Things I’ve learned

I've learned One of the first things that I have learned since Eve been In this class was how to be better at communication. Often at times we as people seem to only think about ourselves, It's not a good thing but we are human. In the world of business I am my own brand but I'm not the most important piece in the puzzle.Teamwork is the key because the same people that I see going up the ladder will most likely be he same people I see coming down. With that being said, I will try my best not to burn any bridges because you never know who or what that you might need In life. The second thing that I have learned since being in this class is emotional Intelligence. A lot of people claim to have emotional intelligence but lack the confidence within themselves to properly express it and in this line of business find It crucial.With limited knowledge of self and emotional intelligence one can ender their success. With emotional intelligence a person can communicate effectively because with out communication you can't be an effective player in this game of life. The third thing I've learned was the Dry. Phil test. It was important because it was Like looking In the mirror and being critical of myself to put things In 1 OFF learned since being in this class is trust and how to effectively complete proposals.

RR communications

Due to the division among departments, the company has been unable o meet reporting requirements for the Serbians Solely Act. It has proved obvious that a shared IT service, which is standardized among all the units, is needed to ensure everything goes well. The first problem we see at OR Communications is that there is a definite lack of centralized and concise IT governance. Currently all of the separate functions of the company have their own individual leadership with no central leadership. For this reason, each of the sections takes actions and makes decisions based only on how it affects their own particular departments.There Is no ordination to ensure that the act of one area does not negatively affect the rest of the firm. This In turn has led to a gallants lack of uniformity across the organization, which Is hurting customer relations. There are unified databases and each section maintains their own set of records; this is causing great frustration among their customers who continually have issues when dealing with more than one area. Much of the division of departments has been caused by a lack of central leadership.The CEO of the firm has failed to unify the department or assert any intro over the individual IT vice presidents. Even though they reported to him, each had acted entirely independently. This continuous failure of leadership has caused the department heads to develop a sense of isolation and self-survival. Even though a new executive UP of IT has been appointed to bring unity to the firm, there has been severe resistance as each department feels It will suffer. The lack of centralized management for so long has caused significant discord between the departments that will take considerable effort to overcome.In Dalton, this company attitude has altered down from the VSP to the middle and lower management creating an overall atmosphere that is dangerously disjointed. Even the suggestion of bringing together the database systems and manageme nt has caused a near mutinous uprising and rejection of leadership. The current managerial atmosphere has been around so long, the attitude of individualism has been deeply embedded in the corporate culture. While, individual thinking is useful to foster innovation and creativity, when the entire organization acts to satisfy only its individual requirements, the firm overall will suffer.Unless this attitude can be overcome, any attempt at bringing unity to the company will fall. From the technical standpoint, OR Communications is suffering from a severely fractured information management system. Every section of the company manuals Its own Individual customer databases, which are In Incompatible formats. If a customer manuals relationships with more then one division, they get bills from each individual area. Customer issues often fail to get causing problems with diminished customer satisfaction. In addition, without a centralized database, full customer information and statistics are impractical to elect.In addition to suffering by not being able to collect detailed records, the company is facing regulatory issues by not being able to provide complete information on the company's activities, and significant resources are being wasted to assemble simple reports. Currently management and associates at OR Communications believe that a collective solution is impossible, and any attempt to do so will cause them to suffer. While it may be true that the initial implementation of such a system will require a significant collective effort, the end result will be well worth it.It is also clear that much of the perspective of management is extremely short sided; projects are selected only based on a very narrow and limited benefit view with no regard for their long-term viability. As more and more systems have been patched together to fulfill immediate gaps, the overall collection of programs has become a cumbersome, inefficient, and unmanageable mess. A truly efficien t system would be one that is all-encompassing and communicates across all facets of the organization to deliver a unified and fully integrated information system that can add real value to the firm.One other major issue at OR Communications is the proliferation of rouge projects completed without oversight or regard for how they will affect the firm. In a large company every project should be examined to determine how it could provide value to the organization before being launched. At OR Communication projects are being launched that benefit only select areas and may in fact be causing a significant negative impact to the rest of the firm. The company currently does not have a steering or operating committee to oversee and exert control over these projects.Without any form of centralized control and provenance, these rouge projects will continue to sabotage the effectiveness of the organization. Lack of common information and enterprise IT strategy has caused several problems for the business and the IT departments of OR communications. Customer service has suffered and customer dissatisfaction has grown. Lack of common information has made it difficult for management to monitor the businesses as a whole. Business units are unable to exchange information and remain unaware of the other divisions' work.There is little sense of how the divisions work together to meet the company's overall goals. The accounting problems make it difficult to present shareholders with accurate financial information, and the system is not cost-effective in any case. Furthermore, each division working at individual level to attain its success makes them rigid and unable to adapt to changing requirements; under these circumstances even the implementation of new technology will be extremely difficult. The organization cannot operate efficiently as a whole or at division levels, and the costs are bound to keep increasing.Analysis: As many annoyed customers can probably agree, being tr ansferred from one apartment of the company to another over and over again to resolve a simple issue is one of the main reasons many companies lose customers. This is certainly an issue at OR Communications. The main cause of the problem seems to be the division of system that rewards individual performance over company profit. The fact that the four CICS refuse to work together and resort to sabotaging the efforts of the others, serves to show that they are more interested in their own selfish financial goals.While the president of the company may have been a visionary and brilliant entrepreneur, he lacked the managerial skills to recognize the need to have a unified commission system which would foster participation in a common goal, and thus a common commission which is interdependent on all four business units would be most beneficial to the company. Unifying IT Resources The most important problem for OR Communications to correct is a significant deficiency of successful inform ation management, reflected by the confused state of their customer information databases.Currently customer data is disbursed in separate databases for each section of the company, so that data from one apartment is not available to another. Thus, customers are forced to maintain relationships with multiple departments and receive billing from each. This separation means that valuable information resources are not being effectively utilized, hurting the firm's productivity and efficiency. To improve the state of information capital at OR Communications, a complete overhaul of the current systems will be necessary, from both an IT and business standpoint. Information represents a vital asset to any company.This can be in the form of customer accounts, sales records, research & development, financial statements, etc. However, in order to realize full benefits, the same information must be readily accessible by all individual units, so that the company can leverage it in the most effi cient manner. The first step to correct the issues at OR Communications is to create a unified data architecture that combines all information resources into a central database that is accessible to all sections of the firm. By providing a centralized database clients will be better served by allowing complete access to customer records throughout the company.This will also improve reporting abilities, lower administrative costs, and rattle increase the value of information resources. To achieve the greatest benefit to the company, OR Communications could consolidate its data from multiple silos into a unified enterprise data warehouse (DEW) (Smalls, 2011). This architecture provides multiple benefits including a single location for all information storage reducing the amount of duplicated efforts. This also greatly improves the integrity of data by providing a ‘single version of the truth' (Smalls, 2011).When data is spread throughout multiple databases, invariable some of it will differ. For example, a customer's address may have been changed in one department but not another. These differences can prove costly to a company. A centralized DEW means that only one record should exist for each customer and reduce data discrepancies. Having such a centralized system would also satisfy customer needs in a more efficient manner and would help to cross-sell products, which in turn would result in higher profits and more profit for the company.By allowing customers to have a single point of contact, and sharing information by standardizing software and databases across he organization, information will flow more freely and readily available thus giving the employees the ability to communicate in real time with accurate data and maximizing customer contact to increase profits. Having a decentralized IT function is business units separated, it keeps pertinent information out of reach of other business units, and thus allows missed opportunities to maximize profi t.Also, the lack of communication among the units creates chaos and disorientation in the organization and gives precedence to individual goals above company goals, which in urn will end up hurting the overall enterprise vision and may even spell the end of the enterprise altogether. Finally, having a decentralized IT function creates customer frustration such as in the case of getting several bills for different products. This frustration may cause the company lost customers and lost profits.Information Stewardship & Information Management Policy The difficulty in implementing this solution is the current state of the databases scattered about the firm; many are in incompatible formats, so that significant effort will need to be invested to bring together all of this data into a single, shared IT arrive system accessible to all. In addition, not all data is equally valuable to each unit. Efficiency necessitates allowing employees access to the information that is most pertinent wit hout inundating the various departments with extraneous details.For this reason, whatever IT solution is implemented must be able to adapt dynamically to the storage and retrieval needs of each department. Another challenge to creating a centralized system is the role of information stewardship. Information stewardship involves the ownership and control of information to reduce discrepancies and redundancies. To maintain the consistency and accuracy of data, information stewards need to be appointed. â€Å"Information stewards are businesspeople. They should be responsible for determining the meaning of information ‘chunks' and their business rules and contextual use.They should be responsible for the accuracy, timeliness, consistency, validity, completeness, and redundancy of information† (Mencken & Smith, 2009, p. 76). A serious challenge to the consolidation of data at OR Communication will be consolidating all of the disparate information from around the firm into a single enterprise data warehouse. It is very keel that there will be duplicate information, conflicting records, incompatible data formats, and other inconsistencies that will not lend themselves to easy integration.However, the reduction in duplicate and conflicting information will be vital to the success of OR Communication. Duplicate data means an increase in administrative work and overhead, and conflicting and inconsistent information means the company is not performing at optimum levels. The reduction of duplicate data, or data duplication â€Å"can improve the performance of virtual systems, reduce network traffic and cut the costs associated with data protection. In addition, duplication allows backup data to be replicated more efficiently to other sites for disaster recovery' (Symantec, 2011).Duplication increases the amount of data a corporate network must process, reducing efficiency and increasing costs. Storage costs increase as the same information may be stored and backed up across multiple databases, again wasting resources. Finally, duplication of data significantly increases the amount of labor required to utilize it in any useful manner. Clearly, OR Communication will need a significant amount of data duplication to create a useful, consolidated enterprise data warehouse.To facilitate the proper stewardship of information, an information management policy needs to be created that information management policy will dictate the rules and guidelines for how information is handled, who is responsible for maintaining and updating it, and outline the policies and practices to do so (Mencken & Smith, 2009). To begin to unravel the data mess at OR Communications they should define an encompassing information management policy that will effectively address the issues of what information is retained, who is responsible for updating it, how it is to be maintained, ND who should have access to it.Critical to the success of this policy will be the inv olvement of management from all functional areas of the company. Each should be given the opportunity to contribute to the policy, and each individual needs should be addressed. In addition, the problem with this solution will be gaining acceptance from the different functional areas of the business. There will obviously be conflicts of ideas and differences of opinion in how the policy should be created and enforced. To improve the effectiveness of the policy it needs to be thoroughly enforced from top management down.This means to gain compliance, OR Communications' CEO needs to set the example and pressure all levels of management below to do the same. Another strategy to encourage the support of the divisional presidents for the shared customer service is by creating awareness that the free information flow would be beneficial for all and would simplify business processes, thus allowing then to increase their bottom line, and thus their bonuses. Finding opportunities to demonstr ate small success would help show the support being given to the divisions.To aid in compliance, a large corporate training program would be initiated to ensure the policy is well known by all associates. Gaining compliance by all of the business areas will be the most difficult part of this solution; the ingrained attitude of self-preservation that exists at OR Communication will be difficult to overcome. However, change is not impossible, but only by dedication of management. The initial implementation period will be the most difficult, and if enforcement waivers the policy may fail.Creating Useful Information from Raw Data One characteristic of an enterprise system is ensuring seamless integration of a Meany's information among all divisions, including financial and accounting Markus, M. L. , & Tania, C. (n. D. ). Hence, to achieve a successful enterprise system, a company must have its IT systems centralized to ensure information runs smoothly and is relevant among all divisions , especially the financial and accounting information. Considering the accounting problems brought up at the final meeting, the company obviously needs to implement a centralized IT function.Moreover, it will be far more expensive to have an enterprise system with a decentralized IT function, which is contrary to the aim of achieving an enterprise system. While a centralized information management system will indeed offer benefits at OR Communication, if there is no way to utilize and interpret that data, it is useless; this is analogous to being data rich and information poor. Just because a company has loads of data does not mean that is fully informed. A company such as OR Communication collects vast quantities of data, but having the resources to convert that into