Dr. N. Alagumurthi Essay

Dr.N.Alagumurthi, Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pondicherry Engineering College, Pondicherry is an erudite and renowned academic scholar, a high profile scientist researcher, an able administrator, a great visionary and a socially conscious innovator.  He was born in the year 1965 at Villupuram. His father late Shri.M.Natarajan and mother Thirumathi Pattu Natarajan are very simple and uneducated. He had his school education in Municipal Schools at Villupuram. He did his Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering at Government College of Engineering, Salem, Master degree in Energy Technology at the Pondicherry Engineering College, Pondicherry. He won the Pondicherry University Medal in recognition of the Outstanding Performance in the M.Tech (Energy Technology). He obtained the Best Project award for his M.Tech Project work titled, â€Å"Energy Conservation Study at Chengalvarayan Cooperative Sugar Mills Ltd, Periyasevalai, Tamilnadu†. He received his Ph.D from Pondicherry University in recognizing his significant contribution in the area of Thermal aspects in Manufacturing. Dr.N.Alagumurthi has made remarkable achievement in the areas of teaching,  research, invention and extension activities. Starting from a modest career as a Lecturer in a Self-financing College, he rose to the present position of Professor at Pondicherry Engineering College, a premier technical institution. He had guiding many dissertations and research projects in Mechanical Engineering and Energy Technology and has 225 Papers to his credit in reputed journals and various conference proceedings. He had teaching and research experience of 26 years and visited Singapore, Malaysia, UAE and Bangladesh. Dr.N.Alagumurthi is a celebrated member of Professional bodies such as Fellow of Institution of Engineers (India), Honorable Member in Aeronautical Institution of Bangladesh, Society of Power Engineers (India), The Combustion Institute of India, Aeronautical Society of India, Solar Energy Society of India, Association of Waste management and Remediation of environment, Indian Association of Air Pollution Control, etc. Dr.N.Alagumurthi was instrumental to start the Renewable Energy Club in Pondicherry Engineering College with the sponsorship of MNRE, New Delhi and REAP, Pondicherry. Under the auspicious of Renewable Energy Club actively arranged many seminars, lectures, field visits, bioplantation programme and Renewable Energy Day essay / models/ projects competition to students. Dr.N.Alagumurthi has been nominated as a Member of Board of Studies (both UG and PG) of K.S.R. College of Technology, Thiruchengode, an autonomous institution affiliated to Anna University and Pondicherry University. He is associated with various NGO’s and voluntary organizations working in the field of Rural Energy Programme. His areas of interest include: Energy, Environment, Economical Manufacturing etc. He is an advisor to Union Public Service Commission, Tamilnadu Public Service Commission, Jharkhand Public Service Commission, Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission and Member of Board of Examination of various Universities. Member of Advisory/organizing committee of International Conference on I.C.Engines and Combustion , International Conference on Industrial Engineering ,International Conference on Energy Engineering , International Conference on Emerging Research and Advances in Mechanical Engineering, All India Manufacturing Technology, Design and Research Conference (AIMTDR 2010). He coauthored a book on Energy conservation and management. He is an approved Research supervisor of various universities and doctoral committee member in many universities. He is an Expert committee member in the following academic and scientific bodies. University Grants Commission (UGC) All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) National Board of Accreditation (NBA) Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) Department of Science and Technology (DST) Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Ministry of Environments and Forests ( MoE&F) Dr.N.Alagumurthi is a recipient of BHARAT JYOTI award in lieu of the yeomen services rendered with excellence in the field of Science and Technology – awarded by India International Friendship Society. His Biographical information has been included in the 10th Anniversary edition of MARQUIS who’s who in science and engineering (2007 and 2008) as an acclaimed biography on account of the outstanding achievements and contributions in the field of Mechanical Engineering and Technical Education. The Energy Society of India has honored Dr.N.Alagumurthi with Outstanding Achievement Award (2007) in recognition of his sterling merit, excellent performance and outstanding contribution in diverse fields of energy and engineering related activities that contributed significantly to the betterment of contemporary society. His biography has been included in the 2000 Outstanding Scientists 2008/2009,IBC Foremost Educators and Scientists of the World-2008,International Scientists of the year 2008,Leading Scientists of the world 2008 by the International Biographical Centre, Great Britain on account of remarkable record of accomplishment and outstanding contributions and achievements in the field of Engineering and Technology. The Ministry of Rural Development, New Delhi, has appointed Dr.N.Alagumurthi as a technical expert committee member cum Government of India Representative of Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission. BIO-DATA OF Prof. N. ALAGUMURTHI

Leadership: Ice Cream Division Essay

This document focuses on the Chattanooga Ice Cream Division case study developed by Carl Sloane. Leadership opportunities and action are defined based on the characters in the case study. Dysfunction is evaluated both from a team aspect and from the leadership role. Specific development activities are identified to help the individuals develop emotional intelligence. Finally, recommendations will be made to guide the team forward. Background Chattanooga Ice Cream is a division of Chattanooga Food Corporation which is a family-controlled business founded in 1936 (Sloane, 1997). The ice cream division is one of the largest regional maufacturers of ice cream in the United States. The company’s primary focus is mid-priced basic ice cream products. The ice cream division has been experiencing flat sales and a declining profitability over the past four years (Sloane, 1997). Competitors had shown success in recent years with premium and super-premium brands with â€Å"mix-in† ice cream flavors. The Chattanooga Food Corporation focused on leadership changes in an attempt to improve the ice cream division’s performance. In 1993, Charles Moore was promoted to head the division. The ice cream division also hired a new vice president of marketing to replace a 30 year veteran. Stephanie Krane was assigned to the division to upgrade the information systems and control function. In 1995, the original manufacturing plant in Chattanooga was closed to control costs. The management changes resulted in a disruption to the top level management team. Three of the seven members of the management team were new to their positions. Additionally, Charles’ leadership style was very different than his predecessor. The previous general manager had been with the business for many years and had numerous networks to gather information. He made important decisions alone and rarely felt the need to consult his management team. The Dysfunction The ice cream division sales continued to fall, and the company recently lost a significant customer to Sealtest. The announcement of this loss resulted in open criticism from virtually all team members. In the past, when issues arose and blaming between departments occurred Moore would not respond in hopes that the managers would quit complaining about each other. Moore believes in the value of group based decisions and liked to bring people together formally to share information, consult on decisions, and forge consensus (Sloane, 1997). Moore would rank high in collaboration using the Thomas Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI). The TKI (2007) states that the â€Å"overuse of collaboration and consensual decision making sometimes represents a desire to minimize risk – by diffusing responsibility for a decision or by postponing action. The assessment goes on to state that a person with a high collaboration score may miss some cues that would indicate the presence of defensiveness, impatience, competitiveness, or conflicting interests. Moore appears to also favor the avoiding mode when conflict arises. Avoiders tend to hope that conflict goes away on its own. Moore has been avoiding conflict by not addressing the conflict when it arose. The DiSC Assessment is a tool to help an individual understand themselves and others. Based on the case study by Sloane (1997) Moore appears to be an S, which stands for steadiness. The S style prefers to work at a methodical pace and to focus on their tasks without interruption. They seek a calm, orderly structure where collaboration and group effort are valued (DiSC, 2008). People that have an S profile are demotivated in competitive environments, do not like being rushed into quick decisions, or having to be confrontational. These three traits of Charlie Moore have resulted in a lack of leadership through conflict and the inability to make a decision without collaboration time. As a leader, Moore has not displayed the four key principles to success according to Jack Welch in Winning (2005). These basic principles are mission and vision, candor, differentiation, and voice and dignity. First, Moore has not created a vision for the Ice Cream Division, and the division appears to be relatively isolated from the overall mission of the Chattanooga Food Corporation. According to Welch (2007), the mission tells where you are going and the values describe the behaviors that will get you there. Charlie Moore has been the General Manager for four years, yet it does not appear that he has determined how the Ice Cream Division can win in their current market, nor has he defined what winning means. The second principle is candor. Candor facilitates strong discussion. In the case of the Ice Cream Division team, it appears the team was displaying a lack of candor by not sharing critical information, or generating ideas which could result in a real debate. Part of candor is feedback. As a leader, it is critical to give feedback so each team member understands exactly what has to be done for improvement and where they stand in the organization (Welch, 2005). There are three main benefits of candor according to Welch (2005). First, candor gets people into the conversation. More ideas are generated and discussed, and all team members have the opportunity to contribute to generate the best ideas. Candor also increases speed since getting people into the conversation results in immediate debate and discussion which allows a well informed decision to be made. Speed is the second benefit of candor. Finally, candor cuts costs. Openly sharing information, positive and negative, results in a team that can quickly respond to issues that arise. Welch’s (2005) third principle focuses on differentiation. Differentiation is a way to manage people and business. The business side of differentiation focuses on how to beat the competition through strategy. The people portion requires a leader to identify the top 20 percent, middle 70 percent, and the bottom 10 percent of performers. The next step is to act on this evaluation. In the case of the Chattanooga Ice Cream Division, the bottom 10 percent would not know where they ranked or why. This problem ties back into candor. Without candid conversations regarding goals and performance, an employee has a reduced chance of success. Additionally, the lack of candid conversations does not give the individual an opportunity to improve their performance. Further, in this case study, goals for the team are not clear which does not enable people to be successful. The fourth principle is voice and dignity. Charles Moore has a management team that does have a voice, although they use the opportunity to lay blame and defend themselves rather than focus on solutions. Voice and dignity goes beyond the management team. According to Welch in Winning (2005), most people do not say anything because they feel they can’t and they haven’t been asked. Charles needs to understand the business from every rank and perspective as the company leader. He needs to get into the â€Å"trenches†. The only way to accomplish this is by enabling open, candid conversations throughout the organization. Developing a Team Developing a team takes time. This team has been together for four or more years with little to no achievement. The stage of introductions is past, but in reference to the Tuckman model (Tocci, JWI510, W6) the team is in the â€Å"forming† stages. Key attributes of this stage are an unclear mission and values, lack of trust, and lack of commitment. To start an open discussion regarding team dynamics each team member will complete a DiSC assessment and a 360 review. The 360 feedback will include their direct reports, people from within their functional area, people outside of their functional area, and every member of the leadership team. After the results have been compiled a coach will be assigned to each team member to review the results and to develop personal action plans. After these one-on-one sessions, Charlie should bring the team together to share the results of their DiSC assessment. The purpose of the session is to gain a better understanding of each team member in terms of how they prefer to work and why. Once the DiSC assessment is reviewed, each person will be asked to share the 2-3 personal development goals generated from their time with the coach. As the leader, Charles will start first and show his vulnerability. Sharing goals can help team members be accountable to each other. This enables informal peer to peer coaching to help everyone stay committed to the team. The DiSC assessment and the 360 degree feedback contribute to emotional ntelligence. Goleman (2000) defines emotional intelligence as the ability to manage ourselves and our relationships effectively. Both of these assessments enable each team member to become more self-aware of their emotions and the impact on their co-workers. Additionally, these tools give an accurate self-assessment of each person’s strengths and limitations. Once each team member understands how they are perceived and their personal DiSC style in relation to others they can begin to make focused improvements on their overall emotional intelligence. Goleman (2000) found that leaders with strengths in a critical mass of six or more emotional intelligence competencies were more effective than peers that did not have similar strengths. These exercises focus on the bottom of Lencioni’s (2002) pyramid, â€Å"Absence of Trust†. The team should encourage each other to be vulnerable and in turn, support the team members that do show vulnerability. Specific Recommendations for the Team Once the team has completed the DiSC and 360 degree feedback tools, the coaching, and the group sharing they are ready to transition their focus to the ability to run a successful business. At this point, the Ice Cream Division does not have a clear mission or vision. To start this process, the team will start a charter. First, the team must establish an overall mission by understanding the overarching mission of the company. In short, at the executive level, what does the team stand for? Focusing on mission development instead of solving the problem of lost business will allow the team to understand what actions they need to take to align the problem solution to the business strategy. According to Welch (2005) a mission answers the question: How do we intend to win in this business? Using guidance from Winning (Welch, 2005), the executive team may develop a mission statement that looks like this: The mission of the Chattanooga Ice Cream Division is to become the market leader in Ice cream sales due to our focus on exceptional taste, unique flavors, and our commitment to customers. Once the mission is established the team will begin to generate a charter. This charter will focus on specific activities required to achieve the mission and vision of the organization.

