Igniting Young Minds Essay

Swami Vivekananda’s success Mantras for youth! â€Å"My Faith is in the Younger Generation, the Modern Generation, out of them will come my workers. They will work out the whole problem, like Lions.† Swami Vivekananda expressed this confidence in the youth of this country exactly 50 years before the end of Colonial Rule while speaking to a mammoth gathering of youngsters in Madras. Swami ji himself was the embodiment of youth, dynamism and vibrancy. The life and ideals of Swami ji are the greatest inspiration for the youth of our nation. In a short life of 39 years, 5 months and 22 days, this great man conquered the entire world with his message. Many great personalities both in India and across the world became deeply inspired by Swami ji. The writings of Swami ji can ignite the minds of the reader.. Anybody who has come into either direct or indirect contact has witnessed an ocean of change in his or her life. Today, the youth of this country faces various challenges and I am certain that the message of Swami Vivekananda has the power to wonderfully guide them into the future. PURPOSE OF LIFE Swami ji always held that the real birth of the individual takes place when the purpose of his life germinates. He believed that he who does not have a purpose is nothing but a walking-talking corpse.It is extremely important not to decide the purpose of life with the narrow objective to be something or the other. Think of doing not becoming and in this process you will certainly become something. Once the purpose of life is clear, all actions of life become driven by that purpose. SELF-CONFIDENCE A precursor to do anything in life is to have confidence in the self. Swami Vivekananda attached more importance to self-confidence than even faith in God! â€Å"He is an atheist who does not believe in himself. The old religions said that he was an atheist who did not believe in God. The new religion says that he is an atheist who does not believe in himself,† he famously stated. Unfortunately, we have limited ourselves without knowing our capabilities. Many times we feel that we can do ‘only this much’ despite being blessed with tremendous capabilities. If our youth is determined, there can be nothing impossible for them to achieve in the world! But, for this we must regain our self-confidence. Swami ji always believed that everything that is happening around us be it small, big, positive or negative gives us the opportunity to manifest the potential within. DEDICATION For any endeavor to attain the pinnacle of success, dedication to the cause is absolutely essential. Swami Vivekananda once said, â€Å"To succeed, you must have tremendous perseverance, tremendous will. ‘I will drink the ocean’, says the persevering soul; ‘at my will mountains will crumble up’. Have that sort of energy, that sort of will; work hard, and you will reach the goal.† Another quality that Swami Vivekananda spoke of was patience. He said, â€Å"Be like the pearl oyster. There is a pretty Indian fable to the effect that if it rains when the star Svà ¢ti is in the ascendant, and a drop of rain falls into an oyster, that drop becomes a pearl. The oysters know this, so they come to the surface when that star shines, and wait to catch the precious raindrop. When a drop falls into them, quickly the oysters close their shells and dive down to the bottom of the sea, there to patiently develop the drop into the pearl. We should be like that.† Very often, it so happens that we take on a task with immense enthusiasm but as time passes by, the same enthusiasm fizzles out. Pursuing a challenge with utmost dedication is indeed a road to success for our youth. TEAMWORK This era belongs to organization and teamwork. Be it any sector from science, technology to business, teamwork constitutes a major cornerstone to attaining the desired results. When he was in USA, Swami Vivekananda was greatly impressed by the spirit of teamwork there and he thought of the need to re-vitalize this spirit of teamwork in India. Leading by example, he founded the Ramakrishna Mission and organized Sanyasis to work towards nation building. Friends, if the present youth walks on the hallow path of Swami ji’s ideals and beliefs it will merely be a matter of time before India adorns the mantle as the leader of the World. In any case, we are the most youthful nation in the world but simply that is not enough. It is necessary to arm our youth with the relevant knowledge and skill that will convert this mammoth potential to desired results. India is celebrating Swami Vivekananda’s 150th Birth Anniversary and Gujarat is commemorating the entire year as ‘Yuva Shakti Varsh’. It is indeed high time that we resolve to follow these ideals of Swami Vivekananda and take this youthful nation to greater heights as the leader of the world.

Public Administration and Theories Essay

In the United States of America President Woodrow Wilson is considered to be the father of public administration. He was the first president to hire social scientists in government and as a result as other presidents came along such as Freanklin Delano Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson public administration evolved to what it is today (Henry, 2013, p. 342). President Lyndon Johnson is the one that implemented the idea of policy analysis in the federal government in the 1950’s at the same time that this idea of public administration/policy analsysis was evolving in the government it was also emerging in academia. There was various theories and models emerging as public administration evolved throughout history. Two models that came to be is the organized anarchy and elite/mass model. The organized anarchy model according to Nicholas Henry (2013) is, â€Å"The Basics to the model is the presence of three streams, problems, politics, and policies† ( p.345). The problems stream is where the public and policymakers focusing on a particular problem, defining the problem, and figuring out whether the problem can be solved by implementing new policy or just letting the problem go away. The second stream is politics where it involves the government agenda where issues are listed and discussed by various individuals in government such as elected appointees, members of Congress and interest paties. The last stream in this model is policies where there’s a list of policies that may resolve whatever the issue is. The organized anarchy model is also known as the â€Å"garbage can† model. According to William Newman (2013), â€Å"The Garbage Can model of decision is used to illustrate how the foreign policy process is an organized anarchy; decision making is the intersection of four streams–choice opportunities, problems, solutions, and participants. The model helps identify both institutional and persuasion-bargaining variables and highlights their interactions as streams  are connected to produce policy†. The main weakness of this policy is there is a lot of ambiguity where there’s not set goals defined and at times because of the ambiguity not all issues are resolved and/or discussed. Another model that came out of the evolution of public administration is the elite/mass model. In the elite/mass model policy is developed and implemented by the elitethen flows downward to the masses (Henry, 2013, p. 343). Society is split into two sectors where those who have power are considered to be the elite and those that have no power are the masses. The public policies that are implemented consists of values of the elite, which as a result the elite shape how those of the masses think. Public officials and administrators implement all the policies that has been decided by the elite and people of the masses have no choice but to accept these policies which in turn shape what their values are to be. The weakness of this model is that policies are implemented based off of a small gropu of people (elites) that is not representative of the masses as a whole. This model creates a separation of two sectors where the only individuals that are valued are those that have money, they are the ones that are in control and have power to shape the environment that everyone lives in that includes the masses who’s voices are never heard or taken into consideration. According to Ali Farazmand (1999), â€Å" The linking elites and the operational elites within organizations have a primary task of assuring stability, compliance with organizational rules, and cohesion and control among members of their organizations. They are the agents of the strategic elites located at the apex of modern organizations in government, corporations, nonprofit institutions, and political parties†. This idea that there’s various levels of elites within the group as a whole and as result of these vaious levels of elite there’s cohesion because they control the masses. References Henry, N. (2013). Public Administration and Public Affairs 12th edition. Pearson Education Inc. Persuasion-Bargaining and Institutions in an Organized Anarchy: Clinton Administration Decisions on China, 1993-1994, American Review of Public Administration 43, Issue 3 (May 2013): p. 347 – 367. The Elite Question Toward A Normative Elite Theory of Organization. Administration and Society, Vol. 31 No. 3, July 1999 p. 321-360. Sage Publications Inc.

