Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Diversity Case Analysis Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Diversity Analysis - Case Study Example The blacks were supposed to appeal to the locals (mainly blacks) and the whites to the nation (mainly whites) generally. Even though blacks worked in External Deposits they were not allowed to take up management positions in that section. African-Americans were stereotyped. They were seen as people who are just willing to work from nine- to-five. not smart, hardworking and dedicated as whites so they were seen as not the ideal type for External Deposits. The departments were not properly coordinated. They were treated as two (2) different businesses. The customers of the Retail Operations were treated differently from those of External operations. Thus persons who now reside outside the community find that dis dealt with the people outside of the local area. Ron Wilkin’s needs to restructure the organisation and take a good look and consider altering its employment practices. It is clear that they are disorganised. There are no clear guidelines on how people are hired for the Sales Division. There is some confusion as there is no real guideline as to what constitute Retail and what constitute External. Retail has clients who once lived in the local community while External has clients who live in the local community. There has to be a distinction between the divisions or else customers will be turned away soon. Both black and whites should be allowed to top positions in both sections once they have the credentials and the capacity to do the work. All employees need to be provided with adequate feedback on their performance. There has to be some commitment to equity and fairness in how employees are dealt with. Policies and procedures need to be put in place to provide guidelines relating to staff behaviour and what constitutes an action for dismissal. Everything appeared to be going well at Spencer Owen’s until the dismissal of a black manager. There appears to be some difference in how employees are

Monday, October 28, 2019

Instructional strategies exam essay Essay Example for Free

Instructional strategies exam essay Essay Teachers are constantly challenged to ensure that teaching strategies employed in the classroom are appropriate the learning styles and experiences of the learners. As far as possible instructional strategies should be modified to take into consideration the unique characteristics of individual learners and aim to discover the best way forward when dealing with specific learning styles. Cooperative learning strategies are useful in teaching learners who function best in learning sessions that take into concern their individual needs, interests and abilities as well as provide opportunities for interaction and discussion with and among other learners. Constructivists have long established that learning cannot be separated from real-life experiences as both share a symbiotic relationship (Huang, 2002, p. 28). Bringing real-life situations into the learning environment will facilitate and enhance learning while knowledge, skills and attitudes gained in learning provide opportunities for additional life experiences. Cooperative learning strategies have a great amount of flexibility in the classroom and make it possible for the teacher to effectively match learning style to teaching strategy. Cooperative learning strategies are therefore quite attractive for adult learners as there is a multiplicity of activities and tasks that can be brought into any one learning experience to make learning not only effective but meaningful. These strategies are also useful in ensuring that learners have some amount of freedom and independence, as well as participate actively in their own learning. In a learning session using cooperative learning strategies individuals can be assigned to interest groups at the beginning of the session. Interest groups are individuals who may share either the same background or viewpoint. Interest groups are assigned either based on the particular task to be covered in the lesson or based on previously defined characteristics such as favorite type of food, music, TV shows etcetera. This is simply to ensure that all learners feel a sense of belonging by being able to identify with at least one other person in the group and therefore all will be motivated to actively participate in the lesson. Countless authors have pointed to the merits of using small groups as an effective teaching strategy to ensure participation and involvement (see Slavin, 2000). At the beginning of the lesson students are presented with the objectives and given precise guidelines of what they will be required to do throughout the lesson. Each group, that would have been identified previously, is given a particular aspect of the lesson to report or focus on and even within the group each member is assigned a specific responsibility and, of course, made aware how his/her role fits into the group task and the general lesson. In this way students will be accountable, not only for their own learning but also for the learning of the rest of the members who will be dependent upon him/her to correctly complete what is required. Kounin is famous for stressing this concept of accountability in learning. He also argues that it is essential to maintain the involvement of all students in all aspects of the lesson (as cited in Slavin, 2000, p. 373). Direct instruction often cannot be avoided in delivering lesson content depending on the material to be covered and may be essential in some cases. Thus in this setting direct instruction has its place but is supplemented with other strategies to ensure its effectiveness in meeting lesson objectives. To make a topic more meaningful and of immediate interest to the learners suggestions are gathered as to possible topics to explore, that can be aligned well with the overall curricular goals. By using the direct teaching method the teacher delivers the content to the entire class but each group is at that time paying particular attention to the aspect that is most relevant to the task they had been previously assigned. Visual aids and demonstrations, as appropriate, are used to enhance the impact of the lesson. A PowerPoint ® presentation would be particularly attractive to learners incorporating computer graphics, animation and even sound so that learners are able to interact with the lesson on a variety of levels. An alternative to the direct teacher or a supplemental to it would be to invite an outside speaker to deliver the specified topic. This guest speaker could be someone that the class nominates or someone that has expertise as well as being able to gain the interest and attention of the learners. Using either direct teaching, the PowerPoint ® or the guest speaker the group function is still maintained. At the end of these sessions groups meet to collaborate on completing the task assigned. In completing this task learners use problem solving skills to ensure that objectives are met. Working collaboratively group members have to explore alternatives for solving the problem or accomplishing the task that has been assigned. Included in the discussion is a decision on what aspect of the presentation is relevant or irrelevant to the task they have been assigned and the most appropriate way of organizing their work. They will also have to choose the most appropriate form in which to present their information. Each group is required, whether as a part of the session or in a subsequent session, to present their task to the rest of the class. As a part of the task description the teacher allows each group the flexibility of choosing whatever approach they feel will best be suited to presenting their information to the entire class. Role-play, simulation, demonstration, presentation or any other method could be adopted by the learners based on their individual preference. Alternatively all groups could role-play their particular scenario. Role-playing can be used to develop problem solving skills and to assess how much and how well learning has occurred. There is still a considerable amount of flexibility in that the groups use their own styles and ideas to come up with an appropriate situation to depict the problem they were assigned to. All members of the group will be required to roll-play ensuring that group activities are not manipulated by a specific set of learners and so that some learners do not opt out. Feedback of course, in any learning context is essential. Peer evaluation in this situation is useful. A discussion can ensue after each group role-plays or presents. Other classmates give feedback on the same issues and present possible alternatives to the solution that was taken or discuss why the option taken was the most appropriate for the particular issue at hand. Additionally comments relevant to the lesson could also be made. Learners in the small-group and large-group context are therefore able to cooperatively learn from each other by sharing ideas and making suggestions. Evidently learners are given a lot of independence within the specific guidelines and a lot of self-directed learning takes place. All these are essential for learners to make the most out of learning sessions and are preferable to techniques that are teacher-centered rather than learner-centered. In this way learners are actively participating in learning not just being passive listeners and observers. Throughout the lesson the teacher plays the role of facilitator or guide but the learners are the ones actively involved in the learning experiences and thus they would reap much more benefit. References Huang, H. (2002). Toward constructivism for adult learners in online learning environments. British Journal of Educational Technology, 33(1), 27-37. Slavin, R. E. (2000). Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice. (6th ed. ). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Roman Mythology :: essays research papers

Roman Mythology   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The ancient Greek and ancient Roman religion was the belief in gods. They had similar beliefs, but also vast differences. They came from each other and gave their people a form of morality. It was composed of many meaningful gods and goddesses that all played a part in the everyday life of the average Roman and Greek person of that time.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  They believed in something called polytheism. It is the belief of many gods; each given a personality, function, relationship to each other through family, and to be the subject of many myths and legends that were to be told for many of years to come. They were to become the basis for a religion that would last for hundreds of years and would yield thousands of followers to believe in the made stories of these enchanted people or gods as they were called. ( Grolier)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Roman mythology was to consist of twelve to thirteen main gods. Each having a function in the life of the everyday Roman that would require some sort of worshipping. The Roman gods were taken from the beliefs of the Greek gods. They are directly descended from their neighboring religion. The Roman mythology consisted of the high god Jupiter, his wife and sister Juno, son Vulcan, son Mercury, daughter Diana, daughter Venus, son Mars, daughter Minerva, son Apollo, sister Vesta, brother Pluto, brother Neptune, and Janus.(www, hunt)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jupiter was the ruler of the gods. He is also known as Zeus to the Greeks. He became ruler of the gods through him drawing that lot from his brothers after they overthrew the Titans. He was the god of sky and rain. He was the keeper of the thunderbolt which he hurled at anyone that displeased. That is how he is portrayed through the Greeks, but through the Romans; he was still the ruler of the gods and used his thunderbolts. They portrayed as the lord of life and death and he never visited mankind on earth.(www. hunt)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Neptune was the god of the sea. This is the lot he drew from his brothers. He was worshipped mostly by seaman. He was the creator of the horse and the user of his three-pronged spear, the trident. It could shake the ground and break any object at will, but in his Roman sense he was still the god of the sea. It only took longer for him to be noticed as it. He started out as a minor deity of the water, but his importance increased as the number of seamen increased. (www. hunt)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Pluto the god of the underworld.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Rabindranadha Tagor, Gitanjali Essay

