Pride And Prejudice Essays (926 words) - Fiction, Literature

Pride and Prejudice Pride and Prejudice On pride and prejudice, which in your opinion comes in for sharper criticism from Austen. Support your answer by referring to specific incidents and episodes. pride n., v., 1. high (or too high) opinion of one's own dignity, importance, worth, etc. 2. the condition or feeling of being proud. 3. a noble sense of what is due to oneself or one's position or character; self respect; self esteem. prejudice n., v., 1. an opinion (usually unfavourable), formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason. 2. disadvantage resulting from some judgement or action of another. 3. the resulting injury or loss. In my opinion, pride comes in for the sharper criticism by Austen. She has chosen to personify this trait in several characters in "Pride and Prejudice" although it is hard to find one character who portrays prejudice alone, throughout the novel. When prejudice does occur in this novel, Jane Austen has shown it in the hands of a notoriously proud character. Because prejudice is not personified (ie. depicted as a major characteristic flaw) I believe that it was not to be the object of Jane Austen's sharper criticism. Jane Austen has depicted pride in her minor (functional) characters as a means of demonstrating it's importance as a theme of this novel. Lady Catherine is one of the main offenders, her airs, arrogance and pride are fuelled by other characters like Mr Collins who is put there to satire proud people and their followers. Another important character to note is Mr Darcy. He is an extremely important character in this novel, a major character, and I think that the fact that he was perceived to have been 'proud' at the beginning of the novel by the reader, Elizabeth, and the community of the shire, and our perception, along with Elizabeth, of his character, has changed throughout the novel points to Jane Austen's criticism of pride and snobbery (insinuating that once pride is done away with (and along with it, prejudice) a character becomes much more favourable. (Note that Lady Catherine does not sway from her proud arrogant position, from beginning to end of the novel, this partly to provide a contrast between the supposed arrogance of Mr Darcy at the beginning of the novel, and his behaviour by the end.) Throughout this novel we are shown the arrogant and haughty dispositions of the upperclass of this society. (We are also shown the exceptions to the rule, namely Mr Bingley and Miss Darcy.) These people are exceedingly proud of their great fortunes and estates and as a result of the emphasis at that time on monetary issues, they are prejudiced (and commit acts of prejudice) towards their financial, and social, "inferiors". An example of this is the beginning of the novel, the ball, when Mr Darcy snubs Elizabeth Bennet in an act of prejudice. He refuses to dance with her on account of her not being "handsome enough to tempt me." After being described throughout the chapter as being "the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world" because he would not socialise ("he danced only once with Mrs Hurst and once with Miss Bingley, declined being introduced to any other lady, and spent the rest of the evening walking about the room, speaking occasionally to one of his own party") his refusal to dance with Elizabeth Bennet is consistent with the rest of his snobbery and it is logical that he is slighting Elizabeth Bennet because he is excessively proud and does not feel that her handsomeness is worthy of his. Another example of proud character executing prejudice on an "inferior" candidate is Miss Bingley and Mr Darcy's conspiracy against Mr Bingley and Miss Bennet's courtship and inevitable marriage. Together, Mr Darcy and Miss Bingley decide that Mr Bingley and Jane are not suited and therefore should not be married because Jane's background is not worthy of Mr Bingley's rich, socially handsome estate. Firstly, Mr. Darcy influences Bingley to leave Netherfield, then Miss Bingley "fails" to tell him of Jane's prescence in London (although she knows that it would be of great interest to him.) It is because of their pride, and their warp perception of their own, and in this case their brother or friend's pride, that influences to think they would be "doing the right thing" by keeping Jane and Mr. Bingley apart. Lady Catherine's bullyin of Elizabeth (at the end of the novel) in an effort to dissuade her from marrying Darcy is a result of her feeling that her own daughter was entitled to Mr. Darcy more than Elizabeth (who was

The Difference Between Public Relations and Journalism

The Difference Between Public Relations and Journalism To understand the difference between journalism and public relations, consider the following scenario. Imagine that your college announces it is raising tuition (something many colleges are doing due to drops in government funding). The public relations office issues a press release about the increase. What do you imagine that release will say? Well, if your college is like most, it will probably stress how modest the increase is, and how the school still remains very affordable. Itll probably also talk about how the hike was absolutely necessary for the face of continuing funding cuts, and so on. The release may even have a quote or two from the president of the college saying how much he/she regrets having to pass the ever-increasing cost of running the place on to students and how the raise was kept as modest as possible. All of this may be perfectly true. But who do you think wont be quoted in the college press release? Students, of course. The people who will be affected most by the hike are the very ones who wont have a say. Why not? Because of students likely to say the increase is a horrible idea and will only make it more difficult for them to take classes there. That perspective doesnt do the institution any favors. How Journalists Approach a Story So if youre a  reporter for the student newspaper assigned to write an article about the tuition hike, whom should you interview? Obviously, you should talk to the college president and any of the other officials involved. You should also talk to students because the story isnt complete without interviewing the people who are most affected by the action being taken. That goes for tuition increases, or factory layoffs, or for anyone else whos ever been hurt by the actions of a large institution. Thats called getting both sides of the story. And therein lies the difference between public relations and journalism. Public relations is designed to put the most positive spin on anything done by an institution like a college, a company or a government agency. Its designed to make the entity look as wonderful as possible, even if the action being taken - the tuition increase - is anything but. Why Journalists Are Important Journalism isnt about making institutions or individuals look good or bad. Its about portraying them in a realistic light, good, bad or otherwise. So if the college does something good - for instance, offering free tuition to local people who have been laid off - then your coverage should reflect that. Its important for journalists to question those in power because thats part of our primary mission: to serve as a kind of adversarial watchdog keeping an eye on the activities of the powerful, to try and ensure that they dont abuse that power. Unfortunately, in recent years public relations has become more powerful and ubiquitous even as newsrooms across the country have laid off thousands of reporters. So while there are more and more PR agents (reporters call them flacks) pushing positive spin, there are fewer and fewer journalists there to challenge them. But thats why its more important than ever that they do their jobs, and do them well. Its simple: We are here, to tell the truth.

