Bed Sheet Ghost

What do you think is scary? When people ask you what you think is scary, you will usually say your biggest fear, but I think ghosts are the scariest. Either that or flesh- eating zombies! When I think of ghosts, I think of the whole furniture moving on its own thing or your traditional bed sheet ghost. However, in early ghost stories the ghost never tried to hurt or scare the people but were said to have been asking for help like getting a proper burial or finish something that the ghost never got to do in TTS lifetime.Some of these ghost stories date back as far as 3,000 years! One story takes place around 2,000 years ago when a man named Homer wrote an Iliad. In the story a deceased warrior named Patrols visited his friend Achilles as a ghost. Patrols told Achilles that he wanted a proper burial of his body. He also informed Achilles that he would die in the final battle of Troy. And what do you know? Achilles actually did die in the final battle of Troy because he was stabbed in h is heel, his only sake spot.Another story takes place over 3,000 years ago in Athens Greece. In this story a man named Attendants rented a house even though he was told it was haunted. He woke up later that night to a rattling noise. He then saw the ghost of a man bound by chains. The ghost then pointed to the ground beneath him and disappeared. The next day Attendants dug up where the ghost pointed and found a skeleton. He then buried the skeleton in a graveyard, and the ghost was never seenIn 1848 in Heedlessly New York, there were two sisters who claimed they again. Were able to talk to spirits by rapping their knuckles. The noises they made could mean yes, no, or a certain letter. When the sisters were very old and nearing death, they confessed that they were faking it the entire time. Even though people knew it was fake, the idea of spiritualism still caught on and in 1853 the Spiritualism Church was created and had over two million followers in only two years. Nowadays most re ligions believe in life after death.They believe that after death your spirit or soul goes to Heaven if you were good or the Underworld if you lead a bad life. Sometimes a ghost takes over a human body. This is called possession and it can only be stopped if a priest comes in and performs an exorcism, which makes the evil ghost leave that person's body. One movie that demonstrates that well is called, â€Å"The Exorcist. † It is a movie that I hope you never have to see. Site source- outshoot. Com

Ethical Egoism

Ethical egoism, in my belief, is not the moral theory that men should follow or live by. Simply put, my belief stems from the multiple inconsistencies and contradictions that are inherent in the said normative system. Self-interest and self-preservation, although very valuable, are not, in my opinion, the primary factors that should drive a man’s life. It is because, I believe, by purely following one’s own interests, man fails to consider the greater picture, that being the peace and harmony in society.More importantly, I believe that man can be driven by other desires and motives in his moral actions. Hobbes’ assertion is that man should use his power to preserve himself and to do what he must in order to satisfy his own interests. His fundamental assumption regarding the nature of man is that man is an agent of self-interest who is prepared to harm others in order to obtain what he believes is best for him. Furthermore, Hobbes states that man is governed by hi s own reason and that every man has the right to everything. Such statement is what Hobbes calls the fundamental law of nature.However, Hobbes believes that if it is in the self-interest and preservation of one’s life to enter into a covenant with another, man is bound to abide by such covenant. Contracts are reached when both parties feel that it is in their best interests to enter and agree to the terms. Breaking a covenant or a contract is considered unjust in Hobbes’ view. Hobbes’ idea is that man must submit to certain moral rules out of fear of conflict which is to his best interests. Basically, Hobbes suggested that a human being acts morally because it is in his self-interest to do so.There have been various philosophers who have raised arguments and objections against Hobbes’ views. One of such philosophers is H. A. Prichard. In Prichard’s point of view, there is no need to whether self-interest and morality run in parallel with each other . Instead, he suggests that human beings have reasons other than self-interest to act morally. One such reason is the innate desire in humans to do the right thing. Prichard suggests that having motives other than self-interest allows us to determine whether an individual who has done something moral deserves praise or not.Without the presence of other motives, self-interest will be the only driving factor and thus, will remove any possible distinction between two persons committing the same moral act. Brody’s argument with regards to the basis of morality on self-interest is that human beings can have other motives for being moral. Admitting that all actions are based on the satisfaction of a certain desire, Brody states that humans may have desires for something else other than his own well-being. Brody believes that selfish motives are indeed a possible source of moral actions.However, he asserts that this does not mean that all moral actions stem from selfish motives alon e. In other words, egoism is not clearly established as the sole source of morality. My belief that ethical egoism is not the correct moral theory agrees with Brody’s assertions. Aside from the points that Brody has raised, I believe that ethical egoism fails to consider the possibility that men act not for their own interests alone. The interests of another person may drive the man to act morally especially if such a person is deeply valued. For instance a parent may act morally not for her own interests but for that of her children.Ethical egoism fails to consider that human nature includes certain emotions that are driving factors of one’s actions. Emotions or feelings such as love, care, and affection are also possible motives for actions. These have not been taken into account by ethical egoism. Thus, it is my personal belief that ethical egoism is not the correct moral theory. Reference: Arthur, John. 2005. â€Å"Morality, Religion, and Conscience. † In Ar thur, J. (Ed. ) Morality and Moral Controversies: Readings in Moral, Social, and Political Philosophy. Upper Saddle River, N. J. : Pearson Prentice Hall.

