes in computer the server the attacker otherwise server can get high level control of the client computer. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} The Trojan hours spread in several ways, most of the time with infected e-mail attachment. Also virus developers use some chat program like Yahoo messenger, Skype to spread these Trojans. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} Commonly there are several types of Trojan horses like remote access Trojan, password sending Trojan, key loggers, destructive Trojan, FTP Trojan and proxy Trojan.cite{1,9} subsection{Logic bomb} The logic bomb virus is a piece of code that are inputted into a software system. When a certain and specific condition is met, such as clicking on an internet browser or opening a particular file, the logic bomb virus is set off. Many programmers set the malicious virus off during days such as April Fools Day or Friday the 13th. When the virus is activated, then various activities will take place. For example, files are permanently deleted.cite{1,10} newpage section{How viruses spread} Virus is one kind of malicious software which does some kind of harm to the activities of the computer. They always need a host program or any executable program to be executed its code. As viruses cannot execute its code by itself, the virus has to get the help of another file. Because of this reason, the viruses can effect only to several kinds of files such as html files with JavaScript, word documents and spread sheets. As the files with the extension .gif, .jpg,.wav,.mp3 files considered as pure data files, a virus cannot do a harm to these files. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} What the viruses do to spread is copying its code to another executable file. Then when that executable file is executed by another person the code of the virus is also executing and it then starts to search for files it can reside in the same computer or in the other computer which has been connected to the computer. Then the newly attacked programs are also trying to search for files which it can attack. If the infected file sends to another computer by a removable media, the computer virus infects to that computer too. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} There are number of ways which a virus can enter into a computer. Most of the time viruses are spreading through the internet. As creation of viruses is rapidly increasing and internet is everywhere available, spread of the computer viruses has increase more and more. Computer viruses are coming to the computer with e-mails in e-mail attachments. When the user opens the e-mail, the computer virus enters into the computer and grows in the computer. Another way of entering a virus into a users computer is by downloading something from some web sites. Through floppy disks or another removable media, it is possible for a virus to enter into a computer.cite{1} section{What the computer viruses and other malicious software can and cannot do} begin{itemize} item Use disk space by the computer viruses in vain. item Delete or modify the content of the infected files. item Interrupt to some operations of the infected computer. item Display some messages or images. item Decrease the performance of the computer. item Block the computer networks. item Do not do any harm to the hardware components that are connected to the computer. end{itemize} section{Protection from computer viruses} Once a computer infects with some computer viruses, the computer users cannot identify whether a computer virus has entered into the computer or computer system as some computer viruses are in idle mode for some period of time. The computer users can know that a computer virus has entered into the computer only by looking at the evidence of the destruction they have done. So the computer users must always consider about the safety of their computer before a virus do some destruction to the computer. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} As most of the computer users are now aware of the computer viruses, they specially pay their attention to limit the chance for a computer virus to enter into their computer. By just installing an anti virus software the users cannot give the responsibility of protecting the computer from computer viruses only to the anti virus software programs. The computer users also have the responsibility of protecting the computer from computer viruses. Although most of the computer users trust and use an anti virus software to protect their computers from computer viruses, there are best practices which should be followed by the computer users. begin{itemize} item When downloading software or any other thing from web sites the users should always be careful to download them from reliable web sites. item As viruses can come with e-mail attachments when the computer user checks the e-mails, messages from unknown contacts should not be opened. item If the user is logging into the computer with admin privileges, the chance to be infected by some computer viruses or malware is greater than the user log into the computer with user privileges. As some viruses cannot enter into the computer when the user logged as a user, log into the computer with user privileges is safer. item Restrict the other users from write privilege is another option. item Put passwords that cannot be easily guessed by another person. item Backup data. item Use only trusted software. end{itemize} begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} How much the company or person has to pay for an anti virus software, today most of the computer users are used to get the service of an anti virus software as the data are worth than the amount they pay to protect their computer or computer system. So installing an anti virus software program has become the most popular and reliable method of protecting from computer viruses. cite{14} newpage subsection{Computer virus protection with anti virus software programs} As computer viruses are available everywhere in the world, the better way to protect the systems is installing an anti virus software in them. Because of that reason, there are lots of anti virus software providers to provide their services to the customers. Various anti virus software providers are providing their service to the customers in various ways. They are client pull method, provider push with consent method, subscription method and care taking method. