Double and Triple Taxation Must be Eliminated :: Expository Exemplification Essays

Double and Triple Taxation Must be Eliminated President George Bush states that "it's unfair to tax money twice." This statement is actually an example of normative economics and only describes an opinion. It cannot be proven because the term "unfair" is relative to different people; however, not many people would dare to disagree. Especially if the double tax was not aimed only at the large corporations or the richest 10% of the nation but at every hardworking American who brings home a paycheck. Even worse, many of these Americans do not even realize the "double tax," and sometimes even "triple tax," that is imposed on them. Currently, large corporations are required to be taxed a certain percentage of all of their profits. This includes the money from which dividends are derived. When stock holders obtain the dividends from these corporations, the government counts this as individual income and is taxed once again. Six percent of the population would benefit from abolishment of this "double tax." However, the largest part of the income that is taxed twice is the income from the worker's paycheck. Opposed to the 6 percent of dividend holders, this affects every working American. The income is first taxed as a whole and then Social Security and Medicare tax is also deducted. The money that was for Medicare and Social Security is never seen but is counted as if the individual had an opportunity to spend it. What is worse is much of the Social Security money is received from retirees who are again taxed on the income, creating a "triple tax." For Social Security recipients, there is a fixed amount of income allowed to go untaxed but is taxed once exceeded. However, these base amounts do not change with inflation which creates more and more people who are "unfairly" taxed. Also, this "triple tax" is paid all by the same person whereas the dividend tax is shared by both corporations and stockholders. This double tax is imposed on far more people who make much less money than the di vidend holders. The Social Security tax on a worker's paycheck can only be implemented on a certain amount of income, creating a maximum base amount. This base amount does rise with inflation. Therefore, as income increases, the Social Security tax actually decreases. Those who make less money pay a larger percentage of their income to the government through the Social Security tax than the wealthy class does.

marketing pricing objectives :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Pricing objectives are goals that describe what a firm wants to achieve through pricing. Pricing objectives must be stated explicitly, and the statement should include the time frame for accomplishing them. There are six stages of setting prices. They are developing pricing objective, assessing the target market’s evaluation of price, evaluating competitors’ prices, choosing a basis for pricing, selecting a pricing strategy, and determining a specific price.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cost-based pricing is adding a dollar amount or percentage to the cost of the product. Cost-plus pricing is adding a specified dollar amount or percentage to the seller’s cost. Markup pricing is adding to the cost of the product a predetermined percentage of that cost. Demand-based pricing if pricing based on the level of demand for the product. Competition-based pricing is pricing influenced primarily by competitors’ prices.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A pricing strategy is an approach of a course or action designed to achieve pricing and marketing objectives. Differential pricing is charging different prices to different buyers for the same quality and quantity of product. Negotiated pricing is establishing a final price through bargaining. Secondary-market pricing is setting one price for the primary target market and a different price for another market. Periodic discounting is temporary reduction of prices on a patterned or systematic basis. Random discounting is temporary reduction of prices on an unsystematic basis. Price skimming is charging the highest possible price that buyers who most desire the product will pay. Penetration pricing is setting prices below those of competing brands to penetrate a market and gain a significant market share quickly.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Product-line pricing is establishing and adjusting prices of multiple products within a product line. Captive pricing is pricing the basic product in a product line low while pricing related items at a higher level. Premium pricing is pricing the highest-quality or most versatile products higher than other models in the product line. Bait pricing is pricing an item in the product line low with the intention of selling a higher-priced item in the line. Price lining is setting a limited number of prices for selected groups or lines of merchandise.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Psychological pricing is pricing that attempts to influence a customer’s perception of price to make a product’s price more attractive. Reference pricing is pricing a product at a moderate level and positioning it next to a more expensive model or brand. Bundle pricing is packaging together two or more complementary products and selling them for a single price.

