Describe and critically assess the main challenges faced by trade Essay

Describe and critically assess the main challenges faced by trade unions in Britain today - Essay Example The problems began in 1980s following the entrance of Thatcher into the helm of Britain politics in 1979 and have extended beyond 1990s due to unavoidable social, economic and political changes that altered the labour market in the United Kingdom. Social, economic and political changes in Britain have interfered with the bargaining power of trade unions to champion for better pay, improved working conditions and obstruct alteration of existing pro-employee laws and regulations that protected the employees from unfair treatments of their employers (Heery 2002). Trade Unions in Britain have increased their efforts to increase it members of to trade unions but it proves a hard nut to crack. This is because the collective bargaining and the union power have been paralyzed. With the current membership decline among the unions, several questions have been raised concerning the impact of unions in the workplace. The main challenges faced by trade unions in Britain today The first challenge facing the trade unions in Britain is declining membership. According to Achur (2009), report from the Department for Business Innovation and skills revealed that the number of trade union members who were employed fell by 2.3 percent to 7.1 million members in 2008. Furthermore, there was a further decline of one hundred and sixty five thousand members in 2009. Reducing number of trade union members is disturbing because sustainability of trade unions in future is threatened. Reduction of membership is attributed to changes in various human resources and management practices of many organisations in the United Kingdom. Changes in human resources and management policies introduced practices such as team working, team briefings, quality circles and different profit sharing schemes. The new practices increased the levels commitment of all employees to their organisation. These organisations’ practices have paralyzed trade unions activities because it has made some of the members to withdraw from them. Therefore, trade unions are losing their bargaining power against employers and their influence among the workers is diminishing significantly (Kochan and Lansbury 1997). The second challenge facing the trade unions in Britain is political interference. When Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister in 1979, there were over thirteen million members of the trade union. At that time, trade unions influenced every from work related matters to politics. Thatcher was not happy about it and she chose to weaken them through reforms under the tinder-dry Norman Tebbit. The powerful and militant Trotskyite union leaders were stripped off power and the power was handed over to ordinary members of the union. The Lawson secondary picketing and strike ballots were also changed. As a result, the structure of the trade unions were significantly weakened (Opinion 2011). Since Thatcher’s time, labour laws in Britain have changed. Changes in labour laws have never been friendly to the trade unions. Trade unions have experienced weakening support from the government as politics change. The conservative government also in the United Kingdom enacted policies and legislations that weakened the trade unions. This is evident when conservative government gave management of the organisations authority over the employees through change of labour laws (Waddington 2003). Therefore, the level and capacity

Decline of the United Auto Workers Union (UAW)

Decline of the United Auto Workers Union (UAW) Introduction What does labor want? It wants the earth and the fullness thereof. There is nothing too beautiful, too lofty, and too ennobling unless it is within the scope and aspiration of labors aspirations and wants. We want more schoolhouses and less jails more books and less arsenals more learning and less vice more constant work and less crime more leisure and less greed more justice and less revenge in fact, more of the opportunities to make childhood more joyful womanhood more beautiful and manhood more noble. (Samuel Gompers, 1893) Organizations that deal with corporations, firms and other organization for the benefits of the workers on the behalf of members of union are generally termed as union. There are present different types of unions for example trade union, represent workers who do a specific type of job e.g. the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). Then there is industrial union that indicates workers in a specific industry. United Auto Workers (UAW) is a good example of industrial union (Brent Radcliffe, 2011). A large number of economists consider union as monopolies in the labor market. They believe that the rise in the wages of members, at the expense of unorganized labor is the main impact of union. These researchers analyzed the negative impact of unions on the productivity, employment, and the subsequent crowding of the nonunion zone. In addition there are present another group of economist who believe that unions have positive affecting both politically and economically. These skilled analysts noted that unions could increase retention of skills and developments. When a market is national or international, with output produced in one plant competing with that produced in other plants, independent bargaining by individual locals would lose unions their monopoly power, as locals would compete for jobs through lower wages. . . . The result would be a reduction in wages to more or less competitive levels. Unions can help in the achieving higher productivity and better management by increasing morale of workers, reducing labor turnover, and cooperation. Unions also help in providing well-organized workplace for better results. This is very much true that unions reduce profit (Richard B. Freeman and James L. Medoff, 1984). In todays globalized world, there is great need of union for number of reasons e.g. there is great increase in compensation, workers are hired according to their ranks, the gap between labor and management decreases both in terms of wages and in representation. There are present different viewpoints on the necessity and efficiency of unions. The problems faced by UAW at General Motors had raised the issue on the importance of unions in the future and in the modern society. In 1998, a harsh fight raged between the company and union. To remain competitive in the market the companies needed to change their strategies and increase their competence. Lower-cost outsourcing is very usual in the companies. Outsourcing involves the selling off business divisions in order to have a more focused and profitable company. United Auto Workers struggled for the union jobs.UAW were against the outsourcing (Korey Harlyn Coon, 1999). In the United States, the workers who have a stab to make unions are usually fired. If the management saw workers engaged in any collective activities, they are consistently harassed and stressed. The workers are permanently replaced if found in such activities like struggling for their rights (Bronfenbrenner, 1994). Stipend earners or salary earners has started an organization for the protection of their combined interests while dealing with their company and this organization is known as labor union. Generally, in the industrialized countries the unions are widespread. In the last 30-40 years, in most countries, there is large decline in the unions (representing workers). In 1950s, the unions of the United States represented about one-third of all workers but today less than 15 percent of the workforce represents the unions. In the private zone the labor force is less than 10 percent (in the late 90s the unions represented 30-40 percent of public sector workers). In the past decade s the workers union was considered as very strong force in the United States but these days the situations are opposite (Comstock, 1994). The industrial unions of the United States have large number of unionized workers. The workers of the industrial unions have large variety of occupation (within one or more industries). United Automobile Workers (UAW) is an excellent example of industrial union. The most important American automobile companies have both skilled and unskilled workers and in these companies, UAW has separate contract for workers. However, the industrial unions started by arranging workers in the single industry or set of allied industries. In the tractor and earthmoving equipment industry (Caterpillar and John Deere), UAW also represents workers. At the end of 1990s UAW across the country added different groups such as Graphics Artists Guild (3,000 members), the National Writers Union (5,000 members), and various service, technical, and graduate student employees at more than 20 colleges and universities. Decline of Union The history of union membership in the United States has noticeably changed. In US for almost 200 years, the unions (in some forms) have been in existence. Until 1930s, the unions membership did not gained significant position. In 1953, the union membership rose from 3 percent to 26 percent of the labor force in United States and in 1962 declined to 21 percent. The most ingenious and flourishing auto industry, the United Auto Workers (UAW) had faced tremendous decline by losing thousands of members in the 70s and 80s. At that time there were hardly six percent union workers who were engaged in product manufacturing (subtracting non-manufactures like nurses, civil servants, police, teachers, etc) because without base membership is not retained (David Macaray, 2008). In United States (1953), the union membership increased from 3 percent to 26 percent and declined to 21 percent in 1962. The quick expansion in employment in the nonunion organizations (governmental, finance, trade etc) is one of the factors responsible for decline of union. During the great depression, 1929-1933, another half million union members were dropped. The new deal era (1933- 1939) brought new legislation which helped in increasing members. The Auto Workers and the Machinists unions were top ranked that showed largest increase in the members of union during wartime but after the war (Leo Troy, 1965). In shaping the union, the legislation plays a key role. The workers can perform their work without any fear of wages any other problem. UAW played a significant role after World War II, in increasing labor movement, job security, and health care. Many researchers think that cause of decline is both external and internal. In the American economy, there is elementary shift from industrialized to service-based jobs. Globalization has made capital more mobile. Through this, employees got the opportunity to shift from lower to higher wages job. In addition, the political environment favored the economy. Labor law premeditated to protect the rights of labors. Some workers have the thought that by negotiation with the employers they can get better chance of work place. The workers have the feeling that negotiation is better than bargaining. This is because the workers have lost confidence in the ability of unions (Yates, 1998). The internal causes of labors decline are believed to be the willingness of workers to enter into a cooperative relationship with capital in the years following World War II. During the war period, t he unions did their best to establish peace between labor and corporate leaders. The labor also agreed that they would not interfere in the decisions of management. UAW president Bob king said that The UAW was able to win tremendous contracts with employers in the auto, aerospace and agricultural and construction equipment sectors because all three sectors were almost completely unionized, The United Auto Workers Union (UAW) was established in 1935. At this time it had 600,000 members representing the three main auto industries (General motors, Ford and Chrysler). In 1970s, there was great decline in the membership of UAW for some time. The decline indicates that there is great downfall in employment in the automobile and related industries. The UAW was struggling for the jobs of the future generation and not for their own jobs. To achieve their goals they did many strikes. These strikes showed the great decline in the power of the union. UAW chart.png graph1: Decline in UAW membership (source Dale Buss, 2011) The above graph shows the decline in UAW membership from 1979 to 2009. It is very clear that in 1979, the membership was at its peak that is 1.5 million and in 2009; UAW membership fell by 18 percent. According to the annual report submitted by US department of labor the main cause of decline was cut down in jobs (Jerry White, 2010). Union Busting The worlds leading automakers, the General Motors and Delphi (biggest auto parts suppliers of the world) had started union busting attack against the United Auto Workers (UAW). In the past decades, the US workers saw the biggest decline in the actual wages. The Delphi, auto parts supplier to GM, went bankruptcy. The company decided to cut the pays of workers from $27.00 to $10.00 per hour. At the same time, the bosses of GM claimed huge givebacks from UAW. Globalization Globalization is very important in several aspects. Over the past few years, the international competition has been enormously increased due to globalization especially in the economy sector. The higher prices on the imports have been cut down. Also due to increased competition, the domestic competitors were forced to give great benefits to their unionized workers. In unionized sector, the employment declines while in nonunion industries employment expanded. Moreover, the companies shut down or seal their plant, if union attempts to raise the profit of the workers and start new production in other country where costs are less. Globally the auto industry had become very competitive. In the 1980s, UAW responded to Asian and European growing challenges by abandoning any assault on jobs and on the living standards. Job Banks UAW in 1984 started a program called Jobs Banks,. The autoworkers get $31 per hour. Each year $70,000 to $85,000 are paid (for not to work) to UAW members. These workers are getting their full pay and all the benefits without working. They do not care about the loss of the company. This practice of allotting funds to the workers cost billions of dollars (approximately $4.5 billion) to the companies. Health Insurance The Negotiation of the union with the companies for the health benefits of members of union resulted in the decline of UAW, the auto industry. According to the survey of 2002, UAW wasted money as the big three (General Motors, Chrysler LLC, and Ford Motor) spent nearly $10 billion on health insurance. Roughly, each car pays the cost of $1,500 for health insurance. In this way, the money spent on health insurance is greater than the money spent on the steel for the construction of the car. In contrast to UAW, Toyota has less health insurance. Assault of Fund To fill the incursion funds The United Auto Workers (UAW) used nearly $ 1 billion dues of its workers. No other union performs such a pact to fill the strike funds. It was estimated that 30 percent from the pay of UAW member was given to fulfill the assault of fund. Other unions by negotiation with its member full fill this gap (without using the workers dues). Luxurious Resort UAW constructed luxurious resort, The Black Lake Resort and Golf club. The finance for construction was drawn from union dues. The UAW union members are allowed to visit the resort. The labor agreement between UAW and three big automakers In 2007, a historic negotiation took place between the Big Three automakers (General Motors, Chrysler LLC, and Ford Motor) and the United Autoworkers (UAW). Both the parties were aware of the significant of the agreement. They knew that to survive in this technical era and to compete with of global economy this agreement help them a lot. After the decline in membership, the main aim of the agreement was to protect the jobs and healthcare for the members of union. In addition, the big Three automakers (General Motors, Chrysler LLC, and Ford Motor) committed to lower the wages for some workers. To achieve the dynamic auto sales and to boom their market shares the agreement plays an important role. (John J. Lucas, and Jonathan M. Furdek, 2009) The recent economic slump had left bad impact on the US auto industry. The majority of Detroit autoworkers are represented by, United Auto Workers (UAW) union. They give allowances on its pay and benefits package. The UAW negotiates with the company to protect this package (Tony Escobar). The growth of non-union workers in the plant is also a cause of decline in UAW membership. Moreover the cars made by foreign companies (whether in the US or elsewhere) are account for more than half the cars sold in this country. It was analyzed that if UAW and other large unions did not get financial and regulatory support from government they will soon be vanished (Gary Becker and Richard Posner, 2008). A survey showed that only one third of UAW members are autoworkers and large percentage of work force is employed by state (includes colleges, universities and health care organizations (Dale Buss, 2011) Conclusion Union plays a very vital role in both political and business environment. They exit in many forms in industries. Unions help workers in obtaining better wages and working conditions. There are present two types of unions, federal and industrial. A large number of economists consider union as monopolies in the labor market. Unions can help in the achieving higher productivity. In industrialized countries, the unions are widespread. In the last 30-40 years, in most countries, there is large decline in the unions. In the past there was tremendous growth in the union membership but today its growth is not to that extend. The United Auto Workers (UAW) had faced tremendous decline by losing thousands of members in the 70s and 80s. In the beginning, there were 1.5 million members of UAW, which declined to 600,000 in 2009. In the past decades, the US workers saw the biggest decline in the actual wages. In 2007, a historic negotiation took place between the Big Three automakers (General Motors, Chrysler LLC, and Ford Motor) and the United Autoworkers (UAW). The recent economic slump had left bad impact on the US auto industry through the collective bargaining process the unions have reinvented themselves.

