Monday, December 23, 2019

Brown V. Board Of Education - 1294 Words

Tracey Counts American Government Vidrio 5 May 2017 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court cases are cases in which their is so much controversy in the case that it needs to be handled by the Supreme Court of the United States or SCOTUS. Brown v. The Board of Education is a very intrical part of our United States history. This Supreme Court case desegregated public schools in the United States in 1954. The case involved saying no to African American children equal rights to state public schools due to the laws requiring racial segregation. Oliver Brown, an African American, had an eight year old daughter who was attending school as a fifth grader and he started noticing the lack of the Plessy v. Fergusson case how everyone is†¦show more content†¦African American kids were being able to have access to the same books and supplies for school just like the whites have been using for years (Major). Even though the Supreme Court case desegregated schools almost 62 years later compared to other schools, those with high percentag es of African Americans and Hispanics and the students were poorer offered fewer math, science, and college preparation courses at their schools (Look). The Little Rock nine in 1957 helped push harder for desegregated schools in Arkansas. The governor of Arkansas had the federal troops surround the highschool and â€Å"protect† it from black students entering the school. This did not stop the nine girls from making sure they got the same equal education as the white kids at that school. President Eisenhower heard of this and let the each girl have their own security guard to protect them in case there was violence (Camera). Once the Supreme Court decided that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional and there would be no more segregation in schools it created a lot more diversity in all of the public schools. It helped a lot of African Americans go to schools and have equal access like all the other kids. Now a total of 85% of African Americans have a high school diploma which is almost equivalent to the 89% of white who have a high school diploma. Where in 1954 only 60% of African Americans had a high school diploma. Being able to have 25% moreShow MoreRelatedThe Brown V. Board Of Education1303 Words   |  6 PagesBarbara Johns, the Sixteen Year-old Girl Whose Voice was Heard Sixty-two years ago, the Supreme Court ruled the â€Å"separate but equal† doctrine unconstitutional. The decision from the Plessy v. Ferguson case was lawfully denounced by the Brown v. Board of Education. The Brown case, which was initiated by the members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), served as a stimulus for challenging segregation in all areas of society, especially in public educational institutionsRead MoreBrown V. The Board Of Education1136 Words   |  5 PagesBrown v. The Board of Education Topeka, Kansas, 1950, a young African-American girl named Linda Brown had to walk a mile to get to her school, crossing a railroad switchyard. She lived seven blocks from an all white school. Linda’s father, Oliver, tried to enroll her into the all white school. The school denied her because of the color of her skin. Segregation was widespread throughout our nation. Blacks believed that the â€Å"separate but equal† saying was false. They felt that whites had more educationalRead MoreBrown V. Board of Education1755 Words   |  8 PagesBrown v. Board of Education Ronald Still Embry Riddle Aeronautical University Brown v. Board of Education Background The Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education dates back to 1954, the case was centered on the Fourteenth Amendment and challenged the segregation of schools solely on the basis of race. The Brown case was not the only case of its time involving school segregation, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was leading the push to desegregateRead MoreBrown V. Board Of Education2409 Words   |  10 PagesBrown vs. Board of Education Brown v. Board of Education Brown v. Board of education case took place in 1954. It is one of the most important cases in the American history of racial prejudice. The U.S. Supreme Court recognized separate schools for blacks and whites unconstitutional. This decision became an important event of struggle against racial segregation in the United States. The Brown case proved that there is no way a separation on the base of race to be in a democratic society. BrownRead MoreBrown V. Board Of Education830 Words   |  4 PagesBrown v. Board of Education The Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka case is a well-known case that went to the Incomparable Court for racial reasons with the leading body of training. The case was really the name given to five separate cases that were heard by the U.S. Preeminent Court concerning the issue of isolation in state funded schools. These cases were Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Briggs v. Elliot, Davis v. Board of Education of Prince Edward County (VA.), Boiling v. Sharpe,Read MoreBrown V. Board Of Education942 Words   |  4 PagesBrown v. Board of Education was a landmark case that was decided by the Supreme Court of America in 1954. It is a case that is believed to have brought to an end decades of increasing racial segregation that was experienced in America’s public schools. The landmark decision of this case was resolved from six separate cases that originated from four states. The Supreme Court is believed to have preferred rearguments in the case because of its preference f or presentation of briefs. The briefs wereRead MoreBrown V. The Board Of Education2038 Words   |  9 PagesBrown v. the Board of Education was a case that helped shaped America’s education system into what it is today. ‘Separate but equal’ is phrase well attributed to the civil rights movement in all aspects of life: water fountains, movie theaters, restaurants, bathrooms, schools, and much more. This phrase was coined legal in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896. Plessy v. Ferguson said that racial segregation of public facilities was legal so long as they were ‘equal.’ Before this even, Black Codes, passed inRead MoreThe Brown V. Board Of Education Essay2309 Words   |  10 PagesThe Brown v. Board of Education was a case that was initiated by members of the local NAACP (National association Advancement of Colored People) organization in Topeka, Kansas where thirteen parents volunteered to participate of the segregation during school. Parents took their children to schools in their neighborhoods in the summer of 1950 and attempted to enroll them for the upcoming school year. All students were refused admission and were forced to attend one of the four schools in the cityRead MoreThe Case Of Brown V. Board Of Education982 Words   |  4 PagesEducation is a valuable service in society that strengthen a workforce, a nation and bring forth awareness. Why should this be limited based on race or because of economic reasons, the quality should represent where the schools are located, if they are public? The Public School system belongs to society and those who contribute to what supports the education system. In choosing Brown v. Board of Education, a case which continues to have a great impact to this day, taking into consideration what wasRead MoreThe Case Of Brown V. Board Of Education Essay793 Words   |  4 Pagesin schools became apparent when the court case of Brown v. the Board of Education (1955) began to challenge the school systems. It brought up the unfair advantages minority children were facing in the separate but equal school systems. The ruling of this case pointed out the obstruction of parent s rights presented in the Fourteenth Amendment, and ultimately led to the ruling of all schools becoming integrated. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, 349 U.S. 294 (1955) Fourteenth

