In what ways does the Philosophical Investigations differ from the Essay

In what ways does the Philosophical Investigations differ from the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus - Essay Example He then, in the early paragraphs of the book, subjects a series of doctrines of the Tractacus to sustained criticisms. Although the Tractacus is only occasionally mentioned explicitly, the critiques in the Philosophical Investigations certainly read like a dismantling of the most characteristic ideas of the earlier opus. Because of this, the attitude arose that the Tractacus should be regarded as of largely historical interest and that many of its deepest insights were in danger of being completely overlooked and lost. In light of these, the differences in the Tractacus Logico-Philosophicus can be seen in the discourse of concepts such as ‘confusion† and â€Å"consciousness† as well as in terms of the issue of continuity of Wittgenstein’s philosophies. There was also a radical shift in his conception of language. The Tractacus is considered to be a classic of Western philosophy. In a sense it can be seen as representing both the zenith and the nadir of certain philosophies. It was taken up by the logical positivists as representative of their work. The Tractacus, wrote, Milbank, Pickstock and Graham (1998), embodies the philosophical desire to explain the world, to be able to break it down into analytical parts, whether non-composite simple objects, elementary propositions (elementals), or logical structures. (p. 66) The Philosophical Investigations meanwhile is usually viewed as radically altering Western analytical philosophy, ushering in the â€Å"linguistic turn.† In an attempt to present a synopsis of the thought, Milbank, Pickstock and Ward point to the usual suggestion that it refutes the picture theory of language and its metaphysical explanation while examining various metaphysical problems by dissolving them through an examination of the language used to generate them rather than trying to resolve any of them. (p. 68) The Tractacus is a carefully constructed set of short propositions

Module 4 - SLP Training and Appraisals Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Module 4 - SLP Training and Appraisals - Essay Example Skills gapping starts right from the recruitment stage in an organization, when the administrators compare the skills of prospective employees with the skills an organization lacks or needs. When the skills a job candidate posseses is of dire need to an organization, the candidate may be considered. Applicants with a higher degree of match between skills desired and skills acquired therefore have an upper hand in being recruited by the training authorities (Jones, 2000). The traning administrators then move further to establish if there exists a deficiency between the skills employees have and what they ought to have. Should they detect insufficiency in the desired skills, the immediate managers of the employees or their training administrators check if there is a set of courses in their training programs that can adress the staff’s challenges. Another thing that they look into is the possible events in that given organization which can offer training to its employees. In the process, organizations iron out their employees’ challenges in a personalised precision training program (Jones, 2000). In today’s business environment, both philanthropic and profit making organizations such as commercial banks are in dire need of employees who are computer literate. For banking institutions having employees deficient of computer skills, skills gapping must be conducted if an organization’s efficiency is to be improved (Jones, 2000). Conventionally, the program starts with examining job candidates for computer skills. What is sought by organizations with regard to computer skills may not be extreme technical skills possesion, but basic knowledge in operating computer applications, especially softwares that most befits the running of that given organization. Standardized tests may be administered on these prospective staffs. Mostly, candidates are often required to practically prove their assertions that

