Advantages and disadvantages of religion definition Essay

Identify and Briefly explain one advantage and two disadvantages of Functional definitions of Religion. (9 marks). One disadvantage of Functionalism in defining religion is that Conservative force states that it’s difficult to see how religion can be functioning to socialise society’s members into morality and social integration if only a minority of people attend church on a regular bases. Durkheim used the idea of Totems being able to bring ‘clans’ together and that the society used this totem as a way of worshipping togetherness. However, only a small amount of aboriginal groups were used, so it could be invalid and misleading to use this to generalise all aborigines let alone Religion as a whole. An advantage of functional definitions of religion is through the example of collective worship within a country of civil religion to show that there is still collective worship. For example, America’s new collection of beliefs, rituals and symbols with respect to things esablished within American’s society, it’s not opposed to Christianily and in fact shares a lot in common with it but is not in any extent Christian. This allows the bringing together of nations and allows the symbolisation of the nation as the ‘people’, so therefore people in America worsip Americanism. Anotheer criticism of functional definition of religion is that it ignores dysfunctional aspects and gives little consideration to hostility between different religious groups. For example, Northan Ireland and Bosnia. These religious diversions have caused social disruption and conflict rather than promoting social order which Durkheim says is maintained by the teaching of moral norms and values and creating a collective conscience where everyone sticks together. Therefore this is proven false on the aspect of it being relevant to all religions due to the religious conflict in Ireland and Bosnia.

McCarty v. Pheasant Run , Inc.

Summary of CaseMrs. Dula McCarty brought suit against Pheasant Run Inc. for negligence. In 1981, Mrs. McCarty was attacked by a man in her hotel room, beaten and threatened of rape. Mrs. McCarty ultimately fought off her attacker and he fled. The attacker was never identified nor brought to justice. Although Mrs. McCarty did not sustain serious physical injuries, she claimed the incident caused prolonged emotional distress which led to an early retirement. An investigation revealed that a sliding glass door, which was concealed behind curtains, was manipulated and enabled the attacker to gain entry into her hotel room. Mrs. McCarty made multiple claims of negligence against Pheasant Run Inc., including that they should have had better locking devices on the sliding door; more security personnel; the walkway to her sliding door inaccessible from the ground level; better over all procedures for dealing with non guests; posting signs telling guests to keep their doors locked at all time s. Ultimately, the court did not see it Mrs. McCarty’s way. McCarty argued the judge should have granted her motion for judgment notwithstanding the jury’s verdict for the defendant.McCarty did not request the directed verdict on the issue of Pheasant Runs negligence which is a prerequisite to judgment n.o.v. Many accidents are neither the injurer nor the victims fault and therefore there is no liability. The judge advised Mrs. McCarty that the case was not as one sided as she believed it to be. Additionally, following a jury’s verdict, a judge cannot substitute its judgment when the judgment was reasonable (2). Mrs. McCarty did a poor job in proving that Pheasant Run could have prevented her attack with her advised precautions.Mrs. McCarty did not provide information of what it would cost Pheasant Run to equip the hotel rooms with improved locking systems and whether the system would have been impenetrable. She also failed to advise the jury on the additional s ecurity forces she claimed would have made a difference. In regards to the Mrs. McCarty’s sliding door, it was equipped with a lock and an additional safety chain. The safety chain was fastened but the lock was not used. This case  had evidence of negligence but none of strict liability. There were reasonable precautions in place. Elements of Intentional TortTort law enables citizens to seek reimbursement for loss and or suffering from conduct that would be deemed dangerous or unreasonable of others (3). Tort law is non criminal and is dealt with in our civil judicial system. The categories of Tort Law include intentional tort, negligence and strict liability.An intentional tort case is proved by the plaintiff showing that the defendant intentionally injured him/her (1). In a negligence case, the plaintiff shows that the defendant did not act carefully as the law requires and therefore should be liable for any damages to the plaintiff (1). The strict liability cases occur w hen a plaintiff suffers damages even though the defendant acted carefully and with no intent of harm being done to them (1).During a trial the plaintiff will attempt to prove their case by the presentation of evidence to the trier of fact. The evidence usually includes testimony of persons involved; witnesses as well as physical things such as pictures, documentation/records, recordings etc†¦ How a Defense is TriggeredA common defense is that there was a superseding intervening cause which was the cause of the injury to the plaintiff. The plaintiff must then prove that the injury was a result of the tort committed by the defendant and not due to the progression of the prior cause. Another defense, regarding breach of duty, is that a plaintiff must show they have damage that is legally recognized. The plaintiff cannot claim they have suffered but cannot show damages.Proximate cause refers to the plaintiff being able to show that the damage and or injuries they sustained were a r esult of the tort they are suing for. An example would be the plaintiff’s nose was broke as a result of the defendant flailing his elbow’s amongst the crowd. Features in a Negligence ComplaintScenarios where people are injured as a result of an accident occur more frequently than those where people are injured due to malicious behavior. As a result, the law recognizes a duty to conform to a certain standard of conduct for the protection of others against unreasonable risk of harm. If there is a failure to conform which results in an injury, damage or loss, the injured party has a cause of action for negligence. Additionally, a court will utilize several ways to formulate the negligence standard.One of the more famous is the â€Å"Hand Formula† which determines whether the burden of precaution is less than the magnitude of the accident, if it occurs, multiplied by the probability of occurrence. In a negligence case, there are four elements that must be researched for a plaintiff to recover damages.These elements include: 1) did a defendant owe the plaintiff a duty to act in a certain way 2) did the defendant breach the duty by failing to act as well as the duty required 3) did the defendants conduct cause some harm 4) did the defendants conduct harm the plaintiff (1). If any of these elements are found to not be true then no cause of action in negligence is recognized. It is important to note that it is the responsibility of the plaintiff to prove that the defendant was negligent. There are some differences between negligence and other torts. When establishing negligence, the defendant has a â€Å"reasonable person† standard he/she must abide by.Compared to strict liability, a person has the absolute duty to make safe that which is the subject of the lawsuit (3). Negligence per se is another tort which differs from negligence. Regarding negligence per se, an act performed is shown to be in violation of state law or city ordinance. Ma lpractice is a form of negligence which takes form in a different field. It is coined â€Å"professional negligence† (3). A person is required to act as would a reasonably skilled, prudent, competent, and experienced member of their profession.

Commonly known

Electronic commerce which Is commonly known as E-commerce or E-business Is a modern concept of doing business. In layman's language, It Is the buying and selling of products and services over electronic systems which mainly comprises of Internet. In this form of business the payment for goods and services is also done electronically I. E. By using credit cards. This concept has reached its maturity in developed countries like the united States of America and united Kingdom, but it is still new for emerging economies of developing countries like Pakistan, India, andEgypt etc. E-commerce is mainly considered to be limited to the sales aspect of the business, but it also entails the exchange of data and payment aspect of the transaction. 1. 2 Types of E-commerce: E-commerce Is mainly divided into the following types: 1. 2. 1 Business-to-Business (BOB): The BOB transactions are taking place between business concerns I. E. Manufacturers, wholesalers, suppliers, distributors. Applications of e-commerce for BOB not only Involve efficient trading but also encompasses myriad of activities like forecasting of customer demand, flow of the needed information among concerned parties, etc.Transactions with ultimate consumers by manufacturers, middlemen, etc. Are however excluded from the area of BOB. 1. 2. 2 Business-to-consumer (BBC): BBC advert to a business transaction taking place between a manufacturer, or retailer on the one hand, and an ultimate consumer for non-business use, on the other hand. Opening an online store is not a big investment today for a SEEM. In developed countries retailers are selling wide range of products and services over the net.They consider web site as a major part of the promotional and advertising campaign along with the use of other tools such as advertising directories, newspaper advertising ND signage. A number of advantages accrue to both the retailers and consumers, Included among them are; Shopping can be faster and more convenient; re tailers get access to larger customer base: retailers can make approach not only to national but also to international customers; and incur lesser running cost than physical stores. There are also some challenges that are faced in e-commerce in using its BBC model.The two major hurdles that come across BBC e-commerce are, firstly, bringing and making large number of customers to buy online, and secondly, to make a customer loyal to your online store for a longer period of time. Small retailers mainly find it difficult to maintain their competitiveness due to the rapid changes taking place in technology, changing customer preferences and maintaining lower prices. Generally online customers are more price-conscious and are easily tempted by slightly lesser price, which makes It more difficult for retailers to retain online customers. . 2. 3 Business-to-Employees (BEE): BEE e-commerce generally refers to ordering for supplies by employees which they use in their jobs, but this concept has now really grown and includes much more. For very easily by using BEE e-commerce. These orders are completely electronic in tauter and supervisors are asked to approve these orders Just to monitor that employee does not exceeds its order limit. BEE allow the employee to access their own records in order to update address information, and maintain their internal resume.A major benefit that companies have got by adopting BEE technologies is that it has dramatically reduced the administrative cost and has also lowered the burden of human resources department for maintaining employees' information and records. 1. 2. 4 Consumer-to-Business (CB): CB e-commerce refers to a setting in which consumers decide what they want to ay, and the vendors decide whether, or not to accept the consumer ‘s bid. The following is an example of CB. A person wants to fly from Appeaser to Karachi, but has only RSI. 8000 in the bank account to make the payment for this round- trip.He advertises on an Internet CB site, looking for airlines that are offering this round trip for RSI. 8000, or less. The main feature of the Internet here is that it creates a segment of customers with specific need of services in which a number of airliners will be interested in offering those services. 1. 2. 5 Consumer-to-consumer (ICC): ICC e-commerce refers to a setting where consumers among themselves buy and sell goods. The most popular example of ICC e-commerce is â€Å"e-bay', it is a website which brings a large number of people from all over America and I-J, provide them a platform where they can auction their personal belongings.This concept has also been adopted in Pakistan. Most popular example from Pakistan would be â€Å"Passels. Com† where cars are being auctioned by their owners, and are purchased by other consumers. ICC e-commerce has its own advantages, including the following are some: access to broader market, no intermediary is involved, convenient or buyers to search the product they are looking for with the required specifications. Other than five major types of e-commerce, the following are the names of some not so popular types of e?commerce which are not meant for commercial use.Government-to-Government (EGG), Government-to-Employee (GEE), Government-to- Business (BOB), Business-to-Government (826), Government-to-citizen (EGG), Citizen- to-Government (COG), are amongst these modes of commerce. These modes are mainly used for administrative work such as registrations to licenses renewal, filing taxes to businesses, etc. This research is mainly related to Business to Consumer (BBC) e-commerce which is commonly known as E-tailing or virtual storefront.So before proceeding forward in the report it would be better to first explain E-tailing briefly and review its history. 1. 3 E-Tailing: E-tailing (electronic retailing) is the selling of consumer products on the net, examples of goods commonly transacted includes books, garments, games, fashion acce ssories, etc. The idea of E-tailing was one of the talked about topic, whenever discussions related to internet took place among economists, analysts and entrepreneurs back in the year 1995. E-tailing is synonymous with business-to- consumer (BBC) transaction.E-tailing began to work for some big companies and some Seems in America in the year 1997 when Dell Computer reported that multimillion dollar orders were taken at its Web site. In the same year Barnes and Nobles e-tail site was launched. This website was launched in haste after watching e-tail site was opened on the same footings as that of Amazon. In the year 1997 many companies biblically announced their achievements they had made in their e-tailing business, for example sale of the millionth car over the web by Auto-By-Tell, and Nielsen Media's recorded 10 million people purchasing goods on the Web in the same year.Growing popularity of e-tailing resulted in the development of software programs that were used for creating o nline catalogs, and also had management tools that will help businesses that are operating on the internet. 1. 4 Key drivers of E-tailing: Different key drivers of E-tailing are identified by many researchers over the years because the understanding of these key factors, E-tailing trends in different countries can easily be analyzed. The following are some of the main key drivers that are generally discussed by many writers and researchers.

