Monday, September 30, 2019

Coffee in the Philippines Essay

This Euromonitor market report provides market trend and market growth analysis of the Coffee industry in Philippines. With this market report, you’ll be able to explore in detail the changing shape and potential of the industry. You will now be able to plan and build strategy on real industry data and projections. The Coffee in Philippines market research report includes: Analysis of key supply-side and demand trends Detailed segmentation of international and local products Historic volumes and values, company and brand market shares Five year forecasts of market trends and market growth. Robust and transparent market research methodology, conducted in-country Our market research reports answer questions such as: What is the market size of Coffee in Philippines? What are the major brands in Philippines? How significant is vending in coffee distribution? How does the increasing nuber of speciality coffee shops impact retail sales of coffee? What are the future prospects for instant 2-in-1 coffee, 3-in-1 coffee and 4-in-1 coffee? How are coffee pods performing in Philippines? Why buy this report? Gain competitive intelligence about market leaders Track key industry trends, opportunities and threats Inform your marketing, brand, strategy and market development, sales and supply functions This industry report originates from Passport, our Hot Drinks market research database. Each report is delivered with the following components: Report: PDF and Word Market statistics: Excel workbook SAMPLE ANALYSIS TRENDS Instant coffee mixes continued to gain popularity in both off-trade and on-trade channels in 2010. Rising demand for these products was due to the ease in preparation with minimal time involved, which is highly valued by Filipinos with busy lifestyles and busy consumer foodservice operators as brewing fresh coffee makes it difficult to meet demand. Nevertheless, the type of instant coffee used in on-trade establishments is usually different from off-trade brands as food establishments with high volume consumption commonly work with coffee manufacturers to produce customised mixes made from freshly-ground coffee beans and with added flavours, but come in instant powder format. COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE In 2010, Nestle Philippines continued to dominate coffee with an 81% share of off-trade volume sales and an 89% share of off-trade value sales. This was mainly due to the strong brand recognition of Nescafe, as its name is synonymous with coffee in the Philippines, and the extensive distribution network in both modern and traditional retail channels. The well-diversified product portfolio of Nescafe in instant coffee has also enabled the company to capture a broader range of consumers – from low-income Filipinos to health conscious coffee drinkers. PROSPECTS Longer working hours and busier lifestyles for Filipinos, along with the desire to streamline operations amongst foodservice establishments, are all expected to increase the demand for instant coffee mixes over the forecast period. Nevertheless, consumption of fresh coffee is expected to improve over the same period. Higher demand should be driven by a niche group of affluent consumers who are willing to pay more and focus on quality rather than convenience.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

A Letter from Buddha to his Disciple

You have asked of me for help in how to heal your father of his sickness. I appreciate that your father is a good and righteous man and you are blessed to have had a good man for a father. But I cannot take away his pain. That is something that no one can really do for if there is anything that is constant in every person's life, it is suffering. Life is suffering. That is one of the noble truths. Learn this and it can just be the very thing that would bring you, your family, and even your father enlightenment.Also remember that sorcery and miracles promised by magicians will do you no good for it is against the Laws of Karma and can only bring harm. I have seen the suffering and ugliness caused by disease and the sadness caused by man's mortality. (Moore-Brooder, 2005, p. 499) Truly if one would compare the life I led with my family one would say I am truly favored by the gods. When I was young I lived a life full of pleasures and worldly vices. But it can be a paradox on how one's blessings are defined by pain and suffering.It was only after bearing witness to the many instances and forms of suffering, that I sought fulfillment of my existence and ultimately, enlightenment. Man's life is incomplete without pain. Even from the time of birth both mother and child experience pain. But once one has transcended pain, he becomes a new man and thus, reborn. I give you my story of the mother Gotami-tissa whose son succumbed to disease. (Morgan, 1956, p. 23) She went from door to door seeking a miracle that would bring back her son's life continually being told that such a thing was impossible.She came to me for help, wringing her hands and prostrating herself so that I may bring her son back to life. I asked her for mustard seeds. Not just any ordinary mustard seed, but she must collect seeds that came from homes that remained untouched by grief and death. Later on she came back to me and confessed that she was unable to get any seed for all the homes she visited hav e experienced death. Death is not a circumstance special to just one person. It is unavoidable and constant. By understanding this, she was cured of her grief and has been able to continue living as a new woman.In my teachings I have continually mentioned man's mortality, his impermanence. Nothing on earth is permanent other than death. Its stealth is legendary and one never really knows when it will come. I urge you my son, to practice dharma in order that your life may be fulfilled and protected from bad karma. For if you do no wrong, why should there be consequences? Today we see many people doing everything within their power to attain their ambition. Some may perhaps reason out â€Å"it is not so wrong† but truly, if one would like to live on the side of right, one has to choose definitely between right or wrong without compromise.Live in freedom and self-mastery to fully enjoy the gift that is life. Bad things are constant. Suffering is constant. The only thing you can really control and gain mastery of is yourself. Learn to take the middle path in life for it is the way to happiness. Know that a life of extremes is bad and will ultimately bring more suffering. I exhort you to learn to look within yourself and develop an understanding and acceptance of what goes on around you. Aiming to change others can sometimes be a futile practice.I myself can teach what I have learned and woken up to realize, yet true enlightenment can only come from within a person himself. Some may perhaps say, I will seek enlightenment later or I have tried to understand life before but failed. But past failure is past and the future is uncertain in many ways. Indeed, it can happen that tomorrow or later in the day may be all of what remains of the future. Seek enlightenment now, and cherish the moment. So when death comes, you do not regret nor do you have fear of the next life for you die with knowledge of having lived not just a good life, but a righteous one.– B uddha References Morgan, K. W. (Ed. ). (1956). The Path of the Buddha Buddhism Interpreted by Buddhists. New York: Ronald Press. Retrieved September 23, 2007, from Questia database: http://www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=o&d=5883323 Moore-Bruder. (2005). Philosophy: The Power of Ideas, Sixth Edition Ohio: McGraw-Hill Carrithers, M. (2001). The Buddha: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. Retrieved September 23, 2007, from Questia database: http://www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=o&d=101647070

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Knowledge Management Techniques Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 2

Knowledge Management Techniques - Essay Example Uriarte, 2008). The parking and preservation of corporate knowledge is relevant especially in today’s era, given that majority of work force oriented service is solely composed of knowledge workers. To successfully compete in the economy, companies have to treat the personnel providing the knowledge just as they would pay attention to any other strategic irreplaceable asset (Leistner, 2010). At high levels of the hierarchy of knowledge worker, certificates and university degrees from guilds or various organisations provide the self imposed labels that professionals and managers use in order to qualify for one of the positions in the organisation (Miltiadis et al, 2008). Knowledge workers have an overall picture of the business as oppose to the lower level front line workers, but there is the likeliness duplication of mistakes in the various departments since there is no strategy or media for information sharing example in an organisation professionals in various departments ma y be doing some experiments with out sourcing, independently each discovering that saving promised is far much less that suggested in the popular business press. Knowledge management is fundamentally about a systematic approach to other information and managing intellectual assets in a way that the company is provided with an edge to competitive advantage. Knowledge management is an optimisation strategy for business, and it is not limited to a particular source of information or technology (Uden and Eardley, 2010). A wide variety of IT (Information Technologies) plays a key role in knowledge management initiatives, simply because of the effort provided over manual operations and savings in time. Knowledge management is agnostic when it comes to source and type of information, ranging from a document describing the process a customer support representative uses to escalate

Friday, September 27, 2019

A contract to enter into a contract is not enforceable. when contract Essay

A contract to enter into a contract is not enforceable. when contract is subject to Negotiation, it is too uncertain to have a binding force - Essay Example ses the Courts have generally demonstrated a tendency to render a decision on the basis of interpretation of such agreements, taking into account all the circumstances of the case. In the case of contracts where the price for a service or transaction is to be determined, this element of uncertainty has become even more relevant. The extent to which Courts have allowed recoveries in some cases has been determined by the extent to which damages may be suffered by one party, but when there is uncertainty introduced into the contract or pre-contractual agreement, such recoveries may be difficult. In the case of Courtney and Fairbairn Ltd v Tolaini Bros(Hotels) Ltd2 the appellants were property developers and had secured finances for the defendants to develop a hotel. Prior to the appellants securing the monies, they had entered into negotiations with the defendants; there was a written agreement between them that the defendants would negotiate to use the services of the appellant to develop the hotel property. However, when the appellant actually secured the finances, the defendants went ahead and hired different property developers rather than using the services of the appellants. This led to the legal action. Lord Denning, in providing the judgment on the case, pointed out that there had been some preliminary steps taken by both parties as an act of good faith in pursuance of their negotiations. Mr. Courtney of the appellants found a person willing to finance the property development, while the defendant Mr. Toliani appointed a quantity surveyor with a view to negotiating the price with Mr. Courtney. There was a written agreement between them; however Lord Denning did not equate this to a contract. He held that there was no actionable contract between the two parties because the agreement between them was only an agreement â€Å"to negotiate fair and reasonable contract sums†, and no agreement could be found â€Å"on the price or on any method by which the price was to

