Dehavilland Inc Essay

With the current production and upcoming product development and contracts up de Havilland Inc. decided that that the flap shroud and equipment bay door vendor arrangements needed to be reviewed. With no solid contracts in place and the request to review vendors and reduce costs. Creating long term relationships and multiple contracts gives the flexibility de Havilland requires. Issue Identification Immediate Issue Changing vendors for the supply of the flap shrouds and equipment bay doors due to the unwillingness of Dollard reducing their costs by 25%. de Havilland Inc. believes that their could be significant savings in total manufacturing. Some vendors are working without any contracts and any possible savings they could be losing without having contracts in place. The risks of moving to a new vendor are the sustainability of the company for the long term and product durability. Is Marton Enterprises going to be able to keep up with production and provide a quality product. Long term: Vendor relationships de Havilland currently has two major suppliers for the flap shrouds and equipment bay doors. With no firm contracting or relationships in place. A small base of vendors creates closer partnerships. But having one supplier of both products could create problems on the reliability and having one supplier means you rely only on that vendor. De Havilland would be at their mercy if economic and production activities were to come to a halt. Greater ability to renegotiate with the possibility of not having to search for new vendors. Long term: Contract pricing Cost savings on both sides for de Havilland and their customers. Firm, fixed prices would reduce the need for frequent negotiations. Environmental and Root Cause Analysis Root Causes Currently Dollard Plastics of Montreal, Quebec supplies them with the flap shrouds. But parts for the Series 100 were not covered by any contract but the flap shrouds for the Series 300 A were supplied under a contract that would expire in 1993. Currently Lakeside Industries based in Kingston, Ontario supplied all equipment bay doors with no specific contract in place. When Dollard was presented with a request of 25% discount across the board for the flap shrouds because de Havilland believes that Dollard is on the high side. Dollard refused, that then was the basis to put it to competitive bid. Because of the policy that Boeing had implemented and a request was made to reduce costs by 25% and the current supplier Dollard was unwilling to lower their costs on the flap shroud. The purchasing process moved to solicit a number of bids. Since some vendors have contracts and others don’t de Havilland felt they could capture cost savings through more contracts with more vendors and reduce the need for frequent negotiations. Production Issue Moving to Marton Enterprises de Havilland doesn’t know the type of work they do and if they could keep up with production. With Marton providing all parts for the flap shrouds and equipment bay doors the reliability is great on ensuring parts are manufactured on time. How is it that Marton can produce the flaps and doors for significantly less than Dollard? Have Marton create a prototype and verify the material being used. Ensure all tooling is available. Implementing the strategic goal of having several vendors and contracts for long term alliances alleviates the need to go out to bid every year. Relationships are built with the current vendors and competitive pricing is in place. This type of contract is easier to manage and production and financial forecasting is easier to predict. Alternatives and or Options Alternative 1 Keep things as they are for contracts and vendors. Pro: We know the quality of work from Dollard and don’t need to worry about keeping up with production. Reliable. Con: But the unwillingness to cut costs is a concern. Alternative 2 Have many contracts with multiple vendors. Pro: Having many vendors including Marton to choose from gives the flexability de Havilland wants with cost savings, firm pricing and vendor relationships. Huge cost savings compared to the other companies Con: Unsure of quality and if they are reliable to keep up with production. Currently Kevlar is being used and the other choices were nickel, graphite and aluminum. These choices had important implications for tool cost and durability. Recommendations I recommend Alternative 2. There are real cost cutting savings with moving to Marton. By leveraging more than one vendor and contract the flexability will be available for suppling the flap shrouds and equipment bay doors. This will have all vendors working under the same policy Boeing has implemented since taking over deHavilland. Create contracts for vendors not under contract right now.

Additional Study Questions

What Is the difference between transaction processing systems, management information systems, and decision support systems? Transaction processing systems – document financial activities Management Information systems – used to collect qualitative as well as quantitative information for decision making within organizations Decision support systems – help the developers of an ASS identify what information they need for their planning, decision making, and control functions How is a flowchart used?A document flowchart traces the physical flow of documents wrought an organization?that is, the flow of documents from the departments, groups, or individuals who first created them to their final destinations. How is the accounting Information system documented? An accounting information system Is a collection of data and processing procedures that creates needed Information for Its users. An Information system's components: Data or Information Is Input, processed, and output as Information for planning, decision-making, and control purposes.What are effective coding systems used in ASS? (1) mnemonic codes, (2) sequence codes, (3) block codes. And (4) group codes. How do accounting information software packages differ? Owners will have to consider what tasks they'll want their system to accomplish, identify what software package or packages can perform these tasks, and perhaps evaluate several different computer hardware configurations that might support these packages. What are the roles of accounting Information systems In e-commerce?Enterprise resource management (ERP) software such as SAP are particularly Important to electronic commerce (e-commerce) applications?for example, because a simple sale over the Internet simultaneously affects accounts receivable, inventory, and racketing subsystems. How do accounting information software packages differ by business size? The type of accounting software package used in businesses depends on the size of company operations, number of users and different segments or departments in a company.Do enterprise resource planning systems add productivity to a business enterprise? Enterprise resource management (ERP) software enables businesses and government agencies to transmit and manipulate financial data on an organization-wide basis. How could unethical behavior related to the use of information systems impact a acceptable and then acting accordingly. Ethics can govern organizations as well as individuals. An example is the practice of unauthorized software copying.How can a business secure its electronic financial data? The Fair Employment Practices Guidelines suggest that company policies cover issues such as (1) who owns the computer and the data stored on the computer, (2) what purposes the computer may be used (e. G. , primarily for business purposes), and (3) what uses are unauthorized or prohibited. Further, employers should specifically identify the types of acceptable and u nacceptable uses, with some examples. What are some vulnerabilities and threats in information systems? The data that are input manually to a system are particularly vulnerable to compromise – Viruses can hide in e-mails from friends and colleagues because their computer systems have been infected. How would input controls, processing controls, and output controls be used? Data input controls ensure the accuracy, completeness, and timeliness of data during its conversion from its original source into computer data, or entry into a computer application. Data processing controls are used to ensure the accuracy, completeness, ND timeliness of data during either batch or online processing.Data output controls ensure the integrity of output and the correct and timely distribution of any output produced. What are parts of an information security system? An information security management system (ISMS) is a set of policies concerned with information security management or IT related risks. How do disaster risk management practices benefit a company? An organization's disaster recovery plan describes the procedures to be followed in the event of an emergency, as well as the role of every member of the disaster recovery team (which s made up of specific company employees).What are the techniques used for analyzing internal control systems? Review existing documentation or create new materials. Observe the current system in operation. Use questionnaires and surveys. Review internal control procedures. Interview system participants. How do internal auditing and external auditing of information systems differ? In an internal audit, a company's own accounting employees perform the audit, whereas accountants working for an independent CPA firm conduct an external audit. What are information system audits?The auditor will first decide if computer examination of the computer-based information system itself What potential risks must be evaluated during an information sy stem audit? The auditors will perform compliance testing to ensure that the controls are in place and working as prescribed. This may entail using some computer-assisted audit techniques (Scats) to audit the computerized ASS. These involve the use of computer processes or controls to perform audit functions, such as sorting data to detect duplicate accounts payable invoice