Final Exam Paper Operations Management Term Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Final Exam Operations Management - Term Paper Example All the players have a critical role in the creation of quality goods and services. For smooth operations among, the players information has to fro to and fro on a timely basis. Human beings differ in thought, and therefore, to harmonize their roles in value creation one has to manage the chain. The critical activities cannot operate in a vacuum and thus will require other supporting processes like accounting and finance. The overall upper management tries to ensure the critical activities, and the supporting activities communicate seamlessly. At this point, one should understand why operation management is vital. Other than leading one to career in future, the benefits are beyond measurable instrument in the logistics field. First resources are very scarce, and it requires one to make fast and sound decision for their usage. Decision regarding trade-off are a day-to-day activities, the degree of benefit and loss are the determinant factor in making the correct verdict. Understanding and appreciation of the role played by the supporting processes in the organization cannot be underestimated (Oakland, 49). Lead time can be influenced by how client’s request is handled by the finance department. Operation management assists in determining the best model for a firm in it is production. A good example of a model that can be adopted is the lean manufacturing model. The model discourages activities that will not add value to the end product. A firm should always make reasonable expenses, and the expenses should be minimi zed without compromising the quality of the final product. An organization is determined by how it can produce its goods and services. This being the case then the goods and services need to be of the best quality. The push by consumers to have value for their money makes a firm to think of other means to meet the demand from the consumers. However, before an organization decides whether to design or redesign its goods and services,

Interagency Prevention and Planning Failures- Hurrican Andrew Research Paper

Interagency Prevention and Planning Failures- Hurrican Andrew - Research Paper Example With each disaster, the US government set up different agencies and bodies to provide help and succor to survivors of the aftermath. The method of providing aid and succor had clear sections of authority and a clear identification of which agency was to do what tasks (Nudell, 1988). Unfortunately, the precision with which these agencies were supposed to work did not happen. These agencies had turned into ‘stove pipes’ and did not cooperate with each other. With very little interagency cooperation, the various federal agencies that were seized with providing help were left powerless and tangled up in bureaucracy and red tape. The result was that thousands of people could not be evacuated to stations built specifically for such tasks. Billions of dollars in funds that were used for infrastructure were wasted (Herman, 2010). This report discusses and focuses on the poor interagency prevention and planning that contributed to the disaster after Hurricane Andrew struck Florida. Morton (2008) has commented on the structure and functioning of the national security and the defense forces that have ambiguous security roles and function and which serve the President of USA. These departments have strong workforce cultures and a deep seated desire to protect their turf and this created stove pies in the departments of national security. These entities tend to work in isolation and prefer to be the bearer of good or bad news. Various departments such as the Office of the Director of National Intelligence - ODNI, Department of Justice - DOJ under various acts ranging from the National Security Act 1947 to the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, 2004 have never managed to bring the various departments to act in a cooperative manner and where a common culture exists. The various national security acts and state security at the national and state levels are uneven. A critical review of Shelby (2011) shows that at the time when

The Brand Of Christian Louboutin Fashion Essay

The Brand Of Christian Louboutin Fashion Essay Christian Louboutin, sounds familiar? Has to be for the top shots of the fashion world, and for the ladies who are in vogue with the latest trends in the fashion world, and of course how can the footwear lovers not be conversant with this world famous brand! When asked whether you have any idea about this brand? or whether you would like to have a pair of Christian Louboutin? the answers by most of the fashion conscious ladies would be a unanimous yes! Founded in 1991, this French based company made it big in the competitive shoe business by taking the customised approach of shoe building. Before starting his own range of products by his own name, he used to work for same renowned designers like Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, but a trivia is associated with his initiative to start this company. It is said that he once saw a notice at a museum saying that high heels were not allowed because they damage the floor, this infuriated him and he decided to take these people to task and started designing high heels, under his own brand name! Page 2 The man behind this world renowned brand, Christian Louboutin himself, was born and brought up in Paris, France. After finishing his academics, he started his career as an apprentice to the noted shoe designer Roger Vivier and as a freelance shoe designer for another celebrated shoemaker Chanel. After gaining considerable knowledge and experience in this line he kicked off with his own line of shoe wears, and opened the first store in paris in 1991. It is believed that being the only brother to three sisters played an influential role in developing his taste for fashion and appreciation for feminism. He was very much fascinated by this glamorous world of fashion and started making sketches at an early age, even neglecting his studies, as a result getting expelled from his school. But he hardly cared, as he knew he was destined to the next big name in the glam world. I didnt care because I felt so different from my peers. He said in an interview to Harpers Bazaar. He learnt a lot from Vivier. He once told Vivier taught me that the most important part of the shoe is the body and the heel. He also drew inspirations from extensive travelling to forbidden countries like Syria and Uzbekistan. Page 3 He famously explained his initiative to start his signature red soles which went on to become iconic in the industry in his application of U.S trademark. He quoted, In 1992 I incorporated the red sole into the design of my shoes. This happened by accident as I felt that the shoes lacked energy so I applied red nail polish to the sole of a shoe. This was such a success that it became a permanent fixture. He justified that he chose red over all the other colours because red is more than a colour. It is a symbol of love, of blood, of passion. One of the most reputed journals on shoe wears Footwear News stated that the brands signature red sole was a subtle status symbol and caught the fascination of many celebrities across the globe, even beating the big luxury brands. Throwing light on his idea of red soles he once said I did not really choose the red sole. Its more like the red sole came to me and had to stay with me. It started as a happy accident, which I kept. I was very inspired b y pop art so all my drawings were really full of colours. Even the leader in dolls Barbie came out with a special Louboutin edition with red heels! Page 4 The Louboutin shoes had a profound influence in the fashion domain. The red soles became such a huge hit that Christian Louboutin went on to the extent of trade marking his red sole heels in the U.S.A. in 2007 so that no other company could make and sell it. Apart from his trademark stilettos and red soles he also let his imagination fly and went on to try new and innovative things like he came up with an entire range with transparent heels in which it seemed that flower petals were floating. The brand is the most fiercely desired shoe wears among the ladies with having a great celebrity clientele. He says that a womans feeling in his shoes fascinates him and gives him a reason to design shoes for them. According to him, woman want to look sexy for other, more than themselves, and this feeling gives them self confidence. Another unique feature of his shoes is that it is entirely hand-made and customised, to the extent that even the trademark is etched without any intervention of mach ines. The impact is very well testified by the fact Jeniffer Lopez released a song called Louboutin. Page 5 The Christian Louboutin shoes have a life changing impact on the lives of the women. They also make some flats apart from their trademark heels. He has very strange ideologies on shoes. He has been many a times criticised for making such high heels which are supposed to be uncomfortable. But he retorts back by saying that he hates this entire concept of comfort. He believes that not wearing heel shoes just because they are not comfortable are like saying that Well, were not really in love, but were in a comfortable relationship. According to him comfort deprives you of many ideas and should be done away with. He puts light on the small intricacies of a womans nature. He says that when a woman tries a shoe and checks it out in mirror, shes not really checking whether the shoe suits her or not, in spite of the fact that she is trying a shoe. According to him When a woman buys a pair of shoes, she never looks at the shoe. She stands up and looks in the mirror, she looks at the breast, t he ass, from the front, from the side, blah blah blah. If she likes herself, then she considers the shoe. Page 6 The large number of fake Louboutin shoes and their replicas bears a testimony to the immense acceptability of the brand, and how desperately ladies want to grab this brand. These shoes make you feel charming and your existence totally vital. It makes you feel one notch above the horde of fashionistas. In fashion industry and in glamorous world these shoes have become a synonym to quality and layout. Starting with a single store in Paris there are more than twenty-five stores as of today, apart from the online stores in the U.K. His first famous client was the Princess of Monaco, who happened to be in the store in the presence of a media journalist, and from that day onwards, there was no looking back. The famous names which grace his clientele list include Madonna, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jennifer Lopez, Elizabeth Taylor, Catherine Deneuve Cher, Princess Caroline, New York-based designer Diane von Furstenberg and, Gwyneth Paltrow just to name a few. Among these there were some who wore these shoes on the most important day of their lives, their wedding day!

An Evaluation of My Writing :: How Have I Changed As A Writer

Over my career of schooling my writing has changed dramatically at times and very little at others. Through my years of schooling people have determined my main weaknesses and strengths that I should work on with my writing. My biggest weakness is writing introductions and conclusions they must be so complicated and require so much thought to be defined as good. I excel at writing body paragraphs and explaining all the facts that back up your main ideas though. In all my years of going to school I have had trouble writing introductions and conclusions for my papers. All of my teachers would tell me that you would want your introduction to flow and clearly start what you are going to talk about. When ever I would write an introduction it would never flow. It is always fairly choppy and I could not figure out how to smoothen it out. Now that I am in college people have told me to not summarize my paper in my introduction. This requires even more creativity and thought to create an introduction, which I can never seem to think of. This also applies to my conclusions as well on how they must be so complicated. When writing an introduction and or conclusion there are suppose to be all different techniques to help write them but I can never apply any of them to what I am writing so they rarely help me. Also depending on the class I am writing for determines how difficult it is for me to write an introduction and conclusion. For exampl e, English papers and philosophy papers usually give me a bit more trouble then history papers. I have learned from being in college that English and philosophy papers need to be much more elaborate and deep. When writing a history paper you must be direct and right to the point and that is what I seem to do best. It shows because my history paper grades are a bit higher then my philosophy and English papers. Where there are weaknesses there are also strengths and mine lie within the body paragraphs. I arrange my ideas well by using quotes about my subject and explaining them.

