Saturday, August 31, 2019

Analysis of Fdr’s Address to the Nation After Pearl Harbor

An Essay on Franklin Deleno Roosevelt’s â€Å"Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation† also known as â€Å"The Day of Infamy Speech† English Part One General Program, Section 2 Assignment 1-5 Kristen Roberts Student Number JM1300012 April 1, 2013 On December seventh, 1941 hundreds of Japanese planes began an attack on the US naval base in Honolulu, Hawaii. The attack lasted two hours. The loss of battleships, planes and equipment was tremendous.But, the lives of over 2,000 soldiers that were lost and another 1,000 plus that were injured was a major factor in the thoughts that led up to the president, Franklin Roosevelt’s speech to the nation and the United States declaration of war against Japan. Mr. Roosevelt delivered his speech on December eight, 1941. The most famous quote from his speech is arguably â€Å"Yesterday, December 7th, 1941, a date which will live in infamy. † Mr. Roosevelt’s purpose in his address to the nation about Pearl Harbor was to allow the American people to have the knowledge of what had occurred the day before when the Japanese had attacked.He also used his speech to show the need to declare war on the Japanese. Roosevelt wanted to assure American’s he was aware of the peaceful relationship we had with Japan up until the air strike on Pearl Harbor. He explained our history with Japan and also made the argument that our government had no knowledge of the attack. He stated the attack had to have been planned because of his statement, â€Å"The distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. †Franklin Roosevelt used many words with similar meanings to assure the United States that our swift action against Japan was needed. He used the words â€Å"unprovoked attack,† â€Å"premeditated invasion† as well as â€Å"sudden and deliberate attack. † His behavior during his speech was very solemn and determi ned. He looked back and forth from the camera to his cabinet and all that were in the room with him at different times. He wanted to make sure each person felt he was talking to just them. Including those American who were watching on their televisions.He also wanted those who were listening on their radios to know his reasons for the speech. That is why he spoke very determined. My opinion of Frankin Roosevelt’s â€Å"Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation,† is that I think Mr. Roosevelt was right in everything he spoke about. He had been well informed of the situation and he wanted Americans to know what the government did each step of the way. He didn’t want anyone to be confused at the United States stand against the Japanese and why our nation was doing everything in our power to show the support of the people of our nation.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Syllabus Risk

BADM 574 – MSTM Simulation and Risk Analysis Spring 2013 Lectures: ADV: TR 9:30 am – 10:50 am in 2043 BIF GRD: TR 11:00 am – 12:20 pm in 2043 BIF Final Exam: 7-10 pm, Tuesday May 7, 2013 ADV: 2041 BIF GRD: 2043 BIF Instructor: H. Dharma Kwon, Assistant Professor of Business Administration, College of Business, University of Illinois Of? ce: Email: Phone: Of? ce Hours: 365 Wohlers Hall [email  protected] edu 217-333-3522 Tuesdays 2 – 4 pm or by appointment Note: When you send email to the instructor, your subject line must contain the course title. During the of? ce hours, you can call my of? ce.Course Objectives: This course is about using numbers to make better decisions. The focus will be on â€Å"handson† use of quantitative tools for solution of management problems often involving risk and uncertainty. Speci? c course objectives: (1) Introduce you to practical yet sophisticated tools suitable for modeling and solving complex managerial problem s with risky outcomes, and (2) improve 1 your skill and experience with the use of spreadsheet tools for analysis of management decision problems. We will learn to mathematically model business decision problems and apply their analytical skills to realistic business contexts.The material covered is useful for executives in all professional areas of business, including but not limited to accounting, ? nance, marketing, information systems, operations management or any other area where it is important to combine quantitative analysis with expert intuitive judgment. Prerequisite: This course builds upon some rudimentary knowledge of mathematics (probability and statistics) and basic pro? ciency with Microsoft Excel. Required Materials: 1. To purchase the required electronic course pack, go to https://create. mcgraw-hill. com/shop/ and search for the following ISBN number: 1121833926.The course pack contains all required cases and some readings. 2. TreePlan, RiskSim, and SensIt (provid ed by the MSTM program and downloadable from Compass 2g course website) 3. A laptop and Microsoft Excel 2010 (for Windows) or 2011 (for Mac) installed in your laptop Evaluation Methods: There are four components to the evaluation: Case Summary: Minicase Analysis: Group Project: Final Exam: Cases Summary: Roughly every week, individual case summary assignment(s) are due. We will discuss cases in class, so it is important to read and understand the problems posed by the cases before coming to the classroom.The summary of each case must not exceed one page, and it must be submitted on-line via Compass. (PDF format is strongly preferred). It will be graded on a pass/fail basis. In order to pass a case summary assignment, you must show suf? cient evidence that you have read the case and understood the gist of it. 2 10% 30% 15% 45% Minicase Analysis: Minicase analyses (problem sets) will be assigned roughly once a week and graded. The minicases are designed to help you learn the mechanics of the methods covered in class and to give you an opportunity to apply the concepts in simple and illustrative contexts.Please note that minicase assignments require careful interpretation and analysis of the given problems. Points will be deducted if you misinterpret the information given in the case assignments. Discuss your assumptions and clearly explain your quantitative reasoning. Answers (even correct answers) without logical and quantitative reasoning will not receive credit. Minicase analysis assignments will be posted on Compass. This is sometimes an individual assignment but sometimes a team assignment. Late assignments are generally not accepted. Group Project: In the last week of the course, each team will submit an original minicase.The minicase should be based on a real business situation (in the past, in the present, or in the future) and must be analyzed using one or more of the methods or concepts discussed in this course. If you’d like, you can also add o ther methodology that is not discussed in class. Each case must consist of two parts. In part 1, a business decision problem must be presented with essential information. It can be a ? ctional situation, but it must be based on a real business situation. Part 1 might look like one of the short cases that we analyze in this course and the text (excluding exhibits) must not exceed 5 pages typed ingle-spaced in 12 pt font. (See Darden’s cases for the document format). In part 2, the solution to the problem posed in part 1 must be given. When you construct the minicase, you should have pedagogical values in mind, i. e. , think of writing a teaching case or an open-book exam for future MSTM students at the University of Illinois. Your submitted work will be evaluated based on how well the decision analytical framework is utilized to solve a given (hopefully non-trivial) problem (50%) and its pedagogical value or the practicality of the problem (50%).Final Exam: There will be an in -class 3-hour-long open-book, open-notes, and open-laptops ? nal exam. You are NOT allowed to share your laptops with other students or send/receive emails during the ? nal exam. If you miss the ? nal exam without prior discussions with the instructor or without university-authorized emergencies, then you will receive zero credit. 3 Practice Problem Sets: Practice problem sets and their solution keys will be regularly posted on Compass. They are designed to help you understand the material and to provide practice using various concepts and techniques discussed in class.These assignments will not be collected or graded. However, these problem sets will be helpful for the quiz and the ? nal exam. Some practice problems will be discussed as examples in class. Grades: The ? nal letter grade will be based upon each individual’s level of understanding and learning evidenced by the weighted cumulative points from all four components shown in Evaluation Methods. Laptop and Electronic Communications Policy: You are required to bring your laptop to each class; you will have to use your laptop to download ? es and participate in problem-solving activities in class. You are not allowed to check e-mail or send text messages using your cell phone or laptop. Set your cell phone to silent mode. Academic Integrity and Honor Code: You are expected to behave ethically throughout the term and follow the norms and guidelines outlined by the University on academic integrity. 4 Course Modules: Module 1 Topic Reading Cases Module 2 Topic Reading Cases Module 3 Topic Reading Cases Module 4 Topic Reading Cases Module 5 TopicReading Cases Module 6 Topic Reading Cases Module 7 Topic Reading Cases Value of Information and Control Risk Management Harimann International Optional module (if time permitted) Downstream Decisions – Merck & Co. ; International Guidance Control Sensitivity Analysis Sensitivity Analysis Using SensIt CyberLab (A), Supp, (B); Liquid Gold Probability As sessment from Historical Data Probability Distributions Commerce Tavern Simulation Analysis Monte Carlo Simulation Using RiskSim George’s Revised Forecast and Addendum Sampling and Statistical Inference – Jade Shampoo (A) and (B) Decisions under Uncertainty DTP Ch. George’s T-Shirts DTP: Decision Tree Primer (http://www. public. asu. edu/~kirkwood/DAStuff/decisiontrees/index. html) Monte Carlo Simulation Using RiskSim (http://www. treeplan. com/chapters/RiskSim-Guide243. pdf) Sensitivity Analysis Using SensIt (http://www. treeplan. com/chapters/SensIt-Guide-145. pdf) 5

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Information Systems in Organizations - Case Study Essay

Information Systems in Organizations - Case Study - Essay Example Also, this system can act as a getaway to financial costs by exposing the organization to other sources of revenue to help them maintain flawless exchanges. Algorithm is fast assuming popularity in the trading world and it is common for any other client to ask for it. It brings with it many benefits including cutting down transaction costs and giving freedom to managers conducting any transactions to be fully responsible for the respective trading processes. These trading features allow for analysis of all quotes and trade in the stock markets. However, it also poses great risks. In case a trader fails to choose the appropriate feature then there will a lack of visibility and transparency during execution of orders (Avison, 2003). Use of programmed trade as from the case study can be linked to a resultant flush crush. The system handles a very large amount of information including trading information such as algo-trading which includes the use of an electronic platform to enter trading orders, with an algorithm in place that determines the features of the order. It also has the ability to handle huge volumes of data from messages. It is capable of handling up to a million messages per second which is highly beneficial. With this ability to handle such amount of information, the customers are able to get efficient services and this gives credit to the company and opening up a way of increasing their profits. Also the ability to handle one million messages per minute allows the system to give attention to countless users and ensures that there are no communication delays. This in the long term results to satisfied and loyal customers. The main functions of an information system include assembling, processing, retrieval and dissemination of information. In using this kind of system, there will be minimized overload since it has very high processing speed as compared to physical

