Chile Political Parties And Organizations Essays -

Chile Political Parties And Organizations Taking a look at Chiles government and institutions it gives the idea that the average person is represented. Chilean people have a history of strong political ties and many private associations and organizations. This has been helpful in taking care that many interests and needs are expressed within the government. Perhaps even more helpful is the development of many different political parties, whom, for the most part represent many of these organizations and associations in the government. In order to evaluate these institutions a closer look must be taken at each to understand fully the amount of organization that is in place. In the 1990s Chile had a strong, ideological based multiparty system with a clear division between the parties of the right, center, and left. Traditionally the parties have national in scope penetrating into other more remote regions. Party affiliation had been had served as the organizing concept in many leadership contests in universities and private associations, such as labor unions and professional associations. Political tendencies are passed from generation to generation and constitute an important part of an individuals identity. By the middle of the twentieth century, each of Chiles political tendencies represented one-third of the electorate. The left was dominated by the Socialist Party (Partido Socialista) and the Communist Party of Chile (Partido Communista de Chile), the right by the Liberal Party (PartidoLiberal) and the Conservative Party (Partido Conservador), and the center by the anticlerical Radical Party (Partido Radical) which was replaced as Chiles dominant party by the Christian Democratic Party (Partido Democrata Cristiano) in the 1960s. The Communist Party of Chile (PPCh) is the oldest and largest communist party in Latin America and one of the most important in the West. Tracing its origins to 1912, the party was officially founded in1922 as the successor to the Socialist Workers Party. It achieved congressional representation shortly thereafter and played a leading role in the development of the Chilean labor movement. Concern over the partys success at building a strong electoral base, combined with the onset of the Cold War, led to its being outlawed in 1948, a status it had to endure for almost a decade. However by midcentury it had become a genuine political subculture with its own symbols and organizations and the support of prominent artists and intellectuals. The PPChs strong stand against registration of voters and participation in elections alienated many of its own supporters and long-time militants who understood that most of the citizens supported a peaceful return to democracy. The dramatic failure of the PCChs strategy seriously undermined its credibility and contributed to the growing withdrawal from its ranks. The party was also hurt by the vast structural changes in Chilean society, the decline of traditional manufacturing and extractive industries and the weakening of the labor movement in particular. The collapse of the Soviet Union and its East European allies represented the final blow. The Socialist Party (PS), formally organized in 1933, had its origins in the incipiant labor movement and working-class parties of the earlier twentieth century. The Socialist Party was far more mixed than the PCCh, drawing support from the blue-collar workers a well as intellectuals and members of the middle-class. Throughout most of its history, the Socialist Party suffered from a large number of factions. Resulting from rivalries and fundamental disagreements between leaders advocating revolution and those willing to work within the system. The Socialist Partys greatest moment was the election of Salvador Allende to the presidency in 1970. Allende represented the moderate wing of a party that had veered sharply to the left. The Socialist Partys radical orientation contributed to continuous political tension as the president and the PCCh argues for a more gradual approach to change and the Socialists sought to press for immediate conquests for the middle class. Prior to the 1988 election, the Socialists launched the Party for Democracy (Partido por la Democracia--PPD) in an effort to provide a broad base of opposition to Pinochet. Led by Lagos, an economist and former university administrator, the PPD was supposed to be an instrumental party that would disappear after the defeat of Pinochet. But the party's success in capturing the imagination of many Chileans led Socialist and PPD leaders

How to Create Your Own DVD essays

How to Create Your Own DVD essays Having good quality home video movies is important to many individuals. For me not only quality is important, but also knowing that my precious videos will not fade or distort over the time. That is why I choose to store my videos in the durable, digital format on the DVD (digital versatile disc or digital video disc). Creating DVD might be very tricky and time consuming. I do not want to discourage anybody; there are several one-click or do-it-all computer programs, but those will not produce a high quality images. The best solution is to use several computer programs because each program is usually good for only one production phase. The first step is to shoot video with your digital video camcorder. There are several standards of camcorders available: Digital 8, MiniDV and HD-DVD. Most popular, and not that expensive, is MiniDV. Camcorders costing about $300, can record acceptable quality footage. The amount of light is very important when recording a movie. Poorly illuminated areas can cause unfocused and not sharp images. The video is recorded on a tape and stored in the digital format. The next step is to transfer your video on tape from camera to a computer. Special Firewire input on the computer is required. The easiest and free program I found for this task is WinDV. In addition, big hard drives are useful because video files are uncompressed and take a lot of space. Once a raw film is transferred, it is time to edit it. I used to use Sonic Foundry Vegas, but now I prefer Adobe Premiere or Ulead Media Studio as my video editing software. Adjusting camera angles, contrast, brightness, changing a sequence of the shots and adding nice transitions between scenes is fun and not that hard to accomplish even for the amateurs. Every software package comes with an extensive instruction on how to use it, and even more information or specific guides can be found on the each producer website. At this point your video, with all t...

