The Great Eastern Life Assurance Company Limited

The Great Eastern Life Assurance Company Limited Great Eastern started to operate in 26 August 1908 as a branch office of The Great Eastern Life Assurance Company Limited. It has the distinction of being the oldest life insurance company in Malaysia and Singapore and it is owned subsidiary of Great Eastern Holdings Limited (GEH) and its parent company is Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited (OCBC). It was transferred to a locally incorporated public company, Great Eastern Life Assurance (Malaysia) Berhad. The Chief Executive Officer, CEO of Great Eastern is Mr. Koh Yaw Hui. Great Eastern was certified as the â€Å"Oldest and Largest Life Insurer† in Malaysia by the Malaysia Book of Records in 1998. It is the largest and most established insurance company in the country with 24 branch offices nationwide and a strong service network of more than 17,000 agents. These locations include Alor Setar, Batu Pahat, Bintulu, Ipoh, Klang, Melaka, Penang and so on. The main office located at Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur. Besides that they also expand their business to China, Indonesia and Brunei. According to statistic, Great Eastern is the largest group and market leader in Malaysia and Singapore with the total assets of $45 billion and 3million policyholder. Among the 16 insurance companies in Malaysia, Great Eastern is the largest in term of assets and biggest in term of market share compare to other competitor. The slogan of Great Eastern is â€Å"Life is great!† and the mission of Great Eastern is to make life great by providing financial security, and promoting good health and meaningful relationships and their vision is to be the leading financial service provider in Asia. As a company dedicated to the people business, it always provides solution on financial planning, protection and savings to meet their customers’ needs. Generations of individuals, families and businesses have been and will continue to be assured of their financial security with the companys full range of products such as life insurance plan, investment-linked plans, mortgage protection, business protection, employee benefits, medical insurance and group health benefit schemes. Great Eastern also offers full range of products to the potential customers whether individuals, families or organizations. Great Eastern offers flexible and affordable group health benefits and protection schemes to both the corporate and public sectors employees. Customers can purchase the products and services provided by the company according to their needs through the agents. Now a day, Great Eastern is on the track to becoming the leading financial service provider in Asia. Further, Great Eastern is ready to be the only choice of financial service provider in the region and beyond in accordance of integrity, initiative and involvement. Thus, Great Eastern has introduced a variety of products to meet consumer needs. Those products may classify into several categories as life insurance, health protection, investment-link, retirement planning and saving plan. Great Eastern continues to forge ahead through the greater use of proven leading-edge technologies to improve their business processes to create a unique customer service experience, and deliver greater value to their clients. On their website, they offer e-Connect facilities to allow policyholders to obtain their policy information on-line. It will reduce the cost for searching the information. In order to smoothen the operation and better manage their enormous customer base, Great eastern has adopts many Information technology (IT) and information system (IS) from the market-leading insurer and help to transform the company operation. Different system used by different department such as top management, middle management and operational management. Every department will used different information system according to the function and operations. The information systems adopted by Great Eastern are outsourcings also in-house development. It means that they purchase the relevant software and hardware from the market most of the time to save their cost and also develop the in-house software to perform the specific job and more easily to meet the business requirement. With the help of current IT and IS, the company are able to perform their business effectively and consistency. Besides that it will also resulted in higher level of performance, reliability and scalability of company and it delivers greater value to their clients. Senior Management Team 1. Loke Kah Meng Executive V. President Head Customer Management 2. Margaret Fong Senior V. President Head Operations 3. Lee Pooi Hor Senior V. President Head Information Technology 4. Michelle Tan Yee Ming Head, Group Audit 5. Koh Yaw Hui Chief Executive Officer 6. Cheong Soo Ching Senior V. President Head Risk Management 7. Nancy Lim Senior V. President Head Human Capital 8. Chan Choong Tho Chief Investment Officer 9. Yong Chee Keong Senior V. President Head Customer Acquisition 10. Bruce Lee Executive V. President Head Finance Corporate Affairs 11. Sophia Ch’ng Appointed Actuary 12. Liza Hanim Vice President Company Secretary b) Explore and analyze the current application of IT/IS Across different levels of management Across different functional units Great Eastern is a company that we going to do research. Great Eastern is the largest insurance company in Malaysia and the business had run over 100 years with the supporting from customers. There are over 3 million policyholders for the company. The company has used sophisticate system to run the business. Great Eastern using different information technology and information system to carry their business day-to-day and they used the information system to manage the company more effectively and efficiency. Basically the company used Oracle ERP system which is Oracle E-Business Suite to manage whole enterprise. The company consist of different departments such as Finance and Accounting department, Human Resource department, Sales and Marketing department and Customer Relationship Management department. Each department used different information systems for their operations but all the systems are linked to