Vulliamy essay 2 - 1174 Words

Iridian Lozano English 1302.19 Dr. Rathbun 21 October 2014 For Kudos and Other Reasons I partially agree with the author of â€Å"Killing for Kudos† because on one hand, I agree that the violence in Mexico is absurd but on the other hand I disagree that there is no reason for the violence. I have family in Mexico and I am aware of the violence that is happening right on my back yard. All the violent massacres, I believe are uncalled for, but the cartels see it as a necessity in order to get a hold of territory. The ways they do their killings have gone too far and it’s disgusting how they consider it an entertainment. The article â€Å"Killing for Kudos – the brutal face of Mexico’s 21st Century war† by Ed Vulliamy reports the violence, massacres†¦show more content†¦For the past decade my family single handedly experienced how violent the Mexican drug war is. We could no longer visit our grandparents or my favorite uncle in Reynosa. On a trip to Reynosa, in broad daylight, a â€Å"Mexican transit officer† claimed we had gone over the speed limit and stopped us. He blatantly asked for a Mordida to let us go and not give us a ticket, however my father wanted the ticket because he didn’t want to give away any money to somebody who claimed to be an official. We were scared when he started to threaten he would take us to higher authority if we didn’t give him the money. My father then gave him 150 pesos claiming that was what we had and to just let us through. Another way we experienced the violence was when my deceased aunt, Delia was shot and killed during one of the army and drug cartel fights. She was driving in Matamoros to the store with her friend and their kids, when trucks intercepted the road and started firing at each other. My aunt, Delia instantly died when one of those bullets went through her brain. She was another victim of the cartel’s casualties. Vulliamy determines that the violence in Mexico is for nothing and that â€Å"the  ­violence revolves around the smaller profits of the domestic market and street corner† it is not â€Å"over money and the drug smuggling routes†. I beg to differ. It’s a little bit of each. It’s a struggle for territory, control of the drug routes and local businesses. A territory mostShow MoreRelatedIdentify a Policy and Evaluate Its Impacts on Your Practice, Reflecting on the Effect the Policy Has on Outcomes for Children and Young People.5815 Words   |  24 Pages‘Identify a policy and evaluate its impact on your practice, reflecting on the effect the policy has on outcomes for children and young people’ This essay will consider the policy of Inclusion, from a national and localised perspective, providing an appropriate understanding of policy and legislation, giving clear guidance of its evolution and relevance to practice. On researching policy and legislation through the decades there will be analysis of the way political and philosophical principlesRead MoreDeveloping Effective Research Proposals49428 Words   |  198 Pagesqualitative data 1.2.3 Relaxing the quantitative–qualitative distinction 1.2.4 Social science and social science areas 1.2.5 Relationship of this book to Introduction to Social Research 1.3 A view of research 1.4 Outline of chapters 1.5 Review concepts Notes 2 The Proposal – Readers, Expectations and Functions 2.1 What is a research proposal? 2.2 Readers and expectations 2.3 Functions and purpose of the proposal 2.4 Pre-structured versus unfolding research 2.5 The research proposal as a plan 2.6 Research questions

