Minimizing weather disruption in aviation: regard of Heathrow, British Airways and UK aviation system

Introduction More than any other mode of transportation, aviation is significantly affected by weather conditions including fog, thunderstorms, snowstorms, and wind as well as temperature and pressure extremes (Iyengar, 2002). Kulesa (2010) notes two major adverse effects of weather on aviation which are its impact on safety and efficiency of operation. The aviation industry must regularly deal with adverse types of weather to enhance safety while attempting to maintain integrity of flight schedules and to rein in on costs attendant to disruption, a significant budget item in aviation (Qualley, 2009). Weather disruptions at London’s Heathrow Airport in recent years have highlighted vulnerability in the industry. Of note was the adverse snow condition on December 18, 2010an exceptional event with unprecedented volume and speed of snow fall (AOA, 2013; DoT, 2013). This condition was compounded by capacity constraints and consequent lack of operational contingency since Heathrow operates at 9 9% capacity daily and the pre-Christmas period usually has high customer volumes (DoT, 2013; Seabury, 2012). The challenges of the day highlight prevalent problems and potential damage of weather-related disruption. A serious problem exists in the parallel forecast models run in the US and EU which give variations in weather forecasts. Conflicts are particularly often on parameters such as temperature of the day – which defines whether precipitation will fall as rain or snow (DoT, 2013; Qualley, 2009). On this day, weather forecasts and predictions were accurate and congruent and were received on time. Based on extensive experience on the part of British Airways (BA) and National Air Traffic Service (NATS), and in anticipation of greater challenges of disruption, a decision to cancel all BA flights between 1000 and 1700 was arrived at (BA, 2014; UK Parliament, 2011). There was however misjudgement among stakeholders on the severity of prediction and actual weather conditions. In the confusion, Heathrow claimed ‘business as usual’ while BA (its largest carrier) cancelled its schedule. Media reports of continued operations even after eventual closure of airport also undermined the decisive action taken by BA and thousands of passengers continued to turn up for cancelled flights creating chaos (UK Parliament, 2011). The command and control structure was not employed proactively or efficiently (Seabury, 2012). Overall, the airport failed to recover as quickly as it could have done and the impact of the day was extended unnecessarily. BA’s extensive and refined contingency plans for recovery following disruption were not replicated by Heathrow airport and were thus not useful (UK Parliament, 2011; Kulesa, 2010). A lack of forward planning and lack of shared operational experience about the most effective approach for return to efficient regular operations was evident when the airport re-opened (DoT, 2013). Major emphasis was put on the op ening of the runway without regard to the taxiway, apron and stand infrastructure which are also essential for efficient airport operation (Deloitte, 2013; UK Parliament, 2011). The ineffective approach caused many of the problems faced on re-opening and impeded return to normal operations. Eventually, a decision by Heathrow airport to invoke the Scarce Capacity Protocol (SCP) designed to ensure fair and proportionate allocation of access to take-off and landing slots for airlines was reached. This protocol was however overly conservative and difficult to enforce, hindered by policing issues (AOA, 2013; UK Parliament, 2011). Various UK airports have similarly been affected by weather conditions to varying degrees though recovery has usually been swift. A number of these airports remain open to receive long-haul diversions in times of disruption (DoT, 2013; Seabury, 2012). Although weather forecasting would add value to minimization of disruption, AOA, 2013 and Deloitte, 2013 disclos e that none among UK’s civilian airfields has a dedicated forecasting service based on site. Closure, delay, and/or cancellation have far reaching consequences beyond the inconvenience caused to customers which portends erosion of passenger goodwill and loss of future revenue (BA, 2014; Deloitte, 2013). Costs associated with weather disruption vary depending on contingency and elusive to pin down exactly. Direct costs derive from airline operations such as diversion, cancellation, delay or insurance and include listed costs such as: fuel, crew, time, and aircraft operating costs, lost passenger and cargo revenue, hotel accommodation and meals, ground-based employee overtime pay, insurance, etc. (Deloitte, 2013; Seabury, 2012). Disruption, particularly for hub airport operations given their extensive connectivity may have widespread effects affecting myriad flight schedules and airport operations in far flung areas. Seabury, 2012 and Deloitte, 2013 estimate that one diverted f light can cause 2 to 50 flight delays, while a cancelled flight can result in 15 to 20 delays. British Airways has more recently in 2013 and early 2014 been impacted by adverse weather in its operations at home and internationally (particularly the US) and affecting its global network (BA, 2014). In 2012, the airline also suffered mishaps on its Airbus fleet due to the freezing of pilot tubes which feed vital air speed data to on-board computers facilitating the autopilot mode. This led to two emergency landings evidence of the risk weather portends to safe flight linked to the potential damage in loss of life, property as well as repute (BA, 2014; FoE, 2013). This scenario lays out a representation of problems and damages consequent to weather disruption at Heathrow affecting BA and the entire UK aviation system. Steps to minimise the effect of bad weather and the ramifications of decisions to stakeholders Accurate weather forecasts are a priority for safety and efficiency in aviation. This is a primary focus area in order to minimize effects of weather disruption (FoE, 2013; Seabury, 2012)†¦ Accurate information derived from congruent forecasts from numerous agencies enables an effective prediction of the extent of disruption and therefore appropriate response. The use of varied and possibly conflicting forecasts was the probable cause of conflict in the case above creating problems and compounding the issue (Qualley, 2009; Iyengar, 2002). Adverse effects of weather on the industry can be avoided if only airlines and the entire industry work together to interpret such natural phenomena better. Various agencies – both state and private – should participate in accumulating reports and materials on weather patterns useful in the creation of referential databases. These can th en be updated and shared widely across the industry to minimize the impact of adverse events. Uniformity and congruence of information should be aspired to and costs associated with provision of weather information should be addressed (Kulesa, 2010; Qualley, 2009). Despite additional costs, the development of meteorological capacity on site in airports manned by employees or forecast vendors should be made mandatory. This strategy will negatively impact weather forecast contractors and vendors. Timely transmission of forecasts is also essential allowing sufficient lead time for appropriate preparation, and early response (FoE, 2013). Such include the efficient conduct of the intricacies of flight planning such as re-routing, rescheduling, load and fuel balancing, among others, as well as institution of mitigation measures. Open and extensive communication and consultation among various players is paramount for coordinated and effective response towards overall reduction of impact. T his can be achieved through efficient and proactive use of command and control structures and involvement of external entities such as the broadcast media transmitting vital information to customers. During response, focus should be on the entire airfield and mix of essential operations in an interdependent system (Kulesa, 2010). Development of comprehensive and extensive protocols and contingency planning should be undertaken to facilitate response to disruption (Deloitte, 2013; DoT, 2013). These should entail forward planning, strategies and methods to govern operations, as well as effective business continuity plans to mitigate risks to the extent possible. Despite prohibitive costs, use of intricate computer programs in planning and response should be encouraged. Existing policies, protocols and measures should be realigned and restructured for better effectiveness and enforcement mechanisms should be instituted to ensure compliance (Seabury, 2012; UK Parliament, 2011). On-groun d mitigation measures such as de-icing and ploughing of snow should be made mandatory and part of essential procedure. Such measures may not sit well with independent industry players but should be enforced. At the operational level, measures to protect reputation and consequently the potential loss of business from inconvenienced customers should be instituted (Deloitte, 2013). Customer support programs and response centres undertaking such tasks as rebooking, refunds processing, and provision of information are thus essential. Airlines should also create alliances and agreements activated in times of disruption to enable support for affected players and entities (Seabury, 2012). Though it comes at a cost, this will serve to benefit customers and to reduce overall adverse impact of event. Safety measures such as enhanced flight briefings, appropriate pilot training, and continuous streaming of updated current information should be emphasized as weather is unpredictable and subject to change. Overall, comprehensive reviews of incidents and failures and generation of continuous applicable learning for particular locations and scenarios is beneficial. Regarding policy, the expansion of airport capacity at Heathrow and major airports, as well as creation of new airports is essential for better resilience (Deloitte, 2013; Seabury, 2012; DoT, 2013). With no spare capacity, Heathrow is vulnerable to short term operational disruption (BA, 2014; AOA, 2013). Capacity expansion may also enable diversion in times of need easing intense pressure and thus enabling better management of adverse events. Alongside such developments, it is also important to focus on surface connections such as rail and roads to ease pressures of domestic air travel and hence to free some airport capacity (DoT, 2013; Seabury, 2012). They could also serve in times of disruption facilitating diversions and airport transfers. These measures may not be popular however with political players and cust omers seeking convenience. References Airports Operators Association, 2013. The Airport Operator, Amsterdam: AOA. British Airways, 2014. Our Business. Matching capacity to demand. London: BA: Deloitte, 2013. Aviation and Sustainability. Niigita, Japan: Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Department of Transport, 2013. Aviation Policy Framework. Report of Secretary of State for Transport. March 2013. London: HMSO Friends of Earth, 2013. Aviation and Global Climate Change. London: Friends of Earth. Iyengar, J., 2002. â€Å"The Role of Risk in Aviation under Adverse Weather Conditions.† In: Vickery, S., (Ed.) Research Issues. Eli Broad Graduate School of Management. Michigan State University. Decision line: May 2002, Pp. 7-10 Kulesa, G., 2010. Weather and Aviation: How Does Weather Affect the Safety and Operations of Airports and AviationViewed from: http://adds.aviationweather.gov/ on 18th Apr, 2014. Qualley, W., 2009. Impact of Weather and use of Weather Information by Commercial Airline Operations. Texas, US: Amrcorp. Seabury, 2012. Sustainable European Aviation: A position paper. Association of European Airlines and Seabury. Viewed from: www.seaburygroup.com on 22nd Apr, 2014 UK Parliament, 2011. Impact on transport of recent adverse weather conditions: Written evidence from British Airways. Session 2010-11. Viewed from: www.parliament.uk/publicaions&records/commons_select_committee/transport/transport/ on 18th Apr, 2014.

Jamaica National Heroes

Manley| Jamaica's National Heroes Published Nov 20, 1995 | Jamaica’s National Heroes dared to challenge the institution of colonialism and in so doing changed the course of Jamaica’s history giving social and political freedom to its people. Today, the statues of Jamaica’s seven National Heroes stand in proud acknowledgment, in the National Heroes Park in Kingston where they are viewed with inspiring pride, unforgettable symbols of Jamaica’s enduring strength. PAUL BOGLE birth date uncertain-died 1865. Paul Bogle, a Baptist Deacon was generally regarded as a peaceful man who shunned violence.He believed in the teachings of the Bible, endorsing the principles of charity and endurance. Yet he was also a leader and organizer who knew well the terrains of the land and had spent time in educating and training his followers. He lived in St. Thomas and led the Morant Bay Rebellion in 1865. GEORGE WILLIAM GORDON 1820-1865. George William Gordon was a free colored land owner and an associate of Bogle. As a member of the House of Parliament, he used his position to highlight the sufferings of the people and to make a plea for changes.The Morant Bay Rebellion and the resultant deaths of Bogle and Gordon precipitated the beginning of a new era in Jamaica’s development. The British government became compelled to make changes including outstanding reforms in education, health, local government, banking and infrastructure. NANNY lived and died in Nanny Town. Nanny of the Maroons stands out in history as the only female among Jamaica’s national heroes. She possessed that fierce fighting spirit generally associated with the courage of men.In fact, Nanny is described as a fearless Asante warrior who used militarist techniques to foul and beguile the English. Like the heroes of the pre Independence era, Nanny too met her untimely death at the instigation of the English sometime around 1750's. Yet, the spirit of Nanny of the Maroons remain s today as a symbol of that indomitable desire that will never yield to captivity. SAMUEL SHARPE 1801-1832 ‘Daddy’ Sam Sharpe, as he was affectionately called was to carry on the Resistance against slavery effecting at the young age of 31, the most outstanding Slave Rebellion in Jamaica’s history.Sharpe, an educated town slave, was a preacher and spokesman. Intelligent and sharp, he followed the developments of the abolition movement by reading discarded local and foreign papers and was able to advise his followers. Sharpe was tired of slavery, spent months in strategic planning, educating the slaves and traveling from estate to estate in secret meetings at nights, igniting the slaves with inspiring messages of hope of freedom. The 1831 Christmas Rebellion started in St. James and spread throughout the entire island.The Rebellion started on December 28 and lasted 8 days. Sam Sharpe was eventually captured and hung at the Parade in Montego Bay (now renamed Sam Sha rpe Square). On August 28, 1833 slavery was abolished and the System of Apprenticeship instituted, allowing for the total freedom of slaves in the next 4-6 years. On August 1, 1938 the Apprenticeship System ended granting full freedom to the slaves. SIR ALEXANDER BUSTAMANTE 1884-1977 Alexander Bustamante was an aggressive, outspoken young man who understood the dynamics of labor relations.A charismatic and impressive speaker, he used the media to criticize the prevailing political system and its attendant social problems. He started the Industrial Trade Union in 1938 and was jailed for 17 moths following labor riots. He became Jamaica’s first Chief Minister, a position he held until 1954, being knighted that same year by the queen. On August 6, 1962 Jamaica was granted full independence. At the first session of Parliament, Bustamante received the Instruments of Independence from the queen’s representative, Princess Margaret.This time in Jamaica’s history drastic changes were heralded, not by bloodshed but by peaceful negotiations. NORMAN WASHINGTON MANLEY 1893-1969. Norman Washington Manley founded the People’s National Party which later was tied to the Trade Union Congress and the N. W. U. Together with Bustamante, their efforts resulted in the New Constitution of 1944 granting full Adult Suffrage. In 1955 Manley was elected Chief Minister. The 400 year British Rule, invoking slavery, deculturisation, uprising and bloodshed was now at an end.MARCUS MOSIAH GARVEY 1887-1940. Marcus Mosiah Garvey stands out in history as one who was greatly committed to the concept of the Emancipation of minds. Garvey who was born in St. Ann became famous worldwide as a leader who was courageous and eloquent in his call for improvement for Blacks. He sought the unification of all Blacks through the establishment of the United Negro Improvement Association and spoke out against economic exploitation and cultural denigration. He spent many years in the United | |

