Hollywood & Beyond - End of Year Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Hollywood & Beyond - End of Year - Essay Example The society was characterized by mass suburbanization and transition to consumerism and capitalism as the key directions of development. The country’s government was â€Å"deeply determined to prolong and enbance the economic recovery brought on by the war, lest the crippling depression of the 1930s return » (Cohen, 2004, p.236). Military production would be restored to a certain extent as the Cold War was announced between the two superpowers that emerged after the WWII – the Soviet Union and the United States. However, mass consumer market played a great role from then on, and economic growth of the U.S. depended much on mass consumer market. The new economic policy brought prosperity to most citizens and formed the idea of American dream as well as raised expectations of American citizens. At the same time, there still were numerous social issues undermining stability of the society: for instance, struggles to eliminate discrimination in levels like gender and race (for instance, African Americans made their efforts to challenge racial segregation on the ocurt level) and backlashes they led to. Along with the upsurge of welfare and democratization; the postwar epoch in the United States incorporated such features as dramatic growth of suburban areas; power and priority transition from the cities of upper Midwest and Northwest as well as old industrial states to the areas of West and South; and the idea of military and economic superiority of America as a guarantor of global peace and order. In the movies of early 1970s, postwar era in America was depicted in a rather nonobjective way – the movies such as American Graffiti shows it as a period of charm, Cadillacs and tranquility. However, the real image differs from what is seen in these movies: American society in the years following the World War II was characterized by dynamic changes, anxiety and emergence of revolutionary

A Problem Critical to the Education in the 21st Century Essay Example for Free

A Problem Critical to the Education in the 21st Century Essay In the 21st century I believe that inequitable opportunity is the most critical education problem. Inequitable opportunity impacts people of different racial backgrounds in various ways. It limits the knowledge a student receives, the rate at which they learn, funds available to the school, the students ability to succeed in the workforce upon graduating, it even affects the knowledge or lack of knowledge a student learns at home. Though this may affect the teaching staff in ways, minorities from a lower income family are the ones impacted most. These students often fail because they are not prepared for success. Students from a lower social class have fewer resources available to them; therefore they do not make it to the top. Schools in poverty stricken areas receive less funding, and this severely impacts the students. The school is unable to provide students with up to date technology, and the resources needed to compete with their peers from more privileged backgrounds. The school will not be able to provide ESL classes for Latino students. Students will more than likely drop out; the ones who actually manage to graduate will probably be less qualified to perform essential job duties. These students will not be as knowledgeable because they may be using outdated texts, and they are not able to learn how to fully utilize technology needed to survive in today’s workforce. Schools that are in a low income neighborhood do not have modern buildings, the school buildings are very out dated. The air conditioning and heating may not be working properly creating a very uncomfortable learning environment. This may discourage students from wanting to go to school and it definitely does not attract quality faculty. Another issue that impacts the student severely is the lack of parent participation in the education process. This is crucial to the development of the child from a very early age; it is imperative that a parent be involved in preparing their child for life, as well as reinforcing things learned at school. Education starts at home and moves to the public arena where social interaction, behavior skills and knowledge are enhanced. Poor parent participation may be the result of work schedules, transportation issues, language barriers, or suitable clothing. Once again children from low- income families suffer the most. Both parents may have to work just to pay the bills, and in some situations there is just one parent, forcing some students to help care of siblings at after school when they should be focusing on homework or studying. As the child ages less attention will be paid to the individual as class size increases, the number of teachers increase with diverse classes, and overall s ize of the school grows. At this point the child will need extra help completing assignments and requiring encouragement to continue the education process consistently and for the duration through some college. The parent is not exempt from the learning process because of inadequacy or exempt because of poor education. As briefly mentioned earlier, in this setting the teaching staff is likely to be under qualified, once again this impacts the student. By the teaching staff not being qualified the type of skill the students will learn will not be up to par. Classroom Managers should also be aware of how they are engaging their students. They should have high expectations of all of their students. There seems to be a lot of racial stereotyping in minority communities. Teachers should know that all Asian students aren’t smart and that all African American students inferior learners. If teachers establish a high expectation of learning from all of their students and expect all of their students to do well then those expectations will be seen by the student. Students are then able to work at their highest potential and are not limited; a teacher should believe that all students are capable of learning at a higher level. The teacher of the 21st Century need to be more culturally responsible and they need to be more aware of what is going on in the classroom. Educators need to be trained in a way that is going to be more beneficial to the educational process as a whole. For example if a teacher has a classroom where the majority of the students are not being successful then that teacher and/ or teaching techniques should be reevaluated. The classroom is not a place where a student is just given work to perform and the teacher is detached, the classroom of the 21st century needs to be an interactive classroom where teachers and students comes together to share ideas, and engage each other in the learning process. Unless a Teacher can step out of the conventional box and begin to assess themselves and what they actually bring to the classroom, it will not evolve. Teachers should interact with students on a more personal level in the classroom and get to know their students as individuals; some children can get lost in the classroom for a number of reasons; including personal problems at home, and learning disabilities. By being involved more with the student’s teachers are better to adapt to a student that is having problems because they are unable to read well, or a student that is simply having problems seeing the board. Without establishing some type of a relationship with the children it is very hard for a teacher to recognize the problems students are having and how to effectively deal with these problems. Just because a student is unable to keep up with fashion, technology receives free lunch does not mean that this student does not have the ability or the will to learn. There are successful people that grew up in poverty, and have gained success through hard work and education. Everyone should have the same opportunity to receive quality education. Students are taught that education is the key to success, so how can one succeed when the education is not equal to their peers, the ones they will be competing against for their spot in the future. Education is the poor man’s dream to a better life. With minorities and Latinos making up a large amount of students in school the effects of inequitable opportunities has a larger impact on them. Students who come from an inferior social-economic level are just as motivated as students who come from a higher social class. You have Latinos who hardly speak English and are attending schools that are incapable of accommodating them; therefore they do not earn a degree and are forced to take a low paying job. â€Å"Status† may have an impact on a student in a social environment, but in the educational system this should not be a factor. The students from a lower social class are being prepared for failure, while the students from a higher social class are being prepared for success. In the 21st century I believe that inequitable opportunity is the most critical education problem. Recognizing the problem is the first step, however we as a society need to find solution on how to better level the playing field in the educational comm unity in order to make schools work for everyone. One thing we can to is to not only encourage proper funding for schools in low income areas but to also make sure that this funding get appropriated to do what is needed in order to make sure that the children have a proper learning environment. Bills and referendums continue to be passed in education s in order to make sure that schools are up to par but sometimes this money does not get to the prosper schools. Some schools get new buildings and a/c systems while other schools just get paint. We need to come together to demand to our elected officials that something be done about the conditions of certain schools. We need to make sure that these school schools have the materials that they need in order for them to produce successful students. Books need to be provided to every student not only in class but also at home as a reference for homework and studying. Computers need to be provided in these schools so that the students don’t fall behind on technology and become inferior to their peers. We elect these officials and we need to demand that they begin to look out for the betterment of our schools. We should go online and see how they are voting on the issues that affect us. If they are not pushing the type of educational reform that we need in our communities and in our school then we need to elect someone who will. Parents need to become more involved in their students learning. We must understand that a lot of parents are working, and most low income households are being led by a single parent; we need to find a way to get these parents involved to help their children so that they don’t continue to fall behind. Even if it’s just educating them on the process of following up with their elected officials and making sure they vote and their vote counted and is heard. Opening up the schools for parent participation and PTO and PTA meeting on a weekend rather than on a school night would make it easier for parents to become more involved. Also, schools could try social networking, and sending up dates to parents Facebook or Twitter pages to keep them up on what’s going on in the schools. This is a new era and the American household has changed and the educational sytem needs to keep up in order to keep these parents involved and up to date on what’s going in their child’s school. Teacher also need to be developed in the classroom and become more responsible for what is going on and have high expectations for all of their students. This will ensure that all student as are working to their best ability to learn. This can be done by giving existing teachers additional training and giving new teachers the training they need to be successful in the 21st century classroom.

Essay example --

Problem Analysis Is this a good thing one may ask, the answer is sometimes no. Connecting online to friends is one thing but when you bring work into it, it can become complicated. Some of the online websites such as Facebook and Twitter can be personal accounts as well. It is really up to the person if they want to mix personal and professional on these websites. Participation in such networks results in a potential collision of professional and personal worlds that may open up opportunities as well as create challenges for employees as they strive to establish and maintain respect and liking in the eyes of their professional contacts (Ashforth, Kreiner, & Fugate, 2000; Kossek, Noe, & DeMarr, 1999; Phillips, Rothbard, & Dumas, 2009). When interacting in online social networks, employees move from offline interactions, where disclosure and feedback are tailored within particular conversations and guided by clear physical cues (Goffman, 1956), to interactions characterized by open disclosure to broad audiences, some of which are not readily visible (Boyd, 2007; Donath & Boyd, 2004; Ryan, 2008).So, a problem of one’s personal and professional accounts can occur more often than one may think. When this happens it is definitely a new opportunity and challenge for one to take on. If one does bump into a problem or get oneself into a situation online involving coworkers, it is good to try and set some boundaries for oneself online. Although, little is known about how employees manage the boundary between their professional and personal identities in online social networks and what this means for their professional relationships. Social networks are defined as â€Å"individuals (or organizations) which are tied b y one or more specific types... ...entities online are quickly becoming critical skills that most employees and managers need to master. Employees are faced with a menu of different boundary management options, which may have positive or negative consequences for the way they are regarded by professional contacts and which entail varying degrees of risk, opportunity, and difficulty (Ollier-Malaterre 2013). As the vast amount of social communication that already occurs in cyberspace continues to grow, employees will certainly encounter collisions of their professional and personal identities online. It is up to that person to decide how they will handle the collisions and what boundaries they should set up for themselves as employees and their companies. It is also up to oneself to decide what boundaries they should put up for all of their social networking sites, for both personal and professional.

