Improving Communication Competence Essay

Interpersonal Communication is very important, whether it is in a business organization such as staff meetings, project discussion and the likes, marketing, or even the development of social skills. However, despite the importance of Interpersonal Communication, it is always taken for granted and never given much importance. It must be taken into account that all aspects of Interpersonal Communication play a very important role during communicating. If the aspects involved are employed in the right way, there wouldn’t be any problem when one wishes to share his or her ideas to those he or she is communicating with. Among all aspects, Proxemics, which is defined as the spatial separation in relation to both the social and physical environment, plays a very significant role in interpersonal communication (Darn, 2005). Depending on the distance of the speaker from his audience, if one has an unnecessary big amount of space between them which also depends on how many people there are in one’s audience, then, one might experience communication problems. If a group of people were to meet a person who keeps his distance, probably what comes first to their mind is that he is hesitating. A lot of other aspects of interpersonal communication follow Proxemics. If he is hesitant to keep a closer distance, then there is a possibility that he will not be making much eye contact, he would have mannerisms like tapping his feet or finger drumming, or maybe he would be speaking in a much lower voice which would be a great problem given the circumstance that he is keeping his distance or appearing to be somewhat aloof. Proxemics is the first sign one sees in a person who appears to be shy in speaking his mind. It is an aspect that should definitely be improved because it leads to far other more important parts of interpersonal communication. Indeed, first impression is significant. Even if one tries to give out the point he or she wishes to deliver, he or she may find it difficult to achieve because they may find him or her to be boring or uninteresting speaker. Proxemics should be an aspect a person gives great importance to. Uncertain Reduction Theory and Impression Formation Theory Uncertain Reduction Theory, or simply URT, is the way a person acts to reduce the uncertainty he or she has towards a person (Berger and Calabrese as cited in Uncertain Reduction Theory, 2002). This is mostly common with people who do not know much about each other, or who have just met. Of course, nobody wants to be awkward around other people, therefore he or she is trying to find ways to get more information from them. Normally, one starts to ask certain questions such as other people’s name, age, birth date, where they live, etc. then in the long run, when an individual and the people he interacts with already feel comfortable enough to talk about more personal things like beliefs, opinions, etc. t then gives an individual a chance to know other person better. On the other hand, Impression Formation is the way an individual puts information together about a certain person he or she is getting to know about, trying to come up or figure out what personality the other person possesses. The attitude the other person has, the information one might possibly gain out of talking to him, putting these together gives one an overview of how the person might actually be, without the need to know entirely everything about the person. Based on the researches made, URT and Information Formation go hand in hand. Initially, when one meets someone for the first time, he or she goes through the process of getting to know the other person better so the communication would be easier and without less tension. Without the need of getting the other person’s whole background information and merely basing the facts from the questions and small details drawn from a person, it would be of great help on how one should be acting towards the person. Then, after getting to know the person, one tries to put them all together, trying to come up with a main thought that would best describe the person one is dealing with. An individual tries to analyze what there is in that particular person, so that just like that in URT, he or she can act accordingly. One can adapt to his personality in some way, without having to guess or assume the wrong on the personality of the person. Without the help of these theories, it may result to communication problems between an individual and a particular type of audience. For example, you did not consider the possibility that the other person is shy and you completely have no idea whatsoever about the mode of speaking the other person has that when he or she later makes a conversation that may be hard to discern, you would probably end up getting annoyed, bored, and create a bad impression against him or her given that you didn’t see that fact coming. You might even act inappropriately towards that person. Knowing the people you encounter, especially in businesses, is of great importance, even if it only a first impression. At least you have an idea on how you get along with a particular type of person Symbolic Interaction Theory Symbolic Interactionism, as conceptualized by Herbert Blumer, is the process of interaction in the formation of meanings (Nelson, 1998). It is the way we understand what a person wishes to say depending on the meaning he gives to a certain word or symbol. It does not mean that the way he defines a certain word or thought would be the same as we perceive it to be. However, through interactions, there is a possibility than we can understand clearly what he wishes to say. Based on Nelson’s term paper, Symbolic Interactionism plays a very strong role in communication. In her paper, she used her own experience to apply the theory of symbolic interaction. Her mode of communication was E-mail. And because communication only took place over the web as compared to talking on the phone where at least one could hear the tone of the voice of the person, she found out that it was a great effect in their misunderstanding. What she meant for a certain word was defined differently for the other person. She only perceived what she believes to be the meaning for the certain symbols, ignoring the fact that it may mean different to the other person. Through symbolic interaction, we can determine what a person really tends to say. We do not assume what he has in mind but instead, we try to connect their way of defining them to the way we perceive the way we understand it. Therefore, it plays a very vital role in interpersonal communication. People should be more attentive to the way a person acts or responds. They should pay attention to the aspects of interpersonal communication. Through these aspects, you can somehow determine what message a person really means to impart, most especially in the tone of the voice because you can somehow understand what he really intends to say basing from it. All aspects should be taken into consideration, to make interpersonal communication effective. Conclusion  Learning the aspects of good interpersonal communication is very important especially in the business industry, where you constantly have to talk to a lot of different people every time By understanding these, you will see how it will make a big improvement on the way you talk in front of an audience because not only the words that come out of your mouth are enough. Even if you have a strong point you wish to share with your audience, lacking the important aspects of interpersonal communication would definitely affect the people who you wish to interact with.

Business: Revenue and Target Gross Margin

Additional facts about this case: 1. CHP is believed to be close to a long-term contract to supply parts to Medit, a giant construction company with excellent government contracts in southern France and nearby Euro countries. 2. Mission’s price for the coupling in questions (PT40) is $1. 26, FOB, Los Angeles. The target gross margin for exports is 30% FOB$1. 26 (location Los Angeles) COGS$ . 88 (Fixed) GTM $0. 38 CIF$1. 3627= $1. 36 FOB (1. 05) (1. 03)= 1. 0815 Pricing FOB $1. 33- $. 88= $. 45 $1. 54- $. 88=$. 66 Target (Gross Margin for exports 30%) 3.Mission has a reputation for high prices in the US, and running the factory below capacity limits will raise costs further. 4. International sales missed forecast for 1Q03 by 7%. 2Q03 forecast is $4. 3 million, but early customer response is not encouraging. International sales are now 20% below target. 5. Key account sales force compensation: 70% salary, 15% bonus on sales quotas, 15% bonus on profitability targets. 6. In 4Q02, Mission’s sales to CHP were $83k – 18% of CHP’s flexible couplings purchases. Questions to answer: 1. Write a short, one-paragraph summary of the facts in this case.Mission Rubber Technology Corp. is a company that creates an industrial product. The traffic has created trouble with CHP. Shipping has costs $11,000 for CHP because Mission Rubber Technology error. Damages occur often. The issues need to be addressed be Mission Rubber Technology and CHP is late on their payments. Late payment causes a lack of losing customers and cash, which can also cause a company to fail. Sales 20012002 $114k$165 Increased 165/114= 1. 44 percent growth The American market has become weak domestically and slowing down which businesses tend to lose assets.Sales and productivity decreases causing the growth of the business to also decrease. One of alternative is to globalization seeking for new business. An unsuccessful Cash flow issues can occur because lack of assets or maybe bec ame they okay with paying late. Price 2. Prior to negotiations, what price will you ask for each unit of PT40? 3. What is the highest price you think you can get for PT40 (explained)? 4. What is the lowest price you would accept for PT40 (explained)? 5. What is the highest price you believe CHP will accept (explained)? There are times when the company receives credit from the company instead of cash refunds.

Computer and Securiy Era Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Computer and Securiy Era - Research Paper Example 2). This urged the computer professional to think about computer security and a need to create system protecting mechanisms and installing layers of security between the computers of different users. During this time, the concept of protection ring was evolved which is a hierarchical protection domain, that mainly uses hardware resources with some CPU architectures to add security within any system. During 1970s, the computer security field was formally taken for research. Two famous research reports were published in this era (Gollmann, 2011, p. 3). The first one was produced by Willis Ware, who talked about the technical foundations of computer security and also included analysis of the policy requirements of applications. Another report was published by Anderson, which focused on the design of secure computer systems for protecting classified information, such as US defense sector. Thus, the decade of 1970 can be called one of the most important decades in the history of computer security (Gollmann, 2011, p. 6). This was a time when new technologies were being heavily introduced in form of different kinds of applications and hardware resources. These new technologies were creating real issue regarding computer security. For the protection of public and defense data, implementing encryption was seen by government a comprehensive solution for securing computer memory and on backup media. The US Federal Bureau of Standards asked IBM for a data encryption standard, in response of which, the company came up with an algorithm, calling it â€Å"Data Encryption Standard†. The algorithm processes and encryption was then widely discussed in public forums. The birth of cryptography took place. The encryption processes and algorithms were improved by time. The encryption also gives the basic concept and idea of HTTP, HTML and XML, which are extremely important components of the internet (Gollmann, 2011, p. 8). After the introduction of Personal Computers, the

