Physical Health Is Wealth Essay

Good health is an advantage. It is the actual jewel of life, the most precious ownership of man. If a man losses his health, the world losses all it charms for him. A good wealth of health can be found in a number of methods. It needs regular workout, good food, good thoughts, and cleanliness. A healthy individual does not spend money on medicines and pay a visit to doctors. Just matching, an inactive person is another form of unlawful of diseases. Sound mind in a sound body is a childhood saying. Healthy individuals can work for lengthy hours without getting tired. They can like all the pleasures of life, however unhealthy individuals cannot. The world has no appeal for them. They are constantly worried due to their physical difficulties. Wealth has no importance for them. To keep worthy health no cash is needed. It can be accomplished only through our efforts and good health care. We can sustain good health only if we are aware of numerous factors which affect our health. There are certain things which are essential for keeping our figure of free from diseases. Healthy food comes first. We should take only that food which has nutritious value. Some regularity in life is also important for good health. We should get up prompt in the morning, go out for a walk, breathe in fresh air to keep our lungs fresh and in good order, and take brisk walk, move arms while walking. Maintaining clean habits is also important in this regard. If we don’t take bath on a regular basis, do not wear clean clothes, do not eat fresh food, we may develop physical difficulties in the long run. Hence regularities, good habits and cleanliness have great value in maintaining good health. Balancing sleep and rest are also useful in this regard. Happiness is the best medicine of good health. So, we should keep calm by overcoming anger, greed, fear, envy and enmity. Life of a healthy man is his long lasting wealth. It makes him able to enjoy life to the full. Those who are wealthy may not always be healthy but the healthy people are always wealthy.

Philosophy of Education Essay

Introduction No doubts that the demand for English language proficiency is high as Malaysians enter the international arena. Ergo, the purpose of this paper is to discuss on one of the hottest issues that perturbs the nation – low English language proficiency among Malaysian students. In order to understand more about the issue, we sought to dig the root causes of the issue and in doing so we discovered that the teaching methods applied by teachers because of the factors are contributing to the issue as well. In other words, the factors are interrelated to the reasons why such ill teaching methods are being applied and all these are resulting in low production of good English speakers in Malaysia. First of all, low English language proficiency is the unsatisfactory ability of an individual to speak or perform in English. The overriding concern with this issue is not unreasonable as we need the language to thrive in this 21st century. On the other hand, teaching methodology refers to a set of different principles and methods that are used to instruct students in a teaching and learning environment. In the educational settings, it is rather important to induce the peak performance from the students. This simply means that, we have to conquer the deterrent (i. e. the factors of the issue), whether we modify them or we eliminate them. Like any other issues, there is no such theory as â€Å"one-size-fits-all† solution to handle it. Therefore, we, as the future English teachers want to bring forth several possible recommendations as ways to overcome this issue in hopes that these approaches can truly be implemented and make a difference in the history of English Education in  Malaysia. Issue The pressing issue with low English language proficiency among Malaysian students has been revolving in the ministry of Education. Most students had no problem coping English Language during preschool whereby they were only exposed to the alphabet and very simple words. The real problem began to exist in the elementary level when most of the students were unable to follow the lessons. Students who cannot master English basic skills in this elementary level will breed more problems during the secondary and tertiary level in schools. In primary education, students are not being placed in a very conducive English language learning environment in which they will be given bountiful opportunities to use the language (Ali, 2003). Students fail to use English on a daily basis and when they are forced to use English to communicate, they speak pejorative English which causes the flow of communication to be stymied. This is probably the main reason why students converse in their own mother tongue more often than they do in English. In the modern age of technology, students with low English language proficiency will not make the most out of the internet because most of the websites are in English. If they cannot understand English used in the websites, they will have a hard time attempting to utilize the device. Not only that, the demand of high English language proficiency is around the globe. We can survive here in Malaysia with national language (i. e. Bahasa Malaysia) and our proud dialects yet we need English Language if we want the whole world to know us. Without a good grasp of the English language, students will be deprived of many opportunities in life since English is the international language. Hence, if we want to make a difference in this situation, we will have to start with the primary education. We believe that this issue shall no longer haunt the Malaysians once the root problems have been improvised or rather, solved. Factors The issue with the low English language proficiency among Malaysian students has arisen because the educators are not aware of the manipulative factors behind this tragic scenario. In this section, we will explore these contributory factors. First of all, the number of students is crucial in determining the quality of teaching and learning process. In Malaysia, most of the schools place 30-40 students in one class. In spite of the level of English standard of each student is different, teacher attempts to teach students in the same way. Due to this large number of students in one class, the teacher often has no choice but to apply the boring method – lecture method. To a certain extent, lecture method is appropriate but if that is the only method the teacher is going to apply in class, it will result in dullness and inefficiency. In addition, the large number of students inhibits the teacher to give attention to every single student thus passive learning ensues. Another factor of impeding the students’ ability in English language is that students themselves fall short of initiative and participation in the classroom (Juhana, 2012). Students show no interest in a so-called foreign language and hence very reluctant to get involved with the teaching and learning session. They are inactive to put their own effort in seeking knowledge. For instance, when a student does not understand a certain word in an essay, he or she expects the teacher to provide the meaning. So, instead of waiting for the students to take the initiative to check on the dictionary (which takes time), teacher simply resorts to spoon-feeding method (i. e. providing every material for the students). In the end, only the teacher is learning and the students will merely passively wait on the teacher for answers. In an English class, the reason students failed to use English effectively also attributes to the Eastern philosophy whereby a teacher has the tendency to criticize students’ mistakes very harshly. It demotivates students, making them fearful of speaking the next time and in the worst scenario, students hate the subject and pass up the opportunity of learning. Teachers are impatient with the students’ slips of tongue and they consider such mistakes as a sign of failure. When the students do speak correctly, the teachers think it is how it should be done and they rarely give any words of encouragement or compliments (Hassan & Jamaludin, n. d. ). This tendency indirectly renders the teacher to apply autocratic teaching style which is not helpful for English language learning. This method emphasizes on the teacher’s authoritative identity hence it is very hard for such strict-and-powerful autocratic image to smile and give compliments. Furthermore, due to the exam-oriented platform, many teachers rush through the year in order to push the students to sit for the examination (Ali, 2003). In the English classroom, many teachers have no time to concern with the understanding of students regarding to the rules of grammar, the structures of the sentences and whatnot. For example, they give students essays and require them to copy and memorize. The way to prepare the students for examination the teachers deem best is by drilling. However, such rote learning will only result in stress instead of meaningful learning experience. Eventually, the students are drilled to become competent only on papers but failed completely in daily usage of English. All these factors are equally pernicious in taking a toll on the second language performance among Malaysian students. As educators, we have to generate the strategies to overcome these factors and make the impossible possible. Solutions Previously, we have discovered many factors that indirectly cause the teacher to implement inappropriate teaching methods and so result in low English language proficiency. These factors sum up in one word: teacher-centered. This explains why the teachers are hardly implementing various innovative teaching methods. Teacher-centered method applied in today’s classroom is not effective anymore. Instead of using teacher-centered method, student-centered method which derived from the Modern and Western philosophies should be implemented. Progressivists believe that education should focus on the whole child, rather than on the context or the teacher. Hence, since the number of students is large, the schools should bring in more facilitators in a class to assist the students. This will help the facilitator pays close attention to the students. With the assistance of facilitators in a classroom, there is no reason why active learning cannot take place. For example, one leading teacher can carry out the group discussion and enable the children to experience hands-on learning. A French philosopher, Jean Paul Sartre, suggested that for youth, the existential moment arises when young people realize for the first time that choice is theirs, that they are responsible for themselves. The nature of reality for Existentialists is subjective, and it lies within the individual. They have the freedom to take charge of their own learning as  they are given the opportunity to manage their own learning process. We as teachers are responsible to facilitate the students in their learning process rather than teaching them what to do. This indirectly helps to provide opportunity for the students to take control of their own learning process. As they are interested in what they have chosen to read or learn, they will be the ones who solve the problem (e. g. meaning of a word) instead of being spoon-fed by the teachers. In this way they will be able to make progress in their lessons and participate more. Western philosophers stress on active participation on their learners but to criticize and demotivate the students is not proper in the western philosophy. Western education philosophy believes that providing compliments to the students is an important task for a teacher as it will motivate the students to strive hard. For example, compliments given to the students when they score well in their examination or did a good job in the task or assignments given by the teacher. However, teachers should not only provide compliment when they excel but also to give encouragement when they are not doing so well in the examination. For instance, during an English class, teacher distributes the test papers after the examination, it is not encouraged for the teacher to read out loud the score as it will demotivate and also embarrass the student. It is better that the teacher gives a word of encouragement so to push them to work harder next time. Furthermore, the education ministers should really abolish the exam-oriented system. Instead, the 50% coursework assessment should enter the system. Coursework can include all kinds of fun activities that require students to apply the language learned. This is to overcome the agonizing drilling method. With that, Western philosophy that emphasizes on understanding the subject matter can be very handy in this scenario. For example, the students should learn by understanding the reasons why each part of speech in grammar has different functions. In a nutshell, according to the Western philosophy, students learn by meaningful learning, they do not memorize what they have learnt but rather understand what they are learning. These philosophical resolutions are only useful provided the government, educators, teachers, parents and students and community at large give their best cooperation into making them a success. If we are serious about improvising the English language proficiency among Malaysian students, nothing can stop us, not even the factors of the failure in the first place. Conclusion In conclusion, teaching methodology contributes towards the effectiveness and success of the teaching and learning process. As what we have explored there are several factors that hinder the English Language proficiency among Malaysian students. Among those contributory factors discussed are the number of students, students’ shortfall of motivation, harsh criticism for students’ mistakes and the exam-oriented education system. All these factors are very much harmful in the process of second language acquisition (i. e. English Language). As such, we have provided remarkably appropriate strategies as the solutions to overcome this issue. They are the implementation of student-centered teaching which focuses on the students’ – their ideas and opinions, providing more teachers as facilitators in class, hands on learning (Progressivism), place importance on individual choice (Existentialism), giving compliments instead of criticism (Western Philosophy), and learn through understanding rather than mere memorization (Western Philosophy). Hence, by utilizing all the four education philosophies in moderation which are Modern philosophies such as Progressivism and Existentialism, also the two Western approaches that focus on students rather than the teachers. We strongly agree with usage of the Modern Philosophies and the Western Philosophies according to the needs and suitability of class as what we have discussed. We believe that we can produce an ideal education transformation to develop individual holistically and thus enhance the English Language proficiency by applying and practicing appropriate teaching methods to encounter the troublesome factors. References Ali, M. S. (2003). English Language Teaching in Primary Schools: Policy and Implementation Concerns. IPBA E-Journal, 2-3. Hassan, A. & Jamaludin, N. S. (n. d. ) Approaches & Values in Two Gigantic Educational Philosophies: East and West. Retrieved on March, 22, 2013 from http://www. oerj. org/View? action=viewPaper&paper=7 Juhana, J. (2012). Psychological Factors That Hinder Students from Speaking in English Class (A Case Study in a Senior High School in South Tangerang, Banten, Indonesia). Journal of Education and Practice, Vol 3, No 12. , 103.

