Integrative Management of Invasive Insect Pests Quiz 1 Essay Example

Integrative Management of Invasive Insect Pests: Quiz 1

Free Essays on Men And Women In Raymond Carvers Fiction

MEN, WOMEN AND RELATIONSHIPS IN RAYMOND CARVER’S FICTION The relationships between men and women are one of the major themes in Raymond Carver’s fiction. His characters are often couples who try to struggle through their tormented lives with aid of alcohol. Furthermore, they are often representatives of lower social classes. Behind their misery lies a dream of a better future which is, however, never fulfilled. In addition to drinking, the issues that come up in Carver’s short stories regarding relationships include the questions of social identity, trust and striving for the control of their own lives. In this essay I will try to introduce the ways in which these problems are come up in a selection of Carver’s stories. I also try to compare and contrast the stories and draw parallels between them. The stories I shall use as an example are Mr Coffee and Mr. Fixit, Gazebo, Neighbors, Feathers and Preservation. Many of the couples in the stories suffer from lack of trust in their relationships. In Mr. Coffee and Mr. Fixit the male narrator and Myrna have drifted apart; Myrna is sleeping with another man and the narrator does not really care. What is even more ironic is the fact that not only does Myrna betray her husband but also her lover Ross has a young girl â€Å"on the side†. Similarly, in Gazebo Duane and Holly find a crack in their relationship because Duane is sleeping with a Mexican woman who cleans the rooms in their hotel. Both the narrator in Mr.Coffee and Holly seem to give up and accept the fact that their spouses are unfaithful, although it is not easy. Holly, especially takes Duane’s affair very seriously, she even threatens to kill herself by jumping out of the window. She is extremely disappointed in her husband: â€Å"You have gone outside the marriage. It’s trust you have killed†. It can be asked if the ever has been trust in their relationsh ip to begin with or is this just a result of the lack of... Free Essays on Men And Women In Raymond Carver's Fiction Free Essays on Men And Women In Raymond Carver's Fiction MEN, WOMEN AND RELATIONSHIPS IN RAYMOND CARVER’S FICTION The relationships between men and women are one of the major themes in Raymond Carver’s fiction. His characters are often couples who try to struggle through their tormented lives with aid of alcohol. Furthermore, they are often representatives of lower social classes. Behind their misery lies a dream of a better future which is, however, never fulfilled. In addition to drinking, the issues that come up in Carver’s short stories regarding relationships include the questions of social identity, trust and striving for the control of their own lives. In this essay I will try to introduce the ways in which these problems are come up in a selection of Carver’s stories. I also try to compare and contrast the stories and draw parallels between them. The stories I shall use as an example are Mr Coffee and Mr. Fixit, Gazebo, Neighbors, Feathers and Preservation. Many of the couples in the stories suffer from lack of trust in their relationships. In Mr. Coffee and Mr. Fixit the male narrator and Myrna have drifted apart; Myrna is sleeping with another man and the narrator does not really care. What is even more ironic is the fact that not only does Myrna betray her husband but also her lover Ross has a young girl â€Å"on the side†. Similarly, in Gazebo Duane and Holly find a crack in their relationship because Duane is sleeping with a Mexican woman who cleans the rooms in their hotel. Both the narrator in Mr.Coffee and Holly seem to give up and accept the fact that their spouses are unfaithful, although it is not easy. Holly, especially takes Duane’s affair very seriously, she even threatens to kill herself by jumping out of the window. She is extremely disappointed in her husband: â€Å"You have gone outside the marriage. It’s trust you have killed†. It can be asked if the ever has been trust in their relationsh ip to begin with or is this just a result of the lack of...

