Correlates of criminal behavior

Correlates of malefactor bearing aditFactors that correlate with crime are those, such as economic deprivation, that demonstrate a relationship with the relative incidence of sorry behavior. It is crucial to remember that correlations only tell us that there is a relationship mingled with peerless variable and another they do not tell us what is causing what. For example, there is an fellowship amid failing at cultivate and juvenile delinquency but we lotnot say that low inform achievement necessarily cause delinquency (Dwyer, 2001). It is possible that once an individual renders involved in ramshackle behavior, their school work suffers and grades begin to deteriorate.Alternatively, there may be a third factor, perhaps the post of the family towards school work and offending that causes both of the other factors (Dwyer, 2001). It is important, though, to recognize that a relationship does have a cause and this is what researchers are trying to uncover, but at no clock time should we jump to superficial conclusions nigh the exact direction of the cause.Case direct A DV a 36-year- anile, Single Black MaleDV, a 36-year-old, single Black male was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. During ceremonious interviews, DV was initially uncooperative with the evaluators. He pretended not to understand what was asked of him. He was strongly encour successiond to work with the evaluation. After a period of observation and initial mental testing, it was informed to him that his report of experiencing auditory hallucinations was unlikely to be true (Heilbrun, Marczky DeMatteo, 2002).DV was administered psychological testing on three separate occasions. Initial test dissolvers clearly show DV intended to represent himself as morally ill and confused. After further counseling, he was re-administered two tests, which he appeared to complete in a cooperative fashion. DVs responses on a structured interview of symptoms of mental un h ealthiness were consistent with those of well-nighone intending to put on psychotic mental illness (Heilbrun et al., 2002).DV began smoking marijuana as a teenager and has continued to use it through push through adulthood. Selling illicit drugs neverthelesstually became his primary ejaculate of income through the years. Prior to his arrest, he used marijuana on a passing(a) basis and drank alcohol much slight frequently, primarily on the weekends or when it was available (Heilbrun et al., 2002).DV has been arrested at least 20 time throughout adolescence and adulthood. He has been incarcerated in state prisons twice, both for felony convictions. The only previous mental health discussion he has received was during his incarceration in a state prison. He had been experiencing nervousness, tremors, and what he referred to as depression. This specify was reportedly treated with antipsychotic medication for a period of six months. His reports of past mental health symptoms we re vague, and he indicated that he has never sought mental health treatment when out of prison (Heilbrun et al., 2002). culpable Behavior Mental DisorderAccording to Bartol and Bartol (2011) mental illness is a disorder of disease of the school principal that is judged by experts to interfere substantially with a persons ability to cope with life on a daily basis. It presumably deprives the person of freedom of choice, but it is important to note that there are degrees to this deprivation. The term mental disorder, however, need not imply that a person is sick, to be pitied, or even necessarily less responsible for his or her actions.Psychological TheoryPsychology is the scientific discipline of behavior and mental process. Psychological criminology, then, is the science of the behavior and mental process of the person who commits crime. In the psychology of crime, both tender and record influences on bend behavior are considered, along with the mental processes that mediate t hat behavior.It is hard to specify typically the psychological theories of crime. Psychological theories centers on the influence of individual and family factors on offending. Psychological theories usually develop and attempt to explain offending on an ongoing project thats starts from childhood to adulthood (Bartol Bartol, 2011).Correlates and Developmental Risk factorsThe parental and family take a chance factors led DV to become deviant at a very young age. During a conducted interview, DV stated that he lived at home with his mother, incur, and two brothers until the age of octonary, when his mother was killed in a car accident. After his mothers death, he began living with an aunt, who raised him until he left home at the age of 14. He attended school through the eighth grade and was expelled from school after the eighth grade, partly because of his poor attendance and partly because of his involvement in two fights (Heilbrun et al., 2002). He exposit school as being di fficult for him because he never had any family championship. After his mother died, nobody really cared whether he went to school. It was the loss of his mother that triggered his immoral behavior.Is this Person a Criminal?In summary, DV manifest a personality style and behavior regulation that is characterized by dislike towards authority and violation of friendly norms and laws. He was diagnosed with malingering (resolved) cannibus abuse and antisocial personality disorder. DV can be held accountable for his actions. He knew that the current adjudication constitutes his third felony conviction, and he knew the sentencing mandates associated with a third felony conviction. Specifically, DV was cognisant that he could have received a very lengthy sentence for his third conviction and knew his plea carried the probability of a relatively short sentence. He knew that his plea agreement called for his full cooperation in the miserlydown of his case (Heilbrun et al., 2002). DV w as deemed competent to stand trial based on his ability to comprehend what he did and he knew this.Case Study B 24-Year-Old John D.John is a 24-year-old Caucasian male who was convicted of sexual activityual Battery, which occurred on February 10, 1998, and is awaiting sentencing. John D. was an only child born to unwed parents on February 9, 1975. He grew up in an volatile environment and his start out was a drug addict who neglected to care for him. He recalls no memories of his father prior to the age of eight (Heilbrun et al., 2002).At eight years old, John D. recalled playing with and smelling someones feet. He cant remember exactly what happened at the moment but recall it was really scary. He remembers his fathers turn over pulling his knees apart. That was all he can remember about the incident (Heilbrun et al., 2002).Criminal Behavior Sex Offender (Sexual Battery)Sex offenders often commit a variety of crime beyond sexual offenses, although this is much likely to be th e case with rapists than the child molesters. There is no single profile that encompasses a majority of sex offenders. The features of their crimes also differ distinctly among offenders, including time and place, the gender and age of the victim, the degree of planning the offense, and the tote up of violence used or intended (APA, 2000 Bartol Bartol, 2011).Sociological TheoryThe sociological approach examines underlying social conditions that may influence criminal behavior by focusing on how social structure and processes offer to crime. Life course criminology focuses on life tragedies or paths that may lead to lifelong or reiterate criminal behavior. The Sociological theory of criminal behavior is the way people look at their environment. Sociologically, a person will be overwhelmed by closeness, the imitation and behavior of those they look up to, as healthy as their understanding of what is right and what is wrong (Bartol Bartol, 2011).People are not born with a predi sposition to violence or lack of power rather they become that way as a result of social experiences. Furthermore, criminal behavior, again like all behavior, is an individuals way of adapting to his or her environment.Correlates and Developmental Risk factorsExamples of social risk factors are parental and family risk factors including faulty or inadequate parenting, sibling influences, and child ill-usage or abuse. A wide variety of circumstances can lead to a single-parent home. John D.s father died when he was nine years old. He is uneffective to recall any memories of his father prior to age eight. His parents never married but after his fathers death, his mother married a man that told John D. someday he would burn in hell (Heilbrun et al., 2002).His mothers parental styles were inappropriate. John D. loved her because she could be fun to be with, and she was proud of him. At the same time he hated her because of the way she treated him. He described her as very pettishness y, at times she would be nice and at other times she lashed out and smacked him in the face. John D. also stated that he often felt like a refilling husband to his mother, because whenever it was time to kiss her goodnight, she would stick her tongue out (Heilbrun et al., 2002).John D. spent most of his time living with his maternal grandparents. His grandmother would walk in on him when he was changing his underwear and would ever so find an excuse to come into the bathroom and wipe him after he was done. He didnt realize his grandmothers behavior was inappropriate until later (Heilbrun et al., 2002).Models are those significant persons in the social environment that provide cues for how to do something (Bartol Bartol, 2011 Jackson, 2008). For example, a child may learn how to shoot a gun by imitating television or motion-picture show characters. The child then will rehearse and fine-tunes this behavioural pattern by practicing with toy guns. John D.s behavioral patterns are th e outcome of the models he had in his life.Is this Person a Criminal?John D. is responsible for his actions and should be held criminally liable for what he did. He shows no remorse for his victims. He kills his victims and plays with their feet. He has a inclination of an orbit to act upon his fantasies. He has a high potential for dangerous behavior inflicted against self and others.Case Study C 21-Year-Old open up M.The defendant in this case, respect M., was charged with aggravated murder in the barb death of a police officer in November of 1997. jemmy M. has an extensive criminal record and a history consistent with an antisocial personality disorder. Antisocial personality disorder is not usually considered to be a mitigating factor. In addition to the antisocial personality disorder, Jimmy M. had suffered from a serious head injury, resulting in the request for a neuropsychological evaluation (Heilbrun et al., 2002).Jimmy M. was born to Darlene M (who was 15 years old wh en she got pregnant) and Bob Hoover on September 21, 1976. Jimmy M. only saw his father twice, once in fifth or sixth grade and the second time was last year while he was incarcerated. He primarily raised by his foster grandmother, Martha Washington Ms. Washington was Jimmy M.s mothers foster parent. Jimmy M.s mother was a drug addict and alcoholic who was arrested and spent time in jail and prison before dying of a drug overdose in 1989 (Heilbrun et al., 2002).On one occasion, when Jimmy M. was eight years old, his mother used him to hide stolen money. Jimmy M. developed significant behavioral problems following his mothers death. He subsequently had numerous contacts with juvenile authorities and was placed with the Department of Youth Services on some(prenominal) occasions. He encountered numerous conflicts with his grandmother. Although things have not always been stable with his grandmother, Jimmy M. stated that they remain close today (Heilbrun et al., 2002).Criminal Behavior Murder (Aggravated Murder)The term murder is reserved for the unlawful killing of one human being by another with malice plotted, either expressed or implied. Malice aforethought refers to premeditation, or the mental state of a person who thinks ahead, plans, and voluntarily causes the death of another, without legal excuse or justification. However, premeditation can occur in a very short period of time (even a minute) it does not require weeks of planning (Bartol Bartol, 2011).Biological TheoryHistorically, neurological impairment, whether by heredity, injury, or disease, has been thought to comply with criminal behavior. For example, head injury and boisterous behavior are found to coexist in criminals at a higher than average rate. Though a direct link cannot be determined between the two, researchers observe that neurological problems, in combination with environmental and social risk factors, interact to influence criminal behavior (APA, 2000 Bartol Bartol, 2011 Raine, 2002).Biological theories have a misunderstanding stereotype that if a person is a criminal then that person was born a criminal. Biological theories are only one interpretation of criminality (Rafter, 2008). Biology has an effect on our social and emotional lives that would be categorized as biological influences on our behavior. Some examples would be menstruation affects some women more than others, but many have more belief swings during, and just before, menstruation. Pregnancy also affects hormones and therefore emotions. In many cases, a women seems calmer than usual when pregnant, not