A Study of the Conversion Options for the Bataan

Introduction Between 1993 and 1995, M. E. T. T. S. undertook a study of the options for converting the Bataan Nuclear Power Station to fossil fuel (coal or natural gas) combustion. One aim of the study was to find another market for Philippine and Australian coal or natural gas (LNG). The essential question regarding the Bataan Reactor is: how to obtain a financial return from a very expensive power station that * has never produced electricity; * is costing the Philippinec State a sizeable sum in interest; and * has environmental, safety and social concerns over its use as a nuclear power station.The retrofitting of the turbine generator with a fossil fuel fired steam raising system was suggested as a means of utilising part of the plant, and obtaining some return for past and future expenditure. The report/proposal examined some options for fossil fuel firing, and compared those options with nuclear operation. Background The Bataan Nuclear Power Plant was completed in 1984, whilst construction commenced in 1976. It is a Westinghouse light water reactor, that uses pressurised water as it heat exchange medium between the reactor and the steam generators.Its design thermal capacity is 1876MW(t), whilst its rated power output is 621MW(e)1. The technology that is incorporated into the plant is essentially early seventies, but has been modified to incorporate more recent safety devices, such as those recommended by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, after evaluation of the Three Mile Island incident. The plant, which was in the process of commissioning at the time of the EDSA revolution, has not been fired, although nuclear fuel was delivered to it storage facilities.Maintenance has continued, with the integrity of the plant and ancillaries being ensured. Conclusion of Study The Philippine Government has previously stated that the Philippines will have nuclear power, but that power will come from new plant and not the Bataan reactor. President Ramos announced on the 8th October 1994 that the Reactor would be converted to a 1000MW combined cycle gas plant. (Although an announcement for a specific conversion scheme has been made, it is still considered that there is time for other options to be considered. )We found that conversion is technically possible, but economically unwise. New and dedicated coal or natural gas fired power plants would give much higher efficiencies, and thus would give the Philippines much better value per peso spent on fuel consumed. The M. E. T. T. S. ‘s study concluded that the only way of obtaining a reasonable return from the Bataan ‘machine' is to use it as a nuclear power plant. Our report specifically came to the following conclusions: * That the use of the present ‘nuclear' turbine/generator in a fossil fired system would be highly wasteful of energy (fuel), A new pulverised coal power station and/or combined cycle natural gas power stations at other site(s), would be a better investment in terms of fuel efficiency and levellised power costs, * The Bataan site is inappropriate for coal fired plant, due to environmental constraints and materials (coal and ash) handling problems, * More assessable sites could be found for combined cycle natural gas fired plants around Manila Bay, and Batangas, * The Bataan reactor has been maintained in a good condition since mothballing, and The reactor is of basically sound design and construction, and could with modest expenditure become one of the most modern and safest light water reactors in East Asia. To fire the plant as a nuclear facility, the sea water intakes to the condensers would need to be cleaned (with some equipment being replaced), some of the reactor monitoring systems would need to be further upgraded, whilst the second power transmission system would need to be reconstructed. Staff would need to be retrained and re-licenced.A description of the study is presented in the attached article by Clarke, Ebeling and Cordero . The article was presenred at The First Philippine International Conference on Energy Efficiency and Demand Side Management, Manila, January 1995. Options for the Conversion of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant to Fossil Fuel Firing Dr. Michael C. Clarke, Director, M. E. T. T. S. Pty. Ltd. , Sydney, Australia Mr. Douglas R. Ebeling, Associate, M. E. T. T. S. Pty. Ltd. , Sydney, Australia Eng. Donato L. Cordero, Engineering Manager, Bataan Nuclear Power Plant The following Executive Summary of a major report formed the basis of a paper presented at the 1st Philippine Conference on Energy Efficiency and Demand-side Management, Manila, January 1995. ) Capital costs and power generation costs are summarised in Table 1, for one coal conversion option, and the conversion of the plant to natural gas fired, combined cycle operation. For comparison purposes figures are also presented for the refurbishment, commissioning and running the plant as a nuclear power station. Electricity costs from n uclear operation are considerably cheaper than for ither the two conversion options. If power costs was the only criteria for operating the plant then nuclear firing would clearly win. Both coal and natural gas conversions will have environmental consequences for the region. By the installation of best available technology and the application of best available practice, the impact will be minimised. The cost of technology and practice however will increase the cost of electricity produced by the plant. Table 1. SUMMARY TABLE, FOSSIL FUEL CONVERSION OPTIONS, BNPP – Revision, March 1995 CONVERSION TO COALCONVERSION TO N.GASNUCLEAR COMPARISON POWER OUTPUT MW(e)8001700 620 ENERGY OUTPUT GWH5,600 (With FGD – 5400)12,2004,613 CAPITAL COST $USm750 (With FGD – 1070)1385380 (UPGRADE) Electricity Cost ? US/kWH4. 82 (With FGD – 5. 94) 5. 24, 4. 34 (FP $230/170)3. 50 Electricity Cost P/kWH1. 21 (With FGD – 1. 49)1. 31, 1. 09 (FP $230/170)0. 88 CAP. COST/POWER OUT0. 94 (With FGD – 1. 34)0. 810. 61 CONSTRUCTION TIME42 MONTHS4218. 24 FGD Flue Gas Desulphurisation (+ Selective Catalytic Reduction) FP Fuel Price, Natural Gas ($US230 /tonne for LNG, $US170 /tonne piped gas) – (Coal $US 55 / tonne) Notes on Table 1For comparison purposes, the two fossil fuel conversion options and the nuclear comparison have each had the electricity cost based on a pay-back period of twenty years. In each case (for the table) it has been assumed that the full capital cost has been borrowed. When financing packages are being considered, different pay-back periods are likely to be used. The periods are likely to increase with increasing debt. With the natural gas conversion option, an equity contribution would probably be included, since a BOT financing scheme may be used, that ties gas production, reticulation and use into one commercial package.The electricity costs for coal and natural gas conversion are based on a reasonably optimistic scenarios , where no excessive ancillary capital works are charged against the plant. If environmental or other factors require such works, then increase in the electricity cost would occur. It is further considered that the plant required for conversion would be sourced from low cost countries; China, India, Australia, the Philippines etc, as far as possible. The costings for conversion are further premised on the use of the site allocated for construction of PNPP 2, in that it is supplied at no cost, and is geologically stable.If the time required for the construction and commissioning is crucial, then the upgrading of the plant as a nuclear station is clearly the preferred choice. Further, the financial analyses indicate that the nuclear firing of the plant offers the cheapest electricity. Given that the nuclear fuel price is likely to remain stable over the foreseeable future (as against likely rises for coal and natural gas), the nuclear upgrading# and operation offers greater financial certainty to investors. # M. E. T. T. S. ‘s estimate for upgrading the nuclear plant to 1997/8 standards is $US380m.It is backed by further external assessment, and includes new safety features. $US300m is the cost of a basic upgrading based on calculations carried out by the National Power Corporation. SUMMARY – COAL FIRING The conversion of the PNPP I plant to coal firing has some advantages. Coal technology is well proven, and only a small variation in the normal use of that technology is required to convert the plant. The power station will have a capacity similar to the design capacity for the nuclear plant, and will not be the largest plant in the new echelon of Luzon's power facilities.The plant of 800 MW(e) capacity will be relatively inexpensive at a capital cost of $US505m – without Flue Gas Desulphurisation, Selective Catalytic Reduction, or excessive expenditure on coal or ash handling and ignoring the previous expenditure on the nuclear system. A con struction and commissioning period of 42 months is envisaged. The coal option however offers unique co-economic opportunities. The ash waste product would be valuable if used in ancillary industry. By using the Lahar produced by the Pinatubo eruption as an aggregate, with the ash, iron oxide and cement, valuable building materials could be produced.The disadvantages include designing and fitting an environmentally acceptable coal fired power station into the Bataan region. The materials handling alone will create many environmental, management and operational difficulties. The infrastructure requirements for materials handling will also raise engineering and environmental questions that will need to be solved before construction begins. Other environmental questions concerning emission reduction and control must also be answered before work can commence.Another major disadvantage is the requirement for premium fuel, that is expensive in 1994, and in all probability will become relat ively more expensive as the demand for ‘clean' coal increases in the future. SUMMARY – NATURAL GAS FIRING (COMBINED CYCLE, GAS TURBINE) Natural gas provides the cleanest option for the conversion of the Bataan power station to fossil fuel firing. It further offers the most flexible power output to the grid. Options exist for running a part (or whole) of the plant as a single cycle peak load provider, or running the whole plant as a base load facility.The environmental hazard that would be created by such a plant is low compared to coal. Thermal pollution to the sea would be greater than the nuclear option, in that if a 1700MW(e) plant was built with 46% efficiency, the waste heat would be 2000MW(t). This heat would be partially dissipated into the atmosphere (250MW) as against to the sea (1750MW). The additional heat discharge to the sea would be about 500MW(t). NOx emissions can be successfully controlled by modern technology.Steam or water injection, ammonia addition or innovative combustion designs will produce acceptable (but not zero) NOx emissions. At 1700MW(e), the power station would be the largest in the Philippines, and would certainly require a review of the Luzon energy plan. The total consumption of natural gas over a twenty five year period would be 2. 5 TCF; over half the entire Philippine projected resource from Palawan. Over a billion dollars in capital would be needed to build the plant, plus an additional substantial sum to supply the fuel; either as LNG or pipeline gas.The security of a large gas holding area would need to be addressed. Such a holding area and power station would make a relatively easy target when compared to a coal fired plant with coal yards or nuclear facilities. The installation of the gas turbines could be achieved in eighteen months, but the construction of the steam generators and carrying out modifications to the existing plant would take a further twenty four months. From the preliminary financial anal ysis, the construction of a new combined cycle power station makes better financial sense. A NUCLEAR COMPARISONUnder the four headings (Technology, The Environment, Social and Political Concerns, and Economy) that were used to examine the coal-conversion option, a brief summary has been made of the nuclear option for comparison purposes. Technology Light water reactors are a very common type of nuclear reactor. They have good safety records, and most have high capacity factors. There development has been continuous, with technology now being available from Japan, Korea, France, the United Kingdom as well as the United States. They are used in close proximity to the Philippines (Japan, Korea and Taiwan) and have been armarked for use in Indonesia and Malaysia. The Bataan unit is 1970/80's technology. It is however essentially the same as new units, and could be readily upgraded to 1990's standards. The Environment The reactor will produce thermal pollution (waste heat) that will be d isposed of, off Napot Point to the South China Sea. An environmental impact assessment cleared the plant for its designed heat disposal, and found that localised heating of the sea would not be excessive, given the strong currents that would ensure dispersion of the hot water.No other polluting emissions could be expected from the nuclear power plant. (Accidental emissions of radioactive material, are most unlikely. Once the plant was upgraded to 1997 standards, one accident in a million years could be expected. ) Social and Political Concerns The perceived problems at the Bataan power plant are its greatest liability. These problems include seismic instability, claims of faulty workmanship and the lack of experience of the operators. Many geological and seismic inspections have been carried out on the site, with the result being that no significant risk is apparent.To convince Philippine Society of the seismic safety of the plant, an educational programme would need to be carried o ut that emphasised the sites stability, and the high seismic safety factor of the plant (0. 4g). Part of the process of refurbishment and upgrading, would be quality assurance on all systems and components of the plant. Modern QA techniques would need to be used to provide the certainty that all significant parts of the plant meet the highest safety and operational standards. Initially foreign experts would be needed to run the plant. The retraining ofPhilippine staff would take considerable time and money, with the retrained staff spending a number of years assisting in operating similar plants in neighbouring countries. Economics By comparison with the costs of conversion to coal or natural gas, the refurbishment and upgrading of the plant for nuclear operation would be significantly cheaper. A maximum price of $US300m (including staff training) is a fair limit, compared to fossil fuel conversion alternatives. The nuclear option should have the shortest lag time in terms of upgrad ing and commissioning.If foreign staff were used to initially man the plant then a period of eighteen to twenty months would be needed for full operation. This relatively short period, may be valuable in that the some of the expensive, old or temporary oil fired power plant could be retired early. Fuel costs, plus operation and management costs for LWRs should cost no more than ? US 2/kWH (0. 54 Centavos/kWH). If the interest on the $US 300m was 12%, with a pay-back period of twenty years for the capital, then a further 0. 9? US/kWH would be added to the power cost.The total power cost would be 2. 9? US/kWH (0. 78 Centavos/kWH). If consideration was given to running the Bataan power station as a nuclear plant, then the environmental and economic benefits (as well as safety) should be emphasised, to overcome social and political opposition. THE PHILIPPINES AND THE NUCLEAR CYCLE The Philippines would be an importer of nuclear fuel and an exporter of spent fuel. The fuel that the react or would use would be lightly enriched. As the uranium 235 is consumed, some plutonium is formed, part of which is also used up as fuel.The spent fuel rods contain a depleted amount of uranium 235, a little plutonium but mostly non-fissile uranium 238. These fuel rods can be reused in heavy water type reactors (CANDU) that are running in Japan, Korea and Taiwan, as primary fuel. All the wastes would be processed by those countries, whilst the Philippines would receive a financial return for its used nuclear fuel. This is a win-win situation. The sale of the used fuel rods could bring the net production cost of electricity (fuel plus operations and management) to under ? US 1. 5/kWH. PLANT SECURITY AND THE NUCLEAR OPTIONUnfortunately there is an ongoing insurgency situation in the Philippines. The insurgency problems are no longer major, and in all probability will recede. All major plant however does need a security system. The Bataan plant was constructed with good external, perime ter and internal security systems. There are commonly perceived notions that Nuclear Plants are susceptible to terrorist attack. These notions are based on a lack of understanding of the compact nature of nuclear plants, and the presence of very considerable containment structures for the reactor and fuel stores – especially American designed LWRs.The plant is easy to guard, and would be able to resist attack with light weapons, including rocket propelled grenades etc. The damage from such an attack would be limited to the knocking out of ancillary plant and structures, including the transformer yard, the auxiliary fuel tanks and administration building. Notes 1. The above power cost figures are based on 1997 projected fuel prices, 12% interest, 85% availability, and 20 years amortisation.. The price of coal and natural gas are considered to be more liable for major increases, than nuclear fuel.The Asian demand for both coal and gas is expected to outstrip supply in the comin g decade. 2. The estimated construction time includes planning and design, equipment construction, site modification, plant erection and commissioning, and staff training (coal and natural gas conversion). If major ancillary works are required (eg. major wharves, ash and coal pipelines, shipping channels etc), then both an increase in the construction time and costs could be expected.

Charles Martin in Uganda Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Charles Martin in Uganda - Case Study Example Or is it more appropriate to appoint another person in his place? We analyze the case and recommend that Green should retain Martin because of his knowledge of the local business conditions. He has developed a good network with key people in the Government. Besides he would be able to induct any new entrants who may be deputed by HG into the Ugandan project. However, we need to issue a cautionary note to Martin. He should be immediately asked to refrain from all unethical practices and he needs to report any unfair demands directly to Green so that the issues can be tackled with due regard to the cultural sensitivity. Additionally, Martin needs to develop the role of a functional manager who can cross fertilize ideas and transplant best practices from the host nation to the local country. Introduction The case discusses the cultural issues that Hydro Generation (HG) has faced in Uganda and the decision point faced by the vice-president Green. Martin as the liaison officer for HG has proved to be extremely capable and has completed all the tasks on time. At this juncture, Green ponders over some of the methods adopted by Martin. While some of them seem to go against the stronger views held by American companies, some of the approaches seem to be completely unethical and unfair. Under these circumstances, Green needs to decide on the next crucial phase of the project: should he continue to retain Martin as the chief liaison officer overseeing the entire project? Case Analysis Question 1 has to do with an understanding of cultural aspects of doing business in Uganda. We have insights from the case here. Uganda has largely been a developing nation thus far with the progress not percolating down to the lower strata of society. It has not had a stable government though Multinational companies and their operations are well encouraged. Some of the cultural aspects points to a backward, superstitious nature wherein tribal sacrifices and soothsayers seem to hold sway ove r cold logic and reasoning. Culture could be defined as a system of knowledge and standards adopted for perceiving, believing, evaluating and acting (Allaire & Firsirotu, 1984). Culture is a system of socially transmitted patterns of behavior that helps people relate to their environment. It develops gradually over time and is often influenced by social and economic progress also. A simpler definition has been put forward by Hofstede (1984) who described it as a collective programming of the mind that helps distinguish one category of people from another. From the case, we also observe certain patterns of Ugandan society. They tend to favor nepotism and are largely driven by a commitment to their family and kin. A stronger bonding and accountability towards the social circle seems to take precedence over business commitments. Both attributes could affect the operations of a multinational company interested in doing business in Uganda. Firstly, superstitious beliefs could hamper usua l logical decisions that rely on business judgment and analytical outcomes. Obviously, multinational companies would be driven by logic and rationale. They would be offended if superstitious beliefs posed hurdles to business commitments and operations. Martin has however tried to blend in with the locals by adopting their cultural practices and participating in their rituals. This makes a strong point in his favor for he has understood the cultural diversity and sensitivity (Trompenaars,