Biochemical Processes of Oil Degradation

Biochemical Processes of Oil Degradation 1. INTRODUCTION Surfactants are surface active compound that reduce the interfacial tension between two liquids, or that between a liquid and a solid. Surfactants are organic compound that contain both hydrophobic (head part of the surfactant) and hydrophilic (tail part of the surfactant) moieties. Thus surfactant contains both water insoluble i.e. water repellent group as well as water soluble i.e. water loving group. Biosurfactants are also surface active compound like chemical surfactants but unlike the chemical surfactant, biosurfactant are synthesized by microbes like bacteria, fungi and yeast. Biosurfactants comprise the properties of dropping surface tension, stabilizing emulsions, promoting foaming and are usually non-toxic and biodegradable. Recently interest in biosurfactant has increased because of its diversity, flexibility in operation, and more eco-friendly then chemical surfactant (BS Saharan et al ., 2011; Eduardo J. gudiËÅ"na et al ., 2011). Biochemical process es of oil degradation carried out by microbes involves several type of enzymatic reactions driven by oxygenase, dehydrogenase and hydroxylase (Hamamura N et al., 2008). These enzymes cause aliphatic and aromatic hydroxidation, oxidative deamination, hydrolysis and other biochemical transformation of original oil substance leading to formation of large number of intermediate degradation products. However, a major limitation of microbial degradation of crude oil is its hyydrophobicity. Biosurfactant produced by oil degrading bacteria facilitate the uptake of crude oil hydrocarbons by bacterial cells and also have low toxicity and high biodegradability (Batista SB et al. , 2006). So, crude oil degrading bacteria with the ability to produce biosurfactant is widely recommended for fast degradation of crude oil. (Kumar M et al., 2006). Furthermore possibility of their production on large scale, selectivity, performance under intense conditions and their future applications in environ mental fortification also these have been increasingly attracting the attention of the scientific and industrial community. These molecules have a potential to be used in a variety of industries like cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, humectants, food preservative and detergents (BS Saharan et al. , 2011). But the production of biosurfactant on industry level is still challenge because of using high costly synthetic media for microbial growth. Biosurfactants are classified on the basis of diversity in their structure and their microbial origin. They contain a hydrophilic group, that contain an acid, peptide cations, or anions, mono-, di- or polysaccharides and a hydrophobic group of unsaturated or saturated hydrocarbon chains or fatty acids. Biosurfactants produced by a variety of microorganisms mainly bacteria, fungi and yeasts are diverse in chemical composition and their nature and the amount depend on the type of microbes producing a particular biosurfactant. 1.1 Classification of Bio surfactant: Biosurfactants are classified in to two major group one is low molecular weight surface active agent call biosurfactant and high molecular weight substance called bio-emulsifier that is especially used as enhancement of emulsification of hydrocarbon. Further these two major group is divided in to six major group known as glycolipids, lipopolysaccharides, lipoproteins-lipopeptides, phospholipids, hydroxylated and cross linked fatty acids. (a) Glycolipids: Mostly biosurfactants are glycolipds. They are lipids with a carbohydrate attached. The connection is by means of either an ether or ester group. Among the glycolipids, the best known are rhamnolipids sophorolipids and trehalolipids.

