Ice Cubes Addiction Simulation

My 48 hour ice cube addiction simulation turned out to be very different than what i had expected. I don't put an ice cubes in my water cup at all. So my ice maker in the freezer is always empty. So I have to keep the ice maker full of ice cubes to use it in my addiction simulation. My first hour in the 48 hours simulation I was trying to fill my water bottle with ice cubes. I spilled some of ice cubes on the floor. My dad got suspicious when I filled a water bottle full of ice cubes, because I'm not used to put an ice cubes in my water bottle. My dad yelled at me and asked me why I needed that much ice anyways. I said that I needed to keep my water cold. He said we have a cold bottles in the refrigerator. I said it's better to drink water with ice cubes, he looked at me and said you weren't do that before. I said yeah, but i just want to try it. He didn't believe what i said. So it was so hard to keep my ice cubes addiction from my dad, and my friends also. My friend Johne when he saw my water bottle full of ice cubes, he kept asking me about, and made it very difficult for me to try to come up with a descent lie. It's easy to see how all the lies of an addiction can destroy a relationship and cause multiple problems. I noticed that the next morning while I was sitting in my room I was very thirsty even though I never am. I need a cup of water full with ice cubes, but my dad is sitting in the living room, and he can watch what i'm doing in the kitchen. I planned to get ice cubes in a smart way. I said dad I'll prepare the breakfast. I went to the kitchen and I started to prepare the breakfast, when my dad was watching the TV I turned on the microwave and I opened the freezer softly, and I kept looking to my dad if he realized what I'm doing. I filled my cup with ice cubes and water and I put it in a bag and I hid it under the couch. I must have gotten a little caught up in the whole ice addiction and started to want to drink the ice water. 2 days were easy to hide my addiction but after a while my dad would have probably caught on and i would have had to confess. This was a very eye opening and interesting experiment.

First World War Essay

I have focussed my monologue on the character of Sheila Birling. Her role in the play was significant as it is coming from the point of view of a young, upper class woman. Her naà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ve views represent her role as an authoritative figure in society who has the ability to help Eva Smith, but her selfishness and her egotistic manner contradicts the main theme running through out the play of An Inspector Calls that one person’s actions impact another’s and we all have a duty in helping people lower in the system. JB Priestley wrote the play in 1942 about a retrospective time just before the First World War. Sheila’s main role in the play was that she was able and had the power to get Eva sacked because of her position in society, whereas Eva, who was of a lower class than Sheila, was not able to stand up for herself because she did not have enough power. Sheila abuses her superior position in society for petty reasons of that Eva is prettier than her.  I chose to write about her, as she is a very expendable character who has no firm reason or purpose in firing Eva Smith. When the inspector questions Sheila about the photo Sheila says ‘You Knew it was me all the time, didn’t you?’ By saying this Sheila opens herself up (explain) and seems to accept responsibility for her actions and is showing this to the inspector, rather than trying to cover the truth up with lies, or try to pass on the blame to others as some characters in the play do. Her character I think is important in the play, as I believe that Priestly was trying to demonstrate later on in the play that the youth could change. The setting of my monologue of Sheila alone and isolated symbolises her distance from what she was once in the play. The year now being 1916, four years down the line, she has turned her back on the aristocratic life and is trying to dissolve into an unprivileged life.  Her clothes are the colour of green and brown that shake off her previous character of wealth and affluence as to her new attempted classless status. Sheila has disconnected herself from the Birlings and perhaps is trying to punish herself by living the life that the Eva Smith once led. Sheila’s job now includes working at homeless shelters and working for charities. Her language has become less energetic and fluent than it once was. I have however tried to include some of the phrases from the play ‘it was a mean thing to do’ I tried to make use of punctuation and grammar to create her feelings and emotions. In the monologue I have use ellipsis to show pauses, when she might be thinking or reflecting on painful memories. Exclamation marks are used to get her point across that she is getting agitated and snappy To the audience, I was trying to convey the ideas of Sheila being a changed woman. That she has come to realise that status and power isn’t everything. She can look past this now and look forward to a happy future with her new baby and Gerald, her husband.  I think the Play writer’s view on Sheila and all the characters from the play was that the younger generation can learn from their mistakes, and he directs strong criticism towards businessmen who are only interesting in making money and will never lean from their mistakes. Sheila’s the second person to be questioned by the Inspector and her response to Eva’s death is the most caring and heartfelt. She is genuinely upset by the death of Eva. The play is set in 1912. The periods between 1910 and 1945 were a great period of social change. In 1912 was the year that the titanic set sail, the year that the Suffragette movement started campaigning for women’s rights in society. The war being a main factor, affecting society greatly and it began the process of merging class boundaries. The upper class young men were sent to the front line as officers and where many of the great landed families of Edwardian Great Britain began to disappear. My overall intention with this monologue was to understand the significant character of the young, impressionable Sheila Birling and how she is central to the key themes in the play and how the Inspector plays the social conscience on all the characters minds.  By the close of the play, Sheila has come to realise that herself and her family have lied to each other, and also to the Inspector. She begins to see her whole life was a lie, the relationship she had with Gerald and lying to herself. She begins to see that she needs to start her life again with truth, starting with correcting her mistakes.

