Are There More Advantages Than Disadvantages to Living in a House Rather Than in an Apartment?

Many people nowadays face a difficult decision when they buy their own home. The question is whether they should buy a house or an apartment. There would seem to be clear benefits and drawbacks to both options. Perhaps the major advantage of living in a house is the issue of privacy. Typically, there is more opportunity for peace and quiet, if you live in a house. This is particularly the case if it is a detached house. Other significant advantages are that houses are generally more spacious and on the whole have gardens. This is especially important if there is a family so that the children can have a safe environment to play in. If, however, you live in a tower block, then the children may have to play outside on the pavement. There are, of course, negative aspects to living in houses. The greatest of these is that they tend to be more expensive to purchase and to maintain. Indeed, a large majority of people choose to live in apartments because they cannot afford the mortgage to buy a house. Another possible problem is that there are fewer houses in cities than the countryside. So if you like urban life, it may be preferable to live in an apartment. A second reason to avoid living in a house is that there is a greater sense of community to life in an apartment. My conclusion would be that this is a well-balanced issue. There are probably an equal number of pros and cons to making either choice. Ultimately, whether you decide to live in a cottage in the countryside or a duplex in the city depends on your own personality, family and financial circumstances.

Portfolio: Big five Personality Traits and Oliver P. John Essay

1. Introduction The purpose of this portfolio is to reflect on my experiences and learning’s whilst studying BSB124- Working in Business, particularly what I have learnt about my Intrapersonal and Interpersonal competencies. I will explore my personality trains through the use of the Big Five Inventory (BFI), and explain how they can be beneficial/detrimental to my future career goal. 2. Intrapersonal Intrapersonal effectiveness is defined as â€Å"Understanding yourself (and your goals, strengths, weaknesses, style, biases) and improving self-management skills, such as time management and stress management† (De Janasz, Wood, Gottschalk, Dowd and Schneider 2006, p. 3). 2.1 The Big Five Inventory The Big Five Inventory (BFI) is a personality assessment tool, which has five dimensions including Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism (Costa and McCrae, 1992). Research has been conducted to explain how people with varying levels of these traits will perform within the workplace. Research conducted, shows that conscientiousness and emotional stability are positively correlated with job performance in virtually all jobs (Anderson and Viswesvaran 1998; Barrick and Mount 1991; Salgado 1997; Tett et al. 1991), extraversion has been found to be related to job performance in occupations where interactions with others are a significant portion of the job (Barrick and Mount 1991; Mount et al. 1998), agreeableness is said to be positively associated to ratings of teamwork, and openness to experience has been positively related to training performance (Barrick and Mount 1991; Salgado 1997). As you will see in Appendix 1, I am highest in agreeableness, followed by extraversion then openness to experience, with my lowest ratings being conscientiousness and neuroticism. These results are important, as I see myself working as a Public Relations representative for a large, international corporation within the next five (5) to ten (10) years (preferably for a charity organisation such as Ronald McDonald House  Charities). My personality test scores indicate that I am sympathetic, modest, straightforward, sociable, enthusiastic, imaginative, confident and even-tempered; however, I am not very thorough, and there is definitely room for improvement with my organizational skills (Costa and McCrae 1992). According to the handbook of personality (Oliver P. John et al.), being high in extraversion means that I very sociable and am suitable for positions of leadership. This is relevant to my long-term career goal, as research conducted on seek.com shows that leadership qualities as well as social/networking skills, are valuable within the Public relations industry (see Appendix 2 for job advertisements). Further research into the requirements of obtaining a position within the Public Relations industry would indicate that task and goal directed behaviour; as well strong organizational skills are required. These qualities are consistent with the personality trait of conscientiousness. As mentioned previously, my personality test scores indicate that conscientiousness is an area in which has room for improvement. I feel that my personality profile reflects many strengths as well as weaknesses, especially in terms of my likely workplace performance. As mentioned throughout this section, I am high in agreeableness and extraversion, and low in conscientiousness. These results are consistent with my experiences within BSB124, especially throughout the group presentation, as I believe that I did a good job in motivating my team and helping others. Although our overall grade was a six (6), I feel that we would have achieved better results had I organized my time appropriately and practiced my part of the speech more thoroughly (I did the introduction, and had to start over as I had lost my place roughly thirty (30) seconds in). As mentioned previously, I intend on obtaining a position within a large international organisation. I believe that my low level of conscientiousness will hinder my success in this environment, and therefore, see it as an area that I can focus on to further my professional development. I believe that my high level of agreeableness and openness to experience will be helpful,  especially as I will be working with a wide variety of people from all kinds of backgrounds/nationalities. A high level of agreeableness means that I will work well in a team environment (Oliver P. John et al.) and a high level of openness to experience suggests that I am willing to learn and try new things (Oliver P. John et al.). This is significant when working with people from different cultures, I don’t know how to word this, I am trying to say that I may see something as conventional; however, someone with a different background will see it as strange- hence I will need to be able to adapt my methods when working overseas. 2.2 Learning goal and related activity I intend to develop a number of competencies associated with conscientiousness- mainly organisation, but also self-discipline. I will do this by setting myself S.M.A.R.T goals (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound). The development of these competencies will help me to achieve my long-term career goal. 3. Interpersonal Interpersonal effectiveness is defined as â€Å"the ability to manage conflict, to build and manage high-performance teams, to conduct efficient meetings, to coach and counsel employees, to provide negative feedback in constructive ways, to influence others’ opinions, and to motivate and energize employees† (Whetten & Cameron 2011, p.130). 3.1 Self-perception Inventory â€Å"A team is not a bunch of people with job titles, but a congregation of individuals, each of whom has a role which is understood by other members. Members of a team seek out certain roles and they perform most effectively in the ones that are most natural to them† (Belbin, 1981). The Self-perception Inventory (SPI) was created to give individuals a â€Å"simple means of assessing their best team roles† (Belbin, 1981). It is difficult to work effectively with people without some reasonable expectations of how  they are going to perform. Based on the results of the questionnaire, the SPI makes each individual aware of their preferred role when working in teams. This then allows them to focus on their strengths and improve on their weakness. During his research, Meredith found that each of the behaviours were essential in getting the team successfully from start to finish. The key was balance. For example, Meredith Belbin found that a team with no Plants struggled to come up with the initial spark of an idea with which to push forward. However, once too many Plants were in the team, bad ideas concealed good ones and non-starters were given too much airtime. Similarly, with no Shaper, the team ambled along without drive and direction, missing deadlines. With too many Shapers, in-fighting began and morale was lowered. A Summary of my SPI results is in Appendix 3. Results of the SPI indicate that my two preferred team roles are Shaper and Company Worker. A shaper can be defined as someone who has a drive and readiness for challenge, can strive under pressure and is seen as a leadership figure; however, they can be prone to provocation and can be seen as rude and impatient (Belbin, 1981). A Company Worker is someone who is hard working, self-disciplined, organized and practical, but be seen as inflexible and unresponsive (Belbin 1981). I believe that these results are an accurate reflection of my personality, and are consistent both with my experiences within BSB124 as well as within the workplace. I will need to focus on my weaknesses, as addressed through the SPI, should I wish to be successful in both university and future career development. As with my intrapersonal learning goals, I will use S.M.A.R.T goals to address the weaknesses above. My results from Belbin’s inventory, combined with my personality profile, and work experience suggests that, in groups I am likely to engage in a confrontational conflict resolution style. Research indicates that Asian cultures tend to prefer non-confrontational conflict styles, and as a result tend to react defensively when confronted in conflict situations (Rahim & Blum; Ting-Toomey et al., 1991). As I hope to work in a large, international organisation in the future and it is likely I will be dealing with individuals from Asian cultures, I therefore need to adjust my conflict  style accordingly. Thus, again using the SMART goals specified in section 2.2, I envisage that a more agreeable, empathetic nature will help me engage in more appropriate conflict resolution styles when necessary. 3.2 SPARK analysis

Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 6

Case Study Example ight or poor rescheduling of the flight, it is a bit hard to communicate the change he will be able to state it clearly and can be seen through his emotions and explanation of the whole problem. In addition, some customers even become very rude and try to express their feelings through throwing tantrums and abuse to the customer service provider leading to serious emotional balance to the customer (Goleman, 2009, p. 23). The solving of the problem of the customers may involve the use of surface acting. For instance, on the day that I encountered the rude customer, I had family issues that were bogging me down, but I had to pretend everything was alright. In fact, the use of surface acting has helped me shape my professional approach to issues. The development of surface acting techniques has helped hide emotional challenges in the workplace. As a customer care service personnel, it is vital to ensure that personal emotions does not affect the customer attitude. In the case of delayed flights, customers vent their anger on you instead of the management. As a customer care executive, you act as the manager and try to ensure that there is positive public image despite the differences brought about by the delayed service. In my case, the challenge was to cool down two clients who insisted on travelling the same day while there were no flights available for the day (Stanley, 2009, p. 23). They could not understand the challenge faced and were not willing to listen to reason and could not tone down their argument and emotions. It was hell trying to cool them and get them to reason and come down to understanding. At one point, they almost pushed me over the cliff of emotions, but I was composed and tried not to reflect the anger in my heart. Surface acting came to my rescue in the case and enabled self-control to rule. In addition, it was very difficult to communicate in an atmosphere where tempers were flaring and logics were thrown to the dogs. In dealing with

My vacation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

My vacation - Essay Example The two lakes that we saw there were beautiful. The crystal clear water of those lakes and the wildlife sites were eye catching. The beauty of that place is unforgettable. A closer look to the trout that had enough meat attracted us towards them. Fishing was much like a hobby for me and having such a wonderful place around was an additional benefit to make it more exciting. I enjoyed fishing there but it is a fact that my father was always a better fisherman and always defeated me by catching a bigger fish. After getting done with fishing, we started moving between the mountains. The voice of the trees, as the wind blows, grabs the attention of every person. We started climbing a mountain and got to see many birds there. The sweet voice of those birds and the beauty of them is something to stay in the memories for a long time. I always had a fantasy of enjoying a camping trip which also came true during these vacations. We played, sang, cooked and enjoyed every single moment of that