Internship Final Paper Essay

Introduction Getting an internship can help students to find out what they want to do with their future careers. (â€Å"Internship.†) As a fashion student, I was always interested in the publication or magazine industry and I now want to have a career in the department of a fashion magazine. Seeking a writing-related internship in the fashion industry will fulfill my interests. It was very fortunate for me to come across Retail Assembly as they were searching for intern. They were looking for an intern to support their products with smart content focused on global retail innovation, growth and strategy as well as trend forecast. I am glad that I had found a internship that offers a challenge and was a perfect match for my career goal. When I started to study my master degree in fashion and got to know more about the fashion industry, I realized that there were a variety of interesting jobs. Fashion buyers and trend forecasters are some of them. In the retail industry, a buyer is an individual who selects what items will be stocked in a store, based on the predictions about what will be popular with shoppers. (Loxley) Retail buyers usually work closely with designers and their designated sales representatives and attend trade fairs, wholesale showrooms and fashion shows to observe trends. As for trend forecasters, the goal is to identify a trend years before it comes to fruition, and to break down the context of that trend for those who don’t have time to travel the world searching for inspiration. (Scully & Cobb 43) These two jobs might be seen as â€Å"fancy jobs† which include a lot of traveling and shopping around the world. In fact, scouring cultural events, fashion shows, trade shows, and design er showrooms in search of the â€Å"Next Big Thing† must have some degree of difficluty reality. I was interested in both careers of buyers and trend forecasters and I wanted to explore these two jobs during in my summer internship. Retail Assembly is an agency of consultants and E-learning for fashion and retial business. They offer counsels and courses such as buying, marketing, and branding for any business starter. (â€Å"Retail â€Å") To fulfill the content of their product, they needed someone who could tell interesting stories about their clients. It was a great experience to work with Retail Assembly because not only did I have the chance to understand the business side of fashion, I also get to improve on my creative writing skills. This summer internship helped me to build up my resume and enriched my knowledge of retail business. History of Retail Assembly As the namesake, Retail Assembly is a group of top educational and retail professionals gathered together, developing fundamental online courses and news for the industry.(â€Å"Who†) Retail Assembly is the latest source of education for those who are seeking a career in fashion, and those who are looking to supplement their knowledge in the fashion and business field. The website offers a selection of courses and workshops, from Fashion Buying, Branding and marketing to Product Development and Retail Math. (Bajaja 55) Catering to busy schedules, the courses are taught through online approaches by professionals who are currently active in fashion and creative businesses. The keynote of Retail Assembly is that self-learning is a lifestyle and the courses are very flexible to access at anytime and anywhere. Jennifer Pilkington, a graduate from Ryerson’s fashion marketing program, launched Retail Assembly in 2007 after years spent marketing and fashion buying for big companies in Canada. Jennifer has had a career in buying and product development that spans from luxury to sports. She has worked for Canada’s greatest retailers in the country’s best cities – Aritzia in Vancouver, Holt Renfrew in Toronto, and Garage in Montreal. (â€Å"People†) She wasn’t always interested in fashion but she was always interested in design, colour and shape. During her second year of fashion student at Ryerson, she obtained an internship at Holt Renfrew. It was an eye-opening experience when she started to work at their corporate offices. There was so much passion injected into fashion by much intelligence. The concept of merging E-learning with current and update industry news was born after Jennifer Pilkington left her buying job at the Bay. (Bajaja 54) She felt frustrated and wanted to give her team a good opportunity to learn on the job and progress. There was a lot going on in terms of learning really niche things. Jennifer found that textbooks were always a little bit stale, not really current or reflective of the marketplace. It was really important to consider time constraints and flexibility for a working person whom had left the school life. The people who are working in the industry come from great PR firms, advertising and social media companies as well as high academic background. (Tiu) They either provided the content or input. Every single course was designed by the contributions of multiple people. This ensured that each course reflected the scope of the industry. By bringing in a lot of people who have worked in the industry to look at each and every course, the content of the news was unbiased and fully structured. Moreover, Retail As sembly has people come from boutiques and also corporate levels who are currently working in the industry. It creates space for new instructors to come in and contribute. Internship Learning Goal As contributors for the blog of Retail Asembly, interns have to offer latest Canadian retail & fashion news and an in depth analysis of business model and marketing strategy, which are related to the main courses provided by Retail Assembly. I am also incharge of the colour forecast, style analysis, beauty trend and China scoop. To reach the goal of being a brand content intern, I have to create headlines, crawl news feeds, suggest and write stories to blog, suggest or develop and edit campaign written content. Furthermore, I need to contribute to the broader content and social media strategies as well as contribute to the media monitoring report. I have also touched on the topic in marketing strategy of luxury and high street brands. For example, the shifting guidance of LVMH and Coach, as well as H&M’s move on sustainability and celebreity collaboration. Additionally, I had a full-scale discussion of how different brands, including Celine, J Crew, and Gap are using colour blocking as their main design concept. Colour forecasting is a global career that focuses on upcoming colour trends.(Scully & Cobb ) A fashion forecaster predicts the colors, fabrics and styles that will be presented on the runway and in the stores for the upcoming seasons. The predicted concept or theme can applies to all levels of the fashion industry including haute couture, ready-to-wear, mass market, and street wear. The purpose of forecasting trend is to attract consumers, help retail businesses and designers to sell their brands. (Orrell) I have contributed several stories that focused on my interest in colour forecast, style and trend analysis, as well as beauty industry. I had finished a couple of runway reviews, such as the Spring/Summer 2014 Bridal Fashion week in New York and Spring/Summer 2014 Menswear. I also dedicated a colour forecast for Spring/Summer 2014 and made a full mood board for our clients. I believe that the best fashion show is on the street, so doing street style analysis is one of my passions. It can be really inspiring to see how people mix and match their personal style creatively. Weather it is in Paris, London, New York, Milan or any other zmazing cities, photographers are there capturing the best style. For designers and the magazine editors, the photographs are the tool to help dictate the trends. For the photographers and the models, it is art and expression. For the regular man/women form the street, it is a door to the fantast fashion – a world of glamour and excietment. Street style photography had managed to bridge the gap between the normal real world and the dizzing world of fashion. To analyze street style was a great oppertunity to examine fashion not only from the trend perspective, but also from a social and economical angle of how style transits from one to the next. As someone who has a background in pharmaceutical and fragrance, I couldn not help but notice that beauty trends are getting more attention than usual. Fragrances and cosmetics are usually the main entry point for luxury brands, which is why controlling the beauty product’s communication and marketing strategy is key.( â€Å"Burberrys†) It is not rare that the luxury brand want to put their hand on the fragrance and cosmetics business because they are the primary tool for attracting aspirational consumers. I had a closer look at Burberry’s move on fragrance and the development of Sephora, a fast-growning fragrance and cosmetic retailer. I also explored issues relating to China, taking a stance on how fashion industry has invested in Asia market. China is bursting into the luxury retail world. The power of the Chinese consumer is growing. To succeed in the global market, companies need to capture the hearts of the 1.3 billion Chinese consumers. ( Bi et al. 253) With a proliferation of news on Chinese luxury consumers at home and abroad, I try to offer the best angle to some of the most relevant content on luxury brands and Chinese consumer preferences. For example, the influence of the New Chinese first Lady and ASOS’s advanced in Asia. Researching in consumer behaviors, I had hoped to find headline-worthy news and the lastest insights behind the red flag. Learning Value During this internship, I have imporved my fashion editorial and creative writing. I have also expanded my knowledge of retail business, the importance of net working and team work, as well as the asset of visial communication. I published a large amount of fashion editorials and trend reports independently. These are my proudest references to my work and are wonderful additions to my portfolio. I truly appreicate that I was given the freedon to offer my own perspective on different affairs that were happening in the industry. It was a really good training process of critical thinking and creative writing. I had also actively did interviews with many talents in the fashion industry, sharing their philosophy of fashion with our readers. Some pieces were very successful because they are different from what the blog had before and brought a fresh air to the content. I was amazed by both the artistry of fashion and the analytical business aspects. I liked that Retail Assembly offered participants different elements and perspectives of the business to stimulate critical thinking and promote life-long learning. I can now constantly probe into the strengths and weaknesses in a business strategy, providing me with greater market awareness. I am also glad to have met Jennifer Pilkington, the founder of the Retail Assembly and Guidiance and Consaltant. She is a senior merchant, also an instructor at Ryerson University, collaborator for the retail buying courses and workshops. Her personality and experience are the best model for me to strive toward my dream job. She makes me believe that fashion has the a side of intelligence. The importance of team work and net working was highlighted during my internship. It is interesting that a team can brainstorm together and stir up a sparkle in a discussion. The Retail Assembly team basically met once a week and discussed the latest fashion and retail news, searching for a good topic for the upcoming week. Interns also networked with each other, which can help one another in the future by sharing job and contact information. Having valuable, experienced contacts is helpful in the future for starting new business or job hunting. Visual communication is strongly emphasized in fashion industry. (Barnard 29 )The design concepts are communicated through visual aid and are described as the conveyance of ideas and information in forms that can be read or looked upon, such as illustration, colour, media and electronic resources. For me, the process of analyzing rumway and street style photos, my observation has become even more acute. It was a spectacular training process for eyes on colors and details, such as fabrics, texture or embellishment. Conclusion Internships provide a glimpse into different industries, allowing the interns to see whether they want to work in that field or not. Internships is important becase it allows to gain valuable experience in our areas of career interest. Often, the more experience students have, the stronger they are as the job candidate in the future. To search a position that fit my career goal is crucial. I had excellent exposure to the global industry and learned the importance of great relationships with great people. What I really loved about Retail Assembly is that how well-operated they are. They started from a strong place – a lot of academic- and industry-based research. The number of brilliant people who touch each one is remarkable. An interest in editorial work grew from my love for writing, and as an extension of that, I’ve always had a insatiable curiosity for information, whatever the subject. I enjoy keeping up on the latest developments in culture, art, music, film and fashion. Trend reporting is a way to connect the dots by looking for patterns and shifts in fashion; similar to crafting an academic thesis, but one pertinent to business. Last but not least, this internship has taught me that casual learning has always been a part of our daily lives. The key is to want to know the knowledge instead of rigidly adhering to formalities. The working experience and learning process are â€Å"invisible† but the most valuable asset that we can gain. Taking initiative with passion is a chance to step ahead from other people in fashion industry. Being attentive to everything detail happen around will give you a nice surprise and new thoughts. Work Cited Bajaj, Rahul. â€Å"Retail Assembly† KNOWMAG. July 2013. P54-55 Barnard, Malcolm. Fashion as Communication. London: Routledge, 1996. Print. Bi, Xiaogang, et al. â€Å"Chinese consumer ethnocentrism: A field experiment.† Journal of Consumer Behaviour (May 2012), 11 (3), pg. 252-263 Chang, Wendi. â€Å"Burberrys Move on Fragrance.† Web log post. Retail Assembly. N.p., 29 May 2013. Web. 27 July 2013. Loxley, T. (1996, Jan 04). â€Å"Fashion buyers’ forecast for spring.† The Globe and Mail (1936-Current). â€Å"Internship.† The Economist 27 Feb. 2010: 37EU. Academic One File. Web. 1 Aug. 2013. Orrell, Rita Catinella. â€Å"The Mysterious Art Of Color Forecasting.†Architectural Record 200.11 (2012): 53. Academic Search Premier. Web. 1 Aug. 2013. â€Å"People : Jennifer Pilkington.† Interview. Weblog post. Retail Assembly. N.p., 25 Apr. 2013. Web. 3 Aug. 2013. â€Å"Retail Assembly X KNOWSHOW.† KNOWSHOW-BLOG. KNOWSHOW, 25 June 2013. Web. 28 July 2013. Scully, Kate, and Debra Johnston Cobb. â€Å"Colour Forecasting for Fashion.† London: Laurence King, 2012. Print. Tiu, Valerie. â€Å"THE INSEAM VOL. 71: RETAIL ASSEMBLY — Vancouver Is Awesome.† THE INSEAM VOL. 71: RETAIL ASSEMBLY — Vancouver Is Awesome. Vancouver Is Awesome, 19 June 2013. Web. 04 Aug. 2013.

