Online Promotion Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Online Promotion Management - Essay Example 2) The five steps for controlling include, establishing clear standards, monitoring, and recording, compare results against standards, communicate results and If needed, take the corrective action (Nickel et al 78). You will then send the feedback to check if the standards are realistic. If not you will have to start the process again. These steps will be essential when being implemented with a telecommuter in order to establish authority and eligibility. It also provides the initial steps for initiating telecommuting from the employees or management. The telecommuter should have a history reliable and responsible discharge of their work duties, a full understanding of the operations, pursue high quality work product and establish priorities with regard to effective time management. 3) Telecommuting changes the skills of first level supervisors to be able to harmonize the demands of management and collective workforce. It is able to allow the lowest level managers to use their levers and influence their position to improve the whole organization. There is the positive development as the first level supervisors have more influence in productivity, product quality and good labor relationships in the company (Nickel et al 72). 1) The video of Chapter nine talks about production and operation management. It talks about Ball Brother Glass MGC Co. Who made containers for paint and changed to a more form contemporary packaging. The Ball Co. get a lot of revenue from beverage and food container. On production, they use aluminum to make the can. Factors that affect production includes location, Ball Co. has over 30 manufacturing companies that are close to the customer. They also employ just in time inventory to reduce the cost of warehousing. Quality control is also helpful in ensuring that the customers get the best from this company.

Business Ethics Essay Example for Free

Business Ethics Essay As we have discussed the ethical issued related to production and distribution of wine, we will now focus on the ethical issues relating to the consumption of wine. The consumption of wine in U. S. has been on the rise since last fifteen years. The U. S. ranks 34th in wine consuming nations with wine consumption of 7. 69 liters per capita per annum. The consumption of wine in 1994 was 404 million gallons which increased to 658 million gallons in the year 2008. These figures show the growing popularity of wine in U. S. Consumption grew 2. 5% per annum. As capita income per person has increased, the wine consumption has also seen a increasing trend. According to U. S. Beverage Marketing Corporation, the organic wine consumption have rise in last few years. As people are getting environmental and health conscious, they are turning towards organic products. In 2003/04, organic wine consumption was about 6. 5% of total beverage market in U. S. , which increased to 9. 5% in the year 2007/08. This signifies the important aspect of change in the human nature that is turning to the products which is beneficial to both humans and environment. The type of wine customer consumes depends on the number of factors namely per capita income, household size, preference of quality over price etc. The nutrition facts of wine are minimal. There is no cholesterol or fat present in the wine. Generally, the alcohol content ranges in between 10-15%. Over consumption of wine can be dangerous to health as it can cause unconsciousness and high blood pressure. Nutrition Facts (Serving Size 6 oz) Amount per serving| Red Wine| White Wine| Calories| 123| 115| Protein| . 28 grams| . 14 grams| Cholesterol | 0| 0| Sodium | 8. 5 milligrams| 8. 5 milligrams| Carbohydrates| 2. 9 grams| 1. 35 grams| Vitamin B1(Thiamin)| . 01 %| . 01 %| Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin)| . 05 %| . 01 %| Vitamin B3 (Niacin)| . 13 %| . 12 %| Organic wine is the wine produced from organically grown grapes without adding any sulfites. Organic wine is the best quality wine obtained without relying on chemical fertilizers. The most important aspect of producing organic wine is the matching of unique characteristics of growing region with the most suitable variety of grapes. Different varieties of grapes need different soil and climate to grow. Usually, warm and dry climates are suitable for growing quality grapes and these climates protect the grapes against moulds and other diseases resulting from humid climate. The smaller sized grapes are suitable and desired for the production of organic wine because we get the distinctive taste for a particular wine from grape’s skin and the smaller grapes has high skin to juice ratio as compared to the large sized grapes. But the yield per field of small sized grapes is considerably low, which increase the cost of production per unit volume. The grapes in the organic vineyard are usually handpicked which allows only the ripest and healthiest grapes to be picked up. This process also minimizes the damage to the soil and the fruit. This accounts for the difference in taste of the wine. But this handpicking of grapes increase the labor costs. Low yield and handpicking of grapes, along with other factors, increase the overall production costs. Thus, organic wine is generally expensive than the regular wine. It is far better in quality and taste than the regular cheap wine. The consumption of organic wine has effect on the environment. As the grapes have been grown naturally, no pesticides or insecticide had been used and re-plantation of oak trees to replace the cut oak trees helps in preserving the nature and benefits the world around us by preserving the soil and help reducing the pollution to both air and soil. It helps maintain the balance of nature. The organic wine production is an ethical business process. Nobody feels cheated in this process, as the customer gets the quality products for the dollars he/she spends and know what he is getting as there is no deception on the labels, and the producer get the return for following the sincere ethical processes. Customers get the value for the money spent as they get high quality wine with distinctive taste. On the other hand, the producer earns enough to cover his costs of production and also makes a profit. The environment is also saved through this ethical business practices which is the biggest gain. On the other hand, the regular wine can be produced with the large sized grapes and the insecticides and pesticides are used on a large scale. As the yield of large grapes is more, the cost of production per unit volume is low. This results in lower prices. The regular wine is pretty cheap and available in abundance qualities. Thus, it is affordable to people with low income. It is cost friendly to both the wine producers and the customers. Wine producers can adopt mass production of the regular wine as the production costs are low and there are no special regulations to be followed, this result in increased profits. Customers are also attracted to the low- priced wine as they have to spend less and get their wine desire satisfied with this low priced regular wine as compared to costly organic wine. But there are consequences of drinking cheap wine. The production of regular wine has an adverse effect on the environment. As the consumption of regular wine is increasing, so does the adverse effects. The use of unlimited pesticides, insecticides and other chemicals not only pollute the soil but also the air we breathe. It even spoils the water bed beneath the soil. The deforestation of the oak trees is rapidly increasing. The effects are adverse than we could even think and they are long termed/ lived. The cheap wine could have health consequences too. The sulfites present in the wine can degrade person’s health. The cheap wine has much higher sulfur content than expensive organic wines. The consumption of this cheap wine could results in allergies, breathing problems, skin rashes, itches and nausea. Overindulgence of wine can raise the blood pressure which could be harmful. In the recent years, the genetically engineering wine production is on the rise. It is the method of wine production using the gene altered grapes. The genetically engineered vineyards are more resistant to the fungal diseases than the traditional vineyards. The main motive behind the genetical engineering is to make vineyards more resistant to diseases and increase the output of grapes. The researched concluded that these disease resistant plants would need very less pesticides, thus lowering the use of pesticide in production process. This is really beneficial for the environment. But it is feared that the genetically altered genes may result in uniformity of taste of different wines. But according to the reports; people have not accepted the genetically engineered wine. They have rejected the concept of genetically engineered wine as the fears of taste uniformity have raised concerns. According to the report by Greenpeace, California wine makers may have to face mass consumer rejection if they accepted the genetically engineered grapes for their wine production process. British retailers have also threatened California wine makers to quit importing their wine if they adopted the genetically engineered wine making process. Fact is that, Britain is the largest importer of California wine as it imports 30% of the state’s wine. Researchers have found out that the gene which is inserted into the wine grapes create a protein similar to that present in the bee venom. This could cause anaphylactic shock in some people and can also create other health issues. This deadly substance could not be put out the production process of the genetically engineered wine.

al capone Essay -- essays research papers

Organized crime was not so organized up until the 1920s. When the 1920s arrived, the American lifestyle changed dramatically. People started investing money in home appliances and automobiles, women’s skirts became higher and drinking became very popular. Also, organized crime came to a rise in the 1920’s. And in the high ranks of organized crime was Al Capone. Al Capone ran many illegal businesses including bootlegging, gambling, prostitution, and murders. There were many gangs in the world of organized crime and Al Capone’s was at the top. Al Capone was the most infamous gangster in the 1920’s. Being a big time gangster was big business. Money was made fast and very easily. Bootlegging alcohol was by far the most profitable in the 1920’s, this was because of the prohibition. Gambling was another business that paid off. Gambling stations were set up all over cities. Prostitution and Murders were also crimes that made gangsters money. Alphonse Capone was the biggest force in organized crime. He started his career of crime in Boston, as an apprentice to Johnny Torrio. That is where he earned the unforgettable nickname â€Å"Scarface.† It was in a bar when Capone made some rude comments about a woman. Minutes later, the woman’s brother sliced Capone in the face. D. VanGorder 2 This man was a friend of Charles â€Å"Lucky† Luciano. Al Capone was punished and forced to apologize. Al Capone did not become a leader until he went to Chicago. At the time he was still an apprentice to Johnny Torrio. In the midst of the gang violence and bootlegging was Chicago. Chicago was a great place to start a ring of organized crime. The government was very weak which made it easier to do crime. Capone entered the city of Chicago in 1920. At the time, â€Å"Big Jim† Colosimo ran things. He made about 50,000 dollars a month. Torrio and Capone started their business with four gambling joints/whore houses in Chicago. These underground places were known as deuces. In Chicago Capone met a man who would be his friend for life, Jack Guzik. Guzik was Jewish. His family lived off prostitution. Al Capone never worried about racial issues, his wife was even Irish. After Jack Guzick was roughed up by a Joe Howard, Capone let out his temper. It did not help when Howard called Capone some rude names. Soon after, Capone shot him down. There was no conviction, it was clear that Capone was becoming more... ...n Capone was showing his superiority. As Alva Johnston said in the New Yorker D. VanGorder 6 â€Å"Chicago is the imperial city of the gang world and New York a remote provincial place.† The incident was known as The Adonis club massacre. Prohibition may have caused the highest crime rate ever in organized crime. Frankie yale was a longtime friend of Al Capone and Johnny Torrio. He was used in various hits including the murders of Dion O’banion and â€Å"Big Jim† Colosimo. In 1928 Capone found out that Yale had been hijacking many of his â€Å"booze† trucks. Soon after, Yale was shot down. No other single gangster could be as infamous as Al Capone. Al Capone was the most powerful gangster to ever live. No one could stop his reign of crime, and anyone that got in his way, he would take out, Even when it came to his friends. He was never convicted for any of the hundreds of crimes he committed, this is one of the most important facts that showed how many connections Capone had. It was until the 1930’s when Capone was convicted of Tax invasion. While serving his jail time Alphonse Capone became a victim of the deadly disease Syphilis. Al Capone died but his crime legacy will always live on.

