Importance of English

History of the English Language A short history of the origins and development of English The history of the English language really started with the arrival of three Germanic tribes who invaded Britain during the 5th century AD. These tribes, the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes, crossed the North Sea from what today is Denmark and northern Germany. At that time the inhabitants of Britain spoke a Celtic language. But most of the Celtic speakers were pushed west and north by the invaders – mainly into what is now Wales, Scotland and Ireland.The Angles came from Englaland and their language was called Englisc – from which the words England and English are derived. Germanic invaders entered Britain on the east and south coasts in the 5th century. Varieties of English From around 1600, the English colonization of North America resulted in the creation of a distinct American variety of English. Some English pronunciations and words â€Å"froze† when they reached Amer ica. In some ways, American English is more like the English of Shakespeare than modern British English is.Some expressions that the British call â€Å"Americanisms† are in fact original British expressions that were preserved in the colonies while lost for a time in Britain (for example  trash  for rubbish,  loan  as a verb instead of lend, and  fall  for autumn; another example,  frame-up, was re-imported into Britain through Hollywood gangster movies). Spanish also had an influence on American English with words like  canyon,  ranch,  stampede  and  vigilante  being examples of Spanish words that entered English through the settlement of the American West.French words (through Louisiana) and West African words (through the slave trade) also influenced American English (and so, to an extent, British English). Today, American English is particularly influential, due to the USA's dominance of cinema, television, popular music, trade and technology (i ncluding the Internet). But there are many other varieties of English around the world, including for example Australian English, New Zealand English, Canadian English, South African English, Indian English and Caribbean English.WHY IS ENGLISH SO IMPORTANT? Although a variety of languages are spoken all over the world, English is an important language to know. English is the language most international business is conducted in, it is used in more areas of the globe than any other and the only language spoken by more people is  Mandarin  (one of the languages in China). In many countries, the citizens have different tribal languages. Even though English is not a native language, the governments select English as an adopted national language.The government documents and laws written in English will be less subject to interpretation than if they had to be written separately in every tribal language. All school-related and workplace connections require a solid understanding of the E nglish language. If you are studying English at school, college or university, remember that getting an ‘A' grade in English is almost worthless, in terms of communication, if you cannot speak the language. Spoken English is used in the best careers, the best universities, and is increasingly being used at job interviews.REASONS TO LEARN ENGLISH 1) English is the most spoken language around the world. 1 out of 5 persons understands it! 2) Many of the most famous movies or songs are written in English! You’ll be able to understand them! 3) If you learn English, you’ll be able to visit most websites! 4) Speaking English is a tremendous asset for your professional career! 5) English is not hard to learn, compared to many other foreign languages! 6) Nowadays, we are surrounded by English (in non English speaking countries of course†¦). Understanding this language becomes more and more important! ) If you are a student, or just eager to learn, to understand Engli sh is almost mandatory since many publications are in English! 8) You will be able to visit the 45 countries where English is the official language! 9) But you will also be able to travel around the entire world! Even if you’re not going to an English speaking country, it is very likely that locals will understand you if you speak in English! 10) For the pleasure! Learning a language, especially English, is rewarding when you see you’re improving! Communicate with your friends in English! Dare To learn and Speak! ENGLISH AS AN INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE

Chapter 10 Review Questions Essay

What is the difference between leading and managing a project? Leading involves recognizing and communicating the need to change course and direction of the project, aligning people to this new direction, and motivating the team to overcome obstacles to achieve the new objectives. Managing is about formulating plans and objectives, designing procedures to achieve those objectives, monitoring progress, and taking corrective action. Managing is about putting out fires and maintaining the course. Leading is about change, and altering the course of a project. 2.Why is a conductor of an orchestra an appropriate metaphor for being a project manager? What aspects of project managing are not reflected by this metaphor? Can you think of other metaphors that would be appropriate? There are many parallels between conducting an orchestra and managing a project. Conductors and project managers integrate the contributions of others. Each is dependent upon the expertise and talents of others. They facilitate performance rather than actually perform. Project managers orchestrate the completion of the project by inducing participants to make the right decision at the right time. Both control the pace and intensity of work by coordinating the involvement of players. Finally each has a vision of performance that transcends the music score or project plan. The conductor metaphor works best in describing how a project manager interacts with project members to complete the project. The metaphor fails to capture the intricacies of dealing with all of the project stakeholders (government officials, contractors, top management, customers) that impact the project. Other metaphors that emerge from class discussions include: quarterback, steering wheel, and ship’s captain. 3.What does the exchange model of influence suggest you do to build cooperative relationships to complete a project? According to the exchange model of influence, the primary way to gain cooperation is to provide services and resources to others in exchange for future resources and services (quid pro quo). The key is to find out what you can offer others that is of value to them so that they will feel obligated to reciprocate. Here the notion of influence currencies is useful in identifying different ways to gain cooperation from others. A second key is building a positive â€Å"bank account† with those whom you are dependent upon so that they are inclined to cooperate with you. 4.What differences would you expect to see between the kinds of influence currencies that a project manager in a functional matrix would use and the influence a project manager of a dedicated project team would use? This question is designed to explore the impact that the project management structure has on the ability of project managers to exercise influence over team members. The key point is that the project manager of a dedicated team has more formal authority over the participants and the project and, therefore, greater access to influence currencies than the project manager in a functional matrix. For example, the dedicated project manager is responsible for assigning project work, while functional managers do so in a functional matrix. A dedicated project manager will have greater access to position-related currencies. Since dedicated projects are used for high priority projects, the dedicated project manager is likely to develop inspiration-related currencies. Project managers in a functional matrix compensate for their lack of formal authority by exercising informal influence through the use of relationships and personal currencies. 5.Why is it important to build a relationship before you need it? People are likely to be more cooperative if they know you, and you have developed a personal relationship with them. When people view you as pleasant, credible, and helpful based on past contact, they are more likely to be responsive to your requests for help and less confrontational when problems arise. The key is building a positive credit in the relationship that you can tap into when you need help. 6.Why is it critical to keep the project sponsor informed? The project sponsor is a powerful ally who uses his/her influence to protect the project when it comes under attack in higher circles of management. Project sponsors need to be kept informed so that they can defend the project to the best of their abilities. 7.Why is trust a function of both character and competence? Character alone is not likely to engender trust. People must have confidence in the other person’s abilities and competence. For example, you are unlikely to follow someone who has the best of intentions if he/she has a track record of failing to get things done correctly. Conversely, one will not trust someone who is very competent but has a doubtful character. For example, you are unlikely to follow someone who is quite competent if you believe he/she is only looking out for what is best for him/her. 8.Which of the eight traits/skills associated with being an effective project manager is the most important? The least important? Why? This question is designed to generate discussion rather than a definitive answer. Most students will pick either emotional intelligence, systems thinker, skillful politician, or personal integrity. Having students debate their choices can lead to a spirited discussion, especially between those who picked skillful politician and personal integrity. The key is to get students to think about how these traits relate to being an effective project manager. For example, personal integrity is important because it leads to trust which facilitates more effective interaction. Alternatively, being a skilled politician is necessary to deal with different stakeholders with conflicting agendas. Students should come to the conclusion that while some traits may be more important than others, all are important to being an effective project manager.

Artistic and Psychological Experiments

The paper will aim to review the journal on psychology regarding synesthesia. Synesthesia is a condition whereby a feature such as a shape like a letter A and B evoke a perception of another condition e. A can evoke the red color while B evokes the blue color on an individual's perception (Dick, 2014). Another definition is that synesthesia is a phenomenon in which an individual experiences unusual perception evoked y the activation of unrelated sensory modality or through a cognitive process (Malim, 2011). According to the author, tests performed by Baron-Cohen, Burt Smith and Harrison established the authenticity of artificial colors. Regardless of the tests, the author states that it is still not clear at what stage the visual of color processing stream is evoked. The article tries to answer the above dilemma by posting questions as to whether it involves relating to high levels of mental association and memories or if the colors are evoked earlier in visual processing and imbued with qualia (Malim, 2011).   The article explains that tests that involved the use of embedded shapes tasks, identified that synthetically stimulated colors could lead to pop-out and texture segregation, this shows that there is perceptual evidence for synesthesia. The author cites another test conducted by Hubbard and Ramachadran (2010) in which they encountered two synesthesias at least, who saw colors in numbers that do not exist in the real world. This test indicates that synesthesia may not be as a result of acquired learning but rather the individual's perception. In the article, various theories have made efforts to explain the synesthesia phenomenon. Such theory includes the cross-sectional theory. The theory suggests that synesthesia comes about as a result of cross-activation of between posterior temporal grapheme areas (PTGA) and the color processing area known as the V4. The disinhibited feedback theory explains that synesthesia arises from the disinhibiting of pre-existing feedback connections. The author highlights that similar finding such as those put forward by the cross-sectional theory, re-appeared during the test conducted by Hubbard and Ramachadran in 2010. The author includes another experiment that consisted of four participants who were asked to read the right words they would spot among a list of reversed words and wrong words. The test found that the average error rate for synthetics as 0.03% while that for non-synthetics stood at 23.8%. The author adds that during the same test some of the participants remarked that they first noticed the color before they could identify the shapes of the letters, and they used the color to clue them on the letters. This test concluded that the four synthetics of grapheme are processed unconsciously up to the fusiform and the cross-activate the color cells in V4 before the information is transmitted higher up where the color is used to infer the grapheme (Dark, 2009). The experiment also concluded that in projector synthesis, the phenomenon seems to occur at earlier in sensory processing. The initial stages of letter processing, the visual inputs are used to trigger the component features of the letters (the lines and curves). The trigger leads to the activation of all letter and character that consist of all or some of the component features. Therefore following this logic, the participants managed to identify the right words through processing the synthetic colors relatively earlier and sending the extra information to a higher level of sensory processing, and thus providing additional insight into reading the distorted words and backward-written texts (Baron-Cohen & Harrison, 2014). The author has managed to deliver the overall understanding of the synesthesia phenomenon through the support of several pieces of research, experiments, and theories cited by other authors. The use of pictures in the article further enhances the understanding of the phenomenon as well as the degree at which the experiments were conducted. The statistical data incorporated in the literature has also contributed to the genuineness of the findings. The structure of the article seems more of a review rather than a research as it relies heavily on other researchers work rather than the author's findings or experiments. However, the article's structure is well simplified and can deliver the point easily to the leader. The over reliance on other people's work brings about the question of credibility as some findings may be structured in a biased way. Cases where such issues of credibility arise include, the Ramachandran way of personifying characters and letters. She suggested that according to her perception, letter A seems to be the jealous one while B is quiet and non-assertive (Campen, 2010). Such findings leave the reader with a question as to whether the synesthesia phenomenon is learned or is dependent upon the individual's way of viewing life. The article has managed to deliver the most relevant points to the reader. This is due to its simplicity in writing and structure. However, the credibility of the findings still remains questionable. Baron-Cohen, S. & Harrison, J. (2014).  Synaesthesia  (1st ed.). Cambridge, Mass: Blackwell. Campen, C. (2010).  Artistic and psychological experiments with synesthesia  (1st ed.). Cognition, Object Formation, Speech Perception, Time Perception, Visual Attention, Visual Information Processing, Visual Memory. (2009).  Perception & Psychophysics,  71(1), 3-4. https://dx.doi.org/10.3758/app.71.1.3 Dark, V. (2009). Switching between memory and perception: Moving attention or memory retrieval?.  Memory & Cognition,  18(2), 119-127. https://dx.doi.org/10.3758/bf03197088 Dick, A. (2014). Iconic memory and its relation to perceptual processing and other memory mechanisms.  Perception & Psychophysics,  16(3), 575-596. https://dx.doi.org/10.3758/bf03198590 Malim, T. (2011).  Cognitive processes  (1st ed.). London: Macmillan.