Freight Market Equilibrium Theory :: essays research papers fc

Freight Market Equilibrium Theory An amazing assortment of goods are moved over the worlds ocean trade routes. Of necessity, the carriers charge for the service they render. These charges vary almost as widely as do the cargoes, for they mirror both the shipowner’s costs and the special conditions prevailing on the trade routes traversed by the ships. Ocean freight rates may be described as the prices charged for the services of water carriers. Each ship operator develops it’s own rates, usually without consultation with the shippers. The charges reflect the cost of providing the carriage, the value of this service to the owner of the goods, the ability of the merchandise to support the expense of transportation, and economic conditions in general. Freight rates truly reflect the working of the laws of supply and demand. In tramp shipping, particularly, it is possible to observe how these factors influence the rise or fall of freight rates from day to day and from cargo to cargo. Tramp ships transport, in shipload (or â€Å"full cargo†) lots, commodities which, like coal, grain, ore, and phosphate rock, can be moved in bulk. The fact that usually only one shipper and one commodity are involved simplifies the establishment of a freight rate for this particular movement. To the capital charges of ownership and the expense of administration and overhead must be added the cost of running the ship, handling the cargo, and paying port fees and harbor dues. Against this total is set the number of tons to be hauled, and the resultant figure is what the tramp must charge, per ton of cargo loaded, to break even on the contemplated voyage. If competitive conditions permit, a margin for profit will form part of the quoted rate. If however the prevailing economic climate is unfavorable, the owner has the privilege of retiring the ship to a quit backwater, there to wait until the financial skies are brighter. The tramp operator does not depend upon the longterm goodwill of the shippers, but is free to accept those offers which appear profitable at the moment. When adversity threatens, those charters are accepted which minimize anticipated losses. If there is a choice, the cost of temporary lay-up is contrasted with the loss which continued operation might produce, and the less expensive alternative is selected in a bow to the inevitable made with whatever grace that can be mustered.

A Picture is Worth a thousand…Parts?

It is presumed that adults can not recognize a face in parts as easily as the complete facial structure.   It is presumed to be as such because adults recognize the features of an individual’s face more easily than the context of the facial patterns in isolation (762).This gestalt-like facial processing theoretically begins in infancy and has a developmental milestone that is disrupted if something delays or obliterates this phenomenon.   On television shows and in magazines I recall partial viewings of celebrities’ faces and I almost never got it right.   Such is the finding of Young et al in 1987 study in which adults found it difficult to recognize the top half of a celebrities’ face when it was aligned   with bottom half of a different face (762).   Some theorists believe there is an intimate ability to recognize faces.   However, this research study invalidates that theory.   A controlled experiment was done with patients that were born with or suffered from visual impairments at infancy.These participants were all less than seven months when visual acuity was affected.   Vision was later corrected and the experiment for holistic facial identification had commenced (765).To test for the gestalt-like effect, participants were asked to move a joystick forward if the top halves were the same and back if the top halves were different.   Composites were created by splitting face images horizontally across the middle of the nose, and then recombining the faces using the top and bottom halves of different individuals.   In the aligned position, the top and bottom were properly aligned.In the misaligned condition the top half was shifted horizontally to the left (764).   The results were astounding.   The group that had visual imperfections at infancy actually performed better than their control counterparts on same trials when faces were aligned (766).This group was also more accurate on different trials than on same t rials and did not vary with alignment (766).   This supports the theory that this ability is not innate.   Holistic face processing or a composite face effect was not a sustained ability of those with visual impairments at a critical time period.   Such patients fail to integrate facial features into a Gestalt (767).This experiment shows that early visual input is very critical for the normal development of facial processing.   It also raises the question of whether early vision is necessary to preserve the neural substrate that would allow training to induce the later development of holistic processing of non-face objects (767),   I find it rather interesting and this bizarre phenomenon begs the question of when the critical time period begins and ends.The article states that by age six, adult-like processing takes place.   It does not state if visual perception is disrupted after age six, if this ability for gestalt-like processing is still apparent.   Thus this expe riment does not prove that infancy is the critical time period or developmental milestone for this ability.To be sufficient, it would have to include a group of participants that had visual impairments later in life and the length of the impairment would have to be similar.   What about visual impairments for one and two year olds? This only mentions infancy from 3 to 6 months.This experiment is partial, at best.   I would also like to know how the control group compares to those who have visual impairments that have not been corrected.   Are such people able to recognize faces aligned and misaligned with similar circumstances? These are critical points to validate and substantiate the findings of this experiment.

Middle Eastern Society and North American Society

Middle Eastern Society and North American Society This write-up seeks to evaluate the disparity and the similarities that exist between the North American and the Middle East society. The North American society is predominantly Christian. Accordingly, most individuals adhere to Christian values although there are other minority groups that observe other values.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Middle Eastern Society and North American Society specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Additionally, this society is capitalistic. Conversely, the Middle Eastern society is Islamic. However, their economic model is a moderation of communism and capitalism. The background provided above will enable us to discuss the disparity and likeness among the above societies (Sowell 80). The North American society is Christian. Therefore, the people are liberal about what they engage in. Unlike their counterparts, the Middle Eastern society is conservative owing to its religion. The Islamic re ligion demands strict adherence to its values. As such, the families in this society make a considerable contribution during marriage. The parents of the bride and groom have to approve the union. If the union is not approved, the couple may face countless challenges seeking acceptance in the society. Contrary, parents of couples in North American do not have any implications on relationships of their off springs. This reveals that Christianity does not bind marriages in the North American society. Nonetheless, religion in the Middle East society dictates what should transpire in any marriage. Therefore, relationships are superficial in the initial culture while in the latter, they carry deeper meaning due to the involvement of the parents and elders. Most divorces are resolved as per the Islamic religion. Conversely, in the North American society divorce procedure adhere to the court procedures or any settlement organized by attorneys of the parties involved. Therefore, these two c ultures treat relationships differently (Sowell 71). The members of these societies have different mindsets. The North Americans are more liberal hence; they do as their will guides them and are not reluctant to embrace new ideas. Additionally, they have a direct approach towards matters denoting their impatience. Conversely, the Middle Eastern society is conservative and diligent at approaching any matter. Therefore, members of this society are reluctant when presented with fresh ideas. In any interaction, the members of this society seek first to create a rapport then proceed to other activities. This denotes a conservative approach that is absent in the other society where people are not afraid to state what they want directly without fearing that it may denote rudeness (Robinson 208).Advertising Looking for essay on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Despite the differences, the two societies also h ave likeness. The economic set up of the two societies inclines towards capitalism. The American society is capitalist hence; the wealth of an individual may depends on employment and the investments made. The above is also replicated in the Middle Eastern society that leans more to capitalism rather than communisms. This system leads to accumulation of massive wealth by few members of the population. This is evident between the two nations where most people are in the middle class. The two societies attach value towards economic achievements. Therefore, the individuals with economic power in both societies can access more privileges (Robinson 126). The two societies have a single dominant religion. First, Christianity dominates the North American society while Islamic dominates the Middle Eastern society. There are other groups in both societies that adhere to other faiths despite the dominance of one religion in both societies. The North American society is accommodating to other religions while the Middle Eastern society is aggressive towards other forms of faith (Robinson 165). Robinson, Francis. Cambridge Illustrated History of the Islamic World. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Print. Sowell, Kirk. The Arab World, an Illustrated History. New York, NY: Hippocrene Books Inc., 2004. Print.

Free Essays on The Saxophone

The saxophone is a relatively new instrument compared to many of the other musical devices that exist. It’s history can be traced back over 150 years. It was invented by a man named Antoine-Joseph (Adolphe) Sax, an expert instrument maker and musician. This is obviously were the root of it’s name comes from. The saxophone was finally patented on March 20, 1846. Adolphe group up in a music oriented family. His father mastered the art of music making and by the age of six Adolphe had become an expert as well. Sax become aware of the tonal disparity between brasses and woodwinds and wanted to create an instrument that would balance these sections. The solution to his problem came too him in the form of a horn with the body of a brass instrument and the mouthpiece of a woodwind. By combing these two elements he came up with the saxophone. The first type of saxophone was the C bass. Hector Berlioz, a famous composer, had this displayed to him for the first time in 1841. He couldn’t believe how well its versatility, unique tone, and control of dynamics all came together. Only one year later Sax moved to Paris to introduced his revolutionary instrument to the rest of the world. Soon after an entire saxophone family, including fourteen in all, were created. Today many of these variations are obsolete or very rarely used. In 1845 the saxophone became an important part of all bands in that era. â€Å"Battle of the bands† was the name given to this famous year. Sax wanted to prove to the world how the saxophone could improve the tonal quality in all bands. He arranged a contest between the French Army Band, made up of thirty-five men and traditional instruments, and his own band, which had twenty-eight men and included saxophones. Sax’s band dominated the competition and that day the saxophone was officially introduced into the French Army Band. In our present day the saxophone in widely enjoyed by many people. Whether... Free Essays on The Saxophone Free Essays on The Saxophone The saxophone is a relatively new instrument compared to many of the other musical devices that exist. It’s history can be traced back over 150 years. It was invented by a man named Antoine-Joseph (Adolphe) Sax, an expert instrument maker and musician. This is obviously were the root of it’s name comes from. The saxophone was finally patented on March 20, 1846. Adolphe group up in a music oriented family. His father mastered the art of music making and by the age of six Adolphe had become an expert as well. Sax become aware of the tonal disparity between brasses and woodwinds and wanted to create an instrument that would balance these sections. The solution to his problem came too him in the form of a horn with the body of a brass instrument and the mouthpiece of a woodwind. By combing these two elements he came up with the saxophone. The first type of saxophone was the C bass. Hector Berlioz, a famous composer, had this displayed to him for the first time in 1841. He couldn’t believe how well its versatility, unique tone, and control of dynamics all came together. Only one year later Sax moved to Paris to introduced his revolutionary instrument to the rest of the world. Soon after an entire saxophone family, including fourteen in all, were created. Today many of these variations are obsolete or very rarely used. In 1845 the saxophone became an important part of all bands in that era. â€Å"Battle of the bands† was the name given to this famous year. Sax wanted to prove to the world how the saxophone could improve the tonal quality in all bands. He arranged a contest between the French Army Band, made up of thirty-five men and traditional instruments, and his own band, which had twenty-eight men and included saxophones. Sax’s band dominated the competition and that day the saxophone was officially introduced into the French Army Band. In our present day the saxophone in widely enjoyed by many people. Whether...

