Customer Satisfaction in the Restaurant Industry - 3119 Words

Research Proposal Customer Satisfaction in the Restaurant Industry Part I: Research Proposal I-1. Research Background In today’s competitive dynamic environment it is crucial to maintain existing customers and gain new ones. This goes for the restaurant industry as well, where not only the quality of the food plays a major role, but also the quality of the service itself. This has been recognized by the restaurant X which offers traditional Greek food. Due to increasing competition and decreased disposable income during recent year, the restaurant management decided to focus more on increasing the quality of their food and service in order to ensure high customer flow. Delivering quality at the†¦show more content†¦6. What is the correlation between price paid and customer satisfaction? 7. What can be done to improve customer satisfaction? I-5. Research Objectives 1. To determine the factors that cause customer satisfaction. 2. To identify if there is a significant correlation between food quality and customer satisfaction. 3. To find out if the correlation between service quality (people, process, and physical evidence) and customer satisfaction is significant. 4. To identify if price affects customer satisfaction. 5. To determine in which ways can customer satisfaction be improved. I-6. Research Design I-6.1. Research Sample The suggested sampling technique is non-random convenience quota sample. The quotas are 30% and 70%; 30% of questionnaires to be distributed during lunch time (12pm-5pm) and 70% to be distributed during dinner time (5pm-11pm). These quotas are based on the fact that more customers visit the restaurant after work, during the dinner time. It is planned that waiters distribute questionnaires and ensure that sample size is 100 people above the age of 18 regardless of the gender. The sample questionnaire, in the Appendix A, mainly uses the 5-point Likert scale and it covers areas such as food quality, menu options, price, staff, service process, restaurant atmosphere, location and appearance. The questionnaire starts with generic questions such as gender, age, etc. andShow MoreRelatedThe Potential Dimensions Of Service Quality1417 Words   |  6 Pagesrelationship between service quality, food quality, perceived value, physical environment and customer satisfaction in KFC Restaurants in Myanmar. Design/methodology/approach –By using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis the construct reliability and validity was assessed. To estimate the relationship among service quality, food quality, perceived value, physical environment and customer satisfaction, structural equation modeling was employed. Originality/value – After the democraticRead MoreCustomer Service Coming Right Up : A Thematic Analysis On Factors That Influence Customer Satisfaction1533 Words   |  7 Pages Great Customer Service Coming Right Up: a Thematic Analysis on Factors that Influence Customer Satisfaction By Ricky Poche’ Jr. â€Æ' ABSTRACT The abstract should be double spaced and indented. It should contain a summary of what you did and what you found. It is double spaced. APA manuals will show Keywords: listed after the abstract. We’re not doing that for the 498 thesis. Notice also that the word Abstract above has been bolded and is all caps. â€Æ' INTRODUCTION Going out to eatRead MoreFinding Out The Satisfaction Of Students From Whiteria Regarding Their Taste And Preferences Towards Fast Food Essay1156 Words   |  5 Pagesmean to prepare food and serve quickly but it also satisfy the consumers in terms of their taste and preference. Even in many restaurants after serving the food to the customer, restaurants ask the customers to fill up a survey form to know their customers taste and preferences and also their satisfaction level. The main objective of this report is to find out the satisfaction of students from Whiteria regarding their taste and preferences towards fast food. The survey was done by giving questionnairesRead MoreOnline Restaurant Reviews And Selecting Restaurant Via Online Reviews1414 Words   |  6 PagesLiterature Review The online restaurant reviews have changed the style of consumers purchasing among the restaurant industry. For this reason, many scholars study the implication of online reviews in the restaurant industry (Schindler Bickart, 2012). When their expectations are met, consumers only have indirect information about the quality of a service or product until they have been purchased, and so they look for mediators to reveal this information (Parikh, Behnke, Vorvoreanu, Almanza, NelsonRead MoreAssessment Task1 Implement marketing strategies and tactics Essay1119 Words   |  5 Pagesmarketing plan, and then determine their strategies and tactics that relate to the company’s stakeholders implementation roles. McDonalds is known as one of the best-known brands worldwide, which has main aims to build its brand by listening to its customers. It also identifies the various stages in the marketing process. Branding develops a personality for an organisation, product or service. The brand image represents how consumers view the organisation. Branding only works when an organisationRead MoreFast Food Chains And Customer Satisfaction Essay1721 Words   |  7 Pages1950s. 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Thomas Hobbes And John Hobbes - 1426 Words

Thomas Hobbes believed that men were equal because we are evenly capable of committing violence and murder. Even if one is bigger in size, another person can be quicker, or out-smart another person in order to stay alive. This idea arose from his conception that all people are selfish and no one trusts anyone else. Nevertheless, these mental or physical abilities still make the people equally weak as well. Since Hobbes believed that we all have a desire to stay alive, people had the right to anything they wanted. Hobbes believed that we are in constant fear of one another, which will result in standstill lifestyle. For Hobbes, life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. This quote exemplifies how life would be tragic if people†¦show more content†¦With all things considered, people do not have the liberty they may think they have because it is the only way everyone can cooperate in a commonwealth. For John Locke, the origin of private property was that God gave us the land and it’s goods for men to preserve it. God’s natural resources are enough to sustain the people only if it is not being abused. In order to determine what goods one can call there own private property, one must put there time and labor to it. For example, if anyone finds a piece of land and one begins to grow crops and nurture the farm, this farm will become ones property because of all the toiling one went through. Once a man starts to produce any goods, he can then declare the goods his as well. But, if a man takes another man’s goods without putting there own time and labor towards it, these goods are not their property because it violates God’s natural laws. A man can also never take more than he can use because he would be wasting goods that may be useful for someone else who is in need of it. If one is producing a lot of goods, one can profit out of it by exchanging these go ods for currency. For Locke, the sole reason for a government is to protect the well being of the people. Locke writes, â€Å"Salus Populi Suprema Lex† which illustrates that the only purpose for is government, again, is to keep the commonwealth

Compensation and Benefits Plan free essay sample

Hence, designing and managing a fair, competitive pay structure without endangering the financial standing of the firm is very important. The objective of this paper is to propose a fair, competitive compensation and benefits package that meet the demands of an employee and the needs of the organization he or she works for. Team A used Salary. com to design an adequate compensation and benefits plan proposal for a service area manager position. Overview of Salary. com A job search is not complete without knowing the compensation and benefits that come with the job. To research a Service Area Manager’s worth in the labor market, one can research on several websites that provide comparable compensation and benefits ranges information for the job position searched. Salary. com is one of those websites. According to the Salary. com website (2013). â€Å"The Salary. com methodology is a state-of-the-art process for benchmarking and analyzing jobs that builds on professional industry standards† (para. We will write a custom essay sample on Compensation and Benefits Plan or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page 3). Many people consider Salary. com the best website for job-seekers and current employees to research basic salary information. The information provided by Salary. om gives the user a real-time snapshot of the general salary ranges for the position searched. The website also provides a benefits calculator and a cost of living wizard to use to get a closer look at similar benefits offered by organizations in various locations. Salary. com allows users access to its extensive compensation and benefits database and the use of its tool free of charge. For example, under Salary Wizard, users can calculate the annual value of benefit using the benefits calculator. However, to get a more in-debt assessment salary. com recommends using its paid version of the site. The paid version of the site gives the employee a concentrated written report of salary information in relation to others in the exact position within the same geographical area. Access to this type of information can be extremely important in negotiating salaries. The website provides several research tools that can be very helpful to the employees and the employers. Pay Structure Proposal Firms use competitive pay to ensure they have the talents needed to achieve organizational goals. Consequently, compensation is an essential component of employer-employee relationship. Based on the job description and job specification for service area manager, Team A proposed a compensation system that offers a market-based pay, bonuses, and fringe benefits. Today, majority of organizations prefer market-based pay structure. PR Newswire (2012) quoted Kerry Chou, a Certified Compensation Professional and a practice leader at WorldatWork stating, Market-based structures have struck a chord with organizations because they combine the more well-defined parameters of a traditional structure with the range spread flexibility of broad bands (para. 2). In this pay structure, employers can make a job position pay level more or less competitive depending on the firm’s compensation philosophy or position. The service area manager salary range is comparable with the other companies’ pay structure. Accordingly, aside from the candidate’s skills and abilities, his or her work experience and education were considered in the salary structure. In addition to the base salary, the team proposed to offer incentive programs, such as bonuses to reward and recognize employees for excellent or exceptional performances in achieving company goals. Aligning compensation packages to the objectives and strategies of an organization is essential. Obstacles and Resistance Cascio (2010) stated that establishing a pay structure is a complex process. One issue in designing compensation package is offering a different compensation package to employees in similar positions within the company. Although individual compensation package is confidential, employees are not always secretive concerning pay. Cascio (2010) stated that pay secrecy is a difficult policy to keep; one can easily learn what the position is worth in the job-market through the Internet. Usually, when workers know that they are not paid equally for doing the same job, resentment and conflict may occur, which may result in decreased employee morale, which can ultimately affect employee performance and productivity. In addition, unfair business practice may expose the company to some potential legal issues. For example, if the firm decides to hire a man and a woman for the same position and if the firm offers the woman a lesser compensation than the male employee, she may complain for pay discrimination. Hence, it is essential to design compensation packages that comply with the laws of employment. In addition, the service area manager role is a new position within the store organization structure and will move a group of leaders from hourly compensation to a fixed salary compensation structure more weighted in bonus than the prior pay structure. The new service area manager team will have significant influence on the financial performance of the business which will enable the team to control the variable portion of the compensation. In this situation, there are several likely obstacles to the acceptance of the compensation structure. First, the new managers moving from hourly to salaried compensation are likely to focus on the hourly value of the compensation rather than the potential income value, including incentives. Second, the new managers are used to a much smaller part of total compensation tied to financial performance and may have difficulty understanding how much the new role increases his or her influence over the financial results. To prevent resistance, management must communicate effectively the value of benefits to the employees to ensure that they understand their total compensation package value. Additionally, firms must pay and promote employees for productivity only; high performing employees must receive rewards and recognition. Supervisors and leaders must make distinction among workers properly. If the new team can embrace the potential income value and career growth offered for the new position, resistance will fade quickly. Conclusion Designing a strong, fair compensation package that meets the needs and values of the employees can increase employee morale and improve employee and organizational performance. A well-designed compensation package promotes not only a positive working relationship between employers and employees but also promotes good business practices; that is firms’ care for their employees more than just the work they contribute to the organization. A fair, adequate compensation package requires balancing employees’ interests and expectations with the means and costs of the employer. In other words, both employers and employees together with their families win when pay and incentive policies are well-thought-out. ? References Anonymous. (2012, November).

