Logistics and Supply Chain Management Case Study

Logistics and Supply Chain Management - Case Study Example This discussion stresses that a supply chain may not be used to only cut costs. Instead, it could also be used to increase revenues and hence profits. The costs could still remain the same. It gives an organization a competitive advantage against its competitors. It does not allow any sale to be lost. When the customer wants something, an effective supply chain would ensure that it is available. This increases the customer’s interest in the company and encourages brand loyalty. It also helps keep a close contact with the suppliers which ensures that maximum advantage can be gained out of doing business with them.This paper highlights that Zara is one of the largest brands, by the Inditex Fashion Retail Group, that has 723 stores in 56 countries making sales of Euro 3.8 billion. Zara has a very high product turnover. It makes more than 11,000 products annually. The annual report of Zara (Inditex) for the fiscal year 2006 covers all activities from February 2006 to January 2007. Zara opened 138 new stores during the past year, increasing its selling area by 15%. The sales were an increase of 21% at Euro 5,352 million. It earned net profit of Euro 1 billion an increase of 25%, was in contrast to last year’s profit. The sales in Europe, with exception to Spain, were 40.6% of the total. After considering all this impressive data and the number of shops, it is clear why a widespread company like Zara needs a supply chain which is efficient.... When the customer wants something, an effective supply chain would ensure that it is available. This increases the customer's interest in the company and encourages brand loyalty. It also helps keep a close contact with the suppliers which ensures that maximum advantage can be gained out of doing business with them. Zara is one of the largest brands, by the Inditex Fashion Retail Group, that has 723 stores in 56 countries making sales of Euro 3.8 billion (India Supply Chain Council, 2006). Zara has a very high product turnover. It makes more than 11,000 products annually. The annual report of Zara (Inditex) for the fiscal year 2006 covers all activities from February 2006 to January 2007. Zara opened 138 new stores during the past year, increasing its selling area by 15%. The sales were an increase of 21% at Euro 5,352 million. It earned net profit of Euro 1 billion (Safe G., 2007) an increase of 25%, was in contrast to last year's profit. The sales in Europe, with exception to Spain, were 40.6% of the total. (Inditex Annual Report, 2007) After considering all this impressive data and the number of shops, it is clear why a widespread company like Zara needs a supply chain which is efficient. Zara's fashion is based on imitation; it copies designs from the catwalk and other spots and brings them to their customers at low prices in as little as a couple of weeks. Since this is all the time that is given to them, the whole process of designing, ordering, producing and delivering the clothes to the stores must be quick and timely. If this is not done, Zara will not have enough new items to bring to the shelves (which is its technique) every two weeks. Since Zara does not advertise, this is the only way it can attract customers. When the

Cross Culture Managment - South Korea Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Cross Culture Managment - South Korea - Essay Example The capital of South Korea, Seoul is also the city covering its largest area of land. Korea was a huge region that came under separation into its North and South portions after the end of World War II. Since the two parts of Korea were not in a good friendly relation from the time of their formation, therefore, it resulted in wars between them. The war was a stepping-stone for the southern region, as after the war their economy saw a dramatic boom that revolutionized the recognition and position of the country in its neighborhood (Haggett, 2002). With the economical boom, that the country experienced gave a rise to the lifestyle of its citizens, thus boosting its social sector. Over the passage of time, it developed its technological, transport, manufacturing, industrial and economic sector phenomenally that it made its place in the world rankings. The country has a high population density, as a huge number of people inhabit a comparatively small piece of land. Diverse cultures do no dominate the Korean population and it has come under observation that a larger proportion of the populace consists of people of Korean race and Chinese people forms a minority. South Korea does not restrict its denizens to practice a particular religion and have the liberty to follow their religious rituals. A big faction of the people follows â€Å"Christianity and Buddhism, whereas Islam, Shamanism, Confucianism, Chondogyo are the religions that comes under practice by the minorities† (USA International Business Publications, 2005). South Korea is a democratic country that comes under the leadership of President but the power does not come under confinement only in the hands of the president. Legislation and Judiciary also have rights on the power of making legal decisions. Culture of South Korea Korean language generally known as Hangul by the natives comes under common usage to communicate with one another. This language finds its origin from an ancient language known as Altaic, which was widely spoken centuries back. Hangul is well comprehendible and understandable by the locals despite of the fact that it has quite a lot of forms and accents (Connor, 2009). The language is simple and easy and due to this reason, one can learn it effortlessly without difficulty. It also contributes to one of the achievements of the country that is to have a secularly qualified and educated population. Though Hangul do not relate much to the Chinese language, still some Chinese characters come in association with it as an influence of the minor Chinese population residing in the South Korea. English being a universal language retains its importance amongst Koreans as well, therefore, schools have made English as a subject of learning (Connor, 2009). The attitude of the Korean population has seen a drift as earlier people had thinking that was more conservative and gender discrimination came under finding in heights. This trend saw a radical turn after the boosting of the economy and the perceptions towards the girls came under transformation. Opportunities came into the provision to the females in the world of business. The opportunities developed the concept of individualism and independence in females and they no longer made themselves dependent on their male spouses, which uplifted their position in the society (Connor, 2009). Despite of all the success and gains that South Korea has experienced, it has retained its history and has not

The One Scene That Sealed Titanics Fate Essay Example for Free

The One Scene That Sealed Titanics Fate Essay Titanic is thought to be one of the most iconic films to ever hit theaters. According to the film industry, the film by James Cameron falls into the realm of an epic romance/disaster genre. Released in 1997, Titanic was an international box office sensation, due to the director providing equal importance to history, fiction, and romance. The film is set in April of 1912, where Jack Dawson played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Rose DeWitt Bukater played by Gloria Stuart and Kate Winslet share a love story that cannot be broken. The movie also gives a historical overview of what happened that dreadful night. This critical analysis of the film Titanic provides an overview that the innovative mode of storytelling (flash back and other techniques) can portray both a love story and the historical background while using a dissolve editing method, in which â€Å"the end of one shot gradually merges into the beginning of the next. The effect is produced by superimposing a fade-out onto a fade-in of equal length of imposing one scene over another† (Petrie and Boggs 160). This editing effect was used at the beginning of the movie, in which at 21:03, the wreckage of the Titanic is seamlessly and effortlessly transformed into the beautiful masterpiece of a ship that it once was. This effect is also used when Jack and Rose are standing together â€Å"flying† on the edge of the Titanic, later to be transformed back into the ship wreck. This scene brings the audience back into the present and shocks them back into the harsh reality that the scene was merely a memory from Rose, and no longer the reality (Titanic1997). The editing in Titanic is truly remarkable, bringing the audience from the future into the past, shocking the audience by showing both first-class and lower-class struggles, and