New media study

The emergence of highly advanced technologies resulted in new methods of communication, including visual and image-based communication, through which businesses and their respective target market interact. Thus, it is highly important to understand the underlying concepts and theories behind these emerging methods of communication and optimally utilize them. For this reason, I would like to take up New Media Studies in DePaul University. As an advertising graduate who currently specializes in creating designs for a marketing firm, the program can surely help me develop sophisticated conceptual designs and advance my career. As I a native of South Korea, coming to the United States to study and establish a career has aided me in developing a profound understanding of diverse cultures and societies with this country’s multicultural population. Moreover, I was also able to obtain a deep grasp of the market and the media. I took up advertising in the Illinois Institute of Art in Chicago where I was able to acquire a basic understanding of the meanings behind images and designs and their impact on the public. This university also taught and honed my skills in producing conceptual designs. Thus, my academic background and experience serve as a solid foundation which would be really helpful when I become accepted to the New Media Studies program. After graduation, I worked in CMO Graphics as prepress artist and helped the company create design solutions for its clients. After a few months, I started working for Point B Communications and contributed in providing marketing and advertising solutions for its various clients through brand-building. My experience with them has further enhanced my skills in graphic design, fine arts, and layout design. My working experiences have enlightened me about the true meaning of design. I believe that design is important to express the way an artist feels and turn this emotion and vision into an image or design. Despite the diversity of knowledge and skills that I acquired through my academic and work experiences, I realized that there is still so much that I have to learn. For this reason, I decided to apply at DePaul University and take up Master of Arts in New Media Studies. Through the program, I would like to achieve this goal and objective: to learn and improve my skills in a variety of areas such as writing, digital design, and media-related studies. One of my objectives that I would like to realize through the New Media Studies program is to improve my writing skills and learn how to change my writing style so that it can fit any category, whether it is for technical, professional, or creative purposes. It is also one of my objectives to further develop my abilities in creating digital media and design which I can use in making more advanced advertising design concepts. Learning more about media representation would also be advantageous for me as my work mostly deals with visual images and design. I believe that it is highly important to understand the public’s impression of these images and designs on the public so that I can produce design concepts that will have a positive impact on them. I chose to study at DePaul University because it offers the New Media Studies courses exclusively at night to accommodate working adults such as myself. With the courses provided at night, I would be able to attend classes and focus on my studies without worries. The program is also flexible enough to teach me technicalities and advancement in the new media field. Hence, if I become accepted to this program, I look forward to the fresh new ideas that I will gain which I would definitely apply to my current job. I also selected DePaul University because I believe that it can offer me the best academic experience and instill the knowledge and skills that I need through the New Media Studies program. With this university’s rich and wider resources, highly acclaimed professors, cultural and educational diversity, I would most certainly achieve personal and career growth. I believe that attending a school where diversity is present plays a large role in bridging cultural gaps and settling the differences. Through this, I would be able to further nurture my understanding of various different cultures. Furthermore, the New Media Studies program of the university can guarantee absolute learning experience and offer me the best career opportunities and help me attain success in my chosen field.