numbers. Finally, the auditor will need to obstructively test some account balances.What control procedures should be used to minimize risks in an information system? The desirability of an internal control procedure is a function of its ability to reduce business risk. In fact, it is the business risk itself that is important, not the internal control system. Why is a financial statement audit required? In performing financial statement audits, the auditors gather and evaluate audit evidence to form an opinion about whether the financial statements follow the appropriate criteria, usually generally accepted accou nting principles.The auditors must gather sufficient appropriate audit evidence to provide a reasonable basis for their opinion on the financial statements. What are the auditor's responsibilities in performing an audit engagement? The auditor may make separate assessments of the two risks or an overall assessment of the risk of material misstatement for the relevant assertions. How are generally accepted auditing standards used? These adopted and issued standards are required to be followed when auditors audit the financial statements (and internal control) of issuers of securities (public companies).What analytical procedures are used during an audit? A simple analytical procedure is to compare revenue and expense amounts for the current year to those of prior periods, noting significant differences. A more sophisticated analytical procedure might involve the development of a multiple regression model to estimate the amount of sales for the year using economic and industry data. A nalytical procedures also may involve computations of percentage relationships of various items in the financial statements, such as gross profit percentages.In all these approaches, the auditors attempt to identify unexpected differences or the absence of expected differences. Such differences may indicate misstatements in the financial statements that should be investigated fully by the auditors. How is an audit engagement planned? The requirements for the engagement include the financial statements to be audited, any other requirements (e. G. , regulatory filings), and the timing of the engagement. Engagement What is included in an audit engagement letter? The objective and scope of the audit – The responsibilities of the auditor The responsibilities of management and identification of the applicable financial reporting framework – Other information [fee arrangements, billings, timings, and other specific terms – Reporting What is the relationship between aud it risk and materiality? Audit risk – at the overall engagement level, this is the risk that the auditors may unknowingly fail to appropriately modify their opinion on financial statements that are materially misstated.At the financial statement assertion level, it is the risk that a particular assertion about an account balance is materially misstated. Materiality – recognizes hat some matters are important to the fair presentation of financial statements, while others are not. The materiality concept is basic to the audit, because the audit report states that an audit is performed to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. What risks are present that affect the procedures to be used during an audit? Complexity of calculations involved.Risk of fraud. Selection and application of accounting policies. Internal and external circumstances giving rise to business risks (e. G. , technological change in the indust ry). Recent developments in the industry and economy. How do the ethical standards set by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (CPA), Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), and Government Accounting Office (GAO) differ? CPA – The national professional organization of Spas engaged in promoting high professional standards to ensure that Spas serve the public interest.SEC – A government agency authorized to regulate companies seeking approval to issue securities for sale to the public. GAO – The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GABS) was formed in 1984 to establish and improve tankards of financial accounting for state and local government entities. How do rules of independence impact the CPA and the client? It is important to recognize that independence concerns exist both at the individual CPA level and at the public accounting firm level; one, both, or neither may be considered independent with respect to a client or potential client.A p ublic accounting firm does not necessarily lose independence with respect to an engagement when one (or more) of its employees or partners are not independent. What is prohibited by the code of professional conduct? The Code of Professional Conduct prohibits a member of the audit team for a client company from holding any common stock in that company. In such circumstances, no further consideration is required?that individual is not independent. 2002 requires that one year pass before a member of the audit team may accept employment with an SEC registrant in certain designated positions (e. . , chief executive officer, controller, chief financial or accounting officer). What elements should be included in an internal control structure? Preventive controls are aimed at avoiding the occurrence of misstatements in the financial statements. Detective controls are designed to discover misstatements after they have occurred. A corrective control is ordinarily needed to remedy the situatio n. How would an auditor test the relationship between control risk and the internal control structure?Internal control is a process, effected by the entity's board of directors, management, and other personnel, designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the achievement of objectives in the categories of (1) effectiveness and efficiency of operations, (2) reliability of financial reporting, and (3) compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Prior to 1996, the Aspic's Professional Standards referred to an entity's internal control as its internal control structure. What audit sampling is used by the auditor?Statistical and Non-statistical Sampling A sample is said to be non-statistical (or Judgmental) when the auditors estimate sampling risk by using professional Judgment rather than statistical techniques. Statistical sampling may assist auditors in (1) designing efficient samples, (2) measuring the sufficiency of the evidence obtained, and (3) objectively evaluating sa mple results. How is evidential matter used? Sufficient competent evidential matter is to be obtained through inspection, observation, inquiries, and confirmations to afford a reasonable basis for an opinion regarding the financial statements under audit.What should a CPA include in a standard management representation letter? A report to management containing the auditors' recommendations for correcting any deficiencies disclosed by the auditors' consideration of internal control. In addition to providing management with useful information, a management letter may also help limit the auditors' liability in the event a control weakness subsequently results in a loss by the client. What information should the entity's internal control structure report include? Deficiency in internal control Less than a significant deficiency Significant deficiency Material weakness the word independent.It is addressed to those for whom it is prepared, generally the audited company itself or to those charged with governance. After the introductory paragraph, the report is divided into sections with headings. The introductory paragraph of the auditors' report identifies the financial statements that have been audited. To reduce confusion, audit reports issued in the United States now use arms such as â€Å"generally accepted auditing standards (United States of America)† or â€Å"auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America. The date of the audit report is quite significant because the auditors have a responsibility to perform procedures through that date to search for any subsequent events that may affect the fairness of the client's financial statements, and due to requirements relating to changes in documentation that arise after that date What information is included in an audit exit interview? After they have completed he draft report, they should arrange an exit conference to review the findings with all persons directly concerned with the o perations audited.For each finding, a complete report will describe (1) the criteria used to evaluate the activity, (2) the condition (e. G. , problem) that exists, (3) the cause, (4) the effect, and (5) recommendations for improvement What can the CPA learn from the attorney representation letter? Management provides an assertion about compliance in writing in a representation letter to the Spas. That assertion also may be presented in a formal report that accompanies the Spas' report or be included in the Spas' report.The Spas' report provides assurance on either management's assertion or directly on compliance. What other services can CPA firms provide? – Tax – Accounting and Assurance What is an attestation engagement? In compliance attestation engagements, Spas address an organization's compliance with specified requirements, or its internal control over compliance with specific laws and regulations. How do governmental auditing standards and financial auditing st andards differ? GAP defines how businesses, both public and private, prepare their financial tenements.Governmental Auditing Standards are a series of rules that define how an independent agent is supposed to review a government agency's financial statements and internal processes. Do governmental regulations have an effect on financial statement audits? Governmental organizations are subject to a variety of laws and regulations that affect their financial statements?many more than typical business enterprises. An important aspect of generally accepted accounting principles for governmental organizations is the recognition of various legal and contractual requirements.

