Discussion on intangible assets Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Discussion on intangible assets - Essay Example The assets have propelled various companies such as Coca-Cola to greater heights of performance and competitiveness globally. However, a number of concerns arise with respect to their value as estimated, amortization, and representation. The first concern is that, intangible assets present immense challenges when financial statements of a company are prepared. The challenges emanate since the assets lack definite value compared to tangible assets. The issue leads to the realization of numerous gaps within the process that result to misrepresentation of the actual performance level of a company (Abdallah, 2004). Concerns also arise on whether the value of the intangible assets should be reported at their carrying amounts or fair value amounts. This is a major issue as evident various financial reports given that some assets such as goodwill carries some cost of impairment that affects the value. Likewise, most companies have failed to separate the value of acquired intangible assets in their books as required under GAAP regulations as established in various financial statements. They include the value of the acquired intangible assets in the value of goodwill (Abdallah, 2004). This poses a challenge of establishing t he actual value of a company’s goodwill that determines investment decisions. Overstatement of values of intangible assets that is becoming common in most institutions also forms a significant cause of concern. This occurs due to inaccurate estimation of the useful life of an asset and the amortized value over the useful life period. Subsequently, the validity of the goodwill impairment tests has been raising systematic concerns especially at times of the financial crisis (Abdallah, 2004). The concern arises since the tests causes’ acute increase or decreases in value of the carrying amount of the intangible asset hence affect the overall reliability of the value obtained.

What Makes Someone a Hero Essay Example for Free

What Makes Someone a Hero Essay Father is the first person who I remind of hero. My father gives me a live, as human in order to see the social world. He protects me and take cares of me with his love and his sincere. He instructs me to be a good person. So, my father is my hero. When I was young, my father took care of me as well as my mother. I was showered, dressed me up by him. After school my father always asked about my homework. And when I had a problem with my homework; science , mathematics , Thai even English. My father can be my consult. He could explain and help me for my homework. He gave many suggestions and examples to make me understand. My father gives me the suggestion to live in the society. He told me many aspects in the society, harmful things even the harmful person. He told me how to aware of those thing. He said: â€Å"Nowadays, the society is more dangerous than the past. † You should aware of strangers and you must avoid to go to the place which is endanger. You must look around and aware of everything which is suspicious. † He protects me from danger. When I was eight years old. I drowned in the hotel swimming pool. In that moment, I thought, I will not survive. With my father’s subconscious, he jumped into the swimming pool and pool me up from the deep. He might die from that situation because he is not good at swimming at all. That time I realized that he was my hero. He doesn’t like the Hollywood hero or the cartoon hero; he is my hero, only my. He is a good model. Since I was born, I feel of his loves. He never hates me when I annoyed him. In his whole life, he works hard. He is a great leader of the family. I should imitate him. I considered him as my inspiration to be a good person. Especially, about honesty, he said, â€Å"Honesty is a good habit that the good person must have. † My father is my hero that really have in the real world. This is not the imagine. He does not walk out from the superhero cartoons or the Hollywood movies. He is not handsome like a star. He is not rich as a billionaire but he can pay any things for his kids even his life. That makes him to be my super hero.

Loss of Innocence in To Kill a Mockingbird :: Free Essay Writer

Loss of Innocence in To Kill a Mockingbird  Ã‚   "Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square."(Lee 9). This environment, as Scout Finch accurately describes, is not conducive to young children, loud noises, and games. But, the Finch children and Dill must occupy themselves in order to avoid boredom. Their surroundings are their boundaries, but in their minds, they have no physical confines. Although the physical "boundaries were Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose's house two doors to the north..., and the Radley Place three doors to the south,"(Lee 11) Jem, Scout, and Dill find ways to use the limits, in conjunction with their imaginations, to amuse themselves. The children are the ones who change the old town and make it full of unexpected events. In the same way as the children, the adults of the novel play games that come from their imaginations and, they themselves are the ones who provide t he fear for everyone in the county to fear. "Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself"(10). The adults and the children share the fact that they both play games, but a difference also exists between them. The children enact their entertainment, knowing that the games could get violent, but in the end, when the games are over, all the players are able to return home. On the other hand, the adults play their adult games, hurting anyone who does not play by the given rules, and not everyone is fortunate enough to return home. The children pretend to be violent at times but the adults actually are violent. As the children move through the novel, they use these games to develop from their innocence to a level of experience by actualizing the realities of their games through the lives of the adults. Through their own games and through the games of the adults, the children learn values of respect, courage, and understanding. As most children naturally do, Jem, Scout, and their newly-found friend Dill find amusements to make the days pass with excitement. When they first meet Dill, they are beginning the "day's play in the backyard"(11). The implication is that it becomes routine for them to play and that each day brings on a different experience.

Classroom’s learning environment Essay

1.1 Many things combine to create a classroom’s learning environment. This can be on an individual or environmental factor impacting positive or negative on learning, efficient or inefficient. Much of this depends on the plans you have in place to deal with situations that affect this environment. The list below looks at each of these things in order to help teachers better understand how to ensure that they are creating a positive learning environment for all students and eliminate negativity. Teacher Behaviors The first factor a teacher should set is his tone for the classroom setting. As a teacher you should be even-tempered, fair with your students, and have a rule enforcement that which will set a high standard for your classroom. Another example is, Are you humorous? Are you able to take a joke? Are you sarcastic? Are you an optimist or a pessimist? All of these and other personal characteristics will shine through in your classroom and affect the learning environment. Student Ownership The second factor is when displaying of essays, poems, projects, and exams dominate the walls, there is student ownership of the room. When they look around and see their own writing and thinking, or posters they certainly experience a higher level of comfort because they see that they as students created them. Classroom Setup The first environmental factor here is the room layout. A ‘ Horseshoe’ or ‘U’ shape environment allows eye contact with the teacher and participate amongst the students and room layout should not just be set up by the number of people required, but by the event. The key factors is where is the centre of attention. Do people need to interact with each other. Do you want people in groups without having to move them around. The teacher is able to move easily with learners, the students are able to the demonstration. However, interaction and teamwork are much easier in a learning environment where students sit together. Aspects of Aging on Learning Adult learners have already been partly educated through life experiences. Adults have more experiences, different kinds of experiences, and that these experiences are organized differently. . According to Knowles (1980), 1 adults derive much of their self- identity from their past experiences. In that respect, they are much different from youths who tend to view themselves largely from external sources. Because of this factor, adult learners place a great deal of value on their experiences and if they cannot use those experiences, or, if those experiences are rejected, it may feel similar to being rejected as an individual. Related to this is the fear of failure that an adult learner may bring to the classroom, particularly if this is a new environment where they might fear further rejection from their peer group (Kennedy, 2003) 2 or their teacher. 1.2 Create a positive learning environment Build self-esteem and self-efficacy Students’ determination and belief that they can achieve their goals are important factors in their persistence in ongoing learning. Adult learners may have negative feelings about themselves due to failure experienced in their lives, due to dropping out of school, losing a job, or not being able to read or write well enough to complete a job application or read to their children . Ensure that students experience success at their first meeting so the first experience is a positive one. It may be appropriate to start with material that is slightly below the student’s level. Be patient! Patience is an extremely important characteristic for any teacher or tutor of adults. Adults can often take a longer time in the learning process because of various learning barriers, but this does not mean they aren’t motivated to learn. Accept your student as he/she is and respect his/her values even if they differ from yours. Believe in your student and he/she will begin to believe in him/herself. Memorize the names of all your students within the first week of instruction. Use students’ names frequently. If your students are English learners, learn a few key phrases in their native languages to model that it is acceptable to struggle with pronunciation and language learning Identified need A lesson plan is the teacher’s road map of what students need to learn and how it will be done effectively during the class time. Before you plan your lesson, you will first need to identify the learning objectives for the class meeting. Then, you can design appropriate learning activities and develop strategies to obtain feedback on student learning. A successful lesson plan addresses and integrates these three key components: Objectives for student learning Teaching/learning activities Strategies to check student understanding Specifying concrete for student learning will help you determine the kinds of teaching and learning activities you will use in class, while those activities will define how you will check whether the learning objectives have been met. Principles of adult learning The Manual of Learning Styles, by Peter Honey and Alan Mumford (1992). Provides an introduction to learning styles with advice on how to administer and interpret ‘The Learning Styles Questionnaire. Learning styles can be influenced by past experiences, education, work and the learning situation. It is important to recognise that they are not fixed but may be adapted according to context and what is being learned. Nevertheless most people still favour one style of learning. Knowles identified the six principles of adult learning outlined below. Adults are internally motivated and self-directed Adults bring life experiences and knowledge to learning experiences Adults are goal oriented Adults are relevancy oriented Adults are practical Adult learners like to be respected Part of being an effective educator involves understanding how adults learn  best (Lieb,1991). Andragogy (adult learning) is a theory that holds a set of assumptions about how adults learn. Andragogy emphasises the value of the process of learning. It uses approaches to learning that are problem-based and collaborative rather than didactic, and also emphasises more equality between the teacher and learner. Andragogy as a study of adult learning originated in Europe in 1950’s and was then pioneered as a theory and model of adult learning from the 1970’s by Malcolm Knowles an American practitioner and theorist of adult education, who defined andragogy as â€Å"the art and science of helping adults learn† (Zmeyov 1998; Fidishun 2000). Resource availability Equipment/Materials:Whiteboard, Smart board, PowerPoint, Flip chart, Laptop, Marker pens, OHP, previously created resources, and hand outs Appropriate assessment methods. Defining Formative and Summative Assessments The terms â€Å"formative† and â€Å"summative† do not have to be difficult, yet the definitions have become confusing in the past few years. This is especially true for formative assessment. In a balanced assessment system, both summative and formative assessments are an integral part of information gathering. Depend too much on one or the other and the reality of student achievement in your classroom becomes unclear. Steps for preparing a lesson plan Outlining learning objectives The first step is to determine what I needed the students to learn and be able to do at the end of class. To specify my objectives for student learning I questioned myself. Firstly what is the topic of the lesson? Secondly what do I want them to understand and be able to do at the end of class? Thirdly what do I want them to take away from this particular lesson? Managing class time and accomplishing the more important learning objectives in case I am pressed for time. I considered these questions. What are the most important concepts, ideas, or skills I want students to be able to  grasp and apply? Why are they important? If I ran out of time, which ones could not be omitted? And conversely, which ones could I skip if pressed for time? The second step is to develop the introduction in order of importance, using specific activities so that students can gain the knowledge and apply what they have learned. There will be a diverse body of students with different academic and personal experience, they may be already familiar with the topic. Presenting the lesson plan, to let my students know what they will be learning and doing in class I engaged with them and on track. Shared my lesson plan by writing a brief agenda on the board telling students explicitly what they will be learning and doing in class. Outlined on the board and gave out hand outs as their learning objectives for the class. Time can help students not only remember better but also follow the presentation and class activities. Visible agenda on the board will also help me and students stay on track. The first thing you can do is ask a question to gauge students’ knowledge of the subject or possibly, their preconceived ideas. For Example: How many of you have heard of Meditation? What can you share or experienced. If there was enough time prior to presentation date I would have had a chance to gather background information from the students via electronic survey or asking them to write comments, this additional information allows one to deliver, shape the introduction, learning activities and familiarise with the topic and I can then have a sense of what to focus on. The introduction topic must be stimulating, interesting and encourage thinking. To engage students I used a variety of approaches. Whilst introducing the topic mentally I began to check whether students know anything about the topic or have any preconceived ideas about it. What are some of the commonly held ideas or misconceptions about this topic meditation that students might be familiar with. What will I do to introduce  the topic? Planning the specific learning activities in the main body of the lesson. I prepared several different ways of explaining the material to catch the attention of more students and appeal to different learning styles, by giving out the hand outs, For Example: I talked about a personal incident in Meditation, an historical event, thought provoking dilemma, real world examples, a short music play, pictures to visualise, a statue to show posture in Mediation, a candle lit, quotes to probe questions. I began mentally estimating how much time I will spend on each examples and activities. Built in time for extended explanation or discussion, but quickly moved on to different applications or problems. I thought of questions such as What will I do to illustrate the topic in a different way? How can I engage students in the topic? What are some relevant real life examples, analogies or situations that can help students gain knowledge on the topic? What will students need to do to help them understand the topic better? Plan to check for understanding, check to see student understanding, how do I know the students are learning. Writing them down, paraphrasing them so that you can ask the question in a different style. Deciding on whether you want students to respond orally or writing. As a conclusion I should go over the material covered in class by summarizing the main points of the lesson. This can be done in a number of ways. For Example by saying, Today we talked about†¦.? as a student to summarize them or get them to write down on a piece of paper the main points covered. Reflecting on my lesson plan I found that after delivering my lesson plan it came across I could have been outstanding at delivering my plan if I had arranged most of my plan with a beginners, intermediate and advanced levels and the group did not get much time to do a group exercise. However this did not discourage me but instead it has encouraged me to reflect on what worked well and why, what I could  have done differently, identifying successful and less successful class time. I thought I shall use more resources such as students feedback, peer observation, viewing a videotape of my teaching and consultation with my tutor. As a reflection this assignment provided me with a general outline of my teaching goals learning objectives and means to accomplish them. It has become a reminder of what I want to do and how I want to do it. In my opinion a productive lesson is not one in which everything goes exactly as planned, but one in which both students and the teacher learn from each other.

