Analysing the results of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI)

This article considers the consequences of the Private Finance Initiative ( PFI ) and public interface in the United Kingdom ‘s public services. Along with briefly reexamining anterior research based upon the subjects proposed by Broadbent and Laughlin ( 1999 ) , this article suggests a control system need to make incentive to private houses in recent old ages.IntroductionIn these twenty-four hours and age, the issue of control and legalizing in authorities procedure is debated widely. The Private Financial Initiative strategy which has been given the power over the fiscal resource whether has been good strategy to cut down cost and portion the hazard with authorities. In the society, people who are working closely with implementing controls tend to hold their ain opportunism. By looking at the society as whole system that carried with it certain demands from assorted parts, different function has different involvement that must be fulfilled ( Emile Durkheim ) . Organizational maps are to advance integrating, stableness, consensus and balance.Key IssueWho is accountable? To whom? Is the PFI is the good strategy? Is that PFI independency? Government control power? Control lead to command?Private finance enterprise ( PFI )In 1992, UK authorities seeks private sector to assist out the populace sector development with big graduated table and economic sciences cognition. There are two elements of which private sector have involved: finance and operation. In this essay we focus on the private finance enterprise ( PFI ) which is a method of funding major capital investings that less affecting the public fund ( cf. Broadbent & A ; Laughlin, 1999 ; Broad Broad et al. , 2000 ) and that motivate the private sector to be more cost effectual in the design, building and subsequent operation of many public sector undertakings ( McKendrick and McCabe 1997 ) .The aim and intent of PFIThe PFI system was created with the intent to put in capital without enforcing revenue enhancements, raising debts or deviating cost from other precedences. It acts as an mediator between authorities and private sectors to offer better value for money than public resource by comm anding the undertaking over its life-time. By sharing answerabilities with private sectors, authorities can cut down the hazard and increase benefit to public ( Broadbent et al. , 2000, p 23 ) .Accomplishment of PFIIn term of power, PFI has Institutional power which relies on an external legal or regulative base from which power derives. They can hold the power to force providers and contractors to cut down the monetary value and better public presentation. They besides can make economic systems of graduated table by commanding Numberss of private contracts. PFI has proven to be effectual in the yesteryear for illustration, during 1992 and 2003, 563 PFI undertakings with a capital value of ?35.5 billion achieve fiscal near with most of them being decided after 1997 ( Her Majesty ‘s Treasury ( HMT ) 2003 ) . From 1995 to 2002, the one-year PFI plan has increased from nine undertakings numbering ?667 million to 65 undertakings valued at ?7.6 billion ( HMT 2003 ) . Estimate by 2010 it is around 200 undertakings with a entire value of ?26 billion will be closed ( HMT 2006 ) . Without the aid of private sectors, authorities would hold paid tantamount sum of fund to supply public service ( Gaffney et al.A BMJ.1999 ; 319: 116-119 ) .Accountability and control of PFIPFI was given the power of fiscal resources from authorities ; hence, they are accountable to authorities as an agent. In other words, they have duty to the work provided ( Gray, 1983 ) . Consequently, chief transportations finance every bit good as the right to specify and acc ount what is appropriate to agents. The PFI trades have been drying up. The figure of trades completed in 2009 was about the worst of 10 old ages period ( FT 2010 ) . The first ground is private sector houses require higher net incomes for anticipating high hazard. Therefore, PFI can non finish the trades with the limited budget that authorities set. During the fiscal crisis, the cost of adoption has been increasing. In fact, private sector involvement rates of borrowing are much higher than the authorities adoption because there is hazard of default. PFI ‘s undertaking has lower net income due to involvement refunds is higher than if it had been borrowed by the authorities. That means they increase the hazard oppose to authorities. Controling the beginning of finance, the agents are accountable for their determination as the one duty to execute a certain map. Accountability may be dictated or implied by jurisprudence, ordinance, or understanding or outlook. The agents have to bear the effects for failure public presentation as they are accountable for ( Hoskin, K. 1996 ) . Even though, Hoskin ( Hoskin, K. 1996 ) said agents have to take duty for their action, in March 2009, the planetary fiscal crisis created the trouble in support, theA TreasuryA established an Infrastructure Finance Unit in order to guarantee the continuance of PFI undertakings ( Timmins, N, 2009 ) . Furthermore, Government has bail out ?30m for a 2nd PFI undertaking make up the sum of a ?700m wasted in May 2009 ( Webb, Tim, 2009 ) . In fact, the trades from PFI are unreplaceable even though they need to be bail out. However, the PFI debt can non be refinanced without being punished ( Worcester News 2009 ) . There will be punishments to PFI for outdate and out budget. Consequently, PFI will take responsible for those losingss in forepart of authorities for punishments while authorities has to confront the duties to public society.ControlPrinciples have been given the power to PFI to command the finance resource as the agents and ‘Control is the procedure by which directors assure that resources are obtained and used efficaciously and expeditiously in the achievement of the organisation ‘s aims ‘ ( Anthony, 1988 ) . The issue is whether agents prove themselves good strategy or non. PFI claim to supply control system that can do good usage of resource such as: Legislation punishment act as a motivation for houses to complete undertakings on clip and within budget Private contractors are accountable for care disbursals there is motive for high quality building. Private sectors are better directors with better cognition of market and economic systems of graduated table. PFI can transportations put on the line from the authorities to houses. Firms receive net income as the wages for hazard pickings. PFI has chosen the high hazard undertaking However, the bureau theory defined ; there is the possibility that the agent ignore the wants of rule. The ground is PFI has their ain involvement and private information that authorities has no control. The authorities has no control over the twenty-four hours by twenty-four hours basic activities of the PFI, so that they can conceal the information from authorities. By secret contract with private houses they can profit themselves as mediators ( ICAEW-2009 ) . Furthermore, from interpretative position point, agent has their ain civilization to derive benefit as for private enterprise. Culture is something we portion and impact our thought and behaviour. It ‘s besides affected the work organisation, change the manner of construing strategy and reiterate the same everyday brand people wont and behaviour ( Smircich, 1983 ) . Unlike public sector organisations, net income motivation is the motive of private sector. They need to last, develop and be profitable ; hence, they need to carry through their demand foremost when they complete the undertaking given by authorities. Furthermore, PFI become obsolescence because people get used to the environment and status. Therefore, they are non cognizant of the un-certainty hazards. Believing their expertness and disregard the hazard lead to an impulse for the authorities bailout. It can be seen that power of authorities might non alter the civilization of organisation. â€Å" The mission to enforce a new ‘culture ‘ on public sector organisations via structural solutions based on market theory frequently fails to analyse the old civilization or the implicit in value constructions and administrative political relations † ( Gray & A ; Jenkins, 1995 ) . Control systems must be sensitive to organisational civilization. Those running counter to civilization are improbable to be successful ( Hofstede, 1981 ) . Therefore, the authorities has allowed the PFI to run as they have been. On the other manus, one of the cardinal statements is that authorities can command the bureau through societies and organisations force per unit area. For illustration, authorities can present statute law over term and status of contracts or status of economic system such as involvement rate, duty and so on. ( Broadbent 2003 ) As an agent PFI work under the authorities wants but non as they suppose to, hence, their system become obsolescence and incapable to accommodate. A undertaking bringing theoretical account which focuses less on advanced result and produces installations might non be able to cover with future alterations in demand ( James Barlow, Martina Koberle Gaiser 2008 ) . The money from populace has been wasted. Taking NHS as an illustration they have wasted ?350m a twelvemonth on outside direction advisers at their ain disbursals, while taxpayer wage one million millions to companies who gain benefit in the NHS from PFI.A ( Guardian Feb 2010 ) . In my sentiment, PFI is good strategy for public involvement as they have been supplying aid and support major capital investings, without trusting on immediate assistance from public beginnings. However as bureau theory defined, their work is non efficient as they proclaim because of obsolescence, their ain involvement and other forces ( Baiman1982 ) .GovernmentGovernment answerabilities & A ; controlGovernment has been given power by society through voting so they are accountable to public involvement. In the power theory ( extremist paradigm ) , authorities have gain tremendous power to command over the society. They have the ability to act upon behavior, change the path of events, victory over opposition, and acquire people to make things that they would non make ( Pfeffer, 1992 ) . As a rule of PFI, they have the power to command PFI, their public presentation and procedure. For illustration, in 2009, the authorities changes the accounting criterion ( FT, 2010 ) to accommodate with international accounting. Government politically, forms the manner to roll up more item of how PFI is treating, and should treat in pattern. The authorities besides steer the society utilizing ordinances and societal systems. ( Broadbent & A ; Laughlin, 1997 ) Although, as indicated above, PFI might conceal some information from rule, authorities has other manner to command their item provided with National Audit Office ( NAO ) . By supplying the auditing over PFI undertaking, they can cut down the disregards of bureau with private information. Consequently, authorities can command PFI public consequences as they please and force PFI to follow authorities wants. However, the authorities has control over PFI while the bailout has been increasing quickly. The ground is because their system has less effectual. Mark Mattison discussed that PFI has been provided its best value docket in term of clip, cost of capital and related consequences ( Mark Mattison 2009 ) . The possible ground is NAO is besides an agent so that the authorities might non be able to acquire clasp of PFI public study. An bureau theory â€Å" suggests that principals have lack grounds to swear their agents. The proprietor will happen to decide these concerns by seting nontrivial monitoring costs to aline the involvements of agents with principals and to cut down the range for information dissymmetries and timeserving behaviour † ( ICAEW-2009 ) . The authorities can swear in NAO and PFI study or they need to hold another company to look over. Additionally, authorities has less cognition of expertness than private houses. They tend to concentrate more on the work and politic instead than economic. Therefore, the program has failed to coerce PFI to take the utmost hazard with low return. Furthermore, private house demand to be motivated in order to execute better. By motivate agents, rule can have better consequences. Taking one mill, Hitachi used direct labour hours as overhead allotment base to make inducement for mechanization ; they cut down their cost and increase their end product ( Hiromoto, 1991 ) . From public point of position, the control over authorities was low because public merely can vote one time over 4 old ages for the party to take control. They gain control over the states so that populace has no control over twenty-four hours by twenty-four hours basic of authorities.The job of managerial and political answerabilityGovernment with the power of political as a consequence of their power base in planetary capital markets which was achieved through their function in the allotment of excess value ( Armstrong, 1987 ) . They provide public with context of control over PFI. Stewart ( 1984 ) suggests that managerial and political answerability as different degrees. A cardinal statement is that authoritiess merely accountable in a political, instead than managerial term. Consequently, authorities makes an increasing in ways of control over society. Because of their alone power in society, which their being is depending on how they exercise control over society, anything they do has a controlling result. In combination with a deficiency of twenty-four hours by twenty-four hours control by the election, which has power to vote these organic structures but without a power to order practical action, leaves authoritiess in a unambiguously powerful place. ( Jane Broadbent and Richard Laughlin 2003 ) Furthermore, authorities civilization is politic. They can non merely alter their behavior to managerial merely to command the system of PFI ( Hofstede, 1980 -1983 ) . The civilization of public sector was showed as â€Å" the mission to enforce a new ‘culture ‘ on public sector organisations via structural solutions based on market theory frequently fails to analyze the old civilization or the implicit in value constructions and administrative political relations † ( Gray & A ; Jenkins, 1995 ) .DecisionIn my sentiment, with the power to command PFI through many signifiers in the society, authorities makes them less incentive and mutuality on authorities and associate. Government is under low control of society, so they do non take the duty as a managerial but political.Discussion of the control systemIn the terminal, the staying inquiry is â€Å" Do command take to command † . Equally far as I am concern, the reply can be no. First, bureau job is a affair of struggles between ego involvements, therefore, bureau theory seeks to equilibrate the differences to find the optimum contract for an agent ‘s service ( Eppen, 1987 ) . However, the inquiry is can people swear the control of control ( Baiman 1982 ) . Because as NAO is an audit they still an agent of authorities, they might supply inaccurate study to authorities. Furthermore, the public point of position is NAO is besides under the control of authorities so that the study they provide can non be trusted. Second, the ground is stress make people less motivate. As the essay indicated earlier PFI tend to work less expeditiously. They follow the authorities order alternatively of making what they should make. That makes the system become obsolescence. Another alternate paradigm for direction control & A ; answerability is that people are dominated by the ideological superstructures with which they interact. The civilization of organisation depends on the outgrowth of shared interpretative strategies, expressed in linguistic communication and other symbolic buildings that develop through societal interaction. Such strategies provide the footing for shared systems of intending that allow twenty-four hours to twenty-four hours activities to go indispensable modus operandis or civilization ( Smircich, 1983 ) . Consequently, the alteration in control can take to a depression. On the other manus, the public organisations such as HMT, NAO and the Office of Government Commerce ( OGC ) have made recommendations to better the operation of the strategy. They bring the control to PFI coerce them to work with the punishments as an inducement to execute in clip and budget. ( J Laffont and D Martimort 2002 ) Contingency theory implies that different systems should be adopted in response to different environmental conditions and claims that there is no 1 best manner to do a determination ( Otley, D. 1980 ) hence, any determination that has been made irrespective of its suitableness at the clip, will still be capable to the environmental and external impacts, hence appropriate contingent programs needs to be established to take into history the hazards that are likely to originate in order to outdo brush the uncertainnesss lies beyond. As each method has its restriction we should be cognizant, Variable factors will impact the concern in different ways. Therefore, there is no best manner to pull off organisation when doing a determination.DecisionIn decision, the control procedure demands to be analyzed better before the authorities introduces new control procedure. It depends on the state of affairs and civilization of houses they control. Looking at different literature, I can reason that Government are to a great extent involved in political undertakings, but are bit by bit involved in direction and supplying private inaugural better influence and do informed determinations on strategic programs, as opposed to merely being tools in the procedure. Therefore, both their involvements align and they can work together towards the same end. This nevertheless does non work if a spread is evident between the two. Accountants will non take much notice of controls if they are non involved in doing informed determinations and covering with direction. In my sentiments, in current economic system the private inaugural demand to acquire motivate instead than control.