Love, Hate and Beyond. Emotions, Culture and Practice

When analysing grief in an ethnographic fashion it can be quite difficult as it is such a sensitive issue. My partner and myself worked together to devise a project that could target the issue of grief on a wider scale in Northern Ireland. We decided to address the case of the Omagh bombing in 1998 that killed 31 people (two of those being unborn children). This would allow us to look at personal grief but also enable us to concentrate on the grieving process of a community. On a normal Saturday afternoon at 3:10pm, in the small town of Omagh in Northern Ireland, a 500Ib car bomb exploded on the Market Street. This news reached the whole world as the grief of a small town was presented on every news channel and in every newspaper. Northern Ireland is a place that is used to dealing with tragedy as nearly 4,000 people have been killed as a result of the troubles. The bomb resulted in destroying many people's lives, the community had to pull together to combat what one priest there described as, â€Å"good over evil†. We both interviewed someone from Omagh. Making sure that it was a male and a female in a similar age group. We also made sure that one was Protestant and one was Catholic to gain a fair overview of the situation. Methodology and Ethics The technique that I used to research was an in formal interview with a 23-year Old girl from Omagh, who was there at the time of the bombing. She herself was a Roman Catholic. The interviewing process is one of the most common ways of obtaining information for the anthropologist. It could be seen, as being very flexible as there are set guidelines on how one must interview. However there are different types of questions that can be used according to the sensitivity of the subject that is being addressed. During my interview I wanted to let the conversation flow easily so I asked what are known as semi- structured questions. This allows the person being interviewed to talk away about the subject, â€Å"The interviewer responds using prompts, probes and follow up questions to get the interviewee to clarify or expand on the answers†1. The prompts I used throughout the interview allowed her to say what she wanted to say and was a sensitive approach due to the subject in hand. â€Å"Prompting is an art that has to be cultivated, and a certain amount of effort must initially be put into pump-priming (that is, encouraging informants to speak freely and informatively on subjects that interest you)†2. I could see that during the interview she could start talking about something that was upsetting her but then we were able to move on to another aspect of the question. Drever explains that semi-structured interviews allow one to, gather factual information, collect statements of their preferences and opinions explore in some depth, their experiences. I just tried t o get my interviewee to explain the events in chronological order, getting her to tell me how she felt at all times putting the emphasis on grief and community. As my interviewee was a female friend I think that allowed her to open up to me when she was talking about her experience at two of the victim's wakes. This method of asking questions allowed me to gain high quality information for my research project, I could listen carefully to what she was saying and explore her individual viewpoints. The essential aim to ethnography is to produce knowledge, ‘central to researching the truth: the aim should be to produce accounts of the social phenomena' (Paul Atkinson). When analysing an issue such as the emotion of grief one has to be careful that their pursuit of knowledge does not become offensive to anyone involved. There seems to be five main factors when dealing with the ethics of the interviewing process. 1, Informed consent, the interviewee should know exactly why they are being interviewed and give their â€Å"unconstrained consent†3, it could be seen as being devious or unfair if this is not the case. It seems only fair when addressing the subject of grief to be truthfull.2, Harm, is something that can occur to those being researched if the anthropologists are not careful. For example an interviewee may feel anxious about the publication of the results of an interview if they have said anything controversial. Sensitive issues need careful consideration, as the subject can be harrowing for the interviewee. Finch expresses her feelings on harm and explains that it is difficult even for feminists â€Å"to devise ways of ensuring that information given so readily in interviews will not be used ultimately against the collective interests of women' (1984:83). 3, Exploitation, can occur during a research study as people do not appreciate being used as ‘fodder for research', Beyon (1983). People do not appreciate giving time and effort to take part in research and not be able to get anything out of it, once their job has been done some interviewees can be cast aside. People however do enjoy helping others for a good reason. As my interviewee was a personal friend she was more than happy to talk to me and felt it had helped once again to get some thoughts out in to the open. 4, Consequences for future research, are an important issue as it allows research to carry over years developing our knowledge and understanding. If an anthropologist were to do something so objectionable that it would stop future research then â€Å"ethnographic research would become virtually impossible† (Fred Davis). The researcher has a duty to everyone else not to ‘spoil the field'. Omagh bombing interview with Tracey Donally Tracey first describes where she was at the time of the bombing. â€Å"I was working in a shop in Omagh, about a 1/4 of a mile away from where the explosion actually took place. When we first heard the loud bang, we all thought that it was a controlled explosion. It was quite a bit later when we realised what had happened, the phone lines in Omagh had gone down and nobody really knew what was going on. News soon spread that it was a bomb near the courthouse; at this point the number of people that had died was still unclear. Omagh was just a small town nobody expected this, panic hit everyone straight away, my brother was in the town as well as my boyfriend, thankfully they were fine, however, I knew that someone I knew would be hurt as it is such a small community.† Then we move on to who she knew that was killed and the wakes and the funerals of these people. † It was a couple of days later that the whole death toll was clear, my aunt was a nurse in the hospital and I kept hearing names of my friends that were coming in to the hospital in critical conditions. Samantha McFarland was my friend she had died in the bombing, there was also Lorraine Wilson, Elizabeth Rush and my friends mother Philomena Skelton. I attended two wakes and two funerals, one Church of Ireland and one Roman Catholic. The feeling around Omagh at this time was unbelievable only people that were there or a part of the community will ever understand. Queues of people lined up outside the wake houses to pay respects to the dead and offer their condolences to the family. I stood there and waited in silence, everyone was suffering terrible grief. When I went into Samantha's wake room I didn't really know what to say to her mother or her closest friend who were there with the body, (an open coffin). I offered my sympathy, and her mother was in pure shock sat there saying to people, ‘oh Samantha used to talk about you', or, ‘I remember you being in Samantha's class at school'. The family and friends were all stood outside the wake room, some silent, some regaling stories of Samantha and discussing what had actually happened during the bombing. In true Irish fashion the women ran around with tea and sandwiches for everyone there. I only stayed there for a couple of hours as the house was so full of people, however close friends and family would sit up all night with the body, taking it in turns to try and get some sleep or just rest themselves at least. At Philomena's wake the atmosphere was very much the same, I was there to show my friend support at this time when her Mummy had just died. As this family were Catholic the Priest came round to the wake whilst I was there and everyone inside or standing around the outside of the house said the Rosary, this would happen at several different times throughout the night, (helping the soul of the body reach Heaven). During this report it has become apparent that death has the ability to release the most powerful emotions amongst people that is why it is important to discuss the rituals that follow, ‘There are many emotional dimensions to ritual'4. In this part of the interview Tracey explained about how she attended the waking of two of the victim's bodies. Waking the body is a traditional ritual that occurs all over Ireland. It involves all of the surrounding community. The wake approaches death head on. The wake room is where the body is kept, usually in an open coffin, surrounded by candles and maybe flowers. Any family or friends who wish to come to the house do so to pray for the dead, it is also a great display of support for the grieving family. It helps many grieving family members as they have something to concentrate their grief on. People will stay up all night the body is never left alone. Outside the wake room win the rest of the house is where people will usually run around helping when thy can, women make gallons of tea and feed everyone. People can sit and think about the person they have lost in silence, or talk to many other people that knew them. Talking about the dead helps people to grieve for the dead. During my time researching this report, my partner's cousin died. As an English girl I had never experienced a wake, which is common practice over here. I thought it was a good way of dealing with death and grief as there were always many chances to talk and reflect with others. Having the body in the house was also a positive thing as the family were not ready to say goodbye suddenly they wanted to look at him, remember him and pray for him, although they were praying for his soul to go to heaven (saying the rosary several times, led by the priest or leading family members) throughout the wake the body was of great importance also. When looking at other death rituals and grieving processes, the Dagura people in Africa have some thing similar to a wake. The women of the village are allowed to grieve first however this must be in silence. It is this way until the men have found a ‘sacred space' in which they announce the death and invite the whole village to come and grieve. The men are forbidden to show any signs of grief until this ritual space is created. The journey of the soul is of great importance after death â€Å"The invoking of the spirits is partly designed to elicit enough grief from the mourners, to allow the dead person to move into the world of the ancestors. The Dagura believe that the soul's journey into the next world is dependant in some ways upon the grief expressed by the mourners.† Tom Golden5. This does relate to the Catholic waking practice of saying the Rosary and other prayers to help the soul enter the kingdom of heaven, (the soul could be in a place called Purgatory where it would have to spend some time before moving on into Heaven, only saints go straight to Heaven). This gives both these groups of people a purpose for their grief. Grief is a state where one may not know what to do with themselves some may even go off the rails. Dagura people keep two women elders with the body at all times collecting the grief from the rest of the community around them that come to visit. This displays an example of coping behaviour within both of these societies. As both cultures appreciate the rebirth of the soul, one is left to think about thee relationship of the biological and the social collectivity. â€Å"Bloch and Parry hold a particular view of ritual, seeing it basically as a form of social control. One aspect of this is that society actively shapes the emotions of its m embers through ritual†6. The funerals of these two people were on different days, both had the Guard of honour before they reached the church. I have never experienced such a feeling of pure sadness amongst so many people in all my life. They were both very hard days. At both, the churches were so packed I had to stand outside. I could hear the service through the speakers outside, I could also hear horrible cries of agony from inside the church of close family. This was the most painful thing for me, openly hearing and seeing the physical grief of the people. Both bodies were buried in Omagh in the different graveyards of the different churches. Although it was the last goodbye to these two women it was only the start of the grieving process for their family and friends†. I asked what the communities did do then to help the families and what they did to display their sorrow to the rest of the watching world. â€Å"One week later at exactly the same time as the bomb had happened there was a memorial service in Omagh town. We stood there in complete silence as a mark of respect. Thousands of people came, including politicians from all the Northern Irish parties, the Irish Prime Minister, Tony Blair, Bill Clinton and the Northern Irish secretary at the time Mo Mowlam. Prayers were said, different leaders stood up and spoke about how evil and wrong the bombing was. It was comforting to have outside support at this time, however it was still too painful for some of the victims family members to attend, their own personal grief and suffering was still too hard to cope with at this time. The whole community supported the families of those directly affected, it really brought the whole community together as everyone in Omagh was grieving for someone they has lost, it was such a close community, everyone knows or knows of nearly everyone there. The police and the army were major helpers after the bomb erupted this brought the community closer as there had always been a lack of trust between the Catholic community and these two organisations. Catholics and Protestants of all denominations came together to rebuild Omagh as both sides were suffering greatly. 31 people died both Catholic and Protestant, we all mourned together†. My aim during this research was to find out how the community dealt with such a tragic event. It is apparent that there was a sense of mass grief, not just the grief of family and friends but also people from surrounding areas. Irish people place a big emphasis on family and community. The Omagh bombing brought the community of Omagh together in a collective disgust at what had happened as well as a collective grief. Memorial services were organised so the community could demonstrate their solidarity. Both interviewees explain about the continuous memorial services that occurred after the bombing. Everyone showed their solidarity and deep sadness at the services it even provoked visitors from around the world to come. â€Å"Sharing affects provide relief. Grief resolution through collective mourning / healing creates positive group identity. Commitment to community† Meline Ottenbacher7. There has also been a memorial garden created for anyone to come and reflect, pray, or just to be in a quiet place. Catherine Sheehy wrote about the importance of a place like the memorial garden in Omagh. Talking about the grief after September the 11th she states, â€Å"When loss is collective, grief requires public support. People need space to grieve and often create physical sites to recognise collective grief8. I wanted to try and find out if any blame for the disaster and loss of life was placed in Omagh. â€Å"Yes, there was blame. It was revealed that certain people within Omagh were involved in a terrorist organisation called, '32 County Sovran', a wing of the Real I.R.A. One man called Mackey was given a hard time by the rest of the town, as it was known that he was involved. The truth and justice is still to be revealed yet as the case is still in court, six years later. People blamed themselves for the members of their family dying, saying things like, ‘I should have gone into town myself now they wouldn't be dead'.† Blame is an issue that would play on some people's minds. Allowing themselves to figure out why it happened. Having someone of something to blame gives them something to focus their instant anger on. What about people in Omagh now how are they all this time later? â€Å"Some are emotionally scared for life. It is still hard to talk about in front of some people who took it very badly. I know people that still have to go to therapy and see councillors to cope with their grief. Even now the family and friends have yearly anniversaries for those that died and there is a group memorial service that the whole town attends yearly. Together the people of the town have created a memorial garden in Omagh to always remember the lives lost on that horrible day. It's a quiet place where anyone can just go and sit and think and pray. People in Omagh will always remember as long as they live, some will always feel the pain. Something nobody else can understand if they did not go through this with us. It is completely different from when you watch it on the telly and think that will never be you. It really makes you realise your own mortality†. Whilst researching this case I spoke to Johanna Thompson, a barrister in Northern Ireland who has dealt with some of the Omagh bomb law suits. Many of those people that had survived the bombing suffered from Post Traumatic Stress. This would not allow them to sleep and would cause them to keep reliving the events. Many would feel a great sense of guilt that they were able to claim compensation when others had died. This would make them dumb down their injuries. â€Å"Many people have suffered a great psychological trauma, grief plays a large part in this. It could take a very long time for some of these people to go back to living anything nearly like their old lives†9. Conclusion Bloch and Parry stress the importance of the â€Å"Individual's identification with society† and of the â€Å"relationship between the biological individual and the social collectivity†. They see ritual as a method of social control. However it seems to be that the ritual is a great demonstration of the emotion, and can indeed help people throughout the grieving process. Grief can be a very private thing however this does not always help those that are suffering. Having something to focus ones grief on can stop people from going into complete emotional turmoil. The community in Omagh strived to help everyone whose lives had been affected. They showed great solidarity and unity. It can be seen that sharing the pain can definitely provide some kind of relief. Dr Sheila Clark, from the University of Adelaide states that, â€Å"Without appropriate support, grief and trauma can lead to depression or lead to an increase in illness†. I have learnt a great deal about interview techniques. If I could improve on this piece of work I would have interviewed more people using different techniques. The triangulation that occurred during this research report was helpful. I would also like to thank my partner for working with me on this project I think that we came up with some good ideas together it was enjoyable.

