Hokkaido Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Hokkaido - Term Paper Example As a subject or academic discipline, geography is the study of earth as the home for humanity. However, man has created conditions that are favorable to his existence on the foundations of existing physical features. Study of such creation encompasses human geography, which analyzes the relationship between human activities and the natural environment. Cultural geography is a major branch of geography and it is concerned with language, religion, government, and economy of a geographical region. Japan is an island nation that has fascinating environment and climate. These features have greatly influenced how people make a living from available resources. Hokkaido is the northernmost island of Japan. Unlike other islands that form the country, Hokkaido has extremely cold climate that influence how people construct their houses. In addition, Hokkaido sits on a rugged terrain, which has a relatively high water table. These factors also influence the design and sizes of house that can be constructed. The region is also prone to earthquakes that also influence housing designs and structures. Hokkaido is known as the territory of constructions this is because the region ever has new buildings. In Hokkaido, public construction works exceeds work done in the private sector. Government policies and regulations meant to enhance safety in the construction industry greatly influence building of new houses in Hokkaido. The Japanese construction industry contributes about 20% of the total GDP of the country. This constitutes construction works performed in the country and outside the country. Construction of houses in Hokkaido is very different from other parts of the country. This is partly due ton the housing values of the native communities and the developing status of Hokkaido. Unlike other parts of Japan such as Tokyo, Hokkaido is still in its early development stage. However, Hokkaido is developing very fast and it may soon overtake Tokyo as the world largest metropolitan. This has made the region to be characterized by new construction and engineering works. It has often been said that public construction work in Hokkaido greatly exceeds work done in the private sector. Registered contractors who are regulated by the prefectural governor cry out construction works in Hokkaido. Hokkaido is considered as the land of construction. Currently the region holds 7% of the total number of construction companies in Japan. This is a significant figure considering the fact that construction in Hokkaido constitutes about 5% of the total construction works in Japan. Small construction companies are the most dominant in Japan and they handle nearly 78% of all construction contracts awarded annually in Hokkaido. In Hokkaido nearly 8% of the total population work in the construction industry, either as s killed semi-skilled or unskilled laborers. The most desirable characteristic of Hokkaido construction workforce it that, there is a striking balance between the skilled and unskilled labor force. However, the region is likely to

Human Trafficking Awareness for Schools Research Paper

Human Trafficking Awareness for Schools - Research Paper Example Save the children and youth movement-Raise awareness about human trafficking Save the children and youth is a movement in US and has an ongoing effort on gender based violence and raising public awareness about the plight of human trafficking victims in the rural communities. Plans are underway to organize campaigns every year. I intend to raise two national campaigns to raise awareness on human trafficking in communities as well as in schools, as the US is increasingly becoming a transits point for human traffickers. As an activist, I believe that the only important component in addressing human trafficking in schools is my massive involvement in massive awareness campaigns in order to prevent the trafficking of women and girls from our townships and rural communities. The key strategies in my plan consist of: Workshops Trainings and Public awareness campaigns Aims The aims of this campaign are to mobilize the communities and grass root social movements that combats slavery as well as human trafficking through community activism. My group has employed innovative solutions to every individual in fighting and linking violence against women and children with human trafficking in their own backyards across the country. ... gn which I am intending to launch will have the name â€Å"they too have a voice† as women and children are trafficked for labor and sexual exploitations. There have been increased cases of domestic trafficking in US and more especially the young boys and girls are routinely trafficked from rural areas and taken to the urban areas where they are abused and exploited as domestic workers, they work in the fishing and mining industries, commercial agriculture not mentioning sexual exploitation. This rally invites local artists and schools in order to develop materials that address properly trafficking and applying it to the community and the local context (Nicalo 6). Posters, calendars, stickers, T-shits, brochures’ and caps shall also be distributed in all the major cities across the townships, and rural communities. Educational materials will also be developed in the local languages of the different communities and this will be done in order to foster a better comprehens ion of the subject matter within the different communities in the country. Some 10,000 minors in the United States are enslaved for labor, or even sexually abused with Florida been among the top three human trafficker’s destinations. You find that most of the victims go unnoticed by neighbors, teachers and even the police they encounter. Many families have lived in vain not knowing the whereabouts of their loved ones hence this is something which is traumatizing so much. We need to educate school districts, many activists and organizations have to come in to try and stop this growing menace in our country. As women activists’, we have to rise up and protect our children. My drive to becoming activists was fuelled by a story I read about one Allison Good, 32 years old. He was 5 years old the first