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Inflight Catering and Waste Management in the Emirates Airlines Dissertation

Inflight Catering and Waste Management in the Emirates Airlines - Dissertation Example Tourism and travel cannot develop without aviation. Demand for air transport is continuing as humanity and technology develops rapidly. The aviation industry is a highly competitive industry. Regulations and many constraints are imposed by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), and it is within this context that Emirates Airlines operates. The various airlines operating at the Dubai International Airport have to follow regulations on complex factors dealing with parking lots, landing and take-off schedules, and environmental matters. Catering services have to follow sensitive rules and regulations because these activities can cause environmental problems. (Abdi & Sharma, p. 296) Â  This paper is about Emirates Airlines and the environmental impact the firm creates as an outcome of its various activities. The paper specifically touches on the waste generated as a result of in-flight catering. Inflight catering generates a great amount of waste of various types and it demands an effective waste management. Environmental impact suggests several sub-topics, such as greenhouse gas effects, waste generation and other environmental concerns within the aviation industry that need discussion and in-depth analysis. Solid and food wastes from airlines are disposed of, processed or segregated at airports. Therefore, waste management at airports is a significant part of this paper. Â  Emirates Flight Catering, a company formed under the Emirates Group, generates tons of waste from in-flight catering. It serves the Emirates aircraft and the other airlines operating at the Dubai International Airport. The firm has a waste management system carried out by an Environmental Team whose job is to maintain a close coordination and collaboration of the different units of waste management of the Emirates.

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Implement Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Implement - Assignment Example The following plan features the implementation level steps involved in the preparation and completion of the course. The facilitators must have knowledge and command over use of email including Microsoft Outlook. The facilitators much have good oral communication skills with high level of patience. They must be able to handle PCs, Laptops and Tablets. The training would be provided by experience marketing professional. They must have qualification as well as working experience in the field of digital marketing so that they can utilize their experience to provide course attendants clear concepts of strategies and tools related with email marketing. The teachers are also required to have working experience of email marketing from the planning to outcome evaluation stage. Seven sessions would be arranged for the preparation of the teachers. Each of the session would be 3 hour long with 2 breaks of 15 minutes each. The training of the teachers would be conducted at the University Building during which the teachers will also check the number of computers, seating arrangements and internet connection required to conduct the training. The wireless connection and other communication devices would be checked and tested so that the teacher would have no problem to handle these during the course. The train the trainer program would be administered by the academy administration officer Derek Jones. He will send the emails to the trainers informing them about the schedule of the training session that will start 2 week before the first class of the course and will end before four days. The trainers would be provided with complete details of the training session and they would be asked to confirm their presence as per the given schedule. The teacher training session will provide clear overview to the goals and purpose of the course. The

Monday, August 26, 2019

Contract Law Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Contract Law - Case Study Example The Director General of Fair Trading v. First National Bank [2001] 1 AC 481, was a test case, which has garnered a considerable amount of attention and controversy on the issues of fairness (equality) and reasonableness. Albeit the case is a local one, before the test is completed it will have far reaching implications and impact throughout the entire European Union. The issue of fairness is one which we are all compelled to deal with on a daily basis. Consequently, we are all familiar with its challenges, even for the most reasonable of men, we are perplexed by the paradigm of how does one be fair to one, and without being unfair to the other. The issues in this case gives it a special flavor, as it is spiced with social dimensions, economic ramifications as well as psychological overtones. It is not to be taken lightly, that there are elements present in this legal montage, which will take quite sometime (if ever) to untangle. Because it involves reasonableness, it is my contention that the initial remedy which will be presented by the court on these legal principles will be remedial, and the absolute relief will evolve over time. Given the fact that large financial institutions and the human element are at the forefront of these issues, the battle will be waged on the economic necessity battlefield of persuasion and influence. Nonetheless, I am convinced that the judiciary is prepared to serve the public good and preserve the human element.... similar substantive facts or circumstances and align them with the existing statutes which are applicable to the surrounding facts of the case. These facts are aligned with the pertinent statutes in an attempt to determine whether the defendant has committed a breach or to determine the level or severity of the alleged breach. In that the determination of a breach is referenced against the existing statute and aligned with the cases which are similar within this continuum, it is not often that a standing opinion is overturned. This is particularly true in a judicial climate where the bench is dominated by a number of strict constructionist judges; these persons interpret the constitution and statutes exactly as they are written and allow little or no room for expanding interpretations. Nonetheless, the expansion of interpretations or a broad reading of the statute can and does result, albeit rarely; there has to be at least two critical variables present to bring about the change of existing law; (1) The plaintiff must be able to show convincing and corrabarated proof to the court, documented history of a particular breach or number of breaches by a particular or specific group of defendants against a specific person or class of persons, and (2) reasonableness; the most intangible and transitional3 variable attached to the court or judges decisions. There is no question that this variable. Is intangible and the transitional state of reasonableness on an issue can be one thing today, yet another tomorrow; there are any number of situations or reasons which could

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Escherichia coli ESBL positive and its interaction with the human Dissertation

Escherichia coli ESBL positive and its interaction with the human urothelial cells - Dissertation Example The gene encoding the antibiotic resistance is found on plasmids, transposons, and inserted in genes in bacteria all over the world and in multiple species. Although much research has been conducted to characterize the microbial enzyme biochemically, PCR analysis remains the â€Å"gold standard (4, 5, 6).† E. coli isolates from the environment are generally succeptible to beta-lactam antibiotics because of the absence of a strong promoter sequence for the expression of the gene for Beta-Lactamase. However, extensive use of antibiotics and the spread of genetic elements among the bacteria have resulted in development of Beta-lactam resistant strains. Consequently, Beta-lactam resistant strains of E. coli have been isolated from hospitals and clinics around the world (7, 8, 9). Klebsiella is a member of the Enterobacteria that is a small, non-motile rod, and the bacterium is often associated with urinary tract infections. Klebsiella is capable of nonaerobic metabolism and is fou nd in water and soil, in addition to the mammalian intestinal and urinary tracts. Klebsiella possesses the enzyme nitrogenase, and is capable of nitrogen fixation under nonaerobic conditions, but the bacterium loses this capability under the aerobic environment in mammalian intestinal and urinary tracts (1, 10, 11, 12). Aims and Objectives The binding of E.coli to urothelial cells is mediated by pili via the FIMH protein. The receptor for the binding has been elucidated to be uroplakin 1a in mouse cells (13). Mutation of key residues in FIMH attenuates binging of E.coli to the FIMH urinary receptor and consequently reduces colonization of the bacteria in the bladder. The binding is mediated by mannose residues and relies on a key pocket in the FIMH protein (14, 15). Isolates of E. coli from a septic lamb were utilized to characterize the cytotoxic necrotizing factor type 2, and it was discovered that this protein enters effected epithelial cells and targets Rho protein, which subseq uently reorganizes actin filaments into stress fibers in the effected host cells (16, 17, 18). Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been utilized to treat many epidermal conditions in humans. These include skin cancer, acne, skin rejuvination, hidradenitis suppurativa, psoriasis, cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, disseminated actinic porokeratosis, localized scleroderma, and vulval lichen sclerosis. Other applications include anal and vulvar carcinoma, palliation of metastatic breast cancer to skin, Barrett’s esophagus, and retinal macular degeneration (19, 20, 21). PDT is characterized by the application of moderate light (50mW/s) for a moderate amount of time (15 minutes) to the infected area which creates a photosensitization period followed by a destruction period. PDT application results in a 5 to 6 log decrease in infectious, antiobiotic resistant bacteria by destruction of amino acids and polylysine tracts present in bacterial proteins, as well as the creation of destructive reacti ve oxygen species (22, 23, 24). It is proposed in this work that PDT be utilized to irradiate E. coli and Klebsiella beta-lactamase positive bacteria from cultures of human urothelial cells. Materials and Methods Human urothelial ce

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Is global warming man made Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Is global warming man made - Essay Example In short, nobody has any doubt about the fact that atmospheric temperature is showing abnormal increases in recent times. On the other hand, many people believe that global warming is a scam or manmade issue in order to exploit the sentiments of people for commercial purposes. â€Å"Global warming skeptics consider that the weather models used to establish global warming and to forecast its impacts are distorted†1. They are of the view that some scientists raise this issue in order to make money in the name of global warming researches. This paper critically analyses whether global warming is manmade or not. Prominent scientists, such as Frederick Seitz, Ph.D., Richard S. Lindzen, Ph.D., S. Fred Singer, Ph.D, Patrick J. Michaels, Ph.D. and Robert C. Balling, Jr., Ph. D.2 have expressed doubts over climate change and challenged the consensus of mainstream scientists3. Greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles and industrial units are often cited as the major reason for global w arming. According to scientific principles, gases in atmosphere should expand when they get heated and travel in the upward direction. If that is true, air pressure at earth’s surface should be dipped. However, such dip in atmospheric pressure near earth’s surface has been never observed. ... Also the warming can be due to the variation in cloud cover4. Lord Crimson (n. d) has quoted the opinions of 19,000 scientists in order to reject the idea of global warming. He has pointed out that these scientists are of the view that global warming is probably natural and not a crisis5. It should be noted that it is impossible for mankind to make any changes in in solar output or variations in cloud cover. Under these circumstances, the opinion of meteorologist John Coleman, founder of the Weather Channel, is very much important. He said that â€Å"even if global warming is something to worry about, it's dangerous to look to government to fix the climate†6. Stephen Mulholland (2009) approached global warming issue from a different angle. In his opinion, â€Å"We have one of mankind's greatest scams: climate change and anthropogenic global warming (AGW), in which we're asked to expend trillions of dollars now so that events which may, or may not, take place when we've been d ead for centuries don't take place†7. In Dr. Sami Solanki’s (the director of the renowned Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Gottingen, Germany) opinion, â€Å"Sun has been at its strongest over the past 60 years and may now be affecting global temperatures†8. In other words, we have to look upwards to identify the villain who causes global warming instead of looking around. Some scientists believe that the intensity of solar radiations increases and decreases periodically in every 1000 years of time period. In their opinion, sun is currently going through a period in which its radiations are intensified and there is nothing to worry about it since such increases in temperature may not go beyond certain