CJM 321 CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORIES Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5500 words

CJM 321 CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORIES - Essay Example because computers, mobile technologies, and the Internet are now being used to conduct cybercrimes, not to mention, deviant behaviors, such as cyberbullying, which can also lead to criminal activities. Clearly, the sources of criminality have spread and diversified to touch various aspects of human society which is why law enforcement is trying to find ways to respond to them using limited people, budget, and resources. Ensuring and preserving public safety is one of the top priorities of local governments and law enforcement agencies. People’s safety and the security of their properties are perceived as basic human rights and important to the community’s total quality of life (Plant & Scott, 2009, p.8). The main concern of the paper is to understand how law enforcement can provide the essentials for today’s communities. These essentials include crime-fighting though the police also performs other functions, such as aiding the movement of people and vehicles, helping those who cannot take care of themselves, such as the mentally ill, children, and the homeless, and resolving conflicts between individuals or groups. The paper explores the issues that have to be addressed to ensure â€Å"safety† for all, including discussing their obstacles and existing and potential solutions. The main issues to be addressed to ensure safety are crime prevention strategies that include pr evention of substance abuse that leads to crimes and accidents, gang crimes and organized ctimes, hate crimes, and terrorism. The selling, distribution, and use of drugs, including related drug crimes continue to create social problems for society. It does not help that, due to the globalization of technology and transportation, illegal drug business has expanded and become more resourceful in evading the detection of law enforcement. In 2007, law enforcement agencies across the U.S. made 1.8 million drug-related arrests (McElreath et al., 2013, p.11). In 2008, almost 100,000 inmates in

Management must strive for efficiency & effectiveness throughout Essay - 2

Management must strive for efficiency & effectiveness throughout organisation. Discuss, relating to strategic and operational theories and concepts covered within the lecture notes of this course - Essay Example re the intrinsic management attributes that are linked with efficiency and effectiveness that is rampant in any organization in the time and age of today. The same are discussed in line with the strategic and operational theories and concepts that have been studied thus far. Strategic basis of the management regimes indicate that an organization is more than willing to think long term, and hence devise ways and means through which success would be envisioned for the sake of the business concern. The operational theories and concepts are also important to discern and later on comprehend because embody the basis of success for an organization in the long run. The manner in which the external environment plays a definitive role as well as the building up of the strategic. Similarly managing the marketing mix is pivotal towards resolving the management related problems on a proactive basis. The same is necessary because it helps solve quite a few issues which basically mar the basis of an organization in the long run (Sims 2002). Efficiency and effectiveness within an organization is achieved through hard work and consistency that is related with the different processes, activities and tasks. The strategy development process could either be an intended one within an organization or it could comprise of an emergent form. Both have challenges and implications which are related with the strategic drift, the learning organizational basis, the uncertain and complex conditions and the overall management of the strategy development processes. The strategic management is therefore a combination of the external environment and the strategic capability that holds the strategic choices like business level strategies, the corporate and international level strategies and the development directions and methodologies (Ruhli 1993). The external environment similarly is related with the building up of the strategic capabilities. This means that the internal level analysis holds

Department of Fisheries Decision Support System (DSS) Research Paper

Department of Fisheries Decision Support System (DSS) - Research Paper Example Monitoring the changes in the way the activities related to fishing is very essential for a country to fully explore the resource. In most countries the organizations that are given the responsibility to handle and overlook on the fisheries activities faces difficulties in managing the information concerning the subject. Information about different features of fishing is handled in different section in the department (Anand, & Singh, 2006). To ensure that the storage of this information is fully integrated. The department needs a system that will integrate the different systems that are used in different section to handle this information. As such the most appropriate system that can ensure that the detailed data concerning fisheries can be stored effectively and accurately is data warehousing system. The idea of data warehousing is derived from database management as a tool for knowledge management. Data warehouse is a database which stores the organization information that is gathe red from different sources. The storage of such information is centralized. The information concerning different sections of a department is merged and stored in a standard format on a database. Technology used To build an effective data warehousing system, there is need for a data mart. The best software that can be used to develop this is Microsoft SQL server 2008. ... The information that will be stored in this data warehouse will provide the department with evidence-based centralized data that can be retrieved and used to produce a report. The errors that accrue due to data not being consistence are eliminated. In addition, the long process of processing this data to come up with a reconciled report is also eliminated. More so, the report that is produced from analyzing this data is of high quality. The process of getting the data from the system is also simplified (Trevor, 2010). In a decision support process that uses data from data warehousing system, the people concern can come up with queries and report that originate from themselves. The capability of the system to display the information in a manner that the user can recognize and make use of it with a lot of simplicity is something that cannot be undermined. In general, the process of retrieving the data from the system is shortened and at the same time it is user friendly. Another advant age with data warehousing is the fact that the data that is found in the system is clean and can be trusted. This means that the confidentiality, accuracy and integrity of such data are guaranteed. In addition, the ability of Microsoft SQL servers to store a massive volume of data makes it possible for trend analysis. Scope of the problem The department has the responsibility of coming up with detailed report of the findings they get after completing a field trip. In addition, they are also supposed to give a report after three months and at the end of the year. This report entails all the tasks that are carried out I a particular period and also there is the policy information that goes to the stakeholders. The information system that the department uses

Business Research Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Business Research Analysis - Essay Example y. From the above table, the mean age of the respondents is 21.73 years with a minimum of 18 and a maximum of 44 years. A notable characteristic of the three satisfaction ratings for stock, quiet areas and staff is above average mean ratings. Gender Frequency Bar Graph (Source: Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) spread sheet) Where: 0= female, 1 = male From the frequency bar graph above, there are more females than males in the study with a figure of 77 and 73 respectively. Females contribute 51.3% of all respondent while males contribute the remaining 48.7%. Mode of Study Frequency Table Frequency Per cent Valid Per cent Cumulative Per cent Valid 0 28 18.7 18.7 18.7 1 122 81.3 81.3 100.0 Total 150 100.0 100.0 (Source: Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) spread sheet) Where: 0= Part time, 1 = Full time The above table shows that 81.3% of all respondents are full time students while the remaining 18.7% percent are part time students. There is approximately four times more student enrolled in full time programmes than part time programmes. Year of Study Frequency Bar Graph (Source: Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) spread sheet) Where: 4 = Year 1 Undergraduate 5 = Year 2 Undergraduate 6 = Year 3 Undergraduate (Final Year) 7 = Postgraduate (e.g. MBA, MSc) 8 = Doctoral (e.g. PhD) The above graph shows that the number of respondents increase from the first year to the fifth year of undergraduate studies after which it decrease towards the doctoral level of study. (Source: Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) spread sheet) Age of respondents ranges from 18 to 44 years. Respondents of 18 years of age are the majority in the sample. Respondents of 27, 28, 33, 35 and 44 years form the minority each contributing 0.7% of the respondents. Potential Areas for Improvement From the gender frequency bar, it is clear that the number of female respondents exceed that of their male counterparts. From majority of statistics , majority of tertiary education students are male. The following sample should have used a controlled number of male and female respondents which reflect the actual gender proportions of the parent population. The number of sampled full time students is also too many compared to part time students. The number of sampled respondents who are more than 27 years of age is too little those with less than 25 years. These biases should be reduced in order to ensure that the sampled population reflects the characteristics of the parent population as closely as possible. (ii) To what extent is there a difference of opinion between males and females relating to the three satisfaction ratings for stock, quiet areas and staff? We will use the independent sample t-test since it shows whether there is a significant difference between the means of two groups of people or conditions. Group Statistics Gender N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean Stock 0 77 5.84 2.444 .279 1 73 6.18 2.584 .302 Quiet 0 77 6.53 2.174 .248 1 73 6.32 2.278 .267 Staff 0 77 6.97 1.224 .140

Relations between teachers and principalsfrom teachers perceptions Essay

Relations between teachers and principalsfrom teachers perceptions - Essay Example Training and qualifying them and raising their social rank are one of the most important issues and priorities of the authorities responsible for education in the world. The school manager has a leading role in dealing with teachers, as s/he must work seriously to facilitate the obstacles and difficulties in order to make the teachers achieve their goals for the interest of the educational operation in the school. S/he should be an effective and interactive manager keen on assisting occupational growth and providing the proper atmosphere for the educational operation. S/he should also accommodate the teachers in the major decisions related to student’s education (Hargreaves & Bascia, 2000). The school manager holds a unique position in the administration of the school. In a way, the manager is needed by all and is gifted with the knowledge and skills so that they not only manage the other people that come under their umbrella effectively, but also perform their assigned tasks (Nakpodia, 2010). In order to perform the task smoothly the manager has to show good leadership behaviour. This managing power helps them to handle the relationship with the teachers perfectly. Likewise, they are also able to run and excel the organization. In case when the manager fails to run the school smoothly, this means they are not able to show leadership qualities with their teachers (Maleke, 2003). The main aim of the research is to explore the nature of the relationship between the teachers and the principals and the impact of their relationship on the learning of the students. Research questions: 1. What is the nature of the relationship between teachers and the principal? 2. How, if at all, does this impact on student learning? 3. In what ways, if at all, are teachers rewarded for their work? b- The Country and the School: The teaching profession is considered one of the most important, dangerous, and responsible professions in all countries because the teacher actually is the one who prepares the country and its generations to be able to bear burdens of work, building, and development in all fields required for the nation. Therefore, the school manager has many duties in developing the teachers and their capabilities through educational efficiencies that include two important aspects: the knowledge aspect and the behavioural aspect (Al-Khatib, 2003). The recent educational reforms by the Saudi Arabian government have focused on the leadership role of the managers. This is because the responsibility of initiating school improvement efforts and the maintenance of the school effectiveness lies with the managers of the school. Additionally, the research designates that the manager is a key leader in development of the excellent schools, and in due course good educational institutes will ultimately give a constructive hand in the development of excellent country. Hence, the managers of the schools should adopt their complex roles so that they can be ab le to work with the teachers in harmony and dig out the best out of them. Moreover, the teachers should also understand the importance of the skills that will help them to excel in the school. Thus, the development of such skills can help them to become a significant factor in building a productive and fruitful environment of the school. 2- Previous Studies: There was a variation in the studies, both