Nietzsche And The Meaningful Life Philosophy Essay

Nietzsche And The Meaningful Life Philosophy Essay The advent of the Industrial Revolution during the 19th century Western World has engendered a new problem of individual existence in the world based on alienation and absurdity, as depicted in the sufferings of Gervaise and Etienne. These existential problems continue to plague the public in todays society as well, challenging people to question the purpose of their lives and to find an answer for the existence of human suffering. According one German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, the answer to human suffering resided in styling our lives to the way we want it to be via a process of becoming. In applying Nietzsches ideas to my own personal life, I have come to the realization that my life is a product of various elements that I embrace the most, influencing the decisions I make in my daily lives and shaping my ambition in wanting to become a professor. Nietzsche argued that the reason why people suffer is because they are under the delusion that there is an inherent meaning in themselves and in the world, when in fact life is based on nothingness. According his view, life is completely based on contingency, and only individuals themselves have the power to instill any meaning into their lives. He believed that people must stop following the herd and its standardized moral conduct. To find happiness in life, people have to take courage and free themselves from the indoctrination of societal values, pursuing after their own desires instead. Therefore, Nietzsche believed that the key to living life was to view life as an individual process. This process entails individuals to actively seek out and shape themselves into the person they want to be, to become the physical representation of the image they want to portray to others. Consequently, Nietzsche argued that the value of human life is created by the individual. There is not intri nsic value in society that is embedded in our lives, and we must create the meaning of life for ourselves. In order to test whether one has created a meaningful life, Nietzsche has created a theoretical notion of eternal recurrence, where humans are given a choice to live their life in the exact same manner over and over again, going through the same events and experiencing the same emotions. If the answer is yes, then according to Nietzsche, the person has created a truly meaningful life that they would do not mind living continuously. Creating such life requires an aesthetic approach to organizing ones experiences and desires in harmony. Kind of like a blank canvas, our life is initially in a state of nothingness, and it is the responsibility of each person, as the artist, to insert meaning and personal style into the canvas. However, for any styling to happen, people must first be content with themselves and build their identity from there. Nietzsche argues that people who are dissatisfied with themselves will never find happiness, for they will always resent who they are. Every experi ence and action, or element, in the work must be in harmony with one another, as the small elements mold together to shape the whole. There is no standardized or the way, as long it is their own way. Thus, life itself reflects the process of humans constantly shaping their image, with the final product epitomizing who we are. Applying the lessons of Nietzsches process of becoming, I have formed my own set of elements in my life that I embrace the most in my attempt to create my self. My first element is companionship, the ability to form relationships with other people and to interact with them. I would like to have a small group of people to spend time with in my life, such as my family and friends. I can envision myself having a family with three children: two girls and a boy named Charlotte, Juliet, and Cason respectively, hanging out at a nearby park in the neighborhood. During Superbowl weekend, I may invite some of my family friends and their families over, and have a good time together. In addition, I would like to form close relationships with my neighbors, to have some people I can talk about my struggles with, outside of my family and friends. Perhaps this explains my proclivity towards small cities or towns, where people know each other more closely as there are not that many people. Perhaps th is is why I would like to live somewhere in New England in the future, a region primarily occupied with towns and villages instead of cities or urban communities. Maintaining close companionship with others will also help me intellectually, for I like to engage in discussions and debates with other people about various topics. These dialogues with other people will help me to be in a thinking mode, always being eager to learn and share ideas with others. My second element is intellectualism because I want to always be aware of what is going on around the world in terms of politics and the economy. I definitely do not want to portray myself as an intellectually callous person, someone who does not care learning about new ideas and keeping up with events that are happening around the world. I want to learn about new ideas, especially about economic theories