Saturday, August 31, 2019

The Limitless Effects of Immigration in the United States

The effects that immigration has on the United States are limitless. There have been endless debates over these effects since as early as the colonial times. The economic, fiscal and demographic effects are three major topics that tend to rule these debates. Based on both positive and negative effects immigration has on the economical, fiscal, and demographic sides of the United States, one can conclude that immigration is good, but should be limited. The effect of immigration on the economy is a major topic discussed among much of the nation. It is said to have both positive and negative effects that cancel each other out. Many agree that immigration brings a gain to the economy. James Smith gives an explanation of how the immigrants increase the economy, yet still may have negative effects for some people: At the most basic level, immigrants increase the supply of labor and help produce new goods and services. But since they are paid less than the total value of these new goods and services, domestic workers as a group must gain. On the production side, immigration allows domestic workers to be used more productively, specializing in producing goods at which they are relatively more efficient. Specialization in consumption also yields gain. Even when the economy as a whole gains, however, there may be losers as well as gainers among different groups of United States residents. (4) Some argue that while immigrants help the growth of the United States economy, the effect is very small. According to David Lagesse, a recent study says â€Å"immigrants contribute as much as $10 billion in economic growth each year, largely because they help keep prices lower. But the effect is small on a United States economy that produces nearly $8 trillion† (1). It has also been argued that the poverty rate of the United States has been negatively effected by immigration. Peter Brimelow agrees, saying, â€Å"because many immigrants are relatively unskilled, their poverty rate is significantly higher at 18 percent, compared to the 12. 1 percent poverty rate for the native-born† (11). Immigrant workers also play a role in the economy. There has been a debate within the last few years involving the computer industry and immigrants. Many companies feel that there are not enough skilled people in the United States to fill the demand for computer programmers. They also argue that these companies do not give Americans the chance to work in these positions, and are unwilling to retrain older programmers. They want only people trained with the latest computer skills, and look to foreigners to fill these demands. Roy Beck explains that â€Å"industry officials counter that American programmers often don†t have the specific skill needed for a new task and that companies like to be able to scout the whole world for somebody who can step right in and do the job† (141). Beck also argues that for other businesses, â€Å"the preference for foreign workers is no accident; they are looking for people who will work for less money and put up with worse working conditions† (142). Only in areas with high concentrations of low-skilled, low-paid immigrants are state and local taxpayers paying more on average to support the publicly funded services that these immigrants use† (Lagesse). While the immigration of workers does have its downside, it mainly has a positive effect: The benefits of immigration however are manifold. Immigrants are highly entrepreneurial. Their rate of business start-ups and self employment tend to be higher than that of United States born citizens. Immigrants contribute to the global competitiveness of US corporations, particularly in high technology industries. Perhaps the most important benefit is that immigrants come to the United States with critically needed talents, energies that serve as an engine for economic progress (Kposowa 78). The benefits and downfalls of the immigration workers both play a big part in today†s debate over immigration. It is clear that each side of the debate has both good and bad points. A second aspect of immigration that has been debated is the fiscal effect of immigration on the United States. The fiscal effects of immigration vary widely, causing it to be another no-win debate. According to Smith, the difference between taxes from households of immigrants, and the cost of government services for that household help measure the fiscal results of immigration (8). The fiscal impact is different at each level. Normally, the fiscal impact is positive at the federal level, and negative at the state level. Because the negative state impacts are concentrated in the few states that receive the majority of immigrants, some states experience fiscal burdens from immigrants (Smith 12). The age of the children of immigrants plays a role in the fiscal impacts of immigrant households. Households headed by immigrants include the native-born school-age children of immigrants, who incur high costs of public education, but do not include the native-born children of immigrants, who have a positive fiscal impact. For this reason, current fiscal impacts estimated for immigrant-headed households are biased towards negative numbers† (Smith 352). â€Å"The long-term fiscal contributions that immigrants make, however, will vary depending on such factors as education and age of arrival to the United States. Immigrants with higher levels of education will pay more taxes in the long term because they have higher incomes. But immigrants who don't have high school educations and those who are age 50 or older on arrival may receive more benefits than they pay in taxes† (Lagesse). The fiscal impacts of immigration are obviously very dependent on several different factors, and hard to classify as either good or bad. The Demographics of the United States is a third point commonly discussed in the debate over immigration. With the continuation of immigration to the United States comes higher populations and changing of the percentage of different races within each city. This major change has caused major controversy within these cities. Immigrants are starting to settle in more and more states than before, and taking some towns by surprise. Some greet them with open arms, and welcome a new culture into their area. Others feel invaded and fight the sudden increase in population and race differences within their area. The sudden change in population within these cities has formed a need for bilingual teachers, policemen, and general servicemen (Bustos 1). While some see this as a threat, it can also be viewed as a positive step towards bringing down the boundaries between culture, race, and countries. One can see that limited immigration is good based on the good and bad results immigration has on the economical, fiscal, and demographic positions of the United States. The positive and negative effects that immigration in general and workers have on the economy cancel each other out. Many factors influence the United States† fiscal situation, including age, causing the federal fiscal level to generally be positive, while the state level is normally negative. The fact that so many factors influence the fiscal situation proves that one can never determine whether immigration has a good or bad effect on the United States. The increase in population caused by immigration is also causing both good and bad problems in the United States, causing some people to feel threatened, while others feel a sense of togetherness. Without immigration the United States would not be what it is today. Almost everything in life has both good and bad qualities, but with a little regulation and control they can turn out to be positive. Immigration is one of those instances in life where with a little regulation immigration can be a great push towards a better future.

Crisis Management and Communication in Organizations Essay

1. Introduction In the modern changing world a crisis can happen anywhere. It cannot be expected. And Effective Communication is really important when managing a crisis as one mistake done by the Organization can affect the whole Organization itself, its stakeholders and the Industry. It even could threaten public safety, the financial position of the organization and the reputation. It can lead to disruption of operation creating loss of market (W.T Coombs, 2007). That’s where communication comes in handy as lack of communication between the Society and the Organization can lead to distress, this is the where verbal and non verbal communication is really important. Referring to the case of Dominos pizza (New York Times ,2009), when two employs of the Dominos franchise in Conover, N.C, played a video prank with the food and putting the video on YouTube, the Management waited hoping that it will blow away and that is what went wrong. There was no news from them in the first 24 hrs. Instead of answering the queries of the consumers and the media they waited in the hope that it will cool down which never happened (New York Times, 2009). In a situation like this it’s really important to face the society and tell them what’s going on, should communicate with them verbally and non verbally or else the society will keep the image of the organization the way they want, good or bad. When in crisis after appointing a spokes person, it’s really important for the spokesperson to be calm and pleasant when confronting the media avoiding nervous habits ensuring the limit of disfluencies such as â€Å"umhs† or â€Å"uhs†, while avoiding fidgeting and pacing (W.T Coombs,2007). There is a good crisis example in 1993 â€Å"The Pepsi product tempering in 1993† (M.Hubbard,2006).They proved that effective communication in the Organization and effective crisis public relations campaign combining various strategies can rebound the hoax(M.Hubbard,2006). When dealing with media regarding a business crisis, it’s really important for the organization to stick to what they say if the statements given by the organization keeps on changing, dealing with the public relations will be a total disaster. They have to be very clear about what they say avoiding the statements which doesn’t make sense keeping it simple with limited information for the time being. 2. The Crisis 2.1. Communication Tactics It was clear in the case of Dominos pizza (New York Times, 2009) that management wasn’t aware of the situation unless a blogger alerted the Domino’s vice president of communications Tim McIntyre. There was no reaction from the management first as they didn’t want to alert more people to the story. And according to the Adage, a trade publication, Dominos response was late as in a situation like this the firm should be responsive to the crisis in the first 24 hrs and domino’s took 48 hrs to be fully responsive (R.Flandez, 2009). Just for the sake that more people might be alerted there was no issue of formal press release to mainstream press meanwhile the internal team was busy to form a strategy. After the management came to know of the videos they started to search for the two employs of dominos that were responsible for the videos with the help of bloggers and YouTube, and little that they realized that 70% of the conversation was going on Twitter and YouTube. As the Crisis began and most of the conversations were going on within the Social Networks from dominos they opened a twitter account to be responsive to the consumers and the society, even the President of the domino’s pizza Patrick Doyle appeared on a YouTube video and explained the present situation of Domino’s and that the store where the video was shot were closed and sanitized, for the efforts of Domino’s Richard Levick, President of the Levick Communications gives an â€Å"F† for the first 24 hrs and an â€Å"A† for the rest (R.Flandez,2009). By using the social Networks domino’s managed to handle the situation well. 2.2. Goods and Bads During the crisis, It could be clearly seen that even though Dominos was in a bad situation they didn’t jump on defending just because they might attract more people and they didn’t hold anything like a press conference, which wasn’t appropriate during that situation, but they did upload a video on YouTube and opened a twitter account to defend dominos and to tell people what was going on which was a good thing they did. The YouTube and twitter response was good but what about the older generation?, the people who are not on any of these but still a fan of dominos, they will only hear what people say considering there was no press conference or statement on TV which is a direct source of information to the Public. From dominos if they had got on TV they could have told the public as whole that they are working on the crisis and what they are doing about it. Even in the YouTube video the president of Dominos pizza Patrick Doyle stated that the store where the video shot was taken by the pranksters was closed and sanitized (R.Flandez,2009),they could have invited the Media ( TV stations and reporters) to witness the process. Even though the two employs of Dominos were fired after the video they could have managed to get a live statement of what actually happened and why they did it. It could have given extra support to prove the innocence of the whole organization. In the case of Pepsi-Cola in 1993(M.Hubbard,2006) when a man in Tacoma, Washington claimed that he had found a syringe in a can of diet Pepsi, the story started spreading like wild fire in the country more claims started arising. Pepsi-Cola announced that they will pursue legal action against anyone making false claims and started work on proving the innocence of Pepsi-Cola, and the claims did turn out to be a hoax. The president of Pepsi Craig Weatherup made appearances on TV and gave statements on radio. They even brought in cameras to the Pepsi bottling plant to show the bottling process and proved that there is no way that a foreign object could be inserted in to bottle or can before its sealed(M.Hubbard,2006), which is a very good example of communication in crisis. Dominos did make mistakes but they still managed the situation at a time there was no Social media plat forms or strategy in the Organization (M.Agnes, 2012) 3. Recommendations After the incident took place on 13th April 2009.a study conducted by HCD Research found 65% of respondents who were daily customers hesitates to do so after watching the offending video(R.Flandez,2009). Recommendations are many for this kind of situations. Like they could have prepared a communication list of reporters investors and customers, business partners and advisors and give to an official statement instead of waiting without any actions like in the dominos case and also admitting that there is a problem helps to move on with the others steps of the process to overcome the crisis(M.Nowlan, 2006).Many companies give out the phrase â€Å" no comment† and that is not the best thing to do as the public will conclude the situation making the Company guilty. And also respond to the situation as quickly as possible (M.Nowlan, 2006). 4.Conclusion As Effective communication plays a major role in the business organization it’s really important for the organizations to be ready for what might come for them. As one single mistake made by them at a time of crisis can lead to a loss which would be difficult to get over. As in the case of Dominos they were nearly out of business, there was couple of things which could have been done from the company side which were neglected in communicating the public. It’s important to take action internally but considering the company to be a service provider, issues will rise in a speed that no human can expect it that way. Let this case be a lesson to all the service providers to improve their image for the future.