Is the Life-Span Approach Essential to Human Development

Human development has been a subject of interest among modern researchers. The most prominent theory in human development is the life-span approach which is made up of various concepts. This essay aims to show the importance of the life-span approach by analysing some of the concepts that make up this approach, such as multi-directionality historical location and contexualism among others. This essay will critically analyse some of the assumptions of the life-span approach.It will also examine arguments against the lifespan approach as well as other theories of human development such as Freud’s psychoanalytic theory with the aim of showing that this approach is essential for understanding human development. One of the major assumptions of the life-span approach as suggested by Baites, (1987) is that development is a ‘life-long process’ by this he meant that developmental changes occur throughout a person’s life, from the point of conception till death (Suga rman, 1986). Baltes, (1987) went on to state that development as a life-long process assumes that, no point in a person’s developmental life is more important than the other, every period of a person’s life is equally important weather it is childhood or aging, they are all important periods of development though this assumption is in direct contradiction to other theorists of human development such as Freud who believed that development ends at childhood and that adulthood is an extended version of childhood and that aging is more of â€Å"loss in adaptive capacity† hence does not qualify to be put in the paradigms of development .This has constituted the gain and loss argument (Baltes, 1987). Research on intelligence has shown that other forms of intelligence which involving reviewing of one’s life and wisdom emerge in old age and these forms of intelligence are not ‘genetically wired from birth† as suggested by Freud and (Baltes, 1987). Thi s goes to show that development is not restricted to certain periods of a person’s life but happens up until death; hence the life-span approach is essential in understanding human development.With the desire to proove the importance of the life-span approach in human development This essay will look at another assumption put forward by life-span theorists which state that development is malti-directional, (Baltes, 1987). This means that human development has different forms and differs in the routes that it takes thoughout the developmental process for example the presents of degenerative and growth abilities in a person (Stenberg, Bornstein, Yandell, & Rook, 011). It has also been noted by Li & Freund, (2005) that development as viewed by the life-span theory is not a one way procces of accumulation but that some developmental aspect increase while others decline (Li & Freund, 2005). Research by (cattel and horn, 1982 ) shows that a person consits of two types of intelligan ce mamely fluid and crystalized intelligance.According to this research fluid intelligance showed a declining function as compared to cristalized which showed accumulation tendancies (Baltes, 1987) This evidence shows that development is not a one way procces but takes different directions and that includes both childhood development and aiging, reafirming the point made above that aiging also qualifies to be considered as being part of development.Also in southafrica it has been noted that due to the inaccesibility of adiquate health care by children during the apartheid some children were born with birth defects while others suffered from malnutrition and became disabled showing the different varyng trajectories that human development can take (Youth hearings, 1997). Therefore the presence of malti-directionality as a life-span concept helps us to understand the various dimentions and directions taken by development throghout a person’s life hence it earns its importance in understanding human development.The life-span approach again plays a very important role in understanding human development when looking at the assumption that ‘development is historically embeded’ (Elder, 1998). This concept cannot be separated from the concept of contexualism hence Elder, (1998)’s work is to be viewed in light of the two concepts. According to Baites, (1987) the idea behind this assumption is that the historical location of a person together with the socio, economic and caltural experiences the individual encounter during that time has an impact on how he developes.He went on to say that this assumption brings in history as an important factor that facilitates one’s nature of deverlopment To support this assumption it was discovered that children who faced economic hardships during the time of the great depression looked far much older than their normal age but tended to recover when the conditions got better showing again that developm ent is a continous procces (Elder, 1998). To further support this line of thinking it must be clarified that Elder, (1998) is stressing the fact that there is continous interplay between factors such as history, timing of life transitions such as early pregnancy, shared elationships and a person’s unique ability to execise agency which has been defined by Baites, (1987) as plasticity These factors greatly influence the developmental trajectories of a person (Sugarman, 1986). To support this he turns his attention to the oakland and berkely studies done on children who experiences the second world war, the great depression and the korean war. As shown by this research children born during the economic meltdown of the great depression probably laked proper parenting and this affected maturation.He went on to mention that children who lived during the second world war and the korean war had different experienes as compared to the oakland study and their developmental gains and l osses were different. In southafrica research shows that black children who lived during the apatheid era ended up in sqatter camps without any aducation, with poor sanitation no recreation facilities and high health risks, this forced some to join ganges.Removal from their land also caused identity confusion which is a very important developmental task according to Erikson. showng that historcal context brings with it a unique experience that individuals are exposed to and this has a great impact on one’s developmet reafirming the claim tht the life-span approach is important in understanding human development. It has also been brought to attention that the research methods used by life-span researchers are to some extent unreliable and may produce inaccurate information.As critics of this approach have noted life-span researchers mainly use introspection, questioning and obsarvation for example Elder, (1998) on his study of children of the great depression admits that they would ask the subjects on how they thought the great depression influenced their lives, Havighurst also used the same technique in his study of developmental tasks and this is problematic since subjects are most likely unware of their developmental tasks and deficits (Sugarman, 1986).He went on to say researcher bias is also a broblem for example theorists like Erikson may have been influenced to research by their background and the results they produce may bear similarities to what they personaly feel, not the actual facts on the ground. Pllasticity is another life-span concept that t can help us understand human development. Though it has been mentioned above we now look at it in more detail. According to (Li & Freund, 2005) it is the campacity of the individual to influence his own developmen meaning a person may counciously or uconciously influence heir own developme. Biological research on cortical plasticity across the life-span by (Li & Freund, 2005) has shown that the brain of adults can change its stractural and functional organisation due to its developmental history. The research also showed the reorganisation of functions of the cortex in old age such as the use of both hemspheres to compansate for decline and this shows the importance of pasticity in human develoment.The last charecteristic of the life-span approach to be discussed is the fact that human development is multi-disciplinary meaning that it encompasses other fields such as bbiology, sociology and anthropology (Baltes, 1987). This assumption is further supported by Huvighurst (1972) who also suggest that developmental tasks arise from ‘physical maturation, caltural presure and individual aspirations (Sugarman, 1986).He gives the example that learning to read may be as a result caltural influence, one’s willingness to read and your mental or cognitive capability hence these three fields may simaltenously influence development. Though this essay aims to assert the importants of the life-span approach to development we cannot turn a blind eye on some of the weaknesses and critisisms brought forward agains this approach therefore we will start with the last concept which stated that human development is is malti-desciplinary.Schoolars like Sugarman, (1986) have argued that much of the work presented to support the assumption remains in doupt since research done in german society may not be applicable on a Southafrican context and therefore this particular concept does not fully expain human development of all people across the world since developmental tasks such as choosing a job are calture specific (Havighurst, 1972).Another critisism of the life-span approach is that it that some of its ideas are incontradiction with its principles for example Sugarman, (1986) notes that life-span developmental theorists offer a road map of development, Erikson’s eight stages and Havighurst’s assumption that failare to overcome a particular stage would result in unhappyness. This is in direct contradiction to the notion that development is malti-directional and does not follow a particular pattern of developmen which bergs the question as to weather this approach is really essential in understanding human development.After closely examining the assumptions of the life-span approach and the arguments presented against it, it is evident that the approach has a lot of inconsistancies and that the research methods used to some extend are inconclusive. After aknowledging these facts it is however iumportant to note that not all of the life-span approach’s research is obtained by quationable means and that it is the only theory of human development which better explains human development in Southafrica.The life-span approach is also to be credited for being the only thery of human development which is malti-disciplinary and it is also not deterministc in that there is always hope to overcome life;s challenges Also its methods are easily applicable therefore in conclusion it remains beyond reasonable doupt that development is a life-long procces and that the life-span approach is vital in understanding human development. ? References Baites, P. B. (1987). Theoretical propositions of life-span developmental psychology: On the dynamics between growth and decline.Developmental Psychology, 611-623. Boyd, D. , & Bee, H. (2006). Life span development (4th ed. ). Boston: MA Pearson Education. Elder, G. H. (1998). The life course a developmental theory. Child development. BF431 . M374 1972. Havisghurst, R. (1972). Developmental tasks and education. (3rd ed. ). New York : D. McKay Co. BF701 . H37 1972. evelopmental theory. Child development, 69, 1-12. Leo, B. , Kloep, H. , & Kloep, M. (2002). Lifespan Development Resources, Challenges and Risks. Oxford: Thomson Learning. Li, S. C. & Freund, A. M. (2005). Advances in lifespan psychology;A Forcus on biocaltural and personal influences. Research in human development, 1- 23. Salkind, N. J. (2004). Intoduction to Theories of Human Development. Califonia: Sage Publications. Stenberg, L. , Bornstein, M. H. , Yandell, D. L. , & Rook, K. S. (2011). Life-Span development;Infancy through chidhood. Belmont: WAadsworth Cengage Learning. Sugarman, L. (1986). New essential psychology:Life-Span development, concepts theories and interventions. New York: Methen Inc.

Mentorship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Mentorship - Essay Example This essay discusses that nurses, who think of getting involved in student direction and mentorship in any clinical surroundings, should have sufficient knowledge of the significance of mentorship, its procedures and basic values. While mentorship plans aim at assisting the staff in knowing the idea of mentorship, a clear cute idea thinking evidently and critically about the work is necessary, prior to accepting the assignment. Standards for specialized practice concerning mentorship in nursing are compulsory, and they are prescribed by the Nursing and Midwifery Council. This assignment is based on two questions, and each will concentrate on one of the eight standards necessary to preparation for mentorship. They contain: establishing effective working relationships during placement orientation, and assessment and accountability. This article discusses connected, as well as jointly dependent aspects of mentoring that are significant for successful practice placements. â€Å"Nurse Tu rnover† is a valuable problem that persists, as healthcare faces the impending scarcity of nursing staff. A recent generation of nurses have entered the labour force, and the incentives provided to them to work for organizations love also improved. A diversity of factors influence the retention of nurses in â€Å"adult care† settings, containing group cohesion, work satisfaction, work schedule and â€Å"job stress†. Previous researches have recognized positive relations among group cohesion, work satisfaction, strong leadership and retention rates, and a negative connection among work schedule, stress and retention. â€Å"To ensure the quality and effectiveness of the program, one needs to do the following: †¢ Develop a plan to measure program processes; †¢ Develop a plan to measure expected outcomes; and †¢ Create a process to reflect on and disseminate evaluation findings† (How to Build a Successful Mentoring Program Using the Elements of Effective Practice n.d.). Additionally, experience and age in nursing are connected to job satisfaction. â€Å"Mentoring and satisfaction with mentoring separately predicted all the work attitudes of the nurses as it has in many previous studies. Mentoring and satisfaction with mentoring were positively related to job and career attitudes† (Salami 2010, p. 119). Job satisfaction is defined as the optimistic emotional answer to a job situation, resulting from what the employee wants, and the values from the job attached it’s the job by researchers. Mentoring experiences drop along a range from an extremely satisfying, marginally satisfying experience to a disfunctional or harmful experience. Highly satisfying formal or informal mentoring experience demonstrates better job satisfaction, organizational obligation, and satisfaction in obtaining chances for promotion. The direct consequence of social support on work attitudes is that, it interacts with mentoring relations, to affect work attitudes, that is, the effective utilization of social support possessions can pave the method for â€Å"effective mentoring relationships†

Allstate Insurance Company Social Responsibility Essay

Allstate Insurance Company Social Responsibility - Essay Example In general, the company and all its managerial including all its employees, families, and agency owners are enthusiastically involved in enhancing and bettering the living state of communities across the country. Allstate insurance’s main concern is to protect the people and be at the forefront in helping to put the people’s lives back together. In many cases, the Allstate Company runs cleanup campaigns, lends a hand to the needs of established youth groups in the country, aids in raising funds for various needy organizations, seeks to create links with other organizations, and creates awareness for valuable issues of all kinds. In the recent past for instance, the company committed itself to build yet another playground in the city of Chicago, raised funds for the Museum of Science and Industry exhibits, funded the Chicago Children’s Museum, and supported a reading program in the city. Further, Allstate Insurance is committed to sponsor other organizations where such as the Goodman Theatre, the Mexican Museum, and the Chicago Urban League among a host of other responsibilities. In pursuit to achieve its priorities of serving the community in the most and efficient way possible, Allstate Insurance Company has developed a credible criterion of investing in communities. This involves three well established and enforced ways: I. Financial Resources – this has been the key drive for Allstate Insurance Company. It involves being useful and depended on by other organization and groups. It structures itself in a way that other organization and small group can look unto the company whenever need arises. The company raises funds generously to the organizations and groups that are truly in need. It does this in the form of grants emanating from â€Å"The Allstate Foundation†, donations, and contributions from various corporate. II. Time – Allstate Insurance has put into consideration the value of time and has implemented a way of utilizing every single minute in the most effective and efficient way. They achieve this by ensuring that all employees participate actively in all activities undertaken in the company. It also makes sure that all its officers and agency owners are actively involved in all community programs, nonprofit boards, and community event such as creating relevant awareness. III. Leadership – Allstate Insurance Company has taken a step further to enhance its leadership. In doing this, the company commits itself to create a mutual relationship with other organization and joining them to address critical issues affecting the communities they serve. By so doing, the company remains up to date of even issues that could otherwise go unnoticed in the community. This also involves funding and providing support where necessary to enhance the activities. Further, Allstate has divided the communities into three groups just to enhance timely and effective operations: i. Local communities â€⠀œ this is where the company’s clients and agency owners reside and work. Moreover, agency owners and the clients invest their time and funds in the local communities as they are well protected and offer certainty. ii. Chicago Metro Area – this is due to the fact that Chicago is the hometown of Allstate Company and therefore access is almost perfect and management is enhanced. iii. National –

