Saturday, August 31, 2019

Leading Group Challenges Paper

There are many important elements of organizational behavior in a criminal justice or security agency. These elements of organizational behavior are guidelines to organization hire valuable employees with values, morals, and ethnics. Commitment to ethical behavior one of the elements among others that will be discuss in this paper. Commitment to ethical behavior is when unethical behavior and illegal business practice in an organization is publicized.This is element that is use in the criminal justice and security agencies because the public and businesses trust the agencies to perform their duties with professionalism, morality, and diligence. The public sees through the media about police officer who have been caught breaking the law and conducting unethical behavior while on and off duty. The public has the see that the agencies are not tolerating unethical behavior from their personnel official because to restore the public's faith in the agency.Importance of human capital is an element use because employee love to know that they are being value by the organization he or she is employed with. Human behavior is very complex in an organization because of the demographic increase in the country, which results in employees with different cultures and background. This makes it hard for other employees to sustain success, so experience, knowledge and commitment to people plays a major part in sustaining that success. This true when it comes to a criminal justice and security agency where they come into contact with different cultures and backgrounds on a daily basis.Pervasive influence of information technology with penetration of computers and communication in all aspect of the workplace, it is important for a organization to keep up with the advancement of technology in the criminal justice and security agency. Technology is playing a major role in how criminals for committing crimes, which is why there has been a increase in cyber crimes because a criminal can bedazzle money, commit identity theft, and launder money from anywhere there is a computer with a capability to commit the transaction, even sex offenders are using cyberspace to search for victim.Many law enforcement agencies has development special division and hired computer experts to help combat the increase of cyber crimes. Emphasis on teamwork is a very important element in organizational behavior in the criminal justice or security agency. Many criminal organization are starting to work together to goal of making a huge profit in illegal activity, which is making it difficult for law enforcement to infiltrate and investigate a criminal organization because most of the criminal organization have knowledge of law enforcement personnel around their local area.Law enforcement agencies have teamed up and used other undercover officer from different local, state, and federal agencies to infiltrate and investigate illegal activity by criminal organizations. The United States may a lso team with agencies on an international level to help combat international criminal organization, in an effort to stop terrorism, drugs, human trafficking, and etc. Most organization have develop an element called a mission statement. A mission statement describes and helps focus the attention of organizational members and external constituents on the organization's core purpose.This is use in the criminal justice and security agency use mission statement for the success of the organization and better serve the community or businesses that they have agree to serve and protect. Demise of command-and-control because the handling of new environmental pressure and demands are proving incapable of a traditional hierarchical; organization are replacing them with a flexible structures and participatory work setting fully, which value human capital.Criminal justice and security agencies hierarchical are adapting to flexible structure to appreciate the value of human capital to keep the m oral high within the organization, and with the hierarchical still in place complaints and incident can be reported to a supervisor. Respect for new workforce expectations this is when the new generation of workers are not tolerating of hierarchy, more informal, and status is the least of their concerns.Organization are supporting their workers by paying more attention to helping the new generation balance their work responsibilities and personal affairs. This is true in the criminal justice and security agency, because employee must be totally focus on the mission statement an agency can't afford for an employee's job performance to suffer because of personal issue, so some have set up programs or counseling to help their employees deal with their issues. An agency knows personal issues can affect the value, morals, ethnics, and professionalism of the job.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Review of the Child Protective Services Investigation Process Essay

In the beginning of 2004, the tragic death of a young boy in San Antonio, TX raised concerns about Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services’ (TDPRS) procedures relating to the investigation of the child protective services (CPS) process, including responding to telephone reports and assessing the risk of maltreatment accurately. TDPRS is currently under investigation ordered by the Governor, Rick Perry. The Governor stated, â€Å"there is enough evidence from various parts of the state to suggest that some of our most vulnerable children are not receiving the protection they need from abusive situations. The evidence leads me to believe we have a systemic breakdown in the safety net that must protect abused children† (www.governor.state.tx.us July 1, 2004). This paper examines current procedures in the investigation process and provides recommendations for improvement related to several of the details and feature of the operations process. â€Å"Reinventing government† initiatives draw heavily on supply chain management, total quality management, business process reengineering, and just-in-time delivery – concepts that fall under the Operations Management umbrella.(Chase, 2003). Because this review is narrowly focused on the CPS investigation process, there are several essential elements of child welfare services that are not addressed in this paper, including substitute care and permanency services. OVERVIEW OF FUNCTIONAL AREAS The overall goal of CPS is to protect the unprotected children from abuse and neglect. This report focuses on specific CPS functions and crosscutting themes. These functions are those that comprise the child protection response to allegations of abuse and neglect. Operational definitions described in this report include: * Screening and Intake – the process by which CPS receives a referral and a report concerning allegations of child abuse or neglect, and decides whether or not to respond to the referral and report. * Investigation – the process by which CPS determines whether child maltreatment has occurred or if a child is at risk of maltreatment, and the decisions and actions that are needed to ensure the child’s safety. * Other CPS Response and Alternative Response – a response to an allegation of abuse or neglect that assesses the needs of the child or family with or without requiring a determination that maltreatment has occurred or that the child is at risk of maltreatment for the purpose of providing the family with services. For each function, there are several different features. The workflow of these functions is described in Table 1. SCREENING AND INTAKE Receiving community referrals, which includes those from mandated professional reporters and the population at large, is the gateway to CPS. Features of the intake procedures include the availability to receive reports, methods for documenting reports, and timeframes for accepting and forwarding a report. Intake is available 24-hours a day 7 days a week, and centralized in Austin, TX. Referred reports are generally categorized into two groups. In the first group, CPS caseworkers are dispatched immediately for children believed to be in imminent risk of harm. In the second group, investigations are usually initiated within 10 days. The policies indicate that a decision protocol for forwarding cases for investigation. The hotline workers conduct quality assurance (QA) reviews on each case and decision to forward a case to investigation is made with supervisor approval. In case of sexual abuse and serious abuse, the case must be notified to law enforcement. INVESTIGATION The investigation function addresses the process of determining whether a child has been maltreated or is likely to be maltreated, and if services are needed to ensure the child will not be harmed in the future. TDPRS implemented the use of risk and safety assessment (IRA) as tools to guide decision-making as to when and how to intervene to keep children safe in the immediate future and to reduce long-term risk. The result of IRA was included at case closure, during case planning at any major decision point, or whenever circumstances suggest a child’s safety is at risk. Investigators usually check if the child’s family has had a prior validated report of abuse or neglect. Investigators then visit and interview the family, including initiating face-to-face contact with the children, and begin collecting information about the alleged maltreatment incident. If an investigator, during the initial investigation, believes that a child has been maltreated and needs the court to protect the child’s safety, the investigator must initiate judicial oversight of the case, which can be time-consuming and complicated. While the investigator is following the procedures involved in investigating the alleged maltreatment, he or she is also developing a tentative plan to address those conditions in the home that CPS believes contributed to the maltreatment of the child. This plan ultimately becomes the case plan that outlines treatment services for the child and the family. The plan described what actions are required of all the parties involved to correct the condition that caused the maltreatment. OTHER CPS RESPONSE AND ALTERNATIVE RESPONSE The overall goals of alternative response are to provide a response option to those families whose situations did not meet the mandate or criteria for CPS involvement, to serve low-risk or low-severity situations, or to improve family situations. This is to emphasize partnering the families with the community and creating a network for the family, protect children and assist parents to recognize and remedy conditions harmful to their children, provide preventive services before the need of CPS involvement is required, and prevent the family from potentially being re-referred. The causes of child abuse and neglect are complex, and a case plan can involve referrals to an array of individuals, including caseworkers from other units in the agency, private service providers such as mental health and counseling professionals, other public agencies such as housing and transportation services. CURRENT WORKFLOW Documenting business process flows visually not only helps in ISO and QS initiatives, but it is the first step toward continuous improvement. (Gould, L. 2000) A good way to start analyzing a process is with a diagram showing the basic elements of a process (Chase, 2003) Table 1 describes the overview of current workflow from the time the report of maltreatment was reported to CPS until the completion of the investigation. Table 1 UNDERLYING PROBLEMS Because child protection is a critical service and because of the seriousness consequences of errors, CPS must seek to insure the quality, timeliness, and accuracy of the process both through detailed specifications (laws, regulations, and policy) and thorough supervisory oversight. However, the process must be balanced with systems that give workers and supervisors sufficient flexibility to apply sound professional judgment. Increases in the number of maltreatment cases, the changing nature of family problems, and long-standing systemic weaknesses have placed the CPS system in a state of crisis and undermined its ability to fully carry out the responsibilities for abused and neglected children. First, child maltreatment reports have risen steadily across the state. The caseloads of CPS have grown correspondingly, and CPS cannot keep pace with this workload. Second, these caseloads are increasingly composed of families whose problems have grown more troubling and complicated, with substance abuse a common and pervasive condition. Finally, systemic weaknesses, such as difficulty maintaining professional and skilled workforce, inconsistently implementing policies and procedures, and poor working relationships with outside resources has created a long-standing problems. The combined effect of difficult caseloads and systemic weaknesses may endanger the lives of children coming to the attention of CPS. In CPS, the staff sometimes deal with life-and-death issues, the knowledge of and consistent application of appropriate policies and procedures are critical. However, CPS staff is unable to consistently apply existing policies such as inadequate safety assessment. This is because policies change frequently, no procedures manual exists, and information is inconsistently distributed to all staff. By necessity, CPS should work efficiently and effectively with outside resources to protect children. However, the outside resources, like CPS, also face problems associated with the large volume of increasingly complex cases, budget cuts, and Medicaid reform. Unnecessary time spent to transfer or refer cases diverts the investigator from performing investigative activities on other open cases and create â€Å"congestion† in workflow. COMPARE AND CONTRAST WITH OTHER PRACTICE In 1994, Missouri developed a new strategy to handle the overwhelming number of reports coming into its CPS system. Missouri recognized that state government, acting alone, had neither the resources nor the local community, neighborhood, or family base to effectively alter the cycle of abuse and neglect. The agency and local CPS offices have turned to the broader community of churches, schools, mental health providers, and others to expand their reach. By developing partnerships with these community groups, CPS is able to quickly increase the number of people available to serve children and their families, without increasing CPS staffing levels. The model in this state is also based on the premise that not all CPS cases require the same traditional approach. Instead, the models incorporate a flexible response, whereby CPS cases can be grouped according to the nature of the allegation, recognizing that different types of allegations required different responses. RECOMMENDATIONS Build Community Partnership Different types of maltreatment require dramatically different prevention and treatment strategies. It is critical for CPS to form partnerships between CPS and community service providers. This will allow the cases to be referred and transferred more smoothly and in a timely manner. However, ultimate success will depend on the CPS staff’s ability to overcome certain challenges, such as developing willingness within the community to become more active in protecting children from maltreatment and to adapt to new roles and responsibilities. Refine the Key Performance Requirement Key Performance Requirements How to Achieve These Requirements Report Receipt (Intake) * Community awareness of when and how to report * Minimal wait to reach the intake workers * Effective use of the CAPS (agency computer system) * Enhanced phone system that provide real time information, manage call distribution to available workers, and support estimation of staffing requirements Screening * Immediate response to high risk situations * Reasonable timeliness of decisions on other situations * Sound screening decisions * Screening guidelines that provide consistent direction * Immediate access to relevant information system * Real-time consultation from experienced supervisors Assessment (Investigation) * Sufficient thoroughness; reasonable and prudent efforts made to obtain relevant information * Timeliness of decisions * Decisions consistent with information and with policy * Assessment guidelines that provide consistent direction * Assessment timeliness requirements that balance thorough information gathering with responsiveness * Reasonable caseloads and adequate number of staff * Accessible consultation from experienced supervisors Management Reporting * Information that enables management to make sound judgments regarding overall performance and other matters, such as staffing requirements * Information that enables supervisors to manage caseloads and monitor quality and timeliness * Use of the information to identify targeted improvements where needed * Real-time information about on-going cases * Reports on both the detailed (by worker) and summary (by unit) level on caseloads and case status (pending, deadlines, overdue, etc.) * Reports of quality assurance findings * Designation of specific performance measures that will be tracked and monitored with comparisons across local offices * Management reports on overall program performance including workload, timeliness, quality assurance results, investigation outcomes, list of outside resources, etc. CONCLUSION TDPRS is facing increased reports of child abuse and neglect, as well as a disturbing increase in the number of families with severe and multiple problems. The burden to improve the ways CPS responds to children at risk of abuse and neglect falls on state and local governments. When a process is operating at capacity, the only way to take on more work without increasing the waiting time is add more capacity (Chase, 2003) CPS management must recognize that the traditional approaches to child protection cannot keep pace with the demand for services. CPS needs to reach out to communities to establish partnerships among service providers, as well as our citizens. Furthermore, the CPS management team must look at the entire workflow of the operations process and recognize long-standing systemic problems. It is critical to seek ways to correct deficiencies and to build and maintain the personnel that will support the operations management strategies. REFERENCES: Chase, R. (2003). Product design and process selection. Operations Management for Competitive Advantage, Tenth Edition. The McGraw-Hill Companies. Chase, R. (2003). Operations strategy and management change. Operations Management for Competitive Advantage, Tenth Edition. The McGraw-Hill Companies. www. tdprs.state.tx.us www.governor.state.tx.us Gould, L. (2004) Designing a better business. Gardner Publications, Inc. Retrieved from www.autofieldguid.com on 8/23/04 McDonald W. (2001). National study of child protective services systems and reform efforts – Literature review. Retrieved from www.aspe.hhs.gov.hsp/protective01/ on 8/22/04. http://www.gao.gov/archive/1997/he97115.pdf

