The Performance Management At The Starbucks Commerce Essay

The Performance Management At The Starbucks Commerce Essay Mr. Schultz with few investors bought Starbucks in the year 1987. In 1992 Starbucks decided to go public to achieve rapid expansion. The results of making the company public were great; it helped raise $25 million and took the growth rate at 40% to 60. Stratbucks had launched around 5000 outlets by year 2000. Averages of three new stores were being opened each day. At this time 20 million customers were being served by Starbucks. As the company had gone public sales and profits climbed at a rate of 45 to 55%. As the company expanded position of Chairman of board was retained by MR. Schultz while MR. Orin Smith became the CEO. Department of research and development was introduced. Versimo espresso machines and drive troughs were introduced in order to increase operations efficiency. Post of CEO was taken over by Mr. Jim Donald in the year 2005. Immense increase in sales was experienced in his era as the range of products was increased by him. Oven warmed breakfast sandwich, movies and books were added. The characteristics of Starbucks are as follows: Characteristics of Starbucks 1: Setting functional goals to achieve strategic objectives Knowing the distinction between corporate strategy and business strategy is very significant in order to respond to the questions mentioned above. Corporate strategy Issues related to the market in which the market wants to compete or would compete in future are dealt with corporate strategy. The main concern of the strategy is mission, aim and on the whole degree of the organisation. Business Strategy Strategies associated to making a business prosper in a specific market are known as Business strategy. An alternate name for business strategy can be Competitive strategy. The main objective behind the strategy is to be in a situation where organisation has competitive advantage over its opposition in the market by cost leadership or differentiation. Integration, Acquisition and Mergers related benefits achieved by Starbucks Benefits attained by using vertical Integration (backward or forward integration) strategy were: As a result of direct contact with the targeted market, significant environmental knowledge of market is gathered. This enables to make early adjustments to avoid loss. Higher profits can achieve as they are being a buyer and supplier. Sp some section of this value can be delivered to customers. Need for much more capital to enter the market will increase the entry barriers for potential oppositions as a result of vertical integration. Impact of decentralization, separate profit units on Starbucks Diversified business units will have less cooperation between each others. Transaction cost might not be saved as divisional publishing units have to achieve minimum profit % set by corporate management to remain in the Starbucks. Responsibility of their divisional business is not being taken by higher management willingly. Tax in result of stock transfer by internet is being saved. Business and corporate goals would lack alignment. core competencies cannot increase for different businesses Available tools and techniques to set team performance objectives Motivation is most important thing. Motivation can be categorized as a process which develops a desire that people have to work well and achieve the goals. In order to have increased and constant high performance from a worker, it is important to keep the workforce motivated as it is the main aspect of performance. Motivation can be in financial or non financial forms, it is important to apply different theories and figure out which works out the best. In Abraham Maslows theory, he has divided human needs into five types. He then further developed it into a heirchy of needs pyramid, in which needs are aligned in order. According to him all the five human desires have to be fulfilled, to uphold or boost stimulus levels.. Following picture shows hierarchy of the needs: Till year 2000 which was Mr. Schultz era, he managed to attend all the needs lined up in hierarchy. Evidences are provided in the chart below: Source: (Suhomlinova, 2008) Maslows theory was truely adopted by Mr. Schultz in his era. He managed to maintain high levels of job satisfaction level with consistency among the partners. This is proved by 70% staff turnover, which was a result of very satisfied partners. Whereas at the same time other food industries were experiencing 300% staff turnover. After Mr. Schultz period deviations from Maslows theory was observed. Orion Smith denied paying for the overtime, he also neglected health and safety as injuries related to work were not paid for. Partners autonomy was reduced in the operations by the introduction of espresso machines. Job complexity got worse when later Mr. Donald introduction of oven warmed sandwiches resulted in little stimulus and job contentment levels. Latham and Lockes theories about setting goals indicates that if goals are set wisely, it can boost up the motivation levels leading to higher levels of job satisfaction and performance. Set goals must be SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time based). Every member of the organisation should agree with the goals set up and should work toward achieving it. Before 2000 under Mr. Schultz leadership organisations aim was to originate a 3rd place if all the partners agreed on it and was acceptable to them. After 2000 with the change of leadership t he goals also changed. The goal was to open as many outlets as possible. The partners were not told of the new goals and strategies which were mainly made to boost up the rapid expansion. All the goals and policy making was done at the top and partners were unaware of it. Moving at a rapid growth rate it seemed unrealistic to maintain customer experience. According to expectancy theory of Vroom the work force will put forward extra effort and hard work when they are aware that their hard work will be praised and rewarded. Expectancy theory is most effective when an enormous organizational change is arising e.g. in this case when espresso machines were installed this theory can be applied to get desired results as some people will not feel comfortable to work with machines as they enjoy doing all the steps of coffee making in a relax pace while talking to customers at the same time. Equity theory tells us that the employees judge the fairness of the distribution of rewards by comparing it to the other co-workers rewards. If the employee making the caparison gets to the conclusion that he is under rewarded, it may result in low motivational and performance levels. Frustration can also arise if the employee is being under rewarded. Increasing number of organisations were understanding the importance of keeping the workforce happy for staff retention and better performance. The job complexity was increasing with the expanding number of stores, sales and products. Due to the increased burden the partners started to feel that the organization is not caring for them, in fact day by day the burden of work was increasing and they had to work very hard to get rewards. The Value of Team Performance Tools to Measure Future Team Performance In 1980 Hackman and Oldham defined 5 features of a good job design; they