A comparison of two works of art from 1400 to the present on view at a Essay

A comparison of two works of art from 1400 to the present on view at a museum in New York - Essay Example Smith’s Untitled is Color screenprint, 57 x 76.8 cm (22 7/16 x 30 1/4 in) and Marden’s 3 Hydra Rocks is oil on canvas 209.9 x 340.4 x 6.4 cm (82 5/8 x 134 x 2 1/2 in). Defining art can be one of the most difficult yet enjoyable tasks that any person can ever undertake. There are so many factors to consider, and so many different methods of artistic thought. Some say that art is an expression, but not everyone agrees that an expression is art. However, really, is not art really all in the eye of the beholder? Who is to say that one train of thought it more important or correct than another does when regarding what art is. One person may think that a particular object or expression may be artistic, whilst another thinks that it is simply garbage. In this case, these artworks are truly wonderful.1 The painting Untitled by Smith is incomparable for its use of space all over the canvas and the application of dimension in form of space is unique. She made space speak a language and narration that was beyond imagination. With her penetrating look and absorbing concern, she explores the innate charm of an object of art. According to the celebrated Latin poet Ovid, art lies in concealing art. If art is the magic of holding back time then artists are the magicians who captivate time in colors and canvases. As time passes by several take birth and perish, but some people with their achievements and contributions leave their footprints on the sands of time. These people remain immortal forever in the pages of history and along with them last the movements created by them. One such artist is Smith and she manifested the mode of artistic expression in the late 20th century.2 The usage of space, particularly on the right hand side of the canvas is the balance of the shapes and lines present on the left central part of the painting. Here the space is colored in brown and black. This is a less vibrant color

Sports Aid charity Essay Example for Free

Sports Aid charity Essay Sports Aid charity offers grants to individuals that helps them perfect their training and develop mainly for the individual more than the club.It encourages young and dissabled talent in sports nation wide.  It is funded by the Department of culture, media and sports through England.Its main target is focusing on development in the ethnic minority as this tends to attract less funding than the other groups. Its aim is to invest in ethnic minority such as-Asian woman participating in more sport. Community Chest grants are offered to projects that encourage greater involvement in local community activities.Grants are generally between à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½50 and à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½5,000, and applications are welcome at any time. There are no deadlines or dates to worry about. Sports England supports buildings equppment and gives advice and guidelines.  currently 5 million of government funding is received per year and to date à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½70 million has been invested into grass roots sport thanks to the Sportsmatch Scheme. Most grants awarded are for amounts up to 1,000 and are available to fund groups working with:  Older people (over 65)  Taxas help fund for sports because we get our money off the goverment if we didnt pay these taxas then sport would go down.The number of voluntary sports clubs are decreasing i know this because its quotes it on the CCPR website.  Only 22 perecent of clubs income greater than their expenditure and 34 percent described their financial position a precarious. Things will get worse without tax exemtions from the goverment.  Legal responsibilities:  A coach is required to obay by the National Governing Bodys code of ethics and conduct and as a coach they should have legal responsibilities. they should recognise the importance of Helath and Saftey and treating the public with care.  This means having access to first aid and ermergancy service. A coach can be liable if there is any evidence that shows the standards have not been followed. Checking equppment is safe. Chilldren need to be protected from any violence or abuse. To ensure this is carried out in the the strictest way coaches need to be checked of any crimminal convictions and show evidence of a clean record.  Coaches should have appropriate insurance which covers both public liability and personal accidents. Many governing bodies include insurance as part of their affiliation fee. Be aware of the Licensing laws such as the code of conduct follow it with great care and accept others too aswel.  Protect the young people you work with maintain a parental relationship with them aswel as a coach. Advice them on healthy eating such as nutrition tell that whats good for them, inform them on the importance of food and hygine,how important it is to eat the right foods and keep clean ect.

Definition And Conditions Of Decision Making Tourism Essay

Definition And Conditions Of Decision Making Tourism Essay As managers and entrepreneurs, we should have confidence in our decisions, but can we? Discuss with regard to your ability as a decision maker and the tools and methods available to assist decision making. Entrepreneur and managers are no longer able to have confidence in their decision. Because even good managers make mistakes in their decision making process. Therefore, there are many of the business organisations trying to find out the best method of decision making process. Nevertheless, many of them experience end in failure or sink in the business world. Because, decision making of organisation, as it operates with in the organisation, implies that increasing unexpected complexity in environment uncertainty. And this uncertainty means that decision makers do not have sufficient information about environmental factors, and they have a difficult time predicting internal or external changes. So, uncertainty increases the risk of failure for organisational responses and makes it difficult to compute costs and probabilities associated with decision alternatives. Therefore, any organisations want to success in their business, it is essential to use suitable decision making tools and me thods. To understand this essay better, defining the term of decision making is necessary. According to Fitzgerald, decision making involves the choice of an alternative from among a series of competing alternatives (2002, p. 8). And theories of decision making are concerned with how such choices are made. This essay will explain nature of decision making, tools and methods of decision making process and steps in decision making to assist decision makers. Finally, availability of those tools and methods by managers and entrepreneurs will be discussed to assist their decision making process. First of all, nature of decision making should be identified before it discusses about its tools and methods. The definition of decision making is explained in introduction. However, decision making conditions are should be concerned before the actual decisions have been made because the decisions are not always made under same amount of available information (Rue Byars, 2007, p. 76). The conditions which give influence to decision making process are: certainty, risk and uncertainty. Situation of certainty means that decision maker knows every alternative outcome from the decision so he/she can make decision precisely. For example, if manager have to make decision on which transport service he/she will use between by air or by train to deliver their product or service, it is obvious that air will take relatively shorter time but higher cost than train, and train will take longer time but lower cost than airplane. Unfortunately, each alternative brings different outcomes and this is not always known in advance. Therefore, decision makers are only able to estimate their relative probabilities of outcomes. According to Williams, perception of risk means the amount of uncertainty or lack of predictability concerning the outcome of a decision (2002, p. 86). This is called a situation of risk. Generally, exact prediction about probabilities of various outcomes is impossible. Thus, managers may make their decision based on past experience and historical data. However, Russo and Schoemarker said people do not learn easily from experience because is requires pro-found skills (1990, p. 174). Although, risk can never be eliminated from decision making process, decision makers can attempt to minimize its impact on their outcome with technique of learning from experience and forecasting from historical data. When there is very little or no reliable information to estimate the variety of possible outcomes fro decision maker, this is called situation of uncertainty. Moreover, this means that the decision maker does not have any knowledge that concerns the possibilities related with different outcomes. In this circumstance, decision maker may take one of several approaches. First approach is the maximax approach. Rue Byars selecting the alternative whose best possible outcomes is the best of all possible outcomes for all alternatives (2007, p. 77). In the second approach, the maximin approach refers comparing the worst possible outcomes for each alternative and selecting the one that is least undesirable (Rue Byars, 2007, p. 77). And the last approach is the risk-averting approach. This approach can be resulted in more effective planning because it is chosen by the alternative with the least fluctuation among its possible outcomes (2007, p. 78). The conditions for decision making occupy important position in decision making process by guiding decision makers which decision making model they should use. Therefore, decision makers should keep in mind those conditions before they make actual decision for organisations. Decision making tools and methods in decision process support decision makers to understand complex phenomena in managerial activities. Those tools and methods are able to maximise managerial options within decision making process specifically and describe its situations clearly. The tools are for fostering making creative decision. And the methods have rational and intuitive methods for effective decision making. By using these tools and methods, the triple bottom line and managers corporate social responsibility should be concerned together. According to Williams, creative problem solving is not easy and applying the tools requires time, resources, and effort (2002, p. 149). However, to improve the quality of organisations important decision making process, creative decision making techniques are essential. These techniques are such as brainstorming, Gordon technique, nominal group technique, and synectics. Brainstorming can be explained as producing a large quantity of solution on a problem to find out its solution among them. By using this tool, there is initially no criticism and question of idea should be allowed. Then combinations of solutions can be used as decision making tool for improvement of organisation. Gordon technique is similar with brainstorming but it can be differ from that group leader knows the exact nature of the real problem under consideration (Rue Byars, 2007, p. 84). Nominal group technique is involving few steps as highly structured technique. The order of steps is listening recording voting-discussion final voting. This technique minimizes personal interactions to maximize their activity and reduce pressure from conformity with group decision. The synectics is a relatively new technique used in creative decision making process. This technique uses metaphorical thinking to make the familiar strange and the strange familiar (Rue Byars, 2007, p. 85). None of those techniques is a perfect tool for assisting decision makers activity. Each technique should be considered as a just tool that can facilitate proper decision making process by decision makers. Rational decision making method is the most pervasive and influential and to use rational decision making effectively, this includes the following steps: recognising and defining the situation, developing alternatives, evaluating alternatives, selecting the best alternative, implementation, and follow-up and evaluation (Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, Coulter, 2006, p. 208-212). First, when problem exist, it is necessary to find out what kind of problem it is including organisations current situation. The gap between the current situation and existing problem can be identified in this step. Second, developing alternatives is for finding a cause of problem in the situation and gathering information concerning the current state of affairs. Third, evaluating alternatives has a role for helping decision maker to evaluate a solution from among the available alternatives. Forth, selecting the best alternatives is choosing the best option from among the evaluated alternatives. Fifth, implementati on refers that decision maker is putting the decision he/she chosen into actual organisational activities. Sixth, the last step is evaluating the effectiveness of the implemented decision by decision maker. These steps assist decision maker to optimize organisations outcome. Fitzgerald believes that embedded within the rational model is the belief that managers actually optimize their decision making behaviour by deliberately choosing and implementing the best alternatives (2002, p.13). On the other hand there are similar but slightly different approach is included in rational method. That is satisficing approach. The difference between optimizing approach and satisficing approach in rational method is satisficing is selecting the first alternative that meets the decision makers minimum standard of satisfaction instead of selecting the best possible alternative from among every possible alternative (Rue Byars, 2007, p. 74). Intuitive decision making method is used when decision maker decide organisational decision bases on hunches and intuition (Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, Coulter, 2006, p. 216). Moreover, Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, Coulter defined intuitive decision making as a subconscious process of making decisions on basis of experience and accumulated judgement (2006, p. 216). That means an emotional decision is put into action by decision maker from their mind in decision making process. The emotional attachment can lead manager to poor decisions or can be very real especially who are living in the past. However, the key is manager should not ignore when the available information exist. Intuition plays an important role in decision making process. Consequently, it can be said managers experience and judgement is important when he/she faces the decision making situation. Learning from the past is not easy but once it has become your knowledge, it can be important resource for decision making as a dec ision maker (Williams, 2002, p. 153). In conclusion, this essay discussed about definition and conditions of decision making. The different conditions such as certainty, risk and uncertainty give different influence on decision making process. And the tools and methods have been identified as that can promote improvement of organisation by decision making and several steps in decision making methods to assist decision managers and entrepreneurs. The tools in decision making process allow improving the quality of organisations important decision. Then the methods in decision making are more related to assist decision makers to put one of the possible alternatives on actual action. Decision making process can be improved by recognising conditions of decision making and applying appropriate tools and methods to problems decision maker is faced. To be effective and efficient in decision making process, managers need to be open to new information and others opinion. If managers and entrepreneurs apply creative and sufficient decision making skills in their decision making process, there are various solutions to achieve their goal or overcome their problem will be allowed without failure in decision making.

