If I Were a Bird Essay

If I were a bird, I would like to be one of the small species, cute and beautiful. I would love to be a tiny maina who is beautiful, tiny and above all, it is a bird that man can keep as a pet. I would love to stay with men, study their ways and enjoy their company. This I would be able to do with men as, God has given the maina a power of speech just like men. It talks like a human being, has a sweet voice and, above all also has a great capacity to learn whatever it is taught. If I were to be a bird, I would like my life to be a beautiful blend of freedom of flying in the high skies and the love and care given by man. I see advantages in both and find it difficult to make a choice. My ambition as a bird would be able to fly high as high can be, like any other bird. This would give me an insight into what all exists in the atmosphere. I would also be able to assess first hand, the life of birds as a community, the advantages and the disadvantages they live with. I would share my experiences with my kin and understand the difficult ways of life. I would attain knowledge of lives of birds big and small as I would move with them and conversing with them while flying high in the air, or sitting on trees with my other colleagues. Though I would love all this, at the same time I would love to become a pet in a nice family. This family would keep me closed in a cage lest I fly off. Here, in the family I would learn to be controlled and restricted. It would be no doubt a punishment of sorts to be tied down in a cage but I feel so happy imagining the love and care I would get from each member of the family that would adopt me. Here, at home, I would be served food in a platter, water in a dish in a right royal style. Aha! what a life that could be for me. Hunting for food and being frightened of bigger birds attacking me would not be a care for me. I would be a loved one of many – what a wonderful feeling it gives. While living with a family I would also be able to learn about the ways of men. How man lives, how he behaves, and what his attitude is towards birds I would be able to understand first hand, being so close to man. I would thus also get an insight into all this. Together with all these advantages, living with human beings, my art of talking like a human would get encouraged and I would get several chances to talk to the family. I understand man keeps mainas and parrots just for this art of these birds, of talking like men. My master, mistress and some small children of the family would teach me how to speak and what to speak. Once I would get the training to speak, I would be able to chat with each of the family members and guests. This would earn for me heaps of praises by all who heard me. This I say because I hear a maina has a very clear and sweet voice, and a capacity to talk like a human. If I were a bird, I would like to get the blessing of this combination to be set into my life. It would give me a healthy and relaxed sojourn in a family, together with free visits to the sky, trying out my skills of taking high flights. The two together would give me as if, the best of both the worlds, of birds and humans. Oh! God, please grant me this life, that is, if I am not asking for too much. Summer Vacation Short essay for kids on My Summer Vacation. Our school closed for holidays on May 14. We had been planning how to spend the vacation this time. There were many proposals. My parents wished to go to our home town, and be with my grandparents for about six weeks or so. My friends had a trekking expedition up their sleeves, while my classmates wanted to go to some hill station on an educational tour for which our class-teacher had also given consent. I wished to avail of all the three proposals. First, I made my mother and elder sister agree to my going on the tour, with my class and the teacher, as the railway concession was already allowed for such journeys. They requested my father to postpone the programme to visit the grandparents by a week or so. My father readily agreed and decided that if I wished to go for the educational tour, I could join him later. He and my mother agreed to go in the advance party to be joined by my sister and me after my tour. My friends agreed to go trekking, after my return from both journeys. The three journeys were planned in the following order: Educational tour in May, home town trip in June and trekking in July, when the monsoon reaches this part of the country. My class-teacher had arranged for the railway concession for thirty-five students and three teachers. We started on May 20, reaching Allahabad late in the evening. Earlier, we had tea and snack at the Kanpur railway platform, since the train stopped there for ten minutes, that being a big railway junction. We enjoyed our three-day stay in Allahabad very much. There we got our rooms booked in a lodge on Thomas Street. We did boating in the nearby river four times. We went to see different places. We also went to see Anand Bhawan, where Pt. Nehru was born. We returned on May 25, much refreshed and happy. My father had booked our seats by Indian Airlines for June 2. I, along with my sister, took this flight as already decided, and reached our home town in†¦ My First Day at New School After I came to the United States, I began to attend North Penn High School on Dec. 6, 2000. It was a day that I will never forget. My first day in a foreign school was a especially hard for me. During my first day in a new school, I felt nervous, lonely, and sad. First, I was very nervous because my school was huge. There were around three thousand students who were studying in the school; furthermore, there were around three hundred staff members in the school. My class schedule was hard for me to understand. Since I had never seen that kind of schedule before, I could not find my classes on time. Also, I was frightened of asking other students for directions because I did not know how to speak English. My first class was Biology, and I was already late for the class. Fortunately, I saw a security guard walking around in the hallway, who helped me to find my class. Many times I have asked teachers for directions too; I was late getting to all of my classes. Moreover, my teachers got mad at me and told me not to be late every time. Second, I felt lonely because there was not anyone with whom I could talk. There were too many students walking around the school, but they never smiled at me or said â€Å"Hi† or â€Å"Hello† to me. In addition, in my world culture class, students had to work in a group, and no one wanted to work with me. There were all American students in my class; they were talking in English and making fun of me because I did not know English very well. Moreover, during the lunch period, I had to sit alone in the cafeteria, when other students were enjoying their lunch period with their friends. Also, I felt sadness at that time, because I missed my friends and family very much. When I was in school back in India, my two best friends, Swati and Bijal, and I used to go to school together everyday; if one of us did not understand any concepts, we always helped each other out. Swati and Bijal always had told me that I was going to miss them and advised†¦

Christmas vs. Halloween

Holidays are a time where families can come together and celebrate things that mean a lot to them. Spending time with your family is important to folks and holidays are the perfect way to gather the whole family up to celebrate something special. Every year we have tons of fun giving and receiving from others. Being a kid, the best part of all is receiving. Whether it be candy or video games or maybe even some socks from mom, it's amazing no matter what. All holidays are exciting to me but two of my favorite are Christmas and Halloween.But which holiday is the best? Almost all holidays have fictional characters that represent them. Let's start with Christmas. The absolute best part of Christmas for me was waiting to hear that big fat man in the red suit in my living room; Santa Clause of course! We would make â€Å"reindeer food† at school with oats and glitter and throw it in our yard at night. I remember so well throwing the food handful by handful saying each of the reindee r's names as I threw it across the grass. â€Å"Here's for you, Rudolph. â€Å".. And this is for you Comet! † I think all kids have this image of the North Pole in their minds. I could always picture Mrs.Clause baking and all of the elves building toys up there. It makes the idea of Christmas that much more exciting. Halloween, on the other hand, has an entirely different approach. These characters are a lot more intimidating. A great deal of these fictional characters are also followed by a scary story, like The Headless Horseman galloping on his horse looking for a new head to call his own! When I think about Halloween I think of the Hocus Pocus witches flying by on their broomsticks in the sky, ghost flying creeping around corners, black cats running across the streets, and monsters hiding underneath my bed.Putting all of these characters into this holiday makes it so amusing and really keeps people on their toes. Every holiday has some kind of tradition. During Christma s time, the main tradition is to put up a Christmas tree and decorations with your family. Hanging up garland, draping ornaments up and down the tree to make it look like your own, throwing lights up on the house, placing your Christmas letters from family on top of he fireplace, dangling bows around every corner, and of course putting the final star or angel on the top of your very own Christmas tree.To follow more tradition, we also buy and wrap gifts for our loved ones. It is a time of year that we can really show our appreciation by giving. And don't forget about that yummy Christmas dinner! So much is cooked and prepared for the dinner; turkey covered in brown gra'. y to all of the mouthwatering sides like carrots, sweet potatoes, and green beans along with some homemade sweet bread rolls. It's almost like a second Thanksgiving! Halloween is not so sweet. One main tradition is finding the perfect pumpkin for you and your family and carving it together.There's so many possibilit ies when carving a pumpkin because you can choose anything you woul d like. IVe seen anything from funny faces to hideous monsters. One thing people do on Halloween and the weeks before it is go to haunted houses with friends and family! There's nothing better than going into a place that is trying to scare the heebie-jeebies out of you! Most people take their children out â€Å"Trick or Treating†. Kids dress up in their avorite character and go door to door to gather candy from others in their neighborhood. Halloween continues to be extremely popular with kids of all ages; 85 to 90 percent of U. S. children go trick-or-treating or engage in other Halloween festivities every year, and many adults also Join in on the fun. † (Harris) Although it has become very unsafe over the years, it is a tradition that will never die down. Kids will always want their candy! Color themes are a big part of any holiday. Christmas is celebrated with the colors green, red, and white. Green Christmas trees, red mistletoes, and white snow.Nothing can beat these bright colors when theyre all in one decorative room together. Halloween uses more dark colors like black, purple, and orange. When you think of monsters and darkness you don't exactly think of rainbows and sunshine. Colors can affect any point of view. Nobody is going to be scared of a hot pink monster with blue polka dots! Bring on the creepy dark colors! The meaning of a holiday is what matters most. â€Å"Christmas is an annual commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ and a widely observed holiday, celebrated generally on December 25 by millions of people around the orld. (Wikipedia) Not only is it a time to come together as a family, but a time to come together religiously as well. To celebrate what you believe in is important to almost anyone. Halloween began to celebrate the dead. â€Å"Halloween is a yearly celebration observed in a number of countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows; Day. It initiates the triduum of Hallowmas, the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead. † (Wikipedia) The holiday may be scary but it is meant to be a celebration for our loved ones.In my opinion, Christmas is the best holiday. I love nothing more than to come together with my family to share gifts and love. This holiday is a very happy and cheerful holiday overall and it can really bring out the best in people. â€Å"This truly is the happiest time of the year, and a rush of excitement takes over every December. Everything seems a bit brighter this time of year, so one can never take a December day for granted. † (Bell) I celebrate it every year with the people I care most about and will carry on the tradition for as long as I can.