Thomas Paine Common Sense Analysis - 1119 Words

Around the time of 1776, words of rebellion filled the Boston Harbor, spreading throughout the colonies like an infectious virus. The angered Americans, overtaxed and mistreated by the British after the French and Indian War, debated and argued amongst themselves about the future of their young colony. The American colonies interested in seeking independence from their motherland Britain, looked abroad in hopes to find moral and political reasons to justify revolution. In the pamphlet, Common Sense, Frenchman Thomas Paine brought forth such reason using rhetorical elements such as figurative language, rhetorical questions, and assertions in order to boost the morale of the colonists and support the Americans in their revolution against†¦show more content†¦Lastly, Paine uses imagery to vividly describe how awful the â€Å"mother† (Britain) has treated the colonists as he says that â€Å"even brutes do not devour their young†. Inciting emotion to help influence the colonies, Paine states that even the most evil people of this world would not treat their young as bad as Britain have treated the colonies. This statement is intended to make the colonists think of how poorly they have been treated and emphasizes that the only way to gain their liberty is by revolting. By describing Britain as the mother of America, Paine puts just how horribly the colonists have been treated into a larger perspective, openly sympathizing with Americans, understanding that without a nurturing mother, the colonists will have little or no future as an independent nation. Overall, Paine’s ability to compare relatable ideas to opposing threats, contribute the higher nationalistic values and spurring on thoughts of revolution among colonists through the use of figurative language. Likewise, Paine incorporates rhetorical questions into his pamphlet to leave the colonists asking themselves that maybe a revolution is just what they need in this critical point of the founding of a new nation. After discussing where he came from and why he sympathizes with the colonists asks the important question, â€Å"And what of our American cause?† This question leaves the loyalists enquiring if they want to pursue their freedom. Paine explains that there might be no betterShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Common Sense By Thomas Paine826 Words   |  4 PagesCommon Sense by Thomas Paine Analysis Initial Reaction The first sentence of the introduction, â€Å"a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right,† (Paine, 1776) is instantly captivating to me by the Paine’s acknowledgement that by not standing up to wrong and injustices when you see or experience it is the same as giving the injustice your seal of approval for the wrongs being done. The very fact that Pain is admittingly not fan of government but goes onRead MoreThomas Paine Common Sense Analysis1052 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"The Declaration of Independence† and Thomas Paine’s â€Å"Common Sense.† Basically, the two documents echo principles stated in John Locke’s â€Å"Second Treatise of Government,† and share a style of expressing their feelings on national issues; the authors examine and give reasons for colonial problems with the government and offer a solution. The tone and audience might vary, but the overall message is similar in its principles, showing the impact Locke and Paine had on such a vital document in our historyRead MoreThomas Paine Common Sense Analysis772 Words   |  4 PagesPaine’s Common Sense â€Å"My country is the world, and my religion is to do good† (Thomas Paine common sense). Thomas Paine was an English-American political activist and philosopher who changed the world through his words and writing. In Common Sense, distributed in January 1776, the pamphlets sold in the thousands and was extremely persuasive. It transformed a neighborhood uprising into a War of Independence and Thomas Paine was given the title Father of the American Revolution. He challenged greatRead MoreAnalysis Of Common Sense By Thomas Paine1699 Words   |  7 PagesIn his 1776 pamphlet, Common Sense, Thomas Paine wrote, â€Å"Not one third of the inhabitants, even of this province, are of English descent. Wherefore I reprobate the phrase of parent or mother country applied to England only, as being false, selfish, narrow and ungenerous† (Paine, 23-24). After decades of civil and religious persecution in Europe, Puritans among others fled to New England in search of a land where th ey could live without fear. This influx of individuals that arrived in the coloniesRead MoreAnalysis Of Common Sense By Thomas Paine1026 Words   |  5 Pagesbefore, when there was no existing monarchy, putting all people at an equal position in society, with an amount of little to no violence. Since in paragraph three Paine mentions how during the times of when there was no monarchy, there was no war. He includes that the pride of kings â€Å"...throws mankind into confusion†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Common Sense by Thomas Paine). Which is true, because of the title and placement of being King does develop quite a large ego, that affects their judgement and, actions, spreading confusionRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book Common Sense By Thomas Paine1474 Words   |  6 PagesThroughout history, books have shaped the world. Some books, such as the Bible, have influenced Christians. The book Common Sense by Thomas Paine encouraged Americans to join the fight against the British. Other books do mor e than simply encourage; they set forth a new philosophy. The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith claims to promote a philosophy which one day would provide the foundation for modern economics. One author wrote two books that would forever change the course of history. These booksRead MoreAnalysis of Thomas Paine ´s Pamphlet, Common Sense846 Words   |  3 PagesCommon Sense Throughout time, events such as wars and assassinations have occurred that people today can describe as â€Å"a turning point in history†. However, not all turning points in history have to be wars, assassinations, etc. In fact, perhaps everybody acknowledges that Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense is a â€Å"turning point in history† because it inspired the United States Revolutionary War. Common Sense, a pamphlet, can be credited as to inciting the American Colonies to revolt against GreatRead MorePrimary Source Analysis Common Sense Essays796 Words   |  4 Pages Primary Source Analysis Thomas Paine Common Sense Context: In result of The Seven Years’ War Britain controlled American trade and territory. In order to pay for the expenses of the war several taxation acts and military presence were implemented such as the Sugar Act, Stamp Act, Currency Act, Quartering Act and the presence of British troops at the colonies. Consequently, Americans who thought these actions violated their political and constitutional liberties opposed these policies withRead MoreCommon Sense Essay663 Words   |  3 PagesCommon Sense The persuasion towards independence represented through the pamphlet Common Sense, is largely effective. The work portrays the unjust treatment received by the colonies from the mother country, England. Thomas Paine begins with the creation of government, as lived by the colonist, and progresses to the wrongful acts administered by Parliament and the King of England. Finally, Thomas Paine gives confidence to the unity of the colonies, and details a forceful removal of EnglishRead MorePolitical Philosophy and Paine Essay example1568 Words   |  7 PagesJesus Chaveste HIST 1301 Dr. Olivares September 7, 2013 Thomas Paine Questions 1. Why do you think Thomas Paine writes Common Sense anonymously? How does he think his work will be remembered? Thomas Paine wrote Common Sense anonymously because the ideas he used in writing the book were contradicting the government at that time. If the government knew that he wrote it then they will take action against him to punish him. He probably thought that his work would remain as something memorable