Sunday, December 15, 2019

Coyote Blue Chapter 10~11 Free Essays

CHAPTER 10 Over Easy, Politically Correct Santa Barbara Sam spent most of the night cleaning up the debris from Josh Spagnola’s shooting exhibition. Exhausted from the overall strangeness of his day, he went to bed early, but lay awake until well after midnight, first worrying, then trying to understand what was happening to him, and finally fantasizing about the girl. Amid the misery he retained hope, although he could not logically figure out why. We will write a custom essay sample on Coyote Blue Chapter 10~11 or any similar topic only for you Order Now She was, after all, just a girl – the goofiest girl he had ever met. Still, the thought of seeing her again made him smile, and he was able to escape into dreamless sleep. When he awoke the next morning, the world seemed a much kinder place, as if during the night the calamities of the previous day had become distant and harmless. Order had returned. At one time he might have met such a day by looking to the rising sun and thanking the Great Spirit for returning his harmony with the world, as Pokey had taught him. He would have looked for rain clouds, felt the promise of the day’s winds, smelled the dew and the sage, listened for the call of an eagle, the best of good-luck signs, and in that short time he would have confirmed that he and the world were of one spirit, balanced. Today he missed the rising sun by three hours. He met his day in the shower, washing his hair with shampoo that was guaranteed to have never been put in a bunny’s eyes and from which ten percent of the profits went to save the whales. He lathered his face with shaving cream free of chlorofluorocarbons, thereby saving the ozone layer. He breakfasted on fertile eggs laid by sexually satisfied chickens that were allowed to range while listening to Brahms, and muffins made with pesticide-free grain, so no eagle-egg shells were weakened by his thoughtless consumption. He scrambled the eggs in margarine free of tropical oils, thus preserving the rain forest, and he added milk from a carton made of recycled paper and shipped from a small family farm. By the time he finished his second cup of coffee, which would presumably help to educate the children of a poor peasant farmer named Juan Valdez, Sam was on the verge of congratulating himself for single-handedly saving the planet just b y getting up in the morning. He would have been surprised, however, if someone had told him that it had been two years since he had set foot on unpaved ground. He was writing a note to himself to put a new subliminal message on his computer, SAVE THE WORLD, BUY THIS POLICY, when Josh Spagnola called. â€Å"Sam, did you hear what happened at the association meeting last night?† â€Å"No, Josh, I’ve been cleaning up my place.† â€Å"The place, Sam. I think this will be an easier transition if you start referring to it as the place.† â€Å"You mean they voted to buy me out? Without even asking me? I can’t believe it.† â€Å"I was actually very surprised myself. People seem to dislike you in the extreme, Sam. I think the dog was just their excuse for a general fuck-over.† â€Å"You told them it wasn’t my dog, didn’t you?† â€Å"I told them, but it didn’t matter. They hate you, Sam. The doctors and lawyers hate you because you make enough money to live here. The married guys hate you because you’re single. The married women hate you because you remind their husbands that they aren’t single. The old people hate you because you’re young, and the rest just hate you because you aren’t Japanese. Oh, yeah, one bald guy hates you because you have hair. For a guy that maintains a low profile, you’ve built quite a little snowball of resentment.† Sam had never given his neighbors a second thought, never even spoken to most of them, so now the realization that they hated him enough to take away his home was a shock. â€Å"I’ve never done anything to hurt anybody in this complex.† â€Å"I wouldn’t take it personally, Sam. Nothing brings people together like hate for profit. You didn’t have a chance against the clay tennis courts.† â€Å"What does that mean? We don’t have clay tennis courts.† â€Å"No, but when they buy your townhouse for what you paid for it, then sell it to someone more suitable at the market rate, the association will have enough profit to build clay tennis courts. We’ll be the only complex in Santa Barbara with clay courts. Should raise the value of the property at least ten percent. Sorry, Sam.† â€Å"Isn’t there anything I can do? Can’t I bring legal action or something?† â€Å"This isn’t an official call, Sam. I am calling as your friend and not on behalf of the association, so let me give you my best advice on taking legal action: it’s suicide. Half the guys that voted you out are lawyers. In six months you’d be broke and they’d be drinking your blood over backgammon. The time for legal advice was eight years ago when you signed that agreement.† â€Å"Great. Where were you then?† â€Å"I was stealing your Rolex.† â€Å"You stole my Rolex? That was you? My gold Rolex? You dick!† â€Å"I didn’t know you then, Sam. It was a professional thing. Besides, the statute of limitations has run out. It’s time to forgive and forget.† â€Å"Fuck you, Josh. You’ll get a bill for the damage you caused.† â€Å"Sam, do you know how concerned I am about your bill? I don’t give a decaying damn, I don’t-â€Å" Sam hung up on the security guard. The phone immediately rang and Sam stared at it for a minute. Should he let Josh get the satisfaction of the last word? He looked at the shattered remains of his television, picked up the phone, and shouted, â€Å"Look, you wormy little fuck, you’re lucky I don’t come down there and pop your head like a pimple!† â€Å"Sam, this is Julia, down at the office. I have Aaron on the line for you.† â€Å"Sorry, Julia, I was expecting someone else. Hang on a second.† He sat down on the couch and held the receiver to his chest while he tried to regain his composure. Too much change, too fast. He couldn’t let Aaron catch him with his guard down. His good friend Aaron, his partner, his mentor. And Josh Spagnola was supposed to be his friend, too. What was the deal with Josh? He’d turned on Sam overnight. Why? Sam lit a cigarette and took a long drag, then blew the smoke out in a slow stream before speaking into the phone. â€Å"Julia, you caught me in the shower. Tell Aaron I’ll be in the office in an hour. We’ll talk then.† He hung up before she could respond. He dialed the number of the Cliffs’ security office. Josh Spagnola answered. â€Å"Josh, this is Sam Hunter.† â€Å"Very rude, Sam. Hanging up when I am telling you how little I care is very rude.† â€Å"That’s why I’m calling, Josh. I’ve heard your little speeches before. I want to know what you’ve got on me.† â€Å"Then you haven’t seen the paper this morning?† â€Å"I told you before, I’ve been patching holes all fucking morning. What goes?† â€Å"Seems that Jim Cable, the diving mogul, was attacked by an Indian outside of his office and had a heart attack. They said he had just finished an appointment with an insurance agent.† â€Å"So, what’s your point, Josh?† â€Å"The point is, Sam, that after I ran out of your place yesterday, I went through the apartment next door and ran out on the deck. I thought I could come in from behind the dog and get a shot at it. But when I got there I saw an Indian vaulting over the rail of your deck. The Indian was wearing black, just like the one they described in the paper. Interesting coincidence, huh?† Sam didn’t know what to say. Spagnola had half the complex under his thumb for one reason or another, but Sam didn’t know how the burglar used his information other than as a license to be rude. Sam didn’t want to bring up blackmail when Spagnola might just be in this to watch him squirm. Sam had watched a thousand clients squirm under his own manipulation, but he wasn’t sure how to go about it himself. He decided to take a direct approach. â€Å"Okay, Josh,† he said. â€Å"I’m squirming. Now what?† â€Å"Sammy, I love you, kid. You and I are like peas in a pod. You, me, and that Aaron guy at your office.† â€Å"You know Aaron?† â€Å"Just spoke to him this morning when I called your office. Your secretary said that you were no longer with the firm and Mr. Aaron was taking all your calls from now on. Aaron and I had a long talk.† â€Å"Did you tell him about the Indian?† â€Å"No, he told me. Strange thing, Sam, he seems to want you out of the business pretty badly, but not just for the profit. I think he’s afraid of the attention you’re going to get if it turns out that you’re associated with the Indian who attacked Cable. Who do you think has more to lose: you or Aaron?† â€Å"Neither of us is losing anything, Josh. This whole thing is a mistake. I don’t care what you saw, I don’t know anything about any Indian, and I resent the veiled threat.† â€Å"No threat, Sam. Just information. It’s the cleanest commodity, you know? No fingerprints, no fibers, no serial numbers. It’s kind of ethereal – religious in a way. People will pay for something that they can’t smell, or taste, or touch. It’s fucking glorious, isn’t it? I should have been a spy.† Sam listened to Spagnola sigh, then to the breathing over the line. Here it was again, the standoff. How many times had he backed down over the years? How many times had fear of discovery caused him to lie low and play the role of the victim? Too damn many. He always seemed to be running from the past and avoiding the future, but the future came anyway. Very softly, barely speaking over a whisper, Sam said, â€Å"Josh, before you become too enraptured, remember the information you don’t have.† â€Å"What’s that, old buddy?† â€Å"You have no idea who I am or what I’m capable of.† There was a silence on the line, as if Spagnola was considering what Sam had said. â€Å"Good-bye, Josh,† Sam whispered. He hung up the phone, grabbed his car keys, and headed out the door to the Mercedes. As he disarmed the alarm and climbed in the car he realized that he also had no idea who he was or what he was capable of, and for the first time in his life it didn’t frighten him. In fact, it felt good. Coyote Gets His Powers One day, a long time ago, before there were any men or televisions, and only animal people walked the Earth, Great Spirit, the first worker, decided that he would give everyone a new name. He told the animal people to come to his lodge at sunrise and he would give each one a new name with all the powers that went with it. â€Å"To be fair,† Great Spirit said, â€Å"names will be given on a first-come, first-served basis.† The Earth was a pretty fair place in those days as long as you showed up on time. Coyote had a problem with this method, however. He liked to sleep until lunchtime and lie around thinking up tricks until late afternoon, so getting up at sunrise was a problem, but he really wanted to get a good name. â€Å"Eagle would be good,† he thought. â€Å"I would be swift and strong. Or if I take the name of Bear I will never be defeated by my enemies. Yep, I got to get me a good name even if I have to stay up all night.† When the sun went down Coyote looked all over for a good espresso bar, but even in those days they were full of pretentious pseudointellectual animal people who sat around in open-toed moccasins and whined about how unfair the world was, which it wasn’t. â€Å"I don’t have the stomach for that,† said Coyote. â€Å"I think I’ll just score some magic wake-up powder and stay wired that way.† Coyote went to see Raven. It was well known among the animal people that Raven had a connection with a green bird from South America and was always good for some wake-up powder. â€Å"I’m sorry Coyote, my friend, but I cannot extend you any credit. I’ll need three prairie dogs, up front, if you want the product. And remember, I like my prairie dogs squashed real flat.† Raven was a greasy little prick who thought he was cool because he wore sunglasses all the time, even at night. Who was he to act so high and mighty? Coyote was insulted. â€Å"Look, man, I’ll have a new name tomorrow. I’m going to go for Eagle. Just advance me the gram now and I’ll give you six prairie dogs in the morning.† Raven shook his head. Coyote slunk away. â€Å"I can stay awake without magic,† Coyote said. â€Å"I just have to concentrate.† Coyote tried to stay awake, but by the time the moon was high in the sky he started to doze off. â€Å"This isn’t working,† he said. â€Å"I can’t keep my eyes open.† Talking to himself often gave Coyote ideas, which was a good thing, because hardly anyone else would talk to him. He broke a couple of thorns from a cactus and used them to prop his eyes open. â€Å"I’m a genius,† he said. Then he fell asleep anyway. When Coyote finally awoke the sun was directly overhead. He rushed to Great Spirit’s lodge and burst through the door flap. â€Å"Eagle! I want Eagle,† he said. His eyes were dry and cracked from being propped open and his fur was matted with blood where the thorns had pierced his eyelids. â€Å"Eagle was the first to go,† Great Spirit said. â€Å"What happened to you? You look like hammered shit.† â€Å"Bad night,† Coyote said. â€Å"What’s left? Bear? Bear would be good.† â€Å"There’s only one name left,† Great Spirit said. â€Å"Nobody wanted it.† â€Å"What is it?† â€Å"Coyote.† â€Å"You’re shitting me.† â€Å"Great Spirit is not a shitter.† Coyote ran outside where the other animal people were laughing and talking about their new names and powers. He tried to get them to trade names, but even Dung Beetle told him to get lost. Great Spirit watched Coyote from his lodge and felt sorry for him. â€Å"Come here, kid,† Great Spirit said. â€Å"Look, you’re stuck with a lousy name, but maybe I can make up for it. You have to keep the name, but from now on you are Chief of the Without Fires. And from now on you can take on any shape that you choose and wear it as long as you wish.† Coyote thought about it for a minute. It was a pretty good gift; maybe he should work this pity angle more often. â€Å"So that means that everyone has to do what I say?† â€Å"Sometimes,† Great Spirit said. â€Å"Sometimes?† Coyote asked. Great Spirit nodded and Coyote figured he’d better leave before Great Spirit changed his mind. â€Å"Thanks, G.S., I’m outta here. Got to see someone about some sunglasses.