Friday, August 30, 2019

British Rule In England

â€Å"Trade was Britain’s doorway to India. † (Bogard et. al. 4th par. 3rd sentence) The colonization of Asia is often referred to as the Second British Empire; the British East India Company India was successful in annexing the Indian subcontinent (India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Myanmar), an extremely lucrative acquisition as it became a large source of revenue (British East India Company 1st par. 1st sentence). India is a country with a rich culture and a civilization far older than that of the British (Bessant 2nd par. 2nd sentence). Its identity has been forged long before the coming of Western Civilization.However, during the period of the annexation of the subcontinent, India was in a period of regional strife. There were wars being fought among the different governors in the territory. The local leaders were fighting each other as well as the foreign invaders. In â€Å"Did Great Britain Unify India? †, the authors think that when Great Britain first came to India, it was suffering a period of division (2nd par. ). The governors of India tended towards disintegration, leading to outrageous defense expenditures which continued with the conflicts against the British (Birodkar).The British made external changes that led India to desire and achieve national unity (Bogard, et. al. 4th par. ). An example of the unifying external changes introduced was the concept of a universal language. The British required knowledge of the English language to qualify for employment in the government. It was also taught in the universities. But the Indians did not completely accept the foreign language of the colonizers. The regional languages still exist today, and only a small portion of population speaks English.However, even if the Indians still speak in different languages and there is still no universal language in India, Hindi has become the official language. Hindi is taught in the elementary and high school level. English is taught in the college le vels, it is the language of the educated in India. (Bogard, et. al. ). The British also introduced western developments. The Empire built railroads, highways and ports across the Indian subcontinent to facilitate trade, built canals for irrigation and created public health measures to prevent diseases.On the flip side, the activities of the British were geared towards acquisition of economic wealth for Britain. (Bogard, et. al). According to Bidokar, â€Å"The policy of ‘Great' Britain was of a systematic annihilation of Indian handicraft industries by exposing them to the ruinous competition from the cheap machine products coming from UK. † (18th par. 1st sentence) A large bulk of the raw materials produced by India is acquired, at very cheap prices, by the Britain; then, later on, finished products are dumped back to India, resulting to very large profits for Britain (Bidokar18th par. 2nd sentence).This exacerbated the poverty of India (Bidokar18th par. 2nd sentence). Bidokar also believed that: Thus after nearly two centuries of living through the twilight of two ages of the dying feudalism and the deformed nascent newborn Capitalism, we inherited an economy which bore the worst features of both feudalism and colonial capitallsm at the dawn of our independence. (20th paragraph) Bogard et,al, on the other hand, claims that poverty in India is a result of improved health care. The public health measures created by the British led to lower infant mortality rates and population explosion.The caste system is a social system by which the members of society are divided into four groups which are ranked. These four groups are priests and teachers, rulers and warriors, merchants and traders and workers and peasants. In the Indian caste system, a person is born within a caste and has little means of improving social standing, except through reincarnation. The occupation and acquaintances of a person is also governed by his caste. The caste system has alr eady been criticized and attacked by various groups before the coming of the British, among these are Buddhists and Muslims.It was convenient for the British to strengthen the caste system when it first came to India (Bogard, et. al). It gave back the privileges of the priests and teachers which the Muslims had previously taken away. However, the changes in society introduced by the British weaken the caste system (Bogard, et. al). People of different caste started mingling in public transportation. British laws also do not allow a higher punishment for a person of lower caste from that of a higher one for the same offense. The advances in transportation allowed people of lower caste from other regions to pretend to belong in a higher caste in a different region.India is the birth place of Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism. Religion is a vital part of Indian life; it permeates all other aspects of life and culture. Religion’s impact is felt even on political matters. Moreover, i t constantly clashed with the western culture introduced by the British. As an example, the Sepoy Rebellion arose because the Buddhist soldiers believed that the British did not respect their religion. Christianity made its debut in India before the British through the Portuguese and Spanish missionaries. Later, Anglican and Protestant missionaries also helped spread Christianity in India.At present, it is the second largest religious minority in India; Islam is the first. Christianity also influenced Hinduism. Ram Mohan Roy, a hindu leader, was inspired by the story of Jesus Christ that he fought against the social abuses inherent in Hinduism. It was through his effort that the suttee was declared illegal. (Bogard, et. al) Another devout Hindu influenced by teachings of Christianity is Mahatma Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi read the works of many west’s great thinker and the gospel of Christ’s He actions is greatly influenced by his readings, but he never lost his faith in Hi nduism or his Indian identity.(Bogard, et. al) The effects goes both ways, Ramakrishna, a Hindu missionary, roamed the United States and England to preach Hinduism. Lamb said: The fact that he had so successfully preached Hinduism in the very lands from which the Christian missionaries came seemed to prove that political subjection need not involve religious subjection. Hindus could be proud at least of the essential truths of their religion. The reaffirmation of Hinduism served as an emotional counterbalance to the damage to Hindu self-respect caused by British political domination.(qtd. Bogard, et. al. ) Religion spilled over Indian literature. The Ramayana and Mahabharata, considered as two of the greatest literature of all time, are familiar epics of the Sanskrit. It is written in verse and orally passed down. In more modern times, Indian literature is represented in the world by the works of Rabindranath Tagore and Allama Iqbal. The more lasting influence of Britain to India is in the field of sports. Cricket, a sport invented by the British, is India’s favorite past time (Bogard, et. al). In fact in the 1993At present, the ties between India and Great Britain are being kept strong by international trade. India and Britain entered into a partnership in 1993. Britain reported a 69% increase in bilateral trade after the partnership was entered into and several joint ventures have been signed between Indian and British companies. Britain is also the largest market for Indian trade services, this amount to 12% of the total IT service exports. Cited Works Bessant, Annie. â€Å"England and India. † Theosophical Publishing Co. 1921. http://www. theosophical. ca/EnglandIndiaAB. htm. Birodkar, Sudheer.â€Å"The Coming of European Colonialism. † http://www. hindubooks. org/sudheer_birodkar/hindu_history/landbritish. html. â€Å"British East India Company. † Wikipedia. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/British_Empire. â€Å"British Raj. â⠂¬  Wikipedia. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/British_Raj. Bogard, Medina, et. al. â€Å"Did Great Britain Unify India? † May 1, 1997. http://home. snu. edu/~dwilliam/s97/india/. â€Å"Indian Literature. † Wikipedia. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Indian_literature. â€Å"Indo-UK Partnership. † http://www. google. com. ph/search? hl=tl&q=indo-british+partnership+initiative&meta=.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

CRJS300 U3IP Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

CRJS300 U3IP - Research Paper Example The judicial branches of the federal state and federal government apply and interpret the law. The two systems are independent of the legislative and executive branches of government. The dual court of system was inherited during the colonial period. By 1789 when the U.S first mandated its constitution, the thirteen colonies had their own court system relating to the English way. The two systems developed alongside each other exercising their legal powers concurrently and at times overlapping the jurisdiction of one another. The federal system is less complicated compared to the state system. According to the U.S Constitution Article 111, it states that the Supreme Court has the highest judicial power in the United States. The federal judiciary has three main branches. The district courts are directly after the federal courts and deals with cases alleged to violating federal laws or constitution, cases involving federal states or government, maritime disputes, and cases involving citizens of different countries, foreign government or cases involving citizens of different states. The district court is made up of ninety-two district and has one bench in each of the fifty states and one in Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. These districts courts have over twenty judges. The president appoints judges. The United State court of appeals comes before the district court. They are higher than district court. They deal with matters involving appeals, cases of Exchange Commission Securities. The court of appeal is made up of eleven judicial in the fifty states of America and one in Columbia District. Each of the eleven circuits consists of six to twenty seven judges. Supreme Court is the highest in the federal system of the United State of America (Kusha, 2013). This is the only court mandated by the constitution. This court has consisted of Eight Associate Judges and One Judge

