Letter to Editor Essay Essays - Articles, Food And Drink

My thoughts on Jeremy Rifkin are very different because some of the claims that he makes are not wrong I also do believe that animals should be cared for and get love and affection but the obvious problem here is that this is one of our biggest sources of food in the earth. If people decide that animals are the same as humans then our population will drastically plummet and you can not look past the hard facts. Reasoning for writing this is because as you know Rifkin is an economist and this just does not make him sound credible anymore because of what the topic is that he is speaking on he is trying to make scientific claims and yet he knows that there will be backlash because he is an economist. As you read Rifkin makes extensive claims that pigs need human contact and that they need to have toys and must be played with but does he ever think that some kids in the world has none of this , they don't have toys or someone to care for them and people think that this type of emotional neglect is ten times harder on a human child than it is on something like a pig. It makes you think maybe Rifkin just cares about animal rights and is a vegan or vegetarian because he does leave out a lot of information on all of this article. Animals are very smart creatures obviously people see this on a day to day basis threw social media and such and it is an amazing thing what some animals can do but you have to think about the rest of the world when making claims that say you must change your ways of life from eating meat and this is actually extremely hard for some people. If you put our population into perspective 7% of the population actually doesn't eat meat this is a huge difference from the people who do eat meat. You can think of this from both sides and say, yes animals are alike to humans but you have to understand that our population is not going to give up meat in the snap of a finger because that means a lot especially to americans eat 55.6 pounds of meat are consumed a year just by the U.S alone . Maybe as prices rise more and more and people might want to quit meat but only time can tell. The meat that people eat do vary from cow, chicken, pigs, horse, even alligator so this is something that you must l ook at all of these are animals yet the people are not going to be able to do anything at all people the there is not enough people in this world to fight against the people who like meat.Rifkin does make good points throughout the article but he is not credible and it seems that Rifkin is an animal activist and wants to prove a point. People do have right to their own opinion and in this case Rifkin wants to just inform people of what is happening but Rifkin must understand that he is not going to look credible mainly because of his occupation at the moment maybe it will change in the future. The science experiments he was talking about have some credibility because these things really did happen but .In conclusion Rifkin has never written on this topic but did research beforehand just to make the article sound appealing to a minor audience.

JavaScript and Emails †Expert Guide

JavaScript and Emails - Expert Guide When writing an email the two main choices that you have are to write the email in plain text or to use HTML. With plain text all you can place in the email itself is text and anything else must be an attachment. With HTML in your email, you can format the text, incorporate images, and do most of the same things in the email that you can do in a web page. As you can incorporate JavaScript into HTML in a web page, you can of course similarly incorporate JavaScript into HTML in an email. Why Isnt  JavaScript Used in HTML Emails? The answer to this relates to a fundamental difference between web pages and emails. With web pages, it is the person browsing the web who decides which web pages they visit. A person on the web is not going to visit pages that they believe may contain anything that might be harmful to their computer such as a virus. With emails, it is the sender who has the most control over what emails are sent and the recipient has less control. The entire concept of spam filtering to try to strip out junk emails that are not wanted is one indication of this difference. Because emails that we dont want can get through our spam filter we want the emails that we do see to be made as harmless as we can make them just in case something destructive does get past our filter. Also while viruses can be attached to both emails and web pages, those in emails are far more common. For this reason, the vast majority of people have the security settings in their email program set much higher than they have set in their browser. This higher setting usually means that they have their email program set up to ignore any JavaScript that might be found in the email. Of course, the reason why most HTML emails dont contain JavaScript because they dont have any need for it. Where there would be a use for JavaScript in an HTML email those who understand that JavaScript is disabled in most email programs will produce an alternative solution where the email links to a web page that contains the JavaScript. The Only Time JavaScipt Is Placed in Email There will only be two groups of people who place JavaScript into their emails - those who have not yet realised that the security settings in email programs are different from that in web pages so that their JavaScript isnt going to run and those who deliberately place JavaScript into their email so that it will automatically install a virus onto the computer of those few people who have the security settings in their browser misconfigured so that their JavaScript can run.

Myths and Misconceptions About Tree Roots Explained

Myths and Misconceptions About Tree Roots Explained The root system of a tree  is seldom on the radar for forest owners and tree lovers. Roots are rarely exposed so misconceptions about how they grow and function can influence tree managers into bad decision making. You can grow a healthier tree if you understand its root system. Here are several tree root myths that  may change how you perceive your tree and correct the way you plant and grow the plant. Myth 1: All Trees Have Single Tap Roots Most trees do not have tap roots after the seedling stage. They quickly produce water-seeking lateral and feeder roots. When a tree is grown in deep, well-drained soil, these trees will develop many deep roots directly surrounding the trunk. They should not be confused with what we think of as a taproot similar to other vegetable plants like carrots and turnips or the tap roots of tree seedlings. Shallow, compacted soils will eliminate deep roots altogether and you will have a feeder root mat with very few deep roots. These trees get most of their water above the water table level and are subject to damaging windthrow and severe drought. Myth 2: Tree Roots Will Grow Only to a Tree's Dripline There is a belief that roots tend to stay under a trees leaf canopy. That seldom happens. Trees in a forest have roots reaching well beyond their individual branches and leaves in search of water and nutrients. Studies have shown that roots actually grow laterally to a distance equal to the height of the tree. One report from the University of Florida extension says Roots on trees and shrubs planted in a landscape grow to 3 times the branch spread within 2 to 3 years of planting. Trees standing together in a forest send roots beyond their individual limbs and intermingle with the roots of neighboring trees. Myth 3: Damaged Roots Result in Canopy Dieback on the Same Side This does happen, but it should not be assumed as a foregone conclusion. University of Florida extension says that Roots on one side of trees such as oaks and mahogany generally supply the same side of the tree with water and nutrients. Dieback of individual branches and limbs will occur on the damaged root side. Interestingly, maple trees do not seem to show injury and drop leaves on the side of root injury. Instead, branch death may occur anywhere in the crown with some tree species like maples. Myth 4: Deeper Roots Secure Water and Nutrients On the contrary, the feeder roots in the top 3 inches of soil supply your tree with water and food. These delicate finer roots are concentrated in that upper soil and duff layer where immediate nutrients and moisture are quickly available. Minor soil disturbances can injure these feeder roots and remove a large portion of the absorbing roots on a tree. This is can significantly set a tree back. Major soil disturbances due to construction and severe compaction can kill a tree. Myth 5: Root Pruning Stimulates Root Branching When planting a trees root ball, It is very tempting to cut back on roots that are circling the ball. It is very often thought that a dense root ball will stimulate new feeder root growth, but that is not the case. Dont worry about encircling roots as they will correct that on a new site. Most new root growth occurs at the end of existing roots. Root pruning is often done at the nursery to accommodate packaging and to resume growth before the final sale. If you are planting the tree at its final site, it may be best that you gently break up the root ball but never prune root tips. Source Gilman, Edward. Dispelling Misperceptions About Trees. University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension, Aug. 2011.

Commonly Confused Words Have and of

Commonly Confused Words Have and of The sound of the preposition of  is similar to the sound of vethe shortened form of the helping verb have. As a result, of is sometimes misused in contractions. Usage Have  often functions as an auxiliary verb (or helping verb). In speech and informal writing, the contracted form ve  is sometimes used with the verbs could, must, should, would, may, and might. Of  is a  preposition, not a contraction. Examples Jed could have tried harder to help us.Jed said, I wouldve tried harder if Id known you were paying attention.Some of us must have been watching the game when the burglars broke into the house.If the Mets would have given him two more runs per game, Seaver would have won 20 games by the end of August. But that was one of those wouldve, couldve, shouldve scenarios.(Josh Rosengren, Hammerin Hank, George Almighty and the Say Hey Kid, 2008)The planning of the fly was an application of pure intelligence, morals not being concerned. Not one of us could have planned the fly, not one of us could have constructed him; and no one would have considered it wise to try, except under an assumed name.(Mark Twain, Thoughts of God, early 1900s) Usage Notes Mr. Wood, my English teacher, is always telling us that theres no such thing as must of, should of, could of, its must have, should have, could have. Mr. Wood says stuff like, The day you all get that simple little fact into your tiny little heads is the day I can retire a happy man. Well, this is all very well and good, but he doesnt need to be moaning on to me about it. (Hayley Long, Lottie Biggs Is [Not] Mad. Macmillan, 2009)When we speak, we slur these phrases so that they all sound as if they end in of, but in fact, all of them end in have. Their correct forms are may have, might have, must have, should have, would have, and could have. (Susan Thurman, The Only Grammar Book Youll Ever Need. FW Media, 2003)Some writers use of for ve deliberately to add flavor; should of and Id of have a drawled look that the more clipped shouldve and Idve lack. Ring Lardner and John OHara often used of for ve, and it is unlikely that either did it from ignorance. (Edward Johnson,  The Handbook of Good English. Washington Square, 1991)   Practice Exercises Fill in the blanks with either have or of. See how you did with the answers below. One _____ us made a mistake.It must _____ been you.She was one _____ the few gentlewomen I _____ ever known, and has remained throughout my life the measure _____ what a human being can be. (Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Random House, 1969) Answers to Practice Exercises One  of  us made a mistake.It must  have  been you.She was one  of  the few gentlewomen I  have  ever known, and has remained throughout my life the measure  of  what a human being can be. (Maya Angelou,  I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Random House, 1969)

Environmental Interest Groups Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Environmental Interest Groups - Essay Example An individual can become the volunteer of NWF at free cost by making online registration under â€Å"Volunteer† option in organization’s website. The NWF offers its members a flexible benefit package that contains variety of options; and this package allows the members or employees to customize the benefits in accordance with their individual/family needs. The NWF unites broad spectrum of people who maintain great concern on the sustainability of wildlife; and this group generally includes ‘wildlife gardeners, bird watchers, nature lovers, outdoor enthusiasts, and others’ (Siemann, 2009). Global warming is one of the potential current topics to NWF. In addition, human interference with nature is another current challenge that the organization takes into account. Unfair human interaction leads to a series of threats to wildlife conservation, air quality, and water resources. Sale of NWF’s Nature Education Merchandise constitutes one of the main revenu e sources of the organization. Donations from members, organizations, and other persons are other sources of income for National Wildlife Federation. For instance, the Mobile Giving Foundation is assisting NWF by raising funds for the Gulf oil spill.