bpo management system Essay

1. Introduction 1.1 Purpose This document describes the high level design for the CHART/EORS Intranet Mapping Application and the CHART Internet Mapping Application. The purpose of this design is to show the high-level technical approach to meeting the requirements defined in system requirements specification. This serves to identify the architecture of the system and high-level interactions between major system components. 1.2 Objectives Identify and describe the software architecture for the system. Provide  high-level approaches to various technical challenges. Provide a guide for future development efforts, such as detailed design and coding. 1.3 Scope This high level design encompasses the approach for meeting the requirements as defined in the documents CHART/EORS Intranet Mapping System Requirement Specification and CHART Internet Mapping System Requirement Specification. 2. System Architecture 2.1 Overview The following diagram shows the system architecture used by CHART mapping applications.  The system design utilizes web based multi-tier system architecture. The data storage is managed at the data tier by the databases. The main business logics are hosted in the two applications in the web server. Because mapping is an area that there are many requirements related to client side interactions with the graphic content of the application, application logics are partitioned based on the most appropriate location to execute them. Some are located on the client browsers to provide instantaneous feedback to the user. The general system operation flow involves the following: 1. Data updates from various sources such as the CHART II CORBA events, EORS data inputs, device and event editing modules are stored in the databases. 2. When a mapping application receives a mapping request, it sends the image map generation request to the ArcIMS map server. The ArcIMS server retrieves the map data from the databases and creates a rendering of the map and saves it as a raster image file. The mapping application generates HTML pages embedded with the image and sends it to the browser client. 3. For the CHART Intranet mapping client, the application also generates the dynamic content in VML format, which encodes the device and event information in vector format. This enables the application to update the dynamic data without having to reload the whole map image. This avoids the heavy load on the map server when the application scales up. 4. When the images and VML  data arrives at the client browser, the client displays the map to the user. The user can interact with this data on the client. 2.2 SQL Server and ArcSDE ArcSDE from ESRI allows managing of geographic information in commercial databases such as SQL Server, Oracle, DB2 and Informix. ArcSDE provides functionalities to efficiently store and retrieve spatial information using spatial indexing mechanisms. ArcSDE provides a set of API and administrative utilities that help manage the spatial data storage. For the CHART mapping systems, the combination of ArcSDE and SQL Server manages the spatial information in the relational database. ArcSDE adds spatial functionalities without disrupting standard SQL database capabilities. 2.3 Map Server (ArcIMS) ArcIMS includes a few components that will play important roles in the CHART mapping application. The workhorse component that processes the data and generates maps is the spatial server. Managing the spatial servers is the ArcIMS Application Server, which monitors each spatial server’s activity and brokers map requests to the least busy spatial server. The detailed interaction of a map request is as the following: When the ASP.Net page receives a map request, it parses it and uses the ActiveX Connector object model to construct a map request. The connector then sends the map request in ArcXML format to the Application Server. The Application Server then finds the least busy spatial server and forwards the map request to it. The spatial server performs the query against the ArcSDE database, retrieves the data and renders them into a raster image file. The location of the file is then sent back to the connector and the ASP.Net page writes it back to the client as HTML page with the image embedded in it. 2.4 Web Server (IIS) .Net Framework and ASP.Net The web server hosts and publishes content to the client browser. In the case of the CHART mapping applications, most of the content is dynamic content generated by ASP.Net modules. When IIS recognizes a page being an ASP.Net module (an aspx extension), it passes the request to the .Net Framework to load the module and handle the request. The ASP.Net pages are then loaded into memory and executed. The .Net Framework provides many utilities such as garbage collection, tracing, just-in-time compilation that manages the execution of ASP.Net modules. The ASP.Net page modules are where the CHART mapping application logic is coded. The web server also provides security via the Secured Socket Layer (SSL), allowing interactions between the user’s browser and the web server to be encrypted when necessary. 2.5 Security 2.5.1 Network Level Security Network layer security will be managed by the network security configurations like firewall and RSA secure ID. 2.5.2 Secured Socket Layer (SSL) MDOT has a certificate server to provide digital certificates for the SSL configuration. The server name must remain consistent with the certificate. All links shall use the same server name, otherwise, if the server is referred using an IP address or a local server name, etc., the user will see an alert indicating the certificate is in-consistent with the resource. IIS supports the configuration of one folder in the web application requiring SSL while other portion does not. The session information remains consistent between SSL portion of the web site and the non-SSL portion. 2.5.3 Enterprise User Enters Read-Only View Many of the CHART mapping functionalities are for display and reviewing data, i.e. a read-only view. The design allows enterprise viewers and CHART users to access the read-only portion of the web site without having to input user name and password. This also enables CHART users to reach the viewing area without having to enter their login information again. When system receives a user request to enter the secured area, the system checks whether the current session has been authenticated. If not, system displays login screen. The user shall enter their CHART user name and password. Upon receipt of the user name and password, the system checks it  against the CHART II database’s user tables. If they are authenticated, the system stores the user information in the session. The session will be managed in the server until the configured timeout expires. All subsequent requests from the same user session will inherit the same authorization information for the user. 2.5.4 CHART User Enters Editing Area Other applications, like future versions of CHART II and CHART Lite, can launch the map editing URL via the HTTPS protocol. The user name and password can be sent via https request. The system verifies their authentication information against the CHART II user database using an OLEDB/ODBC connection. If the authentication information is correct, the system will store this information in the session. The user will be redirected to the map page. If the authentication is rejected, the user request will be redirected to the login screen to reenter the authentication information. Associating a CHART user with an op-center/default map view area: Based on CHART II R1B3 database design, users are not associated with an op-center; rather, the user specifies an op-center during logon. In order to display a default map view area based on an op-center, an external application launching the CHART mapping application will also need to pass in the operation center name to initialize the map to the associated extent. Passing user name and password in URL request: The mapping site shall have a module that verifies the user name and password, then forward the page to the map page, hence avoiding showing the password on URL address box. At the current time, without the full integration with CHART II and CHART Lite, the system will expect plain text user name and password. In the future, an encryption/decryption algorithms agreed between the systems can be added to achieve higher security. 2.5.5 EORS Security Currently, the EORS security has not been implemented. EORS functions will be hard-coded with security configuration. 3. Network Configuration The design above depicts CHART network configuration as the Internal network, a Demilitarization Zone (DMZ) network for hosting the web server and connecting out to the external Internet network. There will be two firewalls, one between the Internet and the DMZ network and another one between the DMZ network and the internal network. The map server and database servers are to be hosted in the internal network for maximum security. The initial configuration calls for two physical computers to host the map servers and database servers. In the future, if the system needs to scale up, additional physical servers can be added. The Intranet web server can optionally be hosted on the load-balanced virtual server too. 3.1.1 Map Server Load Balancing The design achieves load balancing by a combination of Windows 2000 Advanced Server Network Load Balancing (NLB) Service and the ArcIMS Application Server. The system utilizes two physical server computers. The two servers are configured with NLB. NLB works on the TCP/IP level. Any incoming traffic from web server to the virtual server IP address is load balanced between the two application servers by NLB. ArcIMS Application Server operates at the application level, monitoring each spatial server’s load and operation. When a spatial server is busy, it directs the map request to idling spatial server(s). Each physical map server hosts one ArcIMS Application Server and two ArcIMS Spatial Server instances. An application server failure forces NLB to direct new connections to the remaining application server. When the failed server is recovered, new client connections should once again be shared between the two servers. The two spatial server instances are â€Å"cross registered† to the application servers. As shown in the diagram, Spatial Server A1 and A2 are registered to Application Server B and A correspondingly. This arrangement ensures that when a spatial server is down, the application server can still  utilize the spatial server from the other server to serve the map request and the application server continue to function. Also, this configuration also allows ArcIMS to load balance at the Spatial Server level as opposed to just the network traffic level, which is what NLB provides. This configuration can withstand an Application Server failure, a Spatial Server failure, a simultaneous Application/Spatial Server failure or hardware failure of one of the physical map servers. Using two map servers with network load balancing should provide high-availability load balanced ArcIMS web site. 3.1.2 Database Load Balancing By running two SQL Server and ArcSDE instances with NLB to balance the load, the system can achieve high availability at the database server layer. The database servers are completely independent and share no hardware components. This type of availability is achievable with the standard edition of SQL Server. The two database servers are setup with Transactional replication. One of the two SQL Servers is configured as the publisher and the other one as a subscriber. All the data modification such as insert, delete and update will be performed on the publisher and changes are replicated to the subscriber. Transactional replication can provide very low latency to Subscribers. Subscribers receiving data using a push subscription usually receive changes from the Publisher within one minute or sooner, provided that the network link and adequate processing resources are available (latency of a few seconds can often be achieved). When the web server and map server requests use the virtual IP address on the load-balanced group of database servers, they are directed to the database server with the least amount of load. If one of the database servers goes down due to hardware failure, NLB detects that this server is down and no longer directs database requests to this machine. The remaining machine handles the database requests and apart from a slight drop in performance the users are unaware that a database server has failed. When the hardware is fixed the offending machine can be brought back online. One limitation exists for this design. It happens when the publisher database is down. In this situation the data updates cannot be committed until the publisher database comes back. But at the same time, all read access from the Internet and Intranet server could still be directed to the secondary server. In the case when the publisher data is going to be down for extended time period, system configuration need to allow system administrator to change the configuration so that the replica will serve as the main database. Compared with clustering solution, this system design provides the maximum database availability and performance benefit. The databases that need to be replicated would include: 1. Background map database. Background map data does not change often. A snapshot replication is sufficient for replicating data updates in one database to the other. 2. CHART/EORS Spatial Database CHART/EORS spatial database stores CHART and EORS device and event information with spatial data. They are dynamically updated throughout the day. Transactional replication will be setup to ensure that data change in one database gets replicated to the other one. 3. SDE metadata. In general, the system can continue to provide access of map and data to both the Internet and Intranet users in the case of failure of any one component in the system. The only exception is that when the publisher database is down, the new data cannot be updated into the system. Users will get delayed information. 3.1.3 DMZ Configuration CHART is currently implementing a Demilitarization Zone (DMZ) network to enhance the network security. This entails creating a separate network for the web server computer(s) and separating it from the internal network with a firewall. In an ideal world, the DMZ would have no physical connection to the internal network. This would require two separate map server setups to serve the  Internet and Intranet users. The recommended way to implement is to disallow any access from the DMZ to the internal network, but allow access from the internal network to the DMZ. In other words, allow out-bound connections. On each of the ArcIMS server computers, mount a network drive to a shared drive on the Web server. Each ArcIMS spatial server would write the output raster image files to the location on the web server to be delivered to the Internet client browsers. 4. Database Organization To reduce the dependency and operation interference between the spatial data and the attribute data, the EORS spatial database and CHART spatial database will be created as two SQL Server databases. To reduce the performance overhead when joining data between the spatial and attribute data, the EORS spatial database will reside on the same database server(s) as the EORS database. 5. Technical Challenges 5.1 Map Display Mechanism CHART Intranet mapping application requires that changes in event and device data be reflected on all map clients in a near-real-time fashion (within 5 seconds). To do so via the traditional raster map publishing mechanism will result in all clients retrieving updated map every 5 seconds or at least when event/device status update requires a new map to be generated. When there is large number of users of the system, it will result in a high map server load in a concentrated short time period. To resolve this issue, the project team reviewed various technical approaches and summarizes their advantages and disadvantages as the following: 5.1.1 Raster (JPEG, GIF or PNG) Image This is a popular approach that utilizes the basic image display functionality of web browsers. It utilizes the server processing power efficiently. The disadvantages are that the images have limited client side intelligence, leaving most of the computation concentrated on the server. It’s capability of handling large number of concurrent map requests is limited. Generally, one map server can support 4-8 requests per second. For  CHART’s situation, when an event changes status, if a new map image needs to be generated, it would be about 40 requests per second (200 users at 5 second update interval). Many servers will be required to support the load. With the license fee involved with using GIF format, we will not use GIF for map publishing. Compared with JPG format, PNG graphics do not have the â€Å"bleeding† effect inherent with the JPEG compression algorithm. With the map displaying lines rather than continuous tone images, it is much cleaner. PNG also results in a smaller file, which translates into faster download times for client. The only JPG advantage is server side image generation times. It is recommended to utilize PNG for the Intranet application to produce highest quality images for standardized IE browser while utilizing JPG for the Internet to allow for support of as many browsers as possible. Also, the reduction in image processing time should deliver better web image generation performance. 5.1.2 XML Based Vector Graphics 5.1.2.1 Vector Markup Language (VML) VML is a XML based W3C standard in describing vector graphics. Basically, it encodes the vector coordinates of points, lines and polygons in XML format. The support of VML is included in Internet Explorer 5.0 and later. There is no download needed to display VML encoded vector graphics. It also has built-in support for style sheet and scripting. This makes it possible to modify the display properties and positions of the vector graphics using the JavaScript on the client-side browser. Using this functionality, we can dynamically update the display of devices and events. 5.1.2.2 Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) Scalable Vector Graphics is another XML-based W3C standard format for vector graphics. Compared with VML, it requires Java or ActiveX based plug-in to be displayed. Also, based on review of the plug-ins (SVG Viewer by Adobe), there is not as much support for scripting as for VML. 5.1.3 ArcIMS Java Viewer ArcIMS includes a Java Viewer, which provides a Java Applet that can be customized to a certain extent to display vector encoded GIS data on the client side. It requires a download to the client. The Java Viewer reads vector data from ArcIMS feature server encoded using an ESRI proprietary compression format, which makes it difficult to implement special features such as WSMS offsetted road networks because they need to be offset dynamically based on map scale. 5.1.4 MapObjects Java MapObjects Java from ESRI provides a set of Java-based objects for GIS functionalities. It has an extensive set of functionality that can satisfy the requirements. But, it requires a license fee of $100/seat, or comparable server-based licensing. It also requires a download to client machine to run it. 5.1.5 Summary Based on the research above, the project team recommends the following design: Use raster map for background map display (background data with SHA grid map are often large amount of data, suitable for server side processing) Use XML data format to transport the device and event data from server to browser client. Use JavaScript to create and update the VML vector data elements to display the dynamic layers including all the CHART/EORS devices and events. The diagram above illustrates the map display mechanism: 1. Map server reads the spatial data from background database and sends the published map image to the client browser to be displayed as background. 2. Device and event information is broadcasted from the CHART II system in the form of CORBA events. 3. CORBA event listener receives the event broadcast and saves the data into CHART spatial database. 4. CHART/EORS device and event data are published in XML format to the client. Client browser parses the XML into a XML Document Object Model (DOM) using the XML parser. 5. The client browser then iterate through the DOM tree structure and create corresponding VML elements based on the XML device and event data. The VML elements are displayed on the top of the background raster map image. 6. At a pre-configured interval, the browser client retrieves update of device and event data from the IIS server in XML format and update the VML display  based on the updated information. 5.2 Automated Refresh of Device and Event Data CHART/EORS device and event information needs to be updated at a pre-configured interval. They should be updated separate from the background map to reduce the load on the map server. The technical approach to achieve this will be to use a hidden frame to send the request to retrieve updated device and event data and receive the response. The response will package the data in XML file to be parsed into a document object model (DOM) and display the data on map. The request can be to retrieve all data or only retrieve data newer than last retrieval. When the new device/event is received and it requires changing the display of the device/events, the style assignment for the elements can be changed to update the device and event display.   The VML elements will be sent using real-world coordinates (Maryland State Plane 1983). After the data has been retrieved to the client side, the VML map layers can be dynamically projected using the â€Å"local coordinate space†. When user zooms or pan the map, the VML will be projected using the updated coordinates to fit the new map extent without going back to the server to retrieve new data set. 5.3 Inter-Frame Client Script Synchronization The map page has a few frames and the browser loads them asynchronously. Scripts in one frame may call scripts in another frame that may not have been loaded. The approach to resolve this is to add client-side exception handling and verification routine to ensure that the script is called always after the frame is loaded. 5.4 Assigning and Editing Event Location The dynamic nature of VML elements in the browser allows adding and modifying VML elements by scripting. When the user clicks or drags the mouse on the map, client-side script manages the transformation of screen coordinates and real-world map coordinates. The coordinates are sent back to the server’s secured URL where the information is extracted and saved to the database. 5.5 Scalability The CHART mapping application serves not only the Intranet users, but also Internet browser clients. During emergency situations, the load on both the Internet and Intranet servers could get extremely high. The system must be able to scale up to serve large amount of users. The technical approach to solve this issue involves two main facets. As described in the network configuration section, the system will employ network load balancing and allows adding additional hardware in the future. The system should also be able to utilize the caching feature of IIS and ASP.Net to scale up without significantly increase hardware investment. ASP.Net allows caching configuration for individual page modules, such as whether the page is cached and how long it is cached. After the application is deployed, these caching settings can be configured on the web pages. For example, if it is determined that the Internet mapping can be up to 3 seconds late, by setting caching time to 3 seconds, all requests from the Internet will receive a cached response without creating additional load on the map and database server. 5.6 Exception Management and Recovery CHART II keeps its clients updated via a push model using the CORBA Event Service. The Event Service does not guarantee delivery; therefore it is possible for event data to be lost/dropped (although in practice, this is rare). To account for this possibility, the CHART Web Event Listener will refresh its information about the status of devices and traffic events from CHART II at a configurable interval. Also, each time the Event Listener is started, it will retrieve all relevant data from CHART II. Thus, the update model becomes a push model with an occasional pull to be safe. This process will be used to recover from the following situations: 1. The Event Listener was down and did not receive new data from CHART II. 2. CHART II CORBA event(s) occasionally dropped while the Event Listener is up and running. Another likely scenario is that the CHART II server or service(s) restart. After a typical restart, the CORBA Event Service CORBA objects will be  recreated with the same characteristics allowing the Event Listener to continue to automatically receive CHART II CORBA events. As the CHART II services will not be processing events during this time, no events are likely to be missed. Therefore, the Event Listener does not need to do anything special to handle a CHART II server or service(s) restart. Sometimes CHART II maintenance will require that new (and different) Event Service CORBA objects be created. This might happen during a CHART II upgrade, for example. In this case, the Event Listener will need to be restarted so that it can pick up the new objects. Since this type of maintenance does not occur often and the Event Listener restarting is fast, the restart can be handled as part of the CHART II upgrade procedures. 5.7 Integration with ASP Code in EORS and CHART Web Application The CHART Intranet Mapping, replacing the existing EORS mapping application, will still be launched as a separate window by a URL string with a few parameters identifying the district, view type, etc. The impact on EORS web application should be limited to modifying the URL links. The current CHART Internet Mapping site uses â€Å"include† statement to include site navigation pages from upper level CHART web site’s pages. When upgrading Internet Mapping to ASP.Net, â€Å"include† statement is no longer used. Instead, a ServerXMLHTTP request can be formulated to request the text from the included ASP page and merge them into the mapping ASP.Net pages. The limitation of this implementation would be that the ASP.Net application couldn’t share the session and application variables from the ASP application. Currently, there are only a couple of them, such as database connection string. The ASP.Net mapping application will maintain a separate set of application variables. 6. User Interface Design 6.1 Intranet Map Site User Interface Design Here following is a high-level frame structure for the Intranet mapping site: 1. AppFrame is the highest-level frame that includes all the child frames. On the top of the page, there will be the title frame, which will host the  CHART icon. Also inside the title frame will be a group of tabs, such as Traffic, Roadway Weather, Message Sign, etc. 2. ToolsFrame hosts the map navigation and other map related tools. The ToolsFrame will also host menu system that allows the user to bring up data and other detailed information. 3. HiddenFrame will be used to submit and receive information from the server. 4. ContentFrame is further divided to a map frame on the left and a data frame on the right. The user shall be able rearrange the frame boundary to give more space to the map or data area. Data frame will display data as well as legend, layer control and other items when needed. 5. PromptFrame will display the current tool selected and instructions for user activities. Here is a screen shot of the preliminary user interface design: 6.2 Internet Map Site User Interface The overall CHART Internet mapping web site design will stay the same as current web site. The site will stay as part of the overall CHART web site by including the CHART navigation menus into the site. The site will not be using frames; instead, all elements will be laid out as HTML tables. 7. References 1. CHART/EORS Intranet Mapping System Requirement Specification 2. CHART Internet Mapping System Requirement Specification 3. Security and ArcIMS – ESRI White Paper 4. ArcSDE Configuration and Tuning Guide for Microsoft SQL Server – ESRI White Paper 5. ArcIMS 4.0 High-Availability Configuration Testing Using Network Load Balancing –ESRI White Paper 6. Vector Markup Language (VML) Specification – W3C 8. Terms and Glossary ArcXML – ESRI’s map request/response specification in XML format CORBA – Common Object Request Broker Architecture CSS – Cascading Style Sheets DOM – Document Object Model ESRI – Environment System Research Institute GIS – Geographic Information System GML – Geography Markup Language NLB – Network Load Balancing SSL – Secure Socket Layer SVG – Scalable Vector Graphics VML – Vector Markup Language XML – Extensible Markup Language