the Oracle E- Business Suite system. Oracle E-Business Suite Financials Human Resources Projects CRM SCM There are many systems used by the company and the main information system used by the finance department is Oracle Financials (OFIN). The main user of this information system is all the personnel in Finance department. Oracle Financials (OFIN) is one of a group under the Oracle E-Business Suite and it consists of five modules or also known as Oracle Applications. The five applications of the Oracle Financials are Oracle General Ledger, Oracle Payables, Oracle Receivables, Oracle Assets and Oracle Cash Management. Besides using Oracle Financials (OFIN), the company also use other communication system and office system to run their daily business. The communication systems used by the company are E-mail, MSN, and Skype. The communication software allowed the personnel and manager interact with each other and the office they are using is Microsoft Office 2007 such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint. The application of system and software will change when it com e across different level of management. By using Oracle E-Business Suite, it helps Great Eastern to reduce the cost of automating centralizing global transaction processes and produced streamline reporting across its branch offices in Malaysia. The management said that the information maintenance cost of the company have been reduced by 35% after implemented the system. Oracle provides new solutions that help financial institutions include Great Eastern to improve customer intimacy, build competitive advantage among competitor, reduce costs by automating and centralizing the transactional processes and mitigate enterprise risk and it continues to build its financial services leadership. Great Eastern use Oracle E-Business Suite Financials to support their business is because it can meets global financial reporting such as International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) and tax requirements by using only one accounting, banking, tax and payments model. Besides that, it delivers pre-integrated financial and industry-specif ic processes and it makes Great Eastern easy to operate shared services across their businesses and regions. As it provides very consistent operation and financial information to the user, it helps the company make the correct decision on investment and business decisions with integrated performance management and business intelligence. The management of Great Eastern had divided into three categories which are executive management, middle management and operational management. The executive management includes the highest management positions in the company such as CEO and CIO, who is primarily responsible for strategic decision making also known as unstructured decisions that centre on the companys overall goals. Every decision is important and non-routine. They will determine the long term objectives, resources and policies of the organization such like where to invest, approve the capital budget and oversee the middle management. While the middle management of Great Eastern such as Finance Department manager is responsible for implementing the strategic decision such as develop a budgeting plan and investment proposal. They make semi-structured decisions which are short-range decision and will oversee operational management. The last layer in the enterprise are operational management includes all the personnel who involved in daily transaction. They need to determine how to carry out the specific tasks set by executive and middle management decision makers. They need to monitor the transaction carefully and ought to follow the procedure. In this case, the staffs of the Great Eastern need to record the transactions make by policyholders and make sure the data is correct. Oracle Applications is installed and link to the servers of a Great eastern. All the personnel from different levels of management in the company include CEO, department manager and normal employees will be given a user name and the password to link to the server. Basically, they connect to the servers in their LAN by using their browsers. The user will receive a menu to choose their responsibility before they proceed to receive another menu of functions to perform. The user may key in the data or what is happening at the company ground needs in a form in applications. In this situation the applications will not allowed to proceed further if there is any errors because the errors will be arrested at every step. The outputs will be a dozens of reports in a different format for Business Intelligence so that the users can make informed decisions based on timely information and for decision makers; they will understand better what is actually happening. The fives modules of Oracle Financials are Oracle General Ledger, Oracle Assets, Oracle Payables, Oracle Receivables and Oracle Cash Management. Oracle Financials 5 modules: Financials Assets (FA) General Ledger (GL) Receivables (AR) Payables (AP) Cash Management (CM) Oracle General Ledger Enterprise G/L Accounting Oracle General Ledger is the most scalable general ledger and the fastest in the market. It can post 40 million journal lines per hour and thus help the company cut down the time in preparing the financial report. It is the most important module which is used to manage the accounting and financial information of Great Eastern. The Oracle General Ledger will tell the company that how much profit they have generate, how much expenses they have incurred, how much assets and liabilities of the company. All the information flows from different modules into Oracle General Ledger module which manages the accounting and helps the management to make decision. Oracle General Ledger provides highly automated financial processing and real time visibility to financial results. Besides, Oracle General Ledger also can support different types of journal processing options. The system allows tailoring the chart up to 30 segments and 25 characters per segment. The user just can enter the segments they would like to enquiry then the system will show the results. Another feature of this system is the chart of account will be secured and prevent other people to access