Medical School Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Medical School - Personal Statement Example And I believed that with all my heart, that doing something else would make me both happy and rich. Because of such dreams of grandeur I took a liking to engineering and business courses, thinking that one day I might strike gold and become rich and famous like Bill Gates or Warren Buffet. However, my dreams of becoming rich and famous by being a businessman or an engineer came to an end when I realized that I had no sure way of achieving those goals. I just accepted the fact that I had too many selfish hopes and high dreams with unrealistic expectations. As I went through high school, I happened to discover that my strengths actually lie in my interest in the field of biology, especially of the human body. My interest of the human body was greatly influenced by my father, a well-respected physician. As a child I could remember him talking about the cases that he worked on, and even bringing me to the hospital to get close to the action. My efforts to defy what my parents wish for failed, as I realized that what they push me to do was actually my personal calling. My decision to volunteer at a hospital and a walk-in clinic solidified my choice of becoming a doctor, especially the unique experiences that I had while being there. What inspired me even more to press on becoming a doctor was the fact that the clinic I volunteered in was a non-profit charity organization, and that everyone was putting their lives on the line by helping the neediest among the needy, the poorest of the poor. The case of Michael Thornton, a patient with a painful case of osteoarthritis in his finger joints moved me the most. After telling the secretary about his complaint, he was promptly attended to by Dr. Al i, the physician on-duty. Seeing the look of relief and joy in Michael’s face after getting treatment made me realize that this was what kept my father going as a physician. Realizing that fulfillment as a doctor is possible after seeing the relief and the

Islamic Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Islamic - Assignment Example Muslims and non-Muslims have some similarities and differences inherent in their faith. To begin with, both are sensitive to political and other issues affecting people in the society. However, Muslims tend to be more religious than non-Muslims. Muslims rate the importance of God in their undertakings higher than non-Muslims; most Muslims do not accept abortion, divorce and have a particular opposition towards homosexuality. However, some Christians have a soft stand on some of these issues. Muslims do not allow intermarriage with non-Muslims, unlike Christians, and if they do, the spouse from non-Muslim faith must change their religion. Further, female Muslims do not shake hands with non-Muslims, but other religions do. These differences, which prevail between Muslim and non-Muslim individuals, have a negative effect in the social interaction of these two groups in the entire world. Most non-Muslims view Muslims as a segregated religion whose followers give priority to people who share the same faith. In addition, since terrorists are considered to be Muslims, non-Muslims are always conscious in dealing and interacting with Muslims (Mussarat 11). Therefore, good strategies should be put in place in order to establish tolerance, justice and compassion in the relationship between Muslims and non

Impact of burnout in the nursing field Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Impact of burnout in the nursing field - Essay Example They render service that will determine the patient’s safety and wellbeing. Burnout experienced by nurses would threaten, not only the patient’s safety, but also decrease the quality of care rendered. There is an ongoing shortage of nurses in the United States that contributes to the incidence of nursing burnout and impacts the over-all health care delivery system. As the functionality of a reduced nursing staff will decline should the prevailing working conditions continue. The major shortage today is escalating just as when patients are needing more complex care and demand for services are seldom unmet (Joint Commission on Accrediation of Healthcare Organizations, 2002). The opportunities in employment for registered nurses have been projected to be higher than any other discipline. Yet, a major shortage is still seen in the near future. This is caused by the deficiency in the number of nursing faculty and colleges and universities that are unable to take advantage of the unusually high number of qualified applicants due to financial constraints. There is a need for the government to step in to review policies and increase public subsidies (Aiken, Cheung, & Olds, 2009). The Causes There are several causes that contribute to the incidence of nursing burnout. One is the current nursing shortage has a high impact on the nursing profession. The nursing profession has always been regarded as stress-filled having to deal with manual labor, human suffering, rotating work shifts and various interpersonal relationships (Jennings, 2008). As the nurse is always on the frontline of patient interaction, they are the direct recipient of stress from situations of death and illness. The present inability to produce sufficient amount of registered nurses due to the limitations in school admissions compounds the situation. The population of aging nurse practitioners is now slowly being led to nursing burnout to compensate the inadequate staffing in hospitals (Bar tels, 2001). Another cause for nursing burnout is the stress that is made complex by work, marriage and children. Work life is seldom independent from family life and this dependency is where conflict sometimes arises. This situation is predominantly felt by female nurses as they would have juggle the roles in their life like wife, daughter, mother and friend aside from being a nurse that should provide the best possible care for their patients. It’s Implication to the Nursing Field Due to the reduced number of nursing practitioners it is now a common practice to go on twelve hour shifts to allow them a 3-day work week thus giving more opportunity for work-life balance. Studies conducted by University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing claim that hospital nurses working on ten hour shifts or more are more prone to experience burnout and job dissatisfaction (Penn Nursing Science, 2012). There is an organizational need for nurses to go on overtime, rotating shifts or consecutive days lead to fatigue that eventually affects their job performance. The exhaustion and low energy that overwhelms the nurse that in turn affects the quality of care they render to the patients. The demand for acute care service is increasing in hospitals and thus need optimal nursing care. The reality of having fewer nurses to respond to this need is a precarious situation for patients and hospitals. The combination of very few nurses and nursing support personnel plus the paper work and other administrative duty

The business of Green Valley Bakers from the viewpoint of operations Research Paper

The business of Green Valley Bakers from the viewpoint of operations management - Research Paper Example The paper tells that quality management seems to have evolved out of the most simple and everyday principles- yet it is so difficult to achieve. Many bakeries have failed along the way, or settled to a life and existence that is less than perfect because they did not have the funds, will and desire to achieve the status reserved only for the best. But as Chez Van Dough and his family have always believed, fortune favors the bold and those who are perseverant will eventually be victorious. The important thing is never to lose hope or give up. It would have been so easy to call it quits or throw in the towel at any of the difficult moments along the process- and there have been many- but Chez and his business have survived. They have also learned important lessons along the way. These experiences, both good and bad, will be of use to them if they are ever faced with similar situations in the future. Operations management is often a complicated process and could involve breaking down th e most simple to the most complex processes and procedures to its various component parts so that the difficulties, ailments, and impediments in the processes and procedures could be identified and tackled effectively. This is why dealing with the various aspects of the quality improvement process like inventory management, capacity and forecasting, productivity and process improvement and finally, quality management is like solving a complex problem having many components and variables.... This is why dealing with the various aspects of the quality improvement process like inventory management, capacity and forecasting, productivity and process improvement and finally quality management are like solving a complex problem having many components and variables. The important thing is to decide what is best for the overall enterprise and which initiatives would have the most impact and long lasting benefits and to implement those only. Looking at the various aspects that led to the productivity and quality improvement revolution at Green Valley Bakers, we will come to the conclusion that it was the cumulative effort of the various initiatives like Productivity & Process Improvement, Inventory Management, Capacity & Forecasting and Quality Management that have made all the difference to the business. The company’s name is quite well known across California and there are orders from far and wide for their regular and specialty goods, like breads, cakes and pastries. I n addition, special orders come in too for birthdays, parties, anniversaries and other occasions. Green Valley Bakers has decided to open another production and sales outlet near the city where it can sell to regular customers as well as serve as a distribution point for the region. All present factors indicate that this decision was well timed and it is leading to even greater hype and demand for its products. Indeed, sometimes customers have to return disappointed when stock runs out of various items. There is even the possibility of booking special orders in advance via Green Valley Bakers website so the bakery is never at a loss for business. In fact, there are plans to expand

Business Organisations And Their Environments Essay

Business Organisations And Their Environments - Essay Example This essay stresses that the employees need to be informed of why technology is being introduced, its perceived benefits and the limitations. Then, they should be given training in how to utilize technology to enhance the work. They should also be encouraged to find innovative ways to utilize technology. Proper information flow and effective communication can reduce the incidences of resistance. This would help the organization to attain higher levels of productivity. This may require the right leadership. People do not want to challenge the tried and tested methods for fear of failure and consequent loss of job. This fear has to be eliminated by accepting mistakes as the learning process. This means the employees have to be given a free hand to learn through mistakes. Understand the internal environment is very critical to the successful implementation of technology. This paper makes a conclusion that an organization cannot function independent of the external environment. In fact the external environment urges an organization to changes its strategy and policies, to ensure that it is able to sustain competition. The external environment becomes a cause for its competitive strategy. The external environment would include the country and the industry policies as well. But in this case, only the competition in the sector has been considered. However, just trying to beat competition through prices is not enough.