Globalization Problem Essay

Introduction Globalization has practically changed societies all over the world. It has paved the way for the so called â€Å"borderless economy†. With the advent of the Internet, the role of information has dramatically changed the way people live and do business. As Naval points out in her paper, an immense reduction of time and space barriers among great nations is made possible through interconnectivity. She illustrated that such interconnections result to global transactions being done in the comfort zones of one’s home. This characteristic of the Information Age provides for accessibility to vast reservoirs of knowledge, which is power. 1 It is for this reason that all nations all over the world are adopting ICT-based solutions to address their information needs in this modern era of knowledge explosion. In the Philippines, the government anticipated the importance of Information Technology (IT) as early as the Ramos administration. Ramos in his speech at the First Information Technology and Telecommunications Education Congress outlined the National Information Technology Plan (NITP) of the government. He stressed that IT must be applied to the education sector as a means for national strengthening.2 In 1997, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) reported that the General Appropriations Act of the previous year provided some funds for the CHED-SUCs computerization program. Chairman Angel C. Alcala stated that majority of the fund was used to upgrade the computer capabilities of state-funded institutions. The biggest threat pointed out in the CHED computerization program was the readiness of the people in the educational institutions in the form of computer literacy to cope with the said technological changes. 3 Similarly, the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS) engaged in its own computerization program. Undersecretary Alejandro W.D. Clemente described the computerization project as two main thrusts, which are (1) improvement of learning/teaching environment and (2) management of education. While improvement of learning/teaching environment mainly involves direct use of IT tools in the classroom such as multimedia, computer-based training, etc., Clemente stressed that management of education through IT centers on three groups. These groups consist of support staff using application programs such as wordprocessors, spreadsheets and the like for processing. The second group is for the number crunching processing such as accounting, budgeting and others. Finally, the third group affected by IT in educational management is in the area of databanking. Storing of voluminous records such as student scholastic records may be kept and retrieved using computer technology. 4 In addition to government efforts, Malacaà ±ang has issued on July 12, 2000, under the Estrada administration, Executive Order No. 265, â€Å"An act approving and adopting the government information systems plan (GISP) as framework and guide for all computerization efforts in the government.† The order aims to provide a wide-ranging set of reforms to enhance government efficiency and effectiveness in its operations and delivery of basic services to the public. Furthermore, the executive order requires all government units to align their respective computerization projects to the thrusts of E.O. 265, also known as the Philippine Government Online. 5 In the light of these ICT undertakings at the national level, most specially in the education sector, former PUP President, Dr. Ofelia M. Carague was inspired to embark on a university-wide computerization project to address the information needs of the university, as embodied in the PUP Information Systems Strategic Plan (ISSP). The ISSP, in general, aims to address the mission-critical areas of the five sectors of the university, namely: Administration, Finance, Student Services, Academic Affairs and Research and Development. Different systems were lined-up for the different sectors of the university, such as, Admission System (AS), Enrolment System (ES), Student Grades Monitoring Systems (SGMS), etc. under the Student Services sector.6 Despite the massive computerization program of PUP during the early part of the Carague administration, the PUP Laboratory High School department was not included in the initial list of offices to be computerized, mainly due to the limited student population. This view was somehow overturned by a fire incident which threatened to destroy the archived student records in the possession of the high school registrar. This was cited by PUP LHS in its appeal to be included in the computerization project. The Polytechnic University of the Philippines Laboratory High School has been in existence for more than half a century since its inception in 1954. Throughout its existence it has adopted several information systems, both manual and automated, to facilitate in its day-to-day operations. Recently, the high school department engaged in an upgrading of its Student Information Systems (SIS). The semi-automated operations were replaced with a fully automated system known as Laboratory High School Student Information System (LabHiSIS). LabHiSIS is composed to two subsystems, namely: (1) Enrolment System (ES) and (2) Student Grades Monitoring System (SGMS). This transition from a semi-automated to a fully automated system entails a lot of adjustments on the part of LHS students, faculty members and non-teaching personnel. Thus, the researcher aims to assess the implementation of the said subsystems of LabHiSIS in order to understand the efficacy of the said system implementation, using as basis common good qualities of information, which an efficient or effective information system must provide. The study shall likewise identify the pr oblems encountered during the system implementations. Background of the Study The Polytechnic University of the Philippines Laboratory High School (PUPLHS) located in the main campus at Sta. Mesa, Manila is the only surviving high school unit of PUP. Previously, there were high school department in other PUP branches like PUP Bataan and Lopez branches. There were some motions in the past to close the department, but it was vigorously opposed to by certain sectors of the university citing that PUP LHS is an integral department of the College of Office Administration and Business Teacher Education (COABTE). The latter was founded in 1904 formerly starting as the College of Business Teacher Education while the former was established in 1954 to pioneer a unique commercial curriculum. The curriculum’s defining attributes are the subjects on distributive arts, which consist of Stenography, Bookkeeping and Salesmanship, viewed as a tool to make the students more equipped for early employment. The students are required to take one of these as a major in junior and senior year. The curriculum has remained very much intact for the past fifty years with very minimal modifications, like the inclusion of computer subjects. Though COABTE acts as the mother unit of the high school department, certain autonomy in the management of PUP LHS is given to its administrators. For instance, the LHS Registrar is not bound to adhere to procedures implemented by the university registrar to the colleges. In addition, since it is under the university system, the high school department also enjoys a similar type of independence from DepEd control. The PUPLHS enrolment process employs a typical manual enrolment process. Despite of this nature, the LHS administration is able to manage the enrolment due to the small student population. The enrolment starts with the filling up of registration forms at designated enrolment centers. Prior to this initial step, old students must be cleared of any accountability during the previous school year. Next, the student pays Student Council fees along with other organizational fees. The third step is the assessment of fees which is manually computed by the teachers themselves. After which, the students must pay the amount at the Cashier’s Office located at the main building. Finally, the student has to proceed to the LHS Registrar’s Office for the validation of registration certificate.7 This concludes the manual high school enrolment process, which is less complicated as compared to the college enrolment. Common problems under this situation arise from long queues of students waiting to be processed up to incorrect assessment of matriculation and other fees. The grades of the students like most secondary level institutions are likewise computed manually. The process starts with the posting of grades in the summary sheet which is done on a quarterly basis by the teachers. Each section has one summary sheet to which all subject teachers input the grades of students bel onging to the section. The posting of non-academic marks like attendance, conduct and homeroom are also posted on the summary sheet by the section advisers every quarter. Another type of quarterly report being prepared by the teachers is the report cards of the students. On the fourth quarter of the school calendar, the teachers must compute the subject averages and post it on the summary sheet to determine those who passed and failed from among the students. This is very crucial in the deliberation process of PUP LHS faculty members so that they are guided as to whom are the candidates for kick out or transfer. In addition, the advisers are responsible for the computation of the general weighted average and the posting of academic and non-academic marks on the report card of all the students under his advisory. Next, the teacher encodes the grades of the students to the Student Permanent Record form of the LHS Registrar’s office, which serves as the official scholastic record of the student. Finally, the teachers must prepare their grade sheets to be submitted to the LHS principal. The registrar, on one hand, is responsible of producing the Transcript of Records (TOR) of both graduates and students for college application purposes. At this stage, the student grades are encoded to the computer for the very first time. This summarizes the complex and tedious manual process of grades processing in PUP LHS.8 The manual systems in PUP LHS suffer from a lot redundancies. In their manual processing of student grades the only instance where the grades of the students are made in digital form is when the Registrar encodes the grades for the Transcript of Records (TOR) preparation. The rest of the processing stages consist of manual posting of grades unto different reports. When the appeal of PUP LHS to be included in the computerization project was approved by the Office of the Vice President for Finance, the PUP Information Linkage Systems (PUPILS) was tasked to assist the high school department in its request. The initial agreement was to customize the Integrated Student Information System (iSIS) of the college for the high school unit, but due to some differences in business logic the developers decided to create a system from scratch instead. Development started in April 2002 and the developers employed a Rapid Application Development (RAD) strategy in developing its first component – the Enrolment System (LabHiSIS-ES). The LabHiSIS package is composed of the following subsystems, namely: âž ¢ Enrolment System (LabHiSIS-ES) – a system which handles the registration needs of the students during enrolment periods. âž ¢ Student Grades Monitoring System (LabHiSIS-GMS) – a system which monitors the accumulating grades of student s. In a short period of barely two months, the PUPILS LabHiSIS development team prepared a fully functional stand-alone enrolment system. It was implemented in May 27-30, 2002 to all year levels of PUP LHS. LabHiSIS used a pre-printed implementation strategy. In this strategy, the registration certificates of the high school students were printed in advance. This facilitated the simple distribution of registration certificates to the enrollees during the enrolment proper, which were done by the enrolling advisers. After two years of implementing the Enrolment System in the department, the development team started with the development of the second subsystem. The first implementation of the Student Grades Monitoring System was implemented in SY 2003-2004. Throughout the entire development phase of the LabHiSIS systems, the system developers were guided by the following system objectives which they envision to be accomplished by the systems once operational. The LabHiSIS-Enrolment System’s objective is to automate the enrolment processing by generating a pre-assessed and a filled-up registration certificate. It shall also assist with some pre and post admission processing like the generation of unique student number. With the system, the faculty members of PUP LHS would no longer have to manually assess the matriculation and fees of the students. Though it is still not connected online to the university’s Cashiering system, the developers believe that this automation would provide a significant improvement to the LHS enrolment processes and, at the same time, introduce computerization to the PUP LHS community thereby preparing them for the second LabHiSIS module – Student Grades Monitoring System. The development of the more complicated Student Grades Monitoring System followed a multifaceted set of objectives. The objectives are as follows: 1. The Student Grades Monitoring System must automate the entire grades processing of PUP LHS from the time of its initial posting up to the generation of student Transcript of Records (TOR) for the department’s graduates. 