Economic freedom Essay Example for Free

Economic freedom Essay Does economic freedom help explain why the standard of living improves in some countries and declines in others? First of all we have to understand, what economic freedom is? Economic freedom according to William W. Beach and Tim Kane, PhD. â€Å" Economic freedom is that part of freedom that is concerned with the material autonomy of the individual in relation to the state and other organized groups. An individual is economically free who can fully control his or her labor and property. † (Taken from 2007 Index of economic freedom chapter no.3 by William W. Beach and Tim Kane, PhD). Or in simple words we can also say that everybody in his or her own country is said to be economically free, if their respective government protects their rights in every possible way and without any constraint. i.e. if an individual wants to learn anything, to do any kind of business or wants a job, then, he or she has a right to do that, while it is the responsibility of the government to make it convenient and possible for them. The first study of economic freedom was published in the year 1995, and it was improved over the years. There are about ten different types of economic freedoms, which are known as index of economic freedoms. The main purpose of defining these freedoms is to rank the countries in order to pave the way for foreign investment. Following is the list of ten economic freedoms: (taken from 2007 Index of economic freedom from chapter no.3 by William W Beach and Tim Kane, PhD). 1) Business freedom: To check the status of starting, operating and closing any business in how much time. 2) Trade freedom: To check the barriers and constraints in tariffs, import and export in the country. 3) Monetary freedom: To check the measure of price stability and how governments are controlling the prices, inflation etc. 4) Freedom from government: To check either state is providing public goods with minimum expenditure or not. 5) Fiscal freedom: To check the burden on the government with respect to revenue side. 6) Property rights: To check whether the public have keeping the private property rights, defined and secured by the laws, and are clearly defined by the government. 7) Investment freedom: To check whether the government deserves to have the foreign investment or not. 8) Financial freedom: To check the operation of financial institutions i.e. banking systems; are they out of government control or not. 9) Freedom from corruption: To check the status of corruption in the society, i.e. in the business system, judiciary, and administrative system in the country. 10) Labor freedom: To check the status of growth of labor and business either they are working without government interruption or not. (Taken from 2007 index of economic freedom from chapter no.3 by William W Beach and Tim Kane, PhD). Each one of the ten freedoms is measured on a 0-100 percent scale, 100 as the maximum freedom while 0 is the least or minimum freedom. The study of economic freedom was conducted on about 157 countries of the world. To show how it works, I choose two countries that are North Korea and South Korea. North Korea has a communist form of government and is ranked at no.157 in the index of 157 countries, its economy is 3% free. It has exports of $1.3 billion, it exports: minerals, metallurgical products, manufacturing (including armaments), textiles, fishery products etc. and imports of   $2.3 billion, it imports: petroleum, coking coal, machinery and equipment, textile grains etc. In communist form of government every asset in the country belongs to the state, therefore there is no business freedom i.e. 0 % (in 0-100 % scale) in N. Korea. Also government controls all the imports and exports so trade freedom i.e. 0 % is also nil. No data on income or corporate taxes is available so fiscal freedom i.e. 0 % is also zeroed. Also government owns all the property including businesses therefore freedom from government i.e. 0% is also nil. No publicly record of inflation data therefore monetary freedom i.e. 0% is also zero. Also no private financial sector, therefore financial freedom i.e. 0% is also nil. Wages and incentives are also controlled by government therefore labor freedom i.e. 0% is also nil, also corruption is heavily present in the country so corruption freedom i.e. 10% is also negligible, but there is some investment freedom i.e. 10%, after the opening of foreign investment zone in the far remote area of rajin sonberg where basic facilities are also not provided till date. The government does not cover property rights i.e. 10%, so they are also negligible.   (Taken from 2007 index of economic freedom from chapter no.5). While South Korea has democratic form of government and it is ranked at no.36 out of 157 in the index of economic freedom, and its economy is 68.6% free. S. Korea has export of $299.2 billion, it exports: semi conductors, wireless telecommunication, equipment, motor vehicles, computers, steel, ships and petrochemicals etc. It has imports of $269.8 billion, it imports: machinery, electronics, electronic equipment, oil, steel, transport, organic chemicals and plastics etc. As South Korea has democratic form of government, in that form, the government tries every possible effort to please its citizens, therefore starting, operating and closing the business in that country is relatively easy, there is a lot of business freedom i.e. 83.1% present in the country. S. Korea as compared to N. Korea has good trade freedom i.e. 64.2% present but there are some restrictions in its some activities like import, non-transparent regulations and standards etc. S. Korea has high income tax rate of about 38.5% and relatively low corporate tax of about 27.5%, so we can say that it has a good fiscal freedom i.e. 0-100 bracket it has about 81% free. After the foreign investment promotion act of Nov 1998 the government opens the doors to foreign investment in almost every sector except media, electric power and some agricultural sectors, and also residents and non residents can now holds foreign exchange accounts, so there is a lot of investment freedom i.e. about 70% free. The private property right i.e. 70% is secure by the government; corruption i.e. 50% is present at some extent in the country. The labor i.e. 57.7% market is working under restrictive employment regulations due to which employment and production growth rate is very low. Government interference in private sector is negligible, so freedom from government is 81.5%. The government regulates the prices in some sectors like agriculture, telecommunication and other utilities, which monetary freedom 79%, the government in retained some ownerships, second largest domestic bank is under them, which makes the financial freedom about 50% free. (Taken from 2007 index of economic freedom from chapter no.5).   In short economic freedom in South Korea is much superficial than North Korea, and it is mainly due to democratic and communism forms of governments, democratic people are enjoying the fruits of freedom while others do not.