Four season goes to paris Essay

This case demonstrates how Four Seasons effectively creates, cultivates, and sustains its organizational culture throughout every place the company expands its business to. In 1999, Four Seasons took over the Hotel George V in France and reopened it as the Four Seasons Hotel George V Paris (F. S. George V) leading the company to cope with cultural difference issues. Research showed that a strong organizational culture correlates with the firm’s high performance (Sorensen, 124). Therefore, it is vital for managers, whose work deals with international aspects, to realize the importance of corporate culture and know how to help their companies maintain the culture. In this paper, I will discuss about organizational culture of Four Seasons, French culture related to the hospitality industry, possible conflicts and resolution between Four Seasons and France employee regarding organizational culture. Four Seasons’ culture centered on providing customers with an exceptional service and giving its human resources high value. In terms of service, the company blended uniform service standards with local ingredients resulting in a customized hotel that goes hand in hand with its host country. To elaborate, the company ensured that every employee adopts the service standards and put them into practice. This is because sharing the same standard helps bond the employees to one another. Consequently, these bonds lead to creating corporate culture. The company put emphasize on its valuable human resources by introducing â€Å"The Golden Rule,† highlighting dignity and respect throughout the organization (Hallowell, Bowen, and Knoop, 4). The company created a strong culture through selection and socialization procedure (Sorensen, 125). First, the company recruited people based on their attitude fit to the organizational culture. For example, all potential job candidates at the F. S. George V were interviewed four times. Four Seasons was convinced that an employee with the right attitude could adapt to its culture. Second, the firm strengthened its culture through rules implementation and auditing performance helping to increase cultural persistence. Consequently, persistence contributed to maintaining the company’s culture. Third, the firm sustained its belief through association with symbols (Sorensen, 126). For example, when his uniform gets dirty, an employee is supplied with a uniform to change. This symbolizes and reminds the employee of dignity according to â€Å"The Golden Rule. † Differences between French culture and Four Seasons’ culture can create potential conflicts when both cultures collide. On one hand, French culture is indirect and subjective. French people are non confrontational. Face saving and dignity are vital in employee evaluation. French people are proud of their nationality. They are emotional and take honor into account when providing services. The working style of French people is polychronic (Hallowell, Bowen, and Knoop, 7). They regard personal relationship more important than fixed appointments. On the other hand, Four Seasons’ North American culture is more direct and objective. An employee feels comfortable to talk openly to his manager. In turn, the manager can give the employee sincere feedback on his performance. It is vital to follow business schedule strictly. This section talks about cultural conflicts and resolutions. Cultural differences between Four Seasons and France employee can bring about conflicts when the two collaborate. Especially, when the company has to embrace employees from the Hotel Gorge V. This means the hotel has to deal with an existing culture that is different from its own. The company’s confrontational style in managing people can be ineffective and considered insulting in France. French employee with monochronic culture may not know that attend meeting late is unacceptable for Americans with polychronic culture (Hallowell, Bowen, and Knoop, 7). Also, French people are emotional which is good in providing exceptional service to impress guests. However, being too emotional can result in inconsistency of service. For example, a concierge may treat one guest better than the other according to his own preference. This disrupts harmony in organizational culture in that the service standards require employees to treat every guest equally. To solve cultural difference issues, the company gradually replaced the existing culture with a new one aiming at employees who were willing to change and adopt the company culture. When the majority of employees embraced corporate culture, which prioritizes service standards, the company could resolve service inconsistency issue. The firm also hired Le Calvez, a truly French man as a F. S George V general manager. His experience in dealing with union in New York facilitated him in reducing gap between its employees and the union. Then, the hotel assigned the task force to the F. S. Gorge V to make sure that the opening will run smoothly. This task force helped building Four Season’s culture. Also, it symbolized the company’s unity worldwide. Realizing that French employees are indirect and avoid confronting with their boss, Four Seasons used direct line to encourage them to speak up and voice their concerns comfortably. In conclusion, this paper presents Four Seasons’ culture, National culture of France, main conflicts when the two cultures collide, and the approaches Four Seasons took to resolve such conflicts. The company created and cultivated its corporate culture through communication, implementation, and symbolization.

Pride and Prejudice and the Relationships of Women and Men Essay

In the book Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen there are many relationships between men and women. This book was originally entitled First Impressions and when reading it is easy to understand how this title could be aptly appropriate to the story line and characters. In these relationships one of the things that can be noted is that men are primarily looking for sex and that women are looking for resources. There are several character relationships in the story that exemplify this theory. These relationships include the relationship between Charlotte and Mr. Collins, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, and Mr. and Mrs. Bennet. There are many examples as to how these relationships truly do exemplify the theory that women use relationships to find resources and men use relationships to find sex (LeFraye, Chapter 1). In the relationship of Charlotte and Mr. Collins there is much speculation throughout the story as to whether or not they are really in love. This can be exemplified through looking at their interactions together and focusing on what they do not have. There are many cases where it is obvious that Charlotte wants to be married and that she is trying to fulfill her mother’s dream of her being married off. Also Charlotte seems to ravish in the idea that someone else could take care of her. As for Mr. Collins, there is much detail linked to his attraction to Charlotte and being attracted to her could promote a stronger desire in him to fulfill his sexual desires with her. Also prior to Mr. Collins being with Charlotte, Mr. Collins was more interested in Elizabeth who continuously denied him and didn’t want to be with him. This further promotes that Mr. Collins did not show that he was truly in love with Charlotte in the story (Austen 211). There were many other key points that were involved in the relationship between Mr. Collins and Charlotte. This relationship between Charlotte and Mr. Collins did cause some problems for Charlotte as her sister was disappointed in her in that she felt that Charlotte should hold out for true love and really find someone who was smitten with her where as Charlotte seemed ready to settle in a desperate attempt to be married and no longer have to worry about whether or not she was going to have to take care of herself. Charlotte seemed to be comforted by the fact that someone was offering to really take care of her and focus their energies on her well being. In this fact it seems as though Charlotte was truly willing to settle for anything when it came to being taken care of and Mr. Collins was happy settling for Charlotte whom he found attractive and yet he was also able to encourage a relationship where he would be able to have passion in his own eyes. This relationship personifies the trend of the times that was when someone married for economic reasons rather than marrying for love (â€Å"Pride and Prejudice† 3). In the relationship of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy there are many different factors affecting how things. In the beginning it seems as though Elizabeth can not stand Mr. Darcy, â€Å"as if intending to exasperate herself as much as possible against Mr. Dacry. † There were many other statements in the novel which would lead one to believe that Elizabeth indeed can not stand Mr. Darcy. There are also statements in the novel to support that Mr. Darcy feels likewise and the same and that he too has no intentions of having a relationship with Elizabeth. â€Å"Mr. Darcy, who was leaning against the mantle-piece with his eyes fixed on her face, seemed to catch her words with no less resentment than surprise. His complexion became pale with anger, and the disturbance of his mind was visible in every feature. † The problems between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy seemed to be that they both were head strong and had big personalities in which they were not interested in being able to engage in a relationship together (Austen 313 and 314). Later through the novel the relationship between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy develops and eventually, the second time that he proposes, they decide to be married. In this sense it seems as though Elizabeth holds out on marrying him until she believes that he is willing to initiate a relationship with her and he is willing to respect her for her thoughts and beliefs and not simply that he is attracted to her or wanting to be with her in a relationship. Another key factor in this relationship is that Elizabeth finds Mr. Darcy to be attractive, even when she is unhappy with who she thinks he is as a person, she still thinks that he is good looking. There are also a lot of issues in this sense as Elizabeth talks a lot throughout the first chapters about her opinions of others and she does not truly give others a chance to develop as she bases most of her long term impressions on others on the first impression which they make. Overall this relationship personifies a successful relationship between a man and a woman under the pretense that there has to be a long term connection and something more than initial attraction in order to have a successful relationship and marriage (â€Å"Pride and Prejudice† 1). In the relationship of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet it is obvious that Mrs. Bennet is consumed with the financial ability of men to take care of women. She is obsessed with her daughters being able to marry a â€Å"fine suitor† who will be able to provide for them and she is even talking about the amount of money one young man makes with her husband as the story opens. Mr. Bennet seems to be concerned about his wife’s beauty which would prove that he has a need and a desire to find her attractive. Mrs. Bennet’s only concerns for her daughters are that they be married off to wealthy men who can provide the best of life for them however she has poor public manners and many times her daughters are embarrassed by her. Also Mrs. Bennet’s actions really do keep some of the most suitable suitors away from her daughters as her actions are rather appalling to others and therefore they are typically wanting less to do with her daughters in fear of having to deal with her. In many parts of the novel, Mr. Bennet comments on his appreciation for Mrs. Bennet’s beauty, in doing so he is portraying that he is truly attracted to her and therefore he would be interested in the sexual relationships that would be available to him with his wife (Austen 213). This relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Bennet personifies the relationship that can occur when someone focuses on attraction first. This being that Mr. Bennet fell in love with how Mrs. Bennet looked without knowing what her intelligence was or whether or not they would get along. Mr. Bennet had been more concerned with these outward features than long term compatibility and in the end there were a lot of reasons to believe that this relationship was not all that it seemed to be (â€Å"Pride and Prejudice† 2). In the book, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, there are many relationships that exemplify the idea that women are in relationships in order to secure stability and men are in relationships for sex. This is apparent in the relationships between Charlotte and Mr. Collins, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, and Mr. and Mrs. Bennet. In these relationships the women are looking for various securities whether financial, emotional or both and the men seem to be looking for the sexual benefits that will come from the relationships. These types of relationship trends are interested in Bibliography Austen, Jane. The Complete Novels. New York: Penguin Group, 2006. LeFraye, Deidre. Jane Austen: The world of Her Novels. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2002. â€Å"Pride and Prejudice. † The Literature Network. 2000.

