Saturday, August 31, 2019

Market survey Essay

I. Abstract: As you can see, our AIS High School campus has a small student store at the lobby. This store is managed by students and they sell foods and drinks that canteen doesn’t have. The cost of the products there range from 500 to 24000VND. However, these prices are made up by the students without any logical reason. That is why we do this marketing survey project in order to help the student’s government make right decisions about products and pricing in the student store. In this project, we apply the core concepts related to Demand (Demand Schedule, Demand Curve, Elasticity of demand) to gain accurate results. We hope that this project will not only help the students store to generate the best profit but pave way for students to experience how entrepreneurs use the lessons in making decisions and learn how to cooperate well in a group. II. Methodology: In this project, we choose Panda cookies as the main product for the survey. We are interested in the relation between price and quantity of demand in market places. We’ll use price to estimate the quantity of demand throughout the survey of the panda cookies. According to statistic, we have to start checking out conditions whether they are satisfied or not before doing any calculation. Our population is all students at AIS and the population size is 40 students. The population size is less than 10% of all males and females students at AIS. We carried out the survey through the following steps: Firstly, we assigned each student in AIS High School a different ID number. Secondly, we used graphing calculator to randomly pick 10 students (5 males and 5 females) for each grade from 9 to 12. Then, we surveyed them independently and recorded the answers down. The question that we used is: â€Å"For every price point below, how many packets of Panda cookies would you buy per week?† We listed out prices from 6000VND to 10000VND and quantity of demand from none to more than five. * Calculation and Graphs: o Interpreting the graph: As you can see in the demand curve above, it shows negative linear relationship which means that the lower the price, the more quantity of demand will be. There are no scatter throughout, no shape, no bent and no extrapolation. An R2 of 96.72% indicates that 96.72% of the variation in maximum price can be accounted for by the variation in the quantity of demand in the market places. o Calculation: We have a mean of price (is 8000 and standard deviation (Sy) of price is -1581.14; a mean of demand ( is 107.6 and a standard deviation (Sx) of demand is 37.4606. We have a correlation is 0.98 which means the relationship between prices and the quantity of demands is strong. o Slope: b1 = = = -41.363 By looking at the slope, you can know that when quantity of demand increases by 1 quantity, price will increase -41.363vnd. o Intercept: b0 = – b1 = 8000 + 41.363 = 8041.36 The y intercept tells you that whenever the quantity of demand equals 0, the estimated price will be 8041.36. Finally, we have the regression equation for the price as the quantity of demand increases or decreases. People can use the equation to estimate the price in the future. = -41.363x + 8048.36 III. Conclusions: If we look at the result, we can see that the price affects the quantity of demand a lot and thus plays an important part in making profit. Since one of the purpose of this project is to make the most profit, we decide to use the demand schedule to estimate at which price will bring out best profit. After calculating, we realize that at 7000VND with quantity of demand at 140 makes 980000VND which is the most out of all price points. So we decide to choose price around 7000VND for each packet of Panda cookies.

Friday, August 30, 2019

The Study of Simon’s Character in Lord of the Flies

From a Freudian perspective, the tripartite components of the human psyche—id, ego, and superego —are enacted symbolically by Jack, Ralph and Piggy, in the respective order. Simon’s existence in the story serves no purpose to portray this psychic mechanism whereas the other three main characters wrestle with each other and attempt at role balancing in response to survival need. Jack is the id-ridden one, who follows the primitive instinct of the body, and hunting and killing to his satisfaction at any cost.Obviously, even as one of the Hunters, Simon’s apathy about hunting and his abstinence from eating meat evince the dominion of his mind over his body. Considering the superego, readers might confuse Simon with Piggy and equate their roles as both of them stand for the ethical voice on the island, trying to maintain moral standards by which the ego, Ralph, operates. In fact, the characteristics possessed by Piggy are more consistent with the core of super ego.Intending to be socially conventional, Piggy constructs an ethical frame according to the rules imposed by adults, by which he emphasizes their importance whenever in the face of injustice. In contrast, Simon knows man’s essential illness as a result of long time introspection, in a natural shelter concealed in undergrowth from humanity. On the other hand, Simon’s altruistic tendency, shown by his feeding of the hungry horde of neglected littluns, intensifies his saintliness, as the divisions of the psyche essentially embody three levels of desires.Recalling the scene when Simon, Ralph and Jack find the candle-like plant, the difference in their interactions with the outside world is clearly demonstrated. Ralph denies their illuminating functions and Jack shows contempt for their inedible quality. They associate an external object with its possible practical use in reality. Simon differs in â€Å"seeing† the candle buds, treating an experience as a pure comm union, through which insights would have developed according to his sense of impression. Such internal individual perception is limited to affect his inner world of beliefs, but never the others’.This account for the great difficulty Simon encounters when he tries to explain the beast that he â€Å"sees†, actually a concept, is true when those utilitarians cannot even understand Piggy’s practical and logical consequence. Another item worth mentioning is Simon’s inclination to be internally or spiritually satisfied—he detects the candle buds after telling his companions that he is hungry. Candles are a commonly used decoration in religious venues, generally meaning a connection to spirit. Similar instance occurs when the others think that he would be bathing in the lagoon, he seeks solitude— a cleansing of his mind.Although realizing that the beast-innate evil nature of mankind does exist, Simon is steadfast in his faith in original virtue of humanity, which was once heroic and sick. If the island is personified as a female, Simon is prone to embrace its beauty and tranquility, meditates alone in a glade surrounded by white glimmering flowers of the candle buds, which symbolize mankind’s spiritual purity. He is not ever disturbed by the affirmed discovery of the beast, and feels completely at ease with going by himself across the forest to rejoin Piggy’s group.The other boys interpret the island in an opposite manner, and become more aware of her danger and hostility as time passes by, giving vent to this restlessness by claiming the existence of the beast. During an assembly, Simon makes a valiant and unsuccessful effort to indicate the essence of the beast- â€Å"maybe it is only us†, implying that he expects the beast is one of the two dimensions of our nature . Then he questions the crowd, asking â€Å"what is the dirtiest thing there is? †, assuming mankind’s natural tendency to h ave an affinity with the clean- the virtuous side of himself.This belief is radically undermined when he witnesses the brutal killing of a sow with a sense of violent sexual imagery comparing it to a rape, rendering the glade a filthy and bloody place. The concrete ugliness of the body—the spilled guts and the pungent smell, juxtaposes with the abstract one—the hunters’ indulgences to bestial impulse . Nature, which he used to hold in regard for her sacred beauty, is tainted with the sin of flesh, where its root is man’s body, an indispensable part since birth.The pig’s head on a stake, foul but magnetizing a flock of flies, changes into the Lord of the Flies in Simon’s hallucination, in which he remains conscious, suggested by his comment on the self-proclaimed beast- merely â€Å"a Pig's head on a stick†. The Lord of the Flies is an externalization of human sin envisaged by Simon, acting as a medium for presenting his inner conflict with choosing between compliance and self-preservation, the ignorant lie and the despairing truth, at last the abusiveness of evil and the fragility of virtue.Through the monologue in a form of phantasm, Simon refutes his previous notion of human nature and brings a new definition to it—the beast is part of us instead of being in dichotomy; â€Å"Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! † he said to himself. He comes to recognize his own plight and that of the island, having a premonition of death as the Lord of the Flies promises to have â€Å"fun† on the island. Awake, Simon defies the threat and accepts his fate, as â€Å"What else is there to do? †.He undergoes a physical and spiritual transformation-â€Å"The usual brightness was gone from his eyes and he walked with a sort of glum determination like an old man†. The unmasking of the supposed beast on the top of the mountain which he finds to be a dead parachutist, conf irms his belief- the beast is within us. Before climbing down the mountain to make public the truth, he frees the corpse of the fallen man from the bondage in compassion, with a significance of â€Å"dust thou art, to dust returnest†, enabling nature to purge the sin from the body.In his last and desperate attempt in liberating mankind from sin, Simon fails, albeit his love and unwavering faith in mankind, believing that confronting the truth would achieve them a conversion into goodness. His death is inevitable, as a testament to his hypothesis—he stumbles into a circle of insanity before he can explain the nonexistence of the beast, then being torn apart by a group of dancing and chanting â€Å"beasts† that have their predatory instinct unleashed and their identities lost. In the arms of the sea, a sign of life’s eternality, Simon finds the homeland of his soul.The ‘strange, moonbeam-bodied creatures with fiery eyes’ that forms a halo aroun d his head give a little consolation to his death, but they are actually low form of life similar to flies, which are aesthetically accepted by nobody. It is Simon’s noble spirit, under that decaying body, makes them glow. Simon’s death produces no corrective effect on the boys’ ignorance of their inner beast, as ironical as his death, most of the boys give in to such bestiality afterwards so as to gain a psychologically completeness of the brutalities that they have committed, and the island soon ends up being an earthly hell in blaze.The participation of Ralph and Piggy in Simon’s murder, driven by the need to join the â€Å"demented but partly secure society†, indicates the irreversible loss of the boys’ innocence to animality, as the two are the only left on behalf of rationality, yet being insensible to the internal beast, believing that ‘evil is somewhere else’. Even for Piggy, who reasons scientifically, has his own limit ation to reach the understanding of their defects by nature, and simply concludes Simon’s death as an accident when he ants to exculpate himself. This explains the futility of Science when tackling with the dark side of humanity. The story itself is a miniature of mankind history, and the reason for the collapse of a society can be inferred- neither determined by the fire nor the conch. The former represents technology—can be the first spark ever ignited but also a destructive atomic bomb, helps, at the same time, totally destroys civilization.And the latter refers to a democratic parliamentary system which Golding had elaborated on in his speech-â€Å"The moral is that the shape of a society must depend on the ethical nature of the individual and not on any political system however apparently logical or respectable. † Therefore, Simon is the final resolution for all chaos, who exemplifies the ideal moral that individual should have- he is temperate in sensual d esire, sacrifices for mankind’s welfare expecting nothing in return, sees through man’s latent ill nature but martyr for a faint possibility of healing it.Nonetheless, here comes the paradox- Simon is not a convincing character that can come to life. The author had him idealistically created and endowed him a propensity to put overly the spiritual above the material: basically, he does not express the normal desire to survive, neither in a primitive society nor a civilized one, for the structural model of psyche is inapplicable to him. Again, he spontaneously has an insight into human nature with a covert thinking process, likely to produce an ill-founded outcome for his reliance on idealism (of philosophy) if being in reality.Rather than calling him an idealistic thinker, he suits better to the role of a visionary, having a supernatural intuition that Ralph could go home eventually. Thus the only way to justify for his motivations is that he is deliberately intended t o be a Christ figure, admitted by Golding in an interview, in which he also said, â€Å"What so many intelligent people†¦find, is that Simon is incomprehensible. †¦a person (Simon) like this cannot exist without a good God.Therefore the illiterate person finds Simon extremely easy to understand†¦Ã¢â‚¬  In â€Å"Lord of the Flies†, Simon is designed to be a symbol of religion, because of the parallelism between his fate and Jesus’s which is found by many critics. Unlike Jesus, Simon’s death is not redemption of the world from sin. It indeed coincides with an assertion made before the outbreak of World War II, by a German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche—†God is dead†, literally meaning that the conventional Christian God is no longer a feasible source of any absolute moral principles.