Porter’s five forces Essay

It is very important for the drug companies and supermarkets to use the five forces to ensure that they strategically position themselves in a way that they become very competitive to make sure that they remain in business and also make and maximize profits. Managers have a very important role in ensuring that they do enough analysis so that they employ strategies to make them make the best out of the business that they do. Porter’s forces can be analyzed to act as yard sticks for the supermarkets and the drug companies to position themselves so as to do a profitable business as they face a very competitive and saturated environment that is very sensitive to changes. (McGahan, 2004) The supermarkets and the drug companies should utilize the Michael Porter’s five forces analyses as a framework to guide them operate in the competitive environment. The forces that affect the supermarkets and drug companies are those that are close to them and need to be properly analyzed since they affect their ability to effectively serve their customers and also make profits. When the supermarkets and drug companies face changes in the five forces, they need to re-examine the market place and make decisions that will ensure that they remain profitable and challenge their competitors. Their management should highly depend on research and marketing intelligence to gather the necessary information that will help them make sound decisions that will help their firms since they are faced with a lot of competition from their rival competitors. The closeness of substitutes Substitutes are alternative products that have the ability to satisfy similar needs and give solutions. Substitutes in the supermarkets and drug industries reduce the potential returns since they place a ceiling on the prices offered for products. Firms that realize that products being offered bring a lot of profits look for substitutes products that can substitute so that they may also enjoy profits. Drug companies face a big challenge since scientists and researchers are coming up with products generic drugs that compete very much with the existing original products. Due to research, drug industries are discovering new products every day that are either more effective or cure the same diseases. This has become a very big challenge since the market has become open and new discoveries are welcome every time. Customers will always be tempted to try the new products to see whether they are more effective and are made to believe that the newest drugs on the market are the best since they are more new and tested. Malaria drugs for instance are changing every time and patients believe that the new discoveries can handle Malaria more strongly than those that were there before. Marketers in drug industry must constantly try to sell there drugs by marketing them all the time and assuring their markets that the drugs they have are the best. Almost all drugs have tested substitutes and it gives the sellers and the users a variety of choices to choose from and making it very hard for some drugs to be pushed. The drug industry is so concentrated and even the herbal industry is attracting a lot of audience sine they claim to have varieties and more effective drugs. (Porter, 1985) Supermarkets are facing very stiff challenges since many supermarkets are opening up everyday with better supplies from substitute goods that make them appear to be cheaper than the others. Customers will go to those supermarkets with variety of substitutes so that they may get more cheap goods that can meet their needs. In a supermarket, companies will take and buy spaces in the supermarkets and also arrange and make them more appealing than the products from their competitors. When we look at basic products like bread and flour, you will find that there are many substitutes that will be in the same supermarket and that can play the same role and act as substitutes of the other. Supermarkets face a stiff challenge from the others and therefore need to do extensive advertising, introduce new cheap products every time and increase service to the customers since there is a stiff competition from other supermarkets. Supermarkets will always try to take customers from each other by winning them with the substitutes that they offer and services that they also offer at a cheaper price. (Lovelock, 2006) The Intensity of Rivalry among Established Companies Supermarkets and drug companies face a very competitive environment that has a big concentration of rival competitors making it a very competitive venture in business. They compete with heir rivals across al levels and try all strategies to ensure that they beat their rivals and try to do extensive marketing and innovation to attract more customers every day. There are many established companies that are more organized and have better strategies than the new ones that come up and therefore have a competitive edge over the others. An established company will mean having a well developed network that has a good client base and that is supported by customer loyalty and therefore locking out the new firms that try to make an impact by trying the existing markets. The well established pharmaceutical firms give a big challenge to the new companies in the market that try to make their products known. Even though substitute products are received in drug industries, it becomes easy for the established firms to push customers to start using their new products in the market since they have a name in the market and customers are loyal to them. (Porter, 1985) Customers will always be pulled to go to the already established supermarkets that they are used to them and will always feel that their services are the best. They also believe that products and services that are offered in the established supermarkets are the best and all they offer are the best to take car of their needs. The new supermarkets are highly challenged and must therefore position themselves strategically by ensuring that they price their products well and also do extensive advertising to market their products and services and have new customers and prospects that will be customers in future. The rate of growth of the drug companies and supermarkets has become a big challenge as new ones come into the market every time with very attractive terms for customers and therefore pulling them and pulling away their loyal customers. Competitors in the drug companies and supermarkets have diversities and therefore make them very unique and unequalled and thus being very hard to compete with them in a very competitive environment due to high concentration of players who are doing the same businesses. There is need for e advertising to market both individual products and the supermarkets and drug companies due to the stiff competition from rival players in the same field that is concentrated highly. The bargaining power of suppliers Suppliers take advantage of their unique supplies to ask and bargain for what they want and enjoy the monopoly and charge expensively for the products or services that they offer. Customers are very sensitive to any changes that may affect them that are caused by the bargaining power of the suppliers. Suppliers are a competitive threat in drug industries because they can raise the prices of new and the old supplies and therefore making the customers to try substitute products that can satisfy the same need. Suppliers may cost the drug companies a lot of financial constrain if they switch and fail to supply their products as it is involving to get new and reliable suppliers that can give quality and be efficient all the time. (Grant, 2005) Doctors will recommend their clients to use substitutes according to their financial abilities and are in a position to refer them to use any of the substitutes. Supermarkets must try as much as possible to bargain well with their suppliers so that they may get quality products at the right price so that they may also sell and price their products well in relation to those of the competitors so that they may not loose customers to the other supermarkets. Suppliers will have more power if they are few or alone in the market and will give their products at a very high price and will affect the sales of the supermarket in the long run. It is very important for the drug companies and the supermarkets to have suppliers that can supply substitute products that are more or les the same so that their customers will not run to the other outlets that have the products that they need. In the event that the suppliers reduce their products quality and raise the price of their products, it will be a great competitive challenge to the drug industries and the supermarkets that offer the same services. The determinants of the suppliers power in both the supermarkets and the drug companies includes: suppliers concentration in one particular place that is central in location, volume of suppliers that they offer to the supermarkets and the drug companies and finally the costs related to the total purchases that they do. The suppliers ensure that they take advantage of their strengths to bargain and register as much profits as possible and make the buyers of their suppliers to accept what they offer and fix high prices. (Cullen and Boteeah, 2005) The Risk of Entry by Potential Competitors The new competitors enter into business with an intention to bring new capacities that never existed before so that they may give competition to the existing firms. Every new entrant into the drug and supermarket business is a big threat to the existing firms since they may pose a big danger when they come and take the existing customers by intimidating them with good attractive services and also set their businesses in strategic points that will attract more customers. Supermarkets and drug companies are very profitable and has therefore it has been attracting very many new entrants who perceive it as a good profitable business that has a lot of assurance since the customers will always need food and other materials offered I the supermarkets and drugs to help prevent and cure diseases. Their main interest is to capture big market share that exists so that they make more sales and therefore make profits. Supermarkets face a lot of competition from new entrants who come up with new and customer satisfying service that are very attractive and take their customers. They are few barriers to the new entrants in this field and many businessmen are thinking of opening up one stop supermarkets that are in strategic positions to attract customers. (Mark, 2001) There are many barriers that might be in the drug industries that may affect the drug firms. They include the following: government policies on drug companies, economies of scale, capital requirements that are needed to start a drug company, brand identities and reactions from firms in the drug industry. New entrants in the drug industry are seen by those that are already in existence as a threat since they take and reduce their market share and make them reduce their sales and therefore register fewer profits from the sales. Though governments might create barriers to help streamline the industry, it will not fully succeed since many new entrants might meet the requirements put on them and give challenge to the already flocked market. The higher the entry barriers, the less it is likely for outsiders to enter the industry. (Sparrow and Hilltop, 1994) The Bargaining Power of Buyers This is the marketplace of outputs. Customers in the supermarkets and drug industry put the two businesses a lot of pressure since they are very sensitive to any change in prices and are always ready to window shop and find where prices are relatively cheap. The availability of substitute products in both the supermarkets and drug companies has made it very challenging for all those who run these businesses and are therefore supposed to learn the behavior of their customers so as not to scare them to their competitors and therefore reducing their profitability. The players in the drugs and supermarket firms make it .Many supermarkets and drug companies give room for their customers to bargain and make the competitors to be on toes. It is very important for the drug companies and supermarkets to highly depend on market intelligence so as to be very strategic in their pricing since there are many supermarkets and drug industries that are ready to reduce their prices by negligible amount that can attract customers from their competitors. (Brewster, 1995) Buyers are ready to run into substitute products that are being marketed everyday in the supermarkets and drug companies due to the changing technologies that are leading to cheaper and quality production of substitute products. Advertisers are taking advantage of the sensitivity that the buyers have to market new products that hit the market daily. The drug industries and the supermarkets should have a variety of substitutes in their business premises to pull all the customers and reduce the customers from moving to their competitors who offer various products in different prices. Since buyers are the ones that ensure that there is continuity of business, the supermarkets and the drug companies should learn and be very sensitive to the changing tastes and preferences in order to win buyers and also ensure that they remain loyal to them since the concentration of many firms is a big threat. Supermarkets and drug firms must ensure that they use the Porter’s analysis since they face stiff and very competitive challenges from firms that have realized that they can make lucrative profits from the supermarket and drugs since they are assured of a lot of profits from a large customer base that is attracted by these firms. They need to assess the market very well and ensure that they learn there customers very well and also ensure that they position themselves to compete more effectively to remain in business and also maintain a good relationship with their customers so that the competitors may not take away their customers. It is only through these methods that they will be assured of remaining in business tomorrow. (Brandenburger and Nalebuff, 1995) Reference Brandenburger, M. and Nalebuff, J. (1995): The Right Game. Use Game Theory to Shape Strategy. Harvard Business Review pp.59-69 Brewster. C (1995): Towards a European Model of Human Resource Management-Journal of International Business. Vol 26, pp 112 Cullen, J. and Boteeah, K. (2005): Multinational Management. A strategic Approach, 3rd Edition, Mason; Thomson South-Western, pp 54 Grant, R. (2005): Contemporary Strategy Analysis: – Blackwell Publishing Ltd., Oxford pp 24-45 Lovelock, J. (2006): Services Marketing, People, Technology, and Strategy. New York, Prentice Hall, pp 23-45 Mark, D. (2001): Human Resource Management and organizational performance; 3rd Edition of the Institute of Management, Washington, U.S, pp 76 Porter, M. (1979): How competitive forces shape strategy. Harvard Business Review pp 34 Porter, M. (1985): Competitive Advantage:-Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors. The Free Press, New York, pp 12-56 McGahan, A. (2004): How Industries Evolve: – Principles for Achieving and Sustaining Superior Performance. Harvard Business School Press, pp 27-37 Sparrow, P. and Hilltop, J. (1994): European Human Resource Management in Transition: New York, Prentice Hall, pp 45-76 Â  

Trimat e Rinise essays

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Visy Supply Chain Management

