Legal Research

Samaritan Smith slipped and fell on shampoo that had spilled In the health and beauty department of the grocery store in question. Ms. Smith had suffered a broken hip from the incident and is going to be spending the next few months in physical therapy. Ms. Smith has no health insurance and is a single mother of a 2 year old boy. After our complaints were filed In the courts; the grocery store alleges that Ms. Smith had a duty herself to avoid the spillage, but was too distracted by her young son to notice. The store feels that Ms. Smith should be held just as responsible as hey are in the case.The question being presented today, Is If both parties Involved are equally responsible? Ms. Smith does in fact possibly hold some sort of comparative fault in this case. The grocery store did complete their scheduled aisle check Just thirty minutes before Ms. Smith slipped. INDO. Code Ann. 534-51-2-5 (WEST 1998) states that â€Å"In an action based on fault, any contributory fault chargeable to the claimant diminishes proportionately the amount awarded as compensatory damages for an injury attributable to the claimants contributory fault, but does not bar recovery†.There are several factors in that can place Ms. Smith with comparative fault. The biggest fact being that she was not paying attention, because she was dealing with her 2 year old son. It does not seem that the store is not at all responsible for the injuries she sustained. Yes, the aisle check was done at the scheduled time, but it was checked by an older gentleman that wore prescription glasses. As in Wall-Mart v. Wright, 774 EN ad 891 (2002) where Wright was found at comparative fault and awarded 30% less In damages, this too could be the case with Ms. Grants Ms.Smith states negligence on the grocery stores behalf, but she too had a duty to pay attention to her surroundings. The grocery store in question has documented proof of an aisle check being done at 1 p. M. The shampoo could have spilled anyt ime between 1:00 and 1:30 p. M. In conclusion Ms. Smith could very well hold some comparative fault if the grocery store can prove that she was distracted enough by her child, that she was unable to notice the spillage. [Where are the headings in your memo? I have no idea where your memo components are. ] Wall-Mart stores Inc. V. Got, 774 EN ad 891 (2002) Wright originally sued Wall-Mart for Injuries she sustained when she slipped and fell on a puddle of water in the â€Å"Outdoor Lawn and Garden Corral†. Wright insisted Wall-Mart was negligent in the maintenance and inspections of the premises. Wright was found at comparative fault for not doing her duty as an Individual and shopper and paying attention In an area of the store where it was common for water to be on the ground. Description Weighting Possible Points Points Earned Content Student located a statute from the appropriate Jurisdiction.The statute that the dent located is on the appropriate issue and applied to the fact situation. Student provided proper citation of statutes. Student located a case from the appropriate Jurisdiction that interprets the statute. 32 Sentence Mastery Sentences are consistently grammatical. Major sentence-level errors, including fragments, run-eons, and comma splices, are avoided. Sentences are graceful, I. E. , they can be read aloud without awkwardness, awkward pauses, or running out of breath. Language is rich, precise, and vivid. 6 Grammar and Mechanics Spelling is proficient. Spellchecker has been used to avoid egregious errors.Grammar and mechanics are sound, including mastery of the following key elements: subject-verb agreement; verb form; appropriate punctuation and capitalization; apostrophe use; appropriate word use. There are no extra words, and there are not missing words. Organization and Format Organization and structure are clear and easy to follow. Writing shows clear purpose and orderly transitions from beginning to end. Sentences consistently est ablish this organization and flow rather than interrupt it. Format meets PAPA guidelines and Bluebook rules as appropriate, including use of title pages.There is no playful experimentation with fancy fonts. It is written for the appropriate audience. Citation Style Writing shows both internal citations in the body of the text as well as a proper list of references at the end of the paper, following PAPA or Bluebook format. Citations appear consistently where needed, whether following quoted or paraphrased material in the text. Note: In papers requiring secondary sources, failure to provide any citation does not result in a deduction of 10% from the paper, but will result in a failed paper and a plagiarism investigation.Total: 100% 60] Possible Points [50] Points Earned Additional Instructor Comments: FRIAR for Samaritan Smith scenario Facts [Your own paraphrase of the facts of Smith's problem in one or two paragraphs. This goes to the Analysis section, so do not skimp. ] Issue [Your own statement of Smith's problem in a single sentence in yes or no format. For example, â€Å"Can Samaritan Smith recover for the damages she endured as the result of a slip and fall at a local grocery store where shampoo had leaked upon the floor? â€Å"] Rule The citations and holdings from the two cases you located (one in Unit Three and one

Class and Gender Reflection

A reflection on Class and Gender from a traditional / ethnic background by: Gender: I grew up surrounded by powerful women: Three older sisters who decided what I would wear and which games we would play. A mother and two aunties, who held positions of power as teachers. My dad was a passive person and therefore was ruled by the women in our household. So at my young age, â€Å"Gender† was protection for my dad' My first exposure to gender outside of my household was In the media. With the feminist movement. I then realized that my home was an exception and that globally, omen were being treated as If they were Inferior to men.But another realization came to me: In the western world, women were fighting for independence, whereas in traditional societies, women were (and are still) fighting for family unity. A priest once told me: The woman Is the pillar of her household. In the ass in Mauritius, the feminist movement started with the boom In the economy. Suddenly, housewives w ent to work In mass In factories and this caused a significant change in the family dynamics in two ways: No longer were men the sole bread winners in the family; and Ђ Children were coming home from school without a parent being horn.With regards to Africa, a significant component of humanitarian aid has gone towards the empowerment of African women, like helping them to build Income generating activities. However, no work has been done in parallel with the men. So men of traditional societies suddenly found themselves less educated than their wives, and becoming reliant on their wives for Income support. This loss In status without any opportunity to express themselves, have caused some men to turn violent towards heir wives. More and more now. Unitarian agencies are making sure that all community members participate in the process of project to ensure that the men are not left â€Å"behind-. Class: Growing up, It was clear that there was (and that there still Is) a social cl ass system In Mauritius, even It It was not openly acknowledged. There Is clear delve In terms of 1) wealth, 2) education, 3) skin color and even 4) your name. And this class structure Is maintained by the political and economic system, because they benefit trot it. Politicians can more easily pull the wool over the eyes tooth population, it the latter is uneducated.In Australia, it seemed that there was no class division in society – I now know that this Is not true. Twelve years ago, I moved back to Mauritius and chose to live in a small coastal village where the majority of the people are poor. My city friends could not relate to my new friends from the village. There were many differences between the two groups: education, beliefs, methods of worship, standard of living, health and hygiene (amongst many others) and neither group could openly and clearly monomaniac with each other and therefore would struggle to understand the actions of the other.People from a different s ocial class have a different culture: they have a different way of looking at things. For example, Cambodia like eating grilled cockroaches, while we Mauritania make it our purpose to exterminate them. And this reminds me of one of my favorite quote – â€Å"El respect De la difference De latter est.  ¤ la base De lanthanum ©Ã¢â‚¬  – which literally translate to – respect for the difference in others is at the core of our humanity.

The Cons of Marijuana Usage

The legalization of marijuana is one of the most highly debated about subjects facing Americans today. Advocates of legalization use two major arguments in their effort to have marijuana legalized. First, which is by far the biggest argument is that marijuana has a significant medical use. The second argument is that marijuana does not cause harm to those that smoke it. Both of these arguments can be easily discounted by the numerous studies that have been done on the effects of marijuana both medicinal and recreational. In the following paragraphs we will explore the hard facts of marijuana that will discount the validity of the previously mentioned arguments as well as some common fallacies. I will focus first on the medical fallacy. There currently exists a great debate concerning smoking marijuana as a medicine. Many well-intentioned leaders and members of the public have been led misled by the well-financed and organized pro-drug legalization lobby into believing there is merit to their argument that smoking marijuana is a safe and effective medicine. A review of the scientific research, expert medical testimony, and government agency findings shows this to be erroneous. There is no justification for using marijuana as a medicine. The movement to legitimize smoking marijuana as a medicine is not encouraged by the Federal Food and Drug Administration, health and medical associations, or medical experts; but instead by groups such as the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) and the Drug Policy Foundation (DPF). These organizations have little medical expertise and favor various forms of legalizing illicit drugs. The studies cited by the marijuana advocates have been found to be unscientific, poorly researched, and involved pharmaceutical THC, not marijuana. An advocate that claimed he was an expert, testified at the 1987 federal hearings to reschedule marijuana, was in fact a wellness counselor at a health spa who admitted under oath to using every illegal mind-altering drug he ever studied. Another â€Å"expert† admitted he had not kept up with new medical or scientific information on marijuana for over 18 years. Another doctor claimed there was voluminous medical research on the effectiveness of marijuana but under oath, when asked to cite the number of the studies, he replied, â€Å"I would doubt very few. † The fact is that there is not one reliable scientific study that shows smoking marijuana to be a safe and effective drug. The majority of the marijuana advocates’ â€Å"evidence† comes from unscientific, non-scrutinized or analyzed anecdotal statements from people with a variety of illnesses. It is unknown whether these individuals used marijuana prior to their illness or are using marijuana in combination with other medicines. It is also unknown whether they have had recent medical examinations, are justifying their use of marijuana, experiencing a placebo effect, or experiencing the intoxicating effect of smoking marijuana. The main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana (THC) is already legally available in pharmaceutical capsule form by prescription from medical doctors. This drug, Marinol, is less often prescribed because of the potential adverse effects, and there are more effective new medicines currently available. Marinol differs from the crude plant marijuana because it consists of one pure, well-studied, FDA-approved pharmaceutical in stable known dosages. Marijuana is an unstable mixture of over 400 chemicals including many toxic psychoactive chemicals, which are largely unstudied and appear in uncontrolled strengths. The manufacturers of Marinol, Roxane Laboratories Incorporated, do not agree with the pro-marijuana advocates that THC is safe and harmless. In the Physician’s Desk Reference, a good portion of the description of Marinol includes warnings about the adverse effects. Seriously, doesn t common sense dictate that it is not good medical practice to allow a substance to be used as a medicine if that product is ingested by smoking, not FDA-approved, made up of hundreds of different chemicals, and self-prescribed and administered by the patient. The federal government, over the last 20 years involving a number of administrations from both political parties, has determined that smoking marijuana has no redeeming medicinal value, and is in fact harmful to health. These governmental agencies include the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Food and Drug Administration, and the U. S. Public Health Service. Their latest finding, as recently as 1994, was affirmed in a decision by the U. S. Court of Appeals in Washington, DC Since the pro-marijuana lobby has been unsuccessful in dealing with the federal government, they have targeted state and local governments to legitimize smoking marijuana as a medicine. A careful examination of their legislative and/or ballot proposals reveals they are written to effectively neutralize the enforcement of most marijuana laws. Crude, intoxicating marijuana under their proposals would be easier to obtain and use than even the most harmless, low-level prescription drug. Major medical and health organizations, as well as the vast majority of nationally recognized expert medical doctors, scientists and researchers, have not accepted smoking marijuana as a safe and effective medicine. These organizations include: the American Medical Association, the American Cancer Society, National Sclerosis Association, the American Glaucoma Association, American Academy of Ophthalmology, National Eye Institute, National Cancer Institute, National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institute of Dental Research, and the National Institute on Allergy and Infectious Diseases. There are thousands of studies available documenting the harmful physical and psychological effects of smoking marijuana. The harmful consequences include but are not limited to premature cancer, addiction, coordination and perception impairment, a number of mental disorders including depression, hostility and increased aggressiveness, general apathy, memory loss, reproductive disabilities, impairment to the immune system, numerous airway injuries, and other general problems associated with intoxication. So far I have shown why marijuana should be disregarded as medicinal now I intend to discount some more common fallacies that marijuana advocates like to throw around as well as the argument that marijuana causes no harm to the smoker. First, advocates for marijuana like to say laws against alcohol and drugs don t work so why have them. They often use prohibition in the early 1900 s as an example. Even though prohibition was unpopular and only in effect for about fourteen years, it did impact the use of alcohol. Alcohol use, alcohol-related deaths, and admissions to hospitals for other alcohol related illnesses were all reduced approximately 50 percent. Also, contrary to what you hear, there’s no evidence of a big increase in crime. That probably makes for good gangster movies, but little else. Prohibition was rescinded because alcohol historically had been part of our lives, and the majority didn t support prohibition. Drugs, on the other hand, have not been part of our everyday lives, and over 80 percent of Americans favor drug prohibition A second fallacy is that legalizing marijuana would reduce the number of crimes and would free up prison space for more violent offenders. First of all there are 12 million arrests made annually out of which 1 million are for drug violations, of these only 12 percent are sentenced to prison. Most of the criminals that are locked up already have rap sheets a mile long for different crimes anyways. Now if we legalize marijuana the arrests would stop because of the change in the criminal code but the criminals wouldn t change their behavior and become law-abiding citizens. They will continue to commit crimes to pay rent, buy cars, go to concerts, buy clothes, eat, and buy legal drugs. Thirdly, most advocates like to use the Netherlands as an example of marijuana being legalized and not having any problems. The Netherlands has begun experiencing a variety of problems including a rise in crime, welfare, unemployment, and addicts from other countries migrating there to indulge their drug appetites. A fourth common fallacy is that if we legalize marijuana we would save at least 20 billion dollars annually that is now used towards law enforcement. What this fallacy assumes is that there would be no governmental costs associated with distribution, regulation, and control of legal drugs. Using alcohol as a model, we know these costs can be substantial. Knowing government, there is very little they do that is cost effective. In 1965, when we started Medicare, Congress projected that it would cost this country $12 billion by 1990. The actual costs that year were $110 billion. In 1968 food stamps cost $173 million annually, and now, less than 30 years later, the price tag is $24 billion. And, finally the greatest fallacy that marijuana does not harm the user. The fact remains that marijuana and hashish are intoxicating substances that make the user high. The degree of mental and physical impairment depends on the amount and strength of marijuana smoked. There is a substantial difference between the 2 to 5 percent THC weed of the ’70s and the 10 to 20 percent THC in today’s weed. There is a definite reason why the higher grade is more desirable and expensive, and that’s simply because it gives the user a more powerful high. Studies show marijuana can and often does cause apathy, diminishes mental capacity, causes difficulty in concentrating, decline in performance, and lost motivation. Thousands of studies also show marijuana use adversely affects the brain, reproduction process, immune system, respiratory system, cardiovascular system, and remains in the body for extended periods of time. In addition, marijuana use often impairs normal thought processes, distorts reality, reduces self-control, and releases inhibitions, all of which increase the chance of harmful and criminal behavior. Many times the user is unaware he or she is being affected unless told by others. A Stanford Medical School study showed pilots to be impaired 24 hours after smoking one joint, even though they felt they were functioning normally. In conclusion, the bottom line is, whenever persons are under the influence, they pose a threat to themselves and others. We don’t need more intoxicated people on our streets, at public events, or driving on our highways. Traffic fatality studies clearly demonstrate a disproportionate number of deaths caused by drivers under the influence of marijuana. Why would we want to make a substance like that legal, inexpensive and readily available to satisfy he desires of a few who already choose to violate our laws? Haven’t the advocates learned anything from our experience with drunkenness?