Challenges of gay people serving in the military Research Paper

Challenges of gay people serving in the military - Research Paper Example The USAF has worked over the years in alliance with many countries, building strategic partnership for acquiring and maintaining â€Å"access to foreign territories for operational purposes† (Moroney et al, 2010, p.xiii). The USAF has revised their Mission Statement during 2005 to conform to the needs of the time, and its present mission is to â€Å"fly, fight and win... in air, space and cyberspace† (Our Mission, 2012a). In order to achieve the objectives of their mission, the members of the Air Force uphold the vision of â€Å"Global Vigilance, Reach and Power,† which spans into the concept of â€Å"three core competencies: developing Airmen, technology to war fighting and integrating operations† (Our Mission, 2012a). USAF is an organization of high ethical values, and they function within the framework of three values that comprise the concepts of â€Å"Integrity First, Service before Self and Excellence in All We Do† (Our Values, 2012b). ... hip and members of this organization, while discharging their responsibilities, have to consider the interests of different stakeholders including the national government, the citizens, other friendly countries, and the overall interests of the international community in making this world a better place for humans to dwell on. Therefore, all personnel who serve the Air Force have to imbibe in them a high sense of integrity, moral, ethics, and other values that the organization upholds. Similarly, leadership, being the most crucial element in determining the right direction for organizations to achieve their goals, the role of leaders in upholding the tenets of USAF, becomes paramount. Thus, when the organization manifests even a slightest indication of any perceived deviation from its projected image in the public eye, the leadership will have to bear the brunt of criticism. Unfortunately, despite their elite status and the high degree of performance, leaders of the organization have come under the flakes of disapproval on allegations of discrimination against gays and lesbians. In this context, the sexual orientation of a person is his or her absolute right and no force on the Earth has any reason to question its validity. Similarly, there is no acceptable justification for discriminating people on the basis of their sexual preferences. Humans, in spite of their claims of being sophisticated, nurture certain notions, deriving from established norms, and categorize peculiar behaviors that do not fall into their definition of accepted way of life as taboos. Thus, they consider gay and lesbian individuals as deviant and outcast them from the mainstream society. When the society upholds the value of human rights to all, without any regard to the attributes of ethnicity,

The author notes that there are three general strategies used by moral Essay

The author notes that there are three general strategies used by moral philosophers who wish to explain the sort of variation in moral codes discussed by Ruth Benedict. Which of - Essay Example One of the most important strategies that are used by moral philosophers is to look at the universal principles that seem to drive the activities of people. This can be done through a systematic analysis of cross-sections of people who would then provide frameworks that are followed on a general basis. This would then be accepted as the norm which would then be accepted as the bedrock of the society’s morality. Another strategy that is used is to provide the basis of morality and ethics in reason and the abilities of the individual to ascertain the suitability of a certain action. This was also to a great extent the result of the thought of Kant and other enlightenment philosophers who held reason to be the greatest defining feature of man and thought of it as being able to solve the greatest problems that mankind has when it comes to moral dilemmas. Another way in which the problem can be dealt with is to understand the relativity of morality when it comes to different communities and people. There are people who believe that there is no possibility of understanding any form of ultimate truths that may enable the laying of a framework that would be able to define acts that are committed in a moral way. This approach is termed as ethical scepticism. This approach made it possible for other approaches that did not argue for a monolithic view of morality, to flourish. Ethical relativism may be considered to be one of these approaches. It favors no particular code of morality over the other and recognizes the importance of the uniqueness of each culture and in some cases, each individual. Extremes of this approach may lead to problematic situations in a society. However, it is better placed than the other approaches that have been referred to in this essay to assess the moral codes of a society that is multicultural and multilingui stic in its

Ritual, Rite, Practice, Culture of Geishas in Japan Research Paper

Ritual, Rite, Practice, Culture of Geishas in Japan - Research Paper Example Diversity witnessed in societies implies that communication at the global level is complicated and various social background attributes require studies including rituals, heritage, and culture. To illustrate the importance of these attributes, the following discourse highlights the Geisha women tradition to understand certain characteristics of Japanese cross-cultural communication. Geishas are female artists and entertainers observing a conservative form of ancient Japanese civilization and culture in various aspects from attire to music. Tracing back to several centuries back in history, Geisha art was designed to entertain powerful political elites of the Japanese civilization such as emperors. According to (Cass 12), influential regional conservative politics such as the one in China’s Ming Dynasty with a traditional and conservative outlook dictated the nature of the practice of the art that was designed for such political class. Propagation of the entertainment tradition for the nobility became a prestigious art form, which in line with the conservative clients took shape of the conservative Japanese traditions that were witnessed elsewhere. Apart from specific regalia designed for the performance, the female artists undergo theatrical makeup on the face and hair that add flair and flavor to the performance. The performance of Japanese music and da nce after spells of specialized training present the Geisha as among the few undoubted custodians of Japanese cultural heritage (Brown and Iwasaki 3). The performance of the entertainment does not only present the practice as a highly organized tradition but also as an important entertainment activity with far reaching sociocultural and political implications in Japan and across the globe. In terms of the communication attributes that the cross-cultural draws from the Geishas, modernity and tradition issues emerge as strong forces of the society that need special attention. Geisha

Occupational health and safety ergonomics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Occupational health and safety ergonomics - Essay Example e practices later on, the history of safe working can be traced back to the ancient times when the need was felt for creating the tools in a manner that provided ease of use and comfort while operating them. In one of the ancient records, Bernardino Ramazinni, who was associated with the field of medicine, brought up working class and the problems faced by them in their surroundings (McCauley & Bush, 2011). At that time, however, the word â€Å"ergonomics† was not introduced. The official usage of this word can be stretched back to mid 19th century; it was a contribution by Wojciech Jastrzebowski and Frederick Taylor, who not only introduced it but also implemented its principles (Schlick, 2009). In modern times, the routes of ergonomics can be traced back to the mid 20th century when K.F Murrell introduced this word for the first time. Each of the two world wars the 20th century saw can be linked to the use of ergonomics in the field of machinery and war crafts. After the Second World War, the pace of improvement and nourishment in the incumbent field took pace, and new techniques were introduced for comforting the fields in any way possible. Since then, the discipline of ergonomics has never looked back; in modern times, all major organizations ensure that their employees work under the umbrella of ergonomics. The implementation of ergonomics has yielded many dividends. Its application is not limited to one particular field; rather, ergonomics is implemented in nearly every organization and every industry. It enables improving the working methods and further enables satisfaction of the employees, which is directly related to the customer response and company productivity. OSHA is an acronym for Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and it is a federal agency which is specialized in dealing with safe practices in regard to physical health and the dangers threatening it. It provides a set of guidelines, necessary dos and don’ts of practices in the

Application Software Design Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Application Software Design - Essay Example Word processors can be used as a standalone application as it is not compulsory to have it dependant on other applications software. But, they are basically general purpose software and most of the times used simultaneously for different types of application. It can be merged with other related products that perform different functions on the same data, like a spreadsheet, database manager etc. In its main purpose, it is considered as general purpose application software. Since this software is platform independent and has the compatibility to be integrated with other software, it is up to the technical team to identify the different types of software that can be integrated with the current product. The support teams have to get hands-on with this software in order to find any difficulties in using this software. Also, their specific requirements have to be questioned and the answers have to be justifiable in the selection of this product. Â  Questions have to be raised to the technicians in such a way that their doubts regarding the migration from old technology to new technology have to be clarified. In a Computer Science major, there is no specific kind of data that is given higher priority. Since the field is basically about the handling of data, any software developed is for the purpose of handling data for several other fields. And as far as data storage is concerned, it entirely depends on what kind of application it is being stored for. Hence most of the application data storage is application centric. Since the software chosen is a general purpose, the data related to this software can be stored in a general repository.