Internal Validity in Longitudinal Homeless Research

Internal Validity in Longitudinal Homeless Research Establishing Internal Validity in Longitudinal Research with the Homeless Introduction When working with the homeless, it is necessary to identify potential factors that may contribute to the process of entering or exiting homelessness. These factors may take the form of demographic information, socio-economic status, and familial support, to name a few (Johnson et al., 1997; Chamberlain Johnson, 2013). Some of these variables may be described as negative reinforcements, in that they exacerbate a person’s likelihood of experiencing prolonged homelessness (Aubry, Klodawsky, Coulombe, 2012). These may include substance use, mental illness, arrest history, and absence of support network (Fazel et al., 2008). The temporal relationship between variables of this nature and homelessness is of particular interest to researchers. Determining whether substance use or mental illness precede and predict one’s chances of entering homelessness, or whether these variables have a greater chance of occurring following the manifestation of homelessness, will have implica tions for the development of interventions. While substance use and mental health disorders are shown to occur at increased rates among the homeless as compared to the general population (Fazel et al., 2008), teasing out their particular relationship with the onset, life course, or outcome of homelessness may be difficult to do. In their longitudinal investigation of 344 single adults recruited from municipal homeless shelters in the New York City area, McQuistion, Gorroochurn,Hsu, andCaton (2013) sought to measure the constructs of substance use and mental health, among others, to discover what relationship they had with whether or not someone experienced chronic homelessness, recurring homelessness, or successful rehousing over an eighteen-month period. The authors hypothesized that recurrent homelessness would be associated with characteristics that limit or impede a person’s ability to function, and additionally sought to determine if these characteristics may be independently predictive of recurrent homelessness, o r if they are associated with other outcomes (McQuistion et al. p. 2, 2013). Defining the variables The dependent variable in this report is described as the life course of experienced homelessness. The researchers limited their participants to exclusively include those who were experiencing homelessness for the first time, so as to observe differences in individual characteristics of those who go on to experience recurrent or chronic homelessness and those are rehoused. The authors recruited participants from the municipal shelter system, and relied on retrospective self-report to measure the continued progress of housing status. Interviews were conducted every six months, while brief check-in interviews were conducted monthly, in an effort to reduce recall bias. As the study proceeded, the authors divided participants into one of three categories: (1.) those experiencing recurrent homelessness – one or more further lapses of homelessness following rehousing, (2.) chronic homelessness – the absence of any housing following baseline interview, and (3.) stably housed à ¢â‚¬â€œ the acquisition and successful retaining of fixed permanent dwelling (McQuistion et al. p. 3, 2013). As a dependent variable, life course of homelessness in this study is sufficiently nuanced to include a wide range of possible experiential outcomes over a span of time, but the concept of â€Å"homelessness† itself is narrowed by the restraints of the study’s recruitment technique. While drawing their entire recruitment pool from the municipal shelter system of New York City ensured that participants were experiencing true homelessness (McQuistion et al. p. 2, 2013), this definition of homelessness still excludes those who may be sleeping in cars, residing in homeless encampments, occupying public spaces, or otherwise absent from the shelter system. There will be no way to say whether the results obtained in this study would be any different for people who may not utilize shelters upon entering homelessness. The independent variables in this study are described as â€Å"risk variables† (McQuistion et al., p. 3, 2013), demographic characteristics, and personal history information. The authors describe only a few of the instruments that were used in gathering this information. Upon initiating the baseline interviews, participants were screened for criteria of DSM-IV Axis I disorders (including substance abuse disorders). The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV was used for this purpose, for the sake of brevity. The only Axis II diagnosis screened was antisocial personality disorder, because it is the only Axis II disorder in which behavioral history is the primary criteria (McQuistion et al. p. 2, 2013). While this may be convenient, excluding the diagnosis of other personality disorders further limits the generalizability of this data. History of living arrangement, education, income, employment history, criminal justice involvement, history of childhood placement, and current familial support were also obtained (McQuistion et al,. 2013). â€Å"Out-of-home placement† in childhood was defined as residing with a non-relative before the age of 18 (McQuistion et al., p. 3, 2013). Once again, the definition of this construct may be too narrow in scope, as it overlooks those who have had a similar â€Å"out-of-home placement† experiences, but have been placed with distant relatives through foster care. Familial disorganization during childhood was assessed by asking a series of questions related to parental substance abuse, parental criminality, family violence, and other similar items. According to the authors, â€Å"family disorganization† as a construct had a reliability ÃŽ ± coefficient of .71 (McQuistion et al. p. 3, 2013). Other reliability coefficients for the remaining instruments were not disclosed. Relationship between variables Following data collection after eighteen months, cases were divided into the aforementioned three categories of homeless life course (McQuistion et al. p. 3, 2013). The authors then used multinomial logistic regression analysis to investigate the relationship between each of the housing categories and the risk variables, while controlling for demographic characteristics (McQuistion et al. p. 6, 2013). Some noteworthy associations were discovered. On its own, substance abuse was associated with increased rates of recurrent homelessness when examined in a bivariate analysis (McQuistion et al. p. 8, 2013). Among the risk variables and dependent variables, no isolated variable was statistically significantly associated with housing status outcome following multinomial logistic regression analysis. However, the authors point out that upon combining three factors – (1.) substance abuse within 30 days prior to baseline interview, (2.) history of arrest, and (3.) a diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder – an outcome of recurrent homelessness could be exclusively predicted. These findings suggest that while no single variable may predict the life course of homelessness, a grouping of risk factors may increase the likelihood of one outcome over another. There are associations, particularly between substance use and the homeless life course, but they may not reach critical influence unless they occur in conjunction w ith other factors. These findings further illustrate the idea that the phenomenon of homelessness is complex, hard to explain, and involves the culmination of many forces (McQuistion et al., 2013). Discussion – internal validity The internal validity at issue in this study comes down to establishing the relationship between three statistically significant risk factors and an outcome of recurrent homelessness, specifically whether one causes the other. While the authors took steps to safeguard against the threat of confounding and selection bias by virtue of the potential independent variables they accounted and controlled for, there are still issues with establishing internal validity. Although the three variables that were collectively linked with recurrent homelessness were temporally established as preceding the outcome, there are alternative explanations for this. Arrest history and antisocial personality disorder have historically been closely related (Hodgins, Cà ´tà ©, 1993; McCabe et al., 2012). That these both occurred together is redundant, and suggests that one variable that could have covered both of these simultaneously had to be divided to produce the appearance of a significant association. Furthermore, the authors describe a substance use disorder within the past thirty days of the baseline interview as being the third predictive variable for recurrent homelessness. That reported substance abuse was present prior to the baseline interview – and subsequently the first of many recurrent homeless episodes – throws doubt on the temporal assumption of one variable causing the other. Participants could have forseen their entry into homelessness as their support networks fell apart, began using a substance to cope, entered homelessness, and continued using. In this case, entry into homelessness may have brought on substance use, rather than the alternative. That there exists this alternative explanation casts doubt on the internal validity of asserting cause-and-effect between this article’s dependent and independent variables. While this article does contribute to our understanding of the factors associated with recurrent homelessness – and may even suggest a temporal relationship – it is not flawless. Research attempting to identify the possible causes of a complex phenomenon like homelessness will undoubtedly encounter difficulties in doing so. Regardless, it is the collective contributions of these efforts that will continue to inform our knowledge base, and consequently our interventions, with this population. References Aubry, T., Klodawsky, F., Coulombe, D. (2012). Comparing the housing trajectories of different classes within a diverse homeless population. American Journal Of Community Psychology, 49(1-2), 142-155. Chamberlain, C., Johnson, G. (2013). Pathways into adult homelessness. Journal Of Sociology, 49(1), 60-77. Fazel, S., Khosla, V., Doll, H., Geddes, J. (2008). The prevalence of mental disorders among the homeless in Western countries: Systematic review and meta-regression analysis. PLoS Medicine 5(12), 0001–0012. Hodgins, S., Cà ´tà ©, G. (1993). Major mental disorder and antisocial personality disorder: A criminal combination. Bulletin Of The American Academy Of Psychiatry The Law, 21(2), 155-160. Johnson, T. P., Freels, S. A., Parsons, J. A., Vangeest, J. B. (1997). Substance Abuse and homelessness: Social selection or adaptation. Addiction, 92, 437–445. McCabe, P. J., Christopher, P. P., Druhn, N., Roy-Bujnowski, K. M., Grudzinskas, A. r., Fisher, W. H. (2012). Arrest types and co-occurring disorders in persons with schizophrenia or related psychoses. The Journal Of Behavioral Health Services Research, 39(3), 271-284. McQuistion, H. L., Gorroochurn, P., Hsu, E., Caton, C. M. (2013). Risk factors associated with recurrent homelessness after a first homeless episode. Community Mental Health Journal, doi:10.1007/s10597-013-9608-4 1

