A Family Study of Victor Frankenstein and his Monster Essay

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is an exploration of the relationship between parent and child. Inspired in many ways by Mary Shelley’s own experiences as a motherless child and a grieving mother, Victor’s tale follows a linear trail of decline traceable to his mother’s death. Up until that point, though fascinated with alchemy and life science, Victor’s ideas retain a manner of scientific remove. His egotism is controlled and does not boast a power over life or death. It is only when confronted with death that the fissures begin to appear and the idyllic scenes from his childhood begin to show the full remove of affection Victor experienced. Unable to deal with this abandonment realistically, he manipulates death to create renewed animation of the body in place of actual life. In his creation of the monster, he assumes the role of mother to child in his single-minded manner but overcome by his own ego and lacking compassion he abhors and shuns his â€Å"child† as an abomination. Victor’s monster finds himself thrown into a society for which he was neither prepared nor accepted. His abandonment is immediate but his initial reaction differs greatly from the destructive creationism of Victor. His rage at being ostracized is at first controlled and in a newborn state he recedes into the woodshed of the De Lacey family where he learns of and comes to yearn for a familial connection. Being denied this connection, yet again, his rage consumes him but does not obliterate this desire. That the novel should center on the idea of the mother-child relationship and the deep-seated effects of rejection and abandonment is no surprise considering Mary Shelley’s own experiences with motherhood. Her own mother Mary Wollenscraft died from complications to childbirth when Shelley was only 10 days old (Adams 72). Throughout the author’s childhood and adolescence she experienced feelings of abandonment and guilt. As a child she saw her birth as the cause of her mother’s death. Shelley’s own experiences with motherhood were no less tragic having lost her first child when she was only 17, just one year before she began writing Frankenstein. Shelley used her pain, to turn the tables to have death create life. As Will Adams explains, â€Å"Shelley’s feelings and fantasies about killing her mother became on of the formative influences in her life [†¦] Frankenstein is a meditation on the destructive consequences of growing up without a mother (or consistent father [†¦]) (73). Art was Shelley’s coping mechanism to come to terms with her own internal demons stemming from the guilt from her mother’s death and her own helplessness in the face of her first child’s death. Similarly, Victor struggles with the absence of parental affection and the death of his mother, which permanently removes this possibility from his life. His efforts to reconcile the science of his youth with the realities of his emotional and familial life, while carrying potential, become perverted in his quest to overcome death. Though Victor clearly idolizes his mother, his affections for her are based on the ideal of motherhood and not interconnected with the woman herself. Through Victor’s descriptions we see and feel a symbol of motherhood but not the day-to-day tasks and affections one associates with motherhood. Victor’s relationship to his mother suffers from his inability see her as a person and not simply a maternal symbol. Victor’s sense of his mother is directly related to his parents’ relationship with one another and not Victor’s relationship to them individually. Viewed through his father’s eyes, Victor’s mother is a creature of adoration. As Victor explains his parents’ relationship, â€Å"There was a show of gratitude and worship in his attachment to my mother, differing wholly from the doating fondness of age, for it was inspired by reverence for her virtues† (Shelley, Chapt. 1). Critics have questioned the role that being an only child played in Victor’s reception and perception of his parents’ affections. Feeling left out of their love for one another, Victor childhood consists of a â€Å"love/hate relationship with his parents because he senses that they share an affection that in some way excludes him† (Claridge 15). Victor’s over the top representation the goodness of his childhood, compared to the man he becomes, ring false, â€Å"while during every hour of my infant life I received a lesson of patience, of charity, and of self control, I was so guided by a silken cord that all seemed by one train of enjoyment to me† (Shelley, Chapt. 1). Viewing this in hindsight of Victor’s adult persona and rejection of parenting, it is difficult to accept this statement at face value. Where, after all, were these lessons in helping to guide Victor away from his creation of the monster and in maintaining strong bonds with his remaining family? His mother’s death from scarlet fever rather than halting his idyllic fantasies of perfection, only deepen them into a form of denial and repression that prevent closure and emotionally stunt him as a father to the creature. Even in death, his mother retains her saintliness, accepting and â€Å"resigning† herself â€Å"cheerfully to death† (Shelley, Chapt. 3). This must have made death all the more unreal for young Victor. As Will Adams explains in his psychological evaluation of the tale, Victor is â€Å"a man who cannot bear the reality of death and suffers greatly because of this defensive denial† (65). For Victor the death of his mother is not merely tragic, but â€Å"evil† and it is this view, which propels him forward in his endeavor to recreate life. As Adams explains, â€Å"he daemonizes death, daemonizes a reality that is completely natural and unavoidable† (65). Death becomes a foe to be overcome; if life can be ended so easily, than death should be no harder to reverse, is Victor’s basic reasoning. As a result of his experiment in turning death to life, Victor ignores the living family he still has in his father, brother and Elizabeth. Victor’s deficiencies in coping and accepting his creation are seen by come critics to stem from his own childhood. Victor appears to be incapable of loving his family, despite his many assertions to the contrary. He obviously feels that family relationships should be shaped around mutual love and communication but his own attempts are stinted and selfish. After his mother dies, he leaves as scheduled and does not return for 6 years until tragedy requires he fulfill his family obligation. When his brother William is murdered by Victor’s creation, his guilt overcomes his grief making the tragedy more Victor’s than anyone else’s. Not only has he lost his little brother, but it was his creation which had broken yet another connection between Victor and his family. Propelled by ego, he placed himself into the role of creator and mother, without fully comprehending the responsibility. Uncertain in his feelings of acceptance from his mother, Victor has little on which to base the parent-child bond and his feelings toward his father cause an even greater friction in the role he should have rightly played in the creation of the monster. Given revisions performed by Shelley to the original text, in which Victor’s adolescent relationship to his father is made to become even more remote. In the first version of the novel, Alphonse Frankenstein shares his son’s fascination with science but in the later 1831 edition Victor’s interest is singular only to him. This estrangement in affection between father and son becomes no less stark with the death of Victor’s mother. Instead he pulls himself farther away from his father, who seems to be pushing Victor away as well. Without a strong paternal or maternal bond, it is no surprise that Victor does not make this connection between himself and the monster. As Will Adams notes, if Victor had â€Å"the courage, or we could say the ego strength, to consciously accept responsibility for his grand venture, everything may have turned out differently† (79). The two years, which culminate with the creation of the monster, are defined by a single-minded energy that though engineered through scientific brilliance lack ethics. His purpose for these two years is creation; something of which he expects will be of benefit to mankind. Victor’s reaction to the monster at his â€Å"birth† throw light onto the lack of actual forethought and responsibility inherent in its creation, â€Å"Victor’s reactions suggest that eqoic, self-serving, death-denying motivations outweigh his genuine wish to serve humankind† (Adams 77). It is therefore not surprising that in the end, deluded throughout his endeavor that Victor would shun the reality of his efforts. Pieced together from dead bodies parts, Victor is never able to reconcile these various parts into a semblance of humanity. In fact, by the end, he is unable to fully comprehend the steps, which had led to his ability to conceptualize his creation, â€Å"this discovery was so great and overwhelming that all the steps which I had been progressively led to it were obliterated, and I beheld only the result† (Shelley, Chapt. 4). This can be read as Victor’s inability to discover and explore the root of his fascination with death and further avoiding the resolution of feelings which would have either stopped him in continuing or better prepared him to father his creation. To imagine the â€Å"birth† from the creature’s perspective is particular saddening. Though considered an abomination by established science and religion, the creature is unaware of his distinction from the rest of mankind. On opening his eyes the first time, he sought to gaze upon his creator and to be nurtured. Instead, Victor turns away in fright and abandons the creature to his own devices. Like a newborn, the creature is helpless in understanding the mechanics of the world and is even further handicapped by society’s judgment of his appearance. His physical deformity did not directly lead to his monstrous and violent behavior but rather the world’s rejection of him, starting with the rejection of his parent. Before the creature has committed his first crime, he is deemed by Victor to be a â€Å"daemon. † Will Adams notes that Shelley’s use of the image of daemon is intentional, â€Å"For the past few hundred years, some writers have deliberately chosen the forms daemon, in part to emphasize the psychological and spiritual character of these being who are midway between humans and gods† (Adams 60). Defying the logics of life and death, the creature is caught between humanity and a solitary existence. Intentionally large, further highlighting his abnormalities of the creature, he has the stature of a god but the emotional baggage of a human. In his observance of the De Lacey family, the creature is able to learn the constructs of a family’s day-to-day lives. During his time in their woodshed, the creature learns not only language and history but also comes to understand the nature of love and family. He knows that his appearance causes fright in the average person and therefore keeps himself hidden from the De Lacey’s wishing to learn more from them before revealing himself. Through his daily watchfulness, the creature comes to love and feel kinship for the family even as they remain unaware of his presence. He finds himself caught up in their stories and sympathizing with their plight. Even the creature’s own basic desires for food draw into a more universal focus as he realizes that each bit of food he takes unaware from the family, is one less bit of food they themselves will have to eat. If not for the creature’s very human inclination toward companionship, he may have succeeded in living peacefully aside the family for many years. However, as each day passes and he finds their lives entangling his own, the creature wishes for a human connection. Though monstrous in appearance, each part of him was once human and in the De Lacey’s he sees the full potential of this humanity. â€Å"Even though he is rejected when the De Laceys become terrified by his horrible appearance, he accomplishes (for a while) what Victor is never really able to do. That is, the creature transcends his own egocentric perspective, sees through the eyes of another, feels love, and acts kindly† (Adams 81). Victor, on the other hand, reacts to emotional closeness by pushing his family away. In fact, it is not surprising given Victor’s relationships with his family, and the distance he cultivates, that he would completely abandon a creature, which did not live up to his dream of reality. Victor’s obsession with natural science is a means by which to divert all of his attention away from these relationships and to realize something within himself. With the creation of the monster, Victor realizes his folly in believing he can reverse death but never addresses the root cause. Instead, he focuses his negative energy toward recognizing and rejecting the humanity of the creature. It has been supposed that this rejection is in effect a rejection not only of the monster but of the deep seated issues which Victor refuses to address, â€Å"Even though the creature appears strangely alien – a singular, isolated, non-human being with no kin nor friend – he is also strangely familiar, universally understandable and intimately connected to Victor† (Adams 64). In the role of parent, Victor Frankenstein, is an utter failure. Poorly prepared by his own childhood to provide genuine affection and understanding to the creature, Victor actions perpetuate an endless cycle. The creature’s rejection by his parent and the people from which he has learned affection and companionship, lead his unraveling into the very â€Å"daemon† his appearance implies him to be. His one request from Victor for a companion is denied to him on these grounds. While he briefly receives understanding from his creator through the narration of his tale of the De Lacey’s, the issues, which have plagued Victor’s familial relationships, create a strong barrier and lead to Victor destroying his companion. Victor is unable to relate to the creature, as it is the living proof of his own parents’ failings in raising him and his subsequent failures at love. In the end, Victor dies as alone as the creature; their only communion to another being is through each other. Starting as creator and creation, they each die nurturing their own unhappiness and solitude through a fruitless hunt that leaves them both monstrous. Works Cited Adams, Will W. â€Å"Making Daemons of Death and Love: Frankenstein, Existentialism, Psychoanalysis. † Journal of Humanistic Psychology. 41. 2001: 57-89. 31 March 2009 Claridge, Laura P. â€Å"Parent-Child Tensions in Frankenstein: The Search of Communion. † Studies in the Novel 17. 1 Spring 1985: 14. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. 31 Mar. 2009 . Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Literature. org. < http://www. literature. org/authors/shelley-mary/frankenstein/>.

