Faiza Bawumi Sayed Ahmad Essay

Faiza Bawumi Sayed Ahmad, which is the Chief Executive Director of Faiza Sdn Bhd, which is synonymous with local private television reality program in the form of charity â€Å"Bersamamu† because the company is the main sponsor of the plan, said the intention now is to set up a foundation to help the poor. â€Å"Bersamamu† TV3, is a reality TV program which focused on the life of the poorer, helpless and misfortune Malaysian’s in their survival, whereas at the same time this TV programme, endeavoured to gain charity to the plight who’s aired on the show under the tag line â€Å"Hulurkan tangan ringankan beban†. As one of Corporate Social Resposibility, SYKT FAIZA takes this opportunity to be one of the sponsors for this TV programme since it started. In conjuction with that, consumers who purchase SYKT FAIZA’s products will also contribute to â€Å"Tabung Bersamamu TV3†. Quotes from Faiza Bawumi Sayed Ahmad, â€Å"Experience life on the ground approached the needy and single mother makes me desire to establish the Foundation Faiza one day to manage the welfare and contribution to the public. My intention is only one, that is not my intention to trade wealth for herself, but to help others, especially the poor and single mothers enjoy a good life â€Å". The sentence expressed her personality who likes to help others. Hajah Faiza involved in business not only because just to get rich but to give charity to the community. Even though, she is busy with his company but she has arrange her time to involve in commitment to corporate social responsibility. Each sale of product are been given to Tabung Bersamamu TV3 Picture of poor community with Faiza and television programme Bersamamu TV3 Despite her busy schedule, Hajah Faiza always spared time for charity work and heads a number of associations like Pemborong Beras Bumiputera Malaysia, Pertubuhan Kebajikan Islam Malaysia (Perkim) Batu Pahat, Batu Pahat Umno Division (Head of Welfare Bureau) and sits on the Batu Pahat Board and trustee of the Batu Pahat orphanage.

Intellectual Property Right Essay

1. Do you think that the international business community is being too lax about the abuse of intellectual property right? Are international companies simply afraid to speak out for fear of jeopardizing access to attractive markets? In our opinion, the international business community is not being too lax about the abuse of intellectual property right. It is because there is a great incentive to abuse intellectual property rights since it provided legal right to the inventor of the product. Those countries are not neglecting the anti-piracy regulations and any other legal rules related to intellectual property rights but they cannot control the increase of production and distribution of counterfeit products that spread widely especially in Asian nations. Because of that, local governments of those countries are having difficulty to handle and manage the actual infringement situations. Actually, it is hard for a country that lax antipiracy rules to fight against the piracy cases since it can damage the business relations with others. We do not think that they afraid to speak out for fear of jeopardizing access to attractive markets but it is due the fact that sufficient safeguards and proper actions for piracy have not been taken so far and some areas of law need to be reinforced. Based on many cases regarding piracy, intellectual property laws and regulations are fine but poor enforcement is to blame for high rates of piracy and some nation’s regulatory body allow a counterfeiter to remove an infringing trademark and still sell the substandard goods. This proves that some countries take it lightly as they find the situation is common and they have no advantage to against it.

Biology Notes Essay Example for Free

Biology Notes Essay Chromosomes: They are found inside the nucleus of cells. They are X Shaped Objects that Contain DNA. Each Chromosome is made from two Chromatids. Chromosomes are held together by a disc called a centromere. Chromosomes are always found in Pairs. A| T| G| C| C| G| DNA: It Stands for Deoxyribonucleic acid. DNA is Made from Nucleic acids of ten (referred to as bases). The four bases are Adenine (A) which always pairs with Thymine (T) and Cytosine (C) which always pairs with Guanine (G). Genes: A gene is the short length of the chromosome which is a molecule of a DNA. Genes can exist in Different Versions. Different Versions of the same gene are known as ALLELES. Each gene codes for a specific Protein. Some proteins are Structural, meaning they can form skin, hair, blood and cytoplasm. Others are Functional (enzymes) controlling chemical reactions such as respiration or digestion. Genetic Information is stored by Genes who are arranged on Chromosomes. Variation: This is the Difference between humans. There are two types of variation. The First is Genetic Variation (Caused by your Genes and can’t be changed e.g. your natural hair colour, eye colour). The Second is Environmental Variation (Caused by your surrounding and can be changed e.g. Dying your Hair, Ear Piercings). Genetic Variation: Caused by the DNA in the cells in your body. We Can’t Change this. Environmental Variation: Caused by your Surroundings, Family and Friends. We can Change this. Determining Your Gender: A Sperm Cell has an X chromosome and a Y chromosome. An Egg Cell has two X Chromosomes. If the fertilised egg has a X Chromosome from the sperm the Foetus will be a Girl if it has a Y Chromosome (the Chromosome carrying Testosterone) the Foetus will Be a Boy. There is a 50:50 Chance of Having a Boy or a Girl. Further Gender Determination Chromosome pair 23 is known as the Sex Chromosomes. There are two Different types of of Chromosome 23 – The X and Y chromosome. The only Difference is that the Y chromosome carries the gene for testosterone, X does not. All Cells carry at least one X Chromosome. Sperm Cells carry either a Y or X chromosome. Allele – A different version of the same gene. Heterozygous – When There are two types of an allele in the genotype e.g. Bb – Brown. Homozygous – When there is only one type of Allele in the genotype e.g. BB(-Brown) or bb(-Blonde). B = Dominant – Always Expressed, b = Recessive – only expressed in a Homozygous genotype. Natural Cloning * The Hydra (Plant) Shows Budding * Asexual Reproduction – The Spider Plant and Strawberries often reproduce this way. Twins: They are formed by the fertilised egg splitting in half and the two halves turn into to two identical babies. Artificial Cloning For many years, mammals have been cloned by splitting embryos – Artificial Cloning. There are two types of Artificial Cloning Cloning Way 1 1. They take an egg cell from one mammal. 2. A Body Cell is taken from a second mammal (the same mammal as the first) 3. The egg cell nucleus is removed from the cell 4. The body cell nucleus is also removed 5. The Nucleus from the body cell is inserted into the egg cell to make a clone of the Second Mammal. 6. The egg cell divides and is put into the uterus of the first Mammal. The Clone grows into a mature mammal. Cloning Way 2 It isn’t just Reproductive Cloning (Cloning People/mammals) we could use this technology for. Cloning human cells may be useful in treating humans. Reproductive Cloning – When a baby is born from cloning A stem cell is an undifferentiated cell which means they can turn into any type of cell required. They can therefore be used to make organs. They Can be used to replace damaged cells. Cystic Fibrosis * 1 in 200 Children are affected by Cystic Fibrosis. * Is an Inherited disease * They produce thick sticky mucus. This can block the air passages and the tubes that carry digestive juices to the gut. * The Child has trouble breathing and absorbing food. * Patients are treated by chest physio-therapy. * The Mucus is a good breeding ground for germs. * Sufferers often get infections and have to be treated with strong antibiotics. At the moment there is no cure. * Cystic fibrosis is caused by a recessive Allele(c) – So to contract the disease a person must have two recessive alleles (cc). * Heterozygous people (Cc) do not get the disease but can act as carriers and pass it on to their children. * The disease is shown from Birth. * It affects the lungs and gut. Huntington’s Disease * This is a rare inherited disease. * It affects about 1 in 20,000 * It shows up when the patient is about 30 – 40 years old. * The cells of the brain degenerate and the patient makes clumsy and jerky movements. * The sufferers become moody and depressed. * The memory is affected and they eventually become totally disabled. * Huntington’s disease is caused by a dominant gene – so only one allele is needed to give the disease. * So all heterozygous people are sufferers because the onset of the disease occurs so late many people have produced a family before they find out they have the condition. * The Organ Effected is the Brain. Bacteria are known as micro-organisms. Many of these cause disease. Those that cause disease are called Pathogens. Other micro-organisms include Protozoans, Fungi and Viruses. Micro Organisms reproduce quickly in warm, damp places. Once inside a host of Pathogens reproduce and cause Infection. * Nat Bites/ Being Bitten * Eating * Touch * Sexually Transmitted * Bugs * Dogs/ Animals * Breathing it in * Birds * Injections * Cuts * Natural Openings * Blood Transplants * Organ Transplants Things that protect our Body from Pathogens * Eyebrows/ Eyelashes * Cilia * Acid * Mucus * Tears * Skin * White Blood Cells * Healing over cuts Gaining Immunity Example 1) James is Infected by some bacteria that causes a disease 2) The bacteria reproduce and James gets ill. 3) One of James’ white blood cells detect the bacteria. It makes anti bodies to destroy the bacteria. 4) The white blood cells reproduce. Now there are lots of them making Anti-bodies. 5) The bacteria are all killed. James gets better. 6) Most of the white blood cells that make the antibodies die, but a few of them stay in the blood. 7) James is infected with the same bacteria again. 8) The white blood cells to make the antibody are still in James’ Blood. So this time they are ready to kill the bacteria very quickly. 9) The bacteria are killed before they can make James ill. He is Immune to this disease. Anti-body = A Chemical made by White blood cells which binds to Antigen. Antigen = A marker on the surface of a Pathogen that identifies it as foreign. Pathogen = A micro-organism which causes Disease. White Blood Cells: * Produce Anti-bodies to neutralise the Microbe * They eat the microbe * They produce anti-toxins to neutralise the poisons produced by microbes. Producing Anti-bodies 1. A White Blood cell detects a pathogen. 2. A White Blood cell produces Anti-bodies. 3. The anti-bodies bind with Antigens. 4. The Pathogen is engulfed by the White Blood Cell. Natural Immunity This is when Anti-bodies are produced by a Person when needed or they are passed on by a mother during Pregnancy. A Vaccine with dead Microbes is injected – the body is ‘tricked’ into producing anti-bodies ready for the real thing. This is called Passive Immunisation. We should use the new influenza vaccines every year because influenza reproduces very quickly. Also it has a high mutation rate, which means that it changes so you need to continually be protected by Influenza. Especially if you suffer from other illnesses, because you would be at risk the most. Also the antigens would have changed shape. Benefits – Wont spread through a large population is a benefit. Also if a woman has a vaccination then falls pregnant she passes the antibodies onto the child. A vaccine Policy is a decision made by the government to vaccinate a large amount of people. This usually only works if the majority of people agree to it. Immunity/ Immune: When your body has already met a Pathogen once and therefore cannot make you ill again Antibody: These attach to pathogens and Stick the together. Vaccine/ Vaccination: An inactive or dead version of a pathogen is introduced into the body. Antigen: The marker on a Pathogen that a White Blood Cell can recognise. White Blood cells: a Cell that produces Antibodies. Antibiotics: * You take them and they kill the bacteria and it makes you better * You have to take them continually * They take a while to settle in * They kill infections * They are produced by Bacteria and Fungi * Are Drugs that are effective at killing Bacteria and Fungi * Antibiotics do not seriously damage body cells * Antibiotics are derived from micro-organisms * Penicillin comes from bread mould and was the first antibiotic discovered. * However they have limited use and have no effect on viruses. Antibiotics are used to kill Bacteria and Fungi in an infection in the body. The chemicals are made from Fungi and Bacteria. Antibiotics are Drugs that kill Bacteria and Fungi without harming body cells. These drugs do not affect viruses. A Superbug Bacteria is a Mutation to a Normal Bacteria. It is resistant to normal Antibiotics. How could we help Reduce Superbugs? Hospitals Hospitals can make sure that they treat people with the Superbug properly to stop it from spreading. Keep the Hospital Clean. Inject staff to Stop it Spreading, and to make them Immune. GP Inject people more Often and Give out Leaflets. Drug Companies Make a more effective drug and make a vaccine. The Public Allow people to inject them and make them immune. Antibiotic Resistance 1. The cell starts to replicate the DNA 2. The cell has had the DNA Replicate. So therefore the cell has elongated. 3. The Cell has started budding. 4. Binary Fission has taken place and the cell has cloned itself. A Mutation is a change in the bases that make up DNA. These changes can cause a change in a gene. This can change a Protein and thus affect the Characteristics of an Organism. It is important to do strict test on drugs to check that they are safe for use, do what they are supposed to do and to check the side effects. Drugs are tested on human cells that have been developed in a laboratory (The drug is tested on different body cells), then it is tested on animals (to see whether it works as well on whole animals as on the cells) before it is used on human patients(these are tested on volunteers).The three drug trials are Double blind(both doctor and patient do not know the drug is new), Blind trial(only the patient does not know the drug is true but the doctor does), and Open trial(both doctor and patient know the drug is new). A placebo is when a doctor gives a patient something that does not contain Drugs. A Placebo is used in blind trials. Biology Notes. (2017, Jan 07).