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

History of pubilc procurement Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

History of pubilc procurement - Term Paper Example It is also considered as the main element in the way public funds are utilized, hence enhancing public trust in procurement (Beth & OECD 19). Public procurement has been in existence since 1778 and has led to the implementation of public procurement law, which regulates the purchasing made by public sectors that contract goods, services and work. Public procurement is regulated in most countries to avoid corruption, fraud, and waste; indeed, public tenders are issued by a public authority when the value of procurement exceeds the required threshold. Today, public procurement is becoming more complex, forcing the public procurement officials to deal with the changing issues based on fairness, transparency, integrity, and equity, which are the principles of public procurement (Beth & OECD 18). The History of Public Procurement According to Thai (13), the first purchasing action was conducted in 1778, with the approval of the continental congress on the appointment of purchasing commiss ionaires. By the end of that year, the purchasing officers had been placed on a salary, with an aim of avoiding fraud. The congress thereafter passed a Purchasing Act, which permitted war and treasury departments to make purchases in the name of the United States. The first procurement was made in 1794 for the new United States navy; however, this procurement was accompanied by negative experiences, which led to the implementation of purveyor of Public Supplies Act, a procurement legislation that was the basis for military procurement. Misconducts and fraud cases led to the implementation of Public Contract Act of 1808, which warned members of the congress from using government contracts for personal interest (Thai 13). In the United States, public procurement organizations vary with the size of the government units; however, it has a complicated procurement structure. The federal procurement operates within a democratic framework, which is under the legislative, judiciary, and exec utive branches. Nevertheless, the courts are not involved in setting procurement policies and rules; however, they try the legal cases that involve contract disputes. The congress passes the laws that establish procurement policies and procedures; it also allocates specified funds for the procurement purposes within the time required (Thai 19). Public procurement also encounters several challenges. This function has a great impact on the country’s economy; hence, efficient handling of public procurement has proved to be a challenge. Ensuring that the principles of public procurement are followed to the later is also a challenging task. This includes ensuring that fair competition for the bidders is granted, promoting transparency, and ensuring that the allocated loans are used for the specified purposes only. Thirdly, public procurement is associated with fraud, waste, and corruption, hence a major challenge for a country. In addition, public procurement practitioners face th e challenge of complying with their home government regulations without violating the international trade agreements like the World Trade Organization (WTO). Today, the government has enacted several laws pertaining to public procurement, among them being the Public Act whose aim is to enact laws relating to public contracts. An example is the federal acquisition regulation and agency, which provides uniform procedures for federal agency acquisitions. The Truth in Negotiation Act of 1962 establishes rules that

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Introduction to Accounting and finance -- Economics, Finance and Assignment - 1

Introduction to Accounting and finance -- Economics, Finance and Management - Assignment Example The expenses of the company increases and company may not have enough cash available to meet its expenses. Therefore, the cash deficit is met by bank overdraft which affects company’s liquidity position. Company should not make all the sales and purchases on credit. It should choose a fair combination of cash and credit sales/purchases so that, company’s receivables and payables don’t reach peak levels. It is probably not possible to collect the total amount of credit sales. Some amount of credit sales turns into bad debt expense which can’t be recovered. Company should allocate small percentage of sales to bad debts. Cash is what keeps the business functioning. Company requires cash on hand to pay for its operating, investing and financing expenses. The amount of cash available/deficit is calculated by cash flow statement. Hisrich, Peter & Shepherd states that â€Å"Cash flow results from the difference between actual cash receipts and cash payments† (1998:p.297). The difference between cash flow statement and profit statement is that cash flow doesn’t consider payment of non-cash expenses, payment of loan principal and withdrawals. (Rosemary, 2010) Profits are generated by subtracting operating expenses from sales and it is calculated through income statement. Income statement tells about the total sales made during the year whether or not sales receipts are collected or not. In June, Hidetoseek Ltd. is incurring profit but its cash flow is negative which shows that company’s expenses are greater than receipts. Therefore, it should use bank overdraft to meet its expenses. If retained earnings are used, the liquidity position of the company is badly affected. The cash reserves of company decreases which means that if the company wants to pay for its debts or incur some capital expenses, it will not be able to raise significant funds through its reserves. An overdraft occurs when

Monday, August 26, 2019

Strategic Business Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Strategic Business Communication - Essay Example In addition, analysis of the truthtm campaign demonstrated that it was positively correlated with reductions in the smoking behavior of youths and young adults (Thrasher et al. 2004). Unfortunately, scholars have also noted that the effectiveness of other campaigns has been more modest. For example, Hankin, Sloan, and Sokol (1998) conclude that the utility of warning labels in reducing alcohol consumption during pregnancy was only slightly effective, and a review of the effectiveness of several state antismoking advertising campaigns found that several campaigns had mixed or even ineffective results (Pechmann and Reibling 2000).† (Rucker and Petty, 39) â€Å"†¦it is essential to consider whether the audience is disposed to scrutinize the information carefully or inclined to process the message in a more peripheral manner (Step 1). Second, it is important to evaluate message characteristics and, when possible, to design the message to contain information that will be persuasive on the basis of the audience’s elaboration level (Step 2). Third, it is necessary to consider whether the goal of the message is to create an enduring attitude change or simply an immediate attitude change (Step 3). Fourth, it is important to evaluate fit among audience elaboration likelihood, message characteristics, and message objectives both conceptually (Step 4) and empirically (Step 5). Finally, if there is a discrepancy between the audience elaboration level and the message characteristics or the goals of the message, it is necessary to consider how to remedy this mismatch (Step 6).† (Rucker and Petty, 40) â€Å"Consider the development of an antismoking television commercial that is designed to advocate parents talking to their children about drug use. The message might feature celebrities telling parents to talk to their children, but it might not provide or disclose the specific benefits of having such conversations† ( Rucker and Petty, 48) â€Å"three key

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Introduction to Law and Contracts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Introduction to Law and Contracts - Essay Example An agreement that is binding to one party and at the option of the other party is a voidable contract. For a contract to be valid, the objective must be legal. An objective can be unlawful if the law forbids it, it is fraudulent, and the court considers it to be immoral or against public policy. Agreements opposed to public policy can be banned by law to protect the public interests (Walston-Dunham, 2009). Acts that are contrary to public policy are void. Some of the acts considered to be against public policy include transacting with an enemy country and interfering with the administration of justice. The law of the contract is based on the doctrine of equity and substance of common law. Among its main elements are offer, acceptance, lawful consideration, capacity to contract, intention to create a legal relationship, capacity to contract, legal formalities, lawful objects possibility of performance, and, not expressly, the declared void. In this scenario, Chappelle is the defendant while on the other hand; Mustafa, who is his former manager, is the plaintiff. Chappell who is an actor and a comedian is sued for breach of contract. Chappelle and Mustafa entered into a management agreement on September 2005. Moreover, the two parties did not reduce their contract in writings, and for this, it is an oral agreement. By this, the defendant can deny the allegations charged against him because there is no evidence of the agreement passed. Mustafa is now suing Chappelle for stiffing him over $864,500, and is therefore, seeking monetary compensation. On the other hand, Chappelle claims that Mustafa’s incompetency made him lose millions of dollar (Abramovitch, 2005). In this case, the presence of witnesses may be assistive in proving the legality of the contract. However, every contract has its terms and condition, and if one party breaches this, then they should face the consequences. In Chappelle’s case, terminating Mustafa’s

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Market Model Patterns of Change (Apple) Assignment

Market Model Patterns of Change (Apple) - Assignment Example The company issued a statement describing Apple demand for a 30 percent cut of the 20 percent it gets from each sale as "economically untenable," adding that it would be collaborating with our market peers in determining an appropriate legal and business response to this latest development. The point is, Apple is no longer the no-hoper it was during the Mac-vs.-Windows wars of the 80s and 90s.In fact, in many markets -- particularly those supported by the iTunes/iOS ecosystem -- Apple is more powerful than Microsoft ever was since it controls the hardware, the OS, the online store, and the terms by which third parties can do business in its space. Apple, in turn, might define the market to comprise all digital and print media and counter that any issuer not happy with Apple terms is free to still reach its customers through much other print and digital outlets. IOS applications cannot be distributed anywhere other than the Application Store. Mac applications can be bought via the Application Store or online or in a store. Ever wonder if maybe this is a good idea? Look at what is happening with Windows viruses; they get installed on your computer through the internet in a shady manner. While we have gotten used to having and living with this risk on a PC, I absolutely do not want someone or their software to take over my cell phone (directing me to the wrong place on a map, calling 911 on its own, calling some guy in Kazakhstan, sending text messages, tracking me in real time, sending e-mails to my boss and taking all my stored passwords)!!! What a fantastic target it could be while it roams around with you, seeing different access points and other users on the network at Starbucks or your college campus or even simply on the carrier’s data network.