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Article critique Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Article critique - Assignment Example In the recent times, the vacancies for headship in school in UK are swelling up at alarming rate with increasing number of head-teachers who are opting for early retirement. Effective succession planning for selection and retention of head-teachers through leadership development programmes has become priority for UK government. The paper would critically analyze the article for the various issues and paradigms within the educational system that promote the need for government programmes. The initiatives are designed to create future educational leaders who would be able to fill the vacancies of senior school staff. Critique The article is highly relevant and gives deep insight into the developing crisis situation in UK schools which are faced with the huge problems of filling the vacancies of Headship with right candidates. Howson report (2007) shows concern on the government’s inability to fill the vacancies of headship in 35% of primary, 19% of secondary and 33% of special s chool. The authors are hopeful that FL program would be able to create committed leaders who would be able to do justice to the post of headship in the future. ... It greatly limits the scope of the programs and deters talents from non academia. They can bring in new ideas and approach to various paradigms of educational system and teaching. The article is divided into two distinct parts: one that elaborates an evaluated the ‘Future Leader’; and second part that tries to look into the crisis that has emerged with low retention and increasing trend of early retirement of the heads of the schools. While the two issues are important paradigms of education system, the authors’ have been ambiguous in clarifying whether the existing heads actually lack leadership traits. The issues have been examined in relative detail so that developing crisis of low retention of senior staff of schools could be identified. But the article is unable to identify linkages between the two issues for efficient delivery of goals of the FL programmes. There is ambiguity as to how the FL would be able to resolve the issue of early retirement of heads. B ut it has been successful in showing the viability of FL in schools primarily because of the fast transforming societal format which has increasingly become multicultural. The authors have used questionnaires, interview schedules and case studies to analyze the inputs from participants of the programme. At various stages of the programmes, the inputs from the participants and various stakeholders like host school management, senior staff, mentors of the participants etc. have been judiciously evaluated against the wider goals and objectives of the programme. The authors assert that while the initial programme was highly successful in developing educational leaders, the

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

The State of Classical Music Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The State of Classical Music - Essay Example However, after the depression, the perceived social role of classical music as a free cultural good and capital started declining. This is mainly because the audience did not experience or feel the musicians’ sense of humanity or impulse from their (musicians) stage performances. As a result, the audience remained ultimately impenetrable and unwelcoming. Due to the challenges modern individuals are currently going through, there is an urgent need for a change in the kind of music from classical to another genre so that the musicians can be able to reach everyone around the world, emotionally, spiritually, socially or psychologically. Therefore, classical music is in a downward trend since the depression period. Classical music has been declining slowly over the years. In fact, Vanhoenacker (2014) argues that classical music is dead. There are many reasons explaining why classical music is actually dying. For instance, famous individuals are leaving the industry in droves bringing down the classical industry. As a result, classical music will face a shortage of artists in the near future .This is because few new artists are involved in composing and singing this kind of music. Another major reason why classical music is declining around the globe is that classical music is very costly; meaning it is too expensive to stage. Furthermore, the world is changing and individuals in America are accepting the new pop culture and leaving the old behind. Classical music is majorly for the old as the audience is generally made up of the old guys who cannot cheer up but rather, sit quietly and watch. Nevertheless, as popular culture is being taken into account, the youth will want something new that wi ll yield a different experience. They will thus abandon classical music which is termed as old (Vanhoenacker 2014). Finally, musicians also want a break from classical music

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

SPSS analysis description Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

SPSS analysis description - Research Paper Example lso known as engineered wood, DIY composite wood includes an extensive range of derivative wood products manufactured by binding or fixation of strands, particles, fibers, or veneers (boards of wood), with adhesives, or other fixation methods in order to form composite materials. The products are engineered to match specific design specifications that are tested in order to meet national/international standards. The products are used in a range of applications, including, home construction, commercial construction and industrial products. Further, the products are usable for beams and joists which have replace steel in several construction projects. Composite products have a lengthy history of provision of safe and comfortable shelters. Over the last 60 years, development of gluing, connection as well as grading technology has produced new engineered wood products which extend even beyond possibilities for construction of wood. Estimates indicate that more than 90% of existing houses in North America are made of composite materials1. In this area, duplexes, row houses as well as three-story apartments, approximately 85% of are made of wood frames. Additionally, most of the low-rise commercial buildings are made from wooden products. DIY wooden products open new possibilities for use of wood in more such buildings, thanks to their increased span capability as well as performance characteristics2. Conventionally, the products are made from hardwoods and softwoods similar to the ones inn lumber manufacture. Sawmill scraps as well as other wood waste can be used in engineered wood comprised of wood particles/fibers, although whole logs are typically used for veneers, including plywood, MDF and particle board3. Existing literature suggest that such composite materials combined with other materials are subject to adoption of multiple safety measures throughout their entire manufacturing processes. Such precautionary measures are important in mitigation of probable

Monday, September 23, 2019

Zara Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Zara - Essay Example nd name of Zara and maintaining quality in the business operation processes will help the organization to capitalize on more potential business opportunities. The organization should not consider focus strategy as it is important for the organization to focus on broad market segment. It will help the organization to gain more competitive advantages. Grand Strategy The organization should also try to adopt and implement grand strategy in the business operation process in order to enhance decision making and strategy development process to set effective long term plans from several available alternatives. This grand strategy can be classified into four major strategies, such as growth strategy, stability strategy, retrenchment strategy and combination strategy. The management of the organization should adopt and implement growth strategy as it is important for the organization to achieve further growth. It is true that emergence of new entrants and adoption of online business activitie s are creating real threat for Zara. In addition to this, high labour cost is affecting the profit maximization aspect of Zara. Adoption of growth strategy will enhance the decision making and strategy development process of the organization. It is highly important for the organization to integrate online business operation process to achieve sustainable growth rate in this competitive industry. In addition to this, consideration of growth strategy in the decision making process will help the organization to adopt effective differentiation process that can influence the management of the organization to enter different fast fashion and fashion accessories industry to secure more market share and gain more potential competitive advantages. Functional Strategy Function strategy can be... The paper describes differentiation strategy which helped to develop the great brand - Zara. Zara already implemented product differentiation strategy. The organization always tries to offer differentiated clothes to target customers. The organization does not target a narrow market segment. Differentiated products for the people of all ages and different cultural background are the major success mantra of Zara. The organization should differentiate its business operation in. Fashion and accessories market is highly demanding and achieving strong growth rate. The organization should not consider focus strategy as it is important for the organization to focus on broad market segment. In conclusion, the report says that slow inventory turnover and critical supply chain management process are the major weaknesses of Zara. Therefore, it is important for Zara to source or prepare limited inventories according to the market demand and requirement. Appropriate production and supply according to the current market demand will help the organization to increase the efficiency of its inventory turnover. In addition to this, the organization should maintain short production cycle to reduce overall supply chain cost. High labour cost is another weakness of Zara. Therefore, it is important for the management of the organization to integrate automation in the business operation processes that can help to reduce the stress and pressure of the employees. High automation can improve business performance and can reduce the human resource management associated costs.

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Under what conditions is abortion morally acceptable Essay

Under what conditions is abortion morally acceptable - Essay Example Under what conditions is abortion morally acceptable? On the other extreme, in the more liberal states region, there is the danger of abuse of the right to abortion by reckless, indulgent teenagers. This essay will argue that abortion must be exercised only under exceptional circumstances. Four key readings related to the topic are perused for constructing arguments. Dan Marquis’ essay â€Å"Why Abortion is Immoral† clearly suggests that the author looks cannot see any genuine moral grounds for permitting abortion. A central part of his essay is the idea of ‘potentiality’ of a developing fetus. Drawing analogy from the criminal justice system, he explains how the same moral justifications for condemning killing an adult should also apply for the fetus (irrespective of the period of gestation). This is so, Marquis argues, as terminating a fetus deprives it of all potential experience of life and happiness – the same rationale applied for sentencing those committing homicide. After all, if we merely believe, but do not understand, why killing adult human beings as ourselves is wrong, how could we conceivably show that abortion is either immoral or permissible† (Marquis, p.400) Marquis’ point is well taken, especially since he does not dogmatically cling to all the demands of the conservative camp. Marquis has no qualms about use of contraceptives, as it stands outside the concern with ‘killing’. Use of contraceptives is a preemptive act and does not interfere with the future (with all its potentialities) of a developing fetus. In contrast, what makes ‘killing’ wrong â€Å"is its effect on the victim. The loss of one’s life is one of the greatest losses one can suffer. The loss of one’s life deprives one of all the experiences, activities, projects, and enjoyments that would otherwise have constituted one’s future†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Marquis, p.401) This is a meritorious argument and unless convincing ly proved false, it should serve as a primary clause for forbidding abortions. Hence, Marquis makes a persuasive case for abstaining from abortion. Mary Anne Warren’s article â€Å"On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion† attempts to counter some of the claims made by Dan Marquis. She criticizes the ‘genetic code argument’, which states that since the genetic code or (DNA) of a fetus is the same as a fully formed human, the moral considerations in dealing with its termination will have be the same as those applied to adults. Though this argument is accurate from a biological viewpoint, it is too esoteric and removed from immediate factors governing an abortion decision. Warren then gives a brief treatise on the nature of personhood, an understanding of which is central to the topic of abortion. She argues that a fetus never acquires mature characteristics that would lead it to be thought of as a person in the legal and moral sense. To this point I would add that a fetus does not have the training, experience and mental development to conceive of its own future, thereby weakening claims of potential loss. According to Warren, the traits that are central to the concept of personhood (and by extension the applicability of moral considerations) are the following: â€Å"consciousness, reasoning, self-motivated activity, the capacity to communicate, the presence of

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Raisin’ in the Sun Essay Example for Free