Review the sound recording and music industry Essay

Review the sound recording and music industry - Essay Example Another important role in the music/audio industry that requires music technology and audio recording skills is the role of the Sound engineers. They must also possess the ability to recognise and describe the quality of musical sounds and other sounds, in order to be able to adjust and balance these sounds creatively. â€Å"Sound engineers also need to listen for different types of distortion. Music producers need to listen for intonation and timing problems, and DJs need to refine their listening skills in order to match speeds and keys and to recognise points at which to mix.† (http://www.wolvcoll.ac.uk/international/courses/music_tech.html) When working in the audio/music industry, whether as a recording or creative artist, or even in a managerial or supporting role, it is vital to plan and work towards the production of effective final studio products, so that these products can be marketed to the right target audience. Thus, during the planning of a recording session, or any music project, â€Å"effective teamwork is essential and is only possible when everyone involved understands the process.† (http://www.ehow.com/way_5471252_effective-teamwork-care-settings.html).

Consumer Behaviour Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 8

Consumer Behaviour - Essay Example 2003, p. 285). Fair trade influence organizations and movements of products in the third world countries by ensuring that consumers pay fair prices for the products. Also, it ensures producers have healthy working conditions, and their rights are preserved from exploitation by some unethical consumer behaviors (Auger & Devinney 2007, p. 361). It is important to note that ethical consumer behaviour allows users to express their personal feelings freely and show the sense of responsibility to societies. It also enables them appreciate products from different companies (Auger et al. 2003, p. 299). Hines and Ames (2000), affirms that 68% of the population buys a product from a company because of the company’s ethical reputation. Also, they argue that 51% of the population makes purchases in different companies due to its behavior. This indicates that a higher per cent of the population are driven by the ethical standards of a producer to buy their products, and this encourages fair trading (Auger & Devinney 2007, p. 365). If the ethical reputation of a company is not standard, then most consumers will tend shy away from purchasing their products. This unethical behaviour can be in the forms of prices or the poor qualities of their products. It can also be due to weak and unhealthy working conditions of the workers and the violation of the consumer rights (Arvola & Vassallo 2008, p. 445). According to a study of a group of European consumers, indicates that most of the consumers are willing to pay more money for proved ethical products from the companies. These consumers are also willing to import ethical products from the producers in the developing countries thereby improving the standards of the producers. In his study of Belgian consumers, Dolan (2009, p. 38) indicated that most of the consumers are willing to pay about 10% more for fair-trade despite the country of

Evolution of Management Principles Research Paper - 1

Evolution of Management Principles - Research Paper Example This paper illustrates that the evolution of management theories began after the industrial revolution.   As production increased with the introduction of large-scale machines in the manufacturing plants, the need to think of better ways to optimize workforce and limited resources gave birth to the scientific theory of management. Adam Smith was the first management thinker who thought of the effects of industrial revolution. In his quest to look for the better way to improve production, he introduced the factory system where a worker is only assigned to perform only one or few tasks to perform compared to the old system of craft-style manufacturing where workers are tasks to do everything. As a result of the introduction of Adam Smith’s factory system, manufacturing production significantly improved with each worker producing 48,000 pins per day compared to a mere few thousand productions with the old system. This was a result of job specialization and division of labor for better organizational performance and increased efficiency. Friedrich Wilhelm Taylor introduced scientific management or quantification of production in the manufacturing plant. He viewed an organization as a machine where its several parts should efficiently work. Taylor’s management theory espouses that if the amount of time and effort each worker expands to produce a unit of output can be reduced by increasing specialization and division of labor, the production processes will become more efficient. Use work slides or some other form of a carrier so that when a workman complete his operation, he drops the part always in the same place – which place must always be the most convenient place to his hand – and if possible have gravity carry the part to the next workman for his operation. They also studied the effects of fatigue and what contributes to job stress that leads to poor performance. They isolated factors—such as lighting, heating, the color of walls, and the design of tools and machines—that result in worker fatigue. Their pioneering studies paved the way for new advances in management theory.

Social Factors in Language Learning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Social Factors in Language Learning - Essay Example This paper declares that nowadays the English language undergoes several variations due to different factors. Among them people can distinguish regional, social, personal and even gender variations. The most widespread and obvious one is regional variation of the English language. This discussion explores that thanks to the popularity of American media and British culture the speakers of both models adopt certain vocabulary and pronunciation from each other. This process is commonly called accommodation. Apart from two main models of English regional variety of this language includes several dialectal variations. There are regional dialects of English both, in the USA and Great Britain. Dialects vary mostly in vocabulary and these differences are quite large and numerous. Unfortunately, this contrast between speakers sometimes leads to conflicts and bulling because one dialect is considered to be more privileged than the other. However, people should abandon this prejudice and treat everyone equally. Depending on people’s social identities, they use different types of language. There are many factors which predetermine the usage of certain constructions, words and intonation. They include the level of education, sex, occupying job and age. In some count ries with English speaking population social variation of the language does not play a huge role.

The Country I Live in Essay Example for Free

The Country I Live in Essay I living in Russia, love our country and is proud of it. The official name of our country is The Republic of the Russian Federation there are 21 republics and 65 other regions in the Russian Federation. The key symbol of Russia is the troika. The Nation government of Russia consist of the President, the Council of Ministers and Federal Assembly. There are two houses in the Federal Assembly: The Federal Council and the State Duma. The population of Russia is about 145000000. The ecological situation in Russia is not very safe. Pollution in some industrial towns is high. Some parts of western Russia were badly influenced by the radiation from Chernobyl in 1986. Russia is located in Northern hemisphere, in the north of continent Eurasia. She is washed by waters of Silent and Arctic oceans, and also Baltic, Black, Azov by the seas of Atlantic ocean and Caspian sea, More than 70 % of territory of Russia are occupied by plains and lowlands. In the south of the European part northern ridges of the Big caucasus (here there is the highest top of Russia Elbrus, 5 642) In Russia more than 120 thousand rivers and about 2 million lakes. The largest rivers: the Cupid, Lena, Yenisei, Irtysh, Ob, Volga, Kama; the largest lakes Caspian seas, Baikal, Ladoga, Onega. Position of Russia in northern part of Eurasia has caused her placing in Arctic, subarctic, moderated and partially in subtropical climatic belts. The prevailing part of territory is located in a moderate belt. A variety of a climate depends also on features of a relief and affinity or remoteness of ocean. Woods occupy over 40 % of territory. In territory of Russia there is a fifth part of all woods of the world and half of world coniferous woods. The fauna is various here live both polar bears, and walruses, both tigers, and leopards, etc. In Russia 35 national parks and 84 reserves are located. Unique in the country the natural park which is in city boundaries — Omsk  «the Birds harbour ». Moscow the capital of Russia and one of the worlds great cities. Yuri Dolgoruky founds Moscow in 1147. Today Moscow is the political centre of Russia, the countys leading city in population, industry and in culture importance. Moscow is definitely a city of contrasts. So rich in many ways, yet in other ways, quite poor. Moscow stands on the Moskva River in the centre of vast plain of European Russia. The climate is continental. Moscow is the largest industrial centre of Russia. The most important industries are those producing automobiles and trucks, machine tools, radio and television sets. The most important element in Moscows city transport is the metro subway. The system was began in 1935 and still developing. Some of the stations, especially the older ones, are highly decorate with marble, statues and mosaics. Moscow is a city where a lot can be seen and much can be done. You can seen: Red Square, St. Basils Cathedral, The Momunent to Minin and Pozharsky, Lobnoye Metro, The Spasskay Tower, The Lenin Mausoleum, The State History Museum, The State Department Store (GUM) and many other places. Moscow has numerous theaters, headed by the State Academic Bolshoi Theatre, which was founded in 1825. The citys principal drama theatre is the Moscow Art Theatre. Also of the worldwide fame are the State Central Puppet Theatre and Moscow State Circus. Moscow has some museums and art galleries of international rank. Among them are the State Pushkin of Fine Arts, with a fine international collection, and the State Tretyakov Gallery with an excellent collection of Russian paintings. Moscow is one of the cities of the world that must be seen. Russia has produced a great number of very creative and talented people, for example: Alexander Pushkin, Peter Tchaikovsky, Isaac Levitan, Georgy Zhykov, Yuti Gagarin, Andrei Sakharov, Boris Godunov, Vladimir Lenin, Vladimir Putin and e.t.c. Theatrical performances, museums and picture galleries in fact all aspects of Russian live prove that. The Russians are much interested it the rest of the world. Russian people are very hospitable, hardworking, friendly, open, honest, generous, kind, sometimes sentimental, sometimes careless, often unsmiling, having bold manners, sometimes lazy and selfish. Russian love animals, especially dogs and horses. Russian cultural level is quite high, Russian people like to read books, to visit theaters, museums and different concerts. We are the nation of sport lovers because our people like different kinds of sports and spend a lot of time going in for sport or just watching it. Many Russian are religious people. The main church is the Russian Orthodox Church. It has survived the hard times and now people speak about a rebirth of religion in the country. Russian keep our traditions because there are lots of traditions which have been maintained from ancient time. Russian national holidays — the holidays of Russian people connected with widespread national traditions of their carrying out. New year (in the night from December, 31st for January, 1st). It is accepted to decorate a premise the decorated New Year tree or branches. At midnight for January, 1st the congratulation of the head of the state and peal of bells obeys. On a table it is accepted to submit, among other, a Russian salad and champagne. To children give gifts (from Father Frost). According to sociological polls, it is the most celebrated holiday. Christmas (on January, 7th on new style and on December, 25th on Ã'ŽÐ »Ã ¸Ã °Ã ½Ã' Ã ºÃ ¾Ã ¼Ã'Æ' to a calendar) — an orthodox holiday. At night before Christmas it is accepted to guess that was never approved by orthodox church. The holiday is marked by a solemn celebratory supper. The tradition to mark Christmas is officially restored in Post-Soviet Russia. Day of the defender of Fatherland (on February, 23rd) — widely celebrated mans holiday established at the Soviet power, and in Post-Soviet Russia become in the day off. Women congratulate men and give them gifts. Congratulations are accepted also by women-military men, and also participants of wars. The international womens day (on March, 8th) — female holiday officially established still at the Soviet power became in public marked. Men congratulate women, give them flowers and gifts. Maslenitsa (Pancake week) — week before the Lent. Has ancient pagan roots. During all week bake and eat pancakes. Easter — an orthodox holiday. Celebratory meal — Easter (cottage cheese with candied fruits), Easter cakes, coloured in red colour and welded eggs. Victory Day over Hitlerite Germany (on May, 9th) — an official All-Russia holiday. It is accepted to visit burial places of the soldiers who were lost during the Second World War, and to remember the fallen. Veterans put on awards and medals and accept congratulations. This day on Red Square military parade is spent. Celebratory actions last years are decorated by yellow-black Guards tapes. Day of national unity (on November, 4th). A Victory Day of Russian over the Polish invaders in 1612. This day across all Russia Russian nationalists spend Russian march. The greatest love of Russia is for tea – its drunk without milk and often served with homemade jam (varene), baranki and pirozhki. The mail dishes of the traditional menu are blini (homemade pancakes) with caviar, honey or sour crà ¨me; different soups (like shci and borshch), pirozhki, pelmyeni. Usually tourists buy traditional Russian souvenirs such as Martyoshka dolls, beautifully painted mugs, plates and spoons from the village of Khokhloma and Palekh boxes.

