Saturday, August 31, 2019

What Does Patriotism Mean to Me

The very definition of patriotism cannot simply be defined by a dictionary. In fact, no two people you meet will have the same explanation of what it means to them. From America’s Founding Fathers to courageous everyday heroes serving in our military at home and overseas, patriotism fills their hearts with the will to protect our country’s freedom. Patriotism is an immeasurable personal characteristic shown by unselfish acts in which a person serves their country and its people.I believe love for all people is why Neil Armstrong stated the infamous phrase, â€Å"One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. † However, planting the US flag gave every engineer, fellow astronauts and millions of citizens on earth, an overflowing sense of pride to be an American. This act of not only symbolizes we were the first nation to visit the moon, but unified a patriotic spirit held deep inside us all. In my opinion, Mr. Armstrong recognizing the efforts of everyone at N ASA and the support of all Americans in one sentence was genius, and very patriotic.During World War II, there was a vast shortage of workers needed to produce munitions supplies to help the Allies win the war. Out of love for their men put in harm’s way, millions of women stepped up answering the call for their country. This grueling hard skilled labor included building ships, aircraft, vehicles and weaponry. What would you call the desire which filled their hearts, giving them strength and bravery to do so called man’s work?I would declare these women were just as patriotic as the 400,000 women served in the armed forces and 460 who lost their lives. Patriotism is in all our hearts, which is where I think â€Å"Red-Blooded Americans† clichà ©, must derive. From early colonists fighting the tyranny of England rule to fallen well known-veterans like Pat Tillman, they were driven by a common bond. You and I may not realize it within ourselves, but the most unsel fish act for one’s country or fellow people, can awaken the patriotism in all of us. What Does Patriotism Mean to Me The very definition of patriotism cannot simply be defined by a dictionary. In fact, no two people you meet will have the same explanation of what it means to them. From America’s Founding Fathers to courageous everyday heroes serving in our military at home and overseas, patriotism fills their hearts with the will to protect our country’s freedom. Patriotism is an immeasurable personal characteristic shown by unselfish acts in which a person serves their country and its people.I believe love for all people is why Neil Armstrong stated the infamous phrase, â€Å"One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.† However, planting the US flag gave every engineer, fellow astronauts and millions of citizens on earth, an overflowing sense of pride to be an American. This act of not only symbolizes we were the first nation to visit the moon, but unified a patriotic spirit held deep inside us all. In my opinion, Mr. Armstrong recognizing the efforts of everyone at NA SA and the support of all Americans in one sentence was genius, and very patriotic.During World War II, there was a vast shortage of workers needed to produce munitions supplies to help the Allies win the war. Out of love for their men put in harm’s way, millions of women stepped up answering the call for their country. This grueling hard skilled labor included building ships, aircraft, vehicles and weaponry. What would you call the desire which filled their hearts, giving them strength and bravery to do so called man’s work?I would declare these women were just as patriotic as the 400,000 women served in the armed forces and 460 who lost their lives. Patriotism is in all our hearts, which is where I think â€Å"Red-Blooded Americans† clichà ©, must derive. From early colonists fighting the tyranny of England rule to fallen well known-veterans like Pat Tillman, they were driven by a common bond. You and I may not realize it within ourselves, but the most unself ish act for one’s country or fellow people, can awaken the patriotism in all of us.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Academic Success Essay

A lot of students think that learning is only in class. If students use two extra steps, most students will not forget what they learned in class. To achieve effective learning, students needed to follow two extra steps in the three strategic learning processes. The key to success is by following these three strategies. Review is essential to student success. Unless content is reviewed by students shortly after it is learned, it will soon be forgotten. To avoid forgetting what you learned, it is recommended to review daily. It is also recommended to reduce large volumes of notes into point form and to paraphrase what you have learned. Other helpful tips include creating concept maps and diagrams; creating fact, concept or vocabulary cards and using visualization to better connect to what you learned. These are all important tools to helping students better understand and memorize lesson content. The key to achieving academic success cannot be directly correlated to one specific area. Rather it requires students to be overall rounded in many different aspects. This includes attending class regularly to keep pace with the class. Falling behind in studies or homework can be detrimental to academic success and can induce stress onto students. Participating in class activities and discussions are also vital parts of learning and applying concepts learned. On the other hand, taking good, concise notes will always help in the long run when reviewing for tests and exams. To sum it all up, strategic learning is the password for many academic achievements. Being exposed to knowledge is the first step in the journey, the fact that young scholars can learn and be a part of history is a phenomenal step in furthering their search to success. Reviewing notes, in the way the young individual wishes, by him/herself, or with a good friend, this will help him/her to understand what has been learned in a way s/he understands. Lastly practice is a great way to memorise what has bee n learned, when practice achieves its full potential, the individual won’t only be entitled for a good mark, but also a way to view, under & think of things. Those three attributes will help scholars become more successful, but it’s important to one as it is to the other, and each and every person should find the learning strategies effectual for him/herself, and in extremely exceptional occasions even invent or innovate new strategies. Academic Success Essay Answer each question below in at least 75 words per question, reflecting on your current abilities, and identify resources to strengthen your skills. Refer to the videos, readings, and other weekly assignments to help you compose your answers. Question Your reflection How would you define academic readiness? See more: Examples of satire in adventures of huckfinn essay I would define academic readiness as being ready,willing and able to let yourself learn.Having the mindset to be ready to take on one of the hardest obstacles of your life.Learning new things doesn’t come easy to everyone.Especially me. I graduated high school 16 years ago,and vowed to never continue my education because I was scared and had low self-esteem.I learned over the years that I can do things,even if its hard or uncomfortable,if I set my mind to it.I am ready,academically,and personally to learn and to achieve my goals,because I need to be and deserve to be. What concerns, if any, do you have with academic writing and reading? I’m concerned mainly with writing essays.Since its been many years since I’ve had to write anything lengthy or of any real importance,I’m not very confident about it.I am,however,confident in my spelling and reading skills.I am looking forward to developing new skills in writing and learning how to put a good essay in order ,since there are many resources available to help me. What two university resources will you use to strengthen your writing and reading skills (refer to your Student Resources Worksheet)? The first resource I will be using is the Center for Writing Excellence.I can get live assistance,step by step guide’s and tutorials.I believe this will be a wonderful opportunity to learn different writing techniques and to make sure I am doing it all properly.The second resource I will utilize are the workshops.In my spare time,I will set a goal of at least 2 hours a week participating in a writing workshop to further my learning. What is your personal learning style (refer to the Ch. 1 Aplia homework)? I have learned  that I am kinesthetic.I never knew there were so many different types of learning before I started this class.I always knew,even as a child,that if the subject didn’t appeal to me personally,I couldn’t pay attention or learn anything.Knowing the information I know now,I understand why I always had such a hard tim e with math. I learn by feeling something emotionally or seeing something be done. Seeing and feeling is the way I connect to everything.Numbers is one thing I don’t comprehend easily,but I succeed in reading because I can emotionally get involved in a story. What are two obstacles you might need to overcome (refer to your Life Factors and personality assessments)? Learning how to manage my time more efficiently.I need to figure out how to manage being a wife,mother,employee and student all in one day.Another obstacle is learning how to handle stress.When I feel overwhelmed,It’s normally a very bad thing.I tend to freak out on everyone who means the most to me,which is something I need help with immediately.It’s not fair to my family. I’m going to be under alot of pressure juggling everything and I want to know how to properly deal with it. What strategies can you use to overcome these obstacles and be successful? I will get a calendar and start writing down my to-do l ist daily.I will set a time limit for each thing to manage my time correctly.As for my stress and anger,I will utilize the Life Resource Center. I am willing to take any advice given to me to help me become the best student,wife,mother and employee that I know I can be.I am willing and able to change,with the right guidance and techniques. How does knowing your personal learning style help you be successful? Knowing that I am kinesthetic and that I learn by seeing and feeling,makes me realize that I need to explore the other learning styles.Experimenting in other ways of learning,I may find that now that I’m older and more experienced at life,ways I learned when I was younger,may not be the only way I can learn now. I honestly haven’t had to learn anything academically for so many years,that trying a new style,might not be such a bad idea. Do you feel you are ready for the academic and financial commitment of attending college? Yes.The reason I am ready,is because I have been procrastinating way too long.Life doesn’t wait for you to keep saying â€Å"I’ll do it next month†¦next year,ect.†Life goes on,whether you’re ready or not.I’m 35 years old.My kids are growing up. Days fly by. You don’t know when your last day on Earth will  be.I’m ready. I’m ready to prove to myself and my family that I can achieve my dream. I’m ready to put my all into this,and I’m willing to work as hard as I can to pay for my expenses as well. How can goal setting and time management help you reach your goals? Goal setting and time management is extremely important,and also something I definitely need to improve. It will help me succeed in my dream of graduating and becoming a substance abuse counselor.I’ve never been very good at setting goals properly in the past,or managing my time wisely.Now,after I have read the chapter on the subject,I have learned ways of becoming more efficient with my time. Having goals in life is something everyone needs. Goals give you hope,and something to look forward to.Learning to make the most of your time will help you achieve these goals and make you a more productive person.

