Types of Abuse

Abuse: There are many different types of abuse and it can be defined as mistreating another human with the intention to be cruel or violent or cause harm. It can be described as the misuse or mishandle of something. It occurs often and usually done to acquire a nasty but satisfying effect. Dating abuse:This occurs during an unhealthy relationship between two people, usually teenagers, when one person wants control or power in the relationship. It occurs repeatedly and usually aggressive and commanding behavior allows the recipient to gain dominance. Profile of the abuser:o Usually has a past of abuse in the familyo May have been abused when they were youngero They may not cope wello Have a high intake of drugs or alcoholo Usually have characteristics of being:? Jealous? Manipulative ? Controlling? Narcissistic? Disconnected? Hypersensitive Profile of the victim: o Usually blames themselveso Goes into depressiono Low self-esteemo Suicidal thoughtso Socially isolatedo May have anxiety Dating abuse examples:Emotional or psychological abuse Making someone feel like they not important my calling them names or treating them like a child by ordering them around, yelling at someone. Insulting, swearing, ignoring, threating or isolating victim. Physical abuse Hurting someone in a way that leaves bruises, using a firearm against victim, doesn't allow victim to eat or sleep. Chocking, pushing, pinching, biting, pulling your hair, locking you out of the house.Sexual abuse Doesn't allow the victim birth control, forces the victim to have sex with them, forces the victim to engage in pornography and prostitution. Unwanted touching, forces you to engage in sexual behavior that hurts you, refusing you to use safe sex practices. Controlling behavior Is overprotective over the victim to a point where they don't trust the victim, isolates victim from family and friends. Overprotective, jealous, creates accusations, criticize or stalks victim.Use of social media encourages dating abuse1. It's addictive:Research shows that people who constantly use social media and their phones to a point where it becomes addictive or excessive, abandon their personal life, show signs of mood modification, and are mentally preoccupied. This shows that people who use social media increasingly can neglect their partners which may cause their partners to leave them which can cause them to become angry and abuse. It can cause them to have mood swings and therefore take it out on their partners when they get enraged.2. It triggers sadness:Social media isolates the abuser and an increase use of it can make the abuser feel lonely even though their partner is with them. This can make them abuse their partner as they could feel like thei r partner isn't supporting them. Sometimes as people get sadder they tend to take it out on others to feel satisfied or content and this could mean taking it out on their partners.3. It can lead to jealousy:Studies have shown that excessive social media users have triggers of jealousy. Abusers can feel jealous when their friends dating lives are more extraordinary than theirs and could become furious that their partners aren't as exciting and therefore take it out on their partner. Abusers are often overprotective and if their partner is engaging with someone else on social media and they see it could infuriate the abusers which leads to violence. Use of cellphones increase dating violenceTeenagers are usually able to get excess to the internet or if not they all have phones. This makes them an easy target to dating violence as their abuser can threaten them anywhere at any time. This means that the abuser can control and degrade the victim just by a click of a few buttons over their mobile phones. Abusers can harass their victims through online texts which may dehumanize the victim and cause them to feel abused. Abusers may also sexually harass their partners online by asking for nude pictures or forcing them to engage in unwanted, awkward sexting. Abusers often message their partners constantly not because they care but because they need to feel like they in control and make the victim intimidated. Abusers can often hack their partners social media sites to know what they up to, they often post private messages or pictures, they can post cruel things about their partner online, they can track their partners location and they can stalk. By doing this they intimidate their partner and will often abuse if their partner is, according to them, doing something wrong. Warning signs of dating abuseo Your partner threatens youo Isolates you from your friends and familyo Dehumanizes youo Your partner makes you feel guilty to get their wayo Your partner is aggressive towards youo Your partner forces you to do uncomfortable thingso You are blamed for everything that goes wrongo You are called names by your partner and belittled by themo Your partner calls and messages you excessivelyo Your partner touches you in public without your permissiono Your partner exceeds your physical boundarieso Your partner controls your reproductive choiceso Your partner has explosive tempero You are forced into having sex with your partner How to escape an abusive relationship?: 1. Talk to someone about your situation 2. Set aside money and slowly move your belongings out 3. Pack an emergency bag 4. Plan your escape route and where you will live 5. Leave when your partner is not at home 6. Don't take the blame 7. Write everything you experience down 8. Warn and tell your friends and family 9. Block the abuser on any social sites 10. Seek physiological help 11. Move on and regain your value and dignityOrganizations that can help Legal Aid South Africa offers legal assistance. To locate your nearest Justice Centre, call 0861 053 425 or visit www.legal-aid.co.za.Rape Crisis offers free confidential counselling to people who have been raped or sexually assaulted. Call 011 642 4345.SAPS 10111University campus law clinics also offer legal assistance. Powa provides counselling, both telephonically and in person, temporary shelter for and legal help to women who have experienced violence.Call 011 642 434Tears foundation Founded in 2012, this non-profit organization provides a database of medical, legal and psychological services available in South Africa to help those who have been raped or survived sexual abuse.Call 010 590 5920Part 2: 55 Tyrone avenue Parkview Johannesburg 21935th February 2018 Dear: Johanna I've heard about your experience with your violent boyfriend and I am extremely apologetic that you had to go through such an ordeal. I cannot even bear to imagine the pain you had to go through. The suffering you have experienced is traumatizing and has happened solely because your boyfriend wanted control in the relationship. Your boyfriend was extremely jealous, controlling and hypersensitive which is usually the characteristics of an abuser. I as your best friend had noticed earlier how distant and melancholic you were, but I had no idea that it would link to your boyfriend. Your boyfriend was always so loving, caring and protective over you but then again that was probably the first stage of dating abuse. Your boyfriend used physical abuse on you when he hit you and physiological abuse on you when he made you feel guilty about leaving him and threatened to kill you. Johanna, you are currently in the third stage of violence wherein your partner is threating you and exceeding your limits and boundaries. You cannot take any more of this, its traumatizing and upsetting. You need to take measures into place such as blocking him on any social media profiles so that he may have no contact with you. You should also inform your family as to the situation so that they are aware and if anything is to happen they know where you are. You should also keep a journal and write all these experiences down so that in case for future references you want to charge him you have proof. You should seek physiological help, so that you have a better understanding of your situation and so you can move on with dignity and value. Most importantly though you should not take the blame for his actions. Johanna, you are not his punching bag and you should know that no one deserves to treat you in a way that he has treated you. You should know that you are worthful and beautiful and if anyone cannot see that and appreciate it then they shouldn't be around you. Always remember that you are not a victim you alive and that makes you a survivor and don't be ashamed of this story others will be inspired.