Event Driven Programming

Event Driven Programming P1 Describe the key features of event driven programming Event handlers The GUI is formed of a great deal of built in things such as text boxes, tool icons menus etc. When the user clicks on a mouse or presses a key on the keyboard they trigger these GUI features. This sort of interaction is called events. Windows operating systems provide the event driven program with these event triggers. The code is written so that it reacts to every event that arise through user interaction. Events are the activities which are carried out by the user when the program is being used. When the user clicks on any object then the Click event is executed. If the user repositions the mouse then the mouse move event occurs. By the similar method a program can produce Key down event, Key up event, mouse double click event. The event is perceived by a form or control. Code is initiated by a program in reaction to an event. All forms and controls in VB have a set of events already in place. If one of these events takes place, VB brings up the code in the related event process. Despite the fact that predefined collection of events are detected without human intervention by objects in VBA, it still up to the programmer to decide if and how they react to a specific event. Event procedures are written for events in order to make a control respond to an event. Different objects can trigger different event processes when an event happens, although a lot of objects recognise the same event. For instance,if a user clicks a userform, the Userform_Click event process takes place; if a user clicks a command button named CommandButton1, the CommandButton1_Click event procedure is triggered. Usually there are two different types of events. There are the events which are triggered by user interaction (clicking on a mouse, pressing a key on the keyboard) and there are System initiated events which are events produced to respond to a user action (scrolling text, highlight a button). Both of these events have to be dealt with in a UI. It is also possible that a user event triggers a system initiated event. What happens in a classic event driven application is the user opens the program and triggers an event by clicking on a button or pressing a key on the keyboard or the code in the program can trigger an event for example loading a form from the Load event procedure. The event is received by the program. If there is an event procedure in place for that particular event then the task is performed. The program then waits for another event to happen.   An event handler deals with these events. All events are parts of data from the main configuration usually the GUI toolkit. Event handlers are very important elements of event driven programming. The events are generated by the structure found on understanding lower-level interactions, which could be lower-level events themselves. For instance, by moving the mouse the program takes this to be a menu selection and timers running out. The events primarily are initiated from actions on the operating system level, for example, interrupts produced by hardware devices, software interrupt instructions, or state changes in polling. In these circumstances interrupt handlers and signal handlers relate to event handlers. An event loop is where the program takes delivery of an event, deals with the event and then waits for another event and then executes a trigger function to deal with it. Trigger functions are written to correspond to the necessary actions. The algorithm which has been prog rammed has to make sure that triggers which have been made available are performed as soon as they are required which as a result presents a software concept that imitates an interrupt driven structure. The event loop normally doesnt stop until the user closes the program. When it receives the event it initiates the suitable event handler. This will ultimately be built-in to your application as a window. You can insert controls to this which might include a text box, check box command buttons etc Every event is examined by a dispatcher so that it can decide what sort of event it is, and the event is then sent by the dispatcher to the associated handler so that the particular event can be processed. The dispatcher has to deal with a flow of input events. Once an event is transmitted it has to be looped back so that it can deal with the next event, this is done via the event loop. Several programs particularly those which control hardware could be endless and consequently would have to designate a special event to end the event stream (an end of file marker or pressing the escape key). For this to happen there has to be a quit facility in the dispatcher logic, so that an event looped can be stopped when the special event is found. In some circumstances, the dispatcher could decide that there is no suitable handler for the event. When this happens, the event could be ignored or an exception could be initiated. Events that dont have handlers would be ignored by A GUI program because GUI programs are only concerned about particular types of events. For example although it might act on a mouse click it may not act on mouse movement. In the majority of other programs if an event is not recognised then it is regarded as an error which causes an exception to be initiated. There is an event queue which is used for storing events when the dispatchers or handlers cant deal with the events as quickly as they come in. The events queue is brought in to the events stream where the stream can be temporarily held. When an event comes in it is put to the back of the queue and the dispatcher deals with the events at the front of the queue as quick as possible. Most GUI programs have an event queue. It might take longer to process larger events like mouse clicks, so at the same time this event is being dealt with other events such as mouse movement might build up in the queue however as soon as the dispatcher is ready it can quickly get rid of the meaningless mouse movement events so that the event queue is cleared out quickly. P2 What is most noticeable in event driven programming is the flexibility that it provides, and the way in which it makes an effort to be as modeless as much as it can.. Graphical user interface applications are usually programmed in an event driven way. Event Driven Programming is relatively easy to do especially in Visual Basic because they have incorporated some revolutionary tools to help us along. Drag and drop design tools, property sheets, plus click and code aids helps make EDP less of a burden. Because of the flexibility offered with Event driven programming, it is an extremely popular method, especially for creating GUI programs. With Visual Basic EDP is simple because we are given various design tools to work with in order to produce user interface components (windows and dialog boxes) On top of this we are also provided with a complete suite of Windows interface components (including command buttons, text fields, list boxes, pictures, drop-down menus and file system contr ols) which can be created at the touch of a button without the need to write any code.   The forms engine for producing the interface applies technology obtained from Cooper Software.  We can then add functionality to these interface components, which react to events. By programming in EDP we are also able to adapt procedures quickly and respond to faults. Event Driven programs are used in in Automatic Teller Machines (ATM), Point of Sale (POS) systems, certain types of smart cards, Internet kiosks and handheld devices M1 Windows Operating systems are event driven programs in two ways. In one way it is similar to EDP because it uses interrupt handlers which are used as direct event handlers for hardware events, but replaces the job of the dispatcher with CPU hardware. In Windows Operating systems, data and software interrupts are transferred to user processes which usually are written as event handlers themselves, so in short the Operating system perform as dispatchers. Microsoft Windows take action when initiated by messages which are sent to the main application thread. So that the program can receive these messages the program continuously calls the GetMessage function which is found in the event loop. This means that Microsoft Windows is event based. Once a little elective processing has been carried out, the DispatchMessage() is summoned to dispatch the message to the appropriate handler which is called the WindowProc. In Microsoft Windows a message loop is created by user-interactive procedures to react to events, the message is connected to the event and is forced on the OS. The event doesnt just have to be user interaction but can also be things like network traffic, system processing and timer activity. Windows operating systems also have an event queue (or message queue as it is in Windows) which is where the messages are kept. Messages are dispatched to a particular job among a cluster of collaborative jobs. Messages are received by a window handle object via a WinProc, all of which correspond to an independent task in that system. In order for the next message to be dispatched a task has to finish its job as quickly as possible. D1 Event driven Programs are able to set off warnings, based on business policies. With the network and applications repeatedly collecting and sharing observed events, organizations get direct access to â€Å"in-context† data on the root of the problem and the consequences if it was to happen. This facilitates combined decision-making which gives an organisation the power to avoid unfavourable situations and, finally, to enhance competiveness in numerous aspects. For example, if a sensor discovers that part of the equipment in an isolated plant has broke down. This data is linked to a customer contract which has a service-level agreement with it. A warning corresponding to the equipment which has broke down and its effect on the customer contract is dispatched to the appropriate personnel throughout the business —business analysts, plant operations, and production control personnel. At the same time, a meeting can be set up with these people so that they can consider th e effect of the fault, when it will be fixed, and how business procedures should be altered so that they are better prepare if it was to happen again in the future. Events dont just have to be triggered by user interaction but can also be triggered by other applications (application events) or by system events such as alarms or warnings. Copied Modern business processes often require the blending of automation into the work environment through the invocation of behind-the-scenes functions and procedures. Behind-the-scenes tasks can include the automatic production of output such as an invoice that prints automatically when an order is processed, a Web site that is automatically updated with current data, or an automatic e-mail with fresh report output when a transaction is completed. A solution often adopted is to write the application in the style of an event driven system. That is, something happening and to which a task should respond, is modelled as an event. The event is put together by a central thread of control, with the event and thread of execution being handed over to the appropriate task. It is now the tasks job to deal with that event and subsequently return the thread of execution back to the executive or dispatcher. In an event driven system, a task, when allowed to run, must return control when it no longer requires it or when it can not precede further. That is, the task cannot perform an operation which would cause execution to block within that task. If the task was half way through an operation and was waiting on more data, it would need to remember where it was and return. When the data it was waiting on arrived it would then continue from where it had previously stopped. The thread of execution must be given back to the dispatcher in order to allow other tasks to run and deal with their own events. The tasks therefore must cooperate with each other to ensure that all are able to get through their respective jobs. At a lower level, an event driven system can also be viewed as being a form of simulation system. In simulation systems, there is a list of jobs to be performed. The central executive or dispatcher retrieves the first job from the list and executes the code associated with the job. The code must eventually return so that succeeding jobs in the list can be executed. If it was not possible to finish an operation, the code for that job would add a new job to the end of the list of jobs such that the operation could be completed at a later time. The main difference with an event driven system is that the central executive or dispatcher must be aware of a number of primary event sources. When the dispatcher goes to retrieve the next job to execute, it must also check the event sources and if an event is waiting, create a job for the delivery of the event to the appropriate task. In a simulation system, when there are no more jobs to execute the program would terminate. For an event driven system, while ever any of the primary event sources are active and tasks are interested in events from those sources, the process will continue to execute. This means that if there were no jobs to execute in the list of jobs, the process would block and wait for an event to arrive. As the process itself is blocked, those events will of necessity be the result of some stimulus from the operating system. For example, a timer or alarm expiring, a signal being directed at the process, or data being ready for the process to read. But first, what are the business opportunities enabled by EDA and where do they exist? Consider the airline industry as a good example. Airline operators monitor weather sources, customer reservations, and air traffic control in real-time to manage their daily flight schedules. Their event-driven systems provide pricing adjustments and re-scheduling based on the real-time, complex analysis of those event streams in order to maximise their profitability and operational efficiency. This is a classic EDA benefit: optimised business operations with real-time information and increased operating margins Almost every company has a daily operational aspect that can benefit from an EDA solution. A poultry processor in the midwestern United States provides an example from the manufacturing sector. This processor utilises distributed cooling equipment throughout its plant to keep the temperature below 50 degrees as per U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations. Equipment malfunctions are very costly to the business all products within the processing area must be scrapped if the temperature rises above 50 degrees. The coolant substance is also a potentially harmful chemical, thus any leaks requires a plant evacuation. For all these reasons, the cooling equipment must be closely monitored and maintained, 247. This monitoring and maintenance is typically done on a regularly scheduled basis around the clock. That requires significant resources however, so the company implemented an EDA solution that included physical sensors to capture equipment diagnostic information across the plant. The diagnostic information is now automatically captured and analysed every few minutes, making it easy to identify pieces that are potential candidates for failure. Not only can they fix the equipment before it breaks, but they have also alleviated the need for round the clock maintenance staff in favour of a more management-by-exception approach. Greater efficiency and lower costs are not the only benefits. Companies are also using EDA solutions to generate a competitive advantage in their industries by providing unique and differentiated real-time services. EDA solutions provide excellent opportunities for companies to become a leader in their industry, through better management of their daily operations and the unique services they can provide to their customers. These solutions take advantage of existing IT investments, creating more value through the analysis and processing of events that already exist within most applications and IT systems. As EDA solutions have evolved into more standards-based and open systems, the speed and cost of implementation have also greatly decreased, making now an attractive time to invest.

