Historical sites in UAE Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Historical sites in UAE - Research Paper Example The long history of human habitation of the area has brought about a situation where a number of historical sites show evidence of the different eras that have taken place. These have mainly been as a result of the human ability to adapt to their environment and to express themselves through the construction of significant monuments that have ended up becoming significant historical sites. In this paper, there will be a discussion of three important historical sites of the UAE that include Qasr al-Hosn, the Al Badiyah Mosque, and finally, the Al Hili Archeological Park. The Qasr al-Hosn is located in the city of Abu Dhabi and it is considered the oldest stone building in the city. Located in the Sheikh Zayed the First Street, it was constructed in 1761 as a conical tower designed to ensure that the only fresh water well in the area was protected. Seeing the advantage of this site, the ruler of Abu Dhabi, Shakhbut bin Dhiyab Al Nahyan, in 1793 decided to expand this tower into a small fort who also established it into his permanent residence (Maitra 262). As the official seat of the Abu Dhabi sheikhs for centuries, Qasr al-Hosn gained significant value within the emirate because it came to be associated with government. This historical landmark has seen various renovations over its long history, which went according to the taste of the various rulers who occupied it. Following the discovery of oil in the UAE, this site was given a major extension and it took on its current shape as a result of the oil revenues which allowed the Abu Dhabi emirate to have the funds necessary to expand the residence of the emir. As the official seat of the Abu Dhabi government until 1966, this fort has also become the home of the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation whose purpose is to preserve the rich cultural history of the emirate. The Qasr al-Hosn has become a major tourist attraction for those who visit the UAE because it

Behavioural finance Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Behavioural finance - Research Paper Example It is imperative to note that the mistakes made by portfolio managers, brokers and other market participants are driven by behavioral biases. This paper seeks to analyze major behavioral biases that cause the investment mistakes and the reasons as to the participants fall in the trap. During the decision making process, investors should fame the questions that will guide them in the process. According to Tversky and Kahneman 1124, the framing of a problem highly influences the decisions made by the investors. Framing bias entails the failure to reframe the choices given. As a result, investors suffer losses that can be avoided if the questions are reframed by the participants during a research. In order to ensure appropriate choices are made Lim 2540 depicts that managers should consider various factors. First, they should ask themselves whether or not they are addressing the actual problem. Secondly, they should integrate gains and losses in the choices available. Thirdly, they need to reverse the questions. For example, if there are sellers they should evaluate their behaviors assuming they are buyers. Fourthly, managers must frame the questions to cover the entre aspects of an investment for instance the total costs. In addition, managers must emulate an inten sive perspective during framing. The section below analyses some of the major statistical errors that are associated with framing bias. Representativeness heuristic is adopted by people to evaluate the probability based on the fact that an event A resembles and event B. For example, if an event B is highly representative to an event A, then it means that the probability that A originated from B is high (Tversky and Kahneman 1124). One of the major courses of errors that are related to representativeness is the use of similarity to determine the relationship between events. This is based on

