The role of retailer branding strategies in Singapore Research Paper

The role of retailer branding strategies in Singapore - Research Paper Example Product and brand are terms that are related because of several properties shared by them. Brand relies on the nature of the product or service. These attributes when used to market the product distinguishes it from its competitors, in the market, gives birth to Brand. Brand is linked with the product by relaying the attributes and character of the product. Additionally the characteristic of a product used to distinguish it from other product is termed as a brand. This means that the attributes associated with the product in terms of the characteristics of the product gives rise to brand. A brand deals with the identity of the product, which enables it to be distinguished from other products (Finskud, 2009, p. 34). A product currently may mean a good with physical characteristics or service or intangible goods such as software or algorithm. Therefore, a product can be described as a product, service or intangible good such as software that a firm produces and use it to generate incom e. Companies like Microsoft Corporation deal exclusively with software as their end product. Such software like Microsoft office 2010 is, therefore, a product of Microsoft Corporation. Brand deals specifically with the characters that distinguish the product in the market. It is the impression that surrounds the product. A brand can be categorized as a â€Å"strong brand† if it has several qualities or characters associated with strong brands (Finskud, 2009, p. 198)... Branding is vital in marketing because it enables the sales of all the company’s range of products. The success of many companies such as; Coca Cola, Adidas and Nike among other brands are based on use of brand image creation. Therefore, companies must be ready to venture in branding to be able to achieve success. Retailer branding in Singapore Retail branding is used by giant supermarkets in ensuring that the product sales are improved and outpace competition from other supermarket. The success is based on the ability to create a powerful strong brand. A strong brand is characterized by the ability to drive the shareholder value; therefore, it is managed by brand marketers who ensure an active buy-in from all stakeholders. The brand is valued in financial terms and is classified as an asset to the company during the calculation of profits and loss (Finskud, 2009, p. 45). As part of the organization, it is viewed as a part of the organization and covers a variety of business d imension. Additionally, customers are ready to pay consistently a higher price for the brand while ignoring the competing product or service. As a result of the strong affiliation to the brand, customers want to associate with the brand, it qualities, values and personality. Association with the brand gives rise to loyalty to the brand. Additionally, customers are ready to pay consistently a higher price for the brand while ignoring the competing product or service. As a result of the strong affiliation to the brand, customers want to associate with the brand, it qualities, values and personality. Association with the brand gives rise to loyalty to the brand. Due to the above characteristics the brand becomes a trademark protected by the firm and

Report will focus on analysing the existence of power Essay Example for Free

Report will focus on analysing the existence of power Essay Introduction This report will focus on analysing the existence of power, control and resistance within an organisation with particular reference toward Australia’s largest and most successful telecommunications provider, Telstra (Telstra, 2013). Applying widely recognised theoretical frameworks and concepts against these focus areas, a critical analysis has been conducted and assessed with the findings referenced throughout the report determining the positive and negative impacts each are having on Telstra the organisation and its stakeholders. The three focus areas of power, control and resistance are major influences within any organisation and critical to its success. Power and control can be perceived as being the same within an organisation, however there are key differentiators between the two that is important to identify and understand. Both power and control of an organisation can have various levels of influence on its stakeholders depending on a companies geographical or workforce size and culture. A level of power labeled as â€Å"Domination† identifies the way that an organisation can ultimately shape the preferences, attitudes and even political outlooks of its stakeholders (Sadan, 1997). The area of control stems from the introduction of â€Å"scientific management† introduced by (Taylor, 2007). Taylor’s methodologies of control are still predominant in many modern organisations that adopt various means to maintain a controlled workplace. Such means can consist of forms of surveillance such as email and phone scanning, remote working arrangements and segmentation of skills. Jermier, Knights, Nord refer to resista nce within an organisation as constituting forms of power that’s exercised by subordinates within a workplace. Example forms or â€Å"faces† of resistance are refusal, voice, escape and creation. With an understanding of the theoretical frameworks and concepts of these three focus areas, various stakeholders of Telstra have been interviewed to construct a comprehensive analysis on what impact power, control and resilience is having on the organisation and its stakeholders. Methodology Being one of the largest organizations in Australia, power, control, and resistance is spread throughout the companies multiple functions and sectors. It is these elements that aid in shaping the way Telstra operates. This fact has led to various methods being utilized to collect and critically analyse information on Telstra regarding these three aspects of organizational behaviour. Both primary and secondary research was conducted for this report. Primary sources include conversations with Telstra stakeholders in conjunction with online secondary research. Stakeholders include employees of Telstra as well as the customers themselves. By learning about their experiences with Telstra a better understanding of the organization was created as well as how power, control, and resistance are evident in Telstra. The use of primary and secondary research allowed for power, control and resistance to be critically analysed in Telstra. A number of theories were also addressed in the analysis of Telstra. Relevant aspects of power, control, and resistance were explored and applied to Telstra to develop this report. As power, control, and resistance are different elements of organizational behaviour, a range of theories needed to be used in order to properly analyse Telstra. This also led to the stakeholder interviews being less formal due to questions having to cover such as large industry and often transparent elements of organizational behaviour. To address the issue of power in Telstra, a number of cases were used to identify the scope of power itself in Telstra and how those in power are at times abusing it or using it as a tool for manipulation. In some cases, the extremities of Telstra are clearly shown. Alongside this evidence and research, the theoretical framework of the ‘four faces of power’ derived from Lukes (1986) and Foucault (1977) was used for analysis of the company. As Telstra is a very large company, appropriate control systems and management of control is essential throughout all the functions of the business. To analyse how control plays a critical role in Telstra, different functions of the organization and their appropriate control mechanism were explo red. This was done through researching into examples and cases of how Telstra has managed it’s control systems. Similarly to the use of the ‘four faces of power’, resistance was also analysed using a comparable framework. The framework used was the ‘four faces of resistance’. This framework helped to highlight areas where employees show resistance and how far they can take it. Research and cases gathered coupled together with the four faces of resistance aided in presenting and analysing the various issues of resistance and how it exists in Telstra. Organisational Power â€Å"Power is derived from owning and controlling the means of production and how this power is reinforced by organisational structures and rules of governance† (Weber and Marx, 1948) Telstra as an organization consists of management hierarchy comprising of numerous Directors and Executives that hold responsibility for the direction and public image of Telstra. These positions at times are extremely demanding as their everyday decisions can, and will have an effect on the business profits and customer satisfaction levels. Power is crucial amongst these ranks as it is required to make necessary changes and improvements to policy and procedure in the highly competitive industry of telecommunications. Ultimately the responsibility of the performance of Telstra resides with the CEO (David Thodey) and the supporting Directors (executive and non-executive). As the ‘Top-level manager’, David Thodey makes decisions affecting the entire company. He does not direct the day -to-day activities of the company; instead he sets goals for the organization and directs the company to achieve them. An example is the announcement of a strategy of market differentiation and a renewed focus on customer service and satisfaction (Telstra Website, 2009). Top managers are ultimately responsible for the performance of the organization (Simmering, 2007). Following the top-level management group is the middle-level managers, who set goals for their departments and other business units. Middle managers are charged with motivating and assisting first-line managers to achieve the company’s objectives. They also play an important role by communicating and offering suggestions to the top managers, as they are more involved in the day-to-day workings of the company. The next level of management is the first-level. This level is responsible for the daily management of the employees who actually produce the product or offer the service. Although first-level managers typi cally do not set goals for the organization, they have a very strong influence on the company, as they are the managers that most employees interact with on a daily basis. Telstra’s use of coercion internally has become evident in various situations. By assessing the four faces of power we can see how intimidation towards workers has resulted in a number of public outbursts. An unethical and undisclosed strategy was introduced by Telstra during 2008 whereby 15,000 employees were targeted to sign up to Australian Workforce Agreements (AWA) before the ban on agreements was to be imposed by the Government (Eastley, 2008). A confidential Telstra document showed that managers were given 29 pages of tips on how to best convince workers to signing up to AWA’s (Hawley, 2008). The document urged managers to use psychological profiling of employees when considering who to target and were rewarded with bonuses once successfully signing workers up to workplace agreements. This method of power is an example of coercion. Telstra has clearly done something unethically in this situation. The company’s actions have demonstrated a coercive environment that maximises pressure through psychological manipulation. Domination is a level of power that identifies the way in which an organisation can ultimately shape the preferences, attitudes and even political outlooks of its stakeholders Lukes (1986). Telstra’s domination of most communications markets and its ability to leverage market power across markets is a consequence of its structure. The result is the failure of competition affecting all consumer groups. The ideal solution is a form of structural separation of Telstra. This objective can be achieved through the creation of a regulatory package that delivers as much of the benefit as possible that would be derived from structural separation, while acknowledging the limitations of real separation to address the core incentives of Telstra to favour itself (Competitive Carriers’ Coalition Inc, 2005). Workplace bullying is a widespread issue that can only be resolved through an implementation strategy targeting all employees. Employers need to be held accountable and have a str ategy in place to protect the employees from this offence. Unfortunately this is not always the case, in some instances the employer is the one orchestrating the bullying. A recent case in which the Administrative Appeals Tribunal overruled Telstras decision not to pay compensation to an ex-employee for stress and psychological injury shows that it is possible to resist intimidation (Sdrinis, 2012). Mr Sami was successful in wining his compensation claim against Telstra for work-related psychological injuries and in particular in relation to bullying and harassment by his manager over a period of time. This case underlines that managements often-used tactics of subtle bulling and harassment to push people out the door has a human cost which the law is prepared to recognise. Within most major companies, including Telstra, workers have to live with the threat of losing their jobs and this case should encourage workers to stand up to workplace harassment and, if victimized, seek legal advice and compensation. Organisational Control In order to regulate and manage organisational activities and resources, so that accomplishing goals and objectives are possible, organisations need control. It is a significant part of running any business so that a targeted element of performance remains up to organisational standard. There is a considerable amount of responsibility that goes into managing control, as there are many different levels and areas in which organisations define control. Information Resources is an area of control in which include sales forecasting, environmental analysis and production scheduling. In a recent article, Telstra has reported a 12.9 per cent increase in net profit, reaching $3.9 billion, and an increase in revenue up two per cent to $26 billion (Bartholomeusz, Technology Spectator, 2013). Telstra chief executive officer David Thodey said it was the â€Å"third consecutive year of significant customer growth for Telstra mobile, driven by $1.2 billion of investment in the network during the y ear.† As profit results slightly bettered expectations, this can only leave a positive impact on employees, shareholders and the organisation itself. For instance, as a result of meeting organisational goals and objectives, employees get to keep their job, and keep the shareholders content. In any organisation, operations control is needed to control the processes used to transform resources into products and services. As Telstra is constantly aspiring to grow as a company and are faced with new business opportunities, changes in operational processes takes place as a result, workers find themselves jobless. The terminal decline of Telstra’s once-dominant telephone business and the rise of new business opportunities have forced the telco giant into a major operational restructure that will affect half the companys 30,000 strong domestic workforce (Bingemann, 2013). (Telstra Chief Operations officer Brendon Riley, is likely to see hundreds of jobs cut from the telco as i t transitions its operations and IT divisions from infrastructure-based businesses to more of a software and services future (Bingemann, 2013). Although this may mean good news for Telstra advancing as an organisation, this change in operations control is affecting the lives of 30,000 loyal employers and their families. Telstra’s financial control plan has an upside and a downside. Like most organisations, a budget control provides a way of measuring performance across different aspects within the company. Also control the financial resources as they flow into, are held by, and flow out of the organisation. Telstra while having generated some $2 billion in savings has punished workers by cutting 1,000 net local jobs over the past two and a half years (Bartholomeusz, Business Spectator, 2013). Although the savings are benefiting Telstra’s fast-growing mobile business, the price to pay is substantial for those 1,000 workers who need to make ends meet. Telstra has insisted that it can simultaneously cut costs while improving customer service b y reducing errors, queries and complaints that allow it to, for instance, reduce call centre staff (Bartholomeusz, Business Spectator, 2013). As technology advances, so does the way people do things. With the new possibilities of using apps and online resources to ask questions, queries and form complaints, the need for call centre workers reduces sizeable Organisational Resistance Within the multinational telecommunication company Telstra, numerous accounts of resistance both internally and externally have risen from management decisions by the company’s head. Several incidents have occurred in which the public and workers have raised their voice in resistance against some of the giant’s actions. By assessing the four faces of resistance, we can see typical and expected responses from the public and workers. One incident occurred earlier this year in February. Telstra slashed over 700 jobs from their Sensis network, which resulted in mass rallies and protests by union leaders and workers alike (Conifer, 2013). This method of resistance is an example of ‘voice.’ By publicly displaying and enforcing their dissatisfaction against the loss of their jobs, the union workers are resisting Telstra’s actions. The rally and protests have been constructed to highlight the unsatisfactory methods of Telstra. As Telstra grows as a company, many Australian jobs are being sent offshore, particularly to Asian nations. The rapid growth of the company forces management and corporate heads to expand the company to increase revenue and profits, at the expense of Australian jobs. In July of this year, over 170 jobs were sent offshore to India, which lead to widespread union outrage (Bingemann, www.theaustralian.com.au/business, 2013). The Communication, Electrical and Plumbing union, as well as the Community and Public Sector unions protested and demanded negotiations in regards to job losses. The fact that unions stood up and resisted to sacrifice their jobs highlights an internal voice of the company. This resistance from the unions demonstrates a type of power that workers have within their job, to stand up against unsatisfactory managerial decisions. (Bingemann, www.theaustralian.com.au/business, 2013) The third face of resistance represents the ‘escape’ side of work. This face is made up of three tools: cynicism, scepticism and dis-identification. Dis-identification refers to the disconnection from ones identity and the work environment. In an incident that occurred in April of 2007, a young girl committed suicide after been given unrealistic work goals and hassled by management staff of Telstra to return to work during her stress leave (Masanauskas, 2007). This amount of pressure lead to her suicide, and the change from her once â€Å"vibrant personality† was transformed into a â€Å"nervous wreck† (Masanauskas, 2007). The young women’s parents described the Telstra staff to be treating their daughter â€Å"like a machine.† From this tragedy, the union demanded realistic work goals and targets. The dis-identification from ‘human’ to ‘machine’ within the workplace highlights the third face of resistance, to escape work. However, this escape was much more serious and punishing, for it was not just a mental escape from work, but a suicide. Conclusion Throughout this report it is made evident that the three focal behavioral characteristics of organisations can have a major impact on its stakeholders. Although these impacts can be both positive and negative it is clear from the examples provided that a balance between what’s positive to both an organisation and its stakeholders remains a huge challenge to maintain. Telstra has been used as a case organisation due to its operational size and market reach throughout the country and spreading to different cultures internationally. Various methods were used to gather and analyse information specific to the affects of power, control and resistance from both internal and external stakeholders of the company which formed the basis of or report. Power of an organisation over its stakeholders is seen almost always as a negative characteristic but is critical to an organisations success. It was found that power in Telstra is delegated down through a hierarchal management structure to manage staff and performance. This lead onto analysing which control methods are being used within Telstra such as performance goals and project deadlines, which have been founded to be a major cause of many bully and stress related complaints. Due to the mismanagement of power and control various cases of industrial action and even suicide has been reported as a form of resistance from stakeholders. This resistance has a negative impact on the public image of the organisation and can potentially affect its market value. It is critical for organisations to achieve a balance between economic growth and ethical practices. Until this happens cases such of those highlighted in the report will continue causing restraint and harm to both the organisation and its stakeholders.