Creative Task Essay

â€Å"When someone prizes us just as we are, he or she confirms our existence.† My feet were so cold. The only thing I could feel was the muddy water soaking through my timeworn sneakers and my tattered socks as I was walking through the streets of Brooklyn on a cold, rainy December’s evening. After all, how could I feel anything else? I’d just been fired from my job; my girlfriend had just kicked me out of the closest thing I had to a home and the only place I could think to go was my dad’s spare house. I was carrying the only thing I was able to grab from my girlfriend’s apartment, my 6 string nylon guitar which I grabbed so that I could feel a sense of ownership over something. My girlfriend said it was useless to me anyway because whenever I played it, apparently it sounded like a two wild gorillas trying to kill each other. For some reason, whenever she said that I always thought of our relationship. But besides that, I was alone on the streets of Brooklyn with nothing but my wallet, the little money it had left in it, my guitar, my drenching apparel and no hope. After moping around the cold dark streets for an hour I finally found my dad’s old house that he never sold, but kept for a ‘spare’. He gave me a key for it in case I ever found myself in need and at this point in time I’d never felt more this way. I dragged myself up on to the front porch and felt through my pockets for the key. As I stepped closer to the door I heard a growl, a growl that made me feel like I was invading the territory of a wolf in the forest. Despite this feeling I felt no fear of what I could not see in the shadows, but I was curious as to what had made itself comfortable on my front porch. Before I had time to even step into the shadow, what appeared to be a golden retriever leaped out of the shadow. The dog had deceived me in my formerly estimated image as a brutal stray, as it only seemed like a joyous little puppy seeking shelter from the rain. I think that I must have scared the poor little thing as I approached the door of my tempo rary new home. The dog stared at me with wide glowing eyes, as if it was begging me for a place to stay, but the last thing I needed was a dog which would need taking care of, when I was unsure if I could do so to myself. â€Å"You can stay outside little fella†, I murmured to the pup assuming that it would be gone by morning. I received no reply, as the dog just kept the same facial expression whilst glaring into my eyes. I wandered on inside to try and get a good night sleep so I could have a clear mind in the morning to think about how I was going to sort my rock-bottomed life out. Two weeks had passed and I had made a start to gathering what options I had left and turning them into the best possible outcomes. The only problem was – it wasn’t a ‘hole-shot’ of a start. I had been to 2 job interviews which only lasted about 5 minutes each, and I had not heard back from the managers. Isn’t that promising? I had a huge lack in confidence and my self-esteem ha d gone through rock bottom and kept plummeting. It was raining outside so I had thought that I should go and get the newspaper so I could desperately look for any job that I could get my hands on. As I went to open the door I felt a resistance pushing against it. I put the little energy I had into a shove that might have knocked over a pedestal fan, and couldn’t open the door. Finally, I heard this object pull itself up and move out of my way. I opened the door to find the golden retriever puppy staring at me with the same enticing glare it gave me when I first arrived at my house. I couldn’t resist to the stare this time around as it was freezing cold outside and pouring rain, so I thought I would take it in. â€Å"Come on in buddy, let me get you washed up†, I said excitedly. As I let this stranger ride into my home and walked to grab the newspaper, a sudden rush of warmth and excitement ran throughout my body like I had just met my childhood hero. I walked through the door and the puppy was still staring at me the same way it was when I had found it. It didn’t seem to mind the mess as much as my dad did when he came to help me get on my feet a little. I looked closer at the dog and saw a rough looking collar with the name tag ‘Archer’. I fixed Archer some of my leftovers that I had piled up over the past couple of weeks, and by the time I had found one job offer in the newspaper; he had destroyed the collection of cold toast, bacon and baked beans like he was a prisoner on death row receiving his last meal. There was something about Archer’s personality that made me feel comfortable and not alone. I felt that maybe this could be a turning point in my life that was only heading in a southerly direction. The next job interview that I had was probably the worst one yet. The store owner was a complete jerk and told me exactly what he thought of me straight to my face, as if my presence was imaginary. â€Å"Why would anyone want to hire an unshaven, underdressed, useless piece of garbage like you? Get out of my office!† he shouted in my general direction. I was plainly intimidated and embarrassed by this big shot and I was back to square one. All messed up with nowhere to go. Feeling depressed and unsatisfied, I decided to drag myself home and repeat my so called routine that I had developed over the past 3 weeks – look for a job, eat, sleep, look for a job and repeat. As I stumbled back onto my front porch I heard tapping on the floorboards I my house, but wasn’t in the right state of mind to even think what it was. I opened the door without a care and saw a pair of glowing eyes staring right at me. It was Archer, and he looked like he had never been so happy to see me. I had been so humiliated and belittled that I had lost thought of Archer. A tear rolled down my cheek and dropped onto my shirt. I couldn’t figure out whether this tear was because I was unsure of my existence as a part of the human race, or because I had realised that I had something important in my life without realising. I dropped onto my knees and gave Archer a huge hug, feeling relieved. For the rest of the day I played with Archer and cleaned him up. I felt like he was my only friend. The only person who didn’t judge me even if I was a useless piece of garbage. He gave me a sense of confidence that I had never felt before. He made me feel that my existence on planet earth was of some worth. Within a year of the day that Archer had performed the miracle of instilling a person with happiness and friendship, I had completely steered my life around. I had gained enough confidence to go for my dream job – a gig playing my guitar and singing at a top nightclub in Brooklyn. I played my music for the manager at the club and he said I could possibly be the next big thing within a couple of years time. I had found a girl who was perfect for me and appreciated me for who I was, unlike my last partner. I was earning enough money to start renting a house that my girlfriend, Archer and I had moved into and I was feeling like I could do anything that was possible to man. I found it amazing that a dog – just a dog, could turn a man’s life around. It was all thanks to him, making me realise that there are things in life that are worth staying around for. If it wasn’t for him standing at my door on that cold dark day, I’m not sure that I would be here to tell this story today.