showing not only the love story between Rose and Jack, but the life and death of the Titanic and the two thousand people aboard. Through the use of other film techniques such as editing and camera work, set design, imagery and color, James Cameron created one of the most influential and moving works of art the film world has seen. The editing style and technique brings new life to the cinematography world, and â€Å"rejects the norms of modern Hollywood style† (Butka). In all film elements, visual effects, cinematography, color palette, editing, sound design, and music, contributes to the film as a whole. Cameron, â€Å"who has been pushing the boundaries of the Hollywood classical cinema since The Terminator, finally reached a career high point with Titanic’s synthesis of compelling storytelli ng and dexterous style and technique† (Butka) Visual effects, color, imagery, and set design play an important role in all forms of movie and television. These elements are the core foundation of the overall feeling that the audience experiences when watching a particular film. One particular element of film that impacts the story line is the setting of the scenery. Setting may â€Å"often seem unobtrusive or be taken for granted, it is an essential ingredient in any story and makes an important contribution to the theme of total effect of the film† (Petrie and Boggs 82). The setting of a film should be carefully analyzed because of the effects it has on the interrelationships of the characters, plot, and overall general feeling that the movie brings out in its audience. In Titanic, the setting plays a major role in the fact that the first class citizens were held to a higher standard that the lower class citizens. This set the mood for the rest of the film and sets up the segregation that separates Jack and Rose. The col ors also provide a strict divide between the upper and lower classes aboard the Titanic. The royalty wore brighter, more vibrant colors, as well as more flashy materials, whereas the lower class wore much more torn clothing, all of which were dark and dirty colors. These elements ultimately set the tone for the rest of the movie, and would be a constant struggle for Rose and Jack to keep their bond strong. James Cameron put an emphasis on the difference between these classes in order to give the audience the sense of segregation. James Cameron is a critically acclaimed film director known for some of the biggest box-office hits of all time. A science-fiction fan as a child, Cameron â€Å"went on to produce and direct films including The Terminator, Aliens and Avatar. He has received numerous Academy Awards and nominations for his often large-scale, expensive productions† (Biography Editors). His most noted work, 1997\s Titanic, became the first film â€Å"to earn more than $1 billion and landed 14 Academy Award nominations. Cameron took home three Oscars himself for the project: Best Director, Best Film Editing and Best Picture† (Biography Editors). To re-create one of the greatest disasters at sea in history, â€Å"James Cameron had a special studio built in Mexico, which featured a 17-million-gallon water tank and the 775-foot replica of the Titanic,† this proved to help the film be a successful blockbuster hit (Biography Editors). James Cameron’s techniques used in Titanic becam e immensely popular as the film became popular. Cameron’s own â€Å"documentary urge was so intense, that he created new diving and photographic equipment – at an extraordinary expense for his studio – to achieve textural authenticity by recording and presenting the eighty-five-year-old wreck of his subject. The film, then, like so many other fictional films, says the ultimate compliment to the documentary form: Cameron uses the real thing to inform his reel thing† (Petrie and Boggs 468). The main purpose behind editing a film is to keep the film in continuous motion, regardless if the time periods switch rapidly, much like in Titanic, where Rose goes from being a seventeen year old girl, to a one-hundred year old woman explaining the history of the Titanic as she remembers it. The editing techniques that were used were ultimately used to shock the audience through â€Å"sudden, jarring cuts between the third- and first-class, [which] build the antithesis between the classes and accentuate the conflicts. Some of the examples include: the cut between the steer get berthing space when Jack and Fabrizio (Danny Nucci) first arrive on the ship and Cal’s private promenade deck; the cut between Rose and Jack dancing in the steerage party scene and the first-class smoking lounge (which is such an abrupt change of atmosphere and energy that it comes as quite a cinematic shock to the viewers); the cut between the flooding in the steerage with rats on the run and the pro priety of a first-class corridor that does not even hint at the impending tragedy† (Butka). Throughout the movie, the film consists of scenes mainly from the Jack and Rose era, however in the beginning of the film, the director made use of flashback technique to unearth the romantic story of the lovers in the film. To be specific, the plot moves from present condition (say, 1996) to past (say, 1912) and to present (1996). In the opening scene, the director portrays the effort of Brock Lovett (say, a treasure hunter) to unearth the secret behind a necklace sunk with RMS Titanic in 1912. Gradually, the director portrays the love affair between Rose and Jack. In the end, Rose drops the necklace into the Ocean and returns. The film ends with a fictional reunion between the lovers. Dissolves are very important to the film, â€Å"particularly those between different time periods, and even fades are used occasionally to mark important points in the film (e.g., when Rose finishes her story)’ (Butka) Cameron also uses â€Å"establishing shots regularly, thus preserving a locale orientation for the viewers: not only do we always know exactly where we are, but these establishing shots also help us grasp the ship’s enormous dimensions† (Butka). Even in the period section of the film, â€Å"there is a separation between two distinct photographic styles: â€Å"In the first part, the camerawork is rather polite, graceful and even eloquent. [Carpenter] was trying to reinforce the opulence and beauty of the time with lighting,† (Butka). This eloquent style gives a feeling of tranquility and perfection to the first class shipmates, providing deep segregation to the boat, thus bringing about the conflict of Jack and Rose’s love. This camera and editing style let the audience feel the same way that the characters were feeling, eloquent and fashionable. When looking at the color of the first class section of the boat, â€Å"there is also use of amber, a color Ca meron has not used before; in addition, the first-class sections of the ship are even more colorful, which is undeniably helped by the exquisite costuming† (Butka). In the second part of the film, the camera work and editing becomes much more violent and choppy, showing the struggle the passengers endured as the ship hit the iceberg and ultimately began to sink. The camerawork â€Å"quickly loses that polite edge and segues into this very kinetic, sometimes violent movement. It’s jarring and bumpy, which suggests the panic of the situation. This is a point that Cameron, Carpenter, and Muro worked on together; later in the film, initial smooth and refined camera movements transform into â€Å"less elegant and more nervous. There’s a lot more handheld work and Steadicam, and its rough† (Butka). The overall production of the Titanic came at quite a cost but was a tremendous success, to say the least. Titanic’s production was a â€Å"famously difficult and complex one, a shoot on an almost unprecedented scale which featured tough technical challenges and which was overseen by a director who knew exactly what he wanted and who demanded the utmost from everyone until he got it, but it was a tough journey to get there† (Braund). Production of the film began in 1995, when â€Å"Cameron shot footage of the real wreck of the RMS Titanic. He envisioned the love story as a means to engage the audience with the real-life tragedy. A shooting took place on board the Akademik Mstislav Keldysh which aided Cameron in filming the real wreck for the modern scenes, and a reconstruction of the ship was built at Playas de Rosarito, Baja California. Cameron also used scale models and computer-generated imagery to recreate the sinking. At the time†, the picture became the m ost expensive film ever made, costing approximately US$200 million with funding from Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox (Butka). â€Å"Principal photography for Titanic began in July 1996 at Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. In September 1996, the production moved to the newly built Fox Baja Studios in Rosarito, Mexico, where a full-scale RMS Titanic had been constructed (Marsh). Special effects played an important role in how the movie filmed. Many critics were skeptical about how Cameron would portray such a disastrous scene, including the deaths of all of the people aboard the ship. Cameron then went on to say that \the people were all computer graphics. The way we did it was, we had people act out all of those individual behaviors in what we call a \motion capture environment.