Kikujiro and Kitano Movies Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Kikujiro and Kitano Movies - Movie Review Example Indeed, as a follow up to his most notable work "Hana-bi," or "Fireworks," this film seems to have gone unnoticed for the most part because of its veering toward the usual Disney-like story of a crabby old man hitting the road with a dejected kid, but then, we're talking about Kitano. He was able to make the movie look fresh, original, and even surprising. He was also able to show that his works shouldn't be stereotyped at all to the yakuza films he made, which are filled with "juxtapositions of life and death, ugly violence and beautiful serenity - and usually end bleakly with suicide." The movie may be looked into as somewhat having two unique parts, with the first part the more gilt-edged portion. The first half focuses on the journey for the most part. The audience follow the seemingly incompatible pair through various risky adventures such as when they hitchhiked and raced among cyclists. Everything else that happen afterwards has its foundation on the search for Masao's estranged mother in another part of Japan and surprisingly brings on laughs. The second part isn't that quite spectacular though. ... The result is that some scenes became a drag to some because of repetitive scenes of adults acting like children such as when Kikujiro forms an assorted crew of misfits to play with Masao and have them dress up as aliens, Indians, marine life and even watermelons. Nevertheless, with Kitano's concept of building a friendship between the most unlikely of people, it really makes for an admirable and interesting story. It is also interesting to note that Masao's scrapbook seems to provide the structure for the movie giving each chapter a fair description. Each chapter offers a well-defined character that is, in different turns, hilarious, playful, surreal, disturbing, and heartbreaking. For one, Kitano is bold enough to use a child molester as an unlikely source of black humor and subject of any child's nightmare. The variations in tone between the chapters help in orchestrating unexpected tonal shifts and works to add to the context of the story. The theme: Alienation and inclusion Kitano was also able to look into the theme of both alienation and inclusion in his very own Japanese society. In fact, the two main characters, and even most of those who help the duo along their journey, can all be considered as unwanted by the society as they were not really a part of any conventional family or group structure. The characters, on the other hand, who live a more unquestioned lifestyles are frequently conflicting with the movie's protagonists. At the onset of the story, Kikujiro reacts to their alienation with anger while the nine-year old Masao with sadness. But along their expedition, they begin to discover similarities between themselves and the circumstances in Toyohashi become a turning point for the protagonists to

Money and Banking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Money and Banking - Essay Example To put into effect the ruling, federal authoritarian agencies inspect banking association designed for CRA compliance, in addition to get this information into deliberation when appreciative applications for fresh bank branches otherwise intended for mergers or acquisitions. The Worker-Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 looks for to address inequity in loans prepared to persons and businesses as of less and reasonable -income neighborhoods. The Proceed mandates that the entire banking organization that take delivery of FDIC insurance be assess to ascertain if the organization is suggest credit in cooperation in which the banks receive deposits, in a mode consistent by means of safe and sound process. The regulation does not file exact criteria for assess the performance of economic institutions. To a certain extent, it through that the assessment process must provide accommodation the circumstances and context of every one particularized institution. The Federal policy dictates agency performs in assess an institutions compliance in the five functioning areas, encompass the twelve estimation factors. This inspection culminated in the delegation of a ranking and the inscribe report turn out to be part of the supervisory document in favor of that institut ion. The law, nevertheless, give emphasis to that an institutions CRA actions be supposed to be undertaken in a secure and sound mode, and does not necessitate institutions to build high-pitched -risk loans that possibly will get losses to the organization. An organization CRA compliance document is taken into account by the depository regulatory organization when the institution searches for to get bigger all through merger, acquisition otherwise branching. The law does not consent in the least added penalties for non-compliance among the CRA. Housing backing groups be there also influential in the fight in

To investigate the resistance of a wire Essay Example for Free

To investigate the resistance of a wire Essay In this experiment the factor to be investigated is the resistance of a wire in a circuit when the wires length is altered. This means that all other factors must stay the same or else this would not be a fair test. I am going to investigate how different lengths of wire affect the resistance in a circuit. I am using a voltmeter and an ammeter to measure the current in the circuit after the length of wire is changed. I am going to use five different lengths of wire and in order to make sure that this is a fair test and the results are accurate, I will repeat each experiment three times and work out the average. The results will not be completely accurate as the length of wire may not be accurate. I also may not have put the voltage on the power box exactly on the right voltage. Other factors that affect the rate of reaction are Electricity. When the electricity is increased, the readings on the voltmeter and ammeter immediately change. If by accident anyone touches the knob on the power pack, the electricity given out into the circuit changes, therefore making the experiment unfair. I will work out resistance in Ohms by using Ohms Law, which is: V=IR (Voltage = Current x Resistance) The whole experiment must be as fair as possible. I will measure out the wire correctly and keep the power pack on the same voltage, in order to keep it a fair test. I will also repeat each experiment three times to make sure it is accurate. I will then draw the graph using the averages. Prediction I predict that the longer the wire is, the more resistant it will be. I. e. If the wire is 5cm, more electricity will get through the circuit than if it were a 45cm piece, at the same voltage. This is because in a long length of wire, there is more space for the electrons to move and so the more times the free electrons will collide with other free electrons. In a short length of wire, the electrons are close together and have a lower collision rate than those in a long piece of wire. This theory is backed up by Ohms law, which Apparatus Method   Collect Apparatus as shown in diagram.   Set up apparatus as shown.   Make sure power pack is set to 3v.   Measure out 15cm of wire. Clip the crocodile clips onto each end of the measured length of wire. Turn on the power pack.   Look at readings on Ammeter and Voltmeter and write down results.   Re measure and repeat two more times before moving on to next experiment.   Work out average of each experiment and use that in the graph. Safety To keep myself and others around me safe, the following should be followed: Not do this experiment near water, as people could get electrocuted. People should not touch the wire while the experiment is taking place as it could be hot and it could burn them. Girls with long hair should tie it back as they may knock something over with their hair. Results Experiment 1 Wire (cm) Readings of Ammeter Readings of Voltmeter 1Experiment 2 Wire (cm) Readings of Ammeter Readings of Voltmeter 30cmExperiment 3 Wire (cm) Readings of Ammeter Readings of Voltmeter. 17 Experiment 5 Wire (cm) Readings of Ammeter Readings of Voltmeter 75cm 0. 23 3. 23 75cm 0. 21 3. 22 75cm 0. 22 3. 23 I have worked out the averages of each experiment with a calculator to one decimal place. Here are the averages of each experiment: Wire (cm) Averages of Ammeter readings Averages of Voltmeter readings 15cm 0. 85 2. 65 30cm 0. 49 2. 96 45cm 0. 34 3. 08 60cm 0. 26 3. 16 75cm 0. 22 3. 20 Using the averages from the experiments, I have worked out the resistance of the wire. This is shown on the graph. Wire (cm) Averages of Resistance (Ohms). Conclusions My results agree with my prediction. When the length of wire is longer, there is more space for the electrons to move through the wire, therefore there is a higher chance of them colliding with each other and creating resistance. I have also seen that, through the course of the experiments, the Ammeter readings decrease, and the voltmeter readings increase. Evaluation My experiments all went well, except the Graph shows that the results are close to perfect apart from the last experiment. I noticed that through the course of the experiments, the Voltmeter readings seem to get higher in value and the Ammeter readings seem to decrease. If I had more time, I would have done the experiments more times each for a fairer test. I would also use more accurate and new equipment, as the equipment I used has been used many times before and may not measure the resistance perfectly. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Electricity and Magnetism section.

