System Thinking

System thinking is a complex element, which implies how one of the systems’ parts influences the other essential constituents of the system (Meadows, 2008). Moreover, it is evident that system thinking is a core contributor to the cultivation of the learning organization (Senge, 1990).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on System Thinking specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In this instance, I understand that the small issues on the lower levels affect the performance of the organization, and considering them remains a necessity for the organizational performance of the whole organization. The system thinking allows avoiding adverse consequences and improving company’s sustainability. As for the interludes, Meadows uses them to emphasize the significance of the existing problems since the system thinking might affect the original purpose of the objects and activities (2008). I claim that this technique remai ns efficient, as it helps understand that one small event can contribute to the changes of the purposes and structure of the whole organization with the assistance of the case scenarios. I consider the interlude the Blind Men and the Matter of the Elephant as the most applicable in the context of my organization, as sometimes people have a tendency to see particular parts of the enterprise only and are not able to interrelate them to each other systematically. The system has to be considered as a composite body, which functions as one organism. Sometimes change is essentiality due to the alteration of the flow of the events in the marketplace (Wilson Ralston, 2006). Moreover, understanding that the modifications in the flow of the routine processes might be the case of the changes to the performance of the organization. In this instance, the maintenance and sufficient monitoring of the stages remains an essentiality (Harvard Business School Press and the Society for Human Resource Management, 2006). Lastly, taking into account the organization as a sophisticated mechanism leads to the optimization of all processes, as they lead to the common goal. Apple is one of the examples of the companies, which utilize system thinking as a primary strategy for the innovation and product development. Application of this technique was essential for the business’ sustainability. It is evident that system thinking causes alteration to the initial routine stages (Case, 2010). As taking into account the specific steps, it is apparent that I consider these processes necessary, as the flow of the events, especially, if they contribute to the achievement of the common goal.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More However, it is evident that they are done automatically since they are considered as routine activities. In this instance, any changes might be a potential reason for the development of uncertainty, as the flow of the events will be modified. In this case, the alternative actions have to be considered as a possibility since they will contribute to the development of the understanding that alterations are a necessity to improve the quality of the processes. As for the ‘aha’ moment, the vehement implementation of the system thinking as a global phenomenon, as all of the business entities, institutions, and so on are interdependent (Mark Alpert, 2010). The global orientation of the system thinking is surprising. It emphasizes the presence of the world as a complex functioning system, which consists of co-dependent elements. Nonetheless, in conclusion, system thinking is an essentiality, as it contributes to the positive changes in the organization. Moreover, it has to be considered on the global level, as the complexity of the world cannot be underestimated. It is evident that one part of the mechanism can highly change the flow of the events. It is apparent that the effect will be dramatic since one small alteration leads to the development of the different movement of events and adjustments in the everyday actions. References [Case]. (2010, June 10). â€Å"Systems thinking, complexity theory and management† by David C. Aron, M.D., M.S. [Video File]. Web. Harvard Business School Press and the Society for Human Resource Management (2006). The essentials of strategy. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing. [Mark Alpert]. (2010, Aug. 13). Peter Senge: 2010 systems thinking in action conference preview. [Video File]. Meadows, D. (2008). Thinking in systems: A primer. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on System Thinking specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Senge, P. (1990). The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization. New York, NY: Crown Publishing Group. Wi lson, I., Ralston, W. (2006). The scenario planning handbook. Mason, OH: Thomson/South-Western. This essay on System Thinking was written and submitted by user Allison H. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Competitors Of Tui Based On Market Share Tourism Essay Essay Example