WebDesPix Ltd case study questions Free Essays

1. What does the name WebDesPix Ltd tell you about the ownership of the company? It tells us that it is a private limited company; this means that it is in the private sector and it must have the letters ‘Ltd’ after its name. The main features of a private limited company include: * It is owned by the shareholders. We will write a custom essay sample on WebDesPix Ltd case study questions or any similar topic only for you Order Now * It is controlled by the board of directors. * It is managed by appointed managers. * Finance can be gained by borrowing from banks or selling shares. * The profits go to the shareholders of the company, in the form of dividends. Socratic Seminar Questions 2. Give (2 or more) reasons why they may have decided on this type of company? This type of business is more expensive to set up than a sole trader or a partnership, however: * It carries less financial risk for the owners as they have limited liability, which means that if the company goes bust, they only lose the amount of money that they invested in the company and not their personal possessions. * Limited companies are also incorporated which means that the company has a separate legal identity from its owners. Which means that it is the company that can be sued or sue, not the owners. * It also gives the company greater continuity because its existence is not ended by the death or retirement of its owners. 3. Tom and Dee are shareholders. What does this mean? * It means that Tom and Dee are the people who invest money in the company by buying shares, and are therefore called shareholders. It also means that they are the owners of the company. * By buying shares in the company Tom and Dee are entitled to a share of the profits known as dividend. How much dividend a shareholder receives depends on how well the company is performing, the type of share they own, and the number of shares they own. * This also means that as they are shareholders they can elect people to the board of directors to represent their interest and be responsible for the long term strategy of the company. The directors will then appoint managers to be responsible for the day-to-day running of the company. Also, some managers may also be directors and are known as executive directors. In a private limited company the major shareholders, board of directors and managers may all be the same people. 4. They have an overdraft facility. Explain how an overdraft works and say what they might use if for. An overdraft is when a business draws more money from its bank account than it currently has in the account. It has permission from the bank, which sets an agreed limit called an overdraft limit. Interest is payable on the overdraft and this is calculated on a daily basis. An advantage of an overdraft is that money is only borrowed when needed; this means that interest is only paid when the bank account is overdrawn. The big disadvantage about an overdraft is that the bank can insist that it is repaid immediately. However, because of its flexibility an overdraft is probably the most frequently used way to solve a cash flow problem. The table shows the advantages and disadvantages of overdrafts: Advantages of overdrafts Disadvantages of overdrafts Flexibility-can change the amount borrowed within limits. Cannot be used for large borrowing. Interest is only paid on amounts borrowed. Rates of interest higher than loans. Bank can change limit at any time or ask for money to be paid sooner than expected. Used for anything wages, computer repairs etc 5. List 4 products the company offers. * Web design is still the core business of the company, but new services are also offered. * Electronic newsletters. * Domain registrations. * Hosting and search engine optimisation. * The company offers three standard web design packages, this is -budget at à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½800 -professional at à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½1000 -and executive at à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½1500 Each package provides a number of web pages, e-mail facilities and the cost of hosting the site. * WDP (WebDesPix Ltd) give a quotation to clients who require non-standard packages (a quotation is just an estimated price for job or service). 6. All their products are marketed online. Explain 3 advantages of this when compared to selling from a shop on the high street. Firstly, buying and selling products online is called e-commerce. The advantages of this include: * Websites can be used to reach wider markets; this means that the internet provides extra marketing possibilities. * The internet can be accessed all over the world-this makes it possible to target potential customers in foreign countries. * A company can put marketing material on its own website, or it could pay to advertise on other websites. * A good website can really help a firm’s competitiveness and increase its market share. * Firms can market and sell goods through their website 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (’24/7†²). * By using the strategy of marketing and selling ’24/7†², it can give e-commerce firms an advantage over the traditional 9-5 businesses, as customers can shop at home, at a time which is convenient to them. 7. The company wants to build up their brand name. List 3 advantages of having a strong brand name. * Businesses will hope that this leads to brand loyalty, where customers will repeat-buy because they prefer the look, taste, quality or image of their products. * If the company’s name becomes established with one product, it may encourage customers to buy different products bearing that name. * Customers can be reasonably sure about the quality they will get with branded goods. 8. What are overheads? Overheads (also called fixed costs or indirect costs) are costs which do not change whether the business produces lots of goods, or produces no goods at all. These are costs which still have to be paid, regardless of output. For example, the rent on a shop will still have to be paid, whether or not the shop has any customers. Examples of overheads are: -interest payment on loans. -managers’ salaries. – Rates payable to the local council. -rent of premises. -gas -electricity -telephone costs -administration costs – and advertising 9. Explain why the company has relatively small overheads. The company has relatively small overheads because it is labour intensive. * It builds and upgrades its own computers. * Vacancies are just advertised on the company’s website and at regular networking meetings with other businesses in the Bristol area. 10. List 2 factors which influenced the company to locate in Bristol. * They could have run the company from anywhere in England, but as they were all from different parts of the country it was easier to locate in Bristol where they had all studied (it was more convenient). * Bristol is a large city with good infrastructure, so transport is not a problem. * There is a university in Bristol, so the business is close to an educated working force. 11. List 3 non-financial fringe benefits available to the employees. * Free lunch each Friday. * The use of a Wii during their breaks. * Free health insurance after six months employment. 12. Give 2 reasons why the company gives fringe benefits. * To motivate their employees so that they feel valued by the company and are therefore more productive as well. * Helps attract and retain better qualified employees. * Improves efficiency and productivity as employees are assured of security for themselves (as well as their families). 13. Some employees receive a monthly bonus based on turnover. Explain bonus. Full-time employees receive a monthly bonus based on turnover. A bonus is a monetary reward. It can be paid within both the time rate and piece rate systems. Under the time rate system, a bonus is paid if the workers reach their production targets, which could be hourly, daily or weekly targets. 14. Explain one advantage of giving these employees a bonus. -this encourages workers to work at their maximum output, and so overcome the problem of the lack of incentive. It also increases the productivity, efficiency and motivation of employees, which may also increase their happiness. 15. Give one disadvantage of giving them a bonus. The disadvantage is that the employees expect a bonus and moral drops sharply when the bonus is not paid. 16. The 2 sales assistants receive commission in addition to their salary. Explain commission. Commission is a monetary incentive that the company can offer in addition to their basic pay. It is a payment to people who are employed in selling the products or services of a business. 17. Explain one advantage of giving these employees commission. This system ensures that employees have to work hard to earn their pay, but if they are successful, their earnings can be unlimited. 18. Give one disadvantage of giving them commission. If they fail to meet the required turnover or sales figures, they receive no commission. 19. List 2 advantages of using email. * It is quick and easy to send emails, as it allows communication easily over a number of sites. * People can keep in touch very easily-as many messages can be sent. * Messages can also be keyed-in and stored until they are needed. * One email can be sent to a number of different people at the same time. * They are very convenient, as multiple attachments can be sent. * It is easier to refer back to emails rather than looking through different pieces of paper. 20. Explain why the company might use video conferencing. Video conferencing is fast becoming more and more popular with companies. It involves using computer links and closed-circuit television, allowing people to hear and see each other. The advantages include: * Saves people travelling to meetings. * Large savings can then be made in terms of time and cost. * Face-to-face communication is possible rather than using telephone or letter. How to cite WebDesPix Ltd case study questions, Free Case study samples