Tourism And Regional Development In Romania Tourism Essay

Tourism And Regional Development In Romania Tourism Essay 1. Introduction Considering its largely acknowledged economic and social effects, tourism represents a sector of great interest to many countries development strategies (Zanina, 2011), (Egan 2003). The positive impact of tourism development is usually addressed in connection with the balance of payments, regional development, diversification of the economy, income levels, state revenue, employment opportunities (Pearce, 1991). The tourist life cycle, the local tourist strategies and policies, the use of information and communication technologies in promotion campaigns, etc. have an important influence in this context (Quian, 2010), (Hu, 1996). As far as regional development is concerned, tourism is seen as a driver able to turn to good account the less developed regions potential and, thus, to contribute to a more balanced distribution of economic activities over time and space as well as to the co-ordination of various policies in an inter-sectorial perspective (Nijkamp, 1999), (Constantin and Mitrut, 2008). It can also bring about encouraging responses to the question of regional competitiveness, based on the positive influence on regional employment and income. As a result of the indirect and induced effects, tourism generates jobs not only in its own sector, but also in connected sectors such as financial services, retailing, telecommunications, etc. However, the regional multipliers record significant variations, depending on the characteristics of each region, locality, project, etc. so that careful analyses are recommended in order to promote those projects able to generate the most important benefits to the region. Highly beneficial are the coastal, mountainous, urban and historic regions as well as those with exquisite natural resources. On the other hand, regions with different profile such as rural regions promoting green tourism, leisure and nature activities, the remote ones or undergoing industrial restructuring can also benefit from tourism growth (OECD, 1999) A focus on the factors that influence tourism development is also required in this respect, considering that, depending on the regional profile in terms of tourist attractions and economic situation, they might have a different significance within the corresponding strategies (Aghdaie and Momeni, 2011; Fletcher and Cooper, 1996). Thus, Crutch and Ritchie (2005) quoted by Koufodontis et al. (2007) place a special emphasis on the physical, economic and social factors embedded in the so-called regions image. Among them, the supporting factors and resources such as infrastructure, accessibility, facilitating resources (human, knowledge and financial capital), hospitality, and factors political will seem to play a special role. Only infrastructure alone, to mention one of them, is a multifaceted factor, with manifold implications. It is considered a component of the regional tourist product, comprising basic devices, buildings and service institutions of a major importance for economy and society. The main defining elements relating to a certain destination refer to accommodation facilities, gastronomy facilities, transport to destination, services for active leisure (e.g. ski resorts, sailing schools, golf clubs, etc.), retail network, other services (e.g. information, equipment rental companies, etc.) (Panasiuk, 2007). From a broader perspective, the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report prepared by the World Economic Forum (2011) has developed a complex, overall competitiveness index made of three main subindexes, namely regulatory framework, business environment and infrastructure and human, cultural and natural resources. Again, if reference is made to the business environment and infrastructure component, the corresponding subindex takes into consideration the following pillars: air transport infrastructure, ground transport infrastructure, tourism infrastructure, information and communication technical infrastructure, price competitiveness in travel and tourism industry. Consequently, the regional policy measures meant to improve the frame conditions for tourism development at regional and local level play a key role: they should constitute a coherent package, including economic, legal, institutional, infrastructure, cultural and social elements. The aim of the package must be the definition of a regional profile, stressing and taking advantage of specific feature of each local area (Funck and Kowalski, 1997). Based on these overall considerations our paper aims to discuss the tourism development factors proposing Romania as a relevant case study from two complementary perspectives: on the one hand, it displays an uneven regional development, which requires appropriate solutions in terms of regional strategies and policies; on the other hand the less developed regions have an important tourist potential, which might and should be turned to good account in order to reduce the gap separating them from the developed ones. Though, despite this potential the results are far behind the expectations, so that the study of the factors that still need a special consideration is highly required. In line with the results provided by the World Tourism Organization via the country ranking in terms of Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (Blanke and Chiesa, 2011), which indicate the weak infrastructure as one of the major obstacles for the development of the tourism in Romania, we have proposed and tested a model able to quantify and shed light on the regional disparities in this respect. Accordingly, the paper is organized as follows. First, a review on the tourism development in Romania is provided, emphasizing the disparities between its eight NUTS 2 regions. Second, a couple of econometric models are elaborated and tested in order to evaluate the impact of infrastructure on tourism activity, revealing the specific bottlenecks at regional level. Third, various solutions for tourism support, focusing on those able to surmount the infrastructure hurdle are discussed. 2. General discussion on tourism development in Romania The evaluation of Romanias tourist patrimony relies on a comprehensive activity of tourist zoning that was first developed in 1975-1977 and then periodically updated. Considering tourism as a system at national scale it has aimed at establishing a model for evaluating, constructing a hierarchy and proposing the most suitable ways of turning the tourist patrimony to good account. Multiple criteria have been used in order to delimit the tourist zones and to propose the priority actions in each specific case. As a result, a wide range of tourist zones have been identified, some of them of a particular importance to the European and worlds natural and cultural heritage. Thus, the natural patrimony includes the Delta of Danube as biosphere reservation, the Romanian shore of the Black Sea, the Romanian Carpathians, North Oltenia, Banat area, the Danube Valley, and so on. The most representative areas for the cultural heritage are North Moldova (with monasteries and churches declared worlds heritage by UNESCO), the medieval core of Brasov and Sibiu cities in Transylvania, the medieval fortress of Sighisoara also in Transylvania (the only one still inhabited in Europe), Bucharest and its surroundings, the Greek, Dacian and Roman archaeological sites in Dobrogea and Transylvania, the Neolithic archaeological sites in Moldova most of them located in extremely attractive areas from natural beauty viewpoint as well. More recently, the Spatial Planning of the National Territory has structured the zones of a major tourist potential into two categories, namely: (1) zones of a highly valuable and complex tourist potential (24% of the national territory), which includes national parks and biosphere reservations, protected national areas, cultural patrimony of national and international interest, museums and memorial houses, spa resources  [i]  ; (2) zones of a high tourist potential (34% of the national territory), with natural and cultural patrimony resources of especially national interest. An important characteristic of Romanias natural and cultural-historic patrimony is its relatively well-balanced territorial distribution that has a particular significance especially for the lagging regions, with other economic activities less developed. Based on its potential contribution to the general economic recovery, competitiveness and reduction of interregional disparities tourism is approached by all significant actors population included as one of the priority sectors of the Romanian economy. All governments after 1990 have included tourism development in their strategies, this interest being reflected by its privatization prior to other sectors  [ii]  . Though, the results recorded in the last fifteen years are far below the expectations: the rate of tourism growth is under the economic growth rate and the contribution of tourism to GDP is pretty low (2.3% in 2005 and approx. 