Monday, September 30, 2019

Workplace Incivility

Select and complete one (1) of the following assessments from your text: †¢ Box 8. 2: Workplace Incivility Scale I selected this exercise since my organization recently had a change in leadership at the highest levels. I thought to compare/contrast the Incivility Scale under the old and new regimes. I concentrated on my interactions with my superiors. | |Old Leadership |New Leadership | |Put you down or was condescending to you? |Yes. This was a frequent occurrence at staff |No. | |meetings | | |Paid little attention to your statement or |Yes. This was a frequent occurrence at staff |No. | |showed little interest in your opinion? |meetings | | |Made demeaning or derogatory remarks about you? |No. The boss always separated his professional |No. | | |feelings from personal ones. He frequently | | | |would question you professional competence, but| | | |would not cross the line into a personal | | | |attack. | | |Addressed you in unprofessional terms either |Yes. This seems to be at odds with the above |No. |publically or privately? |statement, but these did not seem to be a | | | |personal attack. | | |Ignored or excluded you from professional |No. This does not really apply in my situation|No. This does not really apply in my situation| |camaraderie? |because of the differences in ranks. |because of the differences in ranks. | |Doubted your judgment on a matter over which |Yes. Was very vocal about it during staff |Yes. This still occurs at staff meetings, but | |you have responsibility? |meetings. |with a different tone. It is not so much a | | | |doubt in judgment, but more of an â€Å"are you | | | |sure† second check. | |Made unwanted attempts to draw you into a |No. We never had this sort of relationship. |No. We never had this sort of relationship. | |discussion of personal matters? | | | | | | As can be seen above, there have been a wholesale change in the leadership style in my organization. Everyone that has been promoted to a leadership position has had to attend at least one Leadership Continuum (more likely, he has attended at least five). One of the core concepts that is taught is the theory to â€Å"Praise in Public, Shame in Private. It has constantly amazed me how many leaders never picked up on that lesson. I try to embrace that lesson with my subordinates in all of my interactions. With the new leadership in place, we seem to produce the same output as before, but with a hi gher morale level. The new boss still challenges your professional judgment to keep you on your toes, but it is accomplished in a far less confrontational manner. In conclusion, It seems as if the Incivility Scale for my organization has shifted significantly in the â€Å"civil† direction [pic]

Sunday, September 29, 2019

How Does Iago Corrup Othello in Shakespear’s Othello

Finally, the most effective way Iago poisons Othello’s mind is by changing the appearance of reality. He will cover it up with lies and Othello will be forced to believe him because he will be too submerged in doubt and suspicion to see the truth. In act 3, scene 3, when Cassion parts from Desdemona, Iago makes it appear as if Cassio â€Å"steal away so guilty-like†(Shakespeare, act 3, scene 3) because he did not want to be seen with Desdemona. While it appears really bad from Othello point of view, the reality of it is completely different. Cassio, who has been demoted, wishes to gain back his good will with Othello with Desdemona’s help. Iago tricks Othello by making him believe that every seemingly harmless encounter between Cassio and Desdemona are actually lies and that they are seeing each other behind his back. To the readers of the play it is quite obvious the nature of their encounter but to Othello who judges with eyes clouded by jealousy, he can only see the harm being done. Othello is unable to make a rational decision because he is too deep in madness. Iago has poisoned his mind and ruined his judgement. To further poison Othello’s mind, Iago will set up Cassio and Othello. In act 4, scene 1, while Othello is hidden in the shadows; Iago approaches Cassio and starts a conversation with him. Othello believes the base of the conversation will be about his wife Desdemona because it is what Iago told him he would do: interrogate Cassio about Desdemona. But the reality of it is different. Iago is actually talking to Cassio about Bianca. Othello is caught up in the illusion; he now truly believes that Desdemona is unfaithful towards him. Jealousy clouds one’s mind. Othello in able to see that Iago is playing him; he is too deep in his own illusions to notice that he is being used. Because Othello’s judgement is clouded, Iago is able to make things appear differently. With his rational thinking gone, Othello is incapable of differencing reality from lies. The more he is poison, the more he degrades. His speech deteriorates, he has epileptic attacks and burst into rage. His actions are proof of his mental state. He is turmoil because of what Iago has made him believe, because of what Iago has made him see. Not only does Iago make scenes appear differently, he himself is an example of appearance vs. reality. Trough out the eyes of the other characters in the play, Iago appears â€Å"full of love and honesty†; Othello even says that â€Å"Iago is most honest†. In Criminal Types in Shakespeare, August Goll cites: â€Å"Iago appears to every one as the clever head, the man who knows the world and sees things clearly, who describes things as he sees them without mincing matters-the free-spoken, honest friend bold and rough: for this reason they all seek him in their various difficulties, Desdemona, Cassio, Emilia, Roderigo. (Goll, 218) Iago makes himself appear intentioned to the feeling of others. When they are faced with difficulties he offers them advices. Othello looks to Iago for advice on how to deal with the situation he faces, he asks him to help him in his vengeance. Iago true personality is someone who is egocentric, full of malice. He only thinks about himself. He does not help the Moor with good intention; he believes that he cheated with his wife and thus wishes to get his revenge. He does not give advice to Cassio because he feels obliged to help a comrade; he does it to fulfill his plan. To conclude, Iago is one of Shakespeare most vile villain. He made Othello fall into despair; he made him believe that Desdemona was unfaithful to him when it was nothing but lies. He used many tricks to poison Othello’s mind, he became his friend with him and trick him, and he withheld information from him and made things appear differently. With his superior intellect, he manipulated Othello like a puppet. Manipulators are among us. Would you be able to tell if you were manipulated?WORK CITEDBROCK, James Harry Ernest, Iago & some Shakespearean Villians, New York, AMS Press, 1973 COE, Charles Norton, Shakespeares’s Villains, New York, AMS Press, 1972 GOLL, August, Criminal Types in Shakespeare, New York, Haskell House, 1966 NAZARE-AGA, Isabelle, Les Manipulateurs sont parmis nous: Qui sont-ils? Comment s’en protà ©ger?, Montreal, Les Éditions de L’Homme, 1997 SHAKESPEARE, William, Othello, New York, Washington Square Press, 1993 WEILGART, Wolfgang J. Shakespeare Pschognostic: Character Evolution and Transformation, AMS Press, 1972 â€Å"Jalousie Illusoir†, 2010, http://www.worldlingo.com/ma/enwiki/fr/Delusional_jealousy, consulted on November 9th 2010

Saturday, September 28, 2019

A World War One Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

A World War One - Essay Example of World War I based mostly upon the details that bordered its onset and subsidence while Zinn communicates an idea on how World War I can be considered as ‘health of state’ and, through Tindall and Shi, one may be drawn to comprehend that World War I or the Great World War which broke out in Europe, engaging the U.S. in 1914, deserved to be identified a crisis that had caused the American nation to shift in character towards international relations. Naturally, these differing perspectives bear impact on our understanding of the American history during World War I in the manner our thoughts and judgments of the war are shaped by often partial views which the historians inevitably attach with their findings. According to Johnson, â€Å"Between 1859 and 1914, America increased its output of manufactured goods, in value, no less than eighteen times, and by 1919, boosted by World War I, thirty-three times† (Johnson 352). This statement exhibits an approach of signifying World War I by way of illustrating what America had in yield before and after the war, in view of the nation’s struggle with its commercial phase of growth. As Johnson accounted for technology in various forms, specifically the invention of the barbed wire by the farmers J. Glidden and J. Haish as well as the establishment of machineries in place of direct manual labor along with the production of power via abundant supply of energy from water, steam, and electricity, one rather imagines a more industrial than political scenario bordering the confines of World War I. Prior to the Great War, Johnson notes the occurrence of ‘Progressivism’ at the turn of the century where the ‘Progressivesâ₠¬â„¢ of the middle class rose in hostile protest against the big capitalists of the era whereas, by the end of the war, blacks in considerable number carried on their lifelong cause of fighting for freedom from slavery and slave trade. It figures herein that Johnson’s attempt of portraying World War I

Friday, September 27, 2019

Autobiographical Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Autobiographical - Essay Example Especially I liked listening to the story of Pocahontas and John Smith, as they had some connection with me and my sister. The Indians, whose chief was Powhatan, shared the land with the colonists, the leader of which was John Smith. Powhatan wanted to kill John as he was invading the land of the Native Americans. But his daughter Pocahontas, who saw in John Smith an intelligent person and a good leader , came to rescue him putting her head on his when her father Powhatan was trying to kill John. Powhatan let John Smith live. The Indians started to appreciate him and adopted him into their tribe (Colonial America). This was the story that gave birth to my sisters name; Pocahontas - after Powhatan’s daughter and my name; John- in the memory of John Smith. I live with my mother, Amanda; my father George; my sister Pocahontas and my uncle Patrick. My father is a doctor. He is a very important man in our region. He was at every home and in every family. He is present at every fune ral and birth. He is equal both to the schoolmaster and the innkeeper, and not much inferior to the minister. People appreciate and respect him very much. His is especially famous for his popular medicine, which consists of toads burned to a crisp and powdered, then taken in small doses for diseases of the blood (Elson). My uncle Patrick is a merchant. He takes cargoes of fish and cattle and the products of the forest and of the soil to the West Indies, to England, and to Spain, and brings in return molasses and the many articles of manufacture that we can not make at home. I used to help him. We usually made the furniture for