Friday, August 23, 2019

The Apple Company Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Apple Company Assignment - Essay Example At the end of 2010-2011 financial year, Apple sold 27 million compared to the 6 million units sold in 2008. This essay will therefore analyze Apple’s Iphone from a microeconomic and macroeconomic perspective. The main factor that affects the supply and demand of a product is price. Price is the exchange value of a product at a given time and market. Consequently, Apple will experience a change in the demand of its product if it changes its price. Currently the IPhone is the most highly priced smart phone in the market. This is in comparison with other similar products such as Samsung Galaxy. The Apple Company will also be willing to increase the supply of the product at high market price. Technology is the second factor that influences IPhone’s demand and supply. In the current digital age, high tech gadgets such as smart phones are increasingly becoming necessary. In addition, technological advancement has increased efficiency in the production of the product (Bade, 20 07, p. 23). This has increased the supply of the product leading to a reduction in price. Advancement in technology has also caused a reduction in the prices of other related smart phones particularly those manufactured by Chinese companies. This has caused a shift in the customer base for the product. Market structure relates to the nature or influence of buyers and suppliers in a market. Perfect competition, oligopoly, monopoly, and monopsony are the basic market structures. The Apple Company operates in a perfect competition market. A perfect competition market is considered as an ideal market, which is characterized by many buyers and suppliers. In addition, a perfect competition market is characterized by freedom of entry and exit. This promotes the production homogenous products and availability of numerous substitutes. In such market, product, promotion or advertisement are critical factors that suppliers use to increase the sale of their products. Advertisements and free mar ket information makes the consumers to have readily available information about prices, products, and competition of the supplies (Bade, 2007, p. 43). Thus, consumers in the high-tech and gadget market are aware of products of other related producers such as Nokia, Motorola, and Samsung. The profitability of a product determines its existence in a competitive market. In addition, profitability of a company determines the company’s preference for its production. The Apple Company continuously advertises its products in order to maintain its position in the market. IPhone advertisements are common in popular print and electronic media. Online magazines and social media are some of the common platforms through which Apple advertises its products. Through these advertisements, the company informs potential and existing customers about the high-tech capabilities of their devices. A typical advert will illustrate user friendly and device intelligence features that make the IPhone t o stand out from other similar products. In addition, the company needs to increase its investments in research and innovation. Acquiring patents for smart phone features will increase the profitability of the product. In addition, the Apple Company will have profitable operations through reduced costs of operation. Technology innovations will lead to efficient operations and reduced cost of operation. The current market structure is slightly profitable

Computing security exam question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Computing security exam question - Essay Example PKI provides a powerful and robust environment to ensure security of consumer interests, transactions, and information. Stephen Wilson states that â€Å"It is well known that PKI’s successes have mostly been in closed schemes†. This paper will seek to assess and analyze the effectiveness of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is a schema that provides high level of security and confidentiality for Internet users that seek to engage in online transactions and e-commerce. It enables information and monetary transactions to be conducted in a safe and secure manner. A digital certificate is issued in order to recognize individuals and organizations. PKI utilizes public and private keys over the Internet in order to ensure high levels of authentication and privacy. The Internet presents valuable business opportunities for individuals and organization, but it also causes safety and veracity problems (Carlisle, 1999). PKI helps to provide supplementary levels of safety and veracity for online business transactions and e-commerce. The rapid growth of the Internet pushed the need for high levels of trust, confidentiality, and security. Several companies began to design security algorithms and protocols in order to ensure safe and secure transactions. Netscape designed the SSL proto col which allowed the use of digital certificates and security algorithms for safe business transactions over the Internet. PKI was dubbed to the ultimate security protocol and mechanism in the 1990s. A number of vendors began to operate in the environment seeking to create standards and procedures. However the hype over PKI was over by the start of the twenty first century as vendors began to register technical and operational problems over its implementation. The rapid proliferation of the Internet during the 1990s also raised concern about conviction and

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Intro to ethics Essay Example for Free

Intro to ethics Essay The career field that I have chosen is public relations which also has a focus in journalism. Since journalism is often known as the 4th government branch because it watches over the actions of the other branches there are many controversial issues involved which required applied ethics to work through. Business ethics can be seen very strongly in public relations and journalism because there are often conflicts between advertisers which is here the largest amount of revenue comes from and editorial. For example, an article may be getting ready to run about how someone was killed by a person who illegally obtained a gun. The article may spark some gun control arguments and opinions. In the same issue of the paper there might be a firearm store placing a large display advertisement for a sale they are having. There is a dilemma there that will need applied business ethics to decide what to do. Do they run both anyways, or stick with the advertiser and trim down the details of the article so there is not as much focus on gun control? There are legal rights issues that required applied ethics reasoning also associated with public relations and journalism. There are certain details and name and things that can only be printed based on specific things such as a person being certain age and circumstances. Some areas consider it illegal to print in the obituaries that someone committed suicide. Sometimes though if it is a public matter that many people witnessed it is had to avoid printing that a suicide occurred without people know there is information being with held. In addition to this there is also always the possibility of sources being incorrect and the information you print being libelous to someone. Finally there is computer and information ethics in applied ethics. This category can be seen in public relations and journalism in much the same way as legal issues with being slanderous or libelous to someone or a company. Depending on what sources one use there may be false information coming from the computer and information. A professional in public relations of journalism has to take the responsibility to fact check and check the credentials of the sources they are using. The responsibility to check facts does not lay with the source, but with the journalist. If they received incorrect information that could have been spotted if fact checking was done they are negligent and can face very serious consequences. Fact checking cannot only hurt the legally, but also ethically. The people, businesses and other things that are written about are affected deeply. Sometimes there has to be a choice made as to whether a story is worthy of printing if it is going to harm someone or someone’s family members. Most of the time the ethical choices that have to be made in public relations and journalism stem from not which side of a topic to be on, but what to put out to the public on topics. For example, even if a reporter feels that abortion is completely wrong they cannot express this opinion. They have to write for both sides just giving the facts to what things each side says. They could be thinking abut writing to persuade people on why abortion is wrong, but the ethical decision is to step back and understand where both sides of the argument are coming from.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

