Category: Uncategorized

Family and Literacy

“Family is one of the main literacy sponsors of a person because circumstances in the family affect the person’s literacy”. The family plays a significant role in promoting literacy to its members. Other than being sponsors of literacy in many ways, the family contributes much on one’s basic educations including first language and basics in social interaction, analytical skills in distinguishing things, as well as other forms of education. Early experiences in every person assist a lot in determining one’s brain structure in which case the brain is the key determinant of the way people learn, think, respond to challenges, and behave when interacting with other people. It is also argued that the skills one acquires before reaching the age of six sticks to people for a lifetime.

Economic or financial status of a family affects the literacy level or literacy capacity of the family members. A wealthy family is likely to ensure high level of literacy security to its members whereas a poor family may be influenced by circumstances to stop offering sponsorship to its members’ literacy through education. Brandt (175) says, “People who labor equally to acquire literacy do so under systems of un-equal subsidy and unequal reward.” A family may not act as a literacy sponsor adequately given that the head of the family has low literacy or is illiterate. Low literate individuals are likely to be unemployed making it hard to educate their young children, a process that may create a chain of illiteracy within the family for many generations. An instance of a chain of continuity in illiteracy is that of parents of a given family having been never graduated in high school, making it difficult to sponsor their children through high school. Other than being unable to sponsor its children in education, illiterate parents may hardly find the importance of education in children especially in a situation whereby the illiterate parents have succeeded in life through other efforts that hardly require the application of literacy. “There are a number of things that one can make about discourse”, says Gee (84). He says that such discourse form the basis for any family’s power and social status. Children disvalues their families based on its status and may not see the importance of being sponsored by such families and end up being illiterate of have a low literacy level. In such a family environment, children are likely to face many problems in education due to the various barriers and disadvantages in acquiring education through the family as the sponsor.

Parents with more education seem to be more prepared to sponsor their children through any level of education thereby exposing them to many opportunities in life. Other than being sponsors, family conditions may have a significant impact of a child’s ability and readiness to learn within a learning institution. Learning ability and readiness to learn may be affected by various factors such as one brain capacity, one’s content with the services offered within the learning institution, as well as the social relationships with other students and teachers. The key factor affecting a child’s performance in school is the family background including social aspects of the family and its economic conditions. The kind of literacy sponsorship influences greatly on a child’s education and performance. While children sponsored by their families seem to be satisfied with their sponsorship and being proud of their families, children having other kind of sponsorships may feel unsecure in that the sponsorship can be terminated any time given that the condition of the sponsorship are destructed. Literacy sponsorship may be affected by the family economic status even if the family is not the main sponsor of the child acquiring education. Gee (85) says, “Much of what we come by in life after our initial enculturation involves a mixture of acquisition and learning.”

In many cases, literacy sponsorship of those children from poor or low caste-races may be faced with issue. In a situation whereby the parents may not be in an economic position of sponsoring the education being offered to their children, sponsors may come in but in many case on condition that the child is great performer has some required attributes. Even if this sponsor comes around, it may come out that he or she is not a stronghold to the sponsorship and may terminate it at any given time. On the other hand, children within the origin of families with strong economic backgrounds get sponsorships that are too strong as compared to those children from the poor family backgrounds. The powerful literacy sponsors that the rich families’ students may receive are associated with the families’ economic or political privileges that seem consistent. In the case of poor students from poor family background as well as those from low-caste racial groups, there is less or no consistence in accessing literacy sponsorships. The economic and political conditions that could lead them to access powerful sponsorships are doomed by the poor family relationships with the powerful sponsors who in turn are from rich and successful family backgrounds. “I am sure that sponsors play even more influential roles at the scenes of literacy learning and use than this essay has explored” Brandt (183).

In many cases, the two groups of students show differences in performance attributed to their families and family backgrounds. These backgrounds are mainly education of their parents as well as their family income levels, which differ significantly. In many cases, family income is termed to be a function of the parents’ education in that the higher the level of education of the families, the higher the family’s level of income. Norms and values of the parents could also affect the children’s performance in a great deal. These norms are however hardly different within families of the same ethnicity or race but in families that differ in racial aspects. Performance in this case could be seen to differ due to difference in the level of exposure of the learners. Learners learning a certain aspect of technology could have real life exposure and experience of the technology as influence by their parents. Those having a greater exposure are likely to perform better and have a special interest in whatever they are learning. Children also do better when offered gift as Webb (6) say, that “sponsors can include commercial entities, such as companies who award prizes in a jingle-writing contest and restaurants who offer gift certificates to children who read a designated number of books, as well as institutions, such as the African-American church.”

At the same time, their parents gives them a better chance of interacting with great people and organizations from which they can get access to sponsorships and better jobs that can sustain any demands in higher levels of literacy or advanced skills’ acquisition. “While this shift in working conditions may be evidence of the deskilling of workers induced by the Industrial Revolution, it also offers a site for reflecting upon the dynamic sources of literacy and literacy learning” (Brandt 165). Form these various circumstances, it come out that a person’s family is one of the key literacy sponsors of on his or her literacy. The sponsorship may hardly be direct but the family’s conditions in terms of its background, racial factors, political influence, and economic conditions may play a key role in exposing the children of that particular family to literacy sponsorships. These various conditions would also determine the child’s performance at school due the satisfaction obtained from the family background, the family provisions such as possibility of acting as the sponsor, as well as the exposure provided by the family in education. Families therefore contribute much to their members’ literacy sponsorships and performance. “sponsors of literacy are more prolific, diffused, and heterogeneous” (Webb, 6)

Works Cited

Brandt, D. (1998). Sponsors of Literacy. College Composition and Communication, Vol. 49, Is. 2 , 165-185.

Gee, J. P. (1998). What is Literacy. Taylor and Francis Group.

Webb, S. (n.d.). A Family Affair: Competing Sponsors of Literacy in Appalachian Students’ Lives. Literacy in American Lives , 5-24.

Generation Gap

Name

Professor

Course

Institution

Date

Introduction

Generation gap refers to limited or lack of good communication terms between two generations. This lack of communication is always between the old and the young in the society and may results from differences in outlook, tastes/choices, and values among other factors. Research records indicate that generation gap has been in existence since the early times due to ideology differences. However, the current generation gap surpasses the previous ones due to hasty cultural change between diverse generations in the modern era. There are certain factors, which led to this speedy change or differences between different generations in the modern era. These factors include different music taste, different fashion taste, cultural affiliations, and different political views. This generation gap affects both generations involved though on different intensity. The effects may be positive or negative depending on the outcome of the differences. During the 1960s, there was a rapid increase in the number of young generations; this magnified the generation difference between the old and the young generation as years passed. The young generation alienated themselves from the old establishing themselves as an independent block in the society (Falk & Falk, 2005).

Importance and the Effects of the Generation Gap on the Parties Involved

The effects of these differences between the generations had both negative and positive impact on the two generations. For instance, the young generation believed in modernity and the new western culture hence abolishing some of the primitive cultural practices such as female circumcision among other practices. The abolition of such practices helped in saving the lives of many young and innocent girls who may have succumbed to that backward practice. Different fashion taste had both positive and negative impact on the young generation as discussed in this section. During the ancient times, the mode of dressing was primitive with people dressed in animal skin and leaves. This mode of dressing exposed most of the body parts to the ultra sun rays, which can cause serious skin diseases. These diseases may not only lead to misery but also to unnecessary loss of lives. After modernization, the young generation adopted and embraced the western culture of dressing, which include dressing in clothes manufactured in cottons. These clothes cover body parts and are made for different seasons of the year. For instance, there are clothes meant for the cold season and others for the hot or warm seasons. These clothes depends on material used, clothes meant for the warm or hot season are usually made from light material while the ones meant for the cold season are relatively heavy to aid in survival during such seasons. The old generation dwelled so much in politics and political activities making this practice personal. Due to this differences in political views, many development projects were affected or halted since the camps involved could not reach a mutual agreement. This is not the case with the new generation, which does not consider the differences personal but ideological. This helps them to avoid unnecessary stalemates since they understand that they work for the development of their countries or region rather than for persona benefit (Prasad, 1992).