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Online Job Portal

| ONLINE JOB PORTAL Project Duration: Two Months | | | | team membersShivanjali garg kejung kimsing arushi meenaclass teachermrs. uma sharmab. sC (hons) computer science (4th semester)| | ARSD CollegeUniversity of Delhi2012-2013 Academic Year| | 1. Introduction 2. 1 Purpose 2. 2 Scope 2. 3 Functional Requirements 2. 4 Definitions, Acronyms and Abbreviations 2. 5 Objective 2. 6 References 2. 7 Technologies to be used 2. 8 Overview 2. Overall Description 3. 9 Product Functions 3. 10 User Characteristics 3. 1 Constraints 3. 12 Process Model 3. 13 Architectural Design 3. 14. 1 Data Flow Diagram (DFD) 3. 14. 2 Data Dictionary 3. 14. 3 Entity-Relationship Diagram (ERD) 3. 14. 4 Sequence Diagram 3. 14 Use case Model Survey 3. 15 Timeline Chart(Gantt Chart) 3. Estimation 4. 16 Problem Based Estimation (Function Point Metrics) 4. Risk Table and RMMM plan 5. Structure design Methodology 6. Testing Software Requirements Specification 1. 0 Introduction â€Å"Online Job portal† is a web-ba sed application, which helps end user to finding a job with searching criteria like preferred location, job type, work profile and packages.One can post his/her details on this portal with all relative information. There are many respective facilities given to end user. This application provides logins to the end user and Employer type. End user can Create, edit and delete information by using his/her user ID and password. Whereas Employer can search the profiles. Application takes care of all the security issues so that only the authorize logins and even only the computers can access the relevant information. There are three primary users in this application: 1. Job Seekers 2. Employer and 3. AdministratorThe system administrator will have the ability to clean, clear and maintain the database and the whole system management issue. I. Administrator 1. Verify users account given them right to access the right 2. Block a user 3. Create categories on job 4. Create subcategories on the type of job II. Employers 1. Create vacancies for job seekers 2. Search candidates based on their profiles 3. Can schedule an interview with technical professionals 4. Can select interviewers 5. Can send email to selected candidates III. Jobseekers 1. Create an account with a complete profile 2. Search for jobs with different categories 3.Edit/update the profile 4. Apply online for jobs 1. 1 Purpose Computerized Online Job Search System is developed to facilitate the General Administrative system to manage the various information of the Job Seeker and Job Provider and the processes involved in a Placement company. So that, the organization can access accurate information quickly and easily as and when required, thereby improving its operational efficiency and effectiveness. In today’s competitive environment, where everybody is on the top, the Information plays very crucial roles. As far as information is accessed and processed, it can give good result.Today internet is a fas t way of transferring Data and Information over wide area, hence we have used internet as a way for exchanging information. Computerized Systems helps to fulfill these goals. Computerization of the official works will help in doing lot of manual work quickly. It will help in easy storage and access of all information, in short period of time. This way convenience will prevail both for the Job Seeker and the Job Provider. The development of this new website contains the following activities, which try to automate the entire process keeping in the view of database integration approach. This Site Can provide the recruitment information sending option for the Job providers * This website can provide the mail alert and mobile alert facility for the jobseekers * Administrator can control both job provider’s and as well as jobseeker’s Information 1. 2 Scope The scope of the Online Job Portal includes the following key points: 1. It should contain all the information about Com panies and Vacancies which is in this site. 2. It should contain all the information of Job seeker such as * Personal Details * Professional Details * Educational Detail etc. 3.It should process and evaluate job registered by companies. 4. It should contain information related to Job expiry and registration. 5. It should have administrator for scheduling administrative work of site. 1. 3 Functional Requirements †¢ The System should enable Project Managers to submit their job requirements to the HR for posting. †¢ System should incorporate an approval cycle where the HR validates the submitted job posting before posting to the portal †¢ On Approval, the job posting is assigned to an Internal Sourcing Team, who will receive a notification of the new job posting. System should enable Internal Sourcing Team to recommend applicants for associated jobs to the Project Manager †¢ System should enable employees to view and apply different jobs, allow discussions about job s etc. †¢ System should enable Project Managers to View their Job Postings, Applicant details and their profiles for a particular Job Posting, Recommended Applicant details and their profiles for a particular Job Posting Comments or Activities on different postings etc.. †¢ On successful selection, system should enable project Managers to close the job posting and the status of the job should reflect as â€Å"Hired† across the shared communities, dis-allowing employees to further apply for the job. 1. 4 Definitions, Acronyms, and Abbreviations: * HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language): It is used to create static web pages. * JSP (Java Server Pages): It is used to create dynamic web content. * J2EE (Java 2 Enterprise Edition): It is a programming platform, belonging to the Java platform, which is used for developing and running distributed java applications.WASCE (Web Sphere Application Server Community Edition): It is an application server that runs and supports the J2E E and the web service applications. * WSAD (Web Sphere Studio Application Developer): It is a designer toolkit which is designed to develop more complex projects by providing a complete dynamic web service. * DB2 (IBM Database 2): It is a database management system that provides a flexible and efficient database platform to raise a strong â€Å"on demand† business applications. * HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol): It is a transaction oriented client/ server protocol between a web browser and a web server. . 5 Objective: This project is aimed at developing a web site for Online Job Portal. It is of great importance to the unemployed people. This site allocates the right job information for suitable persons. All the jobseekers as well as job providers’ information are stored in the database. 1. 6 References * BOOKS * R. S. Pressman, Software Engineering: A Practitioner’s Approach * P. Jalote, An Integrated Approach to Software Engineering 1. 7 Technologies to be used * J2EE: (Servlet, JSP, JAXP, Java Beans) Application architecture. * JAVA: Application architecture. WASCE: (Web Sphere Application Server Community Edition) Web Server * DB2: IBM Database. * Ajax: Asynchronous Java Script and XML. * XML: Extension Markup Language. * Web 2. 0: RSS Feed 2. 0. * Localization: 3 Languages – Hindi, Kannada, and English 1. 8 Overview The SRS will include two sections, namely: * Overall Description: This section will describe major components of the system, interconnections, and external interfaces. * Specific Requirements: This section will describe the functions of actors, their roles in the system and the constraints faced by the system. 2. 0 Overall descriptionThe Online Job Portal System is a package to be used by agencies to improve the efficiency of business. The Online Job Portal System to be developed benefits greatly the members. The system provides jobs catalogue and information to members and helps them decide on the jobs to apply . The Admin can keep the jobs catalogue updated all the time so that the members (Job seekers and the agencies) get the updated information all the time. The main users are users: Admin, Members who are the Job seekers and the agencies. 2. 1 Product Function I. Job Employer Job Employer section, which is further sub-divided into – Call for an interview date ? Call for an interview time Call for an asking Job Seeker want to go for an interview? Call for an asking Job Seeker about feedback of interview facing? Check the status true if selecting in the job. II. Job Administrator Job Administration section, which is further sub-divided into four subsections: Check the status true if call back from the company. Also check the status false if Job Seeker is rejected. Viewing members. Emailing Register New Administrator Add Country Add State Add City Edit/Delete Recruiter Edit/Delete Job Seeker View Reports III. Employee Section * Registration Resume upload in the speci fied format * Upload Video/ Audio Resumes – giving an extra edge to the deserving candidates * References/Video References * Option of Video Interviews * Advance search by keywords, location, job title, skill, industry, company, profile * Interest list for Jobs and the option of posting resumes to the entire list in one go * Option of tracking pervious applications * Directory Services like – â€Å"Best places to work† * Creative Resume writing service (paid service). * Option of having Personal Web Page (Profile Builder) – The professional details could be filled through simple designed form.Upload images, scanned salary slips, academic records, experience certificate, passport copy etc. , with a link and it could be accessed online from anywhere with feature of differential access. * Option of taking Industry endorsed tests for better employability and put them on the personal web page along with the resume * Confidentiality feature to define privacy le vel e. g. block current employer from accessing profile. * Access to Customer care * Spell Check facility for the resume * Interview Scheduler – an alert through the email or mobile phone. 2. 2 User CharacteristicsThe user should be familiar with the internet. The user should have knowledge of the area for which he has to file the complaint. 2. 