The principles of Quick Response Manufacturing

The principles of Quick Response Manufacturing Abstract Quick Response Manufacturing (QRM) is a strategy which needs to applied throughout the company and whose primary goal is the reduction of lead-time in each and every operation of the company while simultaneously reducing costs and improving quality.  [1]  QRM can be defined in two contexts: (i) Externally (Customers point of view): QRM means quickly responding to customer needs by designing and producing goods customized to cater those needs. (ii) Internally, QRM stresses on reducing the lead times throughout the organization, leading to lower inventory, better quality, reduced cost, and greater responsiveness. QRM uses Manufacturing Critical-path Time (MCT) as the metric for measuring the success of QRM processes. MCT is an extension of the concept of lead-time, which is the time from the receipt of order from the customer till the product is delivered to the customer. There are 2 ways of implementing QRM: one is using large breakthrough improvements and the other is through continuous improvements. QRM was developed by Rajan Suri, a Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who is famous for his works on continuous improvement programs. He not only gave the theory but also the practical ways by which QRM could be successfully applied and integrated in the operations of the company. QRM is basically an extension of Time based Competition (TBC), which was a strategy used by Japanese firms in the 1980s. TBCs philosophy is to use speed to gain competitive advantage. QRM is more particular as it is restricted to manufacturing firms only. QRM finds its first foray in history in 1993 with the foundation of the Center for Quick Response Manufacturing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  [2]  In 1995, Rajan Suri published the article Slaying the Beast which put forth some bad policies which were prevalent in manufacturing companies and also offered explanations for the same. This helped QRM gain a lot of recognition and importance.1 The positive response spurred Dr. Suri to continue working on this subject and this further led to his consulting businesses in implementing QRM and successfully applying the same in many companies. Since then, the Center for QRM has helped in applying QRM in nearly 180 companies resulting in reduced lead times and increased market shares.2 QRM Principles Its not necessary to work harder, faster and longer hours to complete job earlier. One can focus on finding new ways to complete a job that takes lower time. Most of the time a job spends in a queue instead of in process and traditional approach only look to reduce processing time (touch time) and in QRM focus is on lead-time (total elapsed time) and not just processing time. Out of total lead-time 34 days only 19.5 hours is a touch time so it makes sense that we should focus on whole 34 days. But generally organizations are not designed to focus on lead-time. Mainly because organizations dont recognize the cost of waiting they mainly focus on processing time like one need to reduce batch sizes to reduce waiting time but it will increase number of setups that will increase their processing time which is mostly opposing to company goals. So, Companies need to change their accounting systems and reward systems so that benefits of reduction in lead-time can be measured and rewarded appropriately. Table 1: Examples of Organizational Waste Due to Long Lead Times Expediting of hot jobs or late orders: Requires Systems, Air Freight, People, even Top Management time à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Production Meetings required to change and update priorities à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Overtime costs for trying to speed up late jobs à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Time spent by Sales, Planning, and other Departments to develop and update forecasts à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ WIP and Finished Goods holding costs, including space à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Obsolescence of parts made to forecast but not used à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Quality problems not detected till much later; lots of rework or scrap à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Opportunity for: Order changes or even cancellations Feature and scope creep Loss of sales to competition à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Sales time devoted to expediting and explaining delays to customer à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Complex systems required to manage the dynamic environment There is one major problem with cost based systems that hinders QRM implementation that is functional structure of an organization. Looking the figure one can see how organizations fell into vicious circle by delaying regular jobs because of hot jobs and then again increase in hot jobs due to insertion of safety time due to delay in regular jobs. This is also called response time spiral. And so the spiral grows. QRM focus on reducing system in time like we do in service industry but this will require substantial reorganization of most of the processes. Basically, we will end up with cellular organizations in shop floor and also in offices and each cell will focus on its customers. The POLCA material control system helps coordinate production across multiple cells. Also, new operating methods such as time slicing are described, to help cells share non-cell resources. This principle is hard to digest as we believe that we should utilize capacity to its maximum possible value. Any reduction in the same would mean losing out on productive opportunities, resulting in increasing costs. However, by keeping all the machines busy at tall times does not necessarily transform into higher output or higher productivity. We frequently encounter the problems of growing queues due to the presence of a few bottleneck machines and jobs spending a lot of time waiting for resources due to mismanagement. All this ultimately results in increasing the lead time of the jobs which culminates in the increase of the organizational costs, which have been enlisted in the previous table. In the long run, these costs actually prove to be greater than the opportunity costs of not utilizing the spare capacity. Hence, the spare capacity should be considered as a strategic investment that will pay for itself many times over in increased sales, higher quality, and lower total cost s. This is again a measure which is very hard to digest. We always measure the usefulness of any process through its efficiency and utilization. However, the problem with the traditional belief is not that efficiency is not an important measure, but that most measures of efficiency result in increased lead time which ultimately harms the organization. Large batches are used in a lot of companies in a bid to reduce the setup costs. However this very measure results in increasing the lead time which can culminate in the same problems as enlisted in the previous principle. There are numerous examples to show the scope of reduction of lead time in organizations, a prominent one being the case study in Becker (2001) which showed how lead time for a line of spare parts for the oil drilling industry dropped from 40 days to 5 days using reduction of lead time as the main performance measure in a manufacturing cell. QRM says that the quantities as calculated by EOQ are not appropriate and consistent with the goal of reducing lead time as EOQ doesnt consider many costs of large lots like expediting of late orders, overtime cost for trying to speed up late jobs, WIP holding costs including space. Also quality problems are detected much later than with small lots and the amount of rework and scrap generated is also much larger. At the same time, another important point which is missed in EOQ is the lack of responsiveness which occurs when the process is carried out with large lots. Large lots and planning for the same makes it difficult for the organization to respond quickly to change in customer needs. Nor can good lot sizes for QRM be predicted by the MRP system, since it assumes fixed queue times regardless of workload. Hence, in order to reduce the lead times throughout the organization, it is important for everyone in a manufacturing firm, and especially for senior managers, to understand the dynamics of factory operations. The senior managers need to have a broad outlook and decide on the policies of manufacturing and performance measures only after fully understanding the effects of capacity utilization, efficiency measures, and lot sizing policies on lead time. Figure 3. Traditional Versus QRM Views of Capacity and Lot Sizing Source: QRM and POLCA:A Winning Combination forManufacturing Enterprises in the 21st Century Rajan Suri The differences between the traditional and QRM views can be observed from the figure given above. Traditional performance measures of utilization and efficiency encourage managers to exploit their resources to the maximum possible value. Production is considered infeasible only when the capacity utilization exceeds their maximize resource utilization, and only think about their capacity limit as a boundary between feasible and infeasible production targets. Also the perception is that larger lot sizes lead to increase in efficiency. However, QRMs focus is solely on reducing lead time, and hence the impact of utilization and lot size on the same is studied. Higher utilization leads to increase in lead time, whereas lead time first decreases and then increases with increase in lot size. It is essential to consider all such manufacturing dynamics in order to come up with a process that minimizes the lead time and thereby costs. According to QRM on-time performance is an outcome not a performance measure. Because if on time is considered as performance measure departments will quote longer lead-time to match up with on-time delivery. Again this will result in Response time spiral and results in poor performance of organization. But with QRM, organization will focus on shortening lead-time as a performance measure. In QRM its called QRM Number (measure of lead time reduction). This will eliminates Response Time Spiral and performance of organization will improve. For example see Table 2. MRP systems are of great help in managing material supply and ordering but lead-time cannot be reduced using MRP. MRP should be used on high level planning and coordination not on cell level in a cellular structure implemented by QRM, whereas POLCO can be used to manage material between cells and inside cells. POLCO basically a hybrid of push and pull systems using benefits of both. This phenomena can be again seen as entering in Response Time Spiral in which if company buys in large batches this makes supplier to have longer lead time and company to order even larger batches. Internal and external incentives like discounts motivate ordering in large batches. The results this can be verified in John Deere where implementation of QRM with suppliers reduced cost and also improved quality with shorter lead-time and batches. Not only at the supply side, the small lot concept needs to be applied at the distribution end too. Normally it is the tendency of the sales force to get higher orders by offering quantity discounts. This will again lead to the spiral of increasing lot sizes, both during the process as well as on the procurement side, ultimately leading to lowering of delivery performance. By implementing QRM, a company can reduce its costs manifold which can then be passed on to the customers. There is a need to demonstrate to the customer that the company can deliver high quality at low prices even for small lots, which would be more beneficial both to the company as well as the customer. Thus, the idea of small lots percolates throughout the organization, from top to bottom, as well as throughout the supply chain, from supplier to customer. The traditional approach might result in local quality improvements in the respective departments. However, QRM is more concerned with the overall organization than just one department. The requirement is to cut the overall lead time for manufacturing as well as office operations for which Q-ROCs are more appropriate. Such Q-ROCs result in significant reduction of lead times for jobs such as cost estimating, quoting, and order processing. Closed-loop implies that the team would be self-sufficient in dealing with all the problems related to reducing lead time. This implies cutting across functional boundaries and changing the reporting structures to ensure the success of the process. Needless to say, this team needs to be given power in order to make the decisions as reducing lead time is the primary goal of the organization. The best example would be that of Ingersoll Cutting Tool Company, in Rockford, which reduced its engineering and order processing time for customized cutters fro m 10 days to half a day after implementing QRM principles. However, QRM should not be considered as an application of Reengineering as by using principles of system dynamics in the design of Q-ROCs, providing specific engineering and management principles for manufacturing organizations, plus by changing management principles and performance measures and adopting a company-wide approach, QRM goes much deeper than Reengineering. Charging more for speedy response is sustainable only in the short-term. In the long run, it is quality which differentiates a product from its competitors, and the same purpose is served by QRM. Searching for ways of squeezing time out uncovers quality problems and wasted efforts. Changing policies and adopting measures to rectify the same results in higher quality, lower WIP, less overhead, lower operating costs, and greater sales. The QRM Approach yields even better results than Lean Manufacturing as it ignores the wastes caused by long lead times. QRM takes the goal of waste reduction to the next level, creating an even leaner enterprise that will remain a formidable competitor for years to come. As we have seen in many quality improving methodologies like Six Sigma, House of Quality the most important factor in the success of these initiatives is their acceptance by all the members of the organization; and QRM is no different. Realigning of all employees, from the shop floor to the boardroom, from desk workers to senior managers, to the QRM principles is a pre-requisite for the success of QRM, and hence training gains significance. Normally, performance measurement is tied to the cost accounting system which is an impediment to the successful implementation of QRM. Performance measurement must be aligned with the principles of QRM if the company has to benefit from the same. In a nutshell, the following points can be summarized about Quick Response Manufacturing: It requires measurement and efforts to minimize the metric, Manufacturing Critical-path Time (MCT), which is defined as the typical amount of calendar time from when a customer creates an order, through the critical-path, until the first piece of that order is delivered to the customer. This can be measured using the QRM number. Some changes in the structure of the organization are necessary to ensure the success of QRM. It basically requires the strategy of the organization to change from cost-based to entirely time-based with full emphasis on lead time minimization. Functional to Cellular:  Cellular manufacturing is a pre-requisite of QRM as the cells yield greater flexibility in manufacturing Top-down Control to Team Ownership:  QRM requires the formation of closed-loop, cross-functional teams which need to be given complete power for monitoring the processes. Specialized Workers to a Cross-trained Workforce:  Since the success of the process requires reduction in lead times across all the departments, there is a need to provide proper training to the workers so that they can perform multiple tasks and have a broader outlook. Efficiency/Utilization Goals to Lead Time Reduction:  The evaluation parameters, performance measures have to shift from the traditional accounting measures to the goal of lead time reduction. The following steps need to be implemented in the organization so that QRM is a success: 1. Creating a QRM mindset: The most important part is to make people realise the advantages of QRM over the previous measures i.e. the wastes created due to long lead time which are even ignored in Lean Manufacturing. Thereafter, a high-level QRM Steering Committee needs to be formed to oversee the QRM efforts. Also, like Six Sigma,by providing QRM training, some employees can be made QRM champions who can then be entrusted with the responsibility of the projects on a daily basis. 