† Coyote loped off. CHAPTER 11 The God, the Bad, and the Ugly Santa Barbara During the short drive to his office Sam decided that if Gabriella gave him the least little bit of shit he would fire her on the spot. If his life was going to fall apart before his eyes there was no reason to suffer the slings and arrows of ungrateful employees. There were also twenty younger agents who worked under him, and as long as he held partnership in the agency he held the power to hire and fire. Let one of them mouth off, he thought. Let one of them look sideways at me and they’re going to be a distant memory, taillights on the horizon, gone, out, shit-canned, pink-slipped, instantly unemployed. He walked into his office with his temper locked, loaded, and ready to fire, but was immediately disarmed when he saw Gabriella tilted back in her chair, skirt thrown up around her waist, her legs spread wide and high heels alternately pumping in the air and digging into the back of the naked Indian, who was on his knees in front of her, wheeling her chair back and forth, thrusting into her with greedy abandon and yipping with each stroke as counterpoint to the monkey noises that escaped Gabriella in rhythmic bursts. â€Å"Hey!† Sam shouted. Gabriella looked over the Indian’s shoulder at Sam and held one finger in the air as if marking a point, then pointed to the message pad on the desk. â€Å"One call,† she gasped. The Indian pulled her to him in a particularly violent thrust and Gabriella grabbed his shoulder with both hands, popping her press-on nails off and across the room like tiddlywinks. Sam shook off his shock, ran forward, and caught the Indian around the neck in a choke hold. The Indian pumped wildly in the air as Sam dragged him off Gabriella and across the outer office. He fell over backward into his office with the Indian still squirming in his grasp and it occurred to him that unless things turned quickly to his advantage he was in serious danger of being humped. He rolled the Indian over on the carpet and pinned him, facedown, while he looked around for a weapon. The only thing in reach was the big multi-line phone on his desk. Sam released the choke hold and lunged for the phone, catching it by the cord. He swung around with it just in time to hit the Indian in the face as he was rising to his hands and knees. The phone exploded into a spray of electronic shrapnel and the Indian fell forward onto his face, unconscious but twitching against the carpet in petit-mal afterhumps. Sam looked at the broom of colored wires at the end of the cord where the phone used to be, then dropped it and staggered to his feet. Gabriella was standing by the door, smoothing her skirt down. Her lipstick was smeared across her face and her hair was spiked into a fright wig of hair spray and sweat. She started to speak, then noticed that one of her breasts was still peeking out of her dress. â€Å"Excuse me.† She turned and tucked herself in, then turned back to Sam. â€Å"I’ll hold your calls,† she said officiously, then she pulled the door closed, leaving Sam alone in the office with the unconscious, naked Indian. â€Å"You’re fired,† Sam whispered to the closed door. He looked down at the Indian and saw a bloodstain spreading around his head on the carpet. He didn’t seem to be breathing. Sam fell to his knees and felt the Indian’s neck for a pulse. Nothing. â€Å"Fuck, not again!† Sam paced around the desk four times before he fell back in his leather executive chair and clamped his hands on his temples as if trying to squeeze out a solution. Instead he thought of police and prison and felt hope running through his fingers like liquid light, leaving him dark with despair. A growling noise from the floor. Sam looked over the desk to see the body of the Indian moving. He started to breathe a sigh of relief when he realized that the body wasn’t moving at all, it was changing. His eyes went wide with terror as the arms and legs shortened and grew fur, the face grew into a whiskered muzzle, and the spinal column lengthened and grew into a bushy tail. Before Sam could catch his breath again he was looking at the body of a huge black coyote. The coyote got to its feet and shook its head as if clearing its ears of water, then it leapt on the desk and growled at Sam, who rolled his chair back until it hit the wall behind his desk. Sam pushed himself up by the chair arms until he was almost standing against the wall, desperately trying to put even a millimeter more between himself and the snarling muzzle of the coyote. The coyote crawled forward on the desk until its face was only inches from Sam’s. Sam could feel the coyote’s moist breath on his face. It smelled of something familiar, something burnt. He wanted to turn his head away and close his eyes until the horror went away, but his gaze remained locked on the coyote’s golden eyes. He wanted to scream but there was no breath for it and he found his jaw was moving but no sound was coming out. The coyote backed away and sat on the desk, then raised its lowered ears and tilted its head to the side as if perplexed. Sam felt himself take a breath and the strange urge to say â€Å"Good doggie† came over him, but he remained rigid and quiet. The coyote began to shake and Sam thought it would attack, but instead it threw back its head as if to howl. The skin on the coyote’s neck began to undulate and surge and took on the shape of a human face. The fur receded from the face, then away from the front legs, which became arms, then down the back legs, which lengthened into crouching human legs. As the fur peeled it lost its black color, turning the burnt tan of a normal coyote. It was as if a human was literally crawling out of a cocoon of coyote skin, the black color becoming black buckskins trimmed with red feathers. A minute passed in what seemed a year as the transformation took place. When it was finished the Indian was crouched on Sam’s desk wearing a coy ote-skin headdress that had once been his own skin. â€Å"Fuck,† Sam said, falling back into the chair, his eyes trained now on the golden eyes of the Indian. â€Å"Woof,† the Indian said with a grin. Sam shook his head, trying to get the image to go away. His mind was still rattling around in chaos trying to put this into some sort of meaningful context, but all he could do was wish that he would pass out and that his kneecaps would stop jumping with adrenaline. â€Å"Woof,† the Indian repeated. He jumped from the desk, adjusted the headdress that moments ago had been his skin, then sat in the chair opposite Sam. â€Å"Got a smoke?† he said. Sam felt his mind lock on to the request. Yes, he understood that. Yes, he could do that. A smoke. He reached into his shirt pocket for his cigarettes and lighter and fumbled them out, lost his grip, and sent them skittering across the desk. He was scrambling for them when the Indian reached out and patted his hand. Sam screamed, the high-pitched wail of a little girl, and jumped back into his chair, which rolled back until his head snapped against the wall. The Indian turned his head to the side quizzically, the same way the coyote had, then took the cigarettes from the desk and lit two with the lighter. He held one out to Sam, who remained pushed back in the chair. The Indian nodded for Sam to take the cigarette, then waited while Sam inched forward, snatched it out of his hand, and quickly retreated to his position by the back wall. The Indian took a deep drag on the cigarette, then turned his head and blew the smoke out in rings that crept across the desk like ghosts. Sam had curled into the fetal position in his chair and looked up only to cast a sideways glance at the Indian when he took a drag from his own cigarette. It occurred to him that he should feel silly, but he didn’t. He was still too frightened to feel silly. When his cigarette was half gone he started to calm down. His fear was draining away, being replaced with indignant anger. The Indian sat calmly, smoking and looking around the office. Sam put his feet on the floor, scooted the chair back under the desk, and set what he hoped was a hard gaze on the Indian. â€Å"Who are you?† he asked. The Indian smiled and his eyes lit up like an excited child’s. â€Å"I am the stink in your shoe, the buzz in your ear, the wind through the trees. I am the-â€Å" â€Å"Who are you?† Sam interrupted. â€Å"What is your name?† The Indian continued to grin while smoke trickled between his teeth. He said, â€Å"The Cheyenne call me Wihio, the Sioux, Iktome. The Blackfeet call me Napi Old Man. The Cree call me Saultaux, the Micmac, Glooscap. I am the Great Hare on the East Coast and Raven on the West. You know me, Samson Hunts Alone, I am your spirit helper.† Sam gulped. â€Å"Coyote?† â€Å"Yep.† â€Å"You’re a myth.† â€Å"A legend,† the Indian said. â€Å"You are just a bunch of stories to teach children.† â€Å"True stories.† â€Å"No, just stories. Old Man Coyote is just a fairy tale.† â€Å"Should I change shapes again? You liked that.† â€Å"No! No, don’t do that.† Sam had guessed the Indian’s identity the day before when he’d opened the medicine bundle, but he had hoped it would all go away and he would find himself the victim of a childhood superstition. Religion was supposed to be a matter of faith. Gods were not supposed to jump on your desk and snarl at you. They weren’t supposed to sit in your office smoking cigarettes. Gods didn’t do anything. They were supposed to ignore you and let you suffer and die having never known whether your religion was a waste of time. Faith. Sure, the gods were a badly behaving lot in stories – jealous, impatient, selfish, vengeful, smiting whole races of people, raping virgins, sending plagues and pestilence – and even as gods went, Coyote was a particularly bad example, but they were supposed to stay in the damn stories, not show up and hump your homely secretary until she made monkey noises. â€Å"What are you doing here?† Sam asked. â€Å"I’m here to help you.† â€Å"Help? You ruined my business and got me kicked out of my home.† â€Å"You wanted to scare the diver so I scared him. You wanted the girl so I gave her to you.† â€Å"Well what about all the cats at my condo complex? What about my secretary? How did that help me?† â€Å"If I was not meant to have ugly women and cats they would not be so easy to catch.† It was the kind of backward, perverse logic that had irritated Sam as a child. Pokey Medicine Wing had been a master at it. It seemed to Sam at times as if the entire Crow Nation was trying to define a silicon-chip world with a Stone Age worldview. Sam thought he had escaped it. â€Å"Why me? Why not someone who believes?† â€Å"This is more fun.† Sam resisted the urge to leap over the desk and choke the Indian. It was still â€Å"the Indian† in his head. He hadn’t yet accepted that he was talking to Coyote, Chief of the Without Fires. Even with the overwhelming evidence of the supernatural, he searched for a natural explanation for what was happening. A lifetime of disbelief is not easily shed. He tried to find some parallel experience that would put things in order, something he’d read or seen on PBS. Nothing was forthcoming, so he speculated. How would Aaron react if faced with this situation? Aaron didn’t acknowledge his Irish heritage any more than Sam admitted his own Crow roots. What if a leprechaun suddenly appeared on Aaron’s desk? He’d affect a brogue and try to talk the little fucker into putting his pot o’ gold into tax-deferred annuities. No, Aaron was not the person to think of in a spiritual emergency. Coyote smiled as if he had read Sam’s thoughts. â€Å"What do you want, Samson Hunts Alone?† Sam didn’t even hesitate to think. â€Å"I want my old life back to the way it was before you fucked it up.† â€Å"Why?† Now Sam was forced to think. Why indeed? Every time Sam hired a new agent he glorified his and Aaron’s lifestyles. He would take a bright, hungry young man for a ride in the Mercedes, buy him lunch at the Biltmore or another of Santa Barbara’s finer restaurants, flash cash and gold cards and expensive suits – plant the seed of greed, as Aaron called it – then give the kid a means to pursue his germinating dream of material bliss while Sam collected ten percent on everything he sold. It was part of the show, one of the many roles he played, and the car, the clothes, the condo, and the clout were merely props. Without the props the show could not go on. â€Å"Why do you want your life back?† Coyote asked, as if Sam had forgotten the question. â€Å"It’s safe,† Sam blurted out. â€Å"So safe,† Coyote said, â€Å"that you can lose it in a day? To be safe is to be afraid. Is that what you want: to be afraid?† â€Å"I’m not afraid.† â€Å"Then why do you lie? You want the girl.† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"I will help you get her.† â€Å"I don’t need your help. I need you gone.† â€Å"I am very good with women.† â€Å"Like you’re good with cats and couches?† â€Å"Great heroes have great horniness. You should feel what it is like to pleasure a falcon. You lock talons with her in the sky and do it while you both are falling like meteors. You would like it; they never complain if you come too fast.† â€Å"Get out of here.† â€Å"I will go, but I will be with you.† Coyote rose and walked to the door. As he opened it he said, â€Å"Don’t be afraid.† He stepped out of his office and closed the door. Suddenly, Sam leapt to his feet and headed after him. â€Å"Stay off my secretary!† he shouted. He ripped open the door and looked into the outer office where Gabriella, her composure regained, was typing up a claim form. Coyote was gone. Gabriella looked up and raised a disapproving eyebrow. â€Å"Is there a problem, Mr. Hunter?† â€Å"No,† Sam said. â€Å"No problem.† â€Å"You sounded frightened.† â€Å"I’m not frightened, goddammit!† Sam slammed the door and went to the desk for a cigarette. His cigarettes and lighter were gone. He stood there for a moment, feeling a flush of anger rise in him until he thought he would scream, then he fell back into his chair and smiled as he remembered something Pokey Medicine Wing had once told him: â€Å"Anger is the spirits telling you that you are alive.† How to cite Coyote Blue Chapter 10~11, Essay examples