Domestic Violence: A Deviant Behavior Essay

Domestic violence is a repetitive assault and intimidating behavior that one uses against a spouse, a child, or intimate partner. Domestic violence can affect everyone and anyone can be the abuser as well as anyone can be a victim. It does not matter what race you are, what your profession may be or if you are educated or uneducated. Domestic violence is usually committed in the household by a husband against his wife or other family members and they may commit other deviant acts. If a child is a part of domestic violence it is child abuse and if a married couple is a part of domestic violence it is spousal abuse. Domestic violence is also known as intimate violence usually because it can be physically and emotionally harmful between the heterosexual couple living together as well as in gay or lesbian relationships. Both domestic violence and intimate violence are also deviant behaviors. They are labeled as abuse in a variety of ways such as, emotional abuse, verbal abuse, denial of access to resources or money, restrains of normal activities or freedom, including isolation from friends or family members, threats to kill or harm, and physical intimidation or attacks. In extreme cases, domestic violence can result in a death or other serious injuries and there may also be other deviant behavior association. The history of domestic violence has been around the world before the birth of Christ and the perpetrators of domestic abuse has been said to have started in Rome. A husband was allowed to beat and whip his wife with a switch if she did not do what he asked her to do. For much of domestic violence history and throughout the world, social and legal traditions have tolerated or even promoted the physical assault of women by men. In the United States, domestic violence has also been around for centuries. However, in the United States, the women’s movement brought it out to the public in the early 1970s. Programs offered hotlines for battered women to call and they also offered shelters for women providing them with counseling, food and education. It was not until the 1990s, that the police began to view domestic violence as the serious problem that it really is. In many states, the police was informed not to threaten the abuser with arrest, but to arrest them. Also, if the police officer did not arrest the domestic abuser, they were fined. Other penalties were given to the domestic abuser by putting a restraining other on them and if they attempted to go around the victim they were put back in jail and held without bail. During the 1970s, there were many coalitions and groups that evolved. One group, the South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (SCCADVASA), a statewide coalition made up of the 22 domestic violence and sexual assault advocacy programs in South Carolina provided information that showed in ancient Rome a husband could legally divorce, physically punish, or even kill his wife for behaviors that were permitted for men. During this era, punishment of wives was called chastisement, a term that emphasized the corrective purpose of the action and minimized the violent nature of the behavior. Under medieval English common law, a husband could not be prosecuted for raping his wife because the law provided that a wife could not refuse consent for sex to her husband. Because much of laws in the United States were modeled on English common law, this definition of rape remained in effect in the United States until the 1970s, when many states modified their rape statutes. These studies showed that domestic violence can be very harmful to a relationship. Not only can it be harmful to a relationship, but literally can physically harm individuals such as children, husbands, wives and other family members. Domestic violence can be physically and emotionally straining for any woman or child to overcome and it is something no human should have to go through. The National Center for Disease Control (CDC) reports that one in four women (25%) has experienced domestic violence in her lifetime. Estimates range from 960,000 incidents of violence against a current or former spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend to 3 million women who are physically abused by their husband or boyfriend per year. Between 600,000 and 6 million women are victims of domestic violence each year, and between 100,000 and 6 million men, depending on the type of survey used to obtain the data. Nearly three out of four (74%) of Americans personally know someone who is or has been a victim of domestic violence. 30% of Americans say they know a woman who has been physically abused by her husband or boyfriend in the past year. According to social learning theory, people engage in crime because of their association with others who engage in crime. Their criminal behavior is reinforced and they learn beliefs that are favorable to crime. They essentially have criminal models that they associate with. As a consequence, these individuals come to view crime as something that is desirable, or at least justifiable in certain situations. Learning criminal or deviant behavior is the same as learning to engage in conforming behavior: it is done through association with or exposure to others. In fact, association with delinquent friends is the best predictor of delinquent behavior other than prior delinquency. Every type of behavior is learned more so understood primarily by observation and imitation. This theory can be associated with the CNN news recently reporting of a 52 year old Cleveland, Ohio man named Ariel Castro, who is charged with kidnapping and raping three females. He allegedly abused these young women over a period of 10 years and telling the investigators he did it because he had been abused as a child. He is accused of beating them and raping them for almost a decade. Researchers say that most batterers have had a violent father growing up in a bad lifestyle causing unintentional harm to a young child’s brain into thinking that what is going on is the right thing to do, therefore, damaging the mindset making it easy for domestic violence to increase in our society today. The Federal Bureau of Justice Statistics Report showed that 95% of all documented domestic assault crimes are committed by men against women; in 1996 there were 15,000 calls to law enforcement agencies in Sacramento County for domestic violence response (FBI). It is very difficult to know the exact number of victims of domestic violence, especially sexual assault and other incidents committed by the intimate offenders, due to the many occurrences not reported to the police. There are many factors that victims consider in their decision not to report it to the police, but the greatest reason is the fear that threats to kill you or your family will become reality. Other reasons include embarrassment, shame and hopes that his promises to change will come true this time. There is an assumption in our society that there is a clear relationship between anger and physical violent behavior. However, anger is a human emotion and studies have shown that physical violence or abuse is a learnt behavior and the perpetrator is more often than not, going to repeat this behavior. All human beings experience anger at one time or another. People get angry with their supervisors, co-workers, neighbors and friends. Yet people don’t ordinarily kill or physically hurt others in order to get their way, and when they do, society holds them accountable. Physical violence as well as other forms of domestic abuse are measures that are taken by one person in order to force another person into compliance. The Bureau’s definition of domestic violence states a pattern of assault and coercive behavior. This includes physical, sexual, psychological and verbal attacks as well as coercion used against an intimate partner. In abusive relationships, there is a victim and a perpetrator and typically it is that of a married couple or a couple living together and there may even be children living with the couple. During these times, researchers and activists believe that the term spousal abuse is inappropriate, because the term is gender-neutral in that the abuse can be that of either a husband or wife. Some activists say that men are just as likely as women to be victims of abuse. However, in many of the hospital and police records, it shows women as the victims of domestic violence in intimate relationships. In intimidate relationships, the problem tends to be intimidation control of women by their man. According to CDC, intimate partner violence is defined as actual or threatened physical or sexual violence or psychological and emotional abuse directed toward a spouse, ex-spouse, current or former boyfriend or girlfriend, or current or former dating partner. Intimate partners may be heterosexual or of the same sex. As stated above, there are a few other terms used to describe intimate partner violence, such as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, and domestic violence. The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics reported on intimate partner violence, which also included rape and sexual assault, and stalking. The report includes an estimate of the extent of crimes against females and the characteristics of crimes and victims. In 2008, females age 12 or older were five times more likely than males age 12 or older to be victims of intimate partner violence. In 2007, intimate partners committed 14% of all homicides in the U.S. The total estimated number of intimate partner homicide victims in 2007 was 2,340, including 1,640 females and 700 males. Females made up 70% of victims killed by an intimate partner in 2007, a proportion that has changed very little since 1993. Many offenders and victims range between the ages 18 to 30 years old, sex literally focuses more on women being affected by the physical abuse or verbal abuse that is being taken in from the violence. Due to low income, raised in a violent family, alcohol or drug abuse, unemployment, sexual difficulties, and low job satisfaction. These are just a few ways domestic violence can be triggered. As domestic violence affects women and children of every culture and all ages, in 2012 the White House made a public service announcement that â€Å"1 is 2 Many† on dating violence that young women still face the highest rates of dating violence and sexual assault. In the last year, it was also noted that one in 10 teens were reported being physically hurt on purpose by a boyfriend or girlfriend. Along with the physical violence, one in five young women have been sexually assaulted while they are in college. In our society, we tend to want to look the other way to this deviant behavior that affects everyone (Norwood, et.al.). Most people will not get involved if they see a man hitting on a woman or a child’s parent slapping or hitting them upside the head. We tend to give many excuses such as we don’t want to get involved or it is none of our business. Some people just stand around and take video on their cell phones to post on the internet instead of calling the police emergency. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 26% of all female homicides in 1995 were attributable to domestic violence. During 1996, there were 25 domestic violence related homicides in Sacramento County, accounting for 29% of all homicides. These killings usually take place when the female partner wants to leave the relationship. Women who leave their batterers are at a 75% greater risk of being killed by the batterer than those who stay. If she succeeds in leaving without being killed, she usually finds herself in a maze of legal and financial problems. If there are children involved in the relationship, custody problems are sure to follow. Domestic violence also affects the children and it creates an environment where children will live in persistent fear. Children who live in this environment are unable to bond with either parent. These children will most likely be abused and neglected living under these conditions. Statistics show that over three million children witness violence in their home each year. Those who see and hear violence in the home suffer physically and emotionally. (USDJ) Developmental researchers’ show that children from violent households may restore normal development process, such as empathy and self-control and that would minimize the risk of further harm caused by exposure to abusive adult models. Studies also show that men are mostly the dominate human when it comes to what sex is causing the most pain and hardship to this situation, its women dealing with crazy husbands that were raised in a dysfunctional household as a child, and now they are being watched by their children and their children are imitating their every move thinking it is the right way to go and its not. On legal interventions about domestic violence, some researchers say is that social and public awareness about the domestic violence has increased, and the public wants to know why the justice system has not stepped up to stop the violence, rather than treating it as a private matter between consenting adults. Now that the public knows what causes domestic violence and what the future might bring from domestic violence society wants it silenced. Some young couples may begin cohabitating at a very young age and also begin having children before they are married and the abuse begins. For a child can be harmful mentally and somewhat physically. A couple that is not married, but live together with kids, and they both have children that are not each others can also be the cause of domestic violence towards one or the other child. In that child’s environment, he or she thinks that everything in their family is going smooth and all of a sudden the girlfriend gets into a heated argument with the boyfriend or visa-versa and the boyfriend moves out of the house. This unhealthy environment for a child can lead to months or years in cases of domestic violence. A variety of mental illnesses can also cause a case of domestic violence, such as a background of family adversity, leaving school early, juvenile aggression and tendencies. Conviction of other crimes, especially violent crimes, drug abuse and long term unemployment can be traits and paths to finding a dysfunctional, domestic household. Past research shows that self esteem, extreme jealousy, difficulties in regulating anger, and also strong emotion, when a dominant man feels inferior from their partner from an educational socioeconomic standpoint, some of these men with very strong and traditional beliefs may think that they have the right to control the women, and that women are not equal to men. That dominate behavior takes the form of emotional, sexual and physical abuse, studies show that violent behavior often is caused by an interaction of situational and individual factors, meaning that abusers learn abusive behaviors from their family members people they trust people they love, more so whom they look up to. Domestic violence is a series of violence, this cycle of violence exists because as the social learning theory states, children observe and learn these behaviors during their young childhood, the home is the first place where children are taught what is expectable and normal. For example, when a child is born into a cohabitant household, from age 2 to the age of 8, the child has adapted to that environment meaning the child is comfortable and will imitate or copy most of what their so called parents do around the house. Mimicking these behaviors such as getting in trouble in school at a young age, later dropping out of high school, getting in trouble with the law, or dying on our dangerous streets. This is what children see as normal and it is what leads to the continuing cycle of domestic violence. No one should want to subject these young children to this type of behavior. There are many physical, psychological, social consequences and health behaviors in domestic violence and many victims experience serious health problems. The CDC reports associates a number of physical adverse health outcomes. These health conditions may be a direct result of the physical violence (for example, bruises, knife wounds, broken bones, traumatic brain injury, back or pelvic pain, headaches). Other conditions are the result of the impact of intimate partner violence on the cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, endocrine and immune systems through chronic stress or other mechanisms. Psychological consequences for the victims include anxiety, depression, and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, antisocial behavior, and suicidal behavior in females. Many victims also experience social consequences, i.e., restricted access to services, strained relationships with health providers and employers, isolation from social networks and even homelessness. Women may display behaviors that present further health risks such as, substance abuse, alcoholism, and suicide attempts. These studies show that the more severe the violence, the stronger its relationship to negative health behaviors by victims as they may engage in high-risk sexual behavior, have unprotected sex, multiple sex partners, use harmful substances, drink alcohol or take drugs, and experience eating disorders (CDC). In conclusion, many studies show that domestic violence affects women and children of every culture, race, occupation, income levels and age groups. Although our society has shown progress through education and awareness of domestic violence, it still remains a crisis and our society need to continue in working to improve it. Domestic violence continues to be the number one public health issue facing women and children today, but it is also a violation of their human right, which should never be tolerated. Families in today’s society need to focus more on taking care of their family and not cause stress and emotional instability. It is hard enough for one parent to take care of family needs in a society where both parents need to work. Domestic violence should never be in a home subjecting this deviant behavior in front of children It has no place in our society and every human being has a right to live without fear and violence. Works Cited Thio, Alex, Jim D. Taylor, and Martin D. Schwartz. 2013 (11th edition). Deviant Behavior. Boston, MA: Pearson. Shaw, Victor. 2002. Substance Use and Abuse: Sociological Perspectives. Westport, CT: Praeger. Norwood, William D., Jouriles, Ernest N., McDonald, Renee and Swank, Paul R. Domestic Violence and Deviant Behavior. Swank 2004 NCJ 199713. http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/intimatepartnerviolence/index.html. Internet: 17 April 2013. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_learning_theory. Internet: 17 April 2013. www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/199713.pdf Internet: 17 April 2013. http://psychcentral.com/lib/2006/what-causes-domestic-violence/ Copyright  © 1995-2013 Psych Central. All rights reserved. Site last updated: 17 April 2013. https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/171666.pdf U.S. Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. Legal Interventions in Family Violence: Research Findings and Policy Implications. Internet: 17 April 2013. http://sociology.about.com/od/Sociological-Theory/a/Social-Learning-Theory.htm. Site last updated: 17 April 2013. http://www.sccadvasa.org/domestic-violence-facts-and-stats/overview-of-domestic-violence.html. Internet: 17 April 2013. http://www.whitehouse.gov/1is2many. Internet: 17 April 2013.