Competitors Of Tui Based On Market Share Tourism Essay Essay Example Competitors Of Tui Based On Market Share Tourism Essay Essay Competitors Of Tui Based On Market Share Tourism Essay Essay The undertaking of the undermentioned assignment is taking a strategic tantrum for a bundle vacation company. A bundle vacation company is defined as one that offers lower limit of travel and adjustment in a individual bundle. One company that operates internationally and offers minimal bundle of travel and adjustment is TUI Travel. TUI is the universe s prima international leisure travel company runing in four different sectors ( tuitravelplc.com ) The chief rivals of TUI based on Market portion are: Carlson Wagonlit Travel Thomas Cook plc. Travelport Ltd Vision Statement Our vision is Making Travel Experiences Special ( tuitravelplc.com ) Undertaking A: Market Environment Analysis In order to analyze the market environment proper analytical tools should be chosen: PESTLE Analysis for Macro Environment Porter s five forces for Micro Environment PESTLE Analysis Political Factors Changes in the revenue enhancement policy of the authorities in UK, such as addition in VAT per centum by 2.5 % may hold a negative impact on inward touristry in UK as the monetary values of trade goods will lift. Besides, 24 % Britishers claim that addition in VAT will besides take to expensive staycations ( Casal 2011 ) Unstable Political environment can earnestly impact the touristry industry of a state as the travellers fear for their safety and tend to avoid that state. Such as recent Political rebellion in mid E has lead to 50 % cancellations in Arab states ( Zablit 2011 ) . Security and safety concerns have major impact on touristry industry. Terrorist onslaughts of 9/11 in US led to 10 % autumn in demand for travel and touristry ( Bennett and Barry n.d. ) . Such onslaughts besides raise a inquiry on national security of the state and stifle the tourer s assurance. Economic Factors Recession: UK s program to emerge out of recession may merely be stretched farther as the recent political rebellions in Middle East and catastrophe struck Japan may hold prolong effects on the universe economic system, impacting the touristry industry every bit good. In steps to maintain family budgets low, households are looking into more of domestic shore vacations, besides stated as staycations. In twelvemonth 2009 there was a lessening by 14 % in abroad vacations in UK, whereas the domestic shore market rose by 5 % ( Mintel Report 2010 ) . Currency Fluctuations: In the twelvemonth 2008 there was opposition amongst the US visitants for the UK due to strong Pound. Against the dollar, Pound was at biennial low. ( Ashby 2008 ) Looking at the tabular array 1, which shows Dollar beef uping against the lb in the recent old ages, may pull tourers from US. Furthermore, beef uping of Euro and Dollar can be stated as a cause for escalated involvement in staycations and a concern for outward touristry from UK. Table 1: Currency Monetary values for last 5 old ages, with basal currency being Pound ( ? ) ( Beginning: XE.com ) Fuel Monetary values: Year Euro Dollar 2006 69 P 57p 2007 68p 51p 2008 76p 49p 2009 92p 71p 2010 90p 66p The Oil monetary values rose to $ 120 per barrel in February 2011 due to political rebellion in Middle East and have left air hoses worried. International Airlines Group has decided to cut back by winging less frequently. IAG s CEO said if the fuel monetary values do non withdraw the ultimate consequence would be on menus ( Milmo 2011 ) . This would take to increase in packaged vacations monetary values. Social Factors: Demographics: Mintel study 2009 suggests that the diminution in mean families is projected to go on whereas 5 % growing in 1-3 individual families. It states about 48 % of 1 member household went on a vacation as compared to 68 % of marries, 60 % of three individual and 70 % of four families. ( Mintel Report 2010 ) Table2: Showing % alteration in families in UK. ( Beginning: Mintel Report 2010 ) By 2031 it is projected that the individual families ( chiefly people over 55 ) will consist of 18 % of the entire families in UK. Therefore it would be a major market for the bundle operators ( Communities 2009 ) Health concerns. 2004 2009 2014 % Change % Change Meter Meter Meter 2004-09 2009-14 One-person families 7.6 8.35 8.8 9.9 5.4 2 individual 8.96 9.54 10.02 6.5 5 3 individual 3.95 3.97 4.15 0.5 4.5 4 individual 3.3 3.31 3.33 0.3 0.6 5+ individual 1.67 1.65 1.64 -1.2 -0.6 Entire families 25.48 26.81 27.93 5.2 4.2 Continued concerns over wellness and hygiene are seen amongst UK occupants. The eruption of Foot and Mouth disease in twelvemonth 2001 led to 16 % autumn in visitant outgo in UK taking to negative images of Britain as a vacation finish ( Pasty 2003 ) . But, with the upcoming Olympic gamess 2012 and Royal Wedding in 2011 will take to high volume of tourers sing UK. Aging Population. As per the National statistics organisation ( 2010 ) there were one in five people of retirement age in the UK. As the population is ageing there will be an excess cost for the companies who offer pension strategies to their employees so that their staff lives longer ( Oxford University Press 2007 ) . Technological Factors Internet: In UK there were 20 million Internet endorsers out of 27 million families. High Level of Internet incursion is a cardinal lending factor to online travel retailors executing better. Online gross revenues of travel retail merchandise represented 34 % of the entire gross revenues. This besides has led to fierce competition amongst the participants as the clients are looking for inexpensive holiday bundles, 3rd most of import factor when choosing vacation bundle ( Euromonitor ) Better Technology: Latest engineering promotions in sectors such as technology, air hose industry, conveyance, substructure etc. such as coming of luxury rider planes such as Airbus A380 and Boeing s 787, Eurostar via Eurotunnel have made cross boundary line travel easier and swifter than of all time. Legal Factors Emissions Trading Scheme: This strategy was presented in the twelvemonth 2003 for EU in-order to control C emanation. In 2008 amendments were made to this strategy, including the air power activities as good. It means the aircraft operators will be capable to a cap and will hold to pay allowance to cover their emanations. This could hold an upward impact on the monetary values of vacation bundles ( Euro Monitor ) . Open Skies Agreement: Signed between EU and US in the mid 2008 leting and air hose from the EU or the US to any topographic point between EU and US. ( Euro Monitor ) This allows the clients to wing with their pick of air hose and therefore can assist cut down costs because of competition amongst the operators. Environmental Factors Ethical Consumerism The Ethical Purchasing Index states that the ethical buying has grown phenomenally with entire market valued at ?30million. Eco Holidays, Fair trade vacations have experienced exceeding growing due to the rasing concern sing the environment amongst the people ( Mintel Report 2005 ) . Green Enterprises: In today s universe it is impossible for the travel and touristry industry to disregard the turning concerns over environment. In a study in twelvemonth 2002, 85 % of the people said it is of import their holiday does non halter the environment. Due to this fact the bundle operators are alining themselves to go environment friendly ( Euro Monitor ) . Such as Thomas cook has now started to foreground about their services meeting responsible touristry standards ( Mintel Report 2005 ) Porters Five forces: Competitive Competition The four major participants in the market ( Thomson, MyTravel, First-Choice and Thomas Cook ) have, for figure of old ages, jostled each other for bigger market portion and net incomes have proved to be volatile ( Evans et al, 2003 ) . The major bundle vacation participants target different sections in the market such as, offering luxury holidaies, escapade holidaies etc. with some singularity every bit good. Package operators such as Thomson introduced their ain low cost airline- Thomson fly and dynamic packaging where clients can book their adjustment and flights individually ( Lueck 2005 ) The degree of client services affect when taking a company, if one offers better client service than others it helps in retaining clients. Therefore there is intense competition in the industry Menace of New Entrants: The entire outgo on vacations is expected to lift by about 22 % in 2014 from 2004 ( Mintel study, 2010 ) doing the touristry industry attractive one because of the market size. Yet, high degree of capital investing required aiming larger audience and the demand to distinguish Acts of the Apostless as a barrier to entry. And to add, exceed 10 companies control 70 % of the market. This reduces the monetary value revenge and keeps the economic systems of scale high. Findingss from Mintel study ( 2010 ) provinces Brand consciousness plays an of import function in bundle vacation industry and therefore can move as a barrier. Therefore menace of new entrant is low. Menace from Substitutes: Vacations can hold direct as good indirect replacements, such as alternatively of passing twosome of lbs on a hebdomad s holiday people might pass same sum of money on purchasing a auto or towards house extension. Therefore menace from replacements if moderate. Dickering Power of Suppliers: Supplier can hold high dialogue power over the companies holding little market portion, but in a market where 4 major participants control over 50 % of the market there is menace of backward integrating. Therefore the bargaining power of the providers is low Dickering Power of purchasers: Customers today have the option to book their vacations over the Internet they oculus to bring inexpensive trades. Respects to this the clients have more picks. But, due to low degree of distinction and lesser replacements make the bargaining power centrist. Critical Success Factor New Finishs: As per the Mintel study ( 2010 ) sing a new finish has seen highest growing in footings of per centum, 12 % . Topographic points that have hot conditions, beaches, landscapes, cultural heritage are a major hit amongst assorted demographics. Therefore in order to hold larger market portion it is of import for the bundle operators to continuously look to update their offering of finishs. It is of import for the circuit operators to offer short and medium draw vacation s finishs and domestic topographic points for holidaies, as it is the turning market as per the current statistics. ( Mintel Report 2010 ) Convenience: In today s technologically advanced universe where most of the population is the endorser to Internet, it is of import for travel agents to offer the clients with on-line booking installation. In UK itself out of 27 million families 20 1000000s are the Internet endorsers ( Euro Monitor ) . Mintel study ( 2010 ) provinces there was about 20 % growing in online engagement, manner more than any other method of booking vacations. Besides, a company should be easy searched over the Internet. Therefore the companies should optimise their web sites to make larger audience. Brand Value: It is of import to carry client to purchase bundle vacations. Here, trade name comes into the image. The recent volcanic eruption helped the bundle operators build on their trade name image and capitalising on what could go on if independent vacations are booked. Green enterprises: The turning concerns for the environment amongst the clients ( see Environmental factors in PEST ) have made travel operators take stock of the turning concern. Thomas cook has now started to foreground in their booklet that their services run into the responsible touristry standards. ( Euro Monitor )