and retrieve the private data. Besides, Oracle General Ledger also can support different types of journal processing options. The user can combine journals and schedule the journals to be generated automatically and it provides spreadsheet integration for journals, reporting, budgets and currency rates. Oracle Asset Enterprise FA Assets The second module of Oracle Financials (OFIN) is Oracle Assets which is used to manage the assets of Great Eastern. The assets could be anything like laptop and computer in the company. With the help of Oracle Assets, the asset management would be automated and accounting tasks would be simplified. Standard accounting, operational, and registry reports are available to ease reconciliation and analysis. Oracle Assets allowed the user to define the depreciation rules according to the regulatory and business needs. The company can choose the method to according to the needs. Great Eastern is a global enterprise; the company is focus on the business in South East Asia. Different country used different depreciation rules to calculate the depreciation charges. As the company grows internationally, Great Eastern need an integrated, flexible system grows exponentially. In this situation, Oracle Assets supports complex reporting requirements includes worldwide financial and tax standards. Great Eastern can obey any regulatory requirements from other country by using flexible user-defined rules to calculate depreciation charge. Oracle Payables Enterprise Vendor AP The third module is Oracle Payables which is used to manage the vendors or the suppliers of the company. The transaction record or data need to enter by the operational level includes what has the company purchased from which vendor? When to pay the suppliers? Does the company pay on time? What methods they used for payment such as by credit or cash? All the transactions between the company and supplier will be record in the Oracle Payables. In the Payment Process Request window, it will show the details about the suppliers with the Great Eastern. It shows the amount, the name of vendor, date of purchased and the schedule of payments. The schedule of payments include the payment currency, amount remaining, discounts given, interest due and also total amount payable. With the help of Oracle Payables, it will optimize the payment strategies of the enterprise. The middle management is given the tools to control the cash flow, oversee the operational management to minimize the errors and the problems of overpayments. Besides that, the system also helps to eliminate the inefficiencies with the standard reports that allow the manager to eliminate the identical or double payments. Another way is Oracle Payables provides real-time, accurate cash position and speculate information so the manager can plans the payment and expenses properly. So in overall, Oracle Payables can improves the margins, infuse corporate and fiscal discipline, and optimizes business relationships between Great Eastern and their suppliers. Oracle Receivables AR Enterprise Customers The fourth module of Oracle Financials is Oracle Receivables. Basically, the information for Oracle Receivables not much different compared to Oracle payables. The difference is this system is used to manage the customers or receivables so it will tell the company that the name of the customers, items bought from the customers such as what insurance policy purchased by the customers. Besides that it would state the payment methods used by the customers and the date of payment made by customers. By using this system, it will show the credit rating of the customers due to the pass payment made by them. All the transactions between Great Eastern and their customers will be recorded in this system. In the Oracle Receivables streamlines invoice entry, it shows the name of the customers, address, contact number, policy number, types of payment, amount of premium, due date, interest due if any and etc. Besides that, it allows the company to increase their cash flow and minimize the bad debt through Oracle Receivables system and better control for the manager. Oracle Receivables allows company to go globalization. With this system, Great Eastern has the flexibility to respond to the global market needs, support any regulatory requirements and so present documents in customer’s language and also enhanced customer relationship. With the flexibility, it helps the enterprise to calculate the currency gain or loss automatically so the finance staffs they no need do the complex calculation by themselves and also able to report in multiple currencies. Oracle Cash Management CM Enterprise Bank The last module of Oracle Financials is Oracle Cash Management. It helps the company to reconcile the bank statement and it will tells that whether bank has made error not, how many bank accounts the company have and also what is the status of the bank account. It allows Great Eastern to manage the firms liquidity and control of cash. Oracle Cash Management gives the company directs access to expected cash flows from their operational systems. By using the company can analyze enterprise wide cash requirements, cash management and currency exposures more quickly, to ensure liquidity and optimal use of cash resources. As it provides flexibility in cash forecasting, in different currencies, different organization and for multiple time periods, the middle and senior management can use the system to forecast the cash flow in future based on forecasted transactions for example outstanding orders and invoices that may be create a cash flow in future. Besides that, real time cash positioning will minimize the idle cash. Real time cash positioning is important to prevent overdrafts of bank balance and helps the company manage their liquidity effectively. c) Explain how the use of such IT/IS application can help to change or manage the organization decision making and business process. Information Flow Payables (AP) Assets (FA) General Ledger (GL) Cash Management (CM) Receivables (AR) Great Eastern Finance department had used Oracle E-Business Suite to automate their general ledger and accounts payable and receivable processing, cash management and as well as their fixed assets. Oracle E-business