This generation gap also had negative impact on the parties involved. For instance, the relation between parents and their children was affected, as the children tend to keep secrets from their parents. This is dangerous since the children may suffer in silence instead of seeking necessary help from their parents. The young generation tend to share among themselves and with the limited experience they posses; they may resort to the wrong solution to their issues. This difference on personal relationship between parents and their children may lead to depression between both parties involved. Parents may be stressed since they may feel unwanted by their children. The same case may happen to the children since they may also feel negated by their parents (Riegel, & Meacham, 2008).

Different taste in fashion and music taste may have negative effects on the young generation in a number of ways. The young generation idolizes their role models who are celebrities, musicians, politicians, and other media personalities. Some the music produced by these celebs promotes violence and pornography and since the young idolize them, they may be involved in such vices. The mode of dressing of these celebrities also promotes immorality since they expose too much skin, which may lead to lust and rape cases. This not only encourages immorality but also puts the lives of the youths in danger since they may fall victims to rapist and robbers. The young generation also tend to take most of their time indulging in unnecessary events such as watching movies, series, and other TV programs. These events consume most of their time, which they could have used in undertaking important activities such as studies and other constructive sports (Deal, 2011).

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is evident that the generation gap has both positive and negative impact on the generations involved. Some of the positive effects may be professional handling of situations rather than personalizing everything. These may lead to development in the regions since people will handle projects from professional point of view rather than personal views hence avoiding personal conflicts. Consultation between this two generation will however, prevent the negative effects since they will assist each other in needy cases

References

Deal, J. J., & Center for Creative Leadership. (2007). Retiring the generation gap: How employees young and old can find common ground. San Francisco, CA: Wiley.

Falk, G., & Falk, U. A. (2005). The youth culture and the generation gap. New York, N.Y: Algora.

Prasad, R. (1992). Generation gap, a sociological study of inter-generational conflicts. New Delhi, India: Mittal Publications. international Society for the Study of Behavioral Development.,

Riegel, K. F., & Meacham, J. A. (2008). The developing individual in a changing world. New Brunswick, N.J: AldineTransaction.

Research proposal

Family Business in Real Estate Sector

The advantages and disadvantages of family business in real estate and evaluation of competition of family business and publicly listed real estate companies

Introduction

This study is to make us understand on the topic of the family business in the real estate sector. We will focus majorly on its advantages and disadvantages. Moreover, we shall see on how the business operates. Here, the task will be on the evaluation of the competition of the business family with the of publicly listed real estate companies

Aims

To have knowledge on how the family business works in the real estate sector.

What are the advantages of the family business?

How the family business advantages affect the operation of the business?

What are the disadvantages of the business?

How do the disadvantages affect the operation of the business?

To analyse the operation of the family business in the real estate today

How does the family operate their business?

How do we evaluate the competition of family business and the real estate in companies?

In this case study of family business, we shall see on the challenges it faces during its operation. The above questions will make us understand further what we are talking about. The purpose of the case study is to enlighten those who may want to venture into this business to the general idea on what it takes. The new entrepreneurs will benefit because they will have the knowledge on how to combat the disadvantages, which they will use to their advantage. It will help them to know how to maximise their profits in the business.

Objectives

First is to know the advantages and disadvantages of business in real estate sector. Secondly it is to evaluate the competition of family businesses and publicly listed real estate companies.

Having knowing the aims and objectives of the family business one is in a position evaluate whether to venture into this business or in the real estate companies

Literature Review

To formulate analysis, I reviewed the HAND BOOK RESEARCH OF FAMILY BUSINESS. In this topic, we shall analyse the operation of the family business more so in line of its advantage and disadvantages to the real estate sector. In addition, we shall focus on how to evaluate its competition and listed public estate companies.

A family business is one which the members are the family member or related. They are the one who operationalize the business. They also contribute to financing of the business injection resources for it to operate. The family members have a significant commitment towards the business for its growth. Most of the firms are family-owned because a person has a share and not the state.

In the handbook research of family business, it fails to give use the way to overcome the challenges that the family goes through during its operation. In my study thought it is wise, the family members participating in the business should avoid wrangles during the inheritance. The review of journal suggests that the members should have a constitution which will cater for the inheritance. In the operational side, the family should have a decision which will make the business boom

Research process

A Research /study design

In this case study, we will use a quantitative process.

Methods

Interviewing the people who operate the family business to tell us on the advantages and disadvantages of their business. I shall interview as well the analyst so as to get more information on the challenges that the business is facing. This method will be most efficiently because talking one on one with the people affected will makes us understand the challenges

Participant observation. I will observe and evaluate the competition of the family business with that of the real estate companies. The method of the research makes us know better by ourselves by seeing what is happening to the business today.

Subject

Whom to be studied?

I will make a case study on the following people for interviewing and my own observations so as to get clear information to be analysed

The business owners

Business analyst

Real estate owners

Work plan

Principal investigator Jan Feb March Apr may June

Business owners yes yes yes

Business analyst yes yes yes yes

Real estate owners yes yes yes Research assistant

Jan Feb March Apr may June

Collect data yes yes yes yes yes Enter data yes yes yes yes Analyse data yes

References

PUNCH, K. (2006). Developing effective research proposals. London, SAGE.

VITHAL, R., & JANSEN, J. (1997). Designing your first research proposal: a manual for researchers in education and the social sciences. Kenwyn, Juta.

Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology

Institute of Control and Industrial Informatics

M.Sc. XXXX XXXX

Arbitration Advances and Determinism

in a single car communication bus

Advanced Car Communication technologies

Written work on the dissertation examination

Study field: 5.2.14 Automation

TitleI. Preamble

II. AbstractThis preparation paper intends to indicate the purpose of the dissertation for the PhD program of the Slovak university of technology in Bratsilava, faculty of electrical engineering and information technology.

In the very beginning there is the planned table of content, which gives a clue on the later structure of the dissertation. Chapter one is the description of the today´s state of the art. The Objective reports the target and the methodology shows the way to achieve the target.

Appendix A contains information about the FlexRay Bus System which is the basic communication system for the later dissertation.

III. Table of content TOC o “1-2” u Title PAGEREF _Toc354385981 h 2

I. Preambel PAGEREF _Toc354385982 h 2

II. Abstract PAGEREF _Toc354385983 h 2

III. Table of content PAGEREF _Toc354385984 h 3

Main Part PAGEREF _Toc354385985 h 5

1.Introduction PAGEREF _Toc354385986 h 5

1.1.Introduction into area of expertise PAGEREF _Toc354385987 h 5

1.2.Problem definition PAGEREF _Toc354385988 h 5

1.3.Motivation for the solution PAGEREF _Toc354385989 h 5

2.State of the Art PAGEREF _Toc354385990 h 5

2.1.Electronic in cars PAGEREF _Toc354385991 h 5

2.2.Interconnection PAGEREF _Toc354385992 h 6

2.3.Diagnosis PAGEREF _Toc354385993 h 9

2.4.Automotive bus systems PAGEREF _Toc354385994 h 11

2.5.Arbitration PAGEREF _Toc354385995 h 17

2.6.Error detection and fault confinement PAGEREF _Toc354385996 h 20

2.7.Determinism PAGEREF _Toc354385997 h 21

3.Detailed definition of the scope of work PAGEREF _Toc354385998 h 22

3.1.Objective of the dissertation PAGEREF _Toc354385999 h 22

3.2.Aims of the dissertation PAGEREF _Toc354386000 h 24

3.3.Methodology PAGEREF _Toc354386001 h 26

3.4.selection of an appropriate bus system PAGEREF _Toc354386002 h 28

4.modification of the physical layer PAGEREF _Toc354386003 h 28

4.1.dominant and rezessive voltage levels PAGEREF _Toc354386004 h 28

4.2.timing requirements PAGEREF _Toc354386005 h 28

4.3.error detection and avoidance PAGEREF _Toc354386006 h 28

5.arbitration PAGEREF _Toc354386007 h 28

5.1.priorization PAGEREF _Toc354386008 h 28

5.2.methods PAGEREF _Toc354386009 h 28

5.3.Interrupt PAGEREF _Toc354386010 h 28

5.4.Trigger PAGEREF _Toc354386011 h 28

6.data content PAGEREF _Toc354386012 h 28

6.1.bitrate PAGEREF _Toc354386013 h 28

6.2.redundancy PAGEREF _Toc354386014 h 28

6.3.data length PAGEREF _Toc354386015 h 28

Summary PAGEREF _Toc354386016 h 28

Main PartIntroductionIntroduction into area of expertisexxx

Problem definitionxxx

Motivation for the solutionxxx

State ofthe ArtElectronic in carsFrom the very beginning of automobile creation in the late 19th century, the benefits of individual travelling caused more and more people to use cars. The demands of the owners and legal regulations to increase safety have increased the features enormously and force the automotive industry to continuously develop better cars.

