Old Company Case Essay

We are a very old company, but we recognise that our customers are changing, so we continually develop new products to reflect this. David Lee, managing director, Lee Kum Kee Company2 The problem with a lot of family-controlled local brands that have a long history behind them is that it’s very easy to become old and run out of steam. – Antony Chow, vice-president for Greater China, RSCG (an advertising agency)3 The sauce company Lee Kum Kee, one of the best known Hong Kong brands, certainly did not have the problem mentioned above, although it did have a long history that began in 1888, and was run by the same family through four generations. The company was founded by Lee Kam Sheung as a small oyster-sauce manufacturer in Guangdong Province, China. It relocated to Macau in the early 1900s, moved once more to Hong Kong after World War II, and was based there in the decades afterwards. Lee Kum Kee was already expanding beyond the Guangdong-Macau-Hong Kong distribution network in the 1920s to North America, when it was also making shrimp paste. In the 1970s and 1980s, after the torch passed to thirdgeneration leader Lee Man Tat, there was a diversification of geographical markets as well as products at a very quick pace. Lee Man Tat’s sons, who were educated in the West, inherited the leadership from their father in the 1990s, and the pace of modernisation and diversification continued while the Company’s marketing strategy remained as vigorous and Vincent Mak prepared this Case under the supervision of Dr. Chi Kin (Bennett) Yim for class discussion. This case is not intended to show effective or ineffective handling of decision or business processes. This Case is part of the Trade & Industry Department SME case series funded by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Trade and Industry Department SME Development Fund. Any opinions, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material/event (by members of the project team) do not reflect the views of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Trade and Industry Department or the vetting committee for the SME Development Fund.  © 2003 by The Centre for Asian Business Cases, The University of Hong Kong. The Company moreover overcame a consumer-confidence crisis — called 3-MPCD crisis — in the late 1990s and early 2000s and continued to thrive. By early 2003, Lee Kum Kee had already developed more than 200 sauces. Its distribution network covered 60 countries in five continents, and its products were available in more than 80 countries. What lessons about strategic brand management can we learn from the way Lee Kum Kee developed, maintaine d and expanded the reach of its products over a whole century? What lessons about crisis management does the Company’s handling of the 3-MPCD crisis offer? Lee Kam Sheung was born in 1868 in Qibao, a village in Xinhui, Guangdong Province, China. Threat from local gangsters forced him to leave his farming life and move to a small island called Nam Shui in the same province, where oysters were abundant. Lee opened a small restaurant there, often using oysters as stock for soups. One day, while cooking oysters, he absent-mindedly walked away for a long time, so that when he remembered the oysters and looked at the soup, it had already become a thick, strongly aromatic liquid, which he found delicious. Hence the birth of Lee’s oyster sauce, which he began producing under the brand name of Lee Kum Kee in 1888 (â€Å"Kee† meaning â€Å"company† in local Cantonese). In 1902, a fire destroyed Lee Kam Sheung’s manufacturing plant, and he moved to nearby Macau, where oysters were also abundant. He began to sell shrimp paste as well as oyster sauce, and his business soon covered Guangdong, Macau and Hong Kong. Of Lee Kam Sheung’s three sons and two daughters, the eldest son died young, and the family business passed to his two remaining sons, Lee Shiu Tang and Lee Shiu Nan. The former was responsible for marketing while the latter took up product quality and improvements to production procedures. The Company’s products were already selling successfully among the Chinese immigrant population in North American cities at that time. The company opened a Hong Kong branch in 1932 while expanding to meet the increasing demands of overseas markets. In 1946, after the Second World War, the two brothers moved their headquarters to Hong Kong, where the prospering economic climate was more conducive for businesses. The 1970s and 1980s5 Lee Man Tat, son of Lee Shiu Tang, took over as Company chairman in 1972, taking the Company to new heights. His era was marked by agile and flexible marketing; production enhancements through the automation and modernisation of production techniques; further expansion of geographical markets and sales networks, and large-scale diversification of sauce products. One of Lee Man Tat’s important early moves was to launch a new brand called Panda Oyster Sauce, capturing the hype caused by the Chinese government’s gift of a pair of pandas to US President Richard Nixon during his visit to China in 1971. The Panda brand was created as a result of slow growth in the Company’s traditional product, premium oyster sauce, which was too expensive for many families. Panda Oyster Sauce was reasonably priced and was expected to have stronger market penetration power. The brand, however, did not secure a good foothold at once, but after some effective marketing efforts it became a hit and outperformed the old labels.   Lee Man Tat learned from the success of the Panda brand that he needed to cater to different market segments. He soon launched a string of new products and brands at different prices and for different tastes, such as chilli sauce, sweet and sour sauce, chicken marinade and curry sauce. These products did well particularly in North American Chinese restaurants. In 1980, the Company, which was still quite small, with only 25 staff, began exploring the Mainland Chinese market. It was extremely difficult for them at the start, as they knew little about the market. Everything they exported to the Mainland was wrong, from the products themselves to packaging and prices, according to Lee Man Tat’s son Eddy Lee Wai Man, who joined the Company in 1980.6 The Company then reduced the number of products for the Mainland market from 50 to 15, in order to focus its promotional efforts. The products gradually became well-received in the Mainland, although delayed payment from retailers emerged as a problem. In the 1980s, Lee Man Tat’s four sons — Eddy, David, Charlie and Sammy — returned with different US degrees to Hong Kong within a couple of years of each other and joined the Company as interns.7 They all started their stints with low-level duties but as their managerial involvement increased, they began to introduce more and more new concepts from the West. When Lee Kum Kee celebrated its first 100 years in 1988, the Company changed its logo to symbolise its vision of â€Å"building a cultural bridge between East and West with our sauce products†. The Company underwent still greater changes after the 1980s. As Eddy Lee took on more and more leadership responsibility, becoming managing director and then chairman of the group, he and his brothers unleashed new initiatives that combined the flexible strategic approach of their father with Western business thinking. Quality and modernised branding were emphasised, as was an up-to-date information technology system. New Products, Brand Building and Market Expansion In 1992, the Company launched a super premium gourmet sauce called XO sauce, which was made from dried scallop, ham and dried shrimp, and had a variety of applications on noodles, porridge, dim sum, sushi, stir fry dishes and other dishes. The sauce’s popularity was a great triumph for the Company. The sauce was later diversified into additional variants such as XO Seafood Sauce and Premium XO Sauce with Abalone. In 1994, the Company started selling soy sauce, a generic product for which there were established competitors. As a result, sales were slow at the beginning.9 The Company then observed that, in most homes, the amount of soy sauce used for dipping was fairly low, both in frequency and in volume. For the Hong Kong market, however, steamed fish was popular among the Chinese, and housewives wanted to make their home-cooked steamed fish taste like those in the restaurants. Lee Kum Kee saw that it could develop a soy sauce that was sweeter than normal soy sauce, specifically for seafood. The strategy led to success, and the Company went on to develop variants including chilli soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, saltreduced soy sauce, mushroom-flavoured dark/light soy sauces, etc. Lee Kum Kee did not invest significantly in its brand until the early 1990s.10 In 1994, it scrapped its old product labels — as David Lee himself said, the old product labels were boring to him.11 The arch of the company logo became a â€Å"Golden Plaque† that implied a guarantee of product quality, while a detail of the traditional Chinese window frame at the border of the plaque reflected the Company’s Hong Kong heritage. By the late 1990s, the Company aimed to use its name and history in Asia and the many Chinese communities around the world to penetrate the general US and European household market.12 On the industry side, the Company capitalised on its status as a premier Asian food brand to expand its network of retailers, restaurateurs and other manufacturers in the West. Most importantly, to make its products even more consumer-friendly and to appeal to young families that did not wish to spend too much time on cooking, the Company continuously widened its product line. Examples included single-use sauce packets with instructions on how to prepare specific dishes, and a larger variety of ready-made sauces that could be used with a range of ingredients. Even its oyster sauce products came in variants such as Premium, Panda Brand, Choy Sun, Vegetarian and others with added dried scallops and mushrooms. In 1998, the Company launched its first five varieties of sauce packets; in the following year, it added 11 more to include dishes such as sweet-and-sour fish, black-bean chicken and spicy tofu. These lines of products became popular in Asia and were then introduced to the West. Throughout the process of geographical diversification, for new as well as old products, the Company observed the different needs of different regional markets. As David Lee said:13 We †¦ have different packaging and tastes to suit different markets, so a chilli product in Japan will come in smaller bottles and be sweeter and less thick, for instance, than it would be in Ho ng Kong. Development in China14 Lee Kum Kee built its first factory in China in 1990; the plant was located in the southern province of Guangdong. Its sales expansion also started with the Guangdong Province but gradually moved north; in 1998, the company began to sell its products in Beijing. In 2002, the Company’s sales in Beijing had already increased more than 10-fold since it entered the market there, while its sales in Guandong were also growing at a double-digit annual rate. The Company had three factories in the Guangdong Province and was considering setting up new ones in northern China. Lee Kum Kee was turning its market development focus back from overseas to the Mainland in the early 2000s. The potential for the development of this obviously huge market could also be seen in the fact that, of the 200-odd products of Lee Kum Kee, only about 60 were sold in the Mainland. As with other markets, Lee Kum Kee was sensitive about different customers’ tastes, so that a Lee Kum Kee sauce in Beijing might taste a little differently from a similarly named sauce in Shanghai. By 2002, the Company had more than 500 distribution networks in the Mainland, and was ranked fourth in total sales in the sauce market, but it had not yet expanded fully into secondary cities in provinces such as Szechuan and Guangxi. In an interview in 2002, Eddy Lee said it would already be great if Lee Kum Kee could secure one per cent of the Mainland market, which was very fragmented.