Suite able to help the company automate budgeting, purchasing and any forecasting process include future cash flow and thus allow for online payment to the supplier or vendor. Without the information system, they have to do all financial budgeting and forecasting job manually by using the Microsoft Excel spreadsheets and it will cause time consuming and the information produced may not be accurate and limited. Each module in the Oracle Financials will talk to each other means that information from one module will flow to each other although they are stand alone software. In this case, the management is easier to retrieve different information from different area. By using standardized software, it simplifies interdepartmental sharing of data as well as information and they are able to get all the information they want. Besides that, the information system will also help to manage the enterprise risk and reduce compliance costs. All the modules will link together and it will provide sufficient reliable information for the management of Finance department to make any short term or long term decisions. For example, the Oracle Financials modules are linked to each other, the Finance manager can refer to different modules at the same time to forecast future cash flow and to control the daily transaction more effective. The manager may use the software to make a right investment decision in the business. Great Eastern used Oracle E-Business Suite to improve their budgeting and planning. The Finance manager of Great Eastern enters department budget and submits for the senior management to approve. Using the Oracle Cash Management and Oracle Assets, the user can immediately prepare the financial budget and forecast report after approved. Oracle Assets For Oracle Assets, operational management which involves Finance staffs have to enter the original cost of the assets, the useful life of the assets, and the most important step is to choose the depreciation method which the company complied with in order to calculate the accurate depreciation amount for each year. By using the Oracle Assets, it gives the company and department more accurate visibility of capital investments and therefore the middle management like Finance manager will has better control over their capital investment. Once the Finance manager inquiries for the ad-hoc report, he may use the powerful Asset Inquiry to access the information he looking for, including transaction history of the clients, financial details, depreciation profile, capital project details and financial details. The senior management of Great Eastern able to optimize their accounting and tax strategies by projecting depreciation expenses with what-if depreciation analysis. With the assist of Oracle Assets, it drives better decision making and able to optimized business processes at lowest cost. Oracle Cash Management For oracle Cash Management, the operational management will enter all the past transaction data into Oracle Cash Management for example the cash inflow and cash outflow then the system will calculate the net cash flow. The middle management they only enter the duration they going to forecast for example 3 months from now, they also need to choose the forecast currency then the system will do the calculation and forecast the future cash flow of the company. The Finance manager can base on the forecasted result and decide how to allocate the cash and how much to invest in which area to maximize the revenue of company. The user can do their budgeting and forecasting without rely on the hard copy report, because all the data will easily and quickly turns up on time which will increase the accuracy of forecast. It will also make sure the accurate information of the company’s assets between Finance department and line of business will help the manager make better decision on budgeti ng. Without the assist of the system, it may take up to 2 weeks to make the report available to the manager. After preparing the budget and forecast report, it will helps the Finance manager to have an clearer picture on how to allocate the funds in different area of investments such as shares market, bond, unit trust or deposits. In addition, Oracle Cash Management can build a cash forecast based on forecasted transactions like outstanding order and invoices. With this, the user in Finance department can analysis the past transactions from the customers and suppliers such as receipt and past payments into future. Once the budget and forecast report was approved, the budget data will be upload into Oracle General Ledger for combination. After that the budget is ready to use by the Finance department. Besides that, the month-end report also can be created within a day allowed the faster response to inquiry by the Finance manager. Oracle General Ledger Finance department staffs are using Oracle General Ledger and Oracle Cash Management to done their day-to-day business transaction include oversee the invoicing, budgeting and also company cash flow. The Oracle applications are integrated with each other, it makes the financial information more stable and reliable and stored in a single database. It gives the higher visibility to the manager into financial matters. Basically the manager will have confident in making any financial decisions because the data provided is accurate and is the latest one considered as up-to-date data. Operational management in Great Eastern Finance department used the Oracle General Ledger to enter the daily accounting transaction. The finance staffs just need to enter the correct data such as the premium amount; expenses and amount claim from policyholders then the system will help them to perform the task. Since the system performs the task in automated way, it will minimize the error make by people and increase the efficiency. For middle management, they will oversee the operational level. Since Oracle General Ledger provides flexible chart of accounts and reporting structures, the finance department manager can based on the report and make the decision. Oracle General Ledger allows the middle management to have a complete control and flexibility to design their own chart of accounts. They need to know the amount of insurance premium delay or accrue