Growth of Bacteria in Solutions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Growth of Bacteria in Solutions - Essay Example According to Levinson (2015), the scientific findings imply that the growth of both Staphylococcus epidermises and Saccharomyces cerevisiae is favored by low concentrations of NaCl. At 1% NaCl, moderate and high growth rates were observed for Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Staphylococcus epidermises respectively. Therefore, it means that even at hypotonic solutions, the growth rate of Staphylococcus epidermises faster than that of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. A similarity in growth behavior of the two bacteria was noted in 1% NaCl whereby both solutions turned cloudy. As the concentration of NaCl continued to increase, the growth of both bacteria decreased. According to Queck and Otto (2014), the growth of Staphylococcus epidermis can be experienced in NaCl concentrations of up to 10% but no growth can be experienced in 15% NaCl. On the hand, Saccharomyces cerevisiae showed scant growth in 15% NaCl. Scientific findings on the ability of bacteria to grow in solutions of different concentrations provide facts about the growth of Staphylococcus epidermis and Saccharomyces cerevisiae in 1%, 7% and 15% NaCl.It was noted that growth of the two bacteria decreased as the NaCl concentration increased.These findings support the argument that both Staphylococcus epidermis and Saccharomyces cerevisiae thrive in low concentrations of NaCl. The study showed that it was only Saccharomyces cerevisiae able to survive in 15% NaCl while the growth of Staphylococcus epidermis was limited to 10% NaCl.

Partnerships and Limited Liability Partnerships Assignment

Partnerships and Limited Liability Partnerships - Assignment Example Fiduciary implies a particular individual on whom extreme assurance and faith has been placed by another to handle and guard finance or possessions. It is referred to as an association where an individual is obliged to do something for the advantage of another individual5. It has been further added that there are three most important duties that arise where there exists such an association. The foremost is the duty or responsibility of loyalty which means the responsibility to do something on behalf and in support of the particular individual or body towards whom the responsibility is outstanding and not taking benefit of, or damaging, it or him. The second is the duty or responsibility of obedience which means the obligation and responsibility to do something inside the limits of the power of faith. The third is the duty or obligation of care which means the duty to do something cautiously. At times the obligation of disclosure of complete material information is stated as the fourt h duty6. These fiduciary duties relating to sections 33, 34 and 35 of the Partnership Act 19637. The only fiduciary responsibility for which a particular partner is indebted to the other existing partners and the partnership is the responsibility of loyalty or faithfulness and the responsibility of care. A particular partner’s responsibility or obligation of loyalty is restricted to provide accounts to the partnership regarding any kind of possessions, profit or advantage that has been obtained by that partner in carrying out the business of partnership or by using a property that is possessed by the firm and all the partners jointly and also to cease from transacting with the firm where he has been acting as a partner, as an unfavourable party or entering into a competition with the firm in the course of carrying out the business of partnership. Similarly, a partner’s obligation of care is restricted to abstaining from grossly negligent or irresponsible behavior, misb ehavior that was on purpose or for disobeying a law intentionally. These obligations might not be surrendered or disposed of in the agreement of partnership and in order to accomplish them, every individual partner ought to act time and again in relation to the responsibility of trust and fair dealing. These are pertinent to all the contracts as well as agreements of partnership. It is allowed for a partner to follow one’s own interests but it should be ensured that in the course of doing so, the above-mentioned responsibilities should not be violated8.  

Case study about ( investigation for individual learning Essay

Case study about ( investigation for individual learning style,strategies, motivation and needs) - Essay Example She has some good knowledge in Japanese language as well, which she studied for one and half years before abandoning the course. Therefore, in total, she knows three languages that are Thai (Native Language), English (Second Language) and Japanese (Second Language). English language is the second language she is currently learning. In the background questionnaire, she informed that she began her first experiences in learning English in primary school where it was incorporated in the Thailand educational curriculum. Chutimon’s learning of English can be divided into three distinct phases that are based on her varying needs and the environment where the learning occurs at each instance. Chutimon is an instrumental English learner and her dream is to work internationally in matters concerning business. She considers learning English as crucial in enabling her to deliver well in her future career where she expects to interact with people belonging to different nationalities. English is part of the Thai educational curriculum and is incorporated in school programs, so the first learning phase of Chutimon started at primary level, which was quite preliminary. Later on, she joined Kaplan International College in the UK where she got enrolled for a five-month course in English. This formed the second phase of her learning process. While at Kaplan International College, her passion for learning English was still driven by the need to improve her proficiency and she was to learn English language in an interactive environment by corresponding with the native English speakers and other international students. Kaplan provided her with good learning environment. After completing that five months English learning course, she reached the last phase of her learning when she got 5.5 in IELTS exam and passed the pre-sessional course, then enrolled for a master’s degree in International Business in Manchester Metropolitan University. During the interview

Advertising through Video Games Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 8750 words

Advertising through Video Games - Coursework Example However, building a brand that can withstand the test of time and retain its undisputed position among the consumers is definitely not an easy task. As human creativity coupled with technological advancements is on a constant inclination, companies face challenges from all sides. Companies are always pushed to the extremes of being the leaders of the global market than mere survivors. The concept of 'blue ocean markets' has now become a clich as every market sector throngs with more and more companies with relentless aim to carve a niche market for themselves. In such scenarios, strategic companies go beyond the textbooks of brand equity and charter the new areas. One such medium that possesses promise, to loft almost every brand today is the Video Gaming arena.Human brain has always been looking for newer aspects in the various categories faced in life. As the consumer's vision of gaining information over the radio and television has drifted to the newer and faster technologies like computers, there was a necessity to hire new methodologies to reach out for them. The best method to involve the consumers of all age groups was to focus on the advertising aspects through Video Games.This paper mainly aims at studying the factors involved and the prospective benefits that advertising through video games brings about. As a part of its endeavor to answer the primary question, the paper also presents several insights into the world of brand equity. The research also concentrates upon various intangible factors related to the brand of a company that differentiates it's product in the market. It presents the importance of a strong brand value, its importance in modern marketing and the various factors that carve a brand for a product. For a better understanding we also study the pattern of advertising video games right from its evolution. Finally it also throws light on the lesser studied world of video gaming, the enormous prospects it holds and how it can act as a bo on to a company. Results of various research works are analyzed based on the consumer perceptions, effect of product placements and so on. The research is conducted basically to try and understand the tangible results that advertising through video gaming provides. Introduction Research has clearly proved that the consumer's perception has a direct relationship to a brand's market value and consequently the success of the business. Attitudes and perceptions of consumers build the overall brand equity for a particular product. Marketers of various companies invest large amounts of money and time into molding the consumer perceptions about their goods. As for some clients a brand of a product is the matter of prestige and pride, it is easier to set a mark on such mindsets. It is very obvious that, if the consumer is satisfied with the claims made by the company, he will join the company's clientele and remain there as long as the company backs out of the initial promise. A brand is considered as a promise made by the producer to the consumer about the various features embedded in the product. It mainly intensifies the quality of the product. Advertising has been the oldest and yet thriving means to shape the attitudes and perceptions of consumers about the pr oduct of a company. The advertising mediums have been taking various shapes based on time and technological aspects. IPSOS ASI, a leading advertising research company conducted a study comprising