The Rake Figure in Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre Essay -- Charlotte Bro

The Rake Figure in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre    Edward Rochester, the male protagonist of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre embodies a number of different roles of masculinity. One of the least recognized but very influential roles played by Rochester is the rake. The idea of the "rake" is commonly related to the Restoration period in England; yet this figure does not completely disappear during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Historical figures such as John Wilmot the second Earl of Rochester are described as leading rakish lifestyles. Literature and Art also played an important role in defining the rake. The rake character is primarily defined by his sexual nature. A rake was concerned about his status among other men. He spent most of his time in search of sexual liaisons or relating tales of past sexual escapades. Harold Weber in The Restoration Rake-Hero explains that "most rakes possess little identity outside of the love game, their lives responding largely to the rhythms of courtship and seduction, pursuit and conquest, foreplay and release" (Weber 3). However, as Weber further points out "the rake is too complex and enigmatic a figure to be reduced to a sexual machine: his love of disguise, need for freedom, and fondness for play all establish the complexity of the rakish personality" (Weber 3). The rake’s sexual desires can be seen as a call for freedom and a break from social order. He balks at the idea of marriage and family in pursuit of personal gratification. While a common characteristic of the rake is his pursuit of personal gratification there are a number of d ifferent types of rakes: the Hobbesian libertine, best explained by Horner in The Country Wife; the philosophical libertine, seen through th... ...rake was so strong that he continues to influence the perception of masculinity well in the twentieth century. Charlotte Bronte was attracted to rake model of masculinity and modeled Edward Rochester after this Restoration figure.       Works Cited Cohan, Steven M. "Clarissa and the Individuation of Character." ELH 43 (1976): 163-183. Johnson, Samuel. The Life of Cowley. The Penn State Archive of Samuel Johnson’s Lives of the Poets. Ed. Kathleen Nulton Kemmerer. 3 March 2003. Norman, Charles. Rake Rochester. New York: Crown, 1954. Weber, Harold. The Restoration Rake-Hero: Transformations in Sexual Understanding in Seventeeth-Century England. Madison: U of Wisconsin P, 1986. "William Hogarth and Eighteenth-Century Print Culture." Northwestern University. 10 March 2003. "William Hogarth: A Rake’s Progress." Haley & Steele. 10 March 2003.

Free Narrative Essays - Voices :: Example Personal Narratives

   Voices    The Voice: Well, Mrs. Dryer, I go to a very competitive school. I have to take competitive classes. It's not as though the work load would go down if I dropped to a lower level. I had a very busy week, and the play just started. I'll have more time this week. I promise to practice more between now and next lesson.    The Scholar (that lives in my mind): What is that woman saying!? Drop my AP classes so that I'll have more time for piano? Does she realize that piano isn't life? Or at least not my life? I've taken ten years of music, I think that's enough. I'd rather be spending my time becoming a more prolific writer. That's were my passion lies, not in music. Music is just romanticized math. It doesn't say anything deeper than its title. Not anything specific, at least.    The Musician(that lives in my mind): Ummmm...excuse me?    The Scholar: You heard what I said. Everyone gets sick of a song after awhile. It's because there are no life issues in music. You hear it and it's over, and there's nothing to hold on to, nothing to cherish, not even an image, afterwards. It distracts me from reading. Yes, it's part of culture, but to really appreciate it you have to have an ear for it. It's not my thing. To really get it, it has to be your thing.    The Musician: Not your thing? Honey, listen to me, music is most definitely your thing. You can't escape it. As the volume goes up, your soul goes under, submerged in tone and rhythm and rubato (if you're lucky). It takes over your breath.    The Scholar: I think that's more a function of sound wave vibration than anything else.    The Musician: No, think of it this way. When we play gently we aren't gentle with the keys. We are gentle in the sound. But how do we get that sound? How do we know instinctively, or at least after practice, that a certain touch produces dolce? The key is breath, is mind. It's in us, not the music. No formula of physics could ever produce that type of sound.

Genocide :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the article, â€Å"Columbus’s Legacy: Genocide in the America’s,† by David E. Stannard, the theme can be identified as contrary to popular belief that the millions of native peoples of the Americas that perished in the sixteenth century died not only from disease brought over by the Europeans, but also as a result of mass murder, as well as death due to working them to death.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Stannard starts out the article by citing contemporary examples of U.S. press’s thought of â€Å"worthy and unworthy† victims. He gives examples of â€Å"worthy† victims in Cambodia, Bosnia, and Croatia and â€Å"unworthy† victims in East Timor. The author states that the native peoples of the Americas never have been labeled â€Å"worthy.† And recently, American and European denials of guilt for the most absolute genocide in the history of the world have assumed a new guise. The author quotes anthropologist Marvin Harris, describing the devastation through the West Indies and throughout the Americas as accidental, an â€Å"unintended consequence† of European exploration.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Epidemic disease undeniably contributed to the carnage, but in many volumes of testimony the European explorers detail their murderous intentions and actions. The slave drivers of the day calculated that it was cheaper to work people to death by the tens of thousands and then replace them than it was to maintain and feed a permanent captive labor force. The Europeans saw the Indians as block in the pathway to unlimited access to North America’s untouched bountiful lands. After the mass deaths due to epidemic, new settlers and explorers purged Indian villages, burn entire towns, and poisoned whole communities. They also engaged a farsighted genocidal tactic of preventing the population from recovering, by abducting the women and children and selling them into slavery in markets in the Indies. After about fifty years of this, the numbers in Indian nation had diminished significantly.