2. Changing of organizational structure Cross-functional planning team are formed to study feasible projects to which QRM can be applied. This would require the management to indulge in a detailed analysis of various consideration like Manufacturing Critical PathTime, product volumes, needs relating to strategy and other factors. Thereafter, QRM cells are formed and training and cross-training is provided to the operators in these cells by an implementation team which consists of members in the new cell as well as planning team members. Measurement of MCT is done to monitor lead time 3. Including of system dynamics QRM requires going through the policies on utilization and efficiency in order to determine the proper loading of the cells. It also calls for making provisions for spare capacities and reduction in the batch sizes in order to reduce the lead time. 4. Enterprisewide expansion of QRM The process would typically begin with a single project. If the project is a success, its results need to be conveyed to all the members of the organization and more projects need to be undertaken based on QRM principles. QRM should not be restricted to the organization alone but should be extended through the entire supply chain. E.g. the suppliers should also be motivated to inculcate and apply the principles of QRM which would have mutual benefits for both parties POLCA: The Material Control System for QRM POLCO is Paired-cell Overlapping Loops of Cards. To implement this system the company need to create cells of the production process focusing on subsets for similar parts and then it processes a given customer order through differing cells depending on the needs of that order. High Level MRP is used to provide high level planning and coordination of materials from external suppliers and across these internal cells. But cells are managed individually. To explain POLCO we can take an example of a shop floor shown in below figure. Assume P1 focuses on color printing and P2 on black white printing after which we have three Formatting Cells, F1, F2 and F3, which convert the printed sheets into reports with the desired pages. After formatting comes binding operation, which include punching holes and notches, cutting the sheets, and bending, A1 to A4. Finally, all orders go to the Shipping Cell S1, where the packaged plates are placed in shipping containers and then loaded onto carts. The material control system used is POLCA where High Level MRP and a cellular organization is a prerequisite. In this case all Release times are created with the help of High Level MRP. But even after authorization of POLCO work will not begin until all conditions are met. POLCO cards are used to communicate and control the material movement between cells. As Figure shows the POLCA card flows for a particular order at any organization based on initial design. This orders routing takes it from P1 to F2, then to A4 for binding, and finally to S1 to be shipped. This order will therefore proceed through the POLCA card loops with the pairs P1/F2, F2/A4 and A4/S1, as shown in the figure. If cell P1 has a job authorized that is going to F3 next, then a P1/F3 card must be available at P1 in order for it to begin that job. If a P1/F3 card is not available, that means that there is a bottleneck at F3 and working on that job will only add to the work-in-process at F3. Instead, it would be better for P1 to put its resources into a job that is needed by another cell that is not backlogged. So the cell team at P1 skips the P1/F3 job for now, and looks at the next authorized job to see if a card is available for that job, and so on. Differences from KANBAN POLCO cards only control flow between cells not within POLCA cards are not product specific but they are specific to particular pair of cells. POLCO cards are used as capacity signal whereas Kanban is used as inventory signal. As return of POLCA card from a downstream cell signals that the cell has available capacity. Benefits yielded by POLCA: POLCA helps in managing short-term fluctuations in capacity and also assists in reducing congestion on the shop floor. If a POLCA card from a downstream cell is not available, it means that that cell or some other cell further downstream is backlogged with work. Hence it does not make sense allocating further work to that particular job, without replanning of resources, as this will only increase inventory in the system since somewhere downstream there is a lack of capacity to work on this job. A better alternative would be to use this cell for some other job during the time being. POLCA cards flow in longer loops which allows the production to respond to changes in demand or differences in the complexities of jobs. The additional jobs in the loop can act as a buffer to absorb variations in demand and product mix which makes it highly suitable to meet the needs of responsiveness. On the contrary, the pull system stresses on achieving constant takt times throughout the organization, ignoring the fact that a variety of products will require different manufacturing times. Benefits of Quick Response Manufacturing Product Leadership: The main objective of QRM is to minimize lead times. By implementing QRM, a company attains many beneficial and competitive advantages. Benefits of Quick Response Manufacturing Product Leadership: QRM enables a firm to have shorter time to market. Thus a firm can reach out to customers with the latest technology while competitors play catch-up. There are two ways of looking at it. The first is that a given point of time a firms product would be superior to that of its competitor. Another point of view is that since a firm has shorter lead time it can deliver technology that is openly available to the market much earlier. Thus, the firm can skim the market due to its superior product. This can be depicted on a time line as shown below. FIRM USING QRM FIRM NOT USING QRM 2007 2009 2010 FIRM USING QRM FIRM NOT USING QRM 2007 2009 2010 Lower working capital: Lower lead times permit companies to have lower raw material and finished goods inventory. As a result the working capital requirement is decreased. This places the firm in a better strategic position to utilise their resources and capital. Better position to increase market share: The lower lead times increase the firms responsiveness to opportunities in the environment. This increased responsiveness helps the firm attract customers and increase its market share. Increased inventory turns: Since the production system is triggered by demand, smaller batches are produced, inventory decreases, and the number of inventory turns increases. Many inefficient producers have substantial amounts of capital tied up in inventory; therefore, their inventory turns are low. Reducing the cost of quality by minimising rework Cellular manufacturing places more responsibility and accountability on specific production teams. This results in specialization which inherently increases the quality of the product. It is much easier to pinpoint defects since the problems are directly traceable to certain teams or members. This has a positive impact on the quality of products. Cost Reduction: QRM aims at finding opportunities to improve the existing process. This results in lower operating costs. Using QRM, companies are able to save, in some cases, up to 25% of total operating costs by solving problems before they happen. Increasing Long Term competitiveness QRM ultimately aims at enhancing the long term competitiveness of the team. The above mentioned benefits are only the stepping stones in the right direction. The enhanced competitiveness of the firm ensures that is objective of enhancing shareholder value is fulfilled. Issues of Quick Response Manufacturing Increased reliance on suppliers QRM requires a strong relationship with ones raw material suppliers and partners. To react to demand, a manufacturing firm must closely partner with suppliers that will quickly accommodate the firms production schedule. However, if the supplier cannot provide raw materials due to problems such as quality assurance/control, equipment repair or union labour, the manufacturing firm may not be able to meet customer requirements. This could result in stock outs and backorders. Change Management It can be very difficult to implement QRM in a manufacturing environment. QRM is a business enabling philosophy that works top-down and therefore, changes the roles and responsibilities of the employees. Traditional roles, from lower levels through upper management, are drastically modified and the corporate infrastructure is typically altered. Employees can be extremely apathetic to these changes, which is a barrier that could significantly hinder the implementation process and the success of QRM. To implement QRM, companies must have representation from all functions i.e line and support functions (production, planning, purchasing, engineering, manufacturing, quality, finance and human resources) to facilitate the implementation. All functional areas need to buy-in to QRM philosophy to successfully implement such a major change in the way the firm does business. What Differentiates QRM from Lean? First and foremost is the QRM mindset: the driver for all the principles and strategies in QRM is reduction of lead time. This time-based mindset results in many operating policies that are different from traditional ones. In contrast the driver in JIT/Lean is waste reduction. Although the business press has been talking about the importance of lead time reduction, or speed, for over a decade, we find that most companies still lack the knowledge and the tools to effectively reduce their lead times. Worse still, policies are in place that are lengthening, rather than shortening, lead times. QRM devotes a substantial amount of effort in educating management and workers on why these traditional policies result in long lead times, and in showing them the QRM principles that must be put in place instead. QRM is a companywide strategy. While the original implementation of JIT/Lean at Toyota may well have encompassed the whole company, most Western implementations of JIT/Lean have focused on manufacturing and materials management. In many cases, JIT/Lean has been interpreted even more narrowly as merely implementing a pull system with kanban cards. In contrast, QRM clarifies at the outset that it is a companywide strategy with implications far beyond the shop floor, and principles for other company areas, such as, office operations, are clearly presented as part of the QRM philosophy. QRM provides rational principles and tools for lead time reduction. QRM uses an understanding of system dynamics, and exploits this understanding to define the best structures and policies that will reduce lead times. QRM begins by educating employees and giving them insight into these system dynamics. This then helps justify, to management and workers, the need for changes in policies. State-of-the-art analysis tools such as the MPX software package incorporate this analysis of system dynamics and help to derive the specific changes needed and to quantify the benefits that would be achieved. For companies making a large variety of products with variable demand, as well as for companies making highly engineered products, the JIT/Lean strategy of pull is either wasteful or breaks down altogether. For such companies, QRM provides an alternative strategy called POLCA which combines the best features of push and pull without their drawbacks. While the JIT/Lean approach tries to eliminate variability, QRM recognizes that in certain markets responding to this variability may provide competitive advantage. Instead of eliminating variability, QRM creates an effective organization structure to cope with it and serve the market. QRM does this by exploiting its understanding of system dynamics. A specific example of the difference between JIT/Lean and QRM is the issue of delivery of material or components. On-time delivery is a cornerstone of JIT/Lean is implementation. And yet QRM understands of organizational dynamics shows that promoting on-time delivery results in dysfunctional dynamics with longer lead times and higher costs. QRM provides alternative metrics based on lead time reduction that promise greater improvement in the long run. The QRM approach extends to supply management as well, and is called time-based supply management (Ericksen, 2000). Companies such as John Deere are finding that, particularly for smaller suppliers, the time based mindset and QRM principles offer an effective approach to target improvements at the suppliers operation. In addition, rapid results can be achieved, with significant improvements in supplier deliveries and quality, and reduction in supplier cost and lead time (Golden, 1999; Ericksen, 2000; Nelson, 2000). To summarize, QRM pursues the relentless reduction of lead time all QRM principles stem from this singular driving concern. Instead of management announcing dozens of programs and acronyms, QRM enables management to present one unified message to the organization, and all policies follow from this one driving strategy. Examples of implementation of Quick Response Manufacturing: Trans-Coil Inc. The Milwaukee Company is a manufacturer of equipment that supports variable-speed electric drives. Problem: Trans-Coil Inc.s process sometimes dragged longer than couple of weeks they promised to the customers. Improving its record for production time and meeting deadlines was the only way not to risk losing business. Had Trans-Coil built large numbers of components in advance, ready for shipping, it would mean spending loads of money on raw materials, production and handling, without assurances of turnover of the warehoused products. The company would be stuck then with unused, obsolete components in situations when customers made even minor changes to their specifications. Solution: Having quick-response manufacturing, companies can minimize the time it takes for products to flow via their operations. It makes companies nimble, responsive, and lower costs. For changing operations, Trans-Coil commenced with its factory. Production workers were cross-trained to learn all jobs in the plant. That was a huge change from days when employees occasionally stepped out of their work areas. Trans-Coil employees are now separated into work cells which focus on smaller order sizes which includes custom work, with teams responsible for getting products out o