Law Reform Essay

This report will focus on the contemporary law reform issue of young drivers and the law. Firstly this report will outline what young drivers and the law is. Secondly this report will examine the conditions that give rise to the need for law reform. Thirdly the agencies and mechanisms of reform will be identified. Finally, the effectiveness of the law reform process of the law reform process in achieving just outcomes in reform to young drivers and the law will be discussed. This report will conclude that the law reform process is effective but some areas are not considerate. What is the contemporary issue? Young drives and the law is referring to how young drivers are given laws due to the issues that occur. Due to this we are trying to lower the rates of death and insure safety for all drivers. Conditions that give rise to the need for law reform: Law reform is the process of changing the law to make it more current, correct defects, simply it and remedy injustice. Young drivers are twice as likely to be involved in fatal accidents, caught drink driving or caught speeding. The reasons for law reform are shown bellow: -Changing social values -New concepts of justice -New technology Changes to young drivers licences, the amount of hours they have to do or speed limits are changes to the law and reflect various groups in the community who want young drivers to get more experience and therefore be safer and more experienced drivers. This causes social conditions to change and the attitudes after so many fatal incidents involving young drivers. A new concept of justice is referring to when laws and outcomes are unjust in the way we live, so this law will need to be reformed. A way that new a concept of justice has been met is that young drivers are unable to drink any alcohol while on their L’s. This stops accidents and is decreasing the traffic offences on the road New technology causes new laws to be formed so there is no unfair usage of this technology and sometimes it takes time to ensure that all aspects of safety is met. Young drivers, and any drivers have to understand the law regarding texting, as this distracts the driver behind the vehicle. Agencies and mechanisms of reform For a law to be reformed, there is a long and usually costly process that needs to occur. Reasons for the law to be reformed are that it is no longer able to relate to society, dated or is not fair to needs and wants of the public. There are many different agencies of reform for young drivers and the law but the main areas are the NSW Law Reform Commission and the media. The way in which a law is reformed is by passing a bill – to do this, these seven steps must occur: 1.Formulations stage 2.Drafting bill stage 3.First reading 4.Second reading 5.Committee stage 6.Third reading 7.Royal Assent Stage The NSW Law Reform Commission is representing the state when reforming the laws that are no longer valid for today’s society. When research is done into changings laws, the public is always consulted. For the law to be changed there is a process that is taken into consideration. A reform has recently occurred to low the rates of deaths in P plate drivers. Due to this reform ‘‘the number of P1-plate driver deaths dropped 21 per cent (from 19 to 15) while the number of people killed in P1-plate related crashes dropped 20 per cent, (from 35 to 28)’’ said Eric Roozendaal in 2008. The media allows the public to be informed about issues that are occurring without impute from the government. This can encourage law reform to show opinions and views on different topics but can also slow down the law reform process. The media have done this by writing articles such as ‘A license to save young lives’, which is informing the public about personal views on how reforms should occur as death rates with the young are increasing. This article is asking people their personal view on the hours in which young drivers should be allowed to drive in – the law has recently be reformed to state that only one passenger can be taken past 11pm on a P plate licences. A mechanism of law reform is about how the law actually changes – courts, parliaments, the United Nations or intergovernmental organisations can do this. Due to the Motor Traffic Act 1909 (NSW) the law is always being reformed to adjust with society – society usually can send letters, make lobby groups about issues such as young drivers and the law to ensure safety within society. These issues are then addressed to the government and it is the government’s role to address the issues.