2.0% in 2009 according to the methodology of the National Institute of Statistics  [iii]  .). According to the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index launched by the World Economic Forum in March 2007 Romania was ranked the 76th among 124 countries in 2006, with a score of 3.91 on a scale from 1 to 7. In 2011 the overall rank of Romania is 63, with a score of 4.17. With its three pillars referring to travel and tourism regulatory framework, business environment and infrastructure and human, cultural and natural resources, the index reveals relatively good results in terms of policy rules and regulations, price competitiveness in travel and tourism industry, human resources (education and training, workforce wellness), natural and cultural resources and quite poor results in terms of environmental regulation, air transport infrastructure, ICT infrastructure, availability of qualified labour. As a result, about Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index Romania is behind almost all former or current EU candidate countries such as Estonia (score 4.88 and rank 28), Czech Republic (4.77 and 35) , Slovakia (4.68 and 37), Hungary (4.54 and 40), Slovenia (4.64 and 44), Bulgaria (4.39 and 54), Poland 4.38 and 63), etc. and, respectively, Croatia (4.61 and 38), Turkey (4.37 and 52) (Source: The Travel Tourism Competitiveness Report 2011, World Economic Forum, Geneva, 2011). 3. Some comments on the number of departures and arrivals of international tourists in Romania Romanian tourism has seen important changes during the transition from planned economy to market economy. Table 1 presents a series of indicators calculated in order to characterize arrivals and departures of tourists in Romania during the period 1990 to 2010, and also during the political cycles in this period. Statistical indicators are computed on the total number of tourists and transport categories. Table 1. The dynamic of the arrivals and departures of tourists for Romania (%) Indicator Index/rhythm Time period for the indicator 1990-2010 1990-1992 1993-1996 1997-2000 2001-2004 2005-2010 Arrivals of tourists in Romania Total Index change 114.8 98.0 90.0 102.2 133.7 128.4 The average annual rate of change 0.7 -1.0 -3.5 0.7 10.2 5.1 Road transport Index change 161.0 131.5 94.5 98.9 149.1 133.4 The average annual rate of change 2.4 14.7 -1.9 -0.4 14.2 5.9 Railway transport Index change 9.5 48.0 49.0 110.6 64.7 72.8 The average annual rate of change -11.1 -30.7 -21.2 3.4 -13.5 -6.2 Air transport Index change 448.0 113.7 147.2 122.9 100.0 132.1 The average annual rate of change 7.8 6.6 13.8 7.1 0.0 5.7 Ship transport Index change 63.6 57.4 110.3 82.5 137.8 82.4 The average annual rate of change -2.2 -24.2 3.3 -6.2 11.3 -3.8 Tourists departures from Romania Total Index change 96.7 96.7 53.4 102.3 108.8 152.7 The average annual rate of change -0.2 -1.7 -18.9 0.8 2.9 8.8 Road transport Index change 98.6 114.4 46.5 107.6 118.2 137.9 The average annual rate of change -0.1 6.9 -22.5 2.5 5.7 6.6 Railway transport Index change 7.8 44.1 74.3 69.0 34.6 87.8 The average annual rate of change -12.0 -33.6 -9.4 -11.6 -29.8 -2.6 Air transport Index change 911.3 57.4 184.1 132.1 127.0 274.1 The average annual rate of change 11.7 -24.3 22.6 9.7 8.3 22.3 Ship transport Index change 16.8 24.8 144.0 82.7 38.3 51.4 The average annual rate of change -8.5 -50.2 12.9 -6.1 -27.3 -12.5 Figure 1. The ratio between the number of arrivals and departures of tourists in Romania during 1990 2010 During the period 1990 2010 the two indicators, departures and arrivals of tourists have evolved quite different. Over the period 1990 2010 the number of arrivals of tourists in Romania recorded an increase of 14.8% with an average annual rate of 0.7%. For the same period, departures of tourists fell by 3.3% with an average annual rate of -0.2%. Figure 1 shows the evolution of ration between the annual number of arrivals and departures of tourists for Romania in the period 1990 to 2010. The values à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹of this ratio for the entire period are subunit which shows that throughout the analyzed period, the annual number of tourist arrivals in Romania was lower than the number of tourists departures from Romania. During the analyzed period, the data series of the number of departures and arrivals of foreign tourists in Romania are non-stationary, and they are integrated of order 1. Table 2 presents the results of applying the ADF (Dickey and Fuller, 1979) and Philips-Peron (Philips and Peron, 1988) tests used to determine the properties of stationarity and to determine the order of integration of the two data sets. Table 2. Unit root tests Variables Dickey-Fuller Philips-Perron L trend trend 1 Yes Yes 0 No No 3 Yes Yes 2 Yes Yes The null hypothesis H0 is non-stationarity of the variable. For each case the statistics value is specified and statistical probability of a type I error in given between brackets. Here, N_DEP_T means the number of departures during a time period and N_ARRIV_T designates the number of tourist arrivals during the same period. The two tests indicate non-stationarity of the data series of the number of departures and arrivals of foreign tourists in Romania. These series are non-stationary in levels but are stationary in first difference which shows that the two series are I(1). Furthermore, arrivals are stationary around a deterministic trend, while departures dont have this property. These properties are confirmed by applying two statistical tests: ADF and PP. In the following we mention some of the most plausible explanation of these evolutions. Firstly, political changes in 1989 caused an increase in the number of Romanian tourists who went abroad in the first years that followed. Secondly, the accession to the European Union caused a considerable increase in the number of Romanian tourists who went abroad, this being an immediate consequence of the free movement within the European Union. The largest growth of Romanian tourists who went abroad occurred in the 2005-2010 period of time. During this period the average annual growth rate was 8.8%, this growth being the immediate result of the accession to EU starting on January 1, 2007. The number of Romanian tourists who went abroad in the first three years of accession was 23.8%, 46.78% and 31.6% higher compared with 2006. Thirdly, the evolution of the number of Romanian tourists went abroad was caused by an increase in the average wage in the economy. During the period 1990 2010 the average annual growth rate of the average wage in the economy was 0.82%. The most significant increase occurred in the periods 2001 2004 and 2005 2010 for which the annual average increases were 7.85% and 11.37%. Table 3 presents the results of the Granger test applied to determine if there is a Granger causal relationship between the number of departures and the evolution of the average wage in the economy (N_NAW). The results confirm that the evolution of the average wage in the economy Granger causally determined the number of Romanian tourists who went abroad. By applying this statistical test we also established that there is no Granger causality between the number of tourists departures and arrivals. Table 3. Granger causality analysis between the number of departures, number of arrivals, and average net wage in the economy. Hypothesis F statistics Decision N_DEP_T does not Granger Cause N_NAW 0.09994 N_NAW does not Granger Cause N_DEP_T 5.68426 N_DEP_T does not Granger Cause N_ARRIV_T 0.32140 There is no causal relationship between variables N_ARRIV_T does not Granger Cause N_DEP_T 0.57462 4. Features of regional tourism development One of the main reasons of this unsatisfactory overall image is the insufficiency and bad state of both general and tourism-specific infrastructure, unable to meet the requirements of a modern, internationally competitive tourism. Other disfavouring factors in the last fifteen years have envisaged the rigidity of tourism administrative structures, the social instability, the poverty which the majority of population is confronted with, the deficient supply of food, fuel and other goods absolutely necessary to a proper tourism, the low managerial competence and tourism personnels behaviour, the image of Romania abroad, various environmental damages. Some of these drawbacks have been partially alleviated as a result of including tourism development as one of the priorities of the National Development Plan since 1999 (when the first plan was launched) and, consequently, of supporting it via national budget as well as EU pre-accession instruments (e.g. Phare). The