Advantages of Science

Assignment #3 WAQAR AHMED KHAN (5757) Q1. Write a function power ( a, b ), to calculate the value of a raised to b. static void Main(string[] args) { Console. WriteLine(â€Å"enter number with power is to be calculated†); int a = Convert. ToInt16(Console. ReadLine()); Console. WriteLine(â€Å"enter power†); int b = Convert. ToInt16(Console. ReadLine()); Program p = new Program(); double c=p. power(a, b); Console. WriteLine(a+ † rase to the power â€Å"+b+ â€Å"=†+c); } private double power(int a, int b) { double power = Math. Pow(a, b); return power; } Q2.Write a general-purpose function to convert any given year into its roman equivalent. Example: Roman equivalent of 1988 is mdcccclxxxviii Roman equivalent of 1525 is mdxxv static void Main(string[] args) { Console. WriteLine(â€Å"enter the year†); int number=Convert. ToInt16(Console. ReadLine()); Program p=new Program(); string samsung=p. ToRoman(number); Console. WriteLine(samsung); } private st ring ToRoman(int number) { if ((number < 0) || (number > 3999)) throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException(â€Å"insert value betwheen 1 and 3999†); if (number < 1) return string. Empty; f (number >= 1000) return â€Å"M† + ToRoman(number – 1000); if (number >= 900) return â€Å"CM† + ToRoman(number – 900); if (number >= 500) return â€Å"D† + ToRoman(number – 500); if (number >= 400) return â€Å"CD† + ToRoman(number – 400); if (number >= 100) return â€Å"C† + ToRoman(number – 100); if (number >= 90) return â€Å"XC† + ToRoman(number – 90); if (number >= 50) return â€Å"L† + ToRoman(number – 50); if (number >= 40) return â€Å"XL† + ToRoman(number – 40); if (number >= 10) return â€Å"X† + ToRoman(number – 10); if (number >= 9) return â€Å"IX† + ToRoman(number – 9); if (number >= 5) return â€Å"V† + ToRoman(number – 5); if ( number >= 4) return â€Å"IV† + ToRoman(number – 4); if (number >= 1) return â€Å"I† + ToRoman(number – 1); throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException(â€Å"something bad happened†); } Q3. Any year is entered through the keyboard. Write a function to determine whether the year is a leap year or not. static void Main(string[] args) { Console. WriteLine(â€Å"enter the year†); int a = Convert. ToInt16(Console. ReadLine()); Program p=new Program(); . leap(a); } private void leap(int a) { if (a%4! =0 && a%100==0 && a%400==0) { Console. WriteLine(â€Å"this year is a leap year†); } else Console. WriteLine(â€Å"this is not a leap year†); } Q4. Write a function that receives 5 integers and returns the sum, average and standard deviation of these numbers. int a, b, c, d, e; Console. WriteLine(â€Å"enter first number†); a = Convert. ToInt16(Console. ReadLine()); Console. WriteLine(â€Å"enter second number†); b = Convert. To Int16(Console. ReadLine()); Console. WriteLine(â€Å"enter third number†); c = Convert. ToInt16(Console. ReadLine()); Console. WriteLine(â€Å"enter forth number†); = Convert. ToInt16(Console. ReadLine()); Console. WriteLine(â€Å"enter fifth number†); e = Convert. ToInt16(Console. ReadLine()); Program p = new Program(); int f = p. sum(a, b, c, d, e); int g = p. average(f); double h = p. standard_deviation(a, b, c, d, e, f, g); Console. WriteLine(â€Å"sum of numbers are=†+f); Console. WriteLine(â€Å"averge of numbers are=†+g); Console. WriteLine(â€Å"stardard derivation of numbers is=†+h); } private double standard_deviation(int a, int b, int c, int d, int e, int f, int g) { double i, j, k, l, m,deri,squ; i = a – g; j = b – g; k = c – g; l = d – g; m = e – g; i = Math. Pow(i, 2); j = Math. Pow(j, 2); = Math. Pow(k, 2); l = Math. Pow(l, 2); m = Math. Pow(m, 2); deri = (i + j + k + l + m) / g; squ = Math. Sqrt(deri); return squ; } private int average(int f) { int avg = f / 5; return avg; } private int sum(int a, int b, int c, int d, int e) { int sum = a + b + c + d + e; return sum; } Q5. If we list all the natural numbers below 10 that are multiples of 3 or 5, we get 3, 5, 6 and 9. The sum of these multiples is 23. Find the sum of all the multiples of 3 or 5 below 1000. int sum = 0; for (int i = 3; i < 1000; i++) { if (i % 3 == 0 || i % 5 == 0) { sum += i; Console. WriteLine(sum. ToString()); } Q6. A palindromic number reads the same both ways.The largest palindrome made from the product of two 2-digit numbers is 9009 = 91 99. Find the largest palindrome made from the product of two 3-digit numbers. int maxPalindrome = 0; for (int i = 100; i < 1000; i++) { for (int j = i; j < 1000; j++) { int product = i * j; if (product. IsPalindrome() && product > maxPalindrome) { maxPalindrome = product; } } } System. Console. WriteLine(maxPalindrome); } } public static class Extensions { public s tatic bool IsPalindrome(this int i) { List chars = new List(i. ToString(). ToCharArray()); chars. Reverse(); return i == int. Parse(new string(chars. ToArray()));

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Bipolar Disorder Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Bipolar Disorder - Article Example Bipolar Disorder It also seeks to give a relevant case study, as well as the historical and policy issues that have been put in place to handle cases of bipolar disorder. It is absolute that examining the issues surrounding bipolar disorder will help in understanding ways through which it can be mitigated and how people can learn to live with those affected. 1.1 Mental Health According to the World Health Organization (WHO), psychological well being is an imperative aspect in life. In the year 2002, it was estimated that around 450 million people across the globe were suffering from behavioral, as well as mental disorders in which around 150 million of them suffered from severe depression. Mental health has serious profound impacts on families and individuals affected as far as their physical, social and economic life is concerned. Since psychological disorders often tend to affect communities as well as the families of those affected, it is essential for people to understand the major effects of men tal illness on both the social systems as well as on individuals. Consequently, this will help in improving the mental care systems and ensure effective development of related mental health programs. It is alleged that mental health covers a vast range of compulsions often affecting the elderly (Nash, 2010). The American Nursing association is focused on collaborating with the health policy makers to enhance the restoration of universal access to mental health care among the US families. Although there has been extensive efforts aimed at enhancing the world mental health, the World Health Organization has stressed on the need to have a comprehensive definition of what mental health is, and to ensure that this extends beyond the presence or absence of diagnosed disorder to include autonomy, self efficacy, well being and competence (World Health Organization, 2013). One of the common mental health issues that has been widely debated on, and that I have had a personal interaction with is bipolar disorder. In this case, it is important to give a synopsis on the historical and policy issues that surrounds, it as well as other essential factors such as its treatment. 1.2 What is Bipolar Disorder? Scholars define bipolar disorder as a manic depressive mental health state in which a person exhibits bidirectional fluctuations from a depressive to a euphoric state. Other common symptoms are irritability, a sense of hopelessness, grandiosity, low self esteem, insomnia, racing thoughts, distractibility, agitation and suicidal thoughts (Friedman, 2001, pp.165-166). Research also shows that the sleeping patterns of persons suffering from bipolar disorder often vary with the severity, the clinical state, as well as the stage of the disorder. For instance, when depressed, bipolar patients tend to sleep excessively and when in a manic state, they sleep less or not at all (â€Å"The Biology of Mental Disorders,† n.d, p.88). In the US, it is estimated that more than two m illion people suffer from bipolar disorder. One of the main reasons behind its unprecedented rise is complications that hinder appropriate as well as accurate diagnosis. Research shows that half of all the respondents reported visiting more than three mental health experts before having a correct diagnosis (Calibre, n.d, pp.1-2). According to Torrey and

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Project Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Project Paper - Essay Example The next part will highlight the discussion that happened between Mary Wollstonecraft and Catherine the Great during the former’s visit to Russia. Through their dialogue, we intend to learn, firstly, about their individual profiles; secondly, their opinions on the role of women in their societies; and lastly, their insightful views on the ideal role of women in society. Catherine the Great: Good day! Have a seat. I have summoned you here to have an interesting talk about your recently released treatise entitled â€Å"A Vindication of the Rights of the Woman†. But to formally introduce myself to you, I am Catherine the Great, Queen of Russia. Just like you, I consider myself to be ‘enlightened’ given my firm educational background which I was able to receive through hard work and strong determination (Smitha, 2000). I have been married to Emperor Peter III, who, sadly, has died in an accident. Recognizing the need of our people, I decided to ascend the throne and became their Queen. As their leader, my vision has always been to widen the influence of Orthodox Christianity all over Europe. This is why my kingdom invests heavily on strengthening our military. Aside from this, I also believe that societal order could only be attained through absolute monarchy. Thus, I intend to serve my people as long as I live. But enough about me. Please tell me more about you and your work. Mary Wollstonecraft: Firstly, Your Majesty, I would like to express my sincere thanks for requesting me to personally visit you here in Russia. But just to give you a short background about me, I consider myself to be a scholar. I could say that reading and writing have always fascinated me. For one, I enjoy reading the Bible and analyzing its primary teachings. Aside from this, I have also been a reader of the works of Shakespeare and Milton. Although it has been hard for me to obtain a formal educational training, I still

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Green IT - hype or real chance for savings Article

Green IT - hype or real chance for savings - Article Example Global Warming is caused primarily by the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas and large scale deforestation. Burning of fossil fuels releases a large amount of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). These gases act as a thick blanket and absorb thermal radiations emitted by the earth’s surface, thereby resulting in the planet to warm up significantly. According to the reports of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, global greenhouse gas emissions have grown with an increase in 70% between 1970 and 2004 The increase in temperature is a kind of anomaly in ecosystem and this anomaly will have severe consequences to follow. It will cause severe storms and droughts, glaciers to melt, rising seas, changes in weather pattern and spread of diseases. There will be an increase in the sea level and the low lying islands will left completely devastated. The inhabitants of the cities as well as other vegetation will see a dramatic increase in pests and other insects who will thrive due to an increased temperature, thus leading significantly to unexpected calamities. Loads of animal and plant species will be extinct and the habitat such as coral reefs and alpine meadows will be disheveled. Heat waves, due to global warming, have already caused a loss of 30,000 lives in Europe and 1500 deaths in India, in the year 2003. Therefore we come to a conclusion that change in temperature will have an unbearable impact not only on the human civilization but also on the entire race of different species existent across the globe. These days, most of the industries, including the IT industry is under the scanner of government in order to curb the emission of green house gases. You may be astonished as to how can an IT industry be a contributor in emission of greenhouse gases. The blame goes to the huge data centers and gigantic servers which are used to store the information in such industries. The