defined the 5 characteristics as skill variant, test identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback. Skill variety was reduced by the installation of espresso machines as the step which involved coffee making, now were different due to machines input. Machines have the massive on the way people perform their jobs, machines bring standardisation and people start depending upon them. The element of people skill was reduced which starbucks was originally hired on with the introduction of espresso machines and growing amount of work load. Socialisation and emotional aspect was missing with the new policies there is no time to speak to customers or colleagues. Usually partners took help from each other, when there was a work load, currently machines can put up with it. Machines do not have any emotions associated to them, people think that they are controlling the machines but in reality they are being controlled by machines as they have to work according to the machines and cope up with its speed. Previously their partners were solely acknowledged by the complimentary feedback from customers as they were involved in the steps of making coffee. Now the appreciation is divided as machine is involved and people think at times that major part of the job is performed by the machine. All the discussion above is almost contradicting Hackman and Oldmans theory thus, resulting is low job satisfaction To make the experience uplifting for the customers these are the main 3 gears of Starbucks branding strategy. Under the leadership of Mr.Dnonald and Mr.Smith clearly all the components mentioned above were losing strength. Reduced personalisation and very little time to communicate and socialise with the customers was the result of espresso machines. The atmosphere standards were being destroyed by the development of drive through as fewer soft chairs and carpeting, as a result of this service is also dropping because 80% of Starbucks coffee is consumed outside stores. In todays market its very significant to created competitive advantage, this can be achieved then product differliation composed to competitions. This is important as many subsidies are present in market this differentiation will make their product sell over others. At very early stages Starbucks adopted the relationship marketing approach. Under the leadership of Mr.Schultz. Today under the leadership of Mr.Donald and Mr.Smith Starbuck is practicing the philosophy of early 19th century. The brand is being ruined by this policy as strategy of horizontal diversification is being used for growth. Early 19th century related production concept is being followed when the imagination of organisations was that as they produce quality products at affordable rates the customers will favour them. in the mid 1920s the selling concept came in, according to which sales targets were to be achieved by aggressive promotion. In the early 1950s the marketing concept also came in. The concept stated to manufacture goods according to the demand and taste of customer. In 1990s the relationship marketing era started. This concept was that apart from producing products according to the. Customers likely and demand, it was also important to maintain long term relation with its satisfied customer. The factors discussed above mention that the starbucks was going backward in the world of marketing after 2000.This is shown by the diagram, illustrated above. Starbucks unique and rich culture is the reason behind its success. A lot of respect is given to its employees calling them partners and using ceo as a substitute of CEO. The achievements of the partner is appreciated by the organisation in the form of norms Warm regard, Mug, Bravo and sprit of starbucks. To achieve customer satisfaction Starbucks feel that it is important to satisfying their staff .Work force variety create environment for a lot of fresh ideas and culture of different sort together, which makes starbucks a desirable place to work. Apart from satisfying its staff and customers sratbucks also serve the community. This is done through their corporate social responsibility group which donated $36.1 Million cash and products sratbucks also volunteered 383,000 hours to help out the community .The unique culture of starbucks helped them to maintain the satisfaction of employees which resulted in low staff turnover and the contentment of a staff were transferred to the cust omers. By the early year 2000 the rules and strategies of starbucks started to change as it was believed the starbucks amazing culture is onerous instead of competitive advantage. as stated in the case study the company had stopped paying for the overtime, less care for the staff and injuries related to work were not being paid for .After Mr.Schultz leadership partners were not consulted about the new strategic decision like, drive through, offering sandwiches or the design changes made to accommodate more customers. Reduced empowerment and lack of entrepreneurial spirit was the result of these policies of the partners. Partners make labour union was fired by the Starbucks. This indicates that the starbucks partners cant get to the upper level management. They need union because of the unhappiness.Making more stores and achieving higher sales become the aim of the higher management .The partners had a feeling that it was not starbucks who was giving up the benefits, but the case was that they had to work very hard to get them .Starbucks faced problems like lower customer satisfaction, less staff satisfaction, reduction in sales and share value as a result of deviation from their culture. 2: Team performance targets towards objectives. To achieve objective a few targets are recommended of the evaluation of the organization: Business It analysed that after Mr.Schultz era which ended at the start of 2000 the focus of the organization deviated from people to other issues .Starbucks preferred products, increase in efficiency through machines and growth of the organization over the people. Leadership Transformational leadership is required to solve the issues mentioned above in the analysis. Importance of leadership should be recognised by Starbucks and the fact that management is not the replacement for leadership. From the above study we can conclude that Starbucks is totally unaware with the advantages of transformational leadership. A good example can be Mr.Schultz. starbuks needs to get in leadership training programmes. They could use their own leadership story for a better understanding. As their story mentions different impacts, under different leaderships. Culture The culture of Starbucks is very rich but after 2000 their dimensions, strategies, aims changed. According to market research report 53% to 61% believes that Starbucks is all about making money. While 48% to 55% people have thinking that Starbucks is all about opening new stores. Its partners also feel that the employees are not being cared for. All the negative thoughts about Starbucks need to be changed. Motivation Starbuks needs to motivate its workforce. As from the study above we have noticed that employees do not have any say. They should be made part of the decision making process., their work shall be appreciated by verbal means as well as financially at times. A new job design needs to be in place which involves less use of machines. Boost in entrepreneurship spirit and empowerment can be achieved if supported and participated leadership is introduced. Product and Competitive Advantage, Vision, Atmosphere and People Creating product differentiation on actual product is very difficult. Competitive avantages can be created through the way to concentrate on service and environment. Environment can be improved by making seating more comfortable by installation of music systems, roper lighting, carpets, heating systems and comfortable seats. Job satisfaction is very important to maintain, as a satisfied workforce will make customers satisfied. This can be achieved by thinking of new ways to reduce job stress. One way can be by reducing the use of espresso machines. 