Walmart Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Walmart - Research Paper Example A progress in economy is achieved only when there is an uninterrupted production and consumption force. The growing population has made sure that the latter is always satisfied. It is the productivity that has a volatile quality attached to it. Productivity is one major force that can push the economic prosperity of any country, provided the workers and producers work towards the development of quality and cost-effective products. In the current scenario, with economic exploitation and commercialization spreading across at a rapid rate, there is an opportunity for everyone to compete in an equal environment. To be on top of such an environment, for more than three decades, it must take a great deal of effort and commitment. In this case, all those terms that define and celebrate success can only be associated with Wal-Mart, the world’s leading super-market. Be it in pricing of the products, implementation of latest technology to manage inventories or in customer satisfaction, Wal-Mart has always succeeded in achieving the best. The have become the largest employer in private category and have an outstanding record of having 8 out of every 10 Americans to be their customers. It has always been the case where they set the benchmark for the successful running of a private organization, and always, other competitors have followed their footsteps. Wal-Mart – How it began It all started, when a small time business man, Sam Walton, decided to start an innovative grocery store, innovative not by its design but by the principal of its working. When every other grocery store owner was trying to pocket the maximum discount got from supplier’s end, Walton decided to give it to the consumer itself. The principle behind that being, less price means less profit and more sales but, more sales guarantees a consistent profit. It was an instant success and riding on it, Walton went on to open Wal-Mart, his first of the many grocery stores, in the year 1962. ( Frank, 2011) Strategies of Wal-Mart Living a very modest life, Sam Walton was extremely frugal in his expenses. His mode of living helped him to focus on the principle of selling quality goods at low cost so that people get benefitted for each of their shillings they spend. The company still continues to work on this principle and continues to reap success. (Frank, 2011) The strategies of the organization are based on the motives given below: To be on top of the retail market ladder in each of their branch location By expanding the size of each store and selling every product at a cost comparatively lower to their competitors and by expanding their volume of sales, they have managed to achieve being a top company in retail market. To have a global expansion They have sustained their dominance by expanding globally. They have also spread their bases in eastern countries like China and India and have also made efforts to open outlets in developing countries. As a proof of their global expansion, they have about 2 million employees working in the organization, with 27 brands of Wal-Mart products and around 8000 retail outlets spread out in 15 countries. In 2009 alone, they have spent more than 4 billion to expand their outlets. (Densley, 2010) To improve customer satisfaction by developing a sense of trust about Wal-Mart They aim to achieve supreme quality with the products they sell through their brand name and provide the same at the lowest price possible. To improve the satisfaction of the customers, Wal-Mart has even made partnerships with other businesses like the food stores (e.g. McDonalds) and hang-out stores to allow them to keep a branch within their outlet. This helped the customers to have a feel of a complete and happy shopping experience. To expand business in other commercial product sectors. In the recent years, Wal-Mart has successfully ventured into new sectors like the pharmacy market, auto-markets, electronic products etc. They have maintained their

Principles of Effective Practice in the Teaching and Assessment of Essay

Principles of Effective Practice in the Teaching and Assessment of Reading - Essay Example The instructors should seek to motivate and stimulate the learners to work at optimum levels. Information should be processed and developed inside the brains of students. Vocabulary is slowly built up in order to ensure that they have obtained exposure to the various language patterns and structures. The final stages of reading involve the ability of students to form complex words and phrases. They are able to decipher the meaning of the text. They can apply outside knowledge in order to obtain an outline of the text. Empirical studies have demonstrated that a staged approach towards reading can produce benefits for young children. It helps to generate interest and passion for young children. It leads to commitment and devotion to reading acquisition skills. Further reading helps to enhance the cognitive and intellectual capacity of young students. Finally, it exposes them to vast literature that can help them achieve educational objectives. The level of understanding of various styles of writing is defined as reading comprehension. The proficiency of reading deeply related to the ability to identify words quickly and store the information in memory. When the identification process is difficult for the students when they use much of their energy of processing memory to read and recognize the individual words and as a result, their ability to understand is greatly affected. Researchers believe that it is very important for the children to learn to recognize the printed text and analyze it, regardless of whether they can read it on their own or not. The process of comprehension begins at the nursery stage. On the other hand, some researchers believe that this approach is not useful particularly for young children because they think that kids should learn to decode different words in form of phonics before developing analytical thinking. Teachers often use the technique of round-robin re, adding. It's a process in which tea cher call upon students individually turn by turn to read a piece of a given particular text. It was evident that this method of reading test focus more on comprehension rather than teaching it.  

