Post-Industrialism, Summary

The sense of economic transformation within the western industrial economies had been present since the 1970s. Some say we are entering into a post-industrial era. That is, leaving behind the the world of industrialism and its imagery – the factories, the heavy machinery and overalled men. Others say we are looking at one specific form of industry disappearing – that of mass production, a Fordist manufacture.Neo – or post-Fordist society (as another discourse), is all together a different kind of economy; one which is organized around flexible forms of production, which is becoming important as a means of responding to the greater diversity of consumer demand and fragmented market tastes. To put it simply, it is a change from a ‘mass’ to a ‘pluralistic’ kind of society. Economies are always in a state of change, but they are less often in the midst of a radical shift in the direction of the economy.What characterizes this radical shift i s firstly in its interconnected nature of such changes, what happens in one part of the economy effects upon the rest of the economy. Secondly it implies that a different set of dynamics is driving an economy. For instance, with the rise of post-industrialism, it is claimed that a new kind of dynamic – the generation of knowledge and the control of information, has displaced the dynamics of manufacturing technologies and the making of things. In this article it introduces 4 main theorists and their characterization of this radical shift of the economy. Post-Industrial SocietyThe idea of a post-industrial society first took hold in the US in the 1960s. Daniel Bell clearly outlined the nature of this transition. He adopted a ‘stages’ model of development which identified three phases of economic progress: a pre-industrial – dominated by agriculture, an industrial – manufacturing and a post-industrial, that he suggests we have entered is dominated by s ervices. According to Bell, the general direction of economic change is towards a service economy. He also suggests the concept of ‘axial principles’ which refers to the mechanisms or dynamics that give shape to an economy.In a post-industrial society, knowledge and information is the driving force that stimulate economic growth, it also takes the form of a final product – reams of information. Bell also pointed out the consequences of this new economic dynamic. 1. 1. Shift in the kinds of work that people do. From manual, manufacturing jobs to non-manual work in the service sector, where people no longer work upon things but work with each other to deliver a service. 2. 2. Shift in the occupational structure as manual jobs give way to white-collar and professional occupations. Skills and physical work requiring strength -> ‘think’ work. . 3. The emergence of a new class, the knowledge elites. As knowledge and information are the key sources of a post-industrial society, and they are the ones who control those resources. The intellectual work would be specialized, the new hierarchies of technical elites will be formed alongside the increased professionalization of work and the bureaucratization of ‘think' work. Alain Touraine also discussed about the post-industrialism. Like Bell, he also gave central place to the control of knowledge and information and identified the agents of change, the ones with control of knowledge as a ‘technocracy’.However at this point, they differ in their treatment of social conflict. In Touraine's analysis, there will be a new social divide between technocrats and bureaucrats on one hand, and a range of social groups such as workers, students and consumers on the other hand. This division is because the principal opposition between social group is no longer stem from the ownership and control of private property, but from access to information and its uses. So, the dominant cla ss would have power over the livelihood and lifestyle, not only in the sphere of economic production.Because of this, the social conflict and the social movement in post-industrial society will also be changed to that they are not so related to industry or particular material needs. New types of social movements such as environmental and feminist movements that are beyond the class politics will take form. Whereas Touraine sees post-industrial society as a setting in which the lack of power among certain social groups provides a basis for new lines of social resistance, Bell identifies a contradiction between the economic and the cultural realms of post-industrialism.While there is still a protestant work ethic, the committed, hard working spirit which also focused on economic efficiency, Bell points out that this is now at odds with the desire for a more hedonistic lifestyle, supported by overall material sufficiency, and the new emerging culturally expressive, individualistic life style of the post-modern culture. The Information Society Daniel Bell is again, a key contributor to the debate of information society, saying that this is a recent expression of post-industrial society.He claimed that the information society rested upon a knowledge theory of value. This means that knowledge has replaced productive labour as the source of value that creates future profits. Here, knowledge and its application is the resource, and this is integrated with the adoption of new information technologies which can reshape the ways we consume and produce, as well as where we perform these activities. However for Bell, information is regarded more than a resource but also a commodity which can be bought and sold in the market.This leads to the emergence of information occupations – consisting of professional, technical workers concerned with the production, processing and distribution of information. Manuel Castells also draws his opinion on the information-based socie ty. But he argues that information society is not necessarily matching with post-industrial society which the manufacturing sector is being replaced by the service sector. Rather, he identifies the role of knowledge and use of information as the ‘dynamics’ of the coming society. Knowledge, is both the base of production and the outcome of production.That means knowledge, as a resource and commodity in its own right, is a central means of improving economic performance and intensifies the process of economic innovation. Castells also identified the role of the new technologies enabling multinational companies to operate in new ways. The development of communication technologies, management system and technologies of production gave them opportunities to work in a more ‘footloose’ way. They joined multiple networks with other companies which enabled them to develop products jointly or serve specific markets.What Castells saw here was the concentration of powe r (information) among a knowledge elite in the corporations. Where, on the one hand, automation of low-skilled jobs especially among the workforce in maufacturing was undergoing. In other words, he distinguished a trend towards the polarization and segmentation of the social structure. The Divided Society Andre Gorz defined the change in the structure of employment and the change in the role of work in the post-industrial society. He claimed that there is a social division of secure, well-paid workers and a growing mass of the unemployed.In between them are the new post-industiral working class whom the work is no longer meaningful nor of any identity. In his view, the source of the problem is the emergence of new technologies that brought about automation at the workplace. It left the people with no jobs, creating ‘jobless growth’. If this continues, it would decrease the quality of the remaining working class jobs even more. Work in this sense, is just an instrumental activity for the majority. To earn money but with no satisfaction or content. Here we see a similar picture with that of Castells’s, the segmentation of the workforce.A privileged minority who obtains and controls the information and a casualized and marginalized majority of the working class. Gorz identifies this vision by referring to a society polarized between an emergent ‘servile’ class and a securely employed, professional class. The economic elites can now purchase at low cost the services that they’ve been capable of doing by themselves in the past such as domestic work. So the working class moves in to this service sector to ‘serve’ the economic elites. Their jobs – the new service jobs, lack dignity and are often not even considered as real jobs.And this line of argument by Gorz thus stresses a growing social inequality as a marking feature of post-industrialism. Conclusion ; Summary Despite the different aspects that these w riters each concentrated on, they agree on the fact that post-industrialism signals a number of distinguishing changes. Shift away from industrialism, a shift in the number of manufacturing economies to a service base. The growth of new occupations leading the economy, the white collar, professionals also categorized as knowledge elites. Gorz puts an emphasis here, on the fate of a deskilled working class forced to serve these elites.And the social and economic polarization that is also part of the general direction of the change. Lastly the shift in the types of social movements. From the attention on industrial forms of class politics to something beyond what we call class politics. Such as the green movement. If we refer to the beginning again, we can see it is not just a change, but a radical shift of the economy – the interconnected nature and changes in the dynamics of the economy. In this case, what all 4 writers agree on is that information and knowledge has become th e dynamics, the driving force of our economy.