Raisin’ in the Sun Essay 1. WALTER: â€Å"You wouldn’t understand yet, son, but your daddy’s gonna make a transaction . . . a business transaction that’s going to change our lives. That’s how come one day when you ‘bout seventeen years old I’ll come home . . . I’ll pull the car up on the driveway . . . just a plain black Chrysler, I think, with white walls—no—black tires . . . the gardener will be clipping away at the hedges and he’ll say, â€Å"Good evening, Mr. Younger. † And I’ll say, â€Å"Hello, Jefferson, how are you this evening? † And I’ll go inside and Ruth will come downstairs and meet me at the door and we’ll kiss each other and she’ll take my arm and we’ll go up to your room to see you sitting on the floor with the catalogues of all the great schools in America around you. All the great schools in the world! And—and I’ll say, all right son—it’s your seventeenth birthday, what is it you’ve decided?! † (Act II, scene ii) Walter’s speech is addressed to Travis closing one of the most important scenes in the play and foreshadowing the climax of the novel. Walter is explaining that he is going to invest money choosing his own way instead of agreeing with other family members. Walter was working as a chauffeur to rich people and he had heard about benefits of investing. Walter becomes obsessed with this idea and he is dreaming about wealthy future describing luxurious cars he will have. He is sure that his dreams with inevitable come true and, therefore, he uses ‘will’, not ‘if’ in sentences. His dream is not fully materialistic as he sees chances to improve relations with his wife and Travis will study in the best colleges. In such a way Walter is growing to maturity when he thinks about his family, their provisions etc. 2. WALTER: â€Å" [W]e have decided to move into our house because my father—my father—he earned it for us brick by brick. We don’t want to make no trouble for nobody or fight no causes, and we will try to be good neighbors. And that’s all we got to say about that. We don’t want your money†. (Act III) Walter’s words are addressed to Mr. Linder after Walter reveals that liquor store has been stolen. Walter shows first signs of disobedience and disagreement as other family members don’t want to accept Mr. Linder buyout. This quotation shows that Walter has his own ideas, desires and beliefs. Moreover, he is willing to act as independent and self-sufficient personality. Walter shifts his priorities. He has changed as earlier he focused his attention on money only, but now he is taking care of his family. It is possible to say that he has become a man. References Hansberry, Lorraine. (2004). A Raisin’ in the Sun. USA: Vintage.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Concurrent Engineering Vs Traditional Sequential Methods

Concurrent Engineering Vs Traditional Sequential Methods In order to signify the differences between the traditional approach of sequential engineering and the modern concurrent engineering approach, I will simulate the release of an aircraft component onto the market, and explain in detail the process. I will point out differences between the methods as I go along. Traditionally, products were designed and manufactured following the sequential engineering methods, where people from different departments work one after the other on successive phases of development. This method of production is in a linear format. The different steps are done one after another, with all attention and resources focused on that one task. After it is completed it is left alone and everything is concentrated on the next task. The product is first completely defined by the engineering design department, and then the manufacturing department take over and define the manufacturing process, etc. This was a lengthy process, and often led to a lot of design changes as the prototype testing began, due to production problems, delays or design flaws. This is therefore a slow and costly approach, often leading to a low-quality and less competitive product. Concurrent Engineering, sometimes called Simultaneous Engineering or Integrated Product Development (IPD), can be defined as a systematic approach to the integrated, concurrent design of products and their related processes, including manufacture and support. This approach is intended to cause the developers, from the outset, to consider all elements of the product life cycle from conception through disposal, including quality, cost, schedule, and user requirements. This results in the product development team clearly understanding what the product requires in terms of mission performance, environmental conditions during operation, budget, and scheduling. In this method, several teams within an organization work simultaneously to develop new products and services andthis therefore allows a more streamlined approach. Decision making involves full team participation and involvement. The team often consists of product design engineers, manufacturing engineers, marketing personnel, purch asing, finance, and suppliers, and the role of the leader is to supply the basic foundation and support for change, rather than to tell the other team members what to do. In concurrent engineering, different tasks are tackled at the same time, and not necessarily in the usual order. This means that info found out later in the process can be added to earlier parts, improving them, and also saving a lot of time. Examples from companies using Concurrent Engineering techniques show significant increases in overall quality, 30-40% reduction in project times and costs, and 60-80% reductions in design changes after release. BENEFITS ADVANTAGES of concurrent Concurrent engineering provides many benefits over sequential engineering, including lower manufacturing and production costs, improved quality of resulting end products and increased accuracy in predicting and meeting project plans, schedules, timelines, and budgets. Because the multidisciplinary teams working together early in the process can make informed decisions about cost, quality, process and product issues, trade-offs can be made between design features, part manufacturability, assembly requirements, material needs, reliability issues, serviceability requirements, and cost and time constraints. Any differences are usually reconciled early in the design process, leading to increased efficiency and performance, higher reliability in the product development process, reduced defect rate and ultimately a faster time to market which results in increased market share. This also means faster reaction times in responding to the rapidly changing market, which in turn fosters increased customer satisfaction and a higher return on investments due to the reduced labour and resource requirements, improved inventory control and scheduling. Improved communication between individuals and departments within the firm also encourages cohesiveness, and a more pleasant working environment, which in turn can positively affect productivity of the workforce. Concurrent engineering is not a trivial process to apply; therefore companies must be careful in using this approach. To be successful, they should initially compare themselves with their competitors to set a benchmark, and identify potential performance improvements and realistic targets by analysing the market and knowing the customers. It is paramount to have the top managements support, and to develop a clear strategy and implementation plan which must be continually reviewed and revised with progress. Individualism should be suppressed within the team and project leaders must have a clear overall visualization of the project and goals. Cross -functional integration and collaboration needs to be established and encouraged, so as to foster team ethics and freely transfer technology and information between individuals and departments. Some organisations have been known to have problems in the past, which manifest themselves when there is an unwillingness to institutionalize concurr ent engineering, and new reporting lines and reward systems are not set up to agree with the new approach. Problems can also arise if the employees have not had any training in teamwork, or if the schedules set are unrealistic. There needs to be a change in relationships with vendors in order for the concurrent engineering methods to work at their best, alongside a focus on process improvement rather than computerisation. Concurrent engineering is an evolving process that requires continuous improvement and refinement. This continuous improvement cycle consist of planning, implementing, reviewing, and revising. The process must be updated and revised on a regular basis to optimize the effectiveness and benefits in the concurrent engineering development process. Conclusion In todays business world, a quick effective response to changing market needs is paramount if a corporation is to be successful. They must be able to reduce their time to market with an adaptable attitude and decision must be made quickly and correctly the first time around. If the firms waste time repeating tasks, as might happen using sequential methods, they will become less competitive, therefore concurrent engineering has emerged as way of bringing rapid solutions to product design and development process. Concurrent engineering is indisputably the future for new product development for all companies regardless of their size, sophistication, or product portfolio. In order to be competitive, corporations must be able to complete diverse tasks concurrently, even if that means altering their product and process development cycle. Although it will require a major reorganisation and be reviewed and adjusted for continuous improvements of engineering and business operations, this new process will benefit the company in the long-term.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Kosovo Crisis :: essays research papers

There has been a conflict for quite some time now between the people of once Serbia now Yugoslavia and the Islamic countries bordering them. The grudge can be traced back over 600 years to the first battle. The hatred between the two sides is still endures.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  No one knows exactly when the repugnance started, but the situation was understood. During the time of the Ottoman Empire the Turks were terrorizing most of Europe, ferociously converting people into Islam. The other option was death. The Serbs at that tie were always known for their strong faith in Christianity. So backing down was not an option. The Serbs, until this day have not invaded other countries, only defend what is rightfully theirs. There were other countries that agreed with the Serb’s standpoint so they had forces that joined too. The Serb’s allies include Hungarians, Croats, Bulgarians, Czechs, and Franks. The actual battle of Kosovo took place on June 28 1389. The Serbian’s of who were mostly comprised of peasants armed with whatever they had, and outnumbered, were led by Prince Lazar. Their manpower was about ?. They went into a full on brawl with the Ottoman Turks who were led by Sultan Murad I. their troops reached to above 30,000. Because the Serbs were defending they had the upper hand. Yet, by one strategic flaw the Serbs lost the battle. An unanticipated flank divided the mass of the Serb army and the Turks rolled over them. A very significant part of the outcome was that both Sultan Murad and Prince Lazar perished in battle. The Sultan’s killer became a hero in Serbian folklore; his name was Milos Obilivic. The battle itself took such a toll on the Turk’s forces, that it stopped there quest for conquering all of Europe. As an intimidation, a man known as â€Å"Vlad the Impaler† would put the heads of Turkish soldeirs on pikes along the border of Kosovo. The story says that Vlad was bloodthirsty because of such acts, thereby starting the whole legend of vampires. Vlad the Impaler is also more commonly known as, â€Å"Count Dracula†.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In reality by numbers the battle was definitely a Turkish victory. But the Serb’s point of view was that even though they lost the battle, they had perpetrated their cause. Because of this one fact, there has always been a dispute, and things never get a chance to resolve.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Aliens Built the Pyramids Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Aliens built the Egyptian pyramids. Recent research supports the theory that the Pyramids were built long before humans inhabited the area now known as Egypt. It is also nearly impossible for the Egyptians to have lifted and moved the limestone brick used to build these massive structures. Only a more advanced form of life could have constructed such an enormous undertaking, while using advanced mathematics and geography that were not yet known to ancient peoples.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Archeologists suggest that the large stones used in building the pyramids were transported by rolling them over logs or a wet, slippery, clay surface. These methods may have been effective in moving the blocks close to the building site, but do not explain how the massive bricks, weighing as much as a Ford F250 truck, were lifted on top of each other.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When the Great Pyramids at Giza were built, the Egyptians had not invented the wheel yet, but the limestone blocks that they grudgingly transported, in an effort to build pyramids, weighed about 2 tons each. If all of the stone from the pyramids was cut into one foot, square blocks, it would extend two thirds of the way around the earth. No human life forms could have possibly erected these structures using that much limestone, because they did not have the technology to work in such scale. Only aliens, with more advanced mechanical and mental abilities, could have designed and ...