Oedipus Tyrannus Monologue Essay Summary Example For Students

Oedipus Tyrannus Monologue Essay Summary A monologue from the play by Sophocles NOTE: This monologue is reprinted from Greek Dramas. Ed. Bernadotte Perrin. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1904. OEDIPUS: Your prayers are heard: and if you will obey Your king, and hearken to his words, you soon Shall find relief; myself will heal your woes. I was a stranger to the dreadful deed, A stranger e\en to the report till now; And yet without some traces of the crime I should not urge this matter; therefore hear me. I speak to all the citizens of Thebes, Myself a citizenobserve me well: If any know the murderer of Laius, Let him reveal it; I command you all. But if restrained by dread punishment He hide the secret, let him fear no more; For naught but exile shall attend the crime Whene\er confessed; if by a foreign hand The horrid deed was done, who points him out Commands our thanks, and meets a sure reward; But if there be who knows the murderer, And yet conceals him from us, mark his fate, Which here I do pronounce: Let none receive Throughout my kingdom, none hold converse with him, Nor offer prayer, nor sprinkle o\er his head The sacred cup; let him be driven from all, By all abandoned, and by all accursed, For so the Delphic oracle declared; And therefore to the gods I pay this duty And to the dead. Oh! may the guilty wretch, Whether alone, or by his impious friends Assisted, he performed the horrid deed, Denied the common benefits of Nature, Wear out a painful life! And oh! if here, Within my palace, I conceal the traitor, On me and mine alight the vengeful curse! To you, my people, I commit the care Of this important business; \tis my cause, The cause of Heaven, and your expiring country. E\en if the god had naught declared, to leave This crime unexpiated were most ungrateful. He was the best of kings, the best of men; That sceptre now is mine which Laius bore; His wife is mine; so would his children be Did any live; and therefore I am bound, E\en as he were my father, to revenge him. Yes, I will try to find his murderer, I owe it to the son of Labdacus, To Polydorus, Cadmus, and the race Of great Agenor. Oh! if yet there are, Who will not join me in the pious deed, From such may earth withhold her annual store, And barren be their bed, their life most wretched, And their death cruel as the pestilence That wastes our city! But on you, my Thebans, Who wish us fair success, may justice smile Propitious, and the gods forever bless!

Allstate Insurance Company Introduction free essay sample

| Allstate Insurance Company Elizabeth Haskins Strayer University Instructor: Dr. Yohannes Abate Leadership and Organizational Behavior – BUS 520010VA016 July 24, 2011 Abstract As our population becomes grows more ethnically and culturally diverse, companies struggle more and more with the subject of diversity in the workforce. The latest strategy is to leverage diversity as a competitive business strategy. This paper will evaluate Allstate Insurance Company’s goal setting process and how they have used diversity as a strategy leveraging differences in order to create a competitive advantage in today’s diversified market. It will also discuss Allstate’s competitive advantage with the development of the Diversity Index and recommend what types of high-performance reward systems Allstate could use to motivate its employees to assist the company in reaching its diversity goals. . Introduction The fundamental point of the case is how Allstate has succeeded in linking their diversity strategy to a competitive advantage. In a competitive, corporate environment companies must constantly be looking for ways to improve performance in parallel with achieving corporate goals and initiatives. We will write a custom essay sample on Allstate Insurance Company: Introduction or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Diversity at Allstate is ingrained in the companys culture; they launched their first affirmative action program in the 1960s; however, their commitment to diversity at that time was not linked to recruitment, development, and retention strategies to business performance or strategy. It was focused mainly through education and training and therefore, was not linked to the company’s business strategy. Allstate realized it had to reinvent its diversity strategy. According to the director of diversity management the key question had become â€Å"How do you take this workforce of differences and bring them together in a more powerful way so that it can impact business results? † (Hellriegel and Slocum, 2011). In its reinvention, and using the four goal setting process, Allstate has succeeded in making diversity a core value. Joan Crockett, senior vice president for human resources at Allstate, stresses that the companys diversity initiative isnt a nice-to-do, social conscience program. Its a compelling business strategy,† (Wah, 1999). Their strategy extends to all facets of the organization, including employees, customers, agents and suppliers and has made Allstate a leader in aligning diversity with their business strategy. Using the model for goal setting, evaluate Allstate’s goal setting process to determine whether or not Allstate has an effective goal-setting program. In an attempt to bring together the workforce of differences in a more influential way to achieve the business strategy results they were seeking, Allstate developed four specific steps. The first step is the succession programming step, which identifies candidates for key positions for career development and opportunity, which in turn ensures the company’s future workforce will remain diversified at all levels. The second step is Development, wherein employees complete an assessment of their current job skills and the employee’s ambition for possible future advancement. This step allows management how to address the career goals of their employees, whether through education, coaching or mentoring. The third step, Measurement, uses the Quarterly Leadership Measurement System (QLMS) and utilizes a Diversity Index Survey. This survey allows the employees to evaluate the company’s processes, management style, treatment of customers and relationship with their management. Based on survey results, the company initiates action programs to fix areas that showed concern. The fourth step, Accountability and Reward, links management compensation to the company’s diversity goals through the QLMS and Diversity Index Survey. Establishing an effective goal setting program is based on several conditions: 1. Employees must be able to obtain the goal. 2. The employee must be committed to the goal. 3. Employee should be provided feedback on their progress towards reaching their goal. 4. Tasks should be broken down so goals can be achieved in a reasonable timeframe. 5. Employees should be provided the resources to obtain their goals. The four step action that Allstate has implanted in direct alignment with the conditions for succeeding with an effective goals setting program. Discuss the competitive advantage Allstate has from the development of the Diversity Index. In creating the Diversity Index, Allstate established an advantage in the competitive business world. Through the Diversity Index the company developed a way for its management to evaluate what is working and what is not working as far as service, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, work behavior, and utilization of employee skills. In communicating the results of the survey to all employees, employees are able to observe management making an effort produce and improve a diverse work environment. When employees know that management is looking to find areas within the company that need improvement and that such improvements will help make the company a bigger success, employees tend to become much more self-driven to make the company a success as well. This has worked well for Allstate as according to numerous sources like â€Å"Fortune Magazine†, â€Å"DiversityInc Magazine†, â€Å"Working Mother Magazine†, â€Å"Diversity Executive magazine †, and â€Å"Forbes Magazine†, to name a few, which have awarded Allstate such titles as â€Å"Americas Most Admired Companies â€Å", â€Å"Top 50 Companies for Diversity†, â€Å"100 Best Companies for Working Mothers†, â€Å"Top Companies for Supplier Diversity â€Å"Top 100 in Global 2000 Companies â€Å"(Allstate Insurance Company, 2010), Allstate has been highly recognized for its diversity programs. Recommend the types of high-performance reward system Allstate should use to motivate its employees to reach its diversity goals Specifically for diversity, Allstate could implement a referral program, which most companies today have in place; however, this program will reward a referral bonus based on the hiring of minority employees. For instance, an employee will receive $250. 00 for referring someone from a diverse background. Of course a simple referral does not get the employee the reward. There is typically a 90-day wait or probationary period to ensure the employee does not hire on and leave within a short period of time. After the 90-day probationary period, the employee receives the bonus. The Company can go one step further and increase the referral bonus for the 2nd candidate referred and hired, and so on. Since motivation is not based solely on monetary awards, a non-monetary reward system can be reached by a mentoring process. Mentoring is typical in today’s business world; however, the company can match candidates with different backgrounds, cultures, nationality, and/or gender. This is a win/win situation for the company as well as the individual. It allows individuals to learn other areas of the company. For instance, Allstate can team a Hispanic female from the claims department with a black male from the sales department. This system is harder to implement but it is effective in teaching individuals about different areas of the company and learning from someone with a completely different background. If employees know all aspects of how a company works (the inside and outs), they become much more successful, and in turn, the company becomes much more successful. References Hellriegel, D. , Slocum, J. W. , Jr. (2011). Organizational behavior: 2011 custom edition (13th Ed. ). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning. Louisa Wah. (July/August, 1999). Citing Websites. In Business Ethics Review. Diversity at Allstate: A Competitive Weapon. Retrieved July 6, 2011, from http://www. wahansa. com/portfolio/diversity. html. Allstate. (2010). Citing Websites. Allstate Digital Newsroom. Retrieved July 11, 2011, from http://www. allstatenewsroom. com/channels/Awards-and-Recognition/pages/awards-recognition

