The Components Of Music ( An Educational Essay About What...

Components of Music (An educational essay about what makes up music) There are many different essential parts or components of music. Music is more than just notes on a page or any common song one may hear on the radio. Music is very complex and there are various components of it that makes it what it is. Music is an essential part of a countless number of people’s lives in the world today. Music serves as therapy, relaxation, a focus component and many other things that rectify the wrongs in the live’s of people all over the world. Nobody can say that they had not had a musical experience. One may say that the unfortunate that are deaf have not had musical experiences. In reality deaf people feel the vibrations of music everyday and it†¦show more content†¦The elements of music contain many categories and subcategories that cannot exist without each other. Stanley Sadie states that music â€Å"has been defined as ‘organized sound’† (Sadie 14). The word â€Å" organized† here is a bit understated. Music is the most organized of all the arts. If music are not organized correctly, it will not sound right or even be able to be played at times. Even in the most technical and complicated genres like Jazz there is still organized. In solos there has to be organized or the solo won’t sound good, throw off the rest of the band, and do many other things that would make a piece of music not enjoyable to listen to. Sadie states all elements of music. He talks of notation which include pitch, octaves, scales, and intervals. Next there is rhythm which includes pulse/tempo, meter, notation of rhythm, and time/meter signatures. Then he gets into the melody of music which is where the notation and rhythm play out, he involves in melody the subcategory of cadence. Cadence is better defined as â€Å"a melodic or harmonic configuration that creates a sense of resolution [finality or pause]† (Randel). He then goes onto key/tonality which consists of tonic, dominant; key signatures; major, minor; modulation; and modes. He covers harmony which comprises chords, triads and consonance and dissonance. Counterpoint/polyphony is his next element which incorporates imitation. His last musical element that he covers is

William Shakespeare s Merchant Of Venice - 2351 Words

William Shakespeare has written many plays with tragic endings, happy endings, and everything in between. One of his plays, Merchant of Venice, is considered a comedy for its resolve of marriage, fortune, and wellbeing of its main characters. Except for one. This character, Shylock, is the sole force pushing the play as a conflicted characters, and he is depicted as the villain of the play. The events that take place in the story leave Antonio with a happy ending, but a much more grim, destructive and crushing forfeiture for Shylock, which when boiled down and considered leaves a much darker happily ever after than thought for this play, which is why this play is best understood as a tragedy because the heart of the story is not the tale of the static Antonio, but rather the rise and fall of Shylock, the perceived villain, and money lender of Venice. Shylock’s rise and fall through the entire story reflects the play as a tragedy through Antonio’s relentless abuse towards Shylock with the devastating end of Shylock not having justice, Shylock losing of his daughter Jessica when he’s only trying to protect her, and Shylock losing everything during the trial scene where the law is manipulated to be in Antonio’s favor. To begin, Antonio’s abuse towards Shylock previously and presently in the play contributes heavily to the feeling of defeat when Antonio unjustly wins the trial, and only adds to the pain and suffering he has already experienced from Antonio. This abuse, ruthless,Show MoreRelatedWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice Essay1624 Words   |  7 PagesWilliam Shakespeare s comedy The Merchant of Venice uses contrasting religions to draw out major themes through the ethnic divides that are exemplified. The play expresses the extreme cultural divide between the Jews and Christians through a legal contract between two men. The rivalry between the two men, Shylock and Antonio is clear from the beginning of the play and only intensifies as it continues on. Modern day readers most likely take away a slightly different message from the play than whatRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice1320 Words   |  6 Pagesghetto, and were treated as inferior to the rest of the city. William Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice exhibits the prejudicial attitudes of his era. Antonio, a Christian merchant, makes a deal with Shylock, a Jewish moneylender. Shylock uses it as an opportunity to exact revenge by demanding a pound of Antonio’s flesh if he does not meet his end of the bargain. By pitting the majority of his characters against Shylock, Shakespeare portrays Shylock in a way that discriminates against all JewsRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice2269 Words   |  10 PagesSamantha Hansen ENG 314 Brother Brugger 12.15.14 The Question of Shylock It is hard to read The Merchant of Venice without finding at least one character to sympathize with. The unforgettable villain Shylock as well as Portia, Shakespeare’s first and one of his most famous heroines are arguably some of this plays most beloved characters. But, is Shylock really the villain? Or is he a victim of circumstance? Shylock’s insistence for a pound of flesh has made him one of literatures most memorableRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice1970 Words   |  8 Pagesthe titles are reflective of the protagonists featured within. For example, the famous titles of Julius Caesar and Hamlet tell the tragedies of those respective characters. However, when it comes to William Shakespeare’s fourteenth play, The Merchant of Venice, it can be argued that Antonio, the merchant, is not who the play is about. In fact, there is not just one character, but instead multiple that fit the description of the protagonist. The main plot, or rather p lots, of the play revolve aroundRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice1315 Words   |  6 PagesIn The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare the play is based upon the hierarchy between Christian men and Jewish men. A character by the name of Bassanio borrows money from his friend Antonio, and Antonio borrows the money from Shylock to give to Bassanio. Eventually, Antonio cannot pay the money back because his ships have supposedly sunk. Therefore, he comes close to death because he signed a bond with Shylock stating that Shylock would get a pound of his flesh if the bond was not repaidRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice1532 Words   |  7 Pagesuseless dialogue can make readers skip over what seems like a false beginning to a good story. But think about this: what if those seemingly lengthy, extra, useless words were actually important? For example, the opening 115 lines of William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice are provide minimal support to the story at first glance. In these lines, Antonio and his friends are discussing the dynamics of happiness and sadness in order to find the root of Antonio’s sad mood. This portion of the play givesRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s Merchant Of Venice988 Words   |  4 PagesAs I finished reading Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare, I realized that the struggle of the play gyrates around whether justice is truly served and is morality advocated or manipulated by those in authority. The struggle between the principles of justice have caused many readers to question the interaction between the definition of morality and justice. The bond that causes readers to take a closer look throughout the play originates from Shylock’s desire for vengeance and Antonio’s desireRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice1532 Words   |  7 Pagesfundamentalist Americans. The ills of money-lending from the Eastern perspective have been fodder for Western literature for centuries, replete with illustrations that mirror the differences and similarities in East-West cultural norms. In William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, money-lending has gone awry. In Act I, Scene iii, the Italian Antonio seeks to borrow 3,000 ducats from the Jewish Shylock, and Shylock intends to charge him interest, which is against Jewish economic-religious principles (BateRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice Essay1275 Words   |  6 PagesShakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice is so alike to our financially afflicted world. The rules of law and commerce are subject to deceptive manipulation, fear of the other overwhelms respect for a common humanity, duplicity is the norm, sexuality is a vehicle for ambition, and money drives and wraps almost every action. It is a classic tale that includes important details of the financial crisis in the Unit ed States during 2007-2009. Shakespeare’s Venice, like the New York of his time - and theRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice2059 Words   |  9 Pagesin The Merchant of Venice resembles a folktale known as â€Å"A Pound of Flesh† (325). Artese supports his supposition with background context and parallels between the two story lines. Literary versions of the pound of flesh story circulated during the sixteenth century and were collected since the nineteenth century because of the plot’s longevity and populairity Shakespeare would have been familiar with pound of flesh stories (326). Human commodification is a central issue in both The Merchant of Venice