The Impact of the Internet on Traditional News Media Research Paper - 1

The Impact of the Internet on Traditional News Media - Research Paper Example Introduction The widespread use of internet has drastically changed the conventions of different news media. The cyber world has hastened the pace and spread of news in an amazing manner which downgraded even the scope of scoops. The advent of internet has thus marked a lot of changes in news media and subverted even the concepts of news upside down. The impact of internet on TV and Print media The vast and ever spreading world of cyber space contributed a lot to the growth of news media and triggered a revolution in the field of communication system. For a journalist, let him associate with either print media or visual media, internet is a powerful source to collect news. In olden days, as we know, the exchange of messages was carried out by the so-called messengers. Later postal system came into exist which made the communication system a little bit comfortable to share something between two people of different corners. The inventions of telegraph and wireless technological system opened the new vistas of exposition and exchange. In modern epoch, for any person who wants to know more about a topic or a news event can easily find out the detailed information by logging on websites. Thus, internet is undoubtedly a good source of news for both the reader and the journalist. In olden days the prime source of news for the newspapers was only the reporters deployed in the diffe rent places.

Marketing Strategies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 70

Marketing Strategies - Essay Example Next success opportunity is the legality of meat importation to the U.S. Apparently, Ruth Chris restaurant model only uses USDA Prime beef and export them to target markets in different countries. The marketing group is currently finding favor in Australia market. Customers from Australia market share a high standard of the US thus becoming a potential market for Ruth’s restaurant. The highly populated urban area serves a better place for business prosperity. High population creates a pool of potential buyers of beef. Disposable income of an extremely populated area facilitates growth and expansion of the market. The marketing team has to ascertain the rate of responsiveness of people towards beef eating. Other criteria Ruth should have considered in conquering new markets include pricing strategies. Affordable and attractive prices may help in hedging out competitors. Embracing product differentiation by improving features, implementing innovations during the manufacturing process will assist in penetrating new markets. The riskiest option is Diversification model. Diversification model involves new kind of restaurants in new markets (Kupetz & Apont, 2006). A new market has various challenges as the products may fail to diffuse. Customers who express utmost loyalty to specific brands may not quickly adapt to new products introduced in new markets. There are series of a cost associated with the development of new products such as promotion and other overhead fees. Initiating a new product in the green market is likely to fail because of competition and more costs. The most risk-averse is penetration model where existing products sell in the same market. Products have loyal buyers thus a reduction of costs such as promotional fees and other marketing related costs.  Ã‚  

Accounting Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Accounting Theory - Essay Example Laan (2009) argues that the two theories namely Stakeholder and Legitimacy, derived from the broader political economy perspective, broadly explain motivations for social disclosures. The paper aims at exploring whether the main motivation to corporations for social and environmental reporting is to enhance their corporate image and credibility with stakeholders. While a few decades back, corporations sole aim remained enhancing shareholder value in financial terms and report them as per the statutory norms, organisations have now moved beyond traditional financial reporting of their performance to its stakeholders. Currently, stakeholders group not merely constitute shareholders, employees, suppliers, creditors, customers but they also include society, community and all those who are affected by the operations of the organization. Corporate social reporting thus, has occupied a wider perspective. Stakeholder theory prescribes that all stakeholders including primary and secondary have the right to expect fair treatment from an organisation. That is to say management needs to manage the corporation such that interests of all stakeholders are secured. Community or Society at large may not be directly engaged in transactions with the corporation yet they are influenced and affected by the activities of corporations such as emission levels, waste water creation and its treatment, impact on ecology or surroundings and so on. Ethical branch of stakeholder theory also necessitates that community and society not only have a right to know how they are affected or impacted in the long run from the activities of corporations but also they expect that they must be treated fairly by corporation. At the same time, managerial branch of stakeholder theory explains that organisations prefer to provide social and environmental reporting when they believe that it is in their

Capital Asset Pricing Model Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Capital Asset Pricing Model - Essay Example The Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) is a liaison involving risk and return on a portfolio of investments. Sharpe, William F (1964, pp. 425-442) formulated the CAPM hypothesis. It is the groundwork of modern finance which puts forward that the risk premium of a single asset is equal to its beta times the risk premium of the market portfolio on the whole. Beta computes the level of inter-movement of the asset's return and the total return on the entire market portfolio of an investor. Put differently, beta measures the organized risk of an asset which is nothing but the quantity of risk and it cannot be spread. Frank J. Fabozzi and Harry Markowitz (2002, p.67) define CAPM as "The anticipated return for an asset according to CAPM is equal risk free rate plus a risk premium". They further state that "even though the idea is not true it does not mean that the constructs introduced by the theory are not important. Constructs introduced in the development of theory include the notion of a market portfolio, systematic risk, diversifiable risks and beta." The entire movement of the market is enlarged with stocks which possess betas greater than 1.0. Stocks which have betas between 0 and 1.0 are inclined to go in the same route as the market. Certainly, the market is the collection of all stocks, and hence the standard stock has a beta of 1.0 Risk is best adjudicated in the context of a portfolio of securities. Part of the ambiguity about a sureties return is branched out when security is sorted with other assets in a portfolio. It can be said that diversification is the best for the investors undoubtedly. This does not entail that business firms have to diversify. Corporate variegation is superfluous if capitalists can broaden on their personal account. Frank J Fabozzi and Pamela P Peterson (2003, p 299) state that "Though it lacks realism and is difficult to apply, the CAPM makes some sense regarding the role of diversification and the type of risks we need to consider in investment decisions." When an asset does contain a factor of market risk, CAPM submits that it should make a risk premium impartial to the sum of market risk mused in the asset. If the fundamental market has an amount of return vagueness, it can be assumed that the market return will be greater than the risk gratis return. This is the surplus market return. To obtain the additive surplus return, the marked is levered with the market return either up or down by the level of market risk disclosure intrinsic in the asset (Bruce J Feible, 2003, p. 192). The most frequently used gauge of risk or unpredictability in finance is standard deviation. This is because 'the return on a portfolio is a weighted average of the returns of individual assets'

Social problems Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Social problems - Coursework Example On the other hand, the subjective element of social problems refers to the belief that a certain social condition is harmful to the society, or to a section of the society and it can be changed. Problems such as drug addiction, poverty, crime and pollution do exist. These conditions are not considered as social problems but they can cause a lot of destruction is a society (Eitzen and Zinn 2). What is the difference between norm violations and social conditions as types of social problems? Which is a person blame and which a systems blame approach? Why doe the authors of this book believe the focus should be on social conditions (system blame) rather than norm violations (person blame)? Do you agree with them? Why or why not? As social problems, norm violations tend to assume that there is a standard behavior. People studying norm violations are normally interested in failures in the society criminals, the school dropouts, and the mental ill. On the other hand, norm violations are symptoms of social problems and not the problem itself. For example, deviants are victims who need to entirely carry the blame. The second type of social problems involves conditions that tend to cause material and psychic suffering for some people. In addition, there is the person-blame approach which is the approach of understanding people’s social problems. In this approach, those who deviate are considered as the source of trouble. The authors of this book believe that the focus should be on system blame and not person blame since blaming an individual gives the government a chance to take control of dissidents more easily. In most cases, deviants are normally sent to hospitals or prisons for rehabilitation. It is th erefore right for the authors to base on system blame (Eitzen and Zinn 4). Welfare state capitalism is a type of capitalism is a type of capitalism that has