Tragic Heroines: Medea and Clytemnestra Essay -- Aristotle, Greek trage

Aristotle (384-322 B.C. believed that tragedy, as an imitation or mimesis of life as it could be, held more importance than history, which simply records the past. He considered that performance of a tragedy provided the perfect cathartic experience for an audience, leaving them spiritually purified and inspired. He felt spectators seeing and experiencing great hardship befall the play’s hero or heroine would achieve this emotional state and benefit from it. The tragic hero, according to Aristotle, must be essentially good and be of high or noble birth. The misfortune that precedes their downfall must evoke compassion and pity. The tragic hero must experience a peripeteia. Two of the most famous Greek tragic heroes (heroines) were Medea and Clytemnestra. They share characteristics Aristotle deemed essential for the heroic character in a tragedy. They are both of high rank. Medea is a princess and a sorceress, and Clytemnestra was the de facto ruler of Argos in Agamemnon’s absence. Their tales initially evoked sympathy, but hamartia and hubris were instrumental in each woman's downfall. Both suffer significant peripety as victims of their overly passionate natures. Clytemnestra is obsessed by the desire for vengeance over the death of her daughter at the hands of her husband, Agamemnon. While Clytemnestra's passion is for vengeance, Medea's is her unreasonable love for Jason, which turns into seething hatred. Clytemnestra’s peripeteia begins the moment Agamemnon sacrifices their daughter, Iphigenia. Heartbroken and grieving, Clytemnestra schemes, plotting vengeance for her daughter’s death. She obsessively plans her husband’s murder for so many years that it becomes a fait accompli. Clytemnestra greets his return with fa... ...s got to be done, -- do it without flinching. Whatever I do, my life will be unhappy. I’ll armor my heart with callousness, and take the sword in my hand...try to forget that they are my children and that I love them. I only need forget for a short time. And then I can remember all my life.† (Medea, pg. 343, 344). Revenge is at the core of the Greek tragedies Agamemnon, the first play in the trilogy Oresteia (Aeschylus (525 - 455 BC), and Medea (Euripides (431 – 480 B.C.). The protagonists in each play are women who carry out horrifying acts of revenge on their husbands. Both characters – Clytemnestra and Medea – are at once heroines, villainesses and victims. Works Cited Corrigan, Robert W. Classical Tragedy, Greek and Roman: 8 Plays in Authoritative Modern Translations Accompanied by Critical Essays. New York, NY: Applause Theatre Book, 1990. Print.

Great Expectations Illustrates the danger of seeing status and money as the most worthwhile aims in life

Charles Dickens' Great Expectations is not so uncomplicated as to suggest that wealth is a destructive force. Instead it attempts to highlight the apparent dangers associated with becoming preoccupied with money and social status. In Pip, the book's chief protagonist, Dickens presents us with a character that misguidedly follows these ideals in a journey of self delusion. The abandonment of his childhood father figure -Joe – and his earlier virtues of decency and compassion are the consequences of his misconception that with wealth will come ‘gentility'. Dickens' underlying message is that wealth and class are superficial, failing to give any indication of a person's quality or true gentility. This being said, it must be understood that Dickens' aim is not to condemn wealth and social ‘niceties' such as good manners and a formal education, instead it is those who worship these false ideals and become preoccupied with them that are criticized. In characters such as Herbert and Mathew Pocket and, to an extent, Wemmick and Jaggers, we are presented with benevolent and harmless forms of class and privilege. Yet juxtaposed against this we have Pumblechook, Magwitch and Pip. Failing to realize what truly counts, these characters delude themselves into believing that by assuming the outward trappings of gentility they will become gentlemen. However, by making wealth and status their most worthwhile aims, they succeed only in becoming grotesque and quite repugnant. The dangers involved with such illusions include pretentiousness, wasteful lifestyles and an inability to appreciate true and noble ‘gentility'. These become most apparent in Pip as his wealth gives him the illusion of greatness without the substance. He changes from the innocent blacksmith's assistant to the humbug ‘gentleman to be'. At times his pretentiousness is unbearable, its absurdity highlighted in the quote â€Å"The (servant) was ordered to be on duty at eight on Tuesday morning in the hall (it was two feet square)†. He is so lost in his fixation with wealth and class that he treats Joe and Biddy – his childhood mentors – patronizingly and with contempt; â€Å"If I could have kept (Joe) away by paying him money I certainly would have.† This leads him to turn his back on these noble characters, removing their wisdom and decency from his life, leaving him only with his wasteful and highly pretentious lifestyle. At one stage Pip himself admits â€Å"(the effect of my expectations) influenced my own character, I disguised from my recognition as much as possible, but I knew very well that it was not all good.† In highlighting these dangers, Dickens preaches that social status and external appearances are doubtful measures of a person's true quality. Pip's journey clearly exemplifies this message, being most repugnant at the hight of his expectations yet being most worthy when he has lost everything. Supposed gentlemen such as Pumblechook, Drummle and Compeyson who mock the false surface of gentility but are really hideous and unworthy characters are further variations on this theme. However, it is Estella, Miss Havisham and the world of Satis house that are best used in the attack against the simple-minded notion that money and status are a guide to ‘quality'. The lovely Estella charms Pip with her beauty, yet as she herself admits â€Å"I have no heart† and is incapable of love. Miss Havisham and her attractive Satis house have the showings of happiness and glamour. The truth is, however, that she has been eaten away by bitterness in a house that is â€Å"strange† and does not permit love. Therefore, Dickens strongly argues that external appearances fail to count for what lies beneath. Instead Dickens holds up truly noble characters such as Joe, Biddy, Wemmick and Clara, who understand the importance of compassion and fellow feeling, for our admiration. He attempts to show the reader that these are the values that should be made the most worthwhile aims of life. His protagonist finally comes to this realization at the conclusion of the novel, as he appreciates the true gentility of Joe as a â€Å"good Christian man†. By making these characters the moral centre of the book Dickens is able to highlight the greater importance of such values over wealth in determining the quality of a person. Even the ‘darker' characters of the book such as Miss Havisham and Mrs Joe are able to understand this (though it comes far too late), with Miss Havisham asking for Pip's forgiveness â€Å"Prey if you could ever right under my name ‘I forgive her' †¦ prey do it.† and Mrs Joe's final words â€Å"Joe†¦Pardon†¦Pip.† Clearly the moral of the novel is based on the importance of love and compassion over wealth and class. Dickens, therefore, argues that money and social status fail to act as indicators of a persons true worth. Instead it is values such as compassion and the ability to love that define their gentility. Although Pip in his journey misguidedly believes that his re-invention would lead to bettering himself, he is eventually able to realize what truly counts are the virtues of love, compassion and decency.

