STRATEGIC SUPPLY CHAIN AND LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT Essay

STRATEGIC SUPPLY CHAIN AND LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT - Essay Example p.141.). An organization with strong supply chain integration can easily achieve competitive advantage resulting in efficient performance of the operational activities. According to Dolgui and Proth, â€Å"a supply chain is a global network of organizations that cooperate to improve the flaws of material and information between suppliers and customers at the lowest cost with the highest speed† (Dolgui and Proth, (2010), p.113). The primary objective of supply chain management is to provide high satisfaction to the customer group through effective operational processes. The task of managing efficient supply chain for meeting its objectives is known as supply chain management (SCM). Monezka and colleagues defined SCM as a concept â€Å"whose primary objective is to integrate and manage the sourcing, flow, and control of materials using a total system perspective across multiple functions and multiple tiers of suppliers† (Mentzer, 2001, p.8). Retail market is a service industry where finished goods are sold to the final consumers. The core operational activity of a retailer is to provide service to customers by selling products manufactured by different organizations. Therefore, in retailing business, the activities related to supply chain are of paramount importance. Hence, managing supply chain in retail business is more challenging as it determines the level of consumer satisfaction. The primary objective of this paper is to analyze the supply chain related issues of the supermarket and to develop a relevant and valid supply chain management for retailing business. The SWOT analysis of supermarket will help to realize its current position for framing its supply chain model. In order to support the proposal, two relevant research papers related to supply chain will be explained. Finally, the paper will be concluded by offering valid recommendations on the basis of the analyses and

A survey on knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of young adults about Essay

A survey on knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of young adults about health promotion and heart disease - Essay Example The study can also include the Preventive Medicine Attitudes and Activities Questionnaire (PMAAQ). Survey type research studies usually have larger samples because the percentage of responses generally happens to be low. Thus, the survey method gathers data from a relatively large number of cases at a particular time. The degree of precision increases if the sample size is larger and decreases if the sample size is smaller. Power analysis helps to determine the sample size. About 500 subjects can be included for this study. Purpose of this research is to explore the young adults' knowledge, attitudes and behavior about health promotion and heart disease. In health and human development, young adulthood is considered to be the stage between adolescence and adulthood, roughly ages 16 to 30. Literatures show that generally young adults had a poor degree of knowledge and poor health behavior related to heart disease. The study participants will be administered with a structured questionnaire. Otherwise, the questionnaire can be mailed to the respondents with a request to return after completing the same. The participants are informed to answer all the questions.

Main problem of House of Lords

Main problem of House of Lords The cure for admiring the House of Lords was to go and look at it[1] recalled Walter Bagehot in 1867. The problems associated with the upper house have undergone three periods of reform since that time, with regard to both its powers and its composition. The two are, of course, interconnected but composition is perhaps the more fundamental of the two, since the composition of the Lords, and therefore its perceived degree of democratic legitimacy, largely determines the power it should legitimately wield. One therefore needs to examine the problems created by the current composition of the Lords, and to evaluate whether there exists a more preferable alternative to the status quo. Yet in order to do that, it is necessary to determine what role the House of Lords should fulfil in the political process. The role of the second chamber in a bicameral legislature varies from country to country, but in the UK the House of Lords should seek to fulfil three separate constitutional functions. Firstly, it should act as a delaying device on government legislation. This is not to say it should always seek to amend, or even reject, proposals that arrive from the lower house, but rather it should simply offer an opportunity of time for the public to become aware of the proposals and their consequences, as well as permitting various interest groups the time to reflect and to mobilise their lobbies in response to any objections they might seek to raise. Lastly, as Archer argues succinctly, such a delaying function as fulfilled by the Lords protects the law from an ephemeral rush to judgement in response to a particular dramatic event[2]. The second role that the House of Lords should undertake is to scrutinise government legislative proposals in more detail than is currently achieved by the House of Commons or its standing committees. Evidence suggests that such standing committees are sparsely attended and frequently omit large sections of a given bill from detailed examination[3], and therefore the Lords fulfil a vital role in ensuring that the legislative program is thoroughly examined. As a result of the Life Peerages Act of 1957, it is now not unreasonable to argue that the Lords is more abundantly equipped with technical expertise than the lower chamber and, as such, bills may be improved by revision. This is particularly necessary where proposals have been subjected in the Commons to amendments drafted in haste by government ministers, in response to criticisms and compromises from both MPs and outside interest groups. This charge of rapidly imposing an ill-thought-out legislative agenda is one that is frequen tly