Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Capacity Planning and Performance Modeling SLP Research Paper

Capacity Planning and Performance Modeling SLP - Research Paper Example Capacity planning is thus seen as a strategic process used to match data center resources with the business demand to provide acceptable service levels at a minimum cost. Capacity planning is an important operation management process that closely works with performance management, service level management, and configuration management. Performance management becomes an integral part of the capacity planning process because the goal of performance management is to manage current system performance in a proactive manner. The proper management of the parameters of system performance such as throughput and latency will provide the client with adequate results and minimal downtime (Mitchell, 2007). For firms that are involved in large-scale operations, keeping track of all the operations within the system can be a daunting task. Fortunately, the advent of technology has made it much more manageable to evaluate the activities that lead to a good performance and optimal capacity levels of the organization. Table 1 shows three capacity planning software that provides management with the necessary tools to keep up with its system. I chose this three software because they appear to be the most popular and the most effective in accomplishing the required goals of a capacity planning software. Other than capacity planning sof tware, many organizations are likewise investing in performance measurement software to automate their measurement and reporting systems. I went on to Performance-measurement.net and was introduced to two of these software. Table 2 shows the description, advantages and disadvantages of each one.

Monday, October 28, 2019

Political Analysis on China Essay Example for Free

Political Analysis on China Essay China has been under the communist party rule for many decades. The communist party exercises absolute power over legislations and economic and cultural institutions. China rules and regulations are not so transparent or absolute. Due to lack of transparency and corruption the social network with the people from the communist party can help the business avoid red tape and bureaucracy. A political risk refers to government interference in the business affairs of foreign persons or companies doing business in a particular country. China is particularly hazardous with respect to political risk. In fact this has occurred in china in 1949. There are the risk of confiscation, risk of expropriation, and risk of contract repudiation.A unique form of political risk occurs in china, and this is the constant battle between the country’s central government and the provincial and local governments over applicable law, and observance or non-observance of it. This makes it difficult for companies operating in China to know exactly what the rules are. Other Political risk of China are as follows- 1) Political Effectiveness- Political effectiveness is actually not very effective in china as compared to other countries. Barely anyone bothers to call the police and they be easily bribed. Road laws are not enforced and thus there is a high rate of accidents in China with the way they drive. The government is even less confident than outside observers regarding their nation’s political stability. 2) Institutional Stability- Corruption still plays a huge role in China. They believe that profit comes first and mostly for personal reasons. At first it was only the Chinese Communist Party who took control in 1949. Later the other branches such as the Judicial Branch came into power in 1980. 3)Currency inconvertibility – The import and export business exchange currencies in either USD or RMB. Only certain worldwide currencies can be exchanged in China, other than that they use the RMB. 4) Honest Government- There are many cases known to justify corruption among government officials. Policies and laws are not solid or stable in China, therefore everything is negotiable. The CPI ratings of China are 3.5 this year. This looks bad compared to the United States and Canada. 106,000 officials were prosecuted for corruption in 2009 which was a 2.5% increase from 2008. With China’s growing economy, it will only get worse. Minimizing Political Risk- For minimizing political risk we should understand the importance of social networks and their relationship. It is a challenging process for a company to recruit the right people with the appropriate network to overcome these challenges. Legal System- For thousands of years, the Chinese legal system was based on Confucian ideology that emphasized ethics and relationships between the people and their leaders. China does not technically have an independent judiciary or a legal system that operates outside the influence of the ruling Chinese Communist Party. In fact, China’s lack of an independent judicial system. Legal and Regulatory Risk Regulatory risk in China is high. Although many sectors of Chinas economy have become more market oriented, numerous restrictions and a massive bureaucracy still hinder full implementation of regulations and make the approval process unpredictable. Chinas Judicial System- Using Chinas judicial system also involves risk. Because of Chinas WTO membership and growing pressure from foreign investors for greater transparency and rule of law, China increasingly recognizes overseas arbitration awards and rulings. It is, however, still risky for companies to rely solely on the PRC judicial system to protect their interests. Similarly, China’s accession to the WTO has brought with it the inclusion of international business laws and patent rights amendments, but even today it is common to see technology being stolen either by the employees of the outsourced firm in China or by a Chinese competitor in the country. Protection from foreign Currency Earning Enterprises- The cost of doing business in China is frequently higher than companies expect. These issues, coupled with a recent rise in policies aimed at protecting domestic companies from foreign competition— especially in engineering and construction, legal services, and banking—create risks and obstacles that few foreign companies are aware of until too late. Minimizing Legal Risk- Hence western companies that plan to outsource manufacturing to China should be aware of these legal challenges. One way of preventing these issues is to have a strong network with the locals or to make sure that sensitive technology is not outsourced to China. Cultural Challenges China has evidenced thousands of years of history, culture and traditions. The way Chinese people behave today is the result of its historical transformations, which is very different from the transformations witnessed by western societies. Hence the modern day Chinese culture is very different from the cultures of the west. The cultural aspects of the Chinese are immensely reflected in the business world, for example, A CEO in the western world is normally looked upon as a consensus builder or as an individual who debates and discusses strategies with their employees and then executes the strategy, whereas in China the leader is looked upon as the sole decider and executor of strategies. There is a strict hierarchy in the Chinese business culture, which is very different from the business culture of some of the west countries. So to run a successful wholly owned outsourcing unit in China, the western businessmen need to understand and overcome these cultural chal lenges. Challenges in Scale and Demographics China is a vast country with a massive population, Western businesses are often at awe about China and think that the 1.3 billion people could become a large customer base, but in reality China is a complex market. 850 million people in China live in the impoverished countryside; their life is harsh, uncertain and poor.536 million people live in the urban areas out of which 247 million people are considered middle class and have an expendable income. The middle class earns over $5000 per head over the period of a year, but one must also consider the fact that the Chinese are the largest savers in the world unlike some western countries such as the US where the consumers have massive spending power and a culture that promotes spending. Hence for a western company to succeed they need to understand these Demographic differences. Challenges related to market behaviour The Chinese market is unique in many aspects, many western companies have tried to sell their product as-is in the Chinese market and failed miserably, and these are not some small unknown brands but large mega brands that have been successful for many decades and different markets. To be recognized as a brand in China, one need to market and advertise the Chinese way, marketing and branding in China should carry a strong Chinese Cultural overtone to be successful in the mainland. Successful western companies such as Google and eBay have failed to become market leaders in China. The lesson learnt from the failure of these companies is that they â€Å"did not understand the localization factor† Therefore for the long run, western companies should â€Å"Think Chinese but act western† and sell the right product at the right price to be successful in the Chinese market. Economic instability Trade policy Challenges China is the world’s second largest economy and is among the fastest growing economies of the world. When western companies move to China they have to consider the economic stability of the country and prepare themselves for the various risks due to changes in fiscal policy, monetary policy, trade policy and other macro economic factors. China’s economy is mostly dependent on exports from the manufacturing industry and foreign economists suggest that the Yuan is undervalued by as much as 40%. Hence a Change in the Yuan can impact the profitability of the western business. Due to high economic growth there has been a strong demand for semi and highly skilled labour all over China. The labour costs have steadily increased over the last 5 years and the government has increased the minimum wage level. This will impact operating costs in China and hence a western company planning to operate in China will have to factor in this ri sk. In summary western enterprises need to be aware of macroeconomic risks before they start their operations in China or face the possibility of failure.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Analysis of Sherman Alexies The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Hea

Analysis of Sherman Alexie's 'The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven' and 'Smoke Signals'   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sherman Alexie based on some short stories included in his book, 'The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven,' wrote the screenplay for the movie 'Smoke Signals.' Both the movie and the book portray problems that Indians had to deal with, and how they dealt with it. The book is far more complex than the movie, showing a wider variation of characters facing different situations.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the movie there is Victor, the main character, which tries to be the typical Indian, or maybe just a typical man. He shows just hate towards his father, who left Victor and his mother alone and fled to Phoenix. The picture Victor has about his father is that he was an alcoholic and always tried to talk with his fists.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  On the other hand there is Thomas, the other main character. He lives a mystical life and is far more emotional than Victor. Thomas has also another point of view about Victor?s father. He remembered him as a nice guy, who took him to Denny?s once.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When Victor?s father died, Thomas offered money to help Victor to get to Phoenix and get his father?s ashes and belongings, as long as he could go with Victor. On this part of the movie, it is easy to understand how Victor sees the Indians before the whites. On the bus, he tells Thomas that the only way that white people would respect them is by being serious; showing no feelings, not even a smile, being ...