Advertising and Big Beer Ad Essay

1. What factors influence the perceived credibility of an informal information source? List and discuss factors that determine the credibility of formal communication sources of product information. The perceived honesty and objectivity of the source of communication has an enormous influence on how the communication is accepted by the receiver. The major factors are perceived intention of source, correct use of celebrity endorsements and the appropriateness of the spokesperson with the content of the message. 2. What are the implications of the sleeper effect for the selection of spokespeople and the scheduling of advertising messages? The sleeper effect is the tendency for persuasive communication to lose the impact of source credibility over time. In terms of choice for a spokesperson, it is a good idea to select a controversial and famous person that will stick in the consumers mind e.g. celebrity endorsements. The ads should be scheduled first in the commercial block because people tend to remember them the most in comparison to the commercials played in the middle and end of the show. See more: Examples of satire in adventures of huckfinn essay 4. Virgin Airlines uses both magazines and Internet to promote its discount airline business. How would you measure the advertising effectiveness of the two media for promoting the service? Which is likely to be more effective? Broadband Internet services offer fast access to growing group of consumers i.e. special interest groups. However, the growth of unsolicited emailing, email viruses and worms have limited the effectiveness of this medium. There is a growing trend towards media fragmentation as they have shifted their focus from general interest audience to smaller more specialized groups. According to a Roy Morgan survey in 2006, there were 140 magazine titles read by the population of ages 14 and over. 5. Which media do you think are suitable for advertising to the 18-24 age group as opposed to the 55+ age group? Justify your answer with examples and /or secondary data. The most appropriate media type for the age group of 18-24 would be the Internet, as they are one of the largest users. This type of marketing is called viral as it allows the message to spread like a virus. Some examples of this are the Carlton Draught ‘it’s a big beer’ ad, which premiered on the Internet and now has had over 3 million views. Social networking activities driven by sites such a YouTube and Facebook have also had an important impact of the effectiveness of viral marketing, for example the Carlton ‘it’s a big beer’ ad can be viewed on YouTube. On the other hand, according to Nielsen Media Research it would appear that popular FM radio stations and ABC radio stations appeal to two very different audiences, with 33% of over 55 listening to 3AW Melbourne and closel y behind are the ABC stations for that age groups. 6. You are the marketing manager for a headache remedy. Your advertising agency has just presented you with two different promotional strategies, one using a humorous approach and one taking an â€Å"agony† approach. Which approach would you adopt? Why? As a pharmaceutical company we would choose the â€Å"agony† approach as these commercials are run with great success because they appeal to a certain segment that suffers from aliments that are not visible, which therefore elicit little sympathy from family and friends. Complaints are legitimized by commercials, which they immediately identify with. 7. You are a promotions manager working for the Australian or your home government. Devise an advertising campaign to discourage smoking by young women referring to the communication model shown in Figure 7.1.p.260. Compare your plan with current campaigns used by the Australian government, state governments or local governments. How is your campaign superior? Justify your answer with reference to consumer behavior. We would use an emotional advertising campaign, with a combination of fear and abrasive advertising to discourage women from smoking. Fear is an effective advertising appeal, as it provides a compelling set of reasons for immediate actions to prevent the fatal consequences of smoking. In using abrasive advertising we would use a controversial campaign as this will help improve awareness of the negative consequences of smoking, It would also link us to important social issues regardless of the fact that the images may be confronting to some people.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Learning from failure Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Learning from failure - Essay Example This paper will therefore, discuss various perspectives associated with knowledge and innovation management. Knowledge management entails, capturing, disseminating, developing, sharing, and using of the organization knowledge. Managing knowledge in an organization is very critical in achieving the set goals and objectives. In addition, it improves the competitiveness of the business in the market. This plays a significant role in maintaining a constant flow of revenue. In addition, it motivates the employees to aim high, an aspect that is replicated in the overall performance of the business (Malhotra 2000). Innovation management is the practice of managing the processes involved in innovation. Most organizations anticipate the future based on the experiences. When the past is suspended, and the future is envisioned, it becomes easy to recognize the forces of growth and change (Pauleen 2007). A holistic view of the anticipated future experiences has a better impact on the innovation than placing emphasis on the past. It is crucial to develop a hypothesis for the future rather than predicting it. Breakthroughs rarely survive without a strong and working decision making model. This model should differ with the model used in incremental innovation. It has become increasingly clear that old models rarely work (Dess 2012). Technology dependent decision making systems have the weakness of failing to engage the vital stakeholders. Automation in decision making causes consensus to be hard to obtain. Therefore, a health decision making system seldom works without a champion who can engage teams and make decisions to enhance mutual progress. The products life cycle is drastically becoming smaller with time in comparison to the past. It is quite notable that in the technological devaluation of the products is moving at a high speed especially in the information technology industry. In a short span, a lot of changes are evident, and this

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Commitment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Commitment - Essay Example Unless one have commitment, a particular vision, strong zeal and a passion to create something in ones life he cannot reach his goals and he remains failure one in the society. The strongly committed sports persons will definitely achieve gold medals in the contests and the students get good results in their exams and in their life also. One more thing is only the commitment itself cannot make us a champion when we don't have a proper vision and correct approach. So we can say the commitment is a weapon which we should use in proper way to get the fruits of success. Even though one failed in achieving the goal, the commitment in his soul awakes him and works like a panacea and pats his shoulder and leads him towards his goal. We can understand that the word commitment is not a group of letters, its magazine of bullets, which we can shoot the target with using the arm. Hence, commitment is the rule that is important in an individual's life as well as in the policy of an organisation. 1

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Human genome Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Human genome - Term Paper Example One of the most contentious issues coming up over the next few years will surely be whether to allow human genomes to be patented. Human rights advocates are concerned that allowing patents will infringe on human dignity by giving permission to certain organizations to keep records of a person's genome records and is an invasion of privacy, sort of (Patrinos & Ansorge, 2005, p. 391). Human genome patents is shaping up as a huge social controversy because of its far-reaching implications on research such as those dealing with genetic defects that can cause inherited diseases. Patents are crucial to give encouragement to researchers so that their efforts will be amply rewarded, similar to the copyrights of authors and artists who want royalties for their creative talents. Patents in the context of medical research has effects on how well human beings can live their lives, whether disease-free or not, for example.

Monday, August 26, 2019

A report on highest priority program Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

A report on highest priority program - Essay Example Also, the Department of Defense feels that the State has to bring back the allied forces so that the cost of maintaining such a high degree of expenditure n the troops can be minimized. Let us focus on the expenditure on the war on terror. The Department of Defense has spent an estimated amount of 4 Trillion USD. This is the highest amount of money spent by the Unites States of America upon a single agenda. The war on terror in Afghanistan and Iraq has cost us a lot of money and the results of the same have not been any fruitful. Even though the companies based out of USA have got the chance and opportunity to built industries in the areas which have been inflicted by the war, the Department of Defense in consultation with the Department of Commerce feels that the economic spending has outgrown the income received by the US based companies from doing business in the war inflicted areas. The highest priority for the United States of America is to control the high level of external exp enditure of the state. The international debt has increased dramatically in the past 3 years and the Department of Commerce in consultation with us have concluded that the war on terror has had dramatic consequences on the purchasing power parity of the Government. There are thousands of troops who have been lined up in Iraq and Afghanistan and it is imperative that we should start cutting down on the supply of our troops in those countries. â€Å"The President spent $850 billion on defense in his first year. This included $530.1 billion for the DoD base budget, and $152.7 billion to fund other departments, such as Homeland Security and the Veterans Administration.† Understanding from the above observations, it is imperative that the State is spending a lot more amount on external security than it has to. The State must recognize the fact that the spending is going out of bounds and it might become difficult to grapple with it. We must be vigilant with our money and it is cru cial that we do not allow the spending to escalate our economic debts. The Department of Defense has made this report in consultation and advises from the Department of Commerce. Moving forward, the Department of Defense categorically state that the States and the President should remove 50% of the troops from the war affected areas by 2015. By the time the country enters a safe economic zone period, it is imperative that the troops are then brought back to the country. We plan to put in a system in place where the interior troops of Iraq and Afghanistan shall be trained and provided with ammunition to counter any insurgency. We shall start the training method by July 2014 and hope to accomplish the training of at least 100000 troops in those countries so that we can then start to remove our troops gradually and place their troops instead. This will also allow those nations to manage any insurgency or attacks and shall make them self-sufficient. Once we send out our troops from the war affected areas, we shall then create a system of checks and balances which will make sure that the process of replacing our troops with their troops is seamless. By 2016 end of the year we hope to have taken away all the allied forces away from the war-ridden areas and reduce our expenditure on war by 80%. This will give the economy the much-needed impetus in terms of monetary strength. The economy will be face