Othello Essay Research Paper Character Analysis of free essay sample

Othello Essay, Research Paper Character Analysis of Othello In the drama Othello, the character of Othello has certain traits which make him look naif and unworldly compared to many other people. This is why Iago, to acquire his merely wagess uses him as a whipping boy. Iago told Roderigo, # 8221 ; O, sir, content you. I follow him [ Othello ] to function my bend upon him # 8220 ; ( I, one lines 38-9 ) . Iago is stating, he merely follows Othello to a point, and upon making it he will non follow him any longer. Iago has opened my eyes to see the existent significance of fraudulence. No affair what, Iago will seek to take advantage of Othello any clip and he will be easy lead to believe the prevarications of Iago. The Moor, as many Venetians call him, is of strong character. He is really proud and in control of every move throughout the drama. The control is non merely of power but of the sense of his being who he is, a great warrior. In Act I, Othello has a hassle with Brabantio, who has come to kill him, but before anything could go on Othello said, # 8220 ; Keep your custodies, both of you of my inclination and the remainder. Were it my cue to contend, I should hold known it without a prompter # 8221 ; ( I, ii, lines 80-3 ) . The power shown here is rather dumbfounding. The nature of Othello # 8221 ; s character is of a dark adult male. A dark adult male, non merely because he is black, but besides because his whole individual is really cryptic. He is cryptic in that he believes there is charming brewing everyplace. With this dark side he is besides really outgoing, and non really brilliantly. He isn # 8221 ; t observant and the strategies of Iago work good on him. Though he doesn # 8221 ; t reflect excessively much on his yesteryear, except occasional ventures of wars fought, he does allow his emotions run his life. For all the dangers and brushs he has been involved in, this adult male is still naif of the corruptness of other persons. Othello has a trustful nature in which he gives it all. He put all his trust in Iago during times of war and during Othello # 8221 ; s matrimony to Desdemona. This wasn # 8221 ; t really bright of Othello, even if he wasn # 8221 ; T swearing or more corrupt he still wouldn # 8221 ; t recognize Iago was lying. Everyone considered Iago as honest, and would be out of character for Othello to believe any different. For illustration, Othello had told the Duke, # 8220 ; So delight your grace, my antediluvian ; A adult male he is of honestness and trust. To his conveyance I assign my married woman, With what else needed your good grace shall believe, To be sent after me # 8221 ; ( I, three, lines 284-8 ) . The control over any state of affairs is one Othello # 8221 ; s strong features. Through the whole first act you can visualize a adult male so much power and natural leading and when he changes you can non believe it. For illustration, when Lodovico had witnessed Othello hit Desdemona, he said: # 8220 ; Is this the baronial Moor whom our full Senate Name all in all sufficient? Is this the nature Whom passion could non agitate? whose solid virtuousness The shooting of accident nor dart of opportunity could neither crop nor pierce # 8221 ; ( IV, I, lines 264-8 ) ? While Iago, being the honest adult male he is, replies: # 8220 ; He # 8221 ; s that he is, I may non take a breath my animadversion. What he might be ( if, what he might, he is non ) I would to heaven he were # 8221 ; ( IV, I, lines 270-2 ) . Another topographic point where Shakspere shows Othello taking control over a state of affairs is when Cassio and Montano are contending after Roderigo antagonized him. These words Othello said are of import now, but they will be more of import subsequently when he is entirely with Desdemona in their sleeping room. He will state: # 8220 ; Now , by Eden, My blood begins my safer ushers to govern, And passion, holding my best opinion collied, Assaies to take the manner. If I once stir Or make but raise this arm, the best of you Shall sink in my reproof # 8221 ; ( II, three, lines 203-8 ) . You must experience sorrow for Othello because with all the power he has and the eternal trust he gives, you try to make out and demo him the truth. By holding his antediluvian or friend, Honest Iago bring him the intelligence of his married woman # 8221 ; s bad wonts. Othello had no alternate but to believe him. If any adult male was brought intelligence of this type they would certainly travel off the deep terminal. Iago non merely told him but he told him in a manner that it was hard non to believe. He didn # 8221 ; t state a twosome who have been married for old ages, and who would cognize the likes and disfavors of one another, but he told a freshly wed twosome. Othello didn # 8221 ; t truly cognize Desdemona before they were married. Othello said, # 8220 ; She loved me for the dangers I had passed, and I loved her that she did commiseration them # 8221 ; ( I, iii, lines 166-7 ) . This adult male had truly fallen in love with person whose life was tiring and needed escapade. Othello # 8221 ; s origin besides inhibited him from understanding European adult females. He did see for himself the misrepresentation of Desdemona toward her male parent and remembered the words he had said to him: # 8220 ; Look to her, Moor, if 1000 has eyes to see: She has deceived her male parent, and may thee # 8221 ; ( I, iii, lines 286-7 ) . When Othello has been given information from Iago in Act III scene three, he can non take any more so he asks Iago to go forth in which he does. Upon returning, Iago continues to implement his old statements and Othello seems non bothered for he replies, # 8220 ; Fear non my authorities # 8221 ; ( III, three, 256 ) . With all this there is no adult male who can defy such intelligence like the intelligence that Iago has given to Othello. Most of the work forces who are would make much worse than in the instance of Othello. This doesn # 8221 ; t demo green-eyed monster, but when he is entirely and has clip to contemplate the state of affairs and has seen the hankie in the custodies of Cassio, now is when his blood begins his safer ushers to govern. After recognizing Othello had been tricked into believing the prevarications of Iago. He couldn # 8221 ; t manage the torment of cognizing he had slaying in green-eyed monster instead for justness. This desolation in Othello # 8221 ; s character brought the strong warrior back into the scene. Where he transformed into his ain justice, jury, and sentenced himself. He told the people around him in their letters to compose of him non in maliciousness, so he said: # 8220 ; Then you must talk of one that loved non sagely but excessively good # 8221 ; ( V, two, line 344 ) . After the address was done he carried out his sentence, took a knife and stabbed himself. He so said: # 8220 ; I kissed thee ere I killed thee. No manner but this, Killing myself, to dice upon a kiss # 8221 ; ( V, two, line 359-60 ) . He so laid down on the bed and died with self-respect ( Stauffer 173 ) . Othello was covetous. He was told his married woman was rip offing on him and he thought he was killing for justness. He even said he loved non sagely but excessively good. When he did kill it was non really smart of him to believe another adult male about something he should cognize more approximately. This drama introduced alterations in Othello # 8221 ; s character when these alterations evolved there was Iago lurking and waiting for the opportunity to leap in and take advantage of Othello. This why my belief of Othello is one of a adult male whose character is brought to visible radiation of a atrocious state of affairs by a fallacious Satan named Iago 315