Ray Bradburys Fahrenheit 451, Stephen Marches article Is Facebook Essay

Ray Bradburys Fahrenheit 451, Stephen Marches article Is Facebook Making Us Lonely, and Nicholas Carrs Is Google Making Us Stupid, - Essay Example The coupling of technology with social lives has resulted to a narrative with a stupid and lonely life ever after, ending. This is truly expressed in the works of numerous experts whose focus is in revealing the negative outcomes associated with technology. The works of these experts are Ray Bradbury’s â€Å"Fahrenheit 451†; Samuel Cohen’s â€Å"50 Essays: A Portable Anthology (Is Google Making us Stupid); and Mache’s â€Å"Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?† According to Marche (n.p) loneliness is promoted through modern day social media culture. Instead building and maintaining physical friendships, social media culture has promoted friendships founded on isolation and loneliness. Additionally, Bradbury reveals that allowing technology to replace all aspects of life will result to loss of intelligence. In his futuristic society, Bradbury reveals that the society is getting rid of common sense intelligence to submit to ignorance. However, for the curio us and anxious persons like Montag manages to see the beneficial side of not embracing ignorance but working with intelligence. Furthermore, from Cohen search engines have led to dramatic promotion of stupidity as people’s mind lose concentration and long for fast information to solve problems. Although there are tremendous benefits from technological advances, Ray Bradbury correctly predicted that technology would also have negative impact on human physical, intellectual and emotional health as if made evident by many experts today. Intellectually, technology is responsible for the continued experiences loss of intelligence. Based on the arguments by Bradbury, technology benefits are countered by the associated impact of loss of intellect and lose of contact with ordinary and important aspects of life. For instance, Montag could not remember being familiar with there being dew on grass in the morning â€Å"He suddenly could not remember if he had known

I do not have one Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

I do not have one - Essay Example Prosecution includes jail term and fines and in Chris Brown’s case, the accused received years of probation as well as six months in community service. Protective orders were issued out to contain Chris’s behavior. This measure is in line with court actions on those found guilty of domestic violence (Weiss, 23). Many people ask themselves why the victims of the violence do not just leave. This may seem like an easy decision but as analysts say, this is not an easy decision. In our case, we see that Rihanna is adamant to leave an abusive relationship and she proudly tell other people to not interfere with her affairs (Weiss, 40). She claims that people often misjudge cases of domestic violence. They do not think of the perpetrator as requiring help. This is usually the case where the perpetrator requires help and counseling. It is commendable to see that they got back together after Chris Brown got back from probation and they even recorded a song together. Hence domestic violence issues can be resolved and a couple lives happily ever after (Weiss,

Why were Jewish refuges on the SS St. Louis denied entry to Cuba and Essay

Why were Jewish refuges on the SS St. Louis denied entry to Cuba and what decided their fate - Essay Example The Nazi ideology and policies targeted first of all Jews, who were considered as the most â€Å"inferior races† of all, on a hierarchy which included the â€Å"Herrenvolk† (Master race) of the â€Å"Volksgemeinschaft† (German national community) at the top and Jews at the bottom. In November 1938, the violent anti-Semitic campaign, called Kristallnacht, or â€Å"night of the broken glass† or also known as â€Å"Pogromnacht† started, in which Jewish homes and business were destroyed and up to 200 Jews were killed in Germany. After this incident, Germany’s 600,000 decided that it was time to leave and many European Jews fled for their lives. Hundreds of ships set their voyage crossed the Atlantic carrying thousands of immigrants to new lives, primarily in the United States. The S.S. St. Louis, owned by the Hamburg-American Line (Hapag) was one such ship (Stahl, 1999, para.1-12) On May 13, 1939, the German transatlantic liner St. Louis started its voyage from Hamburg, Germany, to Havana, Cuba. On the voyage, there were 937 passengers, almost all passenger were German Jews citizens, fleeing from the Third Reich and, some were from eastern Europe, and a few were officially â€Å"stateless†. Although the majority of the Jewish passengers had already applied for U.S. visas, and they had planned to have a temporary stay in Cuba until they could get their visa approval from the United State State Department, yet there were signals that political conditions in Cuba might keep the passengers from landing there.