Natural Mosquito Repellents

Natural Mosquito Repellents When I was pregnant, I wanted to avoid using toxic chemical insect repellents, yet the mosquitoes seemed to find me tastier than ever. My solution at that time was to wear what I called my DEET sheet, which was an old cotton sheet that had been sprayed with S.C. Johnsons Off! Deep Woods formula. While this was highly effective, it wasnt practical for use around kids, so I did research into safer, natural mosquito repellents. I learned that many so-called natural mosquito repellents dont repel mosquitoes (e.g., ultrasonic electronic devices), but some are backed by reputable research and really work. Key Takeaways The two ways to repel mosquitoes are to attract them away from you or to repel them directly.Mosquitoes are often repelled by plant essential oils, especially lemon eucalyptus oil.Even the best repellent may be compromised by a reaction with sunscreen, dilution in water, absorption into the skin, or evaporation into the air. Its important to re-apply repellent to maintain its effectiveness. Mosquitoes have complex methods of detecting hosts and different types of mosquitoes react to different stimuli. Most mosquitoes are active at dawn and dusk, but there are also mosquitoes that seek hosts during the day. You can avoid being bitten by making sure you arent attracting mosquitoes, using attractants to lure mosquitoes elsewhere, using a repellent, and avoiding actions that diminish the effectiveness of the repellent. Mosquito Attractants Use this list of items and activities that attract mosquitoes as a list of things to avoid or that can be used as bait to lure mosquitoes away from you. Dark ClothingMany mosquitoes use vision to locate hosts from a distance. Dark clothes and foliage are initial attractants.Carbon DioxideYou give off more carbon dioxide when you are hot or have been exercising. A burning candle or other fire is another source of carbon dioxide.Lactic AcidYou release more lactic acid when you have been exercising or after eating certain foods (e.g., salty foods, high-potassium foods).Floral or Fruity FragrancesIn addition to perfumes, hair products, and scented sunscreens, watch for the subtle floral fragrance from fabric softeners and dryer sheets.Skin TemperatureThe exact temperature depends on the type of mosquito. Many mosquitoes are attracted to the slightly cooler temperatures of the extremities.MoistureMosquitoes are attracted by perspiration because of the chemicals it contains and also because it increases the humidity around your body. Even small amounts of water (e.g., moist plants or mud puddles) will draw mosquitoes. Standing water also a llows mosquitoes to reproduce. Blood TypePerson with type O blood are more attractive to mosquitoes than those with A, B, or AB blood. This blood type is rare, but if you have a friend or family member with type O blood, mosquitoes (and the Red Cross) like them better than they like you. Natural Mosquito Repellents Its very easy to make your own natural mosquito repellent. These natural products will effectively repel mosquitoes, but they require more frequent reapplication (at least every 2 hours) and higher concentrations than DEET. Because of the differences between types of mosquitoes, products that contain multiple repellents tend to be more effective than those containing a single ingredient. As you can see, natural repellents tend to be volatile plant oils. Citronella OilLemon Eucalyptus OilCinnamon OilCastor OilRosemary OilLemongrass OilCedar OilPeppermint OilClove OilGeranium OilCatnip OilTobaccoNeem OilBirch Tree BarkPossibly Oils from Verbena, Pennyroyal, Lavender, Pine, Cajeput, Basil, Thyme, Allspice, Soybean, and Garlic Another plant-derived substance, pyrethrum, is an insecticide. Pyrethrum comes from the flowers of the daisy Chrysanthemum cinerariifolium. Things that Lower Repellent Effectiveness Despite your best efforts, you may be unintentionally sabotaging your repellents effectiveness. Mosquito repellent doesnt play nicely with: Many SunscreensDilution From Rain, Perspiration, or SwimmingAbsorption Into the SkinEvaporation From Wind or High Temperatures Keep in mind that natural does not automatically imply safe. Many people are sensitive to plant oils. Some natural insect repellents are actually toxic. Therefore, although natural repellents provide an alternative to synthetic chemicals, please remember to follow the manufacturers instructions when using these products. Source M. S. Fradin; J. F. Day (2002). Comparative Efficacy of Insect Repellents against Mosquito Bites. N Engl J Med. 347 (1): 13–18. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa011699

The War in Vietnam Dramatically Affected American Foreign Policy Essay

The War in Vietnam Dramatically Affected American Foreign Policy - Essay Example The War in Vietnam Dramatically Affected American Foreign Policy There was a significant increase of the focus on American foreign policy by the then president Lyndon Johnson after the conflict in Vietnam (Gallagher, 1). However, there were issues regarding statistics depicting that there were cases of racial discrimination; the foreign policy in America has undergone significant changes for a period leading to a reflection on their national interests. In fact, these changes were experienced after new revolutionary war, whereby America’s principal national interest was aimed at maintenance of independence from various countries in Europe. For instance, America has developed a significant foreign policy, which is supported by the Atlantic Ocean and typified through Monroe Doctrine. This foreign policy focuses on imposing constraints on European attempts to further colonization of the western hemisphere. Apparently, in America, formulation of these policy focuses on avoiding entanglement with other countries, thereby concentrating on developm ent of a nation covered the continent. These foreign policies have played a significant role in facilitating the process of industrialization, which focused on the foreign markets and colonies. Moreover, America managed to attain a minor level of imperial power by the end of twentieth century through war with territories such as Spain for Cuba, and with Philippines taking over Hawaii. (Mehmet, 1). On the other hand, the World War 1 involved Americans concerning European issues, though after the war, there was a form of isolation; for instance, Americans turned down the idea of joining the League of Nations, though it turned inward once again. Numerous issues and functions are taken by the foreign policy in America; for example, it focuses on establishment and maintenance of diplomatic relationships with other counties and international institutions such as United Nations (Mehmet, 1). The foreign policy has contributed in the process of maintaining peace, whereby America is able to work with their allies in a way that faci lities regional and international security. On the other hand, there are wide ranges of international economic issue that entail international trade and business that are affected by a change in foreign policy. Foreign policy has facilities involvement in issue such as aid and disaster relief, whereby American takes significant role of leadership these and other issue such as negotiation of treaties and maintaining peace. Therefore, America has taken an important function that involves seeking ways to address international economic and environmental issues. There are three branches involved formulation and implementation of foreign policy in America; in fact, these branches collaborate with necessary governmental institutions and agencies. On the other hand, this process involves the president and executives branches with the ultimate role of formulating and implementing

Analytical Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Analytical - Essay Example By understanding the effect of Confucianism on the culture of the people in china, we will be able to identify how the people in china think and relate with one another as compared to the western culture (Rainey, 100). Confucianism was developed on religion foundation with asn intention of establishing social values, transcendent and institutional ideas in the culture of the people in china. Master Kong was the founder of Confucianism. He however did not intent to develop a new religion but to revive and interpret the kind of religion presented by Zhou dynasty. Confucianism is either viewed as religion or philosophy. The approach encompasses humanism and neither slights nor denied heaven. The approach has impacted on the political nature and the spiritual life of many Chinese people (Zhang & Schwartz, 50). Confucius teaching has been followed by the people in china for many years. Its influence has been extended to neighboring regions like Japan, Korea and Vietnam. Confucianism has greatly influenced the way of life and the culture of the Chinese people. Most of the teaching of Confucius are still upheld and practiced in china to date. During the recent Olympics that was held in china, in the year 2008, a quote from Confucius was used when kicking off the ceremony (Rainey, 120). A performance was also presented by the Chinese community dressed in Confucius discipline. All these show the impact of his teaching on the culture of the people in china. Even though most of the temples in the china have been named after him, western people perceive it as not being a religion. There are no priests, god, churches or shrines and no one in china has been associated with the name Confucianist. He was more of a philosopher than a statesmanship. He lived during a period that china experienced a lot of conflicts and chaos. The question that existed at that time was to find better way of putting the