Microeconomics Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Microeconomics - Coursework Example Keeping the cash will mean there will be no gain, but one enjoys a high liquidity preference of their cash. However, the future of the market performance is oblique. In the event inflation hit the economy, the money will have greatly lost its value and one would have wished making an earlier investment on either stock or bonds could have been a better option. Investing their money in either stock or bonds is always dilemmatic. An individual is ever sure of safety of money value invested in government bonds than in corporate stock. The value of government bonds depends on the performance of GDP; it could either decrease or increase annually. Assuming a GDP of 7%, the value of the bond that year would be similar to GDP. In such cases, the stock value is always higher than that of bond by 1% or 2%. A person who decided to invest in corporate stock that year will enjoy accrued savings of their investment at either 8% or 9% while one who invested in bonds will only enjoy 7%. The differenc e of the two becomes the risk premium. Risky situations have a high attached risk premium. There are many mechanisms an individual can explore to minimize risk. To begin with, one can just say no. For example, uncertain luxurious investments to improve one’s status in the society can be avoided. One may have a strong desire to purchase the most coveted natural Cornflower Blue Sapphire.There are two possible outcomes: purchasing a genuine sapphire or duped with a copy. Bearing in mind that one lacks the capacity to distinguish between a genuine and a counterfeit, there are two underlying benefits of varied proportions. If one goes ahead and it is a genuine one, he becomes $ 120 rich otherwise, $10 richer. In such scenario, saying no would avert possible looming risk. Secondly, one can obtain factual information before making a decision. An investor who is interested in a particular corporate stock and lacks information or have scanty facts regarding the stock performance can i nquire before putting life savings into it. Information gathered in light of the corporate stock performance in the past few years or quarters may lead one to make informed decisions. A clear indication of a possible decline in the stock value that particular period would deter one from investing because at the end of the day everyone wants to see the value of their assets rising and with great stability. When one obtains information about something whether it has monetary value or not, the decision made will ultimately avert risk associated with it. Thirdly, an individual can diversify the risk. This can be done when the two events are perfectly negatively correlated (Perloff, 2011). A perfectly negatively correlated event according to Perloff refers to an event where one of the two possible outcomes must happen with great certainty. Assuming the government wants to give the tender to either IBM or Apple to supply its various departments with computers and other accessories during the next financial year. There are two possible outcomes: a win and a loss. It is absolutely clear one company must win the tender. When an individual purchase the shares of the winning company, each share value is $50 otherwise $10. One may then decide to purchase an equal share of each company just to be at the fair edge. Assuming a purchase of 5 shares, the total

Fast food nation summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Fast food nation summary - Essay Example There were many orange farms. Local farmers also kept animals such as cattle and chicken. Later in the chapter, people started relying on fast foods instead of foods obtained directly from agricultural farms. It seems that the author wants the audience to see how fast foods started being part of American culture. According to article, people started relying on fast foods especially in Los Angeles because of automobiles. By the year 1940 Los Angeles had about 1 million vehicles (Schlosser 14). Many people wanted to own cars because they believed it was cheaper to use personal vehicles compared to public transport. The cars made people lazy. As a result, the new types of eating places such as the derive-in restaurants were introduced. The first drive in-restaurant was owned by Jesse Kirby. He later sold his restaurants to Carl. In order to attract more people in the drive-ins, the buildings were painted in bright colors and waitresses dressed in short skirts. They became very popular p laces in towns. Some popular fast food places like McDonald were founded during this time. In this chapter, the author blames automobiles for negatively affecting the culture of America (Schlosser 6). The initial part of the second chapter talks about people’s loyalty to McDonalds. The title of the second chapter seems ironical. Many people have trusted the fast food companies. However, they fail to notice the negative impacts of the fast food restaurants and their culture in the modern society. Many people take a two week course just to learn the culture of McDonald. The author criticizes the growing number of restaurants for making children the world’s most targeted consumers by larger corporations. For instance, most McDonald’s commercials target children. The company also sponsored my children TV Programs in order to attract more children. Disney started targeting children with its

Policing functions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Policing functions - Essay Example The local agencies are thereby encouraged to relate well with the people in their society. A better communication will lead to understanding among the people and the policing agencies. Most of their work includes stopping the planned happenings and attacks to which might affect the government like bomb attack and they are also involved in investigating on certain happening from the base. The state agency work in hand with the local agency and are used to handle state criminal investigations and also the state highways traffic laws. It provides law enforcement in regions that do not have the county representation. The Federal agency is used for private investigation and has agencies oversees includes the Federal bureau of Investigation, Bureau of prisons among others and they are also not considered as the national police force. These are mainly used for investigative purposes like finding the allegations of Terrorist attacks and also used in maintaining law and order. The Community p olicing The community policing put in place in the development of the community regarding their issues. This was not adopted well as some thought that it was put in order for people to put up their personal issues. The community policing main impact is to assist each person in the different units. Its impact would be able to solve the community’s problems at a fundamental level making it easier for everyone instead of it being complicated at the higher level. The police were to interact with the community in which theorists and practitioners stated about the six big stakeholders the media being inclusive (International Association of Fire Chiefs, 2010). The citizens had complaints on the police practices in which the community wanted the police to be open and also be more transparent. They wanted transparency in accessing public entities like in the healthcare and education among others. This led to the formation of accrediting agencies like the Commission on Accreditation fo r law Enforcement Agencies which enabled the media to take part in the effective, ethical communications in the public and can be seen to lead to a better coordination among the people in the society. The Changing Media Media is one way of making everything being transparent and by the media being involved in the administrative works that is by the local, state and also federal, there will be a flow of activities and also crimes will be minimized. Corruption is experienced in different fields making it difficult for the laws to be reinforced from the fundamental units. This is because the administration units have a hierarchy from the local place where they are headed by the Sheriffs to the higher positions in the system. Law Enforcement in the Organizational culture Each and every place has a unique culture in its place of work depending on different law enforcement organizations. Some places are very strict in implementing law and order while other places the police administration is reluctant as their administrative power is not keen or is ignorant. From this we see that incidents like terrorists attack can be hard to change as it depends with different people with their own culture. It is difficult for people to adopting other cultures from what they used to and this policy will take time before it can be implemented fully by everyone. This can be seen by the federal law responded slowly to the methamphetamine epidemic as they had not experienced this

Women In Artwork Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Women In Artwork - Essay Example There are also several transformations that have taken place in the artwork field, particularly in the 21st century as many artists have turned to use of technology in designing images and expressing peoples beauty. Apparently, its only a few sculptors that have been left in the field art. Additionally, the demand for sculptures has reduced as people are currently using digital cameras to make images, particularly in 3D images. In this essay paper, an evaluation is discussed on the role of women in art and the various transformations taking place in the field of art. Venus figurine, also known as Venus of Willendorf, for instance, is a statuette that can be traced back in the upper Paleolithic. The statuette, unearthed in Europe, is designed to portray a body of a woman though with some physical features being exaggerated. The sculpture is said to have existed since the gravetian period from 22,000 to 28,000 years back. Materials used for the sculpture included; soft stone such as limestone and steatite, as well as bones or ivory and fired clay. Nefertiti Bust is another renowned artifacts discovered in Egypt during the historical archeological activities by a German archeological team. Nefertiti bust is believed to have been an image of a royal wife of Egypt, in the Pharaoh Akhenaten royal family. Its also believed to be 3,300 years made of limestone and created by a sculptor well known as Thutmose. Cyclades is a renowned island on the southeastern part of Greece with a rich history on artwork, particularly on the discovery of Cyclades Figurines Getty Villa artifacts. In the mid-2000s B.C, a pregnant female figure, with the characteristics of the Spedos and Dokathismata was discovered through archeological activities in the Cyclades Island. Apparently, the artifact is displayed at Getty Villa gallery, it also said to be made of marble and created by Schuster Master In the modern age today, many artist and sculptors have continued to

