Scriabin essays

Scriabin essays The history of western music is riddled with the eccentric personalities of composer and performer alike. None, however, are quite so extraordinary as Alexander Scriabin (1871-1915). A composer of massively ambitious works who is nonetheless best regarded for his piano miniatures and sonatas, Scriabin embodied many contradictions. He was at once avant-garde and conservative, worldly and naive. Faubion Bowers, Scriabins principal biographer, asks and answers, "Who was he, this central Scriabin? A composer, pianist, poet, mystic, solipsist, and semi-, theo-philosopher." Scriabin was indeed all of these things, but only two of these hats fit him well. He was a pianist of remarkable ability, and equally adept as a composer, while his mysticism has served only to trivialize his music. In spite of the high quality of his compositions, Scriabin is by no means a household name. Though he has long been a favorite of many pianists, comparatively few people outside of his native countr y of Russia would know much about him or his music. Nevertheless, Scriabin was an innovator of great importance in Russia, even if his influence was more muted in the West. As his compositional idiom developed, during Scriabins final years, "his music pushed further into the realms of atonality than any Russian composer had dared to go." Yet, despite his achievements, Scriabins place in annals of Western music is relatively minor and oft debated, mostly due to the fact that few, if any, composers ever followed in his path. Like many composers, Scriabins works are often problematically separated into different periods; in his case, early, middle and late. The problem arises due to the fact that there are no clear breaks in Scriabins portfolio to make such easy separations. Rather, his creative work was in constant development, maturing from a conservative Chopinesque style into an idiom that was innovative and thorough...

The Life and Work of the Ancient Greek Poet, Homer

The Life and Work of the Ancient Greek Poet, Homer Homer was the most important and earliest of the Greek and Roman writers. Greeks and Romans didnt count themselves educated unless they knew his poems. His influence was felt not only on literature but on ethics and morality via lessons from his masterpieces. He is the first source to look for information on Greek myth and religion. Yet, despite his prominence, we have no firm evidence that he ever lived. Homer and Hesiod have ascribed to the gods all things that are a shame and a disgrace among mortals, stealing and adulteries and deceiving on one another.- Xenophanes (a Pre-Socratic philosopher) The Life of the Blind Bard Because Homer performed and sang he is called a bard. He is thought to have been blind, and so is known as the blind bard, just as Shakespeare, calling on the same tradition, is known as the bard of Avon. The name Homer, which is an unusual one for the time, is thought to mean either blind or captive. If blind, it may have to do more with the portrayal of the Odyssean blind bard called Phemios than the poems composer. Homers Birthplaces and Date There are multiple cities in the ancient Greek world that lay the prestigious claim of being the birthplace of Homer. Smyrna is one of the most popular, but Chios, Cyme, Ios, Argos, and Athens are all in the running. The Aeolian cities of Asia Minor are most popular; outliers include Ithaca and Salamis. Plutarch provides a choice of Salamis, Cyme, Ios, Colophon, Thessaly, Smyrna, Thebes, Chios, Argos, and Athens, according to a table showing ancient authors who provided biographical information on Homer, in Lives of Homer (Continued), by T. W. Allen; The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 33, (1913), pp. 19-26. Homers death is less controversial, Ios being the overwhelming favorite. Since its not even clear that Homer lived, and since we dont have a fix on the location, it should come as no surprise that we dont know when he was born. He is generally considered to have come before Hesiod. Some thought him a contemporary of Midas (Certamen). Homer is said to have had two daughters (generally, the symbolic ones of the Iliad and the Odyssey), and no sons, according to West [citation below], so the Homeridai, who are referred to as Homers followers and rhapsodes themselves, cant really claim to be descendants, although the idea has been entertained. The Trojan War Homers name will always be linked with the Trojan War because Homer wrote about the conflict between Greeks and Trojans, known as the Trojan War, and the return voyages of the Greek leaders. He is credited with telling the whole story of the Trojan War, but that is false. There were plenty of other writers of what is called the epic cycle who contributed details not found in Homer. Homer and the Epic Homer is the first and greatest writer of the Greek literary form known as epic and so its in his work that people look for information about the poetic form. Epic was more than a monumental story, although it was that. Since bards sang stories from memory, they needed and used many helpfully mnemonic, rhythmic, poetic techniques that we find in Homer. Epic poetry was composed using a rigorous format.   Major Works Credited to Homer - Some in Error Even if the name isnt his, a figure we think of as Homer is considered by many to be the writer of the Iliad, and possibly the Odyssey, although there are stylistic reasons, like inconsistencies, to debate whether one person wrote both. An inconsistency that resonates for me is that Odysseus uses a spear in The Iliad, but is an extraordinary archer in the Odyssey. He even describes his bow prowess demonstrated at Troy [source: Notes on the Trojan War, by Thomas D. Seymour, TAPhA 1900, p. 88.]. Homer is sometimes credited, although less credibly, with the Homeric Hymns. Currently, scholars think these must have been written more recently than the Early Archaic period (aka the Greek Renaissance), which is the era in which the greatest Greek epic poet is thought to have lived. IliadOdysseyHomeric Hymns Homers Major Characters In Homers Iliad, the lead character is the quintessential Greek hero, Achilles. The epic states that it is the story of the wrath of Achilles. Other important characters of the Iliad are the leaders of the Greek and Trojan sides in the Trojan War, and the highly partisan, human-seeming gods and goddesses- the deathless ones. In The Odyssey, the lead character is the title character, the wily Odysseus. Other major characters include the family of the hero and the goddess Athena. Perspective Although Homer is thought to have lived in the early Archaic Age, the subject matter of his epics is the earlier, Bronze Age, Mycenaean era. Between then and when Homer may have lived there was a dark age. Therefore Homer is writing about a period about which there is not a substantial written record. His epics give us a glimpse of this earlier life and social hierarchy, although it is important to realize that Homer is a product of his own times, when the polis (city-state) was beginning, as well as the mouthpiece for stories handed down the generations, and so details may not be true to the era of the Trojan War. The Voice of the World In his poem, The Voice of the World, the 2nd-century Greek poet Antipater of Sidon, best known for writing about the Seven Wonders (of the ancient world), praises Homer to the skies, as can be seen in this public domain translation from the Greek Anthology: The herald of the prowess of heroes and the interpreter of the immortals, a second sun on the life of Greece, Homer, the light of the Muses, the ageless mouth of all the world, lies hid, O stranger, under the sea-washed sand.   Sources Reading Homer through Oral Tradition, by John Miles Foley;  College Literature, Vol. 34, No. 2, Reading Homer in the 21st Century (Spring, 2007).The Invention of Homer, by M. L. West;  The Classical Quarterly, New Series, Vol. 49, No. 2 (1999), pp. 364-382.