Saturday, December 7, 2019

Operations Management Excessive Stocks

Question: Discuss about the Operations Management of Excessive Stocks. Answer: During the time of my involvement with the manufacturing industry making automobiles suspension products, I had participated in an academic program to enrich my knowledge. To pursue with the program, I selected a specific project based on determining the lean management principles to improve the overall manufacturing process and sustainability of the manufacturing business. I believe that the particular study will elevate my skills to help me performing better regarding my professional career. Since the participation in the workforce of a manufacturing company, I have experienced a critical fact that the business processes are highly chaotic and disorganized. Even in the most decorative organizations, the same phenomenon can be observed critically. I have noted that the businesses need to take the inputs and transform them into the outputs according to the demands of the particular market. Whether it is a giant facility manufacturing computer component or cars, or a small business pr oducing car parts, the same principle should need to be maintained comprehensively. The identified process is necessary for the business to create more value with the less complicated works. The same process also applies to the individual levels of the organization. Lean management is one of the most important notions with the combination of 5S to ensure the development of a clean and organized workplace environment. Such an understanding leads me to select the topic to continue my study and assisting the growth in my academic skill level. Sorting, set in proper order, shine, standardise, and sustain are the 5S utilised in lean manufacturing principle, where the manufacturing companies require to implement all the five stages as part of their lean imitative. Concerning the first and the second phase, the companies need to sort out all of their unnecessary work tools and supplies to remove them from the workplace and ensuring the availability of adequate space for the production. Next, the shining stage is involved with cleaning the production space for facilitating the smooth conduction of work, whereas the standardize step enables the company to adopt different cleaning methods consistently. The continuous improvement of the manufacturing process to enhance the growth of production volume and quantity helps the company to withhold the last stage i.e. sustainability. Therefore, the historical development of lean manufacturing embarked to eliminate the waste generated from the overburden or unevenness of workloads syste matically. According to my investigation, I gathered the information that the relevant concepts and principles of lean derived from the Japanese manufacturing industry. The particular terms first invented by the 1988 articles formed by John Krafcik, who was a quality engineer of Toyota, one of the leading car manufacturing companies based in Japan. In this scenario, I must need to mention the benefit of selecting lean manufacturing concepts over the other conventional methods available for the manufacturing companies. The enterprises can ensure the value flow at the pull of the customers by implementing the lean manufacturing principles. At the same time, a business can eliminate the waste generated through the execution of the manufacturing processes. With the particular benefits obtained by adopting the lean principles, the performance quality of the organization can be elevated with a few defects. The manufacturing division of the company can maintain the value flow by introducin g the Just In Time (JIT) method and pull the customers towards the organization. One of the most significant aims of examining the concepts of Lean is to ensure the proper application of the knowledge obtained from the study, and apply it to my current workplace condition. I am currently working in a small manufacturing company producing Leaf Spring, which is an automobile suspension. I have found that the manufacturing division of our company highly faces the troubles regarding the leaves of key employees and ineffective training provided to the new employees. The particular scenario leads the company to become more prone to conducting mistakes and becoming non-functioning in the required time. Therefore, I have recognised the need for following and adopting the lean principles to these parts for securing the opportunity related to the improvement of the current business process. Concerning the lean philosophies, I developed the understanding that the primary emphasis should need to be provided to creating more values for the customers with the limited resources available. In this case, I must need to optimise the entire flow of the work through providing access to the needful tools for the employees. Such process will result in the development of outcomes in more organised manner. Conclusion: one of the primary principles of Lean is spotting out of the value of the product as perceived by the customers. I developed the useful understanding from the overall course of study. Therefore, the business can generate more numbers of satisfied customers by the core application of lean, as it will gain the ability provide the customers what they want at the right times. Apart from that, I came to know that the application of lean principles has the positive financial impact over the manufacturing companies with facilitating the improvement of profits. Where many accountants perceive the high volume of stock as the benefit to the business, lean principles suggest the factor as the major hindrance because of the additional value involved with the excessive stocks.

Saturday, November 30, 2019

Yemen Developing A Country Essays - Republics, Western Asia, Yemen

Yemen: Developing A Country Yemen: A Focus on Development for the Oil and Tourism Industries Yemen, a third world country desperately trying to achieve 2nd or even 1st world status, is in the midst of turmoil and tribulation in trying to bail out their economy and increase their level of reform. Since 1995, the Yemeni government began to implement a large scale program of reform. The program was formulated in cooperation with the IMF and the World Bank and it is considered a liberal program aimed at making the market the dominant regulator of the economy (6. Mallakh, 241.) Unfortunately, the outcome of this reform is not encouraging even though 1995 and 1996 were nominally successful years for the program. Yemen's economy continues to operate under the auspices of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, with the government moving forward with the economic-reform package that was initiated in 1995 (6. Mallakh, 241.) In the conclusion of my first case study, I found that in order for Yemen to successfully reform economically, there was a definite need for for eign investment. Whereas this may prove to be true for a minute part of the economy, it fails to recognize the most blatant of truths: the Yemeni economy cannot survive without the counterbalance on the oil industry concerning the imports and exports. I. Yemeni oil production, Exploration and Foreign Investment 1. Oil Production Yemen's current oil output of about 350,000 bbl/d provides the country's main source of income. After a slight decline from 1995 to 1996, oil production is back on the increase. In 1996, output fell 5,000 bbl/d to 340,000 bbl/d, rebounding to 385,000 bbl/d in 1997. Yemen contains proven oil reserves of 4 billion barrels. Proven recoverable reserves of 1.7 billion barrels are concentrated in five areas: Marib-Jawf Block 18 (490 million barrels), Masila Block 14 (550 million barrels) in the south, the Jannab Block 5 (345 million barrels), and Iyad Block 4 (135 million barrels) in central Yemen. The Masila block is the country's most productive oil field at 200,000 bbl/d followed by Marib-Jawf at 140,000 bbl/d (4. USEIA) 2. Exploration and Bringing in Foreign Investment A. Exploration Exploration for additional reserves and new investments from foreign companies began to decline in 1994, due mainly to civil war between north and south Yemen, unattractive exploration and production contractual conditions, and the low success rate of hydrocarbon discoveries. However, exploration activity picked up again in 1997 after the civil war ended and the government started to offer more attractive contract terms. By mid 1997, approximately 20 exploration agreements were in force with foreign oil companies (4. USEIA) (5. E.I.U. p. 37-40.) B. Foreign Investment Projects In September 1997, Canada's TransGlobe Energy signed a MOU with Yemen's ministry of oil and mineral resources followed by a production sharing agreement (PSA) in December 1997 for the Dameis Block S1. Under the terms of the PSA, Transglobe will conduct a 3D seismic survey covering 60 square miles and drill three wells. This first exploration phase will take 22 years at a total cost of US$11 million. A second 22-year phase requires an additional 40 square miles of 3d seismic data and drilling three more wells. This second phase will cost another US$11 million. Block S1 was previously explored by Royal Dutch/Shell between 1990 and 1993. Meanwhile, another Canadian company, First Calgary Petroleum, signed a US$15 million deal for oil exploration in Yemen's southern province of Hadramaut. Two phases of exploration activities are expected, which will include drilling two wells as well as conducting 3D seismic surveys (2. Yemen Observer) 3. IMF Reform Package: Is it the answer? A.What is the IMF Reform package? The IMF program includes banking reform, privatization of state-run industries, major infrastructure investment, and reduction or elimination of government subsidies. Thus far, the economic situation has been improving in what is one of the world's poorest countries (3.IMF: Policy) B. Problems One of the main provisions in the IMF reform package calls for the government to reduce subsidies. The first two phases of reforms reduced subsidies on oil and electricity. Transportation fuel prices were doubled in March 1995, sparking violent protests especially in Aden. Prices for fuel, electricity, and water were increased again in January 1996; diesel prices increased between 40% and 60%.

Monday, November 25, 2019

History of the Hula Hoop - Trivia and More

History of the Hula Hoop - Trivia and More The hula hoop is an ancient invention - no modern company and no single inventor can claim that they invented the first hula hoop. In fact, the Ancient Greeks often used hooping as a form of exercise. Older hoops have been made from metal, bamboo, wood, grasses, and even vines. However, modern companies re-invented their own versions of the hula hoop using unusual materials, for example; plastic hula hoops with added bits of glitter and noisemakers, and hoops that are collapsible. Origins of the Name Hula Hoop Around 1300, hooping came to Great Britain, homemade versions of the toy became very popular. In the early 1800s, British sailors first witnessed hula dancing in the Hawaiian Islands. Hula dancing and hooping look somewhat similar and the name hula hoop came together. Wham-O Trademarks and Patents the Hula Hoop Richard Knerr and Arthur Spud Melin founded the Wham-O company, which helped popularize another ancient toy, the frisbee. Knerr and Melin started the Wham-O company from their Los Angeles garage in 1948. The men were marketing a slingshot originally invented for training pet falcons and hawks (it slung meat at the birds). This slingshot was named Wham-O because of the sound it made when it hit the target. Wham-O also became the companys name. Wham-O has become the most successful manufacturer of hula hoops in modern times. They trademarked the name Hula Hoop ® and started manufacturing the toy out of the new plastic Marlex in 1958. On May 13, 1959, Arthur Melin applied for a patent for his version of the hula hoop. He received U.S. Patent Number 3,079,728 on March 5, 1963, for a Hoop Toy. Twenty million Wham-O hula hoops sold for $1.98 in the first six months. Hula Hoop Trivia Japan once banned the hula hoop because the rotating hip action seems indecent.On June 4, 2005, Australian Kareena Oates set a Guinness world record for hula hooping - with 100 hoops for three full revolutions.101 hoops were spun by Alesya Goulevich of Belarus on June 11, 2006105 hoops were spun by Jin Linlin of China on October 28, 2007.The world record for the largest Hula Hoop (by circumference) spun was set by American Ashrita Furman at 51.5 feet on June 1, 2007.