2. SGMS shall produce highly accurate reports, namely: Temporary Quarterly Report Cards, Final Report Cards, Quarterly Summary Sheets, Student Permanent Records, Grade Sheets and Transcript of Records. 3. The system shall uphold confidentiality of student grades, thus, preventing unauthorized access to certain subject matters. The teachers will be limited to the subject assigned to them. 4. The system shall promote a high standard of grade integrity and eliminate the repetitive manual posting/inputting of grades into different kinds of reports. It shall centralize the printing of reports which is the sole responsibility of the system administrators. The administrators, though with access rights to view the grades, have no access rights to modify any of the grade entries. The faculty members are, thus, assured that the grades they have entered are the same grades to appear regardless of the report type. With this scheme, discrepancies will be avoided and the faculty would only have to input the grades once. Theoretical Framework In this study, the theory of Prof. Karl Weick, from the University of Michigan, known as Information Systems Theory was used as one of the basis for the study. The theory primarily states that â€Å"An organization should connect with information processing. Information is the key item that all organizations must possess.† 9 According to Sweeney, the theory of Karl Weick can be tested for practical utility. This means that, â€Å"The more effective communication is, the more effective the organization will be, and as a result it [organization] will be more successful.†10 The theory when properly applied to an organization can increase business control which is one of the fundamental functions of management. Efforts, however, to improve organizational performance do not instantaneously arrive as a result of having computer-based information systems. Prof. N. Kano, in his Theory on Customer Satisfaction, identified several categories of quality attributes which influence customer satisfaction. He discussed the importance of Basic, Excitement and Performance Factors as the three attributes directly involved with client satisfaction. He stated that basic factors present the minimum requirements in any product which will cause dissatisfaction if not fulfilled but do not cause customer satisfaction when fulfilled. Excitement factors tend to cause customer satisfaction whenever fulfilled but do not promote dissatisfaction if absent. Performance factors causes satisfaction if the performance is high†¦they cause dissatisfaction if the performance is low. 11 Though this theory mentions of characteristics applicable to a product, it must be noted that software is considered a product. 12 In order to guarantee customer satisfaction the product must be carefully evaluated thoroughly. The Evaluation Theory according to Prof. Mel Mark, from the Pennyslvania State University, as one of its many application provides the important key whether or not to implement a new program. In his article Evaluation Theory and What are Evaluation Methods For?, he mentioned that evaluation theory acts as a performance measurement system that can identify problem areas and provide a feedback mechanism regarding the apparent consequences of a certain decision. 13 Conceptual Framework The conceptual framework employs the Systems Approach technique. It begins with the Input Box, which represents factors that must exist before the study can take place or a phenomenon can be investigated. In this study, the inputs are the respondents of the study and the LabHiSIS-Enrolment System and LabHiSIS-Student Grades Monitoring System. The second box is the Process box. It contains all the procedures taken in the study. In the study, the process begins with data gathering through a survey questionnaire. Other information was also derived from informal interview. After data tabulation the next step was the application of a correct statistical tool. Finally, analysis and interpretation was made on the basis of the statistical results. The third box is the Output box. It shows the findings of the study regarding the efficacy of the systems. Likewise, it also aims to identify the problems encountered in the systems implementation. A return or feedback arrow signifies the repetitive and continuous nature of the process. After the findings have been concluded a new set of problems may arise which requires another inquiry or investigation. Statement of the Problem The study assessed the effectiveness of the Laboratory High School Student Information Systems, particularly its two subsystems; Enrolment System and Student Grades Monitoring System. Similarly, it aims to answer the following specific questions: To what extent do the respondents rate the effectiveness of the LabHiSIS-Enrolment System in terms of the following software quality attributes: 1. Accuracy; 2. Completeness; 3. Timeliness; 4. Reliability; 5. Security 6. User-Friendliness? To what extent do the respondents’ rate the effectiveness of the LabHiSIS-Student Grade Monitoring System in terms of the given software quality attributes: 1. What are the problems encountered in the implementation of LabHiSIS, specifically its two subsystems – Enrolment System and Student Grades Monitoring System? Significance of the Study Change is not an easy thing to embrace. It is the very nature of man to resist change. This resistance is commonly due to the fear of the unknown. Information Technology, as a catalyst of change, is a major fear factor for many institutions and individuals. Thus, this study aims to assess the LabHiSIS implementations made to PUPLHS. The main goal of the study is to identify the efficacy rating of the LabHiSIS system implementations. Findings of the study are expected to contribute to the further refinement of the system and its future implementations. The study, upon its completion, will benefit the following stakeholders of the university, namely: The University Officials/Administrators. Implementation problems identified in this study can help top management arrive at sound decisions regarding budget allocations, policy formulation, etc. The Academic and Administrative Employees of PUP LHS. Through this research the employees would be able to express their comments regarding the system so that positive changes can be taken into consideration by the developers as a result of the system assessment. The Systems Developers. The developers of the system would greatly benefit from this research mainly because the users response to the questionnaire would serve as a gauge in measuring the system performance. The weak points identified in the study can become the focus of their corrective maintenance of the system. The Future Researchers. This research can serve as a model for other studies on system implementations that other researchers might want to investigate. It is important to note that through research the precious feedback coming from the beneficiaries or system users could be obtained. In this case, the beneficiaries of the LabHiSIS systems are the students while the users are the academic and the non-teaching personnel. The Students. The last beneficiary of the system study is the students of PUP LHS. They would benefit from the improved service brought about by refinements in the system which is in turn a result of the problem identification and performance appraisal found in this study. Scope and Limitation of the Study This study is concerned with the system implementation of the LabHiSIS computerized Enrolment System and Student Grades Monitoring System to PUP Laboratory High School in school year 2004-2005. It includes all the following enrolment and grades processing activities: (1) Academic Subject Enrolment and Assessment of Matriculation and Fees; (2) Posting of Academic Grades and Non-Academic Marks and (3) Generation of Periodic and Demand Reports. In addition, the study includes the system stakeholders, namely, faculty members, non-teaching personnel and students of PUP LHS. The study is however limited to 2nd year up to 4th year students only as the first year students, in June 2005, still have no knowledge and complete experience with the two LabHiSIS subsystems. Definition of Terms The following terminologies were used as operationally defined in this study: Accuracy of information simply means that the information system is error free. Administrator is in-charge of the system security for both subsystems. As such he has access to all utilities menu commands. Completeness of the information means that all needed details are incorporated in a report or output produced by an information system. Effectiveness refers to the satisfactory performance or rating of the system based on software quality factors such as Accuracy, Completeness, Timeliness, Reliability, Security and User-Friendliness. End-users are members of the faculty and non-teaching staff of the PUP Laboratory High School who directly interact or use the computer-based information system. LabHiSIS refers to the Laboratory High School Student Information System, a computer-based information system designed to automate the enrolment and grades preparation process of PUP Laboratory High School. The system is composed of two subsystems, namely the Enrolment System and the Student Grades Monitoring System. Reliability is an information characteristic which means that the output or report produced by an information system can be depended upon by its users despite changes in the environment which may affect the system. Security refers to the ability of the system to limit accessibility of the users thus safeguarding confidential or restricted records from any form of unlawful access. Source documents, as used in this paper, pertain to the Summary Sheets from which all academic and non-academic marks of the students are initially posted by the subject teachers from their respective class records. The summary sheet is used for reference by the faculty members during the encoding of grades to SGMS. Timeliness of information is about the prompt release or issuance of a needed detail or report whenever it is needed. User Friendliness pertains to the characteristic of the information system to be easily understood by the users. Figure 1 – Paradigm of the Study FEEDBACK OUTPUT PROCESS INPUT Assessed Laboratory High School Student Information Systems (LabHiSIS): – Enrolment System (ES) – Student Grades Monitoring System (SGMS) Solutions to the Problems Encountered in the implementation of the systems. Assessment of the Laboratory High School Student Information System (LabHiSIS) Subsystems: – Enrolment System (ES), and – Student Grades Monitoring System (SGMS). Identification of the problems encountered during the systems implementation 1Naval, Victoria C., â€Å"Rethinking Prospects and Challenges of Globalization in Education†, The Mabini Review, Vol. 1. 2001 11Kano, N., â€Å"Customer Satisfaction Model†, http://www.12manage.com/methods_ kano_customer_satisfaction_model.html, 1984. 12Sommerville, Ian A., Software Engineering, 4th Edition, Addison – Wesley Longman Inc., 1995) pp. 5. 13Mark, Mel, â€Å"Evaluation Theory or What are Evaluation Methods For?†, http://www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/eval/issue30/theory.html 9Dudas, Marion, â€Å"Applying the Information Systems Theory to a True Situation†, http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~md413097/is.htm, 2000. 10Sweeney, Matt C., â€Å"Information Systems Critique† http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/ ~ms101996/is.htm 8Gonzales, Jaime Y., interview held during system development start-up, Registrar’s Office, April 2002 7Gonzales, Jaime Y., PUP Laboratory High School Enrolment Procedures, 2004 6Escober, Rosicar E., PUP Information Systems Strategic Plan, College of Computer Studies, Graduate School, Dela Salle University, Manila, 1999. 2. 4Clemente, Alejandro W.D., â€Å"Use of Multi-media in DECS†, IT Education in the Philippines: Preparing for the 21st Century, pp.29-34, February 1997. 5Estrada, Joseph Ejercito, Executive Order 256, Malacaà ±ang Palace, Manila, http://www.neda.gov.ph/ads/gisp/default.htm, 2000. Laboratory High School Student Information Systems (LabHiSIS): Enrolment System (ES), and Student Grades Monitoring System (SGMS). Problems encountered in the systems implementation 2Ramos, Fidel V., â€Å"Taking the Future in our Hands†, speech delivered in the First Information Technology and Telecommunications Education Congress, Dusit Hotel Nikko Manila, February 1997. 3Alcala, Angel C., â€Å"The CHED Computerization Program: Goals, Policies and Projects†, IT Education in the Philippines: Preparing for the 21st Century, pp.25-28, February 1997.