Leadership Values To Individuals And Society General Studies Essay

Leadership Values To Individuals And Society General Studies Essay Leadership is the art of making people to do what you want them to do. It is a process of influencing others working for the common good and common goals while offering purpose and paths to achieve that. The army defines leadership as influencing people by providing purpose, direction, and motivation, while operating to accomplish the mission and improve the organization (Army Leadership, Personnel General, Army Regulation 600-100). There are different approaches to leadership as transactional leadership, transformational leadership, situational leadership, and contingency leadership. Even that all these leadership approaches have similarities and differences they have all incorporated into them fear and/or respect as a mean to achieve goals. Looking at the leaders side this is his/her personal behavior and the environment that they surrounded with or they faced at the beginning of the career what actually shape their future style of leading. If one leader dealt with fear and pressur e from his/her supervisors, it is very likely that they will also treat their subordinates the same way. In the other hand, if the leader was treated with respect and this was what build and shaped his or her base of leadership it is very likely that he will treat his/her subordinates the same way. Even that there are different theories in the practice there always has been in question whether it is better to be feared or respected. And both of these are used in military leadership and in leadership in non-military organizations. It is very apparent that to some leaders only fear exists as a driving force toward achieving goals. They do not prefer to use other means as motivation for pushing their subordinates. In the other hand, seems that subordinates do not prefer fear to be their driving force. Instead they would like to have such a relationship that would push them to work tirelessly to satisfy their leader, but not fear. In this paper I am going to explore what does it mean for a leader to be feared or respected and what effect has it in his/her subordinates in particular or to the society in general based on personal experience as a cadet and what I learned and read about leadership. This paper actually is going to come across military leadership and leadership in non-military organizations. Respect by definition is esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a personal quality or ability, or something considered as a manifestation of a personal quality or ability (www.dictionary.com) respect is acknowledged to be a positive value that people posses. But people are not very conscious of what respect really means and of what significance it is. In most cases respect is perceived to as a judgment or opinion of someone not as a value. Based on my personal experience I can say that for respect to be durable it should be earned. It is important that a person should show respect to himself, to others (people that surround us), and try to earn the deserved respect. Since respect is viewed as a perspective for relationship, people decide whether it is achieved as a commitment for a successful relationship between people or whether it is part of our culture. For creating a world with collaboration and mutual respect we have to build a culture with worldwide respect and transmit our commitments toward others as respectable human beings. The basis for achieving respect in the leader-subordinate aspect is having satisfactory interactions with others. If there is a respectful environment there are possibilities for sharing vision, trust, mission, and there will be stronger teams within the organization to achieve common goals. A quote by Mark Clement says that leaders who win the respect of others are the ones who deliver more than they promise, not the ones who premise more that they can deliver. This shows that the influence of a leader is largely increased when he or she has the respect of the subordinates and through this they can achieve what is thought to be unachievable paving the road to success. But expecting to reach all the goals with only the respect of the subordinates might have shortcomings as well. Subordinates can be of a level not mature enough to understand what mutual respect means and this may turn against the leader. Also the leader might not make a realistic evaluation of the subordinates and as a result the reliance on the respect might end in catastrophe. Machiavelli in his book Prince gives several reasons why a leader should not rely on peoples respect because they are ungrateful, fickle, false, cowardly, covetous, and as long as you succeed they are yours entirely; they will offer you their blood, property, life and children. As is said above, when the need is far distant; but when it approaches they turn against you (Prince, 79). This actually tells that a leader must much more rely in his/her own forces and make a proper evaluation of the readiness of his/her subordinates in order to not have a catastrophic end. Among the very first things taught in military academies is respect. This is also taught to all soldiers. The very difference is that leaders have to know to win respect for themselves and for the others with whom they work and to create a respectful environment. Even that in militaries a straight chain of command exists there is an apparent need for respect. It is essential having respect for one another because that is actually what makes the military to operate. Having respect means also having trust between each other which essential for performing daily activities and during crisis. Without respect subordinates would always look for ways to escape from their leaders and things would hardly ever be done on time. There are several ways to earn respect in military. On and the most important one is by living with army values and becoming a role model for people that surround you. Moreover, the higher you go in ranks gives you a higher respect since earning higher ranks is not easily attained. In military when you have the respect of your subordinates it is much easier to empower them and delegate tasks without being reluctant that they will not perform well. Thus, it is worth quoting KPC (Kosovo Protection Corps) Officers Manual 103, which states that mutual respect will create a bond between officers and soldiers and it will always be there when tough times appear. There are certain ways to show that you respect someone. If you always tell the truth in good or bad times it is a sign of respect, if you make promises and keep them it is a sign of respect, and if you treat all your subordinates at the same level it is a sign of respect. There are many cases in which leaders were respected. This was actually the main driving force of peoples belief on their leaders and their decisions to be implied. Sir Winston Churchill was one of the most respected leaders in history. He led United Kingdom during the most difficult times. He had many cases when he had to make tough decisions that were not very popular but were very well accepted. These decisions were accepted only for a reason, the respect that people had for him. In the other hand, the other component of authority is fear. This derives mainly from the capacity of the leader to punish his/her subordinates. Some leaders have coercive power and use as the main tool in achieving their goals. These types of leaders tend to believe that through coercion you can achieve much more because you get the most from subordinate since they fear you. This derives from the belief that if someone fears you he or she will do anything just to not put into question your authority. Fearing the leader is a process that starts when subordinates come to contact for any sort information about this particular leader. They might hear that from the other fellow employees or other soldiers if military organization, that the leader is really a person who punishes in hardest way. In the book Prince, Machiavelli believes that it is impossible to achieve both respect and fear but when you have to choose between them fear is much more productive. He states that since you canno t trust people in tough times and it is better to be feared because fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails you (Prince, 80). The coercive power mentioned above is based on fear and is the ability to punish someone for any noncompliance. One way that leaders coerce their subordinates is by showing them that they are not complying with the process enforced by leader. However, also by fear and coercion can be achieved a lot of results. In the military fear of leader exists in all levels, from the newly recruits up to the senior officers. In the beginning of the military career soldiers fear from the leader because he can use his power and authority to punish them, which can have a negative result in their career. Interesting is the fact that these new soldiers have their utmost respect for their commander but yet fear has more influence than respect. This is much related to the stages of individual development and to the environment they perform in. There are a lot of cases that soldiers do things only regarding to the fear they have from their leader. There are also a lot of leaders that use fear upon their subordinates even that they complained when their former leaders used coercion on them. A good example of a leader who used fear could be Enver Hoxha, the communist leader of Albania. He was considered to be the best man to lead Albania after World War II. He had graduated from a prominent French University and fought heroically during the war. But Albanian people turned to be wrong. As he came to power he started eliminating his opponents and anyone who could come on his way. The most known eliminations were deportation, imprisonment, family punishments and not excluding killing people. These eliminations had a very high psychological effect on the population. During this time Albania became a country where the continuous repression had affected everyone. This paper has been an overview of two sides of conceptualization of leadership by subordinates, respect and fear. Fear has the tendency to make employees or soldiers perform better and achieve results but they feel unworthy as individuals. Respect is much more welcomed because it makes employees or soldiers to feel more confident and to feel themselves as part of team. At the military point of view much respect is assigned to certain positions and ranks but only the real respect is the everlasting one. In conclusion I think that in order to be a properly respected leader you must at first show respect. If you earn to the respect of the employees is much easier to accomplish goals, also the job performed by the subordinates will be of a higher level. The point is that if you earn the respect of the employees or the soldiers in a military organization, they will perform accordingly whatever the situation or when not under direct supervision. Promoting respect to any organization gives a dose of authority through influencing people. We should always try to make respect the core of our relationship with others. Having a mutual respect with subordinates only brings us success and continuous improvements. This kind of relationship will have sincerity at the top of it something that will create an everlasting desire and willingness to help each other. Only the true respect will inspire the subordinates to perform their best, and their best means the best for leader.

Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology by Neil Postman Essa

As time progresses technology increases and improves. However, this progression could pose as a serious problem for generations to come, and New York University department chair of communication arts Neil Postman expresses this concern in his 1992 book, Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology. In the opening of Postman’s book he expresses that technology is indeed our friend because technology provides our society with fast and easy convenience and accessibility. As with most other things, there are always two sides to everything and Postman notes, that â€Å"of course, there is a dark side to this friend† referring to technology (Postman, 1992). Many people do not address the negative sides to technology and just turn a blind eye to them so it is refreshing to have someone point them out and discuss the issues technology possess on our society. In Postman’s book that our society is redefining what family, religion, education, privacy, and history mean as a result of technology, known as technopoly. He proposes several theories about how our society got to where we currently are;including social, and symbolic traditions, and totalitarian technocracy. Postman compares technology to Thamus’ concern that writing would have an impact on an individual’s wisdom and memory. However, not all technology has been viewed negatively in Postman’s eyes. He has viewed some technologies as blessing to society; including technologies that once were provided as a helpful tool to society; including technologies such as, the printing press and clock. According to Postman, current technology is now considered a totalitarian order on society (Postman, 1992). These technologies brought beneficial aspects to society but did not control s... ... is an important issue is the impact technology has on the environment currently and for the future generations. As an educator, I would think Postman would be more incline to include this evaluation in his book. Nevertheless, Neil Postman wrote a very thought-provoking novel that should make all Americans rethink their lives, even if it is just a little bit. Postman was very critical in his novel, but he provides a wakeup call for everyone that has not come into contact with the nasty reality technology can have on society. References Mits Cash, M. C. (2000). Technopoly (Book Review). Educational Studies, 31(1), 75. Postman, Neil. (1992). Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology. New York: Vintage Books. Wiener, J., & Mohr, L. A. (1994). Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology. Journal Of Public Policy & Marketing, 13(2), 326-327.

Mathematics and Time

Calculation of Labour Utilization: No. of total employees = 22 No. of assistant supervisors = 4 Time used by assistant supervisors for production process = 100% -10% = 90% Therefore, the total available labour = 18 + 0. 9*4 = 21. 6 Maximum labour hours/ month = No. of days*labour hrs available/day*total available labour = 20*8*21. 6 = 3456 hrs Actual labour hours used = 1531. 7 hrs Capacity Utilization = Actual labour hours used/ Maximum labour hours available = (1531. 7/3456) * 100 = 44. 32% This figure does not include the time taken by labour to rework on the parts rejected or returned by the customer.Hence, the actual labour utilization would be more than the above calculated figure. However, we believe that the above time signifies the actual time spent by labour in producing or working on new parts. 2) Profile operation (Fabrication) – Break even analysis: Let the optimal order size be N boards a) Using Punch Press: Total Operating Time = Setup time + Cycle Time*N = 50 + 1*N = 50 + N b) Using CNC router: Operating Time = Setup time + Cycle time*N = 150 + 0. 5*N= 150 + 0. 5N We would use the CNC router when its operating time is less than that of the punch press. i. e. 150 + 0. *N ? 50 + N => 0. 5*N ? 100 => N ? 200 => N ? 200 boards Thus, for orders above 200 boards, the CNC router should be used as it will take less time and hence, would produce more number of boards.3) Drilling Operation (Image Tranfer) – Break Even Analysis Let the optimal order size be N boards a) Using Manual drill: Total Operation Time = Setup time + Run time = 15 + 0. 08*500*N = 15 + 40N b) Using CNC drill: Total Operation Time = Setup time + Run time = 240 + 0. 004*500*N = 240 + 2*N We would use the CNC drill when its operating time is less than that of the punch press. . e. 240 + 2*N ? 15 + 40*N => 38*N ? 225 => N ? 5. 92 => N ? 6 boards Therefore, for orders with size above 6 boards or more, CNC drill should be used as it will take less processing time and hence would increase the capacity. In addition to this we can also calculate capacity utilization using the available run time. As shown in Table 1, the bottle neck is the drilling operation. Thus the maximum number of boards that can be produced is limited by the capacity of drilling( which is 6359) inclusive of CNC as well as manual drilling.