Masters Level Education for Nurses Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Masters Level Education for Nurses - Essay Example Studies show that errors may very well not have anything to do with the competence of staff but with the complexity of the systems that have evolved. This paper will discuss this healthcare system and how the Masters prepared nurse fits into it as well as that of the Masters prepared nurse with a specialty in Education. Strong partnerships are needed to advance the profession of nursing and to address the myriad of challenges that will be faced in the near future. These partnerships have the promise of making the kinds of changes that could be lasting and advance the nursing profession in such a way as to put nursing at the forefront of addressing the present dysfunctions in the system. After all who better to address those dysfunctions than nursing who is the caring advocate of the patient and system.(Lukosium, DiCenso, Brown 2004). There is not single definition but this writer would expect to be a part of extending the traditional scope of nursing in a highly autonomous practice, which maximizes the use of nursing knowledge and contributes to the development of the profession. Those things ca occur through the professional activities that include evaluating nursing interventions, enhancing the nursing role in the new models of care delivery, research education, and facilitating change in healthcare policies and practices. There is an expectation to be able to use innovation in this advancement which cannot occur without the education that a Masters degree provides. The Masters further provides this writer with the ability to achieve an integration of that knowledge in such a way as to include clinical practice, education, research, professional development, and organizational leadership. Masters Nurses are definitely leaders in their profession. "Today's assignment: Find more nurse educators." (Tressman, 2009). The battle cry for staff nurses has only quieted for a short time, quieted by the economy at this time. Soon it will begin again. It is far from over. How do we fill those nursing position when we do not have educators. The average age of a doctorally prepared full professor is 59 years old, 56 for associate professors and 52 for assistant professors (Tressman, 2009). Most nurse faculty retire at 63 therefore the pool of professors will be very much decreased very shortly. More than 50,000 qualified ap0plicants were turned away from baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs in 2008 in a large part because of insufficient numbers of nurse faculty. Most of the major Colleges of Nursing have faculty positions that they are searching at this time. There are many other drawbacks including pay and benefits. However, nursing program deans firmly believe that the benefits of being a nurse educator far outweigh the drawbacks. Two of the reasons that most faculty give for the importance of their job are that they are involved in influencing the next generation of nurses and the they have the ability to create new knowledge through research that benefits nurses and patients. These are the very reasons why this writer would want a specialty in Education. If one has a passion for nursing, one has a passion

Project Management Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Project Management - Case Study Example The firm sold industry equipment through personal contacts and personal relationships of the top end staff. When the CRM system was decided to be licensed, there were huge arguments about its necessity since such a system would not be suited for selling industry equipment. However the decision was made by the high-ups and the license was bought. The implementation of this system was not as successful as was expected because there was no alignment between the business objectives and the technological objectives. The results the top-end of the management wanted to achieve could only be achieved up to 50% and the huge investment became a waste. If a more customized and industry usable system had been purchased like a Supply Chain System or an Enterprise Resource Plan, then the results would have been much better. (Jessup & Valacich, 2007) The project aimed at involving the industry clients to communicate through the CRM system with the organization telling them about the quantity they want to purchase, any customizations they require and the time of delivery etc. Orders from the clients came in bulk and were quite infrequent. Managing these orders had been easy in the past and it was being manually without any problems. Since no boom in the industry was expected, this project was also considered as not being able to utilize its full potential. The problem in this case was the poor judgment of the scenario at hand by the top management. They wanted to automate the ordering and delivery systems however the technological side of the CRM could do much more than automating these two functions. The Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 was also able to maximize the marketing capabilities of the organization. In this case, marketing wasn't the objective and no one had ever thought about marketing the industry equipment into a brand name. The company had never put up nay ads and didn't even have a marketing department. (Microsoft, 2008) The CRM 3.0 also helps to improve the customer relationships with the clients. The company got business from personal contacts and generating goodwill and relationships wasn't really a problem. Therefore this objective from the technology side of the new system was also negated. (Microsoft, 2008) Lastly the CRM system empowered the users for the entire sales cycles. In some sense this was the only objective the organization wanted to achieve from the new system. However this module was also sparingly used by the organization due to infrequent orders. (Microsoft, 2008) The project should have been aligned with the objectives the organization was trying to achieve only then the IT team should have been involved to give ideas to suggest a solution for the problem at hand. In this case the IT department would most probably have suggested that the current business model of manual work was best until more business was acquired. The problem that we see here is not with the implementation of the project, rather with the thinking of the high-end managers. (Morgan, 2002) According to Livingston (2004), one of the drivers for mismanagement and misalignment of organizational goals to technological goals is the varying view of business executives on the role or affects that IT integration could have on their companies. In this case the executives were thinking that profound results would be

China's economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

China's economy - Essay Example When per capita income is measured in terms of purchasing power, it has gone up by three times – as per the International Monetary Fund, from $2800 in 2002 to almost $9100 in 2012. That is certainly a commendable achievement by any standard! China is now no more a poor country but is placed in the middle-income bracket. China became a member of World Trade Organization in 2001 and that gave a big boost to Chinese exports. Chinese exports grew by average 30% between 2002 and 2007 making it the worlds largest exporter then. In exports, China holds 10% of the global market. Real estate contributed significantly in the GDP growth after 1998 when the establishment opened the market. Between 2002 and 2010, real estate of China registered average growth of 17%. That has now gone down to almost 12 % due to controls enforced by the government. All said and done, the moot question is whether China will be able to maintain such spectacular growth in the years ahead. China is more poised to follow a well-known economic principle – the law of diminishing returns that with each unit of fixed investment, the marginal return declines meaning each fresh unit of capital will produce less output than the previous one. In other words, to maintain same growth, the country needs to invest higher and hiher capital each year. China is now integrated with the world economy. Post 2008 financial crisis, China is unable to push more exports to the developed world due to large scale unemployment that prevails with stagnating GDP numbers . Export growth rates for China will be declining in the years ahead compared to what has been registered in the first decade of new millenium. That leaves little scope for China to maintain 10% GDP growth in the years ahead. Chinas cost advantage in the world market is declining rapidly because its average wage rates have gone up four times since 2000. Moreover,

Analysis of policy document linked to school observation Essay

Analysis of policy document linked to school observation - Essay Example They have charts typically found in any pre-school classroom, although the titles have French translations. Unlike traditional classrooms, children were not given chairs and desks, instead they sit on the floor with no uniforms; the chairs and desks, however, are readily available in case they need those. The lecture and activity making are the most interesting parts. The teacher frequently instructs the children both in English and French, although she uses the latter most of the time. Children as young as 5 years old can already interact with their classmates with basic French words such as â€Å"comment allez-vous?† to mean â€Å"how are you?† The lesson for that day was nouns. The teacher had a huge chart full of big pictures of animals, places, celebrations, etc. Each picture is labeled with its English and French names. During the discussion, the children were so interactive and it seems to me that the teacher knows her pupils very well and knows how to handle

Privacy of an Employee in the Workplace Assignment

Privacy of an Employee in the Workplace - Assignment Example The recent recession has actually increased the power of the employers and the employees suffered a lot because of that. Legal and ethical rights of the employees have been violated heavily by the corporate management in order to exploit the employees. This paper briefly analyses law, ethics and corporate governance at a workplace. An employee can expect reasonable privacy only when he was engaged in a work which needs accuracy, thoroughness and logic. For example, consider an artist or designer who is trying to make a new design for a product. The interference of others might distract his focus and he may take more time to complete the design. Even though America has a well defined legal system, the laws related to privacy of the employees at workplace seems to be weak. Each state has different privacy laws and the standardization of privacy laws across the country seems to be a distant dream. Some employers try to exert control over the worker’s life outside of the working hours (Halbert and Ingulli, 2008, p.79). For example, some workers smoke during their lunch break. Most of the organizations provide at least one or two hours lunch break. Employees often make use of this break for smoking or some enjoyment purpose. But some employers even restrict such things at the workplace which is not a good ide a. Employees should have the luxury of privacy at least at the break times. According to New York laws, it is illegal to fire an employee for engaging in off-hours sports, games, hobbies, exercise, reading, movie or TV watching (Halbert and Ingulli, 2008, p.80). Some organizations rate certain employee activities as legal or illegal based on the place and occasion when the action has been performed. For example, some organizations allow their workers to smoke in private places during their off-hours whereas smoking inside an enclosed office might be restricted. The activities of an employee should not cause any damage to the co-workers.  Ã‚  

Technological Changes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Technological Changes - Essay Example In the next ten years, the impact of the internet technology is expected to influence companies especially in developing and emerging economies where its benefits still remains unharnessed. The internet technology is projected to facilitate more and more transactions online among business parties and even individual consumers (Kotler and Armstrong 2002). The snail mail will be eliminated and be replaced by electronic mails as more efficient means of communication. More purchases transaction between retailers and buyers will also be observed. Because of these improvements in the market which is facilitated by the increasing internet literacy, D Package Express will be handling less mails or smaller packages containing mails to customers and business. However, with more global purchases facilitated by the internet technology, mail packaging and supplies will be used in order to ship packages globally. As customers constantly seek products through online transaction, they connect with more suppliers which can provide them with more valuable products. As emerging countries will also shop online, D Package Express will also be given the chance to expand its horizons with the possibility of opening up new outlets in these locations in the future.