Free Essays on BBC Vs CNN

The United States and the United Kingdom are the two leading, English-speaking countries in the present day. They are very similar countries in the fact that the majority of their population has a basic education and the economy of the country as a whole is strong. However, the leading news network of the United States, the Cable News Network (CNN), and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), differ immensely. Both claim to be â€Å"leaders of world news,† this however is not the case. If both news networks claim to be â€Å"world news† networks, then, if we turn on the television we should see world news. If you have ever watched CNN, especially recently during the wars in the Middle East, you will probably notice the extreme amount of coverage dedicated to solely the planning inside the Pentagon and the White House and all of the information that is circulating about the United States. Sure, this news has to deal with the US’s actions about the issues in Iraq, but what does the other eighty-five of the world population think? Nationalism is a great political tool, but, I do not think that it should take place in â€Å"world news.† If CNN is appeal to the world why should it be throwing Americanisms and American ideas into the minds of the world? On the other hand, BBC is known for its stiff neutrality and fair play in the world news department. BBC’s news reports do not just remain with the ideas or events that are enclosed by their national borders. It leaves an open ear to the world and delivers all the important stories to the people who watch BBC for the very thing it promotes itself on, world news. The differences are made quite clear even if you were to look at the websites that represent the news entities. The CNN website is filled with ads and unnecessary promotion of commercial advertisers. However, the BBC site remains clear and concise presenting just the news and only the news. As a final point I will bri... Free Essays on BBC Vs CNN Free Essays on BBC Vs CNN The United States and the United Kingdom are the two leading, English-speaking countries in the present day. They are very similar countries in the fact that the majority of their population has a basic education and the economy of the country as a whole is strong. However, the leading news network of the United States, the Cable News Network (CNN), and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), differ immensely. Both claim to be â€Å"leaders of world news,† this however is not the case. If both news networks claim to be â€Å"world news† networks, then, if we turn on the television we should see world news. If you have ever watched CNN, especially recently during the wars in the Middle East, you will probably notice the extreme amount of coverage dedicated to solely the planning inside the Pentagon and the White House and all of the information that is circulating about the United States. Sure, this news has to deal with the US’s actions about the issues in Iraq, but what does the other eighty-five of the world population think? Nationalism is a great political tool, but, I do not think that it should take place in â€Å"world news.† If CNN is appeal to the world why should it be throwing Americanisms and American ideas into the minds of the world? On the other hand, BBC is known for its stiff neutrality and fair play in the world news department. BBC’s news reports do not just remain with the ideas or events that are enclosed by their national borders. It leaves an open ear to the world and delivers all the important stories to the people who watch BBC for the very thing it promotes itself on, world news. The differences are made quite clear even if you were to look at the websites that represent the news entities. The CNN website is filled with ads and unnecessary promotion of commercial advertisers. However, the BBC site remains clear and concise presenting just the news and only the news. As a final point I will bri...

How to Make Your Website Mobile Friendly Using PHP

How to Make Your Website Mobile Friendly Using PHP It is important to make your website accessible to all of your users. Although many people still access your website through their computer, a huge amount of people are also accessing your website from their phones and tablets. When you are programming your website it is important to keep these types of media in mind so that your site will work on these devices. PHP is all processed on the server, so by the time the code gets to the user, it is just HTML. So basically, the user requests a page of your website from your server, your server then runs all the PHP and sends the user the results of the PHP. The device never actually sees or has to do anything with the actual PHP code. This gives websites done in PHP an advantage over other languages that process on the user side, such as Flash. It has become popular to redirect users to mobile versions of your website. This is something that you can do with the htaccess file but you can also do with PHP. One way to do this is by using strpos() to look for the name of certain devices. Here is an example:    ?php$android strpos($_SERVER[HTTP_USER_AGENT],Android);$bberry strpos($_SERVER[HTTP_USER_AGENT],BlackBerry);$iphone strpos($_SERVER[HTTP_USER_AGENT],iPhone);$ipod strpos($_SERVER[HTTP_USER_AGENT],iPod);$webos strpos($_SERVER[HTTP_USER_AGENT],webOS);if ($android || $bberry || $iphone || $ipod || $webos true) { header(Location: yoursite.com/mobile);}? If you chose to redirect your users to a mobile site, make sure you give the user  an easy way to access the full site.   Another thing to keep in mind is that if someone reaches your site from a search engine, they often arent going through your home page so they dont want to be redirected there. Instead, redirect them to the mobile version of the article from the SERP (search engine results page.)   Something of interest may be this CSS switcher script written in PHP. This allows the user to put on a different CSS template via a drop-down menu. This would allow you to offer the same content in different mobile-friendly versions, perhaps one for phones and another for tablets. This way the user would have the option to change to one of these templates, but would also have the option to keep the full version of the site if they prefer. One final consideration: Although PHP is good to use for websites that will be accessed by mobile users, people often combine PHP with other languages to make their sit do everything they want. Be careful when adding features that the new features wont make your site unusable by members of the mobile community. Happy programming!

Biography of Catherine Howard, Queen of England

Biography of Catherine Howard, Queen of England Catherine Howard (c. 1523–February 13, 1542) was the fifth wife of Henry VIII. During her brief marriage, she was officially the Queen of England. Howard was beheaded for adultery and unchastity in 1542. Fast Facts: Catherine Howard Known For: Howard was briefly the Queen of England; her husband Henry VIII ordered her to be beheaded for adultery.Born: 1523 in London, EnglandParents: Lord Edmund Howard  and  Joyce CulpeperDied: February 13, 1542 in London, EnglandSpouse: King Henry VIII (m. 1540) Early Life Catherine Howard was born in London, England, sometime around 1523. Her parents were  Lord Edmund Howard  and  Joyce Culpeper. In 1531, through the influence of his niece Anne Boleyn, Edmund Howard obtained a position as comptroller for Henry VIII in Calais. When her father went to Calais, Catherine Howard was placed in the care of Agnes Tilney, Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, her fathers stepmother.  Howard lived with Agnes Tilney at Chesworth House and then at Norfolk House. She was one of many young nobles sent to live under Agnes Tilneys supervision- and that supervision was notably loose.  Howards education, which included reading and writing and music, was directed by Tilney. Youthful Indiscretions About 1536, while living with Tilney at Chesworth House, Howard had a sexual relationship with a music tutor, Henry Manox (Mannox or Mannock). Tilney reportedly struck Howard when she caught the two together. Manox followed her to Norfolk House and tried to continue a relationship. Manox was eventually replaced in young Howards affections by Frances Dereham, a secretary and relative. Howard shared a bed at the Tilney home with Katherine Tilney, and the two were visited a few times in their bedchamber by Dereham and Edward Malgrave, a cousin of Henry Manox, Howards former love. Howard and Dereham apparently did consummate their relationship, reportedly calling each other husband and wife and promising marriage- what to the church amounted to a contract of marriage. Manox heard gossip of the relationship and jealously reported it to Agnes Tilney. When Dereham saw the warning note, he guessed it had been written by Manox, which implies that Dereham knew of Howards relationship with him.  Tilney again struck her granddaughter for her behavior and sought to end the relationship. Howard was sent to court, and  Dereham went to Ireland. At Court Howard was to serve as a lady in waiting to Henry VIIIs newest (fourth) queen, Anne of Cleves, soon to arrive in England. This assignment was probably arranged by her uncle, Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk and one of Henrys advisors.  Anne of Cleves arrived in England in December 1539, and Henry may have first seen Howard at that event. At court, she caught the kings attention, as he was quite quickly unhappy in his new marriage. Henry started courting Howard, and by May was publicly giving her gifts. Anne complained of this attraction to the ambassador from her homeland. Marriage Henry had his marriage to Anne of Cleves annulled on July 9, 1540. He then married Catherine Howard on July 28, generously bestowing jewelry and other expensive gifts on his much-younger and attractive bride. On their wedding day, Thomas Cromwell, who had arranged the marriage of Henry to Anne of Cleves, was executed. Howard was publicly made queen on August 8. Early the next year, Howard began a flirtation- perhaps more- with one of Henrys favorites, Thomas Culpeper, who was also a distant relative on her mothers side and who had a reputation for lechery. Arranging their clandestine meetings was Howards lady of the privy chamber, Jane Boleyn, Lady Rochford, widow of George Boleyn who had been executed with his sister Anne Boleyn. Only Lady Rochford and Katherine Tilney were permitted into Howards rooms when Culpeper was present. Whether Culpeper and Howard were lovers or whether she was pressured by him but did not acquiesce to his sexual advances is unknown. Howard was even more reckless than to pursue that relationship; she brought her old lovers Manox and Dereham to court as well, as her musician and secretary. Dereham bragged about their relationship, and she may have made the appointments in an attempt to silence them about their past. Charges On November 2, 1541, Cranmer confronted Henry with the allegations about Howards indiscretions. Henry at first did not believe the allegations. Dereham and Culpeper confessed to their part in these relationships after being tortured, and Henry abandoned Howard. Cranmer zealously pursued the case against Howard. She was charged with unchastity before her marriage and with concealing her precontract and her indiscretions from the king before their marriage, thereby committing treason. She was also accused of adultery, which for a queen consort was also treason. A number of Howards relatives were also questioned about her past, and some were charged with treasonous acts for concealing her sexual past. These relatives were all pardoned, though some lost their property. On November 23, Howards title of queen was stripped from her. Culpeper and Dereham were executed on December 10 and their heads displayed on London Bridge. Death On January 21, 1542, Parliament passed a bill of attainder making Howards actions an executable offense. She was taken to the Tower of London on February 10, Henry signed the bill of attainder, and she was executed on the morning of February 13. Like her cousin Anne Boleyn, also beheaded for treason, Howard was buried without any marker in the chapel of St Peter ad Vincula. During Queen Victorias reign in the 19th century, both bodies were exhumed and identified, and their resting places were marked. Jane Boleyn, Lady Rochford, was also beheaded. She was  buried with Howard. Legacy Historians and scholars have struggled to reach a consensus about Howard, with some describing her as a deliberate troublemaker and others characterizing her as an innocent victim of King Henrys rages. Howard has been depicted in a variety of plays, films, and television series, including The Private Life of Henry VIII and The Tudors. Ford Madox Ford wrote a fictionalized version of her life in the novel The Fifth Queen. Sources Crawford, Anne.  Letters of the Queens of England, 1100-1547. Alan Sutton, 1994.Fraser, Antonia. The Wives of Henry VIII. 1993.Weir, Alison.  The Six Wives of Henry VIII. Grove Weidenfeld, 1991.