Business Model of Amazon

As the economy has moved from agrarian to industrial to information age, the focus of the businessmen or the wealthy and powerful has also shifted in terms of the ways of obtaining wealth or doing business. In the agrarian age there was shortage of land which made ownership of land as the determinant of value. Powerful land barons typically accumulated vast tracts of land and coerced people who were bound to the land and owned by the feudal lord into living on and working it. As economy moved from agrarian to industrial age, physical assets owned by a firm became the determinants of value and shortage of raw-materials led the powerful industrialists to conspire to control the supply of raw materials. In this age, the market could absorb as much product as the industrialists could produce. The current era in which we live has been defined as the information age wherein relationships and intellectual capital are more important than anything else. One is not worried about physical assets anymore. Companies don’t compete with each other over superior products as they are largely commoditized rather compete increasingly on the basis of value added customer services. The economic battles of today are fought over the mind-space of consumers. In the information age power-play customers are not passive participants, in the way that land and raw materials were in the agrarian and industrial ages. In fact, according to Zang Hailing, it is the customers’ time that is in short supply, and therefore for any firm to succeed, emphasis needs to be given to the importance of reducing the customers’ time to adopt a new product. Thus, in a world where technology is changing every day and the transformation of consumers has happened from â€Å"Price Takers† to â€Å"Price Makers† as they are armed with more options and information; the companies that control more and more customer relationships will be the ones that hold the power in an industry and reap the lion’s share of the profits. E-commerce or e-business is an important tool that enables companies to reach out to the global market at low cost and provides abundant information about the consumers’ requirements and preferences easily which was not so easy earlier. Following figure is a glimpse of the promising future that the ecommerce industry holds. The US E-commerce has seen a 40% increase in the sales over the past 5 years as a percentage of the total retail sales in US. Source: http://ycharts. com Now when thinks about e-commerce, the first name that comes to everyone’s mind is that of Amazon. com. Not only most of the people have heard about it but there are many people who have actually used its services. Amazon was not only one of the few of the companies that thrived throughout the period in which many dot-com companies struggled to survive but has been constantly performing exceptionally well in terms of revenue per visitor which is one of the key parameters for any commercial website. Amazon has had one of the fastest growths in the internet’s history with revenues reaching $2, 8 billion in the first five years with Google’s revenue reaching only $15bn in the first five years. Now, just like any other traditional business in order to clearly understand an e-business one needs to have information on the following components: a) Business Strategy which determines the products and service offerings by the firm, the firms targeted customers and the firms value proposition. It also helps firms decide on the choices and the tradeoffs that the firm needs to make. b) Organizational form or structure c) Business processes which refer to the unique ways in which organizations coordinate and organize work activities, information, and knowledge to produce a product or service. ) Value Chain i. e. the sequence of activities that a firm undertakes to create value, including the various steps of the supply chain but also additional activities, such as marketing, sales, and service. e) Core Competencies which are the collective learning’s of the firms and being distinctive create long term competitive advantage for the firm. From the beginning, the focus of Amazon. com has been on offering their customers compelling value. In the current report filing dated 04/13/12, Jeffrey Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon. om writes â€Å"We realized that the Web was, and still is, the World Wide Wait. Therefore, we set out to offer customers something they simply could not get any other way, and began serving them with books. We brought them much more selection than was possible in a physical store (our store would now occupy 6 football fields), and presented it in a useful, easy-to-search, and easy-to-browse format in a store open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. † The Value Proposition offered by Amazon. com is â€Å"earth’s largest selection—24/7, at competitive price. † Amazon. om has continuously focused on improving the shopping experience owing to which they substantially enhanced their stores in 1997. Though they started off with books, they now offer customers gift certificates, 1-ClickSM shopping, and vastly more r eviews, content, browsing options, and recommendation features. The company’s stated goal was to â€Å"be Earth’s most customer centric company for three primary customer sets: consumers, sellers and developers. † It targeted its first set of customers through its initial retail model where it sold only books. It offered the perfect combination of low prices, large selection and convenience or customer experience. The digital media allowed limitless inventory, boosted customer care and allowed higher margins and hence lowest prices. In 15 years Amazon went from 1 category to 16 main categories of books. Amazon began with books and needed to grow big fast. From 1995-1998, Amazon moved from books to music and again through the same combination moved to become the biggest seller of music in just 120 days! Amazon moved on develop its own digital driven supply chain and distribution network by hiring from the expert: Wal-Mart. Amazon accelerated development through its strategy of â€Å"Build, buy, partner† a) Build: Amazon keeps on creating new categories. For example, Amazon kicked off a new service by the name MyHabit. com in May 2011 that made fashion available to consumers directly from designers and boutique brands. b) Buy: When there is a lot of competition in any area and the competitors have a strong hold, Amazon believes in buying out the incumbent. Few of the acquisitions made by Amazon include Internet Movie Database  (IMDb), Zappos (an online shoe and apparel retailer) etc. ) Partner: Amazon has also entered into a lot of merchant partnerships. It offers its technological service and ecommerce expertise to third- parties. For example in October 2011, Amazon. com announced a partnership with DC Comics for the exclusive digital rights to many popular comics, including Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, The Sandman, and Watchmen. As mentioned before as well, Amazon want to be the â€Å"wo rld’s most customer-centric† company, and so their focus is on the â€Å"Customer Service†. It ensures customer loyalty through three main approaches: a) Recurring usage b) Seamless Integration c) Lock-in The following table tells us how Amazon uses all above mentioned approaches for its both customers: Sellers and consumers. | Sellers| Consumers| Recurring Usage| a. Developed a customer base close to 615mn users that can’t be ignored by sellers b. Ensures profit through optimized and reliable technology c. Developed a trusted Brand name| a. Created an ecosystem through Kindle b. Stores user’s media library c. Offers personalization to customers d. Gives special offers everyday| Seamless Integration| a. Monitors sellers rating ratings posted by consumers and expels sellers with bad ratings b. Offers Fulfillment by Amazon service(FBA) which allows third party sellers to use Amazon’s large warehouse and distribution network| a. For customers, all the sellers are highly commoditized and invisible. They buy it because of the Amazons brand value b. Get benefitted by Amazon Prime and free super saver shipping| Lock-in| a. By controlling or owning the customer accounts b. High level of infrastructure development required to ensure same level of customer service as offered by Amazon| a. By providing digital content that works only on Kindle b. Amazon Prime Program which requires annual subscription| | c. | c. | Amazon developed a value chain of itself for internal appraisal so as to identify its strengths and weaknesses that would help it add value and maintain a competitive advantage. Amazon uses the value chain model from Michael Porter’s book, â€Å"Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance. † The first table represents the Primary activities of Amazon which are needed to produce a product or services for the end customers. Inbound logistics| Operations| Outbound logistics| Marketing ; Sales| Service| Avoids the overhead and large amounts of inventory carrying cost because it orders the books from the distributors. Easy and fast payment systems. Online customer systems and feedback. | Operates a number of transportation hubs that they refer to as injection points. Injection point locations are located in heavily customer concentrated areas. | Customer tracking  is an Amazon stronghold through which it provides personalized customers’ exper ience| Free return policy within 30 days. Uses marketplace to increase channel and range of goods through 3rd parties and customers. Highly reduced returns to suppliers (such as unsold books and media) due to available accurate forecasting technology | Customized buyer experience| Ability to aggregate orders bound for specific locations. | Interactive shipping and parceling price calculations. Free delivery based on single transaction spends. | Price comparison of new products with used products in marketplace shops. | Efficiently gathering information about customer experiences to inform service inputs and inventory controls. | 24 hour warehouse operations to meet customer demands. |   Utilizes the capabilities of its supply chain partners to deliver orders directly to ustomers which bypass the Amazon. com internal distribution center network|   Discounts and price reductions made available with suggested product mixes. Similar products recommended to customers interactively. | Offers customers gift certificates, 1-Click SM shopping, and vastly more reviews, content, browsing options, and recommendation features. | The next table gives information about the various support activities performed by Amazon which help to facilitate or assist its primary activities. | Value Creation| Cost Reduction| Firm Infrastructure| Huge central customer data warehouse available to all business units. Amazon’s single technology platform with services being incrementally distributed to other worldwide locations, reduces costs by leveraging investments | Human Resource Management| Amazon. com has a great training for its employees resulting in talented, smart and hard working group. Offers employees unique benefits such as medical, paid time off and stock grants and relocation allowances and hence attract highly skilled workers| Amazon utilizes independent contractors and temporary personnel to supplement their workforce, particularly on a seasonal basis. Although Amazon has works councils and statutory employee representation obligations in certain countries, Amazon’s employees are not represented by a labor union| Technology Development| High investments in technology development (e. g. , Kindle) to best leverage digital products. Innovations such as personalized recommendations, one-click ordering, and search inside the book are all Amazon. com innovations. Highly customized software applications that support their supply chain business model. For example, Amazon. om is linked into Ingram’s systems to see Ingram inventory levels when deciding whether to use Ingram to drop ship an order to a customer | Building an IT strategy, IT infrastructure and Data Centre on Linux open source software thus reducing cost of technology development. Renting computing resources to other companies reduce total cost of ownership Using standard hardware systems from HP to reduce cost of maintenance and compatibility| Procurement| Utilize s a Sales and Operations (SOP) planning process to determine forecasts for each roduct that it stores in its distribution center inventoryUses the strategic business unit – Booksurge to keep a rich inventory of digital copies of books so as to make this readily available for customers through print-on-demand and reduce the time of delivery | Specially built distribution Centers, warehouses and fulfillment Centers to increase the speed of order processing thus avoiding transaction costs of contracting out| In addition to the business strategies the value chain components mentioned above, the success of Amazon. om can be attributed to the entrepreneurial spirit of its founder chief executive officer Jeff Bezos and the strong inclination of the firm towards bringing about innovation in the business model. Let us discuss both factors one by one. Entrepreneurial Spirit of Jeff Bezos: Jeff Bezos can be regarded as the forward-looking CEO responsible for the success of Amazon. com. He has not only efficiently managed the present but through his long term vision always taken steps to create the future. The computer science and electrical engineering graduate from Princeton University moved to Seattle after resigning as a Senior Vice-President at D. E. Shaw, a Wall Street investment bank. At the time Bezos didn’t know much about the Internet but he came across a statistic that the Internet was growing at 2300%, which convinced him that it was a large growth opportunity. Without knowing anything more, he plunged into the world of e-commerce with no prior retailing experience. It was his decision to locate the company in Seattle because it had a large pool of technical talent and since it was close to one of the largest book wholesalers located in Rosenburg, Oregon. Moreover, the sales tax laws for online retailers state that one has to charge sales tax in the state in which one is incorporated. Therefore it was logical to locate in a small state. Under his guidance and logical thinking Amazon. com quickly became the leader in e-commerce. Operating 24 hours a day, the site was user-friendly and encouraged browsers to post their own reviews of books and offering discounts, personalized recommendations, and searches for out-of-print books. In June 1998 it began selling CDs, and later that year it added videos. In 1999 Bezos, looking at the future trends, added auctions to the site and invested in other virtual stores. The success of Amazon. com encouraged other retailers, including major book chains, to establish online stores. As more companies battled for Internet dollars, Bezos saw the need to diversify, and by 2005 Amazon. com offered a vast array of products, including consumer electronics, apparel, and hardware. And with the Jeff Bezos vision to make every book ever in print in any language available to the consumer in 60 seconds, Amazon launched the handheld device called Kindle in 2007. Bezos is the quintessential dot-com icon. He proved to the business world that the Internet was about more than knowledge. He proved that it is possible to overcome fears about purchasing online, to drive down transaction costs, and to build an international e-commerce business over the Internet. He had the courage to attempt something that people doubted could be done. . At the age of 35, Jeff Bezos was picked as the 1999 Time person of the year. Describing why it chose Bezos, Time magazine said, â€Å"Bezos’  vision  of the online retailing universe was so complete, his Amazon. om site so elegant and appealing that it became from Day One the point of reference for anyone who had anything to sell online. † Innovation in the Business Model: Amazon survived the dot-com bust because it had a viable and innovative  business model  built around a market-changing customer value proposition and a radical profit formula and over it has been able to sustain its position as the leader in e-commerce by bringing about continuous innovations in its business model. Let us look at some of the different dimensions wherein Amazon. om has been able to bring about business innovation. a) Offerings: By offering a handheld device dedicated to reading, Kindle, Amazon. com revolutionized the books industry. By creating a product like Kindle, the created a perfect, integrated and streamlined customer experience. b) Platform: With Amazon Web Services, Fulfillment By Amazon, and Kindle Direct Publishing, Amazon is creating powerful self-service platforms that allow thousands of people to boldly experiment and accomplish things that would otherwise be impossible or impractical. ) Customers: In 2002 Amazon launched a web services platform and identified a new area of potential growth by finding another new customer—the IT community. Serving this new customer’s needs required different processes, different resources, and a different profit formulaâ€⠀in short, another  new business model. d) Customer Experience: 1-Click combined with Gift-Click and Wish List made Amazon. com the most convenient, easiest-to-use shopping destination the holiday season. Wish List allows customers to post the gifts they’d most like to receive from family and friends, while Gift-Click allows customers to send gifts easily by entering just the e-mail addresses of their recipients. e) Value Capture: By opening up its storefront to other retailers that were essentially competitors, Amazon transformed its business from direct sales to a sales-and-service model, aggregating many sellers under one virtual roof and receiving commissions from the other companies’ sales. ) Supply Chain: Fulfillment by Amazon service (FBA) by Amazon is a classic example of innovating business model through supply chain. FBA allows third party sellers to use Amazon’s large warehouse and distribution network and in the last quarter of 2011, shipped tens of millions of items on behalf of sellers. When sellers use FBA, their items become eligible for Amazon Prime, for Super Saver Shipping, and for Amazon returns processing and customer service. From the above discussion of Amazon’s business strategy, value chain analysis and the success factors we can conclude that Amazon has a robust Business model. Amazon’s business model fends off all the four threats. It has the costly-to-imitate financial and technological resources, it has developed protection against holdup by seamlessly vertically integrating its both the customers i. e. the sellers and the consumers. Reduced slack by locking-in the customers and the sellers and fights substitution through innovation in business