useful information can be an extreme challenge.At OR Communication, they are facing a double-sided robber; they have neither a collective data warehouse, nor do they have any effective information management. Once the problem of centralization has been massive amounts of data is using a metadata repository. A metadata repository functions much like the card catalog of a library; while it does not specifically contain the information, it provides an index of what is available, including the relevant points on what it contains, as well as a pointer to locate the information (Moss & Broodier, 2002).This index provides an extremely valuable resource tool to quickly locate pertinent information. In addition, the metadata repository should be designed with the ability to hook into other systems that are developed to provide information to mother systems as necessary. Establishing this framework now will offer increased benefits as more systems are built off the central repository. Addressing Corporate Culture As seen in OR Communications, lack of common information and enterprise IM strategy can cause several problems to the business and the IT department.OR Communications has encountered serious custo mer service problems, due to lack of common information and enterprise strategy. In addition, lack of common information makes it hard for the overall management to monitor the businesses. Business units are unable to exchange information, and none is aware of the other divisions' work. The company is not in a position to strengthen its brand since no divisions work together. To remedy this, a unification of the firm needs to take place from more than Just an IT standpoint.The disjointed nature of the firm's information assets reflects a deeper separation of the personnel at OR Communications. Departments work for their own ends with naught but passing concern for their effects on the company as a whole. This lack of cohesion manifests itself in the behavior of the CICS, divisional managers, and even the employees, and has resulted in the severe fragmentation of corporate culture. The fragmented IT systems are only a symptom of a much larger problem.Before addressing the IT problems at OR Communications, the underlying culture of the business needs to be transformed. This begins at the very top, with the president of the company and the highest leaders; they need to be the first to set the example, and it is clear their current attitudes have set the company on the disastrous course it is on. Removing the CIO team which has hampered the company's efforts at unification up until now was a good step, but serious considerations now need to be taken to prevent things from getting worse.Other associates could easily see firing the Close as a usurping of departmental sovereignty; however, they need to use this as an opportunity to show that the company can be brought together without sacrificing any of their needs. To capitalize on this opportunity the president and vice president should bring together the next level of management into a council of members to set the direction and ultra of the firm in a way that promotes unity and mutual respect.This council should be responsible for creating and fostering an atmosphere that shows the benefits of the firm functioning as one. They need to prove to the management and associates that their departments will have a say in decisions, and their needs will not be overlooked. To improve the odds of acceptance, the council should be selected from leaders that have proven themselves as examples of good leadership and who are respected in the firm.Key to the success of this council will be keeping everyone n equal footing and ensuring that no one area is given preference over another, needs then others, and sometimes priority will need to be given to one area; however, if this behavior is present from the outset they will receive much resistance from the firm, as this will reinforce existing fears. Once a unity of the firm has been established, people will be more flexible to accept changes after they see the benefits. It will be up to the president and vice president as leaders to maintain these policies and be the example.As demonstrated in previous cases, the president as been lax in demonstrating himself as a leader and this could prove damaging to any such plans to unify the firm. Leadership must begin at the top, and the success or failure of a company often reflects the abilities of its leadership. Implementation Challenges The advantages of a shared IT system eliminate some of the above-mentioned problems. A single centralized and standardized IT operating system will enhance quick decisions across all the departments, since all units will be looking at the same data.Furthermore, with a shared service, customers will not have to visit different databases for the same company; rather, all their queries and purchases can be done from one site that will serve them with all that they need from the company. Another advantage will be easy monitoring of the divisional units?their individual performances as well as their contributions to the whole company. Another advantage for the company will be the ability to monitor financial operations, since all operations will be reflected on one database centrally (Maces, 2010).To implement the shared service strategy, it will be important to seek support of the divisional residents, considering they will be in charge of the units, which are the moneymaking branches. Their willingness to participate in the construction of the shared service will benefit the whole company. The first step to the implementation of this strategy will require assurances that it will benefit the whole company far more than the current system that is facing opposition from not only the customers but also other stakeholders such as the suppliers.In turn, since employees' remuneration is awarded on performance, improved performance for the whole firm will be an added advantage. Since the divisional heads are used to being in control, it is important to remind them that having a shared service will not mean the imposition of decisions from above . Rather, the shared service will make the operations of the whole organization work in harmony for the purpose of easy monitoring customer convenience. They should be included as part of the implementation team, so they can offer input on what they may not want to change.For instance, many are worried they will have to do away with specific projects. Ensuring them that these projects will continue after implementation of the shared arrive would increase their support, as would helping them understand that the new, shared system will enhance the harmony and efficiency of whole organization; eventually they will come to see that their roles will remain mostly the same. Another way to improve the odds of success to a centralized data structure is by appointing a team to oversee the maintenance of the data warehouse from an enterprise level.Ideally the members of this team should be comprised of analysts from the important functional areas of the company. This can help gain buy-in from the many due to the fact that the members of this team have already proven 2011). In addition the benefit of incorporating these individuals is that individual departments will feel that they have representation in the new system, and that their interests are protected. This will increase the potential for global acceptance in the program.Another way to increase compliance with the new systems is to implement an incentive program that would drive associates to achieve the best results. Incentive programs drive people to reach specific targets by offering them tangible rewards beyond their current compensation. At OR Communications, an incentive program could be implemented to increase compliance and adoption of a new centralized system. For example, the company could offer monetary bonuses to departments that lower their operating costs using the new system the most.Another more abstract idea would be to have a small bonus program for departments that offer ideas to enhance the pro ductivity of the system. Many of the departments have complained that a shared system would cause them to be overlooked; however, offering this type of inventive would both encourage them to aka enhancements of the system while simultaneously demonstrating that their opinions count. Positive reinforcement, such as an inventive program, help gain the compliance of the workforce in a much more efficient way then punishment or negative reinforcement.There are governance mechanisms and metrics that can be used to encourage the implementation and use of a shared enterprise data system. The governance that needs to be put in place is the alignment of divisional units with the IT department. The metrics must be aligned with transparency to ensure that IT is in congruence with business operations. The governance mechanism should involve all departments focusing on regulatory issues, risk alleviation and opportunity enhancement.The metrics used should be concerned with making divisional data fit into an enterprise system. These metrics will identify areas of weakness and avenues of improvement. To quote an analogy, â€Å"Rome wasn't built in a day;† and it will take significant time and effort to remedy all the problems at OR Communications. Close governance and metrics will aid in any improvement plan. Recommendation: It is evident that OR Communications need an intervention in its customer service enter.The lack of a centralized customer care center is making it hard to provide unified services to customers. More so, a lot of time is wasted by customers who have to be referred to different department for billing. Customers are forced to have several accounts with the company for each division since each division is held with its independent operations including billing (Smith & Mencken, 2007). This makes it hard for customer care provision. Considering consumer service is very crucial for any business, OR Communications need a centralized customer service cent er.A internalized service center will have many benefits to the whole organization such as cost reduction, time saving, good management of customers' data or information, and customer satisfaction. I recommend a centralized customer service center for OR communications for its advantages as predetermined below. The divisional IT service means having separate audits for every division. Having each division with an individual audit is expensive for the company since several auditors will be needed.Eliminating the divisions will save some costs that would otherwise be used for the services of the auditors at every division. With a single it department, data can be fed means reduced time for audits since with divisions audits have to be put together after each department has completed its audit (Smith & Mencken, 2007). Coordination among the auditors will be efficient since information is collected from one point where all information concerning company accounts is stored.Therefore, hav ing a centralized service center will enhance such operations across the whole organization. In addition, with a centralized customer service center as well as IT, it will ensure information is collected at one point making it easy to access information mongering any department from any point within the company without having to refer to the division in charge. Hence, for the auditors, complying with the set Serbians Solely act will be easy since information about customer billing and accounts of the whole firm will be centralized ensuring accuracy.Having the customer service centralized enhances business operations and processes, ensuring best practices such as timely audits are realized. With data consolidated in one central place, information can be exploited to breed new opportunities for the company. When data is at one place for all the divisions, it is easier to have a broader picture concerning how the divisions can create a new opportunities. Exploiting these opportunities Jointly among the divisions is better than going individually.Moreover, security can be more enhanced with a shared service center since monitoring will be done by one entity. This will further reduce costs associated with having each division taking responsibility of storing and maintaining its own data. Considering that OR communications is currently having several software, consolidating information together for the whole company is hard. Smooth flow of information across departments to ensure easy sharing is vital; not only for the whole company, but for divisions too, considering information consolidation is a fundamental instrument for doing business.Consolidating the IT services to one centralized structure will require removing of service center hardware from each division to one central department that will mitigate risks and have a common structural design as well as policies that are easily reviewable for updating. A common security procedure will reduce risks associated with information breech. Through the same procedures ND practices, the company can reduce file systems redundancy within the organization and enhance efficient document retention as well as reduce costs.Another reason to have one service center is to match the technical capacity of the company with its vision. At the current divisional independence, the divisions exploit their own visions that are not in congruence with the organization's vision and mission. Considering the company's vision is to have a consistent brand across all the divisions, it is necessary to have cross-shared services across all divisions to achieve this vision. The vision can be achieved through cross- sales of all the company services to its customers, as opposed to each department having its selling strategy.Having a shared sales service will serve to reduce the costs incurred when divisions do it individually hence creating a better chance for profit across all departments. Having a central service center will ensure that the overall vision of the company is followed since the central service center will be inclined towards the vision of the whole company. This way, each division can have a chance of benefiting form other divisions, hence the company as a whole (Smith & Mencken, 2007). Having a single are outsourcing majority of their operations to other professional companies for reductions of costs.With independent divisions and IT strategies for each individual division, outsourcing will be quite complicated. Having a central service center to oversee all requests will enhance efficiency as well as value. More so, through the consolidation of IT services and information at one common place will reduce security risks associated with outsourcing services. This will further ensure reliability and security of information. A consolidation of information and IT services will enhance cross-services for customers such as billing (Mencken & Smith, 2011).The company divisions at current cir cumstance hold their information secret from each other, making it a competition within the divisions that raise the problem of billing where customers have to be referred to other divisions for other services. With the consolidated information, customers will only need to visit one department from which other information concerning other divisions can be met. This will improve the perception of their whole company as a brand and the standing of the company can be improved as well as customer satisfaction.There is need for the company to realize that in the current world information is one of the drivers of businesses, which all businesses need to survive. Having each division with its own information center reduces the chances of the company improving in the future since the harmonious climate needed among the divisions for this achievement is minimal. Having stipulated the advantages bound to arise or reasons why a central service center should be achieved, it is important to cons ider how OR can be able to implement this recommendation with ease and least resistance from the divisions.This is the first most likely problem to arise during implementation. Hence, the first step should be generating support form all divisions, which has been quite hard up to now especially from the managers who are self centered and concerned with their earnings that depend on their performance. The managers also have a negative attitude towards merging of information and data among the divisions through one central service. A three-point strategy can be used to gain their support. It includes financial strategy, mitigation of risks associated and compliance to regulation.Financial point can emphasize the advantages the shared service is bound to raise, which will for the benefit of all the divisions and organization as a whole. Risk mitigation will arise from security of information through monitoring by one entity in a standardized way, while regulatory will be concerned with abiding to set accounting rules of the Serbians Solely act which the company has been having problems with (Schwartz, 2007). The next step would be to lay out the vision of the company and show why it cannot be achieved with division of operations among the divisions.This will impart some reasoning among the leaders, and support fore all divisions should be ensured. The main aim is to make everybody in the divisions aware of the role they will play and their stake to ensure thee is compliance and acceptance of the strategy to build a one services center (Mencken & Smith, 2011). One of the problems that could arise after implementation of a shared service center is ease of adoption. Some employees who have been used to the old system will require to be trained how to work harmoniously with a single service center. Many will be required to handle more information concerning not only their divisions, but