Theater Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Theater - Essay Example This paper will also examine how the role played by design elements in theatre has changed in the last 200 years. The various design elements in theatre play the overall role of creating feel desired by the designer. Lighting helps to enable the scenic influence to be highlighted. Without lighting it becomes virtually impossible for the audience to experience the intended scene. Costumes, another essential element of design in theatre, have had their function revised over time. Until the nineteenth century, little attention was paid to costumes. Since then, however, costumes have been given increasing prominence in theatrical performance. The fabric, design, origin, texture, cut, and weight of the costume are all well considered ensuring that the recreation of the era in question is done to perfection (Sheryl and Sianghio). Over the last 200 years, the elements incorporated in designing theatre have changed immensely. Today, new theatres have designs that are flexible and eclectic. Themes from different time spans are incorporated to produce different scenes that promote the delivery of the message. In the renaissance period, for instance, architectural features were relied upon to provide desired scenic elements. Today, however, scenes for theatre are specifically built, and painting is used in order to suit the intended scene. Until renaissance, most performances were carried out outdoors, so lighting was majorly done by the sun. When need arose for alternative means of lighting, oil lamps and candles were used. In the nineteenth century, however, modes of lighting started to change as gas lamps were introduced. Today, floodlights, and spotlights are used (Sheryl and

High School and Social Support Essay Example for Free

High School and Social Support Essay The purpose of the study was to determine possible differences in leadership behaviors, using the Revised Leadership for Sport Scale (RLSS), between male and female coaches and among different coaching levels. The researchers submitted two hypotheses. The first hypothesis was that male and female coaches would respond differently to the RLSS in overall leadership behaviors. The second hypothesis was that differences on the RLSS would occur among coaching levels: junior high, high school, and college. The sample was nonrandom, including 162 coaches that were chosen on a volunteer  basis. Within the sample, 118 (0. 73) of the coaches were male, while 44 (0. 27) were female. With regard to coaching level, 25 (0. 15) were junior high coaches, 99 (0. 61) high school, and 38 (0. 24) at the college level. While this is a good sample size, the problem lies with the distribution of the sample. The sample number for junior high coaches, in particular, is rather low. A larger sample with regard to all categories would have aided in the data analysis, particularly when looking for possible interactions between gender and coaching level. The instrument utilized was the Revised Leadership for Sport Scale (RLSS) developed by Zhang, Jensen, and Mann in 1996. This scale is used to measure six leadership behaviors: training and instruction, democratic, autocratic, social support, positive feedback, and situational consideration. The scale uses 60 statements, which were preceded by â€Å"In coaching, I:† A Likert scale was then given for each statement: 1 = never; 2 = seldom; 3 = occasionally; 4 = often; and 5 = always. This produced an ordinal level data set. Scales were administered in a number of environmental settings: classrooms, gymnasiums, practice  fields, and offices. The internal consistency for each section was calculated: 0. 84 for training and instruction; 0. 66 for democratic; 0. 70 for autocratic; 0. 52 for social support; 0. 78 for positive feedback; and 0. 69 for situational consideration. There was no information, however, regarding the validity of the RLSS. A MANOVA was used to analyze the data for differences between male and female coaches with regard to leadership behaviors. This is not consistent with the type of data collected. The RLSS used a Likert scale (ordinal), yet a MANOVA would be most  applicable for normally distributed, quantitative data. The analysis showed there were no significant differences between male and female coaches in overall leadership behaviors. When the six leadership styles were examined separately, there was a significant difference in social support between males and females. In general, females scored much higher than did the male coaches. A MANOVA was also used to examine the data for differences between the three levels of coaching (junior high, high school, and college) with regard to leadership behavior in general. There were significant differences between the three levels. When breaking down the six behaviors and examining them individually, an ANOVA was used to analyze the data. Again, because the data for the RLSS is ordinal, an ANOVA is not the best analysis tool. The three coaching levels scored differently on three of the six behaviors: democratic behaviors, training and instruction, and social support. High school coaches scored much higher than college level coaches in democratic behavior. Junior high coaches were significantly lower in training and instruction than either high school or college coaches. Junior high coaches also demonstrated a lesser degree of social support than either the high school or college coaches. A MANOVA was again used to analyze the data for any interaction between gender and coaching level with regard to overall leadership behavior. Once again, a better analysis method could have been chosen based on the nature of the data collected. The results indicated no significant interactions. The ecological generaliziability for the study is fairly high. The surveys were mailed out, and returned on a volunteer basis. However, due to the nonrandom nature of the sample, the results would not generalizable beyond the 162 participants in the study. There was no effect size is listed for the study. In order to reduce threats to internal validity, the participants were asked to respond honestly and confidentiality was stressed so that the â€Å"coaches might feel more at ease in responding. † No other efforts were indicated. The researchers mention that the scales were given in a variety of settings. This could present a threat to the internal validity in that participants might not have been entirely focused on completing the scale, but instead on coordinating practice, completing  paperwork, etc. There are a number of other factors that could effect the internal validity of the study, yet were not addressed by the researchers. Coaching experience would greatly effect the responses of the participants, yet this was not considered in the study. The gender of the athletes may be a contributing factor to the coaches’ responses. It is not unreasonable to suppose that coaches of female athletes, particularly at the junior high and high school levels, will demonstrate more social support than those of male athletes. The nature of the  sport could also be critical. Certain coaching styles are more applicable for individual sports (wrestling, track, and tennis) than for team sports (football, soccer, and basketball). The socioeconomics and population of the school itself could play a factor. Certain schools have better athletes and programs in a particular sport, while others may not be able to field a winning team. In addition, at the high school level, coaches are occasionally asked/forced to work with a program they have no knowledge of or desire to coach due to staffing  shortages. This could dramatically influence a coach’s response to the scale questions. The history of the program as well as the individual coach’s personal coaching history could greatly influence responses. If the program has had several losing seasons in a row, perhaps the attitude of the coach could be different than that of a coach who has recently won a state title. An additional set of questions regarding the personal history of the coach in question could have helped reduce many of these threats. With additional information, the  researchers may have been able to use a modified matching system when analyzing the results. By increasing the number of independent variables to include things such as coaching experience and gender of the athletes, the researchers could have reduced some of the potential threats to internal validity. In addition, bringing coaches together to a common setting could have reduced location threat. Coaches meet seasonally for clinics. Perhaps obtaining permission to administer the survey during these meetings would have been possible. It would have also been possible to actually go to individual  schools and meet with the coaches as a group to administer surveys. This method would have given a good cross-section of gender and coaching experience for a variety of sports. While the study has merit, the methods need to be re-evaluated. The power of the study needs to be increased by obtaining a larger sample size. The numerous potential threats to internal validity need to be addressed and minimized where possible. It would also be helpful to be given data regarding the validity of the RLSS. Without these, it is impossible to evaluate the potential meaningfulness of this study.

Toray Textiles in to Mansfield Essay Example for Free

Toray Textiles in to Mansfield Essay Case Study of * What is Toray? * Why Mansfield? * How does it benefit local community? * The multiplier effect. * Factors involving the choice of a work site Toray Textiles Key facts : * Established in Japan in 1926. * Owns over 60 branch plants Asia, North America, Europe, making company name recognised worldwide. * Plants include: Italian artificial suede manufacturer, French carbon fibre manufacturer. * Sales offices located in Milan and Frankfurt. Why Britain? * Close link with Marks Spencer provides a good product outlet and can supply new designs at short notice. * Turnover expected to be over 80 million pounds from new plant in Mansfield. * Japan has become too expensive as a manufacturing base for a product so technically unadvanced. * E.C. rules state that, unless 60% of any product is made in E.C. by E.C. registered employees, then the product is subject to import duty in the form of money or commission, or by limiting the amount of the product sold (tariffs/quotas). * Productivity higher than in Japan and U.S.A. * Automation higher than in Japan and U.S.A. * Less training required. * High unemployment rates. * Longer working week. * No minimum wage or legal paid holiday. Why Mansfield? * Mainline inter-city rail link to London and Birmingham making big cities more accessible products can be sent for sale more easily. * Accessible to the M1 and U.K motorway networks access to buyers and channel ports easier imports and exports. * High unemployment not only will vacancies be filled but there is competition workers could accept lower wages. * Nottingham is nearby worldwide reputation for textiles. * High water table in area vast quantities required for bleaching and dyeing. * Unemployed miners well qualified in safety practices an area upon which Toray places great importance. * Potential to set up and expand onto a green field site lower costs. How does it benefit local community? * Low unemployment. * Higher prestige for area more publicity. * Tourism created by publicity brings in money etc. * Helps relieve pressures on council after large numbers of redundancies from the flop in the mining trade. How does it benefit the U.K.? * Net benefit of 50 million pounds to U.K balance of trade. * Has seen a revival in textile manufacturing. * Has prevented the need to import fabric from abroad. Multiplier effect: * New employees have more money to spend, creating work in tertiary employment i.e. services, shops, tourism, banking, housing and education. * If Toray is successful, other companies may be encouraged to locate in the area. Factors involving the choice of a work site: * Accessablity to a good infrastructure. * Opportunity to set up on a greenfield site. less cost and the opportunity to expand. * Level of unemployment competition for vacancies * Prejudices for/against a particular area, for example the North/South divide in certain areas * Tradition of use of technology. * Political situation a particularly shaky situation may cause people to boycott i.e. South Africa in 1970s and 80s