Salt Lake City Winter Games Essay Example

Salt Lake City Winter Games Essay In all Olympic events, there are general issues emerged, like housing, transportation, traffic, etc. In the Salt Lake City Winter Olympic however, observers stated that there are additional burden, which resulted the Games to be more difficult to manage compare to others previously held. Before elaborating the specific variables which have caused problems within the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Games, I will describe the generic variables of managing a large and internationalized project like Olympics.Despite the numerous studies conducted toward the project management field, there is still no valid consensus about the variables that influences the workings of a project. There is sill no valid consensus among researchers about what make some project succeeded and others failed. However, to simplify the evaluation of a project, the definition of variables effecting project management is still required. All the variables defined by many researchers can be divided into four large categori es. §Ã‚   technical category, §Ã‚   social category, §Ã‚   environment category and §Ã‚   Availability of resources categoryII.1.1  Ã‚   Technical CategoryThe technical category includes individual capabilities, technical difficulty, trouble shooting (Pinto Slevin, 1988), system capability (Kloman, 1972), Integration Risk (Parsons, 2002), etc. In managing Olympics, most of the factors involved within this category are generic factors in managing all Olympics.For instance, the capabilities if individuals are relatively constant. They are members or associates of the IOC. The IOC generally sends one or several teams of representatives to the hosts. The representatives would then collaborate with local management teams that are responsible for hosting the Olympics. There is always a considerable watch over the credibility of core people involved in managing the Games. Therefore, there is enough reason to categorize this factor as a generic factor among most modern Olympics.H owever, there are also factors within this category that differs for most Olympics management. One of them is the technical difficulty factor. Different hosts have different problems in preparation of Olympics. For instance, some host might have almost every infrastructure required to run the games –like streets, housings, etc-, while others might have to undergo giant projects in order to be adequately prepared.II.1.2  Ã‚   Social CategoryThe social category consists of feedback, communication, organization teamwork, leadership, engineer-scientist coordination, etc. The category represents significant differentiation among all Olympic hosts. If there is anything generic about this category, it is its high level of difficulty to be managed. Despite the fact that IOC is in a constant watch of every host in Olympic management practices, different hosts have different quality of leaders, commitment, focus and empowerment within their local organization. It influences their â⠂¬Ëœstyle’ in managing the colossal event.II.1.3  Ã‚   Environment CategoryThis category includes geographical dispersion, politics, external support, etc. This category represents the relationship between Olympic hosts and their local and national environment. Naturally, this is the category that receives the most attention from external parties, for instance, the national government, the local government, various organizations of sports, economic analysts, environmentalist, etc. Generally, due to the fact that the hosts themselves have gone through a painful bidding process in order to host the Olympic Games, there is little to concern about this category. Nevertheless, most of them –like the national government and independent analysts- usually keep a close watch over management of the game and how it affects various fields.II.1.4  Ã‚   Availability of Resources CategoryThe difficulty of obtaining the required resources is a generic issue among all Olympic hosts . Analysts would even compare the expenses of each game, in order to compare which was the largest and which was the more efficient. Within this event, to be insufficient in funding and other resources are very much unlikely. The hosts have all succeeded in winning the bid, and thus, they have generally prepared abundant resources to support the event. The Game is always marked with spending frenzy of various resources. Nevertheless, an anomaly has occurred in the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Games. This anomaly –which will be discussed in later part of the essay-, is the reason why this particular event is often studied.II.2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Challenges Within the 2002 Winter GamesAfter defining the generic factors involved within managing Olympics, I will now elaborate the reason why the 2002 Winter Games have considerably different challenges.II.2.1  Ã‚   2002 Winter Olympic Bid ScandalIn 1998, two reporters founded that several officials of the IOC has taken bribe money in relation to the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Games bidding process. Furthermore, there are also reports that members of the local group responsible for Salt Lake City’s Olympic (SLCO)bid had bribed The IOC to win the bid. Investors of the game were highly influenced by the scandals. The budget given to the project manager was cut down severely to reflect the millions of revenue dollars unlikely to materialize. This single factor is the cause of ‘shortcomings’ in many aspects of the game management.The scandal that affected the project management of the games was involving allegations of bribery to obtain the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. The city had attempted several times to secure the games, but constantly failed. After the city had finally succeeded in wining the Olympic bid, the IOC were accused of taking bribes from SLOC. The scandal broke on December 10, 1998, when a head of the coordination committee announced that several members of the IOC had take bribe s. Soon after, ten members of the IOC were expelled and ten others were sanctioned. Despite the exposed fact that it was not the first time bribery had happened within the IOC, the 2002 Winter Olympic was the first to be promoted with a dark image hanging above IOC’s –and SLOCs- image (‘2002 Winter,’ 2006).American Congress members have also stated their disappointment toward the local members of SLOC. They believed that the organization performed illegal actions to bring millions of dollars of taxpayer’s money into their city management. Soon after, a ranking Democrat on the House Commerce Committee specifically asked the General Accounting Office to ensure that all the money resulted from Olympic campaigns would be used by Salt Lake City for roads, mass transits and other projects linked to the Games (‘Olympic Ethics’, 1999).II.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Effects of the ScandalViewed from the generic category of project management, t he scandal has tremendous effect on at least three out of the four category of project management elaborated previously. The are the social, environment and resource availability category. Within the social and external environment category, the scandal causes changes of leadership and also increasing scrutiny from authorities (national government and IOC). It was obviously necessary to re-build the sense of trust among investors and partners. The working environment can be considerably uncomfortable due to the thick atmosphere of suspicion. A new and credible leadership is required to set things back on track.In the resource availability category the scandal have the largest effects. As a direct result of the scandal, US West, a regional telecommunications company, has refused to send more installments from their planned $ 60 million sponsorship. US West were the first among many that refused to continue their installment sponsorship plan toward the Games. The phenomena caused a de ficit of SLOC’s budget as much as $357 million (‘Salt Lake Olympics’, 1999). SLOC had to re-configure their financial and incorporated a huge cost cut activities in order to get the game running.III.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Project ManagementPrior to evaluating how the SLOC managed the already ‘troubled’ 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games, it is necessary to understand the underlying concepts of project management. In its very simple definition, Project Management is the discipline of defining and achieving target by maximizing the use of available resources. Resources including money, time, people, materials, energy and space are gathered and managed efficient effectively to produce the best possible result, during the course of a project. In a sense, project management is the effort to gain control over five variables, time, cost, quality, scope and risk. A problem in controlling one of the variables will disrupt the work ings of the entire management system.III.1  Ã‚  Ã‚   Concurrent ConstructionA more novel concept of project management -although hardly new- is the Concurrent Construction (CC) concept. CC is an integrated approach to the planning and execution of all project activities. It is the latest development from the concept of integrated design of project management, from the conceptualization stage through completion. Some of the underlying principles of CC are: Integration of all project phases into a single phase, integration of total project information, establishment of direct and real-time intra- and inter team communication. It its practice, advanced communication technology and real time communication system is highly required.III.2  Ã‚  Ã‚   Managing Global ProjectsIn case of managing a global project or a project with global staff –like the Olympics, there are several factors that hold increasing importance. One of the most important is technology. Being global will req uire more than a spreading of technology. A more careful selection of networks and infrastructure will be required to get the job done (Gunderloy, n.d). Cost management will be a major issue and management will need to evaluate obstacles such as communication, airport infrastructure, power politics, and languages. A coordination plan that addresses all the issues mentioned will be required and extra effort is important to monitor and keeping the project on track (Murphy, n.d).IV.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Project Strategy, Project Leadership and Project SystemThe 2002 Winter Olympic Games were highly influenced by the financial deficit of the committee. It was far from the general spending frenzy that typically surrounds the games. In 1998, Japan spent $2.7 billion for their winter games, which was twice the cost of the previous Winter Olympics. However, the budget for the Salt Lake City Winter Games was only $1.32 billion. For an extreme statement, Fraser Bullock, the financial manager of Salt Lake Olympic Committee stated that they are not trying to put the best game ever, but instead, just trying to put the games (Harris, 2000).IV.1  Ã‚  Ã‚   Project StrategyDue to the existing challenges, financial strategy has been made the core project strategy. The financial strategy of SLOC is to restore confidence and the image of the game by performing cost cutting and keeping their books wide open. In Olympics, sponsors generally provide half of the budget for winter games. SLOC has the obligation to restore their confidence in the game. The entire system of managing the project is therefore, severely impacted by the strategy.In order to cut unnecessary cost, Bullock re-categorized all expenses as must-haves, nice-to-haves and non-necessities. For example, 400-meter speed-skating course, with safety padding and viewing stands is a must-have facility. Permanent seats, which are more expensive than temporary seats are nice-to-haves. Most o f the non-necessities are practically ‘out of the budget’. The classification changed many things. The traditional trip to the home of IOC in Lausanne, Switzerland was instantly replaced by conference calls. There is no more ‘fancy’ dinner and lunches, free souvenirs to SLOC visitors, and furthermore, Bullock eliminate contingency funds from individual budgets of all of the SLOC managers.The cost cuts are considerably effective. Staff and administration reduction were in total of 40 million or 12 percent of the original budget. By using a new and ‘simpler’ sponsor for the food services, SLOC saved millions. Similar cost cuts were happening with sponsors of information technology and other areas. Even the traditionally ‘sacred’ methods, like using volunteer staffs were reduced. Bullock found that by reducing the amount of volunteers, SLOC will save money from ‘not producing’ uniforms, food and supports.Even with the cos t cuts, SLOC remained optimist that the international event will still be something for people to see. Bullock stated that they will use any resource available, including the beauty of the mountains the surrounded the area. The fact the Utah had already many supporting infrastructures for the winter games was also very helpful.IV.2  Ã‚  Ã‚   Project LeadershipIV.2.1 Hard and Soft ParadigmResearchers have developed a standard that differentiates between several types of leadership styles. There are two paradigms that shape the tendencies of managerial leadership. The two paradigm are hard and soft paradigm. The hard paradigm is often associated with values such as rationalistic, positivistic, scientific, reductionism (Oakley, 2003) or quantitative (Higgs, 2001). Meanwhile, the soft paradigm is associated with concepts such as hermeneutic, qualitative, phenomenological, interpretive, reflective, inductive or ethnographic (Ticehurst Veal, 2000).Both paradigms represent the opposite polar that builds leadership styles. Most leaders have a tendency to use certain paradigm more than the other; however, both of them are useful if utilized in the appropriate manner and time. In case of the 2002 Winter Games management –as will be elaborated below-, the leaders managed to take advantages of both paradigms to gain support and accomplished the task at hand.IV.2.2 Fraser BullockBullock was in charge of bringing the 2002 Olympic preparations back to its sense. He himself is an expert in cost cuts. In 1980, he was appointed CFO of a financially troubled World Airways Inc. Before coming to the SLOC, he made a fortune by assembling companies from fragmented industries. He is famous as an expert in the path of ‘hard paradigm’ His famous philosophy was â€Å"finance is not a threat, its and asset’ (Harris, 2000).Nevertheless, some articles mentioned that Bullock was not ignorant when it comes to the values within the soft paradigm. Many predicted that Bullock’s cost cuts will bring a lot of hatred toward the Financial Manager. However, Bullock seemed to understand that to proceed with the cost cut strategy; he would need the support of his the staffs.Allinger, a former silver medalist for speed skating, stated that the financial manager has a lot of faith toward his staff. He never interfered with detailed decision of his staff, but he made sure that they knew the ‘lack of choice’ scenario, behind the strategy of cost cuts. SLOC vice president, Cindy Gillespie stated that they have gone through quite a mind shift. Despite the fact that she had experienced becoming a staff of the 1996 Atlanta Games –where the work philosophy was to create ‘the greatest games ever’-, she understand that the 2002 winter game would be an ‘essentials-only’ games (Harris, 2000).In addition, Bullock made sure that he gave proof that items would be added back from the central contingency fund if n ecessary. For example, he brought back $135,000 for a special pedestrian bridge at the Soldier hollow cross country biathlon venue. The step was taken to address the security concerns that athletes and spectators would be sharing venue access (Harris, 2000). This was an example of well managed coordination between engineers-scientist and the managers.IV.2.3 Milt RomneyAfter the embarrassing scandal that hit the SLOC,   the organization turn to a venture capitalist, Milt Romney, to clean up their act through reorganization and selection of new management. Romney was known for his expertise in reviving troubled businesses. The Republican seemed almost welcoming to the scrutinize look that everyone gave to him as he took the job. He stated that SLOC would not spend more money that they can take in at the time. He promise and ethical game and game management throughout the winter Olympic (‘Romney hired’, 1999).Romney has calmed old corporate supporters and lured new ones. He managed to add 24 sponsors and suppliers and increase revenues by $ 178.5 million. Some of the investors were coming back because they were pleased with how Romney and Bullock had run the organization. Romney and his team helped the Olympics back onto their feet. The game was so different form projections that it actually turned into a profit of USD $ 100 million, the largest for winter games (‘2002 winter’, 2006).IV.3  Ã‚  Ã‚   Project SystemThe system of managing the giant event was complicated and involved a wide range of advanced communication technology and system expert. The preparation involved local as well as international parties through out the world.IV.3.1 Infrastructure §Ã‚   Traffic IssuesAs mentioned before, the SLOC is helped the existence of a sufficient infrastructure of Salt Lake City. For example, the state of Utah had undertaken a giant project of enhancing transportation infrastructure by widening 16 mile roads, 9 interchanges, 144 bridges and involved 3.2 million square yard of concrete. All the bridges and stretch of pavements is scheduled for replacement. 1,000 lightning features are installed to illuminate roadway, bridges underpasses and tunnels (‘Olympic City’, n.d). §Ã‚   Housing IssuesCooperating with the state Division of Facilities Construction Management, SLOC built a $ 120 million student housing project that will be used as the athletes village during the 2002 Winter Olympics. Construction was speeded up to be occupied by university students at least a year before the games. The objective was to find and correct any mistakes in the design of the building before the athletes arrived. The state paid for $ 90 million and SLOC paid for $ 30 for the entire project. The design was so complex, but contractors managed to finish the project on schedule (‘Contractors site’, 2001).IV.3.2 TechnologyThe Salt Lake City Olympics draws attention not only due to the amount of scandals that sur round it, but also to the technological design of the management system. The high-tech management system inspired the IOC to perform a new ‘recycling’ technological strategy for Olympics. In simple terms, the recycling technology means that the technological infrastructure from previous Olympic will renewed, redesigned and reset for the next game. On other worlds, the high tech equipment used in Salt Lake City Olympics will be used to support the Athens Olympic Games.In Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, management used 900 servers, mostly from Sun Microsystems, and 10,500 PCs, mostly from Dell. The main application set was called the Games Management System, written specifically for the Salt Lake City Games. The software made possible the automation of events scheduling, transport schedules for athletes and volunteers and accreditation for 200,000 other participants of the Olympics Games (media, VIP’s, volunteers and staffs). Another application system, the Informa tion Diffusion System (IDS) collected the scores and times and disseminates them to the media and various websites. Despite the tight budget, the success of the technology systems is very visible (‘Olympic Recycling’, 2005).V.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Lesson LearnedThe SLOC had successfully turned an under budget project into profitable ones. The values of managing a global project were implemented appropriately. The sense of direction was given when SLOC stated that performing a modest budget Olympic Games was the primary goal. Leadership and the ability to delegate were also performed by the CFO and the leader of the project. They manage to bring back sponsors and induced confidence within the organization. The Game was considered to be the benchmark that restores the image of Olympic after the controversy of a scandal (‘Evolution of Olympic’, 2006).VI.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The London 2012 Olympic GamesLondon is the favor ed location for the 2012 Olympic Games. In light of the lesson taken from 2002 Olympics, there are several aspects to be considered: §Ã‚   Proper ConductDespite the success of 2002 Winter Games, the embarrassing scandal that hit the heart of IOC and other National Olympic Committees (NOC) will still echo in the minds of public and more importantly investors. The 2002 Olympic had proven that investors are highly sensitive toward legal accusations. The 2012 Olympic committee must deliver their best effort to maintain a clear image that everything within the game is nothing but fair and transparent (‘Olympic Bid Allegations’, 2004). §Ã‚   A More Technical PlanThe 2002 Olympics also revealed certain problems regarding their infrastructure. There are social issues within the manner which they built dome of the housing for athletes. This should not be repeated in the 2012 Olympics. Games conducted outside the Great Britain must be well-connected to the area. Traffic and t ransportation plan must be laid out transparently in order to ensure the athletes receive the proper treatment (‘Revamp’, 2004). §Ã‚   Safety ConcernsInviting athletes and ambassadors form the entire world, the London bid team should ensure that the place is safe enough to be in. The London explosion that happened in the middle of 2005 was bad signs of security issues (Pye, 2005).