Term Paper Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Assignment - Term Paper Example To ensure this, medical professionals have to understand the role and importance of informed consent, and apply it in their treatment and research processes. Informed consent is important as it helps patients to make their independent decisions about their treatment, and helps research participants to decide independently whether to participate in a research, without being coerced (Carmen and Joffe WEB). This paper discusses the importance of informed consent in medical treatment and research, as well as the different ethical issues arising in the course of informed consent in medical treatment and research. The concept of informed consent can be traced to different disciplines, including law, medicine, and philosophy. Consent to treatment is traced to law, while consent to research can be traced to ethical codes and administrative regulations. Informed consent has important moral and practical influence on the practice of medical treatment. This draws on the principle of autonomy, a nd the fact that a patient must be availed the opportunity to make their own independent decisions about the treatment offered to them. Similarly, in medical research, the participants are not coerced to participate. Medical treatment is therapeutic, unlike medical research, which is non-therapeutic, therefore, research participants are expected to participate voluntarily, since the research findings might not benefit them directly, but the patients in future. This is different from medical treatment, where the treatment benefits the patients directly. Nonetheless, in both cases, it is important to employ informed consent as a sign of respect for the individuals involved (Carmen and Joffe WEB). According to the Evans (WEB), the physician must avail all necessary information concerning the treatment procedure in order for this to be regarded as informed consent. This information will help the patient to make their judgement and settle for a right decision. In medical treatment, the i nformation must include the risks the patient is exposed to by the specific medical procedure, as well as the outcome of the medical procedure and the other alternatives, which might be useful to the patient. In medical research, the participants must be informed about the purpose of the research and its usefulness to the discipline. This information leads to an informed decision by the patients and research participants. In addition, before pronouncing the informed consent, a physician must ensure that he or she understands the concerns of their patient, before starting to act on the patient’s decision. Physicians should not assume and make decisions for these patients, instead, a physician should take the necessary steps to ensure that those patients, who are poor communicators or those with speaking inabilities get to understand the consent information in order to participate wholly in decision-making concerning their treatment (Caroline 417). This applies to medical resea rch too, where coercion is considered unethical. On the other hand, informed consent in medical research and experimentation is equally important for both the medical researcher and the subject, who might be the patients or other healthy individuals. In some cases, a patient might require an innovative kind of treatment, which goes beyond the normal diagnosis and prescription. Such innovative or experimental treatment

The strategic management processes of KPMG Assignment

The strategic management processes of KPMG - Assignment Example This essay explores the Human Resource Management (HRM) practices of the company with focus given on the management of employee resources, employee voice and employee relations so as to understand the effectiveness of the management of KPMG in strategically managing the most significant resource of the organization which is the people resource. In relation to the study the company which has been selected is KPMG as one of the biggest professional services and consulting firm in the world. Along with Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte Touchà © Consulting, KPMG is one of the Big Four auditing companies in the globe. The headquarters of the company are located in Amstelveen, Netherlands. KPMG is one of the most famous and preferred employers in the financial services sector. Currently, the company employs more than 162000 people in more than 16 geographical locations. The company has three main divisions of service which are advisory, Tax and audio services. The audit s ervices account for 42% of the revenues as of 2014, the advisory services account for 37% and the tax services account for 21% of the total revenue generated by the consulting firm in the year 2014. The company has been able to establish and maintain an ethical, sustainable and responsible image for the business over the years of its operations through a number of strategic management processes including employee management and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities.

Annotated bibliography Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 9

Annotated Bibliography Example Through examination of existing policies and laws as well as those in previous years, this magazine exposes the loopholes. It also provides a basis for the responsible bodies to effect appropriate actions to deal with negative effects of immigration. Of concern are the high rates of illegal immigrants in United States of America. Matthews, Christopher. "Business & Money." Business Money The Economics of Immigration Who Wins Who Loses and Why Comments. N.P., 30 Jan. 2013. Web. 2 Dec. 2013. . This is a recent news source for the major players in immigration. It covers the native Americans and the immigrants. As such, the effect of immigration on the native Americans is done by assessing the benefits and threats. The plight of immigrants is also covered and the entails of the new environment in terms of economic gains is looked at. In this website, there is maximum attention on the statistics of immigrants over the recent years. The numbers are given as a result of America community survey results from 2009. The data relating to immigrants numbers and their source countries is given. Rivera-Batiz, Francisco L. "Undocumented Workers in the Labor Market: An Analysis of the Earnings of Legal and Illegal Mexican Immigrants in the United States." Journal of Population Economics 12.1 (1999): 91-116. Print. This journal focuses on illegal immigrants especially from Mexico crossing through the U.S-Mexico border. An analysis of financial returns they obtains from the jobs they obtain is present. These returns are compared to legal Mexican immigrants and native born Americans. The disparities in income are explained and their economic relevance highlighted by the authors. This journal addresses the common argument concerning the impact of immigrants on the native-born Americans. The main provisions in this journal explain the reasons why immigrants secure jobs while native

Art Gallery Essay Example for Free

Art Gallery Essay In completion of this assignment the art gallery that I chose to visit was Mark Gallery in Englewood New Jersey. When you walk up to the establishment there are floor to ceiling glass windows that allow you to see everything inside. Facing the gallery there were so many colors that enticed you to enter. The arrangements and art work was spaced out nicely not causing clutter. This allowed you to individually take in each piece on by itself. All of the pieces were very nice but the artist that caught my attention was Mr. Mark Oberndorf. Oberndorf was born in New York but is currently residing in Bergren County New Jersey. He is a contemporary realist painter. Since the age of 10 he has been interested in the visual arts. At an early age some of his beginning works were illustrating his school yearbook to painting murals on his elementary school building. From 1995 to present Oberndorf has had art in various group and solo exhibitions and galleries. Currently his work is currently represented by Mark Gallery of Englewood New Jersey and Westwood Gallery in Westwood New Jersey. I found several of his pieces interesting because they were so basic. Not meaning they did not have levels or dimensions but they put me in the mind of simpler times and relatable memories. His pieces display three dimensional effects on a two dimensional surface with natural lighting effects. All painting are created with oil on linen canvass. Such pieces as the â€Å"Wyckoff Train Station†, â€Å"Dairy Queen† and â€Å"Gas† all represent the Bergren County area and parts of New York prior to the gentrification phase. â€Å"Gas† depicts an old two pump station as you would see it in the 1970’s. The piece of the â€Å"Dairy Queen† shows the classic franchise that was shaped somewhat of a barn prior to the new modernized look you may see today. I can remember as a kid having one of these in our neighborhood. We frequently visited it for a Sunday cone after attending church. I could not wait to stand in line for my soft serve on a cone. Lastly the â€Å"Wyckoff Train Station† is truly a classic single standing building not so big on the side of the tracks. Much dated compared to the enormous train stations and subway stations you see in the big cities such as New York. Through viewing these pieces I would think this is his way of holding on to a piece of history, before all common landmarks that held tradition and memories were torn down. Prior to gentrification in many of our communities there were several sites or establishments that were a common thread to our community. Be it the mom and pop store on the corner to the old fashioned ice cream stand. Gentrification has erased these things with more modernized establishments that help to bring economic wealth for some but forces others out of the neighborhoods and communities that they have been a part of for quite some time.

