Online railway reservation project Essay

Table of Contents 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Project Objective 1.2 Product Scope 2. SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS SPECIFICATION 2.1 Requirement Analysis 2.2 Requirement Specification 3. SYSTEM REQUIRMENTS SPECIFICATION 3.1 External Interface Requirements 3.1.1 Hardware Requirements 3.1.2 Software Requirements 3.1.3 Display Mode 3.2 Project Description 3.2.1 Performance 3.2.2 Reliability 3.2.3 Availability 3.2.4 Security 3.2.5 Maintainability 3.2.6 Portability 4. Design and Technical Specification 4.1 Context Diagram 4.2 Data Flow Diagrams 4.3 Data Dictionary 4.4 ER diagram 4.5 Table Description 4.6 Architectural Diagram 5. Code Development 5.1 Flowchart 5.2 Component Level Design(Pseudo Code) 6. Testing Document 6.1 Black Box Testing with Test case design 6.2 White Box Testing 6.2.1 Flow graph 6.2.2 Independent Paths 6.2.3 Cyclomatic Complexity 7. Project Management 7.1 Function Point and Effort 7.2 Schedule 7.3 Risk Table 7.4 Timeline Charts 8. Best Practices for Software Development 9. References Introduction This project aims at development of an Online Railway Reservation Utility which facilitates the Railway customers to manage their reservations online, and the Railway administrators to modify the backend databases in a User-Friendly manner. The Customers are required to register on the server for getting access to the database and query result retrieval. Upon registration, each user has an account which is essentially the ‘view level’ for the customer. The account contains comprehensive information of the user entered during registration and permits the customer to get access to his past reservations, enquire about travel fare and availability of seats, make afresh reservations, update his account details, etc. The Railway Administrator is the second party in the transactions. The administrator is required to login using a master password, once authenticated as an administrator, one has access and right of modification to all the information stored in the database at the server. This includes the account information of the customers, attributes and statistics of stations, description of the train stoppages and physical  description of coaches, all the reservations that have been made, etc. The railway administrator has the right to modify any information stored at the server database. The Indian Railways have been described as the best way to travel through India, as it is only a train journey that can truly help you connect with the country and its people. The Indian Railways have been divided into different zones namely: The Central Indian Railways Eastern Indian Railways Western Indian Railways Northern Indian Railways Southern Indian Railways The Indian Railways were divided under these categories to facilitate management and functionality and even though the booking system for Indian Railways is centrally computerised, managing such a huge network can be challenging and hence the Indian Railways decided to introduce online railway reservation to make booking train tickets easier and more convenient. To take advantage of the Indian Railways online railway reservation users need to go to the IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd) website (https://www.irctc.co.in), in addition to making bookings one can check the status of departing and arriving trains, train itineraries, ticket accessibility, postponing and cancelling railway bookings, make tatkal reservations, Indian Railways time table among others. The special benefits of using the online railway reservation facility is that passengers can reserve their tickets from the comfort of their home or office without having to stand in long queues at railway stations or having to take the trouble to go to a travel agent. An online railway reservation can be done up to 90 days before your desired date of departure, but it is advised to plan your journey way ahead as the availability of tickets can be difficult, especially during vacation and wedding season. An online railway reservation can be made right till the final reservation  chart is made, that is usually 6 hours before the train leaves the station. The person in whose name the online booking has been made needs to prove his identity and may need the produce an identity document during the course of his journey. These identity cards must be issued by a reputed organization in the Central/State Government and include: PAN Card Voter ID Card Drivers license Student ID Card Passengers travelling on tickets that have been booked online need to take a print out of the e-ticket and keep it with themselves during the course of the journey a produce it when required 1.1 Project Objectives Designing the application and of Railway Reservation System for the purpose of reserving railway tickets and database maintenance about train and passenger details by the railway department only. This database helps railways to retrieve data as and when required in future. 1.2 Project Scope The scope of project included evaluation of the application and was primarily concerned with the transactions related to booking of tickets from the terminals operated by the railway personnel. Application controls and simulation were used to evaluate data validation and program logic. The selected data, as made available, for substantive checking of the completeness, integrity and consistency of data using computer assisted applications such as MS Access. The records maintained in the database of the railways reservation centre were also reviewed. Discussions were held with the database users to gain understanding regarding the various functional aspects of the system. The booking database has passenger’s details like- Name, Age, Gender, Total Number of Passengers Traveling, Date of Travel and Class of Travel. The train database has train details like- Train Name, Train Number, Route, From, To, Train Time, AC First Class, AC 2 Tier, AC 3 Tier, Sleeper, Second Sitting and Quota Management like General, Takkal. 2. Requirements The train details consist of train name, train no, destination reached by the train, number of passengers traveling and number of seats available. We can add a new train details. We can delete it in case of his repair. We can modify the train details in case of any Inconvenience the name and number of train can be changed its destination can also be changed. The reservation details consist of passengers name, age, and sex destination they wanted to reach, ticket numbers, and seat number. 2.1 Requirement Analysis- Due to this development project it will be easier for the railway system to make the customers journey as comfort as possible and so that to maintain the financial crisis of the system. Internet facilities can’t be provided within the time schedule. The integration of this software with existing system is more complex in the limited schedule. 2.2 Requirement Specification- The need for railway reservation system is to organize the records of railway system in the computer based software. The main objective of this system is to provide an automated method to organize the files in order for easy observance. This system will allow adding, removing, modifying and updating the details of the trains and customer to database. 3. SYSTEM SPECIFICATION 3.1 External Interface Requirements 3.1.1 Hardware Requirements: 1. Processor – Pentium 4 2. RAM – 1 GB 3. Hard Disk – 40GB 4. Mouse – Standard Mouse 5. Keyboard – Logitech Keyboard 6. Processor Speed – 2.4GHZ 3.1.2 Software Requirements: 1. Operating System – Microsoft Windows XP With Service Pack 2 2. Front-End – Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 3. Back-End – Microsoft Access 2003 3.1.3 Display Mode: 1. Color Quality – Highest[32 bit] 2. Screen Resolution – 1024 by 768 Pixels Development and operating environment- This project is developed by, Using WIN 32 platform. Designing of screen shots with VB.Net. Coding by VB.Net Slide representation by MS power point. Documentation by MS word. 3.2 PROJECT DESCRIPTION 3.2.1 FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS Functional requirement for this project is Function 1: â€Å"Train Details† The staff of railway system must be able to view the details of the train (i.e.) name, numbers of the train, destination, etc. of the train. Description: When a customer approaches they must be able to update the train details for customer convenience. INPUT: Details of train (internal and external). SOURCE: Trains. OUTPUT: Number of passengers. DESTINATION: Area to be reached. ACTION: To update the train details we require the train name, number, destination, timing, number of seat available. REQUIRES: The Database table having the details of the trains. PRECONDITION: None SIDE EFFECTS: None Function 2: â€Å"Railway Reservation Details† The staff of railway system must be able to view the customer details for their reservation (i.e.) customer name, age, sex, seat number, ticket number. Description: When passenger approaches they must be able to update the train details for passenger’s reservation in particular train. INPUT: Passengers details. SOURCE: Trains. OUTPUT: Reserved seats for the passengers. DESTINATION: Area where the passenger to be reached. ACTION: To update the reservation details we require name of the passenger, age, sex etc. REQUIRES: The data base having the details of the reservation. PRECONDITION: The customer’s approach a week prior. POSTCONDITION: None. SIDE EFFECTS: None. 3.2.2 NON- FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS 3.2.1 Reliability- The system is realiable enough as the database permanently stored and backups can be kept easily , as well as the hard copies of various reports also plays major roles here. 3.2.2Availability- The system should be available all the time as and when required .The availibility may be complete for administrator or partial for others. 3.2.3 Security- The system is secure enough , as limited peivilages are given to other . They cannot make any modification to database. 3.2.4Maintainability- The system should be easy to maintain for the administrator . PROCESS MODEL DESCRIPTION- 1. Administrator: He is the super user responsible for managing system users, taking system backup,generating reports, maintaining organization details, Starting Sessions and ending Sessions and alsomanages various requests from different Types of users. Providing UserName, Password and other information required for the users to start an account. Starting Sessions: The Administrator creates the system users and will be assigned with the different roles. He is also responsible to start the session when a particular user wants to use the system every time(It is automatically managed setup). Managing Data Backup: The Administrator is responsible for managing entire details by taking the backup periodically. He also takes the Backup of the database in order to prevent loss of data on system crashes or inorder to prevent malfunctioning. He can take a backup of entire database or a particular section. Crash Recovery: The Administrator manages the crash recovery at the time of system crash orfailure occurs. Ending session: The administrator is responsible for ending the session when the particular user logged out of the system(It is automatically managed setup). 