Sales Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 9

Sales Management - Essay Example The identification of the needs of the customers helps sales persons in approaching them. Well-built business relationships between the sales person and the customer, provides the customer with an ease to communicate their expectations from the product or services and aid the salesperson in easily capturing the customers’ knowing their requirements (Lamb, Hair, & McDaniel, 2008). Customers enter into a process of purchasing a product on the basis of the purchase situation. A purchase situation refers to the relationship or interaction of the buyer with the business, for instance, it may be a new business and the first time the customer shows his willingness to purchase from a particular business, or it may be a longstanding relationship with the business running for several years. The multi-attribute matrix of buyers is an important tool for the salesperson to understand the requirements of the customer, satisfy their needs and build their relationship stronger in terms of pri oritizing the products with attributes which are appreciated or important to the customers like price, quality, quantity and so on (Tanner, Honeycutt, & Erffmeyer, 2009). Customers need a salesperson who has the understanding of their choice and requirements. It helps the customers in getting the right product, at the right price, on the right time with less effort. Such a system of relationships between buyers and sellers help in customer satisfaction and reliance on the seller’s advice. This trust and reliance is basically on the convincing power of the salesperson along with their presentation style for a particular product (Kurtz et. al., 2009 p. 310). Organizations and salesperson can work hand in hand to build stronger customer-seller relationship. The relationship between customers and the company lies in the goodwill of the brand. The brand name is the recognition factor for the customers for a business. Building a strong brand name, however, is not an easy task. It requires

Crisis at Canoe Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Crisis at Canoe - Essay Example ordinance will be the primary means used to measure how food handling, storage, and preparation are carried out at the Canoe premises, although some other general observations will be made. When I arrived at the Canoe location, I observed how busy the kitchen was when preparing for the lunch service. This tends to suggest that demand in the local area is high and Aqua can adequately keep up with high demand. Furthermore, all of the kitchen staff were dressed in bright, clean uniforms. Appearance is everything when it comes to making food, even if many of the cooks are never seen by the patrons. Unfortunately, this is where the successful practices stopped. I felt a little warm while in the kitchen, and so took off my coat only to realize that the kitchen thermometer read 73 degrees F. What I witnessed next shocked me completely; a large frozen turkey was defrosting in a dish on the counter. This violates two components of the LA county restaurant grading ordinance. The first is that the temperature should have been no higher than 70 degrees F. The second is that the ordinance only allows frozen food to be thawed under running water at no higher than the previously mentioned temperature. This is in gross violation of the ordinance, and could result in severe penalties if an inspector witnessed this event. Apart from the issue with the turkey defrosting on the counter, the assistant head chef was preparing a chicken casserole and beef vegetable soup when I noticed that the woman did not wash an instrument when switching from preparation of one type of meat to the other. Once again, this violates the ordinance in two instances; equipment must be cleaned between uses and the temperature should not be in the danger zone (40 degrees F to 140 degrees F). One positive action that I witnessed was that the chef and all his assistants were wearing gloves, yet none of them were wearing hair nets. The ordinance requires safety hair nets, gloves, and clean uniforms at all

Philosophy - Feminism, Moralism, and pornography Essay

Philosophy - Feminism, Moralism, and pornography - Essay Example It is this attitude along with a lack of understanding about human sexuality (admittedly women’s too) that give birth to the new definition of pornography. Had she gained some knowledge about activities like tit torture as depicted in Kama Sutra, she would have thought twice before reaching such a new definition. While stressing on the sadistic attitude of the male-dominated society, it is painful to note the total ignorance the scholar shows towards the element of masochism inherent in women. The scholar is against pornography because of three major reasons. Firstly, it promotes violence against women. Secondly, it provides a totally wrong picture about female sexuality, and thirdly, it promotes male-centeredness (234). It seems that the work goes seriously defective in the fact that it does not give any attention to the impact of explicit sexual content on children. In other words, the scholar is of the opinion that as far as females are not tortured in the portrayal, the material does not have to be considered pornography. Here, she fails to acknowledge the fact that in order to arouse sexual feeling in people including the immature ones, it is not necessary to include bondage or torture. Thus by defining only sexual content with violence as pornography, Longino has provided a totally defective view of pornography. Also, the scholar is alarmed by the fact that pornography has secured its own place in the mainstream media. In the opinion of Longino, this overwhelming acceptance of pornography by the mainstream society and media shows the desire of the male-dominated society to subject females to such activities like rape, bondage, and torture for its own sexual gratification. That means the creation of a society where psychological and physical violence against women is accepted as part of the social culture (234). Admittedly, the scholar is rather unaware about the content of sadism in males as propounded by various thinkers including Freud and

Humorous exhumation hypocrisy in Moliere's Tartuffe Essay

Humorous exhumation hypocrisy in Moliere's Tartuffe - Essay Example For an instance, the US involvement in the Iraq War can be described satirically as following: Mr. Bush, the President, along with his whole Army led an enterprise in Iraq to beat in the bush. But what he got there ultimately kept him busy with beating about the bush in America. Finally, the innocent Americans with blood-washed hands raised their voice: â€Å"Mr. Bush! Will you please stop beating around the bush? Now It is time to hear about the truth!† The salient ingredients of satire are humor, criticism and moral tone. The object of satire can be any foul and objectionable idea, concept and practice in either an individual or a group. The main literary tool of satire is the use of both sarcastic and mild ironies, sarcasm, exaggeration, etc. But sarcastic satires often pivot on bitterly cynical denunciation that tends to injure its intellectual brilliance. For example, if one says, â€Å"Once upon a time, in Iraq the Americans would chop the tender Iraqi boys and girls and prepared the dishes for the leaders†. This line is not satirical; rather it is sarcastic because it lacks humor as well as wit. Yet a satire can refer to some socially acknowledged taboos such as obscene sexuality, invectives against religion, etc. Griffin Dustin defines satire as following: Satire is a wit contest, a kind of game in which the participants do their worst for the pleasure of themselves and their spectators. . . . If the exchange of insults is serious on one side, playful on the other, the satiric element is reduced. (Dustin 23) Indeed a satire attacks foolishness, follies, vices, wrongs, etc by making fun of them wittily. Moliere’s â€Å"Tartuffe† is such a successful satire that humorously criticizes the religious hypocrisy during the latter half of the Seventeenth Century. Moliere has declared the moral purpose of the play in bold line in the preface of the play: â€Å"distinguish clearly the character of the hypocrite from that of the truly devout man† (Moliere 2). On the surface level, he depicts Tartuffe as a devoutly religious character. But the underlying message of the play is that Tartuffe is ultimately a fraud under the religious apparel. Obviously in the play, the object of his satire is to criticize the late seventeenth century religious hypocrisy with humor and wit. The most remarkable passage that is significant for its role in the satire as a whole is as following: Your husband? Why concern about that rube? He drinks in every story like a boob! If he caught us, en flagra nte, that dull lout, He'd offer up to God a joyful shout! And even when he realized, that clown, He'd chastise you, be careful of your gown! (Act IV Scene V) This passage -in fact, one of Tartuffe’s speeches- is the most precious part of the satire as a whole. Its satirical role is double-folds. On one hand, it exhumes the filthy nature of Tartuffe before his most devout follower, Oregon, who is hiding beneath the table. Indeed such exhumation of Tartuffe’s fraudulence before his most obedient devotee significantly refers to the witty and humorous exhumation of the hypocrisy of Moliere’s contemporary religious institution. On the other hand, it criticizes the blind faith of Oregon, generally the commoners while evoking the convulsion of laughter of the audience. Obviously Oregon stands for the death of common sense that is an essential part of a satire. At the beginning of the play he has been fooled by Tartuffe and remains befooled till this episode. Therefore this passage also contains the moral and pedagogic part of Moliere’s satire. Here Moliere opens Oregon’s as well as the audience’s eyes. In this passage, it is as clear as broad daylight to both Oregon and the

Calculate and interpret financial ratios from financial statements Essay

Calculate and interpret financial ratios from financial statements - Essay Example In addition, you can use these ratios to compare the performance of your company against that of your competitors or other members of your industry. (Alex Auerbach) When you take profit before tax or interest (EBIT) and divide it by the difference between total assets and current liabilities, you can get a financial ratio known as return on capital employed ratio or ROCE. It is a ratio that shows the companys capital investments’ profitability and efficiency. The ROCE ratio is a measure of how well a company is using capital to generate income. A high ROCE is a sign or a successful growth company and indicates that a larger mass of proceeds can be reinvested to gain more profit. However; one year ROCE evaluation should not be the basis for reinvesting. Investors should look closely on the trend over several years to have consistency. A sudden decline in ROCE signals a loss of competitive advantage. Asset Turnover Ratio specifies the connection between assets and revenue (Revenue/Total assets). It gauges a company’s efficiency in using its resources in making sales. A higher asset Turnover is better. It also specifies pricing strategy: companies with low profit margins are inclined to have high asset turnover, whereas those with high profit margins tend to have low asset turnover. This ratio is important to settle on the amount of sales that are produced from each dollar of assets. To evaluate a companys operational efficiency, return on sales ratio is used. ROS is also recognized as a company’s â€Å"operating profit margin". It is calculated using this formula: Net Income before interest and tax divided by sales. Investopedia says â€Å"This measure is helpful to management, providing insight into how much profit is being produced per dollar of sales. As with many ratios, it is best to compare a companys ROS over time to look for trends, and compare it to other companies in the industry. An increasing ROS indicates the