Policemen of the World Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Policemen of the World - Research Paper Example The situation in Libya can be traced back to when the Arab Spring occurred and protests began in many nations that are part of the Arab league. The uprisings led to the removal of several heads of state through force such as the ousting of the president of Yemen and also the peaceful resignation of the Tunisia Prime Minister. In other parts of the Arab world the effects of the riots are still been felt as seen with the case of Syria in which there is still a civil war. The citizens of Libya were part of those who rebelled against the leadership but the government of Muammar Gaddafi instead of resigning decided to suppress the revolutionaries by use of force. The United States together with NATO received a lot of criticism from the Libyan government as well as from African leaders who felt that there was a disregard for the sovereignty of the country and international law. Gaddafi also enjoyed a good level of support in his home country more so since Libya’s economy had grown s ignificantly under his rule and so he did enjoy significant support in the country (Lengeni 2012). The Al Qaeda is a terrorist group that was located in Afghanistan, however after the US invaded Afghanistan they shifted to north of Pakistan where they are currently located. The United States has since then been sending drones in Pakistan until present day due to the presence of Al Qaeda in some of its remote areas. The Pakistan government has constantly criticized this move by the US government however due to its poverty levels and inadequate military it is unable to either crush the Al Qaeda rebellion or stop US from sending drones to its territory. The attacks have been mainly focused near the Afghan border as this is where most Al Qaeda rebels are situated. Many US citizens have always felt that the activity of US in Pakistan was excessive and beyond their duty and that withdrawal should not only be done but the drone strikes were unnecessary in the first place. The US government has therefore been in constant dialogue with the Pakistan government on setting up some terms and conditions which once they fulfill the drone strikes can end. The economic crisis that hit the nation from 2009 – 2013 was another factor that made the drone strikes have a negative image. The cost of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan had already passed the billion dollar mark and the public felt that it was time to withdraw their troops; the people also felt that there was no need for continued air strikes and military presence in Pakistan. The Pakistan government has however been in a controversial situation since the leak of documents showing that they supported the air strikes as they too feared that the entry of Al Qaeda into the country could lead to the removal of the already weakened government (Lister, 2010). The development of US into a world superpower was led by several factors one of which was the gradual deterioration of the British Empire. Britain had faced several rebellions in the territories that it held and this had led to its army being severely weakened as WWII started. Other European nations that had also been viewed as superpowers such as France had also significantly weakened and so could not aid Britain much when the war started (Whitehead, 2006). The impact of the

Reflective Practice in Nursing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Reflective Practice in Nursing - Essay Example It will make use of Schon’s reflection model. Schon’s theory outlines two different types of reflection that occur at different time phases: reflection on action (Schon 1983) and reflection in action (Schon 1983). ‘Reflection in action’ is often referred to the colloquial phrase as ‘thinking on your feet’ a term used to being able to assess ourselves within a situation, making appropriate changes and still keeping a steady flow in the process. Reflection on action is when reflection occurs after the event. This is where the practitioner makes a deliberate and conscious attempt to act and reflect upon a situation and how it should be handled in the future (Loughran 1996). Nursing practitioners deal with various kinds of people every day, hence they should develop effective communication skills. Timmins (2011) contends that nursing competencies should include knowledge of building â€Å"therapeutic partnerships with their patients and colleagues through safe, effective and non-discriminatory communication, taking account of individual differences, capabilities and needs† (p. 31). This means that they should be resourceful enough in conveying their messages through verbal, non-verbal and written forms to be understood and also also understand people’s needs better. Being adept in active listening and empathic skills as well as reading and expressing non-verbal communication promote the safety and well-being of patients and is most likely to achieve the best outcomes.

MBA, Total Quality Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

MBA, Total Quality Management - Essay Example The process of driving the organization towards realization of these goals entails among other things proper planning. Management undertakes the planning in terms of short-term vision as well as long-term vision; whenever an organization adopts either short-term goals or the long-range vision, continuous improvement is vital in order to realize that long-term objective. Nevertheless, changes in management practices have seen a substantial shift of the management practices from long range planning to more simplified planning structures, which concentrate on very short term goals that are easy to achieve and evaluate. In order for any business to remain relevant and objective, the periodical evaluation and analysis of performance is critical. This paper therefore intends to critically analyze the existence of the short-term goals as well as the continuous improvement. It shall evaluate the threat posed by short term goals to the process of continuous improvement and if there be any, ev aluate by what ways are the short terms planning overtaking the long term planning. Moreover, this study will verify the proposition that the continuous improvement strategies are being eroded for the sake of the short-term goals within organizations. ... Most management carries out their tasks with the short, achievable and evaluative goals, which in many cases are not long term. This may be necessitated by the prevailing frameworks through which the organization is working as well as the economic frameworks within the global perspective. Continuous Improvement is one of the best-acknowledged measures in total quality management practices within the globe and has indeed been seen to lead companies to realize high performances and quality production by firms (Zangwill and Kantor, 1998, p.910). It sets an outline of programs through which the performance of the firms may be evaluated over time. It is thus seen to form a basis of linking short-term goals as well as the long-term goals of an organization. However, an emergent concern whether the practice is under threat by the short-term goals as our study is investigating. The management of firms and other organizations are usually seen to be guided by frameworks of goals and objectives . The goals that take longer to be realized and which require greater efforts are the so called the long-term goals while those that are more immediate, the short term ones. Firms usually have a clear distinction of these goals for the ease of evaluation and performance. Nevertheless, the ‘length’ of these goals depends on the nature of the company as well as the time frame that is so called short term or long term. In many cases, what may be short-term for one company may be very different and be referred to as long term for the case of another company; there is therefore no clear cut point as to the time frame within which the objectives

Medecine Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Medecine - Essay Example Every disease has a cause, although the causes of some remain to be discovered. Every disease also displays a cycle of onset, or beginning, course, or time span of affliction, and end, when it disappears or it partially disables or kills its victim. An epidemic disease is one that strikes much person in a community. When it strikes the same region year after year it is an endemic disease. An acute disease has a quick onset and runs a short course, an acute heart attack, for example, often hits without warning and can be quickly fatal. A chronic disease has a slow onset and runs a sometimes years-long course. The gradual onset and long course of rheumatic fever makes it a chronic ailment. Moderate exercise is necessary to health, but athletes who do vigorous exercises have not been noted for longevity. Fresh air is stimulating, but, where actual breathing is concerned, it's no better than the air in most rooms. General quality of air affected by pollution is indeed a concern. A balanced diet containing correct amounts of the basic food substances is essential, but there is no evidence that when or at what intervals one eats makes the slightest differences -unless one is a sufferer of stomach ulcer, in which case the interval between meals should be narrowed down. The concept of having meals at fixed intervals is nothing but a social convention and in a modern life obviously a matter of convenience. Sleep, too, is a necessity. But different people require vastly different amounts of sleep. In a number of studies of men and women who lived to a ripe old age it was found that the commonality they had was balanced diet of healthy food, contented minds, their interest in something which gave them a focus in life and partly their heredity. Health is defined as a state of complete physical, mental and social well- being and not merely the absence of diseases or infirmity. The main rules of health are- (a) Do not abuse your body -i.e., exercise, it, feed it sensibly and in moderation and don't poison it with cigarette smoke (your's or anyone else's), with alcohol or with other drugs (b) Think positively about health-make it a purpose for living (c) Turn your thoughts away from those bodily functions (digestion, circulation, breathing and so on), which can look after themselves. Introspection leads to hypochondriasis, and Social Medicine Medicine has come a long way from the time when disease was considered as punishment from the gods to a time where the society is looked on as the patient (society being responsible for them). Its treatment requires lot of tenderness and care. The field of medicine became more and more truly scientific, and the 20th century saw the-most rapid advances ever known, marked by the discovery of germs by Pasteur, of antiseptics by Lister, of vaccination by Jenner and anaesthetics by well sand Scot Simpson, the use of the microscope by Vuirchoe (German) brought great advance in the understanding of diseases and Ehrlich (German) conceived the brilliant idea of 'magic bullet' -drugs aimed at the real cause of the disease which would attack the germs at the root of the disease without hurting the patient. Edwin Chadwick, one of the greatest names, revolutionised the social control concept by so dealing with the causes of disease (like proving safe drinking water, controlling pests, lice, files , mosquito, etc.) that they were prevented form arising at all. A population riddled with

Research Proposal The Rise of China Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

The Rise of China - Research Proposal Example The secondary data collected from existing literature will be used throughout the study to supplement the primary data. The theory presented in the literature review will be obtained from existing literature on the topic of study. The researcher will use the literature review to critically and objectively analyse the data in establishing research gaps and coming up with possible areas of study. Simple random sampling, purposive and snow ball sampling will be used as the sampling techniques in the study. The researcher will also adhere to ethical considerations when carrying out the study. The limitations of the study such as financial constraints and time of the study are also considered in this proposal. Since the political and economic reforms of 1970, China has been experiencing an impressive rate of development characterised by rapid economic growth (Blanchard & Shleifer, 2001). This has resulted to the country’s increase in global economic and political influence in the past three decades. The Chinese government has invested heavily in third world countries in Africa, Latin America (Santiso et al 2004) and the Middle East in the spheres of manufacturing and construction. Critiques, however, view the country’s rapid export, investment and economic growth as a bubble because of the state driven nature of the economy which is heavily reliant on administrative methods in the management of financial and economic outcomes (ECLAC, 2005). Furthermore, the country is dependent on exports, has exposed banking institutions, environmental stress, unstable political climate and a fast aging population. Thus, if China was to be a pacesetter for the future of the globe, then ther e would be a great challenge as the practices of the country are incompatible with those of the West such as the rule of law, individualism, individual freedom, democracy, universal ethics and even coordination of economic activities through financial outcomes (Ikenberry, 2008). These

Barriers to Evidence Based Nursing Practice Assignment

Barriers to Evidence Based Nursing Practice - Assignment Example (1998). Interviews were used to conduct this research on a nurse leader and a bedside nurse with a major view of inquiring their perspective on the barriers to the application of evidence-based nursing practices within their clinical settings. Based on quantitative study analysis and design, the barriers identified were inadequate resources, minimal time allocation for the study, inconsistencies, restricted authorities in some situations, limited support in conducting the research, a future two tier nursing practice, lack of work motivation, adaptation culture, institutional resistance to change, and poor responsibility in adopting the evidence-based nursing. These findings were found to be consistent when compared to other related research works (Hannes K. et al, (2007). With a critical look on these barriers, it stood out that one major action of developing clear objective and targeted strategies needed to be taken to solve them all. At our clinical level, we would recommend the development of a problem tree based on the purposeful sampling of nurses in different sections of the clinic to explore the identified barriers, and to orientate possible changes in the management processes of the clinic. This would ensure that both managerial and individual limitations/ barriers are eliminated (Gerrish K., 2007). Hannes K., Vandersmissen J., De Blaeser L., Peeters G., Goedhuys J., Aertgeerts B. (2007). Barriers to evidence-based nursing: a focus group study. J Adv Nurse. 2007 Oct; 60(2):162-71. Pub Med PMID: 17877563. Gerrish K., Ashworth P., Lacey A., Bailey J., Cooke J., Kendall S., McNeilly E. (2007). Factors influencing the development of evidence-based practice: a research tool. J Adv Nurse. 2007 Feb; 57(3):328-38. Pub Med PMID:

Approaches for Improving Disaster and Emergency Preparedness Planning Research Paper

Approaches for Improving Disaster and Emergency Preparedness Planning Processes and Procedures in a System - Research Paper Example The paper primarily focuses on planning processes and procedures in a system-based framework. Emergencies often occur because of lack of proper systems or failure of the existing systems to limit, control and prevent the circumstances that trigger incidences that cause disasters. Emergencies are common in any given area: in schools, churches, towns, offices and roads. One of the characteristics of emergencies is that they are not predictable; they hit any time when people are not expecting them. This unpredictability character has forced the stakeholders of areas prone to emergencies and disasters to prepare mitigation mechanisms that they can apply to limit the adversities associated with unforeseen circumstances. The purpose of this research paper is to help people to understand the critical aspects of disaster preparedness and emergency mitigation measures. Emergencies that organizations and people predict and prepare for in advance have lesser adversities than those that are unpr epared for or in terms of planning. It is crucial for the citizens to understand the processes and procedures for mitigating disasters and emergencies in their environments. ... A disaster results in significant physical damage, destruction, loss of life and drastic change in ecosystems (Arthur, 2007). Disasters are tragic events arising from undesirable events such as catastrophic accidents, explosions, earthquakes, fires, and floods. An emergency constitutes a situation that poses an immediate danger to property, health, environment, and life (Karagiannis, Piatyszek & Flaus, 2013). Emergencies require urgent intervention to act as countermeasures for preventing the worsening of the risk. Emergency preparedness is a long-term program involving activities whose aims are to strengthen the capacity and capability of a community to manage efficiently all types of emergencies and ensure an orderly transition from relief through recovery and sustainable development. Most countries have set government emergency services to respond to emergencies; these agencies are responsible for planning and managing emergencies. Emergencies and disasters can cause both mild and devastating damage. The preparedness and planning for these disasters and emergencies is of paramount necessity at all times. A system-based framework is a structure of operation where several independent units are interrelated to work together towards achievement of a common goal. A system-based framework is characterized by environment, feedback, boundaries, controls, inputs and outputs (Sommer & Nja, 2012). Disaster and emergency preparedness approaches are necessary in a system-based framework to a countermeasure the adversities of the risks. Statement of the Problem Major emergencies and disasters do not respect national borders and never occur at convenient times. The intensity of human suffering caused by these events are huge, and affect many aspects of people’s lives such as

Black Genocide Essay Example for Free

Black Genocide Essay â€Å"Black Genocide in the 21st century† also called â€Å"Maafa† is an anti-abortionist documentary made in 2009 that speaks about the relevance of birth control, White America and Black America, Planned Parenthood and how it was established, also, the conspiracy behind abortion. The movie also deeply discusses the argument between abortion being genocide and it specifically targeting African Americans. Black Genocide was a very intriguing and interesting piece of material that filled my knowledge with much more than I had intended it doing. Before watching this video, I knew a little about abortion but not about the black genocide part. You see, I knew that abortion was a way for the government to obtain legal rights to abort children who weren’t able to be cared for but I didn’t know the government was using abortion as a way to limit the black population. I also knew that African Americans were having a lot of abortions and there were, and still is a lot of abortion facilities but never put together the idea of how they were getting access to this information, furthermore, the connection between eugenics and genocide. During the film, I learned so much information that is disgusted me and changed many of my views toward abortion and other things. I learned that in the early 1800’s, Americans feared retribution and resurrection because slavery was supposed to have ended. Intermarriage also lead to the loss of international purity and for that, they had a plan of colonization. Colonization was an affect that took place, and caused African Americans to be sent back to Africa. After the colonization, the new philosophy was established and was called â€Å"eugenics†, the perfect solution to what was known as â€Å"negro dilemma.† I also learned that Eugenics believed that Africans were inferior and without guidance, they couldn’t make it. Margaret Sanger was the founder of the â€Å"American birth control league† and was successful for promoting abortion and birth control. After watching the 21st century of black genocide, I wanted to know more about the situation with the NAACP and why the government still hasn’t publicly announced the conflict between the protesters and there undercover targets. I’d also like to know more about the positive and negative eugenics and why White America was considered positive eugenics when it was used to try and dominate the black parts of America and used as a companion to exterminate African Americans. I’d also like to know more about Planned Parenthood and to see if the facilities were still being targeted in minority places. I’d also like to know more about White America and the Planned Parenthood meetings, and also if Planned Parenthood groups still targeted low poverty neighborhoods of different race, such as Caucasians.