3 Constraints: * GUI is only in English. * Login and password is used for identification of user and there is no facility for guest. * This system is working for multiple servers. * There is no maintainability of back up so availability will get affected * Limited to HTTP/HTTPS. 2. 4 Process Model SPIRAL MODEL SPIRAL MODEL was defined by Barry Boehm in his 1988 article, â€Å"A spiral Model of Software Development and Enhancement. This model was not the first model o discuss iterative development, but it was the first model to explain why the iteration models. As originally envisioned, the iterations were typically 6 months to 2 years long. Each phase starts with a design goal and ends with a client reviewing the progress thus far. Analysis and engineering efforts are applied at each phase of the project, with an eye toward the end goal of the project. It is an evolutionary software process model that couples the iterative nature of prototyping with the controlled and systematic aspects of the waterfall method. Fig 1. 0 Spiral Model Reasons for using this model in our project: Estimates (i. e. budget, schedule etc. ) become more realistic as work progresses, because important issues discovered earlier. * It is more able to cope with the changes that are software development generally entails. * Software engineers can get their hands in and start working on the core of a project earlier. * It’s a realistic approach to the development of large scale system and software. Architectural Design 12 Data Flow Diagram Level-0 Level – 1 2. 13 Data Dictionary Job Provider Reg-info = User name + Passwords + Em ail ID + Mobile No Login = User name + Passwords Submit = Job id + Job infoView and Post = Job vacancies + update jobs Job seeker Reg-info = User name + Passwords + Email ID + Mobile No Login info = User name + Passwords Receive = notification Update info = Upload resume Apply for a job = Job id + apply for job Receive = interview call letter Admin Login = User name + Passwords Check report = Complain id 2. 11 ER Diagram C-name URL Address Contacts Home Type of Sector Contact Us Sign Up 1 M Visit Job portal Company Login 1 1 1 Visit D -Resume Post M N M N Qualification M Search Job seeker Job Location Name Category Contact Address Criteria Exp DOB Position Job id Salary 2. 5. Sequence Diagram 2. 5 Use case Model Survey Approve the vacancy Administrator Login Put the vacancy on website Download the CV Send the reply to jobseeker Search for job Register Apply the job Upload resume Employer Check their qualification Job seeker 1. ADMINISTRATOR: * Name of use case:- ADMINSTRATOR * Descr iptions:-To manage the user accounts and maintain the database and user accounts. * Pre-conditions:- administrator user name and password. * Normal flow of events:- ?new login, password, details of the user location id, roles, permissions a granted. ?save details. ?manage the permissions of other users. Alternative flow of events:-if login is wrong then message appears. * Post conditions:-Management of user accounts and permissions. 2. REGISTRATION * Name of usecase:-CREATE the account * Descriptions:-the user can create a new account in the site. * Pre-conditions:- ?not a member of the site. ?invalid username and password. * Normal flow of events:- ?enter the details and submit. ?login the site. ?logout the site. * Alternative flow of events:- ?invalid username. ?invalid password. * Post conditions:- User can use the valuable resources in the site and view the various Job Opportunities. 3.JOB SEEKER * Name of usecase:-Job Seeker * Descriptions:-Job seeker can register & login to th e website and can upload his resume and can search for a desired job followed by applying for it * Pre-conditions:- ?Must have prepared his resume. ?Must have all the required job details. ?Must be eligible to apply for a job ?Must have registered for a job ?Must have prepared his resume * Normal flow of events:- ?enter the details and submit. ?login the site. ?upload a resume ?search for a job ?apply for a job ?check his application status ?can access to customer care * Alternative flow of events:- invalid username. ?invalid password. ?not eligible for the job ?not job is available for which the seeker is eligible ?no vacancies in any company ?have already applied for all the vacancies * Post conditions:- user can wait for the companies to give him a call for the interviews and can regularly check his mails for the alerts(if any)send by he administrator 4. JOB PROVIDER * Name of use case:-Job Provider * Descriptions:-Job Provider can register & login to the website and can add the vacancies update and delete them. * Pre-conditions:- ?Must have some vacancies for chances of vacancies in the future ?Must be eligible to register his company registration ?Must have registered to the site * Normal flow of events:- ?enter the details and submit. ?login the site. ?add the vacancies ?update the vacancies ?delete the vacancies ?check who all have register their vacancy and can contact to them personally * Alternative flow of events:- ?invalid username. ?invalid password. ?not eligible for registering ?no vacancies in the company ?no user registered for the vacancy * Post conditions:- Provider can take the note of the seekers who he wants to call for an interview and can contact with them through mails or calls. . 17 Timeline Chart(Gantt Chart) Work Tasks| 1st Week| 2nd Week| 3rd Week| 4th Week| 5th Week| 1. Communication Meet with team in-charge Identify needs and project constraints Establish product statement Milestone: Product statement defined2. Planning Technical task Risk analysis Source requirement Design and product analysis Project time schedule Milestone: Completion of planning3. Modeling Deciding model Analysis used model Milestone: Model selected4. Construction Code generation Testing Milestone: Completed construction5.Deployment Review the project Delivered to the customer Feedback based on evaluation Milestone: Project completed| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 3. 2 Computing Function Points Information Domain Value| Count| | Weighting FactorsSimple Average Complex| | | External Inputs| 8| x| 3| 4| 6| =| 24| External outputs| 5| x| 4| 5| 7| =| 20| External Inquiries| 3| x| 3| 4| 6| =| 09| Internal Logical Files| 6| x| 7| 10| 15| =| 42| External Interface Files| 0| x| 5| 7| 10| =| 0| Count Total| 95| To compute function points (FP), the following relationship is used: FP = count total x [0. 5 + 0. 01 x ? (Fi)] = 95x{0. 65+0. 01Ãâ€"46} = 105. 45 Where count total is the sume of all FP entries obtained from the Fi ( i = 1 to 14) are value adjustment factors (VAF) based on responses to the following. 1. Data communication 2. Distributed processing 3. Performance objectives 4. Operation configuration load 5. Transaction rate 6. On-line data entry 7. End user efficiency 8. On-line update 9. Complex processing logic 10. Re-usability 11. Installation ease 12. Operational ease 13. Multiple sites 14. Desier to facilitate change 4. 2. 2 Empirical model based estimation (COCOMO II model) No. f screens in the project: 14 No. of reports: 5 No. of 3GL components: 1 Developer’s experience/capability: Very Low % reuse: 70 Taking the values from the given tables: Thus Object Points= [14X1 + 5X2 ] =24 NOP= (object points) X [(100-%reuse)/100] =24 X 0. 30=7. 2 PROD=4 Thus Estimated effort=NOP/PROD=7. 2/4=1. 8 person-months RISK MANAGEMENT Risks| Category| Probability| Impact| Size estimate may be significantly low| PS| 60%| 2| Large number of users than planned| PS| 30%| 3| Less use than planned| PS| 70% | 2| End users resist system| BU| 40%| 3| Delivery deadline will be tightened| BU| 50%| 2|Customer will change requirements| PS| 80%| 2| Lack of training on tools | DE| 80%| 3| Staff inexperienced| ST| 60%| 2| Poor standard of work| ST| 40%| 1| Poor feedback| BU| 30%| 2| Incomplete requirements| PS| 30%| 2| Risk | Consequence | Action | Size estimate may be significantly low. | Inefficient resource allocation for the software resulting in delivery delays. | Close look at requirement collection process. | Less reuse than planned. | Development time will increase. | Develop efficient SRS. | Customer will change requirements. | Might lead to start of development from scratch. Choose an efficient model that can cope with sudden changes in requirements. | Staff Inexperienced. | Might lead to development of incomplete software. Completed project may receive poor reviews. | Choose the project team efficiently with proper mix of experiences | Poor standard of work. | Will result in a poor q uality project. Some elements may need to be redone. Completed project may receive poor reviews. | Carry out a thorough procurement process looking at issues of experience and quality as well as cost. Include appropriate contingency. | Delivery Deadline may be tightened. Delay in deployment. | Deadline should be carefully calculated keeping all areas in mind. | Poor public response to the software. | Wastage of development efforts with financial losses. | Conduct a survey to get information about market trends. | Requirements are incomplete. | Incomplete software. May get rejected by the customer. | Requirements should be carefully understood and documented. | Lack of training on tools. | Inefficient software product with chances of defects. | Developers should be well trained and comfortable with the development tools. | | | | End users resist system. Redevelopment of the product from scratch. | End users terms and conditions should be mentioned in the SRS. | Larger number of users than planned. | Database will need to be expanded. | Database should be big enough to cope with the worst case situations. | | | | 5. Design 7. 1 Structured Design Methodology Get username & password notifications apply confirmation validate joblist userid resume name&pwd System Database Main Print confirmation Login Apply Notifications Check passwords Check username Get passwords Get username validation login input Send resume Select company pply select view notifications Print Validate Username & password 6. Testing (White Box) 8. 1 Pseudo code 1. If(name==s. name && pwd==s. pwd) 2. then display notifications 3. else re-enter name and password 4. print â€Å"enter valid job category† 5. read j_c 6. if(j_c==s. jc[]) 7. then display job list 8. else print † no such category† 9. display â€Å"select valid job_id† 10. i=1,n=5; 11. do while(i