Starbucks Is The Leading Retailer And Roaster Marketing Essay

Starbucks Is The Leading Retailer And Roaster Marketing Essay My assignment strives to outline the marketing strategic approaches to be undertaken for the next year by the Starbucks is the leading retailer and roaster for brand specialty coffee in the world. It has over7,500 stores located worldwide. As Starbucks continues to expand, it will encounter all sorts of new product markets, with new and demanding customers for unique and appealing products. Entering this new market, Starbucks will face many challenges to compete and to retain brand recognition of its primary products, yet increases awareness of its new product line. Situational analysis Company As Mathew Carmean and his fellows (Sewer, Andy,January 26, 2004 p.70) tell us: Starbucks is the leading retailer for roaster and brand specialty coffee in the world. It has over 7,500 stores, which are located in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia and the MiddleEast. Besides high quality coffee drinks, Starbucks sells bottled coffee drinks, such as Frappuccino andStarbucks DoubleShot. [ibis]Starbucks revenue is growing by 20% a year and is opening approximately three stores every day.Starbucks is capable of managing its successful operations by having steady market growth. It achievedthis by financing through their cash flow instead of franchising, selling stock or increasing their financialleverage). Its strategy to success is blanket an area completely. This approach is to cuts down ondelivery and management costs, shortens customer lines at individual stores, and increases foot traffic forall the stores in an area, that gives Starbucks a competitive advantage. Customer At first only professionals and educators went to Starbucks, but now it attracts a much wider demographic of customersincluding people of different ethnic backgrounds and ages. Today, Starbucks has the striking number of 25million visitors in its stores each week. This success is due to the combination of high quality drinksand friendly environment with good music, comfortable chairs, and good services. This creates theStarbucks experience which customers can relate to that lead to brand loyalty. In addition, Starbucksneeds to deal with customers cultural preferences in all its worldwide locations to maintain customers loyalty. Competitors To ensure further market growth and be competitive, Starbucks is developing new products for non-coffee drinkers. Starbucks provides its current customers and attracts new customers not only with quality products but also with varieties flavors that customers desire. Starbucks two largest competitors are Dunkin Donuts and Krispy Kreme, both are national chains. These companies use aggressive price-cutting, up to 20%, for their drinks. Other competitors are small local coffeehouses, and other coffee brands like Tullys and Petes Coffee. Their direct competitors for the new product line are Orange Julius, Jamba Juice, fast food chains such as McDonalds and Burger King, and other small coffee alternative providers. Complementors Starbucks has teamed up with Bank One to offer the Starbucks Card Duetto Visa. This is a stored-value card and traditional credit card. Starbucks has also introduced a T-Mobile Hotspot service which allows the Starbucks customer to have access to wireless internet for a fee.  Offering more services like the Visa card, wireless internet and customized CD will add more value to the Starbucks experience and help draw more customers to Starbucks which will lead to higher revenues. Managerial Problem Starbucks strategic goal is to increase market share of the non-coffee drinker; they have begun byintroducing an extension of a product line targeted to this segment. To ensure market growth, Starbuckshas repositioned one of its current products, the Frappuccino line, this product has been extended toinclude 3 new flavors; Double Chocolate Chip Crà ¨me, Vanilla Bean Crà ¨me, and Strawberries Crà ¨me,introduced throughout the summer months. Faced with the challenge of entering a new competitivemarket Starbucks must compete to retain brand recognition of its primary products, yet increaseawareness of its new product line by expanding the retail stores in the international markets. SWOT analysis  will help emphasize exactly what Starbucks is doing right or wrong. It will provide us an insight on what the company is good at, and in what areas Starbucks could use assistance. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) are described below: Starbucks SWOT Analysis Strengths It is a global coffee brand built upon a reputation for fine products and services. It has almost 17,000 stores in 49 countries.   The organization has strong ethical values, commitment to the environment, and community activists. Weaknesses The organization has a strong presence in the United States of America with more than three quarters of its cafes located in the domestic market. In order to reduce business risk, expansion is needed. Starbucks has a reputation for new product development and creativity. However, they remain vulnerable to the possibility that their innovation may falter over time, and product acceptance will come to a halt eventually slowing growth. Opportunities The company has the opportunity to expand its global operations. New markets for coffee such as India and the Pacific Rim nations are beginning to emerge. Co-branding with other manufacturers of food and drink, and brand franchising to manufacturers of other goods and services both have potential. Threats Starbucks success has led to the market entry of many competitors and copycat brands that could pose potential threats. How they combat these threats will determine their future. Starbucks is exposed to rises in the cost of coffee and dairy products. Starbucks is a large company with a competitive advantage that is shrinking because of its huge success. This is because Starbucks model has been copied successfully by its competitors and this poses a serious threat to the company. If Starbucks cannot retain its differentiator strategy, it is doomed to fall out of popularity, as it would end up being a store that is selling nothing more than a cup of coffee.   With majority of its stores concentrated in United States, Starbucks is also limiting its growth and exposing itself to risk. Any negative changes in the domestic market could severely hurt Starbucks viability as a firm. If Starbucks can retain its strengths and build on opportunities, while suppressing weaknesses and extinguishing threats, it will be able to grow throughout the world market. The SWOT analysis also gives a starting point for a discussion on what Starbucks can do to reduce its weaknesses. Due to its large size, Starbucks sets trends for the industry that can be backed up by the volume of their delivery. Exactly how long Starbucks can dominate the market depends on Starbucks itself. Starbucks has a large number of stores for coffee outlets, all of which are owned outright by the corporation and no franchisees. Minimal revenue requirements have been placed on each store, and those that fall short are closed. The company closed down over 600 stores that fell short of its revenue requirements (Fiscal 2008 Annual Report). The large number of stores is a huge asset or a liability, depending on how one assesses the situation. If there is a strong economy and people have disposable income, then there is a benefit on having so many stores to generate revenues. On the other hand, during economic downturns, the vast number of stores will become a huge financial liabi lity. By consistently enforcing revenue requirements for each store, Starbucks will able to maintain or increase its same store sales, and while at the same reducing one of the weaknesses of being so large. The company has managed to maintain the competitive advantage because it has offered conveniences and an atmosphere customers can enjoy. As long as Starbucks fulfills its customers wants and needs, Starbucks will continue to be a leading force in the market. Starbucks should continue to create more value at its stores. Starbucks has created a perception that it is focused not just on profits, but also on societal agendas. The companys stores have become a medium for people and communities to come together and promote a better place to live in an environmentally conscious society. Starbucks found a niche market where it identified what makes its customers happy, and has delivered it to them. Continuing to accomplish this will allow Starbucks to maintain its competitive advantage for years to come. Marketing Vision and Mission statement of Starbucks Mission Statement of Starbucks To inspire and nurture the human spirit one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time. Vision of Starbucks   Establish Starbucks as the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world while maintaining our uncompromising principles while we grow. Marketing Objectives of Starbucks To create a Starbucks experience that makes people come for the coffee, stay for the ambience and environment, and return for the connection. To build an image separate from smaller coffee chains. To clearly communicate the values and commitments of the Starbucks business to their customers, instead of only growth plans publicized in the media. Marketing strategies Implemented by Starbucks Growth Strategy This well-known marketing tool was first published in the Harvard Business Review (1957) in an article called Strategies for Diversification. It is used by marketers who have objectives for growth. Ansoffs matrix offers strategic choices to achieve the objectives. There are four main categories for selection. Ansoffs Product/Market Matrix Market Penetration With this approach, Starbucks will try to sell more of the same product to the same customers at a competitive price. Here itwilladvertise, introduce a loyalty scheme, launch special promotions, to encourage more people within the existing market to choose its products, or to use more of it. By working toward this goal, Starbucks wants to open new stores in both new andexisting markets, expand their product development process, and cater to customersneeds to eventually improve their financial position and dominate market share. Market Development With this approach, Starbucks will target new markets or new areas of the market. It will try to sell more of the sameproducts to different people. However,we will target different geographical markets at home, use different sales channels, such as online or direct sales if weare currently selling through the trade, target different groups of people, perhaps different age groups, genders or demographic profiles from our normal customers. Product Development With this approach, we will sell more things to the same people with new products. Here we will extend our products by producing different variants, or packaging existing products in new ways. Starbucks can apply the following product development strategy Fresh and rich brewed Italian espresso Offers pastries and other appetizing confections Sells coffee-related accessories (mugs, coffee makers, cups, espresso, etc.) Expanded sales into supermarkets of whole bean coffee Introduction the widely popular drink, Frappuccino, to the public Strives for satisfied customers and a welcoming environment Works to have highest standards of excellence in way of business Offers newspapers and other reading material, popular music, and Internetaccess Ansoffs matrix is one of the most well know frameworks for deciding upon strategies for growth. CompetitiveStrategy Porter five forces Generic strategies were used initially in the early 1980s, and seem to be even more popular today. They outline the three main strategic options open to organization that wish to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. Each of the three options are considered within the context of two aspects of the competitive environment: Sources of competitive advantage   are the products differentiated in any way, or are they the lowest cost producer in an industry?  Competitive scope of the market   does the company target a wide market, or does it focus on a very narrow, niche market? Michael Porters Analysis of Starbucks Michael Porter, a Harvard Professor introduces his ideology of the Five Forces model that shapes the competition in the industry.    Each force is interrelated and therefore leads into the other to show the elements directly involved in the further success or ultimate success of the firm.   Ã‚   Starbucks Coffee Company, throughout its existence since 1971, with its great management team, innovative style of thinking and strong will to succeed in compliance with its mission and vision statements has and continues to overcome its barriers by recognizing such strategic planning as those included in Porters five forces model. The model includes such components as Barriers to Entry, Supplier and Buyer Power, Threat of Substitutions, and most importantly the Industry Competitors. Starbucks throughout its existence has addressed each and every one of Porters forces with a positive edge that has greatly contributed to the success of the company. Starbucks took manyrisks and spent capital that it really did not have.    To build a corporation based on intuition and a trip to Italy has undoubtedly paid off in the long run which is evident throughout the year that Starbucks has been in operation.    Howard Schultz, CEO and founder of the company, has stuck to his conviction not to sacrifice long-term integrity and values for short-term profit.    He knew if he played his cards right and stuck to his guns it would only be a matter of time that Starbucks would become the world largest coffee industry in the world.    He wanted the company to become and international outlet for coffee consumers which not only included men and woman but also addresses the needs and wants of those of all ages and nationalities, children, students and any other category of people that have and interest in Starbucks diverse product line. With constant dedication to the companys vision and mission statement and believing in the value of market share and name recognition and how critical they are to the success. (http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Michael-Porters-Analysis-Starbucks/33231) Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning Segmentation One dimension of segmentation will be demographics (age and household status). Starbucks have to selected married couples age 23 50 with children to be our primary target market. According to the research, it is found that these households spend more than other households on non-alcoholic beverages away from home. The Company will evaluate each segment based upon potential business success. Opportunities will depend upon factors such as: the potential growth of the segment the state of competitive rivalry within the segment how much profit the segment will deliver how big the segment is how the segment fits with the current direction of the company and its vision. Starbucks does not have any special segments or we can say that it is not focusing on a specifically group rather than company is focusing on the people who want to relax themselves by a taking a cup of coffee and company is providing them the environment that the customers want. Targeting As the Starbucks is extremely careful ineach step of coffee making, it is trying to maintain a long-standing relationship with its customers and similarly they do not have any real competition threats.Starbucks is will target office workers, with middle to high incomes, who have a desire topurchase premium products.While evaluating the consumer market the conclusion is that the ideal consumers economic profile will beUpper Middle Class, Privileged Class, While the age demographics will be Students and Youngsters, Professionals, Families, and Mature Consumers. Gender and Ethnic or Religious Background is researched to have minimal or no effecton the choices concerning coffee. Positioning Positioning is undoubtedly one of the simplest and most useful tools to marketers. After segmenting a market and then targeting a consumer, you would proceed to position a product within that market. Remember this important point. Positioning is all about perception. As perception differs from person to person, so do the results of the positioning map e.g what you perceive as quality, value for money, etc., and is different to my perception. However, there will be similarities. This is the main strength of this tool. Marketers decide upon a competitive position which enables them to distinguish their own products from the offerings of their competition (hence the term  positioning strategy). Store Ambience Goal: To make customers want to linger Social Appeal-Offer a sense of community, a place where peoplecan come together. Physical layout Seating areas to encourage lounging Appear upscale yet inviting Aromas Smoking is banned in all stores Employees are asked to refrain from wearing perfumes orcolognes, and prepared foods are kept covered socustomers would only smell coffee aromas. Sounds Play soothing CDs that are also for sale Often offer live music Customer Service The company sees a direct link between customer satisfaction andcustomer loyalty. The company believes that employee satisfaction leads to customersatisfaction (Moon). MARKETING MIX Product Starbucks should try to position themselves as a premium product in the coffee industry in Asia bycreating a high standard, introducing innovative products and providing excellent service.They should open new retail stores in the downtown area and also try to maintain the quality control of the coffee beans throughout Asia.  Consumers can enjoy theexperience; they encounter at Starbucks, and now for those who seek a high quality non-coffee drink canenjoy the same experience. By introducing these new summer drinks, Starbucks will enjoy an entirelynew segment to market its products in Asia. When looking at the sales revenues for the summer drinks it isimportant to consider that some of the existing customers will inevitably cross over and begin consumingthe new drinks. In the end, the expansion of the product line is a wise decision because of the ease ofadoption to Starbucks reputation for quality as well as the low cost of implementation. Price Price and quality determines the value of the product. Therefore, Starbucks have to base their price strategy on the competition of quality.It alwaystries to deliver the high value promised to the consumers. They have to buy the quality beans,give effective and efficient training to staffs, and moreover, make an atmosphere to enjoycoffee. These all justify theirpricing and show how price supported their positioning. Place Distribution channels links the organizations product or service to its consumers; andin a producer-consumer (direct supply) channel, as in the case of Starbucks, maintaining apersonnel relationship with the customers is significant (BrassingtonPettitt, 2000). However, from a distribution point of view Starbucks has an advantage by sticking on to itswinning store location formula for its new stores (refer case study). Starbucks always selectedhighly visible locations and opened stores as clusters. As demandwill grow, as these store clustersmake them able to manage the increased traffic and to keep their competitive position.In thesame way, they can take care about the services provided in the stores. Starbucks invested heavily in training their staffs and did innovativetactics to manage their human capital. Thus they differentiated themselves in the market byconstantly providing higher quality services Promotion One advantage that may set Starbucks apart is the having a solid online marketing program. It should hire qualified online marketing managers to oversee its websites functions and appeal so that consumers to patronize the site will see all the humanitarian work Starbucks is doing and use it as a competitive edge to retain customers and curb product substitution. A search engine optimization campaign should be launched to ensure that anyone searching for terms related to the services Starbucks offers finds the Starbucks website and spends a significant amount of time there. Blogs and forums discussing the humanitarian work of the company may be added to increase consumer awareness of the companys activities. Artworks can be designed to boasteach citys personality, and it is used on traveler mugs and T-shirts, recruitlocal ambassadors from new partners and from customers to promote their brand.The Company is not using advertising but they can use those funds for acquiring key locations and establish a national dominance before others about specialty coffee bars. Relationship Marketing Starbucks Relationship Marketing activities can be done in two common ways like internally and externally. For example, internally, relationships are enhanced by introducing a cooperative and goal oriented organizational structure with effective control systems, retaining competent management, employing effective operational processes and international expansion strategies. Employees are   referred to as partners with both part and full time staff treated equally by offering both stock options and full medical coverage. Externally, Starbucks core strategy should be centered on building lasting customer relationships through trust and commitment with its stakeholders (Refer case study). After analyzing the information about what media the target audience prefers, we should come up with the following: newspapers, internet, outdoor, magazines and radio. Two certain types of magazines are mostly used. Those are womens interest and news and entertainment weeklies. Some of the specific vehicles for magazines will be Better Homes and Garden, People and National Geographic. As for newspapers, it should be locally distributed carriers that run the Parade supplement. The internet usage varied across a wide variety of content. Therefore, a key word association will be the most local choice to select their certain interests as well as the name Starbucks itself. Radio is also another that will have to change as far as format is concerned. This will vary depending on the market the radio is in. They do share common listening times. These times are from 10am to 3pm, Monday through Friday, and 3pm to 7pm on the weekends. Outdoor being another selection of media to reach our target audience it is a way of being in the community as they transit from one place to another. The location of this will be selected based upon spot market rating for the most showings in the specific areas. FUTURE PROMOTION AND EXPANSION PLANS: Starbuckswill be launching more branches all over Asia after developing an evenfirmer hold on the local western markets. The expansion will be planned for the nextyear that is 2011. The next targets should be India, Srilanka, Pakistan, and in cities of China.For that purpose again the launch will not be very extravagant, but the alreadyestablished repute in the metropolitan of western and the attachment of TV programsand stars will do the required marketing. Ads will be published in the leadingnewspapers and some bill board advertising should also be done. But overall it will below key marketing activity.Allocated budgetshould be kept in mind while launching the product in the Asia. Conclusion As stated earlier, Starbucks historically positioned itself as an upscale brand. Due to the economic downturn and increased competition from large quick-service restaurant chains and specialty retailers, the company sees its profits being eroded. The company introduced new products that would appeal to price-skittish customers and implemented techniques that would standardize its stores and reduce costs. The new strategy carries with it its own risks. Since Starbucks enjoyed such a rapid growth in its business, the company can expands its stores anywhere in the globe where there is a more profitability. It means that Starbucks stores are as readily available as McDonalds and as such the Starbucks experience the company asserts it provides, might be seen as no different than the experience of McDonalds. As in the case of appealing to mass market with bottomless coffee, Starbuckss core customer might move to other stores where they perceive the experience is still being provided. If Starbucks continues to increase its storeswhile measuring and implementing of its various cost cutting initiatives, Starbucks is likely to see increased profitability. The company is also introducing 100 new stores in US, and 200 new stores in International markets, which might positively affect the company provided they are successful. Aggressive adoption of no-frills products to bring in new customers could also affect Starbuckss profitability. Until now, any increase in commodity prices are more or less offset by companys high prices, but a no-frills products would put downward pressure on companys profitability, and possibly even damage Starbucks image as an upscale brand. Biblograhy 1) Mathew Carmean, Julie Anstett, Julia Toochette, Joel Ennis, Joey Eaton, Trang P. Huynh ,: 2003 The Starbucks: The Non-Coffee Treat 2) KatieTewell, Bethany Odom, Kelly Snider, December 12, 2006, Starbucks Marketing Plan 3)www.Marketingteacher.com 4)http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Michael-Porters-Analysis-Starbucks/33231