reacting as she normally would to the stresses of work and life. Hormones in pregnancy have a lot of functions, including effects on mood and puberty is another example with which everyone is familiar. During the transition from childhood into a sexual world, teenagers go through some profound emotional and behavioral changes usually suffered along with them by their parents, other relatives, and teachers (Raine, 2002). Eventually they mature and become adults but in the years of puberty, the change in outlook and disturbance of behavior can be profound. But again, the environmental influences are crucial in how puberty, a biological change, is realized.Correlates and Developmental Risk factorsJimmy M.s mother was 15 when she was pregnant and 16 when he was born. Given her own drug, alcohol, and legal problems she was clearly unable to provide adequate parenting. His foster grandmother was, at best, inconsistent in her ability to provide for Jimmy M. and the other children within her care, who included Jimmy M.s mother. Following his mothers death, Jimmy M.s behavior showed clear signs of deterioration, and he fall in the local gang (Heilbrun et al., 2002). As a result of Jimmy M.s early childhood experiences, he has bonded to no one, has little capacity for empathy, and has shut off his emotions from the rest of the world.Is this Person a Criminal?Therefore, Jimmy M. i s responsible for his actions and should be held criminally liable for what he did. However, based on his past, Jimmy M. should undergo treatment to pass along harm to him and to others. Jimmy M. demonstrated a capacity of attachment. Once his mother passed he began to seek support by associating with the local gang. There is a possibility that through treatment and rehabilitation Jimmy M. can do better for himself.ConclusionAccording to Bartol and Bartol (2011) Crime, like all behavior, is complex and varied, and there are no simple answers regarding its causes. This is hardly surprising considering the great variety of crimes and offenders. Different theories put the emphasis on dissimilar causal factors biology, personality, unconscious conflict, social learning, to name but a few. It is still by no convey clear whether or not biological factors are implicated in antisocial behavior but, even if they are, most researchers acknowledge that the environment in which children are reared can either stimulate or disallow any inborn tendency is criminality.The type of environment most conducive to delinquency is one of poverty, deprivation, a stressful family life and lack of educational opportunities. These factors are inextricably inter-related and the more of these that a child endures, the great the likelihood of them committing criminal acts. Nevertheless, many individuals exposed to all of these risk factors do not embrace a life of crime. Perhaps we need to take a more careful look at overprotective factors such as personal disposition, loving relationships, social support systems and, indeed, gender, in order to more successfully address the problem of crime.ReferencesAmerican Psychological Association (2000). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of MentalDisorders (DSM-IV-TR) (4th ed., vol. schoolbook Revision). Arlington, VA Author.Bartol, C .R. Bartol, A. M. (2011). Criminal behavior A psychosocial approach (9th ed.).Upper Saddle River, NJ Pearson Education, Inc.Dwyer, D. (2001). Angles on criminal psychology. United Kingdom Nelson Thornes, Ltd.Heilbrun, K., Marczyk, G. R., DeMatteo, D. (2002). Forensic mental health assessment Acasebook. New York Oxford Press.Jackson, R. (Ed.). (2008). Learning forensic assessment. New York Routledge.Rafter, N. (2008). The criminal brain Understanding biological theories of crime. New York,New York New York University Press.Raine, A. (2002). Biosocial studies of antisocial and violent behavior in children and adults Areview. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 30(4), 311-26.

The Poor But Efficient Hypothesis Economics Essay

The Poor But efficacious Hypothesis Economics EssayIn Chapter one we unsex in motion the purpose for this research and explain to the lecturer the essence of quantifying the amount the ho determinationhold is volition to pay for abating malaria both in the present and in the future. In this chapter we go a ab habit nonwithstanding by reviewing obligates in this flying field. This chapter is in-chief(postnominal) beca recitation it volunteers the reader with a sort of history into this area of research. It as well as gives the reader an opportunity to understand where our research stands vis--vis early(a) researches in this area. Obtaining a value for the marginal force- tabu of malaria on husbandmans good might is one of the live wires on which precise estimates for our Willingness-To-Pay depend. We in that locationfore want to lead off by reviewing books in the area of cogency metrement afterwards, we will research into literary productions in the area of W illingness To Pay.Before we go ahead we highlight the purpose of measuring good expertness to the reader. proficient qualification primarily enables one to understand the relationship surrounded by input pulmonary tuberculosis and the proceeds (total harvested crop). It besides enables us to measure the per radiation patternance of individual farms in an industry as well as provide an index for the bonnie performance of the overall industry. This then leads us to make policy preachations that could help translation the merchandise margin- the maximum attainable harvest from each input- of the farm closer to the industry barrier at the prevailing technology. As we progress in this research the reader will pass on appreciate this supposition and the reason why it is one of the most talked ab bulge tabu concepts in development/resource economics.At the moment, our use up is to poll some literature that relates to our area of research. We therefore start Section 2.1 by reviewing literature relating to the pitiable however competent hypothesis of Schultz (1964). Section 2.2 reviews some agriculture-based literature on aptitude and health. In doing this we branch the study on inefficiency into cardinal the Frequentist (Section 2.2.1) and the Bayesian (Section 2.2.2) studies. Using another method of classification, we classify the study of efficiency into single output studies (Section 2.2.3) and multiple output studies (Section 2.2.4). This puts us in good standing to review literature on Willingness-To-Pay in Section 2.4.Productivity/Efficiency Studies in AgricultureThe Poor hardly Efficient HypothesisThe huge volume of research on efficiency in agriculture draws motivation from Schultz (1964) book Transforming Traditional Agriculture. In the book he explains why rural farmers are efficient in the attention and allocation of resources. He advances a hypothesis popularly called the poor unless efficient hypothesis. Researchers try to cast this hypothesis quantitatively in doing this, a contend of issues come to the fore, part of which is the best way to measure productivity. Before the advent of the deterministic measure of productivity pioneered by Aigner and Chu (1968), and, Afriat (1972) researchers attempt to measure efficiency. Of great richness to us in this area are the works of Welsch (1965), Chennareddy (1967) and Lipton (1968) because they specifically test the validity of Schultzs poor but efficient hypothesis.Chennareddy (1967) utilizes the running(a) regression abbreviation on a info of one hundred and foursome rice and tobacco farmers in South India exploitation a Cobb-Douglas take ferment. His findings were in accord with Schultz hypothesis. He recommends that South Indian farmers should adopt modern technology and extension teaching method in order to touch to a high frontier. Lipton (1986)1disagrees with this recommendation. He argues that if Schultzs findings are correct then th e rural farmers do not ask any expert advice to improve their productivity in other words moving to a higher frontier should not be a bother for them. He further queries Schultzs assertion believing that it entirely works under a neo-classical theory of perfect competition he affirms that if Schultz uses bianalogue programming to collapse his info his findings would study that the rural farmer is inefficient.Welsch (1965) in his study on Abakaliki rice in easterly Nigeria makes use of the linear regression to affirm that peasant farmers respond to economic inducement by allocating efficiently among several resources at their disposal. Hence, he supports Schultzs hypothesis. adept thing we want the reader to poster in the preceding(prenominal) groups of literature is the writers who concur with Schultzs assertion use parametric proficiencys to arrive at their conclusion eon Lipton (1968) employs a non-parametric linear programming proficiency that assumes at least one fac tor is not fully employed. meet as the argument is about to cease, Sauer and Mendoza-Escalante (2007) involve themselves in it. Their work serves to reconcile these diametrically opposing schools of judgment. It puts to use a parametric normalized generalized Leontief (GL) wage function proficiency to lose it joint proceeds of manioc flour and maize by small-scale farmers in Brazil. The small-scale farmers are allocatively efficient, they assert, but they line of battle large inefficiency in the scale of operation. At this juncture, we remind the reader that our digression is intentional. Our aim is to show how Schultzs assertion has brought an wad in the number of efficiency studies in agriculture with special focus on the developing economies of the world. We uniform to say that the work not exclusively instigates research in development/resource economics but it also prompts research in anthropology and sociology (see Adams, 1986 and the review by Michelena, 1965 pp. 540 -541).Proper measure of productivity starts with Aigner and Chu (1968), Afriat (1972) and capital of Virginia (1974) where they shoot for a deterministic method of frontier measurement. Though their studies are obsolete they however underscore the popularity of the Cobb-Douglas structural form in the early literature to show the relationship between input and output. Aigner, Lovell and Schmidt (1977), Meeusen and van hideaway Broeck (1977), and, Battese and Corra (1977)2 say the modern random frontier compend as we know it today simultaneously. Their regulate asunder from incorporating the efficiency term into the deterministic mannikin it also includes the ready of random shock, hence, the name stochastic. Lau and Yotopoulos (1971) also introduce a dual pro mark function sample to measure efficiency but their method is not as popular in production analysis because it only yields efficiency measures for a group of farms plot of ground the frontier method gives efficiency values for individual farms in the industry (Frsund et al 1980).The reader should bankers bill that the linear regressions of Chennareddy (1967) and Welsch (1965) give the shape of the technology of an fair(a) farm in the industry while the stochastic frontier model gives the shape of the technology of the most productive farm in the industry against which the efficiency of every other farm is measured (Coelli 1995). In other words, Chennareddy (1967) and Welsch (1965) use an average response model for their analysis.The specification of a functional form and/or distributional assumption confers on a technique the nomenclature parametric while the non-specification of a functional/distributional form confers on a technique the non-parametric nomenclature. The non-parametric nomenclature means, in the words of Koop (2003), you are letting the data speak. This he says is very difficult to fall upon as even in the non-parametric system, just like in the parametric, one need to impos e certain structure on a particular problem in order to achieve ones objectives.The use of the information Envelopment Analysis (DEA) (another technique is the Free Disposal Hull, FDH) overshadows every other technique in the non-parametric class. Charnes, make and Rhodes (1978) introduce this technique and gave it the name as we know it today. The data introducement analysis technique uses the linear programming method to generate a piece-wise envelop over the data points. The technique is widely used in technological foul efficiency studies but it has the shortcoming of not incorporating randomness in measuring efficiency. Also, the envelop curve is not everywhere dissimilariable. Our focus in this research is the parametric technique.The parametric technique has progressed so much in the literature that there are now two different econometric schools of thought for estimating efficiency. The first school of thought are the Frequentists who dominate this field since its ince ption and the second school of thought are the Bayesians into which our research belongs.The Frequentist StudiesThe first set of Frequentist study is deterministic in nature and use the technological structure of the mathematical programming approach (see Aigner and Chu, 1968 Timmer, 1971 and, Frsund and Hjalmarsson, 1979 for exposition on mathematical/goal programming). Richmond (1974) introduces the Modified indifferent Least square toes (MOLS) approach to analyse the efficiency of Norwegian manufacturing industries specifying a Cobb-Douglas production function. Richmond (1974) is a modification of the Corrected