by the policyholders and send the notifications to reminder them to pay off. Furthermore, they can control the budget and expenses made by the department based on the accounting record. Oracle General Ledger also provides flexibility to the management level to response to their inquiry. The manager only enters the segment they want then the system will show the result to manager. From the result, the manager will know the balance of the account, the amount paid to the suppliers and received from customers. The senior management use Oracle General Ledger to check on the profitability revenue growth of the Great Eastern. The CEO of the company can use the system to check the balance each month because the system provides the feature of automated month-end close processing. It allows the senior management to optimize the use of resources they have such as, cash, assets and budget to generate more income for company in future. From the accounting record, Finance department will know the profitability revenue growth in the past; it will help the company to make better decision in the future and fully utilize the resources that the company has to generate higher revenue by referring to the accounting record produced by Oracle General Ledger. Oracle General Ledger’s Financial Statement Generator (FSG) improves the precisely and timeliness of financial reporting. FSG supports many output options includes PDF, HTML, text and spreadsheet outputs. In addition, the staffs are allowed to create quality reports by defining the report layouts using word processing application and leveraging formatting features like change the font size, colour and adding logo. Oracle Receivables Oracle Receivables is a module which enables the Finance department to manage all the transaction made by the customers. The staffs have to enter the information of the customers like name, policy number, date, types of purchases and amount of purchases in order to reduce the error. Oracle Receivables will do calculation with data, determine the premium amount need to pay by the policyholders and calculate the interest due if the policyholders failed to pay the premium on time. The task will be automated so it will help to reduce the personal error and provide more accurate and timely data. Based on this system, the operational management will send the notification letter to the customers and tell the customers when they need to pay the premium. Basically the information from this system will flow to Microsoft Office- Microsoft Word in preparing the notification for customers. In order to optimize customer relationships with the company and provide strategic information, Oracle Receivables allows the finance staffs to streamline invoicing and receipt. The data enter will be saved in the database and easy for user to retrieve data next time. In addition, it will let the management know the credit rating of the customers and so they will always focus on the loyal customers once they introduce new product. With the assist of Oracle Receivables, the middle management know who is unlikely to make payment on time and they will find out the solutions try to enhanced the relationship between the customers with enterprise and reducing the time and effort required to process customer payments thus resolve disputes. By using Oracle Receivables, the senior management of the company can provides variety of convenient payments to the customers to make payment like using credit card, debit card, check or cash. This will encourage timely payment and reduce their day sales outstanding (DSO). Oracle Payables Oracle Payables are deal with the transaction for suppliers. By using this system, it will tell the company when they should pay to the suppliers. Oracle Payables will show the amount, date and the name of person or organization that the company should pay on time in order to maintain a good credit rating and trustworthily form the creditor. With the help of Oracle Payables, it will optimize the payment strategies of the enterprise. The middle management is given the tools to control the cash flow, oversee the operational management to minimize the errors and the problems of overpayments. The management level can based on this system decide what types of payment they should pay first and what the payment method is. This system supports shared services functionality which promotes best practice for Great Eastern. Besides that, Oracle Payables also provide full scale support for Great Eastern including foreign currency transactions and also future date payment. So in overall, Oracle Payables can improves the margins, infuse corporate and fiscal discipline, and optimizes business relationships between Great Eastern and their suppliers. Office and communication system For Office Automation System (OAS), Great Eastern Finance department using Microsoft Office 2007 in perform their daily business. It is designed to increase the productivity of data workers in the office by supporting the coordinating and communicating activities of the typical office. The most common office tools used by the finance staffs are Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. The staffs are using Microsoft Word to prepare the report and letter or document required by the manager. Basically, the financial report of Oracle Financials will link to Microsoft Word and PDF directly so the staffs no need to prepare again the report by their own. The Finance staffs use Microsoft Excel to do some simple calculation such as the total premium amount paid by the customers, the monthly collection, interest payment and etc. Besides that, they also used Microsoft PowerPoint when there is a meeting of the department. The presenter will show the slides by using Microsoft PowerPoint to make it mor e interesting. Besides that, the company also uses communication software in order to communicate with each level of the department. The most common communication way is to use E-mail. Each staffs in the company from lowest to top management are given their own E-mail address for internal use and external use. For the internal use, the colleague can send the document, notice or information through E-mail to a

How Overfishing has undermined the Quality of Life in the Atlantic Region Essay