Marshall Berman; the Contradictions of Modernity Essay

Marshall Berman; the Contradictions of Modernity - Essay Example As the research declares in describing the modern human, Berman says â€Å"they are moved at once by a will to change – to transform both themselves and their world – and by a terror of disorientation and disintegration, of life falling apart†. Through this statement, it is easy to see the conflicting emotions of an individual undergoing change of any kind. Relating it to everyday life, an individual might strive to pursue a dream career by quitting their job and launching a business of their own, but at the same time be paralyzed by the fear of this new venture failing, or worse, succeeding. Either way, it represents a change in the way things have been. â€Å"To be modern is to live a life of paradox and contradiction. This paper stresses that in the capitalistic society, it is greatly argued that man has control of the market, the customer is always right and the consumer is the master by reason of making the choice to purchase or not purchase. Berman points out that often this is not really the case. Although we might have our choice of traveling by plane, train or automobile, sometimes that ‘choice’ boils down to just one option based on the availability of flights, trains or roads. Idealistically speaking, we have free choice in which doctors to see for various complaints, however, it is actually the insurance companies that dictate to whom we can go and how much can be charged based on the conditions listed.

Application of concept analysis to clinical practice Essay

Application of concept analysis to clinical practice - Essay Example The concept applied in clinical practice is confidentiality. It is an essential element in clinical practice because all aspects of participation of the patient and medical practitioner revolve around confidentiality and consent.The medical practitioner is responsible for ensuring that all medical records are kept in a confidential manner. The reliability of information and data is an important keystone to good medical practices. In most cases, patients are content with undergoing clinical tests as long as they can entrust confidential information and data to medical professionals. The distinguishing feature of clinical practice is that most of the information affects patients and their family members (Pinch, 2000). Therefore, the principles of data protection and confidentiality are crucial in the provision of services within the healthcare sector. This also gives the patient assurance that the clinical practitioner can reassure privacy. It is vital to note that this is not always a ssured in the clinical context where results of a clinical test may provide information about the patient and their family members. For instance in genetics, the results of a clinical test provides information about the patient and his family members. As the scope of clinical trials and practice increases, it is paramount for the clinical practitioner to ensure that information is managed in a proper manner. The management of clinical information may present challenges to healthcare professional and patients. Patients expect clinical professionals to access their medical information, and use their clinical experience and expertise to interpret the information and data in order to provide appropriate medical advice (Brown & Stobart, 2008). The information used in the clinical context may be private and personal. Intrusion into patient privacy is generally justified by the assumption that the patient has authorized access to the information (Pinch, 2000). The information obtained may generate inferences to other family members. The views of the other family members may be unknown. Additionally, they may disapprove access to such information. This means that the information is generated in confidential circumstances to one individual, but it is significant to other people. Clinical practice may want to use this data and information to help the patient and other people involved. However, clinical practice is unsure whether it is acceptable within the precincts of confidentiality and data protection. Method of Analysis In this case, the authors of the article examine confidentiality from a theoretical perspective. The article uses concept analysis and clinical based empirical investigations. A review of literature and clinical practices defines consequences, attributes, antecedents and empirical references (Pinch, 2000). The article relied on the themes from the definitions of confidentiality. These were provided by participants in various projects within the scope of genetics and HIV/AIDS. The method of analysis provides updated guidance on the issues of confidentiality and consent in clinical practice. The method focused on clinical professionals. The methods were resultant features of proposals that focused on the use of clinical tests, trials and results (Pinch, 2000). The method also recognized that the issue of confidentiality in clinical practice was becoming relevant. Most importantly, the article introduced the principles of confidentiality and consent in clinical practice. This was expanded using clinical cases and illustrations. Steps of the Process The steps for ensuring confidentiality in clinical practice are based on the code of standards of conduct, ethics and performance for midwives and nurses. According to such codes, clinical practice must respect the rights of people to confidentiality. Clinical professionals must also ensure that people are informed about clinical process (Pinch,

Critically iscuss how Best Practice HRM Can Contribute to Improved Essay

Critically iscuss how Best Practice HRM Can Contribute to Improved Organisational Performance - Essay Example Following this, the discussion examines the link between HRM and enhanced organizational performance. The paper examines the arguments and evidence that HRM policies and practices aid in promoting higher levels of organizational performance and studies whether the advanced arguments are convincing. The constantly evolving business environment coupled with the growing competition fuelled by globalization demands adoption of an effective human resource practice, which avails the organization a competitive edge. Human leverage is a significant contributory factor in attaining competitive edge through customer satisfaction and organization performance. Over the years, interest has been building in the notion of â€Å"best practice† human resource management (HRM). The overriding idea hinges on the notion that a certain bundle of HR practices bears the potential to contribute to enhanced employee attitudes and behaviour, ultimately decreasing the degree of absenteeism and workforce turnover. In the last two decades, a number of publications have explored the links between HRM and performance (Guest et al 2003, p. 294). Organization performance encompasses indicators such as financial performance and excellence and productivity, as well as outcomes in aspects such as competence, commitment, and flexibility. Enhanced organizational performance refers to enhanced employees attitudes and behaviours, minimized degree of absenteeism and labour turnover and enhanced degree of productivity, quality and customer service (Armstrong 2012, p.56). Ultimately, enhanced organizational performance has the capability of generating higher levels of profitability. Literature Review Human resource management (HRM) deals with the personnel policies and managerial practices and systems that control the workforce. HRM details a strategic and coherent approach of an organization’s most dear assets-the employees, who personally and collectively add to the attainment of the org anization’s set objectives. Human resource correlate with business performance, especially â€Å"best or high performance† HRM practices, whose goals is to enhance employees’ abilities and motivation (Sturm 2007, p.3). Nevertheless, the correlation tends to be relatively minute in statistical terms, besides the fact that literature does not agree on the reason why, on implementation, some human resource practices fail. This raises a critical question as to whether human resource systems bear the capability to create a competitive edge by themselves, or they must be continued or reinforced by with other variables. Performance in the context of the organization applies and is synonymous with productivity, efficiency, effectiveness, and competitiveness. HRM theorists have attempted to establish a causal link between HRM and performance. High performance human resource practices bear a positive effect on organizational learning, which impacts positively on organizat ional performance. Nevertheless, it has been complicated to institute a direct linkage of human resource practices on business performance (Lopez, Peon and Ordas 2005, p.147). As a result, there has been growing interest in studies examining the potential contribution of effective human resource policy in aiding enhancement of organizational performance. This has made the impact of human resource management on performance an essential research issue in the field of HRM. Similarly, there has been a continual search

A letter to the editor in the Wall Street Journal Essay - 6

A letter to the editor in the Wall Street Journal - Essay Example ts ahead of credit cards, I would like to bring to your attention my support and satisfaction towards the article and the author because I felt that it highlighted the reasons for that payment trend and was straight to the point. The payment of Mortgages before the credit card has been the normal way and has been in effect for a very long period of time, this is exactly what lenders expect from consumers. New information from TransUnion, which is a firm that deals with reporting credit related information, supports this stand that normal payment methods were back to effect at the end of the year 2013 due to a rise experienced in home values. The main findings from the research carried out shows strong links between the value of homes and payment behaviors. Further supporting this case is the findings that were published from all the fifty states in the United States which clearly point out that a decline in home values together with high unemployment rates saw borrowers skip mortgage payments but still make payments on their credit cards. There is an example of Nevada, between the years 2006-2009, where the value of houses went down by 57%. Borrowers were seen to skip making mortgage payments while staying true to credit card payments. It’s clear that people would be more willing to default on mortgage payments because foreclosure is not really an immediate problem. it involves a long process which takes months if not years. Credit card payments on the other hand would be hard to miss, by doing so the reaction would be immediate. Banks should therefore continue to ease standards on mortgages to the payments of mortgages ahead of credit