A Sense of Truth Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

A Sense of Truth - Essay Example A thorough analysis and better understanding not only clarifies but illuminates the distinction between deception and truth, trust and mistrust. Plato in his work, "Allegory of the Cave" published in his book The Polity presented the false reality that chained the people inside the cave. They had been blinded by ignorance and overshadowed by darkness. They believed that the shadows on the walls of the cave were true as opposed to the reality that these were just puppets and illusions. One of the prisoners had eventually escaped and seen the light. The sunlight represents the absolute Truth, which is what actually is, and is not relative to what any person might think to be truth (Christian Dunn, 2006). The point of Plato was to find the truth as the ultimate goal; relying on the senses to interpret reality would not give the truth. This perception of the truth will also be different from person to person. Furthermore, Plato suggested that our senses can be a distraction from the truth and should not be trusted because they are untrusting and false guides to realities. Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha argued otherwise. ... With the background and foundation laid, I am now ready to answer the question "Should we trust our senses to give us truth" Trusting our senses achieves the purpose of knowing what the truth is. It simply means allowing the mind to digest the information perceived through the senses and making judgment based on these perceptions. Every person's reactions although varied will detect that the stimuli have been responded to depending on the conditions and courses of an event. While an observation is a prelude to a deduction of what really happens, it is still with empirical knowledge that the truth is tested and settled. After all, a claim remains a claim if not backed up with facts. Nevertheless, trusting the senses still remains the ultimate paradigm that ushers the knowledge of the truth. In an unchartered territory, the most a person can do is to act according to his instincts and survive depending on a perception of this environment. Needless to say, it is the right time for his senses to be utilized and maximized. Imagine being stuck in the Arabian Desert. What penetrate your eyes are visions of sand, sky, date palms, and occasional arachnids like scorpions, ticks and spiders. The dust swaying in the air provides an unbearable smell. The resolute stillness and serenity generate a deafening sound as well as the booming of the wind. The taste of water and soda creeps into your nerves and makes you thirst. Worse of all, the scorching heat reaches up to 54C. All these in consideration will determine the ability of a person to forge his reactions based on stimuli. Let's say there is a snake in the middle of the Desert. Trapped in this situation, the individual must find ways to get rid of the snake. How When the

Rashomon Essay Example for Free

Rashomon Essay The book is laid out in sequence. It opened up with the testimony of the woodcutter who was being interviewed by a high police commissioner. The woodcutter proceeded to tell the commissioner that he had just stumbled on a crime scene – a man wearing a bluish silk kimono with his face on the ground with fatal wound on his chest. This set up the tempo for the book. After each interview, the story jumps into another character’s testimony. It tells the story through the perspectives of the characters where they are all witness of a crime where a samurai had been murdered. There were a few witnesses to the crime: woodcutter, traveling Buddhist priest, policeman, bandit, old woman, his wife, and the man himself through a medium. Each one of the testimonies given by the witnesses differs from one another. The only thing they all had in common was that a samurai was killed. The book and the movie sets it up where we the reader are the jury of the crime. They all started telling what they have seen, what had happen, what were they doing, and how did they stumbled upon the murder scene. It’s almost like an exercise of finding out the truth based on the testimony given by each witness. Where we (readers and viewers) come to a consensus of determining who is the one telling the truth among them. Which is hard because they were all subjective interpretations of all witnesses. There isn’t anything that would point out who the real culprit is. After doing some research of the time frame when this book was written, I found out that the scenes that the author was trying to portray was pretty much identical to the time period that the book was trying to portray. It was written during the 20th century, a time where social disintegration and population distress prevalent. Most of the population practiced Buddhism, Shinto, and Taoism, which reflected in the movie when the husband was giving his testimony through a medium. The medium was his wife, which also seems like one of the short story that we read, Sotoba Komachi. Which have the same situation where the woman have done something terrible to a man therefore she is punished by having her body possessed by the man that she had wronged. During this time period, Buddhism was on the rise along with Shinto. It was apparent on the film when the opening scene showed Rashomon (Rajomon gate), which was the main gate for Kyoto. The gate looked devastated and torn down because during that time there was plenty of natural disasters and buildings being set on fire and also gangs and vigilantes were prevalent during this time that tried to rebel against the corrupt governors. The book and the movie showed the correlation with the time period by showing us how bad the living conditions are, or any of the characters situations are for that matter. In particular was the former samurai servant. Where he had taken refuge from the rain under the bridge but have no idea what to do after the rain stops because he was just discharged by his master. He was troubled about what the future holds for him. He didn’t have a job and also depressed because of it. Since he thought his situation was desperate, he started to debate whether he should look for a job and spend his life working as an honest man or become a thief. Regardless, the outcome wasn’t in his favor. After some time spending in the gate, the samurai servant cross path with a woman. Their situation was further magnified when the author described the environment of the place that they were taking refuge in – it was so bad that they didn’t care that the place was littered with copses. So many corpses that he had to watch where he step so that he wouldn’t trip over them and he couldn’t count how many there were around him. Also the stench of the corpses didn’t bother them. The servant started to investigate the noise that he heard from upstairs. There he encountered an old woman who he thought was a wretched hag. The old woman was there because she was plucking hairs from the corpses for her to use as a wig. This was the time where the samurai servant decided that he would go down the path of living as a thief by robbing her of her kimono. After reading and watching the movie, I think the movie stayed true to the book. The film uses flashbacks during the testimonies of the witnesses, which I thought was great because it cleared things up a little bit more. The scenes put you in the situation that they were in and try to relay the experience to you from their viewpoint. It showed the story being influenced by the characters emotions and the accuracy changes from person to person which is probably the intended objective of the director. The sequence of the witnesses was different in the movie than the book. In the movie, they used one of the guys in the Rashomon taking refuge as a witness where in the book to me, it seems like the movie used none of the witness that was in Rashomon. I could be mistaken because in the movie, the opening scene was under the Rashomon and three guys were talking about what happened. They seemed in disarray at first and then it jumped to a scene where one of the guys was walking in the woods and discovered the carcass, from there the scene transitioned to the characters taking turns giving their testimony. In the book, there were two people in Rashomon taking refuge from the rain; it was a samurai servant and an old woman. Although the movie did a great job on using flashbacks to paint a clearer picture on what happened. There was no backstory on the characters. They were all portrayed as country-dwellers and vagabond staying in Rashomon. The only one that was clear to me was the wife, samurai, and the bandit. In the movie, they showed the woman was kissed and the scene cut out after that, allowing the audience to guess what happened. I would imagine that the scene was shocking since it was they very first kiss that was captured on film. Also, during the kiss, I thought that the woman was fighting it at first but then seemed to relax and go with it as the camera faded. For those who haven’t read the book, it might seem like that’s the only thing they did but he did much more things to her than just kiss the woman was raped. It’s hard to guess that if you haven’t read the book. The only thing that I can think of that can possibly give away that the woman was raped was the reaction of the husband. His emotion changed from struggling to escape and angrily, to staring off in the distance and at peace with himself. This reaction was probably based on the Japanese culture where the woman is now given a choice between her rapist and her husband. I like how the author showcased the culture during that period, the reaction of the husband towards the wife whenever she succumbs to the bandit and how it portrayed the samurai. To the samurai, she had committed an act against him that did not warrant him to show any emotions. He understood that it was a loss cost fighting for her whenever she made the decision to let the bandit do whatever he wants with her. After reading and watching Rashomon, it’s easier to understand how Japan has been struggling with their identity. I lived in Japan for a couple years, which gave me a brief idea how the Japanese culture is. Their culture is very hospitable and very welcoming. During my stay there, not once did I feel threatened or feel like I was in some kind of danger. I never knew that Japan was just literally coming out of the medieval period transitioning to the industrial period. The only way I can explain that is, a baby that just learned how to turn on its belly then all of a sudden started trying to sprint. Which would also explain how hard they are trying to hold on to their tradition but slowly losing it, because the young generations are trying to embrace the western culture. The book and the movie did a fantastic job in showing the living condition during the time period. It’s hard to believe that just a couple of decades from that period, Japan was still struggling and fighting to have a democracy. In the span of a couple decades – Japan would have built an army that rivals the military power of the western world. Not only build, but also, declare a war with the western powers.

