Nutrition †Food Essay

Thesis Statement Most of the college students have unhealthy food preferences. Topic Outline I.Influence of Media A. Calorie-dense foods are extremely rewarding to consume. B.Causes greater snack food consumption. II.Income of an individual A.Eating healthy is expensive. B.Low income individual eat and buy cheaper foods. III.Convenience A.Fast and easy access 1.Delivery services 2.Ready to eat foods a. frozen foods 1.)TV dinners 2.)shelf-stable products 3.)prepared mixes B.Saves time Food, in order to serve its purpose, should first be consumed. Under normal circumstances, food is consumed only if it is palatable enough for the consumer. It therefore becomes a great responsibility of one who prepares and serves food to make the food palatable besides being nutritious and safe. Food habits do not develop in a vacuum. Like other forms of human behavior, they are the result of many personal, cultural, social, and psychological influences (Williams, 1974). Nowadays, teenagers choose food they like without considering about it contains. Because of busy life, they choose fast food, snack which is non-nutritive over nutritive-rich ones like rice, meat, and do not care if it shortens their life, damage their health or cause many diseases. There are numerous factors that affect the food habits of each person within a culture. Some of this is the societal factor and the lifestyle factor. In societal factor, the food production and distribution system are responsible for the availability of foods which differs from region to region and country to country. Food availability influenced by the socioeconomic and political systems. On the other hand, in lifestyle, both availability and control of food at the societal level affect the lifestyle factors of individuals. These factors includes income, occupation, place of residence, regional differences, religious beliefs, health beliefs, physiological characteristics, puberty, gender, person’s state of health and lastly, the household structure and composition (Kittler & Sucher, 2004).

Chinese Philosophy Essay Essay

Three areas of philosophy emerged amidst the chaos and constant warring of the Zhou era. The three were called Confucianism, Daoism, and legalism. They were Chinese philosophies that were thought to be the best ways to rule and achieve order in the society. Confucianism believed that a ruler’s job was to set a good example, and not order. Since people were thought of as naturally good, they would following the right path based on their own conscience. Legalism was a more harsh way of ruling, led by Hanfeizi. They thought people were evil, and needed strict laws and punishment to keep them in line. Daoism was very different from either of the other two. It was led by Laozi, who taught that the best kind of government was one who governed the least. They allowed things to simply take their natural course and work themselves out. Although both Daoism and legalism were working philosophies, Confucianism was the most effective in obtaining order. At the time of the three philosophies, Ancient China was in a state of complete chaos. The duration of anarchy was named The Warring States Period, a period in which small feuding kingdoms or fiefdoms struggled for supremacy. It took place in the Zhou dynasty from 403 bc. to 221bc. The period was dominated by seven or more small feuding Chinese kingdoms. It was the age of Confucian thinkers Mencius and Xunzi, and the time when many of the government institutions and cultural patterns that would characterize China for the next 2,000 years were established. Legalism achieved what all the other philosophies strove for, unification of China. The Qin Dynasty, operating under the Legalist philosophy, finally unified China in 221 BC. Legalism was a success. However, the Qin Dynasty dissolved only 14 years after it’s founding. The Qin emperor was ruthless in his use of Legalism, punishing even small crimes with decapitation or the loss of a hand or foot. Han Feizi, legalisms founder, did not believe in gaining the respect of the people. He stated † Those who are ignorant about government insistently say: â€Å"Win the hearts of the people â€Å"† (Document H). To uphold his beliefs books and scholars which held beliefs against Legalism (such as Confucianism) were destroyed. The people were heavily taxed and forced into labor on major government projects. He successfully put the fear and respect of the law and government into the people, but it was too much. After his death, peasant rebellions caused the end of Legalism as the ruling philosophy of China. The harshness of the Legalist Qin would be remembered afterwards, and in response the following dynasty, the Han, distanced itself from Legalism and made Confucianism the official philosophy. Daoism adds spirituality to the otherwise melancholy world of Chinese philosophy. The quote â€Å"Look to simplicity; cleave the uncarved block; Diminish self and curb desires† (Document G) is a perfect example of the views held by Daoist followers. Its teachings appealed to those who wished to withdraw from the politics and deception of society. Daoism’s concepts of harmony and relativity make a lot of sense even today. The idea of using nature as the model, which people look up to, is reflected in the religion. Because of its anti-society attitude, Daoism obviously never made its way into any systems of government. It survived among the private citizens and to this day, Daoist monks still exist in China. Daoism was founded by Laozi in the sixth century BC. His teachings were passed down orally before they were compiled in the third century BC in a book called the â€Å"Classic of the Way and Its Power. † Dao means â€Å"way. † It is understood that the Dao is the underlying pattern of the universe, which can neither be described in words nor conceived in thought. The goal of Daoism is to bring all elements of existence- heaven, earth, and man- into harmony. To be in accordance with the Dao, the individual must empty himself of doctrines and knowledge, act with simplicity and humility, and above all seek Nature. The idea of turning to Nature for peace and harmony had a great effect on East Asian cultures, especially in the arts, where idealized and imaginary landscapes and natural art forms are profoundly linked to the beliefs of Daoism. At first, Confucianism was unsuccessful and Confucius, during his lifetime only managed to collect a few followers. After his death, however, his followers passed on the Confucian tradition. It survived, with a few changes, to the Han dynasty (221 BC) and became established as China’s official philosophy. From then it was firmly well established in Chinese culture, and its values can still be seen today. The Five Classics of Confucianism were works from the Zhou Dynasty, which preceded the Warring States Period. They were collected and edited by members of the original  Confucian school. After Confucianism became the official state philosophy, one had to know the philosophy well in order to gain the coveted position of government official. The Analects are a collection of sayings by Confucius, recorded by his disciples. As a result, the Analects are not a widespread proposal of Confucianism. Rather, it is a collection of quotations and stories. Because of this, Confucianism according to Confucius is open to interpretation. The main idea of the philosophy is, righteousness, relationships and generosity towards others. Since the time of the Han dynasty (206 CE) four life passages have been recognized and regulated by Confucian tradition. There are approximately 6 million Confucians in the world. About 26,000 live in North America; almost all of the remainder are found throughout China and the rest of Asia. In Chinese tradition, filial piety was the key duty. In one of Confucious’ analects he stated, † The superior man while his parents are alive, reverently nourishes them; and when they are dead, reverently sacrifices to them. His chief thought is how, to the end of life, not to disgrace them† (Document B). Being a filial son meant absolute obedience to one’s parents during their lifetime and as they grew older, taking the best possible care of them. After their death the eldest son was required to perform ritual sacrifices at their gravesite or in the ancestral temple. A son could also express his devotion to his parents by passing the Civil Service examinations, winning prestige for the whole family. Most important of all, a son had to make sure that the family line would be continued. Dying without a son therefore was one of the worst offenses against the concept of filial piety. If a marriage remained barren, it was a son’s duty to take a second wife or adopt a child in order to continue the family. Since Chinese women became part of their husband’s family through marriage, filial conduct for a woman meant faithfully serving her in-laws, in particular her mother-in-law, and giving birth to a son. By fulfilling these duties, she also gained prestige for her own family. If the mother and daughter-in-law did not get along, filial piety demanded that a man should get rid of his wife in order to please his mother. He could always get another wife, but he would only have one mother. These social rules in the culture helped in the unification of families in China Some might argue that Daoism and Legalism were more efficient ways of acquiring harmony. Legalism was the most effective way of governing a society. The legalist tradition derives from the principle that the best way to control human behavior was through written law rather than through ritual, custom or ethics. The legalist tradition was derived from the principle that the best way to control human behavior was through written law rather than through ritual, custom or ethics. Daoism shaped Chinese life for more than 2,000 years. Daoism placed emphasis upon individual freedom and impulsiveness, non-interventionist government and social primitivism and ideas of self-transformation, and so represents in many ways the reverse of Confucian concern with individual moral duties, community standards, and governmental responsibilities. Both philosophies add up many pros, but fall short of Confucianism’s vast accomplishments. The inner pole of Confucianism was reformist, idealistic, and spiritual. It generated a high ideal for family interaction: members were to treat each other with love, respect, and consideration for the needs of all. The school of thought founded by Confucius has had the biggest impact on Chinese culture. It has lasted throughout the ages and literally pulled the Han Dynasty out of ruin and chaos. Even to this day, the influence of Confucianism can be espied in many matters of China.