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Molecular Microbiology Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Molecular Microbiology - Case Study Example The commoner intravenous catheter-related infections are exit-site infections, as in this case, often with erythema around the area where the line penetrates the skin. Bacterial blood stream infections are common in this given scenario, and Staphylococci are the second most prevalent bacteria. However, a smear suggesting the staphylococci or Gram-positive cocci in clusters in blood culture as in here, is not sufficient for the diagnosis of true bacterial blood stream infection before the species is identifiable, since the most frequent of this species, Coagulase-negative staphylococci or CoNS usually habituate in the skin, and there is always a chance of contamination of the culture bottles during the venipuncture. In contrast, such an infection due to Staphylococcus aureus is virulent by its intrinsic nature, and isolation in one blood culture bottle is clearly diagnostic and is an indication of initiation of antibiotic therapy. Thus the therapeutic decision making is based on identification of the organism (Beekmann, S. E., Diekema, D. J. and Doern, D. J., 2005). The first test obviously would be to do a light microscopic examination. Direct microscopic examination may provide a rapid, presumptive report of Gram-positive cocci resembling staphylococci. Isolation of S. aureus should be performed using 5% blood agar following an incubation period of 18-24 h in air at 35-37 C. Staphylococcus aureus ferments mannitol, resulting in a change in the colour of the medium from pink to yellow. Colony morphology may be used by the experienced observer to define presumptive staphylococci. A Gram stain appearance of cocci in clusters and a positive catalase test provide rapid indicators of staphylococci. However, in order to be able to distinguish between Staphylococcus aureus and the remaining members of the staphylococcus species, other tests are necessary. For clinical microbiological purposes, two or three simple tests suffice. The coagulase test detects the production of coagulase by S. aureus. In this test, one colony is mixed with plasma, incubate d at 37 C for 4 h and observed for clot formation. Samples that are negative at 4 h are incubated and observed again for clotting at 24 h. The slide agglutination test detects clumping factor (ClfA). This is performed by making a heavy homogenous suspension of cells in distilled water on a glass slide to which a drop of plasma is added. Within 10 s, the mixture is examined for presence of clumping (Chapin, K., and M. Musgnug, 2003). How would you differentiate the cocci in clusters from those in chain Cocci in clusters are named as staphylococci. All staphylococci have the ability to convert hydrogen peroxide into nontoxic H2O and O2. Both coagulase positive and negative staphylococci produce catalase. This test differentiates them from cocci in chain or streptococci, which cannot produce catalase and hence are catalase negative (Chapin, K., and M. Musgnug, 2003). What is the principle of DNase test and what is the identity of this organism and why Support your answer with microbiological diagnostic facts. DNase or deoxyribonuclease is an extracellular enzyme that can hydrolyze deoxyribonucleic acid to oligonucleotides. Several varieties of deoxyribonucleases are distinguished on the basis of antigenic properties, response to inhibitory substances, hydrolytic end products, and

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Management in Organisations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Management in Organisations - Essay Example Culture can be explained as the values, norms, beliefs and behaviours manifested by the employees and the management (Schein 1993). Subculture on the other hand refers to groups within an organisation with similar ideas and ways of doing things. A strong organisational culture has considerable benefits to the organisation although it can be a liability since it hinders flexibility in adapting to changes. Organisation culture and subcultures play an important role in organisations and they work best when they are maintained and at the same time aligned according to the changes in the dynamic business environment. Subcultures allow the organisations to respond appropriately to the situation at hand without destroying internal consistency (Schein 1993). They provide flexibility that a rigid culture may inhibit. It is interesting to note that organisations with an effective overall culture prevent the emergence of subcultures. Recent studies have shown that subcultures detract from sturd y organisational cultures. This leads to the conclusion that subcultures possess specific aspects that can enhance the entire organisation culture. Subcultures differ in the levels at which they interrupt the arching culture in an organisation. They often result in response to varying demands and act as outlets for the staff to express opposition and presence of conflicts arising during unstable periods. They also offer a system of changing the less fundamental values in an organisation. They are important with respect to affecting key values since they illustrate the difficulties encountered in trying to transform organisational culture. There are different perspectives and theories of culture in various disciplines that have been applied in organisational studies (Bradley and Pridmore 2006). These theories are mainly based on sociology and anthropology and they have contributed to the development of theories in the education field as well. Sociology takes a functionalist perspecti ve that interprets culture as something an organisation owns. On the other hand, anthropology takes an intreprevist perspective and describes culture as a symbol for organisations (views organisations as being cultures). In spite of the varying perspectives of organisational culture, common grounds exist on various areas. The most common organisation culture theory is that by Edgar Schein (1988). Edgar H. Schein’s Model of Organisational Culture This is the most commonly used theory in organisational culture. It takes a functionalist perspective in describing culture. According to this approach, culture is explained as a model of basic assumptions formulated and developed by a group of people as it discovers how to cope with its problems. These problems occur in integration and external adaptation that has proven its effectiveness and is taught to any newcomers in the organisation as the best way to act, perceive and feel in relation to their work and other happenings (Jones, Cline and Ryan 2007). According to this perspective, cultural examination is important when handling aspects in organisation that are found to be delicate, embarrassing, intractable or frustrating. The truth is that if the leaders are not well versed with the cultures in which they operate, then culture steps in to manage them as explained by Miller (2008). This theory also states that members in an organisation may fit in subcultures. In Schein’

Friday, August 23, 2019

Total Quality Management High School Case Study

Total Quality Management High School - Case Study Example The categories are sorted from highest the number of occurrences to the least number of occurrences. The chart shows that Confusion (37.5%), Strain (30.0%) and Sprain (12.5%) represent 80% of the total injuries received. The rest of the injuries received such as foreign body, abrasion, punctures and others represent 20% of the total injuries received. ii. The Pareto Chart will be used to report the sorted injuries received according to the number of occurrences. It shows that the most frequent injury received is Confusion, followed by Strain and Sprain which constitute 80% of the total injuries received. The priority will go to the vital few as compared to the trivial many. d. A Pareto chart shows both frequency and prioritisation of qualitative data or categories. On the other hand, a pie chart identifies data in relation to the whole while a bar chart compares data relative to one issue or among individual items. It is advantageous to use a Pareto chart when comparing different causes or issues and identifying which one needs the most priority and focus. A pie chart is useful when a report requires a display of percentages of categories that represents the whole pie. A bar chart is useful when comparing the frequency of data over time or illustrating frequency of different categories without the need of prioritisation. e. e. The data follow the Pareto principle when it is arranged in accordance from the most frequent category to the least frequent ones. It will show vital few and the trivial many. The trivial few in the data are Confusion (75), Strain (60), and Sprain (25). It represents 37.5%, 30.0% and 12.5%, respectively, of the whole categories of injuries received. Consequently, the three injuries also signify 80% of the problems. Question 4 - TQM Principle a. Total Quality Management (TQM) is a management philosophy that involves every person in the organisation and every phase of it operation. It employs a customer-focus definition which aims at maximising customer satisfaction. The role of management is vital in TQM such that they must be fully committed in TQM and this commitment must stream down the organisation. As for the Iron-Ore mining company, it overlooked the TQM principle that everyone must be involved. The General Manager decided on a 10% budget cut across the organisation without involving and aligning the ideas of the three section managers. Deciding on reducing the budget is a financial decision that ultimately hurts the operation of the company. TQM involves a process based approach which recognises the different contribution of each process to the whole business. The company also ignore the importance of customer centred definition of TQM. The goal of TQM is to satisfy customer needs and requirements. A business strategy that employs TQM focuses on the demand of the customers. The Iron-Ore mining company neglected to forecast the demand of iron ore. The Railway Manager focused on the 10% reduction of budget which consequently resulted to a reduction of capacity. Such reduction of capacity became a constraint in satisfying the customer demand. If they have prioritised the 60 mtpa requirement, they would incur a lower cost per unit even if they have greater total expenditure. Another principle of TQM involves the employment of

Thursday, August 22, 2019

How does the school X break down the language barriers for EAL Literature review

How does the school X break down the language barriers for EAL students in science lessons - Literature review Example ntially, due to the diverse population, teachers face a difficult challenge of teaching science to students with limited knowledge of the English language. It is important for teachers to identify ways of combating the language barrier so effectively facilitate students’ simultaneous acquisition of academic content. The use of instructional interventions facilitates learning of EAL students. Cummins observes that effective language interventions for ESL students are built on 3-pillars, that is, activating prior knowledge, access content and extending language (Cummins 1). Accessing prior knowledge involves utilising the student’s prior knowledge so as to facilitate learning. The author hypothesises that students tend to construct meaning to a scientific text by â€Å"bringing their prior knowledge of language, science, and of the world in general to the text† (Cummins 1). Therefore, by activating the students’ prior knowledge, teachers are able to validate ESL students’ background experiences and affirm their cultural knowledge. Moreover, through the use of methods such as visuals, dramatisation or other language-oriented activities, teachers can clarify the meanings of concepts and words thereby making the content accessible (Cummins 2). The students’ visualisation can be enhanced through the use of models and analogies in the curriculum (EMA 2002:5). Arguably, models provide a scientific representation of abstract ideas and complex relationships that enable the EAL students unlock their potential in science while at the same time developing their scientific literacy (EMA 2002:5). According to EMA teachers, by actively engaging students in the use of models and analogies, EAL students can communicate their ideas confidently using scientific terminology. Moreover, teachers can encourage students to devise their models so as to facilitate understanding of the curriculum. Teachers play a detrimental role in assisting EAL students. In a research carried