levelled at the New Labour government, whose ambitions have led to an unprecedented number of new bills being forced through Parliament across different parliamentary sessions. Finally, the upper chamber must seek to protect those constitutional principles which are fundamental to our democracy. The Parliament Act of 1911 removed the absolute veto over legislation which the Lords had previously enjoyed, entirely deprived the Lords of its powers over any bill certified by the Speaker as a money bill and introduced the idea of a suspensory veto whereby any law passed in three (later two post 1949) successive sessions would receive Royal Assent regardless of Lords objections. Yet the Lords continue to retain certain absolute powers. Perhaps most importantly, it remains able to reject any bills proposing to extend the life of Parliament beyond the statutory five years. In addition to this fundamental right, the House of Lords consent is required by a government seeking the dismissal of a High Court judge, Appeal Court judge or a judge of the new Supreme Court. The upper chamber thus offers some protection against a government seeking to subvert either the elect oral or the judicial process. This function of constitutional protection, although limited, is nevertheless of great importance, since Britain lacks a codified constitution guaranteeing regular elections and the independence of the judiciary. Without the House of Lords therefore, there would be a dangerous gap in the political system; it is the only body which can prevent a transient majority in the House of Commons from extending its own life or dismissing a judge whom the government finds inconvenient. In order to fulfil these roles effectively, Alexandra Kelso[4] argues that any upper chamber in a liberal democracy must be considered legitimate. In order to be legitimate, she argues that the chamber must have input legitimacy, and output legitimacy. The former stems from the control exercised by the public in determining [the chambers] nature and composition, while the latter concerns the degree to which the institution performs its particular functions within the broader political system and meets the needs of the public (ie, those requirements detailed in the three roles listed previously). Clearly, the House of Lords in its present state, having undergone the reforms of 1999, suffers from input illegitimacy. Despite the removal of the vast majority of hereditary peers, that 92 still retain their seats in the upper chamber must strike any impartial observer as an anomaly; no modern day parliamentary system can claim democratic legitimacy at a time when members of the legislature owe their positions to an accident of birth. There are arguments proposed in their defence which insist that by virtue of their entrenched positions, they are less likely to be affected by short-term political decisions and as such can propose solutions which are of benefit to the country in the long term. Yet such problems are already resolved by the Life Peerages Act of 1957, which allowed government to nominate life peers who would be as equally unaffected by such short-term thinking. Hereditary peers were evidently aware of their limited legitimacy in objecting to legislation emanating from a democratically elected chamber, for the frequency of rebellion against the commons prior to 1999 was relatively low. However, since their removal, the propensity of the upper chamber to reject both bills and amendments has markedly increased, as the newly reformed house clearly now sees itself as more democratically legitimate. According to the Constitution Unit at University College, Lond on, the Lords rejected clauses put forward by the commons a total of more than 350 times in between 1999 and 2007[5]. Furthermore, a vote to oppose government legislation cannot be carried by one party alone anymore in the way that it could when the Conservatives enjoyed a majority in the Lords; the upper houses verdicts nowadays, therefore, carry more weight. Around 40% of the defeats that the government has suffered since 1999 have been accepted by the government[6]. Further input illegitimacy could also be argued to be evident in the right of Church of England officials to sit in the Lords. The objection is straightforward: why should the claim of the church to representation be greater than that of any other interest group? In an increasingly secular age, it is persuasive to argue that no religious group should be entitled to such representation. Alternatively, were one to reject such secular reasoning, then one must accept that provision should also be made for the representation of other churches and religions. How, then, to solve the problem of input illegitimacy? The Royal Commission on Reform for the House of Lords was required, by its terms of reference, to have regard to the need to maintain the position of the House of Commons as the pre-eminent chamber of Parliament'[7]. This essay wholeheartedly agrees with this principle, but in so doing seeks to argue that as a direct result of this term of reference, the upper chamber cannot include any representatives that are directly elected. This does not necessarily compromise Kelsos input legitimacy requirement however, providing that one were to accept that representatives are still democratically legitimate even if not elected directly. If the upper house were to be 100% appointed by party leaders and the crossbench peers by the Independent Appointments Commission, the make-up of which lies in the hands of democratically elected leaders in the House of Commons, then input legitimacy could be maintained. The principle that no party should gain an overall majority should also be retained. Furthermore, peers that were appointed for the express purpose of fulfilling a government role, such as Lord Adonis or Lord Sugar, should relinquish their seats in the upper house when their services are no longer required in the role for which they were appointed. Should they feel that they are able to offer further service to Parliament, they could request their names be put forward for a more permanent position by the party leaders, or else hope to be nominated by