Of course women take care of men and are subordinate to male authority – True?

Men are known to be more aggressive, and independent, than woman. They are braver, more outgoing, and extroverted, confident in their own ability to control and manipulate the external environment. Most societies have traditionally regarded men as doers, warriors, hunters scientists artists writers captains of industry and politics. These generalizations apply to pretty much every known human society. Some sociologists and anthropologists believe that there is not and never has been a society in which women do not have an inferior status to that of men. If you were to ask others what they consider to be the most fundamental behavioral difference between males and females, most would likely say aggression – specifically, that males are more aggressive than females, because males secrete higher levels of the hormone testosterone. It assumes that men everywhere and at all times have been women's superiors and that work men do is more important or more highly valued than women's work. Sex, gender, sexuality. Chart,,,,, All 3 are interlinked. Feminine or masculine gender identity exists only with in the framework of experiences of a body sexed as female or male and within the context of sexual practices understood as expressing the feminine or masculine identity. Men and women maybe two halves of the same species, but they seem to live in almost separate worlds. Women have been the carers of men and their children. While a woman's has been in the home, A mans place has been in the jungle, the battlefield or the world of work. We describe ourselves in many different ways. One of the most fundamental ways is to say ‘I am a man' or ‘I am woman'. That is to describe us in terms of our sex. If you are a woman, people would not be surprised to see you wearing slacks, but they might expect to see you in a dress. Most also expect you to be rather emotional and given to cry easily. They will think of you as nurturing, preoccupied with romance, personal relationships, and your appearance, and inept with things mechanical. If you are a man though, people will expect you wearing slacks, and they would be shocked to see you in a dress. Most also expect you to be assertive and always in control of your emotions. They will think of you as ambitious and competitive. Preoccupied with your studies, work, sports, and mechanically inclined. Every society has rules about which activities are suitable for males and which for females. In western societies today, sex is an organizing principle of social structure, it plays a great part in determining social roles. Women were seen to reproduce and care for children. The basic family consists of a mother and child. Parsons characterized the women's role in the family as â€Å"expressive†, meaning that she provides warmth, security and emotional support for her husband and children. Parsons also argued that for the family to operate efficiently as a social system, there must be a clear cut sexual division of labor. Like a button and a buttonhole, they lock together to promote family solidarity. From this it follows that attempts to abolish gender roles and replace them with unisex roles may be in fact going against the will of nature. Women today rather than being passive and dependant, are instead likely to be active food providers as well as inventors and crafters of new material technology. How did we get here from there? Including population growth, increased environmental danger from ecological changes or warfare, the establishment of trade or exchange relations between societies, a change from a nomadic to a sedentary lifestyle, and technological advances allowing for the accumulation of a surplus of food and other goods. The available evidence indicates that specific gender relations appear to arise largely in response to external circumstances -economic, political, and social, not biological imperatives. In the workforce, the last ninety years have seen both the dramatic change and perhaps surprising continuity in the patterns of female labor in oz. In the 1st decade of the century, women moved into offices and shops in large numbers, transforming these jobs into predominantly female occupations. The professions of medicine law dentistry admitted increasing numbers of women from the turn of the century. * Last q. Even now many still think a womens place is at home, but the 20th century winks and her roles are scattered somewhere b/w tradition and total liberation. The 1980s and 1990s have brought women far reaching changes in almost all walks of life. History has not been kind to women as well as the determined pressure of womens group, and new attitudes have powered change and progress. Although women have more right these days then the past, there is still this discrete inequality that is taking place in society. At work and home. At work, women are concentrated in womens work. The service and caring industries, such as nursing, teaching, and typing. They get lower pay than men. Few women get into top professions and even fewer into top posts, even in their own fields. At home, some sociologists like Hannah Garron see modern marriage as a form of property relationship. An institution that ensures women continued subordination economically, financially, legally, and emotionally. Women at home experience frustration, stress and boredom. A modern housewife either faces life of loneliness and lack of reward, or goes to work and so has to face the demands of 2 jobs. 1) Why can a man lift a tone of bricks, but he cant lift up a mop? 2) Why is it that when it comes to education girls are smarter, yet men get the better paid jobs overall? 3) Society has been carrying this stereotype for thousands of years, what makes you think we can change it. Yes women have come far, but how long has it taken us? 4) Would World War have taken place if women ruled the world?

Operating in Violent Areas

Yes, I think companies should feel free to do business all over the world, as long as they keep to the local law and regulations. Companies are the ones with the money, if all the companies stay away from violent countries or areas, then the local people will never have a better life. Unless the violent stops, but in most countries the violence will go on for many years (like Rwanda). There are a lot of companies which are making big money in violent areas. The most money is made in sectors like intelligence gathering, investigations in local companies and security. And a lot of constructing companies are making big money in Iran and Afghanistan, that is logical because a great deal of western governments are investing a lot of money in rebuilding those countries. Even the mining industry are booming in those countries, because bigger companies want to buy out. Some economists are saying that taking risk in violent countries can bring you from the second place to the market leading position. So for those companies it is worth taking the risk. As the writer of the ‘Point Yes' (from the handout) said: ‘Some industry don't have the luxury of avoiding the violent countries, take the petroleum industry'. If you take a look at the world most dangerous countries you see that Iraq and Colombia are both in the top 10. But they are rich of oil. So companies as Shell and BP will going to invest there, even putting the risk of the employees at risk. Companies are responsible for their employees, if they want to send current workers to those violent areas, they should inform them about the situations and risks. Of course there are limits because your employees are not militaries, so where the fight is at the highest point (like the beginning of the invasion of the middle east), you should not place your factory in the middle of the two fronts. In my opinion the writer of ‘Point No' is using the reason ‘The people who are willing to work there, are not ideal for working', because he is afraid that his company won't be making profit there. I think as soon as a company is noticing a way to make a lot of profit without breaking any regulations it will invest. Let's take Iraq for example, the need for private security is very high, so security companies can make a lot of money there. The only risk is that most of the people haven't got that much experience in working in high risk countries. So having trained experience is good for your company. Your employees will be saver and can handle the mental pressure. Another way is to train local people, who are used to the situation, for your company. But local people can also be a problem, let's take a look at Somalia because the warlords are chancing all the time, it is very hard to do business there. Every warlord has its own rules and regulations, in some cases they just make up the rules because that suits them better. When that occurs your company has a problem. But most of the time they want ‘protection' money for your employees. So a form of blackmailing. But many companies have a ‘escape plan', as soon as the political situation changes the wrong way, they pack their bags and jump on the plain. But if a company doesn't want to take that much risk, they should analyse their options. Follow local news and polls or they can ask the help of commercial risk-assessment services, they can be of great value. Not only fire-arms can be dangerous for companies, even though it is threat, so is the economic condition of a country. If you want to invest in a country but the economy is collapsing (like the Greek did), than I would not go there, unless you work for example in the oil industry. Because even if the local people can't afford it anymore, you can always export it to your own country. It is the same if you are already located there. My opinion, companies should operate in risky countries if they have a feeling of creating benefits from it, as long as the employees are not forced to go there. But they should always take in to account that a lot of violent countries are not stable, so make sure you are prepared for when something bad happens. To make sure you won't go bankrupted it is wise to spread your risk by not only depending on that one country.