Cote dIvoire (Ivory Coast) - Country with High Mortality Assignment

Cote dIvoire (Ivory Coast) - Country with High Mortality - Assignment Example Cote d’Ivoire is one of the countries with high mortality rates in the world because of factors, such as malaria, diarrheal diseases, high illiteracy rates and poor health care system among others. As such, the country has a poor health statistics that needs to be addressed to achieve the needs and requirements of a healthy population. The paper aims at discussing why the Republic of CÃ ´te d’Ivoire is rated, according to 2010 statistical estimates, among the countries with the high mortality. This will be through an in-depth analysis of causal factors, affected populations, most impacted ages and group categories as well as socio-economic, political and environmental factors. Provision of requisite countermeasures will be proposed, with the paper drawing a conclusive analysis of the physical and mental health and well-being of the nation. According to UNICEF (2013), the per capita status of the nation is ranked at ‘lower middle’ with a majority percentage of the population being urban dwellers. Statistically, the population portion of the young is placed at an approximate 65% with those aged between the ages of 30 and 70 years comprising an approximated 30%. As of 2007, the percentage population growth rate was at 2.4% with life expectancy rates being placed at 48 years. In terms of national total fertility rates (per woman), it is approximated at (4.5 children per woman), which is relatively low as compared to its neighboring states. The nation’s HIV prevalence rate is placed at 3.9 %, which is relatively better than the average rate of the African continent (UNICEF, 2013). In terms of infant (

Cross-Cultural Interview Essay Example for Free

Cross-Cultural Interview Essay The cultural heritage is the things, places and practices that define who we are as individuals, as communities, as nations or civilizations and as a species. It is that which we want to keep, share and pass on. 1. Interview a person form a different cultural heritage and gather information on the following areas. a. With which ethnic / racial / cultural group does this person Identify?ANSWER: The person that I chose to interview is Mrs. Chambers. Mrs. Chambers is identified with the cultural and racial group known as African American or Black. This identity is also traditionally traced back to the beginning of the United States of America Historical Roots of people identified from Africa. b. Which areas of the person’s culture is identified with pride?ANSWER: Mrs. Chambers has an identifiable historical culture pride which includes among other things overcoming obstacles such as racial discrimination along the lines of social and economically disadvantages and discriminatory practices against her cultural heritage for over 100 years. c. What religious beliefs are central to this cultural group? ANSWER: Mrs. Chambers’s heritage generally believes that church is the key to its foundation and is of the corporate faith that God the Father has sent as a Savior of the World His only Begotten Son who is Named Jesus Christ. The cultural group also recognizes several other denominational and religious groups whose primary beliefs are similar to Mrs. Chambers, such as Baptist, Holiness, Pentecostal, Methodist, and several other denominational and non-denominational groups throughout the world. This is known as â€Å"sheep of other fold† as well as other brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. d. What difficulties has this person experienced because of his / her cultural tradition? ANSWER: Difficulties that Mrs. Chambers cultural group has experience as a direct result of her cultural traditions, among other things, include racial inequalities and discriminatory practices against them. Most notably are the inhuman treatment of her cultural group because of African American Traditions such as Involuntary Slavery; mistreatments such as lynching of black men, raping of black women by white masters who own the slaves and the plantations. e. What difficulties does this person experience as a result of the attitudes / behaviors of persons from other cultures?ANSWER: Mrs. Chambers has experience multiple attitudes and adverse behaviors in her cultural group not only because of her race, but also because of her gender. She has experience racial discrimination with regards to employment, promotions, and equal pay for the same type work as her white male counterpart. She has experience employment discrimination and harassment as a result of her cultural heritage and reli gious beliefs. Too many adversities regarding her ethnicity and cultural heritage to list. But time has brought about a change to the many adversities of life as a result of Mrs. Chambers cultural group. Education has played a major role in the incorporation of new attitudes and behaviors, such as cultural diversity training. f. How do people within this person’s cultural group help with personal problems? ANSWER: Mrs. Chambers’s cultural group previously believed that it was taboo to seek any types of counseling because it held the belief that it was a strong and independent cultural group that relied upon the healing hand of Jesus Christ. Therefore, it was almost unheard of for a person to seek any types of counseling for problems. After this taboo was rightfully dismissed, the cultural group sought a networking among its own cultural group but later realized that other groups may have experience similar problems who reached out to the cultural groups as a means of combating the social and economic problems within the cultural family and community. g. Under what circumstance would members of this cultural group consider counseling for personal / family problems? ANSWER: Mrs. Chambers believes that under the circumstances, members of her cultural group consider counseling for personal and family problems because of all the latest technological advancements in our society. Training and education is the key to a newly and wide acceptance of counseling. People are sincerely reaching out to professional in the field of counseling and psychology as a direct result of the advance technology and scientific studies on the subject. h. What would make counseling more attractive to this group as a means to deal with problems? ANSWER: Mrs. Chambers believes that with that latest advancements and information related to education at all levels of our society; counseling has received high marks as a direct result of its integrity and scientific research as well as proven effectiveness to our families, communities, society, and world in which we live. The result of this cross-cultural interview shows us the importance to be knowledgeable about different cultures in order to understand and appreciate them. We cannot appreciate something that we ignore. In fact, this nation is created and well defined as an immigrant nation which enriches our environment with a variety of several cultures. This interview enriched me when I decided to know a little bit more about the heritage of this African American lady who was willing to portrait openly her beliefs, values, and courage despite of her trials in life. Veronica Chambers is an overcomer woman who embraced her dreams made them reality. Through the sufferings in her life, she was able to accomplish her Master Degree in Organizational Management in Leadership. Furthermore, she has been serving the Lord all her life, and encouraging people around her; she has also accepted her calling from the Lord and now she is in the position of a pastor’s wife. In conclusion, the lack of knowledge stops people to defeat the racism, discrimination, and stereotypes in our today society. In my opinion, individuals need to be well educated in multicultural perspectives in order to create a unique and valuable environment appreciating one another. REFERENCES http://www.canberra.edu.au/centres/donald-horne/cultural-heritage/what-is

Bascule Bridge Design and Construction

Bascule Bridge Design and Construction â€Å"DOUBLE LEAF BASCULE BRIDGE† 1. OBJECTIVES: Become familiar with the wood work. Become familiar with lathe machine and drilling machine. Build a simple pulley. 2. INTRODUCTION: A bascule bridge (commonly referred to as a drawbridge) is a moveable bridge with a counterweight that continuously balances a span, or leaf, throughout its upward swing to provide clearance for boat traffic. It may be single or double leafed. 3. METHOD: Cut out an arch with the scroll saw from the 5-by-7-by-2-inch block of pine wood. Make the arch about 3 inches wide and 4 inches high. Be sure to cut in the longest direction, so that the bottom of the arch becomes the bottom of the tower, and there is 3 inches left above the top of the arch. Measure and mark with the pencil every 1/2 inch across the top of the tower, above the arch. At every other mark, cut a notch 1/2 inch deep and 1/2 inch wide with the scroll saw. These are the tower battlements. Center the tower on the 5-by-10-by-1/2-inch block and nail the two pieces together through the bottom to form the tower base. Lay down the two 4-by-1/2-by-1/2-inch blocks parallel to each other 3 inches apart on your work surface. Lay the eight 4-by-1/2-by-1/8-inch strips across the two blocks. Attach the strips to the blocks with finishing nails. This is your drawbridge. Turn over the drawbridge and tap in two finishing nails, one into each block, as close to the ends as you can without splitting the wood. Leave the nails sticking out past the edges of the drawbridge, about 1/4 inch. This will be the pivot end of your gate. Tap in two more finishing nails, one into each block, about 1/2 inch from the end opposite the pivot end of the drawbridge. Leave the nails sticking past the edges about 1/4 inch. Lay the drawbridge, block side down, on the tower base in front of the tower. Place an upholstery staple over the protruding nails on the pivot end and gently tap the staples into the tower base. This should hold the drawbridge in place while allowing it to rotate freely into open and shut positions. Adjust the staples and nails if needed. Tap two finishing nails into the tower, one on either side at the top of the arch. Make sure they are spaced 4 inches apart, as wide as the drawbridge. Angle the nails at about 45 degrees, and leave half of each nail sticking up. Attach one end of each chain to the nails at the top of the arch. Attach the other ends to the drawbridge. Stain the wood with the paintbrush, then allow to dry. 4. DISCUSSION: SAMPLE DIAGRAM: TERMS AND EXPLANATION: PRACTICAL INFORMATION ABOUT BASCULE BRIDGES: Almost all double leaf bascule bridges consist of two cantilever spans projected toward each other, connected at their tips by a suitable shear lock. Other types of double leaf bascule are comparatively rare, such as those which form arch bridges in the closed position, and are not the topic of this discussion. Double leaf bascule bridges are possibly the least practical, from a maintenance and operation standpoint, of all commonly used types of modern era movable bridges. They use two separate moving leaves when one would do, with all the associated expense in construction, operation, and maintenance of two totally independent movable bridge leaves. They also join these two moving leaves together for the support of live load, compounding the difficulties. There are advantages to double leaf bascules: they can open and close somewhat more quickly than any other type of movable bridge; a double leaf bascule is less affected by wind loads than a single leaf bascule spanning the same channel width; they use slightly less structural steel than other types of movable bridges with the same load rating spanning the same width of navigation channel; double leaf bascules are less susceptible to collision with vessels navigating past them than other movable bridge types, and they are generally consid ered more aesthetically pleasing than other types of movable bridges. One might ask, however, whether these advantages are worth putting up with the additional complications, particularly in regard to stabilizing the structures under live load. Double leaf bascule bridges, more so than most other movable bridge types, frequently have problems with seating. These problems arise from several sources. The bridge may be carrying live loads larger than those designed for, overstressing the support system. The bridge stabilizing devices may have suffered deterioration so that they cannot contain the forces imposed on them. The bridge stabilizing devices may be improperly adjusted so that they do not perform their intended function. The entities which contribute to stability of a double leaf bascule include: live load shoes which form stops for each moving leaf as it attains its seated position; center or shear locks forming a vertical tie between the two leaves of a double leaf bascule bridge when in the closed position; live load anchors which are capable of exerting a downward force at the rear of bridge counterweight; tail locks Which form a shear connection at or near the rear of the bridge counterweight, and adjustment of th e balance of the moving leaf about its axis of rotation. Bascule is French for see-saw. All modern bascule bridges consist of a large moving mass of superstructure, deck, and counterweight, which can be considered balanced for structural purposes. The span can be considered essentially rigid for balancing purposes, as it rotates between opened and closed positions. This applies whether it is a simple trunnion leaf, or a rolling lift of the Scherzer or Ball type. It also applies to the many variations on the articulated counterweight type, as developed by Strauss and others, with the counterweight pivoting about an axis or arc separate from the bridge leaf. An exception to this rule are bascules with operating struts or ropes such as many heel trunnions, some early Scherzer rolling lifts, and others, which do not add simply to the balancing calculations, as they move in a different path than the superstructure. The operating strut could be heavy enough to have a noticeable effect on the balance, but this usually only happens with single lea f railroad bridges. Heel trunnion and articulated counterweight bascule bridges have the counterweight rotating about an axis separate from the leaf itself. The counterweight is always in a fixed position with regard to gravitational moment relative to the bascule span on these bridges, due to the parallelogram arrangement of the pivot points. Double leaf bascule bridges become unstable because they are poorly designed, poorly constructed, or poorly maintained. They are more susceptible to deficiencies from these causes because they are more delicate than other common types of movable bridges. It is very difficult to correct the faults of a poorly designed bridge, but sometimes possible to correct construction defects. It is very difficult to correct the results of poor maintenance except by replacing the components affected. A properly designed double leaf bascule bridge should be very rigid, particularly in regard to primary live load deflections. The leaves of the double leaf bascule should be firmly supported on very solid live load shoes located adjacent to the pier sea wall, as far as possible from the center of rotation. The balance of the double leaf bascule should be such that a dead load reaction exists on the live load shoes, when the bridge is closed, that is substantially in excess of any possible negative reaction, from live load or other sources. The roadway surfaces of the double leaf bascule should be formed so that there is no misalignment at the joints, either at the heels of the leaves or at the toes. This applies to profile as well as elevation the vertical curve should be continuous from one leaf to the other and from each leaf to its approach. Tail locks should be provided as a backup to the stabilization achieved by balancing. The tail locks should firmly grasp the tail end of each leaf with minimum clearances and hold it in the closed position. This will eliminate the possibility of drive machinery being damaged due to live load deflection. CONCLUSION AND RECCOMENDATION: Double leaf bascule bridges become unstable because they are poorly designed, poorly constructed, or poorly maintained. They are more susceptible to deficiencies from these causes because they are more delicate than other common types of movable bridges. It is very difficult to correct the faults of a poorly designed bridge, but sometimes possible to correct construction defects. It is very difficult to correct the results of poor maintenance except by replacing the components affected. A properly designed double leaf bascule bridge should be very rigid, particularly in regard to primary live load deflections. The leaves of the double leaf bascule should be firmly supported on very solid live load shoes located adjacent to the pier sea wall, as far as possible from the center of rotation. The balance of the double leaf bascule should be such that a dead load reaction exists on the live load shoes, when the bridge is closed, that is substantially in excess of any possible negative reaction, from live load or other sources. The roadway surfaces of the double leaf bascule should be formed so that there is no misalignment at the joints, either at the heels of the leaves or at the toes. This applies to profile as well as elevation the vertical curve should be continuous from one leaf to the other and from each leaf to its approach. rail locks should be provided as a backup to the stabilization achieved by balancing. The tail locks should firmly grasp the tail end of each leaf with minimum clearances and hold it in the closed position. This will eliminate the possibility of drive machinery being damaged lue to live load deflection. Movable bridges have been an important part of our nation’s infrastructure for centuries. They present unique challenges to the structural engineer and require extensive coordination of the  structural, mechanical, and electrical systems to achieve a durable and operationally reliable structure. FINAL PROJECT: REFERENCES: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bascule_bridge http://heavymovablestructures.org/assets/technical_papers/00525.pdf