Researching the marketing mix Essay

In this task, I am going to research the marketing mix and I am going to apply this to The Marketing mix is a general phrase used to describe the different kinds of choices organizations have to make in the whole process of bringing a product or service to market. The 4Ps is the best-known way of defining the marketing mix. The 4ps are: Product- what is sold? Place- where is the product is sold? Price-how much the product costs? Promotion- how a business communicates with its customers Place McDonald’s sell various food and drink products all over the world and will need to use methods to get their goods made available to consumers. McDonald’s use a distribution channel to get their products from the producer to the consumer. Here are the different distribution channels which exist. This is a direct channel between the producer and the consumer. They will deal together without intermediaries involved. This can be beneficial for businesses because it allows a larger proportion of profit and means they can have more control over the marketing of the product. The disadvantage is that the costs will be larger to distribute the products. Retailers such as farm shops and dell use this channel as they sell the products they make directly to the consumer. This is an indirect channel between customer and producer because of the use of a retailer as an intermediary. The producer will distribute their goods to retailers who will then sell the products individually to consumers. Retailers are focused on consumer markets and offer customers advice, convenience, financial assistance and after-sales support. An example of a retailer which uses this channel would be Next. Next will receive their products from their producer and then sell them in store to the consumers. This is an indirect channel between the producer and consumer because a wholesaler is an intermediary in this channel. The producer will supply the wholesaler with a large number of products and then will break the order into smaller quantities to supply to the consumer. The advantage of this is that the consumer can get the goods at a cheaper price because the transport costs are reduced due fewer journeys. The wholesaler makes its profit by buying the product at a cheaper price and adding a profit margin to the price paid by the retailer. Many small businesses such as cafes use this channel as they will get their products supplied by a wholesaler so they can supply the products to consumers. This is a longer indirect channel. There are two intermediaries in this channel which is a wholesaler and a retailer. The producer will supply large quantities to wholesalers who will then break the orders into smaller ones to send out to the retailer who will sell the product directly to the consumer. The retailer will make a profit by charging the consumers more money per unit than what they paid the wholesaler. An example of a retailer which uses this channel is a newsagent. The producers will send bulk orders to wholesalers. The newsagents will then buy the goods to sell in their store from the wholesaler and then sell the products to consumers in store. Product McDonald’s sell fast food and drink products all over the world. McDonald’s will need to continue to create customer interest and satisfy their needs by developing new products and releasing them into the market. For example, McDonald’s recently released their signature collection which was a new set of meals which created customer interest and demand. I will now apply the marketing mix to the McDonalds and using their most well-known McDonalds product which is the Big Mac to show how it is used. The Marketing Mix and the McDonalds Big Mac Product-The Big Mac McDonald’s most well-known burger. The burger is a low budget product. A Big Mac contains to beef burger patties, cheese, salad and a three-part bun. A Big Mac contains around 490 calories. You can also buy a Big Mac meal which comes with a drink and fries. Meals come in medium or large sizes. It is important that McDonald’s have a product like the Big Mac because it gives them a good reputation and image which makes them a successful and well-known brand. Place-The only place a Big Mac can be purchased is at a McDonald’s restaurant. McDonald’s restaurants can be found all over the country, some open 24 hours. There are 1,208 McDonald’s restaurants in the UK and 34,492 worldwide. The benefits of McDonald’s selling the Big Mac only at their stores is that they get all the profit from the product, where if they sold their products at other places they would have less profit. Promotion-McDonalds advertise the Big Mac on T.V, radio, the internet and in magazines. McDonald’s also offer promotions on the Big Mac such as giving away a free Coca-Cola glass with Big Mac meals and offering the chance to win prizes with the Monopoly stickers. Promotion is important for McDonald’s because it gains them more sales which makes them more successful. Price-An individual Big Mac would cost  £2.59 in the UK. A medium Big Mac meal  £4.19 and  £4.59 for a large. The Big Mac costs this much because it is a fast food budget product. It is important that McDonald’s sell the Big Mac at the right price because if it is too high people won’t buy the product and if it’s too low they won’t make a profit. The price is successful because it is relatively cheap and McDonald’s can make a profit out of it.

Paper Critique of ADA and Affirmative Action Essay

Paper Critique of ADA and Affirmative Action - Essay Example e physical accessibility to people with disabilities in buildings and also ensures the removal of obstacles that deny individuals with disabilities equal employment opportunities. The main parts of the act are divided into five sections, with the first section insuring against discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities with regards to employment (Accessiblesociety, 2012). The second title prohibits discrimination against the disabled at all public levels, including the state, municipal and school district level. The third part is targeted at public accommodation, where individuals may not be discriminated from enjoying facilities at any public place of accommodation due to their disability. In the fourth part, ADA ensures that people with disabilities enjoy equivalent services with non-disabled people, while the last title includes miscellaneous provisions. Ever since the introduction of the act in 1990, there has been a lot of success in reducing discrimination against the disabled. One of the first advantages of the act is that the accessibility of people with disabilities has significantly improved (Accessiblesociety, 2012). For example, people with disabilities can mount legal objections to practices which they feel are discriminatory. This has helped in increasing job opportunities for people with disabilities. The act has also help medically incompetent but qualified individuals who used to be discriminated based on their medical conditions. According to ADA, an employee is not mandated to ask for medical certificates before hiring. Despite the successes that ADA has had in the past decade or so, the main disadvantage of the act is the apparent contradiction with the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHA) ( Skoning and Condon, 1994). According to ADA, an employee cannot move an employee from a workplace that is deemed dangerous, since this would seem discriminatory. However, OSHA dictates that dangerous workplaces are illegal.