International business management----- E-business Essay

International business management----- E-business - Essay Example The organizations must re-evaluate their business strategy to incorporate business plans so that the potential of the internet, which is fast emerging as a most power tool of communication, can be exploited for business purposes. The popularity of internet has been one of the most promising instruments of advancing one’s business base. As per the article â€Å"E-commerce is an economic solvent. It dissolves old business models and changes the cost structure, and rearranges links among buyers, sellers, and everyone in between. The impact of e-commerce is happening in phases† (Kalakota, Robinson, 2002). Internet, used as a potent communication tool, would provide a vast scope of income generation avenues through increased opportunities. The internet presence of the business through interactive module of the website would facilitate and encourage usage of ecommerce for a win-win situation and help exploit the vast potential of the internet to benefit business through the huge database of customers that internet provides at the click of a mouse. Case study of Tesco is an excellent example of using ecommerce to gain the popularity and trust of the people and the prospective customers. We would be using the case study to evaluate and analyze the methodologies and approach to ecommerce activities to develop and increase customer database. Tesco realized the vast potential of internet early and has been the first business enterprise to introduce e-commerce activity in UK. The interactive communication between the client and the business house has been utilized to develop a professional relationship between the two, that not only provides opportunity to improve and improvise the quality as per customer’s requirement and demand while at the same time, customer gets the best deal because of the competitive nature of internet, as a medium of business promotion

Hypo-kinetic diseases and physical activity Essay

Hypo-kinetic diseases and physical activity - Essay Example 2014). Apart from genetics, excess weight in young children results from overeating of unhealthy junk, oily and sugary foods combined with under-exercise which leads to fat accumulation below body tissues (Erlichman, J.et al, 2002).To some children, overeating has been associated with esteem issues. Hypo-kinetic diseases cause adverse health issues like cardiovascular disease and type 2diabetes which are highly linked to increased rates of morbidity and mortality. As such, obesity in young children needs to be handled before they can be transferred into adulthood. To reduce obesity and overweight issues in children, in addition to a healthy lifestyle, children should be engaged in physical activity and cardio-respiratory fitness (Hills, A. P.2013). However, physical exercise should be regulated to avoid accidents. Over-exercise in young women combined with prolonged starvation can cause brittle bones which fracture leading to skeletal risk. Some symptoms of over-exercise could includ e; missing or irregular menstrual cycle, extreme thinness, extreme weight loss and loss of appetite among such behaviors. Such signs should be adequately treated by consuming enough calories to sustain the level of physical activity and also moderating the level of exercise to match the age, energy consumption and sex (NIH,

Topic in Environmental Chemistry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Topic in Environmental Chemistry - Essay Example 2). They are usually made of 60-90 different congeners. PCBs with high number of chlorine tend to be more stable and resistant to biodegradation and favored by many industries, thus higher health and environmental risks. It is used by industries as insulation fluid in capacitors, transformers and electrical systems. Due to industrialization and constant dumping of PCBs by the factories surrounding the river, it is accumulated deeply into the sediments found at the bottom, can easily spread though out the river once disturbed and caused bioaccumulation in the food chain, from the aquatic plants, microorganisms, fishes then to humans. PCBs are harmful to human health and it is believed to cause several diseases to those who consumed contaminated fishes and water such as male sterility, birth defects and reproductive disorders, liver dysfunction, headache and fatigue (Barbalace par. 3-4). Sources of PCBs in the Hudson River were traced using analytical chemistry techniques that provided congener specific analysis of Aroclors. Aroclors are trade name of some commercial PCB mixture and can be used to trace their company manufacturer. This method provided information to the scientists on how PCBs behave in various media, a cutting edge scientific technique was used to determine the sources and destinations of PCBs (Manning part 1 par. 7). Aside from recycling mills with a dumping rate of 2.3 kg/year, General Electric Company, having two manufacturing plant in Fort Edward and Hudson Falls, New York, was the major source of PCBs with a dumping rate of 5000kg/yr into the Hudson River. For twenty five years, (1952 to 1977) GE has been dumping PCBs into the Hudson River, which made the PCBs accumulated in the seabed through the years and contaminating the fishes and other aquatic resources which people consume and considered a great health and environmental risk (Manning par t 1 par. 8-10). Contrary to the people in the community think, the

Decision-Making Models Math Problem Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Decision-Making Models - Math Problem Example The researcher states that the amount of inventory that Company A needs to order can be determined with the use of economic order quantity (EOQ) model. According to Williamson  EOQ models are used for identifying the optimal order quantity. In order to do this the model minimizes the sum of certain costs that vary with order size and the frequency of orders. Williamson (2012) describes three order size models – the basic economic order quantity (EOQ) model; the economic production quantity (EPQ) model; and the quantity discount model. The basic EOQ model is used to find the order size that would minimize company A’s total annual cost. The formula and the calculations follow. Q0 = √(2DS/H) Where, Q0 is the order quantity in units D is the annual demand in units S is the order cost for each order made H is the holding or carrying the cost for each unit of inventory per year Company A’s information is as follows: - Annual demand (D) is 18,000 units per annum - Ordering cost (S) is $38 per order - Holding cost (H) is 26% of the cost of the inventory which is $12 per unit Q0 =   Ã¢Ë†Å¡[(2 x 18,000 x $38)/(0.26 x $12)]   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   = √(1,368,000/3.12)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   = √438461.54 = 662 units   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   = 662 units The results indicate that the economic order quantity that will minimize total annual cost is 662 units per order. Company A produces the goods that it sells and so the economic production lot size model is the most appropriate model for use in this scenario (Williamson 2012). The formula for performing the calculations that provide the results is as follows: Qp = √(2DS/H) √[p/(p-u)] Where, Qp is the economic run quantity p is the production or delivery rate u is the usage rate    Qp = √[(2 x 15,000 x $84)/(0.28 x $19)] √[60,000/(60,000-15,000)]   Qp = √(2,520,000/5.32) √1.33 Qp = 699.25 x 1.15 Qp = 791 The results indicate that the economic production lot size that will minimize total annual cost id 791 units per production run.

Evaluating the Impacts of Californias Criminal Justice Realignment Thesis

Evaluating the Impacts of Californias Criminal Justice Realignment - Thesis Example The results indicate that realignment has led to the reduction of felonies in prisons by 17%. Crime rate has also increased in the state; while there is lack of sufficient resources. Numerous problems such as overcrowding in jails have resulted from the relocation of criminals to jails. The lack of a solution to this problem may render realignment to be an ineffective solution to overcrowding in California. The state of California developed the criminal justice realignment legislation in May 2011. The state developed the realignment program following an order to reduce the number of inmates in prisons from the United States Supreme Court. The Supreme Court required the state to reduce the number of inmates from 180% to 137.5% of the capacity of the prisons by May 2013 (Green, 2014). This meant that California had to reduce the number of inmates in state prisons by 25,000. In response to the Supreme Court’s order, the state developed the prison realignment reform under Bill 109 and Penal Code 1170h in 2011. Bill 109 transfers the responsibility of imprisoning non-violent offenders from state prisons to county jails (Green, 2014). According to this bill, non-violent offers are those who commit crimes that are ‘non-serious,’ and ‘non-sex related (Hunter, 2013).’ This means that the prisoners who commit serious, violent, and sex-related crimes will be incarcerated in state prisons instead of county jails. The penal code 1170h, on the other hand, states that individuals who are realigned in county jails must undergo compulsory supervision; while out of custody. County probation officers conduct the Post Release Community Supervision (PRCS) (Caffiero, 2013).The code also requires those who disobey the mandatory supervision to be imprisoned in county jails instead of prisons. This is different from probation, which requires prisoners who are released from state

Errors of metabolism (newborn screening) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Errors of metabolism (newborn screening) - Essay Example (CPSP, n.d.) (Rinaldo, 1988) Various findings also suggets that this disease is genetically inherited via autosomal recessive pattern. Going deep into the molecular mechanisms of this enzyme’s expression, it was found that MCAD enzyme is expressed by ACADM(alias MCAD) gene located on chromosome 1p31. Due to a point mutation at position 985 on the gene, results is swapping of an adenine by a guanine, that results in replacement of a lysine by a glutamate residue in the protein leading to onset of disease. (Grosse, 2006; Wang SS, 1999; Matsubura, 1990). Around 80% of European individuals have at least two copies of this mutation. (Wang SS, 1999). Considering high mortality rate of 20 to 25% in undiagnosed cases, this disorder was included in the list of newborn screening programmes. (Wilson, 1999) Variation in Symptoms and Prognosis The deficiency of this enzyme is characterised by symptoms such as hypoketotic hypoglycaemia, vomiting (Egidio RJ, 1989) and hypotonia progressing t o coma. (BPSU, 2006). Other symptoms include seizures, coma, residual neurological deficits. No symptoms are exhibited at birth, except for the case when newbron screening is conducted. The symptoms show up any time between teh age of three to twenty-months; in some cases, it may show up much later. Once it is successfully diagnosed, prognosis becomes much effective by administering the patient with adequate treatment regimes (Matern, 2013). Diagnosis Prenatal-testing: Prenatal testing includes molecular genetic testing that helps in early diagnosis of the disease and thus enable the parents to be mentally aware and cautious of their child’s health. The first test includes the testing of analyses that include plasma acylcarnitines, urine organic acids and urine acylglycines. Biochemical diagnoses include the measurement of fatty acid ?-oxidation in fibroblasts as well as measurement of MCAD enzyme activity in fibroblasts and other tissues (Leydiker, 2011). Molecular Genetic t esting comprises of two methods that include Targetted Mutation Analysis and Sequence Analysis. Targetted mutation analysis a.k.a Allele specific mutation analysis involves the testing of the mutations p.Lys304Glu (985A>G) and p.Tyr42His (199C>T). Sequence analysis involves the testing of sequence variants may also include other mutations such as splice site mutations, non-sense and mis-sense mutations as well as small deletions/ insertions. This method does not target mutations identified by Targetted mutation analysis. Newborn- Screening: Newborn Screening differs from Pre-natal testing such that pre-natal testing is carried out during pregnancy and before the child’s birth, whereas the former involves the testing of the child’s health condition within first few days of birth (Matern, 2013). Tandem mass spectrometry was developed by Millington et al, for analysis of acylcarnitines in blood collected from umbilical cord as well as neonatal blood. This method proved to efficient diagnostic tool to diagnose MCAD deficiency. The simplicity and speed of the method enabled its use in everyday neonatal screening of infants (Millington, 1990; Kennedy, 2010) This tool has been widely used for screening of MCAD and has proved to be a robust, efficient tool. Newborns who are MCAD deficient have higher octanoylcarnitine levels than normal individuals; this forms an effective screening test, and has helped to decrease mortality and

Statistics in the workplace Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Statistics in the workplace - Essay Example Health statistics gives information on the health matters of people. This means that every person is part of a health statistic. To get knowledge, an organization first gathers data, these data is processed into facts and figures which are transformed into information. Statistics has several other uses such as making decision on the relevant staffing needs of the hospital facility in relation to information or data collected frequency or number of patients a hospital has per period of time. Some of the many ways in which statistics can be used in rehabilitation health facility include: to carry out surveys on patient satisfaction or employee satisfaction, to carry out tests or experiments on new procedures just to mention but a few. There are various branches of statistics, the two main branches are; descriptive and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics Descriptive statistics is a branch of statistics that describes data that has been gathered revealing the trends and patter ns of the information. Descriptive statistics illustrates how data is dispersed but does not test any hypothesis so as to form a conclusion on the basis of that data (Bennett, Briggs, Triola, 2009). In healthcare, descriptive statistics is used for various purposes. ... The patients who consent to the trial will undergo close monitoring during the study through close observation and evaluation. The results will be based on specifics such as the degree of side effects, rate of recovery and they are not charged for the process. Descriptive statistics basically uses aspects such as means of central tendency and dispersions these are mean and standard deviation respectively. In this example the mean will be used to give the overall impact of the procedure towards rehabilitation while standard deviation might be used to show how stable or unstable the drug may be. Stability simply means the uniformity in the way patients react to the procedure, therapy or drug. Inferential statistics is simply a method through which conclusions about an aspect of a population is drawn from a sample. A sample is a finite subset of a population. This is the procedure of selecting and using a sample statistic to draw conclusions about the population parameters and eventuall y the population. It is used when we have access to a sample but not the population. Statistical inference uses two methods namely; point estimate and hypothesis testing. The estimation method is usually used to inferences where information about a population is in the given sample. There are two kinds of estimates which are point estimate and interval estimate. The estimates are used to make inference on the population parameters. An example of point-estimates is the mean weight of patients in the hospital while an interval estimate is the range within which we expect the mean of a population to fall at some level of confidence say 95%. Hypothesis testing on the other hand is the

The United States and the Soviet Union in the Period 1944- 1950 Essay Example for Free