Graphical User Interface For The 3 Axis Cnc Milling Machine Computer Science Essay

Graphical User Interface For The 3 Axis Cnc Milling Machine Computer Science Essay This paper details the design and development of a Graphical User Interface for the 3-Axis CNC Milling Machine, which was designed in-house for testing and research purposes at the University of the South Pacific. The 3-axis CNC Milling Machine used COM Port terminal software, TeraTerm to communicate with the electronics hardware via RS232 link. The GUI was developed using Microsoft ® Visual Basic 2008 Integrated Development Environment. The end result is an interface that is user friendly and is capable of controlling various tasks of the Milling Machine. This paper aims to explain how simple components of Microsoft ® Visual Basic 2008 has been used to design a Windows ® based user interface which is capable of complete control of CNC milling machine. Keywords: GUI, Serial Port, CNC, G Codes, STEP NC 1. INTRODUCTION Over the years a number of methods have been developed to control machine tools. The most widespread used throughout the industry is the G Code language for NC machine tools programming. It is based on the data model stipulated by ISO6983, and has been used for over 50 years [1]. G codes, however, limits the usage of todays fast evolving high-performance hardware [2]. The latest development in NC machine tools programming is ISO 14649 or STEP NC. It is a new standard for data transferring between CAD/CAM systems and CNC machines. It remedies the shortcomings of ISO 6983 by specifying the machining processes rather than machine toolmotion by means of Workingstep, as the basic entity [1] Whichever method of programming NC machine tools is used, it is always important to verify the program before doing actual testing. Verification of NC part programs using a PC is inexpensive compared to testing on model parts. Cutting simulation as a means of testing and verifying NC cutting paths has become an important part of modern machining [3]. With the latest advancements in PC technology and 3D graphics it is much easier to simulate NC cutting paths. A common CNC executes G-code programs, which are generated as a result of planning and scheduling in CAM tools [4]. However an interface is required to send or execute NC part program to the CNC. The user interface is the communication Tool between the operator and the PC-based CNC drilling machine, via the computer screen [5]. The recent advancement in software development technology using Object Oriented Programming (OOP) has made it possible to create simple user interface with a sound communication link to control NC machines. In 2002 [5], a GUI was developed at the University of the South Pacific for a PC-Based computer numeric control drilling machine. The platform for the graphical user interface (GUI) was written in Borlands new rapid application product, C++ Builder ®. Gordon and Hillery [6] developed a Windows ® based graphical user interface for their CNC cutting machine. The user interface communicated with the machine via RS232 serial link. The programming environment used was Borland C++ Builder 3, which allowed the visual development of the program interface. The user interface developed also had features for homing the three axes, editing of NC part program (G Codes) and also previewing the two dimensional cutter motion. This paper mainly focuses on the design of the Graphical User Interface (GUI) for the 3-Axis CNC milling machine. The user interface has been designed in Microsoft ® Visual Basic 2008 Integrated Development Environment (IDE). The features of the GUI are explained in detail. 2. OVERVIEW OF CNC MILLING MACHINE The CNC Milling Machine was designed in-house at the School of Engineering and Physics (SEP) at the University of the South Pacific (USP), for testing and research purposes. It uses an absolute three dimensional coordinate system to create its tool path. It sequentially passes instructions which are in the form of three dimensional coordinates to the Milling Machine for controlling the tool, similar to how G Codes are used. The operational framework of the CNC milling machine is shown in Figure 2.1. It consists of a dedicated PC running Graphical User Interface Software which is used to upload a text file containing X, Y and Z coordinates. It also has features to control the milling operations and to get a two dimensional cutter path preview. The software is linked to the electronics hardware via RS232 serial link. Figure 2.1 Operational framework of the CNC Milling Machine The current CNC Milling machine is only capable of linear interpolation (G01), in terms of G Codes, or moving linearly from one point in the three dimensional space to the next point. To mill different geometries other than straight lines the milling machine has to be given a number of coordinate points which can be used to approximate that particular geometry. For instance to mill a curve the milling machine needs to be given a set of points which lie on the curve. Similar method was used by Min-Yang Yang and Won-Pyo Hong [7] in their three dimensional linear interpolation algorithm. The CNC Milling Machine uses an absolute three dimensional coordinate system (X, Y, and Z) for its tool path generation. The three dimensional coordinates are defined in a text file. Each of the three coordinates has three characters in the text file for instance the X coordinate 0 is defined as 000 in the text file. The Basic Length Unit (BLU) is in millimeters. The electronics architecture of the CNC milling machine consisted of five PIC microcontrollers (PIC16F877) in a distributed architecture, with one master controller and several slave controllers. The master controller of the CNC Milling Machine consists of a PIC16F877 microcontroller which is responsible for coordinating and controlling the overall operations of the Machine. It is the central intelligence system of the CNC Milling Machine. It receives its commands from the user through a user interface and commands other co PIC16F877 Microcontrollers in a distributed architecture to carry out their respective tasks. The mechanical hardware consists of three stepper motors which drive the three axis of the CNC Milling Machine. It also has a 24V DC Motor which is the spindle motor. The worktable consists of clamps to clamp the workpiece firmly on the worktable. For feedback, the machine constitutes of limit switches which control the limit of the worktable. 3. USER INTERFACE Until recently, the CNC machine was using COM port terminal software, TeraTerm, to communicate with Master Controller via RS232 link. The GUI was designed to provide a user friendly interface instead of typing coordinates in TeraTerm. The GUI was designed using Microsoft ® Visual Basic 2008 and coded in BASIC (Beginners All purpose Symbolic Instruction Code). The overall design of the main form of the user interface is shown in Figure 3.1. Figure 3.1 Main form of the GUI It was decided to incorporate the following features in the GUI Opening of text file which contains the coordinates. Previewing of coordinate file (or tool path) in two dimensional X and Y axis Communication with the CNC Machine via RS232 link Milling control features such as homing, manual jog etc Displaying coordinate file 3.1 File Input The GUI contains a MenuStrip at the top of the main form on which there are three menus, File, Setup and Help. The File menu contains an Open menu which opens a file browser window as shown in Figure 3.1.1. The software utilizes an OpenFileDialog control of Visual basic 2008 to prompt the user for the files path. It allowed the user to choose which text file to open in the program. The OpenFileDialog control contains the Filter property which was used to control the type of file to be opened in the program. The only extension allowed was the *.txt. The ShowDialog() method was used to display the Open Coordinate File dialog box on the screen. The FileName property was used to get the path specified by the user. The dialog box is shown in figure 3.1.1 Figure 3.1.1 Open Coordinate File dialog box After getting the path from the user, the program used a FileOpen() function to open the file specified by the user. The end of file function, EOF() was used to iterate through the file until the no more coordinates are left. The LineInput() function was used get a line of coordinates into a string variable. This string variable was then extracted to get the X, Y and Z coordinates in a separate array. The array containing the X, Y and Z coordinate was then used later to generate two dimensional previews and to send to the CNC milling machine. Finally the FileClose() function closes the text file. 3.2 Tool Path Preview The graphical user interface that is designed also contains a two dimensional preview feature which can be used to preview the path taken by the milling tool on the workpiece. The GUI uses the system.drawing.graphics namespace to create tool path. The preview panel, as shown in figure 3.2.1, gives a two dimensional (X, Y) preview of the tool path which will be followed by the cutting tool. It is also to check and verify that the input text file does not contain errors. A Preview command button is used to generate preview. This is activated only when a valid coordinate file is loaded. The GUI utilizes system.drawing namespace which includes system.drawing.graphics class to draw the preview. The DrawLines() method was used to draw a series of lines according to the X and Y coordinates in the coordinate file. Figure 3.2.1 Tool Path Preview control The use of three-dimensional absolute coordinate system has made the previewing algorithm much easier since the preview is two dimensional (X, Y), the program utilizes these X and the Y coordinates to draw a preview of the shape in the preview panel. Once the Preview command button is clicked, the btnPreview_Click event procedure gets the array containing the X and Y coordinates which was previously read from the text file. The procedure then used these coordinates as points to draw a series of lines using the DrawLines() method. Since absolute coordinates are used, the lines connect from the end point of the first X, Y coordinate to the start point of the next X, Y coordinate. In this way the path taken by the cutter is drawn by connecting the series of points. 