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Amazon Case Analysis Essay -- GCSE Business Marketing Coursework

Amazon.com Case Analysis Internal & External Matrix, Matrix Analysis and TOWS Summary, and Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix Executive Summary This case analysis serves the purpose to provide an analytical framework to evaluate Amazon.com from an internal and external perspective, and to provide strategic direction based upon the internal and external evaluation. The case will begin with an introduction to Amazon.com. Introduction/Background Jeffrey Bezos, formerly a senior vice president for D. E. Shaw & Company, founded Amazon.com in 1994. D. E. Shaw is a Wall Street-based investment bank, and Mr. Bezos was assigned to find good Internet companies in which to invest. During the summer of 1994, he stumbled across a Web site that showed the number of Internet users was growing by 2,300 percent per month. He quickly realized the vast potential of the Internet, and began putting together a list of possible products that he could sell on the World Wide Web. He eventually narrowed his list to music products and books. Although music products and books both had enormous potential, he eventually selected books because he believed that he could compete more evenly in the book segment due to the lack of a very dominant player. "In contrast, the music industry had only six major record companies. These companies controlled the distribution of records and CDs and, therefore, had the potential to lock out a new business thre atening the traditional record-store format" (Kotha, p.11). To begin his new venture, Mr. Bezos left New York and moved to Seattle. He decided to move to Seattle for two reasons: 1) Ingram Book Group's warehouse is located near Seattle; and 2) Because of the Seattle area's reputation for computer expertise. In 1995, Amazon began selling books entirely online, operating out of a rented facility and using doors laid across sawhorses for desks. He soon was able to generate several million dollars from venture capitalists, and sales were astounding. Sales for 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999 were $0.5, $16, $147, $610 and $1,640 million respectively. Amazon's customer base has increased dramatically from 180,000 in 100 countries in 1996 to 12 million in 160 countries by mid-1999. In 1998, Amazon began to expand into other product categories. The Company began to sell music products and videos, and within two months o... ...fries & Company, Inc. April 12, 2001; pages 1-16. "Market Guide - Comparisons for amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN)." http://yahoo.marketguide.com/mgi/ratio/A13EF.html ; pages 1-5. Author unknown. Lund, Brian. "eBay vs. Amazon" The Motley Fool. April 3, 2001. http://www.fool.com/portfolios/rulebreaker/2001/rulebreaker010403.htm ; pages 1-4. Becker, Holly, Gross, Michael and Leichter, Stephanie. "Amazon.com Inc.: Amazon's International Challenges." Lehman Brothers Global Equity Research. May 3, 2001; pages 1-16. The Economist (1997a). "A Survey of Electronic Commerce." May 10; pages 1-18. Author unknown. Taken from above Kotha essay. The Wall Street Journal (1996). "Reading the Market: How a Wall-Street Whiz Found a Niche Selling Books on the Internet." May 16; page 1. Author unknown. Taken from above Kotha essay. Eads, Stefani. "Why Amazon's Board is Part of the Problem." BusinessWeek online. http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/apr2001/nf2001044_127.htm ; April 4, 2001, pages 1-5. Junnarkar, Sandeep. "Shares of Amazon Hit on "Underperform" Rating." c|net News.com. http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200-2478430.html ; August 9, 2000, pages 1-3. Amazon Case Analysis Essay -- GCSE Business Marketing Coursework Amazon.com Case Analysis Internal & External Matrix, Matrix Analysis and TOWS Summary, and Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix Executive Summary This case analysis serves the purpose to provide an analytical framework to evaluate Amazon.com from an internal and external perspective, and to provide strategic direction based upon the internal and external evaluation. The case will begin with an introduction to Amazon.com. Introduction/Background Jeffrey Bezos, formerly a senior vice president for D. E. Shaw & Company, founded Amazon.com in 1994. D. E. Shaw is a Wall Street-based investment bank, and Mr. Bezos was assigned to find good Internet companies in which to invest. During the summer of 1994, he stumbled across a Web site that showed the number of Internet users was growing by 2,300 percent per month. He quickly realized the vast potential of the Internet, and began putting together a list of possible products that he could sell on the World Wide Web. He eventually narrowed his list to music products and books. Although music products and books both had enormous potential, he eventually selected books because he believed that he could compete more evenly in the book segment due to the lack of a very dominant player. "In contrast, the music industry had only six major record companies. These companies controlled the distribution of records and CDs and, therefore, had the potential to lock out a new business thre atening the traditional record-store format" (Kotha, p.11). To begin his new venture, Mr. Bezos left New York and moved to Seattle. He decided to move to Seattle for two reasons: 1) Ingram Book Group's warehouse is located near Seattle; and 2) Because of the Seattle area's reputation for computer expertise. In 1995, Amazon began selling books entirely online, operating out of a rented facility and using doors laid across sawhorses for desks. He soon was able to generate several million dollars from venture capitalists, and sales were astounding. Sales for 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999 were $0.5, $16, $147, $610 and $1,640 million respectively. Amazon's customer base has increased dramatically from 180,000 in 100 countries in 1996 to 12 million in 160 countries by mid-1999. In 1998, Amazon began to expand into other product categories. The Company began to sell music products and videos, and within two months o... ...fries & Company, Inc. April 12, 2001; pages 1-16. "Market Guide - Comparisons for amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN)." http://yahoo.marketguide.com/mgi/ratio/A13EF.html ; pages 1-5. Author unknown. Lund, Brian. "eBay vs. Amazon" The Motley Fool. April 3, 2001. http://www.fool.com/portfolios/rulebreaker/2001/rulebreaker010403.htm ; pages 1-4. Becker, Holly, Gross, Michael and Leichter, Stephanie. "Amazon.com Inc.: Amazon's International Challenges." Lehman Brothers Global Equity Research. May 3, 2001; pages 1-16. The Economist (1997a). "A Survey of Electronic Commerce." May 10; pages 1-18. Author unknown. Taken from above Kotha essay. The Wall Street Journal (1996). "Reading the Market: How a Wall-Street Whiz Found a Niche Selling Books on the Internet." May 16; page 1. Author unknown. Taken from above Kotha essay. Eads, Stefani. "Why Amazon's Board is Part of the Problem." BusinessWeek online. http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/apr2001/nf2001044_127.htm ; April 4, 2001, pages 1-5. Junnarkar, Sandeep. "Shares of Amazon Hit on "Underperform" Rating." c|net News.com. http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200-2478430.html ; August 9, 2000, pages 1-3.

Monday, September 16, 2019

High School vs. College Essay

I think a good education is an important part of one’s life. To achieve a good education, one should attend both High School and College. The transition from High School to College is a step that a student will either adjust to or struggle with. Although, some people think High School has a lot in common with college, I find they have a few differences. There are also certain similarities as well, by which, one won’t feel as if College is a new world. The more prepared a person is to face the differences and similarities, the more successful they might be. High School and College are both educational grounds for a student to grow with knowledge. A student graduates from High School and again from College with a degree. Both places are full of experiences and filled with numerous memories. The government runs them. They both play an important role in making a person into a collected individual and a member of a society. High School students know that there are differences between High School and College, but sometimes what they think is not how it is. To begin with there are many ways in which the attitudes of the teachers in High School differ from the attitudes of the teachers in College. In High School, my teachers seemed to be stricter and have more rules for the students to follow. There was an everyday time schedule for each student to go by. Students go through drama in High School which some cannot get out of. Attendance is very important in High School as well as in College. Many teachers enforce it while others do not. I have noticed that it is the student’s responsibility to come to class. They believe that the students should be mature enough to make their own decision on whether to attend class or not and leave it to them to make that decision. When a student graduates from High School, a sense of maturity comes in them. They start realizing that everything in High School was materialistic, and College is practical. College is different than High School just by the personal freedoms, the classroom and the social life. In College, no one would be concerned about the basic everyday drama that would surround a student in High School. College prepares a student to face the real world, and how to handle it. It separates the mature people from the immature people. However, a person who wants to attend College has to pay to further her education. If a student doesn’t take College seriously and apply herself, she knows she wasted her hard earned money, or her parents. So, since students must pay to get into College, she works and studies harder than she did in High School. Therefore, she will study those required courses and finish her education with a degree and start a career. I don’t think I would ever want to go back to High School. I love College and all the freedom that comes with it. All there is in College is education. Now I am learning to be a better person and to improve and to learn different study habits. High School is only the first step into growing up and preparing you for College, whereas, College is preparing you for your career.