Visiting Miami †The city of Sun and Sea

Visiting Miami – The city of Sun and Sea Miami – The city of Sun and Sea Hello! Miami is a large, coastal metropolis that is located on the southeastern tip of Florida. Its subtropical climate, white sandy beaches and the nightlife that never ends make Miami a heaven for tourists and a place where the rich and famous loosen up. It is also home to a portion of the Everglades National Parkthat is a major tourist attraction of Florida. Today, Miami is a major business center and a leader in finance, commerce, culture, entertainment, fashion, arts and international trade. It has also been conferred the title of ‘America’s cleanest city’. Miami being a city that started with nothing is often described as the ‘only city of the world that started as a fantasy’. Whether you are into sports, beaches, salsa, shopping or adventure, you can enjoy this diverse paradise that is full of life any time of the year. Best season to visit Miami Miami is blessed with sunny days and breezy nights all year around. The peak tourist season is during the winter months from January to April when the weather is warm in Miami and cold in rest of the United States. Unlike other places, the crowd in Miami is not off-putting. Instead the continuous string of events and parties make the city a magical place. October to December is the shoulder season with pleasant temperatures. Hotels are available for a relatively lower price and this is a good time to visit. The summer months from May to September are off-season and this is when the days are scorching hot. Hence, the crowd is smaller and hotels cheaper. Irrespective of season, pack your sunglasses, sunscreen, bathing suit, beach towel and you are ready to enjoy Miami. Highlights (Special things to do and experience in Miami) Rejuvenate in the sun kissed beaches of Miami. Whether it is the South beach, Sunny Isles, Haulover beach or the Crandon beach, you will find a beach that will be perfect for you. ‘See and be seen’ in South Beach, the world’s trendiest beach. Be a part of the electrifying nightlife of Miami. Relax in the beautiful Key Biscayne. Dive or snorkel in the turquoise blue waters of Emerald Reef and watch the marine life come to life in front of you. Sail in a boat, yacht or catamaran and admire the beautiful skyline of Miami from the waters. Take an airboat ride and enter a different world that is Everglades National Park. Amaze yourself with the city’s iconic skyline and beautiful views of Biscayne Bay from Downtown Miami. Take a lovely ride to Key West from Miami. Start your day with a delicious Cuban breakfast at Little Havana. Enjoy Brazilian cachaca cocktails with picture perfect views of Biscayne Bay at the Sunset Lounge, Miami Beach. Take the wheel on a NASCAR race track and feel the adrenaline at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Indulge in shopping at the Lincoln road mall, Miami Beach. Partake in the Carnaval on the Mile, a lively two day event celebrating Latin music, art and food. Enjoy what feels like an oversized block party in true Miami style. Soak up art of all kinds in the free Art Walks hosted in different areas of Miami. The biggest and most popular ones are held in Wynwood Arts District and the Design District. After all the fun in sun, unwind at the yoga classes held on the beach. Hotspots (Places to visit in Miami) Miami Beach South Beach: South Beach, popularly nicknamed as SoBe, is a neighborhood in the city of Miami. This is one beach that attracts people of all varieties. You will see beautiful people everywhere flaunting themselves. The beach often draws celebrities and it is also a popular spot for fashion photo shoots and hip clubs. Sophisticated and hot, South Beach defines cool! Lincoln Road: Lincoln Road is an eight-block long pedestrian walkway packed with shops, restaurants and cafes. It features the 1111 Lincoln Road parking garage, which is architecturally acclaimed for its unique appearance. Key Biscayne Island Key Biscayne: Your Miami holidays are incomplete without visiting the scenic and serene Key Biscayne that comprises of four different and beautiful beaches. This secluded island is a short drive over the Rickenbacker Causeway. Just six miles off the coast of Miami,this island is a peaceful paradise that feels a world away from the bustling urban center. It is the perfect place to unwind, relax and connect with Miami’s natural beauty. Crandon Park beach: It is the largest and most popular beach on Key Biscayne.It is more than just a beach as it offers beach volleyball courts, kayak rentals, eco-adventure tours and other activities. Crandon Tennis center and Crandon Golf Key Biscayne located here are open to public and home to annual world-class professional events. Bill BaggsCape Florida State Park: Located on the southern tip of Key Biscayne, the park includes Cape Florida Light (lighthouse), the oldest standing structure in Greater Miami. The beach itself is listed as one of the ‘Top 10 beaches in America’. Virginia Key beach: The historic Virginia Key Beach is a beautiful and isolated beach just off the Rickenbacker Causeway which is the bridge between the mainland and Key Biscayne. Miami Seaquarium is located here. Miami Seaquarium: Miami Seaquarium is a marine-life entertainment park featuring eight marine animal shows and presentations. Lolita, the Killer Whale, bottlenose dolphins and Salty, the Sea Lion are some of the animals it is home to. Visitors are allowed to interact with dolphins or walk underwater among tropical fish for additional fees. Everglades National Park Everglades Alligator Farm: The Everglades is the third largest National Park in the Continental U.S and also a UNESCO World Heritage site. Home to more than 2,000 alligators, the Everglades have been a part of Florida history for as long as Florida has had a history. A trip to Everglades Alligator Farm includes a thrilling airboat tour of the surrounding river of grass, a walking train around the farm to see alligators, crocodiles and exotic snakes. Shark Valley: Shark Valley is part of the Everglades and is a 45-minute drive from Miami. Rent a bike and travel the 15-mile loop that makes up Shark Valley. Get close to the wildlife here that includes alligators, ibis, raccoons, wood storks and spoonbills among others. If you want to play it safe, opt for the two hour tram tour led by trained naturalists. Downtown Downtown Miami:Located right in the heart of Miami between the busy Brickell area, the beaches and rest of the mainland, Downtown is the perfect place to start your night. The famous American Airlines Arena that is home to the ‘Miami Heat’ of NBA and the Adrienne Arsht Center well known for its Opera and Broadway shows are located in the Downtown. Of course for all the club goers, Miami downtown has some of the hottest and diverse clubs in the world. It is here that you can eat atthe finest restaurants, dance in the hottest clubs, admire the iconic skyline and lose yourself in the beautiful views of Biscayne Bay! Key west Island Key West: No Miami holidays are complete without a journey to the Island of Key West. It is a day trip from Miami city. The 150-mile drive to the Key West is one of the most scenic and great American road trips. Once you are in the island, visit the Mallory Square; take a glass-bottom boat ride visiting the coral reef and snorkel in the blue green crystal clear waters of the Key West. It is the southernmost point in the continental USA between Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. The lovely drive is one the unique experiences you will have in Miami. Coconut grove Village west:It is a lovely bayside village situated on Biscayne Bay. Laze around the streets of the village consisting of sidewalk cafes, pretty galleries and interesting boutiques. Vizcaya museum and gardens: It is the former villa and estate of businessman James Deeringthat is located on Biscayne Bay in the Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami. The architecture of this stunningly beautiful American villa was influenced by Veneto and Tuscan Italian Renaissance models. The vizcaya museum contains more than seventy rooms of distinctive architectural interiors decorated with numerous antiques, with emphasis on European art. The villa, museum and the extensive Italian Renaissance gardens altogether make it a charming place to visit. City of Sunny Isles Beach Sunny Isles Beach: With two miles of pristine, white sandy beaches facing the luxurious resorts, Sunny Isles Beach is considered Florida’s Riviera for good reason. Whether it’s lounging poolside in a fancy oceanfront cabana or sinking your toes in the sand, Sunny Isles Beach offers clean, un-crowded and relaxing beaches perfect for a romantic getaway. If you are looking for a quieter, relaxing vacation stay then this is the place to be. Watson Island Jungle Island: It is an interactive zoological park in Miami. One can see a combination of animal and bird life like lions, panthers, lemurs, orangutans, parrots, flamingos, kangaroos and many more. Interactive sessions are available for extra cost. Shopping in Miami Aventura Mall consists of top U.S stores like Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s, JCPenney and many more that sum up to more than 300 specialty retailers. Shop and chill at this mall which also features a variety of restaurants and a movie theater. A mix of upscale and casual shopping defines Miami International Mall, located near the airport and offering the favorite stores of locals. For luxury shopping head to the stylish village of BalHarbour featuring stores like Chanel, Gucci, Ralph Lauren, Dolce Gabana and many more! You could also catch one of the many fashion events held at this place. Bayside Marketplace blends shopping with pleasure as national retailers share space with culturally distinctive merchandise. And it doesn’t stop at shopping as it offers great seafood and Latin restaurants, all overlooking the lovely Biscayne Bay. At Coconut Grove’s Cocowalk, shop in the sun and dance under the moon! This open-air shopping, dining and entertainment destination has the ambiance of a European town square. When the sun sets, Cocowalk heats up with live music, bars and restaurants. Street-smart shopping in Downtown is one of the delights of Miami. It is home to one of the nation’s largest jewelry districts and hundreds of retailers. Clothes, accessories, electronics, sporting goods, cameras, cosmetics- you name it, they sell it! Designer shopping on the streets of South Beach, whose Lincoln Road, Espanola Way and Ocean Drive stores provide a unique shopping experience, is a must do. In a place that offers souvenirs to gifts, books to jewelry, fashion to art, chocolate to cheese, you are bound to walk away with something special. How to reach Miami: Miami International Airport (MIA), located west of the city is an important hub for traffic between Europe, North America and South America. If you are travelling from one of the U.S cities, then Fort Lauderdale International Airport is a better choice. It is about 30 minutes north of Miami, smaller and less trafficked than MIA. Amtrak’s (train)Silver Service operates trains to Miami from New York, Washington D.C and other cities. Drive to Miami through its three main highways, I-95, I-75 and U. S. Highway 1. How to get around in Miami: Renting a car is a comfortable option to travel in Miami. It is advisable to do so from Miami International Airport as the city has only a few car rental companies. Hiring a Taxi too is a good option especially in North Miami Beach. South Beach Local bus service is one of the cheaper ways to get around in the area of South Beach. It runs every 10-15 minutes throughout the day, is air-conditioned, clean and safe. Metromover is a free mass transit train system in Miami. It serves Downtown Miami, Brickell, Park West and Omni neighborhoods. It s the best way to travel within Downtown Miami. Miami Hop-on Hop-off is another great way to visit the entire city as it covers major attractions like Downtown, Miami Beach, Coconut Grove, Coral Gables and more. Top areas in Miami: South Beach: South Beach is more than just white sand beaches and art deco buildings. This is a perfect place to stay for anybody who is vacationing in Miami. From world-class boutiques, casual beachside dining to great nightlife, it is a hotspot in every way. Miami International airport: It is a fast-growing area with hotels and corporate offices. It is minutes away from several popular tourist attractions in Miami. Downtown Miami: Downtown with its iconic skyline, historic shopping arcades, dining options with variety of culinary styles and of course amazing views from everywhere is the most popular place in Miami. This is a place where work meets play. Little Havana:This Cuban neighborhood gives you the opportunity to enjoy the life of Cuba. It is a good place to stay for budget travelers as many Miami hotels are located here. Wake up and have the amazing Cuban breakfast, dance to salsa music that you keep hearing throughout the day from unseen sources, buy in one of the many street shops, eat to your heart’s content in Cuban restaurants and learn a little Spanish! That’s Little Havana for you. Coconut Grove: Coconut grove is a very pretty bayside village within the urban dynamic of Miami. It is the oldest continuously inhabited neighborhood of Miami. It is filled with sidewalk cafes, galleries and boutiques. You can also relax in one of its many parks. Coral Gables: Coral Gables located southwest of Downtown Miami is one of the most desirable and old-fashioned neighborhoods in the area. Sunny Isles Beach: Have an opulent Miami holiday by staying in one of the finer resorts facing the Sunny Isles Beach. Relax in a spa or on the clean un-crowded beach with your loved ones. Bal Harbour:Balharbour is a village with upscale hotels and condos offering oceanfront views and resort spas in a quiet and relaxing environment. Apart from shopping and fine dining, the village also offers complimentary fitness classes on the beach for guests of local hotels. Key Biscayne: Surrounded by many attractions and a world in itself, Key Biscayne is away from the troubles of the mainland. Stay in one of the many ocean facing resorts located here to make your trip even more memorable. Homestead: Located close to Key Biscayne and Everglades National Park and home to the NASCAR race track, this place is fascinating and unique. Thank You!