the Appointments Commission. It is of course tempting to argue for an elected element to the upper chamber, but one quickly falls into the traps illustrated by Bogdanor[8]: briefly, a fully or majority elected chamber risks being more legitimate than the House of Commons, both as a result of the electoral system used, the terms of representation and timing of an election; furthermore, such a chamber would also suffer from the lack of technical expertise that so helps the current House of Lords hold the Commons and government legislation to account; a minority elected chamber risks subsiding into a two-tier chamber, whereby it might be felt that democratically elected representatives have a higher degree of legitimacy than their appointed counterparts. This essay maintains therefore that the only attractive option for House of Lords reform is to maintain a 100% appointed chamber, while removing any remaining hereditary peers, as well as those representing the Church of England, from the chamber. Having made a proposition as to the most preferable composition of the Lords, and argued that it confers to Kelsos definition of input legitimacy, one must proceed to output legitimacy, and examine the case for reform with regard to the powers of the upper house. In order to justify reform from the status quo, one must persuasively argue that an upper chamber formed along the lines outlined above either would not have sufficient power to fulfil the roles expected of it, or else so much power as to lead to a danger of the Lords becoming more powerful than the Commons. The reformed, more-legitimate Lords would be able to continue to delay legislation, although it is important that its powers remain limited to a suspensory veto. The directly elected house must never be perpetually constrained by one which is not directly elected. Secondly, a house which is 100% appointed, with a greater number of cross-bench peers, would be able to fulfil the second function, scrutiny of government legi slation, to a higher standard than before. Given that the suspensory veto would be maintained, this too is a positive step which would not grant the Lords undue power. Finally, providing that the current absolute rights of the Lords are maintained, the upper chamber would be able to continue to fulfil its final constitutional role. Output legitimacy is maintained. The composition of the upper house will always have a direct result on the legitimate use of its powers. The current House of Lords lacks input legitimacy as a result of the continued presence of both hereditary peers and representatives of the Church of England. Furthermore, the gift of a life peerage allows recipients to act largely with impunity, while the House is also in danger of becoming a graveyard of ex-government employees. The introduction of a term limit could solve the first problem, while forcing government ministers in the Lords to stand down following completion of their role could solve the second. By only slightly amending the Lords composition, then, one can confer input legitimacy House of Lords, which would in turn make the use of the powers of the House, already sufficient for the completion of its constitutional duties, both more effective and more legitimate. Lords Save Us, The Economist, 2002 P Archer, The House of Lords, Past, Present Future, Political Quarterly 1999 P Dorey, 1949, 1969, 1999: The Labour Party and the House of Lords Reform, Parliamentary Affairs 2006 A Kelso, Reforming the House of Lords, Parliamentary Affairs 2006 House of Lords: post-reform, Constitution Unit, University College London, 2007 V Bogdanor, The New British Constitution, 2009 A House for the Future: Report from the Royal Commission on Reform of the House of Lords, HMSO, 2000 V Bogdanor, Reform of the House of Lords: A Sceptical View, Political Quarterly 1999.

Ins And Outs Of Surfing :: essays research papers

Surfing has been around for many years, in fact since 400 A.D and people are still going hard at it today and will for many more years to come. The very first surfers were the Island folk who would use the waves to get over the coral reefs and back to shore after their hard days of fishing. They found that this was the easiest and quickest way of transport over the reefs so they continued to do it for many years. As time went on the art of riding waves then developed into more of a “leisure sport'; than that of being a part of work. The first actual surfboarders originated in the 1920’s where they rode large redwood planks that weighed around 126 pounds. As technology developed the boards became shorter, lighter and became better designed. The next surfboards to follow were made in the 1950’s, this time the boards where made of balsa wood and then covered in a layer of fiberglass, these boards reached a length of about 9-10 feet long. In the 1960’s the long board was introduced and was made of Styrofoam and again, covered in fiberglass. In the 70’s the short board took over, which had a similar design to the long boards but were only around 6 foot in length. These proved to be very popular due to their faster speeds and easier maneuverability. Some of the people of today are still using the old fashioned long board, but as you would expect the design has changed significantly and they come in a few different lengths. Now the sport of surfing has grown into a worldwide attraction and people are surfing in basically every country that has a coastline, even Alaska, as showed in the surf film “Endless Summer II.'; Nowadays people are taking to waves in all sorts of weird things, such as Kneeboards, Body boards, Kayaks and many other weird and wonderful things. A few of the really dedicated surfers, and those that can afford to, will spend some of their time travelling the world trying to find their own perfect wave. Some of the lucky ones will actually find one. But now that we have all different types of boards peoples opinion of their perfect wave has changed to adapt to their type of board. As in the 60’s a perfect wave was a point break like Malibu, but also today’s people are surfing in all kinds of different places with different conditions, which also changes opinions.