Forensic Science Unit Two Text Questions Essay

1. What is a questioned document? Describe at least one example of something that might be a questioned document. – A questioned document is when a handwritten or any other type written document is questioned by its authenticity. A great example would be a passport. 2. What is an exemplar? What are the best types of exemplars? -Exemplars are samples that are authentic that are compared with the document that’s questioned. 3. What are natural variations? Describe how these may happen. -They are small differences that appear repeated samples of someones handwriting. Overtime our handwriting changes because every time we write something our hand changes the way we write. 4. How are stamped signatures different from written signatures? -Stamped signatures are always the same and written signatures change every time that you write them. 5. What are some of the typescript machines that document examiners may have to investigate? Choose one of these machines and describe what document examiners may look for when comparing the machine to a questioned document. Some of the typescript machines are called the Daisy Wheel Printer and the Dox Matrix Printer. A Daisy Wheel Printer is very similar to a ball-head typerwriter. They may look for a disc which is either made up of Plastic or Metal, thats where characters stand out. 1. Why are questioned documents important in forensic science? What is one example of a situation where a questioned document might be an important part of a criminal case? – Questioned Documents are important in Forensic Science because it can help figure out if a signature is Forged or not. For example if somebody steals money through a check, they can check the signature and see if the signature is forged or not which will help know if the check is real or not. 2. What are some of the ways that a document examiner might try to match a questioned document to a specific typewriter? What aspects might they look at? – Some of the ways that a documented examiner might try to match a  questioned document to a specific typewriter would be to match the handwriting,they could also look at different changes made in the handwriting. 3. Imagine that you have been asked to determine whether a signature on a check is authentic or a forgery. What steps would you take in doing this? What aspects would you examine? I would first examine the signature and get a hold of any papers that were signed by the same person and see how many similarities they have and how many differences they have. I would examine every little change that happens. 4. Imagine that you have been asked to determine whether a will written fifty years ago is authentic or a modern-day forgery. How would you go about doing this? What aspects would you examine to help you make your determination? -I would examine the handwriting and I would also use a Daisy Wheel Printer to figure out all of the information. 5. A law enforcement agent is in charge of getting a writing sample from an uncooperative suspect. The agent puts the suspect in a comfortable room and has the person choose from a bunch of pencils and ink pens. The agent takes the questioned document and dictates the information to the suspect, having the suspect write down what she says as she reads from the questioned document. After several paragraphs, the agent stops and has the suspect rewrite the material two more times. What did the agent do wrong in this situation? What did the agent do right? – What the agent did wrong is that he made him write it two or more times because every time that he writes it over again the handwriting changes. What he did do write was make him write everything he says as he dictates the information to the suspect. That way they can see whether the handwriting matches it or not.

John Dewey on Education Essay

John Dewey, Mortimer Adler and Nel Noddings impacted our system of education in very profound ways. Dewey believed that there should be communication between the student and the teacher. Adler believed that schools should only teach the traditional courses (English, Math, Science, Social Studies and Foreign Language). Noddings believed that teachers should be more caring towards their students. John Dewey’s idea of education greatly affected our system of education today. John Dewey’s ideas for education were to concentrate on students’ psychological and sociological qualities. Dewey believed in promoting an â€Å"unconscious education† where â€Å"the individual gradually comes to share in the intellectual and moral resources which humanity has succeeded in getting together. He becomes an inheritor of the funded capital of civilization† (Dewey 261). In other words, he thought this was a good method for teachers to analyze a student’s behavior in order to teach them more effectively. This also provided an opportunity for the student to learn without even realizing it. Dewey stated that a student’s psychological needs were the basis of his method of education. The child’s own instinct and powers furnish the material and give the starting-point for all education† (Dewey 262). Dewey stressed the idea that, â€Å"Without insight into the psychological structure and activities of the individual the educative process will†¦be haphazard and arbitrary† (Dewey 262). Dewey was also extremely interested in the social aspects of a student. He said that the, â€Å"knowledge of social conditions, of the present state of civilization, is necessary in order to properly interpret the child’s powers† (Dewey 262). This was a new technique for an educator to see and distinguish the instincts and tendencies in a student. Therefore, in order for an educator to know more about a student he/she must first study the student’s psychological traits in order to understand the unique characteristics of a child’s capacities, interests and habits. Then the teacher must translate their findings into terms of what they believe the child is capable of in a social setting. In my opinion, Dewey showed a balance between the dialectic of academics and affective goals. This is also known as transaction, which is having both the teacher and the student interact in the classroom. Dewey believed that the academic goals of education should be, â€Å"a process of living and not a preparation for future living† (Dewey 263). He stated that the teachers’ job is not to influence him but to help guide the student into successfully forming with the community by letting the student experience some life occurrences. â€Å"The teacher is not in the school to impose certain ideas or to form certain habits in the child, but is there as a member of the community to select the influences which shall affect the child† (Dewey 263 – 264). Dewey also believed that tests should only be used to examine a child’s social capabilities in the real world. â€Å"Examinations are of use only so far as they test the child’s fitness for social life and reveal the place in which he can be of the most service and where he can receive the most help† (Dewey 264). In my opinion, this would be more of a conceptual test where the child can voice his or her own opinions. Dewey’s main affective goals were to deepen the child’s meaning of himself and his values. It is the business of the school to deepen and extend his sense of the values bound up in his home life† (Dewey 263). Dewey believed that it was important for the school to implement lessons that related to what a child would do at home. The school would also be responsible for simplifying their social life because; â€Å"existing life is so complex that the child cannot be brought into contact with it without either confusion or distraction† (Dewey 263). Therefore, if the child is exposed to too much social stimulation he will become, â€Å"either unduly specialized or else disintegrated† (Dewey 263). I believe that Dewey’s views show that he is against standardization in schools. He believed that there was a lack of conscious states in schools. He asserts that children are, â€Å"thrown into a passive, receptive, or absorbing attitude† (Dewey 265). Dewey’s viewpoint is still an active discussion topic in today’s education system. However, some school districts insist on rote learning because their schools receive more funding when there is a high percentage of passing students on standardized tests. According to Linda McNeil, students are taught on how to pass these tests without really learning. For example, McNeil states that, â€Å"students report that in the drills on the TAAS reading section, they frequently mark answers without reading the sample text. They merely match key words in an answer choice with key words in the text† (McNeil 218). According to Dewey, this is â€Å"not permitted [in following] the law of nature† (Dewey 265), resulting in â€Å"friction and waste† (Dewey 265). Dewey believed that proper instruction should be exemplified by, â€Å"the preparation and presentation of lessons [which] might be more wisely and profitably expended in training the child’s power of imagery and in seeing to it that he was continually forming definite, vivid, and growing images of the various subjects with which he comes in contact in his experience† (Dewey 266). Standardization is not they key component of education, even though the state and federal government believe this is an important element for success. According to Gerald Bracey, when students are applying to college, the SAT exam should be used as a guideline and not the final decision in acceptance. Bracey stated that the, â€Å"SAT scores had been falling for fourteen years† (Bracey 47). He also stated that, â€Å"While the developers of the SAT still called their test a ‘mere supplement,’ the public now saw it as the platinum rod for measuring school performance. And that performance was getting worse† (Bracey 47). Somehow over time, a student’s SAT score developed into an extremely significant number which seemed to become the overall determination of a student’s intelligent. It seems harsh and unbalanced to put so much emphasis on one test. Of course, applicants are told that in combination with their SAT scores; their grades and outside activities are taken into consideration for college admittance. But the truth is these SAT scores still remain a huge factor for college applicants. Studies have shown that a high SAT score does not guarantee high grades in college however the politics behind these tests are stronger than the public’s opinion in order to get these tests repealed. Standardized tests do not lead the student to come into contact with the subject at hand or the experience related to it. They also do not show the overall picture of an individual or what he or she can contribute while attending college. Scott Thompson is against the test-based reform of today’s society. Thompson claims that, â€Å"The human hearts and minds of others, I believe, are simply too complex and too inaccessible to read as a book† (Thompson 160). Thompson argues that the differences between test-based reform and standards-based reform. He concluded that standards-based reform involves more cooperation from parents, teachers and the students. It also gives the students a high-quality method of learning and not simply learning techniques for test taking. â€Å"We should be interested in students who can produce high quality work rather than students who have mastered the ability to take standardized tests† (Thompson 159). Thompson would love to see that the idea of standardized tests be abandoned in the future. Thompson argues that by giving these students standardized tests that they are reducing their potential of demonstrating their intellect, social and personal sides to the community. Test-based reform, through its focus on high-stakes test, narrows the curriculum to what is included on the tests and reduces instructional practice to test preparation† (Thompson 159). In contrast, â€Å"standards-based reform†¦involves a complete abandonment of the bureaucratic, ‘seat time’ approach to education and replaces it with a system of learning communities dedicated to helping all students reach their intellectual, social, and personal potential† (Thompson 159). To summarize, without requiring students to take standardized tests they will greatly increase their academic potential and affective abilities. Bill Bigelow also stresses his concern of standardization. He believes that, â€Å"social studies knowledge is little more than acquiring piles of disconnected facts about the world† (Bigelow 231) and that â€Å"the world can’t be chopped into multiple choice questions, [in] that you can’t bubble in the truth with a number-two pencil† (Bigelow 239). Bigelow would be ecstatic to see the state do away with standardized tests. He demonstrates some strong educational goals that the state should follow that show a balance between academic and affective goals for education. He claims that teachers should, â€Å"construct rigorous performance standards for students that promote deep thinking about the nature of our society. These efforts should acknowledge the legitimacy of a multicultural curriculum of critical questions, complexity, multiple perspective, and social imagination. They should recognize that wisdom is more than information† (Bigelow 239). I agree with his statement. When considering the famous quote, â€Å"knowledge is power†; have we gained knowledge when we have learned the means by which to pass a standardized test? Or has knowledge been gained when a student has the sense of understanding conceptual ideas about society and civilization as a whole? I feel that standardized testing is something elected state officials want because these tests provide numbers and numbers are easy to put into a spreadsheets and show which schools are getting high scores and which schools are getting low scores. It is an easy format to determine budgets; one test is suitable for all students. It is harder to define guidelines on how or what teachers should teach conceptually because that leads to a broader spectrum of learning. In conclusion, I believe that standardized tests are the â€Å"dumbing down of America†. These tests inhibit our abilities to question and reflect. The state and federal governments do not really want the American public to get smarter. They want a simple way to control what students learn and how they learn it. While many people agree that standardization is not improving learning, we are still unable to do away with these tests due to all of the politics involved. I would love for high schools to be more like colleges in that, teachers can use whatever methods of teaching they like just as professors do. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Obviously, there are essential fundamental topics that much be taught that are necessary in order to have the basic foundation on which to grow intellectually. I feel that once a student has mastered the basics, it is crucial to one’s development to discuss controversial issues and to intelligently question the ways of the world. I agree with Bill Bigelow; I do not believe that one test is a thorough determinant of a student’s ability and mastery of various concepts. A famous quote by George Santayana states, â€Å"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it†. With all the controversial issues and problems in the world, shouldn’t learning how to use one’s mind and think â€Å"outside the box† be considered an integral part of learning? Isn’t it important and valuable to society to be able to intelligently discuss solutions rather than just be considered smart because you aced the SAT?