3.3 Milling Controls The GUI on the main form contained a group box with a number of command buttons for commanding the milling machine. The Home command button was used to command the milling machine to rapidly move to its home position. Figure 3.3.1 Milling Control panel The advantage of using a software interface to control the CNC Milling Machine is that it acts like a control panel of the CNC which resides on the PC. Several command buttons have been used on the main form to command the CNC Milling Machine to carry out various tasks. The Home command button is used to command the CNC Milling Machine to move to its home position. The milling control also contains a command button Start to run or to send the coordinates to the milling machine to start milling. The flowchart in figure 3.3.2 shows this. Figure 3.3.2 Flowchart showing the start subroutine 4. COMMUNICATIONS The user interface for controlling the milling machine resides on a dedicated PC. Therefore there should be some means of communication between the software and the electronics hardware. A standard desktop personal computer consists of several communications ports. These include parallel port (LPT1), serial port (COM), PS/2 ports and Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports. Serial port communications has been used to with the electronics hardware. The Serial port or RS232 has several port settings that need to be set. The advantage of this obsolete technology is that it best suits the application we are designing, and the amount of data that needs to be sent to and from the milling machine. Figure 4.1 shows the dialog box that appears to the user when the user chooses Serial Port from the Setup Menu. On this dialogue box the user can choose the port settings. The reason for including this control is so that the application may work on different PCs. The default port setting is shown in figure 4.1. Figure 4.1 Serial Port Configuration dialog box The communications via RS232 was made possible using the system.IO.ports namespace, and the SerialPort class of Visual Basic 2008. The SerialPort class consisted of properties/attributes, methods and events which was used in the communication algorithm. The ReadExisting() method was used to read data from the PCs serial port receive buffer (Rx). The Write() method was used to send string data to the electronics of the CNC Milling Machine. The flowchart in figure 4.2 demonstrates how the communication to the milling machine is made when the user clicks ok on the dialog box in figure 4.1. Figure 4.2 Flowchart showing the communication algorithm followed. 5. TESTING AND DEBUGGING One problem faced during the development and testing of the GUI was run time errors or exceptions. Runtime errors or exceptions occur as a result of normal operating conditions [8]. For example errors when the GUI is trying to open a COM port which is being used by another program. The problem was overcome using structured error handling or the Try†¦Catch code block in Visual Basic. The GUI used message boxes to display appropriate messages to the users when an exception occurred and allowed the program to continue. The preview part of the GUI was tested by opening a text file containing 165 X, Y, Z points. These points resembled a circle in two dimensional (X, Y) planes. The result is depicted in Figure 5.1 which shows the tool path generated on the preview panel. Figure 5.1 Tool Path preview showing the preview of a circle Furthermore, the same file was used to mill a circle on softwood with the following settings: Feedrate 75mm/min Spindle Speed 2500RPM Cutting Tool Diameter 5mm The result is shown in Figure 5.2. The result shows that the Graphical User Interface made no errors while sequentially sending coordinates to the milling machine. Figure 5.2 Output of the CNC Milling Machine 6. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK Based on the result in the previous section of this paper, it can be concluded that the GUI design was successful. The GUI was able to communicate with the electronics hardware of the CNC Milling Machine using RS232 serial link. The preview algorithm of the program also worked well. Finally the GUI was able to sequentially send (X, Y, and Z) coordinates representing cutter path in three dimensional space, to the CNC Milling machine. However, a number of tasks can be carried out in the future to improve the performance of the GUI and to enhance the output of the CNC Milling Machine. One such include the implementation of the industry standard G Codes which is based on ISO6983 data model, instead of X, Y, Z coordinate file. The G Code programming is a standardized way of controlling cutter motion. The CNC milling machine is capable of moving in steps as small as 1 tenth of a millimeter. Thus it is also recommended to improve the GUI so that it can cater for coordinates with one decimal point. The output of the CNC milling machine will improve drastically by having coordinates in mm to one decimal point. Another improvement that can be implemented on the GUI is using an abort button to cancel or abort the operations of the CNC Milling Machine. This is a standard safety feature which exists on most industrial machines including CNC machines.

The True Gentleman of Great Expectations :: Free Great Expectations Essays

The True Gentleman of Great Expectations To determine if someone is a gentleman, one must look within them and not focus upon their material wealth. In the novel Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens, three characters show qualities of a true gentleman. Pip, Joe, and Provis have true gentlemen-like characteristics, which are shown through the way they live and present themselves. Pip's actions towards others are those of an authentic gentleman. For example, when Provis is very ill and Pip is very kind and says, "I will never stir from your side" (891). This shows that Pip is willing to forget his own comforts and future plans to sit by Provis's side, making Provis's last days on earth comfortable. In addition, Pip saves Miss Havisham when she gets caught on fire: "I had a double-caped coat on...and I got them over her" and "she was insensible and I was afraid to have her moved or even touched" (875). This proves that Pip cares for other people, even if they have treated him poorly. When Pip helps Miss Havisham, it shows his consideration to those in need. Pip relieving Miss Havisham from the fire after she was "coarse and common" towards him, shows Pip has a favorable heart. In conclusion, Pip's behavior towards others is that of a gentleman because Pip treats others with tenderness and affection. Joe's actions are those of a true gentleman. For example, Joe defends Mrs. Joe from Orlick even though he is scared of Orlick himself: "What could the wretched Joe do now...but stand up to his journeyman...so, without so much as pulling off their singed and burnt aprons, they went at one another, like two giants" (773). Joe is intimidated by Orlick and by Joe defending Mrs. Joe from Orlick shows that Joe has courageousness. Joe is a benevolent person by stepping up to Orlick to help Mrs. Joe. In addition, Joe pays off Pip's debts and Pip finds "a receipt for which they had been paid off" (899). Joe paying off Pip's debts shows he is a helpful and caring person. Joe is being considerate by helping Pip become debt-free. It is ironic that Joe helps Pip because Pip hasn't been a considerate person to Joe but he helps Pip regardless.

Christianity and Liberalism by Gresham Machen-Machen Essay -- biography

Biography of Gresham Machen Machen was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1881. In 1898, Machen enrolled at Johns Hopkins University and became a brilliant scholar. In addition, Machen obtained theological studies in Germany in 1905 where he being thrown into confusion of his own faith because of the influence of the liberalism. After returning from Europe, In 1906, Machen join as an instructor in New Testament at Princeton Seminary. Machen’s work in the 1920s was divided between his time at Princeton Seminary and his political work with Presbyterians. In addition to Christianity and Liberalism, Machen works are such as The Origin of Paul’s Religion, What is Faith, New testament Greek for Beginners, The Virgin Birth of Christ, The Christian Faith in the Modern World, and The Christian View of Man. In 1923, Christianity and Liberalism was first published in a middle of major controversy in a Presbyterian church over the issue of theological liberalism. Throughout Machen’s entire carrier and all of his writings, he asked the same question: why does the liberal stay in church, when they don’t believe the history of Christianity. At the end result, Machen was kicked out from church by the liberals. He ended up leaving a seminary which was captured by the liberals and left a Presbyterian church which was also captured by the liberals. And he formed the Westminster Presbyterian Theological Seminary and as well as the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Machen died in 1937 at the age of 55. Purpose of Christianity and Liberalism The purpose of Christianity and Liberalism was to defend that orthodox Christianity and Liberalism are two distinct religions. Machen was conservatism, and in the book he compared the teaching of historic biblical Chr... ...spel. Machen argues the church should be open for individuals so that they can hear the Gospel and not establish a closed door policy to church service. However, Machen is critical and sensitive of the individuals who serve in the church. The church leaders should be ordained and must maintain the integrity of the church. Machen strongly encourages the church to carefully screen candidates for ordination to critically examine beliefs. As Machen discusses if one disagrees with the integrity of the church, the church should not accommodate the disagreement to keep the purity of the church. In conclusion, the church is appointed and maintained divinely body of regenerated believers who sustain the true doctrine of God, humanity, Scripture, Jesus Christ, and salvation which are absolutely non-negotiable. Works Cited Machen, J.G. (2011). Christianity and liberalism.