The Air Traffic Controllers Strike of 1981

In this study, I intend to provide an overview of the air traffic controllers' strike that occurred in 1981. This strike came at the peak of increased tension between the air traffic controllers union, PATCO, and the FAA, a federal agency charged with overseeing the management of all civil air flights. The strike occurred on August 3, 1981. On that day, approximately 12,000 air traffic controllers went on strike, effectively crippling the civil air industry. As members of PATCO, these individuals certainly felt they had the right to strike; however, under the terms of certain laws affecting federal employees, the air traffic controllers, in fact, did not have this right. As a result, President Reagan immediately threatened that any air traffic controller not back at work within 48 hours of the start of the strike would lost his or her job. Three days later, the FAA issued 12,000 dismissal notices and the strike officially came to an end (Spector, 1982, p. ). Of particular interest to me is not only the details and particulars of this strike, but also the structural circumstances that precipitated it and why compensation negotiations were ineffectual. Therefore, I will focus the remainder of this overview on several key points: the internal and external environmental forces that led to the strike, specific human resources issues that made air traffic controllers apt to strike, and a review of the negotiation process and the failed proposals on both sides. In the course of this evaluation, I will discuss some of the major players in the strike, analyze some of the fundamental causes of this strike, and even present at least one alternative solution that was proposed at the time and should have probably been implemented without fail. In this, I intend to illustrate the nature of the air traffic controllers' strike of 1981 and the factors that made it all but inevitable. To begin with, let's consider some of the major players who were involved in the air traffic controllers' strike. First, there is the FAA. This is the federal agency that was established in 1958 to manage all civilian air flights in the United States. At the time of the strike, all air traffic controllers in the United States were trained, certified, and employed by the FAA (Spector, 1982, p. 1). In other words, the FAA had a literal stranglehold on the market for air traffic controllers in the United States. To work in the United States as an air traffic controller, thus, meant that one had to work with the FAA and abide by their prescriptions for how air traffic controllers should be employed. Second, we should consider PATCO, or the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization. This group was affiliated with the AFL-CIO and was created in 1968. It was, in short, a union of air traffic controllers. During the 1970s, in particular, PATCO grew at a tremendous rate (Spector, 1982, p. 2). By the time the potential strike rolled around, most of the air traffic controllers in the United States were members of PATCO. Third, we should consider the head of PATCO, the man who lead the organization down the more militant path towards strike and whose ultimate negotiations with the FAA would precipitate the strike in the first place. Robert Poll took the reins at PATCO in 1980, partially in response to attitudes within the organization that felt a more aggressive stance was needed towards the FAA on the part of unionized air traffic controllers (Spector, 1982, p. 2). In this context, we can see that Poll and PATCO were immediately at odds with the FAA, which as an organization naturally wanted to maintain its monopolistic control over the supply of air traffic controllers. The conflict between the two primary players in this strike-the FAA and PATCO-was only exasperated by certain pieces of federal legislation that prohibited federal employees from using strikes, sit-ins, or work slow downs to affect changes in their employment status. Legislation such as the Federal Relations Labor act prevented federal unionized employees to use their union status for anything other than collective bargaining (Spector, 1982, p. 2). This structural component of the issue further tied the figurative hands of PATCO and the air traffic controllers. It may even have precipitated a strike if the air traffic controllers felt cornered and desperate in their dealings with the FAA. If the air traffic controllers did not think there was any possibility of seeing their demands met-and how could they, if they were not permitted to use the threat of a strike? -then it is possible that they would have instigated the strike in desperation. There were a number of other issues that certainly led to a strike-style conflict between the FAA and PATCO. For example, of the 17,275 air traffic controllers employed in July 1981, all had to take part in a seventeen-week training course and then participate in on-the-job training for an additional two to four years. The FAA estimated that the total cost of training an air traffic controller amounted to $175,000 (Spector, 1982, p. 4). From the perspective of the FAA, labor negotiations were unlikely to result in higher pay rates or other forms of compensation. From the federal perspective, a significant amount of money had already been invested in these individuals; more was not a viable option. For the air traffic controllers, however, increased pay was the least of their concerns. As air traffic controllers knew all too well, the job of managing dozens of aircraft from the ground simultaneously was not easy. When PATCO went to the negotiation table with the FAA prior to the strike, they listed a number of concerns and problems that they wanted to see corrected. These included, but