Comparison of Urban Sociological Theories Essay Example for Free

Comparison of Urban Sociological Theories Essay Comparison of Urban Sociological Theories In order for an urban sociologist to discover â€Å"How urban societies work,† theories of â€Å"urban ecology† or â€Å"political economy† are used as a guide in their research. Urban ecology refers to the importance of social structure and social organization as shaping social life in the city. Urban ecologist concerns for social order, social cohesion, community ties and social differentiation offer key insight to how societies work (Kleniewski, 2001). Alternatively political economy stresses the use of power, domination and resources in the shaping of cities (Kleniewski, 2001). Urban sociologists’ theoretical approach to research questions is based on fundamental assumptions that they find most useful for understanding the operation of the social world. Therefore researchers using these different theories will ask different questions, examine different data and interpret their findings in different ways (Kleniewski, 2001). In the early years of 1910-1920, a time of social change and urban growth, urban sociologists in the United States, the Chicago School, were directly confronted by the diversity, liveliness and apparent fragmentation of urban life. The urban sociologists of the Chicago School drew a concern for order, cohesion and social relationships (Kleniewski, 2001). The founder of the Chicago School of urban sociology was Robert E. Park. He believed that cities are like living organisms, composed of interconnected parts and that each part relates to the structure of the city as a whole and to the other parts (Kleniewski, 2001). Park called his approach to urban life â€Å"human ecology,† a term used interchangeably with â€Å"urban ecology. Human ecology studies the â€Å"social norms† which are rooted in the relationship between human populations and the environment or territories they inhabit, stressing the orderly interaction of interdependent parts of social life in urban areas (Kleniewski, 2001). Human ecologist, Louis Wirth shared with the theoretical antecedents of urban ecology, Tonnies, Durkheim and Simmel, the notion that social interactions in cities were different from social interactions in rura l areas or small communities. He believed that social interactions in modern industrial cities were impersonal and fragmented. He believed that factors such as size, density, and heterogeneity were responsible for social relations found in cities (Kleniewski, 2001). This theory of human ecology was used to study human behavior such as, lives of gang members, homeless people and immigrants and to study changing land uses over time in order to show how the different populations of the city adapt to and compete for territories (Kleniewski, 2001. In comparison to urban ecology, political economy is concerned with how urban societies work. Although, political economist developed different understandings and interpretations of how urban societies actually work. In the 1970’s the city had many social problems which included welfare, unemployment and tax inflations. Theorist of political economy, Marx, Engels and Weber viewed the city as a site of struggle due to unequal distribution of resources (Kleniewski, 2001). Therefore in contrast to the urban ecology theory of humans being immediately dependent on their environment, the theory of political economy stresses that the city relies not only on its environment but its social arrangement, economic and political functions. Also in contrast to urban ecology, residential patterns are not only influenced by humans just adapting to their natural environment but by economic inequalities. This leads to competition. In contrast to urban ecology, competition not just among groups for space but among groups for control of economic resources. Political economists theorize that â€Å"social norms,† in contrast to urban ecology are not only influenced by size and density of the population but also influenced by the values of dominant groups (Kleniewski, 2001). These struggles or social forces help shape urban patterns and urban social life. Therefore, class, social status, political power, racial and ethnic conflicts also play a major role in shaping the city (Kleniewski, 2001). The Political Economy Perspective

Bag of Visual Words Model

Bag of Visual Words Model Abstract Automatic interpretation of Remote sensing images is a very important task in several practical fields. There are several approaches to accomplish this task, one of the most powerful and effective approach is the use of local features and machine learning techniques to detect objects and classify it. In such an approach, first, the image is scanned for local features and coded in a mathematically manipulatable form, then these local features are injected to a classifier to get the class of the object which contains these local features. In this thesis, bag of visual words model for detecting and recognizing of objects in high resolution satellite images is constructed and tested using blob local features. Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) and Speedup Robust Features (SURF) algorithms are used as blob local feature detector and descriptor. The extracted features are coded mathematically with Bag of Visual Words algorithm in order to represent an image by the histograms of visua l words. Dimension reduction technique is used to eliminate non-relevant and non-distinctive data using Principle Component Analysis (PCA). Finally, a single class Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier is used to classify the object image as a positive or negative match. We extend the typical use of BOVW by using an object proposals technique to extract regions that will be classified by the SVM depends on keypoints location clustering instead of sliding window approach. Besides enhance the resolution independency by using geospatial info extracted from the remote sensing images meta-data to extract real dimensions of objects during training and detection. The whole approach will be tested practically in the experiment work to prove that this approach is capable to detecting a number of geo-spatial objects, such as airplane, airports and cars. Introduction The remote sensing, images has been developed in quantity and quality and its applications. The image itself is not useful without analysis. The analysis is to generate information from the image.ÂÂ   One of the image analysis tasks is the detection of objects from the images, either man-made objects or natural objects. The automation of this task is very useful in real world applications, but it is very challenging. This can be one of the computer vision field problems. The methods that, use local features in object, recognition from visual data is very successful in recent researches. The benefits of using local features is immunity, to occlusion, and clutter, and with greatest significantly, no pre-step of segmentation, is required before local feature extraction. The accessibility of diverse feature extraction and descriptors algorithms lets local feature methods efficient. Furthermore, the large number of features, generated from images of objects is crucial advantage, of l ocal features. While the benefits of local features are useful, a feature has to cover some factors; like invariance to scaling, rotation, illumination, viewing direction slight change, noise and cluttering. Motivation The revolutionary technology used in new generation satellite systems is driving the development of new large scale data handling approaches in remote sensing related applications. Furthermore, the large image archives captured over the previous missions are now being used to produce innovative global products. In particular, the development of large-scale analytics tools to efficiently extract information and apply the achieved results towards answering scientific questions represents a big challenge for the research community working in the Remote Sensing field. One of the most useful analytic tools in remote sensing images is the object detection and recognition, either the man-made objects or natural ones as shown in Figure ‎1‑1 Figure ‎1‑1 Object detection as a Remote sensing image interpretation analysis There are a lot of challenges faced by the researchers like, but not limited to, enhancing the efficiency to process large data, developing the suitable techniques to detect and recognize various object types and develop tools and platforms needed to store, analyze, interpret and represent data and results. These challenges united experts of data science, algorithm development and computer science, as well as environmental experts and geoscientists, to present state-of-the-art algorithms, tools, and applications for processing and exploitation of a huge amount of remotely sensed data. The scope of these researches can be generalized as following: Studies describing advanced approaches to process large volume of multi-temporal optical, SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) and radiometric data. Studies discussing innovative techniques, and associated data processing methods for very large-scale data exploitation. Critical analyses of existing and innovative tools, methods and techniques for large-scale analytics to extract and represent information Results of case studies executed at different large spatial and temporal scales, also by using GRID and/or Cloud Computing platforms. Results of on-going national/international initiatives and solutions for managing, processing, and disseminating huge archives of Remote Sensing data and relevant results. Problem Statement This thesis addresses the problem of geospatial object detection and recognition from high resolution satellite images. The problem we are trying to solve is to decide if a given aerial, or satellite image, contains one or more objects, belonging to the class of interest, and locate the position, of each predicted object, in the image. The expression object stated in this thesis is any type of object may appear in the remote sensing images, including man-made objects which have sharp edges and are distinct from the background, for example a building, a ship, a vehicle. Our solution must be consider the challenges and difficulties of object detection in optical remote sensing images like visual appearance variations which caused by occlusion, viewpoint variation, clutter, illumination variation, shadow variation, etc. A general statement of the problem can be formulated as follows: Given a remote sensing image contains different objects, it is required to decide if one or more occurrences of a specific object class is existing in this image, and if so, detect locations of these objects, this needs to be successful in case of variation of viewpoint, occlusion, background clutter Objectives Model a methodology to solve the problem stated above that can features the following: Acquire training data of unlimited object classes. Read high resolution remote sensing images and able to analyze its data. Detect occurrences of trained object classes in the remote sensing images Demonstrate results as a geo-referenced data type. In this thesis, we will demonstrate a model to achieve these objectives, and assess its results compared to other state-of-the-art models presented in the recent researches. Thesis Layout The thesis is composed of five chapters, the first chapter presenting an introduction stating the motivation, problem definition and objectives, second chapter is discussing the literature survey about the problem and researches in the field, third chapter presenting a detailed explanation of the methodology proposed to solve the problem. Fourth chapter contains the experimental results of the model. Fifth chapter discusses and concludes the methodology represented in this thesis, then a few points is suggested as a future work.

Enochian Scripture :: essays research papers

Enochian Scripture Should Enochian Scripture and the Necronomicon be considered as a true religion, or just another offshoot of Satanism, cult? The Necronomicon is closest documented translation of the original Enochian scripture, the Necronomicon Manuscript. The Necronomicon was first translated in Damascus in 730 A.D. by Abdul Alhazred. The Necronomicon, is not, as popularly believed, a grimoire, or sorceror's spell-book; it was conceived as a history, and so "a book of things now dead and gone". An alternative derivation of the word Necronomicon gives as its meaning "the book of the customs of the dead", but again this is consistent with the book's original conception as a history, not as a work of necromancy. But the author shared with Madame Blavatsky, who has a magpie-like tendency to gather and stitch together fact, rumor, speculation, and complete balderdash, and the result is a vast and almost unreadable array of near-nonsense which bears more than a superficial resemblance to Blavatsky's "Secret Doctrine". In times past the book has been referred to as "Al Azif", or "The Book of the Arab". Azif is a word the Arabs use to refer to nocturnal insects, but it is also a reference to the howling of demons. It was written in seven volumes, and is over 900 pages long in the Latin edition. Abdul Alhazred Little is known about Abdul Alhazred. What we do know about him is largely from the small amount of biographical information in the Necronomicon itself. He traveled widely, from Alexandria to the Punjab, and was well educated. He had a flair for languages, and boasts on many occasions of his ability to read and translate manuscripts which many lesser scholars could not translate. Just as Nostradamus used ritual magic to see into the future, so Alhazred used similar techniques (and an incense composed of olibanum, storax, dictamnus, opium and hashish) to clarify the past, and it is this, combined with a lack of references, which resulted in the Necronomicon being dismissed as largely worthless by historians. He is often referred to as "the mad Arab", and while he was certainly eccentric by modern standards, there is no evidence to support a claim of madness. He is better compared with figures such as the Greek philosopher Proclus (410-485 A.D.), who was completely at home in astronomy, mathematics, philosophy, and metaphysics, but was well educated in the magical techniques of theurgy to evoke Hekate to visible appearance; he was also a founder of Egyptian and Chaldean mystery religions. It is no accident that Alhazred was very familiar with the works of Proclus. What is The Necronomicon? Alhazred appears to have had access to many sources now lost, and events