International and Comparative Human Resource Management Essay

International and Comparative Human Resource Management - Essay Example In addition diversity in workforce presented itself both as a blessing and a trouble to be handled carefully. Multinational enterprises (MNE) are the bodies that are directly affected by the results of globalization as their major portion of revenues are generated from the countries other than their home country. MNE need to manage a diverse workforce in order to maintain their competitive advantage. Globalization itself is the outcome of tremendous improvements in information technology. Information technology has made it possible to communicate throughout the world effectively and speedily. Therefore human resource management practices are also affected by the implications of latest technologies. Globalization has presented many challenges to almost every arena of life in its own way and human resource management is not an exception. These challenges can be named as advance recruitment practices, cultural issues, employee commitment and loyalty, corporate environment, legal issues and political situations. ‘Global trends should be acknowledged as triggers of change in employment relationships. Firms irrespective of national borders are compelled to adjust the employment relationship to fit in with current global realities’. ... Then advertisement to attract useful workmen from the global employee market requires special tactics. An organizational quality can be taken as opportunity by some people and it can be considered as a negative point for some others when we are talking about global employee market. Like if an organization is thought to be hierarchical in nature following a strict chain of command then it will be taken as an opportunity for introvert culture but it will be given less importance by the people who are extroverts and want to express their individuality. ‘the recruitment task becomes more akin towards brand management-monitoring and promoting the reputation of the firm(what it offers as company, in terms of job and competitive compensation), dealing intimately with the problems that leads to excessive turnovers, knowing well the different segments of employment market. Firms with a fine recruitment image often use referral systems (a majority of Cisco employees are hired on the basi s of such internal referrals)’ (Evans, p.70) Furthermore during the initial screening process the human resource management has to develop specific standards which are generalized enough to compare people from different backgrounds equally and using same parameters. Conduction of interviews is also an area of concern in terms of communication differences. There are obvious differences in verbal communication, gestures, postures and body language. Like in modern societies the individuals are not reluctant to be asked about their age, marital status and personal life but in some countries the same questions are taken as a blow over ones privacy. Online interviews are a frequently used phenomenon nowadays. Online

Threat Analysis for IN-n-OUT bURGER Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Threat Analysis for IN-n-OUT bURGER - Case Study Example This is a threat to the future performance of In-N-Out Burger. The other threat is the issue of health consciousness. Consumption of too much fat is not healthy. In-n-Out burger products have a lot of fats. The foods that the company prepares have too much fat which is not healthy. Fats cause a number of health complications. Customers might decide to buy fast foods from other retail chains such as McDonalds which have little fats rather than those from In-N-Out Burger. This might lead to In-n-Out Burger losing some of its customers to such retail chains (World Market Intelligence, 2011). The other threat that faces In-n-Out Burger is the fact that prices of raw materials are not constant. They are likely to escalate in the future hence increasing its cost of production. The high cost causes an increase in the selling price, and this might turn away customers (World Market Intelligence, 2011). World Market Intelligence. (2011). In-N-Out Burger: Company Profile and SWOT Analysis; Market Research; Retrieved from on September 10,

Classroom of Future Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Classroom of Future - Research Paper Example (Shahril, 2011) The classroom is an important environment that transforms many students’ different fields of proffessionalism.Recent research has proved that there is a relationship between their performance and the classroom facilities. Normally, the classroom facilities affect students’ attendance and academic performance. Therefore, taking care of classroom facilities improve the level of student performance in the classroom. Additionally, the classroom often reflects the correlation between the students and their teachers. (Schneider, 2002) According Shahril (2011), he stated that it is important to understand not only what is coming next but also where classrooms started. Throughout history, classrooms have undergone much of technological changes. The purpose of this paper therefore is to describe those changes and then visualize the future changes of the classroom. The classroom has changed a lot since the past. There are three main periods from the early days that helped build the education system that we currently have. The first colonial period was between the 1600’s to 1700’s. The second period was from the American Revolution to the Civil War which was approximately a 70 year period from 1791-1861. (Anderson, 1962).The Information age came next from mid 1900s to the early 2000s. (Lackney &Tanner, 2006) In the colonial period the classroom were very small and only consisted of a single roomed building most likely with log walls, a dirt floor and wax windows. For chairs they would split a log in half and attach branches to the bottom to create a chair. Educational equipment was very scarce and expensive, most of them were homemade consisting of quill pens and boil down bark to make ink. (Anderson, 1962) Between the American Revolution and the civil war, the classroom transformed and became better since classrooms had blackboards, slates and maps. The furniture and architecture also improved greatly. During

Financial Analysis of Kellogg's Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Financial Analysis of Kellogg's - Essay Example It adds to the impression of the customers as to how well they're doing and at the same time gives challenge to its competitors. This section roughly discusses the financial performance in a six-year time (2000-2005). At a particular year, 2001, Kellogg Company released its own financial analysis of that year giving explanations and answers to the growth in the proceeding years. An apparent growth has been observed right from 2000 to 2005 in Kellogg's financial performance. Comparisons are often useful within a company to become aware of changes in financial relationships and significant trends. In the Intracompany Basis, a comparison of current year's cash amount with the prior year's cash amount shows either an increase or decrease. And within the span of 6 years (2000-2005), it is very useful to compare such cash amount from the first year (i.e. 2000) compared to the last year of comparison (i.e. 2005). Cash amount gained or lost may vary from 2000-2005. The proportion of total assets in the form of cash can be shown through a comparison of Kellogg's year-end cash amount with the amount total assets at year-end. Furthermore, in order to provide insight into Kellogg's competitive position, it is also practical to compare it with other companies. Correspondingly, Kellogg's total sales for the year can be compared with the total sales of its competitors such as Quaker Oats and General Mills which both obviously competes in the market. Taken as a whole, comparisons with industry averages will provide information about Kellogg's relative position within the industry. Then, Kellogg's financial data can be compared with the averages for its industry compiled by financial ratings organizations such as Dun & Bradstreet, Moody's, and Standard & Poor's. Kellogg's 2000 Financial Analysis In 2000, Kellogg Company achieved growth in net earnings and earnings per share, excluding charges, despite softness in the Company's U.S. convenience foods business, higher energy prices and interest rates, weak foreign currencies, and inventory write-offs in Southeast Asia. Through manufacturing efficiencies, reduced advertising and overhead expenses, and recognition of benefits related to U.S. tax credits, the Company was able to withstand despite such factors. 2000 1999 1998 Net earnings $597.7 $339.3 $502.6 Net earnings per share $1.45 $0.83 $1.23 Due to the previously stated factors or charges, there are exclusions from the results of operations in the following sections for purposes of comparison between years. The year 2000 and 1999 have been compared excluding charges, net earnings and earnings per share in the below table: 2000 1999 Charge Net earnings $651.9 $606.2 +7.5% Net earnings per share $1.61 $1.50 +7.3% The full-year increase in earnings per share of $0.11 consisted of $0.02 from business growth and $0.11 from favorable tax-rate movements, partially offset by $0.02 from unfavorable foreign currency movements. Kellogg's Company then continued to lead the global ready-to-eat cereal category in 2000 with an estimated 38% annualized share of worldwide dollar sales. Category share for the Company's operating segments was approximately 31% in the United States, 43% in Europe, 60% in Latin America, 45% in Canada, 57% in Australia, and 50% in Asia. The growth achieved by Kellogg's Company by the end of 2000

Research Methods - Dissertation Proposal (Balanced Scorecards - Why to Essay - 1

Research Methods - Dissertation Proposal (Balanced Scorecards - Why to go for it, how to develop and implement, how effective are they ) - Essay Example Norton in 1992, in an article that appeared in the Harvard Business Review titled: â€Å"The Balanced Scorecard: Measures that drive performance.† This management strategy was devised in response to the fact that while most financial measures were able to track the past performance of a business, they were unable to effectively assess the intangible factors that contributed towards ensuring that the business retained a competitive advantage in the marketplace (Rutan 1996). The Balanced Scorecard is therefore a strategic measure of performance, not only from the financial point of view but from a more broad based perspective that also enables accurate projection of future goals and the degree of adherence of the business to those goals. The concept of performance measures was earlier developed by Peter Drucker as Management by Objectives (Birnbaum 2000:43-52). Employees in every department were to set out short-term objectives, which were to be achieved within a certain deadlin e. Companies such as General Motors and RCA Foods adopted this method of management, but it was found to be ineffective due to the failure to take into account the unpredictable human factor in actual practice. There are two underlying principles that drive the Balanced Scorecard. The first one is that adhering to strictly financial measures hinders a company’s ability to formulate long term value. The second principle is that what gets measured is what actually gets done. (www.tqe.com). Therefore, while the Balanced Scorecard retains traditional financial measures, it also includes such factors as customers, suppliers, technology, process, employees and innovation. Therefore, this strategy identifies four distinct areas that need to be analyzed: Kaplan and Norton advocate the design of a comprehensive set of develop a scorecard, to evaluate the status of the business and what needs to be done to improve or enhance the scorecard to make it balanced in all the four fronts

Paraphrase Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 9

Paraphrase - Essay Example Bad academic problems and financial problems are other signs (Donatelle). One addictive behaviour is excessive use of technology. People have become increasingly dependent on such gadgets as iPads and phones that provide them with better access to online information. Donatelle suggests that people addicted to technology can be identified by certain behaviors they exhibit including lack of sleep, lack of fulfilment of responsibilities toward their friends and family, excitement while using technology, bad performance, problems in family, social exclusion, and financial problems. Drug abuse is about consuming banned substances. Despite their legal authorization, drugs are misused. It is noteworthy that drug abuse is done for particular reasons and is not a deliberate action. Disproportionate or unnecessary use of drugs is described as drug abuse (Donatelle). Drug abuse mostly happens when the individual gets addicted to it. Drug misuse mainly causes its abuse. Drug abuse has long-term effects whereas drug misuse has mostly short-term effects. Alcohol’s effect on body and health can be categorized into short and long-term effects. Examples of short-term effects are disrupted sleep, headache, vomiting, problematic breathing, inaudible vocalization, and deteriorated memory. Examples of long-term effects include illnesses related to alcohol like liver disease, throat cancer, liver cancer, colon cancer, oesophagus cancer. Other effects include brain and nerve damage, social problems, sexual problems, and poor performance (Donatelle). Smoking also causes several short-term and long-term effects just like any other substance that is abused. Cigarettes contain nicotine which is very addictive. Tar and carbon monoxide present in the cigarettes cause lungs cancer and mouth cancer. This is smoking’s main long-term effect. Other effects experienced