Infection Control Essay on Hand Hygiene

IntroductionHealthcare-associated infections (HCAIs) can be extremely detrimental in health and social care settings where patients highly susceptible to disease. These are infections which the patient acquires during or after healthcare has been received which can be dangerous as contracting an infection whilst receiving healthcare from an unrelated problem could have a deteriorating effect on the patient in comparison to a healthy individual’s reaction.Patients in hospital and other healthcare settings have increased vulnerability so consequently are easily receptive to pathogens due to examples such as reduced immunity or open wounds. Therefore the appropriate precautions and procedures must be set in place to ensure cross-infection cannot occur. It is crucial for health professionals to understand how infection spread so that they can consider and act upon the significant implications which are risked when improper measures are not followed hence why the knowledge of the c hain of infection should be learnt.Infection control is high on the agenda for healthcare providers because of its significance as it safeguards staff, patients and the public, promotes safe environments and practice but also indicates the quality of healthcare given. It is imperative to focus on legislation which applies to the National Heath Service like the NHS Constitution and the Nursing and Midwifery Council code of conduct. Communication, competence and care of the six C’s can all be factored into how infection control is dealt with in the NHS.One of the most common practices to lessen the risk of cross-infection is hand hygiene which has reduced overall infection rates in hospitals. (Bennett, Jarvis and Brachman 2007) Identify your new learning, giving rationale for your choice of this topic The chain of infection should be learnt in order to apply the appropriate infection prevention methods at each point. The process simplifies how microorganisims spread and infecti on occurs. Microorganisims are named the â€Å"infectious agent† as they are able to produce infection in the body, they are always present but may be concentrated in some areas which are called â€Å"reservoirs†.Reservoirs for possible infectious agents can be environments or people which can be transferred from one area to the next. The transmission of microorganisims from a person through exhaling or other bodily functions is labelled the â€Å"portal of exit†; the microorganisims are then able to be transmitted into a patient via contact, air, blood, meals or liquids. The â€Å"portal of entry† describes the susceptible area to which microorganisims can be introduced into the patient, such as by mouth, urinary tract or an aperture in the skin. (Brooker and Nicol, 2011)Between  the portal of exit and the portal of entry there is potential for cross-contamination and this is where the need for hand hygiene arises.  ­Ã‚ ­ Adequate hand hygiene by nur ses lessen this risk of healthcare acquired infections as evidence shows that developing and bettering the technique that healthcare workers use to clean their hands contributes to the reduction of HCAIs that occur (Pratt et al, 2007). Damani (1997) suggested that the most prevalent cause of cross-infection was transmission pathogens from one patient to another by pathogens occupying the hands of healthcare workers.Contaminated hands easily transmit these microorganisms but so by cleaning hands appropriately hospitals can prevent (to an extent) harm to patients which is a fundamental concept in healthcare. (Pittel et al, 2000) This raises the importance for nurses to learn a technique which will clean the hands physically and of invisible microorganisims as nurse’s interactions towards patients account for roughly 80 percent of direct care patients receive.  (Storr and Clayton-kent, 2004)There are many documents on the different techniques of hand washing and when to do suc h techniques like the World Health Organisation’s five moments for hand hygiene (2006). WHO recommends that hands should be washed before coming into contact with the patient and before aseptic tasks to protect the patient against germs occupying the healthcare worker’s hands as well as immediately after an exposure risk to body fluids, after contact with the patient and their surroundings to protect yourself from pathogens exposed whilst carrying out these tasks.This applies to the NMC’s code of professional conduct (2004) which states that a nurse must â€Å"act to identify and minimise risk to patients and clients†. This values the results of hand hygiene by identifying when to clean hands from the WHO’s five moments of hand hygiene and to use the endorsed hand hygiene technique of the trust to minimise risk to the patient. The hand washing procedure originally outlined by Ayliffe et al (1978) has been adapted by many organisations to provide va rious routines.Hands were wet by a running tap and antiseptic detergents or liquid soap (5ml was poured onto the hands, the technique consisted of five backwards and forwards strokes in the motion of; palm to palm, each palm over the other hand’s back, interlocking palm to palm, each palm over the other hand’s back interlocked and then the rotational scrubbing of the fingers into each palm finalised by the rubbing of the wrists during a 30-second time span. Then the hands were rinsed with water for 15-seconds and dried with two paper towels for 15-seconds.  (Ayliffe et all, 1978)Whilst this technique has strict timescales the WHO elects the timescale of roughly the time taken to sing â€Å"Happy Birthday† twice. This raises concerns over the approximates as this will differ from person to person. The procedure itself remains nearly exact except from the addition of turning the tap off with a towel to avoid recontamination and the exact timings are lost. This t echnique only stated to use running water, however no temperature was specified.Hand Washing for Life (200-) advises that water should not be above 110?F as this temperature would cause hands become damaged by loosing delicate tissues on the skin. This can cause bacteria to become trapped and more difficult to remove, as well as cause pain to the worker. It is a legal requirement for health professions to take the necessary measures to ensure that they protect themselves, which includes their hands and others around them by taking care of their hands.(Health and Safety at Work Act 1974) Dougherty and Lister (2010) give a comprehensive guide to effective hand washing, stating the minimum time to rub lathered hand together is 10-15 seconds. The guide recommended that attention should be given to areas which are missed most frequently like between fingers, tips of fingers and thumbs. Single use towels to dry hands were used in all techniques. Damani (2011) suggests that paper towels sh ould be used and also used to turn off taps if hands-free control is not available.An experiment carried out by Redway and Fawdar of the University of Westminster backed up Damani (2011) suggestion as drying hands with a paper towel decreased the amount of bacteria compared to jet-air dryers and warm-air dryers which caused an increase. Given that the WHO technique has been used throughout the NHS by National Patient Safety Agency for hand cleaning techniques this would be a reliable technique to follow whilst also taking into consideration the detail given by Dougherty and Lister.How has this learning made a difference to you Being aware of how many infectious opportunistic pathogens can be exposed to patients, which may lay dormant on healthcare workers hands, gives healthcare workers a better understanding of how to assess the risks of when passing infection can occur by referring to the chain of infection. The chain of infection makes nurses more aware of patients as susceptible hosts.It is everyone’s responsibility to take appropriate considerations to the prevention and control of infection; this would include all healthcare professionals, the patients themselves and the visitors. (Randle, Coffey and Bradbury. 2009) The Francis report states that visitors and staff should adhere to hygiene requirements as well as reminding anyone who is seen to not adhere to these requirements so that the high standard of hygiene is achieved and promoted.  (2013)The knowledge when to wash by the WHO’s five moments enables nurses to make knowing when to wash their hands second nature. It also makes the nurse more aware of how serious it is to have clean hands as â€Å"clean hands save lives† as said by the National Patient Safety Alert from 2008 which states that the individual risks to patients are dramatically reduced if healthcare workers washed or disinfected their patients every time they needed to perform patient contact.The six C’s dev ised by Cummins and Bennett in 2012 state that one of a nurse’s prime responsibilities is to care, this means giving the care of controlling infection as it is extremely important to keep clear of potentially avoidable HCAIs which can have a significant impact to the patient’s physical and psychological state. This could worsen their condition, increase length of stay, increase pain and suffering and increase worry and stress. This all causes a massive impact on the economy as HCAIs cost the NHS over the estimated ?1 billion.  (NAO, 2009)The knowledge of appropriate hand hygiene also shows competence, another of the six C’s, as nurses can use what they have learnt confidently to ensure they have controlled spreading infection. Hand hygiene is also a commitment, as a nurse may wash their hands but a commitment must be made to wash them to the standard that is appropriate. Communication is also vital in infection control as infection control is everyone’s responsibility.(Randle, Coffey and Bradbury, 2009) In all aspects of infection control communication must be at the heart of the process so that the right precautions are taken. Staff and researchers must communicate with each other in order to maintain the same level of knowledge on hand hygiene so that the most up to date method is used. It is important for staff to communicate with patients to teach and improve their own hygiene to ensure the safety of themselves and others around them.It is also key for staff to communicate to patient relatives in  order for them to carry out routine hygiene which imperative for hospital or other healthcare settings infection control. Information given would be useful for the public to know to reduce general sickness therefore reducing burden on local NHS services. The actual technique should be addressed to all everyone as if it is not done adequately harmful microbes would still be on the hands and therefore infection can still occur. How w ill this learning influence you clinical practiceApplying the knowledge of hand hygiene learnt to clinical practice would mean to risk assess the situation at hand in environment by asking the assessment questions as described by Randle, Coffey and Bradbury (2009), then use the five moments given by WHO (2006) to demonstrate competence in when to wash or disinfect hands. Nurses will be influenced by which situation they are placed in, for example when moving from one patient to another hands must be washed by water and liquid soap method (WHO, 2006).The six C’s would also influence a nurse in hand hygiene as a nurse would think about caring for the patient, giving a commitment to safe care as well as being competent in this task. Electing the most effective hand washing technique must be done to successfully remove pathogens so that not to transmitted from one patient to another or one area to another. The techniques discussed vaguely circle around the same routine with diffe rences in times, in clinical practice these would all influence the nurse whilst performing hand hygiene but the standard practice would be used as it is the technique enforced by the NPSA adapted from the WHO.The most recently updated hand hygiene method by the NPSA includes the use of alcohol gels, these should not be used as a constant alternative as they would lead to build up and therefore not effective for removing harmful microbes and are not suitable in some cases as they would not remove dirt or organic materials, cause a risk of ignition when handling medical gas cylinders and would not be effective against Clostridium difficile and Norovirus. (Brekle and Macqueen 2012) Therefore this would influence workers in clinical practice as alcohol gels should only be used out of these circumstances.Describe how you will continue to develop this learning after this module The research into all hand hygiene methods should be regularly looked over as there will always be improvements to how the NHS handles infection control. One example of this would be the use of non-touch taps, a favourable option by many healthcare providers, but although creating minimal contact with a potentially easily contaminated area to control the outbreak of MRSA it has also led to the potential link between infrared taps and the outbreak of pseudomonas bacteria due to increased surface area in the plumbing of these taps.(Department of Health, 2012) This example demonstrates that there will always be constant reviews into infection control so it is important to keep up to date on the latest information on practice available and to comply with the NMC code of conduct. A nurse must take part in additional learning or training to develop competence in hand hygiene practice and to constantly review themselves on their development in order to assess what they could do to improve.Randle, Coffey and Bradbury (2009) suggest that on going training will always be required in this area of pract ice. How does this personal and professional development relate to the NMC Code Developing and understanding the appropriate hand hygiene procedures for personal and profession practice is important to comprehend so that the nurse can continue to care of the patient their first concern. Caring for a patient means to not worsen their health by transmitting infection which could be preventable as by washing hands.It is immensely important for nurses to act within their competencies which includes being able to competently hand wash appropriately to control infection as it is vital in performing any act of physical care to patient. (Dougherty and Lister 2011). Another section of the NMC code specifies that a nurse should administer care â€Å"based on the best available evidence or best practice†. All nurses must strive and aspire to remain on top of the developing and constantly modifying information and research on infection control.This also relates significantly to the NMC c ode which represents that all nurses must maintain and improve their knowledge and skills based on the most up to date information throughout their working lives. Providing high quality infection control at all times applies to the NMC code because it means that the nurse is complying with providing the high standard of practice and care at all times. How does your topic relate to the NHS Constitution The NHS constitution states the rights and commitments to patients, the public and the staff.  (Department of Health, 2013)The topic of hand washing relates to this document because the NHS constitution is the integral laws to which the NHS strives to stand by and infection control is high on constantly on the agenda for the NHS to improve upon. The constitution expresses that the NHS aims to provide the â€Å"highest standards of excellence and professionalism† and providing a high calibre of care which is â€Å"safe, effective and focused on the patient†. The terms sa fe and effective relate to hand hygiene as nurses must follow hand hygiene procedures so that the care given is is not hindered by the possibility of passing infection.The constitution also gives the values of the NHS, which includes the value to improve lives. The NHS commits to improve lives and not to decrease the health of the patient due to HCAIs and so it is paramount that infection control procedures are followed to lessen the risk of infections occurring whilst receiving healthcare. Patient rights are issued in the document, one particular is the right for the patient to be treated with a professional standard of care which has been administered by qualified professionals.Service users of the NHS have the right to expect the quality of healthcare to be monitored and improved continuously, which includes safety, so hand hygiene of workers should be continuously reviewed to make sure it is up to the standard that will ensure safety. The NHS Constitution commits to establish a safe and hygienic setting which is fit for purpose which directly involves the matter of hand hygiene because of importance of it in infection control which promotes a safe and clean environment. (Department of Health, 2013)ConclusionIt is clear that transmitting infectious diseases can reduced if staff, patients and visitors washed their hands before and after tasks, a routine hand hygiene technique cannot be stressed enough as it is paramount for all staff to adhere to so that the spread of infection at bay. It is now valued that hand washing is not only important when hands are visible contaminated but is also vital that they are washed when it is not visible that they are contaminated due to the microscopic pathogens hidden on the skin.This knowledge is essential to be passed on to all those who flow through a healthcare setting so that education can be continued on infection control. With this given, it is key that communication skills are overly efficient at voicing and helpin g in infection control with caring for the patients at the heart the education. With continued education and observations in this area more people would be able to show acceptable hand washing and therefore reduce the risk of infection. Hand hygiene techniques influence all nurses because of the strong link to many of the six C’s and the vast importance to the health of all patients.

The Major Laws of Chemistry

The Major Laws of Chemistry Navigating the world of chemistry is much easier once youve got an understanding of the fields basic laws. The most important ones briefly summarized below, describe the foundational concepts and principles of chemistry. Avogadros LawEqual volumes of gases under identical temperature and pressure conditions will contain equal numbers of particles (atoms, ions, molecules, electrons, etc.). Boyles LawAt a constant temperature, the volume of a confined gas is inversely proportional to the pressure to which the gas is subjected: PV k Charles LawAt a constant pressure, the volume of a confined gas is directly proportional to the absolute temperature in Kelvin: V kT Combining VolumesRefer to Gay-Lussacs Law. Conservation of EnergyEnergy can be neither created nor destroyed; the energy of the universe is constant. This is the First Law of Thermodynamics. Conservation of MassMatter can be neither created nor destroyed, though it can be rearranged. Mass remains constant in an ordinary chemical change. This principle is also known as conservation of matter. Daltons LawThe pressure of a mixture of gases is equal to the sum of the partial pressures of the component gases. Definite CompositionA compound is composed of two or more elements chemically combined in a defined ratio by weight. Dulong–Petit  LawMost metals require 6.2 calories of heat in order to raise the temperature of one gram-atomic mass of metal by one degree Celsius. Faradays LawThe weight of any element liberated during electrolysis is proportional to the quantity of electricity passing through the cell and also to the equivalent weight of the element. First Law of ThermodynamicsThe total energy of the universe is constant and can be neither created nor destroyed. This law is also known as conservation of energy. Gay-Lussacs LawThe ratio between the combining volumes of gases and the product (if gaseous) can be expressed in small whole numbers. Grahams LawThe rate of diffusion or effusion of a gas is inversely proportional to the square root of its molecular mass. Henrys LawThe solubility of a gas (unless it is highly soluble) is directly proportional to the pressure applied to the gas. Ideal Gas LawThe state of an ideal gas is determined by its pressure, volume, and temperature according to the equation: PV nRT where P is the absolute pressure, V is the volume of the vessel, n is the number of moles of gas, R is the ideal gas constant, and T is the absolute temperature in Kelvin. Multiple ProportionsWhen elements combine, they do so in the ratio of small whole numbers. The mass of one element combines with the  fixed mass of another element according to certain ratios. Periodic LawThe chemical properties of the elements vary periodically according to their atomic numbers. Second Law of ThermodynamicsEntropy increases over time. Another way of stating this law is to say that heat cannot flow, on its own, from an area of cold to an area of hot.