Autobiography in psychology

Ms. Darlene Gigabits August 12, 2014 Chocolate Hills The Chocolate Hills are probably Boll's most famous tourist attraction. They look like giant mole hills, or as some say, women's breasts, and remind us of the hills in a small child's drawing. Most people who first see pictures of this landscape can hardly believe that these hills are not a man-made artifact. To get back to Dignitary, you will have to walk back to the main road, and wait for a bus to pass by.The last bus room Carmen to Dignitary leaves at four P. M. Alternatively, you can use the services of the motorcyclists who often wait here for tourist, and ride ‘habit-habit,' or motorbike taxi. Boll was gifted with very amazing land formations such as these hills. It may not give you a majestic aura but it can make you appreciate how mysterious these natural wonders are. The viewing deck area may need to undergo a few more improvements El Indo Palatal Rocks and corals would hurt your feet so for those who have not been here yet, don't forget to bring and wear your best aqua shoes to avoid going home with cuts.Also, a dry bag to keep your things will make you happy especially if your camera is not water proof. As a divers, you should do at least one or two days of diving in El Indo. There are many nice dive sites in El Indo. I especially loved the rock formations and caves and of course the turtles Island hopping tours are a must in El Indo! Do them all for there is several and they are all different from each other and really fantastic. The lunches are usually cooked over a charcoal fire on a deserted beach.Kayak Tours to the lagoons and beaches around Million are many travelers favorite. For he fittest, I highly recommend you climb the cliff, towering El Indo town for a challenging hike and a breathtaking view Mayo Volcano Despite its tragic past, Caws Ruins continues to invite tourists to visit the place because of its spectacular view of the Mayo Volcano where everyone can see it with their nak ed eyes. The rich diversity of history, place and the people could be seen through the number of tourists that came over to from different part of the world.There, tourists can buy handicrafts, souvenir shirts and meet hospitable photographers who can direct you for picture-perfect shots. Drank Falls Drank Falls is one of the very accessible natural destinations in the province of Racial. The natural beauty of Drank Falls enchants visitors and guests. Its natural beauty, serenity, swimming with clean waterfalls, friendly staff, environment friendly ambiance, and other activities like rock balancing, river trekking, etc. Makes the visit to Drank Falls complete.Lunette Park Lunette park is one of the tourist spots in Manila. One thing that I like in this park is the man-made lake that has a relief map of the Philippines in the middle. Lots of people visit this place every Sunday for picnics. You will also see that some groups of martial artists are using this park every morning for pr actice like Seekers,Filipino Martial Arts, and ATA Chi practitioners. Met. Punctuation A desolate place transformed into a refuge for adventure seekers, Met. Punctuation now boasts breathtaking sceneries comparable to other tourist attractions across the country. He true Journey begins as you embark on a long and exciting trek to the volcano-mountain's center. You don't need to worry about the whole trekking thing because the reward is very promising: a paradise hidden at the heart of the mountain. Polaroid Junkies must take advantage of the place's astonishing backdrop, which is perfect for photo shoots. Portray Borealis a beautiful small island surrounded bifocal reefs and located one km north-west of Panky island in Visas of the Philippines.It is the most popular beach in the country's the most visited tourist spot in the Philippines. A peaceful atmosphere – though' fairly busy- and friendly locals. The sand is remarkably white, soft Banana Rice Terraces The Philippines ha s been visited by countless tourists from different countries due to the various tourist spots that are absolutely stunning. One of those places which have captured the eyes of many foreigners is the Banana Rice Terraces. In fact, this spot has been considered as the eighth wonder of the world.Campaign island One is simply at a loss for words to describe this lovely island which the tourists end caringly call â€Å"The Island of your Imagination†. Campaign is said to be the country's most peaceful island-paradise Campaign island is a one of an island that popular to visit the tourist and vacationers because of the unique wonderful nature and beauty, and so many beautiful places or hot spots that you enjoy or explore and Filipino students are so polite and hospitality to the tourist, many exotic food and delicious food you can avail, so we start to introduce to you a beautiful places resides in campaign.Sabbath Island The province of Batons is at the top most of the Philippine archipelago and it is the entrance of most storms in our country. No traffic, fresh air, full of culture and friendly people. You would be greeted by the locals with a refreshing good morning when you meet them on the street. The place is a bit backward which makes it more inviting especially for people from the urban Manila. It seems that everyone knows everybody. The expensive airfare makes it difficult for a local tourist to visit the place often.Corridor Island If you're a fan of war movies or military equipment, you will enjoy Corridor. Though heavily bombed during WI, the island still has some of its artillery standing The whole island is too big to be explored on foot – a new tour, though, aims to explore the sites around the parade grounds and part of Middlesex. But there's more to Corridor than Just the past. The island also has forest trails, a Jungle survival camp, bird watching opportunities, scenic boat rides, and even a beach. End your Corridor trip in a relaxi ng way.

Profile of NASA Inventor Robert G Bryant

Profile of NASA Inventor Robert G Bryant Chemical engineer, Doctor Robert G Bryant works for NASAs Langley Research Center and has patented numerous inventions. Highlighted below are just two of the award winning products that Bryant has helped invent while at Langley. LaRC-SI Robert Bryant headed the team that invented Soluble Imide (LaRC-SI) the self-bonding thermoplastic that received an RD 100 award for being one of the most significant new technical products of 1994. While researching resins and adhesives for advanced composites for high-speed aircraft, Robert Bryant, noticed that one of the polymers he was working with did not behave as predicted. After putting the compound through a two-stage controlled chemical reaction, expecting it to precipitate as a powder after the second stage, he was surprised to see that the compound remained soluble. According to a NasaTech report LaRC-SI proved to be a moldable, soluble, strong, crack-resistant polymer that could withstand high temperatures and pressures, unlikely to burn, and was resistant to hydrocarbons, lubricants, antifreeze, hydraulic fluid, and detergents. Applications for LaRC-SI have included use with mechanical parts, magnetic components, ceramics, adhesives, composites, flexible circuits, multilayer printed circuits, and coatings on fiber optics, wires, and metals. 2006 NASA Government Invention of the Year Robert Bryant was part of the team at NASAs Langley Research Center that created Macro-Fiber Composite (MFC) the flexible and durable material that uses ceramic fibers. By applying voltage to the MFC, the ceramic fibers change shape to expand or contract and turn the resulting force into a bending or twisting action on the material. MFC is used in industrial and research applications for vibration monitoring and dampening, for example, improved helicopter rotor blades research, and vibration monitoring of support structures near the space shuttle pads during launches. The composite material can be used for pipeline crack detection and is being tested in wind turbine blades. Some non-aerospace applications being evaluated include suppressing vibration in performance sporting equipment such as skis, force and pressure sensing for industrial equipment and sound generation and noise cancellation in commercial grade appliances. The MFC is the first of its type composite that is specifically engineered for performance, manufacturability and reliability, said Robert Bryant, Its this combination that creates a ready-to-use system capable of morphing into a variety of uses on Earth and in space. 1996 RD 100 Award Robert G Bryant received the 1996 RD 100 Award presented by RD magazine for his role in developing THUNDER technology along with fellow Langley researchers, Richard Hellbaum, Joycelyn Harrison, Robert Fox, Antony Jalink, and Wayne Rohrbach. Patents Granted #7197798, April 3, 2007, Method of fabricating a composite apparatusA method for fabricating a piezoelectric macro-fiber composite actuator comprises making a piezoelectric fiber sheet by providing a plurality of wafers of piezoelectric material, bonding the wafers together with an adhesive material to form a stack of alternating layers of piezoelectric...#7086593, August 8, 2006, Magnetic field response measurement acquisition systemMagnetic field response sensors designed as passive inductor-capacitor circuits produce magnetic field responses whose harmonic frequencies correspond to states of physical properties for which the sensors measure. Power to the sensing element is acquired using Faraday induction.#7038358, May 2, 2006, Electro-active transducer using radial electric field to produce/sense out-of-plane transducerAn electro-active transducer includes a ferroelectric material sandwiched by first and second electrode patterns. When the device is used as an actuator, the first and second electrode patterns are configured to introduce an electric field into the ferroelectric material when voltage #7019621, March 28, 2006, Methods and apparatus to increase sound quality of piezoelectric devicesA piezoelectric transducer comprises a piezoelectric component, an acoustic member attached to one of the surfaces of the piezoelectric component and a dampening material of low elastic modulus attached to one or both surfaces of the piezoelectric transducer...#6919669, July 19, 2005, Electro-active device using radial electric field piezo-diaphragm for sonic applicationsAn electro-active transducer for sonic applications includes a ferroelectric material sandwiched by first and second electrode patterns to form a piezo-diaphragm coupled to a mounting frame...#6856073, February 15, 2005, Electro-active device using radial electric field piezo-diaphragm for control of fluid movementA fluid-control electro-active device includes a piezo-diaphragm made from a ferroelectric material sandwiched by first and second electrode patterns configured to introduce an electric field into the ferroelec tric material when voltage is applied thereto... #6686437, February 3, 2004, Medical implants made of wear-resistant, high-performance polyimides, process of making same andA medical implant having at least a portion thereof made of a formable, pyromellitic, dianhydride (PMDA)-free, non-halogenated, aromatic polyimide is disclosed. Further disclosed are a process of manufacturing the implant and a method of implanting the implant in a subject in need thereo...#6734603, May 11, 2004, Thin layer composite unimorph ferroelectric driver and sensorA method for forming ferroelectric wafers is provided. A prestress layer is placed on the desired mold. A ferroelectric wafer is placed on top of the prestress layer. The layers are heated and then cooled, causing the ferroelectric wafer to become prestressed...#6629341, October 7, 2003, Method of fabricating a piezoelectric composite apparatusA method for fabricating a piezoelectric macro-fiber composite actuator comprises providing a piezoelectric material that has two sides and attaching on e side upon an adhesive backing sheet... #6190589, February 20, 2001, Fabrication of molded magnetic articleA molded magnetic article and fabrication method are provided. Particles of ferromagnetic material embedded in a polymer binder are molded under heat and pressure into a geometric shape...#6060811, May 9, 2000, Advanced layered composite polylaminate electroactive actuator and sensorThe present invention relates to the mounting of pre-stressed electroactive material in such a manner that large displacement actuators or sensors result. The invention comprises mounting the pre-stressed electroactive material to a support layer...#6054210, April 25, 2000, Molded magnetic articleA molded magnetic article and fabrication method are provided. Particles of ferromagnetic material embedded in a polymer binder are molded under heat and pressure into a geometric shape...#6048959, April 11, 2000, Tough soluble aromatic thermoplastic copolyimides#5741883, April 21, 1998, Tough, soluble, aromatic, thermoplastic copolyimides#5639850 , June 17, 1997, Process for preparing a tough, soluble, aromatic, thermoplastic copolyimide #5632841, May 27, 1997, Thin layer composite unimorph ferroelectric driver and sensorA method for forming ferroelectric wafers is provided. A prestress layer is placed on the desired mold. A ferroelectric wafer is placed on top of the prestress layer. The layers are heated and then cooled, causing the ferroelectric wafer to become prestressed.#5599993, February 4, 1997, Phenylethynyl amine#5545711, August 13, 1996, Polyazomethines containing trifluoromethylbenzene units#5446204, August 29, 1995, Phenylethynyl reactive diluents#5426234, June 20, 1995, Phenylethynyl terminated reactive oligomer#5412066, May 2, 1995, Phenylethynyl terminated imide oligomers#5378795, January 3, 1995, Polyazomethines containing trifluoromethylbenzene units#5312994, May 17, 1994, Phenylethynyl endcapping reagents and reactive diluents#5268444, December 7, 1993, Phenylethynyl-terminated poly(arylene ethers)