The Carnival Cruise Lines

The Carnival Cruise Lines Carnival Cruise Lines is a global cruise company and one of the largest vacation companies in the world. CCL generates all of its revenues from the cruise industry. The companys wide-ranging product offerings provide guests with exceptional vacation experiences at an outstanding value. The success in providing quality cruise vacations has made CCL the most profitable company in the leisure travel industry. Carnival Cruise Lines stock is dually listed on both the New York Stock Exchange and on the London Stock Exchange under symbol CCL. It is the only company in the world to be included in both the SP 500 index in the United States and the FTSE 100 index in the United Kingdom (Carnival Corporation PLC, 2012). Carnival Cruise Lines operates a fleet of 100 ships, with another seven ships scheduled for delivery between now and March 2016. With approximately 200,000 guests and 77,000 shipboard employees, there are more than 277,000 people sailing aboard CCLs fleet at any given time (Carnival Corporation PLC, 2012). For the purpose of our report it is crucial to understand how the Carnival Cruise Lines Corporation works today. We need to understand how the various aspects of the business are set up and how they work together. Only after a true understanding of the current situation, we can come with proposals for improvement and indicate the impact on current ways of working. In literature one can fine many models that can be used to look at an organization with an internal perspective. In appendix X we provide an overview of some management models we have found in literature, with an explanation why, when and how it should be used. Since our report needs to cover the implementation of a new IT management strategy, we have decided to use McKinseys 7S model as shown in figure X. This model, developed in the 1980s, involves 7 factors, which can be categorized as hard and soft elements. Hard elements can be identified and influenced more easily. They would be driven by the organization charts and reporting lines within the business and they may include the systems you use to get work done. Soft elements are, by their very nature, more difficult to manage and may be affected by the culture of the organization. But you have to apply yourself to these as much as the hard elements, as they provide the support structure for the successful implementation of any ch ange, and they are all interdependent on each other. Figure 7S framework (McKinsey) The hard elements in the 7S-model are Strategy, Structure and Systems; the soft elements are Style, Shared Values, Skills and Staff. In order to understand the 7S-model better a brief explanation is given below. Hard elements of the 7S-model: Strategy by using mission and vision the organizations objectives become clear. Structure how is the organization structured and which hierarchical layers are there Systems all formal and informal methods of operation, procedures and communication flows Soft elements of the 7S-model: Style this is about leadership and management styles Shared values the standards and values and other forms of ethics within an organization in which vision, corporate culture and identity are the key elements Skills these concern both the skills of the organization and those of the employees Staff this is about the employees, their competences and job descriptions In addition to the above elements we added two paragraphs specifically on Information Management and Risk Management to give a complete overview of the situation of Carnival Cruise Lines today. 2.1 Strategy of CCL The mission of Carnival Cruise Lines is to take the world on vacation and deliver exceptional experiences through many of the worlds best-known cruise brands that cater to a variety of different geographic regions and lifestyles, all at an outstanding value unrivaled on land or at sea (Carnival Corporation PLC, 2012). The vision statement of CCL is the following: to consistently deliver fun, memorable vacations at a repeat value (Carnival Corporation PLC, 2012). Derived from this mission and vision, Carnival Cruise Lines has set up the following strategic objectives: to be the leading cruise operator in all segments entered and to maintain the most up-to-date fleet of cruise ships in the world to develop new cruise segments and innovative cruise packages to reach a larger number of potential and past cruisers employ sophisticated promotional efforts to achieve a greater awareness by the public concerning the availability and afford ability of cruise travel attract the first-time and younger cruisers (Carnival), experienced cruisers (Holland America), upscale cruisers(Seaborne), and cruisers wanting a sailing vacation (Windstar) promote cruises as an alternative to land-based vacations provide a variety of activities as well as ports of call be innovative in all respects of operations of the ship. All initiatives that are taken by Carnival Cruise Lines need to be in line with the mission, vision and strategic objectives (Carnival Corporation PLC, 2012). With regard to the strategy of Carnival Cruise Lines the following strengths can be identified: Strengths Weaknesses Dominant market share Strong acquisition strategy Comprehensive portfolio (target groups) Strength Dominant market share The biggest strength of Carnival Cruise Lines is its huge scale and scope. The company is twice as large as its biggest competitor and competes in nearly every market and segment worldwide (Appendix X). This gives CCL enormous power over the cruise industry as a whole. It enables the company to undertake projects that grow the industry, gives it a platform for continued mergers and acquisitions activity, and helps CCL negotiate with major manufacturers of cruise ships (Levin, Jones, Slade, 2011). In all initiatives and projects that are undertaken by the company, the incentive is always to keep that dominant market share and even to grow it further. CCL wants to be a leader, and this will be reflected in management decisions. Strength Strong acquisition strategy Carnival Cruise Lines has the ability to obtain companies through acquisitions. By using an acquisition strategy, the Corporation has been able to position itself in each geographical market in the world and rank itself as number one in the cruising sector. However, this strength also results in a highly decentralized IT landscape, as described in paragraph 2.8. Strength Comprehensive portfolio (target groups) The corporation has a large fleet capacity and operates ten of the most recognizable cruise brand names. CCLs portfolio of brand names appeals to almost every niche market, from budget minded, contemporary to luxury cruises (Marketingteacher, 2012). Each cruise line operates globally and is targeted at one or more nationalities (Appendix X). This is linked to the fact that CCL wants to be the leader in the cruising industry and wants to keep the dominant market share. 2.2 Structure of CCL Carnival Cruise Lines Corporation plc has two main headquarters, Carnival Place in the US and Carnival House in the UK. The constituent Corporation and plc are separate listed companies with different shareholder bodies, but they jointly own all the operating companies in the group. Both headquarters have their own management team, strategy, and IT organization. Within Carnival Cruise Lines every brand is seen as a separate business unit, with its own profit and loss statement. With regard to the structure of Carnival Cruise Lines the following strengths and weaknesses can be identified: Strengths Weaknesses Strong financial position Clear focus on cost leadership Strong marketing Decentralization of business operations Decreasing profit Over-dependence on US market Strength Strong financial position Carnival Cruise Lines is one of the most profitable cruising companies. The companys average net income (FY2005 to FY2009) amounted to 18.1% compared to the industry standard of 6.3% (Marketingteacher, 2012). The firm is dual listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange under the symbol CCL. Since the company is dual listed, it has the ability to raise more funds from investor than its competitors. With this also comes greater stability due to different markets being affected by different economic occurrences, political issues, and societys views (Levin, Jones, Slade, 2011). Due to the strong financial position, CCL has a certain luxury to take strategic important and cutting edge decisions and, at the same time, invest the necessary funds to make it possible. Strength Clear focus on cost leadership Carnival Cruise Lines has a clear focus on Cost Leadership, i.e. CCL offers its product to the mass market. Therefore the highest focus is put on the price and keeping the price as low as possible. Once the customer is on board the ship, additional revenue is created by having the customer pay for everything that was not covered in the base price. CCL is such a large company that it has significant cost advantages over most of its competitors. Unlike Royal Caribbean where the focus is on delivering the best customer experience (Appendix X, interview Vicki Freed), the focus at CCL is more on providing the best cruise for the lowest amount. Additional revenues are generated once a customer is onboard. Strength Strong marketing Carnival Cruise Lines invests explicitly and effectively in print and television media. Their promotions target the lifestyles of each group of customers (Marketingteacher, 2012). This strategy enables CCL to get name recognition in every market segment, hence the different cruise lines under the brand. Weakness Decentralization of business operations Historically, CCL has been run by the Arison family as a coalition of largely independent businesses. Each cruise line largely manages its own customers, marketing, distribution, sales, ports, and logistics. This approach has had benefits: internal competition means that each line operates better than any would in isolation. The yearly capital planning process happens on both the US side as on the UK side, which might lead to duplication of effort. The business operations of the cruise lines are not centrally managed. Better coordination of these business operations could generate additional benefits for Carnival Cruise Lines (Levin, Jones, Slade, 2011). Figure Organization chart Carnival Cruise Lines Figure X gives the high-level organization chart of CCL. On the left hand side all the 10 brands with their presidents are listed, with a direct line to Mickey Arison. As stated above, although there is a direct reporting line to Mickey Arison, every brand is managed as a business unit with its own profit and loss. On right hand side all the supporting functions, such as HR, legal, IT,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ are listed with their CxO or head of department. These departments have a direct reporting line to Mickey Arison as well, but in every business unit there is an own representation of each supporting function with a reporting line to the president of the brand. The communication between the business unit representation and the CxO of the supporting function is not always seamless, which can lead to duplication of effort. Weakness Decreasing profit The profit of CCL has diminished over the last years. The net profit was $1,790 million in FY2009, a decrease of 23.2% as compared to 2008. The profit recovered some in 2010 and 2011 but never reached the level of 2008 (see appendix X) Another weakness is that Carnival Cruise lines reports their financial statements in dollars. About half of their revenue is generated in a non-US currency, but is reported in terms of US dollars. The value of the dollar against Euro appreciated from 1.60 in January 2010 to 1.53 by April 2010 against the Pound. If the dollar strengthens it would record a lower revenue than is actually earned (Marketingteacher, 2012). The pressure on profit will keep on adding pressure on taking the right management decisions and investing in the right opportunities. Weakness Over-dependence on US market Carnival Cruise Lines derives a majority of its revenue (nearly 52%) from US customers. In 2009 the revenue from the North American market registered a double digit decline. The over-dependence on the US market makes CCL vulnerable to the economic fluctuations of the American economy and this company is dependent on customers disposable income (Marketingteacher, 2012). All cruise companies, CCL as well, are moving their focus from the US market to Europe and Asia. Especially in Asia there is a huge growth potential. 2.3 Systems within CCL This paragraph gives a high level overview of systems as mentioned in the 7S model: all formal and informal methods of operation, procedures and communication flows. In paragraph 2.8 we focus on Information Technology systems and the current IT landscape. With regard to the systems of Carnival Cruise Lines the following strengths and weaknesses can be identified: Strengths Weaknesses IT incorporated in company results No prioritization process in place No benefits tracking No integrated CRM process Strength IT incorporated in company results In some companies IT is considered as free of charge, since IT is not incorporated in the company results. This leads to a distorted view of company/business unit results. However, Carnival Cruise Lines incorporates the costs of IT in the company/business unit results, which allows both the company/business unit itself to get a more realistic view of the results, but also the market gets a more trustworthy view of the results. This leads to a more positive ranking in the market. Weakness No prioritization process in place Since every business unit is set up as an own profit and loss center, every business unit deems their own project to be the most important. Currently, there is no prioritization process in place on the business side, which leads to a continuous flow of projects that need IT resources. Weakness No benefits tracking Many projects get kicked off and promise benefits. However there is no process in place to measure these benefits after the project has been delivered. This allows the business to keep on creating additional projects to deliver the same thing, again allowing business increase costs instead of reducing costs. Weakness No integrated CRM process Carnival Cruise Lines does not have an integrated CRM process in place for the whole corporation. This leads to the fact that customers from the one cruise line arent recognized as a repeat customer with a different cruise line within the group, this has an immediate effect on the pricing for repeat customers. Also, due to the lack of this process, the organization cannot target specific customers groups, based on their previous behavior on the cruise, since that information is only fragmented available. 