Learning, Knowledge and Performance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Learning, Knowledge and Performance - Essay Example The discourse also considers the Kolb learning system and influences of improving the situation at Siemens. Siemens organization did not consider earlier knowledge management, yet it is an economic resource for the company. It is essential for Siemens to recognize that sharing of knowledge is a significant element of knowledge management. Knowledge management is not part of the success strategy in the learning and knowledge at Siemens. Employees own knowledge and incorporating them into institutional knowledge at Siemens relies on the cultural behavior regarding sharing knowledge (Morey, Maybury, Bhavani, &Thuraisingham2002, p. 23).It is the role of the company to inculcate the culture of knowledge sharing among employees. Employees at Siemens comprehend that sharing of knowledge is significant but do not share amongst them because they hold it an important asset that can make them remain valuable at the company (Sonbuchner 1991, p. 31). It is not possible to force employees to share knowledge neither is it advisable. However, employees induced or motivated to do so. The system at Siemens constitutes motivational methods to induce workers into adopting the behavior of sharing knowledge, the biggest cha llenge emanates from changing the current behavior of employees (MacKeracher 1996, p. 56). Changing behavior is directly proportional to the success of sharing knowledge and the effectiveness of knowledge management (Stewart & Rigg 2011, p. 41). The value of sharing knowledge in knowledge management requires understanding ways through which employees remain motivated to share knowledge in a way that helps the overall intellectual advantage of Siemens (Kiersey1984). The knowledge gaps at Siemens are barriers in attaining desired goals in the company (Jones& Carr 1987, p. 69). The climate and culture at Siemens play a significant role in developing the process of sharing knowledge among

Art Appreciation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Art Appreciation - Essay Example A spiral design can be seen throughout the work. The spiral design was used by the artist with a view of presenting perseverance. The artist seems to have found a number of examples regarding the spiral design as petroglyphs, which is common to many tribes. Each tree surface is covered using images as well as text, which chronicle the Indians history. Regarding the themes of each tree, they seem to be presented roughly in a chronological order. Tree One is the starting point of the artwork and it depicts imagery mainly from Ancestral Puebloans (Denver Art Museum). This comes out as a way of representing ancient times. Tree Two, on the other hand, shows the history of Bent’s Fort. It further explores the themes of coexistence. This exploration is specifically the relationships that are based on trade between the various nations presented. Bent’s Fort has a tepee and shows the existence of a close relationship between the tribes and Fort. On this tree, question marks are indicated in reverse form. These marks indicate the impression of the non-existence of peaceful trade relationships (Denver Art Museum). Tree Three deals with the tribes of Cheyenne and Arapaho. These two tribes occupied the eastern side of Colorado. Besides, two historic massacres that point to the destructive effect of the United States Amy as well as the expansion of railroad on the native people. The tracks, in this case, are read in terms of the railway’s wounds approaching the native communities.

Why Interracial Dating is still not accepted Essay Example for Free

Why Interracial Dating is still not accepted Essay The representatives of different races have always been founding shelter and new home for them on the U. S territory, but in the last hundred years the quantity of immigrants has increased. Thus, it is no wonder that nowadays dating and marriages between the representatives of different races have also become more often. The main racial groups that live on the U. S territory, White Americans, African Americans and Asian Americans nowadays enter mixed marriages much more often than forty or thirty years ago, as nowadays the impact of social norms that disapprove of interracial relationship has become much weaker. Thus, the Black vice White, and Asian vice White couples with kids can be seen in every American city. Nevertheless, while racial discrimination has diminished its influence in the marital aspect, new problems have appeared for the interracial couples, and new societal attitudes developed, which complicate the life of those, who decided to tie the knot with the representative of the race different than his or hers. The number of people who strongly disapprove of interracial dating has declined since the middle of the 20th century, but still there are citizens, who insist that marriages between the representatives of different races should be banned. They explain their viewpoint by the fear for the future of children born in these kinds of marriages, and by the imbalance in the social and cultural levels of people of different races. Nevertheless, it is not the main reason for the negative attitude towards interracial dating that still exists in the American society. The main cause of disturbance about interracial dating and marriages nowadays is statistical. The history of this phenomenon shows that with the outspread of this kind of marital relationships, the married/single ratios for the representatives of most races that live on the U. S territory has changed dramatically. The roots of this change lie in the lop-sided distribution of people in the interracial marriages. Statistics says that if we talk about marriages between the representatives of different races, than White vice Black and White vice Asian marriages are the most widespread. The problem is that in most White vice Black marriages black men marry white women, and in White vice Asian couples those are white men who have Asian wives. In the 1990 Census, 72 per cent of black-white couples consisted of a black husband and a white wife. In contrast, white-Asian pairs showed the reverse: 72 per cent consisted of a white husband and an Asian wife (Sailer, 1997). The 1992 Sex in America study of 3,432 people found that ten times more single white women than single white men reported that their most recent sex partner was black. In 1990, 1. 46 million Asian women were married, compared to only 1. 26 million Asian men. It is obvious that this distribution creates severe problems among African-American women and Asian males, who feel the scarcity of partners within their own race, and have little possibility to find them outside of it. The reason is that marriages between white man and African-American women, as well as between Asian males and white women are rare. African-American vice Asian marriages are even harder to found. Thus, every year the U. S society gets a considerable quantity of African-American women, and Asian-American men who are unable to find a partner. No wonder that African-American and Asian American communities arent silent about this problem. Numerous talk shows, books, and movies acquainted the American society with the problems African-American women have. The Afro-American activists created a feeling in most of the female representatives of this race that white women steal black man from Afro-American women. This attitude provokes hostility towards white women among the Afro-American ones, and also worsens the attitude towards interracial marriages in the whole society. Asian-American males are also downtrodden by the existing situation. They, in their turn, develop negative attitudes towards white men, who deprive them of the possibility to create families with Asian women. Some researchers propose that to solve this problem white males should be encouraged to marry Afro-American women, and white women be keener on having relationships with Asian males, but the other prove it would be ineffective for purely biological reasons. The thing is that, as the researchers proved, those are mostly hormonal reasons for which black males and Asian females are seen as the most attractive partners. The scientists found out that black men are on average more masculine than the white and Asian ones, while Asian females are the most feminine. In the same time, most men see Afro-American women as less feminine than white females, and Asian males, due to their build, are considered to be less masculine. In addition to the biological reasoning, these images are supported and promoted by the media stereotypes, where Afro-American males are depicted as hyper masculine, and Asian women – hyper feminine. Nature and society dictates that a person should choose a heterosexual partner with the most prominent features of the representative of the opposite gender, thus the Afro-American women and Asian males have problems finding partners, which, in its turn, creates strained attitudes towards interracial dating and marriage in the whole U. S society. The attitudes towards interracial dating and marriages have become much more tolerant in the past forty years, but the strain concerning this question still exists in the society. It is mostly caused by the fact that due to social and biological reasons Afro-American females, and Asian males experience problems trying to find a partner, as the considerable part of males and females who belong to their races prefer to have white partners. Works Cited 1. Sailer, S. Is love colorblind? public opinion about interracial marriage. National Review, 1997