Mcdonald’s 4ps

Company and Product Background McDonald’s is one of the best known brands worldwide. McDonald's first made its way to Malaysia in December 1980 when McDonald's Corporation of USA issued the exclusive license to GOLDEN ARCHES RESTAURANTS SDN BHD or commonly known as McDonald’s Malaysia to operate McDonald's restaurants in Malaysia. The entry of McDonald’s into Malaysia is through a Joint Venture agreement with Golden Arches Restaurants Sdn Bhd. McDonald’s Corporation of USA holds 49% equity. The remaining equity is held by local partners: 26% is held by Tan Sri Vincent Tan and 25% by Mohamed Shah Bin Tan Sri Abdul Kadir.At the helm of Golden Arches Restaurants Sdn Bhd is Mohamed Shah Bin Tan Sri Abdul Kadir, the Managing Director / Joint Venture Partner. He took over the reins from Tan Sri Vincent Tan in 1987. Malaysian got their first taste of McDonald's when McDonald's Malaysia opened its first restaurant at Jalan Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur on 29 April 1 982. This restaurant is still in operation today and has undergone four renovations to maintain and keep with the changing trends. To date, Golden Arches Restaurants Sdn Bhd operates 194 restaurants located nationwide including Sabah, Sarawak, and Brunei.McDonald’s Malaysia is currently expanding at an annual rate of approximately 10 to 20 restaurants. McDonald's has created many job opportunities in Malaysia. McDonald's Malaysia employs more than 8,000 local people with 120 support staff at its headquarters managing the day-to-day operations of the McDonald's business. There is also a regional office in Penang and Johor Bahru. McDonald's business actually began in 1940, with a restaurant opened by siblings Dick and Mac McDonald in San Bernardino, California.Their introduction of the â€Å"Speedee Service System† in 1948 established the principles of the modern fast-food restaurant. The present corporation dates its founding to the opening of a franchised restaurant by Ray Kroc, in Des Plaines, Illinois on April 15, 1955, the ninth McDonald's restaurant overall. Kroc later purchased the McDonald brothers' equity in the company and led its worldwide expansion. McDonald’s grew into the largest restaurant organisation in the world. Today, there are more than 30,000 McDonald’s restaurants serving 47 million customers each day in over 100 countries.Ray Kroc died in 1984 but his legacy is very much alive. With the successful expansion of McDonald's into many international markets, the company has become a symbol of globalization and the spread of the American way of life. Product Product is anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use or consumption that might satisfy a want or need. Product includes certain aspects such as variety, quality, design, features, brand name, packaging and services. These product attributes can be manipulated depending on what the target market wants.McDonald’s predominantly sells hamburgers, various types of chicken sandwiches and products: French fries, soft drinks, breakfast items, and desserts. Each country implements the core McDonald’s menu: hamburger, cheeseburger, chicken nuggets, and french fries. McDonald’s has intentionally kept its product depth and product width limited. McDonald’s studied the behaviour of the Malaysian customer and provided a totally different menu as compared to its International offering. Being a Muslim-majority country, all McDonald’s in Malaysia are certified Halal.Thus, pork products are not offered in McDonald’s Malaysia to satisfy Halal certification requirements. McDonalds continuously innovates its products according to the changing preferences and tastes of its customers. The recent example is the introduction of the Grilled Chicken Burger (GCB) and Prosperity Burger. Food quality is the key at McDonald's. This means that McDonald’s take pride in the foods to serve for cu stomers. McDonald’s seeks out fresh lettuce and tomatoes, quality buns and potatoes, pure ground beef, select poultry, fish and wholesome dairy product.The potatoes are specially blanched and processed so that maximum nutrients are retained. Besides, upon arrival at the plant in Malaysia, the fish blocks are stored in a temperature-controlled environment to maintain their freshness. Freshly shredded lettuce, slivered onions and pickles are used in all burgers. Thus, McDonald’s has implemented rigorous food safety standards and established high food safety standards. So, there is nutrition information provided on web site for consumers and the aims of this information as regards quality product and menu selection.In the 21st century, McDonald’s have continued to design and introduce new products and indeed new part menus, such as breakfast. The reasons that McDonald’s might have in introducing these products to satisfied their consumer’s needs and c ompany strategies. The design of paper bag used by McDonald’s is made from grease resistant grass paper and pulp paper. The grease paper lines the interior, which allows for a grease less and environmentally friendly breakfast, lunch and dinner of McDonald’s sets. Next, McDonald's is one of the most popular fast food restaurants whether domestic or abroad.The feature of McDonald’s is McDonald's thrives on the term â€Å"fast food† and offers a full menu 24 hours a day in some locations. For breakfast, the menu is filled with items like the Egg McMuffin, Sausage McMuffin with Egg, Egg McMuffin, Hotcakes, Hotcakes with Sausage and so on. For lunch, the menu is filled with McValue Lunch which offers from every Monday to Friday from 12 noon to 3 pm. McDonald's uses packaging to ensure their food is fresh, hot, convenient and safe. The vast majority of McDonald’s is enjoyed without the use of cutlery.Yet when menu items do require cutlery, McDonald†™s will provide plastic cutlery to customers. The cups that are used for McDonald's beverages are made from paper and have a coating to meet quality and food safety standards. This aim is to make sure that as much of McDonald packaging as possible is made from renewable resources. All McDonald bags, tray liners and cup carriers are made from 100 percent recycled paper. Packaging for hot foods such as Hamburgers, French Fries, Chicken McNuggets and Apple Pies, is made from 72 percent recycled paper.The delivery packaging used for all buns, muffins, milkshake and sundae mix are returned to suppliers for reuse. This avoids the use of significant amounts of cardboard. All McDonald’s packaging carries an anti-littering symbol to actively encourage their customers to dispose of their litter responsibly. By replacing McDonald’s plastic salad containers with a paper card base they have reduced by nearly 69 tones the amount of plastic. McDonald’s provides service with convenience, cleanliness, delicious food and friendly service to their customers.With free Wi-Fi, customers can access the Internet at no charge for customers who dine in McDonald’s. Thus, customers may enjoy foods but also searching information on internet. Besides, McDonald’s provides also an indoor and outdoor birthday party for those who wish to have a fun celebration on their birthday. Most of the McDonald’s restaurant provides 24 hours McDelivery service to satisfied customer needs. In addition, when several companies market a similar product, it is important that the brand name to be clearly seen on the packaging and easily recognizable.McDonald has been put effort into making their brand name, logo, and packaging different style compared to their competitor. Therefore, McDonald menu item are different compared to Burger King’s, because McDonald have their specific Menu which provide McValue Lunch, Happy Meal, breakfast and so on. Such tactics are usually easy to recognize, and even if a customer is fooled once, it isn’t likely to happen a second time. Promotion A promotion mix is any form of communication a business or organization uses to inform, persuade, or remind people about its products.Promotion mix consists of advertising, direct marketing, sales promotion, personal selling, and public relations. Using these tools, McDonald’s looks to localise its marketing communications strategy as it needs to consider the enormous range of cultural and other differences that it would be faced with in each country. It would be naive to ignore the various local markets and the factors which may affect the performance of its product in them. It also needs to analyse consumers’ attitudes towards its product, usage patterns and ethnic, moral and religious considerations in that environment.Although the idea is to promote McDonald’s as a global image, McDonald’s focuses on the needs of the communities they are entering. In a communication context, the maxim â€Å"brand globally, advertise locally† is the McDonald’s promotional strategy. There are three main objectives of advertising for McDonald’s are to make people aware of an item, feel positive about it and remember it. The right message has to be communicated to the right audience through the right media. McDonald’s advertising is conducted on television, radio, in cinema, online, using poster sites and in press.Television advertisement for the new Prosperity Burger for example explained the new choices and attempted to generate excitement for the product in conjunction with Chinese New Year. This may be supported by in store promotions to get people to try the product and a collectable promotional device to encourage them to keep buying the item. In press for example business magazines, television news reports, and newspaper articles provided free media coverage of the product launch and it became a significant news story.The media gave McDonald’s franchise owners and corporate executives an opportunity to explain the reasoning behind the menu addition and to reassure their customers that McDonald’s was still in the hamburger business. In September 2003, McDonald's introduced † I'm lovin' it † as its first global advertising theme. Besides that, the advertisement capture the fun, youthful spirit and high energy that is the essence of the McDonald’s brand as well as the ba-da-ba-ba-baâ„ ¢ audio trademark that has become recognized around the world. McDonald’s also ties in with sponsors. McDonald’s sponsors a vast array of sports.Like example, during the summer 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, McDonald’s was a cooperate sponsors. McDonald’s outlets offer its customers with various forms of incentives to buy its products. Using McDonald’s discount voucher or coupons that one can acquire after spending a partic ular amount over a period of fixed time, customers can enjoy the benefits of free meals or free add-ons. Additionally, they provide meal vouchers and exciting offers in their print ads, which the customer must cut and bring along when purchase it. Sales promotion efforts in McDonald’s involved free samples, launch parties, and store banners.Today, McDonald’s patrons can enjoy close to 30% savings for selected products from its McValue Meal line-up between noon and 3pm everyday at almost all McDonald’s restaurants nationwide. In conjunction of the month of Ramadan, McDonald’s extended the time of McValue Lunch, normally is 12p. m-3p. m to 6p. m-9p. m. Extended period is to consider for the Muslims who fast during Ramadan and let them to have their dinner to break the day’s fast. The McDonald name the extend McValue Lunch called McValue Buka Puasa. Public Relations are also an important part of the McDonald's marketing strategy.The restaurant employe es play a huge role in interacting with the public. On a day-to-day basis the employees commit themselves to customers and the customers' feelings toward the brand. McDonald's feels that before they communicate with their customers they need to be aware of what their competitors are communicating, so they can create a beneficial difference between themselves and the competitors. McDonald’s main idea of campaign is to connect with consumer all around the world. Some of the most famous marketing campaigns of McDonald’s are â€Å"You deserve a break today’, â€Å"Food, Folks and Fun†, â€Å"I’m Lovin’ It† and so on.McDonald’s concentrates to help seek solutions for the problems facing children and families today. In Malaysia, the cornerstone of McDonald’s community relations programme is the Ronald McDonald House Charities Malaysia (RMHC Malaysia). It was established as a non-profit organization with the mission to create, find, and support programs that directly improve the health and well being of Malaysian Children through health, education, and welfare. McDonald’s Malaysia supports all administration and management costs, thus enabling RMHC Malaysia to use 100% of all donations received to assist Malaysian children in need.RMHC Malaysia Coin Boxes are placed in every McDonald’s Malaysia restaurants to help raise funds for the organization. Every member of McDonald’s Malaysia is also involved in many local events in support of RMHC Malaysia. Price The customer’s perception of value is an important determinant of the price charged. Customers draw their own mental picture of what a product is worth. A product is more than a physical item, it also has psychological connotations for the customer. Price is the only marketing mix variable that can be altered quickly.Price variables such as dealer price, retail price, discounts, allowances, and credit terms influence the devel opment of marketing strategy, as price is a major factor that influences the assessment of value obtained by customer. McDonald’s strategy is to offer quality food quickly to customers at a good value. The pricing structure for McDonald’s over years has supported this message. The company strives to differentiate itself from other fast food restaurants by offering a variety of menu items that appeal to a variety of people from those who just want great hamburgers, to those who just want a quick healthy meal.McDonald’s has a unique pricing strategy that falls solely on their many product lines. Their Value Meals fall into the category of Product Line Pricing, where there is a range of product or services the pricing reflect the benefits of parts of the range. For example, you can order a Double Cheeseburger Value meal that comes with a medium drink and fries for around RM9. 