Audit of a Workplace as a Learning Environment Essay

Audit of a Workplace as a Learning Environment - Essay Example From this paper it is clear that learning in this organization is a continuous process as many employees do not possess the required skills for effective work performance and those who are experienced need reinforcement. The assignment will be evaluate and discuss this learning in three ways. First the audit will evaluate the understandings, knowledge as well as dispositions required for employees to perform their tasks effectively. Secondly, the contribution of the workplace towards enhancing or hindering learning will be discussed after which the strengths and weaknesses of the workplace as a learning environment will be evaluated and summarized.As the discussion highlights  learning in workplace refers to the skills and knowledge gained through interactions and leads to change in behavior, attitudes and understandings. It increases employees’ innovative capacity and efficiency hence increasing company’s competitiveness. Workplace learning takes various forms which can be intentional or unintentional, formal or informal.  Formal learning occurs when programs are created to offer training to staff so that they can acquire skills such as a training department established to train tailors how to make garments. Informal learning occurs through daily experiences and through educational influences and environmental factors such as knowledge on how to cut, iron. Trim and pack garments. Intentional learning involves moving towards a set objective by the learner such as a tailor assistant willingness to become a tailor.

Organizations of Similar Size and Similar Structures Essay

Organizations of Similar Size and Similar Structures - Essay Example The structure provides pointers to the old and new members, to the outsiders, stakeholders, shareholders and other concerned or interested parties. This therefore means that regardless of which organization, as long as it has clear rules of governance and operation, then anyone can understand what it is all about. This paper is going to analyze in details and with examples how even though organizations may vary in size, their structures are still similar. Will organizations of similar size have similar structures? One of the reasons all organizations have similar structures no matter their size is because the main aim of all organizational structures in all the organizations is to facilitate the coordination of the employees and the management in achieving the organizational goals and even objectives. This is so because the structures put forward by organizations have similarity in characteristics since all the organizations have a goal they want to achieve even though these goals ma y be unique depending on what the mission of the organization is. The other reason is based on the existence of the different organization structure types. These include: functional structure, structure based on division, structure based on geographical location, division of the structure depending on the process, on the product and on the customer (Daft, Murphy and Willmott, 2010, p. 107). All these provide the reasons as to why when it comes to the structure of the organization, the size of the organization does not matter. All organizations need to separate their employees according to the skills each possess in order for them to have easier time consulting each other. This is for example true in that the organizations structure their employees into management, accounting and sales among others. The advantages of this type of structure are that the organizations are able to create efficiency, allow rapid decision making and also promote labor specialization within the organizatio n. This system has its own downside in that there is minimum career development as there is no room for interacting with employees from other careers and seeing them at work. The other is that the employees always have low morale as they have no challenges and competition since they are secluded in their own functional areas (Daft, Murphy and Willmott, 2010, p. 108). The other type of organizational structure that is enforced by all organizations is the division of the structure based on the products (and even services for those organizations dealing with services and not products). When structuring an organization based on its products, it means that all the strategies or decisions that will be made by the management and even the employees will be considering the products or services they are dealing with and which enable them achieve their goals. This concentration on the products or services being rendered does not have size distinction. For example small businesses (that are fam ily owned for example) have very few products they deal with but they fully concentrate on them in order to get their livelihood and provide for the family. The same happens for the large business (even those with several branches globally) where they concentrate on their products in order to gain profit (or for the non-profit organizations, in order to provide the services or be able to achieve their goal). The disadvantage of this type of organization is that it requires a more skilled management which may prove to be too

Law of property Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Law of property - Essay Example For instance, Section 1 of the law identifies legal estates and equitable interests, while section 37 of the law identifies the rights of a husband and wife in regard to acquisition of properties (Clarke and Kohler, 2005). This paper focuses on analyzing the right of ownership of a real property, between cohabiting couples. On this basis, it is important to distinguish between real property and personal property. The following are the differences that exists between real and personal properties (Ferguson, Buck and Wright, 2004) , Real estate properties can be owned in a limited capacity, while there is no way an individual can own a personal property in a limited capacity. Upon the death of the owner of real property, the next owner is the heir of the property. In regard to personal property, the statute of distribution guards the manner in which property passes on to another individual. In entering a contract that involves real property, it must be in writing. This is because these contracts are governed by section 29 of the Statute of Frauds. Contracts involving personal property do not need to be in writing. Parties to the contract will only write the contractual agreement if the case falls under section 17 of the Statute of Frauds. Some provisions of the Mortmain act govern the transfer of real property, for purposes of protecting immediate family members from disinheritance. However, the Mortmain act does not regulate any activities of personal property, only if Chattels are involved. It is not a requirement to register mortgages under real property; however, mortgages under personal property must be registered. Basing on this background, there is extensive argument in the United Kingdom on the relevance of various property laws in the country that protects cohabiting couples. For instance on January 23RD, Lord Justice Toulson allowed Pamela Curran to appeal a decision by a county court in 2010 of stripping her rights of sharing the properties she accumula ted with Brian Collins. According to the judge, the property laws that regulate the sharing of properties by cohabiting couples in the United Kingdom were unfair to cohabiting couples (Ward, 2013). According to this case, Miss Curran had a relationship with Brian Collins from 1970s, to 2010 when the relationship came to an end. Miss Curran worked together with Brian in his business, and they lived together in his home. However, after the relationship ended, Mr. Collins threw her out of his house, leaving her penniless. However, Lord Judge Toulson denoted that the county court just applied the law (Ward, 2013). In 2007, the Law Commission in England made a recommendation for the government to change the cohabiting laws in England, so that couples cohabiting will have the same status as married couples. According to the commission, the government should create laws that provide for financial relief to cohabiting couples when they separate. According to the commission, these laws shoul d reflect the contributions of the couples in the relationship (Halsbury, 2011). They further recommend that the couples, who should benefit from the laws, are those who have lived together for a minimum period of time, and have children together. According to their recommendations, couples might gain relief from these laws, if they have a written agreement on how they will share their properties once they separate (Toler, 2012). In 2008, the government of UK said it had no intention of