\ So, a steward pouring tea for a lady seated on a deck chair that was all acted out and then that motion file was used to drive and animate those figures. The end result is like you said: We pull back down the full length of Titanic, and you see 350 people all over the decks, doing all those different things. The same technique was used for the sinking when you see hundreds of people on the ship jumping off or rolling down the decks\ (Ebert). Cameron also did not want to cut corners in regards to the props and sets used. In addition to the life-size model of the Titanic, Cameron also had â€Å"construction crews build two huge water tanks. One was 90 foot deep and over 800 foot wide in which the model could slowly sink into 17 million gallons of water fed directly from the Pacific Ocean. The second tank was 30 foot deep. It contained 5 million gallons of water and housed the elegant first class dining saloon and the three story Grand Staircase† (Titanic and Co). One of the most impressive interior sets was the recreation of the famed Grand Staircase the most famous room Titanic contained. Additionally, the Staircase, â€Å"as mentioned by one of the film crew personnel, ended up acting almost as a character in the film, due to it being the location of several pivotal scenes, including the ending scene. Interestingly, the staircase presented in the film is slightly larger than the one on the real ship. The reason for this was because people in 1912 were shorter than they are today. As a result, the staircase was scaled up to make the actors look smaller† (IMDB). For the exterior shots of the ship sinking, the almost â€Å"full-scale ship was placed in a 3 foot deep, 17 million gallon tank and tilted using a crane. For the interior shots of the sinking ship, the sets were enclosed in a 5 million gallon tank and again tilted in the water using a crane. This was the method used for the Grand Staircase. However, to make the destruction of the Grand Staircase more dramatic, Cameron and his team dropped 90,000 gallons of water onto it. Because the Staircase would be destroyed, there would be only one attempt to get it right. Unexpectedly, the massive volume of water ripped the Staircase from its steel-reinforced foundations, collapsing certain sections of it† (IMDB). This destruction of the stair case was relatively dramatic and saddening to the characters and audience because it had become such a vital work of art in the movie. These stairs were much more than just stairs; they were the place in which Jack fell in love with Rose, the place Rose and Jack embraced in their final kiss in the final scene; a true masterpiece that had become one of the characters, gone in an instant. Roger Ebert became â€Å"film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times in 1967. He is the only film critic with a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame and was named honorary life member of the Directors\ Guild of America. He won the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Screenwriters\ Guild, and honorary degrees from the American Film Institute and the University of Colorado at Boulder† (Ebert). He then went on to interview James Cameron on his success and struggles with the making of the Titanic. The footage of the sunken ship was mainly real footage of the actual sunken Titanic. James Cameron believed that in order for the movie to have a more authentic feel, that he should take actual film himself with his own camera. Cameron wasn\t content to buy footage from documentaries about the search for the Titanic; he shot the film\s undersea footage himself, new for this film: \It\s all our own. I made the dives and operated the camera and we lit it and everything† (Ebert) Cameron then went on to explain the struggles that appeared when creating the interior of the Titanic. â€Å"It\s consistent with what Titanic looks like† Cameron mentioned. â€Å"We couldn\t explore the whole interior of the ship. We could only get a glimpse into some areas. We went down some corridors to the D-deck level and saw a lot of the remaining hand-carved woodwork, the wall-paneling, and the beautiful ornate carved doors. A lot of it is still there. It\s very, very cold, which helps preserve things. There are marine organisms that will eat wood, but in certain areas the wood was covered with white-leaded paint that protected Titanic† (Ebert). As morbid as it sounds, it was important to display the fear and anguish on the faces of the people trapped on and inside the sinking vessel. Even though this was a Romeo and Juliet type of love story, the overwhelming message was to portray the absolute disaster the Titanic was and to show the terror on the faces of those involved. Cameron goes on to say that many died in terror, you know, when you look at the numbers, if you were a third class male on Titanic you stood a 1-in-10 chance of survival. If you were a first class female, it was virtually a 100 percent survival rate. It broke down along lines of gender and class. If you were a first-class male, you stood about a 50-50 chance of survival. And the crew took it hardest.\ Of the 1,500 who died, 600 or 700 of them were crew members. The people who stayed in the dynamo room and the engine room, to keep the lights on so that the evacuation would not become panicked who stayed till the end and missed their opportunity to leave t he ship that\s something you\d see less of today† (Ebert). This just goes to show that Cameron felt very passionate about the way he needed to portray this type of despair in his movie, and in order to do that he needed have the film crew work extremely hard in order to portray that same anguish. \That was our most dangerous work,\ Cameron said. \The stunt team worked for weeks in advance, videotaping each one of those stunts and rehearsing it and showing me the tapes. It was all intensely pre-planned and the set was made about 50 percent out of rubber at that point, all padded up. But there\s always an X-factor. We had 6,000 stunt person days on this film the equivalent of one man doing stunts seven days a week for 16 years. But it was all happening at once. We did have a guy break his leg, which I hated. I don\t think anybody should get hurt for a film. So I decided to do more of it with computer graphics† (Ebert). This made it more apparent that special effects had to be made more in order to keep the cast and crew safe. Therefore, the scene in which the Titanic is actually sinking was almost entirely CGI when the camera was sweeping over the boat in a birds eye view. Cameron goes on to talk about the importance of human nature and how the story of Titanic is iconic not because of the class struggles, but once tragedy strikes, we are all on the same level fighting for survival. Cameron goes on to state that the â€Å"great lesson of Titanic for us, going into the 21st century,\ he said, \ is that the inconceivable can happen. Those people lived in a time of certainty; they felt they had mastered everything mastered nature and mastered themselves. But they had mastered neither. A thousand years from now Titanic will still be one of the great stories. Certainly, there have been greater human tragedies during this century, but there\s something poetically perfect about Titanic, because of the laying low of the wealthy and the beautiful people who thought life would be infinite and perfect for them.\ What would you have done? Anyone seeing this movie, I said, will have to ask them this question: Would I have fought to get on a lifeboat? Would I have pushed a woman or a child out of the way? Or would I have sat down in the lounge and called for a brandy, like Guggenheim, and faced the inevitable with grace† (Ebert)? In conclusion, Titanic taught the general public that the human race is not invincible and that nature does not care whether you are rich or poor, perfect or imperfect, or nothing at all. Through the masterful works of camera angles, visual imagery, editing, and specific scenery, director and writer James Cameron was able to recreate the tragedy of the unsinkable Titanic through the camera lens. Cameron was able to display the struggles of love, life, death, and historical understanding through the eyes of Jack and Rose, and through the magic of filmmaking, teach an incredible lesson that will live on through eternity.