Ernest Hemingway Essay

Ernest Miller Hemingway was considered one of the great American authors of the 20th century. Hemingway’s unique style of writing set him apart from other authors of this time and of today. He influenced many generations of authors with his style of using powerful, precise words. He used few adjectives, simple verbs, and short sentences in his works. Hemingway believed that his writing should be based on knowledge that he had acquired on a particular subject through his own personal life. In a passage from Hemingway’s Death in the Afternoon, he wrote â€Å"If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. † This is in fact why Hemingway wrote most of his novels and stories in the first person point of view. Hemingway was also known for the dialogue he wrote between his characters. This allowed the reader to see his character’s emotions and inner thoughts. Ernest Hemingway’s style challenged readers to look below the surface for the meaning of his words. This was known as the â€Å"Iceberg Theory† because the tip of an iceberg is the only visible portion above the sea while the largest part is far below the sea. The â€Å"Hemingway hero†, a male character who faces violence and destruction with courage, and the â€Å"Hemingway code†, unemotional behavior in difficult and dangerous situations, were also trademarks of Hemingway’s style. To better understand Ernest Hemingway as an author, one must first look at Hemingway as a person. Ernest Hemingway was born in 1899 in Illinois. As a young boy, Hemingway enjoyed hunting and fishing at the family cabin in rural Michigan. These outings allowed him to gain appreciation for Mother Nature, and to look for adventure in many parts of the world. This love of the outdoors was reflected in many of his writings, such as The Green Hills of Africa published in 1935. During Hemingway’s high school years, he was editor of the school newspaper. This was the beginning of his writing career. Shortly after graduation, Hemingway went into battle during World War I, where he was an ambulance driver. He became injured and returned to Illinois where he landed a job with the Toronto Star. He became a war correspondent, moved to Paris, and got the opportunity to interview many European political leaders, such as Mussolini. These two events influenced Hemingway to write his first best-seller, A Farewell to Arms, in 1929. Hemingway’s job, a reporter and journalist, required him to write short and to-the-point articles, which was how he wrote as an author. In 1929, this style of writing led Hemingway to write and publish his first work, Three Stories and Ten Poems. Hemingway the author was born. Ernest Hemingway was married four times. The first two marriages failed because Hemingway was unhappy, the third failed because his wife was unhappy, and the fourth continued until the end of Hemingway’s life. Hemingway never had a female as the main character in his works. In 1939, Hemingway’s father committed suicide after battling high blood pressure and diabetes for many years. The painful experience of his father’s death influenced the novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls. Hemingway moved to Cuba in 1945 where he wrote The Old Man and the Sea, a novel about an old fisherman who battled a giant marlin and the sea. This novel won Hemingway a Pulitzer Prize. In 1954, this novel also won Ernest Hemingway the Nobel Prize for Literature. He could not attend the ceremonies because of injuries he received in a near fatal plane crash. Hemingway was forced to move back to the United States in 1960 because of the communist movement led by Fidel Castro. Hemingway’s health began to deteriate. His injuries from the plane crash prevented him from enjoying his love for the outdoors and his love for writing. Hemingway sank into a state of depression and shot himself, just as his father had done some years earlier. Hemingway had several unfinished works, such as The Garden of Eden and A Moveable Feast, which were published to satisfy the reading public who longed for more of his great style of writing. â€Å"Hills Like White Elephants† and â€Å"A Clean Well-Lighted Place† were two short stories written by Ernest Hemingway during his career as an author. They both show Hemingway’s ability to entertain the reader with his short, simple well-known style, along with a bit of Hemingway’s personal beliefs and life. They are short on words, as a journalist would write, but not on the themes, that Hemingway the author wanted to convey to the reader. â€Å"Hills Like White Elephants† was a story about a girl and an American male who were discussing the fate of their unborn child. The story took place in a bar or cafe in Spain. Hemingway made the reader look for the true meaning of the story starting with the title by using symbolism. The story had nothing to do with â€Å"hills† or â€Å"white elephants†, but Hemingway’s choice of words and his use of dialogue between the two people soon guided the reader to realize that the title represented the real problem being dealt with by the girl and the American. The â€Å"hills† represented the two choices, or decisions, the girl had to make, either keep the baby alive in her womb or have an abortion. The â€Å"hills† might also have represented the difficulties of relationships. One hill is described as â€Å"fields of grain and trees†, or fertile, while the other is described as â€Å"having no shade and no trees†, or barren. The â€Å"white elephant† symbolized the mystery of what life had to offer, or something that nobody wanted–the baby. The dialogue used between the girl and the American showed the reader that the relationship was strained, â€Å"Just because you say I wouldn’t have doesn’t prove anything. â€Å"The American also tried to get the girl to see things his way by saying that the abortion he wanted her to have â€Å"is perfectly simple. † The story was typical of Hemingway’s â€Å"Iceberg Theory†. There was more going on in the story than just a conversation at a bar. The story was also a bit different from most of Hemingway’s other works. He seemed to have made the girl more superior than the male, more like a â€Å"Hemingway hero†, and also allowed her to display the â€Å"Hemingway code†, † I feel fine. â€Å", even though she was faced with a big decision in her life-one that could change it no matter what she chose. â€Å"A Clean Well-Lighted Place† was a story about an old man, a young waiter, and an old waiter. This story also took place in a bar in some Spanish speaking country. The story dealt with the light inside the cafe and the darkness inside the old man. The cafe was a place the old man could escape the darkness, boredom, and nothingness-the† Nada†, of his life. It is well lit and represented a place the old man could seek comfort. Hemingway used this character to demonstrate that â€Å"darkness†, or death, awaits us all. Again, He used dialogue to let the reader see how the characters emotionally felt. The young waiter was aggravated by the old man’s presence and said, â€Å"I wish he would go home. † Hemingway did not give the characters in this short story names because that was not necessary information for the reader. The reader only needed to feel the ideas in the story, Hemingway believed that it was not his name that was important but his words in his works. His concise wording gave the reader a chance to see his characters personalities. The young waiter stated that â€Å"An old man is a nasty thing. † which showed the reader that he had very little respect for the aging. During Hemingway’s final years, he resembled the old man in the cafe. Both were depressed and Hemingway wrote that he â€Å"tried to commit suicide†. The only difference between them was the old man did not succeed and Hemingway did. This story was also typical of his â€Å"Iceberg Theory†. There was much more going on in the bar than just people drinking. The old man also demonstrated the â€Å"Hemingway hero† and the â€Å"Hemingway code†. He faced death with courage and tried to show little or no emotion about his life ending. Many criticized Ernest Hemingway for his personal and sometimes less than perfect lifestyle, but very few critics can find fault in his literary works. They are works of a brilliant author who was very skilled at what he loved to do—write. According to the July 7, 1999 issue of Time Magazine, Ernest Hemingway deserved the Nobel Prize for Literature and â€Å"the trumpets of fame† that went with this prestigious honor. He received this award for his best selling novel, The Old Man and the Sea. â€Å"He broke the bounds of American writing, enriched U. S. Literature ?. and showed new ways to new generations of writers. † He was only one of five other American born writers to receive this honor. It also stated that Hemingway wrote this novel â€Å"over 200 times† before he felt it was ready for publication and that perhaps he was his own â€Å"best critic†. The words Hemingway wrote were described as â€Å"?. an organic being of their own. Every syllable counts toward a stimulating, entrancing experience of magic† and â€Å"fibrous and athletic, colloquial and fresh, hard and clean†. Ernest Hemingway was referred to as â€Å"an artist and brilliant with whatever words he chose to paint with. † Ernest Hemingway was a very interesting person and an enriching author. I enjoyed reading and studying the two short stories, â€Å"Hills Like White Elephants† and â€Å"A Clean Well-Lighted Place†. His style of using dialogue, symbolism, and concise wording made these works a challenge? but a challenge I liked. Hemingway worked timelessly to perfect his writing so that it could be appreciated by readers of all ages? even those of us who thought literature was not for them. Bibliography â€Å"Ernest (Miller) Hemingway. † DISCovering Authors. Online Edition. Gale, 2003. Student Resource Center. Thomson Gale. 12 April 2007< http://galenet. galegroup. com/servlet/SRC> Hunt, Douglas. The Riverside Anthology of Literature. Dallas: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1991. Kramer, Victor A. â€Å"Hemingway, Ernest. † World Book Online Reference Center. 2007. 12 April 2007. Kunitz, Stanley J. Twentieth Century Authors. New York: The H. W. Wilson Company, 1955. Segall, Mary T. Portals. Philadelphia: Harcourt Brace College, 1999.

