Duke of Edinburgh Report

————————————————- Duke of Edinburgh Expedition Report Aim: Observe litter in remote areas and compare with areas accessible by motorised transport Friday Amount of litter: Minor Thoughts: Started our expedition on the top of a hill, near a cafe/ pub which is where we found the litter; a box of beers. Apart from that the route was very difficult to navigate at first because the footpaths were almost non-existent. Furthermore, because of the remote location there was little disruption to the land, grass grew long, wild and marshes were hard to spot. There were few fields for cattle and many times our group had to take bearings because any signs, footprints and the footpath were not visible. This was probably the most physically challenging day as there were many hills and inclines. Photos: Saturday Amount of litter: Moderate Thoughts: When exiting the campsite, there was visible litter on the floor. The route for this day was much easier and accessible than Friday because it was mostly over flat ground and there were very visible and well used paths to walk on. The entire group is skilled at reading a map, compass and taking bearings as we did not get lost once. There was a great amount of teamwork because we constantly checked our position, while taking it in turns to read the map and lead. This made the expedition more enjoyable as it spread responsibility evenly. We found more litter on the side roads, but none on the footpaths. Photos: Sunday Amount of litter: Large Thoughts: Most of this consisted of walking through or around deep mud and fields which contained cattle. This was not enjoyable because there were calves with their mothers; this made them aggressive and slowed our progress. Also we alked through many suburban areas that would be accessible by motorised transport and found lots of litter. In a town we found many bins next to each other, but there was still litter barely 50 meters away. The route this day took us through popular public footpaths, in which we found the most litter. Photos: Summary: Over the course of the expedition, we discovered and concluded that as a remote area becomes more accessible to motorised transpor t, amount of litter in that area increases. This was a very interesting and enjoyable expedition.

Henry Higgins Bullies Eliza Doolittle

Pygmalion is a well-known play written by George Bernard Shaw in 1912. In mythology, Pygmalion was a sculptor who fell in love with one of his statues. In the play, Professor Henry Higgins represents the ‘sculptor’ who falls in love with Eliza Doolittle, his creation. He makes a bet with another linguist that he can pass her off as a proper lady and begins to teach her how to speak proper English. Due to Higgins’ impersonal nature, he treats Eliza badly causing her to leave once she wins his bet.After finding her at his mother's house, he learns that she intends to work for herself and possibly marry an upper class twit she met there previously. He leaves upset, and she comes back to him because she realizes that even though he doesn't show his emotions, he does care for her. Firstly, some of Higgins’ behaviours prove that he does bully Eliza. This can be shown by Higgins treating her like dirt and telling her what to do all the time, like he has control ov er her.For example, when Eliza is convinced that Higgins is a policeman (when in fact he isn’t) in Act 1, she believes that he will charge her for prostitution after she calls a stranger ‘Captain. ’ She panics with ‘much distress’ and ‘struggles with her emotion’. Irritated by her whines and wails, Higgins loses his temper and says â€Å"Woman: cease this detestable boohooing instantly. † The use of the word ‘woman’ suggests that Higgins is impersonal and doesn’t even bother to ask what her name is.Also, by saying ‘cease’ we can see that he is using imperative language and this emphasises the fact that he tries to control her. In addition, we know that Higgins is very angry because of the stage direction, ‘explosively’. Eliza reacts with ‘feeble defiance’ especially as nobody has spoken to her like that before. Furthermore, Higgins says â€Å"Don’t sit there crooni ng like a bilious pigeon. † Again, Higgins uses imperative language in his attempts to control Eliza. He also uses natural imagery to portray Eliza as an unclean, sick animal you can find on any of the streets of London.Although in the play, Higgins’ character is portrayed to be mean and unsociable as we can see when he says to his mother â€Å"I know I have no small talk; but people don’t mind. † This quotation is evidence that he is quite impersonal, not just to Eliza, but to everyone. For example, when he meets Mrs Eynsford Hill, he says that he’s â€Å"delighted,† sarcastically and bluntly and is uncomfortable, also shown by the stage direction, ‘glumly’ and ‘backs away’. However, Shaw also shows some of Higgins’ softer sides. For instance, in Act 4 Eliza is furious withHiggins because she feels like she’s just been treated as an experiment and not like a person. Here she provokes Higgins by shoutin g and throwing insults at him so he finally tells her â€Å"It is you who have hit me. You have wounded me to the heart. † This suggests that Higgins never realised he hurt Eliza or treated her wrongly. However it also shows that he’s upset with Eliza for failing to realise that deep down he really does care about her feelings. However, in a sense Higgins is irresponsible for deciding to allow a young vulnerable woman stay in his house without knowing anything about her.The main reason he takes her in is for the money that he can win in his bet with Pickering. Mrs Pearce has to frequently warn Higgins that if he takes Eliza in as a pupil, she will be his responsibility and also that he must ‘look ahead a little. ’ This is because Mrs Pearce is concerned that once Eliza has learnt to speak properly, she will be used to the luxuries of Higgins’ house and wont have any money, clothes or a suitable home to live in once it’s time to move out. Higg ins however takes no notice of Mrs Pearce and says â€Å"When I’ve done with her, we can throw her back into the gutter. From this we can tell that he is impersonal and doesn’t call Eliza by her own name, it also implies that he doesn’t care about her at first and just thinks of her as an experiment. Towards the end of the play after the garden party, Higgins says fervently â€Å"Thank God it’s over! † Eliza reacts by ‘flinching violently’ but ‘they take no notice of her’. From the stage direction ‘fervently’ we can tell that Higgins is speaking with spirit and confidence which emphasises how little he cares about Eliza’s journey to become a lady in a flower shop which hurts her deeply as we can tell from the stage directions.Another way in which we can prove Higgins doesn’t bully Eliza is through the fact that he’s very generous and liberal with her. An example of this is when Eliza meet s him in his house, the day after their first encounter. Higgins offers Eliza life changing lessons, new clothes and shelter but at first she ungratefully refuses them. Also, Higgins is undoubtedly busy man with not much time to spare because of his phonetics experiments and studies. Nevertheless, he decides to take Eliza into his own home and sacrifices months and months of his time to assist Eliza in her ‘lady-in-a-flower-shop’ dream.In conclusion, Higgins’ character is impersonal, unsociable and he definitely has the tendency to cause an argument at times. Higgins calls Eliza some nasty names in Pygmalion such as ‘baggage’ and even ‘squashed cabbage leaf’ however it isn’t meant in a malicious way. This is because Higgins doesn’t really know how to act normally around other people and has a lack of social skills and he even admits it himself. Higgins never physically bullied Eliza, he’s big hearted, used to banter, but finds it difficult to express his emotions and occasionally forgets to think before he speaks.

Topcoder Case Study

If you were a senior manager at TopCoder, what are the main capabilities you would need to develop to succeed at running the firm? Are these capabilities similar or unique from managing a more traditional firm In order to develop and execute the highly non-traditional business approach and vision of TopCoder, the senior management has to regularly challenge existing industry practices and innovate better methodologies to improve the quality of deliverables to the client. . Since the business model for TopCoder is highly reliant upon participation from the develop community they need to keep a continuous track of the activities in their forum and need to devise the competition in such a way that it attracts more and more better quality coders. To make this happen, the senior management has to develop high level of marketing skills so that they can promote their product and keep the coders interested. 2.The main challenge which company faces is that though the customers are getting hig h quality defect free products in a short span of time they are usually suspicious of the product quality since they do not have any relationships and in person/on call interaction with the developer community. Due to this suspicious outlook of the customers, the management needs to have high level of negotiation and convincing skills so that they can keep the customers. 3. Software product requires regular maintenance and updation after certain period of time and thus vendor selection for development is a long term investment.Now, the customer knows that the developer community of TopCoder is usually interested in complexity of the competition and intellectually challenging tasks and thus the top coders in the community might not take up such tasks. Thus, it becomes very important for TopCoder management to keep the clients interested. 4. The TopCoder community is innovation and competition driven, thus managing innovative and creative people who can be blunt and too direct to the customers may diminish and even destroy the reputation of company with he customer thus they need to be capable to handling not only the customer but the coders, who are primarily independent and can move out at any given time, given a better opportunity Most of the capabilities required by the senior management at TopCoder are rather similar to managers at a more traditional IT company, but the fact that they have to manage both the customer relationships, as well as the virtually located coder community, which can be challenging.Also, they have to additionally handle the feedback from both these communities and have to keep a balance between these two parties, which I not desired to such an extreme from a normal IT manager. What are barriers to entry in this type of a business? TopCoder is competing with in the tough and saturated space of IT Product development and Services. Gaining a market share in the high tech industry with already established and trusted brands along with re latively newer but technologically advanced businesses is a mammoth task. The entry barriers are the result of competitive behavior by existing businesses within the marketplace.TopCoder faces a variety of entry barriers that must be overcome or adapted to in order for its non-traditional business approach to create trust and standing with the customers and gaining a foothold within any given marketplace. According to the Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, the most common entry barriers are: 1. Established businesses attempt to prevent new competitors from entering their market because they could lose business and profits. 2. Absolute cost and capital advantages of existing business 4. An existing large company with high bench strength is more capable to cope ith new competitors by developing high complexity products at a lesser cost than a new company. 4. High entry barriers present a difficult challenge for new businesses to overcome to be profitable in the market. If t he barriers are too high, incumbent businesses in the market have a distinct advantage over any new entrant which can prevent the new business from being a significant threat to their market position 5. There can be many customers, who prefer contracts of multiple projects with an established brand which may prevent them to source their requirements to a relatively smaller new company, 6.Several times the processes and specialized business knowledge available with established companies are aligned with the processes and business needs of the customer and they prefer to work with each other. 7. Having worked in multiple projects together and knowing the quality of deliverables customers develop a preference to certain companies 8. Some customers, such as banks, have a lot of sensitive and secure data which they want to share with only already established and trusted IT firms 9. Usually high performing IT firms have a highly sophisticated infrastructure and quality control mechanism i n place.