Microeconomics :: Papers

Microeconomics This paper will attempt to examine microeconomic structures in relation to technological advances. The impact of increasingly available technology is a major economic force. Prior to 1975, for example, viewing a first run movie at home was technically possible but economically infeasible. Only the wealthy chose to view moves at home. VCR's became available in 1976, with a typical price tag of $2000.00 Even at such a high price, that invention slashed the price of home viewing. Today a VCR can be purchased for $200.00, a fraction of its' initial cost. Videos can be rented for approximately a dollar or purchased for around $20.00. Home viewing has become common in a few short years, where formerly it had been available only to the very rich. In what other ways has technology changed the way of life and can microeconomic mechanisms accurately predict future economic outcomes? What is Economics? The simple answer to the question, "What is the economy?" is to state that the economy is the means by which resources are allocated. A more accurate portrayal of economic process is to view it as a machine that produces three distinctly different results: ï‚ · First, the economy determines what goods and services will be produced and in what quantities. ï‚ · Secondly, it indicates how various goods and services will be produced. ï‚ · Thirdly, it resolves the question of distribution. Markets for goods and services, and markets for production of those goods and services -- command mechanisms --directly correlate with the choices made by households, firms and governments. The US economy relies mainly on markets but to a degree on command mechanisms. The US economy is an open economy and has become highly integrated with the global economy. This is a fairly recent development, with foreign investment into US business outstripping US investments in foreign enterprises shifting the balance in the mid-1980s. Economists study these financial movements in order to determi ne the underlying principles driving the economy. This approach utilizes the same rigor and objectivity of natural scientists. Economic science, like natural science, is an attempt to discover a body of laws. All sciences use the same criteria in the investigative process: careful and systematic observation and measurement, and the development of a body of theory to direct and interpret observations. That theory is a general rule or principle that allows economists to understand and predict the economic choices that people make.

Summary of The Film Big Fish by Tim Burton :: essays research papers

â€Å"So this is a tall tale?† â€Å"Well, it’s not a short one†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Stories are our essence of life. They grow and change with us. They allow us to reconstruct the pas, and put our slant on things. They don’t’ have make sense, and they don’t all have to be fact. That’s what kind of story this is. Big Fish, directed by Tim Burton, is a heart warming, comedic film, with many twists and turns. It explores the world of an eccentric father, while telling his life story. And so, our story begins. â€Å"There are some fish that cannot be caught. It's not that they're faster or stronger then the other fish. They're just touched by something extra.† That fish is Edward Bloom. A compulsive storyteller, who enjoyed living life to it’s fullest. This extraordinary film is based on a collection of cleverly crafted stories from the novel, by Daniel Wallace. William Bloom (Billy Crudup) is a journalist who wants to find the truth behind his fathers’ mythical stories, to find out the truth about Edward, who is dying of cancer. For too long has Will heard the unending series of tales his father claims is his life. It is Edward’s myths, of course, that really reveal the man he is. Tim Burton has cleverly constructed his movie around Ewan McGregor, the young handsome Edward Bloom, and so the tall begin. The screenplay, by John August, mixes tender heartfelt drama with zany, outrageous scenes, skipping from past to present, while keeping the tension alive. Finding the town of Ashton and small pond for the big fish he is, Edward sets out for the wilder world. This is how it all began. Through witches, werewolves, and giants you can see Edward change and grow with each new experience. As Edward’s retells his story, Will begins to realise that his father has always been true. The casting of Big Fish is incredible. Burton chose wisely. With the uncanny likeness between Ewan McGregor and Albert Finney playing the young and old Edward, and Alison Lohman and Jessica Lange playing the wonderful Sandra Templeton/Bloom, you would swear that they were the same person.