Thursday, September 26, 2019

The Social Cost Prison has tours a family and communitty Research Proposal

The Social Cost Prison has tours a family and communitty - Research Proposal Example e population in 2007 was estimated at 1,321,851,88, which represents approximately one fifth of the world’s total population, and nearly 5 times the population of the United States, has a prison population of only 1.5 million people nearly half the size of the U.S. prison population. This represents roughly one in every one thousand Chinese (Ibid.). China is a communist totalitarian state. The United States prides itself on being the world’s greatest democracy. Go fiqure! Between 1980 and 1992 per capita spending on corrections in the U. S. rose by an amazing 306.2% (Davey 2). Similar to the present housing crisis, the prison building boom of the 1990’s, has ultimately resulted in the severe overcrowding which is currently bloating the budgets of nearly all 50 states. It has the added effect of totally devastating families and communities throughout this nation (Warren 3). Furthermore, although African Americans make up only 12-13% of the U.S. population, they ar e currently 49.2% of the nation’s prison population. This is shameful. However, on top this is the neatly contrived bogus media perceptions of African Americans. Although young Black men actually experience the highest rates of criminal victimization in the country, and White women experience the lowest, the manufactured corporate media image is for the most part, that of young Black men who exist in this society as the overwhelming perpetrators of crime; and White women who are the overwhelming victims (Dorfman 8). You can easily see that the reality does not jive with the illusion. Isn’t that something? The picture is that of a nation drunk with the rule of law; and tinged with an overtly racist cultural worldview. It is the image of a ‘Criminal’- Justice System that is to often seen by a substantial number of American citizens as a system that is nothing more than perfectly worded. In 2007 an average of nearly one billion dollars per state was spent on ‘corrections’, and the prison

Compare and contrast the Four Leader-centric Approaches Term Paper

Compare and contrast the Four Leader-centric Approaches - Term Paper Example As the paper declares  the person possessing these qualities is considered a leader. A leader has certain important leadership traits such integrity, self-confidence, intelligence and determination. Style in leadership signifies the behavior of the leader. The style of leadership focuses mainly on the activities and the ways of approaching them. However, the leader centric approaches assist in determining the styles of the leaders. These can also be regarded as the qualities or traits which are hidden in different leadership styles.This essay highlights that the common question that is often asked is that, is the leaders above the law or does the moral values that applies to all, also applies to the leaders? Immanuel Kant, suggested that according to the deontological ethics, morality binds every one which also includes the leaders. So it can be said that if Kant is right in his approach, the leaders cannot have a rule breaking attitude, and cannot appeal if he/she is regarded wron g. However, in spite of this if a leader engages in any unethical behavior is simply an unreasonable person. So reasons demand that every person has to act in one way including a leader. The golden rule is that, which Kant has suggested, that says that, we should treat everyone the way we want to be get treated by others.  This view is very much applicable for authoritative leaders, who must understand that he is not different but part of the same crowd.

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Article - Marketing Campaigns Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

- Marketing Campaigns - Article Example For instance, in my opinion the marketing strategy that is referred to as newbie love Freebies is unethical (Inc.com, 2010). This is because; the act of dating novices may not appeal to all individuals in the community. Thus, such a strategy will not be truly effective in marketing even if it worked for Sunday River Skiway. In addition, some of the words used in some of the marketing strategies can only be understood by persons who are experienced with the marketing field. However, for a leman, some words like killer instinct, Bienvenidos, and reading the market may not make any sense in relation to marketing (Inc.com, 2010). Moreover, they may also be literally interpreted and, thus leading to miscommunications. Some of the ideas presented in the article have also even been described as wacky and incompetent. Besides, some of them like my new favorite and got it may also trigger unethical behaviors in the society. However, some of the marketing strategies used in the article like know your audience and engaging the consumer may have a decent implication on the business and, thus they will be useful in giving it a competitive advantage over other businesses (Inc.com,

Monday, September 23, 2019

Answering questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 5

Answering questions - Assignment Example This decision worsened the situation as it was like a throwing a burning branch into a bucket of kerosene. It instigated anti—American sentiment in Iran which explored (Christopher & Mosk, 2007). We learn that Carter actions were more of humanitarian than political, and this caused him a second term following his inability to restore the situation that became his weakness for the competitors. The duo was terrorists school shooters that handled the April 20, 1999 Columbine High School massacre. This massacre has remained the today’s the deadliest high school massacre in American history as well the fifth deadliest school massacre in history of America after the Bath School Bombing, the Virginia Tech Massacre, the Sandy Hook Elementary Scholl massacre and the University of Texas massacre. The duo met in 1995 and became intimate friends. The first warning signs arose from the increasingly hostile personality in his freshman year at Columbine when Eric met Tiffany Typher in German. Brian was born in 1961 and was the 2008 vice presidential candidate of America’s Independent Party in the same year’s United States Presidential Election. He ran on the ticket with the presidential candidate Alan Keyes. He is a school drop-out at 16 and founded a car stereo in business in Englewood, Colorado. He led the efforts to examine the sociological reasons for Columbine High School Massacre as his son (Daniel) wounded by Eric and shot in back by Klebold. His opinion was that the cause of the massacre was as resulting of legalizing abortion as well as the removal of all vestiges of religion from the public school classroom. The controversy of the cross memorial is understood, but the controversy arise about the gun since the history is clear and the meaning of the concern being on the appropriateness of the specific location for the processed

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Legal Risk and Opportunity in Employment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Legal Risk and Opportunity in Employment - Essay Example (Morris, 2008). If Paul had been fired for being black, he would definitely have a case against Newcorp. However, if he was fired for his voiced opinion at the school board meeting, this would not be protected. While the First Amendment protects freedom of speech, it makes no note that employers have to â€Å"put up with it.† (Morris, 2008). Pat is wrong in his belief that his employee manual’s described process of the corrective action plan means that he cannot be fired without warning. In the case of Toussaint v. Blue Cross & Blue Shield, the employee handbook stated that employees could only be fired after warning, notice, and hearing; Toussaint had been fired without warning. The court ruled in favor of Toussaint, and declared that an employee handbook creates contract. (Samuelson, 2007). However, since then, employers have been very careful in taking steps to protect themselves from this sort of liability. (Morris, 2008). Newcorp having Pat sign the statement of at-will employment was a proper way to prevent liability. And if Pat had looked carefully at his handbook, he probably would have discovered some sort of language within it expressing that it was not to be relied upon as a contract. (Morris, 2008). Paula is correct in believing that it is illegal for her not to be transferred to wire-coating based on her sex. Sex discrimination in the workplace involves the different treatment of an employee based on sex that negatively affects things like pay, employment, and advancement or training opportunities. Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits sex discrimination in the workplace and applies to â€Å"private employers, state and local government employers, labor organizations, employment agencies, and joint employer-union apprenticeship programs with 15 or more employees.† (Equal Rights Advocates, 2008). Although Paula is young and could