The electronics have a severe influence to the convenience and safety of the customer. Just 50 years back, the light was the only electronic device on board. Now, electronic is a major part of every single car concept. While some electronics are hidden (like electronic fuel injection), others bring new experiences to the customer, like global positioning system (GPS) based navigation.

For all vehicle concepts, which are considered in this document, there are requirements for the cross-linking, which may be identical. This is because all vehicles have the commonness to meet the requirements of traffic safety. So, in any small cars as well as the most expensive luxury vehicle blinkers, we can find wipers and brake lights, to list just a few common examples. While the design of the systems often differs fundamentally, the connection to a vehicle networking concept does not necessarily. Whether chic LED or old-fashioned light bulb taillights: in both cases, a signal from the brake pedal to the brake light in the rear is routed. There are also components that despite the same tasks have very different demands on the network. The headlight of a small car has light bulbs for low beam, high beam, parking lights and turn signals. To realize a luxury car add some motors and positioning controllers to adaptive headlights, automatic headlamp leveling, bi-xenon function and different brightness of the LED strip to DRL or sidelight . The fog lights in addition unilaterally light up when cornering.

Hence, there is need to create individual concepts for different classes of vehicles. However, this can then be used for several variants, as another body style (e.g. station wagon instead Saloon) has no dramatic effect on the functions.

InterconnectionIn modern vehicles almost all electrical components are interconnected. The degree of crosslinking is dependent on the number of electronics, the field of use of the vehicle and in particular the class. In order to controlallthe functions requiredof the vehicle, the car manufacturer could use a centralcomputer, whichwould have tobe very fastandexpensive andhad to connecteach actuator, sensor or switch with at least one line(safety components additional monitoring lines). This would result in a thick and heavyharness and inadditionlead tohigherfuel consumption, significantly higher manufacturing cost, since copper cablesare not cheap at all.

Alternatively, you can split the functions of the car. For similar tasks create functional blocks, which can then be placed into a closed area to avoid long connections. Another advantage of this concept is that it is characterized by short connection injects less conducted and radiated interference into the line.

In the automotiveworld these function blocksare called electronic control units (ECUs) orcomponents. The components are in most cases not able to perform its taskwithoutinformation from othercomponents. But notall of the dataof eachcontrol deviceisimportant for thefunction. The stability managementcertainly needsthewheel speed sensor data, butnoinformation on whetherthe rear wiperis currently active.The components mustindeedexchange data, butthey can besummed upinone another(more or less) independentgroups. The demands onthe data rateare quite different.Apower window switchis usuallyoperatedlessoftenthan awheel sensorpassesitsspeed value.The faster thedata transferneeded, the more expensive isthe essentialbus. The currentbus systemsarecurrently usedin the following chapterexplained againin detail.

Certain information isimportantfor all components, such aswhether theignition is turned on, orthe car isparkedandevery single componentshould change to alow-powermode in order tosave battery power. Theessential informationneededby severalgroups, are transported via agatewaycontrol device intothe respective group.

Individualgroupsof controllerscanbecombined inbus systems thatare significantly different. Thecommon systemsaredescribedin chapter below. Thechoice of the appropriatebus systemdepends on many factors: the required data rateandquantity, safety requirements, portability to othervehicle concepts, expandabilityand more.Butcertainly a big factoris theaffordabilityof the concept.Especially inthecompact carclass, cost pressureassumes enormous influence on thedecisionof the applicableoptions. In general, the price of a bus systemincreases with itstransmission speed. Universaland widely usedsystems are alsocheaper thanexoticcustom solutions.Such specialbusesare foundhardly. Systemsfrom other areas (e.g., Ethernet), which, althoughcheap andwidelyspreadand would therefore beseengladlyfor financial reasons.Butthese systems oftendo notmeet the stringenttechnicalrequirements forautomotive electronics.Thus, forexample, Ethernetdevicesdesigned forroom temperatureandplugs ofpatch cablesdo not provide sufficientprotectionagainstdust and vibrationin the engine compartment. Systemsfor militaryapplications providecertainly technicallyperfect conditions, but considering the costwould causetears to thewatchful eyes of thecontrolling department.

For derivatives thatare designedfor entry markets, rathersimple networkingconcepts arein the specifications. This allowscostsavingsin the double sense:The number ofnetworked control unitsis reducedandalso the wiring harness of the vehicle islessexpensive andlighter. Since commonnetworks,especially in thelow-price segmentare based on copper interconnects, this means cost reduce due to currently highraw material prices.

High-pricedluxury carshavenetworkedfeatures thatwould not be possiblewithoutnetworking:Camera-basedenvironmental sensors, ultrasonic basedparking systems,distance RADAR and LIDARcan be mergedso thatthesensor cloud creates a digitalimageof the vehicle environment. The mutualplausibility ofdataof different measurementmethodscan belifesavingin certain circumstances, important decisions, such aspre-crashdetection, multi collision brake assists, and safety isolationofhigh-voltage systems.

HereclassicCAN-basednetworking solutionsare reaching their limits. Firstly,the bus loadincreases with the numberofnetworked control unitsandthe associatedbus load. Too highbus loadmakesthe crosslinkingunstable, so in these cases thecontrol units,aftertheir installationor areaseparatedinto different sub-buses (which means that, in somecurrently producedSUVs upto sevenCANbus viaa gateway,communicate with each other). Secondly,justsafety-critical applicationsneedto check the plausibilityofdatanot onlythe readingsbut also a temporalmappingin order to derivethe changeandthe rate of changefrom it.

DiagnosisDiagnosis via computer is a common benefit of the used communication systems. Since every electronic is part of a network, it is possible to reach it by gaining access to this network. Almost every car has got anenhanced on-board diagnostic (EOBD) connector, a standardized interface (see figure 1); the regulatory intend was to force car manufacturers to design reliable emission control systems.

Figure SEQ Figure * ARABIC 1: OBD-II connector

Both connector and protocol are specified by OBD-II standards, and an error code indicates problems. The first letter indicates the system (e.g. P for powertrain), followed by four digits. This helps to locate the problem. But the possibilities to perform diagnosis are far beyond the standard protocol.

Every automobile enterprise has its own diagnostic and testing system (see figure 2) to get access to every single ECU.

Figure SEQ Figure * ARABIC 2: PIWIS Tester

With this test device, it is possible to flash software, code the ECU depended on the car setup, start routines, read back analog and digitals I/O ports and simulate certain communication blocks.

It is also possible to force the car into special conditions, like production mode, where it is possible to engage the immobilizer system, but speed is limited to 30km/h, for example. Another scope is to log the entire communication data to get feedback, how the car behaves in certain conditions.

The OBD-II interface is based on a CAN communication protocol, therefore the gateway has to translate signals from other bus systems. Since some bus systems have higher data ratios, the limits are obvious.

Automotive bus systemsThis chapter will provide basic information about bus systems which are used in nearly every single car produced nowadays.A bus is a subsystem that transfers data between components inside a device or between devices inside of a system. Unlike a point-to-point connection, a bus can logically connect several electronic control units over the same set of wires. Each bus defines its set of physical connectors, timing and access methods together.

Inthe automotive industry, several bus systemhave been established,tailored to therequirements thatare expected intoday’s vehicles. CAN and LINare themost established,MOST hasfound its placewiththe implementation ofmultimediainterfacesin 21stcentury. Thelatest bus systemiscurrently FlexRay.