The Atlantic region of Canada has been affected by many issues that influence communities in various ways. Overfishing is one of such issues and has caused the formation of dissimilar opinions from the Government of Canada and communities in provinces such as Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Labrador and Prince Edward Island. The government is constantly putting pressure on fishermen by implementing policies   that bar them from fishing certain species of fish such as the Atlantic cod (Gadus Morhua) and salmon (Blanchette, 1994). On the other hand, fishermen in the Atlantic region are usually stressed because they cannot accumulate enough money to support their families because of the limitations and quota on maximum catch and type of fish species caught as directed by the government (Hauser & Carvalho, 2009). Thus, there is a dilemma on whether to mitigate depletion of fish stocks by limiting fishing activities or allow the fishermen more catch to improve their welfare. Government efforts to stop depletion of fish The Government of Canada as been concerned that uncontrolled fishing leads to rapid depletion of fish stocks (Hauser & Carvalho, 2009). This is true in view of the fact that uncontrolled or unregulated fishing encourages fishermen to devise many techniques of catching fish, some of which may be harmful to fish stocks in the long run.   In addition, uncontrolled or unregulated fishing encourages fishermen to encounter a lot of bycatch since they may use gear that captures many fish of undesirable size or species that are not required and ultimately discard them (Rothschild, 2007). In an attempt to mitigate depletion, the Government of Canada has implemented other limitation measures such as requiring fishermen to venture into the ocean to a maximum of 100 kilometers from the shore and the fishermen are not allowed to catch salmon or cod (Hutchings & Reynolds, 2004). But fishermen are of the opinion that they are entitled to fish anywhere in the Atlantic Ocean because that is their mode of earning a living. It is now evident that the quality of life of people in the Atlantic region has deteriorated because of the limitation imposed on fishing and the decline in fish stocks due to overfishing. This is discussed in the following section. Implications of the decline in fish stocks in the Atlantic region There are concerns that the limitations imposed by the government on fishing and the general decline in fish stocks has caused major job losses since many fishermen   have been forced   out of the fishing industry (Lauck et al, 1998). This has been translated to other industries such as fish processing factories that have realized declines in productivity due to shortage of fish, thereby implementing massive job cuts. Whereas fishermen and other communities in the Atlantic region express their frustration at the government’s decision to limit fishing, there is evidence that indeed fish stocks have declined and if no corrective measures are taken the situation is bound to deteriorate. Marine biologists have expressed concern that the Atlantic salmon and cod populations have declined greatly and the two species are on the verge of extinction (Tegner & Dayton, 2000). The government has been discouraging fishermen from fishing the salmon and cod, instead advising them to target the seal (Tegner & Dayton, 2000). Although this may sound as a solution to the depletion of salmon and cod, it is not a very good idea since the seal is not very popular among the community and is equally endangered. Fishermen have argued with the government over this problem and no agreement has been arrived at yet (Tegner & Dayton, 2000). The government has noted that the high concentration of fishermen in the Atlantic region is the cause of overfishing and would like to discourage this by ensuring that the fishermen are dispersed (Lauck et al, 1998). But this move tends to discourage fishermen from their occupation since they are fond of going fishing as a community. This notwithstanding, the current situation is that fishermen continue to capture young salmon and cod (recruitment overfishing), which hinders continuity of the fish population. Case study: Newfoundland High rates of depletion of fish in Newfoundland (figure 1) have had major ecological and economic implications in recent decades. Many species of fish have been lost, thus posing a risk of collapse of the Atlantic fishery. Consequently, the Newfoundland region has lost a precious source of food, which was depended upon by people for dietary purposes, social values, and economic purposes. Newfoundland province is one of the areas that have recorded highest rates of job loss due to fishermen’s withdrawal from fishing. Singe 1992, Newfoundland has been identified as the region that recorded the worst collapse in the fishery industry, particularly the cod fishery. The collapse of the fishery industry was caused by a long period of mismanagement characterized by overfishing. The corollary of the collapse of the fishery was that as many as 40,000 people lost their sources of livelihood and the ecosystem went under a condition complete decay (Blanchette, 1994; Myers, Hutchings & Barrowman, 1997). Today, almost 17 years after the collapse of the Newfoundland fishery, fishermen are still waiting for cod stocks to stabilize; but the tussle between the government and fishermen remains. As a result, the Newfoundland community fish-eating culture has undergone a significant transformation. Many people have turned to eating crabs as a delicacy to supplant the cod, a contrast to the common opinion that the crab is a nuisance to many people in Newfoundland (Rothschild, 2007). The situation in Newfoundland presents major issues that need to be addressed. One is that overfishing changed the once economically vibrant Newfoundland fishing community to a state of dependence on other economic activities that are not as viable as fishing. Secondly, there is a slim chance that the fishery will improve since anglers still insist on having rights to access the fishery. The insistence by fishing communities to fish in unproductive waters shows how important the fishery is to the community; yet overfishing has increased the people’s dependence.