Saturday, September 21, 2019

The Environmental Impacts of 2010 Essay Example for Free

The Environmental Impacts of 2010 Essay ABSRTRACT Nowadays as the issues of environmental sustainability have been a heated theme in the event industry, environmental impacts caused by major events are always examined through a bias lens and they are widely believed to be directly bound up with the host surroundings. When realizing the importance of sustainable development, many large-scale festivals such as Olympic Games and Glastonbury Music Festival are striving to mitigate their physical impacts on the local community and looking forward to turning into an eco-friendly event. This report focuses on the environmental dimension of the mega event and investigates both the pros and cons of the environmental impact. Table of Content 1. Introduction 2. Background of 2010 Taipei International Flora Expo 3. Environmental impacts 3.1 Positive Environmental Impacts 3.1.1 Showcasing the environment 3.1.2 Providing models for best practice 3.1.3 Increasing environmental awareness 3.1.4 Infrastructure legacy 3.1.5 Urban transportation and renewal 3.2 Negative impacts 3.2.1 Litter problems 3.2.2 Air Pollution 4. Conclusion 5. References Read more:  Environmental Festivals 1. Introduction As the event industry has been rapidly flourishing and well received over the years, staging the event is seen as one practicable means of displaying the local surroundings. However, conducting an event often has straight physical impacts (both active and passive) on the environment, such as all kinds of  contamination, destruction of flora and fauna as well as the depletion of natural resources. For this reason, I decide to select environmental impacts as the subject of this report. With the increasing consciousness of sustainable development, environmental impacts generated by major festivals in recent years draw deeper attention from all fields of society and become a hot topic around the globe. Most of festivals, especially those large-scale events, now are dedicated to protecting the host environment by effective operations wherever applicable and diminishing any possible negative impacts. The aim of this report is to examine environmental impacts through an instance of 2010 Taipei International Flora Expo as well as evaluate both positive and negative physical effects triggered by the assigned example. 2. Background of 2010 Taipei International Flora Expo  2010 Taipei International Flora Expo, a mega flora festival identified by AIPH (International Association of Horticultural Producers), was organised by Taipei government. It was the first time that Taiwan got authorised to run such an international-scale event and Taipei was also the seventh host city held in Asia. Going along with the previous excellent green practice, Taipei International Flora Expo was designed to show the creativity of horticultural decoration as well as implement the idea of sustainable environmental development and planned for advocating new green life-styles to individuals. The definition of sustainable development refers that ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (World Commission on Environment and Development 1987). Different from other mega events, the International Flora Expo does not require the host city to spend too much money on new amenities, but encourage it to make use of existing sites. This garden festival enhanced the old facilities and applied the principles of 3R (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) and 3G (Green Building, Green Energy, Green Transportation) into its whole event project and the construction of infrastructure. Figure.1. 2010 Taipei International Flora Expo (ç ¶  Ã¨â€° ²Ã¥ · ¥Ã¥ »  2010) 3. Environmental impacts Events and surroundings are closely linked with each other. From the moment  that the city has decided to bid for the event, impacts soon started to occur on the environment. Host surroundings may be extraordinarily fragile and great consideration should be taken to look after them. A large-scale event should need to be conducted by an environmental impact assessment. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a crucial environmental tool which is seen as the necessary procedure of activity in order to give the environment its appropriate place in the decision-making process by improving the quality of advanced information to event organisers, so that environmentally sensitive determination can be made paying careful attention to minimizing impacts, enhancing the planning of activities and protecting the environment (outlined by Kees Bastmeijer and Timo Koivurova, 2008). Analysis of the environmental impacts of events can be divided into three groups of physical impacts on the natura l environment; impacts on the man-made environment and impacts on the ecosystem (Là ³rà ¡nt, 2009). Firstly, natural environmental impacts contain air quality, geological factors and water quality, depletion of natural resources and flora and fauna. Secondly, the impacts on the man-made environment include the infrastructure put in place at the festival, the changes in the land-use and building and visual impacts. Finally, the ecosystem refers to the ecological network or flora and fauna. As for physical and environmental impacts, they are as complex as other impacts on the surroundings. They may be domestic and international impacts, reversible and irreversible effects, positive and negative influences. In the following section the favorable (positive) and unfavorable (negative) impacts will be come up for discussion independently. 3.1 Positive environmental impacts When it comes to positive physical and environmental effects, Hall (1989) refer that a successful event has five points of favorable impacts as follows: * Showcasing the environment * Providing models for best practice, * Increasing environmental awareness, * Infrastructure legacy * Improved transport and communication * Urban transportation and renewal As an environment-based festival, 2010 Taipei Flora expo as a whole brought about lots of beneficial impacts on the host surroundings. 3.1.1 Showcasing the environment Running the event is an effective approach to showcase the distinctive features of the host environment. Hall (1989) points out that selling the image of a hallmark event includes marking the intrinsic properties of the destination. Taking the opportunity of holding Flora Exposition, Taipei government devoted to renovating the majority of aging buildings in the host area such as Taipei Fine Arts Park, Children’s Leisure Centre, Zhongshan Soccer Stadium and Lin-An-Tai Historic Houses, and converting them into the new look with green concepts. Taipei authority successfully showcased their achievements in the construction of urban afforestation, the refurbishment of local amenities as well as in the areas of sightseeing. According to the official statistics, it is estimated that 2010 Taipei International Expo in total appealed to 8,963,666 attendants during the 171-day exposition. 3.1.2 Providing models for best practice By the event Taipei delivered its outstanding accomplishments in the industry of horticulture and eco-technology and in the implementation of urban greening. Many records created by this festival made visitors from all over the world proud. Dr. Doek Faber, the president of the International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH), publicly admired Taipei Flora Expo as the most interesting, innovative and creative one in the past five decades and added that this event has founded a new flora expo criterion and set an excellent practice for the coming 10 years. 2010 Taipei Flora Expo was considered as the great models of sustainable development and urban afforestation for other cities to follow. After the successful bidding, Taipei started a series of environmental protection work and made ‘urban greening’ into reality. 2010 Taipei Flora Expo also became a catalyst in boosting the environmental sustainable development of Taiwan. Other noticeable achievements which can be regarded as positive models for practice include: (Flora Expo Revisited 2010) * Each material of event was made in Taiwan * This festival attracted extra international attention to Taiwan’s garden industry * This festival offered many chances for Taiwan’s local cultural and creative industries to display their outstanding works * This festival help people realise the importance of the natural environment * This festival was the first mega event conducted by Taiwan * This festival got a good reputation at home and abroad * This festival was an eye-opener regarding urban aesthetics 3.1.3 Increasing environmental awareness 2010 Taipei Flora Expo was highlighted to the importance of environmental protection, so the festival organizers made great efforts to conserve the natural community and they also believed that they have an obligation to increase consumer awareness of environmental issues. The event organizers specially produced a series of 3D record films related to the latest environmental issues that were played in EXPO Theatre and hoped that through watching these movies participants can seriously face up to the environmental problems and can take actual action to protect our surroundings. In addition, there was a new-fashion eco-friendly architecture that was assembled from 1.5 million plastic bottles (instead of bricks) to put an emphasis on the idea of recycling and sustainable environmental development. Figure.2 Eco ark (ç ¶  Ã¨â€° ²Ã¥ · ¥Ã¥ »  , 2010) 3.1.4 Infrastructure legacy Regarding heritage preservation issues, the event managers integrated all legacies which are located in the host venues into the plan and then soon started undertaking the renovation. Taipei Story House and Lin-An-Tai Historic House are rebuilt to leisure places with the combination of cultural heritages and unique-style restaurants. This event not only well preserves local ancient legacies but also successfully broadcasts these historical sites to more visitors. Figure.3 Taipei Story House Figure.4 Lin-An-Tai Historical House 3.1.5 Urban transportation and renewal Unlike the majority of previous Flora Expo, 2010 Taipei Flora Expo was staged in the centre area. Therefore, transportation may be taken into the essential consideration. In order to provide tourists with convenient transport network, Taipei government improved the construction of public transportation, including rerouting bus system, enhancing pedestrian system as well as increasing bike lanes. During the festival, visitors can enjoy free shuttle buses around four event venues, use adjacent public fee-paying parking lot and take the MRT to other places. 3.2 Negative impacts Mega events have often attracted criticism for their perceived negative impacts on sensitive locations (Greenpeace, 2004). Adverse environmental effects such as destruction of the host surroundings, noise disturbances, pollution and disruption of legacy caused by large-scale festivals are always the critical themes remained a significant concern. These impacts may become much severe if the festival takes place in an outdoor public area like a square, street or park. Some opposite positive environmental impacts of 2010 Taipei Flora Expo will be integrated as below. 3.2.1 Litter problems A considerable amount of waste produced by festivals is always a persistent problem troubled the local authority. Taipei government had hoped to popularize the idea of environmental protection through the expo, however, it seemed to have no obvious effect. The reason why litter management of this expo failed can be attributed to its environmental policy. Taipei government specifically made strict rules to prohibit littering, but strangely, it didn’t install enough refuse and recycling bins around the host zones, so that festival goers could not find rubbish bins as easily as possible. As a result, it can be seen that garbage was still tossed by the side of host venues. Figure.5è ®Å Ã©â€º »Ã§ ® ±Ã¤ ¸Å Ã§Å¡â€žÃ¥Å¾Æ'Ã¥Å" ¾ Ã¥ â€°Ã¥ ¤ §Ã¦â€"‡æ˜Žçš„野è   »Ã¥ ±â€¢Ã§ ¤ º(é »Æ'Ã¥ ­ «Ã¦ ¬Å ) In terms of litter management, Glastonbury festival is a successful model of waste volume reduction for other events to learn. This festival makes  greater efforts to efficiently clean the rubbish caused by the event on the host community and thoroughly implements its strategies of reducing rubbish. Hence, remarkable reductions have been recorded in the past three years by taking stronger control of the items brought on spot by staff, sponsors and entrepreneurs – and by focusing on their obligation to remove items brought on spot. Moreover, the event managers of Glastonbury festival annually recruit recycling volunteers to collect litters and separate the recyclables (Glastonbury Festival Ltd, 2000). 3.2.2 Air Pollution In an event-related study Là ³rà ¡nt (2009) indicates that air pollution generated by the festival can cause bad impacts on the natural environment, particularly CO2 emissions from the transport exhaust. Due to 2010 Taipei Flora Expo taking place in the downtown, the provision of solid transportation network was the efficient way to manage the crowded visitors. However, CO2 emissions from vehicles, buses and other motors lowered the air quality of Taipei city. table.2 energy consumption for one passenger kilometer (Halmay et al., 2006) From the diagram, it can be obviously seen that walking and cycling consumed the lowest energy use. Although the host organisers highly promoted the advantages of cycling and walking during the event, the practical implementation was still be very challenging. 4. Conclusion After reviewing literatures and books in relation to the environmental impact, it can be proved that physical effects of festivals, no matter positive or negative ones, may have immediate influences on the environment. Before conducting large-scale events, the crucial step toward success is to assess environmental impacts through the analysis of environmental impact assessment. By doing so, the majority of event organizers can forecast and evaluates possible potential impacts of projects on the local environment and then can make the event going on smoothly. In addition, with the heated discussion about environmental sustainability, it seems a global trend that most of event holders currently have been attempting to apply the principle of sustainability into their events and taking measures to do the minimum of  environmental damage. Looking into the future, relevant research and studies of events suggest that environmental conscious events will be more prevalent in the coming two decades. As a result, more and more festivals are expected to place great emphasis on the sustainable development within projects. Mega events play a vital role in cultivating understanding of environmental issues, arousing awareness and generating resources. 2010 Taipei International Flora Expo, the first mega festival held by Taiwan, demonstrated Taiwan’s ambition to encounter the world event industry. How to effectively address negative environmental impacts of the expo and how to keep the positive consequences continuing developing are the primary task for Taipei government to review. 2010 Taipei Flora Expo can be regard as the preparation for the next mega event – 2017 Universiade. 4. Reference Andrea, C., Calvin, J., Max, M., 2008. Assessing the environmental impacts of mega sporting events: Two options. Tourism Management, 30(6). Available from:http://ejournals.ebsco.com/Direct.asp?AccessToken=9II51IQ8XRDJE4M5DD1KRMQJ1PEQ8XQM51Show=ObjectErrorURL=http%3A%2F%2Flinksource%2Eebsco%2Ecom%2Ferror%2Easpx [Accessed 25 October 2012] Benders, R. M. J., Moll, H. C., Nijdam, D. S., 2012. From energy to environmental analysis: improving the resolution of the environmental impact of Dutch private consumption with hybrid analysis. Journal of Industrial Ecology. Available from: http://ejournals.ebsco.com/Direct.asp?AccessToken=544W64JTRR9WYUS99S6SN4QVSQVYTRJFW6Show=ObjectErrorURL=http%3A%2F%2Flinksource%2Eebsco%2Ecom%2Ferror%2Easpx [Accessed 25October 2012] Brain J, M., Marlene, F., 1994. A CASE STUDY OF A TOURISM SPECIAL EVENT: AN ANALYSIS OF AN AMERICAN STATE FAIR. Festival Management Event Tourism, 2 (2), p.75-83 David, L.,2009. Events and Tourism: An Environmental Approach Impact A ssessment. Journal of Tourism Challenges Trends, Vol. 2 Issue 2, p101-113. Chris, R., Alan, S., Sharon, M and Don, G., 1998. NEW ZEALAND EVENTS: A TEMPORAL AND REGIONAL ANALYSIS. Festival Management Event Tourism, 5 (1/2), p.71-83 Evans, W.A., 1994. Approaches to intelligent information retrieval. Information processing and management, 7 (2), 147-168. Gemma, G., Peter, R., 2009. A Critical Comparative Study of Visitor Motivations For Attending Music Festival: A Case Study of Glastonbury and V Festival. Event Management , 13