The Okinawa Problem essays

The Okinawa Problem essays The Battle of Okinawa, in which both Japanese and American forces suffered enormous casualties, marked its fiftieth anniversary on June 23, 1995. In commemoration of this important date, the Cornerstone of Peace was erected and unveiled that day to, as Okinawa Governor Ota Masahide put it, "convey the peace-cherishing heart of Okinawa and its yearning to live in peace with all.". These noble sentiments were shattered less than three months later, however. on September 4, when a 12-year-old Okinawan girl was abducted, beaten and raped by three US servicemen. The three were part of the 28,000 US troops stationed in the prefecture. Although Okinawa makes up just 0.6% of the total land area of Japan almost exactly the size of Los Angeles it hosts 75% of all US military forces stationed in Japan. Okinawa prefecture is composed of the Ryukyu Islands, with the main island being Okinawa island. US bases occupy 11% of the total land area of the prefecture, including 20% of the main island and 40% of six Okinawan cities. The 1995 rape case exacerbated long-standing resentment against the US military presence in Okinawa. Outraged local people held numerous demonstrations, and calls increased for the reduction of US military presence on the islands. The case proved to be a turning point for the so-called "Okinawa problem," and a series of events attempting to remedy the situation followed. As Okinawa is a strategically vital point for US Forces in the Far East, the Okinawa problem and its consequences have grave implications for both the US and Japan. Crimes committed by US military personnel against the local people of Okinawa were in fact nothing new. According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, between 1972 and 1995, US military personnel were implicated in 4,716 crimes, or nearly one per day. Local authorities stated that 22 murders, 354 robberies, and 110 rapes were committed by US military members during the same period. The US...

How to Avoid Plagiarism in Journalism

How to Avoid Plagiarism in Journalism Weve all heard about plagiarism in one field or another. It seems like every other week there are stories about students, writers, historians, and songwriters plagiarizing the work of others. But, most disturbingly for journalists, there have been a number of high-profile cases in recent years of plagiarism by reporters. For instance, in 2011 Kendra Marr, a transportation reporter for Politico was forced to resign after her editors discovered at least seven stories in which shed lifted material from articles in competing news outlets. Marrs editors got wind of what was happening from a New York Times reporter who alerted them to similarities between his story and one Marr had done. Marrs story serves as a cautionary tale for young journalists. A recent graduate of Northwestern Universitys journalism school, Marr was a rising star who had already worked at The Washington Post before moving to Politico in 2009. The problem is, the temptation to plagiarize is greater than ever because of the Internet, which places a seemingly infinite amount of information just a mouse-click away. But the fact that plagiarism is easier means reporters must be more vigilant in guarding against it. So what do you need to know to avoid plagiarism in your reporting? Lets define the term. What Is Plagiarism? Plagiarism means claiming someone elses work is your own by putting it in your story without attribution or credit. In journalism, plagiarism can take several forms: Information: This involves using information that another reporter has gathered without crediting that information to the reporter or to his or her publication. An example would be a reporter who uses specific details about a crime - say, the color of a murder victims shoes - in his story that comes, not from the police, but from an article done by another reporter.Writing: If a reporter writes a story in a particularly distinctive or unusual way, and another reporter copies passages from that story into his own article, thats an example of plagiarizing writing.Ideas: This occurs when a journalist, usually a columnist or news analyst, advances a novel idea or theory about an issue in the news, and another reporter copies that idea. Avoiding Plagiarism So how do you avoid plagiarizing another reporters work? Do Your Own Reporting: The easiest way to avoid plagiarism is by doing your own reporting. That way you avoid the temptation to steal information from another reporters story, and youll have the satisfaction of producing work that is entirely your own. But what if another reporter gets a scoop, a juicy bit of information that you dont have? First, try to get the information yourself. If that fails...Give Credit Where Credit Is Due: If another reporter digs up a piece of information you cant get on your own, then you must attribute that information to that reporter or, more commonly, to the news outlet that reporter works for.Check Your Copy: Once youve written your story, read it several times to make sure you havent used any information that isnt your own. Remember, plagiarism is not always a conscious act. Sometimes it can creep into your story without your even being aware of it, simply by using information that youve read on a website or in a newspaper. Go over the facts in your story and ask yourself: Did I gather this myself?

Discussion 12 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Discussion 12 - Assignment Example It will provide a convenient framework for evaluating nursing interventions. An example of an instance where informatics can help in the development and structure of knowledge is in electronic medical recording. Electronic medical records avails a comprehensive medical history of a patient from which healthcare providers can view and use the information documented by healthcare providers who have attended to the patient in the past. In tackling the PICO question, there will be a need to ensure privacy and confidentiality of information that participants will provide. Disclosing or letting the information leak to unintended persons can end up in undesirable outcomes due to its inappropriate use. In addition, it will be imperative to uphold patient safety because nursing has a mandate not to cause harm to patients. The research endeavor will seek to contribute uniquely to the practice of nursing (Simpson, 2006). I once encountered a patient who had been involved in a gruesome road accident. After a few days of hospitalization and continued examination, we realized that the accident had paralyzed the patient. After sharing the information with the patient’s family, the family pled with us not to tell the patient the prognosis because they believed it would affect him. The ethical dilemma was deciding whether to grant the family’s plea or to honor the patient’s right to know the outcomes of our examination. Although we managed to convince the family that we would help the patient to handle the truth and start physiotherapy to rehabilitate his mobility, the dilemma was difficult to resolve. Systematization of interdisciplinary communication is one of the significance of technology use to nursing knowledge development and structure. Ethical consideration is crucial in the delivery of nursing care. Killeen, M. & King, I. (2007). Viewpoint: Use of King’s Conceptual System, Nursing Informatics, and Nursing Classification Systems for Global

Global issues Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Global issues - Assignment Example It had proved to be rather tenable, when used partially, as it was in the post-war Britain, where sacred nature of private property and private enterprises were combined with nationalized industries; in other words, in the mixed economy. Keynes’ purpose, to the contrary, was to subject economy to the governmental central planning. His position implied that the government should take control over the key industrial and economy sectors, regulating them – particularly, via price control. However, this purpose wasn’t achieved to the full extent, as the ideas began to collapse with growth of inflation, unemployment, poverty and extreme forms of governmental control – totalitarian, like in Nazis’ Germany – posing a threat to democracy. His theory had proved to be efficient for wartime but ineffective in the time of peace. However, Keynes remained among the most influential economists of the 20th century. The term â€Å"Commanding Heights† was first mentioned in the speech pronounced by Lenin regarding the key sectors of economy that should be run by the government. To my thinking, governments should own commanding heights only partially to avoid excessive control over economy. There is a huge plus in the global economy, which is absence of boundaries in mutual help, and this is illustrated by operation of numerous international economic organizations like International Monetary Fund. However, there should still be at least partial control over the national economies to prevent negative side effects of globalization; therefore, mixed economy seems the most tenable

E-Business and Value Chains Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

E-Business and Value Chains - Essay Example This paper will seek to develop e-value and e-customer chains in terms of e-business to show the means by which information technology (IT) has been influencing the Virgin Atlantic Airways apparel business innovation, transformation, and development among other benefits (Godwin, 2009:4). Additionally, this paper will focus on opportunities brought about by electronic business and asses strengths as well as weaknesses experienced by this organization due to information technology. Changes in supply chain management practices of Virgin Atlantic Airways Virgin Atlantic Airways is an acclaimed leader in the aviation industry. Being the first airline to introduce or launch customer for the Airbus A340-600, it accords its name a great deal of success and innovation (Buhalis, 2003:7). This airline revolutionized the business when it created the Upper Class ‘Suite’ and started offering regular services to 25 destinations globally. With development of internet, the supply chain m anagement and practices of this airline transformed. This is because; information communication technologies transformed the entire business world of aviation. In particular, the airline industry fostered its dependency on technology due to its strategic and operational management. Virgin Atlantic Airways was an early adopter of information communication technolo