Pollution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Pollution - Essay Example This condition of remaining free of ice is highly dependent on the water currents and states of the weather. The Polar Bears usually favor such areas which enable them to hunt for seals in these spots of leads and makes use of the sea ice to be their podium (Sea World, â€Å"Distribution and Habitat†). In the similarly context, polynyas are water areas which are bounded by ice all around the year because of tidal currents, winds and upwelling. These areas are considered to be significant as they serve as major food supplying and breeding regions for wintering marine mammals such as the Polar Bears. Few of the Polar Bears were learnt to chase the lower border of the floating sea ice throughout the year and makes widespread relocations according to the retreats and proceeds made by the ice (Sea World, â€Å"Distribution and Habitat†). The population of the Polar Bears has been found to be declining at an alarming pace because of their disappearing habitat owing to global warming. The various reasons accounting for the alterations in the climate has resulted in speedy loss of ice in the Arctic sea. The ice in the Arctic sea was found to turn down by 7.7 percent every decade along with a turn down in the sea ice in the perennial sea region by 9.8 percent every decade. To add more to this problem, in few of the areas, a contraction of the ice in the Arctic sea was found to be 32 percent from the periods of 1960 and 1970 to 1990. This huge decline in the ice areas have resulted in jeopardizing their habitat of the Polar Bears which is posing to be a severe threat to their population (World Wildlife Fund, â€Å"Polar Bear: This icon of the North Is Losing Ground As Global Warming Melts its Sea Ice Habitat†). Moreover, the ice is examined to melt quite before time in a year and is taking more time to develop owing to the alterations in the climate. This

Current and Non-Current Assets Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Current and Non-Current Assets Paper - Essay Example For instance; accounts that are receivable are the owing by clients and these should be reflected in the balance sheet in the value realizable. To this those accounts whose collectibility is uncertain must be free of an allowance referred to as doubtful debts and thus should reflect the realizable value. The realizable value is the amount expected to be taken in cash form in reasonable terms. Cash equivalents are those securities that are near-cash like treasury bills of the US expected to mature in three-month time or in a shorter period. Inventory on the other hand, may not always be liquid in conditions of crisis. For example; those commodities that are perishable in nature, high fashion goods, seasonal commodities, things subjected to obsolescence due to their technological nature or the items of trendy nature. Due to the fact that inventory can easily fall in value, it must be reflected in the balance sheet at the value lower of market and cost values. (Livingstone and Grossman, 2001) While currents assets are utilizable or consumable within a year, non-current assets are different in that they can be used fore more than one year. Relatively non-current assets are costly and they aid a business to operate over a long time. Attention in the management of current assets is centered on their transportability and liquidity, but it’s different when it comes to non-current assets. Non-current assets demand attention because of their expensiveness in terms of cost and the long time horizon coverage. This nature of non-current assets calls for an extensive time view in acquisition, planning and management. Non current assets are usually acquired for utilization in the business operations and they are not purposed for resale. They give to the businesses economic benefits for a period extending longer than one accounting period. They are classified into two categories; tangible and intangible. Tangible assets are also

Application of Management Functions to a Case Study

Application of Management Functions to a - Case Study Example As a new manager, I would choose planning to guide me in the management of the hospital. In any business or an organization, entity that focuses on growth and offering quality services to their customers planning is essential (Kerzner, 2013). According to Kerzner, (2013) planning is one of the basic management functions; it involves the use of the available resources to ensure maximum production of goods or solving of peoples wants and needs. Planning ensures maximization of the resources available for production. Additionally, it ensures that the economies of scale are optimized to ensure growth of the organization. Since the merging brings together two entities with different philosophies and way of doing things, planning will be essential to adopt them into our ways of doing things. Additionally, we have to absorb some of the staff who was working in the small hospital. Absorbing the staff can only be possible through effective planning (Kerzner, 2013). Further, Johnson (2013) stated that planning ensures that our goals are clearly set to prevent any conflicts of interest in the newly merged hospital. I will ensure that the goals outlined clearly by writing and follow up to ensure, all the responsible people work hard to ensure the realization of the goals. Additionally, it can come up with a proposal by which the hospitals goals are pinned on all notice boards of the entire hospital. A goal also doubles up as the objectives of the hospital. Objectives are the laid down principles that act as a guide to every organization success. The success of any organization is measured through; the achievements are compared to the set goals. After the merger of the two hospitals, my main goals will include. To increase the number of staff, to start an expanded laboratory facility and to come up with a new registry that will be holding all the records of patients and their affiliates. Secondly, planning shall be essential in my efforts in setting down of

What are the challenges in applicability of administrative law Essay - 1

What are the challenges in applicability of administrative law - Essay Example The dynamic of the collective action at the administrative level is characterized by the existence of the multiplicity of actors. The interactions among competing and opposing actors are the origin of the conflicts played in the administrative law. Some of the origins of such conflicts are: competition among political actors to assume control of the public administration; the emergency of principals of public administration at a supranational level. (The administration is required to implement these global or macro regional policies in a coherent way. In some situation, this can create conflict with elected bodies at state level) among many others. Three kinds of conflict originate from these interactions: political, institutional and economic. Political conflicts: Public administrations serve different political interests. Although they structurally, depend on the executive, they also have to implement acts and statures approved by the parliament. Administrative conflicts arise in situations where the executive and legislatures branches have different political vision and compete to make them prevail in the course of administrative action Institutional conflict: the second source of administrative law conflicts is institutional. This arises where national administration is also required to implement global, macro regional or international, rule and policies. This kind of conflict is common in the multilevel system in government. Although most of the public policies is macro region, their implementation is still national. This is the reason why most of the international authorities try to regulate both organizational and procedural mechanism through which national administration must execute those policies and rules. This is always done in order to ensure coherence and avoid any drift due to pressure from local interest (Joel