100 Fantastic Personal Essay Topics for Winning Essays

100 Fantastic Personal Essay Topics for Winning Essays 100 Great Personal Essay Topics: Write Killer Essays! High school and college students are frequently given personal essays to write. Regardless of whether these essays are for admission purposes or for a specific class, they are usually challenging since they need to be written in both a descriptive and narrative style and in the correct tense. These essays are not just a case of telling a particular story or describing a particular person or event. The writer needs to connect a situation or event to a bigger idea. Below is a list 100 wonderful personal essay topics to get your writing project off to a smooth start. All these topics are interesting and have the potential to create the most captivating essays. Let us get started!The thing that motivates you the most. What animal would you like to be if you had the choice? What you do to relax. A time you had to make a difficult choice and how you did it. How your parents chose your name. The television show you liked most when you were young. The period in history you most like. What cartoon do you most like? How you got through a very difficult period of your life. A very daring thing you did. The karaoke song you like best. What historical figure do you admire most? Describe a stressful event or situation you recently experienced. Explain what money means to you in terms of where you are presently at in your life. Which story from your familys history do you find most interesting? A massive change that happened in yours or your familys life. The most significant conflict that has ever occurred between you and one of your siblings or cousins. The most perilous situation you have ever found yourself in. Describe something of great value you accidently found. The work or item of art you like most. An occasion when an important decision you made turned out to be the wrong one. An item in your classroom you find distracting. The place in the world you find most pleasant and beautiful. Try comparing yourself to a close member of your family i.e. your mother or father. What you do to find inner tranquility. What public personality would you ask to give a talk at your school or college if you had the chance? The time you entered a competition. The thing that annoys you most. An item of technology you could not imagine being without. The home you dream of having. The time you chose to leave your comfort zone. The most recent good cause you supported. The local place you most like to hang out in. An occasion where you did not think before you acted or reacted. Your most interesting adventure ever. Which celebrity would you most like to hold an interview with? The thing you fear most. A time you needed a very big hug. What would be the job of your dreams? The thing you find most irresistible. How you have chosen to decorate your bedroom. A heroic thing you did. Your last social media post. Behavior you find annoying. How the life you now live might be different if you were born a century ago. The poem that stands out most in your memory. The individual who has given you the most help with your school assignments. What you would be most likely to buy if someone gave you a million dollars. The approach you take to writing an essay. A memorable exploration of the outdoors. The place in your home you like best. Your most disappointing school experience ever. The time you told a well-intentioned lie. A band or artist from whom you derive the most inspiration. The last time you did a kind act. Describe how you overcome an almost-impossible obstacle to achieve something you really wanted. A local place you do your best to stay away from. A particular song that evokes happy memories for you. The reactions of your parents when they see your report cards. A special event that served to bring you and your parents closer together. How a teacher or college professor gave you the motivation to do much better. An occasion where you reacted before thinking. A movie or book character that has many of the same characteristics as you. A tradition your family continues to uphold. What celebrity would you like to come to your graduation? An occasion when you felt really good about being alone. A building that you are really impressed by. The proudest moment of your life. The most expensive item you have ever bought. An occasion when a failure taught you a valuable lesson. Do you have a special technique that helps you learn new languages? What mobile application do you use most frequently? A character from a television show you would very much like to form a friendship with. An occasion when you felt betrayed by someone close to you. An item from your childhood that you have always kept. Someone you would like to send a message of thanks to. An occasion when you were extremely angry. If you could have a superpower, what would you choose? The best moment in the history of movies. What would you invent if you had the opportunity? The best trip you ever had from school. The best neighbor you have known. How you contribute to teamwork. Which book has had the most impact on you thus far in your life? An occasion when a friend really helped you. A fake news item you found online. Which item of modern technology most excites you? Someone you cannot envisage your life without. The member of your family who most influences you. The most recent online conversation you deleted. An occasion when you were left disappointed by a friend. A real fun occasion. An event from history you would like to have taken part in or witnessed. An occasion when you felt life running away but did not. The most recent important subject you and a friend discussed. If you could become President for just one day, what is it you would most like to do? The most recent online video you saw. A kid from a previous school or class whom you thought was really cool. What thing or event has made the greatest impression on you today? An occasion when the decision you made turned out to be the wrong one.

Breast Cancer

Breast Cancer Essay Cancer is not just one disease but rather a group of diseases. All forms of cancer cause cells in the body to change and grow out of control. Most types of cancer cells form a lump or mass called a tumor. Cells from the tumor can break away and travel to other parts of the body. There they can continue to grow. This spreading process is called metastasis. When cancer spreads, it is still named after the part of the body where it started. For example, if Breast Cancer Essay spreads to the lungs, it is still breast cancer, not lung cancer. Another word for cancerous is malignant. So a cancerous tumor is called malignant. But not all tumors are cancer. A tumor that is not cancer is called benign. Benign tumors do not grow and spread the way cancer does. They are usually not a threat to life. A few cancers, such as blood cancers (leukemia), do not form a tumor. Most kinds of cancer are named after the part of the body where the cancer first starts. Breast cancer begins in the breast tissue. This article refers only to breast cancer in women. Men can also get breast cancer, although this is rare. Women.com, pp. 6 Inside the breasts are glands that produce and release milk after a woman has a baby. The glands that make the milk are called lobules and the tubes that connect them to the nipple are called ducts. The breast itself is made up of lobules; ducts; and fatty, connective, and lymphatic tissue. There are several types of breast tumors. Most are benign; that is, they are not cancer. These lumps are often caused by fibrocystic changes. Cysts are fluid-filled sacs, and fibrosis refers to connective tissue or scar tissue formation. Fibrocystic changes can cause breast swelling and pain. The breasts may feel lumpy and sometimes there is a clear or slightly cloudy nipple discharge. Benign breast tumors are abnormal growths, but they do not spread outside of the breast and they are not life-threatening. Lawrence, pp. 54 Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, other than skin cancer. It is the second leading cause of cancer death in women, after lung cancer. Many great doctors predicts that there will be about 184,200 new cases of invasive breast cancer in the year 2000 among women in this country and about 41,200 deaths from the disease. Breast cancer also occurs among men, although much less often. Death rates from breast cancer declined significantly during 1992 to 1996, with the largest decrease in younger women both white and black. This decline is probably the result of better detection and improved treatment. We do not yet know exactly what causes breast cancer, but we do know that certain risk factors are linked to the disease. A risk factor is something that increases a persons chance of getting a disease. Different cancers have different risk factors. Some risk factors, such as smoking, can be controlled. Others, like a persons age or family history, cant be changed. Lee, pp. 124 While all women are at risk for breast cancer, the factors listed below can increase the chances of having the disease. Some studies suggest that long-term use (10 years or more) of estrogen replacement therapy, sometimes called hormone replacement therapy, for relief of menopause symptoms may slightly increase the risk of breast cancer. This risk applies only to current and recent users. A womans breast cancer risk returns to that of the general population within 5 years of stopping ERT. Replacement therapy also lowers the risk of heart attacks and bone fractures; therefore, women should talk to their doctors about the pros and cons of using ERT. At this time, there is no certain way to prevent breast cancer. For now, the best strategy is to reduce risk factors whenever possible and follow the guidelines for finding breast cancer early. A personal or family history of breast cancer may make genetic testing an option for some women. About 50%-60% of women with certain genetic changes (mutations) will develop breast cancer by the age of 70. a woman has these mutated genes, but it cannot predict whether a woman will get breast cancer. Genetic testing is expensive and is not covered by some health plans. People with positive results might not be able to get insurance, or coverage might only be available at a much higher cost. You need .

Accounting Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Accounting - Research Paper Example paration of Financial Statement and consistent with this, it is essential for firms to reveal separately in the statement of income for the record of the inventories which has been small persistence thing. Additionally, this rule also demands for sufficient data which influences the important measures with that data which can additional support in accepting a situation. The risk of not including the inventory write-down in the financial statement is that the investors may over-anticipate income firmness and thus lead to decisions that may create strong unethical situations. Beside this, such condition can direct towards many ethical and financial problems for example excessive manager’s payments, concealment fraud penalties, losing investors self-assurance in organization with loosing value of brand in addition to goodwill. Accountants who do not consider complete according standards while making financial statement, are not only breaching the according standards but also are breaching the trust and ethics which is considered as inevitable in the â€Å"professional behavior† (Little, 2008, p. vii) of the people. As being element of Practicing Business, it is suggested that CEO and CFO of the business should think such influence of the â€Å"Internal Revenue Service† (Internal Revenue Service Data Book, no date, p. 32). This IRM gives an outline and common knowledge of GAOs annual Financial Statement Audit of the â€Å"Internal Revenue Service† (Internal Revenue Service Data Book, no date, p. 32) (IRS). As the country’s tax collector, the IRS has the liability of collecting taxes, enforcing the nation’s tax laws and processing tax return. The GAO performs annually audits of the financial statements of IRS in keeping the CFO Act of 1990, as extended by the â€Å"Government Management Reform Act of 1994† (Guthrie et al., 2005, p. 357) Appropriate to this Act, the General Accounting Office (GAO) opines on the fiscal statements of the IRS in the report financial

World Religion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

World Religion - Essay Example This has been made possible through equation of the chariot to the body; here the body has been depicted as only as a carrier that will need so many other aspect to function well. The body is equated as independent, however, dependent to function, minds have been equated to the reins; in this passage, they depict the minds as the aspects that are on the control. Intellect has been equated to the captain or director of the chariot and the owner of the chariot have been equated to atman (self). The idea behind the passage is to bring into the fore that atman is very independent of body, mind and intellect. That atman as the controller of the chariot, which is equated to the body though independent, is the owner of the body. The intuition is the mind the reins, the chariot-driver, the senses the horses, and the objects of the senses the paths. It goes ahead and explains that those with undisciplined minds would never reach their goal and end up being reincarnated. Those of disciplined mind will always reach their goals, and will not have to go through the rebirth cycle. In my opinion, this is not a realistic approach to reality, since there is nothing that can be compared to the final reality. There is no analogy in all the ideas that is comparable to what it is understood to be. The scope of these analogies is limited to point it out (Smith p50). Buddhism arose in the 500 B.C in rebellion against Vedantic Hinduism of that time. It advocated for individual effort, explicit language and uncomplicated means. The question of Buddhism is about removing the arrow of suffering came in to context because of the message of the Buddha, which described his message as the Four Noble Truths making up the basic means Buddhism advocated (Smith p117). Life as suffering is one of the four means making up the four noble truths. It starts by explaining life as accompanied by inevitable pain (pain that we must endure as

IKEA and India Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

IKEA and India - Assignment Example During 1960s-1970s, it became the prominent furniture manufacturer in Sweden. In the 1980’s, IKEA expands dramatically into new markets such as USA, Italy, France and the UK (Ikea, 2012). At present, Ikea has operations in more than 40 countries in the world. However, it has no business units in India at present even though India is one of the most rapidly developing economies in the world. Many people believe that India may become a superpower both in terms of economic growth as well as military power in near future itself. Moreover, it is often said that global wealth is currently shifting from less heavily populated American and European continents to the more heavily populated Asian continent because of the rapid growth witnessing in India and China like countries. Prominent international companies are currently competing each other in establishing business units in India like emerging markets. Under such circumstances, it is difficult for Ikea like MNC’s to avoid I ndia completely while formulating their international business strategies. This paper analyses the merits and demerits of India as a market for Ikea’s international business operations. Analysis and justification of Indian market Porter’s Five forces Model Michael Porter has identified five competitive forces which may affect the competitive power of an organization. They are; Threat of substitute products, Threat of new entrants, Intense rivalry among existing players, Bargaining power of suppliers and Bargaining power of Buyers (Porter’s Five Forces Model, 2009). The figure given below illustrates Porter’s five forces theory. (Porter’s Five Forces Model, 2009) Threat from new entrants is the first force in Porter’s five forces model. â€Å"Microeconomics teaches that profitable industries attract new competition until the downward pressure on prices has squeezed all the economic profit from the firms. New firms in an industry put downward pressure on prices, upward pressure on costs and an increased necessity for capital expenditures in order to compete† (Porter’s Five Forces- Threat of New Entrants, 2012). Furniture market in India is not much competitive because of the absence of prominent companies. In fact furniture manufacturing is a small scale industry in India and hence MNC’s like Ikea can easily overcome the resistance of small scale furniture manufacturers in India. In other words, Indian furniture industry is highly fragmented and Ikea can exploit such situation to their favor. Less threat from new entrants or competitors will help Ikea to increase their profits in Indian market. â€Å"Competitive rivalry will be high if there is little differentiation between the products sold between customers† (For Marketing Learners Globally, n. d). As mentioned earlier, Nokia may not face much competition in Indian market because of the absence of any furniture manufacturing MNC’s in Indian market. Small scale furniture manufacturers in India may not have the financial capabilities to compete with Ikea like big companies. â€Å"Supplier power exists when there are only few suppliers. It also exists when the switching cost becomes more for the organization to move from one supplier to another† (For Marketing Learners Globally, n.d). Availability of wood for manufacturing furniture is different at different locations in India. For example, India’s southernmost states such as Kerala have immense forest resources whereas North India has