Impact of Imaginary Friends on Child Development

Impact of Imaginary Friends on Child Development Introduction Childhood is a stage that is distinct and abundantly filled with cognitive, emotional and physical changes. During this period in a human life, wonder, innocence and imagination are rampant. Many skills and lessons are learned that will assist with the course the childs future will follow. This could be described as one of the most essential periods for the development of the individual they will eventually become. Some scholars have questioned whether each individual has a core self. Using some examples of the research of George Mead and John Hewitt- among others- it reveals that there are key aspects of the self that are developed by interactions within cultures and those inner communities. For some children there is a period of time where an imaginary friend is an essential part of this course of self-development. It is difficult to say if the presence of an imaginary friend is something that comes from the core self or if it arises after a certain amount of socialization. I will examine the presence of imaginary friends in younger children lives, specifically those within the preschool years. My intention is to explore the function(s) these imaginary friends might accomplish in the development of the role, identity and self within the child. DISCUSSION One concept came from work done by George Herbert Mead, who is one of the leading theorists dealing with work of symbolic interactionism and the development of the self. His work established concepts of position, play, game, and other basic theories based on relationships between the self and societal impact. Meads stages of development seem to rest entirely upon relations with others. Mead (1934) saw the self as something which ripens and results from associations with other individuals. One of his theories, the double, is signified by the establishment of the self as an entity. Some experiences can lead to the birth of a double and can be represented by imaginary friends created by the child, and which allows them to control their experiences through play. He suggested that entities are formed by human activity. The goals of those activities have two important inferences; people live in a world of objects and societal conduct is oriented to goals and purposes. (Hewitt, 2003). When one recognizes his/her self as an object, involvement in societal interaction is possible. (Mead, 1934) Another key factor in Meads theory is the development of the generalized other which-he believes- is vital in the maturity of the self. His concept of the generalized other is like a performance, a viewpoint that a person must creatively assume in order to take into account the formation of his/her own conduct which is created with principles, expectations and ideas influenced by the members of a particular societal group (Hewitt, 2003). The game and play stage must be passed through to reach full development. The play stage is identified as a period a child learns to take the identities of others and pretends about being the other. This developmental period, known as the play stage, allows the child to assume the role of another person and imagines him/herself to become that person, trying to assume and foresee what he/she imagines the other person might do.(Handel, 1988). During this stage, very important abilities are acquired; the development of role understanding, the capability to assume the status of others, the sharpened sense of one as an entity, and the ability to establish boundaries within that roleit is a phase a child will discover and expand insight of themselves and others. During this era, a child can learn and increase their understanding of their entire universe, including themselves. While the play stage usually correlates to the time frame children have imaginary companions it is essential to have a complete understanding of the next stage, the game stage. The essential difference between the play and the game stage is that in the latter the child must comprehend the attitude of all the others involved in that game (Mead, 1934). Advancement to the game stage is when children can incorporate and think about not only their accomplishments but identify with the actions of others. This awareness comes from interactions with other people. After the game stage has passed the child has arrived, optimistically, at the point they are able to have formed a generalized other and can imagine themselves as another entity, whether it be a person or society. The development of a generalized other and obtaining a sense of roles and boundaries is extremely important in becoming a successful individual within society. Children do not strictly follow the socialization that they are exposed to; asserting ones autonomy is one way of establishing their independence and separation from others. It appears that imaginary friends can help to serve this role. The exact way that an imaginary friend is manifested is unknown-however, much research has been performed on this topic but there is no argument that it is a creation belonging to and originated by the child alone. Marjorie Taylor (1999), a psychologist who has studied children and their imaginary friends, does affirm that typically, an imaginary companion is an excellent example of a private act of fantasy controlled by the child him or herself. The imaginary friend cannot be seen, interacted with or known without the aid of the child. It is a complete product and interaction that belongs solely to the child. There are also signs that even quite young children never completely loose touch with the fantasy status of their imaginary companions (Taylor, 1999). A child who has an imaginary friend is a common phenomenon and does not automatically result from psychological problems or neglect. However, it should be noted that situations, such as psychological issues and/or neglect should not be overlooked when assessing a child with an imaginary friend. Imaginary friends can serve various positive objectives in areas of the childs development. An imaginary friend could aid in creating feelings of importance, power, confidence, and could possibly lead to a greater acceptance of the self. Having an imaginary friend is one of the first independent acts separating the child from his/her mother or the childs primary caretaker. One of the endearing things about imaginary companions is that children can boss them around, direct their activities, and dictate their communication with others. There are a few case studies suggesting that if childrens sense of control over imaginary companions is diminished, the pretend friend sometimes disappears (Taylor, 1999). This interaction can assist a child to exercise his/her autonomy and develop more individual interaction skills. A second function of imaginary friends is the ability to assist the child develop stronger social boundaries. Several scholars consider the importance of imaginary friends to be a catalyst for development. Commonly, imaginary friends offer an outlet which a child can use both reality and fantasy to learn right and wrong as well as what is acceptable in the context of different roles. Machin wrote: fantasy allows children to contemplate moral and social issues at a safe distance in the land of make believe (Machin Davies, 2003). An imaginary friend could possibly be an agent between fantasy and reality and an instrument with which the child can explore their boundaries. One indicator that imaginary friends might be representative of children becoming autonomous is that they usually do share the information with their parents. Research has shown that although the parents lack of knowledge regarding their childs imaginary friend does not automatically come from the childs refusal to reveal information about their friend. An imaginary friend could possibly be a means a child uses to differentiate between fantasy and reality and an instrument with which the child can explore their boundaries. Children learn through the responses of others and that their behaviors have consequences (Handel, 1988). A childs creation of an imaginary world also offers an alternate place where children can learn about the needs, feelings, and expectations of others. Discovering about roles and societal boundaries and expectations from imaginary friends could possibly tie into the transition between Meads play and game stages, bridging the gap between the play and game stage since the child not only interacts with the imaginary friend but also exhibits its reactions and thoughts. It is complicated to identify if imaginary friends serve a positive function in a childs development of sense of self, role acquisition, and identity based on this research. Research of prior studies led to my theory that imaginary friends may serve with developing identity in children and assist the child learn societal boundaries. The growth of these characteristics in a child usually results in their ability to function well when interacting with others, allows a certain level of confidence in themselves, and provides a level of independence and/or willingness which will assist the child to implement their autonomy. Fundamentally, it appears that imaginary friends offer those that have them a chance to find structure in a non traditional fashion. According to many previous studies, approximately one third of all children between the ages of two and a half to four years of age have one or more imaginary friends and they tend to be more frequent among females. Some in the academic community, as well as, many within the general public do regard the existence of imaginary friends as a wonderful manifestation on the part of the child and will engage in dialogue and recognition of the imaginary friends. However, at the same time as there are those that acknowledge imaginary friends, there are many that do not think that the existence of an imaginary friend presents a positive influence or role in the childs development. It has been noted that the existence of an imaginary friend can actually cause tension within a family due to accommodations to involve this imaginary friend of their childs in family activities. Many parents are also cynical of the imaginary friend due to the possibility that the child may use the imaginary friend as a defense for the child to blame bad behavior upon. However, the suggestion that using the imaginary friend as an excuse is not certain. The most widespread characterization of an imaginary friend is an invisible character, named and referred to in conversation with other persons or played with directly for a period of time, having an air of reality for the child but no apparent objective basis (Taylor, 199) A greater part of imaginary friends take human form, have names, and are believed to really see, think, feel, know or act. Imaginary friends have been depicted as having a high level of importance to the children that still have them and/or to the adults that had them during childhood and these imaginary friends continue to typically complete some sort of nurturing function. Since many of these companions take on traits that are part of a childs daily interaction, one could suggest that these friends are influenced by the social world of the child and also serve to help the child develop more ways of learning how to interact. In addition, connecting with a friend, whether imaginary or not; a child is establishing their concept as an entity. This is important for social interaction and learning about human conduct, expectations and societal boundaries. Imaginary friends serve several levels of companionship functions that divert the child when out with a parent and/or caregiver, desiring play and social interactions, or situations when carrying out day-to-day routines. Some visits from the imaginary friend are very rare, while other times the appearance of the imaginary friend is a daily occurrence. Some children actually engage and play games with their friends while other children will just talk to the friend. One child (me) had their imaginary friend present during a move which correlates to the idea that an imaginary friend can be used as a means to adjust and learn about new situations. It appears these imaginary friends help those who had them- in some way- and performed some beneficial purpose. Though the capacity to evaluate this question would be incredibly difficult, it would be valuable to study where imaginary friends come from and how and why they are created. More research needs to be done with children who currently have an imaginary friend and in a way that information could then be compared and contrasted between those children with imaginary friends and those children without imaginary friends. On the other hand, while it may be ideal to explore this issue further, there are drawbacks to studying children. When interviews are being performed with children, it is uncertain that what they are answering is actually what we are asking them. Additionally, when dealing with imaginary friends and pretend play there is the added component of the childs ability to distinguish between reality and fantasy. Unfortunately, there is no way to approach this issue which would be infallible. CONCLUSION Mead was accurate when he alluded to the fact that imaginary friends play a significant role in the development of the self. There are no blatantly bad indicators that imaginary friends are harmful. Nevertheless, there still exist many negative perceptions, both in research as well as within the general public. These perceptions link imaginary friends to problems later in life, ranging from unacceptable social behavior to forms of mental illness, including psychosis. It must be noted, there are cases where this link can be found, however, these cases include indicators of other problems, mental, emotional or physical. This culture is has become overly dependant on exposure to the media. Imaginary friends are quite often used for entertainment purposes and are frequently misrepresented. Taylor contends that imaginary friends are framed in a negative light; however, not every aspect of media portrayal is negative. Overall the media-meaning movies, books, etc. tends to over-exaggerate circumstances and highlight the negative aspects. Earlier work has shown the opposite and my findings from this research indicate that imaginary friends, more likely than not, could boost childhood development, confidence levels and establish stronger boundaries. Furthermore, while performing and compiling my research on this controversial topic, I have found that more information exists to support that the existence of an imaginary friend can assist a child deal with a myriad of issues and situations that may not be successfully dealt with and/or overcome without the assistance of an imaginary friend.

Battle of Gen X and Gen Y Essay -- essays research papers

The Battle of Gen X and Gen Y There ¡Ã‚ ¦s no doubt about it, the newest diversity issue in the workplace is age diversity. Many organizations have finally figured out how to recruit young talent only to watch them drive down a collision course with seasoned employees over issues like work ethic, respect for authority, dress code and every work arrangement imaginable. And they're not sure what to do about it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  With this paper, I decided to take this concept because of the people that I have to work with on a continual basis. They are usually people from the Generation X trying to communicate with Generation Y. Just the other day I heard from someone I am working with,  ¡Ã‚ §Those god d*&# young kids don ¡Ã‚ ¦t want to work. Then they have to ask  ¡Ã‚ ¥Why do I have to learn this anyways? ¡Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ ¡Ã‚ ¨ I just sit back, smile, and think to myself there has to be an easier way in getting the information highway open to people no matter what the age. Good communication skills are essential to get any message across and there are many times our verbal and written messages are not received and interpreted as intended. That is why I chose to look at the Generations of X and Y. I first had to define what a generation is. A generation, loosely defined, is a group of people who can be demographically identified by biological trends and have shared experiences (Stephens Generation X Site, 2004). I did a little research first on the Generation Y babies (1980-1994). These young adults are in a league all their own. This generation has a hopeful outlook, a determined work ethic, and gets turned off by promiscuity (Mcai-mn.org, 2004). This generation also likes a direct communication approach. No surprise, they get along well with the over sixty generation. They have a global perspective, and this may be due to the pace of technological change in the last twenty years that promotes communication without barriers. When you look at this group closer, they are able to adapt rapidly, innovate constantly, accept others easily and rebound quickly. They have the time, tools, and the talent to create a better world and better results. Now those Generation X ¡Ã‚ ¦s have there own fond little quirks too! They were brought up on television, Atari 2600s and personal computers. They are the generation that was raised in the 1970s and 1980s, and saw this country undergo a selfish... ... 30 years of age. Considering that the average starting salary of a college graduate in 2000 hovered around $38,000, while more and more organizations are figuring out ways to flex schedules, work locations, and job descriptions, Gen Yers may be more realistic than those who scoff at their ambition. I haven ¡Ã‚ ¦t found out yet if it has worked or not. I am sure hoping it is because when researching this topic it brought me to my own realizations on what I expect. I need to place more value on asking people what they expect instead of placing my own biases on what I think they want. Reference Page Business Week Online Official Website. Managing Generation X ¡XPart One on September, 2001. Retrieved on March 5, 2004 from http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/sep2001/sb20010928_113.htm Jennifer Jochim, Outpost Contributor. Reality shreds myths about Gen X. Retrieved on March 5, 2004 from http://www.jour.unr.edu/outpost/specials/genx.overvw2.html MCIA official website. Retrieved on March 5, 2004 from http://www.mcai-mn.org/resources/articles_generations_0412.html Stephen ¡Ã‚ ¦s Generation X site. Retrieved on March 5, 2004 from http://users.metro2000.net/~stabbott/genxintro.htm.