Edward Said Essay

Edwars Said was born a Palestinian Arab in Jerusalem in 1935, and was American through his father, Wadie Saà ¯d, who was a U.S. Citizen. Wadie Saà ¯d, his father moved to Cairo, before the birth of his son . He spent much of his childhood travelling back and forth from Cairo to Jerusalem, visiting relatives. Saà ¯d said that in his childhood he lived â€Å"between worlds† — like Cairo (Egypt) and in Jerusalem (Palestine). Here are some of his words from this period of life: â€Å"I was an uncomfortably anomalous student all through my early years: a Palestinian going to school in Egypt, with an English first name, an American passport, and no certain identity at all. To make matters worse, Arabic, my native language, and English, my school language, were inextricably mixed: I have never known which was my first language, and have felt fully at home in neither, although I dream in both. Every time I speak an English sentence, I find myself echoing it in Arabic, and vice versa† In 1951, Saà ¯d was expelled from Victoria College for being a troublemaker, and was sent from Egypt to the United States, where he had a miserable year of feeling out of place; yet he excelled academically, achieving the rank of either first or second in a class of one hundred sixty students. He matured into an intellectual young man, fluent in the English, French, and Arabic languages. (he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University (1957), then a Master of Arts degree (1960) and a Doctoral Degree in English Literature (1964) from Harvard University.) Reflections on Exile and Other Essays brings together forty-six essays. The title essay, originally published in 1984 deals with Said’s own condition of exile, and with the implications of exile for those who experience it. While Said sees separation from a homeland as a difficult fate, he believes that the state of detachment gives exiles a unique vision. Being in exile means feeling in estrangement and even if there are romantic and happy episodes in an exile’s life, these are no more than efforts meant to overcome the crippling sorrow of being in pain. Said come to nationalism and its essential association with exile. Nationalism is belonging to a place, people and certain heritage. Nationalism fends off exile and fights to prevent its ravages. The interplay between them is like servant and master, opposites informing and constituting each other. All nationalism in their early stages develop from a condition of estrangement. In time, successful nationalism consign (ad) truth exclusively to themselves and relegate (elÃ… ±ldà ¶z) all outsiders. While nationalism is about groups, exile is solitude experienced outside the group: the deprivations felt at not being with others in the communal habitation. Exiles are cut off from their roots, their land, their past. Exiles don’t have armies or states, therefore they always feel the urge to create one. Exile is a jealous state. You don’t want to share what you have archieved, you have passionate hostility to outsiders, even to those who, in fact, are in the same position as you. Although it is true that anyone prevented from returning home is an exile, some distinctions can be made between exiles, refugees, expatriates and emigres. Exile originated in the age-old practice of banishment. Once banished, the exile lives a miserable life with the stigma of being an outsider. Refugees, on the other hand, are a creation of the 20th century state. The word â€Å"refugee† has become a political one, suggesting innocent and bewildered people requiring urgent international assistance. Expatriates voluntarily live in an alien country, usually for personal or social reasons. They may share in the solitude and estrangement of exile, but they do not suffer under its rigid proscription. Emigres enjoy an ambiguous status. Technically, emigre is anyone who emigrates to a new country. Much of the exile’s life is taken up with compensating for disorienting loss by creating a new world to rule. It is not surprising that so many exiles seem to be novelists, chess players, political activists, and intellectuals. Each of these occupations requires a minimal investment in objects and places a great premium on mobility and skill. The exile’s new world is unnatural and resembles fiction. George Lukacs, in Theory of the Novel, says that novel is a literary form created out of the unreality of ambition and fantasy, it is the form of â€Å"transcendental homelessness†. No matter how well they feel, exiles are always eccentric who feel their difference as a kind of orphanhood. The exile jealously insists on his or her right to refuse to belong. Wilfulness, exaggeration and overstatement are the characteristics styles of being an exile. You compel the world to accept your vision which you make more unacceptable because you are, in fact, unwilling to have it accepted. Artists in exile are decidedly unpleasant and their stubbornness insinuates itself into even their exalted works. Dante’s vision in The Divine Commedy is tremendously powerful in its universality and detail, but even the beatific peace archieved in the Paradiso bears traces of vindictiveness.(bosszuallas) James Joyce chose to be in exile to give force to his artistic vocation. He picked up a quarrel with Ireland and kept it alive so as to sustain the strict opposition to what was familiar. The exile knows that in a secular and contingent world, homes are always provisional (à ¡tmeneti). Borders and barriers, which enclose us within the safety of familiar territory, can also become prisons and are often defended beyond reason and necessity. Exiles cross borders, break barriers of thought and experience. According to Hugo of St. Victor, a 12th century-monk,a strong and perfect man archieves independence and detachment by working through attachments, not by rejecting them. Speaking of the pleasures of exile, there are some positive things to be said too. Seeing â€Å"the entire world as a foreign land† makes possible originality of vision. Most people are aware of one culture, one setting, one home, exiles are aware of at least 2. Both environments are vivid, actual and occuring together contrapuntally. There is a unique pleasure in this sort of apprehension, especially if the exile diminish judgement and elevate appreciative sympathy. Edward Saà ¯d was an advocate for the political and human rights of the Palestinian people. As a public intellectual, he discussed contemporary politics, music, culture, and literature, in lectures, newspaper and magazine articles, and books. Drawing from his family experiences, as Palestinian Christians in the Middle East, at the time of the establishment of Israel (1948), Saà ¯d argued for the establishment of a Palestinian state, for equal political and human rights for the Palestinians in Israel. His decade-long membership in the Palestinian National Council, and his pro–Palestinian political activism, made him a controversial public intellectual. He was intellectually active until the last months of his life, and died of leukemia in 2003.

Friendship: Meaning of Life and Friends Essay

What is a friend? According to Aristotle, a friend is a single sole dwelling in two bodies. People understand the concept of friendship differently, but there is one common ground for it. It is always built on a mutual sympathy. Friendship plays an important role in our lives, to a large extent. Friends can help you find the meaning of life by helping you overcome challenges. They are people in your life that care for you and they simple add joy and meaning to your life. In some cases it is short and finds its end quickly, while in other cases it may last for many years and grow stronger every year. True friendship is built on trust and mutual support. Your real friend will always find time to talk and try to find solutions to the hard problems you face every day. They are always there to help you and expect the same from you. Friends are psychologically comfortable with each other, and sometimes are emotionally closer than with their relatives. Friends help you overcome challenges you may face at times in your life. A special thing about friendship is that friends have the ability to do different things like simply talking something through and giving advice or physically helping you Sometimes friends find more comfort in each other rather than family because they might have the idea that there family might judge them, and there friend will tell it right. In difficult times, friends make you see things from a different point of view, allowing you to take time to reflect and examine the situation. Doing this it allows you to see another perspective of the situation and find another way to overcome your challenge. Not only do friends help you through situations, but they go about this through love. Friends are people in your life that love and care about you. They will not only help you through something but they are the ones that will always be there for you in those times of need. They care about you and how you feel and that is what makes them a true friend. A friend is someone who believes in you when you have yet to believe in yourself. They help you to find the meaning of life because they let you know that there is someone out there that cares for you and that you are valuable to someone else in this world. Friends are not only there to help you, but they also add fun, happiness and joy to life. They add fun, happiness and joy as you can relate to each other and share the same values about things. Through sharing the same values you are able to laugh and joke about things that you will both find funny as you share the same ideas. They can make you forget about any problems you have by simply having some fun. Friends can be your whole life as you revolve many things around them. You know you can trust them as much as they can trust you. Friends help us to not take everything in life too seriously and have a bit of fun by simply being in each other’s company. Friendship has great value in the meaning of life. It is one of the richest treasures of life. Friends help you overcome challenges and difficult times in your life, through talking and physically helping you. They are someone who knows you well and cares about you, so that everything they do for you and through love. When the crowd dies down after a crisis, your friends are the ones who are still active. Friends will sit with you in the hospital, be with you while you grieve, be available at a moment’s notice of crisis, come out to help in the middle of the night, stand up for you, lend a hand when there is work to be done, be loyal to you, have fun with you, make you laugh when you are sad etc etc†¦ and the list goes on. The most important thing about friendship is that it adds meaning and value to our lives.

Empathy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Empathy - Essay Example They are crucial in developing ideas and solutions, in problem solving, effective communication and avoiding or preventing conflicts. (p.119) The idealization of empathy was first explored from the artistic field, where empathy is described as the emotion that one feels when seeing a painting or portrait that is passionately moving or touching. Empathy is beyond knowing the facts. It deals with knowing the sentiments that go along with the facts. I recall a time when a friend of mine was having relationship problems, and she tried to confide her feelings to me. I found it difficult to understand and reach out to her emotions because I approached the matter in a rational and pragmatic way. I was more focused on finding effective results to put her out of the situation that I neglected the fact that her feelings were also another concern that needed to be dealt with. As a result, my friend became frustrated and hurt since she felt that I was not very concerned with how she felt, and that I was taking the issue rather coldly and aloofly. Perhaps, if I was more mindful and concerned with her emotional disposition, and reached out to her feelings instead of treating it rationally, we might have developed a better understanding of each other and her

Reflective report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Reflective report - Essay Example For the purpose of research, I have selected six banks, three from traditional banking sectors based in the United Kingdom (UK) and three from Islamic banking sector (Hennink, Hutter and Bailey, 2010; Wolters, 2013). I have selected performance of the banks from two different periods, that is, the pre-financial crisis era between 2005 and 2007 and post-financial crisis era between 2008 and 2012. The reason behind selection of these two periods is that it justifies the earlier studies by a number of authors that has been mentioned in the literature review. To analyze and compare the performance of the banks I have calculated financial ratios so that financial performance of the banks can be compared. The main purpose of conducting ratio analysis was to analyse the capital adequacy and profitability of the banks in context of different countries. Financial ratios were considered appropriate because these are standard measures and can be compared easily. Furthermore, to examine the position of Islamic banks with respect to that of the UK, hypothesis was tested using T-test. In the hypothesis testing, performance of Islamic banks was better that that of conventional banks was considered as the null hypothesis (Alexander, 2001). Sampling is an important part of any realistic research and there is a number of sampling methods that can be implemented in a research. However in my paper, I have implemented purposive sampling so that within a convenient sample size, appropriate research can be conducted. Purposive sampling is important from the context of this research because under this approach, the samples are selected based on certain specific characteristics that represent the population. Since the analysis was conducted based on financial data of banks, I did not conduct any primary research. Instead, the numerical figures were collected from annual reports of banks and information regarding the literature review was gathered from