Services Essay Example

Services Essay McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright  © 2013 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Chapter Conceptual Framework of the Book: The Gaps Model of Service Quality 2 2-2 Variations of the Gaps Model Five Service Quality Gaps Variations of the Gaps Model Six Service Quality Gaps Variations of the Gaps Model 13 Service Quality Gaps (Gaps Model gone wild) Chapter Conceptual Framework of the Book: The Gaps Model of Service Quality ? The Customer Gap ? (Sometimes referred to as Gap 5) 2 ? The Provider Gaps: ? Gap 1 – The Listening Gap ? not knowing what customers expect Gap 2 – The Service Design and Standards Gap ? not having the right service designs and standards ? Gap 3 – The Service Performance Gap ? not delivering to service standards ? Gap 4 – The Communication Gap ? not matching performance to promises ? Putting It All Together: Closing the Gaps 2-6 Chapter Conceptual Framework of the Book: The Gaps Model of Service Quality 2 †¢ The Customer Gap Chapter 3 – Customer Expectations of Service Chapter 4 – Customer Perceptions of Service 2-7 Chapter Conceptual Framework of the Book: The Gaps Model of Service Quality 2 Gap 1 – Not Knowing What Customers Expect (The Knowledge Gap) Chapter 5 – Listening to Customers through Research Chapter 6 – Building Customer Relationships Chapter 7 – Service Recovery 2-8 Chapter Conceptual Framework of the Book: The Gaps Model of Service Quality 2 †¢ Gap 2 – Not Having the Right Service Quality Designs and Standards (The Service Design and Standards Gap) Chapter 8 – Service Innovation and Design Chapter 9– Customer-Defined Service Standards Chapter 10 – Physical Evidence and the Servicescape 2-9 Chapter Conceptual Framework of the Book: The Gaps Model of Service Quality 2 Gap 3 – Not Delivering to Service Standards (The Service Performance Gap) Chapter 11 – Employees’ Roles in Service Delivery Chapter 12 – Customers’ Roles in Service Delivery Chapter 13 – Managing Demand and Capacity 2-10 Chapter Conceptual Framework of the Book: The Gaps Model of Service Quality 2 Gap 4 – Not Matching Performance to Promises (The Communication Gap) Chapter 14 – Integrated Service marketing Communications Chapter 15 – Pricing of Services 2-11 Objectives for Chapter 2: The Gaps Model of Service Quality ? Introduce the framework, called the gaps model of service quality, used to organize this textbook. Demonstrate that the gaps model is a useful framework for understanding service quality in an organization. ? Demonstrate that the most critical service quality gap to close is the customer gap, the difference between customer expectations and perceptions. ? Show that four gaps that occur in companies, which w e call provider gaps, are responsible for the customer gap. ? Identify the factors responsible for each of the four provider gaps. 2-12 Gaps Model of Service Quality 2-13 The Customer Gap Think about a service you receive. Is there a gap between your expectations and perceptions of that service? We will write a custom essay sample on Services specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Services specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Services specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer What do you expect that you do not receive? 2-14 Key Factors Leading to the Customer Gap Customer Gap Customer Expectations ? Provider Gap 1: Not knowing what customers expect ? Provider Gap 2: Not selecting the right service designs and standards ? Provider Gap 3: Not delivering to service standards ? Provider Gap 4: Not matching performance to promises Customer Perceptions 2-15 Gaps Model of Service Quality ? Customer Gap: ? difference between customer expectations and perceptions ? Provider Gap 1 (Listening Gap): ? not knowing what customers expect ? Provider Gap 2 (Service Design Standards Gap): not having the right service designs and standards ? Provider Gap 3 (Service Performance Gap): ? not delivering to service standards ? Provider Gap 4 (Communication Gap): ? not matching performance to promises 2-16 Provider Gap 1 CUSTOMER Customer expectations Perceived Service COMPANY Gap 1: The Listening Gap Company perceptions of customer expectations 2-17 Key Factors Leading to Provi der Gap 1 2-18 Provider Gap 2 CUSTOMER COMPANY Customer-driven service designs and standards Gap 2: The Service Design and Standards Gap Company perceptions of customer expectations 2-19 Key Factors Leading to Provider Gap 2 2-20 Provider Gap 3 CUSTOMER COMPANY Service delivery Customer-driven service designs and standards Gap 3: The Service Performance Gap 2-21 Key Factors Leading to Provider Gap 3 2-22 Provider Gap 4 CUSTOMER COMPANY Gap 4: The Communication Gap External Service delivery communications to customers 2-23 Key Factors Leading to Provider Gap 4 2-24 Gaps Model of Service Quality 2-25 Gaps Model of Service Quality Think about a service that you receive regularly and put yourself in the wish mode. How would you change the service and the way it is provided? 2-26 Gaps Model of Service Quality Think about a service that you receive regularly and put yourself in the wish mode. How would you change the service and the way it is provided? †¢ I wish my oil change service could be done at my home, or where I work, so that I would not have to drive to a specific location and wait in line. †¢ I wish my dry cleaning service would pick up clothes from my home and deliver them to my home. †¢ I wish my bank would allow me to make additional mortgage payments (or, student loan payments) online rather than having to physically go into the bank and execute a teller-assisted transaction. †¢ I wish my gas station would check under the hood of my car like they used to do many years ago. -27 Gaps Model of Service Quality †¢ If you were the manager of a service organization and wanted to apply the gaps model to improve service, which gap would you start with? †¢ Why? †¢ In what order would you proceed to close the gaps? 2-28 Gaps Model of Service Quality If you were the manager of a service organization and wanted to apply the gaps model t o improve service, which gap would you start with? Why? In what order would you proceed to close the gaps? The most efficient way to use the gaps model is to begin with provider gap 1, determining what customer expectations are. This allows the company to concentrate on the factors that will have the greatest impact on improving service quality. Following the gap 1 with gap 2, then gap 3 is the best progression. Gap 2 ideally would result in service design and service standards that are based on gap 1’s findings about customer expectations. Then gap 3, the most complicated gap to close, would be informed by what is found in the first two gaps. 2-29 Gaps Model of Service Quality †¢ Can provider gap 4, the communication gap, be closed prior to closing any of the other three provider gaps? †¢ How? 2-30 Gaps Model of Service Quality Can provider gap 4, the communication gap, be closed prior to closing any of the other three provider gaps? How? Gap 4, which deals with lowering customer expectations, can be closed at any time. While the first three gaps are concerned with raising company performance to meet expectations, gap 4 aims to lower customer expectations to meet perceptions. The two approaches to closing the customer gap operate on different principles and therefore can occur independently. Incidentally, closing gap 4 can be more economical than closing the other gaps. 2-31 Gaps Model of Service Quality Which of the four provider gaps do you believe is hardest to close? †¢ Why? 2-32 Gaps Model of Service Quality Which of the four provider gaps do you believe is hardest to close? Why? Gap 3 is the hardest to close because it requires coordination of all of the human resources issues in a company—training, incentives, communication, hiring, teamwork, and empowerment. Changing any one of these is difficult but changing them all, and getting them coordinated with each other, is extremely challenging. In addition to the employee factors that must be considered in closing gap 3, the customer must be managed. -33 DETERMINANTS OF PERCEIVED SERVICE QUALITY Ways to Use Gap Analysis ? Overall Strategic Assessment: ? How are we doing overall in meeting or exceeding customer expectations? ? How are we doing overall in closing the four company gaps? ? Which gaps represent our strengths and where are our weaknesses? 2-35 Ways to Use Gap Analysis ? Specific Service Implementation ? Who is the customer? What is the service? ? Are we consistently meeting/exceeding customer expectations with this service? ? If not, where are the gaps and what changes are needed? (Examine gaps 1-4 for this particular service. ) 2-36

Ethical Challenges in Withdrawing Life Support free essay sample

Patients are compelled by powerful emotions (such as guilt) or by adherence to religious or secular traditions to behave in certain ways that may conflict with medical advice. 2 Honest discussions with patients and their families about the benefits and burdens of therapy and the medical uncertainty that exists are necessary to provide patients and families with the best opportunity to make informed decisions. We know that honest direct communication is most important for patients and families faced to make life determining decisions. These health care workers must communicate within the medical ethics of their profession. Medical ethics is based on a four prima facie moral principles and attention to these principles scope of application. The four prima facie principles are respect for autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice. â€Å"Prima facie,† a term introduced by the English philosopher W D Ross, means that the principle is binding unless it conflicts with another moral principle if it does we have to choose between them. We will write a custom essay sample on Ethical Challenges in Withdrawing Life Support or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Respect for autonomy is the moral obligation to respect the autonomy of others in so far as such respect is compatible with equal respect for the autonomy of all potentially affected. Respect for autonomy is also sometimes described, in Kantian terms, as treating others as ends in themselves and never merely as means one of Kants formulations of his â€Å"categorical imperative. †1 Beneficence and non-maleficence are contained within the traditional Hippocratic Oath in which it is the moral obligation of medicine to provide net medical benefit to patients with minimal harm. The fourth prima facie moral principle is justice. Justice is often regarded as being synonymous with fairness and can be summarized as the moral obligation to act on the basis of fair adjudication between competing claims. 1 We have now identified the four medical ethical principles that healthcare professionals must adhere to. I will now discuss the question of retaining or withdrawing life support for dying patients; providing food and fluids by tubes is a common form of life support for weak, injured, or unconscious patients. If the patient has the mental capacity to make decisions, then the patient can tell the physician what he/she wants. This will not alter the dying process and therefore is not considered suicide. It is important to remember that when we are entrusted with decisions about the care of the dying, the patient’s comfort and wishes must guide our decision making. 3 Missouri v. Cruzan was a case directly related to withdrawing life-sustaining treatment. This case in 1990 supported the â€Å"distinction between letting a patient die and making that patient die. 3 There was â€Å"clear and convincing† evidence of Nancy Cruzan’s intent was not to be sustained on a feeding tube and the tube was withdrawn. There comes a time when nature should take its course, the proper judgments of physicians and family should be respected and the patient should be allowed to die a natural and dignified death. Medical interventions can be withdrawn or withheld by the physician when they w ill not benefit the patient. Most ethical conflicts involve issues of autonomy and beneficence, and most of these conflicts involve the family. In principle, families do not have the right to reverse patients advance decisions when the patient loses consciousness. However, physicians may concede to the familys demands for aggressive therapy after the patient loses decision-making capacity. The reasons for this are varied: physicians can be fearful that angry families will sue if therapy is withheld; physicians may feel that they can make things easier for the family while producing only minimal burden to the patient; or physicians may not be firm in their own convictions. Nonetheless, the patients right to refuse therapy must be protected, recognizing that most patients are concerned about their families and do not wish to have family members undergo unnecessary anguish. Physicians should be sensitive to such family concerns, but in the end, it is the patients wishes that must prevail. 2 In closing, I would like to discuss the importance of advance planning and documenting your wishes on paper in a legal document. I am a hospice nurse and have witnessed both sides of this issue. If the patient has put their expectations in a Living Will the family will make the decision of withdrawing life supporting measures more easily than if they are deciding what their loved one would have wanted. I did not have advance directives until I was faced with the unexpected death of my mother, who was on a ventilator for aggressive treatment of pneumonia. Her heart failed and the decision was to resuscitate her or allow her to have a natural death. I had spoken with my mother since her diagnosis of lung cancer about her wishes but nothing was documented. I was only a daughter, without legal authority to make her medical decisions – that was left in the hands of her current husband. I looked at him and asked what he wanted as my mother’s heart grew weaker and leading to a point of ceasing and he said that they spoke about this and she wanted a natural death. I explained this to the intensive care nurse and her wishes through my step-father were granted. I knew at that time I needed my wishes in writing and the directives for my children if something would happen to me.

