My personal experience Essay

This story is from my personal experience where I was involved directly with the central character in this story. This story is about a little girl who had lot of aspirations in life and wanted to make a mark in this world. Though the name doesn’t matter but for the matter of convenience, let us call her Mary. Mary’s only fault, if it was, was getting born to parents who could only afford her education by skipping one meal in a day. Mary was above average and hence scored well in her kindergarten levels. The problem started when she was promoted to 1st standard where the level of difficulty increased for her. Her parents who could not read or write were of little help. In the daily grind of earning, when they could hardly afford the meals and her education, getting a tutor for her was a distant dream. This made the little bud sink as she always wanted to be the best and was ready to work hard as well but the conditions at home and school prevented her from unlocking her potential. On one side while her parents had their own rut to handle, her school teacher was not any considerate. She would hardly teach in the class and yet expect her students to perform the best. Well, her prestige was at stake. Any weak student in the class was a pain for her and she wanted to devise ways and means to expel the student who was not able to score. The first trimester results were declared and as expected Mary flunked in most of the subjects. She was not the worst but she was not above average any more. Mary’s teacher was infuriated with the results of the class, which was not as she wanted. She felt a necessity to teach last 10 rankers a lesson. What else could be better method than to physically torture the tiny tender kids, so that they never forget the lesson the learned teacher was trying to hammer on them. In no time, last 10 rankers were asked to stand outside in the sun which was blazing at the peak summer noon. No prizes for guessing that our Mary was also asked to stand in the scorching heat. The summer sun was too harsh for the slender frame of Mary who could not sustain and passed out on the ground. She was immediately rushed in the shade and nursed. This incidence further aggravated teacher’s indignation. It was difficult for her to believe that kids of Mary’s age can not sustain such punishments. She considered Mary to be faking the whole situation. Teacher remembered the incidence and sought to vindicate it at the right opportunity. It did not take much time for the right opportunity to come in. The Semester exams were going on. Mary was trying her best to prepare for the difficult subjects. Her parents had asked me to take few classes for her as a favor. I agreed and started coaching Mary on the subjects. She was having good grasping power and unique ability to apply the knowledge as soon as acquired. Hence, my effort was quite less in teaching her and the output was beyond my expectation. I started liking to teach her. Mary was working very hard to make up the grades. She was doing well in her exams, she used to tell me. On the day of her last exam, Mary was quietly writing her paper. The paper was easy for her as she was well prepared. The teacher, as vindictive she was, was watching for a slight error from Mary so that she could throw her out of the exam hall. To Mary’s misfortune, the moment arrived. A quick gust of wind flew Mary’s question paper to her fellow students’ desk. As Mary went on to pick her question paper, she was confronted & slapped hard by her teacher who left no stone un-turned in proving that she was cheating. Mary cried, cried and cried but it all went on deaf ears. Fortunately, for Mary, the principal of the school was passing by. She stopped and asked the reason for the commotion. Thankfully, the principal believed Mary and allowed her to complete her exams. This was the last straw for the class teacher to consider Mary her sworn enemy. To rub salt on her wounds, Mary’s result was just excellent in the semester exams. She had topped, though over all she was 3rd ranker but still there were six months to go and Mary hoped that she would be able to regain her original position. And then the fateful day arrived. It was one week, since the school opened and Mary was quite excited to learn the subjects further. She was quick to answer the questions asked in the class and was doing very well. Finally, on that day, the teacher got into an ego clash and asked Mary to explain something which was way beyond Mary’s scope of learning. The teacher, infuriated, threw the duster with full force towards Mary which unfortunately hit Mary directly at her temple. Immediate brain hemorrhage followed resulting in on-the-spot loss of a life which was definitely not meant to be going this way. The teacher was tried in the court but she was released due to lack of evidence and on the ground of accidental but not intended hit. Life is going on usual for me or anyone else in the world, but definitely its’ no more a fair world for me!

Othello as a Tragic Hero Essay

One of the most obvious focal point of disagreement about Othello is whether Othello was a tragic hero or not according to the classic conception of a tragic hero; whether his characterization, personal attributes make him fall into the domain of Aristotelian concept of tragic hero; Whether or not he possessed a tragic flaw. To Swinburne, Othello was â€Å"the noblest man of man’s making†. (Swinburne)But T. S. Eliot, on the other hand spoke unfavorably of his â€Å"cheering himself up†, (153) and came out with a celebrated critical term â€Å"Bovarysme†. Robert H.  Heilman (1956) comes very close to restating the Eliot position when he says; â€Å"Othello is the least heroic of Shakespeare’s tragic heroes. † (p. 166) The identification of Othello’s hamartia differs from reader to reader and from critic to critic. Some critics are of the view that excessive Egotism and self-confidence of Othello remain the main cause of his tragedy. He harbors unjustified suspicions against Desdemona. He had a trustful nature and he is thorough in his trust of Iago. (Bradley, 1965. p. 213. Jealousy overpowers him and he lacks self-control. It is hardly likely that even a combination of all these would be equal to what Aristotle considered to be a serious hamartia, and he exhibited any of the failing mentioned above. It would hardly be logical to say that the Othello was punished for crime in the yes of the divine. Another view is that the present failings of Othello may be taken to means that he was he was always like that, and his tragedy comes due some inherent or innate unsoundness in his character. However we get no indication of this in the play. The conception of the tragic hero that we gather from Aristotle’s Poetics is that he is a highly esteemed and prosperous man who falls into misfortune because of some serious hamartia i. e. tragic flaw. Aristotle gives the example of Oedipus and Thyestes, which means that according to him, it was Oedipus’ hamartia that was directly responsible for his fall. Although the meaning of hamartia is far from certain, its most frequent applications is in the sense of false moral judgment, or even purely intellectual errors. Among Greeks no sharp distinction between the two existed. It is generally believed that according to Aristotle the hamartia off Oedipus consists in some moral faults and it has been tried to identify various moral faults in Oedipus. Othello also possessed these moral flaw and his tragedy only comes due to these moral flaws, So according to Aristotelian conception, Othello is a tragic hero as he is a larger than life character and has tragic flaws that bring his destruction. Distinguished Professor Butcher has identified four possible range of meaning of Aristotle‘s Hamartia i. . tragic flaw. The foremost of these connotations is an error due to unavoidable ignorance of circumstances whereas an error caused by unawareness of conditions that might have been identified and for that reason to some extent morally blameworthy is another manifestation of the sense in which the term hamartia was used by Aristotle. The third sense is â€Å"A fault or error where the act is conscious and intentional, but not deliberate. Such acts are committed in anger or passion. Where as fourth one is â€Å"A fault of character distinct, on the one hand, from an isolated error, and, on the other, from the vice which has its seat in the depraved will†¦a flaw of character that is not tainted with a vicious purpose. † This essay will try to analyze all these manifestation of tragic flaws present in the character of Othello to manifest that he was a tragic hero. The character of Othello possesses an aura of personality that makes him distinguished as well naive and unrefined as compared with other characters in the play and other Shakespearean protagonists. That is the sole reason that why he fell a prey to Iago’s plot. Iago told Roderigo, â€Å"O, sir, content you. I follow him [Othello] to serve my turn upon him â€Å"(I, i lines 38-9). Iago explains that only follow Othello to certain extent. A rudimentary supposition is that as the murder of Othello’s wife Desdemona is the result of deceitfulness of Iago, so himself remained a victim to the evil genius of Iago. Othello’s wrath was a product of his impulsiveness, the inherent flaw in his character, but that was utilized and triggered by the machination of Iago. The offense of Iago – to conspire the demise of the Moor – is worse since it is embedded in a shrewd mind with organized attempt whereas the wrongdoing of Othello was the result of his naivete. He was blindfolded by a thorn in the heart and mind. But his sin can not be justified only on this ground as there were various methods to check the blameworthiness. However, it can be illustrated that Othello permitted himself to be influenced by Iago’s proposition of the unfaithfulness of Desdemona. Iago only provides a justification that was needed by Othello. Some critics are of the view that Desdemona’s murder is an outcome of Othello’s excessive arrogance and his impulsiveness to decision-making. A. C. Bradley ponders over the dispositions and nature of Othello and says in this regard; â€Å"The sources of danger in this character are revealed but too clearly by the story. In the first place, Othello’s mind, for all its poetry, is very simple. He is not observant. His nature tends outward. He is quite free from introspection, and is not given to reflection. Emotion excites his imagination, but it confuses and dulls his intellect. On this side he is the very opposite of Hamlet, with whom, however, he shares a great openness and trustfulness of nature. In addition, he has little experience of the corrupt products of civilised life, and is ignorant of European women. † (p. 217) Despite this major flaw, he possessed some distinct personality traits. His has the capacity to build positive and reciprocal relationships and to take a number of steps to persuade. He possesses the capability to tailor an approach to appeal to the needs of a particular audience and an example of this relationship building is his genuine companionship with Iago. But again this trait of Othello is used against him as Iago takes advantage of his trust and design more evil plots against him. Although Othello possesses some evil propensities but he is capable of preventing these base and evil instincts to dominate him. In order to locate the degree and gravity of his sins, his motives fro his evil actions must be taken into consideration. It can be argued that his sins are product of weak mental faculties and some inherent flaws in his character. It was further enhanced by the manipulation of Iago instead of his pride. His action of murdering Desdemona was also not due to deficiency of confidence as he was a strong leader as manifested by his ability to command military and various other states affairs. But his leadership does not mean that he was forfeited against personal fantasies and whims of imagination. Othello’s basic dilemma was that he was in a totally new socio-cultural milieu. He was in a new city with a new bride who was graceful and young. Furthermore, Othello was in deep love with her does not know her well. He was uncertain about Desdemona decision to select him as her husband, and can only comprehend one clarification, â€Å"She lov’d me for the dangers I had pass’d. † (I,iii,167) He is aware of the prevailing environment of prejudice and bias in Venice and without doubt must inquire why Desdemona would against her own norms and values and associate white Venetians by marrying an outsider. All these added suspicion in his minds before Iago begins his conniving plot. Although Desdemona was an epitome of love and care for her, but his preconceived notions cannot enable him to believe in her love unreservedly. His response to his skeptic mind is to put Desdemona on a pedestal, making her an â€Å"emblem of purity and trustworthiness† ‘Tis not to make me jealous/ To say my wife Is fair, feeds well, loves company, Is free of speech, sings, plays, and dances well. / Where virtue Is, these are more virtuous. Nor from mine own weak merits will I draw/ The smallest fear or doubt of her revolt, For she had eyes, and chose me. (3. 3. 180) Othello arrived at the conclusion that Desdemona’s consideration and virtue only capacitated her to feel affection for the unlovable — an unstable culmination originating from his low self-worth. When Iago cast away this fictitious idealism with his evil designs, he is merely strengthening what Othello considers profoundly to be thoroughly possible i. e. that Desdemona could love another man. Iago is on hand to verify Othello’s primary doubts: Ay, there’s the point! as (to be bold with you)/ Not to affect many proposed matches/ Of her own clime, complexion, and degree, / Whereto we see in all things nature tends †¦ Her will, recoiling to her better judgement,/ May fall to match you with her country forms, / And happily repent. (3. 3. 228) So all these facts, arguments and supported evidence clearly manifest that Othello was a lager than life character and his tragic flaw contributes toward his tragedy. It is both an amalgam of self-infliction and circumstances beyond his control. He is a noble character but when things go wrong and pressures builds up, Othello’s inadequacies are revealed like the cracks in the dam. This makes him a tragic hero according to very conception of Aristotle. A. C. Bradley refutes the point of view that Othello was not noble and has no characteristics of a tragic hero. He is of the view; This character is so noble, Othello’s feelings and actions follow so inevitably from it and from the forces brought to bear on it, and his sufferings are so heart-rending, that he stirs, I believe, in most readers a passion of mingled love and pity which they feel for no other hero in Shakespeare, and to which not even Mr Swinburne can do more than justice. Yet there are some critics and not a few readers who cherish a grudge against him. They do not merely think that in the later stages of his temptation he showed a certain obtuseness, and that, to speak pedantically, he acted with unjustifiable precipitance and violence; no one, I suppose, denies that. (p. 221)