Proposing to work flextime Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Proposing to work flextime - Case Study Example It will aid the bosses on getting to the right decision whether to approve the said proposal or not. For this reason, the employee should mash up all his or her efforts in order to present a well documented template. If he or she really wants to get the approval of the boss, then he or she should clearly define the things that he or she would be able to do given the chance to telecommute. In any other circumstances, in order for one to arrive at an excellent decision and the right choice, he must first look on different sides. He should weigh the consequences whether that would bring him a great deal or it would just cause him trouble. And in business, managers always choose the one that would of course, bring him triumph. So if an employee wanted to get his proposal approved, then he should provide the things that he thinks would be beneficial for the growth of the company. A manager would resist a proposal that would seem to jeopardize the company’s operations. A manager would not approve a proposal if he thinks it would mean less productivity on the employee’s part. Telecommuting might not be applicable for everybody. An employee must show why he deserves to get the approval for his proposal and it must be on the positive side. Else, the manager may think he is just wasting time on trying to convince him that such employee needs to telecommute. As stated earlier, telecommuting might not be applicable for everybody. It might be because the proposal does not seem right. But most of the time, it is only because of the employee’s doings. For everything we do, there is what we call ethics or the norms on how things should be. Even in work, ethics is present. And according to Ferrell and Fraedrich (2008), work ethics should be properly exhibited. This would most likely be the criteria as to how well you can do work. It is the basis to which all are dependent to – promotion, salary increase, incentives and so on. Some of

Social Justice in the Holy War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Social Justice in the Holy War - Essay Example The same asserts as written in the Qur’an that it is the duty of all believers to engage in this war â€Å"with their goods and lives† for they will be rewarded if slain in the process (K. 3:157-158, 169-172); while those who do not participate in this endeavour shall expect relentless retribution at their doors (K. 9:81-82, 48:16). Regrettably, thousands of innocent civilians form part of the catastrophe with every assault; worse, it is not adequately rationalized how such injustice can be irreproachable. This lifelong discord between Muslims and the Western religions is in reference to their separate views on social justice. While most democratic countries do not interfere in the spiritual practices by legitimate organizations, they avow to implement essential measures should peace and order is compromised. Muslims are directed to stand against the enemy of the church and to readily use force when called for by the situation. Quite the opposite, the Western government and its constituents employ due process of law—conscientious deliberations are carried out before war is declared, and death sentence through electrocution, gas chamber, or lethal injection is conceded. Jihad entails exerting the maximum potential to attain a goal that is purely dedicated for God’s cause. One who is devoted to this cause is compelled to use all physical, intellectual, financial, economic, and spiritual capacities to service it; employs whatever force he or she can when confronting that which blocks his or her way; and when necessary dies for it (Jonsson 511). In other words, the cause justifies the means; that regardless of the consequence, the exercise of jihad is all that counts. Life itself is of lesser importance, and to live a life free of violence has no bearing at all. "The fruits of the greater jihad are the conviction that the individual sacrifices himself and his material well-being and must bear martyrdom for the purpose of confronting the enemy, in the way of God† (Hamzeh 37). Then again, the Muslims are encouraged to fight against seduction, superstition, wrong belief, carnal desire, and evil inclinations in the quest of intellectual and spiritual enlightenment (Jonsson 513). This notion of the greater jihad is a battle against oneself—to place â€Å"one’s power and faculties under the yoke of Allah’s commands and purging the domain of one’s body of satanic elements and their forces† (Hamzeh 36). To denounce evil in an effort to purify the body and soul is an exceptional Islamic doctrine that is in harmony with that of the other religions; yet, evil is another element that the former gives distinct connotations to. While the notorious Osama bin Laden, founder of the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda, bluntly refers to the Americans as abomination, those that suppose otherwise denies him the right to call himself a Muslim. In the Quran, two basic words, 'Adl and Qist, broadly t ranslates as justice. Adl in Islam means a balanced approach to all things, including life. Therefore, Adl also pertains to a person who is â€Å"morally, behaviorally, and spiritually balanced† (Barazangi, et al 19). Qust, on the other hand, refers to the way in which Muslims deal with one another, and God deals with us. Qist essentially concerns human social interaction, if we use the term to include both God and humans in this interchange. It includes the notion of fairness in dealing with others (Barazangi, et al 19). Authors Capeheart and Milovanovic propose that social justice is concerned not in the narrow focus of what is just for the individual alone, but what is just for the social whole. Given the current global condition, social justice must include an understanding

Nursing care during Primary Angioplasty Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Nursing care during Primary Angioplasty - Essay Example Details to be collected typically include – onset duration progress of cardiac symptoms, similar complaints in the past, any other major illnesses like diabetes, hypertension, medicines with dosage, previous surgeries, any allergies, etc. Details are provided to the respective physician and orders noted accordingly. Meanwhile the patient and the relatives are provided counseling and assurance. Coronary Angioplasty is planned in this patient to widen the occluded coronary artery. These arteries supply blood and oxygen to the heart muscles. These arteries get occluded due to fatty tissue or atheroma resulting in reduced blood supply to the heart causing chest pain. Angioplasty is performed to open up the blocked vessels by compressing fatty tissue against anterior coronary vessel wall. This procedure helps to improve blood flow through the vessels to the heart muscles and helps in relieving chest pain. Also, this procedure is advised when - a. Medicines like calcium channel bloc ker, beta adnergic blockers or nitrates fail to correct coronary heart disease symptoms (NICE technology appraisal guidance 71) or b. There is recurrence of chest pain post CABG (Coronary Artery Bypass Graft surgery). Coronary angioplasty can be planned procedure or an emergency procedure in the case of heart attack and unstable chest pain with acute myocardial infarction. (Coronary Angioplasty and Stents) This operation is performed either through radial artery or femoral artery. Radial route is more popular in recent times because radial artery is easily accessible and palpable. Its superficial location makes it easy to compress to achieve homeostasis later on. Normal Allen’s test ensures dual blood supply to hand. So in case of bruise to radial artery or radial blood flow shunt, hands will still receive perfusion through Ulnar artery without feeling any damage. There is less chance of nerve injury in radial method. This approach provides comfort to the patient as it allows them ability to mobilize. It is easier for the patient to notice and control any bleeding from the radial incision, the femoral artery lies deeper in leg, so compressing the artery is difficult and by the time hematoma is noted bleeding would be significant. Radial artery method is cost effective too. (Radial Approach to Cardiac Catheterisation). Coronary Angiography is performed with the Angioplasty in an emergency. Angiogram allows doctor to look inside coronary arteries and find out how severe and where the narrowed areas are. (Coronary Angioplasty and Stents) Patient is advised what medicines to be avoided on the day of the procedure, such as aspirin or any anti coagulant, which medicines should be stopped few days before the procedure and what additional medicines need to be taken. He/she is also informed about the details of the procedure along with the effect of anesthetic drugs during and after the procedure. Doctor explains about the nature of pain the patient may have. Nu rsing staff ensures that patient would not eat or drink anything 4 -5 hours before the procedure. Proper consent is taken from the patient and relatives informing them about the complication involved in it. Nursing staff prepares the patient for the procedure by checking

Nigeria and Canada are two places I have lived in, they are however so Essay

Nigeria and Canada are two places I have lived in, they are however so different in a lot of ways - Essay Example Some provinces have both Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Provincial Sales Tax (PST), some have just Provincial Sales Tax (PST) and yet some have the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST). The bottom line is that goods and services are taxable in Canada. Taxes are not paid on items purchased or on services utilized in Nigeria. It is only the actual price of the good or service that is paid for at any point in time. Nigeria operates a non-tax method of payment on goods and services. Canada and Nigeria are two countries that are so different in their methods of operation. One appears to be one extreme from the other in the way things are done. I have lived in both of them and have observed the clear differences. I think the differences have to do with the fact that Nigeria is a Third world country, while Canada is a developed country. I don't wholly accept the way Canada operates as compared to Nigeria and Vice Versa, I however, appreciate some policies of Canada and those of Nigeria. They are unique in themselves and prove to be very interesting places to

Self care deficit Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Self care deficit - Essay Example Though self-care desire is common in patients across healthcare facilities in the country, certain patient conditions cannot allow self-care to be possible. This is specifically common among aged patients who also suffer from other conditions, which affects their coordination and self-reliance. Self-care deficit symptoms in the elderly should be clearly identified before the decision to allow patients to be independent can done (Taylor & Renpenning, 2011). Neuromuscular impairment is common among elderly patients suffering from cerebrovascular accidents. Others include musculoskeletal disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, cognitive impairment and lack of enough energy to carry out various self-care responsibilities. In such cases, self-care deficit symptoms can be identified and used to inform the decisions of the nursing department. Lacking the ability to independently feed and dress are common signs of deficit in self-care. Such patients must be provided with an assistant to help them dress and feed well without facing the threat of malnutrition (O’Shaughnessy, 2014). Lacking the ability to bathe and groom among the elderly is also a common symptom of self-care deficit. Such patients must be bathed and groomed by nurses to ensure high patient hygiene. Other symptoms of the deficit include inability to perform toilet task, move from bed to wheelchair, ambulate independently, perform other tasks such as make telephone calls, or write letters. Identification of such deficits will improve the nursing environment and decision making especially within elderly care facilities (Orem, Renpenning & Taylor, 2003). Self-care in patients can be associated with cultural behavior and practices in some environment and this affects the process of addressing the deficit. With the increasing number of male nurses, certain cultures and religion have found it difficult to embrace such caregivers due to cultural reasons. This has affected the

Inventory Management Essay Example for Free

Inventory Management Essay Inventory is the quantity or total amount of goods and materials in a store or factory for some immediate or some future use. The reasons for holding more than adequate stocks of inventory would be 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   to keep business operations running and to meet current orders 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   to meet unforeseen demand and to effectively meet customer orders 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   to take care of the lead time , ie , the time gap between ordering the stores and   receiving them and place orders accordingly 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   to use as a hedge against price increases and inflation and control losses 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   to even out erratic demand requirements. Inventory control or inventory management is an attempt to maintain an adequate supply of goods while minimizing inventory costs resulting from obtaining and holding inventory with the purpose of providing information to â€Å"efficiently manage the flow of materials, effectively utilize people and equipment, coordinate internal activities and communicate with the customers.†Ã‚   .   Some of the terminologies related to inventory management are EOQ-Economic Order Quantity   or how much to order SAFETY STOCKS- how much inventory to hold on hand REORDER LEVEL – the minimum levels of stocks at which new order for stocks is to be placed. Visual control –enables the manager to examine the inventory visually and determine if more inventory is required. Tickler control -enables the manager to physically count a small portion of the inventory each day so as to cover the entire range of inventory regularly over several days. Click sheet control is a method whereby the manager records the item as it is used on a sheet of paper. This information is used while determining the reorder levels.   Stub control (used by retailers) enables the manager to retain a portion of the price ticket when the item is sold. The manager can then use the stub to record the item. Point-of-sale terminals relay information on each item used or sold. The manager receives information printouts at regular intervals for review and action. Off-line point-of-sale terminals relay information directly to the suppliers computer who uses the information to ship additional items automatically to the buyer/inventory manager. The final method for inventory control is done by an outside agency. A manufacturers representative visits the large retailer on a scheduled basis, takes the stock count and writes the reorder. Unwanted merchandise is removed from stock and returned to the manufacturer through a predetermined, authorized procedure.