2.4 Style within CCL The leadership style at Carnival Cruise Lines can be called family-like. This family-like leadership style is a management style that Ted Arison already used when he was still steering the company. Ted Arison had a non-hierarchical approach to management, meaning that he delegated a lot of work downwards in the organization, allowing him to oversee the bigger picture (Managementparadise, 2012). With regard to the style of Carnival Cruise Lines the following strength can be identified: Strengths Weaknesses Leadership style empowering people Strength Leadership style empowering people People with the right skills are hired and are giving the support and room to do their jobs correctly. People are encouraged to be hands-on and take calculated risks. Taking risks also means that mistakes can occur, however CCL uses a no blame culture through which people feel empowered (Managementparadise, 2012). 2.5 Shared values of CCL Derived from the mission and vision of Carnival Cruise Lines (see 2.1) the company has set some company values that were a high priority. With regard to the shared values of CCL the following strengths can be identified: Strengths Weaknesses Strong company values Focus on the environment Strength Strong company values The company values are: honesty, integrity, fairness, hospitality and teamwork. The values are deemed important to do their job in a correct manner. Strength Focus on the environment Carnival Cruise Lines, as all other cruise lines in the industry, takes much pride in the focus they put on the environment. They invest heavily in health and safety, both for customers and for employees. There is a very strong focus on the environment and to work in a greener way. Charity is also one of the key components of their social responsibility strategy. 2.6 Skills at CCL Working in the leisure industry requires some specific skills that you cannot always learn. Most important skills that someone working in the leisure industry would need, are the following: customer focused, empathy, team work, stress resistant, multi-cultural, service orientation and multi linguistic. With regard to the skills of Carnival Cruise Lines the following strengths can be identified: Strengths Weaknesses Strong attention for skills attitude Loyalty programs in place Strength Strong attention for skills attitude Since Carnival Cruise Lines wants to be seen as the cruise line that delivers fun, the attitude of the employees is very important as well. The employees need to be cheerful and enthusiastic. CCL puts great effort in stimulating the desired skills and attitude of the employees. Strength Loyalty programs in place CCL has its loyalty programs in place. The company introduced a new loyalty program in 2012 providing past guests with a variety of value-added benefits and features, including priority embarkation and debarkation, guaranteed supper club reservations and dining times, personalized stationery and custom-designed CCL logo items (Carnival, 2012). Contrary to what is stated in the business case, Carnival Cruise Lines has now its loyalty programs in place. 2.7 Staff at CCL Cruise ships typically operate with three classes of crew. The first is the officers: these professionals are highly paid and given ultimate command of the ship. The second is entertainers and wait staff: typically lower-paid, but from the same countries as the cruisers that they serve. Finally, most of the ships crew is drawn from developing countries. While pay is low, the salary can represent an attractive opportunity for these workers, who often work 10-month contracts without being able to see their homes and families. Turnover is high, and few of the crew sees working on a cruise ship as a viable long-term career. Staff remains 24/7 on board of the ship, have their own cabins at the lowest two decks of the ship. Only officers are allowed to mix between guests, this at special occasions and in formal attire. Other crew members have dedicated times during which they can be present on guest decks. With regard to the staff of Carnival Cruise Lines the following strengths can be identified: Strengths Weaknesses Operational excellence experience Talent development programs in place Strength Operational excellence experience Carnival Cruise Lines has achieved below-industry-average costs and above-average revenue historically. This is largely due to the companys immense experience in owning and operating cruises, as well as some smart strategic plays. That advantage makes expanding into new markets vastly easier for CCL than for a smaller player or upstart firm. CCL has the largest pool of data to draw on to determine what does and does not work and has the most experienced marketers of cruises in the world. These soft advantages let CCL potentially segment its customers more efficiently than competitors (Levin, Jones, Slade, 2011). Strength Talent development programs in place CCL has a separate training and development department set up in the organization. The corporation invests heavily in coaching of high potentials by giving them learning opportunities that are fit for their personal needs. 2.8 Information Management The current IT landscape of CCL is much diversified. First of all, the IT landscape is split in the shore side systems and the shipboard systems. This split between on shore and shipboard adds a dimension to the complexity of the landscape, since most of the shipboard systems need to be able to communicate to the shore side systems. An additional challenge in the current IT landscape is the use of legacy systems. Since there are basically only three main competitors in the cruise industry, there is not really a vendor that specializes in cruise industry systems, hence all the cruise companies use their own developed systems. Years ago, this was not really a problem, but nowadays with the globalization of industries, limitations of these legacy systems refrain CCL to be as agile as they would like to be. Figure X gives a high level overview of the current IT landscape within Carnival Cruise Lines at the time of the case description One can assume that due to acquisitions between 2006 and 2012 this landscape has grown in complexity even more. Another type of systems now in the current landscape which were not described in the case are the risk management and internal control systems. For this CCL uses IBM OpenPages Financial Controls Management and IBM OpenPages Operational Risk Management (IBM Corporation, 2011). Figure Information systems within CCL With regard to Information Management the following strength and weaknesses can be identified: Strengths Weaknesses Excellent booking system for travel agents Decentralized systems Legacy systems No overview of project portfolio Weak resource management TCO for IT not in place Outsourcing level 2 3 support difficult Strength Excellent booking system for travel agents From a travel agents perspective CCL is easy to do business with: travel agents will say that Carnival is much easier to work with than Royal (Appendix X, interview Vicky Freed). Carnival Cruise Lines has upgraded the booking engine within its travel agent web portal, to help agents save time when booking reservations online. A streamlined and simplified process for managing bookings, as well as an interactive toolbar that provides easier navigation between different components of the booking engine, make it easier for agents to book cruises for their clients. In addition to an entirely new design and navigation, the upgraded booking engine offers convenient links to several applications (Travel Agent Central, 2012). The updated booking engine is designed to reflect the changing business models of travel agents and represents the latest enhancement to this comprehensive portal which serves as a one-stop-shop for travel agents to fulfill all of their sales and marketing needs (Lynn Torrent, senior vice president of sales and guest services CCL). Weakness Decentralized systems The decentralization within Carnival Cruise Lines translates into a decentralization of systems as well. Decisions arent always communicated from one cruise line to the other, which leads to duplication of effort. This decentralization of the business organization translates to the IT organization as well. Every brand has its own IT department with own systems and infrastructure. Weakness Legacy systems There are many legacy systems. Since there arent many players in the cruising sector, most of the strategic important applications are custom made. This leads to a spaghetti landscape in which integration is very difficult and which affects the time to market significantly. Weakness No overview of project portfolio Projects can start within a business unit or on a corporate level within CCL. Since the business is set up in separate business units, with their own IT departments, there is a lot of duplication of effort. There in not one global IT Program Management Office that oversees all the current projects and their requirements for IT. This has both an impact on the IT resource management as on the IT landscape that runs the risk to get even more diversified. Weakness Weak resource management Due to the lack of a prioritization process for projects, the first-in-first-out principle is often used, this means that resources get allocated either to the project that came in the pipeline first or either to the project that has a business owner or project manager who is very persuasive. Without the prioritization process in place, it is very difficult for the IT management to decide where to allocate resources to. The lack of prioritization leads to frustration on the business side, because there is the perception that IT is not able to deliver in time. Weakness TCO for IT not in place To really understand the total cost of IT for the business all costs of IT should be made transparent and understandable for any business owner. Currently CCL has no total cost of ownership for IT in place. Reasons for not having TCO for IT in place are miscellaneous; it is very difficult to really get cost like network transparent, an IT service catalogue needs to be in place, IT management needs to be committed,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ However implementing TCO for IT will help the IT management get the multitude of costs as a result of duplication of effort visible to the business. Weakness Outsourcing level 2 3 support difficult As already stated above, most of the applications of CCL are custom made. This in-house development induces resources with a very specific knowledge. Often, this knowledge is both on the system side as on the business process side and therefore confidential. Outsourcing level 2 and 3 support is very difficult, due to these specific knowledge. 2.9 Risk Management Enterprise Risk Management is a process, effected by an entitys board of directors, management and other personnel, applied in strategy setting and across the enterprise, designed to identify potential events that may affect the entity, and manage risk to be within its risk appetite, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the achievement of entity objectives (COSO, 2004). Organizations which manage risk effectively and efficiently are more likely to achieve their goals and to achieve this at a lower overall cost. Risk management is therefore good management. Risk management should be a multi-faceted discipline: often referred to as enterprise, integrated, holistic or practical risk management (The Institute of Risk Management, 2012). The objective of a risk management framework is to help ensure that appropriate technical and administrative controls are identified and implemented to protect information resources and help ensure continuity of business operations (Hillson, 2006). With regard to Risk Management the following strengths and weaknesses can be identified for CCL: Strengths Weaknesses Enterprise Risk Management in place Good frameworks Strong focus on security privacy regulations Poor safety record Strength Enterprise Risk Management in place Carnival Cruise Lines has introduced the Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) program. This program is designed to identify, assess, manage and report the most significant business and strategic risks faced by the company to senior management and the Board of Directors. The ERM program is overseen by a team within the Corporate Risk Advisory Assurance Services Department, based in the Miami headquarters. CCL also maintains onsite teams at each of its brands, in order to stay aligned with the corporations generally decentralized management structure and to develop on-site audit expertise at each of the major brands. (IBM Corporation, 2011). Within CCLs business units risk management and internal control is an ongoing process. It is designed to identify, evaluate and manage the significant risks faced by the units and is embedded in each of the operations. A system of internal controls has been established to be capable of responding quickly to evolving risks in the business. It includes procedures for the direct reporting of material internal control deficiencies together with the appropriate corrective action. The corporate executive management team receives periodic information regarding internal control issues arising at the business units. The primary focus of this aspect of the system is the corporate Management Advisory Services (MAS) Department. MAS is responsible for monitoring the process, ensuring that issues common to more than one business unit are identified and that all relevant matters are brought to the attention of the boards as a whole. The MAS Department is supported by the Corporate Finance and Corpo rate Legal Departments, as well as the CEO, COO and the CFO (CCL, 2010). Strength Good frameworks CCL has adopted the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) guidance for implementing its internal control framework as part of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act Section 404 compliance plan (CCL, 2010). The COSO framework for ERM provides key principles and concepts, a common language, and clear direction and guidance for organizations to evaluate and improve their enterprise risk management (COSO, 2004). Carnival Cruise Lines has a structured approach to monitoring and managing operational, financial and compliance risk across the corporations spectrum of cruise brands. The system allows a high degree of comparability across the brand portfolio while recognizing the differences that make each individual operating company unique (IBM Corporation, 2011). The key to CCLs approach to auditing risk is the conceptualization of each of its brands as a set of business processes. Despite the differences in organizational structures, IT infrastructures and market segments, Carnival Cruise Lines operating companies all operate primarily in the cruise industry, which enables the organization to establish a common analytical framework. CCL has identified over 300 individual processes that are organized into 13 sections as shown in figure X (CCL, 2010). 1. Understand ma