Macbeth Essay

In Act 2 Scene 2, Lines 1 to 13 of Shakespeare’s â€Å"Macbeth†, Shakespeare questions the reader about who in truth is controlling Macbeth, Lady Macbeth or himself. Shakespeare also makes us ponder if Lady Macbeth has a healthy ambition, that she herself controls, or if her ambition is controlling her. The three main themes of Evil, Ambition, and Macbeth-The Victim of Manipulation are heightened through the use of Positive and Negative Sleep Motifs, expressed in a negative context. Also found in this selection are examples of Negative Diction, Religious Symbolism, and Animal Imagery which all develop the reader’s understanding of death, and develop the three key themes that circulate around the idea of death. Contrast is used to express the difference in power and confidence between Lady Macbeth and King Duncan’s attendants, and also to distinguish life and death, in the case of the attendants. Punctuation is used very effectively. Through the use of punctuation, one can visualize the emotions of Lady Macbeth. During the first few lines, each line is its own individual sentence, which ends in a period or colon. Simply by looking at the punctuation one can see that she is calm. Near the end of these lines, Lady Macbeth uses many commas, caesuras, and enjambments, she is out of order. Here one can sense just how nervous and frightened Lady Macbeth is. The final key device used in these lines is Foreshadowing. It gives the reader a glance at what will come out of Lady Macbeth and Macbeth’s decision to kill Duncan through the archetype of â€Å"fire†, which appears in line 2. Fire symbolizes light and warmth, yet at the same time symbolizes chaos and destruction. This can be related to their decision which will either make them or break them. Found throughout this passage are many literary devices, all of which are significant. However the most significant devices are Negative Diction, Religious Symbolism, and Sleep Motif. Religious Symbolism is immensely important in shaping Lady Macbeth’s character and sculpting the recurring themes, yet does not appear nearly as much as Negative Diction and Sleep Motif. One can find Lady Macbeth say â€Å"The doors are open†, Here she is literally talking about the doors to Duncan’s chamber, however one can interpret these doors as the doors of death. The doors are open for Duncan to walk through. This line can be related to Alexander Grahame Bell’s famous quote â€Å"As one door closes, another door opens. † Both Lady Macbeth’s and Mr. Bell’s quotes relate to death in a way; the door of life closes, and the door of death opens, waiting for us to walk through. Another example of Religious Symbolism is found in the lines â€Å"That death and nature do contend about them // Whether they live or die. This is symbolic of God and the Devil having a battle for the lives of the attendants, and later dueling for them to either be rewarded in Heaven or condemned to Hell. The image of God and the Devil gambling for the souls of the dead is expressed in the song â€Å"Spanish Train† by Chris De Burgh. This song has a similar religious meaning, as in both one can see a battle going on between God and the Devil for minor pawns or as one likes to say, humans. Another device, Sleep Motif, is used throughout these lines to portray the idea of sleep. In this piece one can find two main ideas: death and sleep. These two ideas are interconnected by a Religious meaning. One can see just how cleverly William Shakespeare uses the two devices of religious symbolism and sleep motif. Without one, the other, would not be as important. These two tools work hand in hand to develop the character of Lady Macbeth and the several themes throughout the play. Most of these sleep-orbiting words can be divided into three categories. The first category being what one usually consider sleep as, what we do each night in order to rest our body for the new day. This category can be referred to as the conscious form of sleep. Words that fall under this category are â€Å"good-night†, â€Å"snores†, â€Å"slept†, and â€Å"awaked†. These terms are the most positive sleep revolving words found in these lines. The next form of sleep is the sub-conscience form of sleep. This form of sleep is commonly known as â€Å"drunk† or â€Å"intoxicated†, and is usually found quite discouraging. â€Å"Drunk†, â€Å"Surfeited†, â€Å"Drugg’d†, and â€Å"Possets† fall under the sub-conscious form of sleep. The last category of sleep is the unconscious form. Words that fall under this category may seem depressing for non-believers of an afterlife or second life, but for believers they symbolize a new beginning. This form of sleep is tied in greatly with religious symbolism because it is rooted in the spiritual life. One does not quite know what happens after death, however there is a general belief that the spirit lives on, while the body lays under an eternal rest. The reader can see just how influential sleep is in this excerpt. One sees a sleeping Duncan, and later a deceased Duncan and also sees drunk attendants by Duncan’s side. In these few lines the reader envisions all three types of sleep. Although both Sleep Motifs and Religious Symbolisms play a huge role in shaping the themes of this scene, the most used device, and particularly important in these 13 lines is Negative Diction. Throughout, one sees words spoken wickedly by Lady Macbeth. She speaks wickedly about a wicked deed. Throughout the text one can see numerous examples of negative diction; â€Å"drunk†, â€Å"stern’st good-night†, â€Å"the owl that shriek’d the fatal bellman†, â€Å"surfeited†, â€Å"mock†, â€Å"drugg’d†, â€Å"death†, â€Å"die†, â€Å"confounds†, â€Å"afraid†, and â€Å"daggers†. Through Lady Macbeth’s vocabulary one can easily sense just how sinister Lady Macbeth is in both her words and actions. In this section of â€Å"Macbeth† one finds several literary tools that aid in conveying the character of Lady Macbeth and the three central themes. The most important devices used throughout this passage include Religious Symbolism, Sleep Motif, and Negative Diction. These three devices are interconnected as they revolve around the ideas of sleep and death. These three terms work together to shape the reader’s understanding of death and sleep which Shakespeare exemplifies to us through Lady Macbeth’s manipulation of Macbeth into the killing of the righteous King Duncan. The reader can relate what Shakespeare illustrates to the Human Condition. Everybody in life has ambitions, be it big or small, most people strive to help themselves, and through helping themselves, they help others around them. In few scenarios like in the case of Lady Macbeth, her foul ambitions overpower her and corrupt her to a point of sheer evil.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

M1 Analysing different types of business information and their sources Essay

Verbal information: It is important that Detica uses verbal communication, mainly because they are a big technology based organisation. Detica uses a hierarchy structure that is like a chain of communication. This is the way a business communicates through different departments. This means that if the client doesn’t communicate with each other the chain will be broken, this can cause problems and result in tasks not getting completed. The advantage of verbal information is that it is easier than written and on-screen information, this is because when you use verbal you are able to understand every detail that is being said by the speaker. In Detica they use verbal information in meeting with staff and customers, this is an advantage for customers as they get to ask staff questions just in case they want to clarify something or if they didn’t understand the instructions clearly. With verbal information you get to communicate more effectively when in meeting and conferences. Verbal information does have its disadvantages, such as language barriers. Language barriers can effect verbal information because the other person may not speak English or they might have an accent. This type of language barrier can cause poor communication between the staff in Detica and the customer. Written information: Written information has its advantages that are used in a technology organisation like Detica. This type of information may be used in memos, contracts, instructions or when writing notes, by doing this they are able to refer back to it and verify the information so that they understand it clearly. This can help Detica when they are helping a client who may not understand English properly, because they will be able to give them written feedback that is clear and easy to read. However there are disadvantages such as typos and unclear instructions. Written information can sometimes be misleading if a word is spelt the wrong way, this can also be misunderstood if the instructions are in the wrong order or not sent out in a clear way. This can be a problem for the staff in Detica because if they receive a set of an instruction that is not clear or doesn’t have enough information they will not be able to follow the steps properly. Multimedia information: There are advantages to multimedia information as it can be very user friendly, it’s easy to use as all the you have to do is watch the video or listen to the audio. Multimedia information is suitable for everyone ranging from a large audience to an individual. There are also disadvantages that can affect the way multimedia is shown, for example if there is too much information it can make it harder to get the important message across to the viewer. On screen information: On screen information such as presentations can give the talker some assistance when presenting to staff and clients. Presentations are easy to use because they can be projected or played with media player when it being viewed in person, this means it’s easier for staff and clients to understand information when figures and statistics are being explained. PowerPoint’s allow a large amount of people to view it and can be sent through email. The disadvantages of on-screen information is that if the presentation is too long people may get bored and is likely to not be interested. Also the creator has to make sure that the information that is being presented makes sense. Web based information: Web based information is good for sending presentations via the internet to help people connect. This is a visual element that can consist of images and examples that the viewer can read through at their own pace. However some people may find that they are not able to access this type of web based information because they might need to install a copy of Microsoft PowerPoint in order for them to see it. Also if the online presentation is too long the viewer may not look through the rest of the information. External sources: The advantages of this are that the information has been already published. For example the government are able to publish statistics that is supplied from the office of national statistics. When collecting research externally it is an advantage because it can allow the researcher to gain advanced knowledge as well as facts. However there are disadvantages to external sources because it can take a long time to find out information if it’s coming from outside the business, also some of the information that’s published may not be reliable enough and could be false. Internal sources: This is good because there are a variety of sources within Detica, for example finance, sales and human resources department. Collecting internal information on Detica’s marketing can show their results that have been undertaken by the organisation, to see if they have had a success in any marketing activities. The disadvantages of this are that it requires a lot of administration work to be done in a short amount of time.