relating to human behaviors and their decision making mechanism. For some reason, growing up, I was always curious why people act the way they do in terms of their economic behavior. I recall being at a garage sale in 9th grade, when my father telling me that a perfectly fine Hewlett Packard (HP) printer for 5 dollars was too expensive so he passed on the deal, and I always wondered what triggers people to suddenly have different expectations of an objects value depending on the circumstance. Having a wide span of knowledge can bring together a group of people with common interest t o talk about, enabling me to form closer relationships with other people. Thus, intellectualism goes hand in hand with forming companionships, because knowledge can be a factor in magnetizing people to bond. Moreover, I would also like to have creativity in my life. No matter how interesting ones daily routines may be, we reach a point where the repetition becomes mundane. I feel that having a creative side will help brighten the monotonous schedule by being able to think of many new ways to shift the routines people go through. Creativity is also a very practical skill that has a myriad of applications to other things. In terms of companionship, creativity may come in handy when I am planning what kind of food I will prepare for a certain picnic, or when I am planning a surprise birthday party for a family or a friend. Not only will this make others happy, but it will also make me happy knowing that I have helped put a smile on other peoples faces with my ability to think outside the box. In addition, creativity will also be useful in my intellectual life by thinking of novel ways of learning or teaching ideas. As for learning, I may develop an innovative technique for taking notes or u nderstanding materials that will maximize my capacity to remember the things I learn and keep it in my memory. Or, I can also utilize my creativity for devising a new way of teaching materials that will be entertaining to engage the students attention and, at the same time, be informative to help get the idea into their brains. Lastly, the fourth element I would like to have in my life is independence. Here, I am not referring to the general definition of independence as some kind of freedom from oppression. I am specifically talking about independence as sort of a self autonomy in my life, the ability to do the things I want to without being told by other people how I should do it. The latter definition differs from the first, because I am talking about a personal leeway to do things the way I want to do it. For instance, I would not like to work at a big corporation in the future, because I would not enjoy trying to obey what my bosses tell me. Working in this strict bureaucratic environment where I am always constantly told what I ought to do, I feel like I would not be able to live a meaningful life. Instead, I would like to work in a smaller environment, where people are not telling me what to do or what not to do. They may provide their feedbacks that I can agree upon, but there is no coercion that fo rces me to take some kind of action. By being able to make my own choices, I will definitely be able to express my creativity in the field. Although I do believe that maintaining a systemized order of things is important, I would not want it as part my work environment that will hinder me from experimenting with different methods of approaching certain concepts or things. Harmonizing my elements into a one form, I see myself pursuing after a career in education, specifically as a professor teaching behavior economics at a small college in a rural part of town, hopefully in New England. Being a professor in a small town, I can focus a lot of attention to academics and my family because, unlike in an urban environment, I do not have to commute long distances to travel for work, saving valuable time I can spend with my family. Furthermore, the environment will be a small enough so that everyone will know each other, forming a close knit community. At the same time, the environment will be filled with intellectualism, with me sharing my knowledge to students and the student absorbing the information to form their own opinions about the subject matter. This may lead to debates and discussions, which I can utilize to enhance my own knowledge as well. On some days I may exercise my creative side by incorporating real life case studies where students have to observe their peers in the economic decisions that they make, which may turn into a little fun study that we can focus deeper into. Of course, unlike in a high school environment, I would have a lot more leeway and freedom to shift the curriculum focus to explore an unexpected phenomenon regarding human behaviors that has not been discovered before. All the elements form harmonize into a form, leading me to live the type of serene and academic life I want to live away from the large cities in rural parts of the country. Now that I have analyzed my elements and have become cognizant of what I want the most in my life, I am determined to pursue after this path. Perhaps others in the herd may see my path as being banal and boring, but for me this type of quite life is what I find meaning in. However, at the moment, I acknowledge that I am just part of the herd. But utilizing this introspection as a starting point, I will try to not be influenced by the standardized views of society, and pursue after what I truly want in my life, so that I can achieve my own happiness. This world has socialized people into believing that material wealth is the path to happiness, but for me, this is not my version of happiness. I will continue to study hard now that I found out what I truly want in life.