model. Business Model of Amazon As the economy has moved from agrarian to industrial to information age, the focus of the businessmen or the wealthy and powerful has also shifted in terms of the ways of obtaining wealth or doing business. In the agrarian age there was shortage of land which made ownership of land as the determinant of value. Powerful land barons typically accumulated vast tracts of land and coerced people who were bound to the land and owned by the feudal lord into living on and working it. As economy moved from agrarian to industrial age, physical assets owned by a firm became the determinants of value and shortage of raw-materials led the powerful industrialists to conspire to control the supply of raw materials. In this age, the market could absorb as much product as the industrialists could produce. The current era in which we live has been defined as the information age wherein relationships and intellectual capital are more important than anything else. One is not worried about physical assets anymore. Companies don’t compete with each other over superior products as they are largely commoditized rather compete increasingly on the basis of value added customer services. The economic battles of today are fought over the mind-space of consumers. In the information age power-play customers are not passive participants, in the way that land and raw materials were in the agrarian and industrial ages. In fact, according to Zang Hailing, it is the customers’ time that is in short supply, and therefore for any firm to succeed, emphasis needs to be given to the importance of reducing the customers’ time to adopt a new product. Thus, in a world where technology is changing every day and the transformation of consumers has happened from â€Å"Price Takers† to â€Å"Price Makers† as they are armed with more options and information; the companies that control more and more customer relationships will be the ones that hold the power in an industry and reap the lion’s share of the profits. E-commerce or e-business is an important tool that enables companies to reach out to the global market at low cost and provides abundant information about the consumers’ requirements and preferences easily which was not so easy earlier. Following figure is a glimpse of the promising future that the ecommerce industry holds. The US E-commerce has seen a 40% increase in the sales over the past 5 years as a percentage of the total retail sales in US. Source: http://ycharts. com Now when thinks about e-commerce, the first name that comes to everyone’s mind is that of Amazon. com. Not only most of the people have heard about it but there are many people who have actually used its services. Amazon was not only one of the few of the companies that thrived throughout the period in which many dot-com companies struggled to survive but has been constantly performing exceptionally well in terms of revenue per visitor which is one of the key parameters for any commercial website. Amazon has had one of the fastest growths in the internet’s history with revenues reaching $2, 8 billion in the first five years with Google’s revenue reaching only $15bn in the first five years. Now, just like any other traditional business in order to clearly understand an e-business one needs to have information on the following components: a) Business Strategy which determines the products and service offerings by the firm, the firms targeted customers and the firms value proposition. It also helps firms decide on the choices and the tradeoffs that the firm needs to make. b) Organizational form or structure c) Business processes which refer to the unique ways in which organizations coordinate and organize work activities, information, and knowledge to produce a product or service. ) Value Chain i. e. the sequence of activities that a firm undertakes to create value, including the various steps of the supply chain but also additional activities, such as marketing, sales, and service. e) Core Competencies which are the collective learning’s of the firms and being distinctive create long term competitive advantage for the firm. From the beginning, the focus of Amazon. com has been on offering their customers compelling value. In the current report filing dated 04/13/12, Jeffrey Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon. om writes â€Å"We realized that the Web was, and still is, the World Wide Wait. Therefore, we set out to offer customers something they simply could not get any other way, and began serving them with books. We brought them much more selection than was possible in a physical store (our store would now occupy 6 football fields), and presented it in a useful, easy-to-search, and easy-to-browse format in a store open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. † The Value Proposition offered by Amazon. com is â€Å"earth’s largest selection—24/7, at competitive price. † Amazon. om has continuously focused on improving the shopping experience owing to which they substantially enhanced their stores in 1997. Though they started off with books, they now offer customers gift certificates, 1-ClickSM shopping, and vastly more r eviews, content, browsing options, and recommendation features. The company’s stated goal was to â€Å"be Earth’s most customer centric company for three primary customer sets: consumers, sellers and developers. † It targeted its first set of customers through its initial retail model where it sold only books. It offered the perfect combination of low prices, large selection and convenience or customer experience. The digital media allowed limitless inventory, boosted customer care and allowed higher margins and hence lowest prices. In 15 years Amazon went from 1 category to 16 main categories of books. Amazon began with books and needed to grow big fast. From 1995-1998, Amazon moved from books to music and again through the same combination moved to become the biggest seller of music in just 120 days! Amazon moved on develop its own digital driven supply chain and distribution network by hiring from the expert: Wal-Mart. Amazon accelerated development through its strategy of â€Å"Build, buy, partner† a) Build: Amazon keeps on creating new categories. For example, Amazon kicked off a new service by the name MyHabit. com in May 2011 that made fashion available to consumers directly from designers and boutique brands. b) Buy: When there is a lot of competition in any area and the competitors have a strong hold, Amazon believes in buying out the incumbent. Few of the acquisitions made by Amazon include Internet Movie Database  (IMDb), Zappos (an online shoe and apparel retailer) etc. ) Partner: Amazon has also entered into a lot of merchant partnerships. It offers its technological service and ecommerce expertise to third- parties. For example in October 2011, Amazon. com announced a partnership with DC Comics for the exclusive digital rights to many popular comics, including Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, The Sandman, and Watchmen. As mentioned before as well, Amazon want to be the â€Å"wo rld’s most customer-centric† company, and so their focus is on the â€Å"Customer Service†. It ensures customer loyalty through three main approaches: a) Recurring usage b) Seamless Integration c) Lock-in The following table tells us how Amazon uses all above mentioned approaches for its both customers: Sellers and consumers. | Sellers| Consumers| Recurring Usage| a. Developed a customer base close to 615mn users that can’t be ignored by sellers b. Ensures profit through optimized and reliable technology c. Developed a trusted Brand name| a. Created an ecosystem through Kindle b. Stores user’s media library c. Offers personalization to customers d. Gives special offers everyday| Seamless Integration| a. Monitors sellers rating ratings posted by consumers and expels sellers with bad ratings b. Offers Fulfillment by Amazon service(FBA) which allows third party sellers to use Amazon’s large warehouse and distribution network| a. For customers, all the sellers are highly commoditized and invisible. They buy it because of the Amazons brand value b. Get benefitted by Amazon Prime and free super saver shipping| Lock-in| a. By controlling or owning the customer accounts b. High level of infrastructure development required to ensure same level of customer service as offered by Amazon| a. By providing digital content that works only on Kindle b. Amazon Prime Program which requires annual subscription| | c. | c. | Amazon developed a value chain of itself for internal appraisal so as to identify its strengths and weaknesses that would help it add value and maintain a competitive advantage. Amazon uses the value chain model from Michael Porter’s book, â€Å"Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance. † The first table represents the Primary activities of Amazon which are needed to produce a product or services for the end customers. Inbound logistics| Operations| Outbound logistics| Marketing ; Sales| Service| Avoids the overhead and large amounts of inventory carrying cost because it orders the books from the distributors. Easy and fast payment systems. Online customer systems and feedback. | Operates a number of transportation hubs that they refer to as injection points. Injection point locations are located in heavily customer concentrated areas. | Customer tracking  is an Amazon stronghold through which it provides personalized customers’ exper ience| Free return policy within 30 days. Uses marketplace to increase channel and range of goods through 3rd parties and customers. Highly reduced returns to suppliers (such as unsold books and media) due to available accurate forecasting technology | Customized buyer experience| Ability to aggregate orders bound for specific locations. | Interactive shipping and parceling price calculations. Free delivery based on single transaction spends. | Price comparison of new products with used products in marketplace shops. | Efficiently gathering information about customer experiences to inform service inputs and inventory controls. | 24 hour warehouse operations to meet customer demands. |   Utilizes the capabilities of its supply chain partners to deliver orders directly to ustomers which bypass the Amazon. com internal distribution center network|   Discounts and price reductions made available with suggested product mixes. Similar products recommended to customers interactively. | Offers customers gift certificates, 1-Click SM shopping, and vastly more reviews, content, browsing options, and recommendation features. | The next table gives information about the various support activities performed by Amazon which help to facilitate or assist its primary activities. | Value Creation| Cost Reduction| Firm Infrastructure| Huge central customer data warehouse available to all business units. Amazon’s single technology platform with services being incrementally distributed to other worldwide locations, reduces costs by leveraging investments | Human Resource Management| Amazon. com has a great training for its employees resulting in talented, smart and hard working group. Offers employees unique benefits such as medical, paid time off and stock grants and relocation allowances and hence attract highly skilled workers| Amazon utilizes independent contractors and temporary personnel to supplement their workforce, particularly on a seasonal basis. Although Amazon has works councils and statutory employee representation obligations in certain countries, Amazon’s employees are not represented by a labor union| Technology Development| High investments in technology development (e. g. , Kindle) to best leverage digital products. Innovations such as personalized recommendations, one-click ordering, and search inside the book are all Amazon. com innovations. Highly customized software applications that support their supply chain business model. For example, Amazon. om is linked into Ingram’s systems to see Ingram inventory levels when deciding whether to use Ingram to drop ship an order to a customer | Building an IT strategy, IT infrastructure and Data Centre on Linux open source software thus reducing cost of technology development. Renting computing resources to other companies reduce total cost of ownership Using standard hardware systems from HP to reduce cost of maintenance and compatibility| Procurement| Utilize s a Sales and Operations (SOP) planning process to determine forecasts for each roduct that it stores in its distribution center inventoryUses the strategic business unit – Booksurge to keep a rich inventory of digital copies of books so as to make this readily available for customers through print-on-demand and reduce the time of delivery | Specially built distribution Centers, warehouses and fulfillment Centers to increase the speed of order processing thus avoiding transaction costs of contracting out| In addition to the business strategies the value chain components mentioned above, the success of Amazon. om can be attributed to the entrepreneurial spirit of its founder chief executive officer Jeff Bezos and the strong inclination of the firm towards bringing about innovation in the business model. Let us discuss both factors one by one. Entrepreneurial Spirit of Jeff Bezos: Jeff Bezos can be regarded as the forward-looking CEO responsible for the success of Amazon. com. He has not only efficiently managed the present but through his long term vision always taken steps to create the future. The computer science and electrical engineering graduate from Princeton University moved to Seattle after resigning as a Senior Vice-President at D. E. Shaw, a Wall Street investment bank. At the time Bezos didn’t know much about the Internet but he came across a statistic that the Internet was growing at 2300%, which convinced him that it was a large growth opportunity. Without knowing anything more, he plunged into the world of e-commerce with no prior retailing experience. It was his decision to locate the company in Seattle because it had a large pool of technical talent and since it was close to one of the largest book wholesalers located in Rosenburg, Oregon. Moreover, the sales tax laws for online retailers state that one has to charge sales tax in the state in which one is incorporated. Therefore it was logical to locate in a small state. Under his guidance and logical thinking Amazon. com quickly became the leader in e-commerce. Operating 24 hours a day, the site was user-friendly and encouraged browsers to post their own reviews of books and offering discounts, personalized recommendations, and searches for out-of-print books. In June 1998 it began selling CDs, and later that year it added videos. In 1999 Bezos, looking at the future trends, added auctions to the site and invested in other virtual stores. The success of Amazon. com encouraged other retailers, including major book chains, to establish online stores. As more companies battled for Internet dollars, Bezos saw the need to diversify, and by 2005 Amazon. com offered a vast array of products, including consumer electronics, apparel, and hardware. And with the Jeff Bezos vision to make every book ever in print in any language available to the consumer in 60 seconds, Amazon launched the handheld device called Kindle in 2007. Bezos is the quintessential dot-com icon. He proved to the business world that the Internet was about more than knowledge. He proved that it is possible to overcome fears about purchasing online, to drive down transaction costs, and to build an international e-commerce business over the Internet. He had the courage to attempt something that people doubted could be done. . At the age of 35, Jeff Bezos was picked as the 1999 Time person of the year. Describing why it chose Bezos, Time magazine said, â€Å"Bezos’  vision  of the online retailing universe was so complete, his Amazon. om site so elegant and appealing that it became from Day One the point of reference for anyone who had anything to sell online. † Innovation in the Business Model: Amazon survived the dot-com bust because it had a viable and innovative  business model  built around a market-changing customer value proposition and a radical profit formula and over it has been able to sustain its position as the leader in e-commerce by bringing about continuous innovations in its business model. Let us look at some of the different dimensions wherein Amazon. om has been able to bring about business innovation. a) Offerings: By offering a handheld device dedicated to reading, Kindle, Amazon. com revolutionized the books industry. By creating a product like Kindle, the created a perfect, integrated and streamlined customer experience. b) Platform: With Amazon Web Services, Fulfillment By Amazon, and Kindle Direct Publishing, Amazon is creating powerful self-service platforms that allow thousands of people to boldly experiment and accomplish things that would otherwise be impossible or impractical. ) Customers: In 2002 Amazon launched a web services platform and identified a new area of potential growth by finding another new customer—the IT community. Serving this new customer’s needs required different processes, different resources, and a different profit formulaâ€⠀in short, another  new business model. d) Customer Experience: 1-Click combined with Gift-Click and Wish List made Amazon. com the most convenient, easiest-to-use shopping destination the holiday season. Wish List allows customers to post the gifts they’d most like to receive from family and friends, while Gift-Click allows customers to send gifts easily by entering just the e-mail addresses of their recipients. e) Value Capture: By opening up its storefront to other retailers that were essentially competitors, Amazon transformed its business from direct sales to a sales-and-service model, aggregating many sellers under one virtual roof and receiving commissions from the other companies’ sales. ) Supply Chain: Fulfillment by Amazon service (FBA) by Amazon is a classic example of innovating business model through supply chain. FBA allows third party sellers to use Amazon’s large warehouse and distribution network and in the last quarter of 2011, shipped tens of millions of items on behalf of sellers. When sellers use FBA, their items become eligible for Amazon Prime, for Super Saver Shipping, and for Amazon returns processing and customer service. From the above discussion of Amazon’s business strategy, value chain analysis and the success factors we can conclude that Amazon has a robust Business model. Amazon’s business model fends off all the four threats. It has the costly-to-imitate financial and technological resources, it has developed protection against holdup by seamlessly vertically integrating its both the customers i. e. the sellers and the consumers. Reduced slack by locking-in the customers and the sellers and fights substitution through innovation in business model.