Southwest Airlines Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Southwest Airlines - Essay Example red of every individual employee while interacting with colleagues internally as well as their engagements with the external community, which includes but not limited to the business partners. The organizational code of ethics sums up a working culture that binds individuals from different backgrounds into delivering the core mandate of an organization to its clientele. The Southwest Airlines is one of the companies that has provided a structured, coded guidelines of conduct to its workforce as a way of ensuring that it offers quality services to the satisfaction of its customers, with eyes set on the ultimate prize of cultivating a mass of loyal customers (Kelly, 2008). With a slogan that that reads â€Å"Doing the right thing,† Southwest Airlines has tailored its code of ethics towards ensuring that honesty, integrity, and personal responsibility prevails in all of its services rendered by its employees and/or its co-partners. The binding codes of conduct and behavior guarantees above board engagements with customers and government officials with explicit conformity with the laws the land and those of international trade/business governing its operations (â€Å"Code of Ethics†). The code of ethics also clearly states the controls that regulate how individual employees are expected to respond to the different situations encountered while on duty. A law abiding company, Southwest Airlines recognizes the supremacy of the law, and as such gives it outright weight in situations where its code of ethics incidentally conflicts with the latter (â€Å"Code of Ethics†). In its endeavors to comply with Laws, Rules, and Regulations govern ing its operations, Southwest Airlines overtly prohibits insider trading, particularly the use of non-public information [valuable company information/asset] in gaining personal benefit either directly or indirectly. The company thus expects a high degree of responsibility from its employees in protecting information that relates to the

American Literature Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

American Literature - Essay Example It is orderly because that is what keeps people’s lives moving, is order. The story introduces the reader the traveling school master, Ichabod Crane, whose very organized life involves spending a week at a time at the homes of the local students, where he is well fed, sheltered, and has the opportunity to meet and perhaps marry a young woman who might inherit some means greater than his own. Ichabod’s organization is symbolic of the organization within which he lives. It is a very organized, chaotic free life that Ichabod leads. As the story departs from the historic, and begins to delve into the mystery of the urban myths, like that of the story of â€Å"Douffe Martling (65),† then the organization and sense of sleepy little town calm begins to dissipate. â€Å"But all these were nothing to the tales of ghosts and ap ­paritions that succeeded. The neighborhood is rich in legend ­ary treasures of the kind. Local tales and superstitions thrive best in these sheltered long-settled retreats; but are trampled under foot by the shifting throng that forms the population of most of our country places. Besides, there is no encourage ­ment for ghosts in most of our villages, for they have scarcely had time to finish their first nap, and turn themselves in their graves, before their surviving friends have traveled away from the neighborhood; so that when they turn out at night to walk their rounds, they have no acquaintance left to call upon. This is perhaps the reason why we so seldom hear of ghosts except in our long-established Dutch communities (66).† It is only when we take ourselves out of the mundane daily life routines that it becomes really exciting, because then we can inject our environments with the sense of intrigue and suspense. Even if the characters are created by our social imagination, intended to create entertainment value, they are necessary to break the mundane daily routine. So we create ghosts and goblins, and those things that are

Recent European Foreign Debt Crisis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Recent European Foreign Debt Crisis - Essay Example This saw down turn in small areas of financial systems, which ruined the structure entirely. There are a lot of factors that contributed to the recent European financial meltdown. According to some political economists, the European financial meltdown was bound to happen due to the trade policies adopted by the European Union (Jackson 1). In this regard, they argue that European Union is not proactive enough and act after the facts. This means that they provide response only after the situation has already occurred. The question that many people among them economist are asking is, why should the European countries care about the foreign debt crisis? This paper will explore the causes of the recent European sovereign debt crisis, what happened and why it is indispensable for the European countries to care about it. The foreign debt crisis in Europe occurred as a result of a number of factors. This include finance globalization, 2002-2008 easy credit condition which buoyant high-risk b orrowing and lending practices. Others include imbalance in international trade, bubbles of real estates, which have burst since then, slow growth in economy witnessed in 2008 and there after, government expense and revenue fiscal policy choices and bail out methods by nations for troubled banks and bondholders. Other notable causes include assuming private burdens of debts or socializing losses (Duthel 1). The crisis has had a lot of negative impacts to many countries in Europe. Jackson argues that initially, the crisis was viewed by European Union (EU) as a phenomenon of America. However, its devastating effects changed soon after the European countries saw its impact on the country. For instance, the crises led to a sharp decline in economic activities of European countries over a remarkably short time (Duthel 5). The worst being, it led to a sharp decline in global trade, eroding European prospects of trade. This in turn, provided safety regulator for local industries that are r educing their output. It is a mater of fact that many countries depend on trade for economic growth. This is one of the reasons as to why European countries should take stringent measures aimed at preventing such a recurrence in financial crisis. Economists still see sovereign debt crisis as something that is continuing in the European countries (Duthel 22). This has impact negatively on the countries affected since it makes it hard for some of the countries to be able to pay off their government debts without seeking third party assistance. This interferes with the smooth running of these countries and thus needs prevention and control measures to abate it. For instance, in 2009, there was growing fear of sovereign debt crisis among investors. This was because government debt levels were rising at an alarming rate across the globe coupled with government debt downgrading witnessed in some European countries (Jackson 4). The concerns grew from early 2010, calling on the finance mini ster of Europe to approve a package that could help rescue the nations. This culminated to approval of â‚ ¬750 billion for financial stability in Europe and establishing a European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF). The concerns also lead to leaders from euro zone signing an agreement in October 2011 and February 2012 aimed at designing measures to help mitigate collapse of European member economies. The agreement signed includes measures requiring banks to make up to 53.5 percent write-off of debts in Greece owed