All The s Men: Theme

The nature of Jack Burden`s journey from the `arid land of facts` to the `dream sea of ideas` is what the story is all about. It goes on to spell whether the journey undertaken by the hero is indeed a spiritual one or an attempt at self-discovery. An attempt has been made to explore the roots of this journey through Modernism (the breakdown of philosophical/moral consensus about the nature of things, the turn toward myth) and Neo-Romanticism (the search for a new unifying principle amid the fragmentations of Modernity/Scientific Materialism), the role of Willie Stark, Ellis Burden, Judge Irwin, and the hero’s journey through the turmoil and pleasures of life. The story revolves around the relationship between the themes of Death and Rebirth which occur in Jack’s journey through incidences of tragedy and beyond. It ends on a note of positivism, when the hero, Jack Burden, transforms himself from being a pawn to his roots in ancestral lineage. Literature Review ‘All the King's Men’, is the story of the rise and fall of Willie Stark, a political titan in the Deep South, who during the 1930s rose from hardscrabble poverty to become the governor of his state, and ultimately it’s most powerful political figure. The story goes on to say how Willie, the anti-hero blackmails and bullies his enemies into submission, and using his good office institutes a radical series of liberal reforms which are designed to tax the rich and ease the burden of the state's poor farmers. This leads to a conflict of personalities which includes the notable former governor, Sam MacMurfee, and other power mongers. Jack Burden, the scion of one of the state's aristocratic dynasties, turns his back on his genteel upbringing, against the wishes of his well-wishers, which includes the influential Judge Irwin. Throwing caution to wind, Jack joins Willie on his journey to stardom, earning him the name as, Willie’s right hand. Willie takes advantage of Jack’s talent as a historical researcher to dig up the unpleasant secrets of his enemies, using this to blackmail and provocation. Cynical and lacking in ambition as he is, Jack walks away from many of his past interests; the dissertation of American History, and marriage to Anne Stanton, the daughter of a former governor of the state. The scene when Willie asks Jack to look for skeletons in the closet of Judge Irwin, Jack is forced to confront his ideas concerning consequence, responsibility, and motivation. He discovers that Judge Irwin had accepted a bribe, and that Governor Stanton, his would-be father-in-law, had covered it up, resulting in Judge Irwin's suicide. The story then turns to another interesting episode of Adam Stanton, Anne’s brother, taking up the directorship of a new hospital being built by Willie. The vicious turn of events leads Willie to Anne, who unsuspectingly has an affair leading to his ultimate murder. Jack, with nothing to gain returns, an empty man. In this we see, the death and rebirth of Jack through his tryst with destiny and forlorn countenance of Anne transform to one of exuberance. Willie's death at the hands of Adam, his loyal employee, jolts Jack to such an extent that he is left dumbfounded and brooding of the consequence of his future and a rethink of his belief. Jack returns to his senses and takes a major plunge towards society by accepting his long lost love, Anne Stanton, and pursues his passion of research . 3. 0 Analysis Jack’s journey from the ‘arid land of facts’ to the ‘dream sea of ideas’ can be best described as a journey towards truth which is emphasized when he says, ‘And all times are one time, and all those dead in the past never lived before our definition gives them life, and out of the shadow their eyes implore us. That is what all of us historical researchers believe. And we love truth. ’ It may be seen that the principal characters in the novel Willie Stark, Judge Irwin, Anne Stanton though their personal lives have not been free from blemishes, they were in more than a way, corrupt. Starting with his association with Willie to the displeasure of his near and dear, the moment he learns of the affair of his first love Anne Stanton with Willie, and to the moment he learns of Judge Irwin’s suicide, Jack had never endured a sign of negativism in Willie’s actions. It is only when Jack’s mother reveals the true identity of his father, does Jack admonishes Willie for his deliberations, although not in public. This incident leads Jack through many a twist and turn in his endeavor to get to the bottom of Willie’s motives. The sequence of events that followed, leading to the untimely murder of Willie, inculcated a sense of disbelief, and revulsion in him. The trudge back to his roots exemplifies the struggle and worship of humanity in all its glory. Jack for all his wiles, was an ardent follower of his master. Willie Stark, ‘the Boss’ gave the impression of a man on the move. Never, did he pause to gauge the consequences of his actions. This ultimately led to his doom. Willie Stark, though he had a humble beginning, rose to a position of wielding unbridled power in the process subjugating his opponents by brute force and of course putting to use the investigative skills of Jack. Judge Irwin, revered as a father figure by Jack, has not been in the good books of Willie, who instigates Jack to dig into the past activities of Irwin, protested vehemently by him. However, when the facts were unearthed, a shocked Jack and a bemused Willie confronted Judge Irwin. Judge Irwin was a man of honor. He was known to be a very straight man and never took the law into his hands. This revelation was too much for him to digest, and equally embarrassing, that he did what a man of his stature would have done, commit suicide. Strangely, for most part of the story, Jack believes that Ellis Burden, whom he refers to as his Scholarly attorney, to be his father, where in fact, it is Judge Irwin who is the real biological father. Ironically, Jack gets to know this only after the suicide of Irwin, which Jack believes was because of his action. Jack’s aristocratic moorings unfortunately does not refrain him from joining hands with the immoral Willie Stark as we see in the story. Though Willie uses Jack as a formidable tool in his ascent to power, using Jack’s research skills to his greatest advantage of subjugating his opponents, was a crime most unsuspecting of such a character. Jack becomes a witness to Willie’s Machiavellian manipulations and misdeeds, albeit, unwittingly. However Jack’s shunning politics at the end of the story and his return to his earlier passion is a metaphor for Jack’s return to his roots, his history, and his American past. In fact, Jack’s research revolves around his study of the life of Cass Mastern, a man of high moral standards and a student at Transylvania College in Kentucky. Even the subject Jack takes up for his dissertation is a reminder to the readers of Jack’s search for the truth. ‘Is death the last sleep? No, it is the last and final awakening,’ said W. Scott, a stark reminder synonymous of the characters in this book; Judge Irwin’s suicide when he is confronted by Jack with facts about his acceptance of a bribe, and the killing of Willie Stark by Adam Stanton. While for the major part of the story Jack believed that the ‘Great Twitch’ denoted actions in life and not words or deeds. The awakening on that morning at home, brought Jack to retract his thoughts on life, and once again believed that men were responsible for their actions and deeds. This rethinking in a sense is responsible for Jack’s decision to marry Anne Stanton (a metaphor for rebirth) despite his knowledge of the fact that he she had an affair with Willie Stark. Reflecting philosophically he says, ‘all the words we speak meant nothing and there was only the pulse in the blood and the twitch of the nerve, like a dead frog's leg in the experiment when the electric current goes through, a true reflection of Modernism. This can be, in a philosophical sense be equated to the death of Jack figuratively, since Anne was Jack’s first love, whom he loved more than anything else in the world. 4. 0 Conclusion In the ultimate analysis it may be inferred that Jack’s life has been a life of journey towards the truth, towards his roots and eventually his self-discovery. The main characters in the story play an important role in molding Jack’s character, the incidents in the lives of those characters enlightening the path Jack has taken to achieve his goal. 5. 0 Bibliography 1. 0 www. sparknotes. com/lit/kingsmen/summary. html

Six Sigma Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Six Sigma - Essay Example This is done by distinguishing and correcting faults that occur in the organizational processes and products. In other words, six sigma is a management concept formulated by Motorola in 1986 which aims are defining high goals, data collection and carrying out the analysis of results to a fine degree so as to cut down the defects that appear in tangible products and services. Therefore, we can say that six sigma is focused on improving the quality of business processes and end products (Peter S Pande, Robert P. Neuman, Roland E. Cavanagh, 2000). The core aim of six sigma is to give businesses an error free performance. The philosophy of six sigma is that if an organization is able to measure the number of faults in its business processes, then it can systematically eradicate them and achieve close to perfection operations. The Greek alphabet Sigma is used to represent a deviation or variation from a defined standard. Organizations use sigma as a scale to measure their performance. The value of sigma is indirectly proportional to the number of defects. This means that smaller value of sigma will show less deviation from the norm that is less faults. For instance, two sigma covers ninety five percent of the bell curve whereas six sigma reaches to a point where there is absolutely no chance of defect. Simply put, six sigma is basically a standard for quality which aims at producing no more than 3.4 defects per million units or procedures. The goal however, is difficult to attain yet a number of manufacturing companies such as General Electric, Martin Dow, Johnson & Johnson, Nokia and many others have realized heavy savings with the application of six sigma. Service sector such as healthcare and financial institutions have also started benefitting from six sigma (Praveen Gupta, 2004). History: Whenever the origin of six sigma is talked about, the first name that strikes our mind is: Motorola. It is usually believed that the concept of six sigma was introduced by the employees of Motorola. A deep look into the history will show that the development of the concept began when Carl Frederick Gauss introduced major statistical element of bell curve called normal curve. In 1920’s Walter Shewhart analyzed the normal curve thoroughly and came up with his proposal that any business process or product may require rectification when the variation from mean is three sigma. After the second world war, Japan’s economy was poorly slashed down. However, with optimal utilization of natural resources and leadership, Japan became world leader in terms of quality. Noticing this sudden progress, U.S companies realized how important the role of quality in gaining profits and customer satisfaction is. The automobile industry of U.S was suffering to a great extent because Japanese had grabbed major share of its imports. In 1986, the engineers at Motorola implemented the concept of six sigma in their manufacturing processes. Bill Smith and team members d ecided to replace the measurement of defects in thousands by millions in order to make more sense out of the concept. Guidelines for addressing problems with six sigma were established and it was also suggested that projects in which six sigma is applied should always give positive outcomes. Therefore, six sigma is officially associated with Motorola. Observing Motorola’s increased efficiency, Allied Signal began implementing six sigma in its operations.

Astronomy assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Astronomy assignment - Essay Example These observations were more strong evidence that Earth is not the center of all things and that at least one planet orbited the Sun. The weight will change by 21 kg since the mass remain constant because the center of gravity is constant. The gravitational force between you and earth is divided into two components. One is the centripetal force required to keep you moving in a circle, and the rest is your weight. So if the radius increases so does the centripetal force. Thus, the weight goes down. The weight will change just proportional to the earth radius changes i.e. by one third of its current measure. There is gravity near the earth orbit keeping in mind that Earths gravity affects everything at or near the planets surface. We feel the force of gravity on Earth through our mass, and that force also translates into a downward pull of 9.8 meters per second squared However, in deep space, thousands of light years from any object, there is no gravity since the higher you go, the weaker and no gravitational force exists (Chaplin,