Who Am I? :: essays research papers

I am a loving mother, a faithful partner, a loyal friend and a devoted child. Love and Family are very important to me, and I struggle to find time for all my loved ones, for without these treasured relationships, my life would be meaningless. I am a pioneer on a quest of personal growth, constantly in search of truth and knowledge, always longing to travel to places unknown, whether physically or spiritually. I believe that all of our experiences help us to be the person we were destined to be, therefore, we should be thankful for our mistakes as well as our triumphs, and live our lives with no regrets. I am a diplomat, struggling to keep the peace with all those around me. I believe that we are all brothers and sisters, children of the same divine power. Sometimes I become disenchanted with society, the state of the world, and how people treat each other, and it saddens me to the point that I want to shut myself off so I won't have to see it. I am a spiritual being. I believe that we can each find a piece of heaven inside ourselves if we look hard enough. Although I'm not a follower of any one religion, I am tolerant and accepting of all beliefs. I believe that what the Christians call "God", the Native Americans call "The Great Spirit", the followers of Islam call "Allah", and the Buddhists recognize as simply "the Void", are all one and the same, different interpretations of the divine power that lives in and around all of us. I am a free spirit. I like to go where the wind takes me. I love to swim in the ocean and look at the moon. I love to ride on a galloping horse's back and feel the wind in my hair. Sometimes the responsibilities of work and family cause me to be discontented and bored with life. I have made bad choices, and chosen to escape from this discontentment and boredom with the use of certain substances.

Louis Pasteur Essay -- Essays Papers

Louis Pasteur Louis Pasteur made many valuable contributions in the science field. These findings in chemistry, industry, and medicine are still appreciated today. Louis Pasteur saved many lives because of his findings and research. This chemist devoted much of his life improving the welfare of man-kind. Louis Pasteur was born on December 27, 1822, in Dole, a small town on the eastern part of England. As a young boy, Louis was very quiet and had an incredible desire in drawing and artwork. He produced many charming pieces, which can be seen at the Pasteur Museum in the Pasteur Institute at Paris. These pastel paintings were portraits of his family, friends, and teachers. His powerful imagination was revealed to be beyond the ordinary. Because this humble young man was so dedicated to his artistic abilities, many of his peers often picked on him. Pasteur graduated from the College of Arts at Besancon in 1840, and then attended Ecole Supervieure to work on his doctorate degree. His study was in the science of crystallography, which was a powerful influence on his striving for improving society. At the Lycee of Tournon, he was a physics professor and researched the optical properties of crystals of tartaric acid salts. He found the two forms of this acid, which could rotate the plane of polarization of light, one to the right and the other to the left. This was his first important discovery in crystallography, the phenomenon of optical isomers. Ironically it incited him to abandon the field. It won the acclaim of the French Academy and Britain's Royal Society. Therefore, Pasteur became famous at the age of 26. Pasteur soon began researching in bacteria. The predominant theory of life... ...892 was celebrated in a unique way, by being observed as a national holiday in France. His address on this occasion carried a thoughtful message: "You bring me the greatest happiness that can be experienced by a man whose invincible belief is that science and peace will triumph over ignorance and war.... In the long run the future will belong not to the conquerors but to the saviors of mankind." In 1940, the conquering Germans came to Paris. A German officer demanded to see the tomb of Pasteur, but the Old French guard refused to open the gate. When the German insisted, the guard killed himself. *Scholarly Source* Jacques, Nicole. Louis Pasteur. New York: Basic Books, 1961. This source contributed to just about everything in my article. Everything from the biographical details to the information about the Pasteur Institue in Paris is included

Essay --

Credit Rating Check: Improve Your Credit Score Your credit score is one of your most important financial attributes. Fortunately for those who are unsatisfied with their credit rating, there are plenty of options available. Improving your score is an attainable goal that everyone should aim for, even those who are content with their credit rating. Checking Your Score The first step to improving your credit score is simple, yet essential; request a copy of your credit report. Improvements can only be made when you are aware of your starting point. Luckily, this process is free, easy, and can be done from the comfort of your own home. You can visit www.annualcreditreport.com to complete the necessary forms online, or find information on how to complete the process via phone or mail. Aside from informing you of your score, it is also important to request a credit report to ensure that there are no errors. Clerical mistakes can occur, and you want to make certain that your credit score reflects completely accurate information. It is best to request a credit report as soon as possible, since disputing any issues can be a lengthy process. Paying Bills on Time This may seem like a no-brainer, but one of the most important steps to improving your credit score is to pay all of your bills on time. Even making payments a few days late can have an impact on your score, so try to always pay on (or, even better, before) the due-date. If you find yourself with a missed payment or two, it is very important to get caught up as soon as possible. Although older information will remain on your credit report, it holds less value than current financial activity. The longer you can go without missing a due-date, the less relevance y... ...ge. On top of that, a sudden increase in credit portrays you as a much higher risk than someone who has steadily built up accounts and credit as needed. Improving your credit score can be a difficult and frustrating process that takes plenty of patience. It is important to build strong financial habits that will increase your score over time. When you find yourself dealing with credit from the past, this process becomes even more complicated, but this is when it is most essential to take charge and begin to work on these steps. First and foremost, you must get a credit rating check if you want to improve your score. With that information, you can decide what steps need to be taken; they will be slightly different for everyone. It may be tough to motivate yourself to take charge of your credit score, but you will definitely thank yourself for doing so.

Giving Voice to Values

Ms. Foley does not agree with this course of action and is experiencing internal conflicts where her loyalties to the CEO are at war with her assessment of the situation. Compounding the situation are her concerns about the impact this course of action would have on the community and her family. 2. 0 Problem or Central Issue: The central issue is Denies Foley disagreement with the Coo's projected course of action regarding the future of the major regional hospital. 3. 0 Facts: Major Regional Hospital Weak financial future could lead to its sale to for-profit institution Denies FoleyPromoted to Senior UP by new CEO after 45 days Feels assessment of contracted consultant is incorrect Disagrees with CEO about projected course of action, the sale of the hospital Fears adverse action to voicing her opinion (I. E. , loss of Job, colleague, etc. ) CEO Contracted consultant to provide future financial outlook of the hospital Lacked confidence in the hospital CEO, kept him out of the analysis Agreed with consultant advisement, best course of action is to sell the hospital to a for-profit institution 4. Opinions: Impact of hospital sale to for-profit institution may lead to: Hospital closure; leaving immunity with one local provider/increased prices Reduced services, community (community service/charitable offerings) to counter hospital closure based upon the assessment of the local government's past performance CEO/Consultant Based upon a bleak financial future, the best course of action for the hospital is its sale to a for-profit institution. 5. 0 Legal Issues: No legal issues noted 6. Discussion: What are the main arguments Foley is trying to counter? That is, what are the reasons and rationalizations she needs to address? Ms. Foley is trying to argue that the Coos session could be based upon faulty information and that selling the hospital to a for-profit institution is not the best solution. She needs to address her rationalization regarding the sale. Her fear of w hat she predicts the impact of the hospital sale appears to be the basis for her stance.What levers/arguments can Foley use to check her own reasoning and motivation, and to influence the CEO, and how might they be informed by an understanding of the biases to which Foley and her CEO are most vulnerable? Ms. Foley can research and obtain the financial records of both the COOP and the contracted consultant and ampere them. She can then take her information to the CEO. This would show who, if anyone, was manipulating numbers like she suspects, or rather Just poor financial management by the COOP. So what should Foley do and say? I believe Ms.Foley should attack this issue on three fronts. First she should look further into data that led to the consultants and subsequently the Coos recommendation. The next step would be to have a candid discussion with the CEO to inquire about any information she is not aware of and also to address the concerns she has for the community and herself. Fi nally, she should research and evolve a contingency plan for her and her son. 7. 0 Alternative Solutions: Ms. Foley withholds her opinion, supports the Coo's decision and researches other employment opportunities as a contingency plan.Confer with COOP and conduct comparative analysis between his financial projections and the contracted consultants. She could then base her concurrence/non-concurrence with the Coo's concerns The CEO could have kept Ms. Foley in the loop regarding his actions and projected plans for the future of the company. He also could have utilized the COOP of the company and compared the data with the outside consultant. His actions demonstrate a lack of trust in the COOP and in Ms. Foley for not including her in the process.If he were open from the start, perhaps she could have focused more on coming up with a solution, than wasting time worrying about â€Å"what ifs†. 8. 0 Recommendation I feel that since Ms. Foley was promoted to Senior Vice President a nd COO by the CEO himself, he respects her and her Judgment. He would be willing to hear what she has to say, especially if she has records to back up her suspicions. A meeting between Ms. Foley and the CEO would be beneficial in discussing problem areas and possible solutions.