Understandings of Anderson's (2007) 'Imagined Communities' Essay

Understandings of Anderson's (2007) 'Imagined Communities' - Essay Example Understandings of Anderson's (2007) 'Imagined Communities' Other analysts for the concept will be included in the essay. Conclusion This compilation provokes will thought that ‘Imagined communities’ actually exist and that all nations have endeavored to strive towards accomplishing their imaginings. Anderson's 'imagined communities' The concept of imagined communities has had numerous opinions among various analysts and researchers in the context of geographical notion. In the words by Anderson, the concept of imagined communities is of the opinion that nations are not fallacial as the word imagined contemplates (6). Rather, this concept means that the making of a nation is of the meaning that the states are created from various processes that are common to the populace of that particular state. According to the research conducted by Anderson, the concept of ‘imagined communities’ relates to the fact that all persons hope to have touch with the members of their state and all that these members engage in (7). At most times, the members of the nation do not have the opportunity to interact with each other, meet all the members of the nation or even interact with all, but they all act in communion. Anderson continues to emphasize that imagined communities are mostly shaped by the institutions that are put in place in the nation (6). These institutions range from the political to cultural systems. Through these institutions, the beliefs, opinions and outlooks shared by a people in the nations are shared generally. The nation is indeed a large territory that encompasses numerous persons from all walks of life, with finite boundaries. These boundaries, must however bar persons from interacting with each other, but bring them together at all times (Chasteen & Castro-Klaren, 117). Additionally, Anderson is of the opinion that nations are imagined from the fact that all nations hope to be free (142). This relates to the sovereignty of the state and limited demography or spatial barriers. The hierarchies present in a nation as expected of a sovereign nation are in one way or another imagined being absent, and freedom is the pillar of the nation. The nation is expected to have assumed the archaic systems and replaced them with societal systems that include all persons in the social order. The nation, in this case, is one that should be inclusive of rule and sovereignty. Anderson emphasizes that this form of rule must be allow the nation exercise its authority over its citizens (6). On another point of view, the nation is imagined for the reason that all nations always hope to have a form of solidarity despite the forms of inequality and abuses prevalent in the nations (Anderson, 137). Members of the nation will always endeavor to uphold respect for each other for the nation is considered greater than all the individuals. It is also in this line that the members of the nation uphold respect and love for each other and will not watch the nation derail due to their individual differences. The imaginings by the members of these nations steer the nation towards heights of success. It is also evident that the members of the nation will be more than willing to offer any thing to see the achievement and maturation of their imaginations of a successful nation. This is a depiction of

Who Am I Gender As A Social Construct, Not An Inherent Characteristic Essay

Who Am I Gender As A Social Construct, Not An Inherent Characteristic - Essay Example Sex is a physical, genetically based characteristic, visible through the sex organs. Gender is a social construct, created and utilized by society to place people in categories. This is clearly shown through Peter Levin's article "Gendering in the Market: Temporality, Work, and Gender on a National Futures Exchange." In Peter Levin's article, gender is proven to be a social construct and not an inherent aspect of self, and is hierarchically organized within the society." There are few places in America that are more gendered than the Stock exchange and trading floors. Over 90% of all trade floor workers are male, and according to Levin, "are highly heterosexual, hyper-rational, and based on the ideals of domination, aggression, and competition" (Levin 4). Levin creates the model to explain the environment, and how the environment changes to create gender. In an environment that is traditionally thought to emulate one gender or another, such as the trade floor, the discrepancies become clearer. For women to act on the trade floor successfully, they would have to overcome their gender, which, were it a genetic construct, and not a social construct, would be impossible. Yet, when the trade floor is busy, women are considered to be equally successful to men.

Myth into Film Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Myth into Film - Essay Example This paper will comprehensively explore the similarities and difference between the two and my deduction of what each author is trying to bring out in their story. Despite Euripides Medea and Dassin’s A Dream of Passion’s different settings, they have some similarities. Both Medea and A Dream of Passion, follow the tales of women who are forced by circumstances to kill their children, born and unborn, to satisfy their interests. The two stories exhibit high emotions of love, passion and vengeance. In Euripides’ play, Medea, the protagonist Medea is so much in love with her husband Jason. She feels extremely betrayed by her husband when she learns of his unfaithfulness and plans to marry Creons daughter. She cannot bear her husband’s betrayal and feels a great desire to carry out revenge on him. Creon, on the other hand, anticipates Medea to retaliate. To protect his daughter from Medea’s wrath; he decides to send Medea into exile. Eventually, Medea succeeds in killing Glauce, Creon and her three children. She inflicts unimaginable pain on her husband not only by the killings, but also by her decision to escap e to Athens with the corpses of her children. Jason’s betrayal of her love leads her to commit such heinous crimes. Like in Medea, A Dream of Passion presents a similar scenario. Maya goes through the same situation as Medea but in a different context. In A Dream of Passion, The character, Brenda represents the real Medea, and she killed her three children to carry out revenge on her husband. However, Maya’s similarities to Medea are brought out through her interactions with Brenda. Like Brenda killed her children, Maya carried out an abortion. Thus they are both equal in that they killed despite the motive behind their killings. Brenda killed for vengeance while Maya killed to be a star, to be a celebrity, prosperous and independent.