(Gitanjoli) is a collection of 103 English poems, largely translations, by the Bengali poet Rabindranadha Tagore This volume became very famous in the West, and was widely translated. Gitanjali (Gitanjoli) is also the title of an earlier Bengali volume (1910) of mostly devotional songs. The word gitanjoli is a composed from â€Å"git†, song, and â€Å"anjoli†, offering, and thus means – â€Å"An offering of songs†; but the word for offering, anjoli, has a strong devotional connotation, so the title may also be interpreted as â€Å"prayer offering of song†. The English collection is not a translation of poems from the Bengali volume of the same name. While half the poems (52 out of 103) in the English text were selected from the Bengali volume, others were taken from these works (given with year and number of songs selected for the English text): Gitimallo (1914,17), Noibeddo (1901,15), Khea (1906,11) and a handful from other works. The translations were often radical, leaving out or altering large chunks of the poem and in one instance even fusing two separate poems (song 95, which unifies songs 89,90 of naivedya). The translations were undertaken prior to a visit to England in 1912, where the poems were extremely well received. A slender volume was published in 1913 with an exhilarating preface by W B Yeats and in the same year, based on a corpus of three thin translations, Rabindranath became the first non-European to win the Nobel price for Literature. Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; Where knowledge is free; Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls; Where words come out from the depth of truth; Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection; Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit†¦ Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. This is the vision that the poet had for the India of his dreams†¦ Gitanjali is a song of offering to the motherland (India), and to the deity that reigns upon the land. At times, it seems the poet has personalized the divinity in the form of a person; at other times he refers to the divinity in the abstract. Though the poetry is beautiful and evocative of nature, it is at times disjointed. The common thread that binds the poem is the relationship between the singer and the object of his adoration. Like most poetry, this song too is introspective as the poet seeks to come to terms with his dreams. This song is more akin to a mosaic than a painting – the key to understanding this song is that the poet has interwoven number of (un) related themes together. Rabindranath Tagore – India’s first Nobel laureate – was a poet, playwright, artist and composer. In fact, he translated many of his works from the original Bengali. Besides ‘Gitanjali’, he is also best known for two songs: ‘Amar Shonar Bangla’ and ‘Jana Mana Gana’, which are the national anthems of Bangladesh and India respectively. But Tagore is loved as much for his music (Rabindra Sangeet) as for his poetry. In fact, the two are inseparable and deeply intertwined in popular Bengali consciousness. He was also a leading light in India’s freedom movement, though his leadership was more of a moral (rather than political) nature. Last – but not least – Rabindranath Tagore was also an educationist, and founded the famous school at Shantiniketan (or abode of peace). The school was later expanded into a University. Rabindranath Tagore believed that learning should best be imparted in a natural environment. Some of the leading laureates of the school include Indira Gandhi, Satyajit Ray and Amartya Sen. â€Å"Gitanjali† is a collection of prose poems by Indian author Rabindranath Tagore. The Dover Thrift Edition contains an introductory note on the life of Tagore, who lived from 1861 to 1941. According to this note, Tagore, who wrote poetry in Bengali, translated â€Å"Gitanjali† himself into English. The Dover edition also contains a 1912 introduction by William Butler Yeats. This English version of â€Å"Gitanjali† is a series of prose poems that reflect on the interrelationships among the poet/speaker, the deity, and the world. Although Tagore had a Hindu background, the spirituality of this book is generally expressed in universal terms; I could imagine a Christian, a Buddhist, a Muslim, or an adherent of another tradition finding much in this book that would resonate with him or her. The language in this book is often very beautiful. The imagery includes flowers, bird songs, clouds, the sun, etc. ; one line about â€Å"the riotous excess of the grass† reminded me of Walt Whitman. Tagore’s language is sensuous and sometimes embraces paradox. Like Whitman and Emily Dickinson, he sometimes seems to be resisting traditional religion and prophetically looking towards a new spirituality. A sample of Tagore’s style: â€Å"I surely know the hundred petals of a lotus will not remain closed for ever and the secret recess of its honey will be bared† (from section #98). As companion texts for this mystical volume I would recommend Jack Kerouac’s â€Å"The Scripture of the Golden Eternity† and Juan Mascaro’s translation of the Dhammapada.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Payment Methods in Ecommerce