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Alex and the Amazing Time Machine ?

Thank goodness I made it back in one piece. I have my brother and the world is happy again. Especially since Carl and Little Davy have been sent to the beginning of time. First, I’d like to say that I have finally and successfully finished building my time machine but there’s a story behind that: Psycho gave me this booster for the time machine to finally get it running. When I got home, I was pretty excited because I was sure that it was going to work. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. I was so frustrated and fell asleep with Scout in my arms. That same night, forgot to turn off the machine.Sometime between that and waking up this morning, my dog Scout disappeared. I was really scared and nervous but I had to go to school. Later that day, my school had a field trip to the museum. In the museum, we saw these dioramas of early man and I kept seeing this dog that looked an awful lot like Scout. I realized it was Scout and at that point it hit me that she might have go tten into the machine while I was sleeping and went back in time and became known as a â€Å"thoropulis†. The explanation behind the â€Å"thoropulis† was that it seemed to have always been searching for something or someone.My guess is that she was trying to get home. As my class was learning more and more about this â€Å"thoropulis† it hit me that it could only mean that the time machine actually worked! I was so excited to get back home because this meant one thing: I could travel in time and save my brother! When my class and I got back to the bus from the museum, the same white van that Carl and Little Davy drive turned up at the museum. Todd and I became super nervous because there was only one explanation as to why they were there: they were after me!Todd quickly hatched up a plan to distract Carl and Little Davy. He had the class get out of the bus to shield me from view. From that point, I ran back home and rushed to my room to activate the time machin e. By accident in panic, I set it two years in the future instead of setting it to six weeks in the past. Once I was zapped to the future, I found myself in my bedroom except things looked a little different and looked A LOT nicer. When I stepped outside the house to walk around town, I came upon a banner that said â€Å"Dalton Trumble Appreciation Day† . Wait what?There’s a holiday for my dad? It turned out he wrote a famous book called, â€Å"Alex and the Amazing Time Machine†. I stole one of the copies of the book from the future and brought it back to the past that way my father could actually write it. After that little adventure, it was time to save my brother Steven. I set the machine six weeks back in the past. After being zapped, I found myself in my bedroom again but this time I felt that there was a sense of cheeriness in the air that I hadn’t felt since Steven was taken. While I was on my way to the camp, I had to make sure that I wasn’ t seen.The one place I could hide in was the trunk of my dad’s car. I hid there because this was the same day my family went to the camp retreat, which is where Steven was taken. It was such an uncomfortable ride being squished in the trunk. When the car stopped, I snuck out of the trunk when my family wasn’t looking and grabbed a sleeping bag before closing it quietly. I went to a shed to collect some supplies that might come in handy to camp out in the woods to collect some strength and rest for what might be a dangerous mission. The next morning, I caught my fish for breakfast and was ready to save my brother.My plan however didn’t really work out. I saw Steven had already been taken by Carl and was on my way to get him until Little Davy captured me. We were both put into the van and were asked a bunch of questions. Steven sat quietly but was clearly scared because he had no idea of what was going on. I ended up answering all of the questions but not entirely truthfully. Unfortunately, they could tell when I was lying and it looked like they were prepared for it too because each time that I lied, they forced me to eat a forkful of worms that they had collected.By the time I answered all of the questions, I had eaten almost half of the plate of worms. YUCK! Next thing I knew, Carl had me and Steven tied up to trees and he had a gun that shot people into a universe similar to ours except the universe he was going to shoot us to had no way of escaping. All of a sudden, Todd showed up with a metal baseball bat in hand. You could only imagine the shock I had when I saw him. Not to mention the relief! Todd went straight for Carl and knocked his knees out. At that exact moment the gun was fired and hit a set of leaves.After Carl was on the ground moaning, Todd went straight to Little Davy and hit him in the knees as well. Once he was on the ground moaning like a baby, Todd ran to us untied us from the tree. We quickly tied up Carl and Little D avy and I used my time machine to open a portal to the beginning of time and sent them there. I closed the portal immediately so there would be no escape. I looked at Steven and explained that I had enough love for the both of us. I told him this because he always felt unloved. He was really happy to hear this and I received a great, big hug from my brother, which was really nice.Afterwards, I told him to come up with a silly story to explain to our parents as to why he was missing. When he left, I thanked Todd for coming back and being there to help rescue my brother and me. It turned out that Todd found my time machine that I had left in the present in my room when I left to go to the past. A few weeks later, Todd went missing and I thought it was happening all over again! Next thing I knew, he materialized himself in my bedroom holding a dog. Guess who that dog was. Yep! It was Scout! I gave them both a really big hug and thanked Todd for rescuing my dog.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

My Personal Philosophy Essay

Every human is bestowed upon themselves the right to live how so ever they choose to live. As humans in a society, we live to better ourselves and our future generations. Everyone has a goal that they want to live up to. Achieving this goal is considered success. I believe though that success isn’t achieving goals, instead, success is living with an active soul. Emerson, in his speech to Phi Beta Kappa says -â€Å"The one thing, in the world, of value is an active soul. † Emerson infers that success doesn’t come from reading books, but from becoming active. The imaginative genius, Albert Einstein, says in his famous quote that he isn’t a genius. Rather he is a human with an active curiosity. Curiosity is a gift of the soul. Curiosity is the soul saying that it wants to learn how to express itself even more. 2009 Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Barack Obama, tells the world that it isn’t he who has won the prize. He says that all Americans out in the world, who better their society by being actively involved, are the true winners of the prize. A common attribute that all these peoples include contributing to their own success is activeness, activeness through their soul. All these people are people who not only changed their society, but changed the world. There are many more who are of as equal value in their contributions to individuals of the planet. All these people are people who do not simply live life with a pattern. They are not people who no longer care as to pay the slightest attention to their heart’s desire. These people are people who live life actively. Actively through their soul and hence they are success. Not only a success to themselves, but to the society around them. Their success is praised, but the honor should go to their souls which took on the challenge of remaining dormant or becoming active.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Punctuation Saves Lives!

Punctuation Saves Lives! Punctuation Saves Lives! Punctuation Saves Lives! By Daniel Scocco Its Saturday, so instead of our usual writing tip well have some fun. The image below appeared on Deborah Ngs Google+ (Googles social network) stream yesterday. Nice huh? For those who cant see the image, the first line says: Lets eat grandma!. The second line says: Lets eat, grandma!. And the conclusion: Punctuation saves lives!. If you have similar images about the English language and want to see them featured on the blog you can send them to info@dailywritingtips.com. We might make this a regular column. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:7 Classes and Types of PhrasesDo you "orient" yourself, or "orientate" yourself?Quiet or Quite?