Training Staff for Criminal Justice Essay Example for Free

Training Staff for Criminal Justice Essay The three key issues intricate with correctional staff are corruption, staff safety, gender and staffing. Correction officers are people that tried to become cops but failed. So their morals take a huge hit because they are upset about not being able to become a police officer. So it is easier for them to be corrupted because that’s their way of getting back at the system. Another way of corruption is by force and fear; maybe a prison gang is threatening the correctional officer family. Either way I believe that in order to prevent officers of becoming corrupted there should be more cameras and have a better ethics-training program. One effective management policies and procedures is to start a code of ethics program for correctional officers, a program that makes correctional officers comprehend the code of standards of morality since they are involved in greater demands than just being a decent person. They need to understand that without their morals people get hurt or even killed. Second key issue is staff safety there has been horrific situations were inmates murder correctional officers and thus people are afraid to work in prisons. While inmate populations go up, correctional officers are going down because the things you read and hear on the news. For example â€Å" (1) the savage murder of Correctional Officer Jose Rivera on June 20, 2008, by two prison inmates at the United States Penitentiary in Atwater, CA. ; (2) the brutal stabbing of a correctional officer on April 23, 2009, by a prison inmate at the United States Penitentiary in Terre Haute, IN. (3) the brutal stabbing of a correctional officer on November 1, 2009, by a prison inmate at the United States Penitentiary in Lewisburg, PA; and (4) the more than 350 vicious inmate-on-staff assaults that have occurred at various BOP institutions since the murder of Correctional Officer Rivera. † (By Joe Davidson,October 15, 2012) Correctional officers deal with murders, rapists, and mentally ill the refore their job can be very difficult. If failing to protect your staff, visitors and detainees then there can be major implications for your institute. Second effective management policies and procedures for recruiting and training are to set up an investigative committee to search for and punish instances of staff getting hurt. Internal policing should be balanced carefully. There should be more correctional officers at prisons that carry the most notorious criminals. Maybe have more K9s to help prevent attacks from inmates. The third key issues involved with correctional staff is gender and staffing. I don’t believe there should be females in male facilities because most girls love the attention and that’s unprofessional when its in male prisons. You hear on the news about female guards getting impregnated by inmates and that’s very immoral of them. These correctional officers should be in jail because these inmates are people that committed horrible crimes and is in prison to be punished! â€Å"Four female correction officers were impregnated by the reported leader of a Maryland prison gang, which used a network of female prison guards to help launder money, run drugs and smuggle contraband into state detention facilities, according to a federal indictment. (By RUSSELL GOLDMAN, April 24, 2013) These female guards were smuggling contraband and gifts for the black guerrilla family. If we had only male correctional officers in male prisons then there will be less temptation to giving in. Third effective management policies and procedures for recruiting is to watch officers tattoos, these female guards in MD that got pregnant from gang leader of the black guerrilla family had gotten tattooed â€Å"Tevon† on their bodies. Therefore we need to identify and monitor officers suspected of dishonesty. Officers with tattoos such as symbols of gangs on their wrists or necks may be indicating an affiliation or rank in a prison gang. Background checks on correctional officers also may be an effective way of uncovering gang ties and a history of unethical behavior. I think in order to have a good correctional officer you need to find one that’s not affiliated with gangs, try to find a candidate that has no history with gang activity. â€Å"Good officers come from a good environment. They enjoy supportive, two-parent families with siblings, quality education and at least a modicum of financial affluence. They are free of prejudice and abnormal training in arts that no human has any business practicing, such as torture and murder. They feel honest compassion for man, animals and our ecology. They are subject to guidance, oversight, quality control, censure, and feedback loops from moral individuals and real punishment for deliberate acts of abuse. They will know what it feels like to be abused. The scientific application of all these principals will make good corrections officers. †(James Bauhaus, what makes a good prison guard) Plan to Improve Correctional Facilities I believe need to help people stay out of the system. So many are in for minor offenses and come out ten times worse when they arrived inside. I’ve seen friends that came back more violent and more streets smart. So I think there should be a lot more programs and support from the government to help individuals to learn a profession so that they can have a chance to fly straight. â€Å"Once were in jail, theres no point sending us back out to do it all again. Incarceration is the punishment of someone that did something illegal; incarceration is to make someone change for the better. Youve got us locked up, so use the time to help us change. Dont turn out the same person who went in (or a worse person the party bag were sent away with usually includes a nice new line in bullying, violence, manipulation and drug use) because well carry on committing crime, as we dont know any other way to live. If prisons did nothing more than run effective drugs programs, the crime rate over the next five years would be slashed. We advocate therapy, talent recognition initiatives, training, education, and drug and alcohol programs. Some of these already exist, but there arent enough programs, and not enough of them work. In fact, a lot are expensive disasters. (Mark Johnson, The Guardian, 2008) One major target population is women in jail. Female inmates live in the same surroundings as men do however female inmates face more problems because I think they get more emotional then men do thus their issues start growing more and more eventually blowing up their anger amongst women inmates. Overall, the population of women in the criminal justice system is the fastest growing. Women in prison have gone up over twenty percent and over fifteen percent in probation. â€Å"The growth in the female incarcerated population was 2. 2 percent since 2,000. (Leonard Sipes, Statistics on Women Offenders) While the population of women in prison has been going up, there has not been a rise of women prisons. Women are more likely to be in a prison that is far away from their families. Which will hurt their family and even worse their children. With not a lot of contact with their children, I think stress levels get high among women in jail. When you put women into these situations then they look for an alternative to ease the pain and anger. That’s when drugs come into play. â€Å"In Maryland, half the women reported daily heroin use in the six months leading up to their arrest compared to lightly more than a third of men. Half the women reported daily cocaine use compared to 22 percent of men. † (Leonard Sipes, Statistics on Women Offenders) Our budget spending on facilities is ridiculous because the system is not doing what they are supposing so do. They don’t help rehabilitate inmates as much as they should. Pretty much we tax payers are not getting our moneys worth. â€Å"Ten years ago, the correctional healthcare market was $4. 5 billion in annual spending, with approximately 40% outsourced to private vendors. Today, the share of the mar ket served by outsourcing is growing alongside a rising inmate population. As a corollary, the rising costs of healthcare due to a graying correctional population and other factors have doubled the market to over $10 billion. † (Marc Baudry, 2012) There are three major keys to help issues in corrections†¦ the first one is education programs. EVERYONE knows education is very important to succeed in life. Therefore there should be more educational programs and it should be mandatory to attend. I know at first its going to be hard but once inmates get out the system and find a decent job then the word will spread and then inmates will take advantage of these programs. They should capitalize on inmates that have a family. â€Å"McElrath-Bey argues that investment can’t be limited to higher education. Though GED programs exist in most prisons, many inmates are still unable to take advantage. Typically, inmates who have financial support from the outside—from family or friends—are the ones who earn their degrees. Inmates with no help are forced to take prison work, to pay for the food, clothes and toiletries—like soap and toothpaste—that make life bearable inside prison walls. You can either go to school, or you can work to earn the basic necessities you need to survive. (Mathew Fleischer, 2013) Probation and parole is my second major key to help issues in corrections. Sometimes the probation officer gets burnt out and stops caring for inmates. I think there should be more contact and communication with the probation officer and parole. The inmate needs as much help as he can get so probation officers should do as much as he or she can to make sure that the offender does not return to prison. I know there are so many inmates that don’t care and end up coming back to prison but that still shouldn’t stop the probation officer from doing his or her job. My third one is a faith-based program. I’ve seen people change because of their new beliefs and I think that’s what most inmates need. A faith-based program is a good idea because it teaches inmates the way of believing something such as god or whatever religion. People sometimes don’t want to understand the ways of god but when you read and think about the sins you committed then you start to feel some remorse. I’ve seen this happen with two of my cousins. Both were in jail and while reading the bible it helped them understand their need to change for the better. One of them is out working at Sprint as a sales consultant doing very well for himself now. The other is still waiting for his trial in September. Whatever the outcome may be I believe with faith based programs it’ll turn inmates to a better person. One way to improve target population is better social skills for inmates. Prisons need a greater unity between warden, prisoners and staff. Also stop having a race thing. There should be a group of people that are different race put in each cell. Second way to improve population is stop the overcrowding. People that are on edge are more likely to blow up on someone when they are always around. Sometimes an inmate needs some space to try to deal with their issues. My third suggestion to improve target population is to upgrade the prisons and jails because some facilities are rundown and rotting so this could possibly present health and safety hazards for inmates. No one would like to live in poor conditions so its time to have a modernization in correctional facilities. I think with these ideas, inmate issues will decrees and that inmates frustration/problems will be resolved more quickly. Philosophy and Goals of Punishment and Reformation The goals of punishment and reformation are to rehabilitate people that commit crimes and to protect our citizens. History has taught us the nature of corrections, People need to be punished for their actions however sometimes there are some people that are sick and not know what they are doing. Times are changing so there are new tactics/programs to help criminals get back on their feet. â€Å"How criminals were punished and the methods behind the punishment changed throughout the times. Standards of punishment moved from banishment and fines to torture and blood feuds (Siegel Senna, 2005). A more organized system of punishment came forth with the formation of Common Law, which was brought over to the United States from England. With the development of a system, there was a move away from physical punishment toward methods more acceptably used yet today in the United States. † (Elizabeth Renter, 2008) With that said, there are three major challenges to corrections, using an evidence based approach can help determine the best way to deal with different offenders to attempt to achieve the different goals of the criminal justice system. Reformation is to make people fear being punished and to correct peoples behavior. Unfortunately you can go to jail for something minor like possession of drugs, traffic violations, and misdemeanor offences. The first major issue of discussion is prison and jail overcrowding. Numerous reports and television indicate that even down to the local city and county jail, overcrowding has affected the small town as well. The overcrowding of prisons and jails appears to be result of the growing number of offenders of petty crime, who ultimately end up incarcerated for short periods of time. It is hard on correction officers when they have to deal with a large number of population. The second major issue facing corrections is gangs. You always hear it from the guards and inmates that â€Å"numbers is power†. Gangs make it hard for an individual to come in and try to fly straight. Gangs will either make you suffer by selling you to other inmates or your going to have you do illegal actions that might add time to your original sentencing. They are very manipulative and real quick to kill anyone even officers just to make a point. Its all about money and power for prison gangs such as the Mexican Mafia, they make millions working the cartels and making their street gangs to move/sell drugs around the United Sates. There are lots of reasons why convicts go back to jail. They might have gotten use to being locked up and would rather stick to what they know because the real world can be scary, finding a decent job is very hard now, the digital age might be intimidating to the older criminals, and sometimes the system forces you back in. For example if you are from Florida and committed a crime in Virginia when you get out, you have to find a way back home. Sometimes you can’t leave the state till Florida reviews your case and allows you to come back. My third major issue is the increased imprisonment of crimes caused there to be a larger population in facilities, now more then ever there is more hazardous conditions for everyone because correctional officers have to deal with transmissible diseases in their facilities. One of the scariest things is dealing with prisoners with HIV and other catchable diseases. Not all of these individuals catch these diseases by sexual stuff but some of the offenders may have gotten it by sharing needles (drug use). This presents a situation where other prisoners and guards may be at risk for coming into contact with these sick people. My philosophy of corrections that includes using an evidence based approach is to not place every offender in the same category/cell as it would be very hard to deal with certain people that have the same offense. I just think that drug dealers should be all in one prison unless they committed other crimes like murder. White collard criminals should still be in the same prison with blue collard criminals. Blue collard criminals represent a more heinous level of crime however they both stole money even though one did it over the Internet and the other had a gun. Todays correctional policies appear to be unsuccessful in dealing with crime and offenders but in order to work towards a better system, research and development is necessary to understand how to correct these flaws and to build a more improve system for turning offenders into law abiding citizens. Rehabilitation and reformation are still a goal of punishment today in the United States but due to the reoffending criminals it is hard to believe it is possible to get a criminal to change their conduct. This method may work well with drug users that are ready to get clean. In conclusion corrections can be a challenging field today with obstacles in the way of finding the perfect method of dealing with crime and offenders. My philosophy of corrections using evidenced based approach is to limit the penalty for minor offenders. Have them work hard cleaning our country and building homes for poor families. This might reduce people in jail/prisons and improving the way that criminals live by not going for the easy cash. They will have learned a new skill before the leave. â€Å"The truth is, of course, that punishment practices of the recent past have, for the most part, been strikingly lenient. Thoughtful and considered public opinion is capable of recognizing when criminals are not receiving the punishments they deserve. † (Ronald Pestritto, 1996) Three goals of punishment and reformation, prison is an effective form of punishment for bad offenders such as killers and rapists. It serves a purpose to deter criminals from committing their crimes again as well as being a form of retributive justice for the victims. Second is a question, what is reformation? It is a goal of rehabilitation for many offenders, the goal for a prison to punish people instead of death. The loss of freedom to go anywhere, to drive, eat your avorite meal, and to see your friends and family. Third one is I believe a good prison should be an adequate retribution for the crime but also focus on rehabilitating the criminals that committed a minor offence such as steeling something small, people with small amounts of drugs, and young kids. The thing people need to know is that most of these folks in prison are eventually going to come out again. So we think its smart policy to try to change them while theyre locked up, so that when they return to society there will be fewer victims on the street. (Fox Butterfield, Inmate Rehabilitation Returns as Prison Goal, 2001)