Stationary vs. Stationery

Stationary vs. Stationery Stationary vs. Stationery Stationary vs. Stationery By Mark Nichol Writers have long been stymied by the resemblance between stationary and stationery, or by ignorance of the fact that distinct words exist to describe the condition of motionlessness and the class of materials for written correspondence. Progress may make this point moot, because our society is slowly but inexorably abandoning stationery as a medium of communication, but it’s still important to make the distinction. Stationery is so spelled because it’s derived from stationer, the archaic word for a bookseller or publisher; these merchants also sold writing materials and implements. (Stationer, in turn, stems from the Latin term stationem, meaning â€Å"station,† which acquired the sense of â€Å"market stall.† Of course, the Latin word is the origin of stationary, too. Something stationary is something that is maintaining its station.) Similar-looking words don’t share that direct etymology but are related. Static, as an adjective meaning â€Å"showing little change,† comes from the Greek word statikos, â€Å"causing to stand,† which was borrowed into Latin as staticus. The basis of statikos also led to stasis, which means â€Å"slowing,† â€Å"stagnation,† or â€Å"stability.† State, status, statute, statistic, and statue, as well as the suffix -stat (thermostat, and so on) and stet, the editing directive meaning â€Å"leave as it was† are all relatives of station and its derivatives. Do you have difficulty remembering when to use stationary and when to write stationery? Various mnemonic aids have been devised, the simplest of which, I think, is to think of the â€Å"ar† in stationary as are, as in â€Å"where you are.† Or remember that stationery refers to letters and envelopes and the like, and the words for those materials have es but no as. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Creative Writing 101Expanded and ExtendedHow Do You Pronounce "Often"?

I just need the bibliography to be done Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

I just need the bibliography to be done - Essay Example 2006. africaresource. 17 Dec. 2007 . 8. Kiehl, Stephen. â€Å"Cashing in on the pop and hip-hop name-drop†. Baltimore Sun. 2004. Commercial Alert. 17 Dec. 2007 . 9. Mattus, Carolyn. â€Å"Hip-hops evolution, success examined†. THE HEIGHTS. 2005. BCHEIGHTS.com. 17 Dec. 2007 . 11. Silverstien, Matt. â€Å"Concerning Hip-Hop: A Repressive Agent or Vehicle for Activism?† Commercial Hip-Hop and Social Grassroots. 2006. africaresource. 17 Dec. 2007 . 14. â€Å"Since 1994, violent crime rates have declined, reaching the lowest level ever in 2005†. Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2006. Office of Justice Programs. U.S. Department of Justice. 17 Dec. 2007 . 16. Howard, Theresa. â€Å"Rapper 50 Cent sings a song of business success†. Advertising & Marketing. 2005. USA TODAY. 17 Dec. 2007 . 21. Ogunnaike, Lola. â€Å"Jay-Z, From Superstar to Suit†. The New York Times. 2005. NYTimes.com. 17 Dec. 2007 . 24. Wasserman, Todd. â€Å"Playing The Hip-Hop Name Drop†. Brandweek. 2005. ISIDE BRANDED ENTERTAINMENT. 17 Dec. 2007

Third Reich- Nazi Germany Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Third Reich- Nazi Germany - Essay Example In this way, many scholars have concluded that the regimes of Stalin and Hitler were not themselves totalitarian as much as they were merely representations of what some have termed â€Å"organized chaos†. However, such a view, although it has some merit, flies in the very face of prior and existing definitions of the term as well as the key signs that these regimes demonstrated prior to the Second World War. As such, this brief essay will attempt to chronicle some of the ways in which both of these regimes epitomized totalitarianism in every aspect of the word. For purposes of clarity, this essay will utilize one of the prominent Soviet historians Robert Conquest’s definitions of totalitarianism. Conquest says the following, â€Å"Totalitarianism (or totalitarian rule) is a political system where the state holds total authority over the society and seeks to control all aspects of public and private life wherever necessary (Conquest 74). As such, the all encompassing n ature of the state and the level to which the state is controlling nearly every aspect of the life of the society is the predominant factor. Naturally, when one considers the level of totalitarianism that existed within both the Soviet and National Socialist systems, it will be necessary to consider the following freedoms: economic, political, social, press, and art. As this analysis will make manifestly clear, both regimes sought outright control of nearly every aspect of these freedoms that have been enumerated upon. With respect to Nazi Germany, upon coming to power, Hitler began to seek immediate consolidation of all power that was within his grasp. The changes were incremental as directorates were set up to oversee the administration of the press, the oversight of opposing political parties, a rigid oversight of the German economy, and even directorates that oversaw the representation of various art, architecture, and music that was to be created during the years that the Third Reich had control over the German population (Stone 50). Each of these apparatus was specifically designed to give the National Socialist party, under the leadership of Adolph Hitler, a complete and total control of the ways in which the different functions of government and society would be able to both oversee and direct the state towards ideals that would better serve the purpose of the leadership. In this way, the reader begins to gain a better grasp of how totalitarianism was well rooted within the National Socialist Party long before the outbreak of war in 1939. As a further evidence of this, one need only look at the way that the educational system was fundamentally re-oriented to provide a means of uplifting the state, nationalism, patriotism, sacrifice, and racial pride. Moreover, the prevalence of the Hitler youth as early as 1933 presented a new face to the means by which the state not only wanted to control every aspect of politics, education, the media, property, cultu re, but also the minds of the youth as a function of reshaping the state into the ideal that the leadership had set before them. Likewise, if one considers the case of the Soviet Union during this same time period, a similar story is told; however, with far bloodier undertones and consequences. Upon the death of Vladimir Lenin in 1924 and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin assumed leadership of the Soviet Union up until well after the conclusion of WWII. As such, Stalin was perhaps the living embodiment of totalitarianism. To attempt to relate

Ethics Case Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ethics Case Analysis - Essay Example Question 2. The physician also should never have spoken to Annie about the seriousness of her illness. This is because withholding the truth about the seriousness of Annie’s condition by the physician did more good to Annie and her family, more than revealing the whole truth to her. This is because, had Ann known that she was about to die, she would become distressed and make her family also distressed. The main ethical dilemma in this case is to make the choice of either or not to reveal to Annie the seriousness of her illness. Revealing the truth to Annie would have meant that the physicians and the Annie’s husband have acted in the honest way by telling Annie the truth; the main disadvantage of telling Annie the truth, however, was that Annie would become emotionally and psychologically disturbed, thus becoming distressed and making her family also distressed. Withholding the truth, on the other hand, would have meant that the physicians and Annie’s husband have acted in the best interests of Annie and her family because Annie would remain hopeful throughout the short period remaining in her life; withholding the truth from Annie, however, would mean that the physicians and Annie’s husband lied to Annie, thus acting in a dishonest way towards Annie. Making a choice between these two options is a real dilemma because each of the options has both positive and negative consequences. The main reason why I am of the view that the Physicians should never have revealed the truth to Annie about the seriousness of her illness is that the physicians are not under any obligation to reveal the whole truth to their patients. This view is supported by Sokol when he argues that, physicians have no moral obligation to tell their patients the whole truth about their condition (2002). For that reason, therefore, the physician acted in the morally right way by not disclosing to Annie about the seriousness of her illness. Secondly,

Final Exam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 2

Final Exam - Essay Example Although the act adds responsibility for the chief executives it benefit’s the public shareholders and protects them from unethical business transactions. The executives are placed in a position where they can easily fall prey to accidental false records or records that are misreported by someone else. Executives could find it difficult to track company spending on lower levels and ensure that all transactions are being reported. Without security, investors will not place trust in a company they do not have accurate reports on. This also gives investors the sense that rather than having their money controlled by one person, they have a say in their money and they have a right to see where the money goes and where it grows. This security encourages investors to place this money in these companies once again. 2. If someone was reading my CAT scan from halfway around the world I would have mixed feelings. I would be impressed and feel pride in the fact that we have advanced our technology enough to have the ability to accomplish something like this. I also think it would be a great way to access other opinions. If the doctors in my area are unfamiliar with certain conditions, having access to other information sources or doctors with various experience can be very positive. I might be diagnosed or healed faster if the doctor is familiar with the type of symptoms I have. It also gives the chance for medicine to grow faster as a whole with the exchange of ideas and experiences. On the other hand, if someone over there is reading my CAT scan, then someone over here is not. As long as there are qualified physicians near me who have the same level of expertise, the job should be left to them. If the doctor across the way does it cheaper, more hospitals will be inclined to hire doctors in foreign countries and our own doctors will be out of jobs or suffer significant salary decreases. If I was certain that this type of