Operations Strategy Case Study of Factory

Operations Strategy Case Study of Factory Consultants Report |  An Operational Review  of  Ã¢â‚¬Å"The Factory† Contents (Jump to) 1. Executive Summary 2. Introduction 3. Strategic Review 4. Operational Issues 4.1 Processes 4.2 Plant/Equipment 4.3 Customers 4.4 Contractors/Supply Chain 4.5 Personnel 4.6 Environmental 4.7 Market/Competitors 5. Recommendations 6. Further Recommendations 7. Conclusion 8. Bibliography 9. Appendices 1.  Executive Summary This Report has identified the Pea Factory (the Factory)’s operations strategy as focusing on producing quality products, on time and satisfying the bespoke requirements of its customers. It achieves this through its quality controlled operational processes and procedures. Unfortunately these processes and procedures are not without problems, which are categorised under the following headings; processes, personnel, environmental, plant/machinery and market/competition. Problems encountered with quality issues can be addressed by carrying out a review of the whole process using qualitative and quantitative methods, applying benchmarking techniques and reviewing the whole system and applying total quality management methodology. The introduction of computerisation into the administrative process would eliminate human error and remove communication problems within the control room. It may also provide the opportunity of reducing costs (over a period), with the removal of personnel. The supply chain is a fundamental area for focus, as this is crucial for the survival of the business. Ensuring the supply chain is running smoothly is not only an extremely difficult thing to achieve and it can also be extremely costly. The management team need to focus on maintaining good relations with all suppliers, contractors and subcontractors. Many of the issues, such as lack of capacity, the requirement for additional equipment, increased market share etc could easily be improved with the acquisition of a competitor. This needs serious consideration, although it obviously requires investment by the parent company. In the meantime however, by implementing the recommendations in this report, the Factory can and will move closer to achieving sustainable competitive advantage and improving productivity, whilst reducing costs. 2.  Introduction This Report has been commissioned to provide an operational review of â€Å"The Pea Factory† (the Factory). The operations strategy will be identified together with an analytical review being carried out on the operational problems facing the Factory. Areas such as; how the entire process is controlled, the use and maintenance of the equipment, the focus on the customers’ needs and the use of quality control amongst other areas. The Report will also make recommendations for improvements to the operation, which will eliminate many of the problems highlighted. For instance, the introduction of a computerisation into the control room to monitor the process from start to finish would remove many of the timing and communication issues experienced. In undertaking the research for this report there were a number of other aspects of the operation that were identified, which would benefit from improvement and they are also contained within this report. 3.  Strategic Review In order to complete a strategic review of the Factory, it is necessary to first understand what is meant by the term operations strategy. According to Slack et al1], it is; â€Å"the total pattern of decisions and actions which set the role, objectives and activities of the operation so that they contribute to and support the organisation’s business strategy.† In order to develop an operations strategy, the operations manager has to consider a number of factors such as the needs of customers, as well as what the competition are doing. According to Porter(2); â€Å"an organisation should aim to achieve sustainable competitive advantage† The Factory achieves this by focusing on their customer requirements and by producing a quality product, in a timely fashion and at a reasonable cost. The ability to adapt and be flexible in its approach to its customer’s demands is an important feature in the organisation’s strategy. The Factory concentrates on its core competencies (that of the production of frozen vegetables) rather than diversifying into other products such as pizzas, pies and other products. Specialisation is key to the strategy. Whilst sufficient information is known about the Factory’s operations strategy, little is known about the Group’s strategy, and how the Factory’s operations strategy fits with it, other than to say that they are specialist food producers. 4.  Operational Issues A review of the processes and procedures of the Factory using a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis was undertaken (see Appendix 1 attached). This identified several operational problem areas, which have been grouped under the following headings; processes, plant/equipment, customers, contractors/supply chain, personnel, environmental and market/competitors. 4.1  Processes The operation’s process is coordinated from the control room. Unfortunately the control systems used are manual ones, with any change in process being amended on â€Å"the board†, this manual process could lead to errors, miscommunication and time delays. With the limited daily processing capacity, even if there was greater demand, the organisation would not be able to cope. Further, there is little room for error with the tight time line from picking to blanching. Quality issues with stock held in quarantine, and bulk peas needing to be run though the Sortex colour sorter, several times, results in wasted time and cost. 4.2  Plant/Equipment The extensive use of expensive machinery means that the organisation’s overheads are high with costly down time through failure (particularly unplanned). This has a detrimental effect of the Factory’s ability to achieve its targets and to fulfil orders, costing the organisation both time and money. 4.3  Customers Tailor made packaging for its customers may have a negative effect on the cost base. Satisfying the customer’s needs is an important aspect of the organisations strategy, but the question needs to be asked, as what cost? In order to answer this question, detailed financial information would be required for analysis. 