The relative valuation model Essay Example

The relative valuation model Essay The purpose of this report is to undertake a firm valuation for Woolworths, using discounted cash flow model and the relative valuation model. This report provides information obtained through a conduct of Free Cash Flow to Firm Discount Valuation Model for Woolworths Limited (WOW), estimating the firm’s current share value. The report will then identify 3 key drivers of the firm’s value in this model; tests are performed in the report to identify the sensitivity of share value in the model to changes in specific variables. In the second section of this report, companies, with similar beta and Earnings per Share Growth as Woolworths’, are analysed and compared, using Relative Valuation as another valuation method to estimate the WOW’s current value. Finally, this report will conduct a regression analysis to justify the result achieved in the Relative Valuation. About Woolworths Woolworths Limited is the largest food retailer in Australia with principal operations in supermarkets within Australia and in New Zealand. WOW and its main rival, COLES Supermarket, take up around 79% of the total grocery market. WOW also has other operations, which include liquor, petrol, general merchandise and consumer electronics. Woolworths has a market capitalisation of $29,927 million, its shares are currently trading at $24. 63 per share. (Market Cap and share price are acquired from FinAnalysis on 16 September 2011) Discounted Cash Flow Valuation Model (DCF) Discounted Cash Flow Valuation Model is used to evaluate the potential for investment by discounting back the firm’s future free cash flows. The DCF model used in this report is Free Cash Flow to Equity Valuation Model (FCFE). We will write a custom essay sample on The relative valuation model specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The relative valuation model specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The relative valuation model specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Risk free rate: 3. 64%. The Australia 3-Year Government Bond yield on 16 September 2011 is used as a proxy for the risk free rate for this valuation. Firstly, Australia has SP highest credit rating of AAA, also a Fitch credit rating of AA+. These ratings denote expectations of Australia having very low to lowest default risk, very strong to exceptionally strong capacity for payment of financial commitments, where this capacity is not significantly to highly unlikely vulnerable to foreseeable events. Secondly, using Australian-dollar-denoted rate is an easier approach than using USD-denoted rate, where assumptions, for such as exchange rates, may deviate the valuation result from the true value. Thus, we believe that this is a comparable figure to represent the return demanded from a theoretically absolute risk-free investment over this valuation period. Levered Beta: 0. 71 throughout the 3-year high growth period. This is found on FinAnalysis on 16 September 2011. It was calculated by adjusting the industry’s beta based on WOW’s financial leverage. For stable growth period, ? =0. 8 is chosen, as WOW’s beta will approach to one when the firm is approaching to stable stage, which acknowledges the increased stability of WOW by the end of the high growth period. Price sensitivity to change in stable growth rate, 1st key driver of the firm value: One of the key drivers of the firm value is the assumption for the stable growth rate. In our initial valuation, we assume that the firm’s stable growth rate will be approaching to Australian GDP growth rate as the firm achieves stability. As presented, the estimated share value of WOW will increase as the stable growth rate increases. Price sensitivity to change in cost of equity during stable growth stage, 2nd key driver of the firm value: Another key driver of the value in the process of valuation is the cost of equity during stable growth stage. We initially assumed that the cost of equity will be 7. 64% as the beta of the firm will move towards one when the firm approaches stability. The estimated share price of the firm will decrease as the cost of equity during stable growth increases. Price sensitivity to change in length of high growth, 3rd key driver of the firm value: In the last scenario, the assumption of length of high growth period has changed from the initial 3 years to 5 years. This could happen due to the recent financial breakdown, which would significantly slow down the growth of the firm. Should 5-year high growth be used, Australian 5-Year Government Bond rate of 3. 81% is chosen as the risk free rate for the model, as a result of which, the Cost of Equity during high growth and stable growth stages will change as presented below. Other factors stay constant, the estimated share price of WOW will be $26. 80, under which circumstances, the firm is undervalued given the current share price is $24. 63 on 16 September 2011. PS ratio is believed to be uniformly measured as all financial figures for the comparable firms are obtained from the current financial year at FinAnalysis. As these comparable firms are from different markets that have different accounting rules, Price to Sales (PS) ratio is chosen as the multiple to evaluate these comparable firms. Besides that, a similar financial leverage across these comparable firms gives us more of the reason to use PS ratio as the multiple.