Ordinary Least Squares (COLS) approach. Winsten (1957) introduces this model by assuming a distribution (such(prenominal) as half normal or exponential) for the disturbance term. The Corrected Ordinary Least Square technique involves a two stones throw process. The first step involves the use of the Ordinary Least Squares to keep consistent and unbias estimates of the marginal effect parameters on the contrary, the intercept parameters are consistent but bias. The second step involves the shifting of the intercept upwards so the frontier envelops the data from above.Greene (1980) takes Richmond (1974) work a step further as he assumes a gamma distribution for the random error term go through the maximum likelihood approach. He uses the data from Nerlove (1963) which is a sample of one hundred and fifty volt firms producing electricity in the United States in 1955. Apart from replicating the results of Aigner and Chu (1963), Greene (1980) tries to explain the statistical relevance of his model. The reader should keep that Greene (1980)s model is deterministic.One of the early applications of the deterministic frontier were Shapiro and Mller (1977), Shapiro (1983), Belbase and Grabowski (1985). Shapiro and Mller (1977) attempt to estimate the technical efficiency of forty farms in Geita district of Tanzania. They follow Timmer (1971) method of analysing technical efficiency by applying the linear programming to a Cobb Douglas production frontier. Their result which is similar to that of Chennareddy (1967) shows that the traditional farmer can improve his technical efficiency by adopting modern farming practices through easy access to information. This, they say, will be at the expense of non-economic approachs like the farmer existence branded unsociable by his community. Shapiro (1983) working in the same district as Shapiro and Mller (1977) tries to confirm the poor but efficiency hypothesis but delineates the hypothesis may not be applicable in terms of peasant agriculture in Tanzania because their output could still be increased if all farmers had the same efficiency as the most efficient farmer in the sample. These assertions echo the conclusion of Lipton (1968). He uses the same model and method of analyses as Shapiro and Mller (1977).Belbase and Grabowski (1985) introduce a technique that is different from the other two stated above. They apply the Corrected Ordinary Least Square (COLS) approach of Winsten (1957) on cross-sectional sample of farms in Nuwakot district of Nepal. They record an average technical efficiency value of 80% for joint production of rice, maize, millet and wheat. The average technical efficiency value for individual frontier calculation for rice and maize is given as 84% and 67% in that order. They find correlation between technical efficiency and other variables which are nutritionary level, income and education. Technical efficiency is however not correlated with farming experience.Some studies suss out the uphold of certain agricultural policies on productivity. A priori one expects these policies to actually increase productivity but this is not always the case. One of such study Taylor, Drummond and Gomes (1986) use a deterministic production function and discover the World Bank sponsored extension programme PRODEMATA did not concern positively on the t echnical efficiency of farmers in Minas Gerais, Brazil. Their result shows that there is no difference between the technical efficiency of farmers who participate in the programme and those that did not participate. This written report is one of the few that compare both the results of the Corrected Ordinary Least Square and the maximum likelihood approaches. Unexpectedly, the participant farmers in the PRODEMATA programmes stir slightly lesser allocative efficiency than non-participant farmers. The researchers also favour Schultzs hypothesis.We want the reader to note that the deterministic frontier is still popular in the literature for example, Alvarez and Arias (2004) use Lau and Yotopoulos (1971) dual profit function model to measure the effect of technical efficiency on farm size victimization data from one hundred and ninety-six dairy farms in Northern Spain. They introduce technical efficiency as a parameter to estimate in a simple production function. They observe a posit ive relationship between technical efficiency and farm size after they control for output prices, input prices and quasi- pertinacious inputs. Also Amara et al (1999) use the deterministic frontier to discover the relationship between technical efficiency and the betrothal of preservation technologies by potato farmers in Quebec. They found that farming experience and the adoption of saving technologies have positive influence on technical efficiency.Croppenstedt and Demeke (1997) use a fixed-random coefficients regression to analyse data for small-scale farmers growing cereal in Ethiopia. They observe that land size is a major(ip) constraint to crop production and large farms are relatively less productive than small farms other things being equal. They note that most of the farms are inefficient. They also observe inefficiency in the use of inputs especially proletariat and fertiliser. Share cropping is positively correlated to technical efficiency.Karagiannis et al (2002) pro pose an alternative for separating technical inter interpolate form time varying technical inefficiency. Their prompting uses the general formulation index to model technical change (Karagiannis et al 2002 cites Baltagi and Griffin 1988). They also model technical change as quadratic function of time. Their proposition does not assume any distributional assumption for the one sided stochastic error term. They then apply their proposition to the United Kingdom dairy sector from 1982 to 1992 using a translog production frontier. They obtain a mean technical efficiency value of about 70-eight per centime for the dairy industry with this period.One major disadvantage of the deterministic frontier model is that it over-values our inefficiency estimates. For example, Taylor and Shonkwiler (1986) discover the deterministic frontier gives over seventy per cent inefficiency while the stochastic frontier gives twenty per cent value for inefficiency.At present, a lot of text file utilize the stochastic frontier model in their analysis. Coelli et al (2003) makes use of the stochastic frontier to calculate the total factor productivity for a panel data of crop agriculture in Bangladesh. The data contains thirty-one observations collected between 1960/61 and 1991/92 from 16 regions and the result reveals technical change is convex in nature with increase starting about the time of the gate of the green renewal varieties in the 1970s. Technical efficiency reduces at an annual rate of 0.47 per cent during the period they investigate. This has an effect on the total factor productivity which declines at the rate of 0.23 per cent per annum with the rate of reduction increasing in later years. This, they say, raises questions of food security and increase in agricultural productivity in Bangladesh. They point out the non-use of price data in their analysis which makes their work different from other authors (Coelli et al 2003 cites Pray and Ahmed, 1991, and, Dey and Evens on, 1991). Wadud and black-and-blue (2000) compare the stochastic frontier approach with the data envelopment analysis and discover both methods luff efficiency is significantly affected by irrigation and environmental degradation.There are a few papers that attempt to analyse technical, allocative and economic efficiencies at once in a single research. Bravo-Ureta and Pinheiro (1997) lease out a frontier analysis using the self-dual Cobb-Douglas production function to analyse farm data from Dominican Republic. They justify the use of the Cobb Douglas production function because the method they adopt requires both the use of the production and cost frontiers. Their research is important because they use the maximum likelihood technique to emphasize the essence of not only estimating the technical efficiency but also, the allocative and economic efficiency. Another paper that follows in this light is that of Bravo-Ureta (1994) who attempts to measure the technical, allocative an d economic efficiencies of cotton and cassava farmers in eastern Paraguay. He estimates economic efficiency for cotton and cassava farmers to be around forty per cent and fifty-two per cent respectively.There could be spatial differences in the technical efficiencies of different farms based on ecological differences, farm size and interactions between these two variables. Tadesse and Krishnamoorthy (1997) set out to investigate this in their research on paddy rice farmers in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. They mark that the farmers still have opportunity of increasing their efficiency by seventeen per cent. They observe significant play in the variation of mean technical efficiency in the four zones that make up Tamil Nadu. They use a two stage approach where the first task is to obtain farm-specific technical efficiency and then use a Tobit model to compare the differences in the technical efficiencies of each region and zone. Wang and Schmidt (2002) note a bias in the results obtained by this process and they went ahead to use the Markov chain three-card monte Carlo technique to prove that there is serious bias at every stage of the procedure.Chen et al (2009) also examine the technical efficiency of farms in four regions of China. The four regions are North, North-East, East and South-West. They observe that different inputs need to be put to efficient use in the different regions. For example, inefficient use of industrial input is the main problem in the East while in the North it is capital. They assert that farms in the North and North-East are relatively more efficient than farms in the East and South-West. They recommend a change in the land tenure system to eliminate land fragmentation in China. some other researchers have used the stochastic production frontiers to investigate the impact of government programmes on farmers efficiency. For example, Seyoum et al (1998) use the Battese and Coelli (1995) stochastic production function to compare be tween farmers that participate in Sasakawa-Global 2000 project and those who do not in Ethiopia. They collect twenty samples from two different districts (Keresa and Kombolcha) of eastern Ethiopia and show the difference in the levels of production in these two districts by use of a dummy for one district. The data is panel in nature which justifies their use of the Battese and Coelli (1995) model. Battese and Coelli (1995)3is a panel data extension of the Kumbhakar et al (1991) research work. Seyoum et al (1998) recommend that policy makers should expand the Sasakawa-Global 2000 project as farmers who participated have let on output, productivity and efficiency than farmers that did not.Still on the impact of government programmes on efficiency, Abdulai and Huffman (2000) look at the impact of the Structural Adjustment Programme on the efficiency of rice farmers in Northern Ghana using a stochastic profit function. Their results show rice producers in the region are highly respons ive to market prices for rice and inputs. They support the introduction of the structural adjustment programme because it makes the farmers more market oriented. Also, Ajibefun and Abdulkadri (1999) find the Cobb-Douglas production function as being adequate to represent the efficiency of Nigerias National Directorate of Employment Farmers Scheme. They reject the half-normal distribution assumption for the inefficiency term. Ajibefun (2002) simulates the impact of policy variables on the technical efficiency of small-scale farmers in Nigeria. He discovers that increase in education level and the farming experience would significantly improve the small-scale farmers technical efficiency. Amaza and Olayemi (2002) investigate the technical efficiency of food crop farmers in Gombe State, Nigeria and arrive at similar mean technical efficiency as Ajibefun and Abdulkadri (1999). However, the difference between the minimum and maximum technical efficiency score for Amaza and Olayemi (2002) is seventy-six per cent while for Ajibefun and Abdulkadri (1999) is about sixty-six per cent.Jara-Rojas et al (2012) look at the impact of the adoption of soil and water conservation practices on productivity and they discover a positive relation between soil and water conservation and technical efficiency. They discover that an enhancement of the technical efficiency also improves the net returns on investment.The use of the stochastic frontier model to estimate the effect of health on farmers efficiency is also very important in the literature. Croppenstedt and Mller (2000) take up this challenge when they research into the role of the Ethiopian farmers health and nutritional status on their productivity and efficiency. They find that distance to the source of water as well as nutrition and morbidity affect agricultural productivity. Surprisingly, e breakicities of labour productivity regarding their nutritional status are strong. They further affirm that this strong correlation continues with technology estimates and wage equations. However, they record considerable loss in production due to technical inefficiency even after accounting for health and nutrition of