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Depression is defined as being in a state of sadness or unhappiness. Doctors do not know the exact causes of depression, but they believe it’s chemical changes in the brain. All ages, races, and ethnic groups can experience depression. Most people who do experience it need treatment to get better. Many famous women have also battled with depression. Actress Ashley Judd, model Paulina Porizkova, Actress Catherine Zeta-Jones, singer and actress Gwyneth Paltrow, and singer and actress Demi Lovato. Demi Lovato had an eating disorder at the age of eight and started cutting at the age of eleven. She was bullied for being ‘fat’ so she used to overeat to cope, which turned into a lifelong struggle with food. In 2010 she had an altercation with one of her background dancers and decided to leave the Jonas Brothers Tour. After that, she decided to check into a mental facility. Today, she still battles with depression, her eating disorder, and alcohol abuse but is learning to get better. Depression is not overrated and should be taken seriously as a mental illness. Depression is most common in women. The rates are twice as high as they are in men. According to the National Mental Health Association, about one in every eight women will develop depression at some point during her lifetime. Women’s symptoms are similar to major depression. Some of them include being in a depressed mood, loss of interest in activities you used to like, feelings of guilt and hopelessness, and suicidal thoughts or recurrent thought of death. Women tend to blame themselves, feel anxious and scared, and avoid conflicts at all costs. They also use food, friends, and love to self-medicate. Some causes of depression in women are premenstrual problems, pregnancy and inf... ...ock therapy. Treatment for depression includes medicine, psychotherapy, and electroconvulsive therapy. If someone is thinking about suicide or is very depressed and cannot function, they need to be admitted into a hospital. Antidepressants are medicines used to treat depression. They help bring the chemicals in the brain to the normal level and relieve syndromes. If the patient feels as though the medication isn’t working, their doctor should be called. However, if you feel so, you shouldn’t change them on your own without the permission of the doctor. Psychotherapy is to help you understand why you’re feeling the way you are. Depression is a real mental illness and you can tell by all the things these people go through during it. A lot of people have to experience this in their lives. Depression is not overrated and should be taken seriously as a mental illness. â€Æ'