The Handmaids Tale

Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale takes place in a post Cold War society plagued by infertility. Atwood presents the reader with â€Å"The Republic of Gilead†, the Christian theocracy that overthrew the United States government. Narrated by a woman renamed Offred, the reader gets an idea of a future in which women are no longer women, but are solely needed for reproduction. Atwood uses a system of vocabulary established under the Republic of Gilead in order to manipulate and dehumanize women and men throughout the text. Under this new society women are efined under their gender roles.No longer are women allowed to hold Jobs, make an income, or have control over their body. Men on the other hand are referred to by their military rank. Women are then placed into the group in which the Republic of Gilead finds fitting. Some sent off to reproduce children, others to work and wait for a slow cruel death. Offred is what the Republic of Gilead labels a handmaid. A handmaid's sole purpose is to produce a child for elite families of the Republic. Handmaids are stripped from their own clothes and are forced to wear all red.A floor length dress that gives the handmaid no shape, red shoes, and red gloves. The color red is extremely symbolic towards their position in society. The red clothing could be interpreted in a multitude of ways. Red is the color of a women's menstrual blood. Therefore the wearing of red deems the handmaids one of the few fertile women among society. However, in history red has been a marker of sexual sin. The handmaids are essentially having sex with married men. All handmaids are immediately stripped of their birth name and put under possession of the commander.Offred receives this name because her commander's name is Fred, and she is â€Å"of† Fred. This is the Republic of Gilead's way of literally dehumanizing and stripping the handmaid's from any personalization. I looked up the definition of the word â€Å"handmaiden†, and it is defined as such, â€Å"A handmaiden is a personal maid, female servant, or a subordinate thing†. Under this new society, these women who are able to produce life, are literally referred to as â€Å"things† and â€Å"possessions†. In the beginning of this new society handmaidens arrive at a place called â€Å"the red center†.It is here they learn to be trained by what the Republic of Gilead labels â€Å"Aunts†. Aunts attempt to promote the handmaid's as an honorable Job and position in society. The term â€Å"aunt† is appropriately used and applied by Atwood throughout the novel. Their Job is to train, reform and advise handmaids in order to prepare them for their new life. One activity the aunt's used in attempt to brainwash and manipulate the handmaid's was â€Å"testifying†. It was during this time handmaid's told their apparent â€Å"faults† from their previous lives and was then taunted for it.Offred tells one han dmaid's story from â€Å"testifying as such, â€Å"It's Janine, telling about how she was gang-raped at fourteen and had an abortion†. The other handmaids chant in unison claiming it is â€Å"her fault, her fault, her fault†. Offred explains how during the last time Janine told the story she burst into tears. However, during this weeks testifying she immediately takes responsibility tor being raped claiming, â€Å"It was my tault It was my own fault, I led them on†. The aunt's have completed their Job by manipulating the handmaids into believing that a rape was wanted.Upon entering a commander's home there are no longer aunts, but â€Å"Marthas†. The Handmaid's Tale is laced with biblical references throughout the entire novel. Atwood's use of the name â€Å"Martha† comes directly from a story in Luke 10:38-42 in which Jesus goes to visit his mother Mary and Martha. While Mary sits and listens to Jesus speak, Martha is too busy with all of the dut ies she had to accomplish. This is exactly what the Martha's are seen doing while working in the commander's home. The Marthas, Cora and Rita, are to fulfill all domestic roles in the house, exactly likeMartha had done in the bible. While Marthas take care of the house, the commander's wives are not expected to do the same. Wives are superior to all women, and it is made clear to Offred right away. However, while living in the commander's home it is apparent that even though the handmaidens are forced into a situation unwanted, so have the wives. Wives are to lay with the handmaiden while the commander has sex with the handmaiden. Labeled as, â€Å"the ceremony', this event is emotionally scarring towards both females in the situation.After one of the ceremonies Offred even wonders, Which of us is it worse for, her or me†. The act of the â€Å"ceremony' directly shows how the Republic of Gilead has dehumanized both low ranking and high-ranking women. Sex is no longer perform ed for love and passion, but only to produce a child. On one hand, Offred has no say over her body and what is happening to her. Offred even states, â€Å"It's only the inside of our bodies that is important. The outside can become hard and wrinkled for all they care†. On the other hand, the commander's wife, Serena Joy, has to lie there while her husband has sex with another woman.While dealing with those struggles seem unfair and unjust, other women are worse off. Deformed babies, sterile women and former feminists are not even given a chance in this society. Denoted with the labels of â€Å"unwomen† and â€Å"unbabies†, they are sent to â€Å"the colonies†. The colonies are places in which agriculture is produced and also a place of deadly radiation and pollution. The Republic of Gilead immediately sends them there because they have no use for them in their supreme society. The Republic of Gilead does not only oppress women, but men too.Offred's ormer friend Moira explained to her in detail the colonies, â€Å"All of them wear long dresses like the ones at the Center, only gray. Women and the men too, Judging from the group shots. I guess it's supposed to demoralize the men having to wear a dress†. Under this society, if you do not fit their standards, you are deemed unnecessary. Atwood also uses certain vocabulary to define certain religious rituals that take place throughout the novel. â€Å"Praywaganzas,† â€Å"Salvagings,† and â€Å"Particicutions† are a few of the rituals used to manipulate handmaidens into practicing the societies beliefs. The Handmaids Tale Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale takes place in a post Cold War society plagued by infertility. Atwood presents the reader with â€Å"The Republic of Gilead†, the Christian theocracy that overthrew the United States government. Narrated by a woman renamed Offred, the reader gets an idea of a future in which women are no longer women, but are solely needed for reproduction. Atwood uses a system of vocabulary established under the Republic of Gilead in order to manipulate and dehumanize women and men throughout the text. Under this new society women are efined under their gender roles.No longer are women allowed to hold Jobs, make an income, or have control over their body. Men on the other hand are referred to by their military rank. Women are then placed into the group in which the Republic of Gilead finds fitting. Some sent off to reproduce children, others to work and wait for a slow cruel death. Offred is what the Republic of Gilead labels a handmaid. A handmaid's sole purpose is to produce a child for elite families of the Republic. Handmaids are stripped from their own clothes and are forced to wear all red.A floor length dress that gives the handmaid no shape, red shoes, and red gloves. The color red is extremely symbolic towards their position in society. The red clothing could be interpreted in a multitude of ways. Red is the color of a women's menstrual blood. Therefore the wearing of red deems the handmaids one of the few fertile women among society. However, in history red has been a marker of sexual sin. The handmaids are essentially having sex with married men. All handmaids are immediately stripped of their birth name and put under possession of the commander.Offred receives this name because her commander's name is Fred, and she is â€Å"of† Fred. This is the Republic of Gilead's way of literally dehumanizing and stripping the handmaid's from any personalization. I looked up the definition of the word â€Å"handmaiden†, and it is defined as such, â€Å"A handmaiden is a personal maid, female servant, or a subordinate thing†. Under this new society, these women who are able to produce life, are literally referred to as â€Å"things† and â€Å"possessions†. In the beginning of this new society handmaidens arrive at a place called â€Å"the red center†.It is here they learn to be trained by what the Republic of Gilead labels â€Å"Aunts†. Aunts attempt to promote the handmaid's as an honorable Job and position in society. The term â€Å"aunt† is appropriately used and applied by Atwood throughout the novel. Their Job is to train, reform and advise handmaids in order to prepare them for their new life. One activity the aunt's used in attempt to brainwash and manipulate the handmaid's was â€Å"testifying†. It was during this time handmaid's told their apparent â€Å"faults† from their previous lives and was then taunted for it.Offred tells one han dmaid's story from â€Å"testifying as such, â€Å"It's Janine, telling about how she was gang-raped at fourteen and had an abortion†. The other handmaids chant in unison claiming it is â€Å"her fault, her fault, her fault†. Offred explains how during the last time Janine told the story she burst into tears. However, during this weeks testifying she immediately takes responsibility tor being raped claiming, â€Å"It was my tault It was my own fault, I led them on†. The aunt's have completed their Job by manipulating the handmaids into believing that a rape was wanted.Upon entering a commander's home there are no longer aunts, but â€Å"Marthas†. The Handmaid's Tale is laced with biblical references throughout the entire novel. Atwood's use of the name â€Å"Martha† comes directly from a story in Luke 10:38-42 in which Jesus goes to visit his mother Mary and Martha. While Mary sits and listens to Jesus speak, Martha is too busy with all of the dut ies she had to accomplish. This is exactly what the Martha's are seen doing while working in the commander's home. The Marthas, Cora and Rita, are to fulfill all domestic roles in the house, exactly likeMartha had done in the bible. While Marthas take care of the house, the commander's wives are not expected to do the same. Wives are superior to all women, and it is made clear to Offred right away. However, while living in the commander's home it is apparent that even though the handmaidens are forced into a situation unwanted, so have the wives. Wives are to lay with the handmaiden while the commander has sex with the handmaiden. Labeled as, â€Å"the ceremony', this event is emotionally scarring towards both females in the situation.After one of the ceremonies Offred even wonders, Which of us is it worse for, her or me†. The act of the â€Å"ceremony' directly shows how the Republic of Gilead has dehumanized both low ranking and high-ranking women. Sex is no longer perform ed for love and passion, but only to produce a child. On one hand, Offred has no say over her body and what is happening to her. Offred even states, â€Å"It's only the inside of our bodies that is important. The outside can become hard and wrinkled for all they care†. On the other hand, the commander's wife, Serena Joy, has to lie there while her husband has sex with another woman.While dealing with those struggles seem unfair and unjust, other women are worse off. Deformed babies, sterile women and former feminists are not even given a chance in this society. Denoted with the labels of â€Å"unwomen† and â€Å"unbabies†, they are sent to â€Å"the colonies†. The colonies are places in which agriculture is produced and also a place of deadly radiation and pollution. The Republic of Gilead immediately sends them there because they have no use for them in their supreme society. The Republic of Gilead does not only oppress women, but men too.Offred's ormer friend Moira explained to her in detail the colonies, â€Å"All of them wear long dresses like the ones at the Center, only gray. Women and the men too, Judging from the group shots. I guess it's supposed to demoralize the men having to wear a dress†. Under this society, if you do not fit their standards, you are deemed unnecessary. Atwood also uses certain vocabulary to define certain religious rituals that take place throughout the novel. â€Å"Praywaganzas,† â€Å"Salvagings,† and â€Å"Particicutions† are a few of the rituals used to manipulate handmaidens into practicing the societies beliefs.