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Transcendentalism and Into the Wile Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Transcendentalism and Into the Wile - Essay Example These elements include political parties and religious systems that a person is exposed to. The religion advocates for independence and self-dependence among persons, as opposed to interdependence and communal participation in a person’s life. It is one of their beliefs that only from such a setup can a truly functioning community be formed. Chris McCandless was truly a transcendentalist because he lived many of the religion’s beliefs. These included non-conformity to the other religions, appreciation of nature and upholding the teachings of Thoreau and Emerson of a non-materialistic lifestyle, which include living a simplistic and contented life (Krakauer 174). He lived the lifestyle of a transcendentalist and practised their teachings. His appreciation of nature is well encapsulated by his adventure especially the adventure into the wilderness and his formal procedure of passage ascertained an understanding of his personal growth. During his life, Chris exhibited a remarkable independence coupled with his ideas and actions that directly link him to the transcendentalist movement (Krakauer 67). There are many benefits linked to transcendentalism. One of the core things emphasized by transcendentalism is reflective practice and meditation. This helps a lot in a person’s health as they help reduce stress, anxiety, hyperactivity, effects of depression, attention deficiency. It also helps improve a person’s critical thinking skills thus helping in problem-solving and ensuring a more positive and clear outlook on life. Meditation plays a major role in improving a person’s memory, thus developing decision-making and imaginative thinking. There are varieties of benefits that apply to children too. These include restoring balance and calmness, enhancing memory, increasing confidence, developing creativity, and increasing learning capability. The religion helps in the conservation of nature

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Incentive Plan Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Incentive Plan - Research Paper Example Difficulties can serve to make the team members closer and more loyal to one another; group motivation – the driving force that pushes the group forward to accomplish goals; group recognition – acknowledging the group for accomplishing goals; and group cooperation – when the individual group members combine efforts to achieve a common goal (Shepard, 2010). An important aspect of the Humanistic Era is the theorists that worked to find mechanisms within the organization to engage and reward employees for their work in accomplishing organizational goals, leading compensation and incentive programs to become popular during that time. The employee incentive program has remained an important tool to drive employee performance to leverage organizational goals. The Employee Incentive Program is described in a summary and a PDF found on the Boeing website (Boeing, 2011a; Boeing, 2011b). The official Plan document is the final â€Å"controlling document† when a read er may be in doubt as to a reference (Boeing, 2011b, para. 1). Only plan participants are legally entitled to a copy of the plan document.

John Paul II Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

John Paul II - Essay Example While the NE is a doctrine and set of ideas that was put forward by John Paul II in the early 1990's, the roots of this belong in the establishment of the Second Vatican Council (1962) and in documents like the LUMEN GENTIUM (1964)[1]. In the broadest terms, it can be said that the Second Vatican Council or Vatican II was the Catholic Church's attempt to adapt and assimilate some of modernity or modernism. For instance, one of the changes or transformations that most Catholics are likely aware of, is that Mass is no longer required to be in Latin. The significance of this historically is rather rich. The very Reformation which split the Catholic Church in the Sixteen Century, partially happened because of a new movement to bring the Bible into the vernacular or to the language of the people [2]. And, while the Bible had made it into the languages that common people spoke many centuries earlier, Mass continued to be conducted in Latin until 1962: "Since these duties, so very necessary to the life of the Church, can be fulfilled only with difficulty in many regions in accordance with the discipline of the Latin Church as it exists today" [3]. Another aspect of the NE that is both central, and which has its roots in Vatican II and the the Lumen Gentium, is the incorporation of lay individuals into the body and mission of the Church. That is, viewing lay people as not just the object of being converted or taught, but as valuable members of the community who have a contribution to make in spreading the word, so to speak: "every layman, in virtue of the very gifts bestowed upon him, is at the same time a witness and a living instrument of the mission of the Church itself 'according to the measure of Christ's bestowal'" [4]. Compare this remark with what John Paul II says about the NE: Today, in particular, the pressing pastoral task of the new evangelization calls for involvement of the entire people of God, and requires a new fervor, new methods and a new expression for the announcing and witnessing of the gospel [5]. The first important and general dimension of the NE, and as it relates to changes in the Catholic Church since the early 1960's, is the inclusiveness, and a less hierarchal approach to the ministry of the Church. However, where Vatican II and the Lumen Gentium are a way of accommodating or assimilating modernism to some extent, the NE as established by John Paul II is succinct insofar as it can be said to be a set of ideas that is actually reactionary modernism or modernization. By reactionary, it is not implied in terms of having as its object Catholic doctrine, rather, society itself. One of the concerns of the NE, is increased secularization, a decrease in the basic lay understanding of the tenets of Christianity, and Catholic Catechism. As John Paul II's assistant states on the subject of his concern with secularization in Western Europe that it was "gradually drifting further and further from its roots and so from its histor y and culture" [6]. This is a perspective about secularization, according to one of John Paul's biographer's that began in the post-war period of the late 1940's and early 1950's, and as far back as then he viewed: "new forms of pastoral activity open to a broader participation by the laity" [7]. Although there is a lot in common between the

Monday, August 26, 2019

Marketing strategies Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Marketing strategies - Coursework Example In order to find the strategies and evaluate the factors which will help Murgitroyd to grab the market share at China and expand their business in the next 24 months the company’s strength, weakness, opportunities and threats are evaluated which will help the company to implement their strategies successfully. The global market opportunities are assessed by finding the sales potential in the market. The foreign market sustainability of the products is also needed to be done to find whether the product is suitable for the target market or not. Screening the potential market is the next step the company should follow investment. Then the key business partners and the distributors’ availability are researched who are the main drivers of the business. Understanding the customer behaviour is also an important factor which will help the company to estimate the sales forecast of Murgitroyd. ... Companies are essentially spending huge amounts of resources towards research and development to create unique products. Firms are also trying to protect their intellectual property rights so as to prevent their competitors from infringing and illegally using their research. This has also augured numerous opportunities for organizations that provide patent and copyright protection to the firms. The present study would analyse the business strategies of a Murgitroyd and Company with regards to its business strategies in China so as to improve its market share in the nation in the coming 24 months (Miele, 2000, p.1). Murgitroyd and Company is a UK based patent and copyright consultancy firm that provides legal and consultancy services to business organizations for protecting their intellectual property rights. The company provides services to its clients based across UK, Finland, France, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Italy, Japan and the United States of America. The company has over the ye ars grown as a mature organization with a dedicated workforce and is presently considered to be one of the leading consultancy firm of its kind in the European market (Murgitroyd & Company-a, 2011). The Chinese market provides opportunities to the organization considering the large number of manufacturing organizations present in the nation. The technological advancement at China with growing demand for the enterprise IP services gives a great potential for the company to explore their business in this part of the world. However there are certain challenges in the nation that mainly arise due to certain legal aspects. (The Economist, 2005, p.1-9). Moreover with the government largely favouring domestic players