Cells Breaks the Tor’s Anonymity: Onion Router

Cells Breaks the Tor’s Anonymity: Onion Router Ms. S.SIVARANJANI Ms. R.BACKIYALAKSHMI B.E, M.Tech., Abstract To hide the communication of users, the anonymity systems pack the application data into equal – sized cells. The size of IP packets in the Tor network can be very dynamic and the IP layer may be repack cells. A new cell-counting attack against Tor allows the attacker to confirm anonymous communication relationship among users very quickly. By varying the number of cells in the target traffic at the malicious exit onion router, the attacker can embed a secrete signal into variation of cell counter of the target traffic and it will be carried and arrive at the malicious entry onion router. Then an accomplice of the attacker will detect the signal based on received cells and confirm the communication among the users. There are several features of this attack. First, it is highly efficient and confirms very short communication session with only tens of cells. Second, this attack is effective and detection rate approaches 100% with a very low false positive rate. Third, it is possible to implement the attack in a way that appears to be very difficult for honest participants to detect. Keywords Anonymity, cell counting, mix networks, signal, Tor. INTRODUCTION Anonymity has become a necessary and legitimate aim in many applications. Here the encryption alone cannot maintain the anonymity required by users. Generally speaking, mix techniques can be used for either message-based or flow-based anonymity applications. Research on flow-based anonymity applications has recently received great attention in order to preserve anonymity in low-latency applications, including Web browsing and peer-to-peer file sharing. To degrade the anonymity service provided by anonymous communication systems, traffic analysis attacks have been used. The Existing traffic analysis attacks can be categorized into two types: passive traffic analysis and active watermarking techniques. The active watermarking technique has recently received much attention to improve the accuracy of attack. In this technique is to actively introduce special signals into the sender’s outbound traffic with the intention of recognizing the embedded signal at the receiver’s inbound traffic. The core contribution of the paper is a new cell counting based attack against Tor network. This attack confirms anonymous communication relationship among users accurately and quickly and it is difficult to detect. The attacker at the exit onion router detects the data transmitted to a destination and then determines whether the data is relay cell or control cell in Tor. After excluding control cells, manipulate the number of relay cells in the circuit queue and flushes out all cells in the circuit queue. This way the attacker can embed a signal into the variation of cell count during a short period in the target traffic. To recover the embedded signal, the attacker at the entry onion router detects and excludes the control cells, record the number of relay cells in the circuit queue and recover the embedded signal. The main features of cell-counting based attack are: (1) This attack is highly efficient and can quickly confirm very short anonymous communication sessions with tens of cells. (2) It is effective and detection rate approaches 100 % with very low false positive rate. (3) It makes difficult for others to detect the presence of the embedded signal. The Time – hopping based signal embedding technique makes the attack even harder to detect. SYSTEM ARCHITECURE There are two types of cells: Control cell and Relay cell. The CELL_CREATE or CELL_CREATED used for setting up a new circuit. CELL_DESTROY used for releasing a circuit. Relay cell is used to carry TCP stream data from client to bob. Some of the relay commands are: RELAY_COMMAND_BEGIN, RELAY_COMMAND_END, RELAY_COMMAND_ DATA, RELAY_COMMAND_SENDME, and RELAY_ COMMAND_DROP. The Onion router (OR) maintains the TLS connection to other OR. Onion proxy (OP) uses source routing and chooses several ORs from cached directory. OP establishes circuit across the Tor network and negotiates a symmetric key with each OR, one hop at a time, as well as handle TCP stream from client application. The OR on other side of circuit connects to the requested destination and relay the data. The OP will sets up TLS connection with OR1 using protocol, through this connection , OP sends CELL_CREATE cell and uses Diffie-Hellman (DH) handshake protocol to negotiate a base key k1=gxy with OR1. Form this key; a forward symmetric key kf1 and backward key kb1 are produced. This way first hop circuit C1 is created. Similarly OP extends the circuit to second and third hop. After circuit is setup, OP sends a RELAY_COMMAND_BEGIN cell to the exit onion router and cell is encrypted as {{{Begin}kf3}kf2}kf1. While the cell traverses through circuit each time the layer of onion skin are removed one by one. At last the OR3 last skin is removed by decryption then it open a TCP stream to a port at the destination IP, which belongs to bob. The OR3 sets up a TCP connection with bob and sends a RELAY_COMMAND_CONNECTED cell back to Alice’s OP. Then the client can download the file. PROCESSING CELL AT ONION ROUTER The TCP data is received by OR from port A and it is processed by TCP and TLS protocols. Then the processed data is delivered to the TLS buffer. The read event is called to read and process the data pending in the TLS buffer. This read event will pull the data from TLS buffer into the input buffer. Then the read event process cells from input buffer one by one. Each OR has routing table which maintains map from source connection and circuit ID to destination connection and circuit ID. The transmission direction of the cell can be determined by the read event. To append the cell to the destination circuit the corresponding symmetric key is used to decrypt / encrypt the payload of the cell, replace the present circuit ID with destination circuit ID. The cell can be written directly for the destination connection if there is no data waiting in output buffer and the write event is added to the event queue. After calling the write event, the data is flushed to TLS buffer of destination. Then write event pull as many cells as possible from circuit to output buffer and add write event to event queue. The next write event carry on flushing data to output buffer and pull cells to output buffer else the cell queued in circuit queue can be delivered to network via port B by calling write event twice. Fig. 2Processing the cells at Onion router CELL – COUNTING BASED ATTACK The IP packets in Tor network is very dynamic and based on this the cell – counting based attack implemented. Dynamic IP packets over Tor : The application data will be packed into equal sized cells (512-B). While the packets transmitted over the Tor network it is dynamic. Because of this reason the size of packets from sender to receiver is random over time and large numbers of packets have varied in sizes. The main reason for this is the varied performance of OR cause cells not to be promptly processed and also if network is congested, cells will not delivered on time, because of this the cell will merge and non-MTU(Maximum Transmission Unit) sized packets will show up. Work-flow of Cell – Counting based attack: Step 1: SELECTING THE TARGET :- The attacker log the information at the exit OR, including the server host IP address and port for a circuit and circuit ID and uses CELL – RELAY-DATA to transmit the data stream. Step 2: ENCODING THE SIGNAL :- Until the write event is called the CELL – RELAY – DATA will be waited in the circuit queue. After the write event is called then the cells are flushed into output buffer. Hence the attacker can manipulate the number of cells flushed to the output buffer all together. This way the attacker can able to embed the secret signal. To encode bit 1, the attacker can flushes three cells from circuit queue and for bit 0, flushes one cell from circuit queue. Step 3: RECORDING PACKETS :- After the signal is embedded in the target traffic it will be transmitted to the entry OR along with target traffic. The attacker at the entry OR will record the received cells and related information and need to determine whether the received cells are CELL – RELAY – DATA cells. Step 4: RECOGNIZING THE EMBEDDED SIGNAL :- The attacker enters the phase of recognizing the embedded signal with the recorded cells. For this used the recovery mechanisms. Once the original signal is identified the attacker can link the communication between Alice and Bob. There are two critical issues related to attack: (1) Encoding signals at exit OR: Two cells are not enough to encode â€Å"1† bit. Because if the attacker uses two cells to encode bit â€Å"1† then it will be easily distorted over network and also hard to recover. When the two cells arrive at the input buffer at the middle OR, the first cell will be pulled into circuit queue and then if the output buffer is empty, the first cell will be flushed into it. Then the second cell will be pulled to the circuit queue. Since the output buffer is not empty, the second cell stays in the circuit queue. When the write event is called, the first cell will be delivered to the network, while the second cell written to the output buffer and wait for the next write event. Consequently, two originally combined cells will be split into two separate cells at the middle router. So the attacker at the entry OR will observe two separate cells arriving at the circuit queue. This cells will be d ecoded as two â€Å"0† bits, leading the attacker to a wrong detection of the signal. To deal with this issue the attacker should choose at least three cells for carrying bit â€Å"1†. For transmitting cells, proper delay interval should be selected: If the delay interval among the cells is too large, users are not able to tolerate the slow traffic and to transmit the data will choose another circuit. When this condition happens the attack will fail. And if the delay interval is too small, then it will increase the chance that cells may combined at middle OR. (2) Decoding signals at the entry OR: Distortion of signal: Anyway the combination and division of the cells will happen due to unpredictable network delay and congestion. This will cause the embedded signal to be distorted and the probability of recognizing the embedded signal will be reduced. Because of this distortion of the signal, a recovery mechanism can be used, that recognize the embedded signal. The combination and division of cell can be categorized into four types: (1) Two types of the cell division for the unit of the signal and (2) Two types of the cell combination for different units of signal. To deal with these types of division and combination types of the cells the recovery algorithm can be used. If the number of cells recorded in the circuit queue is smaller than the number of the original signal are recovered as either two types of cell division for the unit of the signal. Suppose the number of cells recorded in the circuit queue is larger than the number of cells