3: Monitoring of actions and activities to uplift team performance Dividing the task into groups or departments and developing coordination between these departments of the organization to achieve organizational goals is called Organizational structure. A good structure sets clearly defined authorities and duties. It also develops and increases coordination. As a result it eases monitoring of different activities of the organisation. Enhanced effectiveness and effectiveness in operations of the organization is a result of this. Organizational structure can be made in three ways; by grouping different activities of the organization: Functional Structure (grouping by task) Divisional Structure (grouping by output) Matrix Structure(grouping by task and output simultaneously ) Starbucks has some functional departments but apart from that it does not have any formal organizational structure as there is no data written in the case study nor on the website. These departments are finance, sales, corporate social responsibility, production, research and development and human resources. The organisation structure shows lack of connection, sequence and coordination between different departments which is observed in the case study. From this kind of functional grouping Starbucks achieved in-depth functional knowledge as it is stated in the case study We tend to be great on measuring things, at collecting market data (Suhomlinova, 2008) but overall organizational goal is suffering due to lack of coordination and accountability. Starbucks grouping also hindering the effective decision making process of the organization as it is stated that we are not very disciplined when it comes to using this data to drive decision making (Suhomlinova, 2008). Poor accountability no clear responsibly is also observed as market research noticed that Starbucks is losing product differentiation and customers satisfaction rates are declining through their decisions like creating convenience by increasing no of stores and drive-throughs but no one was looking at the big picture and previous executives were blaming soft economy for poor performance (Suhomlinova, 2008). During rapid expansion they followed Max Weber Classical approach which led to bureaucracy. They moved their focus from people to mechanistic organization as Mr. Schultz said that he want to shift Starbucks focus from bureaucracy to people by giving them more training and tools to launch new products and introduce new concepts in store designs (Suhomlinova, 2008). All of the above circumstances are creating problems like critical customers satisfaction results reduction in staff morale and cannibalization of existing stores. In respect to Starbuck bureaucracy means function department are performing their tasks without coordination, espresso machines increased standardisation which made partners job boring, formalization and centralized authority to make decision. In general bureaucracy result in higher performance for large size organizations but in Starbucks bureaucracy became a factor or low performance because bureaucracy is effective in standardised operational activities and Starbucks customers want personalized coffee with non-standardized emotional greeting. Value Chain and coordination with drawing activity map Activities related to production are divided into secondary and primary activities by Michael E. Porter value chain. Making and delivering the products is associated with primary activities. Supporting and service activities are related to support the primary actives to produce product or services effectively and efficiently (Johnson, 2008: p.110). Starbucks diversified product portfolio and geographical distances are creating hurdles to fully utilize the essence of vale chain. Mr. Middelhoff asked the whole group to increase and share communication and resources for synergy without drawing an activity map that where the coordination is required. Michael E. Porters value chain is shown in the following diagram. 4. Apply influencing and persuading skills to the active and politics of personal relations. Starbucks needs to develop a marketing department as it has expanded to such a large scale. To develop a marketing department integration of its 3 existing department market research group, category group and marketing group is needed which is show in the picture and adopt relationship marketing approach. Organizational Chart for Starbucks In order to overcome the difficulties mentioned in the analysis an organization chart is shown above. In designing Starbucks structure all types of grouping methods are considered to maximise synergies. To increase communication horizontal and vertical structures are used at different levels. Horizontal structure is used at bottom level management, which includes country manager, area manager, Store Manager and then sales. Vertical communication is used in functional departments. To comprehend customers, enhance efficiency and effectiveness marketing decisions, through internal integration of three existing groups marketing department is brought in to shape. As all the departments will be at head office, it will improve coordination and communication between functional departments. In result this will improve and foster strategic decision making process. Implementing the above recommended chat will result in decentralised and clear responsibilities at all management levels. This will help the organisation reduce bureaucracy. Conclusion The study has tried to explore Starbucks within four learning outcomes as specified above and has found that Starbucks has a unique spiritual culture created by a transformational leader Mr. Schultz. This case tells us that how leaders and organizations can change commodity into culture by having strong belief on people and by creating ethical culture. Power and devotion of people can change a simple product and small company to huge multinational company. Critical analysis of different theories in organization behaviour module not only helps in understanding the organization but also provide a basis to improve them in different environments. Most of the companies now days are trying to increase performance of the organizations by embracing technology but this case study give us a different point of view a more natural approach to solve different problems of the organizations. Different theories developed with the passage of time but to understand organization performance its best to understand and apply all to get multiple view of the organization behaviour.