My experience in Malaysia: A reflective report

My experience in Malaysia: A reflective report It’s not easy to leave your country of origin and to settle down in another country where you are a visitor but my experience in staying Malaysia is incredible. Malaysia is one of the most beautiful and fascinating tourism destinations of South East Asia. Malaysia comprises out two parts, Peninsular Malaysia, which is located between Thailand in the north and Singapore in the south, and the two provinces Sabah and Sarawak, located on Borneo. It has a rich history courting back to the 13th century moreover it was a busy port for Europeans and far trades for many hundred years. It is a multiracial country with has a rich cultural heritage and a population of 23.27 million consisting of 61 percent Malays, 30 percent Chinese, 8 percent Indians and 1 percent of other ethnic groups. In 15th century Malacca was the initial name to Malaysia. In the year of 1957 Malaysia gained its independence from the British. Later in 1963 after the fusion of Singapore Sarawak and Sabah into a centr al union in which Malacca was called Malaysia. It is surprising to know that the Diversity of races, religions and cultures is an important characteristic of Malaysians. As moving from past to 21st century Malaysia is a modern city with shopping mall, cinemas, international hotels and star bucks everywhere. Knowing the brief history behind Malaysia after 4 hours sitting on plane I arrived into Kuala Lumpur which is the capital and the largest city in Malaysia. I was greeted by a member of a staff who then latterly took me off to hostel that night. Next morning I was warmly greeted and met the rest of the international students. It was a great day meeting them because I was happy to meet some of my collides who stayed with me in Srilanka. Accommodation costs are comparatively cheaper away from the city so as i moved into an apartment about 5-8 minutes’ walk from campus. At the campus there were rich variety of backgrounds, nationalities and cultures. Accommodating a community of 40% international students, studying at the Malaysia Campus is a great way to meet people from across the globe, learn about their cultures and communicate people about your own. Being in a newly expanded campus most of the facilities were new, Wireless network, library with latest collections of books, nice lecture hall with new computer and projector and also the shuttle service were amazing. The courses and teaching methods were not very different from what i have learnt in my country. When it comes to food Malaysia food is a mix of Indian, Chinese, Burmese and traditional Malay style. As for now I used to have my lunch, dinner in cafeteria. Sometimes when i get sick of the campus food I would just go to the restaurants nearby because there are number of small home style restaurants that offer delicious food at low prices. Trying out the Malaysians national dish Nasi lemak which is served with steamed rice, coconut milk, curry chicken or beef, fried anchovies and sambal was totally different when comes to the taste of red rice and curry. As a Sri Lankan student in Malaysia I wasn’t felt out of place because Malaysian culture is so way similar to srilankan traditions. On top of that, there are many places of interests in country such as beaches, islands and rain forest where you could fresh out from stress. Malaysias rain forest is deliberated as the oldest in the world so as the largest flower of the world, Rafflesia, is found in the rainforest of Malaysia. The diverse species of animals and plant life continue to enthuse a great deal. As a student to Malaysia, I discovered a wide range of customs and practices, some of which is different from what i practiced at my country. With different mix of races, religions and cultures Malaysians celebrate variety of festivals such as Chinese New Year, Hari Raya Puasa, ThaiPusasm, Deepavali and Christmas. Being an international student I did have its ups and downs. Major problem was adjusting with the language as Malay is the official language but English is also often spoken out as it is the second language, but I have largely adapted to it now. The pace of life in Malaysia is gentle, steady and everyone moves with a purpose and goal. Climate in Malaysia is different from my country as it’s generally warm throughout the year. Astonishingly they have only two seasons it’s the dry and the rainy season. Malaysia which is considered to be the most attracted tourist residence consists numerous places to visit such as the Kula Lumpur the largest and busiest city in Malaysia has the tallest twin buildings called Petronas Twin towers and it was established the world’s tallest towers in the period of 1998 to 2004 and the sixth tallest telecommunication tower in the world. Redang Island in Terengganu is one of the finest coral and marine ecosystems in Malaysia. Following with the Cameron highlands a place for coolness, fresh fruits and vegetables. The national park Pahang for ecological wonders. Moreover the Petaling Street, the Centre of Kuala Lumpurs original Chinatown, maintains much of its traditional atmosphere, particularly at night and the Batu caves which is a limestone hill consists of series caves and caves temple located in north of Kula Lumpur. I explored some of the best cultural and natural sights, venues and places in Malaysia. One of the best places I visited in Malaysia was the Sunway Lagoon Theme Park, because it has five different theme parks at one place. If Disney land is happiest place in earth probably Sunway Lagoon T heme Park the most exciting and amazing place to see. Malaysia has some of the most attractive cave systems in the world. Among the more famous are the Niah, Mulu and Clearwater caves. With a charted length of 100 kilometers, the latter is considered Asia’s longest cave system and grades tenth in the world. The Clearwater River which flows through this cave system is one of the world’s biggest famous underground rivers. As others countries Malaysia is also endowed with natural resources such as agriculture, forestry and minerals. Rubber was one of the mainstays of Malaysia economy which was lately replaced by the oil palm. Meanwhile Malaysia comprises three major cultures: Malay, Chinese and Indian, each culture has its own traditional and religious objects of clothing all of which is gender precise and may be altered to local impacts and conditions. The Malay wears the Baju Kurung and the Baju Kebaya. Besides the Chinese women wear the cheongsam, it is a one-piece dress with a high neck, diagonally closed with small clips or toggles. The Indians wear very colorful saris in a rich variety of bright and refined dyes for their usual prayer in the temple and for everyday living. However for the Malay culture, the men usually wear Baju Melayu with a cap, on their head. Traditional clothing for men in Malaysia consists of a silk or cotton skirt and shirt with a scarf like piece of cloth tied around his waist. Meanwhile the Indian men wear Sherwani, which is a coat like clothing fitted close to the body, of knee-length or longer and opening in front with button. They also wear Lungi, Dhoti and Kurta and Paja ma. Wedding style is unique from other countries. The activities that take place during Malay wedding often come from the diverse cultural traditions indigenous, Hindu and Islamic those have together served to shape traditional Malay culture. Each wedding take place in their traditional way. Moreover the stability and peacefulness of Malaysia is a unique and a peaceful environment to live besides it is a great place if you love hot and humid climate, and if you are food lover.