Apollo 13 Notes Essay

In the move Apollo 13 the stages of group development can be seen in the relationships with the Astronauts Lovell, Haise, Mattingly and Swigert. When we first see the Astronauts they are a well-oiled machine. They know each other’s movements and they can predict what one another is going to do next. The Astronauts are confident in each other which make them more confident in the success of their mission. Then Mattingly is removed from the mission just two days before take-off and replaced with Swigert, instantly the whole groups dynamic changes. Lovell and Haise do not trust Swigert and they are uncertain of his abilities. We can see how this uncertainty affects them as a team. In one scene when they are practicing in the simulator we can see how Lovell and Haise do not trust Swigert, how they feel he is a â€Å"Hot shot† and this ultimately leads to Swigert trying to prove himself and ends up killing them in the simulator. We see this strain again when they are aboard Apollo 13 when Swigert is told by Mission Control to stir the tanks and there is a malfunction. The first words out of Haise’s mouth directed toward Swigert are: †What did you do wrong?† This malfunction had nothing to do with Swigert’s experience. Because if Lovell or Haise were told to stir the tanks, no one would have questioned them. As the movie progresses we see Swigert is usually the odd man out when Lovell and Haise need to trust and depend on each other. The groups dynamic starts to shift the longer the men are aboard the ship in space. Swigert starts to become more of an asset instead of a liability when offering his expertise. When Mission Control finally figures out what is needed to do to get them back to Earth, Swigert is trusted by Lovell and Haise to run the protocol and ultimately is given the controls by Lovell to finally fly them home. By the end of the movie they are a solid team and trust each other. Swigert’s interpersonal needs are to be successful in his mission and be accepted by his team. His individual goal is to get to space. The groups goal is to work together so they can make it back home alive.

Angiomax Case Study

The healthcare industry is extremely different than any other industry in the business world. This, along with the benefits and pricing issues, make this case, on Angiomax, an interesting one to analyze. In determining pricing, positioning, and target markets, it is important to not only understand the product but also look at competition and the chain of users, or the buyers, decision makers, and users, as all are very different in this case, as opposed to many industries when all three of these roles may be portrayed by the same individual(s). Before pricing can be looked at, it is important to determine who the product should be targeted towards. There were a number of studies done by Biogen (the company that created Angiomax) of angioplasty patients which showed that the obvious target should be very high risk patients (patients who had previously had heart attacks within two weeks) due to the significant improvement those patients experienced upon taking doses of Angioplasty as opposed to Heparin, the standard medication which was much less expensive but not as effective. Angioplasty did not show as much significant improvement over Heparin for those lower risk patients. The pricing structure should be based on Angiomax’s value propositions. For the end user, or those high risk patients, Angiomax gives the benefits of (1) more predictable results than Heparin, (2) much lower risk of death, and (3) less prevalent complications and thus less time in the hospital than Heparin patients. However, clearly, the buyer or the hospitals, have more power than end users in the decision making. The value proposition for the lead users, or buyers, is as follows: (1) more predictable results than those of Heparin, (2) Fewer costs of addition complications that are standard with Heparin, (3) Fewer complications from Angiomax leads to better reputation of doctors and hospital, and (4) fewer complications leads to more open beds which means more patients can be served (and more money made). Based on these value propositions, Angiomax should clearly be priced at a premium. It is difficult to price this drug because of its high R&D costs, long development cycle, short period of patent protection, and low FDA approval rate. Furthermore, in order for Angiomax to be successful it must steal market share from the current drug on the market- Heparin, which is priced at $2 per dose versus Angiomax’s $40 per dose. However, Angiomax must educate the buyers and doctors on the enormous value that will be derived from using Angiomax over its competitor. Some rough numbers can be shown to these doctors or managers to show that the cost of complications for Heparin users if $110,252,800 versus Angiomax users at $40,185,600 resulting in savings of $70,067200, which, upon dividing by the 700 major health centers results in $100,096 savings per year. Based on this and a breakeven analysis, in which you analyze the cost of complications + number of patients in the centers and the cost of Heparin, it can be determine that at the price of $835. 4, hospitals can breakeven. Therefore, the price cap is $835. 0, but I think that Angiomax should be priced much lower, at about $400 in order to much more efficiently gain market share since the patent protection is relatively low. Furthermore, the drug can be charged at a premium due to the lack of price sensitivity from price sharing (due to patients with health insurance not having to pay the full price. ) For the future, MDCO may need to change its business model up. Due to the high R&D costs an d the short patent protection in this industry, as well as the â€Å"blockbuster† drugs, it is important that the organization consistently is innovative in the future. Because Angiomax has fewer than ten years left with its patent protection, MDCO must be developing new drugs based on the same value proposition but for other markets. Using data and information from clinical trials, as was done with Angiomax, MDCO should determine which markets will benefit significantly from lowering complications, and therefore can be charged at a premium. In terms of Angiomax, MDCO should look into low cost production processes for the drug, as well as attempting to foster a more successful version of the drug for other segments, such as low risk patients.

Computer network Essay

The Internet is network of networks, linking computers to computers sharing the TCP/IP protocols. Each runs software to provide or â€Å"serve† information and access and view information. The internet is the transport vehicle for the information stored in files or documents on other computers. It is sometimes compared to a giant international plumbing system. The internet itself does not contain information. What it was found in is one of the computers linked to the internet. The Internet, A global computer network providing a variety of information and communication facilities, consisting of interconnected networks using standardized communication protocols. It is a network of networks that consists of millions of academic, government, private, business, public networks and, of local to global scope, that are linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless and optical networking technologies. The internet can have many services, like Electronic mail(e-mail) that permits you to send and receive mail, Telnet(remote login) that permits your computer to onto another computer and use it as if you were there, FTP(File Transfer Protocol) allows your computer to rapidly retrieve complex files intact from a remote computer and view or save them on your computer, etc. To access the internet by computer, you need a computer, a modem or other telecommunications link, and software to connect to an Internet Service Provider. The internet is indeed a wonderful, amazing and brilliant gift that has been given by science to humans. Presently in this modern era, the Internet plays a significant role in our daily human life. Whereas, we are seriously addicted to using the Internet in this century. Moreover, people like to spend plenty of our human lives. Ten years ago, the Internet was practically unheard of by most people. Today, the Internet is one of the most powerful tools throughout the world. The Internet is a collection of various services and resources. According to Russ Brock, a director and consultant at the Center for Innovation and Inquiry, the Internet is main components are E-mail and the World Wide Web. There’s a lot more to the Internet than E-mail, search engines, celerity web sites, up-to-the-second sports scores, and chat rooms full of risk discussions. The Net also ranks as one of today’s best business tools – if it’s used adroitly. Almost all households contain the Internet; however, before people connect to the Internet, they need to be aware of its disadvantages and advantages. Many fear the Internet because of its disadvantages. They claim to not use the Internet because they are afraid of the possible consequences or are simply not interested. People who have yet connected to the Internet claim they are not missing anything. Today s technological society must realize, it is up to them to protect themselves on the Internet. Half of U. S. adults, or 94 million Americans, aren’t online. Children using the Internet have become a big concern. Most parents do not realize the dangers involved when their children log onto the Internet (Children and the Internet). When children are online, they can easily be lured into something dangerous. When children talk to others online, they do not realize they could actually be talking to a harmful person. As a result, there have been many cases where children have been convinced to meet people they have talked with online. In fact, stories seem to come out every week: a child or teenager lured into something foolish, dangerous, or even deadly on line. Cathy Cleaver of the Family Research Council claims that it is against the law for a molester to even attempt to find children online In addition, children may also receive pornography online by mistake; therefore, causing concern among parents everywhere. Whether surfing the Web, reading newsgroups, or using email, children can be exposed to extremely inappropriate material. Pornographic sites tend to make sure they are the first sites to be listed in any search area; thus, children come across such sites easily. A man from Pearl, Mississippi was arrested in 1996 for downloading pornographic images of children from the Internet. He was charged with 290 counts of child pornography). Some critics say that parents are responsible for their own children on the Internet because there are available services to protect children. To keep children safe, parents and teachers must be aware of the dangers.