System Tray Delphi Application

System Tray Delphi Application Take a look at your Task Bar. See the area where the time is located? Are there any other icons there? The place is called the Windows System Tray. Would you like to place your Delphi applications icon there? Would you like that icon to be animated - or reflect the state of your application? This would be useful for programs that are left running for long periods of time with no user interaction (background tasks you typically keep running on your PC all day long). What you can do is to make your Delphi applications look as if they are minimizing to the Tray (instead of to the Task Bar, right to the Win Start button) by placing an icon in the tray and simultaneously making your form(s) invisible. Lets Tray It Fortunately, creating an application that runs in the system tray is pretty easy - only one (API) function, Shell_NotifyIcon, is needed to accomplish the task. The function is defined in the ShellAPI unit and requires two parameters. The first is a flag indicating whether the icon is being added, modified, or removed, and the second is a pointer to a TNotifyIconData structure holding the information about the icon. That includes the handle of the icon to show, the text to show as  a tool tip when the mouse is over the icon, the handle of the window that will receive the messages of the icon and the message type the icon will send to this window. First, in your main forms Private section put the line:TrayIconData: TNotifyIconData; type TMainForm class(TForm) procedure FormCreate(Sender: TObject); private TrayIconData: TNotifyIconData; { Private declarations }public{ Public declarations }end; Then, in your main forms OnCreate method, initialize the TrayIconData data structure and call the Shell_NotifyIcon function: with TrayIconData dobegin cbSize : SizeOf(TrayIconData); Wnd : Handle; uID : 0; uFlags : NIF_MESSAGE NIF_ICON NIF_TIP; uCallbackMessage : WM_ICONTRAY; hIcon : Application.Icon.Handle; StrPCopy(szTip, Application.Title); end; Shell_NotifyIcon(NIM_ADD, TrayIconData); The Wnd parameter of the TrayIconData structure points to the window that receives notification messages associated with an icon.   The hIcon points to the icon we want to add to the Tray - in this case, Applications main icon is used.The szTip holds the Tooltip text to display for the icon - in our case the title of the application. The szTip can hold up to 64 characters.The uFlags parameter is set to tell the icon to process application messages, use the applications icon and its tip. The uCallbackMessage points to the application-defined message identifier. The system uses the specified identifier for notification messages that it sends to the window identified by Wnd whenever a mouse event occurs in the bounding rectangle of the icon. This parameter is set to WM_ICONTRAY constant defined in the interface section of the forms unit and equals: WM_USER 1; You add the icon to the Tray by calling the Shell_NotifyIcon API function. The first parameter NIM_ADD adds an icon to the Tray area. The other two possible values, NIM_DELETE and NIM_MODIFY are used to delete or modify an icon in the Tray - well see how later in this article. The second parameter we send to the Shell_NotifyIcon is the initialized TrayIconData structure. Take One If you RUN your project now youll see an icon near the Clock in the Tray. Note three things.   1) First, nothing happens when you click (or do anything else with the mouse) on the icon placed in the Tray - we havent created a procedure (message handler), yet.2) Second, there is a button on the Task Bar (we obviously dont want it there).3) Third, when you close your application, the icon remains in the Tray. Take Two Lets solve this backward. To have the icon removed from the Tray when you exit the application, you have to call the Shell_NotifyIcon again, but with the NIM_DELETE as the first parameter. You do this in the OnDestroy event handler for the Main form. procedure TMainForm.FormDestroy(Sender: TObject);begin Shell_NotifyIcon(NIM_DELETE, TrayIconData);end; To hide the application (applications button) from the Task Bar well use a simple trick. In the Projects source code add the following line: Application.ShowMainForm : False; before the Application.CreateForm(TMainForm, MainForm); E.g let it look like: ...begin Application.Initialize; Application.ShowMainForm : False; Application.CreateForm(TMainForm, MainForm); Application.Run;end. And finally, to have our Tray icon respond to mouse events, we need to create a message handling procedure. First, we declare a message handling procedure in the public part of the form declaration: procedure TrayMessage(var Msg: TMessage); message WM_ICONTRAY; Second, the definition of this procedure looks like: procedure TMainForm.TrayMessage(var Msg: TMessage);begincase Msg.lParam of WM_LBUTTONDOWN: begin ShowMessage(Left button clicked - lets SHOW the Form!); MainForm.Show; end; WM_RBUTTONDOWN: begin ShowMessage(Right button clicked - lets HIDE the Form!); MainForm.Hide; end; end;end; This procedure is designed to handle only our message, the WM_ICONTRAY. It takes the LParam value from the message structure which can give us the state of the mouse upon the activation of the procedure. For the sake of simplicity well handle only left mouse down (WM_LBUTTONDOWN) and right mouse down (WM_RBUTTONDOWN). When the left mouse button is down on the icon we show the main form, when the right button is pressed we hide it. Of course, there are other mouse input messages you can handle in the procedure, like, button up, button double click etc. Thats it. Quick and easy. Next,  youll see how to animate the icon in the Tray and how to have that icon reflect the state of your application. Even more, youll see how to display a pop-up menu near the icon.