Physiology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Physiology - Essay Example The reason is that at higher altitudes, there is lesser amount of oxygen for the body and muscles. Therefore, the excess oxygen will help avoid the early production of lactic acid and keep heart rate lower even when the athlete is working harder at sea level. (Smith, 2005) The trick to high altitude training is a process known as acclimatization. This means that athletes must give time to their bodies to get used to the increase in altitude, and decrease in oxygen levels in the atmosphere. For instance, when an athlete reaches, say 5000 feet, he must spend some days there so that the body acclimatizes to the conditions present there before moving on to higher altitudes. After acclimatization to higher altitudes, when the athlete returns back to sea level, his endurance level and performance is better. As the oxygen levels at higher altitudes decrease, there are a number of changes that the body undergoes in the process of acclimatization. Firstly, the depth of respiration increases. The pulmonary arteries go through an increase in pressure, forcing blood into those parts of the lung which are not utilized under normal circumstances. (Curtis, 1999) Along with increasing the production of red blood cells to carry oxygen, the body also steps up the production of a specific enzyme that eases the discharge of oxygen from hemoglobin to the body tissue. (Curtis, 1999) As we know, the air in the atmosphere consists of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and 1% water vapor, carbon dioxide and other gases. This is the proportion of gases you inhale during normal breathing. However, 6% of oxygen is breathed out together with carbon dioxide and other waste products. (Science Fair 2003: Does Exercise Affect the Amount of Carbon Dioxide Exhaled, 2003) During exercise, the body needs more energy which is provided to it through the chemical reaction of oxygen and glucose. This, in turn, means that during exercise, the body needs more

Sustainability and Renewable Technologies Essay

Sustainability and Renewable Technologies - Essay Example Trees use energy tapped from the sun to fix carbon in the wood in a natural way and therefore are sustainable so long as harvesting can be done without depleting the woodland resources. Due to its nature wood fuel is virtually carbon neutral as the carbon dioxide emitted from burning is balanced by the carbon absorbed by growing trees. Wood is also a clean and safe compared to other fossil fuels like oil which are harmful to the environment in case of spills. The wood fuel gas is almost smoke free and its ash content is less than 1% which can be reused for other purposes. It will also benefit the social welfare of the entire community in that use of wood would ensure proper management of woodlands and promote local trade. By creating a ready market for wood fuel many jobs would be created to manage and ensure sustainable practice in managing woodland. The main disadvantage of this technology is that it has higher initial capital cost than conventional heating systems but in the build ing’s life-cycle costs. 2.0 Solar Powered Lighting System Use of photovoltaic cells in the building is one of the ways the company could use renewable energy sources for its operation without leaving a carbon foot print. This is because solar power does not consume natural resources, are readily available and are naturally replenished. 2.1 How it works The building is laced with light sensitive cells called the photovoltaic cells that convert light from the sun into electricity. This electricity is then stored in a battery system that is used to power the lighting system and other appliances within the building. A sketch of the system is attached. 2.2 Advantages Using a solar powered lighting system in which solar power is used to generate the electricity for the building’s lighting ensures energy security by reducing dependency on fossil fuel or the national grid. As a result the company will enjoy price stability as photovoltaic cells are installed only once and have lifespan ranging from 20-30 years. With solar power there are no transmission costs as all the energy produced is consumed unlike other sources where the fuels have to be transported. It is therefore ideal even for places that cannot have access to the grid. Cost wise the solar panels are becoming cheaper and more efficient thus ensuring more value for money. It is also a very quite source of energy which is a great advantage of a service oriented company in which communication is key in its operation and a quiet working environment has a great impact. 2.3 Disadvantages Major disadvantage is the high cost of installation; it also requires a large area for installation. This can however be mitigated by incorporating a building design in which photovoltaic cells are positioned for optimal harvesting. The other disadvantage is that efficiency is dependant on the full exposure of the sun and may affect cloudy days. 3.0 Green Roof The company could consider using a green roof for the bu ilding. This is simply having a design that will ensure the entire roof of the proposed building would be covered in vegetation to form a sort of living roof. 3.1 How it works The roof is covered with vegetation that is grown over a waterproofing membrane. The membrane helps to prevent percolation of water and also root