Feed Resource Recvery Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Feed Resource Recvery - Research Paper Example The second was the restaurant industry which accounted for about 500 tons of food waste, followed by supermarkets, accounting for around 200 to 400 tons. These are the competitors on the supply chain side who can also turn themselves into CleanTech industry and make a fortune. Now at the industrial level, the biggest and most potential competition for Feed stems from Converted Organics Inc, BlueFire Ethanol, Inc, Disenco Energy PLC, Oakleaf, Rod McLellan Co, and Synargo Technologies. These firms are expert in Organic Soil Additive industry, Green waste management industry, Home power plant manufacturing industry, Recycling equipment manufacturing industry, naturally derived fertilizer manufacturing industry and Residual recycling industry respectively. The best thing about these competitors of Feed is that they are stock listed and already serving a customer base varying from 100,000 to 250,000 customers every year (Zacharakis-Jutz, 2008). Venture capitalists are eager to invest and interested in diversifying their source of income as they can already see the respective industry which Shane wants to enter as a lucrative one. In 2001, the investments made in this sector were only around $500 million to $600 million, which has increased to a staggering $ 2500 to $ 2600 million by 2007 (Zacharakis-Jutz, 2008). Another factor responsible for investors to invest in CleanTech industry is the raising prices of gasoline and fossil fuel around the globe. In this manner, CleanTech’s products seem to be the future of fuel engineering and consumption. Another major factor is the increasing awareness regarding the global warming and impact of industrial waste and carbon emissions on the global weather. With the arrival of CleanTech products, this problem could be solved in an efficient and cheaper manner. Last, but not the least, is consumer markets all over the world are now becoming loyal to those businesses who conduct their business activities with a greener and an eco-friendly strategy (Estes, 2009). Being a venture capitalist, my first and foremost attempt would be to understand how CleanTech industry is unique or which aspects must be considered that make this industry different from others. My second question would be regarding the valuation of the company that I am interested to invest in. By knowing this, I would be able to compare the offered number of shares or equity in the company against the investment I am expected to make. Then, a series of questions focused on different functional costs and operating costs would be there, just to understand the acquisition cost structure that the company will follow. The last part of my interrogation would focus on understanding the person who is asking for investment, as the personality traits also influence decision making skills heavily. I would like to know the background of the entrepreneur, since when he/she has been thinking about this project, what is the vision or success ideas that t hey have in mind, what type of involvement they require from my side in this venture, and when they are going to pay me back my money (Cumming, 2010). Considering the mammoth amount required to build the prototype of the product, it appears that Shan and Ryan’s family will definitely need time to arrange it. In the business world, if an idea is generated by entrepreneurs, it needs to be implemented as soon

Gender at work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Gender at work - Essay Example Multiple roles with unique responsibilities of both home and work, are seen to be beneficial to women, if domestic responsibilities are shared with the spouse. The numbers of women in the work force are increasing steadily, and may soon be equal in proportion to men. (p.271). Gender relations are more prone to conflict in today’s stressed lives. One reason is the following of traditional concepts of inequality of the sexes. The concept of imposing one’s will appears both in gender relations and war. Why is that? In gender relationships, the stronger or more dominant partner is perceived as the one who is superior physically, financially, or by education. The term status is linked with power, and refers to an individual’s position in the structure of social relationships with respect to other individuals. Status is dependent on the set of values attached by the culture concerned, to attributes like abilities, education, wealth, etc. Watts (1991) is of the opinion that power is exercised on the basis of higher status. The term ‘dominance’ is often connected to interruptive behavior. In terms of the hierarchy of status relationships, dominance is an explicit expression of power over others. Latent or overt conflict is interruptive behavior between two persons. Watts quotes Weber and Durkheim: â€Å"Power is the opportunity of imposing one’s will on another.† Power also forms part of the content of the network links of each individual. (pp. 55-56). Dominance and power give rise to control, which results in conflict. Conflicts in gender relationships, where the ‘weaker’ partner refuses to submit to the will of the dominant partner arise from perceptions about gender, and an individual’s sense of personal worth. The same definitions of power and conflict can be applied in the larger picture of war between two nations. According to Clausewitz and Rapoport, (1982) â€Å"war is nothing but a duel on an

Bestmovies released in the past three years Essay - 1

Bestmovies released in the past three years - Essay Example Kleber Mendonca Filho directed the movie. This film documents a magnificent residential suburb that is located towards the south of the city and borders the Atlantic. There is a significant warning on the beach that warns visitors to be aware of sharks. The community in the Neighboring Sounds suffers from stress caused by the environment that is constantly changing. Apparently, the build environment has complicated the lives of residents in this city (Filho, 2012). The white and black photographs in the movie, the setting portrays a rural community that is coherent and builds around a master house. The presence of a sugar mill and school that is socially mixed further points to the historical times of the community. The film then assumes an urban area that is brightly lit with high apartments and some other ancient buildings. A Rollerblades girl follows a boy through a car park built under the ground until they disappear into an area that is enclosed. When the film opens in part one, Beatrice is shown seated at the kitchen due to lack of sleep. Apparently, some dogs are noisily yelping across the yard of the next door. To overcome this irritating noise, she decides to drug the dogs, an action that surprises her daughter. The director then shows an old, white bearded and widowed patriarch who once owned the entire area. Apparently, this former sugar baron Francisco is now selling the area in bits for purposes of redevelopment. His family lives and run the area. Among them, include the old man’s grandsons, Dinho and Joà £o who are cousins. Apparently, Joà £o took his studies in Europe and acts as the estate agent, albeit with much laxity. On his part, Dinho is a student without good reputation due to his numerous cases of petty theft. Both Dinho and Joà £o share the belief of closeness to the female servants and the boys who mostly do odd jobs. However, a new class has

Retail Marketing and Logistics Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Retail Marketing and Logistics - Case Study Example This paper will identify several theories and concepts on the subject of retail marketing and logistics. The focus of the paper is on one of the biggest international retail stores - 7-Eleven. The company, 7-Eleven, has a worldwide chain of convenience store in different countries. It is a leading operator, franchisor and licensor of convenience stores with 34,800 stores in 17 countries. The name of the company was derived from 7am to 11pm, its operating hours during the early stages of its existence. Today, the convenience stores are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The company started its humble beginning in Dallas, Texas on 1927 when an enterprising dock employee began offering milk, bread and eggs aside from its core business of selling blocks of ice. The first store was opened during Sundays and evenings; a time when grocery stores were closed. The business idea of an entrepreneur regarding convenience retailing was widely accepted by satisfied customers and became profitable through increased sales. Ironically, the story of 7-Eleven can be considered as the story of convenience shopping because it is the company that pioneered and invested on the idea. In 1991, two Japanese companies invested millions of dollar to finance the company in order to emerge from bankruptcy. As a result, 7-Eleven became a wholly owned subsidiary of Seven Eleven Japan Company which controls 70% of the company's stocks. The convenience stores in US and the rest of the world are mostly operated through licensees and affiliates. The paper will tackle the current positioning strategy of the company worldwide. 7-Eleven is positioned as a convenience retail store of consumer goods with diverse products and services that provides easy access to end-consumers. It is in the marketing strategies of the company and its brand name in the market that alleviated the market leadership of the company in convenience stores industry segment. The paper will also explore the competitive environment of global retailing industry where 7-Eleven plays as well as the different business strategies that the company employs in order to be recognised as the world's number one convenience store. At the end, the paper provides several recommendations for the company in order to sustain its growth in the retail industry. Identified opportunities for the company includes further geographical expansions and investment in private label brands as well as natural, organic products. Current Positioning Strategy 7-Eleven stores are positioned as low price general merchandise store that operates for consumer's convenience shopping. The convenience stores are saturated in high income and large traffic locations in order to exploit consumer spending. The strategy of the company is to become the preferred convenience store of consumers anytime anywhere. Retail Marketing Mix - Lauterborn's 4 Cs Consumer wants and needs The relationship marketing strategies of 7-Eleven follows the first C of retail marketing mix. The company identifies the customer's preferences and tastes as well as its buying trend through an integrated information system and in depth analysis of data. As discussed later on the paper, the layout of 7-Eleven store is carefully evaluated and is changed several times a day in order to respond to the buying

Assessment case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Assessment case study - Essay Example The two most important models related to disability are the medical and social models. For assessment of John's case, I would follow both the models as "Both the medical and social model aim to 'cure' disability, the former by curing the impairment and the latter by curing the environment and social attitudes. This indicates that, despite the polarity of their views of the world and the opposing positions they occupy, both models aim to improve the state of disability." (Wilson, 2003. p. 22) When a disabled child is small, his condition does not bother his parents much, as bringing him up is like bringing up a normal child, as at that stage all children are dependent on their parents for their needs. It is when the child grows up (during their adolescence stage) as is the case of John who is 15, that the parents as well as the disabled child realize the reality that that their situation is different from the rest and is going to remain the same. This is the time when parents get tota lly dejected. Since I am going to meet John and his family at such a critical stage, I would keep in mind that he and his family need emotional support more than anything else. For family members the burden of shouldering the responsibility of a disabled person takes a toll on their psyche and might frustrate them so much, that they start abusing and cursing the disabled person. They might not allow the disabled person to do things according to his liking by pointing his incapability to him. During the assessment meeting I would look into this aspect to determine whether John is getting proper care and love by his parents and siblings or not. If I find something amiss I will try to focus on this aspect so that John and his family members are able to deal with their unfortunate situation in a better way. I would see to it that every positive change begins from home. Since John is so used to of his family members being an intermediary between him and outsiders, I will try to encourage John to express himself as much as possible in the first meeting so that he gets comfortable with me and sheds his hesitance as my main objective is to improve his condition more than that of his family members. Both John and I will have to struggle a lot to understand each other because of his critical condition. I will try to systematically organize the service delivery in accordance to the policies and programmes designed by my team to deliver the best possible service to John and his family. Since assessment meeting is not only about John, but his circumstances too, I will try my best to organise, systemise and rationalise the information provided by John's father in his letter as well as my face-to-face communication with his entire family sensitively to get the crux of the whole situation. In this case, I will totally abide by the viewpoint of Coulshed and Orme who have rightly pointed out that "assessment is not just an event, for example the production of a profile on someone or a report for the court; it is, as indicated, a way of continuously collecting and synthesising available data, which includes thoughts and feelings, in order to formulate 'treatment' plans." (1998, p. 21) Through the letter of John's father it as clear that in the past he has not got much help from the

