Wednesday, October 30, 2019

CRITICALLY DISCUSS THE ROLE OF THE NURSE IN THE PROMOTION CONTINENCE I Essay

CRITICALLY DISCUSS THE ROLE OF THE NURSE IN THE PROMOTION CONTINENCE I OLDER PEOPLE - Essay Example This paper will discuss the management and rehabilitation of continence and the role nurses can play in assessment and rehabilitation. Burgio et al., (1994, cited by Shirazi et al.,) recognize four types of UI which include urge incontinence (bladder contractions are not inhibited), stress incontinence (urethra is not effectively closed during transient increases in pressure), overflow incontinence (bladder does not contract), and functional incontinence (inability or unwillingness of the person with normal bladder to reach the toilet in time). Urge incontinence occurs due to overactive detrusor muscle contacting and sending an urgent message to the brain to eliminate (Carr, 2004). Overflow incontinence is associated with storage due to an obstruction or a nervous system problem. Functional incontinence is found in people whose mobility or cognition is impaired. Stress incontinence occurs due to the deficiency in the urethral closure mechanism during episodes of raised intra-abdominal pressure such as coughing, sneezing, laughing (Dolman, 2003 cited by RNAO, 2006). While people of any age can be affected with incontinence, it becomes prominent in the elderly people as detrusor contractile function, bladder capacity, and urinary flow rates all decline with age (Wagg, n.d.). Prostrate enlarges with age in men and this tends to dominate the behaviour of the urinary outflow tract. The bladder requires a greater contractile effort as obstructions increases. The detrusor muscle and the urethral sphincter are essential for urinary continence and micturition (expulsion). These two act together for storage and expulsion of urine. Urine is stored when the detrusor muscle relaxes and the urethral sphincter closes while voiding occurs when detrusor contracts and sphincter relaxes (Yerkes, 1998). This process of storage and voiding depends on a

Monday, October 28, 2019

Organizational Behavior Concepts Essay Example for Free

Organizational Behavior Concepts Essay Every organization has its own unique behaviors, attributes, traits and values that define the organization’s methodology of forming amicable relationships by accomplishing human, social and organizational goals. Organizational studies are the research and application of human behavior within an organization as individuals and as a member of a team. Some of the basic organizational concepts are motivation, group behavior, decision making, corporate culture, structure, power and politics, communication, human resources practices and change management. These organizational concepts have to be studied in order to judge the failure or the success of an organization; especially, how well these concepts are dealt with by the employees or management. Motivation is the driving force of the organization towards its goals; group behavior refers to the team work within the organization and the relationship of employees with one another; decision making is the selection of an option from various alternatives using cognitive abilities; corporate culture is the reflection of the organization’s core values, missions, goals, traditions and beliefs based on which the organizational practices take place; structure is the basis for the organization’s operational activities, that is, the organization’s arrangement and formation or even hierarchies; power and politics refer to the authority, external control and influence; communication is extent to which the ideas are shared within an organization; human resources practices refers to the structure, tasks, importance and rights of the employees of the organization; and change management refers to the extent to which the organization is molding itself for success in accorda nce with the external stimuli. The Walt Disney Company was founded in 1923 by Walt and Roy Disney. Since then, Walt Disney Company along with its affiliated companies have been faithfully serving their fans by producing unique and remarkable entertainment with quality and creativity oozing from its content and exceptional stories. The Walt Disney Company is the biggest international media enterprise with four divisions; media networks, parks and resorts, studio entertainment and consumer products. Examples of these divisions include, Hanna Montana, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Mickey Mouse, Disneyland Park, Disney Line Cruise, Interactive Studios, www. disneyshopping. com, Disney Channel and ABC entertainment. Almost every organization has one uniform behavior that needs to be implemented for the foundation building of the organization – corporate culture. Corporate culture is a set of core values, beliefs, traditions, operational styles, work ethics, employee behavior and basic business principles on which the business is based. All the activities and procedures taking place in the organizations are a reflection of the organization’s corporate culture (Moir, 2008). Only if an employee is able to adapt to the corporate culture can he work in accordance to the requirements of the organization; in fact, the corporate culture is a guideline for them. There are two types of cultures – adaptive and unadaptive. Adaptive cultures are suitable for ever-changing environments where strategies and structures might be needed to change due to changing external stimuli such as markets, legal-political, international pressures, economical conditions, social fulfillments or simply customers, competitors and suppliers (Fuentes-Garcia et al. , 2008). Adaptive cultures are further divided into visible and invisible cultures. Some parts of the culture are visible, such as slogans, symbols, artifacts, dress, and office layout and even ceremonies – things that an outsider can observe and use for judging the organization’s culture. The other division is the invisible culture which includes the beliefs and values that are embedded within the system and employees’ heads; this part of the culture helps them take decisions based on the organization’s culture. On the other hand, unadaptive cultures are ones in which change is rarely brought about and also with great difficulty due to the rigidity of the organization’s practices and traditions. This unadaptive culture is usually an unhealthy one which is further divided into cultures that are hierarchy and politics based, that show resistance to change, those that do not like opening up to the external environment and are inwardly attentive, and lastly are unethical and driven by illegal factors such as greed. Such culturally structured businesses usually do not have a high quality performance and do not facilitate strategy execution. However, even if the culture is adaptive, once an organization’s corporate culture is established, it is difficult to bring about changes in it. This is because everything in the organization is developed and designed in accordance with the culture; bringing a major change in every petty thing is a very costly act. Corporate culture and strategy come together as a ‘culture-strategy fit’ – the tighter this bond is, the more the culture helps in designing the strategy execution by directing and leading the behavior and practices of the employee into the success direction. Therefore, multinational corporations should formulate a culture that fits within all countries so that its strategy execution is possible all around the globe (World News Connection, 2008). Like every other organization, Disney also uses its corporate culture to formulate strategies. The core values of Disney are quality, innovation, decency, and employee justice. Since the day the company started operating, it has focused excellence, class, value, and worthy production. All the stories, animations and entertainment resorts etc by The Walt Disney Company are of eminence and unparalleled. Innovation is the most important characteristic of this company; no customer or viewer is interested in watching things that have been shown earlier on television – they demand for something new and unique every time. This need is fulfilled by Disney at all costs, as it is one of their competitive advantages – creativity! This pool of new ideas every time is the reason for the success of the company and the reason for its growth by the day. Disney also focuses on ‘family’ entertainment; thus, it tries to ensure decency so that people of all ages can enjoy a certain clipping together. In a corporate environment when there are hierarchies involved, employees at a higher level tend to use their authority on those under their control. This tends to irritate employees and reduce their job satisfaction which directly affects their productivity and commitment to the company. Therefore, The Walt Disney Company makes it a point to give equal treatment to all employees; in fact, give them importance as they would to a guest. This helps to build cordial relations among the employees and management, causing the sharing of ideas to take place. It creates a comfort level causing the employees to enjoy participation. Naturally, this involvement increases their loyalty to their company and shoots their productivity. Cultural diversity is also a major constituent of Disney’s culture – this is evident even in their products. There is not just Disney World and Disneyland anymore, there is Tokyo Disneyland Resort and Hong Kong Disney Land – people from various cultures and nationalities can enjoy the magic of Disney closer to their homes. Motivation is normally defined as a force that drives a person towards a goal. In the world of business, motivation is to drive the employee towards enhanced productivity by exploiting the abilities to the maximum potential, by improving the job performance. It becomes self-explanatory that it is the job of the manager to monitor and control the human resource available by motivating the employee and instilling in them a positive attitude towards the tasks assigned to them. This helps in accomplishing the tasks that would not be fulfilled otherwise (Nohria et al. , 2008). Therefore, it is crucial for a manager to understand different theories and various techniques of motivation. Motivation is a state of mind – different people get motivated by various different things. However, there are certain fixed factors that motivate a person by nature. These factors include money, prosperity, popularity, success, higher knowledge and happiness (Campbell, 2002). A successful manager would target employees in groups depending upon the factor that influences them. Also, a person should try to self-evaluate oneself in order to learn what influences them or what drives them towards their maximum potential. For example, an extremely poor clerk with a big family to provide for is well aware of the fact that a greater wage would motivate him towards doing whatever is expected of him. When provided with incentives, the behaviour or attitude of the employee towards the task changes and he becomes more involved and devoted to it. In order to receive the reward that is set for him, he tends to give top priority to the work assigned and finish is as soon as possible. Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (1943) from a business point of view portrays physiological needs (salary, ambience), safety needs (pensions, insurance, medical care), belongingness needs (social gatherings, relationship with co-workers), self-esteem (job title, post, authority) and self-actualization (opportunities to display skills, development opportunities) ranking from one (most important) to five (least important) respectively. The Walt Disney Company has a clear knowledge of all this incentives and motivational tactics; thus, it chose to give importance to its employees as a boost to their confidence. The rise in self-respect and prestige that they received by requesting for their ideas to be shared for the betterment of the company motivated them to work. However, there was a time earlier on when there were rigid hierarchies at Disney. But now, the company has a culture of teamwork – they believe that every employee is capable enough to give his or her suggestion for the company. Their structure reduced rigid hierarchies and an authoritarian style of management. In fact, people maintained friendly relations and held an open forum for discussion of various issues. Even Disney believes in giving small rewards to its workers to give them an incentive to work harder for success. Disney even has sessions and seminars for instilling the corporate culture into the employees and motivating them to raise productivity bars. At the Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, out of the 180 recognition awards, one is called the Fred Award; it was named after an employee but also is an acronym for friendly, resourceful, enthusiastic and dependable. Other awards generating from this Fred award are Spirit of Fred Award and even The Lifetime Fred Award, which is a bronze statuette of Mickey Mouse (Disney Magic, 2008). This, along with other extremely coveted awards, is a driving force or incentive for the employees to work more proficiently so that they can receive this award. The world is progressing in every aspect of life. There is intense development and urbanization taking place. Day after day, as population increases, demand for goods and services also increases; this creates a need for more companies and more employment. Almost everyday we hear names of new companies who have recently joined the market competition. As more and more companies are emerging, there is naturally a greater supply of similar goods in the market; some of these goods are better than the other which increases the standard of competition. Competition is not only restricted to your local market; with increasing globalization, the entire international forum is becoming your playing field. Competition is becoming so intense by the minute that no company can afford to slack off for even a day; every company needs to be operating at its maximum level to make its place into the market. The secret to a successful organization is its management – if there is a smooth managerial supervision with each department working efficiently and effectively, the company is guaranteed to succeed. Even if a company has the best of employees and human resource available, unless and until everything is well-structured and well organized, the company cannot reach successful heights. As the world around us advances, we need to keep in pace with them and cope up. At times to bring about a positive change in an organization, there is a need for restructuring, switching to more innovative methods of production, technological advancement and even use of research and development. This organizational behavior concept is called ‘change management’ – it is the shift of organizations, teams, or even individuals from the existing stage to a preferred stage in the future (Burge, 2008). Disney started off with marvelous creative ideas and kept working with them. They earned a big share of the TV audience and earned great revenue; for this reason, they were extremely satisfied with what they were doing. However, due to a shift in the environment, suppliers, customers and competitors, the strategic context of Disney had changed a bit. This alteration of the strategic context was not working out; there was a 13% decline of the ABC network ratings among 18-49 years aged people. This was the time when it was obvious that the company had stopped growing – children of age 9-10 were not interested in Disney characters that came from history or myths and had shifted to contemporary cartoon characters made by Nickelodeon. There was structural and cultural, both, resistance to change at Disney and there was a severe need to eradicate this. Disney depended on its old way due to the extreme interdependence of the organization’s structures, schemes and procedures. Disney had a very smooth corporate culture which is also mentioned earlier; this same culture led to great success. But at the same time, it brings a halt to the improvement; that is, organizations become content and do not strive for more. According to Fortune, 1999, this resistance to change caused great difficulty for Disney. However, Disney has currently regained its success by working on change and a more flexible culture and structure – realizing where they went wrong, what the customers want, and then bringing that change in the organization accordingly. Each organization might have one or two important behaviors, but usually practice all of the above mentioned organizational behavior concepts. The driving force for the employees at Disney is respect, prestige and accolades; corporate culture includes quality, innovation, decency, and justice with employees; lastly, on realizing that sales and market share were falling, change management was adopted. Therefore, it is easy to conclude that although like every other organization, even Disney follows all these organizational behavior concepts, but motivation, change management and corporate culture have been mostly evidently seen since the past. It is very important for us to study these organizational behavior concepts in-depth as they help us in understanding the needs of the people and the organization itself.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Aristotles Reform of Paideia :: Paideia Artistotle Philosophy Essays