Friday, September 20, 2019

Telecommunications Services in the UK

Telecommunications Services in the UK Introduction Telecommunication can be specifically defined as â€Å"The science and technology of communication at a distance by electronic transmission of impulses, as by telegraph, cable, telephone, radio, or television† (Thefreedoctionary.com 2009). This brief introduction Traces back the telecommunications services in the United Kingdom, and sketches the evolution of BT from a monopoly in the UK to a global organization. BT is the worlds oldest telecommunications company. The company dates back to the first telecommunications company that was set up in the United Kingdom. As the various smaller companies amalgamated and were taken over by the big ones or collapsed, the companies that survived came to being under the state control, i.e. under the Post office. The British Telecommunications Act, which was passed in the year 1981 transferred the responsibility for telecommunications services from the Post Office, as a result two corporations were created. BT later on transferred into a privatized organization and came to be known as ‘British Telecommunications ‘. In the year 1982, the Government formally announced its intention to privatize British Telecom, with the idea of selling 51 percent of its shares to the public and investors. This intention was put into action by the government passing, the Telecommunications Act, 1984, In November of the year 1984, more than 50 per cent of British Telecom shares were sold to the public and interested investors and the process of privatization was complete. It was no more a state owned organization. It is the worlds oldest communications company. Fast forward to today and technology is the heart to BTs business. Innovation as put forward by BT is the combination or putting together of the technical know-how with commercial acumen, which as a result becomes even more crucial in todays, competitive world. 1.0-Mission Statement A ‘Mission statement is a very important and key factor of the organization as it clarifies the organizations purpose, its goals and its achievements in which the company sets their future objectives. Big companies generally avoid making the mission statement too narrow or either too broad. Organizations believe that the mission statements should be specific and market orientated. Mission statements should also be realistic and motivating. They should also be specifically precise in identifying the main domain in which the organization intends to operate. BTs ‘mission, their central purpose of existence, is to be the leader in delivering converged networked services, provide world-class telecommunications and information products and services, and to develop and exploit our networks, at home and overseas, so that we can: meet the requirements of our customers by being dedicated to helping customers thrive in a changing world. sustain growth in the earnings of the group on behalf of our shareholders, and make a fitting contribution to the community in which we conduct our business. Evidence to support the last point in the mission statement of BT is as follows, this is what the organization had to say towards the disabled community â€Å"Our mission is to drive consideration of disability issues deep into the operations of BT so that we enable equality of access to BTs portfolio and to communicate that effectively to our target audiences, so as to improve the quality of life of disabled people, and enhance shareholder value (Wiki.answers.com 2009 Accessed at 10-12-2009) 2.0-Key Objectives As a consultant, on the basis of detailed research carried out the key objectives of British telecommunications are as follows- Enhancing Customer satisfaction- BTs new CEO, Ben Verwaayen, places a major emphasis on enhancing consumer and customer satisfaction. He believes that corporate social responsibility is an integral step in enhancing consumer satisfaction. If the organization is responsible towards the society it helps creates a large consumer base. .British Telecommunications transformation programme specifically highlights three key objectives, namely being: To enhance the customer experience To accelerate product to market times To reduce BTs cost base- This can be done by aiming for ‘economies of scale. BT further needs a future-proof, flexible and intelligent network so as to enable them to deliver communications services that will meet the customers requirements and satisfy them which will in turn help BT achieving their goals. A few other objectives of British Telecommunication that the research highlights are as follows: Pursuing profitability- BT want to migrate existing customers to the new wave of products and services that they introduce, such as network IT services, broadband, mobility and managedservices. Maximizing the potential of the organizations traditional businesses. Retaining the market share- At present BT has more than 20 million business and residential customers with more 29 million telephone lines.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Newark Museum :: Art

ROMAN OBJECTS 1. Various Roman Portrait Heads The portrait of a bearded man is from 150-175a.d. It is from the Antoine Period (138-192a.d.). The portrait is realistic to me because it is a sculpture of someone. My impressions on this are that his beard is kind of wavy. His hose has a piece missing or is just damaged real bad. He is made out of marble. His face looks like he is mad or something, real intense. It also looks like it had cuts in his forehead and part of his eye. His hair looks like a pile of whip cream. GREEK GALLERIES 2. Statue of Kouros The color of the stone of the statue of Kouros I would describe it as beige. The repairs to the statue are all over the body. It has cracks all over the arms, chest, back, etc. his headband is fastened by some thing on his head that looks like beads with spaces throughout them. It is from 590-580b.c during the archaic period. It stands pretty tall and also has a little staggered going on with his right foot back and his left foot up. ART OF MESOAMERICA 3. â€Å"Fat Baby† from Olmec Culture The â€Å"Fat Baby† is during the 9th- 12th century b.c.e., during the Olmec period. The figure is white and hollow. The baby seems to be nibbling on his index finger, seating down with his legs open. It is pretty big meaning fat and looks old. It has a hat on that looks light pink and his lip is pulled back. The baby has no fangs and is cracked. It has a straight line going down his back with designs all over the left side. ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN ART 4. Human-Headed Winged Bull It is from the Neo-Assyran period during 883-859b.c.e. The highest relief would be its head. The writing was all around the statue in a different writing. It is very big and tall. It is on a good portion of the corner of a hallway. It looks kind of cool with a bull’s body with wings and a human’s head on it. The face is kind of funny because of the beard I guess if long and real even. The human-headed wing bull had five legs. ASIAN GALLERIES 5. Standing Buddha The standing Buddha is from the 5th century 319-500b.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Education - Its Time to Break the Rules :: Free Essays Online

Education - It's Time to Break the Rules When he follows the guidelines of the assignment his writing is wonderful. Unfortunately, he rarely follows those guidelines which I concisely explain to the class. His writing is complete nonsense with no factual support, no structure and no resemblance to any of his classmateà ­s work! I know, I know. I tell him time and time again that there are certain rules that everyone must follow. Its just a part of life. I donà ­t know how he expects to get by in society that way. No one is above the rules. Its just the way the world works. We must break him of this habit before its too late!à ® Yes! you are absolutely correct! There is no place in our educational system for free thinkers like him! What kind of world would it be if everyone let their imagination run wild! Dear god, it would be total chaos! We can not let one student like that one get by or its the beginning of the end of our way of life.à ® He must be severely flogged and then subjected to a series of shock treatments to break him of his spirit and then make it clear to him that if any further outbreaks of spontaneous expression occur, he shall be punished accordingly.à ® This was a conversation between two of my high school teachers that I overheard. Actually , I imagined it, and, although it may sound somewhat extreme, I think it expresses some of goals of our present educational system. We are all force fed knowledge like it was brussel sprouts and some of us swallow it, although it tastes bad, while others spit it out. It seems like we spend a quarter of our lives in school in preparation to become law-abiding members of a society that is far from perfect. Why is it that so many kids hate to go to school? Has every generation since the beginning of time hated to learn? Is it human nature or could there be something wrong with the present state of education? Now I do not speak for everyone in my generation, but kids, in general, would rather be out having fun than in a classroom listening to a teacher. Even a good class with an exciting teacher does not beat swimming or a sunset or frolicking in the meadow or eating a banana split. Education - It's Time to Break the Rules :: Free Essays Online Education - It's Time to Break the Rules When he follows the guidelines of the assignment his writing is wonderful. Unfortunately, he rarely follows those guidelines which I concisely explain to the class. His writing is complete nonsense with no factual support, no structure and no resemblance to any of his classmateà ­s work! I know, I know. I tell him time and time again that there are certain rules that everyone must follow. Its just a part of life. I donà ­t know how he expects to get by in society that way. No one is above the rules. Its just the way the world works. We must break him of this habit before its too late!à ® Yes! you are absolutely correct! There is no place in our educational system for free thinkers like him! What kind of world would it be if everyone let their imagination run wild! Dear god, it would be total chaos! We can not let one student like that one get by or its the beginning of the end of our way of life.à ® He must be severely flogged and then subjected to a series of shock treatments to break him of his spirit and then make it clear to him that if any further outbreaks of spontaneous expression occur, he shall be punished accordingly.à ® This was a conversation between two of my high school teachers that I overheard. Actually , I imagined it, and, although it may sound somewhat extreme, I think it expresses some of goals of our present educational system. We are all force fed knowledge like it was brussel sprouts and some of us swallow it, although it tastes bad, while others spit it out. It seems like we spend a quarter of our lives in school in preparation to become law-abiding members of a society that is far from perfect. Why is it that so many kids hate to go to school? Has every generation since the beginning of time hated to learn? Is it human nature or could there be something wrong with the present state of education? Now I do not speak for everyone in my generation, but kids, in general, would rather be out having fun than in a classroom listening to a teacher. Even a good class with an exciting teacher does not beat swimming or a sunset or frolicking in the meadow or eating a banana split.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Star Jones :: essays research papers

Starlet Marie Jones was born on March 24, 1962 in Badin, North Carolina. She lived there with her grandparents while her mom and dad finished college. Then at the age of six, Jones and her sister moved to Trenton, New Jersey, to live with their mom. After moving to New Jersey, Star started to shine in school. She always held the top grades throughout school and after graduating from a parochial school she enrolled in the American University in Washington, DC. While at American, Star sang in the gospel choir and joined Alpha Kappa Alpha, a very prestigious African-American sorority. She was a popular student on campus and was given the nickname of â€Å"Star.† It was at American that Jones was diagnosed with inoperable tumor and given nine months to live. She didn’t want to believe the news so she went and had a second opinion. It was discovered that the tumor was indeed removable and it was removed. She went on to graduate from the University of Houston's law school and then passed the New York State bar exam the first time around. She then got a job at district attorney's office in Brooklyn. After three years with the district attorney, she started handling violent crime cases, gaining quite a reputation for nabbing stiff sentences for offenders. While working with violent crimes she was promoted to Senior Assistant District Attorney. She’s most remembered as her work on the â€Å"Bicycle Rapist† case in which she won a 66-year prison term for the offender. In 1991, she landed a job as a part-time legal commentator for Court TV. In 1992, she had a contract with the Today Show as their legal correspondent. She managed to land â€Å"hard-to-get† interviews with some of the most famous people in the world including Mike Tyson. Those interviews are what led to her getting national fame. She also gained respect for her reporting on such trials as O.J. Simpson and Lorena Bobbit. Star Jones was soon given her own television courtroom show called Jones & Jury where she played host/judge and the audience played the jury. Her biggest break came in 1997 when she became one of the hosts on ABC’s The View. Her stint on the view has given her the opportunity to expand her views and comments on various ranges of topics. Not only is Star a famous talk show host, but she’s a best selling author as well as an actress.