Of Mice And Men Coursework Essay

The director creates a lot of moods and suspense in the film ‘Of Mice And Men’. Gary Sinise puts all of these camera angles and colours into one to create lots of suspense and to create different atmospheres. At the start of the film the screen is black and then white writing appears on top of the black background. There is light appearing through the planks of wood that we then know is a freight train. The casts and directors names appear as light peering through the planks of wood. The peering of the light acts a luminous spotlight at a prison and as it scans the area through the planks of wood it is like a light searching for someone. Also the planks of wood act as a cell and the light is glancing through the cell. All of a sudden the camera turns to this man who is sitting in a shadow in the corner of the freight train with half of his face in the light and the other half in the shadow. This implies I think that we can see straight through his eyes and see what he is remembering that is so vibrant. After this the director takes us to a women in a red dress running across a field with bright yellow straw and blue sky and green grass. This event had happened when the man on the freight train had a flashback of a past event and because the director has made all of these colours vibrant and alive this meant that the man’s memory was very fresh and bold. At the start of the film the director creates different moods by using different types of camera angles. One of the first camera angles we see is at the start of the film on the freight train of the man’s face. The camera angle is a close-up of the man’s face. The director does this to show this through the man’s facial expression. At the start of the film there is a women running a cross a field in a bright red ripped dress. The camera stays where it is and the women runs towards the camera and this acts as if the woman is running towards us out of the screen to us for help. Also when the dogs and horses are running after the two men and trying to catch them it looks as if they are running straight out of the screen towards us. This makes us more involved and interested in the film. At the start of the film Gary Sinise creates mood and suspense by using different sound effects. He uses different sound effects so that they are bold and stand out in one particular scene so this makes the scene more interesting and has more action. At the start of the film there is a scene where there are men on horses and men with dogs chasing two men. The dogs and horses and men have sound effects because the men are breathing heavily so this makes it seem they have been running for a while to catch the two men. The dogs are barking viciously and the horses are neighing and these sound effects make the scene more enjoyable to watch and makes you feel you’re their with the dogs, horses and the men. The director Gary Sinise creates different moods and suspense by using different music. He creates moods by using slow music in one scene then in the next scene using fast music and also the volume of the music. At the start of the film where the men, horses and the dogs are chasing the two men through the fields the music starts at a slow and steady pace. Then as the dogs, men and the horses start to gain some ground on the men to try and catch them the music starts to get faster this makes suspense and whether to see if the men will ever get caught. All of a sudden the men jump into a river and hide and as the men get closer and closer to them the music gets faster and faster then all of a sudden the music stops and the horses, men and dogs go away. This scene creates a lot of suspense and tension. The director Gary Sinise creates different mood sand suspense by putting colours, sound effects, camera angles and music into one. All of these effects create different moods like tension when the dogs, horses and the men are running after the men. The camera angles like the close up and the point of view create different moods because of what the character is thinking and what their emotions are these precise times. The music creates moods and tension by using the pace of the music fast or slow or the pitch or volume of the music. In the scene where the men are being chased the music gets quicker and quicker and builds up suspense and tension because you don’t know if the men are going to be caught or not. The sound effects create moods and make the film more enjoyable to watch and the sound effects make you feel as you’re there running with the men, horses and dogs. The bright vibrant colours create moods because of what the colours are. When the women is running across the field with the red bright ripped dress the colour red represents the moods anger, frustration, embarrassment.

Ted Talk Patricia Kuhl Essay Example

Ted Talk Patricia Kuhl Essay Example Ted Talk Patricia Kuhl Paper Ted Talk Patricia Kuhl Paper Essay Topic: Talk Patricia Kohl discusses amazing discoveries about how babies and young children learn language. Professor Kohl explains that language has a critical p eroded for learning. Babies and children are geniuses until the age of seven, and then the ere is a decline. After a child goes through puberty, the universal listening skills are n inexistent. Kohl refers to babies as Citizens of the World, which means that they can did fraternity all the sounds of all languages. Adults are culture bound listeners. We are ex PERTs at the sounds of our native language but not foreign languages. Through her rest reach, Professor Kohl has discovered that there is a very crucial two month period d ring a childs language acquisition. When babies are listening to the production of SP each, they are taking statistics on that specific language. These statistics being absorbed by the baby changes their brain. It changes them from universal listeners (or Citizen s of the World) to culture bound listeners. Professor Skulls presentation was intriguing and her findings are truly extraordinary and quite interesting. She discovered through her research that babies brains will only take statistics when there is physical interaction with a human Ewing. If language is presented to the child through television or audio, then there is n o learning at all. An infants social skills play an important role in learning. Even though the presentation was very thorough, there are still a few remain nag questions that I have. Do all children learn at the same rate? What happens if a child does not learn a language before puberty? Child language acquisition is a very interesting and intriguing topic. I learned a lot about how children acquire Ian gauge and hope to further educate myself about the subject in the future.

The Effect of Various Concentrations of Ethanol on CO2 Produ essays

The Effect of Various Concentrations of Ethanol on CO2 Produ essays ATP is a source of energy required by cells to undergo and perform daily functions. These molecules are produced through the catabolism of carbohydrates, fats and proteins. Sources of ATP can be generated under aerobic respiration and anaerobic respiration, in the presence of oxygen and presence of no oxygen, respectively. Fermentation occurs as well, without oxygen. Fermentation and anaerobic respiration are not the same type of metabolism; they both use a different terminal electron acceptor and produce different products. (Campbell and Reece) Under aerobic conditions, the catabolism of glucose begins with glycolysis to convert sugar into pyruvate. During pyruvate synthesis into Acetyl CoA, molecules of ATP are produced. Acetyl CoA is then transferred to the mitochondria where the Krebs cycle takes place. The Krebs cycle further produces ATP with the addition of CO2 as the by-product. Yeast cells are facultative organisms that can use aerobic respiration and fermentation. But in this experiment, yeast cells are in the presence of oxygen performing sugar metabolism, which we measure by the amount of CO2 production. The objective of this experiment is to determine the concentrations of ethanol that have a toxic effect on the amount of CO2 produced under aerobic conditions. We expect to find that as doses of ethanol concentration increases, the production of CO2 will decrease in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We hope to see results similar to our hypothesis, since it is known that ethanol is toxic to yeast cells. The importance of this study is to gain valuable information on the performance of the organism, whether an inhibitor or non-inhibitor is used to measure its activity. After labelling 7 test tubes with concentrations in percentage and a control tube, we added a constant volume of glucose to each test tube with the addition of different volumes of water and different volumes of ethanol. (The different volumes of ethanol rep...

Application of Marketing Theories to Practice

Application of Marketing Theories to Practice Introduction This report shows the different field of businesses and the methods that our company was using in SimVenture comparing with theories. Marketing and Sales Our company’s main marketing tool was advertising but we were using different like direct marketing, exhibitions and our website. However, digital marketing is limited only to website in the game, although this is getting more popular these days (Pittsburgh Post-Gazzette, 2006). Digital marketing defined by Jobber, 2007: â€Å"The application of digital technologies that form channels to market (the Internet, mobile communications, interactive television and wireless) to achieve corporate goal through meeting and exceeding customer need better than the competition.† Digital marketing is almost completely missing from the game, it is only limited to website. Network theory studies relationships of all sorts, whether between people, animals or things. Social network analysis is an overlapping tool for learn ing about patterns that develop within social networks and how they influence behaviour. Digital marketing channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and Instagram are useful in this regard, as they allow marketers to listen to what consumers are saying, and they allow marketers to leverage the power of influential users to spread messages throughout their networks (Harvard Business Review, 2006.). Generational marketing theory holds that consumers born of the same generation — defined as a 20-year period — have common attitudes and behaviours because of shared experiences that influenced their childhoods and shaped their views of the world. The relevance of generational theory to digital marketing is primarily in the ways in which each generation communicates and the online places where marketers can reach them (Zickuhr, 2010.). The customer research in the game is only limited to where the customers heard about but nothing who they are (age, gender, education, et c.). All in all the game had good opportunities in traditional marketing channels like direct marketing and advertisement but digital marketing part is really limited which makes it less realistic. Operations Efficient operations management is a key element to make a company successful. Without supply network a company cannot exist. A supply network perspective means setting an operation in the context of all the other operations with which it interact some of which are its suppliers and its customers. Materials, parts, other information, ideas and network of customer-supplier relationships formed by all these operations (Slack, Chambers, Johnston, 2004.). The supply network view can also help in decision making about the design. The design activity in operations has one overriding objective: to provide products, services and processes which will satisfy the operation’s customers. During the game our company used ‘Just in time’ method for the production because i f there was more order then our organisation was able to produce then we contracted some out when it was financially possible. Furthermore, in the meanwhile of last year in the game, all of our production was contracted out because the four employees weren’t enough to build the product and to handle other task that were essential to run the company at the same time. High dependency theory is one of the explanation of the ‘Just in Time’ approach to operations management. With high inventories insulating each stage in the production process, the dependency of the stages on one another was low. Take away the inventory and heir mutual dependency increases. The ‘Just in Time’ practice of empowering ‘shopfloor’ staff makes the organisation dependent on their actions (Slack, Chambers, Johnston, 2004.). However, this theory perfectly suits with SimVenture, thus it is realistically show the opportunities and limitations of ‘Just in Timeâ₠¬â„¢ delivery and production because in the first year when financially it was not a possibility to contract out some of the production we bumped into some limitations according to the ‘Just in Time’ manufacture technique.

History of Comedy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

History of Comedy - Essay Example Old Comedy, like Greek tragedy, has a singing, dancing chorus who are characters in the play. New Comedy, from the middle of the 4th century BC, all over the Mediterranean (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/amahoney/ancient_comedy.html). Greek drama from c. 320 BC to the mid-3rd century BC that offers a mildly satiric view of contemporary Athenian society (http://www.answers.com/library/Britannica+Concise+Encyclopedia-cid-10234587). Many extant examples are representative of these methods. Old Comedy was the mighty genius of Aristophanes grafted in Pantagruelism has influenced Cervantes, Swift, Voltaire and others (Bates 1906). Though the word Pantagruelism is means the characters are sustained by court fool. He exploited both of the spirit and mechanical appliances of old Greek comedy. He adopted the disguise of buffoonery to attack some prevailing hypocrisy. This is what Aristophanes did to master the chief characteristics of his prototype. In Old Comedy, the chorus becomes more separate, and often sings entr'actes that have nothing to do with the play; later, the chorus is dropped altogether. During New Comedy, the chorus and representative of forces reduced to a small band of musicians and dancers.