The effect of Leadership in managing performance Essay

The effect of Leadership in managing performance - Essay Example e sustainable growth and development of the businesses, it is prudent for the organizations to remain extremely alert for all the changing environments. Also, it has to inculcate enough features of dynamism and flexibility so that the processes, both internal as well as external, are efficient as well as effective. This is truer for the ever growing industry of the United Arab Emirates. The environment of the UAE is one of the most dynamics industries as people from all across the globe have transaction with the market. To attain such desired status, one of the major areas upon which the organizations have to work is that of the leadership. The leadership should be strong and succinct. The leader should be able to lead from the front with exemplary performance so that the employees and team gets motivated and spirited. Leadership can be defined as the special traits of an individual that he or she posses and that helps him to motivate and induce his colleagues or subordinates to accomplish tasks (Northouse, â€Å"Leadership: Theory and Practice†). The leadership traits of an individual can take various forms, he can be task oriented or people oriented. A task oriented leader is more of a formal kind and views the task assigned to the team of the supreme importance and takes every measure to get it done. On the other hand, the people oriented leader is more of employee friendly and expects to get the best out of the team leveraging the personal relationship with the team. The management of the performance has been a recent and upcoming concept in the field of human resource management. As the competition within the industries are on constant rise, so it has become very important for the organizations of all types, small, mid – sized, large and even multi - national corporations to quantify the performance of the employees. Till very recently, the quantification of the performance was related only with the external jobs like marketing and sales. But standing

Process of exploring acomplex situation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Process of exploring acomplex situation - Essay Example Technology is one particular element in the current human culture that connects every nationality together in the present system of things. The material culture that it opens up to the current human generation actually increases the capability of the people to relate to each other even beyond understanding the cultures and values of each nationality through the existence of language. Likely, the idea is that technology becomes an undeniably fine link between people around the world today especially because of the advancement that it implies on every group of people regardless of their culture and values as members of the human society. Certainly, although different, people are made one with the help of the recognition and understanding of different norms and regularities in the human society. Meanwhile, perspective naturally refers to individual belief. It may or may not be accordingly related to the worldviews accepted by the society, but it certainly is based upon one's own understanding and beliefs. For instance, such matter could be identified through the understanding of one's culture. Elements of culture are significant in explaining the differences of people in the different areas of the world. Understandably, such elements make a certain implication on how and who a certain group of people is depending on their perceptions of life, their language and their historical background as well. Likely, such elements of culture are used to identify people regarding their lifestyle and how they are actually able to contribute to the development of the society at present. Value conflict usually occurs when a person's ideas of something or someone does not connect with that of the others. Likely, in terms of language, such situation occurs when one does not understand a language based on the perception of others. If one foreigner does not understand the way English should be understood, comprehension of the conversation becomes impossible. Perspective is then based upon the belief of a person and the basic understanding that he has upon himself and the society that he lives in. 3. (a) Read through the article of The Environmental Crisis (at the end of TMA 01).As you read through the article create one summary spray diagram to illustrate the main ideas you obtained from the article material. (15% marks) (b) Then create a rich picture for the article. The rich picture should capture both what you have read about and what you personally think and feel about this issue. (15% marks) The environment exists in connection with the kind of society that lives in it, everyone living in it then should recognize the responsibility they have towards protecting the resources provided by the environment to them. (c) Determine if this issue is a mess or a difficulty. Give justification for your choice (not more than 200 words). Your justification should indicate that you have understood the concept of these situations. (20% marks) At the present, the society is critically involved and focused with the rapid industrialization and the technological advancement in every field that is connected

English - elements of poetry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

English - elements of poetry - Essay Example Sometimes, it works to look at the poem according to structure and note how one word or an entire line is associated to another within stanzas. In particular, I have observed that a poet’s choice of couplet, tercet, quatrain, cinquain, or sestet has something to do with the manner he would wish to convey the connotative essence of the piece. It is fascinating to know that poetry at present goes beyond a standard measure or is not confined to follow a limited structure and form for whether a poem is comprised of a lyrical, narrative, or descriptive features would necessarily depend on the main purpose of the author. Rhyme schemes make a good ingredient if the poet opts to express much delight in sound when writing in free verse which is not restricted by metrics. By personal experience, even if I prefer to go for an unrhymed blank verse, I discover significance in the proper application of sound and imagery for these elements effectively communicate the intensity of emotion or idea which the poet desires for the reader to comprehend besides symbolism. Explicating a poem is a way of providing it a literary analysis on the basis of its theme, figurative elements or devices employed during the writing process which may as well include consideration of the poet’s timeframe, historical setting, and other influences from which to draw further clues regarding the objectives and context by which a poem is written. I have specifically learned that one may not merely explicate a poem at random, stating what is conceived or felt without sufficient basis on the relevant lines of a work. Having read a poem more than once, I have managed to figure that analytical efforts to interpret a poem require profound examination of the techniques as the poet operates between mood and music. Normally, it is convenient to detect the tone at the initial stage for this says much about the subject and

Interview data collected and analysed (grammar, linking words, rewrite Essay

Interview data collected and analysed (grammar, linking words, rewrite concussions for each part - Essay Example It is quite necessary to conduct such a study in Saudi Arabia, as it is one of the most resourceful countries. Unfortunately most of its resources are wasted on unnecessary purposes like maintenance of buildings, especially hospitals. So this study bring to light a good point that maintenance costs would be less or not required at all if there is no faulty construction. However, there is a need to focus on the relationship between design building and maintenance, in terms of reduced maintenance budgets, in order to avoid design defects in Saudi Arabia, as the harsh climate of the Saudi Arabian Rub Al-Khali shortens the life of buildings. Therefore, this study will talk about the appropriate steps that should be considered while building new infrastructures in the future. Poor designing leads to defects and imperfections in the building structure, and it occurs due to defects in material selection, ventilation arrangements that are made as well as flooring defects that occur during th e construction process of the building. The beginning chapters lay emphasis on maintenance and stress that maintenance of buildings is increasing annually by great margins in Saudi Arabia. One of the main cause for this increase is the defects that take place during the construction process itself because if a building is constructed with the right selection of quality materials with the right design concepts and with the accurate plan then the maintenance cost required will be much. This is due to the fact that quality building material during construction will obviate the necessity for frequent repairs. As a continuation of the previous chapters it is an understood fact that building designs, which ignored the maintenance practicality and adequacy were the main determinants of increased maintenance costs in case of the hospitals in Saudi Arabia. But this maintenance is difficult because of the non-availability of replacement materials, skilled personnel and lack of funding for mai ntenance purposes. Hospital maintenance in Saudi Arabia is governed by a number of rules, which resist breakdown provisions of hospitals. Compared to other buildings, it is a hospital that requires timely and appropriate maintenance, as it is a life saving institution as doctors try their maximum to treat the patients. It is an established fact that hospital buildings should be based on the equipments that the hospital plans to install. Thus, the issue of maintenance stems from the wrong designing concept that has been used. Design faults in hospitals require costly restoration as maintenance cost or it requires the total tearing down of those buildings. Specification writing defect is a design fault, which is of high importance in the construction of hospitals. The next identified defect in design fault is the wrong material selection. Thus, proper care should be given with respect to procurement of materials and it would be good to prepare a material requirement plan in advance so that shortage of materials does not lead to the procurement of defected materials. In the literature review it has been mentioned about TQM or Total Quality Management. TQM is considered as a revolutionary approach to successful organization. The numerous researches in TQM have materialized from realistic requirements of organizations implementing the principles, which is highly practical

Smart Grid Essay Example for Free

Smart Grid Essay The current electricity infrastructure in the Unites States consists of one way â€Å"communication† between the electric company and the homes receiving the electricity with the communication coming from the electric company to the homes. The current electricity infrastructure in the United States is more than 100 years old and because of this fact, it is outdated resulting in a great lack of efficiency. There is no way for the electricity company to obtain information from the individual homes pertaining to actual usage. Smart grids allows for two way communications between the electricity company and the homes allowing both electric companies and homes to operate more efficiently. This two way communication will allow home users to cut costs by efficiently utilizing energy. Smart grids will also allow the electricity companies to raise prices when the demand is high and lower prices when the demand is low. Mirroring the price advantage, smart grids will allow the user to dictate the usage of appliances that may have a significant impact on their utility bills. Knowledge of the user’s consumption will also help in making decisions that the electricity company can use to be more efficient. Smart grid technology is the evolution of the current electricity infrastructure that will continue to evolve if accepted. Development of smart grids will need management inputs especially when deciding the benefits, or lack thereof. The financial issues that are already on the table and future issues will determine whether or not smart grids will ultimately become a detriment or a true asset. Management will also have to make decisions in the design or redesign process so that the final product is as efficient as possible. Organizations could be affected depending on the opinion of the end user. If the end user, for whatever reason, decides that smart grids are not beneficial enough and refuse to buy into the system, the organizations will feel the negative impact throughout due to this lack of participation. If people decide to simply stop using appliances or turn down temperatures instead, the organizations will lose money. Issues with technology will essentially be based on the fact that the entire system will need to be redesigned and implemented. There will be great costs involved in all of the aspects needed for smart grids. Between the networks needed for two ways communication, monitoring devices at the electricity company as well as the dashboard needed at each home will result in a very high operating and implementation cost. There are various situations that would hamper the development of smart grids. I feel the main hindrance would be the attempt to get end users comfortable with the user interface. Although people are more tech savvy today, a poorly designed and difficult to use user interface will frustrate people to the point that they would no longer buy into the concept. On that same note, some people will question whether letting the electricity company control their devices is in their best interest. They will understandably question the integrity of electricity companies and wonder if they are actually and honestly trying to save them as much money as possible of just enough money to seem efficient. The ultimate cost of developing smart grids and the means of financing it is also a point that could hamper the development. Although assistance will be gained from the government, the remaining costs have to either be funded privately or by the end user. The transition itself could also hamper development. The simple concept of switching from the current infrastructure to smart grids will not be an easy task especially if there is some backlash from the consumer. Another area of our infrastructure that could use smart technology is water. Just like smart grids, some type of smart technology for water could curtail the over usage of water that is prevalent today. The over usage of sprinklers, showers, tubs, pools could be exposed if they were monitored. Most people do not and will not realize this over usage until it is shown to them. Smart water technology can show the consumer the adequate levels for pools or the tub, the adequate time needed to water a lawn or take a shower. There are always signs about being wasteful with water, â€Å"dry days† to conserve water, and â€Å"watering times† that people can use their watering devices. With smart water technology, these things can be done electronically and could alleviate the issues of having those people who do not care about water conservation ignoring the need. Water conservation is just as important as energy conservation and I feel that people would be more trustful and willing to let a company control this aspect of their everyday lives without feeling like profits are the forefront of the actions. I’m not for or against my home or community being a part of a smart grid but if I HAD to make a decision I would so no. I think that there is enough education out here to realize the need to conserve energy and the tools needed to do it. Mainly the simple fact of turning down or off appliances when it is not needed will suffice. A product such as the NEST thermometer does the same thing as a smart grid would without the intrusion of the electricity company. The cost of a NEST thermometer would be a great deal less than having to invest in the installation of a dashboard for the home. Also, would everyone be forced to buy into smart grids or would those on smart grids have a separate electricity company to deal with. And if so, what is the end result of having to separate the two in the same neighborhood, on the same street. Would they still pay the same rates or will those who decide not to switch end up paying more, or vice versa. I simply feel that there would be more issues to deal with if the switch was made instead of just educating people on how to personally conserve energy like we currently do.