MTV :: essays research papers

Somewhat perversely, it might be expedient to begin by pointing out that this paper is not about the music video per se. There will be no close textual analysis of individual clips. Eminent pop philosopher Elvis Costello once said that "writing about music is like dancing about architecture. It's a really stupid thing to want to do" (quoted in Goodwin, 1993: 1). Conscious that 'accidents can happen", this paper is concerned with the institutional as opposed to the purely textual; with the processes of production and reception (although it should be noted that it is perhaps inevitable that such a consideration will touch upon the channel - if not the videos themselves - as "text" in its most socially-engaged sense). The focus here, then, is on those organisations which broadcast music videos, on Music Television (MTV) in particular, and on the possible impact of what has become a truly global phenomenon. There is a common perception that American products dominate the world's markets. Coke and Pepsi slug it out across continents. It would appear that there is no place on earth where one cannot purchase a Big Mac. In his book Superculture, Christopher Bigsby offers this assessment of America's global dominance: American corporations shape the physical and mental environment, influence the eating habits, define the leisure pursuits, produce TV programmes and movies: devise, in other words, the fact and fantasy of the late twentieth century (Bigsby, 1975: 4). The perceived threat of globalisation has prompted fears and resentments not dissimilar in temper and tone to those by-now familiar reactions to the threat of Americanisation. Globalisation is sometimes seen as a force that will erode or, worse still, dissolve cultural difference and variety. Yet, the presence and pervasiveness of American-made goods does not necessarily signal the death of the local, regional or national. As Frederic Jameson notes, late modern or postmodern capitalism has led to a more disorganised set of relationships between trading nations. Thus, it is one of the characteristics of the dreaded "P"-concept - postmodernism or, perhaps more accurately, postmodernity - that it leads to uncertainty and paradox, as opposed to certainty and confidence. As a kind of postmodern capitalism, globalisation reflects this. For with it, the act of cultural transfer becomes more problematic, the flow of goods and ideas so much more difficult to "police". Economically, globalisation refers to a shift in capitalist practice. Today's multi- nationals talk of "global marketing strategies" and securing a "global market share" - corporate- speak which alludes to a kind of capitalism sans frontieres. MTV :: essays research papers Somewhat perversely, it might be expedient to begin by pointing out that this paper is not about the music video per se. There will be no close textual analysis of individual clips. Eminent pop philosopher Elvis Costello once said that "writing about music is like dancing about architecture. It's a really stupid thing to want to do" (quoted in Goodwin, 1993: 1). Conscious that 'accidents can happen", this paper is concerned with the institutional as opposed to the purely textual; with the processes of production and reception (although it should be noted that it is perhaps inevitable that such a consideration will touch upon the channel - if not the videos themselves - as "text" in its most socially-engaged sense). The focus here, then, is on those organisations which broadcast music videos, on Music Television (MTV) in particular, and on the possible impact of what has become a truly global phenomenon. There is a common perception that American products dominate the world's markets. Coke and Pepsi slug it out across continents. It would appear that there is no place on earth where one cannot purchase a Big Mac. In his book Superculture, Christopher Bigsby offers this assessment of America's global dominance: American corporations shape the physical and mental environment, influence the eating habits, define the leisure pursuits, produce TV programmes and movies: devise, in other words, the fact and fantasy of the late twentieth century (Bigsby, 1975: 4). The perceived threat of globalisation has prompted fears and resentments not dissimilar in temper and tone to those by-now familiar reactions to the threat of Americanisation. Globalisation is sometimes seen as a force that will erode or, worse still, dissolve cultural difference and variety. Yet, the presence and pervasiveness of American-made goods does not necessarily signal the death of the local, regional or national. As Frederic Jameson notes, late modern or postmodern capitalism has led to a more disorganised set of relationships between trading nations. Thus, it is one of the characteristics of the dreaded "P"-concept - postmodernism or, perhaps more accurately, postmodernity - that it leads to uncertainty and paradox, as opposed to certainty and confidence. As a kind of postmodern capitalism, globalisation reflects this. For with it, the act of cultural transfer becomes more problematic, the flow of goods and ideas so much more difficult to "police". Economically, globalisation refers to a shift in capitalist practice. Today's multi- nationals talk of "global marketing strategies" and securing a "global market share" - corporate- speak which alludes to a kind of capitalism sans frontieres.

The Church On Homelessness :: essays research papers

The Church on Homelessness   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The view of the church to the homeless is generous and envangelistic commitment. The church also shows a special love for the poor. The church just being there and its charitable help for the homeless shows what God would want the church to do for the homeless.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The church is very conscious that the lack of decent housing threatens the poor. The church is grateful for the creation of organizations that help to make the right to housing possible for many homeless people.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Examples of such organizations are shelters and witness of the local churches. Pope Paul VI himself personally promoted a program aimed at providing housing for some families who were living in a Roman slum.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The concern of the church for housing for the homeless comes from three ideas:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1) Adequate housing is important if a person is to find fulfillment, both as an individual and as a member of a family and society.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2) The witness that the church seeks to give in helping in the search for a solution to the problems of the poor is a sign of the presence of the kingdom of salvation and liberation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  3) The mission of the church also consists in helping to make society more human.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Catholic Church agrees with these three ideas and also makes its own judgement on the suffering of these millions of people. From the time of the earliest Christian communities, the church has always shown a preference for the poor, the needy, and on the outcasts of society. The way that the church insists on reaching out to the poor through mission collections, food pantries, and shelters shows the preferential love that the church has for these people. The church has always appealed to government programs set up to help the poor and has always supported cities to set up housing programs in the poorest areas   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As long as there are people without housing, Christians who have