Abstraction Reaction Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Abstraction Reaction - Assignment Example My expectation changed throughout the project because I gathered confidence as I progressed with the activity. Initially, I doubted I whether I could make a rational sketch without looking at the paper. However, I was surprised of the sketch that I produced after the project because the figure was excellent. Interestingly, I realized that I positioned some of the components of my subject accurately in my sketch. Abstract sketches promote creativity because they provide the artist with the opportunity of employing a diverse range of expressions. This is because abstract sketches should not necessarily represent reality. Moreover, abstract sketches are more personal because they provide a person with an approach of seeing more into a specific artist’s psyche (Cramer 28). I liked the experience after realizing a wonderful collage that I was able to make after the project. The project provided me with good experience that developed my skills. I was conscious about my original subject throughout my sketching activity. For example, I utilized information from my source material when designing an outline of my work. This included using the material in determining the size, and the appropriate color to apply at each section of my work. My expectations increased as I progressed with the project. This is because successful completion of each activity motivated me into working more on the piece in order to make it better. This because I realized I had the potential of producing a masterpiece as I progressed with the project. In abstract sketches, artists can describe all values and concepts that they have about the world in a single sketch. Furthermore, abstract sketches are visually powerful because they combine many aspects of art including color, texture, composition and

Problems Identified By The Narasimham Committee Essay Example for Free

Problems Identified By The Narasimham Committee Essay 1. Directed Investment Programme : The committee objected to the system of maintaining high liquid assets by commercial banks in the form of cash, gold and unencumbered government securities. It is also known as the statutory liquidity Ratio (SLR). In those days, in India, the SLR was as high as 38.5 percent. According to the M. Narasimhams Committee it was one of the reasons for the poor profitability of banks. Similarly, the Cash Reserve Ratio- (CRR) was as high as 15 percent. Taken together, banks needed to maintain 53. 5 percent of their resources idle with the RBI. 2. Directed Credit Programme : Since nationalization the government has encouraged the lending to agriculture and small-scale industries at a confessional rate of interest. It is known as the directed credit programme. The committee opined that these sectors have matured and thus do not need such financial support. This directed credit programme was successful from the governments point of view but it affected commercial banks in a bad manner. Basically it deteriorated the quality of loan, resulted in a shift from the security oriented loan to purpose oriented. Banks were given a huge target of priority sector lending, etc. ultimately leading to profit erosion of banks. 3. Interest Rate Structure : The committee found that the interest rate structure and rate of interest in India are highly regulated and controlled by the government. They also found that government used bank funds at a cheap rate under the SLR. At the same time the government advocated the philosophy of subsidized lending to certain sectors. The committee felt that there was no need for interest subsidy. It made banks handicapped in terms of building main strength and expanding credit supply. 4. Additional Suggestions : Committee also suggested that the determination of interest rate should be on grounds of market forces. It further suggested minimizing the slabs of interest. Along with these major problem areas M. Narasimhams Committee also found various inconsistencies regarding the banking system in India. In order to remove them and make it more vibrant and efficient, it has given the following recommendations. Narasimham Committee Report I 1991 The Narsimham Committee was set up in order to study the problems of the Indian financial system and to suggest some recommendations for improvement in the efficiency and productivity of the financial institution. The committee has given the following major recommendations:- 1. Reduction in the SLR and CRR : The committee recommended the reduction of the higher proportion of the Statutory Liquidity Ratio SLR and the Cash Reserve Ratio CRR. Both of these ratios were very high at that time. The SLR then was 38.5% and CRR was 15%. This high amount of SLR and CRR meant locking the bank resources for government uses. It was hindrance in the productivity of the bank thus the committee recommended their gradual reduction. SLR was recommended to reduce from 38.5% to 25% and CRR from 15% to 3 to 5%. 2. Phasing out Directed Credit Programme : In India, since nationalization, directed credit programmes were adopted by the government. The committee recommended phasing out of this programme. This programme compelled banks to earmark then financial resources for the needy and poor sectors at confessional rates of interest. It was reducing the profitability of banks and thus the committee recommended the sto pping of this programme. 3. Interest Rate Determination : The committee felt that the interest rates in India are regulated and controlled by the authorities. The determination of the interest rate should be on the grounds of market forces such as the demand for and the supply of fund. Hence the committee recommended eliminating government controls on interest rate and phasing out the concessional interest rates for the priority sector. 4. Structural Reorganizations of the Banking sector : The committee recommended that the actual numbers of public sector banks need to be reduced. Three to four big banks including SBI should be developed as international banks. Eight to Ten Banks having nationwide presence should concentrate on the national and universal banking services. Local banks should concentrate on region specific banking. Regarding the RRBs (Regional Rural Banks), it recommended that they should focus on agriculture and rural financing. They recommended that the government should assure that henceforth there wont be any nationalization and private and foreign banks should be allowed liberal entry in India. 5. Establishment of the ARF Tribunal : The proportion of bad debts and Non-performing asset (NPA) of the public sector Banks and Development Financial Institute was very alarming in those days. The committee recommended the establishment of an Asset Reconstruction Fund (ARF). This fund will take over the proportion of the bad and doubtful debts from the banks and financial institutes. It would help banks to get rid of bad debts. 6. Removal of Dual control : Those days banks were under the dual control of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Banking Division of the Ministry of Finance (Government of India). The committee recommended the stepping of this system. It considered and recommended that the RBI should be the only main agency to regulate banking in India. 7. Banking Autonomy : The committee recommended that the public sector banks should be free and autonomous. In order to pursue competitiveness and efficiency, banks must enjoy autonomy so that they can reform the work culture and banking technology upgradation will thus be easy. Some of these recommendations were later accepted by the Government of India and became banking reforms. Narasimham Committee Report II 1998 In 1998 the government appointed yet another committee under the chairmanship of Mr. Narsimham. It is better known as the Banking Sector Committee. It was told to review the banking reform progress and design a programme for further strengthening the financial system of India. The committee focused on various areas such as capital adequacy, bank mergers, bank legislation, etc. It submitted its report to the Government in April 1998 with the following recommendations. 1. Strengthening Banks in India : The committee considered the stronger banking system in the context of the Current Account Convertibility CAC. It thought that Indian banks must be capable of handling problems regarding domestic liquidity and exchange rate management in the light of CAC. Thus, it recommended the merger of strong banks which will have multiplier effect on the industry. 2. Narrow Banking : Those days many public sector banks were facing a problem of the Non-performing assets (NPAs). Some of them had NPAs were as high as 20 percent of their assets. Thus for successful rehabilitation of these banks it recommended Narrow Banking Concept where weak banks will be allowed to place their funds only in short term and risk free assets. 3. Capital Adequacy Ratio: In order to improve the inherent strength of the Indian banking system the committee recommended that the Government should raise the prescribed capital adequacy norms. This will further improve their absorption capacity also. Currently the capital adequacy ration for Indian banks is at 9 percent. 4. Bank ownership : As it had earlier mentioned the freedom for banks in its working and bank autonomy, it felt that the government control over the banks in the form of management and ownership and bank autonomy does not go hand in hand and thus it recommended a review of functions of boards and enabled them to adopt professional corporate strategy. 5. Review of banking laws : The committee considered that there was an urgent need for reviewing and amending main laws governing Indian Banking Industry like RBI Act, Banking Regulation Act, State Bank of India Act, Bank Nationalisation Act, etc. This upgradation will bring them in line with the present needs of the banking sector in India. Apart from these major recommendations, the committee has also recommended faster computerization, technology upgradation, training of staff, depoliticizing of banks, professionalism in banking, reviewing bank recruitment, etc. Evaluation of Narsimham Committee Reports The Committee was first set up in 1991 under the chairmanship of Mr. M. Narasimham who was 13th governor of RBI. Only a few of its recommendations became banking reforms of India and others were not at all considered. Because of this a second committee was again set up in 1998. As far as recommendations regarding bank restructuring, management freedom, strengthening the regulation are concerned, the RBI has to play a major role. If the major recommendations of this committee are accepted, it will prove to be fruitful in making Indian banks more profitable and efficient.