Visy Supply Chain Management Executive Summary Managing operations and Supplies are business processes that ensure adequate supply of materials in a company at the right time at an appropriate competitive cost. Visy, being in the business of packaging, paper manufacture and recycling requires a constant supply of materials for its production.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Visy Supply Chain Management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More When the company has adequate supply of materials, it is able to produce goods in the right time at an affordable and competitive price. To understand and know areas of improvement of the company’s supply chain management, this report will take an analysis of current supply chain situation in the company and give recommendations on value-adding services that the company can implement in the context of logistics operations. To get the information required for the report, the researcher will use internal info rmation from the company’s website, take a research on consumer preferences and their attitude and finally take a competitive analysis where products of other similar companies will be considered (Visy official website, 2011). Introduction Having a good supply chain management makes a company have continuous production. It ensures that there are adequate supplies at an appropriate price and time. When this is attained, a company gains competitive advantage (Khoo, Bainbridge, spedding and Taplin, 2001). Visy is in the business of collecting waste paper and manufacturing packaging products, the company’s operation are favored by environment conservations in the world; since the company plays a crucial part in maintain a clean environment. On the other hand, the products from the company are recyclable thus; it gets favor from international and national communities. A second strength of the company is a strong brand name in the highly competitive advantage; the name assis ts the company tap opportunities brought about by globalization.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More One threat facing the company is high competition and the situation of world economies, there are increasing entrants in the industry and the world economic growth rate has been hampered by global financial crisis of 2007 (Hsu, Tan, Kannan and Keong, 2009). To remain competitive, the company needs to have strategic business operation strategies with among them having an effective and reliable supply chain (both inwards and outwards logistics). Analysis of the existing situation From the analysis of the current situation I the organization, the supply chain management can be commended for their effective supply chain management however the system is likely to be faced by a number of issues. The following are the areas that can be looked into: Expand to international su pply of waste paper for the company law materials Adopt a ‘just in time’ supply system Have an integrated supply chain management that connects all the 110 sites in a way that they can share resources Outsourcing some logistic services to reliable providers and Undertake massive research on the trend in different economies that it can make products that are responsive to consumers needs. Develop a value addition strategy Other than using recycling processes alone to conserve and preserve the environment, the company should diversify in other business that still respect the company’s motto of conservation(Goold and Campbell, 2002). Globalization has made it possible for companies to procure from differently countries, in their efforts to seek for quality products; this offers Visy and opportunity to sell its products globally and is affected indirectly by the increase in international trade. The company strategy supports green supply chain systems that have incre asingly being advocated for in the world, in green supply chain, the effects on environment are crucial component of a supply. Other than having, the physical goods there should be of the right quality and quantity. Companies that adopt a green supply chain enjoys a wider customers base; it is facilitated further by customer enlighten on issues pertaining environmental conservation. The increased presence of goods form international market has resulted to an increase in demand for environmentally friendly production.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Visy Supply Chain Management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Those companies who have focused on producing goods, which are environmentally friendly, have secured larger markets than those companies who have not. They are gaining more customer royalty than those whose products and mode of production is not environmentally friendly (Fugate, Mentzer and Stank, 2010). When value is added to the company products, customer will get a higher utility form the company and will be willing to buy the products. The company on the other hand will benefit a direct and indirect increase in sales resulting from its customer value increase. Conclusion Although Visy can be commended for being; leader in the recycling business, the company should not relax it value additions; it should invest further in technology and develop other ways of doing business. The company has been in the business for more than 62 years, thus it has a developed a pool of knowledge that it can depend on to improves its products and value they give to customers further. With the leadership in the industry and its strong brand name, the company has the opportunity to use brand extension strategies to increase its sales further. It can easily penetrate other markets as a buyer of recyclable waste material/semi-recycled materials and as a seller of its variable commodity. The global situation is offering an opportunity to the company as it has embarked on massive campaigns to advocate for the use of environmentally friendly products; this has created a demand for the company’s products. With the current situation, the company is on a better platform to increase and diversify its operation through creating value in its customers and adding value to its products (Creswell, 1998). Recommendations Visy to tap the increasing demand for its products, then it has to develop quality, quantitative, price and logistic objectives. Supply chain management is a strategic management process that ensures that a company has the right goods at the right time and at a competitive cost. It should ensure that at any one time there are adequate materials for production of goods and services. Visy raw materials are mostly recycled paper products that need to be fetched and ensured they are of the right quality and quantity.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Proper supplies of the materials from suppliers working for the company as contractors to collect the material and from companies established for that business (Arntzen, Brown, Harrison and Trafton, 1995). The following are the improvements that the company can make for better logistics eventually leading to an improved business: Value determination mechanisms Value in supplies for manufacture of good translates to value in finished goods. Though the company deals with wastes, not all wastes can be of the right quality. For an efficient supply chain management, there should be value determination mechanism set by the company (Simchi-Levi, Kaminsky and Simchi-levi, 2007). All goods getting in the company should be vetted for quality. Other than raw materials, there should be vetting of output in different stages of production to ensure that there is quality in the final output (Cooper, Lambert and Pagh, 1997). Different industries require different packaging’s; the company sho uld aim at developing a strong research team that analysis the different industries in the world so as it can advice the company effectively on the right material to fetch and use for products targeting certain industry. Supplier relation Visy should develop a good business relationship with its suppliers, as this will assist in making sure that there is reliability in the supply of materials. Suppliers in the company fall in the category of contractors and those companies in the business of supplying raw materials and semi finished goods. This will ensure that the company manufacturing is kept with the right materials always. On the other hand, it is easy to get goods at a better price and market data from suppliers whom the company has established good business relations (Mentzer,2001). Just in time supply mechanism The company should develop a ‘just in time’ supply management system; it creates mechanisms for efficiency and effectiveness in the system. The systems ar e structured in such a way that there is minimal supply in the store but the company has a constant and reliable supply of raw materials. It should undertake an internal analysis of its needs for production (Larson and Halldorsson, 2004). There are times that the company requires more products (this is mostly times of high production) and sometimes pit requires low supplies. This should be documented and the system made in such a way there is always a just in time supply. A just in time supply means that at any one point in time, the company is has adequate supply (Ward Glass, 2008). Supplier base management and Procurement department/ team There is more than one supplier capable of supplying the company with raw materials for its processes. However, they should be vetted to ensure that the best option has been selected (Ketchen and Hul,2006). With the increased industries requiring packaging materials, the company should enforce its research and development department to be able t o get the right supplier for different products. Procurement department is mandated with this task and considers factors like, Reliability: the company must be dependable thus it will not fail Visy, on the other hand it should be adjustable to demands of materials Capability: Visy being an international company, it requires suppliers who can meet its demand for raw materials. Price: the prices set by the supplying company should be set at the best price in the market at any one time. Past experiences: companies which the company has had a nice experience with the company should be used Quality assurance and effectiveness: the suppliers contracted should assure quality in their deliveries (Haag,2006). International logistics and integrated logistics With globalization and massive campaigns in environmental conservations, the company can tap international markets to get its raw materials. To get the supplies from these countries, the company has to understand customs and trade laws that exist between the procured country and Australia. When procuring internationally, to reduce transport costs, the company should get the products in semi-finished state like paper pulp. A contracted company in the country procured can do the semi manufacturing; this will increase raw materials and increase the base of material search. References Arntzen, B., Brown, G., Harrison, T. and Trafton, L., 1995. Global Supply Chain Management at Digital Equipment Corporation. Interfaces, 25(1), 69-93. Cooper, M.C., Lambert, D.M. and Pagh, J.. 1997. Supply Chain Management: More Than a New Name for Logistics. The International Journal of Logistics Management, 8(1), pp. 1–14. Creswell, J., 1998. Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five traditions. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications. Fugate, B., Mentzer, J. and Stank, T.,2010. LOGISTICS PSERFORMANCE: EFFICIENCY, EFFECTIVENESS, AND DIFFERENTIATION. Journal of Business Logistics, 31(1), pp 43-62. Goold, M . and Campbell, A., 2002. Do you have a well-designed organization? Harvard Business Review, 80(3),pp 117-124. Hsu, C., Tan, K., Kannan, V. and Keong, G., 2009. Supply chain management practices as a mediator of the relationship between operations capability and firm performance. International Journal of Production Research, 47(3), pp 835-855. Haag, S. et el. ,2006. Management Information Systems For the Information Age. New Jersey: McGraw Hill Ryerson Ketchen Jr., G. and Hult, T.M.,2006. Bridging organization theory and supply chain management: The case of best value supply chains. Journal of Operations Management, 25(2),pp. 573-580. Khoo, H. H., Bainbridge, I., Spedding, T. A. and Taplin, D. R.,2001. Creating a Green Supply Chain. Greener Management International, 2(35), pp 71-78. Kouvelis, P., Chambers, C., Wang, H., 2006. Supply Chain Management Research and Production and Operations Management: Review, Trends, and Opportunities. In: Production and Operations Management, 15 (3), pp. 449–469. Larson, P.D. and Halldorsson, A. ,2004. Logistics versus supply chain management: an international survey. International Journal of Logistics: Research Application, 7, (1),Pp. 17-31. Mentzer, J. T.et el.,2001. Defining supply chain management. Journal of Business Logistics, 22(2), 1–26. Simchi-Levi D.,Kaminsky P. and Simchi-levi E., 2007. Designing and Managing the Supply Chain. New Jersey: Mcgraw Hill. Visy official website.2011. Visy for a better world. Available at  https://www.visy.com.au/innovative-packaging Ward Jr., M., and Glass, L., 2008.Inventory Management Systems. National Petroleum News, 100(1), p.24.

Taliesin West - Organic Design in a Desert Garden

Taliesin West - Organic Design in a Desert Garden Taliesin West  began not as a grand scheme, but a simple need. Frank Lloyd Wright and his apprentices had traveled a long distance from his Taliesin school in Spring Green, Wisconsin to build a resort hotel in Chandler, Arizona. Because they were far from home, they set up camp on a stretch of the Sonoran Desert near the construction site outside of Scottsdale. Wright fell in love with the desert. He wrote in 1935 that the desert was a grand garden, with its rim of arid mountains spotted like the leopards skin or tattooed with amazing patterns of creation. Its sheer beauty of space and pattern does not exist, I think, in the world, Wright proclaimed. This great desert garden is Arizonas chief asset. Building Taliesin West The early encampment at Taliesin West contained little more than temporary shelters made of wood and canvas. However, Frank Lloyd Wright was inspired by the dramatic, rugged landscape. He envisioned an elaborate complex of buildings that would embody his concept of organic architecture. He wanted the buildings to evolve from and blend with the environment. In 1937, the desert school known as Taliesin West was launched. Following in the tradition of Taliesin in Wisconsin, Wrights apprentices studied, worked, and lived in shelters they crafted using materials native to the land. Taliesin is a Welsh word meaning shining brow. Both of Wrights Taliesin homesteads hug the contours of the earth like a shining brow on the hilly landscape. Organic Design at Taliesin West Architectural historian G. E. Kidder Smith reminds us that Wright taught his students to design in kinship with the environment, admonishing students, for instance, not to build on top of a hill in dominance, but beside it in partnership. This is the essence of organic architecture. Lugging stone and sand, the students constructed buildings that seemed to grow from the earth and the McDowell Mountains. Wood and steel beams supported translucent canvas roofs. Natural stone combined with glass and plastic to create surprising shapes and textures. Interior space flowed naturally into the open desert. For awhile, Taliesin West was a retreat from the harsh Wisconsin winters. Eventually, air conditioning was added and students stayed through the fall and spring. Taliesin West Today At Taliesin West, the desert is never still. Over the years, Wright and his students made many changes, and the school continues to evolve. Today, the 600 acre complex includes a drafting studio, Wrights former architectural office and living quarters, a dining room and kitchen, several theaters, housing for apprentices and staff, a student workshop, and expansive grounds with pools, terraces and gardens. Experimental structures built by apprentice architects dot the landscape. Taliesin West is home of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, whose alumni become Taliesin Fellows. Taliesin West is also the headquarters of the FLW Foundation, a powerful overseer of Wrights properties, mission, and legacy. In 1973 the American Institute of Architects (AIA) gave the property its Twenty-five Year Award. On its fiftieth anniversary in 1987, Taliesin West won special recognition from the U.S. House of Representatives, which called the complex the highest achievement in American artistic and architectural expression. According to the American Institute of Architects (AIA), Taliesin West is one of 17 buildings in the United States that exemplify Wrights contribution to American architecture. Next to Wisconsin, gathering of the waters, Wright has written, Arizona, arid zone, is my favorite State. Each very different from the other, but something individual in them both not to be found elsewhere. Sources Frank Lloyd Wright On Architecture: Selected Writings (1894-1940), Frederick Gutheim, ed., Grossets Universal Library, 1941, pp. 197, 159Source Book of American Architecture by G. E. Kidder Smith, Princeton Architectural Press, 1996, p. 390The Future of Architecture by Frank Lloyd Wright, New American Library, Horizon Press, 1953, p. 21