Why texting while and driving should be forbidden Essay Example for Free

Why texting while and driving should be forbidden Essay How would you feel if someone that you held dear to your heart was severely injured or robbed of his or her life over a simple text message? What would be your choice of action if you received a text message while driving? Texting while driving is a dangerous habit that drivers have developed due to texting’s popularity and entertainment. However, the dangers of this unsafe habit should to be prevented by enforcing stronger laws. Texting while driving has taken numerous lives from innocent people while also causing a greater amount of injuries. Although many people over look the dangers of texting while driving due to their own personal reason, research has proven why we should take this habit more seriously. Â   Texting while driving should be forbidden because drivers will not stop on their own, lives are at risk, and statistics have shown how dangerous it is. Texting while driving should be enforced in a stronger law that forbids it because drivers will not ignore the temptation to reply. Many drivers feel that enforcing stronger laws referring to this situation will only make matters worse, which was discussed on debate.org. They feel that it will make matters worse due to their prediction of drivers lowering their phones than normal, which could lead to an increase of car accidents. Although that prediction is possibly an outcome of enforcing stronger laws, this habit cannot be left alone. That feeling and prediction alone does not justify why texting while driving laws should remain the same. We do need stronger laws to ban texting while driving because drivers are not acknowledging other informative approaches. For example, even with numerous articles and many broadcasting commercials on this dangerous habit, drivers continue to text while driving. So if the media, which has always held a strong influence towards its viewers, cannot change people’s mind about this habit, then the only action left to do is enforce stronger laws. Normally, it would take one horrific experience for each driver too fully understand, which is sad, but the majority of human beings learn better from hands on experiences. However, stronger laws should be placed to forbid texting while driving in order to prevent drivers, as well as passengers, from experiencing that horrific experience. Another reason why texting and driving should be forbidding is that there are many lives at risk. Debate.org (year) also discusses how many drivers feel that texting while driving is easy to do. It is disappointing knowing that drivers are not putting their safety first based off that opposing argument. According to Why Do We Still Text and Drive, an article by Cassie Shortsleeve (year), texting is a compulsive behavior. Instead of waiting to respond to a text until we are in a safe environment, we as human beings are so fascinated by information that we give into the temptation to respond to a text as soon as we receive one. Although we live in an era were texting is extremely popular, it should be illegal while driving. Texting while driving should also be forbidden because of statistical and obvious reasons. Texting is a huge distraction to all drivers. Numerous drivers do not take this life threatening habit seriously and try to argue that they are an exception to the rule. However, research has proven that no one is an exception to the rule, texting while driving is extremely dangerous. Statistics, which was provided by textinganddrivingsafety.com (year), states that the minimal amount of time that a driver’s attention is taken away from the road when they are texting while driving is about five seconds. In that short time frame or more, the National Safety Council has records of 1,600,000 car accidents that occur every year because of texting while driving. In that 1,600,000 car accidents, there are 330,000 injuries and 3,331 deaths according to Harvard Center for Risk Analysis Study. With statistics like that, something as simple as texting while driving should be forbidden without any complaints. Texting while driving is not worth the numerous lives that are taken and harmed every year from car accidents. Even though individually, each driver has their own personal reason why they text and drive, it should be forbidden due to its dangers. Drivers that text while driving need to be stopped because there are lives at risk, and statistics have shown how dangerous this habit is. Although it is a natural humanistic thought to think that we can successfully text and drive, there is no reason to justify why it should be legal. References (2011). Texting And Distracted Driving Infograaphic. Texting and Driving Safety Retrieved from http://www.textinganddrivingsafety.com/ Ferreira, Phillip Crystal (March 18, 2013) Should text messaging while driving be illegal? Debate.org. Retrieved from http://www.debate.org/opinions/should-text-messaging-while-driving-be-illegal Tsukayama, Hayley (March 28, 2013) Adults more likely to text and drive than teens, study says. Technology. Retrieved from http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-03-28/business/38093466_1_text-message-new-survey-teens

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Bebop, Free Jazz And Fusion

Bebop, Free Jazz And Fusion First of all, there are various differences between the styles of bebop, cool, hard bop, free jazz, and fusion. Bebop seems to be the most intricate with its erratic tempos, while cool is the most soothing and relaxing. On the other hand, hard bop is the most brassy and dynamic with its horns, trumpets, and rhythm section, while free jazz is the less restricted. Free jazz exhibits no boundaries, no form, and no newly established rules. Fusion is a combination between jazz and rock, in other words, fusion exhibits extreme electronic use, effects, and synthesizers, in addition to jazz elements. Bebop transformed jazz from fashionable dance music to creative art music. In the early 1940s, bebop seemed to have emerged all of a sudden, but it had actually been developing for several years. When Art Pepper, an alto saxophonist, initially heard a bop recording, it completely overwhelmed him. The notes of a typical bebop piece are quick, technical, more elaborative, and swung. The characteristics of bebop include erratic tempos, reharmonization and chord substitution, as well as arbitrary melodies. Bebop put more emphasis on extensive, improvised solos. Manteca, a recording by Dizzy Gillespie and His Orchestra, contains a few characteristics of bebop. However, the tempos of Manteca are not excessively fast or too slow. In this recording, Gillespie created the Afro-Cuban style alongside Chano Pozo, a Cuban percussionist of the conga. Manteca contains phenomenal improvised trumpet solos and shout-like but subtle vocals of the word Manteca. The Manteca shouting in various random parts of the recording is quite amusing. In the introduction, multiple instruments begin its playing in unison, such as the bass, bongos, saxes, and brass. In particular, the bongos sound very intriguing and high-pitched. Dizzy Gillespies trumpet solos are exceptionally fantastic. Evidently, there is call-and-response between the brass section and other instruments. There are improvised solos in the connection to each chorus. This recording sounds blissful, jungle-like, and jubilant. The arrangement in Manteca is quite spectacular. Manteca sounds Cuban-like, fi ery, and passionate. Another bebop recording, Koko, by Charlie Parkers Reboppers is regarded as one of the first bebop recording. The recording, Koko is baffling and aggressive, in which displays attributes and chords that are built on a swing recording called Cherokee. Like a typical bebop recording, Koko displays significant improvised solos. The arrangements are straightforward. Charlie Parker exhibits an extraordinary talent on his alto saxophone solos that only few saxophonists can match. The piano playing is not quite noticeable, but it plays gently and leisurely in the background. The drums merely accompanies alongside Parkers alto sax playing and Gillespies trumpet mutes/piano playing. Parker plays in such a lightening manner in his alto sax, its unbelievable. The tempos in Koko are erratic, which makes it especially difficult to follow. The virtuosity of Koko sounds uncontrolled. In fact, the melodies are very unpredictable, but creative. The snare and bass drum playing by Max Roach at 2:07 is a typical because it plays in solitary. Overall, Koko is an uplifting recording that exhibits prominently rapid tempos and erratic sounding melodies. Moving along, Boplicity is a cool/west coast style recording by the Miles Davis Nonet. Boplicity contains hardly any blues influence or any dynamic contrasts. Unlike bebop, Boplicity is much more relaxed and comforting. The solos are significantly expressive and vivid. The tempos of a typical cool/west coast style are moderate with a sedative attitude. The horn section in Boplicity is nimble and soft, not like the brassiness of a hard bop recording. At :59, a contrast from delicate ensembles of the horn moves to a tone that is a bit more adequate from the saxophone; the baritone saxophone exhibits a poignant sound. The melody and arrangement of Boplicity is moderately intricate. The horn ensemble is rich and heavy in texture. Boplicity exhibits an improvised sound, although its significance is on the arrangements. At 1:36, Davis trumpet solos with clarity. The overall tone and melody of Boplicity is light and uplifting, not at all volatile and explosive. Boplicity is the most soothin g of them all. Hard bop is a style that exhibits a hard-ridden and volatile sound from brass instruments, such as the horns and trumpets. Hard bop characteristics is a contrast to cool/west cool style. Hard bop bears influences from blues and gospel and puts more emphasis on virtuoso improvisation. Unlike the intricacy of bebop, hard bop is simpler. Backstage Sally, a recording by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers is a hard bop piece that displays a dynamic groove and brassy sound. The beginning starts with horns playing together with drums in a shuffle-like beat. The dynamics of the drums is very enthralling; in particular, drums are heavy hitting. The drums contrasts from hard hitting to moderate. Unlike the other songs, the drum in this hard bop recording is especially noticeable. At 1:03, tenor sax solos play in an expressive manner. The trumpet, trombone, and other brass instruments play in an especially brassy way, even the background riffs are noticeable brassy. Evidently, there is call-and -response between the rhythm section and front line instruments. Overall, Backstage Sally is heavily brassy, vibrant, and bluesy. Therefore, hard bop is predominantly brassy and dynamic-feel style. Much like Backstage Sally, Boogie Stop Shuffle, a hard bop piece by the Charles Mingus Septet is brassy as well. The beginning is predominantly brassy with the horns. Boogie Stop Shuffle exhibits 12-bar blues in a fast playing manner. The bass plays ostinato riffs, while piano plays in a bluesy manner. The horns play in a sharp, but dissonant sound; the horns will vary and contrast from sounding like a bebop-style to hard bop. The bass line is particularly predominantly played throughout. At 2:24, there are high-pitched solos from the drum. At 3:20, the alto saxophone lets out a poignant squeal. Although, this recording does not sound nearly as brassy as Backstage Sally, it still exhibits brass-like sounds, especially the beginning. Boogie Stop Shuffle is a hasty played 12-bar blues piece with exceptional horns and bass riffs. Free jazz style is based on breaking musical rules, rather than establishing new rules; the impression of playing without boundaries in Free Jazz is significant. Unlike the other styles, free jazz exhibits atonality, dissonance, collective improvisations like that of New Orleans jazz, and no form, in the case of blues abandonment. Free Jazz contains rich-texture, great energy, and untraditional playing. Two impressive free jazz recordings are Civilization Day recorded by the Ornette Coleman Quarter and Hat and Beard recorded by the Eric Dolphy Quintet. The recording, Civilization Day, is extremely energetic, amusing, and fast-paced. Coleman exhibits passion and enthusiasm in his playing of the alto saxophone. Nearly all the instruments utilized in Civilization Day plays in a hasty manner and not very swing-like. At :24, there is unaccompanied collective improvisation from the alto sax and trumpet, generating an expressive sound. The alto sax and trumpet seems to be communicating with each other in squall-like sound. More significantly, the alto sax and trumpet play in wail-like, unusual manner. At :27, Cherry plays his trumpet with expressiveness and eccentricity. The rhythm section sounds twinkling especially because of the constant crisp ride cymbals generated from the drums. The cymbals are persistent throughout producing an ostentatious-like sound. At 1:20, the drums halt playing for a moment, while the alto sax plays improvised solos with accompaniment from non-walking bass line. From 1:35 to the end of Civilization, the crisp ride cymbals from drums will re-emerge and play persistently; at 1:57, a walking bass line emerges as well. Overall, Civilization is a very spirited and energetic free jazz recording. Similarly, in Hat and Beard, the pace is hasty. In Hat and Beard, multiple instruments were employed, including Dolphys tense solos from the bass clarinet. However, the piano was discarded in this recording. Vibes were utilized in Hat and Beard to make up for the absence of the piano. The vibes is capable of generating a melodious sound or percussive sound. The improvisation is quite appealing and impressive. Dolphy exhibits expressiveness and creativeness with an obvious appreciation of musical arrangements. Its influence on hard bop and experimental jazz is distinguishable in the recording. The tempo is relatively swing-like. At :47, the vibes enter with a walking bass line that sounds amusing. The bass plays persistently throughout the recording in a persistent pattern. The vibes and drums plays alongside each other in cooperation. The vibes is significant to the sound of this recording; the vibes definitely adds to the appeal. At 1:26, Dolphy displays eccentric solos on bass clar inet generating a peculiar, wail-like, and entertaining sound. The vibes are consistent throughout as it pops up once in awhile. At 3:14, the trumpet solos are mild and soothing with the bass playing two notes concurrently. The trumpet solos sound similar to a those employed in a typical cool/jazz west coast style. Evidently, free jazz does not employ a music form. In my opinion, free jazz sounds very peculiar and interesting. Free jazz musicians seem to play however they feel. Free jazz exhibits awkward playing from various instruments, for instance, the wail-like sound of horn players. Free jazz generates awkward, dissonant sounds and prominently retains collective improvisation. Unlike hard bop, free jazz contains little brass sound. The electrifying recording, Bitches Brew, is an ideal example of a jazz and rock fusion. Miles Davis assembled a large group for this recording, which is approximately a 12 talented group. Fusion style is quite distinct from previous styles, mainly because of the use of electronics. In this recording, there is apparently heavy use of electronic instruments and effects with a slight reduction and blend of jazz elements. Some of the electronic instruments employed in this recording were the electric bass guitar, keyboards, and electric piano. The beginning of Bitches Brew is quite spectacular, specifically playing from the electric pianos and percussionists. A rock-like rhythm and beat is employed in place of a swing-like jazz rhythm. The drums play in a funky and vigorous manner. The shaker generates an extremely vibrant sound persistently throughout, as well as the conga. At :41, Daviss trumpet playing contains studio effects, which generates an echo-like sound. My first thought when I first heard this trumpet echo-sound is that it sounds like a war horn blowing simultaneously, but in a more eccentrically way. This trumpet echo-like effect is loud and generates an especially alluring sound. At 1:31, nearly every instrument seems to collide together, creating an even more dramatic sound; this collision among the various instruments seems to be a recurring pattern. At 1:49, trumpets play in a brief, simultaneous manner. Various other effects can be heard in this recording, including Daviss finger snapping at the 2:51 mark. In addition, the bass ostinato is played at the 2:51 mark, similar to the ostinato utilized in Miles Davis Quintets Footprints. The ostinato generates a firm, concise and rhythmic musical phrase. It is evident that the effects immensely enhanced Daviss horn playing. The bass clarinet does not seem to solo with success, but instead plays merely for its tone color. A blend of instrumental effects generates an intriguing sound. There is an extensi ve, improvised solo part by Miles at 3:54, while other instruments will steadily rise to its peak with increased tension. At this point, the instruments take an entirely different turn, as the instruments seem to play altogether simultaneously in a more relaxed way. In Bitches Brew, Miles objective seems to undertake a polyrhythmic approach, since multiple percussionists were employed. Bitches Brew, definitely generates an electric feel, like that of the fusion style characteristic. Overall, these styles are very intriguing. I am most intrigued by fusion and free jazz. The sounds of a free jazz recording sound unusual, but interesting. Fusion is the most stirring and energizing. The most comforting style to listen to would be cool/west coast jazz because of its soft tone and playing. The most dynamic and danceable style would be hard bop because of the hard hitting drums, bluesy, and thunderous brass instrument sound. Each of these styles is distinct and unique in its own way.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Constructing A Multi Storey Commercial Building Construction Essay