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Case Study: Challenges to Healthy Ageing

Case Study: Challenges to Healthy Ageing Triumphs and Challenges in Healthy Aging Stacey Obispo Everyone has got a story. Your story along with everyone else’s’ develops as you advance through life. Research theorist have studied the stories of different people and have concluded that a persons’ story develops based on; their personal characteristics, the environment in which they live, time, relationships that they have, life transitions encountered and social change (Hutchinson, 2010). The life course perspective looks at how age, life transitions, relationships and social change has formed people’s lives from birth to death (Hutchinson). Encompassing one’s life course perspective is a path full of twists and turns followed by triumphs and challenges aging brings. In this issue of Healthy Aging, an interview with Crista Doe is shared with readers to show has her her life course perspective has developed thus far and how activity and disengagement theories in aging fair in explaining her level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with aging. Interview with Crista Doe Crista Doe is a 75 years old woman living in Lake Elsinore, CA. She is a widowed lesbian who lost her partner of 50 years 5 years ago. Currently, Crista lives by herself in a modest one story cottage style home. Crista retired at the age of 65 as a records administrator. She was employed by the State of California. She chose retirement at 65 so that she could be a fulltime caregiver for her ailing wife at the time. Now that Crista has reached her later years, she enjoys gardening and being a member of the Reptile Society. However, Crista’s physical disabilities have kept her from gardening as frequently as she would like and from being an active member (one that goes to road shows and schools educating the public about reptiles) of the Reptile Society. Crista does not relate to her younger and only surviving family member. She has little to no relationship with her nephew because she never had a good relationship with her nephew’s mother (her sister) growing up. As a result of her failing relationship with her sister she distanced herself from her and her nephew. Crista is the younger of two sisters. Her sisters were 15 and 16 years older than she, both have passed away. Historical change that impacted Crista’s life was WWII. Crista was born and raised in Germany during WWII. She never saw daylight until she was five years old because she and her family lived in underground bunkers and could only come out during nightfall. Her dad was a Nazi army sergeant in Germany. He did not want his position or role in the army but felt that he had no choice but to serve. Crista’s dad and family were Mormons but out of fear of death they never revealed their beliefs to officials. At the age of 5, frequent bombings from the allied forces during the day forced Crista to run out of her bunker. She vividly remembers an American pilot flying low and looking at her then firing. At the time she was able to get cover but debris flying from the air caused by the firing left her scathed. As a result from the attack; she received a back injury and partial hearing loss. Soon after the attack, her dad surrendered to allied forces and was executed. After the war ended, Crista entered into adolescence and along with her mom, and sisters left Germany to live in the U.S. Crista says she had little to no socialization when she lived in Germany. She felt that her socialization process began in her adolescence in the U.S. However she encountered problems at school with students and staff. When she entered High School she dropped out soon after because she was angry. She was angry about the way history books retold stories about the war and how others believed it without question. Crista said, â€Å"The books did not paint an accurate picture as to what happened in the war. I know it because I lived in it†. Crista had an unstable home life due to her mother’s inability to keep a job and support her financially. Crista ended up living with the older sister she got along with and began taking dance lessons to alleviate the pain from her back issues. During this time Crista was able to develop friendships with other dancers. Health challenges Crista has encountered includes spinal injury, a broken hip, and hearing loss. Crista states that her health challenges have been a combination of both environment and age. Her spinal injury has gotten worse and her hip although healed from its break 4 years ago still does not work like it used to. Crista says that her spine, hip, and overall health has deteriorated more since her wife died. As a result of her health issues Crista now gets around using two canes in the house and a walker when she’s out on the street. The last thing Crista anticipates in this stage of her life is death. She says she senses that her end is coming soon. Crista has not experienced any changes in her living arrangements over the last five years. She says she does not plan on making any either. Crista does admit that she has some problems keeping up with the housekeeping but says she’s fine and does not want anyone’s help. Crista says, â€Å"I should be able to do all the things around this house myself, I do not need anybody and I am keeping it that way.† Crista’s has negative feelings about getting older. She says her deteriorating health has taken her away from accomplishing the things that she wants to accomplish and from the things she enjoys. Crista says she feels sad and depressed a lot of her time. Crista believes that her life experiences in Germany have really contributed to her wisdom. She believes that her experiences in Germany taught her how to keep on living and survive. She feels that her life experiences with her wife of 50 years really contributed towards her gaining wisdom about love. Crista’s one piece of advice that she would like to share about aging, â€Å"Life is beautiful, but health has major effects on being able to enjoy that beauty†. Crista explains that aging is not bad. Rather, it is the complications that accompany it that make it difficult. Activity Theory and Crista Activity theory views older adults as being most satisfied if they are able to remain in their social roles (Whitbourne Whitbourne, 2014). Essentially under this theory, successful aging equals’ active aging and activity is shown through maintaining active roles in society (Whitbourne Whitbourne, 2014). This theory suggests that older adults should be given as many opportunities as possible to be engaged with work, family and community to encounter higher levels of life satisfaction (Whitbourne Whitbourne, 2014). Crista does not fit all the criteria for successful aging under activity theory because her social roles have lessened not from lack of desire but from lack of physical mobility and deaths of family members. Crista’s familial social roles are non –existent due to the deaths of her sisters, mother, and lack of communication with her estranged nephew. Crista’s social ties with work have been cut since retirement. On the other hand, Crista is successfully aging under activity theory profile because she has a part-time role in the Reptile Society and she is active with taking care of her home. Crista feels sad and depressed a lot of the time because she has lost some of her mobility and stamina for doing the things she once loved. Under activity theory it would be assumed that Crista has lost a major source of her identity due to losing her social roles such as work and family (Whitbourne Whitbourne, 2014). Her deteriorating health has prohibited her from reengaging in new work roles. She is not engaged socially with family since she lost her life partner and family. Activity theory explains her joy with staying connected with the Reptile Society and her feelings for being sad and depressed because of her lack of engagement in the roles of work and family. Disengagement Theory and Crista Disengagement theory states that normal and natural evolution of life causes older adults to purposefully loosen their social ties (Whitbourne Whitbourne, 2014). This type of natural detachment is not just inevitable but desirable (Whitbourne Whitbourne, 2014). The theory asserts that aging is accompanied by a mutual withdrawal process of the individual and society (Whitbourne Whitbourne, 2014). Crista did not purposefully loosen her social ties. Her physical disabilities have altered her ability to stay as socially active as she would like with the Reptile Society. Her personal social ties to family have been cut due to familial death and to assert that she has cut her nephew off due to her age would be an incorrect assertion because there was never a true social connection or relationship she had with him. Under the approach of disengagement theory retirement and isolation from family members are sought out for higher levels of being (Whitbourne Whitbourne, 2014). A lot of the time Crista is sad and depressed. Successful aging under disengagement theory states that Crista should be having a higher level of well-being due to disengagement. However considering her circumstances, she is not experiencing a higher level of well-being. Furthermore, disengagement theory does not explain Crista’s current engagement with community through participating as a part- time membe r with the Reptile society. Disengagement theory should add that older adults do still desire to be active yet it is their physical limitations and family related deaths that contribute towards the disengaging process. The disengagement process therefore is not sought out by the individual nor does it make them more content it’s a natural evolution that occurs due to life events. Conclusion There are triumphs and challenges that accompany aging. Crista’s story shows that throughout her life course, she has found both adversity and happiness and they have shaped her into the independent and head strong lady that she is today. As Crista has entered her later years her health and social ties have influenced and the impacted her feelings of satisfaction with life. Crista fits the criteria set for satisfaction/ dissatisfaction under activity theory. Conversely, disengagement theory does not explain her current level of being. Understanding the different theoretical perspectives mentioned in this article can help one make sense of their distinctive life journey and in some situations, it may be possible that this knowledge can be used to help improve ones’ present-day circumstances. References Hutchinson, E. D. (2010). A life course perspective. Retrieved from http://www.sagepub.com/hutchisonclc4e/study/chapter.htm Whitbourne, S.K., Whitbourne, S.B. (2014). Adult development and aging: Biopsychosocial perspectives (5th ed.) Hoboken, NJ Wiley.

Monday, August 19, 2019

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) Essay -- Informative Essay

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) is the process of converting the ocean waters temperature difference at different depths into usable energy. From the solar heated upper depths of the ocean to the cooler depths below 2,000 feet a 40 degree temperature difference must be maintained to generate electricity. This is a relatively new and unheard of source of energy. Many people are not aware of the many benefits of OTEC and the impact it will have in the future as the use of fossil fuel conversion declines. Heightened environmental concerns in today's world makes OTEC an attractive alternative for energy conversion. The ocean offers a natural and renewable resource which will make it possible for converting energy this way to last for a very long, long time. OTEC is a very cost effective method of using the oceans waters for energy conversion but its use and benefits to society have been obscure to the general public. In the coming years OTEC will probably be at the forefront of ne w energy resources and a good understanding of it know will prove invaluable to power engineers of the future. How does Thermal Energy Conversion Work? OTEC is a form of solar power in that it uses the sun's energy to heat the upper depths of the oceans waters. Since the sun's energy cannot penetrate very deep depths (approximately 2000ft.) the temperature below these levels is much colder then those near the surface. Most of the solar energy is absorbed in the top layer (35 to 100 m) of water. This upper layer of warm water is very uniformed in temperature because wind and waves cause the water to circulate and mix. The temperature in this layer can reach close to 82Â ° F (28Â ° C ) from regions close the equator. Beyond this layer the temperature drops noticeably with the depth until 800 m to1000 m. At this depth the temperature is 40Â ° F (4.4Â ° C ). From here the temperature changes very gradually. The colder water at these great depths is the result of melting ice in the polar regions. The colder water has a higher density than the warmer water which causes two important events. First the higher density water will sink and displace the lighter, warm water. Secondly, the rotation of the earth forces the heavier cold water to move toward the equator. Because of this, the ocean provides a large reservoir of cold and warm water that can differ in temperature of 40Â ° to 45Â ° F ( 22Â ° to... ...implementation. The system is still in heavy research to bring these costs down and also to make improvements on the system. Although the full scale commercial size systems are not practical at this time, small scale experimental plant systems are being for further research. OTEC is expected to make an impact on the future. The Future of OTEC OTEC is a very exciting new way of energy conversion. People are skeptical about new and innovative ideas because of their unfamiliarity and lack ofknowledge about the idea. This holds true with OTEC. Many people are unaware of what OTEC is and the benefits that OTEC holds for the future of our Earth. Much more development and research must be made to make OTEC a large scale operation and to bring the cost to consumers down. This is only going to happen if people are made aware of OTEC and its many possibilities. OTEC has many environmental benefits and can produce the world s necessary energy needs for a very long time (it is after all a renewable energy source!). We are quite certain that in the upcoming years OTEC will become a much more publicized topic and greater research will come about to produce a fully sized commercial plant.