The First Job :: essays research papers

The First Day   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  On June 1, 2003 my thinking on life, changed a little bit. It happened to be a Sunday that I didn’t think I would be going to bed at 2:30 P.M. in order to go to work. I got under the cover of my bed and I was out like a light. Once I got into a very deep sleep it was hard to get out of it. I heard my alarm go off, and I didn’t want to get up, but I got up and started to get dressed. I went out in the kitchen and got something to eat and then packed my lunch for the night.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  On the way to Van Wert, I was getting very intense. I started to get nervous about what I would be doing and who I would be working with. The closer I got to the factory the more nervous I got. Once I pulled into the parking lot and was shutting my car off, I realized that this isn’t a place I would like to work at all of my life.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Then I was walking into the factory and got clocked in and realized what I was in for. The presses were pounding away on the big coils of steel; the air had a humid musty smell that was going to get to me over time. I went into the break room and put my lunch box in the refrigerator. I walked nervously to meet my foreman and he gave me something to do. I was running a 400 degree rubber injection press the first part of the night.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  At about 2:00 A.M. the bell rang for the first break. I was happy to here that because I needed a break to get something to drink. I sat down in the break room and sweat was still running down my face. As I was starring up at the TV I thought to myself, â€Å"this is going to be a long summer.† After the ten minute break was over, I walked back out to the press I was running and put on my soaked sleeves and gloves. When I was getting ready to start my press up my foreman came over to me and told me to come with him. All the while I was thinking in my head where is he taking me? What am I going to be doing now?

Business and Administration Level 2 Unit 5 Essay

You should use this file to complete your Assessment. The first thing you need to do is save a copy of this document, either onto your computer or a disk Then work through your Assessment, remembering to save your work regularly When you’ve finished, print out a copy to keep for reference Then, go to www.vision2learn.com and send your completed Assessment to your tutor via your My Study area – make sure it is clearly marked with your name, the course title and the Unit and Assessment number. Please note that this Assessment document has 3 pages and is made up of 3 Sections. Name: Section 1 – Understand how to support the organisation of a business event 1. When organising a business event, describe the range of support activities that may be required. Finding and booking a cost-effective and suitable venue. Deciding on the appropriate attendees and sending out invitations and/or publicising the event. Organising/checking the appropriate licences and insurance cover. Organising refreshments – taking into account any special dietary requirements. Collating and printing off relevant paperwork/event packs. Organising guest speakers. Organising/hiring equipment and checking it before the event starts. Greeting attendees. Taking notes/minutes. Typing up and distributing notes/minutes after the event. Evaluating event. 2. Complete the table below by identifying two ways of providing support before, during and after a business event.    Section 2 – Understand the purpose of displaying professional and helpful behaviour whilst supporting a business event and how to do so 1. Explain the purpose of displaying professional and helpful behaviour when supporting a business event. The purpose of displaying professional and helpful behaviour is to encourage a positive image of a business and to ensure that the event is cost-effective and beneficial. If the staff support the event in a professional manner then it is more likely that the event will meet its objectives and be viewed in a more positive way ensuring future events will be well received and supported. 2. Describe ways of exhibiting professional and helpful behaviour whilst supporting a business event. . Examples of professional and helpful behaviour are: †¢Presenting a smart and clean appearance. †¢Being friendly and polite. †¢Using non-verbal communication such as smiling and making eye contact. †¢Speaking clearly and listening to attendees. †¢Being able to follow a procedure such as booking in attendees. †¢Being knowledgeable about the event as to answer questions from attendees. It may be useful to supply supporting staff with a check-list of expectations so that they have a clear picture of what is required of them throughout (and perhaps before and after) the event. Section 3 – Understand how to deal with problems encountered when supporting a business event 1. What are the main types of problems that may occur when supporting a business event? You should include at least three different types of problems in your answer. Many problems occur at business events if planning has been disorganised or incomplete, although sometimes problems occur despite the best of intentions. Prevention is better than a cure so the best way to deal with problems is to identify possible issues BEFORE an event and organise methods to reduce potential risks. Below are three different types of problems that could occur: 1) Equipment failure i.e. PowerPoint presentation does not run on projector. 2) Late attendees 3) No provision for an attendees dietary needs 2. Identify possible solutions for each of the problems you have listed in Question 1 above. A flexible and efficient approach to any problems will reassure attendees that you are concerned and trying hard to overcome the issue(s). Some solutions for the problems listed above are: 1) Print-offs of the PowerPoint presentation to distribute to attendees for reference. Asking the venue to supply back-up equipment in the event of failure. 2) To provide relevant paperwork for late attendees to enable them to ‘catch-up’ Ensuring that before the event attendees are given an appropriate method of contacting a nominated member of staff to notify of lateness. 3) To liaise with the venue and utilise available refreshment facilities. To be aware (and have contact details) of nearby businesses that could cater for a dietary need at short notice. Before an event it is valuable to prepare a risk assessment to access what issues have a high importance and risk factor then prepare a contingency plan to cover them. It is important to ensure that the ‘back-up’ plans are cost effective though! Once you have completed all 3 Sections of this Assessment, go to www.vision2learn.com and send your work to your tutor for marking.

Bhagavad Gita Critique

Well I would first like to start off by saying that after I let go of my personal beliefs for a moment, and actually let myself be open to the ideas of the Bhagavad-Gita I rather enjoyed it and I feel like I actually can see how the â€Å"ways of life† (for loss of a better term) that are expressed in this make a lot of sense. I can actually sit and think about what kind of people today would possibly be categorized as Tamasic, Rajasic and Sattvic. I also can see some very similar concepts in the book that follow modern Christian beliefs and values which made it a lot more interesting. For example from the time I wake up to the time I go to bed I thank God and Jesus for the blessings and positive moments in my life. I pray throughout the day when things are good or bad. I also try to live a â€Å"good Christian† life as well as just trying to be a good person. I guess my ideas of a good person stem from my influences and morals, as well as my new found belief in God and Jesus. I try to worship, pray and give thanks everyday. I try to read my bible as often as I can, seeing I’m so busy all the time it has been hard to even find the time to pick it up, but I do try to think before I act, speak and think. I think â€Å"what would Jesus and God and all my loved ones think of the thing I am about to do† or â€Å"what would Jesus say if I completed that not nice thought about that person†. Seeing how I believe every one of us is a child of Gods and that God knows everything we do, say, think and so on; I try to keep my life to a pure as I can standard. I think about all that I have been given and the least I can do is try my best to be my best for Jesus, God and all that I am connected to in this lifetime. This brings me to my topic, spiritual beliefs. There are so many different types of religion. Catholicism, Hinduism, Christianity, etc. They all have various ways of â€Å"being† when it comes to being a member of the church or religion. No two parties are alike that is why no two peoples beliefs are the same completely. Yet when you read the Bhagavad-Gita it puts it so simple. Do your life this way you are worthy of finally passing on into the next life for eternity. Do your life that way you come back and suffer a circle of never ending lives. Try but not quit there you come back to life but in a higher level of caste so you can start off close to where you left off. It is all pretty simple. In the book it is basically Arjuna asking guidance from Krishna. At first it is whether he should fight or not fight, then it turns into a â€Å"how do I live my life for you in your way† topic. Krishna basically starts out very slow in explaining that all life is connected and is stemmed from his existence. That life is here in the body form but continues into the spirit world with him, and that life is a never ending circle until you reach the highest point of understanding and are worthy of being with him in the spirit world forever. That when you realize that life never truly ends, that it is just the body that dies you cannot feel sad for such things as fighting wars and killing men. Then he explains such things as the importance of ceremony and living a pure life, then about the Brahmas and literally tells him the secrets of life. Krishna reveals his true great form to Arjuna and covers all the possible topics you could think of when it comes to being Hindu. The story is so filling that you literally wonder how it could possibly have an end to it. The main point I got from the book was that it is important to live your life according to first what you think is right and then second to what you believe Krishna and the other Gods (which are Krishna and they are him) say is the way to live. In the book it speaks of how to perform ceremonies and the importance of not just performing them but to perform them with heart. You are to serve good foods and give great offerings to your God. You yourself are to eat good foods and take care of your body for the Gods as well. You are to drink and perform the ceremonies the way the scriptures say and to keep your heart and mind on God (Krishna). Then it sort of ends weird; It says that you are to live your life well and good and pure but that you have to follow the path you think is the right one. And that when you think you have reached that level of true knowledge you are to try to share that with others. So I guess what I got out of it is just that; live your life to the best you think you can. Don’t be a selfish, greedy, rude, etc. person. Don’t have false beliefs even if that means you have none. And to try to give your heart over to the beliefs you do have. If they were the right ones then you win the ultimate prize, eternity with Krishna. If it was the wrong one you just have to keep trying until you get it right. I read this book and I pretty much decided that it is great to help guide you no matter what religion you believe in. Just the base principles and sort of guide it lays out for the individual, so you can clearly see the different ways and the different options is so clear and simple it cant not make sense. And I love the fact that the idea is that everything comes from one God initially even if there are other gods now everything is God and he is everything, even if you are not in god, he is in you. I am so happy I had the opportunity to be exposed to such a great experience. It will stay with me forever.