An Arguement Against Peter Singer’s Famine, Aflunity, and Influence

In his paper â€Å"Famine, Affluence, and Morality† Peter Singer argues that a lack of benevolence from affluent countries to people suffering from poverty in other countries is unjustified and is comparable to doing nothing if one sees a baby drowning in water a few feet away. In the following paper I will discuss how residing in an affluent country does not put individuals under obligation to donate, and the efforts that are already made by individuals and governments in affluent countries are sufficient enough to be considered benevolent.I will present the following arguments to provide reasoning for this. First I will explain how singers drowning baby analogy fails to make a proper comparison to donating. Second, I will show how the assumed responsibility that affluent country should give to the needy is flawed. Third will discuss how donating may actually be counterproductive in the long term. Lastly I will give a comparison towards donating to poverty is no better or mor e beneficial to donating to crime prevention.The main concern addressed in this essay is the analogy Singer makes when he compares the ease of saving a drowning baby to the ease of making a donation to a country in poverty (Singer, par. 6). Singer’s analogy is only correct on the basis that the baby and people living in poverty are both in circumstances out of their control. The difference though, is that the baby he describes is moments away from death, while people living in poverty are mostly not on the brink of death. I believe the vast majority of people would save the baby, yet only a small percentage of people will take the time to donate.Furthermore, I rule out Singer’s argument for proximity (par. 8). Walking around a city like Toronto, one may walk right past homeless people in very dire circumstances, and many people still do not bother to give any assistance. Thus, since being in a very close proximity will usually not yield a donation, in most likelihood, witnessing someone very close to death is probably the best way to evoke enough emotion for an individual to make a donation. Another flaw in Singers paper is that he makes the argument in his thesis that affluent countries should be responsible for countries that are in poverty (par. 3).By being in a â€Å"global village† as singer puts it, then a logical thing to do is donate to country that has the most poverty. Looked at another way we already donate through the government. Foreign aid comes from our tax dollars. So, in essence we are donating, but the government takes care of all the work. I call this the apathetic donor. In contrast though, Canada is considered a very affluent country yet still has small but significant part of its population below the poverty line. An argument could easily be made that a priority should be placed towards the homeless and people living below the poverty line within Canada first.Once dealt with properly, giving the remains out to the res t of the needy world will follow. If Canada cannot take care of the suffering within its own borders, then its priorities should be reviewed. Lastly, if I was forced into a situation to give to a Canadian living in poverty or someone in a foreign country I would place a priority on someone within Canada. A consequence of giving to countries in poverty may actually cause more poverty. Singer claims that the morally right thing to do is to avoid suffering (par. 6).Yet, by donating to a country in need of food that has a significantly fast population growth rate will lead to future famine. The world simply cannot sustain continued population growth. For example Pakistan has a significant part of its population living in poverty and has a high birth rate. At the same time Pakistan has a space program in place. As a result it appears that Pakistan finds space technology is more important than feeding its poor. Additionally, many nations in Africa have been getting foreign aid for decades yet most of these countries remain poor.If donations must be made, the most good that can come from it would be to see my money go towards helping a government get itself prioritized, and certain that the money goes to where it is intended, not the corrupt politicians or leaders that have no care for the suffering. A fair extension of Singer’s argument would be to donate money to stopping violent crime or terrorism around the world. Crime results in the death of good and innocent people just like famine. Also, many people are born into crime countries or situations out of their control much like poverty.Dealing with organized crime in a poor country would certainly save lives, just as dealing with poverty. Also, an individual would be more motivated to take action to donate through fear than sympathy. As noted previously, seeing my money go towards a controllable situation such as crime within my own country of Canada would be a more worthwhile and pragmatic investment. Dona ting to crime prevention in Canada would naturally have a much more beneficial effect for me than giving my money to a foreign nation.Essentially various forms of any crime left unabated in Canada are more likely to spread out affect me at home than a person in poverty in a foreign country. In conclusion, I believe the reasons given refuting Peter Singer’s paper show that donating to people in poverty, and the need to change our moral conceptual scheme is unnecessary in our affluent society. His attempt to evoke an emotional and sympathetic response in the reader by describing the mental image of a drowning baby only hurts his attempt to convince a rational person to donate.Also, if I do choose to donate, does this make me less charitable to donate to someone within my own country, while there may someone needier in another country? Is donating at all even justifiable? especially when some countries only seem to be getting worse off with runaway birthrates, and with corrupt l eaders not doing what’s best for their nation. If I was forced into a situation to choose between putting aside money for myself, my family’s future, or giving it to someone whom I’ve never met in a situation less desirable than mine, the choice is easy and clear.

Description for the map Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Description for the map - Essay Example Inner Mongolia has only a small number of rivers such as the Yellow river and other seasonal rivers. The region is endowed with many lakes comprising Hulun, Nur and Dalai Nur among others. Mongolian terrain represents the Alps and continuing plateaus that have a very high amount of relief. Starting from the Gobi Desert located in the southern part of Mongolia, the region has a treeless plain that is covered with grass and has three mountain ranges. The desert is a home to rare animals such as the black tail antelope, brown bear and Havtgai, wild Bactrian camel. Tavan Bogd Uul represents the highest point in Inner Mongolia (4374 meters) and the lowest region (560 meters) lies to the eastern Mongolian plain. Since one can go through the map and find various features found within Inner Mongolia attests to the fact that the map helps in solving problems. People such as travellers and tourists can use it to locate different features that may be of interest to them. Consequently, such features, in my view, contribute greatly in shaping the Inner Mongolia story. As mentioned earlier, travellers and tourists are critical users of the Inner Mongolia Map. These people will, in particular, use the map in identifying the various physical features found in Inner Mongolia. The Inner Mongolia map will, for instance, be important in helping the tourists to locate the splendid pasture scenery in Mongolia, the Xiritala Grassland Scenic area, and the Hinggan Ling Mountains among others. Moreover, the map will also help historians in understanding the history of Inner Mongolia. They can use the map to locate features such as the tomb of Genghis and the monastery. The use of variations in colour in showing the different elevations in the Mongolian region is quite distinctive. Through the variations in colour, one gets the sense of the different physical features in the area. In addition, the use of delineation lines gives an idea of the land’s shape. This adds on or

How is Cannery Row like a tidepool Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

How is Cannery Row like a tidepool - Essay Example When the tide comes in again, these creatures will scatter and forage for food elsewhere, but for the duration of the pool’s existence, they are close neighbors. John Steinbeck’s novel Cannery Row is a portrait of a place in a time, a collection of vignettes and subplots that gradually cohere into a rough narrative of local vagrants trying to do something nice for the local scientist. If it lacked even that fig leaf of a plot, though, it would still stand as a beautiful and moving evocation of Monterey, California in the early 1940s, when the Depression had declined elsewhere but that sweet wartime money had yet to wash up on Monterey’s shore. In this place, a motley collection of characters are thrown together, each of them making their way as best they can with what limited resources are available, living in a mutual web of dependence that lets them all continue to get by. Nobody in the story has a whole lot, but between them all, each person seems to manage to have just enough. Steinbeck’s moral stance on charity, kindness, and the necessity of doing right by one’s fellow man is firm enough that if you shelve one of his books next to one of Ayn Rand’s, they both explode. ... The wider world exists, but far away. Doc receives orders from distant cities and mails them out, Lee Chong hides out in San Francisco once in a while, the nearby town of New Monterey can be glimpsed here and there in the narrative, but for the most part the characters have no outside resources; in this tiny place called Monterey they are all in it together. The Monterey of the novel is a place where the tide went out a long time ago and has yet to come back in. The Great Depression has not yet ended for the characters, and even the relatively successful Lee Chong exists at the leading edge of a wave of unpaid debts that never quite breaks into bankruptcy. As the narration puts it, â€Å"maybe his wealth was entirely in unpaid bills.† Dora, who runs the local brothel called the Bear Flag, probably has the most pure liquid assets of anyone in the story, but she manages to retain surprisingly little of her substantial income, instead funneling it into the community via endless c harity. When the flu strikes Monterey in the middle of her busiest season on record, she and her girls become the nursing corps of the entire community, bringing soup and solace to the bedridden and ill all over town, including people who prefer to pretend her business doesn’t exist. The similarities between the community and the tidepool are many, but the central one is this: it is a very small ecosystem full of beings that did not ask to be clustered together like this. There is not a lot of anything to go around, and nobody can leave, at least not until the tide comes back in, and as observed, the tide has been out from Monterey for a long time. It is

Health care, psychological and social support for teen parents Coursework

Health care, psychological and social support for teen parents - Coursework Example Because this is a government site, it was important to find out whether it was an accurate site. The homepage was very helpful because it gave contact information for the different programs that pertained to teen parents. They had phone numbers and email directions for each program and you could link directly to their email. The information was informative and gave several resources that teen parents could use in addition to the programs at the County office. As to authority, the website was last updated May 27, 2003 which means that some of it could be outdated now. The site itself has a lot of information that was probably written by people who were involved in the County offices. There were not people who had written articles or any real information that would pertain to anything other than the programs themselves. However it did show that there were a variety of programs available to anyone in California. The information was straight forward and told exactly what parents needed to do to be eligible for programs. The website was originally produced in 1997, but it was "last updated" on December 18, 2003 (eligibility page). Each page had been updated on a different day in 2003. There was a link at the top to all staff with their phone numbers and email addresses; this also included a directory. The website was very easy to get around and it didnt seem to need any specific software. There were no frames so it would be easily read by teen parents with disabilities. If I needed information for a client in California that met the criteria of this site I would definitely send them to it. There were so many programs that I am sure that a client would be able to qualify for something. This site was very different from the other one because it consisted of articles and information for teen parents. This is basically a womens health site that includes many different conditions and teen

Annotated Bibliography Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Annotated Bibliography Example They aim to explore the relation between the three IPTS components and PTSD symptoms. After the research, they established that the acquired capability to commit suicide links directly to re-experiencing the symptoms. However, the researchers explain, through statistical explanation of mental health distress, the relationship of the above established ideologies to disenchanted belongingness and alleged burdensomeness. Additionally, results prove that mental rehearsal of provocative and painful experiences impact on suicide risk. The researchers have created it for other scholars in the same field since it is technical. The study’s strength is that it contains basic information. The jargon forms the quandary in the interpretation, considering that it has insufficient research proof. Finley, E., Baker, M., Pugh, M., & Peterson, A. (2010). Patterns and Perceptions of Intimate Partner Violence Committed by Returning Veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Journal of Family Violence, 25(8), 737-743. Doi: 10.1007/s10896-010-9331-7 The researchers aim at addressing critical thematic concerns regarding a population of Iraqi and Afghanistan veterans; diagnosed with PTSD. The researcher addresses concerns of IPV among the population sample selected. The researchers come up with two categorical findings, which establish different inclinations towards the main themes under critical study, obviously, regarding IPV among PTSD. Three modes of violence include violence elicited by anger, parasomniac and dissociative. Secondly, common notions on PTSD and suffering-related war influence veterans’ reaction to violence cases against their partners. This study addresses pertinent matters in the expounding of corrective measures or actions to be taken by authorities and organizations in dealing with their workforce stress issues. The study portends benefits of research evidence and