Monday, August 26, 2019

Planning and Controlling Purchases and Materials Usage Essay

Planning and Controlling Purchases and Materials Usage - Essay Example Budgeting is an important tool adopted by the company for planning and controlling purchases and materials usage. Sales forecast is the basis for planning and budgeting after carefully considering various factors such as capacity available and product mix. Since inventory involves significant investment, keeping it at an optimum level is very important for controlling cost. Material requirement planning is carried out in line with the production schedule for the year. Importance of study Home appliances market is very competitive. The company’s products face stiff competition from the products imported from China and Japan. The company is under tremendous pressure to ensure quality of its products and make improvements to maintain its market share. The company focuses on ‘planning and controlling purchases and materials usage’ with a view to bring down the cost of production to make its products more competitive in the market. The main objective of inventory plann ing is to keep the investment low for reducing the interest cost. The inventory can be classified into three categories. 1. Raw materials 2. Components purchased for assembly 3. Finished products Purchase and production departments along with stores are responsible for planning and controlling of inventory of raw materials and components and the production department is responsible for planning and controlling of material usage. There are varieties of household appliances manufactured and marketed by the company. Since most of the appliances are electrically operated, quality of materials purchased is very important, keeping in view the safety of the customers. Timely supply of raw materials and components avoid disruptions in production schedule usually. Order size is decided based on factors such as price, usage and lead time required for supply of materials. The materials should be purchased without compromising quality of materials at the cheapest cost in line with the purchase policy of the organization. This requires product knowledge and negotiating skills on the part of purchase manager. Planning and control of purchases is closely relating to storing of raw materials and component part before issue to various production or assembly units of the organization. Inventory planning is therefore is an important aspect in planning and control of purchases in the organization. According to Michalski (2008) â€Å"The basic financial inventory management aim is holding the inventory to a minimally acceptable level in relation to its costs. Holding inventory means using capital to finance inventory and links with inventory storage, insurance, transport, obsolescence, wasting and spoilage costs.† Planning and control of usage of materials in production department depends upon the regular supply of materials by the stores department, efficiency in production by the workers and keeping generation of scrap at minimum level. At the same time, requirements as p er the production schedule and changes thereof for a week need to be informed in advance to the stores for closely monitoring the stock levels of various raw materials and components for making necessary requisition to purchase department for initiating purchase process. Though reorder levels are fixed for various materials, uncertainties in lead time and sudden demand for appliances should be informed to the purchase and

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Curriculum Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Curriculum Leadership - Essay Example The Newton County School requires that its teaching fraternity evaluate the effectiveness of the current curriculum and determine if there is need to make some adjustments. The curriculum is dynamic in nature since it changes with the alteration and modifications in the job market. For instance, there are changes in technology, administration skills, and business management among other developmental aspects of the current job market. It would be wise to equip students with such advancements to increase their suitability. This work would focus on some of interview conducted to ascertain the need of some changes in the Newton county school’s curriculum among other issues related to the school’s curriculum formulation. The school leaders must, however, adhere to the school policies and standards as stipulated by the government’s and school’s strategic plan. Furthermore, the school administration is charged with the responsibility of standardizing the curricul um as per the required standard set by the Georgia Department of Education. The formulation of such policies is done with the encouragement of the parent and community input in the operation of the school district. Public opinion or participation is also involved in the formulation of the curriculum or policies (Hlebowitsh, 2005). The most important consideration is that the county’s curriculum must match that of other counties, as required by the Education Act of the United States. The policies are centered on various issues such as school district organization, school board operations, general school administration, fiscal management, business management, facility expansion programs, personnel, instructional programs, students, and inter-organizational relations. Under instructional program policies there are sections addressing policies on curriculum design processes, gifted student programs, scheduling for instruction, policies on unstructured break times, media programs, promotion, and retention of students. The interview session The main purpose of the interview session with the county’s education officer was to ascertain whether the county’s education system was at par with other counties’, as required by the U.S. law. I got a chance to ask him what factors are considered before a certain curriculum is considered obsolete. The term obsolete has been never applicable in any education system; what applies is updated system which requires improvement and adjustment. The county requires school administrators, parents, work force representatives to meet at the end of each year and discuss the current advancements that call for change in the school curriculum. He further argued that counties are in competition; hence, no county would wish to lag behind, as far as school curriculum is concerned. The aim of any education system is to produce a whole round personality ready to be absorbed in the job market. The end product of an educa tion system should have good ethics, technology knowledge, physically fit, be morally upright and flexible in terms of relevant changes in the job market. Hence, it requires a comprehensive curriculum to train such students. The director also mentioned that he does not call for overworking them. The children’

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Freedom And Determinism ( its for philosphy class) Essay

Freedom And Determinism ( its for philosphy class) - Essay Example idered the enigma of whether people freely exercise their own choices or if their ultimate fate is actually determined by some mysterious external force. If not for free will, no one could be held accountable for their actions because all behavior, whether good or bad, moral or immoral would be predetermined therefore out of an individuals control. However, most people sincerely believe they possess free will, as evidenced by Darwin’s evolution theory which indicates that â€Å"we do in fact have free will, that we can decide and determine our futures within the limits of physical reality† (Truth and Reality, 2007). A person can chose to, for example, type an essay or go watch television. Simple reasoning dictates that people, and animals for that matter, have the freedom of choice. We are not robots or puppets acting out in some cosmic entities stage play. The power is within each of us to alter behaviors, even long-standing patterns of behavior. The choice to take the right or left direction when we reach a fork in the road is completely ours. It would be unjust to imprison anyone for a crime if society as a whole was not convinced that free will did not exist. Common sense dictates that people have and exercise freedom of choice. William James explained this point of view maybe better than anyone by saying â€Å"people experience regret or sorrow only because they could have done otherwise.† (Stumpf, 1984) According to the concept of determinism, free will is only an illusion as described by Baron dHolbach. People are unable to alter their behaviors because actions are determined by events preceding those actions. The determinism theory dictates that all actions are determined by universal laws. In other words, if only people were fully aware of the inner-workings of the universe, they could reliably forecast impending actions. â€Å"Any present event, including human behavior, is caused by an antecedent cause† (Weiss, 1996). The merits of

Friday, August 23, 2019

Central line associated bloodstream infections Research Paper

Central line associated bloodstream infections - Research Paper Example It is essential that appropriate steps are taken by both the healthcare providers and the patient to assist in the prevention of such infections. Around 41,000 CLABSI happen within the United States hospitals every year. The central line- associated bloodstream infections are normally severe infections causing in a typical manner, a lengthening of stay in hospital and increased mortality risk as well as financial costs. Central line-bloodstream infections can be avoided by making use of proper techniques of insertion as well as through managing the central line in a proper manner. CVC, or central venous catheters, render essential accession to the bloodstream; all the same, their insertion makes the patients prone to CLABSI. The phases of insertion of central venous catheters and its maintenance afterwards along with the central line-associated bloodstream infections prevention plans may pose a challenging situation to the infection prevention while conveying resources to the central venous catheter phase that is inducing sub-optimal rates of CLABSI. Bloodstream infections that are associated to catheter are linked with the substantially increased mortality, morbidity as well as expenditures. These infections are a source of a severe threat to the patients within the intensive care units. In order to prevent central line-associated bloodstream infections, nurses, doctors and other health care professionals are required to follow the infection prevention guidelines provided by the Center for Disease Control in 2011. They are also needed to follow the recommended insertion techniques for the central line to avoid the risk of infection. The measures and guidelines provided by the CDC in 2011 are an effective way of preventing the occurrence of such infections. Guidelines along with the care bundles also advocate arrangement of care modules on the basis of unit characteristics; incorporating empirical measures and resources; training and education to encourage broa d implementation; and monitoring and auditing to make sure that staff is consistently following the advised procedural guidelines (Lu et al., 2012). The rates of central line-associated bloodstream infections in the ICUs of United States have been observed to decline dramatically in a few years as reported to the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN). This remarkable success has been achieved by applying a multifaceted technique and focusing on the use of best evidence-based practices for insertion of central line. Moreover, it has been suggested by the recent research that an additional benefit can be reaped by applying best evidence-based practices for the maintenance of central line. A meta-analysis conducted recently affirms the exercise of CHG, or chlorhexidine gluconate bathing, within the population of ICU in order to prevent CLABSI (Miller & Maragakis, 2012). Central line-associated bloodstream infections are regarded as a preventable problem of health care delivery. Mor eover, due to the utilization of resources and the remarkable morbidity, central line-associated bloodstream infections conduct a traceable mortality within the range of 12 to 25 percent. The approximated cost is around $25,000 per infection. During the

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Current event to American Politicis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Current event to American Politicis - Essay Example At this current point in American history where the nation, for the first time ever, has a female speaker of the house and will probable witness Hilary Rodham Clinton as a serious contender for the 2008 Democratic Party's presidential nomination, the status of women in politics needs to be examined more closely. Engaging in precisely such an examination, Robin Toner suggests that, insofar as public political life is concerned, femininity is both an advantage and a disadvantage; an advantage because of its appeal to a wider political base and a disadvantage because of the persistency of gender stereotypes. Within the context of political life, women are advantaged by their gender. As Toner (2007) asserts, many female politicians promote a tough image even as they project a maternal one. The implication here is that they are capable of being as strong and as tough on the issues as are the male politicians but, have a better understanding of familial and societal values. Accordingly, they have it within them to both protect the country and look towards the future of its children.