Managing Challenges of Cross Cultural Differences in International Essay

Managing Challenges of Cross Cultural Differences in International Business - Essay Example Overview of National Culture & Cross Cultural Differences Culture is a key factor in gaining an insight in to how people behave in different countries, their preferences, attitudes, values and beliefs (Cundiff & Hilger 1988). Their can be implicit and explicit elements of culture embodied in rituals, symbols, gestures, traditions and mannerisms which results in diversity in communication and interaction process within a cross cultural setting (Trompenaar, F. & Hamden-Turner, C. 1998). It is therefore important to understand the underlying national cultures which shape each nation’s interrelations including business dealings (Ohmae, K. 1982). As per Hofstede, culture is â€Å"collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one human group from another† (Hofstede, G. 1984. Page 21). While there are various models and theories, which attempts to explain cross cultural differences, some well established explanations of national culture can be found in Fons Trompenaar & Charles Hampden-Turner’s model of Seven Dimensions of Culture; Geert Hofstede’s Indices of Work Related Values and The theory of Silent Languages of Culture proposed by Hall. 3. Overview of the Countries in Context United States Of America As a forerunner in business and trade, political affairs and social change, United States of America is a country which has a diverse and multicultural social environment.Driven by cultural values such as innovation, independence and individualism, (Hill 2003) American society allowes for social mobility depicted by the â€Å"American Dream.† ... Analysis of Cross Cultural Similarities & Differences While there may exist certain cultural similarities between nations, the implications it carries for business may vary. The analysis focuses on identifying cultural similarities and differences, which exists between USA, Japan and India. 4.1 Treatment of Agreements and Legal process This can be assessed within the dimension of Universalism vs. Particularism, where universalism places greater importance upon the rules in the society while the particularism focus on the circumstances involved when making decisions about what is right and wrong (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner 1998). USA, which is a highly universalistic culture, places greater emphasis upon business contracts, rules and regulations but in contrast, Japan and India which are more particularistic cultures considers circumstances and relationships more in making decisions. Halls language of friendship can also be used in assessing this cross-cultural aspect. The Americans tend to make friends easily and quickly but these are of transient nature. The Japanese tend to take time in forming relationships but their commitment to the relationship is high. Even if disputes arise, Japanese try reconciliation process while Americans resort quickly to litigation process (Weiss 2001). Indians too choose more in formal means of resolving issues than litigation but are generally quick in establishing relationships.

The consuming behaviours of university students purchasing smartphones Dissertation

The consuming behaviours of university students purchasing smartphones - Dissertation Example This paper investigates into the consuming behaviour of the university students in the United Kingdom with regard to their purchase of smart phones. Three most significant factors have been identified through this research work that affect smart phone purchasing behaviour of this customer base. It has been product features (of smart phones) affect their purchasing decision the most. These consumers also attach huge importance to the brand name of the product that they are going to purchase. Branded smart phones are preferred by these customers since high brand value serve as an identification of superiority of the product as well as a symbol of status in the society and peer group. Price of the product is considered by the customers while they purchase a new smart phone, but, research shows that they are often willing to spend a large sum of money in order to obtain a smart phone of very high brand name. Table of Contents 4 Introduction 4 Literature review 6 Methodology 17 Research p roblem 17 Method of analysis 28 Quantitative Method 28 Qualitative method 29 Method of data collection 31 Sampling 34 Questionnaire survey 35 Ethical considerations 38 Limitations of the Research Methodology 39 Data analysis and interpretation of findings 40 Conclusion and recommendations 52 Reference List 54 Appendices 60 Introduction Smart phones are becoming an increasingly important device that is used by the average customer in the United Kingdom. According to research, the number of smart phone users in the UK is growing continuously and rapidly. Purchase and use of smart phones depends on a number of factors, such as, the tastes and preference of the individual customer, the income level of the customer, the previous usage history of mobile phones, age and gender of the customer as well as the education level of the individual. While the demographic features of the customer base affects the smart phone purchasing behaviour of the customer, attributes of the product also take an important position in the purchasing decision made by the customers. These attributes are the product features, looks and appearance of the phone, price of the item, relative price of the phone compared to the other smart phones offered by the competing firms, awareness among the peer group about the product or its brand, customer’s knowledge about the brand and customer loyalty toward the brand. It has been through recent research works that smart phone usage among adults decreases with age. Also, over the last decade, use of smart phone has increased among the female population by a considerably high extent. Since 2010, number of female customers of smart phone has increased significantly from the number in the beginning of the twentieth century. Among the student generation, there is almost equal number of female smart phone owners as the male smart phone owners (Solomon, et al., 2006). At present the mobile phone market has expanded geographically as well as economical ly. Smart phone usage has become a modern trend of the middle class population across all countries and demand for such device is rising constantly. Smart phones can perform a vast range of functions due to which this device has moved out of its identity of a mere mobile phone and has become the ‘personal assistance device’ (pda) for the users. Several smart phone manufacturing companies are rapidly gaining popularity through the products offered by them. Several companies operate internationally,

Asian Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Asian Philosophy - Essay Example Even though his writing is not to a certain extent vibrant and colorful that of Zhuangzi, his approach is much well-designed and powerful, sometimes bursting into poetry that influentially expresses his infatuation for the Confucian way of life (ibid). A great part of Xunzi’s attempt is committed to passionately defending Confucianism against different challenges. For instance, he fervently expresses disapproval of Mozi’s denouncement of ritual and music and claims forcefully that these cultural types are completely indispensable. He also rejects Laozi and Zhuangzi for supporting that people accept the perspective of Heaven and leave out traditional virtues in favor of submitting to the natural torrent of things (Ivanhoe, 2001). For Xunzi, the hazards to Confucianism originate not merely external to the tradition, but as well as from within it, in the appearance of Mengzi’s principle that human nature is good. In Xunzi’s judgment, such an argument weakens the power of ritual as a practical guideline to behavior, ruins the essentiality of acquiring knowledge, and merely flies in front of the facts. Xunzi makes the contradictory assertion that human nature is bad, but this should not be interpreted as claiming that people in nature take pleasure in evil deeds (ibid). Rather, his emphasis is that people lack any innate path to right behavior and conduct, and that without the outside control of ritual they will resort into bad behavior and be reduced to a disordered, impoverished condition strongly suggestive of the state of nature portrayed by Thomas Hobbes (Ivanhoe, 2001). On the other hand, Mengzi contends that humans have a nature, which they should go after. Indeed, he contradicts Xunzi’s philosophy for suggesting that ethical nurturing must integrate transgressing one’s nature. Nevertheless, Mengzi argues against the idea that there are developing righteous predispositions in

Greed, Need and Money, Walter Williams Essay Example for Free

Greed, Need and Money, Walter Williams Essay In the article entitled, Greed, Need and Money, Walter Williams presents his take on the economics and logic of keeping CEOs highly paid. He essentially argues that these huge â€Å"golden parachutes† and corporate salaries are justified by return that these companies get in return. Just because a CEO gets a high salary does not mean that he does not deserve it or do anything to help the company recover that value. By comparing this to a simple supply and demand model, Walter Williams is able to show that the reason the salaries are so high is because the demand is high as well and supply is pretty scarce. One manner by which the mention of the word greed can be applied to the economic lessons that have been discussed is to juxtapose this to the application of greed as an economic theory. Greed can be said to be the primal instinct for self-preservation of people. In an attempt to protect one’s self, man seeks only to pursue his individual interests without care for the well-being of others. In relation to economics, this pursuit of individual interests is greed or the pursuit of economic self-interests, otherwise known as individual wealth accumulation. Greed as a driving force is not an entirely new concept as it was originally part of the Invisible Hand theory introduced by Adam Smith. The basic precept of the invisible hand is that in a free market a person who chooses to be greedy and pursue his own interests in invariably also furthering the good of the entire community. A perfect example is in a situation where a person seeks to maximize his personal profits in total disregard of other factors. By applying the Invisible Hand theory of Adam Smith, it can be shown that when the total revenue of society is calculated this becomes identical to the summation of the individual revenues of every member of that society. In order to arrive at a better understanding of how greed, which is a key concept under the Invisible Hand Theory, both drives and regulates capitalist markets, it is essential to have a brief discussion of the basic supply and demand model. This is because production is driven by the willingness of the seller to supply and the basic goal of every seller is to increase profits (greed). This can be understood from two approaches, however, the first being profit maximization through an increase in the volume of units sold (assuming ceteris paribus) and the second being profit maximization through a decrease in the cost of the factors of production which in turn increases the profit margins per unit sold. The basic supply-demand model becomes critical in this understanding because under the market model sales will only willingly occur at the equilibrium point. The price level of a good essentially is determined by the point at which quantity supplied equals quantity demanded. The law of supply and demand predicts that the price level will move toward the point that equalizes quantities supplied and demanded. Greed is crucial in this sense because it is the basic assumption or behavior under this model. Without greed, there would be no drive for the individuals in society to pursue their own self-interests. The absence of this driving mechanism would mean that there will be no individual revenues and thus leading to the failure of the community revenue to equalize with its summation. This basically means that society’s scarce resources become more efficiently allocated through the regulatory nature of greed in capitalist markets. While the Invisible Hand theory has already been rejected as an acceptable economic model by the works of John Maynard Keynes and Milton Friedman, the more complex markets of today have shown that the pursuit of self-interests, while natural of human behavior, must be regulated by external systems in order to ensure a more equitable and efficient allocation of resources. This means that greed is not necessarily good in today’s current economic situation. As used in this discussion and in the article, this greed may not only be the effect of supply and demand but the pursuits of an individual’s self-interests for the improvement of the economic system.