2. Train Master The Train Master is Admin side module. The Administrator only can Add, modify and Delete the train Details. The Train Master contains the following details. a) Train Name b) Train No c) Source d) Destination e) Departure Time f) Arrival Time g) Total Seats h) Kilometers i) General Seats (1A, 2A, 3A, 2S, SL, CC) j) Takkal Seats (1A, 2A, 3A, 2S, SL, CC) k) Routes and Timings 1.TICKET BOOKING The Ticket Booking is user (Employee of Railway Dept.) side module. The user can book the ticket using this module. The user should follow the steps for the ticket booking. a) First you should select the Source and Destination. b) Next, you should select the Date. While the date textbox got focus, the calendar will display. By clicking the calendar, the date will be selected. And you can’t select the yesterday and before date. c) Select the Quota (General or Takkal). d) Click the Find button to find the trains which are available. Note: 1. If you select the Takkal Quota and the date is day after tomorrow in the sense, you can’t book the ticket for Takkal Quota for that day. The Takkal Quota will enable only today and tomorrow only. e) After clicking the find button, the available train list will be displayed in the flex grid. f) By clicking the train number or train name in the flex grid, the â€Å"Route† button enabled. By clicking the route button, the corresponding train route, timings, and kms. g) By clicking the class column to the corresponding train whichever you want to travel, then â€Å"Book† button will enable. h) Click the â€Å"Book† button to enter the Name, Age, Sex and Berth. i) After Enter the details, Click the Proceed Button. j) The frame will display the overall details like Source, Destination, Travel Date, Booked Date, Total Members, Quota and Total Fare. k) Click the â€Å"Confirm† Button to confirm the details. Then only the Booking details will be stored and PNR Number will be generated. TICKET CANCELING The Ticket Canceling is also user (Employee of Railway Dept.) side module. The user can cancel the ticket using this module. The user should follow the steps for the ticket Cancel. a) Enter the PNR Number in the Textbox and Click Find. b) It will show the details like Train No., Train Name, Booked Date, Travel Date, Source, Destination, Class, Quota, Total Fare, Kms in the Frame. c) It also shows the passenger names, Age, Sex, Berth, Class, Fare and status in the flex grid. d) Click the Name in the flex grid which you want to cancel and where the status is â€Å"Booked†. e) Click the â€Å"Cancel† Button to cancel the ticket. REPORT The Report Module is also user (Employee of Railway Dept.) side Module. The user can take two types of reports by giving the PNR Number. a) Booked Tickets b) Canceled Tickets 3. Design and Technical Specification 4.1 Context Diagram- DATA FLOW DIAGRAM- Data flow diagram is graphical representation that depicts information flow and the transforms that are applied as data move from input to output. The basic form of a data flow diagram, also known as a data flow graph or a bubble chart. The data flow diagram may be used to represent a system or software at any level of abstraction. The data flow diagram are mainly classified into two module they are, Level 0 data flow diagram Level 1 data flow diagram LEVEL 0 DFD- The level 0 data flow diagram is also called as a fundamental system model or context model represents the entire software element as a single bubble with input and output data indicated by incoming and outgoing arrows, respectively. Additional Processes and information flow paths are represented. The level 0 data flow diagram of our project consists of module like passengersdetail, train detail, display etc. DFD for getting Display Train details. LOG ON Display TRAIN DFD Requesting For Booking Request for Booking Get Tickets Response LEVEL 1 DFD – The level 1 data flow diagram is similar to level 0 diagram, but here the modules where explained in detailed manner. But in this module the clear explanation for the project is represented. Data Dictionary: Here the data dictionary is again classified into two important data base they are Train Details. Reservation Details. DATA BASE NAME: Railway system. TABLE NAME: Train Detail. TRAIN NUMBER NUMBER NUMBER SPECIFIED FOR A PARTICULAR TRAIN NUMBER OF PASSENGERS TRAVELLING NUMBER NUMBER OF PASSENGERS TRAVELLING TICKET NUMBER NUMBER NUMBER SPECIFIED FOR A PARTICULAR TICKET NUMBER OF SEATS AVAILABLE NUMBER NUMBER OF SEATS AVAILABLE DATA BASE NAME: Railway System. TABLE NAME: Reservation Detail. FIELD NAME DATA TYPE DESCRIPTION PASSENGER NAME TEXT NAME OF THE PASSENGER PASSENGER AGE NUMBER AGE OF THE PASSENGER SEX TEXT SEX(i.e.) MALE/FEMALE TRAIN NUMBER NUMBER NUMBER OF THE TRAIN DESTINATION NUMBER DESTINATION REACHED BY THE TRAIN TIMING DATE/TIME TIME OF DEPATURE ER-Diagram- The other tool for problem analysis is the Entity-Relationship Diagram, often called as ER Diagram. In other words, a model that represents system data by entity and relationship sets is called E-R (Entity-Relationship) diagram. It is a detailed logical representation of the data for an organization. The entity-relationship (E-R) diagram is based on a perception of a real world which consists of a set of basic  objects. E-R diagram is consists of three main constructs, i.e. Data Entities, Relationships and their Associated Attributes. Entities: – An entity is a person, place, thing or event of interest to the organization and about which data are captured, stored or processed. For example, an employee is an entity. Relationship: – An association of several entities in an entity-relationship diagram is called relationship. There are three types of relationship exist among entities. These are: One-to-One One-to-Many Many-to-Many Attributes: – Each entity type has a set of attributes associates with it. An attribute is a property of characteristics of an entity that is of interest to the organization. I use an initial Capital Letters, followed by Lowercase Letters in naming an attribute. If an entity is something about which I want to store data, then I need to identify what specific pieces of data I want to store about each instance of a given entity. I call these pieces as data attributes. Code Development Flowchart- The program flow chart shows how the system proceed from the input from to the outout from of the system. It explain how the system is actually processed step. It represent the flow of control as the system is processed. There are three types of program flow chart: 1. Input flow chat- This flowchart depicts the basic input operation in the system. In railway reservation system, first of all the password is checked then if the password is valid then we process the input from if the data valid then the entries are updated in the data base otherwise the from id refilled. 2. Output flow chart- This flowchart depicts the basic output operations in the system. The user is required to enter the criteria for output. If it is for the reservation then the availability of seats is checked. If the seats are available then the confirmed ticket is generated  otherwise the user is asked for waiting and if he wants then waiting ticket is generated. If the user wants the seat to be cancelled it is done and the cancelled ticket is generated for the user. The information about all the above transaction is then transferred to the related databases. 3. Report flow Chart- This flow chart depicts the basic operations for the generation of reports. If the entries fr om basic operations for the generation of reports. If the entries from the processed database are valid the concerned report are generated otherwise the process will have to be repeated Component Level Design(Pseudo Code) 6.Testing Document Testing is basically a process to detect errors in the software product. Before going into the details of testing techniques one should know what errors are. In day-to-day life we say whenever something goes wrong there is an error. This definition is quite vast. When we apply this concept to software products then we say whenever there is difference between what is expected out of software and what is being achieved, there is an error. Software testing also provides an objective, independent view of the software to allow the business to appreciate and understand the risks of software implementation. Test techniques include, but are not limited to, the process of executing a program or application with the intent of finding software bugs. Software testing can also be stated as the process of validating and verifying that a software program/application/product: 1. meets the business and technical requirements that guided its design and development; 2. works as expected; and  can be implemented with the same characteristics. Software testing, depending on the testing method employed, can be implemented at any time in the development process. However, most of the test effort occurs after the requirements have been defined and the coding process has been completed. As such, the methodology of the test is governed by the software development methodology adopted. 6.2 Black Box Testing with Test case design- Black box testing is a method of software testing that tests the functionality of an application as opposed to its internal structures or workings . Specific knowledge of the application’s code/internal structure and programming knowledge in general is not required. The tester is only aware of what the software is supposed to do, but not how i.e. when he enters a certain input, he gets a certain output; without being aware of how the output was produced in the first place. Test cases are built around specifications and requirements, i.e., what the application is supposed to do. It uses external descriptions of the software, including specifications, requirements, and designs to derive test cases. These tests can be functional or non-functional, though usually functional. The test designer selects valid and invalid inputs and determines the correct output. There is no knowledge of the test object’s internal structure. Typical black-box test design techniques include: 1. Decision table testing 2. All-pairs testing 3. State transition tables 4. Equivalence partitioning 5. Boundary value analysis White Box Testing- White-box testing (also known as clear box testing, glass box testing, transparent box testing, and structural testing) is a method of testing software that tests internal structures or workings of an application, as opposed to its functionality (i.e.blackbox testing). In white-box testing an internal perspective of the system, as well as programming skills, are used to design test cases. The tester chooses inputs to exercise paths through the code and determine the appropriate outputs. This is analogous to testing nodes in a circuit, e.g. in-circuit testing (ICT). While white-box testing can be applied at the unit, integration and system levels of the software testing process, it is usually done at the  unit level. It can test paths within a unit, paths between units during integration, and between subsystems during a system–level test. Though this method of test design can uncover many errors or problems, it might not detect unimplemented parts of the specification or miss ing requirements. White-box test design techniques include: 1. Control flow testing 2. Data flow testing 3. Branch testing 4. Path testing 5. Statement Coverage 6. Decision Coverage