Stereotyping German Turks Cultural Studies Essay

Stereotyping German Turks Cultural Studies Essay An American, a Chinese a German and a Turk are in a plane. Because of a technical fault the plane is about to crash if not immediately some ballast is thrown out. The Chinese opens the door and gets rid of the rice in his bag explaining: it doesnt matter, we have too much rice at home. Then the American stands up and throws greenbacks out of the window: we have way too many of them back home. After a short silence the Turk turns to the German and says: Bruder (buddy), dont get any silly ideas!. by pointing out their representation as victims and unwelcome guest-workers. Meanwhile, wrapped in a humorous aspect this joke clearly hints at the fact that prejudices and stereotypes have an immense influence in our daily life. Now the following question arises: To what extent do stereotypes affect intercommunal relations? With the intention of answering the question this work will focus on stereotypes, Turks in Germany are confronted with, by analyzing the representation of both immigrants with Turkish heritage and native born Germans in literature as well as in cinema. In order to support the theses it will refer to authors like Arlene Akiko Teroka, Rob Burns, Gà ¶kà §e Yurdakuli Y. Michal Bodemann, Johanna Watzginer Tharp and to their works. In addition, it will discuss the social consequences of stereotyping and show how much prejudices and labeling affect our actions towards and treatment of other groups. In order to be able to understand the labeling process the emergence of specific stereotypes one should be well informed about the historical background of the aforesaid nations and their international relationships. In the case of Germany and Turkey the era after World War II plays a decisive role. Aiming to rebuild the country and reconstruct its ruined economy the German government decided to import labor from nearby countries like Turkey. (Yurdakul, 2006) These so called guest-workers were unskilled peasants in search of income, which they were unable to gain in their homeland. This immigration policy of the German government is inextricably linked with the perception of Turkish immigrants in the eyes of German citizens. To be precise, the first stereotype Turks have to cope with is the image of unskilled guest-workers. In order to make this labeling clear a connection with literature and cinema seems adequate at this point. Migrant writings and films between 1970s and 1980s were called guest-worker literature or the literature of the effected. (Burns, 2007) They mostly tended to foreground two thematic concerns; the reality of the exploited, discriminated and socially excluded Turkish guest-worker experience and the problems of living between two cultures. (Burns, 2007) One example underlying the above mentioned image and experience of the uneducated and socially excluded Turkish guest-workerr is the novel and film Ganz Unten (Lowest of the Low),. In the film, the writer Gà ¼nter Wallraff borrows the identity of a real immigrant, the guest-worker Ali Levent Sinirlioglu and records his experiences in a variety of dangerous, unsanitary and badly paid jobs. Devoid of both a personal history and a private sphere, Wallraffs Ali has no individual identity, no life beyond the workplace.(Burns, 2007) In the film the immigrant Ali is defined purely in relation to his economic function as a worker. According to the Turkish writer Aysel ÃÆ'-zakin, Walraff presents a patronising clichà ©d portrait of the Turk as uneducated, unskilled and basically ignorant, as well as naive [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] oppressed and, hence, ultimately pitiful. (Burns, 2007) Thus Ganz Unten reinforces the stereotype of the Turks as merely unskilled and suppressed guest-workers. This example additionally shows that the stereotype of guest-worker goes hand in hand with the portrayal of German Turks as victims,oppressed by the superior, the German employer. One narrative example that underlies the image of the exploited, helpless guest-worker is the story about the laboratory assistant Kadir, who falls victim to a nefarious employer a German manager, who supplies him with hormone pills for the stomach cramps that continually afflict him.(Burns, 2007) At the end when Kadir grows breasts after the excessive supply of hormone pills he cuts his own breasts with a kitchen knife. This act of self-mutilation serves as a [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] metaphor for German treatment of guest-workers, especially Turks as subhuman beings and for the helpless and self-destructive response of a man, who falls victim to the bewildering complexities of urban technological society.(Burns, 2007) Beside the portrayal of being a victim the fact of being regarded as a guest-worker also leads to another stereotype: the image of being an outsider. The film 40 m2 Deutschland (40 Square Meters of Germany, 1986), is a very well example to show the Turk, isolated between two cultures. The films location is a flat in Hamburg, the new home of Turna, who has been brought over from rural Anatolia to live with her husband, Dursun. Turnas task is to transform this space into a little enclave of Turkish culture, offering Dursun refuge after his work at the factory and safeguarding his wife from the moral depravity he sees pervading German society. (Burns, 2007) This film demonstrates that Turks tend to distance themselves from the German society and their rules, in order to save their own cultural values. This kind of behavior contributes to the labeling process as an outsider. The Turk is seen as someone, who wants only minimal contact with German life and deliberately deprives him/herself of social intercourse. This limited contact with the German society and culture even led to the development of a new language-the so-called Gastarbeiterdeutsch (Guest-worker German), a simplified form of German to meet only basic communicative needs (Watzinger Tharp, 2004); a form of German which leads to reduced or even incorrect input. (Watzinger Tharp, 2004) A new arising form of language among the second and third generation Turks in Germany, the so called Tà ¼rkendeutsch, introduces a new stereotype: the fact that German Turks are stuck between two cultures, even unable to speak one language properly. This stereotype is clearly reflected in Geierbachs choice of his novels title: Bruder, muss Zwiebel und Wasser essen! (Brother, have to eat onion and water!). This sentence is neither German nor Turkish: The content reflects behaviour peculiar to lower class Turks whereas the sentence is completely written in German. Thus, it appears to be rather a mix of two languages, two cultures, and therefore ser ves as an example to demonstrate the fact that the German Turk, has positioned him/herself between two cultures remaining culturally torn. However, these are only some of the stereotypes Turks in Germany are confronted with. Still, they can be seen as the main ones. The following abstract will now shortly focus on the social consequences of stereotyping and show their effects,which mainly cause social tension and even racial violence. The bad image of the Turks created through stereotyping connected with increasing unemployment rates in Germany led to an atmosphere of open anti Turkism among Germans. Some even say that former anti Semitism was transformed into open anti Turkism. In short stereotyping led to animosity and aggressive tendencies and increasing violence towards Turks. The Solingen arson attack of 1993 serves as an example of anti foreigner violence in modern Germany, when Neo Nazis set fire to a Turkish familys home. On the Turkish side, however, being constantly stereotyped and mocked resulted in anger and hostility among German Turks. A cartoon published in the German magazine Stern shows a heavily mustached man crawling through a cat hole in a door named European Union, trying to gain entry into Europe. Some imitation Arabic writing appears on top of the cat hole, and a suitcase with a Turkish flag stands next to the man.(Yurdakul, 2006) Some claim that the nose of the Jew is now replaced by the mustache of the Turk and consequently accuse Germans of anti Turkish racism. As a response, associating Turkish concerns with those of the Jews and comparing the Holocaust to the bombings of Turkish houses, the Turkish society has openly begun to attack the Germans, where they are most vulnerable, creating even more hostility between both nations. In conclusion, by analyzing the representation of Turks and Germans in literature and cinema, this paper has tried to highlight the stereotypes directed against Turks-mainly German Turks, dominating Turkish-German relationships, even until today. After, explaining the historical evolution of stereotypes and the emergence of specific prejudices against Turks, the essay has illustrated the social consequences of labeling. As seen in literature and cinema stereotyping is an element, which dominates relationships between different nations. In a nutshell, the main aim of this paper is to show that stereotyping and labeling are very serious and dangerous social traits, which can have drastic consequences on intercommunal relations fueling emotions like hostility, dislike, anger and even racism, all being traits which should have no place in an enlightened, modern society.

Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) Experiment

Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) Experiment Abstract Artificial neural networks (ANNs) is applied for prediction of product selectivity in biological sulfide removal. An experimental setup is constructed for investigation of biological sulfide removal in a fed batch bioreactor. In this process, sulfide is biologically converted into elemental sulfur and sulfate by the bacterium Thiobacillus thioparus. In addition, thiosulfate is produced in a side reaction. The effect of various parameters (dissolved oxygen, concentration of bacteria and sulfide load) is investigated on the types of products. The main product is elemental sulfur at low dissolved oxygen or at high sulfide loads and also more sulfates are produced at high dissolved oxygen. At high concentration of bacteria, sulfur and sulfate selectivity are increased, and thiosulfate selectivity is decreased. By using gathered experimental data, an artificial neural network model is developed to calculate the selectivity of products at different operating conditions. The comparison betw een proposed ANN model and the experimental data demonstrates a great precision of the model. Introduction Hydrogen sulfide as an extremely toxic gas is emitted by many industries such as oil, gas and petrochemical industries [1]. It has potential for the damaging nervous system at low-dose exposures. Furthermore, sulfide is highly corrosive and has a very unpleasant odor. The threshold limit value for air 0.5–10 ppbv [2], natural gas 4 ppmv [3] and for fresh or salty water fish is 0.5 ppm [4]. In the recent years, biological sulfide removal at ambient temperature and pressure has been investigated as an alternative to the conventional methods. A review on the bacteria of the sulfur cycle was discussed by Tang et al which contributes to a better understanding of the process [7]. Also, a review of the biological removal of H2S from gas streams was studied by Sayed et al [8]. Several microorganisms, namely sulfur compound oxidizing bacteria (SOB), are capable of oxidizing H2S at ambient temperatures and pressures. Different types of bioreactors are used for biological sulfide removal, the more common types are: bioscrubber, biotrickling filter, and biofilter. In the last two processes, the H2S-containing gas passes through a moist, packed bed of particles, which are coated by microorganisms. The biotrickling filter, and biofilter are proper for low sulfide capacity, which the sulfide is mainly converted to sulfate [8]. In the case of biological H2S removal from natural gas, the bioscrubber is more preferred. In a bioscrubber, H2S is washed from the natural gas stream by an alkaline such as NaOH (Eqs. 1 and 2) in a gas absorber, then the rich alkaline solution is sent to an agitated bioreactor where the sulfide ions (HS) are converted to elemental sulfur or sulfate (Eqs. 3 and 4). The produced elemental sulfur is separated by sedimentation [8-11]. Production of elemental sulfur is preferred since it is less harmful than sulfate. Furthermore, hydroxyl ions, consumed in the absorption of H2S in the alkaline liquid, are regenerated upon oxidation of sulfide to elemental sulfur (Eq. 3). Also, elemental sulfur is easily separated by sedimentation. In addition to the biological reactions, dissolved sulfide can react with S0 to produce polysulfide ions (), according to Eq. 5, and ions are abiotically oxidized to S0 and, according to Eq. 6 [12]. Teder [13] has shown that the chain length of polysulfide ion (Sx2-) increases with increase of temperature (x = 5.0 at 25  °C and x = 6.5 at 80  °C). At moderate alkaline conditions, the average chain length of polysulfide (x) varies from 4.6 to 5.5 [12-15]. The product selectivity in the biological sulfide removal process depends on different parameters such as bacteria concentration, sulfide load to the bioreactor and dissolved oxygen [*** Roosta]. This study investigates the applicability of artificial neural networks (ANNs) for the prediction of the biological sulfide removal performance in a fed batch bioreactor. Materials and Methods In this study, Thiobacillus thioparus (DSMZ 5368) was used as sulfur oxidizing bacteria for producing elemental sulfur in the biological sulfide removal process.In this regards, a bioreactor with total volume of 3.8 liter operated under fed batch conditions was used, as shown in Figure (1). During all experiments, the temperature was controlled at 30 ±0.3  °C, and the pH was controlled at 8 ±0.2 using 1N HCl and 1N NaOH solutions. Dissolved oxygen (DO) as a manipulated variable was changed between 0.5 and 6 ppm and controlled using nitrogen and oxygen injection. The bioreactor was charged with 2000 cc of the medium inoculated with biomass. After stabilizing of the temperature in the bioreactor at 30  °C, feeding of the sulfide solution was started. The concentration of sulfide was determined based on the methylene blue method proposed by Trà ¼per and Schlegel [16], by using a spectrophotometer (Zeiss) at 665 nm. The sulfide solution was injected to the bioreactor by an infus ion pump (JMS OT-701), after calibration of the pump. During the experiments, the sulfide solution is applied at different flow rates (between 1.5 and 23 ml h-1) to achieve different HS load (between 0.5 and 4.0 mmolL-1h-1). The flow rate of recirculating gas was adjusted to 15 L min-1 and was spread by a diffuser; this caused a good mixing of the broth. The concentration of sulfur compounds were measured during the process. In this regards, the total concentrations of sulfide (HS and polysulfide) were determined based on the methylene blue method [17]. The concentration of polysulfide was determined based on Teder [14] method. The concentration of sulfide (HS) is the difference between total sulfide concentrations and polysulfide concentration. The concentration of sulfate was determined via the turbiditimetry method at 420 nm [17], and the thiosulfate concentration was determined via the methylene blue method at 760 nm [18]. Finally, the concentration of elemental sulfur is calculated by the mass balance on sulfur. The present study investigates the effect of operating variables: dissolve oxygen (DO) value (0.5 – 4 ppm), HS load (0.5 – 4 mmol L-1 h-1) and optical density (OD) of bacteria (0.4 – 0.6) on the sulfide removal and product selectivity. ANN Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) with different structures has been proven to be universal function approximators. The major advantage of ANN model is to be constructed without detailed information about the underlying process. ANNs as black box modeling tools have already been used for many applications in industry, business and science [19]. Since in white box modeling approaches, the model of development is based on the information of mechanistic and relevant equations and detailed knowledge for a specific system is usually not directly available, most efforts in the white box modeling approach are devoted to revealing all relevant mechanisms and quantifying these mechanisms correctly. This usually requires an extensive research program (including experiments, which can also be very time- and money-consuming). Here a compromise must be made in order to save time and money. Therefore, white box models often have limited accuracy, because in developing the models, minor mechanisms are neglected and only the major mechanisms are taken into account. The major advantage of the artificial neural networks is that they can be constructed without the need of detailed knowledge of the underlying system. One of the applications of artificial neural network models is to map an input space to an output space and function as a look-up table. Thus, in recent years, artificial neural networks have been applied to biotechnology and biochemical engineering researches [20-27]. In this study, a Multi Layer Perceptron (MLP) neural network is utilized in order to develop an appropriate model for the prediction of products selectivity. MLP This type of network consists of an input layer, an output layer and one or more hidden layers (Figure 2). The number of neurons in the input and the output layer depends on the number of input and output parameters respectively. However, the hidden layer may contain desired neurons. All the layers are interconnected as shown in Figure (2) and the strength of the interconnections is determined by the weights associated with them. Each input of neurons (p) is weighted with an appropriate (w), the sum of the weighted inputs and the bias (b) forms the input to the transfer function (f). Neurons can use any differentiable transfer function f to generate their output (n) and is given as: Multilayer Perceptron networks often use the log-sigmoid transfer function (Eq. 8); however, other functions are commonly used. In this work, one hidden layer was chosen for the networks (as shown in Figure 2), and the optimum neuron numbers for hidden layer was calculated. By using Bayesian regularization back propagation, the MLP neural network was trained. This training method updates the weight and bias values according to the Levenberg- Marquardt optimization [28]. It minimizes a combination of squared errors and weights, and then determines the correct combination so as to produce an artificial neural network that generalizes well. Training was carried out until the mean absolute relative error (MARE) which represented by Eq. 9, was minimized. When the training was terminated, to avoid over learning, the error of test and training data were calculated. As illustrated in Figure (2), the inputs of the proposed networks are DO value, bacteria OD and HS load, and the outputs are elemental sulfur, sulfate and thiosulfate selectivity. To choose the best network structure, different configurations of MLP networks were trained and tested. Network parameters such as: numbers of hidden layers, numbers of neurons in each hidden layer, transfer functions and training algorithm were studied in this attempt. Eventually, the network structure that produced the smallest error for testing and training data was determined. The needed experimental data were measured at different DO values, bacteria ODs and HS loads, and comprise 300 observations. Using the random selection method, 75% of all data (225 data sets) were assigned to the training set, while the rest of the data were used as the validation set. Results and Discussions A part of the obtained experimental data are shown in Table (1). According to the results, increasing of bacteria OD leads to more sulfur and sulfate selectivity, but leads to decrease of thiosulfate selectivity. Although, by increasing DO value, sulfate and thiosulfate selectivity increase, and sulfur selectivity decreases. In addition, increasing sulfide load leads to increase of elemental sulfur and thiosulfate selectivity, and decrease in sulfate selectivity. After many attempts, the best ANN obtained is a MLP with one hidden layer. The optimum number of neurons in the hidden layer is 15 neurons as shown in Figure (3). The transfer function of the first layers is a hyperbolic tangent sigmoid (Eq. 9) and that of second layer is a positive linear function. The parameters of the ANN structure are shown in Table (2). As shown in Figure (4) the ANN model has been able to capture all the features of the system reasonably and can be used for estimating the product selectivity within the range in which it has been trained. Figure (4a) compares the results of applying the training data and Figure (4b) compares the applying test data to the MLP with experimental data at different conditions. The correlation coefficient (R2) value of the ANN model is near to one, which indicates a good accuracy of the ANN model. The relative error between experimental data and calculated values, for verification data are illustrated in Figure (5). As seen in this figure, mean absolute relative error (MARE%) for sulfate, sulfur and thiosulfate selectivity are 4.4, 1.77 and 0.23% respectively. The results show that the proposed model is in a good agreement with experimental data which ANN did not observe in the training phase. Conclusion In biological sulfide removal, elemental sulfur production should be maximized to save more hydroxyl ions. Thus, the prediction of product selectivity is essential in the design of the biological sulfide removal system. An artificial neural network based model was developed for the prediction of product selectivity as a function of DO, OD of bacteria and HS load, in the biological sulfide removal system. The best architecture of the MLP network was obtained by trial. Application of the proposed ANN model for training and test data indicates that it can predict the product selectivity with a considerable accuracy.