Major Shifts in Netflix Strategy Essay

Compare Blockbuster’s and Netflix’s profit models and value proposition prior to the establishment of Blockbuster online: Blockbuster’s Value Proposition and Profit Models: †¢ By establishing over 5000 locations to represent â€Å"70% of the U. S. population by a 10 minute drive,† Blockbuster’s value proposition is its convenience by geographic location. The physical convenience as well as established brand name made the Blockbuster experience attractive to potential movie rental customers. †¢ Their profit models were based highly off of their utilization of shelf  space. Most prominent shelf space would be dedicated to the newest releases. †¢ Another part of Blockbuster’s profit model was to maximize the number of days a video was rented. This financial aspect of the profit model allowed more rentals, thus more revenue. †¢ Late fees contributed to Blockbuster’s profit model in two ways. The fees accounted for $600 million or 10% of Blockbuster’s revenue in 2004. They also enhanced the company’s consistency in timely rental returns. Since customers usually want to avoid late fees, returning their rentals in a timely manner  allowed the videos to be rented by another customer. Netflix Value Proposition and Profit Models: †¢ Netflix’s key value proposition was offering a completely different format of movie rental. Not only did Netflix offer its product through a different channel (the internet), but they also focused on utilizing DVDs, which was at the time considered early- ­? technology. The popularity of both the internet and DVDs were increasing at the time of Netflix’s launch. With an increase in popularity of new technology, Netflix’s unique service offering became very  attractive among the early- ­? adopters of these technologies. The utilization of a subscription- ­? based service also added to its value proposition. Enabling subscribers to exchange DVDs as frequently as they wanted made Netflix even more attractive. †¢ One aspect of Netflix’s profit model was its marketing strategy to only target DVD consumers. By developing a cross- ­? promotional program with manufacturers and retailers of DVD players, Netflix did not waste marketing to other consumer groups who don’t have the new technology to even use DVDs. †¢ In regards to Netflix’s operational aspects of its profit model, Netflix expansion of nationwide distribution centers contributed to the company’s efficient process. The expansion improved delivery time and also nationwide coverage. Also, the low costs of investing in an additional distribution center further added to the company’s profit model. 2) List each major shift in Netflix’s Strategy †¢ The first major shift in Netflix’s strategy was the transition to a prepaid subscription service. Netflix realized its original pricing strategy of paying $4 for reach rental was †¢

MODERNISM THROUGH ARNE JACOBSENS EGG CHAIR Essay

MODERNISM THROUGH ARNE JACOBSENS EGG CHAIR - Essay Example The Egg Chair Designed by Arne Jacobsen The renowned Danish designer and architect Arne Jacoben designed the Egg Chair. Initially it was upholstered in red leather, but is now available in various colours including black leather, as well as in different fabrics. â€Å"The egg chair has a bowl-shaped body which serves as its seat, back, and armrests; and a short, metal base† (Squidoo, 2011). Because the chairs were commissioned for the SAS Royal Hotel, a skyscraper designed by Jacobsen, the rounded appearance of the egg chair was meant to complement the hotel’s simple linear construction (Figs. 1 and 2). Fig.1. Arne Jacobsen’s Egg Chair Upholstered in Red Leather (ModernClassic, 2003) Fig.2. Jacobsen’s Egg Chair Covered with Fabric Upholstery (Squidoo, 2011) The unique shape of the Egg Chair (Figs. 1 and 2 ) is built using a light plaster shell injected with cold synthetic foam to make it more comfortable. The body is then upholstered with leather or fabric , and fitted at the bottom with a steel spindle and swivel, and a molded aluminium 4-star base. There is also a simple adjustment mechanism which helps to raise or lower the chair. The Egg Chair being composed of mainly plaster and leather/ fabric, is significantly light with an overall weight of 18 pounds. Modern Egg Chairs manufactured today are constructed of a lighter plastic shell that is injected with cold foam, they are then covered with high quality leather, and lightweight aluminium legs are attached at the bottom (Squidoo, 2011). Though the Egg Chair has a distinctive design, it shares great similarities with the Swan Chair, also designed for the SAS Royal Hotel. The Egg is also closely... Jacobsen designed and launched the â€Å"egg chair† between 1957 and 1958, along with the Swan chair. He was commissioned to design chairs for the reception areas of the Royal Hotel in Copenhagen, for which he designed the â€Å"egg chair†. Over fifty years later â€Å"the hotel still boasts egg chairs within its reception areas – a testament to the original design masterpiece† (Urbanark, 2011). The modernist design of the egg chair has simple, functional lines, and is composed of minimalistic and abstract features. Modernism is a historical tradition of design form established in the nineteenth century which was initially based on inculcating aesthetic taste to the general public. Greenhalgh (p.19) states that this approach could lead to a kind of â€Å"dictatorial determinism which ultimately came to be the most extreme of the contradictions that existed within the Modernist Movement†. Modernism is marked by its restrictive nature. In Modernist circles there was an aversion to consumption. Consequently, this resulted in the creation of the modernist austere aesthetics which stripped design down to its key components, not inviting needless consumerism. This paper has highlighted Arne Jacobsen’s Egg Chair, examined its modernist characteristics, and explored historical factors based on modernist functionalism and mass culture, inherent to the Egg Chair and its design. The highly functional and comfortable chair continues to be popular in contemporay times more than fifty years after it was designed and developed.

Identification of Qualitative Methodology Research Paper

Identification of Qualitative Methodology - Research Paper Example The group also consisted of women who were in assistant-variety positions which was intended to emphasize scenarios where power and control were highlighted. Based on the background given about Taiwan, the sample population recruited for the study was appropriate as well. The observational approach to the research was not significant because there is no mention of time-frame for each of these observational sessions nor a description of the observed environment. In many respects, this aspect could have either been eliminated from the study or enhanced further to justify methodology. The on-site observation would require being a separate event from interview environments to avoid researcher error or bias. This study also did not clearly outline its intended objectives, moving directly from the background of Taiwan business to theoretical secondary sources with no mention of a direct goal. The interest of the study was clearly to find out information about this working environment without a strong focus on what was intended to be proven or disproven. The con of this approach is that it was too broad of a research study with no clearly outlined research objective. (or trends) based on responses. The researcher categorized these responses into power, gender, and office politics. This study has bias in it though as it chose a sample of women who were in clearly-inferior job roles to other authoritarian leaders (by hierarchical design), which seems to have lessened the study’s reliability and/or validity. Having no clear research objective and a sample which was not, by design, unbiased is another con of this research study methodology. A cross section of male workers, in similar environments in support roles, would seem to justify the relationship between power and gender in the workplace better. This would mean having to add on more interviews for a different cross-section of male

Role of land use planning in judicious distribution of population, Essay

Role of land use planning in judicious distribution of population, housing, and infrastructure and orderly development of the built environment - Essay Example nd efficient development of the built environment, as well as resolving adverse consequences of development such as; urban traffic congestion, quality of life, housing, protection of environment and security among others. It assesses the structure of cities, towns and rural landscapes and how land use planning influences them. It also highlights differences in;  built form, mix of land uses, density, and size of property / land parcels, street layout and neighborhood pattern, treatment of the public realm as well as public and private transportation.   Land-use planning can be defined as the organized evaluation of geographical, social and economic aspects with the aim of supporting and empowering land users in identifying sustainable alternatives that enhance their output and also facilitate accomplishment of societal needs (FAO, 1993). The idea of land use planning should not only be conceptualized in terms of production. Rather, many other aspects such as land utility for example protected areas, leisure neighborhoods, transport, water catchments and dumping sites among others. Berke & Godschalk (2006) observed that land use planning is practiced in all societies although some do not apply the phrase. Failure in land use planning leads to degradation and depletion of land resources as well as conflicts in the use of common resources. In rural landscapes, lack of land use planning leads to poor productivity of land. The built-up area significantly affects the functioning of cities. This is the area that comprises human activities except the open areas that extend to more than four hectares, land that is under cultivation, forest land, water bodies and other parcels of land that are under no productive use. Airfields and highways that are not adjoining the urban used land are not classified among the built-up land (Honachefsky, 1999). There are differences in the built form of different cities, towns and rural landscapes. Most cities’ built form is

Life Span Perspective Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Life Span Perspective Paper - Essay Example In a life-span perspective, ageing implies changes, which for its part, take many forms. For instance, we have the purely biological changes such as weakening of the muscle strength, shortness of breath, graying of the hair, wrinkling of the skin and so on. There is the incidence of human disease, particularly those of the elderly who at certain point may be diagnosed with more than one illness. Next we have the cognitive decline such as the benign forgetfulness or the onset of dementia. This also includes the changes in the social environment and thus the experiences arising from it. Bere Miesen and Gemma Jones (1997) write that a model of a life-span perspective may be characterized by type of change, individual characteristics, coping behavior, adjustment in adaptation and the experience of quality of life. (p. 32) Finally, the Darwinian concept is very important in this perspective. It banks on the idea that humans share important characteristics through heredity and this in turn becomes a variable in the whole life-span development process. For example, virtually all of us develop in similar ways at similar ages such as walking and talking at age 1. And so, the study of development from a life-span perspective is multidisciplinary involving both biological and social sciences. Human development falls into three broad domains, namely: physical development, cognitive development and psychological development. (Sugarman 2001, p. 14) There are some who include personal and social developments but the previous three roughly cover everything. Human development meanwhile is divided into 8 periods: infancy, early childhood, middle childhood, late childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, middle adulthood and late adulthood. (Sugarman, p. 56-60) Contemporary concerns regarding life-span development include the questions on the eight periods in