50. You can Upsize this meal to get a large drink and large fries for a little more money or you can go with another value meal that might include different items for different price.The value pricing approach is used where external factors such as recession or increased competition force companies to provide ‘value’ products and services to retain sales. The most notable and recent example of this is McDonald’s McValue Meal. The McValue Meal was created because McDonald’s recognized that the economy was in a decline and that their competition was getting fiercer. The McValue Meal satisfies the current decreasing economy and has increased the pressure towards competitors. The introduction to the McValue Meal is by far the most economical product line that McDonald has ever offered.You can get a number of products off of their menu for a few ringgits. It is efficient and practical. Geographical pricing is evident where there are variations in price in different parts of the world, country or state. For example rarity value, or where shipping cos ts increase price. In McDonald’s Malaysia, the price differs in East Malaysia, Langkawi, Genting Highland, KLIA, and LCC Terminal. If a market is close to perfect, in other words there is a lot of competition, this means that the participants are price takers and have no influence over the price.In the case of McDonalds, if they raise their price above the market price then the consumer will simply take their business elsewhere as they can get the same product cheaper. Therefore McDonalds could concentrate their marketing on distinguishing their product from their competitors to make the consumer think that their competitors’ product is not as good. Alternatively they could reduce their price and compete that way instead. However sometimes price can act as a market indicator, that is if McDonalds burgers are cheaper than other burgers people might think they are poor quality and still buy from the competition. This branding means that the market is not perfect). So McD onalds would still need to aim their marketing at convincing the consumer that their product is good quality. McDonald's is one of the first and most sort after in the fast food business and millions around the globe, especially the food lovers are passionate about it. McDonald's offers discounts to its regular shoppers as a promotional strategy and along with that it is more cost-effective than dining at restaurants with waiters. Thus it helps in saving money which many consumers are concerned about when all the want is to fill up their appetite.People can cut down their expenses because of the discounts offered. This is the reason for its growing popularity. Purchasers prefer burgers, fries and drinks when it comes with a better price discount availed through coupons. Discounts make the demand go higher and in buying more they save even more. McDonald's coupons are sometimes given completely free. One can get them easily at any McDonald's eatery without any money. The staff is inf ormed about the discounts and can certainly give all the necessary details. Staffs are deliberately placed at shopping malls to give out these coupons, to areas where most people pass through.Online websites are launched to provide the McDonald's chits, letting one print the coupons out. Some use the internet and it is seen that many people are fond of these McDonald coupon websites. Loads of websites post their printable chits offering discount on food products at McDonald's and also inform about the coupons and lists regularly. The most important reason for McDonald’s pricing flexibility is its well-established supply chain arrangement, which ensures efficiency and speed in distribution. Besides, huge increases in volume sales and food processing technology have been helping the company to offset its cost.Place In the marketing mix of McDonald’s, the place is not just about the physical location or distribution points for products. It encompasses the management of a range of processes involved in bringing products to the end consumer. Place mix includes physical distribution, storage, inventory management, and channel selection. McDonalds is currently has over 33, 000 restaurant in 123 countries across the world. According to McDonald’s Malaysia website, there are 194 McDonald’s restaurants located nationwide. McDonald’s focuses on store placement and is always looking for the best locations.This strategy created some weaknesses because it seemed that too many stores were put in some areas, cannibalizing sales from the other McDonald’s. The company has also made convenience a focus, not only through how fast it serves customers, but also in the location of its outlets. Most McDonald’s restaurants are small spaces, especially behind the counter in the food preparation area. These areas are designed for efficiency where the equipment is placed together to cut down on wasted movement and energy. The place mainly consists of the distribution channels.It is important so that the product is available to the customer at the right place, at the right time and in the right quantity. There is a certain degree of fun and happiness that a customer feels each time he dines in McDonalds. There are certain value propositions that McDonalds offers to its customers based on their needs. McDonalds offers hygienic environment, good ambience and great service. Now McDonalds have also started giving internet facilities at their centre and they have been playing music through radio instead of the normal music.There are certain dedicated areas for children where they can play while their parents can have some quality time together. In addition to its tradition rivals such as Burger King, KFC and Pizza Hut, the firm encounters new challenges. Burger King competes using a back to basics approach of quickly serving up burgers for time-pressed consumers. On the higher end, the KFC has become potent competitor in t he quick service field, taking away customers from McDonalds’s. Perhaps in the new environment, fast, convenient service is no longer enough to distinguish the irm. At this time, a new critical success factor may be emerging: the need to create a rich and satisfying experience for consumers. This brings us to service and experience based competition which McDonald’s can use for competitive advantage against Burger King. Keeping in mind the demographics of the area, with urban professional class getting bigger and bigger, McDonalds also begin to adapt by offering more elegant looks in its layout design, offering special seating and Wi-Fi access to tech-savvy consumers who eat in the outlet.It is for this overall â€Å"Food, Fun ; Folks† experience that customers pay a premium over the other competitors. McDonalds stress importance to meet customer’s expectation especially in term of time of delivery. In order to ensure fast delivery is through â€Å"Drive Thru† concept where customers can place order by driving through the counter with their car. This can save time from parking and waiting long queue for those who just want to take away the food. Customer‘s expectation is to able to get what they needs right on time at any place in convenience way and McDonalds is morphing from just a fast food restaurant to value service provider.It is getting itself closer to the customer’s base so it can serve them better. For example fast ordering system like McDelivery will not only increase McDonald’s business opportunities to those who are reluctant to travel to its physical outlet but also will delight the customers with the fast response. This is the efforts by McDonalds to serve the hunger and needs of consumers anywhere, anytime whether it is rain or shine and day or night. In Malaysia, McDonalds started 24 hours concept in 2006 with 72 selected outlets or drive thru station that operate on 24 hours basis.Logisti cs is the integration of the activities that procure materials, transform them into intermediate goods and final products through manufacturing and assembly, and deliver them to customers. For a firm as large as McDonald’s logistics is an area where proper planning results in increased efficiency. Purchasing is the most costly activity in most firms. Purchasing provides a major opportunity for management to reduce costs and increase contribution margins. Because the cost and quality of goods sold is directly related to the cost and quality of goods purchased, McDonald's must examine a number of strategies for effective purchasing.Because of the perishable nature of food, a system of just-in-time ordering and delivery is most effective for the company. For such a system to work, solid ties must be forged with a lot of suppliers. Ordering huge quantities of beef, chicken, and vegetables and expecting them to arrive at the shortest possible time requires coordination with capabl e suppliers. The company stands to gain the most with improvements in production – the actual preparation of food. Raw agricultural materials arriving at its commissary must be turned into buns, hamburger patties, french fries and McNuggets with minimal waste.It must then carry over this practice of efficiency into its outlets. Conclusion Marketing mix is the combination of four elements, called the four P’s (Product, Price, Promotion, and Place), that every company has the option of adding, subtracting, or modifying in order to create a desired marketing strategy. McDonald’s marketing mix is strategic because of the diverse approaches that are used. First, in identifying the four P’s of marketing, McDonald’s is very careful in making decisions that affect each area or how each area affects the other.McDonald’s is concerned about how the firm will fulfil the needs and wants of its customers and in the activities associated with maintain the relationships with its stakeholders. McDonald’s stakeholders include customers, franchisees, suppliers, employees, and the local communities surrounding them. McDonald’s has shown care for customers through the decisions to add more healthful foods to the menus, by changing how products are packaged or how foods are prepared, and by philanthropic contributions and sponsorships.Local adaptation, no doubt, has contributed to McDonald’s business growth in Malaysia. The restaurant has developed competitive advantages in the industry of serving quality fast food as low as cost. In addition to these decisions, the development of the Golden Arches or Ronald McDonald has provided consumers with memorable icons that are associated with quality, service, and value. McDonald’s faces some difficult challenges in moving away from the fast food king to a more conscious provider for customers who care about what they at. The keys to its future success will be maintainin g its core strengths, an unwavering focus on quality and consistency while carefully experimenting with new options. The company’s environment efforts, while important, should not overshadow its marketing initiatives. Though there are many opportunities for this fast food giant, McDonald’s must keep the strategic nature of its marketing efforts to stay on top and provide what customers want. McDonald’s uses market research information to build a marketing strategy.All parts of its organisation then have to work together to ensure that the strategy reaches its objectives. Once the marketing strategy is in place, various responsibilities are given to different individuals so that the plan can be implemented. Systems are put in place to obtain market feedback which measure success against short-term targets. McDonald’s has to ensure that this is done within the confines of a tightly controlled, finite marketing budget. Thus, the four P’s of marketing provide a good starting point for consideration of the requirements of strategy implementation in the marketing function.