Aristotle's Reform of Paideia ABSTRACT: Ancient Greek education featured the pedagogical exercise of dialectic, in which a student defended a thesis against rigorous questioning by an instructor. Aristophanes’ Clouds, as well as Plato and Aristotle, criticize the practice for promoting intellectual skepticism, moral cynicism, and an eristic spirit - the desire to win in argument rather than seek the truth. I suggest Aristotle’s logic is meant to reform the practice of dialectic. In the first part of my paper, I defend the thesis that Aristotle’s syllogistic is an art of substantive reasoning against the contemporary view that it is a science of abstract argument forms. First, I show that Aristotle’s exclusive distinction between art and science makes syllogistic a techne for the higher forms of knowledge, science and practical wisdom. Then I argue that Aristotle’s treatment of demonstrative and dialectical syllogisms provides rigorous standards for reasoning in science and publi c debate. In particular I discuss a) the requirement that a demonstration use verifiable premises whose middle term points out a cause for the predicate applying to the conclusion; b) how his analysis of valid syllogisms with a "wholly or partly false" universal premise applies to dialectical syllogisms. Aristotle’s logic is a major achievement of Greek paideia, valued and preserved continuously even in dark ages following its commitment to writing. Here I look at its role in reforming Greek education. The mission of Greek paideia, Aristotle argues in the Politics, is to enable members of a community to discuss with each other serious matters of common interest requiring joint decisionmaking and action. A political organization requires "a method of deciding what is demanded by the public interest and what is just in men’s private dealings" (Politics 1328b2ff).(1) He also stresses the essential function of education to promote the intellectual excellence of the student. A distinctive feature of Greek education in Plato’s Academy and Aristotle’s Lyceum was dialectic – an intellectual exercise in which a student took a position on an issue and defended it against rigorous questioning from an instructor or another student. The origin of dialectic is So crates elenctic mode of inquiry. Socrates asked a willing or unwilling citizen to put forward a definition of an ethical notion, such as justice, then engaged in a cunning and often baffling conversation with him. By a circuitous route the colloquy ended with the student making an admission inconsistent with his original postulate.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Metalworks Case

| 2012| | KLU | Metalworks case study| Students: | Introduction : Metalwork is a company supplying cabinets and safety boxes. At the moment it has two plants and two warehouses which are â€Å"Des Moines† and â€Å"Dover†. Metalwork also uses an external supplier in case they can’t meet the demand. However in the case Metalwork has to buy products from supplier it doesn’t make any profit since the selling price $75 for the cabinet and $107 equals the buying price.Regarding this situation Metalwork has decided to improve its logistic efficiency by either increasing its capacity in â€Å"Des Moines† or investing in Juarez, Mexico by building up a new factory. Our job in this condition is to analyze the best option, to optimize the logistic efficiency and help Metalwork make a decision. At first we will see and optimize the current logistic system and then we will try to run the two solutions. And see which one is the best in order to give Metalwork th e best possible answer. Baseline scenario 1: without distance constrains and with direct shipment from supplier to customers.The first job we had to do was to actualize every data and verify everything was correct. This work consisted in adding the data for the 3 time periods missing (2011-2012-2013). So we added the data regarding warehouse capacity, production capacity, production costs, and customers demand. We allowed direct shipment from the supplier to customers. We also checked the flows between every actor of the logistic process (exhibit 1). We use the Rail Warehouses Midwest between warehouses and ABC fleet carrier from warehouses to customers. Then we made the software run for a first try and saw the results.So as a result we can see that first the scenario is feasible. Hopefully by the way since it is how the Metalwork is supposed to work. We can see that the total cost (which contains manufacturing, transportation, warehousing, variables, and holding costs) is $321  7 41  907 75 and total profit of $2  001  748  527 44. So the situation is pretty good since the company realizes profits. We can also see that in this baseline scenario we order 629  398 84 units to our supplier. Units on which we don’t make any profit. So we can clearly see that there is a need to invest in order to meet the demand thanks to our products.Baseline scenario 2 without distance constrains and without direct shipment from supplier to customers. In this scenario we will try to see if it is possible work without direct shipment from the supplier to the customers. That is why the lane visual changes compared to the first one. The answer in this case is that this scenario is not feasible, because of warehouses capacity. Indeed we begin to see that it is necessary to work with more than 2 warehouses. Baseline scenario with direct shipment and with distance constrains for warehouse to customer. In this scenario we will introduce constraints regarding the maxim um distance to customers.Indeed high quality service and responsiveness is highly important to Metalwork that is why we add a distance constraint of maximum 800 miles to Tier 1 customers and 1000 miles to Normal customers. We keep the same data and the same lanes and logistic system. Except that we allow this time delivery from the supplier to the customers. Because if not we would have add the same problem as in the second scenario since the situation is even harder regarding the distance constraints. That is why we decided to run it with this scenario. So we can see that the two warehouses supply the customers in within the 1000 miles away.That is why the supplier has to send directly to the other customers and also to supply the rest that is needed by the customers. We can see that only having two warehouses is really not enough. In this situation the supplier has much more importance and that has huge effects on the costs. Dual supply On the diagram bellow we can see that the su pplier has a huge importance on the production since it produces even more than the Plant in Dover. So in this situation we can see that the total costs have dramatically increased from $341  741  907 75 to $887  796  558, 11 and the profit has gone down to $1  435  693  607, 07.The manufacturing cost is really high: 749  750  420 $ compared to 138  145  001$ in the first scenario. Regarding the new constraint we really realize that Metalwork needs to invest in new plant and in new warehouses. Baseline scenario with direct shipment and with distance constrains for warehouse to customer and supplier to customer. The scenario is not feasible because the warehouse capacity is limited and the distance from supplier to some customers is greater than the distance restriction. We decided to apply this restriction because we fought it was necessary to apply the distance constraints to the supplier also.Indeed the service level must be equal for every product to every c ustomer. Indeed the customer doesn’t need to know and don’t care if the product is from the supplier plant or Metalwork plant. Increased demand scenario in Des Moines We increase capacity of Des Moines. The production capacity of the safety boxes increases by 25% and cabinets by 50%. We set the additional $1  250 000 operation costs. And we decrease the cost for each unit produced in Des Moines by 50 cents. We apply these directives into our data base for every time period. We also add the possibility to go from 2 warehouses to 4 warehouses for the 4 time period.Two of the warehouses are fixed. One in Des Moines and one in Dover. So in this scenario we can see that the total cost has decreased compared to the first baseline scenario. Now we have a total cost of $248  104  881 97 and a profit of $2  075  385  283 22 which is much higher than in the first baseline scenario. We can also notice that with these investments the supplier is no longer needed. So th e objective achieved. Plus we have 100% of the demand met. We clearly see that the Plant in Des Moines is the main motor of Metalwork. Plus even with the distance constraint we see that the scenario is feasible.This is able thanks to the 2 more warehouses available. So as we see on the map bellow, all the customers are supplied and the 4 warehouses are dispatched on every side of the United States. Plus there are only a few customers supplied by two warehouses, because of warehouse capacity. So clearly the result is conclusive. The demand is met the costs go down and the profit rises. Double supply Mexican Plant scenario In this scenario the objective of Metalwork is to improve the network of its plants and also to relocate its investment into a low labor cost country.The opening cost of this plant opening is $5  000  000. In order to make this scenario work we had to reset the data for the 4 time period, that is to say cancel the downsize in costs and production capacity in Des Moines. We also forbid the direct shipment from supplier to customer if needed. And used the railway West transportation for Railway warehouses West to supply our products to the warehouses. But we still have the same problem as in the previous scenario that is to say that some customers are supplied by two warehouses. Double supplyAs we can see can see in the chart below, our total cost is $ 243  950  541 68 which is smaller than in the previous scenario. The profit is also a little bit higher, with $2  079  539  623 51. 100% of the demand is met so we can say that the objective is met. And with better results on every side whether it is financial or quality we can say that we would recommend this investment rather than the first one. However this also depends on the image the brand wants to have, something such as made in America and avoid social problems in the plants.When the activity is relocated. We can see on the last chart that the production almost equally balanc ed between Des Moines and Juarez. The good thing is that the supplier is no longer needed. So every unit sold makes the company make profit. Conclusion: 1. After comparing the different scenarios based on the guidelines we had, we found that the scenario that involved building a plant in Juarez, Mexico turns out to be the best one. 2. While comparing the increased capacity scenario and the â€Å"Mexico† scenario we found that they are nearly the same.In both of these scenarios we find that we don’t need an external supplier, we would be able to supply the demand on our own. 3. Compared to the baseline scenario we can see that increasing the number of warehouses decreases the overall total costs. 4. While optimizing the solution, we figured out that having to use two given warehouses might not be the optimal choice, those two warehouses should be catalogued as potential, the maximum number of warehouses should be increased. 5. We observed baseline scenarios can’t compete with the improved capacity scenario or the â€Å"Mexico† scenario since the cost of buying from a supplier is too high.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Management of a Software Development Project Essay