Dynamics of Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Dynamics of Strategy - Essay Example The implementation of the same has also been discussed in alignment with the chosen strategic option. The conclusion summarises the points discussed and provides some enriching revelation. Toyota Motor Corporation, based in Japan, is one of the world’s leading automobile manufacturers. Having started in the year 1937, the company has extended its operation to include 170 countries world wide. Some of the leading brands of this company are Toyota, Lexus, Scion and a part of Daihatsu brands. TMC’s consolidated total revenue for the period 2009-2010, has increased to 18.5 trillion yen. The net earnings amount has increased to 1.25 trillion yen to 1.59 trillion yen after some revised profit activities. Toyota overtook Chrysler and Ford in global sales and outshone General Motors in the year 2008 (Hoovers, 2010). This section deals with the external environmental factors that impact the automobile industry. It is very much important to asses the environmental factors as this helps the organisation to fix its strategies in alignment with the external environmental factors. Government laws pertaining to environment and safety are significant for the operation of automobile industry. Toyota is a multinational organisation with its operations spread across the world. There can be trade barriers and fare restrictions in many countries. Such deciding political factors need to be taken care of to ensure a smooth run in the automobile industry. There are some emergent markets in India and China where the buying power of the customers have enhanced since the last few years. Companies must tap these markets to fetch the advantage. The recent financial downturn has adversely affected the consumer spending worldwide. This has put the automobile industry in difficult situation. The fuel prices have increased due to inflation as well as due to fuel squeeze in certain parts. This has in turn adversely affected the automobile sales. The

Public Safety Management Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Public Safety Management - Research Paper Example In eliminating these problems and heightening the performance of the public safety department, a leader needs to move back and forth between the four styles identified by Hersey & Blanchard in their situational leadership model. A leader capacity to offer support for the workers depends on his or her capacity to offer a motivating environment. In this context, employees should receive support and coaching needed to carry out their tasks, this would build morale among the workers. This hands-off approach employed by a situational leader with committed and highly skilled workers can motivate the workers to work at their full capacity. A situational leader offers a supportive work environment to workers of every skill level. Employing this leadership approach can increase workers morale, and create a productive working environment. The basic assumption of situational leadership is that leaders have to adjust their style to the maturity of the follower depending on the readiness and will ingness to carry out the required duties (Mackay, 2007). There exist four styles of leadership that accompany the four combinations of low/high willingness and readiness. The four styles suggest that leaders should put less or greater attention on the task (task orientation) in question and/or the relationship between the follower and the leader (relationship orientation). The leader efficacy in this case would result from employing a behavioral style that is fitting to the environmental demands to increase morale, lessen or diminish hostility and discrimination, and reduce or diminish ill treatment of minority groups. According to the situation leadership framework, the leader’s effectiveness would result from employing a behavioral style that is fitting to the work... The paper tells that the type of budget management approach suitable for this case is the participative or bottom up approach. In the participative approach, employees are normally more readily to accept the budget, morale is also improved, and the budget input is offered by numerous persons. The budget process is normally initiated by the top management using general budget guideline, nonetheless, it is the lower level personnel’ that drive the budget development for their particular units. Connecting the budget to the entire corporate strategy as represented by numerous key business drivers would also be an advantageous budget. In using the linking approach, it is much more complex for leaders to twist the budget as they wish because this clearly weakens the organizational strategy. When all the available funds are allocated into the targeted activities, it becomes clear when someone tries to redirect funds into the development of unnecessary areas. Incorporating business dr ivers into the budget also tends to decrease the duration needed to complete the budget as less time is spent on budgeting minutia and political battles. The personnel issues relating to promotions and race relations would be addressed by barrier-elimination measures to get rid of or change discriminatory practices against the minority groups, and also positive or special measures, which can eliminate the residue for past discrimination especially for the minority group.

IKEA and India Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

IKEA and India - Assignment Example During 1960s-1970s, it became the prominent furniture manufacturer in Sweden. In the 1980’s, IKEA expands dramatically into new markets such as USA, Italy, France and the UK (Ikea, 2012). At present, Ikea has operations in more than 40 countries in the world. However, it has no business units in India at present even though India is one of the most rapidly developing economies in the world. Many people believe that India may become a superpower both in terms of economic growth as well as military power in near future itself. Moreover, it is often said that global wealth is currently shifting from less heavily populated American and European continents to the more heavily populated Asian continent because of the rapid growth witnessing in India and China like countries. Prominent international companies are currently competing each other in establishing business units in India like emerging markets. Under such circumstances, it is difficult for Ikea like MNC’s to avoid I ndia completely while formulating their international business strategies. This paper analyses the merits and demerits of India as a market for Ikea’s international business operations. Analysis and justification of Indian market Porter’s Five forces Model Michael Porter has identified five competitive forces which may affect the competitive power of an organization. They are; Threat of substitute products, Threat of new entrants, Intense rivalry among existing players, Bargaining power of suppliers and Bargaining power of Buyers (Porter’s Five Forces Model, 2009). The figure given below illustrates Porter’s five forces theory. (Porter’s Five Forces Model, 2009) Threat from new entrants is the first force in Porter’s five forces model. â€Å"Microeconomics teaches that profitable industries attract new competition until the downward pressure on prices has squeezed all the economic profit from the firms. New firms in an industry put downward pressure on prices, upward pressure on costs and an increased necessity for capital expenditures in order to compete† (Porter’s Five Forces- Threat of New Entrants, 2012). Furniture market in India is not much competitive because of the absence of prominent companies. In fact furniture manufacturing is a small scale industry in India and hence MNC’s like Ikea can easily overcome the resistance of small scale furniture manufacturers in India. In other words, Indian furniture industry is highly fragmented and Ikea can exploit such situation to their favor. Less threat from new entrants or competitors will help Ikea to increase their profits in Indian market. â€Å"Competitive rivalry will be high if there is little differentiation between the products sold between customers† (For Marketing Learners Globally, n. d). As mentioned earlier, Nokia may not face much competition in Indian market because of the absence of any furniture manufacturing MNC’s in Indian market. Small scale furniture manufacturers in India may not have the financial capabilities to compete with Ikea like big companies. â€Å"Supplier power exists when there are only few suppliers. It also exists when the switching cost becomes more for the organization to move from one supplier to another† (For Marketing Learners Globally, n.d). Availability of wood for manufacturing furniture is different at different locations in India. For example, India’s southernmost states such as Kerala have immense forest resources whereas North India has

Public Safety Management Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Public Safety Management - Research Paper Example In eliminating these problems and heightening the performance of the public safety department, a leader needs to move back and forth between the four styles identified by Hersey & Blanchard in their situational leadership model. A leader capacity to offer support for the workers depends on his or her capacity to offer a motivating environment. In this context, employees should receive support and coaching needed to carry out their tasks, this would build morale among the workers. This hands-off approach employed by a situational leader with committed and highly skilled workers can motivate the workers to work at their full capacity. A situational leader offers a supportive work environment to workers of every skill level. Employing this leadership approach can increase workers morale, and create a productive working environment. The basic assumption of situational leadership is that leaders have to adjust their style to the maturity of the follower depending on the readiness and will ingness to carry out the required duties (Mackay, 2007). There exist four styles of leadership that accompany the four combinations of low/high willingness and readiness. The four styles suggest that leaders should put less or greater attention on the task (task orientation) in question and/or the relationship between the follower and the leader (relationship orientation). The leader efficacy in this case would result from employing a behavioral style that is fitting to the environmental demands to increase morale, lessen or diminish hostility and discrimination, and reduce or diminish ill treatment of minority groups. According to the situation leadership framework, the leader’s effectiveness would result from employing a behavioral style that is fitting to the work... The paper tells that the type of budget management approach suitable for this case is the participative or bottom up approach. In the participative approach, employees are normally more readily to accept the budget, morale is also improved, and the budget input is offered by numerous persons. The budget process is normally initiated by the top management using general budget guideline, nonetheless, it is the lower level personnel’ that drive the budget development for their particular units. Connecting the budget to the entire corporate strategy as represented by numerous key business drivers would also be an advantageous budget. In using the linking approach, it is much more complex for leaders to twist the budget as they wish because this clearly weakens the organizational strategy. When all the available funds are allocated into the targeted activities, it becomes clear when someone tries to redirect funds into the development of unnecessary areas. Incorporating business dr ivers into the budget also tends to decrease the duration needed to complete the budget as less time is spent on budgeting minutia and political battles. The personnel issues relating to promotions and race relations would be addressed by barrier-elimination measures to get rid of or change discriminatory practices against the minority groups, and also positive or special measures, which can eliminate the residue for past discrimination especially for the minority group.