Free Essays on Ditching

How Ditching Took Over, and How I Took Over Ditching Whenever I am opening my locker and getting out my books, I see my S.A.R.B. contract that I signed not to long ago saying that I wouldn’t ditch anymore, and it reminds me of my problem at the beginning of the year. Earlier in the year I ditched at least one class a day, that’s pretty sad when a student only has three classes a day. In my essay I will describe to you a day at the beginning of the year, a day of school now, how I overcame my problem, and how I plan to act in the future. In the begging of the year I had four classes, because I had a tutorial. I would almost always ditch my tutorial class. Then, when the bell would ring I would go to my locker and get my books for my next class. At the time, I had plenty of friends that had cars, so it was easy to leave the school campus. So, if I didn’t get to leave the campus that period I would try again the next period. Sooner or later I succeeded. My problem got so out of hand that I would skip all day. Now, when I get to school I don’t have a tutorial because I dropped it at semester and that way I get to socialize with my friends in the mornings. Then, when I go to my locker to get my books for my next class I see my pick copy and the S.A.R.B. contract I signed about two weeks ago, and when I look at this pink sheet it motivates me to go to class. I was addicted to ditching and I couldn’t stop. It was sad to know that everyone knew that my group and I rarely ever went to class. I over came this problem by setting goals for myself. My goals started at ditching only once a day, then three times a day, and then down to twice a week. I was pretty proud of my self, but once or twice a week wasn’t good enough for my parents. My mother and my father helped me out a lot to quit ditching. They understood that I couldn’t quit all at once, so they agreed with my goals. So they gave me time and had faith in me. My p... Free Essays on Ditching Free Essays on Ditching How Ditching Took Over, and How I Took Over Ditching Whenever I am opening my locker and getting out my books, I see my S.A.R.B. contract that I signed not to long ago saying that I wouldn’t ditch anymore, and it reminds me of my problem at the beginning of the year. Earlier in the year I ditched at least one class a day, that’s pretty sad when a student only has three classes a day. In my essay I will describe to you a day at the beginning of the year, a day of school now, how I overcame my problem, and how I plan to act in the future. In the begging of the year I had four classes, because I had a tutorial. I would almost always ditch my tutorial class. Then, when the bell would ring I would go to my locker and get my books for my next class. At the time, I had plenty of friends that had cars, so it was easy to leave the school campus. So, if I didn’t get to leave the campus that period I would try again the next period. Sooner or later I succeeded. My problem got so out of hand that I would skip all day. Now, when I get to school I don’t have a tutorial because I dropped it at semester and that way I get to socialize with my friends in the mornings. Then, when I go to my locker to get my books for my next class I see my pick copy and the S.A.R.B. contract I signed about two weeks ago, and when I look at this pink sheet it motivates me to go to class. I was addicted to ditching and I couldn’t stop. It was sad to know that everyone knew that my group and I rarely ever went to class. I over came this problem by setting goals for myself. My goals started at ditching only once a day, then three times a day, and then down to twice a week. I was pretty proud of my self, but once or twice a week wasn’t good enough for my parents. My mother and my father helped me out a lot to quit ditching. They understood that I couldn’t quit all at once, so they agreed with my goals. So they gave me time and had faith in me. My p...

The Rationale of Equity Indexation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Rationale of Equity Indexation - Essay Example Capital market transactions are deemed efficient in the absence of intermediaries except for brokers who put buyers and sellers together and get a small commission, making the deal almost frictionless. With transaction costs negligible, the only real factor that determines the current price of a stock should be the net present value of its future cash flows in the form of dividends and, assuming the company lasts long enough, capital gains when the stock is sold at a future date. After all, a stock is nothing else but a claim to a company's future cash flows, and that its price indicates its net present value given the amount of cash it would generate over a future period of time (Graham, 1984). A company's cash flow is affected by several factors, such as business prospects, management quality, the economy's over-all performance, and the company's past performance. If these sets of information are known, computing for free cash flow looks relatively straightforward, and using a discount rate, the stock's present value can be easily calculated. If the market price is lower than the present value, the stock is bought. Otherwise, if one is holding the stock, it is sold. The low transaction costs of capital markets... "Beating the market" means that an investor cannot generate a rate of return from investing in the equities market that is above the rate of return of the whole market. The rate of return of the whole market is measured by looking at the rates of return of a basket of equities that is representative of the whole market of equities. This basket consists of stocks of companies of different sizes and from different industry sectors from amongst the list of all companies traded in the capital market, say in the London Stock Exchange. Using a formula that takes into account market capitalisation, historical share prices, and other considerations, the financial authorities determine which stocks to include. The stock prices of these stocks in the basket are mathematically added up to come up with the index that reflects the behaviour of the market as a whole. There are several indices formulated for the London Stock Exchange by an indexing company called FTSE International Ltd., an affilia te of the Financial Times Ltd., a U.K.-based firm. Amongst the indices monitored by FTSE are the FTSE All-shares (688 stocks), FTSE 100 (102 stocks), FTSE 250 (250 stocks), and the FTSE SmallCap (336 stocks) indices (FTSE ASWB, 2005). At the end of each trading day, FTSE adds the prices of the stocks in each of these indices and then publishes the results. Under the assumption that the market is efficient and that it is not possible to beat the markets, an investor can decide to adopt an equity index strategy, which consists of buying a basket of stocks in the same proportion as they are included in the basket of stocks used to calculate an index. Several fund management firms have made the job of investing easier by developing funds that

Charismatic and Transformational Leadership Research Paper - 1

Charismatic and Transformational Leadership - Research Paper Example This essay stresses that charismatic leadership can be defined as a leadership that is characterized by exceptional devotion, exemplary traits and heroism of the leader. The term â€Å"charismatic leadership† is conventionally used for such great leaders as prophets, though it can also be used for famous political leaders. One such political leader whose style of leadership is frequently identified as charismatic is Mahatma Gandhi. There are other leaders who may not be entirely popular for their positive traits, yet are known to have certain charismatic features that have had great influence on their followers. One such leader is Adolf Hitler. The charm of such leaders reflects in the fact that followers tend to comply with their instructions unarguably. There has been a lot of research upon the psychological attributes of leaders that make them charismatic in their leadership style. This paper makes a conclusion that the process of charismatic leadership is governed by three prime factors, namely the traits of the leader, the social situation that imparts need of a charismatic leader, and the bondage between the followers and the leader. There are six steps that explain the process of charismatic leadership from the start till end. These six steps are identification, activity arousal, commitment, disenchantment, depersonalization, and alienation. The identification step occurs as a result of the composition of the three factors that have been discussed before.

Describe how you would teach rounding with mixed decimals to the Essay

Describe how you would teach rounding with mixed decimals to the nearest tenth - Essay Example I will require briefly revisiting rounding up of whole numbers and placing values. Teaching how to round up decimals will be easy if the students are well conversant with the two concepts. Students should know what they are to do and where they are required to apply the round up by first knowing about the place value of tenths. First, rounding up is done right off the decimal point. After that, students should know that the number that is to be rounded is the one that is to the left of the decimal points. It is of importance to take the students through various place values that come after the decimal point such as tenth, hundredth, thousandth and so forth. Rounding decimal numbers take a similar route to that of whole numbers (Wingard, 2005). Round up 3.174 to the nearest tenth. The student is required to identify the number whose place value is tenths. The number is 1. The next step is to look at the number right after 1 which is in the place value of hundredths (Wingard, 2005). The number is 5. If the digit at the hundredth place value is below five, then the value of the tenth to not change. If the digit at the hundredth place value is five or above five, one is added to the number at the tenth place value. In our case, five is in the hundredth place value hence we add one to 1. Therefore, we will have 3.2 as our answer. I will further provide my students with worksheets that have the concept well illustrated for references. In addition, I will give two sums on the same topic that will be solved in five minutes, and I will go round checking to ensure that none of my students is left behind. When students are learning the concept of rounding mixed decimals to the nearest tenth, they often develop some errors. Such include rounding a whole number instead of the number after the decimal point (Wingard, 2005). In addition, some students