The Distributional And Encompassing Coalitions Politics Essay

The Distributional And Encompassing Coalitions Politics Essay Introduction In our term paper we would like to analyze some well-known theories and also combine them with real life examples to have a comprehensive overview of whether the theories are applicable to real life and how accurate they are. For the theme of our paper we decided for the topic interest groups. Based on this topic, we further decided to use Mancur Olsons theory of special interest groups, which he precisely described in his famous book The Rise and Decline of Nations. In the first part of our paper we will mainly focus on providing general information and insights into the Olsons theory and we will also take a general look at the framework of the car lobby itself. In the following part of our paper we will discuss the ex-ante predictions regarding the success or failure when it comes to specifically selected lobby groups, based on Olsons theory as well. The final part offers a brief introduction to the particular car lobby group ACEA and also analyses the actions and influence of the lobby group. The question whether the theory is consistent with our real life example is broadly discussed and advocated as well. 1. Introduction to the Theory In this chapter we will present the theory we will use in order to conduct our case study on the influence and impact of special interest groups on government decisions. We define special interest groups as a coalition of individuals or representatives trying to gain influence on the political environment. In order to have a collective impact on a particular matter they develop access strategies to reach the decisive officials and legislators. Precisely, we will set a framework of a social coalition theory based on Mancur Olsons theory of special interest groups and their collective action in pursuing a common goal, published in his book The Rise and Decline of Nations. We will then apply this framework on the car lobby. The car lobby is considered to have strong internal connections to political officials as they are equipped with a vast number of resources and backed by the politically crucial automotive industry. We will focus on the European Automobile Manufacturers association (ACEA), which is one of the most important car lobbies in the European Union. ACEA is a representative association of the automotive industry with great impact on decisions made in Brussels. It reflects the interest of the car industry in most European Countries. We will analyze its access and impact strategies on EU institutions and their influence on democratic decision procedures. Furthermore we examine how their actions affect the total soci ety. In order to introduce Olsons theory of special interest groups, it is essential to know the underlying assumptions and problems Olson describes. Given Olsons assumption of rationality of individual behaviour, a social group may fail to achieve collective action. That is, that the group may fail to achieve its common goal. In our case it would mean the group is not able to have an influence on political decisions. To some extent it is individually rational to not take part and contribute in the groups action as it involves personal costs. It is rather rational and self-interest maximizing to withdraw from the action but to benefit from the groups outcome. Clearly, if every individual in that group is assumed to be rational the groups goal would not be achieved. Especially groups with increasing size are likely to face problems of collective action (free-riding) as group members can hardly be monitored in their individual contribution and not be excluded from group benefits. Small groups in contrast, consisting of individuals with homogenous preferences are likely to achieve a common interest. According to Olson, the presence of selective incentives, i.e. frequent interactions within the group, the ability to monitor, punish and reward individual behaviour increases the likelihood of collaboration and overcoming the collective action problem. Therefore, groups with relatively smaller size are privileged to groups larger in size. Although not a particular problem under examination in this case study it is important to mention the collective action problem. It is the underlying obstacle of a groups formation and has to be overcome in order to have an influence on decisions. However, besides overcoming the collective action problem, it is of special interest for us to examine and analyze how interest groups, here applied to the ACEA, gain access and increase impact on political decision procedures and the societies welfare as a whole. 2. Types of Coalitions 2.1. Distributional and Encompassing Coalitions According to Olson, the degree of influence of interest groups and as a result the impact on the societies welfare depends on the type of coalition in existence. He introduces the concept of coalitions called distributional coalitions and encompassing coalitions. Both types of coalition try to gain access to the political environment. In the valuation part of a real life example of an ACEA action we will evaluate to which coalition the ACEA may belong to in order to conduct a proper analysis of their influence and especially about their impact on the society. Distributional coalitions are special interest groups that only represent interests of a small number of firms. The representatives of these groups try to maintain and strengthen the companies market position by supporting protectionist and even monopolistic legislation procedures. Such protectionist measures could be tariffs, taxes or non tariff barriers imposed on market competitors which negatively affect an efficient allocation of recourses and may support inefficient economic segments. This type of interest group will heavily oppose technological progress as it might be harmful to its own position. Thus, the outcome of such penetration of political decisions is disadvantageous from a societies point of view. Successfully influenced legislation will be heavy in favour of a small number of individuals that only make a fraction of the society. But the society as a whole will face a decrease in economic output due to a lack of technological progress and even stagnate over a longer period of time. Distributional coalitions occur especially in the presence of politically stable democracies. They will form in huge numbers all across the society and will grow in size over time. Therefore, they will accumulate power and increase their degree of influence and access on political decision making. With an increasing number of distributional coalitions the political environment will be distorted and a social welfare maximizing outcome of political decisions is highly unlikely. Clearly, these coalitions try to redistribute wealth and income within the interest group leaving the society worse off, as the total welfare decreases. On the other hand, the counterpart of distributional coalitions is encompassing coalitions. The nature of encompassing coalitions is that they do not restrict their actions to the interests of a small number of individuals or firms but rather reflect the interests of the broader society. According to Olson, encompassing coalitions influence political decisions in a way that is beneficial to the society. Since their interests correspond with the broader interests of the society, comprehensive bargaining about legislation will lead to efficient political outcomes (Rosser, 2007). In contrast to distributional coalitions, encompassing coalitions foster technological progress and economic growth. Thus, their actions and impact on political decisions increase the welfare of the whole society. In conclusion of the theory part, based on Olsons special interest group theory, we defined two types of coalitions. Both coalitions, distributional and encompassing, try to gain access and impact on legislation procedures. Distributional coalitions represent the interest of a small number of individuals and rather oppose technological progress, hence, slow down economic growth. Encompassing coalitions reflect the interest of the broader society, hence; rather increase the welfare of the society. 3. Ex-ante predictions 3.1. Olsons framework on EU car lobby Considering the previous definitions and analysis on Olsons developed theory about the influence of interest groups on different realities and its impact in governmental decisions, as well as, the defined framework of the EU car lobbying which is mainly led by ACEA. It is now the purpose of this section to predict the outcome of ACEA actions in the EU political environment based on the theory. In order to achieve our purpose we might first set up some considerations on our previous analysis. First of all, we have to bear in mind that it was never Olsons goal to study the impact of particular organizations or a group. It was, instead, an attempt to highlight the role played by several interest groups in the economic development of a country as a whole. Therefore he did not trail a specific framework which would be possible to apply to a particular organization or group, although his work is accurate enough to study the outcome of any lobbying activity in its broader sense. Focusing now on the car lobbying role, we might also underline some important features of this organization regarding its history, experience, resources and internal decision-making process, some of them already described before. These features might influence the outcome of its actions under the analysis of Olsons model. When referring to automobile industry we immediately link it with a high level of complexity and regulation. Here we might wonder if that is the result of political and social evolution itself or if it may be connected with some kind of external force (interest group coalition) which influences the market outcome. It is our aim now to understand whether or not there are conditions in the car industry to the establishment of a coalition which is strong enough to influence political decisions on related matters. 