With the rapid advancement in technology and the expansion of business, more and more companies are venturing into E-commerce in a race to grow not just regionally but also internationally. E-commerce adaption necessitates the change of the business model companies have been following traditionally and with it comes the change in the modes to make the payments.With the popularity of the internet for common use in business since 1990, E-commerce has been growing and touching the new horizons in every category of business , there are organizations today that depends heavily upon the E-commerce and there are examples amongst the fortune 500 giants which have seen tremendous growth in the era of E-commerce conducting the business online .(â€Å"Microsoft†,n. d) When the companies conduct business online the modes of financial payments become different from that of the traditional business payment ways like cash , checks, debit cards etc.Since while buying online, there is generall y no physical presence involved and customers could order the products sitting anywhere using their computers. B2B ( Business to Business)E-commerce today accounts for more than the 95 percent of total E-commerce and the B2B E-commerce means both the buying companies and the selling companies are the organizations and which consequently refer to larger amount of payment flow which is linked with buying or selling the products online , so electronic payment systems that are in place have to be very advanced when it comes to preciseness, security, privacy and the speed of processing the amount. â€Å"Turban et al† , 2004) There are always risk associated with the information that could be revealed over the internet while making a transaction and could lead to something unexpected like misuse of the instruments like credit cards and E-checks used to make the payment online. In an effort to make electronic payments more robust and error free, there are various protocols that are being utilized to encrypt the information being sent over the internet and these protocols differ in the encryption techniques. (â€Å"Electronic Commerce,† n. ) E-commerce is based on an ever advancing technology that gives birth to high end safety measures that could be applied while making the financial payments over the internet however internet Frauds, thefts still take place and need to be addressed since E-commerce is growing and would keep on growing at a fast pace as companies look to expand and make technology their platform for success in the retail market particularly. Introduction E -commerce is not limited only to buying and selling it also is an effective way of facilitating the inter and intra organizational flow of information and providing the customer service.There could be more than one way to define the E-commerce depending upon the prospective of the business and application of the technology, from a business prospective E-commerce is application of tech nology to make business more automated when it comes to day to day transactions and work flow, similarly if applied to the service industry E-commerce would mean a tool to address the service costs at the same time increasing the quality and speed of the service.The essay touches the various modes of electronic payment systems that are being used today as part of E-commerce today however it particularly concentrates upon online credit card payment systems, the terms related to the credit cards, their transactional process over the network, protocols that make credit card transaction secure over the internet . Some evolving electronic payment methods are simply electronic version of existing payment systems such as paper checks and credit cards and some other are based on the digital currency technology.Essay also focus upon the various protocols which exist to encrypt the information that is being sent over the internet to make the transaction exact and secure, the encryption techno logy that is being used along with the algorithms implanted in the cryptography techniques, the advantages and disadvantages of the various mode of payments that could make a difference when customers are concerned about the privacy and the security while making a transaction online keeping in view the amount of transactions that would take place in day to day business have been discussed since with increase in number of transactions number of thefts, frauds will also increase.Concept and Size of Electronic Payment Since payment systems use the electronic and computer networks, the nature of these payments is more complex than payment systems used in the conventional commerce so companies dealing in E-commerce should constitute frequent practice in banking. Most common form of the payments in E-commerce are payments made in Business to Business since they make more than 95 percent of total E-commerce payments today and these are executed through a proper network of electronic commun ication that would include digital telephony , IP telephony and use of internet to complete the transaction. (Turban et al, 2004 ) The amount of payment made in the electronic payment system varies from one type to another of the E-commerce; the payments that are made in the Business to Business E-commerce are quite higher than what are made in Business to Consumer or Consumer to Business types of the E-commerce.There are transactions that may range from $1 to $ 10 which generally take place in Business to Consumer form only and by their nature are known as the micro payments. Payments up to $ 500 are still mostly done under Business to Consumer form of E- commerce however are not considered micro payments, example of this could be buying a customized laptop from the Dell website which could cost around $500. (Danial, 2002) Payments higher than $1000 would generally fall under Business to Business E-commerce since individual customers who have to make a purchase bigger than this amo unt would preferably like to buy the products physically. â€Å"B2B transactions account about 95% of e-commerce transactions, while others account about 5%†. Turban et al, 2004 ) Modes of Payment in Electronic Payment system in E- commerce. There have been dozens of modes of payment in electronic payment system some of them are widely accepted and common however some of them are not. Some of them are just the electronic versions of the conventional methods that are there in regular form of commerce. Following are some common forms that are used in daily forms of E-commerce. 1. Electronic Fund Transfer. 2. Credit Cards. 3 E –cash. 4. Smart cards. 5. E –checks. 6. Electronic Debit Cards. Online Credit Card Payment System. â€Å"It seeks to extend the functionality of existing credit cards for use as online shopping payment tools.This payment system has been widely accepted by consumers and merchants throughout the world, and by far the most popular methods of pa yments especially in the retail markets†. (Laudon and Traver, 2002) A credit card is generally issued by the banks or other financial institution. It comes with a fixed amount of spending limit depending upon the type of the credit card and payment is to be made to the issuing institution within a stipulated time period it could be 30-40 days after which customer has to pay interest on the amount due. Following are the few terms that are related to the use of credit cards. 1. Card holder: – a card holder is the authorized person who is entitled to do purchases online using the card. 2.Card issuer: – Card issuer could be financial institution or a bank that has issued the credit card to card holder after a certain amount of verification about the card holder. 3. The merchant:- Merchant is the one who accepts payment via credit card used online in exchange of goods or services offered by him. 4. The acquirer: – a financial institution that establishes an acc ount for merchants and acquires the vouchers of authorized sales slips. 5. Card brand/card type :- there are types of credit cards that are accepted worldwide and different institution take care of different types of credit cards such as Visa and Master Card. (Turban ,Lee, King, chung , n. d)Process of using Credit Card While making a purchase online using a credit card, the transaction goes through a series of steps and following are few terms that need to be understood before understanding the transactional process, all these terms are kind of processes that could take place while processing a transaction. * Sale: A sale is when the card holder purchases a product or service from a merchant and the money is transferred to the merchant's account. *   Preauth: A preauth is not a sale transaction however it is a transaction to make sure that the credit card is valid and it typically charge around $1. 00(Techrepublic ,n. d)  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   * Postauth: â€Å"A p ostauth involves purchasing something before it is shipped. The customer can preorder something, and the amount is deducted from the customer's credit limit. No money is transferred, but the card hold is maintained on the customer's card.When the merchant fulfills (typically, ships the product), the merchant can perform a postauth to transfer the money and remove the card hold from the customer's card†. (Techrepublic, n. d) * Credit: This transaction is used while returning the good according to the procedure under the agreement and merchant puts the money back into the account. * Chargeback: A chargeback transaction is used in case of dispute settlement. In case of a dispute customer files a case and the financial institution involved temproraly withdraws money from the merchant`s account and transfers it to customer`s account. Each party have a certain number of days to prove the right billing and depending upon that amount goes in the account of right party. (â€Å"Techrep ublic† ,n. ) Steps involved in the online transaction While making a transaction customer fills in the credit card information on the HTML page and the information is sent over the server. 1. Server receives the information and sends it to the code that validates the information added by the user and if found valid this information is formatted into data that gateway could understand and is sent to gateway. (â€Å"Techrepublic† ,n. d) 2. â€Å"The gateway receives the formatted data from the HostRAD code, validates the card, and checks to see whether the amount for the transaction is available in the user's account†. (â€Å" Techrepublic† n. ) Upon validation if the card is found invalid or if there is not enough amount on the card a disapproval goes to the code and gateway charges the merchant money at this point of transaction even if it goes bad and if everything is found right the transaction is approved and an approval message is sent to the code. 3. Depending upon the type of the type of the card(Visa, Master card) gateway is batched upto the appropriate clearing house transactions arrive at the gateway, they're batched through to the appropriate clearinghouse. The clearinghouse that is used is determined by the credit card type and the bank that issued the card. As the clearinghouses receive transactions from all the gateways, the clearinghouses batch the transactions for all the banks involved, transferring monies from bank to bank.For providing this service, the clearinghouse takes between two percent and five percent of the total sale. (â€Å"Techrepublic†, n. d) 4. As the clearinghouses batch the transactions they receive, they transfer money from the customer's bank to the merchant's bank. 5. The merchant's bank receives the transactions from a clearinghouse and then transfers the appropriate amount of money for the customer transaction (started in box 1) into the Merchant's Card Not Present merchant account (†Å"Techrepublic†,n. d) Credit Card Transaction Security â€Å"More than 100 million personally-identifiable customer records have been breached in the US over the past two years. Many of these breaches involved credit card information. Continued credit card use requires confidence by consumers that their transaction and credit card information are secure†. (â€Å"Texas department of information resource† ,2009)The Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Standards Council is the authoritarian agency that issues the standards and policies that help reduce the internet crimes in use of credit cards and all vendors that accept credit cards in their transactions have to abide by these laws . PCI council includes all the major Card brands like American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB International, MasterCard , and Visa International. â€Å"Texas department of information resource† ,2009) â€Å"The Council created an industry-wide, global framework that d etails how companies handle credit card data – specifically, banks, merchants and payment processors. The result is the PCI Data Security Standard (DSS) – a set of best practice requirements for protecting credit card data throughout the information lifecycle†. (â€Å"Texas department of information resource† ,2009) â€Å"The PCI compliance security standards outline technical and operational requirements created to help organizations prevent credit card fraud, hacking, and various other security vulnerabilities and threats. The PCI DSS requirements are applicable if a credit card number is stored, processed, or transmitted.The major credit card companies require compliance with PCI DSS rules via contracts with merchants and their vendors that accept and process credit cards. Banks, merchants, and payment processors must approach PCI DSS compliance as an ongoing effort. Compliance must be validated annually, and companies must be prepared to address new a spects of the standard as it evolves based on emerging technologies and threats†. (â€Å"Texas department of information resource† ,2009) Following are some terms related to online Credit card frauds â€Å"Phishing – This technique refers to randomly distributed emails that attempt to trick recipients into disclosing account passwords, banking information or credit card information. This one scam has played a major factor in the crisis we face today.Since phishing emails typically appear to be legitimate, this type of crime has become very effective. Well designed, readily available software utilities make it nearly impossible to trace those guilty of phishing. Phishtank, an anti-phishing organization, recently revealed that nearly 75,000 attempts of this nature are made each month† Pharming – This new technique is one of the most dangerous of them all. Pharming involves a malicious perpetrator tampering with the domain name resolution process on th e internet. By corrupting a DNS, (Domain Name System), a user can type in the URL for a legitimate financial institution and then be redirected to a compromised site without knowledge of the changes.Unaware of the background predators, the consumer types in their bank account details or credit card number, making them the latest victim of fraud. Skimming – refers to a process in which a special device is used to copy encoding data from the magnetic strip of a credit or debit card. This device is usually secretly mounted to an ATM machine as a card reader. Dumpster Diving – this act refers to a process in which an individual vigorously shift's through someone else's trash in search of personal and financial information. With a mere credit card approval that contains a name and address, a criminal can easily open up a credit card in your name and accumulate substantial debt in no time.Security measures in online credit card payment systems. Four necessary and important m easures that must to be followed for safe electronic system are as following. 1. Authentication Authentication is a method to verify buyer`s identity before payment is authorized. 2. Encryption Encryption is a process to making data that has to be sent over the internet indecipherable so that it could not be read by unauthorized persons and read only by the persons in authority to do so. 3. Integrity It has to be made sure that information that is sent over the internet is not modified, altered in an intentional or unintentional way. 4. Nonrepudiation This is the quality of a secure system that prevents anyone from denying that they have sent certain data. Here the communication system should be fault tolerant. Server where the transaction has been sent should keep a record log of every transaction and the user can't deny that he or she has not accessed the server. Security Schemes Key security schemes that make sure that information sent over the network while engaging in a transac tion is secure include encryption, digital signature, certificates and certifying authorities. Encryption:-Encryption is a technology that deciphers any kind of information before being sent over the network so that it could not be retrieved and misused by an unauthorized person.Two common encryption technologies that are used to encrypt and decrypt the data are Secret key and public key encryption as explained below. Secret Key encryption In this cryptography technique one key that is known as secret key is used to both encrypt and decrypt the data at sender`s as well as receiver end . Secret key encryption is easy to implement when number of users are less. The algorithm that is used for secret key cryptography is Data Encryption standard (DES) (Schneier ,n. d). The only problem with this encryption method is that the key has to be sent over to the counterpart. (â€Å"Dret†, n. d) Public key cryptography/Assymetric encryption.In this kind of encryption there are two keys th at form the part of encryption technology they are the public key and the privaret key . the public key is known to allthe users however the private key is only known to one user the owner. there are two methods the kep pair could be used eithet the data could be encrypted by the receiver`s public key and it will be decrypted by his private key but there is a problem with this method since the encrypting key is public key no body will know who sent the message the other way is encrypting the data with receiver`s private key and decrypting it by public key however this method also has an issue every public key holder will be able to decrypt the message so it has to be combination of keys.The data is encrypted using the receiver`s public key and reencrypted using the receiver`s private key the reciver has to use combination of keys to decrypt the data fully which means that the first the reciver`s private key and then the sender`s public key. The algorithm that is used in this techniq ue is RSA. (â€Å"turban, 2004) (â€Å"Dret†, n. d) Electronic Protocols. SET (Secure Electronic Transaction) protocol is an e-commerce protocol designed by Visa and MasterCard. Customers can purchase online and their personal information would be protected and also their buying habits would be recorded along with the information they provided. â€Å"SET developed by Visa and MasterCard is an open standard for encryption and security specification for credit card transactions on the Internet.The SET is a set of security protocols and formats that main section are application protocol and payment protocol†. (â€Å"Itig† , n. d) SET has many merits: SET has provided merchant protective method, cost-cutting and enough security for the electronic payment. It helps making the online E-commerce free from online fraud to quite an extent. SET keeps more secrets for the consumer to improve the satisfaction of their on-line shopping experience. SET helps the bank and the credit card company to expand the service to more broad space –Internet. And it lowers the probability of credit card on-line fraud. Therefore SET seems more competitive than other online payment method.SET has defined interface for all quarters of online transaction so that a system can be built on the products made by the different manufacturers. SET protocol based E-commerce model Although SET has been widely used in the electronic payment area and has gained more attention from the electronic commerce promoter, the SET transaction mode model only. Even for B2C model, its application is also limited. (â€Å"Itig†, n. d) DES algorithm and the RSA algorithm are used in SET protocol to carry on the encryption and the decryption process. SET protocol use DES as symmetrical encryption algorithm. However, DES was no longer a safe algorithm right now. Therefore, DES should be replaced by more intensive and safer algorithm.Moreover, along with the development of processing speed and storage efficiency enhancement of the computer, the algorithm will be cracked successively. It is necessary to improve the extendibility of encryption service. SET protocol is huge and complex in the application process. In a typical SET transaction process, the digital certificates need to be confirmed 9 times, transmitted 7 times; the digital signature need be confirmed 6 times, and 5 times signature, 4 symmetrical encryptions and 4 asymmetrical encryptions are carried out. (â€Å"cs. ucf†,n. d) SET protocol involves many entities such as customers, merchants and banks. All of them need to modify their systems to embed interoperability.As the SET requests installment software in the network of bank, on the business server and PC of the customer and it also need to provide certificates to all quarters, so running cost of the SET is rather high. The protocol cannot prove transactions which are done by the user who signs the certificate. The protocol is unable to pr otect cardholder and business since the signature received finally in the protocol is not to confirm the content of the transaction but an authentication code. If cardholders and trade companies have the dispute, they cannot provide alone the evidence to prove its transaction between themselves and the banks. Although there are some drawbacks in the SET protocol, it is still the most standard and the safest in the present electronic commerce security protocol and the international standard of the security electron payment.In order to overcome the defect that SET protocol only supports credit payment style, PIN(Personal Identify Number) digital items are modified in this paper; with regard to the other deficiencies such as complexity, slow speed, poor safety and adaptation of SET protocol, this paper also makes a model of architecture security control mechanism, introduces electron transaction authentication center and strengthens the security of transaction process of SET protocol. (â€Å"cs. ucf†,n. d) Transmission control Protocol (TCP) which is the main protocol used to send data over internet was not designed back then keeping in view the security issues that could arise in today`s World where E commerce plays an important role. The data transmitted through TCP could be read, intercepted and altered.Security breach still happens while an email is being sent or files are being transferred over the internet. Customer is always concerned over security when processing a transaction and sending information over the internet. Credit card information like name, number and date of expiration. Presently most of the companies use SSL (Secure Socket Layer) protocol to provide security and privacy this protocol encrypts the order at PC before sending it over the network however this protocol may not provide all the security needed. There is another more secure protocol Secure Electronic transaction (SET) however SET is is a slow protocol and may take long time to respond and also it requires that the digital wallet is installed on the customer pc.Electronic Fund Transfer â€Å"Electronic funds transfer† means any transfer of funds, other than a transaction originated by check, draft, or similar paper instrument, that is initiated through an electronic terminal, telephonic instrument, or computer or magnetic tape, so as to order, instruct, or authorize a financial institution to debit or credit an account. Electronic funds transfers shall be accomplished by an automated clearinghouse debit, an automated clearinghouse credit, or by Federal Reserve Wire Transfer†. † (Turban ,Lee, King;amp; chung ,n. d) Electronic Checks. E check is the electronic version of the traditional paper based checks , Paper check has been one of the most important way of payments that has been in use for a long time keeping in view the same concept E check has been designed to serve the same purpose. E-check contains the same information like acco unt number, issuing bank, address of the issuing bank and the amount of check.To validate the authenticity of the person, instead of signatures it has a digital code which is generated while filling in a check and is cross verified with the database while encashing it. Electronic Check offers many advantages over the traditional paper check since all the information is filled in electronically over the computer and it is not revealed as it passes through very few people who are in authority. E checks are cheaper by many folds because of ease of processing, also E-checks are lot faster in procession since the data is sent electronically and the chances of getting a check bounced are almost negligible. Electronic Wallets Electronic wallets or the e wallets also referred to digital wallets.An e wallet is a software program that contains user`s payment information in encrypted form to ensure its security, for example an individual`s e wallet could contain credit card number , bank accou nt number ,contact information and shipping location . This information can then be automatically and securely transferred to an online order form. †. (Turban ,Lee, King;amp; chung ,n. d) Virtual Credit Cards â€Å"Closely allied to e wallets is concept of virtual credit card. A virtual credit card is an image of a credit card placed on the computer desktop. With one click of the credit card image the card holder access the account information and pays for the online purchases.Customer can even drag and drop the virtual card from desktop onto an online checkout page . The credit card number and contact information is automatically entered into the checkout form and the customer just needs a pin to enter or other form of identification to authorize the transaction†. (Turban ,Lee, King;amp; chung ,n. d) Concluding Remarks Although there are many online payment systems available to choose from while making a purchase under E-commerce however the credit card is still the do minant and the most popular way not only because of the convenience it has but also because of its worldwide acceptability.Despite of the several security measures in place, credit card frauds do take place and protection of the information provided over the internet while making a purchase is of utmost importance. Encryption using the DES and RSA algorithms make the data indecipherable while being transmitted over the network and these encryption technologies are hard to break into however there are other ways credit card information could be disclosed. Phishing and Pharming as mentioned above in the essay are recent threats that are becoming common and are needed to be addressed as soon as possible since the users who are not really aware of these threats could unintentionally disclose information they are not supposed to.Credit card has wider acceptability because of its long established network thanks to the credit card brands like the Master card, Visa international and America n express and because of its friendly characteristics like ease of carriage, fast processing, 24 hour purchasing facility and the convenience of making purchase sitting anywhere. With the advancement of technology new protective measures like thumb imprint, retina scan are gaining popularity however it will take time for them to become common and implemented everywhere while making an online transaction since there are the cost and awareness issues related to these high end technology gadgets.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Essay on Jeff Bezos and Amazon Ceo