Friday, August 23, 2019

Personal Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Personal Project - Essay Example Initiation of a new venture has various advantages as well as disadvantages. For example, with the introduction of a new venture, an individual can make more capital and have own freedom (Hultman and Shaw, 2003). On the contrary, initiating a new venture involves huge financial risks and along with that one need to take extra burden of work so as to get success. Yet, individuals explore this avenue so as earn money, respect and at the same time carry out some social works (Carson, Cromie, McGowan and Hill, 1995). In our case, the business chosen was restaurant business. The company was named as E-Food Restaurant and positioned to capitalize on the opportunities arises due to the changing consumer needs. The USP (unique selling proposition) of our restaurant is customer tailored and fresh meals. In addition, the location of our restaurant coupled with large seating capacity acts as a competitive advantage to the firm. The products of our restaurant are mostly inspired from the British culture and wildlife (Hultman, 1999). The launching of our first restaurant business is a part of our long term plan and to drive change in the industry. However, the process was not easy enough and we had to pass through various complexities before reaching this stage. In this report, I on behalf of our company would like to reflect upon the steps that we went through in establishing and running the company through the competition & the decisions that were made during the competition and their outcome. In addit ion, this self reflection report also proposes to shed light on the overall experience and knowledge that we have gained from the module. Lastly, a conclusive statement will be drawn regarding our overall experience and the things we have learned over the years. Our business also took the steps as other businesses usually take before venturing into a business. Likewise, any other business, our

Strategic Supply Chain Managemnt Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words - 1

Strategic Supply Chain Managemnt - Essay Example As any student of management accounting is aware of, the quantum of capital employed in plant and machinery is more or less uniform across an industry as all players generally opt for the latest technology so as to enjoy maximum levels of operating efficiency. So, there is not much to differentiate between the competitors in that regard. But the area where the leaders leave the stragglers behind is supply chain management and inventory control. If a proper and taut control over inventory is not maintained, the level of capital employed can never be brought down while keeping the operational efficiency intact. (Cox, Sanderson and Watson 2001) These days the management gurus are looking beyond the narrow and immediate confines of inventory management and are looking at managing the supply chain as a whole. Supply chain attempts to view the whole production process as a seamless entity that begins with market research for correctly evaluating consumer demand and follows the flow of inputs and services through the production process right till the time when the finished product reaches the final consumer. Thus this is a wider concept that includes all the stakeholders; right from the supplier that supplies raw materials to the final consumer that buys the product to satisfy a particular need. In between of course lie the producer, the labour and the service inputs from the tertiary sector of the economy. A supply chain in its most basic form has four components, and they are: Supply chain management, as is clear from the above diagram, is basically akin to running a relay race and just as in a relay race the entire team is as good as its weakest link, so also in supply chain management the entire operation is as efficient as its least efficient sections. That is to say, a super efficient manufacturer is not enough to make the entire supply chain effective – all the components must be

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Law question Essay Example for Free

Law question Essay Ali had an antique motorbike which he decided to sell. He parked the motorbike on his front lawn with a sign For sale- RM20,000. Ah Chong, who saw the sign, said to Ali that he would be prepared to buy the motorbike for RM15,000. Ali replied that the price is too low and suggested RM18,000. Ah Chong responded by asking if Ali would be prepared to accept payment of the RM18,000 in three monthly instalments of RM6,000 each. Ali replied that he would not. Ali then added, Anyway I am no longer interested in selling the motorbike to you. At that precise moment Ali spoke these words, a helicopter flew low overhead and drowned out his words. Ali did not bother to repeat what he had just said and was leaving when Ah Chong quickly agreed to the RM18,000 suggested earlier by Ali. Discuss whether there is a contract between Ali and Ah Chong. Explain whether your answer would be different if the helicopter flying overhead had not drowned out Alis words and Ah Chong heard what was said? Assignment Answer In this assignment, I would like to discuss the question above part by part. First of all, from the sentence , He parked the motorbike on his front lawn with a sign For sale- RM20,000, it is said that there was an invitation to trade. Invitation to treat or simply speaking information to bargain means a person inviting others to make an offer in order to create a binding contract. An example of invitation to treat is found in window shop displays and product advertisement. . In another words it is a special expression showing a person’s willingness to negotiate. The issue of invitation to treat was discussed in the case of Fisher v Bell[1961] 1 QB 394 by the English Court of Appeal : â€Å"It is perfectly clear that according to the ordinary law of contract the display of an article with a price on it in a shop window is merely an invitation to treat. It is in no sense an offer for sale the acceptance of which constitutes a contract. †[1]. An offer can be seen from the prescribed text, Ah Chong, who saw the sign, said to Ali that he would be prepared to buy the motorbike for RM15,000. It is stated in Section 2(a) Contracts Act 1950, when one person signifies to another his willingness to do or abstain from doing anything, with a view to obtaining the assent of that other to the act or abstinence, he is said to make a proposal. and Section 2(b) Contracts Act 1950,when the person to whom the proposal is made signifies his assent thereto, the proposal is said to be accepted :a proposal, when accepted, becomes a promise. . Both laws were applied when Ah Chong has shown his willingness to make an offer as he would be PREPARED to buy the motorbike for RM15,000. However, a counter offer was made by Ali when instead of accepting or rejecting Ah Chongs offer, Ali made another offer: Ali replied that the price is too low and suggested RM18,000. Ali’s offer refers to a counter offer. In this situation unless an acceptance is rendered, there is no binding contract between A and B. This situation is stated in Section 6(c) Contracts Act 1950- by the failure of the acceptor to fulfill a condition precedent to acceptance. There was famous case known as [2]Hyde v. Wrench, [1840] EWHC Ch J90 where Wrench (D) offered to sell his estate to Hyde for 1200 pounds and Hyde (P) declined. Wrench then made a final offer to sell the farm for 1000 pounds. Hyde in turn offered to purchase the property for 950 pounds and Wrench replied that he would consider the offer and give an answer within approximately two weeks. Wrench ultimately rejected the offer and the plaintiff immediately replied that he accepted Wrench’s earlier offer to sell the real estate for 1000 pounds. Wrench refused and Hyde sued for breach of contract and sought specific performance, contending that Wench’s offer had not been withdrawn prior to acceptance. The question or issue here is if one party makes an offer and the offeree makes a counteroffer, does the original offer remain open? Answer is No because a counteroffer negates the original offer. By making a counteroffer, the plaintiff rejected the original offer and he was not entitled to revive it. So in another words, the parties did not form a binding contract. Then we proceed to the next part where Ah Chong made a mere enquiry to Ali by asking if Ali would be prepared to accept payment of thr RM18,000 in three monthly instalments of RM6,000 each. Then, Ali replied that he would not. On top of that, Ali added that he is no longer interested in selling the motorbike to Ah Chong. Section 5(1) Contract Acts 1950 A proposal may be revoked at any time before the communication of its acceptance is complete as against the proposer, but not afterwards. This particular case [3][3]ROUTLEDGE V GRANT (1828) 4 BING 653 is another example of revocation of an offer : Grant wrote to Routledge offering to purchase the lease of his house. The offer was to remain open for six weeks. Grant then changed his mind about purchasing the lease and, within the six weeks, withdrew his offer. After Routledge had received Grant’s letter withdrawing the offer, he wrote back to Grant, within the six weeks, accepting Grant’s offer. The issue before the court was whether Grant could withdraw his offer within the six week period or whether he was bound contractually given that Routledge had accepted the offer within the timescale. The court held the offer could be withdrawn within the six week period without incurring any liability – if one party has six weeks to accept an offer, the other has six weeks to put an end to it. One party cannot be bound without the other. The case and scenario above convey an useful reminder that until such time as an offer is accepted, the offeror is free to revoke it, even if they have given the recipient a period of time to consider it. When Ali spoke : I am no longer interested in selling the motorbike to you. a helicopter flew and drowned his words. And yet, Ali did not bother to repeat what he just said and was leaving when Ah Chong quickly agreed to the RM18,000 suggested earlier by Ali. In this particular moment, Ali rejected Ah Chongs offer but according to Section 6(a) Contracts Act 1950- by the communication of notice of revocation by the proposer to the other party. It states that revocation os not effective until it is received, communicated. In fact, Ali himself reluctant to repeat what he said which is very important and vital in that situation. Here is one similar case, [4]Byrne v Van Tienhoven (1880) LR 5 CPD 344. In this case, Van Tienhoven offered to sell goods to Byrne by letter dated 1 October. On 8 October, prior to acceptance, Van Tienhoven posted a letter revoking the offer. This letter was received by Byrne on 20 October. In the meantime, on 11 October Byrne received the letter and dispatched an acceptance. Was there a contract? To be effective revocation must be communicated. Where post is used for acceptance, acceptance occurs when and where sent. However, this rule does not apply in relation to revocation of offers thus, if post is used for revocation, communication is only effective if and when it is received by the offeree. As this occurred after acceptance there was a contract formed in this case. An offer was containing a price escalation clause. A counter offer was then made without this clause; it contained a detachable receipt which the company sent back with a notation that they assumed it was on their terms. Thus, the intended message was failed to be received by Ah Chong, the offer has not been revocated. There is a contract between Ali and Ah Chong in this scenario. Section 6(a) Contracts Act 1950 obviously stated revocation must be actually communicated to the offeree before the offer can be treated as effectively revoked. Besides, Section 4(1) Contracts Act 1950- The communication of a proposal is complete when it comes to the knowledge of the person to whom it is made. Importance of conveying message has been shown when either offering or revocating an offer. On the other hand, if the helicopter flying overhead had not drowned out Alis words and Ah Chong heard what was said, outcomes definitely would be different. As was mentioned earlier, if the intended message was communicated or received by Ah Chong, revocation of the offer will succeed. In conclusion, communication is very crucial when conducting contracts or offerings as the outcomes and consequences can differ easily.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Fruit Yogurt In Uae Marketing Essay