Ecobeach Eco-tourism Operation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Ecobeach Eco-tourism Operation - Essay Example It involves the activities of educating tourists and the provision of funds for the purpose of the environments preservation (Frisch and Johannsen, 2004). The major purpose of carrying out these activities is to aid in the protection of nature and to empower the locals politically. It also assists in fostering the economic growth of a country and the reverence for the different cultures along with the right’s of humans. The major aim of eco tourism is to preserve nature so that the coming generations can enjoy environments that are safe and habitable (Fennel and Dowling, 2003). Tourism on the other hand is the activity of organizing the commercial operation of vocations and places that are of interest to the visitors in an area. Most people view the process of making improvements on the environment as the duty of the local authorities, the nongovernmental organizations dealing in protection of the environment and other profit making organizations dealing with the matter. Eco b eaches are those beaches where environmental protection efforts have been done on them to ensure that nature, the community and the visitors all benefit. 1.1 Background information The importance of ecotourism has been put to consideration by different environmentalists who desire to conserve the environment for the coming generations. Their efforts focus on the charitable sustainability of our surroundings. Tourism entails visiting areas where flowers, fauna and artistic traditions are the major appeals for commercial reasons (Zeppel, 2006). The major goal of this practice is to enhance the tourists views on the impacts of mans activities on his surroundings. It also aids in enabling... The paper tells that the importance of ecotourism has been put to consideration by different environmentalists who desire to conserve the environment for the coming generations. Their efforts focus on the charitable sustainability of our surroundings. Tourism entails visiting areas where flowers, fauna and artistic traditions are the major appeals for commercial reasons. The major goal of this practice is to enhance the tourists views on the impacts of mans activities on his surroundings. It also aids in enabling people to appreciate their natural homes better. Among the activities that these programs carry out aim at reducing the harm tourism causes on the surroundings and enhance the artistic honor of the locals. The international target market of choice for the beach eco tourism operation at Kimberly are visitors from all around the globe. The visitors to the beach all come from different cultures with different convictions, approaches and values to life and nature. The chosen int ernational market requires to be in a safe environment with fresh waters. They also require high quality and safe supplies of the products on offer from the beach resorts they visit. There should be provision of adequate and standard accommodation to handle any number of visitors who decide to visit the beach. Provision of all the adequate amenities in the visitors accommodation areas should be put into consideration before advertising the premises. The wants and needs of the target market should enable the management of the tourist operations to determine what to produce.

Ergonomics, Work Methods, Satandards and Work Design Case Study

Ergonomics, Work Methods, Satandards and Work Design - Case Study Example The collected data were tabulated and graphically represented in order to conduct the proposed program more smoothly. The gathered information clearly indicated that back injuries and cumulative trauma disorders (CTD) were very common among the employees. However; among the recordable cases, 30% were back related whereas CTDs constituted only less than 10%. From a detailed analysis, the investigators identified that ‘selectors’ were the group most vulnerable to back injuries while forklift operators maintained the second place. A department-wise study revealed that the grocery department had majorily affected by injuries followed by freezer department and meat and diary departments in second place and third place respectively. Contusions and sprains were outnumbered and hence that could not be brought under the range of this study. In addition to the collection of statistical data, the project members also gathered ten minutes videos of each department’s work perf ormance in order to examine the nature of physical strain caused by each job. The adopted biomechanical techniques for this study included â€Å"a three dimensional analysis of static strength requirements and an analysis of repetitive lifting using the revised National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Lifting Equation† (Laurie, Andres & Wood, n.d.). As a part of the research, frequency data in January, 1994 were gathered for each job. Vertical and horizontal distances between each job location were estimated using measurement tapes and handled loads are weighed. The investigators also consulted personnel familiar with these operations with intent to acquire information regarding overtime work. The collected information processed using the two selected methods. The study outcomes illustrate that lifting cases above 50 lb. and horizontal movement cases beyond 20† cause high stress on the body and it would probably affect the low back or shoulder area. Section 2 Every organization largely depends on its employees to achieve a comprehensive economic growth. The above stated grocery warehouse distribution company also offers certain benefits to its employees. As discussed earlier, the firm implements an incentive pay system by which the employees get the opportunity to earn unlimited income. Under this option, the fastest worker achieves more so that an employee may tend to perform his works rapidly. An employee’s outstanding physical performance on a regular basis would certainly result in injuries and sprains on his body. This situation turns out to be the main cause of increased back injuries and CTDs in the organization. It has been identified that the grocery selectors are the most affected category of back injuries. The gathered data show that grocery selectors lift a weight of 30 pounds at a frequency of four per minute and this activity continues for eight hours. The asymmetry angle or back twisting angle for this wo rk is 30 degrees. At the same time, meat selectors lift 70 pounds two times in a minute and their job duration is also 8 hours. All other elements remain the same for each

Costa Coffee and the Coffee Industry in the UK Assignment

Costa Coffee and the Coffee Industry in the UK - Assignment Example The coffee industry in the UK is going through a period of growth and change. While Starbucks is one of the most familiar names in the industry, it is not the biggest or the most successful because Costa Coffee performs better. On a global scale, coffee remains the most popular beverage with approximately two billion cups consumed daily. The U.K alone consumes around 70 million cups of coffee daily (British Coffee Association, 2015). In comparison with several other European nations, the United Kingdom still stands out as one of the few countries that have favored instant coffee at the expense of other fresh coffee beans or fresh ground coffee considered of better quality. Even though consumers remain devoted to their preferred brands, the most important thing is the taste and quality of the instant coffee. Placing premiums on coffees brands is currently motivating instant coffee customers to consider the quality of taste as their preference before buying. In the year 2014, the intro duction of private labels for premium coffee had a positive influence on the status of micro-ground coffee, with customers of low-priced options switching to this brand due to its improved quality (Ukers, 2012). Costa Coffee has taken over the UK coffee industry, and with their unchanging traditional method of roasting their coffee beans slowly, the Bruno & Sergio brothers have served their customers with authentic blends of six Arabica beans to one Robusta in more than five hundred coffee shops globally.

Environmentally-focused law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Environmentally-focused law - Essay Example As a person with environmental awareness, I propose that production companies should go back to the use of glass bottles which can be reused and recycled. Since plastic bottles and plastic bags are easily discarded, people tend not to worry about where these wastes go to. Therefore, the plastic materials pile up in the ocean and the unsuspecting sea animals consume the garbage, resulting to their extinction. It is also known that plastic materials do not decompose until hundreds of years. Thus, if companies cannot use glass bottles, at least they should resort to biodegradable materials. In addition, their advertisements of any form should always advocate environmental awareness to consumers so that they will become responsible in their waste disposals. As producers, companies should not simply aim for high earnings but they should also take part in the preservation of the

The Influence of Loyalty Programmes on Customer Loyalty in Banking Essay

The Influence of Loyalty Programmes on Customer Loyalty in Banking Sector - Essay Example Due to globalised competition the strategic importance of satisfaction, loyalty and quality has been the core structure in winning over the consumer’s preferences and maintain competitive advantage. Thus the higher the quality of service, the more satisfied and loyal the customers would be. Since customer loyalty is still in a flux in the financial service sector, banks have an opportunity to strengthen the customer relationship by means of rewards programs which are relevant to its customers. About 20% of the banking customers are likely to change the primary institutions and also almost half of the percentage of customers prefers relationship with multiple institutions. Therefore a successful loyalty program would get customers invested in the relationship by rewarding the customers on the most optimal products and services (BAI, 2011). Aims and Objective The aim of the research is to find out the influence of loyalty programmes on customer loyalty in banking sector. The obj ectives of the project are to Analyses the factors that influences the loyalty of the customers in the banking sector To analyses the influence of quality on satisfaction Any changes in the customers loyalty patterns Recommendations on how banks can improve customer loyalty. Research questions The following are the research questions associated with the project: 1. What will be the impact of customers loyalty towards the banks brand image and positioning? 2. Does customer loyalty influences consumer behaviour? 3. How would customer loyalty affect the competitive advantage of the banking sector? 4. What is the influence of loyalty programs in the banking sector? 5. What factors influences the customer’s loyalty in the banking industry?. Literature Review Customer loyalty is about attracting right customers, getting the customers to buy often, allow the customers to buy in higher quantities and brings in more customers for the organization. it is build through means of keeping in touch with the customers, showing the customers that the organization cares for them and rewarding the customers for choosing a particular bank over its competitors. Thus treating the customers the way they want it to be treated (Customer Loyalty Institute, n.d). There are many different approaches towards customer loyalty. Theories of behavioural loyalty were considered as the function of total purchase; function of buying pattern, or of buying probability. These are the approaches that look at the brand loyalty rather than reasons. Loyalty should be evaluated both attitudinal and behavioural criteria (Akhter et.al, 2011, p. 1168). With the availability of ample banking facilities the customers gets influenced and this leads to customer loyalty towards its bank (Fry et.al, 2011). The managers are aware of the fact that quality superiority provides a competitive advantage for the banks and leads to customer loyalty, growth of market share and productivity of the banks. Culture ha s been identified as the key variable that influences the service quality perception that examines the banking sector (Sigala & Christou, 2006, p.381). Brand plays an important role in bank marketing in order to attract as well as retain its customers. Brand building is a costly activity but its benefits