4.4  Contractors/Supply Chain The use of so many contractors in various parts of the process does lead to problems such as communication, control and quality. Differing yields and size containers results in identification and storage difficulties. Using multiple storage contractors could result in missing stock and lack of quality control. This could result in down time and ultimately affect the quality of the product. 4.5  Personnel Fluctuating staff levels at different times of the year causes particular problems for the organisation. The need to train and re-train new staff results in delays and errors. Lack of communication causes costly delays. Such seasonal work may not be entirely satisfying thereby creating problems with lack of job satisfaction, and therefore lack of attention to detail. 4.6  Environmental Environmental issues are a major headache. The weather clearly impacts on the production of the pea crop. The varying weather patterns create uncertainty and scheduling issues. The crop rotation cycle also restricts the level of produce provided in any given region at any given time. This limiting factor can result in not enough of the product being available. 4.7  Market/Competitors An analysis of the competitive environment reveals that there is at least one privately owned competitor who is using aggressive pricing in the market. There is also the issue of the major retailers controlling the market. If one of the retailers decides to stop using the Factory then this will negatively impact the level of profitability and sustainability of the business. All of these issues need to be addressed immediately and the recommendations for doing so are highlighted in the next section. 5. Recommendations All operation managers experience difficulties and this is certainly the case at the Factory. In order to achieve operational effectiveness, Slack et al (3), agrees that there should be; â€Å"Smooth customer flow, a clean, well-designed environment, sufficient goods to satisfy demand, sufficient staff to serve customers, appropriate quality of service, a continuous stream of ideas to improve its operations†. What better way to measure a smooth customer flow than to introduce a computerised system which will track the stock, deliveries and all the processes from start to finish. This would require significant investment, but would have the benefit of eliminating human error and reducing overhead (by reducing the number of staff required to fulfil the function). Whilst this would affect staff morale, a programme of empowerment should be implemented combined with a reward scheme or performance measurement which would motivate the staff to achieve their individual and the organisation’s goals. A Total Quality Management (TQM) process should be implemented, the characteristics of which are; â€Å"meeting the needs and expectations of customers, covering all parts of the organisation, including every person in the organisation, examining all costs which are elated to quality, especially failure costs, getting things right first time, developing systems and procedures which support quality and improvement, developing a continuous process of improvement†.4] Using a process flow chart (similar to that shown in Appendix 2) would help to clearly identify what happens during the operations process and therefore show up the problem areas. Input-output analysis could be undertaken. Further analysis could be carried out using scatter diagrams, cause-effect diagrams and Pareto5] diagrams. The issue of the limited daily processing capacity could be improved with the purchase of additional equipment. Additional quality checks should be introduced into the process in order to eliminate time wasting through re-sorting the product, and the down time of equipment. This could be done through benchmarking or other continuous improvement mechanisms. According to Deming the PDCA6] (plan, do, check, act) cycle should be used, alternatively business process re-engineering which has been very popular recently. That is: â€Å"the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in the critical, contemporary measures of performance, such as cost, quality, service and speed.†7] Although this has been criticised as being the latest fad, as well as being an excuse for removing personnel and it could ultimately result in the loss of essential experience from the Factory. Additional preventative maintenance should be scheduled which would help resolve part of the issue of the unplanned downtime. The employment of an additional maintenance person would also speed up the process. The issue of bespoke packaging of the product for the customer should be debated within [2]the management team. If uniform packaging is introduced, this could result in a reduction in costs. However this needs to be [3]carefully weighed up against the customer needs and ultimately deciding not to purchase from the Factory. A customer quality survey could be conducted in order to ascertain the possible effect of this suggestion. The supply chain is also a critical area for the Factory to keep tight control on. According to Waller8]; â€Å"The supply chain is a complex network of suppliers, manufacturers and distributors whose ultimate objective is to provide goods and services to the client in a timely manner. The reliability of this supply chain depends on all the people in the network, plus the reliability of all the equipment employed including transportation vehicles, sophisticated machines and computer based information systems.† The use of contractors is a major issue that needs to be addressed. Formal contracts should be drawn up setting out the conditions of the relationship (if it has not already been done); with penalties for missing certain key targets being made. Consideration should be given to the Factory acquiring its own transportation, storage and packaging facilities. By focusing on the JIT (just-in-time) approach within the operation, it may further improve and simplify matters, as, according to Slack et al9]; â€Å"JIT is a disciplined approach to improving overall productivity and eliminating waste. It provides for the cost effective production and delivery of only the necessary quantity of parts at the right quality, at the right time and place, while using a minimum amount of facilities, equipment, materials and human resources. JIT is dependent on the balance between the supplier’s flexibility and the user’s flexibility.