Sunday, August 25, 2019

8_Sampling Strategy and Sample Size for a Qualitative Research Plan Paper

8_Sampling Strategy and Sample Size for a Qualitative Plan - Research Paper Example s are both the librarians and the library users, meaning that the study does not seek to obtain a sample from an unknown general population, which would in turn require that the sample is generalized to represent the entire population (McCabe, 2005). While the challenges facing funding and sustainability of library service is a common challenge for different libraries in different states, each library has its own unique challenges, which may not be generalized. Therefore, the aim of the study is not to obtain a representative sample of the population, but a sample that is unique to the Clayton County Library System (CCLS), in terms of exposure, usage and experiences. This is because; it is only such a sample that would be in a position to give both comprehensive and reliable information regarding the library. Thus, instead of seeking to have a sample population that can be inferred to represent the general population, the main target of the study is to delve into the intricacies of the experiences of the librarians and the library users, as a means of reaching an informed conclusion regarding the sustainability of Clayton County Library, so that a diversified structure of funding can then be recommended, based on this informatio n. Therefore, since the study is neither seeking a representative sample nor targeting generalization, the application of the purposive sampling strategy under non-probability sampling method is recommended for the study. The selection of a representative sample for this study is important, to ensure that the information gathered through the interviewing process is not biased. However, this is a secondary requirement as far as this study is concerned, considering that the main objective of the case study is to obtain as detailed information as possible, regarding the experiences of both the librarians and the library users. Obtaining experiences does not pose any major risk of biases, considering that sensitive information regarding the

Saturday, August 24, 2019

2 Questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

2 Questions - Assignment Example Liking - so now that the consumer is fully aware and knowledgeable about the product, he begins to relate the product with itself and establishes a connection. At this stage, the marketer should already know which level consumers feel the product and should draft their ad campaigns accordingly. It is best for the marketer to now evaluate his consumer base as to whether they think the company offers a better product than its competitors. Conviction - the second to the last stage. Now the consumer is hit with strong advertising and reasons to want to purchase the product over the competitors. A conviction must be created within the mind of the client to support the product. So the marketer must push the advertisement in such a way that the consumer will feel that the competitors cannot compete with this particular brand. Purchase - the final step in the buyer readiness - stage. The effective product information dissemination and strong advertising push creates a conviction within the clients mind that gives him the confidence to push through with the purchase of the product. Once the sale occurs within the consumer base of the product, then the marketer can effectively say that he has done his job properly. 2. An appeal is what an advertiser doe sin order to get a consumer to purchase a product or service. There are three types of appeals that are commonly used in advertising by marketers. These appeal types are known as: Ethical Appeal - this is an appeal targeted at at someones or somethings image. The public does not normally come across this type of advertising unless it is election season. This is because politicians use this advertising platform to present themselves in a better light than the other candidates, oftentimes using criticisms to make them more appealing to the voter. Consumers though, normally do not use this kind of dialog unless they are writing to a company to complain

Friday, August 23, 2019

Change at DuPont Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Change at DuPont - Research Paper Example rooted in observation of the best at present, logically describing future ideals, decision making through collaboration, dialogue, and experimentation for proof. Sense making, on the other hand, utilizes meta-theoretical assumptions analytically to arrive at a workable theory. As a change manager, I would analyze the assumptions from sense making to arrive at a substantive theory that is both logical and effective. Further, I would put this theory to the test to appreciate its attributes from observation and experimentation. Finally, with all the facts, I would invoke a practitioner-driven system of arriving at an intervention that facilitates change. This would prove effective; especially when all the due steps are in place. At the wake of the closure of Orlon plant, I would first halt the process of stopping one project to aid the other. Such rush decisions hurt in the long run. Instead, I would introduce the existing management to new ideas that would aid in the healing process. In this way, the focus could shift from improving the effectiveness of the organization to the plant itself. Further, I would try ensuring that there is a definite mechanism of monitoring and developing the strengths of the plant, call on staff to appreciate the strengths and aid in their development. In addition, motivating the people would go a long way in improving their attitude, productivity and offloading the pressure that comes with

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Culture and gender issues in Education Essay Example for Free

Culture and gender issues in Education Essay One of the most basic principles of American philosophy is the belief that all people are equal. Equal, where every individual is treated fairly and with respect and that all people have equal opportunities in life. Education plays a key role in the future of every individual. For this reason, the American education system was established. The American education system bases its principles on the philosophies and beliefs of all Americans. The USA consists of many regions and states. It is therefore understandable that in every region, a different culture is practiced. However, as in everything in this world, there are good sides and bad sides to the system. Numerous issues have risen throughout the development of American education. The most popular issues would be those related to gender and nationality. The stereotyping of males and females has been the topic of most gender related issues regarding a student’s ability in attaining good education. This issue so far has not yet reached a conclusion. On the other hand, nationality issues are as complex as gender issues. Foreign students contribute a large sum to the nation’s budget every year. Loss of foreign enrollees therefore would mean lower budgets. Therefore, the number of foreign enrollees per year must be increased if not maintained so as to support the ever financial burdens of the country. Some universities have already taken steps to promote the enrollment of foreign students in the country. Another issue is the availability of good American education to people of all statures in life. To answer the problem, American education has developed policies and other beneficial programs for people with different statures to be able to have access to a good education. Education is important for every individual. It should therefore be taken with sufficient planning as it has great effects to one’s own future. References: Kotok, A. (2007). Foreign Students Return to U. S. Colleges †¦ That’s the Good News. Retrieved August 23, 2007 from http://www. publicdiplomacy. org/73. htm Sadker, D. Gender Equity: Still Knocking at the Classroom Door. Retrieved August 23, 2007 from http://www. american. edu/sadker/stillknocking. htm