Business ethics Essay -- essays research papers

Current Trends and Implications: Achieving Organizational Goals Using A Systems Approach ( Information Technology as a part of Your Competitive Strategy) Introduction to Seminar Welcome ladies and gentlemen, there are many of you here today from great distances and backgrounds of all sorts. I would like to start off first by thanking you for your time. New technologies everyday are radically changing existing industrys and creating new ones. This seminar focuses on these changes and understanding how they can help you achieve success or failure in the marketplace. Soon you will learn that your time here will give you great insight into current emerging and leading edge information and trends in using IS and IT as your competive strategy and advantage in growing your business. Beyond that your employees and other attendees will be addressed with the challenges and issuses of the many different aspects of how these systems can help you implement strategys to make your existing systems more efficient. There are pros and cons with these technologys and systems, as is expected and everything here is not for everyone. What you can expect is that you will find some thing there for you and your firm to further explore and possibly implement into operations. The seminar is set up for everyone, there is insight and much more to gain from the knowledge that we have amassed for you. Following will be how our seminar will run, summarizing and giving you a preview with how we implement the information to you and your clients. The Seminar will take place Friday and Saturday. It will be structured with breaks, your clients can choose which sections to attend, although we encourage the whole seminar, we know you and your clients may be issue specific. We highly recommend the seminar section on VoIP and RFID technology. Friday: 10:00 a.m. – Meet and greet brunch, seminar attendees will be treated to a five star brunch to start the day off on a good foot. Here your clients can meet and mingle with business minds from all over the world. The experience and networking alone is wonderful.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  11:00 – Seminar will begin, attendees will receive seminar materials, phamplets and packets, to go along with the seminar. Also will be included is workbooks that provide material for the seminar and for practice and referecnce later. Go over schedule for t... ...bsp;How Stocks And The Stock Market Work You hear about Stocks on the news every day -- now you can understand what they are talking about! http://money.howstuffworks.com/stock.htm D  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Wal-Mart, DoD clarify RFID plans: suppliers begin race to present plans for RFID implementation. (RFID/ADC) Frontline Solutions, Jan, 2004, by Brian Albright http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m0DIS/1_5/112563026/p1/article.jhtml Military Orders Suppliers to Use RFID Technology http://www.computerworld.com/printthis/2003/0,4814,85978,00.html E  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sidebar: Glossary http://www.computerworld.com/printthis/2004/0,4814,93615,00.html - Systems Approach / Systems model Hardware / Software / Communications Applying information systems for competitive advantage Information as a strategic resource that supports or shapes an organization’s competitive strategy. Socio-technical Change strategies Technology Competition  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Legal Hardware/Software Productivity Ethics / Privacy Resource/Asset allocation Information systems development strategies (Outsourcing, prototyping, off-the-shelf, etc) Security / Ethics / Privacy Value Chain

Business Communication in Today’s World

INTRODUCTION Definition Communication is defined as the process of transferring information and meaning between senders and receivers, using one or more written, oral, visual or electronic channels. Simply put, communication is the exchange of information between people. It is important to get feedback from your audience and vice versa for the process of communication to take place effectively. The feedback can be either positive or negative. Business communication is any communication used in an organisation with an intention to promote a product, improve service or with the intention to make a sale. This type of communication also occurs within the organisation between the management and employees. It has purpose and a lot of attention is given to detail. Business communication has undergone a lot of transformation as a result of the growth of information technology that has changed the whole concept of communication. In the past, businesses had a model of communication that left very little room for interaction and conversation with the receiver of the message. Currently the model that works and is now used by most organisations is one that gives room to both conversation and interaction with the receivers. BODY Communication is very vital in any organization. Like blood in our bodies, it is the channel that gives life to the organisation and without it, organisations would not be functional. There are two types of business communication in an organization 1. Internal Communication 2. External Communication Internal communication This defines communication that occurs within an organisation. It occurs between management and departments and between the employees of the organization. This type of communication may be formal or informal. Internal communication is vital because it helps in increasing job satisfaction, productivity and profits. It is also a platform for employees and management to air and address grievances. There are three types of communication under internal business communication a) Upward Communication b) Downward Communication c) Horizontal communication a) Upward communication Upward communication is the flow of information from subordinates to superiors or from employees to management. By definition, communication is a two-way affair. Yet for effective two-way organizational communication to occur, it must begin from the bottom. Upward Communication is a means for staff to: * Exchange vital information * Offer ideas Express enthusiasm * Achieve job satisfaction * Provide feedback Diagram showing upward communication in a bank b) Downward Communication This is the flow of information from the person or people who are at the top of the organisation to their subordinates. Downward communication generally provides information for direction and guidance e. g. Instructions on how