Marketing Campaign for Ocean Spray Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Marketing Campaign for Ocean Spray - Essay Example This mechanism which was coined by Crown Holdings Inc, had reduced the effort which was required to pen the jar. The appearance of the new lid is somewhat similar to the normal twist lid. The survey conducted found that Orbit lid was much easier to open than a normal jar out of the 100 respondent 85 of them considered it to be ‘much easier’ (Packaging World, 2012). therefore this was proved that the open lid would satisfy the customers and would provide an easy way to access he bottles. According to an article, the market has opened wide for easy open cans. With several new and modified new styles, companies are providing the customers with more convenient choices of their meals. As per the can manufacturer institute, the can shipped for human food consumption has exceeded about 25billion per year. Recent survey has revealed that in US more than 70% of the consumers eat few meals which are on the run each week (Wiemer, 2005). Recommendation Based on the innovation and th e rate of acceptance the company has decided to participate in the Christmas Exhibition to be held in London. Before participating in the exhibition, it is necessary to promote or to generate awareness in the mind of the customers about the new product. So at the initial stage promotional campaign such as advertisements would be aired in some channels mainly in food channels to generate awareness. The advertisements would also run on the other channels which are the most viewed channels by the mid level age groups, this is because the product is mainly aimed at the mid age level and the survey was also conducted on the women who belong to the age group of 40 plus. Therefore running advertisements would help them to know about the new re-launch of the product... Based on the innovation and the rate of acceptance the company has decided to participate in the Christmas Exhibition to be held in London. Before participating in the exhibition, it is necessary to promote or to generate awareness in the mind of the customers about the new product. So at the initial stage promotional campaign such as advertisements would be aired in some channels mainly in food channels to generate awareness. The advertisements would also run on the other channels which are the most viewed channels by the mid level age groups, this is because the product is mainly aimed at the mid age level and the survey was also conducted on the women who belong to the age group of 40 plus. Therefore running advertisements would help them to know about the new re-launch of the product with an easy open lid allowing them to easily open the jar. In addition to the advertisements, hoarding and bill boards will add on to the promotional activity. A big banner, situated in the peak are a would allow consumers to look at it and know about its re launch. The exhibition is also a big platform to re launch the product. There are thousands of people visiting the exhibition, thus making the avenue attractive would provide success for its target people.

Sheikh Zayed AlNahyan biography Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Sheikh Zayed AlNahyan biography - Essay Example However, presently, his rule has come under scrutiny. There is great debt being accrued and little solutions to resolve it as yet. This is how the Sheik’s decadence and spending, which contributed to so many improvements, also, had some negative side effects, as well, particularly debt. In order to understand the man better it is best to start at the beginning. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum was born on July 15th 1949 in Dubai, into a family with a long line of rulers. Al Maktoum family has ruled Dubai since 1833. They are descended from the Al Bu Falasah, a part of the Bani Yas, which was a highly respected and dominant tribal â€Å"federation† made of those who would become the present UAE, founded in the 1970s. The Present Sheikh is not the first member of his family to take a great interest in attempting to stabilize, improve, and change the conditions of Dubai, as a whole, throughout history, many rulers before him have tried. Since the family took power in the 19th century they have all worked to improve Dubai situation and reputations, transforming it into a popular tourist locale and potential business location (Government of Dubai). The young Sheikh Zayed Al Nahyan was privately tutored as a child, but would later, in 1966, attend Bell School of Languages at Cambridge University. In 1979 he married the first of his w ives, and therefore senior wife, Sheikha Hind bint Maktoum bin Juma Al Maktoum, and his youngest and newest wife Princess Haya bint Al-Hussein is the daughter of the Hussein of Jordan. In his lifetime he has welcomed 16 children into the world (The Biography Channel 1). It was in 1995, at the age of 46, he was named Crowned Prince of Dubai and in his new position he eagerly began fulfilling his vision of Dubai becoming a lush and popular place, no longer just a tiny piece of desert. After he

Technical Skills Essential to the Role of Secretarial Administration Essay

Technical Skills Essential to the Role of Secretarial Administration - Essay Example The researcher will begin with the statement that his experience in administration began when he was appointed as personal secretary to the Director-General of the Department of Arts and Culture. The researcher’s duties included the giving of administrative support to the Director-General. His main focus was administrative leadership, security and control functions which facilitated internal and external communication of the Head of Department with Top Management, Board Members and Agencies receiving state funding for arts and culture. The author got familiar with the Department’s policy regarding its system of correspondence, which included the drafting of internal memoranda, letters, and submissions for approval of funding proposals according to the system of delegation. In the researcher’s 10 years of employment with the Department, he prepared agendas for board and in-house meetings, took notes and set-up minutes of the meetings. The author had to organize in ternal staff meetings and provide all related documentation to the program managers (heads of the department’s divisions) like the financial executive director. Of his functions were to build a complete and efficient filing system in the form of paper files for back-up as well as an electronic filing system which kept track of each matter under discussion. Each unresolved matter was given a deadline date and the computer programme gave a daily print-out of outstanding matters with regard to urgent bookmarks for immediate attention that day.