The United States and the Soviet Union in the Period 1944- 1950 Essay In 1944 the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, were allies in the war against National Socialist Germany and her Fascist Axis allies in Europe; however by 1950 the relationship had disintegrated to such an extent that the two countries had on more than one occasion nearly gone to war with each other. How had this situation arisen, and what were the implications not only for the two protagonists in what became known as the Cold War, but also for the rest of the world in this new Atomic Age. There was no definite date on which the erstwhile allies began to regard each other as potential adversaries and rivals for world influence. Neither, was their one definitive or underlying reason, for the difference of opinion between the erstwhile Second World War Allies. However, in the latter stages of the conflict and the years immediately following it would emerge a pattern of misunderstandings, miscalculations, misjudgements and suspicions which would come to characterise the following fifty years or so, in the relationship between the two countries and their respective allies. In order to assess the political realities of the situation pertaining at the time it is necessary to consider the geopolitical realities which existed, particular within Europe; and in addition to consider the internal political and economic situations in both countries in the time of victory over the Nazis, and the five years following that victory. Not, withstanding that there was also the Empire of Japan to be defeated particularly by Britain and America, although the Soviet Union would also have a part to play in that conflicts denouement. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was born as a result of the 1917 October Revolution, when the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov known as Lenin, Established the worlds first communist state by overthrowing the Provisional Government of Alexander Kerensky. There followed a Russian Civil War from which the Red Army formed by Leon Trotsky was eventually to secure a victory for Lenins Bolsheviks. Prior to this the emerging state faced enemies both internally and external, indeed Britain, France and the US all at one time gave support to the whites the enemies of the communists in the Russian Civil war. In 1923 Lenin died and a power struggle ensued to see who would succeed him. Joseph Jugashvili, better known as Joseph Stalin emerged as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He set about mercilessly liquidating all opposition. Including his bitter rival Trotsky (who was murdered in exile in Mexico), his merciless repression reached a peak with show trials and executions of alleged counter revolutionaries. The number of people he was responsible for killing either directly or indirectly by failed economic policies etc. is unknown but must run into several millions. The form of communist state he created is commonly called Stalinist. Historians often point out Stalins purges of military officers as one of the main contributing factor in Hitlers early successes in the Soviet Union. The Nazi onslaught came about despite the Non-Aggression Pact signed between the 2 counties in 1940. Nonetheless, by 1944 Soviet troops were poised to begin the final defeat of the Third Reich, from the east. In 1944 a confident and vigorous United States, led by Franklin D. Roosevelt, was relishing the prospect of the liberation of Europe and also the much longed for defeat of Japan. The war, had by dint of the huge amount of government spending, revitalised the American economy and by the final stages of the war America was indisputably the worlds economic heavyweight. Roosevelt was indeed the only American president in history to be elected to four terms in office. He certainly carried the majority of the population along with him. Although, it must be stated that he also earned the undying enmity, of a large section of the American conservative right, who blamed Roosevelt for introducing socialist policies to America i.e. the policies introduced by the first Roosevelt administration, to institute economic recovery in the midst of the Great Depression (known as the New Deal), possibly one of the worst economic crisis that the capitalist economies had ever faced. In reality, the New Deal owed more to the economic policies of the British economist John Maynard Keynes than to those of Karl Marx. Nonetheless, to a section of American Society who imbibed the notion of classic liberal laissez faire economics with their mothers milk; Roosevelts ideas represented an unwholesome and unwelcome change of priorities, and the bitterness felt would not be easily dissipated. With the Japanese attack on the US fleet at Pearl Harbor on the 7th December 1941, and Hitlers Declaration of war against America, the US the Second World War alongside the UK and the Soviet Union which, as previously stated, Hitlers Germany attacked in the summer of 1941 in Operation Barberossa. So right from the outset the alliance between the Soviet Union and the United States was more a marriage of convenience, than a love match. Historically, this alliance was something of an aberration, as the US did not even recognise the USSR, until 1933. However, it wasnt until victory looked certain, that the parties gave any serious thought to the shape of the post war world. In October 1944 the British Prime Minister held a meeting with Stalin in Moscow during the course of which, the post war shape of the Balkans and the contiguous regions was tacitally agreed; or perhaps, more accurately the areas of these regions where each power would have spheres of influence. This meeting was to prove hugely significant in the years to come: in particular as to the thinking of Joseph Stalin. As the end of National Socialism and Japanese militarism became inevitable during the course of 1944, the war aims of the victors became settled in the minds of the probable victors. It soon became apparent that both the USSR and the USA had different end games in mind, which as the international situation settled down in 1945, soon turned out not only to be different but also to a large extent mutually exclusive. These differences became publicly apparent for the first time during the Yalta Conference, a meeting held in the Crimean resort between the leaders of the Allied powers in February 1945, i.e. Stalin, Roosevelt and Winston S. Churchill, the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Although, it is debateable whether, any great or meaningful blueprints for the future of the post war world were actually arrived at during the course of the Crimean Conference, other than the three leaders formally re-affirming the Dumbarton Oaks agreement setting up of the United Nations. However, there were understandings, firstly that elections would be held in all liberated countries, additionally a rather nebulous declaration of self-determination for the said countries. What was not explicitally stated, but nonetheless implicitly understood by all parties was the notion of legitimate spheres of influence, along the lines agreed in the Churchill- Stalin summit in 1944. Had it not been realised before, Yalta it certainly became known during the conferences that each power in particular the Soviets put different interpretations on the notion of free and fair elections and inter alia democracy. This, notion would be physically shaped by events on the battlefield more than lines on a map drawn by political leaders. At Yalta Roosevelt and Churchill informed Stalin that a second front would definitely be launched against Hitler. In addition Churchill and Roosevelt sought to ensure that the agreements viz. free and fair elections would be applied with regard to Poland as it must be borne in mind that this was Britains original war ain in 1939 when it went to war after Hitler invaded Poland. Churchill in particular was aware of the historical enmity that existed between Poland and Russia: Stalin however assuaged Anglo- American concerns, and assured Britain and the US that the Soviet Union would allow free elections in all European countries liberated by t he Red Army The legacy of Yalta, is still the subject of contentious debate, particularly amongst the conservative section of the American body politic; however as was previously stated in terms of ascribing spheres of influence in reality this conference really only confirmed what was happening on the ground i.e. the Red Army had already liberated much of Eastern Europe and was poised for the invasion of the Third Reich proper in 1944/45. Whilst the Western Allies would soon put into effect Operation Overlord landing on the beaches of Normandy on their march, to destroy the Reich from the west; in addition to the push northwards through the now German occupied Italy, in the face of a tactically dogged and inspired German retreat, organised by Field Marshall Albert Kesselring. Thus, it would be difficult to see, short of immediately going to war with the Soviet Union or perhaps credibly threatening to do so, even if that had been either militarily or politically possible; what in reality the Bri tish or the Americans could have done differently. One interesting footnote to the Yalta Conference is that just two days after its conclusion the RAF and the USAAF, bombed the historic eastern German city of Dresden with horrific civilian casualties (around 25,000, although the precise figure was never known) and dubious strategic importance. By the time of the next Allied conference, held in Potsdam in Western Germany in August 1945, the scene had shifted dramatically. President Roosevelt, who had towered over American foreign and domestic policy had died and been replaced by the Vice- President Harry S. Trumann. Roosevelt had not involved Trumann in the field of foreign affairs quite deliberately. He therefore had to get himself up to speed immediately. Trumann was not as understanding of Soviet foibles as Roosevelt had shown him to be; nonetheless he was not, at this stage, anti Soviet. In the United Kingdom too, there was a change in leadership Clement Atlees Labour Government having won a sensational landslide victory in what was dubbed The Khaki election: replacing the wartime coalition led by Churchill (the actual changeover coming during the conference itself). Both Western leaders were suspicious of Stalins motives regarding his plans for Eastern Europe, in particular his approach to the promises made in Yalta in regard to free elections, where it seemed in both American and British minds, that Stalin just wanted the installation of puppet pro- Soviet regimes. The Soviet leader was perhaps somewhat perplexed at this change of attitude, as Stalin understood that he already had agreement on spheres of influence and he considered it a done deal. One factor, which obviously emboldened Trumann, was the knowledge that the US would drop the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima six days after the end of this conference. The Americans did not officially inform Stalin, but in any event it is likely he was aware of the bomb from his spies (mainly within British Intelligence); nonetheless, it is debatable if Stalin actually understood the awesome power of nuclear weapons at that stage. As the records show Hiroshima was bombed on the 6th August 1945, followed 3 days later by an atomic attack against the Japanese city of Nagasaki. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union declared war on the Japanese on the 8th August 1945. The Japanese in the face of the twin threat from Atomic weapons and the Red Army surrendered on the 15th August. The wartime alliance now began to rapidly unravel as its whole raison detre i.e. the defeat of its wartime adversaries had been accomplished. There were meetings between the parties but little of substance was achieved, and more often than not these meetings would degenerate into accusatorial exchanges. There was no doubt that the power of the bomb was in many ways a show of American strength, to the Soviet Union, one that was noted accordingly. One, agreement of note should be mentioned which would assume great import in the coming years was the Agreement for the Soviets to accept the surrender of Japanese forces above the 38th Parrralel, and the Americans to assume control below this. The area of trade proved another source of disagreement, Roosevelts lend lease scheme that had been of enormous influence throughout the conflict. to all Allied nations, more or less came to an end on the ascension of Truman to the Presidency. In actual fact cargo ships destined for the Soviet Union were called back en- route. To add insult to already injured Soviet feelings was the loss of a Soviet application for US trade credits, somewhere within the Washington bureaucratic machine. The Soviet hunger for tax credits was satiated by the American talk of consultation representation on all matters relating to trade in Eastern Europe. In the same breadth the Americans sought to agree plans for repayment of Soviet lend lease debt. The question of American commercial and cultural hegemony would resonate in Europe in years to come, and not just with the Soviet Union. Perhaps the most important document to come out of this period was the so- called long telegram whose progenitor was George F. Kennan an America specialist on Soviet affairs. Keenans analysis of Soviet policy was widely disseminated within the US State Department and in time would hugely affect the policy of Trumans administration. In this telegram Kennan espouses the view that the Soviet view of the world is essentially akin to that held by the pre revolutionary Russians, dressed up with and made even more lethal by the addition of Marxism. Kennan advised toughness when dealing with the Soviet Union and essentially called for a US policy of containment of Soviet influence, as opposed to the view of Roosevelt, which sought to encourage the Soviet Union into a new liberal democratic order. However, at this stage Truman was not yet ready for a policy of containment, if not idealistic enough to take Roosevelts position he was still hoping for some kind of rapprochement with Stalin. Winston Churchill captured the mood of the times (15th March 1946) from an Anglo/ American perspective at any rate, when in a speech in Fulton, Missouri he declaimed to an audience that included a nodding President Truman that from Szczecin in the North to Trieste on the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended on the continent. Churchill also used this speech to call for an alliance of English speaking nations. Stalin was, not altogether unsurprisingly, alarmed at the thrust of Churchills rhetoric, as in Soviet eyes the target of this proposed alliance could only be the Soviet Union itself: and made his feelings public in an interview given to Pravda on the 13th March 1946. Stalin reiterated Soviet concerns viz. Anglo- American aggressive tendencies and equated the undertones of Churchills speech to the racist ones orated by Adolf Hitler. Stalin also pointed out that the Soviet Union had been invaded via neighbouring countries that were unsympathetic to the Soviet Union. Thus, it did not entail a massive leap in logic to surmise that one of Stalins primary aims was to ensure that all neighbouring states were at the very least pro- Moscow. Perhaps the single largest issue to emerge in the immediate post war years was the status of the defeated Germany. In 1946 Germany was administered by the four victorious allies i.e. the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and France (still, smarting over having been left out of the Great Power conferences). The German capital Berlin was similarly divided into four zones. At the outset neither side had any firm or concrete plans for the future of Germany apart from a desire for some form of reparations by the Soviet Union and on the Anglo/ American side a deep desire to avoid the re- creation of the mistake many believed had been made with The Treaty of Versailles i.e. being too punitive in relation to reparations and development in Germany These views although divergent to some degree, need not have been axiomatically opposed. Indeed, at this stage the idea of a united Germany was one that found favour in London. Moscow and Washington, with Paris being the only one to harbour doubts, mainly for internal political reasons. Truman, however increasingly frustrated at what he saw as Soviet obduracy and deception enunciated his feelings in what came to be known as the Trumann Doctrine in March 1947 before Congress in a debate on allocating funds to Greece and Turkey. Essentially this doctrine divided the world into free and enslaved/ enslaver peoples and committed the US to act in the defence of any so called free people being threatened by armed minorities or outside pressures. Stalin (correctly) saw that Truman meant communist when referring to armed minorities etc. He immediately reasoned the Truman Doctrine as a threat to Soviet interests and the Cold War was now off and running, in earnest. The announcement of the new US policy was actually precipitated by the relative decline of the UK in power and influence, and the ravages of the terrible winter of 1947 in Europe. At the time of Trumans speech the main purpose was to secure funds for the anti communist side in the Greek civil war. The UK had been pushed to the brink by the efforts required to sustain the Second World War; and was virtually bankrupt. Most European countries were in a similar if not worse position, if action was not taken to rectify the financial and economic situation as a matter of extreme urgency, it was soon apparent that Western Europe may not require the massed Red Army tanks in order to sharply turn to the left. The solution proposed by the US was at once remarkable and even viewed through the lens of over fifty years extremely generous, if not carried out for reasons of pure philanthropy. The US Secretary of State George Marshall proposed a plan, which would bear his name. The Marshall Plan was formally unveiled in a speech by Marshall at Harvard University on the 5th June 1947, in which a broad outline of an economic aid plan to Europe was outlined. A meeting was held in Paris to take the idea forward, at this stage the Soviet Union was seriously interested in the Marshall Plan. The thing that stuck in the throat of Stalin and his foreign minister Molotov was the idea of common planning and the notion of the Soviet economy being examined by British and American economists. The Soviet Union declined to take any further part in the Marshall Plan. The boundaries of capitalism and communism were now set and would remain so for the next 50 years. The Soviet rejection of the Marshall Plan could not have come as any shock in the West; indeed it may have been exactly what the Anglo- Americans for one were aiming for all along. Europe was now divided between the recipients of American largesse in the west and those countries by dint of their closeness to the Soviet Union who were unwilling, or perhaps unable to accept such American aid. In order to respond to recent events the Soviet Union convened the Communist Information Bureau, known as Cominform in Szklarska Poreba in Poland, which composed of representatives of the communist parties of the Soviet Union, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, France, Italy, and Yugoslavia.The Cominform launched an ideological attack on the Marshall Plan and the Trumann Doctrine. It however was at pains to point out that despite the ideological differences the Soviet Union was perfectly happy to co- exist with capitalism for an unidentifiably long period; after which orthodox Marxist theory predicted the collapse of capitalism due to one or other of the many in built tensions that existed within that system. The desire for both systems to co-exist did not preclude the enlistment of the French and Italian trades unions in an effort to derail the Marshall Plan. The strikes failed in large measure due to the arrival of American food aid in Western Europe. The US for the fist time began to run covert Central Intelligence Agency covert operations within Italy; in an attempt to ensure that the Italian Communists did not succeed in winning the Italian General election. This was done by a series of direct and indirect public pronouncements on the consequences for American aid in the event of a communist victory, together with what was to become the familiar pattern of CIA covert operations i.e. black propaganda, secret payments to non- communist political parties, and special training and equipment for the armed forces. Stalins reaction was characterised by its lack of insight and success in uniting the anti communist political forces in Western Europe. The failure of communist led strikes in Italy and France. In the increasingly heavy-handed approach to the political situation in Eastern Europe alienated many in the left in Europe. The situation in Czechoslovakia where firstly the Czech Foreign Minister had an unfortunate fall from his Foreign Ministry window: swiftly followed by a communist coup in that country severely undermined Soviet credibility in the minds of the Western public. A further crisis developed within the Cominform itself when Stalin tried to exert pressure on the Yugoslav Communist Party to expel its leader Marshall Tito. Tito however retained the confidence of the Yugoslav Communist Party, and far from being feeling himself by Stalins overtures actually began to negotiate for US aid, an act that resulted in Yugoslavias expulsion from the Cominform in 1948. The internecine squabble between Stalin and Tito, had the effect of reducing even further the goodwill of the public towards the Soviet Union within both the US and Europe. Stalin further raised the tension in Europe by paralysing the Allied Control Commission by withdrawing his representative Marshall Sokolovsky. The three other control powers proceeded to treat each of their occupation zones of Germany and of Berlin itself as effectively one unit. In addition plans had been laid for the introduction of the Deutschmark, which was duly introduced in the British, American and French sectors of Germany as well as in the zones controlled by theses three countries of Berlin on the 23rd June 1948. The Soviet response was to immediately begin a blockade of Berlin. For the first time since the cessation of hostilities their existed the very real fear that war could break out. In order to beat the Soviet blockade the Western Allies decided to mount an airlift in order to supply food and other essentials to West Berlin. The Berlin Airlift lasted for eleven months and managed to supply adequate food and fuel for two million Berliners. Despite some calls for the forcing of a passage into West Berlin by tanks, cooler council prevailed .The Soviet rationale for the blockade was simply to prevent the Western Powers proceeding down the road with their plans for a separate West German state: whatever the Soviet intention it was once again based on misjudgement and a miscalculation, and succeeded only in pushing forward the establishment of a West German state. Realising eventually that the only choices open to him was to relent or face fighting a war against a US led alliance armed with nuclear weapons, Stalin abandoned the Berlin Blockade on the 11th May 1949. The consequence of this crisis was the establishment of the very thing Stalin had started the blockade to prevent i.e. the formation of the Federal Republic of Germany on the 20th of September 1949. Following, the rather predictable tit for tat response that was to become the trademark of the cold war, the creation of the German Democratic Republic was announced to the world on the 7th October 1949. The Berlin Blockade and the splitting of Germany succeeded in raising fears within Western Europe to such an extent that there was intense pressure for a formal alliance, which would tie the US into the defence of Western Europe. As a result the North Atlantic Treaty organisation came into being in 1949. The division of Europe was now formalised, and complete along ideological lines. The focus of attention would now turn east, where Mao Tse Tungs communists were in the process of achieving the final defeat of the nationalist Kuomintang forces under Chiang Kai- shek. Conservative opinion in the United States was outraged at this development; accusing Trumanns administration of selling out American interests in the region and failing to provide adequate support to the Kuomintang forces in the Chinese Civil War. This was to be a running sore in the side of the right in America, who viewed it as the sign of communist aggression worldwide. It would act as the impetus for the McCarthy Period, so called because of the committee called The House Committee on Un- American Activities, which would be headlined by Senator Joseph McCarthys purges on alleged communists. McCarthy aided and abetted by future President Nixon unleashed a series of show trials which uncannily mirrored those of Stalin in the 1930s, albeit with considerably less gruesome results Nonetheless, the hearings of this committee changed the atmosphere in the US to such an extent that political liberals, trades unionists and effectively anyone who dared challenge McCarthys orthodoxy was subject to harassment, intimidation and exclusion from employment. The atmosphere endangered by Nixon and McCarthy would help to polarise opinion in America during the late 1940s and well into the 1950s. Against, this backdrop the forces of North Korea backed by Moscow, albeit with some reluctance crossed the 38th Parallel, to invade the western backed South. The attack was repulsed and the forces under the command of wartime hero Douglas Macarthur, after a series of battles advanced towards the Yalu River and Koreas border with China. Seeing this as a provocation China became involved in the war. This brought the world once more to the brink of nuclear conflict, as Macarthur rather injudiciously ruminated about the possibility of using nuclear weapons against China. Fortunately, Trumann declined; the war eventually ending in stalemate with both sides having to be content with the pre-war boundary of the 38th Parallel. The start of the Korean War signalled the end of the development of the cold war, and ushered in the political conditions that would shape the map of the world for the next fifty years nearly. However was the Cold War the inevitable outcome of the situation that arose at the end of World War Two? What is obvious from studying the records of the period is that neither side considered war inevitable, far less desirable. Instead the emergence of the Cold War owed more to serendipity than careful planning and desire by either side. The Cold War began in Europe, as that was where both sides met each other over the ruins of the Third Reich. The Americans with some initial distaste took up where her enfeebled Western Allies left off in South East Asia and the Pacific. The Soviet Union by dint of its support for Marxist regimes found itself being dragged along on the coattails of Maos revolutionary China. Once underway the cold war developed a momentum of its own and its logic embedded itself in the mindset of policymakers in Washington and Moscow. At every turn either superpower would see the nefarious hand of the other behind every event: more often than not erroneously. It is tempting to imagine what the outcome would have been had President Roosevelt not died in 1945. In order to avoid the Cold War the situation needed thought that was imaginative and could see things in a way that was novel. Unfortunately for the world no one emerged in either side of the Iron Curtain with the necessary breadth of vision. Stalin was undeniably a tyrant, and it would have been unlikely that a Soviet Union led by him would have been able to reach a long-term rapprochement with the West. However, the great mistake made by the West was in assuming that the monolithic state espoused by Stalin was truly representative of the Communist Part of the Soviet Union. Indeed Stalin was unique and by tarring his sucessors with the same brush the West was unable to change its perception when a new and potentially more accomadating power took charge in the Kremlin. The Soviet Union for its part made error of judgement so vast as to be inexcusable. Perhaps the greatest of which was its failure to join the Marshall Plan. That and the desire to supplant any form of independent government in Eater Europe, proved in the long term to harbour the seeds of the systems eventual destruction. If more thoughtful council had prevailed, on both sides then perhaps the next fifty years could have been entirely changed. Instead the only real winners of the cold war were the industrial- military complexes as Eisenhower was to term it on both sides, although in the long term only that of the West proved to have the longevity to be called by some the winner.