Palestinian Statehood Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

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International Marketing for Travel and Tourism The 32nd Atlanta Jazz Essay

International Marketing for Travel and Tourism The 32nd Atlanta Jazz Festival - Essay Example The three dominant forces affecting Atlanta's history and development have been transportation, race relations, and the "Atlanta spirit." At each stage in the city's development, these three elements have come into play. Transportation innovations and their connections to Atlanta helped establish the city as a state and regional center of commerce and finance. And the Atlanta spirit-part civic booster program, part vision, with a healthy dose of business interests and priorities-has provided the city with an ever-changing set of goals and definitions of what Atlanta is and what it can become. In the recent past, the city of Atlanta has gained familiarity and has transformed from a commercial city into a city with international influence and tourist attraction. In a very little span of 6 years i.e. from 2000 - 2006, the metropolitan area of the city of Atlanta increased by almost 20.5%. This has made Atlanta the fastest growing metropolitan city of the United States. Transportation has always been an important factor in the growth of the city of Atlanta and also its development, had a significant impact on the city in the 1960s and 1970s. Atlanta's connections to three interstate highways continued during this period to direct and facilitate suburban growth and anchored the regional trucking industry to the city. Air travel also became increasingly important as Atlanta Municipal Airport emerged as one of the busiest air hubs in the nation. Office buildings and retail establishments followed this population growth and movement to the suburbs, especially on the north side of the city. In the transportation sector airplanes and automobiles continued to have the biggest impact on the metropolitan region. Atlanta's dramatic population growth in the last few decades has been matched by equally impressive economic growth. The city is, by most measures, the business capital of the Southeast. Atlanta's ties to transportation include Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (one of the top two busiest airports in the world), three interstate highways that intersect in Atlanta, and a nexus of freight and passenger rail lines. All of these transportation connections bring commerce, products, and people to the Atlanta area and provide employment, either directly or indirectly, to many of the region's citizens. Since the 1970s the hospitality, tourism, and convention industry has been another key element of Atlanta's economy, spurring the construction of new hotels, convention spaces, and related industries. From 1965 to 1975, for example, the number of hotel rooms in the downtown area alone increased from 4,000 to 14,000 and by 1972 Atlanta ranked third among cities in terms of convention business. Jazz Festival - Introduction: Renowned as the largest free jazz festival in the country, the Atlanta Jazz Festival is traditionally a Memorial Day Weekend celebration of a true American art form - Jazz. This year marks the 28th anniversary of the Festival. The finale of the event will take place in Piedmont Park May 28th - 30th. The Atlanta Jazz Fe