Switched LANs And Network Design Engineering Essay

Switched LANs And Network Design Engineering Essay The Local Area Networks (LANs) can serve only a small geographic area and there is a limitation for the total number of hosts that can be attached to a single network. In order to communicate between the hosts network devices like hubs and switches are used. Thus a set of LANs that are interconnected by switches will form switched LANs and this lab is all about the performance evaluation of the switched LANs. OBJECTIVE: The main goal of this lab assignment is to compare and study the performance of switched local area networks (LANs) that are implemented through the hubs and switches. The performance study of various parameters like throughput, number of collisions, and delay of the network is done through the simulations obtained from the project implementations and the questions are answered from the simulations. IMPLEMENTATION PROCEDURE: The implementation of the switched LANs is done through OPNET IT Guru software. The software provided step by step procedures. In the first step, the network is created with the hub configuration having nodes from node_0 through node_15 and the hub is named as HUB_1. The Ethernet connection 10BaseT, operates at 10Mbps and is used to link between the 16 hosts present in the network. The network nodes are then individually configured for the traffic generation parameters and packet generation parameters attributes. As the hub configuration would send the packets received at its input to all the output lines irrespective of the destination the hub configuration network design is as shown below. The second configuration uses both the hub and the switch. Here a switch is used between the two hubs named HUB_1 and HUB_2. Each hub is connected to 8 nodes and the connection is established through the Ethernet 10BaseT link. The main difference between the hub and the switch is that the switch uses a store and forward mechanism. Thus it will forward the packets received at its input port to the required destinations and sometimes buffers due to the network traffic. The network configuration for such a combination of hub and switch is detailed in the below simulation design. The above two network configurations are analyzed for the attributes packet generation and traffic generation parameters. Both of them are similar and the packet generation occurred for every 100 seconds. The simulation of the configured network is run for every 2 minutes and the details are captured for further evaluation. OBSERVATIONS AND RESULTS ANALYSIS: The simulation results for the configured networks are clearly depicted by the graphs. Fig 3 details the traffic sent over the hub and the hub-switch combination. From the graph we can identify the amount of traffic sent across both the configurations remained the same. Fig 4 shows the packets that are received at the destination for both the configurations. From the graph we can state that the hub-switch configuration is more efficient over the hub alone configuration. The analysis of the time delay in Fig 5 gives a clear idea about the efficiency of hub-switch configuration. The hub-switch configuration had a delay of 0.020 seconds constantly for a particular load and there is no such criterion for the hub only configuration. The collision count in Fig 6 depicts that the collision count for the hub alone is nearly 2300 for a constant amount of time and the case with the hub and switch combination is far less which counts to nearly 900. Thus we can say from the graphs that the efficiency of hub and switch network configuration is more when compared to the hub alone network configuration. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS: Question 1: Explain why adding a switch makes the network perform better in terms of throughput and delay. Answer: From the simulation results it is evident that a switch performs well by dividing the network into smaller collision domains. Thus the throughput could be increased and also the switch provides the network bandwidth of 10 Mbps completely on each of the nodes and hence the delay of the network is reduced effectively. Question 2: We analyzed the collision counts of the hubs. Can you analyze the collision count of the â€Å"Switch†? Explain your answer. Answer: Yes. The collision count of a switch can be analyzed with the behavior of the switch. The switch uses a store and forward mechanism. Thus it also has the capability of buffering the packets in times of network traffic. These major features of the switch would enable the switch to have no collision. Thus switches are more preferred. Question 3: Create two new scenarios. The first one is the same as the OnlyHub scenario but replace the hub with a switch. The second new scenarios is the same as the HubAndSwitch scenario but replace both hubs with two switches, remove the old switch, and connect the two switches you just added together with a 10BaseT link. Compare the performance of the four scenarios in terms of delay, throughput, and collision count. Analyze the results. Note: To replace a hub with a switch, right-click on the hub and assign ethernet16_switch to its model attribute. Answer: The results obtained from the simulation graphs would show the throughput and time delay in the different configurations. From Fig 7, it is seen that hub and switch configuration has the increase in throughput and the hub only configuration has the least throughput among the four. The time delay between the four configurations is analyzed from the Fig 8. Here the two switches configuration has a least time delay because the usage of switches would optimize the delay in time. This is clear from the simulation graph as the time delay is around about 0.002 seconds. The analysis of collision count is already discussed in question 2. When two switches are used by the property of the switches the collision count would be zero. Thus switches are the best configuration devices as compared to hubs. CONCLUSION: Thus, the Switched LANs lab assignment gave a very clear vision for the choice of network configuration in a preferred location by learning the hub and switch basics. The simulation results were evident to confirm the better efficiency of a switch than a hub. Hence, the optimization of network by a switch instead of a hub will produce cost efficiency. LABORATORY 4: NETWORK DESIGN OVERWIEW: In this lab we developed a companys network having 4 departments. Since it was a small network, we used LAN model. We used OPNET Guru to simulate the network design. Once the design was done we assessed the outcome and tried to excel the network by changing some of the hardware, such as using separate servers for database, files and web vs. using one for all three of them. We also compared the same network using low vs. high density cables. Thus, this lab is about the optimization of network. OBJECTIVE: The main goal of this lab was to show the learning of the fundamentals of network design. In order to doing this we took into account the users, services, and locations of the hosts. IMPLEMENTATION PROCEDURE: To implement this network, we used OPNET Guru as it is one of the greatest tools in Networking. It allows one to simulate the network with any combinations of devices and protocols we have available today. First, we created an empty project and added objects: Application Configuration, Profile Configuration, and a subnet as node_0, node_1 and subnet_0 respectively. Then, we configure services for applications, namely: engineers, researchers, salespeople, and multimedia users. Later, we configure the subnet. Then, we create a 10-workstation star topology LAN. We do this for each of the four departments stated above. Now, we configure all the departments. Now, we configure all three servers based on different services needed for each followed by connecting each department to the subnet. Finally, we setup the network to test for statistics about the global page and run the simulation to assess the results. Later, we keep the same setup