were not limited to, the following. One, PATCO was concerned about access. The FAA gave unfettered access to airports at any time, to anyone. The result was extremes of traffic during peak and off hours of the day or week. PATCO also cited poor supervision from individuals who were often paid more than the air traffic controllers to do nothing more than shift paperwork around. Safety responsibility was also a concern-given the demands of the job and the life-or-death nature of it, some air traffic controllers felt that there should be a better system of managing and accepting responsibility. Finally, the air traffic controllers were concerned about their pay scale, especially lost overtime hours according to federal mandate (Spector, 1982, p. 10-11). Salaries for air traffic controllers were reasonable for the period, however some federal regulations placed a cap on the amount that any individual could earn as a federal employee. Additionally, limitations were made regarding the amount of pay that could be awarded during any two week period, regardless of hours worked. This fact, combined with the extremely stressful nature of the job, upset many at PATCO (Spector, 1982, p. 4,6). The fact that the FAA rated as one of the poorest employers of air traffic controllers worldwide in terms of hours worked per week, vacation days, and sick leave only made matters worse (Spector, 1982, p. 5). Thus, when the FAA and PATCO went to the negotiation table in the days and weeks preceding the strike on August 3, there were a number of issues that had to be resolved between them. The air traffic controllers felt overworked, overstressed, and under appreciated in general. The FAA felt that it had the upper hand because the air traffic controllers were unable, by federal law, to go on strike. For this reason, the eventual strike-in hindsight-seems all but inevitable. In fact, the assumption that the FAA had the upper hand in the negotiations may have led directly to their counter offer which was much more conservative than the original PATCO demands. PATCO wanted an increase in salaries, a new maximum salary limit, a reduction in the work week, earlier retirement benefits, and cost of living adjustments to be made twice a year. The FAA negotiator, John Helms, estimated that this package would cost the government around $744 million the first year. He countered with a proposal that would only cost $40 million the first year, but which was a significantly watered down version of PATCO demands (Spector, 1982, p. 10). The union rejected this offer and went back to the negotiation table. When the second counter offer from the FAA was also not to their liking, they voted 95% in favor of going on strike (Spector, 1982, p. 11). The consequent strike on August 3, 1981 cost most of PATCO members their jobs and ended up costing the aviation industry, as well as associated industries such as tourism and hotels, millions of dollars in lost profits. Given these myriad environmental forces, symptoms and causes, and the inherent conflict between the FAA and PATCO, it is little wonder that a strike was the ultimate result between the negotiations between the FAA and PATCO. But what might have been done differently, what other solution might have worked in the past to alleviate the problems that occurred? For an answer I turn to Lane Kirkland of the AFL-CIO who said at the time, â€Å"The air traffic control system is a purely subsidized service the government is providing for the private airline industry. Under the Reagan doctrine of getting the government off people's backs, you'd think they might try to turn the whole thing over to the industry to run instead of using the might and majesty of the government to suppress a strike† (Spector, 1982, p. 4). In fact, this is exactly the solution that I would have suggested at the time and would advocate today as a solution to the mess that the FAA found itself in in 1981. If the FAA had been privatized, the concerns and issues that air traffic controllers were having could have been easily resolved between PATCO and the airline industry, in whose best interest it would have been to resolve the matter to keep planes in the air and profits in the black. Instead, the government used an ineffective law to force almost 12,000 people out of work who were simply trying to use the power of the strike to leverage themselves better working conditions. Especially when we consider the magnitude of the job that air traffic controllers did (and do) and the safety of countless lives that could have been at stake, it is even amazing that the government responded to the legitimate concerns of air traffic controllers in the way that it did.

MOving About

Inertia is a property of matter that causes it to resist changes in velocity (speed and/or direction) (Rouse, 2005). Basically Inertia is a word we use when we talk about matter and movement (Unknown Author, Unknown Date). This idea goes all the way back to Sir Isaac Newton, a great physicist. In Newton's first law of motion it is stated that: 1 . An object at rests tends to stay in rest 2. An object in motion tends to stay in motion A great example of inertia would be if a car is driven directly into a brick wall, the car would stop because of the external force which is exerted upon by the wall.The driver requires a force to stop his body from moving forward, this can be prevented by a settable, or otherwise inertia will cause his body to keep moving forward until his body is acted upon by the same force. Newton's First Law: Newton's First Law of Motion states that â€Å"Every object continues in its state of rest or uniform motion unless made to change by a non-zero net force. â €  This law says if an object is accelerating, that is it experiencing a change