Consumer Segmentation Process Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Consumer Segmentation Process - Case Study Example It has changed the nature of health care. The marketing technique used by this brand can be called as customized branding. It is a process to accommodate the brand according to the needs of to specific individuals for particular purposes. The market Segmentation plays important role during this process. For instance in the case of NHF 'Tick' products it helps to understand and identify a particular group of customers for defining the needs of customers and also for evolving guidelines to find the required product. The segmentation process also used instrumentally for developing and communicating the customized brand proposal. Market segmentation is the method of separating the market segments into specific categories. Different groups of consumers need different types of products. They should be accessed by using specific strategies. By using target marketing method developing sales and evolving marketing strategies. Product positioning is used by companies to offer specific products to specific group of people. Purpose of market segmentation can be achieved with the help of various methodologies. The main segmentation variables for consumer markets depend upon geography, demography, psychology and behavior of consumers. These variables are used in conjunction with market requirements. Marketing experts think that they are in a better position to know market segments where requirements of consumers are not fully met. Managers should use different segmentation variables in association to target markets precisely. Geographic Variable The geographical association of consumers plays an important role in market segmentation process. Research reports show that preferences of vary from village dwellers to city inhabitants. There is quite noticeable difference in the purchasing power of these categories of the consumers. Moreover these preference vary from developing regions to developed regions. As far as Australia is concerned the consumer preferences are quite different in city centers as compared to rural consumers. It would be interesting to know that major city dwellers are more prone to heart diseases because of their busy lives and also because of fast food culture. Whereas in rural areas, people are involved in physical activities on greater scale. So there is less chance of heart diseases. Consequently they would pay less attention to NHF recommended products. So it can be concluded that companies would have to target specific regions. (Michman, 1991, p. 27) Demographic Variable Analyses of polls and survey results show that age play an important role in market segmentation process with special reference to NHF recommended products. Heart diseases and other similar symptoms are likely to develop in people of high age group. So it would be appropriate to target the groups of older age people who may feel interest in 'Tick' products. The age factor is also associated with geographic variables as well. Companies can target those thickly populated areas where aged people are dwelling higher proportion who are more prone to heart and high cholesterol related diseases. Consumers can be further

A letter to the editor in the Wall Street Journal Essay - 6

A letter to the editor in the Wall Street Journal - Essay Example ts ahead of credit cards, I would like to bring to your attention my support and satisfaction towards the article and the author because I felt that it highlighted the reasons for that payment trend and was straight to the point. The payment of Mortgages before the credit card has been the normal way and has been in effect for a very long period of time, this is exactly what lenders expect from consumers. New information from TransUnion, which is a firm that deals with reporting credit related information, supports this stand that normal payment methods were back to effect at the end of the year 2013 due to a rise experienced in home values. The main findings from the research carried out shows strong links between the value of homes and payment behaviors. Further supporting this case is the findings that were published from all the fifty states in the United States which clearly point out that a decline in home values together with high unemployment rates saw borrowers skip mortgage payments but still make payments on their credit cards. There is an example of Nevada, between the years 2006-2009, where the value of houses went down by 57%. Borrowers were seen to skip making mortgage payments while staying true to credit card payments. It’s clear that people would be more willing to default on mortgage payments because foreclosure is not really an immediate problem. it involves a long process which takes months if not years. Credit card payments on the other hand would be hard to miss, by doing so the reaction would be immediate. Banks should therefore continue to ease standards on mortgages to the payments of mortgages ahead of credit

EU Telecommunications Policy Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

EU Telecommunications Policy - Case Study Example Consequently, the sphere of telecommunications was regarded to be the natural monopoly of the state while administrations and enterprises that provided communication services traditionally belonged to the public sector. The only exceptions were Spain and Italy, where mixed public-private or fully private companies offered telecommunications services (Noam 1992). However, public monopoly over the telecommunications sector started to dissolve gradually from the early 1980s on. During only one decade from 1980 to the early 1990s, the majority of telecommunication monopolies in the countries of continental Europe transformed (though not fully) into competitive markets. This process was paralleled by the transformation of bodies and enterprises formerly controlled almost exclusively by governments into private organizations (Schneider 2000). Although the transformation had multiple causalities that involved a broad range of technical, social, political and other contributing factors, the key driving force highlighted by the researchers was the drive for liberalization and privatization that became the central tendency in Europe in the late 1980s (Noame 1992). A series of decisions and directives issued by the European Commission and the Council of Ministers called for transformation of the European market in general and telecommunications sector in particular in terms of market regulations, standardization, and procurement rules. These decisions and directives have "ultimately directed toward a near-total liberalization of all kinds of telecommunications networks and services within the European Union (EU) in the year 1998" (Schneider 2000, p.61) and laid the foundation for the current strategy applied by the EU members to regulate the telecommunications sector. The EU Telecommunications Policy: Origins and Current Situation The beginning of serious structural reforms in the telecommunications sector of the European Union can be traced back to the late 1970s with the current telecommunications policy being the result of gradual evolution those days until now. These three decades can be divided into several stages characterized by specific contents, developments and implementation patterns. 1977-1986: Early Reforms The need to address the issues related to the telecommunications sector in the European Community was first highlighted in 1977, but it was not until 1980 that the European Council received a proposal clearly with clear statement of such need. However, the amount of telecom issues raised by the document was rather limited: the essence of the proposal was harmonization of the development of new services while monopoly of the state and other essential problems remained unnoticed (Alabau 2006). As a result, the action plan that ensued from the proposal was largely industrial in its nature (envisaged only opening up the handset market) and did nothing to reduce the huge influence of state monopolies in the telecommunications sector. 1987-1998: Emergence of the First Telecommunications Regulations The Single European Act of 1986 enabled the Commission to exercise more control