as in Figure 1 above and change the background utilization to be 99 percent to create the Busy Network. And run the simulation again. Finally, we duplicate the Busy Network and replace the low density cables with high density to observe differences. Now you are you are ready to observe the results and analyze the network. OBSERVATION AND RESULTS ANLAYSIS: In figure 4.3 bellow, we observed that the response time of the busy network was much higher than the simple network. Also, the system stabilizes very quick compared to the busy network. From figure 3, high density cables were very helpful in optimizing the results. With high density cables we get busy network producing a response time as if it were a simple network and it stabilizes really fast too. It was apparent that File server stabilizes a lot faster than both the Database Server and the Web Server. Second, Database Server fluctuate the least. It became apparent that one server replacing the three server has the most load, so it CPU Utilization is the most and it somewhat higher than the Web Server alone. QUESTION AND ANSWERS: Question 1: Analyze the result we obtained regarding the HTTP page response time. Collect four other statistics, of your choice, and rerun the simulation of the Simple and the busy network scenarios. Get the graphs that compare the collected statistics. Comment on these results. Answer: From the HTTP response time for the simple and busy networks, the simple network is represented in blue and the busy network is represented in the color red. The comparison of the two time delay would result in a conclusion that the delay is much less in the simple network as compared to the busy network. We have considered four other scenarios for comparison and they are depicted in the graph as below: The first plot shows the Ethernet delay time and from the figure we could notice clearly that the delay in the busy network is higher as compared to the simple network. The next plot shows the time delay comparisons of the TCP delay. We could understand that the TCP delay for the busy network is fluctuating initially ata higher rate and then it subsides almost even but still at at a higher pace. On the other hand the simple network has a ver low flutuating initial time delay and then it has stabilized after a period of time. The graph below represents the response time for the DB entry and the comparison between the simple and busy network shows a great deal of difference. The busy network is a bit fluctuating at the initial stage and then it commences to a stable state. But still the delay is high over here. The simple network is having a quite stable time responde from the beginning. This could be observed from the graph below. The response time for the DB Query is as shown below. In this scenario also the simple network has a quite stable time delay and very small when compared to the initial fluctuating time delay of the busy network. Question 2: In the Busy Network scenario, study the utilization% of the CPUs in the servers (Right-click on each server and select Choose Individual Statistics ? CPU ? Utilization). Answer: The CPU utilization during the Busy Network Scenario for the webserver, database server, and file server are as below: From the graphs above, it is obvious that File server stabilizes a lot faster than both the Database Server and the Web Server. Second, Database Server fluctuate the least if you look at the magnitude on the y-axis. Question 3: Create a new scenario as a duplicate of the Busy Network scenario. Name the new scenario Q3_OneServer. Replace the three servers with only one server that supports all required services. Study the utilization% of that server’s CPU. Compare this utilization with the three CPU utilizations you obtained in the previous question. Answer: It is apparent from the graph above that the one server replacing the three servers has the maximum load, so its CPU Utilization is the most and it somewhat higher than the Web Server in the previous scenario. This is because the web server was using the most CPU time in the previous busy scenario. Question 4: Create a new scenario as a duplicate of the Busy Network scenario. Name the new scenario Q4_FasterNetwork. In the Q4_FasterNetwork scenario, replace all 100BaseT links in the network with 10Gbps Ethernet links and replace all 10BaseT links with 100BaseT links. Study how increasing the bandwidth of the links affects the performance of the network in the new scenario (e.g., compare the HTTP page response time in the new scenario with that of the Busy Network). Answer: After making all the changes to the links, we have the following results: From the results above, it is obvious that network response time is much faster and that it stabilizes really fast too. In other words, the Q4_FastNetwork is compatible to Simple Network instead of Busy Network only because we used high density cables. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, we learned the basics of designing a network, taking into consideration the users, services, and locations of the hosts. We learned this by using OPNET tool which is great for simulating network systems. We also, learned that using high density cables will optimize the network greatly and can even convert the response time of a network to be so fast as if it were a simple network and it stabilizes the network very fast too. We also noticed that using separate servers for different activities, such as, Database, files and web gives better performance of CPU utilization. Thus, one should consider using high density cables and separate servers for Databases, files and Web to avoid overloading just one server.

civil war :: essays research papers

The first major land battle was fought at Bull Run in Virginia in 1861. The men who were soldiers in these armies were volunteers who chose to go to war. They wanted to win a quick victory but instead found that there was a lot of marching and drill, living outdoors, disease, bad weather, and boredom. Where did all the soldiers who fought at Gettysburg come from? Why did they choose to go to war? How were the armies different? How were they so much alike? Just who were "Billy Yank" and "Johnny Reb"?Welcome! You're probably here because you are curious about our nation's past and the Civil War. At Gettysburg National Military Park, it is the ranger-historian's job to study this controversial time in our nation's history and provide an explanation, or interpretation, of these events to park visitors. Sound interesting? Well, it is! Explore these pages and see if you have what it takes to be a junior historian! What started the Civil War? The Civil War did not begin at Gettysburg. It began in 1861 when Southern states declared themselves independent by secession and formed the Confederacy. The United States was split in half and a terrible Civil War was the result. What Caused the Civil War? The first major land battle was fought at Bull Run in Virginia in 1861. The men who were soldiers in these armies were volunteers who chose to go to war. They wanted to win a quick victory but instead found that there was a lot of marching and drill, living outdoors, disease, bad weather, and boredom. Where did all the soldiers who fought at Gettysburg come from? Why did they choose to go to war? How were the armies different? How were they so much alike? Just who were "Billy Yank" and "Johnny Reb"? 1863 was the most critical year of the Civil War and for the hopes of the Confederacy. For two years, the Union and Confederate armies in the east battled with each other in Virginia and in Maryland. Confederate General Robert E. Lee advised Confederate president Jefferson Davis that the time was right to invade the North that summer. In June, almost 78,000 Confederates made their way northward into Pennsylvania with the support of southern leaders filled with high hopes that another victory would ensure independence for the South. Their hopes were dashed at the Battle of Gettysburg, which took place during the first three days of July 1863.