Healthcare Services Costs and Customers Satisfaction Term Paper

Healthcare Services Costs and Customers Satisfaction - Term Paper Example In nations like the United States, healthcare represents big business as well as the highest spender of per capita. Its quality, therefore, must greatly be reflected in customer satisfaction because it will be the determinant between profit and loss (Karen & Ashish, 2012). This is mainly because satisfied customers (patients) will stick with particular healthcare providers and give recommendations. However, the relationship between quality healthcare and customer satisfaction is not always as straightforward as it may seem, because satisfied patients do not automatically become healthier persons. In this view, customer satisfaction can be considered more of a measure than a distinct phenomenon. This aspect further gives the relationship a more complex angle, because quality of service can also be viewed from the perspective of service providers. When the providers themselves are not satisfied, customers will not be satisfied (Mind, 2000). Customers seek healthcare services because th ey have needs, expectations and concerns. They get satisfied when these are identified and addressed appropriately and affordably without compromising the quality, which also translates into the providers earning profits. Customer satisfaction in healthcare is mainly associated with their inpatient stays and the degree of mortality risk. Quality of healthcare that results in customer satisfaction will be determined by the time spent on care, rate of readmission and the use of diagnostics.

A Tale of Two IS Projects. JetBlue and WestJet Essay

A Tale of Two IS Projects. JetBlue and WestJet - Essay Example Importance of Reservation System in WestJet and JetBlue For airline companies like JetBlue or WestJet, the importance of the reservation system is like a heart to organizations’ operations giving stimulus to each of the organization sections. An airline company which is settled on a larger scale reservation system is directly necessary to the business operation of that company (Laudon, 2013, pp. 556-557). Ability to book flights or dealing customers with time effectiveness comes directly from an effective reservation system and for that reason organizations like JetBlue and WestJet emphasize on keeping their reservation systems upgraded. Similarly, fares or inventory record management, data processing and management and information management is all what is conducted through an active reservation system (Laudon, 2013). For that reason, JetBlue and WestJet both organizations try to induce their systems with a proactive and comprehensive approach. If the systems are not proactive, there are more chances that a lot of informational op erations get weakened affecting the overall business of the company. This clears out the significance of a reservation system in a transnational airline organization (Laudon, 2013). Key Risk Factors on Upgrading Reservation Systems (JetBlue vs. WestJet) For a firm like WestJet which captures forty percent of the Canadian market share by taking 300 to 400 flights each single day, it is a complete challenge to upgrade its reservation system which requires significant amendments in the operational setup (Oz, 2009). The challenge is same for JetBlue which is a budget airline and have to deal with a large number of customers each day. From the business point of view, the challenge is of losing sales number, revenues and position in the stock market. Because upgrading requires a temporary shutdown, it intakes the risk of losing brand value or position (Laudon, 2013). From customers’ point of view, if amendments are not good enough like they cannot meet the customers’ choice and view, they result in a significant setback to firm’s business. Definitely, when customers are not satisfied it impacts the overall status of the company and also the prospect which comes through customers’ approval. These were particular risk factors which both WestJet and JetBlue involved at their upgrades. The factors required wise planning and the input of leadership to get controlled and managed. They required effective administrative planning to result in favor of firms’ operations (Oz, 2009). Implementation of the New Reservation System There were distinctive problems which both organizations (JetBlue and WestJet) faced at the time of their reservation system upgrade. They faced problems at the managerial level, planning problems and operational problems at the time of change (Wit & Meyer, 2010, p. 439). The initial challenge was to transform the smaller reservation setup to a larger IS system- a system which has more vibrant processing and can easily deal with greater volume of customers. This required the expansion of the primary database, the expansion of the inventory, and the expansion of the processing units in order to become a uniform information system. However, the situation on upgrade was mo re enduring for WestJet than JetBlue. According to Robert Palmer (a

Assignment-long answers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Assignment-long answers - Essay Example By presenting the movie on a particular perspective which is a unique interpretation of the movie, it can both honour the novel and free the movie of the expectations based on the text. Another element is the success of the film in highlighting the manner of the novel or the talent of the writer. In the movie, one of the most important components is the dominant and character of the heroine which in the particular novel of Austen are representatives of sense and of sensibility (Lee, 1995). Question 2. Analysis of Glamour Plot of â€Å"Pride and Prejudice† Pride and prejudice is another movie that is based on the novel by Jane Austen. It is known and described as having a glamour plot. There are essential points in the glamour plot of the novel as well as the movie. One point is the setting of the plot which is 18th century England when the top priority of the parents is to marry their children to rich families to be able to have a favourable position in the class-oriented soci ety. Another point exhibiting the glamour plot of the story is the extravagant settings of every scene. In a general perspective, the story which tackled a family with 5 daughters can be viewed to have 5 lavish marriages to the rich family. This had been achieved in the plot with the focus on the two sisters who met their rich husband during the course of the story. Thus, it is composed of the different social events that creatively described the details of the social scene during the said period (Bevan et al. 2005). Question 3. Comments on Social Journal in the â€Å"The Sydney Morning Herald† One of the sections of The Sydney Morning Herald is related to the society and culture. In the article written by Parnell Palme McGuinness â€Å"Battle of the binge-thinkers† a current issue had been discussed. Basically the main purpose of the Social Journal or any social article is to present different view and issues in the society. In the article different current issues had been touched such as the royal wedding and the effects on the various social aspects of the problem. The royal wedding is one of the issues that affected the activities of the people. Another is the social and political aspects of the said event. Due to the influence of the people involved in the event, most people that are invited such as Julia Gilliard took the time to attend for both social and political interactions, but are ware of the issues discussed (McGuinness, 2011). Question 4. Comments on â€Å"Carbon Tax† issues in the â€Å"The Sydney Morning Herald† Carbon tax is a continuing topic in the Sydney Morning Herald for the past few months. One of the latest comments related to the issue was made by Abbott. According to him the carbon tax will lead to the deterioration of Australia’s economy by causing the lost of jobs in the country. By putting more difficulty to the operation of services, the carbon tax, according to Abbott will eventually lead to th e failure to maintain a first world status. Many would agree on Abbott’s view specifically based on the lack of clear plan in the federal government’s side (AAP, 2011a). On a personal note, although the statements made by Abbott can be considered upfront, the government should at least have a clear view, plan, and resolution on the issue. This is important since the issue had been in question for a number of months already and that it is related to various aspects of the society.