Selection methods in recruitment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Selection methods in recruitment - Essay Example This essay discusses that the selection of personnel and assessment activities are some of the integral parts of organizational existence. The economic climate and global business environment have witnessed a dynamic increase in the rates of staff turnovers and the consequent reorganization of organizational structures along with the eradication of the traditional concept of ‘job for life’. Consequently there has been an increase in pressure to fill up the vacant positions in the organization with the most appropriately skilled personnel. Additionally the quality of human resources recruited in organizations and their fitness with the structures and processes in the organization also account for the competitive strength of these organizations. The decisions about selecting a candidate and classifying applicants according to the predictions about their work behaviours in future are becoming increasingly critical. There are ample methods and procedures before a company for selecting candidates or making promotion decisions about their employees. Different kinds of assessment techniques are also at their disposal. However, these techniques are commonly seen to fail in the long run. It is seen that there is either a mismatch of skills, or work behaviours different from that expected or even an increase in the staff turnover, depicting a failure of the selection or assessments methods employed for recruiting them. Extensive research has been conducted to trace the reasons for such failures and the ways to eliminate them. However, it is seen that despite the low accuracy of such selection techniques in predicting job performance firms continue to employ them and they remain widely used in today’s organizational scenario. The present assignment seeks to bring forth the reasons why they continue to be popular modes of selection in organizations despite their high failures. It also presents an evaluation of the other selection methods used in organiz ations. Selection Methods in Recruitment The common modes of section in organizations are interviews, bio data, structured interviews, psychological tests, assessments centres etc. Along with skill testing to analyse the fitness of a personal in a particular job, personality tests are also conducted for evaluating heir behavioural fit into the culture of the organization. With the advent of technology and the wide use of the internet, organizations have been increasing undertaking online tests for evaluation of candidates. Interviews are the most common practice of validating tools and skills of candidates to examine how relevant they are and how well they can predict the subsequent performance of the candidate in the organization. Even though the job relatedness of the conventional selection techniques does not follow any particular pattern and are considered to be low they are widely used in organizations despite the fact they are considerably unreliable, subjective and invalid. W hile the necessity of interviews in some form or the other is accepted in organizations, there emerge questions over its validity and reliability when a firm relies on it completely. One explanation which had been forwarded by researchers is that different interviewers assess candidates different and such irrelevant aspects such as race, sex, appearance, age are given prominence which introduces biasness in the way interviewer evaluate the candidate. Structured interviews conventionally include questions which are developed though a form of job analysis which consequently limits the subjectivity of the assessment. Conducted through standardised procedures structured interviews brings a direct link between the content of the interview and success of the job. However, despite having a high degree of validity and relatedness structured interv

Modern dance and ballet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Modern dance and ballet - Essay Example esis Statement: Modern Jazz dance has very little resemblance with classical ballet; it is an improvisation that fuses modern dance and ballet as such, requiring dancers to be able twist and swing while watching the positioning of their hands. There is major emphasis on the use of bare feet, torso movements and most importantly, incorporation of humor into emotional expression. This dance requires that dancers train daily, and at times, take classic ballet classes in order to help them keep up with the complexity and technicality of the choreography of this dance. It requires that dancers follow ideas related to efficient movement of bodies, attention to detail, and keeping with a small space while making dance moves. The moves mostly used in modern jazz dance include Jazz kicks, Hands, Rolled shoulders, Turned knees and Sideways shuffling. Important features of modern jazz dance are the syncopated rhythm adopted from jazz music; improvisations, isolations and its requirement of high energy levels and low center of

SOC 1010-002- homework3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

SOC 1010-002- homework3 - Essay Example There were certainly gender variations in terms of how women and men justified their smoking, as we will return to. Without exception, every single person who did not smoke did not think it was good for their health. But of the 8 people who did smoke, about six said it was good for their health. Only one said that they thought the â€Å"whole cancer thing† was exaggerated. The rest offered various rationalizations for why it made sense in their life. One of the women said that they used it to control the stress from work and a new baby. They said that they knew smoking would lower their life expectancy in general but they wanted to be able to manage the stress of their job without taking it out on their child, their coworkers or their boyfriend. Two of the men also offered stress control as a reason, saying that during a smoke break, they were able to calm down, focus and prepare for the rest of the day. For these men, smoke and coffee were inextricably linked: Both mentioned a smoke, coffee and lunch break as their daily work ritual. One of the women said that they had been told that they looked sexy when they smoked and it stuck with them. For them, the health benefits of being more attractive were worth the cost of the smoking. â€Å"Its like Botox†, she said. Finally, one man used smoking because he often had nausea and irritable bowel and found that cigarettes helped his symptoms. He only smoked four times a day, to stave off nausea and let him eat. He found that the cost of of the cigarettes, which he already noticed in decreased lung capacity, were worth the benefit of being able to eat and being able to be around people without being humiliated. Obviously, there needs to be a larger sample size: 30 people is just not large enough to make any real conclusions. The most promising data came from the qualitative question at the end. In addition, I was able only to target students. Getting older smokers who might

Different Difficulties in Learning Children Essay

Different Difficulties in Learning Children - Essay Example In fact, he elaborates that such children need help in learning to do their own chores or paying closer attention to something important. Gates (2008) provides a more practical explanation of learning disability by saying that children with such difficulties cannot understand, learn, and communicate in comparison to other children. The normal procedure in which our brain processes information is extremely complex. In situations such as viewing an image or speaking, the brain has to process several tasks including retrieving information from memory, recognizing the data to transmit and processing the information to either store in memory or invoke the auditory parts for communication. Most of these activities occur at various locations in the brain, sometimes in a simultaneous fashion. The task of linking up and associating these various segments is the responsibility of our brain. In the case of people with learning disabilities, the only difference is with regards to the different m anner in which their brains process information unlike the case with other individuals. Thomas (2003) says that people with learning disabilities are not handicapped or lazy. Instead, he contends that they tend to have at least an average level of intelligence. Their difficulties simply arise from the different ways in which their brains process information. A broader scientific explanation to this phenomenon is explained by the four stages of information processing (Input, Integration, Storage and Output) under which learning disabilities are categorized. While people with input disabilities have problems with visual and auditory perception, individuals with integration difficulties are unable to categorize and interpret information from the input stage based on previous learning. Some learning difficulties occur in the later stages due to issues in retaining long-term memory.  Several cases of learning disability occur much later during the information-processing scenario due to factors like muscle inhibition and lack of necessary motor skills.

Enhancing Occupational Safety Health While Adapting to Biodiesel As An Essay

Enhancing Occupational Safety Health While Adapting to Biodiesel As An Alternative fuels - Essay Example The process includes the reaction of vegetable oil with the alcohols in the presence of a catalyst, while the alcohols are usually ethanol or methanol. For the purification of the bio-diesel and removal of the phospholipids, the ultra-shear mixers or the De-gumming process is used, as they can efficiently blend and mix the acid or water into the oil for the formation of bio-diesel. The other processes of bio-diesel production involve the following (Dub, Marc A, et al. 2007). There are numerous positive impacts on occupational health and safety when the bio-diesel replaces the hydro-carbon fuels. Serious, continuous and long enduring exposure to the petroleum fuels has always caused environmental pollution (Fernando, Sandum D, et al. 2007).. The air pollution, water pollution and soil pollution are the direct result of heavy transport on roads using petroleum fuels. The use of bio-diesels in transport vehicles can save many drivers, pedestrians and indirect victims like factory workers from lungs cancers, skin abrasions and gastric diseases. Bio-diesels are environment friendly and greener in action. Being less combustible, the bio-diesels are less dangerous for the human life as compared to their petro-besed counterparts. The excessive use of hydrocarbons has been a reason for the extinction rare flora and fauna on the earth. The plants, animals and marine life destroyed by the petroleum products had a deeper link with the human health and occupational safety (Al Gore 2007). Sea water has been frequently polluted with the leakage and seepage of petrol while being transported by ships. This has caused serious destruction of marine life. The workers employed in the petroleum factories are always exposed to serious risks of life. Therefore, bio-diesels used in the transport are a single answer to many questions of health and safety for the workers and transporters in addition to the whole mother earth. That's why these fuels are becoming popular around the world because of their benefits for the occupational safety and th e ecological environment. The only hindering factor in their production, distribution and consumption has been their higher cost of production.It is also quite evident, from the vicious bonding between the terrorists and the leaders of the petroleum producing countries that the demand for finding some other substitute of petroleum is raising day by day. The margin of problems created by the continuous use of petroleum is rising more every day as all under-developed countries greatly depend on the fuel (petroleum) that is sold by the tyrants only. US economic conditions are getting worse every day due to the reason that she spends more than $ 100-150 billion annually for purchasing oil from other countries. US military also demands high proportion of fuel and oil to be used for our defense. To develop some other useful alternatives of oil should be the top and utmost priority of USA. In the United States of America a larger quantity of