Socio-Economic Status of Slum Dwellers

Socio-Economic Status of Slum Dwellers Free Online Research Papers The study region is municipal area situated in dist. Pratapgarh, which sites in Gangetic plain in UP. It spreads over 12 km2 with total population of 71999 persons. In the age of urbanization in developing countries like India, the slums are like white spot on the body which is caused by uneven development. To sort out the urban problems, socio-economic study of the city is necessary and if we want to have clean cities in near future, the studies of slums are not only important but demand of time also. Therefore a sample area has been randomly taken for the socio-economic study. The parameters for demarcation slums are water supply condition, sanitation and road, employment, housing condition, sufficient living area. To sum up, the study reveals that a particular caste resides in a particular slum and these castes are related to either Pal or Harijan and Muslims. The slums lack with water, sanitation, road facility and it also denotes that the slum dwellers are unaware of programs launched by the Government. Pratapgarh District, one of the oldest Districts of UP, which came into existence in the year 1858, is situated in eastern part of UP. According to JNU’s development list based on socio-economic-agricultural, Pratapgarh stands in last category. So it is an undeveloped district. Pratapgarh district famous for its Aonla and people gives alias â€Å"AONLA NAGRI†. The district, which forms from a part of Faizabad division, is named after it headquarter town Bela Pratapgarh commonly known as Pratapgarh. When district was constituted in 1858 it’s headquarter established at Bela which come to know as Bela Pratapgarh. The name Bela presumably being derived from the temple of â€Å"Bela Bhawani†, sites on the bank of river SAI. The study region districts headquarter; Bela Pratapgarh is situated at Allahabad-Faizabad national highway no. 96, at a distance of 39 km from Sultanpur and 60 km from Allahabad. Bela Pratapgarh city is a secondary town and spreads over 12 km2 with total population of 71999 persons (as per 2001 census). It is municipal area, which is divided in 25 wards so far. In total population of Bela Pratapgarh, percentage of OBC population is 31.58% and SC is 7.97%. The percentage of male and female population is 52.67% and 47.32%. The SEX ratio of Bela Pratapgarh is 898 which are quite lower than the district ratio (1004) and literacy rate is 71.039% which is higher than the district literacy ratio (58.67 percent). In Bela Pratapgarh, male literacy rate 77.03 percent followed by female 64.36 percent and district male literacy rate 74.61 percent followed by female literacy rate 42.63 percent. The Study Area: Study area of slums spread in all over the city in small patches. In 1997 District Urban Development Agency (DUDA) was stabilized and DUDA has declared 3 slum areas, these registered slums are Patkohli, Padawa and Karanpur. But there are some unregistered slum areas like Azadnagar, Khuskhuswapur, Pitai-ka-purwa, Bholiapur etc. Among these slum areas Patkoli ward is largest slum area with the 160 households. In Patkoli ward slum area is found in 3 patches- Ziriyamau, Patkoli and Bela Ghat; Pitai-ka-purwa with 2 patches- pitai-ka-purwa and nai-basti. Other slum areas have 30 to 60 households. Ward-name Basti name No of households Patkoli ziriyamau, patkoli, bela gaht 160 Aspatal ward Azadnagar 60 Bali Pur Khuskhuswapur 35 Pitai ka Purwa Nai basit, pure pitai 60 Padawa harizen basti 30 Karanpur Karanpur 35 Bholiapur Bholiapur 25 Objective of the Study: Every citizen has the right to live in a good living condition with employment, safety and other facilities. If any area left undeveloped, creates crisis in the mode of crime, unsocial activities, uneducated and unaware persons, low-level living condition, inadequate housing condition, unmoral citizens and unhealthy children with the unhealthy future of city and country. Now governments aware of the slum Basties of cities and launched many programmes to improve the condition of slum dwellers and his proficiency. But the game does not over, commonly seen that unregistered slums site over Urban Fringe area or at inner border of city, because of special spatial condition policies never imposed its effect in full fledged from. In city area, which is defined by the municipality area, plans take its own time to produce its impacts. Since, slums are present before the executions of development plans; therefore many problems stand in front of city and the citizens in form of crime, violence, poverty etc. These causes also exist in the study area. The objective behind the study aimed at to evaluate the socio-economic condition and to access the impact of government programmes upon slum dwellers of Pratapgarh City (Bela). Methodology: Every city has two types of slum areas i.e. registered and unregistered. The parameters for demarcating the slum are water supply condition, sanitation and road, housing condition. After that, to study the socio-economic status, a random sampling method has been adopted. For the survey and sample collection, a questionnaire has been prepared and door to door survey has been done. Because, Patakoli ward has large number of households, so, in this area 20 households were randomly selected for the study and in other areas 8 households have randomly taken. To evaluate the condition of dwellers, center tendency method is used. Social Status: In Bela Pratapgarh, slum dwellers are Hindus (64.44 percent) and Muslims (35.64 percent). In the total population of slum dwellers OBC with 57.14 percent, are in majority followed by SC with 33.65 percent and General with 9.2 percent. Religion CATEGORY PERCENTAGE HINDU GENERAL 2.955 OBC 47.783 SC 49.261 MUSLIM GENERAL 20.595 OBC 74.107 SC 5.357 Among Hindus, SC population is 49.261 percent and followed by OBC with 47.783 percent and General with 2.955 percent. In Muslims, OBC population is in majority with 74.107 percent followed by General 20.595 percent and SC with 5.357 percent. In slum areas sex ratio is 944 is greater than the Bela Pratapgarh sex ratio (898) and State sex ratio (898) but lower than district sex ratio (1004). In slum areas Hindus sex ratio (1071) is higher than Muslim sex ratio (778). Literacy: The overall literacy rate in slum areas is 56 percent with male and female literacy 65 percent and 46 percent against 71.039 percent in Bela Pratapgarh with male and female literacy 77.03 percent and 64.36 percent. Literacy rate of slum areas, near to district rate (58.67 percent) and UP state rate (57.36 percent) but it lower than the National rate (64.8 percent). The male literacy rate of slum areas 65 percent is quite lower to district rate (74.61 percent), national rate (75.8 percent) and state rate (70.23 percent) but female literacy rate 46 percent is near to district rate (42.63 percent), state rate (42.98 percent) and lowers than the national ratio (53.7 percent). In slum areas Primary educated persons are in majority with 60.71 percent followed by Madhyamic (28.27 percent), Inter (5.089 percent), Graduate (2.68 percent) and Post-Graduate (1.071 percent). The vocational trained persons are 1.09 percent. Income: Total working people percentage of slum dwellers is near about 24.14 percent. Among these persons, 60 percent people do not know the nature of day’s work. The average of working day in a month stands between 16 to 20 days. Over all average income of slum dwellers is quite lower with 13.03 Rs a day/person against the urban poverty line, which is near about 17 Rs. Average income of a working people 55.98 Rs for doing work 7 hour and 36 min in a day, which is quite lower than the UP Government regulation. Housing condition: In slum areas housing conditions are found in a very poor position. In sample area 46.34 percent of Kchcha houses made by mud, plastic and bamboo, 21.95 percent of Pakkaa houses made by bricks and 31.71 percent houses made by mud and bricks which have greater part Kachcha and smaller part Pakka. So, 78 percent of households face problem of housing. Sanitation, Water, Road and Health: In slum area sanitation and road facility are totally unavailable, for example except karanpur, ziriyamau, ptakholi, bela ghat, padava have Kaccha road and azad nagar, khuskuswapur, nai basati and pitai ka purwa have Kharanja road. In these areas drinking water facilities totally unavailable, except Azadnagar, in other ward water source is well or government hand pump, at per 25 households. Also in Azadnagar drinking water facilities totally unavailable and dwellers get drinking water from hand-pumps of rich neighbors. In other areas, if there is water supply, its condition is very poor. Generally water supply pipes are sunk in drain water. Hence, the water can not be used being coal black. In slum area latrine facilities are in poor condition, only 20% households have own latrines and other 80% uses the open lands. The wastages of households dump by householder near the open land or the path. As far as, the total environment of slums does not good, in all these areas children are suffering from viral infections, boils, fever etc for ever. Social Activities: -In crime, violence and immorality slum areas are leading portion of the city. In study area violence seems as quarrel, fight or abuse in home with wife, children, parents etc. or with the neighbors. The day life of the dwellers start and end with the quarrel and it happens because of drinking liquor. Immorality can be seen in the form of gambling. A sentence told by an old man to me in zriyamau about the gambling, pinched me a lot. He told, â€Å"He bhaiya agar in nanha-nanha larikan ka juaa chudawai detya tau enkar kalyan hoi jaatai.†(If you can escape younger Boys from gambling, then they would lead a good life). In these areas some families are vagabonds. Police keeps an eye over them, arrest and warn. Because most of them many times involved in unsocial and immoral activities like snatching, thieving, gambling etc. Government Plans and Awareness: District Urban Development Agency is the coordinating agency at district level for formulating different developmental schemes in urban areas. The following schemes/programmes are being implemented under the supervision of DUDA. Swarna Jayanti Sahari Rojgar Yojana, which is currently in operation with effect from 1.12.97, is a substitution of the earlier programmes like Urban Basic Services for the Poor (UBSP), Prime Minister Integrated Urban Poverty Eradication Yojana (NRY), Environmental Improvement of Urban Slums (EIUs). Under the scheme SJSRY, the following programmes are being implemented in all the ULBs of this district. Community structure (Information Education and Communication (IEC) Component. Urban Self Employment Programme (USEP) (subsidy) Development of Women and Children in Urban Areas (DWCUA) Thrift and Credit Society Urban Wage Employment Programme (UWEP) U.S.E.P (Skill up gradation Training) Administration and Office expenses (A O.E.) About these programmes and DUDA slum dwellers unaware and in sample area only one person know about DUDA and its U.S.E.P. programme. It shows the lack of publicity of programmes and unawareness of slum dwellers. Some advantages they gain from common programmes like Antyodaya yojana, Mid-day-Meal programme and Scholar-Ship programmes. Conclusion: To conclude; we can say that a big number of people, known as slum dweller, are forced to live below poverty line. The main reason of their poverty is illiteracy and lack of will power to improve his condition. They always look for the government helps; debt, relief etc. and wait for them, this type of mentality and government plans make them paralyzed instead of self reliance. They lack behind good education, health, sanitation and economy. There are Governments plans to improve their poor condition. But these programmes are executed half heartedly. There is need to focus their problems and a strong heart and mind to execute these programmes. If it happens so, the day will come with hope for them and for the people who are affected by these slum dwellers. Research Papers on Socio-Economic Status of Slum DwellersInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesThe Effects of Illegal Immigration19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraResearch Process Part OneThe Relationship Between Delinquency and Drug UseMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductAppeasement Policy Towards the Outbreak of World War 2Relationship between Media Coverage and Social andAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 EuropeWhere Wild and West Meet

Paradigm Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Paradigm Paper - Essay Example Since gender is culturally determined, it is complex in nature. In the long run gender identity focuses on the various customs within an individual about their socio-cultural life. This is different from other the observation in other animal kingdoms which is specific to the task of reproduction. Sexuality, viewed in this regard in the human kingdom would just be but the tip of an iceberg. Why is this so? This is because human beings have in the recent past lived in such an advanced era that they have changed the original mode of reproduction. In the modern times, reproduction can be fully made a success even in a modern laboratory. This makes it also vary dynamically from one region, society, country or even continent, to the next. There are several gender issues that so much affect the societies globally. Key of this is provision of opportunities. It is evident that most societies we live in provide opportunities that are not equal. For example, the economic principle of division o f labor helps promote biases related to gender. Class Also in regards to sociological question, class is defined as an organization of a given social grouping; which are characterized by similar rights, perceptions if not qualities, and duties. These are most often founded innately on one side and through socialization on the other side. As an end, class is deemed with the task of founding a culture since there it forebears a routine within the organization in question. It is therefore no surprise that the local societies as well as the world over are usually classified. This alone describes the functionality definition of â€Å"class.† Age This refers to the cognition about ones introvert experiences of their age and the developmental stages they are undergoing. It is concerned with identity and can be able to inform any individual where they belong and where they do not belong. For example, the youths know their rightful position and are often perceived by the aged as inexp erienced. On the other hand, the old also presume the role of overseer in any given society, but often in the same societies, the youths consider them with distasteful reactions. This identity does belong to and can be based subjectively to the experiences a person undergoes when aging. Some people will mature in age but the same people may fail to attest to this development. Some may also be young but attest to aging, which for a fact is not the case. In this regard this discipline becomes fundamental to study because it displays a myriad of platforms upon which an individual life may be considered. The other significance is that every individual considers their identities with this importance because their development is so fundamental to them. The aging process can also be used to explain various human psychological processes. A good example is in the learning process. During learning each individual undergoes a change, for example, in this assignment of paradigm paper, I will be able to evaluate myself on my positive progress during this pre-test period and after I shall have undergone a detailed learning process. Belief System A belief system is defines by a perceived way of thought, which most often is termed as a school of thought. It is knowledge that has been conceptualized and standardized in a unique way to form living principles of an