Assignment 6 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Assignment 6 - Research Paper Example In this regard, Data works have extreme support towards the successive evaluation of various school counselling programs. There are huge numbers of schools whose data records are to be kept appropriately for the easy evaluation of these counselling programs. School counsellors with support of other members of the school build paper works regarding the learning, participation in various programs, undisciplined behaviour and absenteeism of the students. In addition, school counsellor delivers information to the principal of the schools so that they must structure an overall data of the students in an excel sheet and other data storing software to have a better track record of the actions of students. Moreover, l counsellors should organize meetings with parents, teachers and students to reveal the effectiveness of the counselling programs towards the educational, social along with future career development of the students. They should deliver motivational thoughts with practical exampl es so that it encourages the students. They should also share the survey status wherein illiteracy along with the poverty rates has arised due to lack of proper education and career programs. These actions of the counsellors would motivate and create a positive environment for the students to have a bright future (1American School Counselor Association 1-4; Young and Kaffenberger 1-31). Furthermore, professional school counsellors play a crucial role towards efficient implementation of â€Å"School Counselling Programs†. School counsellors have various responsibilities for assessing and evaluating appropriate and successful counselling programs. Therefore, they have to plan the academic program of the students and organize aptitude, cognitive and achievement tests from the students. They also need to organize counselling programs for the absentees, undisciplined students as well as to address the

Desktop and Laptops Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Desktop and Laptops - Essay Example Input devices include keyboards, mouse and camera etc. while output devices consist of a display, speakers and printer etc. Even the components inside laptops and the central processing unit (CPU) of desktops are similar; both make use of a motherboard, which is the main circuit board to which the other components for e.g. the processor, RAM (random-access memory) are connected. Apart from the above mentioned fact, laptops and desktops can run any program equally well provided that they both are using the same operating system. It is important to note here that the majority of the present day laptops and desktops are run on a select number of operating systems for e.g. 92.4% of desktops are run on Windows followed by Mac (6.5%) while the most commonly used operating system for mobile systems (which include tablets and mobiles too) is Mac (54.7%). This goes on to show that from a general perspective, majority of the computing systems used presently have a similar functional capacity i n respect of the programs available for use although the specific upgrades of these operating system (e.g. Windows 7 or Vista) and a processors ability (if it is 64-bit or 32-bit etc) to support these upgrades does stratify computers according to their capacity to run a program. Now despite the similar assembly of laptops and desktops, they both cater to different populations of computer users. This is because of many reasons the most obvious of which is that laptops are mobile. There are a variety of shapes and sizes that laptops come in but all of them are lighter than desktops thus making the former much more portable than the latter. This portability allows a lot of flexibility in usage which is evident in the case of Thomas Friedman who once quoted â€Å"Sometimes,  when my wife and I were going out to dinner, I would take my  laptop  with me and work in the car, so as to take advantage of the half hour going and coming.† Had Mr. Friedman owned a desktop instead of his laptop then he would certainly not be able to take advantage of his travel time, which underscores the fact that laptops have a huge advantage over desktops because they provide much much more mobility as compared to desktops, especially for a person living a fast-paced life. Along with this the small and thin size of laptops make them better looking too and provide the owner many more opportunities to show it off. Also in contrast to desktops, laptops run on battery too thus one can use a laptop even if there is no power. Despite all the above mentioned advantages laptops have their own downside when compared to a desktop. First of all although the size of laptops is very preferable one cannot ignore the fact that this makes it that much easier to be stolen or damaged when compared to a desktop. Secondly laptops are much more expensive than desktops and the latter gives the consumer more value for the money spent than laptops do. This can be appreciated when comparing an $1199 iMac and the same company’s MacBook Pro. Although both machines are of the same price, the iMac has much better specs (21.5 inch display, 2.7GHz quad-core Intel i5 processor and 1TB hard drive) than the MacBook Pro (13.3 inch screen, 2.7GHz dual-core intel i7 processor and 500GB hard drive). Keeping in line with the argument of cost, desktop are better for storage for e.g.

The US Presidency Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The US Presidency - Essay Example Article II of the US Constitution assigns the President the responsibility of appointing diplomatic officers, regulatory officers, judicial officers, maintaining relations with the foreign powers, the implementation of federal law along with all the executive powers. The President enjoys the immunity to grant pardon, freedom and amnesty above judicial decisions and can call upon or suspend both houses of the Congress under special circumstances. Ever since the birth of the United States of America, the president’s power has increased multiple times and from being a president who used to veto or sign congressionally passed bills, it has given him the power to dictate policies and pass both domestic and foreign laws (US Department of State). The president of US is elected through the Electoral College by the people for a four-year term. The Constitution of United States disallows anyone from being elected for the third full term. From the foundation of United States to this day, 43 men have served for 55 four-year terms as the President of US. The current President Mr. Barack Obama1 was elected the 44th president on 20th January 2009. Chief of the State has to be an inspiring personality for the nation. He has the duty to stand for morals and ideas of the country. People honor the President and he has to be a living symbol for the nation. In this role, the president has to deal with the diplomatic and foreign relations with other countries of the world. With the help of diplomats and ambassadors around the globe, president devises the foreign policy. Here president is in charge of US marines, Air forces, Land forces and Navy. The president is responsible for deciding the allocation of budget, weapons and location of the troops. Military heads take direct orders from the president. Congress is the law making body, but the president enjoys the power to advocate Congress for passing new bills and reject the ones that do not favor. In this

Assignment Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Assignment - Case Study Example Third, the company has not been keen in defending the interests of the female employees who occasionally experience sexual harassments. Such acts are perpetrated by the company’s top officials that the company values due to their performance and hence does little about such cases. The company has received several complaints from female employees regarding sexual harassments but failed to act since such behaviors are â€Å"acceptable† in some of the countries that the company functions. Nelson would have taken strict measures with regard to the unethical happenings. With regard to child labor, the company should have inspected the subsidiary company to make it clear that child labor is not tolerated. Nelson should also have ensured that the company takes care of all employees’ interests regardless of the country. Here, the company would have provided the most appropriate working solvent and take all complaints seriously. Moreover, Nelson would have also made it cl ear to all employees regardless of their positions that sexual harassments are not entertained and would be penalized. With regard to formulation of a code of ethics, Nelson should ensure that all of the reported unethical issues are addressed in the code. Such issues include rules governing child labor, employees’ health, and issues regarding sexual harassments and similar behaviors in the organization’s subsidiary companies. This would ensure that the company has a predefined culture, which takes care of all individuals’ interest. With respect to suggestions, I would suggest a code that caters for the interests of the main stakeholders and improve the reputation of the company in the face of the public and the customers. The code would also deter unethical behaviors in the

Assessment and Evaluation Strategies Learning Essay

Assessment and Evaluation Strategies Learning - Essay Example The outcome that has been decided is that the learners will be able to relate to the need to maintain client confidentiality and the need to maintain confidentiality of organizational information to work-related situations. They will also be able to identify various types of work-related harassment and the consequences of such actions. The two weeks of online training has used online power point presentations, animations, and flash presentations to teach these issues, where students of various ethnic backgrounds and various experiences have interacted. Now the idea is to create a strategy to evaluate and assess the learning. The assessment process must consider students like Joe Antone, a member of the Pima Indian Community, who is experiencing work in the healthcare environment for the first time. Comparison: Two assessment methods that can be used in such programs are quiz and self-test questions. In this program, while going through the course, the students will come across the self-test questions, without attempting which no student can go into the next section of the teaching. Thus this becomes mandatory for each and every student to attempt these tests. Moreover, suitable software can be used to add a navigable menu and search function, where the students can search the answers from the module and answer it. Each student can get two chances. At the end of the session, there would be a quiz of multiple choice type questions, where the learner would have one chance to answer it. Leads in the form of images can be incorporated in the quiz, and the learner can post the answer to the tutor (Benjamin, Robbins, Kung, 2006). While the first one assesses the knowledge in steps throughout the module, most learners can get 90 to 100% with the use of search function. The last one ge ts a summative assessment of overall conceptual knowledge, and it can grade the results both in percentages and pass-fail methods (McFarlin, 2008). This could be also a

Social Deviance and Autism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Social Deviance and Autism - Essay Example The society does not favor deviance as groups are more likely to work in a unified, product way if there is coherence and conformity in the acts and attitudes of the individual members; however, it is possible to observe positive effects of deviancy in certain cases especially for people who are unable to fit in the defined social structure. Social deviancy and crime are closely interrelated; criminals indulge in damaging activities which are a threat to the individual and societal rights and are prosecuted by the law according to preset regulations. These activities are often a more deliberate and extreme form of social deviance and are shunned by the society at large. But within different contexts a set of activities which are against a law may be accepted as commonplace such as speeding on the highway and similarly there are deviants who go against the norms of the majority but are not criminals. When distinguishing between ‘crime’ and ‘deviancy’, John Ha gan’s classifications provide a good reference point with the regards to individual acts. He gives the three dimensions on which deviancy can be measured, these include the perceived harmfulness of the activity to the society or any individual, the consensus of the society as to whether deviancy occurred and severity of action proposed against the perpetrators. Each of these dimensions can be ranged from high to low; an activity which ranks as high on all three will be immediately classified as ‘consensus crimes’ which provide immediate danger and are wildly against accepted social behavior. In the case given, the individual in question Mr. McCollum had a self confessed obsession with trains and places related to trains. Suffering from Asperger’s Syndrome, the man’s great interest in locomotives is not unusual for someone with the affliction. The problem arose when he tried to impersonate ticket wardens, steal a locomotive and indulge in other delin quent activities like joy riding and trespassing train control towers to satisfy his need to be ‘near trains or a train yard’. These activities got him arrested several times, yet he went against the terms of his parole in 2006 because of his obsession with trains. As far as social deviance goes, his behavior was potentially dangerous as it involved interfering with the mechanisms of sophisticated machinery which could endanger the people using or working with them. The consensus that his behavior is different from socially established rules is similarly high as safety protocols are given the highest importance in modern society and people breaking these regulations are looked upon very negatively. It is difficult to classify Mr McCollum’s actions as consensus crimes, however, because there is disparity in the opinion for the severity of his castigation- the reason being his suffering from Asperger’s syndrome. His advocates claim that even though Mr. McCol lum was aware that his actions were not acceptable at large he still felt a compulsion to perform them. This is true of people affected by Autism spectrum disorders which are one of the most common neurological disorders, and most common developmental disabilities in our society. Aspergers is classified as high functioning autism, marked by social inhibitions, a lack of relation to the social interactions which form the basis of the society and a compulsive behavior