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Translation and Technology Essay Contents 4 Computer-Aided Translation Tools and Resources Workbenches Translation support tools and resources Localization tools Commercial computer-aided translation tools Standards for data interchange Conclusion 5 Evaluating Translation Tools Machine translation systems Computer-aided translation tools Stakeholders Evaluation methods General frameworks for evaluating translation tools Conclusion 6 Recent Developments and Future Directions Machine translation systems Computer-aided translation tools Translation systems with speech technology. Translation systems for minority languages Translation on the web Machine translation systems and the semantic web The localization industry Conclusion 7 Translation Types Revisited Relationships between topics and translation types Machine translation systems Computer-aided translation tools Conclusion Appendices References Index  93 93 106 113 117 119 128 129 129 131 133 135 139 151 152 152 156 157 162 164 166 170 171 172 173 191 193 195 197 204 218 List of Figures, Tables and Boxes Figures 1. 1 1. 2 1. 3 1. 4 1. 5 2. 1 2. 2 2. 3 2. 4 2. 5 2. 6 2. 7 2. 8 2. 9 2. 10 2. 11 2. 12 2. 13 3. 1 3. 2 3. 3 3. 4 3. 5 3. 6 3. 7 3. 8 3. 9 Classification of translation types Machine translation model Machine translation system based on usage Human-aided machine translation model Machine-aided human translation model Chronology of translation theories Translation process model Example of sentence representations Holmes’ schema of translation studies A schema of  applied translation studies A model of the translation process including pre- and post-editing tasks Example of an English SL text and its pre-edited version Unedited and post-edited Spanish machine translation output Example of natural and controlled languages. Example of original English text and its AECMA simplified English version Example of natural English, simplified English and simplified Arabic texts Example of an English controlled language text and its translations Illustration of the translation process using a machine translation system Chronology of machine translation development Example of structural representations. Machine translation architectures Direct translation model Interlingua model Interlingua multilingual machine translation system model Transfer model Transfer using tree-to-tree parsing Transfer multilingual machine translation system model ix  7 9 10 12 13 23 29 31 37 42 43 44 46 48 50 51 53 54 58 68 68 70 72 72 74 75 76 x List of Figures, Tables and Boxes 3. 10 3. 11 3. 12 3. 13 4. 1 4. 2 4. 3 4. 4 4. 5 4. 6 4. 7 4. 8 4. 9 4. 10 4. 11 4. 12 4. 13 4. 14 4. 15 4. 16 4. 17 4. 18 4. 19 4. 20 4. 21 4. 22 5. 1 5. 2 5. 3 5. 4 5. 5 6. 1 6. 2 Statistical-based model Probabilities workflow in the statistical-based approach Example-based model Translations by online machine translation systems Example of HTML code in a web page Example of the web page without HTML code Example of a translation workflow using a translation memory system Example of an English source text Pre-translation 1 Database model in translation memory systems Reference model in translation memory systems. Flowchart to illustrate how to build a parallel corpus Example of a text header in a corpus Example of part-of-speech tagging Example of a concordance for the word ‘round’ Types of tool used in a localization project Example of the translation process using a machine translation system, a translation database and a terminology database Example of TMX  data-sharing Example of a header in TMX Example of a body in TMX Example of a header in TBX Example of a body in TBX Example of XLIFF in the localization process Example of a header in XLIFF Example of a body in XLIFF Example of an alternate translation element in XLIFF Example of a glass-box evaluation. Example of a black-box evaluation Example of an evaluation process Standardization projects for evaluating machine translation systems EAGLES general evaluation framework Future-use model of translation technology Speech technology in translation. 78 80 81 87 99 99 102 102 103 103 104 109 110 111 112 114 117 120 121 122 124 125 126 127 127 127 138 139 141 142 145 154 158 Tables 1. 1 3. 1 An example of a table for describing translation types Example of a word entry in KAMI 8 67. List of Figures, Tables and Boxes  xi 3. 2 3. 3 3. 4 4. 1 4. 2 4. 3 4. 4 4. 5 4. 6 4. 7 4. 8 7. 1 7. 2 7. 3 7. 4 7. 5 7. 6 7. 7 7. 8 7. 9 7. 10 7. 11 7. 12 7. 13 7. 14 7. 15 7. 16 7. 17 7. 18 7. 19 7. 20 Imitation in the example-based approach Semantic similarity in the example-based approach Classification of commercial machine translation systems Example of perfect matching Examples of fuzzy matching Higher and lower threshold percentages for fuzzy matching Examples of matching suggestions for ‘bow’ Example of segments Example of translation units Example of English-French translation units from a database Classification of commercial computer-aided translation tools. Degree of automation Human intervention Integrated tools Application of theory Application of theory in machine translation systems Source-language texts Target-language texts Stages of the translation process Types of text Language dependency Types of source language Data interchange standards in translation Translation groups  and data interchange standards Levels of evaluation Methods of evaluation Features in a machine translation system Language coverage in machine translation systems Texts and computer-aided translation tools. Language dependency in computer-aided translation tools Number of languages in computer-aided translation tools. 82 82 88 95 96 97 98 100 101 102 118 174 175 175 176 177 178 180 181 182 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 193 194 194 195 Boxes 1. 1 5. 1 A translator at work FEMTI evaluation framework 14 147 Series Editors’ Preface Recent years have witnessed momentous changes in the study of Modern Languages, globally as well as nationally. On the one hand, the rapid growth of English as a universal lingua franca has rendered the command of other languages a less compelling commodity. On the other hand, the demand for intercultural mediators including translators and interpreters has grown as a result of many recent social, political and economic developments; these include legislative changes, the emergence of supranational organisations, the ease of travel, telecommunications, commercial pressures raising awareness of local needs, migration and employment mobility, and a heightened awareness of linguistic and human rights. Today, linguistically oriented students wishing to pursue a career in which they are able to further their interest in languages and cultures would be more inclined to choose vocationally relevant courses in which translation and interpreting play an important part rather than traditional. Modern Language degrees. Thus the possibilities for professional work in translation and interpreting have been extended, particularly as a result of developments in technology, whether as facilitating the translation process or as a means of dissemination and broadening access to communications in a range of media. The role of translation is, for example, becoming increasingly important in the context of modern media such as television and cinema, whether for documentary or entertainment purposes. And the technological possibilities for providing interpreting services, whether to the police officer on the beat or to the businessperson on a different continent, have extended the previously physically confined nature of mediating the spoken word. Not only do these new vistas open up opportunities for the professional linguist, they also point to expanding areas of research in Translation and Interpreting Studies. Practice and theory are of mutual benefit, especially in the case of a relatively young discipline such as Translation Studies. As a result, the first aim of this series, written primarily for the MA and advanced undergraduate student, is to highlight contemporary issues and concerns in order to provide informed, theoretically based, accounts of developments in translation and interpretation. The second aim is to provide ready access for students interested in the study and pursuit of Modern Languages to xii Series Editors’ Preface xiii vocational issues which are of relevance to the contemporary world of translating and interpreting. The final aim is to offer informed updates to practising professionals on recent developments in the field impacting on their discipline. Linguistic, Culture and Translation Studies University of Surrey Guildford UK GUNILLA ANDERMAN MARGARET ROGERS Acknowledgements I am indebted to three individuals for their contributions. This book would have taken more time to complete if it had not been for Chooi Tsien Yeo who researched background information for me. Words cannot express my gratitude to Stephen Moore, in between translation deadlines, for putting his experiences as a professional translator into writing. I am extremely indebted to Paul Marriott for his comments and suggestions, particularly on helping to visualize a new way to depict the multidimensional classification of translation types in Chapter 7. I would like to acknowledge especially the Duke University Libraries and Institute of Statistics and Decision Science at Duke University in providing me with the environment and research facilities where most of this book was written. Also my thanks to the National University of Singapore Libraries, George Edward Library at the University of Surrey, and the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science at the University of Waterloo for their help. I would also like to acknowledge the following authors, publishers and organizations for allowing the use of copyright material in this book: John Hutchins, Harold Somers and Elsevier (Academic Press Ltd) for the classification of translation types in Chapter 1; Eugene Nida and the Linguistic Society of America for the translation process in Chapter 2; John Smart and Smart Communications, Inc. for the controlled and simplified English samples in Chapter 2; Francis Bond and Takefumi Yamazaki for the KAMI Malay–English dictionary entry in Chapter 3; Paolo Dongilli and Johann Gamper for the building of a parallel corpus in Chapter 4; Tony Jewtushenko and Peter Reynolds of OASIS for XLIFF in Chapter 4; Enrique de Argaez at Internet World Stats for the statistical figure on the Internet population in Chapter 6; Michael Carl, Reinhard Schaler, Andy Way, Springer Science and Business Media, and Kluwer Academic Publishers for the model of the future use of translation technology in Chapter 6. To Antonio Ribeiro, Tessadit Lagab, Margaret Rogers and Chooi Tsien Yeo, my most sincere thanks for translating from English into Portuguese, French, German and Chinese respectively. I am solely responsible for any translation errors that occurred. A special thank you goes to Elsie Lee, Shaun Yeo, Angeliki Petrits, Mirko Plitt and Ken Seng Tan for answering some of my queries. xiv Acknowledgements xv. To Caroline, Elizabeth, Gillian and Lyndsay, thank you for helping out with keying in corrections on the earlier drafts. Lastly, to my ‘sifu’ and friend Peter Newmark, a big thank-you for all the translation discussions we had during our coffee–biscuit sessions years ago. If it had not been for the series editors, Gunilla Anderman and Margaret Rogers, this book would not have been written. I am forever grateful to both of them for their feedback and comments. Thanks to Jill Lake of Palgrave Macmillan for her patience and understanding due to my ‘country-hopping’ from Southeast Asia to North America during the writing of this book. Waterloo, Canada CHIEW KIN QUAH List of Abbreviations. ACRoTERMITE AECMA AIA ALPAC ALPS ALT-J/C ALT-J/E ALT-J/M AMTA ASCC ASD ATA BASIC BLEU BSO CAT CAT2 CESTA CFE CIA CICC CRATER CTE CULT DARPA DBMT DIPLOMAT DLT DTS EAGLES EARS EDIG Terminology of Telecommunications European Association of Aerospace Industries Aerospace Industries Association of America Automatic Language Processing Advisory Committee Automatic Language Processing System Automatic Language Translator Japanese to Chinese Automatic Language Translator Japanese to English Automatic. Language Translator Japanese to Malay Association of Machine Translation in the Americas Automatic Spelling Checker Checker AeroSpace and Defence American Translators Association British American Scientific International, Commercial Bilingual Evaluation Understudy Buro voor Systeemontwikkeling Computer-Aided Translation Constructors, Atoms and Translators Campagne d’Evaluation de Systemes de Traduction Automatique Caterpillar Fundamental English Central Intelligence Agency Center of International Cooperation for Computerization Corpus Resources and Terminology Extraction Caterpillar Technical English Chinese University. Language Translator Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Dialogue-based Machine Translation Distributed Intelligent Processing of Language for Operational Machine Aided Translation Distributed Language Translation Descriptive Translation Studies Expert Advisory Group on Language Engineering Standards Effective, Affordable Reusable Speech-to-Text European Defence Industries Group xvi List of Abbreviations xvii. ELDA ELRA ENGSPAN ENIAC EURODICAUTUM EUROSPACE EUROTRA EVALDA EWG FAHQT/FAHQMT FEMTI GENETER GETA HAMT HICATS HT HTML IAMT IATE INTERSECT ISI ISLE ISO JEIDA JEITA JICST-E KAMI KANT KGB LDC LISA LMT LTC LTRAC MAHT MANTRA MARTIF Evaluations and Language resources Distribution Agency European Language Resources Association English Spanish Machine Translation System Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer. European Terminology Database Aerospace  and Defence Industries Association of Europe European Translation Infrastructure d’EVALuation a ELDA Evaluation Working Group Fully Automatic High Quality (Machine) Translation A Framework for the Evaluation of Machine Translation in ISLE Generic Model for Terminology Groupe d’Etude pour la Traduction Automatique Human-Aided/Assisted Machine Translation Hitachi Computer Aided Translation System Human Translation HyperText Markup Language International Association of Machine Translation Inter-Agency Terminology Exchange International Sample of English Contrastive. Texts International Statistical Institute International Standards for Language Engineering International Organization for Standardization Japan Electronic Industry Development Association Japan Electronics and Information Technology Association Japan Information Center of Science and Technology Kamus Melayu-Inggeris (Malay-English Dictionary) Knowledge-based Accurate Translation Komitet Gosudarstvennoi Bezopasnosti Linguistic Data Consortium Localisation Industry and Standards Association Logic-based Machine. Translation Language Technology Centre Language Translation Resources Automatic Console Machine-Aided/Assisted Human Translation Machine Assisted Translation Machine Readable Terminology Interchange Format xviii List of Abbreviations  MASTOR MAT METAL METU MLIR MT NAATI NIST OASIS OCP OCR OLIF OS OSCAR PaTrans PAHO PDA PESA RDF RFC SALT SGML SPANAM SUSY SYSTRAN TAP TAUM TBX TEMAA TGT-1 THETOS TMF TMX TOLL TONGUES TS TTS Multilingual Automatic Speech-to-Speech Translator Machine-Aided/Assisted. Translation Mechanical Translation and Analysis of Language Middle East Technical University MultiLingual Information Retrieval Machine Translation National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters Ltd. National Institute of Standards and Technology Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards Oxford Concordance Programme Optical Character Recognition Open Lexicon Interchange Format Operating System Open Standards for Container/Content Allowing Re-use Patent. Translation Pan-American Health Organization Personal Digital Assistant Portuguese-English Sentence Alignment Resource Description Framework Request for Comments Standards-based Access to Lexicographical Terminological Multilingual Resources Standard Generalised Markup Language Spanish American Machine Translation System Saarbrucker UbersetzungsSYstem System Translation. Think-Aloud Protocols Traduction automatique a l’Universite de Montreal TermBase eXchange Testbed Study of Evaluation