EMPLOYEE RELATIONS REQUIRES AN INTEGRATED APPROACH FROM MANAGEMENT Essay

EMPLOYEE RELATIONS REQUIRES AN INTEGRATED APPROACH FROM MANAGEMENT - Essay Example Guidelines are drawn to assist the employee understanding of the goal and objectives set by the management, more so, information is given to help the employees while taking corrective action and they are further given advise on how to go about bargaining their terms of employments, legislation and regulation. Employees relations is some times confused or used as a synonym for industrial relation since it deal with the relationship of workers and management and the conduct of workers in the in work place. To understand the employee relations, one must start by understanding the legal frame work in the work place, and then consider the social psychological influence aspect part of the employee in terms of trust, communication and commitment. In deep understanding of the employee relations, it's important to consider factors that influence the employer employee relationship Globalization is one of the factors affecting the employee relations, otherwise known as the industrial relations. Strategic management is important because changes in employee relations has resulted to increased bargaining power of the employees, flexibility in working time as well as changing job functions and this has occurred due to the increase in competition, product processes changes due to consumer awareness combined with the increasing essence in quality, productivity and skills. An integration of all these factors has had impact on the practices and policies of the management. While managing change in the firm, the employee involvement in making sure the change is effected is very important while the management has to ensure that the skills processed by the employees are compatible with those required in the market to meet the customer needs. The results of globalization are that:- Countries have become more interdependent economically than before due to the breakdown of barriers of trade hence they cannot become self reliant. Governments have been unable to control information, technology and capital flow across the boundaries. Markets are now not regulated allowing the goods, services and capital to integrate like the European Union Companies are becoming global entities which are forming the global webs due to de-nationalization of firms The firms have discovered the importance of remaining competitive in the market b y producing high quality services and goods A strategic human resource management is essential in making sure the objectives of production of high quality products, ability to counter fast to the dynamics of the market and continuous innovation are attained, and this can only be achieved through employee training, involvement and intrinsic and extrinsic rewards, this making the employee relations to be of paramount importance in management. In many firms which include the general motors, the employee relations are taken to consist of five values which have enabled the management to succeed in achieving its objectives, these are: How the works are organize Acquisition skills and development of employees Compensation and pay processes and structures Security arrangements on employment and staffing Labor management issues With the increased importance of the employee relations, the human resources is has shifted it focus to quality, innovation and reduction of the cost. The importance of human resource management (HRM) is reflected in the personnel management in the firms. Employee

Advertisements to compare Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Advertisements to compare - Term Paper Example Considering that this product is made for babies, parents (particularly mothers) are likely to be the major target audience for this product. Since cleaning the baby gently is a basic need and protecting the baby in the mother’s hands is also a need, the motivations behind buying this product are likely to be psychological(emotional) rather than functional. The baby’s desire to belong to the mother by staying in her hands even while washing is a social need. Therefore, the mother is likely to make the purchase of such a product that satisfies her baby the most. Parents want the best for their child (Daniels, 2009); hence, they are highly moved by television ads, word-of-mouth referrals as well as direct mail to decide the final product. Colors, texture and the brand’s connotations play a much more significant role than functional attributes such as durability and value for money (Daniels, 2009). Various communication strategies could be used here. Considering tha t mothers (particularly housewives) are likely to buy this product, the ad would be aired on local television channels during a slot between 8-10 p.m. when mothers usually wind up their household chores and watch the television. It would also be aired on channels such as Baby TV since mothers are likely to watch this channel while sitting with their babies. Furthermore, the ad copy reads â€Å"first bath† which hints at first time parents who have a vague idea of the differences between various brands of baby products (Daniels, 2009). Product differentiation would be an important consideration; therefore, the ad must be placed immediately before or after the ad of another similar brand on television so that the audience can differentiate between the two. Next, marketing would be done via word of mouth (WOM) referrals since parents tend to learn a lot about baby products from other parents’ experiences. Although WOM operates spontaneously, the company can use popular ce lebrity moms or expecting moms (such Kim Kardishan) to become trendsetters for others to follow. Finally, search engine optimization (SEO) for this product’s website shall ensure that mothers who surf the web are lead to this website immediately compared to others. The budget that SEO takes up is relatively very small compared to the customer traffic it generates (Miller, 2012). Therefore, using SEO to communicate the ad could be cost-effective. However, the response rate is relatively slow for SEO advertising and investment takes a long time to realize. The unpredictability owing to little control over algorithm means that there is no certainty as to when the results will materialize. Furthermore, this is a supplementary strategy and does not serve as a holistic strategy in itself due to limited reach and scope. The second ad selected in Exhibit 5-11 from Chapter 5 of the book. This ad depicts the marketing strategy of Heinz ketchup which has made repetitive claims in order to ‘remind’ its audience about the product. Considering it’s a low-involvement product, therefore, no lengthy information is put in the ad; rather, the ad is simple and uses the tomato red color along with tomato slices shaped into a bottle to indicate the freshness and taste of the ketchup. The product is not new and already has several loyal buyers. Hence, the ad is merely reinforcing the brand image that has already been so strong along the years. The target audience of this product is likely to be everyone and anyone who enjoys using ketchup including housewives,

Community Policing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Community Policing - Essay Example Understanding basic human behavior, including social disorganization theory regarding criminal activity will demonstrate how the activation of community policing programs becomes an effective tool for local police departments. Humans have the propensity to alter their behavior, beliefs, morals and ethics based upon real or perceived societal pressures because of the fundamental and universal need for acceptance by social peers. The failure to comply with conventional ‘norms’ of society often results in serious consequences; the most disconcerting is the segregation from and vilification of a desired group. People will go as far as to alter their deepest belief system and innermost values to be accepted by their friends, neighbors, community and those considered to be superiors. A person may often comply when prompted to act in a certain way by another whether or not they believe it is the correct course to take because the outcome of non-compliance lead to undesirable social consequences. Obedience differs from compliance. A person will obey a directive from a person accepted as an authoritative figure because they do not believe that they have a choice whereas complying is more of a choice. Both of these factors come into play through community policing efforts. In 1951, Solomon Asch demonstrated conformity by demonstrating how people can be routinely influenced by others (Asch, 1951). In his study, Asch gathered a small group of people together to compare a line drawn on one piece of paper to three lines drawn on another, one of which was obviously the same size as the one on the first paper. He then asked the group to determine which of the three lines matched the one. All but one of the group members was collaborating with Asch unbeknownst to the one actual subject of the test who was always positioned to choose last. The collaborators would choose the wrong line so as to determine if the test

Key Principles of Corporate Governance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Key Principles of Corporate Governance - Essay Example The role of corporate governance has, therefore, become increasingly vital to the strategic management of the organization and projection of its aims and objectives in the eyes of the public and other stakeholders. Corporate governance can be broadly defined as the creation of business environment within and outside the organization that would effectively meet the challenges of the time and improve and improvise the productivity of the performance outcome. The lack of effective controls vis-Ã  -vis malpractices in accounts and auditing, security of confidential information, corrupt practices in the higher hierarchy of management, disparity in rules and regulation etc. have become crucial risks factors that have resulted in huge economic loss for its shareholders as well adversely affecting its credibility in the market. Hence, in the fast changing environment of globalization, business compulsions have become more stringent in their nature and factors like accountability, responsibility and reliability have become important pre-requisites for business to create a credible environment for their trade and investment. ‘Corporate governance framework should recognize the rights of stakeholders established by law or through mutual agreement..’ (Du Plessis, 2005, p.36). The key principles of corporate governance are described and ranked in order of importance as under: ‘Corporate disclosure to stakeholders is the principal means by which companies can become transparent’ (Solomon, 2007, p143). Thus, Corporate Governance promotes effective control measures to safeguard the interest of all its stakeholders, investors and business partners. Under the codes of corporate governance, the disclosure mainly relates to the policy of the company to disclose relevant information about its budgets, annual financial statements

Arab Woman and Politics on Present Times Term Paper

Arab Woman and Politics on Present Times - Term Paper Example Through looking at the position of the Arab women at a global scale, of their movements, empowerments and developments in their struggle for gender inequality and at their political participation in their society, this paper found out that Arab women were already making changes of involvement in politics. However, there were still constraints in achieving this entirely. Introduction Women, indeed, were always seen as a status lower than men. Discrimination of different sorts had been experienced by these women in every part of the world for the reason that gender was seen as a factor that would influence women’s position at a disadvantaged position. There were a lot of forms of inequality that had been experienced by these women simply because of the fact that they were born to be women. Meanwhile, the case of the Arab women was not an exception to this gender inequality. In fact, throughout the history and in every part of the world, Arab women had experienced much more varie d forms of discrimination than other women. These women had suffered the restrictions of their freedoms and rights. According to Karam (1999), among the reasons of these women being subjected to restriction of their freedoms and rights, to having a low political representation and other forms of inequality was their religion of being an Islam. However, it was not the case that it was only their religion that had added up to making these women be discriminated but their culture in the Arab world also had influenced the inequality. These were main causes that had served as impediments in achieving equality were reflected in their laws on economy, education, criminal justice, health care, political representation and others. Based on the intersectionality theory (Collins, 2000), the Arab women had been undergoing through multiple forms of discrimination because axes of their identity like gender, culture and religion had been interacting at various levels that contribute to their exper ience of social inequality. Given this, the focus of my study would delve on the experiences and situations of Arab women in their struggle to be represented in the political arena in the contemporary Arab world. This research was of important concern for the very reason that these women had continued to experience intense forms of discrimination in other regions of the world and most especially, in their own nations. In order to gain much understanding of the topic under study, the research paper was divided into following sections: a) Situating the Picture Globally, b) Movements, Empowerments and Developments of Women for Gender Equality in the Arab World, and c) The Political Participation of Arab Women and Its Challenges. This section would first present an overview of the literatures which had aimed at providing a cursory outlook at how to look at this concern. The last part of this paper was the generalization on Arab women and politics on the present times. a) Situating the P icture Globally Women had received a special attention on their concerns regarding the continuity of discrimination against them and their marginalized roles worldwide. The Arab women were not isolated from the debate on discrimination and inequality. In fact, it was the case that according to the Arab