Friday, November 22, 2019

Argos Donaldson Case International Management

The key players or main actors of this case are: The CEO and chairman of this holdings company, Bill Loun; Bert Donaldson, who was a rising corporate star in Detroit who was supposed to be perfect person to help facilitate communication between recently acquired divisions in Europe; Frank Waterhouse, the CEO of Argos Diesel Europe ; Ursula Lindt , Waterhouse’s executive assistant and Bettina Schweri, Ursula Lindt’s childhood friend, and responsible for organizing Donaldson’s programs. The CEO of Argos, Bill Loun believed that he had found someone in Detroit (Bert Donaldson) that would be the perfect person to help facilitate communication between recently acquired divisions in Europe. Bert Donaldson’s resume was impressive. He was a professor of American Studies in Cairo, Egypt for 5 years and while in the United States, Bert made major improvements to the organizational structure by implementing cross-functional teams, achieved considerable cost reductions, and much more. In addition, Bert was charismatic, a hard worker, and very sharp, a proven leader within the U.  S. organization. Loun recognized that they really needed someone just like Donaldson in Zurich. At the same time, Frank Waterhouse really believed that with Donaldson’s arrival in Europe, both of them could climb the corporate ladder and achieve all the goals that Waterhouse had worked so hard to acquire The problem started when just the opposite occurred, with Bert Donaldson’s arrival, the corporate environment became tense and dysfunctional, and there was obvious friction between Bert, the expatriate, and the local, European divisional leadership. Bert recognized the problem, but didn’t have an immediate solution. Many people from the European staff members attempted to inform Waterhouse about Donaldson’s cross-cultural unawareness like Ursula Lindt who tried to inform Waterhouse of the large number of complaints she had received regarding Donaldson’s inability to adapt or recognize the need to adapt to local culture. Although direct attempts to converse with Waterhouse failed, Waterhouse did finally recognize Donaldson’s failure to culturally adapt. Waterhouse sent a letter back to CEO Bill Loun in the United States questioning Donaldson’s ability to successfully adapt and manage, but Loun simply replied by saying him that he just couldn’t send him back and that it was his bottom line responsibility. On the other side, Schweri, who spoke five different languages and was extremely familiar with local culture was not taking in real account by Donaldson who just saw her like a â€Å"secretary† instead of taking advantage of her knowledge.  We consider that Donaldson failed to recognize the need for cultural adaptation, training, and awareness and the importance of utilizing local resources to assist with cultural issues. We consider that here are 3 major issues at the heart of the problems of the company. These are culture, communication and leadership and motivation, but first of all we could say that one of the main mistakes in the case is that the CEO of Argos International, Loun assigned Donaldson as the guy that Europe needed ,without any formal cross-cultural training on the assumption that his Cairo experience was â€Å"international†. The cultural issues began since the arrival of Donaldson who has struggled to come to terms with European culture. He is unable to adjust and as such he has not been as successful in transforming the European subsidiary like he had in Detroit. It is clear that Donaldson has a lack of cultural understanding and sensitivity , for us this means, he is unaware â€Å"of the cultural variables that can affect management decisions and he is not realizing how much he is affecting Waterhouse projects, the company itself, other individual culture and his leadership is also tainted and a number of sub-issues become evident. At the same time Donaldson never remember or realized that in every culture ( in this case the European) there are different sub- cultures and each one has different morals, goals, traditions, beliefs as well as different ways of doing business and its expectations and they just conform only in varying degrees the national culture. The communication problems caused for the context of the communication were also very important, because the European staff from Argos was formed by people from different European countries and in some of them it is considered to have the lowest ranking communication context, closely followed by other European countries, this means that nothing is implied from the message, as everything will be clearly detailed. So the higher up the context ranking you go the more information becomes implicit and if Donaldson would have consider that the multiple-choice survey wouldn’t have been inappropriate and Donaldson could have all the required info. Communication is also an issue because it is clear that there is a lack of it between the Detroit head office and the European office, so the communication problems are projected at many levels which show the severity of the problem. We can assume that Bill Loun would like the Zurich office to be as efficient and effective as the office in the United States, if they would have a more frequent communication with the parent company, communication the more likely it is that affiliate executives will be influenced by the parent’s practices Another one is that Donaldson does not have the ability to speak to write in any European language, yet his Personal Assistant does. Leadership and motivation is the final issue because we feel that Donaldson was an effective leader in the US where his reform was successful. However his approach has been far from successful in Europe and he has not been able to motivate the European workers at all. The company really failed to realise the effect of a major relocation for Donaldson’s family, because he never adjust to the culture and even his family was suffering the consequences which also disturb Donaldson’s job performance Furthermore we also consider that the fat that the company’s International staffing policies are Ethnocentric, is the â€Å"ethnocentrism† a key sensitivity problem for Donaldson. By adopting an ethnocentric approach to management, Donaldson assumes the way he has been taught to perform a task is the best way of performing that task and is averse to listening to other ways of achieving results. It is important to say that Donaldson was not the only one who was failing in the company because if we ask ourselves who was supposed to keep an eye on him, we would say that it was Waterhouse but instead he was also adding troubles to the company. Why we think this? Because he was behaving in such an individualistic way (maybe because he came from a highly individualistic country USA, where people typically look out for themselves), and he was just being selfish by just concerning in how Donaldson could help him to reach the top or how Donaldson’s problems would reflect on him and his career. Finally it’s clear that Bill Loun also made a mistake, and Donaldson is not the only reason of troubles. We think that Bill Loun, entered the global marketplace with a misunderstanding of what it means to be international due to the fact that selected a manager (Donaldson) with extensive successes in the United States and only superficial international experience. Argos Donaldson Case International Management The key players or main actors of this case are: The CEO and chairman of this holdings company, Bill Loun; Bert Donaldson, who was a rising corporate star in Detroit who was supposed to be perfect person to help facilitate communication between recently acquired divisions in Europe; Frank Waterhouse, the CEO of Argos Diesel Europe ; Ursula Lindt , Waterhouse’s executive assistant and Bettina Schweri, Ursula Lindt’s childhood friend, and responsible for organizing Donaldson’s programs. The CEO of Argos, Bill Loun believed that he had found someone in Detroit (Bert Donaldson) that would be the perfect person to help facilitate communication between recently acquired divisions in Europe. Bert Donaldson’s resume was impressive. He was a professor of American Studies in Cairo, Egypt for 5 years and while in the United States, Bert made major improvements to the organizational structure by implementing cross-functional teams, achieved considerable cost reductions, and much more. In addition, Bert was charismatic, a hard worker, and very sharp, a proven leader within the U.  S. organization. Loun recognized that they really needed someone just like Donaldson in Zurich. At the same time, Frank Waterhouse really believed that with Donaldson’s arrival in Europe, both of them could climb the corporate ladder and achieve all the goals that Waterhouse had worked so hard to acquire The problem started when just the opposite occurred, with Bert Donaldson’s arrival, the corporate environment became tense and dysfunctional, and there was obvious friction between Bert, the expatriate, and the local, European divisional leadership. Bert recognized the problem, but didn’t have an immediate solution. Many people from the European staff members attempted to inform Waterhouse about Donaldson’s cross-cultural unawareness like Ursula Lindt who tried to inform Waterhouse of the large number of complaints she had received regarding Donaldson’s inability to adapt or recognize the need to adapt to local culture. Although direct attempts to converse with Waterhouse failed, Waterhouse did finally recognize Donaldson’s failure to culturally adapt. Waterhouse sent a letter back to CEO Bill Loun in the United States questioning Donaldson’s ability to successfully adapt and manage, but Loun simply replied by saying him that he just couldn’t send him back and that it was his bottom line responsibility. On the other side, Schweri, who spoke five different languages and was extremely familiar with local culture was not taking in real account by Donaldson who just saw her like a â€Å"secretary† instead of taking advantage of her knowledge.  We consider that Donaldson failed to recognize the need for cultural adaptation, training, and awareness and the importance of utilizing local resources to assist with cultural issues. We consider that here are 3 major issues at the heart of the problems of the company. These are culture, communication and leadership and motivation, but first of all we could say that one of the main mistakes in the case is that the CEO of Argos International, Loun assigned Donaldson as the guy that Europe needed ,without any formal cross-cultural training on the assumption that his Cairo experience was â€Å"international†. The cultural issues began since the arrival of Donaldson who has struggled to come to terms with European culture. He is unable to adjust and as such he has not been as successful in transforming the European subsidiary like he had in Detroit. It is clear that Donaldson has a lack of cultural understanding and sensitivity , for us this means, he is unaware â€Å"of the cultural variables that can affect management decisions and he is not realizing how much he is affecting Waterhouse projects, the company itself, other individual culture and his leadership is also tainted and a number of sub-issues become evident. At the same time Donaldson never remember or realized that in every culture ( in this case the European) there are different sub- cultures and each one has different morals, goals, traditions, beliefs as well as different ways of doing business and its expectations and they just conform only in varying degrees the national culture. The communication problems caused for the context of the communication were also very important, because the European staff from Argos was formed by people from different European countries and in some of them it is considered to have the lowest ranking communication context, closely followed by other European countries, this means that nothing is implied from the message, as everything will be clearly detailed. So the higher up the context ranking you go the more information becomes implicit and if Donaldson would have consider that the multiple-choice survey wouldn’t have been inappropriate and Donaldson could have all the required info. Communication is also an issue because it is clear that there is a lack of it between the Detroit head office and the European office, so the communication problems are projected at many levels which show the severity of the problem. We can assume that Bill Loun would like the Zurich office to be as efficient and effective as the office in the United States, if they would have a more frequent communication with the parent company, communication the more likely it is that affiliate executives will be influenced by the parent’s practices Another one is that Donaldson does not have the ability to speak to write in any European language, yet his Personal Assistant does. Leadership and motivation is the final issue because we feel that Donaldson was an effective leader in the US where his reform was successful. However his approach has been far from successful in Europe and he has not been able to motivate the European workers at all. The company really failed to realise the effect of a major relocation for Donaldson’s family, because he never adjust to the culture and even his family was suffering the consequences which also disturb Donaldson’s job performance Furthermore we also consider that the fat that the company’s International staffing policies are Ethnocentric, is the â€Å"ethnocentrism† a key sensitivity problem for Donaldson. By adopting an ethnocentric approach to management, Donaldson assumes the way he has been taught to perform a task is the best way of performing that task and is averse to listening to other ways of achieving results. It is important to say that Donaldson was not the only one who was failing in the company because if we ask ourselves who was supposed to keep an eye on him, we would say that it was Waterhouse but instead he was also adding troubles to the company. Why we think this? Because he was behaving in such an individualistic way (maybe because he came from a highly individualistic country USA, where people typically look out for themselves), and he was just being selfish by just concerning in how Donaldson could help him to reach the top or how Donaldson’s problems would reflect on him and his career. Finally it’s clear that Bill Loun also made a mistake, and Donaldson is not the only reason of troubles. We think that Bill Loun, entered the global marketplace with a misunderstanding of what it means to be international due to the fact that selected a manager (Donaldson) with extensive successes in the United States and only superficial international experience.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Key elements in consumer behavior and why it is relevant to marketing Term Paper