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Wesfamers - Essay Example It provides an in-depth knowledge regarding an entity or an issue or an event to the individuals, which helps them to build conception regarding the same. A company listed under stock exchange has to provide information to its stakeholders so as to keep them updated regarding the performance. This company has to maintain flow of information to its stakeholders as they have to comply with the rules and regulations that are formulated by the higher authorities of stock exchange (Westbrook 7). This information is a medium of communication of the stakeholders with the company. This helps in changing the view point of the stakeholders towards the company. Here, stakeholders refer to customers, employees, shareholders, media, investment community and the bankers. For the companies, which are registered under stock exchanges, information is described as the disclosure as it has direct or indirect impact on its stock price. Information has many forms from announcements to accounting numbers, which depicts achievements of the company, its descriptive activities and different corporate functions that are essential for its operation (Westbrook 7). Communication theory was first established by the famous Greek Philosophers Aristotle and Plato. They had discovered three components as the art of disclosure such as grammar, logic and rhetoric. In the context of corporate communication, rhetoric aims at establishing a relationship between the information that are shared by the company and the way they are communicated to the general public. Presently, the information age had influenced the traditional media and it is challenged by the online source of information. The stock exchanges release data and information regarding company stock performance, which comply with the rules and regulations (Westbrook 7-9) in their website. This information assists the stakeholders to make appropriate decisions regarding any investment. The stakeholders belong to two

UNDERSTANDING DRUG-TARGET INTERACTIONS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

UNDERSTANDING DRUG-TARGET INTERACTIONS - Essay Example Propranolol is a beta-adrenergic receptor blocking agent (Long) and has been used to treat amongst many other things, high blood pressure, glaucoma, migraines, reduce anginal episodes, reduce episodes of anxiety and even treat alcohol withdrawal symptoms (Farooqi and Aboul-Enein, 1995). It is one of the most commonly used classes of these drugs (Aarons et al, 1979) but while propranolol is effective in treating several conditions, toxicity may occur in some cases too and is a result of interaction between the receptor and the drug (Glaubinger and Lefkowitz, 1977). Toxicity can affect cardiac, vascular or bronchial function (Farooqi and Aboul-Enein, 1995). The beta-adrenergic receptor is a well studied receptor that is phylogenetically conserved (Barak et al, 1994) and is present in low concentrations in plasma membranes (Yarden et al, 1986). It has been demonstrated to be an integral plasma membrane glycoprotein which is hydrophobic (Yarden et al, 1986). The beta-adrenergic receptor (Refer Fig. 1) is made up of seven transmembrane alpha-helices spanning the plasma membrane. Three of these loops are intracellular while the other three are extracellular. There is an amino terminus and a carboxyl terminus to the receptor of which the carboxyl terminus is on the cytoplasmic side and the amino terminus is inside the cell. This receptor is N-glycosylated near the amino terminus with the amino terminus being blocked in this receptor (Yarden et al, 1986, Green et al,1993). There are many phosphorylation sites on the carboxyl loops (Yarden et al, 1986) which allows for activation. The chemical name of propranolol is 1-isopropylamino-3-(1-naphthyloxy)-2-propanol (Farooqi and Aboul-Enein, 1995) and it is a beta-adrenergic antagonistic drug (Glaubinger and Lefkowitz, 1977). Different structures have been proposed for this drug (Padke et al, 1981). However, a widely accepted one appears to be one put forward by Phadke et al, 1981 (Refer

Collegiate Promotions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Collegiate Promotions - Essay Example These representatives get paid according to the number of products sold. Unlike individuals employed directly for a wholesaler or a manufacturer, the collegiate promotion representatives are compensated strictly on commission basis. In addition, the company never reimburses their expenses such as those spent on entertaining of customers, transport costs and meals. This enables the company to cut on its operational costs and maximizing on its profits (â€Å"Career Information†). Alternatively, a company may have a perfect compensation plan but not achieve the amount of targeted sales. For instance, if the sales manager does not adequately instruct the sales representative on how to carry the duties you are paying them for, then the results can be devastating. It is essential to develop a business structure that supports the behaviors of the salespersons in the reinforced compensation plan. It is also likely that individuals in sales and marketing teams may not meet the job†™s vigorous demand despite their adequate product knowledge. In addition, direct salespersons may not be able to cope with the challenges in the market such as constant rejections or the necessity of creating relationships that are positive with everyone. In addition, the marketing team may shy away from the responsibility of managing their time effectively and the need to learn more about their customers’ domain continuously (Kahle, 2007). These are some of the challenges faced by the company despite their effective and efficient compensation plans. Reasons why a Sale Representative Is Willing To Sell At both the Top and the Bottom Range of a Price The sales representatives are willing to sell at both levels of prices because of various factors. For instance, competition in the market and demand of the product affects the price of the product. Bottom range pricing often occurs when the demand of the product is low and competition is tough. As a result, the sales representa tive has got no choice but to dispose the product at the lowest cost set by the company he is working for. When the product demand is high, he has to set a higher price so that he can get enough commission to cater for the expenses incurred during the product promotion. Predicting Whether the Sales Are Made At the Bottom or Top Range of Possible Prices The sales at the bottom range are often lower than those at top range. This is because the size of the swing is often determined by price levels in the market. The markets operating with higher prices have broad swings compared to those operating at lower prices. It is paramount that, stops be located at I, 2 or 3 price units below or above the swing tops and bottoms. For instance, when a market operates at low level historically, then a stop needs to be near the swing bottom or top than when the market is historically operating at levels that are high(James, 2001). How lack of geographically protected areas affect the behaviour of a sales person A product often corresponds to a geographical position such as a country, region or a town. This clearly indicates the product reputation within a specific geographical location. The product or service often enjoys a unique