Business cards Essay

With business cards, people could keep them in their wallet or pocket, as they are small and light to carry around. Also, people keep them around their house just in case they need to contact a certain business and people do look at business cards to see what the business is promoting and looking to see if they need it. Posters Posters are a great way to catch someone’s eye as they are, bold, bright and in your face all the time. You can’t ignore posters as they are really big and your eyes just get a hold of the image and stares at it and you are attracted to it because of the vibrant colours. If Errol uses posters than he would get a wide audience, as many people would pass the poster whilst they are driving walking etc. With posters they are also a great way of promoting his business as they are outside with a wide audience. Web Page There is such a wide audience on the Internet, so with a web page on the Yellow Pages or Thomson Local site, there is a guarantee that lots of people would be browsing those sites in search of a service. With the web sites they are much easily organised and categorised so it would be very easy to locate something you may need and very fast. They even do it by area and business names as well so the searching is much faster and easier. I have got evidence of different marketing media’s of secondary research in the back of the coursework (appendices); there it will show the different types of ways you can advertise. Here I am going to write why I chose these pictures as evidence. Yellow Pages Pictures 1, 2 and 4 are from the Yellow Pages and in these pictures you can see how the person had laid out to advertise their business. Picture 1 the writing stands out as it’s blue and the background is white, but with picture 2 these people didn’t want to spend as much money on advertising so they kept it plain and simple and unfortunately with this advertising it is not going to catch anyone’s eye so they won’t get as much customers as picture 1 and 4 would get. Pictures 1 and 4 stand out much more, even though they are still small, they are so much bigger than picture 2. Thomson Local Pictures 3 and 5 are from the Thomson Local book. Picture 3 is quite representable as there are a variety of colours, but not so much colours so it keeps it subtle and calm looking and it doesn’t look overdone. The writing is also quite clear on it even though the ad seems to look quite small. But, picture 5 is huge; this stands out on its page and catches the reader’s eye to that ad straight away. The orange background helps it as it’s so bright, you can’t take you eyes off it, as it’s so attractive. Picture 5 also has a lot of information about the business, they have more information than picture 3 but you wouldn’t need that much information so that amount of information for both the pictures is just fine. The Leader Picture 6 is from the local Leader newspaper and this ad is quite good as it’s quite big and bold. There are only two colours but the reader’s eye is still wedged into looking at the advert. This ad has all the information you would want to know about the garage and the phone number is very bright so you wouldn’t need to squint to read it and all the writing is clear and is understandable and easy to read. Web Page Pictures 7 and 9 are both web pages. Picture 7 is from yell. com and picture 9 is from thomsonlocal. com. By doing web pages the customer can easily find what he/she is looking for as the searching is quick and easy, as everything is organised and categorised. It is very easy to find what you are looking for and it’s very sufficient, so if you lost the book of each of these sites than all you have to do is go to the web site and find what you are looking for there. These web sites have all the details you need to know about the business and it has ways that you can contact the business to. Business Cards Picture 8 is a business card and these are great to use, as they are small and easy to carry and people can keep it in their wallet and you can have all the information you need on them about your business. I chose this business card as the number is very big and takes up nearly the whole card and the name of the company comes next so people have a rough idea about what the business does. This business card is just right as it has just the right amount of information on it like a web site, phone number, companies name and as it’s double sided, there is more information on the back about the prices they charge. Posters Picture 10 is a poster about a motor garage. I think that the poster is very simple, it’s also very eye catching but it doesn’t have that much information on it. This poster doesn’t have as much information on it than it should have, but that’s ok in a way, as you wouldn’t want to squash everything up in one tiny poster. The colours are daring as they all just stand out and as the picture is animated it looks quite fun in a way as it looks interesting to look at. But there is no phone number or address to locate the business or get in touch with them. Leaflets Picture 11 is a leaflet’s front cover. As we can see it doesn’t give as much information away but that’s probably in the inside of the leaflet. The colours are again bright and a clever use of colours like a dark colour and a bright one so each colour makes each other one stand out. The title could also be quite catchy, as people wouldn’t want to get ripped off by a garage so they will look at this leaflet so they get a better deal; this title is a way people could save money. For each of the media stated which is appropriate to Errol, I am going to analyse it and say the advantages and disadvantages of it. Local Newspapers Advertising in local newspapers is great as the newspaper is free and everyone has one. So if Errol were to advertise in a local newspaper like The Leader than, loads of people in that catchment area would know about him and the word can spread around quick as everyone reads the newspapers. It costs about i 200 per week to advertise in the local newspapers, but if it was a regualr advertisement than it would get 20% discount off a week. On the other hand, in newspapers, people mainly look at the articles not the adverts so they tend to ignore them and newspapers get recycled and throw away so they won’t get looked at again. Newspaper adverts don’t get much attention and businesses don’t get helped by these adverts, so if you were to have an ad in the paper then it should stand out a lot and the reader should want to look at the ad. Radio Stations If Errol were to get an advert on the radio than it’s very likely that loads of people would be listening to the advert and it’s also very likely that people in the area if his business would be listening too. With the radio, there is a wide audience and adverts on the radio are more effective than adverts on the TV as you can change the channel, but with the radio people aren’t as bothered with the adverts because if they are driving they can’t mess about with the radio. If there is an advert on the radio than people like to paint a picture in their head about the advert, consequently making it more successful. The cost of advertising on the radio can be quite expensive and I have the figures of how much it would cost roughly: A simple advertisement for a small station will usually cost i 200-i 300. London stations and Digital Stations can cost up to ten times that. The price includes: script writing, audio production, actors to voice the ads, music (if used) and special effects (if used). All of this has to be licensed for broadcast for 12 months from the first time it’s played. Aim to spend at least 10% of your budget on the creative – for example†¦ A i 2,500 campaign on a small station over four weeks will probably run with one piece of creative which might cost you i250.   A i 25,000 campaign over a year will likely need a few different advertisements. At this level of investment, a jingle or audio identifier would be useful so listeners start to recognise your ads as soon as they hear them. A i 250,000 campaign over a year might be worth licensing a famous song for i 25,000 so your company really stands out. But listeners may not pay attention to the adverts and if Errol was to get an advert on radio than it will cost him a lot of money and as he’s just started the business it could lead him into bankruptcy. Sometimes motor garage ads on the radio aren’t as effective as people don’t pay attention to what the people are saying and they think that it’s boring. Directories Yellow Pages The Yellow Pages is a great place to promote your business, as the Yellow Pages is widely known, loads of people trust it more and as it comes free to your doorstep, every household has one. The Yellow Pages is also great as it has target areas so no one will be complaining about going too far to get a service as it’s all very near to them. Plus, it’s free to advertise in the Yellow Pages book, which displays your business name, address and telephone number under a single classification heading of your choice. However, the disadvantages of the big yellow book is that it’s heavy to carry and people wouldn’t want to be carrying that book around with them trying to find a suitable service and as there are millions of other ads, you are all competing and if your ad doesn’t stand out as much as the others or doesn’t sound very appealing than you will be losing customers as they will be going onto another business of the same service. So if Errol was to advertise in the Yellow Pages than he should make sure that his ad stands out the most on the page and that it looks appealing and trustworthy and to have the right information, like the information the customer would want to know not something they wouldn’t.

Annotated Bibliography Of John Steinbeck

Annotated Bibliography Of John Steinbeck East of Eden is John Steinbeck’s most famous novel. This book published in 1952 has won international critical acclaim, and propelled Steinbeck to international glory. Critics, both positive and negative, often describe the book as the most ambitious literary project of Steinbeck. The book talks about the intricacies of two families that live in the Salinas valley. The families are the Hamilton’s and the Trasks. The two families have interwoven stories. The book originally addresses the author’s two young sons, Thom and john. The book describes in detail the Salinas valley in California where the story is set. The story also involves other places like Connecticut and Massachusetts. The Salinas valley in central California is aptly described as it is the setting of the book. The story begins with the Hamilton family that has emigrated from Ireland. Samuel Hamilton raised his brood of nine children on some infertile patch of land until they are able to fed for the mselves. As Hamilton’s children begin to leave home, a well-off stranger buys the best ranch in the Salinas valley. The stranger is Adam Trask, and he has come to his riches after discovering that his father left him and his brother some worthwhile inheritance. Adam has fallen in love, and married Cathy Ames, a girl who is described as a monster. This is because she has been a manipulator of men, and she has left home after killing her parents. After giving birth, Cathy shoots Adam in the shoulders and flees. Adam has to rear his twin boys with the help of Samuel Hamilton and Lee. Lee is a Cantonese servant of Adam. The three men make good companionship and engage in lively biblical debates. Cathy turns to prostitution, and through murder, manages to acquire a brothel. The boys grow up, and Samuel Hamilton dies. Adam loses his fortune in a business misfortune. One of the boys chooses to farm, and the other twin becomes a priest. Caleb the farmer gets to be successful. During thanksgiving, he gives his father a gift of $15,000, which his father rejects. Meanwhile, his brother, Aron wants to drop out of college. The book ends with Adam bedridden, and Lee pleading with Adam to forgive his son. Benson.J. (1977). John Steinbeck: Novelist as Scientist. Novel, Vol. (10):6. It is important to note that, during the publication of East of Eden, the book did not get positive acclaim. It was rejected for many literary and biblical allusions that did not auger well with the critics of his day. East of Eden has been loved by the general readership worldwide. One of the failures of the East of Eden is that the book has borrowed heavily from Author Gunn’s book, New family physician. The borrowing is used to deepen the creative legacy and artistic portrait of Samuel Hamilton. John Steinbeck, in writing East of Eden, has strayed from his literary style and adherence to realism and naturalism. This is because of his habit of what he has referred to as creative read ing. Creative reading can be related to creative writing. Only in this case it is the opposite, for the creative reader reads to write. The implication is that Steinbeck has immersed himself in various documents, some of them scientific to come up with East of Eden. The book has been superimposed with so many allusions that it loses the fictional ability with which it is supposed to command the reader of fiction. The result is that the book borders on non fictional work. In many respects, the book is drawn from the author’s background. This makes it an autobiographical stretch of his life. For example, Samuel Hamilton, the benign farmer is a representation of Steinbeck’s grandfather. His execution of form (Steinbeck’s) is heavily influenced by other works. The problem is not the heavy borrowing, the problem is the way he has failed to disguise his borrowing. It is a fact that all great literary work is some form of copying, or stealing. Shakespeare plagiarized n inety percent from ancient Greek writing. He plagiarized in mastery disguise, and what we have of him are great works. East of Eden is blatantly plagiarized.

Coursework 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Coursework 1 - Essay Example Graphic Design, which developed in Switzerland in 1950 was aimed at these tasks, and therefore the concept and methodology of the Swiss style soon spread throughout the world. One of the areas where the emerging international style was the most in demand, was the pharmaceutical industry. The largest Swiss companies that manufactured chemicals and drugs (Ciba, Geigy, Hoffmann-La Roche, Sandoz) to establish a modern corporate style appealed to the leading masters of graphic design - A. Hofmann, C. Gerstner, N. Rudin, J. Hemburgeru, J . Mà ¼ller-Brockmann and others. In Zurich in 1950-s. the most prominent graphic designer was Josef Muller-Brockmann, who has chosen a new  «anonymous » style. A graduate of the Zurich School of Art and Industry, since 1936 he worked as a freelance graphic designer. One of the most brilliant pages in the the career was the creation of posters on the musical program of the Concert Hall (Zurich Tonhalle, 1950 - 1972) and the Opera House of Zurich (Opernhaus Zurich, 1960.). (Bringhust, 2004) To create a visual image of the placards Muller-Brockmann used cascades of crescent shape, the cycle of arcs, the modulation wave-like lines. By the beginning of 1960 the concert posters by Muller-Brockmann become extremely font. The intervals in words, taking the advantage of color and scale, sought to master rhythmic architectonic unity. Typographic composition, the formation of the principle of crossword, stepped lines, or in several columns, represented typical examples of functional typography . Strict and clear style of these years was the culmination of mathematical principles in graphic design. (Hollis, 2006) By the middle of 1960 the usual practice of Swiss graphic designers is the use of modular grid. The book by J. Muller-Brockmann  «Challenges of graphic artist in the field of design engineering » (Gestaltungsprobleme des Grafikers, 1961) first presented the