to do a task. This type o f communication is needed in an organization to: * Transmit important information * Give instructions * Announce decisions * Seek cooperation * Provide motivation * Increase efficiency * Obtain feedback c) Horizontal communication Horizontal communication normally involves coordinating information, and allows people with the same or similar rank in an organization to co-operate or collaborate. Communication among employees at the same level is crucial for the accomplishment of work. Horizontal Communication is essential for: * Solving problems * Accomplishing tasks * Improving teamwork * Building goodwill * Boosting efficiency External Communication This type of communication occurs between the organisation and the public. This includes suppliers, clients or customers, shareholders or investors and with other organisations. Social networks have transformed external communication. The popularity of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social networks have made them effective tools for communication that organisations now use. External communication leads to: * Increased sales volume * Public credibility * Operational efficiency * Achievement of organisational goals * Customer satisfaction METHODS OF COMMUNICATION There are different communication methods that are used in business communication. We have verbal, written and visual methods that come in different forms. These forms of communication have undergone transformation with the introduction of information technology. For example verbal forms of communication like telephone calls have been improved to incorporate video conferencing. It is important to choose the right method and form of communication if you are to effectively pass information to your audience. The choice is determined by several factors: * Urgency – How important is the information to the recipient and what would be the effect of delay? * Security and privacy – Are the contents of the message classified? Nature and complexity – does the message contain detailed/ technically complex information that could be misunderstood? * Number of recipients – is the message intended for one person, a selected group or everyone? * Record – Will evidence/proof of communication be needed? * Distance – Is the message for internal use only or does it need to be transmitted further? * Impression/ appea rance – is the message required to create a favorable impression by its style/ quality/ appearance? If so, are the recipient’s taste known? * Feedback – will an instant response be needed from the message? Cost –How much will it cost you to pass this information and is it worth it? Forms of communication include: * Memos * Email * Letters * Newspapers/magazines * Television * Telephone * Meetings Information technology has transformed business technology and today there are several tools that are available for communication both internal and external communication. Some of these tools include: * Wireless network * Electronic presentations * Virtual meeting spaces * Wikis * Voice technology * Video conferencing CONCLUSION Business communication should be effective if the organization is to achieve its goals and desired results. The purpose of business communication is to pass information to the receiver and receive a response. Effective communication is communication that ensures that this happens in an efficient way. For information to be effective, it has to be able to: * Provide information that is practical – it should be able to give the receiver information that they can apply in their daily life. * It should give facts and avoid vague impressions – Language used should be strong and give clear and accurate information. In the case of an argument it should give evidence to support the conclusion reached. The presentation should be concise and efficient this can be achieved by summarizing and highlighting the main points Business communication is important because it helps in: * Decision making – business communication makes the process of decision making faster because reliable information has been received. * Solving problems – Effective communication ensures that problems are solved faster because the problems have already been understood. * Foreseeing potential problems that the business could experience * Developing stronger relationships business relationships * Developing exceptional marketing messages It is important to note that business communication is different from social communication with friends and family. Business communication is complicated and requires skill and attention. As result there are challenges that rise when trying to ensure that an organization has effective business communication. Some of these challenges include: Globalization in business and the diversity of the workforce – Businesses can presently be able to connect with the world and sell products across borders. Although, the opening up of the market is an advantage to the business, it presents new challenges in communication. The organization should find methods to be able to effectively communicate with the new market and diverse workforce that these new opportunities present. The escalation of value given to business communication – We are living in the Information age and competition in the marketplace is determined by how well business information is relayed by the organization. It is important to acquire information on competition, customer needs and the rules and regulations. Growth of technology – Business communication today is dependent on technology and technology is very dynamic. For an organization to be relevant it has to have the ability to transform at the same pace that technology is advancing. It is therefore important to use it productively. We should also remember that technology is just a tool for communication, not a replacement to think or communicate for an organization. Increasing reliance on teamwork – teams are vital in an organizational structure and for teams to produce results there is a need for them to have efficient communication. This sometimes presents challenges but developing great communication lines ensures that teamwork is successful. Business communication is growing; innovations are being made daily to make communication more efficient. Conventional ways are being transformed to incorporate technology or being discarded completely for lack of relevance. All this is done in an effort to improve business and increase productivity. REFERENCES Bove`e, L. , and Thill, V. (2010). Business Communication Today. Upper Saddle, NJ. Pearson Education Inc. Publishing.