The Concept Of Film Authorship

The Concept Of Film Authorship Arising in France in the late 1940s, the auteur was a cinematic theory created by Andre Bazin and Alexandre Astruc, and introduced in the French film magazine Cahiers du Cinema. Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard were the first to coined the phrase la politique des Auteurs, suggesting the theory of the director as author. The idea was to advance the cause of cinema as a legitimate art form by awarding the director with the status of an artist. Both Truffaut and Godard believed that directors should use the commercial device of film making the way a painter uses a brush, or writer uses a pen, and, through the mise en scà ¨ne, impress his or her vision apon the work. The idea was that a film is most valuable when it is the product of the director, and his personal style. Thus in film authorship, the influences of the director can be seen through all of his works, often at times exhibiting aspects of their personal life portrayed through out each film. Ideally, one could watch a film without previously knowing who directed it and then be able to identify who was responsible for its creation. Simply put, the auteur theory acts to describe the mark of a film director on his films and a style that he distinctly owns. Much like one can look at a painting and tell if it is a Picasso, if a film director is an auteur, one can look at his film and tell by its style and recurring themes that a certain director made it. According to the authorship theory, it does not matter whether or not the director writes his own films, the cinematographer, actors, and others involved in its creation are of secondary if any consideration. The film is said to reflect the vision and the mind of the director through the choices he makes in his film, including his casting of crew and actors. Naturally, a great deal of criticism surrounds such a suggestion. As Philip Halsall (2002) points out film is clearly a collaborative process, even in the smallest of productions, and to elevate the status of the director is to belittle the contributions of other creative personnel such as the cinematographer, the editor, the sound man, and the actors. For a director to be considered a true auteur, Andrew Sarris declared, (HYPERLINK http://www.britishfilm.org.uk/lynch/biblio.html#sarrisNotes on the Auteur Theory in 1962HYPERLINK http://www.britishfilm.org.uk/lynch/biblio.html#sarris) a premise must exist whereby the distinguishable personality of the director is a criterion of value. Over a group of films, a director must exhibit certain recurring characteristics of style, which serve as his signature. One notable auteur, whose filmography has expanded over three decades, is David Lynch. A David Lynch film produces distinctly notable traits readily observed by the amateur, and commanded by the aficionado. His individual surrealist style has defied description thus necessitating the creation of a new term of classification, aptly titled Lynchian. Lynchs films are aesthetically progressive with inherently conservative subject matter hidden behind a postmodern veneer. Thematically repetitive, a David Lynch film involves parallel worlds both literally and the metaphorically contrasted elements of evil and innocence, weirdness and normality, the absurd and the macabre. The use of duplicity, extensive use of dreams and dream like nightmarish sequences, an obsession with the clandestine, extreme graphic violence and sadistic masochistic sexuality are all fixtures in some form. Lynchian created protagonists are tortured souls constructing illusions to escape their reality, when these fantasies unravel, in the case of Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, The Elephant Man and Eraserhead, the only alternative is death. For those characters that manage to survive a Lynch film, the idea of a happy conclusion is parodied in a contrived manner, the image of the mechanical robin in Blue Velvet mocking such an improbable end. Lynchs juxtaposition of the homely and the eccentric is re-occurring fixation. Nothing is ever as it seems, there is always a more ominous existence lying beneath the surface or hidden behind the curtains. In Blue Velvet, Lynch created an idyllic suburbia drawing on conventions from teenage movies of the 50s, he presents a Happy Days/American Graffiti nostalgia to the point of parody, to give a contrast to the dark other world that is inevitably co-existent. (Philip Halsall (2002) The idealised picturesque world is contrasted with a more sinister dystopian one by employing Lynchs continuing engagement of conventional noir aesthetics. The picture perfect Grease type dynamic in Blue Velvet including the demure blonde debutante Sandy, is balanced by an exceedingly disturbing and menacing underbelly, centred on a dangerous and fairly unstable femme fatale. The femme fatale and its iconography can be scene in almost all Lynchian films. The portrayal of a highly sexualised woman, she is the figure of danger and unattainable desire. She is often filmed in a distinctly voyeuristic manner as scene in Blue Velvet when Jeremy hides in a cupboard and watches Dorothy undress, and in Lost Highway when Alice is forced to strip for Mr Eddy. Lynch utilizes duplicity of characters and motifs as a tactic to reinforce the parallel and to suggest alternative realities. The use of doubles is a traditional convention of dream like realities that can be seen as far back as characters from the Wizard of Oz, a film that Lynch is a self-proclaimed admirer of. Lynch also engages in acts of cinematic self-referentiality. The Black Lodge in Twin Peaks is resurrected in different forms in both Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive. The magical box is Hellraiser, a central ingredient to the narrative returns as the blue box in Mulholland Drive, symbolic of a portal between two worlds. Curtains are an interconnected motif and similar form of self-referntiality. They can be seen in the Elephant Man as he is revealed on stage, draped heavily almost engulfing Fred as he wanders down the dark hallway in Lost Highway and consuming the opening sequence of Blue Velvet the use of curtains points to looming darkness, the sinister undertone of whats hidden behind them. Lynchs films offer an artistic form to the contemporary efforts of post-classical Hollywood. Lynch has developed a signatory approach of unconventional narrative, consistent thematic expressions and a distinctly visual style recognizable to both audiences and critics worldwide. However, this cannot be proclaimed so evidently for all of Lynchs films. Dune (1984) was both a critical and commercial disaster and perceived as the least lynchian of his films. Shunned even by Lynch himself, Dune epitomises the constraints and compromises of artistic expression by the commercial demands of auteurism. I didnt really feel I really had permission to make it [Dune] my own. That was the downfall for me. It was a problem. Dune was like a kind of studio film. I didnt have final cut. And, little by little, I was subconsciously making compromises knowing I couldnt go here and not wanting to go there. (Rodley 1997, 119-120). David Lynch quote For David Lynch and many other auteurs, the focus on a films potential for box office returns, by the studios and the financial backers, becomes the catalyst for tremendous artistic limitation. There is a contradiction in cinema between the commercial need to maintain the ideology of the creative artists and a simultaneous need to redefine ownership in terms of capital, rather than creative investment. (Theories of authorship, Caughie, pg 2. Brecht and the film industry, Screen 16, Ben Brewster, pg 16-33). The auteur as a commercial oddity coincides with the contemporary status of the auteur as a celebrity. Contemporary auteurs are for the most part, labelled by their commercial status and their ability to promote a film. The idea of the auteur-star alternates the director in place of the actor as the main drawcard. As much as an actors acclaimed performance can carry or redeem a script, the auteur-star has the ability to carry and redeem any sort of textual material. (The Commerce of Auteurism, A Cinema Without Walls: Movie and Culture After Vietnam. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers UP, 1991, pg.104) The auteur as a business entity is less a matter of artistic accomplishments and more about attaining a status that sells both the film to the audience, and the director to a studio. (New Hollywood cinema: an introduction, By Geoff King pg.115) The idea of the auteur-star is seen commercially as a means of publicity and advertisement. Meaghan Morris noted that today the primary modes of film and auteurs packaging are advertising, review snippeting, trailers, magazine profiles always ready in appropriation as the precondition, and not the postproduction of meaning. (pg 91 Film theory: critical concepts in media and cultural studies, By Philip Simpson, Andrew Utterson, Karen J. Shepherdson Taylor Francis, 2004) Our primary access to the auteur is not seen directly through his/her films but through controlled media mediums such as television, websites, and award ceremonies. (An introduction to film studies, By Jill Nelmes, pg.139) Before David Lynchs Twin Peaks hit mainstream America it was backed by an explosion of teaser advertising, it was hailed as the show that would change the face of network television forever on the September 1989 cover of Connoisseur magazine, long before the pilot had gone to air. Overnight, it seemed, there were board games, guidebooks and even Bart Simpson Killed Laura Palmer T-shirts. The constant marketing and promotion of an auteur film communicates information to a large number of audiences who may know the makers reputation but have never seen the films. The auteur is then seen as commercial tactic for promoting associations and controlling audience reception. By listing a director in the films title, as some kind of brand, guarantees a relationship between the audience and the film and conditions the way it will be viewed and received. (The Commerce of Auteurism, A Cinema Without Walls: Movie and Culture After Vietnam. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers UP, 1991, pg.102) To react to a movie as primarily a Lynch film, for example, is the refusal to form any evaluative response. For the audience, much of the enjoyment lies in already being able to know the gist of the film as a product of the creators generated public image. 3. Textual auteurism 4. Critical auteurism as a category Auteurism is a critical category, in the sense of understanding the author as a critical construct rather than a person. The ability to identify Hitchcock as a group of structuring principles that could be engineered from a critical examination of films, but bearing no necessary relation to the small, fat, male person who routinely appeared in each of these movies.