Single mother of two kids Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Single mother of two kids - Essay Example re skills that will enable them understand the educational needs of their children based on different age categories for them to be adequately prepared to meet these needs. These skills will involve gaining knowledge on child and adolescent development and provision of suitable home conditions to support children as students at different stages in terms of age and grade. When parents are equipped with the skills necessary in understanding what their children require to successfully progress through various developmental and grade stages, they are able to help these children improve their attitude towards school and life in general. This is because the skills acquired by parents will improve areas such appreciation of teacher efforts, decision making on what is important for the student, confidence in school ability to affect children positively and development of greater understanding of educational programs and personnel. Additionally, schools will also gain proper insight of the di fferent family setups that students come from therefore making it easy to fashion teaching based on individual needs of students (Rockwell, Andre and Hawley, 2009). Parent: Apart from development of various parenting skills, the establishment of effective communication between the school and parents and the community is one of the essential areas in supporting family and community involvement in children. Communication involves teachers and parents always engaging and sharing information about the progress of the student both at home and in school. This form of engagement ensures both teachers, parents and the community at large establish an effective monitoring mechanism to evaluate change in attitude, knowledge and skills as the student progress through various developmental stages and grades. Communication between the teachers and parents is therefore at the center of efforts to monitor whether the student depicts desired or undesired changes and available measures that could be

The knowledge management plan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

The knowledge management plan - Assignment Example e travel and hospitality industry, British Airways understand the significance of constant improvement in the attitudes of its many employees by encouraging them to refine, adapt and transmit their knowledge in a way that it would benefit the Company and its customers (British Airways, 2010a). This report investigates the current techniques employed by British Airways in managing the knowledge being transferred within the organisation. As a result of this, some recommendations are made about how British Airways can revamp its knowledge management processes for better outcomes. Some of the suggestions put forward in this knowledge management plan aim at transforming the day-today operations at British Airways by emphasizing the needs to input new ideas into the organisational management in a way that it would reflect quality in the array of services offered by British airways. British Airways is one of the global airline companies that pay much attention to its knowledge management challenges, having realised that the success of the Company in the future strongly depends on how well its employees value the prospects of efficient knowledge transfer and processing. Hence, British Airways has adopted the following techniques to achieve this purpose: Starting from 1998, British Airways has implemented a programme meant to facilitate, process and disseminate appropriate knowledge of its services among its many employees across the continents (Ahmed et al., 2001). This project was designed to encourage smooth transfer of applicable knowledge from one branch of the British Airways to another using the latest information technology. It was during this period that BA customized and implemented its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) that simplifies the process of information gathering, processing, categorising and dissemination (Shanks et al., 2003). Cross-company knowledge management project provides BA employees to know how the offices in the United Kingdom are handling

Contemporary Issues in Accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Contemporary Issues in Accounting - Essay Example Around the world, governments (typically following the lead of practice) have begun to take notice, putting new disclosure regulations on the book. Despite these new regulations, significant questions remain about whether, and, possibly more importantly, how corporate disclosures about their social, environmental, and economic practices should evolve." (Corporate Disclosure of Social and Environmental Data Mandatory Vs Voluntary. 2004). If a particular organization is operating with an appropriate emphasis on its environmental issues, it means that it is focused on sustainability as well as the well being of the particular society in which the organization exists. Nowadays, the accounting system requires the disclosure of environmental facts in respect of financial accounting reports. The main purpose of preparing the financial accounting report is that to provide useful information about the business to its ultimate users. Such categories of users shall be owners, shareholders, investors, employees, suppliers, creditors and the public as a whole. Moreover, the report so made should be more relevant, it should possess the quality of materiality, accuracy and comparability. Environmental performance and economics measurements relate to a certain extent, as far as the accounting policies and reporting procedures are taken in to consideration. "Environmentally driven innovation can create shareholder value by lowering cost, improving production processes and service delivery, and helping to find new markets. Increased process efficiency is an example of a proven sustainability strategy for decreasing cost and adding revenue, there by improving profitability." (Slater and Gilbert 2004). The users of accounting reports should have a thorough knowledge about the changes that take place within the organization as well as in matter of accounting standard context. The accounting report should disclose the environmental performances, for the purpose of easily identifying and evaluating whether the organization is running as per the requirements of the society. Moreover, this helps to develop the reputation of the organization by comparing various environmental data obtained from the annual accounts of the company. "Investors and users of financial statements need information about the impact of environmental risks and liabilities on the financial position of the company, as well as the company's attitude towards the environment and its environmental performance, to the extent that these factors may have consequences for the financial health and performance of the company. Regulatory authorities have an interest in monitoring the application of environmental regulations by companies and the costs incurred as a result. But companies' voluntary disclosure of environmental data in annual accounts and annual reports is low. Users of annual reports have an interest in ascertaining to what extent environmental protection is an integral part of the company's policies and activities and what costs and benefits are associated." (Accounting: Commission issues Recommendation on environmental issues in companies' annual accounts a

The methods adopted by the construction industry to remedy Health and Literature review

The methods adopted by the construction industry to remedy Health and safety non conformities and to ensure that they to not rec - Literature review Example Some of the very important methods were identified from the revitalisation campaign which was conducted by the HSE to help the construction industry become a more health and safety environment to work within. At the same time such methods identified corresponded with the methods mentioned by the interviewees within my results. Thus illustrating that the identification of a methods to remedy health and safety non conformities was not so difficult and it also shows that professionals within the industry are aware of such compliance issues as methods have been identified and created to ensure that they do not occur in the future. The methods which were identified within the literature review included information as to how the management methods, pertaining to health and safety should be systematically and properly allocated from the top management down. Collins (2007). Behavioural management methods which include adopting more positive safety management rules, such as involve and motiva te individuals do not carry out inspections on the basis to find faults and communicate health and safety effectively. ... Finally Singh, Hinze & Coble (2009) suggest inspections as a method to remedy health and safety non compliances. In comparison the methods which have been mentioned by the interviewees include: behavioural management techniques such as motivation, effective communication, rewards (prizes), name and shame, red card yellow card system, issuing non compliance notes on employees portfolio, management techniques such as to lead by example and not by criticism, law and regulations to follow as an organisation such as the construction site safety handbook GF700, and finally training and education requirements before and during an employee`s journey on a construction site, such as CSCS card scheme, and even regulatory training courses for managers to attend can all help to ensure health and safety non conformities do not reoccur. Overall one can conclude that only two methods identified within the literature review and the interviewees are similar which include the CSCS card scheme and the l ed from the top management down approach. This illustrates that all the methods identified within the interviews are all methods which have developed within industry and are methods which the organisation feels are effective to remedy health and safety non conformities. It is easy to list or even identify all the methods that an organisation uses to remedy health and safety non conformities as illustrated above, the main issue is how effective are these methods in ensuring that a corrective action has been achieved rather than an instant (non corrective) change. Thus justifications from interviewees where given into why they felt that these methods will

Paul Cezannes Modulated Primitivism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Paul Cezannes Modulated Primitivism - Essay Example The essay "Paul Cezanne’s Modulated Primitivism" discovers the art of Paul Cezanne and the Primitivism. Although living during the period of the impressionists, he went beyond their paradigms to create what he called â€Å"something more solid and durable, like the art of the museums.'' Cezanne professed his ideas on primitivism when he wrote: "Primary force alone, id est temperament, can bring a person to the end he must attain." He expresses this with emphasis on attainability of the primitive and basic in nature. Some define the primitive as a starting point rather than a point beyond what is now known to exist in culture and tradition. It anchors itself on the basic and concrete grounds for existence. His unique style can be given basis through the works of Gauguin who focused on a form of primitivism in his art, depicting life as it was in nineteenth century Tahiti. To gain a better understanding of Cezanne’s form of primitivism, modulated primitivism as it was. I t is important to understand the concept and its context during the artist’s lifetime. In this regard, Gauguin’s works would provide an ideal basis in explaining the works of Paul Cezanne. Primitivism is an ancient concept which can be distinguished as chronological primitivism and cultural primitivism. Both concepts are positive with the one engaged with the philosophy of history and period of time in the local culture when the when the best situation of human life might have happened; and the other dealing the discontent of contemporary society. with civilisation, and stipulating that simplicity (often exemplified by a distant and separate culture because civilised men do not call themselves primitive) are more desirable than what exists in the present. These concepts reached their height during the eighteenth century with large followings on the nobility of the savage. Writings by Rousseau in France and Herder in Germany made the concept of the noble savage popular in Europe during this period. It was in the nineteenth century that the utopian ideas of this concept wee tainted by the expansion for empire and subsequent missionary works. The positive connotations of primitivism were replaced by the ideas of "barbaric" and "savage". The nobility ensconced in the literary concept of the noble savage was expunged and replaced by the image of real savages which was less desirable and more to be feared. Missionaries capitalised on the paganism, violence and vices of their new native wards and potential converts. These negative traits were highlighted by both Protestant and Catholic missionaries alike. The death of missionary John Williams in 1839 further tainted the image associated with native populations. In 1843, an engraving that was printed in the Illustrated London News showed Polynesians in the midst of an unspeakable and idolatrous religious ceremony. The Polynesians were a new addition to the French colonies and William Vaughan commented that their diet of rats was perhaps "a mindless imitation of their frog-eating masters." Thus began the classification that primitive peoples not merely as separate from, but are of a completely different species from the white man. These new representations illustrate them as having a completely different path of development from their more superior European counterparts. In the 1840s, the Natural History of Society written by William Cook Taylor stipulated that white society was in constant struggle to return to perfection, while primitive cultures were taking the opposite direction towards

The methods adopted by the construction industry to remedy Health and Literature review