Economic Impact of Affordable Care Act Essay

Impact of the Affordable Care Act† The current healthcare system over burdens the economy and is far too costly in comparison to the health benefits it delivers. The United States spends about 50 percent more on healthcare than any other developed country (as a fraction of our total national economy) and we get less for it on what matters. The human capital required to obtain these services leaves many Americans doing without or not receiving the medical treatment required. The Affordable Care Act may be the most controversial legislation in the modern era. It is marketed as healthcare expansion to about thirty million more Americans. The ACA is also designed to do away with some of the unfair elements of the current system. Health insurers currently are able to deny people coverage for â€Å"pre-existing conditions† which makes out of pocket costs out of reach for most Americans. As with any piece of federal lawmaking, the ACA was the product of political compromise among parties and interests. (Turner) However, the ACA should help to improve the GDP in the long run. In the short term period, the increase in economic security for American families will also mean an increase in consumer spending. Many uninsured consumers are forced to set aside money in low interest liquid accounts to make sure they have enough to cover unexpected medical costs. With the security provided by health insurance, they can free that money up for consumption that is much more valuable to them. When the federal government expanded Medicaid in the 1990s, the newly insured significantly increased their spending on consumer goods. (Brodwin) More purchases of consumer goods will provide short-run stimulation to the economy and more hiring. Opponents of the act have countered this theory saying it will freeze hiring in some industries. Some employers may resist hiring new workers, at least partly to avoid the high costs of the law’s mandated health coverage. The health law will require all employers with more than 50 workers to provide health insurance or pay a fine of $2,000 to $3,000 per worker every year. (Yoo) These added costs could result in companies losing the money needed to grow their businesses and hire new workers. It is feared that small business, usually the nation’s most robust job creators, will be hit hardest and many say the requirement would wipe out their profits. It is alleged that the â€Å"slow down† in hiring has already begin in  anticipation of the ACA. The total cost for healthcare in the US is around 16 percent of Gross Domestic Product, known as GDP. What we pay to doctors and insurance companies directly are included in this, as well as what we pay indirectly to Medicare and other programs. 16 cents of every dollar spent on groceries or clothes that will go to he althcare. This is very high in comparison to most other developed countries that pay between 9-12 percent of GDP. The difference in GDP is almost 5 percent, which works out to be more than half the annual federal deficit. The biggest fear associated to the Affordable Care Act is likely about the financing and â€Å"job-killing taxes†. There are three primary sources that the law applies new taxes to. The first is on parts of the health care industry like medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and insurance. (Turner) These areas that are receiving a new tax are being asked to â€Å"kick back† some of the newly created revenue resulted from an increase in paying customers provided by the law. These sectors should benefit on net in a large way. The second is an extension of the Medicare tax on the wealthiest Americans, those with incomes above $250,000 per year. The impact of tax changes on the highest income taxpayers will avoid some of those taxes by re-categorizing their incomes in ways that minimize taxes. There is nothing that suggests that the upper class will actually work less, invest less, or do anything which reduces their â€Å"real contribution† to the economy. The third major tax provision is a â€Å"free rider penalty† of $2000 to $3000 (per employee) on medium and large businesses that fail to provide workers with affordable coverage, forcing those workers to get subsidized insurance via the new insurance exchanges. This will indeed impose a new financial burden on businesses that, unlike competitors, do not pay their fair share of health insurance costs. But the overall impact is likely to be very small. Only 2. 6 percent of businesses will pay this assessment, and the revenue raised will amount to 1. 4 percent of existing spending on health insurance in the U. S. and only 0. 1 percent of wages. ( Turner) The ACA should raise employment numbers for the medical industry in the short run, more than any partial offsets from new taxes on that sector. The ACA should improve the functioning of our labor market in the medium run, by allowing workers to move to the positions in which they are most productive and satisfied without fear of job lock or losing health benefits. The â€Å"economic slowdown† from taxes on the upper class or the small equity payments imposed on employers should be minimal. In the long run there is a good chance the economy will improve by controlling health care cost. The choice between protecting our most vulnerable citizens and improving our economy is a false one. The ACA should do both. Works Cited Brodwin, David. â€Å"How the Affordable Care Act Helps the U. S. Economy. † US News. U. S. News & World Report, 29 Mar. 2012. Web. 03 Mar. 2013. Turner, Grace M. â€Å"Pro&Con: Affordable Care Act Will Impose New Burdens on Consumers, Businesses. † SouthCoastToday. com. N. p. , 02 Mar. 2013. Web. 03 Mar. 2013. Yoo, Saerom. â€Å"Mid-Valley Social Services. † MidValley Social Services Economic Effect of Medicaid Expansion under Affordable Care Act Comments. N. p. , 07 Feb. 2013. Web. 03 Mar. 2013.

ITStrategy and Positioning for Volkswagen Financial Services (UK)