Microstructure and Mechanical Properties Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Microstructure and Mechanical Properties - Essay Example In this process, a sapphire laser system is used to trap samples of the metallic material. The laser is set up to be able to emit a continuous wave at the infrared radiation on the spectrum at a wavelength of about 760nm. The back focal plane of the of the condenser is imaged on a quadrant photodiode for the measurement of position detection. The metal samples are placed on the stage of translation and to achieve this, two methods are used. Transmission can either be done from above using the light emitting diode (LED) or reflection from below using mercury. The fluctuation of the quadrant diode voltage and the traces of time are acquired through three channels including two radial dimensions and a single sum voltage trace used on all the diodes. The advantages of this process are that the Boltzmann’s distribution can be used to measure the radial dimension of the sample. It is also possible to measure the spectral density and the corner frequency of the sample. Spark plasma sintering method: This is a recently developed process. It is also referred to as the pulsed electric current sintering method. This method employs a DC current in pulses and this power is passed through an electrically conducting pressure die and finally through the ceramic sample under investigation. The die usually acts as the source of heat and the ceramic sample is then heated on both its outer surface and the inner surface. The ceramics that are nano crystalline in nature and have size 10-50nm are prepared through co-precipitation. For a pressure less sintering process, the composite ceramic is normally isostatically pressed into a cylindrical green compact at a pressure of 400 Mpa. All the samples are then cleaned using a sand paper in order to remove the outer layer that is contaminated with a layer of carbon. An x-ray diffraction is then conducted to determine the phase analysis

He effect mass media's Female beauty ideal on female adolescents' Research Paper

He effect mass media's Female beauty ideal on female adolescents' self-perception - Research Paper Example The media exemplifies female beauty based on thinness and flawlessness – unrealistic and unattainable physical attributes for anyone, even the featured model(s). These images can have negative affects on female adolescents’ self-perception. Body image is central to adolescent girls’ self-definition because they have been lead to believe that appearance is an important basis for self-evaluation and for public evaluation (Thompson, Heinberg, Altabe, &Tantleff-Dunn, 1999). Awareness of constant public evaluation and the internalization of the gaze of others lead young girls to self-monitor, and in turn judge their own appearance. (Advertising Educational Foundation Inc., 2003). Social comparison is another aspect that plays a significant role in female adolescents’ self-perception (Anderson et al., 2001). By comparing oneself to and attempting to fit such a stringent beauty ideal, female youth faces inevitable failure, resulting in body dissatisfaction, low s elf-esteem, and/or eating disorders (Heinberg, 1996; Rodin & Striegel-Moore, 1985; Thompson & Stice, 2001). Adolescents are vulnerable and easily influenced, and research demonstrates that adolescent females are directly affected by the stereotypes and thin images that depict female beauty in mainstream media. â€Å"Many adolescents are concerned with bodily characteristics and physical attractiveness, and the media is filled with people who exemplify a cultural ideal of beauty that is difficult for most adolescents to attain. For females, a critical part of this ideal is being thin† (Anderson et al., 2001). Exposure to these ideals and images has lead to distorted beliefs and definitions of beauty amongst young girls. One study shows female adolescents’ distorted description of the ideal girl, i.e., 5ft 7in., 100lb, size 5, with long blond hair and blue eyes (Nichter & Nichter, 1991). The problem with such a view is that adolescents often tend to relate themselves to it and attempt to change themselves accordingly. Previous studies have examined the negative effects that fashion magazines have on female adolescents. This study uses such literature to dive deeper into this problem, aiming to gather a better understanding of how time spent, repeated exposure, and both direct and indirect pressures from various media (TV, Internet, magazines) impacts self-perception amongst adolescent girls. Specifically focusing on girls’ ages 13-17, the goal of this study is to point out the effects the unrealistic female beauty ideal promoted by the mass media has on their self-esteem and body-esteem, given that adolescence is such an influential developmental stage. Literature Review Media or what is generally referred to as mass media is any form of communication that simultaneously reaches a large number of people, it is represented and not limited to TV, newspapers, magazines, films, books and billboards (Wimmer ). Given these multiple forms of media it has become possible to access a number of them at any given time. This explains why they have been so effective in influencing our culture, changing beliefs, tastes, interests and behavior (Biagi). It has become an important aspect in dictating what people consider as ideal. The most affected

Mancorp Organization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Mancorp Organization - Essay Example Mancorp needs to change its organizational culture into an ethical institution that is guided by acculturated moral values among its members at different levels. I recommend two strategies for changing the organization’s culture to one whose practices will eliminate the current legal liabilities. â€Å"Positive reinforcement† is my preferred strategy (Luneburg and Ornstein 204). It involves the application of a stimulus after a desirable outcome and it would motivate members of the organization towards changing their attitudes and behaviors. Offering rewards to managers whose departments register lower reported cases of sexual harassment and sexual discrimination and promoting those whose departments succeed in mitigating the harassment and discrimination cases are examples of stimuli for the strategy. The approach can also be applied to mitigating fraud in the organization. The reinforcement strategy may however fail and I recommend punitive approach as a supplementary strategy. This strategy involves the application of a negative stimulus to an unwanted behavior such as suspending a manager who is found guilty of harassment, discrimination, or fraud. The two strategies will facilitate change in organizational culture. The organization should develop and implement a rule-based policy to achieving the proposed culture. It should, for example, develop the code of ethics and conduct that denounce sexual discrimination, sexual harassment, and fraud. The policy should further outline penalties for breaching outlaid codes. Further, the organization should organize training sessions for its employees, on ethical practices, and promote awareness on integrity, honesty, and respect of persons. Experts on organizational change can for example facilitate the training sessions. Application of these strategies, policy, and training program will ensure change and eliminate the liabilities. Mike Miller’s case The case involves Mike who purchased an automobile from Mountainside Audi dealership in Colorado. He left the state for New York but was involved in an accident in Indiana.

Pathos, Ethos, and Logos Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Pathos, Ethos, and Logos - Essay Example In his letter, Jefferson uses Pathos, Ethos, and Logos to argue his point of view. This is a strong, well-written letter. Pathos is used by pointing out the millions of trafficked humans. Ethos is used by Jefferson’s reference to his belonging to the Human Rights Watch. Logos is used by appealing to specific problems like the lack of statistics and definitions. This letter is impressive mostly on the Ethos and Logos to persuade the reader to understand his point of views. Jefferson makes the reader feel angry and disappointed by the lack of research and measures done by the United States when some countries fail to address trafficking. â€Å"Trafficking is a blatant violation of human rights and is almost universally condemned, yet many countries are failing to address this problem seriously† (Jefferson). He creates emotion to the readers, so they can get the message he wants to share. This is an appeal through Pathos. Jefferson does not show real anger in his letter because it was written for the Secretary of State, so due respect must be given. This is the lack of Pathos from Jefferson’s letter. Although the reader can feel the anger and disappointment, it is not clear enough. One or two sentences appeal to the Pathos, but mostly logos and ethos were used. An example of one sentence is as follows, â€Å"trafficking is a widespread human rights violation that threatens the lives, health, dignity, and security of millions of people thr oughout the world, with women and children suffering the brunt of the abuses† (Jefferson). Despite this plea, Jefferson does not use many others. It seems that Jefferson was relying on Powell’s knowledge on the subject, not his emotions. Although Jefferson’s letter has lack of emotion, the credibility of his letter is really impressive. He used Ethos to strengthen his argument. Frequently Jefferson refers to Human Rights Watch when stating a request or opinion instead of asserting it on his

The Hobby of Running Essay Example for Free

The Hobby of Running Essay Running as a hobby is recommended because it is beneficial in helping to improve health, helps you to meet new people and is versatile and relatively inexpensive. Running is also a useful tool in reducing stress and provides other psychological benefits. Running is a relatively easy hobby to take up. Running requires no new skills. You can begin running at any age with many people over 40 taking their first running steps as they embark on the path to health and a new and exciting hobby. The cost to start running is low requiring only a good pair of running shoes and a supportive sports bra for women. No expensive equipment or gym membership is required to be a runner. You can run anywhere virtually year round. You can run almost any time of day or night that suits your preference. There are many social benefits from running. You can join a running club to meet new people, find a training partner, or simply to pick up running tips from others. Running with a buddy can help strengthen the bond of friendship as well as provide the safety aspect of running in pairs. If one runner gets sick or injured the second runner can assist. An attacker will be less likely to attack a pair of runners or a group of runners than a person running solo. Running clubs often host social runs and also serve as a team cheering squad during long runs. There are fundraising training groups such as the Arthritis Foundations Joints in Motion Training Team or the Leukemia and Lymphoma Societys Team In Training, which will train you to run a half or full marathon in exchange for fundraising efforts. Many organized races are fundraising events for local organizations such as schools and churches and national organizations such as Ronald McDonald House Charities, Scottish Rite Hospital for Children and Team RWB supporting America’s veterans. Not only will you be helping yourself with the gift of health but you will be supporting a great cause and helping others along the way with a portion of your entry fees being used for these charitable causes. Running for leisure can help you to improve your health in many ways. It reduces the risk of heart attack by lowering your blood pressure and raising good cholesterol. Running helps reduce the risk for osteoarthritis because it is considered to be a weight bearing exercise which helps to increase bone density. Recent studies also show that it also helps in the fight against osteoarthritis because it helps increase oxygen flow and flushes toxins out of the body. It is believed that the impact of running generates eight times your body weight as an impact on your joints and this is thought to increase the production of proteins in cartilage that makes your bones and joints stronger (Thomas, 2013). Running is a great method for helping you to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight. Running helps burn calories in two ways; calorie expenditure during and immediately following the run and by building muscle. The calorie burn from running is approximately 600 calories per hour based on a six mile run at 10 minutes per mile. To calculate the total calorie burn for running use a calculation method of . 75 x your weight in pounds (lbs. ) (Burfoot, 2005) . Muscle built and maintained by running also helps in all day calorie burn. Muscle burns calories and fat does not therefore the more muscle mass you build the higher your metabolism will be and the more calories you will burn even at rest. Running is a great way to relieve stress and has been used by mental health experts to treat depression and addiction. Running for 20 to 30 minutes releases endorphins leading to a relaxed and peaceful feeling. Longer distance running increases the release of endorphins and can lead to what is known as the â€Å"runner’s high†, a feeling of euphoria which is also often associated with completing an endurance event such as a half or full marathon. Running allows you to use the time on the trail to clear your head and think about issues that you are struggling with. Often times the problems that seemed daunting before a run can seem smaller or non-existent afterwards. Speed running or completing a few sprints are healthy ways to release the emotional negativity that comes with anger and frustration as long as it is done safely. The positive energy from overcoming obstacles of completing a run in a certain amount of time or meeting the goal of completing a distance run can provide mental benefits of helping you to learn about your personal strength and mental focus. This new found self-confidence and knowledge about yourself can also be transferred to other areas of your life and help you cope with issues in a healthy way. Whether you are running to lose weight, running alone or with a group, running away from stress, no matter the reason, the road to better health begins when you decide to lace up a pair of shoes and put on foot in front of the other.