How Technology Affects Library Referencing Essay Example for Free

How Technology Affects Library Referencing Essay It is indeed obvious and true how technology generates most of the things that humans deal with today. The global economy as for example is being controlled by massive computer programs for the sake of considerable advancements for the human society. Alongside with this particular advancement, educational sectors also take advantage of the major innovations made through the use of science and technology. As for this matter, it could be noted that library referencing have also been recreated to be able to support the needs of the present generation from referencing the books that are available through the libraries. How is this possible? The existence of numerous technology-based systems that are primarily made to ease the problems of file-fixing in the field of library-based jobs entirely makes the jobs of the Librarians quite easy to deal with today. As it could be noticed, years before, librarians are expected to type in several details with regards a certain book in card catalogs. Not to mention, alphabetizing them and in tall and long ended cabinets is not that easy to do. The procedure indeed takes time and the filing up takes so much space form the library. Seeing this situation, it could be observed that the technological changes that are appreciated by the libraries of the present generation are now able to increase the capabilities of the libraries to hold more students in terms of space and enhance the skills of the librarian in meeting the issues that concern the students in terms of library-based queries since they already have time for this unlike that of the past years? Furthermore, the question: â€Å"How is this possible† points out to one particular focus of discussion; knowing that technology causes changes to the system of cataloging in the libraries, how do these procedures of filing the book-informations so far helpful both to the students and the librarian as well regardless of the obvious disadvantages mentioned earlier? How are the students able to benefit from the technology-fixed files and informations of books? Does technology really affect the procedures of referencing in the future? These questions are the primary discussions that shall be tackled within the context of this paper. Library and Technology Cataloging is an olden time procedure that is made to arrange the collection of books within libraries. Of course, since libraries are considered to have a large collection of reading materials, arranging them into categories helps in the process of researching for the students or plain readers alone. However, this procedure of arranging the files and taking notes of the information with regards a certain book takes much time and effort from the librarians that they are already incapable of doing the primary responsibility that they should be addressing in their profession, assisting the readers. Today, the development of technology aides in libraries have created a radical change within the systems of arranging the files as well as redefined the role of librarians in completing the tasks appointed for them to finish. Several operating systems are created to be bale to assist the librarians and the readers in browsing the books that are collected by a certain library. What is an operating system, and how does it help in the procedure of making cataloging much easier for librarians? What are Operating Systems? Every computer system is controlled by an operating system. A pre-programmed system controls the operations that the computer system is supposed to perform. This mainly pertains to the responsibilities of the computer and how it is able to complete the tasks that are further addressed to its performance. At present, the operating systems are referred to as computer programs that are supposed to manage both the hardware and software systems of the entire computer facilities. There are . five main tasks that the OS performs as a program: †¢Controlling and Allocating Memory This task mainly focuses on the capability of the computer programs to assimilate the memory priorities of the entire computer system. To allocate the memory means designating the memory priorities on which its performance is most needed. †¢Prioritizing System Requests Most of the time, the system follows a â€Å"first Come First Serve† arrangement. As a result, in multi tasking systems the operations are carried on basing on what request came first, and what has been allocated by the system to come in priority. †¢Controlling Input and Output Devices The input devices are the ones used to enter information within the computer memory while the output devices are the ones used to produce hardcopy of the informations entered within the system. The operating systems that is present within the computer makes it possible for the computer device to perform well and do as it is programmed to. †¢Facilitating Networking To be able to connect to others, networking the systems is needed. Once an operating system is programmed to perform such tasks, it would be able to connect two different systems together to be able to have a connected exchange of information and communication as well. †¢Managing Files To manage files means to arrange them on what part of the memory should be utilized by the files. It also sorts out the files with the necessary section of the computer memory should it be stored in. (Source: Warford, J. Stanley. (2005). Computer Systems. Jones Bartlett Publishers; 3rd edition.. )

The Fate of Women in The Birthmark Essay -- Birthmark Essays

The Fate of Women in â€Å"The Birthmark†Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Wilson Sullivan in â€Å"Nathaniel Hawthorne† in New England Men of Letters states that Nathaniel Hawthorne’s tale, â€Å"The Birthmark,† depicts the efforts â€Å"of a deranged scientist to obtain total perfection† in   his wife by removal of a facial blemish. In this story the scientist operates on the superficial level of the physical world, while the woman, the truly heroic woman, functions on the level of the heart and soul, the more significant level. She it is who in her virtue provides for the reader an example to live by, even though she loses her life in the process. This essay hopes to explore the status, role, attitude toward women and other such issues.    Alfred Kazin in the Introduction to Selected Short Stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne comments regarding the central idea in the author’s short stories: â€Å"In story after story the given element, the central and unifying element, is what moves and stirs within us, the mysterious springs of our every action, our â€Å"soul†(Kazin 14). The secret to understanding the role and concept of women in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s tale, â€Å"The Birthmark† lies in the reader’s appreciation of Kazin’s statement above. The woman who sets a shining example for the reader is a specialist in soul development, whereas her counterpart, the male scientist, is a scientist of the physical world only. Another literary critic, in â€Å"Hawthorne’s Use of Mythology,† relates his similar interpretation of the essence of Hawthorne’s stories: â€Å"Everything he has to say is related, finally, to ‘that inward sphere.’ For the heart is the meeting-place of all the forces – spiritual and physical, light and dark, that compete for dominance in man’s nature. . . .† (McPherson ... ...horne – A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by A.N. Kaul. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966.    McPherson, Hugo. â€Å"Hawthorne’s Use of Mythology.† In Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne, edited by Clarice Swisher. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1996.    Stewart, Randall. â€Å"Hawthorne’s Female Characters.† In Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne, edited by Clarice Swisher. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1996.    Sullivan, Wilson. â€Å"Nathaniel Hawthorne.† In New England Men of Letters. New York: Macmillan Co., 1972.    Swisher, Clarice. â€Å"Nathaniel Hawthorne: a Biography.† In Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne, edited by Clarice Swisher. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1996.    Williams, Stanley T. â€Å"Hawthorne’s Puritan Mind.† In Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne, edited by Clarice Swisher. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1996.   