CAN

This is themost widely used businthe currentcars. It is basedon atwo-wireasynchronous serialbus system.The twodatalines are terminatedwith 120 ohmresistors on each end of the line.

HYPERLINK “http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/de/7/7b/Can.jpg”

Figure SEQ Figure * ARABIC 3: CAN Logo

Communication takes place viamessagesthat canbe sentatany time of bus idleness. When several participantstry to sendat the same time, the message with the highest prioritywill always be transmittedfirst.During the data transmissionbegins, no other control device is allowedto send until thebus idlenessafter the end oftransmission.This can lead to delay ofthe transfer of individualmessages(low priority) andfixed specific timeof data transferis not possible.The busis monitoredand supervised by all participants. In case of detected errorsin thetransmission, each participant (includingthetransmitter) will send an errorframe. The senderthen attempts tosendthe message again. Itrecognizes, however, when sendingfaulty too often and stops transmitting.

The percentile bus load must not exceed 60% in order to reduce communication problems. (more preferably less than 50% is recommended). Since the buses are often deployed across the entire vehicle, they are often a feedback path for electromagnetic interference and thus always in the focus of EMC considerations of cars.

There is a distinction in principle between high-speed and low-speed CAN:

Highspeed-CAN:

Max. data transmission: 1Mbit/s

Max. length of wiring: 40m at 1 Mbit/s (100m at 500kBit/s)

based on twisted pair copper harness

Lowspeed-CAN:

Max. data transmission: 125kbit/s

Max. length of wiring: 500m at 125 Kbit/s

based on twisted pair copper harness with ground reference

Capable of Wakeup

LIN

Forperipheral applicationswith relatively lowdata transmissionLINis most suitable. It isthe cheapest optionto linkcomponents.LINisespecially used for applicationsthathavelow requirements fortransmission speed(the customerhardlynoticesthat thewindowsstarts runningonly100 millisecondsafter switching).

Figure SEQ Figure * ARABIC 4: LIN Logo

LIN is amaster-slavesystem. The masteris responsible for thediagnosisof the slaves, and determines whether thebusgoes into sleepmodeor active.Bus accessiscontrolledviatime schedules, so collisions between messages are avoided. But due to thistimetablenoflexibleresponse to specific eventsis possible.Thesingle wiretechnologymakesthe businexpensive, butmore susceptible tointerferencefrom the electrical system, which is why it findslittleusein the engine compartment(except forenergy-LIN for monitoring batteryand generator).

LIN:

Max. data transmission: 20 Kbit/s

Max. length of wiring: (far beyond demands in automotive enclosures)

based on single wire copper harness with ground reference

collision free deterministic bus access

Master-Slave topology

FlexRay

FlexRaymarks the latest development ofbus systems at the moment. It was created by a consortium of car manufacturers, suppliers and semiconductor producers in the years 2000 to 2010. It is found in high-class premium cars like Audi Q7, BMW X5 and 7series, Mercedes S-class.

HYPERLINK “http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bild:FlexRay_Logo.svg&filetimestamp=20080511085828” o “FlexRay Logo”

Figure SEQ Figure * ARABIC 5: FlexRay logo

It isa serialdeterministic andfault tolerantbus system, which should be up to the taskonthe vehicle networkin the near future. Advantage over theCANisthereal-time capability, higher data transfer ratesandreliability. Severalchannels(typically two) that are synchronized with each other, can interconnect the participants.In case of short circuit/ interruptionof a single channelcommunicationstill takes place. Similarly to CAN,datais packed intoframes, but the access to the bus is managed differently.There isa static segment, in which participantsare allowed to sendin a defined sequencedata packetsof fixed lengthwith(a ECUmayalsoseveral packetssendbyitis assignedmultipleIDs) and a dynamic segment, messagesin the subscriberin a fixedorderflexiblecansendlength. Thefixed orderis necessary since (unlike CAN) noarbitrationis possible due a missing recessivebus level. FlexRayhas threestates: “0”, “1”and “idle”, and all three are dominant.The sender of amessagethatreadsbackthe same timeand therefore cannotsee anybus errorsdue to collisions. It is not specified to senderror framesbyother participantson thebus during transmission. Fault is detectedat the endof the framefor severalerror sums(CRC headeranddataCRC).

FlexRay:

Max. data transmission: 10 Mbit/s per channel

Max. length of wiring: 24m (48m in a active star topology)

based on twisted pair copper harness

guaranteed latency

flexible topology

MOST

The MOST is the most expensive and most complex bus system that is currently found in automotive industry applications. MOST provides the highest data rate in automotive buses and is therefore suitable for the realization of audio, video, and data transmission in multimedia and infotainment systems. Due to its high costs, it is almost exclusively found in luxury vehicles.

Figure SEQ Figure * ARABIC 6: MOST logo

The data is transmitted serially over fiber optic lines between the participants, which are built in a ring topology. One subscriber is the timing master, which continuously feeds into the annular frames, which are then filled with data from the other participants and forwarded. An extension of the bus is relatively complex because of the split ring and the new device has to be inserted between two nodes. The fiber optic cables are immune to electromagnetic interference from the vehicle; the transceiver chips can greatly disrupt their environment, however.

MOST:

max. data transmission: 23 Mbit/s

max. participants: 64

based on copper or fiber optic

collission free bus access

token ring topology with bus timing master

ArbitrationThe arbitration logic (from Latin arbiter, “Judge”) is a functional unit in the form of electrical, digital circuit or a software routine that resolves access conflicts or collisions or prioritized access. This is necessary, for example in the case of bus systems with multiple bus masters, that means units permitted active, such as a DMA controller to access the data, in order to decide which one gets bus master access. In general, the arbitration´s target is the fairest possible allocation of resources to different users or devices.

Since a serial communication system such as CAN is based on a two-wire connection between nodes in the network, all nodes are sharing the same physical communication bus. A collision may occur, when two or more nodes in the network attempting to access the bus at virtually the same time, which may result in unwelcome effects, such as bus access delays or even damage of messages. CAN provides a non-destructive bus arbitration, no messages get lost [1].

CAN systems are based throughout on an event-driven transmission order, but therefore are not deterministic. This means that the exact time at which a message is sent cannot be predicted. Only exception is possibly the highest-priority message. CAN uses arbitration with CSMA / CD method, whereby important messages can be sent in time prior to less important. It is therefore a process that does not guarantee a fair allocation of the resource. The priority is done by the classification of the messages in the CAN-matrix: the lower the ID, which is the identifier of the message, the higher its priority. Arbitration is at the beginning of each message cycle.

CDMA assigns a different code to each node. Each node then uses its unique code to encode the data bits it sends, as discussed below. We’ll see that CDMA allows different nodes to transmit simultaneously and yet have their respective receivers correctly receive a sender’s encoded data bits (assuming the receiver knows the sender’s code) in spite of interfering transmissions by other nodes. CDMA has been used in military systems for some time (due to its antijamming properties) and is now beginning to find widespread civilian use, particularly for uses in wireless multiple access channels. [2]

Following graphic (figure 7) shows the general flow chart of a transmission attempt. Arbitration is a key element of every single try.

Figure SEQ Figure * ARABIC 7: transmission procedure

The arbitration itself starts, if two or more bus nodes start their transmission at the very same time after having found the bus to be idle. Collision of the messages is avoided by the implemented CMSA/CA + AMP bus access method. Each node sends the bits of its message identifier and monitors the bus level. As long as the bits from all transmitters are identical nothing happens.