The Main Contractors Estimators Action On Receipt Construction Essay

The Main Contractors Estimators Action On Receipt Construction Essay 1. Introduction 1.1 Structure of sub-contracting The Hong Kong Construction Industry are made up of mainly three layers though the process of tendering, which include the tendering from developers to main contractors and the sub-contracting main contractors to sub-contractors. In the report, sub-contracting will be further discussed. In the process of sub-contracting, the estimator of main contractors breaks down the whole construction work into various tasks. For instance, breaks down a building construction work into basement, substructure, bamboo scaffolding, superstructure and finishes. The estimator will then undergo tendering process and sub-contract these various works to favourable tenderers. In addition, quotation is a document plays a role in the tendering process. It is a priced document which derived from tender that main contractor released and can be regarded as a reduced size of priced Bills of Quantity that tenders submit to the main contractor. Since quotation contains monetary terms and which can result in several companies interest, it has to be kept highly confidential to avoid collusion or unequal situation to happen. 1.2 Role of cost estimator To clarify, it is to discuss the role of main contractors cost estimator in this report. First of all, the estimator is not merely one person but a team with, for example, quantity surveyor, project manager, contract manager and planning engineer. The roles of cost estimator before award of project are to estimate the cost of construction works, prepare initial budget, price the Bills of Quantity and arrange for man power, materials supply and plants for proposed project. After the award of project, the cost estimator will break down the works as described above, prepare sub-contacting schedule which stated the time to finish tendering of specific tasks and deadline of commencement of different work, and prepare the tender document with self estimated budget not enclosed. After the receipt of quotation, the cost estimator will select to sub-contract to the most suitable tenderer with equal basis. Besides, there is other role that is significant to cost estimator. They are to balance the quality and price for selection of sub-contractors, materials and plant, keep all the monetary details highly confidential even within the company and do not receipt of any kind of interest to avoid collusion which keep the tendering process undergoing in equal basis. 1.3 Sub-contracting procedure after receipt of quotation The general sub-contracting procedure can be illustrated by figure 1.3. After the preparation of the quotation documents and the sub-contractor list for open invitation of quotation, a request for quotation will be issued to the sub-contractors on the list. Interested sub-contractors will prepare their quotations and submit them by depositing to the bid box before the deadline set in the quotation documents. Upon the deadline for submission, a number of quotations would be received from different sub-contractors. The main contractors estimator is then started to assess and evaluate those quotations being received. The major actions of the estimator after receipt of quotation include checking of the quotations for their compliancy, errors and adjustments as well as selection of the preferred quotation by quality/price mechanism. A quotation report will also be prepared afterward. If the main contractor finally gets the tender from the client (i.e. the developer), performance evaluation may be conducted by the estimating team for future works. à ¥Ã…“-à §Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã¢â‚¬ ¡1.png Figure 1.3 Sub-contracting procedure after receipt of quotations 2. Checking of the quotations (with Appendix 1) Upon receipt of quotations from the sub-contractors, the date should be entered on the enquiry record. Basic information of the sub-contractors should be checked and the database is to be updated wherever necessary. To avoid any erroneous price submitted, the estimator of the main contractor then has the responsibility to read, check and verify the quotations for the following: Whether the quotations are in line with requirements set out in the enquires; Whether the costs are consistent If there are any errors; If the prices provided by the sub-contractor are reasonable How are the prices when they are compared with the market prices. 2.1 Checking of compliancy with requirements After the quotations are received from the sub-contractors, the main contractors estimator has to make an in depth examination on the quotations in order to assure that they are made in accordance with the enquires requirements and no alternative offer have been submitted. Any breakdowns of price should always be checked while the rates are being entered into a computerized estimating system to ensure they are correct. The quotations should also be checked against the terms and conditions (Fig.2.1.a) and content of the enquires (Fig.2.1.b) for any arithmetic errors, missing items, reality and consistency of rates, tender qualification, validity period of tender, and signatures properly provided. 2.1.1 Quotations from Material Suppliers The quotations for material supply should be recorded on a Materials Comparison Form (Fig.2.1.1.a) and in accordance with the enquires provided by the main contractor or the clients. The rates are entered during the pricing stage, and any divergence discovered from the provided enquires are to be recorded for later assessment. The estimator should check for the followings: The materials adopted comply with that stated in specification; The quantities of materials are sufficient to meet the required amount as stated in the enquires; The methods of delivering, unloading and handling of the materials comply with that required by the main contractor, special conditions for ordering and payment, and the suppliers with the most competitive prices should be contacted to ensure that they had noted all the relevant restrictions on delivery to site; The delivery dates meet with those required, otherwise additional enquires to maintain a full enquiry list may need to be sent; The intended on-site or off-site storage of the materials and settlement of payment; The conditions stated in the quotations is as same as the terms and conditions stated in the enquires and the quotations are not alternative offers. 2.1.2 Quotations from Plant Suppliers The quotations for plant supply should be recorded and on a Plant Quotations Register (Fig.2.1.2.a). Wherever a performance specification for the usage of the plants is given, the quotations should be checked cautiously to make sure that all the plants provided accomplish the enquires requirements. The estimator should check for the followings: The plants are sufficient to meet the needs of the construction programme; The wages for plant operators are included; The working hours of plant operators comply with the intended site working hours; The responsibilities and charges for maintenance are clearly identified. 2.1.3 Quotations from Labour-Only Sub-Contractors The quotations for labour should be recorded on a Domestic Sub-contractors Register (Fig.2.1.3.a) which is used as a form for sub-contract comparison. Any divergence from the enquires discovered should also be recorded for later assessment and unit rates pricing when selecting quotations. The estimator should check for the followings: The conditions stated in the quotations is as same as the terms and conditions stated in the enquires and the quotations are not alternative offers; The discounts comply with the enquires requirements; The payment basis of the labour; The ambiguities concerning the responsibilities for protections, storage, clearing up, unloading are resolved; The supporting information including the schedules of rates and the programme information are given. 2.2 Checking of errors and adjustments The main contractors estimator should check whether the quotations are basing on complete and accurate information. 2.2.1 Domestic Sub-contractors The main contractors estimator should ensure that all the items for a particular trade are priced properly, and should request the sub-contractors for any missing rates. The rates provided should be checked for consistency with the bill of quantities, and they should be realistic although the cost will vary depending on the quantities, location and timing. The main contractors estimator could withdraw or change an offer and report to the client if any obvious errors are detected or the tender document is found to be altered. The estimator may apply a percentage or add a lump sum to certain rates in cases where considerations are taken for the following: Work of specific builders which is not measured somewhere else is needed; Certain attendances are needed to be included in the measured rates; Specific trades requirement provided by the contractor; Margin for over-heads and profit are to be included in the measured rates so the estimator could spread the over-heads to works which seems to be under-measured. 2.2.2 Nominated Sub-contractors Nominated subcontractors are subcontractors required by the client to enter a contract for execution of work or the supply of things designated as Prime Cost of PC items. The main contractors estimator should ensure that the PC sum is included in the bill calculations and a percentage for profit is added to the PC sum wherever necessary. 2.2.2.1 General and Special Attendances The main-contractors estimator should also access the costs for general and special attendances. The costs for general attendances are normally provided in the evaluation of project over-heads for logistical requirements; while the special attendances are to be priced separately in the measured bills of quantities and the estimator may price the work if those attendances are properly described. Figure 2.2.2.1.a shows different types of attendances to be provided to the sub-contractor by the main contractor. These attendances should be priced in project over-heads and the amount required should depend on the sub-contractor. Therefore, the main contractors estimator should adjust the amount of lump sum or added percentage to different types of sub-contractors carefully. 2.3 Comparing of Prices 2.3.1 Comparing with Market Prices The main contractors estimator should compare the quotations provided by the sub-contractors with the market prices. 2.3.1.1 Variations in unit rates While comparing the prices, the estimator should also consider factors which may affect the rates of materials, plants, and labour. The rates for materials may depend on the suppliers locations, the sizes of the materials, the delivery costs, and whether alternative materials are to be adopted should also be considered. The rates for plants could be affected by the prices for erecting and dismantling, maintenance, and insurance of the plants in the construction sites. As for the rates for labour, they depend very much on whether skilled labour is available in the area or extra payment for labour with special skills are needed, the location at which jobs are to be carried out should also be taken into consideration. 2.3.2 Comparing with other quotations The main contractors estimator should carefully compare each quotation submitted by all the sub-contractors. A spreadsheet such as the Sub-contract Comparison Sheet (Fig.2.3.2.a) may be used for comparing as it facilitates listing, rates comparing as well as mathematical checking. 