Essay on Jeff Bezos and Amazon Ceo Essay on Jeff Bezos and Amazon Ceo Amazon.com is the leading online book retailer. The company also has an array of products and services available to its customer. So why did Amazon venture into the E- Grocery Market? This paper will address this question, using a peer reviewed article named, â€Å"Amazon’s Foray into the E-Grocery Market,† and the strategic concepts discussed in the assigned weekly reading. According to Devi, six months after opening in July 1995, Amazon.Com offered one-million book titles through its website and posted net sales of $511,000. But, after accounting for operating expenses, it incurred a net loss of $303,000. (Devi, 2008) This loss did not deter Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos, who believed that his fledgling business would succeed. Mr. Bezos continue to work diligently to make Amazon better. By 1996 he had hired about 151 employees and had 2.5 million titles online. Although the business had grown, Amazon.com still suffered a net loss of $5.7 million because the company spent more on shipping the books to the customers. (Devi, 2008) Amazon also faced fierce online competition rivalries during the same year. According to Hitt, Ireland, and Hoskisson, competition rivalry, is an ongoing set of competitive action and responses that occurs among firms as they maneuver toward an advantageous market position†( Hitt, Ireland, and Hoskisson, 2011, p.130). Company li ke BookStacks, BookZone, and Internet Bookshop, were a few of the competitors that made it hard for Amazon.com to gain a competitive advantage. In order to gain a competitive advantage, Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos knew he had to adjust his company operational strategies. According to Devi, Amazon had three operational strategies; cost-leadership, customer differentiation and focus strategy. Cost-leadership; this strategy was employed by Amazon to differentiate itself primarily on the basis of price. The strategy made sure that Amazon offers the same quality products as other companies for a considerably less price. (Devi, 2008) Amazon second strategy was customer differentiation. â€Å"This strategy ensured that Amazon provides current and potential customers, differentiation through design, quality or convenience and Amazon.com always selects a differentiator that is different from other competitors, so that its consumers can recognize and differentiate its product from competitors†(Devi, 2008, p. 64). The last strategy Amazon used was focus strategy. This strategy takes one of the two earlier strategies and applies it t o a niche within the market (Saunders, 2001; pp.122-123). â€Å"Amazon.com focuses on outstanding customer service as a niche but not the whole market because each niche has its own demand and requirement† (Devi, 2008, p. 64). Jeff Bezos knew that he needed to grow his company; therefore, he took advantage of every opportunity to do just that. He teamed his company with Target Corporation, Circuit City, Borders, Walden, Waterstones and CDNOW to sell its books and other products on its behalf online. He also partnered with Toys R Us, expanded its choice of merchandise well beyond its core line of books, music, and videos, and added new technology to improve customer relations. (Devi, 2008) Mr. Bezos wanted Amazon.com to offer customers everything they could dream of online. Although, Amazon offered a variety of merchandise and services, online groceries was something it did not. Amazon CEO saw this as another opportunity for his company to grow by using it to provide something to the customers that the competition could not. This action is also known as Competitive Behavior, â€Å"which is the set of competitive actions and responses the firms takes to build or defend it competitive advantages and improve it marketing position† (Hitt, et al., 2011, p.130). So in 2006, Amazon