Defining One Country, Two System :: China Chinese Government Papers

Defining One Country, Two System Hong Kong is a very special city. It has a very interesting history. In 1842, Hong Kong Island of Hong Kong was ceded by China to Great Britain. In 1860, Kowloon Peninsula of Hong Kong was ceded to England. In 1898, the rest of Hong Kong, the New Territories and 235 outlying islands were leased to England for 99 years. In the early 1980’s, the British and Chinese government began to have negotiations about Hong Kong’s future since the lease would expire on July 1st, 1997. The leader of China, Deng XiaoPing, introduced the â€Å"One Country, Two System†. The â€Å"One Country, Two System† was intended by China to give Hong Kong’s citizen a promise that communism wouldn’t prevail over capitalism in Hong Kong. This way, China would gain trusts from Hong Kong’s citizens that the conditions would be the same when the Great Britain returned the sovereignty of Hong Kong back to China. British and Chinese representatives signed the British-Sino Joint Declaration in 1984, authorizing the transition of Hong Kong’s sovereignty in the midnight of July 1st, 1997. Hong Kong citizens were excited that Hong Kong would finally return to its motherland. China wanted to show the world that the â€Å"One Country, Two System† would be unique and successful so that China could attract Macau and Taiwan to return to China. In the early 1990’s, the Basic Law was published in order to make the practice of â€Å"One Country, Two System† a legal procedure. In the Basic Law, it stated that Hong Kong would become an inalienable part of the People’s Republic of China (1). China would authorize Hong Kong to practice a high degree of autonomy, and enjoy executive, legislative, and independent judicial power (2). The executive authorities and legislative of Hong Kong shall be composed of permanent residents of Hong Kong (3). Hong Kong residents would have their rights and freedoms (4). The socialist system and policies wouldn’t be practiced in Hong Kong, and the previous capitalist system and way of life would remain unchanged for 50 years (5). Hong Kong would protect the right of private ownership of property in accordance with law (6). The laws previously enforced in Hong Kong, the common law, rules of equity, ordinances, subordinate legislation and customary laws, would be maintained (8).