Fruit Yogurt In Uae Marketing Essay This study is an analysis of UAEs market and Nestle. This study is analyzing the suitability of Nestlà ©s plan of entering UAE with its product Fruit Yogurt. Abstract In the world of growing and emerging food companies, the name Nestle stands out. It is one of the most dominant firms when it comes to dairy products. Nestle is spread out all over the worlds with its many famous sub-brands in its portfolio like Maggi. Its dairy product Fruit Yogurt is one of the most famous brands in countries like India and Pakistan. This product finds its uses in many ways. UAE is a country where Nestle doesnt have this product in its portfolio. Though many firms are there with the Fruit Yogurt product but enthusiasm towards this product is still not there. Therefore Nestle wants to enter this UAE market as it sees it as a strategic market. We in this study are analyzing Nestlà ©s hypothesis that this market is good for Nestle if it launches it Fruit Yogurt products in UAE. Table of Contents Executive summary The following audit report on Nestlà ©s gives a vivid eloquence of the marketing related issues of the company. One can see from the time the company formed, it has not looked back. It produces three times the quantity of products as compared to any other competitor in the global market. The report contains the introduction of the company and the country United Arab Emirates. This is followed by the market analysis and SWOT analysis on the basis of which financial and environmental recommendations have been made in the latter part of the report. The companys marketing strategies are also highlighted. There is strong emphasis given to the Marketing Mix of the company. Most of the attributes of customer satisfaction are developed from the proper functioning of the 4ps of marketing mix. The report also contains an analysis based on the Five Generic Forces of Porter. This is the base for making the marketing recommendations of the company. Introduction Nestle Nestle is one of the most dominant brand when we discuss about the nutritious food industry. With over 500 factories in 76 countries, it sends its products to close to 196 nations. Only 3% employees and 1% of sales come from its home country, Switzerland. After establishing its name in most of the western markets, Nestle started focusing efforts on emerging economies in Eastern Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Most of these countries have a consumer base to support the investments nestle is making in these countries. In fact due to rising economies of these countries people are capable of buying many Nestle products and the market will sustain this demand for few decades to come. Nestle makes it a point to enter a market ahead of competition. This risk appetite for niche markets has stood them in good stead so far. It adopts the strategy of developing goods for local market. Preference is given to localization of all activities like marketing and distribution. It isnt afraid of acquiring local firms also, when opportunities are good  [1]  . Nestle prefers decentralization, given its strategy to adopt localization. Operating decisions are taken by local units. Above this is an SBU organization on food groups and still above in hierarchy is a regional organization that rationalizes marketing efforts across the region. all brandz Nestle has its products in following verticals Baby foods Bottled water Coffee Cereals Chocolate confectionery Culinary, chilled frozen food Dairy Drinks Food service Healthcare nutrition Ice cream Pet care Sports nutrition Weight management Fruit yogurt Yoghurt, yogurt or yogourt (Turkish: yoÄÅ ¸urt) is a milk product made from fermentation of milk by bacteria. The bacteria act on milk to form what is known as yogurt cultures. Fermentation in yogurt cultures converts lactose sugar of milk to lactic acid which gives the yogurt its characteristic tang  [2]  . Yoghurt is a rich source of protein, calcium, riboflavin, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12. [20] The best thing about yogurt is that people with lactose intolerance can easily consume yogurt. It is also lower in fat. As an add on, yogurt is available in different flavors like Strawberry, Mango, Berry Mix Medley, Fruit Basket, , Melon-Nata, Apple-Cinnamon and Raspberry-Apple. All images are taken from http://www.nestle.com The yogurt product range is very crucial for Nestle, as the milk and milk products contribute 48 percent to the companys turnover. Tough Nestle prices its yogurt at a little premium in many countries compared with local players, but still it is very competitive. Cultural analysis UAE History The  United Arab Emirates  (UAE) also known as the Emirates. The Emirates  are ruled by  emirs, Abu Dhabi,    Fujairah,   Ajman,   Dubai, Ras al-Khaimah,  Sharjah  and  Umm al-Quwain. The capital is  Abu Dhabi, which is also the countrys center for political and industrial activities. (Reiser) Before gaining independence in 1971, the UAE was known as the Trucial States because of a truce between the United Kingdom and several Arab Sheikhs. (UAE History) Geographical Setting Location The Emirates  is a  federation  situated in the Southeast Asia. It shares its borders with Oman  and  Saudi Arabia  and sea borders with  Iraq,  Kuwait,  Bahrain,  Qatar  and  Iran. The border with Saudi Arabia is 530-kilometer long and the border with Oman is 450-kilometer long. The total covered area of UAE is nearly 77,700 square kilometers. (Reiser) Climate UAE is hot and dry round the year, July and August, being the hottest months. During these months average maximum temperatures may reach above 48  °C on the coastal plain. The average annual rainfall is low. It is a little better in mountainous areas than the coastal region. Rain in coastal region is tough typical in its style of short bursts and torrential rains. It may sometimes lead to flood. Social Institution Family Families are usually big and have high literacy. The relationship are every strong in the Arabs and they used to follow traditions strictly. Political System UAE constitution was formed in 1971 comprising of various governing bodies.  It is a federation of 7 monarchies, where within each monarchy, a ruler has absolute powers. Arabic  is the  official language in the Emirates .Islam is the official language for the country. Even in spite of being a federation of monarchies, UAE has a president and a constitution. The constitution does not interfere in internal matters of any emirate but just looks over the relations and tie ups between the federations. (Oxford Business Group, 2010) Legal System Law in the constitution of the United Arab Emirates provides special emphasis to human rights with equality, liberty, rule of law, freedom of opinion and speech, freedom of movement, freedom of communication, freedom of religion, freedom of occupation, freedom of council and association, freedom to be elected to office is provided to all citizens by law Sharia that defines several ideas of marketing. It is Islamic religious reference that is applied to the real world by the Islamic banks.. Living Conditions The living condition has a very huge gap in UAE. Some people are very reach and the city area is very much developed, and rural is still very behind in education and living styles. Diet and Nutrition Before the imported foods came into UAE, food mainly consisted of fish, rice, bread, dates, yogurt, vegetables, and meat from sheep, camels and goats With the advent of imported foods, the quality and nutrition levels of the food has gone up. It usually consists of fish, rice, meat, and a vegetable dish. There are some strict Muslim rules about eating pork and alcohol, which are closely followed, like the meat should be slaughtered in the traditional halal method. Emiratis are famous for their hospitality. They put in great efforts to welcome guests and also have a good time with guests. Traditionally guests are welcomed with dates. With a large inflow of immigrants, restaurant industry has picked up with offers of various ethnic foods Economic Analysis Demographics Population The population is estimated to be at 4.4 million people by US state department with just 15-20% of these being citizens. Since the growth of industry in late 1960s and impetus in trade, population of expats from Arab countries, Indian Subcontinent , Europe have increased. (Oxford Business Group, 2010) Growth rate The population is growing at 4% per year. Age Structure The Age breakup of UAE is as follows    0à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢19 years: 27.4% (female 40,328,895, male 42,667,761) 20à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢64 years: 60.1% (female 90,813,578, male 89,881,041) 65 years and over: 12.6% (female 21,991,195, male 15,858,477) (Oxford Business Group, 2010) Literacy There are many programs run by the government to enhance the level of education in all levels ranging from primary education, secondary education to masters level education. With recent opening of many institutes of international bodies there has been a recent growth in the level of education and its quality. Literacy rate in emirati citizens is 90 % in the age of 6-12 years. (United Arab Emirates, Education) Since education in very important in all the sectors of the society there are many steps taken by the government in the recent time to lay focus in this domain Ethnic Groups A large proportion are South Asian, of the order of 84 percent comprising of Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Chinese, Indian, Filipino, Thai, Westerners and rest 16 percent are Arabs Religions Islam is predominant religion with, approximately 85 percent Sunni and the remaining 15 percent are Shia. If official ministry documents are to believed, 76 percent of the total population is Muslim, 15 percent is other, and 9% is Christian. Economic Statistics and Activities GDP and GNP Nominal per capita, GDP = USD 47,407, as per the  International Monetary Fund  (IMF). GDP (PPP): US $ 182.8 billion GDP (nominal) US $ 252.2 billion (Economic Statistcis ) Inflation Inflation is a