for carrying the signal; the recovered signal will be either two of the cell combination for different units of signal. When the signals are recovered in these types with k ≠¤ 2, can consider that these signals are successfully identified otherwise cannot be identified. Attack Delectability: To improve the attack invisibility can adopt the time-hopping-based signal embedding technique, which can reduce the probability of interception and recognition. The principle of this technique is, there exit random intervals between signal bits. At the exit OR, the duration of those intervals are varied according to a pseudorandom control code which is known to only the attackers. To recover this signal, the attacker at the entry OR can use the same secret control code to position the signal bits and recover the whole signal. If the interval between the bits is large enough, the inserted signal bits appear sparse within the target traffic and it is difficult to determine whether groups of cells are caused by network dynamics or intention. Therefore the secret signal embedded into the target traffic is no different than the noise. And when a malicious entry node has confirmed the communication relationship, it can separate the group of cells by adding delay betw een the cells so that not even the client can observe the embedded signal. In this paper a signal is embedded into the target traffic, which implies a secrete sequence of groups of one and three cells. With the time-hopping technique, groups of one and three cells are separated by random intervals and it is hard to differentiate them from those caused by network dynamics and since the embedded signal is very short and only known to attacker, can conclude that it is very difficult to distinguish traffic with embedded signals from normal traffic based on this very short secret sequence of cell groups. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK In this paper, we presented a cell-counting based attack against Tor network. This can confirm the anonymous communication among the user quickly and accurately and it is very difficult to detect. The attacker at the exit OR manipulates the transmission of cells from the target TCP stream and embeds a secret signal into the cell counter variation of the TCP stream. Then the attacker at the entry OR recognizes the embedded signal using developed recovery algorithms and links the communication relationship among the users. In this attack the detection rate is monotonously increasing function with the delay interval and decreasing function of the variance of one way transmission delay along a circuit. This attack could drastically and quickly degrade the anonymity service that Tor provides. Due to the fundamental design of the Tor network, defending against this attack remains a very challenging task that we will investigate in future work. REFERENCES [1] W. Yu, X. Fu, S. Graham, D. Xuan, and W. Zhao, â€Å"DSSS-based à ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ow marking technique for invisible traceback,† in Proc. IEEE SP,May 2007, pp. 18–32. [2] N. B. Amir Houmansadr and N. Kiyavash, â€Å"RAINBOW: A robust and invisible non-blind watermark for network à ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ows,† in Proc.16thNDSS, Feb. 2009, pp. 1–13. [3] V. Shmatikov and M.-H. Wang, â€Å"Timing analysis in low-latency MIX networks: Attacks and defenses,† in Proc. ESORICS, 2006, pp. 18–31. [4] V. Fusenig, E. Staab, U. Sorger, and T. Engel, â€Å"Slotted packet counting attacks on anonymity protocols,† in Proc. AISC, 2009, pp. 53–60. [5] X. Wang, S. Chen, and S. Jajodia, â€Å"Tracking anonymous peer-to-peer VoIP calls on the internet,† in Proc. 12th ACM CCS, Nov. 2005, pp.81–91. [6] K. Bauer, D. McCoy, D. Grunwald, T. Kohno, and D. Sicker, â€Å"Lowresource routing attacks against anonymous systems,† Univ. Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, Tech. Rep., Aug. 2007. [7] X. Fu, Z. Ling, J. Luo, W. Yu, W. Jia, and W. Zhao, â€Å"One cell is enough to break Tor’s anonymity,† in Proc. Black Hat DC,Feb.2009[Online]. Available: http://www.blackhat.com/presentations/bh-dc-09/Fu/ BlackHat-DC-09-Fu-Break-Tors-Anonymity.pdf [8] R. Dingledine, N. Mathewson, and P. Syverson, â€Å"Tor: Anonymity online,† 2008 [Online]. Available: http://tor.eff.org/index.html.en [9] R. Dingledine and N. Mathewson, â€Å"Tor protocol specià ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ cation,†2008 [Online]. Available: https://gitweb.torproject.org/torspec.git?a=blob_plain;hb=HEAD;f=tor-spec.txt [10] J. Reardon, â€Å"Improving Tor using a TCP-over-DTLS tunnel,† Master’s thesis, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada, Sep. 2008. Project management example: The London Eye Project management example: The London Eye Introduction Generally, the definitions of project management have diversities, but in commonly project management is used to accomplish business ambition, strategies and well-defined work tasks within a certain schedule and limit budget (Sabin, 2006). The project management required skill, experience, processes, methods and knowledge in order to complete the objectives of the project (Association for Project Management, 2014). Most strategists succeed in these days with high competitive and fusing global economy are mostly using the project management techniques to deliver substantial quality of business results within limited time and budget (Project Management Institute, 2014). Jamieson Morris (2004) support that project management is a key factor in business process. Even in many definitions of project management, the fundamental is about attaining the jobs done. The London Eye is the huge project that was designed by architectures David Marks and Julia Barfield, its purpose to represent modern architectural design and engineering of the first of the millennium century (Tim and Ian, 2000). The London eye was the tallest Ferris wheel in the world by height 135 meters, after success, with Star of Nanchang in 2006, Singapore Flyer in 2008 and High Roller in 2014 in order. The construction of London Eye used 16 months to finish in order to celebrated of the year 2000, London Eye also knows as the Millennium Wheel. In the first year of operation, number of visitors approximately was 3.2 millions, hence this becomes more popular of attracting visitors in the United Kingdom. The production cost of the London Eye is 75 million pounds and took 50 percent of time less than normal to finish the project (Marks Barfield, 2014). This makes London Eye is one of the most interested project to measure and examined in the process of project management. A project must have three variables that can estimate certain time of the project, limited by budget and meet quality requirement (Lester, 2007). Characteristics in process of construction London Eye can be evaluated as the project, because of the constrains from budget and time, no repetition of construction, requirement of a variety of skill and experience expertise involve. From all of these characteristics summarize that the London Eye is classified as a project. The scope of this paper study is to investigate two aspects, which are stakeholders management, project planning and scheduling that make London Eye become a successful project. However, it is essentially that we have to understand the background of the project first, in order to understand the process. London Eye’s Characteristics Since 2000, the London Eye has become one of the iconic landmarks of London. The concept of London Eyes was introduced in 1993 by the architecture name Marks Barfield. His design of Ferris wheel submitted to the Architecture Foundation competition in order to build to celebrate the millennium year. In 1994, British Airways interest to become a sponsor of the project. In 1996, the permission of the project was successfully made by the agreement of shareholders as the result, Tussauds Group was joined as the last partner. The London Eye was constructed before the year 2000 only 16 months (The British Broadcasting Corporation, 2005). More that 5 different oversea companies worked to build London Eyes and it took 7 years till it was open. The formal opening ceremony on 31, December 1991 and follow by public open on 9, March 2000. The Iron Triangle Figure1: Iron triangle of London Eye project The Iron Triangle is the traditional technique for evaluating project performance, which have three variables; time, cost and scope that try to balance each others (Atkinson, 1999; Gardiner and Stewart, 2000). If one of the three variables is changed, it will affect one of the others too. For example; if stakeholders want less time of construction, they need to increase the budget or reduce the scope (Gregory, 2006). In (Figure1) shows The Iron Triangle of London Eye project follow by time, cost and scope. The London Eye used only 16 months in order to finish the construction process, in order to celebrate millennium century, that is 50 percent less than normal process. The cost of construction of London Eye was 75 million pounds higher than average cost of normal construction. But the cost of building was not issued to be a problem because the main purpose of this is to open on time and to be the biggest Ferris wheel in the world (London Eye, 2014). To understand the key elements of project management, such as stakeholders management, project planning and scheduling which are the factors to push the London Eye finished on time. The Author will illustrate and explain two of variables in further. Stakeholders Management According to, Freeman and Reed (1983) has given a definition of stakeholder is someone that â€Å"can affect the achievement of an organizations objectives or is affected by the achievement of an organization’s objectives†. Bourne and Walker (2004) suggest that even a project manager was able to deliver the project with the original scope, cost and time, but without the attention of stockholders, a project might probably not be able to success. The conflict in stakeholders must be managed, because it might lead to projects fail (Bourne and Walker, 2005). A stakeholder can be any individual, institution or organization that involves the interaction with the project or business. The stakeholder might effect from project, both direct and indirect, and can be occasional or ordinary contact with the project (Paul, 2013). Identify who are the stakeholders and understand the role of them must be done. London Eye project have many stakeholders who are investing in the project. But the key stakeholders of the project, who have the potential to support and facilitate the project can clearly identify. David Marks and Julia Barfield, who invented the idea of the wheel in 1990 were a press campaign to support the concept. Bob Ayling, Chief Executive of British Airway in that period offered financial and corporate support to this project. In 1997, Tussauds Group was brought into the position of the operator. The London Eye Company Limited, were owned by three owner separate in equal shard. David Marks and Julia Barfield owned one third, The Tussauds Group also owned one third and lastly one third owned by