Song of hummingbird Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Song of hummingbird - Essay Example Presently, scholars refer this ancient ruler using numerous and varying names due to divergence in spellings, which include Montezuma and montecuhzoma (â€Å"Aztec-history.com†). Born approximately around 1466, presently stands being among the most esteemed kings of that region before Spanish invading his region and rendered it into ruins in terms of influence he had. Some of the aspects scholars cite to have enabled this icon to be distinguishable was his wisdom and territory he managed to instill order. This is because of his controversial nature coupled with fine and critical judgeme4nts concerning the future though the emergency of Spanish was somehow tricky to him. However, his mode of aggregating power under him was extremely remarkable and uncommon during his time, which leaders of today and scholars remember him for. Contrary to numerous political icons, he was an industrious person an attribute that enabled him achieve much during his time. However, his demise was disgrace whereby up to date no one knows exactly what was its cause. Some contend it was his people because of having lost power of the empire whereas others cite it was the

Health Information Flyer Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Health Information Flyer - Article Example A myriad of studies conducted shows that about 90% of anogenital warts cases are caused by HPV. The infection has also been connected with the cancers of vulva, cervix, anus, penis, vagina and oropharynx. It is one of the leading viruses causing cervical cancer. Currently, there are two vaccines available; bivalent (HPV types 16 and 18 and a quadrivalent (HPV types 6, 11, 16, and 18). Both vaccines have proved to be offering more than 90% protection despite the fact that its role in male is still controversial. (Nen, 2010) With the consistent prevalence in the new infections, it is necessary that both the affected persons and the government take necessary actions to control the infection which is one of the leading causes of cervical cancer. Cancer is currently one of the leading causes of death across the globe. It is therefore in order that relevant action is taken to control its upsurge. The information share to the public will be fundamental in controlling future deaths. (Nen, 2010) Finally, the flier below and the information provided will be addressed to the sexual active teenagers and parents. Most youths are ignorant about the disease and therefore the information will create awareness and take some necessary action. The parents will also benefit from the information which they can share with their children and advise them to take the vaccination to avoid future cancer incidences. Human papillomavirus is a name of group of virus that entails more than 100 different strains and is spread one person to another through skin to skin contact in the genital areas. It can be spread even without sexual intercourse. At least a third of HPV are sexually transmitted and affects the genital parts of both sexes Some strains are very dangerous as they cancer in vagina, vulva and cervix amongst women while others can cause genital warts. CDC is a government department website and is regularly updated after studies are conducted. Funded by

Master Morality And Slave Morality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Master Morality And Slave Morality - Essay Example In master morality â€Å"bad† stands for â€Å"lowly†, â€Å"despicable† and it refers to people who are inconsequential and cowardly. In Nietzsche’s opinion, â€Å"bad† always concerns the idea of what is useful and never concentrates what is grant or great. On the other hand, Nietzsche established his ideology of good and bad based on persons and their actions. The doctrine of master morality constitutes the theory that the master generates value. Nietzsche introduces slave morality as a counter treatment against master morality and mentions that slave morality begins when Master morality is rejected. Slave morality always promotes the ‘nay- saying’ people and their attitudes. If the characteristics of a person are ‘evil,’ the better thing is its absence in a person’s life. In contrasting Master or noble morality, slave morality at all times encourages unassuming nature and patience. In addition, it is obvious that slave morality give confidence, the human virtues such as kindness, sympathy and humility among the people. Analyzing Nietzsche’s views about good and bad, one can come across some distinctions in their acceptance. In his view, good originates from self- confirmation and it is considered as the celebration of a person’s greatness, virtue and power. ‘Good’ stands for glorious and proud status of human mind whereas, bad always reveals lowly or despicable which enriches the concept what is useful, rather than what is great or virtue. The encounter between good and bad permits one to identify a hierarchy of people, the noble and great masters or aristocracy and common folk. Mater morality differentiates good and bad which underline the role of good and bad in human life. Good and noble person has kept the status of ‘fullness’ through his entire life and helps his fellow being with the help of distinct qualities like wealth, power and ability. â⠂¬ËœBad’ always disquiets irrelevance and forwardness among the people and it forces one to act as more cowardice, aggressive and irrelevant when good and noble person exposed his gratitude. Unlike the encounter between good and bad, good and evil is differentiated by slave morality. Simon May observes that â€Å"What is evil is absolutely negative and must be annulled if the good is to endure† (May, 2011, p.196). In this juncture, one can see that good concentrates human glory and proud. Whenever a person lost his master morality, he would express some signs of humility, sympathy and patience. ‘Evil’ strictly challenges the perceptible happiness of a noble man and it protest the noble or master morality through upholding humbleness and extreme patience, Nietzsche observes that ‘good’ requires the higher status of master morality among the people while, ‘evil’ demands to enhance the idea that morality is equivalent for all. Examin ing the attitude of Roman rulers towards slaves, Nietzsche introduced some innovative concepts about values. Nietzsche had established a new concept named ‘ressentiment’ which provided a new strategy of control, foster cowardice and the power for the compensatory pleasures. Bill Reynolds identifies that â€Å"Ressentiment is a state of repressed feeling and desire, which becomes generative of values† (Reynolds, n.d.). At present, ressentiment became an effective strategy for â€Å"

Failed bill on education in Texas Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Failed bill on education in Texas - Term Paper Example The Texas education bills passed in the recently were on the expected economic constraints. The recent global economic shortfalls too have affected governance and political engagements in policymaking and legislation. A bill to cut expenses on education in Texas faced rejection from the teachers since it would reduce their salaries and they would be laid off without compensation. In addition, the appropriation bill had a shortfall in students allocation per head this affected the number of entries of new students and the it was seen as if it would compromise on output by teachers (Collegedegrees.com, 2011). Apart from that the political differences also affected the bills since different positions were taken not to give more money to the financially derailed schools and hoping for organizations to chip in and sponsor some programs. Whilst most legislators were interested in maintaining their strength in the house, the bills were falling back. Legislation is all polices and the game o f politics is never a clan game but various personal interests are vested upon at the expense of the commoners, hence, you find that implementations of bills don’t meet the threshold so as to bring actual enactment required since the politicians played their cards close to their chests. The bill that failed to pass in Texas was that which could allow concealed weapons on campuses. Proponents of the bill argued that responsible armed students can make campuses safer than before and assist in preventing shootings like the one witnessed in Virginia Tech in 2007. It had a lot of support from the public, the governor, eighty eight co- sponsors, two thirds of the senate and one hundred and fifty members from the house of representatives, the public were sure it will become a law but the bill faced several procedural roadblocks and could not reach the governor’s desk and be passed. In addition, those who proposed the bill argued that this bill was based on matters of self-def ense in cases where harmless students are attacked. On the other hand, opponents of the bill argued that if guns were allowed on campus, it could lead to increased violence (Austin, 2011). The school voucher bill was viewed as one that will take away money from the public schools and that this would work contrary to their favor as much as the bill gave parents a choice and liberty for their children to enjoy private schools at the expense of taxpayer’s money. The charter bill also did favor the military and treat children of the rich families as very special. Citizens must be treated equally without favor or prejudice. In addition, level of abilities must be known and those of less ability should be given better terms while enjoying their liberty of choice. Some bills would give parents unwarranted powers, for example, to close down a low performing school. This was viewed as a self-gun shot in the leg since parents would peck their fingers and over demand. Parents cannot be trusted with some powers, given to them, this would bring undue unrest and hatred amongst the students and teachers as scenarios of students accusing the teachers would be witnessed. This bill was ill motivated and was not guaranteed to succeed for the sake of teacher-parent relationship and coexistence between the teachers and students (Austin, 2011). One of the failed bills was to favor charter schools in which they would be allowed to participate in extracurricular activities at traditional schools. The approach to win it was tactful but it failed since it was acquired that this would be more work for the public schools as those in charter schools made their choice at the expense of co curricular activit

Art final Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Art final - Essay Example o as Classical art, then a thousand years later to the influence of the Catholic Church and religious figures in what is now called Medieval art, to the more humanistic and mathematical dimensions of Renaissance Art, these three cultures have greatly impacted modern art today in the 21st century, and our understanding of beauty, balance, iconography, religious-themed works, and the mathematical beauty of depth and dimension. In ancient Greece, there was a cultural bend towards striving for perfection. Perfection in a social system, philosophy, governance, and, of course, art. The Greeks had a fascination with the human form and perfection. In Greek sculpture, there was almost no recognition of the individualism of personality in a work of art (Kallendorf 42). The facial expression and facial features in Classical Greek sculptures is irrelevant. What is most important is a balance of the positioning of the body, with perfect physical features. There is no room for imperfection in Classical Greek sculptures of the human form, noted by the "S-curve" of the spine (Stewart 21) and one forward leg of the upright pose, weight shifted back a bit on the back leg. The goal was to give the subject a timeless and confident pose. Most sculptures were positioned upright, with one foot foreword, and the weight mostly on the back foot, called, later, contrapposto position (Stewart 23), rejuvenated in Renaissance art. This pose suggested a confident, forward-looking air about the subject. With the eyes and face blank, with the hear upright, and chin out, shoulders square, the focus is all given to the human body-- a combination of physical perfection and balance. Poses of Classical statues were important to connivery a continuum of the societys art with its larger goals of human perfection in government and philosophy. There were very few religious-themes sculptures in Classical Greek art, as nature and common daily life was portrayed in a way which gave the subject a