Budgeting and Business Planning Essay Example for Free

Budgeting and Business Planning Essay In order to create the criteria for the committee we have to look at what they want from the project. Most businesses and organisations are in business to make a profit, however the committee has different aims and objectives compared to a normal business or organisation. They need to weight up the options of each proposal and decide which best relates to their aims and objectives. When the committee is considering which proposal to go with they should consider the following categories †¢Short-term Financial Benefits †¢Long-term Financial Benefits †¢Environment †¢Relation to aims Short-term Financial Benefits The committee needs to consider the short term benefits of each proposal. They dont want to take on a proposal that has high start-up costs and doesnt make a return on the capital within the first year. The committee does not want to be left in a high amount of debt if the proposal fails. If the committee is left with a debt they may not be able to fund other projects to further their three aims. Long-term Financial Benefits Long-term the proposals will give different outcomes. The committee needs to decide on how long they want to keep moult hall? If they want it as a long term asset which can help with their aims? Or do they want a longer term money making scheme to boost revenue which can be used in areas they already control. Environment Moult Hall comes with a huge area of woodland, they needs to consider the effects on the local plant life and wildlife that any proposal could have. They need to think, does it destroy plant life? Does it impact on wildlife habitats? Is their going to be any long lasting environmental damage? Relation to Aims The committee is based on three main aims. They need to consider these aims in making their decision, they cant be making use of one proposal if it goes strictly against some of their basic aims. They have to consider their own image and brand, does a proposal give them a bad name/image considering their aims and objectives? Question 2 Jonathan and Ingrids proposal has some short term financial benefits, in the 30 week trial run moult hall turns over a small profit of  £1,646. When the committee takes their proposal in to consideration they should recognise this point, moult hall will be of no financial burden in the short-term 30 week trial. If the 30 week trial is to succeed then moult hall can have some structural work done costing  £20,000 which would close moult hall for four weeks after the trial. The structural alterations would increase the capacity of the site to allow up to 30 guests to stay at one time. According to Jonathan and Ingrid projections of a weekly cost per guest of  £66 and a weekly charge per guest of  £150 they are making  £84 profit per guest per week. With the structural alterations and the increase in capacity by 20 guests. The weeks after the alterations are finished they could make an extra  £1,680 per week, bringing their possible weekly total profit at full capacity to  £2,436 (allowing for one free space, 29 paying customers). Therefore they could justify the large  £20,000 outlay on alterations as moult hall would pay for these alterations in little over 8 weeks. So in the long-run moult hall could be a profitable project by the end of year one. The one drawback of this proposal is the loss of the usage of the minibus at weekends, which generated an annual income of  £1,040, however it can be argued that it is now being put to better use and that the money is being recuperated from moult hall. Break-even point Total expenses £63,880 Weeks until break-even47.3 Guests until break-even473 As we can see from the table above moult hall will have to attract 473 guests a year to break even when they can only hold 10 guests per week. Equally they would have to run for 47.3 weeks a year at full capacity to break-even. This gives them an average of 9 guests a week. If they were to structurally improve moult hall so that they can hold up to 30 guests a week then the figures would look very different as shown in the table below. Break-Even Point Total Expenses £63,880 Weeks until break-even point14.7 Guests until break-even point441 Although a similar amount of guests is required the amount of weeks at full capacity has drastically dropped from 47.3 to 14.7. Their average guests per week has dropped from 9 to 8. Although this is not a large drop, in comparison they only have to fill 8 out of 30 beds compared to 9 out of 10 beds in the 30 week trial. The environment and its protection are very important to the committee and are mentioned in their main aims. Jonathan and Ingrids proposal helps the environment and makes the most of moult hall, if a garden was to be kept at moult hall the guest could tend to this and grow vegetables and recycle waste in a compost, which in turn could be re-used on the garden making moult hall very self-sufficient and environmentally friendly. One of the major aims of the committee is to help and educate the young. Jonathan and Ingrids proposal does just this, by inviting young people from the surrounding area to come stay and learn about the countryside. The guests will be able to learn about different wildlife and plant life living in the moult hall woodland and surrounding areas. The committee has to consider how the proposal will relate to their own aims, with moult hall becoming a learning centre for the young the committee could promote the good work they are doing to increase their donations r evenue and grow as a trust. Question 3 Winston’s proposal consists of turning moult hall into a quad bike track with lavish bedrooms in the house for guests. In the year one moult hall will turn over a profit of  £1,034,283.  £750,000 of this is guaranteed to the North West trust for the protection of wildlife and the other  £284,283 will go to Winston himself. Moult hall would be a great money maker for the trust with the guaranteed income of  £750,000 adding to the  £800,000 a year they receive from local donations and fund raisers, boosting their total revenue for the year to around  £1,550,000. Long-term moult hall will turnover similar amount each year as long as there is no dip in demand. In the second year when Winston doesn’t have any initial capital costs he will make a large profit himself of  £402,350. The funds the committee will earn from moult hall could be used in other areas to promote the protection of wildlife. Break-even Point Total Expenses £1,022,650 Weeks until break-even point35.9 Guests until break-even point538 From the table above we can see the break-even point for moult hall under Winston’s proposal. He would need to be operating at full capacity for almost 40 weeks a year to break-even this means he would have to attract 538 guests a year. On average to break-even Winston will have to have 11 guests a week. In monetary terms moult hall will be a very successful; however some parts of the proposal will go against the trusts main aims. The trust was set up for the protection of wildlife; one aim is to protect local wildlife and plant life. To make the quad bike track many mature trees will have to be removed in the grounds of moult hall. This will disrupt some of the habitats of animals in the woodland. One of the main habitats that could be disrupted is the nesting sites of the red kite. The red kite has only recently been re-introduced in to the United Kingdom after the success of similar projects in wales; the trust fully supports the work of the national charity that achieved this. The red kite was wiped out in the UK by modern farming methods which use pesticides to kill small rodents, which are the main food source of the red kite. The first aim of the Trust is to encourage farming methods that don’t hurt local wildlife and plant life. They have to consider how the disruption of the nesting sites would reflect on them if they took on Winston’s proposal. It may look bad as with one hand they are supporting the work of the charity yet they are making money at the cost of disrupting local nesting sites. Question 4a There are many different measures that to committee can use to measure the performance of moult hall such as: †¢Monthly financial reports †¢Committee inspections twice a year †¢Variance analysis – comparing budgeted figures with actual Variance Analysis The committee could use variance analysis; variance analysis is a comparison of the budgeted cost of running moult hall and the actual cost of running moult hall. They could see if the costs of moult hall are favourable or adverse. If the results are favourable then this means that moult hall is running at a cheaper cost than they originally budgeted. However if the results are adverse then this means that the cost of running moult hall is more than they budgeted, this could be due to higher food prices or a larger light and heating bill than first anticipated. Variance analysis will give the committee a good idea of how much difference there is between their original planned budget and their actual outlay. This will be useful in determining weather moult hall is a financially viable option. Monthly Financial Reports The committee could ask for the manager of moult hall to send them monthly financial reports so that they can keep track of the performance and see if they are making or loosing money. They could let the financial reports come in for a few months or even up to year. This way they can identify trends and high and low seasons. They may find that they have a slightly seasonal product, as more people will want to be outside in the summer compared to the winter. They can also see if over a year they are getting an increasing amount of interest month on month or if they are losing interest Committee inspections Committee inspections could take place two or three times a year, the committee could travel as a whole or send a few representatives to moult hall to assess the upkeep of moult hall and the grounds. The inspection could also be used to see how the guests are enjoying their time at moult hall. The inspection team will then feed back to the committee who will have meetings on how to improve moult hall based on the feedback from guests and/or any improvements or checks that would need to be made to ensure the performance of moult hall is consistent. Question 4b When the committee is assessing the performance of moult hall they can use different companies to assess moult hall for them. The Environmental Inspection Agency (EIA) can carry out Environmental impact assessments. The committee could use this agency to assess the impact that moult hall is having on the surrounding woodland and grounds of moult hall. The committee can use this information to track the environmental progress of moult hall and see if the project is having a damaging or positive effect on the woodland and grounds. The committee could also use a survey company to produce a survey which can be given to guests when they leave so that the guests can give their feedback. The survey company can then use these results to produce accurate feedback to present to the committee. This method would be better than the committee asking the questions themselves as it will give a better representation of the guest’s views on moult hall. One company that they could use is amplitude research, this is a company that specialises in market research, Amplitude research can create a standard survey for guests which will make the results more comparable and easier for the committee to act upon.