Methodologies: Authoring Aids Text-into-Gesture Translator Text into Sign Language Automatic Translator for Polish Terminological Markup Framework Translation Memory eXchange Thai On-Line Library Act II Audio Voice Translation Guide Systems Translation Studies Theoretical Translation Studies List of Abbreviations xix. WebDIPLOMAT WebOnt WWW W3C XLIFF XLT XML Web Distributed Intelligent Processing of Language for Operational Machine Aided Translation Web Ontology World Wide Web WWW Consortium XML Localisation Interchange File Format XML Representation of Lexicons and Terminologies Extensible or Extensive Markup Language. This page intentionally left blank Introduction For over half a century, the demand for a variety of translations by different groups of end-users has enabled many types of translation tools to be developed. This is reflected in the systems that will be discussed in this book, ranging from machine translation systems, computer-aided translation tools and translation resources. The majority of books and articles on translation technology focusing on the development of these systems and tools have been written from the point of view of researchers and developers. More recent publications written with translators in mind have focused on the use of particular tools. This book is intended as an introduction to translation technology for students of translation. It can also be useful to professional translators and those interested in knowing about translation technology. A different approach is taken in that descriptions of particular tools are not provided, and the development of different machine translation and computer-aided translation tools and their uses are discussed. Programming details and mathematical equations are not considered, except in the discussion of the statistical approach to machine translation where minimal essential formulae are included. Descriptions are given to allow readers to further investigate specific approaches or issues that might interest them, using references cited throughout the book. It is also important to note that no particular approach or design is deemed to be better than any other. Each and every one has their strengths and weaknesses. In many cases, readers will find that examples of systems and tools are given but this does not suggest that they are the best; they are simply examples to illustrate the points made. 1 2 Translation and Technology. While researching this book, I discovered that the majority of publications from the literature on translation technology are about the development of machine translation systems, primarily involving experimental systems developed or being developed at a number of universities and large commercial corporations across the globe. The book will show that many of these systems never achieved their commercial potential and remained as experimental tools, while some others served as tools for other natural-language processing applications. By contrast, not much literature seems to be available on computeraided tools such as translation memory systems. As we shall see in this book, most computer-aided translation tools are developed by commercial companies and, as a result, progress reports on these tools are rarely published in the public domain. Furthermore, to cater to different needs and demands, a tool like a translation memory system comes in many versions from the most basic to the most advanced. Insights into the use of these tools can be found in translator magazines and occasionally also posted on the World Wide Web (WWW). The evaluation of translation tools falls into a field that is wellresearched. Again we will see that most of the literature focuses on the evaluation of machine translation systems. Furthermore, the extensive use of translation tools and translation processes involved in the localization industry tend to be discussed separately, giving the impression that they are not related to translation. These two areas are, however, directly relevant to translation technology. Hence they are also included in this book. Essentially, the book contains what is felt should be included in order to provide an overview of translation technology. In order to keep the book at the given length, the topics have been carefully selected with some described in greater detail than others. In some chapters, an abbreviated historical background has been deemed necessary in order to provide a better understanding of the topics discussed, especially in the description of the development of machine translation systems and their evaluation. However, in all cases, references have been provided which readers may choose to pursue at a later time. Suggestions for further reading are provided at the end of every chapter (Chapters 1 to 6). The first chapter discusses the definitions of terms referring to the use of computers in translation activities. Some of the terms can be confusing to anyone who is unfamiliar with translation tools. In some cases, the same translation tools are given different names depending on what they are used for; in other cases, a tool may be differently classified depending on the perspective of those who have developed that tool. Introduction 3 The aim in this chapter is therefore to clarify these terminological and related matters. An alternative perspective to the four basic translation types – fully automated high-quality machine translation, human-aided machine translation, machine-aided human translation, and human translation – first proposed by Hutchins and Somers (1992) is introduced to reflect current developments in translation technology. This will be explored in more detail in the final chapter where the four translation types are reviewed in relation to topics described in the book. The second chapter discusses technology within the larger framework of Translation Studies as a discipline, focusing on the relationship between the engineering of translation technology, on the one hand, and Translation Studies including translation theory, on the other hand. The relationship between academic and professional groups involved in translation is also examined. This in turn leads to a discussion of the involvement of a particular approach in linguistic theories – known as ‘formalisms’ in natural-language processing – especially in the design of machine translation systems. A different perspective on the translation process involving pre- and post-editing tasks using a special variety of language called ‘controlled language’ is also presented. This translation process is described using the translation model proposed by Jakobson (1959/2000), a translation model that differs significantly from the one proposed by Nida (1969). The third chapter gives detailed descriptions of different machine translation system designs also known as ‘architectures’. The development of machine translation over several decades, its capabilities and the different types of machine translation systems, past and present, are also included. Both experimental and commercial systems are discussed, although the focus is on the experimental systems. Even though machine translation has been well-documented elsewhere, a discussion is deemed to be important for this book. It is felt that modern-day professional translators should be informed about machine translation systems because there is every reason to believe, as we shall discover in Chapter 6, that future trends in translation technology are moving towards integrated systems where at least one translation tool is combined with another, as is already the case in the integration of machine translation with translation memory. The fourth chapter describes the architectures and uses of several computer-aided translation tools, such as translation memory systems, as well as resources such as parallel corpora. Unlike machine translation systems, which are largely developed by universities, most computeraided translation tools are developed by commercial companies. Thus, 4 Translation and Technology information about such tools is harder to obtain. This chapter will also show that computer-aided translation tools are becoming more advanced and using different operating systems, and so ‘standards for data interchange’ have been created. Three different standards are described. Currently available commercial translation tools are also discussed. In addition, this chapter presents an overview of other commercially available tools such as those used in the localization industry. The fifth chapter touches on the evaluation of translation technology. The discussion focuses on different groups of stakeholders from research sponsors to end-users. Also included in the discussion are the different methods of evaluation: human, machine, and a combination of human and machine as evaluator. The choice of method used depends on who the evaluation is for and its purpose. It also depends on whether an entire tool or only some components are evaluated. Also described in this chapter is the general framework of evaluation offered by various research groups in the USA and Europe. The literature on evaluation concentrates on the evaluation of machine translation systems either during the developmental stage or after the process of development is completed. Less information is available on the evaluation of computeraided translation tools. What is available is found mainly in translation journals, magazines and newsletters. The sixth chapter presents some recent developments and shows the direction in which translation technology is heading, in particular regarding the future of machine translation systems that are now incorporating speech technology features. The integration of speech technology and traditional machine translation systems allows translation not only between texts or between stretches of speech, but also between text and speech. This integration is proving to be useful in many specific situations around the globe especially in international relations and trade. This chapter also looks at research projects in countries that are involved in the development of translation tools for minority languages and discusses the problems encountered in developing machine translation systems for languages that are less well-known and not widely spoken. Another form of technology called the ‘Semantic Web’ that has the potential to improve the performance of certain machine translation systems is also described. Included in this chapter, too, are issues such as linguistic dominance and translation demands on the WWW that are already shaping parts of the translation industry. The book concludes by presenting an expanded version of the four basic classifications of translation types as suggested by Hutchins and Somers (1992) and introduced in Chapter 1. It is concluded that the Introduction 5 one-dimensional linear continuum originally proposed is no longer able to accurately reflect current developments in translation technology. Translation tools today come in different versions and types depending on the purposes for which they are built. Some are multifunctional while others remain monofunctional. An alternative way must therefore be found to depict the complexities and multidimensional relationships between the four translation types and the topics discussed in this book. It is not possible to put every single subject discussed here into one diagram or figure, and so, in order to gain a better understanding of how the issues are related to one another, they are divided into groups. Topics or issues in each group have a common theme that links them together, and are presented in a series of tables. However, it is important to bear in mind that not all topics can be presented neatly and easily even in this way. This clearly shows the complexity and multidimensionality of translation activities in the modern technological world. At the end of the book, several Appendices provide information on the various Internet sites for many different translation tools and translation support tools such as monolingual, bilingual, trilingual and multilingual dictionaries, glossaries, thesauri and encyclopaedia. Only a selected few are listed here, and as a result the lists are not exhaustive. It is also important to note that some Internet sites may not be permanent; at the time of the writing, every effort has been made to ensure that all sites are accessible. 1 Definition of Terms In translation technology, terms commonly used to describe translation tools are as follows: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ machine translation (MT); machine-aided/assisted human translation (MAHT); human-aided/assisted machine translation (HAMT); computer-aided/assisted translation (CAT); machine-aided/assisted translation (MAT); fully automatic high-quality (machine) translation (FAHQT/FAHQMT). Distinctions between some of these terms are not always clear. For example, computer-aided translation (CAT) is often the term used in Translation Studies (TS) and the localization industry (see the second part of this chapter), while the software community which develops this type of tool prefers to call it ‘machine-aided translation’ (MAT). As the more familiar term among professional translators and in the field of Translation Studies, ‘computer-aided translation’ is used throughout the book to represent both computer-aided translation and machine-aided translation tools, and the term ‘aided’ is chosen instead of ‘assisted’, as also in ‘human-aided machine translation’ and ‘machine-aided human translation’. Figure 1.  1 distinguishes four types of translation relating human and machine involvement in a classification along a linear continuum introduced by Hutchins and Somers (1992: 148). This classification, now more than a decade old, will become harder to sustain as more tools become multifunctional, as we shall see in Chapters 3, 4 and 6. Nevertheless, the concept in Figure 1. 1 remains useful as a point of reference for classifying translation in relation to technology. 6 Definition of Terms 7 MT CAT Machine Fully automated high quality (machine) translation (FAHQT/ FAHQMT) Human-aided machine translation (HAMT) Machine-aided human translation (MAHT) Human Human translation (HT) MT = machine translation; CAT = computer-aided translation Figure 1. 1 Source: Classification of translation types Hutchins and Somers (1992): 148. The initial goal of machine translation was to build a fully automatic high-quality machine translation that did not require any human intervention. At a 1952 conference, however, Bar-Hillel reported that building a fully automatic translation system was unrealistic and years later still remained convinced that a fully automatic high-quality machine translation system was essentially unattainable (Bar-Hillel 1960/2003: 45). Instead, what has emerged in its place is machine translation, placed between FAHQT and HAMT on the continuum of Figure 1. 1. The main aim of machine translation is still to generate translation automatically, but it is no longer required that the output quality is high, rather that it is fit-for-purpose (see Chapters 2 and 3). As for human-aided machine translation and machine-aided human translation, the boundary between these two areas is especially unclear. Both classes are considered to be computer-aided translation as indicated in Figure 1. 1 (Tong 1994: 4,730; see also Slocum 1988; Hutchins and Somers 1992). However, in Schadek and Moses (2001), a different classification has been proposed where only machine-aided human translation is viewed as synonymous with computer-aided translation. Human-aided machine translation is considered as a separate category. The reasoning behind the view offered by Schadek and Moses is not difficult to understand. At least theoretically, the difference between the two is obvious. For human-aided machine translation, the machine is the principal translator, while in machine-aided human translation it is a human. In practice, however, it may be less easy today to draw a distinguishable boundary between them. The blurring of boundaries is further complicated when human-aided machine translation is considered as a subclass of machine translation, an approach chosen by Chellamuthu (2002). Since human-aided machine translation has 8 Translation and Technology the machine as the principal translator –