Introduction Many years ago, general services offered by hotels like dinner reservations, room reservations and other services were done manually. Most hotels used books, ledgers and papers to record names of guests, their duration of stay and contact details. This required a lot of effort and time. Since the advent of the information age however, dynamic and interactive websites have been introduced which have more efficient and faster technological features and capabilities for the management of hotel services. For any business to remain competitive, it is necessary to maintain an online presence in order to reach out to customers all over the world and compete on a global platform. Reservations and payments are now done online to ensure that conduction of business is faster and more convenient for customers. Definition of Project Management A project is a temporary endeavor that is done to generate a unique product or service (Duncan 1996). Project Management is an activity that involves the overall supervision, management and co-ordination of all activities related to accomplishing a set activity. It always has a start and a finish date. According to Whitten, Project Management is a process that starts at the beginning of a project, is conducted throughout a project and doesn’t end until after the project is completed (2001).   According to Duncan (1996), Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to activities to fulfill stakeholders’ needs and expectations. It usually involves finding a balance among scope, time, cost, quality, and varying expectations of stakeholders. Another definition of Project Management is â€Å" the process of scoping, planning, staffing, conducting, directing, and managing the development of a system at an affordable cost within a specified time frame† (Whitten, Bentley & Dittman 2001, p.124). Importance of Project Management According to Dr Malcolm Wheatley, â€Å"Project management as a management discipline, supports much economic activity.† In major industries like Information Technology, Software Development, Construction, Pharmaceuticals, and Aerospace, project management is fundamental. Project Management is also important in governments that have set goals and milestones which can only be achieved with effective management practices. Data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis of the US Department of Commerce, estimated in 2001 that the US companies spend $2.3trn on projects every year (2000).   Project management is important in any economic activity because it ensures adequate planning, scheduling and successful execution of a project; it also helps to reduce possible risks associated with a project and ensure minimal hitches. Project Management is indeed important to every economy. Many projects fail because of poor knowledge of Project Management concepts. Its relevance cannot be over emphasized. Role of the Project Manager The project manager is in charge of daily management and supervision of the project. He manages the project to ensure that things go according to plan. He also communicates with all stakeholders and project team members to ensure that there’s a clear understanding of general requirements. The project manager confirms users’ requirements to make sure that these requirements are incorporated into the end-product. A project manager engages in scoping, planning, staffing, organizing, scheduling, directing, controlling and closing a project (Whitten 2001, p.127). Swot Analysis The Regency Hotels has several strengths that serve as advantages. It has the potential to expand its services to customers internationally due to the number of branches it has, internet availability and its unique services. It is also strategically located, can leverage on its positioning and has a wide customer base. Its two major weaknesses are: 1) it has a static website which cannot provide interactive functions like online payments, online reservations, message boards, fan clubs, and so on. 2) It does not have skilled IT staff in-house that can manage the online system when it is eventually deployed. There are however, opportunities for it to become one of the best hotels in the world by maintaining a consistent and interactive global presence.   Increased competition is the major threat to Regency Hotels. Most hotels today, have a strong online presence that offers customers various services that make their experiences with the hotel more memorable and convenient, like booking and paying online. Regency Hotels is yet to rise to the challenge. Development methodology The software development methodology to be adopted for the production of this system is the waterfall method. This is an approach to software development that specifies that a project should be grouped into phases and one phase must be completed before the next. The project is carried out in a logical manner through a pre-determined number of steps. This method is preferred because the duration of the project is only two weeks and the requirements are clear.   With the waterfall method, project reviews are conducted between stages, which represent milestones. This provides an organized scenario that ensures required documentation and quality management of the developed application is carried out (Sorensen 1995). Project Scope The project scope definition involves clarifying the boundaries of the project. Regency Hotels in addition to available technological features like retrieving customers’ information, billing, checking for room availability, desires a system with added capabilities of online booking and payment. This project involves building a system that can accept online booking and payment options by customers. A portal will be developed to include the following features: Online reservations, online payment, checking room availability, checking in, checking out, discussion group and general information on the hotel. Secure Socket Layer (SSL) will be added to the website to provide for added security when paying online; search functions will be provided on web pages to check for room availability and booking; e-mail and discussion group facilities will be included to facilitate communication between customers and the hotel; and other technological features from the available website will be incorporated into the new portal to ensure that a robust system that meets the expectations of Stakeholders at Regency Hotels is built. The final system will be deployed at the hotel and tested. Staff members that need to be trained will be identified and educated on how to use the system. The change management process will be made easier for staff of Regency Hotel by ensuring that they are adequately trained, resources are provide to assist them, and maintenance/ support plans are put in place. Result of using COCOMO model to estimate effort, duration and number of people required. The Constructive Cost Model, known as COCOMO was developed by Barry Boehm in 1981. It is based on the waterfall model and is used for estimating the number of person and months needed to develop software. It also estimates the development schedule in months. The development mode for this project is organic because it is a small and straight-forward one. A small team with sufficient experience work together to develop the portal system (Merlo-Schett 2002). COCOMO is defined in terms of three basic models: The Basic model, the Intermediate model and the detailed model. The KDSI is the size of the project in Kilo delivered source instructions. These are source lines that are created by the project team. Using the Intermediate COCOMO I, calculation is done as follows: Required: Portal system for online payment and booking Development Effort (MM) = a * KDSI b Effort and development Time (TDEV) =     2.5 * MM c With organic mode of development, a = 3.2, b = 1.05, c = 0.38 4 modules to implement: Data entry – 0.5 KDSI Data update – 0.3 KDSI Online Reservations – 0.8 KDSI Online Payment – 0.7 KDSI System SIZE 2.3 KDSI MM = 3.2 * 2.3 1.05   = 7.7 TDEV = 2.5 * MM c = 2.5* 7.7 0.38 = 5.4 (Project needs more than 5 months to complete) Number of people to be hired = MM/TDEV = 7.7/5.4 = 1.4 (This means that more than one team member is needed to execute the project). The major shortcoming of the above calculation is that value of the KDSI used is approximate (Merlo-Schett 2002). Hardware and Software Requirements At least four separate computers will be needed for building the portal, testing it and hosting it.   Softwares like Macromedia Dreamweaver, Java, PHP, SQL Server and Visual Basic .NET will be needed for building the portal. A central server for hosting and managing user connections to the portal will also be required.   Work Breakdown Structure Work Breakdown Structure shows the hierarchical decomposition of projects into phases, activities and tasks (Whitten 2001, p.135). SOFTWARE REQUIREMENT SPECIFICATION 1.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Identify sponsors and stakeholders 1.2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Meet with sponsors and stakeholders to clarify system requirements 1.3  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Produce Software Requirements Specification Draft 1.4  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Sign-off on software requirements TECHNOLOGY SPECIFICATION 2.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Determine hardware and software needed for developing the system 2.2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Procure hardware and software needed for system development 2.3  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Set-up hardware and software for use SCOPE MANAGEMENT 3.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Develop a written scope statement as a basis for future project decisions 3.2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Verify Scope of the Project with sponsors 3.3  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Perform Scope Change Control to prevent scope creep COST & SCHEDULE MANAGEMENT 4.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Develop an estimate of project costs 4.2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Schedule Meeting with Stakeholders to agree on cost and deadline 4.3  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Receive Payment from Stakeholders 4.4  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Allocate cost estimates to individual work items 4.5  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Evaluate actual versus projected schedule 4.6  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Control changes to project budget to avoid going over the budget 4.7  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Compare actual and budgeted costs 4.8  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Schedule Development 4.9  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Schedule Control HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT PHASE 5.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Identify Project Roles/Conduct Organizational Planning 5.2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Determine Skills of People needed to develop system 5.3  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Determine number of people to work on the project 5.4  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Recruit Project Team Members 5.5  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Engage staff with appropriate skills 5.6  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Develop individual and group skills to enhance project performance ACTIVITY MANAGEMENT PHASE 6.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Develop activity list for project team members 6.2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Sub-divide major project deliverables into smaller components 6.3  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Assign Team Members to tasks and deliverables 6.4  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Supervise activities within the project team 6.5  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Evaluate Performance and Productivity 6.6  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Update activity list as necessary 6.7  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Conduct meetings and review status reports on software development PROJECT OFFICE ADMINISTRATION 7.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Attend to daily activities or events concerning the project 7.2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   General project supervision PROJECT COMMUNICATIONS 8.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Determine information and communication needs of stakeholders 8.2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Provide information to stakeholders in a timely fashion 8.3  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Put contact details of all team members and stakeholders into the database 8.4  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Performance reporting to stakeholders through status reports, progress measurement and forecasting 8.5  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Set up meetings with project team members 8.6  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Develop status reports for the project RISK MANAGEMENT 9.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Identify all possible risks within the project and effects on project 9.2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Define steps for responding to threats 9.3  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Respond to changes in risks during the course of the project QUALITY MANAGEMENT 10.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Identify quality standards relevant to the project and how to satisfy them 10.2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Evaluate overall project performance 10.3  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Define Quality Assurance Specifications 10.4  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Code and check the system for compliance with quality standards 10.5  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Test System to make sure it fits clients’ requirements Hand-Over of Project 11.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Ensure adherence to client requirement 11.2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Conduct Customer Acceptance Tests 11.3  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Review Software User Manuals 11.4  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Sign off & Certify Solution Development 11.5  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Submit Project Close-out Report 11.6  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Terminate Project Project scheduling (Please refer to attached Microsoft Project document for dependency between activities, network diagram, critical path and Gantt chart) A Project network diagram displays the logical relationships of project activities. A Gantt chart is a horizontal bar chart that shows tasks against timelines. Each bar is equivalent to a project task. Gantt charts show, tasks that can be performed at the same time (Whitten 2001, p.128).Any tasks on the critical path cannot be delayed. Name of Activity  Ã‚      Duration Starting Date    Finishing Date    Software Requirement Specification 1 Day Wed 4/23/08 Wed 4/23/08 Technology Specification       1 Day Thu 4/24/08 Thu 4/24/08 Scope Management       10 Days    Wed 4/23/08 Tue 5/6/08       Cost & Schedule Management       12 Days Wed 4/23/08 Thu 5/8/08 Human Resources Management Phase 8 Days Wed 4/23/08 Fri 5/2/08       Activity Management Phase       10 Days Wed 4/23/08 Tue 5/6/08 Project Office Administration       10 Days Wed 4/23/08 Tue 5/6/08 Project Communications       10 Days Wed 4/23/08 Tue 5/6/08 Risk Management       10 Days Wed 4/23/08 Tue 5/6/08 Quality Management       10 Days Wed 4/23/08 Tue 5/6/08 Hand-Over of Project       10 Days Wed 4/23/08 Tue 5/6/08 Possible risks related to the software development project Every project has its own share of risks. Risks associated with this project are outlined below: The period of time given for the execution of the project is short. The COCOMO model shows that a project of such magnitude requires at least 5 months for completion. There is a risk of the project exceeding the time frame allocated by the stakeholders. User requirements may change or expand during the duration of project. There is a risk of having to accommodate changes to the design of the portal. This is known as scope creep and may affect the schedule and budget (Whitten 2001). With the obvious need to procure softwares for the development of the portal system, resources like time and money may not be sufficient. There is a risk of taking short cuts around the system development methodology in order to meet the deadline and not exceed the budget. This might affect the quality of the final product. Another potential risk is that of feature creep. This refers to the uncontrolled addition of technical features to a system that is being developed without regard to schedule and budget (Whitten 2001, p.125). A portal system is a robust application that is designed to fulfill various needs of an organization. The temptation to add more features is always a prevalent risk There is the risk of a team member resigning from the project. This will cause a considerable loss of time. There is also the risk of insufficient communication within the project team which may lead to misunderstanding of customers’ requirements, and cause a deviation from the project plan, budget and schedule. Project Monitoring Project monitoring involves supervising the project throughout its lifecycle. This is important in order to know how things are going and to solve any problem that may arise during the course of the project. This can be done via meetings, emails, reports on progress and finances and also by observing project management best practices. Conclusion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Applying the principles of Project Management to the development of the portal system at Regency Hotels will go a long way to ensure that the objectives are met on time, within budget and that the software product will be of the desired quality. Project Management is a crucial practice that should be encouraged in every sector of the economy. It ensures that money, energy and time are not wasted on failed projects. With sufficient project management practices in place, stakeholders and contractors can conduct businesses without bothering about the hitches involved with long-term projects. Regardless of the end product, which could be a new service, product or knowledge, project management ensures that a successful outcome is achieved within the available resources and time frame. References Whitten, JL, Bentley, LD, & Dittman, KC 2001, Systems Analysis and Design Methods, 5th edn, Mc Graw-Hill, New York. Wheatley, M 2000, The Importance of Project Management, Project Smart. Available from: [22 April 2008] Sorensen, R 1995, A comparison of Software Development Methodologies, Software Technology Support Centre. Available from: [24 April 2008] Duncan, WR 1996, A Guide to Project Management Body of Knowledge, PMI Standards Committee. Available from: [24 April 2008] Merlo-Schett, N 2002, ‘COCOMO Constructive Cost Model’, Proceedings of the seminar cost estimation W 2002/2003, pp. 1-24. Available from: [22 April 2008].   