Japanese Takeaway Restaurant Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Japanese Takeaway Restaurant - Essay Example In this research study, in order to identify the appropriate outcomes of the research study, both male and female consumers have been selected as a sample population. While conducting the survey, for identifying the key components, which can lead sustained future success for the Japanese takeaway restaurants, Middlesex Street location has been chosen. Moreover, for the survey, a population sample of young respondents falling under the age group of 1-49 such as students, teachers, doctors and working professionals have been duly considered. Â  Simultaneously, in order to conduct the statistical survey, ‘random sampling’ approach has been chosen for this particular research. In this regard, it can be claimed that ‘random sampling’ approach is one of the efficient statistical survey approaches by which huge figure of data can be gathered within a quick period and also in a cost-effective manner (Onwuegbuzie & Leech, 2007). Â  With the aim of identifying the key components, which can lead towards future success for the Japanese Takeaway Store, overall 10 questions have been framed for the respondents who often consume fast foods. In this regard, the questionnaire was framed in such a manner, wherein, both open ended and close ended questions were selected for identify the behaviors, perceptions, needs, preferences, and opinions of the fast-food customers (Hesse-Biber & et. al., 2010). Â  

CRITICAL THINKING Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

CRITICAL THINKING - Coursework Example eas, theories and concepts of nursing and developing intellectual capacities and abilities in order to become self-directed, disciplined and critical thinkers (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2011). In nursing, critical thinking is the methodical, intellectual process of applying dexterous thinking as a guide to belief. It involves openness to question and reflection on the reasoning process employed to guarantee safe nursing practice and quality care. Critical thinking among nurses involves proficiency in using reasoning, adherence to intellectual standards, commitment to develop and sustain intellectual qualities of the mind and practices of ideas and the proficient use of reasoning skills (Finkelman, 2012). Nursing practitioners who are critical thinkers appraise and adhere to intellectual standards. Notably, critical thinkers in nursing endeavour to be unclouded, precise, accurate, significant, fair and logically competent when listening and speaking to patients and when reading and writing (Castledine, 2010). They think largely and deeply. In addition, critical thinkers in nursing develop their attitudes and dispositions to those of a fair-minded thinker. In this case, the nurses suspend their judgments till they truly apprehend another standpoint and phrase the position that another holds on a matter (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2011). Nurses come to coherent decisions so that they can act proficiently in practice. They continuously observe their reasoning, enquiring and replicating on the quality of

(SMCR) Strategic Marketing- A Contemporary Review Essay

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CRITICAL THINKING Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

CRITICAL THINKING - Coursework Example eas, theories and concepts of nursing and developing intellectual capacities and abilities in order to become self-directed, disciplined and critical thinkers (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2011). In nursing, critical thinking is the methodical, intellectual process of applying dexterous thinking as a guide to belief. It involves openness to question and reflection on the reasoning process employed to guarantee safe nursing practice and quality care. Critical thinking among nurses involves proficiency in using reasoning, adherence to intellectual standards, commitment to develop and sustain intellectual qualities of the mind and practices of ideas and the proficient use of reasoning skills (Finkelman, 2012). Nursing practitioners who are critical thinkers appraise and adhere to intellectual standards. Notably, critical thinkers in nursing endeavour to be unclouded, precise, accurate, significant, fair and logically competent when listening and speaking to patients and when reading and writing (Castledine, 2010). They think largely and deeply. In addition, critical thinkers in nursing develop their attitudes and dispositions to those of a fair-minded thinker. In this case, the nurses suspend their judgments till they truly apprehend another standpoint and phrase the position that another holds on a matter (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2011). Nurses come to coherent decisions so that they can act proficiently in practice. They continuously observe their reasoning, enquiring and replicating on the quality of

Risk Assessment Plan Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Risk Assessment Plan - Term Paper Example At one end are the patents and trademarks, which are legally protected and formally recorded. What follows is the knowledge incorporated in formal process and software. There is also the knowledge found in instructions, manuals, as well as other written sources. At the other end is the unwritten knowledge that is enshrined in the way people do the way they do. The risks associated with this category of capital includes: weak and inconsistent work process, inadequate documentation and diffusion of knowledge, and inadequate protection of proprietary knowledge. ii. Human capital Human capital includes all people that work in SunnyVille. The key risks associated with human capital includes: failure to create a culture that values learning and accepts change, inconsistent dissemination across the company and insufficiency of skills levels, and vulnerability to and probability of key staff and management turnover. iii. Relationship capital. Relationship capital includes customer relationsh ips, external network of vendors, partnerships, and outsourced services among many others. The key risks associated with this category of capital include the: threats to the brand, relationship loyalty to individuals, and vulnerability, and probability to partner defections or customers. iv. Business recipe This is the company’s strategy, because the appropriate strategy is an asset. The key risks associated with business recipes include the: exposure to economic cycles, potential substitutes, and threats of new competitors. Project Scope Statement During SunnyVille’s recent IT audit, the final report mentioned that the company’s risk assessment needs greater detail, the IT policies are inadequate, and the overall management of risk itself is unsubstantiated with little oversight from the board of directors. Following these observations, the risk assessment team met on June 10, 2013 to review the scope of risk assessment to be conducted in order to deliberate on how address the problems identified during the audit. The team reviewed the entire risk structure of the company, with strong emphasis being paid on IT policies, intangible risks, as well as the role of board of directors in mitigating risks. The findings of these assessments, reviews, and audit were used to develop risk assessment scope statement. On June 13, 201, SunnyVille’s staff conducted the risk assessment. The aim of this process was to identify threats that could have contributed to the issues raised following the audit. Different stakeholders, including the employees and board of directors were involved in the process of risk assessment. Qualitative/Quantitative Risk Analysis A quantitative method can be used for the risk analysis, whereby the risk will be presented using a variety of scales or through the financial extent as forecasted amount of losses associated with different types of risks (Szczepankiewicz & Szczepankiewicz, 2006). This method will rely on the available data; though where data is not available qualitative approach can be used. For the purpose of setting values, definition of the information will be done in order to ensure proper achievement of different business processes and their relevance for functioning of the company’s units and as a result the whole company (Galach, 2004). There are many Qualitative approaches to risk analysis, including NIST 800-30, CRAMM,