Theoretical review in optical materials used in Concentrating Dissertation

Theoretical review in optical materials used in Concentrating Photovoltanic (CPV) Technology - Dissertation Example Photovoltaic cells have been widely in use for the production of electricity from solar energy. However, they have high production costs because of which the cost of photovoltaic electricity is high, causing difficulties in their widespread use and market penetration (Swanson, 2000). One approach through which this drawback can be minimized is the use of solar concentrators that can increase solar irradiation per unit area of the solar cells, thereby resulting in increased electricity production per unit area of the receiver (Abdul-Rahman & Wang, 2010). Apart from increasing the electricity efficiency of the photovoltaic solar cells, the use of solar concentrators can also help in decreasing the area required for a given amount of output. Concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) technology uses optical components as solar concentrators. This technology is economically advantageous as it helps in decreasing the cost of solar electricity by using optical material that is less expensive than ph otovoltaic cells, resulting in the need for lesser number of solar cells for the same electrical output. Thus, in simpler words, the goal of CPV technology is to â€Å"reduce the cost of electricity generated by replacing expensive PV converter area with less expensive optical material† (Swanson, 2003, p. 449). ... ectric Fresnel lenses, other types of solar concentrators include dish concentrators, compound parabolic concentrators, and reflectors (Brogren, 2004). As the present study aims at modeling optical parameters for optimum collection of concentrated solar radiation for photovoltaic devices, this theoretical review will focus on the different types of optical materials used in CPV technology. Apart from providing a brief overview of the types of solar concentrators, their optics, and the types of optical materials used, this review will also elaborate the optical and physical properties of optical materials, especially glass and polymeric materials such as poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), which are relevant to the present study. 2.2. Solar Concentrators & Their Types Solar concentrators are of various types depending on the type of optics employed, the concentration ratio, the number of axes for tracking the sun, etc. Fig. 2.2. Schematic representation of solar concentrator, radiation intercepted by the aperture area, A1, falls on the receiver area, A2 (Brogren, 2004, p. 41). The figure 2.2 above shows the diagrammatic representation of a solar concentrator that concentrates solar radiation spread over a wider aperture area, A1, over a smaller receiver area, A2. 2.2.1. Concentration Ratio The geometric concentration ratio of a given concentrating system is the ratio of the concentrator aperture area and area over which the radiation is concentrated. It is given by the following equation: Cg = A1/A2, where, Cg = geometric concentration ratio, A1 = â€Å"aperture area of concentrator†, and A2= â€Å"area onto which the radiation is concentrated† (Brogren, 2004). For solar concentrators, the geometric concentration ratio is defined as â€Å"the area of the primary lens or

Islam, Judaism And Christianity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Islam, Judaism And Christianity - Essay Example Judaism not only can but does stand on its own. Judaism’s core beliefs in the Old Testaments are shared with Christianity. The two religions even believe in a messiah. The difference is Judaism rejects Jesus of Nazareth as that messiah, whereas Jesus is the long awaited savior in the Christian religion. The question becomes does one believe Jesus is the long awaited messiah? Christians believe so, normally without doubt. Judaism rejects that belief. Christianity has changed the world in the past two hundred years. America and most countries in the West have Christian leaders. This has influenced historical events. Cold War propaganda touted communist wanted to take over the world and get rid of religion all together. The evolution of anti-war movements and negotiations can be taken from Jesus’ teachings of peace. Instead of the Old Testament’s ‘eye for an eye’ like Judaism calls for, the death penalty has been rescinded in many countries and in parts of the United States. Finally, with the decadence of the past two hundred years, a messiah that forgives everything is quite appealing. It is more popular than Judaism’s demand that Biblical law be obeyed. Other events have been interpreted through Christian views in the past two hundred years. One example is the Holocaust.

Good Deed report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Good Deed report - Essay Example The supervisor approved the commendation and agreed to send it the next day; furthermore, he added a $300 bonus for Roseanne’s actions and a commendation for her trainer. The supervisor is pleased with Roseanne’s handling of the concerns of the customer, which shows her training and personal work ethics, so he includes a bonus for her and a commendation for her trainer. He describes the work of customer representatives as sensitive emotional labor. He emphasizes the importance of bonuses in financially compensating excellent workplace actions. This bonus shows that the company values exemplary employee attitudes and behaviors. In Roseanne’s case, it is impressive that after only two weeks in the job, she shows remarkable dexterity in handling complex cases and infuriated customers. The supervisor further commends her trainer, who is also happy with Roseanne’s performance. The trainer uses Roseanne as an example for new trainees. Customer service agents are at the forefront of serving and making customers happy. If they do something right, they get a commendation and positive performance review. But if they go beyond their duties and excel in doing so, they deserve a bonus. Hence, the supervisor approved the request and positively reinforced commendable workplace behaviors. Employees, who go above and beyond the call of duty, have to be properly commended to reinforce their good behavior. Reinforcement studies in the workplace suggest the importance of timing positive rewards in sustaining and spreading positive behaviors. On 25 September 2012, Roseanne Blythe, a customer service and sales agent, was about to end her shift when an irate customer called in. She did not only restore a disgruntled customer’s faith in the company, she also increased revenues, when that customer opened twenty accounts amounting to $5,000 every month. Hence, I recommend for her to get a public commendation for the positive performance

Specialty Equipment Market Association Case Study

Specialty Equipment Market Association - Case Study Example In illustrating the problem, there are certain recommendations provided regarding how the break on taxes can be successfully implemented along with the providing a cost analysis of the recommended solutions. Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) is one of the leading trade associations related to the car market, which was established in the year 1963. Generally, SEMA deals in the market in exchange (buying and selling) of old or antique cars along with modifying their machines. Furthermore, this dealing is particularly observed in the automotive aftermarket and it targets high income earning community (SEMA, 2012). Automotive aftermarket can be defined as the market segment where the old and antique cars are brought together for buying and selling after modifying and remanufacturing with upgraded technology. Contextually, the automotive aftermarket is also known as the secondary market (Automotive Industry Association of Canada, 2003). Antique/collector vehicles are those cars which are extinct in nature in terms of market presence with possessing unique features, designs and are generally available in a single piece in the entire market. In the developing world, it is observed t hat there is a demand for antique cars from high-class society in order to fulfil their hobbies. The problem that has been identified in purchasing or keeping antique or collector cars is paying off excess or extra taxes to the government as compared to other new cars’ taxes. Considering the particular problem, the paper aims to present a measure to the federal, state government stating that the government should provide the break on imposed taxes to the owners who have kept or bought antique cars from the automotive aftermarket. After identifying the problem, it can be analyzed with the help of a strategic analysis tool i.e. SWOT analysis to recognize the key aspects related to the problem. This is because it will help to provide a positive support to the recommended measure while presenting it to the federal government.  Ã‚     

Women Leadership in Africa Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Women Leadership in Africa - Essay Example Competent women leaders are required for good functioning of African governments. For instance, the civil wars that have devastated the continent for decades are based on tribal rivalry. Most leaders in current African governments have been elected into power through such tribal associations. This makes them support ethnic divisions that have continued to trouble the continent. The African continent is also suffering from an unequal distribution of resources. Although the continent is endowed with resources such as oil and other precious minerals, the continent has not fully benefited from this resource. In addition, these resources have become a source of conflicts that have ruined most countries. Conflicts Liberia, Angola, Nigeria, and Congo are related to an availability of resources in these countries. These problems can be solved by increasing the number of female political leaders in African governments. Unlike men, women are against conflicts and they support equitable distribution of a country’s wealth. Thus, women leadership and competence are necessary for a well functioning political system in Africa. Women leaders are also likely to empower women through education and entrepreneurship and this will liberate Africans from poverty.

The Mafia Theory Essay Example for Free

The Mafia Theory Essay David E. Scheim has published two books claiming that the Mafia were responsible for the assassination of John F. Kennedy. He believes that it was organized by Carlos Marcello, Santos Trafficante and Jimmy Hoffa. This theory is based on the idea that the Mafia were angry with both John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy for their attempts to destroy organized crime. Scheims theory was supported by Trafficantes lawyer, Frank Ragano, who published the book Mob Lawyer, in 1994. The theory is also supported by the investigative journalist, Jack Anderson. G. Robert Blakey, chief counsel and staff director to the House Select Committee on Assassinations from 1977 to 1979, published The Plot to Kill the President in 1981. In the book Blakey argues that Lee Harvey Oswald was involved but believes that there was at least one gunman firing from the Grassy Knoll. Blakey came to the conclusion that the Mafia boss, Carlos Marcello, organized the assassination. Anthony Summers is the author of The Kennedy Conspiracy. He believes that Kennedy was killed by a group of anti-Castro activists, funded by Mafia mobsters that had been ousted from Cuba. Summers believes that some members of the CIA took part in this conspiracy. In his book, JFK: The Second Plot (1992), Matthew Smith points out that Thomas H. Killam, a man who worked for Jack Ruby, claimed that there was a link between his former employer, Lee Harvey Oswald and the Mafia. He told his brother, I am a dead man, but I have run as far as I am running. Killam was found dead in an alley with his throat cut in March, 1964. In October, 1991, Chauncey Holt confessed to John Craig, Phillip Rogers and Gary Shaw about his role in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. He claimed Peter Licavoli, a leading figure in the Mafia in Detroit, had organized the conspiracy and named Charlie Nicoletti, Charles Harrelson and Charles Rogers as the gunmen. In 1992 the nephew of Sam Giancana published Double Cross: The Story of the Man Who Controlled America. The book attempted to establish that Giancana had rigged the 1960 Presidential election vote in Cook County on John Kennedys behalf, which effectively gave Kennedy the election. It is argued that Kennedy reneged on the deal and therefore Giancana had him killed. The next crime figure to confess to the crime was James Files. He claimed that two Mafia leaders, Sam Giancana and Johnny Roselli organized the assassination. Charlie Nicoletti was identified as the other gunman.