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry

In 2014, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Eric Betzig and William Moerner who, working separately, laid the foundation for SMLM. In essence, this method relies on the possibility to turn the fluorescence of individual molecules on and off. Scientists image the same area multiple times, allowing only a few interspersed molecules to glow each time. By superimposing these images, a dense super-image can be resolved at the nanolevel. With the development of this technique, Betzig and Moerner were able to overcome Abbe's diffraction limit, allowing for the production of high resolution images that, before SMLM, had not been possible. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, Ernst Abbe and Lord Rayleigh formulated what is commonly known as the â€Å"diffraction limit† for microscopy. Roughly speaking, this limit states that it is impossible to resolve two elements of a structure that are closer to each other than about half the wavelength (?) in the lateral (x, y) plane and even further apart in the longitudinal (z) plane. Another consequence of the same diffraction limit is that it is not possible to focus a laser beam to a spot of smaller dimension than about ?/2. In the case of light (optical) microscopy, an important tool for the imaging of biological structures, this means that two objects within a distance between 400/2 = 200 nm (far blue) and 700/2 = 350 nm (far red) cannot be resolved. Although this is no real limitation for electron microscopy, in which the wavelength is orders of magnitude smaller, this method is very difficult to use on living cells. For instance, the length-scale of the E. coli cell is about 1,000 nm (1 ?m) which is larger than, but of similar magnitude, as the diffraction limit. This explains why, prior to the development of SMLM, it was difficult to image details of the internal structures of living bacteria. Perhaps this may be the reason why bacteria are considered to be â€Å"primitive† organisms with little internal structure. With single-molecule localization, more precise structures of bacteria and other small-scale entities, e.g. individual viruses, can be resolved.In SMLM, the photochemical properties of fluorescent proteins are exploited to induce a weakly emissive or non-emissive â€Å"dark† state. From the dark state, very small populations of fluorophores are returned to an emissive state by shining a weak light pulse that activates only a fraction of the fluorophores present. These fluorophores are excited and detected by glowing until they are bleached, at which point the procedure is repeated on a new subgroup of fluorophores. In order to be identified, however, the emission profile must exhibit minimal overlap in each image. The centroid position of each identified molecule is statistically fitted, often to a Gaussian function, and with a level of precision scaling with the number of detected photons. By imaging and fitting single emitters to a sub-diffraction limited area over thousands of single images, enough data is generated to create a composite reconstruction of all identified emitters. Single-molecule localization is a broad category consisting of specific techniques, such as STORM, PALM, and GSDIM, that operate using the conceptually similar procedure outlined above. The main difference between these types is the exact fluorophore chemistry used to turn the fluorescence of individual molecules on and off. The real breakthrough in single-molecule localization occurred in 2006, when Betzig and colleagues coupled fluorescent proteins to the membrane enveloping the lysosome, the cell's recycling station. By activating only a fraction of the proteins at a time and superimposing the individual images, Betzig ended up with a super-resolution image of the lysosome membrane. Its resolution was far better than Abbe's diffraction limit of 0.2 ?m, a barrier that previous microscopy techniques could not bypass. Since the ground-breaking discovery, SMLM has allowed organelles and single molecules to be resolved with an order of magnitude better resolution (with a localization accuracy of about 10 nm), in multiple color channels, and in 2D as well as 3D. Single-molecule microscopy allows quantification of the number of proteins within biological assemblies and characterization of protein spatial distribution, permitting the determination of protein stoichiometry and distribution in signaling complexes. For instance, for the ?2 adrenergic receptors, SMLM was used to show that the receptors are partially organized in mini-clusters only in cardiomyocytes but not in any other cell lines, and that these oligomers are not lipid raft related but rather depend on actin cytoskeleton integrity. Most importantly, the results of this study were different from those obtained from a similar report which used near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM), demonstrating the better precision of SMLM over other techniques. An additional important aspect of SMLM is that it can be used with other imaging techniques to elucidate receptor complex structures. In one study by Nan et al. (2013), the powerful sensitivity of FRET imaging to detect receptor proximity was combined with the capability of SMLM to obtain direct visualization of receptor oligomers in studying RAF, a strategic protein involved in RAS signaling. By means of cluster analysis, Nan and colleagues were able to show how RAF exists between an inactive monomeric state in the cytosol and a multimeric condition at the cell