Organic Food Speech Essay Example for Free

Organic Food Speech Essay I have a question for you at the beginning of this speech. Who just eat organic food everyday? Obviously! According my research, which I gave the question to my friends. Most of them know about organic food, but only few of them just eat organic food which including the vegetable, meat and eggs and other people don’t take it seriously and eat fast food always. What is organic food? The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) states that animals raised on an organic operation must be fed organic feed and given access to the outdoors. They are given no antibiotics or growth hormones. Organic crops are raised without using most conventional pesticides and using no petroleum-based or sewage-sludge-based fertilizers. Do organic and natural mean the same thing? And four main reasons to choice organic food! No, natural and organic are not same. You may see natural†, â€Å"all natural, free-range or hormone-free on food labels. These descriptions must be truthful, but dont mean they are organic. Only foods that are grown and processed according to USDA organic standards can be labeled organic. According to USDA: Organic food such as fruits, vegetables and meat can make people become healthier and organic farming can protect the environment. Choice organic vegetable! The picture for strawberry: On the right is non-organic and left is organic. For the picture down: one the right is non-organic and the left is organic. Normally, non-organic fruit or vegetable will grow faster and taste not as good as organic food. For the last picture: the right side is organic egg and left side is non-organic. The reason why the color is different is because organic chicken also eats organic feed. Choice organic meat! We also need to choice organic meet. From the picture we see. Organic Meat Comes from Animals Treated Ethically and Humanely. The organic farming looks cleaner and animal form there lives healthier. Here are some of the reasons why you should buy organic animal products. 1. Organic meat comes from animals that were given a pesticide-free diet. 2. These animals may have had some limited access to pasture. 3. They were not loaded with antibiotics, steroids and other poisons. 4. Organic meat has not been irradiated. Therefore, organic meat is not loaded with toxins–that are subsequently passed on to you when you eat them–like conventional meat is. Health and money which one you prefer: Non-organic food can cause lots of disease. Even the organic food is expensive; there is nothing important than our lives and our family’s health. According to the research from Organic Liaison: Because factory-fed cattle eat the ground-up remains of their SAME SPECIES, this can cause mad cow disease, destroying a humans central nervous system and brain. Also the animal, which grows up in dirty environment, can cause many parasitic disease and diarrhea. Studies also show that grass-fed beef contains more nutritional value, including higher levels of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and omega-3 fatty acids, which reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer. Here is another new research from Maryland University: Non-organic Chicken has one kind bacterium, which is resistant to modern medicine. This kind of bacteria that can cause serious and unpleasant disease that becomes a lot harder to cure. Conclusion: We know that eating organic fruits, vegetables, and other produce is the way to go. Its healthier, it tastes better, and it doesnt have any nasty toxins or chemicals. Healthy and happy life cannot live without organic food. Now let us choice organic food!

Anachronisms in A Knights Tale

Anachronisms in A Knights Tale There are several anachronistic factors portrayed in the 2001 film A Knights Tale, and these elements are specifically crafted to help allow the viewer to relate to a subject that lays outside of their area of expertise, in this case the middle ages. By blending the use of modern music, and modern clothing items, with historical references and names of that time period, the director Brian Helgeland, is providing the audience a way to relate to a subject matter that they may be unfamiliar with. The Merriam Webster Online dictionary defines Anachronism as: an error in chronology; especially a chronological misplacing of persons, events, objects, or customs in regard to each other. A person or a thing that is chronologically out of place; especially:   one from a former age that is incongruous in the present. the state or condition of being chronologically out of place Anachronism in storytelling is not a new phenomenon. The earliest forms of dramatic entertainment in the Middle Ages was the staging of religious narrative as public plays. These performances also relied on such anachronism to help the audiences to understand a time far removed from their own.   The roles of characters from religious plays were modelled after the roles members of the audience could relate to, to make the story easier for the audience to accept. The same can be said of the film A Knights Tale, which uses modern day elements, blended with a romanticised version of medieval history, to enhance the audiences familiarity with the period portrayed. In medieval times a sport arose. Embraced by noble and peasant alike though only noble knights could compete. The sport was jousting. For one of these knights, an over-the-hill former champion, it was the end. But for his peasant squire William, it was merely the beginning. (A Knights Tale chapter 1) The jousting arena as portrayed in one of the first action scenes of the film, is shown in a fairly historically accurate manner, from the design of the raised throne area for the local nobility, to the dirt and plain wooden benches for the peasants. The trappings of heraldic devices, the horses armor, or barding, and the lances and other tournament equipment are quite authentic in appearance; only the use of Queens We Will Rock You seems out of place. But the inclusion of this type of music, and that song in particular are quite intentional. That same piece of music can be heard used today, in a similar setting. In a modern hockey arena or football stadium, you can see different groups of people, seated on benches, with painted faces, cheering wildly for their chosen team. These people are separated into different areas, some with a better view of the activities than others, and this music is quite often played to help raise the anticipation of the fans, and to increase their enjoym ent of the games. This lends an air of familiarity to the scene in the movie. Jousting tournaments, much like modern sporting events today, provided a sense of community and belonging that could be enjoyed by all, peasants and nobility alike.   The use of Queens We Will Rock You helps demonstrates the excitement and extravagance of the tournament scene, and reminds us how much this new sport is like our own NHL, WWF or Football industries. (Cetiner-Oktem, 2009, p.50). The anachronistic terminology used in describing the final jousting tournament in London as the World Championship also helps forge a link to our modern times, making the events seem more familiar and allowing the viewer to willingly suspend his disbelief. The anachronism of modern clothes follows a similar logic in allowing the audience to relate to the film. From the style of Jocelyns transparent blouse, the use of a modern day hat, overcoats with deep v neck lines, or a black and white outfit that has a more modern look to it, these clothing choices are far more relatable to a modern audience than the chemise, underskirt, overskirt, bustle, corset, and heavy fabric over dress of a noblewomans closest. The clothing of the women is not the only anachronistic wardrobe in the film. Williams character also wears fitted and shaped pants, very similar in design to modern dress pants, and his dress tunic for the feast is cut much more in the style of a modern overcoat, rather than the traditional tunic he would have worn in the middle ages. These style cues make the characters, and the settings seem more like our own, thus allowing us to adapt to the historical setting of the movie a little easier. These anachronisms not only bridge the gap between periods, but create a deep sense of familiarity for the audience. There are many historically appropriate names and places referenced in the film, including the character of Geoffrey Chaucer. By incorporating a person of historical significance, the film gains some added credibility as a period piece, but the fictional character is portrayed in a manner that makes it easier for the audience to accept and understand the character. As Chaucer speaks to the crowds as Williams herald, he uses a style of speech and tone of voice that is instantly recognizable to many modern viewers. The verbal build-up of Williams character, the accounting of all his attributes, and his past battle accomplishments, are all very reminiscent of the style and mannerisms of famous fight announcer Bruce Buffer, whom many viewers in the audience would know from Professional boxing and UFC fights. As Cetiner-Oktem states in the essay Dreaming the Middle Ages, Chaucer is not a part of American culture. Thus, this encounter may also be read as bridging the infant American cultur e, embodied in William, to the well-established English culture, embodied in Chaucer. (Cetiner-Oktem, 2009, p.50) Another historical name that is used in the film is that of Williams noble alter ego; Ulrich von Liechtenstein from Gelderland. As we have learned in our course studies, Sir Ulrich was a real knight from the thirteenth century, who also followed the ideals of courtly love and chivalry, and wrote of his many adventures. (McKenzie, 2017) The plot device that Lady Jocelyn uses to get William to prove his love to her in the film also has some historical bearing. It was originally contrived by Chrà ©tien de Troyes in his story Lancelot or The Knight of the Cart in the twelfth century. In it Guinevere tells Lancelot to do his worst, and lose in a tournament, only to change her mind midway, and tell Lancelot to do the best he can, in order to prove his love for her. All of these historical embellishments all help to provide some credibility to the time period the film is set i n, and may even provoke the audience to look further into the actual truth of the history portrayed, as it did in my case. I feel that although this film is a neo-medievalist telling of a story, all of the modern and historical elements, from the historical names and places, to the modern elements of music and fashion are combined together with some artistry and grace to create a compelling tale that the audience can easily relate too, while providing escapist fantasy. The film still provides an enjoyable portrayal of medieval times, and provides enough historical facets to be thought provoking. References Anachronism. (N.D.) in Merriam-Websters Online Dictionary. Retrieved March 4, 2017, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anachronism Black, T. (Producer), Helgeland, B. (Producer), Van Rellim, T. (Producer) Helgeland, B. (Director). (2001) A Knights Tale [Motion picture]. United States: Columbia Pictures. Cetiner-Oktem, Z. (2009). Dreaming the Middle Ages: American Neomedievalism in A Knights Tale and Timeline. Interactions, (1), 43. McKenzie, A. (2017). Week 6: Neo-medievalism in Film: Chivalry Fountains: Knightly Chivalry and the Arthurian Tradition. [Online course slides] Retrieved on March 4, 2017, from https://conestoga.desire2learn.com/d2l/le/content/145142/viewContent/3017348/View McKenzie, A. (2017). Week 6: Neo-medievalism in Film: Chivalry Fountains: The Chivalric Code of Honour. [Online course slides] Retrieved on March 4, 2017, from https://conestoga.desire2learn.com/d2l/le/content/145142/viewContent/3017347/View