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Macbeth Act 2 Scene 2 Essay

I shall now evaluate the significance of Act 2 Scene 2. Before this scene we know that Macbeth has already killed King Duncan. We have been introduced to Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Furthermore, we have been introduced to the Murder, and guilt in the environment. This scene is essential to the plot because the scene produces and develops the character of Macbeth, and shows a different side of Macbeth after the murder of Duncan. It is essential also because it shows the reaction and effect the murder has put on Lady Macbeth. The two main characters in this scene are Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth. This scene is one of the most significant scenes in this entire play. Owing to the fact that, in this scene Macbeth and Lady Macbeth reveal their equivocating and uncertain emotions and personalities. To be precise, in the beginning of this play Macbeth was a courageous, honourable and loyal soldier. However, he met three witches after a war. The witches sabotaged his mind into believing the fact that he would become the King of Scotland. These predictions the witches made roused Macbeth’s ambition and lead him into murdering King Duncan. In this scene, Macbeth has been mocked by his wife, into killing Duncan. Confused with his conscience and ambition Macbeth commits the sin. This scene shows the changes in Macbeth’s emotions and specifies that he is an enterprising character, who goes through the contrast between his courage and guilt. Act 2 scene 2 shows that Macbeth is in misery. This scene is about Macbeth being questioned by his conscience and about the betrayal that he has committed. An example of Macbeth questioning his conscience would be: â€Å"But wherefore could not I pronounce â€Å"Amen†?† In this quote you can tell that Macbeth is asking himself a question that is connected to him being uncomfortable. Another example of Macbeth’s guilt is: â€Å"Methought I heard a voice cry ‘Sleep no more!† This quote proves that Macbeth knows that he won’t be able to sleep at night, because his conscience has been questioned.  Act 2 scene 2 portrays Lady Macbeth as a cruel and evil character. The fact that she says â€Å"That which hath made them drunk hath made be bold† shows that she doesn’t feel any guilt and that she is still very cruel instead of being worrying about the consequences about the things that she has done. When  Lady Macbeth says â€Å"Why did you bring these daggers from the place? They must lie there: go carry then; and smear the sleepy grooms with blood† you can tell that she is only afraid about getting caught, but not guilty about what he has done, except she wants to make it seem even worse by smearing the grooms with blood. Shakespeare emphasizes the two character’s personalities by making them completely different from each other. He makes it a balance because he wants the audience to see the irony that he has created in the play because in the future the two characters will swap their personalities.  Shakespeare uses the effect of imagery in this play. In this particular scene he uses his strong visual words to create pictures in the audience’s minds. Even though, the death of Duncan isn’t described specifically in this play, the audience will still be able to imagine the terrible scene of murder. When Lady Macbeth says, â€Å"My hands are of your colour; but I shame to wear a heart so white† she implies the effect and image of blood, because when she says colour people will most probably think of blood. Macbeth responds by saying â€Å"This is a sorry sight† it also implies to the audience that it isn’t very good to be seen. Also, when Lady Macbeth says, â€Å"Smear the sleepy grooms with blood† the imagery is very effective because people can picture a room and people smeared with blood. Imagery is very significant because it is the only way that the audience will be able to see the story. If there are no strong visual words then the audience will not be able to see anything, this way it will be harder for the audience to enjoy the story. Hence, Shakespeare uses imagery. Murder and guilt are the two main themes addressed in this scene. In the whole play, Macbeth’s unintelligent behaviour and other flaws in his character caused Macbeth’s failure and ruination. Also, Lady Macbeth’s pressure on him was an important reason of his downfall. This is shown comprehensively in this scene. In this play Shakespeare is trying to show the audience that ambition and passion is good only when it is thought up to a limit, and if people think of right and wrong. However, it could be bad when it becomes so passionate that it shatters one’s honour and pride. In this scene Shakespeare tries to show the audience Macbeth’s wrong decision and the consequence to his spurious ambition. The theme of murder is shown in Lady Macbeth’s dialogues. When she says â€Å"I have drugged their possets† the audience can feel the murder theme, because Lady Macbeth is so keen and excited about Duncan’s death that she would do anything. Also, when she says â€Å"Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done’t† it also shows that she would have done anything to make Macbeth the king. The theme of guilt is only shown in Macbeth’s dialogues. When Macbeth says â€Å"Sleep no more, Macbeth shall sleep no more† the audience can easily tell that Macbeth is feeling guilty about what he has done. Also, when he says â€Å"This is a sorry sight† people can tell that Macbeth is afraid of what has happened. Also, the audience can tell that Macbeth hasn’t done everything with his own decision. This is very ironic because in this scene Macbeth is the one who is guilty and carries on with the theme of guilt. However, further in the play it’s Lady Macbeth that is guilty and Macbeth carries the theme of Murder instead of Lady Macbeth. The original audience would have responded to this scene with fear and anger towards Lady Macbeth because she plays a very cruel character that is very vicious and nasty and doesn’t care about what has happened. However, the audience would feel sorry for Macbeth and find Macbeth very dumb for doing what he has done. The overall dramatic impact of the scene is a very strong effect of evilness. The most intense aspect of this scene is when Shakespeare shows the difference between cruelty (Lady Macbeth) and guilt (Macbeth) because this is the point where the audience is thinking most about the reaction of characters of the death. This scene is a scene of a climax point where there are a lot of different characteristics added to each character. The scene’s significance to the rest of the play is very strong because it is contrasting to the rest of the play where Lady Macbeth becomes guilty and Macbeth becomes vicious.

Friday, September 13, 2019

Using attachment theory in assisting parents and infants engaged in Term Paper

Using attachment theory in assisting parents and infants engaged in stressful interactions - Term Paper Example Tony is a healthy nine-month-old male child, the product of an uneventful pregnancy followed by an uncomplicated full-term vaginal delivery. Ellen and Roger, Tony's parents, are both overweight, but have otherwise no significant health issues.They are in their early thirties, and have been involved in a relationship continuously for the past sixteen years. Tony was actively planned and eagerly welcomed by Ellen and Roger, as well as extended family. (*Names have been changed for privacy.) When Tony was six months old, Ellen and Roger decided to train Tony to sleep through the night independently according to the method outlined by Ferber in â€Å"Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems† (Ferber, 2006).This method involves allowing the child to cry himself to sleep; As such, it is frequently referred to colloquially as the â€Å"cry-it-out method† or â€Å"CIO.† In literature, it is called â€Å"graduated extinction† (Dewar, 2008).Ellen and Roger agreed that this was the most appropriate decision for their family based primarily on their desire to ensure both their own sleep and private time to engage in leisure activities, jointly and separately. Both committed to complete the first three weeks of sleep training, and to re-evaluate the program if it was not having the desired effect on Tony. The Ferber Method has received a great deal of criticism from parents and scholars, and while it is one of the best known sleep training regimens it is also one of the most controversial for several reasons (Dewar, 2008). Ferber acknowledges in his book that this process does not teach children how to sleep independently, it merely deprives them of access to their parents as sources of comfort (Ferber, 2006). Ellen and Roger successfully employed Ferber's techniques over a two week period, during which Tony would initially cry himself to sleep. When he awoke during the night a parent would stand near the door of Tony's bedroom, outside of his visual ra nge, and attempt to ascertain his physical state of being. In the event of specific concerns relevant to physical health or comfort, those concerns were addressed quickly by the attendant parent, and without fanfare. There was minimal parent-infant interaction during these addresses. Diaper changes accounted for the overwhelming majority of these concerns. If there was no specific physical concern to address, Tony was allowed to continue crying in his crib. Though Tony's cries were extremely distressing for both Ellen and Roger to endure, the two of them persisted in their efforts to teach Tony to sleep on his own. Over the first two week period of sleep training, Tony began crying less, fell asleep more quickly, and stayed asleep for longer periods of time. By the end of the first two weeks Tony was sleeping from 19:00 local time through 0:800. Caregivers who sleep train their children believe that they are teaching the children to self-soothe and encouraging independent behavior. In reality, infants who are left to cry alone are at high risk for developing ambivalent relationships with their caregivers. Tony internalized the lesson that after the lights have been turned off, his needs will not be met, and as a result his behavior, particularly in the evenings as bedtime approaches, Tony's behavior is that of a child who is ambivalently attached to his primary caregivers. Tony's behavior has become more subdued in general; He spends less time in both active alert and crying phases. Tony hardly seems to notice when he is separated from his parents, but he does actively prefer them to strangers. Ellen, Tony's mother, truly believes that sleep training was an appropriate choice, and defends her decision vociferously. She points to the ease with which Tony sleeps and his cooperation in the evenings as proof that she and her husband made the correct decision. Ellen feels that this process has been beneficial not only to Tony but to her, and that while it was

Thursday, September 12, 2019

Team conflict x 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Team conflict x 2 - Essay Example Personal level conflicts arise due to temperamental differences, competitive attitude, egocentric bias etc. While in the case of peer to peer relations, personal interests get involved, in the case of boss to subordinate relations, conflicts would lead to underperformance and disobedience. Relational conflicts are easy to foresee as individual attitudes get easily noted as potential threats; failure to meet milestones in a time-bound manner is a sure sign of team conflict, arising mainly out of differences in goal interpretation and ways to achieve same. Conflicts play an important role in generating new ideas and hence all conflicts are not necessarily undesirable. A task may be performed in different ways and if a team member believes that there is scope for improvement in the way it is being done at present and hence voices his/her opinion, even though it may lead to conflict with colleagues or the team leader, such conflicts are to be assessed for the overall benefit to an organization, setting aside individual ego problems. Thus it is not appropriate to create an entirely sterile atmosphere that The issue here is the insecurity and jealousy of the team mates vis-Ã  -vis Vladimir and his superlative achievements. A reading of the case history clearly points to the fact that Vladimir is not averse to adjust himself to his work situation, his colleagues are not unappreciative of his talents and that given a helping hand, the situation can be brought under control. As the team leader, first task would be to settle the dispute before it escalates any further. I would call for a group meeting of my team in which Vladimir and his distracters take part. In the meeting, I will unequivocally condemn the incident and elaborate on the dire consequences that would follow if the issue is taken to its logical conclusion through a police complaint etc. Following this