Culture of Madness Essay Example for Free

Culture of Madness Essay Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that enables individuals to engage in unruly behavior. It is a mental disorder that makes individuals deviate from social norms. In the years between 1920s and 1950s, schizophrenia was a general condition that was manifested by emotional disharmony and impacted negatively on the abilities of the white people with regard to thinking and feeling. Research article authors of psychiatric journals described schizophrenia patients as native-born-Americans of white European ancestry. Such patients were termed by psychiatric authors as harmless and instead needed psychotherapeutic care. In 1960s, schizophrenia was described as illness manifested by rage. Research articles asserted that it was a condition that afflicted the Negro men who were hostile and aggressive. These Negroes protested for their civil rights. The protests were organized by black power, black panthers, nation of Islam or other activist group. I disagree with the view that schizophrenia has got popular cultural expression. It is merely a mental disorder that is not influenced by either race or culture. According to Metzl in 1960s, schizophrenia patients were the Negro men, who were described as aggressive and hostile. In the real sense, the black Americans who were oppressed were not hostile neither did they act ragely. They raised their voices to be heard by Americans for a change of lifestyle, from oppression to freedom. In so doing, the black Americans were fighting for their rights as equal human beings since they wanted to be treated with equality. As discussed by Metzl, schizophrenia was associated with racism, thus biased. It was considered to be a disease of the black Americans since they expressed their feelings due to pressure exerted on them. They were out to fight for the state of affairs between the Americans and the Black Americans. Schizophrenia is feared in the current moment. Schizophrenia patients can act unruly in a given surrounding. These patients act to satisfy only their desires not considering the effect of their deeds on other people. They can behave in a way that interferes with other people’s daily life. For example, if the illness drives them to violent behavior, other people will leave what they were doing and deal with them first. Any activity that they engage in, they do it with all their strength and thus can be destructive and fierce. b) According to psychiatrists, schizophrenia is a biological mental illness expressed through defined symptoms like delusions whereby the patient thinks of invisibilities and acts according to his/her thoughts. It is also expressed through hallucinations where by the patient builds castles in the air and imagines that it is real life. The patients as well have disorganized speech whereby they mix issues which do not relate at all. They express catatonic behavior which is a disorganized behavior in a given environment, for instance relieving oneself in the open. Such symptoms are manifested in ways that are specific to the surrounding, assumptions and values of the schizophrenic individual. For instance, a schizophrenic individual can behave unruly in the midst of other people. He can violently attack a group of people for no good reason and cause alarm. This is because the patient is not able to control him/herself due to lack of mental coordination. He/she thus attracts attention of people who may be in the middle of serious events. A schizophrenic patient usually makes undesired assumptions particularly in a group of people. Whenever they see other people talk or laugh, they always think that they are being laughed at because of their condition. They can therefore attack them and end up harming them for no reason. Some usually assume that it’s their duty to perform any role anywhere. For example, some schizophrenic patients assume that it is their duty to clean every environment they are in. They therefore end up collecting wastes everywhere they go. Most schizophrenic patients think that a group of people behave in a certain manner to hurt them or because they want to go against their wishes intentionally. They are in a condition which cannot allow them to reason with the surrounding. They instead act negatively. For example, if a schizophrenic patient is always violent, the people around him and who knows his/her condition may decide to tie him or her with some ropes or lock the person in a house for some time. If he or she happens to see some people hold such ropes in another incident, he/she may try to get hold of the ropes as he/she thinks that he/she will still be tied up. On the contrary, this may not be case. As a matter of fact, the ropes might be for a different purpose. c) Symptoms of schizophrenia can be harmless if at all the assumptions; values and norms in the current setting are changed. This can only be achieved if there is freedom in all aspects of life of schizophrenic individuals. For instance, it can be assumed that, if one is talking to himself or herself, he or she is probably talking to the ancestors and should be allowed to do so. It can as well be assumed that if one behaves unruly, he/she is expressing some burning issues within him/herself. Therefore, with this kind of assumptions, nobody would criticize schizophrenic individuals and subsequently, they would have all the freedom they require to express themselves. Schizophrenia cannot cause any distress if the patients are given freedom of speech. For example, a schizophrenic person should not be shut down if he mixes ideas in a discussion. He should be understood the way he is and given time to express himself. In so doing, he will not feel neglected or weak in one way or another. Some may behave in a schizophrenic manner out of a bad experience they have had before. For example, one can become schizophrenic after a divorce or death of his/her partner. Within this context, such people need understanding and a shoulder to lean on so as to counteract the effects of what they are going through. Schizophrenic’s behavior should be termed normal in a surrounding so as not to cause distress. For example, some religions like Islam allow wife battery. Therefore when wife battery cases are encountered in a family with a schizophrenic husband, they are considered to be normal behavior. 2. Conceptual Tools Evans-Pritchard, E. E. (1987). â€Å"The Notion of Witchcraft explains Unfortunate Events,† Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande. Oxford: Clarendon Press. a) Constitution is in the making of man. It entails a set of laws or norms that are involved in structuring, creating and defining limits of power or authority possessed by government. A constitution is used to give states identify since all states that have got constitutions are referred to as constitutional states. In the context of phenomena, constitution is the process of using a category to create or come up with knowledge or perceptions about something. A description is very different from constitution in that whereas a description is the concerned with defining an item, constitution is creation of ideas, thoughts or shapes. Constitution is used to define the structuring or production process of anything. In the context of culture, the outcome of culture or that which is attributed to culture is considered as a product of the constitution process. On the other hand, definition of the meaning of culture and what it entails is termed as description. A distinction between constitution and description is realized in the description of witchcraft within the Zande community by Evans-Pritchard, 1987. The physiological state of a person that is linked to witchcraft is a mere description of the activity. On the other hand, a constitution is what will yield or be generated from witchcraft. Witchcraft from the wording itself is a mere description of some kind of psychic acts. However, constitution is what is synthesized from this act or from the notion itself. The reason why Evans-Pritchard has made this distinction is to show reality in the light of witchcraft within the Zande community. The Azande are so glued into linking everything with witchcraft; therefore, the writer tries to show distinction between reality and witchcraft by giving an elaborate distinction between description and constitution of categories. This way, he tries to change the notion of Azande from thinking that every mysterious thing that happens is due to witchcraft. In the context of reality and the internal knower, symbols and language are used to describe culture. The shift towards seeing categories as generative is seen through activities which are as a result of certain categories. A category is composed of certain elements with some common characteristics. It is the common characteristics that enable the categories to become active and achieve a certain goal. In the Zande community for example, witchcraft has been described as a psychic act. On the other hand, it has been solely associated with constituting unfortunate events among men. The objective description in this case is that witchcraft is associated with one’s physiological state. Evans-Pritchard believes that the physiological state used to describe witchcraft is nothing more than a passage of food through the small intestines. It is this objective definition of witchcraft that seems to be embedded in the shift of witchcraft from an objective description to a generative category. The generative nature of witchcraft is seen in its role to explain occurrence of unfortunate events as well as in regulating the conduct of people. b) The shift from describing to being generative lies in the fact that, description is the initial process used to come up with a category. Once a certain category of people or items is formed, they are used to generate and produce an intended outcome. Alternatively, they are linked to the generation of certain results. This way, the change in framework from descriptive to generative is enhanced. When this framework changes, explaining the history of a category shifts as well. This occurs in that, instead of giving the history of a category with respect to description, the generated outcome of the category is used to explain its history. In the Zande community, witchcraft is attributed to physiological factors. Consequently, it is associated with generating mysterious negative effects on man. However, with time, the association of categories such as witchcraft, with mysterious negativity derives a different meaning and there is need to shift the explanation. In the Zande community, witchcraft is considered to be generative in every aspect of the Azandes’ lives. Each and every mysterious occurrence in the lives of the Zande community is considered to be linked to witchcraft. Several claims are made with regard to witchcraft. For instance, among the Azandes, when blight attack groundnuts in the field, this is attributed to witchcraft. Also, if women tirelessly bail water from a pool and only manage to draw a few minuscule fish, witchcraft is said to be responsible for this mysterious occurrence. If a wife, contrary to other days, is unresponsive and gloomy, it is said that witchcraft is the cause. Evans-Pritchard has compared the occurrence of misfortunes in the Zande community to the occurrence of misfortunes among the African people. He has gone further to show that the Azande attribute witchcraft to a chain of causation for conditions which when looked at closely, relate a person to natural occurrences. Therefore, if the occurrence of events were to be understood in a more realistic manner, the explanation of generative categories would have to change. Evans-Pritchard has showed how this would be done. In all those circumstances where witchcraft was seen as the cause of misfortunes, it was during that particular moment that witchcraft was seen as the cause of the misfortune. This is perceived to mean that witchcraft is not solely responsible for every kind of bad luck. Therefore, the explanation would shift from a generalized understanding to a more specific one. Witchcraft, according to the people of Azande, is used to explain the occurrence of coincidence which causes harm to man. c) The shift from description to seeing categories as generative provides a way to think about rationality, irrationality or their interrelation. To examine this, the paper will look at the belief held by the people on what and who is associated with witchcraft. From a rationale point of view, this is just a timeless category without any basis or governing principle. The community of Zande can be termed as an irrational group because of the way they attribute witchcraft to occurrences which, a normal and ordinary person would attribute to natural calamity or mere coincidence. The Azande did not practice any rationality in as far as existence of phenomena is concerned. They do not believe in the existence of phenomena, much less mystical causation. They hold the view that witchcraft is the cause for that which happens mysteriously. The irrationality of the Azande is manifested by the fact that they cannot accept that things can occur through mere coincidence. They have used witchcraft to explain the occurrence of mysterious events. This is irrational of them as there are no facts to back up their ideology. The mere fact that witchcraft is a psychic act could also mean that it is attributed to some positive occurrences. However, this is not so as only the negative aspect of occurrences is linked to witchcraft. On the other hand, the Azande have applied some rationale in as far as why some things do happen. For example, the Azande are very much aware that termites eat up the support of a granary thus can fall or collapse at any moment. This is a show that the Azande think rationally. However, irrationality comes in when they relate witchcraft to the collapse of a granary in the presence of people. The Azande do apply rational thinking to explain occurrences but when a negative outcome is impacted on man, this is linked to witchcraft despite the fact that it may not necessarily be the case. This is the interrelation between rationality and irrationality within the category of witchcraft among the Azande.