Constructing A Multi Storey Commercial Building Construction Essay Involved clearing, grubbing (removal and disposal of surface vegetation, roots, stumps and underground part of structures to a depth of at least 0.50m below ground level) and stripping (removal of topsoil to an average depth of at least 100mm below ground level), JKR 1988-1. All the combustible material removed from the designated area is being disposed by burning however if burning is not permitted, it must be disposed in a safe and tidy manner at solid waste dump outside the site, JKR, 1998-1. 1.2 Earthwork Involved excavation of loosening and removing earth and rock from its original position from a cut and transporting it to a fill or a waste deposit (Clarkson ad Hicks, 1981). It must be carried out immediately after the top soil has been removed. Earthwork is important for the construction of drainage, roadway and building foundation. Mass haul diagram is used to ensure the volume of cut and fill are efficient (reduce wastage and import from other place). 1.3 Staking Staking is being carried out by surveying. Markers are being driven into the ground as markers for the building and perimeter fencing. Precise staking is important plot the view perimeter of a building. 1.4 Perimeter Fencing To prevent intruders, public and animals to create disruptions to the project. 1.5 Dewatering Applications of vertical drain, piezometer or surcharge are useful for the dewatering process. This is to ensure the pore water pressure in the soil is in a safety range hence it does not affect the building. 1.6 Temporary Buildings Include site office (meeting and discussion), toilet, store (store building materials), canteen, worker s quarters, etc. 1.7 Temporary Access Road It must be strong, wide and not too steep for heavy vehicles and it should allow to take-over space. Warning signboard and guard house should be equipped to ensure the safety of the site (prevent unauthorised intruder). 2.0 SUB-STRUCTURES Sub-structures are the elements of a building that are located beneath the ground level such as: 1) Piling and foundation 2) Basement/Underground floor 3) Column stumps 4) Ground beam 5) Hardcore and damp-proof materials 2.1 Piling and Foundation To support the structure above it. A system of piles, pile caps, and straps (if required) that transfers the structural load to the bearing stratum into which the piles are driven. Uploaded with ImageShack.us Piling 2.2 Basement/Underground Floor Sometimes, parking lots, merchandise outlets, food-court, etc are located at basement or underground. Proper supervising and soil investigation needed to ensure safety. 2.3 Column Stumps Colums stumps needed for the column to be build especially for high-rise building. Uploaded with ImageShack.us Workers are constructing column stumps 2.4 Ground Beam Ground beams are designed to support brick/blockwork or to form permanent shutter to the edge of in-situ concrete floor-slab. Loading requirements can be achieved by varying the reinforcement. Ground beams are rectangular or square in shape. However, notches / half end plates / sloped faces can be supplied to order. Uploaded with ImageShack.us Ground beams being constructed 2.5 Hardcore and Damp-Proof Materials A protective measure applied to building foundation walls to prevent moisture from passing through the walls into interior spaces. Moisture if in contact with the reinforced concrete, the reinforcement will rust and the strength of the reinforce concrete will be greatly reduced. 3.0 SUPER-STRUCTURES Super-structures are the elements located above the damp-proof material (ground level) such as: 1) Structural frame served as a frame for the construction of the upper floors 2) Upper floors for high-rise building. 3) Wall as a partition. 4) Roof 5) Doors and windows 6) Finishing 7) Utilities providing basic conveniences such as water, power supply, septic tank, telephone, fire detector, sprinkler, elevator, security alarm, etc. 4.0 EXTERNAL WORKS It consists of all the works outside the building such as: 1) Roads 2) Vehicle parking 3) Gutter 4) Sewer 5) Fence 6) Landscaping 5.0 UNIFORM BUILDING BY-LAW There are many elements in the Uniform Building By-Law in Malaysia such as: 1) Preliminary 2) Submission of plans for approval includes supervision of work, scale of plans, plans of alterations, materials not to be deposited in a street without permission, etc. 3) Space, light and ventilation includes open spaces to be provided, access from a street, splayed corner, width of footwear, mechanical ventilation and air-conditioning, height of rooms in residential buildings, shophouses and school, etc. 4) Temporary works in connection with building operations includes commencement of building operation, responsibility of person granted temporary permits, vehicular access to site, etc. 5) Structural requirements includes building materials, general requirements of loading, weight of partitions, mechanical stacking, roof coverings, foundations, brick footings, etc. 6) Constructional requirements includes drainage of subsoil, protection against soil erosion, lift, swimming pools, depth of water, etc. 7) Fire requirements includes rules of measurement, protected shafts, ventilation to lift shafts, smoke detectors for lift lobbies, etc. 8) Fire alarms, fire detection, fire extinguishment and fire fighting access. 9) Miscellaneous building exempted, failure to buildings, etc. 6.0 SITE INVESTIGATION Site investigation is very important to a project to: 1) decide whether the site is generally suitable (whether it is situated at suitable location) 2) get specific information for complete design, safety and economy (determine soil properties) 3) prepare for construction alternatives (special equipments for dewatering and etc.) 7.0 PHASES OF INVESTIGATION The followings are the phases of investigation: 1) Desktop study initial study of available data 2) Site investigation get useful data from the site 3) Soil investigation determine soil properties 4) Analysis of data Sketch of Bad Site Layout Uploaded with ImageShack.us BAD SITE LAYOUT Based on the attached bad site layout, it is considered as bad due to the following reasons: 1) Material storage situated opposite of the road which is inconvenient for the construction work to be carried out. It will cause traffic issue while transporting the materials to the construction site. 2) Site office is far away from the construction site. 3) Worker s quarters are near to the construction site but the canteen is far away from the worker s quarters. This cause inconveniences for the workers during lunch time hour. 4) Toilet is far from the worker s quarters. 5) Parking lots are not located near to the construction site. 6) No pedestrian bridge between the construction site and the parking lots. This will cause a big problem to the traffic especially during peak hours. 7) The material storage, site office, canteen, toilet as well as parking lots should be situated at the empty space indicate in the site layout to minimise the problems discussed above.