Customer Satisfaction Essay Example for Free

Customer Satisfaction Essay INDRODUCTION Customer satisfaction can help your business to achieve a sustainable competitive advantages, It’s about understanding the way a customer feels after purchasing a product or service and in particular, whether or not that product or service meet the customer’s expectation. Bias tyre construction utilizes body ply cords that extend diagonally from bead to bead, usually at angles in the range of 30 to 40 degree, with successive plies laid at opposing angles forming a crisscross pattern to which the tread is applied. The design allows the entire tyre body to flex easily. There are 9 varieties of bias tyre manufacturing by the MRF tyre company. Radial tyre construction utilizes body ply cords extending from the beads and across the tread so that the cords are laid at approximately right angles to the centerline of the tread, and parallel to each other as well as stabilizer belts directly beneath the tread. The belts may be cord or steel. 15 varieties of radial tyre manufacturing are done by the MRF tyre company. PRODUCT PROFILE In the year of 1946 a young entrepreneur K.M.MAMMEN MAPPILLAI, opened a small toy balloon manufacturing unit in a shed at Chennai (Tiruvottiyur). During the period 1949 the factory was just a small shed without any machines. A variety of products, ranking from balloons and squeaking toys to industrial gloves and were produced. In the period of 1952 MRF ventured into the manufacture of tread rubber. And with that, the first machine a rubber mill was installed at the factory. This step into tread rubber manufacture was later to catapult MRF into a league that few had imagined possible. The quality of the product manufactured was of such a high standard that by the close of 1956, MRF had become the market leader with a 50% share of the tread-rubber market in India. In the period of 1961 after the success achieved in tread rubber, MRF entered into the manufacture of tyres. MRF established a technical collaboration with the Mansfield tyre and rubber company of USA. Around the same time, it also becomes a public company. During the year 1963 India’s first Prime  Minister Jawaharlal Nehru laid the foundation stone for the rubber research center at Chennai. In 1967 MRF became the first Indian company to export tyres to USA the v ery birthplace of tyre technology. During the year 1970 to 1972 MRF opened its factory in kottayam, Goa and Arakkonam (chennai). In the year 1973 MRF scored a major breakthrough by being among the very first in India to manufacture and market nylon passenger tyres commercially. During the year 1980 MRF entered into a technical collaboration with the B.F.GOODRICH tyre company of USA. In period of 1989 MRF was the clear market leader in every tyre segment. Once again, in recognition of excellence MRF was awarded the visvesvaraya award for the best business house in south India. In the year 1990 MRF collaborated with Hasbro international USA, the world’s largest toy markers and launched funskool India. At the same year MRF World Series cricket tournament for the Jawaharlal Nehru trophy was sponsored by the company. In 1991 MRF also opened the MRF tyredrome, India’s first tyre company owned wheel care complex at Chennai, at the same period MRF brought the 6th world cup boxing championship to Mumbai the first of its kind with 39 countries participating. In 1992 K.M.MammenMapillai was awarded the Padmashri award of national recognition for his contribution to industry the only industrialist from south Indian to be accorded this honor until that time. In 1993 and 1995, the company was voted by the far eastern economic review, as one of the ten leading corporate groups in India and a leader Asia. During the same time MRF was selected as one of Indian’s most admired marketing companies by the readers of the AM magazine. During the year 1996 to 2000 MRF is spreading its wings by also involving in the development of cricket by sponsorship of many cricketers and also MRF pace foundation. At one point of time, MRF was the bat sponsor of world-class batsman including sachintendulkar, Brain lara and stere Waugh. At the same time MRF launches first ever F3 car and company’s turnover crossed INR 15 billion. MRF launched ZVIS tyres for passenger cars. The period between 2001to 2006 the company kept climbing the ladder with efficient and able directors and a change was announced that Mr. Arunmammen would be the managing directors. The MRF NYLOGRIP rapper for two-wheelers was launched  and MRF wins the JD power award, at the same time MRF turnover crossed INR 30 billion marks. During the year 20007 to 2010 MRF launches the super LUG 505. A premium mileage, rear fitment truck tyre for national highway operations on rated roads and MRF launches ZSLK tyres, MRF wins the JD power award again for the 6th time. After the bat sponsor of world-class batsman including Stere Waugh’s and Brian Lara’s retirement from international cricket. MRF contract with Sachin Tendulkar also expired on 2009. MRF is currently sponsoring GauthamGambhir and Rohit Sharma, two other members of the Indian cricket team. INDUSTRY PROFILE The very first tyres were bands of iron placed on the wooden wheels of carts and wagons, luckily, with the discovery of rubber things changed. It was in the mid 1800’s that the first tyres made using rubber appeared. They were simple tyres the rubber carried the load entirely. It was in 1845 that the pneumatic or air-filled tyre which works by air with in the tyre absorbing the shocks of the road was invented and patented by Robert William Thomson. His design used a number of thin inflated tubes inside a leather cover. This meant that it would take more than one puncture before the tyre deflated. However, despite this new break though in tyres, the old solid rubber variety was still favored by the public, leaving the pneumatic tyre out in the wilderness. It wasn’t until 1888 that john Boyd Dunlop, unbeknownst to him, reinvented the pneumatic tyre whilst trying to improve his son’s bike. Dunlop’s tyre like Thomson’s, didn’t seem to sell at first-until a bike race in Belfast was won by a rider using his tyres with that victory people began to take notice of the pneumatic tyre. In 1895 the pneumatic tyre was first used on automobiles by Andre and E dotard Michelin. It was also around this time that legislation was put into effect that discouraged the use of solid rubber tyres. All over the world companies sprang up to meet the new demand for the new tyres. Tyres remained fundamentally unchanged though out the 20’s and 30’s until Michelin introduced steel-belted radial tyres in 1948. This new type of pneumatic tyre meant that they would have a longer life thanks to ply  cords that radiate from a 90 degree angle from the wheel rim. It also meant that tyre had less rolling resistance increasing the mileage of a vehicle. This new radial tyre was very successful outside of the US, with companies in Italy, France, Japan and Germany producing them in large numbers. In the US however, a battle commenced. American car manufactures were afraid that the cost to redesign their cars in order to use these radial tyres was too much and so stuck to the older bias ply tyres. It wasn’t until the 70’s where there was a fuel crisis-that the American public, because of the rising cost of petrol, demanded more economical cars. This led to the introduction of cars that could easily fit the high mileage radial tyres. By 1983 all new American cars came fitted with radial tyres.