Advantages and Disadvantages of Mobile and Internet Banking Dissertation

Advantages and Disadvantages of Mobile and Internet Banking - Dissertation Example Two important technological innovations that have been incorporated as part of the services of banks are mobile banking and internet banking. Mobile and internet banking are different from one another, although the two are closely linked with each other. Mobile banking signifies ‘access anytime and anywhere’ to banking transactions, which are computer mediated (Tiwari & Buss, 2006). The access is enabled by the use of mobile communication networks making the availment of the services independent from the geographical location of the customer (Stanoevska-Slabeva, 2004). In other words, it is the use of mobile devices like cell phone to avail of financial services. On the other hand, internet banking is on-line banking. This is the use of world wide web in order to access financial services (Khalil, 2007). Online banking has paved for paperless banking and no human interaction in the availment of financial services. As these two technological innovations have changed the manner with which banking can now be undertaken, it has transformed contemporary banking in such a way that the convenience and ease of access to financial services, in turn, have reduced the actual contact between the bank and the customer. This brings to light the important question of service and customer satisfaction. This question is crucial since banks are primarily service oriented and as part of the service industry ‘service and customer satisfaction’ are at the core of all financial services that banks offer to its clients (Nisar, 2003).... Mobile and internet banking are different from one another, although the two are closely linked with each other. Mobile banking signifies ‘access anytime and anywhere’ to banking transactions, which are computer mediated (Tiwari & Buss, 2006). The access is enabled by the use of mobile communication networks making the availment of the services independent from the geographical location of the customer (Stanoevska-Slabeva, 2004). In other words, it is the use of mobile devices like cell phone to avail of financial services. On the other hand, internet banking is on-line banking. This is the use of world wide web in order to access financial services (Khalil, 2007). Online banking has paved for paperless banking and no human interaction in the availment of financial services. As these two technological innovations have changed the manner with which banking can now be undertaken, it has transformed contemporary banking in such a way that the convenience and ease of access to financial services, in turn, have reduced the actual contact between the bank and the customer. This brings to light the important question of service and customer satisfaction. This question is crucial since banks are primarily service oriented and as part of the service industry ‘service and customer satisfaction’ are at the core of all financial services that banks offer to its clients (Nisar, 2003). 1.2. Problem Statement The technological innovation of mobile banking and internet banking has ushered a new approach in rendering financial services to bank clients. It has created a platform wherein clients can access banking services anytime and anywhere. While, on-line banking offers 24-7 banking access, speed and the convenience of

Jean Jacques Rousseau Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Jean Jacques Rousseau - Essay Example The essay highlighted the hazardous impact of modern civilization. He delivered his thoughts on education in his book title mile, which was a semi-fictitious work that outlined the growth of a lad named by the book, who was actually controlled by the author himself. The author brought the lad to the country side; a place that he sees humans being naturally suited, in comparison to a city where there are all the bad habits that are learnt in both physical and intellectual sense. Rousseau recognized and stated that education is about learning the art of living, and this art can only be learnt once there is a guardian to guide the ways and means to a good living. This gave birth to the concept of mentors. The great philosopher divided the growth period of a child into three distinct sections, i.e. up to 12, 12-16, and 16 onwards. In the first phase, i.e. up to 12 years of age, in accordance with the deepest certainty that the author held, calculating and multifaceted thinking is quite not possible, and children live more like animals. In the second ph ase, i.e. from the age of 12 up to that of 16, reasoning starts developing. In the third phase, i.e. from the age of 16 years onward the child develops into an adult. This was the time when Emile found a young lady as his complement. The fundamentals of this book are moreover based on the healthy living ideals of Rousseau. The boy then does work towards his social instincts follow up, protection from vices of individualized urbanization, and self-consciousness. The scenario portrayed here is not merely of a gender-neutral child. There is a character in the book i.e. of Sophie who represents an ideal womanhood and Emile is meant to marry her. Her education is purposely different from that of Emile as she is learned to be administered by her husband; on the contrary, the education of Emile is for self-governance. This differentiation is a part of the essential thoughts of the author regarding gender education. There have been several criticisms on this work. Emile's edication has been thought of as impractical. Child's Education, the topic itself has also been the cause of ignorance during many followers who mainly look up to Rousseau for his political work. Similar principle was then applied to the political issues by Rousseau in a book named Discours sur l'origine et les fondements de l'ingalit parmi les hommes (Discourse on the Origin of Inequality) in 1755. Some of his other famous writings included Constitutional Program for Corsica (1765), Considerations on the Government of Poland (1772), and Discourse on Political Economy (1755). The ideas generated in these political writings eventually led to the French Revolution. The Educational Theory presented by Jean Jacques Rousseau were also a major contribution of the great philosopher to the educational arena. These theories included Theory of Value, Theory of Knowledge, Theory of Human Nature, Theory of Learning Theory of Transmission, Theory of Society, Theory of Opportunity, and Theory of Consensus. Many of these theories are devoted towards learning and

Strength of Adhesives in a lap joint Essay Example for Free

Strength of Adhesives in a lap joint Essay Strength of Adhesives in a lap joint Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Shear force refers to any internal force which acts in a perpendicular direction on a substance to its extension. For example air pressure along an air plane wing (Krenk, 2007). Compression test involves a measuring instrument such as leak-down tester used in determining internal condition of combustion engines; it’s done by compressing air into the cylinder and recording the rate at which air is leaking out.eg testing the condition of racing cars engines and other engines of vehicles with high performance (Chang, 2000). Double lap configuration refers to configuration of different timbers using PVA. Advantages of PVA Toxicity; its non toxic which can be handled without any danger but not healthy for consumption. It doesn’t have gassy fumes thus no need of ventilation in rooms which are closed or during cold days. Drying time; PVA dries up quickly. Normally, if applied in little amount it makes a thin coat which takes less than 30mins to dry up. For heavier applications it can take a lot of time of about 24hrs with other conditions being applied such as pressure. Reversible; its easily reversed using water. It implies that a material is attached using PVA, it can be removed using water such as in archival purposes (Merrick, 2005). Clean up; it can be cleaned up easily using soap and water without applying other toxic thinners. When dry, it can be removed by peel ding without causing damage to the surface. Characteristics of PVA PVA particles when dry they have microscopic appearances which are similar. Dry PVA particles are similar and significantly increase in size during nonionic contrast suspension. When each PVA group is measured and parameters compared using software program in a microcomputer, they present a non-consistent histogram. Initially their particles were obtained through rasping Avalon block. Their particles are related to fluid viscosity effect or their behavior in solution. This makes them to be compressible and flexible in nature. Characteristics of resin based adhesives Durability; resin based adhesives are more durable compared to other adhesives such as synthetic Resin based adhesives made of cement are more superior to those of glass and zinc phosphate. They temporarily form synthetic adhesives when polyvinyl acetate is suspended. Most of resin based adhesives are derived from polymers where adhesives of good properties are shown. Resin based has strong adhesion forces which makes them more durable compared to other forms of adhesives (Vlieger, 1995). Resin based adhesives appears in different forms such water based and cement based adhesives. Advantages of Resin Based Adhesives Inflammable; resin based do not contain flammable solvents which makes them friendly to human beings. They don’t wear and are resistant to shrinkage when they have dried up. Resins based are of high quality compared to other forms of adhesives. Their different forms such water based are eco-friendly due to their non toxic nature. They are moisture resistant.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Double lap configuration is configured using access of light weight where adhesive forces are required in joining their respective wireless controller LAN. In conclusion, PVA particles are non uniform which have weak farces of adhesion. This affects the lap joints making them appear very weak. Resin based is known to be more durable making the relationship between lap joints stronger. References Chang, J. Y. (2000). Biopolymers, PVA hydrogels, anionic polymerisation, nanocomposites. Berlin: Springer. Merrick, M. J. (2005). The behaviour of PVA adhesives in chairs. S.l.: Furniture Industry Research Association. Krenk, S. (2007). Beam theory stresses in an adhesive lapjoint. Roskilde, Denmark: Risà ¸ National Laboratory. Vlieger, H. (1995). Results of uniaxial and biaxial tests on riveted fuselage lapjoint specimens. Amsterdam: National Aerospace Laboratory NLR. Source document