Proposal to develop biosensor system for rapid diagnosis of infection Essay

Proposal to develop biosensor system for rapid diagnosis of infection with drug-resistant mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) in accident and ER in hospital - Essay Example It potentially kills more adults than any other infectious agent. Detection of infectious pulmonary cases at early stages of infection is imperative to gain control over the bacilli and also its spread. The most prevalent method of screening Mycobacterium tuberculosis is Mantoux TB test, where an injection is given under the patient’s skin and localised reaction is observed for up to 72 hrs. The test is slow, clumsy, requires specialist laboratory facilities and is only effective for detecting advanced disease, it is influenced by multiple factors and delivers false positive or false negative results and requires further testing and interpretations (News release). Research is going on constantly to develop rapid and accurate methodologies and techniques to detect the causal organism associated with tuberculosis. In the past two decades research is being carried out for the development of biosensors and biochips to understand the biological and medical fields and to quantify biomolecules (Vo-Dinh, 2000). It is manifested that organisms have some kind of bioreceptors; biosensors are developed as a means of chemical analysis with high selectivity (Vo-Dinh, 2000). Biosensors are chemical sensors that exploit the high selectivity and sensitivity of a biologically active material (Kumar, 2000). A biosensor can be defined as a device that consists of a biological recognition system called a bioreceptors and a transducer. When the analyte interacts with the bioreceptor (a molecular species e.g. an antibody, an enzyme, a protein, or a nucleic acid or cell, tissue or whole organism), it is measured by transducer as it converts information into an elect rical signal (Vo-Dinh, 2000). Biosensors have the advantage of being simple and low-cost instruments, fast response time, require less sample pre-treatment and display high sample throughput. With the advances in research in this area, novel treatments are required to provide

Questions Essay Example for Free

Questions Essay 1.) It cannot be denied that the Catholic Church greatly affected the development of the Science of Astronomy or it would be more appropriate to say that the Catholic Church hinders the development of Astronomy. In the early times, the Church persecuted those who are trying to seek the reality about the universe, the outer space and those found in it such as Galileo, Tycho Brahe and the likes.   Because of the power of the Church at that time, many who seek the truth in the field of astronomy had been de-motivated. There are only few persons who were willing to oppose the church and to continue their work in the field of astronomy. Others, after finding something that contradict the views and beliefs of the Church, kept their findings for themselves, not letting the world of their discoveries because of the fear of persecution. As a result, there had been few published books or articles regarding developments in the field of astronomy that contradicts the view of the church. Thus, the church really hinders the development of astronomy because it contradicts their beliefs and teachings and was creating doubts in the perfection of the universe. It took a very long time to be able to accept developments and new knowledge in astronomy. 2.) Tides refer to the alternating rise and fall of sea level within a day. What causes the sea level to change? It is actually the gravitational attraction of the sun and moon that cause waters of the ocean to swell and recede at different parts of the earth. The earth and the moon are two great masses that have a significant gravitational pull on each other. This keeps the moon in orbit around the earth, and it is also what causes tides to occur in the ocean. The fact that there are two tide cycles a day instead of just one can be cogently explained. Although we commonly think of the moon as revolving around the Earth they both revolve around their common center of gravity. The revolution of the earth and the moon about their own center of gravity counterbalanced the gravitational attraction between them. This balance in between the centrifugal force and the gravitational force between the earth and the moon appear exactly at their centers, in the center of the earth and the moon. The earth experiences gravitational and centrifugal forces resulting in the earth’s water to assume ellipsoidal. As the earth turns upon its own axis in about 24 hours, a point on the earth moves through areas with these different forces acting on it. In one rotation (one day), a point on earth travels from an area of high tide, where the earth’s water is being pulled outward, to an area of low tide where the earth’s water is being pulled inward, trough another area of high tide which is the opposite pull to another area of low tide. Then it will return to its point of origin at high tide. Thus, two high tides and low tides can be observed instead of just one in a day. 3.)  Johannes Kepler was born in Wurttemberg in 1571 and died in 1630. He received an excellent and wide-ranging education in Lutheran Schools and at the University of Tubingen. He hoped to follow a carrier in the church, but he wrote paper on an astronomical subject that came to the attention of Tycho Brahe, now at Prague, and Tycho invited the young man to join him as his assistant. After much soul searching, Kepler accepted, and when Tycho died the next year, in 1601, Kepler was appointed imperial mathematician in his place and inherited Tycho’s large body of accurate astronomical observations. Kepler’s greatest contribution was a set of three laws of planetary motion that solved the problem of epicycles and eccentric orbits once and for all. The first of the new laws made a substantial change in the Aristotelian system, for it asserted that planetary motion is not uniformly circular. The planets do not travel in eccentric circles around the sun, but in ellipses, with the sun at one of the two foci of the ellipse. Kepler’s ellipses were very close to circles, which explained why the previous assumption of circular orbits had adequately explained the phenomena as long as observations remained relatively inaccurate. The new assumption was correct within the limits of observational accuracy of the time and required no further adjustments, no eccentricities, no epicycles, and no tricks of any kind. Kepler’s second law of planetary motion asserted that a radius vector joining a planet to the sun sweeps out equal areas in equal time. What this mean is that in a certain time, a planet will travel more quickly along its orbit when it is closer to the sun than when it is farther away from it. This brilliant insight, a major inspiration to Newton, applies to all bodies moving in fields of force, not just planets. It explained most of the discrepancies between astronomical theory and observation. The third law asserted a mathematical relation between the periods of revolution and of the planets and their distance from the sun. Discovering this law was a remarkable achievement considering the primitive instruments Kepler had at his proposal. Kepler spent many years not only advancing his ideas about these laws and preparing Tycho’s tables of observation for publication, but also mulling over what he recognized as the great remaining unsolved problem of planetary motion: the motivation whereby the planets revolved around the sun. What holds the planets in their orbits and what drives them ever forward.

Business case for HRIS

Business case for HRIS Business Case for HRIS Key strategic areas in Insurance sector are employee retention, compensation and reward policy. Retention can be linked directly to talent management and training development. Value added benefit derived from the HRIS can surely revitalise the organisation. The recent recession has furthered the need of lean highly efficient organisations to stem the tide against the recession. The HRIS offers benefits to employees, business as well as the HR department. Benefit for the employees. The HRIS allows immediate access to the employees with whole lot of HR information ie Personal particulars, Disciplinary procedure information, availability of all relevant forms, compensation information, benefit information, leave coordination, managing Tax information and instructions about training and policies. Hence the employee has no longer the need to either go to the HR department or speak to them over the phone. Further more it gives transparency to the functioning of the HR department, which has been the sore point in the employee-HR department relationship. Benefit for the Business. The HRIS impact on the business is far reaching. It not only reduces the administrative costs by reducing the administrative layers but paves a way for Re-engineering. HRIS also brings about enhancement in executive decision making, employee training, better interdepartmental integration and better reporting structure. Thus HRIS helps toward reaching the organisational vision by integration, personnel development, knowledge management and HR analysis. (Mayfield and Lunce, 2003) Further more difficult decisions such as freezing salaries, eliminating overtime, reducing workforce and reducing benefit contributions and redundancy can be handled easily and in a correct manner by HRIS. It provides them with all the information required and also gives them the advantage of structuring the employer data as per their requirement. HRIS also helps managers to evaluate Key parameter Indicators, which are difficult to measure activities, by generation of data in graphs and charts.. Similarly recr uitment system help in maintaining talent pool, which helps the organisation reduce costs by removing the recruitment agencies. Benefits for the HR department The major part of any HR professional daily responsibilities is spent at administrative and advisory role than on the core functionality. Hence HRIS generates time availability to be devoted to the strategic decision making. Furthermore, it aids the department by increasing data accuracy, higher processing speed, better productivity and ability to produce more needful and sophisticated results. (Ceriello and Freeman 1998) Issues in Implementation of HRIS Pre-implementation stage: The basic issue is identification of various HR functions for inclusion in the system. A detailed work flow analysis is required on the cost effectiveness of all available systems and based upon it a thorough customisation suite should be identified which should be in lines with the organisations HR process.(Walker,1993) For this a evaluation team consisting of members from HR, IT , Finance and purchasing department should be formed.(Wisner and Wisner, 1994). Implementation stage: After the selection of the HRIS, next priority should be identification of infrastructure requirements, Inter- department adroitness for incorporation of the system with the organisational needs, formulation of terms and policies for the implementation and identification of the training requirements and testing of the system. A proper project management practises are required to ease out the issues. Training along with the awareness of the benefits of the system should be used as a means for breaking the inertia of existing employee. (Elliot,1999). This stage is for consolidation and all attempts should be aimed at proving and testing the system, prior to it going live. Post implementation. The major feature of this stage is measuring the performance of the system and reorganising the responsibilities of the HR department. Issue in this stage can arise out of adaptive as well as corrective maintenance requirements which can be due to the misinterpretation of directives or due to system limitation. (Ceriello and Freeman, 1998). Issues can also arise out of need for redefining responsibilities of HR managers. (Hagood and Friedman, 2002). Thus in order to reduce the issues in this stage pre-emptive actions need to be taken right at the beginning about defining HR processes and methodical training during the consolidation phase. Successful Implementation. As HRIS brings about critical changes, hence there would be areas which would resist the change (The Interia). Thus the key factor in the success of HRIS implementation is a firm commitment from the Top management,-the sponsors of the project, for providing adequate funding as well as catering to staffing needs of the project. The top brass should assist in formation of a proper steering committee, comprising of all members across the organisation, who can ensure that their line managers have the necessary directives and responsibilities for making the HRIS operational. This committee should resolve major issues and take timely course corrective actions. The steering committee needs to ensure that managers are conversant with the likely changes and garner their support towards this change. This will help set an example and parameter for each members department and will also prepare the ground for dealing with change-management issues. Reference http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3495/is_n12_v41/ai_19099649/pg_4/?tag=content;col1 http://www.esocialsciences.com/data/articles/Document1206200781.437014E-02.pdf http://www.wkforce.com/human-resources/hris.html