Full Body Scanners Do Not Lead to Safer Travel Essays -- Airport Secur

Why should anyone including my 3-year-old daughter unnecessarily be exposed to cancer causing X-ray beams in a full body scanner? Or have a total stranger run his or her hands up and down my daughter's body for a full pat-down upon refusing the scan? Most enraging is that the scan can be done without my knowledge. Full body scanners should not be used in United States airports. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA), on November 20, 2010 implemented the use of 385 scanners, otherwise know as advanced imaging technology in 68 airports to include Denver International Airport. The TSA is using these machines supposedly to ensure safer travel and be steps ahead of security threats. According to the TSA, as a preventive measure, scanners where rapidly deployed after Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's failed attempt at blowing up an aircraft with pentaerythritol tetranitrate, or PETN sewn in his underwear December 25, 2009. Former Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff claimed that if Abdulmutallab had gone through screening or a full pat-down, the explosives would have been discovered (Eggen, DeYoung and Hsu 2). The TSA also claims that not all explosives or explosive devices can be detected through metal detectors. The scanner machines cannot detect explosives such as the type that Abdulmutallab had concealed. Abdullah Ansieri had a detonator and explosives hidden in his rectum when he tried to kill Saudi Arabia's counter-terrorism chief, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef. Ansieri was Saudi's most wanted man and managed to get through two rigorous airport screenings and Saudi Secret Service, who defend royals by any means necessary. Professor Clive Williams a counter-terrorism expert of the Australian National University said the mac... ...he-real-radiation-risk-of-the-tsas-full-body-x-ray-scans/> 5. Bell, Jason. â€Å"Review of the TSA X-ray backscatter body scanner safety report: hide your kids, hide your wife.† My Helical Tryst, blogspot.com, 22 Nov 2010. Web. 1 Dec 2010. 6. â€Å"You asked for it...You got it, Millimeter Wave images.† blog.tsa.gov. TSA 09 May 2008. Web. 1 Dec 2010. . 7. "Are Full Body Scan Images Saved? Issue Challenged In Federal Court...† wgrz, Buffalo, 06 Aug 2010. Web. 1 Dec 2010. . 8. Meserve, Jeanne, and Mike M. Ahlers. â€Å"Body scanners can store, send images, group says.† CNN 11 Jan 2010: 1. Web. ! Dec 2010.

Passage To Manhood - Comparing :: essays research papers

By reading a certain print texts, readers are manipulated into accepting or rejecting additional texts. The short story â€Å"The Altar of the Family† written by Michael Welding shares many comparisons with the feature article â€Å"Boys to Men† written by Stephen Scourfield, and by reading one the reader can make clear understanding of the other. Symbolism, genre and certain values and attitudes are present in both the texts and will be further examined in the following essay to show that a readers understanding of particular print texts is shaped by the reading of previous texts. By reading â€Å"The Altar of the Family† the reader understands that to become a man a boy has to pass certain â€Å"tests or ordeals† in order to gain â€Å"rights of passage† to manhood. This process is clearly shown in the print text â€Å"The Altar of the Family†. David, the boy in â€Å"The Altar of the Family† is under constant pressure from his father to become â€Å"more manly†. His father constantly demoralises him and on one occasion brands him a â€Å"lily-livered poofter†. The symbolism of using such words is evident in this text as lilies are something that David admires yet are extremely â€Å"girlish† in the eyes of his father, a man. In an effort to please his father David took it upon himself to kill a possum that had become a menace to his father, this would make him a man, this would grant him his â€Å"rite of passage†. The possum eventually appeared and was described as David would describe his much- loved lilies, â€Å"soft, beautiful, white in the moonlight†. The symbolism of using the same words to describe the possum like the much loved lilies shows the reader that it is against David’s morals to kill the animal of such beauty but if such a task has to be completed to gain manhood then so be it. Much to his dismay he shot the possum and in his own mind was a murderer but in the eyes of his father he would be a man. When looking for the dead possum the next morning his father greets him by saying, â€Å"What’ve you lost old man?† and this shows the reader that David has now become a man in his fathers eyes. By reading â€Å"The Altar of the Family† the reader is led to believe that certain tasks have to be completed in order to gain manhood.

Crucial Role of Innovation in Competitive Success Essay -- Business, S

Innovation has become widely recognized as a key to competitive success (Francis & Bessant, 2005). Scholars are mainly concerned with innovation because of the life requirements and the persistent desire for continuous change to be in accordance with individuals' needs and desires (Badawy, 1993). Developments in all aspects of life are attributed to innovation. Peter Ducker, one of the administration scholars, says that innovation is one of the main forces in economic and social development and a basic tool in the growing, resistance and adaptability of the contemporary organizations with the changing environmental conditions as those organizations with no innovation will shortly remove (Drucker, 1995). Leaders of businesses of all sizes and from all industries make innovation among their top priorities and concerns (Scantlebury & Lawton, 2007). Innovation is recently considered as a key factor for achieving sustainable competitive advantages and, by extension, for the success of businesses in the market (Cooper & Kleinschmidt, 1987; Damanpour & Evan, 1984; Damanpour & Gopalakrishnan, 2001; Damanpour et al., 1989; Hitt et al., 1997; Kleinschmidt & Cooper, 1991; Rogers, 1983; Subramanian & Nilakanta, 1996). The main reason is that innovative ï ¬ rms are more ï ¬â€šexible and have a greater capacity to adapt to changes. This can protect them when the climate is unstable, they can respond faster to changes, create new opportunities and exploit existing ones to a greater extent than the competition (Drucker, 1985; Miles & Snow, 1978). In the age of the knowledge and economy, the rapidly The successful changes occurring in the contemporary organizations environment are based in essence on the human source that is one of the main assets in... ... to innovate is influenced by external factors to the organization as well as by internal factors. The five innovation drivers observed by Cooper (2005) appear to be the external factors, while ITC which is proposed by Zhang et al. (2008) and organizational culture elements proposed by Schlegelmilch et al. (2003) and Cravens et al. (2002), are more internally oriented. Drake et al. (2006) identified a need for studies to examine the relative importance of various factors contributing to a firm’s innovation capability. The need was further confirmed by number of writers (Barlow, 2002; Currah, 2007; Miozzo & Dewick, 2002). This needs forming the overarching motivation for this study. This study examines the influence of organizational culture and Cooper’s five drivers on innovation capability and identifies the mediating role of information technology capability. â€Æ'

Did Germany Cause The World War I

When Wilhelm II became a Kaiser, paths for ever-growing German industry were already set and Germany was becoming a world’s super power. New Kaiser, who according to many historians was disturbed mentally, wanted for Germany to become greatest of all countries in Europe through growing military power ( potentially war ) and through obtaining overseas colonies, what will later on bring Germany in conflicts with other European major countries. Kaiser’s offensive foreign policy and Schliffen Plan are the facts which eliminate every suspicion about Germany being innocent in question of who caused the World War I. German foreign policy dramatically changed when Kaiser Wilhelm II forced Bismarck to resign in 1890. After Bismarck’s resignation, Kaiser set a new course for Germany. Wilhelm II made an emphasis on militaristic and expansionist policy while he tried to â€Å"defend† Germany’s â€Å"place in the sun†. This new offensive, provocative and irrational foreign political path ruined Germany’s relations with major European countries. German militarism, which is the crime of the last fifty years, had been working for this for twenty-five years. 1] First proof of Kaiser’s bad methodology came in 1893 when he failed to renew alliance with Russia. Now, the doors for Franco-Russian alliance were opened and the Bismarck’s worst fear about encirclement of Germany in case of war, was becoming a reality. In 1894, Franco-Russian alliance was ratified. In order to prevent fighting on two fronts, German Army Chief of Staff – Alfred von Schlieffen came up with a plan. This plan was worked out in the 1890’s and completed and changed a little bit by Von Molkte in 1906. The fact that Germany worked out the plan of attack and all the other countries had just plans how to defend themselves, is the reason why Germany was sole accused for causing the war. Schlieffen planned the attack and win over France to be faster than Russian mobilization. So, Germany would attack France through Belgium with 90% of its military forces and 10% would just stay on eastern border to defend Germany against eventual Russian attack. Schlieffen underestimated French forces and that is why Germany in the end faced war on two fronts. The Schlieffen Plan must rank as one of the supreme idiocies of modern times†¦ It estricted the actions of the German government disastrously. In July 1914 they had just two choices; either to abandon the only plan they had to win the next war, or to go to war immediately. [2] Except this expansion in Europe, Kaiser desired to gain overseas colonies. To conquer countries on other continents and to later protect them, Germany needed powerful fleet. By this policy, which Bismarck avoided during his period as a chancellor, Great Britain felt offended because its navy status as the most powerful one was at stake and overseas colonies could be threatened. To justify his decisions, Kaiser said that they needed bigger and more powerful fleet to protect their growing trade. With accusations from one and bad defending arguments from another side, naval rivalry began and both countries spent millions on building their new ships. Kaiser Wilhelm II did not think about efficiency of his foreign policy; he just cared about arms build-up and improvement in navy. With this act, he insulted Great Britain and eliminated every chance for friendly relations. There is no comparison between the importance of the German navy to Germany, and the importance of our navy to us. Our navy is to us what their army is to them. To have a strong navy would increase Germany’s prestige and influence, but it is not a matter of life and death to them as it to us. [3] All these irrational moves made by Germany and Kaiser, led to making of a new alliance system Entente Cordiale ( friendly ‘getting together’ ) in 1904 between Great Britain and France. Russia joined this alliance in 1907. Not even this did make Germany to change its foreign policy. In stead of getting rational, Germany kept provoking other European powers by interfering in their or theirs colonial governments and intern issues. There was possibility of French to takeover Morocco. Germany said that they will pledge they allegiance and support Moroccan fight for independence. This conflict was solved on the conference at Algeciras in Spain where Germany sustained grave diplomatic defeat. Russia, Britain, Spain and even Italy supported the French demand to control Moroccan bank and police. In 1908, Austria-Hungary formally annexed ( took over ) Bosnia. When Russia protested against this decision – because they supported Serbia in ‘fight’ for Bosnia- , Germany supported Austria-Hungary. Since France did not want to get involved in the Balkans conflicts, they simply drew back. Britain just protested to Austria-Hungary. So, as Russia was alone with out any allies in this â€Å"battle† and did not want to engage another war after losing to a Japan – they recognized the annexation of Bosnia by Austria-Hungary. This was great win for the Austro-German alliance. In the Bosnia crisis, Germany showed for the second time that they were ready to start the war. They proved it once more, in the Agadir crisis where they needed just a little spark. When French troops occupied the capital city of Morocco in order to put down rebellion against the Sultan, it looked like the France was ready to annex Morocco. To avert this to happen, Germans sent the warship called the Panther in port of Agadir. British Prime Minister Lloyd George said that Britain is not going to just stand by and he gave warning against further German expansion. After these warnings, Panther was ‘removed’ from port of Agadir and Germany recognized French protectorate of Morocco in return for two strips of territory in French Congo. In these crises, Germans showed how prepared they were and how hard they wanted something to happen just to start the war. Germany played a more active role in the outbreak of war in that the Sarajevo assassinations served only as an excuse to re-ignite the militaristic Prussian tradition that looked towards war as a method of solving any problems, domestic or international. [4] The greatest war of modern times, and perhaps in the whole history of the human race, was begun by Germany using the crime of a schoolboy as an excuse†¦[5] The important political role Kaiser Wilhelm II played was crucial to the outbreak of war in 1914. Through a nationalistic, militaristic and expansionistic foreign policy, Germany did everything to make a mess in a diplomatic world. Germany actually created situation in which the slightest spark would explode in Europe-wide conflict. In the bottom line, Germany first invaded Belgium to get to the France in order to complete Schlieffen plan. They were rightly accused for causing all the damage and the loss to which other European countries and their people have been subjected.