Manzana Insurance

Operations Management ____________________________________________________________ _________________________ Case Study Manzana Insurance [pic] Presented to: Prof B. Mahadevan Submitted By Group 12 (Section B) Peeyush Razdan (0811115) Shalekh Banka (0811124) Shalem Anand Tirkey (0811125) Shreshth Sharma (0811128) Sumeet Mittal (0811131) Manzana Insurance As per the case facts, Manzana Insurance’s Fruitvale branch is the least performing branch and the senior VP seeks a report on the same. Their competitor Golden Gate (backed by its corporate parent generated a price war to gain market) is performing much better in terms of most metrics of Insurance business. 1) Problems faced by Manzana Insurance (Fruitvale branch) a) High Turn Around Time (TAT) Agents in the insurance sector are mediators who act as an interface between the client and the insurer. Hence, the quality of service, measured by average TAT, to the agents (who are common to the competitors) is of primary importance. TAT for Fruitvale has deteriorated to 6 days (1991) from 5 days (1990), while Golden Gate’s offer of 1 day TAT is luring agents away from Manzana. The number of late renewals is also increasing and quite high compared to Golden Gate. b) Geographic/Territorial Allocation to Underwriting Teams Leads to an Uneven Task Distribution We observe that the geographic allocation of agents to the underwriting teams is not optimal. This method has an inherent problem; there can be a surge in requests from a geography which might overload that particular team while the other teams might be idle due to lack of requests from their geography. Hence, their pooling should be rather than using the geographic allocation. c) Primary focus on RUNs rather than RERUNs and Increasing late Renewals Currently, Fruitvale is focusing on RUNs for getting new customers and compromising the service towards the RERUN requests for the existing customers. Loss of focus on RERUNs has led to increase in its TAT causing agents to move towards Golden Gate. The number of late Renewals has increased from 20% to 44% over the last year which has led to a significant increase in the Renewal loss rate from 33% to 47%. Renewal is a low premium – high volume business. Exhibit 5(in case) shows that a new policy and policy renewal give similar revenues of $6724 and $6205 respectively. The commission given to agents is 25% and 7% respectively. So in fact renewal of old insurance brings more revenue due to reduced commission percentage. Also, the time taken for renewal of policies is less, thus more renewals can be done in a given time. d) FCFS Scheduling may not be always optimum Most of the departments follow FCFS scheduling which may not be optimum. Ex. a policy with an effort of 4 hrs would delay all the other smaller policies behind it, effectively delaying 10 simple requests for serving one difficult one. Moreover, the scheduling policy followed across various departments is not same. While some strictly follow FCFS others do it on type of policy ex: RUN preferred over RERUNs. Also, The RAP is given preference over RERUNs by the rating team. The RAPs in fact take more time for processing than RERUNs. Also, only 15% of all quotes result in new policies. Thus, the Manzana Fruitvale branch seems to be servicing RAPs at the cost of RERUNs. e) Huge backlog of policies The existing backlog of policies is quite high, due to which any new policy received is not attended instantly (due to FCFS) further adding on to existing backlog, essentially creating a cascading effect. 2) Process Flow and Capacity Analysis We have used process flow, capacity analysis, Lead Time Analysis and Average daily Workload Analysis to analyze the current situation at Manzana’s Fruitvale Branch. ) Process Flow Exhibit 1 shows the process flow diagram with the existing capacity across the four major team Distribution clerks, Underwriter teams, Raters, Policy writers. b) Capacity Analysis Usage of Mean time for capacity analysis is ideally favored over 95% Standard Completion Time (SCT) parameter as 95% SCT is a highly conservative. It assumes every request to be of longer duration (95th percentile with respect to request duration) and does not take into acco unt the time saved while executing smaller requests. Mean on the other hand takes into account that fact that time consumed on longer jobs is compensated by the time saved on smaller jobs. Capacity analysis based on Mean Time (Exhibit 2) shows the bottleneck for RUNs is the Distribution step, for RAPs is underwriting, for RAINs is again Distribution and for RERUNs is policy writing. The same capacity analysis when done using 95% SCT (Exhibit 3) shows Underwriting step to be bottleneck for all the 4 types of policy requests. We observe that there is high standard deviation for most of the steps (especially Underwriting Step) and is comparable to mean value itself. Ex: For RERUNs Underwriting step mean is 18. 7min while the standard deviation is 19. 8min. Hence we are using 95% SCT for determining bottleneck step. And thus we consider Underwriting Stage as the bottleneck for the whole system. c) Lead (Service) Time Analysis Using Little’s Formula we have done Lead Time Analysis (Exhibit 4) which shows that on an average Lead Time is approximately 2 days (2. 10). As we have seen, throughput on the other hand is approximately 6 days which is much higher than the average Lead Time. This suggests that the longer throughput time is because of allocation problems described later. d) Average Daily Workload Analysis The argument of allocation problem is further strengthened by our Average Daily Workload Analysis (Exhibit 5). This analysis has been done taking into account the relative proportions of various types of requests on a daily basis. On the basis on mean processing time for all the steps it comes out that the average daily workload for each step is less than 7. 5 hrs (the stipulated working time). Inferences Above analysis shows that problem at Fruitvale branch is not due to capacity constraint but it is actually due to allocation issue. Predominantly, allocation problems are in underwriting step. Currently allocation is done on the basis of Geographical/territorial lines which lead to uneven workload over time as well as inefficient allocation leading to longer TPUT time. Exhibit 5 shows that RUNs on an average take 50% (Exhibit 6) more processing time than RERUNs hence territory1 which is heavily loaded with RUNs has a higher RERUN loss even though overall it is least loaded. This necessitates a better allocation scheme rather than FIFO. Shortest Job First Scheduling may be used to minimize TPUT but it may delay a high priority request (ex a RERUN close to expiry) and also requires a priori estimation of various time factors. Currently, the system follows FCFS though not strictly, since some departments prioritize based on type of request ex: Underwriting favors RUNs over RERUNs. We would suggest an improved priority scheduling over FIFO which would be determined based on the type of request, agent’s importance, client importance, expiry time etc. et across uniformly across the steps. 3) Recommendations a) Distribution of reports to teams based on priority rather than territorial As found in previous section the current workforce should suffice the existing requirements if there are no backlogs and even if there are, it should not take more than 2 days. The problem was identified in the allocation of the policy request based on territory. We recomm end a collective (instead of territorial) request processing system with more intelligence added to the distribution system, which were also identified as bottlenecks for RUN and RAIN. This distribution system would first prioritize the requests and then allocate them to the underwriting team on an optimal basis ensuring even distribution of total requests, individual requests RUN, RERUN etc. This would remove the existing anomaly of having an overloaded team and an idle team concurrently. They should also keep monitoring the progress of the process and remove blocking issues that may result in a further delay of other policies. To expedite this process, it can also be automated by the help of computers. These changes should substantially reduce the TAT and the delayed RERUNs. The priority should be decided based on the following factors instead of current system purely on the type of request 1) Type of request – RERUN, RUN, RAP, RAIN 2) Already waited time – request that have waited for a long time should be upgraded 3) Estimate of total time required 4) Agent’s priority 5) Client’s priority 6) Expiry Time (Incase of RERUNs) 7) Other factors determining the business value of the request Hence overall, this would reduce the intensity of bottlenecks at DC and UT. b) Increase focus on RERUNs RERUNs, which generate maximum revenue, should be given a higher priority based on their proximity to the expiry date. This ensures customer retention and gives sufficient time to agents for renewal. c) Reduce Backlogs Reduction in current backlogs to minimum will help Fruitvale achieve a day’s TAT as explained. This can be done by working overtime, getting temporary teams possibly from other branches, and increase number of working days temporarily. d) Use Mean instead of SCT We observe that SCT is not a correct approach to evaluate the process flow since the 95th percentile customer’s time considered as a benchmark to set up the system results in very conservative estimates. Initially, other statistical methods like mean + n times standard deviation etc. can be used to achieve desired level of service. Following that, a record including TAT for each request should be maintained so that it can be used for future reference and for reducing the noise in mean that we recommend to be used in future. Exhibits Exhibit 1: Process Flow Diagram Exhibit 2: Capacity Analysis based on Mean Processing time |Capacity |RUNs |RAPs |RAINs |RERUNs | |Distribution |26. 8 |36. 00 |41. 38 |64. 29 | |Underwriting |30. 96 |35. 53 |59. 73 |72. 19 | |Rating |47. 68 |55. 64 |54. 96 |47. 68 | |Policy Writing |31. 69 |NA |41. 67 |44. 91 | *darkened cells show the bottleneck Exhibit 3: Capacity Analysis based of 95% Standard Completion Time Capacity |RUNs |RAPs |RAINs |RERUNs | |Distribution |14. 05 |16. 70 |26. 43 |41. 67 | |Underwriting |12. 59 |15. 43 |27. 33 |21. 50 | |Rating |32. 06 |40. 59 |40. 27 |39. 05 | |Policy Writing |25. 20 |NA |31. 65 |33. 58 | *darkened cells show the bottleneck Exhibit 4: Lead (Service) Time Analysis using Little’s Formula |Requests in progress |82 | |Requests served per day (in steady state) |39 | |Lead /Service Time (Requests in progress/Requests served per day) |2. 1 | Exhibit 5: Average Daily Workload Analysis |Demand Analysis |Requests in 120 days (1991) |Demand per Day | |RUNs |624 |5. | |RAPs |1524 |12. 7 | |RAINs |451 |3. 758333 | |RERUNs |2081 |17. 34167 | |Total |4680 |39 | |Mean Processing Time |RUNS |RAPS |RAINS |RERUNS |Workers/Teams | |Â   |(5. 0) |(12. 70) |(3. 75) |(17. 34) |Total Time |hrs per day | |Distribution |356. 20 |635. 00 |163. 13 |485. 52 |1,639. 85 |6. 83 | |Underwriting |226. 72 |482. 60 |84. 75 |324. 26 |1,118. 33 |6. 21 | |Rating |392. 60 |821. 69 |245. 63 |1,309. 17 |2,769. 09 |5. 77 | |Policy Writing |369. 20 |N. A. |202. 50 |868. 73 |1,440. 43 |4. 0 | Exhibit 6: Uneven distribution due to territorial allocation |Policies |Total |% diff with avg |RUNs |% diff with avg |RERUNs |% diff with avg |Rene wal lost | |/Territory | |1315 | |208 | |693 | | |1 |1151 |14. 24% less |274 |31. 73% more |636 |8. 2% less |403 | |2 |1393 |5. 93% more |179 |13. 94% less |840 |21. % more |227 | |3 |1402 |6. 66% more |171 |17. 7% less |605 |14. 54% less |296 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Processing Time (using mean values) | |Distribution |Underwriting |Rating |Writing |Total |Baselined (w. r. t. minimum) |Baselined (w. r. t. RERUN) | |RUN |68. 5 |43. 6 |75. 5 |71 |258. 6 |169. 35 |150. 09 | |RAP |50 |38 |64. 7 |NA |152. 7 |100. 00 |88. 62 | |RAIN |43. 5 |22. 6 |65. 5 |54 |185. 6 |121. 55 |107. 72 | |RERUN |28 |18. 7 |75. 5 |50. 1 |172. 3 |112. 84 |100. 00 | | ———————– Distribution clerks Number : 4 Capacity: Runs 26. 27 (58. 63), Raps 36 (72. 28), Rains 41. 37(195. 65), Reruns 64. 28(290. 32) Underwriter teams Number: 3 Capacity: Runs 30. 96(12. 59), Raps 35. 52(15. 42), Rains 59. 73(27. 32), Reruns 72. 19(21. 49) New Requests, Renewal requests Request for underwriting Policy writers Number: 4 Capacity: Runs 31. 69(25. 19), Raps NA, Rains 41. 67(31. 64), Reruns 44. 91(33. 58) Raters Number: 4 Capacity: Runs 47. 68(32. 05), Raps 55. 64(40. 58), Rains 54. 96(40. 26), Reruns 47. 68(39. 