Under what circumstances are protest movements against authoritarian Essay

Under what circumstances are protest movements against authoritarian rule most likely to succeed in changing the regime - Essay Example While a protest movement is a collective endeavour and is generally expressive of the political views of large numbers of people, the failed uprisings mentioned above indicate that they may not necessarily be successful in every case. This study examines why these movements were unsuccessful in achieving their objectives. According to Thompson, democratic revolutions can be understood as â€Å"spontaneous popular uprisings – peaceful, urban-based and cross class in composition – which topple unyielding dictators and begin a transition process that leads to the consolidation of democracy.†1 Including fraternity organizations, guerrilla organizations or other sects under the umbrella of social movements would possibly be stretching the definition of social movements too far2, but such organizations have also managed to attract a sizeable number of followers. According to Zirakzadeh, a social movement comprises a group of people who (a) consciously attempt to build a radically new social order (b) includes people from a broad range of social backgrounds and (c) makes use of socially disruptive, politically confrontational tactics.3 In general, where the question of overthrow of a regime is concerned, dictatorial, authoritarian regimes are vulnerable to violent, radical revolutions, including coups, that may successfully achieve this objective4. According to Tilly, earlier trends in the growth of social movements are linked to economic and political changes, such as the emergence of Parliaments, proletariats and market capitalization5. Tilly also points out that social movements can also be a prime factor functioning as a propellant towards democracy, such as the ones which occurred in the USSR in 1990-91, Serbia in 1996/7 and 2000 as well as Ukraine in 2004. But more often, social protest movements have flourished after the country in question has become a democracy, because political rights as well as individual rights such

Loyalty Programmes in Hotels Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 19000 words

Loyalty Programmes in Hotels - Essay Example This research attempts to achieve an insight into the value of loyalty programmes to businesses and more specifically examine the value of loyalty programmes to hotels. Review of secondary data is applied to understand the value of loyalty programmes to businesses while a survey among hotels is conducted to examine its value to the hotels. Loyalty Programmes are defined as â€Å"schemes offering delayed, accumulating economic benefits to consumers who buy the brand†. Satisfaction does not equal loyalty. A customer can be very satisfied with the product, but still be not loyal towards it. In order to encourage loyalty, firms develop loyalty programs. Typically, in a Loyalty Program, customers accumulate assets, points or rewards by accumulating their purchases from a local firm which is either exchanged for goods or the services, though not always associated with the firm. This generally adopts the system of points wherein the points can be exchanged for a variety of benefits s uch as free flyer points, gifts, trips, etc. â€Å"Airline frequent-flier programs have been a prototype for many of the schemes†. Such schemes are based on the concept of repeat purchase, and in most businesses today, a large part of sales results from repeat purchase. This fact is being increasingly recognized by enterprises that are implementing loyalty programmes to encourage such purchase pattern.  ... The literature in general helped in understanding various factors and concepts associated with loyalty programme and then those had to be applied to the hotel industry for the research. 34 3.4 Research Approach 36 3.5 Research Strategy 38 3.6 Sample selection 41 3.6.1 Administering the questionnaire 41 3.6.2 Analyzing the responses 43 3.7 Time Horizon 43 3.9.1 Reliability 47 3.9.2 Validity 48 Limitations 49 50 Ethical Considerations 50 4. Analysis and Discussion of Findings 51 4.1 Hotels' definition of loyal customers 52 4.2 Reason for launching loyalty programme 53 4.3 Target segment and benefits offered 55 4.4 Designing loyalty program for corporate segment 58 4.5 Loyalty programmes that attract maximum guests and justify expenses 59 4.6 Objective of loyalty programs 61 4.7 Managing loyalty programme 63 4.8 Delivery mechanism 64 4.9 Involving staff 65 4.10 Assessing the success of loyalty programme 66 4.11 Failure of loyalty programme 70 5. Recommendations 72 Introduction Brief overview and background This research attempts to achieve an insight into the value of loyalty programmes to businesses and more specifically examine the value of loyalty programmes to hotels. Review of secondary data is applied to understand the value of loyalty programmes to businesses while a survey among hotels is conducted to examine its value to the hotels. Loyalty Programmes are defined as "schemes offering delayed, accumulating economic benefits to consumers who buy the brand". Satisfaction does not equal loyalty. A customer can be very satisfied with the product, but still be not loyal towards it (Charles and Lamb, 2008).In order to encourage loyalty, firms

Reflective Report- Oticon the disorganised organisation Assignment

Reflective Report- Oticon the disorganised organisation - Assignment Example This research enabled Oticon to keep up with the pace of technology, as well as recognize customer’s demands and make the correct adjustments where required (Perlitz 2007, p.26). This case study is about Oticon that is undergoing or has undergone a change between the years 2010 and 2014. In addition, the essay will provide the description of the organization and industry in which the change happened, and the particular information. Moreover, it will give the environmental elements that impacted the change and chronology of the milestones. Furthermore, nine more reflections on the analyses associated to the topic of the week will be noted. The reflection will be based on Kolb Model of Learning. The Kolb’s cycle is the procedure that expands ideas from the way of encounter. In most situations, the procedure is comprehended on the basis of the events. In this model, there is a circle of reflective observation that evolves to solid encounter of occurrences in abstract conceptualization (Moon 2013, p. 24). The figure below represents the Kolb’s cycle of learning. This case study’s information is obtained from the annual records of the Oticon company and personal conversation with Lars Kolind the initiator of spaghetti organization between the year 2010 and 2011 (Cattani 2011, p.68). Oticon is a Danish corporation that began in 1904 and specializes in behind the ear hearing aid devices. The project-based organization (PBO) change happened in the company in a big way. A project based organization process plays the function of reacting to the unknown environmental factors. The Oticon Company indicated this form of organization change through spaghetti organization (Cattani 2011, p.61).The spaghetti organization assisted the company to manage it in a particular time of industry unstableness. In addition, it assisted the managers in their quest for a better framework to arrange innovation inside the corporation. The spaghetti organization got tests on two

A Policy Brief Addressing a Significant Health Problem Facing Essay

A Policy Brief Addressing a Significant Health Problem Facing California - Essay Example Yet as a society, we are not making adequate investments necessary to ensure the health and well-being of all of our youth. During adolescence, young people confront new issues that affect their physical and mental health. These could be attributed to a number of varying factors. Similarly, young adults continue to experience many of the same challenges to their health and well-being. The health issues of teens and young adults are easy to overlook because they are not, for the most part, acute illnesses or chronic diseases. Instead, they are largely behavioral and social issues. Unlike the issues related to general health conditions that confront the society at large, adolescent’s health problems relate more to the lacuna in the societal interventions. Adolescents confront health issues that have multi-dimensional characteristics and implications. Addressing these issues requires change at multiple levels—from service delivery, to funding priorities, to community resources and environments, and, more fundamentally, to the behavior and attitudes of California’s adults. The World Health Organization’s definition can be taken as the standard in all areas of public health. According to the World Health Organization, health is defined as more than just the â€Å"absence of disease,† but rather a state of â€Å"complete physical, mental, and social well-being.† This broad definition has a lot of significance to adolescent health. Adolescent health encompasses not only the prevention and treatment of disease and disability. It features behavioral and social issues on an equal scale. Issues of safety, social relationships, self-esteem, education and skill development all figure into good health of adolescents. Thus, to make progress in improving adolescent health, a combination of perspectives and approaches is needed. Besides the disease components, interventions must address societal and behavioral

How will technology and social media influence or change recruitment Essay

How will technology and social media influence or change recruitment and talent management in the future - Essay Example Social media has become a viable way of quick interaction between the recruiters and the candidates. The quality of staff members and their services in the hotel industry has a direct impact on the bottom line. Employees serve as the frontline brand ambassadors and their performance drives the true competitive advantage of the organization. To succeed, the employers need to recruit enthusiastic, accountable, and competent employees that should be kept motivated and engaged. To achieve this, many innovative firms are seeing the potential of improving the recruiting strategies with social media (Headworth, n.d.). The rapid advancement of technology and growth of the use of social media will bring drastic changes in the practices of recruitment and talent management in the hotel industry in the future. Historically, rates of employee turnover within the hotel industry have been remarkably high; turnover rates have been touching 50 per cent. â€Å"The American Hotel and Lodging Association has estimated that the turnover cost per employee is a minimum of $4100 per employee, and the American Management Association pegs this number at 30% of an employee’s annual salary† (Cobb, 2013). The high rate of employee turnover in the hotel industry can be partly attributed to lack of opportunities of training and development and inappropriate talent management that has led the employees to attrition and dissatisfaction. To combat the retention issues, hospitality organizations are in need of professional, motivated, committed, and developed graduates that would help them attain their immediate and long-term goals (Scott and Revis, 2008). The trends are expected to change for the better in the future. The continued growth of social media and technology has made room for the worki ng of more team activities and knowledge work remotely. Retention in the hotel