membrane when activated. The results from single-molecule localization confirmed the importance of dimer and oligomer formation in RAF signaling, even though the precise biological role of these different multimeric states is yet to be determined.The better definition of biological structures in the nanometer range as a result of SMLM has had most relevance in the field of neuroscience, where the morphology of neurons composed of dendritic spines and synapses is not suitable for confocal microscopy. For example, Dani et al. (2010) used single-molecule microscopy to image presynaptic and postsynaptic scaffolding proteins in the glomeruli of the mouse olfactory bulb to show distinct punctate patterns that were not resolved by conventional fluorescence imaging. Lastly, the high resolution of SMLM has enabled a deeper understanding of chromosome organization and genome mapping. Wang et al. (2011) determined the distribution of nucleoid-associated proteins in live E. coli cells, while Baday et al. (2012) were able to label 91 out of a total of 107 reference sites on a 180 kb human BAC gene with a 100 bp resolution. DNA mapping with such resolution offers the potential to uncover genetic variance and to facilitate medical diagnosis in genetic diseases. Nonetheless, there are a few challenges that come with single-molecule microscopy, namely errors in detection efficiency and localization uncertainty. Since using fluorescent proteins as labels involves the complications associated with protein expression, errors in this step (e.g. misfolding, incomplete maturation, etc.) can lead to the production of label molecules that are not fluorescent. This can directly affect counting studies, as the number of counted molecules can be underestimated. However, it is possible to use the obtained count (after correcting for blinking artifacts) for the counting. In one study that involved identification of protein complex stoichiometry by counting photobleaching steps, Renz et al. (2012) accounted for errors in detection efficiency using a binomial model, which was found to provide accurate results. Incorporating detection efficiency into a model for the ratio between monomers and dimers can also rectify efficiency errors. In terms of localization uncertainty, each photon from the emitter molecule provides a sample of the point spread function (PSF) from the molecule. Based on these samples, single molecule localization algorithms provide an estimate for the position of the fluorescent molecule. This estimate is prone to uncertainties, especially due to limited sampling (i.e. the limited number of photons obtained from the molecule). By ensuring that the imaged molecules within a frame are spatially separated enough so that the localization algorithms can correctly identify them, however, it is possible to minimize the effect of localization uncertainty on counting measures. Despite its potential shortcomings, single-molecule localization enables high resolution imaging on the scale of nanometers, which defies Abbe's diffraction limit of 0.2 ?m. SMLM has been used to elucidate specific cell structures, as in Betzig's visualization of the lysosome membrane, and receptor complexes, as in the case of RAF. The technique has also been used to refute results of similar studies that used different imaging protocols, as shown when determining the specific location of ?2 adrenergic receptors. Overall, SMLM has ushered in a new era of high resolution imaging that not only allows for accurate insight into individual cell and protein structure, but also enables identification of abnormalities in cellular processes that ultimately manifest as genetic diseases.

Pakistan Cng Industry

Compiled by: Mirza Rohail B http://economicpakistan. wordpress. com/2008/02/10/cng-industry/ Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) is a substitute for gasoline (petrol) or diesel fuel. It is considered to be an environmentally â€Å"clean† alternative to those fuels. It is made by compressing methane (CH4) extracted from natural gas. Argentina and Brazil are the two countries with the largest fleets of CNG vehicles. As of 2005, Pakistan is the largest user of CNG in Asia, and third largest in the world. The Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) sector of Pakistan by end of 2007 has attracted over Rs 70 billion investments during the last few years as a result of liberal and encouraging policies of the government. Presently, more than 2,700 CNG stations are operating in the country in 85 cities and towns, and 1000 more would be setup in the next three years. It has provided employment to above 30,000 people in Pakistan. Over 2 million vehicles were converted to CNG as of march 2009, showing an increase of 35 percent yearly. On average 29,167 vehicles are being converted to CNG every month. All Pakistan CNG Association (APA) Sana-ur-Rehman confirms that CNG stakeholders have invested Rs. 90 billion in this sector and another Rs 20 billion investment is in pipeline. The CNG consumers had invested around Rs 60 billion in converting their vehicles to CNG. The CNG was replacing at least 6. 12 billion liters of petrol every year and saving foreign exchange to the tune of billions of dollars. The CNG sector pays 24 percent sales tax and 4 percent withholding tax to the government. Moreover, the CNG is contributing tremendously towards maintaining the air pollution level lower since it emits almost 85 percent less harmful gasses, zero lead and zero particulate matter. Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) is a substitute for gasoline (petrol) or diesel fuel. It is considered to be an CNG has grown into one of the major fuel sources used in car engines in Pakistan, Bangladesh and India. The government of Punjab, Pakistan, the most populous province of that country, has mandated that all public-transport vehicles will use CNG by 2007. CNG conversion 3rd generation environmentally â€Å"clean† alternative to those fuels. It is made by compressing methane (CH4) extracted from natural gas. It is stored and distributed in hard containers, usually cylinders. Conversion has been facilitated by a substantial price differential with liquid fuels, locally-produced conversion equipment and a growing CNG-delivery infrastructure. A ‘Blue-network’ of CNG stations is being developed on the major highways of the Southern Cone (including Chile and Bolivia) to allow for long-haul transportation fuelled by CNG. According to the International Association for Natural Gas Vehicles, Pakistan has the third-largest number of natural gas vehicles. In the Middle East and Africa, Egypt is a top ten country in the world with more than 63000 CNG vehicles and 95 fueling stations nationwide. Egypt was also the first nation in Africa and the Middle East to open a public CNG fuelling station in January 1996. Brisbane Transport and Trans-Perth in Australia have both adopted a policy of only purchasing CNG buses in future; the former purchasing 216 Scania L94UB and 180 MAN 18. 10 models, with the latter purchasing 451 Mercedes-Benz OC500LE buses, including 58 articulated buses. Brisbane Transport has also ordered up to 30 articulated CNG buses on MAN chassis’. During the 1970s and 1980s, CNG was commonly used in New Zealand in the wake of the oil crises, but fell into decline after petrol prices receded. Technology CNG can easily be used in Otto-cycle (gasoline) and modified Diesel cycle engines. Lea n-burn Otto-cycle engines can achieve higher thermal efficiencies when compared with stoichiometric Otto-cycle engines at the expense of higher NOx and hydrocarbon emissions. Electronically-controlled stoichio-metric engines offer the lowest emissions across the board and the highest possible power output, especially when combined with EGR, turbo charging and inter-cooling, and three way catalytic converters. The octane rating of CNG is far greater than Petrol and if handled correctly it can produce same or more power output from an engine provided the Compressed Natural Gas is compressed properly and accurate amounts of BTU Figures attained. CNG cylinders can be made of steel, aluminum, or plastic. Lightweight composite (fiber-wrapped plastic) cylinders are especially beneficial for vehicular use because they offer significant weight reductions when compared with earlier generation steel and aluminum cylinders, which leads to lower fuel consumption. CNG may be refueled from low-pressure or high-pressure systems. The difference lies in the cost of the station vs. the refueling time. There are also some implementations to refuel out of a residential gas line during the night, but this is forbidden in some countries. CNG compared to LNG and LPG CNG is often confused with LNG. While both are stored forms of natural gas, the key difference is that CNG is in compressed form, while LNG is in liquefied form. CNG has a lower cost of production and storage compared to LNG as it does not require an expensive cooling process and cryogenic tanks. CNG requires a much larger volume to store the same mass of natural gas and the use of high pressures. CNG is also often confused with LPG, which is a compressed blend of propane (C3H8) and butane (C4H10). The Advantages of Compressed Natural Gas The Environmentally Clean Advantage Compressed natural gas is the cleanest burning fuel operating today. This means less vehicle maintenance and longer engine life. CNG vehicles produce the fewest emissions of any motor fuel. Dedicated Natural Gas Vehicles (NGV) has little or no emissions during fueling. In gasoline vehicles, fueling emissions account for at least 50% of a vehicle’s total hydrocarbon emissions. CNG produces significantly less pollutants than gasoline. Tailpipe emissions from gasoline operated cars release carbon dioxide, which contributes to global warming. This is greatly reduced with natural gas. The Maintenance Advantage Some fleet operators have reduced maintenance costs by as much as 40% by converting their vehicles to CNG. Intervals between tune-ups for natural gas vehicles are extended 30,000 to 50,000 miles. Intervals between oil changes for natural gas vehicles are dramatically extended–anywhere from 10,000 to 25,000 additional miles depending on how the vehicle is used. Natural gas does not react to metals the way gasoline does, so pipes and mufflers last much longer. The Performance Advantage Natural gas gives the same mileage as gasoline in a converted vehicle. Dedicated CNG engines are superior in performance to gasoline engines. CNG has an octane rating of 130 and has a slight efficiency advantage over gasoline. Because CNG is already in a gaseous state, NGV’s have superior starting and drivability, even under severe hot and cold weather conditions. NGV’s experience less knocking and no vapor locking. The CNG Cost Advantage Natural gas is cheaper per equivalent gallon than gasoline (an average of 15% to 50% less than gasoline). The Safety Advantage Surveys indicate that NGV’s are as safe or safer than those powered by other fuels. A 1992 AGA survey of more than 8,000 vehicles found that with more than 278 million miles traveled, NGV injury