workers.Ajani and Ugwu (2008) look at the impact of adverse health on the productivity of farmers living in the Kainji basin of North-Central Nigeria. Their study shows the health variable as being positive, large and statistically significant. They therefore conclude that health capital is an native input in agriculture.A paper that successfully combined the non-parametric technique of data envelopment analysis and an econometric model is Audibert et al (2003). They use a combination of the data envelopment analysis and the Tobit model to infer on the social and health determinants of the efficiency of cotton farmers in Northern Cte dIvoire. They use the high density of the malaria parasite in the blood of an individual as a representative for the health of the household. They use a two step pr ocess firstly, they use the data envelopment analysis to arrive at relative technical efficiency values and then they regress this efficiency gain ground against factors they think will affect efficiency. The high density of malaria parasite in the blood variable enters the model at the second stage. Their results show that malaria greatly reduces farmers technical efficiency. They further conclude that it is intensity of infection by the disease that is important rather than its presence. Our research collects data on the prevalence of the disease in an area rather than just hospital reported cases this we believe will give further credence to our results.Ajani and Ashagidigbi (2008) use numbers of days of incapacitation as a proxy for malaria incidence in Oyo State, Nigeria. Surprisingly, they ran a normal linear regression to investigate the effects of malaria on agricultural productivity. Their analysis shows that age and days of incapacitation are undistinguished statisticall y. Olarinde et al (2008) explore the factors that affect bee keepers technical efficiency in Oyo state, Nigeria. They observe that the bee keepers are efficient by about eighty-five per cent there is still room for to increase their efficiency by xv per cent. They point out that some of the farmers do not take bee-keeping as their main occupation. This, they say, is a major determinant of efficiency. Marital status is also another variable that affects technical efficiency, they note. They observe that a farmer who is single is likely to be more efficient than a married farmer.Mochebelele and Winter-Nelson (2000) examine the effect of migratory labour (to mine fields in South Africa) on farm technical efficiency. They try to hit if migrant labour actually complement farm production or not. They establish that households with migrant farmers have higher production and are more efficient than households without migrant farmers.In the use of the panel data for efficiency estimation, some researchers try to see if differences exist in efficiency values between the fixed effect model and the stochastic frontiers. Ahmad and Bravo-Ureta (1996) use panel data of ninety-six Vermont dairy farms between the periods 1971 to 1984. They carry out statistical tests to investigate the better model between the fixed effect model and the stochastic frontier model. The fixed effect model gave better results than the stochastic frontier model. Hence, they conclude that the fixed effect model needs to be considered in panel data analysis.Reinhard et al (1999) estimate the technical and environmental efficiency of a panel of dairy farms. They assume the production of two outputs dairy and excessive use of Nitrogen. They analyse their efficiencies separately. Their objective involves investigating whether farmers can both be technically and environmentally efficient. They also examine the compatibility of these two types of efficiencies. They obtain a mean output-technical effic iency of 0.894 while the input-oriented environment efficiency is 0.441. They remark that intensive dairy farming is both technically and environmentally more efficient than extensive dairy farming.Reinhard et al (2000) examine comprehensive environmental efficiency in Dutch dairy farms. This paper is a lengthiness of Reinhard et al (1999) paper. In this paper, apart from surplus Nitrogen which they use in their earlier work, they also investigate excess use of phosphate and total energy use of these farms. They compare efficiency scores in the stochastic frontier analysis with the data envelopment analysis. The mean technical efficiency values for the two methods of analysis are different. The stochastic frontier has an output technical efficiency value of eighty-nine per cent while the data envelopment analysis has an efficiency value of seven-eight per cent. There is significant difference between their environmental efficiencies also. The stochastic frontier analysis records a value of eighty per cent while the data envelopment analysis records a value of fifty-two per cent. It is evident from the result of the two efficiencies that the stochastic frontier method over-values efficiency scores.Before we close this section we refer the reader to a work by Strauss (1986). The work is important because it attempts to investigate the effect of nutrition on farm labour productivity in Sierra Leone. He uses an average response model to capture this effect. He estimates a Cobb-Douglas production function which accounts for simultaneity in input and calorie preference. His exercise shows calorie intake has significant impact on labour productivity. He, however, places a caveat on this result because individual-level nutrient and anthropometric data are not included in the analysis. His result supports the nutrition productivity hypothesis to a great extent.In the last few pages we attempt to explain to the reader the preponderance of the Frequentist method of an alysing the stochastic frontier especially in agriculture. We emphasize the diverse uses of the parametric method of efficiency measurement in agriculture. We believe that other literature in agriculture will fall into one of the categories we peruse above. Next, we take a look at the Bayesian econometrist view. The reader should note how few the literature is compared to the Frequentist method. Also, for a thorough perusal of the literature from the Frequentist perspective we refer the reader to Bravo-Ureta et al (2007) Delete.The Bayesian StudiesThe works of van den Broeck, Koop, Osiewalski and steel (1994) Koop, Osielwalski and mark (1994, 1997) Koop, Steel and Osielwalski (1992), and, Fernndez, Osiewalski and Steel (1997) herald the Bayesian technique for estimating the compose-error model.van den Broeck, Koop, Osiewalski and Steel (1994) is a earth for estimating a Bayesian cross-sectional composed-error data. They resolve the problem of choosing the best functional form exp erienced in classical econometrics by mixing over a number of distributions. They use the Bayesian model averaging to average over the results of the Jondrow et al. (1982) and Greene (1990). In other words van den Broeck, Koop, Osiewalski and Steel (1994) solve the problem of choosing the better distribution between the two. They also carry out predictive conclusion on their results using the Monte Carlo technique of importance sampling.In continuation of van den Broeck, Koop, Osiewalski and Steel (1994) work Koop, Osielwalski and Steel (1994) show how to use the Gibbs sampling Monte Carlo method to arrive at estimates for the stochastic cost frontier model. They fit an asymptotically ideal price aggregator, non-constant returns to scale composed error cost frontier. They use Barnett, Geweke, and Wolfe (1991) method for generating the asymptotically ideal price aggregator (Koop, Osielwalski and Steel, 1994 cite Barnett, Geweke, and Wolfe 1999). They caution that care should be take n in the choice of functional form for frontier analysis. We believe the use of the Bayesian model Averaging technique should circumvent this problem. Also, they discover that imposing regularity condition on the price aggregator is found to reduce the spread of the Mntz- Szatz expansion.Koop, Steel and Osielwalski (1995) essentially show how to draw the different parameters in the composed-error model using the Gibbs sampler. They provide an algorithm to draw the different parameters of choice in the composed-error model. They show the ease with which this can be done using the Gibbs sampler. They also note the use of 0.875 as an informative prior for the inefficiency value. van den Broeck, Koop, Osielwalski and Steel (1994) propose this value.Fernndez, Osiewalski and Steel (1997) introduce the Bayesian method for estimating panel data using a class of non- or partly-informative prior. They assert that using this type of priors for a cross-sectional data will make its posterior in ference unreliable and inaccurate. This is because the total number of parameters in the entire model is larger than the sample size. They circumvent this problem in the panel data where the researcher can impose a structure on the inefficiency terms. Koop, Osielwalski and Steel (1997) take Fernndez et al (1997)

The Cathay Pacific Airways Information Technology Essay

The chinaw be Pacific Air slipway selective training Technology EssayThis report comprises completely the relevant reading regarding the chinaware Pacific Airways, specially its protective cover measure presidential term manakin. It sums up intravenous feeding p crafts natural coveringground of the organization, potential areas of IT aegis disappointments, recommended IT trade protection g e trulywherenment framework and passly issues and argufys faced by that trade protection measure brass instrument framework. In the very first part, we bear described about underlying wakelesss kindred its headquarter, its fleet of airbuses, worldwide destinations and its achievement.In the 2nd element of the report are the specific areas where bail measures failures whitethorn occur. These areas accept managing nucleus tune system. Be pay off the airways adopted the legacy systems, which is easily susceptible to protective covering threats. secondly it fecal matt er not cope with authentic competent requirements. Further more(prenominal), it being a wide infra social system desktop PCs, the airways data flow over lucre, which can be captured by any intruders or hackers. This may cause disruptions to routinely business. Its business to business (B2B) interchange of data again creates vulnerabilities in its IT understructure. The pervasiveness of profits creates a more open set of info systems for the mobile and diverse contain of the orgnaisation. This mobile arrangement may be easily attacked by natural and external inaugurations. In the third part this report discourses on IT arrangement framework. This framework is the recommended one to be implemented in the organization. The structure of disposal is richly responsible to provide control and sound heed of the IT bagful aegis. In the structure separately one is responsible at his own rank for the security, safety of IT assets and data encourageion.Lastly this report ra ises various issues and challenges confronting the security governance structure while managing and controlling the security of the IT basis of chinaware Pacific.INTRODUCTIONToday, each organization adopted or is cerebration to adopt IT infrastructure. Once it is implemented, it needs security. IT assets, database and nurture trafficking on ubiquitous communicate need to be fully protected. That is why a necessity relating to this IT infrastructure in an organization has cropped up. For safety and security, security governance has been thought of. It may comprise shareholder, board of directors, CIO, financial manager and so on. These persons are fully responsible for controlling and streamlining all the information system of the organization like mainland China pacific. This governance framework follows various new laws and regulations designed to throw better the security governance. Threats to information systems disruptions from hackers, worms, viruses and terrorists s quander resulted in need for this governance. This report explains all the way security failures, governance framework for ICT and IT cerebrate issues and challenges.BACKGROUND OF ORGANISATIONCathay Pacific Airways is an international skyway registered and ground in Hong Kong, offering schedule cargo and passenger operate to over 90 destinations around the world. The master(prenominal) vision of this company is to make Cathay Pacific the most admire airline in the world. To Achieve this goal Cathay started its journey from 1946 and straight it is distinguishn as best Airlines in Asia. It is one of the five airlines to displace a five star rating from Skytrax (Cathay Pacific 2007). The official electronic networksite of Cathay Pacific is http//www.cathaypacific.com/cpa/en_INTL/homepageCathay Pacific was established in 1946 in Hong Kong with a mere two DC-3 aircrafts servicing passenger routes for Bangkok, Shanghai, Manila and Singapore. From its waypirited beginnings, it has to date grown into a world class airline employing over 15,000 employees and r severallying out to 62 worldwide destinations. It owns over a flierinal widebodied aircrafts that transports over a million passengers a month to almost each continent in the world (McFarland Young, 2003) and transports freight worldwide which constitutes to nearly 30% of its revenue. Profits stood at $511 million during 2002 and Cathay expanded into the state of the art $628 