on velocity, and then an unbalanced (or resultant or net) force must be acting upon it (Warren, N, 2004).From his law we can conclude that forces cause changes in motion (that is, accelerations)- they do not cause motion (Warren, N, 2004). . Newton's First Law, Image Courtesy by: Revision World Newton's first law is not apparent in real world situations because there are usually too many external forces acting upon objects on the Earth's surface. Common experience does not always seem to be in agreement with this law (Warren, N, 2004). A driver of a car on a level road for example, still needs to press the accelerator to move at a constant speed (Warren, N, 2004). Why does the car not accelerate?The season, of course, is that friction exists between the car and the road (Warren, N, 2004). Hence the forces in this case are balanced and so the law is valid (Warren, N, 2004). To accelerate the car, we ne ed to apply an unbalanced force, that is, press the accelerator more (Warren, N, 2004). Low Speed zone, Road Rules and Safety devices: In recent years many local councils have introduced lower speed limits and placed speed humps in streets to reduce the speed of cars (Warren, N, 2004). Evidence shows, and physics dictates, that slower moving cars cause less damage to occupants if a crash results (Warren, N, 2004).The speed humps makes it difficult for drivers to speed since they would damage their cars if they hit humps too fast (Warren, N, 2004). Low Speed zones are in place because, the lower your velocity, the less momentum you have and the quicker you can stop (Unknown Author, 2007). Low speed zones keep the risk of major damage to a minimum by decreasing the momentum of cars (Indri, U, 2011). Momentum increases with both velocity and mass, as shown in the equation (Indri, U, 2011). It is important to keep momentum low because in the equation, as the momentum (P) increases, so d oes the impact force (F) (Indri, U, 2011).Therefore lower speed zones also allow for a shorter stopping distance, reducing speed decreases the chance of a collision to take place, by decreasing the stopping distance and lowering momentum (Indri, U, 2011). Modern cars are built with many safety devices including: 1 . Seat Belts 2. Airbags 3. Crumple Zones Each of these devices works by effectively increasing the over which passengers are brought to rest in the event of collision (Warren, N, 2004). Air Bags and Crumple Zones both increase the stopping distance of a vehicle.Relating back to Impulse = Force X Distance, If the distance is increased, the force is lower, this reduces the ores put on the vehicle, and the occupants inside it (Unknown Author, 2007). Seat Belts: (Explain in terms of inertia) In 1948 Tucker cars became the first car company to include seat belts, prior to which even minor motor vehicle accidents could cause serious injury (Marshal and Gibson lawyers, 2012). In 1968, the United States was the first country in the world to make it a legal requirement that all new cars have seat belts (Marshal and Gibson lawyers, 2012).A seat belt is a safety harness designed to secure the occupant of a vehicle against harmful movement that may result from a collision (Indri, U, 2011). As part of an overall occupant restraint system, seat belts are intended to reduce injuries by stopping the wearer from hitting hard interior elements of the vehicle or other passengers and by preventing the passenger from being thrown from the vehicle (Indri, U, 2011). Most seat belts are equipped with locking mechanisms (or inertia reels) that tighten the belt when pulled fast (e. G. Y the quick force of a passenger's body during a crash) but do not tighten when pulled slowly (Indri, U, 2011). This is implemented with a centrifugal clutch, which engages as the reel spins quickly (Indri, U, 2011). Alternatively, this function may be secured by a weighted pendulum or ball bear ing: when these are deflected by deceleration or roll-over they lock into pawls on the reel (Indri, U, 2011). There are three types of inertia reel seat belts: 1. NIL-(No Locking Retractor) 2. LEER V-(Emergency Locking Retractor-vehicle sensitive) 3.LEER M-(Emergency Locking Retractor-vehicle and Webbing sensitive) Air bags: Hitcher, a retired industrial engineering technician, received a patent in 1953 for what he called a â€Å"safety cushion assembly for automotive vehicles (McCormick, L, 2006). † His U. S. Patent No. As the first prototype for today's modern airbags (McCormick, L, 2006). Hitcher designed the system to reduce injuries during emergency braking and frontal collisions, according to a story in American Heritage about his invention (McCormick, L, 2006).In that story, Hitcher recalled the inspiration for his invention: â€Å"In the spring of '52, my wife, my seven-year-old daughter, Joan, and I were out for a Sunday drive in our 1948 Chrysler Windsor (McCormick , L, 2006). About three miles outside Newport, we were watching for deer bounding across the road (McCormick, L, 2006). Suddenly, there was a large rock in our path, Just past the crest of a hill (McCormick, L, 2006). I remember hitting the brakes and veering the car to the right (McCormick, L, 2006). We went into the ditch but avoided hitting both a tree and a wooden fence (McCormick, L, 2006). As I applied the brakes, both my wife and I threw our hands up to keep our daughter from hitting the dashboard during the ride home, I couldn't stop thinking about the accident (McCormick, L, 2006). I asked myself: Why couldn't some object come out to stop you from striking the inside of the car? (McCormick, L, 2006)† When he returned home, Hitcher started sketching designs for his â€Å"safety cushion. McCormick, L, 2006)† The primary purpose of the airbag is to slow the passenger's speed to zero with little