BENEFITS AND COMPENSATION IN WORKPLACE

BENEFITS AND COMPENSATION IN WORKPLACE Abstract Benefits and compensation in workplace has been on the lime light since pre-industrialization period. This is due to the oppression that their employees subjected to workers and they were fighting to ensure that they liberate themselves from these filthy working places as they benefit from their toil. Therefore, in the research, the background information will be discussed to show how it involved. Some of the benefits of compensation will be discussed that include boosting of morale, increasing performance, which consequently increases turnover of the business. Internal and external equity achieved and increase in communication. Components of the compensation system that include job description, job analysis, job evaluation, pay structure salary survey as well as the policy governing the compensation scheme will be discussed in detail to ensure that they are well understood. The research will also cover types of compensations and benefits. Such compensation and benefits as base pay, commission, overtime pay, stock option, bonuses, insurances, and medical allowances will be discussed in full giving insight on how they come about and their advantages. The research will also cover give regulation that affects compensation. Finally, for a company to understand the best method on how to come up with the compensation scheme for their employees, compensation plan will be comprehensively covered. This will involve step by step development of the scheme to ensure that the scheme caters for the employees at the best of the company ability and ensure also it conform with the current market salary for each job offered in the company. Benefits and compensation in Workplace Introduction Benefits and compensation in workplace offers a labor friendly condition to the workers to ensure that they give fully their potential. People during the pre-industrial era treated workplace and home place as one place, which change significantly with emergence of the machines and factory. Industrialization thus brought socioeconomic hierarchal that was accompanied with gender role stereotypes (Butler, Park, 2005). This means that men were the one who were able to access the paid jobs while the women worked at home. The quality of the family was affected very much by the socio-economic hierarchy that each family occupied. This is because the wealthy people were the one who drove the industrial demand of goods. During the time of war, the demand for the industrial workers improved as men mostly worked as military. Therefore, women were the other option to be recruited to work in men dominated careers in the industries. However like men, they were neither given enough economic rights nor able to access good work protection for their jobs. According to the industrial employment conditions that were reported in those early times, they showed that men and women received very low wages, succumbed long working hours and poor working conditions as they serve hazardous job places (Repa, 2010). They were also discriminated in terms of sex, race color and gender. Some of them reported sexual harassment. There was rampant child labor reported in the work place. Due to all these problems, laborers formed uprisings that were too used to address the issue of good payment, better working conditions as well as equal and fair treatment in the workplace. This fight got support from all the divides where religious and academicians supported them (Griffin, 2010). This led to formation of unions as well as cooperatives to help the workers acquire better benefits and compensation in the workplace (Rosenbloom, 2005). People behind cooperatives and independent communes were socialist Robert Owen and Charles Fourier in the eighteenth century. Owen advocated for short working hours, formation of unions and self-governing workshop while Fourier fought for equal women rights and good basic income. He also advocated decent minimum payment for the unemployed thus creating benefit for the unemployed. Child labor was abolished as they were forced to go to school and attending other recreation activities (Repa, 2010). These struggles lead to the formation of the International Labor organization (ILO) in 1919. The countries who signed this convention were on their way to promote their employees at workplace, bring about decent employment opportunities, strength dialogue between the employees and the employers as well as handling professionally work related issues. It also offered a platform that there would be possibility of forming labor groups, organizations and they have representative from sate government (Henderson, 1985). These ensured that consultation to come up with ideal working standards and policies were formed. Therefore, this was the birth of good benefits and compensation at the work place. Benefits and compensation in work place According to definition, compensation is an approach that is systematic to ensure that employees are provided with monetary value in exchange of the work performed. The purposes that the compensation is able to achieve include recruitment, job performance and job satisfaction (Muller, 2009). While benefits are a kind of compensation, that are given to employees in additional to what they get as wages and salaries. How compensation and benefits are used in workplace Compensation as a tool is used by the management to further their company existence through achievement of various purposes through its dispensation. It is usually adjusted to cater for various company needs, goals and available resources. Compensation in the company is used in the company to ensure that they recruit employees and retain those who are highly qualified. This ensures that the companyà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s human resource is always competent to undertake the duties in accordance to the postulated goals and objectives of the company (Wilson, 2003). Compensation in the company works as a morale booster in the company as it maintains employeeà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s satisfactions in their jobs ensuring that their productivity is increased. Therefore, through good compensation scheme, the business is able to increase its output with minimum resources possible thus making good returns (Thomason, et al. 2001). Compensation ensures that the top performers are also rewarded and the same high performance act is increased throughout the working period. When the company encourages high performance in the business, it increases high returns and due to reward offered to the high performing employees, labor turnover in the business is decreased (Repa, 2010). Through proper compensation, it is capable of achieving internal and external equity of the company. It increases company loyalty by its employees reducing labor turnover (Guerin, 2010). Therefore, when the company offers a good compensation scheme, it reduces its expenses that come from continuous recruitment due to high labor turnover as well as lower employeeà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s loyalty. Good compensation ensures good work communication through proper modification of unionà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s practice that offers proper compensation negotiations (Wilson, 2003). This is very important in the company as it offers job satisfaction and increases high morale in the working place. Components of compensation systems For a compensation scheme to be perceived as affair one by the employees, it has to base itself in certain components that should be systematic. Therefore, various systems have been put in place to help develop the value of the compensation positions. In these systems, various components are utilized that include, job description, written procedures and salary ranges as well as structures (Peterson, et al. 1998). Job description This is one of the most important components in compensation and selection systems. It ensures that it gives in writing the requirements, responsibilities, duties, functions, location, environment, conditions among other jobs aspects (Repa, 2010). It usually developed for individual job descriptions or for the whole families of the jobs. The following two ways are used in the process of job description. Job analysis This is the process into which jobs are analyzed to ensure that description of job is brought about. The techniques usually used are questionnaires, interviews and observations (Griffin, 2010). Job evaluation To ensure that a proper compensation scheme is brought into place, the management uses this system where jobs element are put into consideration through comparison to ensure that compensation of each job is critically put in place (Griffin, 2010). The various techniques that are used in the job evaluation methods are ranking, classification, factor comparison and point methods. Through them each jobs is offered the right compensation that fits it. Pay structures To ensure that in an employment place there is a standard compensation practice; job structure should be put in place. In most of the structures that are put in place, they contain different grades that offer a minimum salary or wage. These structure =s provides also the interface that help in the increment of the salary from one grade to the other according to the given range (Griffin, 2010). This is more pronounced in the working place that has a unionized employees system where each job has predetermined pay, which is put in place through collective bargaining. Salary survey Salary survey is a method of collecting salary data from the market. The data collected includes, averages salaries in the market offered to a specific job, inflation indicators that may make the salary market unstable in the near future and an average salary budget. Either the survey can be conducted by the company themselves or they can be from other parties for example survey vendors who do survey of the market for sale. Therefore, the company can decide on the method to obtain these data (Turner, 2001). The best method of obtaining data is through the company carrying their own survey, as they will be more specific in the type of the data they are up to. Otherwise, if they opt to purchase survey from the vendors, the company must be very observant as these surveys are done depending with specific industries or across different industries. They may also be done from one geographical region or from diverse regions geographically. Therefore, to ensure that the company is capable of obtaining the right salary results, it has to ensure that it knows the right geographical region that pertains its salary survey and compare with its company objectives (Rosenbloom, 2005). Policies and regulations For a company to come up with a certain scheme of pay, it should ensure that it is conversant with rules and regulations that underlie the salaries and wages in the country. They should ensure that they comply with them to ensure that they offer good background for their company existence or otherwise it will be subdue d by the non-compliance consequences (Butler, Park, 2005). Types of compensation and benefits Various compensations offer incentives to the employees of the company. The first one is base pay. Base pay is a form of compensation that is fixed that an employee is offered after performing a specific job or after undertaking a certain responsibility. It is usually paid in as a monthly salary, hourly or as piece rate. This type of compensation does not include any additional pay. The other type of compensation is commission. This compensation is the one offered for service that have been rendered based on the amount of a percentage that has been agreed upon by both parties depending with the amount sold. This is usually an incentive given to sales people to ensure that their sales morale is increased as the more the sales, the higher the commission offered. Overtime pay is another compensation that is offered to the employees. After working four the normal working hours, overtime sometimes may be introduced to various reasons. First, one employee may have fallen sick and he/she has not been replaced; therefore creating a vacant shift that requires someone to work extra hours. The company might be in the transitional period of expanding their functioning time and the recruitment of extra employees is underway. Therefore, the created time is counted as overtime to the regular employees as they will be forced to work for extra hours (Griffin, 2010). The other way that overtime is created is when some of the employees are on leave. These hours are paid extra money on top of the normal salary to compensate the person undertaking the responsibility. Most of the overtimes are calculated with a given percentage over the base salary per hour worked after normal time. Employee stock option is a form of incentive that employees are offered by the corporation. This is through being given an offer to buy stock in the corporation at a bargained price. This bargained price is made to run at a specified period. Most of the companies will offer such incentives to their executives to ensure that they feel the ownership of the company. Other compensations that the employees are able to enjoy include bonuses, profit sharing, merit pay, travel, meal as well as housing allowance. Benefits including insurances, medical, vacation, leaves, retirement and taxes. Regulations affecting compensations Compensation is regulated through the laws that are given in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) chapter 676 of 1938. This is also known as Wages and Hour Bill. This is a U.S based federal law that establishes minimum requirements for an employees number of hours for working, wages, payroll and premium overtime records (Turner, 2001). Compensation plan To ensure that the compensation is well disbursed to the employees and all the factors that affect the compensation are put in place, compensation plan will be of paramount use. Therefore, the company should ensure that the following is done. Developing program outline A program should be put in place to set an objective for the program. The company should ensure that they establish the target dates for implementation and completion of the program. Then determine a budget for the program to ensure that the amount to be used is known. Designating individuals for overseeing compensation programs To come up with this position the company should ensure that they determine if the position will be based there permanently or temporarily. Afterwards, they select the person to oversee the program once it is completely established (Thomason, et al. 1998). The cost of going outside and getting one from the inside the company should be established. This will make sure that the most cost effective method is used. The other part that should be determined is the cost of consultants review. Developing compensation philosophy The company is required to form a compensation committee that is required to oversee the development of the scheme. This committee may include officers from the company depending with the number that will deliver a quick and quality compensation scheme. They are required to ensure that they offer differences that will exist in the pay structure depending with the level of the job. That is the executives, professional employees a swell as other employees in the company. This committee will ensure that they bring about company set salaries at, above or below market level. The final thing that the committee should determine is whether the extent to which the benefits to be offered to the employees will supplement or replace cash compensation. Conducting job analysis of all position Major departmental analysis should be conducted to ensure that general analysis is given showing who to accomplish what. To ensure that the committee comes up with the primary function of each department, inputs from each senior departmental head should be offered to ensure that organizational structure is formed (Thomason, et al. 1998). Interviews are to be conducted to the senior departmental heads to ensure that roles and function of each job is given to ensure that when rating the compensation such functions are considered. Decision should be generated on the job classification that will be exempt and the ones that will nonexempt (Griffin, 2010). After coming up with such classifications, job description methods are developed for both exempt and nonexempt positions. Afterwards, the models that have been put in place are distributed to the departmental head for reviewing where adjustment is done where necessary. After reviewing the models, final draft is therefore generated having jobs deceptions. At this stage, the committee is required to meet with departmental mangers to ensure that they finalize necessary reviews of the job description. From here, the job description document will be finalized. Jobs evaluation In evaluating the jobs, the ranking will be done from the top most senior job and in the interdepartmental stages depending with the function of each employee and other postulated factors. The ranking is then compared afterwards with the market data that was previously obtained to ensure that error deviations are suppressed. The deviations are suppressed through necessary adjustment. After verification is complete, an organizational review matrix is generated to show how compensation will be done. Still in the developing of the matrix, jobs cross lines, departments are developed based on the task required, and forecasted business plan. To ensure that the matrix is standard, the matrix data is then compared with the company structure and the industry market. Flow charts of the ranks for each department are prepared afterwards to ensure that interpretation and assessment is done. Data and charts prepared are then presented to the compensation committee where they are reviewed and adjus ted accordingly (Turner, 2001). Grade determination The number levels of each job are established and a grade assigned for all the job families. It is from here the pay grade is generated through use of the position at each particular level within the department. This is done to ensure that fair compensation and benefits are offered to employees in all the employment levels. Grade pricing and salary establishment The first thing that is supposed to be done is to establish the benchmark of the references job. This job will ensure that the compensation is disbursed well throughout the established grades (Irving, 2011). This benchmark job price should be reviewed to conform to the market price within industry. Finally, a trend is established depending with the company philosophy. That is the position that the company requires to be in the industry range. Appropriate salary structure determination Through this, the difference is made between each salary step. Minimum and maximum range is determined and the remaining jobs slotted in. Jobs description is reviewed at this stage while verifying the purpose of maintaining certain positions in the company (Thomason, et al. 1998). To ensure that policies are well generated, compensation review committee is met to ensure that adjustments and approval are made. Developing salary administration policy General company policy document is generated at this stage. This is followed with a document showing specific policies for each selected groups and a strategy for merit document. The merit document will show all the benefits that will be enjoyed by the employees as well as pay increases. This includes annual reviews, bonuses, and promotions among others. A document is also generated showing the procedures required and justification of the policies given like performance appraisal forms, merit schedules among others. Then the relevant committee does reviews finally for adjustment. Communicate the final program to the employee and managers After the approval of the program by the top executives, the compensation program is then presented to the employees for feedback, review and consequently adjustments. Then it is presented to the executive staff managers for approval, change and incorporation of all necessary measures to ensure that it is effective before being adopted (Turner, 2001). A plan on how this will be communicated to the employees is devised to ensure that they are well versed with the whole idea. Slideshows, movies, literatures among others can be used depending with the most appropriate method. The best form of the compensation and benefit plan is printed as specification for all re-ports are developed. Tests runs are executed to human resources information systems as the program is adopted for execution. Program monitoring To ensure3 that the program is up to the required standard, feedback should be monitored where they will lead to necessary changes. Monitoring will also offer ways in which problems in the program are noted and adjusted wherever necessary (Butler, Park, 2005). Conclusion Good benefits and compensation program will always make the employees of the company to feel company ownership. Their production will always be at per and will ensure the company objective and goals are always met. This is because, a company may have good objectives but the driving force to meet them is through human resource. Therefore, whenever the human resource is satisfied, the company will always address their issue and meet their basic objectives. This is through offering incentives to the employees through good benefit and compensation practice. The higher the job satisfaction in the company, the higher the morale in the job and the higher the production rate in the company thus increasing sales turnover.