Technology Project Essay Example for Free

Technology Project Essay Week 1: Begin thinking of a business problem that could be solved with a technology solution for a company or organization you are familiar with. Use the QA Forum to ask questions and discuss your ideas about the project. See the Course Project Technical Areas for ideas. Week 2: Complete the Course Project Proposal using this format: Course Project Proposal (1-2 pages, 75 points, due week 2, properly cite any external sources used) Cover page 1. Subject of Course Project 2. Business problem statement 3. Name of the company or organization 4. Brief description of proposed solution 5. General benefits it will provide the organization 6. Audience to whom you are presenting the recommendation(s) George Mason University hosts this youth-based program in which the primary goal is to increase motivation, achievement, and exposure to STEM content of students from urban public schools by having them work with scientists and experts to design and build educational games that can be utilized by other students and teachers. The project is a partnership between George Mason University and McKinley Technology High School in Washington, DC. It will include 100 high school students from McKinley and other high schools and 100 middle school students from urban schools. During the academic year the project proposes a 3-week gaming camp which meets four hours each day while the academic year activities include 24weeks of activities for three hours each week. The project introduces fundamental concepts of IT as students develop human animation, multimedia authoring and rapid game prototyping using 3D tools. The project will include hands-on, inquiry-based activities with a strong emphasis on non-traditional approaches to learning and the intensive use of information technologies such as: web-based programming, GIS, architecture, database management, motion capture, LAN network management. The project targets urban traditionally underrepresented students from the Washington, DC area with the vision of being a model for other distance learning efforts.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

The Second Coming Of Christ

The Second Coming Of Christ Jesus said that he will come again with power and glory. He will return not as child rather as a judge and king of the world. He claimed that he will come again on the clouds of heaven when celestial bodies and powers will be shaken. Jesus reassured to his disciples that his return will be a phenomenon of swiftness and suddenness and of unexpected hour and day. Jesus clarified that he will come at the end of the tribulation. His coming will be in days like those of Lots and Noahs. His return, according to Jesus, is conditioned with preaching of Gospel to the entire world. He will come again to take the believers and to separate the sheep from the goats. Jesus return, as he said, will be at the time when Jerusalem is surrounded by armies. In this essay, I will focus on the return of Jesus Christs in the light of Christs own teaching and the implications of his teachings for the doctrine of eschatology in the Pentecostal church. DEFINITION OF PAROUSIA AND CHRISTS TEACHINGS ABOUT HIS RETURN: The return of Christ is often substituted with the word Parousia. The word Parousia can be defined as: The expected return or the second coming of Jesus Christ in which he will announce the last days and the final judgment by God of humanity. A comprehensive picture of eschatology is clearly visible in the synoptic gospels in Mathew: 24, Mark: 13 and Luke: 21 in Jesus own words. The synoptic Gospels present Jesus as the Son of Man who will return soon to take the believers with him as is also said by Christ: Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Matt 24:30 In contrast to his first coming as a little child and as a messiah, his second coming is significant as he will come as a judge and a king that he will come to judge the blessed and wicked i.e. to separate the sheep from the goats. Jesus spoke when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people from one another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. Matt 25:31 Jesus again highlighted that he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. Matt 24:31 SIGNS OF CHRIST S SECOND COMING:- Jesus did not mention when he would exactly return to take his people. It is only known to God the Father because of His unlimited knowledge, sovereignty and omnipotence. Jesus said: No one knows about the day or hour ,not even the angels in the heaven , nor the Son but only the Father'(Matt.24:36).The suddenness of Christs return is explained in the synoptic gospels in line with the days of Noah , an unexpected time when people were doing normal activities of life like now-a-days. The second coming of Christ will coincide with the other events on the prophetic agenda of Christ. It will be an age and time of great destruction of the Holy city of Jerusalem and a horrible war between Christs army and Antichrists army. Jesus said when you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. Luke 21:20 Jesus used the fig tree as an illustration, saying that when the branch is tender and puts forth leaves, we know that summer is near means Christs return is soon. Even so, when you see that these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door Mark 13:28-29. Trask and Goodall expounded: Famine has come to Africa. Again, twenty-six million people are at risk in Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Malawi, Angola, and Mozambique. In all these places .civil war conspires with drought in wiping out the human race. Particularly when Jesus emphasized that this generation or race or lineage will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened Mark13:30. Even since the restoration of Jews or Israel to the Promised Land in this century we have seen that generation .At the same time Jesus said that he will return when the Gospel is propagated in the entire world. And this Gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. Matt 24:14 False prophets and false Christs as was prophesized by Christ are dominant in this world. A nuclear race has started which may lead to third world war. Jesus said to them, many will come in my name, claiming, I am he, and will deceive many. When you hear of wars and rumours of wars, do not be alarmed .Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. DIFFERENT VIEWS OF SCHOLARS REGARDING THE RETURN OF CHRIST:- But Rudolf Boltzmann suggests that, in Jesus mind there was to be no interval between his death and his second coming. Albert Schweitzer like Rudolf Boltzmann emphasised that Christs return was supposed by Christ during his own life. Similarly, C.H.Dodd opposed the idea of an interim between Christs death, resurrection and second coming on the clouds but highlighted that it is evident from the Christs own teachings as well as the Acts and Pauline epistles that kingdom of God is already very much in power. But in David E.Aunes sight, these passages of the gospels like Mathew: 24, Mark: 13 and Luke: 21and Mathew10:28) have been wrongly interpreted as is usually said that these passages of gospels describe those events that had occurred in Jesus own life. But a note of delay is highlighted in the parables of my master is delayed, the bridegroom was delayed as is illustrated by Jesus that The bridegroom was a long time in coming and After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. Matt 24:519. John Calvin affirmed that Christ would come again, and the renovation of the world had, in a manner already begun, in Christs glorified humanity. SECOND COMING OF CHRIST AND ITS PENTECOSTAL IMPLICATIONS:- Firstly, alive believers will be taken up by Christ to receive him. The rapture is also considered essential in the Pentecostal church as being a sign of Jesus return. The Rapture is the term commonly used to designate the catching up of Christians at the second coming. Secondly, the devil will be trapped for a thousand years and those who died in Christ will be raised to rule over the world with Christ for a thousand years. Thirdly, Satan will be released after a thousand years rule of Christ and he will rebel against the dominion of Christ. Devil will deceive the nations and persuade them to war against God. When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released. Persecution of the church must occur and borne by the believers before the consummation of the world. The tribulations will be a time of unparalleled horror for all those left behind to live through the final seven years of this age. Finally, the believers will be rewarded but wicked will be punished. Those who had been martyred for His name and Gospels sake will be privileged to share the throne with Christ after having a crown of life (James1:12, Rev 2:10).Every individual from all the nations is to be judged by God in accordance with their treatment with His disciples as well as their works. As Gray notes: the main point of the parables about his kingdom is the acceptance or the rejection of the Christian faith. Saints will also get a crown of glory as a reward in return of their service for God and His kingdom. CONCLUSION:- It can be said that Jesus will come again as he himself emphatically mentioned His return several times that he will come again with his angels and saints with the great sound of trumpet and with power and glory to reign on earth for a thousand years. He will come to bring justice for the righteous and unrighteous as well as living and dead on the earth as he will be a king of peace and justice. It is also evident from the signs of His second coming that His coming will be like the days of Noah. When lightening comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Christ be. In the light of the sayings of Christ and stances taken by giants of theology it can be concluded that Christ will come again. In a nut shell, it cannot be ignored that the second coming of Jesus is a phenomenon of future which is visible from its various eschatological implications.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Ritz Carlton marketing analysis