Cheating Prevention in Multiplayer Online Games

Cheating Prevention in Multiplayer Online Games Shane Willcox Introduction One of the many modes within most games these days is playing with other players with Online Multiplayer. While most games have a multiplayer mode, some games are based and built for multiplayer. Multiplayer games are become extremely popular with millions of people playing them every day. Since Multiplayer games attract many players, there are always those people who go out of their way to find ways to cheat to gain advantages over others and sometimes ruin other player’s experiences playing against or with a cheater. Cheating in games have almost always been there right from the start, however cheats were single player only which is normally over looked as they only affect the game and the cheater and no one else, however with the evolution of gaming and multiplayer, cheating has spread to this type of gaming. Types of Cheating It can cost a company thousands to try and stop players that are using cheating methods by detecting and preventing them. (Yampolskiy(2008)). With Online multiplayer games there are many different types of cheats can be used if a game is not detecting and preventing cheats and can heavily damage the game and can receive complaints from the game’s community, some classes of cheats include: Reflex Augmentation which is using artificially intelligent (AI) computer assistant tools in order to perform actions that are faster than should be and also provides unfair precision humans could not possibly perform. For example the use of an aim-bot that can be used on some FPS’s (First Person Shooter) and aim-bots provide unfair precision on opponents giving the opponents no chance to react (Yampolskiy(2008)). Another is Authoritative Clients Utilizing meaning the hacking to altered commands (Yampolskiy(2008)). Information Exposure which getting access to hidden information. (Yampolskiy(2008)). On Example is a wall-hack which lets the cheat see through walls. Compromised Servers, which is the changing of game states at a server level. For Example using artificial lag (Yampolskiy(2008)). Exploits due to poor game design or overlooked features to take an unfair advantage within a certain game. For example in some Call of Duty games there are some map glitches which allows players to access parts of a multiplayer map that should not be able to be accessed, as well as game ruining glitches such as in Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, there is an exploit that allowed players to get an unlimited amount of explosives that ruined most of the player’s experiences with explosives being insanely overpowered and unfair. Unfortunately there is a lot of cheating methods within the online community of games and some can impact players causing complains from fans and if the fans are reacting negatively that will undoubtable affect the game’s sales and cause the certain games to become unpopulated within the game’s servers as well as if the developers can fix and pervert the cheaters then the damage has already been done. One genre that can be affected by cheaters is FPSs. There reason for this is that FPS’s are some of the most popular games to be played online and their design can lead to cheats coming up with cheats that can gain advantage. One called a ‘wall-hack’ that lets the cheaters see enemies through game objects that should not be able to be seen through and therefore get can extreme advantage. However an aimbot is much more unfair. Aimbot and there Preventions An aimbot or aiming robot is essentially a type of tool that lets the user automatically lock on to the enemy players. This is done by having the aimbot gain prohibitive access to the internals of the game and gives the user the ability to acquire enemy targets instantly when the target is in a direct sight line (Yu(2012)) and sometimes even not user’s viewpoint even if game objects such as buildings and walls are in the game lets the players shoot through them, for example in the Call Of Duty or Battlefield series. This lets users to defeat targets with both speed and pinpoint accuracy even if the target is moving at high speed and human players are probably incapable of achieving this all the time, even if the player is extremely skilled with a game it is almost impossible. One method that could be used to detect aimbot behaviour is by having a Dynamic Bayesian network (DBN) model incorporated into the game’s system. The DBN shows different kinds of variables that can determine whether a player is a cheater and shows that they have detected them. Some variables that can be looked at is if the player is moving, if the target is moving, if the aiming direction of the player has changed, and the distance between the player and the aiming target. (Yeung (2006)). Using this model is known as a ‘first order Markov process’, which is the making of prediction from information from the present state. The process is implemented because aiming is a process which is heavily dependent on what is happening in real time since when a player aimed adjustments are needed to keep accuracy on point such as control of recoil (if any) and rate of fire(Yeung(2006)). So if the game using the DBN sees there is pattern from a player and there is enough evidence that a certain player is using an aim bot with the variables supported, then the game can detect that the player is indeed a cheater (Yeung (2006)). Also data could be inputted into the game to tell the game to compared the accuracy of a player that is highly skilled with the game and have that as a comparison to use on players and if there is a player that is exceed the accuracy every time then they could also be detected. Lag-Switches and there prevention Common cheats normally happen on a gaming level due to the design of the game and cheats that can affect the actual gameplay and not the network latency of players. However cheaters have found a way to affect the latency for players and gain an unfair advantage. Firstly however network latency is the delay that players have when there is a communication of data over a server or network. This happens with any type of online game as the data from the entered commands that the players input is sent to the server of the game and then has the action happen. However cheaters have found ways to cheat over a network. A lag switchis a smallEthernetdevice that is installed to ahome networkand is connected between the gaming device and the homenetwork routerwhich enables the user to insert delays to the flow of traffic which is local to the Internet and is not related to the network switches that are normal. Activing a lag switch makes device run on a set timer and this blocks all traffic between the gaming device and the Internet within that period which causes artificial lag. So when the user has the lag switch in action, to others they look as if they are either frozen in place however the user moves freely and can freely kill the enemy player. Some points of view of a lag switcher are that they moving normally and in fact the opposing team are frozen in place when in their line of site. When the timer stops, the gaming device will re-synchronize with theonline game. However for a user to use lag switch they must be the host of the game on a host based server that most games had or still have and if the user is using a lag switch in a team based mode, then the lag switchers team is normally unaffected by the artificial lag(Bradley(n./a)). Lag Switches can be found on many online games or modes, such as Counter Strike, Call of Duty, MOBA’s (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena’s) and many more. Since network cheating is sometimes much harder to fix than other common cheats, there sometimes more expensive ways to combat network cheats such. Ways that game developers can stop the usage of lag switching is to use a DBN model again to maybe check if the players have common lag spikes however there can be a problem because if the game is are banning all the players with lag strikes, then some players might just have poor internet and get banned for no reason. So one of the best implementations to combat lag switchers and lag based cheats, is to use dedicated servers. Dedicated servers can be used by game companies to allow players to have a fair networking environment as well as the developers having control of the host mechanisms with each server players are playing on. Dedicated servers are essentially servers that are run by the developers of the game and they basically act as a non-playing player as the players connect a server that has a stable connection and enables high bandwidth instead of players connecting to a host that could have terrible internet quality. Dedicated Servers can stop Lag switchers because a lag switch user normally has to be the host of the game for them to cheat and use the full effects of a lag switch. However dedicated servers can be very expensive to implement depending on the size and popularity of the game. More Cheating Preventions While the above talked about cheat preventions for some popular methods of cheating, there is still some other prevention that should always be looked in to. Developers should have built-in cheating detection systems for everything that could be affected by cheaters. This means that they can detect or find unusual activities, and produce alarms (Chen (2005)). Have a Reporting system within the game, so that if a player encounters a cheater, then the player can report them or maybe have a system in place that lets players kick cheaters during gameplay, however there would need to be another system to see if the player accused of cheating is actually cheating. If there is an exploit is reported, then the developers can put patches in the form of updates to fix the exploits. Conclusion Overall there are a many ways when it comes down to the prevention of cheating within online multiplayer. With there being many types of cheats such as Reflex Augmentation, Information Exposure, Compromised Servers and Exploits, there is cheating preventions that can help stop them. For Example to stop one of the biggest cheats in FPS’s, an aimbot can be prevented by using a DBN model incorporated into the game’s system by having the model look at certain variables of players to determine of their actions are legit and are capable of being done by a Human player. Then the developers can decide what to do with players who have been detected of cheating. While another example of cheating however over a network is lags switch that is a piece of equipment that causes artificial lag to games. The user of a lag switch makes the opposing players lag by either having the user seem like they have frozen or by having the opponents freeze in when they are in direct sight of the user. The most affect combatant against this is the usage of dedicated servers as they are the hosts for servers instead of players and lag switchers need to be the host of a game in order for them to take advantage of a lag switch. When you compare the methods of using prevention on network cheating and game cheating, they are both very different because of each having different factors that the developers have to take into consideration, however they both can work to together to overcome the goal of prevention. This because with dedicated servers, since you can have the developers monitor the servers since the developers have full control of the host of each server and this gets rid of lag switches. References Yampolskiy, R.V. Yampolskiy, R.V. 2008, Detecting and Controlling Cheating in Online Poker, IEEE CCP, , pp. 848. Yu, S., Hammerla, N., Yan, J. Andras, P. 2012, A statistical aimbot detection method for online FPS games, IEEE, , pp. 1. Yeung, S.F., Lui, J.C.S., Liu, J. Yan, J. 2006, Detecting cheaters for multiplayer games: theory, design and implementation, , pp. 1178 Bradley, M., N/A, â€Å"What Is A Lag Switch?† http://compnetworking.about.com/od/consumerelectronicsnetworks/f/lag_switches.htm Chen, Y., Hwang, J., Song, R., Yee, G. Korba, L. 2005, Online gaming cheating and security issue, , pp. 518.