Figure SEQ Figure * ARABIC 8: Arbitration example

At bit 5 nodes 1 and 3 send a dominant identifier bit. Node 2 sends a recessive identifier bit but reads back a dominant one. Node 2 looses bus arbitration and switches to listening only mode that is transmitting recessive bits. At bit 2 node 1 looses arbitration against node 3. This means that the message identifier of node 3 has a lower binary value and therefore a higher priority than the messages of nodes 1 and 2. In this way the bus node with the highest priority message wins arbitration without loosing time by having to repeat the message. Nodes 1 and 2 will send their messages after node 3 has finished its transmission. [3]

Error detection and fault confinementRather than providing a message confirmation, which in turn would increase the bus load, CAN goes the more aggressive route of assuming that all messages must be consistent with the defined standard. Every diversion from this standard is detected and reported immediately. This means, the error detection actually replaces the message confirmation. Naturally, confirmed messages would occur more often than actual error messages. Each node in the network will receive each transmitted message. A message filter guarantees that the node knows when to ignore a message or to process it. However, each node in the network will check the transmitted message for compliance with the defined standard. All receiving nodes check the consistency of the received frame and acknowledge the consistency. If the consistency is not acknowledged by any or all nodes in the network, the transmitter of the frame will post an error frame to the bus.

The occurrence of an error frame may actually have two reasons: first, the transmitted data frame was really faulty or second, the data frame was correct, but one node erroneously reported an error due to a local reception problem. It is important to distinguish between temporary errors or permanent failures of a node. CAN controllers address this problem by providing two different error counters, one for the transmit errors and one for the receive errors. If either counter exceeds a programmable limit, the node is considered faulty.

As a part of the fault confinement, the CAN protocol allow the removal of a CAN node from the network, in case the node produces a constant stream of errors and therefore unnecessarily increases the bus load. CAN also provide very short error recovery times of a maximum of 15-bit times. With a baud rate of 1 Mbit/sec this translates to maximal 15 microseconds [3].

DeterminismA system in which the later state of the system follows from, or is determined by, the earlier ones, is called deterministic. Such a system contrasts with a stochastic or random system in which future states are not determined from previous ones. [4]

For a communication system in automotive environment deterministic means, that data is provided to the receiver at a predictable time. The static segment of the FlexRay communication represents those deterministic characteristics. As you can read in the chapter “FlexRay Basics”, the FlexRay Bus is divided into a static and a dynamic segment. The segments are part of the time cycle of a sequence and repeated as long the bus is awake. The static segment is used for all messages containing time critical or time sensible subjects. An example may be common motor states, which are essential for many electronic sub-components of the drivetrain of a car. Advanced car assistance systems need time equivalent distance between single measurement points to extrapolate the curve and predict future values more accurate (see figure 9).

Figure SEQ Figure * ARABIC 9: prediction of sensor values

Detailed definition of the scope of workObjective of the dissertationThis thesis tries to find a way of merging the benefits of two different access methods into one system. It means combining the stability and reliability of determinism with the flexibility of the most common priorization model nowadays. The ultimate ambition would be to create a universal bus system for all purposes of automotive applications.

Both methods are established standards:

The CAN Bus provides an arbitration access method and is the most common bus interface in nearly every single modern car in this time. It has proven its benefits over decades in hundreds of millions cars.

The FlexRay bus is the logic consequence to the increasing amount of data between more and more electronic control units (ECUs) in modern cars. It considers special demands of advanced driver assistance, active and passive safety on board.

Both Access methods have their rights to exist and a certain scope of advantages:

CAN is establishedand most common in use. The CAN-matrices for every single system yet exists and has been improved over the years. The method is known to each supplier and standard for every vehicle manufacturer.

The FlexRay standard has been negotiated between major car manufacturers, system suppliers and semiconductor producers. It meets all necessary requirements to be accepted by the automotive industry.

Both Access methods have their restrictions:

CAN has reached its limits. In the 2012 version of a high class sports utility vehicle (SUV) of one of the world´s leading car brands we can find seven different high-speed CAN subsystems to maintain the communication: drivetrain, chassis, comfort, multimedia, dashboard, crash and extended CAN are all connected to a gateway, the neuralgic part of data transfer.

FlexRay has no error detection and fault confinement like CAN. The dynamic segment does not meet the same flexibility as arbitration. It is not possible to perform a change from CAN to FlexRay without redefining every single message.

Combining both systems under consideration of special issues could lead to a bus system to replace the common standard using existing arbitration matrices and benefiting from advantages of determinism. The scope of this work is to show a theoretic way of modifying both physical layer and software in order to implement arbitration into a system, which is not really prepared for the special demands of this.

Aims of the dissertationThe scientific contribution of this work is characterized by the description of finding and describing theoretical ways to modify each aspect of bus properties in order to create a unique system which grants benefits for a radical approach:The sum of all modifications will lead to a revolutionary new bus access method which is suitable for both existing control units and fit for future demands by eliminating the restrictions of existing bus technologies and simultaneous implying the benefits of the different access methods:

Modification of the physical layer

The aim is to slightly modify the physical properties. It would be perfect to find a way of using the complete physical properties of an existing bus technology, since this would mean to be able to keep all established communication modules, drivers, wiring, impedance networks, architecture and monitoring. The scientific scope of this dissertation is to describe a modification, which causes minimal modification effort on established technology. This is the base for building of the bus infrastructure needed to develop the communication systems itself. It is necessary to introduce three logical levels to realize differential signals with two dominant levels and a recessive level for arbitration algorithms. The choice of levels themself is not really easy: on the one hand a low differential voltage offer advantages in current consumption, when establishing a system with quite low impedance (around 120 ohms). On the other hand the logical levels have to differ quite enough during arbitration in order to be assigned correctly, even in critical situations (more than one ECU is trying to manipulate the logical level at slightly different time stamps).

Time management

The time management is essential for a TDMA by topology. Therefore most of the scientific work will be in this domain. The demand is to create a way to literally avoid collisions on the data highway. It is comparable to trying to find a way of merge railway and motorway. The challenge is to put a rail on the same lane a car uses without delaying the time schedule. Scientific contribution is to provide ideas to future bus access methods. The ultimate goal is to keep all existing priority tables of arbitration systems and time tables of deterministic systems.

In order to establish a deterministic part in a system with arbitration, there is only one possibility:

The message with the highest priorization has to start at predefined point of time, dependent on the time schedule. This is used to synchronize thestart of deterministic transmission. Key Element to this is the network idle time. Since even the most important message can only start when no other transmission took place for a defined period of time, it is very important to force bus silence just a short time before the synchronization message. The idle time must not start too early, so there is no chance for other messages to start transmission just a short time before synchronization message.

software modification

Modification of both physical layer and network timing properties logically leads to modifications of the data containers themselves. The aim is to adapt the data security, error and fault management to the changed environment. The scientific work is to restructure the frame fo

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Reflection Paper on Case Study

Family Business Review article reflects on the domains present in the business studies. The article engages in competitive organizational studies that attract intellectual and financial resources for expansion of the business. The scholars get a chance in research towards family firms on the economic landscape in the global market. The study generates interest and gains attention on the field of the family business hence encouraging diversity in the business sector. Family firms have unique control mechanisms and create a unique design of gathering resources. The family firms have three general directions: articulation of multiple operations, development of scales and development of family firm typologies. The three directions determine the operational standards of the family firms and the voting criteria. Many family firms would like to retain their control and remain relevant in the global market. A good family firm engages in day-to-day operations and participates in community development.

The method used in the study is descriptive and analytical. Sharma (5) analyses different family firms and their role in community development. The family firms are in a competitive business and aim to remain in the leading position in terms of international recognition. Sharma distinctively provides the models present in the family business and the process of defining different sectors of the firms. Analysis process is in a table format that provides the status and directions of the family firms. The analytical table gives the positive and negative outcomes of the family dimension in relation to business dimension (Sharma 8). Furthermore, the study process divides into individual, interpersonal, organizational and societal levels. Individual level analyses the role of stakeholders and future prospects of expansion. Interpersonal level deals with the contractual agreement among family groups for the benefit of expanding the business sector.

The analytical methods integrate the business dimension and family prospects to increase chances of leading the family firms in the global market. The transition process has a significant role in research studies on behaviourism and succession process. The process of integration in the family firms enhances development and expansion of the cultural area. The organizational level of analysis identifies the management of resources present in the family firms. The scholars use resource-based theory in identifying the unique resources in different family firms. The research studies understand the sources of financial capital present in family firms and the reliability of the capital sources. Societal level of analysis focuses on establishing the economic value of the family firms in different nations. Studies reveal that the family businesses are the major contributors in the increase of Growth Domestic Product (GDP) of a country. Family firms are important towards the development of the nation

and the government should provide support on the family firms.