Gangs Essay -- Gang Essays

Gangs Since the beginning of the decade, teenage homicides increased by one hundred and fifty percent (Strout, Brian 1996). This sharp increase is largely due to the rapid formation of gang activity throughout the United States (Strout, Brian, 1996). In today's larger cities, gang violence is a reality that people have to deal with every day. As gang related crimes increase, officials are trying to find out why people join and remain loyal to gangs. Unfortunately, experts can only hypothesize explanations for gang involvement. However, by studying societys influence on humans, there is evidence to blame several forces. These speculations include the forces of peer pressure, broken families, gang loyalty, protection, and the media. First of all, most teens become attracted to gangs by peer pressure and greed. Estimamates show that forty percent of all gang members joined because their friends influenced them (Solution for a new year 1996). Teen gangsters will pressure peers into becoming part of a gang by making it sound glamorous. Recruiters will often promise popularity in exchange for their loyalty. Although most gang members find popularity, it often means losing close friends to rival gangs. Another crucial factor is the need for money. A 6 year old kid, who is not yet a member, receives impressions that he or she could make $200 to $400 for a small gang job. In August of 1996, an eleven year old Compton child received $400 for killing a rival classmate (Wesbrach, 1996). Although money and popularity are important factors, they are not strong enough to persuade kids to do things that are strongly against their morals. Other stronger force such as broken families and the media, along with peer pressure, works together to persuade young kids to join a gang. Second of all, the formation of gangs in cities, and most recently in suburbs, is facilitated by the lack of community upbringing among parents. In a fully developed community, a network of relations can be found among several parents. The relationship could be a parent, teacher, and minister, depending on the child's circumstances. In South Central Los Angeles, this communication can not be found, so students turn to gangs for companionship. In a classroom with no security, students could be distracted from learning, and thus distraced from the network. Furthermore, in poor families with many child... ... a stronger propensity to becoming a violent gang member or 'violent-acceptant' person. So, as anyone can see, if TV leads a child to believe that violence is the norm this will manifest itself in the actions of a child in a gang situation. This is especially the case when parents do not spend much time with their kids explaining what is right and what is wrong in front of a TV. Quite often newer books and some types of music will enforce this type of thought and ideas. In order to curve violence, the system must change. So, as stated, gangs are a product of the environment the world has created for ourselves. Some of these factors include peer pressure, broken families, gang loyalty, protection, and the media. There seems to be no way to end the problem of gangs without totally restructuring the modern media and value system. Since the chance of this happening is minimal, we must learn to cope with gangs and try to keep their following to a minimum. Unfortunately, there is no organized force to effectively help fight gangs. As a community, people must bond, talk to children, enforce positive peer pressure, and censor the media in order to prevent gang growth in America's cities.

Essay --

Lauren Park Prof. Stewart Ac Eng 139W 11/24/2013 Introduction The subject of abortion has had very highly contested debates over decades. In most platforms, there are numerous religious, legal, moral or social reasons floated against having an abortion. However, in the same platforms, the proponents of abortion outline various arguments to rest their point. Central to the opponents (pro-life activists) arguments against abortion is that abortion is an unethical. According to Naden (2007), they contend that personhood begins at conception. Therefore, abortion terminates a life an innocent human being. On the other hand, the proponents (pro-choice activists) argue that human life begins after birth, hence the claimed right to life for the fetus does not match the criteria. They also assert that abortion is a right that should not be limited by either government-based or non-governmental organizations since it has more weight than the right the right claimed for a fetus. In spite of abortion being advocated for in certain medical circumstance, the procedure is widely not acceptable in most societies due to the numerous negative side effects associated to it. Even though there are some incidences where abortion has been widely advocated, abortion is generally not acceptable due to the numerous negative aspects associated to it. According to Bailey (2012), abortion is a medical and legal process of terminating a pregnancy so that it does not result in the birth of a baby. The National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom points out that the procedure can either be through taking a prescribed medication or a surgical process (NHS, 2012). In the same context, NHS distinguishes abortion from a miscarriage in the sense that there i... ...ficulties of finding brides due to imbalanced sex ratio. Those efforts actually worked and a survey in 2007 showed that campaigns and advertisements actually helped women’s perceived status. However, problem of imbalanced sex ratio did not completely solved, so change of policy can be another solution. For example, if both parents are only child, they are allowed to have two children. But what if two children are daughters? Although they can have two children, a gender of their children does not depend on their choices. Then, fetal sex determination is the only option for those parents who want a boy and there is high possibility of carrying out a plan of having sex selective abortion to have male child for their family line. Therefore, allowing people a second child or third child when they only have daughter can be another way to reduce sex selective abortion. Essay -- Lauren Park Prof. Stewart Ac Eng 139W 11/24/2013 Introduction The subject of abortion has had very highly contested debates over decades. In most platforms, there are numerous religious, legal, moral or social reasons floated against having an abortion. However, in the same platforms, the proponents of abortion outline various arguments to rest their point. Central to the opponents (pro-life activists) arguments against abortion is that abortion is an unethical. According to Naden (2007), they contend that personhood begins at conception. Therefore, abortion terminates a life an innocent human being. On the other hand, the proponents (pro-choice activists) argue that human life begins after birth, hence the claimed right to life for the fetus does not match the criteria. They also assert that abortion is a right that should not be limited by either government-based or non-governmental organizations since it has more weight than the right the right claimed for a fetus. In spite of abortion being advocated for in certain medical circumstance, the procedure is widely not acceptable in most societies due to the numerous negative side effects associated to it. Even though there are some incidences where abortion has been widely advocated, abortion is generally not acceptable due to the numerous negative aspects associated to it. According to Bailey (2012), abortion is a medical and legal process of terminating a pregnancy so that it does not result in the birth of a baby. The National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom points out that the procedure can either be through taking a prescribed medication or a surgical process (NHS, 2012). In the same context, NHS distinguishes abortion from a miscarriage in the sense that there i... ...ficulties of finding brides due to imbalanced sex ratio. Those efforts actually worked and a survey in 2007 showed that campaigns and advertisements actually helped women’s perceived status. However, problem of imbalanced sex ratio did not completely solved, so change of policy can be another solution. For example, if both parents are only child, they are allowed to have two children. But what if two children are daughters? Although they can have two children, a gender of their children does not depend on their choices. Then, fetal sex determination is the only option for those parents who want a boy and there is high possibility of carrying out a plan of having sex selective abortion to have male child for their family line. Therefore, allowing people a second child or third child when they only have daughter can be another way to reduce sex selective abortion.

Maintaining A Healty Body

Maintaining A Healthy Body There are many different factors involved in maintaining a healthy body, such as; a balanced diet, regular exercise, staying hydrated, making sure you get the right vitamins and nutrients your body needs, getting enough sleep, taking prescribed medication properly, and avoiding drugs and alcohol. This essay is going to focus on how to maintain a healthy body when you are pregnant, for both the mother and the baby, through a healthy diet and lifestyle, and also the repercussions if these are not adhered to.A healthy, balanced diet is important for everyone to maintain a healthy body, but t is particularly important during pregnancy as it will keep you fit and healthy, as well as improving the growth and development of the baby. The ‘eatwell plate' shows the four main food groups that are important when trying to eat well-balanced meals, as recommended by the Food Standard's Agency. We are advised to eat five portions (a minimum of 400g) of fruit and ve getables every day in order to get a good combination of the vitamins and minerals our bodies need.They are also a great source of fibre, needed to prevent constipation, and they contribute to reducing the risk of stroke, type 2 diabetes and heart disease. A third of the food that we eat should be made up of foods that are higher in carbohydrates and fibre. These are known as starchy foods and are essential because they digest slowly, giving us more energy and helping us to feel full for longer, making it less likely for us to over-eat.Dairy foods, such as, milk, cheese, and yoghurt are also important, especially in pregnant women, as they provide us with protein, essential for growth and repair, and calcium which keeps our bones strong and is vital for the development of the baby's bones and teeth. However, there are some dairy products that pregnant omen are advised to avoid as they could make you ill or harm the baby. Foods rich in protein, such as; fish, eggs, chicken and lean m eat are also necessary as part of a well-balanced diet.These provide us with essential vitamins and minerals, for example; iron and vitamin 812. Pregnant women are expected to eat two portions of fish each week, preferably oily fish such as salmon because they are rich in Omega-3, which assists in maintaining a healthy heart, and are also a good source of vitamin D. Pregnant women can get most of the vitamins and minerals they need by eating a healthy, balanced diet. However, women who suffer from morning sickness may find it difficult to eat the right amount of food necessary to obtain these. Therefore, they are recommended to take supplements.It is crucial to take folic acid during pregnancy as it assists in the prevention of neural tube defects, for example, spina bifida. Women are advised to take 400 micrograms of folic acid every day from when they are trying to conceive up until the twelfth week of pregnancy. Vitamin D is also important during pregnancy as it helps to regulate the amount of phosphate and calcium in the body. It is recommended that women take 10 micrograms of vitamin D aily, throughout the pregnancy and when they are breastfeeding in order to reduce the risk ot rickets disease, which can attect the development ot the baby's bones.Many pregnant women often feel lethargic and this is mainly due to an iron deficiency. This can be avoided by taking an iron supplement which has been proven to reduce anemia, and thus could possibly reduce the risk of other pregnancy complications, such as hemorrhaging. Zinc is another important supplement, proven to decrease the risk of premature birth, low birth weight and pre-eclampsia [3], which could be very dangerous as it may develop into eclampsia, causing the mother o have fits, threatening the survival of the mother and the baby. 4] Iodine supplementation is crucial during pregnancy, particularly in the first trimester as it is required for the synthesis of thyroid hormones, needed for the development of the baby's brain. A lack of iodine could lead to hypothyroxinemia in the mother and the foetus, which could potentially lead to the baby being born with brain damage or other neurological deficits. [5]. Although it is important to have a varied, balanced diet, there are some foods that pregnant women are advised to avoid as they can cause serious illness to the mother nd the baby. One of these is unpasteurized milk, or foods that contain it, such as soft cheese.These could carry listeria, which are a harmful bacteria that can survive at refrigerator temperatures and can cause listeriosis. Methylmercury is also very dangerous as it can be harmful to the developing nervous system of an unborn baby. This can be avoided by not eating large fish, such as swordfish and tile-fish, as they contain high levels of methylmercury. It is extremely important that pregnant women cook meat thoroughly, in order to prevent toxoplasmosis. This is caused by a harmful arasite called toxoplasma, found in raw or undercooked meat and also fruit and vegetables that have not been washed properly. 6] Exercise is extremely beneficial during pregnancy for a number of reasons. Core exercises that strengthen the abdominal, back and pelvic muscles will help to relieve back pain and should give women an advantage during labor as they will be physically prepared. Fatigue and difficulty sleeping are common problems among pregnant women. Those who exercise regularly claim to sleep better and have more energy during the day. Also, when we exercise our brains release endorphins, these re â€Å"feel good† hormones that help to improve your mood and decrease anxiety. 7] Smoking during pregnancy has serious implications for the mother and the baby. Smoking increases the risk of heart disease and stroke, but it causes additional health problems during pregnancy such as premature birth and miscarriage. It may also cause low birth weight, making the baby more prone to infections and could be f atal. It can cause the placenta to separate from the womb too early, cutting off the baby's source of food and oxygen and causing bleeding. [8] Drinking when pregnant seriously affects the unborn baby as it can stop the baby rom growing properly and affect brain development.This is because when the woman drinks, the alcohol passes through the placenta and enters the baby's bloodstream. [9] In conclusion, it is evident that women need to be extremely careful in all aspects of pregnancy. Their diet and lifestyle must be altered to benefit the mother and the unborn baby. It is crucial that pregnant women are made aware of the implications of not eating properly, eating the wrong foods, and not being strict about food hygiene, as all ot these could lead to serious illness in the mother and the baby, and in serious cases, could be life-threatening! http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/healthy-pregnancy-diet.aspxhttp://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/vitamins-minerals-supplements-pregnant.aspxhttp://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Pre-eclampsia/Pages/Introduction.aspxhttp://yalehealth.yale.edu/obstetricsprenatal-patientshttp://www.whattoexpect.com/pregnancy/exercise-benefitshttps://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/maternalinfanthealth/tobaccousepregnancy/https://www.rcog.org.uk/en/patients/patient-leaflets/alcohol-and-pregnancy/