Ritz Carlton marketing analysis 1. Introduction: Ritz Carltons marketing conduct is a true paradigm that follows root rudiments of Marketing as a management discipline i.e. recognising, anticipating and satisfying customer needs profitability as defined by Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK (Cited in Brassington Pettitt, 2001). At same point of time, the activities undertaken by Ritz Carlton under its marketing strategy not only contribute to overall brand development but rather also exemplify innovative methods to promote products or services and most significantly how to satisfy claims promised to customers as part of the strategy. This assignment focuses to reveal current positioning of Ritz Carlton in industry, and discuss in depth important factors responsible for success of company. At same point of time, assignment will also examine the imperative factors that contribute to Ritz Carlton quality of service as perceived by customers. Finally light would also be laid down on how company tries to provide consistent -universal experience to its customer all round the world and factors that act as obstacle against it. Company Overview: Ritz Carlton is one of the most well known luxury hotels company in the world. Right from inception, Ritz Carlton has brought significant innovation in practises of hospitality industry (See The Ritz Carlton, 2010a).With history of existence and success of over 100 years, Ritz Carlton as a company currently adopts Limited Liability Company nature of ownership. Ritz Carlton LLC is subsidiary company of Marriot Hotel Incorporation. The parent company, Marriot Hotels hold as many as 18 brands including Ritz Carlton. The Ritz Carlton at presents manages 72 luxury hotels in 24 countries located in 5 different regions in the world, the USA and Canada; Mexico, Caribbean and South America; Asia-Pacific; Europe; and Middle East. Besides, the company has a number of further expansion plans specifically concentrated towards eastern world with a view to take advantage of booming market. (See Worth, 2009) Service Marketing With development of marketing as a discipline, the scope of marketing has also enhanced. Jacques et al (2007) rightly points out that it is organisations self interest that decide its future course of it action. This self interest of any organisation largely depends upon nature of business it adapts and therefore, it is extremely important to recognize with what range of organisation we are dealing with beforehand, (Like Consumer, B2B, Service, Small Business, Web based and so on) so that its marketing strategy can be woven around core goals. Ritz Carlton test on product spectrum offered by Brassington Pettitt (2007) indicates that the product that they deal with is characterised by extremely greater level of service or in fact pure services. RITZ CARLTON ritz_carlton_logo.jpg Intangibility Perishability Lack of Ownership Heterogeneity Inseparability Different customer will opine differently on their experience at Ritz. Customer involvement plays vital role. Customer need to come in contact with hotel -Service provider. No Exchange of any Items takes place as part of primary offerings. Simultaneous process of producing and consuming service. Essence of Ritz Carlton success measure depends on Experience of customers Figure 1: Position of Ritz-Carlton in the Product Spectrum Assumptions: Ritz Carlton as discussed above is not only a subsidiary of Marriot Hotel Incorporation but also a LLC that deals with various type of accommodation. This does not just include hotels but rather also involves Clubs and residence properties. This assignment specifically focuses on Ritz Carlton as chain of hotels. Moreover, analysis is completely based on its worldwide presence and not limited to any particular geographic market. This is intentionally done so as to understand marketing of Ritz Carlton as chain of hotels rather any specific unit. However, for understanding and justification purpose, region specific examples are cited in certain parts of assignment. 2. Exploring Secret behind Ritz Carltons Success: Ritz Carlton as an organisation offers its services across five continents. Right from USA to Asia its hotels at first look give us experience of beyond imagination architecture and provides stereotype of luxury and elegance. There is no doubt to the fact that physical surrounding (which include premises) in case of service industry act as one of the most important element, that define success criteria for influencing consumer behaviour (Bitner M.,1992) and portray what it stand for. Physical evidences i.e. tangible items add value to service being offered. However, it can be argued that it is not the lone measure responsible for hotels success. The basic reason behind this is, a customer never judges a hotel solely on foundation of its tangible infrastructure (Building, Technological availability, Type of Rooms etc) but rather there are number of other elements that play vital role. This part of assignments will try to identify such important factors responsible behind Ritz Carlton success. Successfully Targeting Segmentation: The need of customers varies for various reasons and therefore it is very important to identify prospective strategic customer for organisation, (Johnson et al, 2008) at same point of time organisation must also have calibre to satisfy the targeted group of customers. Ritz- Carltons continued success, behind the scenes depicts its ability to successfully targets it segmentation, offering perfect Marketing Mix elements. Moreover, it also ensures that modifications are made in marketing mix elements with changing scenario in market trends and both these factors act as key elements. Kotler et al (2009) emphasise on a point that, marketing is all about forming strategy towards consumer and customer needs and thereby offering service or product that satisfy those needs. Ritz Carlton as an organisation in true sense is perfect at following and applying this basic ideology. This assignment aims to identify success factors of Ritz Carlton in light of marketing mix elements with a view to jus tify above argument. Identifying Market Focus (Segmentation): Marriot Hotels has divided their business to number of segments where Ritz Carlton serves as Luxury Lodging (See Marriot Hotel Incorporation, 2008) and hence it is very evident from this fact that Ritz Carlton as a company exists to serve luxurious hospitality Ritz Carlton hotels are located at more than 70 destinations, the basic customer segment which Ritz-Carlton targets is, people with rich lifestyle in all aspects of life. Irrespective of any geographic location on earth, age, social-cultural belief, opinion of an individual, the common element that Ritz tries to concentrate is People with Lavish living. Therefore, it can be invariably noticed that Ritz Carlton adopts concentrated targeting method towards Psychographic segmentation. As Brassington Pettitt (2007) rightly points that lifestyle segmentation is very difficult to define, we came up with following attributes that Ritz Carlton try to target. (See figure 1.1). Psychographic Segmentation Ritz Carlton Figure 2 Targeting Customer Segmentation Factors Defining Success of Ritz Carlton: Perfect Offerings (Product): The product anatomy (See figure 3) of Ritz Carlton illustrates that it is not just a customary hotel which satisfies basic needs but rather, it aspires to provide unforgettable experience to its customers, which perfectly matches its target market. Most importantly, providing value added services as personalised attention very well justify its marketing appeal to customer Experience The Ritz, enabling it to exceed customer expectations. Moreover, this value added services acts as source of tremendous additional revenues for Ritz Carlton. (Baxter J, 2007) One of vital point to focus is product development undertaken i.e. offerings of special packages, with a view to attract more customers and adapt to current market situations. (See Appendix) Furthermore in hospitality industry, locations act as products, as it creates value to selling points and influence buyers behaviour as well (Brassington Pettitt, 2007). All properties of Ritz Carlton are majority placed in USA, China and Europe an countries which are strategically located as it intends to focus on top most tourism and business destinations of the world. (See UNWTO, 2006) Moreover, Ritz Carlton has its hotels at New York, London, Paris, and Dubai which are strongest cities in terms of highest occupancy rates of rooms. (Worth S., 2009) ritz_carlton_logo.jpg Figure 3 Product Anatomy of Ritz Carlton Directly getting in touch with end Customer (Place) In service industry generally, there exist direct selling between service provider and end customer and the basic reason behind this is core characteristics of service products by nature (i.e. Perishability, Intangibility, Heterogeneity, and Inseparability) as discussed above. (Cowell, 1984) The activity of providing service for hotels initiates as soon as customer triggers its efforts for bookings. Ritz Carlton recognises importance of rise in online booking which almost doubled in 2007 (Research by Travelclick cited in Baxter J., 2007) and offers easy access to its customer to book from its own website. Ritz Carlton has also entered into best available rate programmes with website as (such as Thomson.co.uk, InspiredLuxuryEscapes.com) to play with consumer confidence to get cheapest rates on web. This evidently suggests that primary focus of Ritz Carlton is to directly contact the customer which is vital need of service marketing i.e. to reach out customer and influence their behavi our encouraging them to experience your service (Brassington Pettitt, 2007). Pricing Concentrating towards Sub-Segmentations (Price) Price must convince customers perception towards compensation of service offered and value paid against it (Jacques et al, 2007) and therefore it is vital to ensure that pricing strategy is in synchronisation with segment targeted. As Javalgi et al (2006) rightly indicates that Ritz Carlton extends it services to industry executives, meeting and corporate travel planners, and affluent travellers, targeting sub-segments also plays important role. Ritz-Carlton has carved niche for itself which is evident from various range of prices its offer. At Ritz London one night accommodation costs from about  £250 up to  £3500, while similarly in USA markets the range exist between 200$ to 3000$ (As on 10 march 2010). This suggests that Ritz Carlton concentrates on sub segmentation acts as an advantage. However, base pricing is one of the areas where Ritz Carlton needs to seek improvements (See Current Positioning part) to attract more customers. Brassington Pettitt (2007) also brings to notice important issue that price is an important tool to manage demand. Understanding this vital point, during recent tough time company brought out number of attractive packages to influence more customer (Like package of 2 nights stay at 449$ per family) (See Schultenover J; Strout E, 2002) and that defines companys ability to alter marketing mix elements as per relevant conditions. Balance Innovative Endorsement (Promotion): Ritz Carlton involves itself with both form of promotional activities as referred by Berkowitz et al (1992) i.e. product oriented and institution oriented. It adopts a balance promotional strategy ensuring that using product oriented approach it continuously communicates with customers regarding its USP (Unique Selling Point) and recent offerings on other hand it uses Institution oriented approach to preserve Ritz Carlton as a Unique brand with historical excellence influencing consumer behavior. Impact of Promotion on Consumer Perceptions towards Ritz Carlton: High Expertise Premium Brand Life Time Experience Symbol of Status Going Beyond Expectations Respect For Brand A matter of Pride Innovative and benchmark for Quality Figure 4 Impact of Promotion on Consumer In addition to this, Ritz Carlton adapts PULL strategy (Brassington Pettitt, 2007) using perfect medium to directly communicate with customer. With rise in concept of Social marketing Ritz Carlton has tied up with Travel Click to actively manage its promotion over web. (Hospitality.Net, 2009) To target business travellers, paper adverts are given in leading business magazines (e.g. Business Traveller) along with television adverts and advertising in airlines. One of the important observations is Ritz Carlton uses its own Website as major promotional medium. All package brochures, promotional videos, Ritz Carltons own magazine are uploaded to website. (See The Ritz Carlton, 2010) One of the significant points of observation is Ritz Carlton provides innovative edge to its promotion strategy. One of the classic examples is, it markets its biggest asset i.e. Employees. There is not a single promotional videos which fails to give importance to its own staff representing them as creators and followers of high quality standards in industry terming them as Our Ladies Gentleman (See The Ritz London, 2008; Ritz Culture, 2007). Apart from this, instead of using simple adverts Ritz Carlton has created short films which are aired on televisions, hotel rooms, and websites to make people understand what uniqueness of its services is. (See The Delay, 2008; The Last Night, 2008, New Gold Standards, 2010, Audi and Tarma, 2007). Hence innovative and a balance promotional strategy is one of the important factors responsible behind Ritz Carlton success. Staff- A Biggest Asset (People) March, J.G and Simon (1958) emphasise on vital point that organisations are primarily formed and governed by people and therefore image reflection of organisation largely depend upon actions of its staff and this is especially true in case of service industry as it deals with process of interactive marketing (Kotler P and Armstrong G, 2004; Brassington Pettitt,2007). Ritz Carlton understands this vital point and implements customer focused approach. It aims at hiring right people, providing best fit to organisations culture of Putting Customer First who are characterized with a strong sense of values and overall desire to go beyond the call of duty. (Emerald Database, 2003) Furthermore, Ritz Carlton goes step ahead, as an organisation, it strives to get known for its excellent service and that act as a key to its success. Organisation best at this must try to invest their money, talent, time and attention to strengthen their current positing (Ferrell O.C; Hartline M., 2006) and that what Ritz Carlton does by investing in its people. In this process, over the year Ritz Carlton has developed and raised bars of customer services with help of their staff which itself now act as their behavioural core competence that cannot be easily imitated by others. (Johnson et al, 2008; Bacon, 2005) Internal Values Operations (Process) It is important for service industry to pay attention to both, employees and customer to successfully implement process of service profit chain. Ritz Carlton as an organisation aims to take extreme care and respect for their employees, with an understanding that, in return they will put up efforts to fulfil even unexpressed wishes of their customer. (Kotler P and Armstrong G, 2004) The employees are empowered, trained to develop gold standards (See Emerald Database, 2002) and are considered biggest strength of the organisation which produces exemplifying services towards customer. Employees are trained motivated to develop relational exchange with customer with a view to increase loyalty and development of brand. (Jain R and Jain S, 2006) Creating Value Internal Process CUSTOMER FOCUS Figure 5 Service Profit Chain for Ritz Carlton Another important contributing factor is Ritz-Carlton has been successful in developing its own culture of servicing (Kent W, 1990) which is now considered as gold standards (Benchmark) towards quality development in servicing industry. Ritz Carlton also uses CLASS database with purpose of registering likes/dislikes, Interests, preferences, previous problems faced, attitude of every individual customer to provide personalised service. Hence, putting all together, these are innovative process that enables Ritz Carlton to fully engage employees and generate a creative delightful experience to its customer on one hand and simultaneously developing an unique core competence for itself at other hand.