Lab proposal Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Proposal - Lab Report Example Do not put the whole mixture in an instance. Put it lowly and let it filter through the filter paper and then ad some more amount slowly. Overfilling the funnel will ruin the filtration. 10. After emptying the beaker, take 5ml of distilled water and wash the beaker and rinse it into the filter paper assembly. It will help transfer any remaining particle of sand to the filter paper. Rinse the beaker again with 5ml of distilled water and repeat the step. Take 5ml distilled water and rinse the stirring rod. 12. Give it some time so that all the water from the filter water is transferred to the flask. Now carefully separate the filter paper from the funnel and let it rest on the watch glass. Dry the filter paper with the help of microwave oven or let your instructor dry it. 18. Place the beaker once again on the hot plate let it there for a little while. Let it come to room temperature again and gain note the mass of the beaker. If it is lees than the previous reading keep the reading and eliminate the previous reading. Keep the lower reading. But note do not over heat the beaker or do not overheat the dried salt. Mixture is a combination of two or more than two pure substances in which pure substances are combined physically not through a chemical reaction. The pure substances present in the mixture can be separated easily. Examples of natural mixtures are air, sea water, river water, etc. however, mixtures can be made by humans for various purposes; paint is an example of mixtures that is manufactured industrially and used extensively. In every day life mixtures are every where. Juices, mixed spices, salad dressing, etc are all mixtures. Homogeneous mixture is a mixture in which the components of the mixtures are mixed in such a manner that none of the component is visible. It is impossible to see the particles of the mixed components. Example of homogeneous mixture are salt and water

Dog Training Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Dog Training - Essay Example Other dogs elsewhere in the world were lovingly inherited by their own masters. Even Oprah Winfrey had written a will endowing $30 million to her 5 dog pets ensuring that they will be pampered throughout their lives even if she has already passed away, Woman's Day reported (Woman's Day, Sept. 10, 2007). Ordinary people care for their dogs as if they're caring for their own children, sleeping, eating and even traveling with them. This hardly can be considered a phenomenon because dogs among all creatures in the universe evince qualities and traits that are even difficult to find in humans and these are purity of heart, unconditional love and devotion, the absence of malice and hidden motives or sincerity, unfathomed fidelity and loyalty and the adherence to his master in all adversity and through all vicissitudes. When one loves his or her dog 50% in intensity, his or her dog returns it 100%. The dog's love is consistent and unfailing. While spouses show affection only in the early years of the marriage, dogs show affection day in and day out, year in and year out. The dog's warmth, devotion and obedience know no barrier nor limits. We often hear of stories of dogs pining for their master's presence even after the latter's death. In Edinburgh, Scotland a Skye Terrier named Greyfriars Bobby spent 14 years guarding his master's grave until his own demise. His saga was immortalised in the Disney movies Greyfriars Bobby (1961) and The Adventures of Greyfriars Bobby (2006) (Atkins 2005, pp.52-256). War stories such as those from World War I are even more replete with stories of dogs refusing to leave their masters' corpses even if they were already in a state of decomposition. Then there was the story of Heidi, the Russell Terrier who sought out her Scottish master, Graham Snell who fell in a cliff and died. Finding him, she traversed down the 500 foot ravine and stayed with Snell until they were reached by a rescue team (dogsinthenews.com). All of these stories are endless, all earning for the dog the sobriquet, 'man's best friend'. Dogs' Natural Instincts Researchers have always claimed that dogs trace their lineage from gray wolves (canis lupus) some tens of thousands of years ago. As a priori evidence, many have adduced as evidence the similarity of structures and the period of gestation between the two species (Richardson 1857, p,18). They were ostensibly domesticated when wolves' pups were taken 3 and bred and tamed by early men and successfully socialized. By the process of intentional cross-breeding, the tamed domestic dog (canis lupus familiaris) emerged (Scott & Fuller 1974, p.140). Since then they had been

Gas turbine engine

Gas turbine engine TURBINE BLADE COOLING ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION It is well known from the thermodynamic analysis through literature survey that the performance of a gas turbine engine is strongly influenced by the temperature at the inlet to the turbine. Figure 1 illustrates the relation between the specific power output and turbine rotor inlet temperature. There is thus a growing tendency to use higher turbine inlet temperatures, implying increasing heat loads to the engine components. Engine manufacturers have recognised this for some time and have been continuously increasing turbine inlet temperature, especially during the last three decades. The blades are cooled by extracting air from the compressor stages. Modern gas turbine engines are designed to operate at inlet temperatures of 1800-2000K, which are far beyond the allowable metal temperatures. Thus, to maintain acceptable life and safety standards, the structural elements needs to be protected against the severe thermal environment. This calls for the design of an efficient cooling system for these elements. Rotor blade of high pressure gas turbine is such a critical element and hence the blade metal temperature should not be allowed to exceed beyond a value at which the life or safety standards cant be met. It is required to cool the blade in such a way that the amount of heat transferred from the externally flowing hot gas to the blade should be removed by an appropriate cooling design to limit the very high temperature. STRESSES IN THE BLADE Rotor blades of gas turbine are subjected to very high rotational speeds of the order of several thousand rpm and also are exposed to a variable thermal environment. Hence these blades are subjected to different types of stresses of different magnitudes and directions. As it is known, that the strength is a function of life and working temperature the net stress at any section of the blade should not exceed the maximum allowable value. The control on the blade metal temperature is the only way to sustain the stresses for the designed life of the blade for a specific operating condition and life requirement. Therefore to know about the cooling requirement, stresses should be predicted correctly on the blades at different sections. There are mainly four types of stresses with that rotor blades are being subjected; Centrifugal tensile stress Gas bending stress and Centrifugal bending stress Thermal stress 1.1. Centrifugal tensile stress Centrifugal stress in the rotor blade is due to the rotation of the blade. It is tensile in nature. This is the largest in magnitude but not necessarily the most important because it is almost a steady stress. When the rotational speed of the blade is specified, the allowable centrifugal tensile stress places a limit on the annulus area but does not affect the choice of blade chord. This stress is the basic cause of the blade failure due to the creep. 1.2. Centrifugal bending stress If the blade design is such that the centroids of all the blade cross-sections at different radii, taken perpendicular to the radial direction, do not lie in the same radial plane, centrifugal stresses arising in the blade will try to bend the blade. This type of stress arising due to the different directions of the centrifugal stresses in different blade sections is called as centrifugal bending stress. It will produce compressive stress in one side of the blade whereas tensile stress in the opposite side. Any torsional stress arising from these centrifugal stresses is small enough to be neglected. Thus this stress is very sensitive to manufacturing errors. 1.3. Gas bending stress The force arising from the change in angular momentum of the gas in the tangential direction, which produces the useful torque, also tries to bend the blade about the axis of rotation of the blades. The stress arising due to this bending force is called as gas bending stress. There may be change of momentum in the axial direction and in reaction turbines there will certainly be a pressure force in the axial direction. All these two will produce a bending moment in the blade about the tangential direction. The gas bending stress will be tensile in the leading and trailing edges and compressive in the back of the blade and with tapered twisted blades either the leading or trailing edge suffers with the maximum value of this stress. This is a fluctuating stress and its value becomes maximum when the rotor blade passes through the leading edge of the stator. 1.4. Gas bending stress Turbine blade is subjected to three-dimensional temperature gradients, along the blade height, along the blade profile and along the thickness of the blade. Due to these temperature gradients the blade fibres tend to deform unequally. This unequal deformation causes mainly two types of stresses to set up in the blade, compressive and tensile. As the blade considered is un-cooled therefore the contribution of the stress due to the temperature gradient along the thickness of the blade in net stress is not appreciable and can be neglected. Usually with the cooled blade this source of stress is main among all the sources of thermal stress. Again the thermal stress due to the temperature gradient along the blade height would not come in picture because the blade is free to expand along the height. Only the stress due to temperature gradient along the chord of the blade will contribute in net blade stress but its magnitude would not be much because the temperature gradient along the chord is not so high. BLADE MATERIAL AND STRENGTH Gas turbine blades are exposed to a very severe thermal atmosphere. The temperature is so high that it is fairly much more than the melting points of the common high-strength materials. Besides high temperature the requirement of durability is also another factor, which makes common materials unsuitable for use. Only super alloys may be suitable for this purpose. But the current trend of continuously increasing the turbine entry temperature attracted the concentration of the designers not only towards the new materials with well-improved mechanical and thermal properties but also to restrict the temperature of the blade material by its proper cooling. So, the material should have sufficient strength to face the operating situations. 1.5. Strength of blade material In ordinary temperature conditions the strength of the material under constant loads is estimated by tensile strength or yield strength. At high temperatures under action of constant loads in ordinary structural materials there appears the phenomenon of creep. It occurs as a result of prolonged exposure of materials to high stresses at high temperatures. This is particularly a acute problem on highly stressed rotating turbine blades and it occurs in the form of slowly and continuously developing plastic deformation. And excess of this plastic deformation causes the failure of the component. It is observed that at constant stress the higher the temperature the more quickly proceeds the process of creep i.e. the lesser the life of the component. It means that at a particular stress lesser will be the temperature higher will be the life of component. Therefore life of the component is a function of working temperature and stress. Hence to maintain the life of the component at a desire v alue it is required to lower the temperature of the component. Gas turbines operate in conditions of high temperatures and therefore in highly stressed components like rotor blades there appears the phenomenon of creep. Therefore for these cases where creep is the main criterion behind component failure the ultimate tensile stress is defined as the stress at which the component fails at a certain working temperature after the expiry of a certain period of time. It means that the strength of the material subjected at high temperatures is a function of this temperature and its operational life. PAST COOLING The technology of turbine cooling was recognised by some almost from the inception of the first turbojet engine. Cooling studies were first performed in the 1940 and many investigations were carried on in the 1950s. Around 1960, turbine cooling was first used in a commercial aircraft engine. Since that time, there has been a very rapid rise in turbine inlet temperature that has placed an even greater emphasis on turbine cooling. A continuous improvement in high-temperature materials has also helped to increase the turbine inlet temperature. The cooling technique used during 1960s was single internal passage convection cooling. The air used for cooling was injected through the root of the blade and to the internal aerofoil.