The methods adopted by the construction industry to remedy Health and safety non conformities and to ensure that they to not rec - Literature review Example Some of the very important methods were identified from the revitalisation campaign which was conducted by the HSE to help the construction industry become a more health and safety environment to work within. At the same time such methods identified corresponded with the methods mentioned by the interviewees within my results. Thus illustrating that the identification of a methods to remedy health and safety non conformities was not so difficult and it also shows that professionals within the industry are aware of such compliance issues as methods have been identified and created to ensure that they do not occur in the future. The methods which were identified within the literature review included information as to how the management methods, pertaining to health and safety should be systematically and properly allocated from the top management down. Collins (2007). Behavioural management methods which include adopting more positive safety management rules, such as involve and motiva te individuals do not carry out inspections on the basis to find faults and communicate health and safety effectively. ... Finally Singh, Hinze & Coble (2009) suggest inspections as a method to remedy health and safety non compliances. In comparison the methods which have been mentioned by the interviewees include: behavioural management techniques such as motivation, effective communication, rewards (prizes), name and shame, red card yellow card system, issuing non compliance notes on employees portfolio, management techniques such as to lead by example and not by criticism, law and regulations to follow as an organisation such as the construction site safety handbook GF700, and finally training and education requirements before and during an employee`s journey on a construction site, such as CSCS card scheme, and even regulatory training courses for managers to attend can all help to ensure health and safety non conformities do not reoccur. Overall one can conclude that only two methods identified within the literature review and the interviewees are similar which include the CSCS card scheme and the l ed from the top management down approach. This illustrates that all the methods identified within the interviews are all methods which have developed within industry and are methods which the organisation feels are effective to remedy health and safety non conformities. It is easy to list or even identify all the methods that an organisation uses to remedy health and safety non conformities as illustrated above, the main issue is how effective are these methods in ensuring that a corrective action has been achieved rather than an instant (non corrective) change. Thus justifications from interviewees where given into why they felt that these methods will

Google Essay Example for Free

Google Essay Google is one of the most desirable companies to work for on the planet. To find out how to get a job at Google, I spoke with William Poundstone, who is the author of Are You Smart Enough to Work at Google?. He is the author of twelve books, including How Would You Move Mount Fuji? and Fortune’s Formula, which was Amazon Editors’ pick for the #1 nonfiction book of the year in 2005. He has written for the New York Times, Harper’s, Harvard Business Review, and the Village Voice, among other publications. In this interview, he talks about the hardest question that they ask you, how to survive each of the five interviews, and much more. What is the single hardest question they ask you when interviewing at Google? â€Å"What number comes next in this sequence: 10, 9, 60, 90, 70, 66†¦? † Move up http://i. forbesimg. com tMove down What Employers Are Thinking When They Look At Your Facebook Page Kashmir HillKashmir HillForbes Staff The Companies That Give The Toughest Job Interviews Jacquelyn SmithJacquelyn SmithForbes Staff The Best Companies To Work For Jacquelyn SmithJacquelyn SmithForbes Staff This question is hard because you either see the â€Å"trick† or you don’t. Nothing you learned in school is likely to help. Try spelling out the numbers—you’ll see that they are in order of the number of letters in the word. â€Å"Sixty-six† has eight letters, so the next number must have nine. One possible answer is â€Å"ninety-six. † How many rounds of interviews do you have to go through and how many people survive each round? Google applicants have about five interviews. The company’s human resources people have given a lot of thought to that number. They believe in the â€Å"wisdom of crowds,† so they want multiple opinions of each applicant. But they’re done research and found little or no marginal value after five interviews. Normally every applicant goes through all five rounds. The only exceptions are the rare cases where a candidate is clearly unsuitable after the first couple of interviews. What kind of intelligence do you need to solve the many puzzles they give you during interviews? They want many types of intelligence. Google’s interviewers try to design questions that test (1) whether you know your field of expertise; (2) whether you can apply what you know in an unfamiliar context; and (3) whether you can make â€Å"creative† leaps to arrive at a solution. Their best questions operate on all these levels. How do you go about getting a leg up on the competition? It’s not just about getting a â€Å"right answer. † They’re interested in your thought process, and your whole explanation counts. Because these are difficult questions, the first answer or approach that pops into your head is almost always wrong. That provides a way to get a running start on your answer: Explain to the interviewer how this â€Å"obvious† approach fails. You’re expected to brainstorm various approaches, but make sure you tie it all together at the end. The last thing a technology company wants is someone who never brings a project to completion! Who shouldn’t apply for jobs at Google? Why? Google is very clear about who it wants: extremely bright extroverts. The company is founded on intensive collaboration. This is reflected even in the office layout, with only a handful of private offices. (When employees feel an occasional need for privacy, they seek out an empty conference room. ) The stereotypical engineer—someone who works best alone and hates distractions—is probably not a good fit.