3.2. Car industry and interest groups coalitions Olson identified a main requirement, to the appearance of successful interest groups: the maturity level of a certain industry. When considering this point we easily realize that automobile manufactures and all its stakeholders have been interacting for long enough to derive some successful coalition actions. Olson supported this direct relation between industry maturity and the success of interest groups action with some empirical evidence on US market. For that reason we are lead to undertake the US market as a benchmark (due to several similarities with EU system) and then conclude that it might also be the case that car industry is in a well-developed position to set off some thriving coalitions. Apart from industry maturity, so far we dont have enough information which leads us to conclude if ACEA is a distributional coalition or an encompassing one. In order to do so, we have to analyse some of the car industry background. As any other market operating industry, companies withi n the car industry can be considered rational. Therefore they will be profit-maximizers. If so, an association like ACEA, which is willing to increase companies benefits, might above all care about the impact of certain decisions for companies and not really be concerned about the outcome for society as a whole. Unless we argue that an increase in society surplus due to certain decisions will increase companies benefits. We have found the first reason why we should look at ACEA as a distributional coalition as defined in the previous section. It is also true that there are better conditions for an interest group coalition to arise and to be successful in a stable economy. Despite that, it works even better in a democracy where the de facto political power is closer to a centrist orientation rather than the extremes of laissez-faire or a socialist command. It is actually the case of the European Union. Another argument which may be crucial in our approach is that it is more likely that some groups goals prevail when the opposition, even if it exists, is not sufficiently strong to offset others damage, which will make them suffer in silence. Altogether it would lead us to conclude that ACEA, as the major car lobbying player, is closer to be a distributional coalition rather than an encompassing one. Even though it is not our main focus here, we might also refer the adoption of this framework is not consensual in the field. Some experts would be against what we are arguing here, mostly because it is not guaranteed that car lobbying activities have only negative effects in societys view. At this point it is fair to mention that some might consider lobbying activities as a way to undertake more openness and competitiveness in the political system which would lead to more transparency in EU (Schendelen, 2002). We could also support this idea in the sense that lobbyists bring out facts about political matters mainly through the media. The reason to mention this argument here, is to ensure that we do not exclude the possibility of some positive effects in further analysis of the actual ACEA activity. Bringing together our reasoning we might be in a position to set up some predicted impact ACEA may have towards political decisions in EU. This is our goal for the next subsection. 3.3. Expected ACEA impact In pursuing our attempt to apply Olsons framework to car lobbying in the EU, it seems logical to argue that car lobbying actions might be strong enough to influence political decisions on this field. Every coalition which may arise within this market segment (e.g.: ACEA) will then be the reason for time-consuming political decisions throughout crowded agendas and bargaining tables. It is expected that ACEA will achieve that by finding some means of communicating directly with EU representatives. That kind of action is also likely to involve high amounts of money due to the necessity of qualified people who work with complex regulation and try to persuade politics. For that reason ACEA will only be successful if it is able to aggregate high amounts of contributions from the biggest companies in the industry. If it happens to be so, this pressure would somehow be able to slow down societys ability to move towards more efficient technologies and to reallocate resources (e.g.: alternatives to oil market or more efficient energy-using technologies, however we will have some deeper analysis into these results in the next section). Once big enough, this distributional coalition could have its well-noticeable impact in the rate of economic growth. Thus, we could also mention that the build up of this distributional coalition would increase the complexity of regulation in areas related with car industry. In its extreme upshot it would by some means influence the course of social evolution. 4. Analysis and empirical evidence We will focus our analysis in the field where the ACEA plays its higher stakes: the negotiations for the reduction of CO2 emissions by automobile vehicles. Particularly, we intend to highlight ACEA evolution and its impact on the quality of policy making by the European Commission in the last two decades. Then, we intend to figure out if there is a link between this groups actions regarding the topic and the European Union performance in technological development, more specifically the move towards a greener and more fuel-efficient society. But first, its important to provide a brief characteristics description of this particular interest group. 4.1. ACEA a heavyweight special interest group The European Automotive Manufacturers Association ACEA, is well-known and highly respected Economic interest Grouping within the Europe. ACEA was established in 1991 with Brussels headquarters, Secretariat and Secretary General. Later ACEA also opened two other offices in Beijing and Tokyo even though the main purpose was to advocate the car manufacturers rights and interests on the highest European level possible. Today ACEA has significant importance and voice because it is gather 18 big and powerful car, truck and bus manufacturers such as BMW Group, GM Europe, Volkswagen, IVECO, Renault, Jaguarà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ The automotive industry itself is a vital part of European Union economy, the ACEA members alone contribute every year roughly 20 billion euros into research and development, claim 42.8 billion on net exports and deliver taxes on approximately 3.5% of the European Union GDP. Surprisingly for such a significant lobby group, the organization of the ACEA is quite simple. The main organ is the Board of directors. Each member of the directors board is also a CEO in a company, which is a member of ACEA. The board of directors is the decision-making organ and selects a President on an annual basis. Decisions are taken into force by the Joint Committee, which is represented by senior executives of the member companies. In the case of particular issues, there is also available a specialized Committee to discuss and help on the issues. Apart from these organs, there are also more than twenty specialized working groups working for the ACEA, who are responsible for technical expertise and advisory. Every member of the specialized working group is an expert in his field and works for the member company. The general and main purpose of ACEA is to be included in these activities with European Union: 1.To have a constant dialogue with European Union and all the other organizations influencing the automotive industry; 2.Cooperation with all the responsible and decision-making organs in order to offer the industry knowledge and expertise, which ACEA has. To provide relevant opinions and suggestions to the policy makers; 3.To provide valuable partnership within the whole organization as well as to offer partnership to other interdependent industries, in order to achieve the mutual beneficial policies; 4.To provide strategic reflection on the current and future completion within the industry and on corporate responsibility; 5.To communicate the importance and activities of the industry, also to communicate the acquired data, information and expertise. 6.To monitor all the activities and threats which might influence the industry and afterwards properly respond to them or cooperate with the stakeholders. 