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Understanding Javas Cannot Find Symbol Error Message

Understanding Java's Cannot Find Symbol Error Message When a Java program is being compiled, the compiler creates a list of all the identifiers in use. If it cant find what an identifier refers to (e.g., there is no declaration statement for a variable) it cannot complete the compilation. This is what the cannot find symbol error message is saying- the compiler  doesnt have enough information to piece together what the Java code is intended to execute. Possible Causes For the  Cannot Find Symbol Error Although the Java source code contains other things like keywords, comments, and operators, the Cannot Find Symbol error references the name of a specific package, interface, class, method or variable. The compiler needs to know what every identifier references. If it doesnt, the code is basically looking for something that the compiler doesnt yet comprehend. Some possible causes for the Cannot Find Symbol Java error include: Trying to use a variable without declaring it.Misspelling a class or method name.  Remember that  Java is case sensitive  and spelling errors are not  corrected for you. Also, underscores may or may not be necessary, so watch out for code that use them when they shouldnt be used or vice versa.The parameters used do not match a methods signature.The packaged class has not been referenced correctly using an import declaration.Identifiers  look  the same but are actually different. This problem can be hard to spot, but in this case, if the source files use UTF-8 encoding, you may be using some identifiers as if theyre identical but really theyre not because they simply appear to be spelled the same.Youre looking at the wrong source code. It may seem hard to believe that youre reading a different source code than the one producing the error, but its definitely possible, and especially for new Java programmers. Check file names and version histories carefully.You forgot a new, like this:  String s String();, which should be  String s new String(); Sometimes, the error arises from a combination of problems. Therefore, if you fix one thing, and the error persists, check for different problems still affecting your code. For example, its possible that you are trying to use an undeclared variable and when you fix it, the code still contains spelling errors. Example of a Cannot Find Symbol Java Error Lets use this code as an example: This code will cause a cannot find symbol error because the System.out class does not have a method called â€Å"prontln†: The two lines below the message will explain exactly what part of the code is confusing the compiler. Mistakes like capitalization mismatches are often flagged in a dedicated integrated development environment. Although you can write your Java code in any text editor, using IDEs and their associated linting tools reduces typos and mismatches. Common Java IDEs include Eclipse and NetBeans.

Monday, October 21, 2019

Lady Gaga Can Teach You How to Never Give Up

Lady Gaga Can Teach You How to Never Give Up Everybody fails. Even the fanciest and most successful of celebrities, historical figures, and our most idolized idols. Even Lady Gaga. She’s won 5 Grammy awards. She’s been Billboard’s Artist of the Year as well as one of Forbes’ 100 most powerful women, and one of TIME’s most influential people. She’s broken records for record sales and made absurd amounts of money on global tours. Plus, she’s universally accepted as analogous for cool.But before she was Lady Gaga, she was Stefani Germanotta, a little girl who lived in Manhattan and played the piano by the age of four. She went to NYU’s conservatory to study music at the age of 17, but dropped out two years later to try and make it as a musician. The Stefani Germanotta band played a few local gigs, and netted her a manager, but was disbanded within a year.That manager, Rob Fusari, took her on, but had a very difficult time convincing the major labels to do the same. She was to ld she didn’t have the right look, the right sound, and that her songs just weren’t hits. She even left one meeting at Sony in a rage of tears.Then, an accident of autocorrect occurred. Fusari typed her name and his phone corrected it to â€Å"Lady Gaga.† A star was born? Not so fast. The newly named Lady Gaga then got a great deal with Island Def Jam records and began work on an album, only to be dropped without explanation after three months. She hit a low point, turning to drinking and drugs for solace, trying not to give up on her dreams despite being told she wasn’t pretty enough to be a singer songwriter and simply play and sing at a piano. The only work she could get was writing songs for other artists, which did nothing to satisfy her desire to perform herself.For the next couple of years, she took to the NYC underground scene, experimenting, working with performance art, dressing like a goth stripper, drawing attention, making waves. She died her hair platinum blond after being confused with Amy Winehouse. And then, finally, another artist took notice and forced the Interscope label head to listen to one of her songs. That song was â€Å"Just Dance.† A star was born? Yep. You know the rest.At any point, Gaga could have given up. But she didn’t. She tried and tried and failed, and she changed her tactic, changed her brand. When she hit on the right one, she was ready for the results.So remember: don’t be afraid of failure. Use it to push yourself in a better, new direction. One that just might put you in the groove and get you where you need to go.

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Why The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Was Banned

Why 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' Was Banned Mark Twain isnt who most people think of when the topic of banned books comes up but the popular author has managed to earn a spot on the ALAs list of most contested books almost every year. His popular novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been contested for many reasons. Some readers object to the strong and sometimes racist language and think its inappropriate for children. However, most educators think given a proper context the book is a great read. The history of people attempting to censor the novel goes back further than many realize. A History of Huckleberry Finn and Censorship The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn  was first published in 1884. Twains novel, a hilarious, rollicking adventure story, is widely considered one of the greatest American novels ever written. It follows Huck Finn- a poor, motherless boy with an abusive father, an ingenious way with words, a love-hate relationship with societal conventions, and a strong streak of decency- as he sails down the Mississippi River with Jim, an escaped slave. Despite the praise heaped on the book, it has proven a magnet for controversy. In 1885, Concord Public Library banned the book, attacking the novel as absolutely immoral in its tone.† One library official noted that all through its pages there is a systematic use of bad grammar and an employment of inelegant expressions.† Mark Twain, for his part, loved the controversy for the publicity it would generate. As he wrote to Charles Webster on March 18, 1885: The Committee of the Public Library of Concord, Mass., have given us a rattling tip-top puff which will go into every paper in the country. They have expelled Huck from their library as trash and suitable only for the slums. That will sell 25,000 copies for us sure. In 1902, the Brooklyn Public Library banned  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn  with the statement that Huck not only itched but he scratched, and that he said sweat when he should have said perspiration. Why Was It Banned? In general, the debate over Twains  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn  has centered around the language of the book, which has been objected to on social grounds. Huck Finn, Jim and many other characters in the book speak in regional dialects of the South. It is a far cry from the queen’s English. More specifically, the use of the word â€Å"n*gg*r† in reference to Jim and other African American characters in the book, along  with the portrayal of those characters, has offended some readers, who consider the book racist. Although many critics have argued that Twain’s ultimate effect is to humanize Jim and attack the brutal racism of slavery, the book frequently flagged and protested by students and parents alike. It was the fifth most-frequently-challenged  book in the United States during the 1990s, according to the American Library Association. Yielding to public pressure, some publishers have substituted slave or servant for the term that Mark Twain uses in the book, which is derogatory to African Americans. In 2015, an ebook version published by the company CleanReader offered a version of the book with three different filter levels- clean, cleaner, and squeaky clean- a strange edition for an author known to enjoy swearing.