Mergers and Acquisitions †The life of Hewlett †Packard Essay Example for Free

Mergers and Acquisitions – The life of Hewlett – Packard Essay The first big customer of HP was Walt Disney Studios. The company purchased eight oscillators from HP for their movie Fantasia. These oscillators were purchased in order to develop an innovative sound system for the movie. HP has incorporated profit sharing and social commitment in the company through its values and corporate objectives that have been with the company since 1957, these principles guide them to be focused and committed to the company and were founded by the co founders and are being followed to this day. Through trust, team work, innovation and integrity the company has been successful in making enough profits to finance their growth as well as keep all the stakeholders satisfied. They respect customer loyalty and the role of employees and there fore their contribution in the company. They look for opportunities and grow but not at the stake of society, they serve as an asset to the society and country where ever they are doing business. Dave Packard used a management technique that was incorporated into HP’s corporate culture. He called it â€Å"managing by walking around† which later came to be known as â€Å"management by Objectives† which had employee involvement, recognition and communication for better management and achievement of organizational goals. The company went public in the year 1957 and Bill and Dave have always given respect and appreciation for the employee’s efforts. Therefore after going public they gave the stock grants to the employees automatically who have been serving for at least six months in the company. This meant that the employees were given shares of the company, which will give them some form of ownership in the company and motivate them more for the performance and growth. The first acquisition of the company took place in the year 1958 of a high quality graphic producer company. The name of the company was F.L. Moseley Company of Pasadena, California. This acquisition was not seen as a threat to its flexibility because this gave opportunity to HP to enter into plotters market which was a needed for the company’s printer business. And to counter the problem of growing business the company had practiced decentralization of business divisions which will be responsible for their own products. Bill was looking for opportunities internationally for Hp to enter foreign markets and he found some in Europe after the Treaty of Rome and also the European Common market in the year 1957. These paved way for starting operation of Hp in the European markets and as Bill visited Europe he found it a viable decision and the company became global in the year 1959. The first joint venture of the company was in Asia with a Japanese company named Yokogawa Hewlett-Packard (YHP) in the year 1963. The CEO identified the factors that lead to major acquisitions by HP till the year 2005. HP was performing well in the industry. Its revenue and profits were rising and which made it attractive for the investor’s point of view as the company’s stock value also rose. The company was able to achieve cost control and pay bonuses to the employees at the same time. The company had a strong financial position with an impressive figure of $6.8 billion as an increase in revenue growth. The company wanted to achieve cost competitiveness. The company made some changes in the number of workers and their retirement programmes. The company consists of a team of dedicated workforce which is willing to put in their maximum efforts to enhance the value and performance. Moreover the company wanted to evolve in the bigger markets. The company had cash and potential to prosper in sales, they had no burden of operational debt. They have a strong customer base with a brand loyalty from them. All these led to the successful acquisitions of the company. The merger and acquisitions that took place between HP and other companies around the globe made HP a much stronger company in terms of market share as well as sales growth and innovation and created value for the company. The deal with Compaq was seen as an opportunity to grow into the IT sector in the world.   One of the long term goals of the company is to become the world’s largest computer company. All these mergers and takeovers were taken in order to reduce the competition, increase market share, share expertise which can be used to produce further products. The deal between Compaq and HP was seen as a success in the industry after five years of the deal. Compaq was its strong competitive at the same time one of the largest PC makers. The two companies by integrating have took forward the company’s profits and sales to another level altogether. The merger took place at the right time when both the companies were lacking the production of key products. But after the deal both the companies were able to fill in the gap that they had while operating independently. They were committed to the infrastructure software which helped the company go into the management layer from the commodity hardware. The company was at a stronger position to compete with the global service providers. The deal was able to increase the revenue and profits for the company being in the competitive environment of the industry.