Memories of my childhood Essay Example for Free

Memories of my childhood Essay Thinking back when I was ten brings up a lot of memories of my childhood. I was a tom boy and a big eater because of my high metabolism and extremely high energy level. I look back at my favorite foods and there are many that come to mind. I loved Chef Boyardee Ravioli and Spaghetti O’s. I also loved my mom’s homemade chicken and dumplings and bisquits, peanut butter and banana sandwiches, and mom’s cookies. These have been my favorites throughout the years with the exception of the Chef Boyardee Ravioli and Spaghetti O’s. My mom has taught me how to prepare some of her recipes so that I may pass them on to my children and them to theirs. I think I will continue to eat these dishes until my body can no longer handle the ingredients that make these dishes so scrumptious. My mother is 52yrs old and still enjoys these foods she is in very good health with the exception of her osteoporosis so if I continue taking care of myself and my body and nothing bad happens besides what already has happened, I think I should be able to eat these dishes for a very long time. There are several reasons why dietary modifications need to be changed throughout the different stages of life. From birth the old age are metabolism is constantly changing, we go from a high energy intake to a slowed metabolism. Healthful diets help promote the growth of infancy into your older adulthood, and it helps with the productivity to help prevent obesity, high blood pressure and cholesterol, certain diseases, strokes, heart attacks, and osteoporosis.