Critiques of Faulkner’s Sound and Fury Essay -- Faulkner’s The Sound a

Critiques of Faulkner’s Sound and Fury After reading through a large chunk of criticism, it seems clear to me how David Minter, editor of our edition, hopes to direct the readers’ attentions. I was rather dumbstruck by the number of essays included in the criticism of this edition that felt compelled to discuss Faulkner and the writing of The Sound and the Fury seemingly more than to discuss the text itself. Upon going back over the essay, I realized that Minter’s own contribution, â€Å"Faulkner, Childhood, and the Making of The Sound and the Fury,† is a prime example of such â€Å"criticism of the text† that focuses on the author, his creation of the text as a process, and the author’s self-professed opinions of the text. I have a number of problems with this idea. Although analyzing Faulkner and his process is not condemnable in of itself, it seems as though nearly every essay in this edition feels it necessary to include a lengthy quote by Faulkner addressing either his love of Caddy , his non-plan when writing the novel, or his deeming the novel a failure. After reading about these facts in essay after essay, one hopes Minter is satisfied in drilling them into the reader’s head. Another issue I have with these inclusions is the relevancy of an author’s statements concerning the writing process of a particular text after the text has been written. It seems that most of Faulkner’s comments about the novel and the writing process were recorded long after the fact, and I have trouble believing his statements concerning his writing process after publication. It seems more likely that his repeated desire to emphasize Caddy’s positive nature is a direct response to more negative receptions of the character upon the release of the book. Re... ...solely within the imaginations of her three brothers. For Benjy, she is a non-past memory; for Quentin, her spoiled virginity haunts him (along with the honeysuckle he associates with her); for Jason, Caddy haunts in the form of the lost job and subsequent material loss. Thus she becomes in actuality triply phenomenally constructed, for not only does she exist solely within the imaginations of her brothers (in whatever form they are haunted by), but also within the imaginations of Faulkner and the reader. Just as we are watching the watched watcher, readers conceive of Caddy solely through her watchers, the brothers, and their watcher, Faulkner. Caddy exists only in the imaginations of the three (brothers, Faulkner, reader), but she effectively and efficiently haunts them all, detached and delocated from her material body into the phenomenal body of the imagination.

The Butterfly Effect :: Personal Narrative Essays

The Butterfly Effect If you hold a piece of string between your hands you have an "end" in each hand, but in more ways than one each end can also be called a beginning: The beginning of the string, the beginning of the transition from string to hand, or the beginning of the transition from string to air. Quantum physics has taught us that nothing is absolutely any one thing. The string--be it nylon, hemp, or cotton--has electrons, and those electrons, busy critters, move, flux, and orbit, constantly redefining the space of that piece of string. The electrons of your hand, too, constantly shape and reshape your "personal space" by their activity. In the resultant intermingling of the subatomic parts of your body and the string you become, to some extent, an extension of that piece of string and it becomes a part of you. Astronomers speak of a similar idea called "The Mediocrity Principle." This idea says that, at this time, the view of the universe from earth is no better or no worse than from anywhere else in the universe. As Chet Raymo says in his book The Virgin and the Mousetrap: "We're cosmically mediocre." But because the universe continues to expand, there must have been a time when it began to expand. Though with today's technology they have no way of knowing when exactly this occurred, astronomers have formed a hypothetical idea called zero time. Even this, zero time, is not the beginning of the universe, however; that's just when it began to take its current shape. You can trace the evolution of a loaf of bread back to when it was just a lump of ingredients, and you can trace it to a time when the ingredients came together, but even beyond that all the ingredients were still there; they just hadn't come together yet. Cosmologists differ on what they think the universe was before the ingred ients came together or how they got there in the first place, but even the strictest of evolutionists believe in the literal truth of at least one bible passage: Ecclesiastes 1:9: "That which hath been is that which shall be; and that which hath been done is that which will be done: and there is nothing new under the sun." For the past twenty-five years or so Chaos Theory has been one of the hottest, most interesting fields of scientific study.

John Ernst Steinbeck :: Essays Papers

John Ernst Steinbeck Chronology Born: February 27,1902 in the family home. He lived at 132 Central Avenue, Salinas, CA. He wrote his first stories here as a child. Father: John Ernst Steinbeck. He lived 1863-1935. He was the County Treasurer. Mother: Olive Hamilton Steinbeck. She lived 1867-1934. She was an elementary teacher. Sisters: Elizabeth Steinbeck Ainsworth. She was born on May 25,1894 and died on October 20, 1992. She lived in Pacific Grove, CA. Esther Steinbeck Rodgers. She was born April 14,1892 and died on May 9,1986. She lived in Watsonville, CA Mary Steinbeck Dekker. She was born on January 9,1905 and died January 23,1965. She is buried in the family plot. 1919: Graduated from Salinas High School, then located on West Alisal Street across from the post office. Began attending Stanford University. 1919 - 1925: He attended Stanford University. 1925: He went to New York City, working odd jobs, including manual labor for the construction of Madison Square Garden. He was unable to find a publisher. He returned to California the next year. 1929: Cup of Gold became his first published novel. 1930: Married Carol Henning and moved to the family home in Pacific Grove. His father helped support the struggling couple. They divorced in 1942. She lived in Carmel Valley, CA after and died February 8, 1983. 1932: The Pastures of Heaven became his first published work set in Monterey County. 1934: His mother died in the Salinas home. John had stayed in the home to take care of her. After this experience, Steinbeck wrote to a friend, "The house in Salinas is pretty haunted now. I see things walking at night that it is not good to see." Steinbeck wrote to 1934: A short story set in Monterey County, The Murder, won an O. Henry Prize. 1935: His father died. This was the first year Steinbeck had commercial success. Tortilla Flat was an instant hit. 1935: He won the Commonwealth Club of California Gold Medal for Best Novel by a Californian for Tortilla Flat. 1936: He again won the Commonwealth Club of California Gold Medal for Best Novel by a Californian for In Dubious Battle. 1936: Of Mice and Men, set around Soledad, was produced as a novel and then as a play. The Red Pony by Steinbeck also won recognition. Steinbeck mentioned labor violence in Salinas in a letter, "There are riots in Salinas and killings in the streets of that dear little town where I was born.

Introduction to the Sciences Essay

The statement that; â€Å"Computers are part of our everyday lives.† Is so correct, I don’t think the people of today would know how to do anything without the computer. Between the desktop top computers and laptops to the smart phone everything can be stored using less space and the ability to locate stuff so much more easier that if the world of today lost computers around the world for even just an hour would put this world in an uproar. There are three essential properties of every material that scientists use as a premise for almost every study. The kind of atoms is the first one that the material is made up of. You will have your neutral elements and your compound elements. The neutral elements have the same amount of protons and electrons, which basically cancel each other out leaving them neutral. The compound element deals with combining more than one element. In the way those atoms are arrange is the second one. The best example of this is by comparing the atoms of liquid and the atoms of solids. For example the atoms of liquids move around much more freely than the atoms of solids which are packed together. The third one is the way the atoms are bonded together. There are also four key properties one must understand when studying a material. The first is strength which has the ability of a solid to resist changes in shape. The strength of the material, which means it must be able to withstand the forces being applied to it without breaking, is the first. There are three distinguished different kinds of strength that scientists and engineers recognize. One is the ability to withstand crushing, another is its ability to withstand pulling apart and the last one is its ability to withstand shearing. The most critical key property to us is those that control the flow electricity. An electrical conductor is capable of carrying an electrical current. See more: how to start an essay Which means electrons can flow freely. However, there are also other materials that can also conduct electricity, like saltwater that contains ions of sodium and chlorine, which also freely move if they become of an electric current. Electrical insulators are a material that will not conduct electricity unless they come into contact with an extremely high voltage that can pull the electrons loose. Semiconductors and Superconductors are the third properties. Semiconductors are neither good conductor nor are they a perfect insulator. But, they are the most important components of our electronic age. A superconductor is a property that exhibits materials that when cooled within a few degrees of absolute zero. The last one is the magnetic properties of materials. Even though we may not pay much attention to magnets they are a part of our daily lives. Magnets are in most of our electric motors or our stereo speakers and many other things we use on a daily bases. Now before we look at microchips and the information revolution, we must learn about doped semiconductors. Doping is intentionally introduces impurities into a pure semiconductor. There are two really important consequences with doping semiconductors the first being, is there are conductions electron in the material and the second one being phosphorus ion that has been left behind has a positive charge. A u-type semiconductor is a semiconductor doped with phosphorus because a moving charge is a negative charge. A p-type semiconductor is when silicon can be doped with an element like aluminum. When the aluminum is dope into a crystal structure there is one less valence electron. This missing electron creates a material tat can easily carry an electrical current. Once it starts moving around the aluminum atom has now acquired an extra electron which has a negative charge. When placing a u-type semiconductor against a p-type semiconductor negative charge electrons will diffuse from the u–type to the p-type whereas positive charged holes will diffuse the opposite way, p-type to u-type. A semiconductor like this is known as a diode. Once constructed a permanent electrical field pushes electrons across the boundary from u-type to the p-type. As the electrons flow in the diode the current flows normally. However, when it is reversed the electrons are blocked by the built in electrical field. This makes the diode allow a one way passage to allow the electrical current in only direction. By the use of a device called photovoltaic cell the semiconducting diodes play a very important role in the future of the U.S. It is nothing more than a thin layer of u –type material bonded to thicker layer of p-type material. The photovoltaic cells are in hand calculators, cameras and televisions. A transistor is a device that s based on our entire information age. It is just like a sandwich. One would have a u-type, p-type, u-type and another would be a p-type, u-type, p-type. Both transistors control the flow of electrons. Even though diodes and transistors still have a role in modern electronic they have mostly be replaced by much more complex arrays of p and u type semiconductors called microchips. The first transistors built where about the size of a golf ball but now days they can be as small as a grain of rice. Microchips incorporate hundreds to thousands of transistors in one intergrated circuit that is designed to perform a specific function. Computer science is a branch o f science that’s main goal is to create intelligence in machines and robots. It is known as artificial intelligence. Artificial Intelligence is the study of man-made computational devices and systems which can be made to act in a manner which we would be inclined to call intelligent. Artificial intelligence research is highly technical, it is deeply divided into subfields that do fail to communicate with each other. The differences between the computer brain and the human brain is that the human brain is composed of soft organic tissue made mostly of fat. The computer brain, however, is composed of hard, inorganic materials made mostly of silicon and copper. Another difference between the two brains is that the human brain’s software-the mind-exists only metaphysically and the computer’s brain knows only what it was programmed to know, well at least so far anyways. References: The Sciences: An Integrated Approach Edition 7 Chapter 11 Materials and Their Properties http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence

Biographical Sketch: Kasturba Gandhi Essay

Biographical Sketch: Kasturba Gandhi Kasturba Gandhi was a renowned figure for all of India and was always there to help Mohandas Gandhi out. Kasturba was born on April 11, 1869 to Gokuladas MakharJi, a wealthy business man. She married Mohandas Gandhi in 1882 when she was only 13 years old. At that time she could not read or write because she hadn’t had the proper schooling. Mohandas taught to both read and write and that would come in handy later when she was delivering speeches that led India to its independence. This was also a dangerous move considering the roles and places of India and the caste system. Kasturba and Mohandas had their first child right before Mohandas had to leave for a business trip so Kasturba stayed in India to tend to the child. After the first one they had three more together until in 1906 Mohandas decided to observe brahamacharya and from there on they never had sexual relations. She was very religious minded and broke many barriers in the caste system and also supported her husband in all of his political views. She also had her own view nd spoke out against working conditions in South Africa for Indians which is Just one example of her many times speaking out. She supported hygiene, discipline, reading, and writing to women and children. Kasturba suffered from chronic Bronchitis and the stress on top of that she had tremendous amount of stress during the Quit India Movements arrest also aggravated her illness. She contracted pneumonia but her husband disagreed with the use of penicillin. She died ofa major heart attack on February 22, 1944. Gandhi died in January 30, 1948 after Kasturba and he were married for 62 years

Jolli Bee Case study Essay

In 1975 Jollibee Food Corporation began as an ice cream parlor and was run by the Chinese-Filipino Tan family. After the oil crisis in 1977 Tony Tan Caktiong (TTC) expected the ice cream prices to soar. The consequence of this incident was, that the family diversified into a home-style Philippine hamburger, which was quickly desired by the customers. As a result of the big success the family opened five stores in Manila, where the family incorporated as Jollibee Foods Corporation. When McDonald’s entered the Philippine market in 1981 Jollibee had to face his first serious challenge. With already 11 in their back Jollibee was fearless and confident. Moreover Philippine customers preferred the spicy taste of their hamburgers. Nevertheless McDonald’s, who spent a lot of money in advertising, quickly exceeded Jollibee’s sales per store. The company was named after TTC’s vision where employees work efficiently and cheerfully, like bees. Through a well-developed operations management Jollibee was able to offer a consistent and efficient service and quality food. Consequently the family expanded rapidly throughout the Philippines financing all growth internally until 1993. At the end of 1993 the Jollibee Foods Corporation had a total of 124 stores with a total sales volume of 3.386 millions of pesos (see Exhibit 1). Year Total Sales (millions of pesos) Total Stores at the End of the Year Company-Owned Stores Franchises 1975 NA 2 2 0 1980 NA 7 4 3 1985 174 28 10 18 1990 1,229 65 12 54 1991 1,744 99 21 80 1992 2,644 112 25 89 1993 3,386 124 30 96 1994 4,044 148 44 106 1995 5,118 166 55 113 1996 6,588 205 84 124 1997 (projected) 7,778 223 96 134 NA = not available Exzhibit : Jollibee Philippines Growth 1975 – 1997 (Bartlett and Beamish, 2011, p. 35). Although Jollibee went public in 1993 the Tan family retained the majority ownership and kept on controlling Jollibee. BACKGROUND After the big success against McDonald’s people started approaching TTC for franchise rights. That’s why Jollibee slowly began to enter the foreign markets with investments in Singapore. With the help of friends Jollibee started a partnership with a local manager and five Philippine-Chinese investors. Soon the relationship between Jollibee and the local manager started to worsen. Therefore the franchise agreement was revoked and shut  down in 1986. Jollibee kept on moving offshore and started joint ventures in Taiwan and Brunei as well as an own store in Indonesia in the late 1980s. Because of several mistakes Jollibee was unsuccessful in every market besides Brunei. Nevertheless Jollibee decided to continue entering foreign countries. For that reason in 1994 an International Division was created with Tony Kitchner selected as Vice-president. He started expanding quickly while he was differentiating the International Division from the Philippine part. Moreover Kitchner tried to create a more formal culture for the division with a strategy, which had two main themes – â€Å"targeting expats† and â€Å"planting the flag†. Soon he remarked that the Middle East, Hong Kong, Guam and other Asian Territories would provide a good market for Jollibee since many Filipinos live there. The other strategy said, that a company always has a first mover advantage. So Jollibee started to plant the flag in countries where there was no or little competition. Jollibee expanded quickly – by 1997 Jollibee had 223 stores (see Exhibit 1). But this rapid growth also had the consequences that there was not enough advertising budget. With the growth of the international business the relation between the International Division and the Philippine organization started to struggle. That’s why in 1996 TTC realized that the Kitchner’s strategy was costing heavily and decided not to keep on supporting Kitchner. Because of that Kitchner left Jollibee in 1997 while TTC shrank the International Division’s staff from 32 to 14 (Bartlett and Beamish, 2011, p. 48). INTERNAL ANALYSIS 1 Current Situation Today Jollibee is the largest fast food chain in the Philippines, operating more than 750 stores (Jollibee, 2013). It is mainly operating on its domestic home-market where it is a dominant market leader. Moreover the company currently has more than 80 stores outside the Philippines – USA (26), Vietnam (32), Brunei (11), Jeddah (7), Qatar, Hong Kong, and Kuwait (1 each). Jollibee obviously want to grow fast and become international. For further investments Jollibee has to find out what went wrong during their first years, where foreign markets couldn’t be reached successful. Additionally Jollibee has to question if Jollibee still can be mainly family-run as their company grows very fast. 2 Strength Financial situation and leadership in local market: As already mentioned, Jollibee is the biggest fast food chain in the Philippines and owns the leadership in their local market. With over 750 stores worldwide Jollibee has strong financial resources with an operating margin of approximately 7% (net income). Although competitors like McDonald’s have two-digit margins (Google finance – McDonald’s Corporation, 2013) Jollibee shows a static growth. Their net income nearly tripled between 1992 and 1996. Moreover Jollibee Foods Corp. joined the ranks of Forbes Magazine’s top 50 Asian companies this year based on financial track records (GMANETWORK, 2013). Furthermore Jollibee’s assets seem to be bound long-term in property and inventory. Operations management capability Jollibee is a family-run business. Although there was an IPO in 1993 the Tan family still controls the business. Nevertheless they hired external managers in areas where they weren’t familiar with and local knowledge was needed, e.g. the international business. Another aspect is, that the share of own stores is relatively high – with about 40% while competitors like McDonald’s only own 20% of their stores (McDonald’s, 2013). Normally own stores demand a much higher investment than franchise stores while having a much higher financial risk of failure. Besides that the company is capable of serving good, fresh and healthy food for low prices. Key to this affordable price is a well-developed operations management. Diversity in product offering Another huge strength of Jollibee Foods Corp. is its diversity in products which is bigger than most of their competitors. Moreover, the acquisition of Greenwich Pizza and the joint venture with Deli France even increased their product margin. Company philosophy The next big strength of Jollibee Foods Corp. is their company philosophy, which was set after TTC’s vision. The so-called â€Å"Five F’s† contain â€Å"flavorful food†, â€Å"friendliness†, â€Å"fun† â€Å"family† and â€Å"flexibility†. Flavorful food: As already mentioned, Jollibee places special emphasis on good, healthy and flavorful food. The other four F’s aim to give the customer a nice stay and a nice atmosphere with their family where they can join their meal. 3 4 Weaknesses Expansion of business in international markets As already mentioned the first moves to foreign markets failed. Due to several mistakes Jollibee had to close their stores after a couple of years. The management made huge errors when they cooperated with local manager, which didn’t follow the company’s philosophy. Jollibee should have controlled the manager from the beginning and maybe they had to show them their operational management skills to fulfill their requirements, e.g. with a training or instruction. Additionally the communication within the organization has to approve so that problems between the two divisions can be minimized. Dependence on Filipinos Another weakness of Jollibee is their dependence on Filipinos. Instead of addressing to people from all walks they try to force themselves to just serve Filipinos. With a well managed marketing addressed to other citizens the demand after Jollibee products could increase and maybe lead to a expansion towards Europe. Moreover they could start promotional campaigns where Jollibee is presented as a global brand. Bias towards friends Jollibee Foods Corp. has a strong bias towards friend and relatives while selecting local franchise partners. This often led to problems. They should select their partners after their attitude to work and capability instead of friendship. EXTERNAL ANALYSIS 5 Opportunities Widen product range As previously mentioned the product range and taste of Jollibee differs from  competitors like Burger King and McDonald’s due to its Philippine origin. This is not only a chance, but also a risk at the same time. The special taste gives Jollibee the chance, that customers prefer their food. Also Jollibee should show that they only serve quality food while the price is still affordable. With a well-planned marketing campaign they could reach a competitive advantage. Otherwise Jollibee runs danger to lose the competition because of the far bigger marketing budgets and brand recognition of the established burger chains, as they face this problem in Hong Kong and California. Furthermore they could widen their product range to address people from other countries. Another option would be to include more local food items to target more mainstream American people. But as Tony Kitchner already failed with the â€Å"Jollimeal†, which is modifier for each country this has to be planned exactly. If something like that will be used again, a better communication to the customers is necessary. Untapped locations Location management is a key to success in the fast-food industry, as the number of customers increase with a well-located restaurant. That’s why another opportunity is, that the â€Å"plant the flag† strategy should be reused, but in a slightly smaller scale. Jollibee should watch out for untapped locations with fewer or negligible competition to save the first mover’s advantage or just to acquire new customers. Another option is to hire local people to get local knowledge. But in order to stay successful in foreign countries, Jollibee has to at least run 60 restaurants with a turnover of minimum 800.000 US-Dollars each. 6 7 Threats Competition One of the biggest threats and problems of Jollibee Foods Corp. is the huge amount of competitors. Moreover, these competitors, e.g. Burger King or McDonald’s, have a established brand and are well known Other At last there are several other little threats that could get problematic for Jollibee. Since the downturn in economy many people have to eat at home, because they cannot afford the costs of going out with the whole family. Another aspects are the rising operational costs, e.g. power or labor. With static increasing operational costs the profit decreased so that Jollibee will be forced to raise the food prices. Since people try to live healthier their dining habits could change, so that people could prefer dining than fast food. RECOMMENDATIONS This analysis makes one thing clear: Opening over 150 stores within 10 years is beyond the organizational and financial capabilities of Jollibee. It should grow slower and concentrate on every store opening so that it is able to generate income very quick and be able to pay back debts. Another big question is, if Jollibee is able to address to non-Philippine expats without or with less modifications. The suggestions for this three selected markets are as following: Hong Kong and the United States (California) both are huge but highly competed markets. The advantage of California is that there is a big community of immigrants as well as a big community of Philippine expats, who are the main group addressed by Jollibee. Moreover the Americans like fast food and probably like the regular Jollibee menu. However the Chinese market needs high entry costs since the demanded modifications are very high, although the customer acceptance is not guaranteed. As mentioned before, Jollibee should concentrate on few stores. That’s why it would not make any sense to enter both markets, as the financial situation is too bad. Because of a wider range of communities as well as fewer modification costs, Jollibee should try to compete on the U.S. market. Though the market in Papua New Guinea may be entered on a basis as a test, since there are only few fast food companies to compete with. Additionally, the entry costs are low. Although it is not guaranteed that the fast food will be accepted on this virgin market, the risk for a fast expansion is too high. As Bartlett and Beamish state, the so-called â€Å"Global mentality† is a key factor for the fast food industry to get successful (Bartlett and Beamish, 2011, p. 12). REFERENCES Bartlett, Christpher A., Beamish, Paul W. Transnational Management – Text, Cases, and Readings in Cross-Border Management. 6th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2011. Print. McDonald’s. Our company. Retrieved September 14th, 2013, from: http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/our_company.html Google Finance – McDonald’s Corportion (2013, September 13). Retrieved September 14th, 2013, from: http://www.google.com/finance?cid=22568 Jollibee – About us. Retrieved September 14th From: http://www.jollibee.com.ph/about-us GMANETWORK – Jollibee, Ayala Corp., Alliance Global among Forbes’ ‘Fab 50’ Asian firms . Retrieved September 14th From: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/324133/economy/companies/jollibee-ayala-corp-alliance-global-among-forbes-fab-50-asian-firms