British Airways, who was the leading support during the development phase. Government didn’t support the project, except the construction of new pier, in purpose to protect collision of the wheel. For financing purpose of the London Eye project was provided by Sumitomo Bank and Westdeutsche Landesbank (Tim and Ian, 2000). Mace is the UK’s leading company on the project management, as appointed to be Project Managers in 1998. Seven groups of contractors were chosen to project, they were responsible for building and design as follows: Tilbury Douglas Construction Ltd for Foundations, Civil works and Pier structure, Hollandia BV for Wheel Structure, Pomagalski SA for Capsules and Controls, T Clarke PLC for Electrical Installations, Littlehampton Welding Limited for Boarding Platform and Pier Finishes, Waterers Landscape PLC for Landscaping and Alandale Construction Limited for County Hall Fit-Out (Tim and Ian, 2000). From this we can identify stakeholder as two types; internal stakeholders and external stakeholders. Internal stakeholder can be people who involve in part of the business for example; shareholders, managers and employees. External stakeholders are the people who outside the business such as customers, local community, suppliers, press and government (The British Broadcasting Corporation, 2014). Figure2: Stakeholders Web and Internal External Stakeholder From the figure2 above, researcher attempt to explain the understanding of the internal and external stakeholders of The London Eye by using The Stakeholder Web describe. From internal stakeholders, Shareholders can be British Airways, David Marks Julia Barfield and Tussaudes Group that interested in dividends and growth of shares. Managers and employees are interested in salaries and job security. From external stakeholders, suppliers concerned in delivering services and finished project on time. Government, Tourists, Londoner and also including people around the South Bank area are impacted from the project such as the project might effects to new businesses that can take benefits from London Eye such as bars and restaurants. Traffic around the London Eye maybe influenced because increasing of tourists. All of these influencers can become stakeholders of the project. Stakeholders have different of interests, to manage this conflict it’s necessary to understand the types of stakeholders and what can influence their behavior. By classifying the different groups of stakeholders, using stakeholder power and interest matrix, to organize based on the level of power and interest. Stakeholder classification of power and interest matrix map will make groups of stakeholders easier to understand. Stakeholders can be classified in two big dimensions, of power and interest (Newcombe, 2003; Johnson and Scholes, 1993). The basic concept is who have high power and high interest will be the key players and also need to manage it. Figure3: London Eye stakeholder power and interest matrix From the figure 3 shows that London Eye project stakeholders were classified by level of interest and power. The key players in this case can be British Airway who is supporting the financial and able to control the project. Bank and financial institutions such as Sumitomo Bank and Westdeutsche Landesbank, that provided financial loan. Press and local community didn’t have power, but the project directly effects to their living or career. Same as the government, they didn’t provide the financial support but able to collect taxes from the project. Customers and Londoner can be in the group of minimal effort. The success of The London Eye project definitely involved with the stakeholder management. The well understanding in position and its roll are significant to make this project completed. However, it is not only stakeholder management, variable that leads to the success of the project. Many factors that involved included planning and scheduling of the project also are the important variables. Project Planning and Scheduling Project management planning is one of the important variables that required lists of time, quality and cost. Project management planning depends on types and sizes of project (Lester, 2007). The role of project management can separate into three main areas; 1) It can handle the operational requirement to meet the customer satisfaction, 2) The project must be completed on time and 3) Control and delivery the job on the previous set of constrains budget. Good project planning will lead to success according to these three goals. For more understanding of London Eye planning, researchers will apply Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is the technique for controlling and planning project. Secondly Gantt chart technique will also use to explain in this project. The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) To organize the structure of the project, Work Breaking Structure assists the work process. It is similar to the outline of the book or report. WBS is the brief version of work structure that help to perform and focus on plan, track and evaluate of the project (Gregory, 2006). According to the diagram, it consists of three benefits of using WBS, First, WBS are easier to evaluate the cost and time of work. Second, it is easy to break down the work into the small tasks and makes it easier to measure the progress. Third, it eases the separation of the tasks into the team member. Moreover, WBS contains two kinds of tasks: the summary tasks and the work packages. Summer tasks will describe each of the processes in the project, for the work packages describe as the lowest level task that required details to complete. From the figure4 shows The London Eye’s Work Breakdown Structure. WBS identifies the work that should be done, based on researcher’s understanding and assuming. The summary tasks can be divided up to four main tasks; safety, stakeholders (internal and external), physical and organizational. Moreover there are more subordinate level breakdown into each main tasks. For example, in physical tasks and the construction of wheel, capsules and foundation can be described as the lower level task of each level. The Gantt chart The Gantt chart was developed during the World War I invented by Henry Laurence Gantt. The Gantt chart uses to identify the necessary steps to obtain a result of work. The process of doing Gantt chart is worked by projecting schedule, follow step by step, from the final result, analyst activities, timing of process and sequence of tasks (Gregory, 2006). The chart can used to compare the estimated time of the project before, start with initial time on the actual time that really spent. Furthermore, Gantt chart can apply to every project, both in big project and small project. For example, building a factory, making a cup of glass or producing a musical. Figure5: London Eye’s Gantt chart From the figure5 shows The London Eye’s Gantt chart. The researcher is using information from the previous research and available documents to create this Gantt chart (The British Broadcasting Corporation, 2005; Tim and Ian, 2000). From this chart can see that London Eye project used approximately 7 years of planning, finding sponsors, get permits and construction. The London Eye can be estimated as the long project in-term of planning, but comparing to the time on construction is apparently very short compared to this kind of the project. Conclusion of the project The London Eye is one of the most successful projects in many aspects. It’s also one of the most successful in architect design of 21st century. The components of London Eye must be assembled above The Thames River that required high technology to handle the project. The original plan of London Eye was planned to be completed the construction in 2 years, but in, finally it used only 16 months to finish the project. If according to, The Iron Triangle theory said that if one of the three variables was changed, it will affect one of the others too. London was used the budget around 75 million pounds to build, but the project’s time construction is faster than expected and the scope has not changed. Unfortunately, components of London Eyes have to ship up and assemble in the Thames River this made it harder to deliver projects on time (Tim and Ian, 2000). The London Eye is not the ordinary project for both suppliers and project management team. To be able to finish on deadline, all around the prost have to be given to everyone who was a part in this project. Shareholders and investors of the project must spend huge money in order to justify risk of the project. For example, if poor quality and not finished on time happened, this implies that the cost of the project may not be the first priority of concern. Therefore, the time and scope or quality must be the first and second priority of the scope in the project. Mace construction that was controlling the project management team of London Eye should be accredited for the achievement and deliver project before deadline. But if they can decrease time for searching operators and suppliers, it could save the cost of the production because time of construction can reduce cost of production. From the stakeholder management perspectives, it illustrates the conflict of interest in shareholders, as the factor of â€Å"Time† had become a conflict among them. However, British Airway as a big shareholder that support financial fund during the construction had burden the high cost of production and risk. But in terms of marketing, British Airway can promote and impose the branding under the sponsorship deal. British Airway also improves brand image by using London Eye as the presenter of their brand. Recommendation of the project Researcher found that from this paper, it helps to understand theories and concept of project management, which make it easier to manage and deal with the project. The fundamentals of controlling cost, deliver on time and satisfaction in quality are significantly important. Not only the stakeholder management and project planning and scheduling will lead to the success of the project. But risk management, uncertainty management, resource management, scope management and other management aspects should be concerned as part of the success factors in project management. Other aspects of business should be considered as important as project management such as financial, human resource management and costumer relationship management. The London Eye project was won over 25 awards for engineering tourism, innovation and design including; 2003 Queen’s Award for Enterprise Innovation Furthermore, the project can make huge profits from the first few months of opening and had recovered the cost (London Eye, 2014). From this show that minimize cost is not always important for business but deliver customer expectation and requirement sometime is more important. The main problem of this project is about lack of managing for future that effects to cost which increases more that it should be. The project manager should concern this point because when one varies in cost, time and quality of project, it will always affect one the others as a whole. 1