Cloud Computing Models Changing The World Information Technology Essay

Cloud Computing Models Changing The World Information Technology Essay The Cloud has become a new vehicle for delivering resources such as computing and storage to customers on demand. Rather than being a new technology in itself, the cloud is a new business model wrapped around new technologies such as server virtualization that take advantage of economies of scale and multi-tenancy to reduce the cost of using information technology resources. This paper discusses the business drivers in the Cloud delivery mechanism and business model, what the requirements are in this space, and how standard interfaces, coordinated between different organizations can meet the emerging needs for interoperability and portability of data between clouds. Hence, Cloud computing is about moving services, computation and/or data-for cost and business advantage-off-site to an internal or external, location-transparent, centralized facility or contractor. By making data available in the cloud, it can be more easily and ubiquitously accessed, often at much lower cost, increasing its value by enabling opportunities for enhanced collaboration, integration, and analysis on a shared common platform. Cloud computing describes both a platform and a type of application. A cloud-computing platform dynamically provides, configures, reconfigures, and deprovisions servers as needed. Cloud applications are applications that are extended to be accessible through the Internet. These cloud applications use large data centers and powerful servers that host Web applications and Web services. Enterprises are increasingly making innovation their highest priority. They realize they need to seek new ideas and unlock new sources of value. Driven by the pressure to cut costs and grow- simultaneously-they realize that its not possible to succeed simply by doing the same things better. They know they have to do new things that produce better results. Cloud computing enables innovation. It alleviates the need of innovators to find resources to develop, test, and make their innovations available to the user community. Innovators are free to focus on the innovation rather than the logistics of finding and managing resources. Enterprises can choose to deploy applications on Public, Private or Hybrid clouds. Cloud Integrators can play a vital part in determining the right cloud path for each organization. Therefore, there are four types of cloud paths they are : Cloud computing provides the facility to access shared resources and common infrastructure, offering services on demand over the network to perform operations that meet changing business needs. The end user does typically not know the location of physical resources and devices being accessed. It also provides facilities for users to develop, deploy and manage their applications on the cloud, which entails virtualization of resources that maintains and manages itself. Cloud Computing, to put it simply, means Internet Computing. The Internet is commonly visualized as clouds; hence the term cloud computing for computation done through the Internet. With Cloud Computing users can access database resources via the Internet from anywhere, for as long as they need, without worrying about any maintenance or management of actual resources. Besides, databases in cloud are very dynamic and scalable. Cloud computing is unlike grid computing, utility computing, or autonomic computing. In fact, it is a very independent platform in terms of computing. The best example of cloud computing is Google Apps, where any application can be accessed using a browser and it can be deployed on thousands of computer through the Internet. Æ’Â ¨WHAT DOES CLOUD COMPUTING MEAN TO US? Cloud computing is set to take over the world, or at least possibly replace Microsoft Outlook. The cloud concept is simple: Its a way to access your data and apps from anywhere, via the Internet (or the cloud). Yet everyone from Gartner Group to Google has a slightly different take on cloud computing: It can be anything from storing and sharing documents on Google Docs to running your entire company operations using a remote, third-party data center. Some envision it as a way to compute without operating systems, or pesky local client programs, and with minimal hardware needs (just a basic client machine). The most important single characteristic of a cloud is abstraction of the hardware from the service, says John Willis, a noted cloud-computing expert and blogger, explaining that the location of the servers is not as important as easy access to the data. However you define it, I think cloud technology will have a footprint in every business that does IT within the next five years. Cloud computing increases capacity and expands computing capabilities without heavy investment in infrastructure, training or software licensing. Most importantly though it democratizes Web 2.0-application development. With the removal of two significant barriers to entry cost and capacity access suddenly even small, lesser-funded entrepreneurs can dream big and bring their grand Web 2.0 applications to market. CLOUD COMPUTING has been changing how most people use the web and how they store their files. Its the structure that runs sites like  Facebook, Amazon and Twitter and the core that allows us to take advantage of services like Google Docs and Gmail. But how does it work Æ’Â ¨HOW DOES CLOUD COMPUTING WORK? Before we dig further into how does cloud computing work, first lets understand what the term CLOUD refers to.   The concept of the cloud has been around for a long time in many different incarnations in the business world. It mostly means a  grid of computers  serving as a service-oriented architecture to deliver software and data. Most websites and server-based applications run on particular computers or servers. What differentiates the cloud from the way those are set up is that the cloud utilizes the resources from the computers as a  collective virtual computer, where the applications can run independently from particular computer or server configurations. They are basically floating around in a cloud of resources, making the hardware less important to how the applications work. With broadband Internet, the need to have the software run on your computer or on a companys site is  becoming less and less essential. A lot of the software that people use nowadays are completely web-based. The cloud takes advantage of that to bring it to the next level. For example, if you are  hosting your website on a local server  or from your PC, you must usually select a particular operating system (Windows/Linux/Mac), to determine what software you can run on that particular server. If your site is being hosted in the cloud, there is no need to do that. You can run Windows and Linux programs side by side. Æ’Â ¨HOW IS THAT DONE? To understand how does cloud computing work, imagine that the cloud consists of layers mostly the  back-end  layers and the  front-end  or user-end layers. The front-end layers are the ones you see and interact with. When you access your email on Gmail for example, you are using software running on the front-end of a cloud. The same is true when you access your Facebook account. The back-end consists of the hardware and the software architecture that fuels the interface you see on the front end. As always seen, the user-end is usually a third party application or a termination for implementing their ideas on a visual end and rest all (hardware and logical) is taken care off at the back-end. Because the computers are set up to work together, the applications can take advantage of all that computing power as if they were running on one particular machine. Cloud computing also allows for a lot of flexibility. Depending on the demand, you can increase how much of the cloud resources you use without the need for assigning specific hardware for the job, or just reduce the amount of resources assigned to you when they are not necessary. The Cloud makes it possible to launch Web 2.0 applications quickly and to scale up applications as much as needed when needed. The platform supports traditional JavaTM and Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP (LAMP) stack-based applications as well as new architectures such as MapReduce and the Google File System, which provide a means to scale applications across thousands of servers instantly. Æ’Â ¨WILL IT CHANGE THE WAY WE USE COMPUTERS? The transition from being very personal hardware dependent to a world where resources are shared among the masses is creeping up on us slowly and unobtrusively. Very many people have already transitioned to using a cloud environment for most of their time in front of the computer without even realizing it. Sure, most of us still use some version of Microsoft Office or Quickbooks that was installed on our computers, but even  those kinds of software are now offering an online version  that can be used instead. The possibility of being able to access your data and software wherever you need it makes this transition very appealing to most people. Are there problems with this concept? Of course there are. If for some reason your internet goes down, your access to your data also disappears. There are security concerns with the data and the risk that companies will use proprietary formats for the files and that require that you pay for a certain service monthly or you may lose access to your own data permanently. So choose wisely when picking a service to use with your important data and make sure it can be downloaded if needed, but also enjoy the flexibility those services provide. The wave of the future is in the cloudsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Dreaming big.   Now thats what its all about. MODELS AND TYPES OF CLOUD COMPUTING Æ’Â ¨ Cloud Computing Models Cloud Providers offer services that can be grouped into three categories, they are: Software as a Service (SaaS): In this model, a complete application is offered to the customer, as a service on demand. A single instance of the service runs on the cloud multiple end users are serviced. On the customersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸ side, there is no need for upfront investment in servers or software licenses, while for the provider; the costs are lowered, since only a single application needs to be hosted maintained. Today companies such as Google, Salesforce, Microsoft, Zoho, etc offer SaaS. Platform as a Service (Paas): Here, a layer of software, or development environment is encapsulated offered as a service, upon which other higher levels of service can be built. The customer has the freedom to build his own applications, which run on the providerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s infrastructure. To meet manageability and scalability requirements of the applications, PaaS providers offer a predefined combination of OS and application servers, such as LAMP platform (Linux, Apache, MySql and PHP), restricted J2EE, Ruby etc. Googleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s App Engine, Force.com, etc are some of the popular PaaS examples. Infrastructure as a Service (Iaas): IaaS provides basic storage and computing capabilities as standardized services over the network. Servers, storage systems, networking equipment, data centre space etc. are pooled and made available to handle workloads. The customer would typically deploy his own software on the infrastructure. Some common examples are Amazon, GoGrid, 3 Tera, etc are some of the popular IaaS examples. Æ’Â ¨ Types Of Cloud Computing Enterprises can choose to deploy applications on Public, Private, Community or Hybrid clouds. Cloud Integrators can play a vital part in determining the right cloud path for each organization. Cloud  Computing  can be classified into 4 types on the  basis of location  where the cloud is hosted: Public Cloud Æ’Â   Public clouds are owned and operated by third parties; they deliver superior economies of scale to customers, as the infrastructure costs are spread among a mix of users, giving each individual client an attractive low-cost, Pay-as-you-go model. All customers share the same infrastructure pool with limited configuration, security protections, and availability variances. These are managed and supported by the cloud provider. One of the advantages of a Public cloud is that they may be larger than an enterprises cloud, thus providing the ability to scale seamlessly, on demand. Æ’Â   Also, the infrastructure is hosted at the vendors premises. The customer has no  visibility  over the location of the cloud computing infrastructure. The computing infrastructure is shared between organizations. Private Cloud Æ’Â   Private clouds are built exclusively for a single enterprise. They aim to address concerns on data security and offer greater control, which is typically lacking in a public cloud. There are two variations to a private cloud: -> On-premise Private Cloud: On-premise private clouds, also known as internal clouds are hosted within ones own data center. This model provides a more standardized process and protection, but is limited in aspects of size and scalability. IT departments would also need to incur the capital and operational costs for the physical resources. This is best suited for applications, which require complete control and configurability of the infrastructure and security. -> Externally hosted Private Cloud: This type of private cloud is hosted externally with a cloud provider, where the provider facilitates an exclusive cloud environment with full guarantee of privacy. This is best suited for enterprises that dont prefer a public cloud due to sharing of physical resources. Æ’Â   All in all, private cloud  architecture is dedicated to the customer and is not shared with other organizations. They are expensive and are considered more secure than Public Clouds. Private clouds may be externally hosted ones as well as in premise-hosted clouds. Hybrid Cloud Æ’Â   Hybrid Clouds combine both public and private cloud models. With a Hybrid Cloud, service providers can utilize 3rd party Cloud Providers in a full or partial manner thus increasing the flexibility of computing. The Hybrid cloud environment is capable of providing on-demand, externally provisioned scale. The ability to augment a private cloud with the resources of a public cloud can be used to manage any unexpected surges in workload. Æ’Â   In technical terms, Organizations host some critical, secure applications in private clouds. The not so critical  applications  are hosted in the public cloud. The combination is known as Hybrid Cloud.  