Key elements in consumer behavior and why it is relevant to marketing - Term Paper Example Further, the article discusses some of examples wherein the companies had addressed individualism in consumer behavior Theory Consumer behavior can be described as â€Å"The study of individuals, groups, or organizations and the processes they use to select, secure, use, and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have on the consumer and society.† (Perner, 2010) Understanding of consumer behavior would help firms improve their marketing strategies, by addressing the issues like how consumer’s reasoning and selection between different alternatives, level of consumer knowledge, how to improve marketing campaigns to effectively reach out to consumers Consumer behavior and preferences has changed over the period of time and would continue to evolve in the future also. We can analyze some of the key elements of consumer behavior globally. For example, today’s consumers place considerable value on self -expression and their individual identity. This also includes exerting their power and control as consumers. This element of consumer behavior represents consumers’ desires to be themselves and to be recognized as having personal needs rather than being part of the mass market. Accordingly, consumers value products and services that complement their individuality—providing them with a sense of personal and social identity. This trend represents values such as â€Å"being me†, â€Å"trusting myself†, â€Å"finding my own answers† and â€Å"making my mark on the world† in a world of opportunity and freedom. The desire for individuality is not new. It has just become more attainable for more people due to rising prosperity in society and the fact that technological advances facilitate easier, more cost effective personalized products and services. With rising prosperity there has also been a growth of post-materialist societies where values emp hasizing self expressing and individuality have grown. Let us see some of the drivers, particularly from marketing perspective, which are driving individualism in consumer behavior: 1. There are several database methods of consumer research such as store loyalty programs which is strengthening more personal forms of marketing 2. Supply side: manufacturers are increasingly tapping into the desire for more personalized products as a point of differentiation (increasingly to help offset the escalating private label threat). Individualized value added services are increasingly becoming the norm 3. Brand hegemony, particularly in the context of private label growth and copycat innovations, has contributed to the demand for personalized goods that offer genuine points of differentiation Key take-outs and implications: the growth of individuality creates a more engaged, confident and vocal consumer 1. Self-expressive contemporary consumers will increasingly choose brands that offer compell ing platforms for expressing one’s individuality. 2. In emerging economies, the desire for self expression/individuality is more complex. Emerging economies are typically more collectivist consumer cultures that have been ‘muddied’ by the growth of more self expressive values that have typically accompanied economic prosperity. 3. Research has documented that people who exhibit more individualistic tendencies are more assertive, more

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

How to Maintain Reciprocity in Intimate Relationships Article

How to Maintain Reciprocity in Intimate Relationships - Article Example This will be enhanced through critical evaluation of scholarly research. Reciprocity in any relationship motivates each partner’s behavior. In every form of union, there exists either positive or negative reciprocity. This helps ensure that in society violent reactions due to anger are minimal. Negative reciprocity encourages the violent reactions and even mistreatments while positive reciprocity encourages praiseworthy deeds and humility enabling one to endure hard situations (Vetere et al, 2005). There are different types of reciprocity. It may be one on one relationship between either individuals or governments or institutions. Research conducted by Solomon & Samp (1998) shows that most of them are usually long-term relationships that expect either direct reciprocity. One-to-many or many-to-one reciprocity is usually experienced in informal ties like bridal showers, and even community comes together. There is also generalized reciprocity that happens over a large group of i ndividuals or institutions. Citizens also need to practice reciprocity with their states and communicate any possible conflict in ideas or even complains or gratitude to their rulers. According to Van Lange, & Visser (1999) research, for people to get in any relationship, they experience strong feelings towards each other. A feeling of lust, liking, and love starts to grow towards each other. Close relations start growing, and with time, they become compassionate and committed into each other. These attractions may be due to their skin color, walking styles, the way they talk, or their thinking. It may also because these two people share beliefs and have common interests. Psychologists argue that love is usually a passionate feeling, both physical and emotional. One gets utterly absorbed into the other and helps each other realize and understand themselves better by the compliments they get. Intimate relationships are cultivated as strong sexual feelings and feeling of completeness also onset. Passion and dependency on each other also are cultivated. This closeness between individuals results to complex emotions that grow for each other. Dependency for emotional support helps ensure of the well-being of each other. Partners offer each other with enthusiasm and positive personal view on their self worth. In his scholarly work, Cole (2001) depicts that the level of intimacy develops in stages. It is not cultivated within hours or one day. The links established with one another foster the closeness and trust feeling for one another. However, peer relationships that are based on curiosity may tend to be more intimate briefly only for periods of self-discovery. The anxiety to explore on new areas may cultivate intimacy but only to encourage accessibility to what they intent to explore on (Vetere et al, 2005). Adult intimate relationships are expected to have communications and expression of one’s feeling freely. Feelings of gratitude or any other significant feelings both negative and positive can be communicated without barriers. The response that one gets may be corrective, encouraging, or even punishing. In case of negative reciprocity the individuals should turn to the community for help on how to resolve the conflict. In an intimate relation, pain infliction is not encouraged and but rather repairing the harm done should be the main thing. Consoling should

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Vygotskys Educational Theory Essay Example for Free

Vygotskys Educational Theory Essay Vygotsky is an important theorist in the twentieth century in education. He has come up with the theory discussing the zone of proximal development and its application to the education of person with special needs. This theory has been put into practice in coming up with strategies for persons with intellectual challenges. But this however does not come up with full support as some of the propositions in his theories have been criticized. In his theories he considers the zone of proximal development to possess upper and lower limits where children are categorized in the limits. The first misconception that can be deduced from his theory is that assessment of a child’s zones provides a biased incomplete picture (Robert, 28). Hence an accurate picture of the child’s learning style, development level, and learning ability cannot be obtained through comparison to children of similar ages or degrees of motivation. Thus the zone’s width depending on its causes could be undesirable or desirable. Measurement is another hindrance observed in the theory. This is because, there exists no metric scale to configure a child’s individual zone. This is because Vygotsky at times measured the zone in terms of chronological age in relation to mental age. This has drawback in that comparison cannot be done by the number of years. For instance a 9 year old behaving like a 12 year old has a 3 year age difference. This cannot be applied in a case of children with ages 5 and 8 as the difference is similarly 3 years (Kozulin, 40). The zone meets another obstacle since little is known on the stability and generality of an individual’s zone. The domain of one child’s zone is not equal across different children (Daniels, Harry, and Mariane, 80). This is due to the fact that behavior differences do occur in children of similar ages. Thus a zone is not stable and neither can it be generalized. The theory pays little attention to issues of development across different ages. It gives little idea how a child’s level of cognition would constrain or permit processes in the zone. It also ignores the effect different settings have on children and ignores cognitive skills needed to respond to varying stimuli. The theory overlooks the fact that varying developmental levels lead to varying responses to a setting (Kozulin, 67). Finally Vygotsky’s theory lacks tasks  prototypical to be associated with the theory as he relies on general summaries. Considering the aforementioned weaknesses, many theorists and educationist borrow little from his theory in its application to special education. This is coupled with the fact that persons with special needs occur in a large diversity. Hence the theory would call for individualization of strategies adopted for special needs learners. Works cited Daniels, Harry, and Mariane Hedegaard. Vygotsky and special needs education: rethinking support for children and schools. London: Continuum International Pub. Group, 2011. Print. Kozulin, Alex. Vygotskys educational theory in cultural context. UK: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Print. Robert, Michelle Suzanne. Vygotsky theories meaningful relationships. Burnaby B.C.: Simon Fraser University, 2005. Print.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

High Blood Pressure :: Health, Cardiovascular Disease

High blood pressure is considered one of the highest causes of morbidity, one of the main leading causes for cardiovascular disease, and social global burden health risk factor. In addition to the high cost burden to the global health service providers. (referances) Data from World health organization2002, estimated that high blood pressure was the cause of death for more than 7 million individuals every year , affecting almost one billion of world population and responsible for 11% of all diseases burden in industrial countries.( WHO,2003) (BHFSD,2010).in industrial countries high blood pressure estimated to be the case of death for more than 20% of men and almost 24% of women (WHO.2002b) Kearney et al (2005) reported that in 2000, 972 million individuals were hypertensive which account for 26.4% of world population, of which 333 million in developed countries and 639 million in developing countries. It was affected 26.6% of men and 26.1% of women of general population. This study predicts this number to soar by about 60% in 2025 to reach a total of 1.56 billion. This elevation expected to be 9% and 13% in both men and women respectively. They found the highest prevalence rate of high blood pressure in women was in former socialist economies region while for men was in Latin American and Caribbean region and the lowest prevalence was in â€Å"other Asian and islands† region for both men and women. Elevated blood pressure contributes to (62%) of cardiovascular diseases, for example it attributes to 54% of stroke cases and 47% ischemic heart disease globally ( (Lawes et al., 2008 eup fix), it also responsible for 50% of heart failure burden in world. Furthermore the INTERHEART study estimated that having a hypertension was the reason for 25% of heart attack cases in both central and Eastern Europe while it represents the same reason for 22 % of Western Europe. Individuals who have an elevated blood pressure are suspect to have heart attack twice more than normotensive. (Yusuf et al., 2004 or British heart stast) In terms of disability –adjusted life-years, high blood pressure is come as a third cause after underweight and unsafe sex by affecting around 64 million. (Ezzati et al, 2002) .High blood pressure was estimated to be attributable to causing 9.3 % of disability in high income countries and 5.6% of disability in middle and low income countries.