Insane Macbeth :: essays research papers

An insane person is one that demonstrates foolish acts because of their poor mental state. In the beginning of Macbeth, Macbeth is characterized as a brave soldier. His bravery on the battlefield earned him the titles of Thane of Cawdor and Glamis. The play leads the reader to believe that Macbeth is sane, but when he receives prophesy from the witches that he will be king, an insane character emerges from within. Macbeth demonstrates these characteristics when he claims to see a floating dagger and an illusionary ghost and also becomes obsessed with the idea of killing others, and not being completely human. Macbeth displays the characteristics of an insane character because of his foolish acts and poor mental state when he visualizes the floating dagger, speaks to a ghost, becomes obsessed with killing others and with the idea of being invincible. When Macbeth begins talking to a ghost, his insanity becomes very apparent to the reader. From another one of the witches prophesies, Macbeth is threatened by Banquo because his sons are to be king one day as well. Macbeth begins to see Banquo’s and makes foolish comments. He says, â€Å"[Macbeth] The table’s full†¦ [Lennox] Here is a place reserved sir. [Macbeth] Where? [Ross] Gentlemen, rise, his Highness is not well.† (3:4:47-49,53) In this quote Macbeth demonstrates his insanity because he thinks that the table is full and does not realize that the ghost he sees is invisible to the other sane people in the room. The others notice that Macbeth is insane as well because Ross even suggests that he is not well. Macbeth also appears to be insane when he tries to talk to the ghost. Macbeth says â€Å"[To the ghost] Avaunt! And quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee!† (3:4:93-94) Here, Macbeth is talking to the ghost and

A Note on Cheerleading Essay

Cheerleading. When you hear that word, what do you think about? Snobby, skinny blonde girls that have nothing else to do in life besides smile and wear short skirts? Well, when I hear that word, I think of confident, courageous and athletic young women who have a chance to be someone else on a gym floor. Cheerleading is full of so many opportunities! I’ve been a cheerleader for four years and it has done so many things. But before that all happened, my life was just simple. I was nervous to talk in crowds, my face turned red when people wanted to speak to me, and I acted shy in many other ways. I wouldn’t say I was a nobody. I mean, I was a somebody, but just not a positive, talkative student who enjoyed attention. In 7th grade, signing up for cheerleading was a hassle. I didn’t want to sign up all by myself. So I convinced some of my friends to sign up with me. Unfortunately, they quit right before try-outs because they weren’t that interested anymore. So basically, I felt all by myself. But I hung on. I cheered all the cheers, chanted all the chants, stretched all the stretches, and jumped all the jumps. Cheerleading was fun. It changed my life in just three months. I felt as if I was â€Å"coming out of my shell.† But more was to come freshman year. Signing up for cheerleading in freshmanwas easy. But it was the wait for the season to actually start that was aggravating! Eventually, time slowly came by and it was , 2009, the first day of practice, and that was a wake-up call. There was a new, more professional coach, and only one girl from last year was back to be on the squad. So it was time to meet other people for a change and make more friends. New cheers were being taught from the captains of the High School Cheerleaders. Who knew that I’d get the highest score in try-outs and become head captain? Well, I did, and a captain is supposed to lead everyone. That’s what let me be myself. I was able to help everyone understand what to do, when to do it, and stand in front of a crowd by having a different uniform than the other non-captains on the team. Games are my favorite. Just running onto the floor is a rush, and I plan to do that for at least four more years. Yes, I want to be on the High School Cheerleading squad! I’m confident I will make it, and I’m not scared to try. The high school coach has been to some of our practices and I could tell she was impressed. I guess I have to wait a year to see what she says. GO, BULLDOGS! As you can see, there’s been a drastic before and after. Before, I was a shy girl who was just average. Now, I’m a young woman who has a good sense of self-confidence!