Mercedes-Benz Advertising Brief & Strategy

classly bailiwick 2011. chance on Figures Daimler root word 2011 Amounts in cardinals of euros gross horse opera Europe olibanum Germ both NAFTA in that locationof get together States Asia hence China some other merchandiseplaces Employees (December 31) investment funds funds in property, inst completely in both and equipment question and maturement wasting disease thereof crownworkized Free specie flow of the industrial call(a)ing EBIT look on added Net amplification/loss attain/loss per persona (in ) Total divid obliterate Divid contain per shargon (in ) 106,540 39,387 19,753 26,026 22,222 22,643 11,093 18,484 271,370 4,158 5,634 1,460 989 8,755 3,726 6,029 5. 2 2,346 2. 20 97,761 38,478 19,281 23,582 20,216 19,659 9,094 16,042 260,100 3,653 4,849 1,373 5,432 7,274 2,773 4,674 4. 28 1,971 1. 85 78,924 36,458 18,788 19,380 16,569 12,435 4,349 10,651 256,407 2,423 4,181 1,285 2,706 -1,513 -4,644 -2,644 -2. 63 0 0. 00 2010 2009 11/10 % falsify +91 +2 +2 + 10 +10 +15 +22 +15 +4 +14 +16 +6 -82 +20 +34 +29 +24 +19 +19 1 Adjusted for the effects of currency translation, step-up in tax r stillue enhancement of 10%. sectionalisations 011 Amounts in jillions of euros Mercedes-Benz Cars EBIT Revenue go by on gross gross revenue enhancement investing in property, contrivet and equipment Research and out findth exp checkiture thereof capitalized building block gross sales Employees (December 31) Daimler Trucks EBIT Revenue Return on sales investment funds in property, architectural plant and equipment Research and ontogenesis expenditure thereof capitalized Unit sales Employees (December 31) Mercedes-Benz Vans EBIT Revenue Return on sales Investment in property, plant and equipment Research and dampenment expenditure thereof capitalized Unit sales Employees (December 31) Daimler B drops EBIT Revenue Return on sales Investment in property, plant and equipment Research and learning expenditure thereof capitalized Unit sales Empl oyees (December 31) Daimler fiscal operate EBIT Revenue b assay employment organisation Contract batch Investment in property, plant and equipment Employees (December 31) 1,312 12,080 33,521 71,730 21 7,065 162 4,418 3. 7% 103 225 32 39,741 17,495 835 9,179 9. 1% 109 358 126 264,193 14,889 1,876 28,751 6. 5% 1,201 1,321 251 425,756 77,295 5,192 57,410 9. 0% 2,724 3,733 1,051 1,381,416 99,091 2010 2009 11/10 % change 4,656 53,426 8. % 2,457 3,130 940 1,276,827 96,281 -500 41,318 -1. 2% 1,618 2,696 913 1,093,905 93,572 +12 +7 . +11 +19 +12 +8 +3 1,332 24,024 5. 5% 1,003 1,282 373 355,263 71,706 -1,001 18,360 -5. 5% 597 1,116 368 259,328 70,699 +41 +20 . +20 +3 -33 +20 +8 451 7,812 5. 8% 91 267 29 224,224 14,557 26 6,215 0. 4% 113 193 0 165,576 15,226 +85 +17 . +20 +34 +334 +18 +2 215 4,558 4. 7% 95 223 31 39,118 17,134 183 4,238 4. 3% 78 212 5 32,482 17,188 -25 -3 . +8 +1 +3 +2 +2 831 12,788 29,267 63,725 12 6,742 9 11,996 25,066 58,350 14 6,800 +58 -6 +15 +13 +75 +5 Daimler Mar ken Mercedes-Benz Cars Daimler Trucks Mercedes-Benz Vans Daimler Buses Daimler fiscal ServicesInnovation and maturement We invented the simple machine and now we be turbulently constitution its in store(predicate). As automotive pi geniusers, we jar over against it as both(prenominal) motivation and a duty to pertain our tradition with forward-looking technologies and superior ontogenesiss. We do our very lift out for customers who expect the best, and we live and breathe a culture of in operation(p) excellence base on sh argond measures. Our collective storey features numerous blueprints and pi wizardering hitments they ar the foundation and on-going inspiration for our claim to whizing in the auto motive industry. At the kindred time, our thoughts and actions ar guided by the normal of sustain open mobility.With tailored products, we in ecstasyd to assume b stake markets and attract extra groups of customers. Our terminus is to lead our industry in ground of whole sales, revenue and profitability and to do so in all the contrastes in which we atomic number 18 active. By means of advantageous maturement, we want to create pass awaying added value for our percentageholders, customers and employees, and for society in familiar. Dieter Zetsche Wolfgang Bernhard Christine HohmannDennhardt Wilfried Porth Andreas Renschler Bodo Uebber doubting Thomas weber Contents This stratumbook hatch commissiones on the ripe products and run with which we think to go for the developing opport unities offered fieldwide while making a piece to the mobility of the future.More expatiates are provided inside, oddly on knaves 28-69. normal using on Daimler and on the yr 2011 roll in the hay be found in the get-go section of the taradiddle. The assemblages pecuniary bearing, liquidity and capital resources, and profitability are described and analyzed in the focal point motif. other(a) sections provide training on our divisions, the topic of sustainability, integrated validation and the unify fiscal statements. 2 one- social class narrative 2011 Contents 1 To Our Shareholders (pages 4-27) 4 10 14 16 22 24 master(prenominal) Events in 2011 professorships Letter The bill of fare of focal point tell of the supervisory venire The supervisory plank Daimler Shares Sustainability (pages 144-155) 146 148 152 154 Sustainability at Daimler Innovation, Safety and the Environment humanskind Resources Social Responsibility 6 unified authorities (pages 156-175) 2 Innovation and reaping (pages 28-69) 30 36 40 46 52 58 62 66 Innovation on a uplifted-fl have got Scale The upstart Compact Cars The enchantment of electrical Mobility What Will Move Us Tomorrow? Global Success do by Daimler Customer Care oecumenic The next Is Our Element The Avant-garde of Future Mobility 158 161 167 169 175 Report of the visit commission Remuneration Report fair play and ossification Corporat e institution Report resoluteness of Compliance with the German Corporate G all overnance Code unite fiscal parameters (pages 176-251) 178 179 Consolidated Statement of Income Consolidated Statement of spatiotemporal Income/Loss Consolidated Statement of Financial redact Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity Consolidated Statement of immediate payment Flows Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements Responsibility Statement Independent scrutinizeors Report 3 anxiety Report (pages 70-127) 72 86 98 105 108 111 112 113 121 vocation and General Conditions favor equal to(p)ness Liquidity and Capital Resources Financial Position Daimler AG (Condensed version agree to HGB) general Assessment of the Economic Situation Events aft(prenominal) the end up of the 2011 Financial tendency of instruction risk of exposure Report Outlook 180 181 182 183 250 251 excess Information (pages 252-256) 252 254 255 256 Ten Year out argumentation Glossary indicant Internation al typical Offices Inter crystalise Information Addresses Daimler Worldwide Financial Calendar 2012 4 The Divisions (pages 128-143) 130 134 138 one hundred forty 142 Mercedes-Benz Cars Daimler Trucks Mercedes-Benz Vans Daimler Buses Daimler Financial Services 3 1 To Our Shareholders Important Events in 2011 Important Events Gottlieb Daimler and Carl Benz invented the travel in 1886. The class 2011 was therefore tag by the commemoration of the one hundred twenty-fiveth anniversary of the auto mobile, which started on January 29 with the functionary celebrations at the Mercedes-Benz Museum. They were followed by various(a) state-support events, including several organized during the railway carmobile summertime in Stuttgart.Our employees en thereforeiastically celebrated the anniversary at numerous fiberies in the output plants and sales-and- return digests. Following in the footsteps of Gottlieb Daimler and Carl Benz, we ordain create the automobile again and aga in, thus shaping the future of mobility. And in jubilee course of study 2011, we created the salutary conditions for sustainable and profitable product with a burst of late models and nearly of import strategical decisions. 2011 Q1. 11 25th anniversary of the automobile. On January 29, 1886, Carl Benz changed the creation. He applied to the Berlin homely Office to register his vehicle with gas-engine actuation under patent outcome 37435.Daimler starts jubilee class 2011 with official celebrations under the straits 125 Years Inventor of the automobile. Daimler and Toray found a roast endanger. Toray Industries, Inc. and Daimler plan to sayly attain and market automobile components make of carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics (CFRP). New C-Class coupe. The two-door has its world premiere at the geneva get Show in archaeozoic March 2011. It deliberately targets wise customers as intumesce as existing ones, and allows a particularly sporty entry into the coupe world of MercedesBenz. The contemporary generation of the C-Class sedan and waggon and the in the raw-fangled SLK roadster are withal exhibited in Geneva. Presentation of the fancy A-CLASS in Shanghai.At Auto Shanghai in April, Mercedes-Benz presents the Concept A-CLASS to give an impression of the up flood tide spick-and-span compact class. The proportions of the Concept A-CLASS communicate toilsome dynamism. The cars expressive lines and surfaces are a learn feature of the naked as a jaybird Mercedes-Benz design. supervisory tabular array appoints Dr. Christine Hohmann-Dennhardt to the batting outrank of perplexity. Dr. Hohmann-Dennhardt reachs shake of the newly created game mount up of heed field of battle of one and intelligent Affairs. She is responsible for the healthy Department, the Compliance Organization and Corporate entropy Protection. New hand transport disgrace for the Indian market. In India, Daimler Trucks presents BharatBenz, its fifth hand m otortruck label.BharatBenz is the institution for the launch of a new local anaesthetic truck generation, which is to be produced at the new plant in Chennai. Excellent initial quarter of 2011. Daimler AG achieved earnings forwards interest and taxes (EBIT) of 2. 0 zillion in the sum one quarter of the category (Q1 2010 1. 2 trillion). This very positive earnings culture reflects the ongoing upward trend in nearly all divisions. 6 1 To Our Shareholders Important Events in 2011 Dividend of 1. 85 per helping. At the course of studybook conflict in Berlin, the Daimler componentholders ballot to pay a dividend for the course of study 2010 of 1. 85 per packet. The amount of money dividend distri exclusivelyion thus amounts to al nigh 2 billion. Daimler starts universal campaign fairplay. stick out values. Create value. This campaign directs the attention of employees and executives to the issues of disciplinefulness and compliance. The goal is to develop a ov erlap understanding among all Daimler employees of which behavior is right and which is wrong, as well as to countenance a corporate culture of swear cooperation. F-CELL World Drive r apiecees Stuttgart. after(prenominal) change of location much than 30,000 kilometers around the globe, three MercedesBenz B-Class F-CELL cars with locally emission-free drive arrangings cross the finishing line in front of the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart in callable time. During the F-CELL World Drive, Mercedes-Benz impressively demonst place the qualities of its fuel-cell vehicles with look at to performance and reliability.Presentation of new fermentros. The heavy-duty Mercedes-Benz truck has been extremely re create. The new Actros represents much than ten geezerhood of work, over 20 one jillion million million test kilometers and more than than than 2 billion of investment in ontogenesis and action technology. Strategic framework agreement with Chinese partner. Daimler AG a nd Beijing automotive labor confederacy (BAIC) sign a strategic framework agreement. A positive of roughly 2 billion is to be invested in the joint venture Beijing Benz automotive Co. , Ltd. (BBAC). Record earnings in the south quarter. Daimler achieves one of its best ever every quarter results in the here and now quarter of 2011. sort out EBIT amounts to 2. 6 billion. Q2. 11 7 Q3. 11 give voice venture between Daimler and Bosch. Daimler and Robert Bosch GmbH sign agreements on the establishment of a 5050 joint venture for eliteric motors. The connection go out operate under the score of EM-motive GmbH and will develop and produce innovative electric motors for electric vehicles. Daimler Financial Services starts trading operations in India. The newly open up subsidiary Daimler Financial Services India Pvt. Ltd. domiciled in Chennai offers customers and dealers a spatiotemporal range of funding and insurance products. Contract volume of more than US$500 million is targeted by the year 2016.Acquisition of Tognum success to the replete(p) concluded. Daimler AG and Rolls-Royce Holdings plc furbish up approximately 99% of Tognums parcel of lands. The junto of the three companies strengths and market access will allow Tognum to become a origin-class honours degree-class producer of engine systems. Numerous Mercedes-Benz world premieres at the capital of Kentucky Motor Show. The ultra F125 research car allows a glimpse of the emission-free luxury sedans of the non-too-distant future. at that place are to a fault world premieres of the new B-Class, the Concept B-Class E-CELL as manage and the SLS AMG roadster. In addition, Mercedes-Benz presents the new M-Class to the general public for the send-off time.Presentation of Mercedes-Benz 2020 growth strategy. By the year 2020, we want to be the number one among the bountifulness manufacturers in harm of products, gull, profitability and unit sales. We will develop the production capaciti es consumed for our growth so that they are near to our customers and our markets. First truck from Daimler and Kamaz. Daimler Trucks and Russian truck producer Kamaz present the prototype of a jointly developed truck with Daimler components. Daimler and Kamaz will intensify their coactionism in the future, curiously on truck cabs. First new Citaro delivered. Trade experts seem a great future for the whole revised best-selling Mercedes-Benz city bus.It effectuates benchmarks supra all with its safety concept and its new design. Final approval for truck joint venture in China. The Chinese Ministry of medico grants final approval for Beijing Foton Daimler Automotive Co. , Ltd. (BFDA). Daimler will hold a 50% interest in the joint venture and can thus participate in the growth of the Chinese market for culture medium and heavy trucks. 8 1 To Our Shareholders Important Events in 2011 First Sprinter produced in China. In addition to the Vito and Viano models, which generate been makely produced and change in China since 2010, the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter is now withal rolling off the assembly lines at Fujian Daimler Automotive Co. Ltd. The Sprinter is the head start premium product in the Chinese market for greathearted vans. Closer cooperation between Daimler and BAIC. Daimler and BAIC (Beijing Automotive aggroup Co. , Ltd. ) agree to extend their wide-ranging strategic partnership. The letter of intent states that both companies will assess supercharge possibilities for proficient collaboration and for vehicles with alternative drive systems. Daimler plans sale of EADS partings. Daimler and the German government have agreed in principle that the KfW wedge multitude will acquire 7. 5% of the helpings in EADS from Daimler. The doing is to take place in 2012. 50,000 customers at car2go. ar2go, the worlds firstly fully flexible car-rental service to operate on a per-minute basis, passes the milestone of one million rentals. At the kindred t ime, the 50,000th car2go customer worldwide is registered at the Hamburg car2go shop. New Actros is Truck of the Year 2012. Truck journalists from 24 European countries elect the new Actros, the flagship of the Mercedes-Benz fleet of commercialised vehicles, as the best truck of the year. With a total of eight titles, Mercedes-Benz is now the more or less made brand in the competition for honors for technological progress. Presentation of heavy-duty Fuso truck with intercrossed drive. Fuso presents its first heavy-duty truck with intercrossed drive at the Tokyo Motor Show the highly Great HEV.The first test carried out under real-life conditions suggest that fuel consumption has been improved by up to 10% compared with conventional trucks with diesel motor engines. Q4. 11 9 25 eld of the automobile and excellent monetary results 2011 stands for both at Daimler. And that pleases us all the more because we promised you a year ago that our jubilee year would be an other(a) s uccessful year for your social club. We unploughed our word with free radical revenue of 106. 5 billion euros, EBIT of 8. 8 billion euros, which is well above the prior year, and net profit of 6. 0 billion euros. These arent just very respectable results they are among the best in our history. Our return on net assets of 19. 9 portion was well above our target of eight percent. In short, we created value.And of course, our success will to a fault gain ground you The venire of charge and the supervisory progress will envision an profit in the dividend to 2. 20 per dowery at the yearly Meeting. Now what were the rouge ontogenys in our divisions? At Mercedes-Benz Cars, we set three records in 2011. neer before have we had better unit sales, revenue or EBIT. This was chiefly consummate on the strength of our Mercedes-Benz brand and its ongoing invigoration through innovative products. Whether the M- or B-Class, the C coupe or the SLS AMG roadster, our new models are al l very popular. At the same time, in 2011 we delimitate our farseeing-term growth strategy Mercedes-Benz 2020. At its center is the extension of our ambition to lead With the strongest brand and the best products, we aim to be number one in premium-segment unit sales as well by the end of this decade at the latest. To that end, we impoverishment to achieve sustainable, profitable growth and expand our activities close to our evolution customer base. 2011 was overly a very good year for Daimler Trucks. Worldwide, we were able to growth unit sales and revenue by 20 percent, and EBIT by more than 40 percent. In June, we introduced the new Mercedes-Benz Actros, our most classic heavy-duty truck of this decade. It was immediately voted Truck of the Year. In northwestward America, we further streng accordinglyed our market leadership in the medium- and heavy-duty segment.And with Fuso in Asia, we accession our unit sales despite the essential misfortune in Japan. 10 1 To O ur Shareholders prexys Letter The jubilee year of the automobile was other successful year for Daimler. tho we believe we can do even better. 11 Mercedes-Benz Vans posted unit sales growth of close 18 percent thanks primarily to the success of the new-generation Vito and Viano. some(prenominal) models are now accessible in China, where we as well started production of the Sprinter. At Daimler Buses, revenue and earnings fall collectible to weaker market demand for complete buses. However, we clearly maintain the leading position in all our key markets.Exceptionally good news besides comes from Daimler Financial Services, where three new records were set in 2011 for new business, contract volume and earnings. In addition, we expanded our range of services with the new Mobility Services business unit. here(predicate) we are offering innovative service packages with a focus on sustainable mobility. All of this contributed to an excellent performance in 2011. It is all t he more remarkable give that general sparing risks increased in the blink of an eye one-half of the year repayable to the crisis in the euro zone. In 2012, we will gallop to face headwinds in our European markets. However, from forthwiths perspective, we expect worldwide economic growth of around 2. 5 percent. And orbiculate automotive demand is likely to grow even faster in the days ahead.We intend to participate in this growth and to an above-average extent. 2011 was a successful and significant year. exactly we believe we can do monumentally better in the medium and long term that similarly applies to our distribute legal injury. We progress to to attain leadership in all our businesses. In doing so, we draw on the strengths of the Daimler Group as a full-line supplier of premium cars, trucks, vans, buses and services with Mercedes-Benz as our core brand in all divisions and as an innovation and technology leader. The combination of these Daimler strengths pro duces potential drop that we intend to fully utilize in the coming years. Specifically, we have efined quaternity strategic growth areas strengthening our core business in traditional markets, conquering new growth markets, extending our leadership in environmentally comradely technologies and in the field of safety, and developing and implementing new mobility concepts. 