The Social Problem: Class Inequality

The Social Problem: Class Inequality Class inequality refers to the inequality of incomes between individuals, families, or between different groups, areas, or countries (Black, 2002). These inequalities occur as a result of differences in the ability to earn incomes as well as differences in property ownership. Some individuals usually have lower incomes than others, especially those who are economically inactive. This is usually as a result of age, poor health, or inability to find employment. Class inequality is a major social problem in the US and other parts of the world. For example, several studies have demonstrated that a childs future may be determined by the social status. One study found that although children may have similarities in their ability, differences in the circumstances to which they were born could make the difference on who will be successful in future, and who will not. By considering two children Bobby (the son of a lawyer) and Jimmy (son of a custodial assistant) who both do well in class, the study found that it makes it 27 times more likely that Bobby will get a high profile job, while Jimmy had one chance in eight of earning a median income. It is projected that currently, social inequality is greater in the US than in any other industrialized nation (Wolff, 1995). In 2007, a study conducted by the Congressional Office Bureau revealed that the wealth held by the richest 1 percent of the total American population totaled US$16.8 trillion, which makes up USD$2 trillion more than the combined wealth of the lower 90 percent of the American population. Another study conducted by the Center for American Progress (2007) showed that between 1979 and 2007, the average income of the bottom 50 percent of American households grew by only 6%, while the top 1% incomes increased by a massive 229 percent. This reveals that the gap between the rich and the poor in the US is widening, and may affect the future of children who come from economically disadvantaged families. This may lead to accelerated rates of crime, violence and drug abuse amongst poor communities. High advances in technology have led to the globalization phenomenon, whereby people in different parts of the world can interact faster and less expensively than before. Some activists consider globalization a social problem. For example, Stiglitz (2002) argues that globalization forced developing nations to liberalize their economies before they were ready, which pushed their citizens to poverty, a major social problem. Further, religious groups, especially Muslims and Christians, are opposed to globalization because it may erode some of their values. With globalization come cultural clashes, which are leading to erosion of cultures. These conflicts may not be easy to resolve because with globalization, there are difficulties in the issues related to justice, identity and equity. For example, previously, when disputes arose between people, they could be resolved by the government or the local council. The process of conflict resolution was faster. However, with globalization, socia l disputes go beyond local, regional and international boundaries. The process of conflict resolution is slower, and this makes people feel victimized, angry and powerless. As a result, there is a tendency for people to turn to violence when they feel they have no alternative. According to Stiglitz, globalization has its advantages, but also disadvantages. He states that it has a high potential to bring benefits to the world. So far, globalization has not brought comparable benefits in many parts of the world, and it is viewed by many as a disaster. However, since globalization is now a reality which affects everyone, it is essential that we strategize on how to benefit from it, and how to mitigate its negative impacts. In order to reap the benefits of globalization, the world will have to make rational decisions for people on both sides of the divide. A number of Sociological Theories attempt to explain why people commit crimes. These include the Strain Theory, the Social Learning Theory, the Control Theory, the Labeling Theory and the social Disorganization Theory. According to Agnew (1992), all crime theories attempt to explain crime as a component of the social environment. Social environment includes the family, school, peer group, workplace, community as well as the society. The structural strain theory, for example, states that social structures in a society could encourage its citizens to commit crimes. The structural strain theory was advanced by several sociologists. These were Merton (1938), Cohen (1955), Cloward and Ohlin (1960), Agnew (1992), as well as Messner and Rosenfeld (1994). According to the authors, strain can either be structural, which depicts the processes at the societal level which filter down and affect how an individual perceives his or her needs. That is, if particular social structures are inherently inadequate, the individuals perceptions may change to view them as opportunities. On the other hand, strain can be at the individual level, where it refers to the pain experienced by an individual when he seeks ways to satisfy his needs. At this level, if the goals of a society become significant to an individual, actually achieving them may become more important than the means adopted. The labeling theory, also known as social reaction theory, was developed by Howard Becker (1963), a sociologist. This theory states that deviance is not a quality of the act, since results from personality factors associated with committing deviance. Its main focus is on the linguistic tendency of majorities to negatively label minorities, mainly those perceived as deviant from the norms. According to this theory, self-identity and behavior of individuals can be influenced by the terms used to describe them. This theory is sometimes used to explain why people take drugs. An individual, for example, may escape to drugs due to low self esteem resulting from being constantly stereotyped. Blade Runner 1982 Ridley Scott | Analysis of Postmodernism Blade Runner 1982 Ridley Scott | Analysis of Postmodernism Research Proposal Commentary ‘Blade Runner 1982 Ridley Scott Postmodernism, after the modernist movement, is a term now almost as ‘ubiquitous, disliked and misunderstood as its parent, the modern (Jencks, C, p.14). It is a reaction to modernism, an aesthetic, to try and describe changes to conditions and institutions by the drawing of ‘attention to conventions (Oxford, 2009). Throughout this commentary I will explain how my chosen film of discussion ‘Blade Runner 1982, directed by Ridley Scott, is relevant to the postmodern era. I have chosen Blade Runner as the object for study as it is one of my favourite films; I feel it engages artistically and complexly with the issue of postmodernism. It is around the theme of identity I consider the film best represents not only its understanding of postmodernity but also its connection with postmodernism, ‘as the structure of feeling of late capitalism (McGuigan, 1992, p.221). The city of Blade Runner is relevant to the postmodern era, as it highlights the representation of post-industrial decay; it is not the ultra-modern but rather the postmodern city. The city represents an aesthetic of decay, revealing the process of ‘disintegration what could be seen as the ‘dark side of technology (Giuliana, B). Recycling, erosion and the explosion of boundaries help reinforce this postmodern aesthetic in Blade Runner. ‘Post-industrialism, ‘spatial relations, ‘urban decay, ‘pastiche consumption and ‘time consumption are five recognised postmodern issues I find to be represented within Blade Runner. Post-industrialism is clearly embodied in Blade Runners Tyrell Corporation (the main business company within the film). The film references changes in the dominant mode of production and the organisation of business, which could be called ‘advanced corporate capitalism (Davis, 1992). 1.Harvey 1989 states how ‘flexible accumulation creates the postmodern economic actuality of ‘overwhelming corporate power: Blade Runner is inundated with advanced technology, from hover cars, large electronic advertisements on blimps to videophones, the driving force behind the post-industrial society creating this power. In terms of spatial relations, postmodernity is characterised by class polarisation, with the wealthy and the poor becoming progressively more socially isolated from each other. This relationship makes itself evident in the ‘concrete spatial relations of postmodern cities, like Los Angeles (2.Harvey, 1989). This is made apparent with the architectural mise-en-scene in Blade Runner, particularly with the monolithic ivory tower of Tyrell, dominating the urban landscape of the poor, portraying a hierarchical class division. One of the most clearly presented conditions of postmodernity in Blade Runner is time compression, the outcome of increased consumption and exchange on the experience of time. Bringing with it an emphasis of unpredictability and ‘volatility (2.Harvey, 1989), the postmodern society is required to become accustomed to the demands of flexible accumulation. This is relevant with the replicant characters in Blade Runner, who are forced to live in ‘disconnected temporality (Bruno, G 1990). It is this lack of safe ‘temporal continuity represented within Blade Runner (Jameson, 1985) from neurotic preoccupation of its characters with individual pasts to ageing diseases that makes the film postmodern. Another issue represented within Blade Runner, which is considered another postmodern concern, is urban decay. Bruno states the speed and growth of development brings its own rapid ineluctable death and decay. Blade Runner portrays a post-industrial decaying future of Los Angeles, opposed to the familiar perception of ultra-modernity (shown within sci-fi films in the 1950s). It emphasises the effect of de-concentration with the result of immigration known as ‘geographical displacements and condensations (Bruno, 1990). As the upper class individuals vacate vast areas of the city, the poor and immigrants then can use these areas. Blade Runners ‘Off World colonies could be a symbolic extension in the trend to vacate a city in support of the commuter land of home-based work, as a blimp advertises â€Å"A chance to begin again!† As well as the issue of urban decay being a postmodern issue within Blade Runner, there is also pastiche consumption. This is where the postmodernist culture and postmodern socio-economics links start to be revealed as ‘difficult and uneven (Connor, 1989). In the film, the use of pastiche images and past/present styles is portrayed particularly in the mixture of architectural designs within the urban landscape, as Bruno states it is a ‘pastiche city. An example of this pastiche in Blade Runner is where Rachael played by actress Sean Young is dressed in 1940s utility clothing blending the space age of the 1960s. An architectural example is the style of the ‘retro bar where Deckard (Harrison Ford) finds Zhora (Joanna Cassidy). These points I have outlined reveal how Blade Runner is considered to be relevant to the postmodern era, using postmodern theoretical references. However, they are not the only reference points between Blade Runner and postmodernism. The Film also portrays elements of ‘hyperreality and ‘simulacra, which I will discuss within the essay. Bibliography: Jencks, C. (1996). â€Å"What is Postmodernism?†. Published by Academy Press; 4 edition (June 13, 1996) Oxford Dictionary. (2009). â€Å"Postmodernism†. Available at: http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/postmodernism?view=uk [Accessed 28/10/09] McGuigan, J. (1992). ‘Anomie of the people. In Cultural Populism. London: Routledge. Giuliana, B. (1987). ‘Ramble City: Postmodernism and Blade Runner. Available at: http://www.stanford.edu/dept/HPS/Bruno/bladerunner.html [Accessed 28/10/09] Davis, M. (1992). ‘City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles. London: Vintage. Harvey, D. (1989). ‘Flexible accumulation through urbanization: reflections on â€Å"Post-Modernism† in the American city. In The Urban Experience. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Harvey, D. (1989a). ‘Time-space compression and the postmodern condition. In The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Bruno, G. (1990). ‘Ramble city: postmodernism and Blade Runner. In A. Kuhn (ed.), Alien Zone: Cultural Theory and Contemporary Science Fiction Cinema. London: Verso. Jameson, F. (1985). ‘Postmodernism and consumer society. In H. Foster (ed.), Postmodern Culture. London: Pluto Press. Connor, S. (1989). ‘Postmodernities. In Postmodernist Culture: An Introduction to Theories of the Contemporary. Oxford: Blackwell.

Steroid Usage Essays -- Sports Athletes Steroids Essays

Steroid Usage Why do so many people use steroids when there are so many health risks and side effects? Do people take steroids because they are not aware of all the risks? Not likely, steroids have been around since the 1930’s when Nazi scientists tried to invent drugs that would make German armies more powerful (Banks, Substance Abuse in Sport: The Realities, pg. 13-21). Though steroids were considered harmful and made illegal in 1991 (Berlow, Sports Ethics). Some side affects of steroids are baldness, high blood pressure, lowered sex drive, acne, nosebleeds, liver disease, kidney disease, and many more (Williams, Drugs and Athletic Performance, pg. 88-90). It may sound ridiculous and idiotic, to those who use steroids, with all the risks involved, but the temptation and pressures in using them are sometimes unbearable. In today’s society there are many pressures to be the best athlete and to look a certain way. Nobody wants to take second place, or look scrawny and wimpy. People w ant to be the winner and want others to turn their heads to look at them when they walk into a room. The fastest and easiest way to do that is to take steroids. People take steroids to be bigger and better at sports and also improve physical appearance.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In today’s athletics, athletes are getting bigger, stronger, and faster. Whether an athlete plays high school or professional sports, it is getting harder for athletes to compete at a high level with all the competition. When an athlete is not good enough to make the team or is on a team and does not play much the athlete will do just about anything to improve themselves. Many athletes spend numerous hours practicing and lifting weights trying to get better at their sport, and still they lack what it takes to make the team or be the best. Steroids are the solution to their problems and a way to make their dreams come true. If you were offered the opportunity to lose body fat, get stronger, add more muscle within six weeks and have more motivation to work out more consistently then you do now, would not you try it? Sure it is illegal and it is unfair for all the other athletes who do it the hard way, but most do not care. Many young men are taking steroids a t a young age. Reports from the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission issued a report that steroid use increased 2.6 percent from 1997 to 1999. Also, a report from th... ...unless they take steroids. Should the athlete take steroids and be a starter, or do not take steroids and never play?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In today’s athletics, nobody wants to watch a losing team. Whether the person plays on a team, or an individual sport. People want to see their team or favorite athlete succeed. Everyone is getting bigger and better at the sports they play. Some of the pressure that athletes receive is from the fans.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There are many pressures in society today. Some people take steroids so they will make the team or do better in the sport they play, and others just want to look good. The rest are pressured into taking steroids from there coaches, media, and even fans. Are taking steroids worth all of the risks involved? Well, for the people who take steroids they are worth all the risks. In athletics there is no second place; either you are a winner or you are a loser, and nobody likes to be a loser. There are many reasons people use steroids. Although steroids are not safe, people continue to use them. It is not right for people to use steroids, but as long as there are pressures to win, look good, and to get bigger and stronger there will be people using steroids.