Calls for marijuana legalization

The debate on whether or not to legalize marijuana trade and consumption has been ranging on for a long time with calls for its total ban equally as loud as those that fight for its legalization. This debate a times takes a religious and an emotional perspective. This paper seeks to strengthen with factual support, the calls that support its legalization. It will give reasons behind those views as well as analyze the opposing sentiments. All this is in the believe that marijuana, if legalized, stands to be more beneficial to the society that the way it is today.My first argument towards legalization of marijuana will take an economic perspective. Billions of tax payer’s money is going to waste in the process of arresting and prosecuting people accused of consuming marijuana. This money should be channeled towards other important purposes like healthcare and providing education to our children (Barnett P.G 166-171).Every year in America, thousands of people are huddled in drug courts faced with all manner of charges ranging from consuming to trafficking marijuana, then handed undeserving sentences. Process requires millions of dollars. This is money that should be spent in giving counseling and treatment to the affected rather than trying to catch the few of the majority that smokes. It is apparent that our money is surely going to waste; the war against drugs has never been won and is not going to be won any time soon.The cost of maintaining prisoners arraigned in court over marijuana related cases each year is estimated at 1.2 billion dollars ever year. â€Å"This does not include the cost of investigating, arresting, a prosecuting and hundreds of thousands of marijuana users arrested every year† (Wayne Hall 7) this to me is a waste of scarce resources, money that otherwise should not be used had we legalized marijuana.Still in economics, the marijuana is a multibillion industry that continues to place food on the table for millions of people wor ld wide, illegally of course. I this industry can operate legally; it would be able to secure jobs to millions more as well as contributing billion of dollars through taxation. About 11 billion dollars would be gained from the tax. (Douglas Mc Ray58). The marketing of marijuana has its illegal form is left to black marketers this meaning that currently their proceeds go untaxed.Economic benefits of legalized marijuana will be two fold. First it will be from the funds saved from the efforts to suppress and eradicate its use and then secondly benefits arising form its taxation. Marijuana should be legalized, either way whether legalized or illegal consumption still takes place. There are no statistics available to indicate that its continued legal suppression over maybe the last 30 years has had any consequent impact. Prohibition does not decrease its use. Its popularity does not wane. Netherlands has done it. It’s a good case study that â€Å"marijuana legalization would not be the disaster that opponents say it would be† (Douglas Mc Kay29-32)Debate still rages on possible effects of legalizing marijuana on the health of the users. There are those who argue that it has adverse effects on health while others argue that the overall effects are insignificant. Without looking at the worst case scenarios and moderation cases, both studies indicate that there are no known risks associated with its overdose; possible side effects can only be exhibited in the behaviors of the user. (Douglas Mc Kay) these results indicate that marijuana use is not more hazardous than alcohol consumption unlimitedly.Tobacco use is equally harmful and yet it is legal. The reason why marijuana remains illegal is due to its peeved adverse effects on the users. The government in its social responsibility role has to limit its use/abuse. This to me is based on flimsy grounds. Alcohol and tobacco are also harmful, then why ban one poison and out rightly allow the usage of the oth er one. This is illegal.Marijuana decriminalization will allow people to explore the possible medicinal values it has.   Studies have shown, according to Baker D.(2003 561-567),that â€Å"cannnabinoids† (contained in marijuana) provide a novel therapeutic target, not only for controlling symptoms, but also slowing disease progression through inhibition of neurodeneration.† Disregarding its side effects, marijuana is hailed to have many therapeutic benefits like subsiding pain in cancer patients; it is basically used with pain and muscle stiffness in patients.Criminalization of marijuana literally closes these windows of research. Doctors and health experts are barred from researching with it or administering on any of their patients despite indications that it can effectively be used for medical purpose with only some mile side effects. We are making it inaccessible to millions of people out there who are maybe suffering form cancer and would want some relieve.This co untry boasts of respect and exercising fundamental freedoms for all persons. Freedom of worship is a key right that should be exercised by all and is guaranteed by the constitution. Rastafaricinism, a dominant faith in Jamaica openly advocates for marijuana usage citing its religious importance. Criminalization of marijuana clearly is in contravention of people right not only to exercise their right of worship but also their basic right to choice as long these choices do not affect others negatively.I believe it should be left to the respective individuals to make an informed choice on whether consume or not.   They should be left alone to exercise the individual liberty. People to, are left alone to choose on whether to drink or smoke, despite their known harms, people too, I think should be given leeway over marijuana.As I had noted earlier, the proponents of marijuana criminalization are equally vocal and belief they have solid reasons as to why the status quo should remain. Ma rijuana just like most drug is known to induce addictive tendencies, this is where it’s continued use results to the user being hooked to it to an extent that they are unable to function normally without it. I must say however, that addiction is not limited to marijuana alone alcohol, tobacco and also other prescribed drugs are known to cause addddiction even of a higher degree than cannabis.There is also the argument that it legalization is tantamount to sending a message especialy to underage that its consumption is indeed good. It will remove the stigma currently associated with it making it attracitve to most persons. Although this point contains some truth in it, legalization of cannabis in Netherlands failed to indicate this. Although there were a few new users, occassioned by its decriminalization, their numbers were not significantly high to warrant any concerns.Initial lifting of the ban would see maybe attraction of new users but this would later change as Clement k (1999,p49) says,..on the other hand,the disappearance of the forbidden fruits characteristics of marijuana would tend to lower consumption.†This waters down the argument that lifting the ban would see increased use.Marijuana too if allowed will lead to more expenses on the government to cope with its abuse. There will be increased allocations for the rehabs and medical facilities tao cope with its possible rampant usage. It would also mean more investments to cope with drug related crimes resulting from drug abuse. I must insist however, that findings doen do not ling marijuana to any violent crimes more than they do other drugs or specifically to alcohol. Also, a simple lsot benefit analysis refutes that the government stands to spend more on rehabs. By legalising it, any additional investment on rehabs is surpassed by the savings on marijuana policies and prosecutions in additional to the likely benefits emanating from taxes. (Aldrich, M. et al, 75-81).ConclusionThere is a n eed to review the current laws banning marijuana use in total.It is more beneficial to the general society and particularly the government.The benefits gained through taxation and employment creation surpasses the negative effects of rehabilitating the abusers.In addition too are the millions of dollars the federal government would save.The resources used to fight marijuana through prosecutions,arrests and maintaining thousands in jail would be rechanelled to other vital sectors.The benefits outweigh the costs,this should be the sole logic behind its legalisation.More benefits too stand to be reaped through the possible advances made in the medicine sector.It will see more research being done to establish ways in which marijuana can be used to ease pain in cancer patients as well as other medicinal values being explored.Works CitedAidriach, M. and T. uikuriya. â€Å"Savings in Carlifornia Marijuana law enforcement costsattributable to the Moscone Act of 1976†. Journal of Psyc hoactive drugs 20, 1998.75-81. Appraisals of the adverse health effects of cannabis use: Ideology andEvidence. June 1999.The FAS Drug policy Analysis Bulletin. Washington DC. Accessed on 3rd August 2007.https://fas.org/#3>Baker D. Pryce G. The therapeutic Potential of cannabis in multiple sclerosis. Expertopinion on investigations drugs. 2003, 561-567.Barnett, P.G. â€Å"The cost-effectiveness of substance abuse treatment†. Current psychiatryreports. 1999. 166-171.Thornton, M. â€Å"Prohibition US. Legalisation: Do Economists reach a conclusion of drug  policy? Ludwig Von Mises Institute 2002. pp.27Marijuana Legalisation: the time is now. 1998. The psycheditic Library home page.Clement K W; Daryal M.: The Economics of Marijuana Consumption.Crawley, Australia: University of Western Australia Economic Research center.1999, p 49.  indicate that marijuana resutls aviors of the user. ases, both studies indicate that there are no known risks associated with it