† The need to keep a close eye on inventory is essential for the Factory, and to keep it as low as possible, thereby freeing up essential funds for other areas of the business. The Factory needs to address all of these issues as a matter of urgency. Some of the recommendations identified here would involve capital investment. Therefore, further analysis would need to be undertaken once the necessary financial information is available, in order to present a robust business case to the parent company. The Factory needs to; â€Å"secure essential increases in productivity (which) requires the combined efforts of all functions. The increased use of technology has resulted in maintenance making a major contribution to the effective efforts in most business†1]0) In addition to the problem areas identified above, there are other areas that could be improved in the future, and these are mentioned in the following section. 6.  Further Recommendations Purchasing is an area that is significant to the business, as Slack et al1]1)suggests: â€Å"purchasing at the right time and in the right quantity can impact on the operations performance in terms of delivery, speed, delivery reliability and flexibility.† A separate review of the purchasing process and department should be initiated at some stage. Undertaking a financial review may also identify further improvements or reductions within the business (environmental, taxes, transportation and fuel costs). Using forecasting tools such as qualitative and quantitative methods to more accurately predict risks, time horizons, and economic indicators could also identify further areas to improve. Other problem areas that may be addressed include the environmental influences on the Factory. It should be possible to produce product all year using the poly-urethane tunnels that are seen in the countryside. The use of such tunnels would extend the growing period and lifecycle and allow pea production to take place all year, without the peaks and troughs that are currently happening. Further, if the organisation wanted full control of its entire process, then perhaps it should consider the acquisition of land to produce the product itself. Finally, in terms of the competition, we already know that one competitor is privately owned. In order to achieve transformational growth, rather than organic growth and consequently achieve many of the objectives identified above, the organisation should acquire this competitor. There would, of course, be issues with the merger of another organisation into its current business, but the increase in market share, the ability to produce more products and the access to additional equipment that this would bring, would seem to be an obvious answer to many of the problems. A thorough business case would have to be submitted to the parent company to qualify and quantify this proposal. 7.  Conclusion The operations strategy of the Factory is aimed at producing quality goods, on time and to their customer’s exacting requirements. This is achieved at the Factory, but at what cost? A thorough review of the Factory has revealed a number of areas that can be improved. Areas such as by identifying the process through the use of flow charts, then any weaknesses can be readily identified. The three quality checks that are currently undertaken is insufficient to prevent quality issues occurring, therefore additional checks should be implemented. Computerising the operations process would eliminate communication problems and speed up the process together with reducing costs. Focusing on JIT and TQM would enhance the process further. Not forgetting staff morale. Their input is critical in ensuring the process runs smoothly, whether it is the manual or computerised method. Including reward schemes and introducing empowerment is a means of involving the staff in the process and in achieving the goals and objectives of the organisation. If the parent company is willing to invest further, then transformational growth can be achieved by acquiring a competitor, land, a haulage company and by producing its own packaging. In order for the parent company to consider this, a business case would need to be produced, justifying the recommendation. The Factory has a great number of strengths, not least of which is its; location, quality product and specialist knowledge, however, by addressing its operational weaknesses and threats, it is possible to achieve sustainable competitive advantage and to continue to achieve its operational strategy, goals and objectives. 8.  Bibliography Cheng TCE, Podolsky S (1993) Just in Time Manufacturing, Chapman Hall (Pages 21 – 175) Fitzsimmons JA, Sullivan RS (1982) Service Operations Management: McGraw Hill (Pages 7 – 25) Hill, Terry. (2002) Operations Management Strategic Context and Analysis, Basingstoke: Palgrave (pages 184-547) Johnston, R. Clark, G. (2001) Service Operations Management, Harlow: FT/Prentice Hall (pages 25 73) Johnston R, Chambers S, Harland C, Hanson A, Slack N (1997) Cases in Operations Management: Financial Times, Pitman Publishing 2nd Ed (Pages 5 – 503) Lowson, R. (2002) Strategic Operations Management The New Competitive Advantage: London, Routledge (Pages 5 158) Muhlemann, A. Oakland, J Lockyer, K. (1992) Production and Operations Management, 6th Ed, Harlow: FT/Prentice Hall (Pages 63-150) Slack, N. Chambers, S. Johnston, R. (2004) Operations Management, Ed 4, Harlow, Pearson Education (pages 5 798) Sutherland, J. Canwell, D. (2004) Key Concepts in Operations Management, Basingstoke: Palgrave (Pages 19 117) Taylor, D. Brunt, D. (2001) Manufacturing Operations and Supply Chain Management, London: Thomson Learning (Pages 5 37) Waller, D.L. (2003), Operations Management: a supply chain approach, London, Thomson Learning (pages 88 595) Wild, R (2002) Operations Management, London: Continuum (Pages 17 187) www.cips.org [emailprotected] Appendices Appendix 1 – SWOT Analysis Appendix 2 – Flow Chart of the Factory Pea Production Process [1]Slack N, Chambers S, Johnston R (2004) Operations Management Ed 4, Harlow Pearson Education p77 Michael Porter from Lowson R (2002) Strategic Operations Management The New Competitive Advantage, London, Routledge, page 29 [4]4,5, 6, 7 From Slack et al p695-696 [5] [6] [7] [2] [3] [8] Deming from Wild, Operations Management p 636 [9] Slack et al p548 [1]10 Hill T, (2002) operations Management – Strategic Context and Analysis, Basingstoke, Palgrave p184 [1]11 Slack et al p478