Saturday, October 19, 2019

A SYSTEM TO MANAGE THE POSTGRADUATE COMPUTING PROJECTS Literature review

A SYSTEM TO MANAGE THE POSTGRADUATE COMPUTING PROJECTS - Literature review Example In order to perform configuration management, this research indicates that Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) version 1.1, and the Project IN Controlled Environment (PRINCE) version 2 calls attention to the proper execution of Configuration control activities because of their criticality for the successful operation of the product in the deployment environment. Focusing on the similarities and correlation between these two initiatives, author has mapped PRINCE 2 Configuration Management Component to the CM process in continuous representation. To achieve good transformation results there is a need to apply appropriate software metrics on each and every sub process and sub practice. According to the author’s idea, mapping between two initiatives is never so easy because it requires the specification of suitable granularity level of maps between models. On high level it may be hard to get sufficient understanding of commonalities and variations while on a low level it may result in a large number of connections, make it hard to achieve the appropriate mapping. The mapping performed according to the proposed approach shows that PRINCE 2 and CMMI 1.1 continuous representation deal with the project management by following an improved process management approach. Principally the configuration management activities in aforementioned standards are normally correlated to each other at higher granularity level. It is nearly impractical to achieve one to one mapping between these two and low granularity level because of differences in process improvement approach adopted by CMMI at optimizing level (Luqman, 2006). (Dr. Asim ur rehman et al., 2007), highlight the importance of the understanding of mangers about the strategies being adopted for the management of different aspects of the project. According to their views, Managers while managing a project, tend to show the preference for a specific project management strategy. They find it difficult to manag e another project if a dissimilar project management is adopted. Because they usually are in short of knowledge about how much commonality exists between the preferred and the new required project management methodology. This research is basically focused towards that enhancement of understanding of managers by providing highlighting different aspects of different project management frameworks. Results can be useful by intelligently combining powerful features of different methodologies. To perform the analysis five major project management methodologies, including PRINCE2, have been compared with PMBOK. Prince2 methodology has certain shortcomings when compared with other methodologies. PRINCE2 is not designed to promise proficient results in short period of time. It requires deep concentration from the managers to get the promised results and also it is insufficient if the project requires higher degree of contract and people management. This research also highlights certain commo nalities between PMBOK and PRINCE2 such as the documentation must provide sufficient information to suit the occasion. Usually it does not provide information about how to perform a specific task or use any of the tools described. They are intended to provide a brief sketch of processes involved, their

Friday, October 18, 2019

An essay developing the depth of critical analysis of one particular

An developing the depth of critical analysis of one particular theoretical approach in which the student will reflect on how the concepts can be related t - Essay Example However, the key point is the assumption that the person already has the solution to virtually any problem: the therapist’s task is to guide the client toward that solution (McMillan, 2004). Developed in the 1930s by Carl Rogers, person-centred therapy partially evolved from the psychoanalytic theories that had dominated the psychological science in the beginning of 20th century. However, the new approach also departed substantially from the classical psychoanalysis. Thus, Rogers did not accept the detached role of the therapist conducting the therapy; the emphasis on maintaining a supportive environment, coupled with the need to establish closer personal relationship between the therapist and client were other innovative features of the new approach. Even Roger’s use of the term ‘client’ pursued the goal to eliminate the traditional perception of the highly hierarchical patient-doctor relationship: in PCT, it was precisely the client, not therapist who determined the overall direction of treatment, while the therapist guided the client with the help of questions (Bruno, 1977). These basic principles of PCT are similar to those that shape the core of the original psychological theory of Carl Roger. Rogers’ humanistic theory developed as an offshoot of his method of client-centred (later called person-centred) therapy. The fundamental of personality is psychological reality, the subjective experience according to which the reality is interpreted by human beings, and any person is an integrate unity that can never be divided into separate part: Rogers’ view of human behaviour is ‘exquisitely rational’. Humanistic perspectives actively criticized psychoanalytic theory for portraying people as being directed only by their unconscious wishes and irrational forces. They also did not support the behaviourist school because the latter viewed people as biological robots â€Å"†¦who are mechanically programmed

How Do Executed Offenders React To Their Punishments - Death Penalties Essay

How Do Executed Offenders React To Their Punishments - Death Penalties - Essay Example Other inmates hold onto the grudge. They are not sorry, and not affected by the sentences they are given. Others redeem themselves. They accept their crimes. At times they go further and apologize to the affected family. The various ways are explained in depthbelow. A major reaction to this punishment is mental illness. Mental illness is a condition characterized by impairments of one’s cognitive abilities. This impairment may also be behavioral functioning. The impairments are caused by head trauma in our case. An estimate of 5-10% of death row inmates has the problem of mental illness. Research has also shown that nearly all the inmates who are on death row suffer from brain damage. This is as a result of illness or trauma. All creaturesshudder at the thought of destruction. Human are survival animals. When one has no option to his survival, everything breaks down. The fabricant of humanity shuttered. This shutter is mental disorientation. Inmates are diagnosed by doctors an d those who have mental illness isolated. Diagnosis is done but the inmates refuse medication. Those awaiting execution are resolved to their fate. They see no reason for staying alive while you are condemned to die. The thought is ironical on its own. Some are even happy that they are sick. They even go ahead and neglect any dosages. Though there are forced dosages, this is not the solution. Some illnesses take more than medicine to heal. Mental illness is one, will is required. The inmate may be forced to treatment, but the will is important. Resolution to die makes healing difficult. Some inmates go ahead and self-admit their crimes. A good example here is Stanley â€Å"Tookie† Williams. Mr. Williams is a Nobel nominee: An author, Nobel Peace and Literature Prizes nominee. Mr. Williams was a co-founder of Crips. Crips is a Los Angeles-based street gang. The gang is responsible for hundreds of murders. Mr. Williams was convicted of four counts of murder. After a number of y ears of incarceration, Mr. Williams underwent a religious conversion. It was in this time that he authored his books. He went on and became admitted of his own crime and violence. He redeemed himself. He turned his life to uniqueness of unusual good works. Mr. Williams was executed by lethal injection. Though there was circumstantial evidence, Mr. Williams illustrated the other side of the coin. He illustrated how complex morality of the death penalty is. It is widely expected a death row inmate to be hostile. It is socially acceptable if he conforms to hate. Redemption, though expected, is unique. Mr. Williams reacted to the death penalty by redeeming himself. Other inmates become affiliated to the death row syndrome. Psychologists and lawyers argue that death row inmates develop phenomenons as they await execution. This phenomenon is called thedeath row phenomenon. The psychological effect of this phenomenon results to the death row syndrome. The living conditions on the death row have its effects. Some inmates turn to become suicidal. Other inmates become delusional. Others are pushed to insanity. The conditions that inmates face as they await execution are destruction to one’spsychology. The psychological damage is as torture. The more the waiting period, the more the torture. This makes the prisoner depressed. Some inmates are often forced to trying escaping from prison. Those on escape try colloquial ways that would make sure there is no going back. It’

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 307

Assignment Example It is, therefore, recommendable to encourage HR practices that view employees as important factors in the firms success. In this case, the action will imply that employees get more opportunity to improve the organization with their opinions and views. Nonetheless, employees’ influence concerns offering opportunities to prosper. If an employee has the necessary skills and capabilities to hold top positions, the HR functions should allow this to happen. Another action that can change the image if HR is ensuring that people management is in line with missions as well vision of the business. In most cases, organizations restrict their HR functions to personnel management. However, managers should understand that human resource management is broad and takes into consideration the influence it has on the business performance. The aim should be nurture skills and talents of the workforce so as to improve their productivity. In this case, training and development are necessary for ensuring that employees understand the company’s strategy. A proper management of workforce should, therefore, focus on adding value to both investors and the customers. Therefore, HR functions should focus on managing the workforce towards achieving the strategic goals of the business, which is to make profits, and gain competitive advantage. On the contrary, employees are the ones who bring competitive advantage with their skills and talents that are c rucial to realizing set goals and objectives. Therefore, effective management of workforce through engagement and development can improve the current image of

Management Managerial Process Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Management Managerial Process - Essay Example In fact, there is no technique or method that could ensure that a risk would not occur during the project. In this scenario, every project manager is well aware of the fact that they have to deal with a variety of risk all the way through the project life cycle. In the context of a project, a risk can be an action or event that can have an effect on the project. However, the nature of this effect can be either positive or negative. Additionally, a risk can have a cause and it takes place in the result of an event. For example, a cause can be related to changes in scheduling which can affect other activities of the project. In addition, the majority of the project risks can affect project duration, budget, schedule, and quality. Moreover, project risks are managed through project risk management approach. In this scenario, risk management is the process of identifying and managing project risks. Figure 1Risk Management Process, Image Source: (Gray, Larson and Desai 209) (Gray, Larson and Desai 207) presented a risk management model to deal with project risks. Figure1 presents a graphical representation of this model. This model is divided into different phases and each phase performs specific tasks. The first phase is risk identification where a detailed analysis is carried out on the project in order to determine the sources of risks. At this phase, the project management team determines the holes that can cause any risk during the project. Once this phase is completed this process moves to the next phase that is known as risk assessment. At this stage, the project management team further analyzes the identified risks. In this scenario, they analyze these risks on the basis of their severity level, probability and so on. For instance, if a risk occurs then what impact it will have on the project. After the completion of this phase, this process moves to the next phase that is known as the risk response and development phase. At this stage, a project management team develops the strategy or plan to deal with identified risks. At this stage, the project team finds the solutions to minimize the impact of these risks on the overall project. The last stage of this process is known as risk response control. This phase involves monitoring and controlling the project risk strategy (Gray, Larson and Desai 209). A risk is anything that may potentially hinder with successful completion of the project or business task (CIO Archive; Kerzner). A project can involve a wide variety of risks. Some of the well-known kinds of risk can include: Time Risk This kind of risks is very common in projects. In this scenario, the time duration for the completion of a project can increase, which can create various problems for the project management team such as the need for additional resources and budget. Cost Risk The majority of projects has fixed budget and the project team needs to complete a project within this budget limitation. However, in some cases, the pr oject budget can increase which cause various problems for the project. Legal Risk International projects involve the execution of project tasks in various countries so it can require compliance with laws and regulations of these countries. In case of not following these rules and regulations can cause serious problems for the project and organization. Technological Risks Some projects involve the implementation of latest tools and technologies.

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 307

Assignment Example It is, therefore, recommendable to encourage HR practices that view employees as important factors in the firms success. In this case, the action will imply that employees get more opportunity to improve the organization with their opinions and views. Nonetheless, employees’ influence concerns offering opportunities to prosper. If an employee has the necessary skills and capabilities to hold top positions, the HR functions should allow this to happen. Another action that can change the image if HR is ensuring that people management is in line with missions as well vision of the business. In most cases, organizations restrict their HR functions to personnel management. However, managers should understand that human resource management is broad and takes into consideration the influence it has on the business performance. The aim should be nurture skills and talents of the workforce so as to improve their productivity. In this case, training and development are necessary for ensuring that employees understand the company’s strategy. A proper management of workforce should, therefore, focus on adding value to both investors and the customers. Therefore, HR functions should focus on managing the workforce towards achieving the strategic goals of the business, which is to make profits, and gain competitive advantage. On the contrary, employees are the ones who bring competitive advantage with their skills and talents that are c rucial to realizing set goals and objectives. Therefore, effective management of workforce through engagement and development can improve the current image of