million global headquarters in Cathay City. Cathay perpetually faced numerous challenges on its way to success. Nevertheless, its watchfulness ac get alongledges the fact that in order to remain competitive given the current market event it is of utmost importance to improve on its strategical and non strategic survey of its entire ICT resource. Cathay Pacific continues to invest in new ICT infrastructure to streamline its business attend toes and make information easier to access for all employees. As part of this proc ess, Cathay Pacific implemented technology solutions designed to automatise and simplify customer and financial information heed.POTENTIAL AREAS OF IT SECURITY FAILURESCurrently, legion(predicate) airlines are looking at e-business to protect their assets and to secure customers loyalty, and to be self-made in immediatelys competitive environment. Many e-commerce principles have been pioneered by the airline industry. These include the first business-to-business electronic information exchange and industry-wide electronic marketplace. There are numerous another(prenominal) benefits to be gained for airlines and airline passengers, E-ticketing, e-Check in numerous meshing base services provide to customer with quick and low cost services but on that point is smooth hesitation among numerous peoples even many companies about committing any major(ip) effort to electronic commerce. The main attention about security of sensitive data, such as credit card numbers, personal da ta and business confidential data (Jiang 2003).Managing Core chore SystemCathay Pacific has been developing in house systems since the 70s. roughly of its core business systems are accounting systems, engineering system, personnel and leak systems and other internal applications. Legacy systems are systems that have modernized over many years and are considered irreplaceable, either because re-implementing their function is considered to be too valuable or because they are institutionalizeed by users (Dietrich 1989). blood change ever in order to meet the demands of the marketplace and this necessitates the need for information systems to evolve accordingly (McKeen Smith 1996). Over 20 years later, Cathay agnize that the coordination and support of these systems was a cumbersome task that could potentially stunt the strategic emergence of the company. Given its phenomenal growth rate, Cathay realized that the IM division leave behind not be able to cope with the ever ev er-changing business requirements. Legacy passenger service systems may not be flexible and scalable enough to support the new marketing strategies of airlines today (Cavaliere 2006). Cathay needed a technology that keeps costs down and is flexible whilst at the same time delivers on both todays needs and those of the future. Customizing current legacy systems to match these current competitive requirements just consumed too a good deal time and resources. Mckeen and Smith (1996) further argues that since change is a constant in business and in technology, demand for maintenance is un-easing and since lively systems are the ones direct the business, maintenance work can easily overwhelm new development.Managing intercommunicate infrastructure desktop PCs.Infrastructure plays an important role in ensuring merry support is supplied to systems development teams and that legal coordination and direction is open to IS as a whole (McKeen Smith 1996). Cathays rapid expansion to n ew destinations and tremendous pant in route expansion, passenger and cargo volume in the 80s caused Cathays meshwork infrastructures to continue to expand. Without infrastructure, productivity will soon decline as individuals and groups each attempted to replicate the work of others. Cathays data center which coordinated fundamental airline trading operations was placed in two locations in Kowloon and on Hong Kong Island. These data centers provided uninterrupted information to Cathays airline operations. The fire in 1991 on Cathays data center interrupted flight operations for 12 hours. Cathays perplexity realized the importance of ensuring uninterrupted information flow to vituperative business functions is top priority for the organization. IT infrastructure and facilities need grow in tandem with the organizations growth pace. Almost full at its operational capacity at its current data center, Cathay probably needed a a a couple of(prenominal)(prenominal) more data cent ers to manage the organizations information at current growth rate. Mid 90s saw an uneven PC distribution at Cathay Pacific. PC distribution to staff members depended on each staff members aim of security access. This caused some of the staff to have a PC while other did not. This uneven distribution was finally rectified by Cathays outsourcing its PC management to IBM in 2001. The costs subscribed in outsourcing these services means that more scrupulous attention will be paid to their foster on an ongoing basis. Nevertheless, the outsourcing exercise posed its own complexity involving ironware and software package licensing issue. Managing dynamic changes in desktop environment and the suppliers was the main challenge in the desktop PC management for Cathay. The PC outsourcing trend was still new in this region thus raised skepticism among managers in the initial stage.Managing B2B system integrationIn a broad sense, Business to business (B2B) integration refers to all busine ss activities of an enterprise that have to do with electronic messages exchange between it and one or more of its duty partners (Bussler 2003). Bussler further narrows down this definition in a software technologys kitchen stove that B2B integration refers to software technology that is the infrastructure to connect any back end applications system within enterprises to all trading partners over titular message exchange protocols like the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). Cathay is naturally in a highly competitive and challenging airline business. Fundamental flight operational information can be very dynamic and customers must be kept updated with the latest information. instruction, fares and schedules have to be accurate sales promotions and marketing activities are constantly changing. Flight operations are vulnerable to any changes in weather which may cause last minute schedule changes or cancellations. With the wide array of ten-fold destinations, languages, time zone s and alerting travelers, an airline business is constantly a logistic operations challenge to any Cathay. These information need to be translated into online web content in order to fulfill its B2B requirement. instruction has to be accurate, the selling channel has to be reliable and secure, changes have to be updated quickly and last minute flight disruptions have to be communicated to passengers immediately and consistently by a number of different channels. Such an e-business vision has required a sophisticated architecture of specialist platforms designed to integrate and deliver a number of different information and application components in a broadloom manner. Content management is one of the core components in Cathay Pacifics e-business architecture. It was live for the airline to tick off that it invested in the right product that could deliver its yell within budget and on time.Managing monetary standardsAs the pervasiveness of network create a more open set of in formation systems for the mobile and diverse need of the organization, augmentd attention must be paid to the corresponding increase in exposure to attacks from internal and external sources (Dhillon, 2001). Cathay uses Secure Socket layer (SSL) protocol as an industry standard for encryption over the Internet, to protect the Data. Cathays main challenge to date is not being able to incline its partners and customers with confidence that despite with the most recent security standards, any internet transaction could be leaked out by individuals through internet hacking. This is adjudge in its website claim which says that complete confidentiality and security is not yet assertable over the Internet, and privateness cannot be assured over all its internet communication between the business and its customers (Cathay Pacific 2007). Cathay pacific in ensuring reliable B2B applications has to ensure that the latest standards such as XML and open source technology are used extensive ly in all its software applications critical to business. Digital certification for all online transactions especially the ones that involve monetary exchange is imperative in ensuring customer confidence and to keep off security breach.RECOMMENDED IT SECURITY GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORKThere are many definitions that describe the ICT merged administration. Here I choose a few interesting definitions to be discussed in this report. embodied Governance of ICT is Specifying the decision rights and accountability framework to encourage desirable behavior in the use of IT. (Weil Ross, 2004) In contrast, the IT Governance embed, 2003 expands the definition to include underpinning mechanisms the leadership and organizational structures and processes that ensure that the organisations IT sustains and extends the organisations strategies and objectives. firearm AS8015, the Australian Standard for corporate Governance of IT, defines Corporate Governance of IT as The system by which the curre nt and future use of IT is directed and controlled. It involves evaluating and directing the plans for the use of IT to support the organization and monitoring this use to achieve plans. It includes the outline and policies for utilize IT within an organization.Figure 1 AS 8015 2005 model of Corporate Governance of ICT(Source Skinner, 2006)Every definition has its own way of describing the term Corporate Governance of IT but I think the definition of the AS8015, the Australian Standard for Corporate Governance of IT is the most understandable and clearly defined (see throw 1). AS8015 clarified whats really important the organisations goal (Toomey, 2006). However we can hear that every definition focuses on the same issues which is directing and controlling the death penalty of IT according to the organisations strategy and policies. This involves the contribution in decision making of every stakeholder of the organization. As we can see that the IT Governance show has also verbalise the word Leadership, which stands for the principal of the organization, the board of directors and the management team, who must manage the efficacious use of IT to achieve the strategies and objectives. Unlike old time which the IT system is managed alone(predicate) by the IT department. Talking about the IT Management people may usually mix it up with the IT Governance. They are not the same thing. Governance is the process by which management is monitored and measured. It is not a substitute for management it is a way of ensuring that sound management occurs (Philipson, 2005). There are many get a line drivers for Corporate Governance of IT. Here in this report I will focus on the legal and regulatory compliances which will be discussed in the next part of the report.IT Governance Framework of Cathay PacificInformation security governance is the responsibility of the board of directors and senior executives. It must be an integral and transparent part of enterpri se governance and be aline with the IT governance framework. Whilst senior executives have the responsibility to consider and respond to the concerns and sensitivities raised by information security, boards of directors will increasingly be expected to make information security an intrinsic part of governance, integrated with processes they already have in place to govern other critical organisational resources. To exercise effective enterprise and information security governance, boards and senior executives must have a clear understanding of what to expect from their enterprises information security program. They need to know how to direct the capital punishment of information security program, how to evaluate their own consideration with regard to an existing security program and how to decide the strategy and objectives of an effective security program. Whilst there are many aspects to information security governance, there are several matters that can assist in focusing on the question, What is information security governance? These are theDesired outcomes of information security governanceKnowledge and protection of information assetsBenefits of information security governanceProcess integration(IT Governance Institute 2006)Figure 2 IT protective cover Governance Framework of Cathay Pacific (Source Poore 2005)Information security governance consists of the leadership, organisational structures and processes that safeguard information. Critical to the success of these structures and processes is effective communication amongst all parties based on constructive relationships, a common language and shared loading to addressing the issues. The five basic outcomes of information security governance should include1. strategical alignment of information security with business strategy to support organisational objectives2. encounter management by executing appropriate measures to manage and mitigate hazards and subvert potential jolts on information resources to an acceptable level3. Resource management by utilising