Monday, October 21, 2019

Looking At The Social Care Policy For Kids Social Work Essay Essay Example

Looking At The Social Care Policy For Kids Social Work Essay Essay Example Looking At The Social Care Policy For Kids Social Work Essay Essay Looking At The Social Care Policy For Kids Social Work Essay Essay Lynne Berry, good quality service starts with good quality preparation. The GSCC are working with universities to guarantee that tomorrow s societal workers are clear about the criterions they are expected to run into, animate public assurance in societal attention and are able to work successfully with co-workers from other professions ( GSCC, 2003 ) . Harmonizing to Campbell ( 2007 ) , A spokesman from the Department for Children, Schools and Families, which is responsible for kid public assistance, said: In response to the Victoria Climbie enquiry, we have well strengthened the model of jurisprudence, counsel and back uping systems to assist maintain kids safe, and that work is go oning. Tragically we know some kids still suffer maltreatment and disregard. Despite the cosmopolitan support for the purposes of Every Child Matters policy, there are still kids that faux pas through the net. In May 2007, one -month- old Luigi Askew was beaten to decease by his violent male parent. Social workers and constabularies were accused of In decision, whilst researching Every Child Matter it is important to recognize most alterations in legislation/Act/polices to protect kids derive from weaknesss by both professionals and household members to protect kids. Victoria Climbie s decease was wake up call for practicians and professionals who are supposed to be safeguarding and protecting kids s public assistance. However it is of import to indicate that, over the centuries the public assistance province has tried to safeguard kids and statute law have invariably been put topographic point to forestall such conditions. Legislation is cardinal to developing policies for practicians to work within and protect both service users and professionals. Guidelines that assist to working more efficaciously with households are continually germinating in order to accomplish better results. Need to make a thorough enchantment cheque and grammar cheque. Be really careful about doing affectional statements in an academic essay and besides when you make planetary averments make certain that you can grounds these non merely with media soundbites or/and relations positions which whilst valid for them may non be representative of the full image. The fact is that the UK has one of the most successful kid protection systems in the western universe There is and has been rather a batch of good work done in this areaaˆÂ ¦..

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Why You Should Avoid Multitasking

Why You Should Avoid Multitasking Most of us multitask. We have a million things to do and not enough time in the day to get it done. The common consensus is that multitasking will make us more productive because we’re getting more done. However, this simply isn’t true. As we’re going to see in the following infographic, there is a difference between getting a lot of work done and getting a lot of good work done. Here is why you should avoid multitasking:Source: [FuzeBox]

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Kanzas City Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Kanzas City - Essay Example t the OPC overstates compensation expenses by expensing bonuses in the year in which they are paid and states that bonuses are part of compensation package and should be divided equally throughout the player’s contract period for accounting purposes. However, the OPC is right in using the above manner because the deferred compensation should only be expensed when players earn it, that is, it is an expected expense for the OPC (Palepu, Healy, & Bernard, 2007). The OPC is right to because bonus depreciation is a legal process available to all businesses and it allows firms to deduct an extra depreciation expense for the qualifying item, which is taken right away in the year that the item in question is put in use (IRS, 2013). It is a method of accelerated depreciation used on new items only. Nonetheless, the process creates a loophole in valuation by helping businesses to make tax losses thus raises concern for the PBPA. The above expense is associated with the salaries paid to players who no longer provide services to the team but whose contracts with the team have not expired. The OPC is right to expense the whole amount in one year because the affected players do not contribute to the team’s current revenues. Corporate financial reporting uses accrual as opposed to cash accounting where expected cash outflows from economic transactions are recognized as expenses when computing the net income (Palepu & Healy, 2012). Accrual accounting fills the gap left by cash accounting when closing accounting books since the latter does not report full economic repercussions of transactions undertaken in a certain period and gives incomplete information about a firm’s periodic performance. Since the stadium’s owners are also shareholders in Zephyrs, then it is possible that the rent could be overcharged given that managers can use disclosure policies that make it difficult for external users to discover the firm’s true economic picture and such overlapping revenues

No topic(just answer the question) Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

No topic(just answer the question) - Case Study Example At the same time, this option will ensure marriage minded individuals are not undermine by providing them with a platform that lacked previously. This group of individuals are often neglected by many players in the industry eHarmony operates and this makes it a lucrative path. Through the option, eHarmony will be able to market itself more and ensure more growth. The option will also ensure more growth for the company and will be in line with eHarmony investment in research. The final reason, why the option should be given a consideration, is that it provides viable avenues for various differentiations for eHarmony. The company operates in a rather dynamic and competitive industry and these forms the root for constraints and challenges associated with recommended option two. Option two faces challenge of competition. Being that eHarmony company also competes with Yahoo! Personals that attract significant individuals losing customers to them may be possible. Finally, if the strategy such as matching algorithm is not fully implemented, eHarmony may lose significantly on section of

Friday, October 18, 2019

BSG game reflective report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

BSG game reflective report - Essay Example The main strategy used by Big Foot all through the game was best price strategy. Placing our products in the competitive market, ensuring that the price was viable was the only way to achieve maximum profitability of the business. Notably, this was part of the 3 year strategic plan developed by the entire team. Price concentration was highly effective, and as evidenced by its outcomes, Big Foot footwear was always at the top of all other groups, controlling a sizeable market share, which by 2015 was as high as 51.07%. Concentration on one strategy assisted the organization maintain increment in value all through the 5 periods it was operational. Most of the applied strategies in the game were all courtesy of the MBA program. Some of the most valuable theories that I learnt in when pursuing my masters were the strategies needed for one to compete in a global market. One of the crucial theories learnt in class applicable in any business environment is the Porters 5 forces of industrial analysis. Porters five forces were largely applicable in the BSG online game in that understanding the various tools for industry analysis, comparing the success levels of the competition and as well as the prices were largely used through the development of the business strategy for BIG FOOT company. The applicability of porter’s 5 forces in any given industry is crucial in the deciding of the business strategy. In the case of Big Foot for instance, understanding the power of suppliers solely relied on two features which were quality and price (Spulber, 2009, 262). The threat of substitutes is entirely reliant on the price strategy. With our team understanding this reality, we focused all our efforts and creating the best price for the best quality product in the market. Assessing the industry through evaluation of substitutes showed the nature of competition was very stiff and despite the fact

Analysis of Financial Service Industry Literature review

Analysis of Financial Service Industry - Literature review Example Besides having a stronghold in the financial service industry, Citi Corp mirrors the vision and goals of Intersect Investments. Benchmarking is the process of observation and validation of procedures and practices that the most successful companies employ. It is a process of studying and following time tested practices from well-performing organizations to improve your own performance. In other words, it is the borrowing of standards for success. This involves determining where you need to improve, finding an organization that is exceptional in this area, then studying the company and applying its best practices in your firm. Benchmarking systematically studies the absolute best firms, and uses their best practices as the standard of comparison; a standard to meet or even surpass. Through a comprehensive assessment of strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities of Intersect Investments, the management has realized that a lot of critical areas have to be reviewed if the firm is to achieve its goals and objectives. Issues range from redefining the organizational vision to devising a proper career incentive system for its employees. Sharing a similar organizational mandate, Citi Corp has fared a lot better in the industry particularly with regard to these critical areas. Citi Corp has long stood with its principle of customer intimacy and procedural simplifications. These principles have given it an edge over its competitors and made it one of the leaders in the industry for a long time. Given the nature of the products, services, and customer orientation involved, any business in the financial service industry cannot afford to ignore these basic values. Intersect Investments should do a proper visioning exercise and tune it properly to that of the Citi Corp. All the while, customer friendly services, and humanistic approach should be the cornerstone of the exercise. Employee turnover is increasing and the cost of employee turnover is expensive. Therefore, employee retention is critical. Numerous studies suggest that the majority of the workforce is considering leaving their current job for another as the economy improves. Based on this realization, Citi Corp strongly advocates employee retention and value system. Employee retention matters. A continual effort to replace departing workers-to keep the revolving door full, instead of stopping it altogether-is bleeding organizations dry. It is expensive to constantly replace people that turnover. The cost of attracting, recruiting, hiring, training, and getting new people up to speed is tremendously more costly as well as more wasteful than most realize. Second, productivity and profitability are directly tied to employee retention.  