becoming a major roadblock in UAE for last couple of years. Currency valuation is also a point at the top of minds of the consumers. The main problem is UAEs pegged currency against the US dollar. Dirham, its national currency is pegged against dollar. So as dollar loses value, dirham also follows suit. BMI estimates real GDP in 2009 at 5.4.0%, with another very good performance in 2010. Projected values are at rate of 5.4%, as a result of a small contraction in the oil sector (-2.6%), offset by continued out performance in the non-oil sector (10.5%). Thereafter, we see a cyclical slowdown to 4.5% in 2011 and 3.9% in 2012. (Economic Statistcis ) Channels of Distribution (Macro Analysis) Retailers The way retailers work in UAE is a little different than in other countries .There is not VAT or service tax and the more good news is that retailers are not required to report their quarterly earnings. The retailers thus have a bright future in this country shown by the recent success. UAEs retail market is growing relatively at a faster pace when compared to other developing economies of the world Mall culture has come as an advantage to the retailers who have been able to attract the local customers and tourists alike. (Oxford Business Group, 2010) Market Audit and Competitive Market Analysis Market Analysis The market for dairy products has been growing over the years globally with a special focus on Nestlà ©s products. Dairy products like yogurt have now started to be recognized as everyday snack. They are the most readily available food item in the eatables shop in almost all of the countries that Nestle exists in. (Weaver) The major factor that can influence a person to invest in the dairy product market is that it has been growing every year on an annual basis of 10%. The reason is inevitable. Nestlà ©s targets all forms of the society. Be it children or the youth or the aged, Nestle has products for all of them. This gives it an advantage over its competitors. Even though its recognition is not as high as the other products in the Middle East market, people had started considering Dairy product as nutritious edibles as a traditional mark in the food industry in the medieval periods. One can be worried of the fact that the history of the dairy product has not been on the expansion side. This is due to the rise in inflation. But at the same time there is a good deal of boom in the financial sector that accounts for the better future prospects of the products. The history of Dairy products in the market is that it has been a part of the local custom. Meals are considered to be the important routine of the day. It is certainly a custom to have a nutritious diet. This trend has been continuing ever since civilization began. As Nestlà ©s product like sweet curt or Fruit Yogurt has brought nutritious food is easily available readymade packs, it is highly recognized in most part of the world. One must also understand that other dairy products of Nestle include chocolates that add flavor to the rich vitamin and calcium content. As a result, it has been preferable from the time businessmen have taken it to higher standards. This is more beneficial for targeting the children. (Yogen Fruz (Canada) Signs UAE Franchise, 2010) It has been often said that the world has been progressing largely of late. Lets have a look at it from the Nestlà ©s products industrys perspective. There has been a greater progress in the nutritious food industry over the last decade then in the last quarter of a century. The percentage of people favoring Nestlà ©s product is more preferred than any other edible commodity, has gone up. It has gone up to 27% as against the mere 2.5% only some 15 years ago. This rise is due to the fact that Nestlà ©s food products have been gaining fame on account of the diversity of the products manufactured. If one gives a thought over the condition of nutritious food industry; he/she will put in a developing stage. But the development is not small. It has been developing at a rate no lesser than the other recognized industries. Lets consider Abu Dhabi for an example. The capital city of UAE has a good deal of cereal consumers. The recent surveys reveal that more than 17% of the population takes dairy products as a favorite snack (this includes the other products that Nestlà ©s manufactures). This is also a boon for the industry. Other than just the simple junk snacks, there is such a lot of variety in Nestlà ©s products that it has taken its food industry to the peak. The most preferred flavor in UAE is anything that which has a blend of chocolate in it. The company can certainly take advantage of this fact. (Our Brands) Keeping all these factors in mind, there was a survey of the number of people who have increased their consumption of nutritious food in the world. More than 70% of the population said that they have increased their nutritious food consumption (especially dairy products) over the last few years. This can boost up investment in the product. SWOT Analysis Strengths Company Name: The very name of Nestle brings with it the confidence of quality as it has reliability and trust associated with it. Usually, the consumers mind they prefer Nestle products over other brands time and again whether it is their Dairy product or something else. Quality: Nestlà © is the one of the biggest manufacturer of diary food products all over in the world. The Nestle name is synonym of quality. They have a tradition of providing food products of supreme quality. Most of their products belong to category of assured and certified quality confirmed by tests done by quality assurance companies. Its production facility is certified with ISO certifications and also, FDA approval certificates. But, the quality differs from country to country for example Nestle juices sold in UAE are all artificial and with preservatives whereas usually in other parts of the world such as United States they are preserved naturally with citrus. But this difference doesnt mean that products are of low quality anywhere in United Arab Emirates. Manufacturing processes: Nestle boast of having state of the art technology machines, Certified and proven process and techniques which facilitate them to produce best in the category. Trustworthy company: Nestle symbolizes trust. Consumers have faith that the product will be anything but harmful. No one should be surprised if Nestle yogurt will occupy the highest market share in the market of United Arab Emirates. Consumption in immigrants Culture: As discussed, many foreign nationals are living together in UAE. Outsiders constitute a big population in UAE. They are kind of used to most of the Nestle product including yogurt in their home countries therefore this population doesnt need education regarding Yogurt consumption benefits. Yogurt is usually used for various purposes including for cooking. Usually while cooking, yogurt can play an important role same as many local dishes that are cooked in Yogurt. Weaknesses Lack of awareness: One big drawback associated with the launch of Fruit yogurt in UAE or any Middle East countries is low awareness among the citizens. A lot of people dont know that any such type of product is there in the market. The product is already present in the market the acceptability among the UAE citizens is very low. Price: The other major weakness that the company possesses is that the selling price of Nestlà ©s products is comparatively higher than the competitors in ost of the countries it is present. The company accounts this fact to the intensive use of natural resources. But the end-users are the customers who are certainly not going to entertain such excuses. Big accounts: Company Nestle doesnt carry with it any fixed allotted funds for advertising high. Its budget for advertising is fixed as a percentage of its sales. This type of strategy usually backfires when product is losing market when compared to its competitors. If the sales are not getting high so will be advertising therefore the products sales suffers a lot. Availability: Availability of normal Nestle product is also a problem for Nestle. It also contributes to the low sale Nestle product as of now in UAE. Retailers dont want to keep product which has low acceptability in the market but takes a lot of space in freezer space. But Nestle do give their retailers a freezer which increase its products visibility therefore sales. Therefore the retailers who dont have space constraint usually accept the Nestle product wholeheartedly. But the problem comes when its given freezer is utilized to put other FMCG product of higher demand in market or competitors product. Lack of Distributors interests: Distributors usually dont accept Nestlà ©s product because of its need to be transported in chilling environment. Nestle fruit yogurt need to be transported in chilling environment of nearly 2- 3 degree Celsius. Therefore whichever distributor who is willing to accept the distributor relationship will have to fulfill the requirement of having a capability to transport on this demanding condition of maintaining chilling condition in transportation and distribution. It is kind of costly affair for distributor under until and unless Nestle occupy a large market within a very short span of time so that even distributors can get economy of scale. Chilling need: The basic requirement of Nestle fruit yogurt to keep it a chilling temperature all the time makes it difficult for even retailers to accept the product. They have a fear of the case that in case if they are not able to sell its proper quantity they will have a huge carrying cost of the product. Therefore they dont want to accept the product in very in initial phase of the product launch. This is a risk factor which company will have to wave off offering higher margin on its yogurt product as co pared to any other product. Low Expiry date: Nestle fruit Yogurt product has low expiry date. Whatever the keeping condition it has maximum expiry time of 10-15 days. This makes retailers to sell the product as soon as possible. Therefore Nestle product are kind of tension