Matt Leeds

Leeds felt that taking a position in the consulting firm would give him broader exposure In the retail/marketing field and the Job In general was more glamorous. Kingston offered him a Job and also promised Leeds would become a UP in a few years. He ended up accepting the offer from Dander Boonton and Scott was not happy with the decision. Dander Boonton has (3) practicing areas; mass merchants and luxury retailers, catalog/Delbert marketing and consumer goods manufacturers.Leeds would be a part of the first practice and the recruiter, with whom Leeds interacted with, spoke highly of the Senior Partner in charge of the area UT also mentioned moral was a down due to the low number of promotions to partnership. The hierarchy at the company is the following: Associate consultant, Consultant, Engagement Manager, Partner, Managing Director Each office has a managing director who optimizes the use of resources to keep staff as fully billable as possible, especially Junior people who do not have clientele. Engagement Directors sell services and staff It with Engagement Managers who use consultants.Engagement Managers participate In one project at a time usually for up to (8) months. Consultants are rotated more often, every four to six months. This is done to allow consultants to be a part at different stages of the engagement with different clients. Dander uses a formal Management by Objectives evaluation process and most of the promotions are from within. Leeds was interviewed by managers that impressed him but he was also told he would not know who his boss or assignment was until the first day of work, He was also told he would become an engagement manager within 2 to 3 years.His first day at work he met his boss who outlined his flirts assignment in about ten minutes. It was a merchandising optimization model project with a chain of women's apparel stores, but it would not start for another six months, and in the meantime the project had to be planned. He was int roduced to the only other consultant on the project up to that time, Eleanor Swift. He had a meeting with his boss that did not go well because his boss had stereotyped Mambas as people who know less than what they really claim.His boss was confrontational stating Leeds would not get special treatment and that he would have to prove himself like everyone else. Leeds replied stating he was someone who got his hands dirty and gave examples of this in his role in the stores. His boss also told him in the next weeks he would be extremely busy FIFO Telling a project, out Tanat en was welcome to ask any Stetsons IT name. Lyle tool Leeds his initial Job was to work on project plans for each major part of the project and to work with Swift, but that he had to report to him and not Swift.Leeds was not happy with the first meeting with his boss, whom he saw as not welcoming and disinterested. He also met Swift who characterized herself as a corporate misfit, who knew how to get things done bu t did not engage in politics like everyone else. She told Leeds that by working with her he would learn his Job. She also expressed her dislike for Harvard Mambas and went on to say he would be in learning mode for at least six months and also mentioned the company was a highly structured environment. Leeds was not happy with his boss or peer but had mixed feelings about the project.The negative part was that it would start in six months, but it was good to start on something so big for the office with challenging work from the ground up. On the second day he was invited to lunch by one of the consultants that had interviewed him and they met other consultants as well. They seemed a lot ore interested in his background than his boss and peer and also informed him about a change in recruitment practices where all new hires for entry level positions were now Mambas from top schools. As a result Mambas were dominating the company, which was a possible cause of Lye's and Swifts dislike of Mambas.The couple of times Leeds went to ask his boss some questions about what he had read about Fashioner he was told to come back later. He asked Swift and she answered in her condescending style. Swift would give trivial tasks to Leeds which he did not question since he did not want to be perceived as aggressive. By his third week, Swift scheduled meetings with Engagement Managers who had run projects similar to the components of the project; order quantities, pricing, markdowns and location optimization.Leeds was in the meetings but did not participate much because he was overwhelmed by the information and felt he should be in learner mode as Swift had suggested. He also felt like nobody asked for his opinion and began to feel uncomfortable. Leeds had a conversation with Brenner, the consultant who interviewed him and she told him making good presentations, having all facts and figures prepared was important along with being enthusiastic, ambitious, creative, and analytical. Leeds was asked to analyze Fashioner sales data and write a Memo which he did with Lye's help.The Engagement Director praised it as good, but Leeds was disappointed because he wasn't included in the development of work plans done by Lyle and Swift using his analysis. He felt he was more than qualified to participate in this. He seemed to get along with everybody at Dander except for Lyle and Swift. He spoke to other consultants who informed him other new hires were doing more challenging tasks and that they did not understand why he was given such mundane assignments. This seems like a bad case of set-up to fail without having any reason other than a stereotype or bad feelings toward Mambas.Lyle and Swift had made up their mind about Leeds without giving him a chance at success. Lyle provided very little information and assigned work or let Swift assign work that would not encourage or inspire anyone. After six weeks of being there Lyle still had not given Leeds his objectives. One time, Leeds Ana to ay word processing Decease Nils secretary was on vacation and the other secretaries were busy. Hopper saw him and reprimanded him saying he should not be doing clerical work. That's why they had secretaries and doing that kind of work would undermine his credibility.Leeds respectfully told him it was a minor change he needed to get done quickly, but Hopper insisted. Lyle heard the incident and told Leeds that Hopper was being unreasonable. Leeds decided to listen to Hopper since he had seniority over Lyle. After this, an incident caused tension between Leeds and both Swift and Lyle. Swift then asked Leeds to make copies for her immediately. Leeds said he was busy and told her to manage her time better and make her own copies. She got upset and asked him if he was too good to make copies. Leeds was upset and he snatched the papers and started making the copies.After lunch he had a note to go see Lyle. Lyle took Swifts side and shouted at Leeds stating he had to be a team player and that even Harvard Mambas had to make copies. Leeds was frustrated because he felt Lyle was not being objective. Again this sounds like Lyle has his in and out group. Leeds is in the out group without having had a chance to prove himself. Leeds confronted Swift about her being condescending and Swift apologized sarcastically. Leeds either performed clerical tasks and upset Hopper or does not and upsets his boss and peer. A couple of days later Hopper approached Leeds asking him if he was happy in the company.Leeds stated he had some issues with Swift, but said Lyle was really good to him. He felt it was not good to make negative comments about his boss to his superiors. Leeds found out after three months he should be given an evaluation, he requested one from Lyle and a couple of days later had an informal evaluation during lunch. Lyle said he was doing a nice Job, learning his Job and getting along with everyone in the office, but that he was unassertive and lacke d initiative, especially during meetings. Leeds mentioned he was being a learner as Swift had suggested and also mentioned Swifts condescending attitude.Lyle replied she had a deficient management style, but that he never had issues with her and that Leeds should be able to get along with her. Swift and Leeds got into another argument over analysis Leeds had done of Fashioner's existing pricing policies and markdown approaches. Swift was initially impressed with his work, but when he showed her the spreadsheet he was using for his analysis she started questioning his findings. Swift started screaming mentioning Harvard Mambas thought they knew it all and Leeds was called into Lye's office, whereLyle once again defended Swift and promised to give Leeds distinct assignments. He also told him he did not understand why be couldn't get along with Swift, that she was misunderstood, but had a good heart. Lyle, as the manager, should take steps to resolve the conflict and make the situation better, but Leeds did not believe he would do that. Leeds took matters into his own hands and invited Swift to speak after work. They did and agreed to cooperate. Other Consultants in the company criticized Lyle calling him a bad manager and stating that he did not train people.