Methods for Routing Improvement in WSNs

Methods for Routing Improvement in WSNs As was concluded on the first chapter of the work, one of the best routing protocols, which is less energy-intensive and in the same time have other good conditions, like mobility, multipath usability, effective data aggregation, and so on, is Directed-Diffusion. Thus, Directed-Diffusion is chosen as a base protocol for reaching the goals of the dissertation. The importance of the energy-efficiency characteristic in sensor networks has directed many works on Directed-Diffusion and several solutions have been proposed trying to carry out energy efficiency in this paradigm. These solutions suggest various changes in the stages of the paradigm. Directed-Diffusion [84] is one possible realization of publish/subscribe for a wireless sensor network. It is mostly concerned with scalability issues and tries to find solutions that do not depend on network-wide properties like globally unique node identifiers. But rather, the goal is to find solutions that purely rest on local interactions. The most prevalent (albeit not the only) service pattern is subscription to data sources that will publish data at a selectable rate over a selectable duration. The aim of designing the Directed-Diffusion is efficiency in energy consumption, thereby increasing life expectancy network. In order to reduce energy consumption uses, this method uses two ways of compression and processing information within net. But it has limitation because of using the huge diffusion which cause that the resulting overload in this algorithm became too much. In the Directed-Diffusion, a node forms a gradient during the propagation toward all neighbors. These gradients are paths which are used for further data transferring. However, they provide limited information (e.g. a node can recognize the nearest neighbor only) and as a result Directed-Diffusion has some limitations such as traffic collection production which has inefficiency of energy. Directed-Diffusion is very suitable for some of usages, but instead, for some of usages it will work weakly, especially in usages where there are many receivers and references, and when the receivers are related to each other, the volume of traffic data increases. When the sink wants to choose one of the neighbors to strengthen their own path, it selects a neighbor which the first will receive a packet from it. For example, a node can determine which of its neighbors is the nearest. In this method, each node has limited information from its neighbors and has no enough attention for choosing the neighbors without attention to full or empty. Also, it doesn’t consider level of energy and power of neighbor in order to send the main station, which causes some limitations, such as increasing the traffic and reduction of effective relations in network. In the situations when the number of sources is too much, the sink selects only that path of neighbors which give to it the discovered data. But this is not optimum way of data compression in network. Of course, in case that a node can cover information of several sources, it can do an effective work in compression of data in the network. Description of base routing protocol algorithms There are a number of protocol variants that are optimized for different situations and Directed-Diffusion is actually more a design philosophy than a concrete protocol [84]. We start here with the original and basic variant, the â€Å"two phase pull† as is considered in [84]. Two-phase pull Directed-Diffusion: Data distribution in this scheme starts by nodes announcing of their interests in certain kinds of named data, specifying their interests by a set of attribute-value pairs [12, 26] in the publish/subscribe parlance. This corresponds to a subscription to data. These interest messages are distributed through the network and in the simplest case they are flooded. It would be trivial to set up converge cast tree with each node remembering the node from which it has first received the interest message from a given sink, given such an interest flood. Interests to different data and/or from different sinks would result in separate trees being constructed. But such a simple tree construction is faced with a serious impediment. In the absence of globally unique node identifiers, a node in the network cannot distinguish whether different interest messages originated at different data sinks. Thus, it would require the construction of separate converge cast trees to inform all sinks of published data or whether these packets are owing to the same sink and have simply traveled via different paths. This predicament is highlighted on Figure 2.1. For a node X there is, at first, only a single option – remember all neighbors from which an interest message has been received to, later on, once data has been published, forward the actual data to all th ese neighbors. In the Directed-Diffusion terminology, this is the setup of a gradient toward the sender of an interest. For each type of data received in an interest, each node stores in a gradient cache a separate set of gradients, potentially one for each neighbor. Fig. 2.1 Inability of network node X to distinguish interest messages from a single or multiple sinks Unlike the simple parent–child relationship in a tree, gradients often will be set up bidirectional between two neighbors, as both neighbors forward interest messages. In addition, a gradient is not simply a direction, but it also contains a value. This value represents, in a sense, the usefulness or the importance of a given link. It can constitute different semantics depending on the concrete application that Directed-Diffusion is supporting. A typical example is the rate with which data is transmitted over a given link (recall that directed diffusion is geared toward the support of periodic publications of data). Initially, these gradient values are the same for each neighbor. They are modified in the course of the protocol execution. Also, these gradients are initialized to low values, which are used to explore the network. Data can be propagated, once the gradients are set up, even with only preliminary values. A node that can contribute actual data from local measurements becomes a source and starts to send data. It uses the highest rate of all its outgoing gradients to sample and send data. An intermediate node, in the simplest case, would forward all incoming data messages over all its outgoing gradients, potentially suppressing some of the data messages to adapt to the rate of each gradient. However, this simple scheme results in unnecessary overhead in networks like the one shown in Figure 2.2, where data messages are needlessly repeated due to the presence of loops in the gradient graph. Just checking the originator of these data messages is again not feasible because of the lack of globally unique identifiers. Hence, the data cache is introduced, each node stores, for each known interest, the recently received data messages. If the same message comes in again, irrespective of from the same or di fferent originators, it is silently discarded. Figure 2.2 also shows that two copies of the same data message would be delivered to the sink, constituting no negligible overhead. The gradient values, or more specifically the rates associated with the gradients, provide a lever to solve this problem. One idea is to try to limit redundancy in the received data. A neighboring node that contributes new data messages (which cannot be found in the data cache) should be preferred over neighbors that only provide stale copies, or rarely provide new data, or appear to have high error rates, or are otherwise unattractive. This â€Å"preference† of a neighbor can simply be mapped onto the rate of a gradient. A node can reinforce a neighbor by simply sending a new interest message to that neighbor asking for a higher rate of data transmission. If this new, required rate is higher than the data rate which an intermediate node is currently receiving, it in turn can reinforce its best neighbor with this higher rate. In the end, the reinf orcement will percolate to the source(s) of the data messages. The no reinforced gradients can be maintained as backups, they can be actively suppressed, or they can be left to die out in the sense of soft state information. Fig. 2.2 Multiple intersecting paths’ data cache necessity in Directed-Diffusion Thus, these two phases, first, flooding the interest messages to explore the network and then again having information flow from the sink toward the sources during reinforcement, along with the fact that the sinks initiate the â€Å"pulling† of data, explain the classification of this variant as a â€Å"two-phase pull† procedure. These mechanisms of interests, gradients, and reinforcements constitute the pivotal mechanisms in Directed-Diffusion. It is worthwhile to reiterate that all of them are indeed strictly local, dispensing with the need for globally unique identifiers. Reference [62] contains further details how these mechanisms result in loop-free operation and how paths can be maintained in the presence of node or link failure (essentially, the reinforcement mechanism automatically adapts to the new topology). It should also be emphasized that, in principle, Directed-Diffusion in the form described here can handle both multiple sources and multiple sinks of data. The local rules result in a correct but not necessarily optimal flow of data messages. Push diffusion – supporting few senders and many receivers: As Directed-Diffusion represents both an interface/naming concept [63] and a concrete routing implementation (the one described above), it stands to reason that different routing protocols supporting the same interface have been developed. One such alternative routing protocol is the push diffusion [64], which is intended for many receivers and only a few senders. A typical example is an application where sensor nodes cross-subscribe to each other to be informed about local events but where the amount of actual events is quite low. In such a situation, two-phase pull would perform purely, as the sinks would generate a lot of traffic trying to set up (exploratory) gradients. This problem is solved by reversing the roles. Instead of the sinks sending out interests, sources send out exploratory data (i.e. flood it since no gradients exist yet). Once data arrives at interested sinks, they will reinforce these gradients, a nd then, data at higher rate will only follow these reinforced paths. The flooding overhead is justified since the event detection rate of sources is quite small to begin with. One-phase pull – supporting many senders and few receivers: Similar to the above-described push diffusion, pull diffusion [64, 84] is a specific routing protocol for the Directed-Diffusion interface. This one is geared toward many senders and a small number of receivers. As the name indicates, one-phase pull eliminates one of the flooding phases of two-phase pull, which constitute its major overhead. More precisely, interest messages are still flooded in the network (in the absence of recasting options) but the interest messages set up direct parent–child relationships in the network between a node and the node from which it first receives an interest message. As a result, a tree is formed in the network. This is only possible using (e.g. randomized) flow identifiers in the interest messages, which is feasible only for a small number of messages. Moreover, one-phase pull more strongly depends on link symmetry than does two-phase pull. Directed-Diffusion assisted by topology control: Reducing the flooding overhead inherent in two-phase pull [84] is a promising means for improvement. In particular, passive clustering fits well with Directed-Diffusion. In â€Å"Handziskiet at al† [66] is shown how this combination works in detail. In particular, the passive clustering structure is constructed on the fly with the distribution of interest floods. This result not only in better energy efficiency but, particularly, the percentage of actually delivered events is considerably improved, mostly because of easing the contention on the MAC layer. In this sense, this work highlights the need for a careful adjustment of at least three different protocol layers, those are the MAC, topology control, and data-centric routing – for an efficient wireless sensor network. A low-level-naming mechanism: In this approach, content-based addressing is integrated with Directed-Diffusion routing [65, 84]. In a nutshell, in Directed-Diffusion a sink node issues an interest message, specifying a set of attributes to describe the desired data. This message is disseminated into the network. The nodes that can produce sensor data matching the interest are called source nodes. A data packet generated by a source node travels through intermediate nodes to the sink. An intermediate node stores the interest along with (set of) possible upstream neighbors in the interest cache. Upon receiving a data packet, the intermediate node searches its cache for an interest matching the data and forwards the data packet to the associated upstream neighbor. Rumor: A variant of Directed-Diffusion, called Rumor Routing, has been proposed by Braginsky and Estrin [45, 84]. The proposed algorithm is applicable in situations where flooding would generate too much traffic and geographic information is not available. It is a logical compromise between query flooding and event flooding. The key idea is the routing of the queries to the nodes that have detected a particular event rather than flooding the entire network for retrieving information about the occurring events. In order to do this, the algorithm employs particular packets, called agents which are generated by nodes that have observed events. These latter are added to local tables on the nodes, called events tables. In order to disseminate information about local events to distant nodes, agents travel the network. Nodes use their events tables to respond to queries generated by the sinks. In this way, communication overhead is reduced by reducing floods. Gradient based routing: Gradient based routing is a slightly changed version of Directed-Diffusion [83, 67]. When flooding first interest messages, nodes keep the number of hops and calculate parameter called the height of the node. That is the minimum number of hops to the sink. The gradient on path is considered as the difference between of a node’s height and of its neighbor’s height. Then the data messages are forwarded on a path with the largest gradient. This solution uses some techniques such as data aggregation and traffic spreading in order to balance the traffic uniformly, which helps in balancing the load on sensor nodes and increases the network lifetime. GEAR: GEAR (Geographic and Energy Aware Routing) is a diffusion algorithm belonging to the Directed-Diffusion algorithms family [68, 84]. It relies on localized nodes, and provides savings over a complete network flood by limiting the flooding to a geographical region and using energy aware neighbor selection heuristics. To do this, each node in the network keeps two costs called estimated cost and learning cost, which are a combination of remnant energy and distance to destination. These costs are used to route a packet to and within the target region. In case there is no closer neighbor to the target region (a hole), one of the neighbors is picked to forward the packet based on the cost function. Within a region, packets are forwarded using the recursive geographic flooding. In that case, the region is divided into four sub regions and four copies of the packet are created. This process continues until reaching regions with one node (the destination). Scatter Web is an open and fle xible platform for implementing sensor networks [69]. This solution discusses the solar aware routing in sensor networks. The proposed energy aware routing algorithm is similar to Directed-Diffusion and uses the same terminology. However, nodes employed are not only battery-driven and instead, can be powered by solar power (Fig. 2.3). The key idea is to route packets via solar driven nodes since they can receive and transmit packets without consuming battery energy. The algorithm extends the Directed-Diffusion paradigm by adding several fields to the standard Directed-Diffusion headers (number of battery-driven nodes, number of solar-driven nodes, strategy, sequence number and so on). In order to save more energy, the solution proposes a scheme to prevent routing loops. Fig. 2.3 Geographic and Energy Aware Routing

Cooperative Learning: Listening To How Children Work At School :: essays research papers fc

Cooperative Learning: Listening to how children work at school   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In this study the researchers were seeking to discover the content of the communication that occurred over a period of time that a project was due. The project took place over five weeks. The students were given an assignment to create a ride for a lot that use-to host the Pacific National Exhibition. Assignment: The Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) will be closing permanently at the end of the season. The exhibition has decided to relocate on a parcel of land in the Fraser Valley. The board of executives is seeking innovative ideas from the public to help plan their new facility. Your class has been selected to participate in this unique opportunity. We would like teams of students to create a new innovative ride or redesign an existing structure. Each submission should include research, detailed drawings, and a simple mechanical model of your design. Please remember that space is limited and your group will have one half of a table top to present your model. The groups were taken from 26 sixth and seventh grade students. The researchers wanted to learn about the communication in the groups and to see how all the members of each group were able to communicate with each other as well as the teacher.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The 26 students were divided into six groups trying to keep the number of sixth and seventh graders balanced as well as the sex of the students. The students were given several days to meet and come up with ideas. The following the timeline the students were given to come up with the various elements to complete the project as formally as possible. Timeline: 1.Research and Sketches (May 14)-one page of research on the mechanics of your model; a clear sketch on 8.5 x 11 paper. 2. Final Drawings (May 17)-a detailed drawing of your design on 11 x 17 paper; diagram should include a title, labels, and scale; this drawing will be used in your final presentation. 3. Models (May 28)-a simple model that demonstrates how the mechanical system works; the model should be displayed on cardboard no larger than half a table top. 4. Presentation (May 29)-each group will be required to pitch their design to an audience (2-3 minutes); each member of the group should be prepared to respond to questions from the audience related to the mechanics of their selected systems.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The 11 work secessions over the-five week study were recorded using audiotapes for each group.