Customer Satisfaction Essay Example for Free

Customer Satisfaction Essay Filipino’s have been given a chance to finally choose groceries business and minimart across the country. One of the pioneer groceries in town is the Consumers Minimart Inc. formerly named Caragan. Ever since Consumers Minimart Inc. experienced a lot of competitors on their times, minimart is still existing and alive.At this time many establishments exist like CSI, Royal Mall, Save More, but the Consumers Minimart Inc. is still having a profit and their loyal customers were always remained.Bayambang is one of the town with the largest number of barangays in Pangasinan, a largest place to establish a business. Business opportunity is increasing like mini grocery market, malls, fast food chains, banks, water refilling station and other small and big enterprises. This business establishment where very profitable and have impact to the customers especially here, is the groceries stores because customer or people can get or buy their daily needs into this kind of business, and one of that business is the Consumers Minimart Inc.Consumers Minimart Inc. is owned and manage by Jovita De Leon. It was established last March 18, 2010. They established their business in Bayambang because this place is very promising town, has 77 barangays and there is a lot of nearby town, and prospect customers such as Bautista, Alcala, Urbiztondo, and Malasiqui.Caragan was became Consumers Minimart Inc. because of being long term industry and the owners were became stockholders. The standard monthly income has been reach also by the said business. The formerly competitors were Lita’s grocery, old Royal mall stores and some local stores located at the market of Bayambang.But there are things that this business needs to improve, including the satisfaction of the customers. Consumers Minimart Inc. need additional effort in making their service much better including in queueing system or waiting time, delivery service, visual merchandising and physical set-up, and add to the strategies of the business. This will be used as strategy to makes their customer more satisfy in their service, it will add to have more customers and become more profitable, more improvement in their services. Consumers Minimart Inc. also need to improve their marketing strategy because it is a part of over all plan of the said business by establishing another branch in the province of Pangasinan for expansion for them to become more popular in terms of selling diffirent kinds of product. According to Peng Shao and Zeliang Sun (2012), Groceries today have to deal with the more dynamic and competitive environments than before. The frequent mergers and acquisitions among the groceries suppliers and retailers made industry structure strongly concentrated and competitive.And the limited retail stores are being increasingly standardized and homogenized. Facing the Bayambang market which only has 96,609 population, the three major competitors grocery, CSI, Savemore and Royal Mall need to differentiate themselves. Thus maintaining long-term relationship with customers is important, in order to keep their good organizational performance and profits. Identifying the key attributes influencing customer satisfaction during customers’ purchasing in their stores is critical. Groceries need to explore their resources and internal capabilities, so that they can make proper strategies to remain competitive. Unique attributes and sub-attributes are the important resources and internal capabilities of each grocer, which can help grocer to differentiate themselves from its competitors, and maximize the level of customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction means that customer needs are fulfilled when doing the purchases. So the groceries must understand what the customers want and provide customers with what they need. A large number of studies have demonstrated a positive relationship between organization performance and customer satisfaction. Keeping long-term customer satisfaction is seen as a critical success factor for grocery retailers, because the competition in the groceries industry is strong and margins are becoming limited. There is a straight forward and simple link between customer satisfaction and profits. Retailers used to shape customers shopping habit, without listening much to consumers needs and desires. However, as the industry has been changing, customers change their shopping behavior. For example, the proximity between home and stores become less concerned, so retailers should adapt to new change of customers shopping behavior. Retailers must concern about the attributes, including quality of product, assortment, customer attention, additional service, store atmosphere, store location and price and discount, so that they can shorten the customers perception gap. In the future, the company will have applied its best practices especially to the customer satisfaction in their service not only in the province, but also in the entire Philippines. These Best Practices will not only consist of the most efficient systems, but also consider human elements such as local knowledge and relationship building which are equally essential in attaining great satisfaction. Statement of the problemThis study focused on the extent of customer satisfaction of Consumers Minimart Inc. located in Bayambang, Pangasinan. Specifically, this study sought to answer the following questions: 1. What is the profile of customers in terms of : a) Types of customers ; and b) Average purchased per transaction 2. What is the extent of customer satisfaction in terms of : a) Queueing system or Waiting timec) Visual merchandising b) Delivery systemd) Physical set-up 3. What are the problems encountered by the customer in terms of: a) Availability of product b) Parking area c) Sanitation d) Ventilation e) Services Accuracy f) Facilities g) Physical set-up h) Distribution i) Inventory j) Pricing Scope and Delimitation of the Study This study determined the extent of customers satisfaction of Consumers Minimart Inc. in the Municipality of Bayambang. The respondents of this study have the total of 100 respondents in a random basis like owners of sari-sari store or retailers, and end users who purchased in the Consumers Minimart Inc., regarding in their types of customers and average purchased per transaction, queueing system or waiting time, delivering system, visual merchandising, physical set-up, availability of product, parking area, sanitation, ventalition, services accuracy, pricin, inventory, distribution and facilities. Significance of the Study The researchers believed that the result of this study would benefit the following. The Manager. This study will enhance competence in the management and operation of the business and will provide with additional knowledge on how to improve business and to get customers satisfaction and loyalty. The Customers. The result of this study will serve as the source of affordable and easy buying decision. They would also be informed and be guided about the different services and existing prices that the business render to the public which the people will appreciate. The Government. This study will bring about additional income to the local government in the form of taxes and they will be provided with some needed basis to come up with rules and regulations to prevent cheating on the suggested retail price. The Future Entrepreneurs. This study will serve as a guide to those future entrepreneurs who wants to establish this kind of business. Definition of Terms To facilitate understanding of this study, the following terms were defined operationally. Consumers Minimart Inc. It is the name of the mini grocery business in the Municipality of Bayambang, that we are studying in our research. Satisfaction. Is an attitude of a person of being happy of the products and services offer. Suppliers. Is a person, company or organization that sells or supplies something such as goods or equipments to business. Customers. They are the retailers and end-users who consumed or use the products and services. Product. Something that is made or created by the manufacturer or supplier. It is offered to customers. Services. A product of human activity meant to satisfy a human need but not constituting item of goods. Queueing System. The queuing discipline describes the order in which arrivals are serviced. Visual Merchandising. Is a form of store presentation of all forms of advertising and marketing. Physical Set-up. Is a form of displaying the products. Delivering System. process for conveying a product or service to a customer. Chapter 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES This chapter present a review of professional literature