Monday, November 11, 2019

PA module

You will notice that the self-test and demonstration case solutions provided in this module and other modules attempt to cover all possible solutions and to provide an example of an â€Å"exceeds† solution. They may, therefore, be longer than would be required in an examination situation. You may wish to use the Competency Area Checklist to help you sort through the case data. Once you have determined which competency areas are relevant, consider the specific issues that need to be addressed. At times, the course materials use generic dates rather than real dates.When you come across instances of generic dates, consider the date to correspond with standards that are currently In effect. Overview In keeping with your role as an accountant, your ability to communicate effectively is a professional quality and skill that you are expected to demonstrate in all of your assignments, whether for study or for work. You will also be expected to demonstrate several communication compete ncies on the PAP examination. The module provides practical suggestions for enhancing your writing skills and opportunities for self- assessing your writing ability.This module introduces the case analysis process. It gives you to a step-by-step framework for approaching case questions and provides tips on how to avoid common errors in responding to case questions. The framework is designed to enhance your case analysis skills as you practice with self-test cases and prepare your responses to assignment cases. You learn about different forms of analysis, both quantitative and qualitative, and review strategies for generating alternatives and selecting decision criteria. The evaluation of alternatives and final recommendation

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Ptlls Learning Journal Day One

The main points I have learnt from this session are: †¢Looking at ice breakers as a way of learners becoming more relaxed with each other and also as a way of beginning to interact with each other, ensuring that the topics are relevant to the learners and that they are not too controversial or likely to cause offence etc., they also encourage team work and inclusion †¢They are also a way of establishing trust within a group and reducing nervousness (apprehension) †¢We looked at training cycles and the various aspects such as identifying needs, planning and designing, delivering or facilitating, assessing and evaluating How could I develop my practical skills as a result of this session? †¢Be more conscious of the reactions of others and giving them an opportunity to express their opinions rather than doing all of the talking and making assumptions about what people are thinking †¢Planning and designing work or tasks that need to be carried out †¢Everyone has a different personal construct system and being aware of the skills and personal experience of others in terms of its impact on how they relate to others †¢Being aware of total communication from others i.e. verbal and non verbal communication as well as body language, look at mirroring people’s body language or having a more relaxed way of communicating information if relevant How could I develop my knowledge and understanding as a result of this session? †¢I could carry out further study on personal construct systems †¢Look at how transactional analysis impacts people †¢Look at various learning styles and when using them is most appropriate †¢Being aware of the checks and balances that are in place to see if learners are actually assimilating information, could be in the form of short quizzes at various stages in the course †¢Also receiving feedback could be feedback on course, feedback on lecturer, feedback on topic, feedback on venue (depending on if own venue or if hired venue).

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Putting the New World onto Stage in Royal Tylers The Contra essays

Putting the New World onto Stage in Royal Tyler's The Contra essays World onto stage in Royall Tylers The Contrast The Contrast was written in 1787 when America had recently defeated the British in the Revolutionary war, short after the Declaration of Independence. The setting of the play is New York and its upper-class society. At this early state of Americas existence as an independent nation, Tyler wrote the first truly American play, putting an analysis of American behaviour on stage. Considering this context, I m going to examine how Postrevolutionary America, with its image of the New World, is presented in the play. The meaning of the characters has to be taken into account. The meaning of The Contrast could be interpreted in different ways. On the one hand, the play exposes the conflicts and dangers of America after the Revolution, on the other hand, it presents virtues considered to be typical American in contrast to the vices of the Old World. The possible interpretation of the play as negative picture of Postrevolutionary America is based on the implied conflicts between opposing attitudes and the danger of instability. Tyler conveys the opposing attitudes of patriotism and admiration of foreign sophistication. Colonel Manly and his servant Jonathan are proud to be American and love their country. Manly, who states I love my country (p. 79, l. 18), is proud to have served his country in the Revolutionary War and the putting down of Sheys Rebellion. He still wears his regimental coat in proud remembrance of the fighting for his country in the War of Revolution. Jonathan represents the American Yankee who is also proud of his origin and does not care about foreign sophistication. The sophisticated behaviour of Dimple, his servant Jessamy, Charlotte and Letitia stands in contrast to Manly and Jonathan. These characters obviously admire the traits of British upper-cla...

Monday, November 4, 2019

Nursing as Discipline Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Nursing as Discipline - Essay Example The United States is fairly regarded as the pioneer in nursing profession and science – the creation of the Associate Degree nursing programs in the U.S. marked a new stage in the evolution of nursing as discipline (Northrup et al 2004). Today, nursing is well-recognized as a discipline and profession (Tzeng & Yin 2007). University education is the basic prerequisite for preparing professional nurses, who are able to make wise professional judgments, pursue continuous education, and use their knowledge to expand the boundaries of the nursing profession. So, what is nursing discipline? A discipline is usually defined as â€Å"a community of interest that is organized around the accumulated knowledge of an academic or professional group† (Monti & Tingen 1999, p.64). The discipline of nursing is complex, and it describes and explores the complexity of the human caring paradigms and successfully balances the art and science of nursing (Monti & Tingen 1999). Within the nursi ng discipline, art helps to answer questions related directly to the profession, whereas science is expected to add to the body of academic knowledge related to human caring (Monti & Tingen 1999). The metaparadigm is a unique aspect of the nursing discipline, which describes concepts and themes that are directly related to the nursing profession and different nursing from other professions and disciplines (Monti & Tingen 1999). The metaparadigm also promotes, reflects, and describes â€Å"the shared beliefs and values of the nursing discipline† (Monti & Tingen 1999). These may include but are not limited to caring and respect, autonomy and beneficence, health promotion and ethical conduct (Monti &... This paper approves that the postmodern research paradigm can provide successful explanations and recommendations to the multiple realities in nursing. Postmodernism helps to revalue patient and nurses’ experiences and insights. Postmodernism allows demystifying the existing nursing practice discourse and rejects the established universals, opening new research and scientific frontiers. This report makes a conclusion that the past decades were marked with the emergence of new, complex research paradigms that â€Å"contribute to the development of nursing as an academic discipline and knowledge†. In the nursing discipline, knowing manifests in three different forms: personal reflection, technical understanding, and a cognitive process. Simply stated, knowing in nursing is a unique combination of objective, scientific and personal features. Given that knowing in nursing is all about personal transformation, reflection, and experience, no single research paradigm can help to develop a sound system of academic and practical knowledge in nursing. Personal reflection is unique; and so is nursing knowledge. Simultaneously, science and discipline is always objectives and unbiased. This gap between experience and science is not easy to close, but nursing is a discipline of multiple perspectives. Reductionism and CST, feminism and postmodernism are just some of many research paradigms that can contribute to nursing knowledge.

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Explore a career area, which you are interested in pursuing and Research Paper

Explore a career area, which you are interested in pursuing and the area on the internet via search engines - Research Paper Example I would like to study business administration to eventually become a manager. Studying business administration is a four year commitment at the undergraduate level and two extra years at the graduate level to earn an MBA degree. Students that want to reach the managerial level should study an MBA in order to increase their chances of reaching the managerial ranks. The best thing about studying business administration is that it opens up the doors towards doing many things in the world. A person that graduates from business administration can work either in the private or public industries. There are plenty of governmental jobs available for business administration graduates. In the United States there are hundreds of thousands of business establishments. These establishments whether they are small, medium, or large size needs a person or persons to manage the business. Another alternative that business administration graduates have is to become an entrepreneur and establish your own business. A person that chooses to study business administration has a good economic future ahead for themselves. The average salary for a manager in the United States is $63,000 a year (Indeed). It takes a lot of commitment and sacrifice to work as a manager. In the managerial field 10 to 12 hour work days are typical of the profession. Managers are exempt employees that get paid on salary basis, thus overtime pay based on hourly rates does not apply. Managers are offered excellent compensation packages that include perks such as bonuses, stock options, car allowance, dental plan, and medical plan among others. Managers working in multinational corporations often travel to other locations. The managerial field is an exciting career that offers workers to opportunity to work in different business industries. When a person is studying in college they must take advantage of the opportunity to expand their horizons. Participating

Thursday, October 31, 2019

Cabinet Lock Controller Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Cabinet Lock Controller - Assignment Example For all that are not very conversant with whatever solution that is designed, just as the managing director who comes from a mechanical engineering background and so does not fully understand the diverese differences between the differing standards and the , real-time and strewn operating systems platform that is applied here. For puposes of these sort of people, it is hence therefore vital to elaborate give a short explanation of the specification and proper explanations of the source codes that are give an explantion of the working of the digital lock cabinet (Breitenstein & Langenkamp 2003). It has a project has been kept simple and within the constraints of efficient coding to avoid the possibility of mixing too many issues that would lead to hacking. The ideal thing that the cabinet lock would stand in prevention of is a Brute Force attack. This is the reason that this sort of solution on developed to come up with an efficient digital lock for a cabinet is that there has to be effective permutations that will make it almost impossible for an attacker. The basic cabinet lock that has been made for the company uses a set of five Digits and a further Master Lock that uses another set of 10 digits. This makes it very hard, mathematically, for any user to crack the codes. The intruders that are trying to break into the system find that they just have to have the simple pass code for them to gain access to the cabinet. The way the program has been designed to run is that, there has to be a cycle using two buttons that will come up with the codes (out of the 16 codes that ar e available), the third button will select the code from these 16 codes and a trigger will be sent and the authorization will be allowed (Al-Araji et al., 2006). The input of these codes that give the user with whatever login credentials and from any authentication levels that would be applicable per se will be captured by a keypad (a 4x3 Keypad) The

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Human resource management, human resource development, training system Essay

Human resource management, human resource development, training system - Essay Example They are not designed for skills that cannot be systematically understood. â€Å"Soft† skills like customer service could be improved by training cycles because, while it is not a technical skill, certainly repetition can benefit it, measurement can occur over time by looking at customer service responses, etc. Even some interpersonal skills might be training cycle-appropriate. But a skill like being able to select stocks based on an economic intuition or advanced theory is not likely to be a training cycle approach, since the approach cannot be systematically understood, broken down, conveyed or put into a cycle. The training cycle design, at its basis, is a four-step process: 1. The training needs of the organisation are analysed and identified. A training gap is thus examined and enumerated: The gap between the organisation's means and goals. 2. The design of the training programme itself. 3. Implementation of the training. 4. Evaluation of that training. Evaluation of the training determines more weaknesses in the organisation as well as discovers new inefficiencies in the process which then leads back to analysing and identifying need training needs, ad infinitum. Many design techniques are helpful in creating a working training cycle program. Pre-defined inventories of tools and skills, either defined by the organisation or defined by industry standards writ large, can guide design. â€Å"One organization wanted to develop a competency for all its information technology employees that would serve as the foundation for employee development, performance management, and career pathing. When examining the options for developing the model, the usual methods were thought of first: surveys, focus groups, subject matter expert interviews, and organization records. However, it was suggested that IT competencyneeds are not really that different across different organisations. Ninety percent of IT skills required in one company will be required in anotherâ⠂¬  (Arnold et al, 2000). In fact, most industries have well-understood pre-established job sets. It is true that, if the company were to recreate theirs from the ground up, it would likely be highly optimized for their company's needs. But unless HR has the money and time to reinvent the wheel, adopting a pre-existing inventory then eliminating skills that obviously are not relevant and adding those that are is likely to be far more efficient. Further, the design process itself can be made more efficient: While some training elements might heavily impinge upon the workers' needs and require a lot of their feedback, some are just technical changes or improvements that workers not only desire but in any respect are not onerous impositions (Arnold et al, 2000, 24-25). The SME pool can be limited to only a few experts. The Internet itself is a wonderful tool to reduce training cycle time (Bigdoli, 2004). Implementation It is well known that training cycle approaches don't take into ac count the full, rich complexity of an organisation (Koster, 2002). For one thing, training gaps are not always negative. There may be untapped strengths (Christie, 2011). Training cycles can be