Horsmandens Journal of the Proceedings Essays -- Analysis, Daniel Hor

Daniel Horsmanden’s Journal of the Proceedings was written with a specific purpose in mind which he openly acknowledges in his introduction. Horsmanden claims that it was for â€Å"the public benefit† (Zabin, p.46) and inspired by the fact that some individuals believed â€Å"there was no plot at all† (Zabin, p.45). He hoped that by displaying the facts of the case he could prove to the people of New York City that the proceedings were just and that there was a great need to keep close supervision on their African slaves (Zabin, p.45). Having such an obvious bias the Journal is far from a perfect historical record of events, but under close examination Horsmanden’s account gives a vast amount of insight into the sharp divisions that characterized eighteenth century New York and can help explain why the people were so ready to believe in such a grandiose conspiracy. One can even see ways in which the conspiracy brought New Yorkers together and how it drove them apart. An analysis of Horsmanden’s work paints a picture of the social divisions present in the city. Race was a fairly obvious division, exemplified by Horsmanden’s statement that Peggy was the â€Å"worst sort† of prostitute because she was â€Å"a prostitute to negroes† (Zabin, p.49) and that blacks were much more prone to suspicion which can be seen in the fact that roughly 30 blacks were executed compared to four whites (Zabin, p.175). Economic status also shines through as a source of division. This is apparent by the fact that the Hughsons, who owned a disreputable public house (Zabin, p.48), were tried and executed largely on the testimony of Mary Burton. However, when Ms. Burton cast suspicion upon some people â€Å"in ruffles† (those of better means), the court quickly wrapped up the ca... ...stered togetherness among the people. Horsmanden’s journal provides a wealth of information about eighteenth century New York if one is willing to analyze it critically and ignore the bias present in it. If one does this they catch fascinating glimpses of a divided world, one where people are partitioned by race, economic status, homeland and religion. A world filled with fear and suspicion caused by the tension inherent within such societal division. The same tensions that either gave rise to a massive conspiracy to destroy the town of New York or gave credence to a nightmare constructed by the minds of the people and fed by individuals’ self-serving nature. Regardless, eighteenth century New York was a troubled place and Horsmanden’s Journal of the Proceedings gives us a partial but valuable insight to the lives and interactions of colonial New York’s peoples.