Profile in crime Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Profile in crime - Essay Example "My mother was cancer. She slowly destroyed everything around her. She produced two killers; me and my brother Joe." – (Richard Kuklinski in an interview on HBO) In fact, in 1940, his father Stanley Kuklinski had beat his elder brother Florian to death and hid this fact stating that he fell to his death down a flight of steps. Richard Kuklinski had witnessed the harsh realities of life ever since his childhood and by the age of ten he was filled with remorse, hate and rage. He followed the footsteps of his father by inflicting torture on animals as well as his friends if he felt offended by them. He committed his first murder by the young age of fourteen (thirteen?) and from then on he began feeling a sense of power when he discovered that he could be in control of the situation. ‘The Ice Man’ was another name given to Richard Kuklinski because he froze some of his victims in an ice-box. "We called him 'the Ice Man' because he froze some of his victims, kept them in an icebox he had for a while, then put them out so we could not tell when the murder actually took place, you see." (Paul Smith, new Jersey Organized Crime and Racketeering Bureau investigator.) Though he appears to be a quiet person, yet his looks are quite deceiving when considering the brutal way in which he murdered his victims and had kept the secret away from this family for so many years. In an interview program on HBO, Kuklinski confessed to having worked as a contract killer for many Italian- American families involved in crime and says how he had to travel to places such as Africa, Brazil and Europe on his ‘business trips.’ He also states that he doesn’t particularly enjoy killing his victim, but he gets more pleasure from planning, stalking and hunting down his victim. Facts of the Case I have chosen to write about Richard Kuklinski’s first murder that he committed when he was only thirteen years old. The murder took place in the year 1948 an d was of Charley Lane, a small time leader of a gang of teenagers who call themselves as â€Å"The Project Boys.† Charley and his gang had bullied Richard for some time and following a bad beating, Richard wanted to take his revenge on all of them. Richard attacked Charlie with a solid wooden dowel from his closet, when he was walking home alone, and beat him to death. He then took his body and disambiguated some of its parts by removing his teeth and chopping off the tips of his fingers with a hatchet, in order to prevent identification of the body. (Carlo Phillip, 2006) The above actions he had made use of were taken from a Magazine that he had read. Kuklinski then took his body and dumped it off a bridge in South Jersey. Richard Kuklinski admitted that he had no intentions of killing Charley Lane, but harboring revenge against him proves his intentions to be false. This point is again proved when we find that Kuklinski went further to beat and wipe out the other six boys b elonging to Charley Lane’s gang by making use of a metal pole taken from a thrash can. The first weapon used for the first murder of Charley Lane was a wooden dowel, but as years passed by Kuklinski is found to have used a variety of weapons such as guns, hand-grenades, ice-picks, knives, bats, strangulation and even fire for murdering his victims. This he did in order to remain elusive from the Police and to divert their attention towards other criminals. He never regretted committing any of his murders. As Douglas Martin, New York Times

Ryanair Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Ryanair - Essay Example Porter suggests that a firm should follow either differentiation strategy or cost-leadership. They do not submit a mission or vision but they continue to be the largest low-cost leader in the European air industry (Box and Byus 2007). This requires an absolute dedication to low-cost performance in every element of the value chain. Thus, they have quick gate turnarounds, non-union operations, their compensation plans are in the form of performance-based incentives, and they fly to secondary airports which too results in cost savings. They have been successful so far because they could compete against the tradition carriers as consumers have become price-conscious. They are able to maintain price advantage and they get most of their bookings online. They replicated the South West Airline model of offering â€Å"no frills† services and focused on the most price-sensitive segment (Leavy 2003). Is Ryanair’s strategy sustainable? Ryanair’s strategy has become questiona ble due to the impact of cost savings in every function. This can be better understood through environmental analysis. Michael Porter has developed a set of tools and framework for environmental analysis. ... Economical The economy of Europe as a whole is stable and the domination of Euro as the common currency adds to stability. The consumers in Europe too are stable so overall the economical factor has low impact on the industry. However, outside Europe the market is undeveloped and these economies are unstable. Moreover, the economic crisis has impacted all low-cost carriers since 2008 which ash prompted stringent actions from the low-cost carriers (Dunn 2009). Social The airline industry depends on the changing consumer demand. Ryanair could succeed so far because of the price-consciousness of the consumers. However, consumer demographics keep changing and the airline has to be cognizant of the changing consumer preference. Even a small price difference can change the mindset of the most loyal consumer. Thus the social factor has a high impact. Technological The technological factor has a low impact because Ryanair has invested in standardized but latest aircrafts. However, they do no t use technology in employee relations or in customer relationship management. Legal This has a high impact as they have been charged by the EU for receiving illegal subsidies for its base airport (O’Higgins 2005). Its website also had several consumer complaints which prompted the airline to shut down the website (O’Higgins 2005). The airline was also in a dispute against the British Airports Authority (BAA) for alleged monopoly abuse over fuel levies. Environmental This has a high impact because ‘climate protection charge’ has been levied against the airline. Frequent landings and take-off on short-haul flights have high impact on the environment (O’Leary 2007). PESTLE Evaluation The external environmental analysis suggests low impact

Physician assisted suicide Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Physician assisted suicide - Essay Example PAS is a practice characterized by the physician only providing, but not personally administering, the means of death (Braddock et al.). It is not the same as other similar practices such as Euthanasia (defined as â€Å"the intentional termination of life by another at the explicit request of the person who dies,† it involves causing death through a direct action of a physician – for example, the 1998 case where Dr. Jack Kevorkian {a Michigan physician} injected controlled substances into a patient suffering from ALS {Lou Gehrig’s Disease} that caused his death); Terminal Sedation (where the physician administers sufficient sedatives to cause a terminally ill, competent patient to become unconscious, then permitting the patient to die of starvation, dehydration and the disease which has been contracted{Braddock et al.}); and Withholding/Withdrawing Life-Sustaining Treatments (where a competent patient refuses to continue taking on-going life-sustaining treatment (Braddock et al.) such as the use of ventilators, dialysis, intravenous fluids and feeding tubes (Quill et al.). Individual liberty vs. State interest: There is no doubt that the State has a strong interest in preserving the life of its citizens; an interest that stems from the responsibility entrusted to the State. However, the intensity of its interest does not match the interest of a terminally ill individual to use assisted death to end life. This lopsided (against the State) level of interest, if strengthened by prohibition by the State, is seen as an infringement on the personal liberty of the individual (Braddock et al.). Respect for Autonomy: Taking decisions about the time and method of one’s death is considered very personal and confidential (Braddock et al.). Terminally ill patients know they will soon die, and simply want to exercise control over the process (Religioustolerance.org). An important

Sidewalk Repair Ordinance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Sidewalk Repair Ordinance - Essay Example The quality of the sidewalks reflects on the quality of life for all the citizens of the city as well as the visitors who come here. It is only reasonable to have the burden of the repair costs shouldered by the city. The sidewalk is not the property of the owner of the adjacent property. The tactics of the Department of Public Works have been abusive, as they have threatened property owners with fines and unreasonable deadlines. The city should find taxpayer money to finance the repairs and leave the property owners alone. The estimated cost of repairing the nearly 5,200 blocks of city sidewalk has been quoted as $1.5 million. This is a reasonable amount and the city would benefit from this improvement. However, the cost of enforcing the ordinance has been put at $1.3 million. Instead of spending the money on enforcement, the city should spend the money to do the needed repairs. It does not make sense to spend $1.3 million to enforce a law that will only save the city $1.5 million. Financially, this is a break-even proposition. However, it will cause hardship to those citizens that are required to pay for the repairs. It will leave bitterness and resentment in its wake as property owners get slapped with a bill for a public works project. I am proud of our fine city and am fully in support of the efforts to renovate and repair

Case Study Computers R Us Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Case Study Computers R Us - Assignment Example In regard to the initiatives set up by the company to boost satisfaction levels of the customers, loyalty rewards came out as the best initiative so far with an average satisfaction level of 5.6452 out of 10 it was followed by the response time at 4.3714, both level of advice and communication level stood at below 4 out of 10. There was however no any association between age groups and the overall satisfaction level. The study could have been limited by the fact that the questionnaires were emailed and there was no direct contact between the researcher and the respondents to verify their answers. Computers R Us, a computer manufacturer and retailer recently launched a service and repair division, CompleteCare, for its portable/laptop/notebook computers. This division promised to provide a rapid response to customer’s technical enquiries and warranty repairs. As a result of this, Computers R Us has been receiving multiple complaints about CompleteCare at the Computers R Us call centre. To address these issues, a study was proposed and the research overseen by the management of Computers R Us. It was found that customer satisfaction was a contributing factor to the issues experienced in the CompleteCare division. Consequently, the management of Computer R Us developed several possible initiatives to improve customer satisfaction to a minimum level of 6 out of 10 To collect this data, a simple random sample of 500 customers was selected from a sampling frame. A sampling frame includes the actual list of individuals included in the population (Nesbary, 2000). Of the 500 customers that were sent surveys, 420 responded. The response rate was computed as follows; Structured questionnaire constructed in English language was used to collect data with a total of eight items six of which touched on customer satisfaction. The questionnaire consisted of four sections: Five ethical concerns as outlined by Crowhurst and Dobson (1993) were