Gendered Language Images and Context Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Gendered Language Images and Context - Assignment Example Author comes across a point which I find very interesting: Isn’t there the same determination on transgender people? Even among transgender individuals there’s a need to be defined rather you are a woman with a male gender, or a man with a female? Meanwhile, the main modern concern on a gender is â€Å"to free us from the bounds of enforced arbitrary behavioral norms predicted on gender† and a new category â€Å"transgender† won’t solve the problem (Green 11). Reframing Fortado, â€Å"Have you ever asked yourself what a â€Å"transgender† looks like?† (Fortado 32). Green fairly points, that gender is an absolutely private matter and too wide thing to describe within any categories (Green 14). Butler cites many postmodern authors, who used to doubt everything, and naturally, to question a whole idea of gender. There’s simply no reference for original gender, accept a social opinion on a male/ female performance (Butler 26). It makes gender rather image, created â€Å"around, on and within† the body than a real thing. In this way, gender is referred to artistic sphere, because art performances images. The origin of gender stereotypes may be found in some great books or other types of artworks and influence social expectations on males/ females. Then, may be the way to disprove gender stereotypes is also the artistic way? The site is about the one project which unites different European artists interested in question of gender and different sexuality. The goal is â€Å"to open up a civil reflection on gender and sexual orientation differences† (Performing Gender). When saying, â€Å"I am creating a boy’s world, but from the emotional center of a woman† Schorr firstly denies some strict boundaries between males and females fields of interest. Herself, Schorr is interested in boy’s world, - the world of brotherhood, - despite creating the image of that world viewed by a woman. Schorr investigates about

Artificial Intelligence and Expert Systems Dissertation

Artificial Intelligence and Expert Systems - Dissertation Example 2 Introduction The telecommunication engineering is considered as the most specific and high technology service industry. The constricted integration and Information technology applications related to the business procedures are its main characteristics. Moreover, in order to promote competition in this industry, the telecommunication industry is constantly deploying Information technology applications. The telecommunication environment is determined Due to its unique characteristics such as, distribution, continuous enlargement in network size and specific fault tolerance techniques. The application procedures are defined by the above characteristics. However, in telecommunication, the software systems need to overcome with a new variety of telecommunication protocols and a number of hardware platforms and network architectures. In fact, these systems consist of other characteristics for example, high cost, concurrency, high reliability needs, diversity and complexity (Patel 2002). The telecommunication operations are facing different challenges nowadays, for instance globalization and creative technology procedures. Thus, the industry would become more competitive in order to endure global market along with other competitors. Thus, in order to enhance the quality of services we need to increase cost. The developing economics and state-owned operators are basically privatized. This will help to provide improved and better services to the customers. On the contrary, several larger operators fortunately grab the best opportunities that are offered by the global telecommunication providers. For example, BT and Vodafone, this is due to the economies of scale factor present in the telecommunication networks. However, the technologies that are related with the Internet has been developing immensely thus contributing towards growing future of Internet and IP services and applications. In modern days, the clients are allowed to choose their own vendor and service prov iders according to their needs and can assemble their personal solutions. The new technologies such as 3G and mobile Internet speed up the production of new services. Therefore, the unchanging market has been converted into an increasingly user-driven market place. This change in telecommunication depends upon the operator’s capability to generate services and applications that are demanded by the customers. There is a vast range of software platforms, innovative variety of services and an increased customer based operations are available in order to manage an effective telecommunication infrastructure basics. The telecom operators must have the capability in order to develop themselves promptly, to implement and to maintain services for the customers demand anytime and anywhere. In addition, the artificial intelligence (AI) techniques are initially implemented to the telecommunication industry ages ago. During 1988, the artificial intelligence technique (IA) was first implem ented in telecommunication industry. Moreover, it was initially explained by the Macleish who describes the relationship between the two rapidly evolving technologies i.e. artificial intelligence (AI) and telecommunications. During that time, the major utilization related to the artificial intelligence (AI) in telecommunications was considered as the initial system that is designed for diagnosing complex equipment in all off-line modes. Currently, the DSS are integrated with artificial neural networks. The ANN is defined

Coca Cola Essay Example for Free

Coca Cola Essay Organizations need to change and adopt dynamic survival strategies to stay alive in uncertain political, social and economic environment (Hiatt and Creasy, 2003). All environmental factors present in the nature experience change on continuous basis. Human nature resists change, so managing that resistance requires well planned change management strategies. A structured approach to transfer organization, its people and processes from current state to a desired future state is called change management. This process gives employees the ability to accept changes in the existing environment of the business. Change can be of different type for example, change in technology, operations or strategies etc. company needs to implement individual strategies to cope with each type of change. Coca Cola Corporation is among one of the oldest corporations of the world. It has gone through many internal and external changes since it has been in existence. The company has used techniques of change management in order to survive from the consequences of those events. Coca Cola is a type of company that requires making changes in its products and business strategies according to the consumer expectations and external environment. Here in this study we would quote different examples from coca cola corporation’s history and will examine that what were the triggering events for opting the change and what strategies the company developed and implemented in order to successfully going through the transitioning process. Coca Cola is a type of company that requires making changes in its products and business strategies according to the consumer expectations and external environment. Here in this study we would quote different examples from coca cola corporation’s history and will examine that what were the triggering events for opting the change and what strategies the company developed and implemented in order to successfully going through the transitioning process. It is a well known fact that Coca Cola Corporation is an entrepreneurial venture started by one person who bought the formula from another firm and laid foundations of that beverages manufacturing firm. Current structure of the coca cola company is simple with minimal labor and management division. New system that can be adopted by the company may be the â€Å"machine bureaucracy† which has been defined as an organization with clearly defined hierarchy, well defined area of operations, standard operating procedures, proper rules and regulations, well division of labor, formal relationships among the member of organization, centralized decision making, technical competence and standardization of work. The company has faced a lot of external changes, for example in world war II, the company was able to manage its existing position at that time and also entered in many new markets and discovered new niches. The company established 64 plants across the world to supply drinks to the troops (Coca Cola Company, 2006-2011). The company also provided free drinks to soldiers which were the part of its strategy to become a patriotic symbol for the people of the country. Also it boosted the sales, so the company achieved two objectives by carefully planning to respond to that external environmental change. The plants developed by the company in war era helped its expansion after the war. The recent change management at coca cola is directed towards the intrinsic values and motivations of the employees and can be referred to as ‘employee engagement’. The change management process, together with internal branding programs is expected to bring about ideal behaviors in employees, which would align the operations of coca cola worldwide, and bring about efficiency throughout coca cola across all its business segments. Coca Cola Company can use two change management tools to make sure that all people who are required to be the part of change management process. These tools are Force Field analysis and AKADAR model. Force field analysis is a technique developed by Kurt Lewin to scrutinize the forces that are causing an opposition to change process (Bass, 2009). By doing Force Field Analysis, Coca Cola Company will be able to induct people who are in need of appropriate training. Another useful tool is AKADAR model which stands for Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinforcement. Through AKDAR model, firm creates awareness about the need of change, generate desire in the people to help in transitioning process, give knowledge to the people that how they can help the change process, develop an ability in the people to go through the change and provide them with continuous reinforcement to withstand the change (CMLR, 2011). Coca cola hopes to bring about a thoroughly integrated system of communications, and focus on creating brand relationships with their employees. This would enhance the operations of Coca cola, as an integrated approach would mean all employees believe in engaging fully in the values, and this would become an inherent part of the employees at a personal level. For this purpose, employee engagement surveys are conducted twice every year for all the coca cola associates, which serve to highlight the areas where action is required, and further actions and implementations can henceforth be executed. Employee engagement is very significant to all segments of operations at coca-cola and has translated into performance in areas where employee engagement is higher. For coca-cola, an engaged workforce means: A more committed workforce Employee performance aligned with organizational objectives Employees have a clear idea of what is expected of them and what are the deliverables Customer experience focuses an inherent part of employees’ values, who strives to provide a better experience to the customers. Customer focus was identified as a central tenant of the multi-year engagement strategy to be implemented in 2011(Gee, 2011) Change in inevitable. Therefore, the focus should not be on avoiding change, rather bringing about a smooth transition towards the new change by communication about the change, and ensuring all parties of the change that it is for the best of all those involved. To successfully implement organizational change of any nature, a specific regards to organizational structure, design, culture, management and leadership is required to see whether the change would make a best fit with the organizational goals and objectives. To conclude, it may be said that communication can be a key element to successful change management. Communicate the changes to the employees, tell them why the change was inevitable and how they will benefit from the change. The management should itself adopt a positive attitude towards the change so that employees can follow their lead and welcome the change. Coca-cola as a company has a heritage of embracing change rather than resist it and it should translate into their future endeavors towards change management to ensure that the organization is best poised to market and environmental conditions.