Military Orders Essay Example for Free

Military Orders Essay The issue of following military orders from higher ranking military officials that may be unethical has been a disturbing and controversial issue over many years and decades. Many soldiers and service members in general have been put into a situation where they were given in order, knowing well that the situation isn’t right but cannot disobey. The leader giving the order in all likelihood may threaten or set out stiff punishment on to the individual who did not follow the order or hesitates to follow out on the order. It just isn’t fair that these soldiers and service members are put in these situations and get punished for doing the right thing. When this situation may be in question in a court of law because of the severity of the crime, these soldiers may get in trouble for committing the act even though they were just following orders. This is a big problem in the United States military and it’s not fair that these soldiers and service members, who sacrifice their lives for our freedom, are punished and put in this situation. Military members who fail to obey the lawful orders of their superiors risk serious consequences. Article 90 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) makes it a crime for a military member to willfully  disobey a superior commissioned officer. Article 91 makes it a crime to willfully   disobey a superior Noncommissioned or Warrant Officer. Article 92 makes it a crime to disobey any lawful order (the disobedience does not have to be â€Å"willful† under this article). In fact, under Article 90, during times of war, a military member who willfully disobeys a superior commissioned officer can be sentenced to death (Powers, N/A). The articles that mentioned above clearly state that a service member cannot disobey a lawful order or they will be punished for the crime, under the article covers their punishment. The excuse of just following orders when they are lawful or not is not an excuse nor will it bold well in a military court. Following through with an unlawful order is bad if not worse than disobeying a lawful order. The individuals committing these crimes will be held accountable and will be punished to the fullest extent. In other cases, some service members have made willful decisions in which they have went AWOL from the orders they received and were supposed to report. An example is when an Army flight surgeon who is risking his career to force President Barack Obama to prove he’s a natural born citizen is under investigation by the Army after failing to report for duty in preparation for an Afghanistan deployment. Lt. Col. Terrance Lakin was ordered to report to Fort Campbell, Ky. on April 12 but instead reported to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, his former assignment (Jordan, 2010). In this situation, Lt. Col. Lakin is committing a willful crime that is illegal under the articles of UCMJ and is only doing this because of his beliefs. His beliefs that President Barrack Obama needs to prove he is a natural born citizen of the United States. Just reading this article, it provides me with this question: Is it really worth getting in trouble and potentially giving up on a well decorated, stable career for just not showing up to your assigned place of duty just for some proof. President Obama was put into office for a reason and like any job out there was checked up upon and is very much qualified for the position. I think this is a bad decision by Lt. Col. Lakin. Giving up so much for this purpose is just plain ridiculous to me. There are also times where groups of soldiers disobey orders set out for them only because they feel for their lives. Maybe, they experienced something before they lead them to disobey the order. In 2004, Jeremy Hudson of the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss. , the reporter who broke the story about a military unit in Iraq refusing to go on a dangerous mission. The U. S. military unit in Iraq reportedly refused an order to join what the soldiers called a suicide mission to deliver fuel from their base near Nasiriyah to another base near Taji further north. The soldiers were reservists in a Quartermaster Company. They were supposed to deliver fuel. And they had had some concerns previously about delivering the fuel because of, as they termed it, ill-equipped vehicles mainly lacking the proper armor, and even maintenance problems with the vehicles. They had expressed this, from what I have been told, to their commanders, and basically it fell on deaf ears. They got together and talked to their commanders, from what Im told was for some time, and basically got nowhere. So they decided together to not go (Hudson, 2004). In an article in the Lancet (The Lancet, 2011), a survey was conducted 7 to months into a 15 month, intensity combat deployment in Iraq, between December 11, 2007 and January 30, 2008. An infantry brigade combat team soldiers were picked randomly based upon their company and last four digits of each of these soldiers social security number. The following is an a piece of the article explaining the methods conducted to produce this survey. These soldiers were then invited to complete an anonymous survey 3 months after completion of the training. Reports of unethical behavior and attitudes in this sample were compared with a randomly selected pre-training sample from the same brigade. The response patterns for ethical behavior and reporting of ethical violations were analyzed with chi-square analyses. We developed two logistic regression models using self-reported unethical behaviors as dependent variables. Factors associated with unethical conduct, including combat experiences and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), were assessed with validated scales (The Lancet, 2011). 500 random soldiers were selected to take the survey and 421 agreed to do the anonymous post training survey. 97 soldiers completed the pre-training survey. The following is the results of the surveys that these soldiers took. Training was associated with significantly lower rates of unethical conduct of soldiers and greater willingness to report and address misconduct than in those before training. For example, reports of unnecessary damage or destruction of private property decreased from 13 ·6% (54 of 397) before training to 5 ·0% (21 of 421) after training (percent difference ? 63 ·2%), and willingness to report a unit member for mistreatment of a non-combatant increased from 36 ·0% (143 of 397) to 58 ·9% (248 of 421). Nearly all participants (410 [97%]) reported that training made it clear how to respond towards non-combatants. Combat frequency and intensity was the strongest predictor of unethical behavior; PTSD was not a significant predictor of unethical behavior after controlling for combat experiences (The Lancet, 2011). With the results of this survey I have come to the conclusion that training is the key to educate these soldiers on how to handle combat situations. The percentage increased in every topic discussed and it proves the fact that training is the absolute way to help these soldiers learn and understand the rules and regulations. What is lawful and what is not. Also, the soldier rights to disobey an order that is not lawful. There are other unethical matters that deal with the military and orders that are ordered to take place. The issue of a soldier that is wounded/injured in a warzone or a military environment and is taken to a medical facility receives but the soldier makes the decision to refuse the medical attention. What rights does the soldier if any have? Does this soldier have the right to make this decision? By not receiving the medical attention, he or she can affect their own livelihood and also others around them by refusing to get help. In an article by Janet Kelly, of the University of Hull, UK, she presents a few scenarios on about this topic and what happens when a soldier does deny medical treatment. The following paragraph is in the article and shows one of these scenarios. With the examples I provided, I have learned that the United States military strictly punishes its service member with the crimes they commit by going by their governing document of the UCMJ. Following military orders is a strictly enforced. There isn’t any room for error when an order is given unless it is an unlawful order and can be challenged by the service member towards the superior official.