and related studies relevant to the present study. This literature and studies have given the researchers more information and clearer view of the problem in this study. Those that are relevant to this research are presented in the following discussion. RELATED LITERATURE This section presents the both foreign and local related literature relevant to the study. This relevance is shown by the proponents in order to give more reason and understanding of the proposition. Customer Satisfaction Customer satisfaction provides a leading indicator of consumer purchase intentions and loyalty. Customer satisfaction data are among the most frequently collected indicators of market perceptions. Organizations need to retain existing customers while targeting non-customers. Measuring customer satisfaction provides an indication of how successful the organization is at providing products and/or services to the marketplace. Customer satisfaction is an ambiguous and abstract concept and the actual manifestation of the state of satisfaction will vary from person to person and product/service to product/service. The state of satisfaction depends on a number of both psychological and physical variables which correlate with satisfaction behaviors such as return and recommend rate. The level of satisfaction can also vary depending on other options the customer may have and other products against which the customer can compare the organizations products. In retailing, consumers typically patronize multiple outlets. Thus, an important issue is why consumers vary in how they divide their purchases across outlets and how outlets can get a greater share of consumer expenditures. Two potential avenues for increasing customer share are to raise customer satisfaction, and increase repeat purchase through loyalty cards. This study examines the effects of customer satisfaction and loyalty cards as well as consumer characteristics on customer share spent on the primary grocery store. The findings suggest that customer satisfaction has a positive, albeit modest, effect on share while consumer economic shopping orientation has a negative direct effect on share. The economic orientation of shoppers, their felt importance of a personal relationship with store personnel, and the level of their aggregate purchase volume moderate the effect of satisfaction on customer share. Finally, the results provide mixed support for the impact of loyalty cards on customer behavior. Customer Satisfaction in Queuing Systems Companies have to increase their customers’ satisfaction to keep their competitiveness. In services, waiting has great impact on service level and customer satisfaction. Consequently, in time-based competition, one of the main objectives of service companies is to minimize customer waiting. Waiting can be defined in several ways; however, the ultimate management objective should be the maximization of customer satisfaction. The paper shows how customer satisfaction can be approximated with utility functions and establishes a theoretical background for utility transformation of waiting time. The case study of the checkout system of a real do-it-yourself superstore is used to illustrate the application of the suggested method. The results show that utility related objective function may justify queuing system changes even if the average waiting time does not improve. Elements of Queueing Systems Population of Customers can be considered either limited (closed systems) or unlimited (open systems). Unlimited population represents a theoretical model of systems with a large number of possible customers (a bank on a busy street, a motorway petrol station). Example of a limited population may be a number of processes to be run (served) by a computer or a certain number of machines to be repaired by a service man. It is necessary to take the term customer very generally. Customers may be people, machines of various nature, computer processes, telephone calls, etc. Arrival defines the way customers enter the system. Mostly the arrivals are random with random intervals between two adjacent arrivals. Typically the arrival is described by a random distribution of intervals also called Arrival Pattern. Queue represents a certain number of customers waiting for service (of course the queue may be empty). Typically the customer being served is considered not to be in the queue. Sometimes the customers form a queue literally (people waiting in a line for a bank teller). Sometimes the queue is an abstraction (planes waiting for a runway to land). There are two important properties of a queue: Maximum Size and Queuing Discipline. Maximum Queue Size (also called System capacity) is the maximum number of customers that may wait in the queue (plus the one(s) being served). Queue is always limited, but some theoretical models assume an unlimited queue length. If the queue length is limited, some customers are forced to renounce without being served. Queuing Discipline represents the way the queue is organised (rules of inserting and removing customers to/from the queue). There are these ways: 1) FIFO (First In First Out) also called FCFS (First Come First Serve) orderly queue; 2) LIFO (Last In First Out) also called LCFS (Last Come First Serve) – stack; 3) SIRO (Serve In Random Order); 4) Priority Queue, that may be viewed as a number of queues for various priorities; and 5) Many other more complex queuing methods that typically change the customer’s position in the queue according to the time spent already in the queue, expected service duration, and/or priority. These methods are typical for computer multi-access systems. Most quantitative parameters (like average queue length, average time spent in the system) do not depend on the queuing discipline. That’s why most models either do not take the queuing discipline into account at all or assume the normal FIFO ( First In First Out) queue. In fact the only parameter that depends on the queuing discipline is the variance (or standard deviation) of the waiting time. There is this important rule (that may be used for example to verify results of a simulation experiment). The two extreme values of the waiting time variance are for the FIFO (First In First Out) queue (minimum) and the LIFO (Last In First Out) queue (maximum). Theoretical models (without priorities) assume only one queue. This is not considered as a limiting factor because practical systems with more queues (bank with several tellers with separate queues) may be viewed as a system with one queue, because the customers always select the shortest queue. Of course, it is assumed that the customers leave after being served. Systems with more queues (and more servers) where the customers may be served more times are called Queuing Networks. Service represents some activity that takes time and that the customers are waiting for. Again take it very generally. It may be a real service carried on persons or machines, but it may be a CPU time slice, connection created for a telephone call, be ing shot down for an enemy plane, etc. Typically a service takes random time. Theoretical models are based on random distribution of service duration also called Service Pattern. Another important parameter is the number of servers. Systems with one server only are called Single Channel Systems, systems with more servers are called Multi Channel Systems. Output represents the way customers leave the system. Output is mostly ignored by theoretical models, but sometimes the customers leaving the server enter the queue again (round robin time-sharing systems). Queuing Theory is a collection of mathematical models of various queuing systems that take as inputs parameters of the above elements and that provide quantitative parameters describing the system performance. Because of random nature of the processes involved the queuing theory is rather demanding and all models are based on very strong assumptions (not always satisfied in practice). Many systems (especially queuing networks) are not soluble at all, so the only technique that may be applied is simulation. Nevertheless queuing systems are practically very important because of the typical trade-off between the various costs of providing service and the costs associated with waiting for the service (or leaving the system without being served). High quality fast service is expensive, but costs caused by customers waiting in the queue are minimum. On the other hand long queues may cost a lot because customers (machines e.g.) do not work while waiting in the queue or customers leave because of long queues. So a typical problem is to find an optimum system configuration (e.g. the optimum number of servers). The solution may be found by applying queuing theory or by simulation.