Impact of Innovation Technology in Banking Sector

The impact of IT in efficiency and effectiveness of banking sector in Sri Lanka  the information technology and its impact in efficiency and effectiveness of the banking sector in sri lanka (with refernce to people’s bank and plc commercial bank plc in sri lanka) author: m. r. m. fazmeer 2005/2006 fmc south eastern university of sri lankaWhat is information technology? The study or use of computers and telecommunications for storing and sending Information (Oxford dictionary, 2003) â€Å"The information technology refers to all forms of technology applied to processing, storing, and transmitting information in electronic form.The physical equipment used for this purpose includes computers, communication equipment and network, fax machines, and even pocket organizer. Information on system executes organized procedures and/or communicates information. We define Information as an intangible or intangible entity that severs to reduce uncertainty about some state or event. Data can be originated from the internal operation of the form external entities such as suppliers or customers. Data also come from external data bases and services, for organization purchases a great deal marketing and competitive information.An information technology usually process these data in some way and present the results to users with easy availability of personal computers, users often process the output of formal system themselves in an ad ho manner. Human interpretation of information is extremely important in understanding how an organization reacts to output of system . Different result may mean different things to two managers. A trends or problems with sales. A financial manager may see problems with cash flow given the same sales data, where the marketing manager may use the statistical programs and graphs to look for trends or problems with sales.The recipient of a system’s output 2 1 AUTHOR: M. R. M. FAZMEER 2005/2006 FMC SOUTH EASTERN UNIVERSITY OF SRI LANKA The impact of IT in efficiency and effectiveness of banking sector in Sri Lanka may be an individual, as in the examples of the marketing manager, or it may be a workgroup. Many systems are used routinely for control purpose in the organization and require limited decision making. The accounts receivable application generally runs with little senior management over sight. It is a highly structured application with rules that can be followed by a clerical staff.A department manager handles exceptions. The output of some systems may be used as a part of a program or corporate strategy. The system it self could be implementing a corporate strategy, such as simplifying the customer order process. A system might help manager make decision. Information technology, however, extends far beyond the computational capabilities of computers. Today, computers are used extensively for communications as well as for traditional roles of data storages and computations. Many computers are connected t ogether using various kind of communication line to form networks.Through a network, individuals and organization are link together and these linkages are mass market networks like CompuServe, America on – line, and prodigy are a more recent phenomenon of course, the most famous network of all is the internet and shall explore its potential for business. Today every organization is faced with various information technology architectures. A manager is always concerned with various sources available for product and services. In the technology field. There are options on suppliers for both hardware and software.The area of information technology as an integration of communication technology. (Asoka S. Karunananda,1998) History of Impact of Information Technology In 21st century, the role of information technology is very important in every sector, whether it is agriculture industry and services. The information system’s functions in an organization have expanded significa ntly over the years. Information systems of the 1950’s forecast on reducing the cost of routine paper processing, transaction data processing, record keeping, accounting and other electronic data processing.By the 1960’s organizations started viewing information system differently recognizing that information system could be used for general management support, such system was called as Management Information System (MIS) that collected, stored and processed were seen as providing special purpose, customized management control over the organization, such 2 AUTHOR: M. R. M. FAZMEER 2005/2006 FMC SOUTH EASTERN UNIVERSITY OF SRI LANKA The impact of IT in efficiency and effectiveness of banking sector in Sri Lanka system were called Decision Support System (DSS) and Executive Support System (ESS).Their purpose was to improve and speed up the decision making process. Now information technology has become very important all activities of the organization. On the other hand, service sector more contributes to the economy of the country under the service of the banking sector is very important one. In our country, there are two forms of banks namely, State banks and private banks. The State banks are financed by the government through budget and controlled and managerial functions are carried out by them.On her hand private banks are financed by private sector itself and control and management is in the hand of them. Today we can see the private bank highly use the information technological systems in their every activity rather than in state banks. So, for my research study purpose I’m taking the sample as People’s bank as a state bank and Commercial bank as a private bank. Now information technology is changing day by day. So these two banks introduced system to their organizations. So information technological system has become the one of the important resource of the organization.Today world is globalized. It has startling polemical phe nomenon that brings nations into â€Å"one global village† with â€Å"One broad less economy† so the effective and efficient use of information technology is vital to the organization. Information technology is vital like other resources such as man, money, material, machinery and methods. Without information technological system cannot function in the competitive market. The banking sector is very important to the country because it has contributed lot to the country’s national income.And also each and every bank facilitates to every citizen to maintain accounts and other facilities as well. So there is a need to identify the impact of the information technology on efficiency and effectiveness of banking sector. In the case of Sri Lankan banking sector there are two leading domestic banks one is People’s bank another one is Commercial bank PLC, and IT usage of People’s bank (state bank) in their banking activities are very rare with Comparing with Commercial bank PLC (private bank).So we need to find out the reasons for the varies of IT usage between state banks and private banks. 3 AUTHOR: M. R. M. FAZMEER 2005/2006 FMC SOUTH EASTERN UNIVERSITY OF SRI LANKA The impact of IT in efficiency and effectiveness of banking sector in Sri Lanka The Importance of information technology Organizations have various managerial levels. These all managerial levels have different managerial functions, such as planning, organizing, staffing, and controlling. These functions are necessary for successful organizational performance.To support these functions, especially planning and controlling systems for supping information to managers are of special importance. Only with accurate and timely information can managers monitor progress toward their goals and turns plans into reality. (Peter Drucker, 2000) The manager must handle the information system effectively and efficiently to achieving their goals of an organization. Therefore we have seen information, requirement of information organization characteristics of information and information system of their types.Information is not natural resources. Data are facts, events, transactions and soon witch have been recorded. They are input raw materials from which information is produced. Briefly data is pool of observation . Information is data that have been processed in such a way as to be useful to the recipient, in another view the information is a statement about the structure of an entity that enables a person to make a decision or commitment. System is a group of components that interact to achieve purpose.Commonly, system 3 basic components they are inputs, output and processing. In this way information system is a group of components that interacts to produce information. Here data or raw materials as input information as output is gotten and processing component help to change the inputs to outputs. Briefly the minimum information system consists of people, proced ure and data. People follow procedures to manipulate data to produce information. The following figure explains it. Impact of Information Technology (Henry C. Lucas. 998) Many times information technologies have failed because the reactions of users were ignored or because designers did not consider the impact of the system on the organization. A technology elegant system is successful only it is used. Most 4 AUTHOR: M. R. M. FAZMEER 2005/2006 FMC SOUTH EASTERN UNIVERSITY OF SRI LANKA The impact of IT in efficiency and effectiveness of banking sector in Sri Lanka early studies of the import of computers were completed after the systems had been installed. These studies were broad not are and in general were not oriented toward the design of better information system.More recent research has leg to the development of a mode of information systems in the con text of the organization, that describes how in formation systems impact and in tract with organizations. From this mode it shou ld be possible to predict the impact of systems in advance and plan for a successful inter face with the organization Best – known sets ore dictions for the impact of computers on organizations (Leavitt and whistler 1998) These authors sequester that firms would recentralize as a result of new computer technology, the availability of more information than previously possible would allow management centralize.The trend until the development of computer technology to word decentralization because centralization. Management could not cope with the amount of information and number of decision required in lounge organization. Computers offer the power to make centralized management possible so the organization can be tightly controlled by a group of top managers.Little evidence supports this early redetection (Lucas 1975) another problem in validating precisian of computer impact occurs in defining variables such as centralization and decentralization (Information systems concepts for management Moreover, early predictions assumed that decentralization is negatively motivator there make other reasons to decentralize In other hand the information technology effect the distribution of power among the department of the organization. Different departments in organization have different levels of power and a theory proposed by Hick son et al (1971) offers some insight into these power relationships.As were shall see, the information services department meets conditions that are describes by the Hick son et al for high power, and by its activities, this alters the distribution of power in the baking sector. There are four major conditions describes by the several researchers. The one hypothesized determinants of power is the extent to which the department copes with uncertainty for other departments. Uncertainty is destined as the lack ok information about future events that make their outcomes less predictable. An information services 5 AUTHOR: M. R. M. FAZMEER 2 005/2006 FMCSOUTH EASTERN UNIVERSITY OF SRI LANKA The impact of IT in efficiency and effectiveness of banking sector in Sri Lanka department cope swath aureate deal of uncertainty for user departments. When a new system is designed the user often yields control over an operation to the information services department. For example consider the department that used to prepare budget statements manually but that has just implemented a computer system to process budgets. Before the information technological system. When a gluepot clerks and analysts prepared the budget the manager of the department had complete control.If the department was behind schedule the manager could arrange over time or employment help to see that job was completed. A solution to most problems wow within the manager is own department Now, with the computer system, the manager has added uncertainties about whether the information services department will finish processing on time and with acceptable accuracy. The development of this computer system has created uncertainty for the manager where non existed before. Interesting enough, only the information services department can cope with this new uncertainty.The information department of every organization is very important in every organization. So the uncertain ting also controlled by the information services department. A second hypothesized department of high power is whether or not a department can be replaced easily. These are a few alternatives to mature information services department. Dissatisfied company management could hire an entirely new computer staff, but this would create chaos during the transition period. One can also turn to service bureau for processing, but it would be difficult and expensive to covert all present applications.Another alternative to the information services department is a facilities management arrangement in which a consultant contracts to run an information service services department. However, most f acilities management contractors hire proportion of the people currently working in the information services department. A facilities management agreement also meets hesitance form management, which is often uneasy about hexing another organization responsible for the processing of vital information. These for a mature information services department, there are not many possible substitutes. AUTHOR: M. R. M. FAZMEER 2005/2006 FMC SOUTH EASTERN UNIVERSITY OF SRI LANKA The impact of IT in efficiency and effectiveness of banking sector in Sri Lanka A third proposed determinant of high power for a department is the number of links between other department, the great its power clearly, here is another situation where the information services department has the potential for becoming quite powerful. The information services department may accept input from a wide variety of departments in the organization and provide the all with some type of service.The importance of each link also must be considered in assessing departmental power. It a link were separated, how long would be only an in convenience; In most organizations the final output would no the affected drastically. For the information services department, the number of links and the importance of out put depend on the type of applications developed. Transactional and operational control systems are usually associated with greater power since these systems have immediate impact on workloads in the company.Most organizations, For an examples, are heavily dependent or on line transactions processing systems. The degree of interdependence between the department of interest and all other departments in the organization is a final condition for power, The greater the dependence of department marketing on department human resources department, the greater is department Marketing's power. The information services department tends to exhibit reciprocal interdependence with user departments. That is the information se rvices department and user departments mutually depended each other to process work, and unfortunately.This type of mutual dependence is the most demanding An information services department depends on users during systems design to supply information and provide and understanding of what is needed. On the other hand, the user is dependent on the information services department for the technical aspects of design and for seeing that a system is implemented. During operations, the user must supply input and help maintain the database. The user in turn is dependent on the information services department to provide processing services.Information Technology (IT) refers to hardware, software, procedures, personnel, and data employed in the production, dissemination, and utilization of information, both formal and informal, in an organization (Davis and Olson, 1985). While traditionally IT has been 7 AUTHOR: M. R. M. FAZMEER 2005/2006 FMC SOUTH EASTERN UNIVERSITY OF SRI LANKA The impact of IT in efficiency and effectiveness of banking sector in Sri Lanka defined to include only â€Å"formal† information systems, such as reporting systems generated by a database, increasingly IT is utilized to facilitate informal interpersonal communication.The key technologies include computers, computer-controlled devices, and telecommunications networks; we also include electronic mail, teleconferencing, voice mail, and facsimile transmission as part of IT. IT consists not only of tangible pieces of equipment and programs; it represents the capacity of the organization to produce, disseminate, and digest information. IT has been used in a number of ways including the mechanization of information processing, the augmentation of knowledge work, and for supporting coordination in the organization.A significant amount of investment in IT is for basic mechanization of the records of production and distribution of goods and services (e. g. , invoices) or the actions themselves ( e. g, electronic money transfer). A centralized database makes it possible to produce and disseminate information for management control as a by- product of mechanization. This category also includes technology used for manufacturing such as CAD/CAM and computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM). Information technology also contributes to the support of individual workers.Drucker (1964) identified â€Å"knowledge work as a specifically human activity, distinct from physical labor which could be automated. The notion of augmentation was first defined by Englebart (1963) as â€Å"increasing the capability of a man (sic) to approach a complex problem situation, gain comprehension to suit his particular needs, and to derive solutions to problems† (p. 1). Today, personal computers