Essay --

Childhood Obesity In The United States Childhood obesity is definitely a problem today because of the shocking levels that it has reached up to in the past couple of years. Genetics and the change of lifestyle and culture created children who are less healthy than people were in the last 20 years. Obesity is the result of these changes. There is a difference between being overweight and being obese. Being overweight means a person’s weight is high in comparison to other people who are the same height. This does not have anything to do with one’s level of body fat. For example, someone could be heavier because he or she has a lot of muscle mass. â€Å"† (Roth). Obesity is when a person has a very high amount of body fat in comparison to his or her lean body mass. Obesity in America increased by eleven percent between 1991 and 2003. A different study showed a comparison between 1988-1994 to 1999- 2000. The percent comparing these two periods of overweight kids increased an average of 4.1 percent for tho se between the age of two and nineteen. Recent research is doing a good job so far by the real reasons of obese children. Scientists are doing this by looking closely at nutrition and genetics. A high glycemic index comes from simple carbohydrates. For the body to digest these simple carbs it must produce lots of insulin, which lowers one’s blood sugar and makes them feel hungry. Carbs that are Complex have a lower glycemic index and do not need as much insulin to digest, making one’s blood sugar not as low. This means people do not feel as hungry as soon after eating these foods. One experiment showed children who ate foods with a low glycemic index for breakfast were not as hungry at lunch resulting in the child eating less food. Childr... ...tion classes because of problems with money. They use the money on other academic classes. Another factor that contributes to childhood obesity is that more parents are working late, which leads to fewer family meals. This results in ordering more food from restaurants, which is usually higher in fat content. Another environmental factor is that in major cities, there is less room for children to play. Some parents are able to send their children to after-school gyms and activities, but those cost money and require transportation. These are two things that not all parents have. This problem is conflict theory. In conclusion, children are getting fatter everyday. However, scientist and researchers are finding many ways to get rid of this problem. They have done a good job so far and eventually most people will be aware the importance of a healthy diet and exercise.

Crew Personalities on the Mission to Mars Essay -- Psychology Space Sc

Crew Personalities on the Mission to Mars The importance of psychology in space flight has been well documented and addressed by NASA and other organizations conducting space exploration. A manned mission to Mars has no precedent. The Apollo missions to the moon are the most similar attempts at space exploration, but these were significantly shorter in duration, did not have the difficulties in communicating with earth that the huge distance between Earth and Mars poses, and the experiments performed were not nearly as complex as those that would be done on Mars (ie. tests for life, carbonates, and underground ice). These new variables leave us with unknown psychological and physiological threats that no one can truly predict â€Å"expertly†, and as a result leadership and how well the crew works together will be more important than ever. In the novel Red Mars, characters each have different personalities, which end up strongly influencing their behavior and attitude on the flight to Mars, as well as once they se t up their community on the surface of Mars. While no character possesses an ideal personality for the mission, each exhibits personality traits that are beneficial to the mission, and others that become obstacles to success. The identification of positive and negative personality characteristics in these hypothetical characters allows the development of ideal standards for the personalities of each crew member based on their function. Michel clearly begins to succumb to some of the basic psychological difficulties associated with life in an isolated environment. The conditions on Mars are described well in Red Mars_The bleak plain surrounding the base was a vision out of some post-holocaust desolation, a night mare... ...ed likelihood of success is worth the additional funds that might be needed to do so. Works Cited Gleitman, Henry et al. Psychology. 5th edition. W.W. Norton & Company Inc. New York. 1999 Holland, Al. Psychology of Spaceflight. In: Human Spaceflight. Mission Analysis and Design. Larson and Pranke Eds, McGraw hill, New York. ISBN 0-07-236811-X. Chapter 7 Mabry, Edward A. et al. The Dynamics of Small Group Communication. Prentice Hall Inc. Englewood Cliffs, NJ. 1980 Morris, Larry Wayne. Extraversion and Introversion: An Interactional Perspective. Hemisphere Publishing Co. Washington, D.C. 1979 Payne, John W., et al. The Adaptive Decision Maker. Cambridge University Press. New York. 1993 Rasmussen, John E. Ed. Man in Isolation and Confinement. Aldine Publishing Company. Chicago. 1973 Robinson, Kim Stanley. Red Mars. Bantam Books. New York. 1993 Crew Personalities on the Mission to Mars Essay -- Psychology Space Sc Crew Personalities on the Mission to Mars The importance of psychology in space flight has been well documented and addressed by NASA and other organizations conducting space exploration. A manned mission to Mars has no precedent. The Apollo missions to the moon are the most similar attempts at space exploration, but these were significantly shorter in duration, did not have the difficulties in communicating with earth that the huge distance between Earth and Mars poses, and the experiments performed were not nearly as complex as those that would be done on Mars (ie. tests for life, carbonates, and underground ice). These new variables leave us with unknown psychological and physiological threats that no one can truly predict â€Å"expertly†, and as a result leadership and how well the crew works together will be more important than ever. In the novel Red Mars, characters each have different personalities, which end up strongly influencing their behavior and attitude on the flight to Mars, as well as once they se t up their community on the surface of Mars. While no character possesses an ideal personality for the mission, each exhibits personality traits that are beneficial to the mission, and others that become obstacles to success. The identification of positive and negative personality characteristics in these hypothetical characters allows the development of ideal standards for the personalities of each crew member based on their function. Michel clearly begins to succumb to some of the basic psychological difficulties associated with life in an isolated environment. The conditions on Mars are described well in Red Mars_The bleak plain surrounding the base was a vision out of some post-holocaust desolation, a night mare... ...ed likelihood of success is worth the additional funds that might be needed to do so. Works Cited Gleitman, Henry et al. Psychology. 