Second Earl Of Rochester Essay -- essays research papers

The satirists shared a talent for making other individuals feel uncomfortable, particularly by making them aware of their own moral inadequacies. They used irony, derision, and wit to attack human vice or folly. One method the satirist utilized to catch their readers' attention, while also making them feel uncomfortable, was to describe those things that were deemed inappropriate to discuss openly in society. The classical example of a topic that was discussed behind closed doors, yet the satirist used freely, was sex. Mention of such things as sex can always bring a giggle, excite feelings of hidden passion, or make one's cheeks rosy from embarrassment. John Wilmot, Second Earl of Rochester, and Jonathan Swift, were two satirist that were noted for using perverse language and graphic depictions to elicit desired emotions from their readers and to wage their attacks on human folly. To understand Rochester's use of sex in his work, one must understand his distaste for reason. This can be seen in his poem, A Satyr Against Mankind, when he comments: "Women and Men of wit, are dang'rous tools, and ever fatal to admiring fools." Rochester viewed reason as a vice rather than an admirable trait in man. When man followed a course of action that was advised by reason he turned into a coward who often betrayed his ideals, his family, and his friends. Rochester believed that to enjoy true happiness one must follow a course dictated by passion. Unlike reason, the passions do not betray one's senses and ideals. According to Rochester, the passions define who an individual is because the passions encompass one's emotions and desires. Reason cannot fully comprehend such a thing. Rochester highlights this belief in his poem's with tales of lust and sexual innuendoes. He uses perverse language and topics not only to mock those that believe reason is the human faculty that can bring about self-satisfaction, but also to describe to his readers that sensual pleasure is the highest pleasure because sensual pleasure is derived from passion, not reason. Rochester's poems rarely discuss love in the traditional sense; rather, he discusses it in a bodily context. Naturally, this would bring about the ire in any moralist. His poems make reference to ancient figures that draw on images of mass orgies and debauchery. He often uses language that elicits images of human... ...llivers Travels not only excite the attention of the reader but they also leave the reader with a very pessimistic impression of the modern world. If Gulliver had left a description of a pile of soil instead of his urination procedure, the reader would perhaps view his work as boring, but not as comedic or repulsive. The tales would have lost their derogatory tone, their satirical edge, and their comedic nature had Swift not used such images. Such images and language are a unique element of satirical writing. Satirist wanted to attack the vices of the community and impress an image on their readers. They, however, could not accomplish this through bland social commentary. Every literary style has certain tools to capture its audiences. The romantics used fruitful language and supernatural images. The realist used images and words that photographed how life really was. The satirist used wit, irony, sarcasm, as well as crude images and language. If they failed to use these tools then their attacks were not heeded and their words were not remembered. Rochester and Swift did not fail to use their satirical qualities and their impression on the literary world remains to this day.

Ancol Ltd.