Psychology As A Science

Psychology being categorised under the name science, can often lead to disputes within the field of sciences. Psychology is the observation of behaviour and thought process of the human mind, within itself it is a vital source of knowledge, such as how biology, chemistry and physics provides a source of knowledge that is vital to humans and the environment. Science can be seen as the study of natural behaviours and physical aspects of the world, this definition within itself accompanies itself with the idea that psychology is a science, as behaviours are studied within the field of psychology.Eysenck and Keane (2000) believed that to make something a science it must have the following features, controlled observation, in which a specific manipulation is observed to see the effects. Secondly objectivity, as when data has been collected objectively it reduces the possibility of bias, thirdly testing theoretical predictions, because if a theory is not tested there is no evidence to prov ide if it is right or wrong.Fourthly is falsifiability, which means the scientific theory has the potential to be proved wrong by evidence, fifthly is the unifying theory which is every subject within the sciences has a unifying approach all theories are based off. Finally there is the fact of is any research conducted replicable, as it is hard to rely on studies that could provide inconsistent findings. Although providing clear guidelines on what makes a science, there are still some aspects which make the divide not as clear as believed.For example psychology uses the scientific method in some of the studies conducted, which is used throughout science for all research, so this aspect can be seen to make psychology a science. Too many the field of psychology is classed as a science; the science of the mind, as it looks at the most complex thing on Earth, the human mind, all theories on behaviours and thoughts stem from psychology (BBC, 2013).In many areas psychology and the three s ciences (physics, biology and chemistry) have similarities, for example, the sciences can be seen as reductionist as they try to take a complex behaviour or physical problem and break it down in to a simpler form. Many theories within psychology on similar problems can also be seen as reductionist as it aims to take complex behaviours and thoughts and break it down in to easier components to study.An example of this can be shown by Freud (1909), Freud believes behaviour stems from the unconscious mind, making it a reductionist as it does not take biology or other factors in to account. Reductionism can be seen to be an advantage when it comes to conducting a study as it means testable predictions can be created, and then can be carried out in a controlled experiment. Although by making a reductionist theory can also cause disadvantages such as falsifiability. Popper (1963) believed falsifiability was key to science, as science does not seek to prove its own theory right, but tries t o confirm it as wrong.This means that if a theory is un-falsifiable then it is not scientific, psychology in many sectors is falsifiable through problems such as reductionism, but there are also theories that are un-falsifiable as they are untestable such as many of Freuds (1909) theories display, for example the Oedipus complex can neither be proven nor disproven. As well as having issues with falsifiability psychology also lacks the objectivity needed for science to make it truly scientific, as without objectivity the research is prone to becoming bias.Even in experiments such as Skinners (1956) rat experiment can be shown to be subjective, because although the rat is pressing the lever and the lever presses are recorded automatically, it is still down to the opinion of the researcher on when he believes the rat has learnt by pressing the lever they get a treat. This can be counteracted on the bases that psychology has the unique position of studying the human mind which in itself is difficult to operationalize, as not all parts of the behaviour and thoughts can be measured scientifically, which unlike atomic mass or miles per hour in science can be.Science within itself can also come across problematic issues over control and objectivity. An example of this is the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle â€Å"The more precisely the position is determined, the less precisely the momentum is known in this instant, and vice versa. † (Heisenberg, 1972) which means if something is precisely measured, and a hypothesis is believed to be true, it can often distant the researcher from the actual result. An issue with measuring investigations using the scientific method in general is it can restrict and affect answers within itself.An example is it can be argued that laboratory experiments are very artificial, so do not provide a clear picture of what would happen in real life terms. As well as sharing similarities with science on the basis they both have issues with control and objectivity, they both also share the same goals. They have three aims, the prediction, understanding and control over a study. Scientists and psychologists both put a theory forward, these theories in both cases lead to a creation of a hypotheses, this is the prediction.The next step is the understanding which is when you receive results from a prediction it should give the researcher and anyone reading the report a greater understanding of that subject. Control is the final step, the knowledge gained from the proven hypothesis provides knowledge which can be used to alter certain factors in the world. The three aims of science are according to Allport (1947), psychology follows these same three aims throughout studies, reporting and publishing work just as biology, chemistry and physics do.Throughout psychology the scientific method is used, but not in all areas although science has default problems itself with the scientific method. So it cannot always be said subjec ts within science always stick within the scientific boundaries themselves. Another point within psychology is psychology is a ‘new’ science, biology, chemistry and physics have been in service for a good period longer, so it may be in time more likely to be classed as a science.Nevertheless Miller (1983) would argue psychology is just a pseudoscience, an approach that claims to be scientific but does not have the key principles of science, he claims this can be dangerous as psychology is claiming to be a science, it provides the false ideal that their findings is ‘fact’. Although in comparison it could be argued that there is no ultimate knowledge of human’s behaviours and thoughts, so there must be a science to take over this role of discovering behaviours and thoughts.Science may study the physical aspects of the brain e. g. hormones that can be proven through empirical evidence, but it does not study the unknown areas such as behaviours, this is where psychology can provide answers. For example Piaget’s (1966) stages of development theory, that people develop starting at the pre-concrete stage and move throughout these stages until they reach the formal stage, science does not provide an answer for how humans develop in this sense.In conclusion psychology may seem like a vague  subject with no clear goals or guidelines, but it does have aims, its aim is to study the mind, the way people behave and think. Science still has unexplainable occurrences, that have no empirical evidence so in turn cannot be falsified, which in itself should make it not scientific. Psychology can provide answers for what science cannot explain, such as how memories are stored, psychology provides a theory for this whereas science does not. In conclusion psychology can be seen as a science to explain human behaviour that other sciences cannot.

My son is having a growth problem essays

My son is having a growth problem essays My assigned lot in life is that of the mother of a fifteen-year-old son. My son has not yet gone through the growth spurt that always accompanies I can imagine that as my son, I would feel extremely self-conscious at all times. Speaking from experience, its hard to be so different than all your classmates are. Many high-school students dislike having distinguishing features that set them apart from the rest, such as being short. These features can be the basis for a lot of teasing and humiliation. Being a female, I dont have any first-hand experience dealing with a males perspective, but I would think it would be even harder to be a short boy. Males in our society are stereotypically strong and muscular. Rarely do we see couples in which the wife is taller than the husband. My son must feel humiliated by his peers because he does not fit the Teenagers are very impressionable. They are still trying to form their own identity, separate from that of their parents. Most adolescents want to be a person that everyone else likes and accepts, and some will take drastic measures to be just that. It could get to a point where my son would try to take some sort of growth supplement from the back cover of a magazine, which would not be a healthy idea. Teenagers often have such a burning desire to fit in that they hate themselves when they cannot. I say all of this from experience, currently going through "the The thing to remember, though, is that everyone grows at a different rate, and not everyone is truly laughing at you. This information will be extremely hard for my son to believe, because I as a teenager myself still dont get it. When you walk into a room, it is impossible for everyone to be staring at you and laughing about your appearance, because th ...

Governments role in planning essays

Governments role in planning essays A century before the Golden Age of Athens, a Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, said the problem of human society is to combine that degree of liberty without which law is tyranny with that degree of law without which liberty becomes license. Planning is also about a group of laws, a set of rules to guide people and governments in decision making. Considerable differences in detail exist between planning processes in various nations. Many nations of Europe and the Orient follow the British method. In many countries there is a strong national input in planning. In the United States, variation is subject only to constitutional limitations. In general however, planning can be divided into two major categories, that of the private sector and government regulatory agencies. The right of the government to regulate the private sector is under constant challenge by those who feel that ownership of land includes the right to do with it what one wishes, provided the rights of others are not violated. As cities have grown in size and complexity and land has changed hands frequently, however, regulation is often needed. Some sense of order has to be established and accepted. Planning takes place at all levels of government. Local communities, cities and counties enact laws and ordinances which, under state laws or local charters, define the areas of planning that they are constitutionally allowed to carry out. In some instances, federal laws require specific planning to be done if a given community seeks financial assistance through one of the many programs under Federal control. In passing the laws and ordinances dealing with local planning, the cities and counties are supposed to prepare comprehensive plans, for land use, circulation, health, housing, energy, safety, education, recreation, conservation and the other elements that relate to the social, economic and physical structure of the community. The legislative bodies in most cases create p...

Zambia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Zambia - Essay Example The authors provide refreshing ideas on how Zambian wealth could be enhanced through formulation of better policies on environment in a country that heavily relies on copper mining for its economic mainstay. The authors acknowledge that development of Zambian economy mainly relies on â€Å"prudent environmental management†. To ensure the preservation of wealth in the country, Aongola et al emphasize on the need of promoting â€Å"sustainable development† in all sectors of Zambian economy. The authors refer extensively to previous research on Zambian economy and resources. This article provided me with a wider perspective of Zambian natural resources and social, political impediments that causes unsustainable utilization of resources. 2. Campbell, et al. Miombo woodlands: Opportunities and barriers to sustainable forests management. 2007. 2 June 2011. Retrieved from http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/miombo/docs/Campbell_BarriersandOpportunities.pdf The authors are natural resou rces experts, with many years of teaching experience in Universities across southern Africa. This article focuses on the Miombo Woodland, extensive tropical and seasonal woodland that covers an approximately 2.7 million Km2 across seven southern African countries including Zambia. The authors provide an overview of the critical role that Miombo woodland play in maintaining livelihoods of about 100 million inhabitants in southern Africa. The authors note, â€Å"high poverty levels in these countries have resulted to overexploitation of the woodland, a situation that threatens the ecological balance in Zambia†. This article provides an important contribution to this paper by highlighting the importance of Miombo woodland resources in mitigating poverty in Zambia and other southern African states. 3. Dorothy, F. A review of economic, governance and natural resource policy reform in southern Africa, with special reference to the case of Zambia. 11 Oct 2004. 1 June 2011. Retrieved from http://www.infra.kth.se/courses/1H1142/Furberg_EconChange.pdf This article focuses on the economic, governance and natural resources policies in Zambia. The author identifies lack of equitable and sustainable economic development as the main challenges that undermine social, political and economic development in Zambia. The author attributes the current environmental and economic problems in Zambia to previous political regimes in the country that instigated â€Å"poor political systems and environmental policies in the country†. The article provides a refreshing historical overview of Zambian political evolution and how it has influenced exploitation of natural resources in the country to date. 4. Jumbe, et al. Contributions of the Dry Forests to Rural Livelihoods and the National Economy in Zambia. 2007. 2 June 2011. Retrieved from http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/miombo/docs/ZambiaNationalCaseStudy.pdf The authors have critically evaluated the role of dry forests in enhanc ing economy of Zambia especially in the rural regions. According to the authors, dry forests in Zambia are important sources of wood, firewood, honey, wild fruits, traditional medicine, agriculture and an important source of income among the rural residents. This article is refreshing because it focuses on forest, an important non- mining resource in the Zambian economy. 5. MTENR. National Policy on Environment: Zambia. May 2005. 1 June 2011. www.mtenr.gov.zm/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc The article is the policy document of the Zambian government on the environment and it highlights the strategic goals of development through utilization of natural resources. The government ministries, including tourism, environment and natural resou