are used widely by individuals to augment knowledge work. Increasingly IT is being used to increase the ease of connection between individuals, organizational units, and even different organizations.Applic ations such as electronic mail, voice messaging, and facsimile transmission facilitate the communication and coordination of information required for organizational Processing. Some terms used for this class of applications are: interpersonal computing (Goldberg, 1987), coordination technology (Holt, 8 AUTHOR: M. R. M. FAZMEER 2005/2006 FMC SOUTH EASTERN UNIVERSITY OF SRI LANKA The impact of IT in efficiency and effectiveness of banking sector in Sri Lanka 1988; Malone, 1988), groupware (Richman, 1987a), and computer supported groups (Johansen, 1988).Efficiency and Effectiveness of Information technology Advances in information technology and intensified competition in the marketplace have contributed to the timely delivery of products and ser- vices. This in turn has contributed to increased benefits and reduced costs of IT project management. Depending on the size, scope, and complexity of a project, a number of conflicting elements challenge IT project management. Project deliver y may address the equally important need for reliability in delivering the project as promised, as well as its cost and benefits. equirements for effectiveness and efficiency in IT project management. Given the critical importance of project delivery and reliability as well as the economic rationale in project planning and implementation, the future of any business will be determined by how well projects are managed today. In general, short period cycle times may lead to substantial incremental earnings while the penalty for long project cycle times may mean missing market opportunities al- together. In addition, multi-project organizations may often tend to launch projects as soon as they are understood.These organizations launch the projects concurrently with existing projects, simultaneously with other new efforts, or without sufficient regard to the capacity of the organization. This would commonly lead to an array of projects with conflicting priorities. Project resources and m anagers are responsible for sorting these priori- ties. Of particular concern in this regard is that the priorities established within a functional area may not be in synchrony with other areas, or more importantly with the company-wide priorities.It can be argued that smaller projects are more manage- able and it is usually easier to ensure their success, and thus, smaller projects are more likely to succeed than large projects. On the other hand, one can argue that larger projects would have more funding and resources and therefore should have a higher probability of success. However, 9 The recent developments in IT have also brought significant ramifications with regard to the critical AUTHOR: M. R. M. FAZMEER 2005/2006 FMC SOUTH EASTERN UNIVERSITY OF SRI LANKAThe impact of IT in efficiency and effectiveness of banking sector in Sri Lanka we argue that while the smaller projects may be more manageable, project management can be the critical factor in ensuring the success of the p rojects, regardless of the size. Some of the critical factors to project success are user involvement, executive support, and a clear statement of business objectives In this context, SWOT analysis and the Theory of Constraints provide a comprehensive framework that can address the effectiveness and efficiency of project planning. (Sabbaghi and Vaidyanathan, EDSIG, 2003, p. 2) (Wei, et al. 2002) proposed a resource con- strained-based project management model for project planning, implementation and control. The research does not include Theory of Constraints as a tool for effective project selection. Another model used SWOT analysis to make decisions on effective use of resources for housing projects (Ziara and Ayyub, 1999. ) The methodology considered both the options and constraints of relevant socio-economic factors in the planning and construction of urban housing-project developments. A selection of R&D projects models consist of integer decision variables for both the number of researchers allocated nd project selection. Re- searcher allocation and project selection are subject to several linear and nonlinear goal constraints (Taylor, et al. , 1982). In this study, we have pro- vided a framework for effectiveness and efficiency of IT project planning using SWOT analysis and Theory of Constraints. There is a potential for further research using both these tools to address the selection of projects in a more efficient and effective manner. (Sabbaghi and Vaidyanathan, EDSIG, 2003) 10 AUTHOR: M. R. M. FAZMEER 2005/2006 FMC SOUTH EASTERN UNIVERSITY OF SRI LANKAThe impact of IT in efficiency and effectiveness of banking sector in Sri Lanka Information Technology in Banking Sector (Ranee Jayamaha, 2008) The rapid advancement in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has had a profound impact on the banking industry and the wider financial sector over the last two decades and it has now become a tool that facilitates banks’ organizational structu res, business strategies, customer services and other related functions. The recent â€Å"IT revolution† has exerted far-reaching impacts on economies, in general, and the financial services industry, in particular.Within the financial services industry, the banking sector was one of the first to embrace rapid globalization and benefit significantly from IT development. The technological revolution in banking started in the 1950s, with the installation of the first automated bookkeeping machines at banks. This was well before the other industries became IT savvy. Automation in banking became widespread over the next few decades as bankers quickly realized that much of their labor-intensive information-handling processes could be automated with the use of computers. The first Automated Teller Machine (ATM) is reported to have been introduced n the USA in 1968, and it was only a cash dispenser. The advent of ATMs helped both to improve customer convenience and reduce costs, as before ATMs, withdrawing funds, accounts inquiries and transferring funds between accounts required face-to-face interaction between bank staff and customers. :-Rapid advancement and gains to the banking sector Overall, technological innovation has brought about the speedy processing and transmission of information, easy marketing of banking products, enhancement of customer access and awareness, wider networking and, regional and global links on an unprecedented scale.IT development has thus changed the product range, product development, service channels and type of banking services, as well as the packaging of such services, with significant efficiencies not only in the banks, but also the ancillary and feeder services to banks. The financial services industry has thus become virtually dependent on IT development. Most banks make visible efforts to keep up with new systems and processes. 11 AUTHOR: M. R. M. FAZMEER 2005/2006 FMC SOUTH EASTERN UNIVERSITY OF SRI LANKA The impact of IT in efficiency and effectiveness of banking sector in Sri LankaThe development in ICT has enabled banks to provide more diversified and convenient financial services, even without adding physical branches. The present day ATMs are more sophisticated machines that can scan the customer and a bank teller, accept cash or cheques, facilitate customer application for loans and allow for face-to-face discussion with a service representative via video. The development of Internet services, which is an extensive, low-cost and convenient financial network, has facilitated banking services to customers, anywhere and anytime.Along with Internet and Web-based services, a need for changing core banking architecture has emerged. The introduction of new core banking systems by some banks and their links with the improved telecommunication network has enabled banking transactions to be done on-line, in contrast to the batch-processing mode used earlier. The integration of etrading with internet banking and banks’ websites is also a notable feature. These IT advancements have enabled banks to gradually replace manual work by automated procedures with on-line real time processing. -Adoption of Information Technology in Sri Lankan Bank industry The banking sector in Sri Lanka has undergone a rapid transformation with the adoption of IT-based banking solutions. The widespread usage of IT in Sri Lanka’s banking sector began only in the late 1980s with the introduction of the first ATM by HSBC Bank in 1986. The introduction of ATMs and automated processes has reduced the cost per transaction significantly, as staff overhead costs have decreased. Initially, the banks adopted systems developed in-house or used vendor provided systems on a decentralized basis, thus transforming manual systems to automated processes.However, most of the core-banking systems provided by different vendors were ad hoc solutions and on piecemeal basis, i. e. separate modules and technology platforms for key operations such as deposit mobilization and lending, trade finance, treasury operations, and more recently card transactions. Those who opted to implement new core-banking systems together with other sub systems and integrations may have made relatively large 12 AUTHOR: M. R. M. FAZMEER 2005/2006 FMC SOUTH EASTERN UNIVERSITY OF SRI LANKA The impact of IT in efficiency and effectiveness of banking sector in Sri Lanka investments with sustainable gains to compensate costs.The arrival of new foreign and private banks with state-of-the-art technology-based services pushed other banks in Sri Lanka to move towards the latest technologies so as to retain their customer base and meet competition. The increasing competition in Sri Lanka’s banking industry has widened the scope of the IT infrastructure development to meet diversified demands made by numerous users. Today, customers of some banks enjoy services through Internet banking, Tele banking, Mobile telephone banking and Visa/Master Credit and Debit card facilities.The growing competition and expectations have also increased awareness amongst banks of the role and importance of technology in banking. ; -Information Technology of Commercial Banks. The Bank has vital information system to their organization activity. They have invested more and more on new information technology. Last year they have received the edge over other banks and they will continue to invested in information in order that they to stay ahead. Last year they invested Rs. 302. 13million in IT. Two new cutting edge products they rolled out.In partnership with Dialog. They enabled the customers to top up their pre-paid mobile phones by way an SMS to the Bank. The SMS debits the customer’s Bank account and tops up his/her pre-paid mobile phone account. Intermediary truncation are eliminated truncation costs reduced and a win-win scenarios is created for the services provided, the customer and the Bank This year th ey will clinch deals with other operators as well and offer the product to abroad group of the customers. This new product has concept of â€Å"pre-paid† telephone cards.A similarly facility has now been extended to customers who have obtained â€Å"Pahan† personal loans obtained those eligible to get their loans immediately topped up merely by sending SMS to the Bank. Thorough the Mobile ATM process the collective wealth of the Bank is enhanced enabling the previous of superior potations to our customers. They have several electronic products which are operating using an information technology; they are e-Exchange, e-load, Com Tel, Mobile ATM operating on GPRS Technology, Online banking, Telephone Banking and etc. 13 AUTHOR: M. R. M. FAZMEER 2005/2006 FMCSOUTH EASTERN UNIVERSITY OF SRI LANKA The impact of IT in efficiency and effectiveness of banking sector in Sri Lanka They have giving several facility and technology to their customer to attract the customer and impr ove the efficiency and effectiveness as well in the committee market. So they have use effective information technological system to their function. ;-Information Technology of the People’s bank. Having worked on a revolutionary IT platform last two years, 2005 become the year in which information Technology became the platform, for People’s Bank to drive its business. he strategic plan 2005-2008 maps out of the years, in which the bank will create a business responsive IT culture, built on an anytime anywhere sever ice; where Information is available at the click of button- easily accessible and very comprehensive; where knowing their customers empowers employees to develop the required business Through the responsiveness, and where carrying for customers become priority integrated banking solutions and multi-channeled delivery systems, the Bank will be able to deliver a complete range of banking services .This will enable to the Bank to earn revenue which turn contri butes to the business performance that makes it a vital financial instate. The implication of Bank’s Core Banking solution vital for the enhancement of the function and severances which the management and the employees could extent to provide excellent customer service e core Banking salutation will also bring in effective control, policies and dissiliences in providing a customer centric knowledge based cultural which enhances productivity and competitiveness.The Core Banking salutation was rolled out to 37 branches including corporate Banking division, trade finance division, overseas customer services unit, central clearing and cash and the finance and MIS division of the bank during2005. During the year 2006, the Bank copes to roll out the salutation to 200 branches. This would enable all the main branches of the bank to use the Core Banking salutation. The Bank has also installed a central Archiving system and the MIS / Data Ware house system during 2005.The effectivenes s and productivity relating to the MIS / Data ware house system and the Central Archiving system would be important areas to fours during 2006. The linguini of the credit card center, FCBU and the corporate II system would be some of the key areas of the Core Banking implementation other than the automation of 14 AUTHOR: M. R. M. FAZMEER 2005/2006 FMC SOUTH EASTERN UNIVERSITY OF SRI LANKA The impact of IT in efficiency and effectiveness of banking sector in Sri Lanka the 163 branches during 2006archiving system.The It personnel of the Bank attached to the Data Center, operating IBM e Server I Series system have also been provided with specialized training from IBM, their partners Blue Chip Customer Engineering Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. And silver lake. The training provided covers the technical aspect and operational aspect of IBM e Server I Series, the Archiving system together with the application system in use (SIBS). Training was also provided to the team managing the Central switch with regard to the operation and technical aspect of the Central switch system and its connectivity.The PABS team was provided with advance SCO – UNIX, training conducted by SCO- UNIX. USA in Sri Lanka. The IT department staff continues a process providing training to branch uses using the PABA system and the ATMs in odder to the tramline the operational efficiency and support to the branch. This training program was conducted through out the year. The offices attached to the IT department continued to receive training areas of technical Development, Management, Management Development and Leadership. The aim of developing their skills in adaptation to technical skill has been constantly addressed.During 2005 the bank has strengthen its control with regard to IT operations and Viruses protection, relating to all system used by the Bank. The Bank is continue sly working on improving its vigilance process and maintains stringent security with regard to all its system. During 2006 se tting up of firewalls will be given priority consideration. 15 AUTHOR: M. R. M. FAZMEER 2005/2006 FMC SOUTH EASTERN UNIVERSITY OF SRI LANKA The impact of IT in efficiency and effectiveness of banking sector in Sri Lanka REFERENCES 1.Abdul QawiAthman & Lynn Owen, â€Å"Adopting and Measuring Customer Service Quality (SQ) in Islamic Banks: A case study in Kuwait Finance House†, International Journal Of Islamic Financial Services Vol. 3 2. Banking Journal, 1996-2000, Institute of Banks of Sri Lanka. 3. Copeland and Mc Kenney, 1985 the impact of information technology in air lines industry 4. Haron. s, Ahamad. N and Planis . S (1994), â€Å"Bank patronage Factors of Muslim and NonMuslim customers†, International Journal Of Bank Marketing Vol. 12,No. 1 PP. 32-40 5. Hentry C. LUCAS, JR. 1982, â€Å"Information Systems For Management† Edition O- O7- O36924 -1.McGraw- Hill series in management information system. 6. Lears Silver and Fatima Vegholm â€Å"The impact of t he enabling organization on customers Satisfaction: Banks and their small business customers† (KTH-DrottningKristinalVag 30,SE- 10044 Stockholm, Sweden, 1996) 7. Peter F. Drucker, (2000). The importance of information technology ,ISBN 8. Rosenblatt. J Laroche. M. Hochstein. A. Mehlavish. R and Sheahan. M (1998), â€Å"Commercial Banking in Canada: A study Of the selection criteria and service expectations of treasury Officers†, International Journal Of Bank Marketing Vol. ,No. 4, PP. 20-30 9. Website i. Outer Banks website http:/www. outer banks . org. ii. Using. ch website http:/www. using. ch. /org. iii. http://www. statistics. gov. lk iv. http://www. wikipedia. org 16 AUTHOR: M. R. M. FAZMEER 2005/2006 FMC SOUTH EASTERN UNIVERSITY OF SRI LANKA The impact of IT in efficiency and effectiveness of banking sector in Sri Lanka BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Chorofas, D. , Steinman, H. (1991) Expert systems in banking – A guide for senior managers, UK, Macmillian. 2. Gandy, T. , ( Jan. 1996) Big picture, Banking Technology 3.Gardner, P. (1994) Electronic trading – A practical handbook, UK, Butterworth Heninemann 4. Mckenzie, H. , (Mar. 1995) Attack of the hackers, Banking Technology 5. Mills, A. ,( Mar. 1996) At your service, Banking Technology 6. NatWest Group, Perspectives on technology(1995). 7. Norton, J. , Reed, C. , Walden, C. ,(1995) Cross-border electronic banking 8. Websites: i. ii. iii. http://www. wikipdea. org http://www. 123journals. com http:www. emaraldinsight. com 17 AUTHOR: M. R. M. FAZMEER 2005/2006 FMC SOUTH EASTERN UNIVERSITY OF SRI LANKA