rates per vehicle mile traveled were 34% lower than the rate for gasoline vehicles. There were no fatalities reported–even though these vehicles were involved in over 1,800 collisions. The Financial Incentive Advantage Some States offers a 50% investment tax credit for each vehicle converted to natural gas. This 50% credit on state income tax features a three-year, carry-forward option. A federal tax deduction is also available for the cost of conversion. Apprehensions in Industry The CNG Stations Owners Association of Pakistan (CSOAP) in January 2009 demanded the government to introduce a separate tariff for CNG to protect the investment by CNG station owners. An executive committee members meeting of CSOAP Thursday urged the Ministry of Petroleum and OGRA to keep the CNG policy 1992 enforced. The recent steps by the government to increase gas price would damage the CNG industry and would put additional burden on the common man. The current increase of 10 percent in gas prices is unjustified and uncalled for when the fuel prices all over the world have plunged. The 33 percent steep increase of gas prices in July 2008 by SSGCL and SNGPL was fully absorbed by CNG station owners and dealers by reducing their profit margins. He said the CNG sector as a whole consumes less than 6 percent of total gas output from SSGCL and SNGPL. The investments of more than Rs 60 billion of middle and lower middle class people who converted their vehicles to use cheap and environmental friendly CNG would go waste if the government does not revert the recent increase of gas price immediately. The CNG industry’s efforts to reduce government’s burden of foreign exchange payments and huge savings of Forex reserves resulted from shift to CNG use in vehicles. He claimed CNG has resulted in savings of more than $250 million per annum of foreign exchange for Pakistan. The recent increase of gas prices would force the CNG vehicle owners to buy CNG at a higher rate forcing CNG stations to close down their businesses leaving 2. 1 million vehicle owners including rickshaws and taxis prone to inflation. He said if the government did not meet their genuine demands, they would be forced to shut down their businesses and would not be able to pay their leasing payments and other loans. All Pakistan CNG Association (APA) in 2008 had also expressed resentment over the government’s plan to increase CNG prices equalizing petroleum prices so as to resolve ongoing gas crises in the country. The APA has contacted the planning division for holding a meeting on the issue but the concerned officials have refused to meet the stakeholders, he claimed. The APA chairman Sana-ur-Rehman claimed that there is an anti-CNG lobby in the planning division. He said that the CNG stakeholders have invested Rs 90 billion in this sector and another Rs 20 billion investment is in pipeline. He expressed apprehensions that the industry would totally collapse if the CNG prices were equalized with petroleum prices. According to APA Chairman, the CNG sector accounts only for 6 percent of the national gross consumption of the natural gas, where as it is being portrayed as the cause for present gas shortage crisis. The domestic sector consumes 21 percent gas during summer, which rises to 69 percent in winter and that was actually responsible for the gas shortage every winter season. He informed journalists that gas was provided to industrial sector for a contract of 9 month in a year. The industries were required to arrange for alternate energy source during the remaining three months of winter, he maintained. However, he regretted that the government machinery wanted to provide supply of gas to industrial sector throughout the year for the last several years against the contractual obligations. CNG Conversions Converting a gasoline-powered car to CNG requires only minor engine modifications. To learn more about converting your car, please contact a certified CNG conversion company. (c) ECONOMIC PAKISTAN

Academia and Text Matching Software Essay

Critically evaluate the use of text matching software as an aid to developing good scholarship practice Introduction Academic dishonesty such as plagiarism has been a major factor in education that has affected students’ success and academic achievements in recent years. Plagiarism according to Park (2003) is the act of appropriating or copying another person’s work and passing them on as one’s idea without acknowledging the original source. Park (2003) noted that plagiarism is a growing problem and has been a misuse of the writings of another author, their ideas, hypothesis, theories, research findings and interpretations. Furthermore studies by Chao, Wilhelm and Neureuther (2009) emphasised that the rising trend of plagiarism among students can be attributed to several factors such as academic literacy, language competence and the technological advancements in the world today in terms of high speed internet facility available in hostels and computer labs. These factors according to Chao, Wilhelm and Neureuther (2009) has enhanced the ability of students to plagiarise a whole assignment by obtaining papers on the internet relating to their assignments which is as easy as copying and pasting. Park (2003) stated that students have different perceptions towards plagiarism. He noted that students view plagiarism as a minor offence which is different from cheating in exams. He further discovered that plagiarism could be unintentional (ibid). This is because some students possess a mental illusion in which they believe they