1. What are the background facts, problems and symptoms of the problems that suggest that something has gone wrong?Background Facts: As Mr. Simard joined Ancol Ltd., he initially observed that there was a bitter relationship between employees and management. He wanted to bridge the gap and pull both sides together for a better communicative understanding between them. His belief was that, if a certain measure of trust could be built amongst employees and management, then it would create a better working environment, reduce the stress level at work, as well increase productivity amongst employees due to job satisfaction, which would lead to greater growth for the organization. In order to establish this, his first move was to remove the clock system for employees to record their shift reports. The idea behind this was that employees will be able to work much freely; realizing management has put certain level of trust in them.Problems and Symptoms of Problems: The main idea behind remo ving the clocking system was to improve relationships between employees and management. Although, this was a positive intention from Mr. Simard; however, he overlooked some key measures to achieve his objective:Did not do enough research to identify if similar approach was taken in the past within the organization or elsewhere, and identify whether there was any business risks associated with his decision. Did not discuss his decision with higher management, or the workers union. Failed to understand the competence level of the supervisors and their current roles and responsibilities prior to implementing the process Failed to discuss with payroll and understanding possible effects of operational decisions causing problems within other departmentsThe symptoms of problems started when employees realized that they were no longer being monitored for their attendance, and there was an incompetency amongst the supervisors to detect any misuse. As a result, a small percentage of employees took advantage of the situation, leaving a large number of employees feeling unsatisfied with the situation due to inequality at workplace.2. In your opinion, what caused these problems and whose responsibility is it to solve them? What solutions can you suggest?In my opinion, the problem was caused by lack of planning for such decisions. There were hardly any communication between Mr. Simard and the rest of the organization in making such moves. He also lacked communication with the union, as well as higher management. There was lack of training available for the supervisors to track and manage attendance of their employees. There is no evidence of a productivity monitoring system for each employee, which could have also assisted in reporting any misuse.I strictly believe, it is still Mr. Simard’s responsibility to resolve them, by educating his supervisors on how to track attendance, and also by maintaining a clear communication with the employees that an organization can only benefit by filling in the gap between employees and management through trust, honestly and hardwork. There should also be examples made of the employees who have misused their liberty by either termination or suspension. He should also keep an open communication with the Union and report those employees that have misused.He needs to implement a productivity monitoring system, which can track the production of each employee. Although this might be viewed as a negative amongst some members; however, if there are rewards associated with it (i.e employee of the month, or incentives), then that might also create employee satisfaction. I honestly don’t believe that going back to the clocking system will do any good, the decision that Simard made was a positive one; however he just needed to plan it better.