Singapore education system Essay Example for Free

Singapore education system Essay Singapore’s education system is one of the top among the world. I am glad to grow up in such system whereby we are trained since young to try and achieve the best of both worlds balancing academic and non-academic achievements like CCAs. I would like to know the views on looking into various â€Å"loopholes† in the education systems. Ministry of Education (MOE) is offering new paths for students, who did well for their GCE ‘N’ Level, to further their studies at Institute of Technical Education (ITE) or even local Polytechnics without taking the GCE ‘O’ Level, yet at the same time do not have any plans to further support these students such that most of them could not enter the local universities due to lack of qualifications. Singapore’s education system is one of the top among the world. I am glad to grow up in such system whereby we are trained since young to try and achieve the best of both worlds balancing academic and non-academic achievements like CCAs. I would ask the Prime Minister for his views on looking into various â€Å"loopholes† in the education systems. Ministry of Education (MOE) is offering new paths for students, who did well for their GCE ‘N’ Level, to further their studies at Institute of Technical Education (ITE) or even local Polytechnics without taking the GCE ‘O’ Level, yet at the same time do not have any plans to further support these students such that most of them could not enter the local universities due to lack of qualifications. Singapore’s education system is one of the top among the world. I am glad to grow up in such system whereby we are trained since young to try and achieve the best of both worlds balancing academic and non-academic achievements like CCAs. I would ask the Prime Minister for his views on looking into various â€Å"loopholes† in the education systems. Ministry of Education (MOE) is offering new paths for students, who did well for their GCE ‘N’ Level, to further their studies at Institute of Technical Education (ITE) or even local Polytechnics without taking the GCE ‘O’ Level, yet at the same time do not have any plans to further support these students such that most of them could not enter the local universities due to lack of qualifications. Singapore’s education system is one of the top among the world. I am glad to grow up in such system whereby we are trained since young to try and achieve  the best of both worlds balancing academic and non-academic achievements like CCAs. I would ask the Prime Minister for his views on looking into various â€Å"loopholes† in the education systems. Ministry of Education (MOE) is offering new paths for students, who did well for their GCE ‘N’ Level, to further their studies at Institute of Technical Education (ITE) or even local Polytech nics without taking the GCE ‘O’ Level, yet at the same time do not have any plans to further support these students such that most of them could not enter the local universities due to lack of qualifications.

Relevance Of Symbolic Play In Child Development Education Essay

Relevance Of Symbolic Play In Child Development Education Essay This essay looks at the issue of symbolic play being therapeutic play for children. The essay looks at the theory of symbolic play, the use of symbolic play with children, the therapeutic value of symbolic play, using research to support the discussions. The essay discusses what is understood by symbolic play, then moves on to discuss the importance of symbolic play in childrens development, looking at the various theories that have been put forward to explain the importance of play in childrens development. The essay then moves on to look at various instances where therapeutic play has been used, and is considered useful, such as in children who are experiencing a chronic illness, who are hospitalized, who are awaiting surgery or who have experienced some form of trauma. What is symbolic play? Symbolic play is, according to Piaget (1962) one of the main ways in which children learn to think in a representational manner, where representation is understood as a process through which children store information according to the perceptual analysis of their ingoing experiences (Leslie, 1987; Lyytinen et al., 1997). Play essentially allows children to understand the things they experience and to put these things in to perspective. As such, play is fundamentally important for childrens development (Piaget, 1962). Play is one of the ways in which children understand the world, their interactions with others and the rules and regulations that govern their passage through the world. Play is, thus, a fundamental activity for children that allows them to form their personalities and to understand their place in the world, in relation to others. Relevant of symbolic play in child development Symbolic play, which arises around the age of 18 months, basically involves children substituting one item for another, and can constitute incorporating others in to their play, pretend play or sequencing. This can mean that children pretend to be mother (or father) or that they use household items to reproduce day-to-day activities they have seen their parents doing, amongst other common symbolic play activities. This symbolic allows children to experiment with different roles and different forms of being, which, as has been discussed, allows children to understand, and to contextualise, their experiences. As Piaget (1962) argues, such symbolic play allows children to understand the role of self and others, the use of objects and the sequences of actions and activities whilst playing. This allows children to understand objects, to learn about the properties of objects and to learn about consequences and causality (Piaget, 1962). Play thus allows children, amongst other things, to re alize where their boundaries are, to understand why things work in the ways they do and to understand how to interact with others. Symbolic play is thus, as has been discussed, a fundamental developmental tool for children. Watson and Zlotlow (1999) talk about symbolic play as, an important characteristic of childrens early play, through the enactment of activities that are very familiar to the child in contexts that are not typical for those activities. Enacting activities out of context allows the child to explore, and to understand, the role of agents in their lives, allowing them to understand how the world works and what their role is in this world. Symbolic play, therefore, has been argued to have three main features: the use of objects; the use of actions during the play; and individuals enacting the play (i.e., agents) (Watson and Zlotlow, 1999). The use of objects can be undertaken in many forms, either through substitution, in which the object is used to represent something else, through scenario-building, with the object being used to perform some task or in combination, with the object being used in various ways (Watson, 2008). The use of actions in play and the development of the agent in p lay follow certain patterns depending on the age of the child, as does the theme of childrens symbolic play (Watson, 2008). The one thing that all symbolic play has in common, at whatever age or developmental stage the child is at, is that the child uses some representation of self in their play. At age four, for example, children will have progressed to fantasy play, but these fantasies will usually involve themselves in becoming their fantasy a fireman or a prince, for example (Garvey, 1990). This allows them to explore different roles and responsibilities. Symbolic play is, therefore, a natural phenomena, that children follow naturally, as part of their development through childhood. As Reed (2007) argues, symbolic play links all four areas of a childs development, namely cognitive, language, social/emotional and physical, and, as such, is a fundamental part of the development of children. Symbolic play allows the child to acquire knowledge and to express and represent their ideas, thoughts and feelings: as Vygotsky argues, in his sociocultural cognitive theory, symbolic play allows children to develop and to self-regulate and to work out any problems they might face (Reed, 2007). It is in this aspect, then, that the therapeutic value of symbolic play becomes clear. As children constantly experiment with their environment, their peers and the other agents they meet, and as the results of these experiments are constantly being fed back to lead to reinforce certain behaviours or to elicit different patterns of behaviours, the value of pl ay as therapy is clear. Children who are passing through a difficult moment and who need help to understand this, to contextualise these difficulties in the framework of their existing knowledge, can, through engaging in therapeutic play, manage this. Therapeutic play allows them to experiment with the various outcomes and to contextualise the problems they face, allowing them an opportunity to work through these problems/problematic situations, through this working out their difficulties and coming to understand how to deal with them. The use of symbolic play as therapy In terms of the use of symbolic play as therapy with children, as Bettelheim states, Play permits the child to resolve in symbolic form unresolved problems of the past and to cope directly or symbolically with present concerns. It is also his most significant tool for preparing himself for the future and its tasks (Schaefer, 1995). Using play as a tool to help children through a difficult stage in their lives is, therefore, grounded in theory and makes sense in light of the fact that children learn through play. The research shows, for example, that therapeutic play can be helpful in aiding children through hospital stays (William, 2007) or through surgery, with this therapeutic play being shown to reduce anxiety and increase overall well-being (Bowmer, 2002). As Moore and Russ (2006) discuss, pretend play can act as a resource for children, relating, as it does, to many areas of adaptive functioning including creativity, coping and emotional regulation. As Moore and Russ (2006) show , pretend play in hospital settings can reduce anxiety and, through this, can reduce the likelihood of complications following surgery and can allow children to adapt better to the complications of chronic illness. The therapeutic value of symbolic play In terms of the therapeutic value of symbolic play, as Axline (1964) discusses, therapeutic play can be delivered through one of two major approaches, namely via non-directive play therapy and via directive play therapy (Oaklander, 1988). According to Axline (1964), play therapy should be governed by eight principles, namely that the therapist and child must be comfortable with each other; that the therapist accepts the child as he/she is; that the child can freely express their feelings; that the therapist is alert to the feelings the child expresses; that the therapist respects the child and their ability to resolve their own problems; that the therapist does not attempt to influence the child; that the therapy is carried out in its own time; and that the only limitations placed on the play therapy are those that anchor the therapy in the real world (Axline, 1964). If the therapeutic play is provided within this framework, the benefits of the therapeutic play can be many and varied , as discussed above, with the troubled child benefitting greatly from this intervention. As Li and Lopez (2008) argue, therapeutic play can be valuable not only in helping children through a difficult stage in their lives but can be useful in helping to in prepare children for a stressful, or difficult, period that they might face. For example, children who are facing surgery or a chronic illness can be helped to come to terms with this through the use of therapeutic play. As Li and Lopez (2008) report, by reinforcing to nursing and medical staff that play is a very important part of the lives of young children, and be employing therapeutic play techniques, this can markedly improve the anxiety that these children experience and can allow these children to have a more positive outlook regarding their situation and the difficult things they will face, meaning that they are better equipped to face these situations. As Li and Lopez (2008) argue, therapeutic play can help to improve the resilience of children who face difficulties and, as such, it is an important tool to use in those children who need help to become more resilient. Children who have faced some form of trauma, for example, can be aided through the fallout of this trauma through engaging in therapeutic play. By allowing the child the space to act out what they saw, or what they have experienced, for example, the child can come to terms with this traumatic experience. This therapeutic play could take the form of using puppets, or drawing, or role playing: anything that allows the child to re-enact the event(s) and, through this, come to terms with what happened. The use of therapeutic play in explaining the loss of someone close to them is known to be particularly valuable, for example, as this can allow them to imagine the person is still here and to resolve any outstanding issues they had with them, or to slowly come to terms with the fact that they are no longer alive and no longer able to be physically present with the child. The simple act of playing can, therefore, allow the child to come to terms with many difficult emotions, allowing the c hild to slowly become more able to cope with the negative emotions that a traumatic event (such as witnessing a violent act or the unexpected death of a close family member), allowing them to deal with these negative emotions (Schaefer and OConnor, 1994). As Schaefer and OConnor (1994) argue, role playing in particular can help children to face the negative post-trauma reactions that children might face, with role-play allowing children to relive the trauma and to find various solutions to their negative experiences and emotions. Conclusion In summary, then, this essay has looked at the issue of symbolic play being therapeutic play for children. The essay has looked, in particular, at the theory of symbolic play, the use of symbolic play with children and the therapeutic value of symbolic play. In regards to the theory of symbolic play, it has been seen that various theories have been proposed to explain the importance of symbolic play in childrens development, with all of these theories agreeing that play is a fundamental part of childrens development and that this play allows them to contextualise their experiences and to understand how these experiences dictate how they should act and should behave in different situations. It is this attribute of symbolic play that lends itself to being useful in helping children come to terms with difficult events in their lives: as has been discussed, play allows children to explore different scenarios (even difficult scenarios), with this play enabling them to overcome any negative emotions or feelings they might have had towards these scenarios. A child who is facing a difficult surgery, for example, might be scared, might be worried for themselves and for their families, but engaging in role play with this child (for example) allows them the opportunity to explore different possibilities and to release some of their anxieties and concerns. This has been shown, as discussed, to reduce the anxiety these children feel and to enable the childs health and well-being to be maintained, even under difficult circumstances. Similarly, a child who has experienced trauma can be helped through their post-traumatic period by engaging in some form of therapeutic play. This would normally consist of helping the child to act out their fears and their experiences, allowing the child to get rid of all of their negative emotions and feelings with regards to the even, allowing the child to expel these from their psyche and then to carry on without carrying this burden along with them. In conclusion, then, the essay has shown that play is fundamental for children and that, given its experimental nature and its ability to contextualise events and interactions for children, play is, at its very essence, therapeutic. Using play with children who need therapeutic interventions, then, makes perfect sense to allow children to understand the negative events/emotions and to overcome their fears and anxieties regarding these negative events and emotions. Therapeutic play has been shown to be a useful intervention in many cases, including in hospitalized children and in children living with chronic illnesses, who can be helped through this difficult period by engaging in therapeutic play, which has been shown to reduce their anxiety levels. In conclusion, then, therapeutic play is an extension of the symbolic play that children engage in as a normal developmental process and can be useful in helping children through difficult periods in their life.