Financial analysis of Vodafone Group plc

Vodafone Group plc is one of the best international tele-communications organisations where its caput one-fourth located in London, UK. Vodafone is the Earth major nomadic tele-communications corporation calculated by income in add-on to the planetary big size measured by endorsers, by agencies of about 300 million. Vodafone Group plc map its set of connexions in more than 35 states and incorporate associate spouse webs in more than 40 excess states. This group have ownership of 45 % of Verizon Wireless, one of the largest nomadic tele-communications corporations in the United States of America considered by clients. Vodafone group plc recommend an impregnable assortment of goods for clients, for staff and for concern Say like Connectivity, Mobile Emails, Mobil Connect, Remote Access, Mobile Applications etc†¦ Vodafone group plc web and nomadic equipment cognize how to acquire better a wide diverseness of trade process, industry more well-organized and efficient. Vodafone group dressed ore in assorted figure of centre part, together with communications within client Mobile forces, informations collected plants and converse to the clients straight. Vodafone Plc engaged with a batch of most of import fiscal services suppliers on concern mobility on the other manus, Vodafone group are besides capable to subject application mobility to major concern procedure for fiscal services clients. Vodafone plc have a duplicate set of reply intentionally for the financial sector that will be of aid to run concern in a self-motivated and baffled advertise place. The Major Rivals of Vodafone Group Plc are Deutsche Telekom, Telephonic Europe Orange. Each one Rival has their ain scope of Policies and rules to pull client but taking all this a side Vodafone Group captured universe market and took best topographic point in the universe broad Global market The Vodafone Group Plc sets out its Business doctrine in concert with some rules to give account how they are relevant in exercising. In adding together, the Vodafone Group besides tools a figure of concern policies which be relevant to all auxiliary and combined Ventures with an involvement. Below are some of the diagnostic catalogue of policies which are the most portion that are relevant and sustainability meeting docket. For the most portion on a regular basis requested by the Vodafone Group members of the Socially responsible followers are some of the declarative list of policies: AA Benefits Charitable contributions Communicationss Complying with anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws/requirements Corporate cordial reception Employee rights Equal chances Ethical buying Health & A ; safety etc are some of the policies Vodafone Group Plc comprehend that concern require a communications associate with declaration that to extent and accommodate commercialism demands. Business requires smart phones in favor of voice, electronic mail etc†¦ Business requires a to the full incorporated declaration that make possible splintering of paperss, conferences and entree to applications from any site. no affair what the size no affair what their require, Vodafone invariably give the feeling of being for new, imaginative ways to assist the concern clients take clasp of every opportunity in a straightforward manner As Global Market responds to increase velocity challenge, administrations are looking for to derive clear and well-versed observation of the chance so with the purpose of they can put bright stakes in conditions of large concern scheme and betterment. In instruct to appreciate energetic chances, Vodafone consider administrations have to look, off from their usual skylines, and utilize new-fangled combination of merely round the corner and forethought methodological analysiss.Review of Management Account:Management histories come together with histories passages, finance passages and direction cost passages which help the administration and directors to cognize the existent fiscal passages of the administration and undertaking every bit good. Management Histories give account the fiscal cost that occurs in concern determinations Management Accounting aid in prepare concern policy, look into the disbursement of administrations and fiscal manage It helps in carry out internal organizational audits. It explain the impact of competitory MarketThe direction accounting accomplishment set:Management Accounting is merely non more about finance it is moreAA add-on to the accounting basicss. Management AccountingAA analyse in order and by agencies of doing fiscal determination. Plan to explicate concern scheme to supply prosperity and portion holder value. Identifying Hazards Supplying about budgets Communication to non fiscal directors about fiscal passageKey Method of Management Account:In today ‘s epoch itaa‚ ¬a„?s a extremely competitory concern showground, a full empathetic of the rudimentss of direction accounting had become really necessary for doing of decision-successful. Methods of Management Accounting do available all directors, managers, decision makers and finance executive with a applied methodological analysis to understand and implement direction accounts the of import three chief countries are cost accounting, difference cost accounting and answerability accounting. Concentrating a lesser sum of on line point characteristic and more on practical pertinence, this clearly printed and maintained in book that provides cardinal cognition and apprehensions what need to do perfect, end oriented determinations doing. Management accounting chiefly concentrating on cost computations. Cost Performance. Different cost add-ons. Interest Cost. Activity based cost. Variable cost. Duty construction cost. Operating budget. Measuring and describing on existent cost etc†¦ When fiscal directors line directors favour fiscal picks deprived of to the full empathic them, their company lose competitory benefit and are obstructed from attainment their filled possible. Methods of Management Account shelters each and every characteristic of critical country of the administration.Analysis of Management accounting:Vodafone Group PLCWith the aid of direction accounting existent cost direct cost and indirect cost activity done in the administration can be known. Management comptrollers look for to keep up organisation for determination devising by supplying major information sing existent cost done in the administration and the scrutiny of finance activity helps the administration for determination devising. More to state with the aid of direction accounting internal determination devising can be done appropriate To categorise and work out costs of building which helps in managerial determination doing Management accounting brand available to gauge of disbursals and besides gives information about gross coevals, Management history helps in budgeting. It make available informations on where investing pick be able to be basal.It acknowledge drawback of the administration within the organisation and outside of the administration to be in bid of costs and administrate the hard currency flow of the administration. Estimating of Overheads say like fabrication cost. It provides exact fabrication disbursals done for peculiar undertaking. Management Accounting attempt to happen chances say like to do out revenue enhancement interruptions, likely cost investings and actions done in the foreign exchange which perchance will be oppressed by the administration. So on the whole, this sort of accounting lend a manus acknowledge all the of import and chief characteristic upon where a company ‘s judgement are based on. Management accounting helps immeasurably in supervising done in the corporation and is peculiarly helpful for directors for capturing every measure and do a determination semen once more needs to be complete for each and every section. Management accounting non merely calculates the costs other than besides happen out how to costs cut the hereafter disbursals because supplying information about disbursals are really of import for in the least of every concern. With the appropriate of cost accounting procedure pricing technique of inter nexus of the organisation will be better and keep good organisation and competition will be justified. On the other manus, many important capable constructs will be originate that how costs are worn to monetary value put in the land relationship. Say like, how cost calculated and to could you reiterate that size is ordinary cost and its operating expense that are allocated assorted direction accounting theoretical accounts take history of to the full dispersed monetary value and cost methods. Jamison, make available a methodical conversation and probe of assorted and other direction accounting methods. A cardinal unsimilarity flanked by cost theoretical accounts is how cost is created utilizing cost information. Management Accounting is really of import and utile for monetary value determination. For illustration Organization sells assorted merchandises that are really important with different characteristics for this type of merchandises market leaders are traveling to repair the merchandising monetary value taking this in to consideration the pricing determination done in the organisation is straight influenced to that merchandise.Strength and failing of direction AccountingStrength of direction accounting:The most of import input of direction accounting is to extinguish the programme direction. Management accounting, the industry public presentation are maintaining up methodically by manner of well-organized readying and disposal by this means stay off from over operational working in full of activity periods. It makes possible the administration to get the uttermost homecoming on capital supplying good planning. Cost Accounting helps the direction to acquire better its service supplying to the clients by describing to a uninterrupted consequences with all the needed criterions.Weakness of Management Accounting:First, taking sides for the most portion Management Accounting cost are gauging. I can state that it is a spot tough that some may non hold the same sentiment with quantitative constructs. In realistic, direction accounting is second-hand in put together scheme, better optimal use of resources say like Man, Machinery get ready for budget declaration but at a standstill direction accounting may non assist the administration for determination devising. It good thought-out extra method of direction accounting control from side to side scrutiny and observation. This construct limits the major range of Accounting.

Homecoming Essay

â€Å"Homecoming Queen† redirects here. For the thoroughbred racehorse, see Homecoming Queen (horse). Homecoming is the tradition of welcoming back alumni of a school. It most commonly refers to a tradition in many universities, colleges and high schools in the USA. It usually includes activities for students and alumni, such as sports and culture events and a parade through the streets of the city or town. Contents [hide] 1 United States 1.1 Origins 1.1.1 Baylor University 1.1.2 University of Illinois 1.1.3 University of Missouri 1.2 Traditions 1.2.1 Homecoming Court 1.2.2 Parade 1.2.3 Tailgate 1.2.4 Picnic 1.2.5 Dress-up days 1.2.6 Rallies 1.2.7 Homecoming dance 1.3 Competitions 1.4 Smaller school homecomings 1.5 Courtwarming 2 Canada 3 Other 4 See also 5 References United States[edit source | editbeta]Homecoming is an annual tradition of the United States. People, towns, high schools and colleges come together, usually in late September or early October, to welcome back alumni and  former residents. It is built around a central event, such as a banquet and, most often, a game of American football, or, on occasion, basketball, ice hockey or soccer. When celebrated by schools, the activities vary widely. However, they usually consist of a football game played on a school’s home football field, activities for students and alumni, a parade featuring the school’s marching band and sports teams, and the coronation of a Homecoming Queen (and at many schools, a Homecoming King). A dance commonly follows the game. When attached to a football game, Homecoming traditionally occurs on the team’s return from the longest road trip of the season. The game itself, whether it be football or another sport, will typically feature the home team playing a considerably weaker opponent. The game is supposed to be an â€Å"easy win† and thus weaker schools will sometimes play lower division schools. Origins[edit source | editbeta]The tradition of Homecoming has its origins in alumni football games held at colleges and universities since the mid-1800s. Many schools lay claim to having the first Homecoming,[1] but several seem to have the strongest claims. Baylor University[edit source | editbeta]Baylor University in Waco, Texas has a homecoming history that dates back to 1909 including what