Monday, August 19, 2019

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning by John Donne Essay -- A Valedicti

â€Å"A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning,† by John Donne explores love through the ideas of assurance and separation. Donne uses vivid imagery to impart his moral themes on his audience. A truer, more refined love, Donne explains comes from a connection at the mind, the joining of two souls as one. Physical presence is irrelevant if a true marriage of the minds has occurred, joining a pair of lovers’ souls eternally. In order to describe the form which Donne gives to true love he chooses to create a scene of separation. He insists that when in love, absence is not a cause for despair. Stanza two describes the usual reaction lovers have to separation but explains that such reactions of tears and sighs do not prove one’s love but rather the opposite by suggesting that the relationship depends on a physical connection. In stanza three then he states that it is the connection at the mind which is important to a devoted love, and that when this emotional connection of the souls is attained then â€Å"eyes, lips, and hands,† are less to miss. Donne uses a compass to create a visual metaphor for their love. Although the two feet may be far apart, they are constantly joined in the center. This connection at the center is representative of the mental connection which is found at the center of true or refined love. Regardless of how far apart the feet of the compass may move, or how far apart lovers may travel, the connection which is the center of their relationship serves to hold and br...

Sunday, August 18, 2019

My Writing Style Essay example -- Writing Profile

Whenever I get a writing assignment for class, it seems like a chore. I don’t have a problem with writing, but papers always seem to take more time than they should. Maybe this is due to poor planning on my part, but essays are usually an ordeal, and I dread actually doing the work to finish one. The task is simple enough, but putting it off always seems like a better alternative to writing. I do think about the paper that I have to write, but I do not put thoughts and ideas into a paper or outline until I absolutely need to do so. From the moment I am given an assignment sheet, I begin brainstorming about the paper. I may not use any of these ideas, but I think of them. I also have a tendency to forget good ideas, which leads me to think that I should write some of them down, but that would be too much work. Whatever ideas that I do remember will be used in some sort of informal outline I make before I start actual work on my paper. Unless it is required for a class, however, I usually just keep this outline in my head. I find it to be more flexible if I don’t have anything written or structured at this point, and rather just have several ideas floating in my head. As soon as there is an outline or introduction paragraph written, I feel more committed to my work. At this point, I’m hopefully comfortable enough with what I have to begin putting in work on my paper. The introduction is usually the most time-consuming part of the paper. There are so many different aspects of the paper that must go into the intro, and composing one is hard because of this. I need to set the tone for the rest of my paper, and write in a style that captivates my readers at the same time. I try to establish that my paper will be serious and academic... ...ught. My style is my style, and that’s really all I can say about it. In writing about the process, I don’t feel I have a better understanding of how I write, but I definitely have a better concept of what I actually do when I write. I’m not looking to improve my writing process, because it works for me. To my knowledge, there’s nothing wrong with how I write, and the papers I produce are, in my opinion, quality. I may be stubborn or arrogant, but unless someone tells me otherwise, I may be right as well. As a first-year student at State University, I’m aware that I won’t stop writing any time soon. From what I have seen, however, how I write won’t change too much; my style is my style, and it has been for a long time. A few stylistic changes may occur depending on the class for which an assignment is due, but I will always be me, and my writing will always be mine.

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Bandura’s Experiments

In the early 1960s Bandura and other researchers conducted a classic set of experiments that demonstrated the power of observational learning. In one experiment, a preschool child worked on a drawing while a television set showed an adult behaving aggressively toward a large inflated Bobo doll (a clown doll that bounces back up when knocked down). The adult pummeled the doll with a mallet, kicked it, flung it in the air, sat on it, and beat it in the face, while yelling such remarks as â€Å"Sock him in the nose †¦ Kick him †¦ Pow! † The child was then left in another room filled with interesting toys, including a Bobo doll.The experimenters observed the child through one-way glass. Compared with children who witnessed a nonviolent adult model and those not exposed to any model, children who witnessed the aggressive display were much more likely to show aggressive behaviors toward the Bobo doll, and they often imitated the model's exact behaviors and hostile words. I n a variant of the original experiment, Bandura and colleagues examined the effect of observed consequences on learning. They showed four-year-old children one of three films of an adult acting violently toward a Bobo doll.In one version of the film, the adult was praised for his or her aggressive behavior and given soda and candies. In another version, the adult was scolded, spanked, and warned not to behave that way again. In a third version, the adult was neither rewarded nor punished. After viewing the film, each child was left alone in a room that contained a Bobo doll and other toys. Many children imitated the adult’s violent behaviors, but children who saw the adult punished imitated the behaviors less often than children who saw the other films.However, when the researchers promised the children a reward if they could copy the adult’s behavior, all three groups of children showed large and equal amounts of violent behavior toward the Bobo doll. Bandura conclude d that even those children who did not see the adult model receive a reward had learned through observation, but these children (especially those who saw the model being punished) would not display what they had learned until they expected a reward for doing so.The term latent learning describes cases in which an individual learns a new behavior but does not perform this behavior until there is the possibility of obtaining a reward. B Bandura’s Theory of Imitation According to Bandura’s influential theory of imitation, also called social learning theory, four factors are necessary for a person to learn through observation and then imitate a behavior: attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation. First, the learner must pay attention to the crucial details of the model’s behavior.A young girl watching her father bake a cake will not be able to imitate this behavior successfully unless she pays attention to many important details—ingredients, quantiti es, oven temperature, baking time, and so on. The second factor is retention—the learner must be able to retain all of this information in memory until it is time to use it. If the person forgets important details, he or she will not be able to successfully imitate the behavior. Third, the learner must have the physical skills and coordination needed for reproduction of the behavior.The young girl must have enough strength and dexterity to mix the ingredients, pour the batter, and so on, in order to bake a cake on her own. Finally, the learner must have the motivation to imitate the model. That is, learners are more likely to imitate a behavior if they expect it to lead to some type of reward or reinforcement. If learners expect that imitating the behavior will not lead to reward or might lead to punishment, they are less likely to imitate the behavior.C Theory of Generalized Imitation An alternative to Bandura’s theory is the theory of generalized imitation. This theo ry states that people will imitate the behaviors of others if the situation is similar to cases in which their imitation was reinforced in the past. For example, when a young child imitates the behavior of a parent or an older sibling, this imitation is often reinforced with smiles, praise, or other forms of approval.Similarly, when children imitate the behaviors of friends, sports stars, or celebrities, this imitation may be reinforced—by the approval of their peers, if not their parents. Through the process of generalization, the child will start to imitate these models in other situations. Whereas Bandura’s theory emphasizes the imitator’s thought processes and motivation, the theory of generalized imitation relies on two basic principles of operant conditioning—reinforcement and generalization. D Factors Affecting Imitation Many factors determine whether or not a person will imitate a model.As already shown, children are more likely to imitate a model when the model’s behavior has been reinforced than when it has been punished. More important, however, are the expected consequences to the learner. A person will imitate a punished behavior if he or she thinks that imitation will produce some type of reinforcement. The characteristics of the model also influence the likelihood of imitation. Studies have shown that children are more likely to imitate adults who are pleasant and attentive to them than those who are not.In addition, children more often imitate adults who have substantial influence over their lives, such as parents and teachers, and those who seem admired and successful, such as celebrities and athletes. Both children and adults are more likely to imitate models who are similar to them in sex, age, and background. For this reason, when behavior therapists use modeling to teach new behaviors or skills, they try to use models who are similar to the learners. Microsoft ® Encarta ® Reference Library 2003.  © 1993-2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Friday, August 16, 2019

Cost Of Goods

The cost of making the product is an expense to the business and reduces the profit that the company can make when selling the products. The COGS is calculation once a year by showing charges from the Start to the end of the company fiscal (financial) year.In calculation the COGS you need to include cost of producing the product, wholesale price of good resold and what the direct manual labor cost the company makes the product. The other costs to be calculation is cost of containers, freight, rent, utilities, shipping and overhead. Whenever the COGS increase the net income is less. The sales of products need to be kept down to increase the profit. Inventory also determined the COGS by it changes of the product that was sold at the beginning of year and the inventory at the end of the previous year is calculation.The cost of goods purchased and made during the year is added up and the inventory at the end of the year is subtracted. This calculation is done so the company will know how much the inventory cost and how much was sold by the company during the year. The inventory is reported at the cost to make or buy the product, it is not the cost to sell it. If sells items cost change during the year, the company much figure out a transaction to deal with those cost changes in a way suitable to the IRS. It would have to figure this change into their COGS equation.The IRS has quite a few standard ways to account for changes in cost through the year without having to track each product price separately. 2. Record the transactions HTH made the purchase and sale of merchandise. All sales transactions have a credit entry to the sales account. The other transactions depend on the particular situation that is surrounding that transaction. There are make ways a company can makes sales and it can have a impact on an transactions sales. The sales can be for cash, resulting in a debit to cash or credit, which can lead to a debit to account receivable.The companies that use t he cash method receive sales only when actual cash have been received. When using the accrual method record the sales the moment the sale is made regardless of payment. In a permanent inventory system every entry for a sale must have a matching entry cost of goods. Using this system you have to book a cost of goods transaction for every individual inventory item you sell. The periodic systems from beginning to end on cost of goods entries are recorded during the accounting period, resulting in single -entry sales transaction.Once a business chosen an counting system that method dictates that part of the entry all the time. In a cash system you cannot ever record a sale transaction until the money has been paid. A cash or credit transaction may be different because it depends on the actual sales. Also there are risks when using cash sales and credit sales. When using the cash sales you get paid right then there is no waiting to receive your money in cash or credit card. With credit s ales the company extend credit with agreement of to be paid later and the business run the risk that the customer may not pay the money on time or pay not at all.It is very important when using the cash or credit system for a transaction the company needs to keep a record Of it (document) so the detail can be found of the transaction. The detail should include sales receipt with date, description of what was sold and the amount of the item. But credits sales are (not credit card sales) are treated just like a cash sales. The source document is done on a invoice slip it include all the information as the sale receipts and much more it have the purchaser name, contact information, credit terms due date, account number, purchase order number and invoice number.These record much be kept straight this should be done by premiered sale receipts and invoices slips and must be use in order, this will make it easier when you have to use then for information which you will need now and later. When using the accrual method accounting recording system should always be put in a second Journal entry for the cash part at the time of the receipt and this accounting method only let you know when you count the revenue not how you got it.