Managing Cost of Quality Essay Example for Free

Managing Cost of Quality Essay Article Reference: Schiffauerova, A. and Thomson, V., â€Å"Managing cost of quality: Insight into industry practice†, The TQM Magazine, 2006 Abstract This paper reports on the study of the quality costing practices at four large successful multinational companies. All four companies use systematic quality initiatives; however, a formal cost of quality (CoQ) methodology was only employed at one of them. This is in agreement with the literature findings arguing that a CoQ approach is not utilized in most quality management programs. The article discusses and compares the quality programs of all four companies and explains the benefits of the eventual adoption of a CoQ approach in each case. The analysis provides a new insight into company practice, useful not only for academic research, but also for use by industry. Keywords: Cost of quality, CoQ, quality costing, industrial practice Introduction Improving quality is considered by many to be the best way to enhance customer satisfaction, to reduce manufacturing costs and to increase productivity. Any serious attempt to improve quality must take into account the costs associated with achieving quality, since nowadays it does not suffice to meet customer requirements, it must be done at the lowest possible cost as well. This can only happen by reducing the costs needed to achieve quality, and the reduction of these costs is only possible if they are identified and measured. The identification itself is not straightforward because there is no general agreement on a single broad definition of quality costs. However, according to Dale and Plunkett (1995), it is now widely accepted that quality costs are the costs incurred in the design, implementation, operation and maintenance of a quality management system, the cost of resources committed to continuous improvement, the costs of system, product and service failures, and all other necessary costs and non-value added activities required to achieve a quality product or service. Measuring and reporting these costs should be considered a critical issue for any manager who aims to achieve competitiveness in today’s markets. There are several methods that can be used to collect, categorize and measure quality costs. The traditional P-A-F method suggested by Juran (1951) and Feigenbaum (1956) classifies quality costs into prevention, appraisal and failure costs. Prevention costs are associated with actions taken to ensure that a process provides quality products and services, appraisal costs are associated with measuring the level of quality attained by the process, and failure costs are incurred to correct quality in products and services before (internal) or after (external) delivery to the customer. The cost categories of Crosby’s model (Crosby, 1979) are similar to the P-A-F scheme. Crosby sees quality as â€Å"conformance to requirements†, and therefore, defines the cost of quality as the sum of price of conformance and price of noncon formance (Crosby, 1979). The price of conformance is the cost involved in making certain that things are done right the first time and the price of non-conformance is the money wasted when work fails to conform to customer requirements. Another formal quality costing approach is the process cost model, which was developed by Ross (1977) and first used for quality costing by Marsh (1989); it represents quality cost systems that focus on process rather than products or services. Several references propose CoQ models that include the additional category of intangible costs. These are costs that can be only estimated such as profits not earned because of lost customers and reduction in revenue owing to non-conformance. The importance of opportunity and intangible costs for quality costing has been recently emphasized in the literature. Dale and Plunkett (1999) describe a less formal method based on collecting quality costs by department. Another recently proposed CoQ methodology is a method based on a team appro ach, in which the aim is to identify the costs associated with things that have gone wrong in a process (Robison, 1997). No matter which quality costing approach is used, the main idea behind the CoQ analysis is the linking of improvement activities with associated costs and customer expectations, thus allowing targeted action for reducing quality costs and increasing quality improvement benefits. Therefore, a realistic estimate of CoQ, which is the appropriate tradeoff between the levels of conformance and non-conformance costs, should be considered an essential element of any quality initiative and a crucial issue for any manager. A number of organizations are now seeking both theoretical advice and practical evidence about quality related costs and the implementation of quality costing systems. A reasonable amount of detailed information on various methods of categorization, collection and measurement of quality costs can be found in the literature (Plunkett and Dale, 1987; Williams et al., 1999; Schiffauerova and Thomson, 2004). However, there are only a few published, practical examples from indus try that give specifics about the costs that are included or excluded in quality costing and about how the costs are practically collected and measured. More detailed descriptions of CoQ systems from industry can be found in Whitehall (1986), Hesford and Dale (1991) and Purgslove and Dale (1996). This paper intends to contribute to this area by providing an analysis of the quality costing practices of four successful companies. Research Intent and Methodology The objective of this research was to obtain and analyze data concerning the practices of successful companies in the area of quality management. Specifically, the main interest was to investigate if these companies collect, measure and monitor quality costs, which kinds of costs were considered in the calculations, and whether any formal CoQ approach was used. The analysis provided a new insight into company practice, useful not only for academic research, but also for use by industry. Four companies were selected to participate in the research. The main objective of the selection was to identify the organizations with well established quality programs belonging to the different industrial sectors. Companies serving the same market could have been reluctant to share details concerning their quality practices with competition. This paper keeps the company names confidential and refers to them as Company A, B, C and D. A benchmarking session took place at McGill University. The quality management programs running at the four companies were described by company representatives. The organizations utilized this occasion as an occasion to obtain new information on the practices used at other companies and to mutually compare their experiences, efforts and successes. Summary of the Benchmarking Session This section summarizes the initiatives in the field of CoQ for the four participants. A comparative analysis of their quality strategies and final remarks follow. Company A Company A is a telecommunication company. It has very complex products, and therefore, the number of opportunities for defects per unit is very high (45,000 defect opportunities per assembly). However, Company A’s customers expect zero defects. Quality initiatives therefore play an important role in the company’s product management. Company A’s model for cost of quality measurement and calculation follow the P-A-F model, where CoQ = (P + A + F (internal + external) + other costs)/cost of goods sold. Company A is well aware of formal cost of quality methods and it has clearly determined its CoQ definitions. It knows exactly what are its conformance and non-conformance costs; however, it struggles to find out the shape of its CoQ curves, and hence, an optimum CoQ tactic. The search for an optimum CoQ is difficult because the business cycle changes often (every 2 years or less); product lines are released in phases, and component obsolescence and multiple engineering changes are quite common. Every change causes a new search for an optimum CoQ; moreover, different product lines require separate review, and variable volumes reduce optimization opportunities. Company A uses an activity based management approach, which means that it uses activity-based costing (ABC) to determine cost categories. It maps financial categories into activity costs, and activities performed at cost centers are rolled up to aggregate quality costs and percentages. In this way, the company obtains exact information about every category: prevention costs, appraisal costs, as well as internal and external failure costs. An example of activity costs is given in Table I, and the resulting CoQ chart is shown in Figure 1. Table I: Example of activity costs in Company A Activity primary OPD Change Management Internal Quality Issues External Quality Issues DFX, NPI support Proto Support PLC Deliverables Mfg Tools Quality Reporting Other Cost of quality category Failure Internal Prevention Failure Internal Failure External Prevention Prevention Appraisal Prevention Appraisal Cost of Business Totals Activity % 8% 12% 17% 9% 4% 6% 22% 6% 10% 6% 100% Cost categories Salaries Depreciation Suppliers Others Company A uses other metrics for performance comparisons, such as ‘new versus mature product’ or ’part number based CoQ ratio’. CoQ is measured at individual test stages, which allows trend analysis and comparison using mature product as the benchmark for new product. Figure 2 shows the decreasing trend of CoQ for manufacturing operations. The graph shows a decrease for all CoQ components; however, it is failure costs which show the biggest reduction, about 40 % over 18 months. The breakdown of CoQ and its cost values are measured quarterly. % Figure 2: CoQ in manufacturing operations for Company A shown on a relative cost scale. Company A has been using their CoQ methodology successfully. The company declares savings in quality costs, has quality improvement in every part of their process, and achieves very aggressive improvement targets. Moreover, the end customer directly benefits from the inhouse quality initiative. As a result, customer satisfaction is increasing. Company B Company B is a multinational microelectronics company, which dedicates a lot of effort to quality improvement. Their far-reaching and successful quality improvement program is the main axis of their quality initiatives. The program includes continuous improvement focused on process as well as extensive education and training on quality for all employees. Despite the fact that there is a great interest in reducing non-conformance cost, Company B does not measure, report or chart CoQ. It does not use any formal CoQ model and does not try to optimize cost of quality. Nevertheless, it does reduce cost due to poor quality through its continuous improvement activities. The company has a strong operations and process focus, where emphasis is put on process yield and cycle time improvement. It believes that a continuous quality improvement program focused on process will provide the opportunities for quality improvement and thus reduction in cost of quality. Company C Company C is in the aerospace industry and emphasizes products with near zero defects. Company C describes its cost of poor quality model as an iceberg philosophy, where just a few categories for poor quality cost are measured and monitored. This is, however, just the tip of the iceberg, since most of the cost factors leading to poor quality are non-visible or completely hidden (and non-quantifiable). Company C has implemented a process that allows tracking of all non-quality events and associated root causes as well as corrective actions and lessons learned. It puts full attention into measuring the cost of poor quality. It has 4 main quality ratings, which measure nonconformities (scrap, rework, etc.), poor adherence to specifications (internal, external, customers’, suppliers’), number of defective parts in parts per million, and on-time delivery. Their cost of non-quality is systematically reduced through a corporate-wide initiative based on continuous improvement. It also uses a sophisticated IT system for tracking quality. Although Company C has had success in improving the value of non-conforming quality costs, it does not use any CoQ model, and it does not include the cost of quality among its calculation elements. Company D Company D is a manufacturer of home products. It has set its quality level at a fixed warranty rate, and it attempts to optimize its quality effort to achieve this target. At the time of the benchmarking session, the company did not measure CoQ; however, it was planning to do so and was building a CoQ model. The envisioned CoQ program was based on a P-A-F model. The strategy of Company D was to directly attack failure costs in an attempt to drive them down, to invest in the right prevention activities to bring about improvements, to reduce appraisal costs according to achieved results, and to continuously evaluate and redirect prevention efforts to gain further improvements. Discussion Table II shows a comparison of the quality initiatives and CoQ effort carried out by the four companies. The following discussion is focused on the relation between the quality strategies and the industrial sectors, on the kinds of CoQ models used, on the satisfaction with company efforts, the results stemming from the quality costing programs, and the recommendations by the authors of this paper. Table II: Comparison of quality initiatives of four companies Company A B C D COC CONC P-A-F ABC Quality costs CONC + COC CONC CONC CONC Formal CoQ model P-A-F + ABC none none none Quality efforts intensive intensive intensive moderate Program satisfaction high high high moderate cost of conformance cost of non-conformance traditional model including: prevention + appraisal + failure costs activity-based costing Quality Strategies The business environment, which is the industry sector and product line, dictates the strategy adopted by the companies to assure achievement of the required level of quality. Companies A, B and C all work in high-tech industries that require very high levels of quality, and therefore, they all have quite elaborate quality and productivity improvement systems with the objective to achieve zero or near zero defects. Company D, which serves home product markets, uses a fixed rate of return through its warranty policy as its quality limit. The company, however, does have a continuous improvement program. Quality Costs Table II suggests that Company A is the only one that in fact measures both kinds of quality costs, conformance and non-conformance. This allows the company to search for the right balance between the amount spent on quality and the resulting benefits. Companies B and C both regard reducing non-conformance cost as a high priority, and therefore, they exert substantial efforts in measuring and monitoring failures and other nonconformances. At the same time, they use elaborate, systematic quality improvement programs in order to reach a zero defect quality level. The direction of these initiatives is consistent with the industry quality environment, which tolerates absolutely no defect, no matter what the cost is. Conformance costs are consequently given much less attention in the quality management programs and measuring them together with the cost of non-conformance is therefore disregarded. The situation for Company D is however quite different. Even though the company also does not measure conformance costs, the nature of its own quality strategy suggests that it would benefit greatly if it started doing so. Identification and measurement of both kinds of the quality costs would certainly improve the quality policy that Company D follows. The policy has a determined rate of return as its quality limit. Being able to find an appropriate trade-off between conformance and non-conformance costs would help Company D determine an optimal level of effort towards achieving quality. Formal CoQ Methods Literature (for example, Porter and Rayner, 1992; Schiffauerova and Thomson, 2004) suggests that, if quality costs are measured by companies, then the classical P-A-F model is the one most frequently used in practice. Even within the limited sample of four companies, P-A-F was the only model encountered. Company A is currently calculating its quality costs according to the tradit ional categorization of prevention, appraisal and failure costs. Moreover, Company D claims that it is planning to utilize this model in the near future as well. The results of this research therefore confirm other researchers’ findings on the frequency of the use of the P-A-F method in industry. Focus by companies on the classical P-A-F methodology is not surprising; however, there are several other alternatives available for monitoring CoQ. Other quality costing methods, such as Crosby’s model or process cost model, are being used with success (Schiffauerova and Thomson, 2004). Every company has to choose an appropriate CoQ method that suits its needs and its situation best. For a detailed checklist of the issues to be considered when deciding on a CoQ approach, see Dale and Plunkett (1995) Activity-based costing (ABC) is considered to be more compatible with quality cost measurement systems than traditional accounting. Although most CoQ measurement methods are activity/process oriented, traditional cost accounting establishes cost accounts by the categories of expenses instead of activities. Thus, many CoQ elements need to be estimated or collected by other methods. There is no consensus method on how to allocate overheads to CoQ elements and no adequate method to trace quality costs to their sources (Tsai, 1998). The use of ABC for a CoQ calculation is therefore an appealing alternative, and Company A is benefiting from this powerful combination. The employment of a CoQ approach together with ABC enables Company A to obtain exact information about every CoQ category: prevention costs, appraisal costs as well as internal and external failure costs. Companies B and C do not utilize any formal quality costing system. This is in agreement with the common suggestion that the CoQ approach is not fully appreciated by organizations and the practical use of formal quality costing in industry is quite rare. Satisfaction with Quality Efforts The quality initiatives of companies A, B, and C are very elaborate and the amount of effort is intensive. Whether they use a formal CoQ method or they solely aim at a reduction in the cost of poor quality, the companies obtain excellent results from their quality programs. All three companies mentioned a high satisfaction with their quality efforts during the benchmarking session. Judging by the success of Company A with its CoQ program, we suggest that companies B and C would benefit from measuring CoQ, and that they would be surprised if they knew their real quality costs. These companies should select an appropriate CoQ model that suits the company’s situation and implement the quality costing methodology in order to improve the efficiency of their quality initiatives. Monitoring quality costs would allow them to better identify target areas for cost reduction and quality improvement. Moreover, sufficient savings should occur to justify CoQ measurement expenses. Company D has a continuous improvement program that brings it moderate results and is already looking to improve it by implementing a CoQ strategy. As mentioned above, the implementation of a suitable CoQ method would secure reduced costs and improved quality benefits for Company D. Summary Even though quality is nowadays considered to be a critical success factor for achieving competitiveness, the CoQ approach is not fully appreciated by organizations, and only a minority of them use formal quality costing methods. The four companies that participated in the benchmarking session with McGill University on cost of quality have systematic quality initiatives, and have been successful in improving quality and reducing the cost of nonconformance. However, the only company that measures cost of quality and uses a formalized CoQ model is Company A. Company D is at the point of starting to use this quality measur ement tool as well; however, it is at the beginning of this path. On the other hand, Company B and Company C focus their quality efforts solely on continuous quality improvement. They measure, monitor and work mostly with the cost of non-conformance, and do not formally include cost of conformance in their analysis. It was recommended that companies B, C and D set up a suitable formal quality costing system compatible with the needs and the situation of each company. For companies B and C this program will mainly facilitate identification of the target areas for quality improvement and cost reduction in quality effort. For Company D it would also help balance its quality costs and establish an optimal level of effort towards achieving quality. CoQ programs should be part of any quality management program. The methodology is not complex and is well documented. CoQ programs provide a good method for identification and measurement of quality costs, and thus allow targeted action for reducing CoQ. Further education on the practical level is needed for managers to understand better the CoQ concept in order to appreciate fully the benefits of the approach, to increase their ability to implement a CoQ measurement system and to save money. References Crosby, P.B. (1979), Quality is Free, New York: McGraw-Hill Dale, B.G. and Plunkett, J.J. (1995), Quality Costing, 2nd edition, Chapman and Hall, London Dale, B.G. and Plunkett, J.J. (1999), Quality Costing,3rd edition, Gower Press, Aldershot Feigenbaum, A.V. (1956), â€Å"Total quality control†, Harvard Business Review, Vol.34, Hesford, M.G. and Dale, B.G. (1991), â€Å"Quality costing at British Aerospace Dynamics†, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Vol.205 (G5), p.53 Juran, J.M. (1951), Quality Control Handbook, 1st edition, McGraw-Hill, New York Marsh, J. (1989), â€Å"Process modeling for quality improvement†, Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Total Quality Management, p.111 Plunkett, J.J. and Dale, B.G. (1987), â€Å"A review of the literature on quality-related costs†, International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, Vol.4, No.1, p.40 Porter, L.J. and Rayner, P. (1992), â€Å"Quality costing for total quality management†, International Journal of Production Economics, Vol. 27, p.69 Purgslove, A.B. and Dale, B.G. (1996), â€Å"The influence of management information and quality management systems on the development of quality costing†, Total Quality Management, Vol.7, No.4, p.421 Robison, J. (1997), â€Å"Integrate quality cost concepts into team problem-solving efforts†, Quality Progress, March, p. 25 Ross, D.T. (1977), â€Å"Structured analysis (SA): A language for communicating ideas†, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, Vol.SE-3, No.1, p.16 Schiffauerova, A. and Thomson, V. (2006), â€Å"A review of research on cost of quality models and best practices†, International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, Vol.23, No.4 Tsai, W.H. (1998), â€Å"Quality cost measurement under activity-based costing†, International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, Vol.15, No.6, p.719 Whitehall, F.B. (1986), â€Å"Review of problems with a quality cost system†, International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, Vol.3, No.3, p.43 Williams, A.R.T., van der Wiele, A. and Dale, B.G. (1999), â€Å"Quality costing: a management review†, International Journal of Management Reviews, Vol.1, No.4, p.441