Investigation of Fracture Energy GF

Investigation of Fracture Energy GF ABSTRACT Concretes inherent brittleness, low tensile strength and premature micro-cracking phenomena can be improved, in the bulk material, by embedment of carbon nanotubes (CNTs), the 1-D allotrope of carbon which exhibit a remarkable combination of mechanical and transport properties. The present research aims in investigating the fracture energy, Gf, of modified cement mortar with Multi Wall Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNTs) under 3-point bending test with acoustic emission (AE). According to Rilem recommendation, it is reported that using the fracture toughness of mortars reinforced with variable loadings of multi-walled carbon nanotubes it can be determined the fracture energy, Gf. Moreover, it is widely known that fracture energy depends on both geometry and size of the test specimen. The results of load, CMOD, AE-activity and AE-energy are analyzed. 1. Introduction As the most widely used structural materials, concrete has been developed to meet constantly renewed requirements raised by construction of more and more structures [1]. Great research efforts are continuously invested towards improving its inherent brittleness, low tensile strength and premature micro-cracking phenomena by the introduction of third phases throughout its volume. While endowment of reinforcement and ductility are conventionally achieved through embedment of steel rods, additional reinforcement of the continuous phase can be achieved through the introduction of other micro- and nano-scale media [2-5]. However, an obvious shortage of concrete with largely enhanced strength grade is brittleness, which is of great concern related to the structural safety. Recent studies have focused on improving the properties of concrete with the addition of nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs) or carbon nanofibers (CNFs). In addition, fibers control the crack patterns and determine failure modes of concrete members [6-9]. There are many fibers utilized in cement and concrete materials. The most common fibers are glass, carbon, aramid, polypropylene, and basalt fibers. The revolutionary one-dimensional allotrope of carbon with Youngs moduli approaching 1.4 TPa, seven times higher than of high-strength steel and tensile strengths above 100GPa, fifty times higher than the same reference material. At this moment the nanocomposite materials are considered the next generation materials for electronics, aeronautical, civil engineering and other applications [4, 10-13]. Carbon nanotubes have minimum diameters of 0.4nm and are classified as single- or multi-walled (SWCNTs and MWCNTs, respectively) and they produced by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and its variants (low pressure, thermal, catalytic and others). The most popular and affordable choice due to low commercial price are the ÃŽÅ“WCNTs but they have slightly inferior performance than SWCNTS which are lot expensive. Carbon nanofibers (CNFs), a similar nanostructured material comprised of cylindrically-shaped arrangements of stacked graphene plates or cones, have also been suggested as nano-re inforcements for concrete [14]. At nanocomposite materials a very important factor which will enable efficient load transfer from the cement matrix to the tubes, is the achievement of homogeneous dispersion of tubes within the continuous phase. The dispersion of MWCNTs, ideally without significant reduction in their high initial length and aspect ratio, usually achieved through the use of surfactants and sonication processes. This part attracts rigorous scientific efforts because CNTs tend to agglomerate together due to their high surface area and the strong Van der Waals forces acting between them. The agglomerates are responsible not only for stress concentration within the cement matrix which leads to strength degradation during service life, but also to premature crack initiation and propagation [15, 16]. On the other hand, there are a lot of studies which have referenced that surfactants create side-effects in cement matrix. Makar et al. reported strong early-age bonds between cement paste and CNTs[17]. Yazdanbakhsh [14] reported incompatibility issues, during the hydration phase, between cement base and the surfactants used for improving CNT dispersion. In addition the study observed reduction in aspect ratio length/diameter of MWCNT during exposure of the tubes to the high sonication energies required for disentanglement. It was suggested that the favorable dispersion characteristics found in aqueous environment does not guarantee a similarly favorable dispersion within the cement matrix. Enhancement of cements flexural toughness by CNTs hasnt been investigated largely by researchers and so there isnt a wide variety of reports. To the authors knowledge only one reference, Stynoski et al. [18] studied the fracture properties of Portland cement mortars containing carbon nanotubes, carbon fibers and silica fume using notched three-point bending test. They observed that using silica fume and carbon nanotubes together there was improvement in toughness about 35% and increment about 56% on critical crack tip opening displacement (CTODc) at 28 days. In addition using only carbon nanotubes provided. On the other hand, using only carbon nanotubes serves to increase in fracture toughness of about 5-10% at 7 and 28 days of age. In addition, the effect of carbon nanotubes has as result to increment the CTODc about 20% improvement at 28 days. But there are several of investigations which study the fracture properties of micro-fiber reinforced mortar with various additives. For exa mple, Moukwa et al. [19] studied the effect of alumino-silicate clays on the critical stress intensity factor and CTODc. They found that the use of silica fume and alumino-silicate clays increased the values of KIC, CTODC and the compressive strength of cementitious materials. In addition alumino-silicate clays are incorporated as substitutes for a fraction of the cement, the total porosity of hardened mixtures increases compared to that of hardened cement paste with no clay addition. Sarker et al. [20] studied the fracture behavior of geopolymer concrete (GPC) as compared to OPC concrete of similar compressive strength and containing the same size and type of aggregates. They found that the failure modes of the heat cured GPC specimens were generally more brittle than those of the OPC concrete specimens. Fracture energy of geopolymer concrete was similar to that of OPC concrete and fracture energy increased with compressive strength in both types of concrete. The critical stress in tensity factor of the GPC specimens was higher than that of the OPC concrete specimens for the same compressive strength and the difference in the fracture behaviors of GPC and OPC concrete is because of the higher bond and tensile strengths of GPC. Das et al. [21] replaced ordinary Portland cement (OPC) by limestone or a combination of limestone and fly ash/metakaolin and they observed that the new phases inside the mortar matrix can lead to enhanced fracture mechanics properties and ductility. Nikbin et al. [22] studied the fracture characteristics, such as fracture energy and Kic, of self-compacting concrete using notched three-point bend specimens for specimens with different coarse aggregate volume percent. 2. Materials and Test Methods 2.1. Materials, specimens and testing The Multi Walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNTs) that used in the present work were synthesized via catalytic chemical vapor deposition and were commercially available by Shenzhen Nanotech Port Co. Ltd. (Shenzhen, China). Their nominal purity was higher than 97% and their amorphous carbon content was less than 3%. The nominal tube diameter ranged from 20 to 40 nm while their length ranged from 5 to 15 ÃŽÂ ¼m. In table 1 is shown the properties of multi-wall carbon nanotubes. Viscocrete Ultra 300 (Sika AG, Baar, Switzerland), a water-based superplasticizer comprised of polycarboxylate polymers was used as dispersion assistive agent; it was selected based on its efficiency in inhibiting air entrapment inside the specimens as well as because of its excellent resistance to mechanical and chemical attack. Table 1: Properties of multi-wall carbon nanotubes Parameters Values Type multi-wall CNTs Length 5-15 ÃŽÂ ¼m Main range of diameter 20-40 nm Production method: catalyzed CVD Purity à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¥ 95% Ash à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ 0.2 wt% Special surface area 40-300 m3/g Amorphous carbon à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ 3% For the production of nanocomposite mortar with tube loadings variable within 0.2, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6 and 0.8 wt% of cement, the following experimental protocol was adopted. Initially, superplasticer with MWCNTs at a ratio of 1.5/1 added in regular tap water and then follow magnetic stirring for 2 min. The resultant suspensions were subsequently ultrasonicated for 90 min at room temperature by aid of a Hielscher UP400S device (Hielscher Ultrasonics GmbH, Teltow, Germany) equipped with a cylindrical 22 mm diameter sonotrode delivering a power throughput of 4500 J/min at a frequency of 24 kHz. The specific combination of ultrasonication parameters was established as optimal for achievement of suspension homogeneity without tube aspect ratio impairment [15]. The ultrasonicated suspensions were transferred, along with ordinary Portland cement type I 42.5N and natural sand into the bucket of a rotary mixer where it was mixed for a total of 4 minutes, in low and high speeds sequentially, as per standard test method BS EN 196-1. Immediately after mixing, the fresh mortar was poured into metallic oiled formworks, volumes of 160x40x40 mm3, where it was left for 24 hours before demolding and subsequent placement into a 100% humidity room for duration of 28 days. A total 50 specimens were prepared, divided into two sets of five specimens at each CNT formulation, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8 wt% of cement. In one set, suspensions were further processed in a vacuum environment for removal of entrapped air before they were mixed with the cement and sand by aid of a rotary mixer. Additional mixtures without nanotubes were also prepared for reference purposes. The above procedure is shown schematically in fig. 1. After 28 days maturation were created a notch in specimens with cut-wheel with depth 20mm. Figure 1: Schematic representation of the nano-modifield mortars manufacturing process [5] In addition fig. 2 depicts the as-processed state of MWCNT-reinforced concrete specimens with varying tube loadings. The bottom row depicts reference specimens, whereas the top and middle rows show specimens with tube loadings of 0.6 and 0.2 wt% of cement, respectively, wherein porosity appears to increase with nano-reinforcement concentration. Figure 2: Various amounts of carbon nanotube loadings inside cement matrix: 0.6 wt% of cement (top row), 0.2 wt% of cement (middle row) and plain cement (bottom row) 2.2 Acoustic Emission Monitoring Large concrete structures like buildings, storage tanks, bridges, dams, offshore structures, flyovers require reliable non-destructive testing methods for assessing structure integrity. Acoustic emission is a widely used technique for monitoring concrete structures, and is based on the phenomenon of the rapid release of energy from different localized sources inside a material generating elastic waves [23]. Such stress waves propagate through the solid due to energy released during the deformation process and the amount of acoustic energy released depends on the size, the speed of the local deformation process and the material. AE can detect lesions such as crack growth, fracture growth, monitoring deformations, corrosion etc. in a wide range of materials. The transducers are usually piezoelectric and transform the energy of the transient elastic wave to an electric waveform which is digitized and stored. The AE sensors record the accumulated activity which is indicative of the sever ity of cracking. Certain indices based on the magnitude or the number of the AE signals has been employed successfully in the health monitoring of heterogeneous structural materials like concrete and composites. In addition, when multiple sensors are applied, apart from the number of AE hits, it is possible to be found the source of events because of the time delay between the acquisitions of the corresponding signals at different sensors. This allows the estimation of which part of the material needs repair, which is of paramount importance for large-scale structures. Also via AE the materials mode of fracture can be studied and characterized [24-26]. However, there are other important aspects of the AE testing, which are based on the qualitative parameters of the received signals. It has been seen that the shape of the waveform is indicative of the fracture type, something very important for the classification of cracks in different materials. Shear cracks follow tensile cracks as damage is being accumulated within the material. Therefore, the characterization of the cracking mode can act as a warning against final failure. It has been shown that tensile events are linked to higher frequency content and higher RA value, fig. 3, than shear [27-30]. This is mainly due to the larger part of energy transmitted in the form of shear waves, which are slower; therefore, the maximum peak of the waveform delays considerably compared to the onset of the initial longitudinal arrivals, This kind of classification has proven useful in laboratory conditions concerning corrosion cracking in concrete, fracture of cross-ply laminates, as well as d iscrimination between tensile matrix cracking and fiber pull-out during bending of steel-fiber reinforced concrete [31, 32]. In fig. 3 and in fig. 4 is given a typical AE signal and a typical AE signal due to different types of fracture respectively. Figure 3: Typical AE signal and parameters Figure 4: Typical AE signals due to different types of fracture 2.3 Mechanical performance Determination of the fracture toughness by means of three-point bend tests on notched beams In the present study for calculation of the critical fracture toughness of cementitious materials used the Hilleborgs [33] crack model of concrete which is similar with Dugdale-Barenblatt crack model of metals. For cementitious composite materials, such as mortar or concrete, the fracture toughness is determined using linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) considerations. The P-CMOD response is obtained from notched beams, subjected to the center-point loading conà ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ guration shown in fig. 5. The tests are performed under CMOD control, where this parameter is measured using a clip gage mounted on knife-edges. The thickness of the knife-edges, d, is taken into account in the calculations. Figure 5: Three-point bend test configuration for notched beam specimen For this geometry, the stress intensity factor (KI) is given by where P is the applied load, a is the crack length and ÃŽÂ ± = a / W is the relative crack length (with S=3W and ÃŽÂ ±o=ao/W=0,25). The geometry dependent function, f(ÃŽÂ ±) is determined using two-dimensional plane stress analysis and is given by Where when when Also, in a similar way, where the dimensionless geometry-dependent function, g(ÃŽÂ ±), is given by Where when when As it is evident from fig. 1, the CMOD is not measured exactly at the notch mouth but at a distance d, which must be taken into account for determining the real value of CMOD from that measured in the test (denoted as CMODMesured). Therefore, The conversion factor kd can be determined, for 1 mm d 6 mm, from The coefficients used to compute kd for the CMOD correction are given in table 2 for different knife-edge thicknesses. Table 2: Coefficients used to compute kd for the CMOD correction d(mm) h1 h2 h3 h4 1 0.0050 275.1 275.9 0.0399 2 0.1508 162.5 163.6 0.0118 3 0.1037 104.1 105.1 0.01631 4 0.0777 76.2 77.2 0.0137 5 0.0623 60.2 61.1 0.0117 6 0.0521 49.7 50.6 0.0106 For large ÃŽÂ ± (> 0,4) the correction is insignificant, hence for specimens with relative notch lengths in the order of 0,4, no correction needs to be applied. Moreover, for thin knife-edges (d Determination of the fracture energy by means of three-point bend tests on notched beams The fracture energy is defined as the amount of energy necessary to create one unit area of a crack. The area of a crack is defined as the projected area on a plane parallel to the main crack direction. This test method is not recommended for fiber-reinforced concrete. The fracture energy is determined by the equation, [N/m (J/] Where, Wo (Nm), is the area under the load-deformation curve shown in fig. 6 (kg) ; m1 = weight of the beam between the supports, calculated as the beam weight multiplied by S/L (fig. 1). The length L of the beam as well as the span S during the test must be measured with an accuracy of at least 1 mm; m2 = weigth of the part of the loading device touching the beam which is not attached to the testing machine, but follows the beam until fracture; g = acceleration due to gravity (9,81 m/s2); ÃŽÂ ´o = deformation of the beam at fracture (m), as shown in fig. 2; Alig = area of the ligament (m2), defined as the projection of the fracture zone on a plane perpendicular to the beam axis. Figure 6: Load-deformation (CMOD) curve Test procedure for fracture energy measurement The test is performed with an approximately constant rate of deformation, which is chosen so that the maximum load is reached within about 30-60 seconds after the start of the test. The deformation of the center of the beam and the corresponding load are registered until the beam is completely separated into two halves. In case the deformation is not measured directly on the specimen it is recommended that before measuring the load-deformation curve the load is cycled 3 times between 5% and 25% of the expected maximum load. The load should be measured with an accuracy of at least 2% of the maximum value in the test. The deformation must be measured with an accuracy of at least 0.01 mm. Finally, the Crack Mouth Opening Displacement (CMOD) will be monitored during the test performed with controlled load in a closed-loop testing machine. The load will be applied at a rate between 2 and 3 N/s. A plot of CMOD versus applied load will be produced. Mechanical characterization under three po int bending testing was performed on an Instron 5967 testing frame (Instron, Norwood, MA, USA) equipped with a 30kN loadcell. For the accurate recording of displacement C.M.O.D were used a Crack Opening Displacement (COD) Gauge extensometer with gauge length 10mm by Instron company. 3. Results and Discussion The effect of CNT presence and concentration to the flexural and compressive strength has investigated in previous study. The researchers were observed that subjection of the suspension to the vacuum-assisted air removal procedure significantly enhanced the materials flexural strength, compared to non-vacuumed suspensions. The maximum improvement in flexural strength, compared to the control specimens for vacuumed suspensions, appeared at 0.4 wt% MWCNT loading and was approximately 17% improvement at 0.2, 0.6 and 0.8 wt% loadings were 12, 10 and 9% respectively [4]. In the present study, the fracture energy of vacuum and non-vacuume nanocomposite mortar, Gf, as the way the fracture energy effects on the acoustic emission energy are investigated. In respect to the flexural strength the researcher observed that the specimens had the similar behavior as shown in table 3. The flexural strength calculated by using the following equation, where L, B, W and a0 are specimens dimensions prese nting in fig. 5. à Ã†â€™ = Table 3: Comparison results of Flexural strength between specimens with and without notch. Flexural Strength[MPa] [4] Flexural Strength with notch[Mpa] CNT loading, wt% of cement Non-VacuumedSuspensions VacuumedSuspensions Non-VacuumedSuspensions VacuumedSuspensions 0 (plain) 5.36  ± 0.38 5.43  ± 0.23 5.72  ± 0.21 5.64  ± 0.25 0.2 4.15  ± 0.28 6.09  ± 0.43 4.73  ± 0.22 5.98  ± 0.11 0.4 4.61  ± 0.48 6.34  ± 0.67 5.00  ± 0.34 6.74  ± 0.13 0.6 4.97  ± 0.36 6.01  ± 0.66 4.83  ± 0.33 6.12  ± 0.31 0.8 4.78  ± 0.21 5.92  ± 0.5 4.87  ± 0.28 6.35  ± 0.39 It is widely known that CNTs increase the mechanical properties. Table 4 shows the results of effect of CNTs to the fracture energy, Gf, for vacuumed and non-vacuumed specimens. It is clearly that CNTs increase the fracture energy and the maximum value appears in the rate of 0.4% wt. cement CNTs. Above the rate of 0.4% there were reduction in the fracture energy however the values of Gf continues are higher than control specimens. In addition, all non-vacuumed specimens showed slightly elevated values than the control specimens but lower for vacuumed specimens because of porosity which is created because of CNTs. Table 4: Comparison results of Fracture energy between Vacuumed and Non-Vacuumed suspensions Fracture Energy [N/m (J/m2)] CNT loading, wt% of cement Non-VacuumedSuspensions VacuumedSuspensions 0 (plain) 1.1655  ± 0.063 1.1281  ± 0.060 0.2 1.1681  ± 0.122 2.0338  ± 0.086 0.4 1.6910  ± 0.115 6.5373  ± 0.369 0.6 2.1460  ± 0.050 2.9987  ± 0.383 0.8 1.8185  ± 0.200 2.4623  ± 0.165 Except for plain specimens which had similar fracture energy, the fracture energy of the specimens which had been in vacuum was increased. Gf of the nanocomposite with 0.2% and 0.4% wt. cement CNTs was found to be higher at about 80% and 479% respectively related to control specimens while for 0.6% and 0.8% wt. cement CNTs was found an increment at about 166% and 118% respectively. On the other hand, non-vacuumed nanocomposite specimens with 0.2% wt. cement CNTs were found it that had limited growth about only 0.2%. Greater increase of approximately 45%, 84% and 56% showed the nanocomposites specimens with 0.4 %, 0.6% and 0.4% wt. cement CNTs respectively. Comparing the two types of mixtures, vacuumed and non-vacuumed, the results showed that the fracture energy increment for all rates for vacuumed specimens. Specifically, for the rates 0.2% and 0.4% wt. cement CNTs the increments were about 74% and 287% respectively while for 0.6% and 0.8% wt. the increments were only 40% and 36% re spectively. The entire above are shown in fig. 7. Finally, fig. 8 shows a typical load-CMOD graph for all rates, 0% up to 0.8% wt. cement CNTs, of vacuumed nanocomposite specimens and non-vacuumed specimens. Figure 7: Diagram of Fracture Energy, Gf, results Figure 8: Typical load-CMOD curve for all rates of nanocomposite specimens for a) vacuumed and b) non-vacuumed are presented. For Acoustic Emission (AE) monitoring in real time under three point bending tests of CNT-reinforced concrete specimens two R15a AE sensors were used, with broadband response ranging from 50 to 400 kHz and a maximum sensitivity at 150 kHz, attached on the lower section of the specimen. The R15a is a narrow band resonant sensor with a high sensitiv

Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman as Social Commentary :: Death of a Salesman

Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman as Social Commentary Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman portrays the Loman's and all the family conflicts they faced.   It's also apparent on a bigger scale that this play is a social commentary.   It touches all the problems brought on by wealth and success in our culture.   Death of a Salesman is more effective as a reflection of society and the problems it faces than as a depiction of family conflicts.   Ã‚  Ã‚   The play showed how Willy Loman's longing to be successful controlled his life and ruined his family.   Willy also represents a large piece of society.   He portrays the people in our culture that base their lives on acquiring money.   Greed for success has eaten up large numbers of people in this country.   It's evident in the way Willy acts that his want of money consumes him.   This constantly happens in our society; people will do anything to crawl up the ladder of success, often knocking down anyone in their way.   Ã‚  Ã‚   Death of a Salesman also reflected how families treat people once they are older.   Willy raised Biff and Happy when they were completely dependent on him, but the boys aren't willing to help Willy out when he needs them.   This is more effective when looked at as if Willy represents all the older people in our society.   It shows how the elderly are looked down upon, are thought to be crazy, and have their jobs taken away for no reason other than age.   At times you feel sorry for Willy because these things are happening to him and he is powerless against them.   This makes the reader stop to examine our own culture and the ways we discriminate against people who should be our equals and treated with respect.   Ã‚  Ã‚   This play also represents how Willy's actions affected his entire family.   He always pushed the boys to have to be the greatest at everything they did.   This made the children grow up to always feel like they could never do enough to please their father.   They ended up doing things against what they truly wanted.   Biff never found a sufficient occupation and was forced to do things like steal.   Happy ended up lying to make things always seem better than they were.   But it's how this represents society that makes it so effective.   Ã‚  Ã‚   The biggest issue this play imitates is peer pressure.   Willy's pressure

Abortion: Different Sides :: Essays Papers

Abortion: Different Sides When the topic of abortion is brought up, many people have different opinions. The only way we can have a sense of how the situation feels and the circumstances are from someone who has experienced it themselves; the mother. Here is a true story from Becca and her fight for life: â€Å"I write to you as an abortion survivor. My mother went to a clinic at 22weeks to get rid of me, most were appalled that she waited so long. Well to make a long story short they gave her the saline solution...or gave it to me rather. I was burned and poisoned but it didn't kill me. She never went into labor and so she figured she had to carry me to term but it didn't matter. I was dead or so she thought. 25 weeks came and went [†¦] she felt me still kicking. So she went back, the doc found me still breathing and he offered a partial birth abortion. My mom said she needed to think on that one and so we went back home. At thirty weeks, she never went back and she was starting to wonder about me, wa s I even still alive? I wasn't kicking as much anymore. Well she went into labor at 35 weeks, average gestation and all. I was born, my skin was red and scarred, my hair was gone and I was blind...the salt solution burned my eyes. The nurses were mortified from what my mom tells me, said I looked like Freddy Kruger. I had to have a lung transplant because my right lung was too burned up to function right. I was taken home, eventually my scars cleared up but I never got my sight back. I'm glad in a way that I couldn't see, after what my mom had done to me I could never look her in the eye anyway and hold back the contempt. Time passed, I'm 22 and married with a sweet baby of my own. My son Tristan came to me on February 27, 2002 and was perfectly healthy. I have also had surgery on my eyes, my vision is blurry but I can see a world my mother never intended me to see (abortionTV). For more stories and cases, go to Abortion Stories. This story shows us how one instance can ruin someone ’s life and also turn it into a blessing.