Findings Chapter on Resilience Research

Findings Chapter on Resilience Research Chapter four: Stage 1 qualitative data collection, analysis and empirical findings Introduction This chapter discusses the first stage of empirical study, including its data collection, data analysis and findings. This chapter discusses how different data collection and analysis methods were used during the research to find answers to the research questions. In particular, this chapter describes the use of semi-structured interview method to collect data for the research (next section). Sampling techniques used for the study are discussed, followed by the development of interview questions and process of conducting interviews. Then the qualitative data analysis approach will be discussed. Empirical findings of the stage one are presented and explained in detail. This chapter will also highlight the contribution to the concept of resilience. This would be achieved through incorporating empirical findings to refine the Proactive Performance Measurement for SC resilience (2PM-SCR) framework earlier developed from the literature. Four matrices have been developed to define the relations between the three main constructs of supply chain resilience: risks, KPIs, and capabilities. Sampling technique The number and content of interviews was based non-probability sampling techniques; Purposive (Judgmental), and Snowball sampling. The initial participant sample is based on the participants interest to participate in the research. In purposive sampling, participants were selected based on pre-selected criteria which will best enable the researcher to answer the research questions. Thus, purposive sampling ensures adequate representation of important themes. Then each interviewee was asked towards the end of the interview whom they may think would be suitable for a similar interview and who may be knowledgeable about the phenomena (snowball sampling). Thus, recommendations will be taken from people who know people who know that they are suitable for similar lines on questioning around the research framework. Purposive sampling represents a group of different non-probability sampling techniques. Also known as judgmental, selective or subjective sampling, purposive sampling relies on the judgement of the researcher when it comes to selecting the units (e.g., people, cases/organisations, events, pieces of data) that are to be studied. Usually, the sample being investigated is quite small, especially when compared with probability sampling techniques. In purposive sampling technique, the suitable interview participants were identified through industry contacts after they have been assessed based on the following criteria as stated earlier: The sample should be from the FMCG industry covering any of the FMCG categories such as (Food, Home, Personal Care, Agriculture, Retail, Medicinal Herbs, Bakery, Beverages, Dairy products, fast food) The company must be at least medium-sized (From 10 to 249 Employee) or Large-sized (Greeter than 249 Employees). SC manager interviewed must have a level of experience of more than 5 years. Company Type / Function ( Manufacture Distributor Supplier Retailer) To cover at least 3 categories of FMCG The sample should provide access to its key information (primary data) In application to my research, two informal meetings were conducted with experts from the SC Council Middle East Chapter based in Egypt. I was recommended to look for 35 companies from the FMCG that have appropriate SC activities. So I have emailed all the 35 companies and I have got 25 responses out of the 35 that were willing to participate in my research. From those 25 companies, 5 companies were neglected because either their SC activities are very limited or the people involved in the SC activities have less than 5 years of experience which will subsequently give a lack of understanding of the issue of y research. After the 25 companies were chosen, snowball sampling was obtained by asking participants to suggest someone else who was appropriate for the study. For example, Americana Olives SC manager was asked to suggest other companies which could contribute to the research, he recommended Americana Cakes SC manager. Nevertheless, based on the researcher knowledge and judgement , some companies were found to be not suitable for this research. In order to have a good sample to the research, 30 companies have been chosen that apply to the criterias that previously stated. The companies were selected by taking into consideration their position in the FMCG SC (i.e. supplier/manufacturer/distributor/retailer). It is essential to have companies that are continuously managing their SC in order to get a deeper understanding of the risks and different problems that face the entire network. The companies shall continuously manage their SC and be medium sized or big companies. Its important to get interviews with people with the right competence within the company in order to get the most insight from the interviews. Each expert who participated in the interview had direct involvement of the respective SCM position in MER and they all had direct work experience in supply chain for more than 10 years which indicates the high level of skills, in the field of supply chain. The choice to use a smaller number of cases were deliberate as it makes it possible to have  a more in depth study of the cases and is in this case more suitable. All interviewees were contacted over the phone by explaining the research topic, research questions, objectives and purpose of the interviews, in order to obtain their consent to participate in the interviews. All interviews were conducted on-site and were audio recorded with the consent of participants for word-for-word transcribing purposes. One interview was on average of 1.5 to 2 hours in duration. More information about the interviews will be discussed in the next section. The data collection will help in generating theory by jointly collecting data and analysing them to be the building block of the iterative conceptual model. Saunders et al. (2009) suggest to continuingly collect qualitative data such as by conducting additional interviews, until data saturation is reached; in other words until the additional data collected provides few, if any, new insights. In this study, interviews were conducted with 30 companies in the FMCG industry. Moreover, to cover different sectors in the industry; such as diary, food, retailers, and healthcare. Interviewing the 30 companies helped to gain adequate information to be able to generalize the findings. Apparently, there was an intention to involve a larger sample size since different participants might have different opinions and perceptions. But as the same time, if a large sample is used, data becomes repetitive (Glaser and Strauss, 1967). This is called the saturation point when the collection of new data wont add further insight to the research performed. The idea of data saturation in studies is important; nevertheless, it does not provide a practical guide for when this point has been touched (Guest et al., 2006). Moreover, authors argued that analysing interview results can be one of the methods that help to figure out the point at which data saturation has been attained (Bernard, 2012). Thus, owing to the exploratory nature of this research, saturation was not less below the 30 companies interviewed since new risks, capabilities, and KPIs were explored based on the companys place in the network (i.e. supplier/manufacturer/distributor/retailer) and the category of FMCG underneath the company falls. Empirical data collection After setting the criteria for the companies that could be part of this research, it has been assured that each SC manager who participated had direct involvement of the respective SCM position in MER and they all had direct work experience in SC for at least five years which indicated the high level of skills in the field of SC as previously stated in the previous section. The 30 companies have experience in SC shown in Table 4.1 representing manufacturing, supplier, distribution and retail sectors in MER. The category, country, company, size, level of experience, and the type of the company are shown in the columns of Table 4.1. The number of employees column provides an indication of the company size. In other words, the sample consists of mid and large scale companies with various business natures. Moreover, an interview template (see Appendix 1) was developed and used for this study and there was always freedom for participants to express their ideas with respect to the context being discussed. For further details about the background of the companies please check Appendix 1. Table 4.1: Summary of the companies involved in the empirical phase Category Country Interview with Food 8 Multinational 15 Supply chain top and middle management 5 Home and Personal Care 1 Local 15 Supply chain top management 25 Food and Personal Care 1 Company Size Type Agriculture 1 Medium-sized 2 Manufacture Distributor 13 Retail 4 Large-sized 28 Manufacture Distributor Supplier 10 Agriculture and Medicinal Herbs 1 Experience Manufacturer 1 Food and Bakery 1 More than 15 years 10 Retailer 4 Beverage 2 More than 10 years 9 Manufacture Retail 2 Dairy 5 More than 20 years 3 Medicinal Herbs 1 More than 5 years 6 Fast Food 2 More than 25 years 2 Dairy and Cheese 3 Conducting interviews The interviews were conducted in person to over a period of 15 months from May 2015 to August 2016. Interview times ranged from 90 minutes to 120 minutes, depending on the interviewees schedule and availability. Ethical issues have been considered as stated earlier through gaining informed consent and making confirming that the interview data will be treated as confidential to be used only for research purpose. Thus, a permission of audio recording the interviews was asked for in the beginning of the interview. The audio files were highly useful to help transcribe all interviews word-for-word in order to reduce the biasness and increase the reliability and validity of the research by obtaining confirmation for each transcription from respective interview participant. Moreover, this was because taking notes during the interviews might cause the researcher to lose focus of important data. Additionally, notes taking consume time due to interview time limitation. The researcher started the interview by introducing himself and giving an overall brief about the research conducted. Then, respondents were free to express themselves on any question asked. The interview template consists of nine sections (See Appendix 1). It starts with general questions asking about the company and the interviewee, then general specific SC questions are asked to know an overview of how the network looks like. Then, the researcher gets more specific sections to ask about the four main SC functions; purchasing, warehousing, planning, and logistics. The last three sections are concerned about the risks that the company faces, and a section asking about the risks facing the entire SC, and a final section questions regarding the SC resilience awareness, SC capabilities and resilience KPIs. After each question, the researcher confirmed with the interviewees about the meaning of their answers to make sure that the answers are well understood. Moreover, asking open-ended questions gave the interviewees to incorporate more data, themes, and attitudes towards some issues that may be useful while analysing the data collected. However, the intention of the interview questions was not just to confirm the important factors in the literature but rather to discover other new factors to be able to refine the 2PM-SCR conceptual framework pre-developed earlier. Data analysis process Qualitative data analysis consists of identifying, coding, and categorizing patterns or themes found in the data. The analytical skills of the researcher highly affects the clarity and relevance of the findings. Consequently, these skills would be either a great strength or weakness of any qualitative based research. However, it is crucial that the researcher reports and documents the analytic processes and procedures fully and truthfully so that others can evaluate the credibility of the researcher and their findings (Braun and Clarke, 2006). The Qualitative analysis process as proposed by Creswell (2009) starts by data collection and management, then the raw data are organized to be coded and described, after that comes the stage of conceptualization, classifying, categorizing, and identifying themes to be connected and interrelated together. At last, it is the interpretation process by creating explanatory accounts that provide meanings to the identified themes. The data collected through semi-structured interviews were qualitative data of participants opinions and ideas on the subject being discussed. Each interview audio file was transcribed word- for-word in order to avoid missing any element from the responses given by the interview participant. The analysis of the data started with some prior knowledge, initial analytic interests and thoughts. The transcription process was also an excellent way for the researcher to begin the process of familiarizing themselves with the interview data and creating meanings from them. According to Bird (2005), transcription is a key phase of data analysis within an interpretative qualitative methodology. The majority of the recorded interviews were first translated from Arabic into English and then transcribed. Therefore, during this stage, I had the opportunity to immerse myself in the collected data to the extent that he was familiar with the depth and breadth of the content. Afterwards, transcripts were carefully edit ed to clean them from irrelevant phrases which were not relevant to the interview topic. A combination of two qualitative data analysis methods have been used (see Figure 4.1) to analyse the cleaned transcripts: thematic analysis (Tharenou et al., 2007; King and Horrocks, 2010) and comparative analysis (Miles and Huberman, 1994; Dawson, 2002). The thematic analysis has been used to allow new SC resilience themes (i.e. capabilities, KPIs and risks in this case) to emerge by coding openly and to confirm existing themes from the transcripts and documents, whilst comparative analysis method has been used to examine the set of themes across the 30 companies to detect the strength of evidence from empirical data (Dawson, 2002; Tharenou et al., 2007). The coding step comprised 3 key activities: identifying and confirming the themes of what, how, why and with-what for the risks, capabilities, and KPIs based on the frequency of occurrence of empirical data support from the 30 companies. Then the categories were derived and the findings were associated to relevant categories/topic s in order to increase the understanding of integrative work on SC resilience. Finally, the initial conceptual framework was refined, by integrating and summarizing the empirical findings. Since there was a high volume of interview data, NVIVO software was used in this research because it has various advantages, such as reducing the manual tasks and giving more time to discover tendencies, recognize themes and derive conclusions (Wong, 2008). Figure 4.1: Qualitative Data Analysis steps Integrating thematic and comparative analysis methods Thematic analysis and comparative analysis were used in order to analyse qualitative data collected through semi-structured interviews with SC managers from the 30 FMCG Companies. The themes were identified through coded data and categorized using thematic analysis. Therefore, thematic analysis should be seen as a foundational approach for qualitative analysis and can be defined as an approach that is used for identifying, extracting, analyzing and reporting patterns (themes) within the collected textual materials and then organizing and describing those themes in detail (Braun Clarke 2006). The step of generating the initial codes started when the researcher had become familiar with the data through the generation of an initial list of ideas about what was in the data and what was interesting about them. The QSR NVIVO was used to perform the second step of the data analysis. This was done by grouping and naming selections from the text within each data item. As suggested by Braun and Clarke (2006), the researcher coded as many potential themes and patterns as possible as it is never possible to know what might become of interest later on. The result of this step was a long list of the different codes that the researcher had identified across the data. In searching for themes, there was a need to re-focus the analysis at a broader level than had been undertaken with the codes. This required sorting and organizing all the different relevant codes into potential themes. This step ended when a collection of possible themes and sub-themes was generated, together with related codes. A thematic map was then refined to consider whether the collated codes for each theme appeared to form a coherent pattern, whether the individual theme was valid in relation to the entire data set, and if the thematic map accurately reflected the meanings evident in the data set as a whole (Braun Clarke 2006). After the step of searching for themes, the researcher came up with a set of themes. Throughout the analysis, the researcher identified a number of themes following the three phases underlined by King and Horrocks (2010): [1] Descriptive coding (first-order codes): the researcher classifies the transcribed data from the interviews that allocates descriptive codes and help in answering the research questions. [2] Interpretative coding (second-order themes): The descriptive codes allocated which seems to carry common meaning are grouped allocated are grouped and an interpretive code is created. [3] Defining overarching themes (aggregate dimensions): Overarching themes that can describe the main concepts in the analysis are identified. In application to this research, the second-order themes were identified using first-order codes, and they were categorized as aggregated dimensions to reveal the main categories of risks, capabilities, and KPIs. The comparative analysis is closely connected to thematic analysis (Dawson, 2002) and used with thematic analysis in this research. Using this method, data from different companies is compared and contrasted and the analysis continues until finding got saturated from the data collected. Comparative and thematic analyses are frequently used together within the same research data analysis, through moving backwards and forwards between transcripts, memos, notes and the literature in order to confirm the themes emerged through thematic analysis (Dawson, 2002; King and Horrocks, 2010). Comparative analysis was used to confirm the second-order themes discovered in the empirical findings for the three main SC constructs (risks, capabilities, and KPIs) to identify the similarities, agreements, and dis-agreements across the 30 companies interviewed. Consistent with the scaling structure adopted by Rihoux and Ragin (2008) shown in Table 4.2, the second-order themes are counted based on how frequently is referred to in the empirical data. Triple ticks (à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡Ãƒ ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡Ãƒ ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡) represent strong evidence, double ticks (à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡Ãƒ ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡) represent average evidence, single tick (à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡) represents weak evidence, and no ticks represent no evidence supported. Table 4.2: Scales used for comparative analysis Scale Symbol Frequency ofoccurrence No evidence [blank] Zero Weak evidence à ¢Ã…“â€Å" Between 1 and 4 (1à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤xà ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤4) Average evidence à ¢Ã…“â€Å"à ¢Ã…“â€Å" Between 5 and 8 (5à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤xà ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤8) Strong evidence à ¢Ã…“â€Å"à ¢Ã…“â€Å"à ¢Ã…“â€Å" More than or equal 9 (9à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤x) Source: Rihoux and Ragin (2008) Empirical findings that have been presented in narrative discussion above, will be analysed with existing studies. The purpose of this analysis is to examine whether evidences confirm, unconfirmed or existing studies. comparative analysis used  particularly to confirm the discovery of knowledge determinates and knowledge flows  (in the knowledge network model) revealed through thematic analysis. Empirical findings from stage one The most common way of writing up the thematic  analysis is to describe and discuss each overarching theme in turn, stating examples from the data and using quotes to facilitate theme characterisation.Braun and Clarke  (2006) argue that the aim of compiling the thematic analysis is not merely a descriptive  summary of the content of the theme, but rather building a narrative that informs the  reader how research findings have cast light upon the issue in hand. Moreover, Symon  and Cassell (2012) highlighted that whatever approach is selected, the use of direct  quotes from the participants is necessary. These quotes should normally include both  short quotes to aid the understanding of specific points of interpretation and more  extensive passages would provide readers a flavour of the original texts.