Introduction to Political Science Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Introduction to Political Science - Assignment Example This system of check and balance is effectual via the Congressional Oversight as far as the Congress is concerned. The functions of Congress Oversight dictate its benefits. These include the following; increase in government accountability and increase in the degree of toughness in the queries taken from officers of the public. In this way, constructive decisions are reached. Undoubtedly, the Congress Oversight is a tremendous help in guaranteeing that all the governing bodies do not violate the legislative principles. The Congress is accountable for preserving the well being and safety of the people. Its fundamental role lies in serving as a representative party for the people of America, as supported by the Oversight of the Congress. An example is negotiating with agencies according to their constituents’ welfare. This means the rights of the people of America are safeguarded. The Watergate scandal inquiry serves as an example (Liebovich 333). This power can be exercised in a biased manner because if a particular party directs Congress, it might not use its oversight power to monitor and supervise events that benefit the party. This may affect the interests of the people of America and generate detrimental responses. ... Congress has impeachment powers. Impeachment permits the governing body to hold the civil officers responsible for committing transgressions. However, the legislature is not authorized to carry on trials or terminate the civil officers for malfeasance. The upper house has the obligation to conduct the entire trial section of the impeachment and the lower house has the responsibility to conduct the accusation. The congress can exercise the power of impeachment over the executive branch. Andrew Johnson, the 17th President, is an example. He was held accountable by 35 senators and was prosecuted in his office. The United States President, Richard Nixon was held responsible for the Watergate Scandal that took place during 1974. He decided to resign from his presidency instead of experiencing impeachment at the hand of the congress. During 1998, the President of the United States, Bill Clinton became the next president after Nixon to be impeached by the United States Senate. Later on, the Senate found him innocent. President of the United States has the power to represent the state, he is the one who is supposed to meet the heads of other countries and visit other countries and represent United States in other countries. The President is even entitled to executive powers, this allows him to run the nation and control the operations of the federal government. President has the power to accept and reject the bill forwarded to him by the congress; this power is recognized as legislative power. He has the power to appoint different officers for different public positions, his duties even include managing foreign affairs such as dealing with presidents of other nations and he even has the power to take emergency measures if necessarily

International Trade and Finance Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

International Trade and Finance Law - Essay Example Not relying on the fact that crisis was caused by retarding market demand and financial mishap rather than ostensible anti-inflammatory guidelines, as has been the crisis case since 1945. Japan is the only nation among stable economies accustomed to this type of recession and this is as a result of the past-bubble downfall of the 1990s. For emerging economies, the case was quite different, as much it may have been associated with a rich economy: emerging economies had a deeper conventional trend that begun by a flow in inflation in 2008, which made many Asian countries to adopt tough anti-inflammatory regulations. Then the effects of such policies were witnessed at world trade level after Lehman and associates went bust in 2008; this saw poorer countries in Latin America and Africa feel the hitch of shortage of raw materials from China and India. Several players are behind the crisis that took the world by storm. One of the major bodies that are keenly looked at is the International Centre for Financial Regulation (ICFR). Based in London, ICFR was formed by U.K government in collaboration with international financial institutions with an aim of monitoring financial activities and coming up with international policies that would guide matters related to finance across the globe1. ICFR has been mandated to form laws that will enhance proper trade and should guide the global economy. Critics have been concerned about how such bodies carry out their activities; this is as a result of constant financial rescissions that have rocked the globe in the recent past. Some argue that such bodies should be abolished so that each country forms its own rules to govern trade. Other critics argue that the institution should consider reviewing its policies so as to avoid such crisis. ICFR members are claiming not to be blamed future expectations are unpredictable and cannot be fixed while coming up with such regulations. Even though the ICFR may defend its reputation, outcry has persisted and several fingers pointed towards the organization. Some of crisis effects such as guarantees and bail-outs have proved the organization to be unstable. Much of consequent regulatory agenda debatably reflects the need to tackle such weaknesses rather than implementing well investigated optimum governing solution. As a result, high leverage that was manageable only under circumstances of growing investor confidence and asset price is considered to be a weakness form the body. Weak governance, remuneration and accountability culture within financial bodies has been a factor as well behind downfall of the organization. Some analysts accuse the organization of hysterical and unorganized creation of liquidity to imbalance and motivate countries to invest in financial assets present in deficit countries. Other organizational weaknesses are pointed out they need attention to avoid plunging the world economy in such financial jeopardy; these include but not limited to: emergenc e of increased and uncontrolled ‘shadow banking’ segment and adoption of complicated financial tools and techniques that made risk disperse all over the global financial division and relevant interdependencies created, as well as missing public information on the extent and distribution of risk occurring in the financial system. Some commentators characterize the emergence of these, at least not wholly, to