4.2. Analysis of real-life outcomes 4.2.1. The growing size of the group Taking a closer look at this groups evolution along the last decades, we conclude that its rate of growth in terms of size and influence has been staggering. Having as a predecessor the old CMCC (Comità © des Constructeurs du Marchà © Commun), founded in 1972 and consisting of seven members, the ACEAs number of members in 2005 was two times bigger. In September 2012, the organization comprised 18 different automobile manufacturers. What can explain this phenomenon? Since the CMCC times we can perceive this interest group as an umbrella association. This kind of groups provides resources and often an identity to the smaller organizations that are part of it. In this kind of arrangement, the umbrella organization is to some degree responsible for the groups under its care. Economies of scale, a better pool of experts and experience, shared apprenticeship and exchange of know-how are some factors that theoretically attract more groups, enhancing the ability for smaller organizations and companies to influence the politic-process in a legislation negotiation context. An important point is that it is harder for a single organization and also smaller lobby groups operating outside large established lobby groups to get their voice through in this matter. In practice, it is more often the ACEA that stands for the press-releases and statements in the media, but what the ACEA does do and say is a product of the discussions within the organization by smaller organizations within them; so, in that way the smaller companies grow in strength and enhance their ability to influence and compete in Brussels over this issue. By gathering and discussing the issue under one organization like ACEA, the organizations and companies get greater power in Brussels than if they would split up into 10-15 smaller organizations, so this means that representation is a mean for these organizations and companies to permeate the EU. We can almost consider this to be a kind of natural monopoly, in terms of the rights of representing the industries interests. This phenomenon confirms Olsons hypothesis of increasing size, influence and access to policy making, in respect to this special interest group. 4.2.2. The official position of the ACEA regarding CO2 emissions reduction Officially, according to its own institutional information, the ACEA agrees with the Commission that something has to be done about the CO2 emissions and they fully support the EU objective of reducing car emissions. But the ACEA believes that most of the burden within this situation has been placed on the car manufacturers. The ACEA calls for an integrated approach, which means that everybody has to do their part in order to reach the goals. The association wants the other elements (fuel industry, policy makers and car users) to take a larger part in lowering CO2 emissions. The integrated approach to lower CO2 emissions that the ACEA presents contains five components. The first one is vehicle technology which they themselves are responsible for. Then we have alternative fuels which need to be developed further with help from the fuel industry. The third component is consumer behavior, that we as consumers/drivers need to be educated in so-called Eco-driving, which in the long run saves 5-7% save in fuel consumption and therefore also in emissions. The fourth component is infrastructural measures concerning for instance traffic lights and the planning of roads in larger cities which often causes traffic jams. If steps could be taken to solve these infrastructural problems a lot of emissions would never occur. The last component concerns CO2-related taxation, which would stimulate buyers to choose fuel-efficient cars, if they cost less in taxes; and in this area the ACEA believes that the Commission has failed on their part of the agreement. To steer free from stricter car safety and emissions regulations, lobbyists have been stating and defending before the EU decision-makers that driving behavior, trees next to roads and other infrastructure are also very important factors. Important as they may be, these are matters which the European Parliament and other EU institutions have no power over as they are controlled at member state level. Therefore, bringing these topics to discussion at a EU level is fallacious and distorting the reality of the fact and, as we later expose, may contribute to the preservation of a certain status quo in the industry. Its important to bear in mind that the cars that yield the biggest profit to carmakers are the biggest ones in size SUVs and 44. Precisely the ones raising more concerns, due to their higher rates of CO2 emissions. 4.2.3. The 1998 ACEA-EC agreement In 1995 the European Council approved a community strategy to reduce CO2 emissions from passenger cars to an average of 120gkm for newly registered cars by 2005, and at the latest by 2010. The ACEA agreement represented the first VA explicitly aimed at climate protection. Theoretically, this represented an ideal context for the use of this new policy instrument, as the basic conditions were in place: a strong euro car industry association a large share of the market, a level of trust between government and industry, and concern for the economic effects and competitiveness implications of regulations. The strategy was based in 3 policies: 1. A voluntary fuel economic agreement 2. A fiscal framework for member states 3. A fuel economy labeling scheme In 1998 a Voluntary agreement was reached between EC and ACEA under the terms of which the industry is committed to reduce average CO2 emissions figures from all cars to 140g/ by 2008. An intermediate target was set for 2003 at 170g/km. The negotiation was marked by an important democratic deficit: the process bypassed the EP, the only directly elected EU institution, and failed to ensure public participation NGO have only be consulted once during the years of negotiations. Because negotiations have been carried out behind closed doors, the danger of regulatory capture has been always present during the negotiations. This agreement also lacked monitoring, as until 2002 the only source of statistical data regarding ACEA progress concerning the goals was coming from car association sources, and an enforcement mechanism. Actually, the agreement didnt contain any enforcement mechanism it did not contain sanctions for non-compliance or measures to address the issue of internal free riders. The industry would effectively be its own watchdog. Given the highly competitive characteristics of the car industry, conditions for failure where perfectly reunited. Another interesting fact is the length of negotiations: the time span for conclusion was four years, in comparison to an average of two years, regarding the European voluntary agreements normal standards. The lack of a high level of technical capacity of the EC, in comparison with all the expertise from the ACEA side, adding to the lack of credible threats for the industry, left the EC negotiators at the mercy of the pure political bargaining. In this situation, the strength of such a strong interest group dictated the final outcome (figure 1). The content of the agreement was clearly outdated. The target of 140g/km was meant to bring about cars that would drive at 5 liters for 100km. However , recent OECD studies prove that a 50-80% improvement in fuel economy would be possible using existing technology at little extra cost over 10-15 years. In contrast , its impact would not even likely stabilize CO2 emissions from passenger cars at 1999 levels by 2010. Furthermore, the objective was not sufficiently ambitious to support a technological shift from the internal combustion engine towards lower emissions technologies such as electric or hybrid engines, not to mention hydrogen based fuel cells. Although these technologies were more or less close to commercial production, barriers of higher costs and lack of supportive infrastructure delayed their large scale development. The terms of the ACEA agreement were clearly not designed to support the introduction of much needed zero emission technologies, but to assist the continuation of the conventional car design. 