How Japan Committed Crimes Against Humanity in Pursuit of Self-Interest

Japan was one of the major powers of Axis Powers during the World War II. From 1937 to 1945, Japan started a series of wars, and resulted in millions of casualties along the way. Japanese battlefield consists of three parts: China, Pacific and Southeastern Asia. Japanese started these wars because they wanted to gain resources and war advantages for their own country. Japan committed crimes against humanity during their wars, which means they neglected human dignity and degraded human value by humiliation. During the Sino-Japanese War, the Pearl Harbor Attack and wars in Southeastern Asia, Japan, in pursuit of self-interest, violated human rights and committed crimes against humanity. Japan's attacking China in 1937 is a crime against humanity. On July 7, 1937, Japan attacked Beijing using a missing soldier as an excuse, without no official declaration to war against China. On December 13, 1937, Japan started a series of massacre in Nanking, which resulted in a casualty of 300,000. During the three-month-long massacre, Japanese army kill for pure fun, and their crime include brutal rape of innocent women, beheading civilians as competition, and murder newborn babies. Unit 731 of Japanese army used Chinese people as human test subjects to develop chemical weapon to win the war. They performed amputation and poison gas test on innocent Chinese civilians. When the war reached stalemate, and Japanese troops suffered from hunger, they kill war prisoners and eat the bodies. Japanese officers forced Chinese women to be "comfort lady" for the troops. While the name sounded great, reality was that these "comfort ladies" ended up raped by Japanese soldiers over and ov er again until death. (Yoshimi 146) These were all crime against h... ...self-interest contradicts humanity and one fails to protect the latter, then it is the unforgivable crime against humanity, and should be punished. Works Cited "Unmasking Horror" Nicholas D. Kristof (March 17, 1995) New York Times. A special report.; Japan Confronting Gruesome War Atrocity Keenan, Joseph Berry and Brown, Brendan Francis, Crimes against International Law, Public Affairs Press, Washington, 1950. Secondary sources: Yoshiaki Yoshimi, 2001–02, Comfort Women: Sexual Slavery in the Japanese Military during World War II. Columbia University Press. Lord Russell of Liverpool (Edward Russell), The Knights of Bushido, a short history of Japanese War Crimes, Greenhill books, 2002 Willmott, Hedley P., and Michael Barrett. "World War II (Causes)." World at War: Understanding Conflict and Society. ABC-CLIO, 2014. Web. 18 May 2014.

Exercise and Cardiovascular Fitness

Exercise and cardiovascular fitnessAdam Hunt Word Count: 624 Most types of exercise are practiced in order to utilize the body's core functions and to better those bodily functions. Cardiovascular exercise is a popular type of exercise which is used to increase the heart's functions and the effectiveness of said functions. One main type of exercise is resistance exercise, which increases strength and mass, bone strength, and the body's metabolism. By practicing this cardiovascular exercise, you increase your heart's strength, making your heart more fit. With isometric exercise, another exercise utilizing your muscle's strength development, your muscles contract, but the fibers maintain a consistent length. This increases your heart's muscle's dynamic action, increasing the strength of your heart and, like resistance exercise, makes your heart more fit. There are also many other exercise types that help your heart gain strength to get your blood flowing. Because your heart is another muscle, exercising it frequently keeps it fit, like any other muscle. Regular exercise keeps your body in a healthy condition, and by keeping your body healthy, one can be defended from disease far more than an out of shape body. With a healthy diet, and regular exercise, you can maintain a good healthy heart and prevent heart disease. Many studies show that making improvements with your physical fitness will lower your risk of developing illness. Both aerobic and anaerobic exercises improves cardiovascular efficiency, strength and endurance, increases energy and metabolism, relieves stress, and increases flexibility. Those who regularly exercise have lower heart rates and have only about a third of the aerobic decline as those who don't exercise at all. Individuals who regularly practice aerobic workouts have been proven to increase lung capacity up to seventy six percent. Aerobic exercise is very effective in increasing lung capacity, decreasing LDL cholesterol levels, improving tamina and providing body fat burning. By exercising frequently, one can increase your health, and prevent health problems. These problems include developing heart disease, a large increase in blood pressure, increasing or development of high cholesterol, an increased risk of developing colon cancer and breast cancer, increasing risk of becoming diabetic, reaching an unhealthy body weight, weaker muscles, bones and joints, increase of depression and anxiety, reduction in psychological wellness, and poor performance in work, recreation and sports. However, with aerobic exercise and strength training, one can expect an improvement in cardiovascular function, increased cardiac output, an increase in stroke volume, more blood volume and the ability to carry oxygen in the blood, a less strenuous workload on the heart, an increased blood supply to muscles and ability to use oxygen, a much lower heart rate and blood pressure, larger likelihood for lactic acid accumulation, a much lower resting systolic and diastolic blood pressure with individuals suffering from high blood pressure, more HDL cholesterol which is better for the body, decreased blood triglycerides, reduced body fat and improved weight control, and finally an improved glucose tolerance and reduced insulin resistance. With strength training, the body has an increase in muscular strength as well as tendon and ligaments, it also has the potential to improve the range of motion in your joints and decrease blood pressure. Finally, strength training is proven to have great potential to improve strength, balance and the functional ability in most older adults, reducing the risk of heart problems and other health complications. With so many factors pointing towards aerobic exercise as a means of building a healthier heart and maintaining a better lifestyle, it's obvious that exercise is a main way to achieve cardiovascular fitness and to have a healthier heart. By utilizing strength training and other types of exercise, one can reduce their risk of deadly disease and heart complications, and maintain a fit body and improved functionality.

Life as a Bug essays

Life as a Bug essays In Franz Kafkas fanciful novel The Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning to find that he as been transformed into a beetle. As the story progresses, we can see that Gregors life as a beetle is not all that different from Gregors life while in human form. Because of this we have to ask ourselves Does Gregor Samsa qualify as a human being? I believe that Gregor does not qualify as a human being and had stopped being truly human long before his metamorphosis. Writers and philosophers throughout history have pondered on what it means to be human. One of the most famous, Rn Descartes, declared Cogito, ergo sum I think therefore I am. But does Gregor meet this criterion; does he think? From the very beginning of the story Gregor emits a certain perpetual calm, his emotions never straying from a composed tranquility. Instead of being astonished or troubled by his transformation, Gregor wants to sleep again for a while and forget all this stupidity (Kafka p.201), as though suddenly turning into a bug doesnt disturb him at all. He only begins to worry when he realizes he is late for work. Gregor truly hates his job, even admitting that it is degrading (Kafka p.202), yet he stays in his miserable position in order to support his whole family and to get them out of debt. Each month Gregor willingly hands over his paycheque to the waiting hands of his family, the action accompanied by no remarkable effusiveness, (Kafka p.219) as though the famil y expects and even demands Gregors selflessness. The Samsas eat leisurely breakfasts and take naps in the afternoon while their son is out working an extremely stressful job to support them, instead of a family of his own. In fact Gregor has no social life, staying alone in his room every evening. His only companion is a framed picture of a beautiful woman, and he values it so much...