The Continuing Importance of Affirmative Action Essay -- Argumentative

The Continuing Importance of Affirmative Action    Affirmative action is about to take quite a beating. Prominent Republicans from Phil Gramm to Pete Wilson to Bob Dole all plan on making the attack on affirmative action a central plank of their campaign rhetoric. The Clinton administration, perhaps trying to stem the attack before it begins, recently announced that it would reevaluate the merit of all affirmative action programs. And many of those to the left of Clinton oppose affirmative action--albeit probably for different reasons than those to his right. Considering the overwhelming opposition to affirmative action, it seems improbable that affirmative action would have much to recommend it. Yet this contention deserves examination. There are a large number of factors contributing to a given policy's favorability; it seems unlikely that all aspects of affirmative action, from morality to reality to the gray in between, count as strikes against it. Concerns over fairness to white males seem to be at the root of most opposition to affirmative action. This argument is difficult to counter; it seems clear that affirmative action does amount, strictly speaking, to reverse discrimination. For some, this fact alone is enough reason to ring the policy death knell. Yet this conclusion seems to me hasty. If affirmative action hurts white males only a little, yet helps minorities and women significantly, then we might well decide to keep affirmative action around, despite its unfairness. Private universities commonly employ policies of preference which are sometimes euphemistically termed "development policies." Development means that there is a concerted effort on the part of admissions officers to admit students who come fro... ...(If you are unconvinced of this point, do a bit more reading and thinking.) More than lowering the hiring and admissions standard by which minorities and women are measured, affirmative action works to counteract pervasive racism. If an employer harbors racist, heterocentrist, or sexist views, then being forced to take a second look at minorities and women may counteract that prejudice. Affirmative action, then, may have less to do with lowering the standard by which minorities and women are measured, and more to do with equalizing opportunities given. That sounds to me like sound policy even Newt would find difficult to oppose--policies designed to ensure equality of opportunity. For as long as it has been policy, affirmative action has been implemented with an eye towards equalizing opportunity. A more admirable, mainstream ideal is difficult for me to envision.

Baptist Confessions

This essay will consider the English Baptist-Separatist Confession of 1609 and the Mennonite-Dordrecht Confession of 1633. (M) and (B) are used to distinguish the two documents. These two confessions, or statements of belief, are separated by only 24 years in time, and a relatively short distance geographically, one in Holland and one in England, yet there are a number of differences. It was John Smyth, a former Anglican minister, who drew up the Separatist confession. He later sought to align his church more with the Mennonites and after his death many of his congregation did become Mennonites.Despite this he is considered to be a founding father of the Baptist denomination. During the reign of Elizabeth I death was the penalty in England for those holding Anabaptist beliefs according to the Reformed Reader web site. The other document tells us in its heading that it came out of the Dutch Mennonite conference held at Dordrecht . The Mennonites were Anabaptist followers of Menno Simo ns, a Dutch religious reformer and former Catholic priest who had died some 72 years earlier in 1561. Between 1530 and the1590’s some 2,000 believers died for their faith in Holland according to the Continental European Protestantism web page.They were officially tolerated from then on, but many refused to fight in wars on Holland’s part, and preferred to flee elsewhere, some to Poland and the Ukraine and other to America. So both these confessions came at a time when official persecution was lessening. First of all one is much briefer than the other. Although it has some 20 sections the Separatist confession has only short discourses under each heading and runs to less than 2 pages of foolscap, whereas the Mennonite document, although it has only 19 sections is very much longer and more detailed.It is one of many Mennonite statements of faith. A much shorter version can be found on modern day Mennonite web sites. The first 6 of its articles are concerned with things g enerally believed. Then come articles concerned with the life of the church and includes the sacraments of baptism and communion. Articles 13 (M) onwards are concerned more with legal matters such as the relationship between believers and the secular authorities. The final section consists of a declaration of 1659 made by London based Anabaptists and is a refutation of accusations that had been made against them.Rather than a statement of belief it emphasises what they don’t believe e. g. that though they do not themselves practise infant baptism they believe that others should be allowed to follow their own consciences as they would wish to. They state very strongly that they are opposed to the Quakers, but at the same time wish to be tolerant and allow them to practice freely as they believe. They do come out strongly against ‘popery’, whom they blame for many deaths. Although concerned with freedom of conscience they are anxious to let it be known that they wi ll not support miscarriages of justice.This is in response to the fact that at the time of writing it Mennonites could be imprisoned simply for belonging to the group according to Cornelius Dyck in ‘An Introduction to Mennonite History’, pages 133 and 134. The Mennonites, although sticking to what they believe, are anxious to get on with rest of society. They have a section (13) (M) stating that God has allowed secular people to be in authority. In practice this means that though Mennonites will not go to war they will work under secular authorities in such areas as disaster relief and issues of social justice.Baptists too are concerned with such matters as in such organisations as the Baptist Missionary Society. The English Baptist statement spends a larger proportion of its text upon matters of faith and these are given priority. Only three articles, numbers 16-18, (B) are concerned with church business, i. e. who may dispense the word and the sacraments, how to deal with persistent sinners and how to interact with them in civil matters. The Mennonites also make statements of faith of course, but these are intermixed to some extent with such matters as the election of officers and dealing with sinners.On the latter subject the Mennonites are quite strict , referring to the separation from and the total shunning of reprobates, though they do put this in a positive light as being a way of making the person make amends and not in order to cause their destruction ( articles 16 and17 (M)). The Baptists are more pragmatic in their approach. They describe in article 17 (B) how to deal with those who persevere in their sins, but go on to say in the next article that such people are not to be avoided in worldly business.Regarding church practices an obvious difference is the inclusion of foot washing by the Mennonites, article 11,(M) which they felt was commanded by Christ in John 13 v 1- 15. They are one of several Christian groups throughout history wh o have practised this symbolic act, although it seems unlikely that it was included among the practices of the early church. The Baptists make no mention of marriage, despite the fact that many branches of the church consider it to be a sacrament. The Mennonites on the other hand state that it is God ordained and that St Paul allowed it within the church.(Article 12 (M)) They do state though that it should be between Christians who share common doctrine. In practice this means of course fellow Mennonites. Regarding Baptism the English Baptists make it very clear that it cannot be given to infants ( Article 14 (B)). The Mennonites in their confession ( Article 7 (M)) do not directly mention infants, but make it clear that it is for those who understand what they are doing and confess to faith, whereas this Baptist confession merely says that it is an external sign of the remission of sins, but makes no mention of public confession of faith.The Baptist confession describes its ministe rs as bishops and also mentions deacons and widows. (Article 16 (B)) It describes the church simply as ‘a company of the faithful’,( Article 12(B)) and gives the whole body authority to make decisions. ( article 13 (B)). The Mennonites refer to the church in much more elaborate language as the bride of Christ and the inhabitation of God in the Spirit. The Mennonites refer to the church leaders in slightly different terms as teachers, deacons and deaconesses, though they do make it clear further on that the latter term refers to widows.They refer to Jesus as the Bishop ( Article 9 (M)) and it is men who will do the teaching. There are of course many areas in which the two documents are in agreement. E. g. both refer to God as a trinity and as creator and that good works come out of faith rather than the other way round. In Article 5 (B) the Separatist states that there is ‘no original sin’ i. e. one is not a sinner by descent. This is in total contrast to Ar ticle 2 (M) of the Mennonite confession which states that because of the disobedience of Adam and Eve sin came into the world and has descended to all mankind, though both agree that man can be redeemed through Christ.The Mennonites are very concerned that faith is up to the individual, which explains their tolerance to the state and willingness to pay taxes etc. ( Article 13 (M)) Regarding communion, Menno left the Catholic church in part because of his lack of belief in the actual presence of Christ in the elements. The Mennonite document speaks rather of a holy supper,(Article 10 (M)), as commanded by Christ and in memory of what he had done.Smyth describes it on the other hand as ‘an external sign of the communion of Christ and of the faithful’ – Article 15 (B) and makes no mention of it being either a command or a memorial. Mennonites do not take oaths and quote scripture to back this up. They ask that others will understand and just take them at their word. Another area mentioned by the Mennonites and not by the Baptists is what they refer to as revenge, but which perhaps their fellow countrymen saw as justified war fare. The Mennonite statement in article 14 (M) explains their scriptural reasoning for this stand.Baptists would agree with them, but for some reason it is not mentioned. Many of the differences in these two documents are simply due to the type of authorship – one man as against a committee, the later being careful to check with each other before committing themselves to final wording, not omitting any point considered valid, hence the more complex language and greater length. Ye both groups would agree about many things – the need for faith and understanding before baptism, the greatness of God and the unique nature of Christ and his redeeming action.Both share a belief in the resurrection and in life eternal, even though they express this in slightly different ways, the Mennonites backing up their statemen ts with scripture and the Baptists seemingly taking this as understood. These two groups came into being because of the Reformation and new ideas that were around at that time, especially with regard to the onus on an individual to come to faith, rather than being automatically part of the church, because he had been baptised as an infant, without either faith or understanding on his part.The biggest difference between the two seems to be with regard to man’s sinful nature and how he acquired it.. Baptists and Mennonites continue to worship and live according to their conscience. Not every Christian would agree with every word written in these confessions, but it is to be hoped, that like the writers and followers they would be tolerant in Christian love. Biblography Dyck, Cornelius J. An Introduction to Mennonite History, Herald Press, Pennsylvania,1993Electronic Sources Central European Protestantism, Mennonites found at http://philtar. ucsm. ac. uk/encyclopedia/christ/cep/ menn. html retrieved 28th September 2007 Mennonites found at http://mb-soft. com/believe/text/mennonit. htm retrieved 28th September 2007. English Baptist Separatist Confessions found at The Reformed Reader http://www. reformedreader. org/ccc/esbc. htm retrieved 28th September 2007