or no damage (Indri, U, 2011). The constraints that it has to work wit hin are huge (Indri, U, 2011).The airbag has the space between the passenger and the steering wheel or dashboard and a fraction of a second to work with (Indri, U, 2011). Even that tiny amount of space and time is valuable, however, if the system can slow the passenger evenly rather than forcing an abrupt halt to his or her motion (Indri, U, 2011). There are three parts to an airbag that help to accomplish this feat: 1 . Air Bag: The bag itself is made of a thin, nylon fabric, which is folded into the steering wheel or dashboard or, more recently, the seat or door. . Crash Sensors: These small pieces of electronics are designed to tell when the vehicle has been damaged in an accident (Cars Direct, 2013). They respond to several different sets of stimuli, including sudden stopping, increased pressure as pieces of the car are moved due to the force of the collision, and more (Cars Direct, 2013). A mechanical switch is flipped when there is a mass shift that closes an electrical contac t, telling the sensors that a crash has occurred (Indri, U, 2011).The sensors receive information from an accelerometer built into a microchip (Indri, U, 2011). According to an engineering study and airbag can be deploy in 55 milliseconds. 3. Inflators: Once the control unit determines there is an accident, it sends a signal to the inflator system (Cars Direct, 2013). The inflator sets off a chemical charge, producing an explosion of nitrogen gas, filling up the airbag (Cars Direct, 2013). As the airbag fills up, it bursts through the paneling that contains it and enters into the space of the car in order to protect you (Cars Direct, 2013).Thus the use of the airbag decreases the overall force that is applied on the passenger resulting in less serious injuries and thus saves lives (Indri, U, 2011). . Impact Triggers Air Bag Inflation, Image Courtesy: Stephen Ramp Crumple Zones: The concept of the crumple zone safety feature was first used by the Mercedes-Benz engineer Bella Barrens on the 1959 model Mercedes-Benz â€Å"Fantail† (Rive, M, Unknown Year). This innovation was first patented by Mercedes-Benz in the early sass (Rive, M, Unknown Year). The patent was then granted as patent number 854157, minion (Rive, M, Unknown Year).A crumple zone is an area of the vehicle that is designed to change shape on impact with another object at high speed (Graininess, E, 2008). This is in order to redistribute the force exerted on the vehicle so that the driver remains relatively unharmed (Graininess, E, 2008). This is achieved by crafting the front and rear of the vehicle from a material that is designed to bend or collapse into itself upon impact (Graininess, E, 2008). Often, engineers will have to compromise between using a material that offers too little resistance to force and too great a resistance to force (Graininess, E, 2008).The best way to reduce the initial force in a crash with a given amount of mass and speed is to slow down the deceleration (Indri, U , 2011). You've seen this effect for yourself if you've had to slam on your brakes for any reason (Indri, U, 2011). The forces you experience in an emergency stop are much greater than when you gradually slow down for a stoplight (Indri, U, 2011). In a collision, slowing down the deceleration by even a few tenths off second can create a drastic reduction in the force involved (Indri, U, 2011). . The crumple zones and the passenger section of a car, Image Courtesy By:Mechanics Momentum In the equation Force = mass X acceleration (F=M x A), cutting the deceleration in half also cuts the force in half therefore, changing the deceleration time from . 2 seconds to . 8 seconds will result in a 75 percent reduction in total force (Graininess, E, 2008). Crumple zones accomplish this by creating a buffer zone around the perimeter of the car (Graininess, E, 2008). Certain parts of a car are inherently rigid and resistant to deforming, such as the passenger compartment and the engine (Grainine ss, E, 2008).If those rigid parts hit something, they will decelerate very quickly, resulting in a lot of force (Graininess, E, 2008). Surrounding those parts with crumple zones allows the less rigid materials to take the initial impact (Graininess, E, 2008). The car begins decelerating as soon as the crumple zone starts crumpling, extending the deceleration over a few extra tenths of a second (Graininess, E, 2008). The fundamental idea is that it takes force to damage them. Crumple zones spend as much force as possible so that other parts of the car as well as the occupants don't suffer the effects (Indri, U, 2011).Effectiveness of Safety Devices: Seat Belts: Wearing a seat belt is one of easiest ways of protecting drivers and passengers when traveling in a vehicle (Western Australia Government, 2014). Seat belts protect vehicle occupants by decreasing the time it takes them to come to a stop in a crash, spreads the impact force over a greater area of the body, minimizes contact wi th the interior of the vehicle and helps stop them from being ejected from the vehicle (Western Australia Government, 2014). Failure to wear a seat belt contributes to more fatalities than any other single traffic safety-related behavior (Indri, U, 2011). % of people killed in accidents are not wearing seat belts (Indri, U, 2011). Wearing a seat belt use is still the single most effective thing we can do to protect ourselves in case of an accident (Indri, U, 2011). . Seat Belts, Image Courtesy By: Tableaus Seat belts are the most effective safety devices in vehicles today, estimated to save 9,500 lives each year (Indri, U, 2011). Yet only 68 percent of the motor vehicle occupants are buckled. In 1996, more than 60 percent of the occupants killed in