FAMOUS PEOPLE :: essays research papers

Rosa Parks is widely known as the African-American woman who refused to get off her seat on a bus. She did not want to forfeit her seat in order for a white individual to replace her. She was arrested and taken into custody against her will, just because she felt the need to stay on the seat she felt she rightfully deserved. On December 1st, 1955, according to history, Rosa Parks was tired and exhausted from a long day of work. In fact, under different circumstances, she would have probably given up her seat willingly to a child or elderly person. But at this point in history, Parks was tired of the treatment she and other African-Americans received everyday of their lives. This included racism, segregation, prejudice and the Jim Crow laws of the time. After she took a stance, Americans seemed to notice and the laws and regulations of the time were questioned and subsequently, revised. Before her arrest, Parks had the fire inside of her to change what was wrong with things that were unjust. She served as secretary of the NAACP and later an adviser to the NAACP Youth Council and tried to register to vote on many occasions when it was basically impossible to do so. Not only was Parks a legitimate figure in the African-American community, but also she initiated change without really realizing so. After the bus incident, the establishment of the Montgomery Improvement Association was implemented, led by a young pastor named Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The world today is clearly different all because of Rosa Parks refusing to give her seat up. Her action lead to reaction, which is the most important part in establishing change. Her act of defiance began a movement that ended legal segregation in America. This meant that people of different color could finally start drinking from the same water fountain, restrooms were not designated â€Å"colored† and â€Å"white,† and one of the most important things was that schools started desegregating, which mean t black and white children could attend the same schools. This last item was finally implemented by the passing of the Brown v. Board of Education law, but it would not have been able to happen if Rosa Parks had gotten up from her seat. Had she done that, our future as Americans would have been compromised and the laws that are active today might have been something African-Americans would still be fighting for.