Critique paper Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Critique paper - Article Example The article provides the reader with a response from the CEO of Disney to the member of congress, which was meant to ridicule him for not getting his facts straight (Mangu-Ward 1). This paper will criticize the article, and mention some of the crucial aspects the reader needs to note. The author provides sufficient evidence to support the issues raised by the member of congress. This is through direct quotes that are recorded in the article from the member of congress. The author’s thought processes are brought out through the interpretation she offers the reader. This assists in bringing the reader to one conclusion about what goes on in many of the corporations present, but ensuring the reader understands that Disney is not among them. This is done by the author through the evidence the Disney CEO provides about what goes on (Mangu-Ward 1). It is not clear if the author will gain anything through favouring either party. It is; therefore, fair to say that the author was not biased in any way. The overall message from the author is logical because, it brings out what happens in many multi-national corporations, and how they do it. It is through the evidence provided that one can see the application in the real world (Mangu-Ward 1). It is possible for this to happen in today’s society with the advancement in technology. Corporations are guilty of putting their profits above the people’s interests. As a reader, one has to agree with the suggestions put across in the article. Social sites are examples that may assist an individual comprehend the situation better. These sites ask for personal details, and act as a passage for this information. People on social networks need to be wary of the issues that may come up with providing such information. In conclusion, the issue of what happens to privacy once individuals decide to be part of the technological world should be given thought. This may ensure individuals are safe and enjoy

World Applications Of Statistics ANOVA and Nonparametric Tests Essay

World Applications Of Statistics ANOVA and Nonparametric Tests - Essay Example The variance in the data may be within the realm of chance. However, there may be other factors that are affecting his sales. By analyzing a small amount of data among a few groups, a non-parametric test can show which factor is the cause of the variance. Inferences can be drawn from ANOVA from very small sample sizes and limited data. This makes it practical to use when the cost of data collection is a consideration. While larger samples will increase the power of the test, small samples can be measured by their degree of variance and further increase the power of the test if the variance is small. Another lesson learned was that the analysis of variance is so complex that it is impractical to perform on a calculator. There are many computer programs that calculate ANOVA such as Excel and SPSS. Today, this complex area of statistics can be performed on a limited budget with a minimum amount of computer software. The simulation demonstrated that meaningful information about a varianc e among groups can be tested with limited resources. The concept of using small sample sizes makes analyzing business data convenient for small-scale operations. The knowledge that it can be done with Excel makes it even more valuable, as I am moderately proficient at using it. Another key feature of ANOVA is that it can work with ordinal or interval data. This is especially useful when gathering data through a questionnaire. In addition, ANOVA is able to measure the interaction between multiple factors.

Managing Across Cultures Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Managing Across Cultures - Assignment Example Geert Hofstede was a sociologist in a multinational corporation (Hofstede, 1991; Hofstede and Peterson, 2000). He had analyzed and defined the culture into five parts which would help in understanding other cultures well. They are given below: Individualism and Collectivism: In some culture, they emphasize on staying individually whereas in some other groups, they prefer staying in groups. If an organization plans to expand in a country which is individualistic in nature, then the group behaviour of the organization might get negatively affected by the cultural behaviour of the nation. Power Distance: The part of the culture which deals with the distribution of the organizational power is known as power distance. It is the extent to which the organizational members with lesser authority accept the fact that power is distributed unequally. If the new employees, who would be hired in the business after its expansion, could not accept the unequal distribution of power, then it might lea d to reduced work efficiency or increased employee turnover rate. Uncertainty avoidance: It is the tolerance for the uncertainty or ambiguity. It represents the extent to which the members cope-up with the anxiety by minimizing uncertainty. People belonging to cultures with very high uncertainty avoidance tend to be highly emotional. ... The long term oriented societies generally focus on the long term future while making any plans. On the other hand, the short term orientation societies focus on the short term future during decision making. As culture is described as the inherited concepts, values or ways of living that are shared by the individuals of same social group, it holds an importance in every aspect of the business performance. The culture of a nation builds the individual cultures of the people belonging in it. Any business which expands its operations in another nation is bound to face different cultural values. This cultural diversity might negatively as well as positively impact the performance of the business. The culture is said to be dynamic in nature as it changes with the time. This change in the culture might lead to the rise of several conflicts. The field associated with management is changing and evolving in a continuous manner with emergence of new ways and techniques of managing the organiza tions and their employees (Abo, 1994). Myriad methods and theories of management have been established for increasing the operational efficiency of the organizations and their employees. Most of the modern management theories or models are derived from the cultural aspects (Hofstede, 1980). These theories have been designed for establishing and maximizing the success as well as the productivity of the managers, employees and also, the organizations. These theories and methodologies represent the cultural identity of the employees and managers. Many researchers suggest that attempting to establish or implement management practices without considering the organizational culture, often leads to failure of such practices. In such cases,

English 32 world literature Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

English 32 world literature - Essay Example The diary is in fact a criticism of the traditional authoritarian ways of society. First of all, the narrator repeatedly mentions that parents pass on their tradition to their children and that this tradition is evil. In Part II, he notices that the children are looking at him with a certain kind of hatred. Now, since these children were not there twenty years ago when he committed a mistake with â€Å"Mr. Ku Chiu’s account sheets† (Lu Xun II), he concluded that â€Å"they must have learned this [mistake] from their parents!† (Lu Xun II). That is why they seem to look at him with contempt and hatred. It seems then that the parents of these children must have taught them how to hate and insult others. Through this particular line, the narrator also implies that, in the place where he lives, parents teach the wrong values and practices to their children, like how to insult and criticize other people. He also mentions the same thing in Part VIII when he argues with a twenty-year-old man about the rightness of eating human flesh. Towards the end o f their conversation, he says perhaps with disappointment and fear, â€Å"[The young man] must have been taught by his parents [and] I am afraid he has already taught his son† (Lu Xun VIII). Through this line, he implies once more that the people in his place always pass on the wrong values and practices to their children, such as the idea that cannibalism is right. Finally, he also uses this line to affirm the reason he has stated earlier on why the children look at him: â€Å"That is why even the children [in Part II] look at me so fiercely† (Lu Xun VIII). From this line he implies that perhaps all the children in his village have the same fate as the young man’s son – the fate that they are destined to follow the evil of their parents. Another proof that the diary is about a condemnation

The Colonialism in the Philippines Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Colonialism in the Philippines - Essay Example One of the most significant contributions of Colonial Spain’s arrival in 1521 in the Philippines is the widespread of Christianism in the country today. Spain brought the Christian religion in the Philippines which started in Cebu as Ferdinand Magellan baptized Rajah Humabon and his wife with the Christian religion . The said ceremony made Humabon as the local chieftain or representative of the king of the Spain. About 800 Filipinos were baptized as Christians that day, April 14, 1521. However, Magellan’s entry into the country and for the hope to subjugate the whole nation under the name of the Spain was not that essentially smooth flowing knowing that other local leaders such as recalcitrant chief Lapu-lapu strongly opposed the presence of Spaniards in the country as far as the colonial threats, economic and political issues were concerned. Thus, on April 27, 1521, the battle in Mactan was set by Lapu-lapu against Magellan which killed the latter . This same scenario continued until the following years to come for the Philippines under the Spanish regime. Filipinos learned to fight for their rights and many were able to realize they had to fight for their right for their land and stood up to beat anything related with colonial oppression. Among of them were renowned and recognized Philippine heroes today such as Jose Rizal, Andress Bonifacio, Apolinario Mabini, Emilio Aguinaldo and many more. These people fought for the Filipinos’ rights to experience independence from colonial rule and oppression.... This same scenario continued until the following years to come for the Philippines under the Spanish regime. Filipinos learned to fight for their rights and many were able to realize they had to fight for their right for their land and stood up to beat anything related with colonial oppression. Among of them were renowned and recognized Philippine heroes today such as Jose Rizal, Andress Bonifacio, Apolinario Mabini, Emilio Aguinaldo and many more. These people fought for the Filipinos’ rights to experience independence from colonial rule and oppression. After forty four years of Magellan’s death, Christianism was reintroduced by another conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legazpi. This made it at present that 84 percent of the Filipinos are Roman Catholics, 10 percent Protestants and other related religious groups and about 4 percent Muslims5. Filipinos are Malayo-Polynesian in the Pacific Islands who compared to the Spaniards in the early time were not that advanced in polit ical and military supremacy. Filipinos then were gullible and not yet accustomed with the advanced economic and political thoughts compared with the Spaniards. The Spain was the first to take advantage of this, and they invaded the entire country, influenced them with certain religious beliefs and exploited the country’s bountiful resources. However, this unfairness did not take that long when Spaniards were defeated by the Americans in the Spanish-American war which end up in 1898. This means that the Philippines was then under the rule of Americans and become the loyal allies of the United States in Asia in the long run. In 1898, Philippine independence was declared and Emilio Aguinaldo became the first president of the country. However, months just passed after the