Kosher Chinese Living, Teaching, and Eating with Chinas Other Billion

Kosher Chinese Living, Teaching, and Eating with Chinas Other Billion 1. Kosher Chinese is a memoir of an American who worked for the Peace Corps in China, teaching English at a local university.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Kosher Chinese: Living, Teaching, and Eating with Chinas Other Billion specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More During his two-year stay in the country, in which he taught English speaking to his beginner class and Postmodern Literature to older students at the at the Guiyang University in the heart of Chinas mainland, Levy has such an amazing and adventurous experience that he decides to put it in a book. In writing the book, Levy aims to narrate his experiences while working in China, especially how he struggles to create a balance between respect for another culture, which is in no way lesser to his own, and the wish to share his own experiences and outlook of his American culture. He recalls how he fails many times to strike the right balance and frequently talks ab out a cynical Australian he met who told him, â€Å"†¦ and theyll [the Chinese] take what they need from you even if you don’t want to give it† (Levy, pp. 122). He encounters aspects of the Chinese culture that are sometimes hilarious, such as eating a millipede dinner , and in other times outrageous, like witnessing the horrendous case of animal abuse at one of the markets in Guiyang. Overall, Kosher concentrates on the cultural differences between Americans and Chinese and how he overcomes some of them, albeit with some challenges. 2. What role(s) does food play in the adventures and experiences of the author in China? Give at least three examples using quotes and page numbers. Food plays a very important role in Levy’s experiences in China, particularly his experiences with eating unfamiliar foods, such as millipedes, chicken feet, and dogs. These experiences point to his further struggles with adopting to the new culture and add a twist of humour to the book. At the beginning of the book, he describes how he refused to eat fried millipedes.Advertising Looking for essay on ethnicity studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This first uncomfortable experience introduces the audience to Levy’s forthcoming adjust to adapt to the Chinese way of life. He writes that he did not want to eat millipedes as he was Jewish, and this form of meal was not â€Å"kosher†! Although he declares that he is a practicing but cynical Jew, he tells his Chinese friends that â€Å"I am a person who is special, too† and is not able to eat the millipedes in front of him (Levy, pp. 2). This comical introduction is a prelude to what follows in Kosher Chinese. In another instance, as he travels from Beijing to Chengdu, a grey-haired lady seated next to him offers him one of the chicken feet she was eating. He declines the offer, to which the lady belches politely, and later smiled and spit out a chicken talon (Levy, pp. 7) He writes that that is not the kind of food one sees in SEPTA, a reference to American buses and trains. Apart from adding humour to his experience, this encounter shows how Levy walks a fine line between adjusting to the new culture and not showing his intolerance to some aspects of this culture. Yet, he strives to show some willingness to embrace the altogether new Chinese culture. The role of food in Levy’s experience in China is again seen when he observes the Chinese eating of dogs. In the chapter titled Parmesan Cheese, he describes how Guiyang markets slaughter dogs as the customer waits, then they are hung to display for ready customers. As a show of his disapproval with this act and goes on to write of the smells, sights, and feel of open markets in Guiyang, he writes, â€Å"The market smelled bad. Real bad. The tarp was trapping more than noise: it was also capturing the fragrance of sweating, unwashed people, slowl y rotting food, and death† (Levy, pp.89). He writes that Walmart in China retails dog meat in its shelves, a fact few outside China ever knew. This experience shows the deep rift that exists between some aspects of American and Chinese cultures.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Kosher Chinese: Living, Teaching, and Eating with Chinas Other Billion specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In American culture, dogs are loved by many people, are treated as pets and indeed ‘friends’ to their keeper. To read that ‘man’s best friend’ is slaughtered mercilessly is simply appalling. Animal loving Americans will certainly find it difficult to adapt to such a culture. When Levy is asked to help in the creation of the Jewish Friday Night English and Cooking Corner Club, he uses the occasion to merge the three cultures at play: the Chinese, American, and Jewish cultures. He does this by preparing f oods associated with these cultures, including pizza and challah, and hence improves the natives’ knowledge of American and Jewish cultures, and his own knowledge of Chinese culture. Therefore, food plays a major role in bridging the gap between the various cultures. 3. In what way(s) does food and globalization figure into the story of the book? In other words, how does the author see globalization shaping food practices and habits in China and vice versa?  Give at least two examples using quotes and page numbers. Despite being a globalized society, Kosher Chinese describes a Chinese culture that is conservative in terms of its food practices. For instance, although it accepts new aspects of foreign culture, evidenced by the presence of Walmart Stores, it attempts to modify these aspects to fit into its culture, evidenced by the presence of dog meat in Walmart Stores, an occurrence that does not exist outside of China. However, the role of globalization in shaping food pra ctices in China cannot be ignored since the presence of Pizza Hut, KFC, Starbucks, Ikea and Walmart stores in Guiyang must have altered eating habits among this population, and extending to the rest of the Chinese population.Advertising Looking for essay on ethnicity studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Seeing these multinational American companies in China makes the author to realize that this was certainly not the China of Mao. Indeed, the author wonders aloud why Americans had never heard of the place. Levy sees food practices as one of the avenues that can open China to the rest of the world and boost globalization. Levy also sees food practices and habits as a way of promoting globalization, and to show this, he leads and helps create a Jewish Friday Night and Cooking Corner Club, during which they make foods such as challah, pizza, and le’chaim’s, foods that area meant to introduce the Jewish and American cultures to the Chinese, hence promote globalization. The attendees also practice English while Levy learn about China’s other billion, a further testament of the mission to promote globalization. 4. Narrate the author’s experiences about the practice of eating dog in China. Did you believe that this was a completely inhumane practice? Did he hold ethnocentric views? Why/Why not. Give two examples as evidence for your argument using quotes and page numbers. In the chapter titled Parmesan Cheese, Levy gives an account of the process through which dogs are prepared for human consumption. He writes about the smells, sights and the feel of Guiyang open markets where these dogs are slaughtered. First, the dogs are slaughtered as prospective customers wait in queue. The slaughtered dogs are hung to display for potential customers. The market itself is in a very poor conditions and as a mark of his displeasure at what he saw, Levy writes, â€Å"The market smelled bad. Real bad† (Levy, pp. 89). This sums up the conditions in the market and extends to the inhumane treatment of the dogs. For animals regarded as pets in most areas of the world, and known as man’s best friend since their domestication, Levy’s description of the way dogs were treated before and after slaughtering can only be considered as inhumane. T he author’s views cannot be viewed as ethnocentric as they arise from universally held views regarding humane treatment of animals, even if they are to be used as food. A second instance that shows that dogs were treated in an inhumane manner stems from Levy’s accounts of the way the dogs were slaughtered. His description that, â€Å"I was surprised to see the body of a skinned dog dangling from a metal hook pushed through its mouth†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Levy, pp. 89) further points to this inhumane treatment. In most loactions around the world, animals are normally slaughtered first, usually at a common point (abattoir), and then distributed to selling areas. However, at Guiyang, this does not occur as dogs are slaughtered even as the market goers watch, a very inhumane treatment indeed. Work Cited Levy, Michael. Kosher Chinese: Living, Teaching, and Eating with Chinas Other Billion.  New York: Henry Holt, 2011. Print.