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Global marketing - entering a new country with new product Term Paper - 1

Global marketing - entering a new country with new product - Term Paper Example The demographic profile of India also appears propitious for Costco to enter the country. India boasts of a young population and burgeoning middle class. The communication systems in the country are well developed and the government is committed to develop other infrastructural facilities in the country. When India gained independence in 1947, the country’s leaders adopted an inward-focused, socialist-style, economic framework. The economic goals were elaborated and pursued through the five-year plans. The banks were nationalized and their lending policies were aimed to meet the government targets with regard to priority sector lending. Private enterprises had little autonomy, to say the least. India remained a state-controlled  economy till the early 1990s (The Economist, 2011). The government-led Indian economy landed in deep trouble and faced a balance-of-payments crisis in 1991. The crisis provided the impetus for change and India embarked on the policy of liberalization, privatization and globalization. Since then, India has slowly but surely implemented reforms and has become a market driven economy (Wilson & Keim, 2006). India is the second most populous country of the world next only to China (See Appendix Figure 2-A: Population Pyramid). The total population of India is estimated to be more than 1.2 billion (CIA, 2014). The infant mortality rate in India is 43.19 deaths per 1,000 live births. The life expectancy at birth is 67.8 years. The population growth rate in India is expected to be 1.25 percent in 2014. India is likely to overtake China to become the most populous country of the world by 2030 (Haub & Sharma, 2006). The demographic profile of India is really attractive. India boasts of a pretty young population as 28.5 percent of the people living in the country are less than 14 years of age. 18.1 percent of the population is aged between 15 and 24 years. The

CARBON EMISSIONS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

CARBON EMISSIONS - Essay Example The tool has been used to generate the figures that are used to justify this report. The results of the simulation using the tool will form evidence for the justification of the intended plan. This report explores the strengths and weaknesses of the values obtained from the tool. The tool was used with an aim simulating values that can achieve the desired 80% carbon emission. The analysis of the results obtained from the 2050 calculator will form a basis for the development of plan to achieve the 80% carbon emission. The URL used to generate this report is: http://2050-calculator-tool.decc.gov.uk/pathways/31134443324444441444414113322121332311213213111411121/primary_energy_chart. Below is a screenshot of the findings obtained from the tool. The procedure used to achieve the 80% carbon emission considers factors that affect carbon emissions. The factors include lifestyle and behavioural changes that occur due to changes with time. The desired lifestyle and behavioural changes include reductions in the average room temperatures during winter and reductions in energy demand. Lifestyles such as reducing food wastage can reduce emissions. Shifting from private transportation to public transportation can reduce the amount of emissions due to high usage of petroleum products. Another factor considered in the generation the results and explanation of this report is the changes in technology. Technology is dynamic in nature and has been changing gradually. The emergence of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) has contributed a lot to reduction in energy usage. These are less carbon intensive technologies that reduce the emission of carbon (Carbon emissions, 2008). The availability of different fuel and technological choices makes the development of our plan for reducing carbon emissions by 80% easier. Different options of lighting and heating appliances gives power consumers varied options to minimize their energy consumption. For example, current heating appliances

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Global marketing - entering a new country with new product Term Paper - 1

Global marketing - entering a new country with new product - Term Paper Example The demographic profile of India also appears propitious for Costco to enter the country. India boasts of a young population and burgeoning middle class. The communication systems in the country are well developed and the government is committed to develop other infrastructural facilities in the country. When India gained independence in 1947, the country’s leaders adopted an inward-focused, socialist-style, economic framework. The economic goals were elaborated and pursued through the five-year plans. The banks were nationalized and their lending policies were aimed to meet the government targets with regard to priority sector lending. Private enterprises had little autonomy, to say the least. India remained a state-controlled  economy till the early 1990s (The Economist, 2011). The government-led Indian economy landed in deep trouble and faced a balance-of-payments crisis in 1991. The crisis provided the impetus for change and India embarked on the policy of liberalization, privatization and globalization. Since then, India has slowly but surely implemented reforms and has become a market driven economy (Wilson & Keim, 2006). India is the second most populous country of the world next only to China (See Appendix Figure 2-A: Population Pyramid). The total population of India is estimated to be more than 1.2 billion (CIA, 2014). The infant mortality rate in India is 43.19 deaths per 1,000 live births. The life expectancy at birth is 67.8 years. The population growth rate in India is expected to be 1.25 percent in 2014. India is likely to overtake China to become the most populous country of the world by 2030 (Haub & Sharma, 2006). The demographic profile of India is really attractive. India boasts of a pretty young population as 28.5 percent of the people living in the country are less than 14 years of age. 18.1 percent of the population is aged between 15 and 24 years. The

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Art & the Pregnant Form Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Art & the Pregnant Form - Essay Example Through the years, the way in which the pregnant form has been represented, misrepresented and ignored has been a growing theme, coming into full flower in the modern art world in a variety of media. What is painted or sculpted and how this is done reveals much about the prevailing attitudes of the time period in which the art work was created. From the fully clothed, questionable nature of early artists’ renditions of pregnant women to the fully nude and exposed form of today’s pregnant sculptures, the art of the pregnant form has definitely advanced into the worldview. To gain an understanding of how this change came about, it is necessary to learn more about some of the artists that have participated in this centuries long debate about how best to portray the multiple aspects of the pregnant woman – her impending motherhood, her swelling form, her newfound tenderness. Among these artists are Jan van Eyck, Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Lucien Freud, Marc Quinn an d Ron Mueck. By looking at how these artists portrayed pregnant women as well as their motivations in doing so, we can begin to gain an understanding of how the cultural attitude toward pregnancy and the female form has changed. Jan van Eyck is the earliest of these painters, having painted his â€Å"Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife† in 1434. This painting has been largely acknowledged primarily due to the various examples of symbolism contained in the painting as well as for its unique perspective. However, left mostly out of the conversation is the idea that Arnolfini’s wife is pregnant. Closer inspection indicates that Jeanne de Chanany is not actually pregnant but is instead wearing the voluminous clothing popular for the early Renaissance period. â€Å"Although many modern viewers mistakenly assume Giovanna is pregnant, art historians familiar with 15th century painting point out

Monday, October 14, 2019

Water Scarcity Essay Example for Free

Water Scarcity Essay Water is essential because water can maintain the process of eco-system, supplies the agriculture and human cannot live without water. However, there is the increasing number of water issues are appearing in the modern world and issues tend to be serious, especially the supply of water. Although water scarcity is an issue which needs to be solved quickly but, water scarcity is not easy to be reduced and when the project failed, it may cause more problems can make problems worse than before. There are over 43 countries are suffering from water scarcity approximately (United Nations). It may cause a number of water-related problems: starvation, water security, and poverty. According to a report which was published from the IWMI (Barker, R et al 2000) has pointed out the water scarcity is growing. In the meantime, research also found out the some poverty areas usually has the problem of water scarcity, especially Africa (Barker, R et al 2000). Therefore, solve the water scarcity problem should be the priority for some drought countries all around the world. For instance, The United Nations is running a plan called The â€Å"WATER FOR LIFE DECADE†; the aim of this plan is to help some places where lack of water to face the challenges of water scarcity (FAO 2006). The programme is divided different levels: International Level, National Level and Local Level. At the same time, officers for this approach give advices local government or national institutions the for water-management policy-making, guidance of techniques (FAO 2006). Another method to reduce water scarcity is the national government makes a national policy to limit the use of water. When residents reach the limitation, the government can give a warning letter to them and make them pay fine. Although there are some methods may reduce water scarcity, some places may have difficulties to run those methods. Firstly, the government needs to spend a large number of money on water management, it is a big cost for some countries where do not have financial support. Such as, Nicaragua is one of the poorest countries in South America; the unemployment rate has reached 12 per cent and nearly half of people are living in rural areas. Therefore, the project might face financial problems in poor countries. However, those people really need to find a way to out (Rural Poverty Portal 1993). Another difficulty to reduce water scarcity is technique problem. It is widely recognised that water management project really needs specialists as a guide to make the project has been processed successfully. Hence, although the government has enough financial support to process the water management programme, they do not have professional to guide them, the programme would be failure. For example, according to a literature from SIWI (Falkenmark, M et al. 2007), this report mentioned the improvement of coping with water scarcity, the workers as a guide to give suitable suggestions to local authority and encourage farmers to use the farming technology (Falkenmark, M et al. 2007). As can be seen that expert is a key to succeed the programme. As regards to the consequences of water management projects failure, the most obvious one is waste of money. According to news from ABC Environment Blog, there was a plan for Murray River in South Australia called the Murray-Darling Plan. This plan was set in Water ACT 2007, and cost over millions dollars and 300 officers. But the plan might not as good as expect: people seem do not like the Murray-Darling plan, even the scientists and farmers (Phillips, S 2012). It can be seen from this report; the result of the Murray-Darling plan is not as well as they say. However, the editor even predicted it may aggravate deforestation. Consequently, this event causes arguments about the Murray-Darling plan. At the same time, it may cause pollution waste from some facilities for environmental management. The main reason is that when workers misuse some chemical reagents to the water, it can cause the water pollution and water eutrophication. Another example is the Indian government cost more than Rs 300 thousands crore to build dams over major rivers in 1950s. But it does not work, the river drought and a large number of money have been wasted (Chauhan, C 2013).