Cloud bursting  is the term used to define a  system  where the organization uses its own infrastructure for normal usage, but cloud is used for peak loads. Community Cloud Æ’Â   The cloud  infrastructure  is shared between the  organizations  of the same community. Æ’Â  For example, all the government agencies in a city can share the same cloud but not the non government agencies. DISTINGUISHING PUBLIC, PRIVATE AND HYRBRID CLOUDS, DIAGRAMMATICALLYà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Difference Between Cloud Computing And Other Computing Techniques. Æ’Â ¨ Cloud Computing Vs Grid (distributed) Computing Grid computing has been used in environments where users make few but large allocation requests. For example, a lab may have a 1000 node cluster and users make allocations for all 1000, or 500, or 200, etc. So only a few of these allocations can be serviced at a time and others need to be scheduled for when resources are released. This results in sophisticated batch job scheduling algorithms of parallel computations. Vs Cloud computing really, is about lots of small allocation requests. The Amazon EC2 accounts are limited to 20 servers each by default and lots and lots of users allocate up to 20 servers out of the pool of many thousands of servers at Amazon. The allocations are real-time and in fact there is no provision for queuing allocations until someone else releases resources. This is a completely different resource allocation paradigm, a completely different usage pattern, and all this results in completely different method of using compute resources. - In grid computing, a single big task is split into multiple smaller tasks, which are further distributed to different computing machines. Upon completion of these smaller tasks, they are sent back to the primary machine which in return offers a single output. Vs Whereas a cloud computing architecture is intended to enable users to use difference services without the need for investment in the underlying architecture. Though, grid too offers similar facility for computing power, but cloud computing isnt restricted to just that. With a cloud users can avail various services such as website hosting etc. Grid computing is where more than one computer coordinates to solve a problem together. Often used for problems involving a lot of number crunching, which can be easily parallelizable. Vs Cloud computing is where an application doesnt access resources it requires directly, rather it accesses them through something like a  service. So instead of talking to a specific hard drive for storage, and a specific CPU for computation, etc. it talks to some service that provides these resources. The service then maps any requests for resources to its physical resources, in order to provide for the application. Usually the service has access to a large amount of physical resources, and can dynamically allocate them as they are needed. - With grid computing, your company gets power and flexibility. Grid computing, however, occurs when the processing power of an application or service is distributed across multiple systems. This is usually done in order to increase processing capacity or improve system resiliency. Vs Grid Computing Cloud ComputingWith cloud computing, your company gets cost-savings and convenience. This is where you get access to the resources of an independent 3rd party over the internet. In other words, they are remotely hosted applications. Life Before And After Cloud Computing. Æ’Â   Before Cloud Computing Traditional business applications-like those from SAP, Microsoft, and Oracle-have always been too complicated and expensive. They need a data center with office space, power, cooling, bandwidth, networks, servers, and storage. A complicated software stack. And a team of experts to install, configure, and run them. They need development, testing, staging, production, and failover (means for ensuring high availability of some critical resource) environments. When you multiply these headaches across dozens or hundreds of applications, its easy to see why the biggest companies with the best IT departments arent getting the applications they need. Small businesses dont stand a chance. Imagine a world without bridges.   It would be pretty hard to get from point A to point B reliably and without interruption!   The Cloud Computing is the to the Bridge solution that increases interoperability between your on-premise datacenters and off-premise clouds.   This interoperability increases your flexibility, enabling more choice around what applications you can move to the cloud.   Since the Cloud Bridge solution supports multiple virtualization environments, you also have more choice in cloud providers, enabling you to drive down costs.   In short, Cloud Computing is the big bridge to fill the big gap between your datacenter or the application. Æ’Â   After Cloud Computing Cloud computing is a better way to run your business. Instead of running your applications yourself, they run on a shared data center. When you use any application that runs in the cloud, you just log in, customize it, and start using it. Thats the power of cloud computing. Businesses are running all kinds of applications in the cloud these days, like CRM(Customer Relationship Management), HR(Human Resources), accounting, and custom-built applications. Cloud-based applications can be up and running in a few days, which is unheard of with traditional business software. They cost less, because you dont need to need to pay for all the people, products, and facilities to run them. And, it turns out theyre more scalable, more secure, and more reliable than most applications. Plus, upgrades are taken care of for you, so your applications get security and performance enhancements and new features-automatically. The way you pay for cloud-based applications is also different. Forget about buying servers and software. When your apps run in the cloud, you dont buy anything. Its all rolled up into a predictable monthly subscription, so you only pay for what you actually use. Cloud applications dont eat up your valuable IT resources, so your CFO(Chief Financial Officer) will love it. This lets you focus on deploying more applications, new projects, and innovation. The Nature of Cloud Computing Cloud computing builds on established trends for driving the cost out of the delivery of services while increasing the speed and agility with which services are deployed. It shortens the time from designing an application architecture to actual deployment. Cloud computing integrates virtualization, on-demand deployment, Internet delivery of services, and open source software. The on-demand, self-service, pay-by-use model The on-demand nature of cloud computing helps to support the performance and capacity aspects of service-level objectives. The self-service nature of cloud computing allows organizations to create flexible environments that expand and contract based on the workload and target performance parameters. And the pay-by-use nature of cloud computing may take the form of equipment renting that guarantee a minimum level of service from a cloud provider so billing is based on resource consumption: CPU hours used, volumes of data moved, or gigabytes of data stored. Growth and Further scope Of Cloud Computing. Æ’Â ¨ Cloud computing  is being touted as  the future of  the web. Everything from your Word documents to pictures, music has been  moving to  the cloud. In  Google  Apps, the company has a strong competing product to  Microsoft  Office. So, how big is all of this going to be. Here are some statistics from a  Gartner study Value of  Cloud computing services  through the years 2008 : $46.41 billion 2009 : $56.30 billion 2013 : $150.1 billion (projected) Advantages and Disadvantages Of Cloud Computing. Cloud computing is fast evolving from a  futuristic technology  into a commercially viable alternative for companies in search of a cost-effective  storage  and server solution. In fact, Gartner Inc. predicts that by 2012, 80 percent of Fortune 1000 enterprises will pay for some cloud-computing service, while 30 percent of them will pay for cloud-computing infrastructure. While the technology has its fair share of drawbacks (such as privacy and  security  concerns), an undeniable silver lining is currently turning skeptics into enthusiasts. Here some of the advantages of cloud computing: >ADVANTAGES: Scalability:  IT departments that anticipate an enormous uptick in user load need not scramble to secure additional hardware and software with cloud computing. Instead, an organization can add and subtract capacity as its network load dictates. Better yet, because cloud computing follows a utility model in which service costs are based on consumption, companies pay for only what they use. Easy Implementation:  Without the need to purchase hardware, software licenses or implementation services, a company can get its cloud-computing arrangement off the ground in record time and for a fraction of the cost of an on-premise solution. Skilled Practitioners:  When a particular technology becomes popular, its not uncommon for a whole slew of vendors to jump on the bandwagon. In the case of cloud computing, however, vendors have typically been reputable enough to offer customers reliable service and large enough to deliver huge  datacenters  with endless amounts of storage and computing capacity. These vendors include industry stalwarts such as Microsoft, Google, IBM, Yahoo! Inc. and Amazon.com Inc, etc. Frees Up Internal Resources:  By placing storage and server needs in the hands of an outsourcer, a company essentially shifts the burden placed on its in-house IT team to a third-party provider. The result: In-house IT departments can focus on business-critical tasks without having to incur additional costs in manpower and  training. Quality of Service:  Network outages can send an IT department scrambling for answers. But in the case of cloud computing, its up to a companys selected vendor to offer 24/7 customer support and an immediate response to emergency situations. Thats not to suggest that outages dont occur. In February 2008, Amazon.coms S3 cloud-computing service experienced a brief outage that affected a number of companies. Fortunately, service was restored within three hours. Æ’Â   According to  Jonathan Koomey, who is a consulting professor for Stanford University and a project scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, there are four primary reasons why cloud computing (at least philosophically speaking) should be a more power-efficient approach than an in-house data center. This is the order in which Koomey lists them. Workload diversity: Because you will have many different sorts of users making use of the cloud resources different applications, different feature set preferences and different usage volumes this will improve hardware utilization and therefore make better use of power that youre using anyway to keep a server up and running. Economies of economies of scale: There are certain fixed costs associated with setting up any physical data center. According to Koomey, implementing technical and organization changes is cheaper per computation for larger organizations than for IT small shops. And because you will have more people using the infrastructure, again, you can spread those costs more efficiently. Power-management flexibility: Koomey postulates that its easier to manage virtual servers than physical servers from a power perspective. If hardware fails, the load can automatically be deployed elsewhere. Likewise, in theory, you could move all virtual loads to certain servers when loads are light and power-down or idle those that arent being used You can pick the most efficient site possible: So, for example, if you are a business based in a state that uses primarily coal-powered electricity, do you really want to site your data center there? If you have a data center in a place that is all coal-powered, this is a big business risk, Koomey says. In a future where there might actually be a tax on the carbon your company produces, that would certainly be a risk indeed. >DISADVANTAGES: Æ’Â   One of its few major issues is that cloud computing relies totally on network connections. If the network goes down, youre done using the computer until it is back up. If the network gets bogged down, then your computing will be slower. Æ’Â   The other major downfall is that it doesnt use a hard drive. While it is a benefit, it is also a negative. Some applications or hardware might require having a hard drive attached to the computer; these might be hard to get working properly with the hard drive on a remote server. Æ’Â   The last big issue is peripherals. Getting printers to work is hit or miss. The more popular printers will give you little trouble when you try to get them working properly. The little printers that arent as common, such as label printers, can face issues with the mini PC that each user has. Æ’Â   In most big businesses, few people have personal printers; most printers are networked,  so its not a big issue to a majority of users. Things such as scanners use software to work with the PC, however, and if your virtual hard drive doesnt have the software, when you log onto the cloud computer at a desk, you wont be able to use the scanner until you install the software. Some Of The Disadvantages Are Listed Below Security: No control over the business assets (data!). The main assets in every company are its data files with valuable customer information. A proper security model for cloud computing is not yet developed. Security, privacy and compliancy is still difficult for cloud solutions. Especially for public cloud services. Physical location of hardware and software is unknown. Site inspections and audits are hard. Availability. Constant connectivity is required. Failure to compliance. E.g. HIPAA, SOX, PCI, SAS 70 and audits. Risk of data loss due to improper backups or system failures in the virtualized environment. Dependency (Lost On Control): Quality problems with Communicating Sequential Processes (CSP) No influence on maintenance levels and fix frequency when using cloud services from a CSP. No or little insight in CSP contingency procedures. Especially backup, restore and disaster recovery. No easy migration to an other CSP. Measurement of resource usage and end user activities lies in the hands of the CSP. Tied to the financial health of another Company. Cost And Flexibility: Special customization not possible. Possible lower rate of business IT innovation. The technological innovation pace is dictated by CSP. Cost: Hidden cost (e.g. compliancy regulations, backup, restore, disaster recovery and problem solving.) Opaque cost structure due to highly flexible usage of cloud services; Cost advantages is as hard to get when using outsourcing for IT services in a traditional way. Risks of higher future charges are real. Requires a constant Internet connection: Cloud computing is impossible if you cant connect to the Internet. Since you use the Internet to connect to both your applications and documents, if you dont have an Internet connection you cant access anything, even your own documents. A dead Internet connection means no work, period-and, in areas where Internet connections are few or inherently unreliable, this could be a deal-breaker. When youre offline, cloud computing simply doesnt work. Doesnt work well with low-speed connections: Similarly, a low-speed Internet connection, such as that found with dial-up services, makes cloud computing painful at best and often impossible. Web-based apps require a lot of bandwidth to download, as do large documents. If youre laboring with a low-speed dial-up connection, it might take seemingly forever just to change from page to page in a document, let alone to launch a feature-rich cloud service. In other words, cloud computing isnt for the broadband-impaired. Can be slow: Even on a fast connection, web-based applications can sometimes be slower than accessing a similar software program on your desktop PC. Everything about the program, from the interface to the current document, has to be sent back and forth from your computer to the computers in the cloud. If the cloud servers happen to be backed up at that moment, or if the Internet is having a slow day, you wont get the instantaneous access you might expect from desktop apps. Features might be limited: This situation is bound to change, but today many web-based applications simply arent as full-featured as their desktop-based brethren. For example, you can do a lot more with Microsoft PowerPoint than with Google Presentations w