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

DISASTER PREPARATION Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

DISASTER PREPARATION - Research Paper Example If there are risk factors that could result into their own illness, that of their family members as well as those that they come into contact with. In the event of violence, they are encouraged to think about the available security services that are available at the scene of the disaster and this ensures their own safety and that of their patients. RNs have the responsibility to act ethically if the victims that they are helping out are members of their family or friends (American Nurses Association, 2010). However, RNs are advised to put their patients’ needs first at all times and this ensures that they act ethically at all times. Nurses have the duty to act according to the code of conduct governing the practice and this facilitates efficiency while handling disasters. Volunteering in a community wide disaster can be challenging for RNs in various ways. This is caused by various aspects that are present in a community-wide setting. First, volunteers are called upon to ensure the safety of their patients first. This means that they are forced to put their lives at risk. In relation to this point, volunteers put their lives at risk, those of their family members and those that they touch or talk to. This is owing to the fact that they might get an infection while volunteering and are in a position where they can transmit it to other members of the society. Secondly, ethical issues arise when helping out in community-wide disasters because these volunteers are likely to come into contact with friends and family (American Nurses Association, 2010). They may be tempted to help out their family first and this goes against the code of conduct governing their practice. This explains the reason as to why volunteers should be highly cautious in this situati on. The other challenge that I will be likely to face in community-wide disasters is the likelihood to face legal problems. This is because some of the members of the community recognize me and therefore

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Demographic Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Demographic Assignment - Essay Example Other than all formal meetings, I like to wear T-shirts and loose pants to give the impression of carelessness. Having tight budgets, I tend to travel by bus and train rather than airline. Part II. Select and watch 2 hours of television (does not have to be continuous), including the commercials. Based on what you’ve seen, provide a viewer profile for each show and discuss your findings. During the two hours, multiple programs are shown on Television. They include reality shows, news programs, commercials and entertainment shows. The audience of every type of program is different. Businessmen are mostly interested in current affairs; house wives are interested in commercials, while people of all age and profession are attracted by entertainment shows. It is because, it provides them an opportunity to change their mood and relax from the busy hectic daily routine. News headlines are attractive to all, while the detail is often skipped. Understanding of demographics will help firms to better design their products and marketing activities to fit customer preferences. They will design commercials to attract the specific target group and schedule their commercials keeping in view their

Monday, September 9, 2019

Investor Psychology and Return Predictability Essay

Investor Psychology and Return Predictability - Essay Example To do so, we start with a traditional constant relative risk aversion utility function. This type of utility function is a standard criterion for choices under uncertainty. This function is expanded in a Taylor approximation up to the fourth order. The first two moments correspond to mean and variance. The third and fourth moment correspond to a directional measure of extreme events and to a symmetric measure respectively. A negative third moment indicates that there are more extreme negative realizations than there are positive ones. The fourth moment measures how the tails of the return distribution compare with the tails of the Gaussian distribution. From a technical point of view, in our paper, a numerical optimization takes place where the allocation involves higher moments. More pronounced results expected in the case one consider portfolios of individual stocks. Our findings are the following: a) When an investor may allocate his wealth to the indices and to the risk-free asset, then the weights corresponding to the risky assets are essentially unaffected by the introduction of a concern for the third or fourth moments. c) As the third moment comes to play a role, Asia (except Japan) gets less weighted because it contains large negative returns, whereas the importance of Japan is increased. The strong weighting of Japan comes from the fact that the Japanese returns contain several very large positive outliers generating a positive third moment. The implication of this research is that the traditional utility functions or expansions thereof may not sufficiently weigh realizations of extreme nature. This brings up the question how to adapt a utility function so that more weight is given to extreme realizations. A further question is how the allocation would change in a conditional setting, or with individual stocks rather than with portfolios, since in such circumstances, one may expect that higher moments take larger values than in the present setting. These questions are left for future research. Abstract Investment strategy is the first issue that investors should consider. At the outset, investing is an act of faith, a willingness to postpone present consumption and save for the future. Investing for the long term is central to the achievement of optimal returns by investors. Unfortunately, the principle of investing for the long term-eschewing funds with high turnover portfolios and holding shares in soundly managed funds as investments for a lifetime- is honoured more in the breach than in the observance by most mutual fund managers and shareholders. This proposition for investor's psychology affect the return predictability can be shown to be precisely true in several popular mathematical models of the portfolio decision. If returns are independent over time, then the mean and variance of continuously compounded returns rises in proportion to the horizon: The

Sunday, September 8, 2019

Assessment of Systematic Process of Recruitment and Selection Term Paper

Assessment of Systematic Process of Recruitment and Selection - Term Paper Example Hiring is an essential aspect of human resource planning which assists in the determination of the number and individuals the firm requires. Organizations strive to attain a diverse workforce. Human resource has continuously evolved, giving diversity in organizations a new face. Though different organizations have different meanings and definition of diversity, contemporary diversity in work places engrosses more than the conventional view that centers on races and gender (Bohlande & Snell, 2011). Changing markets and demographics of labor force have necessitated organizations to intensify their diversity recruitment programs. Diversity in recruitment programs in organizations plays a significant role (CIPD, 2012). Moreover, social media are imperative in recruitment and selection, in the contemporary world. Social media connect people from different parts of the world and have dramatically changed recruitment. Gone are the days when recruitment was narrow and local. This paper criti cally evaluates the systematic process of staffing, and significance of diversity and social media in the process. Recruitment and Selection The recruitment process of any organization is often the first contact an individual has with the organization, bearing in mind that all participants are already or might also become customers of the organization (Farnham, 2010). A successful recruitment is dependent on finding the right people to make a positive input in the principles and objectives of the company. Aptitude and competence is the core basis of the selection process in order to make an input into the organization's efficacy (Kew & Stredwich, 2010). Different authors and scholars have given the term â€Å"recruitment† different meanings. In an organization, recruitment ceases to play a part when the organization ceases to exist. In reference to Stone (2002), recruitment process refers to the process of enlisting people and outsourcing for competent people for employment. This process starts when employers seek new recruits and ends when the applicants submit their applications. This results to a pool of applicants from which the employer selects the best candidates. The main aim of recruitment and selection is to get the right person for the right job position. Authors and scholars have argued that selection resolutions are the most significant decisions of an employer. This is because they influence the employer’s aptitude to attain targets, the superiority of products and services conveyed to the consumer and the welfare of the company team (Taylor, 2005). The ability of an organization to succeed in its goals depends on how well it can identify the various activities that must occur and the quality of the individuals selected to perform them (Marchington & Wilkinson, 2008). It is the responsibility of management to ensure that both activities and personnel are appropriate. By carefully analyzing the purpose, responsibilities and qualificat ions of each job, the selection pro

Saturday, September 7, 2019

Wall-E Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Wall-E - Essay Example As far as humans are concerned, they left the earth many hundred years ago and exist in human spaceship sitting on floating chairs and talking to each other through videophones without any curiosity of passing time. The movie shows the love relationship between Wall-E and EVE and their love affair is similar to human beings. With their love relationship, they enable the human beings to return to earth, as it is their joint effort to let the captain of the spaceship and others to witness a sprouting plant showing the sign of life on earth. Wall-E considers himself incomplete without EVE and understands about his power and ability to exist and help others based on his love relationship. The movie has very less dialogues, but the characters give the message through portrayal of emotions and feelings through facial expressions. Even robots are successful in delivering their motives through their facial expressions. Wall-E works continuously and because of working for so long, he considers himself lonely and friendless. He befriends an insect initially and later on, when EVE comes, he starts chasing her and shows his love for her. He finds EVE quite changed and different as compared to himself. Wall-E seems as a human character showing all the traits of human beings, for example, he needs friends, he regards himself lonely, he gets tired, he loves EVE, he loves watching the movie, â€Å"Hello Dolly† and he has a personality. Likewise, the character of EVE also shows human emotions, feelings and a personality. With his relationship with EVE, Wall-E knows about his strength of exercising his free will. Previously, he used to work endlessly for removing the trash, but he rejects the very duty of clearing the trash and moves with EVE to the spaceship. After reaching the spaceship, Wall-E enables EVE to reach the spaceship captain to deliver the plant, which is indicative of life on earth. In their attempt to reach to the captain, EVE