Porsche strategy through the recent years Essay

Porsche had been successful and profitable for many years, but hit a bump in the early 1990s. Its production became inefficient and wasteful this was fuelled by the fact the U.S. economy was in a recession. The company was actually about to become bankrupt and there were talks of a possible takeover (Stredwick, 2005, pp.67-78). The auto manufacturer was saved by the then newly appointed CEO Wendelin Wiedeking. He made sure that Porsche focused on creating new strengths in lean manufacturing and synchronized engineering. This was after Porsche had been operating for many years as a craftwork company that mainly allowed the engineers to operate on their own and not with the whole production line. This made the engineers relax on making good Porsche car designs and selling better designs to outsiders that later hurt the company. Part of the decision that led to the company making major profits again was to extend Porsche product line which was mainly the sports car production it had foc used on for such a long time (Henderson & Reavis, 2012, pp.56-65). Some of these other products included the Cayenne which is an SUV, it entered the market that was competing with other brands in the SUV market this include Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Land Rover and Volkswagen. This was a risk to be closely associated with Volkswagen which is a brand that produced cars for mass production. Some considered it a sell out and a total dilution of the high standards of the Porsche cars. This car as predicted was not a first time hit but Porsche worked on its designs for three years to produce a better reliable version that was finally a hit. In 2005 it also announced that it would create another car out of its sports car area. This was a luxury sedan named Panamera after a Mexican-long distance car race (Viknesh, 2012, pp.2-6). Porsche strategy through the recent years             One of the best strategies that Porsche has stuck through the thick and thin is the company’s outside engineering business PEG, which has always focused on selling designs based on the strength of Porsche engineering. Porsche acquired more shares in Volkswagen raising its shares from 31% to 50% in beginning of 2009. This was an official acquisition of the company since they were the majority shareholders. Porsche has been known to carry out hedging as part of its business. In 2008 in it made six times as much in the stock market as it did through selling cars. Its acquisition of Volkswagen was based on its hedging activities. For a period of time market speculators were wondering why Volkswagen shares remained high despite the fact that the company was not performing very well financially. This led to the reveal of the decision of Porsche owning more than 74% of Volkswagen shares. This led to a stock market squeeze that made Volkswagen the most valuable com pany in the world for a brief period of time with stock increasing to values over 1,000 Euros (Henderson & Reavis, 2012, pp.5-8). The CEO Wiedeking had a lot to do with the decisions that Porsche has been taking. He has made the company profitable by taking risks and making the hard decisions that led to the creation of new methods and ideas at Porsche. Engineering and design are also part of the major competitive strategies of Porsche. This is one strategy that has seen the company earn billions from it. It includes a team 2,300 engineers in its engineering Research and development. It shares it with outside companies by designing models with the intrinsic core of all its designs being Porsche’s strength. This customer engineering development company is known as the Porsche Engineering Group. It is known as Porsche’s secret ace that enabled it to employ more engineers than if it worked alone. Companies trust it to create models for them since its small size would not allow it to use the technology availed from the models created (Viknesh, 2012, pp.2-8). These strategies of Porsche seemed to pay off but however secret takeover of Volkswagen led to the split of the Porsche family some opposing while some supporting. Porsche’s hedging and manipulation of the stock market while trying to take over Volkswagen has brought Wendelin Wiedeking and Holger Harter the two former chief and chief financial officer of Porsche under investigation for information based market manipulation. The hedge funds and other business that made major losses during that time are seeking compensation. The failed takeover of Volkswagen was an error on Porsche part. It did so despite the fact that it had SE debts. This failed attempt led to the former Mr Wiedeking leaving the company. This news has negatively impacted the company with its share price dropping by 2percent to 56.93 Euros. Due to the debt and the litigations charges that may be brought against Porsche it has been forced to sell the 50.1 shares acquired in 2008 at an underestimated amount of 4. 46 billion Euros. This has ended the seven year takeover with many people thinking Porsche would win out in the end. Volkswagen although held out as it did not cut corners like Porsche was trying to do when it was trying to takeover Volkswagen (BBC News, 2012, N.P). Despite this Porsche is still making high returns on investment. Even under the Volkswagen umbrella Porsche is still able to make a lot of money. It will continue doing well provided it does not give up its brand in manufacturing its products. Under Volkswagen it will be able to specialize in making many more cars rather than the sports car it is well known for, this will make sure it continues returning high returns on investments. The litigation costs though are going to be a huge burden to the group it hence has learnt its lesson the hard way by being acquired by another company. It therefore is a lesson to all other companies not to manipulate the market for selfish goals that are driven by the directors only (BBC News, 2012, N.P). Porsche’s steps in forming and implementing Company strategy             The theoretical frame work behind the strategy of Porsche consulting lies in three steps. One is the corporate strategy whereby the company lays a common goal and vision. This are made specific to the customer, finance, employee and market segments of the business. From the corporate strategy the product strategy, core strategy as well as cross-departmental strategy are based on the general corporate strategy. Corporate strategy can include brand strategy and product strategy (Murlis, 2004, pp.4-12). Examples of brand strategy include brand values and an example product strategy includes modular strategy. Core strategies form step two of creating the company’s strategic position. This entails every department doing its part in to ensure that the company’s strategic objectives in customer, finance, employee and market dimensions are met (Roehm & Brady, 2007, pp.6-8). The suitable objectives in core strategies are thus divided into the following sectio ns, sales strategies, production, procurement, development as well as key figures (Fleisher & Bensoussam, 2003, pp.2-8). The third step in forming the company’s strategy includes setting up measures. This are defined for each segments of the corporate strategy, they lead to accomplishment of strategic objectives. These measures set the basis of accomplishing the strategic objectives of Porsche (Porsche Consulting Magazine, 2013, pp.2-4). For the company to have a good strategy the three steps must be followed to the letter. According to Eberhard Weiblen, President and CEO of Porsche consulting the strategy has to be developed first over a short period of time by a small project team. Further the strategy has to be clear and simple and create an emotional experience in the staff for it to be successful. Porsche has used this strategy and has yielded great results of continued profitability as well as enhancement of an exclusive brand (Cavusgil, et al., 2009, pp.44-56). Due to the steps mentioned above the company has been able to develop a strategy to work on till the year 2018 that defines concrete goals and fields of activity. This dimensions defined include market, employees, finance and customer dimensions. The main strategy is achieving the title of being the most successful manufacturer of sports cars in the world (David, 2007, pp.50-54). The consultants of Porsche consulting are being retained to accompany the development and achievement of Porsche strategy 2018. The main reasons why their company strategy procedures work so well is because they put it to test for a short period of time of six months and see the outcomes (Doole & Lowe, 2004). They also involve their employees as part of the testing face hence leading to the success of the set up procedures later on. Communication of the strategy in place also plays a huge role. This is achieved by companywide-management conferences which are attended by managers at department level (Porsche Consulting Magazine, 2013, pp.2-4). Reward Management at Porsche             Rewarding management deals with strategies and processes as well as policies being set in place to ensure the employees’ efforts are recognized. Rewarding managers depending on financial performance of the company is based on how well the company is performing financially (McDonald, 2006, pp.78-82). These include figures such as return on investments, profits achieved in the year and other financial estimates used to measure financial performance (Cavusgil, et al., 2009, pp.34-38). However this system of rewarding is not balanced hence Porsche need to change it into a more balanced form of reward system. For the reward system to be viable and to motivate employees it has to factor in other performances that have boosted the company (Calsson, 2004, pp.5-12). These include sales performance and engineering rates of the company as well. Financial performance although important is but one aspect of the whole company’s general health. The other factors th at are recognized also lead to high financial performance. High sales will generate more revenue hence boosting the financial performance of the company. Others like engineering levels and prowess of the company will reward engineers who make exceptional advancement in their engineering designs and models. If these models are exceptional they will increase revenue of the company as well as it will be able to sell these designs for a high amount (Murlis, 2004, pp.56-67). These rewards will motivate the employees, to want to excel in the many purposes in the organization, If the rewards are spread overall other measures and not financial performance only. It will lead to employees being driven to excel in all areas and not financial only. These rewards can be extrinsic as well as intrinsic rewards. Extrinsic rewards refer to promotions, gifts, bonuses and salary raise (Calsson, 2004, pp.3-8). While intrinsic rewards refer to those aimed at ensuring employee satisfaction this include, monogrammed names or plaque, trust, recognition, relationship, feedback and empowerment. Intrinsic rewards are aimed at making employees feel better within the department while extrinsic rewards are based on the performance and activities of the employee to a certain outcome. Porsche recognizes all these and carries out both extrinsic and intrinsic rewarding. The company also tries to find a balance between rewarding an employee extrinsic and intrinsic (Henderson & Reavis , 2012, pp.5-13). The rewards should be given according to an employee’s personality. Tickets to watch a basketball game has to be given to a person who is a fun and not a stay at home mum who doesn’t like basketball. Porsche also rewards not only individuals but also teams and departments (Alkhafaji, 2003, pp.22-26). The evidence shows that the type of financial rewarding mechanism of Porsche based on financial performance seems to work for the engineering activities since they are still leading in the providing of vehicle designs. However it will have better results if the other reasons for reward other than financial performance are set in place. The engineering department will work extra hard to achieve the reward. The company should consider incorporating motivational theories in rewarding its management (Brooks, 2009, pp.2-6). The two directors were Wiediking and Holger were purely driven by financial performance that led them to neglect other aspects that make a company successful such honesty and full disclosure. This requires Porsche to change its policy of only rewarding managers on financial performance basis alone. The motivation theories include process and content theories. Content theories therefore require the company to name and research on aspects that make employees to perform efficiently. The company needs to do this so as to know what motivates the employees other than financial performance. The reward system under content theories is more extrinsic they include bonuses. While process theories mainly focus on intrinsic rewards which include self-actualization, respect and recognition. Which boost employee’s confidence and improve job satisfaction of the employees (Stredwick, 2005, pp.4-9). References Alkhafaji, A. F. 2003. Strategic Management, Formulation, Implementation, and Control in a Dynamic Environment (21, Illustrated Ed.). London: Routledge BBC News. 2012. Volkswagen agrees to buy rets of Porsche for $5.6bn, Brooks, I. 2009. Organisational Behaviour (4th ed.). Essex England: Pearson Education Limited. pp. 81–89. Calsson S. A. 2004. Strategic Knowledge Managing in the Context of Networks, Chapter 32. In: Handbook on Knowledge Management Volume I, (Ed) Holsapple Clycle W Cavusgil, S. T., Ghauri, P. N., and Agarwal, M. R. 2009. Doing Business in Emerging markets: Entry and Negotiation Strategies. New York: Cengage. David F. R. 2007. Strategic management: Concepts and cases, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc. pp. 102-134 Doole, I., and Lowe, R. 2004. International marketing strategy – analysis, development and Implementation, 4th ed. London: Thomson Learning. Fleisher CS. and Bensoussam B. E. 2003. Strategic and Competitive Analysis: Methods and Techniques for Analysing Business Competition, New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc. Henderson. R and Reavis. C. 2009. What’s driving Porsche? MIT Sloan Management, McDonald, M. 2006. Strategic Marketing Planning: Theory and Practice. Cranfield University School of Management, The Marketing Review Murlis, M. & Armstrong H. 2004. Reward management: a handbook of remuneration strategy and practice (5th ed. ed.). London [u.a.]: Kogan Page Porsche Consulting. 2013. The Magazine Roehm, M., & Brady, M. 2007. Consumer responses to performance failures by high-equity brands. Journal of Consumer Research, 34(4), 537-545. Stredwick, J. 2005. Introduction to Human Resource Management (1st ed.). Oxford, United Kingdom: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann Viknesh. 2012. Volkswagen completes Porshe takeover, Retrieved 12/12/2013, from: http://www.csmonitor.com/ Source document