The 10 Most Sacred Places in the World

The 10 Most Sacred Places in the World 10 Most Sacred Places in the World Faith is the driving power for billions of people around the world. Regardless of the religion or faith you belong to, there are sacred places for every kind of people throughout the world. After going through many of such places and locations around the world, we have come up with what we think are top 10 in our mind regardless of the order. Below is a list these sacred places: 1-Masjid Al Haram-The Kaaba, Makkah, Saudi Arabia Masjid Al Haram is considered the most sacred place for Muslims. This place holds a significant value in the history of Islam and is the birth place and home to the last prophet and the most important and influential figure in Islam, the beloved Muhammad (PBUH). This place is significant for other reasons too, like Hajj- the biggest annual gathering of over 16 million Muslims from all over the world conducted to show unity and love to the one and only God- ALLAH. This place is surrounded by mountains and the ambiance and the atmosphere here exudes peace and tranquility. Praying-in and visiting this place really reinvigorates faith in your mind and soul and the feeling you get here is nothing you would have ever experienced in your entire life. Visit: http://www.beautifulmosque.com/Masjid-al-Haram-Night-View-Saudi-Arabia 2-Cenote Sagrado, Mexico Cenote is basically an underground water reservoir, and the Mayan people considered these to be very important for the sustenance of life, essentially due to water. Cenote Sagrado is one such cenote which is considered to be a sacred place for these people. This cenote is created from natural limestone, and is located in the Yucatan Peninsula. It is believed that unlike normal cenotes that provided people with daily life necessities like drinking and bathing, this cenote was used for ceremonies and special purposes like sacrificing children and women in the times of drought to please Chac, who was believed to be the God of Rain by the Mayans. The place is so beautiful and peaceful that you’d want to stay there forever. Visit: http://travel.prwave.ro/the-cenote-at-chichen-itza/ 3-Shwedagon Pagoda, Myanmar Shwedagon Pagoda is named by many travelers and tourists as the sacred place to visit. This beautiful monument of Gold is located some 100 yards over Rangoon, the largest and the former capital city of Burma. This location especially comes to life at the evening and night times and is famous in Buddhist people due to it being home to Buddha’s remnants. http://www.ursulasweeklywanders.com/culture/the-heart-of-myanmar-shwedagon-pagoda-yangon/ 4-Crater Lake, Oregon This is a beautiful fresh water lake that is located in the central region of South Oregon. It is a crater that has been considered sacred by the local Klamath tribe for centuries and is believed to have come into existence as result of an explosion in Mount Mazama some 8000 years ago. The place is covered with lush green plantation and the beautiful lake water reflects the sky to turn into a deep blue color. The result is a stunning scenery, a wonder that eyes just cannot let go of, the serenity and peacefulness of the location just captivates your imagination like few other places can. Visit: http://nexttriptourism.com/crater-lake-tourism-in-oregon/ 5-Hagia Sophia, Turkey Hagia Sophia can be considered as one of the most visited sacred places by tourists on Earth. This sacred place, unlike the rest is an architectural marvel, and reflects one of the finest pieces of craftsmanship you would ever encounter in your life. The most unique and differentiating fact about this place is that although it is a sacred place for Muslims in particular, but it attracts tourists from all over the world regardless of their beliefs and religions. Visit: http://nexttriptourism.com/hagia-sophia-is-a-unique-turkey/ 6-Ghats of Varanasi, India Ghat can be understood as a riverside place or the place on the river banks where one can sit or change before entering into the river. Varanasi is a sacred city of India and the several Ghats present on riverside in this famous city provides for hundreds and thousands of believers with bathing opportunities, the place to meditate or even an opportunity to say the final ceremony of their loved ones. The setting sun on this beautiful river is also a sight which will leave you speechless and in complete awe. Visit: http://www.hindugodwallpaper.com/wallpaper-59-101.html 7-Spanish Synagogue, Czech Republic If you are a Jew and happen to live in Europe, then you cannot miss to visit this sacred place. This is probably one of the most beautiful Synagogues in the Entire Europe, or better yet in the entire world. Located in the beautiful city of Prague, this synagogue is loaded with Fascinating ancient drawings, designs and beautiful architecture that overwhelms you with its presence, and the calm and quite atmosphere revives the faith from within. Visit: http://jbuff.com/shul%20prague%20spanish_synagogue.htm 8-Mount Kailash, Tibet This is probably the most beautifully dangerous sacred destination on our list. Mount Kailash is of immense importance for more than one religion, it is considered a holy place in religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and the religion of Bon. Annual trip to this wonderful and sacred mountain is made by many thousands who believe in its sacredness, but the road to the location is a very tricky one and you might need some assistance if you’re visiting for the first time. Visit:http://www.mountainsoftravelphotos.com/Kailash/Inner%20Kora/slides/33%20Nandi%20From%20Above%20Nandi%20Pass%20On%20Mount%20Kailash%20Inner%20Kora%20Nandi%20Parikrama.html 9-Vatican  City Set foot in the world’s only carbon neutral state, the Vatican City is as beautiful as it is sacred. It is home to the Pope and presents some of the most beautiful and the scarcest pieces of art and backdrops you can find in Rome. The city is absolutely full of lush green gardens and the atmosphere of the city just brings about the surge of emotions that are hard to feel in other cities of the world. Visit: http://www.airpano.com/360Degree-VirtualTour.php?3D=Vatican 10-Jerusalem Jerusalem is probably one of the oldest sacred places to have existed on this planet. Bearing its significance in some of the biggest religions in the world, it is a sacred and holy place for Muslims, Jews and Christians since thousands of years. Many battles have been fought amongst Christians, Jews and Muslims in the history over this great city and it still to this day is the most important city for Muslims after Makkah and Madinah. The mere history and the culture that this holy land presents is enough to attract millions from all over the Globe annually. Visit: http://sharingjerusalem.org/