Swot South Beauty Essay Example for Free

Swot South Beauty Essay A SWOT Analysis is a tool that identifies the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of an organization. This basic, straightforward model assesses what an organization can and cannot do as well as its potential opportunities and threats. The method of the SWOT analysis is to take the information from an environmental analysis and separate it into internal (strengths and weaknesses) and external issues (opportunities and threats). Once it is completed, SWOT analysis determines what may assist the firm in accomplishing its objectives, and what obstacles must be overcome or minimized to achieve the desired results. Strengths * Brand Strategy and positioning. The Group’s branding strategy focuses on brand differentiation to cater a wide range of customers. The newest brand of the group, SUBU focuses on innovative healthy food for younger and more fashionable office workers, the LAN Club is the luxury brand that targets the upper-class dining segment of successful businesspeople aged over 45 years, and South Beauty, the Group’s flagship brand that targets upper-middle class segment of businesspeople aged from 30 to 45 years. No competitor in the Chinese restaurant market has such brand format. Almost all of them operate their single brands without clear brand positioning so their brand image is quite inferior to the Group’s. * Consistent brand identities. The company has built consistent brand identities by launching some outdoor and print advertisement. The company also explore cooperation with certain international airlines, including Air France and KLM Royal Dutch airlines, to provide business travelers flying between China and Europe with South Beauty-branded Chinese dishes. * Innovation. The company is regarded as an innovative company, with 55 percent annual growth. The South Beauty restaurant also introduced several innovations and improvements with regard to traditional Sichuan food, not only in terms of new raw materials, but also the process of preparing the dishes and the customer experience. The Group developed a range of innovations with regard to Sichuan cuisine but also added certain Cantonese cuisine and other flavors to its menu. One of the group’s biggest and most ambitious innovations is the combination of Chinese and Western cuisine that breaks with tradition and creates original new flavors. It is the first Chinese restaurant to offer Chinese food in a western style, and the first to mix food presentation with artistic views. * Differentiation in cuisine. Some of the factors that make the Group’s cuisine different from others are the strict requirements placed on raw ingredients, the innovation on traditional cuisine, the exacting criteria placed on a dish’s nutritional value, and the strong emphasis on the visual appeal of each dish. * Location and Pricing. The Group’s restaurants are located in top-notch office buildings in key cities. Meals are also expensively priced to cover costs, but because of the brand’s reputation and image, consumers are willing to pay the high prices. This combination of high-end location and high pricing were helpful in developing the upper-middle class brand image. * Interior decoration and ambience. Each South Beauty restaurant had a different decor, designed by well-known artists in the field. It is Zhang Lan’s belief that people should come to the restaurant not only for the food but also for the ambience. * IT applications. Advanced IT applications enhanced the image of the restaurant and improve efficiency. For example, the Group built its own CRM system to record customer information and use that information to provide tailor-made services and make promotional communications. These IT applications give the Group an edge because they are quite innovative for the traditional Chinese catering industry as most restaurants remain committed to their old ways of operating their businesses. * People management. Zhang Lang was a firm believer that a dedicated workforce could overcome challenges pertaining to financial capital and market potential, so the Group strove to apply performance management techniques with regard to the management team. It also worked with a consulting firm to design a new people management system to motivate the staff. The group also initiated a large-scale training program for the staff. * Synergies. The use of the company’s central management to achieve synergies has caused the South Beauty Group to develop functional management expertise at its head office with a view to coordinating the management of its restaurants, all of this helps brainstorm ways to differentiate the Group from its competitors to capture market share. * Expansion. South Beauty Group is not only looking to expand further in China ut is also looking for an international presence. * Right target group. Because of the booming economy in China, the business meals had more potential than the other segments because they could absorb higher prices. These business-people were not satisfied with simple eating and drinking- they required more in terms of the restaurant’s environment or ambiance. These businesspeople are the target consumers of the South Beauty Group. * Leader in the niche market of high-end Chinese dinner: South Beauty’s share was more than 7%  Weaknesses * Ranking in the high-end Chinese dinner segment. Among the top 100 restaurant companies in China in 2007, 10 were in this segment, with the leader being Shanghai Jingiang (ranked 4) and Beijing Shunfeng (Ranked 18). South Beauty’s ranking was 72. * Poor diversity on types of cuisine. The high-ranked competitors focused on various Chinese cuisines, but South Beauty only focused on Sichuan cuisine, so it could not compete with these restaurants in terms of cuisine. * Fake Restaurants and inability to protect its brand. The most crucial issue for South Beauty was that of restaurants claiming to be South Beauty franchisees. In 2005, there were at least 16 â€Å"fake† restaurants in cities South Beauty has not penetrated. The imposters used the same Chinese name as South Beauty with one or two additional Chinese characters to attract innocent customers and provided them with poor service and atmosphere. The unhappy customers however, complained to the â€Å"real† South Beauty. This hurts the brand image and reputation of the Group. * Authenticity of Sichuan food. In cities with higher incomes (where South Beauty’s target customers are mainly located), consumers had more choices of restaurants and made selections based on word of mouth. 63 percent of consumers obtained restaurant information from word-of-mouth publicity, so while a restaurant review web site state that South Beauty promoted â€Å"Refined or Improved Sichuan Food†, in other places, such as Chengdu, the birth place of Sichuan food, customers were of the opinion that the Sichuan food offered by South Beauty was not as spicy as the original cuisine. Other did not view South Beauty as a genuine Sichuan food restaurant. If consumers were looking for authentic Sichuan food, after hearing these opinions on the street, they were more likely to pick another restaurant. * Inability to do things in a standardized way to cut down costs and improve efficiency. The management team did not halt their efforts to improve the Group’s operational efficiency through standardization, which was also the foundation for scaling up. * Minimal market share in the Chinese Restaurant Market. The market share in South Beauty in the total industry was less than 0. 1 percent. Opportunities * Expansion. The Group is seeking to expand its operations from the existing 20 restaurants in China to a total of 100 worldwide (35 in China and 65 in the international market) over the next three years. * Standardization. The standardization of the process of preparing the dishes is a big opportunity to increase efficiency and quality. * Entry into new businesses. The Group wants to diversify into business of partially cooked frozen foods for retail outlets and airline catering. The Group’s market share in the Chinese dinner category was an estimated 2 percent in 2006. There is great to room to increase this market share. * Ability to invest heavily in various elements, interior decorating being one of them. No competitor is able to invest so heavily. * Cuisine diversity. South Beauty only offers Sichuan cuisine. While a typical Chinese restaurant offers one or two cuisines, expa nding into more than 2 different cuisines could give the Group a source of differentiation. * Becoming an international brand. According to Zhang Lan â€Å" (†¦) Now is the time to expand. We have met success in China, and now we wish to build an international brand, which will have a presence in New York, Paris, London, Milan, Geneva, Tokyo and other important international cities of the world. † it is projected that the Group will have 30 restaurants in short term and 100 outlets in the next three years, of which 35 restaurants would be located in China and 65 in the international market in cooperation with strategic partners in Tokyo, New York, and other cities. Threats * Some competitors of South Beauty have been able to overcome the obstacle of production and prepare Chinese dishes in a standardized way faster than South Beauty, so they are able to cut down costs and realize bigger profits. * Belief among certain consumers that the Sichuan food that South Beauty serves is not authentic because this can cause consumers to search for more â€Å"authentic† options in competitors. * â€Å"Fake† South Beauty restaurants. They make the brand look bad and downsize the brand’s reputation and positioning. * With such large ideas for expansion, if the capital needed is not raised, this could pose a threat not only for future expansion but also for future growth in China. * Operational efficiency that needs to improve: the management team did not halt their efforts to improve the Group’s operational efficiency through standardization, which was also the foundation for scaling up. Each South Beauty restaurant carried 380 items on the main menu. Raw materials depended on local suppliers, and the quality of each dish relied on the experience of the chef. Although there was a team with three main chefs at the head office to develop new dishes and control the quality, the process of standardization is still in its beginning phase. If standardization is not achieved soon, the Group may lose some of its market share to competitors that do achieve it soon because they will be able to cut down costs that will translate into cheaper prices.