4.2.4. The 21st century negotiations The voluntary agreement signed in 1998 set the deadline for the main goals accomplishment for the year 2008. However, that deal proved not to be the final one. The ACEA worked successfully to delay the date first until 2010 then until 2012. The association argued that the dates were not reasonable and its consequences, in times of economic crisis, would seriously harm the industry, with direct consequences on the employment level. Yet time has shown that most of their alarmist claims were not borne out in reality. In fact, many companies will meet the legal requirements even earlier than they have to According to European Commission official data, CO2 emissions from road transport increased by nearly 23% between 1990 and 2010, and without the economic downturn growth could have been even bigger. Transport was the only major sector in the EU where greenhouse gas emissions are still rising, being light-duty vehicles a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, producing around 15% of the EUs emissions of CO2. Since then, the EU has been putting in place a comprehensive legal framework to reduce CO2 emissions from new light duty vehicles as part of efforts to ensure it meets its greenhouse gas emission reduction targets under the Kyoto Protocol and beyond. The legislation sets binding emission targets for new car and van fleets. For cars, manufacturers are obliged to ensure that their new car fleet does not emit more than an average of 130 grams of CO2 per kilometre (g CO2/Km) by 2015 and 95g by 2020.This compares with an average of almost 160g in 2007 and 135.7g in 2011. In fact, the new goal for 2015 was actually the original EC goal for 2012. Due to lobbying regarding the first voluntary agreement, the 120g of CO2 for 2012 turned into 130g by 2015. Recent studies prove that carmakers will reach these values well ahead of time. In July 2012, the Commission proposed legislation setting out the modalities for implementing the 2020 targets. The ACEA was a major player during this round of negotiations. Volkswagen, nowadays the most relevant member of the European automobile industry and the one that invests the most in lobbying (figure 2) has described the 95g legislative target as not based on sound impact assessment nor on a realistic appreciation of the costs and technical progress necessary to meet the goal within the timescale. A new loophole, inserted following lobbying by the ACEA, would undermine the overall fleet target. Instead of calculating average fleet emissions by adding up the emissions of every car and dividing by the number of cars, carmakers will be allowed to offset the most polluting cars against a smaller number of their cleanest cars. If this accounting trick makes it into the final law, carmakers will be able to sell more polluting cars, resulting in real average fleet emissions in excess of 95g CO2/km. At the same time, Greenpeace and several other pro-environment groups and parties call on the European Parliament and EU governments to lower the 2020 cars target to 80g CO2/km and to back a 2025 target of 60g CO2/km. Its a clear fact that efficiency standards reduce Europes need for expensive crude oil imports and drive down fuel bills for drivers. European drivers currently pay between à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬1,235 and à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬2,143 to fill their tanks every year. A 95g CO2/km target without loopholes would cut costs to between à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬962 and à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬1,665 by 2020, according to independent calculations. If EU governments decide to set a target of 60g CO2/km by 2025, fuel costs will drop further to between à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬494 and à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬863 by 2030. The new proposal must go through a long negotiation process between EU governments and the European Parliament before it can become law. Lobbying is likely to continue, with increasingly new arguments and strategies. For example, in 20th September 2012, VDA, a German automobile industry lobby controlled by the ACEA, proposed the possibility of getting bonus points for electric cars they have not actually sold, but to also allow car companies to bank CO2 credits. If the companies reduce their CO2 emissions more than required by 2015 they should receive a credit for this performance which should be used for underperformance in following years. After all, the Commission failed to propose any efficiency targets for 2025. Without this milestone, the rate of technological innovation could slow down in Europe, threatening the competitiveness of European cars on the global market. Europe is currently the global leader on vehicle efficiency, but the United States and China are catching up. The US has recently proposed its own 2025 target for carmakers embraced by thirteen global carmakers including BMW, Toyota and Hyundai curiously, not VW. 5. Conclusion According the Olsons theory, there are several types of interest groups, which we can basically divide into small and big interest groups. Generally sma

Themes of Hannah Webster Foster’s The Croquette Essay -- Hannah Webste

Themes of Hannah Webster Foster’s The Croquette  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Hannah Webster Foster’s The Coquette, published in 1797, has long been regarded as a sentimental novel with little literary quality. Though The Coquette was a best seller at publication and remained in print for most of the 19th century, critics gave it little attention other than to ridicule the novel. Not until 1978 with the publishing of Walter Wenska’s The Coquette and the American Dream of Freedom did Foster’s book receive critical attention and praise. Since then, other literary critics have given their attention to The Coquette for critical analysis and praise. These critics have focused on facets of the novel that were completely ignored until the last twenty years. The themes critics discuss include the injustices of patriarchal culture, societal attitudes, the depiction of an economy of vision, treatment of language and the role of the female circle. It is obvious modern critics have delved below the surface of the sentiment al novel to extract meaningful themes and information written by Foster. In her book Revolution and the Word: The Rise of the Novel in America, Cathy N. Davidson includes The Coquette in the historical chronology and criticism of the American novel. Davidson concentrates her writing about The Coquette’s theme as it â€Å"does not openly challenge the basic structure of patriarchal culture but instead, exposes its fundamental injustices through the details and disasters of the plot† (144). The novel opens with Eliza Wharton expressing both her sadness and relief over the death of Mr. Haly. Davidson points out the injustice of Eliza submitting to an arranged marriage out of obedience to her parents which contradicts the supposed... ... by the aforementioned writers must emphasize the depth of Foster’s novel. WORKS CITED Baker, Dorothy Z. â€Å"Detested by the Epithet!†: Definition, Maxim and the Language of Social Dicta in Hannah Webster Foster’s The Coquette.† Essays in Literature 23 (1996): 58-68. Davidson, Cathy N. Revolution and the Word: The Rise of the Novel in America. New York: Oxford, 1986. Hamilton, Kristie. â€Å"An Assault on the Will: Republican Virtue and the City in Hannah Webster Foster’s The Coquette. Early American Literature 24 (1989): 135-151. Pettengill, Claire C. â€Å"Sisterhood in a Separate Sphere: Female Friendships in Hannah Webster Foster’s The Coquette and The Boarding School.† Early American Literature 27 (1992): 185-203. Waldstreicher, David. â€Å"Fallen Under My Observation: Vision and Virtue in The Coquette.† Early American Literature 27   (1992): 204-218.    Themes of Hannah Webster Foster’s The Croquette Essay -- Hannah Webste Themes of Hannah Webster Foster’s The Croquette  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Hannah Webster Foster’s The Coquette, published in 1797, has long been regarded as a sentimental novel with little literary quality. Though The Coquette was a best seller at publication and remained in print for most of the 19th century, critics gave it little attention other than to ridicule the novel. Not until 1978 with the publishing of Walter Wenska’s The Coquette and the American Dream of Freedom did Foster’s book receive critical attention and praise. Since then, other literary critics have given their attention to The Coquette for critical analysis and praise. These critics have focused on facets of the novel that were completely ignored until the last twenty years. The themes critics discuss include the injustices of patriarchal culture, societal attitudes, the depiction of an economy of vision, treatment of language and the role of the female circle. It is obvious modern critics have delved below the surface of the sentiment al novel to extract meaningful themes and information written by Foster. In her book Revolution and the Word: The Rise of the Novel in America, Cathy N. Davidson includes The Coquette in the historical chronology and criticism of the American novel. Davidson concentrates her writing about The Coquette’s theme as it â€Å"does not openly challenge the basic structure of patriarchal culture but instead, exposes its fundamental injustices through the details and disasters of the plot† (144). The novel opens with Eliza Wharton expressing both her sadness and relief over the death of Mr. Haly. Davidson points out the injustice of Eliza submitting to an arranged marriage out of obedience to her parents which contradicts the supposed... ... by the aforementioned writers must emphasize the depth of Foster’s novel. WORKS CITED Baker, Dorothy Z. â€Å"Detested by the Epithet!†: Definition, Maxim and the Language of Social Dicta in Hannah Webster Foster’s The Coquette.† Essays in Literature 23 (1996): 58-68. Davidson, Cathy N. Revolution and the Word: The Rise of the Novel in America. New York: Oxford, 1986. Hamilton, Kristie. â€Å"An Assault on the Will: Republican Virtue and the City in Hannah Webster Foster’s The Coquette. Early American Literature 24 (1989): 135-151. Pettengill, Claire C. â€Å"Sisterhood in a Separate Sphere: Female Friendships in Hannah Webster Foster’s The Coquette and The Boarding School.† Early American Literature 27 (1992): 185-203. Waldstreicher, David. â€Å"Fallen Under My Observation: Vision and Virtue in The Coquette.† Early American Literature 27   (1992): 204-218.   