Push and Pull Factors in Business

Push and Pull Factors in Business Companies decide to go global and enter international markets for a variety of reasons, and these different objectives at the time of entry should produce different strategies, performance goals, and even forms of market participation. However, companies often follow a standard market entry and development strategy. The most common is sometimes referred to as the â€Å"increasing commitment† method of market development, in which market entry is done via an independent local partner. As business and confidence grows, a switch to a directly controlled subsidiary is often enacted. This internationalization approach results from a desire to build a business in the country-market as quickly as possible and by an initial desire to minimize risk coupled with the need to learn about the country and market from a low base of knowledge. International markets evolve rapidly and very often companies struggle to keep up in terms of their strategy. It is therefore reasonable to deduce that many companies’ international operations will consist of a collage of country market operations that pursue different objectives at any one time. This, in turn, suggests that most companies would adopt different entry modes for different markets. More commonly, however, is for companies to evolve a template that is followed in almost all markets. This usually starts with market entry via an indirect distribution channel, usually a local independent distributor or agent. Factors leading to wide acceptability of international business: The factors leading to the wide acceptability of international business are: Globalization of economics: The policy of liberalization was adopted which led to the globalization of various economics including the former communist countries and socialist pattern of the society. The globalization of economics has been instrumental in the growth of international business. Rapid technological advancement: Many firms have emerged up with innovated products or with improved process technology. With the demand for such products and technology being price-inelastic, these firms have moved abroad in order to reap large profits. The development of information technology has bought different countries closer and has encouraged firms to move abroad with the minimum of difficulties. Establishment of WTO: In today’s highly competitive globalized business environment, WTO is indispensable enables a country to attain the status of MFN clause which is required for scaling the international competitiveness and it implies that any concession given to any nation becomes available to all the member countries. Enlargement of European Union: Since 1991 the membership of EU has increased. It increased from 15 members to 27 members. This has also led to the promotion of internationalization of business. Increase in Competition: With increasing competition, firms have preferred not only to source raw material and intermediate goods from the least-cost country but also to set up their units in different countries, which minimises the cost of operation and reduces financial risk. The growing concept of cost minimization and risk reduction, with a view to surviving in a competitive environment, has led to rapid growth of the internationalization process. Higher growth rate of GDP in developing countries: Higher growth rate of GDP of China, India, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Brazil and Mexico and other developing countries has also been one of the significant factors for changing scenario of international business. Increase in business alliance In degree and variety: During last 15 years international business alliances, joint ventures, mergers, amalgamations and takeovers have occurred in the world by the companies of different countries. This has further led to widening of international business. Increase in educational and career orientation opportunities: These factors resulted in enhancement of opportunities for higher value addition in developing countries. The developing countries started attracting multinational companies to establish their businesses in their countries. Why companies engage in international business? There are several drivers of international business. The driving forces that motivate companies to go global can be classified into pull forces and push forces. The pull forces are proactive which pull the business to foreign markets. The push forces on the other hand are reactive forces which promote the companies to go international. Pull/ Proactive Forces- Attractiveness of the Foreign Markets: Profit advantage due to increase in volume: For companies, mostly in the developed countries, which have been operating below their capacities, the developing markets offer immense opportunities to increase their sales and profits. Low wage/ cheap labour attraction: Many multinational companies (MNCs) are locating their subsidiaries in low wage and low cost countries to take advantage of low cost production. Taking advantage of growth opportunities: MNCs are getting increasingly interested in a number of developing countries as the income and population are rapidly rising in these countries. Foreign markets, in both developed country and developing country, provide enormous growth opportunities for the developing country firms too. Growth of regional trading blocs: Regional trading blocs are adding to the pace of globalization. WTO, EU, NAFTA, MERCOSUR and FTAA are major alliances among the countries. Trading blocs seek to promote international business by removing trade and investment barriers. Integration among countries results in efficient allocation of resources throughout the trading area, promoting growth of some business and decline of others, development of new technologies and products, and elimination of old. Declining trade and investment barriers: Declining trade and investment barriers have vastly contributed to globalization. The free trade regime, business across the globe has grown considerably. Goods, services, capital and technology are moving across the nations significantly. Push/ Reactive Forces- Compulsion of the Domestic Market: Saturation of domestic demand: The market for a number of products tends to saturate or decline in the advanced countries. This often happens when the market potential has been almost fully tapped. For example, the fall in the birth rate implies contraction of market for several baby products. Businesses undertake international operations in order to expand sales, acquire resources from foreign countries, or diversify their activities to discover the lucrative opportunities in other countries. Scale economies and technological revolution: Economies of scale are reductions in unit production costs resulting from large-scale operations. The technological advances have increased the size of the optimum scale of operation substantially in many industries making it necessary to- have foreign market, in addition to the domestic market, to take advantage of scale economies. Technological revolution: Revolution is a right word which can best describe the pace at which technology has changed in the recent past and is continuing to change. Significant developments are being witnessed in communication, transportation and information processing, including the emergence of the internet and the World Wide Web. Domestic recession: Domestic recession often provokes companies to explore foreign markets. One of the factors which prompted the Hindustan Machine Ltd. (HMT) to take up exports very seriously was the recession in the home market in the late 1960s. Competition as driving force: Competition may become a driving force behind internationalization. There might be intense competition in the home market but little in certain foreign countries. A protected market does not normally motivate companies to seek business outside the home market. Government policies and regulations: Government policies and regulations may also motivate internationalization. There are both positive and negative factors which could cause internationalization. Many governments offer a number of incentives and other positive support to domestic companies to export and to invest in foreign investment. Improving image of the companies: International business has certain spin-offs too. It may help the company to improve its domestic business; international business helps to improve the image of the company. There may be the ‘white skin’ advantage associated with exporting- when domestic consumers get to know that the company is selling a significant portion of the production abroad, they will be more inclined to buy from such a company. Strategic vision: The systematic and growing internationalisation of many companies is essentially a part of their business policy or dtrategic management. The stimulus for internationalisation comes from the urge to grow, the need to become more competitive, the need to diversify and to gain strategic advantages of internationalisation. Importance of International Business: High living standards: Comparative cost theory indicates that the countries which have the advantage of raw materials, human resources, natural resources and climatic conditions in producing particular goods can produce the products at low cost and also of high quality. Increased Socio-Economic Welfare: International business enhances consumption level, and economic welfare of the people of the trading countries. For example, the people of China are now enjoying a variety of products of various countries than before as China has been actively involved in international business like Coca-Cola, McDonald’s range of products, electronic products of Japan and coffee from Brazil. Wider Market: International business widens the market and increase the market size. Therefore, the companies need not depend on the demand for the product in a single country or customer’s tastes and preferences of a single country. Reduced effect of Business Cycles: The stages of business cycles vary from country to country. Therefore, MNCs shift from the country, experiencing a recession to the country experiencing ‘boom’ conditions. Thus, international business firms can escape from the recessionary conditions. Reduced risks: Both commercial and political risks are reduced for the companies engaged in international business due to spread in different countries. Large scale economies: Multinational companies due to wider and larger markets produce larger quantities, which provide the benefit of large-scale economies like reduced cost of production, availability of expertise, quality, etc. Potential untapped markets: International business provides the chance of exploring and exploiting the potential markets which are untapped so far. These markets provide the opportunity of selling the product at a higher price than in domestic markets. Provides the opportunity for and challenge to domestic business: International business firms provide the opportunities to the domestic companies. These opportunities include technology, management expertise, market intelligence, product developments, etc. Division of labour and specialisation: International business leads to division of labour and specialisation. Brazil specializes in coffee, Kenya in tea, Japan in automobiles and electronics. India in textiles garments, etc. Economic growth of the World: Specialisation, division of labour, enhancement of productivity, posing challenges, development to meet them, innovations and creations to meet the competition lead to overall economic growth of the world nations. Optimum and proper utilisation of World Resources: International business provides for the flow of raw materials, natural resources and human resources from the countries where they are in excess supply to those countries which are in short supply or need most. Cultural Transformation: International business benefits are not purely economical or commercial; they are even social and cultural. It does not mean that the good cultural factors and values of the East are acquired by the West and vice versa. Thus, there is a close cultural transformation and integration. Knitting the World into a Closely Interactive Traditional Village: International business ultimately knits the global economies, societies and countries into a closely interactive and traditional village where one is for all and all are for one.

Playing God in Mary Shelleys Frankenstein Essay -- Frankenstein 2014

In his Poetics, Aristotle defines the tragic hero as a man of high social status who invites the gods to punish him through overbearing pride and/or presumption – hubris. It would be simple to assign the label of hubristic tragic hero to Victor Frankenstein, but such assignment of a label would be an oversimplification. The gods in Greek drama punish, albeit harshly, in an outright manner. The tragic figure is aware that the gods have forsaken him, and he resigns to live his life under the demands of retribution. Victor Frankenstein’s fate is not so simple; fate is crueler to Victor and more spiteful than he could ever be to the heavens. The question that precedes all others, however, is who is or what acts as god in Frankenstein. It is safe to assume that Victor Frankenstein’s god is that of the Christian tradition, although interestingly, he never truly mentions it as such. Instead, he invokes the spirits of nature and swears by the â€Å"sacred earth on which [he] kneel[s]† that he will get his revenge (Shelley 173); so it is only fitting that it is nature or the laws of nature that feel offended by Victor’s transgression and his vulgar presumption that he can emulate its force. What drives Victor to do so is a complicated issue, but what is rather clear is that the setting of the novel is ideal for such a crime. The distinction between nature’s powers and godly powers is a relatively new concept. For many ancient cultures, nature was inexorably tied to the ultimate spirit; and although men could speak to the spirits, they were in no way like the spirits. Before altering any object in nature, one needed permission from these spirits. This changed with the growth of Christianity: â€Å"Christian... ...Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology. Ed. Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold Fromm. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1996. 15-29. Mounce, H.O. Hume’s Naturalism. New York: Routledge, 1999. Reich, Lou. Hume’s Religious Naturalism. Lanham: University Press of America, Inc., 1998. Shelley, Mary. Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism: Frankenstein. Ed. Johanna Smith. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000. 28-189. Sherwin, Paul. â€Å"Relativism and Literary Criticism: The Case of Frankenstein.† Aspects of Relativism: Moral, Cognitive, and Literary. Ed. James E. Bayley. Lanham: University Press of America, Inc., 1992. 25-39. White, Lynn. â€Å"The Historical Roots of our Ecological Crisis.† The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology. Ed. Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold Fromm. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1996. 3-14. .