The Women In Love Essay

The Women In Love Essay Women in Love is a novel about two young ladies, the Brangwen sisters, Urusula and Gudrun and how they fall in love and lead two completely different relationships with the men they meet, Rupert Birkin and Gerald Crich, with who they gradually fall in love. Birkin, a school inspector, visits Ursula who teaches at the school however Hermione, the woman previously involved with Birkin, intrudes on their conversation and invites Ursula and Gudrun to stay with her in Breadalby. Ursula and Gudrun travel to Breadalby to stay with Hermione where Gerald officially meets the two. He saw them again, while they were at home waiting for the train to pass. This sets an awful impression of Gerald to the sisters as he was torturing a horse, training her to withstand the fear. The Brangwen sisters then see Gerald again, whilst sketching along side Wiley Water. He was with Hermione who caused commotion between Gudrun and Gerald after dropping her sketchbook in the water. In the meantime, Ursula had wandered off towards the hill where she met Birkin sawing and hammering away. This was the first sign of a relationship between the two and he eventually sent a note to invite the sisters to tea. Feeling desire for Birkin to speak only to her, she didnt tell Gudrun about the invite where they discuss the concepts of love and their feelings. The couple met again at Mr. Crichs annual water-party on the lake. Gerald organises a small boat for Gudrun and Ursula who row to a little stream. After hours on end, the men arrive in worry. The four begin to row back to the estate but Geralds sister, Diana, drowns causing grief for the Crichs. Gudrun then becomes the teacher of Geralds youngest sister, Winifred. There relationship was a tight bond and soon she moves into a studio which was built for the two girls. After many thought and consideration, Birkin visits the Brangwens to ask for Ursulas hand in marriage however Birkin left without an answer. Enraged, he walks to Shortlands where he finds Gerald. Ursula then meets with Hermione who belittles Birkin and encourages Ursula not to marry him. Birkin then buys Ursula three rings which leads her to agreeing to marriage. Mr. Crich sadly then passes away and after the funeral, in devastation Gerald spends the night with Gudrun. Gerald then thinks about marrying Gudrun and he suggests for the four to travel to the Tyrol although Birkin and Ursula left early to Verona. Gerald is infuriated by Gudruns verbal abuse and her refusal of his manhood as well as Loerke who Gudrun begins a friendship with. On the slopes, Gerald strangles Gudrun yet let go when Loerke called for him. Gerald continued up the slope but he slipped and fell and immediately went to sleep. His body was returned to England to be buried, together with Ursula and Birkin. Gudrun went to Dresden to visit Loerke. The impact of Geralds death on Birkin was inevitable, he loved him just as much as he loved Urusla however Ursula could not understand this. Narrative Style This novel is written in third person singular with an omniscient style. It pleased Ursula, what he said, pleased her very much. She herself knew too well the actuality of humanity, its hideous actually. The pronouns he and she are frequently used and characters are continuously addressed by their names. Character Analysis Ursula: is an independent, strong-willed lady who doesnt enjoy being told what to do. She likes to make her own decisions, no matter what the situation. This is shown through the conversation held between, herself, her father and Birkin when he proposes to her; You both want me to force me into something That is an illusion of your own. She also needs certainty to make those decisions which is shown through her constant questioning of if Birkin loves her. She is reliable for Birkin as she devotes her everything to him however she seems to misunderstand the importance of a relationship between the men and seems she is jealous that Birkin doesnt only need her. Gudrun: is a very kind and compassionate woman as she takes the time and effort to sit with Winifred and paint. Her loving character is shown when she feels uneasy about telling Winifred that her dad will die when asked what she thinks. She isnt a trustworthy person as she leaves Gerald for Loerke in the Alps and feels what Gerald and she had, was over although Gerald didnt feel this way. Birkin: has an aspect of a true gentleman. This is shown through his love and devotion to Ursula because he states that he doesnt want to serve him; I who am at the beck and call of the woman, than she at mine. His love for Ursula and Gerald also shows that he can maintain love with romance and love with friendship; eternal union with a man too: another kind of love. Gerald: is a determined man as he has hope that his sister was still alive when he tries to save her and he never gives up. These experiences made Gerald the strong, determined man he was, as he had suffered of loss of those close to him. However he is not independent as when his father passes away he finds himself at the graveyard then walks to Gudruns house seeking comfort and affection. Gerald is also a proud character as he is proud of his estate that his father owns and doesnt let the past affect his present. Language Diction Women in Love is a very descriptive novel that uses both short and long sentences. The language is highly developed and long sentences are used to describe feelings and objects, for example; And Gerald, watching, saw the amazing attractive goodliness of his eyes, a young, spontaneous goodness that attracted the other man infinitely, yet filled him with bitter chagrin, because he mistrusted it so much. Short sentences are used more often during dialogue such as; I see, and I must remember another time. In this novel the author also uses similes for instance; The mare rebounded like a drop of water from hot iron and Yet he seemed as calm as a ray of cold sunshine. There are also French and German phrases during dialogue for example; Ist er auch ein Wunder? and Quest ce quun chancelier?. Imagery The imagery is evident throughout the novel because all stimuli are aroused. Tactile imagery is evident when Ursula and Birkin have admitted their love for one another; She cleaved to him, and he could feel his blood changing like quicksilver. One can imagine how faster his blood was pumping now that Ursula lay closer towards him. Taste and sense of smell are linked with the description of the meal provided; venison pasty, a large broad-faced cut ham, eggs and cresses. Visual imagery is foreseen throughout the novel when the statuette is explain; it was a woman, with hair dressed high, like a melon-shaped dome à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ with such protuberant buttocks, so weighty and unexpected below her slim long loins. Auditory imagery is evident when Geralds voice startles Gudrun for example; The timbre of his voice, like something vibrating at a high pitch, unnerved Gudrun. Themes Marriage is a theme shown through Ursula and Gudrun when it is first mentioned at the beginning of the novel. This theme is revealed throughout the novel as their relationships continue to build which gradually leads to a proposal by Birkin to Ursula. A theme of religion is also apparent throughout the novel by Mr. Crich as he is related to God often and speaks of being a Christian. Another theme present is individual versus society as Ursula, Gudrun, Birkin and Gerald are often deeply concerned with the questions of society and the relationships between men and women. This theme is shown through Birkin and Ursulas conversation how one must devote themselves to one another as Birkin believes love can reach further and past heaven. Setting This novel is set in England, this is evident because of the places mentioned such as London, Oxford, Beldover and Piccadilly Circus. It is also represented throughout the relation to the currency for example; Three-hapence, pennies and Hundreds of pounds. The setting is also shown through certain objects such as The Daily Telegraph, a popular newspaper in England as well as lawn rather than garden. Genre The genre is romance as love is such a deep and dominant theme throughout the novel. The genre starts with the when Gudrun and Ursula Brangwen discuss their feelings towards marriage. It is encouraged throughout the novel by Gudrun and Gerald falling in love and Ursula and Birkin getting married. It is also shown through Birkin and Geralds friendship as Birkin finds their friendship the perfect relationship with a man. Aspects I liked I enjoyed the fact that Mr. Crich had such a strong will to stay alive, he made time and effort for the ones he loved dearly such as his daughter Winifred. He also said to Winifred that he was better whenever he asked, meanwhile they both knew the truth. However I didnt emjoy the fact that Hermione belittled Birkin whilst talking to Ursula, she encourages Ursula not to marry Birkin because of her jealousy over their relationship. Hermoine wanted with Birkin what Urusla has and she belittles Birkin to alter Ursulas feelings but Ursula ignores Hermoines comments and continues to feel the love she has for Birkin. Recommendations I would recommend this novel to one who enjoys an emotional relationship which encounters tension commonly because of love and the meaning it implies. I would also recommend this novel to one who shares a relationship with God as one of the characters shares a strong relationship with God; He wanted to be a pure Christian, one and equal with all men. He even wanted to give away all he had, to the poor. Throughout the novel, God is often referred to which is why I would recommend this novel to a Christian. I would recommend this novel to a person who enjoys strong willed characters who are strained with their sensitivity.

Skyscrapers, Damping Systems, and Physics :: physics buildings skyscraper architecture

Skyscrapers are amazing! Architectural defeats. Wonders of the world. How are they able to withstand even the strongest of winds and earthquakes? Today, engineers rely on damping systems to counteract nature's forces. There are many types of damping systems that engineers can now use for structures, automobiles, and even tennis rackets! This site focuses on damping systems in structures, mainly architectural variations of the tuned mass damper. How Tuned Mass Dampers Work A tuned mass damper (TMD) consists of a mass (m), a spring (k), and a damping device (c), which dissipates the energy created by the motion of the mass (usually in a form of heat). In this figure, M is the structure to which the damper would be attached. From the laws of physics, we know that F = ma and a = F/m. This means that when an external force is applied to a system, such as wind pushing on a skyscraper, there has to be an accleration. Consequently, the people in the skyscraper would feel this acceleration. In order to make the occupants of the building feel more comfortable, tuned mass dampers are placed in structures where the horizontal deflections from the wind's force are felt the greatest, effectively making the building stand relatively still. When the building begins to oscillate or sway, it sets the TMD into motion by means of the spring and, when the building is forced right, the TMD simultaneously forces it to the left. Ideally, the frequencies and amplitudes of the TMD and the structure should nearly match so that EVERY time the wind pushes the building, the TMD creates an equal and opposite push on the building, keeping its horizontal displacement at or near zero. If their frequencies were significantly different, the TMD would create pushes that were out of sync with the pushes from the wind, and the building's motion would still be uncomfortable for the occupants. If their amplitudes were significantly different, the TMD would, for example, create pushes that were in sync with the pushes from the wind but not quite the same size and the building would still experience too much motion. The effectiveness of a TMD is dependent on the mass ratio (of the TMD to the structure itself), the ratio of the frequency of the TMD to the frequency of the structure (which is ideally equal to one), and the damping ratio of the TMD (how well the damping device dissipates energy).