Enterprise Resource planning system

Enterprise Resource planning system In the business world organization, business software plays a very important role to support the business and its activities to increase the productivity and efficiency of the business. Although business software give benefits but it also brings major implication for a company when the firm decide to implement different type of business software. This paper will discuss the role and purpose of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system and Accounting Information System (AIS). Moreover the paper will discuss the benefits and drawbacks for companies of implementing ERP system. Specifically the paper will discuss how AIS system maybe be affected by implementation of a full ERP system and the identification of major implication for AIS system. Role and Purpose of Enterprise Resource planning system Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP) is specifically designed for distributors, retailers and professional services firms according for their needs. The company named SAP Aktiengesellschaft is currently a world market and technology leader in providing ERP systems (Benjamin B. Bae, Paul Ashcroft, 2004). ERP system implemented to provide more accurate information and safe time, reduce asset costs and financial cycles, increase customer satisfaction, and globally integrate information across the enterprise supply chain. ERP system use relational database technology to integrate various units of an organizations information system which integrated all business process and sub-processes linked and unified into a single system. It has been designed to focus on four main areas in a company that is financial, human resources, marketing and supply chain management. ERP system is essential to the needed by all organizations and can use in any kind of organization, irrespective of the business objectives, size, and area of operations. Using this system not only economizes but it also improves the efficiency of the average existing work process. Without ERP system on modern day, firms cant run competitively between organizations because leak of proper drafted and formulated which ERP system can provide it. The main reason for this is because it can be configured to accommodate a large variety of different work processes and this lead it became popular not only in large corporations but midsized companies also frequently used it because it provides a seamless integration of their business. During the 1990s, Global 2000 companies spent billions of dollars on ERP systems (Dan Everett, 2003). The attractive of ERP systems seem likely to be the promise of centrally coordinating and controlling many aspect of corporate planning. As such, ERP systems can be seen to represent a far reaching technological promise and even the ultimate manifestation. Benefits and Drawbacks for Implementing ERP System The benefits for implementing ERP system is it helps organization to reduce costs and cycle time, increase the productivity and quality and improve the customer service by automating basic and repetitive operations. ERP systems automatically estimate the demand for a product, order the raw materials, provide production schedules, track down the entire inventory, allocate costs, and keep historical customer. The ERP systems repeat all the operation and keep the information so that the organization can analysts the impact of changes in product mix and volumes in order to maximize corporate profit margins. Besides that, ERP systems also provide informational benefits to management. ERP system helps an organization to achieve better resource management for example in workforce management improved the manpower allocation, in inventory management improved inventory turn and stock allocation, in production management optimized supply chain and production schedules. It also improved decision making by increase the market responsiveness, has a better profit and also controls the cost and also flexible the customer services, increase the service adjustment and response customer demand. Integrated information systems bring a new opportunity to directly support a tight link with customers (Vitale, 1986; Malone and Yates, 1987; Clemons and McFarlan, 1986). ERP systems provide E-business by using the web integration capability it helps get closer to customers. It provides benefit to business to business (B2B) interactive customer service, for example through customer directs feedback it can improved product design, and most importantly provide real time and reliable data enquiries. In addition with the integrated and standard application architecture in ERP system it provide infrastructure support business flexibility for future changes by response to internal and external changes and provide range of options in react, reduced IT costs and increased capability for quick and economic implementation of new applications (Shari Shang and Peter B. Seddon, 2000). The drawback for implementing ERP system is the cost of installing is expensive. The cost of installing an ERP system can cost up to US$100 million. In1999, most organizations spent between US$90-180 billion on ERP system (Shari Shang Peter B. Seddon, 2000). The ERP system be installed by ERP consulting organization and the fees to modify the system is also expensive with average at about US$150-$225 per hour (Benjamin B. Bae, Paul Ashcroft, 2004). Besides that, installing an ERP systems take a longer period. ERP system is a complicated system and it often takes 12-18 months to be installed and operating (Benjamin B. Bae, Paul Ashcroft, 2004). It take longer period is because a detailed study must be made and reviewed before installing ERP system to match the business requirement. Any mistake in planning of ERP systems will affect the entire performance system. The implementation of the ERP systems will hurting the companys process, break customer relations and will required a longer time from achieving its long-term financial goals (Dr. Yan Wang, 2005). In addition, implementation ERP system required a new procedures to manage the system, train employee the procedures of system, and managerial and technical support and this cause many companies found the change takeover to ERP systems a slow and painful process. Role and Purpose of Accounting Information System (AIS) Accounting Information System (AIS) play as a backbone in accounting transaction processing system. It combine the accounting format, implementation, and monitoring of information systems. It uses the modern information technology resources with the traditional accounting methods to provide financial information to organizations. AIS analyze and record all the business transactions to prepare financial statements and provide accounting data to manage the organization. Constantinos J. Stefanou state that, AIS is a process of collecting and recording the data and information based on the events that have an economic effect upon organizations and keep the maintenance, processing and communication of information to stakeholders. All the information will be use for decision making purpose and evaluate the financial position of the organization. Andreas I. Nicolaou, 2000 claim that a critical research issue in the fields of accounting and management decision-making concerns the fit of the AIS with the organizational requirements for information communication and control. This means that AIS is a computer-based system which process all the financial information and supports the decision tasks in the context of coordination and control of organizational activities. Besides that, Ed ODonnell, Julie Smith David, 2000 state that AIS provide input for decision making. AIS summarized the important business events for example production, purchasing and selling activities for internal decision making. AIS make business accounting activities easier, quicker, and more accurate. It safe accountant time and avoid mistake since the system is analyzed accounting records and prepare financial statements. Since AIS gather all accounting and transaction information by electronically and automatically so it avoids data entry and computing errors. The Major Implication for AISs of the Implementation of a Full ERP System Basically, a successful implementation of ERP system will increases competitiveness by increase the quality and customer satisfaction, speed up the processes, and reduce all the lead times. There is few reason AIS system may be affected by the implementation of a full ERP system. Steve G. Sutton 2006 claim that ERP system change the financial accounting environment significantly as the processes used to record, assimilate and distribute such information all radically change. ERP system can be traced back all the transaction recording process for example it will captures the data when a cashier scanning a bar code or warehouse worker at a receiving dock and automatically update the processes in the AIS records. Besides that, ERP system also supports two major processes in AIS that is order-to-cash and purchase-to-pay. In order-to-cash process, the ERP system can analyze to determine the goods being requested by customers. At this process, ERP system links together customer, inventory, purchasing, and vendor data to determine whether the customer is in good standing and likely to pay the bill. After that, ERP system schedules the order for delivery, if the goods are not available within the organization, a purchase order is sent to a vendor. ERP system will ensure that the invoice contains correct quantities, prices, terms, and addresses and then it will record cash receipts and updating cash and accounts receivable amounts in the general. For the purchase-to-pay process, ERP system will automatically generate the purchase requisition on the basis of data and reviews purchases requests to determine that organization is authorized and within budget. ERP system will assists the buyer in identifying sources of supply for the requested item, analyzing vendor quotations, and selecting vendors by comparing vendor prices, terms and past performance. ERP system will automatically links purchasing order, receipt and vendor invoice and record in accounts payable in the general ledger. Further, ERP systems also improved decision-making process and used financial ratio analysis. It act as facilitators of business processes and also support management decision-making. It has enabled to use financial ratio analysis and production of budgets which also including cash budgets, absorption costing and profitability analysis per customer. In addition ERP systems have introduced sophisticated accounting techniques in their accounting processes which is activity based costing (ABC) and target costing. It also lesser extent involves time reductions for accounts closure and preparation of financial statements. The last reason through the implementation of a full ERP system is it not just a business process of electronic procedures but it is also with the scientific management idea. This system can always thinking of integrating the organization internal control throughout the entire business cycle, through a set of pre-designed and improved cover the plans, prices, supply, production, sales, and inventory management and automatically update. In summary, the ERP systems appear to have fulfilled its purpose as demonstrated in the changes in the accounting practices brought in. Overall, the benefits achieved by ERP systems strongly influence accounting information and practices and also organizational planning at a strategic level. Booth et al. (2000) states that ERP users perceptions of the quality of accounting IS in financial and management accounting as adequate in terms of reporting and decision support and good in terms of transaction reporting. Therefore, results between the two systems are comparable, indicating that there are still benefits accrued for ERP adopters. Stefanou (2002) also reports that the integration of accounting applications, information exchange and reporting capabilities as notable advantages and strengths of ERP systems. Conclusion In conclusion,