Sidewalk Repair Ordinance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Sidewalk Repair Ordinance - Essay Example The quality of the sidewalks reflects on the quality of life for all the citizens of the city as well as the visitors who come here. It is only reasonable to have the burden of the repair costs shouldered by the city. The sidewalk is not the property of the owner of the adjacent property. The tactics of the Department of Public Works have been abusive, as they have threatened property owners with fines and unreasonable deadlines. The city should find taxpayer money to finance the repairs and leave the property owners alone. The estimated cost of repairing the nearly 5,200 blocks of city sidewalk has been quoted as $1.5 million. This is a reasonable amount and the city would benefit from this improvement. However, the cost of enforcing the ordinance has been put at $1.3 million. Instead of spending the money on enforcement, the city should spend the money to do the needed repairs. It does not make sense to spend $1.3 million to enforce a law that will only save the city $1.5 million. Financially, this is a break-even proposition. However, it will cause hardship to those citizens that are required to pay for the repairs. It will leave bitterness and resentment in its wake as property owners get slapped with a bill for a public works project. I am proud of our fine city and am fully in support of the efforts to renovate and repair

Advanced Manufacturing Processes I( Laser Manufacturing ) Assignment

Advanced Manufacturing Processes I( Laser Manufacturing ) - Assignment Example This is in the aim of supporting the dental prosthesis i.e. denture, bridge, crown, or facial prosthesis in addition to acting as an orthodontic anchor (Graf, 2014). Usually made of titanium, these are implanted through the biological process of osseointegration, aiding in the formation of an intimate bond to the bone. In general, such a biomedical implant usually comprises of a metal base structure, and a deposit (comprising of a first metal and an anti-microbial material) formed onto a metal base structure wherein the formed deposit is not derived by either electro-plating or anodization. Apart from titanium, the metallic dental prostheses are also made of platinum, stainless steel, gold, tantalum and cobalt-chrome amongst other alloys (Pompa, et.al 2015:1). Typically, implants and dental prostheses consist of a titanium (tooth-root resemblance) screw, having either a smooth or a roughened surface. Notably, most of the dental implants used are manufactured using commercially unalloyed titanium that is available in four different grades. The grades are differentiated by the amount of iron, oxygen, nitrogen and carbon contained. The cold work toughened CP4, containing maximum impurity levels of 0.50% of Fe (Iron), 0.40% Oxygen, 0.015% Hydrogen, 0.10% Carbon, and 0.05% Nitrogen, is the most widely utilized titanium for various bio-medical implants. An auxiliary component such as the Grade 5 Titanium (6AL-4V), which is a bit harder than the CP4; contains 4% vanadium alloy and 6% aluminium. It is mainly utilized in the manufacture of abutments and abutment screws that aid in the implantation process, as well as holding the prostheses in place. The importance of Titanium in bio-medical dental prostheses amongst other functionalities is influenced by core characteristics, which make it highly durable (Gu, Meiners,

Short Starbucks Case Summary Essay Example for Free

Short Starbucks Case Summary Essay The Starbucks case is about the times when Starbucks did well and when it went poorly. It begins when Howard Schultz buys the company and put his plan in action. Schultz had a vision to make a chain of coffee shops and that would become the Americans â€Å"third place†. This â€Å"third place† would be a place where you could go and small talk with people and enjoy a cup of coffee, or perhaps be by yourself and drink your coffee. It was supposed to be a place between home and work. Schultz idea proved to be a good one and he could proceed to open up several coffeehouses across America. This would later be seen as a mistake. As Starbucks grew in recognition, Schultz expanded the business fast. The people at Starbucks had an ideal to follow; customer satisfaction. As the business grew, people would lose faith in Starbucks nice atmosphere and only see the company as a money making machine. Why was that? The ideal they followed was for the customer to be satisfied, to be met by a nice clerk and get the coffee fast. What the higher ups in the company first thought was that if they increased the hours of labor a week it would bring more time to small talk with customers and give them their coffee even faster. But they soon realized that the problem was in the marketing department. Starbucks had three sections that concerned marketing; the market research group, the category group and the marketing group. Starbucks lacked a strategic group that focused on the big picture. They also needed a chief marketing officer that could make decisions. This meant that the entire decision making process had to be done by all of Starbucks senior executives. All the data that was collected was for nothing if no one looked at it and saw what was wrong. However, now they knew what the problem was. At first Starbucks primary customers were people with education, mostly women between ages 24 and 44. They were still there but the new customers were less educated and had lower income bracket. These were the persons that only saw Starbucks as a money making machine. So now Day, Starbucks senior vice president of administration proposed that an investment of 40 million dollars per year to add additional 20 hours of labor a week. It met a lot of resistance in the company but Day said to look at it as a customer-oriented investment rather than seeing labor as an expense. This meant that Starbucks, a company with the policy to have as high customer satisfaction as possible rather than as much profit as possible were neglecting the customer. They were still using their original idea but now on the wrong customers.