Suicide Bombers Essay -- Suicide Attacks Islam Koran Terrorism Essays

Suicide Bombers   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What makes a suicide bomber? Is it religions upbringing with promises of paradise in reward for acts of martyrdom? Is it the parental support he or she receives for his convictions? Is it society with no means of fighting back against oppression and humiliation? (http://www.israelinsider.com/channels/security/articles/sec0049.htm). In this paper I will discuss the characteristics of a suicide bomber, their mission, as well as discuss suicide attacks. Suicide Bombers   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Suicide bombers are said to believe that God sends them on their missions, and by the time they are ready to be stopped with explosives, they had reached a hypnotic state. (http://www.israelinsider.com/channels/security/articles/sec0049.htm) As one can see, religion is a powerful factor. Though the Koran teaches against taking one's own life, the suicide bombers are seen as martyrs and are said to be living in the heavens. (http://www.cnn.com/2001/world/hanna.focus) However, it is stated that suicide is forbidden in Islam. However, fighting oppression is commendable, harming innocent bystanders, even in times of war, was forbidden by the prophet Muhammad. (www.israelinsider.com/channels/security/articles/sec0049.htm) Suicide bombers are very complex. They are never justified in their actions. According to Yediot Aharonot, this is the profile of a typical suicide bomber: 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  97% of the suicide bombers have an academic education and an additional 28% have at least a high school ...

Middlebrook leisure and Retail Park coursework.