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Comparing Winterbourne and Prufrock :: Daisy Miller, Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When creating his famous poem, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock", T.S. Eliot was inspired by a character depicted in the novella known as Daisy Miller, written by Henry James. This character, Winterbourne, was intertwined and considered when creating the timid character of Prufrock. It is evident that both men share similar personalities and characteristics that link them together, both being prime examples of emptiness and despair told through theses writings.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The central concern in Daisy Miller is of the "analogies and differences" between people. In this story, a young American man, Winterbourne, is confused and intrigued by the behavior of a young American woman, Daisy Miller. Winterbourne had wondered about all of the cold shoulders that had been turned towards her, and sometimes it annoyed him to suspect that she did not feel at all. He said to himself that she was too light and childish, too uncultivated and unreasoning. Then at other moments he believed that she carried about in her an elegant and perfectly observant consciousness from the impression she produced. He asked himself whether Daisy's defiance came from the consciousness of innocence or from her being, essentially, a young person of the "common" class. After getting to know Daisy, he was confused about getting to know his and her emotions. It is far evident that Winterbourne does not come to conclusions about people easily. He was very much influenced by the biases of his upbringing in culture, and he questioned them occasionally.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is about a timid and downcast man in search of meaning, of love, and in search of something to break from the dullness and superficiality which he feels his life to be. Eliot lets us into Prufrock's world for an evening, and traces his progression of emotion from timidity, and, ultimately, to despair of life. He searches for meaning and acceptance by the love of a woman, but falls miserably because of his lack of self-assurance. Prufrock is a man for whom, it seems, everything goes wrong, and for whom there are no happy allowances. The emptiness and shallowness of Prufrock's "universe" and of Prufrock himself are evident from the very beginning of the poem. He cannot find it in himself to tell the woman what he really feels, and when he tries to tell her, it comes out in a mess. At the end of the poem, he realizes that he has no big role in life.

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Creon and Haemon Essay

How would you direct the confrontation between Creon and Haemon in order to achieve your chosen impact for your audience? The scene of confrontation between Creon and Haemon comes when Creon has sentenced Antigone, future bride of Haemon, to be shut up in the cave. I would want to show a contrast between the characters with costume, so that the audience would get a visual representation of their emotions. I would dress Creon in an extravagant red silken robe, with gold trimmings. This would highlight his status as King, and also the red could signify a bloodthirsty attitude, as Creon is revelling in Antigone’s fate. Contrastingly, Haemon would be wearing a simple black cotton robe, without any trimmings. This would show that he doesn’t care for superficial extravagance, and black is also a colour of mourning; this would symbolise Haemon’s feelings towards Antigone’s fate. In the opening of this scene, Creon greets Haemon pleasantly. I would direct Creon to grip Haemon’s right hand with both of his own hands, in a friendly, pleading handshake; this would show warmth for Haemon, which is what Creon wishes to express at this point. He would maintain eye contact and stand with legs shoulder-width apart He would speak in a soft tone, with a slow pace, medium pitch and a relatively low volume, again to give the impression of warmth. In the line ‘we are always comrades, and my love for you is unshaken’, I would direct the actor playing Creon to emphasise the words ‘always’ and ‘unshaken’, stressing these superlatives, in order to exaggerate the positive feelings, diplomatically Haemon’s response would be in kind, reciprocating the respect. He would accept the handshake, and keep eye contact. His vocal qualities would be as those of Haemon. He would say ‘I know I am your son, Father’, stressing the word ‘Father’ to show respect and also family love. During this exchange, they would both be very close physically, to show that they are, at this point, still emotionally close. The lighting would be a straw wash from above over the stage, of medium intensity: neutral. Creon would be next to a podium, centre-stage-left. Haemon would be centre stage, and the Chorus would be arranged in a semi-circle around them. During Creon’s following speech, I would want the audience to witness a change in Creon’s approach. The first noticeable change in attitude would be when he says ‘Don’t be taken in/ Boy. Don’t let any woman ensnare you. ‘ His tone would become harsher, and lower almost as if speaking in a whisper. He would also grasp Haemon on the word ‘Boy’, to show the audience that he wants to instil certain sexist values in Haemon, as it is a subject he feels passionately about. Furthermore, he would almost spit the work ‘woman’ and emphasise the word ‘ensnare’ to present acidity to the audience. He would say ‘Don’t be taken in, Boy’ without changing his tone or pace, simply increasing intensity, to show the audience how sincere he is. He would continue in this manner, speaking in harsh tones. The next change in Creon’s demeanour would come when he says ‘I will do it. And she must die’. Here, he would revert to speaking with authority, assertively. He would stress the modal verbs, ‘will’ and ‘must’ to show that he is completely fixed upon the idea, and is unwavering. This would show the audience his stubbornness. At this point, low-intensity, subtle red uplighting would have slowly faded in, to cast shadows upon Creon’s face to make him seem more imposing and venomous. It would be barely noticeable by the audience at this stage, as it would be slowly and subtly introduced. Creon would also step back and stand straight at this point, and pause after the line, to highlight its significance to the audience. He would have his hands calmly by his sides. Creon would continue to rant, his volume increasing, and the red uplighting becoming stronger, as the straw wash slowly faded and his hand gestures becoming increasingly evident and expansive. On the line ‘Anarchy, disobedience,’ he would be banging his fists on his podium in anger, to show the audience how passionately he feels about the subject. He would be nearly shouting at this point, and Haemon would recoil slightly, in fear and surprise at Creon’s outburst. Creon would next shift toward the end of his speech, and I would want my audience to see him bring back subtle persuasion, using the fact that he is Haemon’s father to his advantage: ‘Let it be by a man’s hand, eh son? / Not by a conspiracy of women! ‘. I would want him to go back to speaking in lower tones, almost at a stage-whisper level, as he wants to instil his own sexism, and apparent paranoia regarding women, into Haemon yet again. This repetition would show the audience just how sexist Creon is. I would therefore have the actor emphasise the words ‘man’ ‘son’, ‘conspiracy’ and ‘women’ to show this, and put one arm around Haemon. The red uplighting would also dim at this point, the straw wash becoming more prominent; this would visually represent the change in tone to the audience. Following the Chorus’ somewhat neutral response, Haemon would reply by at first speaking pleasantries: ‘It’s not for me to say you are wrong’ is quite self-deprecating and is complimentary to Creon. Haemon would therefore speak it in a soft tone, and would physically lower himself by bending knees and back slightly. His volume would be medium at this point, and he would make no hand gestures. The lighting would remain as a straw wash, all red gone at this point. Haemon would emphasise ‘me’ and ‘you’ to underline the fact he is making a direct comparison between himself and Creon. Haemon would change in approach right on the line ‘But I can sometimes hear people whisper’. The word ‘but’ here is a clear discursive marker in the text, indicating a change. Also, Haemon begins to discuss how ‘people’ see Antigone’s punishment as unjust. He would thus take a step back is if expecting an outburst from Creon, and emphasise words like ‘people’ and ‘whisper’ to show the audience that the character aims to dissociate himself from the views. He would become more pleading as the speech progresses, ‘let me beg you to have second thoughts’ and ‘I beg you Father’. This is again showing he accepts inferiority, but also makes clear to the audience that he is against his fathers actions. The metaphors regarding the failure of stubborn things would be spoken with a degree of accusation regarding Creon; Haemon would look at Creon when saying ‘inflexible’ and ‘refuses’ to indicate that there refer to Creon. At the end of the speech he says ‘Take good advice when it is offered. ‘ This is a direct question to Creon, and I would have Haemon on one knee, clasping Creon’s hand at this point, to show his desperation to the audience. In the ensuing stichomythia, I would instruct Creon to increase in volume, pace and raise his voice at the end of each sentence. Also, I would want him to spit phrases like ‘You’re a woman’s mouthpiece! ‘, whilst shaking his arms, palms clawed and facing up to show rage to the audience. Comparatively, I would instruct Haemon to remain calm, speaking in controlled tones and a steady volume throughout, making few hand gestures. Haemon would instead increase in cold contempt, by sharpening the sound of his vowels at the ends of sentences, and speaking in a low tone, and emphasising certain words. He would emphasise the word ‘demented’, but without raising the volume of his voice a great deal. Also, at the end, when Haemon says ‘†¦ this disgusting spectacle/ In company with a madman, are welcome to it’, I would want him to speak this calmly; without varying his pace. He would say this emphasising ‘disgusting spectacle’ and ‘madman’ by raising pitch and volume a little. This would show the audience that he feels contempt toward Creon, but is above just shouting. Creon, on the other hand, would be virtually screaming ‘Bring her out, the bitch’, emphasising the word ‘bitch’ by stressing the harsh vowel sound, and gesturing wildly towards the side entrance, as if indicating from where she should be brought. This would show the audience that Creon has lost his composure, and has lost control of his rage. The lighting would be red uplighting again on Creon only, to cast shadows across his face, whilst a blue gel, to mix with the straw wash, would be coming in from above. Overall, this should all contribute into presenting Haemon into an emotionally controlled, stable character, whereas Creon would appear as quite the opposite; unreasonable, stubborn and emotionally volatile. The objective would be to present the characters as such, to encourage the audience to sympathise with Haemon, even empathise with him; ideally, the audience too would feel frustrated and contemptuous towards Creon.