Unit 4 complete Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Unit 4 complete - Assignment Example In the US, the federal courts have special jurisdiction (Neubauer & Meinhold, 2013). Subject-matter jurisdiction refers to a court’s responsibility over matters and concepts of a case (Neubauer & Meinhold, 2013). On the other hand, personal jurisdiction refers to a court’s power over the persons involved in a case. In crime, causation of harm must be confirmed. In addition, a convicted person must have been in the right mental state to certify the validity of case. In essence, the defendant person should be proven to have acted with malice aforethought (Gross, 2012). Besides, the court process should prove the defendant as having actually acted or unlawfully omitted an act. In certain cases, a prosecutor may refuse to prosecute a given criminal case. For instance, there could be inadmissible evidence. In addition, a backlog of cases may require postponement of a given case. When a certain party in a lawsuit has unguarded jurisdiction, several problems may arise. To begin with, such a person may direct the case to suit one’s interests rather than the interest of justice. In addition, such a person may make mistakes that jeopardize a lawsuit process since one faces limited questioning from other parties. Besides, laxity from the single party may lead towards incompetent rulings. The US court’s system possesses a hiercahy at the federal and the states’ level. The federal courts exist in every state, and they represent the judicial branch of the US Federal government (Neubauer & Meinhold, 2013). On the other hand, the state courts operate under the unique states’ constitutions and laws. The federal court system operates in terms of districts and circuits. The circuit courts are the state appellate courts, which report to the US Supreme Court. The state courts divide into trial courts, appellate courts, and highest state courts. The main purpose of US courts is to defend the individual freedoms and rights that every citizen holds.

Answer All Questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Answer All Questions - Assignment Example Decisions that can be prescribed in financial terms are covered in the financial strategy (Bender & Ward, 2012). Thus, it could be stated that the financial decisions are different from business decisions that the company may undertake however, they are related to each other and have implications for them. (iii) There are four reasons that market value might differ from fundamental value which are given below: a. The share price often reflect future prospect of the company’s performance (Bender & Ward, 2012). If the market expects that the financial results of a company will exceed the expected growth rates than the share price will react positively in advance (Bender & Ward, 2012). This is usually reflected by high price to earnings ratio. It is understood that companies’ stock which have higher price to earnings ratio are likely to show increase in the market value of their shares as the market develops an expectation that these companies are likely to outperform thei r expected targets. For example, a recent launch of iPhone 5 pushed the market value of Apple’s stocks higher. b. ... ecomes mature and better view of the company’s performance becomes clearer the market value of shares will begin to coincide with the fundamental value of business per share. c. The company announces a future investment project which is expected to yield higher returns for the company and thus, the market reacts positively to the news. Although, the investment is yet to be placed by the positive sentiments about the projections that the company makes for its investment decision can have positive impact up on the market value of the company’s shares. For example, a company Medinah Minerals announced its exploration project in South America which lead to major interest by shareholders in its stocks and the market value went up above the fundamental value of the company. d. If a company approaches to takeover another company then managers or shareholders of the target company may enter in the market to alter the market value of its shares so that higher bid can be achieved . In this case, the market value of shares will be higher than the fundamental value of the company. This is a strategy to prevent takeover bids by other entities. For example, this defense tactic is very much common in the US as compared to the UK. Q2: (i) Year 0 1 2 3 NPV Project A Cash Flows (240,000.00) - - 325,000.00 Discount Factor 1.00 0.90 0.81 0.73 Discounted CF (240,000.00) - - 237,637.20 (2,362.80) 0 1 2 3 NPV Project B Cash Flows (198,000.00) 110,800.00 82,500.00 45,000.00 Discount Factor 1.00 0.90 0.81 0.73 Discounted CF (198,000.00) 99,819.82 66,958.85 32,903.61 1,682.28 NPV is the sum of future cash flows discounted to the present time and it is understood that only those projects which result in positive NPV must be accepted by companies and all those projects which have negative NPV

Dreaming in Cuban Essay Example for Free

Dreaming in Cuban Essay All summer she has lived in her memories . . .. Her past, she fears, is eclipsing her present. In Celias life, it always has. Celia is caught in the folds of time. Her central memory is that of Gustavo Sierra de Armas, the married Spaniard with whom Celia, when she was a very young department store clerk in Havana, had an intense love affair that was truncated by his unannounced departure. For twenty-five years, until the triumph of the revolution, Celia writes to Gustavo on the eleventh day of each month, keeping the un-mailed letters in a satin lined box. I watch the sun rise, burning its collection of memories, she writes to Gustavo and later, Memory is a skilled seducer who hover around the mid-century of life recall the rumors of multiple seductions by the dictator at the presidential palace. For Celia, these rumors become present reality, with Celia as one of the seduced. He does not age, nor does she. In Celias reveries, memory is most often sensualized and is always infused and injected with imagination. Memory is scripted, the script becoming more real than fact. As Celias daughter Felicia will tell her son Ivanito, Imagination, like memory, can transform lies to truths . . . . The matriarch of the novels dreamers, Celia seems engaged in an eternal wait that is never concluded, never satisfied. Her life, like her time, is arrested, moving then in long, elliptical swirls like patterns drawn on the sand by her beloved sea, whose waters envelop her again and again at critical junctures, cleansing and caressing her, then depositing her once again on shore, amid the folds of time. Three generations of Cuban women dominate this marvelously told story of a family divided by politics and the Castro revolution in Cuba. Celia del Pino is the effective head of the family. She is a loyal follower of Castro who watches the beaches near her small home to protect from a surprise attack from the assumed enemies of the regime. Her daughter Felicia also remains in Cuba, but has no interest in politics and has recurring bouts of insanity but finally dies when she succumbs to a fanatical version of Cuban Santeria religion. Her sister Lourdes immigrates to the United States and exalts in her own version of the American dream becoming a successful owner of a small bakery chain. Lourdes is as bitterly anti-Castro as her mother is pro. Finally we have Pilar, daughter of Lourdes and born the very year that Castro took power. Raised in Brooklyn, but with strong feelings of her Cuban roots, Pillar is a punk artist and later musician. She is caught with a foot in both words, nostalgic for Cuba and her grandmother, but fully rooted in the cultural scene of New York City. There are other members of the del Pino family who play lesser roles and Celia’s late husband, Jorge, plays the most curious role, a bit of magic realism as he spends several years in conversation with Lourdes after he has died. Only gradually does he fade away leaving Lourdes in a position where she can finally pay a visit to her aging and dying mother in Cuba. Dreaming in Cuban is told in segments related by numerous narrative consciousnesses, usually in the third person, from time planes that move backward and forward but follow a general linear chronological direction. What we learn of Lourdes comes primarily from the third-person narrative segments devoted to her and, secondarily, from the reflections of her daughter and her mother in the sequences narrated by or devoted to them. Lourdes has passed into exile, like so many of her contemporaries in 1961, with her husband Rufino Puente and their two-year-old daughter, Pilar. Lourdes has tried to force roots into the northern soil of Brooklyn, and genuinely believes that she has done so. In fact, when they leave Miami in a secondhand Chevy, unable to bear the endless brooding over their wealth, the competition for dishwasher jobs of Rufinos family, which has been ostentatiously prominent in Havana society, it is Lourdes who insists that they move ever northward, in search of the cold. New York City, finally, is cold enough. As enterprising and dynamic as Maria de los Angeles Mina Lopez in Roberto Fernandezs much praised 1988 novel Raining Backwards, Lourdes has founded the Yankee Doodle Bakery, and in time opens a second one. A fighter and a survivor, she has prospered. Lourdes takes pride in her love of order, her practicality. A take charge person who sees right and wrong in uncomplicatedly absolute terms, Lourdes becomes a volunteer auxiliary policewoman on a neighborhood beat, slapping her nightstick over and over into her palm before she goes out on patrol. Always estranged from her distant mother, Celia, who has been sent away to Havana by her own mother, never to see her again, Lourdes feels her parental affinity is with her father, Jorge del Pino, who railed over the years in Cuba at what he termed tropical squalor and who comes to New York to die of cancer. In Cristina Garcias 1992 novel Dreaming in Cuban, Cuba is a pivotal presence. The work examines, through a wealth of female and male characters, with emphasis upon the matrilineal chain, the intense experience of Cuban ness. The island country of Cuba is portrayed from within and without, and the distance from it is measured through the fictive evocation of exile, exile once removed, and inner exile. Different views of Cuba both inspire and result from divergent exiles. I have chosen to approach the topic of Cuba as text and context in the novel through an analysis of three female characters: Lourdes del Pino Puente, a Cuban exile living in Brooklyn; her daughter Pilar, age 13 when the novel opens; and Lourdess mother, Celia del Pino, who has by choice indee insistence remained behind in Cuba, in her seaside home. In Cuba, Lourdes sister Felicia feels this unleapable distance even from her adored son Ivanito, with whom she has a powerful spiritual bond. What is he saying? his mother wonders about him. Each word is a code she must decipher, a foreign language, a streak of gunshot. Even with her boy, to whom she is more closely bound than to any other being save her mother, Felicia is unwillingly but undeniably alone. Between Ivanito and his older twin sistersstiff, unbending adherents to the regimethere is also estrangement based on language as vital posture, the sum and expression of ones stance in the world she inhabits. He will never speak his sisters language, account for his movements like a cow with a dull bell. The novels title, Dreaming in Cuban, suggests an idiom of belonging, a collective, ever imperfect antidote to isolation and estrangement. What Celia terms the morphology of survival† must always take into account the grammar of this culture specific language, Cuban. Lourdes believes herself impervious to any such considerations. Yet the sight of a lone elm set in concrete causes her to wonder if this individual is Dutch elm disease set the last of the dying species. Is it a metaphor for her own exile and separation? There are other signs as well. The New York City rivers along which Lourdes walks and patrols flow gray, absorbing the light, usually unable to return it as reflection, their color and coldness evocative of metal. Breezes from the sluggish river seem to inscribe [Lourdes] skin with metal tips. Gray is also the color of ash. Felicias third husband, falling onto the wires of a carnival ride in Cuba, turns to ash and blows northward, where he had wanted to go. For Lourdess mother, gray is also the color of memory: Memory cannot be confined . . .. Its slate gray, the color of undeveloped film. That memory has been free to follow Lourdes northward, and that she would permit it to do so is a thought she would surely deny. In her daughter Pilars memories, her mothers toucans and cockatoos, released when the revolutionaries took over the Puente hacienda, also flew north in confusiona confusion, which Lourdes emphatically rejects; she abhors all ambiguity. Yet the northern clime has inspired in her inordinate hungers. The first is an erotic appetite for Rufino, which leads her husband to install a bell in his workshop so as to be always available to her and which finally leaves him spent and weary, and the second is a concomitant craving for pecan sticky buns, which brings about a weight gain of 118 pounds. In Rufino, Lourdes is reaching for something beyond him, something he cannot give her; she may well seek in this physical union a reintegration she cannot attain, a reconnection with her remembered life left behind, with the Cuba she knew. The sticky buns, with their impossible forbidden sweetness, may be the closest Lourdes can come in exile to the sensorial bombardment, richly evoked in the pages of Dreaming in Cuban, of her island home. In Cuba, Lourdes sister Felicia feels this unleapable distance even from her adored son Ivanito, with whom she has a powerful spiritual bond. What is he saying? his mother wonders about him. Each word is a code she must decipher, a foreign language, a streak of gunshot. Even with her boy, to whom she is more closely bound than to any other being save her mother, Felicia is unwillingly but undeniably alone. Between Ivanito and his older twin sistersstiff, unbending adherents to the regimethere is also estrangement based on language as vital posture, the sum and expression of ones stance in the world she inhabits. He will never speak his sisters language, account for his movements like a cow with a dull bell. The novels title, Dreaming in Cuban, suggests an idiom of belonging, a collective, ever imperfect antidote to isolation and estrangement. What Celia terms the morphology of survival† must always take into account the grammar of this culture specific language, Cuban. Lourdes believes herself impervious to any such considerations. Yet the sight of a lone elm set in concrete causes her to wonder if this individual is Dutch elm disease set the last of the dying species. Is it a metaphor for her own exile and separation? There are other signs as well. The New York City rivers along which Lourdes walks and patrols flow gray, absorbing the light, usually unable to return it as reflection, their color and coldness evocative of metal. Breezes from the sluggish river seem to inscribe [Lourdes] skin with metal tips. Gray is also the color of ash. Felicias third husband, falling onto the wires of a carnival ride in Cuba, turns to ash and blows northward, where he had wanted to go. For Lourdess mother, gray is also the color of memory: Memory cannot be confined . . .. Its slate gray, the color of undeveloped film. That memory has been free to follow Lourdes northward, and that she would permit it to do so is a thought she would surely deny. In her daughter This is Cristina Garcia’s first novel. She was born in Havana, Cuba in 1958 but grew up in New York City. She attended Barnard College and the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. She has been a correspondent for Time magazine and lives in Los Angeles with her husband Scott Brown. Works Cited 1. DREAMING IN CUBAN, By Cristina Garcia, 245 pages New York: Ballantine Books, 1992. ISBN # 0-345-38143-2