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Discussion Board Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Discussion Board - Essay Example Furthermore, the Jews believed that God was able to reverse the effects of sin and completely reverse consummate the reconciliation with the humankind. These views are consistent with mine, for I believe it is only God who has the powers and ability to reconcile us with Himself after we fall short of His will. Several changes occurred in the Jewish view on God and the world during this time. Foremost, there was an intensified and revitalized given the events of 6th Century BC when the Jewish nation suffered a series of exiles. The Jewish people also suffered the effects of Hellenism at this period, and the Greek beliefs affected their basic understanding and belief in diminution of anthromorphism (Gee 1995). Although the Old Testament of the Hebrews acknowledges the concept of immortality, the period of intertestamental shift made the Jews lay more focus and emphases on immortality of the soul. In addition, there was a shift from the isolated lifestyle the Jews had lived for the whol e time. They became more open and interactive with other communities, thanks to the effects of Hellenism. The period also marked a change of the Jews’ view of God from His imminence to His transcendence. They refrained from using the name of God in all their undertakings as had been the custom before the Intertestamental Period. ... They called him the Judge, meaning he would deliver justice and fairness to the Jewish nation against oppressing Gentile nations. Another title was the Deliverer, for whom they waited to deliver them forever from Gentile rule. Shepherd mean they were waiting for one who would guide them with love for all and protect them from their enemies. They also referred to him as the Stone, their strength upon which the Jewish nation would be built, not to be shaken by anyone (Carson, Douglas and Julius 2001). Other titles included Elect and The Chosen One, the Righteous or Just One, Son of God or Son of David and Elijah. To a nonbeliever and a new convert, the best title to describe Jesus would be the Righteous or Just One. According to the scriptures, Jesus preached and lived righteousness. There is no single instance in the scriptures the scriptures that reveal an act of unrighteousness in the life of Jesus. He helped the poor and the despised of his time get recognition in the society. He d elivered just judgments to those who were viewed too evil. According to the Jews, Gentiles were considered sojourner in their lands, strangers who had little or no knowledge of God (Carson, Douglas and Julius 2001). Jews viewed the Gentiles as evil people who were not worth associating with (Gee 1995). However, they stood a chance of being in good connections with the creator if they converted to Judaism. God-fearers referred to the class of Gentiles who sympathized with the beliefs of Judaism during the Second Temple Period. Whereas the God-fearers were not bound by any rules to follow Noahide Laws nor adhere to the rules of Jews, procelytes had the obligation to live by these customs and laws (Gee 1995). Procelytes could either be Gentiles converted into Judaism or

Monday, October 14, 2019

John Watson and B.F. Skinner Essay Example for Free

John Watson and B.F. Skinner Essay There are several theories out there on child development, but I’d like to share with you the theory that I believe in and connect with the most. This theory is called Behaviorism and Social- Learning and can be attributed to a psychologist named John Watson (1878-1958) and B.F. Skinner (1904-1990) Watson using classical conditioning which means the learning that takes place based on an association of a stimulus that does not ordinarily elicit a response with another stimulus that does elicit response. It is important to note that in classical conditioning, the stimulus comes before the behavior or response. Skinner using operant conditioning which is defined as a process in which a response is gradually learned via reinforcement or punishment. John Watson and B.F. Skinner introduced this theory and felt that children learned through a system of stimulus/ response events. Watson and Skinner use nurture approach. Development is based upon learned behaviors which are based upon a child’s interactions with their environment and influenced by positive or negative reinforcement. Reinforcement can be both positive and negative. Positive reinforcement is something good for children, whereas negative reinforcement is something unpleasant, but remember this is not to be confused with punishment. One knows there are some drawbacks is that it does not account for children’s culture, their values, and their social influences such as the special relationship between them and their parent or peers. Social learning theory addresses these concerns. As child growing up with my brother my parents used  positive and negative reinforcement. When we did not receive a passing grade we would have to stay inside and work extra hard to pass the next test, or if the gave credit. But if we received a passing grade we would be rewarded by going out to dinner of our choice or getting ice cream. If we did chores around the house we had a choice between the prize or money. If we did not complete the chore we would not receive anything. Most of the time when we did not complete the chore we would get upset, so my parents would explain that when you do a chore you get rewarded, but if you do not do your chores you will not receive anything. I use Behaviorism and Social Learning theory while working with children. If the child had a good day at school I would give them something from the prize box when someone came to get them from school. When they did not have a good day at school and they receive nothing from the prize box, and when someone come to get them I would explain why happened at school, and that is why the child cant receive anything from the prize box today. I am not a parent yet, but when I do become a parent I will be use John Watson and B.F. Skinner theory in teaching my children.

Sunday, October 13, 2019

The Racial Wealth Gap Between Blacks And Whites

The Racial Wealth Gap Between Blacks And Whites Slavery and segregation played a major role in the amount of racism and inequalities in America. During slavery times, Whites had the power to purchase Blacks and land. If the Blacks were fortunate enough to be able to accumulate the money, they were able to purchase their and their families freedom. (Oliver and Shapiro 278, 1995) However, this seldom occurred due to the fact that it was very hard for Blacks to gain any money while in slavery. During the Jim Crow segregation in the south, there were laws prohibiting Blacks from operating businesses on an open market, meaning that they were not allowed to sell their products to Whites. (Bobo and Smith 187, 1998) They were at a disadvantage because they could not make the profit that they deserved simply due to their skin color. After the segregation, Whites were still not willing to help out and purchase from Black businesses. Because of this, Blacks were forced to focus mainly on selling to the Black community. Since the Blacks were very limited on what they could sell, this caused them to be more like a consumer than an owner. Since past generations of Blacks had to endure this racism and inequality, their poverty has been passed down from generation to generation; families have been unable to or struggling to get out of the debt of their ancestors. Each disadvantage that the Black community as a whole has had to endure has accumulated over time creating the sedimentation of inequality. Whites have gained more advantages over time simply resulting from the disadvantages that the Blacks have gone through. The restriction of access to schools, jobs, healthcare, and public services are products of segregation. The freedom of choice restricted from the Blacks has been legally sound while progressing through the centuries but has always been immoral. In 1988, only 50% of White Americans favored a law prohibiting racial discrimination in housing sales and rentals. (Farley and Squires 221, 2005) Housing policies, programs, and practices have played a large role in the gap of wealth between Blacks and Whites. In 1939, the FHA manual prohibited granting loans to families due to race. (Fischer 140, 1996) This meant that they didnt want to disrupt the racial integrity of a neighborhood. They wanted neighborhoods to be occupied by the same racial and social classes to retain stability. During the 1940s, the FHA recommended that developers use covenants that were racially restrictive to protect from people of color. (Fischer 140, 1996) Because of this, Blacks and other people of color could not b uy homes in most of the neighborhoods that Whites lived in; the middle class communities. In the 1940s, the government began helping families buy homes by backing the loans. In order to get a loan, the house had to be in a neighborhood that was in the top two of four categories. The assessors used a red pen to circle the neighborhoods that fell into the bottom two categories. This was called redlining, and the neighborhoods that fell into these bottom categories were primarily Black neighborhoods. These neighborhoods were ineligible for the loans which caused racial segregation throughout cities. Also, Blacks could not buy homes in the most affordable neighborhoods. Public housing projects were built in the redlined communities. The 1949 Housing Act was a renewal program that was aimed to get rid of the inner city ghettoes, and to remove many people from their homes by condemning them, forcing them into public housing. The majority affected by this were Blacks. The Whites then began to leave cities and move to the suburbs, bringing the middle-class jobs with them. Racially restrictive covenants were ruled illegal in 1948, yet they were not enforced by the FHA until 1950. (Fischer 141, 1998) This meant that communities were able to segregate based on color without issue. Once racial segregation was made illegal within neighborhoods, White Flight became an issue. White flight was when White families would leave neighborhoods when a person of color would move in because they thought that they would lower the property value and the overall value of the neighborhood. Although this was legal, the morals behind it were cruel and unethical causing racism to spread more and causing the gap to widen. The media and the overall sense of racism within communities played a large role in the gap of wealth and social standing between Whites and people of color. The media has often portrayed Blacks as lazy and not wanting work. Also, in many cases the media has portrayed Black women as welfare reliant, wanting to have babies to receive welfare checks. This was because of AFDC, a welfare program that seemed to give incentive to women to have children so that they could gain more welfare benefits. (Week 5 6 PowerPoint, slide 54) AFDC also was only available to single parents which caused the split of many Black families because of their need for money. However, the fact that Black women were believed to take advantage of this was a racial stigma spread by the media. This has caused the people and viewers to grow to learn these racist and biased opinions. Although the act of being racist can be the belief that one race is superior to another, it can also be colorblind. This means that ther e is a direct avoidance and acknowledgement of race. If one is a Colorblind Racist, they neglect that there have been and still are inequalities that need attention. (Silva 132, 2001) Nowadays, people may believe that they are not being racist if they completely rule out the fact that there is race, which causes them to not pay attention to the fact that there are racial inequalities. Presently, there are still many racial inequalities contributing the gap in wealth between Whites (and in some occasions Asians) and people of color. These issues still need to be addressed in order to lessen the gap. Another type of racism that is contributing to the neglect is Laissez Faire racism where excuses are made to try to justify why the injustices are still present. The structures of investment opportunity the racialization of the state attribute to the tremendous inequality in wealth between Whites and people of color. Structural racism is embedded in social structures such as laws and poli cies. New Deal legislation such as Social Security systematically excluded Blacks in the earlier years. As welfare recipients became viewed as primarily Black and undeserving, welfare benefits became political targets and antipoverty programs were cut. TANF was a state-funded welfare program that gave the state control of who is eligible to receive welfare. This enabled the state to be racially selective and caused families to deplete all resources to gain aid. The gap of wealth between Blacks and Whites has been prevalent for centuries. The past events and laws have contributed to the current racial inequalities. Slavery and segregation, housing sales and restrictions, and state-funded welfare all add to the current state of discriminations and imbalances of race in our communities. If these issues were assessed more accurately and unbiased, we could potentially close the gap between Blacks and Whites and finally have an equal society.

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Love Gone Wrong in Brontes Wuthering Heights Essay -- Literary Critici

In the novel Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte talks about two cities combining by a forced marriage. She talks about how these characters are in one big love triangle. These characters are Catherine, Edger, Cathy, Heathcliff, Isabella, Linton, Hareton, and many more. The novel starts off with these characters that are in love with each other. They end up getting separated by an event that will change relations not only between them but the entire city. So the novel starts off with Catherine who is madly in love with Heathcliff who owns Thrushcross Grange. Heathcliff and Catherine where the best of friends when they where children. When they got older that friendship turned into love. Heathcliff and Catherine where caught spying on Edger’s party. When they ran off Heathcliff got away but Catherine didn’t. She twisted her ankle trying to escape. â€Å"He sends his love, ma’ma [Catherine], and his wishes for your happiness† (107). Heathcliff hopes that Catherine forgives him for all the grief she went through. He feels bad and hopes that everything goes back to the way it was when she gets back. Edger got his people on her to help her and he had her stay with him as he nursed her back to help. This is when Catherine starts to think she is falling in love with Edger. She sees how life is being in the upper class and having money. She realizes that is what she wants. â€Å"I could fancy a love for life here almost possible; and I was a fixed unbeliever in any love of a year standing† (62). She is willing to fake love for her want to be in the upper class and to have money. She is even willing to sacrifice her love for Heathcliff for it. When Catherine comes back from the grange, Edger and Isabella are coming over to visit. Cat... ...s and popularity. So Catherine and Heathcliff had a long and very bumpy relationship. They are soul mates but don’t realize it till they are dead and end up happily in love in Heaven because it was to late to realize there love for each other. Catherine was too stubborn and to in love of her life of money and social standing to realize who her true love was. She realizes that she is not in love with Edger but with the money and social standing they have together. So the cities are finally combined when Cathy marries Linton (forcefully) and Linton dies leaving Wuthering Heights to his father in his will. So then Cathy is finally able to marry somebody that she wants to marry instead of being forced to. She marries Hareton at the end of the novel so we don’t really know how the marriage went but to assume that they have a family and live happily ever after.