La Representación Social del SIDA Essay -- Spanish Essays

La subjetividad es un efecto de los lenguajes socialmente construà ­dos, es una produccià ³n de la cultura. El lenguaje crea y reproduce diferentes formas subjetivas de representacià ³n social. A partir de Freud y Lacan, el lenguaje es pensado como un tejido sà ³lido, donde se constituye un juego de representaciones: el juego en que el lenguaje tiene la tarea de representar el sujeto y el objeto, lo fà ­sico y lo psà ­quico, la fantasà ­a y la realidad, la imaginacià ³n y la percepcià ³n. El sujeto es forjado en y por el lenguaje, porque à ©ste determina su construccià ³n subjetiva. Ser humano es pertenecer a una determinada organizacià ³n normativa que nombra los valores con los cuales pautamos nuestras acciones en el mundo de los hombres. En este breve ensayo, analizarà © los và ­nculos que fueron establecidos entre sexualidad y muerte en la representacià ³n social del SIDA. Pretendo argumentar que el concepto "grupo de riesgo"creà ³ una identidad "epidemiolà ³gica", y à ©sta, a su vez, fue uno de los factores que transformaron el SIDA en epidemia. Comienzo citando el libro II de los "Ensayos" del filà ³sofo renacentista Michel de Montaigne: "Hay en Todo el nombre y la cosa. El nombre es la palabra que marca y significa la cosa: no es parte de ella, a ella no se incorpora; es un accesorio que se agrega, por fuera" (1987:9). SIDA es un nombre, y como tal, designa un conjunto de elementos que se estructuran a niveles distintos. En la literatura mà ©dica, SIDA nombra una constelacià ³n patolà ³gica que gira en la à ³rbita de accià ³n de un virus nombrado por las siglas HIV. El discurso mà ©dico se sustenta en la là ³gica de la causalidad, y es eso lo que le confiere el grado de cientificidad. A travà ©s de un "mapeamiento" de sà ­ntomas se busca el factor etiolà ³gico. En ... ...xuales. El SIDA se tornà ³ la expresià ³n de un visual virtual que contagia el juego-mà ¡quina entre saber-poder-placer. La sexualidad fue desplazada hacia la esfera de lo virtual, volvià ©ndonos asà ©pticos, inmunizà ¡ndonos a los và ­nculos afectivos... El discurso tecnolà ³gico del sexo virtual demuestra esos efectos de virtualidad representados por el SIDA. Bibliografia Montaigne, Michel Ensaios, Coleà §Ãƒ £o Os Pensadores, traduà §Ãƒ £o Sà ©rgio Milliet, 4 ª edià §Ãƒ £o, Sà £o Paulo: Nova Cultural, 1987. Camargo Jr., Kenneth Rochel de, As cià ªncias da AIDS & a AIDS das cià ªncias: discurso mà ©dico e a construà §Ãƒ £o da AIDS, Rio de Janeiro: Relumà © Dumarà ¡: ABIA:IMS, UERJ, 1994. Foucault, Michel, Histà ³ria da Sexualidade I: A Vontade de Saber, Rio de Janeiro: Graal, 5 edià §Ãƒ £o, 1984. Baudrillard, Jean, A transparà ªncia do mal: ensaio sobre os fenà ´menos extremos, Campinas (S.P.): Papirus, 1990.

Legislation is NOT the Best Way to Ban Smoking :: Argumentative Persuasive Example Essays

Legislation is NOT the Best Way to Ban Smoking A market represents the private forces of demand and supply. Consumers aim to consume goods and services with lower prices and greater quantities while producers want to maximize their profits. A market diagram uses demand and supply curves to show the relationship between market demand and supply. These demand and supply curves are labeled as â€Å"private demand† and â€Å"private supply†, that is, the private benefits and the private costs. But those private activities always affect others, both positively and negatively. Those positive and negative effects are not represented in the market model; they are external to the market, known as externalities[1]. There are two kinds of externalities: positive externalities and negative externalities. In the extract, cigarettes are negative externality, which means they have bad effects on others and those effects are not paid by the producers. For example, when people smoke, especially in public places, e.g. restaurants and department stores, they pollute the air rounded and threaten others’ health. No one pays for the bad feelings caused by smokers and cigarettes. In this way, â€Å"market failure† exists. If the external costs could be measured and valued a new supply curve could be drown to present this. In this figure, the social costs have been added to the private costs to produce a new supply curve. The private supply curve shifts to left. When the supply curve shifts from Smpc to Smsc, the market prices increase from pp to ps and the quantity traded is reduced from qp to qs. Cigarettes are demerit goods which cause negative externalities. Because of their characters, producers get huge profits from them. So they are overprovided in the market, just like alcohol. The consumption of cigarettes always has negative effects on other people. It causes cancer, and may cut down human life-span. In order to internalize the negative externalities, government should interfere in the market. There are several ways to do that. One method government may employ is negative advertising to reduce private demand for demerit goods. People will consider the bad effects caused by demerit goods before purchasing or reduce the consumption on such goods that means private demand curve will shift to right. On the other hand, the supply curve shifts to left because of the costs of bad effects added to the factor costs of the products. The transaction of that goods decreases. After government applying negative advertising to public, the total transaction will decrease again because demand decreases. According to the diagram above, the quantity transferred in the market drops from qp to qs first, and then, to qt. This method is very common nowadays, especially for Legislation is NOT the Best Way to Ban Smoking :: Argumentative Persuasive Example Essays Legislation is NOT the Best Way to Ban Smoking A market represents the private forces of demand and supply. Consumers aim to consume goods and services with lower prices and greater quantities while producers want to maximize their profits. A market diagram uses demand and supply curves to show the relationship between market demand and supply. These demand and supply curves are labeled as â€Å"private demand† and â€Å"private supply†, that is, the private benefits and the private costs. But those private activities always affect others, both positively and negatively. Those positive and negative effects are not represented in the market model; they are external to the market, known as externalities[1]. There are two kinds of externalities: positive externalities and negative externalities. In the extract, cigarettes are negative externality, which means they have bad effects on others and those effects are not paid by the producers. For example, when people smoke, especially in public places, e.g. restaurants and department stores, they pollute the air rounded and threaten others’ health. No one pays for the bad feelings caused by smokers and cigarettes. In this way, â€Å"market failure† exists. If the external costs could be measured and valued a new supply curve could be drown to present this. In this figure, the social costs have been added to the private costs to produce a new supply curve. The private supply curve shifts to left. When the supply curve shifts from Smpc to Smsc, the market prices increase from pp to ps and the quantity traded is reduced from qp to qs. Cigarettes are demerit goods which cause negative externalities. Because of their characters, producers get huge profits from them. So they are overprovided in the market, just like alcohol. The consumption of cigarettes always has negative effects on other people. It causes cancer, and may cut down human life-span. In order to internalize the negative externalities, government should interfere in the market. There are several ways to do that. One method government may employ is negative advertising to reduce private demand for demerit goods. People will consider the bad effects caused by demerit goods before purchasing or reduce the consumption on such goods that means private demand curve will shift to right. On the other hand, the supply curve shifts to left because of the costs of bad effects added to the factor costs of the products. The transaction of that goods decreases. After government applying negative advertising to public, the total transaction will decrease again because demand decreases. According to the diagram above, the quantity transferred in the market drops from qp to qs first, and then, to qt. This method is very common nowadays, especially for

To Ban or Not to Ban?