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Celebrity Endorsement In Malaysia Marketing Essay

Celebrity Endorsement In Malaysia Marketing Essay Advertising started to play an active role in advertising when it came to the development of society in the economy in the early 1930s. Celebrities acted as spokesperson, in order to advertise and promote a company products, services or ides. Those celebrities came from the art scene, modelling, sports as well as the entertainment industry (Kambitsis et.al., 2002). When a British actress Lillie Langtry appeared on a package on Pears Soap in 1893, she became the worlds first celebrity endorser. Since radio became commercial in the late 20s and television was introduced in the late 40s, celebrities started doing commercials (Sherman, 2010). Due to this, celebrity endorsement has become one of the most effective tools in attracting consumers. Almost every celebrity all around the world is doing commercials. For examples Jack Benny, an American actor and comedian endorsed Jell-O, a gelatin dessert product in the 30s and 40s, David Beckham with Pepsi, Soon Hye Kyo with Laneige, Ashwarya Rai with LOreal shampoo, Jackie Chan endorses Kaspersky, and many more. In Malaysia, celebrities have also been widely used in advertising. For example, Erra Fazira endorses Lux, Sarimah with Rejoice, Chef Wan with Vesawit and Siti Nurhaliza with Pepsi. This shows that by having celebrities to endorse a product it will not only increase the brand image but also the level of credibility and belief among consumers (Zabid et.al, 2002). Problem Statement Celebrity endorsement has become one of the most employed strategies in promoting a product or a service. This is because celebrities are well-known therefore; they will make the product that is being endorsed more noticeable. Even though this strategy is the most commonly use, there are some companies in Malaysia are still reluctant to use this strategy in promoting its product. Therefore, this research with the title The Effectiveness of Celebrity Endorsement in Malaysia will help the companies by answering questions regarding the topic. They are: What are relationship between advertising and celebrity endorsement? What are the factors that influence the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement? How effective is the implementation of celebrity endorsement in Malaysia? Research Objectives Based on the problem statements stated above, the research objectives are: To review the relationship between advertising and celebrity advertising. To analyze the factors that influences the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement. To evaluate the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement in Malaysia. 2. Literature Review Relationship between Advertising and Celebrity Endorsement Advertising is defined as the promotion of a companys products and services to drive sales and also to communicate changes of new products or services to the customers (Buzzle.com, 2011). Advertising has become one of the essential elements in a business because it does not only help in increasing the sales of the product but also creating and maintaining its image among customers. There are various types of advertising that can be implemented by companies in order to promote its products and services. They are print advertising, outdoor advertising, public service advertising, surrogate advertising, covert advertising, broadcast advertising and celebrity advertising (Buzzle.com, 2011). Print advertising is a type of advertising that uses printing media such as newspapers, newsletters and magazines to convey its message to customers. On the other hand, outdoor advertising communicates its message through promotional display such as highway billboards, transit posters and arena placement (Wisegeek.com, 2011). According to Wisegeek.com (2011), Outdoor Advertising Association of America, Inc. (OAAC) had stated that businesses spent $5.8 billion dollars on outdoor advertising in 2004. Public service advertising is an advertising technique that conveys socially relevant messages regarding important matter and social welfare causes like poverty, and deforestation (Buzzle.com, 2011). Meanwhile, surrogate advertising is defined as the process of duplicating the brand image of one product extensively in order to promote another product of the same brand (Panda, 2005). For example, companies that produce cigarettes or alcohol which are prohibited by law in some country have t o come up with other products of the same brand in order to remind people about their existence in the market (Buzzle.com, 2011). According to Targeting-Marketing.com (2011), covert advertising is presently is the hottest trend in promoting a product. Covert advertising is a type of advertising that incorporated in some entertainment and media channels such as movies, sports and TV shows in order to reach its customers. Some of the examples are the appearance on Nokia N97 in I Gotta Feelin' music video by Black Eyed Peas, and the sponsorship of an America TV show F.R.I.E.N.D.S. by Nescafe. Another type of advertising is broadcast advertising. Broadcast advertising is a type of advertising that uses medium such as television, radio and internet to convey its message to the people. This is the most popular advertising technique because it enables the company to reach a wider audience. On the other hand, celebrity advertising is the use of a celebrity or a public figure for the purpose of selling products or services. According to McCracken (1989), celebrity endorsement is defined as a personality who benefits from public recognition and utilizes this acknowledgment on behalf of a consumer product by endorsing it to the public (McCracken, 1989). In short, a celebrity is someone who is well-known due to his/her achievement especially in areas of entertainment such as films, music, writing, or sport. There are two forms of celebrity advertising; celebrity license and celebrity endorsement (Mistry, 2006). Compared to celebrity license, celebrity endorsement is the most widely used strategy in promoting products and services today. Celebrity endorsement is when celebrities give his/her expert opinion regarding the product, become the spokesperson for a product, or just being associated with a particular product (Seno and Lucas, 2007). However, according to Kamins (1989) celebrity endorsement may also include the non-celebrities such as a typical consumer, a product professional expert, or a company pr esident. Typical consumer endorser is an ordinary person who has no special knowledge regarding the product but has already purchased and used the product beforehand. On the other hand, a product expert is a person or a group that possesses a superior knowledge regarding the product (Zabid et.al., 2002). Celebrity vs. Non-Celebrity Effectiveness According to Seno and Lucas (2007), a research has found that compared to other type of endorsers such as typical consumer and the professional expert, celebrities are the most effective individual to attract customers. In contrast, Tom et.al (1992) said that non-celebrities endorsers are more effective compared to celebrity endorsers. This is because with non-celebrity endorsers, it enables the company to control and create the characters that is appropriate for the product and the target audience. Besides that, these characters are not allowed to endorse any other product. On the other hand, celebrity endorsers had already created their own characters therefore; the company is unable to control them. Differences were found in the cognitive responses. However, there is no statistically significant difference in attitudes towards advertising and the intention of purchasing the endorsed product in the celebrity and non-celebrity endorsement (Mehta 1994). Factors that affect the Effectiveness of Celebrity Endorsement There are number of factors that influence the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement. Examples of the factors are celebrity performance, celebrity attractiveness, celebrity credibility, celebrity information, multiple endorsements, celebrity popularity, celebrity availability, celebrity-product match, and many more. However, in this research only some of these factors will be discussed. Celebrity Performance In the context of this research, celebrity performance refers to the achievement of the celebrity in their chosen profession. This could refer to the success of the celebrity in music or movies, the performance level of athlete in sports and many more. When a celebrity fails to perform in acceptably by consumers, the effectiveness of the endorsement tends to decline (Agrawal and Kamakura, 1995). In contrast, if the celebrity performance is increasing, the effectiveness of the endorsement will also increase. Celebrity Information Since there is always a pairing between the brand and the celebrity established by consumers, negative information regarding the celebrity may affect the brand negatively (Erdogan and Baker, 2000). For example, Tiger Wood is always known as the endorser of Nike. However, due to a series of news report about his personal life, Nike lost over four percent of its aggregate market value (Knittel and Stango, 2009). This shows that a negative perception about a celebrity will decrease the level of the effectiveness of the endorsement. Hence, it will lead to a loss for the company. Celebrity Attractiveness Chao et.al (2005) has stated that celebrity attractiveness in one of the factor that can determine the successfulness of celebrity endorsement. According to Kahle and Homer (1985), physically attractive endorsers are generally viewed and more preferable by consumers compared to the less attractive endorsers. Hence, by having attractive celebrity endorsers, it will increase the effectiveness of the celebrity endorsement. For example, when Laneige decided to change its endorser from Jeon Ji Hyun to a prettier and famous Korean actress, awareness of the existence of the brand starts to increase among consumers. This leads to an increase in sales of the product (Amore Pacific Corporation, 2009). Celebrity Credibility The most important aspect in celebrity endorsement is credibility. According to Miciak and Shanklin (1994), a research made among 43 advertisement agencies and companies, it is believed that the most important scope of credibility are trustworthiness and the expertise of the celebrity with the product that is being endorsed. For example, with the credibility of Amitabh Bachchans, Cadburys business which was declining due to the controversy has been revived and back on track (Taleja, 2010). Multiple Endorsements There are two cases of multiple endorsements that are always been debated. They are 1) a single brand hiring multiple celebrities and 2) a single celebrity endorsing multiple brands. For example, Britney Spears, consumers may remember her as Pepsis endorser but they might not remember her as McDonalds or Toyota Vioss endorser in 2000. Another example of multiple endorsements is Clear for Men uses Christiano Ronaldo and Rain as endorsers. Celebrity-Product Match The celebrity-product match/fit is also known as the match-up hypothesis. It refers to the synchronization of the match between the celebrity endorser and the product that is being endorsed (Till and Busler, 2000). According to Friedman et.al (1978), Erdogan and Baker (2000), and Till and Busler (2000), celebrity-product fit is the key function of the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement. This is because with the right celebrity with the right personality, the message can be convey to the consumers effectively. For example, Pepsis target market is the youth. Therefore, by sponsoring Michael Jackson World concert in 1993, Pepsi is able to reach its target market easily. Research Methodology 3.1 Theoretical Framework Figure 1: Factors that Influences the Effectiveness of Celebrity Endorsement 3.2 Path Analysis The main purpose of this research is to analyze the factors the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement as well as to evaluate the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement in Malaysia. From the literature review above, it is found that there are 6 main factors that influence the effectiveness of implementing celebrity endorsement strategy to attract customers. By understanding these factors, the effectiveness can be identified. Hence, the effectiveness of the implementation of this strategy Malaysia can be investigated. 3.3 Research Design 3.4 Data Collection Data is the most crucial element needed in making a research. This is because without the presence of relevant data, the objectives and purpose of a research cannot be met easily. There are two types of data; primary data and secondary data. Primary data is the original or first-hand material that has not been interpreted by anyone before. It can be further divided into two categories; qualitative data and quantitative data. Qualitative data is described as data that can be categorized according to its characteristics such as gender and nationality. On the other hand, quantitative data (also known as numerical data) are data that can be measured on a numerical scale. Secondary data is the information collected from other resources such as books, journals, review articles, and newspaper which is related to the research.   For this research, primary data can be obtained through questionnaires, focus group or observation. Questionnaire is a set of questions given to respondents in order to get data which is related to the research topic. On the other hand, focus group is a form of  qualitative research  in which a group of people are asked about their perceptions, opinions, beliefs and attitudes towards a product, service, concept, advertisement, idea, or packaging (Henderson, 2009). Meanwhile, observation refers to a technique in which the behaviour of research subjects is watched and recorded without any direct contact.The most effective primary research for this study is questionnaire. This is because questionnaires enable researcher to obtain data from the target group efficiently. In the questionnaire, the questions are designed as open ended questions and close ended questions. Open ended questions are questions that required the respondents to attach their opinion towards the question. Meanwhile, the close ended questions required the respondents to choose, or rate the questions accordingly. For this topic, both questions are suggested to be asked in the questionnaire. By having these two types of questions in this questionnaire, it enables researcher to collect information containing both qualitative and quantitative data. However, there is no primary research has been done by the researcher yet. Therefore, no primary data are available. For secondary research, data are obtained from journals, books, and website published by others. In developing this research, number of journals, articles, books and websites has been referred. However, only some of them are used in developing this research. 3.5 Sample This research focuses on the sampling group of young adult and adult from the age of 18 to 35 years old. This range has been chosen because they are the group of people who always make their own decision on purchasing a product or service. Besides that, this range is chosen because they are the group of people who are always be influenced by the celebrities. By having them as the target segment, research can be done easily and effectively. 3.6 Measures In this research, the measurement scales that are selected are the likert scale and the nominal scale. According to Proctor (2003), nominal scale enables an object to be placed in one and only one of a set of mutually exclusive classes with no implied ordering such as gender; male or female. On the other hand, likert scale is a scaling method that describes the quantitative value to qualitative data in order to make it amenable to statistical analysis such as strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree and strongly disagree (BusinessDictionary.com, 2011). For this research,  the nominal scale is used to measure the age and gender of the targeted respondents and the likert scale is used to measure the consumers perception towards celebrity endorsement. 3.7 Limitation Due to the nature of this research, it has to be said that the research could have been done more accurately if more resources for example text book could be obtain to support the research. This research title is very limited in text book provided in KBU College Library but there are more in the Emerald Insight website. In order to obtain quality journals from there, users are recommended to pay the membership fee online. However, KBU does offer student the access to Emerald Insight website because the college had already paid the fee, but students are allowed to access to the website within the college premises. Furthermore, this research only used secondary data collection. Most of the secondary data come from other authors opinion gain from their findings. So, the opinions from other authors do not mean they are aligned with the entire populations opinions in this world. Due to this problem, the accuracy of this research had reduced. Besides that, due to the limited time, no primary research has been done. Hence, all information available in this research does not meet the purpose of this research which is to study the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement in Malaysia. Ethical Consideration Before conducting the research, a researcher has to make sure that the research topic, objectives and benefits are clearly explain to avoid the deception on the research. Besides that, all the information given by the respondents such as name, age, contact number and home address are private and confidential. Hence they must be protected and cannot be reveled or sold elsewhere. Respondents are also allowed to not to provide their details or information before answering the questions to protect their privacy if forced. Time scale