Gender segregated schools Essay Example for Free

Gender segregated schools Essay The Benefits and Disadvantages of Single-Sex Education Schools in early 17th century America were fist modeled after English learning institutions after Puritans immigrated over to the English colonies. Originally only rich white males were allowed to attend school to learn how to read and write. In many cases, most parents placed their boys into the nine month long curriculum to keep them out of mischief. For the other three months of the year, students would be released from school during the summer months to lend a hand on their familys arms to help cultivate the land and raise animals. During the summer months, wealthy white girls attended these same schools often taught by a female instructor to learn to read and write. Of the girls who could attend the schools, many were kept at home to be taught the essentials for their future such as cooking, sewing, and the caretaking of babies and toddlers (A Short History). Fast forward one hundred years and the first coeducational schools can be found appearing in the American colonies, primarily the New England area. In these schools the major focus was to teach children how to read, specifically for religious purposes. The likely cause of the integration of boys and girls in schools is thought to be stemmed from growing numbers of female church numbers and the practical requirements of finding enough children to support schools in sparsely populated regions making schools more practical to spread religion (A Short History). After the revolutionary war, American citizens saw that womens education was important and was needed to promote good citizens and great leaders in society. With this state of mind, many private schools opened their doors to coeducation and allowed both boys and girls to attend school together. Until the late 1840s, only rich white boys and girls were allowed to attend schools because there was no government funded schools. That changed when reformers Horance Mann and Henry Barnard succeeded with their efforts to promote a free public school system. This finally allowed all white children to attend schools together for free. The only exception to gender-integrated schools where catholic families who objected the practice of coeducation on moral and religious grounds and that males and females had profoundly different purposes to fulfill (A Short History). Because of this many catholic schools remained segregated y gender. In the early 1900s many schools created classes specifically to prepare boys and girls for their future. Girls were taught home economics and traditionally feminine labor skills, such as secretarial work and or garment-making while boys were educated in industrial arts, bookkeeping, and commercial geography (A Short History). These classes were introduced for the importance of the growing labor market of the time period. In todays society, some parents are faced with placing their children in gender- segregated schools or in public schools to better benefit their children. The problem brains of the two genders learn different subjects at different ages. So, with this, boys or girls have an advantage over each other. The same happens when puberty becomes a factor in adolescence as well as in high school with distractions. On the other side, there are also benefits to public schools such as socialization with the opposite sex and better preparation for the real world. Then there are gender segregated schools that better accommodate teaching methods and times for specific sexes as well as better grades, less competition, and fewer distractions. Again there re bad sides to this too, such as less socializing and less competition to prepare someone for their future Job. With all of these factors, any parent faced with a decision like this will have a hard time figuring out what type of education their child should receive. One of the major arguments people make supporting gender-segregated schools is the fact that boys and girls brains differ in many different aspects. Whether it is an emotional difference or the structure of the brain, one gender will do better in class than the other. In 2007, a team of neuroscientists from the National Institute of Mental Health conducted a study on subjects ranging in age from three to twenty- seven years old both male and female. Their results showed that the occipital lobe of the brain where visual processing is mostly associated with is developed much more rapidly in six to ten year old girls, as opposed to the male brain where this lobe does the majority of its development after fourteen years of age (Novotney). Another major brain difference between the girls and boys is that a girls corpus callosum is twenty- five percent larger than a boys, making girls better at multitasking. A girls prefrontal ortex also develops earlier and larger than that of a boy, making girls better at abstract thinking and thought analysis as well as making better choices between right and wrong (McBride). Meanwhile, the cerebral cortex where mechanical and spatial thinking is conducted is used much more in boys. This results in boys having an easier time learning with movement and pictures as opposed to girls. With these different developed sections of the brain, girls gain an upper hand in classrooms over boys by ways of better listening, sensory memory, and especially reading and writing. However, boys gain an upper hand over girls in math as Leonard Sax a Ph. D. in psychology and author of Why Gender Matters explains: [the] fact that many middle-school boys seem to learn algebra better when you start with numbers, whereas many same-age girls seem to be more engaged if you start with a word problem. For example, if you are teaching equations in multiple variables, the typical 7th-grade boy will do better if you begin by asking If x + 2y = 60, and 2x + y = 90, how do we solve for x and y? But the typical 7th-grade girl will be more engaged if you begin by asking If a sweater and two blouses cost $60, and two sweaters and a louse cost $90, how much does each blouse and each sweater cost? (Sax 15). By splitting boys and girls in school, a teacher can adjust a test to where the two genders of students both benefit from word or equation only math problems. According to Lisa Damour, Co-director of the Center for Research on Girls at Laurel school, a girls day school claims that the benefit of single-sex schools is that they offer the dynamic of having only one sex in the classroom at a time, creating girls class that would not work as effectively in a boys class and vice versa (Novotney). That way boys and girls are taught the same subject at different times in a better gender specified manner. Many studies have statistically shown support towards gender-segregated schools as being better for students in both education and even personality. A study was conducted by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania studying schools in Seoul South Korea that randomly assigned students to either attend a coed or gender-segregated school. In these schools, all students were from different socioeconomic backgrounds. The results of this study found that girls in gender- egregated schools were more likely to attend college after graduation as compared to girls at coeducational schools; the same appeared in boys of both types