The Uses and Advantages of Corrugated Plastic

There are two main types of corrugated plastic. Corrugated plastic sheet usually comprises what appear to be three layers - two flat sheets with a ribbed center layer. In fact, they are really two layers, often referred to as twinwall plastic. Corrugated plastic can also mean sheets of plastic which are wave-like in profile and may be reinforced with chopped glass fiber. They are a single layer and used mainly for roofing of garages and outhouses, but gardeners also use them to build sheds. Here we will focus on the twinwall version, also known as a corrugated plastic board or fluted plastic board. How Corrugated Plastic Sheets Are Made The materials used include polypropylene and polyethylene, widely used and versatile thermoplastics. Polypropylene has a neutral ph and is resistant to many chemicals at normal temperatures, but can be dosed with additives to provide a variety of other resistance such as UV, anti-static and fire resistance, for example. Polycarbonate is also used, but this is a much less versatile material, particularly in respect of its relatively poor impact resistance and brittleness, although it is stiffer. PVC and PET are also used. In the basic manufacturing process, the sheet is extruded; that is the molten plastic is pumped (typically with a screw mechanism) through a die that provides the profile. Dies are typical 1 - 3 meters wide, delivering a product of thickness up to 25 mm. Mono- and co-extrusion techniques are used depending on the precise profile required. Advantages and Uses In buildings: Suppliers claim it is an ideal material for storm shutters and that it is 200 times stronger than glass, 5 times lighter than plywood. It does not require painting and maintains its color, it is translucent and does not rot.Clear polycarbonate corrugated sheet is used for roofing sunrooms where its rigidity, lightweight and insulating properties are ideal, and low impact resistance is less of an issue. It is also used for small structures such as greenhouses where its air core provides a useful insulating layer.Humanitarian Relief: The material is ideal for temporary shelters need after flood, earthquake and other disasters. The lightweight sheets are easily transported by air. Easy to handle and fix to wooden frames their waterproof and insulating properties offer rapid shelter solutions when compared to traditional materials such as tarpaulins and corrugated steel sheets.Packaging: Versatile, flexible and impact-resistant, polypropylene board is ideal for packaging co mponents (and agricultural produce too). It is more eco-friendly than some molded packaging which cannot be recycled. It can be stapled, stitched and easily cut to shape with a hobby knife.Signage: It is available in a wide variety of colors, is readily printed on (typically using UV printing) and can easily be fixed using a wide variety of methods; its lightweight being an important factor.Pet enclosures: It is such a versatile material that rabbit hutches and other domestic pet enclosures are built with it. Fittings such as hinges can be bolted to it; being non-absorbent and easy to clean it offers a very low maintenance finish.Hobby Applications: Modellers are using it to build airplanes, where its lightweight combined with rigidity in one dimension and flexibility at right angles provides properties ideal for wing and fuselage construction.Medical: In an emergency, a section of a sheet can be rolled around a broken limb and taped into place as a splint, also providing impact pro tection and body heat retention. Corrugated Plastic and the Future The uses that this category of the board are put to demonstrate its fantastic versatility. New uses are being identified almost every day.  For example, a patent has recently been filed to use layered sheets (alternate layers fused at right angles) in air-to-air heat exchangers. Demand for corrugated plastic is sure to grow, but as many of the plastics used are dependent on crude oil, the raw material costs are subject to the fluctuations (and inevitable growth) of oil prices. This may prove to be a controlling factor.

The Truth Will Set You Free - 855 Words

Isaiah Houston Mrs. Dempsey English 3, Period4 October 15, 2012 The Truth will set You Free â€Å"Honesty is the best Policy†- Benjamin Franklin. Ever since we were young our parents, teachers and mentors have told us that we should be honest with ourselves and each other. When people lie and act deceitful it will eventually catch up to them. I think that the lies people tell will start to pile up and weigh down your conscience. A prime example of this is in Arthur Miller’s play, the Crucible, when John Proctor hides his affair with Abigail and it continues to haunt him. In Arthur Miller’s the Crucible, he uses John Proctor’s character to illustrate that the truth will put one’s mind at ease and he/she will be set free. With witch†¦show more content†¦God forbid I take it from him† (page 145)! Personally I think that Elizabeth can speak for everyone when she says that John has made right with everybody and has a clear conscience as he goes to his grave. People can truly be considered honest when t hey’re willing to sacrifice yourself for others. In Arthur Miller’s the Crucible, he uses John Proctor’s character to illustrate that the truth will put your mind at ease and set you free. When you lie and act deceitful it will eventually catch up to you. Like when Abigail tells all her lies and they eventually catch up to her, causing her to flee Salem. A prime example of this is in Arthur Miller’s play, the Crucible, when John Proctor hides his affair with Abigail and it continues to haunt him. Ever since we were young our parents, teachers and mentors have told us that we should be