Linux vs HP-UNIX Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Linux vs HP-UNIX - Essay Example "A single class of process is a feasible approach in Plan 9 because the kernel has an efficient system call interface and cheap process creation and scheduling." (Pike et al) Bell Labs: The kernel support for parallel programming in Plan 9 is a few hundred lines of portable code; a handful of simple primitives enable the problems to be handled cleanly at user level. Although the primitives work fine from C, they are particularly expressive from within Alef. The creation and management of slave I/O processes can be written in a few lines of Alef, providing the foundation for a consistent means of multiplexing data flows between arbitrary processes. (Pike et al) Bell Labs UNIX is a "multi-tasking OS, which means that there may be many programs and many programs and people using the same machine at the same time, by using the concept of a virtual machine". (Seth Noble, 2005) Linux's bottom half handlers were invented so that device drivers and other parts of the Linux kernel could queue work to be done later on. Figure 11.1 shows the kernel data structures associated with bottom half handling. Bottom Half Handling Figure 11.1: Bottom Half Handling Data Structures There can be up to 32 different bottom half handlers; bh_base is a vector of pointers to each of the kernel's bottom half handling routines. bh_active and bh_mask have their bits set according to what handlers have been installed and are active. If bit N of bh_mask is set then the Nth element of bh_base contains the address of a bottom half routine. If bit N of bh_active is set then the N'th bottom half handler routine should be called as soon as the scheduler deems reasonable. These indices are statically defined; the timer bottom half handler is the highest priority (index 0), the console bottom half handler is next in priority (index 1) and so on. Typically the bottom half handling routines have lists of tasks associated with them. For example, the immediate bottom half handler works its way through the immediate tasks queue (tq_immediate) which contains tasks that need to be performed immediately. (Rusling, David 1999) Shell The shell application inside the UNIX Plan9 system are set up for standard input and output connection to the editable text of the window with such features as its own private bitmap and multiplexed access to the keyboard, mouse and other graphical resources. The UNIX shell is commonly defined as the command line which provides the user interface for the actual operating system. By executing input commands, the shell will then execute those exact inputs. There are different shells that are available for Linux and is very much the same as UNIX in its description of how the shell application works. The following shells are available for Linux: Shell Name Developed by Where Remark BASH ( Bourne-Again SHell ) Brian Fox and Chet Ramey Free Software Foundation Most common shell in Linux.

Computer networks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Computer networks - Essay Example Moreover, Cisco devices deliver integration features that will support compatibility and scalability issues with upcoming applications and services. For addressing, network security, again Cisco firewalls are implemented to protect the network from viruses, worms and probes. In summary, Cisco 3845 integrated service router is implemented for exchanging communication from the local area network interface to the WAN interface. The router provides productivity, integration and enhanced features along with Cisco 3845 (ISR) Site-to-Site VPN Support, Cisco 3845 (ISR) Remote Access VPN Support, Cisco 3845 (ISR) Network Admission Control support, Cisco 3845 (ISR) Digital Voice Call support , Cisco Unified Communication Support and Unified Survivable Remote Site Telephony (SRST) support. Moreover, data switches are also acquired from Cisco named as Cisco Catalyst 3750 that provides enhanced features. Moreover, for wireless networks, Cisco Unified Wireless network featuring Cisco Wireless Cont rol System along with Cisco 4400 Series Wireless LAN Controllers are deployed. Furthermore, the wireless network also supports Cisco Clear air Technology. For remote connectivity and scalability, Cisco service mobility engines are installed. For application support, SOAP and XML Support and Context aware Services are available. In addition, for addressing network security, Cisco ASA 5500 Series Adaptive Security Appliances (For Wired Network), AIP-SSM Intrusion Prevention Module and Wireless Intrusion Prevention System (W IPS) (For Wireless Networks) is operational. Fig 1.1 demonstrates the local area network of an organization below: Figure 1.1 (LOCAL AREA NETWORK) Structure and Cabling The current network is constructed on Star topology that is the most widely adopted topology, as it has many benefits when compared to other topologies. By implementing star topology, network engineers can administer and troubleshoot the network more efficiently and effectively. Star topology provid es a one stop monitoring screen that demonstrates activities on the local area network. Likewise, the cost of implementing and managing the local area network is comparatively low, as less resources and low network downtime occurs. Moreover, network security is addressed efficiently, as monitoring of each system or service is carried out

Cultivation Theory Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Cultivation Theory - Term Paper Example It is one of the social theories of mass communication that postulate a kind of relationship between the mass communication and social changes recorded in the community (Aggarwal & Gupta, 2001, p.35). The media reports that appear to have been influenced in some way will give an image that is not typical of the real scenario. For instance, a series of television shows on sexual immorality in a given city may provide a negative image of the city to the public. A series of reports on the corrupt acts by a given company definitely reduces the reputation of the organization among the public. On the other hand, providing only the positive aspects of a given issue by the media houses is also likely to provide a false positive image on the public concerning this issue. The best approach is then to provide balanced and uninfluenced reports by the media houses. Using the skills required in public relations will enable the media houses to provide balanced information that is necessary for deve loping a true picture. Both the negative and positive aspects of a concept should be focused as they occur in the real setting. Thesis Statement Based on the Cultivation Theory, the reports by the media houses can create images on the public that are not typical of the real situation. ... The developments that were put into the theory during this original spot are also examined as well as the current application of the theory in the field of mass communication. Origin of Cultivation Theory The Cultivation theory, also known as the cultivation hypothesis or the cultivation analysis can be traced back to the 1960s and attributed to the research by Professor George Gerbner of Annenberg School of Communication, Pennsylvania University. He focused on the effects of different television programs on the perception of a given concept in a given society (Erlandson, Williams & Telles, 2009). The research project that was referred to as â€Å"Cultural Indicators† investigated into the impacts of media operation on the social life of the public. An analysis of the contents of television programs and their effects on the public led to a generalization of the theory that how the society perceive the reality of a concept is greatly influenced by the programs and reports provi ded by television. The theory developed in 1967 is ‘based on the assumption that mass media have subtle effects on audiences who unknowingly absorb the dominant symbols, images, and messages of the media’ (Aggarwal & Gupta, 2001, p.35). In his investigations, Gerbner divided the audiences under the study into three distinct groups based on the duration that the individuals spent while watching television. He found out that even those who spent long periods watching TV programs were not immediately influenced by the programs. However, it was observed that this long exposure to television broadcasts had long-term effect on the individual perception of reality. The individuals tend to be inclined towards the models provided by the

Gollum Character Study Essay Example for Free

Gollum Character Study Essay Even in the rare cases when he finds himself with someone else, as he does in chapter 5 of The Hobbit, he talks to others in third person, apparently not able to say ‘you’, and he refers himself as â€Å"my precious†. Gollum is a unique creature, only because his body has deformed over the years of living in the caves of Moria beneath the Misty Mountains for so long. He is the size of a hobbit, but with pale skin and large eyes. He wears only dark clothes and is extremely thin from eating only fish and goblins over the years. He has only six teeth which are sharpened into points and he has a vicious strength which surprises Bilbo. Gollum owns a magic, which he calls his â€Å"precious†. Gollum has one treasure, a golden ring he calls his â€Å"birthday-present† because it came to him on his birthday. This ring makes whoever is wearing it invisible and takes over their lives and personality. Gollum â€Å"uses it to creep† around the goblin tunnels to catch young goblins to eat when he gets sick of fish. In The Hobbit, Gollum tries to find his ring so he can become invisible and kill Bilbo. Bilbo, of course, finding the ring before meeting Gollum, just happens to put on the ring right as Gollum comes to attack him. He becomes invisible and follows Gollum out of the tunnels. As Bilbo takes his final look at Gollum, he nearly kills the ugly creature. But Bilbo is filled with a â€Å"sudden understanding, a pity mixed with horror. † He sees Gollum’s â€Å"endless, unmarked days without light or hope of betterment†, and lets Gollum live. In exchange for this kindness, Gollum screams, â€Å"Thief, thief, thief! Baggins! We hates it, we hates it, we hates it for ever! † as Bilbo makes his escape. When Gollum first meets Bilbo, he is not hungry for hobbits, but he is afraid of Bilbo’s knife, so he tries to get on Bilbo’s good side by being friendly, showing that Gollum was once very similar to a hobbit, and challenging him to a game of riddles because â€Å"the riddle-game was sacred and of immense antiquity†. Bilbo accepts, because he wants Gollum to show him the way out of the goblin tunnels under the Misty Mountains. But the game makes Gollum both hungry and angry.