Housing development procedures

Housing development procedures A housing development requires ranges of design stages before beginning construction on a site. These include: the clients requirements, construction development, specifications and scheduling and also research. Procedure, designs and changes do occur throughout projects, unavoidably, in this case communication, agreement and understanding. Design/Planning In turn for a project to develop into a success, communication, consideration and concurrence are necessary. Comprehensive consultations relating to requirements in terms of design, practicality and constructability are crucial. A closer look into the clients personal needs and expectations will as well bear out fundamental to sustain success. However clients may not always be exact about specific characteristics of their requirements; therefore professional teams operate as advisors. As opinions change, plans are force to change to accommodate the new requirements. Before a development can begin adequate planning and designs have to be taken. Planning in tells of the early assembly of information and data before a thorough design and construction process is exemplified. In this time the parties concerned in the development should specify any particular requests, talk about important issues, resolve any disagreements if any and allocate tasks amongst other desires. Before beginning the design and development, planning authorities must approve to the anticipated project after comprehensive evaluation. In some cases warrants have to be granted for building work to commence on a site, most contractors need this to tear down or build on a site (Civitelo 2007). As the size and/or scale of a project increases expenses will eventually go up (Ashworth 2005), therefore cost saving solutions have to be implemented into the design of the project. This could mean having to sacrifice in terms of materials used; this will reduce expenses and permit the finances to be transferred in the direction of building a project of a larger magnitude. For this reason alone the stage for planning is extremely delicate as conclusions to how much space is in fact necessary for the development, insufficient and the project could be seen as a failure, too much and it could prove wasteful. There are various standards and legislations in the construction industry; these are put in place for the advantage of the client utilising the development. Other legislations are aimed at protecting the environment and wildlife. The intention of legislation is to provide a regulatory body to guarantee the efficient build of safe places for work. A forthright view held by several is that legislation and standards add to expenses and are not much beneficial at all however these claims need to be cautiously dissected. Legislative needs are aimed at increasing safety and are approved by a professional body having conducted tests and analysis. Projects, on the other hand small, are affected by an immense set of legislations; due to the fact efficient development is profoundly dependent on safe places of work and the safe handling of construction material and plants. This being the case projects will always consist of a large board together with clients, engineers, architects, contractors, government and regulating bodies and labourers (Ashworth 2005). Legal personnel are also a part of this board. When plans and ideas are drawn up for a project the persons involved are required to agree to contracts containing clauses in regards with the development in question. Content of the contract may comprise of articles with contemplation to the budget, time and materials amongst other issues. These require careful examination, as they can provide evidence as to becoming the reason for the downfall of a failed project. During the design process planners and designers must outline the function and suitability of materials whilst taking into consideration economic and ecological consequences (Hinze 2010). Architects for example would be more hands on with the design considerations of a project, however as some parts of a plan cannot be looked at without first getting planning consent, because of this a significant amount of decisions cannot be considered. When designing a project plans handed in must take into account the financial aspect as prices are persistently rising. Today, most projects involve an organization which is able to economically predict costs of not only primary costs but also costs of control services. The establishment also find the most cost-effective ways of ensuring that a development does not run over financial plan. Prior to plans being put forward, a check or review must be taken on the designs to ensure that the information can be implemented in relation to both construction techniques and materials. The aim of these checks or reviews Constructability Reviews is to minimize the amount of changes at a later stage, reduce delays and increasing costs (Palmer 2002). Construction As soon as construction is ready to begin, preliminary work is required to commence to allow initial works carried out. The clearing of the site, a survey to assess the ground conditions, setting up of sanitary facilities, water/power supplies, offices and storage areas are all included in the initial works carried out. Sufficient welfare facilities will need to be established on a site for the use of workers all through a development, this will need to be organised by the project manager in advance. Facilities will include rest areas, toilets, storage rooms as well as changing rooms and washrooms. (Hinze 2010) These facilities supplied will be essential for the duration of a project to avoid interruption to a project. In some situation however, the project manager may not need some facilities and instead be able to utilise permanent services available on site. An example of this would be, the client may permit the construction team to use toilets already installed on the construction site. This will consequently minimise costs which could have been incurred if the welfare facilities were required. When welfare facilities are essential the project manager should endeavour to locate these in various locations and not a particular area, hence them being in one area can cause inconvenience. An example would be, if the site is quite large the project manager may discover that time will be wasted going to and from the welfare amenities instead of constructively using the time. Once the preliminary works have finished, demolition on the site can begin. Since the site is situated on a 10 ha site of old forest 5 miles out of the town centre; appropriate access and transportation is required to be arranged in terms of plant/machinery. The outcome of the demolition will lead to the recycling of materials. The forest trees for example can be recycled for timber use during the construction process. After the site has been cleared, excavation will be concluded to create the required ground conditions fitting the design specifications. In most cases the land in which a project is developed can prove difficult in terms of workability. Loose soil, frequently at a shallow depth, is an foreseeable problem that can be overcome using deep foundations. Nonetheless in this case, shallow foundations will be used as stated in the brief (Palmer 2002). The excavation phase will also prep the site for eventual service fittings and the construction of the substructure. Plants will be necessary during the construction process to enable the increase in production, reduce labour requirements, produce higher standards of constructions and possibly condense overall costs (Cooke 1997). The substructure will have reinforced concrete foundations to permit sufficient support of the buildings by transporting the load to the ground. This will be fundamental for the community hall which will comprise of a steel frame and metal cladding roof. Services will also be required during the substructure stage for pipes/cable routes, drainage systems. Extensive work to the floors, walls and roofs will all be subject to the design specifications. Scaffolding will be necessary when working on raised platforms i.e. first floor levels, roofs etc, these will comprise of steel or aluminium alloy tubes. As the development will consist of a 200 home housing estate, the homes will be of identical layout and size, for this reason pre-fabricated timber roof trusses will be delivered and hoisted into position before being placed on the supporting walls. The floors and ceilings in the homes will be timber constructed where as the community centre will consist of a concrete floor and metal cla dding roof. The walls in the homes will be brick and block masonry fully insulated cavity walls, these will be plastered inside. Completion of both substructures and superstructures will allow the introduction of services to the buildings; these include drainage, pluming, gas and sanitary works. Some services will need installation below ground in particular the trenches. Service works generally cause widespread disturbance to the community, particularly to traffic because of road works. Significantly the impact should be lower however, seeing as the housing project is being developed on an old forest site, local authority permission must be granted before work commences. The inspection of works will be carried out and final tests will be conducted. The plumbing works, installed above ground, will gain from construction after the vital structural works have finish. The finishes require extensive organisation to ensure they are completed accordingly as certain processes will not be able to start until others have been finished. Due to this, workers should be hired to carry out the finishing works at the same time for faster completion of works. Landscaping should not cut too much into the budget as the area for the project specified is an old forest, so trees and greenery should not to be too expensive to plant around the area. The roads and the footpaths will need to be carefully examined to make sure that the methods of circulation and travel are well planned out and do not obstruct each other. Security will need to be in placed in the community centre; this should be a priority as it will be provided for the local community, including children and the elderly. The project will be finalised when the site has been fully cleared and inspected. All left-over material and debris should be transported and disposed of according to the local health regulations or recycled. Plant machinery, temporary accommodation, and offices will need to be taken apart and cleared off the site. The site should be left in excellent condition and allowed to be inspected by the local authority to ensure the development is up to standard, and match es all the relevant health and safety codes. (Cooke 1997). Programme Of Works 3 Bedroom Home (Plan View)