State Of The Economy Of Pakistan Economics Essay

State Of The Economy Of Pakistan Economics Essay Pakistans economy has been ragged by two back-to-back crises. The global fuel and food price hikes twisted severe macroeconomic complexity as public finances worsened, inflation climbed, and economic growth slowed down. In Pakistan, the global financial crisis approached at a moment when the financial system was still recovering from the global pricing shocks, thus making the position more terrible as macroeconomic conditions depreciated further and economic growth slowed down slightly. In these circumstances, a major challenge is to position Pakistans economy back on track. During the peak period of crisis 2007-2009, the percentage change in GDP of Pakistan was decreased sharply from 5.6% in 2007 to 3.6% in 2009. The impact of global financial crisis is said to have affected the economies worldwide but countries who were at a very fast pace growth in terms of GDP took a downward flow. As usual, trade balance figures were in negative infact it declines more at US$ 20.74 billion during the period as exports were slightly increase and sustained its position at US$ 19.2 billion and imports were also increased sharply at US$ 39.96 billion. Foreign investment and foreign direct investment are declining drastically at US$ 2.14 billion and US$ 2.21 billion which are adversely affecting the economy as the reason is not only the crisis but also the credibility of the present government. People are suffering as the Inflation which was around 8% before crisis is now around 17.50%. Before the crisis, Forex reserves were at US$ 15.18 billion which was dropped to US$ 10.83 billion during the crisis. Following the beginning of the global economic and financial crisis in the third quarter of 2008, some witness assumed a gloomy scenario of enormous returns of migrant workforce to their countries of origin. They also expressed acceptable fears about worsening circumstances of work and living for migrant workforce and their families, and increasing xenophobia against them. During Crisis, the ambiguity about the success of a migration further amplified. Infact for some earlier migrants, real economic situations and unpredictable demand for foreign employment are tough to grasp. Consequently when ambiguity enlarged, migration patterns also changes. During 2005-2010, the percentage change of Population of Pakistan increased about 11.4% and estimated total number of international migrants is about 87%. This clearly shows that migration was at its peaks in which male and female both are there with 55% and 45% ratio. It has been observed that from Pakistan around 51% international migrants headed towards Europe while 34% towards Middle East, from which 46% are skilled workers and 43% are unskilled workers. 52% of the total international migrant population is from Punjab and 25% from Baluchistan. A very important analysis is of the factors within Pakistan that would lead to the increasing trend of migrations to countries abroad. Factors which Push people from Pakistan are: Lack of education, lack of opportunities, not enough jobs, aspiration to live a better life, lack of money/income, crime and discrimination, health and poor chances of marrying Factors which Pull people from Pakistan are: Job opportunities, better living conditions, security and health education, better medical care and political religious freedom. Globally, remittances have increased extensively in the last decade. In 2006, remittances were put at US$268 billion which flow through formal channels banks other financial institutions; informal mechanisms, such as Hundi Hawala and other informal mechanisms throughout the world account for possibly half as much again. Remittances are on the whole significant for the worlds poorest countries, which are also frequently the most prone to disasters and crisis. In 2006, $199bn in remittances is observed to have flowed through formal channels to developing countries. Generally, through various channels remittances can put a positive impact on the economy. The common perceptive among different economic intellectuals is that remittances can impact on the economy through investment, savings, consumption, growth, foreign exchange and income distribution poverty. The impact on remittances is probably to be a significant mean of communication of the effects of the GFC on developing countries. This research has provided a series of approximations for the likely impact of the global financial crisis on remittances. It has been truly observed that during crisis the flow of remittances always increased. Flow of remittances around the globe increased at US$ 385 billion in 2007 from US$ 317 billion in 2006. But now it has reached at US$ 437 billion estimated for year 2010. It was slightly decreased by 6.5% in 2009. The reasons were the cost cutting in salaries and overtime across the globe due to recession and global financial crisis, increased flow of remittances through informal mechanisms and channels like Hundi and also due to political situations in some areas. During 2007-2009, the growth rate was not at the benchmark around the world except South Asia because it contains the countries like Pakistan, India and Bangladesh which are the main countries of destination origin. If we compare remittance growth rate country wise then it has been observed that most of the remittances come from Saudi Arabia, UAE, Switzerland, Australia and North America. Remittance flow of Pakistan during the crisis grew by 17%, 23% and 7% in 2008, 2009 and 2010 respectively. It has been observed that remittance flow to Pakistan has increased during and after crisis as the with the collaboration of Federal Government SBP began the Pakistan Remittance Initiative (PRI) in 2009 that will surely bring the primary transformation in Pakistans remittance system to enhance and assist the flow of remittances sent back home by Pakistani diasporas. According to Officials of SBP and PRI, still 55% of total remittances flow through informal channel through Hundi and other means. 5.2 Recommendations In the light of the research conducted and the interaction with the people in the field and literature review; the following recommendations are presented in the thesis which would help SBP, PRI, Commercial Banks and other Financial Institutions to increase the flow of remittance through formal channels: Federal Government or State bank of Pakistan needs to promote the remittance sector as it has around 5% share in GDP. They should provide the incentives and motivation to the companies and Diasporas (Non-Resident Pakistani Abroad) that are transporting remittances into the country Not enough existence in overseas jurisdictions of Pakistani banks and lack of marketing efforts are major obstacles to the remittance flow. PRI should provide financial incentive schemes for overseas organizations against mobilization of additional remittances. PRI SBP should monitor the market for remittances so that they should be crystal clear and have adequate consumer safety and security. They should create ways to advanced the payment arrangement infrastructure that likely to enhance the competency of remittance services should be encouraged. Improve assistance made by migrant associations to expansion schemes in countries of origin. As well as help to build up associations between government officials migrant associations in countries of origin in order to facilitate improved associations among these parties and multiply the incomes available for development plans. Cash over the counter payment system should be applied to all the banks in Pakistan except the five big giant banks. To motivate the beneficiaries, SBP should introduce a customer handling system. Publicize information on investment and saving options to Diasporas via common migrant resource centers for remittances. Help build capacity for increasing consular services for non-resident Pakistanis, including database, so that allowing irregular Diasporas to use accessible formal remittance channels where possible. PRI and SBP should monitor the role of remittance service provider so that they should contribute aggressively in the implementation of common principles. As the percentage of remittance flowing through informal ways is quite huge so Commercial Banks with the help of PRI should create ways to downsize the frequency and flow of remittances through informal channels i.e. Hundi.