(Timmerman J, 2009) 2. Current Positioning According to Kotler et al (2009), all marketing strategy is built on STP Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning. A company discovers different needs and groups in the marketplace, targets those needs and groups that it can satisfy in a superior way, and then positions its offering so that the target market recognizes the companys distinctive offering and image. Positioning is process of analysing product or service, offered in context of competitive space (includes buyers and competitors) it works out. (See Brassington Pettitt, 2007; Kotler et al 2009) It is a way of creating and engaging a place in the mind of the target market by highlighting the companys offering, brand and image. The ultimate outcome of positioning is a flourishing establishment of a consumer focused value proposition, in other words a convincing reason why the target market should buy the product (Kotler, 2003) and therefore it act as base to companys success. This part of assignment aims to explore current positioning of Ritz Carlton in market. The basic idea is to understand customers perception towards our brand and towards our closest competitors. At same point of time identifying attributes that are responsible for creation of this illusion in minds of customer Identifying relevant attribute players: The various attribute offered by the brand represents its market position, which are viewed and compared against other brand. Brands that offer similar package of attributes are deemed to be in the same competitive set (Dev C.S et al, 1995) and therefore it is important to concentrate on direct competitors rather than industry as a whole. Efforts must be laid down to identify players with similar attributes competing on same values. (Johnson et al, 2007) It is a nature of the hospitality industry that most of the attributes offered are intangible which makes it tricky for the customer to differentiate the offerings of the competitor as such things can be experience only by staying in the hotel. A part of the positioning is also subjective, as it involves customers perception towards brand. Here, analysis is based on Marketing Metrix Hospitality Index* which reveals price and level of customer satisfaction from the feedback of more than 35000 customers across world. (See appendix) There are numerous players in hospitality industry targeting luxury segment and so it is decided to firstly filter relevant players on basis of tangible attribute i.e. area of market covered geographically, as analysis is based on worldwide scenario. This enables us to get core market competitors (See figure 2) (To an extent it influences customer choice of hotel, as it defines scope of service being provided and also impacts brand creation process in eyes of customer) Hotels Area Covered Number of Properties Ritz Carlton LLC Across 5 Continents 72 Fairmont Raffles Hotels International Group Across 5 Continents Around 65 Starwoods Hotel Resorts Le Meridien 16 Countries 116 Four Seasons PLC 35 Countries Across 5 Continents 83 InterContinental Hotel Group Across 60 Countries 166 (The Ritz Carlton, 2010; Four Seasons, 2010; InterContinental Hotels Resorts, 2010; Fairmont Hotels Resorts; Starwoods Hotel Resorts, 2010) Table 1 Identified Relevant Players on Basis of Geographical area The other two most important attributes identified from view point of customer are price and quality. Quality can be judged on several others important sub attributes (As Quality of food and beverage, physical appearance and in-room facilities, helpful and courtesy of staff, Technology etc.) and therefore this aspect is judged on basis of customer satisfaction index which provides comprehensive picture of it. About MMHI*: Based on 35,000 customer interviews conducted each quarter, the Market Metrix Hospitality Index (MMHI) is the largest and most in-depth measure of hospitality company performance available today. (MMHI, 2010) Taj Hotels Resorts rc_logo_en Industry Competitors Four Seasons Hotels PLC Starwoods Hotel Resorts -ST Regis Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group Fairmont Raffles Hotels International Jumeirah Hotels Resorts Pan Pacific Hotels Resorts Wyndham Hotel Group Market Competitors Marriot Hotels Incorporation* Oberoi Hotels Resorts Rosewood Hotels group Inter Continental Hotel Group Starwoods Hotels Resorts Le Meridien Figure 6: Competitors analysis of Ritz-Carlton Starwoods Hotel Resorts*: Its Brands, St. Regis Le Meridien targets luxury segment within total of 152 properties across world. Marriot Hotels Incorporation*: Although Ritz Carlton is subsidary of Marriot Hotel Incorporation, it has got more than 18 brands and there is defiante possiblity that these brand may compete amongst each other and therefore Marriot Hotel Incorporation is also considered as Industry competitor. Perceptual Mapping: The graph represents all the players targeting luxury segment with widespread presence all over the world under hospitality industry. Yet, it must be noted that level of quality, prices offered would differ under this banner as well and it is this factor that differentiates best in comparison to average player in eyes of customer which can be clearly identfied below. Ritz Calton fall under the segment of offering High Quality with High Price. High Quality Oberoi Hotels Ritz Carlton Low Price High Price Four Seasons Inter Continental Le Meridien Low Quality Figure 7 Perceptual Mapping of Ritz Carlton Perceprtual Map enales us to find out gaps and provide us inights towards undertaking competitive action needed.(Brassington Pettitt) Gaps to be filled Up: Customer needs to be satisfied. Pricing Strategy: As discussed above Ritz Carlton concentrates on sub-segments that act as advantage however the minimum base price it offers is subject to risk. Ritz Carlton price starts at about 200$ while that of Oberoi hotels reporting maximum customer satisfaction (93.7) offers base price at 85$.Although, Ritz Carlton brand value is quite high compared to Oberoi group yet, Its a huge gap and therefore it must revise its pricing strategy. Moreover, all of its market competitors also offers relatively too low price, closest being Intercontinental group offering 156$ (See appendix). At same point of time Ritz Carltons closest rival Four Season offers almost equal quality of service (86.6) at price of just 141$ which is matter of worry as well. Improving Loyalty programmes: Ritz Carlton understands that complete customer satisfaction is one of the vital strategic to retain and maintaining long term relationship with its customer and it is best practising at that. (Bacon, 2005; Emerald Database, 2004) However, there is scope for improvement in its loyalty programmes as recent data indicates its loyalty program strength of 5% compared to industry average of 10 %. (See appendix). This will enhance its potential to gain increased customer loyalty. Attracting New Market by adapting service innovations: Ritz Carlton is aware of the fact that the key to a hotels survival is its ability to cater services with changing needs and life styles of customers. (Min et al, 2002) There is no doubt that organisation completely understands changing taste of consumers i.e. people are now becoming more casual compared to traditional formalin approach.(Gunter and Heather, 2007) But this needs to be communicated to customers and therefore, there is need for Ritz Carlton to presents itself as modern, technological hotel group supporting needs of modern, young travellers. At same point of time, as recommended by Victorino et al (2005) company must move further towards service innovation with use of technology to differentiate itself from others. Ritz Carlton has already started implementing steps towards this approach; however there is need for rapid actions and wide promotions with intentions to quickly change consumer perception towards its brand. 2000 Euros for Managing Guest Grievance A Strategic Move! Ritz-Carltons employees are allowed to spend up to $2,000 to redress a guests grievance. The employees are entrusted to spend the money to make a memorable stay for the guest in the hotel. Employees are encouraged to solve the guests complaints immediately on the spot. Permitting the employees to spend a sum of $2,000 shows how much the company trust the judgement of their employees and employees can even spend more than $2,000 with the permission from general manager. The basic logic behind such action is, with existence of fierce competition within the market it is always difficult for firms to increase their market share and therefore key to continue successful growth lies in devoting larger part of firms resources on existing customers with intention to retain them and gain their loyalty (Tepeci M, 1999) Moreover, such act adds value to brand creation and customer satisfaction and that encourages customer to become brand loyal. (Kandampully J and Suhartanto D, 2000) Most importan tly, the question of such spending exceeds overheads does not arise as it is obvious that it doesnt get used on every customer. It acts as meaningful amount yet, used rarely. (Reiss R, 2009). Customer satisfaction is the key to customer retention. A greatly satisfied customer stays loyal longer with the company and talks favourably about the company. A loyal customer is less sensitive to price, pays less attention to the competitors brand and cost less to serve than new customer. From the customers who registered a complaint, between 54% and 70% will do business again with the same company if their complaint is resolved, these number could be pulled up to an overwhelming 95% if the customer experiences that their complaint is resolved quickly. Customers who have complained to an organization and had their complaints satisfactorily resolved tell an average of five people about the good treatment they received (Philip Kotler, 1977), which indirectly contributes to attract further new customer. Expanding the customer retention rate accumulates the customer lifetime value, and therefore this means life time revenue for company. On other hand company, attracting new customers are costly as that include cost of promotions, advertising and so on which can be avoided. Therefore such action is termed as strategic Move by Ritz Carlton. There is also another point of view to this scenario which impacts internal working culture of within organisation. Allowing such amount to spend makes Employee feel that company respect them, trust them, considers them responsible and valuable and this generates feeling of empowerment impacting concept of service profit chain as discussed above. Employees get more engaged with company and works more responsibly ultimately resulting to exceptional customer service, which is the core aim of organisation. Appendix: Product Development by Ritz Carlton (i.e. to offer Special Packages) aims to attract more customers by influencing their behaviour and encouraging them to celebrate this important occasion with them and turn them to Life time Memories. (Festive Season Packages during Easter; Christmas, Valentine Day at Ritz, Summer Break Packages, Weekends Special, and Family Packages) Ritz Valentine photo.jpg (Rogers; Mark, 2009) Along with these Ritz Carlton also developed special packages for companies during times of recession to provide luxury at budgeted economy. Packages were upgraded to more facilities at lower price. Significant efforts were also laid down in promoting it and communicating it to end customers as well. This indicates Ritz Carlton ability to act as per changing external situations (Schultenover J; Strout E, 2002) MMHI Results: Market Metrix Hospitality index indicating customer satisfaction and average price results for hotels under luxury segment and Up Scale hotels. page0001.jpg (Source: MMHI Results, 2009) Video Bibliography: Official Ritz Carlton Promotional Videos: 1. New Gold Standard (2010) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW70hBP5cIc (Promotional Videos at hotel rooms and Websites) 2. Ritz Culture (2007) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_iFSAAoQ-A (Interview of Diana Oreck, Vice President Global Learning and Leadership Center) 3. The Last Night (2008) http://video.yahoo.com/watch/2296201/7207129 (Ritz Carlton Short Film in association with America Express) 4. The Delay (2008) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oFz8E5fbJQ (Ritz Carlton Short Film in association with America Express) 5. The Ritz London (2008) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQGlyhlhcK0 (Documentary on The Ritz London)