5th edition. W.W. Norton & Company Inc. New York. 1999 Holland, Al. Psychology of Spaceflight. In: Human Spaceflight. Mission Analysis and Design. Larson and Pranke Eds, McGraw hill, New York. ISBN 0-07-236811-X. Chapter 7 Mabry, Edward A. et al. The Dynamics of Small Group Communication. Prentice Hall Inc. Englewood Cliffs, NJ. 1980 Morris, Larry Wayne. Extraversion and Introversion: An Interactional Perspective. Hemisphere Publishing Co. Washington, D.C. 1979 Payne, John W., et al. The Adaptive Decision Maker. Cambridge University Press. New York. 1993 Rasmussen, John E. Ed. Man in Isolation and Confinement. Aldine Publishing Company. Chicago. 1973 Robinson, Kim Stanley. Red Mars. Bantam Books. New York. 1993

Yellowstone Volcano

Introduction: â€Å"I don’t think visitors appreciate that they’re standing directly on top of the largest, most dynamic magmatic system on the planet,† says geologist Daniel Dzurisin. Yellowstone is easily one of the biggest volcanoes in the world, and one of the few super volcanoes on continental crust. The extreme ways of this volcano, is what makes it unique. Because of its tectonic setting, there are many hazards involved, as well as potential for damage. The history of this volcano explains that, and other super volcanoes help explain what could potentially happen when Yellowstone finally does erupt.Tectonic Setting: To begin, the tectonic setting of north western Wyoming explains a lot about Yellowstone. The crust underneath Yellowstone is restless. There are some major faults along the Teton, Madison and Gallatin Ranges that pass through Yellowstone; these all existed before the volcano was there. The North American plate is the biggest plate that Yellows tone is interacting with. There is a divergent boundary along where Yellowstone and the North American plate meet.The most apparent faults in Yellowstone are as follows; the Minor Plateau Faults younger section, Post – Lava Creek faults in North Western Yellowstone, Mallard Lake resurgent dome faults, Elephant Back fault zone, and Sour Creek dome faults. Main Hazard: Equally important, Yellowstone has many main hazards. Yellowstone is a super volcano. The difference between a normal volcano and a super volcano is not very obvious until you look at the inside structure. A normal volcano typically has a single column of magma that comes from within the earth.It breaks through the top of the mountain and spews out the entire column. A super volcano is quite a bit different though. A super volcano begins with a column of magma, but instead of breaking through the surface it stays underground. The magma then starts heating the crust and slowly begins to mix with it. This makes the magma really thick. Since the magma is trapped under the earth’s surface, the volcanic gases are also on lock. The pressure of the gasses and magma under the surface of the earth is colossal and continues to build over thousands of years.When the earth’s crust cannot take the pressure anymore, it breaks. The volcano erupts and the blast is hundreds of times more powerful than that of a normal volcano. Yellowstone happens to be really big too. It is 2,805m tall and rises at a rate of about 7cm/year. Risks Associated with Main Hazard: Fires: There are many risks associated with Yellowstone. To begin, fires are a pretty common thing in Yellowstone. The weather in Yellowstone is pretty interesting. There is lots of rain, and where there is rain there is lighting. The poor soil in Yellowstone results in the plants being pretty dry.When the rainstorms happen, the lighting usually hits something and causes fires. Earthquakes: Another example of a risk is earthquakes. Earthqu akes are a pretty regular thing in Yellowstone. Not all of the earthquakes are devastating but many happen all the time. In February 2012, the University of Utah Seismograph Stations, recorded 34 earthquakes. The largest of those earthquakes was a 1. 6 magnitude. The biggest recorded earthquake recorded in Yellowstone was a 7. 5 magnitude in 1959. Deadly Gasses: Equally important, deadly gasses are extremely hazardous in Yellowstone.Most of the gasses in Yellowstone are released in geysers. Two thirds of the world’s geysers are in Yellowstone national park (Secret). Because of the extreme climates in Yellowstone, animals typically seek warmth by the volcano. The volcanic gasses that come from Yellowstone are heavy and stay low to the ground. This usually results in animals seeking warmth followed by basically inhaling poison, which causes them to die. Ash Fall: To continue, ash fall is extremely dangerous in the case of Yellowstone. Yellowstone’s ash fall covers a huge radius.If Yellowstone were to erupt right now, the ash would shoot up into the atmosphere and travel around the earth in a cloud several times before settling. The eruption that occurred 650,000 years ago shot ash into the stratosphere (Secret). The Great Plains of the United States would also be covered almost immediately. Potential for Property Damage: In addition, potential for property damage is something incredibly difficult for some people to realize. Let us say, for example, that Yellowstone was to erupt today; who would be affected, and how badly would it affect them?Well, to begin, Wyoming and its surrounding states would be incinerated instantly (Yellowstone is a Super Volcano? ). After one gets past the fact that Utah, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska will be gone, it is to wonder what will come next. Potential for Loss of Life: Following this, potential for loss of life is a very scary thing for some people. The Great Plains have been called â€Å"The Bread Basket of the World†. So without it, many people would go hungry. If Yellowstone was to erupt today, ash would cover the entire United States, including the Great Plains.The hard part is one cannot save the crops when they are covered in inches and feet of ash. A plentiful amount of people will go hungry. If this is not enough to realize the effects of Yellowstone, all the gasses that will be released with the eruption will help clear it up a little better. Yellowstone will release many harmful gasses into the stratosphere. The one of the more plentiful gasses is sulfur dioxide. When sulfur dioxide gets into the stratosphere it will turn into sulfuric acid aerosols. Basically, this means that earth’s climate will change drastically and will be affected for years.This could affect the farming season, which would make growing food nearly impossible. Not only that, but based on other volcanos and historical occurr ences, Yellowstone could easily wipe out the entire population of the world. Historical Occurrences: To continue, Yellowstone has had some cataclysmic eruptions in the past. These eruptions have occurred only three times; 2, 1. 