The Importance Of Project Management Construction Essay

The Importance Of Project Management Construction Essay The purpose of this report is to demonstrate the importance of project management and the attributes the client should seek when selecting a project manager. By defining measureable objectives, project managers offer strategical qualities and direction to the desired milestones as well as to the completion of the entire project. The employment of their services allows for the organizing of information and activities including future risk assessment that leads to a quality product within the time and budget restraints. In addition to the purpose of a project manager, there are certain background attributes that would contribute to the success of a project such as managerial skill and technical expertise that are relevant to the clients goals. Introduction According to the Association for Project Management (APM), project management is identified as the process by which projects are defined, planned, monitored, controlled and delivered such that the agreed benefits are realised. A project manager is appointed by the client and serves as their representative throughout the entire progression period of the project, if permitted by the contractual agreement. It is the project managers responsibility to predict as many possible dangers and problems in time to plan, organize and control activities so that the project remains on schedule (Lock, 2007). Various risks can be avoided by planning strategically including defining measurable objectives at the start of the project so that those issues can be accounted for before reaching the construction phase. It is essential to incorporate a project manager because they are able to coordinate and organize information or activities, increase product quality, reduce risks, manage budgets, as well as complete the project under strenuous time restraints. In order for a project manager to bring these successful traits to a project they must possess an array of managerial and technical skills. This report will closely evaluate how defining measurable objectives, organisation, product quality, and budget management will improve the overall construction process as well as evaluating various attributes that project manager should have to effectively deliver a quality product. 1.0 Why hire a Project Manager? 1.1 Define Objectives Defining measureable objectives-the scope of the project-at the start of the project is crucial to any successful project. Scope Creep is one of the most common reasons why projects are unsuccessful whether it is due to schedule delays or drastic unexpected increases in budgets. For example, Federation Square in Melbourne, Australia had major increases in the original budget. The Federation Square opened in October 2002 with an original estimated budget at $100million but, due to poorly defined objectives, the budget has increased drastically to approximately $460million over the last 7 years. (VAGO, 2003) Scope creep, refers to tasks that are added to the initial reasons or scope of the project, which can occur both after the project as well as during the process. During the planning period, the engineer is not always certain of what the problems are before the construction phase. This is mostly due to the lack of research. If the construction phase commences as planned and there ar e utility lines unaccounted for, this would introduce complexity to the project as well as alter the original objectives. The lack of definition could throw the entire project off course from the original purpose of construction. The project manager hired will be able to take the necessary actions to combat these issues with the client. 1.2 Organise Information and Activities Construction projects are unique in the aspect that each project presents its own complexities. With any complex system, it is a requirement that information and activities be well organised which is one of the many reasons for commissioning a project manager. There are a variety of programs that aid the project manager in this area including Microsoft Office Project. Organization allows for optimal communication between the project manager and the key players that could take the form of graphs, charts, etc. This information keeps the involved parties aware of their preparation time before their services are needed. If a problem occurs, organization also allows the project manager to make quality decisions based upon the progression of the project in relation to the next milestone or deadline. In addition to organizing activities, labelling the distribution of funding is equally important. The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) classifies these in the form of Work Breakdown Structure, or WBS, which is a deliverable-oriented hierarchical decomposition of work to be executed by the project team to accomplish the project objectives and create the required deliverables (PMBOK, 2004). In regards to the budget, a WBS allows money to be distributed based upon its original intentions in a way that keeps the project manager up-to-date with the remaining funding. WBS is just another way to keep complex projects simple and easy to manage as well as keeping the client in the know. 1.3 Increase Product Quality Due to the economic crisis, many clients desire a high quality product associated with little cost. During the planning process, the project manager has the opportunity to research the services and products necessary to complete the project with the clients best interest in mind. Generally, most project errors occur during the construction process possibly due to unforeseen circumstances, field issues, and the work ethics of the contractors involved. Particularly in the US, based on a study done in 2006-2008 on the most common reasons why contractors fail in which performance and management issues were ranked in the top 5. Performance issues accounted for 36% of failures and management issues accounted for 29%. To assist in eliminating these problems, it is the responsibility of the project manager in conjunction with the construction manager to ensure that the structure is built with minimal errors and safety hazards. Through this checks and balance system, field issues can be succe ssfully managed with little to no effect on the schedule or future structural performance. 1.4 Manage Budget The budget is the primary skeletal system to a successful project. In any project, whether in the public or private sector, financial funding is essential. Without it, delays in financial support progress are inevitable. During the planning process, the project manager uses the WBS to assist in organizing and managing the funds as well as ensuring that there are funds allocated to future risks also known as the contingency. In a recent survey conducted by the National Audit Office (NAO), approximately 24% of delays in schedules were due to the incurred additional costs. This information conveys that the given budget was not managed properly or there were too many unforeseen risks involved. With the assistance of a project manager, such risks can be accounted for during the planning period to avoid schedule delays. 2.0 What attributes should be considered when hiring a Project Manger? 2.1 Managerial Skills When selecting a project manager, the client should not only be aware of how a project manager can enhance the overall performance of a project but also what skills to look for when employing their services. In order to produce a successful project the client should hire a project manager based on their leadership skills. Leadership skills consist of team building, problem solving, and communication skills, just to name a few. Project managers are faced with difficult situations throughout the course of the project which cannot be solved by themselves. The project manager must depend equally on all of the key players by building an effective and efficient team that may or may not be temporary and motivate them to the clients desired vision. With those difficult situations, quick and quality problem solving techniques are equally critical to the completion of the project. For instance, if there is an unpredicted pipe underneath the work site and there is change in the initial scope, t he project manager must be able to make a quality decision based upon the time and budget restraints. This issue can also be affected by the communication links between the key players. As stated earlier in this report, communication can be conveyed through organisation, charts, graphs, and schedules to keep the involved parties informed, especially the client(s). Leadership is just one attribute that covers an array of sub-skills that a project manager should possess to help determine the success of a project. 2.2 Technical Expertise In addition to the managerial attributes, technical expertise is also important to have when working with a clients vision. Technical expertise may include scope, cost, risk, contract, and construction management and helps to aid the clients knowledge beyond the initial concept of the structure. When managing the scope, the project manager must keep the primary vision in mind so that cost, contracts, and the construction process of even the most complex project remain simple. The project manager is able to make the client aware of the different risks that they might encounter before the project progresses past the conceptual phase as well as offer advice throughout the construction process. Again, these attributes are just a few that a project manager can contribute to a successful project and should be considered during the selection process. 3.0 Conclusion 3.1 Overall Conclusion In conclusion, defining measurable objectives, organisation of information and activities, increased product quality, budget management, and managerial and technical skills are all very important to a project that is classified a success by the client and the parties involved. The client should be increasingly mindful when employing the services of a project manager that, A leader is only as good as his followers. Without the stable foundation of any team or project, the product is bound to fail but if they are somehow incorporated from beginning to end, the temporary and longevity use of the product is sure to be met.

A Review of University Days by James Thurber Essay examples -- James

In the essay, â€Å"University Days† James Thurber does a sensational job keeping the reader’s interest throughout the entire story. He explains his college experiences in a way that makes the reader both interested and amused at the same time. Thurber portrays the message that the all-star football player was not the brightest bulb on the tree, which is humorous because many people can relate to that because it’s the same at their school. The author uses a creative writing style to try and capture his audience’s attention throughout the entire essay. He uses descriptive wording, humor, and stories that relate to the reader to accomplish his goal of telling his college stories in an exciting and memorable way. The descriptive wording used in this essay contributes to the enjoyment of the story. Many authors just tell stories without going in-depth and it makes the reader’s mind wander. That’s why Thurber’s style is so effective; he explains every situation very clearly and also backs them up with examples. He recalled the story about his classmate, Bolenciecwcz who was seen as the star of the football team. He was reminiscing on a time in particular that their teacher asked the football player what form of transportation he took to get to school. Bolenciecwcz had a tough time comprehending the question and was beginning to feel some pressure from his classmates to answer the question correctly. He was having so much trouble searching for an answer that the author described the situation by saying, â€Å"At this time, Bolenciecwcz was staring at the floor, trying to think, his great brow furrowed, his huge hands rubbing together, his face red.†(346) His classmates burst out into laughter at this point; in order to help the speechless... ...rd work really does pay off. This is an example that if a person fails the first try, rather than quitting, they should work even harder to accomplish the task. All of these examples were extremely influential on Thurber’s life and changed him into a more responsible person. The author’s unique writing style which includes; descriptive wording, humorous quotes, and stories that relate to the reader contribute to making the essay very easy to follow along with and it also helps enhance the excitement of the story. Thurber’s style allows him to express his thoughts in a way that makes the reader laugh and want to continue reading on. This is a sensational short story that I recommend to anyone looking to read a well-written essay or even anyone just trying to get a laugh. It’s a quick and easy read, and his creative writing styles make the story well worth it!

Online Community Experience :: Personal Experience Blogs Message Boards Essays

Online Community Experience In order to gain a better perspective of online communities I had no other choice but to join one. I looked at several different sites such as MSN.com and YAHOO.com that had discussion boards available to join but I just couldn’t find one that fit my interests. I then logged onto MTV.com where I found a discussion board all about my favorite TV show: The Real World. The board was a community of people who shared a common interest in the show and could come together to discuss its characters and storyline. I am a faithful watcher of The Real World. The show is about seven very different people who are chosen to live together in a house for six months. Each season is set up in a different city. The cast members must get a job which is usually set up by the show and everything that they do is taped. The current season of The Real World is being aired in Las Vegas, Nevada. The cast has been given a job at a local night club where their main objective is to entertain the guests. The cast is taped while they are eating, sleeping, working, and playing. The tapes are then edited to a certain degree and aired every Tuesday night at ten o’clock p.m. It is a very controversial television show aired on MTV that brings up topics such as race, sex, and homosexuality. This discussion board is in outlet for those who feel the need to voice their opinion to others who watch the show. People are drawn to the message board through their common interest in The Real World. In order to post on the discussion board the user must create a username but it is not necessary if you would just like to read the postings. The creation of a username is a way for people to show their self-expression or give the other members an idea of who they are. While reading posts you are able to see who is online at that exact moment. Another feature of this discussion board is that when you post a thread or respond to a posting, you can choose an icon or animation that describes your mood at that time. The icon appears next to your name in the posting display. Online Community Experience :: Personal Experience Blogs Message Boards Essays Online Community Experience In order to gain a better perspective of online communities I had no other choice but to join one. I looked at several different sites such as MSN.com and YAHOO.com that had discussion boards available to join but I just couldn’t find one that fit my interests. I then logged onto MTV.com where I found a discussion board all about my favorite TV show: The Real World. The board was a community of people who shared a common interest in the show and could come together to discuss its characters and storyline. I am a faithful watcher of The Real World. The show is about seven very different people who are chosen to live together in a house for six months. Each season is set up in a different city. The cast members must get a job which is usually set up by the show and everything that they do is taped. The current season of The Real World is being aired in Las Vegas, Nevada. The cast has been given a job at a local night club where their main objective is to entertain the guests. The cast is taped while they are eating, sleeping, working, and playing. The tapes are then edited to a certain degree and aired every Tuesday night at ten o’clock p.m. It is a very controversial television show aired on MTV that brings up topics such as race, sex, and homosexuality. This discussion board is in outlet for those who feel the need to voice their opinion to others who watch the show. People are drawn to the message board through their common interest in The Real World. In order to post on the discussion board the user must create a username but it is not necessary if you would just like to read the postings. The creation of a username is a way for people to show their self-expression or give the other members an idea of who they are. While reading posts you are able to see who is online at that exact moment. Another feature of this discussion board is that when you post a thread or respond to a posting, you can choose an icon or animation that describes your mood at that time. The icon appears next to your name in the posting display.