Baroque Art and Music

Both Baroque art and music evoke strong emotions in the people they are intended to touch. The subjects, while not inevitably overtly religious, primarily deal with religious subject matter. Many of the paintings of this era brought religious figures into what were then familiar settings, such as placing a Madonna figure into a crumbling Roman city street. Others, however, used the dramatic effects of chiaroscuro shading and broadly painted gestures and expressions to create images that have transfixed viewers for centuries.So, too, have the strains set down by Baroque composers held the imaginations of listeners over the centuries. Few people, even those who claim to be unfamiliar with â€Å"classical† music would fail to recognize the â€Å"Hallelujah Chorus† from Handel’s Messiah or the lilting notes of Vivaldi’s â€Å"Spring Concerto† from the Four Seasons, even if they could not name the pieces. This paper will be used to briefly discuss and co mpare some of the dramatic effects used in Baroque art and in Baroque music. Baroque ArtThe art of the Baroque period was naturalistic; that is, the people portrayed in the paintings and statuary were sometimes portrayed with human flaws. But it was also at this time that light and shading was used to create the focus of the piece by casting many of the supporting figures into relative darkness and bathing the primary figure in light. This effect, chiaroscuro shading, was perfected by Caravaggio and was often adopted by other Baroque artists, as well as other, later artists (author, date, p. 162).This kind of art was not used to focus only on beautiful or noble images; Artemisia Gentileschi depicts the Old Testament story of Judith and Holofernes in all of its brutality using chiaroscuro shading to horrific effect (author, date, p. 164). All the same, dramatic shading was not the only artistic development of the Baroque period; art during this period took on a never before seen sens uality, even in artwork with a religious theme (author, date, p. 165). Baroque Music Like Baroque art, Baroque music was both dramatic and groundbreaking.However, unlike Baroque art that was growing more complex, the music of that period was becoming simplified and giving its religious themes a â€Å"wider and more universal appeal† (author, date, p. 183). Stories from the Bible were performed in a vocal style known as the â€Å"oratorio,† (author, date, p. 185), of which Handel’s famous Messiah is one. Although Johann Sebastian Bach is perhaps more famous for his development of the complex musical fugue, he also composed vocal scores using the chorale prelude and the cantata to bring the Gospels to life in a musical form (author, date).Musical innovation was not confined to religious themes, however. The opera was born in during the Baroque period, drawing largely on Greek tragedies set to new music, since the original Greek music had been lost. Monteverdi was an innovator in this new musical art form, fully exploring the musical form of â€Å"monody† or â€Å"recitative. † Monody was, and is, an extended vocal line supported by instrumentation (author, date, p. 184). Antonio Vivaldi used a similar theme in his music, creating a single and elaborate musical line that extended itself â€Å"luxuriously† through a given piece (author, date, p.187). While Baroque art was often heavy, the music composed by Vivaldi and others like him was often light, carried by string instruments. Conclusion Both art and music experienced transformative innovations during the Baroque period. Although religious themes continued to take the central focus, artistic forms became more accessible to more people during this time. The Baroque period brought music and artistic forms into the world that are still popular today.

A Survey of Information Technologies in Logistics Management

A Survey of Information Technologies in Logistics Management Anil Gurung University of Texas at Arlington Department of Information Systems and Operations Management, College of Business Administration Office: Room 630 Business Building Box 19437 701 S West St. Arlington, Texas 76019-0437 Voice: 817. 272. 3528 Email: [email  protected] edu ABSTRACT This paper analyzes the impact of information technologies (IT) on logistics by conducting a survey of literatures on academic logistics journals and practitioner journals.The literature survey and practice find that third party logistic providers have better opportunity to leverage IT since they need to have interoperable IT systems with their customers. The business philosophy of Just-In-Time (JIT) has also contributed to the impact of IT in logistics. Further, information technologies are identified that has benefited the logistics. Future directions of logistics are discussed. INTRODUCTION The proliferation of information technologie s (IT) and the internet technologies have provided impetus and challenges to the logistics.New technologies present new means to manage the flow of information. IT as a productivity tool can be utilized to both increase the capability and decrease the cost at the same time (Closs et al. , 1997). It has been widely accepted that firms can achieve competitive advantage by cost reduction or differentiation with the proper implementation of IT (Porter & Millar, 1985). Enabled by IT the logistics has become a source of competitive advantage for many firms. Two streams of research are identified that highlights the role of IT in logistics.First stream relates