of tension to retailers when it comes to their dairy product section. This is also another hindering factor which will affect the yogurt sales in its initial days. After every 10-15 days every stockiest have to refresh its product line. Even if te retailers start putting the yogurt because of Nestlà ©s brand name, the sales in initially sales consistency cant be guaranteed therefore there will not be any limit on amount of their stock that will go waste because of the expiry. Opportunities Potential market for fruit yogurt: Nestle fruit Yogurt is nutritious food product mainly ad from milk and has very low fat as compared with the milk. Fruit flavor ends its sourness associated with it. Therefore nutritious food with good taste has a great potential market in UAE. There is kind of big market for Nestle to explore. Presence of other nationalities and hot climate works as a topping on the already existing potential market for Nestle to cherish. Most of the sil=milar product has huge acceptability and good thing is that Emirates have high per capita Income which will work as a advantage for the Nestle to putting their product in premium segment and gaining huge profit from this segment. Climate of UAE: United Arab Emirates climate is an extra advantage for Nestle to Ancash. It hot climate prompt residents to have some cold nutritious products daily. Usually in summers, ice-cream sales increase a lot but still there is a need to find a substitute having similar frosted class as well as some health benefits associated with it. Here Fruit yogurt comes to fill the gap. The consumption of yogurt in the summers in most of the south east countries is as follows: plain form Lassi meal component such as raita culinary The high use of yogurt in its fruity flavor form gives Nestle one big opportunity to sell frosted fruit yogurt in summer-time. Tax exemption: Absence of any Value added tax VAT or sales tax in UAE prompts lower price of most of the products and therefore higher amount of sales in UAE. Many companies have entered the market seeing this facility only. This also give companies to make more and more profit on their product as the VAT or sales tax part of the price usually is shared by either the customers or by companies. The amount saved by companies here as part of no Vat can be utilized for better advertisement and educating consumers. Threats Competitors: Competitors are already there in this market in UAE market. Out of these competitors some are really very serious and have a reach on international scale. Some major firms who have presence in UAE market are : Pinkberry frozen yogurt Marmum fruit yogurt Al ain dairy yogurt Yogen fruz Al rawabi fruit yogurt   Yogurberry frozen yogurt So it will be bit difficult for Nestle to compete with these players. It has spend heavily in the market for advertisement and brining awareness about its new product. Competitors Analysis Competitors are already there in the market with their yogurt related product in the market. Some of the famous brands which already have their yogurt product in the market are as below: Pinkberry frozen yogurt Marmum fruit yogurt Al ain dairy yogurt Yogen fruz Al rawabi fruit yogurt   YogurBerry UAE frozen yogurt Yogen Fruz is an international brand which has specialty in this section of frozen flavored yogurt. It is a master franchise venture with Arcology Investments, which is based in Dubai, UAE. Arcology is very proud to declare that they are opening their first Yogen Fruz outlet in Dubai very shortly. Their recently confirmed that their aim is to open 30 similar outlets in very recent future in the Gulf region. They are also aiming neighboring countries including Qatar, Oman, Kuwait Bahrain. Yogen Fruz has presence in more than 25 countries and spread over around 1200 locations. Their specialty is to provide more and more flavors of frozen yogurt. The YogurBerry UAE LLC is famous master franchise of YogurBerry group present in the United Arab Emirates. YogurBerry is one of the first premier and all-natural, non-fat frozen special yogurt brand which brings unique flavor and frozen style first time in the country. YogurBerry claims to be classy, healthy and different. YogurBerrys has opened its first outlet in Dubai, in late June 2009 to make Dubai get exposed to totally different culture of taste. Similarly, other players are also geared up to cover UAE market as soon as possible and they are playing every tactics to attract consumers towards them to reap a first movers advantage as soon as possible. Porters five forces  [3]   The threat of substitute products Nestlà © products entry in the market is a bit late. Fruit yogurt nestle is subject to face crisis as too many players want a piece of this market. Actually product fruit yogurt will face competition from local unflavored Dahi which is available at much cheaper rate than Nestlà ©s fruit yogurt. This fact will be intensified by the fact that local most of the time prefers local items over foreign items. We can also say that it will face competition from ice-cream. Here the only advantage it has is it contains low fat as compared to ice-cream but age-old ice-cream concept is difficult to be substituted with relatively new yogurt concept. The threat of entry of new competitors Many entrepreneurs are willing to invest in this field of dairy product diversity on account of the health conscious trend that has been continuing in the recent past, as it comes under the booming sector. So, the only option left for Nestle to prevail is to maintain a constant switching of costs and make proper use of its brand name. This has been seen in many other companies like HP. It is therefore recommended that with constant switching, Nestle will be able to provide its users with the products in the time span they want. The threat of competitive rivalry Food Snacks is a field where competition doesnt just come from price dimensions but also from innovation and advertisement. Nestle should realize the number of competitors it has and the diversities in which they exist. Sometimes, the reason for the late delivery of products is also competition. Different rival companies can make negotiations with the producers for the delay. Nestle has to be careful of this fact. The bargaining power of customers  [4]   Nestle dealers will be forced to keep higher prices of products to compensate for some bargain. This generally happens at villages or types. At the same time they should also keep price sensitivity in mind. So, Nestle dealers have to make a proper balance between price sensitivity and high market price for bargain compensation because there can be decent customers as well on visits to such places who might have to pay high once, but then never return or buy the commodities at their respective places. This is because one wrong step leaves a mark on the entire supply chain and finally has an impact on the company as well. Such are the customers who finally realize the companys conditions and deliberately make orders that the company cant fulfill. Nestle should not give a chance to any customer with such views. The bargain power of suppliers Nestle is more or less a Food product company, so it owes much of its pricing to its suppliers. The raw materials that it uses, determine the costs of its products. So, it is highly beneficial to have a team which is good at bargaining to keep the cost of production low. This requires a good deal of ground level work. Marketing Strategies 4Ps Product Nestle fruit yogurt which is currently offered in 3 major different flavors in most of the countries. The main flavors which are offered are peach strawberry mango in 100g cup. Strawberry can be said to be most popular of all the 3 flavors and it is usually consumed more than other two. Nestle usually keeps on adding the flavor in the country in which is already present using the flavors that are famous in those very countries. The yogurt is already there in the market in UAE but the problem is that not a large part of UAE crowd is in fan of this yogurt thing. Say it a lack in promotion by other marketers or their targeting on elite class, this product really needs to be market through educating customers. The rate of consumption among Emirates needs to be increased to increase the overall sale of the product. The quality of product is not questionable; as it is part of trustable nestle group. Price The price set by Nestle of the fruit yogurt is minimal in most of the countries like India and Pakistan. It is around 15 rupees/cup. Seeing the flavors which are being offered at this price, it is considered very reasonable. The main fact that Nestle has to refresh its stock after every 10 15 days is a problem. Therefore selling only at Nestle special stores will make Nestle to manage inventory well. Selling this awesome project at this affordable is the main thing which makes Nestle popular in all the markets. We can say that seeing the per capita income of emirate people that the product will be great hit in the market and Nestle can charge premium price for the product at later stage. Place Like all the other countries, Nestle should launch its product only in the major cities in United Arab Emirates. The main reason is that the urban people due to large per capita income are ready to use new product which they think is of good quality and have value for money. People in small cities are used to of their own brand and their tendency tgo use their favorite brands all the time make them a bad customer for Nestle. Targeting only big city will make its product to sell in bit low volume but it will be good for Nestle in maintain its goodwill and help Nestle to charge a premium price from its urban consumers. Company can target anything between 5000 to 10000 retailer in 2 years of time span. Promotion Last P which symbolizes promotion related with marketing interface. It is suggested the promotion plan of Nestle should be through following mediums. TV program Billboards Advertisement in newspaper, Magazines and television Banner Kiosks TV Program 5 minute of daily TV show @ 8:30 pm Nestle should broadcast a re