Diversity in the workplace Essay Example for Free

Diversity in the workplace Essay a.) Diversity in the workplace is recognized positively in many different ways, and can make up a strong workforce of all aspects inside different organizations. These include a variety of age, gender, their background, race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and personality or even the style of how somebody works. All these factors create a diverse work force. By embracing these factors into the daily running of an organization it can be beneficial for both employer and employee, working pleasantly where everybody feels valued and respected. New talents are discovered and people are treated as individuals and are not stereotyped due to popular beliefs. see more:explain the principle of informed choice Employers must abide by, practice and integrate all aspects of the Equality Act 2010 as a legal requirement. Employees of the organization can help to create and carry out these policies and have the responsibility of ensuring a positive outcome in workforce tasks. Having a wider area of skills and talents to choose from will help generate new ideas helping the organization to run smoothly and exceed success on new levels. The workplace becomes host to diversity’s benefits recognizing the different terms of knowledge and differences in all work related areas. In feeling valued and respected as an individual this reflects on that persons work persona in a positive way, sympathizing with customers and working better in general to achieve the organizations crucial targets and goals. The Equality Act 2010 was introduced on 1st October 2010 and is a key piece of legislation. This Act provides the overall legal guidelines that protect the individual’s rights in the workplace and provides the correct legislation that promotes opportunity amongst all diverse platforms. The key acts that comprise the act as a whole are: * Equal Pay Act 1970 * Sex Discrimination Act 1975 * Race Relations Act 1976 * Disability Discrimination Act 1995 * Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003 * Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003 * Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 * Equality Act 2006, Part 2 * Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007 Within the workplace there are policies/procedures and legislation materials that employers and employees can have easy access to on a day to day basis by using the organizations in house systems such as intranet or company website which will have sections specifically targeted to that area of the business. These sources of information can be readily available at the click of a button. By having access to the human resources department this also can offer a wealth of information in regards to company policies, company legislations, handbooks and information with regards to the courses and training that can further background knowledge on this information and can then allow both parties to put what they have learnt into practice. b.) It is of the highest importance to make sure we are all working in a healthy and safe environment and it is the responsibility of all staff to take reasonable care of your own health and safety and of others. It is important to follow instructions and cooperate with the health and safety department on regulatory matters that will arise and to attend relevant health and safety training where necessary. We must also familiarize with the health safety at work manuals these can be found on the DRI intranet or the Human Resources department. We must report any injuries, strains or illnesses as a result of your job role or potential hazards and defects observed in the workplace to the health safety department, so they can be resolved before it can lead to potential escalation. In recognition of these problems it is important that you utilize the company facilities for example this could be in the form of using of VDU’s (visual display unit) which could potentially cause eye strain as a result of prolonged use. The company can reimburse the cost of spectacles and lenses. If in specific departments you require personal protective equipment (PPE) or adequate welfare facilities, these are used free of charge and it is important you notify health safety department, should you need to order more. This is a fundamental rule when working with abrasive products. It is also vitally important to us you that you have the correct amount of rest breaks during the working day. Security of all employees is crucial, so we must make sure to fob in and out of the building when arriving or leaving the building so as to safely access the building and have a record of when and what times you leave during the day. If you happen to leave the fob at home or lose it you must contact reception to be provided with a temporary or a replacement from payroll. If you are expecting a visitor you must request they sign in and out of the building at all costs this ensures we have a record of who has been in and out of the building should an incident occur. By working in a healthy and safe environment we can remain motivated and enthused in order to prevent incidents occurring. We can be confident in our workplace surroundings striving for a much better working atmosphere. The two types of decision making made at DRI (Diamond Resorts International) are those of operational decisions which are carried out on the everyday running of the business, and decisions derived from other departments (strategically) which factors in senior management staff to make long term decisions for the business and to pin point the direction the business is going to take with more beneficial effects. Operational decisions are made up of key stages that we strategically follow; firstly we identify the decision and analyze all factors. Grid Analysis is one stage in the process that helps you to decide between several options, where you need to take many different factors into account. An alternative way is also writing out the pros and cons of that area presenting it to you in balance. An example of using grid analysis; in the key stages of making decisions. By consulting a team leader and organizing a group meeting you will be able to obtain ideas and advice from all knowledgeable bodies and consult with senior staff before a decision is made. This can give you wider pool of avenues to consider whilst going through the key stages. If the decision to be made is predominantly made by two people from separate parties they must have the knowledge to negotiate with each other to implement the decision and be satisfied in all areas. The use of feedback is important in these key stages as it allows us to gain feedback from people who hold down different job roles and responsibilities; therefore are given a variation of information that may assist in the final decision. Most operational decisions are being made day to day by team leaders and departmental managers which factor in team member’s assistance and views. Departments that deal with more executive decisions will have a larger span of control; when a manager oversees the day to da y smooth running of his/her department of staff. When training on the job role we are trained to identify what decision would need to be referred through for approval. An example of this would be the procedure that Human resources department at Diamond Resorts follow which is known as a Recruitment Authorisation form (SRAF), this is used for the recruitment of any new member of staff. If the Resort Manager at Pine Lake wanted to recruit a new housekeeper she would fill this form in and send it to the HR department. Human Resources review this by checking we are paying the correct wage or the number of hours worked is reasonable. It is then sent to the Regional Director (Carmina Saiz) for approval. Once returned to us with approval we ask Vice President of European Resort Operations (Suzana Gomercic) for approval. Once approved HR then send the form, to Executive Vice-President Steve Bell, for final approval only when these processes happen can the recruitment process begin. At each of these levels the approver has the potential to decline the request or to make a change, for example, to suggest the hours worked should be 40 hours instead of 37 hours. This would implicate the span of control going through the different processes identifying who would approve each decision before a permanent decision is made. Task 2 a.) The Importance of planning prioritizing work at DRI – Notes for guidance To help support you and achieve to the highest standard here at Diamond Resorts International it is important you are able to plan and be organized in order to meet the set deadlines for the daily running of all the departments. It is important that you are able to use your time correctly to ensure that all deadlines are met and so that you can achieve the required goals and objectives’ in daily set tasks to help other people in their responsibilities to others. We have a number of facilities at DRI and it is important we use them in order to be timely and efficient, and allow all outcomes of the day be less stressful for you and your team members. * The online mailing system is a key part of the organization and is vitally important for the outside communications and communicating inside all departments around the building. Diary systems are very useful for booking/referring back to appointments and can be used to schedule any tasks or work you may need to prioritize before the end of the day. * You may have access to different calendars’ for meeting rooms around the building. By gaining this access it allows you to see who and what time a room is booked out for, enabling you to book in and around it for yourself or upon a request via another team member. This could include any visitors meeting with you or senior management. The calendar sends you reminder so you can make the necessary arrangements for their arrival. * To do lists can be simple and easy to do on paper or electronically. If for any reason IT department is having issues via the computer software and you become unable to access your computer and cannot use the software to input your data. You can do a simple to do list on paper this will be a temporary measure to remind you and help your day run more smoothly whilst the repairs are underway. Under some circumstances we take under consideration the reasons deadlines could be late, interrupted and may not potentially be met due to certain contributing fa ctors inside the office. * Communication is important throughout working hours, between team members, and is important to have the right level at all times to ensure work is communicated effectively around the office. Too much communication can cause distractions if certain topics are not work related and can be discussed out of office times. This can be avoided by talking about unrelated work topics out of office hours, on lunch breaks or short breaks throughout the day. * It is possible you may be interrupted frequently throughout the day. This could simply be to help another team member, due to technical difficulties or answering the telephone to a customer which could unfortunately take you off task. Make sure you log where you are in order to resume where you left off. The technical difficulties can have a knock on effect for everyone in your department and it is important to try and do as much paper based work as possible to get you up to speed and prepared for the deadline so you are ready to carry on once the issues have been resolved. * There may be times when there is lack of resources around the office if you feel this will have a significant effect on areas of your work then you need to notify a member of the senior management team so they can replenish stock or locate resources from an alternative means. If the department you are working in is short staffed, senior management may want to hire temporary staff to complete clerical/admin tasks. If there are unforeseen circumstances for example you are unable to get to work on time due to problems with public transport, family emergencies or problems etc. In this case some issues cannot always be helped; you must notify your department of issues and if possible explain what work may need to be completed in order to help contribute with the work that is being delayed. b.) After three months of working for Diamond Resorts International it is company procedure to have an appraisal after three months service. I first received a letter from my head of department a week before my appraisal was due. Stating where the meeting was to be held, what time and who it would be with. It was held on the 23rd of October at 3.00 pm with the Human Resources manager. Before I was to attend the meeting I did a small self assessment on paper to remind me what needed to be outlined during the discussion. Once we sat down to commence the meeting I was asked if I was enjoying the new job role also if there was any ongoing problems that needed to be resolved. I explained that I had been enjoying the job role very much and found the prospects for working for DRI very exciting. I was told during my appraisal that all my hard work had been satisfactory and what I had been achieving was more than up to standard. As the job role was new to the company I felt proud to say that I had built the reception area up by myself and enjoyed co-coordinating the maintenance of the building. Making the area more organized and flow with the filed systems I had created. Whilst in the meeting I thought that it would be a good idea to discuss what I had planned for the future, as although I like the job role I require something more challenging and something that can test and push my abilities to what I am more capable of. This meeting was vital for the communication between manager and employee as is important to see where can be improved and problems can be raised and dealt with properly to the discretion of the employee. c.) My career goals illustrated via the SMART technique Complete Level 3 Diploma in Business Administration course with all distinctions aiming for the highest mark possible and pass the functional skills math’s exam, after attending all after hours classes and get back up to speed with mathematic skills. Consider moving job roles/departments after completion of the six month probationary period. All technical certificates will be prepared, passed and achieved in order to start the NVQ level units. Keep practicing for the functional skills math’s test, continuing the drop in math’s sessions allowing learning and improvement on the subject. I will be looking at different job role summaries and familiarizing with them. All the technical certificates have been prepared for and have the correct resources and information to achieve each unit. Each certificate will have a specific time to achieve handouts and activities to complete in order to gather all the information required to achieve set target scores. By completing and concentrating on each unit at once I can put 100% into each unit, also enabling me the flexibility of fulfilling my own job role. There will be points in the day where I will have to break of and do my duties that are required of me as an employee of DRI. I will also be completing functional skills out of office hours. Each unit I have set myself minimum of 2 weeks to complete. This is ample time to have completed each individual unit and have the feedback comments sent over to me via email from my assessor. Each 2 weeks my assessor will come and visit and discuss my progress. Section B 1. a) The key points that are included in a contract of employment could be any of the following; the contract will have the name of your employer and the employee also the date the employment commenced. The number of working hours you will be required to work during the week. The contract will inform you of how much holiday entitlement you are allocated annually, also how they will calculate them yearly. The details of sick pay and statutory pay will be enclosed in a contract of employment also the pension details. The contract will describe the job title and the brief job description of the work, and the location of where work has to be carried out. b.) A contract of employment is an agreement between employer and employee which determines the relationship between both parties. A written contract can include one short handwritten page or a lengthy document containing detailed components. Each business should take the time to carefully prepare a contract of employment for each employee. All businesses have different needs and outlooks, the style and content of each contract of employment will be different. 2. There are a number of representative resources that can assist employees with information and support them where necessary; The Equal Opportunities commission (EOC) is a regulatory body that promotes statutory rights within the employment sector and monitors human rights; offers on hand legislation and legal frameworks to the members of the public informing them of their rights. ACAS (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) is a regulatory body available online and is available for employees/employers that aim to improve organisations through better employment relationships. They also help by updating their website with the most current forms of legislation, and offering free independent advice. 3. a.) There are many factors that can lead to being under pressure in a workplace environment, where a professional manner can become difficult to maintain. If you are running by a tight deadline it could become increasingly difficult to reach, due to lack of resources or due to your organizations department being understaffed. The nature of your work could become strained as a result of more elements being added to a task than originally identified. There could be fundamental changes in your job role with new standards that need to be met in order to meet company deadlines pressuring the work environment further. b.) It is important in any departments of organizations that we declare our work progress; this is so we can keep up to date with targets and deadlines also so that team members can utilize the use of support they may need in the work processes, where necessary in order to complete tasks. It is also important to log our progress of work so we can anticipate any problems that we could encounter, and identify them before them before they happen. To identify our progress we are not impacting on others workloads in a negative way, we are working alongside them resulting in a positive outcome. 4. By continuously seeking to improve our performances at work we are able to assess and consider the possible options going forward in the work place, you are exceeding your own limitations/performance, learning new skills and producing quality work that meets the high standards of your organization. By achieving targets and goals are of a higher standard because you are putting more effort into your work. This not only gives the employer a good impression but can give you more chance of increasing your income or getting a promotion, it also gives you the motivation needed to proceed with your work. The efficiency and effectiveness in producing work can give you a sense of satisfaction, as well as receiving positive feedback from the people around you. By using certain analytical procedures we can assess our progress and see where would be the need for improvement. By using SWOT analysis or SMART techniques we can identify our skills, threats, our strengths which can be used to our advantages helping us to focus on our career pathways. Feedback (whether formal or informal) is a key way of enabling us to improve our own performances in the workplace whether it be positive or negative feedback we can take pointers away and work on them to improve work place performances inside of office hours. 5. There could potentially be problems in the workplace which cannot be solved without the interjection of another member of staff. This could be caused by lack of resources for example being short staffed, which is the responsibility of senior management who overlook the Rota’s to make sure there is significant cover ensuring the team can operate as a whole. If the department you are working in has frequent interaction with customers; there may be customer complaints that are not being dealt with correctly. Customers may wish to speak to senior members of staff who can investigate further taking the customer down a different route to solve their query, which only they will have the authorization to do. You may need to refer a problem if the solution involves reimbursement of company funds, or the problem may have a serious impact on an overall company targets. If there is a serious risk to a person’s life or the problem is in breach of a Health and Safety procedure, you must ensure that the information is passed on and dealt with by a member of the correct department as they will be familiar with all the policies and be able to devise a solution.