Opinion on the article gets basis from the analytical aspect of the family firms. Few studies are present on the family firms and their importance in the development of the country. Scholars are currently diverting their research studies towards family firms since they are on the increases especially in the current twenty-first century. The family firms require dedication and commitment in management and identify capital resources for the expansion of the sector. The knowledge on dissemination is improving the functionality of the family firms leading in utilizing the available resources. The major difficulties scholars face in research involving family firms is choosing the research topic. Mutual interaction enhances proper designing of the research question on family business.

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Work Cited:

Sharma, Pramodita. “An Overview Of The Field Of Family Business Studies: Current Status

And Directions For The Future.” Family business review 17.1 (2004): 1-36. DOI: 10.1111/j.1741-6248.2004.00001.x

Factors that affect the demand and supply of oil in Australia

Introduction

The supply demand curve plays assumes a paramount part in deciding the harmony cost for anything and to comprehend the oil business demand and supply curve we need to consider emulating exceptions. Oil Supply and Demand is inelastic to the transient as independent of what petrol cost the auto is not going to change to other fuel or the separation between the two spot likewise not going to diminish this comes about the utilization of oil stay same in short run so the accompanying cases are consistently treated under long haul premise. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is occupied with making arrangements and balance out the oil cost on the planet i.e. represents the aggregate evaluating methodology with respect to which now and then over through interest curve versatility (Agcaoili & Rosegrant, 1995).

Supply – Demand curve

The Supply-Demand curve is fundamentally a graphical representation of supply pattern and interest pattern of item/administrations that is utilized to close the harmony cost of the food. As in balance cost is the cost where the interest and the supply curve meets i.e. the point where amount demanded is one and the same to the amount supplied. Furthermore change in the elements which specifically or by implication influence the interest and supply of the food brings about change in balance cost because of the shift in the interest curve, supply curve or both the curves (Kjärstad & Johnsson, 2009).

Shift in Demand curve

The interest curve all in all compares to the measure of some element that a purchaser needs to purchase at a certain level of cost. The build and abatement popular could originate from changing forms and tastes, earnings, value changes in reciprocal and substitute merchandise, market desires, and number of purchasers. This would result in the whole demand curve to move changing the balance cost and amount. The movement of the interest curve, by creating another balance cost to develop, brought about development along the supply curve from the crossing point of interest and supply curve previously, then after the fact the change in the interest of the merchandise

Shift in supply curve

The supply curve fundamentally speaks to the measure of a few products that the makers are ready and ready to offer at different costs. The components influencing straightforwardly or in a roundabout way in increment or decline in the supply of the merchandise i.e. at the point when the suppliers’ unit data expenses change, or when innovative advancement happens, brings about movement of the supply curve. The shift in the supply curve additionally brings about changing in the harmony cost and amount of the item. The aforementioned supply demand curve movements can be clarified better by graphs in the distinctive cases as specified underneath

Circumstances where demand curve be upward sloping

The Demand curve is generally downward sloping for the goods because it follows law of demand that states the demand for a commodity increase when its price decrease and falls when its price rises, other things remaining constant. But there are certain exceptions for law of demand that results in upward sloping demand curve.

Expectation regarding Future price – If the customer expect a ceaseless increment in the cost of sturdy item. It may begin acquiring more noteworthy measure of merchandise regardless of in its cost with a perspective to keep away from the squeeze of much higher cost in future. Correspondingly when a customer expect for abatement in future value it delayed the buy for future. Case in point, in prebudget month’s value for the most part has a tendency to climb. Yet individuals purchase more storable in suspicion of further climb in costs because of new exacts (Peersman & Van Robays, 2012).

Status Goods – The law of interest does not be significant to the items which are utilized as a ‘materialistic trifle’ for upgrading social esteem and for showing ones riches. The sum demanded for such items climb with an increment in their value and reduction with decline in there cost (Timilsina, Mevel & Shrestha, 2011). For example wares like gold, valuable stones, uncommon artworks, obsolescent, and so forth. Rich individuals purchase these merchandise predominantly on the grounds that their costs are high and purchase a greater amount of them when their costs

Conclusion

A Giffen decent may be any substandard article of exchange much low-valued than its prevalent substitution, devoured by the poor family loop as a paramount product. On the off chance that the cost of such stock raise (cost of its substitute left over unfaltering) its demand upgrade rather than fall in light of the fact that in the event of a Giffen decent, wage impact of a value suspend is more than its substitute impact. The reason is when cost of substandard item builds, wage enduring much the same, poor tenants cut the utilization of the predominant substitute so they may purchase enough amount of sub-par element to meet their principal need. Case in point when cost of potatoes (A fundamental nourishment for destitute) decrease radically, and after that this family unit may like to purchase unrivaled thing out of the cash which they can now have because of the decrease in cost of potatoes. It would expand the utilization of unrivaled products like tree grown foods, cereals, and so forth from these rebate as well as from lessening the utilization of potatoes.

References

Agcaoili, M., & Rosegrant, M. W. (1995). Global and regional food supply, demand, and trade prospects to 2010. In Population and food in the early twenty-first century: Meeting future food demand of an increasing population.

Kjärstad, J., & Johnsson, F. (2009). Resources and future supply of oil. Energy Policy, 37(2), 441-464.

Peersman, G., & Van Robays, I. (2012). Cross-country differences in the effects of oil shocks. Energy Economics, 34(5), 1532-1547.

Timilsina, G. R., Mevel, S., & Shrestha, A. (2011). Oil price, biofuels and food supply. Energy Policy, 39(12), 8098-8105.

Gender and Family Status

Gender

In 2013, Expatriates ladies doctoral researchers and architects had a somewhat higher unemployment rate than men (1.8 percent contrasted with 1.6 percent), yet the distinction was not measurably huge. A multivariate investigation affirmed the absence of a factually huge relationship in the middle of sex and unemployment status in 2013, when other important variables were controlled.

Family Status and Gender

In the all-inclusive community, marriage and kids are connected with low unemployment rates amid Expatriates. A comparable example existed in the 2013 doctoral science and building population. Nonetheless, the effect of marriage and children is very distinctive for men and ladies in the doctoral populace. Single expatriates’ men are higher as compared to the married ones. (Table 1). The unemployment rate for wedded men was 2.4%, contrasted with 2.7% for unmarried men. The similar unemployment rates for ladies were 2.9% and 2.2 %, separately. Institutionalization did not change these connections.

Table 1: Expatriates Unemployment based on Gender

 

The unemployment rate for expatriates with children 1.4 percent) was lower than the unemployment rate for those without youngsters living in the home (1.9 percent) (table 2). Like conjugal status, having kids delivered huge contrasts in the unemployment rates of men and ladies. Despite the fact that ladies with kids had unemployment rates surpassing those for ladies without youngsters (2.4 percent contrasted and 1.2 percent), men with youngsters had lower unemployment rates than their childless partners (1.2 percent contrasted and 2.1 percent). Institutionalization on the non-demographic variables did not diminish fundamentally the quality of this association impact.

Amount of Work Experience

An assortment of circumstances may cause a single person to consider deliberately dropping out of the work constrain or working low maintenance including a craving to invest more of an opportunity with youthful kids or maturing relatives, or essentially requiring some investment off to investigate the world. There are likewise times when people need to pick between profession ways offering distinctive levels of employer stability. Vocations might likewise be hindered by variables past a singular’s control. As per tried and true way of thinking, intrusions in full-time livelihood after culmination of instruction can be unsafe to a singular’s future vocation. In this segment, three essential markers of profession congruity full-time work experience, former period non-job, and low maintenance work experience-are inspected to decide how exact this tried and true way of thinking is.