Suffering Patients Need Medical Marijuana Essay -- Argumentative Persu

Suffering Patients Need Medical Marijuana If a doctor told you that you could either go blind in three years from glaucoma or break the law by smoking pot, which would you choose? If marijuana could prolong your life by allowing you to continue cancer chemotherapy without the unending vomiting and nausea, would you consider it? If cannabis could stop epileptic seizures that had plagued you since childhood, would you use it? This medicine can benefit patients suffering from these and many other afflictions, but it is being withheld; they are being denied a right granted to all living things—that of self-preservation. â€Å"It’s not about drugs, it’s about letting men fight,† George McMahon told me when I was fortunate enough to speak with him about cannabis prohibition. McMahon is one of the last eight people in the United States currently receiving medical marijuana from the federal government. George was born with the need for drugs to help his condition—Nail Patella Syndrome (a rare neurological disorder). By the age of one he was being given beer, opiates before the age three, and had two forced addictions, to codeine and morphine, by the age of fourteen. He’s had every drug in the book, but marijuana is the one that helps: â€Å"This is damn good medicine, and it works the same every time.† George was able to obtain marijuana through the federally regulated Investigational New Drug (IND) program, but it took him over two years to get past the repetitious paperwork. Few individuals were lucky enough to enter the program, and many didn’t last through the application period: â€Å"A lot of people tried to get in, and most of them have died,† says George. Later, 34 patients were approved for the program but were de... ...eting and Interviews (CBC). San Francisco, June 7, 1996. Gorman, Peter. â€Å"Marijuana and AIDS.† High Times Dec. 1994: 26+. Grinspoon, Lester, M.D., and James B. Bakalar. Marihuana: The Forbidden Medicine. New Haven: Yale UP, 1993. Leveritt, Mara. â€Å"Reefer Madness: Pot’s Tab in the War On Drugs.† The Arkansas Times. 16 September, 1993: 11-12. Available: http://www.calyx.net/~olsen/MEDICAL â€Å"Medical Marijuana in Australia.† Alliance for Cannabis Therapeutics News. Spring 1995. Available: http://www.calyx.net/~olsen/MEDICAL McMahon, George. Telephone Interview, May 30, 1996. National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). Marijuana Prohibition: A Colossal Failure. Washington D.C., 1995. Young, Francis L. â€Å"In The Matter of MDMA Scheduling.† Docket No. 84-48. May 22, 1986. Available: http://www.damicon.fi/drugs/mdma.scheduling.html

Last Tango in Paris

  Paul is an American trying to recover from the death of his French prostitute wife. Although he resents her for what she has done to him, he can never overcome his love for her, leading him to a life of contrasting emotions. We know those emotions due to the many reoccurring motifs seen throughout the film. In the film, it is understood that Paul is in a state of confusion that is unbeknownst to us at the time, through Bertolucci capturing him in low-key lighting. In many scenes of the first act of the film, the audience is unable to look at Paul’s face completely due to the overwhelming presence of shadows.For example, when Jeanne goes up to the apartment for the first time she is startled by Paul sitting alone in an empty room in the dark. He is unsure of who he is at this point in his life, if he doesn’t know that, then how or why should anyone else. Shadows are a great way to portray this to an audience because they are only limited to how much they can see of h im. Searching for answers to who you are is a big theme for both characters in the film; the eyes are the best way to read a person. Throughout the film Paul and Jeanne are looking through multiple windows and doorways.Another motif used in the film to display Paul’s uncertainty is having by having him constantly in a scene where Paul and the audience are capable of seeing a reflection of his face, most notably a mirror. His reflection allows to Paul to look at himself and try and figure out who he is or what he has done in the past. There are 2 instances where I believe the inclusion of a mirror and reflection made the scenes unforgettable, the first is the disturbing â€Å"butter† scene, and the second is at the conclusion of the film where Jeanne and Paul are at the Tango competition.I see the mirrors as a fore-shadow that a different emotion or â€Å"personality† is present of Paul. In the first scene mentioned, nothing seemed out of the ordinary when Jeanne came back, Paul was 2 sitting by himself eating, but she opens a dresser door and we see the reflection of devilish look on Paul’s face. An uneasy feeling takes over, and something odd is going to occur. The second scene is the scene in the Tango hall, with mirrors lining up the walls inside, the feeling of something unknown returns.Of course, by the end of the film Paul has completely changed, and wants to start a new life with Jeanne, but he has only become obsessed with her and chases her down the streets of Paris. What makes this so powerful is that the audience is left thinking whether he is the same way he as the entire film or is he actually the person he sees in the mirror at the end. What makes the character of Paul so unique and interesting is all the different emotions this man has gone through in his recent years.There are times when he is lonely, confused, happy, sad, and especially scared, it seems that at any moment he can change into a different mood. When Pa ul and Jeanne first meet, Paul already has a wall up from getting to know another women, because he has been deeply scarred by his wife’s affairs, Paul had lost his belief in love. He is terrified to open up and talk to Jeanne on a more personal level; Jeanne only tells him her name right before Paul is shot. The risk of being hurt by another women is the reason why Paul always preferred never to talk about there past personal lives.

History of Mathematics Essay

â€Å"Mathematics – the unshaken Foundation of Sciences, and the plentiful Fountain of Advantage to human affairs. † (Barrow) Mathematics plays an integral function in our daily living since its conception, and we thank the great mathematicians for this essential tool. Mathematics has been used in various professions and academic fields. Undoubtedly, there have been many men of old that have contributed to the science of mathematics, but what really captivates our interest, are the ones who were passionate – who dedicated their lives to the study of mathematics; the originators of various fields of mathematics who displayed remarkable work. I have narrowed the list of the top three mathematicians who I have deemed worthy of being named the Greatest Mathematician based on: 1) passion, and 2) originality of outstanding work. A fitting decisive factor – passion explains how great mathematicians of old truly demonstrated their intense commitment to this science. They have dedicated their lives to practicing mathematics, down to their deaths. Historical accounts have described their deep interest in mathematical principles, persistence in solving problems and the ecstatic reaction of achievement when successful. It is their absolute love and pride for the science that we have come to respect. It is required that one follows specific mathematical principles and formulas in order to solve problems. This we take for granted, thus failing to appreciate the originality of these mathematicians. However, being original is what has shaped the history of mathematics. The past original work of great mathematicians has allowed for the development of new and/or advanced theories, formulas, and principles. Their mathematical discoveries have been used in many scientific disciplines such as physics and chemistry. It is therefore relevant that we explore the original work of these mathematical pioneers. Without a doubt, there are many great mathematicians of old; however, the mathematicians that I have chosen were, in my eye, truly passionate about their work, innovative, and overall, notable in advancing mathematical success. The three leading candidates I have chosen are: Archimedes, Blaise Pascal, and Isaac Newton. Archimedes – a well rounded Greek scholar – â€Å"made revolutionary discoveries in mathematics, physics and engineering. † (Kochman) Not much is known about his life; however, he was renowned for his passion, innovation, and work in mathematics. Archimedes was a passionate mathematician right down to his death. Archimedes was said to have a great amount of concentration when engaged in mathematical problems, to point where he would be unaware of the things happening around him. He would often avoid his food, bath and even be undressed until he was through with his work. He would even draw geometrical figures on any surface possible. His great passion for mathematics sadly led to his death. â€Å"Archimedes was so deep in thought that he was unaware the city was being looted by the Romans. He may not have even noticed the Roman soldier who approached him as he drew diagrams in the dirt. † (Hanson) It was reported that while deep in his mathematical work, Archimedes was disturbed by the soldier who then killed the mathematician with his sword. Archimedes passion for mathematics was him living and dying in mathematical thought. Archimedes was well-known for his original works in mechanical engineering, but he also made great contributions to mathematics. Archimedes was associated with the Method of Exhaustion, Method of Compression, and the Mechanical Method. Despite not creating some theories on his own, what made Archimedes original, was the fact that he would take â€Å"particular discoveries made by his predecessors†¦extending them in new directions. † (Cosimo Classics) A great example of this is his use of the Method of Exhaustion. He was the first person to use this method to estimate the area of a circle. As the creator of the Mechanical Method, he used it to find the area of a parabola, volume of a sphere, and the surface area of a sphere. He â€Å"produced several theorems that became widely known throughout the world. He is credited with producing some of the principles of calculus long before Newton and Leibniz. He worked out ways of squaring the circle and computing areas of several curved regions. His interest in mechanics is credited with influencing his mathematical reasoning, which he used in devising new mathematical theorems. He proved that the surface area and volume of a sphere are two-thirds that of its circumscribing cylinder. † (Archimedes) Blaise Pascal was a French mathematician who spent the majority of his short but remarkable life practicing mathematics. Pascal’s passion for mathematics was intertwined with his outstanding work in the field. Like Archimedes, he used the studies of his predecessors, but perfected it. This is with the cases of Pascal’s arithmetic triangle and the probability theory. Pascal’s passion for mathematics began from his pre-teen years. It has been claimed that the 12 year old Pascal was found playing with pieces of folded paper and later realized that the â€Å"sum of the angles in any triangle is equal to 180?. † (Gilbert and Gilbert) By age 14, he was actively involved with French mathematicians, and by 16, â€Å"he had established significant results in projective geometry, and began developing a calculator to facilitate his father’s work of auditing chaotic government tax records. † (Gilbert and Gilbert) He showed great passion when he spent 10 years of his life perfecting the Pascaline calculator, building over 50 versions. In spite of a near death experience which changed his course from a mathematician to a theologian, Pascal still had great passion for his first love – mathematics. According to historians, â€Å"Pascal suffered a toothache, which kept him awake at night. In an effort to take his mind off the pain he focused on the cycloid, the curve traced by a point on the circumference of a rolling circle. Pascal solved the problem of the area of any segment of the cycloid and the center of gravity of any segment. He also solved the problems of the volume and surface area of the solid of revolution formed by rotating the cycloid about the x-axis. †