Channel Tunnel Construction: Project Management

Channel Tunnel Construction: Project Management The Channel Tunnel is considered to be the largest private sector infrastructure project of the twentieth century. It is a fixed link transportation system comprising twin rail tunnels with an additional service tunnel each 50.5 kilometres in length. These run below the English Channel connecting England and France. The terminals can be found in Folkstone in the UK and Coquelles, near Calais in France. In 1986, a treaty of Canterbury was signed establishing the political framework for the project. This addressed issues such as jurisdiction, national boundaries and governmental involvement, consequently defining the role of the Intergovernmental Commission (IGC) and Safety Authority. In the same year, the Concession Agreement was awarded to Eurotunnel (ET), a bi-national company formed by the Channel Tunnel Group (UK) and France Manche S.A. (France) for 65 years. Eurotunnel subsequently became owner and operator of the project and awarded the construction contract to Transmanche Link (TML) for the tunnels design, construction, testing and commissioning. ET also became linked to the banks via a loan agreement and to national railways via a usage agreement. The scope of the project entailed the development of a system to accommodate the transfer of regular traffic through airport-sized terminals onto an entirely new rail system with minimum transit time and shuttles travelling at high speeds with high capacity in a confined tunnel environment. This therefore defined the technology to be used, since a high integration was required between works and specific transport equipment, an unprecedented rolling stock which included the heaviest traffic on rails, and the largest real-time data system ever employed to manage shuttles travelling at high speeds. Project Roles and Responsibilities Project Sponsor As the project was privately funded, the sponsor had to raise finance on an unprecedented scale through bank loans and equity while making shares available to the public. The loan was secured through a consortium of 203 banks worldwide. An increase in finance during the course of the project was necessary to accommodate for the previously unconsidered needs of the IGC and for safety and environmental concerns as well as the approval of changes made to the project plan by the manager to address the commissions concerns and the degree of fast-tracking between the several phases of the projects. Contractual issues had to be resolved during the course of the project, with a revised agreement to that made with TML in 1987 being drawn up. As installation of equipment progressed, the concern shifted to the training of personnel for the operation of the transport system. Maintaining communication between both sides of the tunnel was also crucial in achieving project success. Project Manager The project managers principal responsibility was to plan and organise the project effectively to meet the sponsors design and construction specifications while adhering to cost and time constraints. During the construction phase, the project manager had to appoint sub-contractors for various stages of the project, with fixed-price contracts issued to reduce costs. Other duties included the modification of the project plan to accommodate for changes in the original design necessitated by pressures from the Intergovernmental Commission and accounting for safety and environmental concerns. The project manager also had to ensure that there was effective communication between the French and the English sides of the tunnel construction. Project Timeline Commissioning Jan 1990 total tunnel bored reached 50km Dec 1986 Geotechnical study of Shakespeare Cliff carried out. Cross channel surveys developed for the 1974-1975 tunnel project were refined using the latest satellite observations Nov. 1987 Funds arranged totalling  £5 billion Oct 1990 Eurotunnel Signs agreement for  £1.8 billion additional bank credit facilities June 1992 The installation of complex signalling, control and communication system begins. Nov 1993 Commissioning Program Begins August 1987 Construction work begins on both UK (Shakespeare Cliff) and French (Sangatte) sides of the channel Figure 1: Fast-track programme for Channel Tunnel [Event dates obtained from Wilson Spark (1994)] Original Project Objectives The fundamental objective of the tunnel was to offer a comfortable, fast, frequent and reliable transportation service that linked the United Kingdom to France via the English Channel. ET suggested that that two rail tunnels and a service tunnel be constructed. The service tunnel was to be fitted with safety and electronic equipment of the highest standard while the rail tunnels were to be designed to accommodate shuttle speeds between 100 to 160 km/h with an average journey time of three hours between London and Paris. The project was initially scheduled for opening on the 15 May, 1993. This meant that the time taken between design consideration and completion of the project was set at seven years. Since Eurotunnel could not start earning revenues until the tunnel became operational, schedule overruns were linked directly to loss of revenue, and were considered a more damaging consequence than direct cost increases. Based on the conceptual design, the budget was estimated at  £5 billion. It can therefore be observed that the quality of the system was of greatest importance in this project. A compromise was necessary between the desired quality and the time taken to achieve this quality, since as the time increased, so did the costs (in the form of lost revenue). Figure 2 indicates the time-cost-quality relationship for the Channel Tunnel project. The red dot represents the relative importance of quality with respect to time. Project Strategy The scale of design was massive and consequently broken into several smaller projects that ran simultaneously to achieve the overall objectives. Realistic time estimates for the project were obtained from detailed schedule planning during the inception phase of the project. This included activity definition, activity sequencing, and activity duration to develop a baseline project schedule. During the course of the project, monitoring and re-evaluation of the time estimates were performed by the implementation of a hierarchical planning/control system. This allowed overall strategic planning, proper reporting to management and detailed logging of day-to-day activities using a computerized reporting system to monitor the progress on all aspects of the project. According to the Channel Tunnel Treaty, Eurotunnel had to obtain funding for the project from private sources, without government aid or loan guarantees. Hence, financing was obtained through equity and loan capital markets. The Intergovernmental Commission (IGC) was put into place to ensure the quality objectives were achieved. This included implementation of a Safety Authority which was responsible for monitoring and specifying design procedures, specifications, construction and issues related to the environment, operation and safety. Since the project was bi-national in nature, the IGC mandated that if there were differences in the standards of the two countries, the higher of the two should prevail. The Quality Management plan included quality planning, quality assurance and quality control. Contracts played an essential role in defining the scope of work, cost, timeline and rules of engagement (or penalties). Contract Strategy During the conceptual design phase, Eurotunnel contracted TML for the construction of the tunnel. The contract agreements were based on estimated costs since at this stage of the project, detailed design was incomplete and hence, fixed prices were not available. Based on the estimated costs, the contract had three facets: Lump sum works for the construction of terminals and installation of mechanical and electrical equipment in both tunnels and terminals. Target works, for all tunnelling and related equipment such as the tunnel boring machines. The arrangement was that if the actual cost was less than the target cost at completion, the contractor will receive 50% of the savings, while if the actual cost exceeded the target cost, the contractor was required to pay 30% of the excess, up to a maximum of 6% of the target cost. Procurement items for the rolling stock and its associated equipment on a cost reimbursement basis with a procurement fee. Project Manager Type and Style ET comprised mainly of banks and contractors. Throughout the project, ET was largely criticised for its approach to design and management. This resulted in failure to deliver the project according to the sponsors time, cost and quality objectives. Additionally, since ETs organisation was bi-national, a sole project manager could not be identified. Organisational Structure Eurotunnels organisational structure can be described as functional, but its two board system made it unique. This is depicted in Figure 3 below. Figure 3: Eurotunnel Management Structure: Joint-Board System (adapted from Stannard (1990)) / In retrospect with the original project objectives, the Tunnel was not opened until 6 May 1994 at a cost of approximately  £12 billion. Additionally, original specifications for the rail system and tunnel quality were revised in order to keep costs down. Many reports have analysed the Channel Tunnel project in an effort to determine what went wrong in such a massive construction venture. From its inception, it was plagued by financial and technical woes, blown schedules and highly public battles between the company managing the project, ET, and its contractors, TML. One of the factors responsible for the cost overruns stem from the short time allocated for bidders to place their proposal for the project in the inception phase. Due to time constraints only a conceptual design was presented and priced. All detail design was to be completed during the construction phase after the bid was won (an example of fast-tracking in the program). Consequently, a number of design problems were not identified from the onset of the project and no provisions were made for them in ETs initial cost estimates. A typical example of this was the need for air-conditioning in the tunnel, and therefore, an additional  £200 million to accommodate this new design aspect. Later on, this lead to disputes between ET and TML about who was responsible for these cost overruns. Another important factor to consider was the poor communication between the British and French teams, in addition to ET and TML. Project communications was an important aspect in project planning, especially for a project of this magnitude. The multi-national team of approximately 15,000 persons included the politicians, governmental workers, bankers, lawyers and analysts who were responsible for obtaining an approved proposal plan and financing, and the construction workers, machinists and engineers who were responsible for the actual implementation of the project. With a task force of this size, an executional communication plan was necessary to address horizontal and vertical communication channels. An analysis of the Risk Management revealed that focus was on engineering risk as compared to process and approval risk, such as IGC safety decisions and approval, while the business risk was addressed via contractual agreements. During the project life, several key members of the ET team resigned and TMLs management also underwent significant change. Strategies were adjusted given the depreciating status of the project. Organisations involved such as the banks, Safety Authority, environmental issues, local authority and public opinion interfered strongly and permanently in this project that was constantly under media scrutiny. The Channel Tunnel was able to withstand all these delays and cost overruns principally because of its highly robust future income stream.

Cali Cartel vs. Tijuana Cartel Essays -- essays research papers

The drug trade is a very large and complex system. There are many different organizations involved at different levels. There are groups that operate only in growing and selling the product, and only groups that buy and distribute the drugs. In this essay I will discuss the similarities and differences of two of the largest growers and sellers in the drug trade: The Cali Cartel of Columbia and the Tijuana Cartel of Mexico.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Cali Cartel is the largest, richest, and most complex producers and distributors of cocaine. The cartel concentrates almost entirely in cocaine. Over time they have developed an extremely large and sophisticated distribution system and have generated an extraordinary amount of wealth. Because of their financial stability, they are able to buy planes, ships and warehouses as well as bribe government officials and pay the top lawyers and strongest mercenary groups for protection.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Tijuana Cartel, also known as the AFO, or Arellano-Felix Organization, runs out of Mexico and is known as one of the most violent drug organizations in the world. The group is headed by Benjamin Arellano-Felix and his brothers Ramon, Eduardo and Javier. Ramon Arellano-Felix is a frequent member of the FBI’s Top 10 Most Wanted List. He is known as the most violent brother and is in charge of the group’s security. This group’s competitive edge is not in their distribution system or exorbitant riches but in their ruthless tactics. Because the group is conveniently located near the 2,000 mile border between the US and Mexico, they do not have to spend as much money or have as sophisticated distribution systems as The Cali Cartel does. This border consists largely of rugged terrain that is difficult to patrol. Mexican traffickers have mastered transportation methods over this border.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What the Cali Cartel lacks in location for transportation, they make up in location for raw materials. The Cali Cartel gets the cocoa leaves they need to make cocaine for extremely cheap and then sell it exponentially higher prices. At this rate, they are able to afford expensive transportation methods. The AFO makes up for this in diversity of product.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  While the Cali Cartel operates exclusively in cocaine, the AFO distributes heroin, marijuana and methamphetamine... ...ce in Columbia and the two groups agree to a ceasefire, the growers would then be vulnerable to government intervention.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Mexico, the AFO thrives on the large number of corrupt Mexican officials. The cartel makes it a very smart choice for a government official or law enforcer to help them. Not only are they bribed, but they are also threatened with violence. Everyone in Mexico knows from the history of this group that they mean business and any threat is very legitimate. Because of the large amount of corruption in the Mexican government, the Tijuana cartel flourishes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Both of these cartels are custom made for the area they are located in. If the systems were to switch geographic locations, they would not be nearly as successful. Over the years, the groups have molded to form the perfect fit for a drug cartel to operate in their specific area. As things change, the group changes, it is because of their flexible nature that they have lasted so long. Because of all of these factors, the war on drugs has proven to be an extremely difficult one to win. Information gathered from the DEA website at http://www.usdoj.gov/dea