Business Goals and Structure of Infosys

Business Goals and Structure of Infosys Infosys is a global IT services company, its bases located in Pune, India, which provides a wide range of IT related services ranging from consulting, design, development, software reengineering, maintenance, systems integration, package evaluation, and implementation to infrastructure management. Prior to Infosys, Indias IT, software industries consisted of providing end-to-end business solutions at overseas locations. Infosys found that it would be more cost efficient if it has access to local talent, for there is actually a significantly well-educated population of human resources in India. The companys main positioning is to capitalize on the premise of globalization. In the words of Narayana Murthy, the founder of Infosys, the goal of Infosys is sourcing capital from where it is cheapest, producing where it is most cost-effective, and selling where it is most profitable, all without being constrained by national boundaries. When Infosys was first established in 1981 in India, by N.R. Narayana Murthy, and six other entrepreneurs, it began as a small-size firm, with just one employee. Infosys went public in 1993, and until then, it showed fairly modest growth. By late 1990s however, its revenues had increased from $2 million to $121 million, and its share price skyrocketed from 95 INR to 8,100 INR per share. Currently, Infosys is one of the largest IT companies in India, with over 130,000 employees. It has offices in 33 different countries and has development centers in India, China, Australia, UK, Canada, and Japan. Since 2000, for three consecutive years, Infosys was rated best employer to work for by Hewitt Associates, and was the only Indian company to win the Global MAKE award for three consecutive years. It has also been seeing a steady increase in applicants over the years. II. Unique organizational structure evolution of Infosys Due to the increasing acceptance and growth of global sourcing, the business executives and IT executives of Infosys see the need for effective change management to adjust to the changes in business environment. In case of Infosys, the organizational evolution involves setting the framework for work, coordinating and controlling what is to be done, and setting a common set of values for workers around the world. The organizational management of Infosys is a highly people-centric process. It begins with recruitment, training of new employees, and finally, the organizational management of hired employees. Infosys has very high criteria in recruiting its workers. The criteria seek for learnability, the ability for employees to quickly and flexibly take in what they are taught during the employee training stage. Infosys invests a significant portion of company revenue to the training of new employees. During the training program, newly hired workers are heavily trained in order to build skills in specific fields, such as analytical-thinking, problem-solving, principles of operating and database-management systems, networking, customer facing, and negotiation. This is to foster a large pool of workers who are capable of successfully dealing with international clients who have different values, backgrounds, and expectations. It moves on to set a common set of values for employees all around the globe. This set of values is referred to as C-life, which includes five core values of customer delight, leadership by example, integrity and transparency, fairness, and pursuit of excellence. Finally, in the overall organizational management of the company, focused on the hired employees, Infosys focuses on dealing with the complexities and uncertainties that exist in the versatile nature of strategic global sourcing. There are bound to be doubts and uncertainties that may be raised among employees, regarding their involvement in companys decision making process and the fear of being cut off after the completion of a transition, due to the traditional centralized structure of Infosys as an Indian company. In order to address these problems, Infosys has brought upon several changes in organizational management. First, to establish a change team that is supported by senior executives and consists of representatives from each of the key areas influenced by the change, to reach out to the employees and ensure that their concerns are heard and addressed, develop and implement risk mitigation strategies in case of employee retention, and developing a system of communication tha t can be successfully delivered across the organization. In short, Infosys emphasizes communication within the company in its evolutionary organizational structure, in order to tend to the problems that may rise due to the constantly changing nature of the related business environment. III. Challenges faced by Infosys It is evidently true that Infosys has made quiet a success regarding the fact that they started out as a small company. Starting from India, Infosys has successfully entered the global market too. However, the people of Infosys acknowledge the fact that the fast moving and developing society does not guarantee a sure success throughout the future. Until now, Infosys successfully reached some point of their goals on the people side and the business side as well. Children who grew in poor education conditions of India joined Infosys and earned pride, accomplishment and great potential. And Infosys was even hired to design part of the intricate wing structure of the superjumbo A380 aircraft as a result of their works to integrate low-cost, high-quality software development services with its competency of managing large scale projects in distributed locations. This success also brought along challenges for Infosys. The first challenge is to become proactive problem-definers rather than be reactive problem-solvers. Infosys now focuses on trying to solve the problems customers complain about. However, it has to transform its behavior to be more active and responding to customers. Infosys should be able to predict the problems and come up with specific actions to solve them before the customers complain. Infosyss aim is to provide solutions leveraging IT. In order to do this, it needs to plan technology solutions and act on implanting them. The second challenge is to become more and more multicultural. Even though Infosys has made some success in entering the global market and expanding its business boundaries across the world, it still needs to clear the remaining cultural barriers. Without doubt, Infosys has made some efforts. It rotates selected managers from various countries through their Infosys Leadership Institute. Also, when there is a large deal, people from different parts of the world contribute to prepare, defend, and to execute numerous proposals. However, this cannot be sufficient for a company to sustainably grow in the global market. Infosys faces some problems in transferring employees from one region to another, for instance, from the United States to India. Exchange and transformations of employees from various regions is crucial for international companies which shows that Infosys still needs to be more multicultural. Finally, the last challenge of Infosys is to continue to retain the soul of a small organization in the body of a large organization. Infosys initially started as an organization of seven people; Murthy and his six friends with a 250 dollar capital in 1981. Now, it consults more than 200 companies world-wide with a revenue of 6.04 billion dollars. It could be described as a dramatic development in 30 years. Inevitably, many procedures and organizational structures would have faced large modifications along with the development of the company. Now Infosys faces the challenge of balancing the organization procedures as well as becoming an integrated multicultural organization. There exists not one company which does not face challenges. Although Infosys faces multiple problems throughout the future, the CEO of Infosys claims to combat these challenges and win in a flat world. IV. The future prospect of Infosys and possibility of further growth while retaining its founding values Infosys was founded upon a clear vision and mission statement which enabled the sound and stable development of the organization. From its foundation, Infosys aimed to become a globally respected corporation in an environment of fairness, honesty, and courtesy towards its clients, employees, vendors and society at large. The five main values that drive Infosys towards this goal are customer delight, leadership by example, integrity and transparency, fairness, and pursuit of excellence. Nevertheless, the corporation realizes that continuing to retain a soul of a small organization in the body of a large, international organization could be a challenge in the upcoming future that it must address. While it is healthy for an organization to prepare and be prudent, there are enough reasons to believe that Infosys will be able to retain and even increase its growth rate while maintaining its integral founding values at the same time. Infosys emphasizes that human capital as the main asset of the organization. Infosys currently has more than 520,000 employees located in 33 countries worldwide. Infosys is renowned to heavily invest in its employees because it believes that the progress and success of the corporation depends on its workers. The lucky 1 percent of the applicants who are selected to work at Infosys still has to undergo 14 weeks of rigorous boot camp to earn the chance to take the final tests and become official Infoscions. These 14 weeks of training aims to truly transfer the founding values of Infosys so that every Infoscion would always the importance of the basic values that led to the companys success. The process of becoming an employee at Infosys is extremely difficult but the system can ensure that the corporation only picks the best and the brightest workers who can truly add to the value of the international company. The last decade of performance has shown that Infosys continued to prosper w hen they hired more and more of qualified workers around the world. Exhibit 1 and exhibit 2 shown above depict the positive relationship of Infosys employees strength and the revenue of the company. The average employee growth rate during the decade of 1996 to 2006 was 40 percent while its revenue growth rate was 39 percent. As Infosys continues to expand its pool of workers to around the world through its Global Labor Pool, it is best positioned to become a truly multicultural organization that can understand the cultural nuances and languages of its vast client base. Infosys is ready to enjoy high growth of sales in the future while retaining the soul and values of a humble small organization. V. Conclusion-Infosys in 2015 Infosys will be able to grow even more due to the fast changing financial market. By 2015, the world will continue to flatten, fiscal market will further open and this will benefit the world economy, and market regulations will be reduced with technological progress. It will be a true era of globalization and technological advancement. In the financial market there will be a shift of power from the financial institutions to the customers. As technology will give more power to customers to directly take control, Infosys role will become even more crucial in the future in providing high-end-to-end business solutions. Therefore, Infosys will hire more highly trained workers in strategic locations in the world and become an even more multicultural corporation that builds trust and communicates with its customers to establish the status of the most globally respected organization in the world in its field by 2015.