Evolution of Storage Media Technology Within the Data Centre

Evolution of Storage Media Technology Within the Data Centre AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE EVOLUTION OF STORAGE MEDIA TECHNOLOGY WITHIN THE DATA CENTRE TO SUPPORT THE I/O REQUIREMENTS OF MODERN APPLICATIONS. Chandan Chandapura Ramesh (x14111306) Abstract Technology has always played a tremendous role in evolution of data storage media from the very starting punch cards to the present flash drives and from kilobytes to terabytes. The evolution of storage included from the standardization of storage devices i.e from large trunks of kilobytes storage media to very small microchip having the great storage capacity of gigabytes. However, in this paper we will look into evolution of storage devices from magnetic tape, magnetic drum, DRAM, FLOPPYs , CDs, DAT, DDS, MOD, , Micro drive, Multimedia Card SD card, Cloud backup solutions. Finally, in this article about evolution about storage devices, we will look into an assessment providing solutions for tiered storage solutions and its development with reference oracle, netapp tiered storage solutions and storage based on present storage trends. INRODUCTION As the time passed by, along with the time technology too has evolved in every step of life from basic needs to the advanced mode of humanity. Concurrently, the evolution in technology of computers has played a prominent role for humankind. Therefore, as the storage medium has also played a major role in computer architecture. Zetta. (2015) say as the computers evolved the storage mediums too had evolved, it all started from punch cards to present storage mediums like those that flash drives to SSD, companies have started to be relied on cloud backup solutions supported by data centers. As per the need of todays Business strategies the requirement for data storage has increased tremendously compared to past five years and to mitigate the costs over storage of data, it has been segregated and designed as structured, semi-structured and unstructured data and they have been stored. As the data is considered officially as corporate assets, there has always been attacks that are more vulnerable. Therefore, data hardening has been a big challenge but still many third party companies have been working towards its excellence. Few measures which have been considered under the improvisation level are SAN, Fiber channel over Ethernet (Fcoe), Internet protocol, Converged Network Adapter (CNA) etc. The storage network technology in the datacenters has been developed into many different configurations, which are DAS (direct attached storage), NAS (Network attached storage), SAT (Storage area networks). In further section we will look this structures with much more details. BACKGROUND: After looking into all the prospective over the storage media briefly will have a detailed discussion over each storage model and it evolution. Magnetic tape: PCMag digital group. (2015) say it was the first few recording mediums used to record music. The data recorded was actually in sequential format. It was manufactured by a ferromagnetic material the disadvantage of these tapes was they would be contaminated if they were not rolled and packed tightly. The tracks on storage device were running parallel to each other, which is called as parallel recording. In computing magnetic tapes are used to store auxiliary type of information. An excellent example for the computer system, which used magnetic tape, was UNIVAC. It had the capacity to handle 128 characters per inch so they were widely used in computers in earlier days. Magnetic drum: Webopedia. (2015) it was direct access storage device, which was metallic cylinder, which was coated by a material called magnetic-iron-oxide. The tracks recorded on the cylindrical device were stored in channels and it was capable of holding 200 tracks were the drum used to rotate at 3000rpm. But still it had a drawback which is that they were not able to store too much of data. DRAM (dynamic random access memory): it is a medium that is been used store the memory temporarily and it is been used widely in todays computer systems. It is made up of small capacitor and transistors. Dram has many cells and each cell is equal to a Bit. The elements on Dram are organized in rows and columns. Todays computers use these cells in megabyte modules. FLOPPYs: Riaz, Rashid et al (2015) say it is portable computer storage disks were data could be handled easily. They are more fragile, low at cost. It was highly dispensable for the people working on their personnel laptops and other processors. It poses a capacity of 250kb to 1.6 mb so it varies on the size of the disk. CDs, DAT, DDS, MOD, Multimedia Card, Micro drive, SD card were the next generation storage medias. CD-ROM was highly used to save and retrieve the data immensely on the systems. DAT was the digital recording table, which was actually released by the Sony in 1987. The main advantage is the data is recorded digitally rather that in analog style. But when compared to CD the performance of DAT is higher and advanced. Micro drives or so called flash drives are portable storage drives used to transfer small amount data very fast and efficiently and so on still the storage media has always been improvising till the present holographic storage formats and still going on giving out the services. Evolution of technologies in Data center storage services: Until now, we had brief discussion of different storage technologies in common IT infrastructures. SIEMON. (2015) say as the time has passed by evolution of DATA center has taken place in parallel. However, it was much more advanced as the data stored in the data center is considered as the corporate assets. so to store data securely different storage models have been introduced they are SAN, Fiber channel over Ethernet (Fcoe) , internet protocol, converged network adapter (CNA) under doff rent configurations like DAS (direct attached storage), NAS (Network attached storage), Further, in this paper will briefly look into every step of these evolution strategies. SAN (storage area network): [6] it is a high-speed network for the storage devices, which would be connected to the servers. The main advantage of SAN is it provides great assistance in backing up the data and disaster recovery. SAN uses fiber optic cable so that the data transfer rate from one location to different location will be high. Fiber channel over Ethernet (Fcoe): [6] it provides a great solution for the organizations possessing parallel network infrastructure issues. Fiber channel gives a high-speed data transfer protocol serially and standards for enterprise grade storage solutions, the transfer rates can be up to 10gbs. Fiber channels operate at great speeds like 4,16, 32 gb/s , but generally in IEEE 802.3ae standards the distance supported for 10GB Ethernet is 10km. so it is highly privileged in datacenters. Internet protocol:[6] it is group or singular drive which are combined together but they are not part of storage network but considered to be more over the internal storage media on personnel laptops. NAS (network-attached storage): [6] offers high-level storage solutions in file sharing services because the architecture is directly connected to LAN. However, because of these characters in NAS it synchronizes hardware storage resources into network, so it can be used to develop multiple networked services and by doing this storage utilization is very efficient. So based on the above technologies the storage solutions have been improvised but still there many technological labs still working on improvement on the performance, reliability and so on. Storage Media Solutions: In this paper will further discuss and present an assessment on tiered storage media solution on any top two companys depended on any context of the data at any particular time. We will be taking Netapp tiered storage solutions and Oracle tiered storage solutions. Tiered storage solutions: TechTarget (2005) the storage solutions are to segregation of data based on the company-defined policies to reduce the cost effectiveness of the data. The segregation may include different categories like performance, usage, security and so on. [6] Tiered storage consists few different tiers like tier 1, 2 and 3 data. Tier 1 includes highly sensitive data so data isolation is main aspect hence they are stored in expensive media solutions. Tier 2 data will consist of type two classified files so the storage media expense is reduced. In Tier 3 it consists of unclassified data the expenses are very less as the data is stored in in less expensive media. Oracle