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} Client pull method After a request from the client or customer for the service of an anti virus software, the service provider provides their service to the client. In this method as its name said, client should take the initiative to get the service. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} Provider push with consent method The service providers sends email notification about their product and then the customers download the anti virus software and install it on the computer. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} Subscription method The client agree to an agreement with the service provider. In this method when the vendor updates the anti virus software, the updates will automatically downloaded into the customers computer. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} Care taking method In this method none of the individual computer user should not do anything to protect the computer from viruses. The service provider provides the service as a whole. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} The mechanisms used by various kinds of anti virus programs to detect a computer virus is not able to catch all the viruses or not able to not to catch the non virus things. Traditional anti virus software used two methods to detect a computer virus.cite{15,16} subsubsection{String matching technique} Some anti virus providers stored the codes of the computer viruses in a virus dictionary and when performing a scan, the anti virus software searches the scanning file for a piece of code from the virus dictionary. If a matching character is met, then the anti virus software detects that file as a suspicious file and alerts the user saying there is a suspicious file in the computer. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} But if a virus creator creates and release a new computer virus, as the code of that virus is not available in the virus dictionary, the anti virus program is not able to detect that virus. So the anti virus software which use this technique cannot guarantee that all the computer viruses can be detected by itself.cite{17} subsubsection{Detecting a virus by monitoring the behavior of the program} The anti virus programs which use this technique is monitoring the behavior of the scanned program and if there is an unusual behavior, the anti virus program detect it as an infected program and report it to the user. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} But if the anti virus software detect a non infected program as an infected program and after reporting it to the user if the user deletes it from the computer, a problem arise. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} Although the anti virus software can be trusted, there are some fake anti virus software which do not provide a protection against computer viruses. They have created only with the objective of earning money from the computer users by intruding them. Because of this reason, the computer users also have the ability to download and install only the trusted anti virus software.cite{17} subsection{Antivirus software rating} The latest antivirus software rates in the world.cite{11} begin{itemize} item BitDefender Antivirus 2010 This provides a great security, simple usability, effective use of resources, and a valuable pricetag and provides up to date technologies to combat viruses and other malware.Active virus control is the latest technology they are looking for to give a great security by always observing the behavior of a file. cite{19} item Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010 All around protection from number of threats like viruses, Trojans, bots, worms, and spyware. This is more easy to use as it has created with user friendly navigations. cite{20} item Webroot AntiVirus with SpySweeper 2010 A comprehensive desktop anti virus package which is used a multi-layered approach.Webroot AntiVirus with Spy Sweeper also features proactive technology to find malware before it does any harm to the computer. cite{21} item Norton AntiVirus 2010 Great protection level against malware but a problem arises when uninstalling the software as its partial ninstallation. This uses traditional signature based detection mechanism to detect malware. cite{22} item ESET Nod32 Antivirus 4 Kind of desktop anti virus software. But this doesnt provide a complete security and misses some protection. This is not in the competition with other anti virus software. cite{23} item AVG Anti-Virus 9 Includes antivirus and antispyware protection. provides complette protection from harmful downloads and web cites. cite{24} item F-Secure Anti-Virus 2010 Great desktop anti virus. Has one of the most effective scan procedure and test results are shown to prove that. When installing this anti virus software, it has been automatically configured to remove the other anti virus software installed to the computer. cite{25} item G DATA AntiVirus 2011 Uses two distinct antivirus scanning engines, behavioral/heuristic protection, and even self-learning fingerprinting.This provides protection against malware spreading via emails and IM. The types of malware which are detected by this anti virus software are,phishing scams, dialers, adware, malicious scripts, Trojans, rootkits and worms. cite{26} item Avira AntiVir Premium item Trend Micro AntiVirus + AntiSpyware end{itemize} section{Cryptography and viruses} Cryptography is technique use to safe some data from other unauthorized people. Most of the time this is used when transfers data from computer to another one. But the problem is virus programmers also use this technique to their viruses. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} In cryptography there are different kind of cryptography methods available but most of the time the programmer who create viruses use symmetric single key cryptography. Actually what happen in cryptography is data encrypt using key and send that encrypted data to recipient then recipient decrypt and get original data using the key. This method is so safe because the encrypted data can not anyone understand. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} Normally anti-virus program detect virus using the code of the virus. If there any virus with encrypted code then anti virus software can not identify those viruses. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} Virus creators using cryptography, they encrypt the code of the virus. So some viruses change their aspects moment to moment and system to system but the key is same but is encrypted with virus code. So the virus is safe from anti-virus software, till the code is encrypted. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} But some cryptography viruses keep their key in separate places instead of keep with the same file. So good anti virus software can detect the places which keys are stored. Then it can decrypt the virus code and delete it. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} Therefore computer system is protected some operating system developers keep the system fies as encrypted. So even though, there are some advantages and the facilities in using cryptography systems to be it prctically applicapable in virus preventation more advanced features of cryptography should be applied.cite{13} newpage section{Conclusion} As computer usage and internet usage is increasing in the modern world, the computer virus creation and the computer virus infection has become a common thing. Computer viruses can destroy a whole computer system or computer network within few seconds. But for any kind of company, the data they have should have confidentiality, integrity and availability. But sometimes those three things will be lost by the computer viruses. So most of the computers users are now try to avoid from the computer viruses. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} But computer virus infection has become so common thing because of the unawareness and the careless of the computer users about computer viruses. If the computer is attacked by a computer virus, the computer users do not do the correct thing to avoid spreading the virus to the other computers. That is why the computer viruses are spreading all over the world quickly. If a new computer virus is found from a users computer, the anti virus software providers are unable to provide a solution to the problem before it spread everywhere. The computer user has great responsibility to not to let a computer virus enter into the computer. To mitigate the destruction, this can happen to the computer from computer viruses, begin{itemize} item Aware the computer users about computer viruses. item Backup the data. item Put passwords which cannot easily guess by the outsiders. item Not to give write permission to the other persons. item Do not open suspicious e-mails from unknown contacts. item Download and use only the recommended software. item Install an anti virus software. item Always keep the anti virus database up to date. item Use only the recommended anti virus software. end{itemize} begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} As computer users are now searching for the best anti virus software which can give the best protection to their computers from computer malware, the anti virus market has grown and saturated with various kinds of anti virus software. But the problem is that though there are more anti virus software with the target of providing a better protection; virus creators are more powerful than anti virus program creators. They encrypt the code of the computer virus so that any of the anti viruses cannot detect that computer virus. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} Considering all the fact we can come to a conclusion that any of the computer in the world cannot be there with no virus attack and any of the computer virus protection methods cannot eradicate the computer viruses from the computer forever. newpage begin{thebibliography}{widest entry} bibitem{1} McAfee,emph{An Introduction to Computer Viruses and other Destructive Programs},Available at: http://www.mcafee.com/common/media/vil/pdf/av_white.pdf bibitem{2} Markus Hanhisalo,emph{computer Viruses},Available at:http://www.tml.tkk.fi/Opinnot/Tik-110.501/1997/viruses.html# 1.Introduction% 20to% 20Computer% 20Viruses bibitem{3} Top Bits,2010, {http://www.topbits.com/types-of-computer-viruses.html} bibitem{4} Spamlaws,2009,emph{Understanding the Polymorphic Virus},Available at: http://www.spamlaws.com/polymorphic-virus.html bibitem{5} Ward Takamiya,Jocelyn Kasamoto,emph{An Introduction to Computer Viruses} bibitem{6} Spamlaws,2009,emph{Spotting the Stealth Virus},Available at:http://www.spamlaws.com/stealth-virus.html bibitem{7}Spamlaws,2009, emph{Understanding the Resident Virus},Available at:http://www.spamlaws.com/resident-virus.html bibitem{8} Top Bits,2010{http://www.topbits.com/computer-worm.html} bibitem{9} Top Bits,2010{http://www.topbits.com/trojan-virus.html} bibitem{10} Top Bits,2010,{http://www.topbits.com/logic-bomb.html} bibitem{11} emph{AntiVirus Software Review },http://anti-virus-software-review.toptenreviews.com/ bibitem{12} emph{Computer knowledge virus tutorial},Available at:www.cknow.com bibitem{13} Charles P. 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