Discuss the extent to which you feel modern tourism brings either more Essay

Discuss the extent to which you feel modern tourism brings either more advantages or disadvantages to popular tourist areas - Essay Example Either ways so tourism has become very important for nations, specially those blessed with the natural beauty,a vast culture,heritage and history .Nations amongst these include most of Europe,Malaysia,Maldives,India and America.These countries have changed the way tourism was thought about like.To facilitate the customers of tourism,these nations did not only create hotels and motels but also satisfied tourists with the creation of a whole new dynamic infrastructure just to accommodate tourists near to the site.Online packages of all kinds including flight bookings,accommodation and transitions making it easier for a person to arrange for these things after the arrival.Other than this hotels also offer the service of airport pick and drop.People have made touring a part of their life.Tourism has been developed very well and hugely invested apoun as it was seen as the potential export.Every penny a household saves, one third of it is spent on travelling as it has not only been markete d well but become like a luxury and a way to ease out from the daily life activities. Popular tourist destinations around the world like Switzerland,America,Paris and turkey are all places that provide a unique selling point in terms of tourism.These place are either naturally blessed or part of some historical civilization or even artificially(manmade) designed very well.May it be the famous Eiffel tower of Paris, the statue of liberty in America or the canals and churches of Venice, these places attract tourists.For the tourist area the biggest advantage is the economic factor ofcourse as tourism creates employment for a huge population living in that country(Singh,2010). If tourists do not come to the destination, those persons directly involved in tourism for example, the straw vendors, the taxi drivers, retail storeowners etc., could be unable to pay their bills. If they are unable to make money they could

CHALLENGES IN HR BT CASE STUDY EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES & DIVERSITY AT Essay

CHALLENGES IN HR BT CASE STUDY EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES & DIVERSITY AT BRITISH TELECOMMUNICATIONS (BT) - Essay Example The necessities of such changes extend beyond the company into the wider skills and economy base within telecom and IT sector. There are no enough people with the necessary skills available to the company when they are needed in 2020. The 2020 workforce profile will be composed of 70% of the people presently employed in the company. Therefore, the company will develop these people in the workplace and build their ability through further education and re-skilling. In order to mitigate these strategic challenges, the company has put in place learning and training systems, and they need to assure that they are robust and meet the best practice standards (Investors in People 2009, p2). The market environment where BT operates is highly competitive, and this is because of improvements in lifestyle, increasing globalization, and advances in technology. This has changed the manner in which people do business and communicate. These transformations bring considerable human resources challenges. In response to this, the company has developed a People Strategy that will give it the capability to adapt to the changing business environment. It will also give them the capability to create a high performance company that is crucial to its future success. The mission of the company is to assist change it into a company of motivated and inspirational leaders, adaptable, and high performing individuals who deliver excellent customer service in a flexible and an inclusive working environment (BT 2013, p1). From the year 1996, BT has been proactive in Equal Opportunities approach, and it has encompassed disability, ethnic origin, gender and other forms of equality. In 1999, the company joined the Equal Opportunities Commission Equal Pay Task Force. Later in the century, it became a member for the UK Equal Opportunities Commission Working Groups on the Equal Pay Audit Tool and Equal Pay guidelines. This move brought about the issue of equal opportunities in the BT

Solving problem of elctrodynamic Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Solving problem of elctrodynamic - Assignment Example As before, the procedure for determining the Greens function is to split. The region of interest in to two parts (one on each side of the observation point), and separate solutions of the Laplace equation that satisfy the boundary conditions of every region, and then join the two solutions at the source point such that their values match up but the first derivative (in whichever dimension we chose sides) has a finite discontinuity. The solution in the first region must be admissible down to which excludes the in term and the negative powers of p. However, these terms may be included in the solutions for region in second place. In individually regions, the solution must vanish at which excludes the cos terms Henceforth when the electromagnetic disturbance has reached the origin, the particle has traveled as far as the electromagnetic disturbance did, but in the opposite direction, so it is now twice as far from the origin as it was when the disturbance we are just now feeling was generated. The electric fields do not depend on the unprimed variables and come out of the integrals, which was the point of the Taylor sequences expansion. After a little manipulation, we recognize the integrals that are left as the dipole moment and quadrupole moments d) If, instead of the semi-classical charge density used above, the electron in the 2p state was described by a circular Bohr orbit of radius , rotating with the transition frequency w0, what would the predicted power be? Express your answer in the same units as in part b and evaluate the ratio of the powers numerically. b) We now want to calculate the ï ¬ elds from the potentials. This is mostly straight forward, albeit tedious, algebra. We need to remember that the dipole moment is evaluated at the retarded time, so that there is an implicit time dependence in p (t0) a) Starting with the Proca Lagrangian density (12.91) and following the same procedure as for the electro

The loss of humanness for slaves and slaveholders Essay Example for Free

The loss of humanness for slaves and slaveholders Essay The history of slavery cannot and should not be forgotten, because it represents one of the chapters of human history, when humanity was not humane at all. The â€Å"Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass† depicts an autobiography of an American slave, Frederick Douglass, who has risen from the pits of slavery to the echelon of free men. The first few chapters narrate the harrowing experiences of slaves, under the hands of their white masters and mistresses. This paper focuses on chapter 1 of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. † The main argument of chapter 1 is that slavery dehumanizes slaves, by not allowing them to nurture human bonds or have memories of important aspects of their lives that remind them of their humanness, and slavery also dehumanizes slaveholders, because it allows masters to perform the most inhumane acts to their slaves. Slavery dehumanizes slaves, by not allowing them to nurture human bonds. Douglass recounts the practice of slaveholders of separating infant slaves from their mothers. He reckons that this may be due to the belief of slave masters in the importance of erasing maternal relations, which can impact the work and loyalty of the slaves to their masters. Douglass says that the primary goal of the separation between mothers and their young children is to prevent â€Å"the development of the childs affection toward its mother, and to blunt and destroy the natural affection of the mother for the child† (Douglass, ch. 1). This practice seems to have been successful, because when Frederick’s mother died, he did not feel anything for her: â€Å"I received the tidings of her death with much the same emotions I should have probably felt at the death of a stranger. † Having lack of emotion at this critical point in his life portrays how slavery dehumanizes slaves by eradicating human emotions that would have otherwise been developed in normal life circumstances. Furthermore, slaves are not supposed to develop positive social relationships, and so families and lovers are commonly torn apart. Douglass remembers Aunt Hester, whom her master has been discovered with another black slave, and so his aunt was incessantly whipped, and he also knows slave families that are also broken, by separating parents from their children and siblings from their siblings. Slavery also dehumanizes slaves by not allowing them to have memories of important aspects of their lives that remind them of their humanness. Douglass does not remember his birthday, which the text indicates as a way of stressing how slaves are less human, because they cannot remember the date that they have been born humans. Douglass also asserts the inhumanity of not knowing his birthday, by saying: â€Å"†¦ the larger part of the slaves knows as little of their ages as horses know of theirs. † By saying this, Douglass creates the relationship between slaves and animal treatment, an indication of how slaves were treated as animals. In addition, Douglass also does not even know who his father is. Not knowing one’s real parents also affects one’s idea of humanity, because it is equal to not being aware of one’s origins, which can negatively influence the formation of human identity. Slavery also dehumanizes masters by making them emotionally distant enough to do the most inhumane acts to their slaves. Douglass remembers the atrocious whippings of her aunt: â€Å"The louder she screamed, the harder he whipped; and where the blood ran fastest, there he whipped longest. † Masters have become hungry for blood. Because of this lust for blood, even the masters have disengaged from being humans, because they have lost their compassion for their fellow human beings. Their violent natures turned them into animals too. Slavery represents the process of turning people into animals. Slaves and masters are both converted into animals, because slavery removed critical aspects of their humanness. Slavery took away social relations and human memories from slaves and ignited bloodlust among slave masters. The outcomes of slavery, as well as its processes, are all inhumane, and so inhumanity was developed. Thus, slavery reverses the gift of humanity to humans and it has provided a way of enslaving the essence of humanity. Work cited Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. Web. 17 July 2010 http://sunsite. berkeley. edu/Literature/Douglass/Autobiography/01. html.