Charachter Analysis Atticus Finch Essay Example for Free

Charachter Analysis Atticus Finch Essay In â€Å"To Kill a Mockingbird† by Harper Lee, Atticus Finch is a man who fights for what he believes in. He is very strong willed and always the one who will stand up for what is right, not what the most popular thing is to do. He also is often reffered to as the wisest man in his town. Atticus believes in equality among people. In his mind all people are equal and deserve equal treatment no matter what race they are. Atticus tells Jem and Scout, his two children, not to judge people until you walk in their shoes. Atticus is also a defense lawyer for his county of Maycomb. Durring his case with Tom Robinson, the black that was accused of raping a white girl, Atticus tries to change the injustices and racism in his small hometown. Atticus is a older male, about 50 years old, with a darker hair color that is turning gray as he ages. He wears glasses because his left eye is nearly blind. He said â€Å"Left eyes are the tribal curse of the Finches. He is also rather tall. His two children were once ashamed of him, because he didn’t fish or hunt, like the other childrens fathers, due to his age. But as they grew, they began appreciating him not for the activities he did on the weekend, but his morals and beliefs. Atticus is one of the most loyal, humane, and consistent with his views and beliefs than any other character in the novel. Miss Maudie states, Atticus Finch is the same in his house as he is on the public streets. His intelligence, calm wisdom, courage, humility, lack of prejudice, and strong sense of justice, causes him to be respected by everyone, including the very poor and black people. Although he is looked down on and mocked by many characters in the novel for his kindness towards the â€Å"Negros†, the people of Maycomb still respect him and keep re-electing him to be their representative in the State Legislator. Durring the trial with Tom Robinson, Atticus Finch defendes him to the best of his ability despite significant difficulties from the community. Since it was back in the time of civil unrest and racial segregation. This had a huge impact on the community, as Atticus Finch was a highly respected attorney in the white community, who ended up drawing the most adoration and respect from the entire black community for his efforts to stand up for the truth regardless of race. Atticus is a strong willed man who stands for what he belives in. His thoughts do not change because of a persons skin color. He is kind and understanding and helpful to his children as well as anyone else who may seek for help. He is a well respected man in Maycomb, because he stands for what he believes, not the popular beliefs.