of schools. Both boys and girls in these gender-segregated schools made higher test scores than coed schools in the same city. In another study conducted by Betta Hannover and her colleague Ursula Kessels found that American girls in girl only schools were more comfortable with physics. The National Foundation for Educational Research in England also supports that boys and girls do better on test scores and overall grades as compared to coed students regardless of background factors. The study also backs up the Hannover and Kessels study by finding that girls at single-sex schools were more likely to take non-traditional courses courses which run against gender stereotypes (Single-Sex). Student grades at single-sex schools could be better than expected by both boys and girls because boys and girls in the single sex schools are more comfortable enrolling in contradicting gender-stereotypical classes, like girls interested in computer science, and boys in art. These classes could seem a bit more difficult for some students bringing their overall grade down a bit even if it is in egard to students in different nations or here in America. Researcher for the Australian Council for Educational Research Cornelius Riordan found that most boys and girls who attend single-sex catholic schools were from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, yet these students obtained better grades than coed students (Single- Sex). This backs the study done by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, that socioeconomic background does not play a major role on a students grades as thought by many people who oppose single-sex schools. Riordan also found that students in these catholic schools view learning in a more positive manner which ould be another reason as to why students in single-sex schools do much better than coed students. In another study conducted in Jamaica by Marlene Hamilton found that students attending single-sex schools out preformed students in coed schools in almost every subject tested which confirmed the research done in Australia, South Korea, England, and America (Single-Sex). With many studies on students all over the world being consistent, it proves that single-sex schools are better for a students education. Not only do single-sex schools benefit a students education, but their overall focus and character as well. At Thurgood Marshall Elementary School in Seattle, principle Benjamin Wright led the movement of the schools traditional coed classroom setting to single-sex classrooms. Before this transition he would address over thirty misbehaving children a day, eighty percent of which were boys. In regard to the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, the single-sex classrooms, there were on average one or two students sent to the office for misbehavior a day. The boys reading average rose to sixty-six percent while their writing average also went up to fifty-three percent (Single-Sex). All of this was done under the same teachers for boys and girls. At an inner-city high school in Montr ©al who underwent the same type of transition also saw positive results. The number of students skipping class dropped by thirteen percent to Just seven percent. Fifteen percent more of students passed their final exams as opposed to before where sixty- five passed. Finally, the rate of students continuing their education in college doubled what it used to be before the switch. With these consistent positive results, many schools will turn to the idea of following these footsteps and transition to single-sex schools or classrooms to benefit all students in their education and haracter. Although segregating students by gender has its positive results, it also has negative results in students psychologically and socially. New York Times writer Tamar Lewin stresses the strongest argument against single-sex education is that it reduces boys and girls opportunities to work together, and reinforces sex stereotypes (Lewinl). By splitting the two genders apart, students will not know how to properly work together or even communicate with one another. According to the American Psychological Association, school is preparation for the adult life and how oys and girls learn to interact will dictate relationships formed in the workplace (Saunders). As students are separated by gender, they miss vital chances to work with one another and build important social skills. By segregating students, they are missing out on learning those very skills needed outside of school such as an engineering firm where thoughts from multiple engineers take place. A female engineer who spent her entire school life including college in single-sex classes may feel a bit more uncomfortable speaking out her ideas to the male engineers. Not only oes this affect people in the work place, it affects their personal relationships as well, for example, a male trying to meet women to date, becomes much more difficult. If he has spent little or no time communicating with the opposite sex, he may feel shy or awkward. Elizabeth Danish explains: Part of the idea of going to school is to prepare your child for real life when they leave. There is no doubt that the real world is mixed gender rather than single sex and so that means that the best way to do this would be to emulate that in school. Further, learning to talk to members of he opposite sex is a very important skill and one that can leave you at a significant disadvantage if youve never had a chance to practice. By experimenting with relationships now when things are less serious, your child will be better at managing and finding them when they leave (Danish). She also believes that in coed schools students become more understanding of each other and are more open minded of new conditions. Danish then suggests that building a feminine side to men could help them better understand girls and reduce the changes of sexism in schools. The problem with some single-sex schools is that he ideas of men are better than girls or in some cases women are better than men begins to circulate and lowers the self-confidence and self-esteem of some students. Another problem facing single-sex classrooms is lack of trained teachers to What could be done to better benefit students in single-sex schools is to have the two genders attend the same school in different buildings. With this, students could be integrated during lunch hours and for elementary schools even recess. This way the two genders can socialize with one another and not be completely segregated throughout all twelve years of school. This socialization can help prepare boys and girls for life outside and after high school in both work life and relationships with one another. In regards to single-sex classrooms, studies show how boys are encouraged or more engaged in learning subjects can be implemented in teaching methods for specifically boys and vice versa for girls. With this, teachers can know what method of teaching works better so they can use it only for boys and only for girls. The numbers of single-sex schools have been on the rise in the past fifteen years and will continue to go up because they are proving to better benefit students education and personality. However, many advocates believe that the psychological and sociological downsides to this form of education are harmful to students and outweigh the positives.