Customer Relationship Management Dimensions

Customer Relationship Management Dimensions Purpose The primary objective of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework that depicts the impact of customer relationship management (CRM) dimensions on employee job satisfaction within the customer contact center industry. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses a qualitative methodology that comprises of a comprehensive literature review of both academic researches and industry reports. Findings Evidences from the extant literatures have suggested that effective implementations of the four dimensions of CRM (Customer Orientation, CRM Organization, Knowledge Management and Technology Based CRM) will positively effect employee job satisfaction within the customer contact center industry. Research limitations/implications Given that this paper is based on qualitative approach, there is need to embark on empirical data gathering to validate the conceptual model presented. Practical implications The paper suggest that to achieve operational efficiency together with employee job satisfaction, there is need for customer contact centers to integrate CRM dimensions into its operations and measurement practices. Originality/value This paper primarily conceptualize a measurement model that would assist in determining the impacts of CRM on employee job satisfaction and performance within the contact centers. It generally provides contact center Executives with CRM focus, by complementing recent works that have been conducted on the role of CRM constructs in improving employee job satisfactions and organizational performances. It concluded by proposing a model for future testing. Keywords Customer Relationship Management (CRM), contact centers, call centers, employee job satisfaction, caller/customer satisfaction, service quality Paper type Conceptual paper Introduction Customer Relationship Management (CRM) as referred is a concept that derives its popularity since 1990s. It is said to offer a long term changes and benefits to businesses that chose to adopt it. CRM has been argued to enable companies to successfully interact with their customers in a dynamic and profitable manner (Aihie and Bennani, 2007; Adam and Michael, 2005; Gummesson, 2004; Sin et al, 2005). However, many scholars still debate over what should exactly constitute CRM; some says CRM are nothing more than mere software, while others says it is a modern means of satisfying customers requirement at profit (Soon 2007; Nguyen et al, 2007; and Eric et al, 2006). CRM was also defined by Nguyen et al (2007) as information system that allows organizations to track customers interactions with their firms and allows employees to instantly pull up information about the customers such as past sales, service records, outstanding records and unresolved problem calls. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a unit of a bigger Marketing Management which is the art and science of choosing target markets and building profitable relationships with them by delivering superior customer value and satisfaction (Dean, 2007, Eid, 2007; Adam and Michael, 2005; Gummesson, 2004; and Fox and Stead, 2001). McNally (2007) defines CRM as a system which allows both internal and external customers of an organization to critical information through the integration of companys telephone system, Chat groups, Interactive voice response, facsimile transmission, electronic data interchange, Voice over internet, Web sites and e-mail touch points that will result in satisfying customer self services for new product purchases, assist in up-selling and cross selling and creating customer loyalty, value and profitability. While different researchers believed that there is no one correct definition of CRM, this research would like to define CRM as Organizations ability to efficiently integrate people, process, and technology in maximizing positive relationships with both current and potential customers. Authors such as Sin et al (2005) argued that CRM is a strategic business process that involves an efficient management of detailed information about current and potential customers channeled through a carefully arranged customer touch points that assist in maximizing customer loyalty and minimizing costs. Other scholarly arguments have also established that the cost implications in CRM implementations are double sided, from one from the company and the other from the customers (McNally, 2007; Wang et al., 2006; Sin et al., 2005, Yim et al., 2005). On one hand, the customer is able to reduce the cost of traveling to the respective companies to get what they need, while the companies are able to save cost on both their human resources, processes and promotions (Wang et al., 2006; Sin et al., 2005). To strengthen their arguments, Sin et al (2005) explained that whatever orientation that an organization might have put in place, the primary role of marketing management is to create a positive relationship with customers. Exploring CRM literatures Findings from recent researches have been indicating the enormous opportunities CRM is availing employees of several organizations in getting detailed customer information to make quick and intelligent business decisions that will resolve issues and provide efficient service to the customers (Soon, 2007; Rajshekhar et al., 2006; Yim et al., 2005; Adam and Michael, 2005). Similarly are arguments from both academic literatures and industry reports which have established the importance of customer relationship management in marketing activities, specifically in the customer contact centers where it has helped in digitalizing staffs knowledge about organizations customers through computer telephony integration, fax, email, web chatting etc (Dean, 2009; 2007; Sin et al., 2005; Yim et al., 2005; Roland and Werner, 2005). While this current study cannot disconfirm the available arguments in favor of CRM applications on employee job satisfactions and performance, there are reliable data that shows a range of major issues that is globally affecting contact centers such as shortage of skilled employees, high abandonment rate, high average speed of answer, employee job dissatisfaction, high attrition rate, high cost of operations, and customer dissatisfaction (Chen eta l., 2010; Callcentre.net, 2008; 2003; McNally, 2007; Adam and Michael, 2005). The model that is created from the literature review From the findings in the extant literature reviews, below is the proposed conceptual model. Relevant literatures in support of each constructs are detailed under the elements of each variable. + + + + Figure 1: CRM Dimensions and Employee Job Satisfaction Model Independent Variables: CRM Dimensions Based on the review of past related literatures on CRM and detail interview with some selected CRM managers, Sin et al (2005) hypothesized that the concept of CRM is a multi dimensional construct which consist of four broad behavioral components in every implementing organizations: key customer focus, CRM organization, knowledge management, and technology based CRM (Sin et al, 2005). They argued that their findings is in accordance with the general notion that a successful CRM is primarily designed to address four key areas in the implementing organization: corporate strategy; people; technology; and processes (Sin et al, 2005; Fox and Stead 2001), and that it is only when all these four components works according to target that a company will experience a superior customer related capability. It was equally argued that for a company to be able to maximize its long term performance in metrics such as customer satisfaction, employees trust, satisfaction and commitment, and return on investment, such a company must build, maintain, and do everything possible to establish the four dimensions of CRM (McNally, 2007; Bang, 2006; Wang et al., 2006; Sin et al, 2005; Yim et al., 2005). Customer Orientations Evidences from marketing literatures, IT literatures and Industry practices agreed to the fact that customer centric focus is a pre-requisite to any successful CRM Projects, particularly in shaping the minds and actions of the employees in becoming customer oriented (Dean, 2007; McNally, 2007; SQM, 2007; Roland and Werner, 2005; Callcenter.net, 2003). Looking at it from the contact center perspective, Dean (2002) defined customer Orientation as the degree to which an organization emphasizes on meeting customer needs and expectations for service quality. Dean (2004) went further to argue that customer orientation should incorporate commitment to customer needs and utilizing the available resources in gathering and efficiently managing customer feedback for effective decision making by the employees. Over the last twenty years, the concept of customer orientation have started to be very critical in the field of marketing management practices and theories, with apparent conclusions in support of the statement that any organization that adopts customer orientation approach are more likely to establish the required customer quality, increase its employee and customer satisfactions, and able to achieve the desired organizational objectives more efficiently than its competitors (Chen et al., 2010; Dean, 2007; Roland and Werner, 2005; Sin et al., 2005; Yim et al., 2005; Brady and Cronin, 2001; Lukas and Ferrell, 2000; Narver and Slater, 1990). To Sin et al (2005), they argued that although it is observed that most empirical studies have been concentrating on the degree and measurements of the concepts, but the extant literatures have long neglected the variations in the customer orientation dimensions or the features of the concepts as exhibited by each organizations (Sin et al., 2005). Therefore the general literatures on customer orientation could be argued as not been widely practiced specifically by the contact center professionals in the manner advocated by Sin et al (2005) and supported in other literatures such as Roland and Werner (2005) and Dean (2007) were they all have empirically established a positive linkages between customer orientation, perceived service quality, employee job satisfaction and customer satisfaction. Similarly are previous researches such as Kohli et al (1993) and Berry (1995) that cites several empirical studies that have suggest a linkage between the customer orientation and customer satisf action. Sources from other extant literatures have suggested that customer orientation (CO) is positively related to CRM adoption and customer relationships outcomes (Dean, 2007 and 2002; Eid 2007; James 2004). Customer orientation is said to reflect a companys culture on customers focus, needs and feedbacks (Dean 2007). In a very developed customer oriented approach, it is argued that there should be a continuous ongoing information collection and dissemination about customer and competitor for better decision making process by the employees (Kohli and Jaworski, 1993). The culture of customer orientation in a firm is considered to be very significant in the successful adoption, implementation and acceptance of CRM technology by its employees (Nguyen et al, 2007; Dean, 2007; and Eid 2007). Several other studies have also emphasized that there exist a stronger relationship between customer orientation and employee satisfaction, especially in the service industries where employees are the firs t contact with the customers and taking into consideration the length of time employees spend with customers in the contact center industry (Bhimrao and Janardan., 2008; McNally, 2007; Soon, 2007; Wang et al., 2006; Bang, 2006; Sarah and Meredith., 2006; Roland and Werner., 2005; Feinberg et al, 2002). Given the aforementioned evidences and many more empirical findings that have establish customer orientation as an important antecedent of competitive advantage and business profitability (Brady and Cronin, 2001; Narver and Slater, 1990), probing and measuring the impact of this orientation on employee job satisfaction is said to have captured the attentions of researchers (Wang et al., 2006; Sin et al, 2005; Yim et al., 2006). This research postulates that: H1: Customer Orientation of the customer contact center is positively related to Employee Job Satisfaction. CRM Organizations CRM organization has been argued as an essential means through which fundamental changes in terms of how firms organized and conduct its business processes around employees and customers can be actualized (Wang et al., 2006; Sin et al., 2005; Yim et al., 2005). Implementing firms are encouraged to pay necessary attentions to the inherent organizational challenges in the CRM initiatives (Rajshekhar et al., 2006; Adam and Michael, 2005). Both Wang et al (2006), Sin et al (2005) and Yim et al (2005) have all empirically tested and established that there exist a positive relationship between CRM organization and customer satisfaction, with serious emphasis on the positive roles of the employees. They argued further that the key considerations for any successful CRM to be implemented within the whole firm are organizational structures, the organization wide commitment of available resources, human resource management policies and employee job satisfaction that positively worked together t o influence customer satisfaction (Wang et al., 2006; Sin et al., 2005., Yim et al., 2005). By organizational structure means that CRM applications requires that the entire strategic business units in such firms be design to jointly work together towards achieving a common goal in terms of building a strong long-term customer relationships (Sin et al., 2005; Yim et al., 2005). For better efficiency of such organizational structure, it was advised that firms should incorporate productive process teams, cross discipline segment groups and customer focused departments (Aihie and Bennani, 2007; Sin et al., 2005; Yim et al., 2005). All the aforementioned structural designs are said to require a strong inter-functional coordination between the different departments, a statement that further confirms the existence of a positive relationship between CRM organization and employee job satisfaction and performance (Rajshekhar et al., 2006). Due to the high cost involvement of CRM applications, Sin et al (2005) and Yim et