E-commerce in Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

E-commerce in Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Analysis of innovation of e-commerce in small and medium-sized enterprises In the last decade large organisations have realised the increasing impact of new and cutting edge technology. Clark (1989) emphasized on the importance of technology to gain competitive advantage but at the same time he warned that building and maintaining such advantage will always be a challenge. Information technology in the form of internet has allowed organisations and their management to benefit from better quality information and better decision making. White (1997) adds that the internet is extremely effective in attracting computer literate people. Especially Internet has made a prolific influence on the business world. The internet has become an area where consumers are able to find what they need (Amor, 2002). This is clearly evident by the growth of internet in the last few years as shown in figure 1. Being involved with the new technologies brought many opportunities and easiness to reach products to consumers anywhere, anytime in the world (McKenna,2002). The new technological innovations have allowed organisations to conduct business in a completely new way by using online electronic transaction mechanisms and the concept of E-Commerce evolved(Gunasegaram Love, 1999; Westland and Clark, 1999). Today in most of the business and commerce sector IT has taken the form of E-Commerce. Figure 1 Growth of internet E-commerce is a major innovation, which has benefited industries across the globe even the Small and Medium Industries. The SME’s in Itself amount to a large part of the economy, at the moment there are12000 SME’s using EDI, electronic data interchange to further their businesses. Although the SME’s are contributors to the national economy of any country, the whole framework used to build them lacks transparency. There are problems around the financial resources available to keep them going; there is not enough legislative and administrative support from the government. On the business front these enterprises lack the right kind of management vigour, style, knowledge, and experience in handling more developed innovative technologies, which are inundating the markets. This is something they need to be aware of in order to survive the competitive environment. The SME’sdon’t have a single development system, which can safeguard theirinterests. They need an integrated approach, which encompasses threelevels, strategic, institutional, and enterprise. The government andthe public/private sector need to offer support for the fulfilment ofthis long-term strategy, which will make SME’s into profit centres’-commerce brings in a host of advantages as well as disadvantages tome’s and this project is an attempt to learn more and develop deeper understanding into the effect of technical innovations in e-commerce on Small and medium sized enterprises [Kyiv, 1997]. This study attempts to add to the existing literature by looking at hawse’s are approaching to incorporate e-commerce into their business strategy or how they are trying to improve their existing approach. This study will also evaluate consumer experiences of online shopping and how e-commerce has impacted on their expectations and goes on to suggest how online stores may need to improve if they are to meet these new expectations. 2. Aims and Objectives Aims The main aim of this project is to explore how the SME’s are important to the national economies and how the use of e-commerce help them gain a better position in terms of growth and profitability. There search context is based on SME’s in England to get an even background to this research question. As one knows technology and innovation always have repercussions, this project would also explore how theses ME’s deal with the disadvantages and convert them into viable benefits. This project will also find out to what extent do small firms use-commerce in their business processes and what are the barriers to the adoption of e-commerce? Customers as well as organization’s perspective towards e-commerce will be found out. Alongside the study will also try to find out how much electronic transaction have influenced the small-scale industry? Additionally this dissertation will also provide with accurate, up-to-date, research-based information about possible future trends in e-commerce. And lastly, this research will provide some suggestions and recommendations to be considered for the improvement of-commerce for small firms to develop ideas for further research in this context. This study on SME’s under different situations and circumstances would help present an overall portrayal and even help understand the issues under a magnifying glass when faced in certain sectors like manufacturing. To summarize some of the questions that will be addressed through this research are as follows: †¢ What is the status of SME’s in today’s global business environment? †¢ What is the contribution of the SME’s in the national and global economies? †¢ How will innovations like the Internet in e-commerce help the businesses in SME’s grow and become more profitable ventures? †¢ What are the problems/mistakes in the E-business strategy adopted in general by small firms in U.K? †¢ What are the problems faced by customers and organisations while dealing on internet? †¢ What are the factors that influence the development of e-commerce? †¢ Does e-commerce open up new markets for small scale industries in the United Kingdom? Objectives 1. Critically evaluate the relevant literature on small firms and the importance/usage of the internet. 2. Understand small firms’ problems and barriers to the use of e-commerce through articles, newspapers, interviews and surveys. 3. Gain specific knowledge of internet usage for small firms in business through interviews, publications and company information. 4. Provide recommendations to improve the usage of internet as a competitive tool. 5. The advent of the e-commerce, its advantages and disadvantages. 3. Literature Review E-Commerce E-commerce may be defined as â€Å"The sharing of business information, maintaining business relationships, and conducting business transactions by means of Internet-based technology† (Riggins Rhee, 1998, p. 90). Alternately it may also be defined as â€Å"Anything that enhances your relationships with an existing customer and increases the revenue you get from the customer.† (Sullivan, 1998, p.24). The Internet and Electronic Commerce have made the world market smaller place to trade in. The Internet has opened up many possibilities of organising and running an online business. It has created a universal platform for buying and selling of goods which has resulted in faster transaction times and reduced transaction costs. Colin Turner (2000), in his book on the information of e-economy, talks about the e-commerce business accomplishment and strategies. E-commerce has its benefits and shortcomings, along with this belief; the companies are also battling with the pressures of information technology revolution coming to an end. â€Å"Despite all the hype surrounding electronic commerce, and the recent failure of many of that com companies, it does present real opportunities to small entrepreneurs in many countries.† (Fatal and Janet, 2004) Classification of E-commerce According to the applications or the nature of transaction of E-commerce, it can be categorized as follows: Turban et al (2000) divided E-commerce into three categories in terms of its applications: a) Electronic markets: It refers to buying and selling goods and services at an electronic marketplace, where the business centre is not a physical building but rather a network-based location. The market handles all the necessary transaction, including response to information request, purchase acknowledgement, shipping notice, purchase/service delivery, payment acknowledgement, and the transfer of money between banks and so on. In electronic market, the principal participants transaction handlers, buyers, brokers, and sellers, are not only at different locations but seldom even know one another. The means of interconnection varies among parties and can change from event to event, even between the same parties. b) Inter-organisational systems: They are facilitating inter and intra-organization flow of information, communication and collaboration. An IOS (inter-organisational information systems) involves information flow among two or more organisations. Its major objective is efficient information and transaction processing. All relationships are predetermined and there is no negotiation, just execution. A typical IOS includes a company and its suppliers and/or customers. Through it, buyers and sellers arrange routine business transactions and information is exchanged over communications networks using prearranged formats. Its main types aired (Electronic data interchange), extranets, electronic funds transfer, electronic forms, integrated messaging, shared databases and supply chain management. c) Customer service: It is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction, helping customers to resolve problems they encountered in any phase of the purchasing process. E-commerce plays a dual role in customer service. First, it provides customer service to a process that is done completely offline. Second, it provides help to online transactions. Types of customer service include answering customer inquiries, providing search and comparison capabilities, providing technical information to customers, allowing customers to track order status, and allowing customers to place an online order and so on. Kalakos Whinstone (1997) contended that there are three distinct general classes of electronic commerce applications: a) Inter-organizational Electronic Commerce: Like Turban et al above, Kalakos Whinstone consider that-commerce can be applied in following inter-organizational business: Supplier management: Electronic applications help companies reduce the number of suppliers and facilitate business partnerships by reducing purchase order (PO) processing costs and cycle times, and by increasing the number of Pops processed with fewer people. Inventory management: It shortens the order-ship-bill cycle and time of transmitting information. Businesses can also track their documents to ensure that they were received, thereby improving auditing capabilities. This also helps reduce inventory levels, improve inventory turns and eliminate out-of-stock occurrences. Distribution management: Electronic application facilitate the transmission of shipping documents such as bills of lading, pur chase orders, advanced ship notices, and manifest claims, and enable better resource management by ensuring that the documents themselves contain more accurate data. Channel management: Electronic application quickly disseminates information about changing operational conditions to trading partners. By electronically linking production-related information with international distributor and reseller networks, companies can eliminate thousands of labour hours and ensure accurate information sharing. Payment management: Linking companies with suppliers and distributors enables payment to be sent and received electronically. Electronic payment reduces clerical error, increases the speed at which companies compute invoices, and lowers transaction fees and costs. b) Intra-organizational commerce The purpose of intra-organizational applications is to help a company maintain the relationships that are critical to delivering superior customer value. Its applications are as follows: Workgroup communications: It enables managers to communicate with employees using electronic mail, videoconferencing, and bulletin board, hence increase the dissemination of information, resulting in better-informed employees. Electronic publishing: It enables companies to organize, publish and disseminate human resources manuals, product specifications and meeting minutes using tools such as the World Wide Web. Meanwhile, it reduces costs for printing and distributing documentation, faster delivery of information and reduction of outdate information. Sales force productivity: These applications improve the flow of information between the production and sales forces, and between the firms and customers. The goal is to allow firms to collect market intelligence quickly and to analyse if more thoroughly. c) Consumer-to-Business Electronic Commerce Social interaction: Consumers can communicate with each other through e-mail, videoconferencing, and news group etc. Personal finance management: El ectronic applications enable consumers to manage investments and personal finances using online banking tools. Purchasing products and information: Consumers can find online information about existing and new products/services. Turban et al (2000) further goes on to describe E-Commerce based on the types of transactions and are more popularly known as: B2B (Business-to-Business): Most of E-commerce today is of this type. It includes the IOS transactions and electronic market transactions between organisations. B2C (Business-to-Consumer): These are retailing transactions with individual shoppers. C2C (Consumer-to-Consumer): In this category, consumers sell directly to consumers. C2B (Consumer-to-Business): In this category, consumers sell directly to organisations. Challenges to E-Commerce Although the Internet offers great deals of advantages to electronic commerce and businesses, it also provides a number of challenges. Some of these challenges as mentioned by Turban et al (2000) are discussed below: 1. Unsuccessful Business Models Not all companies that implement electronic commerce make benefits. Technologies changes so rapidly that keeping pace with change ultimately becomes too expensive or results in a failure. 2. Channel Conflicts Sometimes a company uses more than one distribution channel (Online as well as traditional channels) to sell its products and services. This can cause conflict between the dealers as it becomes important in such case to maintain a balance between the different channels. For e.g.it might be possible that a particular company tries to sell its product online at a lesser cost with some discount and maintains the original cost while selling it offline. This disparity can cause its dealers to create a problem. 3. Legal Issues Internet Law s are confusing and mostly non-existent. Also the Internet’s global and is used by individuals from different countries and thus it becomes difficult to decide which law to apply if a conflict arises. 4. Security Privacy This is the most important issue concerned with online transactions and businesses. Important information and valuable data like credit/debit card details, personal information, business plans and other company data can be easily leaked and tracked by hackers. Security risk in electronic payments has been one of the major reasons in making online businesses not to grow rapidly over the Internet. Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Different countries define small medium enterprises in different ways. Teethe and Burn (2001) define small medium enterprises (SME) as â€Å"firms with less than 500 employees. This is further broken down into micro companies, those with less than 5 employees; small companies, those with 5 to 20 employees and medium companies, those with between20 and 500 employees. On the other hand, the UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI, 1999) define SME’s as firms with 250 employees or fewer. The European Commission (2003) defines SME’s as follows: microenterprises are enterprises with a maximum number of 10 employees, maximum turnover of 2 million euros and a maximum balance sheet of total of 2 million euros. While small enterprises are enterprises with maximum number of 50 employees, a maximum turnover of 10 million euros and a maximum balance sheet of a total of 10 million euros. Finally medium enterprises are enterprises with a maximum number of 250employees, a maximum turnover of 50 million euros and a maximum balance sheet of a total of 43 million euros. Figure 2 SME Thresholds (European Commission, 2003) Buncombe (1999) points out that a number of studies have attempted to collect information on the make-up of Botswanas SME sector, by gaining access to official statistics and by conducting field surveys in connection with various research projects. According to the report, he defines enterprises according to the number of employees, annual turnover, and level of formality. There is no real universally standard definition for Small firms. In a study carried by the ILO, more than 50definitions were identified in 75 different countries, with considerable ambiguity in the terminology used. For the purpose of this study the author will go with the definition of Small firms which defines Small firms as firms with 49 or fewer employees. From the foregoing definition of small medium enterprises (SME’s) by different researchers, it can be seen that the number of employees and turnover are the determinant factors in the definition of SME, but, the criteria is different from country to country. SME’s and E-Commerce Internet became a main way for effective marketing in business. It is one of the most effective media all over the world and this makes it compulsory channel to use for market entries. Specifically, small firms have major problems with strong companies and existing small firms about market entries in the market. They have to prove their identity in the market as an enterprise despite all these rivalry and difficulties such as web design, domain name, site security responsibilities to customers, etc. They have to let customers know that they are in the market and internet is an efficient way to do so. Furthermore, cost advantages which come with e-commerce are reasonable for market entry. Small firms have a lot of to do as they are new tithe market or they need to grow in the market. They try to cut costs and increase investments in their business. Internet provides great opportunity to small firms for their activities in the market. Even as they serve a local or regional market rather than a national or an international market, it might be difficult to enter market or to reach customers. E-commerce appears as the most efficient way to gain successor small firms in existing fierce rivalry. The small firms generally provide the majority of the jobs and are significant contributor towards the national economy (Baldwin, 2001).Small and medium scale enterprises are considered to be the core out’s economy. According to Smith et al (2000) 99% of UK business firms can be categorized as small businesses and they employ up to 58% out’s total workforce. Hence small firms are extremely important in UK’s economy and the government expends considerable resources to support this sector. The UK government admits that small firms are neglected and left behind while the larger companies getting advantage over small businesses in the e-commerce world (Simpson; Docherty, 2004) Thus it’s very important to study the problems and barriers encountered in adopting a new economy cycle by the sector which represents the majority of the countries businesses. Sadowski et al (2002) notes that even after the widespread use of internet technologies in the corporate world, the amount of Internet use varies to a great extent in the small-scale sector. The adoption of any new technology in this sector is influenced by the several variables as stated by Martens et al (2001). These factors may include the characteristic of the firm, its competitiveness, the influence it has on third parties in the decision process, the management strategy and the characteristic of the new technology itself. All these factors lead company to strategic advantage if they used as they should be. It is important that the company sustains strategic advantage from e-commerce. Competitive business environment makes this matter more important (Hiding, 1999).As long as the company provides well designed web-site that suits with business and its requirements, then strategic advantage can be sustained. Thomas H. Davenport (1993), in his book, ‘Process Innovation –Reengineering work through information technology talks about, how revolutionary approach to information technology and its integration in our business processes can change the scenario. This can dramatically change the way business is conducted in small and medium enterprises also improve the performance keeping in view the competitive environment. New technologies and process innovation brings a new commitment and strategic evolution to these enterprises. Resources like information technology and e-commerce are largely untapped by the SME’s but once that scenario changes, there will be a lot of improvisations and growth avenues. Mandel (2001) says that every technological innovation and discovery finally has it downturn. When these new opportunities like e-commerce come into play, all businesses want ashore of this market. In their rush to get more profits, the investments are so heavy and lacking direction that invariably it leads to a loss since the economy infrastructure cannot support it. This has been proven with the dotcom burst and doom. According to some authors, these SME’s can actually use the innovation of e-commerce to march forward and become integral contributors to the economies. Due to their sizes they lack the initiative and financial power to go all out and compete in different markets, e-commerce could be the solution to some of the marketing gaps, which hold them back from becoming more successful. Importance of SME’s to countries’ economies Baraka (2001) reports that growing evidence indicates that Small Medium Enterprises play an important role in promoting the national economic development of any country. They create a lot of new jobs and produce much of the creativity and innovation that fuels economic progress. Ninety present of the total number of companies in most countries is comprised of small medium enterprises, which provide on average 70% of job opportunities (OECD, 1997). 