investment and management efforts in tourism made it possible to stop the decrease in the total activity volume of this sector recorded between 1990 and 2000 and an upward trend has been recorded starting from 2001. Table 4 shows the average annual rates of three important economic indicators used to characterize the tourism activity at national level and each of the eight development regions: accommodation capacity (AC), staying over night (SON) and arrivals (A). The annual average rates are calculated for 1990 2010 period of time, and the electoral cycles of this period: 1990-1996, 1997 2000, 2001 2004 and 2005 to 2010. Table 4. The evolution of the main indicators of tourism between 1990 and 2010 Region Accommodation Capacity (AC) (number of beds) 2010 Staying over night (SON) 2009 Arrivals (A) 2009 Indicator Average annual growth rate 1990-2010 1990-1996 1997-2000 2001-2004 2005-2010 North-East 21279 1509550 1509550 AC -0.80 -4.62 -2.42 0.41 2.60 SON -4.45 -10.88 -6.43 4.96 1.38 A -4.77 -11.05 -3.15 1.94 1.26 South-East 13687 4423728 4423728 AC -0.86 -3.13 0.20 -0.30 0.58 SON -3.65 -9.43 -4.59 4.45 1.09 A -5.92 -10.79 -3.66 -1.23 -3.68 South 22625 1674366 1674366 AC -0.86 -2.13 -1.88 1.80 0.30 SON -4.32 -9.95 -6.08 1.79 0.76 A -4.73 -10.19 -6.59 0.44 -1.89 South-West 16410 1441604 1441604 AC -2.34 -7.05 -3.68 -3.12 2.26 SON -5.27 -11.09 -8.98 2.24 2.31 A -5.29 -12.69 -1.84 -1.90 -2.60 West 23257 1676496 1676496 AC -0.56 -2.73 -0.85 -1.88 1.78 SON -4.48 -12.46 3.32 -0.33 1.82 A -4.58 -12.05 3.13 0.10 -2.24 North-West 26103 2098589 2098589 AC -0.54 -1.55 -1.18 -0.83 0.06 SON -3.72 -10.36 -3.32 5.40 -0.03 A -4.38 -12.56 0.16 1.61 -2.16 Centre 42029 2665298 2665298 AC -0.26 -3.15 -1.61 -0.27 3.45 SON -3.23 -7.74 -3.97 5.64 0.11 A -4.46 -10.14 -5.36 0.94 -1.07 Bucharest-Ilfov 23120 1835779 1835779 AC 2.99 -5.35 -3.84 7.49 15.55 SON -0.65 -8.67 -10.23 14.37 4.46 A -2.59 -11.97 -10.67 12.00 5.51 Romania 188510 17325410 17325410 AC -0.61 -3.20 -0.83 -0.30 1.92 SON -3.59 -9.86 -4.94 4.97 1.42 A -4.85 -11.20 -3.46 0.69 -1.46 Data source: NIS TEMPO 2011 and the authors processing of data; for SON and A the rhythms are calculated for the period 1990 to 2009. We highlighted the following aspects of the evolution of the considered indicators on national level and for the eight development regions on the 1990-201 period: the average annual growth rate of the accommodation capacity of 2.99%, was recorded only in the Bucharest Ilfov region, in all other regions it have declined between -0.26% annual average in the Central region and -2.34% in the South West region; at national level the decline was -0.61% on average each year; in all developing regions there has been an annual average decrease in the number of overnight stays over the whole period 1990 2009. The annual average decrease of this index value among regions ranged between -5.27% in South-West and -0.65% in the Bucharest-Ilfov region. Nationally there was a decrease in the annual average number of overnight stays of -3.59%; the number of arrivals over the 1990-2010 period decreased every year with an average of -4.85%. The annual average rate for the eight regions ranged from -5.92% in the South East region to 2.59% in the Bucharest Ilfov region; the most significant decrease for the three indicators in most regions were recorded during the first two election cycles between 1990 to 2000. Since the period 2001 2004 there is a noticeable stabilization and a relative increase of values à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹for the three indicators both at national and regional level. This tendency is correlated with the overall evolution of the Romanian economy, which has recorded an important economic growth during 2000-2008 period (annual growth rates were above 5%). During the 2001 2004 period the annual average GDP growth was 6.0% and for the period 2005 to 2010 it was 3.9%. The economic growth rate during 2005 2010 has been reduced significantly due to economic crisis that affected the Romanian economy in 2009 and 2010. In the period following the political changes of 1989 a reduction of the values à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹of above mentioned three indicators has been recorded at both national and regional levels because of the following reasons: the number of employees in the economy has significantly decreased and thus the number of employees who requested a ticket for rest and treatment by union decreased. In the planned economy era unions distributed a considerable number of tickets for rest and treatment to its members. Many times the employees right to such a ticket turns into an obligation to accept it. Under these conditions a large number of spa resorts have completely closed their accommodation capacities; a significant number of Romanians have preferred spending the holiday in other countries, mostly in Greece and Turkey; public road infrastructure and railways has not developed to the level required by Romanian and foreign tourists. The average annual increase in length of public roads during 1990 2010 was only 0.62%, and the length of railways was reduced on average by -0.25% annually. The accommodation capacity in use increased by 8.39% at national level as a result of the major increase in Bucharest-Ilfov region. Most of the other regions recorded smaller or bigger increases and only in the South region the accommodation capacity in use decreased. This is a result of the restructuring and modernization of the tourism capacity inherited from the communist period. The progress is visible in term of increase in the share of higher quality standard capacities (3-5 star capacities), especially after 2000 (Baleanu et. al., 2008) (Olteanu, 2011). As far as the distribution by region of the accommodation capacity is concerned, an important disequilibrium can be easily noticed between the South-East region and the rest of the country, which is explained by the high concentration in the Black Sea area (Secara, 2010). However, the use of the accommodation capacity in this area is characterized by a big seasonality. The number of arrivals and staying over night has recorded different evolutions: the number of arrivals increased whereas the number of staying over night decreased, especially in the seashore area. These figures not only reflect the increase of the weekend tourism but also the increase in the number of tourists who chose as seashore destinations other countries such as Bulgaria, Turkey, and Greece (Olteanu, 2011). The index of using the accommodation capacity has a slightly increasing overall trend, as a result of combining important decreases (especially in the Black Sea area and Bucharest), but it has a relatively low overall level: only approximately one third of the accommodation capacity is used (Table 5). Table 5. The index of using the accommodation capacity in function in 2007 compared with 2000 (percentage) Region 2000 2008 North-East 31.7 29.3 South-East 44.8 42.5 South 28.9 32.8 South-West 42.6 41.2 West 36.3 35.1 North-West 29.9 32.7 Centre 28.0 30.0 Bucharest-Ilfov 36.3 24.6 Romania 35.2 36.0 Source: Territorial Statistical Yearbook of Romania, 2009 Romanian tourism in general is still confronted with the outdated and insufficient infrastructure, unable to offer proper access to architecture monuments, archaeological sites, to meet the demand of parking lots, information points for cultural sites, belvedere points for defence walls, medieval fortresses, churches, monasteries, camping lots for pilgrims, etc. Also the connected facilities hotels, motels, restaurants, gas stations, car rental firms are still behind the demand. The transportation infrastructure is particularly weak in all its forms road, rail, naval and air, with an emphasis on road infrastructure: the highways are almost inexistent while the modernized roads are insufficient and concentrated especially around the Capital city (Table 6). Table 6. The density of public roads and modernized public roads (Km/100sq Km) in 2008 Region PR/100kmp MPR /100kmp North-East 36.6 9.34 South-East 30.7 6.64 South 36.5 11.79 South-West 36.5 12.56 West 32.1 9.17 North-West 35.4 8.39 Centre 31.4 8.17 Bucharest-Ilfov 48.9 36.37 Source: Territorial Statistical Yearbook of Romania, 2010 In almost all regions the public roads have a low density, whereas the modernized public roads represent less than one third out of total. The exception is the Bucharest-Ilfov region, where the density is higher than in the rest of Romania and the modernized public roads represent approximately 60% of the total length at country level. For comparison, in 1998, the density of public roads was 165.45 in Denmark, 64.75 in Germany, 51.29 in Sweden (referinta). The importance of public roads is explained by the fact that a big share of tourist activity in Romania is supported by road transportation. Thus, according to NIS da