information security knowledge and infrastructure efficaciously and efficaciously4. Performance measurement by measuring, monitoring and reporting information security governance metrics to ensure that organisational objectives are achieved5. Value delivery by optimising information security investments in support of organisational objectivesThe National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), the leading membership organisation for boards and directors in the US, recognises the importance of information security. It recommends four essential practices for boards of directors, as well as several specific practices for each point. The four practices, which are based on the practicalities of how boards operate, arePlace information security on the boards agenda.Identify information security leaders, hold them accountable and ensure support for them.Ensure the effectiveness of the corporations information securit y form _or_ system of government through review and approval.Assign information security to a place committee and ensure adequate support for that committee (IT Governance Institute 2006).Benefits of Information hostage GovernanceInformation security governance generates of import benefits, includingAn increase in share value for organisations that practice good governanceIncreased predictability and reduced uncertainty of business operations by morose information security-related risks to definable and acceptable levelsProtection from the increasing potential for well-behaved or legal liability as a result of information inaccuracy or the absence of due careThe structure and framework to perfect allocation of limited security resourcesAssurance of effective information security policy and policy complianceA firm foundation for efficient and effective risk management, process improvement, and rapid ensuant chemical reaction related to securing informationA level of assuranc e that critical decisions are not based on faulty informationAccountability for safeguarding information during critical business activities, such as mergers and acquisitions, business process recovery, and regulatory responseThe benefits add significant value to the organisation byImproving trust in customer relationshipsProtecting the organisations reputationDecreasing likelihood of violations of privacyProviding greater confidence when interacting with trading partnersEnabling new and better ways to process electronic transactionsReducing operational costs by providing predictable outcomes-mitigating risk factors that may interrupt the process (IT Governance Institute 2006).ISSUES AND CHALLENGESIn the ICT world today, not every organisation will be able to achieve success or reap its benefits. Too many ICT initiatives have failed to deliver the bottom-line results companies had hoped for. One very common reason of failure is that the organizations fail to have a good management a nd controlled of their IT system. The Data Governance Council, with a focus on the review and approval aspects of board responsibilities, late recommended that boards provide strategic oversight regarding information security, including1. Understanding the criticality of information and information security to the organisation2. Reviewing investment in information security for alignment with the organisation strategy and risk profile3. Endorsing the development and implementation of a comprehensive information security program.Lets discuss about major issues and challenges that faced by Cathay pacific, implementing an IT Security Governance framework. Boards and management have several fundamental responsibilities to ensure that information security governance is in force. Amongst the issues they should focus on areUnderstand Why Information Security Needs to Be GovernedRisks and threats are real and could have significant impact on the enterprise.Reputation damage can be considera ble. trenchant information security requires co-ordinate and integrated action from the top down.IT investments can be substantial and easily misdirected.Cultural and organisational factors are equally important.Rules and priorities need to be established and enforced.Trust needs to be demonstrated toward trading partners whilst exchanging electronic transactions.Trust in reliability of system security needs to be demonstrated to all stakeholders.Security incidents are likely to be expose to the public.Take Board-level actBecome informed about information security. model direction, i.e., drive policy and strategy and define a global risk profile.Provide resources to information security efforts.Assign responsibilities to management.Set priorities.Support change. qualify cultural values related to risk awareness.Obtain assurance from internal or external auditors.Insist that management makes security investments and security improvements measurable, and monitors and reports on prog ram effectiveness (IT Governance Institute 2006).Take Senior Management-level ActionProvide oversight for the development of a security and control framework that consists of standards, measures, practices and procedures, after a policy has been approved by the governing remains of the organisation and related roles and responsibilities assigned. (Design)Set direction for the creation of a security policy, with business input. (Policy Development)Ensure that individual roles, responsibilities and authority are clearly communicated and unsounded by all. (Roles and Responsibilities) strike that threats and vulnerabilities be identified, analysed and monitored, and industry practices used for due care.Require the set-up of a security infrastructure.Set direction to ensure that resources are available to allow for prioritization of possible controls and countermeasures implement accordingly on a punctual basis, and maintained effectively. (Implementation)Establish monitoring measures to detect and ensure alignion of security breaches, so all actual and suspected breaches are promptly identified, investigated and acted upon, and to ensure ongoing compliance with policy, standards and minimum acceptable security practices. (Monitoring)Require that semestral reviews and tests be conducted.Institute processes that will help implement intrusion staining and incident response.Require monitoring and metrics to ensure that information is protected, correct skills are on hand to operate information systems securely and security incidents are responded to on a timely basis. Education in security measures and practices is of critical importance for the success of an organisations security program. (Awareness, Training and Education)Ensure that security is considered an integral part of the systems development life cycle process and is explicitly addressed during each phase of the process. (IT Governance Institute 2006)Questions to Uncover Information Security IssuesDoe s the head of security/CISO routinely meet or abbreviated business management?When was the last time top management got baffling in security-related decisions? How often does top management get involved in progressing security solutions?Does management know who is responsible for security? Does the responsible individual know? Does everyone else know?Would people recognise a security incident when they saw one? Would they ignore it? Would they know what to do about it?Does anyone know how many computers the company owns? Would management know if some went missing? ar damage assessment and disaster recovery plans in place?Has management identified all information (customer data, strategic plans, financial data, research results, etc.) that would persecute policy, legal or regulatory requirements or cause embarrassment or competitive disadvantage if it were leaked?Did the company suffer from the latest virus or malware attack? How many attacks were successful during the past 12-mon th period?Have there been intrusions? How often and with what impact?Does anyone know how many people are using the organisations systems?Does anyone care whether or not they are allowed access, or what they are doing?Is security considered an afterthought or a prerequisite?(IT Governance Institute 2006)CONCLUSIONSInformation security is not only a technical issue, but a business and governance challenge that involves adequate risk management, reporting and accountability. Effective security requires the active involvement of executives to assess emerging threats and the organisations response to them. As organisations like Cathay pacific, strive to remain competitive in the global economy, they respond to constant pressures to cut costs through automation, which often requires deploying more information systems. The combination is forcing management to face difficult decisions about how to effectively address information security. This is in addition to scores of new and existing l aws and regulations that demand compliance and higher levels of accountability.

How Nature Can Provide Sustainable Building Solutions

How reputation Can Provide Sustainable edifice SolutionsContents (Jump to)Chapter 1 Introduction atom 1.1 Overview of the language comp sensationnt part 1.2 The impoerishment for sustainable expression solutions scratch 1.3 Underlying prescripts and mechanismsChapter 2 Solutions from recordSection 2.1 Wind-induced public exposure of the cut into of the pr publicizeie traverse, genus Cynomys ludovicianusSection 2.2 Other nonable investigationsChapter 3 Examples of expressions that incorporate sustainable features derived from born(p) examplesChapter 4 ConclusionsReferencesBibliographyChapter 1 IntroductionSection 1.1 Overview of the dissertationThis dissertation impart focus on timbreing at how temperament pot put forward sustainable mental synthesis solutions, in cross for wind-induced natural ventilation brasss. The first part of the dissertation will look at the need for sustainable shewing solutions, in call of the malign that has been, and continues to be , wrought on the humankinds natural corpses, and the possible solutions that empennage be prime by consumeing how temper has developed solutions to the problems of ventilations in burrows, and the need for gas fill in. The fact that character has depleted these solutions is argueed as an event occurring everyplace ontogenesisary time, through with(predicate) the process of natural selection. Subsequent sections of the dissertation discuss the strong-arm principles that have been mastered by the process of evolution, much(prenominal)(prenominal) as the Bernoulli Principle and the Venturi center, which has light-emitting diode to the appropriate, sustainable, solutions that are found in Nature.These principles are discussed in detail in Chapter 2, in terms of their appearance in natural transcriptions the burrows of the black-tailed pr stockie blackguard, Cynomys ludovicianus, the knotty burrow and c i system of the blow prawn Callianassa truncata and the burrow - twirler system of the gudgeon Valencennea longippinis which lets for increased gas exchange to the maturation testis in the burrow. The three examples are discussed in detail, in terms of the relevant literature and experimental studies that have been per fermented to determine how and why the animals produce such structures.Chapter 3 presents whatever examples of constructions that have applied solutions found from Nature to abide sustainable upkeep posts. Examples include, amongst separates, several edifices intentional by Eugene Tsui, such as the residence of Florence and William Tsui in Berkeley, California, the Watsu School at Harbin Hot Springs, the Exposition building for the International jubilance of Innovation and the Tsui forge and Research Inc. Headquarters in Emeryville, California, and the the Kanak ethnical aggregate in Noumea, New Caledonia pictureed by Renzo delicate.The dissertation concludes with Chapter 4, which presents some concluding remark s, cin one caserning the fruitfulness of expression to Nature for predilections for sustainable building, for looking to Nature drive out prove a valuable exercise, for as Tsui, wizard of the coarse contemporary organic decorators states in his book Evolutionary computer computer architecture Nature as a Basis for Design, Every great hu fightg that has marked the upward surge of valetity has been an insight into some obscure spirit of natural phenomena. Every tool, all(prenominal) medicinal remedy, every scientific venture, every geographic expedition of the physical and psychological world is a glimpse of the unexpressible mind of disposition a mind that has no flummoxning, no terminus, no dimension and no parameters a mind that is compelled to create, produce, evolve, divergentiate and reinstate with such perfection and thoroughness as to be the model for every human r from each one.Section 1.2 The need for sustainable building solutions creation is slowly ki lling the Earth and its natural systems. We are keep with unacceptable levels of carbon copy dioxide in the atmosphere, which is leading to increases in the greenho phthisis effect and widespread modality changes across the globe. These climate changes are ca exploitation problems for numerous systems, amongst them agriculture, making it very much more difficult for those in sub-Saharan Africa, for example which is increasingly impact by drought and erratic rainfall patterns to be self-sufficient in terms of organism able to grow enough crops to survive. Other experts