Computer Security And The Threat Of Hacking Computer Science Essay

Computer Security And The Threat Of Hacking Computer Science Essay Computer security is a safety operating system that is an important feature to install on a computer. It ensures safety and protection from unknown users and threats. If a safety operating system is weak, unknown users, or hackers, are able to break into the database and install harmful viruses, as well as steal personal information. Computer security and hacking can have both disadvantages and advantages. Computer security has evolved from early on to being a key component to own. Hacking, as well as computer security, has developed into a more harmful and dangerous activity. Currently, security programs have been developed to stop hacking and viruses from encroach onto a users computer. Computer security and hacking have had impact on society today, globally and locally. Users use computer security to their benefit when keeping personal information stored on their database. Hacking can destroy a users identity, or possibly their reputation. Businesses and organizations have benefit ed from security, by its protection of information and protection from outside harm. Hacking can be used as a good way to check a computers sustainability to dangers through networks and the internet. Computer security and hacking are two important issues discussed and recognized today. Computer Security is an important element of safety precaution when using a computer. These operating systems run on computers to ensure the safety of personal and financial information, along with protection. Computer security can be a very useful component to acquire [1]. If an unknown user tries to access a computer database, computer security will ensure that that user will not be let in [2]. Besides keeping unknown users out of others computer databases, computer security also provides protection from harmful threats and viruses. Once these viruses find their way onto a users computer, information and control access can be stolen [3]. There are significant advantages and disadvantages of having a strong computer system, one advantage being protection from viruses and other harmful attacks [4]. Hacking has found its way into the world of computers. Hacking can be destructive, harmful, and can have some bad impact on peoples lives. If a computer system is not protected by a security operating system, hackers can find their way into that database easily. Once in, hackers can obtain personal, financial, and important information [5]. This can cause ruin in a users business and personal life, and much more. While being branded a bad thing, hacking can help many as well. Some hackers are able to test the reliability of a computers security system, to find weak spots in the barrier [6]. Like computer security, hacking can have both costs, but benefits too [2]. The purpose of this report is to allow computer users to gain insight on the aspects of computer security and the ethical issue of hacking. Computer security can allow users to feel comfortable knowing their personal information is being kept hidden. But even with a high-level computer security system, one is still vulnerable to a hacking intrusion. A computer users private information, such as social security, credit card numbers, passwords, email addresses, and other information is at risk to being taken. There are a number of objectives covered in this report. First, computer security is used to keep personal, financial, and other private information kept confidential. Second, computer security blocks viruses and attackers from encroaching on ones computer. Third, even with this security, one is still susceptible to a hacking attack. And lastly, hacking can be easily hurtful, but could in some cases be just as helpful for users. The main contents of this report include computer security, and the issue of hacking. Computer security is described as a protection technique for personal information, and for blocking unwanted threats from the internet. Hacking is described as being a harmful way to obtain information from other users databases. Viruses and threats are each described in order for other users to know the differences between them all. Also in this report are ways to check a computers security and ways to keep it protected from harm too. 2 Background 2.1Computer security is an operating system used on computer databases to protect and provide safety to users. Besides preventing unauthorized access, computer security provides protection for personal, financial, and classified information [1]. One type of this security system requires a validation of a username and password provided by the user, in order to gain access into the computer database [2, pg.267]. Besides validating who the user is, it also confirms that the user is not trying to attempt an unlawful operation [2, pg.31]. As shown in Figure 1, computer security requires a key, or username and password, in order to access the database. Many businesses and organizations have benefited greatly from this operating system, because it allows their private information to stay confidential and secret [1]. http://comtrec.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Computer-Internet-Security.jpg Figure 1 Picture representing the security operating system, with the binary representation inside a computer. Computer security had begun physically in the 1950-60s. Computer systems then were guarded by security officers, to stop the attempt of gaining unauthorized access. Later on in the 60s and 70s, access could be granted over telephone lines, which caused a change in the way computers were externally guarded [2, 266-7]. By the 90s, companies sprang up to provide a more modern way of securing computer systems. Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) was developed by Netscape Communications, (which was an early web browser) to get secure transfer of info when buying online. By 1999, the Transport Layer Security (TLS) had been developed, and was very similar to the Secure Sockets Layer, but with a few important improvements [2, 350-1]. Hacking can be defined as the encroachment of ones personal or business computer system by an outside source [7]. Hackers, or the outside sources encroaching on the personal computer, can have many motives to these intrusions. Some hackers have admitted to only wanting to enjoy the challenge of overcoming a security system [8]. Other hackers have admitted to wanting private or financial information for their own personal gain [7]. There are different ways a computer can be hacked into. These ways include: through downloads, internet-based programs, and through fraud emails. Through these, hackers can plant viruses and attacks which make it possible to overcome a security system [3]. A hacker has had many definitions from early on. In the Middle Ages, a hacker was in the business of creating tools known as hoes. Later on into the 17th Century, a hacker had become a strong worker that handled a hoe. Today, a hacker has nothing to do with an actual tool, but is capable of being a strong worker, when it comes to intruding upon anothers computer system [2, pgs.657-8]. The earliest form of hacking was known as phreaking. This involved hacking using telephone lines [9, pgs.12- 13]. 2.2There are a number of advantages and disadvantages when it comes to computer security. Some advantages include: greater storage space, resource and file sharing, an increase in cost efficiency, and security of private information. Some disadvantages include: the expensive cost, it could have a number of weak spots, and some security issues [4]. Hacking has some important costs and benefits when it comes into play. Some costs include: the owner loses control over his or her information, harmful viruses and threats on users computers, and loss of data either being intentional or unintentional by hacker. An important benefit is ethical hacking, because users can determine where the weak spots in their system are [2, pg.659]. 2.3 There are some theories to deciding whether hacking can be good or bad. In some ways, it can be dangerous, hurtful, and devastating. Many can lose their personal information, such as social security, credit card numbers, emails, addresses, and much more, and can be left with nothing. In some ways, hacking could be a good thing. This is true because many hire ethical hackers to test their computers security strength to find weak areas in their systems. It is an undecided theory, because hacking can be labeled good and bad, and each argument can be supported [2, 659]. 2.4 A class for viruses, threats, worms, Trojans, spyware, and other forms of attacks is known as malware. [7]. A small portion of software that can enter a users computer secretly and in other easy ways is known as a virus. Trojans are similar to a virus, but different in the fact that once installed, it allows the Trojan horses creator the ability to see everything on the users computer. Spyware is capable of being installed within a users database with or without the user having knowledge of it [3]. These types of threats and attacks are hidden within programs that come as fake emails, internet-programs, and downloads. Figure 2 below demonstrates all the different types of harmful threats that can be uploaded onto your computer by hackers. http://www.dreamstime.com/computer-and-network-security-hand-thumb4123007.jpg Figure 2 This is a collection of all the different types of viruses and threats that can be harmful for a users computer. 3 Computer Security and Hacking 3.1Society has been impacted by computer security in a number of ways. Computer security ensures users that their personal, financial, and other information will be kept secret from the eyes of others. It impacts businesses and organizations by keeping their confidential data safe from view and harm and helping them in staying successful [1]. It allows users to share files and resources, an increased amount of storage space, and an increase in cost efficiency [4]. As well as protecting information, computer security has impacted users and their computers from nasty viruses, threats, and malware as well [3]. Computer security is an important piece of technology that has impacted society since its beginning. Hacking is impacting society today in many ways. Hacking impacts users by taking their personal information, and could possibly display it over the internet [7]. It is causing an increase in cost for companies and organizations to fix their computer systems after a security breach, and to obtain better security. There has been recent documentation dealing with an increased amount of threats found in web sites that can easily be uploaded onto databases. [10]. Hacking impacts businesses and organizations if these do not have a strong security system. Hacking can have a number of impacts on society, especially taking personal information from other users [5]. 3.2 Computer security involves another component, called a firewall. This component, software or hardware, is made to block unwanted threats and viruses from a users computer. A firewall is used to prevent the intrusion of hackers, viruses, and many other threats from gaining access and information onto a computer [11]. An example of a strong firewall that provides protection and dependability is the Cisco PIX Firewall [10]. A well-known security system used by many is called Symantec. Symantec had originated in 1982. It has become the worlds largest software company, with business internationally, and with over 17,000 workers. Symantec ensures security of the computer, its infrastructure, and all the components within it. Symantec has a research lab where new technologies are developed to ensure even more security [12]. Norton AntiVirus is Symantecs current security program. Norton provides safe networking, protection online, and a scanner to check for viruses and threats. Norton is a very trusting program, because it ensures safety for users and for their computers. Figure 4 is a picture of the program Norton AntiVirus. Figure 5 represents the Norton program at work. This main screen alerts the user if their system is not secure, and what types of protection the user would like to be on or off. [12] http://www.amitbhawani.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Norton360-Box-Package.png http://www.windows7hacker.com/wp-content/uploads/blog/DownloadNortonAntivirus2010BetaonWindows_E88F/NewNortonAntiVirus.png Figure 3 Picture of the Norton Figure 4 This figure represents the Norton AntiVirus program AntiVirus main screen 3.3 Even though hacking is labeled as dangerous, some have found hacking to be a blessing. Some computer users hire ethical hackers, which are those who imitate an actual attack onto a users computer system, in order to test that computers security system and its blocking power. While imitating this attack, ethical hackers are also looking for weaknesses within the system, and what could be stolen in a real hacking attack [6]. Another way to check a networks security is by sending a vulnerability scanner over the computer. Like ethical hacking, a vulnerability scanner will check for weaknesses in the security, and will increase the security as well. Besides scanning for weaknesses in the security wall, users should consistently be checking their computers for any type of threats or attacks. If these threats or attacks are not resolved, all types of malware could corrupt the database [10]. 4 Conclusion Computer Security is described as being a protection mechanism for computer databases. This mechanism can come in different shapes, styles, and forms [1]. One of the types of computer security is a validation code. The user of the computer must provide his/her own username and password to access the database [2]. Another type is AntiVirus security, such as Norton AntiVirus by Symantec. This program will provide protection from harmful threats and viruses, and hackers as well [12]. Computer security has provided many with comfort knowing that their private and financial information will be kept safe from other eyes on their computers. Big companies and organizations have benefited from computer security, because with it they have a comforting feeling that their important information will be kept safe [1]. Hacking is a dangerous and unfortunate activity that occurs on vulnerable computers [7]. Hackers find their way into other users systems, and depending on what they want, credit card numbers, social security, or anything of the like, they are likely to succeed in getting [5]. Hackers can plant harmful viruses and threats into a users system with or without that user knowing [7]. It can be a very upsetting and unlucky event to happen, because users are susceptible to having their personal information stolen or revealed to the public [2, pg.659]. But in the light of things, hacking could be a good thing for some users. Ethical hacking can be a useful method for checking a computers security barrier. It finds the weak spots that a computer hacker, virus or threat could enter the database through [6]. There are ways to improve computer security and to keep hackers and viruses out of computer systems. Ethical hacking could be a method used to find the vulnerable areas in the security, which would inform the user that better security is needed [6]. Similar to ethical hacking, a vulnerability scanner runs over the system scanning for weak spots, and improves security too [10]. Certain antiviral programs could be purchased and installed to increase security. Such programs as Norton AntiVirus will alert the user of any threats, scans the system, and will keep a computer safe [12]. There are conclusions Ive drawn from researching computer security and hacking. First, computer security is a very important component to have on a computer. Businesses and companies have impacted from it, because they are able to keep valuable information stored on their computers. Without it, users should not be on the internet or network at all. Hacking can be a very uncomforting and hurtful activity to users and their computers. Users can have their private and financial information taken from them, as well as being made public. There are many types of viruses and threats that can harm users computers, especially the ones thought to be low risk. The reason I drew these conclusions is because they are important things to know and understand. If one is naÃÆ'Â ¯ve to the risks of the internet and hackers, their computers, as well as themselves are in peril. There are some issues that I would like to address in future studies. I would like address the issue of weak spots in a computers security. I would like to see this security to not have these weak spots, and to fix them before using them on computers. Second, I want users to realize how dangerous it is to not have a computer security operating system, before they find it is too late. I would like to see programs such as Facebook and MySpace not allow users to put as much information as they allow now. Because of this displaying of information, many are susceptible to danger. I would like these issues to be addressed in future studies.