Original Writing :: Papers

Original Writing I had just arrived home at about 1am, I had just finished work, and Joe had just walked me home. We had had a busy night at work and a lot of fun. After running round in the kitchens all night I was so tired I went straight to bed. Whilst laid in bed starting to drift off I began to think about Joe, and how much I loved him, until I finally dropped off to sleep, and became enveloped in my dream. I was sitting in a room that I didn't recognise. It was quite dark. There were no lights on and I couldn't find the light switch, the only light visible was that of the television. I sat down on the nearest couch and stared at the T.V. All I could see was a snowy background. I heard the video player start up; it was making its usual buzzing noises as it ate whatever video was in the machine. The remote was lying on the floor next to my feet, and I was curious to know what video was in the machine. I pressed the 'Play' button. Nothing appeared on screen. I assumed that it must have reached the end of the tape so pressing the rewind button I sat and watched the tape it was of someone I couldn't quite 'make out', running extremely quickly backward. My curiosity got the better off me so I pressed the 'Play' button. I could see myself sitting at a round table with balloons in the middle. I could see myself staring at something out of camera shot. I could see by the look on my face it was a boy, because I had a grin on my face, and I looked warm and friendly. My cheeks were flushed. As I stared at the screen and looked into my eyes they were bright and wide, sparkling like stars, I liked this boy. I didn't quite recognise where I was so I rewound it further, but this time more slowly. I could see my friends dancing; I began to laugh because they looked