name changes in the circulation of ocean currents due to global warming, which is leading to a liquescent ice reserves and glaciers and ca utilize furthermost greater volumes of pissing to slip in the ocean circulatory systems. Shifts in the circulation of ocean currents could have grave consequences for mankind.In addition to the problems created by increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide, pollution of th e Earths piss system has occurred on a massive graduated table, with experts predicting strength forthcoming problems with supplies of non-polluted water that is suitable for human use. The Earth, the blue planet, full of water and previously perfectly braced, is facing unprecedented onslaughts to its vital systems, due to the excessive, uneconomic and polluting habits of mankind.What can be done ab protrude this? It is fundamental that legislation be put in organise now to preserve the Earth and its systems, and that we wrap to act, individually and collectively, to save the Earth and its resources that are of fundamental value to us. Sustain mogul is a fundamental concern for all of humankind, as the commonwealth of the Earth begin to rattlingise that we wholly have one Earth and that it needs to be looked after. By listening more closely to, and taking lessons from, the Earth and the inhabitants we treat the Earth with, we can begin to live much more harmoniously an d in concert with not antagonistically with the Earth and its inhabitants.The construction, use and care of buildings contri yetes significantly to adverse environmental impacts, such as carbon dioxide production, something that will save get worse as the population increases and the need for housing grows. Many recent regulations and conventions have already been put in place to ensure that sustainable building principles become the norm in forthcoming for example, a recent convention has been signed to reduce the discharge of fantastic chemicals to zero by 2020, and, documents such as the 1999 policy document authorise A better quality of life a strategy for sustainable development for the United Kingdom, provide targets for sustainability within the construction industry.As numerous contemporary architects realize, nature itself is fully harmonious, with all of its parts workings in harmony with each other, from species interacting but co-existing in a habitat, on a m iniature scale, to on a large scale the ocean circulation systems working in harmony to deliver nourishing currents across the globe. This harmony has been profaned by the actions of mankind, and, through mankind not recognizing and respecting this harmony, we have arrived at the part we are in with the Earth and its systems and inhabitants being exposed to very real threats. It is perhaps time that architects begin to study Nature and her solutions in parliamentary law to arrive at sustainable building solutions.As Tsui, one of the great contemporary organic architects states in his book Evolutionary Architecture Nature as a Basis for Design, Every great disc everyplacey that has marked the upward surge of humanity has been an insight into some profound aspect of natural phenomena. Every tool, every medicinal remedy, every scientific venture, every exploration of the physical and psychological world is a glimpse of the ineffable mind of nature a mind that has no beginning, no end, no dimension and no parameters a mind that is compelled to create, produce, evolve, differentiate and regenerate with such perfection and thoroughness as to be the model for every human endeavour.Looking at the natural world for inspiration can be a valuable exercise. Subsequent sections of the dissertation will look at specific examples of wind-induced ventilation, from the black-tailed prairie dog, the mud shrimp and the goby. These examples will deliver how each of these animals has adequate their immediate environment fully in harmony to the immediate environment, to the eudaemonia of themselves and to their wider community. The ideas of organic, or evolutiionary architects, such as Tsui, are base on similar principles, that architects should start, on a wide scale, to look to nature for sustainable building solutions.Looking to Nature for answers to building problems should, argues, Tsui (1999) become part of an architects repertoire. As Tsui (1999) argues, Nature is not driven by ambition, it has no preconceptions, no concept of style, and her evolution has been through small patient incremental steps, sole(prenominal) allowing the clear up ones to persist, where correct means the solution that is most fitting for the particular proposition situation, the solution that is sustainable, to allow in-situ permanence.As energy consumption and the by products from air teach are amongst the most significant contributors to the destruction of the Earths systems, the discomfit of this dissertation is to look for natural examples of wind-induced ventilation systems that could, potentially, be incorporated in practical solutions for the construction industry, in terms of decision sustainable building solutions. Although it is downstairsstood that understanding the mechanics of natures microclimate control will not provide any quick-fix solutions to cooling buildings, these natural examples achieve equilibrium with their surroundings that is far beyon d the reach of mankind at this time and, as such, by studying these systems, they can be learnt from and their novelties applied in design and building practice. Looking to natural examples of wind-induced ventilation will, therefore, potentially provide solutions to heavily polluting air conditioning systems.Section 1.3 Underlying principles and mechanismsMany animals need to live in burrows or to produce burrows for fortress from the elements, for example, or for protection from predation. As shall be seen in later sections of the dissertation, the need for such burrows means that some charming solutions to the problems such burrows present (such as a lack of ventilation) have been reached, as in the case of the black-tailed prairie dog, and that the burrows themselves can create favourable micro-environments and favourable conditions for the larger habitat, as in the case of the thickening burrow and conoid systems of the mud shrimp.An implicit understanding, and mastery, of physical principles of nature has been create up by these species over evolutionary time. This section of the dissertation will discuss some of these physical principles, including the Bernoulli principle, the Venturi effect and the Venturi tube. The Bernoulli Principle states that for an ideal fluid, with no work being performed on the fluid, an increase in fastness occurs simultaneously with a decrease in pressure or a change in the fluids gravitational potential energy. Essentially, fluid particles are only composition to pressure and their own weight, meaning that within a flux fluid, the highest vivify occurs when the pressure is lowest and the lowest speed occurs when the pressure if highest, with Bernoullis compare stating that the sum of all forms of energy in a fluid time perioding across a stream take up is the same at any cardinal psyches along the path. Bernoullis Principle explains how water drains from a bowl in a circular pattern around the axis of the drain and besides explains how one feels pulled towards large vehicles if they retort by you at high speed.The Venturi effect is a specific example of the more general Bernoulli Principle, which explains how fluids can pass through a region of incompressible persist through a tube with a constriction in it, in which situation the pep pill of the fluid increases through the restriction and the pressure decreases in order to remunerate the equation of continuity and to ensure the aerodynamic of the fluid through the squeeze space. It is on this principle, for example, that the burrows of the black-tailed prairie dog is thought to work, as shall be seen in Section 2.1 of the dissertation, with the volcano device for air acceleration being applicable to ohmic resistance structures of every kind. A series of venting volcanoes could be aligned with hole-and-corner(a) rooms containing air-exiting vents to produce individually vented spaces. This phenomenon can be occupied and rising wa rm air can be directed out exiting vents, as in the burrows of the prairie dog d surfaceing. It is thought that, by using the prairie dog system, air can be interchanged at a rate of 2550 cubelike feet per minute with no utility power (Tsui 1999). The prairie dog voltaic piles and volcanoes have been likened to a half Venturi tube where a Venturi tube is utilize to determine the flow-rate of fluids or air through a pipe. The Venturi tube has a specialized sleek constriction that minimizes the energy losses in the fluid flowing through it and which, thus, maximizes the fall in pressure in the constriction in line with Bernoullis principle.These principles will be discussed in further detail in Chapter 2, in terms of their appearance in natural systems the burrows of the black-tailed prairie dog, Cynomys ludovicianus, the complex burrow and cone system of the mud shrimp Callianassa truncata and the burrow-mound system of the goby Valencennea longippinis which allows for increased gas exchange to the developing eggs in the burrow.Chapter 2 Solutions from NatureSection 2.1 Wind-induced ventilation of the burrow of the prairie dog, Cynomys ludovicianusThe black-tailed prairie dog, Cynomys ludovicianus, is a ground-dwelling squirrel, one of four prairie dog species to be found uniquely in North America. Black-tailed prairie dogs live in colonies, which are generally established in cattle-grazed areas, as the prairie dogs prefer the vegetation surrounding their burrows to be short, so they can keep an eye out for predators. The black-tailed prairie dogs live in burrows, with one principle tunnel and, depending on the size of the colony, various numbers of side put up that act as overnight housing for the prairie dogs. Unfortunately, as with many other native species, habitat destruction is causing a drastic lessening in the number of black-tailed prairie dogs (Hoffman, 1999), with conservation efforts currently underway to stabilize the population numbers of t he black-tailed prairie dog (see, for example, Andelt, 1988).As Vogel et al. (1973) argue, where a fluid flows across a show up for example wind over the earth a velocity gradient is created which provides a potential source of work. This gradient might, for example, be sedulous by a burrowing animal to induce air-flow in its burrow, which is long and limit to avoid the obvious risks presented by predators. The burrow of the black-tailed prairie dog, long and narrow as it is, being, on average, 12cm in diameter and 10-30m in length (Cincotta, 1989), presents what Vogel et al. (1973) term, a respiratory dead-space of extraordinary magnitude in which diffusion is inadequate, alone, for gas exchange.For this reason, the black-tailed prairie dog has evolved a system of burrowing which creates a system of wind-induced ventilation within the burrow. The burrow of the black-tailed prairie dog has an opening at both ends and mounds of earth at each end, of different sizes at each end, one taller than the other, and each mound being up to 1m in height and 2.5m in diameter (Cincotta, 1989). When a childs mold hits the mounds, air enters the burrow through the lower mound and leaves through the end with the higher mound. This system of wind flow has been independently verified in wind tunnel experiments, with wind-flow within the burrow being a additive function of wind flow across the mounds.Interestingly, not only has the burrowing system of the black-tailed prairie dog been found to be an excellent example of wind-induced ventilation instantly from nature, but the architecture of the burrows of the black-tailed prairie dogs encourages increased species diversity of arthropods (Bangert and Slobodchikoff, 2006). Later work (Cincotta, 1989) found that adequate airflow through the burrow can be generated with only one mound, and the presence of the second mound has been explained by various hypotheses, such as the prevention of predation (through its use as a loo k-out post), or the prevention of flooding. Cincotta (1989) argues that the deuce mounds (which are usually found devised one as a dome and one as a crater) real represent functionally identical structures that have simply been built under different constraints in transport costs (i.e., different costs of energy). Thus, the ventilation model of Vogel et al. (1973) does not, concludes Cincotta (1989) provide a fully adequate model of the spy mound construction, and including energetic parsimony within the equation explains why the prairie dogs build the two mounds (i.e., although only one mound is needed for the wind-induced ventilation system to work, it is an energy-saving measure, in such a long burrow, to remove earth from both ends of the burrow). likewise to how supplemented straw is employ to stabilize the soils used in adobe brick brick construction, the mounds of the black-tailed prairie dogs are stabilized with plant fibers found in the topsoil approximately the entran ces to the burrows (McHenry and May, 1984). Using plant fibres in mixture with the excavated soils allows the black-tailed prairie dogs to build vertically and to use less energy (as less excavated soil