All about Interest Groups, Political Parties, and Nominations and Campaigns

The American system of election is very expensive, time consuming and tedious to the aspiring presidential candidates. The length of the process determines the prosperity of a candidate from any political party. Although this time range favors some candidates its complexity and cost disqualifies other candidates.Since not all top party leaders are interested in the presidency, the aspiring candidates have to meticulously orchestrate their announcement of candidature to capture the public while at the same time win the approval and loyalty of their leaders. This occurs during the caucuses and primaries in which starts the road to the White House as argued by (Lader, 2006).This system has flaws for states like Iowa that still relies on caucuses. The suitable candidate can easily be locked out of the race early if they lack popularity with the party heads.The numerous questions and hole punching that is involved in these levels can easily elevate or disqualify a candidate depending on t heir eloquence, smartness or simply their political correctness at that particular time.The highly televised primaries on the other hand have rather seen luminaries in larger states like New York and California succeed. Celebrity entertainers have recently been used to rally support for candidates during such primaries. Such trends show modern day success stories for democracy.The future of election currently relies on modern day technology and chat rooms that are famous especially with the youthful population. Showbiz and technology such as Facebook and Twitter are the next level of campaign strategies since they have the most audience of the voting population. Campaign themes also have credited to the success or failure of modern day candidates.2. Political Parties.The growth of democracy in the U.S is credited to the evolution of political parties and their strong affiliations to the public. The political parties have fashioned themselves around the figure of the president for ad ministrative and political influences.Although this is fashioned to enable uniqueness of voice and solidarity in opinions, it has alienated the public from decision making compared to their British counterparts. This brings about personal political ambitions to the parties, where presidents only push their aspirations while sidelining the shared collective responsibility for the entire nation and the political parties.The problem is that the public has no say in decision making since the president does not have to consult the Congress in decision making. The failed link between the people and their presidents thus causes dissatisfaction and polarization.3. The Interest Groups.In light of the common good of the American society, the power of the interest groups can only be sustained to its least degree possible. If not, their extremism of expression tends to only favor the thought of certain groups and alienate other groups. These groups are small; the allegiance to any of these grou ps automatically paralyses the success of a presidential candidate.These interest groups have drawn allies in the mainstream political parties thus dividing the country in lines of opinion and policies. The strong constitutional structure silenced these groups yet the concept of pluralism enhances cooperation while reducing polarization of the country. This maintains freedom, versatility and balance of political power.4. Conclusion.The systems of election and campaign in the primaries and the caucuses are truly beneficial to ensure transparency. Unfortunately, the tedious nature of this journey can be reviewed by the use of technology and inclusion of pluralism that favors the power balance. The American population should therefore be encouraged to embrace chat room groups and pluralism to motivate the growth of their democracy.ReferenceLader, C. (2006). How to prepare for the AP U.S. Government & Politics Barron’s How to prepare for the AP US Government and Politics Advanced   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Placement Examination. Barron's AP Unites States Government & Politics (4th   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   ed). New York: Barron's Educational Series.

Merit Pay Increase Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Merit Pay Increase - Essay Example Likewise, for many decades in American society, if an individual worked hard and did their best they received pay increases or bonuses, accordingly. The concept, though basic in its nature, is vital, due to its profound impact on future performance. Individuals, who receive praise for past actions are more inclined to repeat and possibly increase the action. Due to recent economic turmoil, however, many companies have stopped giving rewards or pay increases for superior performance. This leaves many employees feeling unappreciated, and as a result unmotivated to do better in the future. One particular case study, given, that exemplifies this predicament is the company of Diverse Prints. They are a marketing company that typically gives large bonuses to their employees based on their job performance appraisals. However, due to the faltering economy the lead people in charge, Ann and Sam, are debating as to whether they should give small bonuses to everyone, or continue with the perfor mance based bonuses, though they will be much smaller than usual. After taking a look at the profound impact job performance recognition has on the employee, the company, and eventually the economy, the question of whether or not merit pay increases should be given will become clear. Though some may argue a person should do their job to the best of their ability regardless of extrinsic recognition or praise, it is simply human nature to crave this type of recognition. Diverse Prints typically conducts job performance appraisals, which is the optimal time for managers to review the strengths and weakness of each employee. It also provides the opportunity for the employee to receive constructive criticism on how to improve areas of weakness, and praise for the areas of their job that are done well. As both Sam and Ann agree the performance appraisals must still be conducted for continued company growth and improvement. However, where they disagree is the fact that Sam feels they shoul d take the meager, two percent budget allotted to pay increases and spread it out evenly to all employees to compensate for cost of living increases. Ann, on the other hand, feels that it is, in a way, unfair to give all the employees equal raises, if their performances are not equal. Plus, she wants to keep the top producing workers happy so that when the economy is doing well they will choose to stay with the company. It seems that by giving a small raise to everyone, all will be evenly unsatisfied. It is important to give honor or praise to where it is due, and if a successful, hardworking employee sees that they are given the same bonus as the person that was lazy all year they will not be motivated to try harder in the future. Ann is right in her assessment that it would be best to explain to all the employees that the bonuses will not be as large as previous years, due to financial hard times, but that they will still be given according to job performance. This allows the indi vidual employee to still feel a sense of accomplishment and recognition from the company for a job well done, and will encourage them to do the same if not more in the future. It also may help motivate those who slacked the year before to do better in the future. A good analogy of this concept can be seen in High School. If everyone was given a diploma for simply showing up, and not based on whether they passed or failed their courses, no student would have the motivation to try harder. In the same way by rewarding those who are successful, they are encouraged to do the same or more, and those who slacked have something to work towards. The second aspect that merit based bonus aide in, is the company

Ku Klux Klan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ku Klux Klan - Essay Example different Klan, a morally upright and falsely accused organization/movement, yet both articles evidently reveal some ugly truths about the American society in the past, which keeps on haunting the American society until today – that the emancipation of African Americans from slavery after the American Civil War did not in the same way emancipated American culture from color bias, rather, it did reveal the profundity of hatred history did permeate among men due to color. The article â€Å"The Golden Era of Indiana (1900-1941)† has typically depicted the Ku Klux Klan as an ugly organization originating in the South after the fall of the Confederate government, which goal has always been white supremacy directed not only against African-Americans but even against other minority groups. It has depicted the Klan almost as a cult of white supremacy (specifically, White Caucasian) perceiving itself a defender of the white way of life, which to the Klan is the absolute way of life, that it sees being threatened by the North’s anti-slavery campaign crystallized in Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 (America’s Reconstruction, 2003) – an act to stop black slavery, that the Klan’s tools of intimidation such as lynching, shooting, stabbing and whipping were to the Klan nothing but a heroic act. Such deep hatred of the Klan against Blacks and Black sympathizers was evidently carried out by its membership, which was mainly composed of the defeated Confederate Army – the army which had been defeated and disenfranchised by the Blacks whose deep desire for freedom had been cunningly used by the North (Union) (Ibid), and was categorically expressed in the Klan’s defined threefold focus: (1) striking back at the federal reconstruction government, which war’s aim had become the emancipation of the Blacks from slavery – the economic base of the South, (2) bringing the Black – who many southerners believed were being empowered by the North (Union) to take

Cassandra Database Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Cassandra Database - Research Paper Example As of this writing, the paper will discuss the general information about Cassandra database. Consequently, the paper will further discuss the database based on its data storage, query format, and its query processing Cassandra Database is a wide spread open source NoSQL database. The database is best used to manage large quantity of data across many centers of data and cloud. Cassandra database is characterized as a continuous availability, operational simplicity, and linear scalability across various servers without a single failure. Additionally, the database has a powerful data model mandated to offer a maximum flexibility and a rapid response period. Based on its operation, Cassandra database has an outstanding plan and architecture, meaning that all the nodes are similar. Increasingly, the database offers automatic distribution of data across the nodes participating in a database cluster. The database saves the administrators and developers the coding process in distrusting the data across the cluster since the data are partitioned in a transparent manner across the nodes. Consequently, the database provides a customized replication that stores redundant data across nodes participating the Cassandra ring. Meaning, assuming a node goes down, single, or multiple copies of the data will still be available on other cluster’s machines. Replication undergoes configuration to operate across zones of a single data center, multiple data centers, and many cloud zones. The database can be used in supplying linear scalability, meaning that a capacity can added easily through the addition of new nodes. For instance, two nodes can accommodate 100000 operations in a second, four nodes can accommodate 200000 operations in a second, and eight nodes can handle 400000 operations in a second. The latest version of the database is Cassandra 2.1. The new version has new features such as user-defined types, collection indexes, and improved metrics through metrics-core

Customer Relationship Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Customer Relationship Management - Essay Example According to the research findings over the years many things have changed and now a great deal of emphasis is laid on the importance of customers to a company. Marketing tactics have evolved from mass marketing and advertising to target or niche marketing where preferences of each customer are given equal importance. In all this, customers have benefitted tremendously, now special attention is being given to their needs and according to that business strategies are designed. The customer making a purchase has two options, either he can make a direct purchase from the manufacturer itself – use one channel, or opt for multiple channels where he can buy the same product but here this product would have passed through several channels before reaching the intended customer. It has been observed that customers choosing multiple channels are more valuable to a company as compared to those opting for a single channel. This is because shopping is made a very convenient experience for them; they can buy products online from the web or even book their orders on the phone instead of making the trip to the store. In addition, in case they want to track the delivery of their products, this can be done easily either on phone or online by using the tracking code usually provided by the couriers. They are given many payment methods to choose from depending on whichever is the most feasible for them. They can make payment with cash on delivery, issue a cheque or even use their credit card. Hence, at each stage they are being facilitated and so the customer would remember the ease with which they shopped and would return repeatedly for the same service. Customers overall prefer systems which make processes simple, fast and reliable for them and multiple channels guarantee all of that with their expeditious service. Nordstrom is a famous US retailer with 225 stores located nationwide. Being in the business for more than a century, Nordstrom realizes the importance of its c ustomers and knows how vital it is to provide customers with complete ease and best deals, hence, offering customers a comfortable buying experience with the use of its multiple channels network. In order to measure the effectiveness of customer relationship