to just-in-time logistics information system (Anderson & Quinn, 1986; Bookbinder & Dilts, 1989; Das & Handfield, 1997; Gomes & Mentzer, 1988; Perry, 1988; Schwarz & Weng, 2000; Spencer, M. S. et al. , 1994; Spencer, M. S. et al. , 1996; Takahashi & Nakamura, 2000; Titone, 1996; Wafa & Yasin, 1996). The other stream is the third party logistics (Lewis & Talalayevsky, 2000; Peters et al. , 1998; Sauvage, 2003; Sink & Langley, 1997; Vaidyanathan, 2005). Importance of IT in logistics has grown to some extent by business philosophy of Just-InTime (JIT) by firms.With the emphasis of firms on JIT, the impact of logistics has grown as it is increasingly recognized as a source of consistent, low lead time, damage free deliveries (Bardi et al. , 1994). In pursuit of competitive advantages, firms outsource their functions which are noncore competencies so that they can focus on their core competencies. A recent survey found that 83 percent of the surveyed Fortune 500 companies reported having at least one contract with a third-party logistics provider (Lieb & Bentz, 2004).Over the years, the use of third-party logistics has been increasing. Similar survey of Fortune 500 companies taken in 1991 had only 38 percent of the respondents reporting the use of third-party logistics provider (Lieb, 1992). The 618 third party logis tic operators attempt to harness the capability of information technology to provide superior services to their customers. The objective of this paper is to study how IT has impacted logistics. To this end, literature review of both leading academic and practitioner logistic journals is conducted.The next section will report the framework of logistics. The following section will analyze the IT enablers in logistics. Then, the implications of ecommerce are discussed followed by a section on future directions for logistics. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE A classification scheme logistics functions provides a meaningful way to study how IT has impacted the various functions of logistics. Previous research in logistics have categorized the use of information systems in logistics in different ways.A system of logistics functions can be divided into following five broad areas (Bowersox, 1974): facility location, transportation, inventory, communication and material movement. Based on the proble m areas that application addresses, seven areas of logistics has been identified as facility location, inventory control, order entry, vehicle scheduling, warehouse layout planning, freight rate retrieval, and product and shipment tracing (Ballou, 1976). Another survey identified five categories as facility location, inventory control, transportation, production scheduling, and total physical distribution (House, 1978).These categories treated each category as individual entities rather than a whole system. Noting this shortcoming, Stenger (1986) proposed another classification consisting of transaction systems, short-term scheduling and inventory replenishment systems, flow planning systems, and network planning and design systems. Expanding on the framework developed by Bowersox, Novack et al (1992) divided logistics function into two categories. The first category refers to physical activities that are required various utilities of customer need.These will include inventory, tran sportation and customer service operations. The second category refers to flow of information or transaction activities that follow or initiate the physical activities. The physical and information flows in logistics function is well-depicted in Figure 1 that shows the categorization of logistics functions as described by Vaidyanathan (2005). As shown in the figure, information flows between logistics function are managed, coordinated and supported by various logistics technologies. 619Inventory and Logistics Management: – Freight Consolidation – Freight Distribution – Shipment Planning – Traffic Management – Inventory Management – Carrier Selection – Order Entry/ Management Information Flow Customer Service: – Freight Payments – Auditing – Order Management – Fulfillment – Help Desk – Carrier Selection – Rate Negotiation Information Flow Warehousing: – Packaging – Product Making – Labeling – Warehousing Material Flow Transportation: – Fleet Management – Cross Docking – Product Return Figure 1: Categorization of Logistics Functions (adapted from Vaidyanathan 2005)IT enablers in Logistics The literature in logistics is full of instances where information technology has been touted as a means to enhance logistics competitiveness (Bowersox, 1974; Closs et al. , 1997; Rabinovich et al. , 1999; Stenger, 1986). Yet there has been few empirical studies that relates logistics information capabilities to logistics competence (Closs et al. , 1997). A popular framework in information systems discipline put forward by Gorry & Morton (1989) place logistics decisions as structured and varying from operational to strategic.The role of logistics information systems as operational and strategic enablers in different areas of the firm’s supply chain has been stated in the literature (Langley et al. , 1988). There has been a shi ft of IT from being an enabler of operational and material handling functions to being an enabler of decision-making and activityplanning functions within the supply chain (La Londe & Auker, 1973). Logistics Information System Logistics Information System (LIS) is the application component of logistics information