Hp-Logistics and Supply Chain Management Essay

It specializes in developing and manufacturing computing, data storage, and networking hardware, designing software and delivering services. Major product lines include personal computing devices, enterprise, and industry standard servers, related storage devices, networking products, software and a diverse range of printers, and other imaging products. HP markets its products to households, small- to medium-sized businesses and enterprises directly as well as via online distribution, consumer-electronics and office-supply retailers, software partners and major technology vendors. HP also has strong services and consulting business around its products and partner products. HP believes that simplifying logistics industry supply chains centers on a single premise: the information surrounding in-transit materials and financial management is as valuable as the actual physical goods. Thus, the better you synthesize and utilize the information embedded in the supply chain operations, the more you can reduce complexity and prosper. To this end,The company offer a four-pronged approach for addressing supply chain complexity:1. A clear understanding of the challenges, and a vision of how to break through the complexity. 2. The broadest portfolio of services and technology in the industry for creating an integrated and agilesupporting infrastructure. 3. An industry architecture that maps this portfolio to the core business technology layers that areessential for a high-performing supply chain. 4. Service methodologies for assessing and refining the business and technology that propels supply chain performance.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Racism and Kathryn Hess English Essay

In the beginning of the movie Freedom Writers, the students initially only trust their peers from their racial groups. This is because they only trust the people in their gangs. Almost all the kids were in racially segregated gangs. At first, Ms. Gruwell has difficulty getting anything accomplished. Many of these students have never been shown any respect in the past. Eva and some of the other students tell Ms. Gruwell that they will not just hand her their respect, she must earn it. Ms. Gruwell begins to earn the respect of her students when she moves the students around, out of their racial divisions. She attempts to show the students that they are united by playing the â€Å"Line Game† with them. She puts a line of thick red tape across the classroom and tells the students to move forward when a statement she makes applies to them. Her most effective form of reaching out, however, comes in the form of a composition notebook. Trust is an important component of a teacher-student relationship because if a student doesn’t trust the teacher, nothing the teachers teaches is affective. Ms. Gruwell eventually managed to get her students to show tolerance for one another. She teaches them about the Holocaust and that despite the students’ ethnic backgrounds, they aren’t all that different from each other. For example, she takes them to the Museum of Tolerance. This shows that the students aren’t realistically the different despite the color of their skin or their ethnic background. This is important because Ms. Gruwell could not effectively teach the class until they could get along. As a result, the students begin to build up a tolerance for one another. Part of Ms. Gruwell’s outlook on racism was affected by her father. For example, growing up, her father was a civil rights worker. This shows that his work most likely influenced her views on racism as she grew up. This is important because it taught her not to discriminate against others. As a result, she is able to change the views of her students for the better. At one point, Ms. Gruwell confiscates a racial caricature that was circulating the class. For example, the drawing was of a black student drawn with thick, exaggerated lips. Ms. Gruwell then compared the sketch of the caricatures that the Nazis used to draw of the Jews during the Holocaust. This showed that none of the students even knew what the Holocaust was. This is important because it allowed Ms. Gruwell to teach her students how serious racism really was. As a result, the students became more tolerant. Ms. Gruwell knew that all the students were suffering from physical violence, emotional abuse, substance abuse, poverty, homelessness, gang violence, and deaths of family and friends. She felt sorry about them and wanted to help them sincerely. She did it, and as a result, the class was getting better and better, and the classes grades turned up quickly. Others teacher didn’t believe Ms. Gruwell despite she did a great job. They thought she was a new teacher and had no idea about teaching. But the main point was, they had serious racial prejudice in their minds, they disliked the students in Room 203. For example, one of the teachers refused to lend books to Ms. Gruwell. This shows the racial discrimination was really serious. Hence, Ms. Gruwell had to do everything by herself. Even when Ms. Gruwell’s husband left her, the students made her life better. Problems still came up, she was denied to teach Room 203 in junior and senior year. But after the tough fight with other teachers, she was allowed to stay with them till the end of high school time.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Curley’s wife Essay

Of Mice and Men was written in 1937 by John Steinbeck. It was set whilst we was in the great depression. Referring to how during the great depression women were oppressed and treated less equally to men. Steinbeck may have portrayed women in this light to allow the reader to recognize the inferior role of women at that time. The lack of name demotes Curley’s wife to insignificant status. Her lack of identity implied she is not woman but rather a possession of her husband. This character develops, we find that she is not in fact the unimportant, nameless character we first perceive her as, but rather she is a relatively complex and interesting character. Steinbeck presents her in many ways throughout the story changing the reader opinion of her all the time. In section 2, Curley’s Wife is first presented to us through the dialogue of ranch-hand Candy, when he describes her to George, the reader begin to create an image in our head of what Curley’s wife looks like. Curley’s wife has no respect from the other men at the ranch. Candy uses expressions such as ‘she got the eye’ and goes on to describe her as looking at other men, before eventually calling her a ‘tart’. Through Candy’s words, we develop an initial perception of Curley’s Wife as flirtatious ‘tramp’ and even immoral. The word ‘tart’ suggests she presents herself in a flamboyant manner, which portrays her desperation to be noticed. Steinbeck enables the reader to see Curley’s Wife through Candy’s eyes on their first encounter with her. Further into section two we get a better understanding of Curley’s wife appearance. This reinforces the reader’s thoughts about her. Steinbeck uses the colour red which supports candy’s idea of her being a tart. The colour red is sexualised. Steinbeck repeats the word red many times throughout the passage of her Characterizations. He states her having â€Å"full rouged lips† and â€Å"her finger nails were red† red is a bright colour this suggest that curley’s wife wants attention from the other men on the ranch. † She has red mules† and â€Å"red ostrich feathers† these are expensive so she is trying to impress the men and ostriches are exotic animals, which could her influence her wild side. On the other hand, Curley’s Wife’s appearance could be seen as naivety and simply youthful desire to be found attractive. Red is a primary colour therefore children are attracted to it, it is a colour children want to wear because it is bright and has an element of happiness in it. Therefore Curley’s Wife wearing the colour red may symbolise a child’s attraction to bright colours portraying her as youthful. Steinbeck describes her to wear a â€Å"cotton dress† which is everyday clothing, this juxtaposes against all the red. A cotton dress is more practical to wear at a ranch, so the reader are hesitant, but there is more affirmation to support her being a tart. Steinbeck’s explanation of Curley’s wife plays with the reader’s opinion on her personality. Steinbeck says â€Å"her voice had a nasal, brittle quality† which means it hard but liable to break. This indicates that she may look tough on the outside but Curley’s wife can easily be hurt. Steinbeck then describes her to be sneaky and that she is then dishonest to Curley as when she reaches the barn with the Lennie, Candy and Crooks â€Å"she breathed strongly as tough she had been running† She is sly and want to get away from Curley so then she can go and talk to other men as she does not get that attention from curley this could suggest that their marriage is not true and curley just uses her to feel good about him sly and impress other guys on the ranch wear as the men are not bothered about her. We get across that she can be lonely as Curley does not give her the amount of attention as she desires as Curley’s wife â€Å"think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever’ once in a while? † this is where we get to see her innocent side and the reader start to feel sympathy for her as there is no other women she can speck to just men and curley. When she is alone in the barn with Lonnie she expresses more about her being lonely she is repeating this regularly throughout the scene â€Å"why can’t I talk to you? Dhe will talk to the man that hurt her husband’s hand which reinforces that she is desperate to talk to anyone. â€Å"I get awful lonely†, â€Å"I get lonely† trying to get Lennie sympathy. Steinbeck shows that she is flirtatious and describes her being flirtation a lot. Curley’s wife uses her flirtatious action to get attention â€Å" she moved closer to him and she spoke soothingly† which will relax Lennie and then he will be more attract to Curley’s wife. After Curley’s wife is dead the writer uses a simile to describe what she looks like whilst she is dead â€Å"her body flopped like a fish† which signifies that she is lifeless and fish is not a nice thing to be described as this proves she is not an important member on the ranch and hat she is not cared and has affection from other characters. After her death Steinbeck describes her appearance so that she would like she did want attention â€Å"the meanness and the planning and the discontent and the ache for attention were all gone from her face† which could suggest that her death had proven that she was just a person In need of some comfort. We then as the reader mainly fill sympathy for her. When we are hearing Curley’s wife actions in candy perception we get a negative impression of her and she is not a loyal newlywed as candy said â€Å"I seen her give the slim the eye. Curley never seen it. An’ I seen her give Carlson the eye. † Which implies that she can’t just live with the attention from just Curley but she need it from other mum to fell her need and as Curley has never seen it suggest that she has sneaky action and going behind his back to eye up other men.