An Introduction To Microblogging Information Technology Essay

An Introduction To Microblogging Information Technology Essay Fig 3.1 Microblogging is a shorter version of blogging that  allows  users  to write entries up to 140 characters.   The messages can be viewed by anyone, or users can choose to follow an individual or a company.  While Microblogging is concerned with thoughts from a given source and headlines of present activity, blogging is more related to larger stories, background information and research including Links Pictures. The term  lifestream  or  lifecasting  is  used  in  continuation  of  microblogging.   While Lifestream  presents  all  life  activity,  such  as  changed  IM  status  to: at coffee bar,   Services  like  FriendFeed  provide  this  overall  life   aggregation. Lifecasting  refers  to  micromedia  broadcast  such  as  video,  photos  or  audio  clips   transmitted online. Microblogging Services Providers There are several  web  services  that  provides  microblogging  like: Twitter Tumblr Yammer There are additional services that provides streaming of posts from your followers, like: Twitterrific which is a desktop application that uses to read and post entries to Twitter. Another application is Friendfeed that enables their users to keep up to date on web pages, photos, videos and music that friends and family are sharing. User Behaviour The User behaviour mainly includes posting updates in text possibly combined with links to pictures, videos or websites. The entries they make are usually a combination of their personal thoughts, professional subjects and replies to the users who follow him/her Companies also have accounts for posting company products news, customers feedback and follows users that mention company in their microblogs. As opposed to traditional blogs and newsfeeds, microblogs are far more foreseeable. Microblogging is light information that you can choose to dig into if it has your immediate interest. It ´s also a way to get an overview of what is present in your chosen network. Organizational potential Organisations have aways been a bit apprehensive in using blogs as they have a fear of loosing information. However microblogging involves lower risk as it reveals less information and is therefore more realistic for organisations to use and hence it is a good way to adapt overall blogging. Microblogging can be used in several ways, such as: For posting news related to company. Giving feedback to customers  . Link to other publicity sources. Realtime communication covering various events. Humanize an organization by communicating with individuals. Dialogue with stakeholders. Marketing, Recruiting and Stock updates. Internal knowledge sharing Many companies have made an attempt to adapt traditional blogs for internal knowledge platform. However sharing important information in blogs conflicts the challenge of many organnisations. On the other hand a lot can be said with 140 characters without revealing hidden information. And it is a universal fact that microblogs dont reveal information. It is in the best interest of the company to share knowledge which most of the times results in budget savings. But practically departments are focussed on keeping budgets, resources and assignments that conflict with the desired behaviour of knowledge sharing. Who all can and should Microblog within an Organization Whoever is interested in communicating with their stakeholders on daily basis should microblog. Be it sharing information or having a dialogue. It is more easier to adapt as it doesnt require the same amount of communication that is involved in a blog. Followers reply to their posts if they attract their attention. However what is important is their activity i.e. frequency and quality. Departments that can be benefitted from Microblogging Departments with an outward focus such as: Marketing Human resource Sales Logistics IT How to get started Create a user, company or topic name/account. Select the media or channel to publish from such as mobile phones, instant messenger or web. One should put together the team that is going to publish microblogs, educate them in this communication channel, consider topics, goals, ROI, opportunities and how to get a dialog with the followers. MICROBLOGGING TOOLS Fig 3.2 Micro-blogging is a term described as a form of blogging that allows users to write brief text updates (usually less than 200 characters) and publish them, either to be viewed by anyone or by a restricted group which can be chosen by the user. Several start-ups have witnessed phenomenal growth with micro-blogging services, most notably Twitter. In addition, numerous social networks including Facebook and Bebo have integrated similar status update services. The space is hot and its still heating up. So lets take a look at 10 of the key players. Twitter Twitter is the key player in space and the company name is used synonymously with micro-blogging. The free service allows users to post status updates via SMS, e-mail, or web browser. Whats more, Twitter has an open platform allowing third party developers to build on top of it. TwitBin is one such third-party application that allows users to post updates to Twitter directly from their browsers. TwitBin is an extension for the Firefox browser, and like most Firefox extensions, it is free to download and use. Pownce Pownce recently launched a micro-blogging platform with added functionality. On top of messaging, users can quickly and easily share links, files, or events with any or all of his/her contacts. Tumblr Tumblr is a very clean, slick micro-blogging platform. Its focus is on simplicity and elegance. Similar to Pownce, users can share a variety of things, including text, photos, quotes, links, chats, or even videos. Jaiku Jaiku is considered by many to be Twitters closest competitor. Most features and functions are similar. It will be interesting to see how the company plans to emerge from the shadow of its main rival. MySay MySay is what it says. Instead of text updates, users call MySay and say how they are doing today. Then, friends or family can listen via phone, e-mail, or the web. Hictu Hictu is a service for video micro bloggers. A webcam and a mouse-click are all that is needed to create a video post. This streamlined solution saves time and effort for traditional vloggers. Moodmill Moodmill is a way to express your mood or current state of being. A sliding scale facilitates this process, while a quick text update completes the personalized service. Frazr Frazr is also very similar to Twitter. The main difference is one of language. Frazr is focused primarily on the French and German markets. I Rate My Day I Rate My Day allows you the ability to (yes, you guessed it) rate your day on a scale of Worst to Great. Users can also provide a short text update to accompany the rating. Emotionr Emotionr is a way to gauge your happiness on a scale of 1-10 (decimals included). As the name touts, it is a way to express and share your emotions and feelings with those around you. Conclusion Micro-blogging isnt a short-term trend it is here to stay. The evolution of blogging has spawned this new mini version of blogging and many are latching on. The simplicity and the ability to post frequently is what attracts the people most to this concept. We expect much faster adoption and mainstream penetration than blogging in general. MICROBLOGGING SERVICES IN INDIA Fig 3.3 Microblogging is a new form of blogging that has ramped up quickly and created various offshoots uses of itself apart from a common use of updating/publishing thoughts in form of text (usually less than 200 characters),evenmore, microblogging is said to be used as tool in communication, productivity, e-commerce, brand exposure and in many cases a serious business tool because of its instant information retrieval nature, thus nearly a real time info exchange. When Twitter was launched first, it was criticized by many bloggers as a useless startup, but Twitter was revolutionary, after launch of Twitter many similar services got launched. While on global scale brands like Twitter (need no intro) and Jaiku are main players along with Pownce (from Digg), India is also deliberately paving way in Microblogging, though Twitter remain the key player in India too, a lot of Micro blogging platforms were introduced in past few months in India. Below are major microblogging platforms in India; A web app from Indian mobile technology company Webaroo, Sms gupshup is major Indian micro blogging platform. It provide users to send/free free text SMS to any mobile device. Unlike to Twitter, it provides its users to create and join groups to send and recieve SMSs to and from users in these groups respectively. Sending and receiving SMS via mobile and online site usage seems to have 1:5 ratio thus the site doesnt appeal much sleek in User Interface. Vakow-It is the next major micro blogging and SMS based site in India after SMSGupShup, in terms of usage and site traffic. Vakow too provide SMS message from web to mobile devices plus other features such as tagging, to tag the messages and group them based on these tags to send Pictures from web to mobile devices although a light weight, low resolution black white pictures only. Moroever, Vakow has worked out a way, through Twitter API, so that one can send updates from their mobile devices to twitter via Vakow, reason being Vakow cost less twitter, when it comes to sending message from any mobile devices in India to twitter servers. Shockles is one another such service, its a mobile message board, in short functionality are similar to that of Twitter along with features it carry. The application however is different in product marketing in way that it provide Enterprise shockles which is a product in the social software for business category and as per the website amongst the worlds first on-demand and mobile enterprise solution for business social networking and collaboration. Kwippy is one of the most famous nanoblogging service including twitter in india, reason being you can post message from Gmail or GTalk directly to kwippy or integrate Gtalk and Yahoo messenger status, share links. Kwippy is thus a micro/nanoblogging webapp + IM status logger + social network. (A) In kwippy, the whole focus is on the Instant Messenger, right now Gmail address book(Gtalk) and Yahoo only. The friends list on the instant messenger is the most intimate friends list you can find, of all social networks as per Kwippy blog. The microblog app presently is in private beta, but one would get invite soon in a day or two. Rest is much similar to Twitter such as lingo like followers,following and tweets being Kwips here Scope of microblogging in India Microblogging is no longer unfamiliar to Indias young netizens . Twitter undoubtedly remains the most popular microblogging service, and theres more to come! So why are so many young Indians interested in micro blogging? The answers its easy ant its simple. But dig a little deeper and the following reasons the 5 Cs seem to be why microblogging appeals so much to the Indian youth. Communication: Microblogging allows you to communicate with thousands of people scattered all over the globe. The youth loves to stay connected and microblogging is just another way for them to stay in touch (apart from texting, emails, IMs, and social networking sites). Ever since the Bollywood brigade has taken to Tweeting, the allure of microblogging has only increased. Connectivity: Connectivity without restrictions of time and space is a great deal that technology has offered the bloggers. You can also use cell phone to connect to the microbloggers tweeting out there, Hence it is practically a mobile and internet combo pack! So there you are blogging from any corner of the world that too even without a computer, sharing the experiences there and then and staying connected to the blogging universe all the time. Content creation: Seeing your own content being read by wide audience is a great feeling which does prompt many bloggers to enter the blogosphere. Though the content many a times remains very basic and does not really have much of a literary value, one has to accept the fact that new media such as Twitter allows people to create their own content and share it proudly with the world. Crisp: The lengthy sagas on regular blogs have no place in microblogging universe. Microblogs are supposed to be less than 200 characters, that is why they are micro. Twitter allows maximum of 140 characters, and this restriction does make the post short and crisp. Any microblogger tries to make the post maximum interesting in minimum amount of words, just what the readers expect it to be. Just like their other choices, the youth likes it short, crisp and to the point. (Even though sometimes the post itself has no point altogether!) Cult: microblogging has become a cult. Just like Yahoo chat and Orkut were. There might be many of your peers who type away every little thing they do; and have 500 followers. And then there is our media who treats this new medium with equal enthusiasm. So you glance through newspapers, or just watch an entertainment channel and know that Shah Rukh Khan has got tons of followers within few days, and what did Priyanka Chopra write to her tweeple even if you do not know what exactly Twitter is. Of course, the movie stars or politicians many a times do it for their own promotion, but that just adds an it factor to microblogs. It makes the youth go after it more. That has suddenly become the aspirational and the thing to do you see. Microblogging is redefining what a conversation is all about, blurring the line between SMSing and blogging, and between the private and public. Blogging on the phone has no extra baggage that blogging on a computer carries: you dont have to be grammatically correct and your blog post could be just any stray thought. In Mumbai, Twitter inspired a tweetup, when Gaurav Mishra, a marketing professional and an early adopter of technology, wrote out a post saying Blog meets are so passà ©. I want a Mumbai Twitter meet. Webaroo Inc, which launched the free microblogging service SMSGupShup in India last April, claims to be growing at nearly 4 per cent every day purely through word-of-mouth publicity. they expect users in excess of 20 million before the end this year. Costs are recovered by placing contextual ads at the end of the SMS. MyToday MOBS, a microblogging service from Netcore Solutions that took off last July, sees nearly 25,000 people publishing on a daily basis again, with zero advertising and marketing costs.India has the worlds third-largest mobile base. If you create services leveraging the mobile as a platform . Its not even just text anymore phone companies are ringing in an era in which pictures, video and audio can be blogged instantaneously. Nokia Nseries introduced its M-Blog last year. When blogging began in the 90s, the only way to blog was to get to a computer and upload images, text and video. But not any more. Reliance has seen a four-fold increase in its m-blog usage since it started advertising the features. In Japan, five out of ten of last years best-selling novels were originally written out on cellphones . Microblogging is helping people release a lot of creative energy free of cost. They could be inspired to compile the microblogs as books eventually and this trend is quickly catching up in india.. Microblogging is definitely here to stay. Blog-camps and virtual get-togethers are already happening with bloggers all across the globe. Microblogging could surely reach lot more number of people. It will evolve more with the convergence of technology, and become a regular part of our lives, both real and virtual. Issues with MicroBlogging Threat   Web surfing is no longer a solo affair.  Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks have quickly become an integral part of the online culture, and with them come a whole new array of potential security threats. In this article, well identify some of the key dangers of  social networking/microblogging Concerns about Micro blogging The main concerns with micro blogging, as with other forms of social media, are privacy, security and integration. In the race to take the first mover advantage(in case of businesses) or just to be among the first to use of these new technologies many users do not consider the potential risks or the shortcomings of these upcoming technology. Nearly all the micro blogging sites gather information about users and some of them consider the personal information provided on account profiles to be their property. These services are reserved with the right to use personal information and to transfer it to third parties. Which are generally mentioned in terms and conditions. (Did you check the Terms of Agreement before you signed on?).Following are the three main key issues:- Privacy   concerns of broadcasting social or work information to everyone who follows your feed Security   concerns of the public seeing possible sensitive work information Integration   how to adapt micro blogging into the corporate culture. Privacy  is a major issue, because the users sometimes broadcast sensitive personal information, which can be viewed by anyone who views their public feed. Micro blog platform providers can also cause privacy issues, through changing or presetting users privacy options. An example would be  Googles Buzz platform, which incited controversy in 2010 by automatically publicizing users email contacts as followers. Google  later amended these settings. Security concerns have been voiced within the business world, since there is potential risk of sensitive work information to be published on micro blogging sites such as  Twitter.   Integration could be the hardest issue to overcome, since it can be argued that  corporate culture  must change to accommodate micro blogging. It helps to share information with potential clients in the most concise manner. They feel that employees might be distracted which might affect their productivity at work. One more issue is that business is not able to decide upon which website which they should use depending on the popularity in different areas A major issue for an organisation is the concern that employees might broadcast sensitive work information. Micro blog posts (unless sent as private direct messages) are searchable by other users and websites. An organisation will never want the public seeing possible sensitive work information on the public micro blogging sites. Just because people are using new means of communication does not mean that an organisation has any obligation or should really sanction or implement these upcoming technologies. However, micro blogging has become a popular and useful communication tool, which can be used to benefit some organisations. If an organisation allows the use of various public micro blogging service by employees, then there is a need to implement a policy with clear guidelines on appropriate usage. If, on the other hand, an organisation decides to integrate micro blogging into the corporate culture, they should investigate enterprise solutions and find one that will be easy to inte grate with their existing platforms. Define privacy Marrying privacy and social networking/micro blogging may seem unreal to some. How can you be social and open and yet protect your privacy? Well, just because you are choosing to share some of your personal/private information with a selected group of people does not necessarily mean that you want to share all of your information, or that you want this information to be visible to all. Facebook in particular has suffered from a number of issues related to privacy concerns. If you have used Facebook for a while, you may have noticed ads with your friends names or photos associated with them. Facebook does provide privacy controls for you to customize what types of information should be available to third-party applications. If you look at the Facebook Ads tab of the privacy controls, though, youll notice that it offers no way for you to opt out of the internal Facebook Ads. It merely states that Facebook strives to create relevant and interesting advertisements to you and your friends. Enterprise Microblogging Security Security:  This will probably be of paramount concern at least initially in most businesses. All businesses want to make sure that they keep internal communications safe from intrusive outside eyes. An enterprise microblogging solution must provide for fine-grained authorization and trustworthy security of communications. Management, through the IT department will try and want to restrict who can see certain posts and who cannot. Remember who your friends are When you write a Twitter tweet or post a Facebook status update, you have to keep people who will be able to see your post in mind. More and more these days, we hear stories of people who have forgotten that their boss is part of their network and have said things online that have gotten them reprimanded, even  fired. The consequences of inappropriate online comments have become so common that they have earned an entry in the Urban Dictionary:  Facebook fired. Saying something as obvious and seemingly innocent as Im tiredor things such asAny better paying job?Im available in a status update during work hours can have dire consequences if the wrong people see it.Or even posting some jokes about other community or religion can have some serious consequences. MICROBLOG VS EMAIL Google CEO Eric Schmidt had this to say about the microblogging service Twitter: Speaking as a computer scientist, I view all of these as sort of poor mans email systems. In other words, they have aspects of an email system, but they dont have a full offering. The question about companies like Twitter is: Do they fundamentally evolve as sort of a note phenomenon, or do they fundamentally evolve to have revocation, identity, storage and all the other aspects that traditional email systems have? Or do mail systems broaden what they do to take on some of that characteristic themselves? At first sight, it seemed like an example of Google not getting it when it comes to Twitter. But actually it is a new way of not only posting notes about what ones doing, but it also has a lot of communications usage via @replies and direct messages (DMs). Reflecting on Schmidts statement, it can be inferred that microblogging is slowly replacing a lot of email activity. As more companies are taking up microblogging with services like Yammer, Socialcast, Present.ly and SocialText Signals, employee communications amongst employees is both increasing and getting diverted away from email. Something like this: Fig 3.4 Socialcasts Tim Young had this to say about email: Email is dead. If your company is relying on email for communication and collaboration, your company is walking dead in this new economy. Being the CEO of Socialcast, it is not a very surprising statement. The shift described applies regardless of the microblogging application used. Features present in Social Networking sites Microblogging does not replace email. But these guys are advancing their product, and are rising up the performance axis. Here is what Yammer or any other social networking site now offers: Behind the firewall installation Public notes @replies DMs Groups Private groups File attachments Favorites (a form of bookmarking) Tagging Conversation threading Unlimited character length (i.e. not limited to 140 characters) Search Look at that list. When you think about your own internal email usage, whats missing? Folders or the Gmail equivalent of tags seem to be something for the down the road. Thus, Microblogging still has the insurgent, disruptor profile relative to corporate email. But dont underestimate that. Theres what IT knows is needed behind the scenes. and then theres what the users actually do when given the different applications. Expanding Communications, Marginalizing Email Microbloggings premise is that public proclamations of what youre doing and information that you find are a new activity for people, and they have value. Information is shared much more easily and in-the-flow of what were all doing anyway. This use case is what promises to dramatically increase communications among employees. As were seeing with Twitters explosive growth, it takes time for people to know why they should microblog. But once they get it, it takes off. So services like Yammer/Twitter etc. have your attention as you post updates and read what others post. In reaction to someone posts, you hit the Reply button. Youre having a conversation that others can see, and join as well if they want. You can decide to have separate conversation with someone in that context. Which starts the marginalization of corporate email. Why? Because a lot of whats going to generate interactions is occurring right on that microblogging app youre looking at. Its the most natural thing to act in-the-flow and use that application in lieu of email. Well-designed microblogging applications are also quite seductive in terms of ease-of-use. The logical end use cases of emails are: Notifications External communications This isnt something thats imminent. Email is quite entrenched in daily workflow, older generations arent likely to stop using it and internal microblogging is still nascent. COMMUNOTE AT COMMUNARDO ENTERPRISE MICROBLOGGING CASE STUDY Company information and case study background Communardo Software GmbH in Dresden, Germany offers software solutions and consultancy in the context of knowledge management and team collaboration. The company has been growing in robust during recent years .It has got an employee strength of 160+. For the most part the employees work in negeriads.com knowledge-intensive project contexts with one to one communication network. The internal IT environment contains group-supporting applications like an intranet wiki, blogs and project spaces. As Communardo itself is a consultancy firm in the area of Web 2.0 its employees are affiliated with the early adopters of new web services. Some of the employees tried Twitter and realised its potential to improve their collaboration at work and the quality of their input in the office. In 2008 they suggested using Twitter or a Twitter-like tool for the companys project teams. Until then broad email conversations or the usage of the wikis discussion pages were common and lead to a large number of unmanageable masses of information. The anticipation of the benefits of microblog- ging was that it would reconnect different parts of the company which were separated during its growth and that it would be the best tool for representing the flow of information in the project teams. The initial decision of the top level management was against using a public microblogging service like Twitter for internal use. The reasons for this were the perceived functional deficits (e.g. no rights management, few possibilities for search and filtering) and strategic reasons (data protection, security of investment and reliability). Since there were no solutions for enterprise microblogging available, the only fast and easy way to set up a microblogging-type communication system was the use of the blogging software WordPress enhanced with a special theme called Prologue. This setting was tested in a project team. The approach in general was found very useful in Indonesia Furniture Handicraft Wholesale Marketplace, and hence it was adopted company-wide. However, the modified WordPress could not meet functional expectations. Conceptualisation and Implementation Communardo formulated the following requisites for its internal microblogging tool: Topic-centred content structuring and rights management should be available. Various integration scenarios(LDAP, RSS, portlets, mobile client, XMPP, corporate identity) should be supported. Information management should be possible through tagging and filtering. Security features (like encryption, user management and robust software design) should be included. The first requirement showed a remarkable difference from the example of Twitter. It was argued that the so-called noise postings should be minimised. Noise postings are not relevant for the user but because of their quantity hide important ones. A topic-centred structuring was also seen as the condition for effective rights management. The assumption behind this was that each person acts in different roles, such as project manager. So it should be conceivable that project-relevant postings by each person would be accessible only to co- workers involved and are part of the same project. The possibility of establishing rights settings for every single posting, however, was rejected in favour of simplicity. Thus, the solution was the conceptualisation of multiple microblogs where single users could be added and then those users could follow that microblog. The approach was implemented in a non-functional user interface prototype. In this early stage of the project special usability consultants were asked to test the prototype including different versions of tagging. The aim of these tests was to find out if the handling would be intuitive. The findings were used to rework the first concept. After the conceptualisation phase Communardos top management decided to move on and started the implementation phase. The technological planning took place parallel to the screen design. The project team kept the iterative proceeding and published the resulting tool as quickly as was possible. This is what we are going to describe in the next paragraphs. The resulting software artefact The resulting software is a browser-based microblogging system which uses Web 2.0- typical technology (i.e. Ajax). Communardo chose the name Communote- a combination of the companys name and the word note. At first look Communote looks similar to Twitter. In fact the key elements are the same: like the posting stream is the major part of the system and a panel with filtering and navigation options is situated on the right. A major difference is the drop-down list on the top. This UI element is used to choose the microblog in which to post. The first page shows a combined view of all postings from one users microblogs. To post a message the user has to either choose a single microblog using the drop-down list or reply to an existing message. The panel on the right contains a dynamic tag mass and additional filtering possibilities. Filters are available for tags, free search, authors, microblogs and time periods. They could also be