Friday, October 11, 2019

Busn311 Unit 2 Ip

Unit 2 – Probability and Distributions Leah Lopez American InterContinental University Abstract Within this email, I will cover different probabilities within your company. This information can help you to understand whether or not your employees are satisfied with their jobs or not. Also within the results of this survey, you will find that your employees are not distributed equally in terms of gender. Memo To: AIU From: Leah Lopez Date: November 13, 2012 Subject: Survey of employees at American Intellectual Union Dear AIU: Within this email, I will be providing some information from a survey that was given to your employees.This information can help you to understand how satisfied your workers are with their jobs. This will also help you to understand whether or not you should hire more women and men to even out the gender amongst certain departments. Overview of the Data Set The current data set is comprised of 64 individuals who were surveyed, and this is a part of the sam ple of the population at American Intellectual Union, and these individuals were identified by 5 characteristics: gender, age, position (hourly or salaried), tenure, and how they felt about job satisfaction on a scale of one to seven.The qualitative variables include: gender, department, and position. The quantitative variables include: age, tenure, and job satisfaction. Use of Statistics and Probability in the Real World There are several different ways that statistics and probability could be used in the real world. You could see this used in the horse races, the lottery, certain things in the stock market, also in marketing in a corporation. The Value of Statistics Every corporation that is successful exhausts statistics.It does not matter if they are operating a small fish store or they are a member of a board for a huge business, almost every decision made by a corporation is based on statistics. Averages, means and medians are a part of a business’s everyday life. Wheth er it is a chart, a data set, a correlation, or a bias, there is some sort of tool that will make sure your company is successful (Ayres, 2009). Data sets are one of the easiest statistical devices for businesses and one that you will probably exhaust daily without realizing it.When a person is reading over his/her bank statements, and taking care of daily business, they are more than likely going over a data set. When you pick up the morning paper and look at how your company's stock is performing, you are looking at figures gleaned from a data set. When using the words average, mean or deviation, you’re describing statistical tools that are currently being exhausted in your business (Ayres, 2009). Charts aren't just a pretty picture of an aspect of your business they are a visual representation of a data set.Whether you are looking at a bar chart of sales or a pie chart of company profits, these snapshots can tell you where your business is performing well and where it is p erforming poorly. From bank balances to employee compensation, charts and graphs can give you a visual picture of any part of your company which deals with data (Ayres, 2009). Correlations are where one event causes another. For example, you may notice that customers who buy a certain type of product are more likely to purchase another type of product.However, just because you think one event is causing another doesn't necessarily make it true; it could be a coincidence. Correlation analysis allows you to figure out whether one event is causative or not. A knowledge of correlations can be invaluable in planning sales and marketing campaigns (Ayres, 2009). Every business uses or produces some kind of statement or resolution; however, these may not always come out to be reliable. Errors may be present in the data collection, different sources do not always have the same information and there also could be mistakes in he calculations. Bias is when statistical results are different from the real — or true — value. A knowledge of bias will help you to understand which results are worth using for your business (Ayres, 2009). Distributions A distribution table can keep all of this information (numbers, row data) handy. A person can look, and say, oh, the participants in this survey were 75% male, or 25 % female. The managers can â€Å"see† the information and not just the raw data.Then complete the following distribution tables. Please pay attention to whether you should present the results in terms of percentages or simple counts. Distribution of Individuals by Gender |Gender |Percentage | |Females |50% | |Males |50% | Tenure with Company Distribution by Gender Please note that you do NOT have to convert these into percentages. You may leave them in a count format. |Under 2 years |2-5 Years |Over 5 years | |Male | |8 |11 | | |13 | | | |Female | |10 |3 | | |19 | | | Percentage of the Survey Participants in Each Department |Department |Percentage | Information Technology |34% | |Human Resources |25% | |Administration |41% | Sample Mean for Extrinsic Value by Gender |Gender |Mean Extrinsic Value | |Male |5. 32 | |Female |5. 36 | Probabilities The probabilities that will be calculated here are that an individual will be between the ages of 16-21; that an individual’s overall job satisfaction will be 5. 2 or higher; females working in human resources; and an individual’s intrinsic satisfaction is 5 or more.This information will be useful to AIU because they can look at these probabilities and find out what they need to change to increase job satisfaction, and they can also see whether or not they have an equal amount of females and males working in each department. |Classification |Count |Probability | |Probability that an individual will be between |18 |28% | |16–21 years of age | | | |Probability that an individual’s overall job |35 |55% | |satisfaction is 5. or lower | | | |Probability that an ind ividual will be a female |5 |8% | |in the human resources department | | | |Probability that an individual will be a |12 |19% | |salaried employee whose intrinsic satisfaction | | | |value is 5 or more | | | Probabilities in the Business World The theory of probability is actually the study of non-planned happenings. This type of study, of course, is math-related, and started when people would try to win card and dice games for money. Each and every decision that is made in a business setting has some sort of risk involved with it. With this being said, it seems that in the business setting, probability would be used to handle a business’s financial risks.Even the choices that are made by management have a probability of succeeding or (S. , 2010). Conclusion I hope that you have found all of the information within this survey of use. Using the information within this email can help you to improve working conditions for your employees. Sincerely, Leah A. Lopez Senior Board Mem ber References Ayres, I. (2009, August 13). The Value of Statistics. Retrieved from Freakonomics: http://www. freakonomics. com/2009/08/13/the-value-of-statistics/ S. , E. (2010). How Probability is Used in Business. Retrieved from Reference. com: http://www. reference. com/motif/science/how-probability-is-used-in-business

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Six Sigma Applied to Warehouse Operation