Developing and maintaining positive union management relations Essay

Developing and maintaining positive union management relations - Essay Example The negative history of industrial relations has to be overcome for all the stakeholders to achieve greater heights of competitive advantage and productivity. Poor union relations have many impacts. Key among them is lack of cooperation between the stakeholders. It has also caused a decline on workers productivity, tarnished the credibility and reputation of organizations involved, and impacted negatively on the working conditions and pay of the workers. To rectify the situation, all the stakeholders need to develop strategic partnerships, undertake joint training, improve the working conditions of the workers, actively engage in collaboration processes, and also streamline their communication processes. Developing a positive relationship with union leaders is of paramount importance if any gains have to be made. The leaders must have exemplary knowledge in union relations to be able to effectively steer the process. Negotiation and collective bargaining skills are of outmost importance here. Managers must realize that they have incredible influence on the employees' satisfaction and productivity at the workplace. Thus they must always strive to maintain strong, positive associations with their employees at the workplace if productivity has to be enhanced and positive union relations maintained. Effective communication is one of the most basic necessities towards establishing positive union management relations. Decisions must be communicated in an effective manner, not withstanding their unpopularity. All stake holders must be positively encouraged to contribute towards the well being of the organization. Effective communication will generally lead to the establishment of mutually beneficial solutions, where by all the stake holders will feel accommodated. In the process, partnerships are formed by the stake holders, either for good or bad intentions. All in all, positive union relations must be developed and maintained at all costs. Introduction The past few decades have witnessed an emergence of strong workers and labour unions, which have been mandated by the workers to guard their own interests. Among other functions, the unions are largely involved in negotiating for better working conditions and better pay packages for workers. They are run by representatives who are elected by the workers to advance their interests on their behalf. The representatives are very crucial in determining whether the unions will be effective in maintaining positive union management relations (Union relationships, 2007). In some of the countries around the world, workers' unions have mutated to major political parties, thus having a direct impact on the population of the respective countries. Maintaining positive union management relations is paramount if unions are to succeed in their core duties of guarding and promoting the rights of employees. Having sophisticated industrial structures, like is the case in the United States, may not be important as long as the relationships between the staff and their Union representatives are not in any way based on trust (Union relationsh

Final Exam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 2

Final Exam - Essay Example Although the act adds responsibility for the chief executives it benefit’s the public shareholders and protects them from unethical business transactions. The executives are placed in a position where they can easily fall prey to accidental false records or records that are misreported by someone else. Executives could find it difficult to track company spending on lower levels and ensure that all transactions are being reported. Without security, investors will not place trust in a company they do not have accurate reports on. This also gives investors the sense that rather than having their money controlled by one person, they have a say in their money and they have a right to see where the money goes and where it grows. This security encourages investors to place this money in these companies once again. 2. If someone was reading my CAT scan from halfway around the world I would have mixed feelings. I would be impressed and feel pride in the fact that we have advanced our technology enough to have the ability to accomplish something like this. I also think it would be a great way to access other opinions. If the doctors in my area are unfamiliar with certain conditions, having access to other information sources or doctors with various experience can be very positive. I might be diagnosed or healed faster if the doctor is familiar with the type of symptoms I have. It also gives the chance for medicine to grow faster as a whole with the exchange of ideas and experiences. On the other hand, if someone over there is reading my CAT scan, then someone over here is not. As long as there are qualified physicians near me who have the same level of expertise, the job should be left to them. If the doctor across the way does it cheaper, more hospitals will be inclined to hire doctors in foreign countries and our own doctors will be out of jobs or suffer significant salary decreases. If I was certain that this type of

PERSONAL STATEMENT FOR UCAS APPLICATION Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

PERSONAL STATEMENT FOR UCAS APPLICATION - Essay Example My mother used to think of this as my best trait as I would always stack my toys neatly after playing with them! Generally speaking, one of the major benefits of studying statistics and mathematics as a basic degree is the variety of career paths it provides. Applications of mathematics and statistic appears in almost all areas of business, economics, science, technology, research, and wherever data is obtained for the purpose of finding information. Statistics has for long been described as the science of making conclusions in the presence of uncertainty. From what I have learned in the preliminary studies statistics and mathematical models can solve problems and analyze circumstances when seemingly there is no obvious result at hand. This amazing nature of statistics appeals me the most. It encourages me to look up more into this field of education. It is thus become my passion to pursue my forthcoming degrees in the said field. The first thought that came into my when I decided to opt for a graduate degree in mathematics and statistics was that of the Queen Mary College, University of London. The Queen Mary University, Kings College London is one of the most esteemed colleges of Britain and I dream to be an esteemed part of its privileged students. Though I am an international student, I am well versed with written and spoken English language. It is therefore no problem for me to comprehend degree courses that would be taught in English. Moreover, having done my 6 of my O’ Levels courses and one A’ Levels course I have a pretty good idea of this British mode of assessment. I have appeared in the examinations set by the mentioned boards and have obtained grades ranging from A’s to C’s. My initial attempt towards pursuing higher studies in mathematics and statistics was by going for the course of ‘Mathematics’ in A’ levels examinations. Regretfully though I obtained a C in the said course. This was much below the standards that I had set for myself. I got even more motivated by this happening and decided to pursue my studies in statistics and mathematics from its basics. In pursuance of my intention to learn mathematics and statistics from its scratch I enrolled myself in the foundation course of ‘Science and Engineering’ at the Queen Mary University. Currently I am working really hard to get the required percentage so that I can get admission into the university degree level. It is only then that I would be able to pursue studies in my desired course. Taking admission into the degree level of Queen Mary University, Kings College of London would therefore be ‘a dream come true’ for me. I plan to work hard to pursue my studies at the college and then pass out to become an established mathematician and statistical analyst. This will enable me to become a successful banker in the years to come and would also increase other chances of employment in the ever challenging corporate world of today. My happy go lucky nature enables to me intermingle with people anywhere I go. At heart I am a fun loving person who loves to dance at the beat of good music. Listening to good music is one of my favorite hobbies. I have very recently started learning guitar from one of my friends. The explorer in me enthusiastically motivates me to travel to different countries and explore new places. During the school days I have been an active participant in extra curricular activities and have taken part in various

Ethics in public ad Essay Example for Free

Ethics in public ad Essay Since the 1970s there has been a great deal of change associated with the implementation of administrative ethics. These changes have been promoted and motivated by the concept of public administration in the new era. An important position is given to the concept of ethical issues in today’s civil governance. There has been a great deal of research associated with this concept which has been supported by translation of evidences and theories into practice across different continents. Frederickson and Ghere (2005) address both the managerial and individual/moral dimensions of ethical behavior as well as new challenges to administrative ethics posed by globalization. As promoted by Cooper (2001) ethics in public administration is not a transient concept but has proven to be an approach which has shown a great deal of sustainability which is fundamental to the area of public administration. Public administration has certain issues with regard to ethics implementation and finds it troublesome to come to terms with them. One reason for this is because ethics is embedded in an intellectual framework. This framework is based on stable institutional as well as role relationship levels, among both public employees as well as the organization. According to the views of a number of researchers (Bang and Sorensen, 1999; Keast et al., 2004; Rhodes, 1996; Sorensen, 2002, 2006; Sorensen and Torfing, 2004; Stoker, 1998), current government perspectives believe that clarity and stability at these levels would be problematic. Despite the increasing number of studies that have focused on the importance of administrative ethics, there has been very little effort spent on identifying what is exactly the crux of ethics in administration (Cooper, 2004). This lack of directed research in the dynamics of operations with regards to ethics in public administration along with constant changes in the principles and policies associated with administrative ethics need to be examined. These developments have raised new topics for concern in this field. One example which can be cited at this juncture is the emergence of the concept of egovernance which would require the identification of a whole new paradigm of ethics in public administration.