Processing Algorithm For Laser Keyboards Computer Science Essay

Processing Algorithm For Laser Keyboards Computer Science Essay The interface which we use to interact with a computer is a hardware device called the keyboard. There have been drastic changes in the keyboard layouts which have evolved into the designs like those of the DVORAK and QWERTY keyboards. Then came the digital era where almost everything is in the digital form making things simpler to use and smaller in size. As the demand for more computing environments have evolved, new human computer interfaces have been implemented to provide multi-form interactions between users and machines. Nonetheless, the basis for most human to computer interactions remains the traditional keyboard and mouse. Ordinary keyboards are reasonably sized, comfortable and effective. However, they are difficult to carry and often require wiring. To overcome these problems a smaller and more mobile touch typing device has been proposed which does not have any physical support. This device is known as virtual keyboard or zero form factor interface. Introduction In 1999, a proposal was made to use a single tiny sensor to observe the users fingers transforming motions into keystrokes. The main idea was to make a keyboard out of sensors and light, projecting it on desktops, airplane tray tables and any other flat surface. This started a new concept of using a keyboard with a different interface. The virtual keyboard was designed in a way to replace laptops mechanical keyboards, making the devices thinner and lighter. The virtual keyboard is an unbreakable, washable keypad, projected onto a flat surface used in hospital operating rooms, space vehicles and in other computerized environments. Types of Virtual Keyboards 2.1 On Screen keyboard The on-screen keyboard is built in with the windows operating system. This started a revolution of virtual keyboards in this digital era. It allows users with mobility impairments to type data by using a pointing device or joystick. It provides a minimum level of functionality for some people with mobility impairments and also helps users who do not know how to type. It can be used even when there is no external keyboard. It is also referred to sometimes as hot virtual keyboard. A number of advanced features have been enabled to make the on-screen typing easier, faster and more accurate. It lets the users to type accurately and faster by suggesting words based on taps. This technology works similar to the one available in modern mobile phones and communicators, enabling faster and accurate typing by suggesting the correct words after entering a few symbols. This keyboard will be more useful for users of TabletPC, Ultra-mobile PC, PanelPC, CarPC and similar touch-screen devices. The picture below is that of an on-screen keyboard. Figure 1(Tan, D. S., Keyani, P., and Czerwinski, M. 2005) Affordances of On-Screen Keyboard Replacing physical keyboard: The on-screen keyboard is designed in such a way that, it replaces the physical keyboard. The people using the computer systems will find its usage very much helpful. Can do all the work: It functions just like an ordinary keyboard having all the QWERTY keys. It also helps the users from the tedious work of typing. 2.2 Laser Keyboard The laser keyboard actually replaces the traditional keyboard. This can be placed on any kind of flat surface. It can be automatically connected to the nearest device available using the bluetooth technology. It is about the size of a small cellular phone and enables the users to type texts or e-mails as easily as like a ordinary keyboard. It uses a light projection of a full-sized computer keyboard on almost any surface. Used with PDAs and Smart Phones, the virtual keyboard provides a practical way to do e-mail, word processing and spreadsheet tasks, enabling the users to leave laptops and computers at home. The virtual keyboard adaptable technology studies the users finger movements to interpret and record keystrokes. As the virtual keyboard is an image projected by light, it disappears completely when not in use. The picture shown below is that of a laser keyboard. C:Documents and Settingss507046Desktoplaser_keyboard.jpg Figure 2 (Tomasi, C., Rafii, A., and Torunoglu, I. 2003) TECHNICAL ASPECTS: I-Techs opinion was to build everything from scratch. In the process, they designed sensors based on a variety of principles, from the special- purpose structured-light devices called beam trangulators to methods based on the measurement of time and phase1 of returning light pulses invented by Canestas Cyrus Bamji. The main hardware modules used in the architecture of the virtual keyboard are categorized into three modules namely 3-D optical camera, visual feedback and a processing platform. The camera is connected to the platform and to the PC via USB 2.0 interface. Using serial port the feedback communicates with the computer system. The sensors in the camera are designed in such a way that it avoids all other background light. Together, they cost less than a mechanical keyboard, and draw less power than a cell phone. The resulting system feels almost like a mechanical keyboard, even if users feel only the impact of their fingers on the projection surface when typing. The optical system projects the keyboard onto the typing surface; its infrared light source generates an invisible, fan-shaped beam grazing the surface; and its sensing system includes a processing unit. All are in fixed relative positions; no user adjustment is required. The projector is positioned high on the host device. In the simplest sensor, the camera looks down at the typing surface at a shallow angle through a wide lens sensitive only to infrared light. A finger striking the typing surface breaks the infrared beam, thereby becoming visible to the camera. Triangulation then determines the position of the finger on the typing surface. Even with this simple sensor, implementation of the projection keyboard under the constraints of weight, size, power, cost, reliability, and usability has involved formidable technical challenges. Keyboard projection: Most current optical-projection systems mask light to form images at a distance. For instance, in a slide projector, the slide itself blocks part of the light hitting it; the remaining light makes it through the lens and onto the screen, forming the image. This is the basic technique used in the projection of the keyboard on a flat surface. Finger lighting and sensing: When typing, a users useful action occurs in the thin layer of space that separates the hovering and constantly moving fingers from the surface of the keyboard. In a perfect world, an infinitesimally thin sheet of infrared light grazing the typing surface could be used as a trip switch; when a finger intersects the beam, it would also be touching the surface. In this instance, a finger that becomes visible to the camera is a finger that hits a key, and all that is left for the sensor is determining the fingers position by triangulation. Affordances of Laser Keyboard Easy to use: The laser keyboard is very easy to use. It gets connected to an available computer system easily without much effort. Easy to install: It is very easy to install and requires no wiring for it. It uses the Bluetooth technology to get connected to the computer systems. Portable: As it looks like a mobile phone, it is very much portable and is used irrespective of the surface used for typing purposes. It can be used as an ordinary keyboard with adjustable sensors which allow the user to change the size of the keyboard according to his usage. 2.3 Laser Pen Keyboard In the laser pen keyboard the sensors are attached to a device which looks like a pen. The setup also has a projector which displays the keyboard on the screen. When it is integrated with the projector it is merely used as a projecting device which projects just what is being printed on the screen. It can also be connected with a monitor for viewing the display. A picture of the laser pen keyboard is shown below. C:Documents and SettingsS506432DesktopVKBpens5.jpg Figure 3(Retrieved from http://us.gizmodo.com/gadgets/images/laserpen.jpg) Technical interface The sensors in the setup used for projecting the keyboard are the infra red rays. These rays are projected on to a flat surface for better sensing of hovering of the keys. The usage of this keyboard is very convenient as it has no wires to connect. The lithium batteries in the sensors allow us to use this setup continuously for 2 hours of typing. It comes with 63 keys and a full size QWERTY layout which allows the user to be as comfortable as he is with the standard ordinary keyboard. This also has a stylus which allows the users to use the keyboard in a compact area where the resizing of the keyboard becomes a necessity. One of the advantages of using this keyboard is that the size of the keyboard can be altered as per the user. Affordances of Laser Pen Keyboard Simple to use: The setup for the laser pen keyboard is very simple to use. This makes the users to perform tasks in a simpler way. Laser pen keyboard can be connected to any computing device to perform input actions for the device. Connection can be made without using wires or any physical network. Screen Projection: Laser pen keyboard not only has a keyboard projection but also has a screen projection. One pen does the keyboard projection with numbers of keys on keyboard and the other pen does the screen projection which shows the keys which are selected and also actions done on the keyboard. Working of Laser Keyboards: The working of the virtual keyboard consists of five main modules (1) depth map error correction, a camera dependent module based on specific models designed for the range camera, (2) background subtraction, (3) central column estimation, (4) fingertip detection, and (5) keystroke detection. The figure shows the complete working of the basic working implemented in the design of the virtual keyboards. Figure 4(Huan Du, Thierry Oggier, Felix Lustenberger and Edoardo Charbon 2004) A 3D range camera is placed over the input surface with a well-defined angle facing the working area. The size of the working area is limited by the spatial resolution of the camera. The display projector is mounted on the camera which would generate the visual feedback for the keyboard and input information. The camera is adjusted at startup. It assumes the surface as a projection matrix. The keystroke detection is usually done through this projection matrix. This is passed as a map and is processed for error correction. The error correction compensates the errors caused by the unevenness of the surface. The rectified range measurements, combined with gray-scale image, are then subtracted from the reference image. It is then stored as a binary format in the matrix formed. After applying the central column estimation, which is defined as the pixel segments associated with fingers that are good candidates for an event, by searching the local extreme in x-coordinate along the hand boundary, and applying the fingertip detection by extracting features with curve modeling, precise location of fingertips can be found in the hand region. Finally, the keystroke detection is obtained by fitting depth curve applying another feature model, and the corresponding hitting positions are mapped back to the world coordinate system to infer the stricken keys. The updated key status is then sent to visual feedback module to generate refreshed display. The visual feedback module projects a dynamically generated image on to a LCD. When the algorithm used, detects a key-striking event on the surface, an UPDATE command is sent. The command contains the specific key information. It updates the generated display and the user can see the change of keyboard image as a textual or graphical update. The information supplied by the camera allows developing a few simpler and more efficient algorithms to estimate the position of fingertips and to locate the corresponding key. Simplicity and efficiency are key elements to enable real-time and even portable applications. Future and Scope of the Project: Users see this as an emerging technology which helps as an interface to connect to the digital world. Though its use is being restricted to fewer applications now, as users learn more about this, it can be expected that users for this virtual keyboard increase in the near future. However there are a few challenges in this project. The main disadvantage is that of light scattering and close target. And due to this the image resolution becomes low and restricts the user to use it with a large view window. In the future, we may expect that the above said disadvantages will be solved and virtual keyboard will be used on flat surfaces and also on uneven surfaces. The keyboard could also be used on any type of surface like water and so on, so that the user can use the keyboard when ever and where ever necessary. CONCLUSION: More than a decade ago, (Mark Weiser,2000) of Xerox PARC, said, The most profound technologies are those that disappear. They weave themselves into the fabric of everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it. This fundamental unobtrusiveness is the main metric of validity for the fledgling field of electronic perception technology. The virtual keyboard can be termed a great invention in the digital world. Users look forward for it being used in a more effective way than before. Users also can expect the inventors to make an advancement of it in such a way that it can be used on any kind of a surface.

gossip girl :: essays research papers

From this review: "Nothing I say in this review can bring justice to master storyteller Cecily Von Ziegesar, whose research comes from her own life as an upper eastside, New York City teen. She has a reality-based knack for bringing cigarette-and-pot smoking rich kids into three-dimensional color. As naughty as these characters seem on every page, they are revealed to be real kids wanting to fit into accepted, meaningful lives as much as sleek clothes..† Rich girl Blair Waldorf is about to discover what it’s like to not get her way. Almost seventeen, she has careful plans: to lose her virginity to steady beau Nate and get into Yale. But life has alternate designs. Her mom is marrying a bald-headed dweeb and his dreadlocked son and slobbery dog are moving in. While her mom plans her wedding on the day of Blair’s birthday, Nate starts dodging her instant messages. Blair’s worse fears are coming true : Nate is losing interest. Then she has a total breakdown at her Yale interview, resorting to tears and cheek-kissing – humiliating herself and blowing any chance of getting in. In the meantime, Blair’s ex best friend, perfect-girl Serena is mixing with artsy West-siders, competing with Blair and others in their all-girl school for a prestigious film award. But Serena has her own problems. She is casually dating a West-sider named Dan, who is becoming obsessed. Can his sulky love poems win her heart? Nothing I say in this review can bring justice to master storyteller Cecily Von Ziegesar, whose research comes from her own life as an upper eastside, New York City teen. She has a reality-based knack for bringing cigarette-and-pot smoking rich kids into three-dimensional color. As naughty as these characters seem on every page, they are revealed to be real kids wanting to fit into accepted, meaningful lives as much as sleek clothes. This second GOSSIP GIRL book in the New York Times Bestselling GOSSIP GIRL series is an edgy page-turner. *Fun Notes: In the book, Gossip Girl is an anonymous online character who reports on the latest events in the lives of New York City’s richest teens at her site www.