The Nclex Rn Is The Final Test Nursing Essay

The Nclex Rn Is The Final Test Nursing Essay When a graduate nurse fails the NCLEX-RN exam, there may be significant adverse effects for stakeholders. Ethical responsibility of graduating student who meets the qualifications and academic rigor of the nursing program but cannot pass the NCLEX-RN exam needs to be addressed by educators. Approximately 15,000 students failed to pass the NCLEX-RN exam annually. Closure of nursing programs may result if students consistently fail to maintain the national benchmark standards set by the NCSBN. Graduates failing the NCLEX-RN affect three major stakeholders: graduate nurses, health care organizations, and the nursing program (Roa et al., 2010). Nursing programs have implemented specific strategies for student success on the NCLEX-RN exam. Strategies for success include strict admission requirements, identifying at-risk students, developing and enforcing specific progression policies, developing course-related interventions, endorsing review courses, providing individual and academic support, and requiring interventions for at-risk students (Herrman Johnson, 2009). Faculty at a nursing program in the Southeastern region of the United States wanted to determine if the Computer HESI exit exam was equivalent to paper-and-pencil exit exam, the Mosby Assess Paper and Pencil Test (MAT). They administered two exit exams to their students, the Health Education Systems Incorporated (HESI) Exit Exam and the MAT. The HESI exit exam was given first and the MAT was given 4 months later. The MAT was completed for graduation and the HESI for evaluation. The HESI scores was r = 0.723, p Educators at the University of Delaware developed a residency curriculum including a senior- year involvement. The curricula consisted of two seminars during the final year of school. The first seminar was conducted on key information related to professional clinical development. Culturally component caregiving, complementary and alternative health care practices, legal and ethical issues in practice, and career planning and preparation were also included (Herrman Johnson 2009). The second seminar, scheduled the semester prior to graduation, consisted of reinforcement study skills and preparation for the NCLEX-RN. This course provides consecutive clinical building of NCLEX-RN specific content through the semester (Herrman Johnson, 2009). Faculties at Wichita State University (WSU) were unable to meet their set goal for passing the NCLEX-RN exam. Upon inquiry, they realized that the students did not appear overly anxious about taking the exam and usually waited until after graduation to start preparing for it. Due to their not meeting the national average, the faculty agreed that a program utilizing standardized practice test to increase preparation for NCLEX-RN and give feedback regarding their performance needed to be established. The faculty instituted a program of standardized computer testing. Test scores along with course grades were used to identify at-risk students to give them additional assistance (Jacobs Koehn, 2006). Educators reviewed various program and decided on the program established by ATI. Two tests were chosen by the school: the test of Essential Academic Skills (TEAS) and the Comprehensive Predictor test. Faculty tested the students near the end of the semester with students required to make the 60th percentile or remediation is necessary. Students not completing remediation by the end of the semester will receive an incomplete and cannot move forward to the next course until completed. The first class to graduate following the implementation of the ATI standardized computer testing, showed an improvement on NCLEX-RN pass rate. The ATI program validated a solid consumer-oriented program that was helpful to WSU nursing school (Jacobs Koehn, 2006). Bondmass, Moonie, and Kowalski (2008) conducted a study concerning a change in the NCLEX-RN success rates following the addition of standardized exams throughout the program curriculum. They also compared the exam scores between graduates who passed the NCLEX-RN, and those who did not. The 187 students consisting of four classes were enrolled in the study. Twenty-three students (12.3%) did not graduate from the program. One-hundred and sixty-one students completed the program and graduated. The retention rate for the students was 87.7%. Of the 161 students, data was available for 147 students. One hundred and twenty-nine (87.8%) students passed the NCLEX-RN exam on the first attempt and 18 (12.2%) graduates did not pass. Results showed a 8.5% change (p National Council of State Boards of Nursing Founded in 1978, the (NCSBN) is a not-for-profit organization created in order to guard the safety of the public. NCSBN protects the public by ensuring that licensed nurses provide safe and competent nursing care. NCSBN establishes regulatory excellence for public health to ensure that nurses entering the workforce have the necessary knowledge and skills to practice. To accomplish their goals, the NCSBN develops a licensure examination that is consistent with current nursing practice. NCLEX-RN test questions are based on Blooms taxonomy for the cognitive domain (NCSBN, 2012; Anderson Krathwohl, 2001). NCSBN is the collective voice of nursing regulation in the U.S. and its territories with work that involves: Developing the NCLEX-RN, NCLEX-PN, NNAAP and MACE examinations. Monitoring trends in public policy, nursing practice and education. Promoting uniformity in relationship to the regulation of nursing practice. Disseminating data related to the licensure of nurses. Conducting research on nursing practice issues. Serving as a forum for information exchange for members. Providing opportunities for collaboration among its members and other nursing and health care organizations. Maintaining the Nurses database, by coordinating national publicly available nurse licensure information (NCSBN, 2012). Computerized NCLEX-RN test includes multiple choices, exhibit items, fill-in-the- blank calculations, drag and drop, charts and graphs, and hot spot items. The NCSBN developed a position statement in July 2009 regarding the impending nursing shortage. NCSBN posits that standards should be based on the highest degree of available evidence for nursing practice, education, and regulation, and that these standards should be upheld in order to secure, safe care and quality education for students (NCSBNC, 2009). This statement was developed based on chronological events that occurred in reaction to previous shortage employing deregulation of educational standards including decreased qualified faculty. The NCSBN reviews the NCLEX-RN exam every 3 years for possible increase in intensity of questions to reflect the complications of patient care encountered by health care organizations. The NCLEX- RN exam was updated in April 2010 because of the national practice analysis survey on current practice of entry-level nurses and because of employers demanding higher levels of competence from new graduate nurses (Roa, et al., 2010). Assessment Technology Institute According to Davenport (2008), various strategies associated with passing the NCLEX-RN exam. One such strategy, the Assessment Technology Institute (ATI) offers programs that are influential in improving faculty, student and program outcomes such as the predictor test. The ATI RN Comprehensive Predictor test provides students and faculties with a numeric report of the probability of passing the NCLEX-RN at the student present level of preparedness. Secondly, the predictor is a guide for remediation based on the content missed. Students are given a list of topics missed in the individual and group score report. An all-encompassing validation process involving statistical comparison of student performance on the RN Comprehensive Predictor and the concrete NCLEX-RN first attempt pass/fail status. Students are required to purchase the ATI comprehensive package that gives them access to all required test throughout the program. Included in the program are computerized critical thinking entrances and exit exams, a learning style inventory, content-specific exams, and comprehensive predictor test, which are based on the NCLEX-RN test blueprint. Students complete nonproctored and proctored exams during each semester. The ATI comprehensive package assists educators in augmenting curriculum, upgrading courses, and faculty development (Davenport, 2008). Alameida, Find all citations by this author (default). Orfilter your current search Prive, Find all citations by this author (default). Orfilter your current search Davis, Find all citations by this author (default). Orfilter your current search Landry, Find all citations by this author (default). Orfilter your current search Renwanz-Boyle, Find all citations by this author (default). Orfilter your current search Dunham (2011) conducted a study on standardized testing to predict first-time success from two prelicensing programs. The sample size (N=589) students, completed the nursing program between 2003 and 2009. Demographic data, GPA, and ATI RN scores were analyzed. The results of the study showed that the ATI RN Comprehensive predictor was associated with first-time pass success. Students at-risk of failing the NCLEX-RN exam could be identified prior to testing and remediated to increase their probability of passing. Health Education Systems Incorporated HESI is a standardized exam used by schools of nursing in evaluating students competency achievement of curricular outcomes. HESI provides various exams including the HESI Admission Assessment (entrance exam), specialty exams that can assess detailed clinical content, custom exam which assess faculty-specific content; and the HESI Exit Exam, a comprehensive exit assessment evaluate students knowledge base and their ability to apply nursing concepts. For this research purpose, the HESI Exit Exam will be reviewed (Morrison, Adamson, Nibert, Hsia, 2008). The HESI Exist Exam is a comprehensive 150-item test administered prior to completion of the nursing for evaluation of students readiness for the NCLEX-RN. Identification of students weaknesses, strengths, and the need for remediation prior to taking the exam is determined. Test items are based on a critical-thinking model that necessitates applying clinical reasoning to select the correct answers (Nibert, Young, Adamson 2008). The HESI Predictability Model, a proprietary mathematical model, calculates scores of this exam. The reliability of the exam is determined by conducting an item analysis on each exam for a composite report of the combined data. Validity is determined by an evaluation of content validity, construct validity, and criterion-related validity (Morrison, et al., 2008). Critical Thinking Critical thinking is an integral part of accountability and quality care within the nursing profession. Critical thinking continues to be an essential part of nursing and must be a central factor of course content. Shirrell (2008) conducted a study to determine if critical thinking is a predictor of NCLEX success. Results showed that critical thinking alone is not a good predictor of NCLEX-RN success. Including critical thinking, in the curriculum is essential for enhancement of the students higher level of thinking. Critical thinking skills are an expectation of all nurses for accurate interpretation of patient issues and appropriate management of their care. Patients lives depend on nurses making quick decisions and taking appropriate action. Brookfield (2010) describes critical thinking as developing an awareness of the assumption that an individual and others think and act. Critical thinking is what students see and how they will take care of problems to make the patient healthier. It essential for students to know CT is the distinction between keeping patients safe and putting them in harms way. Alfaro-LeFevre (2009) created a 4 circle critical thinking (CT) model that Educators can use in helping students to understand critical thinking. CTA-JPEG Figure 1 Alfaro-LeFevre, R. (2009). Critical Thinking and Clinical Judgment: A Practical Approach to Outcome-Focused Thinking (4th ed). St Louis, Missouri. Beginning at the top and continuing clockwise, this model helps students understand the need for a commitment to developing critical thinking characteristics such as persistence and fair-mindedness. Second, students should be responsible for their learning by seeking out learning experiences that will get them academic and pragmatic knowledge needed to critically think. Third, students need to develop interpersonal skills for example, conflict management, teamwork, and being an advocate for their patients. Fourth, students should practicing related technical skills for example using computers, starting intravenous therapy, completing sterile procedures (Alfaro-LeFevre, 2009). Educators using the nursing process can help their students improving their critical thinking skills, pass the NCLEX-RN exam and be safe, effective nurses. NCLEX-RN Test Plan The licensing authorities within the state, commonwealth and territorial boards of nursing regulate entry into the practice of nursing. Development of the NCLEX-RN Test Plan is accomplished by collecting data on the current practices of entry-level nurses for the purpose of by conducting a practice analysis. Licensed RNs were asked about the occurrence and significance of performing 155 activities concerning