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Evolution of Smart Homes

Evolution of Smart Homes I. Introduction Smart homes, the next gigantic leap in the field of home automation, have become an emerging research field in last few decades. Research on smart homes has been gradually moving towards application of ubiquitous computing, tackling issues on device heterogeneity and interoperability. A smart home adjusts its function to the inhabitants need according to the information it collects from inhabitants, the computation system and the context [1]. By 2050, approximately 20% of the world population will be at least 60 years old [2]. This age group is more likely to suffer from long-term chronic diseases and will face difficulties in living independently. According to World Health Organization (WHO), 650 million people live with disabilities around the world [3].The most common causes of disability include chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer; injuries due to road traffic crashes, conflicts, falls, landmines, mental impairments, birth defects, malnutrition, HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases. It is not possible and logical to support all these patients in the medical center or nursing homes for an uncertain period of time. The solution is to accommodate health care services and assistive technologies in their home environment which is the main objective of smart homes. Sensors, multimedia devices and physiological equipments are core components to perceive information from home environment Infrared (IR) sensors, pressure sensors, magnetic contacts, passive and active Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags are used to track inhabitant location detection. Electrocardiogram (ECG), photoplethysmograph(PPG), ,temperature, spirometry, galvanic skin response, colorimetry and pulse measurement equipments are used to get physiological information from the patient. Camera and microphones provide audiovisual response from home user. Inhabitant can access the system through display panel. Power line communication protocols are widely used for the connectivity of home appliances. Public telecommunication network with voice and text messaging service is involved to provide telecare facility from remote location. Videoconferencing is used as an interactive communication media between caregiver and the client. TCP/IP protocols of Ethernet network provide data connectivity for local and remote sites and locations. Ethernet protocols are also used to connect health-monitoring equipments and to provide data repository service. Algorithms from machine learning, data compression, statistics and artificial intelligent are employed to predict user behavior, detect activities of daily life (ADL) and location. C4.5 algorithm from machine learning is utilized to build spatiotemporal context of user. C4.5 algorithm is developed by Quinlan in 1993 which classify the data to construct a decision tree according to data attributes [47].Active LeZi from data compression algorithms is used to predict inhabitants next behavior. Active LeZi by Gopalratnam et al..in 2007 builds a decision tree utilizing similar methodology of LZ78 data compression algorithm and predict next event using Prediction by Partial Matching (PPM) algorithm[22].Statistical predictive algorithms like Bayesian filtering, dynamic Bayesian network algorithms classify the information and recognize ADL of home client[34][41][44]. Different flavors of AI algorithms extended for smart home data processing. Markov model, Hidden Markov model, Artificial Neur al Network can detect the living pattern of user and can also predict the user [7][13][14][38]. Fuzzy Logic is used for home appliance control [36]. Smart home is mainly dedicated to provide health care, safety, security and monitoring service for patient and elderly. The house is equipped with sensors, cameras to track people and can trigger an alarm to a remote heath care service provider in the case of emergency. Sophisticated physiological devices monitor heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, ECG record and the patient is being observed from a distance location. Telecommunication service is used for communicating with service provider, relatives or neighbor and as a redundant acknowledgement method from the patient. For home comfort system, lighting, heating, doors, windows and home appliances are automatically controlled by ambient intelligence of smart home. Smart home also has significant contribution towards energy conservation by integration of energy meter with smart home [4]. Home automation is the initial state of smart home where electronic technologies are used to provide an easy access to household devices. Rapid development of sensor technology accelerated the growth of smart home that involved more data processing. Improvement of information and communication technology make possible to develop easy and cost effective methods for data repository and exchange. Smart home is a growing concept, efficient and lower cost solutions for general people are the main idea to promote it. II. Smart Home defination Smart home is an extension of modern electronic, information and communication technologies. The main objective of smart home research is to provide smartness to a dwelling facility for comfort, healthcare, security and energy conservation. Remote monitoring system is a common component of health smart home where telecommunication and web technologies are used to provide quick and proper medication to the patient from specialized assistance centre. The first formal definition of smart home was published by Intertek in 2003, which was involved to Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) smart-homes project in UK [5]. According to Intertek a smart home is a dwelling incorporating a communications network that connects the key electrical appliances and services, and allows them to be remotely controlled, monitored or accessed. A home needs three things to make it smart: Internal network wire, cable, wireless Intelligent control gateway to manage the systems Home automation products within the homes and links to services and systems outside the home III. Review of Smart Homes Smart homes projects are being conducted for last several decades and they convey different ideas, functions and utilities. It is growing to different brunches of specialization focusing the interest of the researchers and user requirements and expectations. This article is a study of the evolution of smart home according to time. Adaptive Control of Home Environment (ACHE) system is developed by Mozer in 1998 in USA. ACHE monitors user device usage pattern utilizing different types of sensors and builds an adaptive inferential engine for neural network to control temperature, heating and lighting. ACHE can control three main components of a home while trying to maximize user comfort and conserve energy [7].ACHE is one of the early smart home projects which is able to partially automate home environment via controlling lighting, temperature and heating components. CarerNet is an architectural model of integrated and intelligent telecare system proposed by Williams et al. in 1998. Its core components are sensor set, a sensor bus, intelligent monitoring system and a control unit. ECG, photoplethysmograph, spirometry, temperature, galvanic skin response, colorimetry, and pulse measurement tools used to collect physiological data. The communication network within the clients local environment is an integration of HomeLAN and Body Area Network (BAN) which is responsible to carry real-time data, event data, command and control data. It has a distributed intelligence system in the form of smart sensors, smart therapy units, body-hub, Local Intelligence Unit (LIU) and Clients Healthcare Record (CHR). Home emergency alarm system, community health information and ambulatory monitoring service can be provided by the system. [8]. CarerNet is an abstract model of health smart home and interconnecting components. No prototype of the model has been developed . Only a hypothetical case study is of an individual who had undergone brain surgery after suffering from a subarachnoid is discussed. Barnes et al. in 1998 have evaluated life style monitoring data of elderly using infrastructure of British Telecom and Anchor Trust in England. The system detects inhabitants movement using IR sensors and magnetic contacts on the entrance of the doors. To measure temperature it uses a temperature sensor in the main living area. An alarm activation system is developed which detects abnormal behavior and communicates to remote telecare control center, the clients and their carers[9]. The researchers presented a lower cost solution for smart telecare. The limitation of the system is it can identify only abnormal sleeping duration, unexpected inactivity, uncomfortable home temperature and fridge usage disorder. Moreover, it uses a special new telecom protocol named No Ring Calling which demands modifying existing telecom protocols. TERVA is a health monitoring system developed in Finland by Korhonen et al.(1998). TERVA processes physiological information like blood pressure, heart beat rate, body temperature, body weight to draw graphical representation of wellness condition of the subject[10].Research goal of the TERVA system is to develop a real time visual monitoring system but it is unable to provide long-term trend of certain physiological information. It cannot detect physiological problems and no assistive service is deployed to provide health care. The intelligent home (IHome) project at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst has developed an intelligent environment (Lesser et al.1999) IHome is a simulated environment designed with Multi Agent Survivability Simulator (MASS) and a Java Agent Framework (JAF) as tools to evaluate agent behavior and their coordination. The focus of the project is to model agent interactions and task interactions so that the agent can evaluate the tradeoff between robustness and efficiency [11].IHome is a simulation only solution, the project never build a practical smart home to evaluate their model. The Aware Home Research at the Georgia Institute of Technology developed a smart home, which equipped with monitoring facilities to study human behavior (Kidd et al. 1999). To build a model of user behavior pattern, it uses smart floor to sense footsteps. Hidden Markov models, simple feature-vector averaging and neural network algorithms are applied on these data to create and evaluate behavioral model [12]. The aim of the project is to study user behavior, which is the primary stage of smart home research. The project never developed home intelligence which is a big shortfall of the research. The EasyLiving project at Microsoft Research based on intelligent environment to track multiple residents using distributed image-processing system (Krumm et al. 2000). The system can identify residents through active badge system. Measurements are used to define geometric relationship between the people, devices, places and things [13][14].The system is workable in single room only and can track upto three peoples simultaneously. SELF (Sensorized Environment for LiFe), is an intelligent environment, which enables a person to maintain his or her health through self-communication (Nishida et al. 2000). SELF observes the persons behavior with distributed sensors invisibly embedded in the daily environment, extracts physiological parameters from it, analyzes the parameters, and accumulates the results. The accumulated results are used for reporting useful information to maintain the persons health. The researchers constructed a model room for SELF consisted of a bed with pressure sensor array, a ceiling lighting dome with a microphone and a washstand with display[15].SELF describes a self-assessment system of human health but measuring only respiratory system and sleeping disorder, which is not sufficient to monitor health condition. The ENABLE project was set up in 2001 to measure the impact of assistive technology on the patient suffering from mild or moderate dementia (Adlam et al. 2004). The researcher installed two devices (cooker and night light) in the apartment of several patients in different locations to evaluate the efficiency of the system [16]. The research scope is limited to only two household devices but to assist this type of patient the whole house must possess some kind of intelligence. Health Integrated Smart Home Information System (HIS) is an experimental platform for home based monitoring (Virone.et al. 2002). IR sensors are used to track inhabitant activities and the information is transmitted via Controller Area Network (CAN) to a local computer. The system generates alerts according to some predefine zones [17]. The research is only limited to single inhabitant monitoring. In 2002, GuillÃÆ' ©n et al. developed a system composed of two parts: home station (HS) and caregiver medical center (CMC) connected via integrated service digital network (ISDN) backbone. The home station is equipped with vital signs recording module to monitor physiological data like blood pressure, temperature, ECG, pulse oximetry. Caregiver medical center is like a call center designed specially with patient monitoring software. An interactive communication system between home and caregiver center is developed using videoconferencing technology [18]. Figure 1 shows functional modules of multimedia smart home. The system requires high Internet bandwidth for videoconferencing, which needs expensive equipments and high maintenance cost. Functional module of multimedia platform [18] At University of Tokyo, Noguchi et al (2002) designed an intelligent room to support daily life of the inhabitant. The system has three main components: data collection, data processing and integration of processed data. The system learns current state of environment from sensors attached to bed, floor, table and switches. A summarization algorithm is used to track any changes in the system. The algorithm segments the collected sensory data at the points where sensor outputs changes drastically (i.e. pressure data appears suddenly or switch sensors are changed). It labels the segment with the room state. It joins a state of each segment to quantize the accumulated data and ties up the changed situation. The algorithm also tries to eliminate and reduces situations that changes slightly [19].The proposed summarization algorithm can detect user activities which is tested for single room only. No home automation method discussed utilizing the algorithm. MavHome (Managing an Adaptive Versatile Home) first introduced by Das et al. in 2002 at the University of Texas, Arlington [20]. Figure 2 describes MavHome architecture in brief. MavHome use multi disciplinary technologies: artificial intelligent, multimedia technology, mobile computing and robotics. It is divided into four abstract layers: physical, communication, information and decision. X10 protocol is used to control and monitor more than sixty X10 devices plugged into the home electric wiring system [21]. Active LeZi algorithm is developed that makes a decision tree based on kth order Markov model and predict next action calculating probability of all actions applying prediction by partial matching method [22]. Although MovHome utilize algorithms to make accurate prediction and decision, it only predicts the behavior of single inhabitant [23]. concrete architecture of MavHome[21] The Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Technology for Successful aging (RERC-Tech-Aging) at the University of Florida introduced House of Matilda (Helel et al. 2003, 2005)[24].The home is inhabited by a dummy called Mutilda. The main aim of this research is to perceive user location using ultrasound technology. After two years, in 2005 they designed the second generation of this home named GatorTech'[25]. GatorTech is actually integration of smart device with sensors and actuators