Fahrenheit 451 - A Structured and Censored World :: Fahrenheit 451 Essays

Fahrenheit 451 - A Structured and Censored World Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 forces us to envision a world that is so structured and censored fireman exist not to fight fires, for all buildings are fireproof, but instead to burn books. Fahrenheit 451 is a horrific account of what could happen in an all too close future when society carries "political correctness" to its extreme. One of the primary characters that one meets in Fahrenheit 451 is a young girl named Clarrise has been raised to live the way things once were, in a time where people had true freedom Because of Clarrise's view of life she is branded as anti-social by her teachers and an outcast by her fellow classmates. Clarrise becomes acquainted with another main character named Guy Montag. Montag is a fireman who deep inside does not want to live a life without having to think. Montag's inner thoughts become more and more a part of him as the book progresses. Montag eventually becomes a freedom fighter of sorts when he joins a group of people who illegally hide and re ad books. Montag's wife Mildred on the other hand prefers not to have to think, but rather to allow others to think for her to simply say "yes I agree." Mildred is the epitome of laziness. The most complex of all the characters is the fire chief Beatty. Beatty is a man who once was educated but has now turned his back on education and works to destroy it. Beatty knows what is in books but chooses not to care, not to do anything but help the destruction of books. The loss of the characters freedom to read and to think was not an act that was forced on the people but, embraced by the people. The people loved the idea of not having to think anymore. The desire to confront issues was gradually lost by the people. Since the desire the desire to confront issues was lost people stopped doing anything that was so called "politically incorrect" so as to affend no one. After a while not confronting issues became so natural that anyone who did was considered odd and a threat.

Studt guide :: essays research papers

Unit #4- Study Guide, Chapter #3 Answer the following questions, IN YOUR OWN WORDS. Of course, this is an â€Å"open book† assignment. 1. Everyone who lives in the United States lives in the same society and, also lives in the same culture. These concepts refer to different aspects of the United States. Using the United States as an example, explain the differences between the concepts of â€Å"society† and â€Å"culture.† Society sets boundaries for our lives. The United States has set out laws that we must abide by and follow. The United States is not different from other countries because of our social status, roles, groups, social institutions, and everyone's surrounding areas has established beliefs or values. Our cultures are ver different because of our languages, mannerisms, values, norms and religion. It is difficult for a foreigner to come to the United States and learn new mannerisms, norms, and a new language. A foreigner now has to adapt to a custom he sees totally different from what might have been normal to him back at his native country. 2. Explain the differences between innovations, discoveries, inventions and diffusion. Give examples of each of these concepts in order to clarify the differences between them. There are all different but somewhat similar. One can't really work without the other in life. Innovations are ways to achieve a certain goal. An example is money. Drug dealers use illegitimate ways to achieve this goal. In the long run they will discover that they reap what they sow. Meaning that they might end up in jail and arrested. Discoveries are a new way of seeking reality as a second process for change. Inventions are combinations of existing elements and materials to form new ones. People invent new drugs for the sick or some people combine drugs just to get a fix or high. The diffusion is that later on in their lives it will affect them greatly or other people might learn for them. 3. Although it would seem that symbolic interactionists would be more interested in language than the proponents of structural functionalism and conflict theory, each of the perspectives has an interest in this important cultural component. Explain why language is important to symbolic interactionists and elaborate on the interest that the other two perspectives would have in language. Language is a system of symbols that can be strung together for the purpose of communicating abstract thought.