For my first aim I had to collect results to prove that the Middlebrook is located on the outskirts of a main town or city. I found out that the main town the Middlebrook is located to is Bolton. From my map I obtained off the Internet I measured the distance between the Middlebrook and Bolton by using the scale. I found that it was approximately four miles east of Bolton center, proving that it is located on the outskirts of a main town or city. Using my results I have proved that the Middlebrook fits the description of a typical ‘out of town' shopping center. For my second aim I had to prove that the Middlebrook is split into two main areas of leisure and retail. For this I produced a colour coded land use map to see if there was an obvious split. The map shows that to the left of the Middlebrook there is a domination of Household goods shops and a couple of clothes shops showing that this area is the retail area. When I visited the Middlebrook I saw that the household goods shops were mostly furniture shops such as CSL and D.F.S. There were also DIY shops and bed shops. To the right of the map the leisure isn't so dominant. It obviously shows that it is the retail area but there are some clothes shops and sport shops too. The leisure consists of a bowling alley, cinema, arcade and resteraunts and bars etc. The sports shops which are also located here are JJB, JD and Sports Soccer. There are also Fast Food outlets such as MacDonalds, Burger King and KFC. These are dotted around the car parks and I have put them under leisure. To work out the percentage ratio of Leisure and Reatil I found the amount of stores each had and divided them by the total and multiplied them by one hundred. The percentage of retail stores is 78% and leisure 22%. SO this shows that there is a ratio of 1:3.5, one leisure store to every three and a half retail stores. Most importantly I proved that the Middlebrook is split into two areas of leisure and retail. While at the Middlebrook I took pictures of the parking areas (see photographs) to see if it had aspects of safety. As from my photos I could see that safety was respected very well. Pedestrian paths were sign posted, as well as colour coded, very well. Steel bollards were in place around the parking area and there were also pedestrian crossings. The overall parking area was very large. For my third and final aim, ‘does the Middlebrook have a large sphere of influence', I obtained answers for my questionnaire, obtained a map of the internet to show my results and also create graphs to also show my results. The Middlebrook is located right next to the M61 motorway at junction 6. This massively increases the sphere of influence because it allows people from far away to get to the middlebrook more quicker with ease. The middlebrook also has a Railway Station platform which further increases the sphere of influence. One link is between Chorley, which is about 7 miles from the Middlebrook. There is also a bus stop onsite at the park which is a popular form of public transport. Another aspect which could increase the sphere of influence is the Bolton Wanderers football stadium. This could just be an attraction where people come and view the stadium, but more importantly it pulls in thousands of people from different cities on match days who might be tempted to shop at the Middlebrook before or after a match. To complete my other maps I obtained of the internet I used my questionnaire I took to the Middlebrook with me. My first question was * What town do you live in? From my results of this question I was able to produce a graph and a map. For my graph I created a cylinder bar chart to show the number of people from a town. The towns which were on the bottom axis were in the order of distance from the Middlebrook. So the closest was first and farthest away last. This gave me some idea of where most people came from who visited the Middlebrook. From the same map I got off the internet I was able to show the towns where most people come from who visit the Middlebrook. To do this I used a circles, where every 1/2 centimetre radius was one person, to show the amount of people. I coloured each circle different so it wasn't to complicated. On the same map I was also able to show from the results of my first question the sphere of influence on the middlebrook. To do this I marked off each town that was given to me using pencil. The towns which were close to the Middlebrook I connected up to show the Core sphere of influence and the towns which were further away I connected up to show the outer sphere of influence. I filled each of these areas with different colours and added a key to the side. All the results I obtained off this question proved that the Middlebrook did have a large sphere of influence. Close towns were those such as Bolton, Wigan, Hindley and Chorley. These were all about the same distance away, which is 4 miles. My second question was * What transport did you use to here? a) Car b) Bus c) Train d) Other For this question I produced a pie chart of the different modes of transport used. The pie chart shows that nearly everyone uses a car to get to the middlebrook. 27 people traveled by car, 1 by bus, 1 by train and 1 by an ‘other' form of transport. This result shows me that the sphere of influence is large for the Middlebrook because most people use cars. People are more likely to use cars if they live far away because bus routes often don't exist over long distances and walking is just two far. Also the car is more quicker and more convenient. My third question was * How often do you visit the Middlebrook? a) Daily b) Every few days c) Weekly d) Less often e) First time I also produced a bar chart for this question. I labeled the axis from daily-less often. My graph shows a negative correlation which means that people visit less often rather than regularly. I think these results are correct for an ‘out of town' shopping center because it is a place that isn't visited regularly by shoppers like a place such as a small towns prestinct. This is because there are no housing sites around the Middlebrook as there is in a town which most people visit daily. People that might visit the Middlebrook regularly would be employees of shops. My fourth question was * What is the purpose of your visit here? a) Business b) Retail c) Leisure For this question I produced another pie chart. I thought I could also relate this question to my second aim, ‘Is the park split into two sections of retail and leisure', because the ratio of leisure to retail was 1:3.5. So I investigated the ratio of the purpose of visiting the Middlebrook between the leisure and retail. From the results I obtained four people visited in purpose of leisure and 16 visited in purpose of retail. I found the ratio of this was 1:4, which is very similar to my first ratio in my second aim. This means that for every four retail visitor, there was just one leisure visitor. The amount of people who visited in purpose of business was 10. My last question was * Do you use any other retail and leisure parks? For this question I produced another chart of different parks visited. Most people replied â€Å"no† and the most popular park was the Trafford center which is a shopping center in Manchester. This was probably because the Trafford centre is a lot more popular and has more publicity. Also it has a much larger range of stores which are more popular than some of those at the Middlebrook. From all my results I found that the Middlebrook leisure and retail park does have a large sphere of influence.