Prejudice- Right or Wrong? :: Free Essay Writer

Prejudice- Right or Wrong? Prejudice and racism are two major issues that many people have to deal with in their lifetime. It can effect many different people in many different ways. Various thoughts and feelings are shown in the novel â€Å"To Kill A Mockingbird† by Harper Lee, which shows a small but a very racist town towards coloured people. In the book they convict a black, Tom Robinson, of doing something we know he didn’t do but this was down to a white jury. The book shows and puts across the true way in which the world works. It shows real life situations that any of us could be in, for instance the Tom Robinson case. Many of the characters are realistic in the way they react to Atticus supporting the blacks and the way they discriminate them as many people, even today, have done the same. The characters Jem and Scout, put forward the child’s point of view. This view, however is still quite bigoted. The reason being is that they come from a background who have lived with a black and have never categorized them in any way. So they believe, due to Atticus fighting the case, that Tom Robinson is innocent and also try to take it into their own hands, by following Atticus down to the jail house one night for example, which not all people would do as everyone has their own opinion but this is a very good point in the book to show the way in which people react and live with the situation. Racism has been a steady problem all through time. One of the most troublesome areas of racism is in places of education. Finding a cure for this would be a major step towards ending racism in general. No one has ever thought of a solution yet, so racism will be as strong for as long as there isn't one. For example, In the 1960's, the governor of Alabama, George Wallace, was a militant supporter of segregation. In 1963 two blacks, Vivian Jones and James Hood, sought admission to the traditionally segregated University of Alabama. According to legislation at the time, they had every right to go there; but since the governor was so anti-black and pro segregation, he didn't like it one bit. As the two black students prepared to enter the college, George Wallace stood in the doorway blocking their way, addressing the need for segregation. He refused to move, so the national guard was called in to restore order and admit Jones and Hood to the University of Alabama. This was an important moment in black

Alcohol and its Effects Essay -- Alcoholism Drinking Essays

Alcohol and its Effects Does the brain control all forms of behavior? Is everything we do, say, think and feel a direct output from nothing but the brain? Is it justifiable to think of the brain as interconnected box within box with inputs and outputs? The focus of this paper is on the input alcohol and how the processes generate a certain type of behavior output. This focus of alcohol input and behavior output will demonstrate that indeed brain is and does equal all forms of behavior. When alcohol is inputted into our brain, it induces many forms of typical behavior outputs such as impaired judgement, extreme emotion, and slowed behavior. Long-term effects include damage in cognitive behavior especially associated with the frontal lobes of the brain such as "slowed processing of information, difficulty in learning new material, deficits in abstraction and problem solving, and reduced visuospatial abilities." (1). The reason for this kind of damage in cognitive behavior can be explained the alcohols effect on the brain structure itself. Researchers have found that brains of alcoholics are smaller and have an increased number of brain tissue loss then the comparable nonalcoholic. Known as the premature aging hypothesis, alcohol is stated to "accelerate normal aging" and make the young alcoholics older then they really are. This kind of aging due to alcohol allows the younger non-alcoholics of the same age, faster and quicker in cognitive abilities. (1) So what is the underlying mechanisms of this kind of output behavior? What goes on inside the boxes within boxes that cause actions such as slow cognitive output? These behavioral outputs can be explained from alcohol's effects on the humans' smallest box, the neuron. Wi... ...me reactions going on in our brains. And what are those 'reactions' exactly? I don't know." (5). There are many 'reactions' that occurs in our brain which produce behavior. Alcohol is one example of them. Internet Sources: 1) Alcohol-Related Cognitive Impairments. An Overview of How Alcoholism May Affect the Workings of the Brain http://wilsontxt.hwwilson.com/pdfhtml/04716/N5AQW/ES6.htm" 2)Serotonin's Role in Alcohol's Effects on the Brain http://wilsontxt.hwwilson.com/pdfhtml/04716/N7AQW/6S8.htm" 3) Neurochemical Mechanisms Underlying Alcohol Withdrawal http://wilsontxt.hwwilson.com/pdfhtml/04716/N8AQQ/5SD.htm 4)Media Awareness Project, maintains an extensive Drugnews Index of drug-related news clippings http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n910/a02.html 5)Neurobiology and Behavior http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neur/neuro00/topic1.html

Industrialization - Economic Change and Effect :: European Europe History

Industrialization - Economic Change and Effect Since the 19th century, industrialization has had positive and negative effects on the live of workers. Industrialization is the process of modernization and mass production of most goods. This also includes but not limited to mining and the forging of iron. An area where industrialization had a massive effect was in Eastern Europe. It emerged as a need to modernize and unify Europe. Although Britain led industrialization at first, it quickly exploded from Spain all the way through Russia. Early in the industrial revolution Britain stood alone as the world's industrial giant. To protect its head start Britain placed strict laws monitoring the exportation of inventions. Then in 1807 a British mechanic William Cockerill, opened factories in Belgium for the manufacturing of spinning and weaving machines. Belgium thus became the first European nation to industrialize. By the mid 1800s, other nations had joined the race, and several newcomers were challenging Britain's industrial supremacy. The effects of industrialization were especially obvious in Germany. By the late 1800's Germany had setup a standard for chemical and electric companies worldwide. Germany was second only to Britain among the European powers. Germany spectacular growth was due to the ample amount of iron and coal resources in the area. A disciplined and educated work force also helped the economy, while a rapid growing population provided a huge home market and a highly skilled work force. It almost eliminated the poverty factor in Germany due to the vast availability of employment. But along with the attributions of industrialization also came the bad. Poor work place conditions lead to work place abuses. Workers were forced to work long hours for little pay and even children were abuses during this time. Some of the abuses were children as young as 7 could be seen in work places, sexual discrimination was present. Women were often hired in factories because they could be paid less then men. And pollution was also a serious problem. These were among the most common problems of the time and these were too often seen in most if not all the work places. Workers were outraged by these abuses and how the government, at the time, did nothing to help. Workers established unions and won the right to bargain with employers for better wages and hours. And eventually the government passed laws regulating the employment of children and set safety regulations in the work place.