3. Selection of the quotation (with Appendix 2) Price3.1 General criteria Quality TimeIn most of the case (i.e. except in case of nominated sub-contractor), there is still a long-list of sub-contractors, who compliant with the requirements, remain after checking the quotations with the enquiries. In order to identify the preferred sub-contractor(s), hence, a short-listing with several criteria should be processed. The most significant factor is price, while other criteria include experience and qualifications, financial and resources standing, reputation and management system. 3.1.1 Price The quoted price in the quotation constitutes substantial effect on the decision making of the cost estimator. With a lower cost to hire a sub-contractor, the main contractor can turn out give a lower bid in the tender to the developer and therefore, increase the opportunity of getting the project. 3.1.2 Experience and qualifications An experienced and qualified sub-contractor on the type of work of the project means it can finish the work in a more effective way compares with those without (i.e. the completion time may be shortened due to its experience on the trade). In the case of specialized works such as demolition work and foundation work, experience is even more important. The cost estimator can evaluate the sub-contractors past performance with the company or refer to different Registers  [1]  and professional bodies for determination its competence on the work. 3.1.3 Financial and resources standing Financial standing of the sub-contractor is an important factor since inadequate working capital of the sub-contractor may hinder the working progress and lengthen the completion time. In addition, the cost estimator needs to ensure the sub-contractor is having sufficient resources (i.e. man power, material, plant, etc.) to deal with the work, especially in the case of supplier. By investigating into the liquidity, credibility and adequacy of resources of the sub-contractor, the cost estimator can so avoid delay of the entire construction of the project to minimize loss to the client. 3.1.4 Reputation and management system Reputation of a sub-contractor is generated when it provided quality services in the field. By investigating the past performance (i.e. workmanship, time management, worker and material quality, etc.) of the sub-contractor, the cost estimator can reasonably select sub-contractor(s) who can provide up-to-standard work. The management system should also contribute to the decision of the cost estimator, as proper management can generate synergy effect to the labour performance. 3.2 Establishment of the quality/price mechanism The major concern for the main contractors estimators to select an appropriate quotation is to have a quotation of both low price and good quality. Hence, in order to maintain a good balance between quality and price, a quality / price mechanism should be established to facilitate the process. 3.2.1 Formulation of the quality / price ratio The quality / price ratio should be formulated at the first stage. The ratio can depend on the complexity of the work, the degree of innovation and the flexibility. For instance, straightforward projects should be less complicated and less innovative. Therefore, the price factor should be given a higher weight. Thus, the quality / price ratio of 20/80 could be considered. Similar approach can be adopted for complex and repeat projects to obtain the ratio. Fig. 3.1 shows the relationship between quality and price for different kinds of projects. 3.2.2 Weighting of the quality criteria Different quality criteria should be weighted according to their importance to the project. Basically, there are four major criteria. They include the practice of the company, the project organization, the key project personnel and the project execution. Practice of the company comprises the organization structure, financial stability, quality assurance, resources, management systems, relevant experience of the company and etc. Project organization refers to the organization of the proposed project team and the authority level of team members. Key project personnel includes the qualifications, communication skills and enthusiasm of the team members and the extent they understand the project brief. Project execution refers to the programme, method and approach, as well as the management and control procedures of the project. To weight the criteria, it is suggested that the key project personnel can occupy around 30 to 40% of the total weight, 20 to 30% each for the practice of the company and the project execution, 15-25% for the project organisation. 3.2.3 Establishment of the marking (scoring) system After the quality / price ratio is formulated and the quality criteria is weighted at the first and second step, a quality threshold should be introduced to the marking system. It is the minimum marks that must be scored by the short-listed sub-contractors in the quality assessment so as to allow further consideration of the quotations. An assessment sheet can then be prepared for subsequent assessments of the quotations. In the assessment sheet, both the quality and price scores will be given and an overall score will be added. An unfilled assessment sheet is shown as Fig. 3.2. 3.3 Assessment of the quotations After returning the quotations from various sub-contractors, the main-contractors estimators can start to do the assessment on the quality and price. 3.3.1 Quality assessment Marks should be scored according to the quality criteria (i.e. practice of the company, project organization, key project personnel and project execution) and the weighting and marking system set down previously. If the scored mark of a quotation is below the targeted quality threshold, the quotation should not be further considered and should be discarded. However, if it is the situation that all the submitted quotations are below the threshold and there is a common failure of a specific criterion, then the estimators may re-assess the requirement to see if there is a need of amending it. 3.3.2 Price assessment Price assessment should be considered only if a quotation has passed the quality assessment. It is done in the way that the quotation with the lowest quoted price is considered to score 100 marks in this section. While for other quotations having a higher quoted price, their scored marks will be deducted with a proportional percentage. However, for particular quotations having an extraordinarily low price, they should be reviewed in order to ensure full compliance of the requirements. Finally, the quality and price scores should be totalled and the assessment sheet should be dated and signed for later auditing purposes. Fig. 3.3 shows an example of a completed assessment sheet. 3.3.3 Final assessment After all the qualified and assessed quotations have been obtained, their overall scores can be compared with an assessment comparison sheet. The sub-contractor with the highest overall score will eventually win the bid. Fig. 3.4 shows an example of a completed comparison sheet. It is seen that the assessments of different firms (i.e. firm A, B, C and D) have been done and the overall scores have been calculated onto the same sheet. Since firm A has got the highest overall score among the competitors, its quotation will be considered by the main contractor. 4. Quotation report A quotation report is used to summarize all the necessary information and evaluation result of the assessment, and as a reference for the cost estimator to refer to if finally sub-contractor is needed to be awarded. The quotation evaluation report should include the followings: The sub-contractor list established at the beginning A summary of the quotations received and opened The results of the checking and selection of the quotations The evaluated price of each quotation, showing any corrections, errors or adjustments The scores and rankings of the quotations, according to the assessment Recommendation to award the contract 5. Actions after tender is awarded by the developer If the main contractor finally gets the tender from the developer, there are still several actions that the main contractors estimator needs to do. Firstly, notification to the wined sub-contractor (i.e. the highest scorer in the final assessment) to ensure the selected team is still available. Once the award is made, advisement to all other discarded sub-contractors in writing should be processed. Secondly, the estimating team should evaluate the performance of both the selected sub-contractor(s) and the quality/price mechanism. Evaluation to selected sub-contractor can be by the way of inspection during work or after completion. The results may be used in selection of sub-contractor in future works as mentioned in Part 3. Besides, the evaluation of the appropriateness of the quality and price ratio and the weighting system can used to adjust the mechanism and improve its operation in future works. 6. Conclusion In conclusion, the main contractors estimators actions on receipt of quotations from their sub-contractors are first checking for their compliancy with the quotation documents, and sorting out any errors and adjustments. Secondly, the estimator needs to select the preferred sub-contractor(s) by considering their quoted price, experience, financial and resources standing, reputation, etc with the quality/price mechanism. Thirdly, a quotation report will be prepared afterward. And if the main contractor finally gets the tender from the client (i.e. the developer), performance evaluation may be conducted. The above actions and procedures conducted by the cost estimator can be further illustrated by the case study in the next part. 7. Case study The case is from the main contractor Chun Wo Constrcution and Engineering Limited, of project Tuen Mun Western Trunk Sewerage (DC/2009/11). The cost estimator proposed to sub-contract the installation works of temporary water and electricity of site offices and underwent the following procedure. In the first stage preparation of documents, the estimator prepared the description of required work. Simply, it includes the description and details of proposed installation works. They then decided the adaptation of selective tendering rather than open tendering as time was limited and selected two contractors in the sub-contractor list. They are Wing Wo and Sky. Lastly, they prepared the tender document of the work, which contains common items to all tender documents, including general conditions of contract, standard conditions of sub-contract, special condition of contract, general specification and standard methods of measurement, and specific item details such as particular specification, particular preamble, schedule of rates and drawings. Figure 7a is the tender document list of the work. After prepared the tender document, they issued request of quotation to the two contractors. In the second stage the selection of sub-contractor, the estimator received the quotations by bid box and checked with the compliance, errors, adjustment and price as described in previous section. They selected the criteria for the work as quality to price ratio, experience and reputation. After the comparison of those criteria, they recommended Wing Wo as the sub-contractor since it had better quality to price ratio and experienced. Figure 7b is the tender report for comparison. Since the score of Wing Wo was the highest, its director was invited to have further negotiation to assure all details were known and the same in two parties, and price adjustment had done at that moment. Finally, estimator prepared sub-contract for the work in which an item concerning wage payment was added, and signed with the director and project manager. Figure 7a Tender list Figure 7b Tender report