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Airline Reservation System

Airline Reservation System Introduction Overview The Project aim to design and implement a working model of an Airline Reservation System. The project will be built and tested on an Oracle database and uses JAVA as the programming language. JDBC will be use as the interface between the database and JAVA. The primary goal of this project is to help passengers make flight reservation. The system will be able to find all the flights available fulfilling a passenger’s needs and able to search all flights with a given origin and destination. The system will displayed the arrival and departure times, the flight number and passenger will decide flight reservation based on the displayed information The secondary goal is to provide a means for the airline operators to manager the flights. The operator will be able to put up lists of passengers with over-weight bags for Business and Economy class passengers External Interface Requirements User Interfaces: The Web will be used as an interface with the users Hardware Interfaces No special hardware is required for this product Software Interfaces: Java JDBC Apache Tomcat servlets Oracle 8I SQL server USE CASE Model A user may obtain available seating information for flight between specified locations, for a given date. A user may make a reservation for any available seat(s). A user may cancel an existing reservation. A user may than purchase the ticket. The system functionality is described in more detail using UML Static Model In the model the concept of reservation has been simplified by requiring that all reservations be part of a group reservation, even if a group reservation is for a group of just one. Figure 2. Normalized Information model of a flight seat reservation system annotated to convey meaning easily Figure 3. Formalised dependency derived from figure 2. The X denotes inconsistent dependencies. and 1 the terminal object. This figure represents both theory and model. Figure 4. modifies figure 3 by leaving out the detail of the terminal object. It adds in objects to support flights with multiple segments. A basic flight segment (flight_seg) is a leg of a flight that is the component of the flight between adjacent airports of the flight path. The flight_seg* object is an expression of all contiguous flight path combinations of flight segments, including basic flight segments and segments that include other segments. A static model of information is given in figure 2. The dependencies in this model are re-oriented in figure 3 to show the dependencies more clearly. The dependencies to airport are inconsistent because airport is playing two roles (departure airport and arrival airport). The terminal object is specified by the property that every object must have a unique arrow to it. The terminal object can be interpreted as representing global properties of the system such as the airline company that has the reservation system. Business Option Why ARS is Needed With Airline Reservation System implemented, the airlines may be subjected to many benefits, the benefits are as listed below: Increase in Sales of Tickets With Airline Reservation System, I can track our passengers purchasing preferences and with this I can promote special flight packages to our existing passengers. Passengers’ reservations patterns can also be used to determine the marketable flight and then try to provide more flights and services to fulfill the high demand. Besides, ARS is also capable in increasing passenger loyalty and satisfaction by providing good reservation and services. Reduce in Time and Cost Traditional paper reservation records have many drawbacks: they can be incomplete, torn, worn, misplaced, or lost. They also require a lot of storage space in addition to requiring extensive administrative time from user. With the implementation of ARS, it will prevent data lost with back-up function and decrease in cost and time. It can increase the speed of searching, processing and making reservation. Thus, it gives satisfactory to passengers. From the data stored in the system, it is capable to generate daily/monthly sales report automatically. Users do not have to waste their time to generate the report manually. More Organized Information Flight ticket reservation method has better organization of information for better retrieval with ARS. All other relevant data can be managed and well-organized using the system. Data will be stored in the database accordingly. Thus, user can make a clear view on any data as they wish without any problem. Technical Option Below are the list of features the system should or most have:- Add/Delete Airline Manager Information Add/ Delete Ticketing Staff Information Add/ Delete Flight Information Add/Delete Passenger Information Make Reservation View/Query/Cancel Reservation View/Query on Flight Information View/Query on Passenger Information View/Query on Airline Manager Information View/Query on Ticketing Staff Information Report on Flight, Passenger, Airline Manager and Ticketing Staff Existing Systems I have managed to do a research on the existing automated ARS used in Malaysia Airlines. The airlines reservation system used in Malaysia Airlines is known as KOMMAS. KOMMAS is a DOS-base system that use by MAS for ticket reservation. This system has 25 years history. It had been upgrade for 4 times in these 25 years to add more features in it. Now, they still are using this system to do reservation for customers. All brunch of MAS in overseas are using the same system to do reservation too. The system can check on the departure time and day to specific place. Not only flights that offer by MAS but also flights offered by other airline systems in Malaysia and overseas. For reservation, the reservation person will key in the record and book the tickets. Once booked, the system will check whether the flights or seats is confirm. This system has link to the capacity of the aircraft. For example, this system tells the number of seats occupied and empty seats for each class. If the seats had full, a note will pop up say that seats are full and confirm can not be made. By this function, the reservation person can tells the more accurately about which seats are available to customers. The reservation person will then confirm with customers. Once confirm, the customers will go to the ticketing counter to take the ticket and pay the money. The reservation person will key in the reference number to the system. The information of customers will pop up if he had made the reservation. The deadline for customers to take the tickets is 2 weeks before departure time. If the customers didn’t take the ticket and pay the money before these two weeks, the system will automatically erase the reservation. This is to enable others to do reservation. There is no deposit required in this process. For customers that want to change their flights departure time or date, the reservation person just need to key in the customer’s reference number and change the details. Customers also can cancel the flights if they couldn’t make it. The information of customers will keep by the system for 6 months. After 6 months, the system will automatically delete the passenger information. This system also allows customers to make some special requirement. For example, some people may have elegy to certain food, the reservation person will key in this special requirement for food into the system, so that special meal will be provided to this person. Customers also can choose seat that they prefer. In the other words, this system is customers friendly. Booking is done by reservation department. But ticketing department also can access it and make reservation for customers. Ticketing and reservation department are link to each other, they can access the same database. KOMMAS have a specific code for the user of this system. For persons who make reservation and ticketing, they have the highest accessibility to use the system. For managing level, they just can access the system and check the report of flights and customer’s reservation information. For administration level of this system, they can customize the flights and departure time. System down was happened before. When the system is down, all the ticketing reservation will do manually. The system also has backup the information of all flights and customers’ information. This is to prevent the damage of database due to virus or physical damage. So, there is no reason that they will lose their data. However, this system has its weaknesses. It can not generate report according to the requirement of user. Also, this system has no basic intelligent. User will only get the report after one or two weeks. Due to this system is DOS base, the interface of this system may not attractive. Also, it is not user friendly enough for the user. User will need to memorize all the codes to make reservation, to view reports, to check on flight and etc. Information that shown out from the system is messy. For the beginner user of this system, they will face the difficulties to understand the information shown. For the security part, user do not have own password to get into the system. They get into the system just by using the access code that they had given. Project Plan Gantt Chart The first session of this project is to develop the system’s prototype and interim report. I have divided the first session of tasks into six different parts from Project initiation and planning until presentation. The first task is Project initiation and planning which start on 12 Oct. 2007. Due to the deadline’s I will be expected to spend not more than two weeks to complete the first task. Than the next task is to work on Literature Review in this task I will be researching existing reference for the system and project, I will try to make contact with if possible visit a Local Airline office. The Second session of this project will starts after the submission of interim report and prototype. I will start to prepare the final report; I have divided those tasks mainly on seven different parts from Review on preview project work until presentation. On Thu 06/12/07, I planned to start a very crucial task, which is Analysis and Design. First I will have a analyze the requirement for this project and then I starts to design Entity Relational Diagram and Data Flow Diagram. It will consume most of the time in this task followed by drawing context diagram. The Analysis and Design is expected to finish on Tue 25/12/07. The final task before presentation is development prototype and Report, a prototype will be developed and it will consume most of the time while finalizing report will be the minor part in this task. The first task that I need to do is review on preview project work, which start on Thu, 24/01/08 I will analyze what problem are to be solved and what improvement to be made and design a new project plan. The first task will be expected to spend eight days to complete. The next task will be to update plan and requirement. After completing the review session, I will have the final update for the plan and project requirement. This plan should meet requirement in development a successful database CASE tool. This is expected to take five days to complete. And than, System Design is next which is Database and Software Architecture. I will construct a database to the system for the purpose of enhancement; I will design on screen and repair the data model, which is expected to finish in eight days. The next task is Prototype Review of major modules in this task I will continue to work on the prototype which I have done during the interim report before staring the initial system coding, It is expected to finish Tue, 25/03/08 .After the implementation phase, I will go through the testing phase by constructing a Test Plan and Test Data. I will create an acceptance test and begin system debugging if problem occurs. And this is expected to finish Thu, 17/04/08 The following task is Final Report and Testing Evaluation. In this testing phase, I will continue on the final report, system testing and system evaluation. I will concentrate on the Final Report as well as System Completion towards the end of project development. I need to prepare a well-written and high-quality final report. The final task is the presentation of the project. A good preparation on this presentation phase will insure a good representation of the project. Project Milestones l In the milestones table, it’s mainly divided into four major phases, which the first phase completed by 1 November 2007 while the second phases are expected to be completed by 15 November 2007 including the review presentation. And the final phases will be sub-divided into six tasks and the completion date for each task is stated as the table below No. Tasks Milestone/Date Completed 1 Project Initiation and Planning Wed 24/10/07 2 Literature Review (Research) Wed 05/12/07 3 Analysis and Design Tue 25/12/07 4 Prototype and Report Wed 23/01/08 5. Review on Preview Project Work Mon 18/02/08 6. System Design ( Database Software Architechit) Fri 07/03/08 7. Prototype Review of major Modules Tue 25/03/08 8. Test Plan Test Data Thu 17/04/08 9. Final Draft Testing Evaluation Mon 05/05/08 10. Presentation Thu 15/05/08 Table 1.1: Project Milestones Reference Johnson, M.S.J., R. Rosebrugh and R.J. Wood, 1997. Entity relationship models and sketches, submitted to Mathematical Structures in Computer Science, July, 1997, 18pp.