Research Paper on Organizational Structure

I would like to start by saying that any corporate organizational structure depends on the product line and the industry in which the company operates. The companies belong to the continuum of either the functional or project organizations. Functional companies are organized around different technological processes. The top management of such organizations is responsible for the resource allocation, with the responsibility for the final output is not being tied to one single person. The use of rules and procedures, instructions, details and organizational traditions among the company’s management and workers is vital for the company’s functioning. The products belong to the high level of specialized knowledge which is created in this organizational structure (Matteson, 53). Light weight matrix organizations are functional and specialized. The product manager is usually added to this structure to coordinate the product creation and to serve as a liaison for the management-workers-customers. This new key person is used for collecting information, conflict resolution, and project objectives achievement. Product managers have less status and influence than functional managers, namely because they do not directly contact workers (Hersey, 88). Heavy weight matrix organizations possess dominant project structure and minor functional departments. The company’s product manager than possesses greater reasonability while the manufacturing, and marketing concepts are present in this organization (Berger, 144). Project organizations are located on the other end of the spectrum and have the following features: teams and projects. The project workers share the same location and concentrate on the same projects. The professional workers, on the other hand are supposed to have broader tasks and associated skills and responsibilities. In the project organizations the functional managers are responsible for the human resource development and technological implementation in the functional groups. The companies can also be classified according to the nature of their business and project undertaken. The projects can be characterized by the number of employees involved to perform numerous tasks, the workload on each employee. One can also classify the organizations in the following 4 categories: I. The company’s product is not complex and comprehensible for a single person, thus one person is likely to have enough knowledge to produce it. The companies that develop these kinds of products (shoes, clothes industry) usually have small development department. If this company has more than one individual department, then it usually structured as a functional organization as noted earlier in the essay – research paper (Matteson, 57). II. The company’s product is of low complexity, yet the total work is high. Such products, therefore, can be developed most efficiently within one functional department. A research department is usually the very department where this type of product is created. AS the company starts to have more departments, it would usually use the light weight matrix organizational structure to enjoy efficiency. The employees involved in this product creation are expected to work full time, and many tasks are expected to be performed simultaneously which contribute to the overall sequence design to be called Design Structure matrix (Hersey, 92). III. The company’s product is of high complexity of intangible, tangible, or mechanical nature. This kind of product is still in the engineering phase, making it rather clear what needs to be done to get the product into mass production and distribution. One should use numerous skills and disciplines to create this product, and these tasks do not have high workload. It is almost impossible to cause the employees to work fulltime on the very one product, thus creating the ‘job shop’ logistics situation (Schermerhorn 120). One should not forget that manufacturing and product development is not accepted by all product managers, it still usually yield decent result. The Product development process is constantly learnt and improved to remove bottlenecks and reduce the product variation. One should focus on the process rather than on the list of tasks and duties. This type of organizational structure has to follow the following three laws (Berger, 147): a. Taking smaller steps at one time usually boosts quality and effectiveness. b. Elimination of bottlenecks drastically improves productivity and efficiency. c. Elimination of variation will remove delays and distractions and thus will free some of the corporate resources. It is of importance to note that cross functional simultaneously run engineering squads is the common practice for the product development in such organizations. It would be a mistake to assign the same person to 5-6 different projects because it would result in congestion. One should not forget that by working at 100% of the product development capacity will increase the product development lead. Thus, one should deploy about 80% of the product development capacity and focus on the bottlenecks. IV. The company’s product is very complex while the total work is high. These kinds of organizations require their workers to work full time and the project organizational structure would be ideal for this very situation (Matteson, 59). Speaking about the company’s strategies that are vital for the corporate survival in the long run, one should remember that they would also depend on the corporate structure and thus would be broken down into three main categories of strategies that promote corporate values, corporate culture, corporate goals, and corporate missions (Hersey, 94): Corporate level strategy encompasses all strategies and sets the company’s mission and general guidelines. Functional strategies comprise Marketing strategies, financing strategies, and the strategies of each department participating in the given product development depending on the organizational structure. The focus in on mid and short term. One should remember that many companies would find it useful to use strategic business units rather than functional structure of organization to derive competitive advantage and thus govern the semi-autonomous units of organization that have their own budgeting, product development, hiring etc. Operational strategy is located on the lowest level of each organization simply because it is very narrow in focus and has daily scheduling criteria. This strategy obeys the higher level strategies present within the organization and adhere to the Management by Objectives principles (Berger, 150). Management by objectives (MBO), one should note, is the systematic scientific approach that allows the existing companies to focus on the attainable goals to reduce the costs and with the improved efficiency survive the competition. The MBO focuses on results, rather than on the process. The MBO would delegate tasks by dictating the proper final result without the detailed roadmap of how to achieve that. MBO strives to assure that everyone in the company has clear goals and objectives that coincide with the company’s goals and then by empowering others will have the goals achieved. One should still remember that MBO can fit only the knowledge-based companies.

Communication Channels Essay

A large flake of cases prove out that using talk bring properly would longly improve the nerve in several(prenominal) aspects. Without considering conference personal line of credits, on the opposite, would notion bad set up on the government activity. It is non exaggerate to verbalize that communication assembly lines play a signifi croupt use in solicitude and grievous motorbuss will never dud them. In this essay, I will mostly talk about three disparate communication bring which argon bollock acquit, in musket ball epithelial duct and grape vine body process and then analyze each of them in details in consecrate to lick good comparison.By doing so, the differences among them are shown clearly. rough examples will be given to adorn how important a good conductr who infers communication fall and what benefit he would bring to the organization. Communication pedigrees bed be classified into three move which are formal thoroughfare, daily c omport and grape vine activity. A formal communication channel identifies individuals who are the formal sources of schooling and the information that is their special c at wiz timern(Johnson, Donohue&Atkin,1994).Since relationships are located by ones role, coordinate is viewed by omnibuss as a unruffled entity which conforms to a top surmount figure (Monge & Eisenberg, 1987). This point of view emphasizes the configurations resulting from formal consent relationships represented in the organisational hierarchy. An official meeting which held by organization is an exmaple of formal channel. On contrast, an informal communication channel is designed for varieties of needs such as neighborly ones and it is based on the social contact as well as the personal affection of administrative staff.This commence carrys a sense of personal law and team cohesiveness. Apart from the above both(prenominal) channels, line activity is overly counted. However, pipeline activity is a major fair of informal channel. As the name suggests, the grape vine is entwined through and throughout the organization with branches going in all directions. They spread quickly, un look intolably and, once started, are often hard to stop. Because grapevine activity whitethorn harm both individuals and the organization itself, tutors must consider how to control it.Above three communication channels mother their own rewards and disadvantages under una wish circumstances. How to use them efficiently and properly gives us a good topic to discuss. egg communication channel is significantly serviceable when there is something sanely important to the organization and everyone should pay attention to. It shows the authority of weapons-grade and it is strictly serious. If we use informal channels instead of formal ones under this circumstance, inadequacy of authority and configuration will pencil lead to a never reached target. On one would consider it as an important emersion.However, nowadays, informal communication channel is regarded as the equilibrate of formal channel and can non be ignored. If we could curb informal channel in a right way, it would play an active role in organization. For example, in many situations, in order not to cause some unnecessary troubles, administrative staffs do not say exactly what they thought through formal communication channel however to chime in with others. On this occasion, when we engross advantage of informal channel to have a talk with administrative staffs, we may grasp their true feelings towards certain issue and then shoot the arrow at the target.Informal channel may light interpersonal conflict and make the gentle relationship more harmonious. Grapevine activity, as mentioned above, it is a form of informal channel and it is an inevitable part of organizational life. Researchers in the main agree that the grapevine often functions in a beneficial manner The grapevine can help improve organ izational efficiency in a number of ways. It also can help nominate pending problems, can function as an early warning signal for organizational change, and is a vehicle for creating a honey oil organizational culture.Unfortunately, the down side of grapevine activity is obviously at the said(prenominal) time. The most common one is inaccuracy. psychological research reveals that human invariably like to send emotional messages when they are down in spirits or they are not satisfied with their jobs. They may misconceive some facts intentionally or unexpectedly and tell them to others in an exaggerate way. psyche who has have ulterior motives may take advantage of grapevine in order to conform to their personal interests. Thus it can be seen that every communication channel has its range of application.Our aim in focal point is to use them properly. As a result, it is fairly important for a manager to understand communication channels. If a manager understand communication c hannels he(she) would know which channel is suitable for a certain situation. This would maintain a good human relationships and always make employees happy with their jobs. Employees do not call on only for salary hardly also for some need in spiritual level. They need to be view and participated. If they feel that they are important to the organization, they would work harder.A good manager would satisfy them with these aspects during formal communication. Informal communication also helps organization with its development. A good manager would use informal communication channel to keep good relationships with employees and cover the dearth of formal communication. For instance, treat employees a dejeuner or a dinner if they do well in their positions and listen to their opinions as much as you can. This would let them feel that they are valued. Also, provide childcare to employees who have babies already and to free them of worries.By doing so, employees would be more happie r and they would contribute more to the organization. As for grapevine activity, a good manager would know how to deal with it and make good control of it. Consequently, the organization would grow express if we take very good advantage of communication channels. In conclusion, there are three communication channels which are named as formal channel, informal channel and grapevine activity. They all have dictatorial functions to organization depend on how you manage them. It is worthwhile to know and use them fittingly in management and a great value will be obtained accordingly.