Analysis of The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe :: essays research papers

?The Raven? by Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe?s ?The Raven? is a dark reflection on lost love, death, and loss of hope. The poem examines the emotions of a young man who has lost his lover to death and who tries unsuccessfully to distract himself from his sadness through books. Books, however, prove to be of little help, as his night becomes a nightmare and his solitude is shattered by a single visitor, the raven. Through this poem, Poe uses symbolism, imagery and tone, as well as a variety of poetic elements to enforce his theme of sadness and death of the one he loves. Within the poem Poe divides the characters and imagery into two conflicting aspects of light and dark. Almost everything in the poem reflects one world or the other. For example, Lenore, who is repeatedly described as ?radiant? epitomizes the world of light along with the angels she has joined. Another image of light would be the lamplight the character uses to light his chamber, his refuge from the darkness of the outside. However, The Raven, as well as the dreary December night shows signs of darkness. These images of light and darkness go even further to represent life and death, the man?s hope of an afterlife with Lenore and his fear of everlasting loneliness. The poem consists of an undeniable narrative structure. Told from the third person, Poe also uses symbolism to create a strong melancholy tone. For instance, both midnight and December symbolize an end of something and the hope of something new to happen. Another example is the chamber in which the narrator is placed, this is used to show the loneliness of the man. Along with imagery and symbolism, Poe incorporates many poetic elements to express his feeling. These include assonance, alliteration, and rhyme. Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds. For example ?For the race and radiant maiden, whom the angels name Lenore.? This repeats the vowel sound of ?a?. Poe also used a lot of alliteration. For example, ?Doubting dreaming dreams no mortal level, dared to dream before?. Notice the repetition of the ?d? sound. One last element used in ?The Raven? is rhyme.

Confronting Reality: How Nosferatu Exemplifies Film Horror Tactics Essa

Many films, and sometimes film genres, are dismissed as being part of the cinema of escapism. This assumes that in times of particular social or economic hardship (often on a national or international level), people go to movies for the sole purpose of â€Å"getting away from it all.† While some films may follow this overall trend, it is important to note that it cannot be a generalization made for all films. During the Weimar era in Germany, the nation was in the midst of a national struggle on many fronts. As a people, Germans attempted to deal with their past (the problems during World War I as well as the consequences of their loss) and move toward the future (finding a solution for their economic struggles and defining themselves culturally and socially). This period saw a resurgence of the horror genre, this time adapted to the new medium of film. However, the way horror was portrayed via film is the interesting part: it drew specifically on the struggles of the na tion to instill horror. This is an exact reversal of the idea of cinematic escapism, since many Weimar era horror films used relatable struggles in order to both entertain and terrify (in this case, existing concurrently as well as dependently on each other). One of the clearest examples of this is through the film Nosferatu, a cinematic retelling of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula directed by F.W. Murnau. The budding horror genre of the Weimar era, as exemplified by Nosferatu, succeeded because it drew parallels to the German people’s collective post-World War I mindset, including references to the terrible nature of the war itself and the fearful prospect of how to move forward. Nosferatu employs various plot points and imagery to elicit an emotional response ... ...dience long after the film reels have stopped turning. The idea of a â€Å"scary movie† could be innocuous enough, if it is simply frights and ghoulish images, but Nosferatu raised the bar and discovered how to delve into a collective mindset and produce a truly unsettling product. Germany’s residual shame and concern regarding World War I made Nosferatu a gripping, telling exploration of a nation’s psyche. Works Cited Bodek, Richard. â€Å"The Not-So-Golden Twenties: everyday Life and Communist Agitprop in Weimar-Era Berlin.† Journal of Social History. Vol. 30, No. 1. Autumn 1996. Calhoon, Kenneth S. â€Å"Horror vacui.† Peripheral Visions: The Hidden Stages of Weimar Cinema. Wayne State University Press: Detroit, 2001. Kracauer, Siegfried. From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of the German Film. Princeton University Press: Princeton and Oxford, 2004.

Business Requirements Document Essay

Business requirements are the critical activities of an enterprise that must be performed to meet the organizational objective(s). The BRD should remain solution independent. In the context of the project scoping for hardware procurement and installation, this is about identifying and documenting the business requirements of customers, employees, and vendors early in the development cycle to guide the design of the future state. Business requirements are captured by analyzing the current business activities and processes of the as-is state (current process) and defining a target state (to-be process) that will deliver the planned business outcomes that contribute to the organizational objectives. Objectives of the BRD: Stakeholders to gain agreement with stakeholders about what will and will not be delivered Vendors to provide a foundation to communicate to a vendor (or in-house provider) what the solution needs to do to satisfy the customer’s and business’ needs Sponsors to provide input into the business case development phase of the project Customers to describe ‘what’ (not ‘how’) the customer/business needs will be met by the proposed solution Business Requirements Document (BRD) describes the high level requirements that senior management would understand, for example, SS relationship: The BRD is the foundation for all subsequent project deliverables, describing what inputs and outputs are associated with each process function. The BRD describes what the system would look like from a business perspective, distinguishing between the business solution and the technical solution. Business requirements often include: business context, scope, and background, including reasons for change key business stakeholders that have specific requirements success factors for a future/target state constraints imposed by the business processes or other systems business process models and analysis defining either ‘as-is’ and ‘to-be’ business processes glossaries of business terms, local terminology or acronyms Data flow diagrams to illustrate how data flows through the information systems (different from flowcharts depicting algorithmic flow of business activities). A broad cross section of the business should be involved in the development of the BRD. Categories of Business Requirements There are five levels of requirements that are typically captured at different stages of the BRD development. These are: Level 0 business requirements High-level statements of the goals, objectives, or needs of an organization. They usually describe opportunities that an organization wants to be realized or problems that they want to be solved. Level 1 User (Stakeholder) requirements Mid-level statements of the needs of a particular stakeholder or group of stakeholders. They usually describe levels of interaction with the intended solution. Often acting as a mid-point between the high-level business requirements and more detailed solution requirements. Level 2 Functional (solution) requirements Usually detailed statements of the behavior and information that the solution will need. Level 3 Quality-of-service (non-functional) requirements Usually detailed statements of the conditions under which the solution must remain effective, qualities that the solution must have, or constraints within which it must operate. Examples include reliability, testability, maintainability, availability requirements. They are also known as characteristics, constraints or the non-functional requirements, and Level 4 Implementation (transition) requirements Usually detailed statements of capabilities or behavior required to enable transition from the current state to the desired future state. Examples include recruitment, role changes, and migration of data from one system to  another. The success of a BRD is dependent on the agreement of the business to the need for change and the expected business outcome(s). The BRD provides the opportunity to review the project charter to ensure that the objective, goals/outcomes, scope, project team, and approvers are accurately reflected. Prerequisites for BRD Important pre-requisites for a successful BRD are set out below: A current environment assessment. This includes a detailed process map of the current environment highlighting areas that will be affected by the project. The detailed â€Å"as is† process maps should include: clearly defined start and end points of the process; level 1 and level 2 requirements and stakeholder process functions; defined areas of rework and redundant business processes to be removed; cycle time, capacity and rework information for each process step as available, and Baseline for critical metrics for the current environment. Critical quality or performance metrics validated with baseline measurements, targets and specifications. These include: data defining and describing current performance such as how the product/service’s characteristics are to be quantified; specifying the target for the product/service performance and the acceptable tolerances, and The allowable tolerance for service levels, for example how often the product/service is allowed outside the specification limits. The target environment assessment, including critical quality or performance metrics validated with baseline measurements, targets and specifications. These include: data defining and describing the expected performance such as how the product/service’s characteristics are to be quantified; specifying the target for the product/service performance and the acceptable tolerances, and The allowable tolerance for service levels, for example how often the product/service is allowed outside the specification limits. A detailed process map of the target environment. The following figure 4 illustrates a useful way of framing a process flow. Example of a process flow Other BRD considerations The BRD contains a number of project details – such as constraints, assumptions and dependencies, business rules, scope, measurements reporting and other topics critical to the project. The following should be considered in the context of the overall project and, where appropriate, clearly documented. Any external constraints (e.g. regulatory, legal or locational constraints). Constraints and assumptions relating to the complexity of business requirements, interdependence with other systems, timing of events, the scalability of technical options, reporting requirements and any service limits that may apply. Constraints and assumptions relating to the user numbers (staff and customers), users’ existing capability and training required, degree of user support required IT skills availability and location. An example of the difference between a constraint and an assumption is: an assumption could be the number of users that an online service will have: 10,000 logged-on users per day and no more than 5,000 at any given time, and A constraint relating to the number of users may be that the system has a maximum capacity of 20,000 logged-on users at a given time. Reference CONCEPTUALISE ICT projects technical guidance Business case development; The Secretary Department of Treasury and Finance 1 Treasury Place Melbourne Victoria 3002. Copyright  © State of Victoria 2012.