Amazon Database Essay Example for Free

Amazon Database Essay Amazon.com is developing a system to gather and keep massive amounts of intimate information about its millions of shoppers, including their religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity and income. The database, which would combine information disclosed voluntarily by customers with facts gleaned from public databases, conceivably would give Amazon a larger or more detailed profile of its customers than any other retailer. The Seattle-based company, with 59 million active customers, said it has no immediate plan to implement such a program. Its ability to do so emerged in a detailed patent application with the U. Patent & Trademark Office, disclosed Thursday. A privacy expert said customers should be wary about Amazon having the capability to gather such a large amount of detailed information. She said the data could end up in the hands of the myriad retailers that do business with the company, or with government officials or hackers. â€Å"Amazon never ceases to amaze me,† said Lillie Coney, associate director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, D.C. â€Å"If they create this database, it will be used for other purposes. †¦ They are really creating something worth a great deal of value that will help their company.† The patent disclosure comes at a time of heightened awareness over online security and a rash of recent security breaches. AOL recently published a list of more than 650,000 user queries that revealed names, addresses and Social Security numbers, and the company this week apologized and removed the data, but it’s unknown how many copies of the sensitive information were made. Amazon’s pending patent, which would bar competitors from replicating the company’s process for gathering information, details how it could compile data from customers to create a profile of products that a person might want to buy. Such a database would include the gender, date of birth, interests, occupation, education, income level, residence, race and ethnicity of customers for Amazon’s â€Å"gift clustering† program. Customers already willingly disclose some personal information on the site — to create a â€Å"wish list† of desired products, for example. The larger potential database would go beyond that. â€Å"Even if a customer does not know demographic information or interest s of a possible recipient, the system may be able to access such information from a user profile for the recipient, from past ordering patterns of the recipient, or from publicly accessible databases,† the patent application said. Company spokeswoman Patty Smith said Amazon.com has â€Å"no current plans† to implement such a system. â€Å"Not every company uses a patent it has in its name, but it may have a patent in portfolio,† Smith said. â€Å"Who knows 10 years down the road or five years down the road? It might be good to implement. We want to protect our intellectual property.† Smith said the document released Thursday is an addendum to a patent Amazon sought in October 2000 and received in February of this year. She said much of what was in the original patent was also disclosed Thursday, but she didn’t have details on what was new. Smith said that six years ago Amazon was â€Å"trying to figure out ways to make it easier for customers to find information† on the company’s wish list feature for gifts. â€Å"Amazon is always careful how it uses customer data so the customer experience will be as good as it can be,† she said. The system described in the patent would give shoppers, with the click of a mouse, additional detailed information at the discretion of the gift recipient. Amazon already groups or clusters gifts, such as camping items or back-to-school goods, and then suggests them to buyers based on generic factors such as price, the relationship between the giver and receiver or the recipient’s age or gender. The patent disclosure also comes at a time when Amazon, originally an online bookseller in 1995, is moving into new ventures to boost profits. The company’s stock took a huge hit last month after Amazon reported disappointing second-quarter earnings and company executives said there would be continual heavy spending on technology. Amazon recently started its own toy and food stores. The patent application, filed Dec. 9, 2005, by Amazon inventor Amit Agarwal but made public Thursday, could take years to be approved, according to Brigid Quinn, a Patent & Trademark Office spokeswoman. Quinn said there’s a backlog of more than 700,000 patent applications, and the agency reviews about 300,000 a year. â€Å"It’s in the early stages. It’s not even on an examiner’s desk yet,† Quinn said. â€Å"But they could use it without it being patented. The patent only prevents others from using it.† Greg Linden, a former technology team leader at Amazon, said it sounds to him like Amazon is just protecting its wish list feature. Linden, founder of Findory.com, an online news site, also warned not to read too much into a patent application because lawyers â€Å"throw in everything they can think of† to keep competitors from copying an idea. Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/business/article/Amazon-database-would-put-shoppers-intimate-1211419.php#ixzz24rlGoBic http://aws.amazon.com/solutions/case-studies/amazon-oracle/ AWS Case Study: Amazon.com Oracle DB Backup to Amazon S3 Amazon.com is the world’s largest online retailer. In 2011, Amazon.com switched from tape backup to using Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) for backing up the majority of its Oracle databases. This strategy reduces complexity and capital expenditures, provides faster backup and restore performance, eliminates tape capacity planning for backup and archive, and frees up administrative staff for higher value operations. They were able to replace their backup tape infrastructure with Cloud-based Amazon S3 storage, eliminate backup software, and experienced a 12X performance improvement, reducing restore time from around 15 hours to 2.5 hours in select scenarios. As Amazon.com grows larger, the sizes of their Oracle databases continue to grow, and so does the sheer number of databases they maintain. This has caused growing pains related to backing up legacy Oracle databases to tape and led to the consideration of alternate strategies including the use of Cloud services of Amazon Web Services (AWS), a subsidiary of Amazon.com. Some of the business challenges Amazon.com faced included: Utilization and capacity planning is complex, and time and capital expense budget are at a premium. Significant capital expenditures were required over the years for tape hardware, data center space for this hardware, and enterprise licensing fees for tape software. During that time, managing tape infrastructure required highly skilled staff to spend time with setup, certification and engineering archive planning instead of on higher value projects. And at the end of every fiscal year, projecting future capacity requirements required time consuming audits, forecasting, and budgeting. The cost of backup software required to support multiple tape devices sneaks up on you. Tape robots provide basic read/write capability, but in order to fully utilize them, you must invest in proprietary tape backup software. For Amazon.com, the cost of the software had been high, and added significantly to overall backup costs. The cost of this software was an ongoing budgeting pain point, but one that was difficult to address as long as backups needed to be written to tape devices. Maintaining reliable backups and being fast and efficient when retrieving data requires a lot of time and effort with tape. When data needs to be durably stored on tape, multiple copies are required. When everything is working correctly, and there is minimal contention for tape resources, the tape robots and backup software can easily find the required data. However, if there is a hardware failure, human intervention is necessary to restore from tape. Contention for tape drives resulting from multiple users’ tape requests slows down restore processes even more. This adds to the recovery time objective (RTO) and makes achieving it more challenging compared to backing up to Cloud storage. Advantages with Amazon Web Services Amazon.com initiated the evaluation of Amazon S3 for economic and performance improvements related to data backup. As part of that evaluation, they considered security, availability, and performance aspects of Amazon S3 backups. Amazon.com also executed a cost-benefit analysis to ensure that a migration to Amazon S3 would be financially worthwhile. That cost benefit analysis included the following elements: Performance advantage and cost competitiveness. It was important that the overall costs of the backups did not increase. At the same time, Amazon.com required faster backup and recovery performance. The time and effort required for backup and for recovery operations proved to be a significant improvement over tape, with restoring from Amazon S3 running from two to twelve times faster than a similar restore from tape. Amazon.com required any new backup medium to provide improved performance while maintaining or reducing overall costs. Backing up to on-premises disk based storage would have improved performance, but missed on cost competitiveness. Amazon S3 Cloud based storage met both criteria. Greater durability and availability. Amazon S3 is designed to provide 99.999999999% durability and 99.99% availability of objects over a given year. Amazon.com compared these figures with those observed from their tape infrastructure, and determined that Amazon S3 offered significant improvement. Less operational friction. Amazon.com DBAs had to evaluate whether Amazon S3 backups would be viable for their database backups. They determined that using Amazon S3 for backups was easy to implement because it worked seamlessly with Oracle RMAN. Strong data security. Amazon.com found that AWS met all of their requirements for physical security, security accreditations, and security processes, protecting data in flight, data at rest, and utilizing suitable encryption standards. With the migration to Amazon S3 well along the way to completion, Amazon.com has realized several benefits, including: Elimination of complex and time-consuming tape capacity planning. Amazon.com is growing larger and more dynamic each year, both organically and as a result of acquisitions. AWS has enabled Amazon.com to keep pace with this rapid expansion, and to do so seamlessly. Historically, Amazon.com business groups have had to write annual backup plans, quantifying the amount of tape storage that they plan to use for the year and the frequency with which they will use the tape resources. These plans are then used to charge each organization for their tape usage, spreading the cost among many teams. With Amazon S3, teams simply pay for what they use, and are billed for their usage as they go. There are virtually no upper limits as to how much data can be stored in Amazon S3, and so there are no worries about running out of resources. For teams adopting Amazon S3 backups, the need for formal planning has been all but eliminated. Reduced capital expenditures. Amazon.com no longer needs to acquire tape robots, tape drives, tape inventory, data center space, networking gear, enterprise backup software, or predict future tape consumption. This eliminates the burden of budgeting for capital equipment well in advance as well as the capital expense. Immediate availability of data for restoring – no need to locate or retrieve physical tapes. Whenever a DBA needs to restore data from tape, they face delays. The tape backup software needs to read the tape catalog to find the correct files to restore, locate the correct tape, mount the tape, and read the data from it. In almost all cases the data is spread across multiple tapes, resulting in further delays. This, combined with contention for tape drives resulting from multiple users’ tape requests, slows the process down even more. This is especially severe during critical events such as a data center outage, when many databases must be restored simultaneously and as soon as possible. None of these problems occur with Amazon S3. Data restores can begin immediately, with no waiting or tape queuing – and that means the database can be recovered much faster. Backing up a database to Amazon S3 can be two to twelve times faster than with tape drives. As one example, in a benchmark test a DBA was able to restore 3.8 terabytes in 2.5 hours over gigabit Ethernet. This amounts to 25 gigabytes per minute, or 422MB per second. In addition, since Amazon.com uses RMAN data compression, the effective restore rate was 3.37 gigabytes per second. This 2.5 hours compares to, conservatively, 10-15 hours that would be required to restore from tape. Easy implementation of Oracle RMAN backups to Amazon S3. The DBAs found it easy to start backing up their databases to Amazon S3. Directing Oracle RMAN backups to Amazon S3 requires only a configuration of the Oracle Secure Backup Cloud (SBC) module. The effort required to configure the Oracle SBC module amounted to an hour or less per database. After this one-time setup, the database backups were transparently redirected to Amazon S3. Durable data storage provided by Amazon S3, which is designed for 11 nines durability. On occasion, Amazon.com has experienced hardware failures with tape infrastructure – tapes that break, tape drives that fail, and robotic components that fail. Sometimes this happens when a DBA is trying to restore a database, and dramatically increases the mean time to recover (MTTR). With the durability and availability of Amazon S3, these issues are no longe r a concern. Freeing up valuable human resources. With tape infrastructure, Amazon.com had to seek out engineers who were experienced with very large tape backup installations – a specialized, vendor-specific skill set that is difficult to find. They also needed to hire data center technicians and dedicate them to problem-solving and troubleshooting hardware issues – replacing drives, shuffling tapes around, shipping and tracking tapes, and so on. Amazon S3 allowed them to free up these specialists from day-to-day operations so that they can work on more valuable, business-critical engineering tasks. Elimination of physical tape transport to off-site location. Any company that has been storing Oracle backup data offsite should take a hard look at the costs involved in transporting, securing and storing their tapes offsite – these costs can be reduced or possibly eliminated by storing the data in Amazon S3. As the world’s largest online retailer, Amazon.com continuously innovates in order to provide improved customer experience and offer products at the lowest possible prices. One such innovation has been to replace tape with Amazon S3 storage for database backups. This innovation is one that can be easily replicated by other organizations that back up their Oracle databases to tape. Amazon Database. (2016, Dec 09).