Management Information Systems Essay

Information Systems Failure: The Case of Computer-Aided Dispatch (Cad) System at London Ambulance Service 1. Introduction The LAS covers a geographical area of just over 600 square miles and handles emergencies for a resident population of 6.8 million people. The CAD project is one of the most frequently quoted UK-based examples of information systems failure that took place in early 1990s. The prominence of this particular case is due to the ‘safety critical’ nature of this system and the claim that 20-30 people may have lost their lives as a result of CAD failure. 2. Description of the Manual Dispatch System The manual dispatch system consists of: a) call taking, b) resource identification, and c) resource mobilization. Call Taking: Emergency calls are received by ambulance control. Control assistants write down details of incidents on pre-printed forms. The location of each incident is identified and the reference co-ordinates are recorded on the forms. The forms are then placed on a conveyer belt which transports them to a central collection point. Resource Identification: Other members of ambulance control collect the forms, review the details on the forms and decide which resource allocator should deal with each incident. The resource allocator examines the forms for a particular sector, compares the details against information recorded for each vehicle and decides which resource should be mobilized. The status information on these forms is updated regularly from information received via the radio operator. The resource is recorded on the original form which is then passed on to a dispatcher. Resource mobilization: The dispatcher either telephones the nearest ambulance station or passes instructions to the radio operator if an ambulance is already mobile. A number of problems exist with the manual dispatch system. Most problems are related to the time-consuming and error-prone nature of activities such as: identification of the precise location of an incident, the physical movement of paper forms, and maintaining up-to-date vehicle status information. Therefore, a Computer- Aided Dispatch (CAD) system was considered as a solution to overcome these problems. 3. The Computer-Aided Dispatch System 3.1 Purpose The objective of the CAD system was to automate many of the human-intensive processes involved in the manual despatch system. 3.2 How the CAD system was intended to work The essential features of the CAD system are shown in Figure 1 which illustrates how the system was intended to work in practice. British Telecom (BT) operators would route all 999 calls concerning medical emergencies to LAS headquarters. A total of 18 ‘receivers’ were then expected to record on the system the name, telephone number and address of the caller, and the name, destination address and brief details of the patient. This information would then be transmitted over a LAN to an ‘allocator’. The system would pinpoint the patient’s location on a map. The system was also expected to monitor continuously the location of every ambulance via radio messages transmitted by each vehicle. The system would then determine the nearest ambulance to the patient. Figure 1: The structure of CAD system at LAS Experienced ambulance ‘dispatchers’ were organized into teams based on three zones (south, north-east, and north-west). Dispatchers would be offered details of the three nearest ambulances by the system and the estimated time each would need to reach the scene. The dispatcher would choose an ambulance and send patient details to a small terminal screen located on the dashboard of the ambulance. The ambulance crew would then be expected to confirm that it was on its way. If the selected ambulance was in an ambulance depot then the dispatch message would be received on the station computer. The ambulance crew would always be expected to acknowledge a message. The system would automatically alter HQ of any ambulance where no acknowledgement was made. A follow-up message would then be sent from HQ. The system would detect messages that would tell HQ when the ambulance crew had arrived, when it was on its way to a hospital and when it was free again. 3.3 How the CAD system was built The CAD system was built as an event-based system using a rule-based approach and was intended to interact with a geographical information system (GIS). The system was built by a small software house called Systems Options using their own GIS software (WINGS) running under Microsoft Windows. The GIS communicated with Datatrak’s automatic vehicle tracking system. The system ran on a series of network PCs and file servers supplied by Apricot. 