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Philosophy Term Paper: Abortion

Philosophy Term Paper Sometimes problems of mental disability and illness arise within a fetus during human development. Questions arise whether or not those fetuses should live or not (abortion). I believe that they do have a right to live. No one can play God and decided whether or not a being should live. We cannot judge whether or not a person is going to be mentally ill or not. We do not know the full potential of that person and we cannot predict whether or not he will always stay mentally challenged. How do we know that person will not get better? How do we know that he really is mentally disabled? We have no right to take a life because we THINK that we may be are helping that individual by not bringing him into a life of hardship and complication. This can be compared to â€Å"ending the misery† of an old person because we think he is pain. This is absurd and wrong. I believe that the double effect principle is not in accordance to the catholic natural law. The catholic natural law states that evil may not be done that good come of it. This means that you can never have something good come out from something evil. Hence, if the double effect states that it is ok to take the life of the baby to save the life of the mother, we are saying it is ok to kill the baby to save the mother; even though killing a person is unjustifiable. This goes against the natural law because the natural law says there is no good from something evil. So, if killing a person is evil there is nothing good that could come out of it. This is why the two ideas are not accordance. In fact, they are completely contradictory- one justifies the abortion and the other doesn’t. 3) I do agree with the both of his principles because he assumes the zygote and whatever comes after it a form of human life and will potentially becomes a person. Devine describes humanity as stages. The way kids turn into adolescent, adolescent into adult, adult into elder. This can also imply that there is development before infancy from zygote to fetus. This is a link in the stages of humanity that philosophers mention of. Also, people do not realize how the infant is the same person in and out the mother’s tomb. The mother gives a name to the fetus and talks about him/her. She treats the fetus as if it was outside the womb, becoming attached to the baby. Looking at these to principles we can see why Devine talks about abortion as murder. We see the zygote being a link in the chain of humanity and the way it is perceived as an infant before delivery. Unless there is a reason for the abortion (mother’s health), abortion should be considered murder. ) 5) Warren states that the first two are enough to prove that a fetus is not a person, justifying the abortion. She expands her claim not only to infants but also to, â€Å"a man or woman whose consciousness has been permanently obliterated but who remains alive is a human being which is no longer a person; defective human beings with no appreciable mental capacity, are not and presumably never will be people; and a fetus is a human being whic h is not yet a person, and which therefore cannot coherently be said to have moral rights. So, not only does she deduce the fact that fetuses are not a person, but also the mentally challenged and ill. Warren also keeps in mind that the attributes that are relevant in determining whether or not moral rights are no different from those which are relevant. Hence, if there is signs of brain activity and resemblance this is not enough to prove the fetus as a person, justifying abortion. 6) To prove his point, he talks about how human cells are present but they lack the structure of a human organism. True human life is only recognizable to about three weeks and primitive brain function does not begin until about the eighth week. He also mentions how twins are not formed until the fourteenth day after conception. Since it takes two weeks to form twins, how can there be a soul in the beginning of conception and then divide into twins; you cannot divide the soul in half for each twin. For this reason I do not believe that the soul is put into the human zygote after conception. When after conception I do not know.

Friday, September 13, 2019

Growth and Poverty Reduction in China, India and Mongolia Essay

Growth and Poverty Reduction in China, India and Mongolia - Essay Example Although Mongolia's growth is rather modest in comparison, it did register a 7.5% growth rate in 2006 due to an increase in copper prices and in the volume of gold production. China is now second only to the US in per capita purchasing power (PPP) and is projected to surpass it within a decade. It is also projected to become the world's largest economy by 2025. (Economic Strategy Institute) Third. Their concrete experience and lessons learned in the relation between rapid growth and poverty alleviation. Recent economic developments have freed millions of Chinese, Mongolians and Indians from the poverty trap, but hundreds of millions more continue to be impoverished. In many cases growth only increases the gap between the poor and the "newly rich," and between coastal cities and farming communities. China's poor have been especially hit by the privatization of many erstwhile state enterprises and consequences such as the loss of jobs, security of tenure, and other benefits. Fourth. Their long history of interaction and currently changing relations. India and China, and China and Mongolia share common borders; 2,800 kilometers long in the first case, and 1,900 kilometers in the latter. (CIA) Border related hostilities erupted into the 1962 China-India Border War. It was only in 2005, 43 years later, that the two countries forged an agreement for what was called a strategic partnership that could pave the way into a total resolution of border issues and fruitful cooperation. (US AID) Relations between China and Mongolia have also improved recently. In the past, Mongolia's fears of annexation by China and its close relations with the Soviet Union (now the Russian federation) blocked such efforts. Relations between the two countries have improved in the past two decades and by 1994, they had concluded a Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation. (Rossabi) II. Do Higher Growth Rates Ensure Less Poverty and More Equality The research paper will focus on the relationship between growth and poverty eradication. It will also touch on the interaction between economic growth and observance of political rights in China, India and Mongolia, though to a lesser degree. This is the thesis. Rapid double-digit economic growth has not and does not automatically guarantee prosperity and economic equality. This is illustrated by the experience of China, India and Mongolia. In fact, in too many cases, economic growth has been and is still achieved at the expense of the basic economic and political rights of particular sectors and areas. The responsibility of any and all governments is to develop the specific policies and programs, structures and mechanisms, and clear yardsticks that will ensure not only economic growth, but just as important, the realization of the economic and political rights of each and every citizen. III. Resources for Poverty Alleviation India and China are large and populous countries with resources in the form of their population, work force, land, minerals, infrastructure, technology, and other natural and man made reserves. (CIA) Mongolia's population of 2.5 million is exceedingly small

Thursday, September 12, 2019

Art and cinema Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Art and cinema - Essay Example llock focuses on a more personal and fanciful aspect as it creates a somewhat fictional account of the early life and influences that helped to develop Pollock in the way that he did. A heavy focus upon his alcoholism and the level of psychological trauma he suffered as a tortured genius is specifically engaged. Although this might in fact be true, the effect that such a representation has is first and foremost engaged for dramatic effect. Finally, the third film, Who the Fuck is Jackson Pollock, is an adventure film told with on the backdrop of Pollock’s life and contribution to art. Although it should not be dismissed, this particular film cannot be viewed as authoritative as Pollock is only an â€Å"aside† to the actual intrigue and primary interest of â€Å"finding lost treasure† that pervades the film. By means of comparison and contrast to one of the clips that was viewed as compared to one of the films that was viewed for this section, the two that have been chosen are â€Å"F is for Fake† and â€Å"Who the Fuck is Jackson Pollock†. The first film focuses upon the fact that the world of art forgery is a developed industry; leveraging the â€Å"artistic† abilities of master forgers who are able to adequately mimic the techniques, colors, patterns, and approach that well-known and highly sought after experts were responsible for crafting. By mean of comparison, â€Å"Who the Fuck is Jackson Pollock† depicts a much more magical interpretation of artwork as something that only Pollock could have been responsible for. The differential between these two has to do with the fact that one assumes that Pollock must be the master painter of the artwork in question; whereas the other clip maintains the fact that even some of the most convincing pieces are in fact forgeries. Henri Cartier Besson’s â€Å"Images a la Sauvette† engages the reader with the understanding that art, whether photographic or within some other genre, must not specifically be engaged in the

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Identity Theft Computer Forensics to the Rescue Research Paper - 2

Identity Theft Computer Forensics to the Rescue - Research Paper Example Then, social, ethical and moral issues regarding identity theft have been discussed. The report is summarized in a concluding paragraph. APA referencing has been used properly. Identity theft is the crime that involves stealing of a person’s private information â€Å"in order to impersonate that person in a legal sense†, according to Vacca (137). When a person’s identity is stolen, he is at great risk of facing a terrifying number of monetary and individual dealings done in his name by the thief. Technology, along with its pros, has introduced exceedingly technical and chic means of acquiring someone’s basic identifying information. Whatever means the thief uses, identity theft brings great damage to the victim’s name and reputation as the victim is solely left responsible for whatever financial or personal loss he faces. One often has to reveal bits of his personal information while doing online transactions, such as his name, address, telephone number, bank information, credit card information, and etcetera. The thief, after stealing this information, can misuse it by, for instance, applying for loans in the victimâ€⠄¢s name, changing his billing address, obtaining driving license, applying for jobs, applying for insurance or new banking accounts, getting authorization for electronic transfers by using the victim’s electronic signature, or any other fraud. On the internet, identity theft is being accomplished using techniques like sending Trojan horses, which are destructive programs, into the computer system, and important passwords and useful information like social security number is transferred to the thief. Another way to steal an identity is email phishing. The victim is sent emails telling the victim that they are from so-and-so enterprise and scamming him by directing him to a fake website which asks for his personal information.