have produced something from their own perspective while infact they are reproducing something which they have read from another author. The purpose of this paper is to critically evaluate the effect of text matching software as an aid to developing good scholarship practice. This paper will begin by briefly describing what good scholarship practise is. In addition the use of text matching software for detecting good scholarship practice will be critically discussed and a conclusion will be made based on the evaluation. Good scholarship practice can be referred to as a formal study which involves academic learning and achievement. It involves acknowledging where information used to support ideas in a particular context is gotten and citing the sources (Locke and Latham, 2009). Britag and Mahmud (2009) pointed out that different strategies whichinclude the use of electronic software tools such as turnitin have been derived for detecting plagiarism with the intent of allowing students’ take responsibility of their learning and also work hand in hand with their tutors in the drafting stages of their assignments. According to Britag and Mahmud (2009) manual detection of plagiarism is difficult because it is time consuming and this is the reason why some tutors are reluctant in pursuing potential cases of plagiarism. However both the manual method of plagiarism detection and the electronic text matching method should be employed (Britag and Mahmud, 2009). Scaife (2007) argued that the electronic text matching software is not the solution to eliminating plagiarism because the software only focuses on text matching of paper under review with documents (journals, articles, e-books and conference papers) found on the internet or which has been previously submitted and this is a limitation because the only detection are focused on electronic materials without considering some non-electronic paper based documents which could still be plagiarised. Walker (2010) stated that with the development of text matching software such as the turnitin plagiarism detection was made easier, however he emphasised that the turnitin detection software is not 100 per cent efficient, it merely identifies and matches materials present in a document uploaded to turnitin website to materials available on the internet. Walker (2010) describes the electronic text matching software as a tool only suitable for detecting word for word or direct plagiarism in electronic form and the refined ones from the paper based sources are not easily detected. Moreover Carroll and Appleton (2001) argued that the turnitin is just an option for measuring plagiarism and that alone cannot be used as a basis for judging good scholarship practice. In addition Carroll and Appleton (2001) insist that the use of electronic software for detecting plagiarism requires human application and interpretation and that using turnitin alone as a medium for plagiarism detection is not proficient. According to Barrett and Malcolm (2006) the electronic text matching software (turnitin) only indicates possible plagiarism without any certainty, it is left to the tutor to determine the extent to which the writer has plagiarised or included some sources in the paper without acknowledging where they were acquired. In conclusion the concept of plagiarism cannot be overemphasised. It has become a factor that has affected good academic scholarship practice and has  created an avenue for educators to develop methods for detecting and dealing with plagiarism. The development of the electronic detection software such as the turnitin has enhanced the detection of plagiarism however it cannot be relied upon completely because it is not effective. In addition it is important to understand that the best way to detect plagiarism is to use both the manual method which involves educators and the use of electronic text matching software such as turnitin. Students could also be assisted in understanding the criteria for academic writing such as the code of conducts which requires them to acknowledge any source from where data is derived when writing academically. References Barrett, R. & Malcolm, J. (2006) ‘Embedding plagiarism education in the assessment process’, International Journal for Educational Integrity, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 38-45. Bretag, T. and Mahmud, S. (2009) ‘A model for determining student plagiarism: Electronic detection and academic judgement. ‘, Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 50-60. Chao, C. , Wilhelm, W. J. , Neureuther, B. D. (2009. ) ‘A Study of Electronic Detection and Pedagogical Approaches for Reducing Plagiarism’, The Delta Pi Epsilon Journal, Vol. 51, No. 1, pp. 31-42. Carroll, J. and Appleton, J. (2001), Plagiarism: A good practice guide, Oxford: Oxford Brookes University. Locke, E. A, Latham, G. P (2009) ‘Has Goal Setting Gone Wild, or Have Its Attackers Abandoned Good Scholarship? ‘, The Academy of Management Perspectives, Vol. 23, No. 1, pp.  17-23. Park, C. (2003). ‘In Other (People’s) Words: plagiarism by university students—literature and lessons’, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, Vol. 28, No. 5, pp. 472-488. Scaife, B (2007) IT Consultancy Plagiarism Detection Software Report for JISC Advisory Service. [Online]. Retrieved from:www. plagiarismadvice. org/documents/resources/PDReview-Reportv1_5. pdf [Accessed 24th October 2012]. Walker, J. (2010) ‘Measuring plagiarism: researching what students do, not what they say they do’, Studies in Higher Education, Vol. 35, No. 1, pp. 41-59.