Monday, August 19, 2019

The Character of Ophelia in Shakespeares Hamlet :: GCSE English Literature Coursework

Gunnar Boklund in â€Å"Hamlet† performs a partial-analysis on the character of Ophelia in Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet: The only character who is presented almost entirely as a victim is Ophelia, a victim of the King’s fear and curiosity, her father’s servility and fundamental indifference to her, Hamlet’s misunderstanding of the situation and brutal treatment of her, and finally his fatal thrust through the arras in the closet scene. Her madness is, as I see it, a purely pathetic element in the play. In the world where Hamlet has been forced to act, there appears to be no room for passive and obedient innocence. It is crushed, and perishes. (123) It is the intent of this essay to examine the â€Å"passive and obedient innocence† of this victimized character, as well as many other facets of the interesting personality of Hamlet’s girlfriend – with input from numerous literary critics. The protagonist of the tragedy, Prince Hamlet, initially appears in the play dressed in solemn black, mourning the death of his father supposedly by snakebite while he was away at Wittenberg as a student. Hamlet laments the hasty remarriage of his mother to his father’s brother, an incestuous act; thus in his first soliloquy he cries out, â€Å"Frailty, thy name is woman!† Ophelia enters the play with her brother Laertes, who, in parting for school, bids her farewell and gives her advice regarding her relationship with Hamlet. Ophelia agrees to abide by the advice: â€Å"I shall the effect of this good lesson keep as watchman to my heart.† After Laertes’ departure, Polonius inquires of Ophelia concerning the â€Å"private time† which Hamlet spends with her. He dismisses Hamlet’s overtures as â€Å"Affection, puh!† Polonius considers Ophelia a â€Å"green girl,† incapable of recognizing true love: â€Å"These blazes . . . you mu st not take for fire.† He gets her assurance that she will not talk with Hamlet anymore.    When the ghost talks privately to Hamlet, he learns not only about the murder of his father, but also about the unfaithfulness and adultery of his mother. Gertrude was seduced by â€Å"that incestuous, that adulterate beast,/With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts† – Claudius himself – prior to his brother’s passing. â€Å"So lust, though to a radiant angel link'd,/Will sate itself in a celestial bed,/And prey on garbage.† In the mind of Hamlet, this drastically reduces the goodness of womankind generally. Hamlet chooses to use an â€Å"antic disposition† to disguise his actions as he maneuvers to kill the one who poisoned his father in the garden.

Sunday, August 18, 2019

The Feudal System :: essays research papers

"The Feudal System" The feudal system was a political, military, and economic system based on the holding of land. The system was developed since the whole entire basis of rule from all the civilizations before the Middle Ages was lost. Early Europe was in desperate need of such a system since they were constantly being raided by the Vikings and other outsiders. Man was lonely during the Middle Ages. Life was very harsh and everyone worked except the king. The usual life expectancy was 35. People lived in small farming communities. Everyone lived in constant fear of being raided by foreign invaders such as the Vikings. When they were not worrying about being invaded they were scared of plague and other living conditions. Man's position in the world was unknown. Knowledge, wealth, and governing body had to be recreated. Cities were far and few between and much less populated and developed like today's cities. The Middle Ages was a religious age. Man clung to God as creator. People painstakingly built churches. Religion was what was the most important to people for a long time, and to be excommunicated was horrible. As time progressed the feudal system was created. It was designed to divide the lands and protect from attack. The king first gave a fief or a piece of land to a royal vassal. As proof for this exchange in land a vassal would swear to the lord to be his man all the days of his life and protect him against "all men who may live or die." Next came investiture. Investiture was a symbolic gesture when a King or a lord presented a royal vassal or a vassal a stick, a small rod, or a clod of earth to show that he has given him a fief. Now this royal vassal was in charge of a huge piece of land. In order to defend it he would then divide his land into smaller pieces. He would take these smaller pieces and give them to warriors or who agreed to be his own vassals. Thus, the royal vassal became a lord to other vassals. The vassals now under this lord would now divide their lands and grant fiefs to warriors of their own. Last in the dividing of land was the knight whose parcel of land was too small to be divided. Everyone in the feudal system worked except the king.

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Middleware Essay

What is middleware? The term middleware is defined by one’s point of view. It is used to describe a broad array of tools and data that help applications use networked resources and services. Some tools, such as authentication and directories, are in all categorizations. Other services, such as coscheduling of networked resources, secure multicast, object brokering and messaging, are the major middleware interests of particular communities, such as scientific researchers and business systems vendors. One definition that reflects this breadth of meaning is â€Å"Middleware is the intersection of the stuff that network engineers don’t want to do with the stuff that applications developers don’t want to do. † Why is middleware important? Middleware has emerged as a critical second level of an enterprise IT infrastructure, sitting on top of the network level. The need for middleware stems from the increasing growth in the number of applications, in the customizations within those applications and the number of locations in our environments; these and other factors now require that a set of core data and services be moved from their multiple instances into a centralized institutional offering. This central provision of service eases application development, increases robustness, assists data management, and provides overall operating efficiencies. Okay, so it is important. Lots of things are these days. Why is it urgent? There are several drivers bringing middleware to campus; Advanced scientific computing environments such as PACI are placing requirements on campus researchers for middleware services such as authentication and directories. Library projects such as the UCOP/Columbia certificate project will be extending across a broader higher ed community . The Federal government is preparing requirements for digital signatures for student loan forms. New versions of software, such as Windows 2000, come with the tools to build ad hoc middleware components. What is urgent is that the campus builds a coherent infrastructure to respond to these drivers. What makes the higher ed and research communities distinctive in its need for middleware? Many companies and other communities of interest are rapidly understanding the importance of middleware to their missions and are proceeding with development. Higher education faces unique technical and policy issues in its deployment. Technical issues include the mobility of students, the diversity of equipment, and advanced application requirements. Policy issues include ownership of data, FERPA and other public records issues, and extended collaborative relationships. Together these considerations make the middleware deployment significantly harder within higher education. When middleware becomes part of the IT environment, how critical will a robust infrastructure be? The middleware components of the future IT environment will be every bit as critical as the underlying network infrastructure, requiring 7Ãâ€"24 service, high-performance, and appropriate redundancy. Directory services will be receive millions of hits per day; identifiers will have explicit control mechanisms; attribute services will be invoked by almost every application on campus; lawyers will place stringent operational constraints on security services. Is middleware a centralized or distributed issue on campus? It is both. Like network services on campus, there is a need for a consistent infrastructure across campus that is best provisioned centrally. At the same time, much of the contents of this infrastructure are best maintained by the individuals themselves and their departments. The trick is to create a centrally coordinated service that provides tools and authority for distributed management of the contents. Aren’t we going to get middleware from the commercial marketplace? It is certainly the case that most basic middleware products that higher education will deploy commercial products, from broad software companies such as Microsoft and Novell, and from specific product providers such as Netscape, HP, and ATT. However a number of distinctive characteristics of the higher ed community create design considerations that in turn cause complex implementations. In addition, the research part of the academic enterprise needs additional discipline-specific middleware that is likely not going to attract a commercial interest. Finally, the collaborative nature of higher education suggest interoperability issues that must be addressed within the community. What kind of investments will campuses need to make? Like networking, middleware will require considerable commitments of time and money. However, the types of costs are different. Networking has required large sums of capital (for fiber, routers, switches, etc. ) and considerable operating costs (for external access, maintenance, etc. ) Personnel costs have been relatively modest. For middleware, the hardware costs (servers, readers, etc. are likely to be relatively low. Software costs are unclear now, but there are clearly considerable expenses in building bridges to legacy systems and evolving middleware-enabled applications. Unlike networking, there is a second major cost component in middleware – process time. A campus must develop consensus and support for the need for middleware, clarify data ownership and management issues, specify relationships among individuals, groups and information technology objects, establish legal agreements and change the way that information is managed on the campus. How does the Internet2 Middleware Initiative intend to address these needs? Efforts will focus on advancing the level of middleware within higher education through a set of related activities, including fostering technical standards, aggregating and disseminating technical design and implementation strategies, fostering opportunities for vendors and Internet2 members to shape and deploy products, and integrating efforts with particular scientific and research communities. What should campuses be doing now? It is not to early for campuses to begin the processes that address the â€Å"policy-side† of the challenge, building awareness about the need for middleware, identifying key constituencies that will be involved in the process, and taking basic inventories of the data and management relationships on campus. At the same time, experimentation in the core technologies, most notably in directory services, should be undertaken.