Course Work 1 ( Legal Framework of Protective Security) Essay

Course Work 1 ( Legal Framework of Protective Security) - Essay Example â€Å"The tort of negligence has developed this century largely as a result of the judgement in the case of Donoghue v Stevenson† (â€Å"Negligence: The Law of Tort, 2010, pgh. 1). In that particular case, a woman was having an ice-cream float. She happened to see something in her ginger which appeared to be decomposed snail. Since she complained to the courts regarding the company, Stevenson, having a duty of care towards herself as the buyer of the drink, she mainly blamed the company for its negligence. This was due to the fact that she had to not only seek out a medical professional, but in addition suffered much psychological stress as a result of the event. In this manner, this was an excellent case to be used as a precedent in UK law. It defined a clear ruling that basically states that everyone who is presumed to be one’s ‘neighbour’ is therefore responsible for being protected by the person who is in his duty of care. Duty of care, therefore, will be defined here. Duty of care is the obligation to exercise a level of care towards an individual, as is reasonable in all the circumstances, to avoid injury to that individual or his property.The duty of care is therefore based on the relationship of the different parties†¦.† (â€Å"What is the Duty of Care?†, 2010, pghs. 1-2). ... The second party in Cheryl’s security detail, John, is probably responsible for the blogger’s broken rib, since he kicked the man in the chest. Since Martin only held the man down, technically he is not responsible for any of the damage caused to the hip-hop blogger. Both Carl and John could both be charged with Actual Bodily Harm, even though Carl was the main aggressor. What is important is that John also is seen as responsible for his actions, as well. Even though he didn’t commit the extent of bodily harm to the blogger that Carl did, he is nonetheless still responsible for his actions and should be held responsible for those actions in a court of law. Carl will probably be tried on both civil and criminal charges, which will be discussed more in the next section. As it stands for now, however, Carl must be ready to defend himself in court, and as such, certain types of defences will be discussed in a different section. Several factors must be taken into acco unt in that section, especially the idea that Ms. Rice was fearing for her life at various points. However, the fact that Carl and his team brutally attacked the blogger with little forethought except having heard the man yell out the singer’s name precipitated an event which is sure that the blogger had no idea was going to happen. The metallic object in his hand happened to be a walkman so he could record the interview that he wanted to have with Cheryl. The blogger himself could definitely be charged with trespassing due to the fact that he had gotten into the venue without proper access to have an interview. II. Advisement to Carl on His Position in Civil and Criminal Law (650 words) Good advice for Carl is to not speak, except to