Literature review about data warehouse

Literature review about data warehouse CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 INTRODUCTION Chapter 2 provides literature review about data warehouse, OLAP MDDB and data mining concept. We reviewed concept, characteristics, design and implementation approach of each above mentioned technology to identify a suitable data warehouse framework. This framework will support integration of OLAP MDDB and data mining model. Section 2.2 discussed about the fundamental of data warehouse which includes data warehouse models and data processing techniques such as extract, transform and loading (ETL) processes. A comparative study was done on data warehouse models introduced by William Inmons (Inmon, 1999), Ralph Kimball (Kimball, 1996) and Matthias Nicola (Nicola, 2000) to identify suitable model, design and characteristics. Section 2.3 introduces about OLAP model and architecture. We also discussed concept of processing in OLAP based MDDB, MDDB schema design and implementation. Section 2.4 introduces data mining techniques, methods and processes for OLAP mining (OLAM) which is used to mine MDDB. Section 2.5 provides conclusion on literature review especially pointers on our decision to propose a new data warehouse model. Since we propose to use Microsoft  ® product to implement the propose model, we also discussed a product comparison to justify why Microsoft  ® product is selected. 2.2 DATA WAREHOUSE According to William Inmon, data warehouse is a subject-oriented, integrated, time-variant, and non-volatile collection of data in support of the managements decision-making process (Inmon, 1999). Data warehouse is a database containing data that usually represents the business history of an organization. This historical data is used for analysis that supports business decisions at many levels, from strategic planning to performance evaluation of a discrete organizational unit. It provides an effective integration of operational databases into an environment that enables strategic use of data (Zhou, Hull, King and Franchitti, 1995). These technologies include relational and MDDB management systems, client/server architecture, meta-data modelling and repositories, graphical user interface and much more (Hammer, Garcia-Molina, Labio, Widom, and Zhuge, 1995; Harinarayan, Rajaraman, and Ullman, 1996). The emergence of cross discipline domain such as knowledge management in finance, health and e-commerce have proved that vast amount of data need to be analysed. The evolution of data in data warehouse can provide multiple dataset dimensions to solve various problems. Thus, critical decision making process of this dataset needs suitable data warehouse model (Barquin and Edelstein, 1996). The main proponents of data warehouse are William Inmon (Inmon, 1999) and Ralph Kimball (Kimball, 1996). But they have different perspectives on data warehouse in term of design and architecture. Inmon (Inmon, 1999) defined data warehouse as a dependent data mart structure while Kimball (Kimball, 1996) defined data warehouse as a bus based data mart structure. Table 2.1 discussed the differences in data warehouse structure between William Inmon and Ralph Kimball. A data warehouse is a read-only data source where end-users are not allowed to change the values or data elements. Inmons (Inmon, 1999) data warehouse architecture strategy is different from Kimballs (Kimball, 1996). Inmons data warehouse model splits data marts as a copy and distributed as an interface between data warehouse and end users. Kimballs views data warehouse as a unions of data marts. The data warehouse is the collections of data marts combine into one central repository. Figure 2.1 illustrates the differences between Inmons and Kimballs data warehouse architecture adopted from (Mailvaganam, 2007). Although Inmon and Kimball have a different design view of data warehouse, they do agree on successful implementation of data warehouse that depends on an effective collection of operational data and validation of data mart. The role of database staging and ETL processes on data are inevitable components in both researchers data warehouse design. Both believed that dependant data warehouse architecture is necessary to fulfil the requirement of enterprise end users in term of preciseness, timing and data relevancy 2.2.1 DATA WAREHOUSE ARCHITECTURE Although data warehouse architecture have wide research scope, and it can be viewed in many perspectives. (Thilini and Hugh, 2005) and (Eckerson, 2003) provide some meaningful way to view and analyse data warehouse architecture. Eckerson states that a successful data warehouse system depends on database staging process which derives data from different integrated Online Transactional Processing (OLTP) system. In this case, ETL process plays a crucial role to make database staging process workable. Survey on factors that influenced selection on data warehouse architecture by (Thilini, 2005) indentifies five data warehouse architecture that are common in use as shown in Table 2.2 Independent Data Marts Independent data marts also known as localized or small scale data warehouse. It is mainly used by departments, divisions of company to provide individual operational databases. This type of data mart is simple yet consists of different form that was derived from multiple design structures from various inconsistent database designs. Thus, it complicates cross data mart analysis. Since every organizational units tend to build their own database which operates as independent data mart (Thilini and Hugh, 2005) cited the work of (Winsberg, 1996) and (Hoss, 2002), it is best used as an ad-hoc data warehouse and also to be use as a prototype before building a real data warehouse. Data Mart Bus Architecture (Kimball, 1996) pioneered the design and architecture of data warehouse with unions of data marts which are known as the bus architecture or virtual data warehouse. Bus architecture allows data marts not only located in one server but it can be also being located on different server. This allows the data warehouse to functions more in virtual mode and combined all data marts and process as one data warehouse. Hub-and-spoke architecture (Inmon, 1999) developed hub and spoke architecture. The hub is the central server taking care of information exchange and the spoke handle data transformation for all regional operation data stores. Hub and spoke mainly focused on building a scalable and maintainable infrastructure for data warehouse. Centralized Data Warehouse Architecture Central data warehouse architecture build based on hub-and-spoke architecture but without the dependent data mart component. This architecture copies and stores heterogeneous operational and external data to a single and consistent data warehouse. This architecture has only one data model which are consistent and complete from all data sources. According to (Inmon, 1999) and (Kimball, 1996), central data warehouse should consist of database staging or known as operational data store as an intermediate stage for operational processing of data integration before transform into the data warehouse. Federated Architecture According to (Hackney, 2000), federated data warehouse is an integration of multiple heterogeneous data marts, database staging or operational data store, combination of analytical application and reporting systems. The concept of federated focus on integrated framework to make data warehouse more reliable. (Jindal, 2004) conclude that federated data warehouse are a practical approach as it focus on higher reliability and provide excellent value. (Thilini and Hugh, 2005) conclude that hub and spoke and centralized data warehouse architectures are similar. Hub and spoke is faster and easier to implement because no data mart are required. For centralized data warehouse architecture scored higher than hub and spoke as for urgency needs for relatively fast implementation approach. In this work, it is very important to identify which data warehouse architecture that is robust and scalable in terms of building and deploying enterprise wide systems. (Laney, 2000), states that selection of appropriate data warehouse architecture must incorporate successful characteristic of various data warehouse model. It is evident that two data warehouse architecture prove to be popular as shown by (Thilini and Hugh, 2005), (Eckerson, 2003) and (Mailvaganam, 2007). First hub-and-spoke proposed by (Inmon, 1999) as it is a data warehouse with dependant data marts and secondly is the data mart bus architecture with dimensional data marts proposed by (Kimball, 1996). The selection of the new proposed model will use hub-and-spoke data warehouse architecture which can be used for MDDB modelling. 2.2.2 DATA WAREHOUSE EXTRACT, TRANSFORM, LOADING Data warehouse architecture process begins with ETL process to ensure the data passes the quality threshold. According to Evin (2001), it is essential to have right dataset. ETL are an important component in data warehouse environment to ensure dataset in the data warehouse are cleansed from various OLTP systems. ETLs are also responsible for running scheduled tasks that extract data from OLTP systems. Typically, a data warehouse is populated with historical information from within a particular organization (Bunger, Colby, Cole, McKenna, Mulagund, and Wilhite, 2001). The complete process descriptions of ETL are discussed in table 2.3. Data warehouse database can be populated with a wide variety of data sources from different locations, thus collecting all the different dataset and storing it in one central location is an extremely challenging task (Calvanese, Giacomo, Lenzerini, Nardi, and Rosati, , 2001). However, ETL processes eliminate the complexity of data population via simplified process as depicts in figure 2.2. The ETL process begins with data extract from operational databases where data cleansing and scrubbing are done, to ensure all datas are validated. Then it is transformed to meet the data warehouse standards before it is loaded into data warehouse. (Zhou et al, 1995) states that during data integration process in data warehouse, ETL can assist in import and export of operational data between heterogeneous data sources using Object linking and embedding database (OLE-DB) based architecture where the data are transform to populate all validated data into data warehouse. In (Kimball, 1996) data warehouse architecture as depicted in figure 2.3 focuses on three important modules, which is the back room presentation server and the front room. ETL processes is implemented in the back room process, where the data staging services in charge of gathering all source systems operational databases to perform extraction of data from source systems from different file format from different systems and platforms. The second step is to run the transformation process to ensure all inconsistency is removed to ensure data integrity. Finally, it is loaded into data marts. The ETL processes are commonly executed from a job control via scheduling task. The presentation server is the data warehouse where data marts are stored and process here. Data stored in star schema consist of dimension and fact tables. This is where data are then process of in the front room where it is access by query services such as reporting tools, desktop tools, OLAP and data mining tools. Although ETL processes prove to be an essential component to ensure data integrity in data warehouse, the issue of complexity and scalability plays important role in deciding types of data warehouse architecture. One way to achieve a scalable, non-complex solution is to adopt a hub-and-spoke architecture for the ETL process. According to Evin (2001), ETL best operates in hub-and-spoke architecture because of its flexibility and efficiency. Centralized data warehouse design can influence the maintenance of full access control of ETL processes. ETL processes in hub and spoke data warehouse architecture is recommended in (Inmon, 1999) and (Kimball, 1996). The hub is the data warehouse after processing data from operational database to staging database and the spoke(s) are the data marts for distributing data. Sherman, R (2005) state that hub-and-spoke approach uses one-to-many interfaces from data warehouse to many data marts. One-to-many are simpler to implement, cost effective in a long run and ensure consistent dimensions. Compared to many-to-many approach it is more complicated and costly. 2.2.3 DATA WAREHOUSE FAILURE AND SUCCESS FACTORS Building a data warehouse is indeed a challenging task as data warehouse project inheriting a unique characteristics that may influence the overall reliability and robustness of data warehouse. These factors can be applied during the analysis, design and implementation phases which will ensure a successful data warehouse system. Section 2.2.3.1 focus on factors that influence data warehouse project failure. Section 2.2.3.2 discusses on the success factors which implementing the correct model to support a successful data warehouse project. 2.2.3.1 DATA WAREHOUSE FAILURE FACTORS (Hayen, Rutashobya, and Vetter, 2007) studies shows that implementing a data warehouse project is costly and risky as a data warehouse project can cost over $1 million in the first year. It is estimated that two-thirds of the effort of setting up the data warehouse projects attempt will fail eventually. (Hayen et al, 2007) cited on the work of (Briggs, 2002) and (Vassiliadis, 2004) noticed three factors for the failure of data warehouse project which is environment, project and technical factors as shown in table 2.4. Environment leads to organization changes in term of business, politics, mergers, takeovers and lack of top management support. These include human error, corporate culture, decision making process and poor change management (Watson, 2004) (Hayen et al, 2007). Poor technical knowledge on the requirements of data definitions and data quality from different organization units may cause data warehouse failure. Incompetent and insufficient knowledge on data integration, poor selection on data warehouse model and data warehouse analysis applications may cause huge failure. In spite of heavy investment on hardware, software and people, poor project management factors may lead data warehouse project failure. For example, assigning a project manager that lacks of knowledge and project experience in data warehouse, may cause impediment of quantifying the return on investment (ROI) and achievement of project triple constraint (cost, scope, time). Data ownership and accessibility is a potential factor that may cause data warehouse project failure. This is considered vulnerable issue within the organization that one must not share or acquire someone else data as this considered losing authority on the data (Vassiliadis, 2004). Thus, it emphasis restriction on any departments to declare total ownership of pure clean and error free data that might cause potential problem on ownership of data rights. 