3, and . 6 million years ago. Each of these eruptions have altered the earth forever. When a super volcano erupts, a huge crater, or caldera, is formed. These can be many miles wide and hundreds of meters deep.To give you a better idea of how big this really is, the first eruption that occured about 2 million years ago, left a depression in the ground bigger than Rhode Island. The three eruptions that Yellowstone had, were more powerful than any other eruptions in recorded history (Yellowstone is a Super Volcano? ). The eruption that occured roughly 650,000 years ago was one of the biggest eruptions ever recorded in history. Ash, pumice, and gasses from the volcano basically swept across more than 3,000 square miles. The amount of ash that fell was enough to cover the entire United States with 5 inches, or all of Wyoming with 13 feet.Ash deposits from Yellowstone’s 650,000 year ago eruption are still being found in the Gulf of Mexico (Yellowstone is a Super Volcano? ). Similar Events in Other Locations Around The World: On the other hand, a similar, but different super volcano Yellowstone can be compared to, is Toba. Toba is located on the island of Sumeria in Indonesia. Toba is also on the same type of boundary that Yellowstone is on. The only difference is Toba is a way smaller super volcano, and it erupted about 70,000 years ago. When Toba erupted, only about 5 or 10 thousand people survived. (Yellowstone is a Super Volcano? . Another volcano Yellowstone can be compared to, is Mount. St. Helens. In 1980, Mt. St. Helens erupted. The explosion from Yellowstone 650,000 years ago was 1,000 times greater than that eruption in 1980. Potential for Occurrence in The Next 50 Years: However, there is a pretty good possibility Yellowston e will erupt in the next 50 years. Scientists have predicted that Yellowstone is subject to erupt every 600,000 years. The last eruption occurred about 650,000 years ago. This means Yellowstone is 50,000 years overdue. Not only that, but as of 2008, the magma was less 10km below the caldera.If Yellowstone is rising at a rate of 7 or more centimeters a year, Yellowstone will be erupting in no time at all (Thanks). Conclusion: Clearly, Yellowstone is extremely dangerous to the populace. The entire world will be affected if Yellowstone were to erupt today. Because of the tectonic, as well as the geological setting, each and every inch of the world will experience changes to the climate, food, and life as it is today. Yellowstone, being one of the few super volcanoes above sea level, is incredibly dangerous, and will be outrageously tragic. Work CitedMarshal, Jessica. â€Å"Pulse reveals breathing heart of a super volcano. † New Scientist 189. 2541 (2006): 11. Gale Student Resour ces In Context. Web. 3 Mar. 2012. . Moravianhawk. â€Å"What kind of fault does Yellowstone Caldera have?. † Yahoo Answers. Yahoo, 2012. Web. 3 Mar 2012. . Secret Yellowstone. Dir. Brian Armstrong. National Geographic. 2007. â€Å"Thanks for the lift. † American Scientist 96. 1 (2008): 27. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 3 Mar. 2012. . Topinka, Lyn. â€Å"CVO Website – Yellowstone Caldera, Wyoming. † USGS cascades Volcano Observitory (CVO). N. p. 25 June 2009. Web. 3 Mar. 2012. . â€Å"Wyoming Quaternary Faults. † USGS. U. S. Department of the Interior, 2012. Web. 3 Mar 2012. . â€Å"Yellowstone National Park Earthquakes. † Yellowstone Net – Yellowstone National Park Lodging, Hotel, Wildlife Information and More. Bruce Gourley, Russ Finley, & Tim Gourley, n. d. Web. 3 Mar. 2012. . â€Å"Yellowstone is a Supervolcano?. † Suburban Emergency Management Project. SEMP INC. 2007. Web. 3 Mar 2012. . â€Å"Yellowstone Volcano Observitory. † Volcano Hazards Program. U. S. Department of the Interior. 24 Jan. 2012. Web. 3 Mar 2012. .

A Room of One’s Own Critical Analysis

Many intelligent and creative women can make great contributions to the society if they are given space and time. However, for many years women have been viewed as less intelligent, merely mothers, and objects of ownership.In A Room of One’s Own, a novel by Virginia Woolf, the author argues that Shakespeare’s sister is as talented as her brother and that she can make great contributions to her society.In chapter, six Woolf clearly demonstrates her opinion and attitude towards patriarchal society. She portrays her judgment through use of language, narrative, style and other viewpoints about man, their dominance and female subservience.She uses sarcasm and irony combined with a lot humor to emphasize her argument as she contradicts the general opinions of men. She reminds women that what they want depends on them and that they should leave exhortations to men. She however criticizes women for lack of motivation and spirit by referring to them as â€Å"disgraceful ignoran t.†Through this the extract, the author gives hope to others but she is also realistic about the society developing a culture of equality. She tells women that it is very important to be their selves than to be anything else, a statement which contradicts men’s belief that women are objects of ownership and are merely mothers.Woolf seeks revenge against the society which is patriarchal through the characters of Mr. John Davies and Professor X. For example, Professor X is not given a name or identity (Davis).The author sarcastically calls men â€Å"great minds†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.are androgynous,† meaning that the part of the male’s mind should work together with women to create something that is original (Davis). She tells the writers that they should not think about their sex but should focus on the story that they are about to write.In conclusion, it is ironic that, in this book she does not talk about a matriarchal society but only talks about the society whe re women and men are equal.Works CitedDavis, C.   A Room of One's Own: Critical Response.   July 9 2010.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.dadooda.com/index.cfm/fa/library.detail/Library_ID/8016