26% of OECD exports and35% of Asias export are directly produced by small medium firms as suggested by Tendon (2002). The existing literature from research in different studies points out that Small medium enterprises (SME) world-wide have found that Internet use has become a critically important aspect of their business. Porter(2001) supports this view and suggests that companies of all sizes should have a strategy of reacting to competitors and increased adoption of the Internet technology, which will lead to increase in competition within markets. He further points out that e-commerce reduces the difference among competitors offerings and frequently migrate competition to price rather than products features or brand perceptions. He also suggests that smaller businesses could improve their business competitiveness with either other small businesses or larger companies by adopting e-commerce. Porter (2001) is backed up by an earlier study (Jacobs and Rowland 2000). They suggest that smaller businesses have, in particular, been encouraged to adopt e-commerce as a means of improving their competitiveness, either with other small medium enterprises or with larger companies, where they have been promised that e-commerce can level the playing. According to Daniel and Wilson (2002), small and medium-sized enterprises are now increasingly making use of e-commerce. Daniel further suggests that â€Å"responding to competitive pressure was the main reason leading to companies to adopt e-commerce. Information sharing and communication between employees within the firm were found to bethe e-commerce activities where firms are realizing the greatest benefits. Hence, though the future of e-commerce is still unpredictable, it is important that developing countries, their governments and businesses should prepare for these new developments. Benefits of e-commerce to SME’s A growing number of organisations have implemented e-commerce in the hope of improving decision making, lowering costs and improving customer satisfaction levels. A major benefit of e-commerce is cost reduction as Tagliavini et al (2001) pointed out a correct adoption of-commerce could lead to a reduction of transaction costs and coordination costs. Also, Davies and Garcia (1999) argue that benefits for SME’s are faster communication, effective dissemination and collection of information and closer relationships throughout the supply chain. Meanwhile, Liu and Arnett (2000) suggested theatre-commerce can help business organisations cut costs, interact directly with customers, run more smoothly and in a timelier manner, and even better, it can help an organization outperform its competition. Further driving factors of e-commerce for SME’s are also identified by Auger and Gallagher (1997) as follows: access to an Affluent Customer Base, lower Information Dissemination Costs, lower Transaction Costs, broader Market Reach, increased Service, additional Channels for Customer Feedback and Consumer and Market Research. Reducing costs, better communication with customers, access to larger customer base, and extended market are the major benefits of using-commerce agreed by a number of authors. At the same time, the more detailed benefits of e-commerce to SME’s are summarized as follows: †¢ Innovative products, better services and exploring new market opportunities; †¢ Shift in value added and content components of what is made and sold; †¢ Changes to economies of scale and the traditional barriers and advantages of large enterprises; †¢ Untying work functions from specific locations and time constraints; †¢ Flattening and disaggregating of organisational structures; †¢ Scope for customization at low cost; and †¢ Commercialization of in-house content and know-how. However, a study conducted by Poon (1999) found that the benefits of Internet commerce could be classified into long-term and short-term benefits, direct and indirect benefits. He suggested that the short-term benefits should be achieved within a few months, while the long-term benefits may take longer and unable to be predicted. The use of e-commerce can benefit SME’s in terms of reducing costs and access to larger customer base in the short term, and business transformation in the future. The use of e-commerce will also have a great deal of effect on the SME’s business activities as Tagliavini et al. (2001)indicated that E-Commerce has an important influence on SME’s; range of activity, providing increased competition on a global scale and allowing them to access wider markets. From the above literature it could be rightly said that E-Commerce adoption is an essential business strategy for SME’s to obtain competitive advantage. Opportunities and Threats faced by SME’s There are major opportunities for new entrepreneurs and small- to medium-sized businesses to flourish in the maturing of e-commerce(Drew, 2003). The use of e-commerce has provided a variety of benefits for SME’s as well as a number of potential opportunities. â€Å"The Internet’s usually presented as an opportunity for smaller firms because it helps reduce transaction costs and level the playing field (Evans and Wurster, 1997). The opportunities for SME’s include expanding scope of marketing, wider and richer communication, reaching new market and reducing cost of operations and partnering with suppliers (Drew, 2003). According to a report conducted by Prevost (1998), there are variety of opportunities added to SME’s, including efficiency and productivity for business process, the development of new market opportunity (B2C andB2B) as well as access to global market. Also, the e-commerce give SME’s opportunity to exploit competitive and know how benefits as suggested by Tagliavini et al. (2001). Nevertheless, how to use e-commerce as an opportunity to SME’s will depend on the industry and firm factor implied by Drew (2003). These influenced factors include: The smaller firm’s technical and Internet knowledge; The rate at which the market is growing; The pace of innovation and change in the industry; The technical and Internet strengths of the larger competitors; The sources of competitive advantage for the smaller business; The strategic intent of the larger competitors; and The structure of the industry in which the firm competes. Generally, the market, industry structure, and macro-environment will be the major influenced factors that decide e-commerce as an opportunity or threat for SME’s. Therefore, although it is not doubt that e-commerce has provided a huge opportunity for SME’s in the range of business activities, the external and internal factors must be considered strategically while adopting e-commerce. However, Tagliaviniet al (2001) argued, the real opportunity of E-Commerce adoption force’s is still unclear(p.211). Global Trading The significant opportunity for SME’s is to extend existing market to international market addressed by a number of authors (OECD, 1998;Webb and Sawyer, 1998; Walczuch et al., 2000 and Giessen et al., 2001).Giessen (2001) remarks â€Å"the twin phenomena of globalization and-commerce pose new challenges and provide competitive opportunities for large and small firms alike†. It is an imperative opportunity force’s to access the global market, as the one of the important feature of e-commerce is global reach as stated by Loudon (2001). Therefore, ME’s are expecting the opportunity to extend existing market into globalization by using e-commerce. Undoubtedly, Internet has provided chance for SME’s to diminish the entry barrier and costs into global trading market as electronic commerce offers companies the possibility to sell internationally, effectively removing constraints of time and location and substantially enhancing their competitiveness, and it is the most imperative opportunity for SME’s to increase productivity andthe capability to entry markets and discover business partners globally(OECD, 1998). Indeed, the reach of global market is an exciting opportunity for SME’s to grow in terms of the size of company and competitive advantage. However, Jutland et al. (2002) proclaims that â€Å"globalization pressures arising from e-commerce operations often mean that SME’s have to acquire international trade knowledge. Publishing company’s website in the Internet is simple but trading in the global market is not so simple task for any of the SME’s. As Teethe and Burn (2001) points out that the challenge for SME’s are complicated byte general lack of clearly defined frameworks for analysis of the entire processes of strategy building, implementation and management with aspect to the emergent global information economy. However-commerce truly provides the great opportunity for SME’s to increase competence with lager firms in variety of business opportunities as well as an opportunity to extend trading geography. The various opportunities offered by e-commerce are the significant riving factors that encourage a firm to adopt e-commerce as its business operation. Threats Although the use of e-commerce has provided a huge opportunity force’s in range of business activities, e-commerce might become a threat for SME’s while trying to explore a variety of opportunity by using-commerce. As Drew (2003) indicates there are a number of threats of-commerce for SME’s. These threats include increasing competition from larger firms as the new medium allows larger firms to mimic the traditional strengths of SME’s in serving niche markets, developing customer intimacy E-commerce in Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) E-commerce in Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Analysis of innovation of e-commerce in small and medium-sized enterprises In the last decade large organisations have realised the increasing impact of new and cutting edge technology. Clark (1989) emphasized on the importance of technology to gain competitive advantage but at the same time he warned that building and maintaining such advantage will always be a challenge. Information technology in the form of internet has allowed organisations and their management to benefit from better quality information and better decision making. White (1997) adds that the internet is extremely effective in attracting computer literate people. Especially Internet has made a prolific influence on the business world. The internet has become an area where consumers are able to find what they need (Amor, 2002). This is clearly evident by the growth of internet in the last few years as shown in figure 1. Being involved with the new technologies brought many opportunities and easiness to reach products to consumers anywhere, anytime in the world (McKenna,2002). The new technological innovations have allowed organisations to conduct business in a completely new way by using online electronic transaction mechanisms and the concept of E-Commerce evolved(Gunasegaram Love, 1999; Westland and Clark, 1999). Today in most of the business and commerce sector IT has taken the form of E-Commerce. Figure 1 Growth of internet E-commerce is a major innovation, which has benefited industries across the globe even the Small and Medium Industries. The SME’s in Itself amount to a large part of the economy, at the moment there are12000 SME’s using EDI, electronic data interchange to further their businesses. Although the SME’s are contributors to the national economy of any country, the whole framework used to build them lacks transparency. There are problems around the financial resources available to keep them going; there is not enough legislative and administrative support from the government. On the business front these enterprises lack the right kind of management vigour, style, knowledge, and experience in handling more developed innovative technologies, which are inundating the markets. This is something they need to be aware of in order to survive the competitive environment. The SME’sdon’t have a single development system, which can safeguard theirinterests. They need an integrated approach, which encompasses threelevels, strategic, institutional, and enterprise. The government andthe public/private sector need to offer support for the fulfilment ofthis long-term strategy, which will make SME’s into profit centres’-commerce brings in a host of advantages as well as disadvantages tome’s and this project is an attempt to learn more and develop deeper understanding into the effect of technical innovations in e-commerce on Small and medium sized enterprises [Kyiv, 1997]. This study attempts to add to the existing literature by looking at hawse’s are approaching to incorporate e-commerce into their business strategy or how they are trying to improve their existing approach. This study will also evaluate consumer experiences of online shopping and how e-commerce has impacted on their expectations and goes on to suggest how online stores may need to improve if they are to meet these new expectations. 2. Aims and Objectives Aims The main aim of this project is to explore how the SME’s are important to the national economies and how the use of e-commerce help them gain a better position in terms of growth and profitability. There search context is based on SME’s in England to get an even background to this research question. As one knows technology and innovation always have repercussions, this project would also explore how theses ME’s deal with the disadvantages and convert them into viable benefits. This project will also find out to what extent do small firms use-commerce in their business processes and what are the barriers to the adoption of e-commerce? Customers as well as organization’s perspective towards e-commerce will be found out. Alongside the study will also try to find out how much electronic transaction have influenced the small-scale industry? Additionally this dissertation will also provide with accurate, up-to-date, research-based information about possible future trends in e-commerce. And lastly, this research will provide some suggestions and recommendations to be considered for the improvement of-commerce for small firms to develop ideas for further research in this context. This study on SME’s under different situations and circumstances would help present an overall portrayal and even help understand the issues under a magnifying glass when faced in certain sectors like manufacturing. To summarize some of the questions that will be addressed through this research are as follows: †¢ What is the status of SME’s in today’s global business environment? †¢ What is the contribution of the SME’s in the national and global economies? †¢ How will innovations like the Internet in e-commerce help the businesses in SME’s grow and become more profitable ventures? †¢ What are the problems/mistakes in the E-business strategy adopted in general by small firms in U.K? †¢ What are the problems faced by customers and organisations while dealing on internet? †¢ What are the factors that influence the development of e-commerce? †¢ Does e-commerce open up new markets for small scale industries in the United Kingdom? Objectives 1. Critically evaluate the relevant literature on small firms and the importance/usage of the internet. 2. Understand small firms’ problems and barriers to the use of e-commerce through articles, newspapers, interviews and surveys. 3. Gain specific knowledge of internet usage for small firms in business through interviews, publications and company information. 4. Provide recommendations to improve the usage of internet as a competitive tool. 5. The advent of the e-commerce, its advantages and disadvantages. 3. Literature Review E-Commerce E-commerce may be defined as â€Å"The sharing of business information, maintaining business relationships, and conducting business transactions by means of Internet-based technology† (Riggins Rhee, 1998, p. 90). Alternately it may also be defined as â€Å"Anything that enhances your relationships with an existing customer and increases the revenue you get from the customer.† (Sullivan, 1998, p.24). The Internet and Electronic Commerce have made the world market smaller place to trade in. The Internet has opened up many possibilities of organising and running an online business. It has created a universal platform for buying and selling of goods which has resulted in faster transaction times and reduced transaction costs. Colin Turner (2000), in his book on the information of e-economy, talks about the e-commerce business accomplishment and strategies. E-commerce has its benefits and shortcomings, along with this belief; the companies are also battling with the pressures of information technology revolution coming to an end. â€Å"Despite all the hype surrounding electronic commerce, and the recent failure of many of that com companies, it does present real opportunities to small entrepreneurs in many countries.† (Fatal and Janet, 2004) Classification of E-commerce According to the applications or the nature of transaction of E-commerce, it can be categorized as follows: Turban et al (2000) divided E-commerce into three categories in terms of its applications: a) Electronic markets: It refers to buying and selling goods and services at an electronic marketplace, where the business centre is not a physical building but rather a network-based location. The market handles all the necessary transaction, including response to information request, purchase acknowledgement, shipping notice, purchase/service delivery, payment acknowledgement, and the transfer of money between banks and so on. In electronic market, the principal participants transaction handlers, buyers, brokers, and sellers, are not only at different locations but seldom even know one another. The means of interconnection varies among parties and can change from event to event, even between the same parties. b) Inter-organisational systems: They are facilitating inter and intra-organization flow of information, communication and collaboration. An IOS (inter-organisational information systems) involves information flow among two or more organisations. Its major objective is efficient information and transaction processing. All relationships are predetermined and there is no negotiation, just execution. A typical IOS includes a company and its suppliers and/or customers. Through it, buyers and sellers arrange routine business transactions and information is exchanged over communications networks using prearranged formats. Its main types aired (Electronic data interchange), extranets, electronic funds transfer, electronic forms, integrated messaging, shared databases and supply chain management. c) Customer service: It is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction, helping customers to resolve problems they encountered in any phase of the purchasing process. E-commerce plays a dual role in customer service. First, it provides customer service to a process that is done completely offline. Second, it provides help to online transactions. Types of customer service include answering customer inquiries, providing search and comparison capabilities, providing technical information to customers, allowing customers to track order status, and allowing customers to place an online order and so on. Kalakos Whinstone (1997) contended that there are three distinct general classes of electronic commerce applications: a) Inter-organizational Electronic Commerce: Like Turban et al above, Kalakos Whinstone consider that-commerce can be applied in following inter-organizational business: Supplier management: Electronic applications help companies reduce the number of suppliers and facilitate business partnerships by reducing purchase order (PO) processing costs and cycle times, and by increasing the number of Pops processed with fewer people. Inventory management: It shortens the order-ship-bill cycle and time of transmitting information. Businesses can also track their documents to ensure that they were received, thereby improving auditing capabilities. This also helps reduce inventory levels, improve inventory turns and eliminate