2.2.3.2 DATA WAREHOUSE SUCCESS FACTORS (Hwang M.I., 2007) stress that data warehouse implementations are an important area of research and industrial practices but only few researches made an assessment in the critical success factors for data warehouse implementations. He conducted a survey on six data warehouse researchers (Watson Haley, 1997; Chen et al., 2000; Wixom Watson, 2001; Watson et al., 2001; Hwang Cappel, 2002; Shin, 2003) on the success factors in a data warehouse project. He concluded his survey with a list of successful factors which influenced data warehouse implementation as depicted in figure 2.8. He shows eight implementation factors which will directly affect the six selected success variables The above mentioned data warehouse success factors provide an important guideline for implementing a successful data warehouse projects. (Hwang M.I., 2007) studies shows an integrated selection of various factors such as end user participation, top management support, acquisition of quality source data with profound and well-defined business needs plays crucial role in data warehouse implementation. Beside that, other factors that was highlighted by Hayen R.L. (2007) cited on the work of Briggs (2002) and Vassiliadis (2004), Watson (2004) such as project, environment and technical knowledge also influenced data warehouse implementation. Summary In this work on the new proposed model, hub-and-spoke architecture is use as Central repository service, as many scholars including Inmon, Kimball, Evin, Sherman and Nicola adopt to this data warehouse architecture. This approach allows locating the hub (data warehouse) and spokes (data marts) centrally and can be distributed across local or wide area network depending on business requirement. In designing the new proposed model, the hub-and-spoke architecture clearly identifies six important data warehouse components that a data warehouse should have, which includes ETL, Staging Database or operational database store, Data marts, MDDB, OLAP and data mining end users applications such as Data query, reporting, analysis, statistical tools. However, this process may differ from organization to organization. Depending on the ETL setup, some data warehouse may overwrite old data with new data and in some data warehouse may only maintain history and audit trial of all changes of the data. 2.3 ONLINE ANALYTICAL PROCESSING OLAP Council (1997) define OLAP as a group of decision support system that facilitate fast, consistent and interactive access of information that has been reformulate, transformed and summarized from relational dataset mainly from data warehouse into MDDB which allow optimal data retrieval and for performing trend analysis. According to Chaudhuri (1997), Burdick, D. et al. (2006) and Vassiladis, P. (1999), OLAP is important concept for strategic database analysis. OLAP have the ability to analyze large amount of data for the extraction of valuable information. Analytical development can be of business, education or medical sectors. The technologies of data warehouse, OLAP, and analyzing tools support that ability. OLAP enable discovering pattern and relationship contain in business activity by query tons of data from multiple database source systems at one time (Nigel. P., 2008). Processing database information using OLAP required an OLAP server to organize and transformed and builds MDDB. MDDB are then separated by cubes for client OLAP tools to perform data analysis which aim to discover new pattern relationship between the cubes. Some popular OLAP server software programs include Oracle (C), IBM (C) and Microsoft (C). Madeira (2003) supports the fact that OLAP and data warehouse are complementary technology which blends together. Data warehouse stores and manages data while OLAP transforms data warehouse datasets into strategic information. OLAP function ranges from basic navigation and browsing (often known as slice and dice), to calculations and also serious analysis such as time series and complex modelling. As decision-makers implement more advanced OLAP capabilities, they move from basic data access to creation of information and to discovering of new knowledge. 2.3.4 OLAP ARCHITECTURE In comparison to data warehouse which usually based on relational technology, OLAP uses a multidimensional view to aggregate data to provide rapid access to strategic information for analysis. There are three type of OLAP architecture based on the method in which they store multi-dimensional data and perform analysis operations on that dataset (Nigel, P., 2008). The categories are multidimensional OLAP (MOLAP), relational OLAP (ROLAP) and hybrid OLAP (HOLAP). In MOLAP as depicted in Diagram 2.11, datasets are stored and summarized in a multidimensional cube. The MOLAP architecture can perform faster than ROLAP and HOLAP (C). MOLAP cubes designed and build for rapid data retrieval to enhance efficient slicing and dicing operations. MOLAP can perform complex calculations which have been pre-generated after cube creation. MOLAP processing is restricted to initial cube that was created and are not bound to any additional replication of cube. In ROLAP as depict in Diagram 2.12, data and aggregations are stored in relational database tables to provide the OLAP slicing and dicing functionalities. ROLAP are the slowest among the OLAP flavours. ROLAP relies on data manipulating directly in the relational database to give the manifestation of conventional OLAPs slicing and dicing functionality. Basically, each slicing and dicing action is equivalent to adding a WHERE clause in the SQL statement. (C) ROLAP can manage large amounts of data and ROLAP do not have any limitations for data size. ROLAP can influence the intrinsic functionality in a relational database. ROLAP are slow in performance because each ROLAP activity are essentially a SQL query or multiple SQL queries in the relational database. The query time and number of SQL statements executed measures by its complexity of the SQL statements and can be a bottleneck if the underlying dataset size is large. ROLAP essentially depends on SQL statements generation to query the relational database and do not cater all needs which make ROLAP technology conventionally limited by what SQL functionality can offer. (C) HOLAP as depict in Diagram 2.13, combine the technologies of MOLAP and ROLAP. Data are stored in ROLAP relational database tables and the aggregations are stored in MOLAP cube. HOLAP can drill down from multidimensional cube into the underlying relational database data. To acquire summary type of information, HOLAP leverages cube technology for faster performance. Whereas to retrieve detail type of information, HOLAP can drill down from the cube into the underlying relational data. (C) In OLAP architectures (MOLAP, ROLAP and HOLAP), the datasets are stored in a multidimensional format as it involves the creation of multidimensional blocks called data cubes (Harinarayan, 1996). The cube in OLAP architecture may have three axes (dimensions), or more. Each axis (dimension) represents a logical category of data. One axis may for example represent the geographic location of the data, while others may indicate a state of time or a specific school. Each of the categories, which will be described in the following section, can be broken down into successive levels and it is possible to drill up or down between the levels. Cabibo (1997) states that OLAP partitions are normally stored in an OLAP server, with the relational database frequently stored on a separate server from OLAP server. OLAP server must query across the network whenever it needs to access the relational tables to resolve a query. The impact of querying across the network depends on the performance characteristics of the network itself. Even when the relational database is placed on the same server as OLAP server, inter-process calls and the associated context switching are required to retrieve relational data. With a OLAP partition, calls to the relational database, whether local or over the network, do not occur during querying. 2.3.3 OLAP FUNCTIONALITY OLAP functionality offers dynamic multidimensional analysis supporting end users with analytical activities includes calculations and modelling applied across dimensions, trend analysis over time periods, slicing subsets for on-screen viewing, drilling to deeper levels of records (OLAP Council, 1997) OLAP is implemented in a multi-user client/server environment and provide reliably fast response to queries, in spite of database size and complexity. OLAP facilitate the end user integrate enterprise information through relative, customized viewing, analysis of historical and present data in various what-if data model scenario. This is achieved through use of an OLAP Server as depicted in diagram 2.9. OLAP functionality is provided by an OLAP server. OLAP server design and data structure are optimized for fast information retrieval in any course and flexible calculation and transformation of unprocessed data. The OLAP server may either actually carry out the processed multidimensional information to distribute consistent and fast response times to end users, or it may fill its data structures in real time from relational databases, or offer a choice of both. Essentially, OLAP create information in cube form which allows more composite analysis compares to relational database. OLAP analysis techniques employ slice and dice and drilling methods to segregate data into loads of information depending on given parameters. Slice is identifying a single value for one or more variable which is non-subset of multidimensional array. Whereas dice function is application of slice function on more than two dimensions of multidimensional cubes. Drilling function allows end user to traverse between condensed data to most precise data unit as depict in Diagram 2.10. 2.3.5 MULTIDIMENSIONAL DATABASE SCHEMA The base of every data warehouse system is a relational database build using a dimensional model. Dimensional model consists of fact and dimension tables which are described as star schema or snowflake schema (Kimball, 1999). A schema is a collection of database objects, tables, views and indexes (Inmon, 1996). To understand dimensional data modelling, Table 2.10 defines some of the terms commonly used in this type of modelling: In designing data models for data warehouse, the most commonly used schema types are star schema and snowflake schema. In the star schema design, fact table sits in the middle and is connected to other surrounding dimension tables like a star. A star schema can be simple or complex. A simple star consists of one fact table; a complex star can have more than one fact table. Most data warehouses use a star schema to represent the multidimensional data model. The database consists of a single fact table and a single table for each dimension. Each tuple in the fact table consists of a pointer or foreign key to each of the dimensions that provide its multidimensional coordinates, and stores the numeric measures for those coordinates. A tuple consist of a unit of data extracted from cube in a range of member from one or more dimension tables. (C, http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa216769%28SQL.80%29.aspx). Each dimension table consists of columns that correspond to attributes of the dimension. Diagram 2.14 shows an example of a star schema For Medical Informatics System. Star schemas do not explicitly provide support for attribute hierarchies which are not suitable for architecture such as MOLAP which require lots of hierarchies of dimension tables for efficient drilling of datasets. Snowflake schemas provide a refinement of star schemas where the dimensional hierarchy is explicitly represented by normalizing the dimension tables, as shown in Diagram 2.15. The main advantage of the snowflake schema is the improvement in query performance due to minimized disk storage requirements and joining smaller lookup tables. The main disadvantage of the snowflake schema is the additional maintenance efforts needed due to the increase number of lookup tables. (C) Levene. M (2003) stresses that in addition to the fact and dimension tables, data warehouses store selected summary tables containing pre-aggregated data. In the simplest cases, the pre-aggregated data corresponds to aggregating the fact table on one or more selected dimensions. Such pre-aggregated summary data can be represented in the database in at least two ways. Whether to use star or a snowflake mainly depends on business needs. 2.3.2 OLAP Evaluation As OLAP technology taking prominent place in data warehouse industry, there should be a suitable assessment tool to evaluate it. E.F. Codd not only invented OLAP but also provided a set of procedures which are known as the Twelve Rules for OLAP product ability assessment which include data manipulation, unlimited dimensions and aggregation levels and flexible reporting as shown in Table 2.8 (Codd, 1993): Codd twelve rules of OLAP provide us an essential tool to verify the OLAP functions and OLAP models used are able to produce desired result. Berson, A. (2001) stressed that a good OLAP system should also support a complete database management tools as a utility for integrated centralized tool to permit database management to perform distribution of databases within the enterprise. OLAP ability to perform drilling mechanism within the MDDB allows the functionality of drill down right to the source or root of the detail record level. This implies that OLAP tool permit a smooth changeover from the MDDB to the detail record level of the source relational database. OLAP systems also must support incremental database refreshes. This is an important feature as to prevent stability issues on operations and usability problems when the size of the database increases. 2.3.1 OLTP and OLAP The design of OLAP for multidimensional cube is entirely different compare to OLTP for database. OLTP is implemented into relational database to support daily processing in an organization. OLTP system main function is to capture data into computers. OLTP allow effective data manipulation and storage of data for daily operational resulting in huge quantity of transactional data. Organisations build multiple OLTP systems to handle huge quantities of daily operations transactional data can in short period of time. OLAP is designed for data access and analysis to support managerial user strategic decision making process. OLAP technology focuses on aggregating datasets into multidimensional view without hindering the system performance. According to Han, J. (2001), states OLTP systems as Customer oriented and OLAP is a market oriented. He summarized major differences between OLTP and OLAP system based on 17 key criteria as shown in table 2.7. It is complicated to merge OLAP and OLTP into one centralized database system. The dimensional data design model used in OLAP is much more effective for querying than the relational database query used in OLTP system. OLAP may use one central database as data source and OLTP used different data source from different database sites. The dimensional design of OLAP is not suitable for OLTP system, mainly due to redundancy and the loss of referential integrity of the data. Organization chooses to have two separate information systems, one OLTP and one OLAP system (Poe, V., 1997). We can conclude that the purpose of OLTP systems is to get data into computers, whereas the purpose of OLAP is to get data or information out of computers. 2.4 DATA MINING Many data mining scholars (Fayyad, 1998; Freitas, 2002; Han, J. et. al., 1996; Frawley, 1992) have defined data mining as discovering hidden patterns from historical datasets by using pattern recognition as it involves searching for specific, unknown information in a database. Chung, H. (1999) and Fayyad et al (1996) referred data mining as a step of knowledge discovery in database and it is the process of analyzing data and extracts knowledge from a large database also known as data warehouse (Han, J., 2000) and making it into useful information. Freitas (2002) and Fayyad (1996) have recognized the advantageous tool of data mining for extracting knowledge from a da