Full-time Work Experience

The unstandardized relationship between years of full-time work experience and unemployment is not direct (outline 1). Those with less than 5 years of experience and those with 25 or more years of full-time work experience were more prone to be unemployed than those with moderate lengths of work experience. The unemployment rates among those with less than 5 years of full-time work experience were 2.6 percent; for those with 25 or more years, it was 1.9 percent. Be that as it may, the unstandardized relationship does not consider that the quantity of years of work experience is indigent upon the chance to work. Case in point, adolescent laborers have not had room schedule-wise to gather long work histories. In the wake of controlling for different variables in this investigation, the relationship between full-time work experience and unemployment demonstrates that unemployment decreases with expanding years of full-time work experience. The institutionalized unemployment rate for people with 2.5 years of full-time work experience was 4.0 percent, contrasted with 0.7 percent for those with 30 years of full-time experience. Subsequently, among people finishing their doctorates in the meantime, the variable of extra years of full-time work experience seems to reduction the likelihood of unemployment. On account of the solid relationship between years since receipt of the doctorate and years of work experience, this relationship is darkened in taking a gander at real unemployment rates.

 

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Factors that caused the U.S. government to transition from the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution

The Articles of Confederation led to the creation of strong states and weakened the powers of the central government. Each state had its own government, independence and power to control its political and economic systems. The main reason for the adoption of the Articles of Confederation was to weaken the national government as a way of avoiding the problems that Americans experienced during the colonial period (Gillman et al., p. 68). However, the Articles could not regulate the growing states, which led to the transition to the constitution. In addition, the Articles of Confederation had vested too much power in the state governments, which challenged the execution of duties and legislation of policies (Prince, p. 45). The transition to the constitution intended to deal with the problem of lack of central leadership where states were independent from each other and the national government. In most cases, states passed policies that did not rhyme with those of the national government, which challenged economic and political prosperity.

Lack of a common currency was also another factor that led to the transition to the constitution. The Articles of Confederation did not establish a single currency to be used by all states in the United States, which challenged foreign trade and inter-state trade. Difficulties in raising national revenue was also a factor that led to the transition. The state governments had the power to collect taxes from the public and then loan the national government (Prince, p. 124). Therefore, the national government did not have the funds required to finance its roles such as clearing foreign debts and maintaining foreign relations. Most of the factors that led to the transition were the results of the inefficiencies caused by the structure of government in the 1780s.

The inadequate powers of the congress was one of the factors that challenged the working of the Articles of Confederation. The congress could not impose taxes or influence trade between states and foreign entities. Additionally, the congress did not have any mechanisms of passing its policies and influencing legislation due to lack of the executive and a court system. The structure of the government also made it difficult to pass laws affecting the American people because all states had to vote unanimously to pass such laws. It was very difficult for all states to adopt a unanimous vote on an issue. The structure of the government, which vested powers on the state governments, challenged the economic and political systems in the United States, which led to the transition. ‘

The three portions of the U.S. Constitution

The Preamble

This is the non-legal part of the constitution. It outlines the basic reasons for writing the constitution as well as the structure and contents of the document. The preamble also indicates how the constitution was created to safeguard the will of the American people in its opening words “We are the People of the United States.” (Peterson and Brian, p. 100) It helps in understanding the constitution by outlining the reasons that prompted its adoption. Many scholars use the preamble as an aid to interpreting the constitution but not the legal implications.

The Articles

The constitution has seven articles with each of the articles having its own unique contents. The constitution has seven articles that highlight the legislation passed at the Constitutional Convention. The articles summarize the basic law in the United States that determines the structure of the government. The articles explain the powers vested on each arm of the government and its leaders. For instance, Article II summarizes the powers of the executive and the president who is the leader of the government (Peterson and Brian 96). The articles highlight the powers vested on each level of government and provide the procedure and requirements of ratifying the constitution.

The Amendments

The amendments section captures the need to change the constitution that may arise in the course of time. It outlines all changes that have been made to the constitution over time. The amendments originate from the states or the congress as outlined in the articles portion. The amendments portion begins by highlighting the bill of rights that is an integral part of the American people. Presently, the constitution has 27 amendments with the first ten touching on the bill of rights (Peterson and Brian 58).

Structure of the Current U.S. Government

The government of the United States is divided into the federal government and the state governments. The federal government has three branches; the legislature, the judiciary and the executive (Storey, p. 89). The three branches of government are independent of each other although they are interdependent. The president is the leader of the government and shares power with the congress and other systems of government. The constitution outlines the powers of each branch of the government, the powers of the president who is the leader of government and the interaction between state governments and the federal government (DiIulio, p. 105). The state governments govern the affairs of their state governments through legislation and other activities as outlined in the constitution. The constitution outlines the unique responsibilities of each level of government.

Works Cited

DiIulio, John J. American Government. Belmont, Calif: Wadsworth, 2010. Print.

Gillman, Howard, Mark A. Graber, and Keith E. Whittington. American Constitutionalism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013. Print.

Peterson, Christine, and Brian Bascle. The U.S. Constitution. Mankato, Minn: Capstone Press, 2009. Internet resource.

Prince, Le B. B. Articles of Confederation Vs. the Constitution. S.l.: General Books, 2010. Print.

Storey, William. Us Government and Politics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2010. Print.

Groupthink

Author

Institution

According to Janis, groupthink is a decline of mental efficiency, moral judgement and reality testing, which usually results from an in-group pressures. The groupthink has a role in the making of the US foreign policy. Most of the America’s policy failures can be contributed to groupthink; for example the Bay of Pigs. Some irrational factors seemed to operate in the foreign policy failures; in analyzing these factors, Bay of Pigs will be used as a reference. One of the factors was the illusion of invulnerability. This developed excessive optimism, which encouraged the taking of extreme risks. During the Bay of Pigs invasion, several advisers to the Kennedy cabinet made a confession that nothing could stop them from their decision with John Kennedy leading them. Another factor leading to the failure of most foreign policies made by the U.S was the illusion of unanimity. Most members of the cabinet and Kennedy advisers during the Kennedy administration had views and judgments that were unanimous. This was admitted by Schlesinger, an advisor, a few months after the Bay of Pigs invasion.

Self-censorship was another factor contributing to the failure of the US foreign policies; doubts and deviations from the cabinet consensus were not expressed. The advisors were reluctant of asking questions that could cast doubt on the decision that they thought was accepted because of fear of evoking condemnation from their associates. Self-appointed mindguards constituted another factor leadings to the failure of most US foreign policies. The role of the president as a mindguard became supplemented by the pressure that he exerted on the group so as to foster docility and uncritical reception of the defective arguments. Besides, another factor leading to the failure of the foreign policies was direct pressure on dissenters; members were under pressure so as not to express arguments hindering the views of the group. There was no member who could criticize the decision that had been agreed by the majority members in the making of the foreign policies. This led to their failure.

The belief in inherent morality also contributed to the failure of the foreign policies; in making their decisions, members making the foreign policies believed in the rightness of their cause, which made them ignore the moral or ethical consequences of their decisions. In the making of a foreign policy, it is crucial to consider the ethical consequences of any action taken; however, the policy is bound to fail if this is not considered, and this is what led to the failure of most US foreign policies. The decision makers believe that their cause was right and could not be reversed. In addition, collective rationalization was a contributing factor leading to the failure of most of the US foreign policies. Members involved in the making of policies discounted warnings and did not reconsider their assumption, which was a weak decision in the making of foreign policies. Furthermore, there were stereotyped views of out-groups. There were negative views of the enemy, which made it difficult for decision makers to integrate responses that could deal sufficiently with the enemy; for instance, in the Pearl Harbor attack, the decision makers underestimated the enemy leading to failure.

The failures that emanated from the groupthink could only become a success story through the adoption of some measures. One of such measures entails the leader avoiding stating of preferences and expectations during the outset of a foreign policy. By leaders avoiding stating preferences, they were capable of eliminating the notion of self-appointed mindguard in the making of foreign policies. Members in the group making the foreign policies should be assigned the role of critical evaluators by the leader in order to avoid instances, where members cannot challenge a flaw in the foreign policy. Through this mentality, foreign policies were made successful. The involvement of outside experts in challenging the views of policy makers became encouraged leading to a success of foreign policies. In addition, in order to realize success the leaders avoided undermining the enemy; the leaders ensured that there was sufficient time in surveying signals coming from rivals. This helped in analyzing the enemy leading to a successful decision. Social-psychological factors are critical to any decision making process. Since making of foreign policy involves acting rationally, social-psychological factors are vital in the making of foreign policies; therefore, I agree with Irving Janis that social-psychological factors are of importance in the making of foreign policy.