Othello, the Image Machine Essay -- Othello essays

Othello, the Image Machine  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   Shakespeare’s drama Othello presents a full panoply of diverse imagery that cannot be described briefly. Let’s spend some attention on this subject which has so many examples in the play.    Alvin Kernan’s â€Å"Othello: an Introduction† explains how the â€Å"symbolic geography† imagery of the play create a particular image of space and time:    We can begin to see this pattern in the â€Å"symbolic geography† of the play. Every play, or work of art, creates its own particular image of space and time, its own symbolic world. The outer limits of the world of Othello are defined by the Turks – the infidels,   the unbelievers, the â€Å"general enemy† as the play calls them – who, just over the horizon, sail back and forth trying to confuse and trick the Christians in order to invade their dominions and destroy them. Out beyond the horizon, reported but unseen, are also those â€Å"anters vast and deserts idle† of which Othello speaks. Out there is a land of â€Å"rough quarries, rocks and hills whose heads touch heaven† inhabited by â€Å"cannibals that each other eat† and monstrous forms of men â€Å"whose heads grow beneath their shoulders.† (76-77)    There is no shortage of imagery in the play; this is for certain. Critic Caroline Spurgeon in â€Å"Shakespeare’s Imagery and What it Tells Us† sorts through the plethora of imagery in the play:    The main image in Othello is that of animals in action, preying upon one another, mischievous, lascivious, cruel or suffering, and through these, the general sense of pain and unpleasantness is much increased and kept constantly before us. More than half the animal images in the play are Iago’s, and all these are contemptuous or repellent: a plague of flies, a qua... ...ore Evans. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1974.    Kernan, Alvin. â€Å"Othello: and Introduction.† Shakespeare: The Tragedies. Ed. Alfred Harbage. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall Inc., 1964.    Mack, Maynard. Everybody’s Shakespeare: Reflections Chiefly on the Tragedies. Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, 1993.    Muir, Kenneth. Introduction. William Shakespeare: Othello. New York: Penguin Books, 1968.    Shakespeare, William. Othello. In The Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http://www.eiu.edu/~multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No line nos.    Spurgeon, Caroline. â€Å"Shakespeare’s Imagery and What it Tells Us.† Shakespearean Tragedy. Ed. D. F. Bratchell. New York: Routledge, 1990.    Wilson, H. S. On the Design of Shakespearean Tragedy. Canada: University of Toronto Press, 1957.      

Early Childhood Education and Childcare Essay

Summary â€Å"Why Universal Childcare? † is a great title for an article such as this one. The question enters the reader into a vast pool of potential answers to the question. First off, what does universal childcare mean? For me, I believe that universal childcare means all around childcare, not only in a general sense, but all over the map childcare. Most people don’t see a problem with childcare in Canada, but it seems as if there are some issues pertaining to the system of childcare in Canada. â€Å"In a country of close to five million children of 0-12 years of age, Canada now has fewer than 900,000 regulated childcare spaces. The percentage of children for whom a space is available increased only to 17. 5 percent about a 10 percent increase over the past fifteen years†. (Prentice, 2009, p. 1). A frequent problem most organizations/programs run into is often funding the programs. Without funding, the programs usually suffer and do not meet the maximum amount of care and quality that it should be able to meet. Along with this, the childhood educators/childcare providers may be undertrained. â€Å"The quality of the care is frequently troubling: limited public financing forces programs to operate as cheaply as possible, and requirements for programs are low. The early childhood educators who provide the care are underpaid and often undertrained. Overall, Canada’s early childhood education and care situation suffers from chronic neglect. † (Prentice, 2009, p. 1). Another reason why this situation may come across as shocking to most people, is because Canada is an extremely wealthy country, so you could expect Canada to have a very strong childcare programs. Childcare programs are always changing, they have changed drastically in the last few years, most programs are now looking for ways to interpret ways of learning and more social support for children. â€Å"ECEC (Early Childcare Education and Care) is about an integrated and coherent approach to policy. It is about providing care that includes all children and all children regardless of employment or socio-economic status. † (Prentice, 2009, p. 4). Integrating social support and learning into these childcare programs will expand the knowledge and adaptability of children when entering their later childhood educations. The history of childcare helps explain why today childcare programs are poorly put together. â€Å"The origins of childcare were in philanthropy and benevolence. From the mid- nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth century, most of what we know today as childcare programs were provided by educational, philanthropic, or religious organizations, often led by prominent women. † (Prentice, 2009, p. 71). Women were the ones who normally ran the childcare centers, but as we see today, women are entering the paid workforce. The governments did not play a role back then, hence they did not play a part in the responsibility. Today, we count on the government to help fund and organize these programs, which is still a  developing task. After World War II, the federal government stopped funding childcare. This lead out into outbursts which lead to : The Day of Nurseries Act, which became Canada’s first provincial legislation. This lead to the number of childcare programs expanding. We saw a leading change in childcare happen in 2006, when the Harper Conservatives made childcare one of their five leading promises. â€Å"In the 2006 election the Harper Conservatives made childcare one of their five leading promises†. (Prentice, 2009, p. 84. ). Unfortunately, what was promised to parents never happened. Childcare disappeared in importance. How were parents supposed to trust anyone with their ‘childcare money’? â€Å"Following the cancellation of the national childcare plan, childcare space expansion showed the smallest increase in regulated child care in some years: an increase of only 26,661 spaces since 2006. † (Prentice, 2009, p. 86). The author is trying to show the reader the importance of history, and how the little things contribute to how childcare as a whole has developed over the years. Also, the importance of funding programs for childcare.

The Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations

The Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, a novel released in 1861 about social criticism, is a story of a young boy named Pip who was in struggle to find his fortune or to be successful rather than to be confined on being a common man of his time. The novel was set in the mid-nineteenth century and took place in the town of Kent and London, England. Using the first person point of view, Pip, the protagonist in the novel talked about his childhood in the first few chapters of the book, describing his life, the first encounter with the convict who will soon changed his fortune in the following chapters.He also mentioned the development of his fascination and later on love for Estella, who was trained to break a man’s heart. Unlike the traditional the traditional novels and story structure, the novel of Dickens does not contain a particular antagonist, rather, he visualized some people who will affect the existence of Pip. He made several characters who took charge of the antagonism in the novel in the person of Magwitch, Estella, Orlick, Miss Havisham, Compeyson and Bentley Drummle. They will cause some of Pip’s misfortune and struggles.Magwitch, Miss Havisham and Estella, in the end of the novel redeemed themselves and reconciled with Pip (Dickens, n. pag). The novel housed many symbols which were explained through the actions of the characters. The clocks which were stopped in the house of Miss Havisham symbolize her attempt to stop time while the other objects like handcuffs, convicts, file and chains stands for guilt and innocence. Joe, the husband of Pip’s sister is the conscience and loyalty. These symbols helped the protagonist to further develop his character (Philips & Cheng, n.pag).In mixed tones of cheerfulness, dramatic and sympathetic storytelling, Pip showed what his life was all about, what happened to him and what happened to his desire of being trained as a gentleman in the world wherein common people weren’t en ough to be respected and treated fairly. Although the novel talked about several crimes and dealt with such criminality, these made Pip a person of much desire. The novel ended when they failed to help Magwitch escape from being imprisoned, following his death.Miss Havisham was redeemed in the end while Estella and Pip were reconciled with each other. Pip had reconciliation with Joe also and the story ended with Pip and Estella walked hand in hand and promised never to part again (Dickens, n. pag). It is quite interesting that Charles Dickens’ worked on two endings for this novel. The natural writer have a fix idea or story in mind thus, any criticism will not prevent him from publishing what he does like. In this case, Charles Dickens was influenced by what the people might think of the novel.Instead of giving the readers a tragic and sad ending, he ventured into following the suggestion of his good friend Edward Bulwer to give a happy ending so that he people will be happy with what happened between the characters. While his critics thought that the ending published was less of reality, the people who embraced the happy ending the original ending was too harsh and thought that their past is actually a bridge for them to be together in the end of the novel. They pointed out that their experiences would lead them into mutual development and soon will help both to realize that they were in love with each other (Philips & Cheng, n.pag).The second ending were Estella and Pip reconciled and walked away holding hands was the one published because of Dickens’ desire to somehow please his readers while the original ending was left hanging and was not used to justify the ending of the story. Like the critics of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, I go in favor with them that the ending used was not appropriate and that it does depict reality. It is quite impossible that after what happened between him and Estella, he would remain to love her desp ite of her being that girl who broke his heart.The original ending is far more considerate and realistic in the sense that in life, it is quite impossible to retain the love you feel for the person after going through so many troubles somehow caused by the same person. Also, the difference in their status and the way they were raised is a very big factor why they should not be brought back together. The way that Estella judged Pip because of his status and the fact that he is just a common person, is enough evidence that the two will not be compatible with one another.In the end, their reunion and reconciliation with each other did not give a better look of reality and it also did not simply give a better justification with the fallen expectations which Pip had. The ending also foreshadowed the main idea of having a fair and equal ending. It also shows that those people who have hurt us can be given a chance to hurt us more for the second time. Although I don’t really critici ze the ending of the novel, I would just want to give an opinion regarding the reality that the book should have.Although it was an autobiography fiction, it should still have a touch of reality in it so that it will be more convincing. Analyzing the background of both Pip and Estella, there was really no hint that the latter will fall in love with the former and that their common pasts of being deceive and fooled does not justify the reason that they became compatible with it. In the end, whether it was a bad ending or a favored ending, the novel brought realization and many teachings to the readers thus, it opens the mind of a person and it somehow touches the heart of someone who gives too much attention of their life expectations.