Eating Disorders Research paper Essay

Eating disorders are considered critical attitudes, emotions, and eating behaviors. Minimized food intake, overeating, and the perceptions of body image, weight, and shape are some examples. There can be contributing factors and influences that develop the idea of an eating disorder. There are three types of eating disorders, binge eating disorder, anorexia nervosa, and bulimia nervosa. The two most common forms are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. According to the National Eating Disorder Association, â€Å"25% of girls 12-18 years old were reported to be engaged in problematic food and weight behavior† And in men and boys, according to the website nimh.nih.gov, â€Å"one in four preadolescent cases of Anorexia occurs in boys, and binge-eating disorder affects females and males about equally†. While the causes aren’t concise, some contributions can be cultural, personal characteristics, stress events or life changes, family, peers, and media. Individuals of low self-esteem or feeling useless can be a big contribution. For most adolescents they tend to compare themselves to others and they can develop an eating disorder because of this aspect. For example if their friends have an eating disorder they may develop one because they want to fit it. Some adolescents can develop an eating disorder from a stressful event such as; teasing, transition from middle school to high school, or a more traumatic event like rape. Families can even contribute to a teen developing an eating disorder. If parents are fighting a lot or may be considering divorce, this can be stressful and some adolescents handle it by not eating or induce vomiting as a means to obtain control over their parents in the household or gain back the attention. If the adolescent seems to feel like their life is spiraling out of control, they may feel like an eating disorder is a way to gain that control back. Also family studies show that anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorders do run in families. The heritability of anorexia nervosa is around 60%, and of bulimia nervosa can be 28 and 80%. For binge eating disorder currently it is 41%. According to some studies conducted across  countries eating disorders can be influenced by genetic factors. Another large contribution to eating disorders is our societal views. According to the National Eating Disorder Association, we develop these ideas, beliefs, and attitudes about what is acceptable according to our culture. To put this into perspective if our culture says your beautiful when you skinny, then some people believe that if they’re not skinny, they aren’t beautiful. Essentially since girls are generally valued for their appearance, they are likely the ones to internalize this idea into their thought process. The media also plays a role in the cultural and societal acceptance. A couple of examples that are very common are models and movie stars. Most often models are in every magazine, on every billboard, and in most commercials. Even T.V. shows like America’s Next Top Model gives children at a young age what the idea of â€Å"beautiful† is. Most movie stars aren’t overweight, which generally can contribute to both males and females being self-conscious about what the ideal appearance should be. There are three kinds of aspects that deal with the development of an eating disorder; behavioral, mental, and physical. The National Eating Disorder Association explains the more we focus on thoughts and feelings of our weight and how we look the more we may be missing out on life overall. When we focus on weight and body image, it can become an obsession, which can contribute to emotional and physical issues. The mental aspect of an eating disorder focuses on the opinion of yourself or your self- esteem. Self-esteem and body image both go hand in hand when it comes to one’s body. Eating disorders not only deal with the mental and behavioral aspects, but those of physical as well can contribute. Anorexia and Bulimia can lead to serious health problems such as kidney failure, heart problems, dehydration, and in excessive cases malnutrition, which can lead to death. A study by the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders reported that, â€Å"The mortal ity rate associated with Anorexia nervosa is twelve times higher than the death rate associated with all causes of death for females 15-24 years old.† Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder in which results in thinness through starvation. It has the highest mortality rate of any psychological disorder, although we know little about the causes of this disorder. Generally the standard cause of death includes both  effects of starvation and suicide. This is disorder is also known as a visible eating disorder, because most are noticeably thin, although some hide their thinness with big clothes or wearing layers. During this time this individual is not maintaining a normal or healthy weight for their age, height, or gender. Anorexia nervosa tends to have two forms first being starvation or restricting. These individuals reduce their caloric intake and increase physical activity to maintain an abnormally low weight. When your body goes into starvation mode, it can alter your body. The second form is either binge eating, purging, or can be both. When anorexia nervosa is in its early stage these behaviors were seen in over half of the individuals. During anorexia nervosa a person can come to weigh less than 85% of the ideal body weight. Anorexia tends to occur during early adolescence or 10-12 years old. People who suffer from anorexia suffer from not only physical illness, but psychiatric too. Some include cognitive impairment, body-checking, low self-esteem, self-absorption, ritualistic behaviors, extreme perfectionism, and self-consciousness. The two most common psychiatric illnesses with anorexia are depression and anxiety. Some physical symptoms that may occur or develop over time are electrolyte imbalances (sodium and potassium levels), osteoporosis (decreased bone density), lanugo hair, dry brittle hair, low body temperature, low blood pressure, slowed heart rate, growth retardation, bloating, constipation, fidgeting, and loss of tooth enamel and dentin, and dehydration. However, the official diagnosis of anorexia nervosa in females requires the absence of menstruation (amenorrhea), for at least three consecutive months. The deficiency of menstruation is a normal response to starvation and weight loss and the body will then shut down the reproductive functions. Treatment plans of Anorexia nervosa often depend on the individual’s needs which may include medical care and supervision, nutritional counseling and therapy. If they have had severe weight loss, hospitalization is essential to get them back to an appropriate weight. This individual will need assistance in developing new patterns of thought process in their eating patterns. The earlier detected the less treatment necessary. Depending on the individual and the amount of time they have had the eating disorder; treatment can take a short or long period of time. Each person varies in the recovering process of the disorder. According to the National  Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, â€Å"Only 1 in 10 men and women with eating disorders receive treatment. Only 35% of people that receive that treatment for eating disorders get treatment at a specialized facility for eating disorders.† Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder that is characterized by a binge and purge pattern. Unlike Anorexia, people who have Bulimia can be at a normal weight range, but still have that fear of weight gain and they are generally very unhappy with their body image, shape, and size. It is also an invisible eating disorder, because individuals are usually of normal weight or over-weight. It can be difficult to place a caloric intake on a binge, but most agree around 1,000 calories is the minimum; however it can be up to 20,000 calories. Bulimia, unlike Anorexia, usually occurs during late adolescence or early adulthood, about 18-22 years old. These individuals persistently follow the pattern of binging in combination with some form of compensatory behavior, which is intended to reverse the effects of the binge or prevent weight gain. Compensatory behaviors include actions such as; self-induced vomiting, misuse of laxatives, diuretics, or other agents, fasting, and excessive exercise. The behavior of Bulimia may not be obvious because they do it in secrecy, because they feel a sense of shame and sickness of what they did. This pattern of binging and purging most likely occurs several times a week. Some data addresses a theory that individuals born after 1960 are at greater risk for the disorder, because it is more of a â€Å"modern occurrence† than anorexia. Usually more common in urban areas which suggests that environmental exposure and social learning play a role in the development of this disorder. This disorder is 9 times more common in females than males. Coincidentally, people with Bulimia also have psychiatric and physical aspects. It is estimated that 80% of individuals with bulimia have another psychiatric disorder. The psychiatric features are depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, extreme perfectionism, self-consciousness, irritability, impulsive spending, shoplifting, and may or may not have substance abuse problems, although the most common are anxiety disorders, major depression, substance use, and personality disorders. The two most common personality features those similar to those who have anorexia nervosa, perfectionism and low self-esteem. People with bulimia are likely to be more impulsive and have higher stimulus or sensation-seeking behavior. They also have a  tendency to exhibit more erratic and impulsive traits. Some physical symptoms of bulimia include; dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, kidney problems, inflamed sore throat from purging, acid reflux, swollen parotid glands, gastrointestinal complications, irregular menstruation, constipation, bloating, sensitive and decaying teeth and tooth enamel from stomach acids. Like Anorexia the treatment for Bulimia is essential for the individual’s health. For Bulimia there are a few more options such as; reducing or ending the binging or purging pattern, nutritional counseling, and cognitive behavioral therapy, prescribing medication, and accessing reasons for the illness. About 70% of people who have the disorder of Bulimia recover from it. According to the DSM the criteria is specific for anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. However, most people who have eating disorders do not meet the criteria. There is a different way of diagnosing these particular individuals which is by the Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (EDNOS). According to the textbook, Abnormal Psychology the â€Å"DSM-IV lists six examples of how the symptoms of EDNOS differ from those of the other disorders. Patients may have: 1. all features of anorexia nervosa except amenorrhea. 2. all features of anorexia nervosa except drastic weight loss. 3. all criteria for bulimia nervosa except frequency of binge eating or purging or duration of 3 months. 4. regular, inappropriate compensatory behavior after eating small amounts of food. 5. chewing and spitting out food (purging disorder). 6. binge eating disorder (binging without compensatory behavior.† Binge eating disorder is characterized by regular binge eating behaviors, but without the compensatory behaviors. Binge eating disorder or BED is a recent addition to the DSM, and is not yet an official psychiatric disorder. Since it was a recent addition little is known about its morbidity and mortality. Some research indicates that a person can be ill with BED for approximately 14.4 years which may suggest that BED is not just a temporary stage. The two most common forms of psychiatric disorders are depression and anxiety like most other eating disorders. Of females 3.5% meet the criteria of BED and of males 2%. BED is also found in approximately 5 to 8% of obese individuals. Eating disorders in females and males as discussed are not generally similar. In anorexia nervosa women and girls are more common to have this disorder than men and boys, essentially the ratio being 9 to 1. Many different theories  have been presented as to why it affects women more than men. The most effici ent theory is believed to be the increased pressure on females to have the ideal appearance or the â€Å"perfection† of the female body. Even though bulimia nervosa is also approximately 9 to 1, women to men can be somewhat sex-biased. Men tend to rely on nonpurging forms of compensatory behavior after binge eating, rather use excessive exercise. It is male athletes that feel pressured to remain thin and fit and focus on their weight and body shape excessively. For binge eating disorder the sex ratio is equally balanced. The developmental factors of eating disorders can assist in determining the causes as well. In anorexia nervosa it generally uncommon during childhood, although it is occurring increasingly. Bulimia nervosa is usually seldom conveyed before puberty. In anorexia nervosa the disorder itself and the associated symptoms can lead to isolation from peers and family. It can also have negative effects on the family emotionally and financially. The parents especially undergo extreme anxiety and struggle to understand why their children are doing this to themselves and their body. All this stress and financial difficulties with the expense of treatment can weaken or ruin a family’s functioning. For bu limia girls who develop mature figures earlier than their peers may develop disappointment, which can lead to earlier experimentation to design controlled eating and weight, which could very well increase the risk of an eating disorder. Binge eating generally begins in late adolescence or early adulthood. There are many treatments for eating disorders, the treatment goals for individuals with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder differ somewhat, although there are some aspects in common. The treatment goal of anorexia nervosa are increased caloric intake and weight gain so later treatments for psychological aspects of this disorder can be dealt with more effectively. For bulimia nervosa the focus is on the normalization of eating, elimination of binge eating and purging, and improvement of the psychological aspects of the disorder as well. For binge eating disorder individuals who are overweight the goal is to elimination of binge eating and normalization of eating. Also either weight stabilization or weight loss can be effective. In anorexia nervosa inpatient treatment can be accomplished by having a disciplined team to succeed. The first and most important step is weight restoration. Weight is generally not the only  factor to consider some other crucial factors such as medical complications, suicide attempts or plans, failure to improve with outpatient treatment, interference with school, work, or family, and pregnancy. Inpatient treatment is very difficult for the patient and the family as the patient is feared of giving up the symptoms, essentially the patient could have developed a phobia of food. It is important for the doctor to create a safe environment to make the patient feel safe and to also obtain the patients trust to make the hospitalization a success. Biological treatments include medications to assist in the cure of the disorder or assist in decreased symptoms of the disorder. Medications prescribed for anorexia nervosa have shown to be ineffective currently. In bulimia nervosa fluoxetine (Prozac) has been known to decrease the core symptoms of binge eating and purging and associated psycho logical features such as depression and anxiety. The FDA approved the treatment of fluoxetine for the treatment of bulimia nervosa, but for no other eating disorders. Although fluoxetine reduces the symptoms it is still not found to reduce or have permanent remission on long-lasting effects. A treatment that is necessary but not a sufficient intervention for all eating disorders is nutritional counseling. An additional treatment that helps individuals change their thinking patterns that contribute to their problem is cognitive-behavioral therapy or (CBT). Recovery rates with CBT wavy from 35-75% at five or more years of follow-up. For anorexia nervosa some evidence suggests that CBT may reduce relapse in adults after weight has been restored. However it’s unclear how effective CBT is with individuals who are extremely underweight. For bulimia nervosa the basis of CBT is self-monitoring. The individuals keep track of what they eat, the situation they were in, and their thoughts and feelings. CBT focuses extensively on relapse prevention for all eating disorders. It is also an effective treatment for a binge eating disorder. Binge eating disorders may first be offered a help-book or an online cognitive-behavioral program online to use at their own pace. For the family theories of anorexia nervosa a family-based intervention is directed to change the dysfunction of the family. This therapy can assist the family in being around healthier and a place to have open communication. Some modern approaches to family therapy for anorexia nervosa include conjoint family therapy, separated family therapy, parent training, and the Maudsley method,  which focuses on parental control of the initial stages of renutrion. The seven values include working with experts who know how to help you, working together as a family, to not blame your child or yourself for the problems you are having, focusing on the problem before you, not debating with your child about eating or weight-related concerns, knowing when to begin backing off, and taking care of yourself because you are the child’s best hope. In conclusion I have discussed and explained the three types of eating disorders; anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder. I explained what factors can contribute to the development of an eating disorder. I deliberated three aspects of eating disorders such as the mental, behavioral, and physical. The analyzed the three eating disorders and gave a definition for each. I gave various personalities and other psychological dysfunctions that can come along with eating disorders. I expressed the sex ratios and developmental factors of eating disorders and explained the contributing factors for each. Also in discussing the symptoms of eating disorders lastly I identified some treatments that can assist in reducing symptoms and essentially preventing relapse. Some treatments that were acknowledged are inpatient treatment, biological treatments, nutritional counseling, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and family-based interventions. Works Cited About eating disorders. (n.d.). Retrieved from National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders website: http://www.anad.org/â€Å'get-information/â€Å'about-eating-disorders/â€Å'bulimia-nervosa/ Body Image: Loving Yourself Inside and Out. (n.d.). Retrieved from The National Women’s Health Information Center website: http://www.womenshealth.gov/â€Å'bodyimage/â€Å'eatingdisorders/ Eating Disorders. (2008). Retrieved from National Eating Disorder Information Centre website: http://www.nedic.ca/ Eating Disorders: anorexia nervosa, binge eating, and bulimia nervosa. (n.d.). Retrieved from U.S. Library of Medicine, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health website: www.nlm.nih.gov/â€Å'medlineplus/â€Å'eatingdisorders.html Eating disorder statistics. (n.d.). Retrieved from