4. Events that Identified the Flaws of the CAD System On the night of the 26th October 1992 (Monday), things started to go wrong at the HQ of LAS. A flood of 999 calls apparently swamped operators’ screens and many of those calls were being wiped off screens for unknown reasons. Claims were later made that 20 to 30 people may have died as a result of ambulance arriving late on the scene. Some ambulances took over three hours to answer a call while the government’s recommended maximum was 17 min utes. Mr. John Wilby, the chief executive officer of LAS resigned within a couple of days of this event. A number of Members of Parliament called for a public inquiry. The Health Secretary initiated an inquiry and the findings were eventually published in an 80-page report in February, 1993, which immediately became headline news in both the computing and the national press. 5. Findings of the Inquiry The inquiry found evidence of poor management practice, high technological complexities and unfavorable operating environment involved in the implementation of the CAD system in LAS. Systems Options, the company responsible for developing the major part of the CAD system had no previous experience of building similar type of systems. This company, which had won the  £1.1 million contract for the development of the CAD system in June 1991, was found to have substantially underbid an established supplier (McDonnellDouglas). Hence, Systems Options was under serious pressure to complete the system quickly. The managing director of a competing software house wrote various memoranda to LAS management in June and July 1991 describing the project as ‘totally and fatally flawed’. It appeared that Mr. Wilby ignored what amounted to an over-ambitious project timetable. Furthermore, an audit report by Anderson Consulting which called for more finance an d longer time scales for the CAD project was suppressed by the project managers. The board of management of LAS was even misled by the project team over the experience of Systems Options and the references supplied by Systems Options were not thoroughly investigated. Due to the extreme time pressure to develop the CAD system within the allocated timeframe, the project team responsible for developing the system practically did not follow any standard systems development approach. As a result, the resultant software was incomplete and unstable. In January 1992, phases one and two of the project began live trials. In March 1992, phase two of the trials was temporarily suspended due to the discovery of system errors. In October 1992, phase three was terminated after two days of reported chaos described above. Questions were raised about the complexity of the technical system. In the manual dispatch system, communication between HQ and ambulances is conducted via telephone or voice radio links. In the CAD system, links between communication, logging and dispatching vi a a GIS were meant to be automated. The automation was completed but no performance testing was thoroughly performed due to the rushed approach to meet the deadline. The system was lightly loaded at start-up on the 26th October, 1992. Any problems, caused by the communications systems (e.g. ambulance crews pressing wrong buttons, or ambulances being in radio black spots) could be effectively managed by staff. However, as the number of ambulance incidents increased, the amount of incorrect vehicle information recorded by the system also increased. This had a knock-on effect in that the system made incorrect allocations on the basis of the information that it had. For example, multiple vehicles were sent to the same incident, or the closet vehicle was not chosen for the dispatch. As a result, the system had fewer ambulance resources to allocate. At the receiving end, patients became frustrated with the delays to ambulances arriving at incidents. This led to an increase in the number of calls made back to the LAS HQ relating to already recorded incidents. The increased volume of calls, together with a slow system and an insufficient number of call-takers, contributed to significant delays in answering the telephones which, in turn, caused further delays to patients. At the ambulance end, crews became increasingly frustrated at incorrect allocations and this led to an increased number of instances where they failed to press the right status buttons. The system therefore appears to have been in a vicious circle of cause and effect. There was also an apparent mismatch of perspectives among LAS management, HQ staff, and ambulance staff. The system has been described as being introduced in an atmosphere of mistrust by staff. There was incomplete ownership of the system by the majority of LAS staff. The hardware and software suppliers involved in this project reported low staff morale and friction between LAS management and workforce. In other words, an atmosphere of hostility towards the computing systems was observed. One of the reasons for low staff morale was that control room staff lacked previous experience of using computer systems. 6. Conclusion In summary, no single element of the case can be regarded as the sole cause for the failure of the CAD system in LAS. The description demonstrates that failure of information systems projects tend to be multi-faceted in nature. Discuss Questions: a) Discuss the CAD system in terms of Interaction Failure. b) What lessons can be learned from the failure of the CAD project in LAS?

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