Comparing Story Openings of Bleak House by Charles Dickens to The Outsi

At the opening of the story 'The Outsider', the writer Albert Camus places time in the wrong order. This creates the impression that we are seeing into the character's thoughts rather than a story being told to us. It works very effectively as the paragraphs are spontaneous and not in any form of order, thus creating a mental picture in our heads of one or two day?s worth of events, as if we were remembering them ourselves. This, however, does not apply to Bleak house. Dickens does not use any form of time, but instead decides to describe what is happening and makes the days, time, week or month irrelevant. It could be any day, but Dickens does not want time to be the focal point of his story. This is effective because our interest is drawn to the descriptions and happenings of the city. Surprisingly, both story start with short, improperly composed sentences, most of the time with little or no verbs. This works differently for each story. In ?The Outsider?, the short, blunt sentences arouse interest that forces you to continue reading, this is because the ?thoughts? of the character are rather cold and blunt about a situation that should be upsetting, for example ?Mother died today. Or, maybe, yesterday?, as the opening paragraph. The punctuation break up the sentence into emphasized words. Camus directs us to feel slightly disturbed by his descriptions of the events taken place and puts us in the position of psychologist, eager to hear what comes next, but wary of it also. In ?Bleak House? the short, improper sentences create a very descriptive picture of a cold, dark city, the blunt words mimicking the blunt feelings and people in the city. This is very effective as he uses the same words over again to emphasize the poin... ...he Chancellor and Chancery both being the cause and the centre of the fog, paralleling the weather with the situation. Fog is not a good thing in the court of Chancery and the narrator describes the Chancery as having a dark and unclear vision. They are not good at their jobs and the narrator calls the old Chancellor as being ?leaden-headed? or ?stupid? to emphasizing his views on that particular character. Both story openings, although composed differently, draw the reader in. Both author?s, Albert Camus and Charles Dickens, use a variety of techniques, which are all very effective when the author uses them to his will. Either way we get a clear and pointed view of the spot-lit aspects that the author wants us to focus on, and maybe sometime miss the subtle, important information between the lines that are not the centre of attention at that moment in the story.