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Writing Technology :: Writing Technology Technological Papers

Writing Technology One definition of writing is to form letters, words or symbols on a surface such as paper with an instrument such as a pen (www.dictionary.com). To many this is an obvious definition. We use paper, pens and pencils almost every day of our lives. It has become so much the norm that we take it for granted and don‘t give it a second thought. But in retrospect, writing can be looked at as a technology that has come a long way and that is more complex than we may know. When given the task to write 20 words or less by using something natural, I found it to be very difficult. I thought long and hard. Without using something that was created by someone such as a pen, I came up with very few ideas . Not only did I have to find the instrument to write with, but also the surface on which to write upon. What in the world around us today is truly natural? Not much is the conclusion I came to, and being as it is winter, a whole lot less with all the snow. At first I thought about using my nails and writing into a piece of fruit. However, I would have to go to the store to get a piece of fruit because of the season, and stores aren’t really natural. I really wanted to do this project with as little use of things unnatural as possible. Than I thought about doing something with fire and ashes, but I don’t know how to start a fire using only two sticks. There were plenty of matches around, but like the store, those aren’t natural either. My final choice was to use a stick to write in the snow with, since there was plenty of both around. However, I had difficulty getting a stick to break off the frozen branches of the trees. So, what I ended up choosing as my instrument was an icicle. The icicle was very cold in my hands, and very uncomfortable. I could feel it melting as I stood there thinking of what to write. So I thought quickly, and proceeded to write â€Å"hi† in the snow. I chose â€Å"hi† because it was a short greeting that is commonly known. As I etched my word into the snow, I found it very smooth to move through. At first I hadn’t written deep enough for the word to be readable, so I had to trace it over again , this time with my icicle halfway into the snow.