ZARA Clothing Performance Analysis

ZARA Clothing Performance Analysis Zara is the largest division and flagship brand of the Spanish retail group Inditex. It sells up-to-the-minute fashionability at low prices, in stores that are clearly focused on one particular market (Slack, 2006). The first store opened by accident in 1975 due to a large pyjamas order cancellation. This typically can be said to be an emergent strategy as the Zara store today was not an intended strategy. Vertically integrated, Zara controls most of the processes in the supply chain whereby 50% of the products are manufactured in Spain, 26% in the rest of Europe and 24% in Asian countries. Zara outsources products of high labour intensive processes but maintains in-house capital intensive processes, protecting knowledge and know-how. It takes less than two weeks for a skirt to get from Zaras design team in Spain to a Zara stores in any part of the globe, as much as 12 times faster than the competition. And with shorter lead times, Zara can ship fewer pieces, in a greater variety of styles, more often and they can more easily cancel lines that dont sell as well, avoiding inventory backlogs. (Thinking Made Easy, 2009) This quick response capacity of Zara is made possible by the 3 main stages that define the competitive edge of the company: design, manufacturing and distribution. This strategy is embraced to focus on the operations which can enhance cost efficiency and hence Zaras internalization. Other production activities are completed via a network of about 500 subcontractors in close proximity to Zaras operations at La Coruna. Mr. Ortega the CEO of the Inditex, the parent company of Zara, once said that the secret to retail success is to have five fingers touching the factory and five touching the customer. (Nigel Slack, 2008) This paper uses the models and frameworks of the Operations Strategy module to describe analyze how Zaras operations strategy led to a sustainable competitive advantage in the global apparel industry. What is Operations Strategy? Just as there is no overall agreement about what strategy means, there is no universal agreement on how operations strategy should be described. Four distinct perspectives have emerged on the description as illustrated in Fig. 1 below (Nigel Slack, 2008): Top down vs. Bottom up: Zara boosted its innovation in a fast changing market by adapting the bottom up perspective of strategy in its operations. This is a key driver of competitive advantage through constant innovation to develop new-products that provide customers with new perceived benefits. Zara benefits from an organizational culture that allows information exchange, risk taking, experimentation and learning from failures. Market Requirements vs. Operations Resource: Whatever the operations strategy of an organization, it must in some way reflect the requirements of the organizations market. The fashion market is a fast changing one characterized by quick shifts in consumer demands. As described by Inditex CEO, Jose Maria Castellano, the fashion world is in constant flux and is driven not by supply but by customer demand. We need to give consumers what they want, and if I go to South America or Asia to make clothes, I simply cant move fast enough. How do Zaras operations resources help it to compete in its market? Zara has remained focused on its core philosophy that creativity and quality design together with a rapid response to market demands will yield profitable results. Its business model incorporates the following operational goals: To develop a system the requires short lead times To decrease production quantities and inventory To increase variety of styles/choice. We can deduce that operations strategy is concerned with the reconciliation of market requirements and operations resources. Key drivers of this reconciliation are the importance of setting appropriate performance objectives and understanding the decision areas that determine resource deployment. Factors affecting Zaras Strategic Decisions: Capacity Zara employs a chase demand capacity management in its operations. Spare manufacturing capacity is mirrored in the companys storage function, where up to 400 extra staff can be drafted in during busty periods. As new stock delivery schedules are regimented, customers know when new stock is due and traffic in stores is heavier at such times. As a result, the company is able to adjust its resources to match the demands as appropriate. Procurement and production planners make preliminary, but crucial, estimates of manufacturing costs and available capacity. The cross-functional teams can examine prototypes in the hall, choose a design, and commit resources for its production and introduction in a few hours, if necessary. (Ferdows Kasra, 2005) A small change in retail orders, for example, can result in wide fluctuations in factory orders after its transmitted through wholesalers and distributors. In an industry that traditionally allows retailers to change a maximum of 20 percent of their orders once the season has started, Zara lets them adjust 40 percent to 50 percent. In this way, Zara avoids costly overproduction and the subsequent sales and discounting prevalent in the industry. Supply Networks The vertical Integration advantage can be seen in Zaras centralized logistics and distribution. Zara designs around 10,000 new models every year and replenishes ranges within every one of its 650 retail stores twice per week, but in strictly limited quantities of stock. This ensures Zaras brand promise to customers of exclusivity, and also of design freshness. But it also avoids build-up of large quantities of unpopular stock. Zaras system has to deal with something in the realm of 300,000 new stock-keeping units (SKUs), on average, every year. (Ferdows Kasra, 2005). It outsources less manufacturing (only labour intensive tasks mainly the sewing) than its competitors hence can react quickly to seasonality and unforeseen demand. Zara avoids building inventories in any part of its supply chain from raw materials to end user. Process Technology Zaras communication and coordination through high technology information systems is one of Zaras success factors relative to its competitors. Its customized handheld computers support the connection between the retail stores and headquarters. These PDAs transmit all kinds of information (hard data as orders and sales trends and such soft data as customer reactions and the buzz around a new style). The constant flow of updated data mitigates the so-called bullwhip effect-the tendency of supply chains (and all open-loop information systems) to amplify small disturbances. Development and Organization This fast fashion system depends on a constant exchange of information throughout every part of Zaras supply chain-from customers to store managers, from store managers to market specialists and designers, from designers to production staff, from buyers to subcontractors, from warehouse managers to distributors, and so on Zaras organization, operational procedures, performance measures, and even its office layouts are all designed to make information transfer easy. By having operations in close- proximity to its headquarters allowed for better and faster communication between functional areas for faster decision making. Key success objectives for Zaras Performance: Speed: Speed and responsiveness to Market, Zara has changed the way clothing industry works where deigning, production and delivery to the retailers requires period of six months. The design and distribution cycle of the company takes just 10-15days in the whole process. Zaras speed to market in product development exceeds the capabilities of its competitors. This in itself provides additional value to stakeholders, customers, and stores in producing quality clothing at affordable prices. The proximity of their manufacturing and operational processes allows Zara to maintain the flexibility necessary to design and produce over 12000 new items annually. This capability allows Zara to achieve their strategy of expedited response to consumer demand. The process of obtaining market information and relaying it to design and production teams expedites product development by shortening the throughput time of their products from design to store. Dependability: Due to Zaras ownership and control of production, they ensure timely delivery and service. Although most of their stores run out of stock, signifying that they have low dependability in terms of product availability, another perspective of dependability in terms of keeping to date with fashion is achieved. Quality: Zara brand is synonymous with the cutting edge of fashion at affordable prices. Another Quality advantage is the added sense of quality to the product as the tags would be labelled with made in Europe rather than made in China due to Zaras trade-off between Low labour costs in Asia and operational efficiency. Flexibility: Designers (of average age 26) draw the design sketches then discuss it with market specials and planning procurement staff illustrating a flexibility of ideas generation and on the other hand the huge number of designs reflects the ability to meet almost all the fashion requirements by customers of all ages (up to 55). This adaptive model rather than traditional merchandising is very different from its competitors. Many competitors rely on a small elite design team that plans both design and production needs well in advance. Stores have little autonomy in deciding which products to display or put on sale because Headquarters plans accordingly and ships quantities as forecasted. Zara owned many of the fabric dying, processing and cutting equipment that provided Zara added control and flexibility to adopt new trends on demand. The added flexibility helped Zara on two fronts: shorter lead times and fewer inventories. (OPPapers.com, 2010) Cost: Zara produces most of its products in Europe. Compared to their competitors, they outsource very little to Asia. Though the cost of production in Spain is 17-20% more expensive than Asia, Zara does have a competitive advantage over its competitors in regards to operations. Though there is a cost advantage in their approach in regards to labour, the lack of flexibility in changing orders based on current trends hinders their operational efficiencies. Inventory costs are higher for competitors because orders are placed for a whole season well in advance and then held in distribution facilities until periodic shipment to stores. Lower inventory cost is a key sustainable advantage as it enables Zara to manufacture and sell its products at cheaper prices. Conclusion The smooth integration between Zara business strategy and it is operation strategy as illustrated in the strategic matrix below brought about a promotion of innovativeness through a blending of its performance objectives and decision areas. This aligned Zara operations with its business strategy, ensuring comprehensiveness, correspondence and coherence to achieve its mark in the garment industry as a world leader today. Zara has demonstrated that market flexibility and lean inventories may be even more important than cheap labour, an insight that just might reverse the and its success is based on controlling all the steps of manufacturing clothes: from design to fabric to manufacturing, distribution and sales in order to cut costs and make huge gains in speed and flexibility. In the fashion industry, where trends change daily, Getting a good strategic mix in operations is key to a retailers survival.

Do Large Lecture Halls Offer a Good Learning Environment? :: Teaching Education

Do Large Lecture Halls Offer a Good Learning Environment Higher education comes in many forms, from small private colleges with one professor for every seven students, to enormous universities which utilize teaching assistants for almost all offered classes. The question I have as a student at Purdue, a university with around 35,000 students, is are large lecture halls with more than two hundred students effective places for learning to occur? When there are that many pupils in a classroom, it is nearly impossible for an instructor to take attendance. What is the motivation to attend class? Further, are students able to understand material presented in a classroom when there are hundreds more people in the classroom rustling papers, dropping pens, and whispering sarcastic comments about the lecture? In order to answer some of the above questions, I decided to study one of my largest lecture classes, Psychology 120 under Bob Melara. Class is held in an enormous lecture hall, which seats over five hundred students. In order to learn the answers, I did research for several weeks. I handed out questionnaires to other students at Purdue and observed Melara’s class for about two weeks. In addition, I interviewed Saree Strom, a student in the honors section of Psychology 120. The class of Melara’s that I studied meets every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday between 4:30 and 5:20 PM. Class is held in the giant lecture hall on the first floor of the Lily Hall of Sciences on State Street. There are about five hundred students in this section, and the seats are set up like a stadium so that each row is higher than the one below it. In addition to the regular class, the honors students meet Wednesday from 5:30 to 6:20. As honors students, their responsibilities increase to planning and leading small groups for each of the four labs that all students are required to do during the semester. There are twenty honors students in this section. The students in psychology discovered on the first day of class that the professor was a little out of the ordinary. He walked into class and announced, â€Å"Hello, my name is Robert Melara, but I am not overly fond of that name. What you refer to me as when I am not around is unimportant, but please address me only as Bob.† His hair is sort of long and shaggy, and it appears as though he never combs it.

Essay --

DA and context (introduction in chronological order) The term context is used on everyday basis in any possible aspect of our life. In the frames of language analysis context is used nearly in every possible situation to broaden the scope of linguistic description. The term context, with its use in language analysis, traces back to Malinowski, who wanted to illustrate how the code worked in the contexts of use. He invoked the notion of context to account for the way language †¦ functioned as ‘a mode of action’. As Malinowski suggested, â€Å"the meaning of any single word is to a very high degree dependent on its context† (1923:306). The interpretation of sentence is an important factor when looked at through the prism of context and since the beginning of 1950 linguists have become increasingly aware of this importance. J. R. Firth, who is considered to be the founder of modern British linguistics, notes that logicians think of words and propositions as carrying meaning in themselves and this meaning is â€Å"apart from participants in context of situation† (1957: 226). This approach seems to exclude the speakers and the listeners, Firth thinks, and he suggests that â€Å"voices should not be entirely dissociated from the social context in which they function†. Firth’s suggestion was to regard all texts in modern spoken languages as having â€Å"implication of utterance† and participants as always referred to in a â€Å"generalized context of situations† (1957: 226). Firth is concerned with embedding the utterance in the â€Å"social context† which is later supported by Hymes in his works of early 60s. Hymes treats the role of context in interpretation and analysis as an aspect that limits the array of possible interpretations and at the same time a support... ...told that context is crucial. But how and why is it crucial? Which sides of context are applicable to which types of text? If the contextual features are interdependently activated in an analysis, then an alteration in one of these features will automatically distress the importance of the others. Nevertheless, there arises a problem, as to what type of text linguistic analysis should deliver a more considerable basis for interpretation. Interpretation, hence, is the procedure of developing a discourse from a text. Interpretation will constantly be a function of the connection of text and context. Irrespectively of how meticulous the analysis of a specific text might be, the textual features must be contextually relevant. If that is the case, then we need to investigate how different contexts can influence the same text and give rise to various interpretations.