Sequence Alignment and Dynamic Programming

Sequence Alignment and Dynamic Programming Introduction Sequence alignment Sequence alignment is a standard method to compare two or more sequences by looking for a series of individual characters or character patterns that are in the same order in the sequences [1]. Also, it is a way of arranging two or more sequences of characters to recognize regions of similarity [2]. Importance of sequence alignment Sequence alignment is significant because in bimolecular sequences (DNA, RNA, or protein), high sequence similarity usually implies important functional or structural similarity that is the first step of many biological analysis [3]. Besides, sequence alignment can address significant questions such as detecting gene sequences that cause disease or susceptibility to disease, identifying changes in gene sequences that cause evolution, finding the relationship between various gene sequences that can indicate the common ancestry [4], detecting functionally important sites, and demonstrating mutation events [5]. Analysis of the alignment can reveal important information. It is possible to identify the parts of the sequences that are likely to be important for the function, if the proteins are involved in similar processes .The random mutations can accumulate more easily in parts of the sequence of a protein which are not very essential for its function. In the parts of the sequence that are essential for the function hardly any mutations will be accepted because approximately all changes in such regions will destroy the function [6]. Moreover, Sequence alignment is important for assigning function to unknown proteins [7]. Protein alignment of two residues implies that those residues perform similar roles in the two different proteins [8]. Methods The main purpose of sequence alignments methods is finding maximum degree of similarities and minimum evolutionary distance. Generally, computational approaches to solve sequence alignment problems can be divided into two categories: global alignments and local alignments. Global alignments traverse the entire length of all query sequences, and match as many characters as possible from end to end. These alignment methods are most useful when the sequences have approximately the same size or they are similar. The alignment is performed from beginning of the sequence to end of the sequences to find out the best possible alignment. On the other hand, Local alignments find the local regions with high level of similarity. They are more useful for sequences that are suspected to contain regions of similarity within their larger sequence context. [9] Besides, pairwise sequence alignment is used to find the regions of similarity between two sequences. As the number of sequences increases, comparing each and every sequence to every other may be impossible. So, we need multiple sequence alignment, where all similar sequences can be compared in one single figure or table. The basic idea is that the sequences are aligned on top of each other, so that a coordinate system is set up, where each row is the sequence for one protein, and each column is the same position in each sequence. [10] There are many different approaches and implementations of the methods to perform sequence alignment. These include techniques such as dynamic programming , heuristic algorithms (BLAST and FASTA similarity searching), probabilistic methods, dot-matrix methods, progressive methods, ClustalW , MUSCLE , T-Coffee , and DIALIGN. Dynamic programming Dynamic programming (DP) is a problem solving method for a class of problems that can be solved by dividing them down into simpler sub-problems. It finds the alignment by giving some scores for matches and mismatches (Scoring matrices).This method is widely used in sequence alignments problems. [11] However, when the number of the sequences is more than two, multiple dimensional Dynamic programming in infeasible because of the large storage and computational complexities.[16] Dynamic programming algorithms use gap penalties to increase the biological meaning [9]. There are different gap penalties such as linear gap, constant gap, gap open and gap extension. The gap score is a penalty given to alignment when there is insertion or deletion. There may be a case where there are continuous gaps all along the sequence during the evolution, so the linear gap penalty would not be suitable for the alignment. Therefore, gap opening penalty and gap extension penalty has been introduced when there are continuous gaps. The gap opening penalty is applied at the start of the gap, and then the other gap following it is given with a gap extension penalty which will be less compared to the open penalty. Different gap penalty functions require different dynamic programming algorithms [12]. Also; there is a substitution matrix to score alignments. The mainly used predefined scoring matrices for sequence alignment are PAM (Point Accepted Mutation) and BLOSUM (Blocks Substitut ion Matrix). The two algorithms, Smith-Waterman for local alignment and Needleman-Wunsch for global alignment, are based on dynamic programming. Needleman-Wunsch algorithm requires alignment score for a pair of residues to be equal or more than zero. No gap penalty is required, and score cannot decrease between two cells of pathway. Smith-Waterman requires a gap penalty to work efficiently. Residue alignment score may be positive or negative .Score can increase, decrease, or stay level between two cells of pathway [13]. Sequence Alignment Problems For an n-character sequence s, and an m-character sequence t , we construct an (n+1)Ãâ€"(m+1)matrix . Global alignment: F ( i, j ) = score of the best alignment of s[1i ] with t[1j] Local alignment: F ( i, j ) = score of the best alignment of a suffix of s[1i ] and a suffix of t[1j] There are three steps in the sequence alignments algorithms: Initialization In the initialization phase, we assign values for the first row and column of the alignment matrix .The next step of the algorithm depends on this. Fill In the fill stage, the entire matrix is filled with scores from top to bottom, left to right with appropriate values that depend on the gap penalties and scoring matrix. Trace back For each F ( i, j ), save pointers to cell that resulted in best score . For global alignment, we trace pointers back from F (m, n) to F(0, 0) to recover sequence alignments . For local alignment, we are looking for the maximum value of the F (i, j) that can be anywhere in the matrix. We trace pointers back from F (i, j) and stop when we get to a cell with value 0. Local alignment with scoring matrix After creating and initializing the alignment matrix ( F ) and trace back matrix, the score of F (i, j) for every cell is calculated as follows: For i = 1 to n+1 For j = 1 to m+1 left_score= F[i][ j-1] gap, diagonal_score=F[i-1[ j-1] + PAM250(s[i], t[j]), up_score= F[i-1][ j] gap scores=max[ 0, left_score, diagonal_score, up_score] Also, we should keep the reference to each cell to perform backtracking. traceback_matrix[i][j]= scores.index(F[i][j]) After filling the F matrix, we find the optimal alignment score and the optimal end points by finding the highest scoring cell, maxi,jF(i , j) . best_score has a default value equals to -1 . if F [i][j] > best_score: best_score= F [i][j] i_maximum_score, j_maximum_score = i, j To recover the optimal alignment, we trace back from i_maximum_score, j_maximum_score position , terminating the trace back when we reach a cell with score 0 . The time and space complexity of this algorithm is O(mn) which m is the length of sequence s , and n is the length of sequence t. Local alignment with affine gap penalty For this problem, there are gap opening penalty and gap extension penalty. The gap opening penalty is applied at the start of the gap, and then the other gap following it is given with a gap extension penalty. Initialization: There are Four different matrices: up_score , left_score ,m_score , trace_back Filling matrix: For i = 