Ddos Prevention Best Practices

To begin with, system hardening should be implemented on all University workstations, and especially the Web servers. This means turning off any unused services, closing all ports except those that are specifically needed for the operating roles of the servers, and ensuring that an anta;plus solution Is in place and regularly updated. Additionally, a strong patch management policy and procedure should be used to keep University computing assets up to date.This is to help prevent the exploitation of newly discovered vulnerabilities, and is part of the hardening process. All publicly available services, such as Web facing servers, DNS servers, and application servers, should be separated from private university resources. The separation should include enclosing the public servers in a DMZ. The DMZ should have firewalls in place on both sides of the network, to protect from external threats, and Internal ones. This separation also Isolates the servers from the rest of the network, in th e event one of them is compromised.Furthermore, PLANS should be implemented to break up broadcast domains, and IP subletting used to control outwork traffic, further isolating the public systems from the internal network devices. Also, A split DNS scheme that consists of an external DNS server separate from an Internal DNS server can help limit the Impact of DNS Dos style attacks. Network Address Translation (NAT) should remain in place, as it also has the effect of hiding the internal network from the Internet. Moreover, the blocking of IGMP or ping attempts should be blocked, at least externally, so that attempts to Identify systems from the Internet are reduced.As part of capacity planning, consideration should be made to plan for excess. This should help to absorb any Dodos attacks by having plenty of resources to maintain network operations. This Includes having more than adequate switch and router bandwidth, CAP]. And frame/packet processing ablest. Additional consideration sh ould be made to use different Internet Service Providers (ISP) for redundant connections. In the event of an attack, this has the benefit of having alternate paths to the Internet, providing redundancy and load sharing.When upgrading or replacing network equipment, anta-DoS capable devices should be carefully evaluated and selected. Intrusion Detection/Prevention Systems (DIPS) should be deployed, with the emphasis on prevention at the network perimeter. An inline device will be more effective placed behind the external facing firewall. The firewall is configured to allow only traffic that Is desired, blocking all other traffic, while the DIPS Is designed to block specific traffic and allow the rest. An DIPS device that uses both signature- 1 OFF positives, and therefore a better chance of detecting attacks.The DIPS device should be capable of sending alerts via email, SMS, and pager communication methods to Taft. The DIPS should also be configured to alter the firewall filtering ru les on the fly, in the event an attack is occurring. A period of fine tuning is necessary to reduce false positives, and ensure information is not lost due to miscommunication. Ingress and egress filtering needs to be implemented. This involves configuring the firewalls to block unreliable IP addresses as specified in RFC 1918, using Access Control Lists (Calls).This will help prevent IP address spoofing, and computing assets from being used to attack other organizations outside the University IP address pace. Egress filtering should only allow IP addresses to leave the University that fall within the range of allocated addresses. Log monitoring and review of all network and server devices should be performed regularly. In addition, IT staff should be alerted when suspicious activity or events are detected. For instance, repeated failed attempts to access a network device might indicate a password hacking attack. Performance baselines of essential network and server equipment needs to be documented.This will provide a metric of network utilization under normal operating conditions. Excessive use of resources above equipment baselines might indicate a Dodos attack. Also, establishing a performance baseline will aid in capacity planning and provide data for scalability and growth planning. A honesty with relaxed security should be installed. Its purpose is to draw hackers away from actual University computing assets by providing an easier target. It needs to be completely isolated from all other critical assets. The honesty should also be monitored, as data obtained from attacks can be used to shore up the rest of the network.An Incident Response Plan (RIP) needs to be drafted and provided to all University administrative staff. Potential items in the plan should include Points of Contacts (POCK), and handling procedures if an attack is suspected. In conjunction with the RIP, an Emergency Response Team (RET) comprised of senior network and information security p ersonnel, as well as members of the management team, should formalized. This team will be tasked with the responsibility as first responders to an attack. The RET should also have a Plan of Action (POP) more detailed than the RIP.Items in this Lana should include detailed network documentation, disaster recovery plans, any business continuity plans, ISP support numbers, etc. The combined effect of all of the measures previously described, will significantly lessen the impact of a Dodos attack. By no means is this document complete, and should be considered as a living document. As new threats emerge, additional or even different methods may be required to be put in place. Technology also improves over time, therefore a periodic review of the practices described should be conducted, and this document adjusted accordingly.

Purpose of the Education System Essay

The question posed is â€Å"What should the education system be?† This question cannot be answered specifically because the education system means something different to everyone. The education system is, to an extent, what it should be, which is an institution devoted to the development of the intellect. American education should however, be more than rote instruction of mandated materials. Our children should be taught more life skills along with science and math. Children sit in rows, facing straight, not talking. They select and use educational materials in unison, and watch the teacher write on the board. The droning sound of the teacher’s voice attempts to fill their minds with knowledge. It sounds militaristic because it is. Students remember more of what they are taught if the material is presented in a less formal, more enjoyable atmosphere. School administrators and state agencies set forth guidelines from which teachers must not deviate. The problem is, these administrators are removed from the classroom and tend to forget that children have changing needs. Today’s teachers learn more progressive teaching methods such as portfolio assessment vs. testing, and sitting in groups instead of rows. There are few administrators willing to incorporate these changes into their schools. Education management needs to allow teachers the flexibility to teach their students using whatever methods actually work. There is no reason why children should not look forward to school. For the most part, our education system is devoted to teaching students. There is great concern that students should be prepared to move on to higher stages of education. Tests are given periodically to gauge students’ progress. There is much discussion how improving education and better preparing students for the world. Students do learn, and many excel, but school is still viewed as drudgery by most students. If our education system is to prepare children for the world educators need to look more closely at curriculum. Art, philosophy, history, math, English  and science are all important subjects. They teach us about the world around us and how things work. The social setting of the educational facilities also compels students to learn about society and what is acceptable behavior. However, are we properly preparing our students for the world? Are we teaching life skills like personal finance and relationship dynamics? Can we lower the rate of divorce or the number of poverty-stricken retirees by educating students in these areas? Our education system needs to incorporate fundamental life skills into the curriculum. The focus on education should not stop at the goal to create an intelligent adult. The education system must also attempt to create a responsible citizen, an asset to the community. The American education system is not entirely broken. There are many positive things happening. Progressive teaching methods are being employed and the student is being recognized as more of an individual. America cannot stop here. We need to ask ourselves if the moral fabric of our country can be improved through education. The education system plays a larger role in our lives than any other one thing. The system needs to use this influence to improve society as a whole and people as individuals.

3G vs 4G Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

3G vs 4G - Essay Example This paper outlines the differences between Third Generation (3G) and Fourth Generation (4G) in the wireless technology. 4G technology is very high speed wireless Internet access. 4G technologies are basically the extension of the 3G technology in terms of speed and quality. Our analysis provides the major differences between 3G and 4G wireless technology in terms of price, speed, and quality. 1. Introduction In the past few years, modern communication and collaboration technologies have developed so fast, that it can be a bit hard to deal with everything new. Simply a couple of years before we had to get used to new technology with third generation communication systems. Without a doubt, this technology based systems were offering faster and better mobile communications standard as compared to ever before. 3G systems are offering data rate and download speed of up-to 3.1 Mega Bit per second. Though, not long ago an innovative standard was initiated by telecommunication corporations globally, known as 4G communication systems (GBESX; Chavis). In this scenario, 4G technology is the 4th generation of wireless cellular communication standards. At the present, there are 2 major categories of 4G communication and data networks developed in the United States: (GBESX; Chavis) WiMax: that is established by Sprint in cooperation with its technology and business associates LTE: that is a technology based extension of the GSM communication network used by T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T In addition, both the Third Generation (3G) and Forth Generation (4G) are standards developed for wireless and mobile communication technology. Basically, these Standards demonstrate how the airwaves can be used for transmitting data and information. This data can be voice or files. 3G was initially launched to the public in Japan in the year 2001. However, currently, the networks for the majority of wireless communication technology and carriers in the United States were 3G. 3G communications technology networks were a major development over old technology of 2G communication networks, presenting superior speeds for information transfer. However, the upgrading that 4G presented over 3G is frequently less pronounced (Diffen). Basically, 3G and 4G mobile technology have many differences. The most of them are remarkable, their communication rate, rates of data transfer; signal quality, cost, technology and power are extremely divergent. Though, the application of 4G networks has faced a number of challenges and difficulties. Unlike 4G, 3G technology is not completely defined by leading bodies having control of wireless technology management (Chavis). Moreover, the purpose of the 4G communication network is to noticeably increase data transmission rate. As compared to earlier communication networks, it focuses on data and information transmission, rather than voice based data. That in itself is extraordinary, for the reason that it outlines the reformation from voice based m obile communication networks to data based mobile communication networks. It as well is a possible threat for cable Internet suppliers, for the reason that 4G speed can be as fast as optical fiber data transmission speed (Himalaya; Segan). 2. Upgrading From 3G to 4G This section discusses the motive behind the upgrade of the 3g technology to present 4g technology based systems. Though, all this accomplishment of the 3G network all through the globe took almost a decade. In this scenario, The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) plans to have the 4G communication network rolled out to the worldwide marketplace in a great deal more efficient as well as timely way. On the other hand, improvements made between 2G and 3G necessitate