The Need for Information Security Management to Medium Size

The Need for Information Security Management for Small to Medium Size Enterprises ICT 357 Information Security Management Leong Yuan Zhang 31741147 Trimester 1 Murdoch University Contents Abstract2 Introduction2 Justifying The Need for Sound Information Security in Any Organisation2 Linking Business Objectives with Security3 Incident Response Management and Disaster Recovery4 Mobile Device Security Managment5 Biometric Security Devices and Their Use6 Ethical Issues in Information Security Management7 Security Training and Education7Defending Against Internet-Based Attacks8 Industrial Espionage and Business Intelligence Gathering9 Personnel Issues in Information Security9 Physical Security Issues in Information Security10 Cyber Forensic Incident Response10 Conclusion11 References11 Abstract Small to Medium Size Enterprises (SMEs) contribute greatly to the economy in many countries despite the many challenges that they face. Lesser budgeting, resource planning and time management are j ust some of the limitations that they might encounter.Comparing this to a larger enterprise or government body, SMEs seems to have different approaches with regards to information security, sometimes understating the importance due to the constraint mentioned. This paper aims to study the issues relating to introduction and implementation of info security regimes in SMEs compared to larger organisations. Introduction Small and medium enterprise are defined by the number of personnel working for the company, around the upper limit of 250 to the lower of 50. They usually lack resources, competencies and management to implement strategies externally and internally for their operations.This paper will focus on the implementation of information security regimes of SMEs and provide a comparison to large enterprises. The paper explores the multiple categories of information security, attempt to list the disadvantages faced by SMEs and how sometime large enterprises are unable to match a SM E in the capability to respond to security threats Justifying The Need for Sound Information Security in Any Organisation The internet age brought upon new challenges to the business world, both SMEs and large organisation are continuously investing substantial resources to secure their presence on the internet.With increasingly virtualized business networks and expanding corporate ecosystem, more information have been created or converted into digital format. Digitalized information can be saved in different storage devices and transmitted over a plethora of interconnected network both internally and externally (Radding, 2012). Understandably, crime and security threats to information are becoming more commonplace as the reliance on Internet in business activities increase .Threats such as hackers, business competitors or even foreign governments can employ a host of different methods to obtain information from any organisation (Symantec). Yet no effective business would totally is olate themselves from using digitalized info to prevent such incidents; competitiveness or success of these organisations is linked to right information delivered on time. At its worst erroneous info may result in serious loss of potential earnings and damage to the organisation's â€Å"brand†(Juhani Anttila, 2005).A significant element of information security are the cost and personnel expertise required with the designing, development and implementation of an effective security system. There is a need for major investment to be invested to build and maintain reliable, trustworthy and responsive security system (Anderson, 2001). Since most SMEs tend to have to operate under tight budgeting, extreme limited manpower and many different needs competing for limited supply of resources, thus placing information security down the priorities list (Tawileh, Hilton, ; Stephen, 2007).Additionally, the lack of awareness to the negative consequences of info security issues and threats a nd the perception of less strict regulatory compliance requirements, information and communications infrastructure within these SMEs remain highly unsecured. Despite that, most organisations do at least have some form of basic security in the form of anti-virus softwares. Other types of security software like firewall or authentication software/hardware are considerably less popular; perhaps due to the additional complexity of having to install and configure them for the organisation usage (ABS, 2003).Linking Business Objectives with Security Security can impact a company's profitability in both positive or negative ways. It fully depends on how it is being controlled, too little will not be enough while too much may cause bottlenecks within the company internal processes. One example would be background checks on possible new employees. At times, the duration of the check may take longer than the period of employment, especially when hiring temp staff to cover short term. In their book, Christian Byrnes and Paul E.Proctor argues that to eliminate the last 20% of risk that might occur would inversely required 80% more money to implement which can be seen in Figure 1. Figure 1 It is common practice in large organisations to organise computer security around technologies, with a dedicated department running the show alongside the IT department. However computer security should be more business oriented as it is easier to achieve the security targets if good business practices are being followed. For SMEs, it is also far easier to utilise xisting employees who specialize in specific business roles to take up security positions. In the same book, Christian Byrnes and Paul E. Proctor also provided a table which list down the common security roles and the ideal personnel to handle it: Table 1 Linking security with business visions is also important as it would allow for better persuasion to the top managements to approve or push through with security purchases, mast er plans or policy changes. To achieve this, the motion put forth must undergo a 5 step structured framework – assess, analyse, strategize, align and communicate.Assess the company's current and future security role so as to achieve a good understanding of the current security model. Details on the security capabilities within the employees, processes and current technologies should be documented properly for the next step to be carried out with more accuracy. After collecting the raw data, using analytical tools and method to conduct a security gap analysis will show the differences between the current security model and the preempted requirements. With a clear overview of what needs to be do, next phase planning can be done to piece together to form a viable and strong strategy.Executives and managers at all levels must understand the new steps that are to be undertaken for the new strategy. Such communications may be more effective in SMEs than larger organisations as the members of the security planning may be key personnel that are required to participate rather than a separate IT security team (PricewaterhouseCooper). Incident Response Management and Disaster Recovery Incident response management is the process of managing and responding to security incidents. As organisations may encounter plenty of incidents throughout the day, it is important that incident responses are carefully anaged to reduce wastage of manpower and resources. The most appropriate level of response should be assigned to on any security incident to maximize efficiency; there is no merit in involving senior management in a response to an incident that has minimal impact on business (BH Consulting, 2006) Disaster recovery is the process used to recover access to an organisation's software, data and hardware that are required to resume the performance of normal, critical business functions. Typically this will happen after either a natural disaster or manmade disaster. (Disaste r Recovery)Incident response management used to be separated into different entities, natural disasters , security breaches and privacy breaches were handled by risk management, information security department and legal department. This increased the cost of incident management and reduce utilization of existing resources and capabilities. By merging the 3 into one overarching incident management methodology specified with an incident response team and a charter, reduced cost and efficient usage of resource can be achieved (Miora, 2010) In larger organizations, incident response team may contain both employees and third party observers from vendors.External vendors may provide the expertise to manage an incident that could be overwhelming to the current employees. This however may not be feasible for SMEs due the financial constraints. Most likely, the incident response management team would be formed using current employees and a senior management personnel would lead the team. The response team would be the ones who do the planning scenario for each different types of incident and the type of responses required, ensure that clear processes and procedures are in place so that responses to incident are coherent.Communications between members are typically standardized be it for large organisations or SMEs; method of contact such as emails and non-email like phone calls or messages are used to inform team members (BH Consulting, 2006). Disaster recovery extremely important as well, more so for SMEs. A survey from US Department of Labor provided an estimation that around 40% of business never reopen after a disaster and of the remaining around 25% will close down within 2 years (Zahorsky). Unfortunately, not many SMEs have a disaster recovery plan in place to protect themselves.This is due to the idea that disaster recovery is costly and requires alot of resources and expertise to put in place one. This is true to a certain extend as large organisations normally spend amounts to put in place backup servers and remote hot recovery sites. However with increasing cloud-based technologies and availability of server virtualization, disaster recovery can become affordable even for SMEs. Up and coming cloud solution and renting space in secure data center via colocation are some of the solutions that SMEs can consider.Even without any or little IT staff, by paying the colocation provider they can assist to manage the setup and maintenance services (Blackwell, 2010). Mobile Device Security Managment The increasing sophisticated mobile devices together with high bandwidth network is creating a tremendous security management challenge for CIOs and other IT professionals. Proprietary and confidential data can now be moved outside of the secure perimeter of the enterprise and onto mobile devices that can be brought anywhere in the world by employees.These devices have a variety of data communication and storage technologies, such as email/PIM synchron ization software, infrared data transmission, Bluetooth ® and removable data storage. As a result, it is easy for mobile devices to become strongholds of enterprise information (Good Technology, 2009). Of course with that brings additional threats to an organisation as mobile devices are susceptible to attacks as well. In both SMEs and large organisations, there is a definite need to regulate the use of mobile devices to prevent information leakage.As they can used in a variety of locations outside the organization’s control, such as employees’ homes, coffee shops, hotels, and conferences, this makes them much more likely to be lost or stolen than other devices, so their data is at increased risk of compromise (Souppaya & Scarfone, 2012). The most extreme application of mobile device management can be see within government bodies, specifically in the defense sector where secondary functions of such devices such as cameras are to be disable. However, this method would not be easily applied to SMEs as employees may find it to be too restrictive.Rather, having a clear policy on the usage of mobile devices and prohibiting employees from attaching their devices to the workstations would be a better option to enforce. Biometric Security Devices and Their Use Biometric devices identifies an individual through physical or behavioral characteristics such as fingerprints, palm geometry or retina. It is extremely secure as it cannot be borrowed, stolen or forgotten (Liu & Silverman, 2001). The table below shows the various type of biometric devices and their advantages/disadvantages:The table, as seen in the report from Dell explains clearly some of the limitations of biometric devices. Size for example must be taken into consideration as well, hand geometry scanning devices are bulky and therefore not suited for say unlocking your workstation as compared to using it to unlock a door. However, not many organisations are adopting biometric as part of their security plan. Those that do use biometric are mostly geared towards physical security of secure areas where access are to be restricted.Conventional authentication methods are still much preferred with regards to virtual access like emails, workstations and applications. The higher cost of using biometric devices as a security solution is also another concern for SMEs that wishes to utilise them. They would need to evaluate their nature of business, how and where biometric would fit in to maximize value for money. Ultimately, aligning the need for biometric security devices as a security solution to business objectives is a must, else cheaper alternatives would have to be examine and evaluated instead.Ethical Issues in Information Security Management Some professions such as law and medicine have in place a codified set of ethics that its practitioners are required to honor to protect the privacy of their clients. Violations are dealt with in the harshest possible terms, and even minor lapses can result in significant penalties. For IT however, there are no such codification. Technology professionals generally abide by personal codes of conduct and are essentially self-policing. Additionally, technology raises complexities that go beyond typical questions of what’s right or what’s fair.Areas such as data access and capture, processing speed, tracking and monitoring, and job redesign are just a few examples of IT capabilities with ethical considerations. (Relkin, 2006) Both SMEs and large organisations have to be able to cope with ethical issues such as privacy of personal information, intellectual property and cyber crime. In an effort to safeguard company secrets, many employees can be exposed to electronic or other forms of surveillance. Email screenings and monitoring internet usages are just some of the methods that can be employed.There is a need to clearly define policies that involve such practices and the boundary must be draw and commu nicated to all employees so as to safeguard the organisation from breaching privacy laws and from being sued by employees. (Tiwary, 2011) Security Training and Education Security training and education is becoming increasing important for employees due to emergence of end-user