honest with ourselves and each other. â€Å"Honesty is the best Policy†- BenjaminShow MoreRelatedThe Truth Will Set You Free864 Words   |  4 PagesBenjamin Franklin once stated that â€Å"Honesty is the best policy; the truth will set you free†. This quote means that telling the truth will lead to positive results because telling lies will end up in problems for yourself or others. â€Å"Honesty is the best policy, the truth will set you free† can be arguable as it contains error of being truthful always, when some of the time we can be. Some people have trouble with honesty and telling the truth. Anybody can’t say throughout their life, they have never toldRead MoreThe Truth Always Set You Free?867 Words   |  4 Pagesrealize that sometimes it is okay to tell a little white lie every now and then, but is that true? Well let s define truth. The word truth means in accordance with fact or reality, accurate. And if it is true to tell small lies sometimes, when is the time to tell them. So keep this question as you read this text. Is a white lie okay sometimes, or should the truth always set you free? Let’s start from the basics, we tell lies to avoid things, whether that thing is getting in trouble, hurting someone’sRead MoreAnalysis Of The Truth Shall Set You Free1499 Words   |  6 PagesSpeaking the Truth   Ã‚  Ã‚   Confusion was aptly named as each of the characters in this book are confused. Each one of them has a unique way of dealing with the uncertainties that develop and each character becomes involved in the other’s confusion, thereby heightening their own. All of the characters’ confusion would have been vaporized if they had only spoken the words they needed to say. The author shows that age and gender does not prohibit someone from being confused and what we come away with isRead MorePrice of Freedom1550 Words   |  7 PagesDelmy Alvarado Philosophy 10 Chris Rocco 10/01/2012 First Essay Assignment The Price of Freedom Freedom is believed by many to be physical. With freedom you can do what you want and say what you want without having to answer to anyone. The question is, is freedom really that simple? If so, does that mean we are all free? Reading the stories, â€Å"The Grand Inquisitor,† â€Å"Oedipus Rex,† and â€Å"The Crying of Lot 49,† have brought different perspectives on freedom. The three stories all broughtRead MoreSojourner Truth During The Late 1700 s And Early 1800 S1127 Words   |  5 PagesSojourner Truth played a vital role in inspiring people to stand up against slavery and injustice. She stood up for herself and every African-American. She had the courage to stand up and leave her slave owner. She stood up for herself and her son in court when he was sold illegally to a slave owner in a different state. She had the moxy to become a public figure and talk about injustice against women and African-American slaves. In the late 1700’s and early 1800’s, no one had ever heard of a womanRead MoreThe Allegory of the Cave907 Words   |  4 Pagesphilosophy. Plato went on to write the Republic where he sets out to answer many question such as; what is justice, why does man follow the law, and how do implications of society affect our behavior. The most interesting topic from the Republic is from Book VII, the allegory of the cave. With the a llegory of the cave Plato gives us the power to break the chains that bind us down and leads us to see the light. In the allegory of the cave Plato sets the scene with humans in a cave that have been chainedRead MoreOedipus The King By Sophocles1022 Words   |  5 Pagesrelentless desire to discover the truth around Laius’ murder and the question neighboring his own birth, force him to the awful realization of his dreadful deeds. Oedipus’s pride depicts the distrust in the gods and the expedition for the truth, leave the king restless. The idea of fate and free-will which the Greeks believed to guide everything in creation to a balanced direction. The choices a manmade was simply accountable for his own actions. The concept of both fate and free-will play a extensive roleRead MoreA Welcome Letter For A New Space1738 Words   |  7 PagesActs 2:42-47 Good evening dear brothers and sisters. It s a great joy, it s a big honor for me to be with you on this very special evening in the life of Revival Community Church. As we gather in this beautiful place, we are witnessing God s immense mercy and wonderful grace. We confess that it is only by His good providence, His predestination that led us all to be here now to dedicate this new space. Amen, praise the Lord. This new space is God s gift to the city of Richmond. It s also aRead More A Students Guide to Liberal Learning by James V. Schall716 Words   |  3 Pagesbrains wrongly. In this piece Shall goes into his idea of finding truth, Schall makes an intense point of the fact that we must find truth by learning, and that we learn from guides, however â€Å"we do not own truth† but â€Å"the truth will not only â€Å"make us free† but is itself free† (pg.3) This goes back to the idea that the truth will always set you free, of which I over the years have found to be extrodinarly true, however sometimes you have to dig deeper to find it. Schall points out that his idea ofRead MorePhl 458 Week 1 Individual Assignment Critical Thinking and Society Exercise848 Words   |  4 Pagesscrews on a much unsupervised system. Define free will, truth, knowledge, and opinion. Explain how we use them to form thoughts. Free will: The moderate definition of free will is when people have choices when it comes to decisions like whether to attend a party or finish doing assignments. Another example is getting up to go to work, although it may look compulsive, it really is a choice you make every day. Truth: â€Å"Truth is what so is about something, the reality of the matter