Hal Riney & Partners, Inc :: essays research papers

Hal Riney & Partners, Inc Ownership/size/locations -   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hal Riney & Partners, Inc., one of the most famous privately-owned advertising agencies in San Francisco, CA, was founded in 1986 by chairman and CEO Hal P. Riney himself. With the branch office in Chicago, Hal Riney & Partners Heartland, reaches out to clients in different regions as well. Both San Francisco and Chicago offices employ a total number of approximately 350 employees. Income/profitability -   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As of July 1996, Hal Riney & Partners, Inc., had an approximate annual billings of $475 million. The breakdown of gross billings by media are as followes: Newspaper - $38 million; Business Publication - $4.75 million; Transit - $4.75 million; Outdoor advertising - $19 million; TV - $275.5 million; Radio - $42.7 million; Collateral - $9.5 million; Consumer publication - $57 million; and cable TV - $23.75 million. Nowadays, the average percentage of earning for advertising agencies is approximately between .05% to 1% of the total billings. With a billing of $475 million, it would be logical to assume that Hal Riney & Partners earns approximately $2.375 million to $4.75 million. With the acquisition of several new accounts including Acer Group and Sprint Spectrum, Hal Riney’s billing is now approaching $600 million. Management Profiles -   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The chairman and CEO of Hal Riney & Partners, Inc., is Mr. Hal Riney. There are over 30 Sr. VPs and VPs holding various positions at the San Francisco office alone. Some of the key personnel at the San Francisco office includes Vice Chairman - James Travis; Chief Financial Officer & Executive VP - Lyn Muegge; Executive VP & National Creative Director - Joe O’Neill; Executive VP, and Managing Director - David Verklin; Executive VP and Corporate Development - John Yost; and Creative Director - Gerald Andelin.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Chicago office handles a set of different clients with its own different personnel such as Barray Krause - Executive V.P. and Managing Director; Jonathan Harries - Executive V.P. and Executive Creative Director; Catharine Gerber - Senior V.P. and Media Director; and Paul Janas - Senior V.P. and Creative Director. Hal Riney has recently added Scott Marshall as the president on his pay roll after several unsuccessful search for new partners. In the past 18 months, Hal Riney had also held conversations with Interpublic Group (who owns McCann-Erickson, Lintas, etc.) and W.Y. Choi (a majority owner of N.W. Ayer & Partners) in attempt to sale his agency. Clients -   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hal Riney & Partners serves a variety of clients from auto maker to fast food restaurant. Current major clients include Acer Group, Alamo car rental company, Birkenstock, The Walt Disney Company, Cox California PCS, GM Electric

Pos. and Neg. of DNA Profiling Essay -- essays research papers fc

The Positives and Negatives on DNA Profiling DNA testing has many uses, both positive and negative, in our society. Genetic profiling has been beneficial in paternity suits and rape cases, where the father or the assailant could be identified. However, despite its growing number of utilizations, DNA profiling is extremely hazardous when results are inaccurate or used to discriminate. Many have benefited from the genetic engineering that has developed at a frightening rate in the last decade. Evabeth T. wrote in the Family Forum expressing her gratefulness of DNA testing. â€Å"Had I not had the genetic testing, I would not have known of the tumor until symptoms occurred, and then I might have had major problems like a heart attack or a stroke,† (Ask the Family). Evabeth is not the only person DNA profiling has benefited. In 1989, Donald Roultodt a prominent father of three was convicted of sexual abuse with his seven-year-old daughter in the Georgia courts of law, (Thompson, 1989). Donald’s conviction, along with many other similar cases, was due to the DNA testing Aside from its usefulness in many legal investigations, DNA profiling can be used in the workplace to discriminate against employees whose profiles could pose a financial risk. For example, genetic technology can and has been used to determine whether or not a person will contract certain diseases, such as sickle-cell anemia. This could cause many employers to hesitate in hiring these people. In the early 1970's, the United States began a carrier screening for sickle-cell anemia, which affects 1 in 400 African-Americans. Many of those identified as carriers mistakenly thought they were afflicted with this debilitating disease. Furthermore, confidentiality was often breached, and in some cases, carriers were discriminated against and denied health insurance along with employment. Genetic engineering with respect to insurance does not stop here. Further development could lead to a complete knowledge of who will develop a disease and when. This will drastically affect the practicality of life insurance policies. Another striking danger of insurance companies discriminating is with infants. The companies may become extremely hesitant in insuring babies who have a high susceptibility to certain diseases. The frequency of genetic testing in criminal investigations has been increasing dramatically despite... ...fidentiality and discrimination, and insurers and employers concerned about liability, it will fall upon legislators and the courts to define the proper use of genetic information.† What matters is how the knowledge of DNA profiling is used. DNA profiling can be an extremely beneficial tool in the war against crime. However, when used for discriminatory purposes, this tool becomes a crime in itself. The ability to compare and contrast a person's genetic code with another should not be taken lightly, for with this great knowledge comes great responsibility. Bibliography â€Å"Ask the Family.† VHL Family Alliance Home Page 5:4 (December 1997): Online. http://www.vhl.org/newsletter/vhl1997/97dpdnat.htm. Grubb, Andrew. Blood Testing, AIDS, and DNA profiling: Law and Policy. Bristol: Family Law, 1990. â€Å"Paternity and Testing Center.† DNA Diagnostics Center Home Page Online. 09 October 2000 http://www.dnacenter.com/htm. â€Å"Privacy and DNA Fingerprinting News.† Eubios Ethics Institute Publications. Online. 10 October 2000. http://www.zobell.biol.tsukuba.ac.jp~macer/NBBFP.htm. Thompson, William C. "DNA Evidence in Criminal Law: New Developments." Trial. 08 August 1989.

Torture Throughout The Ages :: World History

Torture Throughout The Ages Whoever's listening, Do you know what an Iron Maiden, a Garrote, or maybe Water Torture are used for? No? Well here's the answer; they were all forms of torture a long time ago. Iron Maiden's were female effigies constructed of wood or iron with the inside hollowed out and filled with sharp iron spikes. The iron maiden would be opened up and the offender placed inside. The person would then be embraced by the iron maiden, being impaled by all the spikes. A Garrote was anything that was tied around someone's neck that would tighten and eventually they would suffocate. Water Torture was when water was poured on top of the prisoner's head and a large bucket of water was also placed under their chin to simulate the feeling of drowning. Torture started because people thought the legal codes should be tougher. Reasons for this was simply that people thought that criminals, traitors, or just "wrong-doers" should be tortured instead of killed because they will die sometime anyway so they didn't consider it much of a punishment. Because of this they began torture. As time went on and civilizations grew, the need for a code of laws came. Because of this code of laws, people could now perform torture only on enemy tribes and animals. In many cultures, religious sacrifices were the start of torture practices. The early European codes were usually based on the principle of Lex Talionis, who gave the idea of an eye for an eye in the Bible. "Punishment for crimes should be similar to the offense" is the Law of Hammurabi, written around 2000 BC. This civil code would soon be expanded to include other crimes in the Mosaic Code 1000 years later. This code formed into the basis of Hebrew, Greek and Roman legal systems. The Greeks and others were still operating under the Law of Lex Talionis and at the time, torture was mainly used as a means of extracting retaliation for real or imagined (accused) crimes or wrongs. Public displays such as stoning (throwing stones at a person) or crucifixion were used mainly to discourage other criminals from committing crimes. The savagery of torture had not yet entered into the European culture yet. All this, however, would soon change. Early Roman rulers were actually quite humane; it was only Julius Caesar that tortured his conquered enemies as an example for other likely adversaries.

Critical essay: langston hughes Essay

Langston Hughes (1902 – 1967) is a famous African-American writer in the 20th century. Most of his writings depict the strength of experiential faith that originates from group pressure that calls for the ultimate compliance, which in turn destroys one’s personal conviction (Hughes and Harper, 1997). In his work entitled â€Å"Salvation,† Hughes describes his life during the 1940’s. It generally focused on an assembly related to each individual’s renewal. Hughes described his aunt’s continuous explanation that he will be saved and experience enlightenment if he allows Jesus to come and be a part of his life. Hughes narrates that he obediently attended the series of assemblies but he never saw Jesus at the meetings. At the same time, he is coerced by his peers to claim that he has been spiritually saved. The author employed the medium of writing to demonstrate that young minds are simply do what their elders say and eventually realize as they mature that there is more to being obedient and that is, there is so much misinterpretation and disillusionment as children mature. Hughes’ essay stresses the point that the young minds of children perceive things at a different level and that this may not be equivalent to those of adults. Children oftentimes take every word that they hear from adults at their literal equivalent, hence in his essay, Hughes was literally expecting that after attending several meetings at their church, Jesus would walk in and possibly approach the author. Since this expectation was not at all fulfilled, Hughes, who was then in his early teens, felt betrayed, fooled and disillusioned at the same time. The theme of â€Å"Salvation† involved faith, obedience and innocence. Faith is described in relation to the congregation of Hughes’ aunt that has been getting together for several weeks, as well as the rest of the churchgoers and minister. Obedience is depicted as Hughes follows almost everything that his aunt tells him to do and act. In addition, Hughes also follows what the minister asked him to do, even if he did not understand why he had to come up to the front and claim that he has seen the light and Jesus has come. Another theme of the essay is innocence. This is effectively described in the essay, wherein the author portrays his emotions that is characteristic of his age during the essay. The innocence of the author is well-expressed, which in turn shows that children have such young and inexperienced minds that they will literally believe anything they heard from adults. In addition, the essay also shows that children have high respect towards adults, as shown by what Hughes did when the minister asked him to come up to the front and claim that he has already seen Jesus. The essay shows then that children would do anything they are asked to do, regardless of their naivety regarding what they are about to do. The essay makes good use of symbols, which are appropriate in emphasizing the effect of metaphors in children. The use of the words â€Å"light† and â€Å"lamb† were crucial in projecting the effect of metaphors in the essay. The tone of the essay was calm and somewhat sad because it described how innocence and obedience can result in disillusionment and guilt in a young mind. The rhythm was fast, wherein the entire message and story were conveyed in approximately 10 paragraphs. The composition of the essay was simple yet straightforward, which was appropriate for a young teenager’s point of view. In Hughes’ writing entitled â€Å"Thank You, Ma’am,† he describes the story of Roger, a young teenager who tries to snatch a lady’s purse but fails to run away because he lost his balance. The story then describes that the lady, Mrs. Jones, was strong enough to drag Roger by the collar and bring him to her home. She tells Roger to wash his face, drink some hot cocoa, while she explains to Roger that he did not have to steal someone’s purse just for the simple reason of wanting a pair of blue suede shoes. Interestingly, Mrs. Jones gives Roger 10 dollars which he can use to buy a new pair of blue suede shoes for himself. The essay describes the transformation of a young mind from a stealer and runaway to a truthful and clean boy. The best part of the writing is that Roger has quickly learned to say â€Å"Thank you, Ma’am† to Mrs. Jones, yet he was still a bit timid that only the words â€Å"Thank you† were uttered as the door was quickly closed on his face. This writing is different from â€Å"Salvation† because it does not employ any type of symbolism, but mainly describes the juvenile experience of Roger as his wanting for a new pair of blue suede shoes worsened in time. The theme of the narration involved gratitude, because it teaches that an individual may get whatever he wants as long as he literally asks for it. The tone of the narration is both timid and angry, which expresses the feelings of Roger and Mrs. Jones, as culprit and victim, respectively. The rhythm of the writing is medium-paced, because it describes each blow or explanation from Mrs. Jones is well-spaced intervals that are spread out in the entire narration. The composition of the story is simple and expressive. It is amazing how two different personalities could be well illustrated in writing. The anger of Mrs. Jones from being a victim of purse burglary is effectively described, and at the same time the timidity and desperateness of Roger to find an easy way to get his pair of blue suede shoes is well portrayed. Reference Hughes L and Harper AS (ed. ) (1997): The short stories of Langston Hughes. San Francisco: Hill and Wang. 320 pages.