out-of-stock occurrences. Distribution management: Electronic application facilitate the transmission of shipping documents such as bills of lading, pur chase orders, advanced ship notices, and manifest claims, and enable better resource management by ensuring that the documents themselves contain more accurate data. Channel management: Electronic application quickly disseminates information about changing operational conditions to trading partners. By electronically linking production-related information with international distributor and reseller networks, companies can eliminate thousands of labour hours and ensure accurate information sharing. Payment management: Linking companies with suppliers and distributors enables payment to be sent and received electronically. Electronic payment reduces clerical error, increases the speed at which companies compute invoices, and lowers transaction fees and costs. b) Intra-organizational commerce The purpose of intra-organizational applications is to help a company maintain the relationships that are critical to delivering superior customer value. Its applications are as follows: Workgroup communications: It enables managers to communicate with employees using electronic mail, videoconferencing, and bulletin board, hence increase the dissemination of information, resulting in better-informed employees. Electronic publishing: It enables companies to organize, publish and disseminate human resources manuals, product specifications and meeting minutes using tools such as the World Wide Web. Meanwhile, it reduces costs for printing and distributing documentation, faster delivery of information and reduction of outdate information. Sales force productivity: These applications improve the flow of information between the production and sales forces, and between the firms and customers. The goal is to allow firms to collect market intelligence quickly and to analyse if more thoroughly. c) Consumer-to-Business Electronic Commerce Social interaction: Consumers can communicate with each other through e-mail, videoconferencing, and news group etc. Personal finance management: El ectronic applications enable consumers to manage investments and personal finances using online banking tools. Purchasing products and information: Consumers can find online information about existing and new products/services. Turban et al (2000) further goes on to describe E-Commerce based on the types of transactions and are more popularly known as: B2B (Business-to-Business): Most of E-commerce today is of this type. It includes the IOS transactions and electronic market transactions between organisations. B2C (Business-to-Consumer): These are retailing transactions with individual shoppers. C2C (Consumer-to-Consumer): In this category, consumers sell directly to consumers. C2B (Consumer-to-Business): In this category, consumers sell directly to organisations. Challenges to E-Commerce Although the Internet offers great deals of advantages to electronic commerce and businesses, it also provides a number of challenges. Some of these challenges as mentioned by Turban et al (2000) are discussed below: 1. Unsuccessful Business Models Not all companies that implement electronic commerce make benefits. Technologies changes so rapidly that keeping pace with change ultimately becomes too expensive or results in a failure. 2. Channel Conflicts Sometimes a company uses more than one distribution channel (Online as well as traditional channels) to sell its products and services. This can cause conflict between the dealers as it becomes important in such case to maintain a balance between the different channels. For e.g.it might be possible that a particular company tries to sell its product online at a lesser cost with some discount and maintains the original cost while selling it offline. This disparity can cause its dealers to create a problem. 3. Legal Issues Internet Law s are confusing and mostly non-existent. Also the Internet’s global and is used by individuals from different countries and thus it becomes difficult to decide which law to apply if a conflict arises. 4. Security Privacy This is the most important issue concerned with online transactions and businesses. Important information and valuable data like credit/debit card details, personal information, business plans and other company data can be easily leaked and tracked by hackers. Security risk in electronic payments has been one of the major reasons in making online businesses not to grow rapidly over the Internet. Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Different countries define small medium enterprises in different ways. Teethe and Burn (2001) define small medium enterprises (SME) as â€Å"firms with less than 500 employees. This is further broken down into micro companies, those with less than 5 employees; small companies, those with 5 to 20 employees and medium companies, those with between20 and 500 employees. On the other hand, the UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI, 1999) define SME’s as firms with 250 employees or fewer. The European Commission (2003) defines SME’s as follows: microenterprises are enterprises with a maximum number of 10 employees, maximum turnover of 2 million euros and a maximum balance sheet of total of 2 million euros. While small enterprises are enterprises with maximum number of 50 employees, a maximum turnover of 10 million euros and a maximum balance sheet of a total of 10 million euros. Finally medium enterprises are enterprises with a maximum number of 250employees, a maximum turnover of 50 million euros and a maximum balance sheet of a total of 43 million euros. Figure 2 SME Thresholds (European Commission, 2003) Buncombe (1999) points out that a number of studies have attempted to collect information on the make-up of Botswanas SME sector, by gaining access to official statistics and by conducting field surveys in connection with various research projects. According to the report, he defines enterprises according to the number of employees, annual turnover, and level of formality. There is no real universally standard definition for Small firms. In a study carried by the ILO, more than 50definitions were identified in 75 different countries, with considerable ambiguity in the terminology used. For the purpose of this study the author will go with the definition of Small firms which defines Small firms as firms with 49 or fewer employees. From the foregoing definition of small medium enterprises (SME’s) by different researchers, it can be seen that the number of employees and turnover are the determinant factors in the definition of SME, but, the criteria is different from country to country. SME’s and E-Commerce Internet became a main way for effective marketing in business. It is one of the most effective media all over the world and this makes it compulsory channel to use for market entries. Specifically, small firms have major problems with strong companies and existing small firms about market entries in the market. They have to prove their identity in the market as an enterprise despite all these rivalry and difficulties such as web design, domain name, site security responsibilities to customers, etc. They have to let customers know that they are in the market and internet is an efficient way to do so. Furthermore, cost advantages which come with e-commerce are reasonable for market entry. Small firms have a lot of to do as they are new tithe market or they need to grow in the market. They try to cut costs and increase investments in their business. Internet provides great opportunity to small firms for their activities in the market. Even as they serve a local or regional market rather than a national or an international market, it might be difficult to enter market or to reach customers. E-commerce appears as the most efficient way to gain successor small firms in existing fierce rivalry. The small firms generally provide the majority of the jobs and are significant contributor towards the national economy (Baldwin, 2001).Small and medium scale enterprises are considered to be the core out’s economy. According to Smith et al (2000) 99% of UK business firms can be categorized as small businesses and they employ up to 58% out’s total workforce. Hence small firms are extremely important in UK’s economy and the government expends considerable resources to support this sector. The UK government admits that small firms are neglected and left behind while the larger companies getting advantage over small businesses in the e-commerce world (Simpson; Docherty, 2004) Thus it’s very important to study the problems and barriers encountered in adopting a new economy cycle by the sector which represents the majority of the countries businesses. Sadowski et al (2002) notes that even after the widespread use of internet technologies in the corporate world, the amount of Internet use varies to a great extent in the small-scale sector. The adoption of any new technology in this sector is influenced by the several variables as stated by Martens et al (2001). These factors may include the characteristic of the firm, its competitiveness, the influence it has on third parties in the decision process, the management strategy and the characteristic of the new technology itself. All these factors lead company to strategic advantage if they used as they should be. It is important that the company sustains strategic advantage from e-commerce. Competitive business environment makes this matter more important (Hiding, 1999).As long as the company provides well designed web-site that suits with business and its requirements, then strategic advantage can be sustained. Thomas H. Davenport (1993), in his book, ‘Process Innovation –Reengineering work through information technology talks about, how revolutionary approach to information technology and its integration in our business processes can change the scenario. This can dramatically change the way business is conducted in small and medium enterprises also improve the performance keeping in view the competitive environment. New technologies and process innovation brings a new commitment and strategic evolution to these enterprises. Resources like information technology and e-commerce are largely untapped by the SME’s but once that scenario changes, there will be a lot of improvisations and growth avenues. Mandel (2001) says that every technological innovation and discovery finally has it downturn. When these new opportunities like e-commerce come into play, all businesses want ashore of this market. In their rush to get more profits, the investments are so heavy and lacking direction that invariably it leads to a loss since the economy infrastructure cannot support it. This has been proven with the dotcom burst and doom. According to some authors, these SME’s can actually use the innovation of e-commerce to march forward and become integral contributors to the economies. Due to their sizes they lack the initiative and financial power to go all out and compete in different markets, e-commerce could be the solution to some of the marketing gaps, which hold them back from becoming more successful. Importance of SME’s to countries’ economies Baraka (2001) reports that growing evidence indicates that Small Medium Enterprises play an important role in promoting the national economic development of any country. They create a lot of new jobs and produce much of the creativity and innovation that fuels economic progress. Ninety present of the total number of companies in most countries is comprised of small medium enterprises, which provide on average 70% of job opportunities (OECD, 1997). 26% of OECD exports and35% of Asias export are directly produced by small medium firms as suggested by Tendon (2002). The existing literature from research in different studies points out that Small medium enterprises (SME) world-wide have found that Internet use has become a critically important aspect of their business. Porter(2001) supports this view and suggests that companies of all sizes should have a strategy of reacting to competitors and increased adoption of the Internet technology, which will lead to increase in competition within markets. He further points out that e-commerce reduces the difference among competitors offerings and frequently migrate competition to price rather than products features or brand perceptions. He also suggests that smaller businesses could improve their business competitiveness with either other small businesses or larger companies by adopting e-commerce. Porter (2001) is backed up by an earlier study (Jacobs and Rowland 2000). They suggest that smaller businesses have, in particular, been encouraged to adopt e-commerce as a means of improving their competitiveness, either with other small medium enterprises or with larger companies, where they have been promised that e-commerce can level the playing. According to Daniel and Wilson (2002), small and medium-sized enterprises are now increasingly making use of e-commerce. Daniel further suggests that â€Å"responding to competitive pressure was the main reason leading to companies to adopt e-commerce. Information sharing and communication between employees within the firm were found to bethe e-commerce activities where firms are realizing the greatest benefits. Hence, though the future of e-commerce is still unpredictable, it is important that developing countries, their governments and businesses should prepare for these new developments. Benefits of e-commerce to SME’s A growing number of organisations have implemented e-commerce in the hope of improving decision making, lowering costs and improving customer satisfaction levels. A major benefit of e-commerce is cost reduction as Tagliavini et al (2001) pointed out a correct adoption of-commerce could lead to a reduction of transaction costs and coordination costs. Also, Davies and Garcia (1999) argue that benefits for SME’s are faster communication, effective dissemination and collection of information and closer relationships throughout the supply chain. Meanwhile, Liu and Arnett (2000) suggested theatre-commerce can help business organisations cut costs, interact directly with customers, run more smoothly and in a timelier manner, and even better, it can help an organization outperform its competition. Further driving factors of e-commerce for SME’s are also identified by Auger and Gallagher (1997) as follows: access to an Affluent Customer Base, lower Information Dissemination Costs, lower Transaction Costs, broader Market Reach, increased Service, additional Channels for Customer Feedback and Consumer and Market Research. Reducing costs, better communication with customers, access to larger customer base, and extended market are the major benefits of using-commerce agreed by a number of authors. At the same time, the more detailed benefits of e-commerce to SME’s are summarized as follows: †¢ Innovative products, better services and exploring new market opportunities; †¢ Shift in value added and content components of what is made and sold; †¢ Changes to economies of scale and the traditional barriers and advantages of large enterprises; †¢ Untying work functions from specific locations and time constraints; †¢ Flattening and disaggregating of organisational structures; †¢ Scope for customization at low cost; and †¢ Commercialization of in-house content and know-how. However, a study conducted by Poon (1999) found that the benefits of Internet commerce could be classified into long-term and short-term benefits, direct and indirect benefits. He suggested that the short-term benefits should be achieved within a few months, while the long-term benefits may take longer and unable to be predicted. The use of e-commerce can benefit SME’s in terms of reducing costs and access to larger customer base in the short term, and business transformation in the future. The use of e-commerce will also have a great deal of effect on the SME’s business activities as Tagliavini et al. (2001)indicated that E-Commerce has an important influence on SME’s; range of activity, providing increased competition on a global scale and allowing them to access wider markets. From the above literature it could be rightly said that E-Commerce adoption is an essential business strategy for SME’s to obtain competitive advantage. Opportunities and Threats faced by SME’s There are major opportunities for new entrepreneurs and small- to medium-sized businesses to flourish in the maturing of e-commerce(Drew, 2003). The use of e-commerce has provided a variety of benefits for SME’s as well as a number of potential opportunities. â€Å"The Internet’s usually presented as an opportunity for smaller firms because it helps reduce transaction costs and level the playing field (Evans and Wurster, 1997). The opportunities for SME’s include expanding scope of marketing, wider and richer communication, reaching new market and reducing cost of operations and partnering with suppliers (Drew, 2003). According to a report conducted by Prevost (1998), there are variety of opportunities added to SME’s, including efficiency and productivity for business process, the development of new market opportunity (B2C andB2B) as well as access to global market. Also, the e-commerce give SME’s opportunity to exploit competitive and know how benefits as suggested by Tagliavini et al. (2001). Nevertheless, how to use e-commerce as an opportunity to SME’s will depend on the industry and firm factor implied by Drew (2003). These influenced factors include: The smaller firm’s technical and Internet knowledge; The rate at which the market is growing; The pace of innovation and change in the industry; The technical and Internet strengths of the larger competitors; The sources of competitive advantage for the smaller business; The strategic intent of the larger competitors; and The structure of the industry in which the firm competes. Generally, the market, industry structure, and macro-environment will be the major influenced factors that decide e-commerce as an opportunity or threat for SME’s. Therefore, although it is not doubt that e-commerce has provided a huge opportunity for SME’s in the range of business activities, the external and internal factors must be considered strategically while adopting e-commerce. However, Tagliaviniet al (2001) argued, the real opportunity of E-Commerce adoption force’s is still unclear(p.211). Global Trading The significant opportunity for SME’s is to extend existing market to international market addressed by a number of authors (OECD, 1998;Webb and Sawyer, 1998; Walczuch et al., 2000 and Giessen et al., 2001).Giessen (2001) remarks â€Å"the twin phenomena of globalization and-commerce pose new challenges and provide competitive opportunities for large and small firms alike†. It is an imperative opportunity force’s to access the global market, as the one of the important feature of e-commerce is global reach as stated by Loudon (2001). Therefore, ME’s are expecting the opportunity to extend existing market into globalization by using e-commerce. Undoubtedly, Internet has provided chance for SME’s to diminish the entry barrier and costs into global trading market as electronic commerce offers companies the possibility to sell internationally, effectively removing constraints of time and location and substantially enhancing their competitiveness, and it is the most imperative opportunity for SME’s to increase productivity andthe capability to entry markets and discover business partners globally(OECD, 1998). Indeed, the reach of global market is an exciting opportunity for SME’s to grow in terms of the size of company and competitive advantage. However, Jutland et al. (2002) proclaims that â€Å"globalization pressures arising from e-commerce operations often mean that SME’s have to acquire international trade knowledge. Publishing company’s website in the Internet is simple but trading in the global market is not so simple task for any of the SME’s. As Teethe and Burn (2001) points out that the challenge for SME’s are complicated byte general lack of clearly defined frameworks for analysis of the entire processes of strategy building, implementation and management with aspect to the emergent global information economy. However-commerce truly provides the great opportunity for SME’s to increase competence with lager firms in variety of business opportunities as well as an opportunity to extend trading geography. The various opportunities offered by e-commerce are the significant riving factors that encourage a firm to adopt e-commerce as its business operation. Threats Although the use of e-commerce has provided a huge opportunity force’s in range of business activities, e-commerce might become a threat for SME’s while trying to explore a variety of opportunity by using-commerce. As Drew (2003) indicates there are a number of threats of-commerce for SME’s. These threats include increasing competition from larger firms as the new medium allows larger firms to mimic the traditional strengths of SME’s in serving niche markets, developing customer intimacy