British Airways PR Plan

British Airways PR Plan Advertising We will write a custom report sample on British Airways PR Plan specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Executive Summary This paper is a PR plan for a leading aviation company, British Airways (BA). Traditionally, people have known BA as an experienced and reliable company, but recent industrial strikes have eroded this perception. This paper proposes that BA should reclaim its image as the most reliable and experienced company by focusing on improving the perceptions of its employees and customers about the company. Relative to this goal, this paper proposes several strategies including the adoption of an open communication policy, where the company should invite all stakeholders for an open interaction through social media and face-to-face interactions. The objective of this strategy is to improve the level of interaction between BA, its employees, and its customers. Through this interaction, BA should demonstrate that it genu inely cares about the welfare of its customers and employees by showing genuine interest in improving customer service and employee working conditions. Background A founding member of the One World Alliance, BA is the national carrier for United Kingdom. The UK government established BA in 1974, but in 1987, the same government privatized the company after nearly 13 years of state control.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Since then, British Airways has cut a niche in the aviation industry as being among the largest airline companies in the world. Indeed, only until 2008, British Airways held the reputation of being the largest airline company in the world, in terms of its fleet numbers. The company’s main operational hub is at Heathrow airport, but its global presence spans across 150 destinations around the world. Underlying British Airway’s success is an eroding public confidence about the airline’s reliability as a customer-focused airline company. A series of industrial strikes that nearly grounded the company’s operations in most of its key markets caused the eroded confidence. For example, throughout most parts of the years 2007, 2008, and 2009, British Airways suffered from a string of industrial actions by its employees. The employees protested poor working conditions and low pay. The industrial actions caused a series of flight delays and flight cancellations that inconvenienced most of BA’s customers. The disorder dented BA’s public image when stiff competition from rival global airline companies and local low-cost airlines undermined the BA’s market leadership. BA’s management was unable to contain most of these strikes, thereby further denting the airline’s image as a reliable airline company. Since then, BA’s has had a difficult time trying to redeem its image as a reliable airline company in the eyes of the public. Situation Analysis This situational analysis follows four main aspects of BA’s operations: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. They outline below:Advertising We will write a custom report sample on British Airways PR Plan specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Strengths Most of BA’s strengths stem from its past leadership in the airline industry. For example, BA’s vast global operations earned it the reputation of a respected global airline company with vast experience and operational control around the world. The company’s expanding fleet of modern aircrafts and the success of some of the company’s loyalty programs (such as the executive club) also comprise some of the company’s key strengths Weaknesses Some airline customers regard some of BA’s flights as expensive because many low-cost airlines charge relatively lowe r prices for air travel. BA has found it difficult to compete with such low-cost airlines because it maintains several extensive global operations. The high costs of managing and running the extensive global operations have significantly increased the company’s bottom-line costs. BA’s has also suffered negative publicity from poor services that have culminated through a rise in the number of lost luggage and cancelled flights. These factors have led to the company’s declining profitability. Opportunities Since most of BA’s competition come from low-cost airlines, the biggest opportunity that exists for the company is starting a low-cost airline division for its international fleets. This way, the company would be able to charge low fares for a big part of its core customer base, which is increasingly seeing the rival low-cost airlines as a better alternative than BA.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In addition, since most of BA’s operational costs trace to high fuel costs, the company may invest in the sourcing of alternative fuel to power its aircrafts. This initiative involves funding research and development initiatives that work to serve this purpose. Threats Like most airline companies around the world, BA’s greatest threat is increased competition. In addition, as mentioned in the above section of this report, high fuel costs also threaten the company’s future sustainability as it erodes most of its profitability. BA has also lost most of its cabin crew through its extensive strikes and a crumbling corporate image. This issue has made it more difficult for the company to replace its lost cabin crew, as few potential employees are willing to work with the company. Message Statement The emerging themes in this PR plan include customer sensitivity, employee loyalty, and brand consistency. The main idea behind the proposed PR plan is to create a positive brand image by achieving customer and employee buy-in. In other words, the proposed PR plan singles out BA’s customers and employees as the main stakeholders that have the power to improve the company’s public image. By achieving employee loyalty, the proposed PR plan aims to convince its customers that all is well with the company and the focus for the company now is the welfare of its customers and employees. This message statement especially relies on BA’s past image as the leading airline company in the world. The proposed PR plan aims to reaffirm the notion that BA is more experienced, caring, and capable of meeting customer and employees demands, compared to other upcoming companies. Communication Process The aim of this communication process is to improve the interaction between BA with its employees, its customers, the public, and the media to improve the company’s image in the community. BA’s communication process should stem from a syste m’s perspective. The systems perspective will help the organization to communicate with the employees and customers by establishing a stable company image of reliability and community focus. The systems theory explains this model. Feedback will be an important part of the communication process because feedback may help BA to improve the effectiveness of its communication and PR plans. The communication process will be open to all stakeholders of the PR plan because the PR plan needs to be self-sustaining. Stated differently, by including the inputs of the company’s main stakeholders (customers and employees), the PR plan will be able to evolve and meet the needs of the organization. Audiences BA’s employees and customers outline the focus of the company’s PR plan. Employees are a critical audience for the company because their dissatisfaction with the company created the public image crisis that BA faces today. In addition, through employee strikes, BAâ⠂¬â„¢s customers lost confidence in the company. The employees and the customers therefore outline the main target audiences for BA because both groups stand at different ends of the PR plan. A change of the employees’ perceptions about BA is likely to rub off on the customers because the employees may offer better customer services if BA’s management pays close attention to their welfare. Through improved services, BA’s employees will attract more customers to the company. This situation is likely to improve the company’s image, sales, and profitability in the end. Key Audience Messages The key audience message of this PR plan is to convince BA’s employees and customers that the company cares for their welfares. The PR plan should communicate to both groups of stakeholders that the company is genuinely interested in improving their welfare because it understands their importance in achieving corporate success. Through this commitment, BA should de monstrate that it genuinely values the employees and customers by improving its customer services and rewarding its employees for positive work. These initiatives should culminate in a â€Å"BA open day† program where the managers, employees, and customers meet and share insights regarding the company’s operations. This way, the company will make the employees and customers believe that it is genuinely interested in their concerns by opening its communication channels to both groups of stakeholders. Implementation The best way to reach the target audiences for this PR plan is through social media and face-to-face communication. Demographic assessments of BA’s customers show that the customers frequently use social media. The company can therefore effectively communicate with its customers this way. Moreover, social media provides a cheap alternative for BA to interact with the customers. However, employees should get a special attention from the top-level manage ment, through face-to-face interaction, because the management should demonstrate that it is genuinely interested in their welfare. Therefore, BA’s managers should steer the PR implementation process and not fully delegate the responsibility to a PR firm. Budget The budget for the public relations plan focuses on research, information gathering, monitoring and evaluation, and strategic integrated communication. The following spreadsheet outlines the budget estimates for these activities. Activity Qty/Year Hours Expenses Total Research 0 50 $1,750 $87,500 Information gathering 0 40 $1,000 $40,000 Monitoring and evaluation 0 60 $2,000 $120,000 Strategic integrated communication 0 40 $2,750 $110,000 Base Program Budget $357,500 Monitoring and Evaluation Measuring Public Opinion Measuring public opinion is a reliable way of understanding the effectiveness of the PR plan. BA should measure the public opinion before and after the execution of the PR plan, to unde rstand the impact of the PR strategy on the company’s brand. The public opinion should be measured using customer and employee surveys. Assessing the responses in the customer surveys may show if BA has achieved the objectives of the PR plan, or not. Social media evaluation Since social media forms a key part of this PR strategy, social media evaluation may provide a reliable indicator for monitoring and evaluating the impact of the PR plan. The key indicator of this assessment is the quality and level of interaction between the customers and the company (not the number of followers). If there is a high level of interaction between the company and its employees, or customers, BA should expect the development of a positive brand image. However, if the levels of interaction between the company and the employees, or customers, fail to increase, then BA should assume that the PR plan has failed to achieve its objectives.