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Valuation of property Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Valuation of property - Article Example A real estate appraisal is performed by a licensed or certified appraiser (in many countries known as a property valuer or land valuer and in British English as a surveyor). If the appraiser's opinion is based on Market Value, then it must also be based on the Highest and Best Use of the real property. For mortgage valuations of improved residential property in the US, the appraisal is most often reported on a standardized form, such as the Uniform Residential Appraisal Report. Appraisals of more complex property (e.g. -- income producing, raw land) are usually reported in a narrative appraisal report. agents and supplied as part of the negotiations relating to the sale of the site was seen to contain a series of calculative errors on checking the calculations. The site value provided by the landowners is found to be 'excessive'. Thus, we see that the corrected valuation of the site is closer to 7.5 million pounds and not 8.5 million pounds as suggested by the landowners' agents in their appraisal. So their appraisal is found to be faulty and the inherent errors and series of calculative errors are identified and corrected. The significance of a sale of a similar nearby property for 5,000,000 pounds is relatively significant in the appraisal and ca... The rate of interest for a short term housing loan is closer to 13%. Calculative errors: This is the appraisal as submitted by the landowners' agents which was found to contain a series of calculative errors and inherent flaws. Detailed Residual Valuation Development Income Shops 800m2 *95% 760 * 250m2 '190,000 Offices 6,750m2 *90% 6,075 * 200m2 '1,215,000 Total Income '1,405,000 YP in 2 years 7% 14.28 Gross Development Value '20,063,400 Development Costs Building Cost Shops 800m2 * '500m2 '284,000 Offices 5,400m2 * '850m2 '4,590,000 Subtotal '4,990,000 Ancillary Costs ' 150,000 Subtotal '5,140,000 Professional Fees 12.50% '642,500 Subtotal '5,782,500 Short Term Finance say 12% on ' total costs for 24 months '2,891,250 *(1.12)^2 - '2,891,250 '735,533 Subtotal '6,518,033 Letting Fees 15% of Income '210,750 Subtotal '6,518,033 Developers Profit, 20% of '5,782,500 '1,156,500 Total Development Costs '7,674,533 Residual Value '12,388,867 Site Value on completion: Site Value Calculation 1.03x (1.12)^3 = 1.45 12,388,867 / 1.45 '8,544,046 Corrected Calculations: This is the alternative 'more accurate' valuation of the site. Detailed Residual Valuation Development Income Shops 800m2 *95% 760 * 250/m2 '190,000 Offices 6,750m2 *90% 6,075 * 200/m2 '1,215,000 Total Income '1,405,000 YP in 2 years 7% 14.28 Gross Development Value '20,063,400 Development Costs Building Cost Shops 800m2 * '550m2 '440,000 Offices 5,400m2 * '900m2

Monday, September 9, 2019

Literature Review for Concept Analysis Dissertation

Literature Review for Concept Analysis - Dissertation Example This is the premise in which exercise became an inevitable element for sustaining a healthy life. The changes that happened in the society were also reflected in the psychological and moral realm of lives as well. Thoughts about rights and power also emerged out of leisure and the question that who are the owners of leisure, and who commands it, arose. Though Oxford Dictionaries Online has offered several definitions for the term, ‘exercise’, I will explore the following two definitions in this concept analysis, a) â€Å"activity requiring physical effort, carried out especially to sustain or improve health and fitness,† †¦[and b)]†¦ â€Å"the use or application of a faculty, right, or process† (Oxford Dictionaries Online, 2010). The first definition stresses the meaning of exercise as a physical activity while, the second one views exercise as the fulfillment of a duty and as the claiming of a right. Taking these two definitions are taken as the yardsticks to understand the importance of education, this analysis envisages to find out how exercise attains a valuable place in the three areas of knowledge, namely, theology, psychology, and nursing. Exercise in theology In a democratic society, an individual has several rights and powers, the exercise of which is supposed to be the foundation of the democratic system itself. Whenever the exercise of any such right or power is denied, the foundations of democracy feel threatened. And this is why the people of many nations around the globe had to fight prolonged battles to be able to exercise these powers and rights. For example, in America, the people felt that â€Å"the right to vote was denied for so long to so many that we cannot afford to ignore any impediment to its exercise† (Grey, 2005). In the theological realm also, there are a set of such rights and powers, which follow the democratic rights but also give rise to many contentious issues as well. For example, Pos t (1995) has observed that â€Å"free exercise is justifiably overridden to promote public health- for example, medical treatment is required to minimize the spread of contagious disease or to benefit minors, even if religious belief is offended† (p.22). Though Post (1995) has reminded, â€Å"the free exercise clause of the First Amendment is central to American public life,† from a nurse’s point of view, situations may arise when a patient wants to exercise his/her right to refuse treatment and the nurse and the system in which he/she works are compelled to use authority and power to prevent that (p. 22). This is particularly important because, just as any other freedom, the freedom to exercise one’s religion also has limits and can be overridden if public health is at risk of being jeopardized (Post, 1995). Taking into consideration these two opposite yet justifiable positions, nurses have to be aware that a patient has the right to refuse or seek treat ment based on their religion and when the right to this free exercise is dishonored, it should be examined and justified. Post (1995) has discussed a legal case in which religion, law, and medicine clash. The article is based on the true story of Baby K, a baby born with anencephaly. The mother, who believes in the sanctity-of-life principle, wants Baby K kept on a ventilator; because of her faith, she believes that a person’

Sunday, September 8, 2019

Active Directory Hierarchy Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Active Directory Hierarchy - Coursework Example There will be three organizational units in the active directory namely, Agents, Accounting and Management. Additionally, there will be one central hub site that has the major organization infrastructure and accounting systems and the central management. There will be 10 sites for the 10 agents working for the company. The Active directory diagram is shown below in figure The company will have three user groups namely: Agents, accountants and Managers belonging to each organizational unit in the organization. The users will include the ten agents who are members of the agent's group, the Accountant who is a member of the accountant's group and the manager belonging to the Managers group.The server in the organization will have 2 hyper-v machines that have individual dedicated Network Interface Cards (NIC). The main server shall provide DNS and the DHCP to all the clients.  

Research Design Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Research Design - Essay Example This research aims to evaluate and present respondents were asked as to estimate the WTP figures. The questions, which involved the willingness to pay (WTP), considered both the environmental and economic factors like the acceptability of WTP and the refusal of proposal both cannot be considered in the similar manner and for what the refusal stand for. Similarly, willingness to pay is sometimes regarded as the willingness to accept. Sometimes, WTP estimates weather the respondent wills to pay or just responds for the moral satisfaction, how the policy-making procedure utilized the benefit estimation. Before each question it gives an information about the question and the relative taxes and costs that will apply. In this way, the respondents and the interviewer maintain an atmosphere of confidence and reliability. Political views of freedom to ask and freedom to say are well adopted in the research paper. Most of the questions are answered in a more reasonable manner and respondent ha ve tried their best to answer as many question and bid as more as possible but in the other paper, respondents avoided some of the questions and responded some of the questions in an unsatisfactory manner. The utilization of multiples as double the current amount, three times the current amount, four times the current value or one thousand times the current amount made the research more cost efficient as it could be without the utilization of multiple values.... The questionnaire is such designed to provide an information to the respondents in both the papers but the method of interaction utilized in the paper â€Å"Benefits of Costs and Wildlife Enhancement Scheme: A Case Study of the Pevensey Levels† written by â€Å"K. G. Willis† are not much influencing. The article â€Å"I struggled with this money business†: respondents’ perspectives on contingent valuation† written by Judy Clark, Jacquelin Burgess and Carolyn M. Harrison’ utilizes the better interaction and information sharing methods. Before each question it gives an information about the question and the relative taxes and costs that will apply. In this way, the respondents and the interviewer maintain an atmosphere of confidence and reliability (Petterson &Williams 2005). Political views of freedom to ask and freedom to say are well adopted in the research paper. Most of the questions are answered in a more reasonable manner and respondent h ave tried their best to answer as many question and bid as more as possible but in the other paper, respondents avoided some of the questions and responded some of the questions in an unsatisfactory manner. The utilization of multiples as double the current amount, three times the current amount, four times the current value or one thousand times the current amount made the research more cost efficient as it could be without the utilization of multiple values. These questions have still indefinite and unsatisfactory answers; however, the satisfactory results can be achieved by utilizing a better questionnaire design. A well-researched method can resolve the problem associated with the WTP and CV