Research Methods and perspectives Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Methods and perspectives - Research Paper Example â€Å"Increasingly children serve as combatants or as cooks, informants, porters, bodyguards, sentries, and spies. Many child soldiers belong to organized military units, wear uniforms, and receive explicit training, their lethality enhanced by the widespread availability of lightweight assault weapons. Other children participate in relatively unstructured but politically motivated acts of violence, such as throwing stones or planting bombs. The use of children in armed conflict is global in scope-a far greater problem than suggested by the scant attention it has received. Child soldiers are found from Central America to the Great Lakes region of Central Africa, and from Belfast in the north to Angola in the south† (Wessells, 1997). Becoming a child soldier has a negative impact on the lives of children in three key areas. The first area deals with the upbringing of the children. Since the children are brought up in a violent and vicious environment, they tend to learn and adapt to environmental elements that are far beyond their age. The second area deals with the right of the children to spend their childhood as adolescents (Sarantakos, 2005). Child soldiers are not allowed to engage in some of the simplest activities that one would expect a child to engage in. Since they are brought up to be devoid of emotions the children grow up to become disoriented and dislocated from some of the most basic of emotions and feelings. The third aspect comes forth when the child soldiers grow up. At this point, the exposure to violence and irrational extremism that formed the roots of the children’s development comes into a sharp conflict with the requirements, expectations and presentations of the world around them (Robson, 2003). At this point, former child soldiers face significant difficulty in becoming a part of society and it is common to find cases in which they choose to revert

MUSCULOSKELETAL CASE STUDY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

MUSCULOSKELETAL CASE STUDY - Essay Example The patient states that he has had this pain in the past, but it usually went away, and it was never this severe and he has never had the tingling sensation that he is having now. He describes the pain to be located at the middle of his back, near the waist (mainly lumbar), and is exacerbated when he bends forward. There is numbness and tingling that radiates down the back of the right thigh to the toes. The pain and numbness has been increasing for the past three days without relief, and he has tried stretching, as well as over the counter Ibuprofen. He reports that the pain is so bad that he is currently out of work, has been having problems sleeping and the only thing that helps is the use of his friend’s medication (does not state which medication it is). His main concerns today are that he will not be able to return to work to make money; he has no health insurance and is concerned that he may have a herniated disk. Includes similar back pain that was never this severe, and he sought the help of a chiropractor three years ago, and with manipulation, the pain was relieved. He denies any chronic medical problems, surgeries or hospitalizations. Reports increased weight gain. He does not seek medical attention on a routine basis, nor does he have any recent blood work or imaging studies. He reports having a penicillin allergy that causes rash, and does not take any prescription medication, however, has been taking ibuprofen 800mg every 4 hours for his pain and is compliant with the regimen. He is the sole offspring, and both parents are positive for hypercholesteremia, his father has prostate cancer and has a positive family history of heart disease. A review reveals lumbar pain with radiation to the right buttock and positive for tingling and numbness to the toe. He denies urinary or bowel incontinence, nausea, vomiting, fever, abdominal pain or pain with urination, and no gross hematuria. He has decreased strength of the

Ebay Case Analysis 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ebay Case Analysis 2 - Essay Example In the event that a sale materializes, the customers pack, insure, and ship the sold items to the buyer. The buyer, on the other hand, handles the payment and verification of the sold items. Collectively, the outlined measures make eBay’s model scalable† (expandable devoid of a proportional rise in cost). #2. eBay’s possible rationale for expanding internationally The speedy development of internet technologies has yielded to the emergence of e-business companies (Dutta 684). eBay offers a broad range of products, globally expanding and generating a community for all clients to join eBay. The potential rationale for eBay international expansion hinges on the desire to increase its: number of registered users, user activity, PayPal transactions, user gross merchandise volume, and number of listings. eBay’s global presence seeks to take advantage of the growing online shopping usage (Hitt, Ireland, and Robert 235). # 3. International arenas for eBay: France a nd Japan The CAGE Distance framework highlights cultural, administrative, geographic, and economic differentials or distances between countries that ought to be addresses when coming up with international strategies. CAGE framework can also be employed to dissect patterns of trade, information, capital, and people flows. In terms of cultural distance, there is â€Å"wide† cultural distance owing to different languages, diverse ethnicities (absence of connective ethnic and social networks), diverse values, norms, and dispositions (Hitt, Ireland, and Hoskisson 236). With regard to geographic distance, both France and Japan are far-off the parent company’s location; nevertheless, the rise of globalization and the advancement of ICT has facilitated trounced over geographical distance. Hence, Japan and France can still remain desirable markets for eBay. # 4. Alternative vehicles that eBay has used to pursue international expansion There are several components that can be ci ted as contributing to eBay’s strategic plan for growth. In its expansion efforts, eBay employs investment and acquisition strategy. eBay is a very diverse entity and services that the company avail is appealing to individual customers, as well as large corporate customers (Hitt, Ireland, and Hoskisson 235). eBay’s corporate strategy centers on diversifying business to products offered, as well as customer base and global reach. eBay keeps on changing, adapting, and highlighting fresh ways to master its environment. # 5.Issues and problems that eBay is facing In the case, eBay is attempting to address one prominent problem: Competitions, as other players such as Yahoo! push for a slice of the market. eBay pursues to have the largest user base to attempt to fend off the growing competition, which means that it has to try to lure customers from its competitors. With regard to entering the Japanese market, eBay was hoping to take advantage of the giant market given that J apan had evolved to become the second largest market for person-to-person auctions. However, Yahoo, in a joint venture with Softbank, had already made successful inroads into the Japanese market to the level of commanding a sizeable market share. As a result, eBay faces the problem on whether it should cut its losses and exit the Japanese market. With regard to the acquisition of iBazar, eBay was counting on

Accepting Change is to Americas Benefit Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Accepting Change is to Americas Benefit - Essay Example In fact, ambiguous attitudes towards change may even emerge in an individual. These would naturally bring about the oftentimes inconsistent views regarding changes, especially those that affect tradition and culture. At one time, one can embrace the novel while at another, staunchly defending what he perceives as really American. This is phenomenon is just a reflection of the opposite poles that exist among Americans regarding change. It is necessary to understand the dilemma that the American people face when confronted with changes that affect the very foundations of culture and tradition. It is through such understanding that determining the correct attitude can be realized. Dinosaur Dreams: Reading the Bones of America’s Psychic Mascot written by Jack Hitt provides valuable insights regarding the matter. It is a discussion on the general attitude of Americans towards the dinosaurs as symbols. Fenton Johnson’s Wedded to an Illusion, on the other hand, focuses on the issue of same gender marriages but it presents an argument on why Americans should accept change because of its benefits for their society. In summing up the points of Hitt and Johnson, it is easy to conclude that that since change is inevitable, Americans have no other recourse but to accept it in order to make the best out of the new opportunities it offers. A brief review of the history of the United States, particularly its culture, it is discernable that the people’s view of themselves and their country is constantly changing. This means that certain norms and beliefs once though to be permanently valid and right have been set aside as no longer attuned to the times or thrown into the dustbin of the past being found absolutely wrong. Under such premise, it is clear that the shifts, even if these at times cause upheavals, must be considered as beneficial. The struggle between the old and new is not just carried out by debates; it is possible for force to be applied in order to achieve a resolution. The point, however, is to determine the results of the events, whether or not it brought about positive things for society. This is a very pragmatic point of view on changes, one that is not based on subjective will but on objective conditions. If conditions change, there is actually no other recourse but to accept reality and to adap t or improvise. No matter how people wish things to be permanent, changes still occur. Even marriage is obviously not a permanent despite promises of union being made until death. In fact, it â€Å"has always been an evolving institution, bent and shaped by the historical moment and the needs and demands of its participants.† (Johnson) Centuries ago, nobody would have thought about divorce, especially because religion then played a very important part in establishing marital union. However, this has changed through following centuries. If such change is accepted by people, then there is no reason why they cannot do the same with changes in society, which is another institution. Actually, the shifts are taking place although these may be gradual and America’s only choice is to accept these. Hitt explains that the American psyche is actually accepting the changes. This is the view that he presents in his article which describes the significance of the American view of th e dinosaur. The existence of dinosaurs is proven by the past, something that can no longer be changed. However, â€Å"their periodic rebirth in pop culture neatly signals deep tectonic shifts in our sense of our self as a country.† (Hitt) The American people’s view on the relevance of the dinosaur is a reflection of their

Project management coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Project management - Coursework Example Rate of performance is portion of work (in percentage) that is actually complete as compared to the work schedule to be achieved (Meredith and Mantel, 2008). It is assumed that 50% of the work is completed at the end of 5 years in 2011 since no information is available. The report is an analysis of the key causes of failure of the national program for Information Technology project undertaken by the UK government so as to unify patient records over the digital platform countrywide. The cause have been analysed based on theories in importance of project governance and leadership in successful project implementation. It was found that lack of objective and goal definition, proper leadership communication and proper guidance on importance of data security and need for communicating with doctors were key causes behind failure of the national project. Project governance assists in ensuring that the project is being executed as per standards set by the organization, which is using the project. Such governance assures that all activities are executed as per the required standards and ethical compliances are maintained while creating provision for accountability of the project management team. The project manager uses project governance to develop a proper reporting system under the structure of governance and such structures also define the roles and responsibilities of each project team member. The project manager can also utilize the governance structure for priority setting within project objectives. Project leadership, on the other hand, refers to the emphasis of project managers on planning, devising processes, developing structures and solving problems. The project manager is responsible for planning out projects, measuring performances and resolving conflicts and roadblocks that hamper project progress. Project leadership involves visioning, communication, strategizing, empowering, listening, questioning