What leaders do and what constituents expect

As man tries to find new alternatives that will create changes in the way they do things, it requires committed and dedicated individuals who shall serve as the catalyst for enactment. At the same time, it seeks to find new dimensions that will allow differences to come in. Seeing this leadership has always been an integral part in facilitating growth and development. Due to this, they can facilitate an avenue that is dynamic and competitive in orientation. Kouzes and Posner book showcases the fundamentals in understanding leadership. It seeks to cater to reader’s insights and opportunities to develop their individual skills in handling complex and difficult situations. Similarly, it offers case studies that can contribute to linking the theoretical value of leadership towards the actual application of such in different scenarios. By grasping the importance of such concept, an individual can be vibrant and adaptive to numerous setback and obstacles in nature. Reflecting on chapter’s one and two, it is vital for managers to recognize their roles in the overall development process within a specific organization or company. They need to revitalize these objectives and create a scenario that is encompassing and beneficial to each of its members and employees. Due to this, they must constantly equip themselves with new ideas and trends that can help sustain optimum performance in any given situation. Moreover, leaders must remain vigilant for the occurrence and escalation of conflict. At its early stage, managers must effectively point out new alternatives and ideas that can help provide solutions to these given setbacks. If ever the problem has been prevalent, head’s of organization and companies must efficiently determine what strategies can be made and practiced so that new trends can emerge. It is through the realization of how a situation can be used as an instrument for growth can mangers exemplify their skills and competency. On the other hand, equipping and recognizing the needed tenets among leaders can help solidify and strengthen their hold in a particular environment. As the workplace becomes diverse and complicated, leaders and managers need to realize that they must continue to improve in their communication and management styles to suit the needs of the majority. Seeing this, this is one process that can help shape their integrity and remain active in their individual endeavors to satisfy familiar goals and objectives. Similarly, this procedure can be enhanced by particularly reinforcing knowledge and skills concerning leadership. This can be established by further training and redefining of values and principles surrounding a particular realm. By constantly initiating training, management and companies can ensure that they are committed towards ensuring that accountability and effectiveness remain a key point in their system. In the end, leaders have the capability and potential to enact changes. However, one important determinant in administering these ideas is their understanding of specific goals and values that are associated with the trait. By seeking to reinforce objectives and maintaining integrity amidst the elements of controversies and setbacks, companies and organizations can push forward their interest while establishing a healthy relationship among its peers.