Anthropology essays

Anthropology essays The organization I have worked for this semester is Lutheran Family Services, in particular, refugee services. This organization relocates refugees, the ones I worked with are from Sudan, Africa. A 20 year civil war has been raging in Sudan leaving families displaced and relocated. The war is between the Northern Sudanese (mostly Arab Muslims-also in control of the government) and the Southern Sudanese (mostly indigenous people of Nuer and Dinka 'tribes'). The Southern Sudanese do not recognize the government except when forced to. White missionaries come to Southern Sudan to aid these people while converting them to Christianity (and furthering their God's/or religion's own agenda). Bior (a boy I work with) told me, "we like the white people in Sudan, they come to help us build things." The Southern Sudanese have been cosntantly attacked and often fled to neighboring Kenya. Even in Kenya refugee camps the Southern Sudanese have been attacked by their Arab enemies. The Northern Sudanese are largely Arab Muslims who control the government. The government is seen as artificial to the indigenous population. The government attempts to collect taxes and impose laws on those in Southern Sudan. Resistance is shown to these hegemonic (concede to our government) practices. In Sudan we see religion polarizing groups (Muslims following Muslim law against non-Muslim Southern Sudanese, also, Christian missionaries aiding and converting Southern Sudanese). The laws of the government are in accordance and set up to further Islamic law. This law is pushed on non-Islamic peoples. The Christian missionaries meanwhile attempt to get the local tribes to act according to Christian principles (i.e. forgoing traditional animal sacrifices). Religion is a force of change dictating the government (those with the weapons and power seize control of it) and enacted by the same government...

English Language Prepositional Phrase Examples

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Software Engneering Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

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