Gender Roles Exploited with Humor Essay Example for Free

Gender Roles Exploited with Humor Essay The use of gender roles and stereotypes in commercials has slowly become more of an issue as men and women’s true societal roles have undoubtedly changed over time. The push for women’s equality over the past 50 years has been progressing each and every year, and rightly so. As women have become more self-sufficient in their everyday lives, their dependency from males and gender stereotypes have been changing drastically. These social changes have also sparked the progression of gender roles in advertisement and how men and women are presented to the public through television. Recently, many commercials have made drastic efforts in order to present more equal gender roles by trying to eliminate some of the stereotypes that have been part of our society for years. However, despite many of the progressions that have been made, commercials tend to revert back to some of the old stereotypes and perceived gender roles in order to create humor. One type of humor that has been prevalent in many recent commercials is the exploitation of gender stereotypes in an attempt to make a mockery of certain socially acceptable gender roles and actions, while at the same time displaying some of the characteristics that are not accepted by society. The humor in these types of commercials comes through the comparison of the same actions performed by both men and women, but one of the genders looks ridiculous performing these actions, despite the fact that they are the same. This type of marketing technique tends to cause a disproportion of equality between the two genders, because it is displaying how the actions of one gender are accepted by society, while similar actions by the other gender just appear to be unreasonable. In order to create a comedic effect in their commercials, many companies have started to disregard the progression for equality in gender roles and have started to display some of the same old gender stereotypes that w e, as a society, have tried to separate from. Through my exploration of Snickers and Heineken commercials, I was able to outline a very particular style of comedy that affected both genders in negative ways. Two very well known brands, Heineken and Snickers, have started to show men displaying some of the female stereotypes we have seen in other commercials. Now, some might say that this is a good thing because it is trying to blur the line between the two stereotypes and show that men can experience some of the same things that women do. However, I see this as quite the opposite. It seems that use of men displaying female stereotypes is, in a sense, making fun of the women. While the brands have achieved their ultimate goal of providing a humorous commercial, this humor comes at the expense of us laughing at how ridiculous the men appear when they are acting out some of the women stereotypes. To get a better understanding of how the commercials are creating this style of satire, lets take a closer look at some examples from Heineken. In a Heineken commercial from 2009, the scene starts out inside a home, and the women of the house leads a group of her five girl friends through the living room, the kitchen, her bedroom, and eventually they arrive outside of a closet. The woman proceeds to proudly open up the closet doors, unveiling shelves full of shoes and clothes, with a table in the middle full of shimmering jewelry. All of the woman’s friends go absolutely crazy and begin jumping up and down while simultaneously releasing screams of excitement. As the excitement begins to die down, they hear faint cries of excitement coming from across the house. The scene then immediately switches over to the men’s closet, a walk-in freezer, full of Heineken beer. All of the men appear to be imitating the women’s excitement that was displayed moments earlier, with slight exaggeration, as one of the men begins to shed a tear. The two stereotypes displayed in this commercial were pretty clear. It shows men getting overly excited about a room full of beer, while women are getting excited over a room full of shoes and jewelry. These stereotypes are not what make the commercial offensive to any one of the particular genders though. When the audience sees men getting excited over beer as much as women get excited over shoes it tends to expose the ridiculousness in the actions of women because people are thinking â€Å"wow†¦imagine if men got as excited over beer as women got over shoes†¦that would be stupid†. This train of thought is what starts to draw the lines between men and women and how one gender’s actions can be accepted by society, but similar actions from the other cannot. It suggests that men should remain calm, cool, and collective at all times unless they want it to be viewed as a joke. On the reverse side, it suggests to women that their actions are only acceptable because they’re girls, and that if men were to do the same thing, it would appear ridiculous. The next commercial I looked at was a Snickers Super Bowl commercial from 2010. The commercial shows three men working at a construction site, all of the sudden one of the men transforms from a man in work boots and a hardhat, into a women with nice clothes and heels, while still standing in the middle of the construction site. After this transformation the â€Å"woman† begins to complain about the work and how hot it is outside. The two men look at the women with a disgusted look on their face and advise her to â€Å"eat a Snickers†¦you turn into a diva when you’re hungry†. The woman gets tossed a Snickers bar from one of the men, takes a bite, and suddenly transforms back into his original character as a construction worker. This commercial displays one of the very old and outdated stereotypes of women not being able to perform laborious tasks. When the man turns into a woman, he begins to start complaining about the hard work and the hot weather. This commercial again exposes how unacceptable it would be if a man were to act like a woman on the job. In contrast, it also tries to show how out of place a woman would look on a construction site by placing a nicely dressed woman in the middle of the dirt filled construction area. It attempts to show how men are expected to be tough and free of complaints, unless they want to be ridiculed by their co-workers with words such as â€Å"diva†. The commercial implies that as soon as men start to complain about work or being tired, they are immediately labeled as having female characteristics due to our current stereotypical views on gender roles and actions. Through these commercials I have discussed above, it is clear that some of the new tactics for adding humor to commercials has become a sort of mockery of the stereotypes between men and women. Heineken and Snickers have both tried to show scenarios in which we see men behaving like women in an attempt to show how ridiculous it would be if males were to exhibit some of the same social stereotypes we associate with women. By doing this, the two commercials begin to draw a line between the actions and characteristics that are acceptable for women, but not for men. These marketing schemes are detrimental because they provide a clear example of how society can accept the actions of one gender, but when the other gender performs some of the same actions it becomes humorous satire. I think that a comedic commercial without gender stereotypes would appear much more sophisticated and would be better received by the public. I hope that advertising agencies will begin to realize this and that future commercials will appear both humorous and professional.

Uses of a Virtual Private Network (VPN)