Is Science a Friend or an Enemy? Essay

Scientists, Change, Inventions, Einstein, Newton, Climate, Elements. . . . . . . . . Sounds SCIENCE right? Actually, all things here that we feel, see, hear, taste, and smell are related to it. It also maybe the cause of some or maybe the real cause of environmental, health, economical, industrial, and agricultural problems. So, many of us blame that technology which is the application of science destruct the Earth. YOU! Can you consider it as a friend or an enemy? For my very own opinion, SCIENCE is everyone’s friend. Look on what you are holding, eating, breathing, and to your everyday companion. Add your Best friend forever if you have. He/she is a product of science right? The sperm cell of his/her dad fertilized the egg of his/her mother. Simply science! From kinder up to now that we are in high school, teachers are still trying their best to explain what SCIENCE really is. It’s really becoming more complex but even it is that difficult to understand, this is the way for us to know and appreciate the word SCIENCE and of course its works. The only problem with us is we only look on the negative side of it. But if it is really your friend, even how many thousands of unsuccessful things it made, you will still accept it because it is really important to you and became part of your life for a long time. SCIENCE defines all things and really answers our confusing questions. We cannot deny that like a friend, It gives meaning to your life or should I say our lives. It plays important role in our human being. FOOD and WATER are part of science and also part of our lives. Now, you are insisting that science is an enemy? Woaah! Think of it for a while. You cannot achieve what you are right now without the help of science. YES, maybe it’s dangerous sometimes but you can’t curse it nor wish that it should be gone forever. Science also helped us to know or have an overview from our past. They studied it for us to know the livelihood of our ancestors. With the help of the historians’ curiosity, they investigated every little informations from it. Thanks to them because now, we’re improving the works of our forefather. Latest inventions, gadgets and technologies! Some people who are narrow-minded, (for me) considered it as a way for destructing our  environment. For me, it is NOT that really. Actually these things will be the way for our livelihood to progress. Some people think that it is a bad idea to invent new things because for me again, because they cannot just handle it well. It will be so much helpful for us like in the aspects of communication, transportation and etc. it will be easier to stay connected and close with our loved ones or even enemies in times that we missed them so much and wish that they were here beside us. We can go faster to places where we wanna go and it could be less tiring for us. Merely, we should have enough knowledge to handle things with care because we are also the one and not the machineries or technology that will make destroy our environment. Inventors will not invent things if they know that it is not for our own good. They’re aim is for us to use it but not to abuse it. In predicting some phenomenon such as typhoon, volcanic eruptions, Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical Astronomical Service Administration (PAG-ASA) and Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology are there to take charge of it. They made it easy for us to know what’s happening here in Earth. And with the help of our televisions, radios, and cell phones, we can know the news quickly and easily. This is very useful to us because we can know when to evacuate to a safer place and to keep ourselves ready! Science is our friend in the field of Medicine and in the aspect of health. When we are sick, it has the solution for us. It can detect what our illness is and what kind of cure will be applied to it. Because of the experiments and tests the scientists are making, we are able to extend our lives and our loved ones lives. The herbal medicines were to improve for an easier way for us to chew, drink, or apply it directly. This can lessen our time in boiling, squeezing or preparing such herbal leaves. SCIENTIFIC METHOD – principles and procedures for the systematic pursuit of knowledge involving the recognition and formulation of a problem, the collection of data through observation and experiment, and the formulation of hypotheses. This method is used in our daily lives – because problem does not choose whom it will attack. We can know the solution/answer when we use scientific method. And also, this helps us to decide properly on things so  that we will not be confused on it. It leads our curious minds to its needed answers. Because science is KNOWLEDGE! And this would help us to progress. SCIENCE is our amigo, chum, pal, buddy, or simply FRIEND. Without it like a friend, is like a year without rain or sun.