Opposition to Prescribed Burns Essay -- Fires Health Essays

Opposition to Prescribed Burns Forest fires kill many animals and usually destroy a large amount of land. Prescribed burns seem like they would be the best idea, but are they? Their claim to fame is to clear out land in order to decrease the burning space for when an actual forest fire occurs. Yet this may seem like a brilliant idea, but one must look at the negative aspects of controlled burnings. People might have a change of heart when they realize the damages and effects of such an interesting act. Keep in mind that not only is your health involved but even such things as the inconvenience of dealing with a smoky town. It is important to understand that prescribed burns cause severe health problems especially to firefighters; these are concerning carbon monoxide poisoning, visibility issues and health risks that will affect the future. Carbon monoxide is a major component in smoke from fires. It can cause a loss of mental acuity, acute nausea and severe headaches (Reinhardt 33). Death can occur at extreme levels of this intoxication and it can even cause shortness of breath and dizziness (Reinhardt 35). It may not seem like it is that bad, but one must consider that these things add up and can really affect their health and well-being. The carbon monoxide levels tend to shoot up when the wind speed goes up during daily exposure (U.S. Department of Agriculture 3). It also depends on what kind of duties you have as a firefighter; because those with the highest level of carbon monoxide in their system were a part of the direct attack and those with the least were the fire starters (U.S. Department of Agriculture 3). Carbon monoxide is a powerful poison that can kill you and it is absolut... ... but when your lungs collapse later in your life because you inhaled too much carbon monoxide you might regret the thought of prescribed burns. Works Cited Blakeman, Scott. â€Å"911 picture.† Photograph. 2001. 14 November 2004 http://www.scottblakeman.com/ firefighters.gif. Reinhardt, Timothy E. Monitoring firefighter exposure to air toxins at prescribed burns of forest and range biomass. Portland: Forest Service, 1991. Reinhardt, Timothy E. Smoke exposure among firefighters at prescribed burns in the Pacific Northwest. Portland: Forest Service, 2000. Shifting Sands. â€Å"Prescribed Burn.† Photogragh. 2002. 15 November 2004 U.S. Department of Agriculture. Smoke exposure at prescribed burns: a study on the effects of smoke exposure on firefighters at prescribed burns. Portland: Forest Service, 1995.

Computerised Accounting System Essay

At very outset I sincerely thankful to you for promoting me in the cadre of A. O. ( Mkt) & would like to draw your kind attention to my various earlier requests for restoration of my three increments as per the order dated 25th January 2005, passed by then CMD (copy enclosed ) by modifying the earlier order the following. 1 Restoring the basic pay to the same level as the order was to be without cumulative effect; as has been very categorically specified in the order. However, notwithstanding the above, the first part of the enclosed order was implemented long back in the year 2005, but even after so many years the 2nd part of the order is not implemented by your office till today & my basic salary has not so far been restored. It is respectfully submitted that non restoration of my basic pay as mandated by the order under reference would be in derogation of the order passed by the erstwhile CMD. my salary in the promoted cadre cannot be fixed unless my 3 increments are restored &only after restoration of these 3 increments my salary can be fixed In promoted (A. O. ) cadre . I therefore request your kind self to immediate restore my three increments ( by which my basic pay has been already been reduced )w. e. f. year 2005. & so that there is no delay in fixing my salary in promoted cadre. I shall be extremely grateful to you for the act of kindness.