A Doll’s House †Henrik Ibsen Essay

Henrik Ibsen’s in one of his most revolutionary plays, A Doll’s House, filled his set and narrative with symbols that emphasised the idea that above everything, one must be an individual. Doors, macaroons and the tarantella are all symbols that are used by Ibsen to convey to the audience that the life of Nora and Torvald isn’t what it seems to the naked eye. The doors in the ‘doll’s house’ set, are emphasised, to symbolise the separate ‘world’s ‘ Nora and Torvald live in; the illusive macaroons symbolise the control Torvald has over his wife and the wild tarantella dance is symbolic of Nora’s desire to escape from her restricted and heavily defined existence. Doors in A Doll’s House are not just a wooden blocks that can be used as a thoroughfare between rooms; they are used to distinguish between the two different spheres, Nora’s sphere and Torvald’s sphere. All throughout the play, Nora never enters her husband’s ‘world’. Guests for Torvald were instructed to ‘not come in here (Nora’s living room)’, and they went on into Torvald’s study. As Krogstad ‘slammed’ the door on the way out of his house, Nora’s world was smashed into a million shards of tiny fragile pieces. The character of Nora is sent into a spiral of depression, anxiety and out-right craziness that turned a seemingly normal dance into a 19th century movement of oppressed emotions. The macaroons that Nora possesses in the beginning of the play are more than just a common snack. Nora has the macaroons in the early stages of the play, with Torvald around. They give the audience the knowledge of Nora’s child-like behaviour and emotions. All through ‘A Doll’s House’, Torvald treats Nora like an ‘inexperienced child’, and the macaroons are one of many indications of this. She offers it to guests as they enter her ‘world’, but not to her husband, in which she hides them from him. The child-like behaviour is also witnessed in the scene where Nora is playing with her children, calling them ‘little dolls’ and playing with them like they are her friends and she’s not their mother. This child-like behaviour was encouraged by Torvald, by simple nicknames, such as ‘skylark’ and ‘mockingbird’, to make Nora be more immature towards Torvald and keeping her youthfulness that he li ked so much. The infamous dance, the tarantella, was an expression of the oppressed society that woman had to go through in the 19th century. The tarantella was used to convey emotions that woman couldn’t express in normal, everyday life. They used raw energy to express that raw emotion. In ‘A Doll’s House’, Nora uses, just as other woman have, to express and release the oppressed emotion that was given by Torvald towards her. In the scene where Nora is dancing for Torvald as practice of the dance and Dr. Rank comes in, Torvald keeps telling Nora to ‘stop it’ and ‘do it as I said’. Nora is completely oblivious to Torvald and keeps on dancing in her own style. Dr. Rank comes in and takes over Torvalds role as piano player to fuel the flame that Nora was burning. The dance becomes more and more wild as the scene progresses, until the music stops and Nora is just ‘still’. The oppressive moment of woman in the 19th century created this dance. ‘A Doll’s House’ uses this symbols of child-like behaviour, different worlds and an oppressed dance to show the audience that the world of the 19th century wasn’t a blissful place where men and woman were equal in everything they had rights to, like they do now. Torvald showed that he was a man of conformity and tried his best to bend his family into the social norms of the time. Torvald never let Nora have her way and treated her like a child, making her regress into one and even making her be his child. She was scared to wrong by her husband, even hiding a simple sweet from him so he wouldn’t find out that she was eating it. By the end of ‘A Doll’s House’ , Nora grows up. After the problems arisen by Krogstad, she learns that her husband isn’t her saviour anymore and she doesn’t love him. The party ended when Torvald wanted to leave. Nora got home and changed out of her formal attire, and into outdoor wear, making Torvald wonder, ‘Why are you dressed like that?’ The taking off of her formal clothes gives the impression that Nora is now taking off her old life, her oppressed life, and starting afresh. After an emotional discussion with Torvald, she ends up leaving him and the children. Walking out of her house, through the door, again is symbolising the end of something. This time it’s Nora’s life with Torvald. As the door closes, this time it’s Torvald who breaks down, mirroring Nora’s emotions when Krogstad leaves the  letter in the letter box. Symbolisation is a major part in any play, even more so in ‘A Doll’s House’. The emotion scenes with Nora, Torvald, Dr. Rank and even Krogstad wouldn’t be the same without objects such as the doors or macaroons, or the two different spheres dividing Nora’s world and Torvalds. The dance itself plays a vital role of showing emotion without the notice of Nora’s own husband. Without such devices, ‘A Doll’s House’ wouldn’t be the same revolutionary play that we see today; it would just be mere words on a page. Bibliography: ‘A Doll’s House’ Henrik Ibsen

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Response – Life of Pi

Response The novel, â€Å"Life of Pi† by Yann Martel is about a boy who lives in Pondicherry, India with his family. It is about how he and his family decide to move to Canada with the animals they own and the tragedy on sea. The book explains how Pi survives life and it is narrated by the first character, Pi, who is older now and is looking back on his life and younger years. Pi and his family embarked on the voyage to Canada along with the animals when Pi was around 16 years old. In the midst of the journey, a storm lashed the ship and Pi’s parents, brother and most of the animals did not survive.Pi managed to escape in a life boat and initially did not realize that he had company – and who was it? Well, it was the animals and who were they? Well definitely not those Pi would have dreamt of- an orangutan, a hyena, a zebra and last, but not the least, a tiger- yes a real tiger named Richard Parker. The book tells us about Pi’s battle with survival and the dangers he faced, both with the animals and life at sea. At his age, it was almost impossible, but he survived. The character, Pi has great determination and made the best of the limited resources he had.Every day during his expedition, he was faced with a new challenge. He witnessed the killing of the animals and was helpless. Finally being left alone with the tiger and being gripped with fear- he had 2 choices – to become the tiger’s prey or friend. This was in addition to the challenges at sea, with different weather conditions and with a small supply of food and a survival kit. I admire the bravery of the character Pi towards everything and his positive attitude- He never gave up even though he was forced to live in a boat with a tiger. The principle of â€Å"survival† is applicable.Pi shows us that we must not give up when we do anything, no matter how hard it is. The theme of bravery and courage is very relevant to our world today because, we usually find ourselves not wanting to do things when we find them hard. We are always asking ourselves whether we should just take the easy way out and quit. Pi’s bravery and courage is evident in the story where it is quoted, â€Å"You might think I lost all hope at that point. I did. And as a result I perked up and felt much better. † Also another quote that shows this is, â€Å"I was giving up. I would have given up – if a voice hadn't made itself heard in my heart.The voice said â€Å"I will not die. I refuse it. I will make it through this nightmare. I will beat the odds, as great as they are. I have survived so far, miraculously. Now I will turn miracle into routine. The amazing will be seen every day. I will put in all the hard work necessary. Yes, so long as God is with me, I will not die. Amen. † The things that stands out to me in his quote is that he knew that God was with him and that God would keep him safe. Even when things are hard and you feel that t here is no point in continuing, you should still persevere.Only when you persevere, you will be able to achieve and will be rewarded. This will make you feel satisfied and better than before. You don’t know what life is going to be like, we cannot see the future, but it is our job as humans to take what comes at us and make the best of it. This is determination. The famous saying â€Å"When the going gets tough, the tough get going. † While adrift, Pi and Richard Parker discover an island of carnivorous algae inhabited by a bountiful population of meerkats. Pi’s sees the meerkats pulling out dead fish from the ponds.Pi and Richard Parker were delighted to find that they have found food to eat and a place to live – but no! Pi later discovers a fruit on the tree that he was sleeping on. While peeling the last few leaves around the fruit off, Pi finds that all the fruit make a perfect set of teeth. At night, Pi looks around and sees that the water colour cha nges and becomes acidic somehow and he knows this because he can see that fish are dying under the acidic water and floating to the top. He realizes that during the night the island somehow becomes carnivorous.This is a message to him that the island is inhabitable and he and Richard Parker must get out of the island. So they left the next morning filling their boats with supplies of water, and seaweed and meerkats for Richard Parker. I admired Pi’s ability and patience to make the tiger, Richard Parker his friend. We must learn to be more like Pi in the way we act by being sensitive to the needs of others. When leaving the island he made sure to take food for Parker for the journey and not only for himself. We must be willing to do anything.Pi was willing to train the tiger and he did succeed over time. This is evident in the story as in the beginning when Pi was younger, he wanted to feed the tiger not realising the dangers he was putting himself into. He only realised the danger in encountering a wild animal when his father saved him by pulling him away and bringing a goat and showing him how the tiger snatched the goat even though the tiger was in a cage. Pi wanted to feed the tiger not only because he thought Richard Parker was his friend but because he felt that all animals have souls, which is shown through their eyes.Pi himself acknowledges the tiger as his companion in the book when he says: â€Å"Without Richard Parker, I wouldn’t be alive today to tell you my story. † Pi had a tremendous amount of patience with the tiger. Richard Parker is very cunning and so Pi had to be more careful in the way he acted with the tiger. The patience was shown when Pi was motivated to catch food for the tiger to satisfy the tiger’s hunger. By doing this the tiger would not turn to Pi as his prey. Richard Parker was a blessing for Pi as fishing for food kept Pi busy.Even though Pi was mortified by Richard Parker he developed a soft spot for him. He was willing to do anything to keep him alive. The author makes readers feel the love that Pi had for Richard Parker. In those times in the boat Pi gives the impression that to him Richard Parker is equivalent to a human. This is shown in the story when Pi said â€Å"Dare I say I miss him? I do. I miss him. I still see him in my dreams. They are nightmares mostly, but nightmares tinged with love. I still cannot understand how he could abandon me so unceremoniously, without any sort of goodbye, without looking back even once.That pain is like an axe that chops at my heart. †Ã‚   This quote is telling us that when they reach Mexico, Richard Parker just walks away. Pi feels hurt. He feels as if the tiger doesn’t care about anything that has happened in the last 227 days. This really hurts Pi because he feels betrayed and saddened that Richard Parker left him. He never imagined this to happen. This proves that earlier when his father said, â€Å"you think tiger is your friend, he is an animal, not a playmate! †, he was right because no matter what even if you think the tiger is going to be your friend he/she will not.Even though they are not together anymore the author is giving the impression that no matter, Pi will always love Richard Parker. I admire Pi’s openness. The most important reason I admire Pi is because he prayed to God. He was universal in his thinking of religion as he followed three different religions. He was Hindu by birth but chose to practice and follow Islam and Christianity as well. Even though others like Pi’s parents and religious leaders criticize him for following more than one religion Pi still continued to do so anyway not at all effected by what others had to say.Pi says that he meets Jesus Christ through Father Martin and Islam through Mr Kumar. Through living out these three religions Pi was able make connections between the religions. Conclusion: Therefore, I can apply this to our own socie ty and in the way I act. The following qualities of Pi are worth noting; his determination, bravery, courage, perseverance, patience, sensitivity, willingness to do anything, love and openness. Pi’s determination has taught me to always be confident when making decisions about anything because confidence allows you and others to know that you are sure of what you are doing.Pi’s bravery has taught me to always have a positive attitude. It has taught me when you have bravery you can convince others and that when you are brave you are determined to do what you want. Pi’s courage has taught me that when you are brave and determined you have courage to do something. I can have courage when doing extra-curricular activities. There may be no one that I know of but by doing them anyway this shows that I have courage. Pi’s perseverance has taught me to always continue what I am doing to the end. He has taught me to never leave any task undone.Pi’s patience has taught me to always be calm with others. He has taught me not to get angry when I see something annoying me or to start grumbling. In the future I must learn to be calm with everyone and not only to my friends. Pi’s sensitivity has taught me to always be sensitive and caring to the needs of others and those around me. He has taught me to care for others by helping people carry their things or just by simply brightening a person’s day. Pi’s willingness to do anything had taught me to always be ready to help others no matter what.He has taught me to always be ready to lend a helping hand at anything. I can do this by helping my school out at school working bees. Pi’s love has taught me that I must not boast about how we love people, but simply show love through our everyday actions. I can show love by praying for the needy and others who have asked for prayers or by sitting with people at lunch time that may not have a friend to sit with. Lastly, Piâ₠¬â„¢s openness has taught me to keep my mind and soul open for everyone and everything.He has taught me to start things with an open mind instead of in a bad way which may affect how I may do things. We can learn to be more like Pi we can be more loving, brave and open to those around us. From this story, I have learnt that I can do anything that I persevere. We must all be like Pi in the way we lead our lives. Pi never judged anyone. He always saw the best in everyone and everything. I have also learnt that being patient can get me somewhere in life. Patience is the ability to endure waiting, delay, or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset, or to persevere calmly when faced with difficulties.

Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Of Mice and Men and Oliver Twist Essay

Of mice and men written by John Steinbeck is set in 1930 during the economic depression caused by the stock market crash of 1929. Unlike Oliver Twist, Of mice and men is set in USA, near the Salinas River, in the hot and beautiful state of California. On the other hand, Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist is set in the powerful and the majestic city of London, over-ruled with darkness and murky pollution brought about by what was the industrial revolution in 1870, when the novel was set. The Industrial revolution really puts the whole evil and darkness of London into a shadow which adds to the sinister acts that unveil themselves as the novel progresses. The two main characters of of mice and men are two migrant agricultural labourers, George Milton and Lennie Smalls. George, ‘Small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp strong features. Every part of him †¦ defined : small, strong hands, slender arms and a thin bony face.’ The second part of an unlikely relationship between these two friends is Lennie, who is a ‘large man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, with wide sloping shoulders.’ George is Lennies’ guardian, because of his ‘mental immaturity’ he is totally reliant on Georges leadership and commanding power, over of which he follows. In my opinion, without George, Lennie would either be dead or locked up in jail, as a result of him doing stupid acts. It is ironic that Lennies’ surname is Small, because of his huge size, ‘Bear’ like as the author describes. In the time of which of mice and men is set, there is lots of tension. Social classes, women, people who suffer from racism all suffer at the same expense during this period. Crooks is the only black man In this novel, and it is through him that we can see the position of blacks in America. Crooks, is crippled because he got kicked by a horse, he has his own little room, away from the rest of the ‘hands’. The other hands openly refer to Crooks as ‘Nigger’, this example directly amplifies the life and times of the Black Americans at this time. Women are also represented through Curleys’ wife. Curleys’ wife is one quarter of an unhappy marriage. The other three quarters of the marriage is Curley, the bosses sun, who has full power of his wife and tells her what to do constantly. Steinbeck deliberately doesn’t give Curleys’ wife a name, this representing the insignificance and illustrates ownership over women at this time. Curleys’ Wife doesn’t really love Curley, and didn’t really marry him because of love. She married him to prove a point to her mother, who destroyed the relationship she did have with the one she did love. She admitted, that marrying him was a Way Out. Curley’s wife is an ambitious, flirtatious, good looking, young women, who the ranch hands try to ignore and avoid. She is trapped in loneliness, in Curleys’ wrath, she is where she isn’t loved, and her only alternative is to make the most out of what she has got. ‘Ain’t I got a right to talk to nobody? Whatta they think I am, anyways? You’re a nice guy. I don’t know why I can’t talk to you – I ain’t doin’ no harm to you.’ Previous to the murder, in the barn. There, in my opinion, is a hierarchy at the ranch, and at the bottom lies Curleys’ wife and Crooks, two characters treated insignificantly and are discriminated due to their social classes, a women and a black. In California, the setting for this novel, the atmosphere and the surroundings is very harsh and tough for the workers. The attitude and behaviour of the workers in the novel reflect this well. For the workers, there was no cash benefit for the workers, so If they lose their job then they have to do without and mainly starve. The law, I learned is enforced well, but strangely enough, without any force as we never see any police during the novel. California is described extremely well, it is very interestingly described too, this appeals to the reader and gives the novel a very bright and happy start. The first few pages focus on the setting and commentate on all the happenings that go on, this builds a sense of reality. Steinbeck was born and raised in California, near Salinas, so he had an advantage when attempting to describe it as he can relate to it very well. Oliver Twist is almost exactly the opposite in comparison. It is a very dark novel. London at this time set the scene for the monstrosities that happened and the events that took place. You could almost guess what was to expect when reading the first few pages of Oliver Twist, but to do the same with Of mice and men would be completely different. Of Mice and Men starts on a high, very bright and colourful, but it changes contrasts and horrible happenings crowd the last few chapters of the novel. The two main characters in Oliver Twist are Oliver and Fagin. Oliver is a young orphan, brought into the then cruel world by an unknown mother. Fagin, is an ‘Un-human’ man, whose features are aged and ugly. He is a ring leader of a gang of thieves that rob the city of London of valuable possessions, such as money, watches and gold. The Artful Dodger is Fagins’ keen apprentice, willing to learn, who knows all the tricks of the trade, a master of theft and scams. Bill Sikes, Fagins’ second man, is a ruthless cut throat man, whose large size and aggressive attributes add to the murder later on in the novel. The two murderers, Lennie and Sikes have many similarities. Firstly Sikes and Lennie are two large and intimidating men, who’s leader is considerably smaller than them. Secondly, they both receive orders and are followers to their two leaders. Although Sikes doesn’t receive commands off Fagin to an extent where he cannot survive without him, like Lennie, one part of the story he does. This is the main event that leads up to the murder of Nancy. In the early hours of the morning, when all the human and civilised world is asleep, London is awake. Fagin is awake in his chair. Waiting. Sikes enters with the loot that he has stolen from peoples houses. Fagin starts to talk about Nancy, Sikes’ girlfriend. He goes on and explains that Nancy could be a leak and could tell on them to the police. Fagin, knowing that Sikes has the mordacity and the capability of murder, begins to perform reverse psychology. He knows that if he pulls the right strings that Sikes could do anything for him. Sikes quite easily falls into Fagins’ mastermind trap, as if he had been brainwashed or hypnotised, he is now going to commit Fagins’ murder for him. Sikes goes to where Nancy is sleeping and severely shouts and screams at her. This traumatises her, to the extent where she doesn’t know what is going on. This makes Nancy vulnerable, and this is where Sikes commits his brutal and sick attack on her. We can tell, just by reading these several lines of the story, the evil and cunningness of Sikes. He continuously beats Nancy to death with a wooden stick. Leaning up top the murder of Curleys’ wife, which was by far not as hellacious and as horrific as this, Lennie was minding his own business and was in the barn, calmly stroking one of Slims pups. Not knowing his own strength Lennie accidentally killed the pup. Lennie began to become sad and at the same time, angry. He repeatedly thought about George not letting him tend the rabbits, at the home of which the whole is dream is based around. â€Å"An’ he’ll say : â€Å"Now just for that you ain’t gunna tend no rabbits.† Lennie put the pup in the straw, and began to talk to himself, moaning the death of the pup. Curleys wife enters and begins to flirt with Lennie, who confesses to her liking for stroking nice things. She invites him to stroke her long soft hair, but as the stroking becomes harder, she panics; the harder he strokes the more she panics and then Lennie accidentally breaks her neck. He half-buries the body in the hay and runs off to the brush. As you can tell, both the two murders are of a totally different nature. In of mice and men, the murder was unexpected, and didn’t really fit into the surrounding story, On the other hand, In Oliver Twist, a murder was almost inevitable. Sikes’ was a premeditated murder, as he had thought it out and planned the whereabouts etc. Lennies was out of the blue, an accident neither him or anyone else could of prevented. The setting of the two murders, also are totally different. The murder of Curleys wife was in the barn, in the sunny and hot state of California. The murder of Nancy was in the grimy claustrophobic city of London. The descriptions in the stories of the murders, are again totally opposite. In Oliver Twist, Dickens almost runs a post-mortem on the body, and describes Sikes’ moves in detail after the murderer. In of mice and men, however, Steinbeck runs a bleak vague synopsis on the happenings.