Hamlet Second Soliloquy

In the last scene of act I Hamlet is told by the ghost that his father has been murdered by Uncle Claudius, the brother of the deceased king. Hamlet once mournful and grim turns revengeful, he promises the ghost to â€Å"sweep† to revenge. But he is tormented with doubts. The ghost has taken its toll on Hamlet but has not been convincing enough, he cannot fully trust it given that it might also be an evil spirit willing to make him change course, misleading him to murder an innocent man and be â€Å"damned† as Hamlet puts it in his words full of fear and anxiety.For such reasons Hamlet conceives a plan, he is going to wear a mask of madness, or put on ‘the antic disposition’, which Hamlet considers will make things easier for him: Hamlet under the mask of madness intends getting people talk more freely in his presence and thus he might easily find the truth about his uncle. But, far from working his plan turns to be counterproductive. Soon, Hamlet draws eve n more attention to himself, the royal court is intrigued by his strange behavior and King Claudius summons Hamlet’s school friends Rosencratz and Guildernstern asking them to go spy on him.Hamlet is suspicious of his own friends and soon conceives a new idea to trap his uncle: the reenactment of his father’s murder under the cover of a play called â€Å"The Murder of Gonzago†. In this particular soliloquy, which comes right after, the audience is waiting to see a more determined Hamlet ready to avenge his father’s murder: indeed it has been a while since Hamlet promised to act. Instead we are presented with an even more confused character, not only uncertain of the world surrounding him but also himself. Shakespeare through the soliloquy paints Hamlet’s character.Thus, the audience finds out that Hamlet is self-loathing -Hamlet’s opening words: expression of self-disgust: â€Å" O what a rogue and peasant slave am I! †, Hamletâ€℠¢s self-critic is obvious here, he reduces himself to the state of a slave. The Prince must really be mad at himself. Shakespeare’s choice of the word â€Å"slave† might signify Hamlet’s inaction, passiveness, just like a slave is chained to his master and incapable of acting against his will, so is Hamlet attached to the shackles of thought and meditation, which impede him from acting, acting freely. -The first layer’s acting has left Hamlet with a sense of amazement. How come the actor can get himself to cry for something that is imaginary, for â€Å"Hecuba†, dead thousands of years ago and Hamlet, who has real, true reasons to cry proves unable to express his anguish over the loss of his father and the incestuous remarriage of his mother: â€Å"can say nothing, – no not for a king†. -Hamlet suggests here that his inability to express himself is like a betrayal, for Hamlet seems to have forsaken his duty of avenging his father. He c alls himself â€Å"A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause†.The choice of the adjective â€Å"dull† reminds the audience of what the ghost told him in Act I. If Hamlet didn’t take revenge the ghost said that he would be â€Å"duller than the fat weed/ That roots itself on Lethe wharf†. Hamlet seems to be accusing himself of not having the player's passion, of not hating Claudius strongly enough, of not loving his father strongly enough. Hamlet is mad at himself not because he hasn’t killed Claudius but because he hasn’t said anything. So Hamlet instead of plotting against Claudius dwells on himself.Another character trait is being developed by Shakespeare, one that the audience is very much familiar with since Hamlet’s first soliloquy where he extrapolates his own grief over Denmark, the world in general. It is Hamlet’s egocentric side. -Note the abounding number of personal pronouns (I, my, me) used by Hamlet in the soliloquy. It is as if the world revolved around him. When Hamlet shows the actor’s passion and enthusiasm about his role it is only to stress on his own lack of passion. It is as if the actor were a tool that Hamlet makes use of in order to urge himself into action. The soliloquy is presented as a dialogue between Hamlet and himself. The prince is willing to work himself into a state of passion, revengefulness: â€Å"Am I a coward? † The use of the future tense at the end of the soliloquy when Hamlet confirms his intentions concerning the mouse trap is also significant, in sense that Hamlet seems like convincing himself that he will finally do something, that he has a plan, he projects himself into the future trying to influence it â€Å"I’ll observe his looks, I’ll tent him to the quick (†¦) I’ll catch the conscience of the king.At some stage he seems to imagine someone insulting him, â€Å" Who calls me a vi llain, breaks my pate across, plucks off my beard and blows it in my face†. This helps building his rage which culminates when he remembers Claudius in the following lines†Bloody bawdy villain! Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless, villain! Oh, vengeance† Note the emotiveness of the passage, Hamlet breaks into an emotional climax; he is outraged at the simple thought of his father’s murderer.One could imagine him spitting these words out loud with his finger pointed at an imaginary Claudius accusing him of all of his crimes and ultimately stabbing him with an imaginary dagger with† vengeance† in his mind. -But, this is only an imaginary vengeance or Hamlet trying to rehearse in order to get himself in the mood. In the lines that follow Hamlet’s focus is again back on himself and how pathetic the whole buildup of passion has been† What an ass am I†.The prince thinks that it is not fit for him to curse himself, as he sou nd like a â€Å"whore† or a â€Å"drab† or a male whore â€Å" a scullion†. Hamlet here is putting on his misogynist character, he cannot tolerate women that in his opinion are all â€Å"whores†, like his beloved Ophelia who betrayed him, or his mother who betrayed his â€Å"dear† father. This negative vision, attitude toward women is consistent with Hamlet who in his first soliloquy has already made a sweeping condemnation of the latter â€Å"Frailty thy name is woman†. So the prince’s main target in this soliloquy is himself.He is concerned with questions related with whether he is a coward or not, whether he should act or continue â€Å" like a whore unpack my heart with words†. We could therefore ask ourselves what purposes this passage serves in the play apart from characterizing Hamlet. -It has little dramatic value given that there is no action. The tension is released, Hamlet is alone on stage meditating yet again and a part from the bits where he gets over agitated the tension in the passage is kept at the minimum. -The passage has also little value in terms of its contribution to the plot.The plot hardly advances in the soliloquy, the mouse trap idea that Hamlet comes up with at the end has been conceived earlier when he asked the first player to prepare for the Murder of Gonzago right before the soliloquy. -The passage therefore rather confirms the plot and serves as a means of delaying the Murder of Gonzago as well as the eventual Hamlet’s murder of Claudius. The mouse trap seems to be the first practical idea that Hamlet has ever had since the beginning of the play. It is a relatively reliable plan which would help him find out whether or not his uncle has anything to do with his father’s death.But the audience wonders if this is not simply another excuse for not acting. Indeed, if Hamlet really wanted to kill his uncle the soliloquy would be unnecessary. Hamlet’s characte r is pretty ambiguous. On the one hand he considers that his uncle is the most sinful person that has ever existed â€Å"Bloody bawdy villain, remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindles, villain†. On the other hand, this enumeration of adjectives that negatively qualify his uncle is counterbalanced by the fact that the ghost might also be a misleading â€Å"devil†, a possibility which Hamlet reconsiders at the end of the soliloquy.This uncertainty that revolves around Hamlet’s character brings us back to the central question of the soliloquy: is Hamlet a coward? Is he ever going to act? The later developments of the play reinforce the doubt. -It is also important to mention the theme of appearance versus reality that is embedded in the central figure of the soliloquy, that of the actor. For Hamlet the actor stands for â€Å"conceit†, or in other words deception, which Hamlet despises and is disgusted with. In this sense Uncle Claudius, the ultimate liar and deceiver of the play is certainly viewed by Hamlet as an actor as well.Ironically enough, in order to uncover the truth and show Claudius’ deceptive nature Hamlet resorts to deceit as well by conceiving the mouse trap. For Hamlet therefore deception is a way of revealing the truth, and he certainly views theater as a powerful tool capable not only of putting masks on but also dropping the others. But, what is more striking is Hamlet’s obsession with the idea that there is often a disconnect between what people appear to be and what they really are â€Å"is it not monstrous.. †.Note the mocking tone with which he relates to the actor’s job, one filled with admiration as well, given that Hamlet finds himself unable to do the same for his genuine reasons. In the case of his uncle, Hamlet has been told by the ghost that he is a serpent, but the ghost itself under his father’s outfit could also be the devil. Hamlet cannot trust anybody, especially not women who he associates with deception; he is disgusted with human nature â€Å"that one can smile and smile and be a villain†, which is again ironic when Hamlet realizes that in his world lies and deceit take a necessary part of the daily life.So the passage is the occasion for Shakespeare to further characterize Hamlet, to show his exacerbated feelings towards himself and those who deceive. Two of Hamlet’s character traits are confirmed in the passage: he is self-loathing and egocentric. Also, this passage explores one of the fundamental themes of the play: the theme of appearance versus reality. Also, Shakespeare through the figure of the actor, and the play within the play demonstrates and acclaims the powers of theater.

Kashmir facing a natural disaster Essay

In nature’s biggest fury in six decades in the valley, more than 170 people have already lost their lives in the recent flood that struck the indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. Witnessing human terror since ages, the valley is under the threat of floods due to a week long incessant rain which is affecting the rescue operations as well. The Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi on Sunday declared the situation a â€Å"national-level disaster†, and announced a special assistance of Rs 1,000 crores for the flood-hit state, from PM’s relief fund. River Jhelum flowing 14 feet above the danger mark. Homes, military bases and hospitals inundated in the region’s main city Srinagar as the Jhelum river overflowed its banks. Landslides triggered by heavy rainfall have damaged roads, dozens of bridges, buildings and crops. Land route has been stopped on the Jammu-Pathankot highway. The state government has closed all schools till September 7. Some 2,500 villages have been partially or completely submerged across the area, while thousands of people are stranded on rooftops waiting to be rescued. A temple being washed away by the force of the flood. While the National Disaster Response Force teams have evacuated over 2700 victims to safer places, the Indian Air Force has also mounted massive relief efforts. Flood waters rose sharply overnight in Srinagar, a city of 900,000, catching many people living in low-lying areas unaware. This picture speaks volume about the prevailing flood conditions in the valley. The Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi taking an aerial survey of the flood affected region in the valley. Five days of incessant rains in Jammu and Kashmir have left at least 170 people dead in the region’s worst flooding in more than six decades. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday declared the situation a â€Å"national-level disaster† and announced a special assistance of Rs 1,000 crores for the flood-hit state besides Rs 2 lakhs compensation from the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund for the kin of the dead and Rs 50,000 for those seriously injured. Flood alert has been sounded in Srinagar , and all emergency services have been pressed into service to meet the eventuality of a flood. Two youths rescuing livestock from a flood hit area in Srinagar.