Monday, October 21, 2019

Beauty Is All A Girl Needs †English Essay

Beauty Is All A Girl Needs – English Essay Free Online Research Papers Beauty Is All A Girl Needs English Essay In many children stories beauty is a highly emphasized trait. Though it many not seem that way, but in stories like Joseph Jacobs’ â€Å"Catskin† or Grimm’s â€Å"Cinderella† beauty is a major factor behind the events of the story. Both stories basically boil down to, if the girl is beautiful, she is going to be fine. In Grimm’s â€Å"Cinderella† the concept of beauty is what it’s all about. When Cinderella is at her house she wears rags and beat up clothes because she is doing all the house work. She is not beautiful because she has to work. But when she is at the wedding and in her lovely dress, everyone notices her and even the prince himself is impressed. â€Å"Her sister and her step mother had no idea who she was. She looked so beautiful in the dress of gold that they thought she must be the daughter of a foreign king.† (Grimm 119). When she puts on her dress she becomes a totally different person, the kind that isn’t supposed to be cleaning the house. She is so beautiful that the prince then goes a quest to find her again. But because she isn’t wearing the dress he can’t be sure. Her now lack of beauty has caused the prince to go around with her sister. Because Cinderella is back in her rags, she can’t be the one from the wed ding. Without her dress on, she once again changes back into the cleaning lady. When the prince does finally find her, she puts her dress back on and changes back into the â€Å"daughter of a foreign king†. And because she is so beautiful she gets to marry the prince and never have to clean again. She doesn’t get married because she is a nice person, funny or anything other sort of trait a person looks for, it’s simple because she was the most beautiful person at the wedding. Joseph Jacobs’ â€Å"Catskin† the young girl had many fine dresses made for her. When she was looking for work she was the same as Cinderella, she wore her catskin dress so she looked like a cleaning lady. But when a ball comes around she sneaks out and puts on her most lovely dress and impresses everyone with her beauty, including the prince. She does this a second time and â€Å"†¦everyone was surprised at so beautiful a face and a form dressed in so rich and rare a dress†¦.† (Jacobs 124). Once again the theme her is, look the best, then the prince will want you and you will never have to do anything ever again. This theme is condensed into about 2 pages but its still as strong. Before she met the prince she was working in the kitchen. In her catskin no one could she here beauty because of her horrible dressing. â€Å"†¦you go among all the fine lords and ladies with your filthy catskin? A fine figure you’d cut!† (Jacobs 12 3). Proving that in the wrong clothing, she is ugly. If it was not for her stash of great dresses she would have never impressed the prince enough. And because she was the most beautiful and married the prince, â€Å"†¦they lived happy ever afterwards.† (Jacobs 125). Once again stressing that if you look good, bag the rich guy, you are all set. Grimm’s â€Å"Cinderella† and Jacobs’ â€Å"Catskin† both show beyond a doubt, that if the you are beautiful you are all set. Women need not have any other real skills, talents or what have you, so long as they are beautiful. And in today society this idea of being as beautiful as you can is being forced on everyone, everyday. Research Papers on Beauty Is All A Girl Needs - English EssayThe Hockey GameHip-Hop is ArtMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductComparison: Letter from Birmingham and CritoThe Fifth Horseman19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraThree Concepts of PsychodynamicStandardized TestingWhere Wild and West MeetBringing Democracy to Africa

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Charles Darwins Finches and the Theory of Evolution

Charles Darwins Finches and the Theory of Evolution Charles Darwin is known as the father of evolution. When he was a young man, Darwin set out on a voyage on the HMS Beagle. The ship sailed from England in late December of 1831 with Charles Darwin aboard as the crews naturalist. The voyage was to take the ship around South America with many stops along the way. It was Darwins job to study the local flora and fauna, collecting samples and making observations he could take back to Europe with him of such a diverse and tropical location. The crew made it to South America in a few short months, after a brief stop in the Canary Islands. Darwin spent most of his time on land collecting data. They stayed for more than three years on the continent of South America before venturing on to other locations. The next celebrated stop for the HMS Beagle was the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador. Galapagos Islands Charles Darwin and the rest of the HMS Beagle crew spent only five weeks in the Galapagos Islands, but the research performed there and the species Darwin brought back to England were instrumental in the formation of a core part of the original theory of evolution and Darwins ideas on natural selection which he published in his first book . Darwin studied the geology of the region along with giant tortoises that were indigenous to the area. Perhaps the best known of Darwins species he collected while on the Galapagos Islands were what are now called Darwins Finches. In reality, these birds are not really part of the finch family and are thought to probably actually be some sort of blackbird or mockingbird. However, Darwin was not very familiar with birds, so he killed and preserved the specimens to take back to England with him where he could collaborate with an ornithologist. Finches and Evolution The HMS Beagle continued to sail on to as far away lands as New Zealand before returning to England in 1836. It was back in Europe when he enlisted in the help of John Gould, a celebrated ornithologist in England. Gould was surprised to see the differences in the beaks of the birds and identified the 14 different specimens as actual different species - 12 of which were brand new species. He had not seen these species anywhere else before and concluded they were unique to the Galapagos Islands. The other, similar, birds Darwin had brought back from the South American mainland were much more common but different than the new Galapagos species. Charles Darwin did not come up with the Theory of Evolution on this voyage. As a matter of fact, his grandfather Erasmus Darwin had already instilled the idea that species change through time in Charles. However, the Galapagos finches helped Darwin solidify his idea of natural selection. The favorable adaptations of Darwins Finches beaks were selected for over generations until they all branched out to make new species. These birds, although nearly identical in all other ways to mainland finches, had different beaks. Their beaks had adapted to the type of food they ate in order to fill different niches on the Galapagos Islands. Their isolation on the islands over long periods of time made them undergo speciation. Charles Darwin then began to disregard the previous thoughts on evolution put forth by Jean Baptiste Lamarck who claimed species spontaneously generated from nothingness. Darwin wrote about his travels in the book The Voyage of the Beagle and fully explored the information he gained from the Galapagos Finches in his most famous book On the Origin of Species. It was in that publication that he first discussed how species changed over time, including divergent evolution, or adaptive radiation, of the Galapagos finches.

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Wal-Mart operational management system and strategy Research Paper

Wal-Mart operational management system and strategy - Research Paper Example The paper tells that Wal-Mart currently maintains 120 distributions centers that service its 7,000 international stores. Wal-Mart’s investment in providing decentralized distribution networks provides the business with greater efficiency in terms of meeting delivery timelines and the ability to provide a more diverse assortment of domestic and international products. In terms of distribution, volume alone provides Wal-Mart with significant competitive advantage related to stock replenishment and strategic procurement opportunities. Wal-Mart’s main competitors, both domestic and international, include the discount retailers K-Mart, Target, Sears, Marks & Spencer, Macy’s and Zara. In the United States, Wal-Mart continues to outperform major competitors K-Mart and Sears due to its more efficient supply chain infrastructure. Sears’ is forced to put higher prices on its merchandise as Sears maintains higher overhead costs due to its centralized and rather limit ed distribution network. K-Mart is losing customer appeal due to its rather notorious neglect of the store sales environment and growing poor customer service. Wal-Mart, on the other hand, continues to devote considerable labor and financial investment into improving the aesthetics of its sales environments, backed by the significant capital and credit worthiness of this firm which rests on both domestic and foreign cash flow. Wal-Mart has also experienced significant efficiencies in its supply chain network by consolidating global procurement. In the 1990s, Wal-Mart maintained a variety of domestic and international procurement operations bases that contributed to high payroll investment. This decentralized global procurement system also limited its ability to create a streamlined procurement model while it focused on purchasing that was geographically-near its international customers. Today, however,

Dissertation progress report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Dissertation progress report - Essay Example One may assume that the topic that I have chosen for undertaking research studies is a pretty simple one and that anyone could simply refer a few editorials in the newspapers and journals and come up with the requisite dissertation. In fact, I strongly believed that this was a good way to conduct my research as I had access to excellent library and archive facilities in the University in addition to being under the able guidance of my supervisors, who have always been extremely supportive and understanding at all times and have acted as true guides at all times. But, as the rest of this report will go to show, I am of the firm belief that opinions and the actual facts will never be highlighted in either newspapers or journals. I have strongly understood over the years that the facts and information presented in the newspapers are merely the opinions of the writers, at least in a majority of whatever gets printed in the form of articles and that the real facts are largely subdued or remain unheard. Therefore, I felt the need that something concrete had to be done in order to get to the real facts and upon analysis, I came to the conclusion that rather than rely solely on literary sources, it would be better for me to get to the people who have been feeling this hatred against the west. I strongly believed that getting to know them, the conditions and events that have come to characterize their lives over these years and the reasons for them to blame the west for all this. The undertaking of any such activity in this regard, especially in the form of a public survey really seemed as if it would bolster the quality of my research even though I knew that I would have to travel to countries that are considered to be dangerous and unsafe especially for people from western countries.But, before I proceeded with any such activity, I needed to make sure that I was on the right path and this required me to do a lot of groundwork so as to allow myself to generate an action plan for my research activities. This, I felt could be done by attending seminars and conferences, which I had not done before due to personal reasons. Therefore, I made it a point to attend all such conferences that discussed about the topic of 'Anti westernism' in detail. Due to my inability to be able to shift to Paris owing to personal reasons, I had made arrangements with my supervisors to work on a part-time basis. But, even then, the thought of my new approach propelled me up and I have been on it over the last few months.Primarily, I began to attend th e conferences and seminars that were conducted regularly at SOAS, which stands for- 'The School of Oriental and African Studies'. The various seminars and conferences that have helped me design a road plan for my research are listed below: "Attitudes towards Reform and Western Integration: Comparing Late 19th-Century lema and Early 21st-Century Kemalists" by Mr. Zafer Yoruk. "The Justice and Development Party: Still Searching for Security and Legitimacy" by Prof. Ihsan Dagi. 'Turkey's Accession Process' by Ambassador Michael Lake, Former EU Ambassador in Turkey (1991-98). "The Prospects for Cyprus post-Annan and Turkey's Accession Decisi' by Andrew Dismore, MP From the subjects of the seminars that have been listed above, I can say conclusively that I got a fair idea of the major