is needed), replicating similar energy-saving practices in building adobe brick buildings (Boudreau, 1971).Section 2.2 Other notable investigationsNature has provided engineers and architects with many examples of sustainable technologies. Animals do not have to resort to damaging the environment to be able to survive within their habitat they fit, harmoniously, within that habitat, in quietus with the physical conditions and with the other species that share the same habitat. This section will discuss some other examples, from nature, of how animals have evolved to cope with their surroundings in an optimum manner.The mud shrimp, Callianassa truncata, has been studied in the Tyrrhenian Sea and has been found to produce complex cones and burrow systems which affect the physical stru cture of the sea bed, and, concomitantly, the chemical zonations and the exchange processes across the sediment-water interface (Ziebis et al., 1996a Boudreau, 1994). The mud shrimp builds these cones, therefore, to modify their immediate micro-environment by forming chemical links between the sea and the sediment. Adjacent to each cone is a shallow depression which acts to funnel water in to the cone system, and which means that oxygen, instead of penetrating only a few millimeters in to the sea bed, actually penetrates more than 50cm down, allowing oxygen- live animals to live in the holes (Ziebis et al., 1996a).The cones that are built by the mud shrimps are outlets for the tunnels, re-routing ammonia from buried sediment to the water above this ammonia flow helps to nourish the sea water, providing more sustenance for phytoplankton, for example, and so the entire food chain benefits from the cone-building of the mud shrimp (Ziebis et al., 1996a). Similarly to how the complex ar chitecture of the black-tailed prairie dogs provides opportunities for increased species diversity, the cone-building habits of the mud shrimp provides greater feed for those species that share its habitat. As Ziebis (1996a) herself stated, it is a source of wonder that these relatively small animals can build such complex burrow structures and complex architecture.Zeibis et al. (1996b) cogitate, therefore, that the complex cone and burrow systems of the mud shrimp alters the small-scale flow regime, altering the shrimps own micro-habitat whilst also providing benefits to the wider community, so much so that it was concluded that, the high spatial and temporal variability of oxygen distribution in a coastal sea bed depends on sediment surface topography (as formed by Callianassa truncata) and the concomitant changes in boundary layer flow velocity and sediment permeability.Takegaki and Nakazono (2000) examined the role of the mounds in promoting water exchange in the egg tendering burrows of the goby Valencennea longippinis. Valencennea longippinis spawns in burrows and after spawning, the female constructs a mound on top of the burrow by piling up materials derived from the substratum. Experiments by Takegaki and Nakazono (2000) showed that the mounds promote water-exchange in the burrow allowing the exchange of oxygenated sea water to the developing gobies within the burrow, with dissolved oxygen concentrations being much higher in burrows with a mound than in burrows without a mound. The construction of a mound on top of the developing eggs thus not only protects the eggs from potential predators but also has an important role to play in delivering oxygen to the developing gobies within the burrow.These are but two further examples of how nature has evolved practical, sustainable, solutions to the problems presented by the immediate environment. The solutions formed can be extremely useful to engineers and architects who are wanting to design buildings on sustainable principles. As Thomas Herzog states in his book Architectural Designs Green Questionnaire, In general I do not think that architecture can be deduced immediately from nature, since the design process and functions of our buildings are quite different from what is found in most plants and animals. Nevertheless, there are a conduct of lessons to be learnt from nature, especially with regards to the efficiency, performance, adaptability, variety and tremendous beauty which most organisms vaunt under close observation. Considering that nature has to obey the same physical laws as man-made objects this should be seen as very encouraging for us, making it well worthwhile to study its principles and mechanisms.Chapter 3 Examples of Buildings that incorporate sustainable features derived from natural examplesThis Chapter presents some examples of buildings that have applied solutions found from Nature to provide sustainable sustainment spaces. Examples include, amongst other s, several buildings designed by Eugene Tsui, such as the residence of Florence and William Tsui in Berkeley, California, the Watsu School at Harbin Hot Springs, the Exposition Building for the International Celebration of Innovation and the Tsui Design and Research Inc. Headquarters in Emeryville, California, and the the Kanak heathen Centre in Noumea, New Caledonia designed by Renzo Piano.The residence of Florence and William Tsui in Berkeley, California, designed by Eugene Tsui, is based, in its entirety on the tardigrade, which is known to be one of the worlds most durable animals and which has systems inbuilt to ensure protection against flooding, fire and termite attack, amongst other things (Tsui, 2007). The house is fitted with a solar heat energy system and with a natural ventilation system that keeps it cool in summer and warm in the precooled months (Tsui, 2007). The house is, essentially, a living system that is capable of actively responding to any external condition s, with water systems in place that are designed to provide cooling and heating and which were based on the capillary structures of dinosaur species which allowed dinosaurs to regulate their own body temperatures (Tsui, 2007).The Florence and William Tsui residence is a notable application of the Bernoulli Principle, as it employs the Bernoulli effect in adjustable vents, which not only draw in fresh air, without the requirement for mechanical power, but also provide natural light and cl forceed to be inexpensive to engage (Tsui, 2007). Nostril windows pull out from the wall to let air in, using the Bernoulli effect, where air is sucked in through the open shaft and through the screened tube, which lets air in and keeps insects out. (Tsui, 2007) Tsui notes in his book Evolutionary Architecture, Nature as a Basis for Design that this facet of the design of this building was inspired by such natural examples as the prairie dog burrows.Also designed by Eugene Tsui, the Watsu School at Harbin Hot Springs is, again, a in all sustainable building, with solar-powered panels and movements of frosty water around the building allowing for the natural ventilation of the building. The spherical shape of the buildings also allows for wind flow to cool the buildings, as a whole. The Tsui Design and Research Inc. Headquarters in Emeryville, California, another Eugene Tsui design, is also a totally sustainable building, incorporating natural ventilation systems based on the prairie dog burrows the building is totally self-sufficient and uses plant life for interior temperature control, with a retractile roof allowing for the entrance of cool air, if necessary. Water is collected from the roof and used for all of the buildings needs the integrated water system is seen, by Eugene Tsui, as an example of architecture as a living organism.Another architect whose interest lies in evolutionary, or, better, organic architecture is Renzo Piano who designed the Kanak Cultural Centr e in Noumea, New Caledonia. This building is a synthesis of nature and technology, reflecting the Kanak peoples understanding of the harmony of life and of Nature. As Piano states, (I wanted)an architecture that genuinely expresses itself between the assertion of the old, reliable values and the exploration of the new in the spirit of time (Young, 2007). Pianos aim for the building was to present an architectural masterpiece based on move uping the gestait of the Kanak people and the site, through a full understanding of the Kanak people, their history and cultural traditions (Young, 2007).Aside from showing cultural respect in the design and form of designing this building, and thus fitting in to its intended environment well, the Kanak Cultural Centre in Noumea, New Caledonia also shows a wide range of natural ventilation systems. The faade of the building is a double skin which provides a large air space between the woodwork and the galleries, forming a stack effect which, duri ng the day, means hot air rises out of the space while cool air is drawn in to replace it the cooler air then passes around the building at lower elevations, flowing out towards the lagoon at the side of the building (Young, 2007) in this way, the building breathes with its environment, as a function of the environment in which it sits. Skylights set in the roof of the building allow for the entry of cool air, as necessary, and the interaction of all these ventilation systems allows the building to find a continuous balance with Nature (Young, 2007).Examples such as these buildings, and others that could be mentioned, show how it is possible to study Nature and to study the solutions provided by the process of natural selection over many generations, to enlighten sustainable building projects. That buildings can be built, for only slightly more cost than non-sustainable buildings, to act in harmony with Nature and to produce architecture that acts as a living organism is a beautifu l vision. This vision of Tsuis, as presented in his book Evolutionary Architecture, Nature as a Basis for Design, and in his many other writings, speeches and in his designs for, and his actual buildings is a beautiful vision, of mankind being given the ability to live in concert, not antagonistically with, Nature.As has to be realized, however, whilst Nature can be used as inspiration, the implications of scale need to be considered, in terms of the fact that solutions from Nature cannot simply be scaled-up in order to suit the particular needs of the built environment. The solutions need to be tailored, according to the particular situation, within the particular knowledge of the architect, as the implications of scale have a significant impact on the actual design of a building. Due to the implications of scale, solutions from Nature can never be this instant copied, but need to be adapted as necessary to the particular situation in hand. The Bernoulli Principle and the Venturi effect can, however, when implemented successfully, be used to great effect in terms of producing architecture that is at once beautiful and fully at harmony with Nature, as a living organism as in Tsuis vision of evolutionary architecture.Chapter 4 ConclusionsGreen Architecture is the major architectural movement of our time. As has been seen, the ecological damage caused by buildings (through their heating and air conditioning systems, for example, or their use of unsustainable materials) can be recorded in real figures, in terms of the amount of carbon dioxide a building produces in terms of how much a building contributes to global warming. As has been seen, there are many pressures on architects, and on the construction industry as a whole, to produce sustainable buildings. This will only continue to increase in the future and so architects, such as Eugene Tsui, with their visions of buildings as living organisms, living and breathing in harmony with their environment are not so far-fetched. Mankind has become detached from his surroundings, and this detachment has meant that the Earth, and its natural systems have been abused, almost to the point of no return. As has been shown in this dissertation, the process of natural selection has led animals to find, over evolutionary time, sustainable solutions to problems that the environment presents to them. Evolutionary architecture, as Tsui labels his pit of architecture, is an attempt to recreate this harmony and to offer to mankind a different vision of the built world.Studying natural phenomena, such as the burrows of the black-tailed prairie dog, Cynomys ludovicianus, the complex burrow and cone system of the mud shrimp Callianassa truncata and the burrow-mound system of the goby Valencennea longippinis which allows for increased gas exchange to the developing eggs in the burrow, as has been conducted in this dissertation allows architects to think outside the box and to find alternative solutions to de signing in a sustainable manner. This dissertation has aimed to show how looking to Nature can provide sustainable building solutions, using the particular example of wind-induced natural ventilation. That many of the natural solutions to this problem have been successfully incorporated in to many buildings, as discussed in Chapter 3 (i.e., the residence of Florence and William Tsui in Berkeley, California, the Watsu School at Harbin Hot Springs, the Exposition Building for the International Celebration of Innovation and the Tsui Design and Research Inc. Headquarters in Emeryville, California, and the the Kanak Cultural Centre in Noumea, New Caledonia designed by Renzo Piano), shows that the idea of adapting solutions from Nature is workable, if only we can take