Cost Cut Theory

Ritter explained. the bigger loss, of course, is the future value of the money, according to the financial analysts. â€Å"if you left the $10,000 in for 20 years and it earned 8 percent, that would have amounted to $46,600,† Ritter noted. Ritter said that taking money out of a 401(k) plan—as either a loan or a hardship withdrawal—can be a false solution that keeps the person in crisis from taking appropriate action, such as selling the house, getting another job, or cutting expenses. You need a systemic solution, something that’s going to change your household cash flow,† he said. liberto said another reason to avoid a hardship withdrawal in the current market is that the employee would be borrowing funds that have dropped in value, with no chance to recoup the loss when the market recovers.Barbara Bird, a management professor and entrepreneurship expert at american university in Washington, d. c. , said that at this time of such dramatic financial upheaval, companies can help employees by providing financial education. a lot of people out there don’t know what diversification means,† she said, or what the difference is between stocks and bonds. Bird said that some people who take hardship withdrawals do not understand the tax consequences until april. companies can set up training classes or communicate through a newsletter or Web page, she added. â€Å"one of the things managers need to do in times of crisis is to communicate,† Bird said, â€Å"to share as much as they can about what’s happening at the company as the financial situation plays out nationally. q MaRcH 2009 COST-CUTTING TIPS, TACTICS & STRATEGIESInTRODuCeHDHPsTOCuTHeALTHCAReCOsTs Issue:in 2005, a business services company sought to cut its health care costs by introducing high deductible health plans ( HdHps) to its employees in hopes of increasing its enrollment. Response:â€Å"along with the HdHp options, we also started offering health savings accounts that included employer contributions to these accounts,† the benefits administrator at the 225-employee firm told us. Result:â€Å"these new plans increased our participation in 2006; 65 percent of our employees who participate in the health program are covered in one of he HdHp plans,† the benefits administrator added. â€Å"due to the increased enrollment in 2006 and the reduced claims experience, we were able to offer our plans to employees in 2007 with no increase in premium amounts. †Issue:a 400-employee transportation company was looking for simple changes to its benefits plan that would keep costs from rising more than 8 percent. Response:â€Å"our principal move was to couple an increase in deductibles with a contribution increase,† the controller told us. Formerly, we also included dental coverage with the cost of medical. now, we charge additional amounts for it. Finally, we increased copayments for our drug program. † Result:increasing the deductibles saved the company roughly $150,000. â€Å"and to lessen the sting of these increases to employees, we supplemented our life offering, which was viewed positively,† the controller added. CHAnGeyOuRCOnTRIBuTIOnTIeRs Issue: the benefits manger at a new York-based hotel, hospitality, and lodging company was looking for a way to change its contribution toward health care coverage to help cut costs.Response:â€Å"We changed from a two-tiered contribution single and family to a four-tiered contribution (single, couple, single with child(ren), and family). it was done during open enrollment for 2007 benefits,† the benefits manager told ioMa. Result:â€Å"it enabled us to reduce costs. Many associates with dual coverage opted out as the family plan went up by 105 percent for a contribution. it went from $22 per week to $46. www. ioma. com/HR 15

Theories of Crime Causation

American Intercontinental University Unit 1 Individual Project CRJS 105 – Theories of Crime Causation November 11th, 2010 Abstract The following will examine the differences between criminalists, criminologists and forensic psychologists. It will then transition into how what exactly is a white collar crime and a blue collar crime. Lastly the paper will discuss the differences between index-one and index-two crimes as defined by the UCR. Media Portrayal of Crime Introduction With the prevalence of crime being portrayed in the media world, it can be difficult for the modern American to decipher all the aspects of crime. Criminology, the study of crime and its causes, is a excellent way to find out just what makes a criminals mind tick. Although it may be hard to know just what makes a person commit a crime, having a better understanding of the base of criminal justice aspects may be of assistance. Criminologists, Criminalists, and Forensic Psychologists With a plethora of jobs out there relating to the field of criminal justice, it may become overwhelming to try and decide who does what and how they do it. To have a better understanding of such fields one must know exactly what each field does separately from the other. A criminologist uses sociological theories and methods to study criminal behavior and how societies respond to crime (Hall, 2010). This means the criminologist seeks to find out the mentality behind a crime and how that thinking affects the society as a whole. By creating theories as to why of how this crime was committed the criminologist can form a wide array of possible answers for the crime. A criminologist would most likely be in an office but regularly would attend a crime scene to interview witnesses and others to gather sociological data about the crime. A criminalist examines physical evidence using investigative skills and practical experience. A criminalist is forced to look at nothing but the physical evidence of a crime without prejudice of the person or persons involved. This type of crime evaluation allows for an individual to make findings based on what is physically presented before them. In way you can say that evidence doesn’t lie so the criminalist should not be able to either as they are required to follow the evidence. A criminalist would be most commonly found at the site of the crime collecting physical evidence related to the crime. After the collection a criminalist would be typically found at a crime laboratory, analyzing the collected evidence. Forensic Psychology is the application of the science and profession of psychology to questions and issues relating to law and the legal system (abfp. com, 2010). This side of the criminal justice world refers to strictly the legal side of a crime. In this profession and individual would focus primarily on the criminal/person/persons on trial, as well as any other individual as it related to the case and would be required to provide an expert opinion on topics such as sanity, and competency. The psychologist enters the mind of the individual through a series of interviews and allows a better understanding of the person beneath what we see on the surface. Criminologists are typically found at interviews and trials related to the crime. This would typically be at the police station of in a courtroom. Misconceptions of such fields With constant development of new television shows relating to police work, as well as media portrayal of the criminal justice field, there can often be misconceptions placed upon these fields of work. A common misconception related to the field of criminology (criminologist) is that they live a life of danger and unpredictability. While the criminal mind can be unpredictable criminologists often stay low key and behind the scenes as they are analyzing the criminal mind and would not want to compromise that by running around in the field. In the life of a criminalist, the most common misconception has been brought on by the onslaught of television shows such as CSI and all its spin offs. The typical criminalist doesn’t run around shooting at bad guys in the newest designer jeans, or analyzing evidence in seconds. A criminalist is usually in a decontaminated suit and gloves doing nothing but collecting evidence. They are not there to fight crime nor solve it, they are there specifically for evidence collection (Criminalist, 2009). And as for the seconds long analysis, it’s more like weeks for a result to be returned, sorry to burst your bubble! Finally, a forensic psychologist may look like a cool job on the television show Profiler, but in actuality, there is much more to it than what is portrayed. While criminal profiling is one aspect of this field, there are many more unseen. They work in a wide variety of settings connected to law, depending on their prominence in forensic psychology. Clinical psychologists in the forensic field, for example, may work in a mental health center, a hospital, a prison, or a private agency. Developmental psychologists are found in both medical and academic settings, as well as give consults in court in regards to the behavior or testimony of children. So as you can see the media skews our view of what these individuals actually do and are responsible for. White Collar Crime vs. Blue Collar Crime When you first hear the terms white collar crime and blue collar crime, you may think, â€Å"People who commit crime are classified by the color of their collars? † On the contrary that is not the case. The terms White Collar and Blue Collar refer to the class of society in which a crime is committed. Blue collar crime typically refers to such crimes that are most likely committed by individuals in a lower class of society. Crimes of this nature are typically unplanned, spontaneous and sometimes involve direct harm to a person or property of others. An example of a blue collar crime would be an armed robbery of a bank of store by a person who is desperate. On the contrary, white collar crime is usually found among a higher class in society and consists of corporate, state and high tech crimes (Mojolaw. com, 2010). A good example of white collar crimes would be things such as Ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes, and the Enron debacle. White collar crimes are most often planned and well thought out as they take a lot of attention to commit. Often the person/persons involved have a lot of money to provide a defense for themselves if caught. For this student, who watches media quite regularly it is hard to make a determination as to which type of crime is more prevalent. You constantly hear of more and more people desperate for money in these hard times so, blue collar crimes are being committed more. But it can also be argued that the white collar side is hurting to so there are more stories of fraud and schemes taking place. This student would have to say though, blue collar crime tends to be more focused on because it usually involves a form of violence which the media seems to gravitate towards. Index-One vs. Index-Two Crime As defined by the Uniform Crime Reporting Handbook of 2004, Index-One crimes are considered to be the most heinous. The crimes include but are not limited to, Criminal Homicide, Forcible Rape, Robbery and Aggravated Assault. It can be assumed that all serious felonies will fall under an index-one crime. Index-Two crimes are all other crimes that do not constitute a classification in Index-One. These crimes consist of less serious offenses such as fraud, vandalism, disorderly conduct, and DUI. These would be all arrestable offenses that are reported to the FBI’s statistics center. These crime indexes have no fine line, as there is a huge difference between the two. Index one crimes often involve physical harm to an individual whereas index two crimes are typically considered petty. When making a judgment as to which crimes that fall under Index one are violent or not, that can be left up to ones interpretation of violence. You have to consider each situation differently because, although motor vehicle theft in of itself is not violent, if aggravated assault occurs than that theft becomes violent. This student would have to conclude that in most cases all crimes listed under Index one offenses, they would be considered violent. Conclusion The media will continue to skew the aspects of crime, and that has been happening for years. It is up to the public to want to obtain the truth about what a specific job or career actually entails. If a person lives their life believing everything they hear from someone else, then they are simply uninformed of the truth. Crime will always be a hot topic throughout society, so society must become educated in all facets of the criminal world (without committing crime itself). References The Differences Between Criminology and Forensic Science (2010). Hall, Shane. Retrieved on 11-Nov-2010 from http://www. ehow. com/list_6109148_differences-criminology-_amp_-forensic-science. html Criminalist. Criminal Justice USA (2009). Retrieved on 10-Nov-2010 from http://www. criminaljusticeusa. com/criminalist. html ABFP Brochure. Forensic Psychology. (2010). American Board of Forensic Psychology. Retrieved on 11-Nov-2010 from http://www. abfp. com/brochure. asp Forensic Psychology – Myths and Truths. (2010). All Star Directories, Inc.. Retrieved on 09-Nov-2010 from http://www. allpsychologyschools. com/psychology-careers/community/forensic-psychology-myths Mojo Law. (2010). Blue Collar and White Collar Crime, Mojolaw. com. Retrieved on 13-Nov-2010 from http://www. mojolaw. com/info/cl020 Uniform Crime Reporting Handbook. (2004). Federal Bureau of Investigations. , Retrieved on 09-Nov-2010 from http://www. fbi. gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/additional-ucr-publications/ucr_handbook. pdf