Elements in Designing Public Spaces

Elements in Designing Public Spaces Introduction: Now a days more attention is given on to the human dimension in the city planning and the need for quality in the public spaces. Importance of public spaces is universally accepted by one and all. The question is what makes public space more successful? The designer is trying to give best model of good public spaces. However we find that many times well designed public space also doesnt generate good public response. In this essay an attempt is made to study a place evolved organic growth through accumulation and flourishes of public at large design public space to know which place is more successful. Question: What makes a successful public space? Have people who use it had any role to play in making it a successful? What role a designer can play in making a space successful? Public space defined: If one has to define public space in one liner, it means space for public at large.According to public space book, public zrealm includes all the space accessible to and used by people (p.111).So we can say it is a space which is made for people and it is made by people. As Loukaitou sideris and Banerjee (1998, p.175) observe: public life involves relatively open and universal social contexts, in contrast to private life, which is intimate, familiar, shielded, controlled by the individual, and shared only with family and friends. Public space is the place where one likes to spend more time not doing anything special and enjoy surroundings. This can be libraries, community centers, streets, plaza and parks. The dimensions of public space are physical and social. (p.109) Physical means space- which occur social activities. These spaces may be or may not be privately owned. For example hospitals, theaters etc are privately owned public space. The public space can be external or internal and it might be quasi external and internal space. (p.111) William White (1980) in his study in New York gave more emphasis on small scale open spaces in towns, squares, piazzas, plazas, pocket parks and street as the important public space, which are external public spaces. Primitive man moved from place to place in search for food and shelter. Agriculture helped him to settle at place for security and protection. Family life and sense of ownership were the important factor which weighed with him for the establishment of settlement. Communal living gave rise to social interaction. He then stated exchanging goods and services with others in the community for his personal and family need and here started business and commerce. Good and bad events in the community brought inmates closer and this is how, a life outside the private house originated. Initially no particular space was identified as public space. Shady place under the tree on the outskirt of a village or habitat served the purpose. Common well near the village, lake side land, riverbank or the market place was the place where people of all walks of life gathered and discussed their serious and non serious issues. Still in villages people use to gather at the Chauraha of the village. Chauraha is the space where the community meeting takes place in village. It might be under tree or open space at the junction of street. Here they did their routine activity, enjoyed the community life. This was the most primitive public space created by the people without any deliberation or active participation. Market places, squares, plazas and gardens are the extended versions of such places by evolution. All these places have grown organically by evolution. The man is the most inquisitive and innovative creature on earth. He has the ability to think, evaluate, accept the good and forego the bad. These mental faculties have made it possible for a man to improve by evolution. The change may not seem in a short time, in the longer run, the change is substantial. By evolutionary process man has tried to make his habitat more and more suited. Man has improvised his society by accumulation, adaptations and additions. Henry Sheftoe has raised a question can we design such places at the drawing board? Critics of formal architecture and planning such as Bernard Rudofsky (Architecture without Architects) and Christopher Alexander (The Timeless Way of Building, A Pattern Language) suggest that we are better of growing good places and spaces, rather than trying to build them from a blueprint. Henry Sheftoe has said I think we have a lot to learn about how plans and natural environments grow, evolve and adapt to local circumstances and then to mirror this in the development of the built environment. What do we mean by a city or town? Is it just a place of land where houses have been built for human settlement? Or it is a living organism of people staying there. If one knows the basic different between house and home, he will appreciate this important difference. A building may be just a structure of four walls and roof for an outsider but for a person residing there is more than that because he is attached to the same sentimentally. This sense of attachment to a public place works at macro level. Therefore, when we talk of evolved public space, they are the places created be people for themselves to suit their taste, culture and tradition. The city is discussed in barren eviscerated terms and in technical jargon by urban professional as if it were lifeless, detached being. In fact it is a sensory, emotional, lived experience. (Landry 2006,p.2). When a city or town is to be planned from the scratch, the designer can defiantly give his best with the help of his design input. He provides for the well designed public spaces for the common use and the same will be used by people who will stay there. But this is not the easy case every time. How well the people will accept a public space if it is designed without taking in to account their taste and needs? It may fail through it may be the most ideal design situation. Sennet (1973) in his critical statement said they have failed, not for lack of technical expertise, but because they have lot had the power to be adaptive over the course of time p100. Barnad (1994) in his account of How Building Learn suggested that good architecture is nor necessarily produced by design specialists but by the spontaneous and continuous activity of the people. Christopher Alexander asks why our modern cities so often lack a sense of natural growth, and goes on to suggest a set of rules and guidelines by which we can inject that organic character back into our high streets, buildings and squares. People who stay at a place, have by their long association to the place and style of living, developed an affinity towards the same and material change in that space will never be accepted by them. Spaces are for people to suit the designed place. Such attempts will arouse condemnation from the people and will result in failure of the space to serve the purpose. One can treat the body but not the soul. What is successful public space?: Successful public space are the place which is universally accepted by the community, where one can see and enjoy multiple activity and accessible by all kinds of member of society from children to aged. According to Francis Tibbalds, successful public spaces consist of rich, vibrant, mixed use environment that does not die at night or at the weekends and is visually stimulating and attractive to residents and visitors alike. Successful public spaces contain overlapping use of different activity and where person can join and participate without any hesitation. It must be a safe place. This is the place where society like to meet daily and enjoy the pollution free atmosphere. Henry Sheftoe has used word convivial for a successful public space. He says convivial is defined in dictionaries as festive, sociable, jovial and fond of merry- making; usually referring to people, but it can equally apply to a situation. He says without such convivial spaces, cities, towns and villages would be mere accretions of buildings with no deliberate opportunities for casual encounters and positive interactions between friends or strangers. How to evaluate public space? Despite the fact that the public space is important for good urban living, question still remains, what places are good or bad. Evolution of public space is a subjective issue and decisions may vary from person to person. Here we are not concerned with the decision form the designers point of view, but only from the point of vew of an individual common man on the street. Experts in the subjects have given different parameters for evaluating the success of a public space. However project for public space have after many case studies and surveys propounded four important parameters and they are access and linkages, comfort and image, user and activities, sociability. All other parameters given by others are more or less covered within the sweep of the aforesaid four issues. Therefore in this essay, success of the public spaces is examined by applying these four parameters only. Accessibility is most important factor which affects the willingness of the users. People are ready and willi ng if the space is nearby, in the neighborhood or approachable easily. Comfort and images decides the attraction of people. According to book Image of the City (Lynch, p.9), the quality in a physical object which gives it a high probability to evoking a strong image in any given observer. Good comfort of space also create good image on the mind. Comfort is the abstract perception in the minds of the user and good seating, lighting, mobility, traffic free environment are the physical criteria. People coming to certain public space have different reasons to come and therefore multiple activity options on the space make it more convivial. Mixed used activities generate maximum public response. If space is used by only one type of users, other users may not find place interesting. Space must provide welcoming environment to all the residents at all the time. Activities in short are the reasons to visit the place, they will interact and communicate with each other. They will love the company and will have sympathy for others. Tolerance, compassion and love are the natural fallout of a good public space. Why Banaras Ghats and Pershing park? Case study of ghat in Banaras as evolved public space: Banaras is perhaps the oldest living city in the world. It is said that (singh, 1993) city has been lived since 4th century. According to Mark Twain (1898) Banaras is older than history, older than tradition, older than legend and looks twice as old as all of them together. It is situated on the bank of holy river Ganga. According to author P. B. Singh (1993), From the ages this river front of Ganga is used by people of India as a place for performing rituals and holistic activity from birth to death. Visitor from all over the world make a point to visit Banaras either to perform Hindu rituals or be witness to them. River bank of Ganga and especially the Ghats has been acclaimed as public places and their existence since time immemorial does make it evolved public place. It is a classical example of evolved public place. According to the Merriam Websters online dictionary (2009) Ghat means A broad flight of steps that is situated on an Indian riverbank and that provides access to the water especially for bathing. Banaras is bound on the east by river Ganga which flows from north to south and while bending continuously makes a beautiful crescent like riverfront. The left bank is flanked by city while right bank is plain and undeveloped. The right bank lands are reserved for agriculture and no construction is permissible. People of Banaras are strongly related to river. The river nurtures their life. It is respected mother like. All the people living there regularly visit the ghat for bathing and routine. Earlier the ghats were muddy platforms to sit near the river. However by evolution the muddy platforms are regenerated as stepped ghats. Most of these ghats have been improved during the 17th and 18th centuries. (Singh, 1993). High contours and different water levels in the river during different seasons, the stepped embankment -ghat is perhaps the best type of river front. There are almost 84 ghats along the river in span of 5 kms. However study is confined to Dasashvamedh ghat, Darbhanga ghat, Munshi ghat, Ahilyabai Ghat. Accessibility and linkage to the edge of the river (Ghat): Study area Ghats are interconnected with each other and one can walk from one to other easily. Access to the ghat is little bit mysterious and confusing. But in plan, one can observe that all roads in the city directly lead to the ghats. Ghats are connected with two types of street. Dasashvamedh road is the Commercial Street and main approach for visitors. Other streets are Secondary Street and connect internal part of the city to the ghats. Other clear accessibility to the ghats is from the river, which is very clear and inviting. Transit points are the main bazaar street. Ghat is accessible on foot and by the boat from the river. The overall experience from city to the Dasashvamedh Ghat: From city to the Ghat is a human scale. Person cant perceive the Ghat while moving from the street. River is not visible from the inner parts of the town. Arrival to the Ghats is quite surprising. Organic development of the building on the edge of river diverts the users movement towards Ghat at certain angle and cut the vision from the distance. The experience from Dasashvamedh Ghat to the city: This experience is quite opposite to one stated above. At the ghat edge buildings are monument scale, which create image of the city from the river and image of skyline gives clear interpretation of activity on the edge. From the ghat one can observe whole city skyline because of the topography of the city. This scale slowly disappears while moving towheads the city. Dasashvamedh road: Dasashvamedh road is a main connection between Kashi Vishvanath temple and the Dasashvamedh Ghat. The whole street contains commercial life and full of mix use character houses. Surprisingly street has two way roads with divider at the center but does not give access to cars. Only two wheelers can pass on this road. The flow of people on this route is so high and black head crowd leads everyone towards the Ghat. At the junction of the Ghat street goes down in slope. Secondary Streets: These streets connect Munshi Ghat, Darbhanda Ghat and Ahilyabai ghat which are mainly attached with residential area. These streets are quite narrow and flanked by row of 3 to 4 storied residential houses with small shops on the ground floor. Street creates shadow on the road all the time which gives good comfort all the time of the day to user. Cows and dogs also stroll in these narrow streets and pedestrian found comfortable. Dark street have over looking spaces from the houses create secure and safe walk for users. At the junction of Chaustti Bazaar streets widen up and that generate community activity with the help of Chaurah (cross road) and temple or shrine. Here edges are the mediator who play major role to generate public spaces at the certain intervals. Accessibility to the Ghats is crowded and appears mess to a designer. On the linkage of the ghat and street, small temples and stalls which make it porous and active in nature. Crowd on such points make the movement on foot also difficult. Edge of the Ghat: Edge of the Darbhanga Ghat and Munshi Ghat are quite dead because of the fort wall but still we can observe activities there. On Dasashvamedh Ghat, shops and temples make edge quite porous and live. Comfort and Image: Ghats have its own individuality on the bank of rive Ganga. Here we can really appreciate what Kevin Lynch thought about the city image (1981, p.1 ) At every instant, there is more than eye can see, more than ear can hear, sitting or a view waiting to be explored. According to Rishma Parikh (2000, p.39) the nature of the placeis sensorial as well as physical. Both, physical environment and the manners of its consumption are responsible for an image. Ghats are very unique in nature. The steps on the contour make it full of life and activities. One can notice that number of people, mostly tourist are busy with cameras taking photograph. But those busy in their routine activities of bathing, praying, performing rituals are unperturbed. The space is full of people from all walks of life. The stone steps provide sitting for people as well as provide accessibility to river. Here Ghats face east direction so direct sun light will be there in the morning hours but in let afternoon and evening hours, monumental scale edge gives shadow on the steps. People use umbrella to gain shadow in the morning hours on the platform of the ghat. At places, bottom of the trees is converted into platform to sit. Here at the Dasashvamedh Ghat we can see police station but still safety is the issue because of the overcrowding. The buildings on the steps create overlooking spaces, which help to reduce issues of safety. City of Banaras is very congested in nature. But as one enters the Ghat, one can feel openness and freedom of space, which is the main attraction for the people to come at ghat. Uses and activity: The Ghats generate very strong religious bond because of devotees holding central activity power. All ghats are used for ritual activities. In the morning people gather here for bathing and Puja, in the afternoon people are busy doing rituals and evening hours see people attending Arati (offering with lighted lamps) and Puja. They take bath in the river. In the afternoon time we can see the people doing different ritual activity behind the death of the people. Apart from the rituals we can see children playing on the platform of the Ghats. Visitors are roaming around and taking photos. Even these activities are also daily on the Ghats. In the special occasions the Ghats used as Emphi Theater, where different live concerts are arranged. On festival days, special Arati is done. Ghats have multi layer activity throughout the day. On the edge of the Dasashvamedh Ghat we can find small temples which conduct religious discourses. The small stalls around the Ghats sell many items which attract not only the local public but also the tourist alike. Small idols, flower, scented sticks etc. Even visitor can take a ride in the bat during the day and night time full moon boat ride is very famous to enjoy the river. This is perhaps the best place where one can see culture and tradition of India. It is India in small scale. Sociability: Sociability of the place is clearly seen. Activities here bring the people together. Devotees and priest sit together and have rituals, which is the back bone activity on the ghat. We find people of all walks of life from beggars to businessman freely interacting with each other. Rich give aims to poor. Bhandaras are the special events on festival days. This is the best example of community participation on the ghat. Even one can observe animals like, cow, goat and man/woman sitting together very comfortably. Visitors and even foreign tourist are seen involved in local activities. Barber shop, tea stalls, palmist, horoscope reader, singer, musician and serpent are commonly seen here and people enjoy their presence and company. Ghats are the best example of socialization between people of different culture and tradition. Space around the Ghats is quite messy and dirty but it doesnt dissuade public to going there. All big events in the town are held here. The Ghats not only have religious importance but are the life line of the people of neighborhood. Kumar says about people of Banaras in her article, their bowels would simply not move in closed spaces, nor would they consider themselves clean from bathing under tap, which shows social attachment of people to the space. Take away ghat from Banaras and it would be lifeless. Ghats are the best examples of democratic places. Neelakshi Joshi has rightly said, the ghat is thus the common bath, the largest open space, meditation center and the biggest pub in town for culture and social encounter and has been so far centuries untold. The ghats of Banaras stand as inspiration for bringing together all men-painters, ascetics, beggars, washer men and kings to the same platform. Natures bounty is not considered the prerogative of the man who can afford the property by the river. It is rather a thing of joy for all to be enjoyed together. Case study of Pershing Square: Site is situated in Los Angeles. City has storing grid pattern and this park is fitted in block size of the grid. This park was designed 1866 and number of time it was redesigned. The study is based on the last design which is done in 1994 by Ricardo Legoretta and Laurie Olin. Before in 1866 it was a formal Spanish plaza and then it was reinvented in 1911, 1928, 1950 and 1994. The number of redesigning of plaza shows transformation of the city from time to time. It is suggestive of the lack of community connection. If local people are attached to a place, they would have stuck to basic form of the space. In 1951 government rebuilt the area and proposed underground parking with the reason to reduce car congestion of the area. Accessibility and image to the park: The Pershing square is an island having road grid on all four sides. The streets which are adjacent to the square are south Olive Street, West 5th and 6th lane and south hill street. Park is accessible from all roads. Streets act as a divider between edge of adjacent building and park. Buildings around the streets are like west 6th lane, South Olive and Hill Street. Have activates like dominos pizza, restaurants, cafà ©, hotels, offices and international jewelry center. This street faà §ade seems very active and porous in nature. The West 5th street faà §ade is little dead and have parking lot as well. Traffic on this street in day time is quite high. People use this street as a pathway to go from one place to another. People do not linger here on this space for long time. At the edge of the square have entry for the underground parking. It has different color wall on the edge, which distract the vision of people. One can find public transport at the edge of the park. On all stree ts, bus stop to access the park. Pershing square metro station is located nearby at five minutes walk. Comfort and image to the park: At the first glance of the parks modern architecture generate good impression on the mind. Usage of the bright color creates aesthetic excitement. Even good use of architectural elements can be seen inside the park. Park has good comfortable arrangement of seating. Pam tree in the park give better shadow and give proper comfortable area to stand. The steps around the water body give comfortable sitting to the user. Usage and activity at the park: The park has scientific architectural elements like solar system waterfall, several constellation maps on floor, telescopes. But this element does not generate activates. At lunch time, people serving in nearby places come here to take their lunch. Most of the time the park is sterile. The development authority conduct good events on the park to attract people like ice scatting, musical evenings etc. but after the activity park seem dead. Park is used only by homeless people. Sociability: The development authority designed it to make a social and democratic space. But it has not come up as such. It has miserable failed to serve is purpose. Analysis: Case study shows that ghats are conveniently located on bank of River Ganga. The river runs north to south and city has organically grown along the river. All the roads lead us to Ghat and accessibility is good form proximity point of view. However city is congested. Roads are narrow and mess. Ghats remain crowded all the time and movement is not comfortable. Cleanliness is another negative factor. However from the point of varied of activities, it is a successful place in as much as the place is bubbling with varied activities throughout the day. Socialization is utmost on this space. If the success of the ghat is to be evaluated y applying parameters suggested by the Project for Public Space, the rating would be poor. However, clumsy accessibility and poor comfort level do not deter the people from socializing on this space. The reverence, people of Banaras has shown is enormous to river Ganga. River Ganga is the life line of people o Banaras and Ghats are the organs without which life at Banaras cannot be thought of. Social attachment of the people of Banaras to river Ganga is is enormous and that has made the ghats a great success despite all odds in terms of good design elements. Ghats are present day riverfronts. However, care has been taken by those who developed ghats on river to ensure that the river is not canalized by embankments as we see at other places. The crescent shaped curve of the river is also well maintained showing their respect for the river. Ghats are perhaps the best example of evolved places. Second case study of Pershing Square Park gives an opposite proposition. Accessibility to park is good. Comfort level and image of the place is also good. Aesthetic design of the park should normally arouse public response. The development authorities have inserted all good design elements to make the park success. However we find that public participation at the place is very poor. The park has failed to achieve its objective. Either people are not interested in the activities it offers or the people have no attachment with the space. The combined study of the two places leads us to conclude that over and above the four parameters suggested by Project for Public Space, there is one more factor which is vital to make a public space convivial and it is -emotional attachment of people to its place. Presence of this factor alone can make a space successful even if no some other counts it may not be convivial. Emotions emanate from long unbroken social and cultural bond. People make places by their accumulations of adaptations and additions. Designer can certainly give his inputs on first three counts of accessibility, comfort and activities but he is helpless on the last parameter in as much as he can solicit public response. He cant make people use this space. Public sentiments are the most vital issue which makes the place successful. Without public response, the space will be sterile and miserably fail to achieve its true objective. The authorities, therefore, should concentrate more on improving evolved public spa ces by increasing the accessibility and comfort level and by providing diverse mix use activities. Evolved public spaces can be made more convivial with little work in this direction. Findings: People make places. Unless the space stimulates the overwhelmed response from one and all, the public space meat for them cannot become successful. The public spaces evolved by accumulation of adaptations and additions by users themselves are more convivial and people regularly use such places though they are not encouraging from the designers point of view. The success of particular public spaces is not in the hands of the designer. His best design model can fail if people do not respond favorably. Design exercise fails if it does not uphold the sentiments of the people using them. Evolved public space can be easily made more comfortable and lively by the efforts of the designer who keeps in mind the sentiments of the users.