Critically analyse Hofstede's 'Cultural Dimensions' What correlation Essay

Critically analyse Hofstede's 'Cultural Dimensions' What correlation does Hofstede make among groups of countries and ho - Essay Example He was the originator of relative intercultural research. His publication which proved to be a land mark in defining organizational cultural aspects was ‘Cultures and Organization: Software of the Mind’ (1991). He is renowned for his contribution in developing the earliest experiential replica ‘dimensions of national culture’. In this model he established a pattern for explaining the different elements pertaining to culture of global economics, collaboration and communication with reference to multinational company IBM. This model later gave rise to the development of a model for explaining the organizational cultures. Due to his extensive contribution in the field of intercultural research he is regarded as the foremost representative of cultural studies. His research work is now use as a study tool in different subjects including management sciences and psychological studies (Greet Hofstede, 2012). The cultural theory of Hofstede deeply describes the impac t of culture on the inhabitants of a society. Initially he used the factor analysis to develop a model which correlates the values and behavior. At first the theory projected four aspects of culture through which values could be examined. The original model contained individualism v/s collectivism, masculinity (the impact of gender over the cultural values), power distance (distribution of power and the vigor of social hierarchy) and uncertainty avoidance. Later Hofstede included one more aspect to his model, the long-term orientation. The 2010 edition of his famous book ‘Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind’ has an addition of another aspect, indulgence v/s self restraint. Later additions to the original model have enabled to differentiate between evaluation of individual and country level statistics (Hofstede, Geert et al., 2010). The Hofstede’s work on cultural dimensions has stimulated the research in social beliefs. In order to develop his theory Hofstede examined the 116,000 of IBM with varying backgrounds and lifestyles. They all represented 66 different nations of three regions of the world. Research was based on questionnaires and it was undertaken somewhere between 1968 and 1972. After recognizing the five different dimensions of culture Hofstede categorized them as being generalize able for every society or region of the world. As almost all the society have the same cultural issues and aspects. To further analyze the dimensions he developed an index to plot to the countries under consideration as per their scores (Sven Rosenhauer, 2009). The brief description of the model is as follows (Martin Sebastian Scheuplein, 2010): Power Distance It describes the value or ‘power’ that an individual or society possess with respect to others. It is explained in the form of hierarchy that reflects the ‘distance’ of authority between different groups. Low power distance refers to minimum level of inequali ty among the members of society and high power distance reflects the other point of view. Individualism v/s Collectivism Individualism maintains distance from subordinates in the organization and focus more on the achievement of personal goals whereas collectivism encourages the cooperative efforts in order to achieve goals and objectives. Individualism is based on the ‘I’ approach that working alone is better than belonging to a group. Masculinity/Femininity There is an obvious difference between

Organizational Innovation and Change D5 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Organizational Innovation and Change D5 - Essay Example In an aim of expanding the organization and giving it a global image the bank has invested realized its social responsibility. It has invested in charity events and in the effort of improving the needless in society it has vented into Africa and Asia (Zell, 2008). The bank has been involved in the motivation of their employees. The bank has developed a culture in which the welfare of the employees is paramount. They have end month fan fairs and they pay their employees well. All employees are insured and housed or given house allowances. This intern increases the employees’ commitment (Tushman, 2006). The customers get satisfied due to good public relation; it is able to expand due to a large client base. The bank has also has also invested into technology and allows great idea this is there reason to its expansion. There are regulations that drive the financial sector consolidates is the result of 60 percent growth in terms of shares and asset. There banks vision statement has been realized to a percentage. The success is due to an organized team. The bank has portrayed the essence of the vision statement and how it’s used to drive the company forward. The bank has invested heavily and employed expertise to enable their success (Beerman, 2005). The vision statement should be the one driving a company towards the

Women's Suffrage Discussion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Women's Suffrage Discussion - Essay Example As much as these two pushed for suffrage movements, there was a difference in the way they approached the movement and pushed for women rights. Professor Kulhman viewed women suffrage approaches that are constitutional. That is, she only wanted the changes to be brought constitutionally, unlike, Woodswarth Ney who believed that, nothing was satisfying enough other than action in the push for women’s right. Thus, it could be pursued through all means including the organization motto, words and deeds (Foner, 360). Other than the right to vote, they also sought for the women rights to old offices like their male counterparts. They believed that, women were equal and capable leaders albeit the view that they were weaker. In addition, Professor Kulhman, Woodsworth-Ney and Foner noted the need to narrow the women voting gap. This is because, most women shied away from polling. According to Professor Kulhman and Woodsworth Ney, granting women the right to vote was progressive. This is because, the women suffrages favored reforms. Besides, reforms took time to implement. In addition, women suffrage movement took place during the progressive era, thus, women right to vote must be

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

Articles - Essay Example This conclusion is justified since the researcher gained ample proof of the statement after conducting the research. The research questions were, ‘Based on 30-min pretest and posttest essays, will mean accuracy scores from the treatment group posttest essays be significantly greater than those from the contrast group? Based on 30-min pretest and posttest essays, will rhetorical competence scores, fluency scores, or complexity scores from the treatment group posttest essays be significantly lower than those from the contrast group?’ (Hartshorn, et. al., 2010) The sample population for the study was 47 ESL students ranging from advanced-low to advanced-mid category. Of these 47, 28 students belonged to the treatment group and 19 students belonged to the contrast group. Random sampling was used in this study. The questions in the survey were well-designed since they dealt with the core of the issue while dealing with ESL students. The idea was to improve upon the writing skills of the students and this meant allowing students to express their words in writing. It was concluded that WCF does indeed improve the writing skills of ESL students. Though, students being taught under the program did slightly less better in terms of sentence complexity and length of the writing piece but their writing skills considerably improved when compared with traditional teaching methods. The data is well-justified. The pedagogical implications suggest that using WCF teaching method is likely to result in improved writing skills. This is because traditional teaching styles are less focused on gaining accurate and timely feedback which delays the understanding process among students. The questions in the interview were well designed since they were semi-structured. This means that the interviewer did not follow predetermined questions that did not take into account the

South Korea and New Zealand Relations Essay Example for Free

South Korea and New Zealand Relations Essay New Zealand continues to stand with South Korea†. When New Zealand Prime Minister John Key says â€Å"stands with,† he is signifying the key element to the positive diplomatic relations between New Zealand and South Korea that have existed for fifty years: New Zealand standing ‘side by side’ with South Korea. He emphasises that New Zealanders do not stand higher than Koreans or over them as an insignificant racial group, but instead, he defines the fifty-year long diplomatic friendship as one of equality and unity, with mutual respect between Kiwis and Koreans. Commerce has always been essential to maintaining the diplomatic alliance between New Zealand and its fifth largest trading partner, South Korea. New Zealand exports products such as dairy, beef, fruit and seafood, and imports cars, electronic goods and machinery from South Korea. Both countries have mutually benefited from this successful trading developed over the last five decades, with advantages to natives and foreigners in South Korea as well as New Zealand. The diplomatic relationship between these two countries, is no longer merely a window for safe trading, but is now considered a stable friendship whereby according to South Korean Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister, Kwang-shik Choe â€Å"peoples are freely travelling back and forth, becoming friends in the genuine sense. † The exchanges between Kiwis and Koreans across the Pacific Ocean have also been greatly expanded, allowing both countries to establish new campaigns such as student exchange and working holiday visas. So, what now? How can we improve our relationship even further? As they say, communication is a â€Å"two-way street. † In order to maintain and advance the friendship between New Zealand and South Korea, both cultures need to be open-minded and welcoming. This can be accomplished in several ways, for example by integrating schools and commercialising Korean entertainment here in New Zealand. This integration is important because it will strengthen the sense of ‘standing with’ one another, as Koreans embrace their assimilation into Kiwi life. I believe New Zealand can improve diplomatic relations and embrace the Korean culture more fully by offering Korean language as a school subject. New Zealand offers countless educational opportunities, both academic and social, to a diverse range of multicultural students. It is thus common for schools to offer languages such as French, German and Japanese. However, most New Zealand schools do not offer Korean. Because New Zealand’s second largest source of foreign students and sixth largest source f overseas visitors is South Korea, we ought to offer students the chance to study the Korean language and culture within our schools. In this way we will afford the 32,000 Koreans in New Zealand the chance to feel accepted by the Kiwi community as well as allowing Kiwis to gain a deeper understanding of their Korean neighbours, embrace their culture and learn their native language. Every year, hundreds of young Korean students are sent to New Zealand to improve their English. Once Kiwis no longer see the collective Asian races as one, but instead embrace Koreans as distinct individuals, our international students will stop isolating themselves and only mixing with â€Å"their own kind†. I believe that when New Zealand schools offer language programmes and student exchanges, both Koreans and Kiwis will make huge strides towards social integration and will stand side by side as equals, as John Key envisions. The saying â€Å"music unites the world† is completely true in regards to the relationship between New Zealanders and South Koreans. I believe that diplomatic relations between our countries will further improve when New Zealanders fully embrace Korean entertainment. Recently, the Hallyu wave has crashed onto our native sands and left a deep imprint on the hearts of Kiwis. Korean artists like Super Junior, U kiss, EXO, and Infinite etc. unknowingly promote themselves in New Zealand, and are loved by thousands of fans all over the country. The New Zealand Summer Kpop festival brings people who love the Korean culture, food, music and film, together in the one thing that unites us all Korean Pop. When Kpop is fully commercialized on local radio and television, the astounding talent of SM, JYPE and Mnet, for example: IU, Yesung (Super Junior) and Dong Bang Shin Ki, will be enjoyed by all Kiwis. No longer will fans feel rejected or be accused of having an â€Å"Asian fetish† if they prefer non-English music. I believe that radio stations like ZM and The Edge should promote Kpop daily so that Kiwis and Koreans can be exposed to both cultures, instead of isolating the Korean community by creating a separate Korean radio station. Also, Korean bands should play at Big Day Out along with the other nationalities that express their patriotism by their live performances. Music allows people to leap over language barriers. Therefore, in order to promote cultural relations with South Korea, it is important for Korean and Kiwi music to inter-weave equally at all levels, without prejudice, enabling us all to enjoy something familiar while learning about something completely different. I believe that the long-standing friendship between South Korea and New Zealand is strengthening and developing, as indicated by the figures of exchanges between the trading industry and the social advances to date. Above all, I believe Koreans need to be acknowledged into the community not identified by race, but by their character and the cultural and life lessons that they bring with them across the Pacific Ocean. I believe that if New Zealanders truly ‘stand with’ their Korean friends and neighbours, more open to embracing each other’s cultural uniqueness and overcoming the language barrier; our nations can prosper and deepen the existing friendship. As a beginner learner of Korean, a lover of Kpop, cuisine and dramas, I intend to â€Å"stand with South Korea,† in hopes of bringing the two nations together and continuing the strong friendship for another 50 years.