Tired Storage Solution Service: Oracle optimized solutions (2015) the main aim of oracle tiered solution is to provide highly efficient scalability and flexibility for the data. An always-new data storage trend was needed for better storage efficiency. As the data grows there was an opportunity arising for new wave lengths, Based on this aspects oracle offered optimized tiered solution to protect data as well, lower cost for storage and massive scalability. [3] providing Oracles disk and tape storage systems for better performance than many other storage media Introducing Oracle Storage tek modular tape gives a high throughput at lower cost and Oracle e Hierarchical Storage Manager provides configurable file system view and policy based management and data protection. They predicted that reduced deployment provides additional savings. Reduced data risk due to pretesting, ensured access and data integrity. They provide higher quality of the data availability and integrity. Oracle applies all the tiers for the data s torage solutions based on the client requirements. Oracle’s StorageTek T10000D offers outstanding bit error rate. it predicts that it offers 12.6 times better TCO than EMC isilonn soln. Netapp Tired Storage Solution Service: NetApp (2012) has great views towards the optimizing storage efficiency and performance. The main solution they give is, the right data at the right time at the right cost. Netapp provides a very different and unique way of solution for storing the data with an automated way of approach. The virtual tier provides a real time response to most of the demanding applications, ability to consolidate the data others tiers whenever required, conducting data cloning and SSD technologies. Basically provides reduced power -cooling storage. The developed flash technology in the [2] storage tiers of Netapp has helped in increasing the efficiency of the storage solutions. The key advantage of Netapp services provided for storage infrastructure will be the self-managing data-driven service layer. It helps mitigating the costs based on the performance for the classification of the data. The major feature to help the performance of the workloads would be the Netapp Flash Cache PCI-e-based modules. The workloads are like the file service workloads and OLTP workload etc†¦ Conclusion: In this paper, we initially discussed about the evolution of the storage media as the time it was integrated including the storage architecture. We even took a brief review about two companies’ providing storage services which are oracle tier storage solutions and netapp tier storage solutions. we actually had a view how both the companies mitigate the storage structure difficulties and provide a wide range of solutions for the clients which is a good prospective towards the development. The tiered storage solutions of each different vendors are competitive which indirectly supporting the development of the storage technologies. The tiered storage solutions describes the different levels of the storage entities set-up with different clients based on the value of the data. So we conclude telling that the development of storage solutions has to be much more improvised based on the requirement and developments. Bibliography: 1) Memory information. [Online] Available from: http://www.memoryinformation.com/dram.htm [Time accessed 2:38 am, date 4/6/2015] 2) NetApp (2012) â€Å"NetApp Virtual Storage Tier† [Online] 2012 Available from: http://www.netapp.com/us/technology/virtual-storage-tier/ [Time accessed 12:32 am, date 7/4/2015] 3) Oracle optimized solutions (2015) â€Å"Maximize Storage Efficiencies for Sharing Data Oracle Optimized Solution for Tiered Storage Infrastructure† [online] January 2015 Available from: http://www.oracle.com/us/solutions/oos/tiered-storage-infrastructure/tiered-storage-infra- bus-wp- 1911879.pdf [Time accessed 12:39 am, date 7/4/2015] 4) PCMag digital group. (2015) â€Å"ENCYCLOPEDIA† [online] 2015 Available from: http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/46499/magnetic-tape [Time accessed 2.08 am, date 4/6/2015] 5) Riaz, Rashid. Floppy Disk.How Products Are Made. 1994.Encyclopedia.com.10 Apr. 2015 Available from: http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Floppy_Disk.aspx [Time accessed 2.48pm, date 4/6/2015] 6) SIEMON. (2015) â€Å"Data Center Storage Evolution†. [Online] 2015. Available from: http://www.siemon.com/us/white_papers/14-07-29-data-center-storage-evolution.asp [Time accessed 1:18 am, date 4/6/2015] 7) TechTarget (2005) â€Å"Tiered storage† [online] September 2005 Available from: http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/definition/tiered-storage [Time accessed 8:45pm, date 10/4/2015] 8) Webopedia. (2015) â€Å"magnetic drum† [online] 2015 Available from: http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/M/magnetic_drum.html [Time accessed 2.18 am, date 4/6/2015] 9) Webopedia. (2015) â€Å"SAN-storage area network† [online] 2015 Available from: http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/SAN.html [Time accessed 8:27 pm, date 6/4/2015] 10) Wikipedia (2015) â€Å"Digital Audio Tape†. [Online] March 2015. Available from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Audio_Tape#References [Accessed: 8:10 pm, date10/4/2015] 11) Zetta. (2015) â€Å"The History of Computer Storage†. [Online] February 2015. Available from: http://www.zetta.net/history-of-computer-storage/ [Time accessed 4/5/2015, 11:35 pm] 12) Goda, K.; Kitsuregawa, M., The History of Storage Systems,Proceedings of the IEEE, vol.100, no.Special Centennial Issue, pp.1433,1440, May 13 2012 doi: 10.1109/JPROC.2012.2189787 URL:http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=arnumber=6182574isnumber=6259910 13) Knowles, Mike, Survey of the storage evolution,User Group Conference, 2003. Proceedings, vol., no., pp.362,367, 9-13 June 2003 doi: 10.1109/DODUGC.2003.1253418 URL:http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=arnumber=1253418isnumber=28042 1

Euthanasia: The Right Choice for America Essay -- Argumentative Persua

Euthanasia: The Right Choice for America The ethical debate of euthanasia continues while Oregon remains the only state in which it is legalized in. Based on the success of the Oregon euthanasia law, this law should serve as a model to the rest of the nation and it should be implemented all across the U.S. The success and effectiveness of this law can be seen through many case studies and statistics. Of course, there is a line that is often crossed with doctors who euthanize under unlawful conditions; however, under the right circumstances euthanasia can work. Should the United States of America continue to overlook a patent’s wishes and desires and instead primarily focus on doing everything possible to keep a person alive when there is no need? Where is the rationality in letting a person who is suffering die a slow painful death? Granted physicians are obliged to preserve life at all costs, under many circumstances, there is no need for this effort. If a patient requests death, his wish should be respected and approved. Why must the right to die be taken away? If there is no justifiable reason to preserve someone’s life, there should be no need to do it. One example reflects the experiences of a man named David Miller’s grandmother. He shares a story of her after she was diagnosed with emphysema. The disease contributed to her inability to use her neck muscles, to breath, and to speak. Many question such a doctors’ judgment in keeping such a person, who’s both suffering and serving no purpose to the world, alive. (Miller, 27) Sometimes, doctors need to focus on the quality of life of a patient, especially if the patient is suffering. Terms such as passive euthanasia and active euthanasia are often tos... ...ide Largely Shunned.† The Christian Century Dec 2000: 1267 Buckley, William F. â€Å"Killer Doc.† National Review Dec 1998: 70 Kavanaugh, John F. â€Å"Euthanizing Life† America May 2001: 28 MacQueen, Ken. â€Å"Choosing Suicide† Maclean’s v. 115 no31 (August 5 2002) p. 40-1 Miller, David. â€Å"From Life in Death in a Peaceful Instant.† The Humanist (May/ June 2000) 27 Nichols, Mark. â€Å"Offering a Helping Hand to Those Who Long to Die.† Maclean’s March 1998: 52 Rayner, Clair. â€Å"You Say Murder, I Say Euthanasia.† New Statesman June 2000: 31 Richardson, Andrea E. â€Å"Death with Dignity: The Ultimate Human Right?† The Humanist (July/ Aug 2002) p. 42-43 Sarasohn, David. â€Å"No Last Rights† The Nation v.273 no19 (December 10 2001) p. 8 Welie, Jos V. M. â€Å"Why Physicians? Reflections on the Netherlands’ New Euthanasia Law.† The Hastings Center Report Jan/Feb 2002: 42-44