Hospital Management System

KOFORIDUA POLYTECHNIC PATIENT MONITORING SYSTEM (A CASE STUDY AT POLYTECHNIC CLINIC, KOFORIDUA) FOR HND COMPUTER NETWORK MANAGEMENT STUDENT’S NAME: WESONO FELIX 04/2010/582D DITSA, JONAS CUDJOE 04/2010/561D DATE: 6TH MARCH, 2013 COMPUTER SCIENCE DEPARTMENT AWARD †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. TENTATIVE TITLE (OR FINAL TITLE): †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ APPROVED BY HEAD OF DEPARTMENT COMPUTER SCIENCE Signature Date: †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢ € ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. APPROVED BY DEAN, SCHOOL OF APPLIED SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Signature Date: †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Chapter 1 1. 1. INTRODUCTION TO PROJECTHospital administrators are often overwhelmed with information about a bulky number of patients and their stays to the hospital that need to be organized and kept up-to-date. The patient management system is a web based application that is designed and developed for hospital administrators and doctors to organize information on patient visits. The system intends to facilitate several steps in the process from the patient registration and to the patient evaluation. During this process, there will be many tasks that have to be handled by this system including maintaining complete information.The main objective of the system is to provide the administration staff and doctors with an easily maintainable information system for patient registration, visit scheduling and patient tracking with latest information. 1. 2. OBJECTIVES The main objectives for establishing this project is to solve the problem notified in the research. The objectives are outlined as follows: I. To improve patient’s registration II. To increase level of patient management III. To improve on patient records keeping IV. To assign doctors to patients V. Doctor Management VI. Bed/Room ManagementVII. Doctors can update the patient’s record with their observations 1. 3. PURPOSE OF THE PROJECT In a given day, number of patients visits a hospital or a clinic. Many hospitals in Ghana still manage the patient data manually. Hospitals will be able to save money and time if they have a good software program for managing patient’s data. The idea is to develop web based patient management software that can be used to keep track of the patients registering in a hospital or clinic. Doctors and the rooms available in a hospital can be managed using this system.Also, this system should support accessing the previous visit histories of any patient, search for patients by name etc. A few points to be noted about the system we are developing here * A patient can be categorized as â€Å" In patient† or â€Å"Out Patient†. If patient type is â€Å"In Patient†, a bed will be assigned to the patient. * A doctor will be assigned to each patient before the patient meets the doctor. Only one doctor can be assigned to a patient at a given time. * A patient can visit the hospital any number of times The project has been planned to be having the view of distributed architecture, with centralized storage of the database.The application for the storage of the data has been planned. Using the constructs of MS-SQL Server and all the user interfaces have been designed using the ASP. Net technologies. The database connectivity is planned using the â€Å"SQL Connection† methodology. The st andards of security and data protective mechanism have been given a big choice for proper usage. The application takes care of different modules and their associated reports, which are produced as per the applicable strategies and standards that are put forwarded by the administrative staff.The entire project has been developed keeping in view of the distributed client server computing technology, in mind. The specification has been normalized up to 3NF to eliminate all the anomalies that may arise due to the database transaction that are executed by the general users and the organizational administration. The user interfaces are browser specific to give distributed accessibility for the overall system. The internal database has been selected as MS-SQL server 200. The basic constructs of table spaces, clusters and indexes have been exploited to provide higher consistency and reliability for the data storage.The MS-SQL server 200 was a choice as it provides the constructs of high-lev el reliability and security. The total front end was dominated using the ASP. Net technologies. At all proper levels high care was taken to check that the system manages the data consistency with proper business rules or validations. The database connectivity was planned using the latest â€Å"SQL Connection† technology provided by Microsoft Corporation. The authentication and authorization was crosschecked at all the relevant stages. The user level accessibility has been restricted into two zones namely. . 4. PROBLEM IN EXISTING SYSTEM * Cannot Upload and Download the latest updates. * No use of Web Services and Remoting. * Risk of mismanagement of data when the project is under development. * Less Security. * No proper coordination between different Applications and Users. * Fewer Users – Friendly. 1. 5. SOLUTION OF THESE PROBLEMS The development of the new system contains the following activities, which try to automate the entire process keeping in view of the datab ase integration approach. 1. User friendliness is provided in the application with various controls. 2.The system makes the overall project management much easier and flexible. 3. Readily upload the latest updates, allows user to download the alerts by clicking the URL. 4. There is no risk of data mismanagement at any level while the project development is under process. 5. It provides high level of security with different level of authentication. 1. 6. REVIEW OF LITERATURE This chapter is on the related literature of the study and tries to place the study into its theoretical framework. It explores fields of related theories of the study which will serve as the basis for monitoring patients and their records.There is a lot of similar software in the market, example hospital management system which also function the same but it is very complex to use (non-user friendly) and requires a degree of training and expertise before one can use it. With the PATIENT MONITORING SYSTEM, everyth ing is flexible and more user friendly with a high level of security with different level of authentication. 1. 8. BUDGET The budget of the research study will be: ACTIVITY| DURATION| INPUTS/ITEMS REQUIRED| COSTGH| Research| One (1) week| A – 4 paper (3 Rims), laptop| 20. 0| Interviews| One (1)week| | 10. 00| Interface Designer| Five (5 )Days | A- 4 sheets| 10. 00| Data Analysis| One (1)week| | 15. 00| Coding| Two (2) weeks| | 10. 00| Printing & Photocopying| One (1) weeks| A- 4 sheets| 30. 00| Binding | Three (3)Days| | 15. 00| Preparation of final Study Report| Three (3) weeks| | 50. 00| | | SUB TOTAL| 160. 00| | | | | | | TOTAL| 170. 00| | | | | 1. 