Barry Bonds

One of the baseball’s most troublesome issues has been the increasing use of performance enhancing drugs. Retired home slugger, Jose Canseco has claimed that 85 per cent of big leaguers use steroids and Xen Caminiti, who died in 2004 from drug overdose, stated in a highly publicised article in Sports Illustrated that the incidence of steroid use has mushroomed to 50 per cent of active players. Although other players have stated this figure to be exaggerated, the problem has become widespread within major league baseball.A well known sports orthopaedist, Dr. John Andrews asserted that there has been a dramatic rise in muscle and tendon injuries among baseball players related to the increased use of supplements creatine, human growth hormone, and steroids (Teitelbaum, 2005, p. 107). The use of amphetamines in major league baseball gained substantial notoriety in 1970 when Jim Bouton, a pitcher for the New York Yankees during the 1960s and the author of highly controversial book Ball Four admitted using amphetamines and estimated that 40% of other players did as well.As with football, the size and strength of professional baseball players appear to have increased markedly during the last two decades. As a consequence, suspicions of anabolic steroid use have been dramatically soared during the last decade. In 1995, the general manager of the San Diego Padres admitted to the prevalence of steroid use in at least 10%-20% of the league players (Hinitz, Yesalis, Bahrke, 2002, p. 12-13). Jose Canseco, who was the first player to hit 40 homers and steal 40 bases in the same year, wrote in his book ‘Juiced’ that he used steroids to help him build the muscles he needed to succeed.He also claimed that (although without proof) many players in the game had done the same. This cast grave doubts on the home run records set by Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds and others. In 2005, the congress held a special hearing to investigate the steroid problem i n baseball. Commissioner Bud Selig while testifying admitted that the sport’s hands were tied because of a complicated agreement with the union that represented the players. Baseball was not allowed to test most players for steroids. Even for those who were exposed, punishment was light (Stewart, Kennedy, 2006, p. 61).Barry Bond, the legendary baseball player, shot to power and fame by winning three MVP awards in 1990s and he was recognised as the best all round player of the decade. He became the second 40-40 player in 1996, and narrowly missed the fit in 1997. In 1998, he became the first 400-400 player in history. 1 In 2000, the house belonged to Barry, who at the age of 35 was on the brink of a remarkable run of five career defining seasons. Up to that point, he had hit 445 home runs over 14 seasons of play. In 2000, he set a personal home run record with 49, and in 2001, he set a new all time record with an incredible 73 homers.The unprecedented late career explosion of 258 home runs in five years raised suspicions that Bonds had taken illegal performance drugs, such as steroids, which Bonds vehemently denied. In 2003, Bonds hits 45 home runs, which brought him within three of his coach May’s mark on the 1. URL: http://www. baseballlibrary. com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/B/Bonds_Barry. stm, retrieved on 15th Dec, 06 lifetime list. In 2004, Bonds chased his 660th career home run to join Mays as third on the all time leaders list. But he just fell short of Mays record. He admitted struggling with the notion of surpassing his childhood idol.Bonds openly admired his idol and said, â€Å"I love him so much. It is hard subject to talk about† (Linge, p. 178). Finally, in the fifth innings of the Giants home opener, Bonds achieved the fit and coach May expressed immense happiness that third place on the lifetime homer list was staying within the Giants family (Linge, p. 178). Currently, Bond has 734 home runs, 22 from breaking Hank Aaronâ₠¬â„¢s career record of 755. He could play only 14 games in 2005 following three operations in his right knee, he came back in full force in 2006 to bat 270 with 26 homers and 77 RBI in 130 games for the Giants in2006.Although he had arthroscopic surgery on his left elbow in October, he still has potential power. 2 Beginning in 1998 with injection in his buttocks of Winstrol, a powerful steroid, Barry Bonds took a wide array of performance enhancing drugs over at least five seasons in a massive doping regimen that grew more sophisticated with passing years. These facts were published in Game of Shadows, a book written by two San Francisco Chronicle reporters at the forefront of reporting BALCO steroid distribution scandal.The Book revealed day-to-day detail of how often and how deeply Bonds was engaged in the persistence doping. According to the book, Bonds used the drugs in virtually every conceivable form, by either injecting himself with a syringe or being injected by 2. Retrieved from the URL: http://sportsline. com/mlb/players/playerpage/7447 on 14th Dec, 06 his trainer, swallowing pills, placing drops of liquids under his tongue, and in case of BALCOs notorious testosterone based cream, and he applied it locally.The authors compiled the information over a two-year investigation that included, but was not limited to, court documents, affidavits filed by BALCO investigators, confidential memoranda of federal agents (including statements made to them by athletes and trainers), grand jury testimony, audiotapes and interviews with more than 200 sources. 3 Bond while denying the charge of steroid use was rather vague in his denial statements. In one of his statement Bond was quoted as saying, â€Å"Doctors ought to quit worrying about what ballplayers are taking. What players take doesn't matter.It's nobody else's business. The doctors should spend their time looking for cures for cancer. It takes more than muscles to hit homers. If all those guys were using s tuff, how come they're not all hitting homers? â€Å"4 People from all walks of life, from baseball fan, players, and analyst reacted to Barry’s steroid controversy and the consequent BALCO trial. Baseball player Turk Wendell reacted in Denver Post, â€Å" If my personal trainer, me, Turk Wendell, got indicted for that, there’s no one in the world who wouldn’t think that I wasn’t taking steroids.What, because he is Barry Bonds, no one’s going to say that? I mean, obviously he did it. (His trainer) admitted to giving steroids to baseball player. He just 3. http://sportsillustrated. cnn. com/2006/baseball/mlb/03/06/news. excerpt/index. html retrieved on 15th Dec, 06. 4. http://sportsillustrated. cnn. com/2006/baseball/mlb/03/06/bonds. quotes/index. html, retrieved on 15th Dec, 06 doesn’t want to say his name. You don’t have to. It’s clear just seeing his body†. 5 Journalists were although divided in their opinion regardin g the issue, majority were convinced that Bonds was guilty.Journalist George Will have expressed his view about Barry Bonds, his steroid use and its impact on the baseball statistics in the following lines. According to him, â€Å"â€Å"(Barry) Bonds' records must remain part of baseball's history. His hits happened. Erase them and there will be discrepancies in baseball's bookkeeping about the records of the pitchers who gave them up. George Orwell said that in totalitarian societies, yesterday's weather could be changed by decree. Baseball, indeed America, is not like that. Besides, the people who care about the record book — serious fans — will know how to read it.That may be Bonds' biggest worry. †5 The group who sympathises with Barry Bonds feels that he is a victim of racial prejudice. They feel that even if it is true that Bonds takes steroids, the attention that he receives far outshines that of any other athlete under investigation in the same probe. W hat the allegations of steroid use imply is that Bonds had reached his achievements on the field unfairly, and given his reputation as an unlikable player, the sportswriters and fans intend to believe this allegation.Beyond his actual guilt or innocence in this steroid probe, the public’s interest in Bonds involvement with steroids goes beyond the fact that he is an accomplished baseball player (Bloom, 2004, p. 111). 5. http://thesteroidera. blogspot. com/2006/08/memorable-steroid-era-quotes-1995-2006. html retrieved on 15th Dec, 06 Considering the fact that Barry Bonds was a steroid user, which has been proven without doubt, he should not be allowed into the Hall of Fame. This is a case of cheating and deceiving the public who passionately follow the game.If he is inducted into the hall of fame, it will be tantamount to accepting his deceitful act, which will be detrimental to the future of baseball. Moreover, since Pete Rose was denied the hall of fame for his deceiving act , it will be justifiable if Bond is treated in the same manner. As his name is already tainted, it is unlikely that people will remember him, forty, fifty years from now. His unsporting conduct and violation of sports ethics will eventually obscure him from popular memory. Only those with excellent and untainted track record, moral integrity, and true sportsmanship deserve to be incorporated into the Hall of Fame.References Bloom, J (2004) Barry Bonds: A Biography, Greenwood Press, USA Hinitz, D. R. , Yesalis, C. E. , and Bahrke, M. S (2002) Performing enhancing substances in sport and exercise, Human Kinetics Publishing Linge, M. K (2005) William Mays: A Biography, Greenwood Press, USA Stewart, M, Kennedy, M (2006) Long Ball: The legend and lore of the home run, Milbrook Press, p. 64 Teitelbaum, S. H (2005) Sports Heroes, Fallen Idols, University of Nebraska Press. The Hastings Centre Report (1985) Blood, Sweat, and Drug: The high cost being number one, Vol. 15, No. 5. p. 2