The eNotes Blog Changes Are Afoot for theSAT

Changes Are Afoot for theSAT Yesterday it was announced that the SAT would be revising its test for the second time in just over a decade. To help you prepare for the next version of this popular standardized test, find here an outline of the changes plus other important announcements from The College Board that will impact future college admissions. What will the new SAT look like? The new SAT, to be released in 2016, will feature four significant changes: The SAT essay, introduced in 2005, will become an optional segment of the exam SAT scoring, also changed in 2005, will return from the 2400- to the 1600-point system Points will no longer be deducted for incorrect answers (currently students lose 1/4 of a point for each wrong answer) And lastly, SAT vocabulary will become a thing of the past, as complete-the-sentence sections of the exam are replaced by ones that test students critical reading of a passage. Why make these changes? One thought that struck me when I read over these changes was that the SAT is increasingly becoming more like the ACT. The criteria are familiar: no deduction of points for incorrect answers, no required essay, and a significant critical reading section are all key points of the ACT that many students over the past decade have recognized as advantages to taking it over the SAT. So much so that gone are the days that the SAT is the go-to test; when I was a high school junior, nobody ever mentioned the ACT, but when I became a test-prep tutor five years later it was the exam 90% of my students elected to take. Why? When they were evaluated at the start of our course, the overwhelming majority performed better on the ACT than the SAT. It gave them a step-up in achieving a higher ranking, and as students favor of the test increased, colleges willingness to accept it on equal terms with the SAT followed suit. For whatever reason, be it an attempt to curry more favor (and cash) or a genuine recognition of a need to assess students more fairly, the SAT is moving towards a format more similar to the ACT. What do these changes mean for students? When I tutored students for the SAT, a significant focus of our preparation was on strategy. To perform well, one has to form a plan of attack, making a practical decision from the outset on how many questions would need to be answered to achieve the desired score. Thats because every wrong answer a student might give could decrease his or her overall score, thanks to the quarter-point deduction for an incorrect choice. Except for the cases where students strove for a perfect score, it was more advantageous to leave x number of questions blank. Now, however, the idea of SAT strategy will be tossed by the wayside. Is this good or bad? Perhaps we should simply say it assesses a different skill. The SAT Reasoning Test, to go by its full name, was designed to test a students ability to reason and evaluate. In reality, though, this has meant that in many cases the SAT measures little more than how well a student takes the SAT. If it moves closer towards assessing students mathematical and verbal abilities, I say thats a very good thing. New SAT scoring will make the guessing game a thing of the past Another prime focus of my SAT tutoring sessions was on SAT vocabulary. For those of you who havent taken the SAT in a while, the dreaded a:b as c:__ questions were thankfully removed from the test some time ago. That question type had students do nothing more than memorize as many SAT words as they could, and if you think punctilious and occlusion stayed in their minds past the big exam day, youd be wrong. But vocabulary continued to be a part of the exams Critical Reading section, only in the form of complete-the-sentence questions. This format is drastically different, as blank spaces are surrounded by context clues that smart testers look for when determining a definition. Learning how to look for these clues is the secret to scoring well on a vocabulary test, much more than studying a dictionary. Equally helpful is the study of Greek and Latin root words, as shown below. Now, I have to tell you: this will not change on the 2016 version of the SAT.  Yes, complete-the-sentence questions will be removed, but that doesnt mean vocabulary wont still be a factor in testing. When the Critical Reading section is adapted to be very similar to the ACTs (containing multiple passages and accompanying multiple choice questions that assess ones understanding of those passages) you can be sure that test-makers will still look to assess your ability to determine the definition of a word. On the ACT these questions are called Vocabulary-in-Context questions, and look a little something like this: In line 38, the word  soft means?                                                                           A. Smooth                                                                           B. Friendly                                                                           C. Quiet                                                                           D. Angry Without looking at the word soft in context, the correct choice could be A or C. The true test is of a students ability to look back at the passage and determine the correct connotation of the word. My prediction is that SAT vocabulary will move even more in this direction than it has in the past. That said, I still believe SAT novels like this one  are a good way to expose students to words they might encounter on any standardized test. Thats because half the challenge is overcoming the intimidation that an unfamiliar, lengthy word presents to the test-taker. Speaking of the Critical Reading section, the passages within it will follow a different focus than before, with a greater emphasis on real-world texts. Once again, the SAT will closely align itself with the ACT: the reading section will enable students to analyze a wide range of sources, including literature and literary non-fiction, science, history and social studies (the ACTs reading section contains 4 passages, in Prose Fiction, Social Sciences, Humanities, and Natural Science). The good thing about the SAT is that source documents will in places originate from some well-known places: Each exam will include a passage drawn from the Founding Documents of America or the Great Global Conversation they inspire - texts like the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers and Letter from a Birmingham Jail by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. That means students have plenty of opportunities to study familiar texts beforehand. In fact, has study guides and annotated etexts of those very documents to help students gain understanding prior to taking their exams: Letter from Birmingham Jail study guide The Federalist Papers study guide Declaration of Independence questions and answers and more Social Sciences and History eTexts Finally, the subject of the SAT essay being dropped. Lets tackle this monster on its own To take or not to take the SAT essay? Hallelujah!  young freshman across the country will exclaim, on hearing the 25-minute essay portion of the SAT is no longer a requirement. Poor little babies, they think theyve been given a free pass. Sadly, that isnt the case. Yes the essay is now  optional, but dont think that means colleges wont be expecting you to take it. The essay portion of the ACT is optional, too, but I made every student of mine take it. Why? For one, its not as hard as you make it out to be; no test grader expects a polished final draft in such a short time span, and a little practice goes a long way in improving your score. Secondly, and simply, taking the essay looks better than not taking the essay. Believe it or not, colleges praise attempts just as much as achievements. So, my advice is to always take the essay on either standardized test.  Just make sure you go into it having practiced ahead of time. To help you, here are our 8 steps to writing a good essay for the SAT.  Once youve completed those, submit your essay to our Essay Lab Homework Help section  for a real-life teacher to grade and provide feedback on. One more note on the SAT essay: the above is in regards to the essay portion of the exam that is apart from the rest of the test. However, the future Critical Reading section will also include a short essay portion, the essay analyzing a source.  Therefore, one SAT essay will continue to be a requirement, though this CR essay will evaluate how well students analyze evidence and explain how an author builds an argument to persuade an audience and will greatly differ from the prompts given in the Writing section. Whether you take both essays or just one, you should still prepare for some hand cramping. What other changes to the SAT  will impact students? Free test-prep from The College Board and Khan Academy What this country needs is not more tests, but more opportunities, said Coleman. The real news today is not just the redesigned SAT, but the College Boards renewed commitment to delivering opportunity. David Coleman, College Board President, quoted in its press release In accordance with this promise, Coleman announced that free test-prep will be provided to students the world over, thanks to a partnership with Khan Academy. The material will be designed by both partners together and launched in the spring of 2015. Financial aid to students in need Qualifying students who take the SAT will receive four fee waivers to apply to college. It doesnt appear from the press release that The College Board will offer the actual test for free to these students, but offering them the expensive opportunity to apply to their desired colleges will make a drastic impact on many students lives. Bringing test-prep into the classroom? The press release is vague on these details, but this statement seems to indicate that classwork may be influenced to prepare students for standardized testing: Moving forward, the College Board will also support the practice of excellent work in classrooms by working with teachers and college faculty to design course frameworks and modules for use in grades 6–12. A writing prize modeled after the Pulitzer From edSurge: While writing might be taking a back seat on the SAT, College Board revealed plans to create a writing competition, modeled after the Pulitzer Prize. The prize will be awarded for analytical writing pieces. Winners will be published in  The Atlantic. More details have yet to be released. There you have it: an outline of the biggest changes to the SAT. For more details on these adjustments, you can find the official press release from The College Board here. And as always, our educators are standing by to deliver any test-prep help you may need with the current SAT and ACT. Good luck to everyone taking the SAT in just a couple of days! And dont forget the deadline to register for the next ACT is tomorrow.