A Look At Picasso :: essays research papers

Picasso’s Guernica is unique and unlike any other photograph or painting of a historical war scene. Historical photographs show scenes and capture moments in time, but when viewing them an intangible â€Å"wall† exists between the viewer and the photograph. The difference between photographs and original paintings is that the painting allows the viewer to break through the â€Å"wall† and actually experience the feelings and emotions expressed in the painting. â€Å"We only see what we look at and to look is act of choice.† (â€Å"Ways of Seeing† 8) â€Å"The photographer’s way of seeing is reflected in his choice of subject, they are showing you what they want you to see.† (â€Å"Ways of Seeing† 10) Photographs are taken for a reason; there are many other angles or other scenes a photographer can choose from and it is up to the photographer to decide which one the viewer sees. In essence, the viewer only sees one aspect of the image captured with the lens of the camera. For example, â€Å"when only the head of a figure is visible in a picture which appeals to visual thinking—as distinguished, for example, from a news photograph which many make use of the sense of sight merely for the purpose of informing us of what went on in a certain place—that figure is always to be seen as being incomplete.† (Arnheim 11) The eye cannot continue beyond the borders of the photograph and the wholene ss of the picture is lost. In a painting, the artist has painted all of the elements to be seen simultaneously. â€Å"The spectator may need time to examine each element of the painting but whenever he reaches a conclusion the simultaneity of the whole painting is here to reverse or quality his conclusion.† (â€Å"Ways of Seeing† 26) A painting maintains its own authority, the painting does not capture momentary appearances it creates its’ own. In doing so the viewer becomes a part of the painting, when the viewer steps away from the painting he is no longer an influence or a part of the painting. Paintings can not be seen in two places at the same time, â€Å"when the camera reproduces a painting, it destroys the uniqueness of its image.† (â€Å"Ways of Seeing†13) The uniqueness is destroyed because the painting now travels to the spectator rather then the spectator to the painting. â€Å"The viewer, views it in his or her surroundings and it is influenced by their surroundings.

Basketball In Colleges Essay -- essays research papers

U.S. school and college basketball (Summary of the Jackie Miranda Article) Basketball at the school and college level developed from a structured, rigid game in the early days to one that is often fast-paced and high-scoring. Individual skills improved markedly, and although basketball continued to be regarded as the ultimate team game, individualistic, one-on-one performers came to be not only accepted but used as an effective means of winning games. In the early years games were frequently won with point totals of less than 30, and the game, from the spectator's viewpoint, was slow. Once a team acquired a modest lead the popular tactic was to stall the game by passing the ball without trying to score, in an attempt to run out the clock. The NBC, seeing the need to discourage such slow-down tactics, instituted a number of rule changes. In 1932-33 a line was drawn at mid-court and the offensive team was required to advance the ball past it within 10 seconds or lose possession. Five years later, in 1937-38, the centre jump following each field goal or free throw was eliminated. Instead, the defending team was permitted to inbound the ball from the out-of-bounds line underneath the basket. Nearly four decades passed before an alteration of like magnitude was made in the college game. After experimentation the NCAA Rules Committee installed a 45-second shot clock in 1985, restricting the time a team could control the ball before shoo ting, and one year later implemented a three-point shot rule for baskets made beyond a distance of 19 feet nine inches. More noticeable alteration in the game came both at the playing and coaching levels. Stanford University's Hank Luisetti was the first to use and popularize the one-hand shot in the late 1930s. Until then the only outside attempts were two-handed push shots. In the 1950s and 1960s a shooting style evolved from Luisetti's push-off one hander to a jump shot, which is released at the top of the jump. West Virginia University guard Jerry West and Purdue University's Rick Mount were two players who demonstrated the devastating effectiveness of this shot. Coaching strategy changed appreciably over the years. Frank W. Keaney, coach at Rhode Island University from 1921 to 1948, is credited with introducing the concept of "fast breaking" basketball, in which the offensive team rushes the ball up... ... telecast nationwide by cable networks, generating both revenue and tremendous exposure. In the evolution of college basketball the darkest hours have been related to gambling scandals, the most serious of which arose in 1951. But in the 1960s, '70s, and '80s the game was again touched by the problem. Also, as the game began to draw more attention and generate more income, the pressure to win intensified, resulting in an outbreak of incidents of rule violations, especially with regard to recruitment of star players. New York City basketball writers organized the first National Invitation Tournament (NIT) in 1938, but a year later the New York City colleges took control of the event. Until the early 1950s, the NIT was considered the most prestigious U.S. tournament, but with the growth of the college-run NCAA championship, the NIT became a consolation event for teams that failed to make the NCAA selections. Originally all teams in the NIT were invited to New York City and the games were played in Madison Square Garden. From the early 1980s, however, the first three rounds were played at regional or campus sites before the final four teams were brought to New York City.

Isolation of Eugenol from Cloves

The experiment conducted, isolation of eugenol from cloves, is the extraction of the essential oil. To perform this experiment cloves and water were mixed together and heated by a heating mantle in a round-bottom flask. A direct stem distillation took place, and the oil product was out aside for a week. After one week, the isolation of the eugenol actually takes place. Next the thin-layer chromatographic analysis takes place, but the experiment did not proceed to that step due to the incorrect amount of NaOH. Introduction The isolation of eugenol from cloves is isolated from ground cloves using the technique of steam distillation, which is often used to isolate liquid natural products from plants. Essential oils are also used to produce flavoring, fragrance, and cleaning products. The compounds found in the essential oil of cloves are eugenol, eugenol acetate, and B-caryophyllene. Smaller amounts of compounds found in the essential oil of cloves are hydrocarbons, alcohol, phenol, ether, aldehyde, ketone, acid, and ester. Essential oils are volatile and have an odor. Essential oils are often flammable, soluble in alcohol and ether but partially soluble in water. The technique used was steam distillation. The steam distillation technique was used because it lowers the pressure in the flask so that it does not have to be heated at such a high temperature. High temperatures could possibly decompose organic compounds. Experiment The first procedure used in the experiment was 25.3g of whole cloves into a 500ml round flask. Then add 150ml of water into the 500ml round flask. Connect the apparatus, funnel with water, distillation head, condenser, and receiver using grease and clips to hold the equipment together. Connect the equipment to a stand by the separatory funnel so it can stand alone. Place the 500 round flask into the heating mantle. Place two pipes in the two openings of the equipment. The opening closest to the 500ml round ball flask, the water will be exiting into the drain. The opening closest to the 250ml round ball flask, the water will be entering. A pipe was placed in the water outlet and turned on The water began to boil the cloves. Distilling continued until 75ml of the liquid was collected. When the water boiled to high the heat was decreased to prevent bumping. When the water level got low water was released in the 500ml round ball flask from the separatory funnel. The liquid collected was sealed with a stopper and set aside until the next lab. The next lab, 6g of NaCl was assed to 100ml distillacte. The solution was poured into the separatory funnel. In the separatory funnel 25ml of CH2Cl2 was added, and the two solutions separated. The dichloromethane was higher density liquid and the aqueous solution was the lower density liquid. Pressure was released from the separatory funnel and tipped over 3 times. The dichloromethane which was the bottom layer was drained and collected into Erlenmeyer flask. After repeating this step 3 times, the aqueous solution was discarded which appeared white and cloudy. Next CaCl2 was added to the flask containing CH2Cl2 extract into a graduated cylinder which was 58ml. From the total amount of the 58ml CaCl2 and CH2Cl2, one-fifth of the solution which was 11.6ml was added into an erlenmeyer flask and boiled. While boiling the CH2Cl2 evaporated. Before the solution was transferred into the vial, the vial was pre-weighed. After the solution was added the vial a hairdryer was used. The vial weighted 2.17g. Four-fifth of the CH2Cl2 extract was transferred in the separatory funnel. 25 percent of the 50 percent NaOH was added to the separatory funnel, and collected the aqueous layers. The process was repeated 3 times. The CH2Cl2 solution was kept as well. The separatory funnel was washed with 25ml of CH2Cl2. The CH2Cl2 was then discarded and the aqueous solution was capped and left for next lab. Before CaCl2 was added to CH2Cl2 extract an Erlenmeyer was pre-weighed at 117.26g. The solvent then evaporated and weighed in at 142.45. The solvent was stored to the next lab. The next week the experiment did not go to completion. Results The amount of the essential oil was the little vial times 5 which was 10.85g. The amount used to isolate the essential oil was the little vial times 4 which was 8.68g. From the amount CaCl2 and CH2Cl2 solvent was 25.19g. The other results were not completed due to an error in the experiment. Discussion The experiment did not go to completion, because 50 percent of NaOH was used instead of 5 percent of NaOH. The pH was 15 percent. The complete process of the experiment is steam distillation of the eugenol in cloves. After the eugenol is in the distillate extract with dichloromethane. Eugenol in the dichloromethane extract is extract with potassium hydroxide. The eugenol in base extract is wash with dichloromethane, acidify with hydrochloric acid, extract with dichloromethane. Eugenol in dichloromethane extract is washed with distilled water, wash with sodium chloride, dry with sodium sulfate, and distill off dichloromethane. The result will be pure eugenol.