Project Management Ethical Issues

Melwin Fernandes 200083225 Ethics and Other Management Issues (CIS 485) Duncan Jeffries Project Management Issues What is Project Management? Project management  is the  discipline  of  planning,  organizing, and  managing  resources  to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives. It is often closely related to program management (Wikipedia). A  project  is a temporary endeavour, undertaken to meet particular goals and objectives, having a defined beginning and end, usually to bring about beneficial change or added value.The temporary nature of projects stands in contrast to, which are repetitive, permanent or semi-permanent functional work to produce products or services. In practice, the  management  of these two systems is often found to be quite different, and as such requires the development of distinct technical skills and the adoption of separate management. The primary challenge of project management is to achieve al l of the project goals  and objectives while honouring the preconceived project constraints. Typical constraints are  scope, time, and  budget.The secondary challenge is to  optimize  the  allocation  and integration of inputs necessary to meet pre-defined objectives. Project Management Approach There are a number of approaches to managing project activities: 1. The Traditional Approach: A traditional phased approach identifies a sequence of steps to be completed. 2. Critical Chain Project Management  (CCPM): It is a method of planning and managing projects that puts more emphasis on the resources (physical and human) needed in order to execute project tasks. . Extreme Programming: It is used in combination with the process modeling  and management principles of  human interaction management. 4. Event chain methodology: It  is another method that complements  critical path method  and  critical chain  project management methodologies. 5. PRINCE2: It   is a structured approach to project management 6. Agile Project Management: It is based on the principles of  human interaction management  are founded on a process view of human collaboration. Project Management Development StageProject development includes a number of elements: five stages and a control system. Regardless of the methodology used, the project development process will have the same major stages. Major stages generally include: ? Initiation ? Planning or development ? Production or execution ? Monitoring and controlling ? Closing The Use and Misuse of Security Technology The misuse of security Technology is one of the main issues in project management. There are a large number of people over the world with very little or no knowledge of security technology which is why certain projects fail.It is a subject which is under discussed but in today's world with relatively low cost, trusted, security technology is readily available and easy to use. It has become a cult ure among people who are not sufficiently educated with the tools of security technology as it is easy to use and has somewhat become a fashionable trend. Some consider technology to be bad for the society. People have to understand that this is only because of its misuse. Technology does not threaten the society, instead it is humans who are the users who use technology to threaten society.So technology itself is not at fault. In the field of information, technology has increased the speed, quantity and communication with co-workers and clients. Advancements in technology have also contributed to work being completed at home which imbalances their work and life. Lost revenue and productivity has become a reason for an increased need and demand for surveillance techniques to monitor employees. Employers have resorted to creating separate computer security departments or divisions to deal with both the internal and external threats.All companies weather large or small have the pressu re to maintain access to critical information in order to run the business and remain competitive. A corporation with hundreds of offices and thousands of employees would have the same pressure of holding critical information as any other small enterprise. A comprehensive data protection solution is going to involve a lot of consideration and contingencies. There are many things can go wrong with your data and you need to be able to respond to them.There are many companies that have opted to purchase solutions from different vendors to fully address these challenges but can be an extremely expensive approach in terms of acquisition, integration and ongoing management costs. There have also been companies who decided the cost is too high and taken their chances, which is an approach that has often resulted in disaster. In the business world today, the loss of important data can cause significant damage and lead to the demise of your business.The same complex and expensive solutions a s the major players in your industry can be cost-prohibitive and unnecessary. Software and People in Project Management The most comprehensive software solution for assessing security of web application, network systems, end point systems and email users is CORE IMPACT Pro. It allows you to take security testing to the next level by safely replicating a broad range of threats to your organization’s sensitive data and critical infrastructure. You gain extensive visibility into the ause, effect and prevention of data breaches, enabling you to drive effective risk mitigation enterprise-wise. Impact enables you to safely assess an organization's security posture against the attack methods that jeopardize data today. Exploitation of network defenses in operating systems and services, client applications that run on desktop systems, attacks on employees, contractors and other end users via social engineering, manipulation of web applications to access backend data via cross-site sc ripting (XSS), SQL injection and remote file inclusion techniques only.It allows you to utilize penetration testing to assess your information security in such an integrated, comprehensive, in-depth andseamless fashion. CORE IMPACT Pro gives confidence in your security infrastructure by enabling you to validate network vulnerability, end-user threat response and web application exposure on a regular basis. You not only identify but also distinguish critical network vulnerabilities from false positives, identify where your organization is at risk from social engineering threats such as spam, validate security exposure in web applications.With all this you can intelligently plan, prioritize and execute policy adjustments, ensuring cost-effective use of security and development resources while improving overall security posture. Next-generation data protection, or NGDP, is a term that describes a large number of disk-based backup and recovery technologies, including disk-to-disk (D2D), virtual tape library (VTL), snapshots, continuous data protection (CDP), remote office backup consolidation (ROBC), bare machine recovery (BMR), disaster recovery (DR), wide area file services (WAFS) and others.The Tivoli Storage Manager FastBack It integrates to provide organizations with a complete data protection, archive, and retention and recovery solution. It also extends disk-based, block-level incremental data capture to a repository in another location, sending changed blocks of data over a WAN or Internet connection. Tivoli Storage Manager FastBack was designed to be bandwidth efficient to help minimize the impact on other applications that rely on WAN and Internet links.It can be set individually for each location to meet specific needs of the business while avoiding unnecessary costs in bandwidth and storage.. The features also include data differencing (sending only the changes from the previous job run), compression, bundling of small files to help reduce TCP/IP overh ead, bandwidth throttling and multi-threading. There have been a wide variety of industries who have taken Tivoli Storage Manager FastBack to improve backup and recovery performance across a diverse set of support tasks. It helps organizations: Reduce server backup times from hours or days to a few minutes. †¢ Reduce server volume restoration times from hours or days to a few minutes. †¢ Increase backup frequencies from once per week to multiple times per day, without disrupting operations. †¢ Enable rapid recovery of granular Exchange objects that are typically too difficult to recover. With next-generation data protection and recovery solution set at mid-market prices, these solutions can help companies reduce operational risk and costs, increase productivity and resiliency, and improve levels of service.It delivers a common foundation for managing both business and technology requirements and is designed to quickly address most pressing service management needs to changing business demands. The Tivoli portfolio is backed by world-class IBM Services, IBM Support and an active ecosystem of IBM Business Partners. Project Management Software It is a key tool in your effort to consistently finish projects on time and within budget. It allows you to do the critical steps Project Managers must do efficiently.There are a number of benefits that Project Management Software can provide such as spotting problems before it’s too late to fix them, optimizing the use of resources so you can finish early, updating the plan each week so you know where you are and updating everyone’s schedule when things change. These are the basic tools that every Project manager should have. Ideally Project Management Software provides managers with time-saving scheduling and analysis tools as well as archive data for use on future projects.Unfortunately Project Management trainings do not include practical skills in using Project Management Software nor the v alue that comes from archiving data on every project. Tasks like scheduling skills to optimize the use of resources to finish as early as possible and project software to identify problems early are best done with Project Management Software which otherwise can waste a considerable amount of time if done manually. With the appropriate Project Management Software, tracking actual performance in terms of hours of work and completion dates builds a database for estimating on the next project.Practically, there are far too many Project Managers who do not have the training or the tools to optimize their schedule or make efficient use of their resources resulting in projects that are guided by guesses. Project Management Software does not make the managers more effective, it just makes them more efficient. Project Management Software does not teach you how to define scope, communicate to the Project sponsor but just lets you accomplish these tasks more efficiently. There are three genera l classes of software available: Statistical Software: To blend in one direction with relational database software such as Oracle or Sybase. †¢ Mathematical Software: MATLAB in the other direction exhibits not only statistical capabilities flowing from code for matrix manipulation, but also optimization and symbolic manipulation useful for statistical purposes. †¢ Visualization Software: Overlaps to some extent with software intended for exploratory data analysis. The user interfaces common range from command line to graphical user interfaces (GUI) to hybrid drag and drop system interfaces.The Statistical Analysis System is available on PC and UNIX based platforms, as well as on mainframe computers. This modern database technique with queries is very easy to use and also accomplished easily. System for Statistical Analysis among the products are for management of large data bases, time series and most classical statistical problems including multivariate analysis, linear m odels (as well as generalized linear models), and clustering; data visualization and plotting.Users with a need to write an applications program using a matrix language, the product SAS/IML provides the ability to program using matrices as objects. SAS is to a large extent an industry standard statistical software package. The demand for students with SAS skills is greater than with skills other than statistical packages. Other statistical of the same general vintage as SAS are MINITAB, BMDP and SPSS. All of these systems began as mainframe systems, but have evolved to smaller scale systems as computing have evolved.MINITAB Inc was formed more than 20 years ago around its flagship product, MINITAB statistical software. MINITAB Statistical Software provides tools to analyze data across a variety of disciplines, and is targeted for users at every level i. e. Scientists, business and industrial users, faculty, and students. It has broadened the scope of its products to include quality control, designed experiments, chemo metrics and an array of general statistics from the original software that helped faculty to teach basic statistics.MINITAB is available on the most widely-used computer platforms, including Windows, DOS, Macintosh, OpenVMS, and UNIX. BMDP features a comprehensive library of over forty statistical routines and has set the standard for high-end statistical analysis software. It has its roots as a bio-medical analysis package from the late 1960’s and each statistical routine has been thoroughly time-tested based on the most advanced algorithms available. Current versions come in several flavors including the BMDP New System Personal Edition.The Professional Edition combines the full suite of BMDP Classic for PCs Release 7 statistics with the powerful data management and front-end data exploration features of the BMDP New System Personal Edition. SPSS Software products run on most models of all major computers and statistical analysis can now be done on the desktop. It is a multinational software company that provides statistical product and service solution for survey research, marketing and sales analysis, quality scientific research, government reporting and education. e SPSS products are a modular system and includes SPSS Professional Statistics, SPSS Advanced Statistics, SPSS Tables, SPSS Trends, SPSS Categories, SPSS CHAID, SPSS LISREL 7, SPSS Developer's Kit, Exact Tests, Teleform, and MapInfo. S-PLUS is a supported extension of the statistical analysis language. It was originally developed at AT;T Bell labs manufactured and supported by the Statistical Sciences Corporation, now a division of Mathsoft. Some of the code has been contributed by prominent individuals from the academic and industrial communities.MATLAB is an interactive computing environment used for scientific and statistical data analysis and visualization. The basic data object in MATLAB is the matrix with functions for basic data analysis and gra phics which are text files that the user can read and adapt for other uses, giving the ability to create their own M-files functions and script files, thus making MATLAB a programming language. The most useful capability is the tool available for visualizing data. It also provides Handle Graphic and there is a considerable amount of contributed MATLAB code available on the internet.The above descriptions of statistical software cover the most well-established commercially available software packages and among them the most extensively used mathematical packages is MATLAB. MINITAB is used in the educational community for introductory courses. BMDP and SPSS find users among communities in which they originated respectively the biomedical and social sciences community. Mainstream applied statisticians tend to use SAS more extensively whereas on the other hand S-plus seems to be a package that is highly regarded among the more research oriented particularly those interested in computati onal statistics.JAVA is a programming language which represents an extension of the World Wide Web capabilities. Basic documents on the web are constructed using HTML, in the sense that once the server delivers the HTML text to the browser, the server has done its job and the static text is interpreted and displayed by the client’s browser. It is a fully distributed, object oriented programming language which allows for creation of a fully interactive web-based system. The data and tools can be sent to the clients’ browser and allows attributes and methods to be linked together.In particular, JAVA allows applets, small applications or subroutines, to be created and transmitted across the web just as static HTML documents are now transmitted. JAVA is intended to be a secure system although security problems do exist with present implementation. However, access to local data is restricted and the JAVA is a secure environment. JAVA has been declared as is related to stati stical data analysis software of the future because it is a practical implementation of a new paradigm in distributed computing.It allows not only the distribution of text and multimedia but also of computing applications and data. It is a response to the enormous popularity of the World Wide Web and under this framework, new statistical, data analytic and other methodologies could be made available and tried out by practitioners in other research fields on their own data and their own computer. Considering the possibility of extending the web in a natural way to acquire data in the same way we acquire human-consumable information, new mechanisms must be sought to provide for the distribution of that data.Best Practices in Project Planning Project managers deal with sponsors who are organizational levels above them and sign their paychecks so Project Managers can’t really argue about the best way to do the project. Having data to quantify the impact of changes and model alter native ways of solving problems gives them much more credibility to give their executives a solid data on which to make their Project decisions rather than having due dates and budgets plucked out of the air.The ethical issue and its consequences, its resolution and its effect on Management In project management, timing is everything. Justifying, Planning, Activating, Controlling and Ending it the right way is the key to a successful Project. It is a disciplined process and a full circle project management that holds every development project together. The project plan, schedule, budget, resources, risk, scope, motivating the players and launching all project activities with communication play a very essential role in project management.It must be constructed in a way that reaches a busy, important audience with the right amount of the right information, a strategic marketing entity in a tight package that must be backed up with well-researched facts and figures that speak directly to the needs, goals, and problem-solving missions of the business. Present them with the business case report and explain it via a well-crafted, well-rehearsed presentation, accompanied by the sponsors. Starting off with a strong solid foundation of research and a creative solution to a business need do the utmost to obtain approval and present justification for the project.Plan Project produces the detailed project plan, project schedule, project organization, and resources. The approved project plan includes understanding the potential risks and the actions that are necessary to manage them. The goal of every project is to drive it to a successful and appropriate conclusion. Controlling a project is imposed not to create a bureaucratic layer, but to ensure that the project proceeds to its planned and scheduled ending. The activity of the project rests with the Project Manager. He controls, monitors, makes decisions ensuring that the project proceeds as planned taking corrective ac tions when necessary.End Project tasks archive the project materials and release the project resources for use on other projects. Conclusion Project management and project planning processes can contribute to an organization's survival and success, while the absence of project management and project planning processes can lead to an organization's demise. This helps in developing the concept for the project, which in turn is used to secure approvals to proceed to the execution phase of a project. Collectively these five steps form the life-cycle phases of project management, and all steps require adequate attention to ensure that a project is adequately managed.Costs, time-frames, quality targets, and other relevant factors are very essential while considering the planning process. Project management ensures that organizations are able to achieve strategic initiatives that extend beyond normal operations through a recognized process, thus aiding organizations in fulfilling strategic objectives such as new product development, process re-engineering, organizational change or financial growth. In conclusion, project management is needed within organizations to support temporary endeavors that create unique products or services.