al (2005) conceptualized and established the importance of organizations wide commitment of resources to the intended design of CRM structures as having a positive relationship with employee satisfaction, performance and customer satisfaction. Also very important in their findings are the argument in favor of CRM organization as the established link between the human resources and the marketing interface (McNally, 2007; Sin et al., 2005). Also relevant in this area of studies are literatures such as Dean (2007) and Roland and Werner (2005) that empirically established that there exist a positive relationships between CRM dimensions (specifically customer orientation), employee job satisfaction, perceived service quality and customer satisfactions. Dean (2007), Roland and Werner (2005), Sin et al (2005) and Yim et al (2005) all empirically argued that this is a stage where firms need to logically instill in its customer service representatives the utmost importance of the CRM dimensions in order to positively influence employee job satisfaction, first call resolution, customer satisfaction and organization overall performance. In their concluding remarks they emphasized on four significant firms internal marketing processes, which includes employee empowerment, effective internal communications, standard reward systems, and employee involvement as efficient means of actualizing CRM organizations on employee job satisfaction and performance (Sin et al., 2005). In view of this, this research Hypothesize that: H2: CRM Organization of the customer contact is positively related to Employee Job Satisfaction Knowledge Management With reference to the knowledge based view theory of the firm, it states and I quote that the primary reason for any companys existence is to possess the ability to create, transfer, and efficiently utilize its available knowledge (Acedo et al, 2006; Meso and Smith, 2000; Miller and Shamsie, 1996). Whereas, looking at this from the angle of CRM concept in Marketing, knowledge can be describe as whatever a company or individual has learnt from experience/practice or any empirical study of consumer data (Nguyen et al., 2007; Sin et al., 2005). This will bring us to the key facets of knowledge management dimension which includes a companys knowledge learning and generation, its knowledge dissemination and sharing, and finally knowledge responsiveness (Wang et al., 2006; Sin et al., 2005; Yim et al., 2005). As previously discussed that Knowledge about key customers in a company is important for a successful CRM application (Rajshekhar et al., 2006), because it could be use as a master plan to developing a learning relationship between the employees and companys current and potential customers (Nguyen et al., 2007) and thereby availing each organization the opportunity to a successful establishment of a stronger competitive strength in the market through employee job satisfaction and customer satisfaction (Roland and Werner, 2005; Dean, 2004). It is premised on these arguments that both Sin et al (2005) and Yim et al (2005) have conceptualized and empirically established a positive relationship between employee knowledge acquisition and usage, employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction. Also very important under this heading is Customer information, such as customers needs and preferences which may be captured by both directly or indirectly, via a two way communications in the compa nys interactive feedback system (Sin et al., 2005). As argued that the primary reason of knowledge generation is for affording a 360 degree customer view, through an appropriate business intelligence tools such as data mining, data warehouse, and data mart all which could assist a company to incorporate a customer information into its strategic business intelligence (Rajshekhar et al., 2006; Sin et al., 2005). Therefore, it became very important for organizations to develop a sound mechanism for sharing the existing customer knowledge that will facilitate the concerted actions that could positively influence employee knowledge, satisfaction and performance in all the strategic business units of every organization (Sin et al., 2005). Finally it is arguable that marketing is now more concerned with better means of responding to customer demand, with the general believes that actions taken in a prompt manner not only enhance service quality, but also foster positive long-term relationships with both employees and the customers (Dean, 2007; Roland Werner, 2005; Antonio et al., 2005; and Sin et al., 2005; Yim et al., 2005). This leads to the following Hypothesis: H3: Knowledge management of the customer contact center is positively related to Employee Job Satisfaction. Technology Based CRM Although it has been established that consumers do complained about the time and efforts that is required in getting their individual questions or problems solved whenever they interact with contact centers (SQM, 2007; Call Centre.net, 2003), but equally important are arguments in favor of careful implementations of CRM Screen Pop-Up as an effective means of improving customer service representative satisfaction and performance, first call resolution, and caller satisfactions while simultaneously reducing the contact center processing costs (SQM, 2007; Yim et al., 2005; Call Centre.net, 2003). This is because most of the findings in the existing literatures and industry reports aptly depict that the major cost of running a call centre is the labor cost (Levin, 2007a), a strong need why every organizations must efficiently link is technological applications to its employee acceptance, satisfaction and performance (McNally, 2007). Meanwhile, not only within the contact centers that CRM technologies and systems are beneficial (McNally, 2007), there are enormous evidence in support of CRM systems as complements to other systems such as enterprise research planning systems etc (Nguyen et al, 2007; Dean, 2007; and Eid 2007). Evidence from existing contact center literatures shows that several authors have argued in favor of FCR technology enablers through intelligent skill based routing as a good means of achieving FCR, employee job satisfaction and caller satisfaction (SQM, 2007; Callcentre.net, 2003). This is because through the application of CRM technologies such as first call resolution enablers, contact centers can match their customers and/or their call types with the appropriate customer service representatives knowledge and skills (SQM, 2007). Equally observed in the extant literatures is the suggestion that there are two aspects of CRM systems integration that are pertinent to the adoption of this technology. Eid (2007) describes the first part as integration into the existing organizational systems and applications, while the second integration is done across other functional customer contact touch points. Part of the available evidence as identified by this research is that it is widely possible for researchers and practitioners to determine if an organization has put in place CRM technologies, but the major issues starts from measuring the effectiveness of CRM technology utilization in terms of user acceptance, and the desired operational performance which is argued to have since been neglected and has been confirmed as very vital to the success of the implementing firm (Sin et al., 2005; Yim et al., 2005; Ravipa and Mark, 2004). The existing academic and practitioner literatures on CRM are mostly in the areas of cust omer database, contact centers, online chatting systems, e-mails, Internets and some organizational group support systems, further creating a vacuum for future research in determining the impact of CRM technology on employee job satisfaction (McNally, 2007; Nguyen et al, 2007; Adam and Michael, 2005; Sin et al., 2005; James, 2004). Furthermore, some literatures contend that a companys ability to link the CRM system to different strategic business units such as marketing, finance, distribution, operations, and human resources will provide additional value to both internal and external users, and more importantly to the achievement of both employee and customers satisfactions (Aihie and Az-Eddine, 2007; Coltman, 2007; Nguyen et al 2007; Roland and Werner, 2005; Yim et al., 2005). If efficiently managed, CRM system is argued as having the capacity to assist organizations in handling customer queries and complaints more professionally with both accurate and timely information that would assist in reducing employee role stress, attrition rate and subsequently increasing employee job satisfaction, first call resolution and customer satisfaction (McNally, 2007; SQM, 2007; 2005). Also very important in this area of research is the a benefit inherent in the integration of every unit of the customer contact centers whether inbound, outbound or web enabled via CRM technology that provides a great opportunity for seamless and transparent services in customer touch points (Yim et al., 2005). In relation to the above, the extent of a companys CRM integration will strengthen its ability to resolving customers request in the first call resolution, and also give opportunity for achieving both employee and customer satisfactions (Dean, 2007; SQM, 2007; Sin et al., 2005; Yim et al., 2005). The above has led this research into hypothesizing that: H4: Technology based CRM of the customer contact center is positively related to Employee Job Satisfaction. Dependent Variable: Employee Job Satisfaction Issues on employee satisfaction are very much available in several studies, in which the majority postulates a positive relationship between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction (Florian et al, 2007; Dean, 2007; Bernard and Stephen, 2004; Gummesson, 2004). These are so because employee and customer satisfaction are often measured in different ways by marketing researchers, where the majority has stated that employee job satisfaction has a clear effect on customer satisfaction (Eric et al, 2006; Coltman, 2007; Christian, 2005; Gummesson, 2004). Evidences from other recent researches have also confirmed that the relationship between employee satisfaction and performance could be strengthened if there is a high frequency of customer interaction with the employees (Dean, 2007; Florian et al, 2007; Christian, 2005; and Kode et al 2001). Whereas two major existing literatures in the contact center industry by Roland and Werner (2005) and McNally (2007) have empirically established that there exist a positive relationship between customer orientation, employee job satisfaction and customer satisfaction. In Roland and Werner (2005), they argued, tested and established that employee job satisfaction positively mediate the link between customer orientation and customer satisfaction of the contact center industry. A critical look at the foregoing information shows that all the above conditions currently exist in the customer contact centers. Because customer contact center employees enjoys a high level of customer interaction and the existing services within the contact centers shows that there is integration between external factors and the service delivery processes. A review of the reasons behind the relationship between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction is often argued on the premise that the positive effects on every customer satisfaction are mediated by an existing positive effect on working performance (Florian et al, 2007). Importantly, the service marketing literatures have shown that there exist a positive effect of employee satisfaction on employees working performance and perceived service quality (Sarah and Meredith, 2006; Rodoula, 2005; Zeithaml et al, 1985). With evidences from the above extant literatures, this research supposes that employee job satisfaction positively goes along with the psychological state of organization customer orientation, CRM organization, knowledge management and technology based CRM. Conclusion, limitations and directions for future research Despite increasing acknowledgement of CRM importance, disappointedly very little studies have focused on the impacts of CRM dimensions on customer contact center performances (Soon, 2007; Bang, 2006; Yim et al., 2005). In support of the above emphasis are ample of evidences provided by several sources on the severe employee job dissatisfactions and customer dissatisfactions with contact centre systems and services across the globe (Callcentre.net, 2008; 2003; SQM, 2007; Feinberg et al., 2002; 2000; Miciak and Desmarais 2001), and that the major problems are stemming from factors such as lack of established customer orientation, CRM organization, knowledge management, and technology based CRM (Chen et al., 2010; McNally, 2007; SQM, 2007; Wang et al., 2006; Bang, 2006; Sin et al., 2005; Yim et al., 2005), The findings in this research indicate that there is strong reason to modifying the existing CRM implementations and organization performance measurements within the contact center in dustry. More importantly in areas such as measuring employee job satisfaction, first call resolution, customer satisfactions and dissatisfactions. Beyond these findings is a main limitation in the qualitative approach that was applied in this research, a strong factor that is limiting the ability to generalize its findings and recommendations to all industries and countries. Importantly, suggestions from this research are not quantitatively backed by empirical data and appropriate statistical analysis that could validate the proposed theoretical linkages that exist between CRM dimensions and employee job satisfaction, thereby further limiting its diagnostic power of predictions. To rectify the observed limitations, this research suggests that there is need for future study to embark on empirical data gathering to validate the proposed model. However, as could be noted that this research has conducted a detailed literature review to establish the positive relationships that exist between CRM dimensions and employee job satisfaction, it is important for future researchers to conceptualize and if possible determine other construct s for measuring employee job satisfaction within the contact centers, specifically the inbound call centers.