Friday, October 18, 2019

Perspectives on International Trade and Finance Assignment

Perspectives on International Trade and Finance - Assignment Example Joining WTO posed a vital influence on the political as well as economic reforms of China which were learnt to be influencing the telecom sector as well. Xiaolingtong is a mobile network which was developed in the year 1999, before China joined WTO and was controlled by the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) which was considered to be the backbone of the fixed line service providers. Later on, significant developments were made with regard to Xiaolingtong which assisted in capturing a significant share in the foreign market. The government provided full support towards the development of Xiaolingtong but those developments were not regarded as vital in comparison to the mobile or cellular service providers. There were also few issues which existed in relation to the adoption or implementation of the 3G service in China’s telecommunication services which required the involvement of different services and technologies. Discussion Key Issues or Options or Alternatives There a re few issues which are known to prevail or subsist in the telecommunication system of China and these issues are believed to be preventing the overall development of the system. The telecom market in China was characterized with arbitrary pricing as well as promotion policies. The main focus was to gain a significant market share instead of increasing its market size by providing new and valued services. The telecom market or the sector was observed to provide increased focus on deploying various services without being much concerned regarding the underlying quality with respect to the value added services for creating differentiation or competitive advantage for their products in the international market. There was an existence of high regulatory framework which created uncertainty as well as risk for the 3G mobile services. China’s telecom policies lacked a proper implementation of the relevant laws as well as regulations. It was found in this respect that MII played a maj or role in regulating the policies for the telecom system in China as the policies were not considered to be transparent which led to uncertainties. It was identified that to develop an efficient as well as effective competition in the telecom market, the existence of an ‘Independent Telecom Regulatory Authority’ was highly required. When China joined WTO, it should have then established an ‘Independent Telecom Regulatory Authority’ for the purpose of developing its telecom industry, but failed to do as MII used to formulate plans and policies as along with managing the telecom service providers (International Trade Administration, 2010). The telecom industry of China needed to conduct its business in partnership with some other international telecom services to compete in the international market. The firms formed out of Chinese partnerships with the foreign associates usually remained stated owned and lacked adequate experience in terms of competing in th e international market. The telecom equipment requires qualifying through various certifications as well as testing prior to their implementation and installation. A certain degree of limitation is imposed in China with regard to the aspect of foreign investment which restricts foreign companies to exercise control over the management of the Chinese telecom industry. A WTO obligation

Literary Response #7 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Literary Response #7 - Essay Example Indeed, a general perusal of Wright’s work reveals his interest in political concerns, but the most underlining features of his writing are the social and human concerns he addresses with great clarity. Consider his seminal poem ‘A Blessing’. In this poem Wright describes his encounter with two horses, and describes the meeting like he might an interaction with another person whom he cares dearly. In ‘A Note Left in Jimmy Leonard’s Shack,’ Wright continues his characteristic use of clear dialogue and concerns with daily human existence. For instance, he writes, â€Å"He’s drunk or dying now, I don’t know which,/ Rolled in the roots and garbage like a fish,/ The poor old man† (Perkins). While lacking stylistic complexity, it’s clear that the most unifying traits of Wright’s work is this ability to explore meaningful human concerns with great ease and clarity. In considering the poems of Edward Arlington Robinson one is drawn to the stark contrast his writing holds from that of James Wright. E.A. Robinson’s work has is more classically ‘poetic’ in that it is much more stylized, with some poems containing rhyming schemes and even iambic pentameter. While throughout the entire canon of Robinson’s work one is capable of identifying a plethora of themes, perhaps because of his upbringing that included the death of a brother to overdose and his largely solitary life. Consider poems like ‘Luke Havergal’ wherein Robinson largely utilizes iambic pentameter to convey the dark tone with a speaker that returns from the grave to implore Havergal to visit the western wall and speak with a mysterious individual. Another poem ‘Richard Cory’ continues Robinson’s use of iambic pentameter and while it begins in describing an individual with his outwardly happy, it concludes with the fateful words, â€Å"And Richard

Thursday, October 17, 2019

W8D 597 Reflecting Plans Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

W8D 597 Reflecting Plans - Essay Example This is contrary to the fact that most plans outline objectives, functional tactics and actions item. Change is a major factor in the implementation and planning of any given plan. The internal environment is essential towards these changes. Most firms exist in a stagnant internal environment. These environments are resistance to change thus compromise the planning and execution of any given plan (Sinofsky& Iansiti, 2009).The internal environment failure to acknowledge need for change is what attributes to failure of a given plan. Firms may interact well with the eternal environment and lay down models that will enhance communication and interaction with the external environment but may in marshalling the internal environment towards change (Berkun, 2008). Marshalling the internal environment requires a proper leadership model. The lack of leadership within a given organization could be the predicament in the implementation of a given plan (Kipp, 2004). Strategies plans are created to ensure a firm transforms in matters operations and control. The management is required to play an important role within an organization. Lack of a proper leadership models will result to forms not being able to implement plans they developed. Organizations need to acknowledge the setbacks within the internal environment to ensure strategic plans are implemented. PricewaterhouseCoopers. (2014). The new hire: How a new generation of robots is transforming manufacturing. Retrieved from

Jazz age Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Jazz age - Research Paper Example While the Jazz age was much influential even in the later years, much of this influence was affected by the great depression in the 1930s. It is however, imperative to emphasize that Jazz music did not really begin in the 1920s but earlier on. The twenties only served as a period when new experiments were conducted and many styles were discovered with respect to the Jazz culture. Real jazz music was born in 1895 as a mixture of Blues and band music which played by African Americans and Creoles in New Orleans. This music was basically played on the old U.S Army music instruments like the marching drums of the cornet. It was basically a matter of improvisation given that most musicians of the day could not read music. Gradually, some white men noticed the popularity of this new trend and became interested. As a result many white people began playing jazz (Barrett, 45). Consequently, there was a fusion of the African and European music which blended to give jazz a new style from which a new culture sprang. Many of the white performers were used to make the culture much popular across the United States (Baraka, 25). The jazz music culture was soon taken over by the white middle class Americans and cities like Chicago and New York became canters for jazz music and culture. The growth and development of the radio industry was further instrumental in encouraging the growth of this culture. The numerous radio stations that sprang up around 1920 made it possible for many Americans to experience many kinds of music without the need to visit clubs. Many radio shows such as â€Å"potter palm† enhanced the popularity of jazz music and many people became fans (Barrett, 51). Armature concerts and other jazz performances were common in cities like Chicago. Originally, many African Americans got little airplay as many of the stations and clubs preferred the white jazz musicians (Shaw, 65). However, as the music became popular, artists like Louis Armstrong received much a irtime and many big bands were formed. Much of the influence of the jazz music was realized in the 1920s when majority of the youth went against the traditional lifestyle and adopted new ways. The traditional culture was slowly washed away amongst the youth through dressing and other mannerisms. The bold fashion statements (flappers) and new radio concerts were part of the rebellion realized amongst the youth (Barrett, 32). New styles of dancing like the Charleston were introduced by the African Americans and became very popular amongst the younger generations. Many of the youth began to make their hair in strange new ways while also donning sliver and golden slippers. In the same way, the women were not immune from this new wave that took over many of the youth. While there was indeed a lot of opposition from mothers and fathers on the new trend and how they thought it was affecting society, the peak of the women suffrage in the twenties coupled with the introduction of the flapper gave women much liberty to adopt the new culture. The happenings of the First World War led to many women joining the work force and this gave them many possibilities in relation to social life. Many people further advocated for equality and free sexuality and many female musicians emerged. Women musicians like Janis Joplin and Billie Holiday became very popular jazz musicians and were mostly inspired by Bessie Smith who had earlier became famous (Fitzgerald, 89). Nevertheless, there was

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

W8D 597 Reflecting Plans Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

W8D 597 Reflecting Plans - Essay Example This is contrary to the fact that most plans outline objectives, functional tactics and actions item. Change is a major factor in the implementation and planning of any given plan. The internal environment is essential towards these changes. Most firms exist in a stagnant internal environment. These environments are resistance to change thus compromise the planning and execution of any given plan (Sinofsky& Iansiti, 2009).The internal environment failure to acknowledge need for change is what attributes to failure of a given plan. Firms may interact well with the eternal environment and lay down models that will enhance communication and interaction with the external environment but may in marshalling the internal environment towards change (Berkun, 2008). Marshalling the internal environment requires a proper leadership model. The lack of leadership within a given organization could be the predicament in the implementation of a given plan (Kipp, 2004). Strategies plans are created to ensure a firm transforms in matters operations and control. The management is required to play an important role within an organization. Lack of a proper leadership models will result to forms not being able to implement plans they developed. Organizations need to acknowledge the setbacks within the internal environment to ensure strategic plans are implemented. PricewaterhouseCoopers. (2014). The new hire: How a new generation of robots is transforming manufacturing. Retrieved from