Analysis of Barbara Kruger

Analysis of Barbara Kruger For this short essay writing I get an example of single contemporary artist Barbara Kruger. Barbara Kruger is an American conceptual artist. A lot of her effort consists of black and white photographs overlaid with declarative captions-in white-on-red Futura Bold Oblique. The phrases in her works frequently consist of use of pronouns such as you, your, I, we, and they. I begin my essay with the retort how Barbara Kruger be considered illustrative of Baudrillards or Barthes theories. Postmodernism was born out of a response in opposition to the policy of Modernism. Most particularly, Postmodern artists discarded the Modernist obsession with the aesthetic and began by questioning the recognized qualities tied to this aesthetic. As the Postmodern movement progressed, this critique intensified and moved beyond simply formal concerns; artists also began criticizing many underlying notions of Modernism, together with ideas about creativity and authority. Simultaneously, French philosophers Roland Barthes and Jean Baudrillard introduced theories concerning the rising artistic practices of appropriation and simulation. Barthes, in his elaboration on the theory of appropriation, described principles and practices that a lot of artists were employing in their critiques on Modernism. The work of American artist Barbara Kruger gives the most powerful embodimen t of Barthes theories of appropriation. Roland Barthes, in his 1967 essay The Death of the Author, stripped mutually authority and authorship from artists and writers, declaring, A text is not a line of words releasing a single theological meaning (the message of the Author-God), but a multi-dimensional space in which a variety of writings, none of them new, blend and collide. This theory not only described the postmodern artistic practices of the time, but it undermined Modernisms lofty goals and claims of creating original artwork. According to Barthes, no author or artist creates something new and unique. Instead, every formed thing is a recycled regurgitation of that which preceded it. As Postmodernism continued to develop, many artists not only acknowledged Barthess denouncement of originality but also embraced it as a means through which to further critique the works and tenets of Modernism. These artists favored the readymade object as more powerful than the supposedly new crafted objects shaped by Modernist artists. By openly acknowledging the process of appropriation that occurs within the manufacture of all art, these artists leveraged the power of pre-existing imagery and signs to produce new works with multiple layers and multiple meanings. Barbara Kruger began her career as a graphic designer and commercial artist for publications and magazines such as Mademoiselle. Her work as a postmodern artist began to garner attention in the early 1980s; about fifteen years later than Barthes published The Death of the Author. Krugers experience in the profitable design world greatly influenced her work both officially and philosophically. She embraced both the imagery and language of advertising, combining black and white photographs with ambiguous but accusatory statements in collage-like presentations. But she concurrently rejected the philosophies of commercial advertising and the majority, by raising questions concerning gender equality, consumerism, and stereotypes. Regarding the state of culture, In Untitled (Your Comfort is My Silence), 1981, Kruger combined a black and white image of a mans head with his index finger over his mouth and two lines of text reading, Your comfort is my silence. The initial two words cover the mans eyes, further eliminating his exact identity and reducing him to a generic symbol of masculine dominance and control. The text is presented in a combination of black text over white rectangles and white text in red rectangles in a cut-and-paste manner. By employing collage to join pre-existing imagery with authoritative statements, Kruger practices the appropriation that Barthes described. Krugers work also assigns an interpretive role to both the viewer and culture at large, as posited by Barthes. By keeping her statements to some extent cryptic or ambiguous, Kruger forces viewers to build meaning from their own earlier experiences, thereby actively participating in the procedure of appropriation. In addition I am going to cover the answers of is it simplistic for an artist to rely heavily on theory, Does good art go beyond theory and Are these original works? While Kruger and other artists who deliberately practice appropriation are most likely aware of Barthess philosophies and statements, it is hard to say how much their work and practice is shaped by such theory. Oftentimes theory seems somewhat reflexive to contemporary practices; critics notice existing artistic trends and then posit theories and extend technical language to describe such practices. As such, one could disagree that artistic practice influences theory just as much as theory influences the practice that follows. Certainly theory plays some role in virtually every piece or work of art, even if the producer or artist is unaware of it. Sometimes, the identical theory can even direct artists in two completely different or opposing directions. Modern theory, for example, called for aesthetic experience and form al purity, and many artists worked to attain the ideal representation of these criteria. Postmodern practice should not be viewed as alike attempt to perfectly render the theories of Postmodernism; rather, it is more perfectly a reaction against the tenets of Modern theory. From my point of view it seems then that theory and practice share a somewhat cyclical relationship. Artists produce new work, and then critics develop theories and language to describe it. Other artists take these newly-formed theories as information for what constitutes art at the time and turn out their art accordingly. After a period of extremely following the most recently canonized theories, other artists consciously operate outside of the dominant theory or refuse it altogether and produce another new type of work. This appears to be a recurring trend in the relationship among art theory and art practice. The work of artists such as Barbara Kruger, poses many essential questions and reiterates those raised by Roland Barthes. Although such artists intentionally employ the process of appropriation in producing their artwork, their works are no less original than that of other artists. Even Modernist painters, who so adamantly strove for originality and uniqueness, operated within the framework and visual language of the preceding millennia of art and history. As Barthes says, The writer [or artist] can only imitate a gesture that is always anterior, not at all original. Possibly this means that, concurrently, not anything is original and everything is original.

Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen Essay -- Papers History Com

Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen High school history textbooks are seen, by students, as presenting the last word on American History. Rarely, if ever, do they question what their text tells them about our collective past. According to James W. Loewen's Lies My Teacher Told Me, they should be. Loewen has spent considerable time and effort reviewing history texts that were written for high school students. In Lies, he has reviewed twenty texts and has compared them to the actual history. Sadly, not one text measures up to the author's expectation of teaching students to think. What is worse, though, is that students come away from their classes without "having developed the ability to think coherently about social life"(Lies p.4). Loewen blames this on the way that today's texts are written. This paper will compare one text, The American Pageant, to Lies. One of the biggest problems with today's texts is the process of heroification. This process turns real people, from our past, into "pious, perfect creatures without conflicts, pain, creditability, or human interest"(Lies p.9). Several examples, including the lions from our history, in Pageant include Christopher Columbus, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Woodrow Wilson. Others are defamed, like Stephen A. Douglas, and John Brown. In Pageant Christopher Columbus is one of the first people named as relevant to our history. He is built up as a hero, with words such as "a man of vision, energy, resourcefulness, and courage" used to describe him (Pageant p.4). We are told that he knows the world is round, but that nobody will believe him. Finally he convinces Spain's monarchs to fund him, and is given "three tiny but seaworthy ships manned... ...ils to explain why this song was so popular. In this case not giving all of the facts about a historical figure is to that person's detriment. The lengths that many textbook writers go to keep our history on a positive note, and to make heroes out of many of our historical figures comes at a high cost, according to Loewen. These costs include incorrect history, and boring history. The end results are students who hate history class, and who come out of those classes not equipped to think about our past in a rational or coherent way. Bibliography: Works Cited Thomas A. Bailey and David M. Kennedy. The American Pageant, A History of the Republic. Eighth edition. D.C. Heath and Company: Lexington, Massachusetts, 1987. James W. Loewen. Lies My Teacher Told Me, Everything Your American History Teacher Got Wrong. The New Press: New York, 1995.

Gothic Architecture Essay -- Gothic Cathedrals

Architecture has always been an integral part of the society and its culture. It not only defines the space of the community that it participates in but it also shapes the community’s place in history. Moreover, historians all over the world have found architecture playing a key role while they study the communities in time periods. Architecture helps the historian decipher the civilization's daily life and the values they hold. The historians are able to decipher as such by looking at the recurring structural feature and ornamental feature of certain buildings of certain time period. Some of the significant feature of the building usually defines the political regime or the religious values of the civilization. During the 12th and the 13th century, a certain time period where the religious faith of Christianity were instilled throughout most of the western civilization. The time when mostly Gothic dominated the realm of expression. Gothic was everywhere; it was in painting, in sculpture, and primarily in architecture. Gothic architecture can understood thoroughly through the study in the form of cathedrals of that time. The cathedral stands as the most comprehensive of the various trends that was brought along with the gothic architecture. If there was a cataclysmic event during that time where every thing was destroyed except the cathedrals, they alone could help us define the values and all the questions about the time period. It is interesting story that the cathedrals try to tell with scholasticism, politics, and the religion under the influential umbrella of the Christian ideology. While it was a very practical and expressive on its own rights a magnificent feat in engineering and symbolically; the most notable part... ...ry of Art. London: Phaidon Press. info.com. (2012). gothic architecture. Retrieved 2013, from info.com: http://topics.info.com/Gothic-Architecture_2245 Morris, E. (2011). Exploring castles. Retrieved 2013, from http://www.exploring-castles.com/characteristics_of_gothic_architecture.html#.Uq_mxmRDt95 Panofsky, E. (n.d.). Abbot Suger, On Consecration. Princetom vinversity press. Salvadori, M. (1980). Why Buildings Stand Up. In M. Salvadori, Why Buildings Stand Up (p. 213). McGraw-Hill. unknown. (n.d.). Gothic Cathedrals. Retrieved 2013, from History of western civilization: http://mason.gmu.edu/~ddonald/imageassignment/cathedral.htm Verde, T. (2012, may). saudiaramcoworld. Retrieved from the point of the arch (This article appeared on pages 34-43 of the print edition of Saudi Aramco World): http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/201203/the.point.of.the.arch.htm