Factors Explaining Group Behaviour Education Essay

Factors Explaining Group Behaviour Education Essay Introduction: This essay identifies and discusses the reasons motivated me and my work sponsor to come here to study a master degree at Bangor. In this context, explained how I selected Bangor university, explain the ways of choices, background about Bangor university. The benefits I obtain when I finished my degree and my future plan after finished my master degree. Secondly defined term of leaning, explained learning approaches and the learning process, also how differ form one another. Brief description of learning theories such as behaviorism and Classical conditioning, however the definition of styles and his conditions. also discusses the group work which defined types of group formal and informal group and the classification of it , the reasons of how do people joint groups ,the stages of group structures which are forming ,storming , morning, performing and adjourning. Factors explaining group behavior includes internal and external factors, group structure, group process, group tasks and decision making group. In the last topic explained how to attempt to address the issues that related when people anticipate in group work ,the important issue that will be happen is multiracial group which discusses what the leader should be use the RAP framework which stand of recognize, anticipate and problem-solve. What has motivated you to study a master degree at Bangor? Motivation can be defined as a decision making process in which the person put some desired goals and then adopts specific behaviors to gain these goals. Also to satisfy their needs in life and happy with it. According to (Huczinski Buchanan 1991) motivation defined as a process of decision making do by individuals and through it select desired findings and derived the appropriate behaviours to achieve it. Huczinski Buchanan 1991) page 230. First of all I attend here to study at Bangor university to obtain several benefits, the purposes that motive me to came here representing in a lot of reason .firstly I am a banker working in bank in my country, the manager have a proposal to send some of the staff to do a master outside of my country, he has a lot of alternatives of universities abroad. He nominates many countries for example Malaysia, India and UK. He submit their proposal to the Board of Directors to a proof it, but the Board of Directors reply that is the better choice is to sent the employees to United kingdom , the universities in UK provide high standard of qualifications. They also offer more motivation to go ahead in your qualifications. And it offers more support to international students than any other country. The diversity of the UK cities which let you to meet many people from different areas that is chance to know new cultures and tradition from international student they influences me by different cha racteristics, beliefs, values and attitudes via sharing in accommodation, in classes, social activities and doing assignment in group this also have much advantages by sharing idea form multinational students. After Board of Directors agreed of the UK universities the manger transfer his proposal to the Training Department. The staff of it they ask question, how select candidates? After along meeting they decided to make course in mini-MBA and then choice best twenty and after it they sit to IELTS test. Fortunately I passed the test and I get opportunity to study a master degree at UK at Bangor University. Secondly how choice Bangor? The answer was meeting together the candidates, Training Department and H$H consultant. They did comprehensive research, gathering lots of information and began to make alternatives, some surfing internet and other make intensive communication and at the end the selection tend to Bangor University. Why? Because it have high ranking in the areas of banking and business research among the UKs universities, best educational system. They think Bangor has famous professors and lecturers especially in business collage, Bangor city is one of the most beautiful places in the UK,. On the other hand it very quiet suitable for studies. It has friendly people and lovely, cheaper stores, private rent available around the university, has many libraries and full equipped. My future plan is to improve a career in banking and finance in an internationally oriented bank. My objective is to work as a manager for one of the top investment banks in my country, or as a banking Advisor for any world banks. To gain this, I want to complete my academic knowledge and to take the Master Degree in Islamic banking and finance in Bangor University which provides me best background education to secure my future job.   Having this knowledge will allow me to better background in banking working. With changes in the world, in political, economic, and technological fields, I think that after world crisis all professional Islamic investment say Islamic finance the best ways which ably it in bank that particularly appear in by the lasted crisis in the US that any banks work in Islamic finance do not affected by it .   I am however open-minded and prepared to meet all challenges faced to me. I am trust that a Master Degree in Islamic banking and finance will brig me a c hance to build a successful career and become a good professional, contributing value to my future banks. (my own opinion before inter Bangor university ) What is your approach to learning? Leaning is now recognized is a shift in behavior as outcome of experience or practice, knowledge acquisition and obtain through study like skill in some thing example books, TV, newspapers, radio and internet . Also the people process of building understanding focus on experience from different sources, also inferred form change in behavior and performance, shift in memory, and outcomes experience. (Tessie J, Rodriguez, D. M.) Page 144. The learning granted or gift from god who somebody are cleverer than other they have fast understanding and remembering things. The learning is not exclusive to an education system. Learning starts before long time before apparent of large number of school or institutions. It spread rapidly after school came, there are a lot of different approaches of learning not only enter educational system which discusses and explained by many interested researcher. The learning process and learning approach is differ from one person to another the idea of that notion learn as individual learners have specific approach to learns so as individuals have different preferred approach for example some individual take information through specific ways and other find it impossible by this medium because it quite difficult to take it. This lead us to the types of which learners take information such as visual or auditory learners. There a lot of theories of approach learning like behaviourism explained o n the observation and mental activities also which humans and animals similar can be learned to do specific things. Classical conditioning this theory focus on acquisition, extinction, generalisation and discrimination. Learning style is recognised as a specific method in which an individual learns, learning mode which the best manner to understand and take information, gain skills and knowledge , strategies or habit like regular reading in deliberate educational that an individual displays. Cognitive style is also recognised in a set of different approaches, as a certain approach to problem-solving, focus on ability to think and understand things, especially complicated ideas. A typical or noticeable quality of someone or something of cognitive processing which are strange to a specific people. Regular or strategies, mental behaviours, randomly applied by an individual to problem solving. The expression preferences of learning has been used to relate the situations , environmental , encompassing, emotional, sociological and physical situation, that people learner would select to adopt comfortable position. Learning styles are not permanent a particular characteristic which people will often fallow it. Individuals getting knowledge  are able to do many different styles of learning in a lot of causes. might be use more than style according to Honey and Mumford (1986) (suggest that we in need of skillful to adopt one of four different styles in so as finished any given learning job in more satisfactorily) According to Honey-Mumford Model there are four type styles, activists which individual prefer action learning rather than reading or listening . Reflectors which individuals collect more information before making decision. Theorists, which to see the relationship between observations. And pragmatists which are keen to search and find new idea and use it. ). (ALAN PREICHARD 2009 p1-44). About my self the best approach to learn my self is practice learning, for example in my studies I prefer empirical study that base on home work , show in the lap also via a lot of media like TV or games . What issues do you anticipate in the group work? Any number of individual which perceive themselves to form a group and interact with each other to achieve specific goals. According to David Buchanan and Andrzey Huczynski say (group is tow or more people in face-to-face interaction, each aware of their membership in the group, each aware of the others who belong to the group, and each aware of their positive interdependence as they strive to achieve their goals) page 286. The group includes two types of groups, formal groups and informal groups. Formal groups are formal created to achieve specific task in the organization. In formal groups, the behaviors are serving the needs of the organisation to perform specific tasks. For example the staff of business school collages an example of formal group. Informal groups are not created formally, unplanned by the organization are basis on common interest. The groups divides into, task and command groups are related to formal groups, whereas friendship and interest groups are naturally created. Group command this group is forms by the power of the leader in the organization. Task Group, this refers to individuals who work combine to execute a job task. The important issues face or encounter any body joint in work group represent in why do people joint in groups , stages of group development ,the factors inside organization and out side organization affect the group behaviour which explain why are many group performances successful and others unsuccessful?, group structure and group process ,and finally the group decision making. About my self I work in a bank and my experience six years. I jointed in many group work during working all points I mentioned above I think is important issues face any individual group members which any body anticipated occur or happen during groups work , most authors and researchers talking and discussed this issues . Why Do People Join Groups? People join in group for many reason personalities and organizational. The personality includes, security to joined in group individuals will decrease risk of appearing responsibility alone, because they afraid from threats. Status, by joining a group, members can have recognition and status. Self-esteem, in order of more confidence. Affiliation, they become more close relationship to achieve best result. People can enjoy the continuous interaction with each others. Power, There is more power in great numbers. On the other hand for organizational reason includes flatter structures, perform tasks, improve productivity and quality and more motivation in order to provide support reward sense of belonging. Stages of Group Development: Group development in common passes via five stages. According (Tuckman 1965, Tuckman Jensen 1977).Forming, this phase is featured by the group responsibilities and roles, also group purpose, goals and external relationships. Storming, this phase is featured focused in the main objective and avoid conflict. There is conflict between the leader and members group. Norming, this phase is characterized by complete relationship and best cohesiveness and the decisions making sharing among whole group. Performing, In this phase the group known what is doing and why, put the strategic into action and apply it as it planning, focus on over -achieving objectives. Adjourning, In this phase, the task has been finished or achieved the group members can go to an other new job, and be ready themselves to go their on ways. (David Buchanan and Andrzey Huczynski, page 305) Factors Explaining Group Behavior Why are many group performances successful and others unsuccessful? The solution includes many internal and external variables which influence the ability of the group member, the group size, the conflict level, the consideration of group norms, homogenous represent on routine and standard task, the level of cohesiveness. Members education such as experience and training, job design ,motivation of employees and attitudes, also diversity training , gender, and academic major, personality orientation. The individual factor must be followed first because are effect on the outcomes of group. Also the are many external factors which affect the group performance , so every work groups are influenced by conditions come from outside like overall strategy of the organisation, government regulations , structures authority, official regulations, resources or the input represent by skills, knowledge and abilities and personality , process selected by the employees, system of reward and evaluatio n the performance , the culture of the organization physical work setting, the traits of groups affect the performances of group which influence outcomes of whole group members . Group Structure and group process The group structure act as the main issues face the groups when work to gather because of the behavior of members are unclear and possible to do predict inside the group as well as the outcomes that you planed. There are many different factors which affect the group behavior. They include the leader of group like unit manager, employee charge or responsible for workers, project manager or committee president. The roles of any member, norms are necessary because they help and support group and let it go on and survival, help to predict behavior, reduce the clash between the group individuals and give individual to express the main values or attitudes of the group, status group is important to classification of group among the other, size of group which make Social loafing is that some people of the group tend to do less effort than other when they work to gather in the group, the group composition is an important factor for predicting groups behavior. Heterogeneous groups tend to perf orm better than homogeneous groups over the long run. The level of group cohesiveness is group individual attracted help others in order to motivated whole group and to stay together to achieve tasks. Group Processes is important such as ways of communications each group individual support each other to provide information and exchange information between other so as to solve problems, decision process, chair group behavior and conflict reaction. During social loafing obtains opposite outcomes of using individuals, the positive results when the out pot greater than input. (David Buchanan and Andrzey Huczynski page 318-335) Group Decision Making Decision-making in groups or an organization is the important task made by group members in order to choose the best alternatives that doing by group member which represent the outcomes, may in all departments of the organization be able to be used. At this point, when a decision maker chooses a particular action, he does so with full background of the power and diversity of alternative opinions. He does so, however, using his own notions of the severity of the reactions and disappointments of the individuals whose own prefer- ences for some action has been shunted aside, if not ignored. This problem of how to combine the action preferences of individuals with differing values (utility functions) has been studied intensely in recent years. A basic question concerns the degree to which a group of individuals with differing utility functions can agree upon a single, group utility function. Under certain axiomatic assumptions, Arrow (1963) has shown that such agreement is impossible. Un der other assumptions, however, agreement is possible. If, for example, there is a single decision maker who wants to take every group members preferences into account, but who will make the ultimate decision himself (this is the context we are assuming throughout), then no contradictions of this type arise. (Kirkwood 1972). During my work, I work in country have a big diversity, the population composed form different tribes and have different tune speaking and values, attitudes and ethnics so as difficult to work in group and to forming group work until arrived to decision making (outcome) . . 4-How will you attempt to address these? Whereas people joint group come from different races to interact together to doing a work or job I think some problem or causes should be occurred in all the stages of group which I explained above, from forming a group to finish the job and making decision for specific goals. So as the manger or the group leader should be aware of this important issues might be happen and failures group continues. The important issue may be happen the race because it is much apparent when group members joint for different multiracial in the group that must be forming this is called multiracial group. To mange or control multiracial group according to Davis Galinsky and schopler (1995) (urge that the leader use the RAP (recognize, anticipate and problem-solve) framework which stand of recognize, anticipate and problem-solve. Recognizing crucial ethnic , cultural and racial differences in any group work requires the manger to be both self-aware and aware of racial dynamics of the group. A manger of mu ltiracial group needs to be aware of personal values and stereotypes. Recognize racial ethic and cultural differences among the members of group. Respect the norm, cultures and customs of the population represented in the group, familiar with resources in the community that responsive to the needs of racial component of the group, be aware of various forms of institutional discrimination in the community and their impact on various populations of groups, and racial tension in the community also. Anticipating how individual members will be affected racial issues prepares the leader to respond preventively and inter-preventively when racial issues arise. The leader should anticipate potential sources of racial tension in the group when members formulate their group goals and when the leader structure group work. To anticipate tensions and help members deal effectively with them the leader should be seek to include more than one member of any given race, develop a leadership style that is culturally appropriate to the groups specific racial configuration, treat all members in respect and equality ,seek to empower members to obtain their rights particularly if they are been victimized by institutional discrimination or other forms of racism in the community , encourage development of norms in mutual respect and appreciation of diversity. The last element is solve-problem which the leader should be use solve-problem approach by the evaluation and generating alternatives, use conflict resolution approach include role reversal, empathy, inquiry, use intervention and goal that are culturally acceptable and appropriate for all members of the group and provide some rules in problem solving and conflict .( Charles Zastrow, Karen K. Kirst-Ashman 2010-2007, P359-360.) Conclusion To conclude, this essay has explained factors which motivated me to study master degree at Bangor university, focus on the reputation of it academics ,staffs, and area, also my future plan after complete my study at it. The definition of learning, approach of learning and styles of learning any my styles learning during my live. However the most important issues anticipate occur or happen in a group work as general and my experience work such as, why do people joint in groups, stages of group development, the factors inside organization and out side organization affect the group behaviour which explain why are many group performances successful and others unsuccessful?, group structure and group process, and finally the group decision making. Although how will you attempted to address this issues I mentioned above which I focus on multiracial group I think it is important issues face in my work experience which must be mange or control by RAP framework which stand of recognize, antic ipate and problem-solve, which the leader should be do in recognize, anticipate and problem-solve.