Business Continuity Planning

Though interruptions to business can be due to major natural disasters such as fires, floods, earthquakes and storms; or due to man-made disasters such as wars, terrorist attacks and riots; it is usually the more mundane and less sensational disasters such as power failure, equipment failure, theft and sabotage that are the causes behind disruptions to business.A Business Continuity Plan or â€Å"Continuity of Business Planning (CoB Plan) †¦ defines the process of identification of the applications, customers (internal & external) and locations that a business plans to keep functioning in the occurrence of such disruptive events, as well the failover processes & the length of time for such support. This encompasses hardware, software, facilities, personnel, communication links and applications† (MphasiS, 2003).A Business Continuity Plan is formulated in order to enable the organization to recover from a disaster with the minimum loss of time and business by restoring its critical operations quickly and smoothly. The Business Continuity Plan should be devised in such a way that it involves not only the recovery, resumption and maintenance of only the technology components but also of the entire business. Recovery of only the ICT systems and infrastructure may not always imply the full restoration of business operations.The Business Recovery Planning at XE therefore envisages the consideration of all risks to business operations that may include not only ICT applications and infrastructure but also directly impact on other business processes. After conducting an extensive Business Impact Analysis (BIA), Risk Assessment for XE was carried out by evaluating the assumptions made in BIA under various threat scenarios. Threats were analyzed on the basis of their potential impact to the organization, its customers and the financial market it is associated with.The threats were then prioritized depending on their severity. The following threats were identifi ed for XE: 1. Natural disasters such as floods, fires, storms, earthquakes, extreme weather, etc. 2. Man-made disasters such as terrorist attacks, wars and riots. 3. Routine threats that include: a. Non-availability of critical personnel b. Inaccessibility of critical buildings, facilities or geographic regions c. Malfunctioning of equipment or hardware d. Inaccessibility or corruption of software and data due to various reasons including virus attacks e. Non-availability of support servicesf. Failure of communication links and other essential utilities such as power g. Inability to meet financial liquidity requirements, and h. Unavailability of essential records. Organizing the BCP Team The first and most important step in developing a successful disaster recovery plan is to create management awareness. The top-level management will allocate necessary resources and time required from various areas of the organizations only if they understand, realize and support the value of disast er recovery. The management has to also accord approval for final implementation of the plan.The BCP team therefore has to have a member from the management who can not only provide the inputs from the management but also apprise the management and get its feedback. Besides these, each core or priority area has to be represented by at least one member. Finally, there has to an overall Business Continuity Plan coordinator who is responsible not only for co-ordination but also for all other aspects of BCP implementation such as training, updating, creating awareness, testing, etc. The coordinator usually has his or her own support team.XE’s Business Continuity Planning team would therefore comprise representatives from the management and each of the core or priority areas, and would be held together by the BCP coordinator. Even in the case of outsourcing of the BCP, it is necessary for the management and nominated members from the core or priority areas to be closely associated with each step of the planning process. Crucial Decisions The key decisions to be made in formulating the Business Continuity Plan for XE were associated with the individual steps that were undertaking in making the BCP.The first step of Business Impact Analysis (BIA) involved making a work flow analysis to assess and prioritize all business functions and processes including their interdependencies. At this stage, the potential impact of business disruptions was identified along with all the legal and regulatory requirements for XE’s business functions and processes. Based on these, decisions on allowable downtime and acceptable level of losses were taken. Estimations were made on Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs), Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs) and recovery of the critical path.The second step of Business Continuity Planning comprised of risk assessment during which business processes and the assumptions made in the course of BIA were evaluated using various threat scenario s. The decisions made at this stage included the threat scenarios that were to be adopted, the severity of the threats and finally identification the risks that were to be considered in the BCP based on the assessments made. The next step of Risk Management involved drawing up of the plan of action with respect to the various risks.This was the stage at which the actual Business Continuity Plan was drawn up, formulated and documented. Crucial decisions such as what specific steps whould be taken during a disruption, the training programs that should be organized to train personnel in implementation of the BCP, and the frequency of updating and revisions that would be required were taken at this stage. Finally, in the Risk Monitoring and Testing stage, decisions regarding the suitability and effectiveness of the BCP were taken with reference to the initial objectives of the Business Continuity Plan. Business Rules and System Back-upsMy friend works for the Motor Vehicles department t hat issues driving licenses for private and commercial vehicles. Applicants for any license initially come and deposit a fee. The particulars of the specific applicant along with photograph and biometrics in the form of finger prints are then entered into the database. Thereafter, the applicant undergoes a medical test, the results of which are again entered into the database of the system. If approved in the medical test, the applicant has to appear for an initial theoretical test on driving signs and rules and regulations.If the applicant passes the test, he or she is given a Learner’s License. The applicant then comes back for the practical driving test after a month, and is awarded the driving license if he or she is able to pass the test. New additions are made to the database of the driving license system at every stage of this workflow. Though the tests for the learner’s license and driving license are held three days in a week, an individual can apply any day o f the five working days of the department. People also come for renewal of driving licenses.Driving licenses are usually issued for a period of one to five years depending on the age and physical condition of the applicant. In the case of commercial vehicles, an applicant first has to obtain a trainee driving license and work as an apprentice driver for two years before he or she becomes eligible for a driving license to drive a commercial vehicle. Moreover, a commercial driving license is issued only for a year at time, and the driver has to come back for evaluation and medical tests every year.The number and frequency of transactions are therefore much higher for commercial vehicles. As is evident from the business rules of the department, data is added and modified frequently for a specific applicant during the process of the initial application. Subsequently, data is again added to or the database modified after an interval of one month for the same applicant. Thereafter, fresh data is added to the database or the database modified only after a period of five years when the applicant comes back for renewal.However, there is always the possibility that someone loses or misplaces his or her license and comes back to have a duplicate issued. But when the scenario of multiple applicants who can come in at any day for fresh, duplicate or renewal of licenses is considered, it becomes evident that transactions are not periodic or time bound but are continuous. Transactions can happen any time during working hours resulting in changes to the database of the system. Taking only complete backup of the system would not be the optimal backup solution under the given circumstances.Whatever frequency of complete backup is adopted, the chance of losing data will be very high in the case of database failure or any other disastrous event that results system failure or corruption. Moreover, taking complete backup of the system very frequently would be a laborious and cumber some exercise. The ideal backup method in this case would be incremental backup in which backup is taken of only the data that is added or modified the moment it is added or modified, and a complete backup is taken at a periodic frequency.Under the situation, the Motor Vehicles Department has opted for continuous incremental backup with a complete backup taken at the end of the day. As a Business Continuity Plan measure, the department uses a remote backup mirroring solution that provides host-based, real-time continuous replication to a disaster recovery site far away from their servers over standard IP networks. This mirroring process uses continuous, asynchronous, byte-level replication and captures the changes as they occur. It copies only changed bytes, therefore reducing network use, enabling quicker replication and reducing latency to a great extent.This remote mirroring solution integrates with the existing backup solutions, and can replicate data to perform remote backups a nd can take snapshots at any time without having any impact on the performance of the production severs. It replicates over the available IP network, both in LAN and WAN, and has been deployed without any additional cost. This remote mirroring solution accords the department the maximum possible safeguard against data loss from failures and other disasters. Database Processing Efficiency versus Database Storage EfficiencyThough storage costs as such has decreased dramatically over the years, the controversy between database processing efficiency and database storage efficiency continues to be an issue because the overall performance of a systems is affected by the way data is stored and processed. In other words, even though the volume of storage space available may no longer be a constraint financially and physically, the way this space is utilized has an impact on the database processing efficiency which in turns affects the overall performance of the application or the system.Und er the present circumstances, though it is possible to compromise on the side of database storage efficiency to derive greater database performance efficiency and thus improve the overall performance of the system, achieving optimization of the overall performance of a system requires striking a fine balance between database processing and database storage efficiency. There can be many tradeoffs between data processing speed and the efficient use of storage space for optimal performance of a system. There is no set rule on which tradeoffs to adopt, and differs according to the practical data creation, modification and flow of the system.Certain broad guidelines can however be followed in order to increase the overall utility of the database management system. Examples of such guidelines are to be found in the case of derived fields, denormalization, primary key and indexing overheads, reloading of database and query optimization. Derived fields Derived field are the fields in which data is obtained after the manipulation or operation of two or more original fields or data. The issue at stake is whether the data should be stored only in the original form or as the processed data in derived field also.When the data is stored only in the original form, the derived field is calculated as and when required. It is obvious that storing derived data will require greater storage space but the processing time will be comparatively less i. e. storage efficiency will be low whereas processing efficiency becomes higher. However, the decision on whether to store derived fields or not depend on other considerations such as how often the calculated data is likely to change, and how often the calculated data will be required or used. An example will make will serve to make matters more clear.A university student’s grade point standing is a perfect example of the derived field. For a specific class, a student’s grade point is obtained by multiplying the points cor responding to the grade of the student by the number of credit hours associated with the course. The points or the grade and the number of credit hours are therefore the original data, by multiplying which we get the grade point or the derived field. The decision on whether to store the derived field or not, will in this case depend on how often the grade point of a student is likely to change, and how often the student’s grade points are actually required.The grades of a student who has already graduated is unlikely to undergo nay more changes, whereas the grades of a student still studying in the university will change at regular frequency. In such a case, storing the grade points of an undergraduate would be more meaningful than storing the grade points of a student who has already graduated. Again if the undergraduate’s grades are reported only once a term, then it may not be worth it to store grade points as derived fields. The significance of the matter is realiz ed when we consider a database of thousand of students.The tradeoff in this case is between storing the grade points as derived fields and gaining on database processing efficiency and losing out on database storage efficiency on one hand; and not storing the derived fields and gaining on storage efficiency but losing out processing efficiency on the other. Denormalization Denormalization is a process by which the number of records in a fully normalized database can be considerably reduced even while adhering to the rule of the First Normal Form that states that the intersection of any row with any column should result in a single data value.The process of cutting down multiple records into a single record is applicable only in certain specific cases in which the number and frequency of transaction is known. Normalization of a database is required to maintain the accuracy and integrity of the data which in turn leads to validity of the reports generated by the system and the reliabi lity of the of the decisions based on the system. Denormalization, if done randomly can upset the balance of the database while economizing on storage space. The dilemma of Indexing Unplanned use of primary key has a telling negative affect on the database storage efficiency.Many database systems resort to setting index on a field. When a field is index, the system sets a pointer to that particular field. The pointer helps in processing the data much faster. However, indexing fields also results in the system storing and maintaining data but also information or data about the storage. The question therefore again boils down to deciding on whether to achieve higher processing efficiency by compromising storage efficiency or to enable higher storage capabilities at the cost of processing efficiency.Sorting the data periodically is one way of overcoming the dilemma of indexing. However, sorting itself is highly taxing on the resources of a system. Moreover, in large organizations with millions of data, a sort may take even up to hours during which all computer operations remain suspended. Other factors Storage efficiency and processing efficiency are also interdependent in other ways. The deletion of data without reloading the database from time to time may result in the deleted data actually not being removed from the database.The data is simply hidden by setting a flag variable or marker. This results not only in low storage efficiency but also in low processing efficiency. Reloading a database removes the deleted data permanently from the database and leads to smaller amount of data and a more efficient use if resources thereby boosting processing efficiency. Similarly, haphazard coding structures can impact negatively both on the storage efficiency and the processing efficiency of a database. Completely ignoring storage efficiency while prioritizing processing efficiency, can never lead to database optimization.Conversely, optimization can also never be achie ved by an over emphasis on storage efficiency. The objective is to strike the right balance. The interrelationships between database storage efficiency and database processing efficiency therefore keep the controversy between the two alive in spite of a dramatic decrease in storage costs over the years. References -01 MphasiS Corporation, 2003, MphasiS Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity Plan, [Online] Available. http://www. mphasis. com [June 27, 2008]