current nursing practice. An analysis of the activities is completed in relation to the frequency of performance, impact on maintaining client safety and client care settings where the activities are performed. Result of the analysis serves as a guide for improvement of standards for entry-level nursing practice. The succeeding stage involves development of the NCLEX-RN Test Plan, which guides the selection of content and performances to be tested (2010 NCLEX-RN Detailed Test Plan, NCSBN, 2010). The NCLEX-RN Test Plan serves as a template for development of the examination. The NCLEXÂ ® examination assesses the knowledge, skills and abilities that are essential for the nurse. The organization of the NCLEX-RN examination is based on nursing actions and competencies crucial for meeting the needs of patients. The test plan is reviewed and approved by the NCLEX Examination Committee. Resources used in this process include the recent practice analysis of RNs, expert opinions of the NCLEX-RN Examination Committee, and NCSBNs member boards to certify that the test plan is reliable with state nurse practice acts. Upon approval of the NCLEX-RN Examination Committee, the test plan is presented to the Delegate Assembly for review and approval (2010 NCLEX-RN Detailed Test Plan, NCSBN, 2010). In December 2009, the NCSBN Board of Directors made a decision to raise the NCLEX-RN from -0.21 to -0.16 logits. In combination with the 2010 NCLEX-RN Test Plan, the new standards was applied April 1, 2010. The Computerized Adaptive Testing (CAT) is used to administer the examination. CAT is a technique for administering exams that combines computer technology with contemporary measurement concept to increase the competence of the exam process (2010 NCLEX-RN Detailed Test Plan, NCSBN, 2010). Test Plan Structure The framework of the test plan is based on client needs, defining nursing actions and competencies which focus on clients in all situations. The structure of the NCLEX-RN Test Plan has four major client needs categories with two of the four categories divided into subcategories. The four categories of the 2010 NCLEX-RN Test Plan and subcategories are: Safe and Effective Care Environment Management of Care Safety and Infection Control Health Promotion and Maintenance Psychosocial Integrity Physiological Integrity Basic Care and Comfort Pharmacological and Parenteral Therapies Reduction of Risk Potential Physiological Adaptation (2010 NCLEX-RN Detailed Test Plan, NCSBN, 2007). Integrated Processes The following processes are fundamental to the practice of nursing and are integrated throughout the Client Needs categories and subcategories: Nursing Process a scientific, clinical reasoning approach to client care that includes assessment, analysis, planning, implementation and evaluation. Caring interaction of the nurse and client in an atmosphere of mutual respect and trust. In this collaborative environment, the nurse provides encouragement, hope, support and compassion to help achieve desired outcomes. Communication and Documentation verbal and nonverbal interactions between the nurse and the client, the clients significant others and the other members of the health care team. Events and activities associated with client care are validated in written and/or electronic records that reflect standards of practice and accountability in the provision of care. Teaching/Learning facilitation of the acquisition of knowledge, skills and attitudes promoting a change in behavior (2010 NCLEX-RN Detailed Test Plan, NCSBN, 2007). Distribution of Content Based on the results of the Report of Findings from the 2008 RN Practice Analysis: Linking the NCLEX-RNÂ ® Examination to Practice, Percentage of test questions allocated to each client needs category and subcategory of the NCLEX-RN Test Plan (NCSBN, 2009). Percentage of Items from Each Client Needs Category/Subcategory are: Safe and Effective Care Environment Management of Care 16-22% Safety and Infection Control 8-14% Heath Promotion and Maintenance 6-12% Psychosocial Integrity 6-12% Physiological Integrity Basic Care and Comfort 6-12% Pharmacological and Parenteral Therapies 13-19% Reduction of Risk Potential 10-16% Physiological Adaptation 11-17% (2010 NCLEX-RN Detailed Test Plan, NCSBN, 2010). The detailed test plan serves as a guide for students and faculty to assist in preparation for the examination. Additionally, the test plan directs item writers in the improvement of test questions and simplifies the classification of examination items. NCSBN creates two versions of the detailed test plan; 1) Item Writer/Item Reviewer/Nurse Educator version and 2) Applicant version. The Item Writer/Item Reviewer/Nurse Educator version has a more exhaustive and wide-ranging listing of content for each client needs category and subcategory. Following each category are sample questions, which are explicit to the client needs category reviewed in that section. The educator version of the test plan has an item writing guide with sample scenarios for hands-on experience in writing NCLEX style test questions. The student version of the detailed test plan does not have an item-writing guide (NCLEX-RN Detailed Test Plan, NCSBN, 2010). Implications Results of this study may have implications for nursing programs and show a need for further research. Academic variables might prove useful in the early identification of students at risk for failing the NCLEX exam. Results from this study may also influence nursing programs by assisting nursing faculty in identifying at-risk students who may need remediation to increase their chances of being successful in the nursing program. In addition, results from this study may be important because predictor variables may point to factors that may lead to a successful first attempt at the NCLEX-RN. The majority of the nursing graduates who take the NCLEX-RN examination are associates degree graduates, and success on the exam influences the number of nurses entering the field each year (NCSBN, 2009). Summary Nursing programs need to identify causes for attrition and implement strategies to retain students and improve recruitment of students with increased probability of successfully finishing nursing school (NLNAC, 2008). The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN, 2005) is in agreement with the recommendations from the NLNAC. Causes of the nursing shortage are multi-faceted. Literature review shows there is a downward trend in the number of nursing graduates who are successful with the NCLEX-RN exam for first time test takers. There is a critical need for registered nurses who can function as competent professionals. Nursing programs need to develop strategies that will help decrease their attrition rate in order for nursing graduates to be successful with the NCLEX-RN exam on the first attempt. The scope of the national nursing shortage goes well beyond the healthcare agencies. Nursing programs are conscientiously working to increase the number of qualified graduate nurses to address the nursing shortage. Increase in graduates is only one consideration to increasing enrollment. Along with increasing enrollment, nursing programs must maintain quality programs. Nursing educators need to improve students likelihood of passing the NCLEX-RN through nursing programs structure curriculum, developing assessment testing, and utilizing program predictors to identify students at risk for failure on NCLEX-RN. The quality of a good nursing program is dependent on their graduates being successful with the NCLEX- RN exam on the first attempt. Section 2: The Methodology Introduction With the growing shortage of nurses and increased number of students failing the NCLEX-RN, critical evaluation of predictors of success for first time test takers is essential for improvement of NCLEX-RN scores. Determining predictors of success will assist nursing programs in determining at-risk students for remediation to give them the greatest probability for NCLEX-RN success. The purpose of this quantitative study is to determine if there is a positive correlation between predictor test and NCLEX-RN success for first-time test takers. This study will examine predictors of success of an Associate Degree of Nursing program from 2010 to 2011. The research will address the following questions: Is there a correlation between GPA pre-nursing GPA, final GPA, and NCLEX-RN success? Is there a correlation between age, gender, and NCLEX-RN success? Is there a correlation between ATI scores and NCLEX-RN success? To answer these questions, predictors of NCLEX-RN will identify four cohorts of students graduating in Spring 2010, Summer 2010, Spring 2011, and Summer 2011. NCLEX-RN results and ATI predictor results will be obtained from archival student data with permission of the college. The population will be students who completed a five-semester ADN nursing program. Data will be reviewed to determine: Students who passed the NCLEX-RN on the first attempt and made the required score on the ATI test. Students who passed the NCLEX-RN on the first attempt and did not make the required score on the ATI test. Students who failed the NCLEX-RN and did not make the required score on the ATI test. Students GPA before beginning the nursing program. Students GPA at completion of the nursing program. The dependent variable is the passing NCLEX-RN. The independent variables include students GPA pre-nursing and GPA at completion of the nursing program, age, gender, and the ATI predictor scores given at the end of the nursing program. These academic and nonacademic variables have been used in previous studies and are associated with a positive and significant predictor of NCLEX success (Gilmore, 2008; Frith et al, 2008; Truman, 2012; Wolkowitz, 2009). Quantitative research (Lodico, Spaulding, Voegtle, 2010) is conducted to determine the relationships between variables. There are two types of correlational designs, explanatory and prediction. An explanatory design, which will be used for this study, is a correlational design that examines whether changes in one variable will effect changes in one or more variables (Creswell, 2012). The following characteristics need to be present to use an explanatory design: correlation of two or more variables by the researcher, data are collected at one point in time, all participants are analyzed as a single group, obtains at least two scores for each individual in the group, employs correlational statistical testing in data analysis, and infers a conclusions from the statistical data. All characteristics apply to this study (Creswell, 2012). Sample and Data Collection The sample will consist of students who completed the program and sat for the NCLEX-RN exam spring 2010 (N = 54), summer 2010 (N = 44), spring 2011 (N = 49), summer 2011(N=41). Descriptive statistics will be used to describe and summarize the sample and examine relationships between each variable. Descriptive statistics will also be used to assess differences in the graduates who did not pass the NCLEX-RN exam and those who successfully passed the exam. This study will be conducted in a technical college, located in the southeastern area of South Carolina. Students NCLEX pass rates, ATI predictor scores, academic and nonacademic predictors will be collected from archival student data. Data will be entered via Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 18.0. Academic and nonacademic predictors will be correlated with the numbers of students who were successful on their first attempt with NCLEX-RN exam. Additionally, a correlation of the ATI predictor exam scores used by the college as subsequent NCLEX-RN success will be completed. Data Analysis The use of descriptive statistics to summarize the findings is essential aspect of research for clarity (Lodico et al, 2010). Descriptive statistics (mean, mode and standard deviation) will also be used to identify the continuous sample. The level of significance will be set at p Pearsons r is very vulnerable to outliers in the data so you need to test for outliers. Outliers can be detected by plotting the two variables against each other on a graph and visually inspecting the graph for errors. The outlier can be removed or manipulated as long as it can justified why it was done. If there is no justification for removing the outlier, a Spearmans Rank Order Correlation can be done (Green Salkind, 2011). Ethical Considerations Informed consent is not needed from students. The research will be limited to existing academic records maintained by the college of nursing program. No names will be used in this study. Data will be coded into the SPSS to protect students records. Students grades and ATI results are stored the nursing department and permission to view these records will need to be granted by the dean of nursing and the vice president of academic affairs. The researcher will also need approval from Institutional Research Board (IRB) before assessing any student records for the purpose of the study Conclusion Data from this project study will provide information that will assist in improving student success with NCLEX-RN on their first attempt. This quantitative study will assist the college in developing plans for early intervention and counseling for students who are at risk of failing the NCLEX-RN. Students will also benefit from consistent counseling by faculty and remediation for low scores on standardized test. Schools of nursing will also benefit from students improving