Friday, October 11, 2019

Ethics: How Should I Live My Life Essay

April 15, 2011 How Should I Live? Immanual Kant vs. Jon Stuart Mill In their works â€Å"Principle of Utility† and the â€Å"Categorically Imperative† the philosophers Kant and Mill have addressed one of the most prominent questions humans have asked ourselves since the beginning of time; what are the fundamental moral principles that we should base our lives on? My intent is to show how each of these philosophers in their approach this subject yielding totally different results. I will compare and contrast and ultimately determine which of their philosophies I personally find better suited to my own way of life. I will also point out when sometimes you can have circumstances when they do not contradict each other. â€Å"Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. By happiness is intended pleasure and the absence of pain; by unhappiness, pain and the privation of pleasure† Classics of Moral and Political Theory, 3rd edition p. 398). The purpose of the above passage is to define that the moral choice according to Mill. According to him when presented with a choice of actions to take, the correct and moral action is to choose the one which will produce in its consequences the greatest amount of pleasure and the least amount of pain in the world. To help understand his concept I present the following scenarios in which we would need to make a moral choice according to the above framework. Let’s suppose that while driving we are stopped at a traffic light and a couple of young kids ask you for a donation to help them make a trip to another state for their National Little League Championship. The outcome seems to depend on how much you need the money. If you were out of a job, struggling to make payments on the rent or food for example giving away your money will definitely decrease your own happiness more than it would increase the happiness of others. However if you have some disposableincome giving it away to the little league of baseball players would who need it more it would definitely increase their happiness, therefor increasing the total amount of happiness in the world as the Principle of Utility demands. Another scenario would be as follows. Imagine that you are harboring a fugitive that committed a petty crime but that you know without any doubt that he has the cure of a disease that currently kills hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. If this person gets caught by the police he would never have the chance to develop the cure. The police go to your house and ask you if you have seen the person in question. Now if you are following the Principle of Utility you have to consider the impact on the total amount of happiness each of the two possibilities, telling the police the truth or you telling them something else will bring about. If we examine what could happen if you tell the police the truth, we can see that the police’s happiness will be increased as the lack of pain from future victims of the fugitive’s crimes. But when we compare this against the happiness of the people whose lives will be saved by cure that the fugitive will be helping create we can see that in this case the greatest good will be done by telling the police that you have not seen the petty thief. In this case the long term effect of the decision helps make it a clear choice according to Mills. Long term consequences are also evident in the third scenario. In this scenario you find yourself witness of a horrible crime being committed, let’s say a rape. At first considering the demands of the Principle of Utility the choices are a little difficult to discern for if you choose to end the life of the rapist you are denying him much pleasure of the long term and causing him a lot of pain in the short term. Not doing so will also bring overall loss of pleasure by the victim and increase of pain would occur. Nevertheless if we consider the consequences of not only the short term but also the long term the death of the rapist would most likely spare many in the future from pain and trauma and preserving their opportunity for pleasure, and thus the Principle of Utility would demand that you take the rapist’s life to spare the lives of his victim and his other future ones as well. Let’s continue now to examine Kant’s Categorical Imperative. The first formulation of which is something that reminds me somewhat to the Golden Rule, â€Å"Do Unto Others as You Would Have Others Do Unto You. † (except the Golden Rule does not make for example a duty to be benevolent to others) â€Å"Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it would become a universal law. † (p. 851) Kant explains this by a series of example one of which goes something like this. If I run out of money I might be tempted to borrow some, even though I know I would be unable to repay it. I am acting on the maxim â€Å"Whenever I believe myself short of money, I will borrow money and promise to pay it back although I know that this will never be done† I cannot will that everyone should act on this maxim because if everyone asked for money but then would never pay it back nobody would believe the promise of the borrowers. A promise would lose its meaning. Therefore we could not borrow money under this circumstance as doing it would violate the categorical imperative Kant defines perfect duty as those which must be fulfilled under any circumstances and dictate a specific course of action; he defines imperfect duties as those which are more subject to circumstances and allow a certain degree of freedom in deciding how to comply with it. I see the difference between these duties as the one where are required by a society to function and those required by a society to be good and civil. Some actions are so constituted that their maxims cannot without contradiction even be thought as a universal law of nature, much less willed as what should become one. In the case of others this internal impossibility is indeed not found, but there is still no possibility of willing that their maxim should be raised to the universality of a law of nature because such a will would contradict itself. † He is trying to say that if it would be against o ne’s own interest for everyone to act on a particular maxim one cannot will the maxim to be universal as to make it universal it would go against one’s own interest. Let’s revisit the examples I gave earlier to see how our behavior would change if we let our actions be dictated by the Categorical Imperative. In the first scenario, whether to donate to the little league baseball team, it would seem that the fate of the team would be to never be able to travel as (assuming most of their finances come from donations) if people were never to donate to them any money, but none of that would prevent anyone who does have money from not donating to this club. This seems to indicate that donating to the little league baseball club is not a perfect duty. However it would be against one’s own interest for the whole world to be so stingy towards all little league baseball clubs or any other amateur sports clubs for that matter, so one could not will that to be the case and so donating to this club would be an imperfect duty. In the second scenario, whether to lie to the police about the hidden fugitive, following Kant’s Categorical Imperative is that one has a perfect duty to never lie, even in such situation. Let’s analyze that. According to Kant if everyone were to lie in an attempt to achieve some desirable result, even one as benefitting as saving hundreds of thousands of lives, the meaning of language would cease to be as people would start lying for anything they can think would be for the greater good at the end. The maxim in that case would be that you could lie as long as it was to save someone’s life (in this case the large number of sick people that would have been cured). If that maxim would become universal then we could no longer tell if anyone was telling the truth. Everyone would become untrustworthy communication between people would cease and therefore we would be unable to lie; in this case the categorical Imperative demands that we refrain from lying, even if doing so prevents from bringing about undesirable results. At the same time this still does not required us to always tell the truth; we can simply refrain from saying anything if telling the truth would violate another imperfect duty, and in my example it most definitely would since not speaking in this case (even though it may raise suspicion from the police) would be curing people of a disease all over the world a most noble imperfect duty. We can also apply the same line of reasoning to my third scenario, whether to kill a criminal to stop him from committing a horrible crime, in this case a rape. To allow killing to achieve a greater good would result in much killing all around, possibly resulting in oneself getting killed in the process and thus making impossibly for one to act at all. It seems that no one could will such anarchy to take place. Wecould modify the maxim here to say that killing is allowed if only to prevent another death, but what we are talking about ere is about the preservation of life, and as with the case of lying to the police, many people could by such a maxim feel themselves justified in killing others to achieve other ends that have nothing to do with stopping a crime. This would result in the anarchy described above so we cannot make it according to Kant a perfect duty but instead at least an imperfect one to not kill even when faced with the opportunity of preventing a crime. Kant’s second formulation of the Categorical Imperative is: Act in such a way that you always treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never simply as a means, but always at the same time as an end. † (p. 855). Here Kant states that if a maxim diminishes the freedom of choice of others, which he proclaims is one of the unconditional values of humanity, as a means to obtain other goods then that makes it an immoral maxim violating the definition of perfect duty. Anyone who uses deceptive or coercive methods to undermine the freedom of choice and action exercised by others also violates perfect duty. Looking at the first scenario again, whether to donate to the baseball club. If nobody donated any money it would not mean that you are using other people as a means to an end, you would be just ignoring them not using them at all, so donating is not a prefect duty as the failure of not doing so does not involve misusing other people. However refusing to donate to the little league is a failure to account for other people as ends themselves. People need to have means in order to exercise their will, so limited means makes it much harder for people to exercise their free will. Therefore if not donating would deprive them of resources, it would be a failure to account for the club’s members ability to freely act as an end of one’s own actions and so it makes it an imperfect duty to donate money to the little league baseball club. In the second scenario whether to lie to the police about the location of the fugitive, resource here is information. For an individual to act freely, he must have accurate information which means that if you lie to someone you are giving them information that is not valid thus not only depriving them of the resource they need to act freely but you are taking away the power they have to exercise their will. In this scenario lying to the police even with such good motive as getting a cure to a disease that will save hundreds and thousands of lives is to treat the police as a means to an end disregarding the right to exercise their free will. This make in this example a a perfect duty not to lie. However we can also see how there would be an imperfect duty not to tell the police where the fugitive is, for doing so would be a failure to take into account the fugitive as an end in themselves, getting caught and sent to jail would impede his ability to exercise his free will so according to Kant the correct choice in this case would be to refuse to talk to the police even when this would bring about suspicion and possibly further actions from the police. If we apply the second formulation of the Categorical Imperative to the third example it seems clear that killing another person, even a rapist, would certainly limit his ability to exercise their own will, so the Kant’s second formulation would require as a perfect duty not to kill the criminal even to save another person from being raped. So as we can see when we apply the principles from Kent and Mills we find ourselves following different path of actions. In my first example donating to the Little League Baseball Club both Kent and Mills proclaim that donating is the correct choice to make. But when analyzing the second and third example their philosophies start to disagree as what is the right thing to do. The Categorical Imperative is more rigid insisting that we must not lie to the police and we must not kill the rapist as it is a perfect duty in all cases. The Principle of Utility in contrast allows more room to apply our rational to consider the consequences. It allows certain actions such as lying and killing if it is for the greater good. What is the correct moral framework on which we should base our lives on? Even though I find aspects of each these systems commendable I believe that neither system has been perfectly created. The Principles of Utility relies heavily on the consequences of one’s actions to flag a course of action as correct or incorrect. Only by looking our action and their consequences in retrospect we can truly determine if the course of action taken was the correct one. If we had the luxury of foreseeing all consequences then it would be a perfect system but since we always have to make decisions without knowing the ramifications of our actions and most times we only have partial information it does not seem that one should base one’s life solely on the principles that Mills dictates. What is needed is a set of rules we can use to adapt our actions to that will always produce the biggest benefit or the least amount of harm in the long run even if in the short term produces consequences that are not as good as other course of action. The Categorical Imperative at first seems to be a good standard for behavior but at the end of my analysis I do not feel comfortable with the absolute rules where by following them we can find ourselves in a scenario where one cannot even lie to save a life let alone kill to prevent it. It just seems too open for abuse with great benefits by those who did not obeyed the laws akin to what I think would happen if our right to carry arms was taken away so law abiding citizens would not possess any arms but the criminals would, putting the rest of us in a very precarious situation unable to defend ourselves. At the end I align myself a little more with Mills, I would like to think that if I ever in the situation of the last example I gave I would have enough courage to try stop a rape from happening and any action up to an including killing the rapist would be defensible in court, of course I would prefer to be able to stop it from happening without to resorting to such extreme measures. If the basis of a free society is the right to liberty and property then our duty should be not just to not impede others to have it but to also defend others when their rights to either are being taken away. I have a have a personal duty to defend those in danger and to give those in need and even if not everyone adheres to thesemoral guidelines we will all be as a society better off as the general happiness will certainly reach a higher level.