1 to n+1: up_score[i][0] = -gap_opening_penalty-(i-1)*gap_extension_penalty For j = 1 to m+1: left_score[0][j] = -gap_opening_penalty-(j-1)*gap_extension_penalty For i = 1 to n+1: For j = 1 to m+1: up_score [i][j] = max( [up_score [i][j-1] gap_extension_penalty, m_score[i][j-1] gap_opening_penalty] ) Left_score[i][j] = max( [left_score[i-1][j] gap_extension_penalty, m_score[i-1][j] gap_opening_penalty] ) m_score[i][j] = BLOSUM62 (s[i], t[j])) +max( m_score [i-1][j-1], left_score [i-1][j-1], up_score [i-1][j-1] ) scores = [left_score[i-1][j-1], m_score[i-1][j-1] ,up_score[i-1][j-1], 0] We find the highest scoring cell, the position of that cell,and the best alignment by following the same steps as we accomplished in the previous problem. The time and space complexity of this algorithm is O(mn). Global alignment with constant gap penalty In this case every gap receives a fixed score, regardless of the gap length For i = 1 to m+1: alignment_matrix[i][0] = -gap_penalty For i = 1 to n+1: alignment_matrix[0][j] = -gap_penalty For i = 1 to n+1: For j = 1 to m+1: scores = [alignment_matrix[i][j-1] gap_penalty,alignment_matrix[i-1][j] gap_penalty, alignment_matrix[i-1][j-1] + BLOSUM62 (s[i], t[j]),) alignment_matrix[i][j] = max(scores) alignment_matrix[m][n] holds the optimal alignment score. The time and space complexity of this algorithm is O(mn) which m is the length of sequence s , and n is the length of sequence t. Global alignment with scoring matrix In this problem there is a linear gap that each inserted or deleted symbol is charged g; as a result, if the length of the gap L; the total gap penalty would be the product of the two gL. For i = 1 to m+1: alignment_matrix[i][0] = -i*gap_penalty For i = 1 to n+1: alignment_matrix[0][j] = -j*gap_penalty scores = [alignment_matrix[i][j-1] gap_penalty,alignment_matrix[i-1][j] gap_penalty, alignment_matrix[i-1][j-1] + BLOSUM62 (s[i], t[j]),) alignment_matrix[i][j] = max(scores) alignment_matrix[m][n] holds the optimal alignment score. The time and space complexity of this algorithm is O(mn) which m is the length of sequence s , and n is the length of sequence t. Global alignment with scoring matrix and affine gap penalty There are Four different matrices: up_score , left_score ,m_score , trace_back Filling matrix: For i = 1 to n+1: up_score[i][0] = -gap_opening_penalty-(i-1)*gap_extension_penalty For j = 1 to m+1: left_score[0][j] = -gap_opening_penalty-(j-1)*gap_extension_penalty For i = 1 to n+1: For j = 1 to m+1: up_score [i][j] = max( [up_score [i][j-1] gap_extension_penalty, m_score[i][j-1] gap_opening_penalty] ) Left_score[i][j] = max( [left_score[i-1][j] gap_extension_penalty, m_score[i-1][j] gap_opening_penalty] ) m_score[i][j] = BLOSUM62 (s[i], t[j])) +max( m_score [i-1][j-1], left_score [i-1][j-1], up_score [i-1][j-1] ) maximum_alignment_score = max(m_score[m][n], left_score[m][n], up_score[m][n]) The time and space complexity of this algorithm is O(mn) which m is the length of sequence s , and n is the length of sequence t. The above algorithms require too much time for searching large databases so we cannot use these algorithms. There are several methods to overcome this problem. Heuristic Method It is an algorithm that gives only approximate solution to a problem. Sometimes we are not able to formally prove that this solution actually solves the problem, but since heuristic methods are much faster than exact algorithms, they are commonly used . FASTA is a heuristic method for sequence alignment .The main idea of this method is choosing regions of the two sequences that have some degree of similarity, and using dynamic programming to compute local alignment in these regions. The disadvantage of using these methods is losing significant amount of sensitivity. Parallelization is a possible solution for solving this problem.[14] Parallel Algorithm In this paper [ 15 ] a parallel method is introduced to reduce the complexity of the dynamic programming algorithm for pairwise sequence alignment. The time consumption of sequential algorithm mainly depends on the computation of the score matrix .For calculating the score of each cell, the computation of F(i,j) can be started only when F(i-1,j-1), F(i-1,j) and F(i,j-1) acquire their values. Consequently, it is possible to conduct the computation of score matrix sequentially in order of anti-diagonals .So, the values in the same anti-diagonal can be calculated simultaneously. ( Figure 1 ) Figure1 .Computing score matrix in parallel manner .The values of the cells marked by à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   can be computed simultaneously. There are two models for problem solving using parallel method that improve the performance of the pairwise alignment algorithm. Pipeline model: Each row of the score matrix is computed successively by a processor, which blocks itself until the required values in the above row are computed. Anti-diagonal model: From the left-top corner to the right-bottom corner of score matrix, all processors compute concurrently along an anti-diagonal of the matrix. Each idle processor selects a cell from the current anti-diagonal and computes its value. When all values in current anti-diagonal are computed, the computation moves on to next anti-diagonal. In the algorithm that is based on the pipeline model, the score matrix is partitioned into several blocks by column and several bands by row. All the bands distributed to multiple processors, and each processor computes the block in its own band simultaneously. By applying parallel algorithm, The time complexity is O(n) when n processor is used. [15] Progressive Method For solving multiple sequence alignment problems, the most common algorithm used is progressive method. This algorithm consists of three main stapes. First, comparing all the sequences with each other, and producing similarity scores ( distance matrix) . This stage is parallelized. The second stapes groups the most similar sequences together using the similarity scores and a clustering method such as Neighbor-Joining to create a guide tree. Finally, the third stage sequentially aligns the most similar sequences and groups of sequences until all the sequences are aligned. Before alignment with a pairwise dynamic programming algorithm, groups of aligned sequences are converted into profiles. A profile represents the character frequencies for each column in an alignment. In the final stage, for aligning groups of sequences, trace back information from full pairwise alignment is required.[ 17 ] ClustalW This algorithm that has become the most popular for multiple sequence alignment implements progressive method. The time complexity of this method is O (N 4 + L 2) and the space complexity is O (N2 + L 2). [18] Conclusion By comparing the different methods to implement pairwise sequence alignment and multiple sequence alignment , we can conclude that using parallel algorithms that implement pipeline model or anti-diagonal model are effective algorithm for performing pairwise sequence alignments. The algorithms that implement progressive method such as ClustalW are effective algorithm for solving multiple sequence alignments problems. References Robert F. Murphy, Computational Biology, Carnegie Mellon University www.cmu.edu/bio//LecturesPart03.ppt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequence_alignment Dan Gusfield, Algorithms on Strings, Trees and Sequences: Computer Science and Computational Biology (Cambridge University Press, 1997). http://cs.calvin.edu/activities/blasted/intro03.html http://www.embl.de/~seqanal/courses/commonCourseContent/commonMsaExercises.html Per Kraulis , Stockholm Bioinformatics Center, SBC ,http://www.avatar.se/molbioinfo2001/seqali-why.html http://iitb.vlab.co.in/?sub=41brch=118sim=656cnt=1 Andreas D. Baxevanis, B. F. Francis Ouellett ,Bioinformatics: A Practical Guide to the Analysis of Genes and Proteins http://amrita.vlab.co.in/?sub=3brch=274sim=1433cnt=1 David S.Moss, Sibila Jelaska, Sandor Pongor, Essays in Bioinformatics, ISB 1-58603-539-8 http://amrita.vlab.co.in/?sub=3brch=274sim=1431cnt=1 Burr Settles, Sequence Alignment, IBS Summer Research Program 2008, http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~bsettles/ibs08/lectures/02-alignment.pdf Aoife McLysaght, Biological Sequence Comparision/Database Homology Searching, The University of Dublin, http://www.maths.tcd.ie/~lily/pres2/sld001.htm Rapid alignment methods FASTA and BLAST http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/bioinformatiikka/mbi/courses/07-08/itb/slides/itb0708_slides_83-116.pdf Yang Chen, Songnian Yu, Ming Ling, Parallel Sequence Alignment Algorithm For Clustering System, School of Computer Enginnering and science, Shanghai University Heitor S. Lope, Carlos R ,Erig Lima , Guilherme L. Morit , A Parallel Algorithm for Large-Scale Multiple Sequence Alignment , Bioinformatics Laboratory/CPGE Federal University of Technology – Paran ÃÅ'  Scott Lloyd, Quinn O Snel , Accelerated large-scale multiple sequence alignment Kridsadakorn Chaichoompu, Surin Kittitornkun, and Sissades Tongsima ,MT-ClustalW: Multithreading Multiple Sequence Alignment