How To Write A Song :: essays papers

How To Write A Song Want to write a song to call your own? I imagine most would love the opportunity. All you really need is a little knowledge playing a guitar or piano, a voice that can sing relatively in key, and a touch of imagination spliced with creativity. Depending on someone’s personality, interests and experiences the type of song, how it is sung, what is sung, and how it is played can vary greatly. Writing the song can be easy enough if you have the skills and some patience. To start your creation, sit down with your guitar or piano, a pen, a piece of paper, and an open mind. Ask yourself questions before you begin. What do I want to sing about? I suppose you do not have to sing at all if an instrumental piece is what you are after; for the sake of argument, lets say you want to sing and play your own backing. Jon Huntress of Lyrical Line (2000) says, â€Å"You can write about ANYTHING! That’s the beauty of song writing-there are no rules†. Make some notes about the story you want to tell or message you plan to get across. Writing it down can help in case you might forget. Now think about how a song speaking of such a topic should be sung. Is it a serious subject? Perhaps a ballad. Funny? Perhaps punk or rock. If you’re angry, or have taste in music like myself, you may want heavy metal or hard rock. There are many other types, as well, such as reggae, blues, jazz, latin, and funk. Jimmy Brown (2000) says, â€Å"Keep your mind and ears open, and don’t be afraid to wade into unfamiliar musical waters†. Now that you’ve decided on your song’s subject and have an idea how you want it to sound, write it! Play around; strum some simple chords and notes. Try to get a feel for the sounds you need to back up your voice. No one can tell you what to write, but it never hurts to ask others opinions. Once music is there, hum along. How you will sing to what you play is very important. Try to be unique in your sound, so the song is distinctly your own. At this point, get some lyrics in there. Jon Huntress (2001) adds, â€Å"Most of the stuff you put down won’t work, but you never know.

How James Watt Affected The Economic Growth Of Our Nation :: American America History

How James Watt Affected The Economic Growth Of Our Nation James Watt made many contributions to this country during the Industrial Revolution. He made numerous improvements on the Newcome steam engine, invented the term horse power, and designed the Sun and Planet wheel. He contributed most of his life to make others' lives easier and for them to prosper and grow. In 1763 John Anderson asked Watt to repair one of his steam engines which was an early version of a Newcome steam engine. This engine wasted a lot of time and fuel so it was economically inefficient. The reasons for the inefficiency was the cylinder had to be heated when steam was admitted and then slowly cooled down again to condense the steam. This process wasted a lot of time, energy, and steam. As he was wandering through Glasgow Green he struck upon an idea that would revolutionize the steam engine. This idea was "that in order to make the best use of the steam it was necessary that first, that the cylinder should always remain as hot as the steam which entered it; secondly that when the steam was condensed, the water of which it is composed, and injection itself, should be cooled down to a 100 degrees, or lower where it is possible." This method did not work at first, but in 1765 he discovered "that if a communication were opened between a cylinder containing steam and another vessel, which was exhausted of air and other fluids, the steam, as an elastic fluid would immediately rush into the empty vessel, and continue to do so until it had established an equilibrium. If that vessel were kept dry and cool by an injection, or otherwise, more steam would continue to enter until the whole was condensed." He fixed the problem of water and air coming out of the exhausted vessel by adding a pump to extract both air and water. This is Watt's great contribution to the Newcome steam engine which would now run faster, cleaner, safer, and more economically efficient. This made the steam engine a useful economical source of power which for over a hundred years stayed exactly the same without alteration. Watt charged his customers a price for using his steam engines. To justify this he compared his machine to a horse. Watt calculated that a horse exerted a pull of 180 lbs., therefore, when he made a machine, he described its power in relation to a horse. How James Watt Affected The Economic Growth Of Our Nation :: American America History How James Watt Affected The Economic Growth Of Our Nation James Watt made many contributions to this country during the Industrial Revolution. He made numerous improvements on the Newcome steam engine, invented the term horse power, and designed the Sun and Planet wheel. He contributed most of his life to make others' lives easier and for them to prosper and grow. In 1763 John Anderson asked Watt to repair one of his steam engines which was an early version of a Newcome steam engine. This engine wasted a lot of time and fuel so it was economically inefficient. The reasons for the inefficiency was the cylinder had to be heated when steam was admitted and then slowly cooled down again to condense the steam. This process wasted a lot of time, energy, and steam. As he was wandering through Glasgow Green he struck upon an idea that would revolutionize the steam engine. This idea was "that in order to make the best use of the steam it was necessary that first, that the cylinder should always remain as hot as the steam which entered it; secondly that when the steam was condensed, the water of which it is composed, and injection itself, should be cooled down to a 100 degrees, or lower where it is possible." This method did not work at first, but in 1765 he discovered "that if a communication were opened between a cylinder containing steam and another vessel, which was exhausted of air and other fluids, the steam, as an elastic fluid would immediately rush into the empty vessel, and continue to do so until it had established an equilibrium. If that vessel were kept dry and cool by an injection, or otherwise, more steam would continue to enter until the whole was condensed." He fixed the problem of water and air coming out of the exhausted vessel by adding a pump to extract both air and water. This is Watt's great contribution to the Newcome steam engine which would now run faster, cleaner, safer, and more economically efficient. This made the steam engine a useful economical source of power which for over a hundred years stayed exactly the same without alteration. Watt charged his customers a price for using his steam engines. To justify this he compared his machine to a horse. Watt calculated that a horse exerted a pull of 180 lbs., therefore, when he made a machine, he described its power in relation to a horse.