technology. An effective LIS facilitates the proper information flow between inventory, 20 Information Flow warehousing and transportation to realize the high level of customer service. The ability to optimize the logistics cost and service levels is affected by the LIS of the firm and its partners. Firms that provide better logistics services at a lower cost can have competitive advantage over its competitors (Bardi et al. , 1994). Two classes of LIS has been recognized in the literature (Closs et al. , 1997). Logistics operating systems (LOS) refer to transactional applications such as order entry, order processing, warehousing, and transportation.Logistics planning syst ems (LPS) refer to coordinating applications such as forecasting, inventory management, and distribution requirements planning. EDI Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) has successfully enhanced the communication between firms which is essential for logistics. This technology requires firms to have common data formatting and transmission standards or protocols. Such technologies have been employed by companies to coordinate their value chain activities including logistics. Early applications of EDI has been on transmitting vehicle location information by railways to their customers.Other types of logistics information carried by EDI are purchase orders/releases and changes, advanced shipping notices, bills of lading, and invoices. Timely and accurate information is crucial in decision making about complex logistics problems. Japan Airlines (JAL) adopted EDI to manage their complex value chain logistics required for their operations, including procurement and just-in-time delivery of ai rcraft fuel, repair and maintenance aircraft parts, food catering and other customer requirements (Chatfield & Bjorn-Andersen, 1997).The competitive advantage gained by companies employing EDI is cited in the literature. Firms utilizing EDI were better able to fulfill greater number of services to their customers (Rogers et al. , 1992). Bar coding Bar coding is one of the most IT enablers to date and has made significant impact in the practice. Starting in 1960’s some of the earliest implementation of bar codes were in rail road cars. Nowadays it is rampant in anything that needs to be identified and tracked. The different type of bar codes are available, known as symbologies, for different purposes.In practice, most firms prefer to use industry standards rather than proprietary standards for most of their bar codes on their products. By following industry standards, bar codes reduce the complications inherent in the use of multiple standards and thus provides a strong founda tion for integrating the corporate logistics and the supply chain (Closs & Kefeng, 2000). Real-time communications capability The logistics IT capability of real-time communications is essential for maintaining the flow of information.As noted by Dudley & Lasserre (1989), one of the important roles of logistics IT is to substitute information for inventory. To make real-time tracking of goods, logistic information systems of business partners should have real-time communications capability. The business partners require an integrated messaging architecture which exchanges business data while customizing business flows and format transformation. Real-time communications also allows for schedule plans to change in dynamic routing and scheduling system when the vehicles are 621 already out on the road.Any last minute changes in routing and scheduling system or constant tracking has been possible only with real-time communications ability of the respective systems. RFID RFID helps to id entify, track and locate items automatically. The use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is expected to increase rapidly in coming years. Often referred to as the next step in the evolution of bar-coding, RFID is growing rapidly in the automatic data capture and identification market (Srivastava, 2004). RFID is not a new technology, in fact, its use dates back to 1940’s but only now it is starting to make a significant impact within the supply chain.The growth in use of RFID will be enhanced to some extent by mandates from large retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target, and the US Department of Defense, who require their suppliers to adopt this technology within the next few years (Asif & Mandviwalla, 2005). Among the companies that are piloting RFID in their supply chain management prominent ones are WalMart, Procter & Gamble, Coca-cola and Gillette. Although the biggest driver in the popularity of RFID has been supply chain, companies are experimenting in other applicati ons as well.Other applications are theft detection, asset tracking, mobile payments, in-process inventory tracking and luggage tracking. Dell, Seagate, Boeing and Ford are among other companies that are using RFID to track their in-process inventory in manufacturing. An RFID system includes transponders or tags that can identify items ; antennas that allows tags to be interrogated and to respond; and software that controls the RFID equipment, manages the data and interfaces with enterprise applications. RFID has lots of potential to improve the efficiency in the supply chain and reduce waste.For example, efficiency would result from automatic update of inventory system when products with RFID tags are unloaded from trucks into stores. The advantages of RFID over bar coding are as follows: RFID