Indian New Deal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Indian New Deal - Essay Example Although he was sympathetic to Indians, he depicted them in a stereotypical manner. Collier, who has made the Indians' cause his own, determined to change all that. He proposed a bill-the Wheeler-Howard bill drafted by the Office of Indian Affairs and the Office of the Solicitor of the Interior Department-which was designed to rehabilitate the Indians and give them land settlement. When Collier took office the records of the Indian Bureau showed that the Indian lands had shrunk from 113,000,000 acres in 1887, when the land-allotment law was passed, to 47,000,000 acres (Nichols 133). Tribal funds had been reduced from $500,000,000 to $12,000,000, and 93 percent of tribal income was being used for bureau maintenance. Politicians were in complete control; graft was said to be wholesale. Federal money was being wasted on boarding-schools, which took children from their parents and tried to make white children of them, and a national scandal was exposed at the asylum for Indians at Canton, South Dakota. Tribal and social customs were being suppressed. Collier put the bo

Process-Analysis Essay on How to Ask Someone Out

Process-Analysis on How to Ask Someone Out - Essay Example In order to prepare to ask someone out, it is important to get to know that person a bit better first, perform random acts of kindness for them, and gauge their opinion of you before you ask them out.The first step in asking someone out is to get to know them beforehand. The reason for this is simple—you will be able to see what their personality is like and also you can judge whether he or she would be a waste of your time or not. The purpose of learning more about their personality is to that you can figure out if the other person will be compatible with you. Too many people take the plunge without realizing that it would never work out due to a personality clash. From this point, you can decide whether to push ahead with your plans or not.The second step to ask someone out is to be noticed by them. There is no point in asking someone out if they don't really know who you are because they will likely say no. Try to get their attention by performing random acts of kindness fo r them, but don't go overboard because otherwise, it will look like you are trying too hard. Getting the right balance is crucial because this will either help them to catch your attention or it will turn them right off you.The final step of the process to ask someone out is to figure out if there is a chance for a connection or not. This can only be done once all the other steps have been completed because there will be moments when you can see what a potential relationship will look like. If you feel that there is a high chance of receiving a successful response, then go ahead and ask your crush out. If, however, you don't feel like you will receive a positive response then either go back to one of the previous steps and try again or simply move on from that person.