Learning Team Reflection Summary Essay

The following we will discuss what as a class we have learned as well what can be applicable to our workplace or in our personal life. Also how our knowledge has increased as a result of what we experienced through the learning activities in the previous week. Our group decided to emphasize on Herb’s concoction and Martha’s Dilemma: The Case of the Deadly Fertilizer. We enjoyed as a group that the class read this dilemma and between the groups everyone got to discuss their opinion. The story about how Martha Wang who worked as a Consumer Affairs Department of a company called Herb’s Garden Products. Also was relatively new to the company and everyone else has been there for years. One day she gets a call from a dissatisfied customer who complained that Herb’s Special Fertilizer Mix killed her beloved dog. There after Martha takes down the consumer name and number and goes to her boss with the information. Her boss who happens to be Herb’s nephew brushes her off by laughing about the matter. Then to make matter worst she gets a call from Herb himself and which whispered to her that Herb’s special fertilizer is our best seller, and not to let them down. At the end of the story everyone had to answer the decision that Martha had to face and challenges? As well what we would recommendation we had for the company facing this situation? Our group felt that Martha’s dilemma has one way or another happen to each and one of us in some sort a way. As per the class discussion it seemed that everyone had at least once had this dilemma. In our group we had mix feeling about it for example some of us believed Martha should just leave the matter alone if she wanted to continue with her job. The rest of us believed there were a better ways of handling the situation than just ignoring it and that would be by investigating the situation further. Our thoughts were to ask her boss to permit Martha to follow an investigation on the matter to support the company’s good name; of course we all agreed that with the company’s permission of course. We discussed that if Martha persuades her company that the investigation would be for the company’s best of interest. That she would try to prove that the incident with this costumer was not caused by the company’s product, therefore any future complaints the company would have an answer which would help them defended them self’s. As per the company we discussed that they as well should support Martha and give her the tools need to back up the company. As a example given by one of our team members that his company has a full staff created to investigate any complaints from a consumer making sure there were any bad batch sent out to the customer and if so to recall that batch. It was interesting for our group to see we were not the only ones feeling both ways and that there were other groups with the similar opinions on the subject matter. We heard other explain their personal experience and that leaving the matter alone was the best way to handle it. As well those who took the lost the dog very personal and believed that an explanation or investigation would be much needed or ethical. This class has increased a least our group knowledge by discussing different types of situations and listening to other people’s point of views on the matter. We have learned a lot on planning, ethics, innovation, diversity, technology and how it affects all us in the business world, especially how to approach certain situation or other ways to handle them. One thing is for certain we are all egger to see what our next three weeks would be like.

Happiness: Meaning of Life Essay

While happiness in a scientific sense can be explained as the chemicals released throughout our bodies, it still doesn’t tell us fully why these are chemicals are sent and what it means in the overall human experience in scientific terms. From an artistic perspective happiness is the largest component in providing self-worth to one’s self and with its absence we see people delve into the depths of depression losing the motivation and ability to perform tasks and live life to its fullest, and in some extreme cases losing the will to live. On the opposite side of depression there is euphoria and this is where people experience moments in their life that they remember and cherish during times of reflection, it is at these moments when we find the most purpose in our lives especially when we enjoy what we are enjoying so therefore Aristotle’s statement can easily be viewed as correct as this essay will argue for. What does it mean to be happy? It seems that this is another one of those questions that can be argued in multiple ways but for this essay I will take Aristotle’s definition. Happiness, from Aristotle’s definition of a human as a being who recognises his potential to give form to himself (Colebrook 2006, p. 2). A person with depression and the utter lack of happiness views themself as worthless and lose their passion of living, losing much their ability and potential. This fact of people committing suicide when they are overcome with sadness demonstrates that without happiness human beings lose their meaning and passion in life. Without this passion and drive depressed people tend to isolate themselves and do not ‘live’ their lives to its fullest extent. It seems therefore that the purpose of our lives is to find those things that do make us happy, and then doing them. If there’s a certain person in our lives that makes us happy, we need to find a way to spend more time with them. Because if you’re not happy, you need to look at your life and think about why you aren’t feeling that amazing thing you want to be feeling. When a person reflects back on their life in their elder years the memoires they tend to remember are based around the feelings of joy and happiness such as the birth of their children or their first kiss, spending times with friends etc. These memories are fundamentally the building blocks of their personalities and without these moments of happiness a person would more than likely feel unfulfilled in their lives in reflection. We see this time and again when renowned people who have achieved great accomplishments turn to drugs and seep into mental illness when they are not happy with the direction of their life. This then demonstrates that regardless of what you accomplish if you are not enjoying what you are doing you may lose meaning in your life and turn to unhealthy methods so that you can cope with your current life style. Thirdly when people have the available time and resources it is more than likely that they will spend this leisure time doing activities that make them feel happy and give them self-satisfaction. ‘Happiness can also be a by-product of working’ (Andersen, W, 2008) occupation that the person enjoys. It therefore seems that humans will go through burdens so that they may enjoy the activity of their choice. An example of this would be working all week in a occupation you do not enjoy so that you may go on a camping trip with your family, supporting the coming saying that people ‘live for the weekend’ as that is during the time when they are doing activities they enjoy, although these kinds of one off activities do not demonstrate lifelong happiness it must be something ongoing, a more long term activity that can be used as an example could be coaching a junior sport team. This therefore demonstrates if recreational activities are what people are working towards and it is what makes them happy it must then tie in with what they consider meaningful in life and therefore be its purpose. If you can find something that makes you happy, truly happy, then life will be a lot better for you. It can’t be something superficial, or something that only lasts for a day or two. It’s something that affects your entire life. It lasts. It burns inside of you and it doesn’t go out. That is happiness. It is therefore clear that Aristotle’s statement that happiness is the meaning and purpose of life can be argued as correct on multiple basis’s such as those people lacking happiness losing all meaning and purpose as explained in the second paragraph. In addition when people look back on their lives in reflection it is moments of happiness that people are most likely to remember and cherish and not those of turmoil and heartache. Furthermore people will pursue activities they find enjoyment and happiness in when given the opportunity demonstrating that they live for those brief moments of time. In conclusion it is clear that Aristotle’s statement may well be correct but it is entirely dependent on the individual to find what makes them happy. References: Colebrook, C 2006, Narrative Happiness and the meaning of life Andersen, W, 2008, Journal of Christian education, vol 51, No. 2, p1/p17.

The Advancement of the Internet Technology

Information technology is said to be playing an important role in various sectors in a particular society these sectors may include the financial institutes, research institutes, learning institutions and other development sectors globally.The invention of the internet as a mode of communication has made every development successful since most of the developments require skills of using the internet and computers at large.It is therefore through the internet services provided that enhance the success of the people’s access on the present public service, library services and even marketing through the internet which globally referred to as the e-commerce.Research indicates that currently information is processed using computers and disseminated to the recipients through the internet, this internet technology is found to have improved the peoples understanding of information in many sectors of development.This idea brings in the advantage of using the internet technology to many people who are provided with material information on the electronic formats that have proved to be easy to get, revise, read and understand.Also this information is stored in large quantities which make it cheap and simple for the interested party in getting the specified to get it at once, compared to the process of going to libraries and reading a lot of books in order to get the required information (Connor, 1999)Therefore, for one to access the information provided on the internet the user is expected to enter an inquiry on the web form that is provided, after which it is sent to the web server, the web server then sends the question to the index server cluster which is meant to match the inquiry with the available documents.The match is then sent to the document server cluster that plays the role of retrieving the documents so that it can generate the abstracts and the copies of the information that is cached. Then finally the document is displayed by the web server to the use r where he is enabled to get the information required.This advancement of using the internet has basically enabled individuals to have a better access to good resources of the needed information. Research shows that by the use of computer technologies, preferable learning materials such as journals, newspapers, books and many academic articles can be obtained through the internet.This access to information through the internet is found to be the most important factor in many organisations, whereby individuals   have the sanction to store the retrieved materials using devices of storage.Such as flash disks and diskettes which enable them to retrieve and use the data easily compared to the early years where people used to keep so many books in their bookshelves and when the individual requires a particular information he was forced to through the whole lot of books s that he gets the information needed, this method actually proved to be time wasting and tiring . (Parries and Jeffay, Dec.2002)Under this technological advancement, we find that there are many developed web sites that are meant to allow many people to get access to many expanded sites that have new approaches of information regarding their area of interest.An example of these sites is the Google website, which is recognised globally and it is also said to be among the best search websites providing search services for the customers who are interested in getting particular websites; research indicates that google is the leading service provider to both the individuals and its customers applying the internet technology in their daily activities. (Knupfer and Muffoletto, 1993)  This google websites is specialised in the use of hypertexts, which is used where there have been an interest of putting the written literature into a computerised text that usually involve hypertext editing; through this we find that the text is always organised in a manner that particular initials are assigned to particula r literature matching with the users requirements for the resources According to research we find that.There are almost over two hundred thousand computer networks of the google company   which are spread all over the world, allowing many people to access it. Besides accessing files on other computers within the organization, an individual can run software located on all the computers that are enabled with the software.This therefore makes communication among the people easy and efficient, for this case we find that the hypertext matching analysis is always put in mind when the fillings of a particular information is being stored.The characteristics of a particular page such as the title, the font style and its content are proved to be very crucial in the matching of the hypertext. The other method used by google is the scalable core technology which was created with an objective of performing calculations for over ten thousand servers globally. (Knupfer and Muffoletto, 1993)Googl e has enabled its technology in finding the complex files through which the use files which do not occur by the use internet formats an example of such formats are the Microsoft word, the post script formats, rich texts among others.The services also offer a number of solutions to particular problems like the misspelling of words in the questions provided; this is actually used to enable the searching easier. (Parries and Jeffay, Dec.2002)The internet technology has brought in the use of electronic mail technique, which has brought an extreme change in the modes of communication.Here, we find that the costs that are always incurred when an individual conducting a particular research are reduced since moving round, calling through telephony technology and even writing letters to reach a person who may be having information on a particular topic of interest are avoided. The internet allows an individual to communicate to a number of people at the same time. (Connor, 1999)