The Praise And Strife Of A Her :: essays research papers

The Praise and Strife of a Hero The definition of a hero is dependent on that society's beliefs, laws and taboos. There are heroes for all ages and for both men and women. Heroes have had changing roles since man wrote his story, and all have been the embodiment of each society, each civilization's ideals. Basketball superstar, Michael Jordan, largely affects the children of today that are enthralled with visions of hoop dreams. He inspires the young depraved ghetto child to rise up against his unfortunate circumstances. Possessing many noteworthy qualities, all heroes possess faults because they are human and all humans possess failings. Because heroes begin to fold and make mistakes as they are suddenly thrust into the awe inspired limelight, and because their pedestals are broken and discarded as the public craves to see the dirt underneath the hero. Heroes are a product of a society's perception of someone to be praised. To be able to praise a hero, that hero must not only be a marvel but that hero must also be humble. Failings in heroes are only natural, they are human and all humans possess faults. All human beings are born and die with character traits, which can be, at the most basic level, perceived as being helpful or as being harmful, depending on the character's viewpoint. People are regularly regarded as having traits ranging from the most trivial as being a perfectionist, to the most weighty, such as being a coward. These traits form the basis of human personality and define the individual's personal nature. Ideal heroes are perceived differently in different periods of history. In Chaucer's Prologue of the Canterbury Tales a worthy man is described. He is a chivalrous knight who prided himself on his own personal truth, honor, freedom, and courtesy. Chaucer's view of a hero is one who is without fault, truly the epitome of goodness. Heroes are also praised by society because the hero takes on much of society's own stress. Heroes are under severe stress and live a life of duress and begin to commit errors as the level of pressure begins to catapult. Heroes are continuously placed under pressure by all who surround them, convinced that the object of their attention can not fail under any circumstances. They grow self-centered and absolute followers of themselves and expect the same-undeserved treatment from others. As Beowulf often takes pride in his work, proclaiming that he slew Grendel, that he rescued the damsel in distress, without any help needed, or offered from any persons.

Virgils Aeneid as Roman Propaganda Essay example -- Aeneid Essays

Virgil's Aeneid as Roman Propaganda  Ã‚   Rome was experiencing a great deal of internal turmoil during the period when Virgil wrote the Aeneid. There was somewhat of an identity crisis in Rome as it had no definitive leader, or history. With the ascension of Augustus to the throne, Rome was unified again. Still, it had no great book. The Greeks had their Odyssey, giving them a sense of history and of continuity through time. A commonly held view is that the Aeneid attempts to provide the Romans with this sense of continuity or roots. There is a great deal of textual evidence to support this interpretation. Virgil makes numerous references to the greatness of Rome through "ancient" prophecies. Clearly, the entire poem is an account of the founders of Rome. In some sense, this does make the Aeneid seem as a piece of propaganda. However, upon closer examination, there is another idea that Virgil presents. War is painted as a vicious and bloody, not some glorious event. The image of war condemns the concept of Rome as the all-p owerful conqueror of other nations. Not only that, but the strong emphasis on duty is frequently mocked. These underlying ideas would seem to run contrary to the theory that Virgil was simply producing a synthesized history of ancient Romans. In order to determine the true intent of the Aeneid, it is important that both ideas presented be examined. "I sing of warfare and a man at war†¦Till he could found a city†¦the high walls of Rome." (Book I, 1-12) There can be no dispute that the Aeneid is an account of the history of Rome. There are several items which with Virgil links the story of Aeneas to the Rome of his time period. Probably the most obvious of these is the surplus of predictions concerning Rome’... ...many readers today still are). No one can be entirely sure of Virgil’s true intent in writing the Aeneid. Perhaps he meant it as a glorification of Rome that had some discrepancies in it. Perhaps he meant it as an attack upon the character of Rome with some inconsistencies. Either way, it does not work well. Whatever Virgil’s argument, he compromises it by playing up the opposite argument. If Virgil meant to attack Rome, he failed in some respects. Likewise, if he meant the Aeneid to be a work of Roman propaganda, he was ineffective. Works Cited and Consulted Horsfall, Nicholas, ed. A Companion to the Study of Virgil. Leiden, New York, and Kà ¶ln: E. J. Brill, 1995. Putnam, Michael C. J. â€Å"Anger, Blindness, and Insight in Virgil's Aeneid.† Apeiron 23 (1990): 7-40. Virgil. Aeneid. Dover Thrift Edition. Trans. Charles J. Billson. New York: Dover, 1995. Virgil's Aeneid as Roman Propaganda Essay example -- Aeneid Essays Virgil's Aeneid as Roman Propaganda  Ã‚   Rome was experiencing a great deal of internal turmoil during the period when Virgil wrote the Aeneid. There was somewhat of an identity crisis in Rome as it had no definitive leader, or history. With the ascension of Augustus to the throne, Rome was unified again. Still, it had no great book. The Greeks had their Odyssey, giving them a sense of history and of continuity through time. A commonly held view is that the Aeneid attempts to provide the Romans with this sense of continuity or roots. There is a great deal of textual evidence to support this interpretation. Virgil makes numerous references to the greatness of Rome through "ancient" prophecies. Clearly, the entire poem is an account of the founders of Rome. In some sense, this does make the Aeneid seem as a piece of propaganda. However, upon closer examination, there is another idea that Virgil presents. War is painted as a vicious and bloody, not some glorious event. The image of war condemns the concept of Rome as the all-p owerful conqueror of other nations. Not only that, but the strong emphasis on duty is frequently mocked. These underlying ideas would seem to run contrary to the theory that Virgil was simply producing a synthesized history of ancient Romans. In order to determine the true intent of the Aeneid, it is important that both ideas presented be examined. "I sing of warfare and a man at war†¦Till he could found a city†¦the high walls of Rome." (Book I, 1-12) There can be no dispute that the Aeneid is an account of the history of Rome. There are several items which with Virgil links the story of Aeneas to the Rome of his time period. Probably the most obvious of these is the surplus of predictions concerning Rome’... ...many readers today still are). No one can be entirely sure of Virgil’s true intent in writing the Aeneid. Perhaps he meant it as a glorification of Rome that had some discrepancies in it. Perhaps he meant it as an attack upon the character of Rome with some inconsistencies. Either way, it does not work well. Whatever Virgil’s argument, he compromises it by playing up the opposite argument. If Virgil meant to attack Rome, he failed in some respects. Likewise, if he meant the Aeneid to be a work of Roman propaganda, he was ineffective. Works Cited and Consulted Horsfall, Nicholas, ed. A Companion to the Study of Virgil. Leiden, New York, and Kà ¶ln: E. J. Brill, 1995. Putnam, Michael C. J. â€Å"Anger, Blindness, and Insight in Virgil's Aeneid.† Apeiron 23 (1990): 7-40. Virgil. Aeneid. Dover Thrift Edition. Trans. Charles J. Billson. New York: Dover, 1995.