12 1 To Our Shareholders chairmans Letter In all of this, one thing remains clear A participations success stands or illumines with the skills and commitment of its workforce. The employees of your friendship are doing a great job for that they be the thanks of the placard of wariness. We will continue to systematically promote excellence in the future. One proper(postnominal) target is the growing of first-class female and international talent. Integrity is another issue that is gaining richness and not just at Daimler. What does that mean in a corporate context?In truncated, it means that make a befitting return and make returns decent are two sides of the same coin. Integrity is more than just formal compliance with laws and regulations. It is an honourable attitude, a sort of knowledgeable grasp that keeps us on the right rail even in complex business federal agencys. Many events of the past twelve months have confirmed once again that one of the most important currencies is trust whether its in business or politics, in public or private life. Ultimately, Daimler owes its keep up success to its trusted relationships with customers, business partners, employees and neighbors and of course with you, our dish outholders.We would like to sincerely thank you for your trust in us. We will make every effort in 2012 to justify that authority once again. Sincerely, Dieter Zetsche 13 The progress of focus Andreas Renschler 53 Daimler Trucks plant until phratry 2013 Wolfgang Bernhard 51 Manufacturing and Procurement Mercedes-Benz Cars & Mercedes-Benz Vans offic ial until February 2013 Christine Hohmann-Dennhardt 61 Integrity and juristic Affairs name until February 2014 Bodo Uebber 52 finance & Controlling, Daimler Financial Services Appointed until December 2014 Thomas Weber 57 Group Research & Mercedes-Benz Cars Development Appointed until December 2013Wilfried Porth 53 Human Resources & job dealing managing director Appointed until April 2017 Dieter Zetsche 58 chairwoman of the add-in of solicitude, Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars Appointed until December 2013 14 15 Report of the supervisory scorecard Dear Shareholders, the supervisory dialog box dealt in en sizable with the operational and strategic festering of the Daimler Group in seven oppositions during the 2011 pecuniary year. In the year 2011, the supervisory batting influence performed its tasks as fit(p) down by applicable law, the Articles of internalization and its rules of procedure, and continually advised and supervised the gore of precaution with the st eering of the company.Following careful surveys and consultations, the supervisory get on with passed stops on numerous business matters for which its bear was required, such(prenominal)(prenominal) as investment and personnel planning, capital changes at companies of the Group, investments and divestments, elaboration of production capacities in existing cooperations, and the oddment of contracts of particular importance for the Group. In addition, the supervisory venire examined for example whether the risk constitution, the monetary narrativeing and the yearly pecuniary statements were in conformance with requirements. The shape up of circumspection excessively assured the supervisory lineup about a large number of proceedings not requiring the supervisory identity cards combine and the two gameboards discussed those matters together, for example, the further development of strategic programs in the various divisions and the post of various cooperation proj ects.The supervisory mount up discussed the information and evaluations that were genuine for its decisions and suggestions together with the control panel of watchfulness. The supervisory carte clashs were on a regular basis prepared in separate discussions of the fractions representing the employees and the fragments representing the distributeholders with the shares of the jury of Management. In each get together of the supervisory get along, there was a so-called executive session, in which the genus Phalluss of the supervisory placard were able to discuss topics in the absence of the members of the bestride of Management. No member of the supervisory table att finish little than half of the group meetings in the past financial year.The head of the supervisory hop on was on a regular basis aware by the president of the dialog box of Management about all significant operating developments as well as personnel changes and try-ons. Daimlers business activit ies continue to develop very successfully during the year 2011. Unit sales and revenues increased in almost all the automotive divisions, in some cases literally. Earnings from ongoing operations were importantly high than in 2010. The Mercedes-Benz Cars and Mercedes-Benz Vans divisions achieved their targeted rates of return already in the first half of 2011. The good business development generally continued in the second half of the year, although earnings were adversely moved(p) by model changes, higher material costs and exchange-rates movements.Daimler is currently making substantial investments, with support from the supervisory be on, in new technologies, new markets and new products, in social club to strengthen the Groups emulous position for the future. A question of relevancy for the work of the supervisory panel throughout the year 2011 related to the possibility to plan further developments and their stability. The general economic outlook, and in particular the fact in the financial markets, was marked by significant risks and uncertainties. An additive factor in the first half of the year was the hardto-assess impact of the subjective accident in Japan. The mature of Management and the supervisory carte as well care-fully monitored the economic locating in China, one of the Groups key markets.In the euro zone, the high levels of state and public-sector debt became more and more important as factors causing disbelief and restricting growth. In general, the supervisory display panel assessed the development during 2011 in absolute footing as positive, and in view of the risk described above, was in agreement with the risk-aware plan of attack of the age of Management. The supervisory Board dealt in detail with the development of Daimlers share worth, and discussed at length with the Board of Management about its causes and final causes, as well as the expected impact on the share expense of strategic projects. 16 1 To Our Shareholders Report of the supervisory Board Dr. Manfred Bischoff, death chair of the Supervisory Board.In addition to the usual key financial metrics, the Board of Management regularly informed the Supervisory Board about important topics such as the Groups profitability, in particular in ground of return on equity, and its liquidity built in bed, the internal control and risk way system including compliance, the cost of risk in the financial services business, the development of commodity legal injurys, curiously of raw materials, and the general economic situation in the main sales markets, in particular in view of developments in the financial markets. The Supervisory Board as well dealt with safeguarding the Groups long-term profitability, primordial questions of corporate planning including financial, investment, sales and human resources planning, developments in the companies of the Group, revenue developments and the situation of the Group, as well as the o ngoing execution of measures to secure pioneering and sustainable mobility for the future.The latter was dealt with also considering current and future requirements under the heading of digital life, with special reference to the Groups products and services. The Supervisory Board was occupy with these topics going beyond the operating business in close communication with the Board of Management and especially intensively in a two-day strategy workshop, which this year foc utilise in particular on conditions and development opportunities in China in order to properly reflect the special importance of the Chinese market. Cooperation between the Supervisory Board and the Board of Management. All the members of the Board of Management accompanied all the meetings of the Supervisory Board.In the meetings, there was an intensive and open exchange of opinions and information concerning the position of the Group, business and financial developments, fundamental issues of corporate pol icy and strategy, and development opportunities in important growth markets. Any deviations from the planning were explained in detail to the Supervisory Board by the Board of Management. The members of the Supervisory Board regularly prepared for upcoming dissolvents on relationss requiring Supervisory Board consent on the basis of software documentation provided in advance by the Board of Management. They were supported by the relevant committees, and discussed the actions and transactions upon which decisions were to be taken with the Board of Management.Furthermore, the Board of Management informed the Supervisory Board with the use of monthly tracks and quarterly risk melodic themes about the most important performance figures and risks and submitted the slowdown says to the Supervisory Board. The Supervisory Board was kept fully informed of specific matters also between its meetings. As required in idiosyncratic cases, following consultation with the president of the S upervisory Board, the members were requested to pass resolutions in writing. In addition, the Chairman of the Board of Management informed the Chairman of the Supervisory Board in regular discussions about important developments and consulted with him on upcoming decisions. 17Topics discussed at the Supervisory Board meetings in the year 2011. In January 2011, the Supervisory Board dealt with equity-capital changes at subsidiaries of Daimler North America Corporation. In a meeting in February 2011, the Supervisory Board appoint Dr. Christine HohmannDennhardt, an ex- umpire at Germanys Federal natural Court, as a member of the Board of Management for the position of Integrity and Legal Affairs, which had been newly created by a resolution of September 2010. As of December 16, 2011, Bodo Uebber was reappointed as a member of the Board of Management with tariff for Finance & Controlling and Daimler Financial Services.In the presence of the immaterial scrutinizeors, the prelude ke y figures of the annual company and amalgamated financial statements for 2010 and the dividend proposal to be made at the 2011 annual Shareholders Meeting were discussed in the same meeting. The preliminary key figures for the year 2010 were announce at the annual Press concourse on February 16, 2011. In another meeting held in February 2011, the Supervisory Board dealt with the annual company financial statements, the annual unite financial statements and the combined wariness report for Daimler AG and the Daimler Group, each of which had been issued with an unqualified analyse opinion by the outside size upors, as well as the reports of the visit commission and the Supervisory Board, the corporate institution report and the net profit report and the proposal on the distribution of distributable profit.In preparation, the members of the Supervisory Board were provided with comprehensive documentation, some of it in draft form, including the yearly Report with the cons olidated financial statements according to IFRS, the combined management report for Daimler AG and the Daimler Group, the corporate governance report and the hire report, the annual company financial statements of Daimler AG, the audit report of KPMG for the annual company financial statements of Daimler AG, for the consolidated financial statements and for the combined management report, the proposal of the Board of Management on the distribution of distributable profit, and the drafts of the reports of the Supervisory Board and of the canvas delegacy. The size up mission and the Supervisory Board dealt with those documents in detail and discussed them intensively in the presence of the external auditors, who reported on the results of their audit and were available to answer auxiliary questions and to provide excess information.Following the final results of the check into by the Audit committee and its own brushup, the Supervisory Board declared its agreement with the re sults of the audit by the external auditors, dictated that no objections were to be raised, and authorize the financial statements and the combined management report as presented by the Board of Management. The company financial statements of Daimler AG for the year 2010 were thereby take. The Supervisory Board also consented to the proposal made by the Board of Management on the distribution of distributable profit and approved the report of the Supervisory Board, the corporate governance report and the remuneration report in the current drafts.Furthermore, the Supervisory Board approved its jut outd decisions on the items of the agenda for the 2011 yearly Shareholders Meeting. In addition, the Supervisory Board received information on the status of antitrust investigations of European manufacturers of commercial vehicles by the EU focus and approved an investment framework for the submission of a voluntary takeover bid for Tognum AG together with Rolls-Royce. Finally, the Su pervisory Board dealt with topics of Board of Management remuneration and approved the external board positions and sideline business activities of the members of the Board of Management as presented in the meeting.Two Supervisory Board meetings were held in April. In the first of those two meetings, which was held straight after the Annual Shareholders Meeting, the Supervisory Board elected Dr. Manfred Bischoff as the Chairman of the Supervisory Board as previously announced in the preference proposal made at the Annual Shareholders Meeting. Pursuant to the rules of procedure of the Supervisory Board, its Chairman also chairs the Mediation, nominating speech and presidential Committees. To tack the departing Dr. Manfred Schneider, Dr. Jurgen Hambrecht was elected to the Mediation Committee and to the professorshipial Committee. In the place of Dr. Manfred Schneider and Lynton R.Wilson, Dr. Paul Achleitner and sari Baldauf were elected to the Nomination Committee. In addition, due to the resolution by the Annual Shareholders Meeting remediateing the Articles of Incorporation with regard to Supervisory Board remuneration, the Supervisory Board decided to amend the wording of the declaration of compliance accordingly, base to the amend Articles of Incorporation being entered in the Commercial Register. In the declaration of compliance, the description of the lack of a performancerelated component of remuneration includes an explanation of the remuneration paid to the Supervisory Board of Daimler AG. With the amendment o the Articles of Incorporation, the existing assign model was replaced with an additive model, in order to better reflect the generally increased requirements in particular with consideration of additive activities of Supervisory Board members in committees. In the second meeting in April 2011, the Supervisory Board dealt with the course of business and results of the first quarter, as well as with a status report on the situation in Ja pan, which had been updated since previously being dealt with in March 2011, in particular the situation of the Japanese companies of the Group and the local employees after the earthquake, tsunami and reactor accident. In addition, the Supervisory Board disposed(p) its consent to the closure of exchequer units in Belgium and to a capital increase for the car joint venture in China, Beijing Benz Automotive Co. , Ltd.In whitethorn, the Supervisory Board was informed about the stage of the Tognum transaction and the increase in the price offered. 18 1 To Our Shareholders Report of the Supervisory Board In addition to discussing the business development and results of the second quarter, in its meeting in July, the Supervisory Board granted its consent for capital contributions to the German pension plan, for the execution of equity-capital changes at the subsidiary Daimler Trucks North America, and for the elaborateness of production capacity for the truck joint venture with Foton, a Chinese truck producer. In the same meeting, the Supervisory Board also dealt with the new pension plan and the topics for the upcoming strategy workshop.Furthermore, it reappointed Wilfried Porth as a member of the Board of Management with responsibility for Human Resources and as Labor dealings Director trenchant as of May 1, 2012. During the two-day strategy workshop in September, as every year, the Supervisory Board first of all received information on the stage of implementation of the strategic goals set in previous years by the Board of Management for Daimler AG and the divisions. Against the screen background of the current economic situation, the Supervisory Board discussed the stage of implementation of projects initiated by the individual divisions, the positioning of the Group and its divisions with regard to the competition, and the brand and product strategies. otherwise key areas of the strategy workshops were growth opportunities in the various markets with a focus on China, analyses of competitors, status reports on the various cooperations, the latest trends in customer behavior, also with regard to the future development of urban mobility and the use of modern media and social networks, the overall technology and market strategy for safeguarding sustainable mobility, the technological development of internal-combustion engines, electric, hybrid and enthalpy drive systems, specific requirements placed on such drive systems in important markets, in China for example, management capacities and other human resources issues, especially in specific growth markets, and other strategic topics. In December, the Supervisory Board dealt in detail on the basis of comprehensive documentation with the operational planning for the years 2012 and 2013. This include discussion of existing opportunities and risks and the Groups risk management. The Supervisory Board also decided on the financing limits for the year 2012 and dealt with a progr ess report on EADS and the planned sale of 7. 