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Teaching science to children Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words - 1

Teaching science to children - Essay Example The students were able to observe and experiment first-hand how many of these processes are undergone. The results of these experiments not only benefitted the knowledge of the students by allowing them to witness scientific phenomena, but it also allows us to grasp the best ways that students can be taught these methods. Science teaches an understanding of the world around us by stimulating a child’s prediction and analysis of natural phenomena. Teaching science involves conducting methods of Investigation to encourage creative thought and to demonstrate how science can have an immense impact on our future and to achieve advanced medical biotechnology, genetic engineering food production and safety, agricultural biotechnology, and treatment of environmental waste. Teaching science also aims to improve children’s verbal and writing skills to become more scientifically literate (N.A. 2009). Effective teaching style requires the adaptation of successful principles and methods by teachers that were used as an assistant for efficient delivery to take place. Prior to setting up teaching methods, the children’s background knowledge and environment should be considered. Teachers should be aware that students have different learning abilities, and as such different learning techniques should be used during lessons to match their different abilities. A lesson plan can then be designed. These plans state the specific learning goals of each lesson for teachers to follow in a form that can be carried out in several ways: whole class discussions, explaining, experimentation, demonstration, group work, and assessment of pupils’ work. It also helps learners to achieve deep understanding of the material and to become fascinated and keen to acquire more knowledge about scientific phenomena (Fredericks 2005). The science curriculum is a statement about the selected elements of science

Monday, October 14, 2019

Economic Developments Essay Example for Free

Economic Developments Essay The current system of the world economy has emerged as a result of the historical trends and economic developments that occurred in the past particularly during the periods of World War I, World War II and the Cold War. To a significant extent, the current world order and the capitalist and industrial prosperity that is being experienced today are products of historical economic developments. This paper examines the economic developments from 1913 to the present including the history of self-determination in the world economy in relation to the current world economy. Consequently, the role of the United States from being an isolationist to an economic hegemon is analyzed. Economic Developments from 1913-Present The period from Post World War I up to the present can be considered to be a see-saw of economic prosperity and economic crises for most countries. For countries like the United States the war had brought about economic development but it also caused the economic downturn for countries like France and Germany. Capitalism began to ensue and trading had been more active. Hence, the period from 1920-1929 signaled the massive economic progress in the world economy- industries were established and the percentage of industries to agriculture rose. After this massive growth however, the unemployment rate and poverty that ensued from the period of 1929-1941 had led to the Great Depression- interest rates were high, hyperinflation ensued and the rise in debt had led to stock market collapse. The world economy had experienced a systemic recession leading the collapse of markets worldwide. In this era, the GDP and GNP of nations dropped and poverty ensued as world trade had been inactive. After the Great Depression, the World War II had created another economic era- post World War II had been considered to be a golden era for capitalism worldwide. This is because of the rapid rise in industries, the technological advancement, the prospering and stabilization of world trade, domestic and international institutions had been established in order to facilitate the world economy. Consequently, the World Trade Organization, the World Bank and the IMF were established in order to aid countries needing economic lift in order to aid in their industrialization. Backed by capitalism and foreign direct investments, this era can be considered the time when the world economy had boomed. However, after this period the time between 1970s-1980s, inflation and interest rates grew up and the fixed interest rates were deregulated in order to let the world economy repair itself. This era had however, contributed in terms of the massive plan to reorganize domestic economies through fiscal policies. The post Cold War on the other hand, marked the era when the US became the sole hegemon after the downfall of Russia. Before the Cold War, democratic countries can only trade with democratic countries and communist countries are only limited to trade with communist countries- the downfall of Russia opened the doors for all countries to be participants in the world economy. Hence, during the period of 1990 and up to the present times, despite some economic fluctuations, the world economy can be considered as stable and progressive. While there are ups and downs, the stability of the world economy in the present times cannot easily succumb to another depression. Self-Determination and in the World Economy Self-determination started after the World War I as a result of the Treaty of Versailles- it declared that the sovereignty of the states should take charge of the whole population. World War I led to the breakup of the Hapsburg and Ottoman empires and the birth of a new generation of nation-states. At Versailles, U. S. President Woodrow Wilsons famous Fourteen Pointsthe fifth of which declared that sovereignty should take full account of the interests of the populations concernedformed the basis for the treaty ending the war. After World Wars One and Two, self-determination inspired the demolition of empires and the formation of new sovereign states; the concept being thus extended in the 1940s and 1950s to apply in the context of the decolonisation process. In the 1960s and 1970s, the principle of self-determination clashes with the principle of territorial integrity and global leaders are increasingly seeing this angle to the problem. In fact, even the UN resolution 1514 adopted in 1960 which elevated the status of self-determination, had also emphasized territorial integrity: any attempt aimed at the partial or total disruption of national unity and territorial integrity of a country is incompatible with the Purposes and Principles of the Charter of the United Nations. The international system was caught up in the contradiction and had exhibited some degree of ambivalence at least after the post-war decolonisation. It can be observed that the further extension of the principle today, as it inspires the surge of ethnic politics and threatens the break-up of the established post-colonial order. The United States as the World’s Political and Economic Hegemon The United States before World War I cannot be considered to be an economic or a political superpower, it derived its wealth from World War I from selling ammunitions and exploiting the economic opportunities caused by the war. However, in World War II, the US emerged as one of the more powerful countries not only in terms of technology but also politically and economically after surviving the Great Depression. The Post World War II established the United States from a country in the middle to that of a global hegemon. For one, post World War I saw the US to be involved in trade, the importation and exportation of goods as well as in searching for new territories to expand its power and industries. Post World War II saw the United States cementing its economic and political hegemony- it had established itself as one of the most prosperous and progressive countries not only through its GDP and GNP but also in terms of its ability to impose upon other countries. The United States during this time served as one of the economic powers together with countries in Europe, Japan and the USSR. Upon entering the Cold War, the world became a division of the US and the USSR or democracy versus communism. During this era, the United States served as an international role model for democracies as well as the patron of democratic countries. The fall of the USSR catapulted the US to its role today as a global hegemon- except for North Korea, there had been no real threat to the supremacy of democracy and hence, the United States. During this time until the present times, the United States had been a major player in sanctioning countries that do not abide by international laws and regulations as well as being a forerunner in providing foreign aids as well as regulating trade activities. To be a partner with the US would be tantamount to economic growth. The power held by the US both politically and economically can be considered to spawn countries even in Asia and Third World countries. Needless to say, the United States can be considered to be the most important international player today.

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Cost Planning and Control in Construction