India during rule from the British Essay

The East India Company established many things for India including telegraph, railroad, and irrigation systems. It also set up a large army called the Sepoys to defend its interests and India’s borders. The Sepoys were commanded by the British officers and were supported by the units of the British army. Although the Indians benefited from the British rule many resented British rule. The East India Company made sure that British colonist received most of the advantages from the new technology and industrialization. Indian factory workers and servants received very low wages. Farmers got very little for there harvest. Indians could not hold high level positions. Schools also taught English and Western ideas and paid little attention to the long history and advanced culture of India. Most of the appeal of Imperialism (when one government takes control over a foreign land and governs it as its own), most specifically British Imperialism was economic advancement; â€Å"to create large, self-sustaining trading blocks.† Britain exploited India, the crown jewel of their imperialist empire, for the export of many raw materials. In addition, they placed trade laws upon India that restricted its trade with countries other than Britain. India was eventually under the complete control, even the rule of Britain; you could even say that India was occupied by Britain, as there were both political figures, and military troops from Britain in India. Though they exploited India in a way that could have destroyed India’s economy, their presence helped boost India toward modernity with the construction of railroads and other new (at the time) technology. As the cotton trade declined, Britain, through the English East India Trading Company, forced many things upon India that brought them (Britain) economic benefit. They forced India to ship raw materials (such as spices and textiles) to Britain, rather than using them for their own production. The East India Company came to rise as the predominant trading company in all of India; Britain all but formally established a government in India (they even had their own army in association with the English East India Trading Company, in order to reinforce the laws set by the colonists). With the collapse of local governments, and the destruction of Indian factories and production companies, Britain’s gain of power in India became an easy task.  They in addition forced them to buy products imported from Britain that were made with the exported raw materials, rather than simply allowing them to produce the items themselves. At the same time, the English East India Trading Company participated in the illegal export of opium to China, resulting in the first â€Å"Opium War†, in which the Chinese were defeated, and the British trading rights were expanded. Before the establishment of English trading colonies in India, the prices they had to pay for Indian exports were extremely high, higher than they were willing to pay; through their control of the land, they were able to export these materials themselves. India was/is called â€Å"the brightest jewel in the imperial crown â€Å", and with control over India, the Indian Ocean, and parts of the African Coast, Britain maintained an incredibly large imperialist trading empire. The English justified their imperialist actions largely through Darwinism. Darwin stated in his works his idea of â€Å"Survival of the Fittest†. The English simply took this to mean that, as a result, they were so easily able to take control over India, that they were the stronger people, and therefore meant to be dominant. The second phase of British imperialism (which begins in 1858), is during a time of â€Å"Colonial Imperialism†. Colonial imperialism is when one government not only rules over a foreign land, but establishes an all out colonial government there, and runs the countries affairs. Members of the East India Company attempted to learn the languages of the Indians, but also tried to impose British culture upon the Indians. They encouraged the Indians to act like conformists and dress and act like them. In 1877, Queen Victoria was named the â€Å"Empress of India†. During this time, India was exploited for the exportation of even more raw materials such as spices, indigo dye, and textiles. Trade laws were reinforced, and the East India Company’s army enforced these laws. The Indians may have seen these acts as racist, as the British were obviously subordinating them. Once Britain had complete control of India, the construction of roads, railroads, and telephone/telegraph lines began. In 1869, the Suez Canal, an artificial water passage in Egypt which links the Mediterranean sea, the Gulf of Suez, and the Red Sea all together, making trade in that area much easier) was opened, and increased India’s potential for trade dramatically. The British discouraged Indian  industry (obviously not wanting any competition over India’s raw materials, or exports), but encouraged production of crops that they could export for profit, rather than food crops for survival. In 1846, over five hundred-thousand Indians died from famine (in 1876-1879 ten million more Indians / Chinese people died from famine). The poverty level in India increased dramatically, as all of the profit went straight to British colonists. Britain’s Imperialism in India did have some positive effects on India itself. The English, during the time of their Empire, constructed large railroad systems in India, which connected factories inland with the coastal shipping ports; this railroad system was one of the most developed in the entire world. This rail system helped in the development of the trade industry in Indian, and also helped to prevent famines (food was transportable). The English also established a system of roads, as well as bridges, dams, and even irrigation ditches. They established centers for education, and the literacy rate in India increased significantly, as did health with the establishment of hospitals. With the newly trained professionals and businesspersons in India, a new upper class evolved. These positive effects did not come without a price. The British claimed all power over India, political and economic. The British’s export of crops left little for Indians to make money off of, and self-sufficiency suffered (especially since they were producing cash crops to sell to the colonists for minimum price, and didn’t even have time or land to produce their own food crops on). The Indians did not simply sit back and allow the British to walk all over them; as a result of growing resentment to the implied racism, and general control implemented by the British, the Indians revolted. In 1857, the Sepoys, a group of Indians hired by the English East India Company, revolted against the British. Through revolt, and others, followed by numerous Nationalist movements, Indians eventually gained independence for themselves in 1947. As it is shown, through the English East India Company, the British exploited India through direct and colonial imperialism, in order to bring Britain greater economic benefit. Britain came into India and just took control,  with no concern for the well-being of the Indians. They brought about the disintegration of Indian industry, and took advantage of India’s raw materials, and fertile land. Britain’s imperialist empire in the Indian subcontinent brought them countless economic benefits, as was the goal when they set out to establish such an empire; but more of the impact of this imperialism takes place in India. So much changes as a result of Britain’s empire. They left India with one of the worlds most advanced railroad systems (at that time), newly established schools and colleges, new hospitals and medical facilities, and new production factories, as well as a new feeling of class-consciousness. India was almost forced into a state of modernity through the presence of British imperialists. All of the positive effects Britain’s imperialism had on India were not intentional. Everything the British did in order to help India, was actually done in order to help themselves. The railroads, the telegraphs, the roads, the schools, all were done in order to further advance their own trading empire.

Anorexia Nervosa cannot be satisfactorily accounted for by any single model of abnormality

Anorexia is a condition disputed by psychologists in attempts to find a cause for the problem. Anorexia is when an individual chooses to emaciate themselves in order to be thin. There are two main types of reasoning behind such behaviour. The biological and psychological explanation. Of course, there are many forms of branched out explanations within these, and the two of which that I shall be exploring are the genetic justification (in terms of biological) and the behaviourist approach, for the psychological relation. Biological psychologists believe that human behaviour and what makes us do what we do, is all down to genes. With the new advance in recent science, genes are becoming a more popular reasoning to many psychological issues. Anorexia nervosa for one. The genetic approach proclaims that the cause for anorexia is to do with genes: i.e. the genetic and inherited factors we have within our relations. The idea is that should one family member suffer from an eating disorder, then there is a higher chance that another family member (preferably those who share the same, or like genes) would contract an eating, or another obsessive-compulsive disorder. Holland et al, a group of psychologists, lead a study on the genetic link of anorexia nervosa in 1984. They perused a sample of 34 pairs of twins and one set of triplets, where at least one twin in each pair suffered from anorexia. They found a higher concordance rate of 55% for the 16 monozygotic twins (who share 100% of the same genes) than for the 14 pairs of dizygotic twins, (who share 50% of the same genes) with a concordance rate of only 7%. The results, in imprecise terms, suggested that there was a genetic link between family members suffering from anorexia nervosa. But on closer examination of the study, we can find many other reasons, which may not be genetic, for these findings. For example, the sample amount was very small. This is a major flaw in any experiment, as the sample size often needs to a representative size, which can be extended to the whole of society, but 35 pairs of twins is an extremely small amount. Furthermore, the environmental influences were not considered in this experiment, and so the higher concordance rates for the monozygotic twins could be because they are treated more alike than the dizygotic twins. This is part of behaviourism of which I shall study later on. In terms of reasonability, the genetic link between family members suffering from anorexia seems to be weak. Though it can be part of the reason or perhaps only accurate for only a very few, it cannot be wholly responsible for everyone who suffers from this eating disorder. A problem with this reasoning as being the â€Å"answer† is that there is then no blame of self. Because the condition is ‘purely' biological, the individual is then rendered hopeless and vulnerable to the disorder, as they are not in control of what is in their genes. It can also provide an ‘excuse' so that the subject is unable, or unwilling to become better. Psychologically, behaviourists look at how the environment and outside influences have shaped and created an individual. Predominantly in western cultures, the size of â€Å"beauty† in terms of celebrity and media has dramatically decreased in the last couple of decades. Marilyn Monroe, said to be one of the most beautiful woman of the time was a dress size 14. As the years gone by, we find that the dress size of â€Å"beauty† has gone down, and now, catwalk models are size 8's and lower. It seems that the more rich and advanced we become, the higher our standards are, for skinnier people. The media is a major factor in influencing the ordinary people of our society. Behaviourists believe that this is one of the main causes for people (particularly those with lower self-esteem) to develop eating disorders, in order to become more like the person in the magazine. Because of this, people are often seen as ‘beautiful' when they are thin. This puts pressure on people who perhaps may have been teased and felt self-conscious about their self-image. Once the individual begins to lose weight, it is often found that the criticism stops, and compliments are received in its place. This can then become a habit, and is known as â€Å"Classical conditioning†. They learn to associate being thin with feeling good about themselves. â€Å"Operant conditioning† happens when the praise and admiration from others reinforces their eating habits and causes them to want to lose more weight. This form of explanation is very logical in certain aspects, but there are a few things that, should this theory be true, does not correspond appropriately. For example, once the sufferer begins to lose too much weight and is then the cause for concern, why is it that once the compliments stop, the sufferer still desires to lose weight? The compliments were associated to feeling good and losing weight. The compliments are no longer there, and so one would assume the feeling good should have dissolved, and due to operant conditioning, the sufferer would learn to break the habit. It is true that operant does sometimes work on promoting weight gain in some people, by if this concept was accurate, then why doesn't everyone with anorexia respond in the same way? â€Å"Anorexia Nervosa cannot be satisfactorily accounted for by any single model of abnormality† It is true that anorexia cannot be the result of one cause, as we have looked at two versions of reasoning behind the condition and both explanations still leave gaps where logic or situation does not fit. Each explanation gives a valid justification to anorexia, but the problem still cannot be solved by one account of psychology. The answer may be that it is a mixture of perhaps several models of abnormality, but the fact is that anorexia nervosa is too complex and too different in every case to be the epitome of one explanation.