Celeron or Pentium II? :: Research Papers

Celeron or Pentium II? The computer industry is flourishing because of the advent of new, powerful processors. Recently, Intel Corp. released its Pentium II-450 MHz chip: the fastest processor on the planet. But because the chip is overpriced, Intel is also marketing the downgraded version of a PII, the inexpensive Celeron-333 which has a 128K cache compared to the PII’s 512K cache. To potential computer buyers, this situation presents a dilemma because they must decide whether to opt for price (i.e. buy the Celeron) or speed (i.e. buy the PII-450). In an attempt to answer this question, Lincoln Spector of PC World and Christopher Yates of PC Week analyze the two chips in their articles entitled "Double Feature" and "Intel Celeron Cache in With New Power," published in October and August of 1998 respectively. In this paper, a rhetorical and discourse analysis will be performed on the two articles to examine the similar and different strategies used by Spector and Yates in presenting their argum ents. The strategies will determine which article is more convincing. Since the articles are present in magazines that pertain to the genre of computer and computer writing, it is first also necessary to analyze the genre. Comparing and contrasting the magazines can obtain an introduction to the way material is presented and organized. The criteria for the analysis include the types of articles present in the magazines. In addition, analyzing the sources of evidence used to support the claims can provide crucial information to the kinds of appeals (i.e. logos, ethos, or pathos) used by the authors writing in the genre of computer writing. Other similar factors such as article length, ads, and the advertisers can also be examined. But the demographic data of the magazines is of utmost importance because it describes the audience and thus, defines the way authors write for their audience. PC World and PC Week have a circulation of 1,125,000 and 305,443 respectively. The former is published monthly and the latter is printed weekly. Eighty-eight percent of the audience of PC World is male and the remainder is female, with ages ranging from 25 to 54 years. Thirteen percent of both magazines' readers are employed by the computer industry, while 59% of PC World's compared to 13% of PC Week's readers work in some sort of management (SRDS 445). Celeron or Pentium II? :: Research Papers Celeron or Pentium II? The computer industry is flourishing because of the advent of new, powerful processors. Recently, Intel Corp. released its Pentium II-450 MHz chip: the fastest processor on the planet. But because the chip is overpriced, Intel is also marketing the downgraded version of a PII, the inexpensive Celeron-333 which has a 128K cache compared to the PII’s 512K cache. To potential computer buyers, this situation presents a dilemma because they must decide whether to opt for price (i.e. buy the Celeron) or speed (i.e. buy the PII-450). In an attempt to answer this question, Lincoln Spector of PC World and Christopher Yates of PC Week analyze the two chips in their articles entitled "Double Feature" and "Intel Celeron Cache in With New Power," published in October and August of 1998 respectively. In this paper, a rhetorical and discourse analysis will be performed on the two articles to examine the similar and different strategies used by Spector and Yates in presenting their argum ents. The strategies will determine which article is more convincing. Since the articles are present in magazines that pertain to the genre of computer and computer writing, it is first also necessary to analyze the genre. Comparing and contrasting the magazines can obtain an introduction to the way material is presented and organized. The criteria for the analysis include the types of articles present in the magazines. In addition, analyzing the sources of evidence used to support the claims can provide crucial information to the kinds of appeals (i.e. logos, ethos, or pathos) used by the authors writing in the genre of computer writing. Other similar factors such as article length, ads, and the advertisers can also be examined. But the demographic data of the magazines is of utmost importance because it describes the audience and thus, defines the way authors write for their audience. PC World and PC Week have a circulation of 1,125,000 and 305,443 respectively. The former is published monthly and the latter is printed weekly. Eighty-eight percent of the audience of PC World is male and the remainder is female, with ages ranging from 25 to 54 years. Thirteen percent of both magazines' readers are employed by the computer industry, while 59% of PC World's compared to 13% of PC Week's readers work in some sort of management (SRDS 445).

Family and Different Types Essay

Criteria E2 Collate information about how care for children may be provided within families and society. For this section you need to gather and present information on the many ways children are cared for by families and society. Remember to collate information in the form of screen dumps, images, leaflets and other relevant documents with written descriptions and appropriate referencing. You could use a spider diagram to illustrate the different settings as a visual introduction. Family In your assignment consider these questions Why are parents and primary carers of children important? What are the different types of parenting styles? (authoritarian, Permissive and authoratitive) What do we mean about good enough parenting? What are the different types of family structures? Class tasks 1. Read pages 328/9 in Tassoni, P. et al (2007) Child care and education and write notes on the different types of family structure. 2. View this you tube video on Diana Baumrind’s theory of parenting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW09WECYlbI 3. Read and make brief notes on this BMj article on â€Å"Good enough parenting† http://adc.bmj.com/content/78/4/293.full 4. View this Website and record some relevant â€Å"Statistic on the family† http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/family-demography/families-and-households/2011/stb-families-households.html Society Children are cared for by many different settings. Consider the following headings to provide a structure to your writing. Write an introduction to each heading and provide a range of descriptions in each type of setting. Statutory – nursery, primary, secondary schools; children centres; hospitals; special needs schools; residential care; foster care; adoption services Private – Crà ¨che; child minder; nursery school; Voluntary – holiday play schemes; play groups; respite care services Independent settings – private schools and kindergartens Class task: E3 include evidence which compares the different roles of statutory private, voluntary and independent settings As well as your explanation of the different types of services, it might be useful to consider a chart to compare the services offered. Complete the chart by investigating the differences and similarities of the sector and give examples in each section.

Little Mermaid Comparisons

I've never realized that Disney's The Little Mermaid was not an original Disney character/story, though this shouldn't have been a surprise since Disney's princesses all come from stories developed by people outside of Disney. Like Disney they take someone's original story and add so much more to them to make them appropriate and more appealing to children of all ages. Andersen and Disney both share the similar story lines when it comes to the main idea of the story. In both The Little Mermaid stories, Ariel wanted to ultimately become human so that she could be with Eric. She also sided with Ursula in a deal that would give her legs in exchange for her voice; in Disney's version her voice was kept in a nautilus shell by Ursula, in Andersen's version she actually gave up her tongue. She wouldn't stay human forever if she didn't end up with Eric. The punishments were different in both stories if she didn't end up with Eric, and both punishments did happen in one way or another. Andersen's story says that if Ariel didn't marry her on the dawn of the next day after he marries another woman she will die brokenhearted and will disintegrate into sea foam; however in Disney's version Ariel will return to her regular foam but will belong to Ursula. Ariel gets her legs and is fine physically according to Disney, but in Andersen's story every time she moves it feels as if she is being stabbed in the legs and her feet bleed terribly. Eric also falls for her until Ursula deceives him by using Ariel's voice leading him to believe that she is the one that saved him, therefore he wants to marry her. It's a big commotion at the wedding and Ariel eventually gets her voice back and when Eric tries to kiss her to make the transition complete, the sun sets and Ariel is returned to mermaid form and kidnapped by Ursula. In the other story the prince thinks the woman he saw at the temple where he was put after being rescued was the one that saved him, so instead he marries her. Since the Prince marries the other girl instead, causing The Little Mermaid to brace herself for her awaiting death, her sisters try to save her by letting her know that they made a deal with the sea witch that if she kills the prince with the knife that they've got and let his blood drip on her feet she'll return to mermaid form and everything would be fine. She couldn't kill the prince and instead died and turned into sea form but she did get a eternal soul because she strove with all her heart to gain an eternal soul. Disney adds more things to the story that makes it even longer than the original and a sort of musical. They're version is also not as dark as the original, and Ariel does end up with Eric unlike Andersen's story where she dies anyway. Andersen's version shows no expression towards the idea of childhood, my opinion would be because of how dark the original story was, it doesn't even seem like it is for children. Disney's version is very expressive when showing ideas towards childhood, the story itself is very colorful and appealing to children with the fun characters and songs. The Disney version serves as an example of DeZengotita's â€Å"Me World† because Ariel is surrounded in her own world wondering about humans and they're way of life and ultimately wanting to become one herself. She represents herself in different ways whether it be by song, or by her actions.