Uses of a Virtual Private Network (VPN) A virtual private network (VPN) is a point to point connection that connects a user to a private network in a different location. Basically, VPNs are used to set up a secure connection to the internet. A VPN works by creating a point to point connection from a public wifi connection to a private wifi connection in a business or company building as if you are directly connected to the network. Since the normally accepted definition for a network is fairly common and usually accepted throughout the trade. A network consists of any variety of devices which may communicate through some arbitrary technique. Devices of this nature include computers, printers, and routers will reside in geographically numerous locations. The strategies during which they will communicate are varied, since there are infinite electronic communication specifications, data-link, transport, and application layer protocols. For the needs of simplicity, lets simply agree that a network is a assortment of devices which will communicate in some fashion, and will, with success, transmit and receive information amongst themselves. The term private is fairly easy, which is, in an elaborate way, associated with the idea of virtualization to that degree as VPNs are involved, as well discuss later. Within the simplest of definitions, private implies that communications between 2 (or more) devices is, in some fashion, secret that the devices which arent involved with the connection wont be aware of the information being communicated, and that theyre so fully unaware of the non-public relationship altogether. consequently, information privacy and security (data integrity) are vital aspects of a VPN which require to be taken into thought once considering any specific VPN implementation. Another way of expressing this definition of private through the opposite word, public. A facility that is a public one that is overtly accessible, and is managed inside the terms and constraints of a typical public resource, typically via a public administrative entity. In contrast, a private facility is one wherever access is restricted to an outlined set of entities, and third parties cannot gain access. Typically, the non-public resource is managed by the entities who have privilege of access. Samples of this kind of non-public network can often be found in any organizational network that isnt connected to the web, or to any other external structure network, for that matter. These networks are non-public as a result of the very fact that theres no external property, and therefore no external network communications. The distinct nature of VPNs enable both privacy and virtualization, whereas VPNs arent fully separate, per se, the difference is that they operate in a very discrete fashion across a shared infrastructure, providing exclusive communications environments that dont share any points of interconnection. It should also be noted that while VPNs could also be created to handle any variety of specific business desires or technical necessities, a comprehensive VPN solution provides support for dial-in access, multiple remote sites connected by hired lines (or alternative dedicated means), the ability of the VPN service supplier to host numerous services for the VPN customers (e.g., net hosting), and also the ability to support non connected VPN , however in addition inter-VPN connectivity, as well as connectivity to the worldwide internet. There are nu merous motivations for building VPNs, however a standard thread in each is that all of them share the necessity to virtualize some portion of an organizations communications in alternative words, create some portion (or perhaps all) of the communications basically invisible to external observers, whereas taking advantage of the efficiencies of a typical communications infrastructure. The base motivation for VPNs lies within the economics of communications. Communications systems nowadays usually exhibit the characteristic of a high fixed-cost part, and smaller variable value parts which vary with the transport capability, or bandwidth, of the system. Inside this economic atmosphere, its typically financially enticing to bundle variety of distinct communications services onto a standard high capability communications platform, permitting the high fixed-cost components related to the platform to be amortized over a bigger range of clients. Consequently, an assortment a set of virtual networks included on one common physical communications plant is cheaper to work than the equivalent collection of smaller physically separate communications plants, each servicing one network consumer. Historically, among the precursors to the VPN was the Public Data Network (PDN), and therefore the current acquainted instance of the PDN is that the world web. The internet creates a p resent connective paradigm, wherever the network permits any connected network entity to exchange information with another connected entity. The parallels with the world Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) are that, of course, all too obvious wherever an identical paradigm of present public access is the strong trait of the network. The public data network has no policy of information traffic segregation, and any modification to the current network policy of allowing present connectivity is that the responsibility of the connecting entity to outline and enforce. The network atmosphere is built employing a single addressing scheme and a standard routing hierarchy, that permits the changing components of the network to figure out the placement of all connected entities. All of those connected entities additionally share access to a standard infrastructure of circuits. The alternative to implement the net as a VPN nowadays is to lease circuits, or similar dedicated communications services, from the general public network operators (the local telephone company in most cases), and make a totally non-public network. its a layering convention that permits US to label this as completely non-public, as these dedicated communications services are (at the lower layers of the protocol stack) again, instances of virtual non-public communications systems created atop a typical transmission bearer system. Of course, this is often not without precedent, and it should be noted that the bulk of the early efforts in information networking, and many of the present information networking architectures, dont assume a deployment model of present public access. The alternative to using the web as a VPN nowadays is to lease circuits, or similar dedicated communications services, from public network operators (the local telephone service in most cases), and build a total ly non-public network. its a layering convention that permits United States of America to label this as completely non-public, as these dedicated communications services are (at the lower layers of the protocol stack) once more instances of virtual non-public communications systems created atop a standard transmission bearer system. Of course, this is often not while not precedent, and it should be noted that the bulk of the first efforts in information networking, and a variety of the present information networking architectures, dont assume a preparation model of present public access. However, this alternative will have an associated value, in that the consumer now must manage the network and all its associated components, invest capital in network change infrastructure, hire trained workers, and assume complete responsibility for the provisioning and on-going maintenance of the network service. Such a passionate use of transport services, equipment, and staff is commonly difficult to justify for several small-to-medium sized organizations, and whereas the practicality of a non-public network system is needed, the expressed need is to scale back the price of the service through the utilization of shared transport services, equipment, and management. There are variety of situations which may address this need, ranging from outsourcing the management of the changing components of the network (managed network services) to outsourcing the capital equipment elements (leased network services), to the outsourcing of the management, equipment, and transport components to a service supplier altogether. This is, in fact, the foremost common form of VPN within which there are geographically various subnetworks which belong to a standard administrative domain, interconnected by a shared infrastructure outside of their body management (such as the world wide web or a single service suppl ier backbone). The principle motivation for establishing a VPN of this kind is that maybe the bulk of communications between devices among the VPN community could also be sensitive in nature (again, a choice on the extent of privacy needed rests exclusively on a risk analysis performed by the directors of the VPN), nevertheless the full worth of the communications system doesnt justify the investment during a absolutely non-public communications system that uses distinct transmission components. On a related note, the extent of privacy a VPN could relish depends greatly on the technology used to construct the VPN. as an example, if the communications between every VPN subnetwork (or between every VPN host) is securely encrypted because it transits the common communications infrastructure, then it can be said that the privacy aspect of the VPN is comparatively high. In fact, the granularity of a VPN implementation will be de-escalated further to one end-to-end, one-to-one connectivity situation. samples of these kinds of one-to-one VPNs are single dial-up users establishing a VPN association to a secure application, like an internet banking service, or one user establishing a secure, encrypted session between a desktop and server application, like a purchasing transaction conducted on the internet. This is often a kind of one-to-one VPN is changing into more and more prevailing as secure electronic commerce applications become a lot more mature and further deployed on the net . So what is a Virtual Private Network? As weve mentioned, a VPN can take many forms. A VPN area unit typically between two end-systems, or it should be between two or additional networks. A VPN is also built with tunnels or encoding (at primarily any layer of the protocol stack), or both, or instead created with MPLS or one in every of the virtual router ways. A VPN can contain networks connected to a service providers network by hired lines, Frame Relays, or ATM, or a VPN can embrace dial-up subscribers connecting to centralized services, or different dial-up subscribers. The pertinent conclusion here is that whereas a VPN can take many forms, there are some basic common problems that a VPN is built to unravel, whereas at the same time exploiting the monetary probability of economics of the scale of the underlying common host communications system. In general, the technique of supporting personal communities of interest just by route filtering will at the best be delineated as a primitive technique of VPN construction, that is vulnerable to body errors, associate degreed admits an undue level of insecurity and network inflexibility. Even with comprehensive traffic an d route filtering, the ensuing atmosphere isnt completely robust. The operational overhead needed to support complementary sets of ancient routing and traffic filters could be a relevant thought, and this approach doesnt seem to possess the scaling properties to permit the quantity of VPNs to grow farther than the bounds of various connections, using todays routing technologies. Having said that, however, a far additional scaleable approach is to use BGP communities as a technique to regulate route propagation. the utilization of BGP communities scales far better than different strategies to that extent as dominant route propagation and is a smaller amount vulnerable to human misconfiguration. As you can see I have explained what a VPN is, how it works, and why we use it for a variety of things such as everyday use and for more business type situations.

What Keeps Me From Writing Essay examples -- miscellaneous

What Keeps Me From Writing When I was a child I liked to write letters to my friends. I had a lot of pen-pals. Also, I had no problems with essays during my grade school years. I did not need much time to create an essay, or a journal, or something else for my writing class. The older I become, the more difficult it gets for me to write. Perhaps, I have more problems, needs, or other various things in my life that keep me from being able to focus on writing. Therefore, when I read â€Å"The Watcher at the Gates† by Gail Godwin, I saw myself there. In this essay, Godwin illustrates examples of many things that may be obstacles to some people to start writing. Also, she suggests several ways that may help people to overcome such a problem. Although I have different kind of excuses to not start writing, they all have the same meaning, purpose, and consequences as in Godwin’s essay: take me away from writing. There are some of my favorite excuses such as having no ideas to write about, other important things to do, and enough time before the deadline, that give me no good chance to begin writing. Still, I know that I must turn in my assignments on time, and this helps me to put aside these excuses. The first reason why I don’t sit down and write is that I don’t know what to write about. I just have nothing in my head to write about the particular topic. Often, I begin with a couple of sentences and stop because I don’t have good thoughts to continue. In these cases, begin to ...

Simulation-supported Wargaming in MNE 4 :: essays research papers

Simulation-supported Wargaming in MNE 4 1. Introduction The objective of this document is to emphasize the importance of simulation as a measure of complexity reduction and planner’s tool for decision support in MNE 4’s Effects-Based Planning (EBP) process. Starting with an overview of the underlying principles of Wargaming and Modeling and Simulation (M&S), the outcome of this abstract is a ‘Process for the application of simulation to support Wargaming in MNE 4’. This document may also serve as a basis for MNE 4 design and execution decision-makers in order to determine the value of simulation as a wargaming tool for MNE 4. 2. The Art of Wargaming Wargaming and Course-of-Action Analysis are approved instruments of military planning in order to determine the feasibility and validity of military options and plans. Traditionally wargaming was conducted by exposing Blue military options to the challenges of Red Team’s counter-actions just using people’s brain, pen and paper. Today, the complexity of the battlefield has experienced significant increases due to the challenges of asymmetric menaces after the end of the Cold War. The concept of Effects-Based Operations (EBO) tries to embrace these new conditions based on ambitious processes like Knowledge Base Development (KBD). Furthermore, military planning and operation execution have to cope not only with a highly complex and dynamic adversary’s system conducting asymmetric operations, but also with great challenges on the Blue side, such as the coordination and interaction of multiple coalition partners and different agencies and organizations in a non-linear battlespace. Experiences from recent months and years have undoubtedly proven that EBO cannot be successfully conducted without adequate support by IT tools. Especially the various wargaming activities within EBP cannot be properly accomplished by just using traditional measures. Military planners desperately need automated tools in order to handle data masses, multi-dimensional and dynamic interrelations within the adversary’s system and own (blue) forces and instruments. 3. Simulation as an Analysis Method Basically, there are two major approaches for answering optimization questions: the analytical approach and the numerical approach. As the analytic approach tries to exactly calculate results considering the objective function, limitation variables and all other relevant factors, the numerical approach allows only for approximate results often using iterative or even heuristic processes. Nevertheless, numerical methods have a far more practical weight (see Reference 3) since in opposition to the analytical methods they can handle complex systems with great varieties of variables. Simulation is one of a whole set of numerical methods and additionally, it comprises another major advantage especially useful for wargaming problems: it models dynamics.