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Compare miss Havisham and Lady Macbeth Essay

?Compare the presentation of Lady Macbeth and Miss Havisham. Explore how Shakespeare and Dickens present them as disturbed women. Disturbed is a definition of someone who has emotional or mental problems; both Lady Macbeth and Miss Havisham are presented as disturbed characters in one way or another. These two leading women both have characteristics that were not stereotypical of woman at the time periods that the play and the novel were set in; making them immediately appear strange to the audience or reader of that time. Shakespeare and Dickens both present their leading women in very different ways; however some aspects of their characters show similarities. The play Macbeth was set in Elizabethan times, where there was a patriarchal society in which men were superior to women. Women were known by their husbands’ names and were seen more as their husbands’ property than their partners. Elizabethan women were treated badly and disobedience on their behalf was a crime against religion as the society of that time believed that women were made to serve men. However, it was also believed that women were incapable of having evil thoughts or committing devilish crimes. The character of Lady Macbeth goes entirely against the typical Elizabethan woman as she is portrayed as strong and controlling over her husband Macbeth, and is the one to persuade him to commit an act of regicide. This would be shocking to an Elizabethan audience as regicide was known as the worst possible thing you could do, as they believed that their monarchs were sent from God. Miss Havisham is also the opposite of what women in her society were like; she was a spinster. This meant she was seen as a failure as in Victorian times, a woman’s proper purpose was to suitably marry; it was what they were born for. In most of Charles Dickens’ novels, the spinsters and old maids who appear are usually mad, desiccated, boring or secluded. Miss Havisham in Great Expectations is an example, a woman who fell in love and was jilted on the day of her wedding. She lived for the rest of life in her wedding dress, with one shoe on, a wedding cake uneaten on the table, and the clock stopped at the time she found out that her husband-to-be had deserted her. In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is first introduced in Act 1 Scene 5. She is reading a letter from her husband, immediately the audience see her as a determined and power-hungry character. In her soliloquy she reveals that Macbeth ‘shalt be what thou art promised’ her ambition for her husband to be king and indeed perhaps for herself to be queen is evident here. Shakespeare’s use of the imperative ‘shalt’ displays her controlling nature, showing her strength and masculinity which would appear unusual to the audience of that time. Although at first Lady M/acbeth would seem to be a rather queer character, the audience would not immediately class her as disturbed. Miss Havisham, however, is portrayed as a disturbed character right from when we first meet her in Chapter 8. Dickens first describes Miss Havisham through Pips eyes as he first sets foot in Satis House. The way the house and the room in which Miss Havisham sits is described, ‘no glimpse of daylight was to be seen in it’ immediately lets the reader know that she is extremely disturbed’ the whole house is stopped, including the clocks at the exact time she turned into a spinster. The idea of showing Miss Havisham first through Pip, allows the reader to see what is wrong, however, not fully understand why this is. Miss Havisham appears to be a much weaker character when she is first introduced as Pip describes her as ‘a skeleton in the ashes of a rich dress’. Dickens use of death imagery gives the reader an impression that Miss Havisham’s life is already over and she is just waiting to die. This makes the reader feel somewhat sorry for her at first and wonder why she is living in such a way. Although it is soon evident that Miss Havisham is not as weak as she first appears when she speaks to Pip for the first time; ‘â€Å"Come nearer; let me look at you. Come close. †Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Dickens also uses imperatives in Miss Havisham’s speech ‘come’ showing that although regarded by all in that era as a failure she still has power to make others do whatever she wants. Both Lady Macbeth and Miss Havisham are both portrayed as evil characters throughout the play and the novel. Some people may argue that Miss Havisham is less evil as she does not murder anyone, however, she does ruin the lives of others, using Estella to break the hearts of men the way hers was once broken. Lady Macbeth does come across as more wicked than Miss Havisham most of the time however she might not be as evil and sinister as we are lead to believe. We realise this when she says ‘stop up the access and passage to remorse’. This shows the audience that maybe she does have some conscience because she knows she will feel guilty. However, another way to look at it is that she just wants to stop this from happening so that she can live happily as queen without guilt pulsing through her. This makes the reader think of her as a selfish woman who is used to getting exactly what she wants without any of the bad consequences that come along side it. The use of the modal verb ‘stop’ is strong and commanding and it doesn’t give the person she is talking to an option to say no. The idea of not being able to say no is repeated at the end of Act 1 Scene 5 where she tells Macbeth to ‘Leave all the rest to me’. Lady Macbeth is saying that no matter what anyone says no one will persuade her to change her mind about the murder of King Duncan. The language shows that she feels like she has the upper hand over Macbeth. Lady Macbeth uses her power to manipulate Macbeth into committing an act of regicide. Miss Havisham also manipulates people into doing things that they do not wish to do. She brings Estella up to get revenge on mankind and at the same time makes it impossible for Estella to love. Miss Havisham uses Pip for Estella to practice on and is delighted when Pip falls in love with her. ‘Well you can break his heart’ she tells Estella when she does not want to play cards with a ‘common labouring boy’. Miss Havisham says this in such a calm way that it seems to the reader that breaking someone’s heart is not a big deal to her, which it isn’t since she just wants revenge on all men. Although both of these women are ‘horribly cruel’ towards the end of the play and the novel they do realise what they have done wrong and feel guilty about it. Although the way they react to the guilt differs hugely. Miss Havisham becomes more normal with guilt and tries to put her wrongs right. ‘†Oh† she cried despairingly. â€Å"What have I done? What have I done? †Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ she becomes a weak, pitiable creature who begs Pip for forgiveness ‘on her knees and is desperate to do something ‘useful and good’ Her regret makes the reader feel sorry for her rather than blame her. Lady Macbeth becomes more and more disturbed with guilt, up until a point where she cannot take it anymore and commits suicide. Her grief must have been extremely bad for her to do this since she would know that she would be going to hell.