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

DMC Review Papers Essay Example for Free

DMC Review Papers Essay As Mr. Grant, CEO of DMC has realized, the current growth strategy of the company is insufficient. DMC needs to identify their primary business problems and prepare a new or revised strategy with alternative tactics to address it. Even though DMC had grown to become a multi-billion dollar company and consistently ranked in the top five in their industry, DMC’s returns between 2008 and 2012 showed great profits and loss swings unpredictably. These ranged from a net income loss of $1.5 billion in 2008, . 9 billion in 2009, to a profit of $1.9 billion in 2010, $1.7 billion in 2011 then a loss of 1 billion in net income in 2012, the most recent year. (Table 1) Despite of the up-side-down net income and over $3 billion in long-term debt, DMC was able to make financial arrangements for a line of credit of from $500 million to nearly $2 billion to finance potential acquisitions of major competitors whose financial situations made them available. DMC’s top management team is well aware that a major change in strategy causes other changes. This also causes each manager concerned how his/her own area will change, even while they all know they have to help determine a direction that is the best overall choice for the company. They are well aware that the current growth strategy is insufficient. Top management team also need to consider whether or not a chosen target segment is profitable enough to pursue, and how these changes might influence manufacturing, supply chain, and personnel. Depending upon future direction, there will likely be an impact on information system as well. While IT is a progressive management team who is always willing to implement technical solutions to expedite product development and sales, their budget has been constrained along with all departments over the course of recent recession and the variability of returns to the company. Finance and accounting remain concerned about cash flow demands a nd financial activity for major company undertakings. HR knows from experience that major change can have a significant impact on staffing and morale. Besides company own business problems, DMC also faces industry’s issues as well. In the highly volatile electronics industry, international competition put pressure on the way DMC traditionally did business, including with whom, where, and at what price levels. Their ability to respond rapidly to market change is always difficult, based upon the nature of the product and the heavy investment required for future technologies. As a result, development costs continue to rise while sale margins have dropped steadily. In their industry, innovation is not an option, but an absolute necessity and maintaining a competitive advantage and building market share comes slowly and only to the best and smartest companies. DMC needs to consider the selling to wholesale distributor, particularly VAR. The VAR group always has irregular demand, as they react to the supply chain cycle of their small manufacturing customers and budget cycles for equipment upgrade customers. This segment is highly price sensitive, demanding attractive discounts and low delivery costs. Because of their reactions to the change in the market, DMC will be affected as numbers of demand increase or decrease irregularly, increasing unit cost of production. Now with DMC’s business problems, including within industry problems, have been issued they need a new or revised strategy, which, obviously, would lead to the best overall outcomes. With the problem of net income up and down dramatically and COGS as percentage of sales being a large number affecting net income, DMC needs to find a way to prove selling. They need a more effective way to sell product. Besides, new product development is always important to DMC. The founders believed that the experience of an entrepreneurial driver or team had to start from scratch and create success. They did not believe the future evolved from forecasting or planning in the technology world. The company identified outstanding managers coming up through the ranks, selected a few each year, and gave each $5 million to â€Å"make something happen.† With three or four new product efforts each year, they recognized most might fail, but hoped the winners would make up for the losers. With that in mind, DMC tries to create the own personal computer and touch screen products. It might fail  most of the time but it only needs one success to build up the brand and the future direc tion of the company. DMC really needs to take direct sales to the end user customer into consideration. Even though the Business-to-consumer (B2C) is not common in the electronic components industry, it is well worth the try. After an informal meeting with VP of IT, CEO Grant understands the possibility of moving into B2C without a large capital outlay if they could allocate some dedicated programming time to the project. There are still some concerns over the fact that the sales team would have to be heavily involved in any project like this and smaller orders would not be cost effective and would require too much support for product selection. However, the IT team’s view of sales on the web was that it could a relatively automated process, with a built-in digital configurator tool to help customers choose the right parts with minimal human intervention overall. With the B2C on the line, DMC can seriously consider cutting wholesale distributor like VAR. They not only can save the dollars-turn in every product but also avoid the irregular demand from VAR. With the B2C interface, DMC has the advantage knowing what customers need and the way they thinking. DMC can react quickly to market change and therefore save a lot of money in cost of unit production. B2C e-commerce has a lot of advantages in the business world nowadays. By using B2C, DMC can easily reach worldwide market with unlimited volume of customers. They also can display information, pictures, and prices of products or services without spending a fortune on colorful advertisements. By reducing the cost of advertisements, DMC can save a lot of money and use that to spend for new product development and make up the cost of changing strategies toward each functional division effectively. In some cases, B2C e-commerce makes order processing an easier task than before. With that, DMC als o can save up a lot of cost production and use that to make the selling more effective. One of the biggest advantages of B2C e-commerce is that DMC can operate on decreased, little, or even no overhead. Also, as VP of manufacturing Bret Hendricks expresses, DMC manufactured  division already do a great job of controlling costs and improving processes. He strongly feels his group cannot achieve any more efficiencies from the manufacturing lines unless they do a major overhaul and replace some of the manufacturing systems. With the strong competition from foreign suppliers who receiving funding from government, DMC really needs to find a way to make the manufacturing processes strongly effective. That should be done even it takes a great cost and time to do a major change. In the financial aspect, DMC has been good of negotiating deals with the company’s line credit to create resource and capital for the company major moves like acquisitions and mergers. However, the financial team needs to work on more areas to explore to lower general operating expenses that create problems for the bottom line. The idea of direct sales floating around is very promising. This can create pricing to wash any increased handling costs and significantly exceed the margin offered to their larger wholesale customers to make the new venture worthwhile. However, the difficulty lies on calculating ROI on any type of IT project. There were many variables and intangible benefits to consider. Lastly, if DMC is going to do a major change in strategy, they need to consider the large expenses of doing so. One of the major changes can be made is that DMC might consider insourcing. While outsourcing saves money in the short term, over the long run the company may suffer from not having a large enough employee pool to promote from in certain areas. The IT division of DMC has been doing well over the past. They need to continue to do so and try to explore in some new Business Intelligence tools. That includes the process of running the electronic commerce site. The IT team is a talented team, VP of IT division could try to create things that keep them motivated and create more ideas to help the company’s success. Overall, the main business problems of DMC is their ineffective selling led to dramatically up and down income and their COGS being a large number affecting sales; the functional division that requires lot of things in order to create a change in strategy, this includes cost, time and human resources; management problems of choosing a right market segment; DMC’s  problems within the industry such as international competition, the adaption of market changes response and the increase of development cost. However, DMC also has many opportunities and advantages such as the ability to deal with financial institution with credit card in order to have capital preparing for acquisitions or merger. They also have a good IT team, manufacturing process and talented human resources. DMC already established their reputation as one of the dominant computer component manufacturers in the world. Recommendation for DMC is that they should consider creating a major change in strategy and manufacturing process to make the company sales more effective. In order to do so, they would need to prepare a brief and careful plan because it requires much of cost and time involving all of the company divisions. DMC also needs to invent and explore more to create new products and choose the right market segment. They need to find a way to deal with international competition’s pressure and respond quickly to market change. COGS as percentage of sales needs to be adjusted so that the net income and sales of the company don’t be affected in a wrong way. Lastly, because DMC has problems with market changing and wholesale distributor’s irregular demands, they should seriously consider starting B2C e-commerce. The advantages of B2C e-commerce could really change the status of the company and make sales and manufacturing process more effective.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Is Pop Art Celebration Or Critique Film Studies Essay