Asb bank

Direct marketing Is selling product directly to the consumer or end-user, rather than through a broker, distributor or wholesaler. Example: Sometimes confusing the matter, direct marketing is also used to describe the sale of food directly to a restaurant, grocery store, caterer, processor, etc. , who will then resell the food to customers. 2. Identify the major forms of direct marketing and the techniques they employ to target customers. Use the template provided below to explain the different techniques each major form uses to target customers. Major forms of direct marketing differentiated in terms of techniques:Forms of direct marketing Target markets: Techniques used to target customers: Face-to-face selling Residential area, People who like to visit in market. Malls, all age group Promotion, door-to-door service, direct approach, offering samples Direct mail Adults & older Post, courier, sent mail Catalogue Sending, attractive image of products, special offer, brief description of product Telemarketing Land line phone holder Special offer, brief description of product, Calling to landlines Print Adults, older & retired people Flier, newspaper, posters, using famous person's faceDirect-response television advertising House wife, retired people stabilize people Saving offer, free home delivery, short time offer, Free call on television advertisement like 0800 On-line Internet user Through the video presentation, Website, social network like Faceable, twitter Mobile technology All age people Mobile APS, social network, text 3. Choose a business you know well or a case study of a business which uses direct marketing e. G. Cafe using Faceable, Salesrooms, a business which uses Trade, Auckland Council, Family Planning, NZ Heart Foundation, CAB Bank, Anyway.Describe it briefly. We have chosen CAB Bank. CAB Bank offers bank accounts, personal and home loans, savvier, investments, foreign exchange, insurance, internet banking, credit cards and online banking. 4. I dentify one growth direct marketing trend that your chosen business uses e. G online marketing, telemarketing, face-to-face, social networking, direct mail. Refer to this trend and the case study you have chosen in your assignment and presentation. The growth of direct marketing trend of CAB Bank offers direct mail service to their customers, online banking or internet banking.They send mail or letter on their postal address to inform about their account and investment. Regularly (once in a month) they send the user bank account statement to their customers. Have chosen? Give 3 benefits for buyers and 3 benefits for sellers. Answer for buyers: Availability of credit. Privacy Time saving Interactivity. Benefits for seller are: Target market selectivity. Ability to build customer relationship. Ability to maintain privacy of marketing programs. Convenience Time saving. – Benefits 6. What are the ethical issues or public policy issues for the direct marketing trend you have chose n?Give 3 examples of ethical issues or public policy issues. Answer- There is four ethical issues that CAB Bank should keep in mind while using direct mail marketing methods: Payment security- Bank must have a very tight security system because in our society there are so many high professional hacker who can do something wrong by take out money from the customers account. Spamming: Bank should make conversation with the customers while someone (customers) doing big amount transaction or send them e-mail regarding their accounts information.Terms and conditions-Bank should tell their customer about terms and conditions of ann. before opening a new account regarding how much they have to pay credit card interest rate and in how many days customers have to pay funds to them, how much transaction takes time. Agreements and contracts-Banks should send all copies of all relevant documents, agreements, contracts and advice of legal rights on the customer's postal address. 7. Explain the u se of digital technology and databases for your direct marketing trend.Answer- CAB bank use digital technology and database for direct marketing trend as in following ways- Digital technology database in direct mail CAB bank uses New Zealand post database to find new customers with quality data including names and addresses as well as new market. CAB advertising in their own website. CAB bank mainly target people of every age group like students, working people, unemployed, and old age people. CAB bank update existing customers database. CAB bank provides several loans to customers such as Business loan, Home loan, Car loan etc. At low interest rates.They offers online and internet banking as well. 8. Thinking about digital technology and databases explain how your direct marketing trend fits into marketing mix strategies. Talk about price, promotion, product, people and distribution. Answer: People- CAB target every age people like students, working people, employment, old age peop le. But they mainly target the people of age group 28-35 because most of on Youth, advertising on the back of bus, at bus stands and we can see big poster on roads. Product- CAB bank provide 100% home loan on low interest rate to customers.Credit cards on low interest rates, debit cards. 9. What products or services are offered by your case study business using the direct marketing trend you have identified in question 4? Analyses the pricing of these rodents – are the prices competitive? Answer- CAB bank offers 100% home loan on low interest rate to customers. Credit cards on low interest rates, debit cards. Competitors of CAB bank are ANZA bank, WESTWARD, and BENZ bank. The prices are very competitive because every bank wants to attract customers by providing loans on very cheap rates and on low interest rates.Fixed Homes lone BANKS For 12 months For 24 months CAB sank 5. 15% 5. 70% ANZA sank 5. 19% 5. 95% So we can see that CAB bank provide home loans on cheap rates. 10. D escribe the segments of the market which are targeted by your direct marketing rend. Explain how different types of promotion are targeted to different markets. (Single segments, multiple segments and aggregate) Answer- CAB bank uses single segment marketing and mainly targets and motivate people of specific age group of 28-35 because their earnings are higher than others and most of the people of this age group are working.CAB Bank offers direct mail service to their customers. They provide all useful information to motivate them in the mail. CAB Bank also provides 100% loans to their customers at cheap interest rate than other competitors in the market. They provide latest or up to date useful information on their website and they update website continuously. They advertise on social network like Faceable, Twitter, Youth because usually young generations use this social website. 1 1 . What level of service would you recommend for these target markets?How will this service build an d maintain customer relations? Answer- CAB bank provide 100% loan to customers for their satisfaction and they give proper information about their services and terms and conditions so that they can make a good relationship with their customers and finally CAB bank have a good reputation in the market. According to us, to attract more customers the service should be very fast, provide 100% security to the customers, prices should be lower than other competitors.CAB Bank build and maintain their customers by hiring more staff so that customers get fast developers and it specialists who can concentrate on security because these are the components with they can get customer loyalty. 12. Explain how products or services advertised by your direct marketing trend are distributed to the target market. Answer – CAB bank have good reputation in the market because they advertise about their services in many different ways: They advertise on social networks to young generation on Faceabl e, Twitter, Youth etc because mainly young use these social websites.CAB Bank advertisement on buses, bus stops and big poster on the roads. CAB bank updates their own website about their services. CAB bank advertise on shops according to the community of people like Indian, Chinese, Maori people etc. CAB bank offer direct mail services to the customers. CAB bank sent account information to their customers once in a month to keep them update or aware about their bank transactions CAB provide loans to customers at cheap interest rate than others in the market. BANKS

McDonald’s global marketing strategy (GMS) Essay

1. Identify the key elements in McDonald’s global marketing strategy (GMS). In particular, how does McDonald’s approach the issue of standardization? Does McDonald’s think global and act local? Does it also think local and act global? McDonald’s global marketing strategy is based on combination of global and local marketing mix elements. For the first elements in McDonald’s global marketing strategy (GMS) is a vital elements in McDonald’s business model restaurants system that can be set up virtually anywhere in the world and the restaurants themselves offer the consumers a chance to experience for themselves a fast food legend. McDonald’s business model, depicted by the â€Å"three-legged stool† of owner/operators, suppliers, and company employees, is their foundation, and balancing the interests of all three groups. Second elements are McDonald’s offers core menu items like hamburgers, French fries and soft drinks in mo st countries. The popularity of American-style hamburgers, fries, and soft drinks is growing around the world, supporting Levitt’s view of the global village. For the price, the average price of Big Mac in the United States is $3.54. Globalization involves developing marketing strategies as though the world is a single entity, marketing standardized products in the same way everywhere. Globalized organizations employ standardized products, promotional campaigns, prices and distribution channels for all markets. Brand name, product characteristics, packaging and labeling are the easiest of the marketing mix variables to standardize. One of the aims of McDonald’s is to create a standardized set of items that taste the same whether in India, China or South Africa. McDonald’s seeks to serve its customers with the same quality product and experience, whether that restaurant is located in Moscow, Kiev or Russia. This requires standardized processes and similar quality ingredients. The table below is the examples of effective global marketing of McDonald’s: Marketing Mix Element

Wensha vs Yung Case Digest

G. R. No. 185122 August 16, 2010 WENSHA SPA CENTER, INC. and/or XU ZHI JIE, Petitioners, vs. LORETA T. YUNG, Respondent. A petition for review on certiorari under Rule 45 of the Rules of Court filed by an employer who was charged before the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) for dismissing an employee upon the advice of a Feng Shui master. Facts: Wensha Spa Center, Inc. (Wensha) in Quezon City is in the business of sauna bath and massage services. Xu Zhi Jie a. k. a. Pobby Co (Xu) is its president,3 respondent Loreta T. Yung (Loreta) was its administrative manager at the time of her termination from employment.Loreta recounted that on August 10, 2004, she was asked to leave her office because Xu and a Feng Shui master were exploring the premises. Later that day, Xu asked Loreta to go on leave with pay for one month. She did so and returned on September 10, 2004. Upon her return, Xu and his wife asked her to resign from Wensha because, according to the Feng Shui master, her au ra did not match that of Xu. Loreta refused but was informed that she could no longer continue working at Wensha. That same afternoon, Loreta went to the NLRC and filed a case for illegal dismissal against Xu and Wensha.Labor Arbiter (LA) Francisco Robles dismissed Loreta’s complaint for lack of merit. He found it more probable that Loreta was dismissed from her employment due to Wensha’s loss of trust and confidence in her. NLRC affirmed in its Resolution,9 citing its observation that Wensha was still considering the proper action to take on the day Loreta left Wensha and filed her complaint. CA reversed the ruling of the NLRC on the ground that it gravely abused its discretion in appreciating the factual bases that led to Loreta’s dismissal. The CA noted that there were irregularities and inconsistencies in Wensha’s position.Issue: Whether or not petitioner Xu Zhi Jie is solidarily liable with Wensha. Ruling: Loreta’s security of tenure is guaran teed by the Constitution and the Labor Code. Under the security of tenure guarantee, a worker can only be terminated from his employment for cause and after due process. The records are bereft of evidence that Loreta was duly informed of the charges against her and that she was given the opportunity to respond to those charges prior to her dismissal. If there were indeed charges against Loreta that Wensha had to investigate, then it should have informed her of those charges and required her to explain her side.Wensha should also have kept records of the investigation conducted while Loreta was on leave. The law requires that two notices be given to an employee prior to a valid termination: the first notice is to inform the employee of the charges against her with a warning that she may be terminated from her employment and giving her reasonable opportunity within which to explain her side, and the second notice is the notice to the employee that upon due consideration of all the cir cumstances, she is being terminated from her employment. This is a requirement of due process and clearly, Loreta did not receive any of those required notices.Nevertheless, the Court finds merit in the argument of petitioner Xu that the CA erred in ruling that he is solidarily liable with Wensha. Elementary is the rule that a corporation is invested by law with a personality separate and distinct from those of the persons composing it and from that of any other legal entity to which it may be related. â€Å"Mere ownership by a single stockholder or by another corporation of all or nearly all of the capital stock of a corporation is not of itself sufficient ground for disregarding the separate corporate personality. In labor cases, corporate directors and officers may be held solidarily liable with the corporation for the termination of employment only if done with malice or in bad faith. Bad faith does not connote bad judgment or negligence; it imports a dishonest purpose or some moral obliquity and conscious doing of wrong; it means breach of a known duty through some motive or interest or ill will; it partakes of the nature of fraud. In the subject decision, the CA concluded that petitioner Xu and Wensha are jointly and severally liable to Loreta.We have read the decision in its entirety but simply failed to come across any finding of bad faith or malice on the part of Xu. There is, therefore, no justification for such a ruling. To sustain such a finding, there should be an evidence on record that an officer or director acted maliciously or in bad faith in terminating the services of an employee. Moreover, the finding or indication that the dismissal was effected with malice or bad faith should be stated in the decision itself.