Dealing with Suffering and Loss

Suffering and loss is a regular situation in the human life cycle, it is vital to learn how to deal with it so that it doesn’t affect the rest of our lives negatively. In Scott Russell Sanders’s Ten Reasons Why We’ll Always Need a Good Story he explains that one of the reasons is to help us deal and become aware of suffering, loss, and death. During our youth we often don’t consider the end of the life cycle.However, in life we will always encounter grieving from a loved one’s death. The first time we experience some sort of grieving it may be very hard to handle and may cause depression. Stories help us prepare for moments of suffering, loss, and death with fictional experiences which show us how to deal with these unfortunate events. In the three short stories we read at least one character in each story is forced to deal with suffering, loss, or death.In the short story Bluffing by Gail Helgason, Liam has an unfortunate accident and experiences p hysical pain as well as the emotional pain of his deteriorating relationship with Gabriella. In Two Words by Isabel Allende, Belisa Crepusculario is devastated by the death of her entire family due to their impoverished lifestyle and the love between her and the Colonel causes them to miss each other. In The Indisputable Weight of the Ocean by Darryl Berger, Edmund deals with not being able to see his father and deals with the suffering of moving to a suburban area.First of all, breaking up with your partner can cause heavy depression to some people and it makes us feel like we’ve lost someone important in our lives, also enduring a large amount of physical pain causes us to more careful to avoid feeling anything like that again. In Bluffing we do not get to witness how Gabriella and Liam’s relationship continues, however, the author leaves us to infer that the relationship is coming to an end. We are also left to infer how they both feel after they breakup.Gabriella f eels that Liam is not committed to the relationship after he broke the news to her that he would be leaving to go on a hiking trip for three months. When Gabriella stormed off into the woods it becomes clear that she is ending the relationship, however, the accident that happened to Liam just after she stormed off made it hard for her to leave him because of his condition, it would make her seem superficial because Liam would think she is breaking up with him because he looks worse: â€Å"She knows in her bones that she can manage this way, for the rest of the rest of the afternoon, at least† (Helgason 7).Another example of suffering and loss in Bluffing is when Liam is unfortunately attacked by a grizzly and receives many injuries to his body and also to his face. Liam has to suffer with this immense amount of physical pain. Liam’s confidence may also be lower due to his â€Å"puffed up [skin], mottled, with ridges of shiny, rubbery scar tissue†(Helgason 7) whi ch may cause depression because he doesn’t want anyone to see him the way his is now, looking worse than before. We cannot allow breaking up with our partner or physical pain to affect us negatively for too long because these are both natural incidents of human life.Second of all, dealing with the death of a loved one is often the most amount of emotional pain someone can experience in a lifetime, also not knowing if you will ever see a loved one can also cause depression. In the short story Two Words Belisa Crepusculario lives an impoverished lifestyle where her â€Å"family is so poor they did not even have names to give their children†¦and [she] grew up in an inhospitable land† (Allende 1) making it hard for the Crepusculario family to survive.Tragically, Belisa had to bury four younger brothers and sisters. This is most likely the most horrifying incident Belisa will experience in her life time and what made it worse is that they were all very young. Surely, B elisa did a lot of grieving but she overcame her emotional pain and set out on a journey for a positive life. She became widely popular and respected across the country even catching the attention of the Colonel for her incredible skill with words. She enjoys her profession and the new life she has begun.This story of Belisa’s misfortune is a great lesson of human life because we cannot allow the grieving of a loved one’s death to control the rest of our lives, the same way Belisa beats the odds and begins a positive life: â€Å"There were few occupations she was qualified for. It seemed that selling words would be an honourable alternative† (Allende 3). The next example of suffering and loss in Two Words is when Belisa tells the colonel the secret words and they control his mind at an important point in his career: â€Å"Those two words that were buried like two daggers in his gut† (Allende 7).This shows loss because the Colonel is unable to think straig ht because of his love for Belisa after she tells him the two words. He doesn’t know if he will ever see her again and he is constantly worried about that. This shows us how not being able to see someone you love can affect you negatively. In two words Belisa’s grieving of her siblings and the love between Belisa and the Colonel are two examples that show us how to deal with suffering and loss.Not being able to see a family member or friend is similar to losing someone, however, we still have hope that we will one day meet them again, and being forced to change your lifestyle can cause suffering. In The Indisputable Weight of the Ocean a â€Å"little gentleman† by the name of Edmund Kelley has a father who is a mystery to him. The author explains, â€Å"For as long as he could remember, it had just been the two of them† (Berger 1). Since Edmund is an incredibly intelligent ten year old he has surely wondered if his father is actually just away for work fo r so many years.His father being away for so long makes Edmund feel as though he has lost him, however, he still has hope that one day his father will return, therefore he does not grieve like he would if he found out that his father is dead. The next example of suffering in the short story is not between two or more humans, it is between Edmund and his changing life. To Edmunds disappointment he and his mom have to leave their isolated lives on the acreage and move to a more populated suburban area.Since Edmund is anti-social towards children his own age it is hard for him to be around them all the time: â€Å"Edmund did not have much use for other children. The only time he saw any was when they went into town for groceries, and what he saw he did not like† (Berger 1). Edmund notices that his mother is only searching for a better life for the both of them: â€Å"Edmund was not without consideration for his mom. And because he did not want to be an extra burden on her, he t ried to cope with his new situation† (Berger 2). He tried his hardest to never complain about the suffering he is going through.In these two examples from this short story we learn how to deal with not being able to see a loved one and not knowing when or if you will see them again, and we learn how to cope with new situations that often occur in one’s life. Overall, some of the characters in the three short stories all have to face suffering and/or loss in a variety of ways. All the different situations teach us how to deal with these real life experiences so that suffering and loss doesn’t affect the rest of our lives negatively. We learn how to deal with a deteriorating relationship and physical pain from accidents.We also learn how to deal with the emotional pain of a deceased loved one and not knowing if you will ever see someone you fell in love with. The last two situations we learn how to deal with are, not being able to see a family member for a long tim e and the suffering of changing your lifestyle or where you live. Instead of learning from our own mistakes like we are always told to do when we’re growing up, stories allow us to never make those mistakes ourselves, but learn from the mistakes that the characters have made.

Management Information Systems Essay

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