Yin and Yang: the Nature of Scientific Explanation in a Culture Essays

Yin and Yang: the Nature of Scientific Explanation in a Culture ABSTRACT: I explore the nature of scientific explanation in a culture centering on the doctrine of yin and yang combined with that of five phrases, wu-hsing (YYFP). I note how YYFP functions as an alternative to the causal way of thinking, as well as the meaning of scientific explanation in a culture. I also consider whether a scientific concept becomes metaphorical when it is superseded by an alternative organizing concept. To a Western eye, or even to a contemporary Eastern eye, many explanations given under the doctrine of yin and yang combined with that of five phases (wu-hsing), apparently intended to be scientific, would seem either absurd or too arbitrary at first sight. An intriguing fact, however, is that the doctrine of yin and yang and that of five phases (hereafter YYFP) has prevailed until quite recently in almost all the areas of Far-Eastern cultures including medicine, astronomy, music, dance, architecture, geomancy. In this essay, I pay attention to the questions such as how YYFP functioned as an alternative to the causal way of thinking, and what it is to be a scientific or theoretical explanation in a culture. I also consider the question of whether a scientific concept becomes metaphorical when it is superseded by an alternative organizing concept. Let me begin with the development of the concept of YYFP, as you may not know in the first place what YYFP is. Until around the 4th century B.C., yin and yang were current words for "sunshine" and "shade" and were used separately from the five phases of change. Soon after, they came to be included in the six ch'i (six powers or forces) of Heaven. The six ch'i refer to wind, rain, dark, light,... .... Recent developments in quantum physics, biology and information science have put us in a position where we question the uniqueness of the causal-mechanical model of science. But these developments, even though sciences based on non-causal concepts might dominate in the culture, would not eradicate the causal way people have viewed the world and themselves, but only relegate the concept of cause to the realm of metaphor, a rhetorical way of putting things. The concept of cause then would no longer be a scientific concept, but would still be alive in the culture. What brings a change in the general worldview then? This would be the question I still have to ask. Notes (1) Tr.(in Korean)& ed. by Chung Young Ho (Jayou-Moongo, 1993), pp.22-23. English translation is mine. (2) Cf. Tung Chung-suh, Ch'un-ch'iu fan-lu (Luxurian Gems of the Spring and Autumn Annals).