Cost Planning and Control in Construction The Cost Planning is a method of cost controlling the cost of a project within a pre-determined sum up to the tender stage. Cost Planning give advice to client how much will be project cost. As well, cost planning will advise when the expected expenses will most possible occur. Hence its important for get required project finance and for determining possible project profit. Therefore cost planning process essential to success of project. Methods of Estimating for Cost Planning There are some significant estimating methods uses in construction industry for Cost planning process. Those methods give preliminary estimate, hence Quantity Surveyor has to modify predetermine data considering the followings, such as , market conditions, Size, number of storeys, specification level, inclusions exclusions, service, site foundation conditions and other factors. Conference Estimating Method RIBA Stage A of Options Appraisal and stage B Design Brief, These method uses for preparation of the initial price estimate give to the client. It is based on a cooperative view of a group of persons, and not quantify in any particular way. Financial methods RIBA Stage A of Options Appraisal and stage B Design Brief, This method fixes a cost limit on the building design, according to the unit of accommodation or rental values. For example, Unit method   RIBA Stage A of Options Appraisal and stage B Design Brief, The unit method is multiplies desire standard unit of accommodation by an approximate cost per unit. Not required specific drawings, specifications, only the concept of the project relevant to the required function. For example: Schools costs per pupil enplace Hospitals costs per bed enplace Car parks cost per car space Estimate = Standard units  of accommodation x Cost per unit Cube method   Design Stage This is the superseded method because of inherent disadvantages; this method needs some sketch drawings, historical cost data, and also  important estimator experience. It is based on association between building volume and unit cost. For example: Superficial area method RIBA Stage B Strategic Briefing and also can be used for Stage C This is presently most common use method, its use for early price estimating purposes. The area of each of the floors multiplied by the cost per square meter. Mostly important Storey heights, plan shape and methods for when choose on the rate need be used. For example: Story enclosure unit method This technique use weightings for the estimating the building elements Elemental Cost estimating Detail Design Stage (Production information Stage F) This can use to establish the approximate cost of a construction project. It analyzes, the cost of the project on an elemental basis using from other similar projects. Also provides cost advice during the design process. Detail drawings are required. For example: Approximate Cost estimating Approximate quantities present additional detailed approximate estimate. No particular rules of  measurement exist, Also significantly more information is required from the designer.. For example: Resource analysis (Pre Construction Stage Tender Documentation -G) This method is traditionally adopted by contractors estimators to determine their individual rates for measured items in bills of quantities. All individual measured items are analyzed into its element parts such as labour, materials and plant. This method is not a pre-tender method of price prediction strictly. For example: Explain the pre-contract cost planning and cost controlling process with respect to the RIBA plan of work a client/ consultant may adopt during each stage What Is Pre-contract Cost Planning? Pre Cost planning is very important to successful planning, design and construction of projects and is aimed at providing best value solutions. Essentially it is a pre-costing method of a project. As well as Pre-estimation of a design proposal will give clear picture about the cost to the employer and design team to make decisions regarding the project to make sure value for money. Pre-Contract Cost Planning Process The pre-contract cost planning process according to the RIBA plan of work 1998; it can be described as follows. Graph 2.1 Pre-stage A (Establish the budget) Client is the appointing client management team (Consultants) such as, client representative, cost consultant, according to his requirements. Identify objectives, physical scope of project, standard of quality of building and services, timeframe and establishing the budget. Emphasis nature of clients problems and functional requirements on proposed project. Work Stage A (Options Appraisal) Consultant has to identify of client prerequisite and possible limitation on development and cost of the ideal solution. Prepare technical, functional and cost studies by consultant and then it should enable to the client to take decision on his project weather he can continue the first proposal or could do some changes to the first proposal etc. also select the possible procurement method. Work Stage B (Strategic Brief) Consultant has to prepare initial cost suggestion to the client based on an outline statement of clients needs, also to determine target cost. This establish an initial budget for client Client has to investigate availability of finance for the project and value of money framework. Pre Contract Cost Control Generally Pre contract cost controlling process is implement from this stage according to the RIBA work plan mentioned chart 1.2, Pre Contract Cost Control process give to ensure the cost of the project is within the clients budget or not. Hence pre contract cost control is very essential in a project since it is planning, design finalizing and tendering and selecting a suitable contractor too. Outline Proposals- Stage C Consultant involves preparing outline proposal and estimate of cost as initial cost plan. Investigate the site conditions and preliminary sketches for requirement of cost plan by consultant. Evaluate strategic brief through consideration of time, cost, risk and environmental issues. Establish design management procedures and prepare initial cost plan, project program, and cash flow. Detailed Proposals Stage D At this stage, consultant prepares full detailed proposals for the client, and also prepares firm cost plan detailed elemental cost plan etc. Clint tem evaluate outline proposals for make final decision, Receive design and cost input from client appointed team and extend detailed design solution. Development control submission. Review procurement advice. Final Proposals Stage E Consultant has to prepared final proposal for the project at this stage. Carry out cost check of the design as it develop against the cost plan, hence it Confirmation of the cost limits for the project. Most cost effective in satisfying level of project brief to confirm or put final budget and to check the elemental cost targets. Cost checks design against cost plan. Decide on procurement methods. Consultant, they attending to review design and cost plan. Consultant has to prepare all required submission for legal approvals. Production Information Stage F All legal approvals should have completed when at this stage. This is the assessment of lowest acceptable tender price based on completed contract documents. Ensure that the completed designs are controlled within the cost limits. Prepare all co-ordinate production information including location. Arrange bring together all component drawings, schedules and specifications. Supply all required information for final cost checks of design against cost plan. Explain the term life cycle costing and related terminology. Definition of the life cycle costing According to definition of Hoar and Norman (1990) appropriately defined the life cycle cost of an advantage as the present value of total cost of the asset over its operating life including initial capital costs, occupational costs, operating costs and the cost or benefit of the eventual disposal of the asset at the end of its life. Hence life cycle costing related with the time stream of costs and benefits that flow throughout the life of the project. There are number of term use in industry to identify different stages in the life cycle costing techniques, hence flowing are the specially use in construction industry. Life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) Quantity surveyor assist to prepare this, based on collection and analysis of historic data on actual costs of occupying building (running cost and performance). Life cycle cost management (LCCM) Actually it is derived from life cycle cost analysis and identities, by this way client can be compare building cost and controlling occupancy cost throughout the life of building to get maximum value. Life cycle planning (LCCP) This is as part of life cycle cost management; it is constitute the prediction of total costs of a building, part or individual element taking account of initial capital costs, subsequent running cost and residual values. Life cycle costing Terminology Explain the Quantity Surveyors role as a cost manager, in the life cycle of the project. Role of the Quantity Surveyor as a Cost Manager Quantity surveyor is the person/ firm who manage the cost relating to the construction projects, such as new constructions, maintenance work and renovations. Quantity surveyor monitors the cost of every aspects of a construction project as a cost manager, as well as seeks to minimize the costs of the project and to make more cost savings while ensuring the total cost of project does not exceed the estimated cost. Furthermore when study about Quantity Surveyors in Cost manger position also have to be identified their duties and Responsibilities properly. He should conducting feasibility studies and writing procurement reports at project inception stage. He should manage estimating and cost planning process and presenting the final cost plan. He should manage the procurement process, and make certain that all phases with pre-qualification, enquiry, analysis, selection and contract preparation are carried out effectively. Ensuring that post-contract cost variances and change control tasks are directed effectively. Involving with cost checking and valuation works to manage them effectively. Preparation of monthly post-contract cost reports and presenting them to the client. Preparation of value engineering and life cycle costing, and also final accounts negotiated and agreed process. Give leadership role mange the client and other consultants, at all project phases. Working with top managers and directors, and identify and performing new opportunities to improve the cost management procedures.

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Anorexia Not just a Womens Disease Essay -- Nervosa eating disorder ma

Anorexia Not just a womens disease Anorexia: Not Just A Women’s Disease â€Å"Oh I’m so fat†. This is not something we normally think of hearing out of a man’s mouth. Women are thought to be the only ones that obsess over their appearance. Therefore, anorexia is commonly thought to be a woman’s disease. But in reality, there are many men fighting it. Out of the estimated eight million people in the United States with anorexia, about ten percent of the cases are men (Something Fishy, par.1). These are only reported cases. It is assumed that there is more, but the men haven’t come forward, since it is very hard for a man to admit to having this disease. Nevertheless, there are a growing number of men in America with this disease, and it needs to be dealt with. This paper will address the causes, affects, reason why they hide it, and treatment of anorexia in men. It is not known for sure what exactly causes anorexia in men. But there are a few theories on it. One theory on the cause of anorexia in men is our culture today. Most people think our culture only influences women with the constant pressure to be skinny, with the magazines, and the skinny models, and everything. But actually, society influences men to be thin quite a bit too. What’s acceptable for a man’s body shape is very limited here in America. More and more magazines for men are about fitness, weight lifting, and body building(Highlights, par. 6). The media and entertainment industry really focuses on a nicely built, â€Å"in shape manâ€Å". So some men do feel pressure to be physically fit. Of the men that are overweight, some may choose anorexia as a way to diet. Anorexia in men is rare of course, but it does happen. A... ...October 14th, 2000. November 26th, 2000. 4) Brumberg, Joan J. Fasting Girls. London: Harvard University Press, 1998. 5) Highlights. Billie, Lindsey J. 1995. The Columbia University Heath Service. November 26th, 2000. 6) Rumney, Avis. Dying to Please. London: McFarland, 1983. 7) Sandbek, Terence J. The Deadly Diet. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications, 1993. 8) Self Help Magazine. Lee Hoffman. May 28th 1998. November 9th, 2000. Http://shpm.com/articles/reating/nih/anorexia.html 9) Something Fishy: Website on Eating Disorders. September 26th, 2000. November 26th, 2000. 10) The Eating Disorders Site. Margo, J.L. British Journal of Psychiatry. 1987. November 26th, 2000. 11) Web MD Health. March, 1999. November 9th, 2000. Http://ebmd.com/content/dmk_article_40031 12) Zerbe, Kathryn J. The Body Betrayed. Carlsbad, CA: Gurze Books, 1995.

Friday, October 11, 2019

Integrated Information Management Essay

Economic, sociological, political, and technological environments make up the four external considerations. The sociological domain covers community values and the larger political divisions and their agencies. It comes up with lists – of people, their problems, needs, strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities – in a data form that is easy to report. The political domain encompasses what the Board of Directors will manage, and how to handle their concerns. The economic domain is sources of funds, contributions, and referrals, and also includes customers and the company’s competitors. It aims to get the most from these sources. The technological domain includes technological advancement, so that a company remains on top of new technology. Organizational purpose, mission statement and philosophy, organizational planning, organizational operations, Human Resources, technological factors, and financial assets are the Internal considerations. The factors that influence a company’s goal sare covered by organizational purpose. It checks that all data about populations and expected outcomes has been gathered so that it can move ahead. Organizational planning keeps track of goals and marks their achievement. Organizational resources makes sure that the members of each department are doing what they are supposed to be doing. Human Resources wants information about its demographics, licensing, certifications, and staff training. Technological resources makes sure that the newest technology and know-how is being put into practice. Financial resources follows income and expenses, so that managers can predict a financial problem.