Investigating Fuels :: Papers

Investigating Fuels Aim; To find out the heat of combustion in the five fuels; Methanol, Ethanol, Propanol, Butanol, Pentanol, All of these alcohols are apart of the Hydrocarbon chain. Apparatus; I will need the following to carry out my investigation for the Experiment; Top pan balance - To measure the weight of the fuel. Clamp Stand - To hold the boiling tube above the crucible. Boiling tube - To hold 30 cubic centimetres of water in. Heat proof mat - So the Bunsen burner doesn't burn the table. Bunsen burner - I need the flame to light the taper. Measuring cylinder - To measure 30cc of water in. Mineral wool - So the taper can light the fuel easier. A stop clock - To time how long the fuel will burn. Taper - To light the fuel by using the flame from the Bunsen burner. Ruler - To measure the distance from the crucible to the boiling tube. Crucible - To carry the mineral wool and fuel in it. Diagram; Plan; First of all, I will set the clamp stand 3.5cm vertically higher then the crucible which then I put some mineral wool in and 30 drops of the fuel in. After that I am going to weigh the crucible making sure there is no other liquid or any other substances on the weigher, so I don't do not get any anomalous results. After I have recorded the weight I am going to place the crucible directly under the boiling tube, like shown in the diagram, and then I am going to pour 30 cubic centimetres into the measuring cylinder. To make sure I have exactly 30 cubic centimetres in the cylinder I have to get down on my knee and get my eye sight level to the mark which is labelled "30cc" to get the experiment as accurate and reliable as I can. When I am satisfied with how much water I have got in the cylinder, I will pour it in the

Markets - why they fail Essay -- Economics

Markets - why they fail * Allocative efficiency occurs when resources are distributed in such a way that no consumers could be made better off without other consumers becoming worse off. * Dynamic efficiency occurs when resources are allocated efficiently over time. * Productive efficiency is achieved when production is achieved at lowest cost. * Technical efficiency is achieved when a given quantity of output is produced with a minimum number of inputs. Consumer and Producer Surplus ============================= Text Box: A perfectly competitive market consists of: Many firms in the industry- therefore firms cannot manipulate the prices. Low barriers to entry and exit- if profits are achievable new firms can enter the market at little cost. Homogenous products- no branding allows new entrants to win customers fairly. Perfect knowledge- consumers and producers know everything about market ´s prices and products. In a perfectly competitive market: There is productive efficiency- because costs must be kept at a minimum to break even. There is allocative efficiency- producers will produce no more or less than consumers demand at a given price. There is NOT dynamic efficiency-as there is perfect knowledge, there is no incentive for R&D. Types of Market Failure ======================= 1. Monopoly Power ================= * A monopoly exists of there is only one firm or supplier in the economy * A firm holds a monopoly share if it holds a market share that exceeds 25%. Why monopoly power market failure exists ---------------------------------------- Firms gain monopoly powers in the long run because of barriers to entry to the industry, preventing other firms entering th... ...more serious market failures. E.g Common Agricultural Policy dumping excess supply of food caused by minimum pricing on world market, thus crashing world prices. Therefore farmers outside EU experience lower incomes. Public choice theory - The government may not make decisions to maximise economic welfare but will instead make decisions on spending and taxation that will favour consumers, who are voters. Local interests (Textile plant in constituency, tax on imports) Favouring minorities (middle class voters more likely to vote than working class) Conflicting Personal Interests (corruption) Short-termism (do what is best on the short term but ignore the long term consequences because there is re-election every 5 years) Regulatory Capture - Groups such as monopolies can strongly influence the way they are being regulated to their own advantage Markets - why they fail Essay -- Economics Markets - why they fail * Allocative efficiency occurs when resources are distributed in such a way that no consumers could be made better off without other consumers becoming worse off. * Dynamic efficiency occurs when resources are allocated efficiently over time. * Productive efficiency is achieved when production is achieved at lowest cost. * Technical efficiency is achieved when a given quantity of output is produced with a minimum number of inputs. Consumer and Producer Surplus ============================= Text Box: A perfectly competitive market consists of: Many firms in the industry- therefore firms cannot manipulate the prices. Low barriers to entry and exit- if profits are achievable new firms can enter the market at little cost. Homogenous products- no branding allows new entrants to win customers fairly. Perfect knowledge- consumers and producers know everything about market ´s prices and products. In a perfectly competitive market: There is productive efficiency- because costs must be kept at a minimum to break even. There is allocative efficiency- producers will produce no more or less than consumers demand at a given price. There is NOT dynamic efficiency-as there is perfect knowledge, there is no incentive for R&D. Types of Market Failure ======================= 1. Monopoly Power ================= * A monopoly exists of there is only one firm or supplier in the economy * A firm holds a monopoly share if it holds a market share that exceeds 25%. Why monopoly power market failure exists ---------------------------------------- Firms gain monopoly powers in the long run because of barriers to entry to the industry, preventing other firms entering th... ...more serious market failures. E.g Common Agricultural Policy dumping excess supply of food caused by minimum pricing on world market, thus crashing world prices. Therefore farmers outside EU experience lower incomes. Public choice theory - The government may not make decisions to maximise economic welfare but will instead make decisions on spending and taxation that will favour consumers, who are voters. Local interests (Textile plant in constituency, tax on imports) Favouring minorities (middle class voters more likely to vote than working class) Conflicting Personal Interests (corruption) Short-termism (do what is best on the short term but ignore the long term consequences because there is re-election every 5 years) Regulatory Capture - Groups such as monopolies can strongly influence the way they are being regulated to their own advantage