A King’s Collapse

A King's Collapse Unfortunately, in about every person's life either a tragic event or a series of tragic events can be found and in some cases more than others. To many people a tragic hero could be defined as someone who performs a heroic act, but dies in the process. Nevertheless, this statement is wrong, but instead a tragic hero needs five elements. To be a tragic hero one would need noble stature, a tragic flaw, free choice, excessive punishment and increased awareness. When discussing the play Antigone, a perfect example of a tragic hero would be Creon.Though many people might argue Antigone to be the tragic hero, but she is missing the element of increased awareness. Imagine finding out that your father married your grandma and your brothers killed each other over power. Then your uncle steps in to be king and declares that one of your brothers will get no burial because he was a trader. This information starts off a tragic play called Antigone. In the play, Creon must have n oble stature in order to be the tragic hero. One way Creon has noble stature is that he is the king which gives him power over the people.Antigone voiced this when she told Creon, â€Å"They share my views, but they keep their mouths shut just for you. † (Sophocles 12) Even though Antigone was telling Creon that his people did not share his views, what she said showed that Creon still had power over them. Another two ways Creon has noble stature are that he creates the laws and Creon's decisions affects everyone. This is shown when Creon states, â€Å"It's impossible/ to really know a man, to know his soul,/ his mind and will before one witnesses/ his skill in governing and making laws. (L 198-201) This statement shows that Creon thinks everyone knows him because he is the one governing and making the laws. Creon may be the king of the Thebes, but Creon does have a tragic flaw. Flaws can be found in every single person that has lived either in the past, present or will live in the future. Though there are many people, like Creon, who believe that they have no flaws. This was just a side affect of Creon's tragic flaw which was excessive pride. Creon's excessive pride leads him to not taking any sort of advice from anyone, especially women.This is shown when Antigone tried persuading Creon and Creon replied with, â€Å"No woman's going to govern me- no, no- not while I'm still alive. † (L 599-600) This not only shows his excessive pride, but also that he has absolutly no respect for women. Creon may have especially not listened to women, but he had the same communication level with everyone else, too. This is proven when the chorus leader tries reasoning with him then finally tells him, â€Å"Old man you're like archers shooting at me. † (L 1149) This states that Creon had excessive pride, but he also was persistent and stubborn.Creon may of had excessive pride as his tragic flaw, but he also had the free choice when making his decisions. W ith both Creon's excessive pride and him being the King of Thebes, he created a proclamation. This is one of the many unfortunate events that lead up to the tragic ending in Antigone. With this proclamation Creon was very forceful when making sure everyone knew it and the consequences they would apprehend if broken. Ismene restates, â€Å"For Creon this matter's really serious. / Anyone who acts against the order/ will be stoned to death before the city. (L 41-43) This was the punishment for anyone who would betray him by breaking the proclamation which showed he had his own free choice on what the punishment would be. He also had the free choice on who to forgive and who to punish. This was shown when Creon claims, â€Å"An enemy/ can never be a friend, not even in death. † (L 598-599) When Creon says this it shows everyone that Creon has no respect for traitors at all and they will be punished no matter who they are. Creon's noble stature, tragic flaw and free choices have all lead up to Creon's excessive punishment.To be completely truthful excessive punishment could be a lot of different things, but the most common one is probably death. Though in Antigone death is not Creon's excessive punishment. Instead, Creon's excessive punishment for everything he had done was the loss of his son and wife. In Antigone, Creon had changed his mind about his actions and went to go fix them, but in the end he still lost his wife and son. Creon made it clear that he was going to fix things by saying, â€Å"Alas- it's difficult. But I'll give up. I'll not do what I'd set my heart upon. / It's not right to fight against necessity. † (L 1236-1238) This shows that Creon was finally persuaded into not killing Antigone and burying Polyneices. Creon may of finally changed his mind, but he was too late to save anyone from death. Then after Antigone, his son and his wife he finally admits, â€Å"I killed you, my son, without intending to,/ and you as well, my wife. How useless I am now. † (L 1479-1480) This statement shows exactly what Creon's excessive punishment was which included losing his family.Creon's actions and his excessive punishment lead to his increased awareness of what he had done and the consequences he would now have to face because of them. The last element one needs to inquire before being classified as a tragic hero concludes to be increased awareness. Through all Creon had done, in the end, he finally realized that he should not have been so selfish nor stubborn. Creon lastly voiced the truth as he stated, â€Å"A las for me†¦ The guilt for all this is mine-/†¦ I, and I alone†¦ / I murdered you†¦ I speak the truth. (1463, 1465-1466) This comes to show that Creon comprehended that even though his son and wife killed themselves, he still was the reason in which they killed themselves. For any one person, with is awareness that you comprehend there has to be guilt that follows. His regret is stated as, â€Å"Oh the profanity of what I planned. / Alas, my son, you died so young-/ not your own foolishness but mine. † (L 1410-1412) In this quote it explain not only that Creon made mistakes or that he regrets it, but it also shows that Creon realizes that he made foolish mistakes that he would expect someone much inexperienced to make.Mix this five elements: noble stature, tragic flaw, free choice, excessive punishment, and increased awareness together and one would result with a tragic hero. Since almost everyone in the world has exprienced or seen some type of either tragic event or a series of tragic events in their lifetime it can be concluded that each person has their own definition of a tragic event. In many cases the established definition can be dependent on how severe the tragic event happens to be. The same thing happens when defining what a tragic hero consists of being.The correct difinition for what one needs to be a tragic hero states that a person should ne ed five elements: noble stature, a tragic flaw, free choice, excessive punishment, and increased awareness. Creon from the tragic play Antigone could be cosidered to be a perfect example of a tragic hero. Now many people might beg to differ that Antigone is the real play, but in all actuality Antigone missed one of the elements in the play. The element that allowed Creon tone the tragic hero instead of Antigone was that Antigone had no increased awareness in the end.

A Seperate Peace Essays - Phillips Exeter Academy, A Separate Peace

A Seperate Peace Essays - Phillips Exeter Academy, A Separate Peace A Seperate Peace In Knowles novel, A Separate Peace, Gene is portrayed as an intelligent student who is motivated by academics. He is also a thinker that considers a situation from all sides before making a decision. Gene is also a person who follows all the rules and regulations. He always obeys his teachers, studies hard, never misses a class, and makes excellent grades. He does not really enjoy sports, for he is not a good athlete. While in school he lets many distractions such as his friend Finny take part in his life. This leads to his internal wars. Finny is Genes roommate and best friend, who has a completely opposite personality from Gene. He always acts on blind impulse, never thinking about the rules or the consequences. He is also a poor student, for he does not devote himself to his studies. He would rather be playing sports, since he is the best athlete on campus. He lets sports motivate him and wants to participate in the 1944 Olympics. During their days at Devon, Gene is motivated by Finnys perfect grace and coordination. Gene begins to adore and worship Finny as a super hero. He feels his roommate can handle any situation and charm the teachers and classmates. As a result, Gene tries to imitate him and also lets himself be controlled by him. Gradually, Gene grows jealous of his friend. He begins to hope that Finny will get caught and punished for one of his many wild stunts. For instance, when Pinny wore an outrageous pink shirt, he escaped punishment by giving a satisfying reason saying that it was his emblem. Gene wants Finny to be forced down to his level so that he can compete with him and not just lose to him.Gene tries to please Finny. Although he knows that by doing so, he is acting against every instinct of his behavior. In order to keep up with Finny, he jumps from the tree into the river, a daring feat, even though he is scared to death. He also allows Finny to take him away from his studies, which are v ery important to Gene. When Finny saves Genes life by preventing him from falling from the tree, Gene knows that he should be grateful, instead he accuses him by saying he would not have been up in the tree if werent for Finny. He concludes that he should not feel any gratitude towards his roommate. Since everything seems to come so easily and naturally to Finny, especially his athletic abilities, Gene grows insanely jealous of him. The jealousy is carefully hidden inside until he can stand it no more. He causes Finny to fall out of the tree, crippling him for life. By hurting him, Gene could bring him down to his level. After the accident, Gene even sees himself as Finny. He dresses in his roommate's clothes and says, I was Phineas, Phineas to the life. He also becomes the crippled Finny, refusing to participate in sports, since Finny cannot do it. After the accident, Gene is riddled with guilt and shame. During summer vacation, he decides he must confess that he has caused the accident to Finny. He goes to his home, where he is recovering, and tries to tell Finny that he has bounced him out of the tree. Finny refuses to believe the story, for he trusts Gene as his best friend in life. When Finny returns to Devon, he tells Gene that he is going prepare him for the next Olympics. The agreement is that Finny will coach Gene in sports, and Gene will coach Finny in his studies. During the winter, Gene participates in a winter carnival that Finny has organized. He easily wins all of the sporting events, proving that Finny's efforts have paid off. But Gene is still not at peace with himself. The war that is raging in Europe, and his internal war, driven by guilt and shame. When the friendship between Pinny and Gene strengthens, Gene gets motivated by Lepers telegram to join the Navy. Gene lets go of Pinny and goes off to find Leper. Gene sees that Leper has gone crazy from the internal conflict.