A Rhetorical Analysis “The Effects of Violence in Children’s Cartoons”

Rhetorical Analysis ENGL 102-07October 03, 2012 A Rhetorical Analysis of Editorial, â€Å"The Effects of Violence in Children’s Cartoons† Claim: That children's cartoons today are too violent and that these cartoons are greatly affecting their behaviors growing up. That violence is a learned behavior and therefore children that view violence can become violent themselves. The purpose of the argument is to raise the awareness about cartoon violence and come up with some solutions to lessen its negative impact on the children that are watching them.The primary target audiences of this argument are those that have the most direct contact with children, mainly their parents and teachers. Faced with the increasing popularity of animation, they feel that youngsters are developing a cartoon mentality, confusing fantasy and reality, and are imitating the actions they see on the screen. The author feels very strongly about the message he is trying to make and uses emotional, log ical, and ethical triggers throughout the article to make his point and bring the reader over to his idea. â€Å"this is a big dilemma because the media is promoting violence as an acceptable solution for children who may not know any better. †] (PATHOS) This statement seems to be an attempt to shock the audience to the idea that there is purposeful plot by the media to teach children that violence is an acceptable way to act. [â€Å"If a child is growing up in a home where Dad is beating up Mom all the time, the child is going to learn that hitting is an acceptable way to handle problems.This child is much more likely than other children to grow up to handle problems the same way and become a violent adult himself. The same can be said for cartoon violence. †] (PATHOS) The reader is given a comparison between witnessing domestic violence and cartoon violence. The author makes the argument that both will lead to a child becoming a violent adult. [â€Å"We cannot deny that children's violence has increase drastically in recent years. With things such as school shootings, bullying, daredevil stunts, peer to peer violence, and children killing parents we as a society need to be alarmed. ] (PATHOS) By using terms like â€Å"shooting† and â€Å"killing parents† the author is hoping to connect with the audience’s fear that cartoon violence could lead to drastic results. [â€Å"TV has even become known as â€Å"America's baby-sitter. † (Krieg). Meaning that parents are now using the television as a way of entertaining their children while they attempt to accomplish other things such as cooking and cleaning. †] (PATHOS) This statement tries to prompt a sense of guilt in the audience that they are are just sitting their kids in front of the television instead of being attentive parents. â€Å"On average and American child will watch 32 acts of violence per hour on TV. This number has skyrocketed from 20 years ago when it was just 12 acts per hour (Krieg). This being said a child will have watched anywhere from 8,000 to 100,000 acts of violence before they even finish elementary school (Weiss). †] (LOGOS) This seems a logical premise to help substantiate the authors point and uses a research example as evidence. [â€Å"It was found in one study that what a children watches on TV at age 8 will be one of the best predictors of how aggressive they will be as an adult.The children's TV viewing outweighed other factors such as child-rearing practices and socioeconomic factors (Grace). Grace also found that what a child watches after age 8 is not nearly as important as what they watch before age 8. †] (LOGOS) Again, this seems logical and uses a study to show evidence. [â€Å"We can start by creating a better rating system that gives parents more information about what the shows content is. This could be similar to the more recent movie ratings (Gardner).DIC is the largest supplier of chil dren's programming and they have come up with a 12- point code for the makers of these children's shows to decrease the violence (Weiss). †] (LOGOS) The author evokes some possible solutions to that may help resolve some of the problem with identifying violent cartoons. [â€Å"We have now seen all the facts on both sides of the argument. Is should be clear that we are faced with a very devastating problem. Our only hope is that we can do enough so that this next generation of children is not so violent.Maybe one day we can come to the point where children are so used to watching wholesome quality television that these violent shows will die out. †] (ETHOS) We do not know who the author is here. Is it a parent, teacher, or maybe a psychologist? The use â€Å"we† and â€Å"our only hope† seem to play on the conscience of the reader that we are all in this together, and together we can find a solution to cartoon violence. The author cites numerous reasons to prove and validate his point, such as the increase in violent acts per hour on television, and percentage of teachers that have reported increases in classroom violence.However, there is no evidence given that ties cartoon violence directly with this. It seems most of the article is the authors interpretation of the topic. He even goes as far as to say that those that disagree with his point are absurd. Is it possible that children become violent from what they see in cartoons? Maybe. But all cartoons are not the same. I think it is ignored that many cartoons also teach children important social and cultural lessons on such as honesty, kindness, and sharing.

Diary entries for Lady Macbeth on reading Macbeth’s letter Essay

Diary entries for Lady Macbeth on reading Macbeth’s letter, on Macbeth’s return from battle, on Duncan’s arrival, on Macbeth’s indecision, on the murder of Duncan and on the Banquet and Banquo’s ghost. Today, I received a letter, inside it incredible news from Macbeth. Weird sisters predicted that he was to be Thane of Cawdor! As amazing as this may seem, their prophecy came true! The sisters didn’t just forecast that Macbeth was to be Thane of Cawdor but also that he will be king! My only fear is that Macbeth is too kind for his own good. He must be ruthless if he wants to fulfil his ambition. The nearest way to become king is to cold-heartedly kill Duncan. It would be terrible for Macbeth to miss out on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. These weird sisters must be messengers from God or of perhaps the Devil, to foresee something like that. Macbeth must follow up prediction so that it becomes his destiny. I have prayed to the spirits to take away my femininity so I can aid and spur on my husband in his mission to kill Duncan. I beg the spirits to prevent me feeling any remorse so I can stick to the plan. I hope that the night will be foggy and gloomy so that no one can see the stab wound. * * * * * I knew it was a huge, bloody battle and I was just pleased to see the future king alive. I had had no idea if Macbeth was alive and well. I was so worried about him. Not only was I pleased for that reason but also because the start of our lives is just beginning. The benefits and rewards of the throne are soon in the grasp of my hand. Macbeth said that Duncan was to leave the next day. At this moment it occurred to me that this was the time to strike, it must be then or never. We must not give the plot away, so we must look friendly, speak charmingly and generally be two-faced. This is vital to the method. If there is any suspicion of this then we could be on the receiving end of the fatality. If we treat Duncan as best we can then we are less likely to be suspected of being the murderers. He must be provided for and his every requirement must be tended to. Tonight is the start of a new beginning! * * * * * Duncan’s arrival earlier was extremely difficult. To hide such an evil and wicked thing is very tricky. It is constantly on my mind; will it go smoothly? Have we missed any essential thing out? What if it doesn’t go according to plan? I am excited and tense but I know I have to appear hospitable. The conversation between Duncan and myself went smoothly and I kept my cool. I fear Macbeth may reveal a piece of the plan in all the excitement; he must pull through for both of our sakes. I have seemingly made Duncan feel that we are thankful for his stay. Duncan must think everything is prepared for him, so far I think he is pleased with the welcoming he has received. To stop thinking of the murder later on will be even harder than it has been so far. I don’t know how I will cope. Now I must go for I fear the others are getting suspicious of my long disappearance. * * * * * Later on when I entered the room I found Macbeth looking deep in thought. I knew that something was wrong. When he told me he had changed his mind and that we should proceed no further in this business, I was horrified. The words just spilled out of my mouth as if it wasn’t me talking. Maybe my prayers to the spirits to make me cruel and strong, had worked. I accused him of being a coward, that the hope wherein he had dressed himself had been drunk and was now suffering a hangover. Unbelievably, I could even hear myself saying that had I made a promise to him to do so, I would have killed our own baby. That really shocked him back to reality and we were able to make plans for Duncan’s murder. We decided to get Duncan’s guards drunk enough to be able to get to him easily, and then to stab him to death. We could then smear the guards with blood so it may seem their guilt. It is almost too simple to be true! * * * * * That night as I waited for Macbeth to do the terrible deed, every minute seemed like an eternity. An owl shrieked and I nearly jumped out of my skin. What if the guards woke? Macbeth would certainly be executed for treason just as the last Thane of Cawdor was. It’s a good job I had the sense to put laudanum in their drinks. When I went to lay out the guards’ daggers ready, I almost killed Duncan myself, I was so hyped up. Memories of my father stopped me. When Macbeth finally returned, he looked terrible. He was ranting and raving and I couldn’t get any sense out of him. He kept going on about how the guards were shouting in their sleep, ‘murder’ and ‘Macbeth shall sleep no more’. It had not been an easy thing for him to do. This surprised me as he has killed so many people in battle. I had to be really firm with him and got him to go and wash the blood from his hands, to make him do something to snap him out of hysteria. That’s when I realised that he still had the daggers in his hands – the evidence! He was in no state to take them back so I did it myself. When I actually did the job, I was ashamed that I had been so scared. Still, I knew that once I had washed my hands, all evidence would be destroyed and that would be the end of the matter. * * * * * A banquet had been prepared for all our friends. Everything was fine until, suddenly, out of the blue, Macbeth’s expression changed. He started shouting at an empty space at the table and looking terrified. I tried to comfort him and persuade him it was a hallucination, just like the imagined dagger he had seen before he murdered Duncan. Then he started talking to the mirage! It was so embarrassing in front of our guests, and yet worrying because I wondered what was happening to my husband. I had to think, quickly, of an excuse on his behalf – I explained that he was prone to having fits, and that he would soon be okay again.