Operations Management Essay

1. How should quality be defined at this restaurant? Outline which quality tools you would use to assess the situation at The Raja’s restaurant. Quality of service is the most important aspect to a customer. The concept of quality can be defined in various ways. By definition â€Å"Quality is consistent conformance to customers’ expectations† (Slack, Chambers and Johnston, 2004). Each customer has expectations of different quality standards and quality service. In The Raja Tandoori restaurant quality has been declining recently. An example of this is patrons have to wait as long as 45 minutes to be seated, in addition to this it can up to 40 minutes more to get a good meal served to the table. The dimensions of service quality are reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangible factors (James A. Fitzsimmons et al, 2004). The customer survey results indicate that 87% of customers believe the quality of food at the restaurant is excellent. Also, the dining experience is very good; being represented by 81% of customers. However, 78% of customers have expressed that they found the waiter to be only at satisfactory standards, this is likely to be due by the lack of staff experience. 70% of customer responses showed that they were served within a reasonable time. The 30% could be justified due to the poor quality of ingredients being delivered; restricting the chef in meal preparations. (See appendix 1 for workings). However, there are some good aspects such as the variety of food, waiters are always available and on the look for any requests, there is also the additional service of hot flannels are being brought to refresh diners. Many quality tools can be used to assess the situation at The Raja’s restaurant. Total Quality Management (TQM) is a way to approach â€Å"the organisation of quality improvements† (Slack, Chambers and Johnston, 2004). TQM is a process of involving everyone in an organisation in continuously improving products and processes to achieve on every occasion; quality that satisfies customers needs (John Naylor, 2002). â€Å"It seeks to integrate all organizational functions†¦to focus on meeting customer needs† (http://www.isixsigma.com/library/content/c031008a.asp). TQM was introduced by Feigenbaum (1957) and developed further by Deming, Ishikawa, Taguchi and Crosby. W. Edwards Deming (1950’s) introduced 14 points for quality improvement. He wanted to focus on the product instead of the process. Continuous Improvement (CI) emphasises quality and reduces cost. The Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle (see appendix 2) is important in inspecting quality in one stage of the quality improvement process. The owner of The Raja restaurant can emphasise the importance of quality by having better teamwork skills and more employee involvement that can ultimately lead to a quality service. Kaoru Ishikawa developed quality circles which imply on the importance of group roles in working and learning. Teams of 3-5 members can be set up at the restaurant; their aim is to identify the causes of quality failure. Each team could focus on a certain aspect such as the quality of food or service. To assess problems of quality at the restaurant cause-and-effect diagrams (fishbone diagrams) can be used. This can help find the cause of problems by working backwards to find a possible cause of a quality problem. Below is a cause-effect-diagram for the effect of the poor service at the restaurant. TQM has an emphasis on meeting customer expectations; the Raja restaurant needs to establish this in order for it to be successful. At peak times customer meals should be prepared within the typical time limit of 25 minutes instead of 40 minutes. The variety of food that is made available to customers also needs to be considered, the wider the variety made available may ultimately attract more customers. There have also been delays in clearing tables this ultimately leads to delays in seating people. All these problems result in poor quality of service. The central foundation of the restaurant is based on customers, it is customer based service, hence the importance of improving quality. Errors that emerge from the service of the restaurant lead to inefficiency and this in turn results in poor service to customers. As the cook mainly controls the quality of the food it is essential that all ingredients are available, recently the purchase of ingredients for the restaurant have not been good enough. The lettuce has appeared wilted and the tough chicken has had more meat than bones. This has ultimately led to certain dishes not being made available. It needs to be established that each individual operation contributes to the overall success of the restaurant. Requirements of customers and the restaurant itself need to be defined for example the quality and speed of service and what customer expectations are. Mystery shoppers can be used at peak times to find out exactly how service needs to be improved. Each individual contributes to quality; therefore each person has the ability to improve quality. Members of staff need to be given empowerment to make suggestions. All staff should be involved in the improvement of performance in the restaurant; this can lead to a better team. The benefits of empowerment are: * Better customer service * Satisfied customers * Employees feel more secure about the job * Promotes ‘word-of-mouth’ advertising and customer loyalty The costs of quality are prevention, appraisal, internal and external failure costs (see appendix 3). It is essential to train and develop employee skills to suit the requirements of the restaurant. Identify problems and correct them before they have occurred. Negotiate with suppliers to improve the quality of ingredients. The ultimate goal is to increase quality of service in the restaurant, once this is achieved costs will fall. A quality strategy needs to be implemented into the Raja restaurant to provide long-term goals which are relevant to the restaurants aim. This can be achieved by implementing groups, such as quality circles and setting certain tasks and aims. Training employees is another strategy this could focus on eliminating errors and improving quality. 2. How would you improve the service experience for customers of the Raja? Following the definitions quality is a very important issue that needs to be taken into consideration for every movement that a business does, nevertheless there is also design, layout and production to be considered, is having this in mind that we overlooked at Raja’s situation. To keep up with new business and competitors you need to innovate, differentiate, create something special and unique, a customer that has an experience is likely to return and therefore be loyal to your business as well as recommend it to others. The Raja’s Restaurant needs to be re-modernised, the old wall paper should be scrapped and in its place should be something more welcoming and pleasing, giving the feel of a calm and clean environment. The layout should also be changed making a separate entrance between the dining in customers and those who just want to take the food away, one type of customer should not interfere with the other so a distinction should be made clearly. There is even the possibility of expanding the business and introducing a take-away menu where customers could place orders over the phone and have it delivered to their address that would leave even more space for customers who prefer dining in and would also increase customer numbers. Whilst many customers may enjoy listening to the radio, many others may not, it will be good to have a mixture of music, compiling a good CD collection as well as the traditional radio station, and this is likely to please almost everyone as it gives a feel of a balanced environment. Use the free parking as an advantage and make customers aware of this facility, especially on Fridays and Saturdays nights when high streets are crowded with people going to different places and parking space is limited. The Raja needs concentrate on its service speed, customers don’t like waiting and if the waiting is long they might find it easy going elsewhere, to make sure quality issues are resolved they need to reduce waiting time, focusing especially over weekends when demand is higher. In order to do that waiters should not have to help in the kitchen, fetching food, be involved in any form of food preparation or do any food sequencing for the chef. More kitchen staff needs to be employed, employing more staff will mean higher costs but it will also mean higher turn over of tables. Having more kitchen staff also means you can have more food variety and new dishes can be introduced, a new menu can be designed following seasons variations, this should prevent customers from being bored and keep coming back to try new things. As we expect the number of customers to grow we need to also plan for more waiters to be working on the waiting area, service should always be at high standard and customers should never have to ask for anything. Making sure there is good quality service means people will feel satisfied and return more often. Cost reduction is another important issue, if your ingredients are expensive your food will be expensive and it will attract fewer people, working with a single supplier that can provide good quality ingredients, fresh and reliable goods will automatically reduce cooking time, speeding up the process, also bulk buying is cheaper and a deal can be negotiated for ingredients that are bought more often. Big suppliers can also deliver, that should save even more time so management can focus on planning and improving other things, such as appraising staff and overlooking problems. Proper training should be provided to all members of staff; everyone should comply with the Health Safety Regulations for food and always maintain standards, the working environment should always be clean and well maintain, this will not only make working easier but will also show an improvement on the visual aspect. All staff should be properly dressed for their functions and always make sure they are running their tasks smoothly. Managers should concentrate in individual performances as well as team performances, having a good and healthy work environment will motivate employees and customers will notice it. After introducing this big transformation, if performance is still low promotional schemes can be created to bring customers back, a loyalty card with a discount percentage is likely to attract many people and give them the impression they are getting another advantage here that they can’t have elsewhere.

A Comparison of Third World Journalism and Modern Journalism

Information is a very important factor that contributes to the progressive civilization of the human society. It could be tracked down through history that with the existence of a way of passing information to the masses, it could be noticed that progress has been easily passed on through generations as well. The birth of journalism paved way to a revolution of information overflow in the human society worldwide.As for a fact, history has been written and has been possible for being studied by latter generations because of journalism. Important researches by science have also been passed on to the public through the art of journalism.With these truths, it could then be an interesting topic to discuss on how far journalism has already been developing through the years as it enters the new era of technological advancements. First, it would be much beneficial to know what journalism really pertains to.1.1 What is Journalism?Journalism is among the arts of communication processes that ar e referred to as a means by which the public is being connected with the whole society. Hence, having the connotation that it is a major way of being publicly informed, journalism has also been connected with numerous issues of being true and highly dependable. For this reason, numerous experts have been trying to etch the basic points of consideration when journalism is being discussed.Developmental journalism is also one of the key issues that is discussed by the journalist professionals who would like to make it a point that the said field of communicating to the public is highly reliable for the people in the society.Numerous forms of journalism are used to send important messages to the public. It could either be in form of written, oral, verbal or audio information. Several mediums are also utilized by journalists to be able to convey their message to the public. Such mediums include television, radio, print materials such as newspapers or broadsheets and magazines as well.Wit h the use of the said mediums, the informations that are believed to be essential for public knowledge are served to the intended receivers of the informations. How far have the said mediums been accepted by the public?1.1.1 TelevisionAfter analyzing 102 local TV newscasts from 52 metropolitan areas in the United States for content and presentation, a media-watch group found that only 41.3 percent of the programs contained news. What makes up the rest of the newscast? On an average, 30.4 percent of airtime of local TV news consists of commercials.In fact, some of the stations surveyed devoted more time to commercials than to news. In addition, news airtime is often filled with fluff, states the report summarizing the findings of the study. Under the heading â€Å"Fluff,† the report groups â€Å"the cumulative air-time given to chit-chat between anchors, promotions and previews of upcoming stories, the ‘soft’ or silly news and the items about celebrities.†A sample of some fluff stories: â€Å"Terrible Tenors Contest,† â€Å"Reporter Takes ‘Awesome, Incredible, Astounding’ Ride

House of Payne

SM Family Television Review The comedy show that my family and I enjoy watching is House of Payne, which airs on TBS every Friday at 8pm. â€Å"The Paynes are three generations living under one roof. The story begins when CJ and his family move into the house of his aunt and uncle, a fact that no one is really happy about. CJ has two children, and his aunt and uncle have very different ideas about raising kids. I think a lot of people will be able to relate to the Paynes†. (http://www. tbs. com/stories/story/0,, 107846,00. html). The show is based off real life issues that everyday families experience such as, drug addiction, teen pregnancy, sex, marriage, morals and values, and most of all trust. As, a 23 year old, mother, student, wife, daughter etc, I was able to quickly relate to a few things in the show. This family did impact my life on what family really was because, I always have been the one to just think of my immediate (Mom, Dad, Brothers, Grandma) when I heard the word family. Now, that things have been introduced to me from different perspective, I am now able to fully understand what family is all about. I realize that when I have no one else to count on, that my family is the last hope I have, and also understand that sometimes I may have disagreements with relatives, but its ok because as long as there is communication, nothing is to hard to overcome, All of these things are key points that House of Payne focus on. After watching this show consistently, it has had a very positive impact on me, my family, my marriage and my ability to raise my children at such a young age. Although, these actors, and actresses are acting, they are real people and majority are related, such as the main characters, Cassi and Lavan Davis, who are husband and wife in real life. I enjoy watch the way the reveal each message because they all have a valuable lesson that I learn. This television series is a Christian based show, so I think that is the reason I enjoy watching it so much. It is interesting because some days, I may feel at my worst and watching this show can easily be a inspiration to me. Expressing my feelings and saying how I felt have, also been another issue I’ve had problems with, and it also have taught me this as well. I believe that even a non-believer would enjoy watching this show because again, it’s real people, and they to know what it’s like to face certain situations. I feel that I can somewhat relate to this show because again, I am a young mother, married with children, living day by day , focusing on doing the right thing, despite what I see and hear around me. And sometimes, whether you’re old or young, this can be a challenge. House of Payne have messages for all ages, and they are very powerful messages!