Procter and Gamble Company with consumer goods

Procter and Gamble Company with consumer goods 1.0 INTRODUCTION The Procter Gamble Company (PG) is one of the top makers of consumer goods companies in the world. Among the famous billion dollars brands are Duracell, Oral-B, Gillette, Head Shoulder, Olay, Pampers, Pantene, and Wella. PG has three major categories of products, mainly beauty and grooming, health and well-being, and household care products. The organizations corporate mission is to touch and improve lives of the worlds consumers, now and for generations to come by providing branded products and services of superior quality and value (Procter Gamble 2011). PG has a unique corporate structure that is very different from major market leaders in the world. Its structure is one of the main pillars for its growing capability. PG has combined both the global scale benefit organization with the local focus of each particular country where its products are sold (Procter Gamble 2011). The corporate structure of PG consists of three major parts which are Global Business Units (GBUs), Market Development Organizations (MDOs), and Global Business Services (GBS). The GBUs focus mainly on branding, competitors and consumers. They are responsible for the shareholder returns and profitability of the company. MDOs are to know the consumers and retailers in the markets PG is competing and combine new ideas from GBUs into business plans that work in each country. The GBS in another hand is one of the four major pillars of the organization to support 127000 employees and 300 brands sold. GBS provide over 170 employee and business services including IT, finance, facilities, purchasing and employee services as well as business building solutions (Procter Gamble 2011). PG established five business strategies for its own (Procter Gamble 2011). The first strategy is to develop sustainable innovative products which are environmental friendly. Second strategy is to improve PGs operation to be more environmental friendly. Third strategy is to improve childrens lives via the organizations social responsibility programs. Fourth strategy is to engage and equip the employees of PG to build sustainability thinking and practices into their everyday work. Fifth strategy is to work transparently with the stakeholders. PG major business processes focuses on consumer production innovation and brand management. In order to achieve both of these, PG has its own intranet called Innovation Net (INET) to connect different departments ranging from RD, Engineering, Purchasing, Consumer Market knowledge, Patent/Legal and Business Information Systems. With the integration of AskMe Enterprise tools, PG will be able to leverage the information from each department to better monetize it (Realcom 2009). Knowledge workers of PG would be able to share their knowledge and collaborate to solve same problems encountered via INET. PG has strong relationship with Wal-Mart since 1980s because of the business process automation between the two and the collaboration carried out to work together better (Christopher Koch, 2002). PG is establishing efficient relationship between the industry and academia with research universities (Nathan 2011). 2.0 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT) INFRASTRUCTURE In year 2003, Procter and Gamble (PG) has signed a 10 years contract, worth $3 billion with Hewlett-Packard (HP) to outsource her overall IT infrastructure. HP will run PGs data centers and information technology infrastructure, and also provide desktop and end-user support, and to oversee network management (Sandeep Junnarkar 2003). 2.1 Computer hardware platform PG has selected Hewlett-Packard (HP) as her IT infrastructure provider. Desktops and end-user support in PGs global operations over 180 countries are provided by HP. HP was selected for its global IT expertise, services quality and cost, and collaborative approach, as most importantly shared a same vision and values with PG, which PG strongly believe this will be able to accelerate innovation in PG (Palo Alto 2003). 2.2 Operating system. PG has started to get involved in high performance computing (HPC) to run simulations in research, design and testing before production since early of 1980s to increase productivity and reduce the production cost of company. However due to wide variety of products, and large number of researchers, product designer and test engineers in PG, the IT organization needs a more user friendly computer cluster. PG also faced difficulties in integrating software from different vendors as no any vendors can offer PG all the software they need in traditional (Microsoft Corporation 2008). In mid 2007, PG replaces its UNIX operating system with Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard x64 Edition operating system. PG employed Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 to support its high performance technical and scientific applications with parallel processing to improve their performance. Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 not only improved the use of HPC and productivity in PG, but also improved cluster deployment and management by 20% (Microsoft Corporation 2008) 2.3 Enterprise software applications (SAP) PG runs its business using SAP ® software (SAP AG 2009). The key challenge faced by PG is, she has wide range of products and has a very complex sales order process. Emerging as a worlds premier consumer product company, PG puts her customer as priority and would like to give satisfaction to her customers by on-time-delivery (OTD). PG uses community definition groups (CDGs) from the Enterprise Services Community (ES Community) program provided by SAP, which create the sales order cockpit a single monitor that supports the everyday activities related to sales orders (SAP AG 2009). Through CDG and ES Community, productivity of PG improved by integrating functionality that required many scattered transactions into a single cockpit. 2.4 Networking and telecommunications The visionary stance of PG on product innovation and development to be a company that collaborates-inside and out-better than any other company in the world (Cisco Systems, Inc. 2008). Videoconferencing rooms were used for PG teams to collaborate internally and externally, but greater challenges are faced by PG due to unreliable technology which cause poor video and audio quality, and thus prevented effective collaboration. The problem is then solved when GBS work with CISCO to develop a video collaboration strategy based on the TelePresence solution. In mid of 2007, PG has expanded to more 40 Cisco CTS3000 TelePresence studios, also known as Video Collaboration Studios which enable team members in PG exchange idea and even have meetings in minutes (Cisco Systems, Inc. 2008). Through these, team members in PG are able to collaborate innovatively and smarter without travelling anywhere, decisions making are also accelerated. 2.5 Consultants and system integrators PG commits herself to achieve the goals of making the company more efficient while running it cost effectively and to have breakthrough opportunities in innovation by moving toward a digitized and visualized environment. PGs GBS created a network of customized workspace portals (decision cockpits) which stored latest business intelligence which benefits thousands of her employees who can access information to make real-time business decisions. The number of portals grew to 160 over time and had different platforms, technologies which increased the difficulty to manage and costly to maintain. Different user interface of cockpits made it hard for other users when using other cockpits. There were too many legacy reports generated from all these cockpits which slowed down the process of accessing needed information for the executives level. PG needed a new cockpit platform to be standardized and streamlined, provide easy access to a single source of accurate, real-time business information, enhance user experience, reduce the cost and inefficiencies related with cockpit development and maintenance, improve data integrity and the delivery of reports, accommodate web 2.0 features. PG turned to Accenture for help to develop and manage the new cockpit platform. Accenture together with PGs GBS redefined PGs Vision for enterprise information management, standardized and integrated systems for a simpler and faster organization. By this, the cockpits are delivered 5 times faster than before and 35 percent less development cost and 50 percent reusability (Accenture 2010). 2.6 Data management and storage Procter and Gamble selects SAND/DNA for SAP NLS Pilot Project in March 2008. SAND Technology Inc. is an international provider of intelligent enterprise information software. PG emerged as one of the world biggest consumers products company, has wide range of products with approximately135, 000 people in more than 180 countries (Procter Gamble 2011). Too many data to be stored and managed efficiently and cost effectively is the key challenge of PG (SAND 2008). SAND/DNA enables highly efficient data storage, with minimal administration requirement and integration with PG Enterprise Software Applications, SAP. Data stored are easily accessed from SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0 (SAND 2008). SAND also provides lower cost data storage over a long term (Yazdi Bagli). 2.7 Internet platform Key challenge in PG in internet platform is reaching out to consumers through digital world. PG sees digital world as an opportunity to reach out their brand to consumers, and build up connections with their consumers (Angelica Mari 2009) Microsoft.NET has interactive features and like touch, gestures, rich UI, and location awareness, enable PG to attract and connect with consumers. Besides being technically impressive, Microsoft.NET is cost effective and efficient development platform (Microsoft 2009). 3.0 CLOUD COMPUTING AND ITS BUSINESS BENEFITS AND COSTS 3.1 Cloud computing and its current trend Cloud refers to the Internet. Cloud computing is a model of computing where firms and individuals obtain computing power and software applications over the Internet, rather than purchasing their own hardware and software. (Laudon, K.C. Laudon, J.P.,2010). The hardware and software capabilities are provided as a service over the Internet by vendors such as salesforce.com. Through cloud computing, hardware and software are managed by vendors, including installations, configurations, testing, running, security, and updates (Salesforce.com 2011). In traditional way, different types of right software are needed in each and every computer in company to make sure all the staffs are able to carry out their work. The operational cost will be very high due to buying new software and providing license for software. However, this problem can be solved using cloud computing. Users are just required to log in to one application, which allows users to log into a Web-based service which hosts all the programs the user would need for his or her job. This made scaling up and down of software easier. In this way, cloud computing allows a company to increase their capacity or add capabilities on computing without investing in new infrastructure, training new personnel, or licensing new software (Eric Knorr Galen Gruman, n.d.). Currently in cloud computing, users are able to access to the application as long as an electronic device (i.e. PCs, netbooks, Smartphones) has access to the web. Users are able to keep up their work everywhere and easily. 3.2 Cloud computing solutions Salesforces.com Sales Cloud and Service Cloud are applicable to PG sales team and customer support team. Sales Cloud Enterprise edition with $125 per user a month will be applicable to the entire organization with features such as storing customer contacts, tracking customer interactions, integrating with Google apps, reports and analytics, sales forecasting and many more features which will be benefiting the sales team(Salesforce.com 2011). The Service Cloud Enterprise edition with US$135 per user a month will be able to improve PG customer support whether it is offline or online with web customization and integration. Web 2.0 integrations such as Twitter and Facebook will further enhance the productivity of PGs customer service by interacting with the customers in real time (Salesforce.com 2011). 3.3 B usiness benefits and cost of cloud computing Many organizations have changed their IT infrastructure to cloud computing due to cost and time effective. In cloud computing infrastructure, no hardware or software need to be installed, but all the business activities, includes customer relationship management (CRM), HR, accounting are able to be carried out by opening a browser, log in, customize the app, and start using it (Salesforce.com 2011). Other than that, IT teams will not be wasting their time on installations, maintenances and upgrading their software because all the updates are performed by vendors. Cloud computing enables a fast access to own data from different remote devices and able transfer and sharing file between users rapidly.All the changes made also will be synchronized in PCs and mobile devices (Rivka Tadjer 2010). Other than that, cloud computing allows easy and fast integration of applications, both traditional software and cloud computing infrastructure (Salesforce.com 2011). Thus, all co-workers are able to keep up their works easily. Business activities are not restricted in office workplace, but every worker can access and perform their work with any internet devices they have. Other benefit of cloud computing is we do not face the risk of loss of data as all the data and files are stored in the cloud. Complete disaster recovery is available and data will not lost during upgrades. Customizations and integrations of all the works and data are automatically preserved during an upgrade (Salesforce.com, 2011). By implementing cloud computing infrastructure, less man power needed to manage and update the hardware and software. This allows man power in IT department to focus on strategic activities with greater impact on the business. 4.0 RECOMMENDATION OF CLOUD COMPUTING ADOPTION It is recommended that PG to adopt the cloud computing for better business process and efficiency. Salesforces.com is recommended for PGs sales and customer service team for the sales order process while HP cloud solution is recommended for the companys IT infrastructure. Below are the reasons of why such recommendations are made. 4.1 Customer and supplier services: integrating SAP into Salesforce.com The sales order cockpit by SAP is important for PG sales order process. The limitation of the current situation is that the sales team and customer service team has to be in office in order to access to the cockpit and the teams have to go back and forth for pulling information from different platforms. By integrating the sales order cockpit into Salesforce.com, PGs employees would be able to access to sales process by SAP, CRM and other sales tracking in one platform at anywhere, anytime as long as they have the internet access. Upon applying such integration, PG will be able to save more on maintaining cost, integration cost, and time to have more productive sales process, better customer satisfaction as the employees are able to see the problems and solve them in the shortest time possible. The sales team is able to save more time in getting information and spending more time with the customers. 4.2 Achieving business strategy One of the business strategy PG has is to improve PGs operation to be more environmental friendly. Adopting cloud computing can help the company to achieve this strategy. It is said that many companies will move to cloud computing to consume 90% of the electricity from public utilizes instead of generating the same amount of their own electricity (Consero Insights 2010). 4.3 IT infrastructure and cost PG outsourced its IT Infrastructure to HP with $3billion over 10 years. HP will manage overall infrastructure in PG from data centers, general network management to desktop and end-user supports. In term of cost, cloud computing   can reduce the cost of IT hardware and services over the time as in cloud computing, payment are based on byte of usage (Cloud Computing IT 2010). Traditional IT Infrastructure is restricted to the limit of licensed user, which will cause inelasticity in scaling up the company (Zemanta 2009). Key component in cloud computing software as a service (SaaS) which enables company access on applications and large amount of computing power without purchasing it. SaaS can be operated by multiple computers at the same time yet no upgrades and contract renewal required ([emailprotected] Carey 2008) 4.4 Information Technology PG realize the importance of digital world, as a medium to touch the life of people. PG also implementing â€Å"cultural revolution† to train and develop IT staff with the skills necessary to blend IT with PGs businesses and provide IT innovation. PGs IT organization play a vital role in shaping the companys future and PG uses IT technology to identify market trends, anticipate business needs and create programs globally (Thomas Hoffman 2006). Key feature in cloud computing which is accessibility, availability and scalability (Tony Chung 2008) enable PG to obtain data to carry out market analysis conveniently. On the other hand, cloud computing is said to be limitless, flexible to scale up and down without affecting its performance and operational cost. 4.5 Competitor Firms IT Services Unilever, one of the strong competitors of PG boost their sales by focusing on the consumers rather than advertising and promotions (Russell Parsons, 2010). Unilever focus on one-to-one basis on respective group to ensure effective approach (Unilever 2011). Unilever partnership with BT to perform high quality and cost effective global network by delivering managed networks and communications solutions to customers around the world (Unilever 2002). 4.6 Competitor Firm: Unilever IT investment Unilever has an annual IT budget at about USD1128 million (Natasha 2010). Unilever invested into its global network which provides advanced messaging and security services in 2002 (Unilever 2002). Unilever also employed Business Objects data integration products by SAP to quickly integrate its numerous data sources to continue its growth strategy to consolidate brands, simplify processes, streamline supply chains, and increase revenues (Business Objects 2008). Compared to Unilever, investment of PG in IT is much lower. However, one good thing in Unilevers IT is Business object, which is able to load data, transform into useful data and load in data warehouse in short time where PG can consider in IT infrastructure. 5.0 CONCLUSION The findings in this report show that cloud computing is beneficial to PG in terms of cost saving, productivity, and efficiency. Salesforce.com SaaS will better help the sales and customer relationship management in PG through real time data anywhere as long as the employees have the internet connection. HP IaaS will be save more money in IT infrastructure as PG only pay for what is being used and will be able to scale up or down according to the usage anytime in future. It is strongly recommended that PG to adopt cloud computing solutions to help the company achieve better results.