Reflective Account Values Essay Example for Free

Reflective Account Values Essay The first part of this Reflective Account describes what influences and events in my life have helped to develop my Personal Values. My grandparents taught me most of my basic ‘Personal Values’. I learned from an early age how to be polite, have good manners and respect my elders as failure to do so would result in getting sent to bed early. In those days I did not have a television in my room so in my eyes this was the ultimate punishment! They were not deeply religious people; my grandmother attended church every Sunday and took me to Sunday school. At the age of twelve she gave me the choice as whether to attend or not. I did not attend but she still taught me the moral values of respecting myself, my body and how a female should/ should not behave in public and at home. As today’s culture climate is changing towards how some young women behave e.g. children to several partners, going out barely clothed and getting themselves into all sorts of situations, I feel she was perhaps right in her teachings but when I say this to some of my nieces they tend to tell me I’m a bit too old fashioned and they’re glad I’m not their mother. I do not have any specific religious values and I would not disagree or agree with anybody else’s views, I hold the value of everybody being entitled to their own opinions and beliefs. I have passed all of these values onto my own child over the years and feel proud when people say what a polite and thoughtful man he is. A value that changed as I got older was one of ‘First Impressions’. Again, my grandfather (who was a policeman) taught me that first impressions count but an experience in a local cafe showed me that this was untrue. An elderly gentleman who was often drunk and smelly used to come into the cafe and nobody, including myself would go near or speak to him. This day the only seat available to him was the one next to me. He started talking to me and I was astounded to realize that he was a very intelligent man, he was talking about things going on in the world and using words I had to ask the meanings of. I now use the value ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’. A very important value which I learned was that of ‘Family’ values. Coming from a small dysfunctional family where there was no real closeness I married into a large family where they all lived in one another’s pockets. I learned all about honesty, trust and support in the family circle, how they were all there for each other, supporting each other through the good and bad times regardless of the consequences. When I divorced my son’s father, his family  supported both of us so my son had the best of both worlds, time with me and time with his father. I did not have this as a child, I did not see my father unless he was on a sober day and I never saw my mother until I was sixteen years old. I find this value very high on my list of personal values and have tried to pass this on to my son as he is about to become a father himself. Overall I have an open mind and I am willing to learn and compromise, maybe change a particular value or belief depending on th e role and situation I am in at the time, which takes me on to the second part of this reflective account. The second part of this reflective account describes how my personal values relate to social care values. As a social care worker I must follow the guidelines and key concepts as laid down by the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC). This council was formed in October 2001 by the Scottish Government and aims to raise the standards in the field of Social Care Services. They have laid down ‘Core Values’ which underpin Social Care conduct. These ‘Core values’ are Dignity, Privacy, Choice, Safety, Realising Potential and Equality and Diversity. I believe that everybody has freedom of choice. We all make choices, whether it be what we wear, eat, what career path we choose to follow. Our choices can be endless but can also be limited. Limited choices can be because of things like finances, availability or circumstances, other choices depend on health, safety and danger to ourselves or to others. In my role as a social care worker I have a service user who has complex, additional needs and also uses a wheelchair. This user has the choice to use their wheelchair and can work the back brakes managing to get around the classroom at any time. This makes it difficult for us to manage the rest of the class as the user has no sense of danger and could possibly harm or put other class members in danger. We therefore have to take away the user’s choice of chair as we need to keep them and the rest of the class and staff safe and free from harm. This example shows that conflict can arise between the ‘Core values’ of ‘Promoting Choice’ and ‘Keeping People Safe’ Privacy is not just a case of liking your own company or keeping private matters to yourself. I like my own privacy, having time to myself gives me the chance to gather my thoughts or just chill out in my own way. I can choose what I want people to know about me without fear, prejudice or being discriminated against. Privacy in Social Care often works alongside Dignity. Dignity is a value which varies from person to person. I myself on going to the bathroom would lock the door so that no one else comes in, another person might not bother, and for some people, they may be unable to do so. In Social Care a service users Privacy and Dignity must be preserved at all times. This means that when I support a user dressing/ undressing I must take them to the bathroom (as it is a school the bathroom is the only place for the user to do this as the door locks) maintaining their dignity and privacy. As well as respecting their dignity I also have to ensure that their private personal details are kept private from outside sources. Any written information such as care plans or medical records would be locked away in the filing cabinet in the Headmistresses office. Another aspect of privacy would be confidentiality. In my role as a social care worker I would hopefully have the trust of the user so’s that they could speak to me about anything, if I had any concerns that they would harm or put themselves or others

Friday, September 6, 2019

The House on the Lagoon by Rosario Ferre Essay Example for Free

The House on the Lagoon by Rosario Ferre Essay Rosario Ferre is one of the most noted and famous Puerto Rican writers who have made their mark in the world of literature. Her books illustrate the political and social conditions of her native land. In this paper, we attempt to review and understand her book ‘The House on the Lagoon’ which is extremely famous and provides an interesting insight into the Puerto Rican conditions and the views of the writer as a supporter of feminism.   Ã¢â‚¬ËœThe house on the Lagoon’ was nominated for the National Book Award in 1995. The story revolves around Isabel and Quintin Mendizabal who are a quintessential Puerto Rican couple belonging to the privileged section of this society. The wife, Isabel, has a streak of independence and she feels suffocated in the typically bourgeois environment. She wishes to fulfill her long cherished dream of becoming a famous writer. For the fulfillment of this dream she decides to write a novel based on the life and family history of her husband and herself. However, the husband suddenly discovers the less than flattering description of his family that his wife wishes to make public by getting it published. He is obviously shaken and tries to alter the version that his wife has written in order to make it more appreciative of his family.   The story appears to be simple on the surface. However, while reading it, so many undercurrents appear that it becomes a delightful experience to discover the countless nuances. Many special features and styles of writing adorn the book. The most famous, the most talked about and perhaps the most exciting is the concept of two distinct narrative voices. In the beginning, the book proceeds as a simple family history being retold by a woman. However, a few chapters into the book, suddenly we discover that the narration switches over to the woman’s husband Quintin, who discovers that his wife is writing a novel. Surprises do not cease here. We are treated to another surprise as we discover that the book we are reading i.e. ‘The House on the Lagoon’ is the book that the husband is so incensed on finding. Thereon the narrative continues to switch from Quintin to Isabel and vice versa and this turns out to have far reaching consequences on the novel as a whole.   The double narrative allows for a more democratic unfolding of the story than a single narrative. It allows us to find out Quintin’s reactions to his wife’s narration of his family history. It puts in more animation into a mundane story of family history. Their arguments keep the narration alive and keep the reader guessing at reality and the next sequence of events. Also, there is a marked difference in the ways Quintin and Isabel approach the novel. Quintin, as we are told, has been a student of history in Columbia. To him, misinterpretation of facts and misinterpretation of history is a gross error and in addition, he is extremely embarrassed by the way his family is portrayed in a bad light by his wife. On the other hand, Isabel feels that her main objective is to gain literary fame and she is not concerned with being historically, socially or politically correct. While reading the book, we are thus treated to Isabel’s views and then we read her husband’s comments and views on her writing. This allows for a multiple perspective presentation and the nature of characters becomes more engrossing than the story that they are both trying to tell in their own way.   It has been argued that the dual narrative serves certain higher purposes than simply telling us the dual viewpoints on the story. The dual narrative has been construed as a metaphor for colonization[1]. Rosario’s books usually deal with the conflicts plaguing her native land Puerto Rico, the major one being whether to remain independent or become a part of the US. In the book, through dual narrative, Rosario attempts to bring out this conflict. Isabel, the writer’s alter ego, represents Puerto Rico while her husband represents the dominating influence of the US. Thus multiple perspectives enable the writer to demonstrate Puerto Rico’s quest for identity and her constant struggle against foreign dominance.   Another interesting characteristic of the book is the imagery that is used to illustrate certain finer points[2]. Right from the first scene, where there is a confrontation between the boy serenading Isabel and her fiancà © Quintin, we have a glimpse into the strong characters that we will encounter further on in the book. It also illustrates that Quintin has a violent streak. The relationships between the characters are brought out later in the book. Especially evident is the marital discord between Quintin and Isabel over the issue of her novel which Quintin feels paints his family black. Later in the book, we are provided with another extremely vivid scene which portrays the reason why Isabel is so haunted by her past. Isabel’s mother was forced to have an abortion by her grandmother. This abortion was probably botched and the description of the scene from the child’s point of view sends shivers down the readers’ spine. The gory details such as the pool of blood, the unconscious mother and the dropping of the doll are all images which haunt the reader as much as they must have haunted the young girl. It not only tells us of Isabel’s miserable past but also provides us an understanding of the person she is in the present and why. It also helps us to identify with her dream of making it big as she wishes to escape the drudgery that her female ancestors went through.   Also noteworthy in the novel is the daydreams that Isabel indulges herself with. Her past is so woebegone that she tries to absorb herself in passionate pursuits of her dreams and reveries. These reveries lull us into a false sense of security until the silence before the storm breaks with a shattering incident. This sense of the unexpected renders the narrative far from banal. The most interesting of her happiness and indulgence appears towards the end of the story when she enrolls into a ballet school to fulfill her passion. This dream, like that of becoming a famous writer, reveals Isabel’s desire for fame. She enjoys her dancing lessons immensely and we are again forced to expect some happiness coming her way. However, our hopes are shattered brutally by the public display of pedophilia as the curtain opens at the wrong time during her stage performance. Again, Isabel finds herself abused and unhappy. The ending of the story is thus somewhat tragic and in sync with the mood of the whole story.   In conclusion, it must be said that a subject as ordinary as the relation of family history is made extraordinary by the excellent style of Rosario Ferre and her unique writing style including the double narratives, the imagery and the reveries. Her strong characters help us understand human psyche and also provide insight into the actual political and social problems of Puerto Rico through the characters. In the end, the novel turns out to be more than a story of marital discord or a narration of family history. It helps us to understand history, politics, sociology, psychology and also literature. Few novels are able to achieve such high purpose. WORKS CITED â€Å"The House on the Lagoon†, Luke Lecheler, http://voices.cla.umn.edu/vg/Critique/review_fiction/house_on_the_lagoon_the_by_rosario_ferre.html â€Å"Rosario Ferre † http://voices.cla.umn.edu/vg/Bios/entries/ferre_rosario.html â€Å"Reading Guide: The House On the lagoon†, Penguin Group USA, http://us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/house_on_the_lagoon.html [1] â€Å"Rosario Ferre † http://voices.cla.umn.edu/vg/Bios/entries/ferre_rosario.html [2] â€Å"The House on the Lagoon†, Luke Lecheler,   http://voices.cla.umn.edu/vg/Critique/review_fiction/house_on_the_lagoon_the_by_rosario_ferre.html