Cluster Computing: History, Applications and Benefits

Cluster Computing: History, Applications and Benefits Abstract This report will provide a detailed review of the cluster computing. In this report we look at the birth of cluster computing till the present and the future direction the technology is headed. After the literature review, we move on to the explanation of theories involved from the author’s point of view. The final section of the report covers the current trends and future evolution of the technology as perceived from the author’s point of view. The essence of the report would be a better understanding of the cluster computing and its many uses in today’s world. Introduction A computer cluster consists of a set of loosely connected or tightly connected computers that work together so that in many respects they can be viewed as a single system. The components of a cluster are usually connected to each other through fast local area networks (LAN), with each node (computer used as a server) running its own instance of an operating system. Computer clusters emerged as a result of convergence of a number of computing trends including the availability of low cost microprocessors, high speed networks, and software for high performance distributed computing. Clusters are usually deployed to improve performance and availability over that of a single computer, while typically being much more cost-effective than single computers of comparable speed or availability.[1] Computer clusters have a wide range of applicability and deployment, ranging from small business clusters with a handful of nodes to some of the fastest supercomputers in the world such as IBMs Sequoia. [2] Literature review In 1967 a paper published by Gene Amdahl of IBM, formally invented the basis of cluster computing as a way of doing parallel work. It is now known as Amdahl’s Law. It is a model for correlation between the expected speedup of parallelized implementations of an algorithm relative to the serial algorithm, assuming the problem size remains the same. [3] Types of Clusters Computer clusters are used in many organizations to increase processing time, faster data storing and retrieval time, etc. These computer clusters can be classified in three main types of clusters but these can be mixed to achieve higher performance or reliability. High performance clusters High availability clusters Load Balancing clusters High Performance Cluster: High performance computing sometimes refer to as high performance computing are used for computation-intensive applications, rather than handling IO-oriented applications such as web service or databases.[4] examples of HPCs can include the computational simulations of vehicle crashes or weather. Very tightly coupled computer clusters are designed for work that may approach supercomputing. The worlds fastest machine in 2011 was the K computer which has a distributed memory, cluster architecture.[5] High Availability Cluster: High availability clusters are commonly known as failover clusters. They are used to improve the availability of the cluster approach. In high availability clusters, redundant nodes are used which take over in case of component failure. It is used to eliminate single point of failure by having redundant cluster components.[6] High Availability clusters are often used for critical databases, file sharing on a network, business applications, and customer services such as electronic commerce websites. Load Balancing Cluster: Load balancing clusters, as the name suggests are the cluster configurations where the computational workload is shared between the nodes for better overall performance. One of the best examples of load balancing cluster is a web server cluster. It may use a round robin method to assign each new request to a different node for overall increase in performance. [7] Benefits of Clusters: There are numerous advantages to using cluster computing. Some of these are detailed below. Cost: Cluster technique is cost effective compared to other techniques in terms of the amount of power and processing speed being produced due to the fact that it used off the shelf hardware and software components as compare to the mainframe computers, which use custom build proprietary hardware and software components. Processing speed: In a cluster, multiple computers work together to provide unified processing, which in turn provides faster processing. Flexibility: In contrast to a mainframe computer, a computer cluster can be upgraded to a higher specification or expanded by adding extra nodes. Higher availability: Single component failure is mitigated by redundant machines taking over the processing uninterrupted. This type of redundancy is lacking in mainframe systems. Cluster Management: Message passing and communication The two most often used approaches for cluster communications are PVM and MPI. PVM stands for parallel virtual machine. It was developed around 1989 by Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It is directly installed on every node and it provides a set of libraries that make the node a â€Å"parallel virtual machine†. It provides a run time environment for resource task management, fault notification and message passing. User programs written in C, C++ or Fortran can use PVM.[8][9] MPI stands for message passing interface. It emerged in 1990s and supersedes PVM. MPI design is based on various commercially available systems of the time. Its implementation typically uses TCP/IP and socket connection. Currently it’s the most widely used communication system enabling parallel programming in C, Fortran, Python etc.[9][10] Task scheduling Task scheduling becomes a challenge, when a large multiuser cluster needs access to huge amounts of data. In a heterogeneous CPU-GPU cluster, mapping tasks onto CPU cores and GPU devices provide quite a challenge because it’s a complex application environment and the performance of each job depends on the abilities of the underlying technologies. Task scheduling is an active area of ongoing research and there have been proposals to build an algorithms which combine and extend MapReduce and Hadoop. [11] Node failure management Node failure management is a technique used to handle a failed node in a cluster using strategies such as â€Å"fencing†. It isolates the node or a shared resource when it detects a malfunction. There are two types of fencing. First is to disable the node and the second is to prevent access to resources like shared disks. [12] The first method uses STONITH. Which stands for â€Å"Shoot The Other Node In The Head†. This method disables or power off the malfunctioning node. For example, power fencing uses a power controller to turn off the faulty node. [12] The second method uses the resource fencing approach, which prevents access to resources rather than to turn off the node. For example, fiber channel fencing can be used to disable the fiber channel port. [12] 1137395 Muhammad Khurram Shehzad Trends The demand for powerful computers that can be used for simulation and prediction are of great interest to both the public and private sector. Last decade, was the most exciting periods in computer development. As a result of Moore’s law, microprocessors have become smaller, denser, and more powerful. The result is that microprocessor based supercomputing is rapidly becoming the technology of preference in attacking some of the most important problems of science and engineering. A recent report from Intersect360 Research highlighted some interesting trends in HPC. Below are a few of the highlights. [13] More Memory with Multi-core: While memory usage per core is nearly constant in years past, the broader adoption of multi-core systems is creating a demand for more memory. This can be expected but the report also warns of additional system costs as the need for more memory rises.[13] Processors per Nodes: According to summary of the report, two-processors per node is still the preferred configuration with 60% of the market, with just 14% opting for four-processor nodes. These ratios have stayed about the same over the past five years.[13] Future Outlook High Performance Computing (HPC) is expected to increase with which Big Data is analyzed to address variety of scientific, environmental and social challenges, especially on very large and small scales. In order of magnitude more powerful than laptop computers, HPC processes information using parallel computing, allowing for many simultaneous computations to occur concurrently. These integrated machines are measured in â€Å"flops† which stands for â€Å"floating point operations per second.† [14] As of June 2013, Tianhe-2 (or, Milky Way-2), a supercomputer developed by China’s National University of Defense Technology, is the world’s fastest system with a performance of 33.86 petaflop/s. [15] HPC is expected to move into â€Å"exascale† capacity by 2020, developing computing capacities 50 times greater than today’s most advanced supercomputers. Exascale feasibility rests on the rise of energy efficient technology: the processing power exists but the energy to run it, and cool it, does not. Currently, the American supercomputer MIRA, [16] while not the fastest, is the most energy efficient thanks to circulating water-chilled air around the processors inside the machine rather than merely using fans. Applications of the technology High-performance computing (HPC) is a broad term that in essence represents compute intensive applications that need acceleration. Users of application acceleration systems range from medical imaging, financial trading, oil and gas expiration, to bioscience, data warehousing, data security, and many more. In the information age, the need for acceleration of data processing is growing exponentially and the markets deploying HPC for their applications are growing every day. The HPC expansion is being fueled by the coprocessor, which is fundamental to the future of HPC. 1137784 Samra Mohammad 8Future trends, outlook and applications of cluster computing: Computer plays an important role in the information age. Different countries have undertaken thorough studies on computing to improve the information level. I may observe some current trends and speculate a bit about the future of parallel programming models. As far as we can foresee today, the future of computing is parallel computing, dictated by physical and technical necessity. 8.1New trends in cluster computing: These days, there is a new computing paradigm as computer networks called the Grid. It becomes very cheap and very fast .What is a Grid? It is a big system of computing resources that provides to users a single point of access and performs tasks. It is based on the WWW (World Wide Web) interface, to these distributed resources[17] The Grid technology is currently in progress intensive development. The Grid is also the first tools which are already available for developers. In this type of application, we can use a high-speed network in regarding the interconnection between the parts of the grid via internet. Nowadays , the Grid is agree to enable for scientific collaborations to share resources on an unprecedented level and geographically distributed groups to collaborate together in a manner that were previously impossible by using scalable, secure, high performance mechanisms for discovering and negotiating access to remote resources. 8.2Future: In the future, the increase of industry support for low latency clusters will help in availability and performance, but restrictions may require a departure from the current multicast-oriented data distribution strategies. However, latency and bandwidth performance will continue to improve in the Ethernet with a very low cluster with multicast support. 8.3Application and outlook: Obviously, cluster computing is quickly becoming the architecture of choice. One of the categories of applications is called Grand Challenge Applications (GCA). It are defined as fundamental problems in science and engineering with broad economic and scientific impact whose solution can be advanced by applying high performance computing and communication technologies. The high scale of complexity in GCAs demands enormous amount of resources needs, such as processing time, memory space and communication bandwidth. A common characteristic of GCAs is that they involve simulations that are computationally intensive. Examples of GCAs are applied fluid dynamics, environmental modeling, ecosystem simulation, biomedical imaging, biomechanics, molecular biology, and computational sciences. [17] Other than GCAs, cluster computing is also being applied in other applications that demand high availability, scalability and performance. Clusters are being used as replicated storage and backup servers that provide the essential fault tolerance and reliability for critical applications. For example, the internet, search engine, Google uses cluster computing to provide reliable and efficient internet search services. Conclusion Cluster computing offers a comparatively cheap, alternative to large server or mainframe computer solutions. New trends in hardware and software technologies are likely to make clusters more promising. Statement of contribution Member 1: Muhammad Khurram Shehzad (1137395), Abstract, Introduction, Literature review Conclusion as a Group and Trends, Future Outlook applications as individual. Member 2: Samra Mohammad (1137784), Abstract, Introduction, Literature review Conclusion as a Group and Trends, Future Outlook applications as individual. Member 3: Muhammad Faheem Abbas (1137391), Abstract, Introduction, Literature review Conclusion as a Group and Trends, Future Outlook applications as individual. References: [1] Bader, David; Robert Pennington (June 1996). Cluster Computing: Applications. Georgia Tech College of Computing. Retrieved 2007-07-13. [2] Nuclear weapons supercomputer reclaims world speed record for US. The Telegraph. 18 Jun 2012. Retrieved 18 Jun 2012. [3] Amdahl, Gene M. (1967).Validity of the Single Processor Approach to Achieving Large-Scale Computing Capabilities.AFIPS Conference Proceedings(30): 483–485.doi:10.1145/1465482.1465560 [4] High Performance Computing for Computational Science VECPAR 2004 by Michel Daydà ©, Jack Dongarra 2005 ISBN 3-540-25424-2 pages 120-121 [5] M. Yokokawa et al The K Computer, in International Symposium on Low Power Electronics and Design (ISLPED) 1-3 Aug. 2011, pages 371-372 [6] Evan Marcus, Hal Stern: Blueprints for High Availability: Designing Resilient Distributed Systems, John Wiley Sons, ISBN 0-471-35601-8 [7] High Performance Linux Clusters by Joseph D. Sloan 2004 ISBN 0-596-00570-9 page [8] Distributed services with OpenAFS: for enterprise and education by Franco Milicchio, Wolfgang Alexander Gehrke 2007, ISBN pages 339-341 [9] Grid and Cluster Computing by Prabhu 2008 8120334280 pages 109-112 [10] Gropp, William; Lusk, Ewing; Skjellum, Anthony (1996). A High-Performance, Portable Implementation of the MPI Message Passing Interface. Parallel Computing. CiteSeerX: 10.1.1.102.9485 [11] K. Shirahata, et al Hybrid Map Task Scheduling for GPU-Based Heterogeneous Clusters in: Cloud Computing Technology and Science (CloudCom), 2010 Nov. 30 2010-Dec. 3 2010 pages 733 740 ISBN 978-1-4244-9405-7 [12] Alan Robertson Resource fencing using STONITH. IBM Linux Research Center, 2010 [13] http://www.intersect360.com/industry/reports.php?id=67 (Accessed 12/05/2014) [14] http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/futurium/en/content/future-high-performance-computing-supercomputers-rescue (Accessed 12/05/2014) [15] http://www.top500.org/system/177999#.U3ORpPmSzDs (Accessed 12/05/2014) [16] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Mira (Accessed 12/05/2014) [17] http://www.slideshare.net/shivakrishnashekar/computer-cluster (Accessed 14th May 2014)