tags can provide longer read distances; store more data; require no direct line of sight between tag and reader; and can collect data from multiple sources simultaneously (Asif & Mandviwalla, 2005). There are some technical and business challenges to overcome before RFID can be ubiquitous. Technical issues include problems of interference, security and accuracy while business issues relate to costs and lack of standards.Another significant business challenge in adopting RFID faced by managers is to work out a business case for the executive board. Early adopters of these technologies are marred by problems such as possible adverse consumer outbursts to perceived invasion of privacy, reliability of the RFID system, and issues related to health, safety and IT integration. IMPLICATION OF ECOMMERCE ON LOGISTICS The growth of ecommerce pose opportunities and challenges for logistics. As internet retailing increases the companies are accepting orders from their clientele across the borders.In many instances the location of clients are not covered by any existing distribution system of the companies. On such occasions the companies have no resort but to turn towards third party logistics operators for physical flow of goods. As for the information flow, the companies need to have capabilities for ecommerce applications. The group of technologies and processes for coordinating logistics information flow has been named e-logistics. An important web 622 technology that facilitates the exchange of business data among logistics business partners across different platforms is extra markup language (XML).For example, UPS is exploiting the power of the web services to streamline its information flows for logistics activities such as RFQ, shipping and tracking. Changing Trends in Logistics Consultants are beginning to take an active part in helping out the shippers select third party logistics operators. Shippers hire consultants to help them align business processes with supply chain strategies. The newly coined term â€Å"4PL† for consultants stands for dominant role that consultants will be taking in managing the resources, the technology and the process es in the supply chain.It is yet to be seen whether the shippers will let the consultants manage all the logistics processes. Instead of handing over the authority to manage the logistics processes to the consulting firms, shippers may choose to develop alliance with the third party logistics operators and maintain the supply chain themselves. The key thing that will allow coordination between shipper firms and the third party logistics will be information technology and management skills to run the supply chain effectively. This implies that firms should also have proper logistic technologies in place to enjoy the full benefits of use of third party logistics.FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS The research directions that are available for researchers in logistics are numerous. Before companies implement new logistic information technologies such as RFID it is important to assess the viability of adopting the technology. What would be the expected benefits? What is the ROI? Researchers can come up with various econometric models to predict the outcomes of adopting logistics technologies. Modeling techniques can be used to assess the scenarios that would be beneficial for adopting new technologies.As companies are entering into ecommerce, better coordinating techniques are required to streamline logistics activities for transactions taking place on the internet. Collaborative technologies for supporting e-logistics would greatly enhance the future logistics. Multi-agent systems (MAS) provide an interesting avenue of research that is applicable for supporting logistics technologies on the internet. Intelligent software agents can be used to assess the bids offered by multiple third-party logistics operators. To support global ecommerce the companies need to have different options for global logistics.The best way to traverse the geographical distribution is through technology. What are the communication channels and technologies that would benefit the company in terms of monitoring and coordination logistics functions? More empirical evidence will be preferred to establish the direct link between organizational performance and logistics information systems. Researchers can seek to examine the complex relationships between logistics technologies and performance from different paradigms and theories. The perspective of organizational learning can be used to evaluate the performance gained by employing logistics information systems. 23 CONCLUSION The objective of this paper was to observe the impact of information technology on the logistics functions. A literature review of the academic and practitioners journals was conducted. The information technologies that have been used to support logistics functions were discussed. It is evident that academic researchers are aware of new technologies in practice such as RFID. Development in technologies offer sources of competitive advantage for companies. Adoption of new technologies provide challenge and o pportunities for the companies.Proper business case and calculation of ROI needs to be done to assess the expected benefits from new technologies. Changing trends in business in terms of ecommerce open new markets for firms for all sizes to expand their market share. 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