Mariah Smyth English II Honors Holzberger 11 May 2012 To Ban or Not to Ban? Give me literature or give me death. Why stand we here idle? What is that gentlemen wish? What would they want? Is it text so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of the chains of censorship? Forbid it, almighty god! I know not what course others might take; but ask me give me literature, or give me death! (Parody of â€Å"Speech to the Virginia Convention†). For centuries people have been reading books to gain knowledge and to be entertained (Introductory Assignment Sheet).Kurt Vonnegut did a magnificent job writing a piece threaded with compassion of a tragic historical event leaving behind a conspicuous moral statement. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut should not be removed from shelves, because the book is eye-opening especially for young adults who are soon to enter the real world and become our future. Certain groups decided to challenge harsh reality of the truth written into an educational and humorous read. A school’s board article stated, â€Å"We’re not making a judgment call on if the book is good or bad, we just want to make sure it’s age appropriate† (School board removes 2 books from school).This is NOT an arguable reason considering Billy Pilgrim, the main character in Slaughterhouse-Five, went into war at the age of sixteen. The book states the facts. Vonnegut argues that war is inhumane. This IS arguable and negotiable; war is deceitful and tears apart homes. Educational supervisors are trying to ban a book that is making children aware of the gruesome effects of war, and warnings to create a more diplomatic world. Vonnegut served in World War II first handedly and wanted to stress the anxiety war puts upon people.While being a veteran, â€Å"Vonnegut once knew the comfort of such a community and home life, and knew also the feeling of having them wrenched away† (Twentieth-Century Writers 1950-1990). His goal in Slaughterhouse-Five was to create a third world era where â€Å"Tralfamadorians,† or aliens, known as the enemy took over and demonstrated manifestations of the immaturity of human species for creating war. Vonnegut’s Dresden bombing in literature explained that, â€Å"In the aftermath they were assigned the task of carrying out dead bodies from the ruins.The descriptions of the removal of the bodies are particularly gruesome reminders of the insanity† (Dresden bombing in literature). Vonnegut wanted a moral vision of war cutting social community. After being kidnapped by the extraterrestrial Tralfamadorians he attempted to find peace and learned that the only secret of life is to live only in the happy moments. His embellished comparison to overcoming a tragedy was an honorable mention for young readers. It helps them realize war is unacceptable along with everything that comes with it.In addition, Vonnegut wanted someone to, â€Å"tell him the secret so he can take it back to Earth and save us all: How can a planet live at peace? † (Kurt Vonnegut). Vonnegut stated this in Slaughterhouse-Five meaning war should not be believed to take place on Earth. When coming back from his third world era, â€Å"war,† he thought it would be different, but everything came back with him. Therefore, when young adults read Slaughterhouse-Five they will fathom the idea wars resolve nothing and to create world peace for our future.Also respect everyone who has and is serving in war learning the truth and unpleasant effects. However, you may argue war is still an issue today and the book is not age appropriate considering it is anti-war and putting horrid images in young reader’s mind. Overall, the book is reality and history. You cannot feed your children lies and candy coat everything. If Billy Pilgrim was capable of entering war at the age of sixteen, young adults are capable of facing the truth and forming opinions for themse lves.Vonnegut wanted to leave behind a message, â€Å"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change courage to change the things I can and wisdom to always tell me the difference† (Kurt Vonnegut). We cannot change what has already happened, but we can prevent it from happening again. Slaughterhouse-Five sets a good example and should not be banned. Works Cited Quinn, Edward. â€Å"Dresden bombing in literature. † History in Literature: A Reader's Guide to 20th Century History and the Literature it Inspired. New York: Facts On File, Inc. , 2008. Modern World History Online. Facts On File, Inc. ttp://www. fofweb. com/activelink2. asp? ItemID=WE53;iPin=HIL056;SingleRecord=True  (accessed April  30,  2012). Verde, Tom. â€Å"Vonnegut, Kurt. † Twentieth-Century Writers 1950–1990, American Profiles. New York: Facts On File, Inc. , 1996. (Updated 2007. ) American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www. fofweb. com/activelink2. asp? ItemID=WE52;iPin=ffap20w20005;SingleRecord=True  (accessed April  30,  2012). Oakes, Elizabeth H. â€Å"Vonnegut, Kurt. † American Writers, American Biographies. New York: Facts On File, Inc. , 2004. (Updated 2007. ) American History Online.Facts On File, Inc. http://www. fofweb. com/activelink2. asp? ItemID=WE52;iPin=AW237;SingleRecord=True  (accessed April  30,  2012). â€Å"School board removes 2 books from school†. Copyright 2011 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). U. S. Government Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www. fofweb. com/activelink2. asp? p=details. aspx;ItemID=WE36;iPin=UPI-1-20110726-160202-bc-us-bookban-crn;SingleRecord=True  (accessed April  30,  2012). â€Å"Freedom Readers Assignment Sheet. † 4 May 2010. Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughterhouse-Five. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell, 19991. Print. |   |

Raw by Scott Monk Essay

Raw follows the story of Brett Dalton a teenager with an attitude who has succumb to peer pressure and lives outside the law. After being picked up for various minor offences Brett finds himself having to spend time at a rehabilitation centre. the image that I have created symbolises Brett Daltons perspective of the rehabilitation centre called the farm. The farm is home to many young crime committers such as Brett. The farms main purpose is to reform kids that are sent there. It is very different from most detention centres in regards that a lot of trust is given to the inmates. Brett was confused with this as his image of the farm was completely different as he states in the book â€Å"what kind of detention centre is this ? there weren’t any bars on the cells ? There weren’t even cells† the farm ran a much different way to which Brett thought which I have created in my image. My image helps to express the idea of how Brett sees the farm through his eyes. At the start of the novel Brett is considered as a rebel and feels that the whole world is against him and blames others for his troubles he has the perception that the farm will be full of guards and have locked gates and that it will never change who he is . Brett’s negativity towards authority is expressed in his antagonism towards the police but throughout the novel Brett comes to understand that not all power and authority is like that represented by police that power is non-merely vested in institution’s and authority figures but there are sensitive and compassionate individuals that through the book help Brett to regain control over his own destiny Although the farm does not successfully help Brett get out of trouble as he ends up in jail but he learns many lessons and that ‘he is the only one that can change who he is

MTV: Building Brand Resonance Essay

1 – What is the MTV brand image? How valuable are the MTV brand associations? What should its core values be? The MTV brand started out with a focus on the music where it helped to launch the visual impact of bands through music videos. MTV is a youth oriented brand, that started as a purely music video station, and has now involved into a pop-culture station with a mix of long-form programming, and videos. They created stars and termed new expressions like VJs and quickly differentiated their product from the competition. As a result of having a first-mover advantage they were the TV channel to go to in order to endorse your music. They managed to build up their brand and be a key channel for promotion where artists where demanding to have their own videos played on MTV. MTV remains a strong brand within the youth segment but needs to constantly evolve in order to maintain their position with new trends and changes emerging. The brand associations are strong since they are attached to a certain target-group (youths) that is very desirable to reach for many advertisers. The adolescence and early adulthood that MTV reaches are important for establishing enduring preferences for a specific type of brand that might follow a person throughout his life. Viewed as very â€Å"hip and now† many teens look to the channel to see what is popular and what the up and coming trends of today are. MTV has very strong brand attributes, with its viewers and even with people that do not view the channel as one they would frequently watch, therefore giving the brand strong brand associations. MTV has core values of staying on top of music and cultural trends, as a result ensuring their continued growth of their audience; MTV needs to stay relevant to stay on top. 2 – Describe the current sources of MTV’s brand equity. How have they changed over time? MTV creates its brand equity through high level of awareness and brand associations it’s made with its targeted viewers. MTV did this by using VJ’s or video jockeys to bring the viewers â€Å"along for the ride†. VJ’s made it’s a much more personal experience as if they were friends with the audience. The use of long-form programming has helped keep viewers interested in the channel by keeping relevant in its programming, by moving away from its roots as a music only channel and giving viewers what they were interested at any point in time. There are multiple genres and cultures represented on MTV and the channel high ratings among its key teen demographic, especially females. The evolution of the channel has kept the brand equity. In 2010 the MTV logo changed and no longer contained the tag-line â€Å"Music Television† to further emphasize their shift away from the pure music. By focusing more on programs that were â€Å"culture† shows and not only music they have managed to maintain a strong brand. Throughout their changes of focus MTV has managed to keep its core values intact. They are a channel for the younger generation that constantly provokes and stays on the edge of new concepts. By having a brand aimed at pop culture they constantly have to re-invent themselves to stay current. One of the biggest challenges for MTV is managing growth because usually when things become too popular it is no longer considered to be cool. 3 – What is the role of music within MTV? Do they need to put the â€Å"M† back in MTV? Music still plays a major part in MTV’s image and brand associations. Music and pop culture have always been interconnected, as many view the music that they listen to be how they express who they are as an individual. By having the same segments of people liking the same types of music, you can see the cliques within these segments, and usually these are how social trends begin. Although on a television station, music does not have the power to captivate viewers for prolonged periods of time; MTV found that long-form programming kept viewers tuned in on a regular basis, whereas music created grazing behaviors. Additionally, the channel viewers have changed therefore changing back to an all music channel I do not think would benefit the channel; viewers need to stay tuned in order for MTV to remain profitable and they are doing a good job of keeping their brand equity and associations. 4 – Discuss the role the Internet in programming. How should MTV best integrate the Internet into the brand? How might technology impact MTV’s future? MTV’s websites serve as an added channel to keep viewers engaged beyond just watching the channel they can now watch TV episodes and have wallpapers etc. However, the internet could pose the problem as sites like YouTube, World Star Hip Hop, and a collection of others give viewers access to video on demand, (what they want to see and when they want to see it), as opposed to watching a channel and waiting to hopefully see a song or wait for a program to air. MTV should continue to use the Internet to its advantage by offering exclusive online clips, interviews, and MTV personalized gear. They should continue to create apps and use Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to connect to viewers. The MTV website already offers a variety of experiences to visitors and its greatest pull is that the brand owns the market as the resource for popular music. Drawing on that, and positioning the interactive aspect as a true storehouse for information is the most complementary stance MTVi (the interactive division of MTV) can take. With trendiness at its core, MTV will thrive as technology continues to change. 5 – How have MTV’s sister networks affected the parent channel’s brand equity? What changes, if any, would you make in positioning of the sister networks in order to create the optimal brand portfolio? MTV has effectively used its sister networks and parent channels to boost brand equity. By playing more music clips and videos on the MTV2 and VH1 channels, it spreads the core values of the brand. MTV started and made its name by showing music videos, so having its sister channels show more videos it extends the brand image and values. MTV is a global brand and therefore reaches many different people from all around the world. This means that they have an extensive range of viewers that are from different places, cultures, nationalities, ethnicities, etc. MTV’s global channels offer country specific programming to appeal to the many different countries and cultural tastes. MTV is doing a good job of positioning itself and its sister channels for continued success in boosting brand equity.