Conclusion

The maintenance of unanimity can lead a group not evaluating all its alternatives; this leads to failure of a decision made by the group. Most of the foreign policies of the United States became a failure due to the involvement of the groupthink concept. Groupthink had a critical role to play in the making of foreign policies as depicted in the Pearl Harbor, the Vietnam War, the Bay of Pigs, and the invasion of Iraq among others. The decision makers in all these foreign policies utilized the concept of groupthink. However, due to the weaknesses in the decision made by using this concept, these foreign policies did not succeed.

Dissertation Proposal

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Factors that determine sovereign bond ratings in the European credit market.

Background/Introduction

The banking crisis in late 2008 caused a crisis of assurance in the financial health of some member States of the Euro area (Afonso, 2003). Cantor and Packer (2008) state that various financial organizations in Europe are doing all it takes to boost confidence in European economy to prevent market concerns spreading to other Euro area economies. Attention has been drawn to the role and behaviour of credit ratings agencies and, in particular, the three main agencies: Moody’s, Standards and Poor’s and Fitch.

The rating agencies were visited post the collapse of the banks in 2008 for not rating certain financial products properly, contributing to the severity of the collapse (Mulder and Perrelli 2001). With the rating agencies’ reputations yet to recover, the agencies have been accused of precipitating and exacerbating the Euro area crisis by downgrading some nation’s sovereign ratings for example, Greece and Portugal. According to Monfort and Mulder (2000), Politicians across Europe have opted for enhanced regulation and made suggestions that oligopoly of the rating agencies ought to be challenged by creating European credit rating agency. In October 2009, the European commission initiated a discussion on credit rating agencies regarding these issues (Mulder and Perrelli 2001).

Roubini (2001) emphasizes that the criticism that Credit rating agencies precipitated the European crisis is chiefly unjustified; their downgrades only reflect the weightiness of the problems that many Member states are presently facing. As a matter of fact, as confirmed by Trevino and Thomas (2001), in the majority of cases they have followed, rather than led, market sentiment. Additionally, the works of the three agencies have been complicated by having to work against a background of changing policy initiatives form EU Member States.

The downgrade of rating agency, in certain circumstances, exercises a disproportionate influence on markets, exacerbating fragile situations. Considering the fast changing nature of recent events and financial markets volatility after the economic meltdown in 2008, one can find out the degree to which rating agencies may have worsen the crisis (Trevino and Thomas, 2001).

According to Peters (2002), the credit rating agencies received deserved criticism for their role in the banking collapse on 2008. Their role in the ongoing European market crisis is considerably different, and justified anger over their former failures should not colour objective assessment of their current decisions relating to European sovereign debt (Trevino and Thomas, 2001). The global accredit rating industry is, as at now, an oligopoly.

While not essentially contrasting further regulatory measures to boost transparency, Peters (2002) recommends that the new framework be given time before further changes are made. This is hoped to assist ensure investor get the actual picture of the sovereign ratings: subjective predictions that depend upon the individual judgment of rating agency staff. Investor is not to follow the ratings blindly rather look at them as notions to be balanced and confirmed by other European indicators (Trevino and Thomas, 2001). Following the crisis, it is vital to analyse the suitability and applicability of Fitch Ratings, Moody’s and Standard and Poors ratings agencies. It is also crucial to critically analysing the key determinants of sovereign bond ratings.

Aim of the Research

The research is aimed at analysing the key determinants of sovereign bond ratings reviewing the top three rating agencies: Fitch Ratings, Moody’s and Standard and Poors. The analysis will employ component Analysis in identifying the key factors affecting sovereign credit ratings.

Objectives

In order to achieve the set objective and for finer analysis, two objectives have been set to answer the research aim.

To critically analyze the suitability and accuracy of Fitch Ratings, Moody’s and Standard and Poors ratings agencies.

To critically analysing the key determinants of sovereign bond ratings using the three rating agencies.

Research rationale

Sovereign bonds affect the European economy through many channels, some of which are not clear but sill powerful. The government and financial institutions need to know the various factor affecting sovereign bonds and so the importance of the research.

There have been various blames on the rating agencies of not properly carrying out their functions, and so the real case of the fall in European economy in 2008 has not been properly investigated. The research makes a further step to investigate the credibility and accuracy of the rating agencies and factors affecting sovereign bonds. Through the analysis of the suitability and accuracy of a rating agency, the three agencies under review will have a chance to identify any loop holes in their ratings.

Literature Review

Sovereign debt in merging market economies affects the domestic economy through a variety of channel, some of which are not entirely apparent but still powerful. Few theoretical papers have analyzed the role of sovereign bonds, and most of the empirical literature on bonds spreads and debt crises have not explored that link.

Sovereign bonds have become an increasingly significant source of financing for European countries. One significant feature of the sovereign bonds is its substantial credit spreads owing sovereign default risk. Various theories and notions regarding sovereign bonds ratings have come up since the economic meltdown in 2008. Though there are claims about the accuracy and suitability of the rating agencies, it is clear that various factors have effects on the sovereign bond ratings.

McKenzie (2002) through a research found that world interest rate and domestic. Fundamental account for 40 percent of movement in bond spreads. Few empirical studies include the exchange rate policy into assessing sovereign default risk.

The literature review will collect the secondary information from the journal and books regarding the three rating agencies and information related to sovereign bonds ratings. Literature review is essential in finding relevant information and the former theories and facts about sovereign bonds rating in the European market.

Models to be employed in the research

Fitch Ratings, Moody’s and Standard and Poors past ratings will be used as the basis for analysis since. A principal component analysis will be employed to identify the common factors affecting the ratings. The three agencies will be analyzed in turn for finer and deeper analysis. The three agencies rating in the 2008 economic crisis will be thoroughly examined.

Methodology

The methodology section describes the philosophy to be employed in the research. The research methodology will entail the instruments and the market to studied (European Market). The chapter will further include a description of the sampled market, sampling procedure used and the rationale and how information was collected from the sampled market. The aim of research is to critically analyze the application and credibility of the three agencies as sovereign credit ratings in the European market. In so doing the common factors that determine credit ratings in the European market will be thus identified.

Data Collection

Both primary and secondary research methods will be used in data collection. The primary data will be through questionnaires and interviews. Questionnaires will be the main method through which the data will be collected from respondents. The structured interview questions will be mainly aimed at analysing the objectives. The secondary data collection technique will entail collecting data already existing from various sources to give a platform for the research. The past Moody’s analysis will be analysed. Among the secondary sources will be journals and books.

The researchers favoring primary data collection techniques feel as though collecting new data is the best way to contribute to the research topic. Alternatively, those in favor of secondary analysis feel that using available data is the best mechanism to contribute to knowledge base. The secondary analyses identify gaps in the knowledge base and suggest problem formulations, hypothesis, and research methods that require primary collection. The research will majorly depend on the secondary data. Relevant information concerning the analysis of the ratings done by the three agencies will be used for analysis.

Secondary data has a number of uses in the process of consultancy research ranging from helping identify the problem and setting objectives through to helping interpret data and making recommendations. Effective planning of secondary data collection is essential, and the researcher is to assess what they are looking for, where to look and how to look for such data. Through secondary method, the researcher will also be able to collect a large volume of data necessary for analysis and so its adoption in this research. Through the secondary methods, the suitability and accuracy of Fitch Ratings, Moody’s and Standard and Poors ratings agencies will be determined.

Analysis

Analysis will comprise a cross tabulation of the facings affecting the sovereign credit rating in order to determine the common factors shared among the agencies. The analysis will start by eliminating the materials that do not contribute to the research question. The remaining materials will be grouped based on the content.

Conclusion

The conclusion section will summarize the entire dissertation noting the key findings in the analysis. The chapter will also contain recommendations and the research limitations. The conclusion will further contain the areas that require further research.

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