Introduction This assignment is constructed to consider a case study of an existing business and analyse its IT strategy and positioning for competitive advantage. A few hours were spent researching ideals into companies of interest to which I had to make sure it fitted in line with the assignment objective. The organisation that sparked my interest was Volkswagen Financial Services (UK). This was because they are a large organisation which is vastly growing year by year and have a major influence in them motor industry. I also got the privilege of working within their customer experience department as a customer service advisor. Background Volkswagen Financial Services is a financial services provider in the Volkswagen Group. The company deals in a broad spectrum of automotive products including financing dealers and customers through leasing, corporate financing, vehicle fleet management to banking and insurance products. According to the 2013 report, the company has experienced a rise in the number of contracts in their portfolio from just under-8 million to over 8.8 million, a 10.9 percent rise. The Management Board Chairman Frank Witter attributes this growth to a 5 percent increase in number of vehicles delivered to more than 9.7 million. The company was also able to attract more customers with their financial services. As a leading financial provider for all things automotive sales within the umbrella of Volkswagen Financial Services AG, the company has developed key strategies to ensure they achieve their mission, which is â€Å"to support the sales of all Volkswagen Group brands worldwide and increase customer loyalty in a sustainable manner along the entire automotive value chain† (VW FS Annual Report, 2013). Volkswagen strategy statement is based on â€Å"customer-focus†, â€Å"pioneering† and â€Å"getting things done†. To ensure sustainable growth, the company pursues its strategy in three fronts: brands, markets and products. That is, developing new brands for Volkswagen Group, establishing new markets, and developing new products in existing markets. Volkswagen Financial Services continue to adopt a consistent customer relationship management (CRM) strategy in its customer care. As such, structures of the company and its processes have been aligned with customer groups and their unique requirements (VW FS Annual Report, 2013). Johnson et al (2013, p.69) describes strategy as the â€Å"long-term direction of an organisation.† A leading strategy theorist Michael Porter would refer to this as a competitive strategy that seeks to be different from comp etition, by â€Å"deliberately choosing a different set of activities to deliver a unique mix of value† to the intended consumers (Porter, 1996, p.31). The Volkswagen Financial Services strategy can be considered to be based on what Porter (1996) describes as variety-based and needs-based positioning. However, Volkswagen Financial Services continual pursuance of consistent CRM strategy in customer care led the company to rethink its organisation structure and customer groups as aligned by the customer requirements. In attempt to support this organisational restructuring, the organisation required an IT structure to allow the company have a standard of customer data, standard and continuous process support right from customer support to subsequent processing and transaction execution, integrating existing transaction-related banking system without any additional extensive conversions. In order to meet these requirements, a product and division-oriented IT environment was imple mented. Core applications and systems related to transaction-related banking systems where clients’ accounts and contracts could be managed were implemented. The implementations of these applications and systems isolated the various specific client data from each other making an integral view much more complicated and cumbersome. But the company solved this problem when they installed customer-oriented IT architecture in SAP CRM for a standard customer care and SAP NetWeaverTM as a system integration platform. Although Volkswagen Financial Services may have considered this a triumph in its efforts to strengthen their CRM-oriented strategy in customer service, it’s not a unique strategy that can strengthen their competitive advantage given its ease of adoption by competitors or new entrants. Le Pest C for Volkswagen Financials Services In order to comprehensively understand Volkswagen Financial Services strategic capabilities, it is significant to use the Le Pest C model (Brooks and Weatherston, 2002): LePestC Possible Issues at VW FS (UK) Legal Data security and privacy legislations and legal challenges Economic Low profitability due to decreased consumer spending power and inability to expand to emerging markets Political VW Financial Services AG, which inevitable controls its strategic decisions making process Environment/Ecologic Environmental pressure from regulatory authorities Social Change of consumer preferences, e.g. study shows that more consumers in Europe prefer to travel via train rather than personal cars Technological New technology that are likely to render the current ones obsolete and requires upgrade regularly Competitiveness Competition from financial companies and other auto dealers Legal: Data security and privacy have become serious challenges to many businesses, raising concerns with rise in big data and cloud computing initiatives. Auto suppliers like Volkswagen Financial Services Company collect and store highly confidential and sensitive customer data that may be at risk from data breaches. It must be noted that the company is networked not only internally but also externally through internet or other telecommunication connectivity. As such, the company needs to have a robust information security practices not only well documented in the form of information security policies but also ensure strict adherence to ethical standards to avoid legal suits. Moreover, the company needs to develop internal ethical standards in line with their business principles and treat it as part and parcel of the CRM strategies (Barreto, 2010). In case the company wants to use big data, it must strive to develop policy that informs the clients in advance to agree or disagree wit h such plans. Failure to develop such policies may attract legal suits from clients disputing the use of their personal data. The outcome of legal suits may be extremely costly to the company in terms of legal fees, unfavourable strict government regulations and reputation damage. Economic: Volkswagen Financial Services Company has experience the challenges associated with the economic financial crisis that started at the onset of 2008. Although the company considers rise in sales and number of client subscribed in the latest reports, the reduced disposable income is likely to affect the company negatively in the long run, given financial challenges affecting its major European market. Environmental/ Ecological: Auto suppliers like Volkswagen Financial Services face various challenges in maintaining extra-regulatory compliance with contractual clauses. Some of these clauses often require them to certify that the car parts of sale are free of asbestos, lead paint, chromium, and blood minerals among other banned elements (Mintzberg, et al., 2002). These regulatory compliance requirements are meant to ensure sustainability and protection of environment. Issues such as greenhouse gases that cause global warming, and waste management increases cost of production. Socio-cultural: Studies have shown that public transport in Europe is becoming more popular than passenger cars (Tyrinopoulos and Antoniou, 2013). This kind of finding may suggest that the change in trend is more associated with change in social preference. More significantly, the company has not managed to break into Chinese among other emerging markets with its financial services considering that Chinese consumers are cash-buyers rather than credit buyers, as noted by the company’s 2013 Annual Report. This cultural barrier has affected the company’s financial front in terms of sales return. Technological: there are technological challenges associated with auto and financial industries. The challenge with technology is that it changes every day, with new ideas propping up that may provide fast-moving competitors with better competitive advantage (Maritan and Brush, 2003). VW FS (UK) is one of the companies in this sector that suffers from the technological challenges. Competitive: competition from other auto suppliers is real. Although the company has gained competitive advantage with multi-brand CRM, there is likelihood that their major competitors will do the same. Strategic Capabilities of Volkswagen Financial Services (UK) Strategic capabilities of a firm are those capabilities that lead to a competitive advantage. Mintzberg, et al. (2002) defines strategic Resources and competencies as the two components that define resource capability. Further, resources are those assets that an organisation own or can call upon to aid their progress. Competencies are the ability to deploy those resources effectively or to make use of the available resources to achieve a certain goal (Teece, 2007). In others words, resources are what is available and competencies are the ability to use these resources. Table: Representation of strategic capability of Volkswagen Financial Services Resources Competencies Machines, raw materials, products, patents, database, computer systems Physical The company has the means to achieve utilisation of plant, efficiency, productivity, flexibility, marketing Balance sheet, cash flow, revenue Financial That company has the means to raise funds and manage cash flow, debtors, creditors, etc. Managers, employees, partners, suppliers, customers Human The company has experience, skills, knowledge, and ability to build relationships, motivate others and innovate. However, it’s yet to exploit this ability to the maximum. (Brooks and Weatherston, 2002). If fully used, the above representation would lead to long term survival of VW FS, and subsequently strengthen their competitive advantage. Although the strategic capabilities should be dynamic enough, there is a clear indication that Volkswagen Financial Services’ is not as dynamic as required. The company should be able to recreate and renew its strategic capabilities according to the changing business environment. For example, while tangible assets, cost control, and quality maintenance are important capabilities that the company has embraced, there are more long term capabilities such as sensing, seizing and reconfiguring that are significant Using innovation to spur entrepreneurship Innovation and entrepreneurship is about creating the new- both new products and services and new business models and organisations (Johnson, et al., 2013). Creating value for firms and customers, innovation and entrepreneurship are fundamental to today’s highly competitive economies. But the decision to innovate and pursue new market leads through innovation can be a hard choice for organisations as has been demonstrated by Volkswagen Financial Services’ attempts to enter Chinese market. The company ought to have asked various fundamental questions such as: Will it be appropriate if they too pioneer in new technologies or rather be a fast follower (timing and relationship)innovation dilemma How should they react to radical innovations that threaten to destroy its existing revenues? In such a highly competitive industry, entrepreneurship is a significant aspect of any business. In other words, entrepreneurship is fundamental aspect of any business that wants to keep up with the changing business environment. It’s entrepreneurship that drives innovation. Innovation dilemma However there are innovation dilemmas that may affect a firm’s decision-making process. Many corporations face strategic dilemma on whether to innovate or note. Johnson et al. (2013,p. 239) describes innovation as the process of converting new knowledge into a new product, process or service and the putting of this new product, process or service into actual use. Another aspect of innovation dilemma facing VW FS is whether to adopt open or closed innovation. Porter (1996) describes open innovation as the process of deliberate importation and exportation of knowledge by a firm in their attempt to speed up and intensify innovation. Open innovation advocates for open exchange of ideas for quick better products to keep ahead of competition. Closed innovation is based on a firms insistence on making every innovative ideas internal, keeping everything secret from outside people. Volkswagen Financial Services Company seems to focus on closed innovation, which inevitably limits their ability to source for ideas. There is likelihood that this limits their ability to attract external skills or innovative ideas. Technological or business model innovation Most successful and progressive innovative activities do not necessarily rely on the latest or new science or technology, but involve reorganizing into new business by combining every aspect of a business (Johnson et al., 2013). A business model describes how an organisation manages incomes and costs through the structural arrangements of its activities. For example, when Ryanair decided to adopt the ultra cheap airline tickets, its business model innovation involved the generation of revenues via direct sales through the internet, thereby cutting out intermediary travel agents, while also using cheap secondary airports. Cheap airports and internet sales proved more significant than technological innovation. There are various ways of analysing a business model innovation, including the use of value chain, value net or activity network frameworks (Johnson et al., 2013). Typically, these frameworks are meant to direct managers and entrepreneurs to two primary frameworks for potential i nnovations: The product – a new business model may redefine what the product or service is and how it is produced. This concerns technology in relation to the value chain. The selling – a new business model may change how an organisation generates its revenue, with implications for selling and distribution. In the perspective of Volkswagen FS, the company’s value chain in terms of emerging markets has not picked up as anticipated. The emerging markets, unlike the developed markets are generally cash buyers. The company may consider using instalments payment model to establish its value chain within the emerging markets like China and India, with attractive product packages targeting the growing middle class consumers in these countries. Innovators and followers There are those who choose to lead innovations and those who follow. Barreto (2010) argue that first-movers often start from a positive note where because they get easy and quick sales early, experience f ast growth and have the ability to establish the dominant positions. Examples of first-movers who have succeeded in this line are Coca Cola in soft drinks and Hoover in vacuum cleaners. However, there are many first-movers that have failed such as the powerful Microsoft which failed with its tablet computer launch in 2001. Nine years later, Apple swept the market with its iPad tablet computer. First-mover advantages and disadvantages First-movers are generally temporary monopolies. Their advantage exists where they appear better off than their competitors as a result of being first to market with a new product, process or service (Teece, 2009; Teece, 2007). There are five potentially more robust first-movers advantage: They can build on experience in a market and benefit from the accrued market knowledge and skills; They can scale faster and enjoy the early benefits; They have the opportunity for pre-emption of scarce resources; They can build early reputation, particularly because consumers have little ‘mind-space’ to recognise new brands that follows; They can exploit the buyer switching costs, by ensuring that their customers are locked with privileged or sticky relationships that later challengers may find too costly to adopt (Teece, 2009) However, Mintzberg (2002) observe that there are disadvantages for being first-movers as seen with Microsoft’s earlier failure with tablets. First is th e free-riding factor. Late movers may find it easy to imitate first mover’s technology and other innovations at less expense than originally incurred by pioneers. Research indicates that the costs of imitation are only 65% of the cost of innovation (Teece, 2009). In addition, late-movers have the ability to learn from the errors made by first-movers, picking on what worked well and avoiding what did not work for their pioneer competitor. In other words, they may not make so many mistakes and be able to get it right first time unlike their pioneer competitor. Should Volkswagen Financial Services be a first or second? Managers and entrepreneurs often find it hard to choose either to be a first-mover or a follower. However, London Business School’s Costas Markides and Paul Geroski argue that the most appropriate response to innovation, especially radical innovation, is often not to be a first mover but to be a ‘fast second’ (Mintzberg, 2002). A first second strategy involves being one of the first to imitate the original innovator. According to Porter (1996) there are three contextual factors to consider in choosing between innovating and imitating: Capacity for profit capture. If a follower can imitate faster and efficiently, it can capture good profits. It’s more effective where the pioneer is not able to define the boundaries for intellectual property; Complementary assets. An organisation in possession of the assets or resources have the ability to scale up the production and marketing of the innovation; Fast-moving arenas. In situations where markets or technologies are moving very fast, and especially where both are highly dynamic, first-movers are unlikely to establish a durable advantage. The incumbent can respond to new entrants into the market by adopting disruptive innovation. As has been shown earlier, disruptive innovation can create substantial growth by offering a new performance trajectory that, even if â€Å"initially inferior to the performance of existing technologies, has the potential to become markedly superior† Winter, 2003). Incumbents can follow two policies to help keep them responsive to potentially disruptive innovation: Develop a portfolio of real options and new venture units. References Barreto, I. (2010). Dynamic capabilities: a review of past research and an agenda for the future. Journal of Management, 36 (1): 256-80. Brooks, I. and Weatherston, J. (2002). The Business Environment: Challenges and Changes. NJ: Prentice Hall. Johnson, G., Whittington, R., Scholes, K., Angwin, D., and Regner, P. (2013). Exploring Strategy Text & Cases. NJ: Pearson Education. Maritan, C.A and Brush, T.H. (2003). Heterogeneity and transferring practices: implementing flow practices in multiple plants. Strategic Management Journal, 24 (10): 945-60. Mintzberg, H., Ghoshal, S., Lampel, J., and Quinn, J.B. (2002) â€Å"The Strategy Process: Concepts, Context, Cases†,4th Edition, Prentice Hall. Porter, M. (1996) â€Å"What is Strategy?†, Harvard Business Review, November- December: 61-78. Tyrinopoulos, Y. and Antoniou, C. (2013) Factors affecting modal choice in urban mobility. European Transport Research Review. 5 (1). pp. 27-39. Teece, D.J. (2009). Dynamic Capabilities and Strategic management- organising for innovation and growth, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Teece, D.J. (2007). Explicating dynamic capabilities: the nature and microfoundations of sustainable enterprise performance. Strategic Management Journal, 28 (1): 1319-50. VW FS Annual Report (2013). Volkswagen Financial Services AG: The key to mobility. Winter, S.G. (2003). Understanding dynamic capabilities. Strategic Management Journal, 24 (10): 991-5.