Case Study of Dell Computer Corporation :: Business Marketing, Case Study, solution

Case Study of Dell Computer Corporation Introduction Michael Dell founded Dell Computer Corporation in 1984 with a simple vision and business concept – that personal computers can be built to order and sold directly to consumers. Michael believed his approach had two advantages: (i) by passing distributors and retail dealers eliminated the markups of resellers, and (ii) building to order greatly reduced the costs and risks associated with carrying large stocks of parts, components and finished goods. Its build-to-order and sell-direct approach proved appealing to growing numbers of customers in the mid 1990s as global PC sales rose to record level. In 1998, it was already the 3rd manufacturer in the United States with a 12% share of PC market and a nearly 6% share worldwide. The company’s fastest growing market for the past several quarters was Europe. Even during the Asia economic woes in the early 1998, Dell’s sales in Asia rose 35%. Its sales at the Internet Web site were about $5 million a day and expected to r each $1.5 billion annually by the year-end 1998. Since 1990, Dell’s stock price had exploded from 23 cents per share to $83 per share in May1998 with a 36,000% increase and was the top performing big company then. Dell’s principal products included desktop PCs, notebook computers, workstations, and servers. Its products and services were sold in more than 140 countries. The sales of desktop PCs alone accounted for about 65% of Dell’s total revenues while the rest accounted for about 33%. In early 1988, the company has 16,000 employees. Dell’s Background and Vision Dell Computer was first known as PCs Limited in 1984, selling PC components and PCs under the brand name PCs Limited. Dell’s strategy was to sell directly to end users; by eliminating the retail markup, Dell was able to sell IBM clones at about 40% below an IBM PC price. By 1985, the company was assembling its own PC designs and had about 40 employees. Sales had reached $33 million by the year ending 1986. Michael Dell sought to refine the company’s business model, add needed production capacity, and build a bigger, deeper management staff and corporate infrastructure while at same time keeping costs low. It first international offices were opened in 1987 and was renamed Dell Computer. In 1998, Dell became a public company, raised $34.2 million in its first offering of common stock. Michael Dell’s vision was for Dell Computer to become one of the top three PC companies.

The Lord of the Flies :: Free Essay Writer

The Lord of the Flies William Golding uses much symbolism in his novel, The Lord of the Flies, to help readers gain a greater understanding of his message. He uses symbolism in three important areas: objects that have symbolic value as references to ideas, characters that symbolize important historical and religious people, and the setting which frames the conflicts on the island in comparison to the whole world. Objects are the first part of the story that are symbolic. Many objects in The Lord of the Flies have important symbolic value. The conch shell represents power and authority, and Ralph uses it to call for the boys to come to meetings. Whoever has the shell has the power to talk. The conch shows how people use objects to give power, like a crown, sceptre, or other thins that show who has power. We also learn that objects don’t really give power when people choose not to obey it, like Ralph’s conch. The pig’s head, or Lord of the Flies, is an important object. To Jack it is a sacrifice for the beast. This object shows that people will make religions and rituals to control their world, even when what they think is not true. The Lord of the Flies is also a symbol of Satan, or the Devil. When Simon talked with the Lord of the Flies, he learned what the real evil was, which is the evil in people’s hearts. The Lord of the Flies is a symbol of the things we make up to be the cause for evil, when those things aren’t the real reason. The fire is a symbol of hope and rescue. When the fire was burning bright, it was because the boys were working hard to get rescued. When the fire burnt out, it was because many boys, like Jack, didn’t care anymore about being rescued. In the end, the fire that got them rescued was not meant for rescue. It was there because Jack was burning down the island to kill Ralph. This shows us that we get things from luck instead of hard work. The objects in the story are used by characters that also have symbolism. The many different characters on the island are symbols of important people. They show how the real world is made up of people. Ralph is a good leader who cannot control bad people like Jack. Ralph is like Franklin Roosevelt before World War II who could not stop the war from breaking out.