Friday, August 16, 2019

Geography Reflection

This project was challenging from the beginning. We had difficulty identifying what we were going to center our project around. Once we got going however we did get a lot of productive work done. I didn’t contribute a large direct contribution to the paper, but I did the introduction and conclusion portions. I also worked closely with Yibo and Bobby to structure their arguments in their portions of the paper. Bobby found my assistance very helpful and him and I constantly worked on revising portions of the paper as we were writing them.Yibo asked for help and we gave him help as well as outlined how his paper should go, but he was unable to structure his part of the paper accordingly. If I were to re-do the project I would have liked to work more closely with Yibo on his part of the paper, and ensured we all cited our work as we went. We got mixed up in a few of our sources and it was a headache to fit them at the end, but we were able to crunch it out at the end. I felt the p resentation fell upon my lap for the most part and I would have liked more contributions from the other members as far as setting up the presentation.However I was very grateful that each of the members had their own knowledge about their sections of the paper. This project was challenging from the beginning. We had difficulty identifying what we were going to center our project around. Once we got going however we did get a lot of productive work done. I didn’t contribute a large direct contribution to the paper, but I did the introduction and conclusion portions. I also worked closely with Yibo and Bobby to structure their arguments in their portions of the paper.Bobby found my assistance very helpful and him and I constantly worked on revising portions of the paper as we were writing them. Yibo asked for help and we gave him help as well as outlined how his paper should go, but he was unable to structure his part of the paper accordingly. If I were to re-do the project I w ould have liked to work more closely with Yibo on his part of the paper, and ensured we all cited our work as we went. We got mixed up in a few of our sources and it was a headache to fit them at the end, but we were able to crunch it out at the end.I felt the presentation fell upon my lap for the most part and I would have liked more contributions from the other members as far as setting up the presentation. However I was very grateful that each of the members had their own knowledge about their sections of the paper. This project was challenging from the beginning. We had difficulty identifying what we were going to center our project around. Once we got going however we did get a lot of productive work done. I didn’t contribute a large direct contribution to the paper, but I did the introduction and conclusion portions.I also worked closely with Yibo and Bobby to structure their arguments in their portions of the paper. Bobby found my assistance very helpful and him and I constantly worked on revising portions of the paper as we were writing them. Yibo asked for help and we gave him help as well as outlined how his paper should go, but he was unable to structure his part of the paper accordingly. If I were to re-do the project I would have liked to work more closely with Yibo on his part of the paper, and ensured we all cited our work as we went.We got mixed up in a few of our sources and it was a headache to fit them at the end, but we were able to crunch it out at the end. I felt the presentation fell upon my lap for the most part and I would have liked more contributions from the other members as far as setting up the presentation. However I was very grateful that each of the members had their own knowledge about their sections of the paper. This project was challenging from the beginning. We had difficulty identifying what we were going to center our project around.Once we got going however we did get a lot of productive work done. I didn’ t contribute a large direct contribution to the paper, but I did the introduction and conclusion portions. I also worked closely with Yibo and Bobby to structure their arguments in their portions of the paper. Bobby found my assistance very helpful and him and I constantly worked on revising portions of the paper as we were writing them. Yibo asked for help and we gave him help as well as outlined how his paper should go, but he was unable to structure his part of the paper accordingly.If I were to re-do the project I would have liked to work more closely with Yibo on his part of the paper, and ensured we all cited our work as we went. We got mixed up in a few of our sources and it was a headache to fit them at the end, but we were able to crunch it out at the end. I felt the presentation fell upon my lap for the most part and I would have liked more contributions from the other members as far as setting up the presentation. However I was very grateful that each of the members had t heir own knowledge about their sections of the paper. This project was challenging from the beginning.We had difficulty identifying what we were going to center our project around. Once we got going however we did get a lot of productive work done. I didn’t contribute a large direct contribution to the paper, but I did the introduction and conclusion portions. I also worked closely with Yibo and Bobby to structure their arguments in their portions of the paper. Bobby found my assistance very helpful and him and I constantly worked on revising portions of the paper as we were writing them. Yibo asked for help and we gave him help as well as outlined how his paper should go, but he was unable to structure his part of the paper accordingly.If I were to re-do the project I would have liked to work more closely with Yibo on his part of the paper, and ensured we all cited our work as we went. We got mixed up in a few of our sources and it was a headache to fit them at the end, but we were able to crunch it out at the end. I felt the presentation fell upon my lap for the most part and I would have liked more contributions from the other members as far as setting up the presentation. However I was very grateful that each of the members had their own knowledge about their sections of the paper. This project was challenging from the beginning.We had difficulty identifying what we were going to center our project around. Once we got going however we did get a lot of productive work done. I didn’t contribute a large direct contribution to the paper, but I did the introduction and conclusion portions. I also worked closely with Yibo and Bobby to structure their arguments in their portions of the paper. Bobby found my assistance very helpful and him and I constantly worked on revising portions of the paper as we were writing them. Yibo asked for help and we gave him help as well as outlined how his paper should go, but he was unable to structure his part of th e paper accordingly.If I were to re-do the project I would have liked to work more closely with Yibo on his part of the paper, and ensured we all cited our work as we went. We got mixed up in a few of our sources and it was a headache to fit them at the end, but we were able to crunch it out at the end. I felt the presentation fell upon my lap for the most part and I would have liked more contributions from the other members as far as setting up the presentation. However I was very grateful that each of the members had their own knowledge about their sections of the paper. This project was challenging from the beginning.We had difficulty identifying what we were going to center our project around. Once we got going however we did get a lot of productive work done. I didn’t contribute a large direct contribution to the paper, but I did the introduction and conclusion portions. I also worked closely with Yibo and Bobby to structure their arguments in their portions of the paper . Bobby found my assistance very helpful and him and I constantly worked on revising portions of the paper as we were writing them. Yibo asked for help and we gave him help as well as outlined how his paper should go, but he was unable to structure his part of the paper accordingly.If I were to re-do the project I would have liked to work more closely with Yibo on his part of the paper, and ensured we all cited our work as we went. We got mixed up in a few of our sources and it was a headache to fit them at the end, but we were able to crunch it out at the end. I felt the presentation fell upon my lap for the most part and I would have liked more contributions from the other members as far as setting up the presentation. However I was very grateful that each of the members had their own knowledge about their sections of the paper. This project was challenging from the beginning.We had difficulty identifying what we were going to center our project around. Once we got going however w e did get a lot of productive work done. I didn’t contribute a large direct contribution to the paper, but I did the introduction and conclusion portions. I also worked closely with Yibo and Bobby to structure their arguments in their portions of the paper. Bobby found my assistance very helpful and him and I constantly worked on revising portions of the paper as we were writing them. Yibo asked for help and we gave him help as well as outlined how his paper should go, but he was unable to structure his part of the paper accordingly.If I were to re-do the project I would have liked to work more closely with Yibo on his part of the paper, and ensured we all cited our work as we went. We got mixed up in a few of our sources and it was a headache to fit them at the end, but we were able to crunch it out at the end. I felt the presentation fell upon my lap for the most part and I would have liked more contributions from the other members as far as setting up the presentation. How ever I was very grateful that each of the members had their own knowledge about their sections of the paper. This project was challenging from the beginning.We had difficulty identifying what we were going to center our project around. Once we got going however we did get a lot of productive work done. I didn’t contribute a large direct contribution to the paper, but I did the introduction and conclusion portions. I also worked closely with Yibo and Bobby to structure their arguments in their portions of the paper. Bobby found my assistance very helpful and him and I constantly worked on revising portions of the paper as we were writing them. Yibo asked for help and we gave him help as well as outlined how his paper should go, but he was unable to structure his part of the paper accordingly.If I were to re-do the project I would have liked to work more closely with Yibo on his part of the paper, and ensured we all cited our work as we went. We got mixed up in a few of our sou rces and it was a headache to fit them at the end, but we were able to crunch it out at the end. I felt the presentation fell upon my lap for the most part and I would have liked more contributions from the other members as far as setting up the presentation. However I was very grateful that each of the members had their own knowledge about their sections of the paper. This project was challenging from the beginning.We had difficulty identifying what we were going to center our project around. Once we got going however we did get a lot of productive work done. I didn’t contribute a large direct contribution to the paper, but I did the introduction and conclusion portions. I also worked closely with Yibo and Bobby to structure their arguments in their portions of the paper. Bobby found my assistance very helpful and him and I constantly worked on revising portions of the paper as we were writing them. Yibo asked for help and we gave him help as well as outlined how his paper s hould go, but he was unable to structure his part of the paper accordingly.If I were to re-do the project I would have liked to work more closely with Yibo on his part of the paper, and ensured we all cited our work as we went. We got mixed up in a few of our sources and it was a headache to fit them at the end, but we were able to crunch it out at the end. I felt the presentation fell upon my lap for the most part and I would have liked more contributions from the other members as far as setting up the presentation. However I was very grateful that each of the members had their own knowledge about their sections of the paper. This project was challenging from the beginning.We had difficulty identifying what we were going to center our project around. Once we got going however we did get a lot of productive work done. I didn’t contribute a large direct contribution to the paper, but I did the introduction and conclusion portions. I also worked closely with Yibo and Bobby to s tructure their arguments in their portions of the paper. Bobby found my assistance very helpful and him and I constantly worked on revising portions of the paper as we were writing them. Yibo asked for help and we gave him help as well as outlined how his paper should go, but he was unable to structure his part of the paper accordingly.If I were to re-do the project I would have liked to work more closely with Yibo on his part of the paper, and ensured we all cited our work as we went. We got mixed up in a few of our sources and it was a headache to fit them at the end, but we were able to crunch it out at the end. I felt the presentation fell upon my lap for the most part and I would have liked more contributions from the other members as far as setting up the presentation. However I was very grateful that each of the members had their own knowledge about their sections of the paper. This project was challenging from the beginning.We had difficulty identifying what we were going to center our project around. Once we got going however we did get a lot of productive work done. I didn’t contribute a large direct contribution to the paper, but I did the introduction and conclusion portions. I also worked closely with Yibo and Bobby to structure their arguments in their portions of the paper. Bobby found my assistance very helpful and him and I constantly worked on revising portions of the paper as we were writing them. Yibo asked for help and we gave him help as well as outlined how his paper should go, but he was unable to structure his part of the paper accordingly.If I were to re-do the project I would have liked to work more closely with Yibo on his part of the paper, and ensured we all cited our work as we went. We got mixed up in a few of our sources and it was a headache to fit them at the end, but we were able to crunch it out at the end. I felt the presentation fell upon my lap for the most part and I would have liked more contributions from the o ther members as far as setting up the presentation. However I was very grateful that each of the members had their own knowledge about their sections of the paper. This project was challenging from the beginning.We had difficulty identifying what we were going to center our project around. Once we got going however we did get a lot of productive work done. I didn’t contribute a large direct contribution to the paper, but I did the introduction and conclusion portions. I also worked closely with Yibo and Bobby to structure their arguments in their portions of the paper. Bobby found my assistance very helpful and him and I constantly worked on revising portions of the paper as we were writing them. Yibo asked for help and we gave him help as well as outlined how his paper should go, but he was unable to structure his part of the paper accordingly.If I were to re-do the project I would have liked to work more closely with Yibo on his part of the paper, and ensured we all cited o ur work as we went. We got mixed up in a few of our sources and it was a headache to fit them at the end, but we were able to crunch it out at the end. I felt the presentation fell upon my lap for the most part and I would have liked more contributions from the other members as far as setting up the presentation. However I was very grateful that each of the members had their own knowledge about their sections of the paper. This project was challenging from the beginning.We had difficulty identifying what we were going to center our project around. Once we got going however we did get a lot of productive work done. I didn’t contribute a large direct contribution to the paper, but I did the introduction and conclusion portions. I also worked closely with Yibo and Bobby to structure their arguments in their portions of the paper. Bobby found my assistance very helpful and him and I constantly worked on revising portions of the paper as we were writing them. Yibo asked for help a nd we gave him help as well as outlined how his paper should go, but he was unable to structure his part of the paper accordingly.If I were to re-do the project I would have liked to work more closely with Yibo on his part of the paper, and ensured we all cited our work as we went. We got mixed up in a few of our sources and it was a headache to fit them at the end, but we were able to crunch it out at the end. I felt the presentation fell upon my lap for the most part and I would have liked more contributions from the other members as far as setting up the presentation. However I was very grateful that each of the members had their own knowledge about their sections of the paper.