9. TIMELINE This project is going to be undertaken in two months two weeks to finish the project (PATIENT MONITORING SYSTEM). Hospital Management System KOFORIDUA POLYTECHNIC PATIENT MONITORING SYSTEM (A CASE STUDY AT POLYTECHNIC CLINIC, KOFORIDUA) FOR HND COMPUTER NETWORK MANAGEMENT STUDENT’S NAME: WESONO FELIX 04/2010/582D DITSA, JONAS CUDJOE 04/2010/561D DATE: 6TH MARCH, 2013 COMPUTER SCIENCE DEPARTMENT AWARD †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. TENTATIVE TITLE (OR FINAL TITLE): †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ APPROVED BY HEAD OF DEPARTMENT COMPUTER SCIENCE Signature Date: †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢ € ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. APPROVED BY DEAN, SCHOOL OF APPLIED SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Signature Date: †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Chapter 1 1. 1. INTRODUCTION TO PROJECTHospital administrators are often overwhelmed with information about a bulky number of patients and their stays to the hospital that need to be organized and kept up-to-date. The patient management system is a web based application that is designed and developed for hospital administrators and doctors to organize information on patient visits. The system intends to facilitate several steps in the process from the patient registration and to the patient evaluation. During this process, there will be many tasks that have to be handled by this system including maintaining complete information.The main objective of the system is to provide the administration staff and doctors with an easily maintainable information system for patient registration, visit scheduling and patient tracking with latest information. 1. 2. OBJECTIVES The main objectives for establishing this project is to solve the problem notified in the research. The objectives are outlined as follows: I. To improve patient’s registration II. To increase level of patient management III. To improve on patient records keeping IV. To assign doctors to patients V. Doctor Management VI. Bed/Room ManagementVII. Doctors can update the patient’s record with their observations 1. 3. PURPOSE OF THE PROJECT In a given day, number of patients visits a hospital or a clinic. Many hospitals in Ghana still manage the patient data manually. Hospitals will be able to save money and time if they have a good software program for managing patient’s data. The idea is to develop web based patient management software that can be used to keep track of the patients registering in a hospital or clinic. Doctors and the rooms available in a hospital can be managed using this system.Also, this system should support accessing the previous visit histories of any patient, search for patients by name etc. A few points to be noted about the system we are developing here * A patient can be categorized as â€Å" In patient† or â€Å"Out Patient†. If patient type is â€Å"In Patient†, a bed will be assigned to the patient. * A doctor will be assigned to each patient before the patient meets the doctor. Only one doctor can be assigned to a patient at a given time. * A patient can visit the hospital any number of times The project has been planned to be having the view of distributed architecture, with centralized storage of the database.The application for the storage of the data has been planned. Using the constructs of MS-SQL Server and all the user interfaces have been designed using the ASP. Net technologies. The database connectivity is planned using the â€Å"SQL Connection† methodology. The st andards of security and data protective mechanism have been given a big choice for proper usage. The application takes care of different modules and their associated reports, which are produced as per the applicable strategies and standards that are put forwarded by the administrative staff.The entire project has been developed keeping in view of the distributed client server computing technology, in mind. The specification has been normalized up to 3NF to eliminate all the anomalies that may arise due to the database transaction that are executed by the general users and the organizational administration. The user interfaces are browser specific to give distributed accessibility for the overall system. The internal database has been selected as MS-SQL server 200. The basic constructs of table spaces, clusters and indexes have been exploited to provide higher consistency and reliability for the data storage.The MS-SQL server 200 was a choice as it provides the constructs of high-lev el reliability and security. The total front end was dominated using the ASP. Net technologies. At all proper levels high care was taken to check that the system manages the data consistency with proper business rules or validations. The database connectivity was planned using the latest â€Å"SQL Connection† technology provided by Microsoft Corporation. The authentication and authorization was crosschecked at all the relevant stages. The user level accessibility has been restricted into two zones namely. . 4. PROBLEM IN EXISTING SYSTEM * Cannot Upload and Download the latest updates. * No use of Web Services and Remoting. * Risk of mismanagement of data when the project is under development. * Less Security. * No proper coordination between different Applications and Users. * Fewer Users – Friendly. 1. 5. SOLUTION OF THESE PROBLEMS The development of the new system contains the following activities, which try to automate the entire process keeping in view of the datab ase integration approach. 1. User friendliness is provided in the application with various controls. 2.The system makes the overall project management much easier and flexible. 3. Readily upload the latest updates, allows user to download the alerts by clicking the URL. 4. There is no risk of data mismanagement at any level while the project development is under process. 5. It provides high level of security with different level of authentication. 1. 6. REVIEW OF LITERATURE This chapter is on the related literature of the study and tries to place the study into its theoretical framework. It explores fields of related theories of the study which will serve as the basis for monitoring patients and their records.There is a lot of similar software in the market, example hospital management system which also function the same but it is very complex to use (non-user friendly) and requires a degree of training and expertise before one can use it. With the PATIENT MONITORING SYSTEM, everyth ing is flexible and more user friendly with a high level of security with different level of authentication. 1. 8. BUDGET The budget of the research study will be: ACTIVITY| DURATION| INPUTS/ITEMS REQUIRED| COSTGH| Research| One (1) week| A – 4 paper (3 Rims), laptop| 20. 0| Interviews| One (1)week| | 10. 00| Interface Designer| Five (5 )Days | A- 4 sheets| 10. 00| Data Analysis| One (1)week| | 15. 00| Coding| Two (2) weeks| | 10. 00| Printing & Photocopying| One (1) weeks| A- 4 sheets| 30. 00| Binding | Three (3)Days| | 15. 00| Preparation of final Study Report| Three (3) weeks| | 50. 00| | | SUB TOTAL| 160. 00| | | | | | | TOTAL| 170. 00| | | | | 1. 9. TIMELINE This project is going to be undertaken in two months two weeks to finish the project (PATIENT MONITORING SYSTEM).