computing as an critical component of information security. A typical end-user has access to most vital information that an organisation has in its possession.They have knowledge of how protection systems put in place to secure information work and a small amount of more ingenious users may even know how to circumvent those systems. Most users however lack the knowledge that is required to help protect the organisation information and it is in this area that they should be educated in order to make better decisions when facing with threats and vulnerabilities that can be discovered during the course of work. (Hight, 2005) Security Education, Training and Awareness program otherwise known as SETA is designed to set the security tone to the employees of an organisation.Making it part of a new employee's orientation will ensure that all employees know and understand the reasons of the security policies that are in place at any organisation. Implementation of such a program can be done at any organisation, requiring only properly written security policies and outlining guidelines that have to be followed. A good security program ensures that end user mistakes can be reduced and that employees understand the consequences of their actions when using their work stations or insert unauthorised USB devices into them. Defending Against Internet-Based AttacksWith an increasing reliant upon the internet, internet based attacks have been slowly increasing. Organsations that has a presence over the internet or utilizes web based technologies are more prone to such as attacks. Internet worms, viruses, malware and distributed denial of service are just some of the types of threats that could occur. Orga nisations should look to prevent such incidents from occurring by securing applications that are made available over the internet and securing organisation infrastructures exposed over the internet (Klein, 1999).To carry out an attack, the attacker must first obtain sufficient control over a target system. They would most likely do some reconnaissance on the target, performing a number of scans to looked for weaknesses. Areas like remote accessible network services in default OS configurations, sendmail, sshd, RPC and Windows file sharing are some of the services exploited. Ports that are unsecured, memory handling, targeting applications like web browsers and plug ins are also some of the methods that attackers can use.The web browsers in particular are seeing a rising trend of being targeted as browsers are extremely prone to having exploitable vulnerabilities. The internet distribution model also allows attackers to attack a user's web browser without even directly connecting to the cilent; planting malicious coding at specific websites where the user normally visits will achieve the aim as well (Moshchuk, 2000). Prevention of such attacks are extremely important, firewall and anti viruses are just the tip of an iceberg when it comes to methods that can protect an organisation's information.Many firewalls being sold today are considered application aware and can understand protocols and commands that are being used. This allows them to determine whether or not incoming traffic to any applications or network services are malicious or not. Properly configured application aware firewall would be able to prevent common attacks thru telnet, SSH, HTTP, FTP, SMTP, SIP and applications which can be vulnerable. Additionally Intrusion Detection systems (IDS) and Intrusion Prevention systems (IPS) can also be used against application or network based attacks.When paired together with an application aware firewall, some intrusion detection systems have the ability to t hwart off attackers by talking directly to the firewall to block the source IP address. There are no right or wrong solutions to defending an organisation's network, it all boils down to which products would be suited to the organisation's needs. SMEs typically would use more of off the shelf type of applications and intrusion detection prevention system (IDP) would be a better fit for such applications.Off the shelves applications uses alot of common protocols such as FTP, HTTP etc that should adhere to RFC standards and IDP is configured to block malicious or traffic that does not comply with RFC standards automatically. For larger organisations, they tend to have third party or home grown applications which developers may or may not have complied with RFC standards, IDP solutions may not have much of an effect for them. Industrial Espionage and Business Intelligence GatheringEvery organisation in the world will have collected some form of information regarding their competitors, through market scanning, industrial profiling or even direct hire of employees from their competitors. Such intelligence gathering are definitely part and parcel activities used for market research and benchmarking. However, there are uncertain boundaries separating competitive intelligence gathering and industrial espionage. The laws in place at times are unable to set such limits and it would seem reasonable to define industrial espionage as intelligence practices of questionable ethics instead (Crane, 2005).Be that as it may, industrial espionage is a very critical threat against SMEs. A succesfully SME breaking in saturated markets would have attained some form of breakthrough in order to stand out. Regardless of whether it is a formulae or business process, competitors would wish to obtain such knowledge in order to raise their own profiles. To safeguard their secrets, SMEs would have to ensure that their security system in place are adequate and their employees educated on the topic. SMEs have to identify that information that would critically harm the company and the value of such information to the company and its competitors.Access to such â€Å"crown jewels† must be controlled and employees must be educated on security awareness programs. Despite that, employees are still the strongest and weakest link. Humans tend to react better to carrots than sticks and most of the time competitors would aim for that. Hiring professionals to perform social engineering, blackmailing, lure of monetary gains are hard to prevent. (Podszywalow, 2011) Personnel Issues in Information Security Human related security issues are extremely problematic and complex in organizations.They involve all the individuals who make up the organization, from top-level managers to clerical staff. It is crucial that the top management recognize that for security management to ultimately succeed, not only the technical dimension must be taken into account, the human aspect of secur ity must not be ignored as well. People issues within an organisation can have an impact on it's ability to effectively manage security. Uncommitted and uninvolved senior managers; unqualified, untrained and careless employees; former disgruntled employees and organizational members’ resistance to change are just some of the potential issues ertaining to human resource that might occur. Hence, to achieve security effectiveness, these issues must be addressed as a whole (Goh, 2003) For SMEs, when hiring an new employee, the employment contract should expressly emphasize the employee's duty to keep certain types of information confidential both during and after the employee's tenure. The language and structure of the contract should be made clear so as to prevent any potential misunderstanding or any loopholes that can be exploited. The employee must sign the agreement before he or she begins to work.The contract can also be included with an employee's personal file to keep tra ck. Even when exiting, care must be taken to ensure that documents, records and other information concerning the company proprietary assets in the possession of the leaver must be surrendered and returned to the company. Conducting a exit interview will help to refresh the terms of employment agreement and trade secret law with the leaver. The employee should be acknowledge in writing that he or she is aware of the obligations and will not disclose any trade secrets of the former employer.Physical Security Issues in Information Security Physical security breaches can sometimes be more devastating than technical breaches like worm attacks. The loss of data, loss of availability either from systems being shut down or by bomb or arson must be considered when dealing with physical security. With the invention of easily concealable USB drives or bombs, coupled with unauthorized access is makes physical security becoming more important. Data transfer speeds have increased as when, allowin g for transferring of a large amount of data in a relativity short period of time.As with any other security planning, physical security must be included to ensure that the risk of above mentioned are reduced. Access to areas such as server rooms or routers or where documents are kept and archived must be control, just locking the doors doesn't seems to be enough now. Access control cards, biometrics system can ensure that only authorised personnel be allowed in. Securing the personal computer of employees, especially if they are using laptop is equally important. Laptop locks and OS hardening to prevent unauthorized usage of USB devices are not allow (Giannoulis & Northcutt, 2007).Cyber Forensic Incident Response Computer forensics is the science of acquiring, retrieving, preserving, and presenting data that has been processed electronically and stored on computer media. When paired with incident response, their job becomes more challenging. They would have to find where a breach o ccurred, plug the hole, then proceed to get the affected server or servers back into service, and then if possible, gather evidence on the intruder for further action and analysis (Daniel & Daniel, 2009)SMEs unfortunately with their limited resources may have to compromise. instead of having a dedicated team to deal with incident response, they might consider getting current employees involved within IT such as server, networking or on site support engineers to carry out such a role. If they have extra budget however, it would work to their benefit if they send their resposne team for courses pertainning to cyber forensic. The additional knowledge will allow the response team to perform more effectively should a threat occur ConclusionSmall and medium enterprises typically faces the same the type of threats that will happen to larger organisations, however their approach and response to the same threat may differ greatly due to the limited resources; human, technical, physical avail able to them. SMEs will have to sometimes think out of the box and be very careful in planning resources for security within the company. The type of hardware, software used for security may be similar to larger organisations however, the setup and configuration may be miles apart as well. SMEs, will have be extra vigilant against information security threats.References (n. d. ). Retrieved March 10, 2013, from Symantec: http://securityresponse. symantec. com/avcenter/security/Content/security. articles/corp. security. policy. html ABS. (2003). Business Use of Information Technology (2001 – 02). Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics. Anderson, R. J. (2001). Why Information Security is Hard – An Economic Perspective. in Proceedings of the Seventeenth Computer Security Applications Conference (pp. 358-365). IEEE Computer Society Press. BH Consulting. (2006). Incident Response White Paper. Dublin: BH Consulting. Blackwell, G. 2010, May 25). Disaster Recovery For Small Business. Retrieved March 13, 2013, from Small Business Computing: http://www. smallbusinesscomputing. com/biztools/article. php/10730_3884076_2/Disaster-Recovery-For-Small-Business. htm Crane, A. (2005). In the company of spies: When competitive intelligence gathering becomes industrial espionage. Nottingham: International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility. Crist, J. (2007). Web Based Attacks. SANS Institute. Daniel, L. E. , & Daniel, L. (2009, September 30). How Is Computer Forensics Different from Incident Response?Retrieved March 13, 2012, from ExForensic: http://webcache. googleusercontent. com/search? q=cache:http://exforensis. blogspot. com/2009/09/how-is-computer-forensics-different. html Disaster Recovery. (n. d. ). Disaster Recovery. Retrieved March 13, 2013, from Disaster Recovery: http://www. disasterrecovery. org/ Giannoulis, P. , & Northcutt, S. (2007). Physical Security. Washington: Security Laboratory: IT Managers – Safety Series. Goh, R. (2003). Info rmation Security: The Importance of the Human Element. Singapore: Preston University. Good Technology. (2009). Mobile Device Security. Good Technology.Hight, S. D. (2005). The importance of a security, education, training and awareness program. Householder, A. , Houle, K. , & Dougherty, C. (2002). Computer attack trends challenge Internet security. IEEE Computer , 35 (4), 5-7. Juhani Anttila. (2005, March). Retrieved March 13, 2013, from QualityIntegration: http://www. qualityintegration. biz/InformationSecurityManagement. html Kelly, L. (2011, November). The top five SME security challenges. Retrieved March 13, 2013, from ComputerWeekly. com: http://www. computerweekly. com/feature/The-top-five-SME-security-challenges Klein, D. V. (1999).Defending against the wily surfer – Web based attacks and defense. California: The USENIX Association. Liu, S. , & Silverman, M. (2001). A Practical Guide to Biometric. IT Pro. Miora, M. (2010). Business Continuity. Los Angeles, California, USA. Moshchuk, A. N. (2000). Understanding and Defending Against Web-borne Security Threats. Washington: University of Washington. Podszywalow, M. (2011, November 29). How to Detect and Stop Corporate Cyber Espionage. Retrieved March 13, 2013, from The Data Chain: http://www. thedatachain. com/articles/2011/11/how_to_detect_and_stop_corporate_cyber_espionagePricewaterhouseCooper. How to align security with your strategic business objectives. PricewaterhouseCooper. Proctor, P. E. , & Byrnes, F. C. (2002). The Secured Enterprise: Protecting Your Information Assets. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Radding, A. (2012, January 04). Retrieved March 10, 2013, from Brainloop: http://www. brainloop. com/fileadmin/assets/PDFs/White_Papers/brainloop_white_paper_info_sec_options. pdf Relkin, J. (2006). 10 ethical issues raised by IT capabilities. CNET Networks Inc. Souppaya, M. , & Scarfone, K. (2012). Guidelines for Managing and Securing Mobile Devices in the Enterprise.National Institute of Standar ds and Technology. Tawileh, A. , Hilton, J. , & Stephen, M. (2007). Managing Information Security in Small and Medium Sized Enterprises: A Holistic Approach. Information Security Solutions Europe Conference, (p. 11). Warsaw. Tiwary, K. D. (2011). Security and ethical issues in it: An organisation perspective. International Journal of Enterprise Computing and Business . Zahorsky, D. (n. d. ). About. com. Retrieved March 13, 2013, from Disaster Recovery Decision Making for Small Business: http://sbinformation. about. com/od/disastermanagement/a/disasterrecover. htm