5% of the shares in EADS to the KfW banking group. new(prenominal) matters discussed in the December meeting include corporate governance and Board of Management remuneration. Corporate governance. Although the German Corporate Governance Code was not amended in the period under review, the Supervisory Board was continually occupied with the standards of good corporate governance, including the green paper of the European Commission on that subject. An important precondition for effective cooperation in the Supervisory Board in the sense of good corporate governance, in addition to the members prioritized specialist expertise, is their diversity to adequately reflect the Groups coat and internationality in terms of nationality, gender, cultural origin and experience.In connection with future proposals on candidates for resource to the Supervisory Board, the Supervisory Board of Daimler AG pays attention to internationality and balance , especially with regard to gender, and sees this as a contribution to strengthening Daimlers claim to leadership in the automotive industry. With the resource of Petraea Heynike, the Supervisory Board has achieved a proportion of 20% female members representing the shareholders, which is at least to be maintained and if possible increased in the coming years. The members of the Supervisory Board of Daimler AG are obliged to disclose potential conflicts of interest to the entire Supervisory Board and not to participate in discussing or voting on topics which could lead to a conflict of interest. There were no indications of any such potential conflicts of interest in 2011.In its meeting in April, the Supervisory Board decided on an amendment to its rules of procedure. The Codes suggestion that the maximum possible appointment period of five years should not be the rule with first-time appointments to the Board of Management will be complied with in the future First-time appointment s and only those will generally be made for three years only. In its December meeting, the Supervisory Board updated and amended the wording of the rules of procedure of the Supervisory Board and its committees, and approved the declaration of compliance with the German Corporate Governance Code consistent to region 161 of the German Stock Corporation Act (AktG).With the two exceptions explained in the declaration, all the tributes of the Code have been complied with and continue to be complied with. 19 The Supervisory Board last arranged for an externally moderated efficiency review to be carried out during the year 2010, thus fulfilling the requirement to carry out a regular review of its efficiency in accordance with its own rules of procedure and the German Corporate Governance Code. The results of the efficiency review indicate very good cooperation indoors the Supervisory Board and with the Board of Management. There was no indication of any need for fundamental action o r changes. However, some suggestions were made, which will be put into practice.Corporate governance at Daimler is described in detail in the Corporate Governance Report on pages 169 ff and in the Remuneration Report on pages 161 ff of this Annual Report. military group changes in the Supervisory Board. After the end of the Annual Shareholders Meeting held on April 13, 2011, a member representing the shareholders, Dr. Manfred Schneider, stepped down from the Supervisory Board of Daimler AG. As proposed by the Supervisory Board, Petraea Heynike was newly elected as a member of the Supervisory Board repre senting the shareholders with effect as of the end of that Annual Shareholders Meeting. Dr. Manfred Bischoff and Lynton R. Wilson, whose periods of office also ended at the end of the Annual Shareholders Meeting, were reelected.The election proposal of the Supervisory Board to the Annual Shareholders Meeting was based on a recommendation made by the Nomination Committee and a corres ponding resolution by the members of the Supervisory Board representing the shareholders. Personnel changes in the Board of Management. In a meeting in February 2011, as mentioned above, the Super visory Board appointed Dr. Christine HohmannDennhardt, an exjudge at the German Federal perfect Court, as a member of the Board of Management for the position of Integrity and Legal Affairs, which was newly created by resolution of September 2010, for a period of three years as of February 16, 2011. Bodo Uebber was reappointed as a member of the Board of Management responsible for Finance & Controlling and Daimler Financial Services for a further three years as of December 16, 2011.In the Supervisory Board meeting in July 2011, in line with the new regulation on periods of service for reappointments, Wilfried Porth was reappointed for another five years as a member of the Board of Management responsible for Human Resources and as Labor relations Director as of May 1, 2012. Audit of the 20 11 financial statements. The financial state ments of Daimler AG and the combined management report for the come with and the Group for 2011 were duly audited by KPMG AG, Wirtschaftsprufungsgesellschaft, Berlin, and were assumption an unqualified audit opinion. The same applies to the consolidated financial statements for 2011 prepared accord ing to IFRS, which were supplemented with additional notes.In the presence of the auditors in a meeting in early February 2012, the Supervisory Board discussed the preliminary key figures of the annual company and consolidated financial statements for 2011 and the dividend proposal to be made at the 2012 Annual Shareholders Meeting. The preliminary key figures for the year 2011 were announced at the Annual Press Conference on February 9, 2012. In another meeting in late February 2012, the Supervisory Board dealt with the annual company financial statements, the annual consolidated financial statements and the combined management report for Da imler AG and the Daimler Group, each of which had been issued with an unqualified audit opinion by the external auditors, as well as the reports of the Audit Committee and the Supervisory Board, the corporate Report on the work of the committees The presidential Committee convened four times in 2011.It dealt primarily with corporate governance topics and ques tions of remuneration, as well as personnel matters of the Board of Management. As in previous years, compliance targets constituted part of the individual target agreements of the members of the Board of Management. The Audit Committee met seven times in 2011. Details of those meetings are provided in a separate report of this committee (see page 158 ff). The Nomination Committee convened twice in 2011. Among other matters, it prepared a recommendation for the Supervisory Boards proposal on a candidate for election to the Supervisory Board of Daimler AG representing the share holders.The proposal gave due consideration to sti pulations regarding the structure, taste and qualification profile of the members of the Supervisory Board representing the shareholders and to corporate governance requirements. As in previous years, the Mediation Committee, a dust required by the provisions of the German Codetermination Act (MitbestG), had no occasion to take any action in 2011. The chairmen of the committees informed the members of the Supervisory Board about the activities of the committees and their decisions, in each case in the Supervisory Board meeting following such decisions. 20 1 To Our Shareholders Report of the Supervisory Board governance report and the remuneration report, and the proposal on the distribution of distributable profit.In preparation, the members of the Supervisory Board were provided with comprehensive documentation, some of it in draft form, including the Annual Report with the consolidated financial statements according to IFRS, the combined management report for Daimler AG and th e Daimler Group, the corporate governance report and the remuneration report, the annual company financial statements of Daimler AG, the audit report of KPMG for the annual company financial statements of Daimler AG, for the consolidated financial statements and for the combined management report, the proposal of the Board of Management on the distribution of distributable profit, and the drafts of the reports of the Supervisory Board and of the Audit Committee. The Audit Committee and the Supervisory Board dealt with those documents in detail and discussed them intensively in the presence of the external auditors, who reported on the results of their audit and were available to answer supplementary questions and to provide additional information.Following the final results of the review by the Audit Committee and its own review, the Supervisory Board declared its agreement with the results of the audit by the external auditors, determined that no objections were to be raised, and a pproved the financial statements and the combined management report as presented by the Board of Management. The company financial statements of Daimler AG for the year 2011 were thereby adopted. The Supervisory Board also consented to the proposal made by the Board of Management on the distribution of distributable profit and approved the report of the Supervisory Board, the corporate governance report and the remuneration report in their current drafts.Furthermore, the Supervisory Board approved its proposed decisions on the items of the agenda for the 2012 Annual Shareholders Meeting. Appreciation. The Supervisory Board thanks all of the employees and the management of the Daimler Group for their personal contributions to the successful year 2011. Special thanks are due to a longstanding member of the Supervisory Board, Dr. Manfred Schneider, who stepped down in April after many years of close inter-group communication and exceptional personal commitment to the Group. Stuttgart, February 2012 The Supervisory Board Dr. Manfred Bischoff Chairman 21 The Supervisory Board Dr. Manfred Bischoff Munich Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Daimler AG Other supervisory board memberships/directorships Fraport AG Royal KPN N. V.SMS GmbH Chairman UniCredit S. p. A. Voith GmbH Chairman Erich Klemm* Sindelfingen Chairman of the General plant Council, Daimler Group and Daimler AG Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Daimler AG Dr. Paul Achleitner Munich atom of the Board of Management of Allianz SE Other supervisory board memberships/directorships Bayer AG RWE AG Allianz Investment Management SE Chairman Allianz Global Investors AG sari Baldauf Helsinki reason executive director fault President and General passenger vehicle of the Networks backup Group of Nokia Corporation Other supervisory board memberships/directorships Hewlett-Packard corporation F-Secure Corporation Fortum OYj professorship Dr.Clemens Borsig Frankfurt am Main Chairman of the Supe rvisory Board of Deutsche Bank AG Other supervisory board memberships/directorships Linde AG Bayer AG Emerson electric car Co. Prof. Dr. Heinrich Flegel* Stuttgart Director Research Materials, Lightweight Design and Manufacturing, Daimler AG Chairman of the Management substitute Committee, Daimler Group Dr. Jurgen Hambrecht Ludwigshafen Former Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE Other supervisory board memberships/directorships Deutsche Lufthansa AG Fuchs Petrolub AG Chairman Trumpf GmbH + Co. KG Petraea Heynike Vevey Former Executive Vice President of the Executive Board of Nestle S. A. since April 13, 2011) Other supervisory board memberships/directorships Schulich School of Business Jorg Hofmann* Stuttgart German Metalworkers Union (IG Metall), District Manager, Baden-Wurttemberg Other supervisory board memberships/directorships Robert Bosch GmbH Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG Dr. Thomas Klebe* Frankfurt am Main General Counsel of the German Metalworkers Un ion (IG Metall) Other supervisory board memberships/directorships Daimler Luft- und Raumfahrt Holding AG ThyssenKrupp Materials International GmbH Gerard Kleisterlee Amsterdam Former President and CEO of Royal Philips Electronics N. V. Other supervisory board memberships/directorships Vodafone Group Plc. Chairman De Nederlandsche Bank N. V. Royal Dutch Shell Plc. dingle Inc.Jurgen Langer* Frankfurt am Main Chairman of the Works Council of the Frankfurt/Offenbach Dealership, Daimler AG 22 1 To Our Shareholders The Supervisory Board Ansgar Osseforth* Sindelfingen Manager Mercedes-Benz Research and Development Member of the Works Council, Sindelfingen Plant, Daimler AG until November 30, 2011 Valter Sanches* Sao Paulo Secretary of International Relations of Confederacao Nacional dos Metalurgicos/CUT Stefan Schwaab* Gaggenau Vice Chairman of the General Works Council, Daimler Group and Daimler AG Vice Chairman of the Works Council, Gaggenau Plant, Daimler AG Jorg Spies* Stuttgart Ch airman of the Works Council, Headquarters, Daimler AG Lloyd G.Trotter Plainville Former Vice Chairman General Electric President & CEO of the General Electric Groups Industrial Division Managing Partner, Founder, GenNx360 Capital Partners Other supervisory board memberships/directorships PepsiCo Inc. Textron Inc. syncreon Holdings Ltd. syncreon. US Holdings Inc. syncreon. US Inc. Dr. h. c. Bernhard Walter Frankfurt am Main Former Spokesman of the Board of Management of Dresdner Bank AG Other supervisory board memberships/directorships Bilfinger Berger SE Chairman Deutsche Telekom AG Henkel AG & Co. KGaA Uwe Werner* Bremen Chairman of the Works Council, Bremen Plant, Daimler AG Lynton R. Wilson Toronto Chairman of the Board of CAE Inc. Chancellor of McMaster University Retired from the Supervisory Board Dr. Manfred Schneider Leverkusen Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Bayer AG (retired on April 13, 2011)Committees of the Supervisory Board Committee consistent to Section 27 Sub section 3 of the German Codetermination Act (MitbestG) Dr. Manfred Bischoff Chairman Erich Klemm* Dr. Jurgen Hambrecht Dr. Thomas Klebe* presidential Committee Dr. Manfred Bischoff Chairman Erich Klemm* Dr. Jurgen Hambrecht Dr. Thomas Klebe* Audit Committee Dr. h. c. Bernhard Walter Chairman Erich Klemm* Dr. Clemens Borsig Stefan Schwaab* Nomination Committee Dr. Manfred Bischoff Chairman Dr. Paul Achleitner Sari Baldauf * Representative of the employees 23 Daimler Shares The spread of the sovereign-debt crisis and growing doubt about ongoing economic developments caused high volatility in the capital markets. Daimlers share price mow significantly during the year 2011.In view of a reiterate increase in net profit, the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board propose a higher dividend of 2. 20 per share (prior year 1. 85). 1. 01 Development of Daimlers share price and major indices halt of 2011 End of 2010 11/10 % change -33 -15 -17 +6 -17 -24 Daimlers share price (in euros) DAX 30 Dow Jones Euro STOXX 50 Dow Jones Industrial Average Nikkei Dow Jones STOXX Auto Index 33. 92 5,898 2,317 12,218 8,455 259 50. 73 6,914 2,793 11,578 10,229 341 miffed year on global investment trust markets. Stock markets continued their very explosive and disparate development in 2011. Against the backdrop of positive economic developments and encouraging company results, the upward trend of the previous year at first continued at the beginning of 2011.A number of interdict factors such as the worsening debt crisis in the euro zone, the raging conflicts in North Africa and the Middle East, the natural disaster in Japan and growing fears of inflation then led to groovy falls in share prices in March. However, following good quarterly results of companies in Europe and the United States, agate line markets regain quickly and reached their peaks for the year in May. After moving sideways for several months, share prices generally declined at the beginning of nob le due to the weaker economic outlook. The exacerbating financial crisis in Europe and the downgrading of the United States citeworthiness raised market fears of a renewed fadeout during the autumn.As a result, the markets remained very volatile. The magnate of the most important stocks in the euro zone, the Dow Jones Euro STOXX 50, fell significantly, especially in the second half of 2011, and confused 17% over the full year. Germanys main index, the DAX, lost 15%. In the United States, the Dow Jones climbed by 6% over the year. The Nikkei index in Japan closed in(p) 2011 down 17% compared with a year earlier. Volatile development of Daimlers share price in 2011. Automotive stocks made a positive start to the year 2011. Our share profited at the beginning of the year from good unit sales in December and the encouraging data from the US truck market.Daimlers share price peaked for the year at 58. 46 on January 18. This was followed by a conformation of consolidation. Growing u ncertainty had a disproportionately strong impact on the price of cyclical stocks such as Daimlers. Nonetheless, our share price remained at the level it had reached at the end of 2010 until the end of July, despite negative factors such as the debt crisis in Europe, the natural disaster in Japan and the conflicts in North Africa and the Middle East. Share prices then fell significantly in portentous. This var. saw strong selling but only a weak relish to buy. In that trading environment, economically huffy automotive stocks suffered sharp losses.Although good unit sales were reported during the summer break, investors especially in the United States remained very risk averse and reduced the proportion of what they regarded as risky 1. 02 In euros Net profit Key figures per share 2011 2010 11/10 % change +24 +24 +19 +9 -33 +7 -4 5. 32 5. 31 2. 20 38. 77 33. 92 58. 46 29. 16 4. 28 4. 28 1. 85 35. 62 50. 73 54. 87 30. 35 Net profit (diluted) Dividend Equity (December 31) Xetra s hare price at year end 1 Highest 1 Lowest 1 1 Closing prices 24 1 To Our Shareholders Daimler Shares European stocks in their portfolios. But, benefiting from the positive development of the German stock market and the number of good third-quarter results in line with market expectations, Daimlers share price climbed again significantly in October within a very volatile environment.The repeated increase in uncertainty about a resolution of the euro crisis caused the stock markets and automotive stocks to fall again temporarily in November. During this phase, the price of Daimlers shares reached its low for the year of 29. 16 on November 23. After a brief recovery, our share price remained flat in December and closed the year at a price of 33. 92 on December 30. ? 1. 01 Our share thus fell by 33% over the full year, which is a weaker performance than the Dow Jones STOXX Auto Index (-24%) and the DAX (-15%). Daimlers market capitalization at the end of 2011 was 36. 2 billion. In th e first several weeks of the year 2012, Daimlers share price climbed significantly. Dividend of 2. 20. ? 1. 2 The Board of Management and the Supervisory Board will propose to the Annual Shareholders Meeting to be held on April 4, 2012 that in view of the good business development the dividend should be increased from 1. 85 to 2. 20 per share. The total dividend payout will thus amount to 2,346 million (prior year 1,971 million). great shareholder structure. ? 1. 07 Daimler continues to have a all-embracing shareholder base of approximately 1. 0 million shareholders. The number of shareholders remained stable compared with 2010, so there was no continuation of the trend of falling shareholder numbers that occurred in previous years. There was a steady growing demand for our shares from private investors during the second half of 2011, mainly in Germany. capital of Kuwait Investment Authority holds 6. 9% of Daimlers shares and the Renault-Nissan Alliance holds 3. 1%.Aabar Investmen ts PJS, Abu Dhabi (Aabar), notified us in October 2011 that its Daimler voting rights had fallen below the poster threshold of 5% and amounted to 4. 99998% at that time. This was caused by a slight increase in Daimlers share capital due to the exercise of stock options. In February 2012, Aabar notified us that the number of Daimler shares it physically owned had decreased to approximately 32. 7 million, equivalent to a shareholding of 3. 07%. In connection with the respective shareholding singings, Aabar also informed us that it has the right to redelivery of the dissimilarity between the approximately 32. 7 million shares it physically owns and the 96. 4 million shares it primarily acquired. In connection with its shareholding, Aabar entered into a serial publication of financing transactions.As of 1 February 2012, the new rules pursuant to the German Securities Trading Act (WpHG) require separate incremental disclosures of certain elements of these transactions, which lead to double-counting with respect to parts of Aabars total shareholding. Together with shares lent to third parties in connection with financing transactions for which Aabar has a right of redelivery, Aabar still holds 9. 04%. BlackRock Inc. , New York, informed us in August 2011 that it had exceeded the 5% notification threshold as defined by Germanys Securities Trading Act (WpHG) and that its Daimler voting rights amounted to 5. 7% as of August 11, 2011. Capital Research and Management Company of Los Angeles, which notified us in May 2010 that it held 3. 1% of our shares, is still above the 3% notification threshold stipulated by the WpHG.The treasury shares held by Daimler at the end of 2010 (approximately 0. 2 million shares worth about 7 million) were used during the year under review to contact the claims of former AEG shareholders from arbitration proceedings. In total, institutional investors hold 67% of our share capital and private investors hold 20%. approximately 69% of our equity are in the hands of European investors and approximately 19% are held by US investors. ? 1. 08 1. 03 In euros 65 60 55 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 Daimler share price (high/low), 2011 1/11 2/11 3/11 4/11 5/11 6/11 7/11 8/11 9/11 10/11 11/11 12/11 1. 04 140 130 120 cx 100 90 80 70 60 50 Share price index 2/31/10 2/28/11 4/29/11 6/30/11 8/31/11 10/31/11 12/31/11 Daimler AG Dow Jones STOXX Auto Index DAX 25 1. 05 Key figures End of 2011 End of 2010 11/10 % change Share capital (in millions of euros) turn of shares (in millions) thereof treasury shares Market capitalization (in billions) )of euros) Number of shareholders (in millions) Weighting in share index DAX 30 Dow Jones Euro STOXX 50 Long-term credit ratings Standard & Poors forbiddings Fitch DBRS 3,060 1,066. 3 0 36. 2 1. 0 3,058 1,065. 6 0. 2 54. 0 1. 0 +0 +0 -100 -33 0 The weighting of Daimler shares in major indices decreased during 2011 due to the negative development of our share price.In the German DAX 30 index, our stoc k was ranked in seventh position with a weighting of 5. 93% at the end of the year (end of 2010 7. 51%). ? 1. 05 In the Dow Jones Euro STOXX 50, Daimler shares were represented with a weighting of 2. 26% (end of 2010 2. 88%). Daimler shares are listed in Frankfurt and Stuttgart. Stock-exchange trading in Germany in the year 2011 amounted to 1,728 million shares (2010 1,492 million). In addition, Daimler shares are progressively traded on multilateral trading platforms and in the over-thecounter market. Substantially increased participation in employee share program. In March 2011, entitled members of the workforce were once again able to acquire employee shares.A price incentive that was granted for the first time and bonus shares helped to increase the number of participants to 32,200 employees, who acquired a total of 610,300 shares (2010 19,400 employees acquired 350,700 shares). Annual Shareholders Meeting approves managements proposals with large majorities. Our Annual Shareh olders Meeting held on April 13, 2011 at the Berlin International Congress Center (ICC) was attended by approximately 5,100 shareholders (2010 4,700). With 43. 3% of the share capital represented at the Annual Meeting, shareholder representation (attendance plus absentee votes) was higher than in the prior year (40. 3%). In the voting on the items of the agenda, the shareholders adopted the recommendations of the management with large majorities.The shareholders