Threater review Arthur Asher Miller

Asher Miller was one of the greatest playwrights and essayists of the 20th century. He won numerous awards for his writing including the Tony Award for best play and Pulitzer Prize for drama. He lived a long fruitful life and provided a total of seven decades In playwright. Earlier Life and Potential Influence to His Writing: Arthur was born In October 1 7th, 1915. He was the second of three children of Solder and Augusta Miller. HIS father was a well-known man In the community and they were well off. Urethra's father owned a women's clothing manufacturing business called â€Å"S. Miller & Sons† 1 and his mother was a school teacher.However, due to the Wall Street crash of 1929, the family lost their wealth and had to move to Gravesend, Brooklyn. Later in the teen years, Arthur had to pick up a part-time Job to save up for college and they lived a middle class life struggling with money. He did poorly in high school because he was more focused on athletics. After he graduated he went to college and later dropped out of NY City College because he was not able to keep up with both work and school. To sum it all up, â€Å"Living through young adulthood during he Great Depression, Miller was shaped by the poverty that surrounded him.The Depression demonstrated to the playwright the fragility and vulnerability of human existence In the modern era. † 2 Professor Eric Rabble at the university of Mulligan said, â€Å"It Is no surprise then that many of his plays deal with Individuals rendered helpless in the face of uncontrollable social forces and the impact that this sense of helplessness has on the individual and the relationships that surround him. † 3 After a few years, he applied to the University of Michigan and was apparently denied admission two times before acceptance because of his poor grades in high school.Once he was accepted, he majored in Journalism and became the editor for Michigan Daily. 4 Becoming a Playwright: Miller's writing flourished in college. He gained confidence In playwright when he won the Hoped Award for a play he wrote in 6 days called the â€Å"No Villain†. He then switched his major to English and this Is when he realized he had the talent to become a professional playwright-5 Luckily, Miller had the opportunity to meet one of the most Influential playwright Instructors name Kenneth Thorpe Rowe, who apparently has taught many other professional playwrights.Rowe motivated and instructed Miller the fundamentals of playwright. He also helped Miller connect to Broadway later in his career by using his connections. 6 With the help of Rowe he rewrote â€Å"No Villain† and revised the play into another title called â€Å"They Too Arise† and won another Hoped Award for the play. 7 Miller struggled financially throughout college and was a night editor, earning a very small salary. 8 â€Å"In 1 936, as a student at the University of Michigan, the National Youth Administration pai d me $1 5 a month o feed a couple of thousand mice in a cancer research laboratory,† Miller recalled. L walked two miles to get to the genetics lab. I washed dishes for my meals, but without that ANY money, I couldn't have paid my room rent and would no doubt have had to leave school. Jobs In those times were next to Impossible to find. † 9 1 strongly believe that these kinds of hardships In his college life and the terrible economy near future. In 1938, Miller graduated from the University of Michigan with a BAA in English. Miller struggled financially throughout college and wrote some radio scripts ND a few short stories for income after graduating. 0 He briefly worked for Federal Theater Project but it was closed by the US Congress due to â€Å"presumed communist influence†. Al In August 1940, Miller married his college sweetheart, Mary Grace Clattery. 12 Mary supported Miller with his writing by being the editor and also provided income working as a waitress. They had two children together named Jane and Robert. Playwright Career: After losing his Job and, at one point, even collecting federal assistance, he found many different work including being a ship fitter's helper at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.He kept up with his writing by writing many radio plays and scripts after work. 13 It was not until 1944 that Miller went to Broadway with his play called â€Å"The Man Who Had All the Luck†. Unfortunately, the play was closed after a total of six performances, two of which were previews. The play received negative reviews from critics and it nearly ended his playwright career. However, being the man of the family and having the obligation to support the family, he went on writing two books titled Situation Normal (1944) and Focus (1945). 14 Then in 1946 Miller released a new play called â€Å"AllMy Sons†. This play earned Miller major credits for being one of the best playwrights at the time. This play was a major success in Broa dway. It ran 328 performances and also earned Miller two Tony awards for Best Author and the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award. 15, 16 This play was rated one of the best ten plays of 1947. 17 With the income from this play, he built a small studio in Connecticut. It was here where he created one of the best plays of all time, â€Å"Death of the Salesman† (1948). 18 This is by far the most recognized play for Miller. He won numerous Tony Awards including thePulitzer Prize for Best Drama. There have been numerous revivals of â€Å"Death of the Salesman† and have been played in theater over thousands of times. There have even been film and television adaptations of this play. Some critics stated that â€Å"Death of a Salesman† was the first great American tragedy written. Following this success, Miller expressed his political beliefs with the play called â€Å"The Crucible† (1953). It seems that he is comparing the Salem Witch Trials in this play with th e ongoing sass and sass â€Å"anti-communist Red Scare and the congressional hearings of Seen.Joseph McCarthy going on in the United States at the time†. 19 â€Å"In reading this play, one can pick up on three important themes. The first is how people use escape goats to gain in their personal lives, and secondly, how one deals with their own personal set of morals, when placed against an entire groups. Lastly, The Crucible deals with the idea of how people in power will sacrifice what is truly right for the protection of their own power, or face†. 20 In June 1956, he divorced his first wife and married again with a well-known actress named Marilyn Monroe a few weeks later.They only lasted 4 years and Miller got married for the third time with Engine Mortar in 1962 and had two children together. 21 Miller's Influences and Style: Arthur Miller was heavily influenced by United States sociology of his time and had a deep insight with human behavior facing tragedy. Miller' s writing style is known for his honesty and true nature of man. His famous works like â€Å"Death of the Salesman† emphasize a difficult conflict within one family and address the larger issues his relationship with his uncle named Many Newman, who was also a salesman.His uncle practically had the personality and idea of Wily in â€Å"Death of the Salesman†. Miller wrote short stories in the earlier days about a failure of an unsuccessful salesman. He later on transformed this story into one of the greatest masterpieces of all time. 22 Miller said he was inspired by the Greeks, particularly Sophocles. â€Å"l think the tragic feeling is evoked in us when we are in the presence of a character who is ready to lay down his life, if need be, to secure one thing-his sense of personal dignity,† Miller writes. From Rooster to Hamlet, Made to Macbeth, the underlying trudge is that of the individual attempting to gain his ‘rightful' position in his society. † Miller considers the common man â€Å"as apt a subject for tragedy in its highest sense as kings were. â€Å"23 Miller wrote many different kinds of plays and scripts in his career. However, two of his most famous works like â€Å"Death of the Salesman† and â€Å"All My Sons† are known for being the best tragedy plays known to date. His protagonists in these two plays were both hard-working American men with their family, going through a struggle or conflict and involve a lie with a big truth moment.In â€Å"Death of he Salesman†, Wily wanted to believe that he was a â€Å"successful† salesman and that his sons were going to successful Just like him, achieving the American dream. He had all his hope on his older son Biff, who was popular and athletic. Wily believed that Biff had all the ingredients needed to be successful and wanted to believe that Biff would be successful. However, Biff confronts Wily about what is reality and why Wily needs to stop lying to believe that Biff is something special when he was Just ordinary. Similarly, in â€Å"All My Sons†, Joe lies to his own sons about a crime he omitted which killed 21 American pilots.Apparently, Joe who was a businessman purchased and sold faulty machine parts to the air force to get out of a tight financial situation and to top it all off, blamed his partner for the wrongdoing when he was the one that did it. However, this action later haunts him and his family. His son Larry went missing in World War II and for three years his fiance named Ann had been waiting for him. Apparently, his other son Chris falls in love with Ann and wanted to marry her. Joey's wife Kate did not want to accept that Larry was dead and knew that he secret would be revealed if they got married.Ann gave Chris Larry suicide note confirming that Larry was absolutely dead because he killed himself knowing his father had killed 21 American pilots because of his selfish action. Chris read this out to the whole family. 24 Interestingly enough, both of these plays ended with the protagonist committing suicide. Wily ended his life to provide insurance money to Biff to start his own business and Joe shot himself in head not wanting to face the judgment from his dead son, who killed himself because of his father and other son ho was ready to throw him in prison. 5 Both of these plays questioned morality and ethics. How far will a man go to save his family? Will he kill a man and keep his family hidden from the dirty truth? Or would he even kill himself to provide his son an income to start a business? It questions human instincts and how low a man would go to protect their own family. â€Å"The closer a man approaches tragedy the more intense is his concentration of emotion upon the fixed point of his commitment, which is to say the closer he approaches what in life we call fanaticism. â€Å"26