Is Pop Art Celebration Or Critique Film Studies Essay Pop-art was an art movement that emerged in America and Britain in the mid 50s and culminated between 1960 and 1965. Pop art was a result of a post war era and a sudden influx of mass production and popular culture. Pop art included images from popular culture such as consumer goods, magazines and advertisements as opposed to more serious elitist culture art like abstract expressionism. It was used as a bridge between contemporary life and art, often using found images/objects and a tendency toward using mechanical rendering/production techniques. In Britain:- Independent group In 1952, a collection of artists in London by the name of the Independent Group began to meet regularly to discuss topics such as the found object, science and technology and mass cultures place in fine art. Members in the group were,  Eduardo Paolozzi,  Richard Hamilton, architects  Alison  and  Peter Smithson, and critics Lawrence Alloway and Reyner Banham. In the early 1950s Britain was still escaping the austerity of the post-war years, and the British citizens were dubious about American popular culture. Although the group was suspicious of the American commercial character, they were still enthusiastic and excited about the fruitful world popular culture seemed to promise for the future. The material, mainly in images they discussed at length were of that found in Western movies, comic books, science fiction, automobile design, billboards, and rock and roll music. Richard Hamilton Richard Hamilton was a big name in pop art in Britain, with his famous collage just what is it that makes todays homes so different, so appealing which was produced for ThisIsTomorrows catalogue. Richard was part of the Independent Group that had sensed post war culture would be democratically inclusive and accessible and argued that art should follow suit. The independent group also aimed toward removing the academia behind modern art such as high art like Rothkos light red over black and toward a more figurative, unambiguous language of art portrayed in the transparent language of advertising and iconography. This new art didnt need particularly skilled or difficult process to be produced and tried to link the realms of art and everyday life. The interchange-ability between advertising and art allowed Richard to show viewers that modern art repeatedly celebrated physical pleasure and inspiration was often gathered from previous movements. Hamilton stated that this New art, should be: Popular, transient, expendable, low cost, mass produced, young, witty, sexy, gimmicky, glamorous and big business! this subsequently laid down the path for the movement Just What is it That Makes Todays Homes so Different, So Appealing? In this piece Richard Hamilton used popular images and symbols as a gateway or library to explore the interior of a house of that time and to comment on the swift and important change in the way of everyday life.  Just what is it that makes todays homes so different, so appealing?  Is so iconic because it was created during an era in which all people internationally and worldwide became leisure shoppers, watchers of television, drivers of cars, and disposable buyers. At the same time, the boundaries between old world civilizations and of international politics were disintegrated by capitalism; a few countries made the choice to adopt the trimmings of that economic system without inviting its basic values of competition, efficiency, legitimacy of profit, which all ultimately make the consumerist structure work and mature properly. The travesty of Westernized ideas of an effective business conduct is interpreted in this collage by the excess of items obtained through conspicuous consumption. They are shown as symbols of leisure. And the observer is reminded of how quickly that people forget about the consequences of irresponsible spending, since the buy, buy, buy lifestyle continues at a continuingly faster rate, even after the nations of the world were warped as a result of the economic disasters in 1929. This is evident in the technological advancements that have permeated into this skewed interior, with a television playing an advertisement of a lady talking on the telephone, the vague cube-like recording device on the floor, the fanciness and glamour related to the theatre past the lounges window, and the ornament of a Ford hood bejewelled on the lampshade. Apart from the subject matter related to financial history, Hamilton also recognises the presence of Communism portrayed as a crescent of a planet which also acts as the houses ceiling. This segment of the globe is inconspicuously there, looming over and haunting the American homeowners with the vague signifier of all that was unfamiliar during the 1950s: communism. The reference to planets and space begins to attract attention to the informal Space Race between Russia and America, an important rivalry that would supposedly declare the more proficient country to be the symbolic leader of the world. Modernity, material comfort, and desirability present in Hamiltons labour were icons that undoubtedly have broadened the potential of Pop Art by promising an ideal kingdom of the imminent buyers paradise, while conveying a doubtful and ironic tone articulating the mode of sheer parody. This piece is therefore not only a creative playing field aesthetically, but also a milestone in the history of the art world and in the context of social critique. Eduardo Paolozzi Dr. Pepper Eduardo Paolozzi was like Richard Hamilton a member of the Independent Group, who brought a lart Brut perspective to things, which means he brought an outsiders perspective, supposedly because of his connections to dada and surrealism. This piece is made up of images from American magazines that he had obtained from American people in Paris. It is hard to understand why Paolozzi mustve been sucked into the exotic society portrayed in American magazines having been in poverty himself due to the Second World War. In dr pepper there are happy and healthy people surrounded by an abundance of food and automobiles, this all portraying a Wealthy life, with happiness being the key here. Paolozzi wasnt just attracted to the material value or message of consumerism or happiness. Paolozzi genuinely believed these images from advertisements to be artistically wealthy and an icon of the modern world. Paolozzi had once said in his opinion of American Popular images where the event of selling tinned pears was transformed into multi-coloured dreams, where sensuality and virility combined to form, in our view, an art form more subtle and fulfilling than the orthodox choice of either the Tate Gallery or the Royal Academy (Eduardo Paolozzi, Retrospective statements in Robbins, p.192). This new outlook was soon to be embraced on an international scale as this work is actually a predecessor to Pop Art and wasnt actually part of the movement. Paolozzi was trying to respond to dada-ism and surrealism although his work is almost ingenious in seeing the future of art. In America:- It seemed that the American dream was no longer defined by political freedom, but instead was measured by the number of commodities a citizen could acquire. America was consuming popular magazines, cinema and television, pop music and rock n roll, automobiles and domestic appliances in steadily increasing numbers. They were encouraged to spend by a vast advertising sector that deliberately interpreted consumption as a measure of ones financial success and psychological wellbeing. American Pop Art was a very unified, more organised movement than the British. There were more obvious common characteristics such as the contemporary imagery, the obscurity of surface, and bold, strong colours. As opposed to the British also, American artists had a tendency to be more ambiguous and less like the transparent communication through British pop art. Many of the American artists suggested with humour that art was like any other consumer product that could be marketed. Andy Warhol Andy Warhol is probably the most famous pop artist and one of the most well-known artists in the west, with his work being placed on t-shirts and mugs and any other sort of merchandise. Known best for his Campbell soup cans, marylin Monroe prints and velvet underground album cover, in all of these pieces hes used bold bright colours, quite a common character within American pop art. Most of, if not all of his Pop Art work was screen printed, this semi mechanized way of producing works further pronounced the new era mass production, Andy Warhol was so fond of this whole idea that he dubbed his studio the Factory. Campbells Soup Cans Warhol had a more creative and positive view on ordinary culture than most and felt that abstract expressionists had gone out of their way to discern the wonder of modernity. The Campbell Soup Cans as well as his other series were the ideal opportunity to express this view on modern culture. However, Warhols blank manner laboured to be empty of emotional content and unable to be commented on on a social level. In fact the work was designed to be with the least amount of emotion or individual expression. According to Marcel Duchamp if you take a Campbells Soup can and repeat it fifty times, you are not interested in the retinal image. The depictions of the multiple cans are almost an abstraction in themselves with attention focused on the panorama rather than the individual cans and their details.it could be said that the symbolic identity of the multiple can depictions (freedom of choice, mass production etc.) became more important than the individual symbols. Warhol had a big interest in in factory like production in his early days of pop art which was mistaken by fine artists in general as their value system disagreed with mechanization. To further resonate the message of consumerism and mass production behind his art along with the silk screen printing, naming his studio the factory and creating series, he also took on a pop persona as he and his work became more noticed by the media.He began to adopt the image of a teenager of the time, engaging himself in pop culture like rock shows, so much so that he produced an album cover for the velvet underground and had famous friends hangout in his factory. I shop therefore I am Barbara Kruger I shop therefore I am is a print of a hand holding a red card with white lettering, by photographer Barbara Kruger.   It is a bold statement about Western culture and consumerism and is great in how implicates viewers by giving no clear notion of who is speaking, so it could be personal to her, personal from someone else, or relative to everyone, sucking the viewer in and making them think about the art on a more personal level. The message behind the piece is saying that we dont just shop for the things we need.   We shop to obtain an identity, persona and certain status and we do this so that we feel that we fit in and belong to a certain group in society. Conclusion Pop Art was evidently considerably different between America and Britain with the rest of Europe not quite producing fully fledged pop art works or taking the movement so seriously. Britain was quite clearly optimistic for the future of consumerism although it had undertones of concern and fear of the unknown as you would expect. In my opinion, the reason why the two natures were different is that America had evolved from the war economy before Britain so the advertisements being filtered through to Britain seemed alien and astounding, hence the large numbers of cut-outs being the primary base of pop art in Britain. America then acknowledged the movement and kept quite an intellectual spin on it all, with ambiguity present and narratives, part of what the British independent group was against, trying to keep the art open and objective rather than subjective and could be called the peoples art an art for everyone that requires no preliminary knowledge or particular understanding. The American pop art was a mixed movement with Andy Warhol producing the Campbell soup cans as a statement of mass production and consumerism but also as a statement that there is freedom and opportunity to choose what you want, almost as an echo of individuality which was very welcome and fantasized about. Although this is one of the more noticeable works of American pop art this should not be seen to represent all of American work, Barbara Krugers work is of a different style again. Krugers work was mainly made up of found black and white photographs with bold white lettering on a red background. Each of her works had a bold statement on the photograph, encouraging the viewer to think more about it, the statement, usually an ambiguous one would be based on society and topical. I shop therefore I am doesnt say who its referring to and has a message behind it rather than being obvious and clear of its nature. This evidence amongst many other American works further perpetuates my opin ion that American work is more ambiguous and therefore more intellectual rather than pure aesthetic information. Therefore my answer to the question is pop art a celebration or critique of consumer culture is that in the beginnings consumerism was heavily welcomed and a great relief celebrated by many, but still with some sceptical artists stating that consuming was becoming a reliance and for obvious reasons people worry when they have to rely on things. Pop art in Britain was much more hedonistic, optimistic and transparent, probably as a notion of hope to cling on to as they emerged out from austerity. Pop art in America could be more pessimistic at times and narrated with hidden messages having to be prized from the works, but as with Britain I think the idea was still celebratory although there was a little more critique from America than Britain, this would only be expected though as America being much larger would have more of a variation in opinion.

Free College Admissions Essays: Interest in Languages :: College Admissions Essays

My Interest in Languages I can trace my interest in languages back to a holiday to the Lleyn Peninsula when I was 6, during which I decided to compile a dictionary of the Welsh words I saw on signposts. My interest gained ground at secondary school, and in recent years I have become particularly enthusiastic about the language and culture of Spain - an enthusiasm heightened by a visit to Galicia last summer. While I am enjoying A level French I am keen to take this opportunity to learn something new, hence my desire to study Italian. Italy is a country which fascinates me and which I would love to get to know, and I already have some knowledge of the language including the pronunciation system. Last term I took part in an French essay-writing competition organised by the Alliance Française, and for my essay on Globalisation I was awarded a Certificat d'Or. Last year also saw my participation in the French Exchange with a school in Condé-en-Brie, near Reims, which I found a valuable insight into French culture as well as a chance to improve my language. Apart from my French and Spanish studies, I have pursued other languages at various times. Last year I took the one-year GCSE course in Latin that my school offers, which I have found very interesting and highly worthwhile as well as a help with and insight into Romance languages. Out of enthusiasm for the West of Scotland and interest in Scottish place-names I have learnt some Gaelic, and I recently started to teach myself German. I have been elected deputy head boy with responsibility for charity for this year, and in this position I hope to continue the impressive fund-raising efforts of previous years for local and national causes. I have successfully completed my Bronze Duke of Edinburgh's award, for which I took up rock-climbing and helped residents in a local nursing home. I am on the committee of the Debating Society and have spoken in a number of debates in the Society's first year; through school I have also taken part in a public speaking competition organised by the Rotary Club, for which I spoke as part of a team of three on "how we will view life in the next millennium". I am a keen actor, and have had leading roles in productions both in and out of school.

Monday, August 19, 2019

Confucianism Essay -- essays research papers

Confucianism Confucianism is an East Asian philosophy built up by a Chinese philosopher, Confucius (K'ung Fu-tzu), in the 6th - 5th century BCE. It’s a philosophy based on human morals and relationships. To really understand Confucianism, how it originated and what parts of history contributed towards its development, you have to look into: who is Confucius, the history of Confucianism and what happened to Confucianism after the death of Confucius? Who is Confucius? Confucius was of noble descent in the state of Lu (modern Shantung). No records show him attending school even though Confucius was a well educated man. He had to make his own living at an early age. He started a political career at a young age, rising in the ranks, but fell faster than what he rose. His main goal in politics was to restore humanity and to convince various nobles to follow a certain guideline, but after he was dismissed from government, he never returned to public life. By the age of 20, Confucius decided to become a teacher, to try to change the world through what he teachers. He had a pattern of thinking that inspired many people, no matter what religion they were, most of East Asia and their way of thinking had Confucian elements in them. His policy was "accept anyone as a disciple provided that the student is willing to learn." But the violent leaders at the time, paid no attention to any of his philosophies. Confucius was one of the first and few philo sophers to leave a collection of writings behind as a source for all people (like the Bible for Catholics). History of Confucianism Confucius lived from 551BCE to 479BCE, during the Chou Dynasty, where in fact imperial rule was breaking down. High principled men originally founded then ran the Chou Dynasty, but by Confucius' time, China was going through a very difficult period where conflicts and attacks had controlled the dynasty, while usurpers took over land, this dynasty was corrupt. This period of political turmoil (770BCE-221BCE) started a new era of a "hundred schools" where teachers, such as Confucius, would move from state to state teaching their other people about their ideas and morals. This was also the time though, where prisoners were put to death in mass executions, soldiers were paid when they presented the severed heads of the enemy, whole populations that were captured were beheaded a... ... as if his life was a disappointment and a failure, but this is proven to not be true because his disciples thought he was great enough to create the book Mencius which is like the Analects. Neo-Confucianism In the East Asian countries, Confucianism was in a competition with Buddhism and Taoism. After the death of Mencius, Confucianism reemerged into a new form now called Neo-Confucianism, which is an interpretation of Confucian thought (mainly that of Mencius) that also addressed the issues of Buddhism and Taoism. So until the early 20th Century, this new philosophical force in Chinese life remained. Confucianism started off as a one man show, trying to make a difference in politics and in general, teaching people about morals and good human conduct. As history progressed, through changes of dynasties and different emperors, many new and different feelings about Confucianism emerged. But Confucius never changed what he believed in, no matter how many times his beliefs were rejected. He fought for what he new was right, and in the end didn’t achieve what he wanted to. But to everyone else, he was a brave man, a man who never gave up and a man whose legend is worth remembering.