Three Cups of Tea: Story of Courage, Empathy, and the Will to Make a Change

Three Cups of Tea presents a remarkable story of courage, empathy and most importantly the will to help out and make a change. It takes us through the journey of a lifetime that Greg Mortenson experienced while embarking through Pakistan and Afghanistan. His incredible character and motivation helped change the lives of thousands of Pakistani citizens, but mostly those women and children. He accomplished this through building 141 schools across Pakistan, as in his mind an education is the most important thing a person can receive. Mortenson put all his own needs and wants behind himself in order to fulfill those of others. The road to all his success was not an easy one though. He had to overcome many barriers in his final goal of educating a developing world like that of Pakistan. The author believes that the barriers to educating the poor are social issues, financial issues and cultural differences, this paper will prove that to be correct as I will highlight some of the major events and problems he had to work though on his pathway to success. The Will to Make a Change In our world of today many people want to help out those in need and really make a difference before they leave this world. It’s really nice to say that, and many people do but only a select few actually take action and do it. In my opinion a lot of people just don’t know how to get started. How can they, just one person, start something big enough to impact the lives of so many people? So to get some insight lets go back to the very start of Greg Mortenson’s journey to improving the world in his own way. Mortenson came from a family that loved to travel and also had a great passion for helping others. His upbringing was what really helped shape his character and personality. He was born in America, but when he was very young his family moved to Tanzania, Africa. His father, along with others helped to build a teaching medical centre in Kilimanjaro, and his mother helped to build a school in Moshi. His parent’s great acts to help out others really influenced the way he looked at the world. Mortenson was a very active and adventurous person and had a passion for mountaineering. In 1993 he planned out a trek to climb the world’s second high peak, K2 in Kenya, along with 4 others. He planned this trip as a memorial to his sister who he had lost a few years earlier. After spending 70 days on the mountain they had to make a dramatic 72 hour life saving rescue for one of the other climbers. This took a lot out of Mortenson, physically and mentally which prevented him from making it to the top. So he began his descent, but took a wrong turn along the way, getting lost from the group. He ended up in a small and very poor village called Korphe. He was suffering from fatigue, dehydration, altitude sickness and vertigo. The village people took him in and did everything they could to care for him and ensure his well being. As he recovered he was blown away at their amazing hospitality and loving nature towards him. The village had no school and the kids tried to learn by writing in the dirt with sticks. Mortenson was shocked that these people had no resources to learn and improve their quality of life, a thing that so many people take for granted back in America. While he regained strength he wanted to help out those who had so greatly helped him recover. Mortenson had lots of medical training and so he used what little supplies he had to treat as many people as he could. He left the village leaving anything that could be helpful to these people such as pens, flashlights, small containers and even any clothes he wasn’t wearing. Before he departed to return home he made a promise, one that would forever change his life. He promised the Balti people of Korphe that he would build them a school. In his eyes education is the biggest factor in being able to be successful. Education is the stepping stone to improving your quality of life and being able to prosper. While doing research for the country comparison assignment I noticed that the developed countries such as Canada, who had very high education rates for both genders, had less high percentages in categories such as infant mortality, population, poverty level and literacy rate. I think that a big link between these things is educating women. Women are just as capable in any position as men, they just need the same resources. So he to give these people the same opportunities that everyone was getting back in America. So off he set home, with inspiration in his mind and hope in his heart. His main goal was to educate and empower women. I think that this is so important because throughout this course we have learned many reasons why educating women is so crucial for solving many of the world’s big issues. For example we learned that educating women can be a big factor in reducing the problem of overpopulation. There have been studies shown that if women in third world countries are educated they are less likely to have as many children and they will be more successful in the long run. Mortenson wanted to give them a chance to learn and prosper in such a male dominated part of the world. Upon arriving home to California, Mortenson was brought to reality where he really realised what he had done. While on the plane home he felt empowered and ready for such a challenge but back in America he felt stuck. This is usually the part that most people get to. They have some inspiration and great ideas to help but they don’t know how to take action. Or they realise how much work and money will be involved in the process of making a change. All that he owned to his name was a small storage locker with some possessions in it. He looked around at fancy business people walking down the streets, only concerned with when their next Starbucks break would be. He was going through culture shock, jet lag and just plain confusion. How can these people think their problems are so important when people halfway across the world are struggling just to get a basic education? Mortenson suddenly felt lost in his previous home. He didn’t fit in with these people. He wanted to be back in Afghanistan with, what was in his eyes, his real family. So to get there he had to tackle one of his biggest obstacles, money. He knew that he could get a job at the local hospital, as he had healthcare degrees from university, but he knew that this would not be enough. Before he had left he roughly estimated how much it the whole thing would cost. His estimate came to about $12,000. How on earth was he supposed to come up with this money? So Mortenson came up with an idea, he would get sponsors. So first he needed to get his message out and get eople aware and interested. Being not very technologically advanced, even in the year 1993, he rented a typewriter to write out letters to several famous people explaining his situation and asking for any donations. The only problem with typewriters is that if you make any mistakes you have to start over. After 5 hours of work he had only completed 4 successful letters. Since the letters would take him a lot longer tha t he had predicted he was saving in every aspect that he could. He lived out of his car and worked as many shifts as he could as a registered nurse at the local hospital ER. Whenever he wasn’t working he painstakingly typed out more letters and mailed them off to every important person he could think of. One day one of his problems was dramatically solved though, as he was introduced to a computer for the first time. He got a tutorial from a friend and was now was able to print out as many letters as he could think of people to send them to. Slowly things were looking up for him. His first donation came from students from his mom’s class who had organised a penny fundraiser, bringing in $623. 45. Out of all 580 letters he had sent out he only got one reply, along with a cheque for $100 and a wish good luck. Although he had received a couple donations, Mortenson felt like he was making little to no progress. Other famous climbers had foundations that had people knocking on their doors to give them thousands of dollars. Things also got rocky as his current girlfriend was getting annoyed at all the nights spent in the car and the tightness of cash. His situation dramatically changed one day as a friend of his suggested he visit a man named Dr. Jean Hoerni, a successful physicist who had made quite the fortune in his work. Hoerni was a no nonsense man, who greatly intimidated Mortenson. After a short phone call with Hoerni, Mortenson walked away $12,000 richer towards his school. So he sold the rest of his possessions to get extra cash for any miscalculations or emergencies. Finally he painfully drove his car to the dealership and sold his home for the past year to buy a plane ticket. So far he had completed phase one of his plan, raising enough funds. So as he boarded the plane he embarked on a journey that would forever change the course of his life. Never an Easy Route Greg arrived back in Afghanistan, fully determined and ready to start building his school. He had exactly $12,800 dollars, $12,000 for the school and $800 to get him through while building the school. He was on a strict budget, every rupee counted and anything wasted, in his mind, was just taking away books or pencils that he could buy for the students. Greg had some friends to help him was ready to jump right into it, but the way people operate there is much more relaxed than the fast paced American society. So after a couple days he was finally able to get started and gather materials. Mortenson wanted only the best materials for his school; he didn’t want it to crumble to the ground after a long hard winter. Although this became the first of many problems for him, this one being more of a social issue more than anything. People who be bought from didn’t know him or what he was doing. They just looked at him by his appearance, an American. To them he came from far away and did not know their culture and ways of life. So they could rip him off. Charge him high prices for cheaply made materials. Another problem with this part of the world is that everyone wants their share. If you’re paying me to transport the wood for you I get to keep some. This frustrated Mortenson as he had worked so hard and was on a very tight budget. He needed to remind himself though that this way just the way their world worked. Mortenson really wanted to connect with these people and was eager to learn about their culture and religious beliefs. Religion plays a huge role in the everyday lives of Muslims. They have several prayer times throughout the day where the whole city stops, no matter where they are, to pray. Mortenson knew this could be a touchy subject, but he finally asked one of his friends to show him how to pray. He struggled through it, not fully understanding the process but hoped to improve and really immerse into their culture. He wanted to be respected and wanted to be able to understand these people. Finally about a week after arriving, Mortenson was finally ready with all his materials to make the 3 day trek to the small, isolated village of Korphe to build his school. After purchasing all his materials his financial situation was even lower than he had expected, which posed as a possible big problem, leaving small room for error. The journey to Korphe was in itself a whole story. Upon arriving in Korphe he was very kindly greeted by hundreds of village people. They were surprised yet happy to see him. Many climbers come through their villages and make promises to them that rarely get fulfilled. Here before them was Greg, who was ready to build them a school, to give them the gift of education. As he discussed plans with the village leaders, he was presented with what would be the biggest problem to date. They wanted the school to be built inside the village of Korphe. Mortenson had planned for it to be built just outside the village as the only way into the village was across a small rickety pulley system that went over a large ravine with the Braldu River running through it at the bottom. The village leaders thought it would be most beneficial for them to be able to be connected with the outside world if they were to build a bridge, and that way they would also be able to transport all the materials across the bridge into the village. This would cause Mortenson a lot more work and a lot more funding. He also agreed that it would be a good idea to connect them with the outside world a bit more though, as they were very isolated. Almost a full year later Mortenson had finally succeeded in building a school, and a bridge for the village of Korphe. He felt amazing. He really knew how much this would help their people and how much it would impact their lives. Mortenson didn’t want to stop here though. So with the financial help of his close friend Jean Hoerni he was able to start a foundation called Central Asia Institute or CAI. Hoerni gave him a large donation to start off, but that wouldn’t last forever. So whenever Mortenson was back in America he would travel around to give presentations in hopes of getting some donations. This was another barrier for him, as it was difficult to get people interested and he has quite the fear of public speaking. Sometimes he would be in a venue with 500 chairs set up and he would be presenting to only 3 people. It became even more difficult to get people interested after 9/11 happened. No one wanted to help him. Everyone questioned why he wanted to help these people. Mortenson received hate letters and even death threats constantly. This greatly frustrated him as they didn’t know the individual hardworking and kind people that he knew. They were judging a whole population off one extremist group. It was unfair to these people who did nothing wrong. He lost a lot of the support that he previously had from his own country. This was a huge social issue for him as now his own people didn’t understand what he was doing. Even today in 2013, 12 years after the 9/11 attacks people still judge Islamic people and look down upon them. I think when most people hear the term terrorist the associate it with an Islamic person, which is extremely racist and unfair towards these people. What Mortenson was able to realize was that at the end of the day, they are just the same as us. They want the best for their kids. They want to enjoy life, family and friends. Yes, there are cultural differences but when it comes down to it we are all humans on the same Earth. There are extremist groups in any culture, and it is unjust to blame a whole society of people for a small groups actions. Regardless of this Mortenson was still able to keep going with his projects in Pakistan and was building schools at a very fast rate. People were contacting him from all over wanting him to build schools in their villages. Along with building schools he also built community centers for people to go, with resources like sports and libraries. He gave special donations to certain people who contacted him personally who wanted money for further studies. In one particular case he funded a young woman who went on to do a 4 month medical course. With this she was able to return to her village and help out so many people. People there no longer had to worry of death from something as small as a cold. The women even said that there is not a single person in the area that believes that women should not be educated. People were starting to realize the importance and great benefits of educating women. She couldn’t believe the progress and improvement it had made for her own life and the lives of so many people she was able to save because of it. She wants to pass on her training and education to other women in hope that it can benefit them as well. There were a couple personal stories like this throughout the story which gave a great perspective on the actual effect of Mortenson’s work and how it really helped. His project to educate the poor was really working, and had successful examples of people that it helped out significantly. In the long run I think that what Mortenson is doing can greatly help out their economy. He has set them on a pathway for a more bright and prosperous future by giving them so many resources to succeed. Impact for the Future Greg Mortenson had so far successfully built 141 schools across Pakistan. He started as a small organization of one person typing out letters in hopes to get donations and build one school. That has turned into so much more. The impact that he has made is just incredible. Without him so many kids would grow up with no bright future and living in extreme levels of poverty. He gave them purpose and reason to keep going. His motivation and great attitude can serve as an inspiration everyone. He encountered so many barriers, whether it be social, financial, political or religious. Mortenson did so much more than just build schools. He really changed the opinions of so many Pakistani people. Before he came, they had a preconceived idea of Americans. In a country so corrupt like Pakistan the people have little opportunities to learn. Most people, especially in rural areas don`t have access to the internet or incoming media. All their beliefs come from word of mouth, and higher powers within their government. The Taliban gave a horrible impression of Americans. They painted a picture of evil people who were someone that they should hate. The people believed them, having no other sources for information. When Mortenson first came in, there were many social and political barriers he had to overcome. He was even captured at one point and held hostage for several days before being released. People saw him and immediately didn`t like him. They judged him on the sole fact of what he looked like, an American. After a while, when word got around of what he was doing, this slowly started to change. People got wind of the fact than an American was here, in their own country to help them out. This confused them. Weren`t Americans bad? Slowly their opinions were changed. The Taliban wasn’t building schools for them and educating their people. All they were doing was causing more conflict and stress to their lives. The American was here helping them and improving their lives. People gained more respect for Americans and less for the corrupt power that was doing nothing for them. He changed the lives of many, changed their impressions and gave people hope. He managed his whole foundation with very little help. He didn’t have a secretary for the longest time, and he made all arrangements himself. He has almost single handily created a movement for educating and inspiring people in such a corrupt, developing nation. He is a true hero of our century. Conclusion Reading the novel Three Cups of Tea has really given me a better perspective on different types of culture and ways of life. I feel more educated and enlightened on many topics now. I feel as though I have a much better understand on many of the conflicts occurring in the Middle East. It really gave an unbiased view rather than what we hear from the media daily. I feel as though I really know both sides of the story now when I hear different stories published in the news. Greg Mortenson was brave to publish his story, but I’m glad that he did as it is an incredible one that should be praised. I would even go so far as to say that I think he would be a deserving candidate of a Nobel Peace Prize. Throughout reading the novel and writing the report I was able to connect it to many stories we read about in class and different discussions that we had. I could compare it to many different social, political, economic and environmental issues that occurred throughout the novel. It was interesting to get an insider view on their ways of life and how they live their daily lives.