Course Project Essay

They are Public Website, Manufacturing Support System (MSS), Human Resources System (HRS), and Sales and Marketing System (SMS). Public Website provides information about each of the products, locations where someone can purchase them, and information about how to get warranty support. Details of warranty support and defect rates are not tracked, but the staff has anecdotal stories. The Manufacturing Support System (MSS) maintains the supply chain information necessary for manufacturing the company’s products, such as raw materials, vendors, and prices. The Human Resources System (HRS) maintains and tracks personnel and benefits information. And the Sales and Marketing System (SMS) track the sales and marketing efforts of the company’s sales force. Orders from this system are printed and sent daily to the MSS to be filled. As a senior member of the IT Management Team for SAI Toys, I agree with the Board of Directors and the CEO decision to stay on the forefront of geekness, and therefore the company should integrate all of  its IT systems. In addition, they want to develop a more robust Web presence and sell their products directly to individual customers in addition to selling through traditional retailers, as they currently are doing. My recommendation is that we need to hire more staff if SAI Toys want to stay on the forefront. The company needs to hire professional computer specialist. The integration of new the software into a newly expanded IT system which utilizes in some cases first generation coding on legacy hardware can create operational problems which in-house IT staff may be nable to solve. SAI Toys is not in the computer business. While computers are essential to the design, manufacture and marketing of their products, SAI Toys would be well served by having their IT systems vertically integrated and maintained in a cloud computing environment, eliminating most of their IT department employees in the process (Butcher, 2011). In this report, I will show how the company should go about implementing this ex ecutive directive. The report should include the following sections. The report will also outline the situation, weighs various alternatives, and I will presents a final recommendation for the company. The report will also include the current IT system, overview of the recommended system, the difference between In House and Outsourcing development, the stakeholders’ buy-in, the ERP project failed with lessons learned, and the company’s ROL ;amp; TCO. Current IT Situation To evaluate SAI Toys, using the basic analysis techniques will help us to have an overview of the company and its environment. SWOT is a tool that identifies the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of an organization. SAI Toys SWOT Analysis is to take the information from an environmental analysis and separate it into internal (strengths and weaknesses) and external issues (opportunities and threats). The Strengths of SAI Toys are: Experienced and successful marketing team, High brand recognition for their unique products, Substantial 25 member IT team, and Quality control ensuring positive consumer feedback. The Weaknesses of SAI Toys are: Highly competitive marketplace, Extensive and continuing R;amp;D investment, Cost containment, and Personnel costs for IT staff (Butcher, 2011). The Opportunities of SAI Toys are: Direct marketing and sales to consumers through company operated websites, Emerging international markets immediately accessible through the internet, and Substantial IT cost reduction through use of cloud computing. The Threats of SAI Toys are: Loss of market share, Major competitors integrating vertically and selling direct, and Changing technology requiring escalating engineering costs (Butcher, 2011). The Competitive Strategy Analysis is the second basis analysis technique to help us to have an overview of the company and its environment. SAI cannot afford the possibility of IT system failure given the highly competitive market in which they operate. New product design, manufacture, and marketing require that their IT system be fully functional 24/7 with no downtime. To sustain growth and revenue and stay ahead of potential competition SAI Toys will need to invest heavily in Research and Development (R;amp;D) on an ongoing basis (Butcher, 2011). This will include further investment in hiring skilled engineering personnel. Because SAI Toys creates unique products which may exclusively dominate a small segment of the market from which all of its revenue is derived, the introduction into the market of a competitor’s similar product with enhanced features and lower retail pricing may severely impact SAI Toys ability to generate sales and revenue (Butcher, 2011). Swimlanes Diagram: AS-IS Diagram Overview of Recommended System The various systems currently in place will be replaced or integrated into the new system. Assuming that SAI Toys has elected to develop an integrated IT system in-house utilizing its current IT structure but expanding operability to allow all four (4) distinct IT systems to communicate with each other, an Organizational Process Performance system evaluation is necessary which will derive quantitative objectives for quality and process performance from the organization’s business objectives (Butcher, 2011). The new system will be the ERP Implementation. There is a Process of ERP Implementation. While ERP is clearly a software solution for SAI, its implementation must be done on an incremental basis to limit interruptions to the existing business structure at SAI. Like all IT changes, problems can and will develop. To minimize the impact on SAI’s ongoing business operation the implementation of ERP should occur during the lapses between product launches or product design and development stages and implementation should be accomplished on a step-by-step basis, one application at a time. Limiting IT installations and disruptions to non-critical time periods will permit the least stressful adoption of the IT structure and allow SAI to maintain its revenue stream without incurring a loss (Butcher, 2011). There are numerous vendors who offer ERP software which would be easily configurable for SAI’s specific requirements. Microsoft, Oracle, Sage, Exact, SAP, and Intuitive each offer ERP software solutions which can manage companies like SAI with up to 1,000 users. Each of these can incorporate e-commerce platforms into the production and supply chain and provide SAI Toys management with instantaneous information reports including warranty claims, product claims, and defective product losses to together with consumer feedback in real-time (Butcher, 2011). Some new features in this system will include: 1) Improved customer satisfaction 2) Increased profitability 3) Reduced costs ) Improved quality and processing times 5) Improved business culture by bridging the gap between the production line and management 6) Improved business performance by focusing team members on eliminating waste across key business processes and workflows (Butcher, 2011). There are many companies out there that have successfully made the transition from a brick and mortar business to an E-Commerce. The E-Commerce can help the company grow and expand. An e-commerce platform can be used for advertising, production, supplier enquiries, negotiations, contracts, orders, billing, payments, and after sales service and other business activities in the process of interactive program management that can simplify the transaction process (Butcher, 2011). SOA would be of benefit to this project. A Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) design principle can be utilized during the phases of systems development and integration. A system based on SOA will package functionality as suite of interoperable services that can be used within multiple separate systems from the four separate systems. SOA also generally provides a way for consumers of services such as web-based applications to be aware of available SOA based services. For example, several disparate departments within a company may develop and deploy SOA services in different implementation languages and their respective clients will benefit from a well understood, well defined interface to access them. SOA defines integration for widely disparate applications for a web-based environment and uses multiple implementation platforms (Butcher, 2011). Rather than defining an API, SOA defines the interface in terms of protocols and functionality. An endpoint is the entry point for such a SOA implementation. Service-orientation requires loose coupling of services with operating systems and other technologies that underlies applications. SOA separates functions into distinct units, or services, which developers make accessible over a network in order to allow users to combine and reuse them in the production of applications. These services and their corresponding consumers communicate with each other by passing data in a well-defined, shared format, or by corresponding an activity between two or more services. SOA is therefore a continuum as opposed to distributed computing or modular programming (Butcher, 2011). Swimlanes diagrams- TO-BE diagram In-House versus Outsourcing Development The benefits and costs of developing this system in-house versus outsourcing the development or purchasing off-the-shelf are very important to consider. Off-the-shelf ERP packages are tested and proven performers which are an essential requirement for a company like SAI Toys which cannot afford the inevitable downtime associated with fragmented software design and installation. On a cost benefit analysis basis the investment in purchasing an off-the-shelf ERP software package is substantially less than the cost of downtime and system inoperability where an in-house software design fails (Butcher, 2011). The ability of the software vendor to de-bug an off-the-shelf system can be measured in minutes or hours versus the possibility and probability of several days of downtime with in-house developed software. The purchase price of an ERP software package can be amortized over a useful lifespan of five years or more and when compared to the prospective recurring downtime of in-house developed software the advantages of an ERP off-the-shelf solution cannot be ignored (Butcher, 2011). To avoid as many pitfalls as possible in the overhaul of SAI’s IT system it is recommended that SAI avoid in-house software development of this magnitude. While some of SAI’s IT staff may be proficient in software development there are the issues of minimum and exacting standards employed in the industry which may not be a consideration for in-house development. CCMI and ISO certifications should also impact the decision here. CMMI and ISO certification are an inherent part of these off-the-shelf software solutions which eliminates the uncertain standards that may be employed in in-house software development (Butcher, 2011). We should develop the system by Some best practices for managing the project type to having a better chance of success are Stakeholder Buy-in and Internal Politics The stakeholders of this system are essential. Once stakeholders are on board with the system development, they are likely to remain involved, supporting the program over its lifetime. We can get them to buy-in and support the system development by keeping them informed throughout the process of the system, including during the evaluation planning, implementation, and reporting phases (Innovation Network, 2002-2012). Stakeholders are valuable assets in evaluation planning, offering: * Assistance in decision-making about continued and prospective funding; * Perspective that helps the program learn, grow, and improve, and * Experience that informs program replication at other sites or organizations. The Stakeholders fall into three levels of program participation or involvement. There are: * Primary stakeholders  are typically major decision makers within a program, and are often the motivators behind an evaluation effort. They are often program staff, supervisors, senior managers, and funders. * Secondary stakeholders  have less contact with the administrative side of the program, but are still important to the evaluation effort. They include program participants and their families; direct service staff; and possibly other professionals providing subsequent services to program participants. Tertiary stakeholders  are more distant but are likely to be interested in evaluation findings — for example, potential program participants, the general public, or members of the same profession (Innovation Network, 2002-2012). There are other issues that may arise as a result of the internal politics in our company that could have a negative impact on the project. The best thi ng to do is to reduce the risk of project failure due to internal issues. Many systems development problems are in practice caused by a failure to perceive that specific stakeholders’ viewpoints were relevant. That failure causes whole groups of requirements, typically those related to scenarios involving the missing stakeholders to be missed. A similar result is obtained when one stakeholder assumes one scope for a product while another stakeholder assumes another. This occurs when a developer assumes that it will be sufficient to design, code, and test software but the purchaser hopes to have everything set-up and operators trained (Butcher, 2011). Stakeholder composition is a good predictor of project risk and therefore it should be cost-effective to characterize projects at their initiation according to their stakeholder impact. SAI can minimize internal politics by fully evaluating each stakeholder and assuring them that their input is critical to the overall success of the project. Each stakeholder then becomes part of the project team and has a vested interest in ensuring the ultimate success of the project. Team meetings bring all of the stakeholders together to discuss differences and eliminate issues which would delay or derail the project. Each team member realizes that their participation is equally important within their area of specialization or expertise fully under their direct control and unchallenged by direct confrontation. In this manner, each team member must demonstrate how their participation and overall cooperation contributes to the overall success of the project (Butcher, 2011). ERP Project Failures and Lessons Learned Studying ERP project failures is an essential part of project success. By identifying the same or similar issues that lead to failure in one company, SAI can take steps to avoid or eliminate those problems as they arise. Case studies also provide a precursor to the foreseeable problems that occur in ERP implementation allowing SAI management an opportunity to prepare for these problems by formulating a contingency plan. ERP project failures are common but this not unique to ERP. Every system has glitches regardless of the quality of design or the expertise of design personnel (Butcher, 2011). In the Case Study for Implementation Failure at Hershey’s Chocolate it was established that Hershey’s failed to use an incremental method of implementation, instead installing full software during periods of peak business. The resulting disaster from inoperability due to bugs and glitches resulted in a loss of peak season revenue for Hershey’s. Both corporate management and IT staff developed an immediate dislike for the ERP implementation. This could easily have been avoided had Hershey’s implemented the new software on a step-by-step basis during the off season when sales and revenue would have been less dramatically affected (Butcher, 2011). Hershey’s also tried to implement a variety of enterprise applications simultaneously which added to the stress of a seemingly failed project. In fact, there was nothing wrong with the ERP software but its implementation was a complete failure as the company tried to modify their business processes to suit the enterprise application which created further problems. The lesson learned is that implementation should be conducted one step at a time, each successful Installation reinforcing management’s initial decision to purchase. The ERP problems at Hershey’s are commonly repeated where management fails to realize the complexity of implementation and the necessity to proceed cautiously and maintain focus (Butcher, 2011). Return on Investment and Total Cost of Ownership Some metrics that we can use to determine if the system was a success is a disciplined methodology has been developed called  total cost of ownership  (TCO). It is designed to properly analyze the full cost of an IT investment. In order to calculate TCO properly, all related costs must be identified and captured. TCO models organize costs into two broad categories: 1. Direct costs:  Costs in this category are usually for activities and investments that are related to IT or support. They can usually be calculated by examining the actual or projected costs of hardware, software, people, and facilities. 2. Indirect costs:  These costs are not always visible and can be very difficult to measure and quantify. This type of cost crosses the entire organization’s business operations. Some examples of these indirect costs are Administration, Downtime, and End-user operations (Devry, unknown). In order to measure the metrics and figure out when baselines should be determined, we should developed methodologies for determining TCO. The first methodology is the Project initiation. This can be one of the most critical phases of a project. The reason why is because the following are determined: the expectations of the client, the type of relationship the organization will ave with the client (This can influence the management costs. ), and the project’s scope. Ideally, the objectives of the project should be defined at this stage, and the categories for TCO can be aligned with these project objectives. To determine the impact of any deviations from initial projections, an up-to-date TCO should be maintained at all times (Devry, unknown). The second methodology is the Cost Modeling. Th rough the entire TCO process a major activity is the TCO cost analysis. This continues to be refined as new information becomes available during the project. This activity includes classifying the costs according to the financial policies of an organization as well as defining the financial model for the project. The third methodology is the Cost Collection. Once the financial and cost model has been determined, all available cost estimates are collected. Once these are entered into the financial model, a baseline is determined. The total cost of ownership that is presented in this deliverable should be considered a snapshot in time. It is important that all stakeholders understand this and that the TCO may or may not change substantially from this point forward (Devry, unknown). The fourth methodology is Evaluation/Final Report. This is the development of a TCO project deliverable that goes to the organization’s stakeholders and decision makers. It typically includes the final project evaluation and a correlation of all finding recommendations and results. The last methodology is Ongoing Refinement of the TCO Model. It is very rare for all costs and contract negotiations in a large project to be finalized at the same time. Additionally, an implementation plan usually cannot be determined at the same time as, or even immediately after, delivery of the final report. As a result, the TCO is an estimate of project costs based on the data and decisions available when the report was researched and written. As key decisions regarding rollout and implementation strategy are reached, the TCO model should be refined to include the most current project cost estimates (Devry, unknown). Another metrics that we can use to determine if the system was a success is Return on Investment (ROI). The ROI (return on investment) is how much profit or cost savings is gained. An ROI calculation is sometimes used along with other business practices to develop a business case for an IT proposal. The overall ROI for an enterprise is sometimes used to determine how well a company is managed. The work performed to determine the TCO can be used to calculate the ROI. Even though many TCO costs are long term, they can be applied solely to the initial investment or divided between the initial investment and serve as an adjustment to the final value. While both methods are valid, they can give different results; it is important that the organization establish a policy for ROI computations across all projects (Devry, unknown). One of the more difficult aspects of an ROI calculation is determining the soft, or â€Å"people† benefits. Three considerations that impact these soft benefits follow: * Speed of adoption:  This benefit considers how quickly employees come up to speed using the new process, system, technology, or tools provided by the implementation. It indicates how quickly employees demonstrate the new skills or behaviors and adapt to the new roles that are required by a change. * Ultimate utilization or participation rate:  This evaluates the percentage of employees that are engaged and practicing the new way of doing things. Surprisingly, in many implementations, employees can avoid actively participating in workflows and procedures, and this can undermine the project in subtle ways. * Proficiency:  As the change is implemented, this examines how proficient and effective the employees have become. Many times, this proficiency, or ability to better perform their job function, is a significant part of the change’s original motivation. It measures not just the status after the change, but the ongoing improvement to the organization with the new systems, tools, and processes in place and the organizational and job changes fully implemented. Some examples include the time saved in performing a particular operation while using the new system, the improved close rate for sales and contracts brought by the use of a competitive information database, and the amount of waste reduced by new streamlined activities or processes (Devry, unknown). Conclusion In conclusion, my recommendation to SAI Toys is that they need to hire more staff if they want to implement this executive directive. If they can’t afford it or can cope with integrating all of their IT systems, then I would suggest they stick to manufacturing the toys in-house and shipped to brick-and-mortar retailers, such as Best Buy and Target, as well as e-Commerce only sites, such as ThinkGeek. com and Buy. com.