A day in the life of a bike warehouse worker Essay

It was six o’clock and for the first time in about two years I woke up before my alarm went off. My curtains were not pulled right together so a stream of light was shining on my face. I sat up in bed and looked on my calendar to see what day it was; it was Monday, the first day of my work experience. I got myself out of bed and headed for the shower. The house was so still, every little sound I made seemed to be ten times loader than what it actually was. Like every other morning I had a wash and got changed then crept down stairs to the kitchen. I took a quick glance at the big clock on the wall but the batteries which were destined to run out had finally run flat. I had to find my phone, which I’m constantly forgetting where I put, to know the time. I had put it by the cookery books so that I would see it and not panic like every other morning. It was six forty-five which left me fifteen minutes to grab some breakfast before leaving to do my normal everyday paper round. I took a look in the cupboard to find there was nothing worth having, probably a shopping day knowing my luck. I skipped breakfast and jumped on my bike and headed for the local paper shop. I knew that I had to be at the bike shop for my work experience at about nine o’clock so I figured that I had to hurry up on doing my paper round. When I got the the shop, the shop owner, Paul, was waiting at the door with some bad news. The shop has two paper rounds one which I do and another which my friend David did. He gave me the good news that David had quit with no warning. Usually I would be excited about this because if I did both the paper rounds I would be paid double but the only downfall was I wasn’t sure if I had enough time to do both the paper rounds. Anyway I put all the papers in the bag and did the most strenuous exercise I had done in a long time. It paid off though as that morning I witnessed the most beautiful sun rise. I finally got home, tired out and surprisingly quite cold. Looking at the clock on my mobile phone I had realised that I had been out delivering papers for one and a half hours, allowing me just thirty minutes to get ready and get the the other side of town. I quickly got changed into some suitable clothes and then made my way towards the town. On the way to the town I kept asking myself questions, what will I have to do? Will I be able to do the things which tom did last week? I wonder what the staff will be like? I managed to get myself really nervous about the whole idea of working with people I don’t know and if I was really up for the job. I arrived at the shop ten minutes early so that I could introduce myself and get to know the staff a little bit. The main person in charge, Luke, set me off to do my first task which he said was the most important task off all. I was expecting to hear something to do with the bikes but instead he said â€Å"I don’t suppose you can run up to Aldays and grab use a pint of semi skimmed milk†. It was when he told me to get the milk when I realised they were going to take advantage of me and make me do all the things which they didn’t want to. Anyway, I was there to experience work and if that’s what higher ranked staff do, and then that’s what I was there to experience. When I came back to the shop with the milk Luke told me to follow him to the kitchen. The kitchen was a small, dirty and smelly room which was mainly used to store bike parts. The only thing that made it a kitchen was the fact that it had a small, filthy sink, a kettle and a bag of tea bags which my best mate Tom had brought in the previous week. In the kitchen were a number of large boxes which contained bikes. Luke pulled one into the middle of the room and asked me to build it in the kitchen whilst he went back to the till to repair some other bikes. This was the part I was dreading most of all, I had never built a bike from flat pack before and there I was expected to know how it all goes together. I opened the box and took a peep inside. The only way of describing what the bike looked like then was simply a box of bits. I took out everything and placed them in an orderly fashion across the floor. I was expecting to find a small booklet or leaflet with instructions on how to build the bike but there wasn’t any. I didn’t want the staff to know that I came to the bike shop not knowing how to build a bike so I decided to have a go at making it how I thought it went. The first main problem I came across was the packaging. Everything was really well packaged and taped up and all I had to remove it with was a small pair of very blunt scissors. I took a look at the parts in front of me and got cracking with making the bike. Most of the building was pure common sense but there were a few occasions where I had to take apart previous parts so that I could correct myself in places. Once I had finished making the bike I had to adjust the brakes and make sure that everything was in good order. There were lots of bare cable ends which I had to cover but unfortunately I caught the end of my finger on one of the thin cable ends leaving me in agony. I stood up, took a step back and looked at what I had done. I had made my first ever bike from scratch and I must admit, I thought I had done a very good job of it. I went out to find one of the staff members so that they could see if I had done everything ok. A young worker there called Steve came into the kitchen to check over the bike. I was biting my nails and gritting my teeth, hoping that I had done the job correctly. He was being very precise looking at every adjustment and checking that every screw was tight. He stopped what he was doing, leant the bike against the wall and said â€Å"Well done, you can carry on with the rest of the bikes in the store room†. I was so over the moon. I had taught myself a new skill which in the future could help me out. Now that my confidence was a lot better, I found I could make the bikes a lot quicker. I made a further three bikes each a bit different before Luke came into the room and told me that I deserved a lunch break. I took advantage of my break by jogging home and getting myself some lunch. When I came back to the shop I wanted to get straight back into it but there were other jobs that needed to be done. During my break a small lorry fully of ready and unready made bikes had arrived at the shop. With help from John, another employee of the shop, I removed all the bikes and boxes from the lorry to one of two cellars. Once the bikes were all down in the cellar I had the job of sorting them all out into different groups. I didn’t really enjoy this much as the cellar was a dark, gloomy room with a not to pleasant smell in the air. I was happy to get out of there once I had finished sorting the bikes out. There was enough time to make a couple more bikes so I was sent back to the kitchen with my tools to make some more bikes from the store room. The radio wasn’t too good as the aerial had broken off, so I found myself a tape which I could work to. The time really flew as my mind was in working mode. At three o’clock Luke came back into the kitchen and checked all the bikes I had done. He was very impressed with what I had done and told me that I could go home. The room looked like a bomb had been set off in it so I cleared away all the tools I was using, put all the bikes I had built into stock and washed up the cups. I was now ready to go home. On the way out Luke said thank you for the work and said that he would discount me if I needed to buy any thing for my bike. I said good bye and went home. On the way home I thought about how my day had been. I realised that although I didn’t originally want to work at the bike shop, it wasn’t as bad as what I was expecting. In life you’re not always going to get the jobs you want so I decided that for the rest of the week I was going to make the most of the experience.