Systems Analysis and Design Case Study Chapter 4

Hoosier Burger a. How was the Hoosier Burger project identified and selected? What focus will the new system have? The Hoosier burger project was identified through its short-comings by the Mellankamps. The project was selected as the business grows and demand is at an all-time high, the current systems at Hoosier Burger are not getting the job done. This is causing customer discontent and is affecting business negatively. The new system is going to be heavily focused on inventory control systems.While other systems of Hoosier Burger will be looked at, an improved inventory control system will greatly increase productivity for the Mellankamps. b. Identify the Hoosier Burger project’s scope. The Hoosier Burger project’s scope is to implement new systems in inventory control, customer ordering, and management reporting systems. This project is set up to increase the overall effectiveness by introducing new and improved systems. Alternatively, a new point-of-sale system ma y be within the scope of this project as well. Petrie’s Electronics 1.Look over the scope statement. If you were an employee at Petrie’s Electronics, would you want to work on this project? Why or why not? As an employee of Petrie’s Electronics, I would want to be on this project team. The project itself is being put together with the primary goal of increasing the amount of customers the frequent Petrie’s Electronics. As an employee of almost any title with in the company, increased customer base is equally important to everyone. Sales associates will make more sales, managers will increase their monthly numbers, profits will rise, and as the tores become busier, all positions will be in full demand and lay-offs would be less likely in a thriving business. If I had the opportunity to be on the team I would, and I would want to increase all odds of the projects success. 2. If you were part of the management team at Petrie’s Electronics, would you a pprove the project outlined in the scope statement? What changes, if any, need to be made to the document? As part of management, I would approve of the current scope statement. The statement clearly outlines what the goals of the project are in the Project Overview section.This overview is then broken down into individual objectives needed to be completed in an effort for the project to meet its goals. The only thing I would like added to the scope statement would be some kind of expected outcome. Obviously the goals are increased profits by creating a customer loyalty program. What could be added is what the project is expected to cost and how much of an increase would be expected after the implementation of the project. These estimates could be easily attained by researching other companies before/after their customer loyalty programs. 3.Identify a preliminary set of tangible and intangible costs you think would occur for this project and the system it describes. What intangible benefits do you anticipate for the system? Tangible Costs: cost of project team, cost of implementing the project (rewards cards, rewards tracking software, rewards points redeemables) Intangible Costs: operational inefficiency, employee moral due to increased workload Intangible Benefits: customer loyalty, store reputation, competitive necessity 4. What do you consider to be the risks of the project as you currently understand it?Is this a low-medium-or high-risk project? Justify your answer. Assuming you were part of Jim’s team, would you have any particular risks? I think one of the biggest risks of this project is time. With having busy team members on the project, getting things done and on schedule is going to be the most difficult part of the project. Overall, I would assess this project as a low or medium risk project. Historically, the trends in customer loyalty programs in the retail industry are huge. This programs do everything that Jim’s team is set out to do.Spending enough research time into other companies’ rewards programs make this a rather easy project to streamline. As a member of the team, my assumed risks would be not being able to perform my duties as an employee of Petrie’s Electronic and as a member of the project team. If I am unable to perform these duties, it could negatively affect the security of my job with the company. 5. If you were assigned to help Jim with this project, how would you utilize the concept of incremental commitment in the design of the baseline project plan?Jim outlined some objectives in the scope statement for this project. After each of these objectives have been tackled and overcome, I would utilize incremental commitment to review what has just been accomplished, what is left to be accomplished and whether or not the project team is meeting its goals and if those goals are still in line with the companies goals. 6. If you were assigned to Jim’s team for this project, when in the project schedule (in what phase of after which activities are completed) do you think you could develop an economics analysis of the proposed system?What economic feasibility factors do you think would be relevant? After each of the objectives in Jim’s scope statement have been addressed, that is answered on paper with how they plan on accomplishing the task, would be a good time to assess economic analysis. At this time, there would be a clear understanding of what should be needed to address each objective successfully and analyzing the economic feasibility at this point would be much clearer than before. Relevant Economic feasibility factors:One Time Costs such as system development cost and hardware/software cost Recurring Costs such as data storage costs, issuing customer reward card cost, and redeeming points for rewards cost 7. If you were assigned to Jim’s team for this project, what activities would you conduct in order to prepare the details of the bas eline project plan? Explain the purpose of each activity and show a timeline or schedule for these activities. First, access all feasibilities of the project. If the project is not going to be feasible then it needs to be cut off right away.Accessing feasibilities up front will help make the project is worth it. * Economic Feasibility * Making sure the company has the money to fund the project and that the overall result of the project will aid in increasing profits for the company * Technical Feasibility * Outline what technologies would be needed to make this project successful and to make sure that the company either has access to these technologies and/or is willing to acquire these technologies. * Operational Feasibility * Assess whether or not the project’s goals are realistic.If the project’s goals are unrealistic then it’s a waste of money. Attainable goals are important. * Schedule Feasibility * Can this project be completed in a timely manner in which the company will benefit the most from the project? * Legal and Contractual Feasibility * Will implementing this project break any laws or contracts that the company is bound by? * Political Feasibility * Make sure that stakeholders understand the risk and rewards of this project. Once all feasibilities have been accessed, its time outline management issues.A plan needs to be set in place that details what all team members are responsible for and what the reporting procedures will be. This is important so that project time isn’t wasted on simple things such as figuring out how deliverables will be evaluated and what specific issues the team may face during the project. Now the system description should be written. This section will clearly mark what the project team’s system plans to deliver. This is also a good time to come up with an alternate system. Finally, the introduction of the Baseline Project Report will be written.This section will provide an overview of the entire project addressing the issues facing the project and how their proposed system will handle the issues. 8. Once deployed, what are the operational risks of the proposed system? How do you factor operational risks into a system development plan? The operational risks of this project would be that the loyalty rewards program isn’t enticing enough to keep the customer loyal to Petrie’s Electronics. On the other hand, if the program is overly enticing to the customer, this may lead to a much higher cost of maintaining the program for the foreseeable future.Throughout the development of the system, there should be applied incremental commitment. This will continuously analyze and assess where the project is at and how it can meet the goals of the company. Operational risk is something that should be addressed during each of these assessments. At some point if the risk outweighs the reward, then the project needs to be shut down. If the risk is kept in check, the proj ect can continue until the next assessment after a particular activity or phase.

Howard Zinn on Democratic Education Essay

Upon reading the book, Howard Zinn on Democratic Education, I felt a lot of questions I had regarding education was answered. I had always regarded education as something liberating, something that would be able to teach students how to become enlightened. That is why I read a lot of books. But regarding my schooling, I questioned why we are loaded with so much homework and tests, we end up not deeply understanding anything at all, because there is no time to process all the information. It is as if our schooling stunts our educational growth. Yet, the irony of it is they teach us so much facts of how, where, when, who, and what, but I had this nagging suspicion that teachers were hiding vital information from us. I did not know what exactly, but I always felt something was missing because I could not connect what I learned in school to what was happening to our country as I watched the news. It was as if there was a missing link, a key that would make everything make sense. Yet, as the years in the academe passed, I encountered no such link. Until now. It was as if my youthful objections found validation. I had always felt that my schooling lacked feeling. All these hard facts were discussed as if they did not involve people. We really never knew, through history, how terror felt when planes during the World War II flew overhead, or triumph when the war was declared over. It is not anybody’s fault. I think, history cannot be studied; it has to be lived. Although in my opinion, it can be remedied. Instead of sitting in classrooms all day, reciting facts, we should focus on gathering our own information regarding events. This does not mean reading even unassigned readings. I have always thought that people are not foolish. Each individual has a unique story, if we only care to listen. We should experience learning, and this can only be done by going out of the classroom, and learning from living people. After all, the papers our books are made up of were once living things too. The critical question now is, what now? Now that we possess such knowledge, what must we do with it? Knowledge that is not followed by action is a dead thing. We could start through transforming our own classroom, if we are to teach, or even in our own homes. Drop-out rates are not surprising due to the fact that so few kids feel remotely connected to their schooling. If we involve these kids, make them see that it is also their classmates’ loss if they do not attend classes, they can be pulled back into the academe. To do this, they must be able to feel that they can contribute something to the discussion, whether it be a question or an opinion. We must impress upon our minds that there are no right or wrong questions or opinions. Each comes from a different background (hence a different culture), so we must be patient and understanding. We must also find tangent points; we must connect the academe with their lives. We must do away with the notion that scholars have ivory towers. We must reconnect. Because this is what education does. It reconnects people with other people. It reconnects people with ideas. It reconnects people with opportunities. It reconnects people with hope. If all the attendants in a classroom participate freely and energetically, actively molding their curriculum to suit their individual needs, we will have captured the essence of a democratic education. Through this, we will have a truly democratic country. References Schugurensky, D. (2005). Howard Zinn on Democratic Education. International Journal of Citizenship and Teacher Education , 1, 99-100.