Buddhism Essay -- Papers Religion Buddha Essays Papers

Buddhism is one of the biggest religions founded in India in the 6th and 5th century B.C. by Siddhartha Gautama, also known as â€Å"the Buddha.† As one of the greatest Asian religion, it teaches the practice and the observance of moral perceptions. â€Å"Buddhism begins with a man. In his later years, when India was afire with his message, people came to him asking what he was. Not ‘Who are you?’ but ‘What are you?’ ‘Are you god?’ they asked. ‘No.’ ‘An angel?’ ‘No.’ ‘A saint?’ ‘No.’ ‘Then, what are you?’ Buddha answered, ‘I am awake.’ His answer became his title, for this is what Buddha means. The Sanskrit root budh means to awake and to know. While the rest of humanity was dreaming the dream we call the waking human state, one of their number roused himself. Buddhism begins with a man who woke up. Buddha was born a prince named Siddhartha Gautama in a small kingdom in what is now Nepal. Siddharta’s birth is described as a miraculous event, his birth being the result of his mother's impregnation by a sacred white elephant that touched her left side with a lotus flower. The scriptures claim that when Gautama was born â€Å"immeasurable light spread through ten thousand worlds; the blind recovering their sight, as if from desire to see his glory" (Evans 141) Shortly after his birth, his father consulted with a number of astrologers, all of whom declared that the newborn prince would become a great king and that he would rule the world in truth and righteousness. Among these astrologers, there was one who declared that if the prince were to see a sick person, an old person, a corpse, and a world-renouncing ascetic, he w... ...he physical world and one's perceptions of it as a means towards enlightenment. All activities, including sex, can be used as a meditative technique. This was called Vajrayana, or "The Vehicle of the Thunder-Bolt." The Vajrayanans believed that each bodhisattva had consorts or wives, called taras These female counterparts embodied the active aspects of the bodhisattva, and so were worshipped. One learned the teachings of Tantrism from a master, and then one joined a group of others who had been trained. There one would practice the rituals learned from the master. For the Tantrists, the physical world was identical with the Void and human perception was identical with Nirvana. Buddhism, however, was slowly fading off of the Indian landscape; Tantrism came on the scene just as Buddhism began to slowly lose its vitality.

Different Learning Styles Essay -- Teaching Education Research papers

Different Learning Styles Introduction What is learning? According to the thesaurus in the Eric database, learning is the â€Å"process of acquiring knowledge, attitudes, or skills from study, instruction, or experience† (Eric/Thesaurus database, 2001). A learning style is described as â€Å"a set of factors, behaviors and attitudes that facilitate learning for and individual in a given situation† (Reiff, 1992, p.7). There are many different ways that children learn. The purpose of this paper is to explain the different learning styles that students may possess and to discuss the importance of planning a lesson that includes different techniques to meet the needs of individual learners. These different learning styles may include the show and tellers, seer and feelers, leader of the packs, verbal gymnasts, wandering wonderers, and movers and groovers (WEAC, 2001). The different learning styles possessed by the student can be affected by the theory of multiple intelligences. According to this theory there are 8 different ways to learn including learning through techniques like logical/mathematical, verbal/linguistic, bodily/kinesthetic, interpersonal, musical, intrapersonal, special, and naturalist (Silver, 2000). Show and Tellers I searched through many books and articles about different learning styles and found one that really got my attention. On the WEAC web site I found a page called â€Å"A symphony of learning styles.† On this page I found six learning styles. The first is the â€Å"Show and tellers† These are learners that like to read and write. They love to make up stories just to share with their friends. These learners love to recall stories that happened to them in the past. They love to share their thoughts with... ...detail. It showed every aspect and how to apply them to your classroom. Silver, H., Strong, R., Perini, M. (2000) So each may learn: Integrating learning styles and multiple intelligences. Alexandria: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. I found this book very helpful because it gives you tons of examples of how to put the theories into action in your classroom. Wood, F., Ford, N., Miller, D., Sobczyk, G., & Duffin, R. (1996). Information skills, searching behavior and cognitive styles for student-centered learning: a computer-assisted learning approach. Journal of information science,22. (2), 79-92. This journal was about a study done on students with different learning styles to see if it would affect their approach to research. http://www.schoolicons.com/eng/web/icons/icon2_e.html This is where I retrieved all of my graphics.