A project Report on â€Å"DMAIC App to improve Warehouse Operation† Undertaken At xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Warehouse In fulfilment of Capstone Project of Post Graduate Diploma in Industrial Engineering (PGDIE) By Rajul Agarwal (103) Puneet Jain (107) PGDIE- 41 Under the guidance of Dr. K. Maddulety Professor NITIE, Mumbai National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Mumbai-400087 Acknowledgement â€Å"Too often we are so preoccupied with the destination, we forget the guiding light† -anonymousI take this opportunity to extend my sincere thanks to HCCB, India for offering a unique platform to earn exposure and garner knowledge in the field of Warehousing Management. I wish to extend my sincere and heartfelt gratitude to my guide Mr. Sudhakar Nair, Warehouse Manager HCCB who guided, supported and encouraged me during the entire tenure of the project. I sincerely thanks to Dr K. Maddulety, my faculty guide, who has been guiding me throughout the project. 1. Executive SummaryThis p roject illustrates an approach to address the complexities faced by beverage industry by identifying critical supply chain activities which indirectly affect Customer Satisfaction. The solution is based on Six Sigma implementation through DMAIC Approach at these critical nodes. It has been established through various experiments that Customer Loyalty & Retention is very low in such industry; hence the customer satisfaction is directly affected by product unavailability. So the product availability is found to be a major concern here as it directly affects the customers buying decision.It is observed that in this industry, Product availability is majorly affected by the inconsistencies at the warehouse. This project particularly focuses on these warehousing processes which include the transportation of goods from plant to warehouse, then storing goods at warehouse and finally dispatching of goods to the customers. Based on this we have attempted to provide a blue print of possible ad vantages such as improved fill rates and better service levels. An empirical study was conducted at XYZ Beverage Company which produces carbonated soft drinks (CSD) and Non-Carbonated Beverages (NCB).Subsequently, its complete warehousing operation process was understood and DMAIC approach was used to improve the process dynamics. In the measure phase, using Process Capability Analysis it was found that the warehouse process doesn’t follow six sigma levels owing to the high level of damages/defectives and additionally there was a vast scope of improvement. Henceforth, Root cause analysis was done to identify the various causes of damages/defectives. The major causes identified here were lack of standardized operating procedures (SOP), over stacking & overloading.In the implementation phase, an action plan divided Phase wise, is proposed here so as to take into account variability caused by the two shifts in which the warehouse operates. A strict control needs to be followed s o as to maintain six sigma levels, for which p-chart type should be used in combination with proposed Warehouse Operation check list. Table of Contents: Acknowledgement| †¦1 | 1. Executive Summary | †¦2| 2. Literature Review| †¦4| 3. Introduction| †¦4| 4. Process Mapping| †¦5| 5. Define Phase 6. 1 DMAIC project Charter Worksheet 6. 2 CTQ tree 6. Voice of Customer 6. 4 Voice of Business | †¦5†¦5†¦5†¦6†¦6| 6. Measure Phase 7. 5 data to be measured 7. 6 Process sigma calculation 7. 7 Statistical summary of defectives 7. 8 Control chart 7. 9 Process capability analysis| †¦6†¦6†¦7†¦7†¦8†¦9| 7. Analysis Phase 8. 10 Root Cause analysis| †¦9†¦9| 8. Implementation Phase 9. 11 Proposed action plan 9. 12. 1 Dividing process 9. 12. 2 Major Changes Identified| †¦10†¦10†¦10†¦10| 9. Control Phase 10. 12 identifying the controlling elements 10. 13 FMEA 10. 4 SPC charts| †¦11†¦12â € ¦14†¦15| 10. Conclusion | †¦16| 11. References| †¦16| 2. LITERATURE REVIEW 1. DMAIC Approach to Improve the Capability of SMT Solder Printing Process This paper implements the Define-Measure-Analyse-Improve-Control (DMAIC) approach to improve the capability of the solder paste printing process by reducing thickness variations from a nominal value. Process mapping and identifying key QCH are carried out in the â€Å"Define† phase here, while mean (x) and range R control charts followed by the estimates of process capability indices are adopted in the â€Å"Measure† phase.Then, the Taguchi method including L18 orthogonal array (OA), signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) for S/N ratio is implemented in the â€Å"Analyse† phase. Taguchi’s two-step optimization is conducted in the â€Å"Improve phase. † Finally, the x and R control charts for solder thickness are used in the â€Å"Control† phase. This pa per was used to understand the DMAIC implementation process methodology followed by any process. The insights obtained were how Process capability analysis was carried out and furthermore how use of control charts be validated. . Applying Six Sigma Techniques in Plastic Injection Moulding Industry This paper presents an approach to implement a six sigma technique to decrease the scrap rate in a plastic injection molding plant. The primary tools used here are SIPOC, MSA, FMEA, P-Control Charts and Hypothesis Testing. In this case study we compare the average scrap rate for the â€Å"Before† study period with the average scrap rate of the â€Å"After† study period. This paper was used to understand the use of p-charts and how they can be applied in processes were defectives are being looked at.The insights obtained were effective use of FMEA and p-charts in such processes. 3. Introduction: HCCB operates a warehouse in Sewri. It caters to South and central Mumbai. It has a capacity of around 2000 Pallets or approximately 3-4 Lacs bottles (includes Recyclable Glass Bottles + pet bottles + can). It has around 35 mini trucks which daily carries around 38 thousand of bottles dispatched from the warehouse and deliver it to the different stockist/Retailers. The warehouse operates in two shifts every afternoon consignment comes from plant to the warehouse which is unloaded there and then stacked.Every morning at a specified place called floor the pallets are arranged inspected and then containers are loaded to the mini trucks which deliver it to the stockists/retailers. 4. Process Mapping: When a truck containing pallets of soft drinks is loaded at the plant it is fully inspected and then move towards the Warehouse * Once it is reached to the Warehouse, forklifts unload the pallets and then arrange it in the warehouse * FIFO is followed for outflow of goods Now the pallets are arranged at a floor where all the pallets are inspected * Simultaneously with in spection carriers (small trucks) keep on arranging inside the warehouse * During inspection if any damage is found then it is replaced by the same fresh item * After inspection the containers are loaded (Manually) to the carriers * While loading some bottles gets damaged that is also replaced by the fresh one and a count is kept for damaged goods * Once the loading is done the carriers move towards their destiny i. e. either to Stockist/retailers 5. Define Phase: 4. 1 DMAIC project charter worksheetDMAIC Project Charter Worksheet| Project Title: To reduce the damages& improve the productivity of warehousing process| Project Guide:Prof. Madhu Letty,MrSudhakar Nair| Team Members: Rajul Agrawal, Puneet Jain| Business Case: Reduce the cost of warehousing & last mile delivery| Problem Statement: The task is to identifythe sigma level of warehousing process including last mile delivery as a single processand then analyse the process and find the scope of improvement| Goal Statement:To imp rove the warehousing process & reduce damages| 4. 2 CTQ Tree: Reduce damages Men Machine Method * Proper Training Learning Curve * Commitment * Proper Maintenance * Proper Stacking * Use of Rodent boxes * Inspection 4. 3 Voice of Customer: Here the customers are stockists/retailers to whom the goods are delivered. The Voice of Customer (VOC) is used to describe customer’s needs and their perceptions of product or service. The customer requirements from process and product are: * No damage/deformed item should reach to customer * If any damage is found then on the spot replacement * Customers don’t want to keep the track of damaged items which needs to be replaced next time when delivery van will come 4. Voice of Business: VOB is something which is critical from the perspective of stakeholders (WHse managers, Operators, All sorts of employees etc. ) in the business. * Improve profitability * Reduce cost * Least damages * Improve fill rate * Improve customer satisfaction 6. Measure Phase: 5. 1 Data to be measured: The following table shows the defective items noted in the month of October- November. From this data we calculated the defective proportion & defects per million opportunities. Defective Items| Total Items loaded| Defective proportion| DPMO| 145| 392732| 0. 000369209| 369. 2087| 55| 392700| 0. 000394703| 394. 7033| 132| 378243| 0. 000348982| 348. 982| 159| 332345| 0. 000478419| 478. 4185| 165| 402389| 0. 000410051| 410. 051| 145| 345673| 0. 000419472| 419. 4716| 123| 326789| 0. 00037639| 376. 3897| 190| 389023| 0. 000488403| 488. 403| 120| 334565| 0. 000358675| 358. 6747| 110| 324123| 0. 000339377| 339. 3773| 121| 306543| 0. 000394724| 394. 7244| 156| 402489| 0. 000387588| 387. 5882| 212| 437698| 0. 000484352| 484. 3522| 138| 290873| 0. 000474434| 474. 4339| 112| 238945| 0. 000468727| 468. 7271| 119| 367545| 0. 00032377| 323. 7699| 129| 263421| 0. 00048971| 489. 7104| 56| 463752| 0. 000336387| 336. 3867| 145| 375643| 0. 000386005| 386. 0 048| 123| 342356| 0. 000359275| 359. 2751| 90| 289532| 0. 000310846| 310. 8465| 225| 462163| 0. 000486841| 486. 8412| 121| 284532| 0. 00042526| 425. 2597| 175| 404512| 0. 00043262| 432. 62| 180| 403212| 0. 000446415| 446. 4153| 127| 329261| 0. 000385712| 385. 7122| 212| 431962| 0. 000490784| 490. 7839| 132| 337961| 0. 000390578| 390. 5776| 198| 326781| 0. 00060591| 605. 9104| 109| 392861| 0. 000277452| 277. 4518| 5. 2 Process Sigma Calculation: Average no. of items loaded each day = 360418 Average no. of defective items per day = 148Average defective proportion = 0. 000411328 Average DPMO = 411 Value of Sigma = 4. 9 Since the process sigma is 4. 9 which is less than 6. Now the next task is to analyse the process to find the scope of improvement. 5. 3 Statistical summary of â€Å"No. of defective items observed at various days† Observations: * Since P-value >0. 05 so the data passes the normality test * From the histogram it is visible that frequency distribution of defective data can be approximated to normal distribution * Since the data can be approximated as normally distributed we can apply process capability and SPC analysis . 4 Control Chart: Here in this case when the goods are inspected either they will be accepted to be shipped or simply discarded. So here we are not concerned with the no. of defects but concerned with the non-conformances (defectives). So the P-chart has been selected for SPC analysis:- Observations: * The above P-chart shows that all the observations lie inside the natural control limits. * It can be said that the process is under statistical control. * Since the process is under statistical control we can check for its capability. 7. Process Capability Analysis using MINITAB 15: * The desire is to minimise the damages to nil so the target valueis set to be zero. Observations: * Process sigma = 3. 34 * PPM Def = 410 which is lesser than 3. 4 ppm 7. Analysis Phase: 6. 1 Root Cause Analysis: 6 Implementation Phase: 7. 1 Propose d Action Plan: 7. 1. 1 Dividing the whole process of warehousing to deliver goods to the stockist/retailers into 4 stages: The process is divided into 4 stages on the basis of people& machines involved. In stage 1 goods are transported to the warehouse by one set of people (3 PL).Since warehouse operates in 2 shifts so when the trucks come from plant to warehouse that is unloaded by different set of people & in stage 3 â€Å"stacking at floor+ inspection + loading containers to carriers† are done by different set of people (working in 2nd shift). In stage 4 the goods transported from warehouse to stockists/retailers by different set of people and different carriers are involved. The purpose of dividing the whole process into 4 stages is to get more specific causes stage by stage and to get more insights.Since the different people and machines are involved in each stage so some specific plans may be put in place to reduce the damages. The following table shows the different ca uses and actions: Stage| Causes| Action Plan| 1| * In-Transit Damages * Bad Road Conditions * Mishandling by the operators| * Since in stage 1 the transportation is done by the 3PL so while selecting 3PL service provider company can bring some clauses in the agreement related to minimum breakage acceptable * Operators can be nstructed to follow the best route * Maintenance of carriers periodically after a specified time| 2| * Jerk in forklift * Over stacking * Improper training * Mishandling by the operators| * Establish SOP for the forklifts operation * Periodic maintenance of forklifts * Company currently uses diesel run forklifts that can be replaced by battery operated forkliftswhich require less maintenance * Provide incentives to the operators for achieving a certain level of damage free work * Provide ergonomically fithandles to the containers * Pet bottle packets as shown below gets unwrapped sometimes that needs proper packaging * Above kind of packaging can be either repla ced by carton (but that would not be a cost effective solution) or same packaging can be improved | 3| * Improper operation/jerk in forklift * Improper inspection * Mishandling | * Try not to rotate the people involved in inspection so that their learning curve makes them more efficient in that particular task * Provide incentive to the employees * Encourage employees | 4| * Overloading * Improper truck operation| * Avoid overloading * Proper training to the truck operators * Hire experienced operators * Provide incentives| | Environmental Causes * Rat Bite| * Especially tetra packed drinks are attacked by Rats * Use Rodent boxes to kill the rats * Daily check the rodent boxes & clean it if needed| 7. 1. 2 Major changes which can be brought in future to improve the overall process * SOP for forklift operations * Proper maintenance of forklifts and Trucks * Use of battery operated forklifts * Avoid overloading * Avoid over stacking 7 Control Phase: 8. 1 Identifying the Controlling El ements:The Critical-To-Quality Elements needs a proper control and inspection and hence the following Steps can be taken for the same: 1. Fork Lift Inspection Check Sheet: 2. Training Check List/ Regular Knowledge Tests 3. Rodent/ Insects Check List 4. Better Stacking Procedures a. Increasing the strength of the pallets from by increasing the cross pieces by 8 from 5 for the same 5cm x 10cm boards. b. In case of need to over stack during peak demand, we can keep the crates at a cross position so that the load gets distributed 8. 2 Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA): Use of FMEA tool for better analysis of damage reasons will help establishing a better control procedure. FMEA Flow Diagram 8. 3 Use Statistical Process Control (SPC) Charts:The case here is for graphing defectives for a varying sub group set. Hence use of p-chart should be used for continuous control. It will check when the variation is natural and when it needs correction. The following excel template can be used where directly data can be entered and the resulting p-chart will be generated. Excel template for Formulating p-chart 9. ESTIMATED BENEFITS OF PROJECT The biggest benefit of the project is in terms of reducing the risk of product unavailability downstream. The probability of defects can be drastically decreased and remain in specification limits. * 4-Stage Implementation phase for reducing defectives * Increased Sigma Levels approaching six sigma standards Increased Customer satisfaction and Product availability * Laid down Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for better warehouse operations control 10. CONCLUSION The reasons for the excessive defects are found. Over-stacking, Over-Loading & improper forklift operation were found out to be prime reasons using Cause and Effect Diagram. These were considered the CTQ’s for the warehousing operation. Project benefits were estimated and it is found that this improvement can bring the improvement in fill rate. 11. REFERENCES: * ww w. dmaictools. com * www. sixsigmatutorial. com * www. sixsigma. in * Six Sigma Way ? Team Field book by Peter S. Pande, Robert P. Neuman and Roland R. Cavanagh * Six Sigma for managers by Greg Brue