Euthenasia In Australia :: essays research papers fc

Euthanasia   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Sometimes, life can deteriorate to the point where a person loses their dignity and self-respect, and are unable to communicate; life like this is longer worth living, as the most enjoyable of things are no-longer enjoyable. Euthanasia could, in my opinion, be practiced when a person reaches this point, and then only passively. If the person in question is able to communicate rationally, then their opinion must be asked first.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Assisted death, other than passively should most definitely remain illegal, and in the Northern Territory, it should be made illegal. The nation of Australia must be uniformed, or else people simply go to another state, where the law different.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   People should live their lives for as long as it is worth living, as defined above. Some people wish to use euthanasia to die when they are diagnosed with a terminal illness, and given a certain amount of time to live. These people still have those six months, or whatever. If they can, they should enjoy that time, doing all the things they like to do. If they wanted, they could go out and spend all their savings, or retirement money on things that â€Å"I always wanted to get one†, or make themselves feel good by donating to charities. They should not look at the amount of time they don’t have, but instead, at the time they have left. And besides, we all know we are going to die, these people are no different, except they know exactly how much time is left. It has been said that trials and pain make us stronger. Even if someone is in pain, that pain could make them mentally stronger than if they give up and take the easy way out. Life is full of pai n, and joy, everyone goes through both things in their lives, because that is what life is.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Some say that doctor-aided death is widespread already, only covertly, and that the Netherlands is a model of how to establish the right to die by bringing the practice out in the open, where the medical and legal system can oversee it. This issue is similar to how abortion was seen before it was legalized. The main reason for legalization of abortion was because it was being done anyway. People had access to abortion, it was just being done terribly. We're in exactly the same situation today: People have access to assisted suicide; it's just being done so badly.

Internal And External Factors Effect The Levels Of Management Essay

How Internal And External Factors Effect The Levels Of Management For a company to be successful in the long term today, they must be diverse. The company needs to be able to adapt to changes. The need for these changes can present themselves from many angles. Some would include changes in the economy, marketing, or even a change in the target audience. A company has to look at more than just the four levels of management. Organizations must look at how internal and external factors can affect the four levels of management, and adjust accordingly for these changes to be successful in today’s world. Diversity  There are many types of diversity, racial, ethnic, cultural, age, gender, and geographic. But diversity can also include experience and skills. A company’s ability to survive depends on their ability to adapt to current changes. The diversity within a company must be taken into consideration during the four functions of management. The most successful companies will be those that recognize the power of diversity in their workforce and in the product mix, and effectively create products and services that appeal to their increasingly diverse customer base. By including diversity in the planning stage, Amazon. om would reflect diversity in their business. This would results in better products and a wider range of consumers giving them an advantage over competitors. The company must understand its’ organizational structure, and the social and cultural perspectives of its’ employees in order to be effective, efficient, and promote an environment suitable for progress. Employees who are diverse in skills, experience, and background help to builds a strong organizational foundation. Increasing globalization requires companies to have more interaction with diverse cultures and backgrounds. Organizations must be prepared to teach themselves and their employees to value multicultural differences. Management must motivate their employees to attend diversity training in order to be educated on different cultures and traditions and to respect these differences. Diversity is critical to a company’s success. We are part of a worldwide economy with global competition. Diversity can increase productivity, marketing opportunities, recruitment, and the organization’s image which, in turn, can increase profits (Leading With Diversity, nd). Globalization Globalization has changed the face of business. In today’s business market, international business is necessary in order to gain an advantage. Amazon. com understands this requirement. With the formation of the Internet and Internet marketing, globalization was a beneficial perk which changed the business market, providing a way for companies to reach businesses and customers from around the globe at the click of a mouse. Amazon. com was created to work in the global business environment through the Internet. The company handles B2B and B2C relations and transactions. Amazon. com uses an online customer data base to keep up with the demands of customers. The company created an Internet e-business model, and built up from these based on information obtained from customers. â€Å"The company’s strong infrastructure supports its mission to be the leader in e-commerce,† (â€Å"A Conceptual Analysis f the Key success of Business in â€Å"terms of Internet Marketing, 2012). Customers are always looking for convenience in today’s global economy. Amazon. com uses technological innovation to drive growth and deliver convenience to its customers. An online business, such as Amazon. com, bases goals for â€Å"Planning† on these factors. In order to deliver strategic value, a company such as Amazon. com works to extend globally to reach customers and retailers internationally. Amazon. com began with a B2C platform, but management saw the potential to be an online global leader by handling B2B relations as well. When Organizing, management adds software, e-commerce capabilities, and access for businesses to use the online company’s resources. Amazon. com has created a global online business through proper planning and organizing that delivers strategic value. Management Leading can mobilize and motivate employees. Amazon. com has extended its sales and products through extended branches in different parts of the world to provide services anytime and anywhere through the Internet and globalization. Through the Controlling process of management, online companies such as Amazon. com have continuously improved and expanded services to all over the world. As a result of success through correctly utilizing the four functions of management, Amazon. com is a leading fortune 500 company who uses globalization through the World Wide Web to deliver fast, successful services to customers and retailers. Without the possibility of globalization through technology, e-commerce would not be enough for the company to stay on top. Technology Technology is constantly changing and considerably hard to keep up with. Because of these changes, managing at Amazon. com would definitely be a challenge. Managers must start with the planning phase by evaluating and determining consumer’s needs for buying, selling, using, and shipping which can show both internal and external growth. Personal data is shared online and is protected to ensure safe transactions. Amazon. com ensures that identity theft is never an option through their technology. Organizing all the data gathered from technology can also help management keep track of trends, sales, and possible returns. Once this information is shared among management, they are then able to lead employees with training on how to implement new technology like software, security protection on servers. Amazon. com also ensures employees are adhering to company policy with the use and access of services online. The controlling phase of management is completed by watching over the progress of smart phone applications, Internet home use, and shipping sales. By watching progress and being sure initial goals and challenges are being met, the security of consumer information and products are not being put to risk, and if a problem arises, management can catch it early enough to take care of the situation. With technology making access to Amazon. com so much easier for consumers, the management of this constant changing technology can be a huge challenge with so many options for access and keeping the information protected with encryptions. Innovation With an ever changing market, a great business has to be able to become what the consumer needs at any given moment. This requires innovation. Innovation involves any new idea, product, process, technology or service that a business introduces to its consumer. When it comes to innovation and the planning process, a business needs to be aware that factors such as the market, the customer’s current needs, and even what products competitors have released, can affect the current business plan. There needs to be flexibility in the business plan to account for these changes. A business needs to have leaders who are able to understand how their business is being currently run and how it can be run in the future. This allows them to see ow changes in the business plan might affect all aspects of the business. A business manager needs to be open-minded and encourage its employees to share their ideas on new business models, new ways to make a profit and even ways to improve existing business methods so that the current business plan is both innovative and effective. When it comes to innovation and the organizing process, a company needs to be aware of the current business plan at all times. The need for a business to be innovative and adapt to the changes in the market can cause all four functions of management to need adjusting frequently. If the business plan is changed, the company needs to re-gather and assign all its resources, employees and finances to ensure that the new plan can be implemented fully and in an organized manner. Innovation affects this function of management in a more indirect way; by changing the planning process, the directing process changes. When a company decides to change their business plan, they have to re-direct the staff. When evaluating the staff, the manager needs to be sure that they are on track to meet the goals outlined in the planning process. Innovation can cause the goals to change, thus causing managers to re-evaluate the employees to be sure they are still on track. Ethics Every business is run by a set code of ethics. Ethics are different for every person, as they are an individual’s personal take on what is right and what is wrong. A business uses a code of ethics to ensure that every employee abides by the same set of standards and upholds the values of the organization with which they work. When it comes to the planning process, ethics play a key role. The company needs to know how they want their business to appear to the public and develop their plan around that. If a company wants to appear ethical and trustworthy to its customers it has to provide great customer service at all times. This meant that Amazon. com had to create a safe site, a quality product, and be sure to deliver the product promptly. When it comes to organizing and ethics, Amazon. com had to be sure to keep all resources, employees, and finances in order to keep their word on the quality of both their product and their delivery times. For the customer to believe that Amazon. com is an ethical and trustworthy site requires employees and resources to be organized at all times. When it comes to leading their employees, it is important to be sure that they are not only on task but also following the company’s code of ethics. If having a safe site, a quality product, and prompt delivery is important to Amazon. com; it needs to be important to all their employees as well. When analyzing the progress being made, the manager needs to also be sure that the staff is remaining diligent in their efforts to ensure quality customer service. Ethics are found in every facet of a company and therefore they need to be monitored regularly. Conclusion There is so much more that goes into maintaining a successful business in today’s competitive marketplace than just the four levels of management. The company must always be aware of and be able to adapt to many changing factors. These factors come from many places in the marketplace. Some are external and the company will have little to no control over these and must simply adapt. However the internal factors can be controlled by the company through monitoring and policy changes. The company that can notice the changing factors and integrate and adapt to these changes will be successful in today’s competitive marketplace.