Philippine Customs History Essay

Historical records show that the Philippine Customs Service started many centuries back long before the Philippines was discovered by the eastern and western expeditionaries. The Philippines had already a flourishing trade with countries of Southeast Asia, but since money at that time was not yet the medium of exchange, people then resorted to the barter system of commodities. The rulers of the barangays were known as the â€Å"datus† or â€Å"rajahs† collected tributes from the people before they were allowed to engage in their trade. The practice of collecting tributes became part of their culture and was then observed and followed as the Customs Law of the Land. The Spanish Regime After Spain had taken full control of almost all the trades of the country, it passed three important statutes: 1.Spanish Customs Law which was similar to that of the Indies enforced in the country from 1582 to 1828. It was a concept of ad valorem levied on import and export. 2.A Tariff Board was established which drew up a tariff of fixed values for all imported articles on which ten percent (10%) ad valorem duty was uniformly collected. 3.Another Tariff Law was introduced in 1891, which established the specific duties on all imports and on certain exports and this lasted till the end of the Spanish rule in the Philippines. The American Regime When the Americans came to the Philippines, the Military Government continued to enforce the Spanish Tariff Code of 1891, which remained in effect until the Philippine Commission enacted the Tariff Revision Law of 1901. On October 24, 1900, the Philippine Commission passed Act No. 33 abolishing and changing the position of Captain of the Port to Collector of Customs in all ports of entry except the Port of Manila. The designation of the Captain of the Port in the Port of Manila was retained. When the Civil Government was established in the Philippines, the most important laws passed by the Philippine Commission were the following: 1.Tariff Revision Law of 1902 based on the theory that the laws of Spain were not as comprehensive as the American Customs Laws to conform with the existing conditions of the country. 2.Philippine Administrative Act No. 355 passed by the Philippine Commission on February 6, 1902. The full implementation of this Act, however, was considered inadequate and incomplete, so the Customs Service Act No. 355, called the Philippine Customs Service Act was passed to amend the previous laws. After several modifications and amendments, the Philippine Customs Service finally became a practical counterpart of the American Customs Service. 3.Act No. 357 reorganized the Philippine Customs Service and officially designated the Insular Collector of Customs as Collector of Customs for the Port of Manila. 4.Act No. 625 abolished the Captain of the Port for the Port of Manila. 5.Public Act No. 430 transformed the Philippine Customs Service to a Bureau of Customs and Immigration under the supervision and control of the Department of Finance and Justice. When the Department of Justice became a separate office from the Department of Finance, te Customs Service remained under the umbrella of the latter which set-up remained up to this time. The Commonwealth Government After the Commonwealth Government was established in the country, the Philippine Legislature enacted Commonwealth Act No. 613 forming the Bureau of Immigration as a separate office from the Bureau of Customs. On May 1, 1947, the Bureau of Customs has as its head the Insular Collector of Customs. He was assisted by the Deputy Insular Collector of Customs. Both officials were concurrently Collector of Customs and the Deputy Collector of Customs of the Port of Manila. The Republic Pursuant to the Executive Order No. 94 of Republic Act No. 52, the President of the Philippines reorganized the different departments, bureaus, offices and agencies of the government of the Republic of the Philippines. Consequently, the Insular Collector of Customs was changed to Collector of Customs for the Port of Manila. The reorganization took effect on July 1, 1947. In 1957, Congress enacted the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines known as Republic Act No. 1937, otherwise known as the â€Å"Tariff Law of the Republic of the Philippines†. This took effect on July 1, 1957. The passage of this act by the defunct Congress of the Philippines subject to the provisions of the Laurel-Langley Agreement, became the first official expression of an autonomous Philippine Tariff Policy. Before the passage of Republic Act 1937, all importations from the United States enjoyed full exemptions pursuant to the Tariff Act No. 1902 which was adopted by Republic Act No. 3 as the Tariff Laws of the Philippines. The Republic Pursuant to the Executive Order No. 94 of Republic Act No. 52, the President of the Philippines reorganized the different departments, bureaus, offices and agencies of the government of the Republic of the Philippines. Consequently, the Insular Collector of Customs was changed to Collector of Customs for the Port of Manila. The reorganization took effect on July 1, 1947. I n 1957, Congress enacted the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines known as Republic Act No. 1937, otherwise known as the â€Å"Tariff Law of the Republic of the Philippines†. This took effect on July 1, 1957. The passage of this act by the defunct Congress of the Philippines subject to the provisions of the Laurel-Langley Agreement, became the first official expression of an autonomous Philippine Tariff Policy. Before the passage of Republic Act 1937, all importations from the United States enjoyed full exemptions pursuant to the Tariff Act No. 1902 which was adopted by Republic Act No. 3 as the Tariff Laws of the Philippines. The Reorganization of the Bureau of Customs On February 4, 1965, the Bureau of Customs was reorganized pursuant to Customs Administrative Order No. 4-65 by authority if Sec. 550 & 551 of the Revised Administrative Code of Republic Act 4164. During the reorganization, offices under the direct supervision and control of the Commissioner were elevated to Department Level with ranks higher than Division Level. These Departments were the following: Public Relations, Personnel, Legal, Administrative Service, Budget and Finance, and the Management Improvement. Likewise, three (3) ranking Customs positions were created, namely: Assistant Commissioner for Revenue, Assistant Commissioner for Security, and Director for Operations. Later, Customs Administrative Order No. 4065 was amended abolishing the position of Assistant Commissioner for Security and creating the position of Director for Administration. In 1972, Congress passed the law revising the Tariff & Customs Code of the Philippines. However, before it can be implemented, the President of the Republic of the Philippines issued Proclamation No. 1081 on September 21, 1972 declaring Martial Law in the country. On October 27, 1972, President Ferdinand E. Marcos signed Presidential Decree No. 34 amending the Tariff & Customs Code of the Philippines. The new Code took effect on November 26, 1972 except for Section 104 thereof which became effective only on January 1, 1973. Another reorganization of the Bureau of Customs took effect on September 24, 1972, pursuant to Presidential Decree No. 1 creating six (6) Customs Services under the Office of the Commissioner and creating jurisdictional limits of twelve (12) collection districts with the Principal Ports and Sub-ports of entry under the supervision and control of the Collector of the Principal Port of Entry. As a result of this reorganization, the designation of heads of different services was called Customs Service Chiefs, and heads of offices with rank of division were designated Customs Operations Chiefs and the Head of the National Customs Police as Director. It was in this reorganizational set-up that the Directors for Administration and Operations, and the Assistant Commissioner for Revenue were abolished. In 1975, the Bureau undertook another reorganization under Presidential Decree No. 689 and the result is what you see now in the Organization Chart, except for some slight changes and modifications. On June 11, 1978, the Tariff & Customs Code was further amended, modified and supplemented by new positions to make it a responsive code in keeping with the developmental programs of the New Society. The new Code was embodied in Presidential Decree No. 1464. With the accession of the Philippines to the Customs Co-Operation Council (CCC), the Tariff & Customs Code has to be revised anew in order to align our tariff system with the CCC Nomenclature, and the result is the presently enforced Tariff & Customs Code of 1982, revised by virtue of Executive Order No. 688. This new Code also assimilated various amendments to the Customs Code under P.D. 1628 & 1980 as well as reprints of the tariff concessions under the General Agreement on Tariff Multilateral Agreement Negotiations as provided in Executive Order No. 578, series of 1980, and the tariff concessions granted to ASEAN member countries as embodied in various Executive Orders from 1978 to 1981. The last major reorganization of the Bureau took place in 1986 after the EDSA Revolution with the issuance of Executive Order No. 127 which expanded the organization umbrella of the Central Office by providing offices that will monitor and coordinate assessment and operations of the Bureau and provided for a staff of about 5,500 customs personnel. The implementation of the computerization program also necessitated the creation of a new Group to ensure its continuous development and progress. The creation of the Management Information System and Technology Group (MISTG) under a new Deputy Commissioner with 92 positions was authorized under Executive Order No. 463 dated January 9, 1998.

A Crime of Insanity

It’s just another day of class, at least which is what is going through your head. You think schools are a safe place, not a place where you can get shot or killed at. What is going through your mind when you’re their sitting in class? Nothing other than what is going on. But it was all different for these students that day. On December 14, 1994, 26 year old Ralph Tortirici walked into a history class at State University of New York. Underneath his clothes he had a hunting knife and a Remmington 270 hunting rifle with which he took the classroom hostage. One of the hostages said he told everyone to stand up and get to the side of the classroom. Tortirici also told the professor to leave the classroom. He wanted everyone to know he was serious by firing off a round from his rifle and used a fire hose to tie the doors shut. Tortorici told the hostages in the classroom he had a computer chip in his brain and penis and wanted to see the president. If everyone cooperated nobody would get hurt, but 19 year old, Jason McEnaney, rushed the gunman and it discharged. McEnaney was seriously injured, shot in the leg and groin. Once arrested, Tortorici repeatedly said, â€Å"I did what I had to do. † They took Tortorici to Albany Medical Center to be treated for a knife injury he got during a struggle with the students. He also tested positive for cocaine. Afterwards he was released into police custody and taken to the Albany Court jail and charged with multiple counts of kidnapping, aggravated assault, and attempted murder. His lawyer claimed not guilty by reason on insanity. Larry Rosen, presiding judge, had to decide if he was even competent to stand his own trial. His brother Matthew Tortorici said Ralph suffered from delusions for many years. His delusions led to a conspiracy theory that he told his father and Matthew that the cops were out to get him. Ralph was born with a defective urethra and went through a series of operations to fix it. After a while he became convinced that during one of the operations the government had put a tracking device in his body. When Tortorici was 24 years old he went to the University Health Center and complained that a microchip was put in his penis. When X-rays were found negative he was convinced that the doctors were in on the plot. Tortorici turned to drugs thinking they could help him escape and it made his mother concerned. One day she called the medical center concerned that her son was suicidal and that he locked himself in the restroom and was smoking crack. They evaluated Tortorici and he was diagnosed with cocaine intoxication, suicidal ideation, and depression. That is when 10 months later he took the students hostage and since he thought the government put a microchip in his brain he wanted attention and for it to stop. The prosecutors could not find a psychiatrist expert who would testify, no one wanted their name associated with Ralph Tortorici. They wanted to plead the case out and get him sent to a secure psychiatric hospital. Two days into the jury selection Cheryl Coleman found Dr. Lawrence Seigle to become the expert. She started getting onto the Dr about him being a Jew and how she should know him and what he is going through. This was the first time Cheryl Coleman came face to face with Ralph. Ralph claimed that the government had developed sound waves and mind waves to control people’s minds and he was part of an experimental project. He was the Anti-Christ and the trail was his graduating party. If you are not there mentally, it is not fair for you to stand trial. The judge moved forward with the trial without wanting to have another competency hearing. Had the judge held off, and in that time, the prosecutor had no evidence and could have found evidence. Coleman was uncomfortable because a prosecutor’s job is not only to win cases, but to make sure justice is done. On January 3 Tortorici announced he wouldn’t be present for his trial, that he would wait it out in a holding cell in the basement. He thought the court was not just to decide and that the government was behind it and that there were airwaves in the court and everyone knew what was going on and in on it. Ralphs lawyer thought he could win without him being there. Lawyers don’t think if you are right or wrong, they think of winning a trial. Jason McEnaney was the student who rushed Ralph and was shot. One of the jurors passed out when McEnaney was testifying in details about his injuries. Defense had many witnesses and four experts who testified that he was legally insane at the time of the crime he committed. The fact he laid out all the bullets saying he had enough to kill a lot of people. The fact he had the doors tied. The fact he knew the cops were going to be called. The jury never set eyes on him; Ralph was carrying out a mission. Defenses say this case is a case of simple mental illness. He was operating under a delusion from the voices in his head. Sure, he committed these crimes, but he was legally insane. The prosecutors closing sentence closed with a rush of emotion directed at the victim. â€Å"You’re not taking me seriously, Bam! † He knew what he was doing. Eight days of testimony with 31 witness’s, case was handed to jury. By law the judge couldn’t say what would happen if found innocent from insanity. He would spend the same time in prison as in a mental hospital. A month later Tortorici returned to the courtroom to be sentenced, this time he actually entered the courtroom. Before sentence the judge allowed Ralph to speak. He embarrassed himself by the things he said. Tortorici was sentenced 20 to 47 years in prison and sent to Sullivan Correctional Facility in his own cell in the mental facility. Only in prison for 3 weeks, he tried hanging himself in his cell by his bed sheet. Three years passed and an appeal was filed and denied. Tortorici was shuttled between prisons and psychiatric facilities. His family would say he was doing, but he wasn’t. Three weeks later on August 10, 1999, Ralph Tortorici was found dead hanging from his bed sheet in his cell. Prosecutor Cheryl Coleman questioned herself when she found out the news on Tortoricis death. She had convicted him and she was feeling guilty and responsible. She had lost a child herself and felt the pain Ralph’s mother and family must have felt. Was justice done? In my opinion I think Ralph Tortorici should have got help and been sent to an insane asylum under surveillance.