World War I and World War II :: Comparative

World War I and World II are basically the same, right? Well, one can also say they have nothing in common. The comparison of the two wars is conceivable, but it is thought-provoking because they are such widespread notions. This concept applies to Araby, written by James Joyce during WWI, and The Flash, written by Italo Calvino during WWII. In Araby, the protagonist falls in love with a girl, but love deceives him. In his moment of epiphany, â€Å"[g]azing up into the darkness [he] saw [himself] as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and [his] eyes burned with anguish and anger† (Joyce 1). In The Flash, the protagonist suddenly grasps a reality and in his moment of epiphany â€Å"[he] stopped, blinked: [He] understood nothing. Nothing, nothing about anything. [He] didn’t understand the reasons for things or for people, it was all senseless, absurd† (Calvino 1). Comparing the epiphanies of the two distinct short stories reveals a relationship betwee n their similarities and differences through theme, symbolism and setting. First and foremost, comparing the themes of both epiphanies reveal they can simultaneously be similar and different. An important common theme in both epiphanies is facing reality. In Araby, the protagonist realizes â€Å"[his] stay was useless† (Joyce 6) since the young lady only â€Å"spok[e] to [him] out of a sense of duty† (Joyce 6). Likewise, in The Flash, the protagonist realizes he â€Å"accepted everything: traffic lights, cars, posters, uniforms, monuments, things completely detached from any sense of the world, accepted them as if there some necessity, some chain of cause and effect that bound them together† (Calvino 1). Both characters face the reality and randomness of the world. Even so, each epiphany implies each protagonist faces a different sort of reality. The protagonist of Araby faces the reality of love and â€Å"[sees himself] as a creature driven and derived by vanity† (Joyce 6). On the other hand, the protagonist of The Fla sh faces the reality of existence and hopes â€Å"[he] shall grasp that other knowledge† (Calvino 2). Therefore, reviewing the theme similar to both epiphanies leads to discovering different themes as well. Conversely, looking at the differences in the symbolism of each epiphany hints at a comparable aspect of symbolism. The epiphany of Araby symbolizes the protagonist escaping into a dark world when he enters â€Å"[t]he upper part of the hall [which] was now completely dark† (Joyce 6).

Do manners matter? :: Informative, Education, etiquette

Do manners matter? Yes, they do; however, since most parents have gone to work, children have fewer chances to sit with their parents and to learn manners from them. Although America is a melting-pot of cultures with various ideas of manners (Packer 22), and the subject of manners is complicated (Hall 185), the standard of good manners of various cultures is similar. Good manners are the same as civilized behaviors and moral etiquette that have respect, consideration, generosity, and thoughtfulness for others (Stewart 14). What goes around comes around; therefore, people should treat others as they wish to be treated themselves (Stewart 1). In fact, people would love to be with others who have good manners (Brandenberg 2). Therefore, manners should be taught in the twenty-first century because they not only help people become educated and competitive, but they also help the world become peaceful and smooth. First of all, people are more educated and competitive if they have good manners. Ladies and gentlemen who have good manners appear more educated, creditable, and superior than other ill-mannered people. Dr. Sokolosky believes, â€Å"all things being equal in terms of skills and abilities, the person who leaves a good, positive impression will come out on top† (Ricketts, par. 9), which means in a group of people who have equal skills, the one who has good manners will be the winner; thus, good manners can improve one’s competitiveness. Moreover, my Professor Eadus said that manners are the biggest part of social skill, which is true because good manners affect people’s interpersonal relationships and social communications. In fact, dining has been a principal social event in people’s lives; therefore, good table manners are essential and conducive to show one’s education while erroneous table manners can cause punishment by mothers, embarrassment in front of friends, or being dumped by dates (Packer 268). I have had one of the most embarrassing experiences in my life. When I was young, I used to play with my food and hold my knife and fork incorrectly until one day I dropped my whole piece of steak on the woman who was sitting at the next table. At that moment, I was totally embarrassed and frightened while the woman yelled at me and said I was a rude kid. After that, I went to borrow some books to learn table manners. â€Å"The way you handle yourself at the table gives off very clear signals as to what kind of a person you are† (Cooper, par.