Sunday, August 18, 2019

The Lottery Essay -- essays research papers

â€Å"The Lottery†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"The Lottery† was quite disturbing to read. It is an very unusual story that has an ending that will have you baffled. You will want to reread certain parts to see if there is anything thing that you could have missed. The title of the short story is also misleading. In most cases the lottery is a good thing. People don’t win punishment and lotteries don’t hurt them. But in this story it does just that. The author did a great job of telling how anyone and everyone can follow tradition blindly. It is dangerous not to have a mind of your own and to just follow the crowd even if you don’t understand on agree on why something is happening.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first thing that catches the eye while reading this is when the little boys start stuffing their pockets with stones when they arrive there. â€Å"Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones† (264). This is a great example of the mere blindness in following ridiculous traditions. The young boys who started getting stones ready as soon as they got there could not have fully understood the tradition. They could have not understood the complete purpose of the stones. They have seen the adults pick stones in years before and have followed in their footsteps without question as if it were some sort of game.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The official of the lottery is ...

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Why Is This Topic a Controversy Today

Why is this topic a controversy today? Social media is considered to be any website that allows social interaction. (pediatrics) These include Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube and gaming sites to name a few. Social media is a controversial topic, as it is believed that the youth of today spend far too much time using social media instead of interacting face -to-face with people. Therefore it is possible that they lack the proper communication skills they will require to be successful in life.Most jobs require face-to-face interaction. Children have too much access too and are spending too much time using forms of social media. 52% of all children now have access to one of the new mobile devices at home (smartphone, ipad, etc. ) (commonsensemedia. org) According to a recent poll, 22% of teenagers log on to their favorite social media site more than 10 times a day and more than half of adolescents log onto a social media site more than once a day. pediatrics) By the age of 5 more th an 50% of children regularly interact with a computer or tablet device, and by 7 or 8 they regularly play video games and teenagers text an average of 3,400 times a month. (www. cnn) These are just a few of the available stats to support the inappropriate amount of time spent on social media of the youth today. It is through the childhood and teenage years that one develops socially and emotionally.It appears that most of this generations’ social and emotional development is occurring while on the Internet and cell phones. 75%of teenagers now own cell phones, and 25% use them for social media, 54% use them for texting, and 24% use them for instant messaging. (pediatrics) According to another study, kids that spent more time using social media reported lower grades, and lower levels of personal contentment, more likely to get in trouble, more sad, and more bored. (commonsensemedia. rg) A major controversy is that some children are accessing inappropriate sites as there are no protective safeguards to prevent this. One such example is Facebook which requires users to be at least 13 years of age to open an account. Last year more than 7. 5 million American kids under the age of 13 had joined Facebook. (www. cnn. com) The time spent using social media takes a child/youth away from actual physical activity. We are already considered to have a large obese population; this will just continue to foster that.This in turn leads to other problems such as increased health issues and in turn increased medical costs for a society that already has a health system that is being taxed due to insufficient funding and staffing. A final but very significant area of controversy due to the use of social media by today’s youth is the increase in cyber bullying. It is far easier to say something online than it is to someone’s face. There are several alarming statistics with regard to cyber bullying. Below are just a few from the site (www. internetsafety101. rg) -66% of teens who have witnessed online cruelty have also witnessed others joining:21% say they have also joined in the harassment -52% of parents are worried their child will be bullied via social networking sites -1 in 6 parents know their child has been bullied through a social networking site -one million children were harassed, threatened or subjected to other forms of cyber bullying on Facebook during the past year. How are children and youth being represented? Children are being represented as the major users of social media, and therefore they are focusing their sites to attract the child users.Children are drawn to use social media as it is a very human need to be heard and connect with others and there is a desire to make a difference and influence the world around them. (blog neilson) Although there are many negatives attached to social media, one of which is that social media takes children and youth away from reading traditional books. Another side of this equation is t o find innovative ways to use social media to motivate children and youth to learn about books or obtaining information from other sources than traditional reading material.

Friday, August 16, 2019

“A Child Called It” Reflection

child called it â€Å"A Child Called It† Reflection Jessica Budzinski Sociology 2004A Prof. S. Becker September 14, 2012 When I was presented the assignment to read the award winning novel â€Å"A Child called it† by David Pelzer I had mixed feelings. I remember last semester a couple of my friends were reading the novel for their school, family, and community class. They told me about the book they had to read and how it was disturbing and some parts were unbearable to read. They revealed it was about a boy who is abused in the worst ways, and nobody does anything about it.Once receiving the book as well as the assignment I began reading it so I could have my own interpretation about the book. While reading through the novel I felt as it I was right next to David in all the situations he goes through. I felt as if I hated his manipulating mother, spineless father, and emotionless brothers just as much as David did. â€Å"A Child Called It† was extremely helpful in understanding more of what a student may be going through outside of the school environment, that may lead to negative behavior and discipline in the classroom.For example when David’s teacher first observed David stealing food from other students lunch boxes, she believed this was because of rebellion and negative behavior. What she didn’t know was that his mother had been denying him food for such long periods of time that his only hope for survival is to steal food from other students. This makes me think as a future educator to think twice before judging a student inside of the classroom. In some cases students just don’t act out to be funny or rebel, but to send out a message that they are in need of assistance inside their home.I believe that it’s very important to analyze how manipulating David’s mother was towards everyone around her. David’s mother is excellent at making people see David as a â€Å"bad boy† so that they ag ree with her actions of not letting him play outside or having him sit in the corner as a punishment. Its unreal to me that that David’s brothers who are his own blood can walk into the bathroom and see him lying in a bathtub of ice cold water and not have a care in the world about him.Most importantly his father is an important symbol in the novel. Its obvious that towards the beginning of David’s neglection that he disagreed with the way his wife was treating David. For example, when David’s mom was in the hospital giving birth to his brother his father let him interact with her brothers and have dinner. He helped David put away the dishes after he was stabbed by this mother and forced to wash the dishes while in horrific pain. His father would also attempt to save him food and sneak it to the garage.David’s mother became aware of these actions and began fighting and arguing with her husband constantly that he began to rarely come home When he did arriv e home he was intoxicated and unable to have any contact with David. David’s father was also getting abused but in a different way, towards the middle of the novel he didn’t want to start an argument with his wife so he would just stay away from David and no longer give him food. David’s mother repeatedly told David and his brothers that David was no longer part of the family.David’s mother was very loving to her other children, but from a young age her actions of abusing David were seen by her other children, In the novel David talks about how his little brother would make up stories and tell their mother so they can watch David get beaten. David’s brothers also physically abused him, by kicking and hitting him. I found it interesting that at the time of this novel the people around David other then his family were not suspicious about the Pelzer family. For example on Christmas David was only allowed to receive one gift because he is no longer pa rt of the family.He received a pair of roller skates, even as a young boy he knew this gift would be used as a punishment. During the wintertime his mother forced him to skate around the neighborhood for hours, he would be wearing the same dirty thin clothes he always wore. He writes about passing his neighbors and people in cars, but they didn’t even think twice about this action. David tells us that he was starved for a ten-day period and had no choice but to go door to door and ask for food. The people he asked either said no or handed him a sandwich not even wondering why he was knocking on their door for food and not going home.If this were to happen in today’s society people would be suspicious and ask the boy questions. The teachers in the school would wonder why he came to school with the same clothes, missing teeth, broken bones, and starving. David presented the topic that was rarely discussed in his time. He presented the ugly side of amoral society; the one in which nobody cares about the problems of others. Its incredible to see the change in the way America handles child abuse but its also heart wrenching to think of the children who were neglected and abused during the times America was not as active.I found it baffling that after being stabbed, burnt, forced to eat his brothers feces, choked, and forced to breath a mixture of ammonia and bleach that David was still true to his mother. He always completed him chores making sure nothing was under perfection; he walked on eggshells around the house, and never told the truth about his abuse. It’s obvious that the reasoning of this is because if he disobeyed his mother he would receive a worsened punishment. When he scrimmaged through the garbage can and ate the remains of his family’s dinner his mother forced him to vomit and found the food he had consumed.He then received a punishment of sitting in the bathroom for hours with a bucket of ammonia and bleach till he almos t passed out. Its devastating to know that this young boy felt so alone that he couldn’t tell his friends, neighbors, or teachers outside of his home. I hope that as a teacher if a student in my classroom is being abused they will be open and express their emotions to others or me in my school so that we can help them. The title of the book is truly reflective as the survival of the boy required real courage.The fact that his mother refereed to him by â€Å"It† symbolizes that she was blinded by sadism without realizing or comprehending her actions because of her alcohol addiction. Dave Pelzer’s book â€Å"A Child Called it† was not at all a difficult book to read, but the knowledge was quite disturbing and emotional, especially knowing that this actually took place in the United States. I would suggest to anyone that’s planning on pursuing a career in education or as a social worker to read this book. This will help develop a better understanding for students and their needs.