04) Policy issuing request Rating request Manzana Insurance Operations Management ____________________________________________________________ _________________________ Case Study Manzana Insurance [pic] Presented to: Prof B. Mahadevan Submitted By Group 12 (Section B) Peeyush Razdan (0811115) Shalekh Banka (0811124) Shalem Anand Tirkey (0811125) Shreshth Sharma (0811128) Sumeet Mittal (0811131) Manzana Insurance As per the case facts, Manzana Insurance’s Fruitvale branch is the least performing branch and the senior VP seeks a report on the same. Their competitor Golden Gate (backed by its corporate parent generated a price war to gain market) is performing much better in terms of most metrics of Insurance business. 1) Problems faced by Manzana Insurance (Fruitvale branch) a) High Turn Around Time (TAT) Agents in the insurance sector are mediators who act as an interface between the client and the insurer. Hence, the quality of service, measured by average TAT, to the agents (who are common to the competitors) is of primary importance. TAT for Fruitvale has deteriorated to 6 days (1991) from 5 days (1990), while Golden Gate’s offer of 1 day TAT is luring agents away from Manzana. The number of late renewals is also increasing and quite high compared to Golden Gate. b) Geographic/Territorial Allocation to Underwriting Teams Leads to an Uneven Task Distribution We observe that the geographic allocation of agents to the underwriting teams is not optimal. This method has an inherent problem; there can be a surge in requests from a geography which might overload that particular team while the other teams might be idle due to lack of requests from their geography. Hence, their pooling should be rather than using the geographic allocation. c) Primary focus on RUNs rather than RERUNs and Increasing late Renewals Currently, Fruitvale is focusing on RUNs for getting new customers and compromising the service towards the RERUN requests for the existing customers. Loss of focus on RERUNs has led to increase in its TAT causing agents to move towards Golden Gate. The number of late Renewals has increased from 20% to 44% over the last year which has led to a significant increase in the Renewal loss rate from 33% to 47%. Renewal is a low premium – high volume business. Exhibit 5(in case) shows that a new policy and policy renewal give similar revenues of $6724 and $6205 respectively. The commission given to agents is 25% and 7% respectively. So in fact renewal of old insurance brings more revenue due to reduced commission percentage. Also, the time taken for renewal of policies is less, thus more renewals can be done in a given time. d) FCFS Scheduling may not be always optimum Most of the departments follow FCFS scheduling which may not be optimum. Ex. a policy with an effort of 4 hrs would delay all the other smaller policies behind it, effectively delaying 10 simple requests for serving one difficult one. Moreover, the scheduling policy followed across various departments is not same. While some strictly follow FCFS others do it on type of policy ex: RUN preferred over RERUNs. Also, The RAP is given preference over RERUNs by the rating team. The RAPs in fact take more time for processing than RERUNs. Also, only 15% of all quotes result in new policies. Thus, the Manzana Fruitvale branch seems to be servicing RAPs at the cost of RERUNs. e) Huge backlog of policies The existing backlog of policies is quite high, due to which any new policy received is not attended instantly (due to FCFS) further adding on to existing backlog, essentially creating a cascading effect. 2) Process Flow and Capacity Analysis We have used process flow, capacity analysis, Lead Time Analysis and Average daily Workload Analysis to analyze the current situation at Manzana’s Fruitvale Branch. ) Process Flow Exhibit 1 shows the process flow diagram with the existing capacity across the four major team Distribution clerks, Underwriter teams, Raters, Policy writers. b) Capacity Analysis Usage of Mean time for capacity analysis is ideally favored over 95% Standard Completion Time (SCT) parameter as 95% SCT is a highly conservative. It assumes every request to be of longer duration (95th percentile with respect to request duration) and does not take into acco unt the time saved while executing smaller requests. Mean on the other hand takes into account that fact that time consumed on longer jobs is compensated by the time saved on smaller jobs. Capacity analysis based on Mean Time (Exhibit 2) shows the bottleneck for RUNs is the Distribution step, for RAPs is underwriting, for RAINs is again Distribution and for RERUNs is policy writing. The same capacity analysis when done using 95% SCT (Exhibit 3) shows Underwriting step to be bottleneck for all the 4 types of policy requests. We observe that there is high standard deviation for most of the steps (especially Underwriting Step) and is comparable to mean value itself. Ex: For RERUNs Underwriting step mean is 18. 7min while the standard deviation is 19. 8min. Hence we are using 95% SCT for determining bottleneck step. And thus we consider Underwriting Stage as the bottleneck for the whole system. c) Lead (Service) Time Analysis Using Little’s Formula we have done Lead Time Analysis (Exhibit 4) which shows that on an average Lead Time is approximately 2 days (2. 10). As we have seen, throughput on the other hand is approximately 6 days which is much higher than the average Lead Time. This suggests that the longer throughput time is because of allocation problems described later. d) Average Daily Workload Analysis The argument of allocation problem is further strengthened by our Average Daily Workload Analysis (Exhibit 5). This analysis has been done taking into account the relative proportions of various types of requests on a daily basis. On the basis on mean processing time for all the steps it comes out that the average daily workload for each step is less than 7. 5 hrs (the stipulated working time). Inferences Above analysis shows that problem at Fruitvale branch is not due to capacity constraint but it is actually due to allocation issue. Predominantly, allocation problems are in underwriting step. Currently allocation is done on the basis of Geographical/territorial lines which lead to uneven workload over time as well as inefficient allocation leading to longer TPUT time. Exhibit 5 shows that RUNs on an average take 50% (Exhibit 6) more processing time than RERUNs hence territory1 which is heavily loaded with RUNs has a higher RERUN loss even though overall it is least loaded. This necessitates a better allocation scheme rather than FIFO. Shortest Job First Scheduling may be used to minimize TPUT but it may delay a high priority request (ex a RERUN close to expiry) and also requires a priori estimation of various time factors. Currently, the system follows FCFS though not strictly, since some departments prioritize based on type of request ex: Underwriting favors RUNs over RERUNs. We would suggest an improved priority scheduling over FIFO which would be determined based on the type of request, agent’s importance, client importance, expiry time etc. et across uniformly across the steps. 3) Recommendations a) Distribution of reports to teams based on priority rather than territorial As found in previous section the current workforce should suffice the existing requirements if there are no backlogs and even if there are, it should not take more than 2 days. The problem was identified in the allocation of the policy request based on territory. We recomm end a collective (instead of territorial) request processing system with more intelligence added to the distribution system, which were also identified as bottlenecks for RUN and RAIN. This distribution system would first prioritize the requests and then allocate them to the underwriting team on an optimal basis ensuring even distribution of total requests, individual requests RUN, RERUN etc. This would remove the existing anomaly of having an overloaded team and an idle team concurrently. They should also keep monitoring the progress of the process and remove blocking issues that may result in a further delay of other policies. To expedite this process, it can also be automated by the help of computers. These changes should substantially reduce the TAT and the delayed RERUNs. The priority should be decided based on the following factors instead of current system purely on the type of request 1) Type of request – RERUN, RUN, RAP, RAIN 2) Already waited time – request that have waited for a long time should be upgraded 3) Estimate of total time required 4) Agent’s priority 5) Client’s priority 6) Expiry Time (Incase of RERUNs) 7) Other factors determining the business value of the request Hence overall, this would reduce the intensity of bottlenecks at DC and UT. b) Increase focus on RERUNs RERUNs, which generate maximum revenue, should be given a higher priority based on their proximity to the expiry date. This ensures customer retention and gives sufficient time to agents for renewal. c) Reduce Backlogs Reduction in current backlogs to minimum will help Fruitvale achieve a day’s TAT as explained. This can be done by working overtime, getting temporary teams possibly from other branches, and increase number of working days temporarily. d) Use Mean instead of SCT We observe that SCT is not a correct approach to evaluate the process flow since the 95th percentile customer’s time considered as a benchmark to set up the system results in very conservative estimates. Initially, other statistical methods like mean + n times standard deviation etc. can be used to achieve desired level of service. Following that, a record including TAT for each request should be maintained so that it can be used for future reference and for reducing the noise in mean that we recommend to be used in future. Exhibits Exhibit 1: Process Flow Diagram Exhibit 2: Capacity Analysis based on Mean Processing time |Capacity |RUNs |RAPs |RAINs |RERUNs | |Distribution |26. 8 |36. 00 |41. 38 |64. 29 | |Underwriting |30. 96 |35. 53 |59. 73 |72. 19 | |Rating |47. 68 |55. 64 |54. 96 |47. 68 | |Policy Writing |31. 69 |NA |41. 67 |44. 91 | *darkened cells show the bottleneck Exhibit 3: Capacity Analysis based of 95% Standard Completion Time Capacity |RUNs |RAPs |RAINs |RERUNs | |Distribution |14. 05 |16. 70 |26. 43 |41. 67 | |Underwriting |12. 59 |15. 43 |27. 33 |21. 50 | |Rating |32. 06 |40. 59 |40. 27 |39. 05 | |Policy Writing |25. 20 |NA |31. 65 |33. 58 | *darkened cells show the bottleneck Exhibit 4: Lead (Service) Time Analysis using Little’s Formula |Requests in progress |82 | |Requests served per day (in steady state) |39 | |Lead /Service Time (Requests in progress/Requests served per day) |2. 1 | Exhibit 5: Average Daily Workload Analysis |Demand Analysis |Requests in 120 days (1991) |Demand per Day | |RUNs |624 |5. | |RAPs |1524 |12. 7 | |RAINs |451 |3. 758333 | |RERUNs |2081 |17. 34167 | |Total |4680 |39 | |Mean Processing Time |RUNS |RAPS |RAINS |RERUNS |Workers/Teams | |Â   |(5. 0) |(12. 70) |(3. 75) |(17. 34) |Total Time |hrs per day | |Distribution |356. 20 |635. 00 |163. 13 |485. 52 |1,639. 85 |6. 83 | |Underwriting |226. 72 |482. 60 |84. 75 |324. 26 |1,118. 33 |6. 21 | |Rating |392. 60 |821. 69 |245. 63 |1,309. 17 |2,769. 09 |5. 77 | |Policy Writing |369. 20 |N. A. |202. 50 |868. 73 |1,440. 43 |4. 0 | Exhibit 6: Uneven distribution due to territorial allocation |Policies |Total |% diff with avg |RUNs |% diff with avg |RERUNs |% diff with avg |Rene wal lost | |/Territory | |1315 | |208 | |693 | | |1 |1151 |14. 24% less |274 |31. 73% more |636 |8. 2% less |403 | |2 |1393 |5. 93% more |179 |13. 94% less |840 |21. % more |227 | |3 |1402 |6. 66% more |171 |17. 7% less |605 |14. 54% less |296 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Processing Time (using mean values) | |Distribution |Underwriting |Rating |Writing |Total |Baselined (w. r. t. minimum) |Baselined (w. r. t. RERUN) | |RUN |68. 5 |43. 6 |75. 5 |71 |258. 6 |169. 35 |150. 09 | |RAP |50 |38 |64. 7 |NA |152. 7 |100. 00 |88. 62 | |RAIN |43. 5 |22. 6 |65. 5 |54 |185. 6 |121. 55 |107. 72 | |RERUN |28 |18. 7 |75. 5 |50. 1 |172. 3 |112. 84 |100. 00 | | ———————– Distribution clerks Number : 4 Capacity: Runs 26. 27 (58. 63), Raps 36 (72. 28), Rains 41. 37(195. 65), Reruns 64. 28(290. 32) Underwriter teams Number: 3 Capacity: Runs 30. 96(12. 59), Raps 35. 52(15. 42), Rains 59. 73(27. 32), Reruns 72. 19(21. 49) New Requests, Renewal requests Request for underwriting Policy writers Number: 4 Capacity: Runs 31. 69(25. 19), Raps NA, Rains 41. 67(31. 64), Reruns 44. 91(33. 58) Raters Number: 4 Capacity: Runs 47. 68(32. 05), Raps 55. 64(40. 58), Rains 54. 96(40. 26), Reruns 47. 68(39. 04) Policy issuing request Rating request