Two Drovers and William Wilson

â€Å"William Willson† and â€Å"The Two Drovers† suggest a link between identity and aggression. What threatens a characters sense of self in these stories? Why do certain characters react to perceived threats to their identities as they do? â€Å"The Two Drovers† by Sir Walter Scott focuses on an Englishman and a Scotsman in a tale revolving around nationality. The author characterizes them both as proud individuals, while also noting their individual talents and temperaments, but the most prominent trait in both main characters is pride for their own countries. Hence both are presented as national stereotypes, and it is from this that the author is able to build upon and highlight the growing misunderstanding which is the true essence of the story. It is however, their pecuniary and vocational interests that allow them to find the common ground on which they base a mutual respect for each other. For example, when English and Scottish cattlemen are droving livestock together â€Å"†¦ hey co-operate on the journey with one man as guide and interpreter in the Highlands, and the other in England, Robin Oig and Harry Wakefield form a partnership of mutual advantage. † , when this partnership falls prey to what could almost be described as a comedy of errors, they are then forced to revert to their respective social values and customs to fatally resolve what is essentially a commonplace misunderstanding. These differences, propelled by the force of pride, culminate in a true tragedy. Harry Wakefield, with his short fuse and strong fist and Robin Oig, with his Scottish pride and secret ambitions both possess too much pride to back down from a heated situation, and ultimately die as a result of a simple misunderstanding. On the other hand in Edgar Allan Poe’s â€Å"William Wilson† shows that every person experiences conflict between their will and their conscience. Reasonable people recognize that both of these are components of their mind, but William Wilson does not, Poe effectively uses the Gothic doppelganger technique to show the violent conflicts within Wilson's soul. Poe shows that the will and conscience are two distinct, but inseparable, parts of the complex human mind. Wilson never understands that the will and conscience are both within him, but Poe communicates this to the reader clearly. Conscience and will together make a whole person, while the lack of one can create a disturbed individual like William Wilson. William Wilson is a much more complex figure than he himself realizes. In the final battle scene he writes he â€Å"felt within his single arm the energy and power of a multitude†. He feels this because within him are his will, his conscience, and every other part of his soul. Wilson doesn't understand the bonds tying him to the other Wilson, still he writes: â€Å"Wilson and myself were the most inseparable of companions. † Wilson doesn't realize the irony in this statement is that regardless of how hard he tries not to be, Wilson will always be his companion.

Homeland Security #5 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Homeland Security #5 - Essay Example Lastly, we will have in place a team, specially picked to tackle cyber security issues. Such a team will collaborate with other teams so as to ensure that there is proper information sharing among various levels. A team of fire personnel will have the responsibility of accessing and reporting buildings and areas containing hazardous materials. Besides, they will undertake the detection of weapons of mass destruction, observing and detecting symptoms of exposure. They will also do evaluation of physical integrity of buildings (Gartenstein-Ross & Kyle). The team of police officers will be responsible for development of community policing philosophy and training of officers to support these efforts, analysis of terror issues, and development of partnerships with other external bodies to enhance security and the collaboration with the department of homeland security (Docobo). The mayors will be the ones to take command of any incident reported via 911, coordinate the warning or evacuation of affected areas, assessment of the situation and putting out any request for help to the state and federal agencies (Federal Emergency Management Agency 23). They will also ensure that local agencies are harnessed to coordinate the rescue efforts. Health workers will have the responsibility of monitoring various aspects of health of a given area, diagnosing and investigating any health or environmental health issues and educating and empowering people on specific health issues. They will also ensure that the state and local partnerships are mobilized to identify and solve issues before, during and after the event. The monitoring phase will be preceded by emergency planning. This will help in ensuring that each team is aware of their responsibility in the event of an emergency. The teams should also be prepared to perform their functions and this will necessitate a range of training activities (Gartenstein-Ross & Kyle) so as to give them the required

Backup and Disaster Recovery Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Backup and Disaster Recovery Plan - Essay Example To emphasis this recovery plans need to be tested on a regular basis with the risk analysis workshops. The answer to this question depends on different variables like the regulatory requirements, possibility of natural disasters, insurance premiums and above all the cost of the whole process. The distance of the intended business continuity site is to be determined and setup taking into consideration the time factor and how soon you would need it operational. The requirements subject to distance and data currency, integrity of data and the affordable loss needs to be closely looked into. Replicating data at a distance is essential for effectiveness wherein synchronous replication could be used for short distances and asynchronous techniques are required for longer distances which would guarantee data integrity. The fact that increased dependency on information technology based on information processing is to be categorized and identified based on the critical nature of the process. The business continuity management team which is the backbone of the plan coordinates between the various processes to move into action the continuity plan in case of any disaster. It is essential to ensure that the plan is constantly updated with the ongoing changes to the resources along with the management team which is responsible for this task. Every quarterly the Business Continuity Management Team has to make sure that the plan is reviewed and updated on a regular basis to ensure effectiveness and productivity. Annually the plan is overhauled and revised if necessary and the changes are reported to the respective coordinators and authorized personnel. Testing of the complete plan on regular basis is essential for it to be effective at any given point of time. Secondary tests can be carried out on individual processes while

Knowledge Management, Social Networks and Innovation Assignment

Knowledge Management, Social Networks and Innovation - Assignment Example an explicit asset will be its ultimate product, because as Lytras, Russ and Maier (2008, p. 144) described, KM aims to productize and distribute knowledge within the organization. KM’s overall benefits include forming an ‘organizational learning’ system whereby people in the firm will be bale to gain wide knowledge that is useful for their as well as organization’s common benefits. As Forster (2005, p. 397) denoted, KM is a process that collects, shares and utilizes experience, knowledge, skills and wisdom of employees and they are then converted to a collective organizational learning process. This is how KM helps organizations improve the performance and effectiveness of organizational activities. For instance, a firm may recruit old workforce believing that old-workers are more knowledgeable than young people and they will be retained with a view to make use of their knowledge and experience. This is a strategic way to create new knowledge. They have mor e experience, which can later be transferred to other workforce through collaborative team work or other progressive activities. This is how experience can be converted to knowledge, or knowledge can be created from experience. Young workforce, for instance, will later be able to use their acquired knowledge for the overall organizational benefits. Explicit or Tacit nature of knowledge in relation to creation and sharing Knowledge creation, sharing, transferring and utilizing can be carried out through either papers, documents, database etc or through people’s mind. Explicit knowledge refers to that information being processed through papers, documents or database etc, whereas tacit knowledge is the information that is processed... This paper highlighted that knowledge sharing helps an organization foster innovation as people within its workplace will be motivated to gain newer knowledge, think creatively and bring newer ideas that in turn can help the organization perform better. Social networking is an essentially important means that almost all companies in recent years are extensively using for better knowledge sharing experiences. This paper described the conceptual framework of how social networks improve the effectiveness of KM and the practical issues that are faced by the management in relation to KM and innovation development. This paper approves that KM comprises of people, process and technology. How people use technology for knowledge sharing also impact the results of KM strategy. For far better results, the organization may need to facilitate extensive training for using technology in the KM. People in an organization may be well-versed in using computers, database, software, social networking, etc and as a result the result also will be better than the other way. This paper makes a conclusion that people’s approach and organizational learning culture also impact the KM effectiveness. Management may face severe issues related to employees less awareness of the KM practices, irresponsibility of concerned people, lack of motivation to get involved etc. Problems related to artifacts are also to be considered while implementing a better system of the KM. Artifacts such as manuals, software, networking, papers, documents etc that are used in the KM practice must be appropriate for the ultimate purpose of the processed knowledge.

LMU college essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

LMU college - Essay Example As a young person, I have a social life to lead, while at the same time I have my career goals to achieve. It is obvious that at this point, many people tend to suffer the effects of peer pressure from their fellow age mates, thus losing the focus of their career goals. However, for psycho-social development, it is imperative that a person at my age is subjected to a proper relationship with his peers to achieve a proper psycho-social development. This is a challenging situation for most youths and it requires application of critical thinking. Taking both scenarios in to consideration, I applied critical thinking, while using my intelligence integrated with character. To begin with, when I was making my daily time-table schedule, I began by giving the most imperative issues in life the highest priority: The most important issue in my life is my education at this time; this is followed by my psycho-social development, which basically involves spending time with relatives and friends. Therefore, on my daily schedule time table, I ensured that all issues ascribed to my academic work are given the first priority and adequate time. This was then followed by the time I spend with relatives and friends consecutively. Other miscellaneous activities such as watching movies, physical fitness sessions were given the last priority on my time-table; however adequate time was allocated for these activities. In order to be successful in formulating personal operational plans, one has to apply intelligence, while also taking into consideration his character: In my case, I applied my intelligence in creating a time-table and allocating adequate time for each daily activity. However, a great sense of care was taken in order to ensure that none of the activities collided with each other. My intelligence also played a crucial is evaluating what seems to be important in my life at this particular time and what