Saturday, September 7, 2019

RR communications Essay Example for Free

RR communications Essay At RR communications, it is obvious there is a problem that needs to be handled if they are to avoid losing customers. The problem lies with the decentralized operations where each business unit has a mandate to operate independently. The business units have the power to make and implement new projects and make decisions without having to involve the whole firm. This has led to many problems such as customers complaining of having receipts for each of the four products offered by the company and would prefer having one receipt for all their transactions. Due to the division among departments, the company has been unable to meet reporting requirements for the Sarbanes Oxley 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 RR 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 coordination to ensure that the act of one area does not negatively affect the rest of the firm. This in turn has led to a significant 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 control 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 VP 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 addition, this company attitude has filtered down from the VPs to the middle and lower management creating an overall atmosphere that is dangerously disjointed. Even the suggestion of bringing together the database systems and management 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 imbedded 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 fail. From the technical standpoint, RR Communications is suffering from a severely fractured information management system. Every section of the company maintains its own individual customer databases, which are in incompatible formats. If a customer maintains relationships with more then one division, they get bills from each individual area. Customer issues often fail to get resolved because the departments do not communicate or share information. This is causing problems with diminished customer satisfaction. In addition, without a centralized database, full customer information and statistics are impractical to collect. 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 RR 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 efficient 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 RR 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 RR  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 governance, 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 RR 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 transferred from one department 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 RR Communications. The main cause of the problem seems to be the division of the different business units. This lack of unity is caused by a faulty commission system that rewards individual performance over company profit. The fact that the four CIOs 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 RR Communications to correct is a significant deficiency of successful information 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 department 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 RR 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 efficient manner. The first step to correct the issues at RR 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 greatly increase the value of information resources. To achieve the greatest benefit to the company, RR Communications could consolidate its data from multiple silos into a unified enterprise data warehouse (EDW) (Smaltz, 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’ (Smaltz, 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 EDW 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 the 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 not conductive to achieve an enterprise vision because by keeping the separate business units separated, it keeps pertinent information out of reach of other business units, and thus allows missed opportunities to maximize profit. Also, the lack of communication among the units creates chaos and disorganization in the organization and gives precedence to individual goals above company goals, which in turn 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 service 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 without 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† (McKeen Smith, 2009, p. 76). A serious challenge to the consolidation of data at RR Communication will be consolidating all of the disparate information from around the firm into a single enterprise data warehouse. It is very likely 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 RR Communication. Duplicate data means an increase in administrative work and overhead, a nd conflicting and inconsistent information means the company is not performing at optimum levels. The reduction of duplicate data, or data deduplication â€Å"can improve the performance of virtual systems, reduce network traffic and cut the costs associated with data protection. In addition, deduplication 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, RR Communication will need a significant amount of data deduplication to create a useful, consolidated enterprise data warehouse. To facilitate the proper stewardship of information, an information management policy needs to be created that addresses these issues in a way that prevents such confusion and disarray. An 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 (McKeen Smith, 2009). To begin to unravel the data mess at RR 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, and who should have access to it. Critical to the success of this policy will be the involvement 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, RR 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 demonstrate small success would help show the support being given to the divisions. To aid in compliance, a large corporate training program should 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 RR 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 company’s information among all divisions, including financial and accounting Markus, M.L., Tanis, 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 RR 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 RR Communication collects vast quantities of data, but having the resources to convert that into useful information can be an extreme challenge. At RR Communication, they are facing a double-sided problem; they have neither a collective data warehouse, nor do they have any effective information management. Once the problem of centralization has been addressed, information management can be. One potential way to improve the use of 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 Brodie, 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 RR Communications, lack of common information and enterprise IM strategy can cause several problems to the business and the IT department. RR Communications has encountered serious customer 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 RR 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 CIOs, divi sional 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 RR 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 CIOs 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 culture 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 on equal footing and ensuring that no one area is given preference over another, especially in the beginning. It is obvious that certain departments will have greater 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 has 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 (Amces, 2010). To implement the shared service strategy, it will be important to seek support of the divisional presidents, 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 service 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 fr om 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 company  due to the fact that the members of this team have already proven themselves to be knowledgeable and capable in their previous environments (Smaltz, 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 RR 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 productivity 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 make 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 RR Communications. Close governance and metrics will aid in any improvement plan. Recommendation: It is evident that RR Communications need an intervention in its customer  service center. 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 McKeen, 2007). This makes it hard for customer care provision. Considering consumer service is very crucial for any business, RR Communications need a centralized customer service center. A centralized 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 RR 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 there and only one audit team will be required for the whole company. This also means reduced time for audits since with divisions audits have to be put together after each department has completed its audit (Smith McKeen, 2007). Coordination among the auditors will be efficient since information is collected from one point where all information concerning company accounts is stored. Therefore, having 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 concerning 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 Sarbanes Oxley 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 RR communications is currently having several softwares, 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 com pany, 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 and 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 McKeen, 2007). Having a single service center will allow easy outsourcing for the organization. Currently, businesses 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 (McKeen Smith, 2011). The company divisions at current circumstance 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 consider how RR 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 Sarbanes Oxley 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 (McKeen 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 also other divisions. Hence, there will be need to have them trained to provide a central service to the customers. Another problem would arise for the culture set by the independent divisions prior to the implementation of a single service center. The current culture is of rivalry among the divisions considering they have been competing among themselves. Killing the culture will be a little hard. To deal with the problem the company will have to sta rt early through brining people together and coming up with tasks that can be incorporated in all divisions that allows all members to interact. The shared tasks will enhance cooperation among the different divisions. Conclusion RR is having problems because of lack of a common service center. All divisions are held with their own operations that aim at achieving divisional goals at the expense of corporate goals. The company is lacking a strong unified brand to sell to customers since all divisions are accounted for independently. This has made it obvious that a shared service will be the best for solving these issues. RR needs to put in place an alignment of their IT services with the business units. Transparency must be encouraged and joint responsibilities of IT ad businesses to achieve shared service center (smith McKeen, 2007). The company should also have a common enterprise vision for their systems. All the departments should be included with emphasis on joint business opportunities and risk mitigation. The top  management should be in forefront to creating an atmosphere of improvement continuously with a key focus on customer service to ensure the shared service center is successful. References McKeen, J. D., Smith, H. A. (2009). IT Strategy; Issues and Practices (2nd Edition ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. McKeen, J. D., Smith, H. A. (2011). IT Strategy; International edition (2nd Edition ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. Moss, L., Brodie, M. (2002, July). Data Rich, but Information Poor? Retrieved October 26, 2011, from Information Management: http://www.information-management.com/issues/20020701/5341-1.html Schwartz, K/D. (2007). IT Governance Definition and Solutions. Retrieved from http://www.cio.com/article/111700/IT_Governance_Definition_and_Solutions#what Smaltz, D. H. (2011, July/August). Are You Leveraging Your Data or Is Your Data Leveraging You? HIT Exchange , pp. 8-9. Smith, H. A., McKeen, J. D. (2007). Shared Services at RR Communications. Queens School of Business. Symantec. (2011, May 2). Deduplication and Efficient Data Storage. Retrieved October 26, 2011, from PR Newswire 1. List the advantages A single customer service center will yield both financial and human resource savings for RR Communications by eliminating the allocation of duplicated resources to the multiple divisional and regional customer service centers. With valuable resources freed from these multiple customer service centers, the company will be able to allocate more resources to its value added activities and improve operational efficiency. RR Communications run four divisions, each with a distinct but a complimentary product. They are internet, mobile, landline, and cable TV service. There is a deregulation in the telecommunications industry and its becoming a norm for competitors to offer multiple services like RR Communications. RR Communications’ customers  have been complaining about double billing because the four divisions have no working collaboration and thus, no way of knowing when the other division may already have sent the bill. A single customer service center will consolidate the da ta of the customers of all divisions and by addressing the problem of inaccurate billing, it will potential save the loss of dissatisfied customers to the competitors. A single service center will also yield growth opportunities by marketing the company’s other services to customers that they may not already have and offer discount incentives on the purchase of multiple products. A single customer service center will allow comparison among the company’s divisions in terms of product quality, customer satisfaction, and retention rates so that more resources could be allocated to troubled areas. A single customer service center will also make it easy to gather data about the company’s divisions and store them in standard formats for management analysis. By having access to all the relevant information about the customers, the customer service center will be better able to address customers’ questions and market company’s products which would not have been possible with separate customer service centers. It will also be convenient for the customers to call only one place for all their questions and thus, will increas e goodwill for RR Communications. 1. Is it possible to achieve an enterprise vision with a decentralized IT function? The answer to this question really depends on what the meaning or intention is behind the idea of an enterprise vision. If this simply means of having certain departments existing and able to complete their tasks and accomplish their goals, basically that the enterprise is functioning, than the answer is certainly. As demonstrated in the case study, there were multiple divisions for IT that were each doing their own thing, and while it wasnt pretty, compatible or optimal, everything did, technically, work allowing each department to function. As soon as the vision of an enterprise expands to a desire to work more efficiently, unify tools and platforms, have stronger compatibility or be one company a decentralized IT function becomes a massive hindrance. Turning to the case study again, each department was replicating the efforts of the other departments by finding their own software/data vendors, creating unique database systems and having their own support staff. This not only made it difficult for clients who  needed assistance, but meant there was excessive spending, and an inability for multiple departments to come together to function as a a single entity within the enterprise. 2. What business and IT problems can be caused by lack of common information and an enterprise IM strategy? There are numerous business and IT problems that can arise from the lack of common strategy. In terms of IT there can be duplication of efforts, systems and tools leading to not only multiple expenditures to yield the same results, but this may mean there is no strong outline of how systems are set up or designed, there may be no map detailing the hardware and software in place, which makes it far more difficult to not only run inventory, but ensure that new expenditures are needed and not (again) duplicating tools that have already been purchased or implemented. When different software and hardware solutions are used across departments, this also leads to difficulties in compatibility. When the organization wants to implement something new, it would be difficult if not impossible to determine if it can be integrated into the existing tools, or this may result in unanticipated technical errors arising from compatibility issues. Business problems stem primarily from an inability of data to be effectively shared across groups, thus limiting the ability of various departments to work together. Not only could this cause rifts to form between various groups, but it also means that there could be issues with data consistency. This is especially troubling for client data, as a change in one department may not be updated elsewhere due to data being stored in different databases, the inability for data to be updated across databases, and even opens up the potential for technical errors causing data that is normally consistent to suddenly become dispar ate from similar data elsewhere. Additionally, when the business requires technical assistance it is likely to be difficult to find the correct person with the knowledge needed to resolve a particular issue if that department is using specialized systems that are not consistent across the organization. 3. What governance mechanisms need to be put in place to ensure common customer data and a shared customer service center? What metrics might be useful (think service level agreements, etc.)? Common customer data will require a standardized database, as well as regular auditing procedures to ensure that data is only being modified/updated by those individuals who are supposed to have access, as well as verifying  accuracy for these modifications. Customer service really depends on the objectives of the company. I worked on an inbound phone line at a call center for 3 years while this was technically brokerage service, arguably it was a cutomer service center. Training had to be farily comprehensive so we could assist clients with almost any issues they had, and on top of that reps have to know what departments specialize in certain topics in case they need help figuring out what happened or resolving a complicated problem. On top of that, there is regular review and QA of random c alls to ensure representatives are giving correct informaton and assisting the client based on the standards and expectations set by the organization. Call reviews are measured on a scale where there are certain objective actions that are required on every call, then measured more subjective terms such as professionalism. I work with a tremendous amount of shared customer data, and everything is monitored, recorded and subject to audit procedures. There is always the abilty to find out who did what, when, and every phone call is recorded and maintained for a period of time. This of course protects the client as much as it helps protect the firm. As far as data is concerned, I dont know if there are specific service level agreements in place, but I do know that there is regular testing of what is referred to as host fallback where all the primary systems are taken down for a period of time, then brought back up. While this is frustrating for reps and clients who need access to the data, the very small number of times I experienced an unscheduled outage the backup systems performed well, all reps knew how best to work within the confines of the backup system, and the discussion with clients about why certain things could not be done went far more smoothly than if regular testing was not performed. The case study this week describes the classic example of an organization which is heavily decentralized into distinct lines of business (each with its own IT group) that realizes their need for a flexible and responsible IT function, a common view of the customer, and the elimination of redundant systems