Essay --

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disease characterized by high blood glucose levels (hyperglycemia) due to absolute (Type 1 diabetes) or relative (Type 2 diabetes) deficiency of insulin hormone (World Health Organization, 1999). Diabetes affects almost every organ system in the body due to metabolic problems caused by hyperglycemia, especially in undiagnosed or uncontrolled individuals (World Health Organization, 1999). Until recently it was believed that diabetes affected mainly developed countries, but recent research reveals an increase in the number of type 2 diabetes cases in developing countries (Chuang, 2002; Kinra, 2010; Narayanappa, 2011). Diabetes is associated with complications such as cardiovascular diseases, renal failure, loss of vision and neurological impairment, which can lead to a chronic disease state and even death (American Diabetes Association, 2004). The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than 350 million people worldwide have diabetes. Almost 80% of deaths caused by diabetes occur in countries with low income. According to WHO, India is currently the country most affected by this disease with more than 32 million diabetic patients (Mohan, 2005). Background Insufficient response to insulin in what causes diabetes. The pancreas, an accessory gland of the digestive system, is the organ that produces insulin (ref Human Biology Book). The pancreas has a dual function because it features as both an endocrine and an exocrine gland. The part of the pancreas with endocrine function is organized in cell clusters called islets of Langerhans, which contains four main cell types that can be classified according to their secretion: alpha cells secrete glucagon, beta cells secrete insulin, del... ...cose multiple times each day and dealing with the various highs and lows (both physical and emotional) of life with diabetes can make all the difference. Conclusions To prevent diabetes related morbidity and mortality, there is an immense need of dedicated self-care behaviors in multiple domains, including food choices, physical activity, proper medications intake and blood glucose monitoring from the patients. Though multiple demographic, socio-economic and social support factors can be considered as positive contributors in facilitating self-care activities in diabetic patients, role of clinicians in promoting self-care is vital and has to be emphasized. Realizing the multi-faceted nature of the problem, a systematic, multi-pronged and an integrated approach is required for promoting self-care practices among diabetic patients to avert any long-term complications. Essay -- Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disease characterized by high blood glucose levels (hyperglycemia) due to absolute (Type 1 diabetes) or relative (Type 2 diabetes) deficiency of insulin hormone (World Health Organization, 1999). Diabetes affects almost every organ system in the body due to metabolic problems caused by hyperglycemia, especially in undiagnosed or uncontrolled individuals (World Health Organization, 1999). Until recently it was believed that diabetes affected mainly developed countries, but recent research reveals an increase in the number of type 2 diabetes cases in developing countries (Chuang, 2002; Kinra, 2010; Narayanappa, 2011). Diabetes is associated with complications such as cardiovascular diseases, renal failure, loss of vision and neurological impairment, which can lead to a chronic disease state and even death (American Diabetes Association, 2004). The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than 350 million people worldwide have diabetes. Almost 80% of deaths caused by diabetes occur in countries with low income. According to WHO, India is currently the country most affected by this disease with more than 32 million diabetic patients (Mohan, 2005). Background Insufficient response to insulin in what causes diabetes. The pancreas, an accessory gland of the digestive system, is the organ that produces insulin (ref Human Biology Book). The pancreas has a dual function because it features as both an endocrine and an exocrine gland. The part of the pancreas with endocrine function is organized in cell clusters called islets of Langerhans, which contains four main cell types that can be classified according to their secretion: alpha cells secrete glucagon, beta cells secrete insulin, del... ...cose multiple times each day and dealing with the various highs and lows (both physical and emotional) of life with diabetes can make all the difference. Conclusions To prevent diabetes related morbidity and mortality, there is an immense need of dedicated self-care behaviors in multiple domains, including food choices, physical activity, proper medications intake and blood glucose monitoring from the patients. Though multiple demographic, socio-economic and social support factors can be considered as positive contributors in facilitating self-care activities in diabetic patients, role of clinicians in promoting self-care is vital and has to be emphasized. Realizing the multi-faceted nature of the problem, a systematic, multi-pronged and an integrated approach is required for promoting self-care practices among diabetic patients to avert any long-term complications.

The Purpose of Australias Modern Criminal Justice System

Why do we need a criminal justice system in Australia? To answer this question, We firstly need to look a couple of things to allow you a thorough understanding of what exactly the criminal justice system is, questions like, what is role that this system has to play in today’s modern & somewhat debauched society, also what are the key concepts and components of each part of the criminal justice system. It is my attention through the aid of this essay to not only explain the differing parts of the criminal justice system, but also answer the topic in question; by the time we are through you will have a thorough understanding of the Australian criminal justice system and why it is needed. What exactly is the technical meaning of â€Å"the criminal justice system†? An excellent answer to this question maybe found by looking at the Australian Bureau of Statistics (www. bs. gov. au/ausstats 1997 paragraph 2), to quote this definition directly, the Australian Bureau of Statistics defines this as â€Å"The criminal justice system is a system of laws and rulings which protect community members and their property2. It determines which events causing injury or offence to community members, are criminal. Criminal offenders may be punished through the law by fines, imprisonment and/or community service†. Ok we now have a clear definition of what the criminal justice system is we can break down this definition into key elements, and then look at the working of each element in relation to the criminal justice system as a whole. Is there only one criminal justice system in Australia or are there more? Well let’s look at the next paragraph. How many criminal justice systems are there in Australia one only or several? According to the book criminal justice, issues in society (Healey 2006 p. 18) there are nine criminal justice systems currently in operation in Australia at present. This nine comprises of one commonwealth or federal criminal justice system, which is controlled and policed by the Australian federal police. However it can be said that the federal system is not complete due to the fact the federal system corrective service department, therefore punishment for federal crimes that involves incarceration or some form of rehabilitation are facilitated by the relevant corrective service department of the appropriate state or territory. The other eight criminal justice systems are enacted by each state or territory. Each state system is very similar in the way crime and punishments are dealt with, within each state system the makeup includes the same key components. Each state criminal justice system comprises of three key elements the relevant state police force, the court system (which comprise of, local, district and supreme courts) and corrections including jails, juvenile detention centres mental health facilities as well as other rehabilitation programs. Firstly let’s look at the frontline of any criminal justice system, which is the relevant federal state or territory police force. What role do police in the criminal justice system? According to (White and Perrone 2010 p. 287-293) police are not only one of the most powerful means of social control in society but are also the most visible, police have quite a large amount of power in which they are able to use their own judgement or discretion. It is through police that offenders are first entered into the criminal justice system, or if offence is minor diverted away from criminal justice system, to quote (White & Perrone 2010 p. 87) directly â€Å"police are often described as the gate keepers of the criminal justice system†. It can be argued that by creation of laws and implementation of these laws that a person is being stripped of a small portion of one’s civil rights and social freedoms; however it is of general acceptance that the vast majority of society accepts this so called loss of rights and freedoms, to allow general level of peace and order, a system without laws and some form of soci al restrictions and civil freedoms would certainly lead to social anarchy. Not only is it the role of police to arrest and apprehend criminals but it also their role perform other essential community duties such as law & order, conflict resolution and maintenance of such resolution, police may often do this without the arrest of individuals (White & Perrone 2010 p. 287-293). Strategic planning for the prevention of crime is also just important as the apprehension of individuals by stopping the crime before it occurs. Other duties performed by today’s police force include emergency response and services e. . car accident response, traffic control and community service and many other tasks. Community service involve such mundane acts as rescuing a cat from a tree to appearing at schools educating the young. Over all it can be seen the need for policing as a vital link in the criminal justice system. In the next paragraph we will take a brief look at the various court systems. There are four main court systems in Australia three of which are state and t he other federal. The courts are (www. lawlink. nsw. gov. u 2011) the local court, which deals with such matters as Family law involves issues such as domestic violence orders, power of attorney and also enduring guardianship etc. Also the local court deals with Monetary issues such as small claims arising from motor vehicle accidents etc. monies owed that are payable such overdue fines etc. Local courts also deal with minor criminal offences including such things as drink driving, minor assaults, break and enter and breaches of AVOs etc. and also minor traffic incidents The district court for want of a better term is the â€Å"middle† court. The district court is a trial court dealing with both criminal and civil matters and also can preside over certain tribunals. The district court is headed by a chief judge. The Supreme Court is the highest of the state courts. The Supreme Court has unlimited civil jurisdiction and handles the most serious of criminal offences. The last court which is the highest court in Australia is the federal court or High Court of Australia which deals with all matters that are to do with the Commonwealth of Australia. We now have a brief understanding of the four main court systems of Australia so now let’s take a look at the last element of the criminal justice system that is that of corrective services. According to (www. correctiveservices. nsw. gov. au accessed 30/5/2010) the role of Corrective Services is to provide not only custodial sentencing but also non-custodial supervised punishments such as community service, in home detention and parole. Corrective services also provide pre-release reports on offenders to determine the risk of Recidivism or for the want of a better word re-offend. Now we have had a look at the key facets of the criminal justice system and how each interlocks with the next i. e. the police (first line of contact for the criminal justice system, arrest or caution offenders, if police arrest the offender then moves on to the relevant court system depend on relevant type and severity of crime, which in turn makes a judgement, on whether the person in question is a risk to society. If the courts come to the decision that the offender is of danger to the public they are incarcerated, or if offence is not so serious the judgement can be made to se other parts of corrections to allow for rehabilitation etc. of person in question. I hope I have helped you the reader to clearly see and understand why it is vital that any socialised society requires a criminal justice system to not only keep order in society but to also provide protection and justice for each and every individuals personal and social rights and well being. References Australian Bureau of Statistics 4102. 0 – Australian Social Trends, 19/06/1997 (accessed30/6/2010) www. bs. gov. au/ausstats/[email  protected] nsf/2f762f95845417aeca25706c00834efa/a4d719473be50fdfca2570ec001b2c95! OpenDocument Healy, J. (2006). Criminal Justice, issues in society volume 32. NSW Australia: spinney press White, R. , & Perrone, S (2010) Crime, Criminality & Criminal Justice Melbourne Australia: Oxford University Press New South Wales Government Corrective Services NSW Statement of Purpose (Accessed 28/6/2010) www. correctiveservices. nsw. gov. au/about-us/statement-of-purpose