Web Application Design for School Organisation Optimization

Web Application Design for School Organisation Optimization Application and Knowledge Design At first, the ontology will be planned in accordance with the methodology of ontology building. Description of the Ontology The ontology domain is based upon the running of a school. The goal of the research is to provide users of the applications with the prospects to get information regarding the requirement that is required in the running of a school. The school will incorporate classes, departments, subjects, all staff etc. Queries In order to get all the required information, a number of queries have to be performed throughout the web. Coupled with the required information, it can be stated that the following queries need to be performed. What is taught Monday morning in room CWG/03 at 9am? How many girls are in year 10 take Science? How old is the head teacher? What teacher is head of the sports department? Who teachers Geography and also Sports? Please give all the names of teachers and their email addresses if known. How many of the admin team are under 40 years of age? Admin Staff members whose surname begin with W Retrieve all teachers and their qualifications Retrieve the name of all subjects taught by the teacher with ID 2341 Why the Domain is Interesting to an Audience? The shift of the paradigms in the field of education in the recent decades, as well as the spreading of education, proposes ways through which the education can be provided under one roof. Practitioners and researchers are making every attempt to find approximate methodologies for making education easily available to every human being. With the proposed ontology, the user can have a concept of the school and will be able to develop the school system in any part of the world with an ease of the information technology. The respective domain ontology will act as an instrument for the construction of the school system in an effective and efficient manner. Consider Salvaging Existing Ontologies In order to make an application that fulfils the needed requirements, the following ontologies have been deployed. Tools for Managing Ontologies In the context of definitions and typologies, there are also several available tools for defining and managing ontologies. Since the initials and more rudimentary (Ontolingua Server, Ontosaurus) to the most recent and advanced, the following typology has been proposed. Ontology Development Tools This group includes the tools that serve for the construction of new ontologies or for the reuse of existing tools (Tolk, 2013). Among its functionalities are the addition and the consultation, as well as the export and import of ontologies, visualization in various graphic formats, etc. Ontology Fusion and Integration Tools These tools try to solve the problem of the combination and integration of diverse ontologies of the same domain; that occurs when two distinct organizations are united, or when it is intended to obtain a quality ontology, from the existing ones (Jain, 2013). Ontology Evaluation Tools They appear as tools for support should ensure that both ontologies and related technologies have a minimum level of quality (Ferraram, 2013). In the coming years, this effort can lead to identical certifications. Annotation Tools These tools are premeditated to consent users to insert information and data (Jain, 2013). Most of these tools have seemed recently, along with the idea of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹ the semantic web. Tools, Storage and Questions They are termed as the instruments that have been created to allow easy use ontologies (Maedche, 2012). The key is the intent that the web becomes a real platform to transmit knowledge. Learning Tools They are semi-automatically used to build ontologies from natural language. Along with the tools or editors, ontologies must mention the existence of different languages à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹that allow the creation and / or development thereof. Most are built by XML syntax or RDF (S) and OIL (Ontology Inference Layer), DAML (DARPA Agent Mark-up Language), OIL and OWL (The Web Ontology Language) (Shvaiko, 2013). In any case, some of these ontology languages à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹are still in development, although thanks to the work and support of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) OWL seems that consolidates acquiring a clear and obvious progression. Significant Terms used within the School Ontology The significant terms that will be deployed throughout the research paper are mentioned below. Staff Students Teachers/Lecturers Admin staff Rooms Classrooms Staff room Timetable Description of the Classes and Hierarchy Classes The classes are explained in the below mentioned diagram. The Architecture of 3-Tier Content Management is illustrated in the below mentioned diagram. Description of the Classes and Hierarchy Classes Describing Classes Three primary classes will be defined i.e. Users, institutions, and learning resources. The institution class is further divided into colleges. The learning resource class incorporates a list of overall courses as its user class and subclasses consists of a list of every type of users i.e. Instructor, student, and administrator (Jain, 2013).   The overall classes are sub classed under one class that exemplifies overall classes root. Tools and Techniques Used in Prototype Development Owl and Protà ©gà © editor have been deployed to build domain ontologies for its popularity and simplicity. RDQL and Jena2 APIs have been deployed in order to interact with a semantic web reasoner to implement the designed prototype (Kholief, 2012). OWL has been used as the ontology language, reason being; it has been recommended due to its tool support, and functionality. SPARQL is the recommendation of the W3C recommendation as a query language within the framework of Jena for RDF. SPARQL has been deployed to extract the information from the graphs of RDF. This infers that the only information retrieved by the SPARQL is stored in a model that consists of a set of N-triple statements (Ferraram, 2013). Moreover, SPARQL can process the ontology in a wide range of languages, including SPARQL, OWL, similar to other languages of RDF based query ierSeRQL, RDQL, and SPARQL is tough to provide semantics with reference to DL, OWL. A typical SPARQL query possesses the below motioned forms SELECT ?x WHERE (?xshortPrefix : localName   value) USING short Prefix FOR ?x refers to the variables that will return to the applications. The WHERE clause stipulates the graph pattern in the form of the list of the triple patterns USING clause describes an alias for URIs prefix to simplify the URL   (Stevenson, 2015) SPARQL can query regarding the objects or predicates too. However, the limitation of SPARQL incorporates that there exists no query disjunction. The Repository tier stores both; the structure and content of the ontology. The Generic ontology researcher engine resides in the semantic tier amid the end user interface tier and repository tier (Icoza, 2015). The end-user interface tier cooperates with the content server via the reasoner by stipulating the criteria tier attribute-value pairs and the constraints. Then, the reasoner locates the pertinent contents (based upon those conditions), and deliver content to the software agents/ users within an arranged manner. Such a type of system decomposition allows those to develop large-scale software systems and reduces the overall time of development (Kholief, 2012). To illustrate the dependencies or relationships in the respective domain, 2 types of relationships have been used; the direct relationship amid content incorporating its inverse relationship. The other relationship is the transitive or indirect, tier prerequisite that refers to the inherited relationships. Sparql queries What is taught Monday morning in room CWG/03 at 9am? PREFIX rdf: PREFIX owl: PREFIX rdfs: PREFIX xsd: PREFIX sch: SELECT ?course ?weekday ?time ?room WHERE { ?course rdf:type sch:Course   . ?course sch:day ?weekday . ?course sch:time ?time . ?course sch:room ?room . FILTER regex(str(?weekday),Monday,i) FILTER regex(str(?time),9AM,i) } Science course is taught Monday at 9AM in room CWG/03. How many girls take science in year 10? PREFIX rdf: PREFIX owl: PREFIX rdfs: PREFIX xsd: PREFIX sch: SELECT (MAX(?course) as ?course_name)   (COUNT(?students) AS ?no_students) WHERE { ?course rdf:type sch:Course . FILTER regex(str(?course),Science_,i) . ?course sch:hascourse ?students . ?students a ?type   . FILTER( regex(STR(?type), Year10)) . ?students sch:gender ?gender . FILTER regex(str(?gender),F,i) . } The number of girls who take science in year 10 is 2. How old is the head teacher? PREFIX rdf: PREFIX owl: PREFIX rdfs: PREFIX xsd: PREFIX sch: SELECT ?task ?num WHERE { ?task rdf:type sch:Headteacher . OPTIONAL {?task sch:age ?num } } The headteacher is 45 years old. What teacher is head of the sports department? PREFIX rdf: PREFIX owl: PREFIX rdfs: PREFIX xsd: PREFIX sch: SELECT ?name WHERE { ?name rdf:type sch:Sports_head . } His name is Martin Richards Who teachers Geography and also Sports? PREFIX rdf: PREFIX owl: PREFIX rdfs: PREFIX xsd: PREFIX sch: SELECT ?teacher ?teaches WHERE { ?teacher rdf:type sch:Teachers . ?teacher sch:IsLecturerOf ?teaches . FILTER (regex(str(?teaches),Geography_,i) || regex(str(?teaches),Sports,i)) . } Bill Waite teaches both Geography and Sports. Please give all the names of teachers and their email addresses if known. (Optional patterns, week 6, lecture 5, slide 12) PREFIX rdf: PREFIX owl: PREFIX rdfs: PREFIX xsd: PREFIX sch: SELECT ?name ?email WHERE { ?name rdf:type sch:Teachers . OPTIONAL {?name sch:email ?email } . } How many of the admin team are under 40 years of age? PREFIX rdf: PREFIX owl: PREFIX rdfs: PREFIX xsd: PREFIX sch: SELECT (COUNT(?all)   AS ?total) WHERE { { ?all rdf:type sch:Receptionist } UNION { ?all rdf:type sch:Secretary } UNION { ?all rdf:type sch:Switchboard_Operator } . ?all sch:age ?yrs . FILTER (?yrs } There are 2 members of the admin team that have less than 40 years. What members of the admin staff surname begins with W PREFIX rdf: PREFIX owl: PREFIX rdfs: PREFIX xsd: PREFIX sch: SELECT  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   ?all WHERE { { ?all rdf:type sch:Receptionist } UNION { ?all rdf:type sch:Secretary } UNION { ?all rdf:type sch:Switchboard_Operator } . FILTER regex(str(?all),_w,i) } Paula Wilson, Charlie Williams and Jane Wight are the admin members whose surname begins with W. Retrieve all teachers and their qualifications PREFIX rdf: PREFIX owl: PREFIX rdfs: PREFIX xsd: PREFIX sch: SELECT ?teacher ?teaches WHERE { ?teacher rdf:type sch:Teachers . ?teacher sch:IsLecturerOf ?teaches . } Retrieve the name of all subjects taught by the teacher with ID 2341 PREFIX rdf: PREFIX owl: PREFIX rdfs: PREFIX xsd: PREFIX sch: SELECT ?teacher ?id ?subjects WHERE { ?teacher rdf:type sch:Teachers . ?teacher sch:ID ?id FILTER (?id=2341)  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   . ?teacher sch:IsLecturerOf ?subjects } Albert Tatlock, the teacher with ID 2341, teaches ICT. DBPedia A timetable query. Results in HTML Ontology-Oriented Inference-Based Learning Content Management System Application Semantic web technologies based upon ontology are considered as the promising solution in order to provide an explicit definition of the shared conceptualisation regarding certain domain as well as acknowledging assemblage of e-learning contents. Ontologies integrated with profiles of the learner integrate to provide enhanced results within an e-learning LMS system. It could be used in contrast with multi-agent technologies in order to derive personalised learning paths (Stevenson, 2015).   The domain of courses can be easily managed by ontology and provide explicit details of education establishment as well as adaptation of students learning paths. General Concepts of LCMS LMS is regarded as the software package, usually applied on the large scale that enables the delivery of learning resources and courses and management to students. Most of the LMS systems are web-based in order to facilitate anywhere, anytime access to administration and learning content. LMS is referred to as the reporting systems and do not include ways to develop new content or to deliver small learning packets (Icoza, 2015). LMS is fashioned for tracking test results, registration, class lists, grades, managing all learning events within the academics institute and class scheduling. In contrast, the LCMs focus upon the learning content. It provides authors, subject matter experts, and instructional designers to means to develop e-learning content in a more effective way. The core concern that is resolved by LCMs is to develop sufficient content just in time to meet the requirements of the learners group or individual learners (Kuhn, 2012). Instructional designers develop chunks of reusable content rather than entire courses and acclimatising to multiple audiences, and make them available to the course developers all through the academic institute. Sequence Diagram The sequence of steps is performed on the retrieve and query as mentioned in the figure below. The flow proceeds as follows: The user search for certain information after the registration to system Then, the semantic-based LMS check the validation of the query The system informs him about, if there is any error in request sending or if the query is invalid If the query is valid, then the system gets the query at repository data as well as user history repository, and sees there is any existing data (Kuhn, 2012). The system notifies him about the existence of data, if the data exists, then data is retrieved by the system makes an inference to that of fetching data by deploying the rules of validation It saves the result of inference to the repository and includes the outcomes to the original retrieved data and responses to the operator. Figure: Sequence Diagram Fundamental   Ontologies The system is based on the ontological framework to allow formal demonstration of learning content along with its principle building blocks such as; different types of learning activities, learning content, participants within the process of learning i.e. teaching assistants, teachers, learners, etc. (Ferraram, 2013). The ontology domains defined can be salvaged by other ontologies, therefore assimilating various contemporary technologies under single ontology illustrating a large domain. Describing Classes Three primary classes will be defined i.e. users, institutions, and learning resources. The institution class is further divided into colleges. The learning resource class incorporates a list of overall courses as its user class and subclasses consists of a list of every type of users i.e. instructor, student, and administrator (Jain, 2013).   The overall classes are sub classed under one class that exemplifies overall classes root. Outlining Properties Figure: Object Properties Figure: Datatype Properties The ontology of the learning resources is the core of this framework has been demonstrated in the graph illustrated below using the OntoGraft (Kholief, 2012). It consists of a number of properties and classes aimed at formally signifying learning content. The ontologies have been divided into two segments; information of learning course and learning content information. The class courses is the one that has been opted by more than one learner while interrelating with customers. The other class consists of the course content such as; lab experience, PowerPoint lectures, notes, and media. Moreover, the courses are also divided into the subclasses. Class course specifications incorporate the information regarding the field, term, and the course type. In addition, class course enrolment includes information regarding the enrolment of students on certain course (Icoza, 2015). The ontology signifies characteristics to the overall procures of E-learning i.e. Preferences and basic personal data along with the speciation of the features of leaner-specific, including multiple dimensions of learning styles and performance. Figure: Projected Learning Resource Ontology Class Diagram A class diagram is the UML structure diagram that illustrates the structure of designed system by exemplifying the classes in the system, constraints, relationships, their features, amongst the classes.  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Moreover, the active entities of the anticipated systems include; courses, students, course administrator, and course content. The entities of the business domain include; test, enrolment, course evaluation, and course specification (Kuhn, 2012). The class diagram of the projected system has been illustrated in the below mentioned figure. Figure: Class diagram of Learning Resources ontology Logical Rules The above mentioned rules demonstrate the semantic probing of course content upon the system. The explanation of the rules is mentioned below. rules 1; the privilege of the learner to course content ie enrollment rules 2; pre-request courses of various courses (Ferraram, 2013). rule 3; topic of certain contents such as; authentication lectures of course database is linked to security of topic too Related Work The research will incorporate the approaches of e-learning content management along with the semantic approach that is associated with the represented work. The review has enhanced the e-learning environments with that of the semantic-rich cognisance information. It has intended the educators to utilise this information when updating learning content for future courses. Therefore, heuristics have been developed that allow both; the convergence of LCMS log data and the intelligent analysis into the ontologies of the Semantic web. ILMSs (Intelligent LMSs) have linked the modern approach to the web-based education is dependent upon the LMSs, but under adaptive hypermedia and intelligent tutoring technologies (Kholief, 2012). As the generation of the new Web, the Semantic web has improved conditions for reusing and composing the learning materials. The research has been aimed to develop a simple, learner-oriented, and customised e-learning system as well as to create the material of particular course conforming SCORM. The research emphases upon the development of an ontology of student model that is appropriate with the needs of learning procedures in the faculty of computer science. The oncology has, moreover, incorporated the knowledge regarding student learning styles, student data, as well as the performance of the students (Jain, 2013). The research is based upon the approach, identifying such of those learning objects that amalgamate information technology and educational pedagogy via instructional design. Brief Phenomenon of Ontologies The term Ontology comes from the world of philosophy is the part of metaphysics that deals with being in general and of their transcendental properties, or properties that transcend the limits of the merely experimental (Wanner et al, 2015).   This concept has been adopted by computer science, specifically in the domain of artificial intelligence, adapting it to their needs, and using a metaphor according to which the experimental, physical, tangible, objective and recordable would be the data, and the metaphysical, inedible, subjective would be informative. More rigorously, this metaphorical adoption has given rise to a wide variety of definitions of this new concept, a product of the points of view of diverse authors and, fundamentally, of the different ways of constructing and using ontologies as computer systems (Brizzi et al, 2016). Among the most well-known and used definitions is that states that that an ontology constitutes an explicit and formal specification of menta l abstractions, which are shaped by an agreement of the expert community in a domain and in a design for a specific purpose this definition implies a multitude of aspects that contribute to clarify this concept. Therefore, when analysed in detail, it is ontology provides the structure for a vocabulary controlled in a way similar to a dictionary or a thesaurus. This vocabulary, agreed by the community, is expressed through concepts, thus conforming the abstractions (Johnson, 2016). On the other hand, in terms of the formal specification of a vocabulary, this could be in various forms, such as a flat list of words, a dictionary, a taxonomy, an entity-relationship diagram, a Unified Mark-up Language (UML) model, an XML schema and many other possible ones (Goodchild, 2013). However, the ontologies are much more than described so far and to give a small sample that its possibilities are not confined and trying to clarify and deepen especially, it has resorted to the definition of Neches and employees. It has been argued that ontology defines the vocabulary of an area through a set of basic terms and relations between these terms, as well as such, as rules that combine terms and relationships that extend given definitions in the vocabulary (Kuhn, 2012). This assumes that the ontologies are not formed only by mere concepts with a certain organisation, which would not be much more distant of a thesaurus, but also relations, rules, and axioms are given between concepts that enrich and contribute to expanding the vocabulary of the work domain. In order to clarify, with a concrete case, what is ontology is included below an example regarding possible travel ontology (Stocker et al, 2014). Within it would be all the relevant concepts related to the subject in question, among others: travel, flight, the client, lodging, road, departure, arrival, rate, etc. In this ontology, everything would start from the key concept, trip. Of the same, the different types of trips that a person can perform (flight, train, bus, by boat, etc.). Also, it is the fact that every trip has a single date, time and place of departure and a single date, time and place of arrival, a company and a tariff, concepts all that would be part of the ontology (Whitehead et al, 2013). Once all the basic concepts have been defined, the relations between them, for example, a trip of a certain type with a place of departure and another one of arrival corresponds a determined duration. Another possible relationship would be formed by the place of the concept of departure, place of arrival, and itinerary by road, and that a certain sequence of roads connects two different places. The complexity and variety of relationships can become as can imagine since the multiplicity of relationships can achieve a system much more powerful and effective. Thus, a city of origin may have as points of departure a particular bus station, a train station or an airport (Jain, 2013). Different points of departure that will be depending on the chosen destination or on other issues such as schedules or economic ailments, among others. With this complexity of criteria, intelligence implemented in the system this will be able to guide to the most suitable station or airport, at a certain time and with the relevant transhipments. In this way, the efficiency can be management process of any trip, greatly facilitating the whole process (Ferraram, 2013). Another important element that is part of the ontologies are the axioms (logical expressions), which serve to define meaningful constraints of the type such as, is not possible to travel from the USA to Europe by train or it is not poss ible to travel by boat between Madrid and Barcelona. In addition to it, this small ontology could be implemented on an Information System (GIS), helping to manage all this information in a more efficient and autonomous, because it will allow the user to know what type of transport takes you from one city to another, days and times of departure and arrival, fares, durations, accommodation, etc., all in a smart and automated way. Without forgetting that the information to be obtained can be as much or more complex as it goes bringing greater