Baja Taco :: essays research papers

â€Å"Baja Fresh & Taco Bell† In today’s increasingly competitive marketplace businesses must be very creative in their marketing strategies in order to attract as much business possible. Companies spend a tremendous amount of their budget on advertising, soliciting, marketing and selling their products and / or services. Businesses that aren’t creative don’t appear to succeed as much as those that produce good marketing campaigns. Fast food restaurants are one of the most recognized businesses. It appears that at just about every major intersection you’ll find some sort of fast food establishment. Which one do you select? Why did you select it? Is their food good? Was it because you found their marketing approach â€Å"funny†? Are your funds limited? There are multitudes of reasons why consumers solicit a particular business. I analyzed two fast food restaurants; one is an established major fast food provider, Taco Bell, the other restaurant is also a fast food provider, however, relatively new in the industry, Baja Fresh. Taco Bell has literally become a household product throughout much America. The marketing campaign Taco Bell initiate states that half of the American population sees a Taco Bell commercial at least once a week. Their most recent marketing slogan is a talking Chihuahua that speaks Spanish. One of his more well known punch lines is â€Å"Yo quiero Taco Bell!† Taco Bell restaurants serve Mexican fast food. They are the largest Mexican fast food restaurant chain in America. Taco Bell does not consider itself to be fast food, they consider themselves to be quick-serve Mexican style restaurants. Taco Bell focuses a great amount of their marketing strategies towards the younger age group. They are usually marketing their products around â€Å"blockbuster† movies or popular action figures, and will usually offer some sort of marketing token with many of their meals. The food at Taco Bell is priced relatively inexpensive; however, the quality is typical of a fast food restaurant; you get what you pay for. Taco Bell is constantly producing new food items in order to attract more customers. Competition is strong and dynamic in most markets. So it is essential for a firm to keep developing new products-as well as modifying its current products-to meet changing customers needs and competitors’ actions (Perreault, 281). Taco Bell continually is experimenting with new food product lines. Taco Bell is a part of the Tricon Global Restaurants Group; one of the largest restaurant chains in the world.

Delay Planning Essay

Assignment 1 Part 1 1.Outline four areas within the above clause that could be identified as being unbalanced and give reasons why. I.The contractor gives the Superintendent, within 5 business days of when the Contractor should reasonably have become aware of that causation occurring, a written claim for an EOT evidencing the facts of causation and of the delay to WUC and any (Milestones). The reason for this being unbalanced is that 5 business days is too short of a time frame for the contractor to both collate all the relevant documents from certain people or organisations and then to write a formal claim also takes time especially if legal parties are involved. II.A comparison of the planned and as-executed critical path at the time when the delay occurred It is too difficult and unrealistic for the contractor to impact a delay into the construction programme without knowing the extent of the delay for example if a long lead item is delayed the contractor will have no idea on when the procurement item is due to arrive, the extent of the duration could affect the critical path in different ways III.If the contractor fails to give such a notice within the period required by this clause, the contractor shall have no claim arising out or in connection with any other delay. This is very extreme and is a link to the time frame of 5 days being a short term to provide evidence sometimes it is very hard and time consuming for the contactor to provide evidence even if the delays is actually present. IV.Or Subsequent delays from the original delay which should have been so notified. Each delay should be assessed on its own merit against the programme. 2.Rewrite the clause or those areas that you believe are unbalanced or unfair so that clause could be seen as evenly balanced towards all parties. Please refer to the relevant clause number above. I.The contractor gives the Superintendent, within 28 business days of when the Contractor should reasonably have become aware of that causation occurring, a written claim for an EOT evidencing the facts of causation and of the delay to WUC and any (Milestones). II.A comparison of the planned and as-executed critical path at the time when the delay seizes III.If the contractor fails to give notice within the period required by this clause, the contractor shall not be entitled to any claim until such information is provided. IV.Any subsequent delay from the original delay shall also require evidence prior to any EOT granted. Part 2 Provide a written explanation identifying how you as the contractor can ensure that they do not default on the contract addressing each point from A to E. Provide no more than half a page on each point.

Free Will Essay

Vilayandur S. Ramachandran came from a distinguished family in Tamil Nadu, India, and was neuroscientist, which is a field of study encompassing the various scientific disciplines dealing with the nervous system. Ramachandran’s views on the brain and how it works are discussed in his work â€Å"The New Philosophy†. In his essay he discusses the nature of consciousness, discussing the effects of certain mental states and their influence on the body and the brain. One of his main topics, however, is the Ramachandran’s view of free will. He suggest that â€Å"†¦ neuroscience intersects with philosophy because the question of free will has been a philosophical problem for hundreds of years and more† (Jacobus 569). He discusses the significance of the brain imaging that shows a â€Å"readiness potential† and what it really means to have a free will. Through his essay, though, it is interesting to point out where religion and Christianity stands on the issue of free will and whether Christians are puppets under God’s command. Ramachandran poses this question about free will: â€Å"Is your brain the real one in charge, making your free will only a post-hoc rationalization; a delusion..? † When a special experiment was underway, it was discovered that when a person was told to move their finger within the next ten minutes at their own free will, their brain would kick in almost a second before the actual willingness to move the finger. This posed the original question stated above and brought on other questions as well. If this person is now shown the screen displaying the signal from the EEG scanner hooked up to your brain, they can then see their free will. They will then have three options: 1) They will experience a sudden lack of will, feeling as though the machine is controlling them, making them feel like a puppet. 2) They will refuse to have their belief of their free will to be altered but instead believe that the machine has some â€Å"paranormal precognition by which it is able to predict your movements accurately† (Ramachandran 559-60). 3) The person will reconfigure the experience in their mind, and cling to their sense of freedom, denying what their eyes have seen as evidence and maintain that â€Å"the sensation of will precedes the machine’s signal, not vice versa† (Ramachandran 560). The point when the brain would â€Å"kick in† before the movement is called the â€Å"readiness potential†. The â€Å"readiness potential† is what happens when there is a change in the electrical activity of the brain that occurs before the subject’s conscious decision to move a muscle (medical-dictionary. thefreedictionary. com). Ramachandran believes that â€Å"†¦ there is an inevitable neural delay before the signal arising in one part of the brain makes its way through the rest of the brain to deliver the message†¦ natural selection has ensured that the subjective sensation of willing to delay deliberately to coincide not with the onset of the brain commands but with the actual execution of the command by your finger† (Ramachandran 560). Ramachandran is a firm believer in evolution, believing that the events must have some sort of evolutionary purpose. â€Å"On one hand,† he says, â€Å"this experiment shows that free will is false and cannot be causing the brain events because the events kick in a second earlier. But on the other hand, the pause must have some purpose, otherwise why would the delay have evolved† (Ramachandran 560). Though these events have a purpose, evolutionary is not the answer. In Joshua 24:15 it says â€Å"Choose for yourselves this day who you will serve, as for me and my household we will serve the LORD. † God gives mankind a choice to follow Him and so free will is a gift from God as something to be accepted. Humans have the gift of God to reject or take the free gift that He offers. If humans really are descendants of apes, then when did the gift of free will come into the evolutionary chain of today’s mankind? John 7:37 says â€Å"Anyone who is thirsty may come to me. † It is an offer. Not a demanding command. ‘Anyone who is thirsty may come to me’, shows us that God does not want us to be without his living water and without him, but it is our choice whether we choose to accept God’s free gift of salvation. When studying free will in the Bible and through works of literature like Vilayandur S. Ramachandran, there will always be people on both sides of the argument. Do we have control of our own destinies or are we merely puppets in God’s giant game of the world? My personal beliefs on the subject are as I have stated in this paper: Though God has a control over the destiny of the world and each of our lives, he gives us a chance to make a decision to follow him or to ignore the free gift of his son that he has offered to us. John 3:16 it says: â€Å"For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believed in him would have eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. † Works Cited Jacobus, Lee A. A World Of Ideas. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008. Print. The Free Dictionary. Medical Dictionary. Online source. http://medical-dictionary. thefreedictionary. com/readiness+potential Bible. New Living Translation.