Rap Music Is Not Music Essay -- Art

Rap Music Is Not Music Describing the (disenchanting) chanting of â€Å"Rap Music† as singing or as music is indeed (in either case) a capital misnomer. Real Music is the careful arrangement of organized sounds in the form of notes that then result in a smooth blend of rhythm, tone, and pitch that when united, is quite pleasing to the ear. Rap is not music. The unpleasant-sounding horror is chaotic dissonance and certainly not elegant consonance. Rap is veritable noise pollution that is tastelessly amplified from a cumbersome boom box. Generally speaking, unlike black soul music and traditional black rhythm and blues, Rap is both heartless and soulless. Standard love songs show respect and consideration for a member of the opposite gender but most contemporary Rap lyrics promote a hedonistic â€Å"me first† ghetto survival theme that is cruelly perpetuated upon its afflicted listening audience. When Rap songs first appeared I believed that the clamorous nonsense would be another fad phenomenon that would gradually vanish like ‘70s disco music had slowly but surely lost its clout (along with our attendant intrigue and curiosity). But unfortunately the dunce-like Rap lyrics herald the worst elements of society and the brazen inflammatory words glamorize sex, drugs, random and deliberate violence’ and gang intimidation themes that through-and-through reek with sexism, racism and the glorification of the ghetto mentality. In most Rap song themes the dysfunctional dregs of the inner city are elevated to hero status while the â€Å"entertainers† sound like disgruntled grunting angry contemporary cavemen’ who are advocating the downfall of â€Å"white America† with vitriolic words expressing rage, rebellion and social revolution. This expansion of the â€Å"easy-money anti-establishment ghetto mentality† is fueling resentment and hostility among â€Å"disenfranchised† inner city youth as well as contaminating the gullible and vulnerable minds of suburban teens. But the entire reprehensible in-progress-brainwashing technique that â€Å"Rap Music† demonstrably utilizes is both a sham and a canard that is trafficking affected teens down a treacherous One-Way-Street that leads only to a permanent lackluster socio-economic cul-de-sac. What a pathetic and ignoble social disaster! In the ‘50s and early ‘60s black rhythm and blues imaginatively captured the hopes, the dreams, the ideals and t... ...lity has replaced compassion. To add to the ongoing dilemma other benign abstractions also have been viciously assaulted. In the â€Å"Rap Music World† defiance has replaced respect, sex has replaced courtship, using others for personal gain has replaced basic courtesy and wanton rape has replaced teen romance. â€Å"Rap Music† (in general) is definitely a harmful and dangerous factor to American civilization because the colossal scourge equates (in innocent adolescent minds) pervasive corruptive moral fallacies purporting that: adventures tragically equals thugs and drugs, that freedom is social anarchy, that love is the same thing as sex, that justice is a vigilante-oriented lifestyle, that truth can only be represented as deplorable ghetto misery, that honor is nothing more than revenge and last but not least, that Thomas Jefferson’s â€Å"Pursuit of happiness† is really only the pursuit of selfish pleasure. In conclusion, the flimflam known as â€Å"Rap Music† is not bona fide music because the blight is without grace, without beauty and without love, the fundamental truly joyous qualities that are vitally necessary in order to make life both satisfying and worthwhile in any given civilization.

primates :: essays research papers

Article Abstract #two Human evolution is always a myth to most of the people. However, researchers who study human evolution have tried to find the evidences to explain human evolution. In the rain forest of Ivory Coast, a group of local chimpanzees has been observed by researchers Christophe Boesch and Hedwige Boesch-Achermann since 1979. The place where they conducted this research is called the Tai national park which is a 1,600 square Miles of a tropical forest in the republic of the Ivory Coast. In the beginning, they are interested in local chimpanzees of using natural-hammers which are stones and branches to open hard-shell nuts. They had never seen another primate using stones as a tool before except our human being. Not only the chimpanzees in the Tai national park know how to use the stones as a tool, but they also would select the appropriate size of stone which near the tree instead of running around to search the stone. The researchers think that this kind of mental ability is close to a nine -year-old human. As their work progressed, another significant discovery that surprised them is that chimpanzees are eating meat. Not only this, chimpanzees are also hunting cooperatively as a group. This notion of group hunting and cooperation is the key ingredient in the evolution of homo sapiens which is proposed by Raymond Dart in 1953. However, group hunting and sharing food could also be found in some social carnivores such as lions for instance. But many anthropologists still think that this kind of phenomenon is familiar with human in 1.8 million years ago when the time we first started to develop social system. Furthermore, anthropologists also believe that by observing the behavior of forest chimpanzees might help us to understand the theories of