Project Assignment Essay

Planning is critical phase in a project life cycle. Although that is the case project control is pivotal and it goes through the project phase. Without proper project control in any project, failure possibilities are fairly high in such project. The intention of scope management is to define and outline the intention of any project. Scope management is defined by the PMBOK as; ‘†¦.. the processes required to ensure that the project includes all the work required, and only the work only the work required, to complete the project successfully. It is primarily concerned with defining and controlling what is or not included in the project.’ The project scope sets the stage for developing a project plan. It clearly states the project’s objectives and deliverables. Scope definition provides an administrative plan that is used to develop your operational plan, i.e. the plan for how you are going to run the project. Scope definition should be as brief as possible, but complete. Poorly defined scope leads to project failure. The development of the scope must involve the project manager, sponsors, performing organisations and beneficiaries. Our organisation like any other company before initiating a project will follow the following ways in designing scope management: âž ¢ Scope planning: PMBOK defines this stage as ‘the process of developing a written scope statement as the basis for future project including, in particular, the criteria used to determine if the project or phase has been completed successfully.’ In scope planning issues that refers to schedule, cost timelines and boundaries will be outlined in this phase. âž ¢ Scope definition: The PMBOK defines scope as; ’subdividing the major project deliverables into smaller, more manageable components’. In order to be clear of the intention of any project, project must be defined clearly in order to operate smoothly. If the scope of the project is not clearly defined the project manager will suffer the consequences of possibilities of project failure and the conflict that will arise between him or her and client or the project sponsor. In relation to the WBS the scope will be divided in work packages. âž ¢ Scope verification: during the initiation phase and scope planning, stakeholders and the client must verify the scope in order to approve the scope of the intended project. Scope verification is one of the important tools of project planning as the project cannot go ahead until stakeholders verify it. For an example during the initial phase once the project manager presents the feasibility study to the stakeholders their inputs and approval is key to the project. 1. WBS: Work break down structure The work break down structure (WBS) was developed in the 1960’s as the tool to enhance project planning. WBS is in a hierarchal form where work packages are presented either in graphical box or text indent. Burke (2010:128) mentions the main components of WBS as the following: ââ€" ª Structure ââ€" ª Method of subdivision ââ€" ª Numbering or coding ââ€" ª Level of detail ââ€" ª Number of WBS levels ââ€" ª Roll up ââ€" ª Integrating the WBS to assign responsibility Once the scope and deliverables have been identified, the work of the project can be subdivided into smaller work elements. The outcome of this process is called the work breakdown structure. All the elements/steps that make up WBS are called work packages. It is very useful as the structure clearly points to what has to be done and in what sequence (order). It divides the work and responsibility into individual work implementation for the project by: †¢ making it possible to plan, schedule and budget; †¢ providing a framework for tracking and monitoring cost and work performance; †¢ defining communication channels; †¢ assisting in understanding and coordinating many parts of the project; †¢ pointing to problems and ensuring they are quickly addressed

Patriotism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Patriotism - Essay Example Death is normally feared, but during these days, it meant courage and love to one’s country especially among the Japanese. The narrator displays the commitment of both husband and, wife though, none of them knows about the other. This is what creates suspense in the story because one does not know what is expected. The wife had taken an oath that when the husband dies, she would also kill herself. Killing yourself in the Japanese culture indicates love, honor, and Shinji decided to do this for his country. Despite their love for their country, they also loved each other extremely much. Each of them cannot live without the other. It is evident from the story that Shinji thinks of his wife while he is in the field, the same thing with his wife who cannot live without him. Their love for one another is displayed in the narration with the tone, imagery and the characters. Description is also widely used in the story for creating a picture in the mind of the reader. For example, â€Å"Reiko took a white silk kimono with her and entered the bathroom† and â€Å"the thick black brushstrokes (Mishima and Sergeant).† After reading an image is created in the mind of the reader, and this makes the reading fascinating. Death to the lieutenant before the eyes of his wife was the most fulfilling thing and Shinji thought that he would die in peace and happiness. His wife made him realize the things that he loved most in his life that made him take his life. The wife watched his husband die in pain and could not help him because it was her duty to support him. She also killed herself afterwards so that she could reunite with her husband and fulfills her mother’s wishes. On reading this story one would conclude that they did not love each other, but in regards to the age and culture, it was the best move to take. The actions and activities of the key characters are well displayed and described. For example, â€Å"Moving the sword around to his