A Interview On A Job Interview

Hello sir, thanks for your message i 'm very grateful. I over stressed my self while going for the interview for midwifery job and also disobey God that is why He is punishing me for that. He instruct me to visit some families and pray for them but it is outskirt of our region and i was too tired to go. Though they are not our church members but they do attend the Friday prayer meetings so i did not go and decide to rest a bit before i slept off. Unfortunately one of the family member that was sick†¦ Appropriate Posture in a Job Interview Setting Nonverbal communication includes posture and posture is a component of body language that is important in business, especially during a job interview. A person’s success is impacted by his or her posture and begins once someone lays his or her eyes on the person (Bjorseth, 2002). Rane (2010) states that individuals have their own unique ways in communicating his or her thoughts through the various kinds of body language, including posture. Nonverbal†¦ If you want to succeed at a job interview, you should not go unprepared. After all, job seekers went through the process of filling out an application using an online resume builder. A skillful interviewer will ask questions related to a variety of work-related subjects, so if you want to succeed, you have to come prepared. An interviewer will probe into your past performance to learn of clues about how you will perform on the job. The interviewer may ask you about something illegal or inappropriate†¦ Appropriate Posture in a Job Interview Setting Posture is a form of nonverbal communication and is also a component of body language that is important in business, especially during a job interview. A person’s success impacts his or her posture and begins once someone lays his or her eyes on the person (Bjorseth, 2002). Rane (2010) states that individuals have their own unique ways in communicating thoughts through various kinds of body language, including posture. Nonverbal cues are crucially important†¦ Getting a job can be a life changer, but in order to be hired an interview must be conducted first. No matter how many times a person has been to a job interview it can be nerve-racking, but it doesn’t have to be. What a person does before and during an interview can make all the difference. Some steps a person can take to prepare for a successful interview is to be prepared for the interview, dress for success, make a good impression, ask questions, sell yourself, and close the deal. First make†¦ The purpose of the interview is the most important part in the hiring process in discovering if a candidate matches what was presented by their resume and to determine whether they can fit into your organization. A person can tailor their resume so that it matches all the points mentioned in the job posting but all the qualities a company wants may not be indicated there. A background check can be performed in order to verify that the technical aspects of a job applicants resume match the advertised†¦ Shrek Interviews for a Job â€Å"No, sir. I still cannot see you. Did you enable the video on your webcam?† A woman dressed in a drab, grey suit was appearing on the screen. She was looking over a couple of papers, and writing things as she tried to instruct a person she could not see. â€Å"Arg! DONKEY!† yelled the large, green ogre. â€Å"I don’t know how to work this†¦ thing!† â€Å"Shrek! I thought you didn’t want my help on the computer?† said the sassy, talking donkey walking into the office. Shrek rolled†¦ Job interviews are the most important step in the challenging course of finding a job. A job interview is often a chance to make a first impression with a company or organization, which can make a huge impact on whether or not one is offered a job. Job interviews also serve as a two-way street for the exchange of information (Joseph). The interview provides a selling opportunity for the organization as well as the candidate (Joseph). The interview allows for one to explain to the company exactly†¦ actions; however, they know nothing about that individual’s lifestyle and what they are going through. In the poem â€Å"The Job Interview† by Darcie Dennigan, Dennigan portrays the character by having a job at a church, but the character does not have faith; however, she claims is good job; once the reader continues the rest of the poem, we are led to believe that she does not like her job. In comparison to Keetje Kuipers â€Å"Drought,† Kuipers portrays a character to be living a good life speaking of dandelions†¦ went for a job interview today and the interviewer asked me same question†. â€Å"What would you answered? Can you name your biggest personal weakness instantly?† I asked him. He replied, â€Å"That is why I am upset today. I am honestly told everything, now I am worried, that he might judge my abilities on, what I answered to him.† Our conversation for that night went into a deep, judging night for both of us. I have never thought somebody will ask that straight forward question for a job interview. We discussed†¦

Right is left and left is right Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Right is left and left is right - Research Paper Example Schools, in particular private schools, have practiced uniforms or conformation to dress codes for their students for many years to help maintain order. In the wake of increasing school-based violence and gang activity in recent years, a rethinking on the implementation of school uniform policies and more stringent dress codes has been found necessary by public schools as well. However, until now no state legislation mandates the use of student uniforms or specific dress codes. Many large public school systems have schools with either voluntary or mandatory uniform policies, mostly in elementary and middle schools (ECS, Education Commission of the States, 2009). According to Morris and Wells (2000), the argument of school officials, parents and researchers favoring the use of school uniforms is that â€Å"they enhance the ability of the school to achieve its basic academic purpose, diminish the differences among socio-economic levels, promote self-confidence and school spirit, and improve student behavior.† The Manual on School Uniforms published by the U.S. Department of Education (1996) identified several potential benefits for school uniforms including decreasing violence and theft, preventing gang members from wearing gang clothing at school, instilling discipline among students, helping resist peer pressure, helping students concentrate on academics, and aiding school officials recognize intruders. In Long Beach, California, education officials believe the pilot school uniform program implemented in 11 schools serving 8,000 students caused school-related crime to decline by 76 percent while significantly increasing attendance. H owever, the correlation between uniforms and positive results is yet to be proved (Morris and Wells, 2000). Parents and students have consistently opposed uniforms on several counts such as: they infringe upon the First Amendment rights of students; they

Choose any song you wish (contemporary is fine). Using AT LEAST one Essay

Choose any song you wish (contemporary is fine). Using AT LEAST one verse and the refrain, discuss the lyrics in terms of poetr - Essay Example In this analysis, the paper will consider verses two and three including the refrain. In the song, Tyrell asks his wife to accompany him to various great places such as Bombay, Peru and Ac apulco Bay, which he promises to be full of fun and joy. His convincing voice is felt in lines like â€Å"in llama land there's a one-man band/ and he'll toot his flute for you† (Tyrell, 5-6), to signify the much fun they were to have in Peru. Tyrell the singer will be the one man band who will be playing the flute to the new wedded wife in Peru. To express his love for the lady, he chooses different places full of fun, perhaps with interesting things he is sure that the wife would love. He engages her thoughts romantically by painting a romantic picture in her head. Sweet-talking her to accept his proposal, Tyrell sings, â€Å"Once I get you up there I'll be holding you so near/ You may hear all the angels cheer 'cause we're together (Tyrell, 11-12).† Not only does he show his deep l ove to the woman, but also paints a romantic picture in her head. He first asks her to come and fly away with him, and later promises that they will stay up in the sky, where he would hold her so near that she would hear the angels cheer because they are together. In Ac apulco Bay, he promises her that they will have a perfect weather for a honeymoon and beat the birds, which would bring them closer, creating more fun and happiness. He then asks her to join him and insists that they will fly together to all these places. Imagery Through imagery, Tyrell paints numerous scenes that are enticing to the woman. He creates a lasting picture in her mind that is supposed to be both romantic and appealing. Extensively, the singer uses symbolism and personification to create a romantically enticing picture in the imagination of the woman. He tells her to go with him, so that they can float down to Peru, where a one man band will play a flute for her. He creates an urge in the woman, prompting her to desire the great feeling of flying, and the music from the flute, which is most likely her favourite music instrument. Although Tyrell does not mention the band’s name, he is a singer and will probably be the band. However, to create a lasting impression and increase her anxiety, he conceals the name of the band. Moreover, he promises to take her to the sky where he would hold her very closely. The close that they would be to the sky, she would even hear the angels cheering their unison. â€Å"Once I get you up there I'll be holding you so near/ you may hear all the angels cheer 'cause we're together (Tyrell 11-12). By this, he means that even in heaven, their marriage has been approved. The perfect Ac apulco bay for a honeymoon is meant to let her know that he never settled for simple places, but the best, full of fun such as bird hunting and perfect weather. With these images in her mind, Tyrell hopes that he manages to successfully convince his women to accompany him to the honeymoon. Alliteration