to optimize the comfort and safety of older peoples. The system is not user friendly because it requires wearable device for user tracking. In 2004, Mihailidis et al. developed a computer vision system in pervasive healthcare systems. The vision system consists of three agents: sensing, planning and prompting. Statistics and physics based methods of segmenting skin color in digital images are used for face and hand tracing [26]. Only hand and face tracing is not sufficient to make an efficient smart home system, the system should include body tracking and hand gesture reorganization. Multimedia Laboratories, NTT DoCoMo Inc. in Japan, has developed a system for modeling and recognizing personal behavior utilizing sensors and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag (Isoda et al. 2004)[27]. C4.5 algorithm is used to construct decision tree from the data obtained from the sensors and RFID tags. The users behavioral context at any given moment is obtained by matching the most recently detected states with previously defined task models. The system is an effective way for acquiring users spatiotemporal context but no intelligent system is developed for home appliances control. Andoh et al. in 2004 developed a networked non-invasive health monitoring system analyzing breath rate, heart rate, snoring and body movement. Researchers adopted Ethernet network for breath monitoring system implementation. The system can estimate sleep stages analyzing data using the algorithm developed for the purpose [28]. The system cannot summarize long term observation of patients sleeping disorder. In 2005, Masuda et al. have developed a health monitoring arrangement using existing telecommunication system for home visit rehabilitation therapists. Researchers used an air filled mat to measure heartbeat and respiratory condition. When the patient lies on the air mat, his heartbeat and respiratory movement cause significant change in air pressure inside the mat, which is measured by pressure sensor and analyzed by appropriate filtering process [29]. The interesting part of the project is the usage of an air bag as monitoring equipment but its limitation is, it can only measure heart rate and respiratory condition. In 2005, Ma et al emphasized on context awareness to provide automatic services in smart home. They used case-based reasoning (CBR) to provide more appropriate services. CBR technique relies on previous interactions and experiences to find solutions for current problems. The system can adopt any manual adjustment done by modifying case data [30].This is the initial state of the project where few scenarios like AC, TV, lamp interaction is evaluated. Their future plan is to add more contexts and enrich the features of case tables. The House_n group at MIT designed PlaceLab a new living laboratory for the study of ubiquitous technologies in home environment (Intille et al. 2005). PlaceLab deployed with numerous wire, light, pressure, temperature water, gas, current sensors with video and audio devices to create vast amount of real life data from single volunteers as well as couples [31].The goal of the project is to study human behavior, influence of technology on the people and how technology can be used to simplify user interaction with home appliances. Their main contribution is an open online database of smart home sensor events and a well featured analyzing software [48].Researchers never implemented the study to build an autonomous intelligent home. Yamazaki (2006) constructed Ubiquitous Home, a real-life test bed, for home context-aware service. It is a housing test facility for the creation of useful new home services by linking devices, sensors, and appliances across data networks. Active and passive RFID tags located above the ceiling and at the entrance of the door are used to detect and recognize inhabitants. Pressure sensors are used to track user movement and furniture. The system is occupied with plasma panels, liquid crystal display and microphone for better interaction with the users. A network robot is employed to perform certain home services. Researchers concluded that the goal of smart home is not to design an automated home but to develop an environment using interface technologies between human and the system [32].Although, the researchers installed enough sensors and interfacing devices , the system is only sensible to few task automations like TV program selection, cooking recipe display and forgotten property service. Ha et al. (2006) presents a sensor-based indoor location-aware system that can identify residents location. Researchers used an array of Pyroelectric Infrared (PIR) sensor and proposed a framework of smart home location aware system. An algorithm is developed to process the information collected from PIR sensors for inhabitant location detection. Their next step is to design an algorithm to determine location and trajectory of multiple residents simultaneously [33]. The project in dedicated to user location detection system which is an essential part of smart home. No system is developed to provide intelligence to the house employing user location. In 2007, Rahal et al. at DOMUS laboratory, Universit ´e de Sherbrooke, Canada, utilized Bayesian Filtering methods to determine location of the inhabitants. Bayes filters are efficiently used to estimate a persons location using a set of fixed sensors. In this method, the last known position and the last sensor event are both used to estimate a new location. The algorithm based on Bayesian filtering shows a mean localization accuracy of 85% [34].This project also deals with user location detection algorithm, no home automation is developed using the processed information. De Silva et al. (2007) have implemented an audiovisual retrieval and summarization system utilizing multimedia technology for human behavior tracking. Using a large number of cameras a hierarchical clustering of audio and video handover used to create personalized video clips. An adaptive algorithm is used for complete and compact summary of the video retrieved. Basic audio analysis methods are applied for accurate audio segmentation and source localization. An interface allowed users to incorporate their knowledge into the search process and obtain more accurate results for their queries [35].The system can track people, extract key frame, localize sound source, detect lighting change but cannot distinguished different people. At Tampere University of Technology, Vainio et al.(2008) developed a proactive fuzzy home-control system. An adaptive algorithm applied to evaluate the test on obtained results. The goal of the research is to help elderly people live independently at home. Developed system can recognize routines and also recognize deviations from routines. The system can provide information to caregivers about living rhythm, sleeping disorders, and medicine taking of inhabitant [36]. But the system works sensibly only for lighting control. In 2008, Swaminathan et al. proposed an object reorganization system using visual image localization and registration. Appliances are first registered in the image processing system. According to the voice command of the user, appropriate object is selected using an environmental map [27].It is actually a home automaton project using speech reorganization to receive user command and commands are executed to the objects which already known to the system. Growing Self-Organizing Maps (GSOM) used a self-adaptive neural network to detect and recognize activities of daily life addressed by Zheng et al in 2008 [38] [39]. The GSOM follows the basic principle of the Kohonen self-organizing map with a special focus on adaptive architecture. The learning process of the GSOM is started by generating an initial network composed by four neurons on a 2-dimensional grid, followed by iteratively presenting training data samples. The system is tested in single room apartment for about two weeks where it can recognized user pattern of 22 distinct activities. Like other Self Adaptive Neural Networks (SANN), the system is depends on several learning parameters to be determined in advance such as initial learning rate and the size of the initial neighborhood. Other machine learning method must be utilized in parallel to determine optimum parameter for best performance. In 2008, Perumal et al. from Institute of Advanced Technology of University Putra Malaysia (UPM) have presented a design and implemented Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) based residential engagement for smart home systems appliances control [40]. An appliance control module based on SOAP and web services developed to solve the interoperation of various home appliances in smart home systems. Fifteen feedback based control channels implemented with residential management system through Web Services. If the residential management system experiences server downtime, the home appliances can still be controlled using alternate control mechanism with GSM network via SMS Module locally and remotely. This system offers a complete, bi-directional real-time control and monitoring of smart home systems. No security mechanism is used to protect the web server from unauthorized access. Virone et al. present a dozens of statistical behavioral patterns obtained from an activity monitoring pilot study. The pilot study examined home activity rhythms of 22 residents in an assisted living environment with four case studies. Established behavioral patterns have been captured using custom software based on a statistical predictive algorithm that models circadian activity rhythms (CARs) and their deviations (Virone et al. 2008). The system cannot differentiate multiple inhabitants [41]. Yoo et al. examined web-based implementation possibility of a central repository to integrate the biosignal data arrives from various types of devices in a remote smart home. Medical waveform description Format Encoding Rule (MFER) standard is followed for communicating and storing the biosignal data in ubiquitous home health monitoring system. The web-based technology allowed ubiquitous access to the data from remote location. The paper presents a common data format for all types of sensor (Yoo et al. 2008)[42].Figure 3 describes functional architecture of web based data retrieval system. Information security, which is a burning issue for any web based system is not considered in this research. A web-based architecture for transferring the measured biosignal data from the u-House to the remote central repository. A snow-flake data model is designed by Zhang et al. in 2008 to represent the activities data in smart homes [43]. Sensor data are stored in the homeML structure. A new algorithm is proposed on the prediction of class labels for variable person and activities of daily life (ADL) indicating who is doing what, given the observed episode and time information. Accuracy is calculated as the proportion of the number of correctly predicted class over the total number of episodes in the evaluation dataset. The learning output in the form of a joint probability distribution is also assessed by the distance to the true underlying probability distribution, using the Euclidean metric. The smaller the distance is, the closer the learned model to the true situation. The algorithm is based on probabilistic distribution and able to predict ADL of more than one inhabitant. The result given is based on simulated data and the example shows only one task identification (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"making drink activi ties). In 2008, Park et al. proposed a method for recognizing ADL at multiple levels of details by combining multi-view computer vision and RFID based direct sensor [44]. A hierarchical recognition scheme is proposed by building a dynamic Bayesian network (DBN) that encompasses both coarse-level and fine-level ADL recognition. Their methodology combines the two tracking technology. The system requires wearable RFID tag which is not comfortable for users. Rashidi et al. developed CASAS at Washington State University in 2008. CASAS is an adaptive smart home that utilizes machine-learning techniques to discover patterns in user behaviour and to automatically mimic these patterns. The goal is to keep the resident in control of the automation. Users can provide feedback on proposed automation activities, modify the automation policies, and introduce new requests. In addition, CASAS can discover changes in residents behaviour patterns automatically. Frequent and Periodic Activity Miner (FPAM) algorithm mines this data to discover frequent and periodic activity patterns. These activity patterns are modelled by their Hierarchal Activity Model (HAM), which utilizes the underlying temporal and structural regularities of activities to achieve a satisfactory automation policy. User can provide feedback on proposed automation activities, modify the automation policies, and introduce new requests [45].To make a system more interactive smart home s hould be equipped with voice reorganization facilities which is absent in this system. Raad et al. developed a cost-effective user-friendly telemedicine system to serve the elderly and disabled people. An architecture of telemedicine support in smart home that consists of web and telecom interface is considered in their research (Raad et al. 2008)[46]. This system also suffers from information security issues. PRIMA (Perception, recognition and integration for interactive environments) research group of the LIG laboratory at the INRIA Grenoble research center in France has defined a model for contextual learning in smart homes (2009). The authors developed a 3D smart environment consisting cameras, a microphone array and headset microphones for situation modeling. It relies on 3D video tracking and role detection process regarding activities of the person. Roles are learned by support vector machines (SVM). It is also capable to learn speed of the inhabitant and distance to the interacting object. Proposed system can identify situations like introduction, presentation, aperitif, game and siesta. Its error rate is very high [49]. Kim et al. developed a pyroelectric infrared (PIR) sensor based indoor location aware system (PILAS) in 2009.The system uses an array of PIR sensors attached with the ceiling and detects inhabitants location by combining overlapped detected areas. PIR sensors construct a virtual map of resident location transition. To improved accuracy, they applied Bayesian classifier using a multivariate Gaussian probability density function to determine the location of an inhabitant. PILAS is unable to detect multiple residents [50]. Wang et al. have developed a smart home monitoring and controlling system(2009). The system can be controlled from remote locations through an embedded controller. They have developed different GUI for mobile devices and PCs. Each device has a unique address. A new command format to control the devices is introduced. It is a complex system and not compatible to previous smart homes architectures [51]. Yongping et al. have developed an embedded web server to control equipments using Zigbee protocol (2009). For this purpose they used S3C2410 microprocessor which was programmed with Linux 2.6 kernel. To provider online access a small web server (only 60 Kbytes) named Boa is installed. An interface had also been designed to communicate with Zigbee module (MC13192).The system do possess any type of intelligence [52]. Hussain el al. have developed inhabitant identification system using wireless sensor network (WSN) and RFID sensors (2009). The system can identify user location by the intensity of the Radio Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) of WSN. A person is recognized by attached a RFID tag. The combined reading of RSSI signal and RFID receiver can successfully identify specific location of a resident in the home. The system is limited to single person tracking [53]. At Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) in Taiwan, Chen et al.