The eNotes Blog Top 10 Gifts for Readers andWriters

Top 10 Gifts for Readers andWriters Christmas is a wonderful time for lovers of literature.   You can finally get someone to read a book you love, request one (or more) from friends and family, or even give or receive a book-themed item.   Here are ten suggestions sure to make bibliophiles smile. 1.   Banned Books Bracelet. A beautiful way to show off your love of literature and provoke interesting conversations, this bracelet from The Literary Gift Company is stylish and smart. Consider pairing it with a couple of the books depicted for a memorable gift. Books featured on the bracelet include To Kill a Mockingbird, The Color Purple, Howl, and Alices Adventures  in Wonderland, among others. 2. Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris. Released in 1997, this hysterical collection of essays by now-famous author David Sedaris will delight even the Grinchiest Grinch on your list. Darkly humorous yet full of relatable insights into the human condition, Sedaris captures both the love and the maddening spirit of the holiday season. 3.   The Book Lovers Cookbook. If you have both a foodie and a book lover on your list, this is a fun and tasty gift. The authors, who are both chefs and book lovers, have included selections from a variety of novels, everything from Oscar Wildes The Importance of Being Earnest to Fannie Flaggs Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. How about whipping up a delicious treat for your next book club meeting? 4.   Barnes and Noble Membership. At Barnes and Noble, you can get great savings all yearif you purchase a $25 membership. Consider paying for these great benefits for a friend or family member and give them the gift of savings for a full year! 5.   Peeramid Book Rest. Prop up your book comfortably wherever you are with this unique book rest.   Use the tassel to mark your place. Available in a variety of colors: burgundy, navy blue, and sage green, among others. 6.   Famous Faces Journals. If there is a writer and pop culture buff to shop for, you can’t go wrong with one of these whimsical journals. Choose from Audrey Hepburn, Dr. Spock, and Michael Jackson, among others. 7.   Go Away, Im Writing Mug. Perfect for the published, aspiring, or humanities student on your list. Also available in Go Away, Im Reading. No need to say anything, just point and grunt. Bah humbug. 8.   This American Life USB. Some of the best and most innovative writers in America are contributors to National Public Radios award-winning series  This American Life: Michael Chabon, David Rakoff, and Junot Diaz, just to name a few. Enjoy these fabulous stories and rich voices as you luxuriate in 35 hours of programs. 9.   So Many Books, So Little Time Night Shirt. Give your favorite gal a gift shell love to put on and then go curl up with a good book 10.   Penguin Books Montage Tie. In 1935, Penguin Books revolutionized the publishing industry by distributing classics in affordable, paperback editions. Celebrate their lasting legacy with this attractive montage of some of Penguins most memorable titles.

Childhood Obesity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Childhood Obesity - Essay Example It has related obesity and performances among teenage girls in both the U.K and United States. Research has been carried out in various universities where grades have been compared to the obesity levels in girls. The researches have been caused by the numerous cases of obesity that have affected school grades. During the test, students were examined their abilities in Math, English and science (Poon 2014). Results show that obese girls acquired poor grades in the tested subjects. The studies were conducted in universities and colleges. On the contrary, the blog has proved to be false in some of the comments because other researchers have shown that both obese girls and boys have gained poor grades (Poon, 2014). Moreover, other contradicting results have been obtained from studies that have highlighted obese girls who have achieved better grades. Some psychologists have argued that there is the presence of other factors that lead to low grades in schools. The obese girls may have had other issues rather than health complications that led to their poor performance. The podcast has included discussions on the rising cases of obesity in the United States and their cause of health threats to the population (Gardner, 2010). The main presenter is Doctor Grossman who claims that parents should adopt the right programs to help their obese children. However, the doctor has used bogus claims on the consequences instead of focusing on prevention of obesity. Families should adopt obesity prevention methods to prevent their children from health complications. Prevention strategies should include the abolition of junk foods from homes and provision of advices on the dangers of obesity. Programs should include more contact time between parents and their children because they help in the sharing of knowledge about obesity (Gardner, 2010). Children should be encouraged to practice regularly rather than staying indoors and playing video games. The TV

The nature of pension plans with focus on defined contribution pension Research Paper

The nature of pension plans with focus on defined contribution pension plans and defined benefit pension plans - Research Paper Example â€Å"Actually, an individual who periodically invests in stocks, bonds, certificates of deposit (CDs), or other investments for the purpose of saving for retirement is establishing a personal pension fund. Often, such individual plans take the form of individual retirement accounts (IRAs) to take advantage of tax breaks offered by that arrangement† (Part A: The nature of Pension Plans n.d. p. 1010). Pension funds must be controlled. They have managerial responsibilities? create decisions on the subject of benefits and entitlements and, in some cases, guarantee that long-term duties are met in the circumstance of uncertainty and risk. As such, it is debatable that pension funds are like other financial organizations, which have objectives and goals in addition to procedures that help attain these objectives and goals are realized. Pension plans often increase productivity, decrease turnover, gratify union demands and permit employers to fight in the labor market. Corporations set up pension plans for various reasons. Sponsorship of such plans provides workers with an amount of security during the time of retirement and accomplishes a moral duty felt by many employers. This security also encourages the level of job satisfaction and possibly loyalty that might increase productivity and decrease turnover. Defined Contribution Plans: A defined-contribution plan is a kind of plan in which workers’ benefit for the period of retirement depends on the contributions made as well as the performance of the investment of the assets in his or her account, rather than on the workers’ years of service or history of earnings. Like a classic savings account, a defined-contribution account includes a particular balance at any given time, which is up to the market value of the assets gathered in the account. Unlike in the case of a defined-benefit plan, workers have significant control over how the donations and contributions to their plan are invested and ma y normally prefer an assortment of stocks (frequently including company stock), mutual funds, bonds, and other investment vehicles. These pension plans assure fixed yearly contributions to the pension fund (say, 5% of the workers pay). Employees prefer (from designated alternatives) where funds are invested generally? that is? in fixed-income or stocks securities. Retirement disburse depends on the volume of the fund available during retirement. In a defined contribution plan, investment rewards and investment risks are assumed by every worker or retiree and not by the employer or sponsor. This risk could be considerable. Based on simulations from safety returns over the 20th century across 16 states, there can be seen substantial variation in pension fund ratios across both the country as well as different time periods in the same country. â€Å"There are several types of defined contribution plans, including money purchase plans, profit-sharing plans, 401(k) arrangements, savings plans, and employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs). These are described briefly below† (Defined Benefits and Defined Contribution Plans: Understanding the Differences, n.d. p. 2). Advantages: Observe money and develop