User Interfaces for Environmental Decision Support Systems Article

User Interfaces for Environmental Decision Support Systems - Article Example Cleaning products were distinguished using eight environmental and health associated scheme features. These features are as follows. I.  Skin Irritation: availability of chemicals in the cleaning of manufactured goods that creates the basis of swelling of skin or redness. Quality values vary from the most significant to the least preferable ones which entail insignificant, minor, reasonable, or physically powerful implications.II.  Food chain exposure (FCE): the ingredients employed in cleaning manufactured goods that have the possibility of being brought in to the food chain through being eaten up with smaller aquatic vegetation and animals that are eaten by larger animals. Bio concentration factor (BCF) is the measurement factor that is computed to acquire food chain (Maciag, Hepting, and Slezak 36). III.  Air Pollution Potential (air): manufactured goods that may have volatile organic compounds (VOC) meaning that compounds that have possibility to shape impressive pollutants like smog. These pollutants are extremely disastrous to human life. IV.  Product Contains Fragrances (frag): the fragrances that are included in the cleaning of manufactured goods to improve, or mask, their ‘natural’ odor. V.  Product Contains Dye (dye): is the dye that has been included to the cleaning of manufactured goods to modify the color of the product. VI.  Product uses Recyclable Packaging (rec): it is the cleaning of manufactured goods that are wrapped up using recyclable packages (Maciag, Hepting, and Slezak 41).... II. Food chain exposure (FCE): the ingredients employed in cleaning manufactured goods that have the possibility of being brought in to the food chain through being eaten up with smaller aquatic vegetation and animals that are eaten by larger animals. Bio concentration factor (BCF) is the measurement factor that is computed to acquire food chain (Maciag, Hepting, and Slezak 36). III. Air Pollution Potential (air): manufactured goods that may have volatile organic compounds (VOC) meaning that compounds that have possibility to shape impressive pollutants like smog. These pollutants are extremely disastrous to human life. IV. Product Contains Fragrances (frag): the fragrances that are included in the cleaning of manufactured goods to improve, or mask, their ‘natural’ odor. V. Product Contains Dye (dye): is the dye that has been included to the cleaning of manufactured goods to modify the color of the product. VI. Product uses Recyclable Packaging (rec): it is the cleaning of manufactured goods that are wrapped up using recyclable packages (Maciag, Hepting, and Slezak 41). VII. Product is a Concentrate (con): it is the cleaning of manufactured goods that are wrapped up using minimized packaging, like packing cleaned manufactured goods in a recyclable plastic bag, which operates like a refiller for use in its original wrap up. VIII. Product Reduces Exposure to Concentrate (exp): the refining of products that minimizes exposure to concentrated wrap up. Students from the University of Regina were employed to conduct various tasks, among them being to accomplish the pre-task and post-task questionnaires. In the post task questionnaires, participants had to rank the features of the system using four point scaling (insignificant, somewhat