fatal crashes were unrestrained (Indri, U, 2011). . Fatalities where NV Occupant was Unrestrained, Image Courtesy By: AustralianGovernment As you can see from the graph above after 2007 number of fatalities who were unrestrained have decr eased over the year. This is because more effective laws came in and police patrol on roads also increased over the years. Our better understanding of safety of devices such as seat belts has also played a major part. Statistically, individuals who are in accidents that have manufacturer- installed airbags and who properly wear their seat belts have a better chance of making it out of a serious accident without serious injuries (Safer, 2006).Crumple Zones: In a typical crash scenario, the crumple zone effectively redistributes the force of impact on the vehicle, leaving the ‘safety cell' intact whilst the front or rear of the vehicle is completely deformed (Car Safety Systems and Unknown Date). This means that the crumple zone is working correctly (Car Safety Systems and Unknown Date). However, crumple zones are designed to work in tandem with the additional safety features of a modern vehicle, such as the airbags, settable and collapsible steering column (Car Safety Systems a nd Unknown Date). Crumple Zones, Image Courtesy sys; ‘(21968 Crumple zones allow the front of the vehicle to crush like an accordion, absorbing some of the impact of the collision and giving some off in the form of heat and sound (K-12 School Websites, 2006). The front of the vehicle effectively acts as a cushion that slows the time it takes for the vehicle to come to a complete stop, applying less force on passengers, which could help save their lives (K-12 School Web Pages, 2006).Newton's second law of motion, force = mass x acceleration, conveys that as the time it takes for an automobile to come to rest or change direction is increased, the force experienced by the automobile (and its occupants) is decreased (Erickson, Christopher, 2006). Conversely too, if the time to stop is shorter, the force experienced is greater (Erickson, Christopher, 2006). Crumple zones add time to the crash by absorbing energy (Erickson, Christopher, 2006).Air Bags: In Australia during 1997, the then Federal Office of Road Safety collaborated with UNCAP on a consumer information program comparing the injury outcome of a series of vehicle models with and without airbags (RACE, Unknown Date). The first release covered larger passenger cars that are popular with families and fleet buyers (RACE, Unknown Date). The test results showed that an airbag halves the chance of suffering a serious head injury (RACE, Unknown Date). A second series looked at the small car group which are very popular with private and first-time new car buyers (RACE, Unknown Date).Again the test results showed that an airbag at least halved the chance of suffering a serious head injury (RACE, Unknown Date). . Airbags, Image Courtesy By: Sally Dominique A recent US study has shown side airbags also to be highly effective in reducing the risk of serious injury or death, particularly those that include head protection. Previous research has shown that the installation of air bags in vehicles significantly red uces crash related deaths, but these analyses have used statistical techniques which have not been capable of controlling for other major determinants of crash survival (Barry, S, Gimping, S, O'Neill, T, 1999).Loose Objects in Cars: Every year, loose objects inside cars during crashes cause hundreds of serious injuries and even deaths (Abraham', D, Wesleyan, M, Lamar, A, 2011). Recent studies have shown that many drivers are increasing the risk of injury or death in automobile accidents by leaving items unsecured (Grubber, D, 2012). The potential angers of loose objects in vehicles are strongly associated with Newton's First Law of Motion, inertia (Cantina, 2005). For example, say a car is traveling along a straight road (Cantina, 2005).Loose objects in the auto are â€Å"acted upon† by the body, seats, or some other part of the vehicle (whatever is touching a loose object), whenever the car accelerates (Cantina, 2005). Let's say we stop the car instantaneously and turn the c ar so it faces left (Cantina, 2005). What happens to all the loose objects inside the car? They are still going to obey the First Law of Motion, and try to continue going down the straight road (Cantina, 2005). However, since the car is now both stopped and facing left, the right wall of the car is in the way of the loose objects (Cantina, 2005).At that moment everything flies towards the right wall, and the loose objects crash hard against it (Cantina, 2005). If it wasn't for seat belts, the driver and the passenger(s) would also smash into the right wall (Cantina, 2005). However despite wearing seat belts, a passenger can still feel the force that is pushing him towards the right side of the car, in this situation. If the car was extremely heavy, or was traveling at a considerable speed, then the force of the crash would be greater Cantina, 2005). This is because of Newton's second law, F=ma, the larger the acceleration or mass, the greater the force (Cantina, 2005).This makes it obvious that loose objects in vehicles are dangerous and should be placed in compartments provided (Cantina, 2005). Everything that has been explained above can be proven right by conducting a firsthand investigation. However in this investigation, one does not have to make a sharp turn or have loose objects laying around the car. One can simply place their sunglasses on the dashboard and observe its movement whenever the car turns. If the car turns right then the sunglasses will move to the left and vice versa. This is a very simple yet accurate example of inertia in the car's frame of reference.