The role of business in protecting the environment

The role of business in protecting the environment Free Online Research Papers The role business can play in protecting the environment â€Å"†¦shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand.†(Matthew 7:26, King James Bible).There can be little doubt that mankind and indeed the whole planet is facing an environmental crisis. Whether that crisis is brought to a head by global warming, ozone depletion, acid rain, tropical deforestation or top soil erosion, remains to be seen. In this essay we will examine the role business is playing in creating this crisis and what it can do to help protect the environment in the future. Business produces the goods and services that meet our needs, wants and desires. It is this process that has lead to much of the destruction of the environment that has taken place. This damage continues on a daily basis. However, business is not solely to blame for this; governments and consumers must take some of the responsibility. It is governments who regulate the business community both legally and economically and have allowed this environmental destruction to take place. Consumers must accept their share of the blame as it is they who have consented to consume goods and services produced in an environmentally damaging way. That said it is the unique and close relationship between the production process and the environment that places the burden of environmental protection squarely on the shoulders of business. The manufacture of products and delivery of services for consumption involve necessarily the usage and conversion of raw materials. This process unavoidably produces waste. Indeed the processed product itself is destined to become waste as well. That is the nature of consumer goods; they are purchased, used and replaced. The production of the product will consume most of the resources, but even its utilization and eventual disposal consumes more. There is no escaping the fact that what goes in, must (inevitably) come out as waste. The fact is that resource scarcity and pollution are two sides of the same coin. It is clear; that our current methods of production are having a seriously adverse affect on the environment. If these processes remain un-checked, the eco-systems, which we all rely on, will eventually be seriously damaged. The message is clear; we must seek out more environmentally sustainable methods of production. Since the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 it has been internationally accepted that the ultimate goal of the UN environmental policy is sustainable production, which is production in harmony with the maintaining of global life support systems. In other words, sustainable production is the process where the consumption of materials and energy are reduced to a level where the ability of the environment to regenerate and assimilate the waste is maintained. This will have to be achieved in the face of a global demand for goods and services by a population which is likely to double in size before it stabilizes. Achieving sustainable production in the light of this demand is a n enormous challenge. What needs to be done is clear. Business has to reduce the environmental cost of production. However, we have not yet seen any radical shift in business practices which will bring about such a reduction. It is difficult for business to deny the need for environmental protection; however its response to the problem seems hap-hazard. At first the business community adopted programs which would simply fine tune their then existing practices. More recently they have been modifying their management techniques more drastically with a view to meeting the challenge head on. It seems to be recognized now that meeting these challenges requires a complete re-think of how business is conducted. The investments and innovations of business have driven economic growth and satisfied consumer demand but, because of the resources consumed and the side effects of waste and pollution, they have become unfortunately the main contributors to environmental destruction. New techniques and more efficient methods of production need to be found. It is clear now that economic growth without heed to the environmental cost can no longer be the main objective of business; growth without recognition of the environmental cost is unjustifiable. We know that new technologies and processes are not sufficient to meet the demands of the issues at hand. It would also be foolish for us to rely solely or even heavily on the possibility that science and technology will cure the ills of the past and provide us with new streams of growth for the future. Fundamentally there is a need for a change of attitude towards production and consumption, but more importantly there is a need to become ethically a ware of the total, comprehensive cost of business, that is not just its economic cost but also its social and environmental costs. We must discover new and innovative ways to organize the business culture within the existing free market economy, under governmental and social regulation while promoting sustainable production and growth for the future. On a global scale there are conflicts in business as to how this might be achieved. There are those in the emerging economies who protest that the environmental destruction to date has been caused by the developed world. The developed world has been careless and reckless in its treatment of the planet and has benefitted significantly from this negligence, but now that impending disaster has been detected they insist that all economies, including the underdeveloped, must bear the burden for its rectification. Emerging economies argue that they did not cause this problem and as such it is the responsibility of developed economies to take the initial and principal corrective action. This position was recognized by the UN during the Kyoto summit on climate change in 1997. Under Kyoto, industrialized countries agreed to reduce their collective green house gas emissions by approximately five percent compared to the year nineteen ninety. The main contributors to this reduction will be the European Union together with the United States and Japan. The United Nations agreed to a set of â€Å"common but differentiated responsibilities. The parties agreed that the largest share of historical and current global emissions of greenhouse gases has originated in developed countries. Per capita, emissions in developing countries are still relatively low and the share of global emissions originating in developing countries will grow to meet their social and development needs. Failure to adhere to the protocol will result in a financial fine for the country in breach. (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) Every developed country attending the conference has ratified this protocol with the exception of the United States of America. They argue that the United States should not be a signatory to the protocol because it did not include binding targets and timetables for developing as well as industrialized nations or would result in serious harm to the economy of the United States(U.S. Senate Byrd-Hagel Resolution). The United States President George W. Bush has indicated that he does not intend to ask congress to ratify the protocol, not because he does not support the principles, but because of the exemption granted to China. China is now the world’s largest gross emitter of green house gas and would be able to continue to adopt a â€Å"†¦business as usual† approach if not regulated. He further argues that â€Å" Americas unwillingness to embrace a flawed treaty should not be read by our friends and allies as any abdication of responsibility. To the contrary, my administration is committed to a leadership role on the issue of climate change Our approach must be consistent with the long-term goal of stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. (President Bush Discusses Global Climate Change 11th June 2001) Some argue that the United States failure to ratify the protocol has more to do with the economic cost of ratification rather than with fairness. Conservative estimates indicate a reduction of approximately four percent in the Gross Domestic Product of the United States economy should they ratify and abide by the protocol. Essentially the argument is this, if the treaty is ratified, the pollution intensive jobs in the developed economies will be relocated to emerging economies because the cost of doing business there will be less. It is essential that the problem of climate change is addressed on a global scale by business. When the Kyoto protocol is analyzed objectively, it can be seen to have many far reaching implications for the businesses of developed countries. As long as consumers demand cheap, affordable goods, business will endeavor to provide them. If this requires the relocation of production to emerging economies then business will do that, as they have responsibilities to their share holders to optimize profits and dividends. Unless society demands that business be responsible for environmentally friendly, sustainable production and is willing to accept the extra cost, then, disregarding the social and environmental costs, production will be relocated to the lowest economic cost countries. One can conclude that it is up to business to sort out the problem of pollution, but that business is anchored by consumer demand. (1493 Words) References Business and the Environment: A Reader by Richard Welford and Richard Starkey, Published by Taylor Francis, 1996; ISBN 1560326093, 9781560326090 The Whitehouse (11/06/2001). President Bush Discusses Global Climate Change. www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/06/20010611-2.html, viewed 15th November 2008 www.unfccc.int/essential_background/convention/background/items/1353.php, viewed 15th November 2008 www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Protocol, viewed 15th November 2008 Research Papers on The role of business in protecting the environmentRiordan Manufacturing Production PlanPETSTEL analysis of IndiaRelationship between Media Coverage and Social andBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfGenetic EngineeringOpen Architechture a white paperMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductDefinition of Export QuotasInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesThe Project Managment Office System

How to Copy a Row in Excel VBA

How to Copy a Row in Excel VBA Using VBA to program Excel isnt as popular as it once was. However, there are still plenty of programmers who prefer it when working with Excel. If you are one of those people, this article is for you.​ Copying a row in Excel VBA is the kind of thing that Excel VBA is really useful for. For example, you may want to have one file of all your receipts with date, account, category, provider, product/service, and cost entered one line at a time, as they occur- an instance of evolving accounting rather than static accounting. To do this, you need to be able to copy a row from one worksheet to another. A sample Excel VBA program that copies a row from one worksheet to another- using only three columns for simplicity- contains: An alpha column for textA numeric column - an automatic sum is created on the target worksheetA date column - the current date and time is filled in automatically Considerations for Writing Excel VBA Code To trigger an event that copies the row, go with the standard- a Button form control. In Excel, click Insert on the Developer tab. Then, select the Button form control and draw the button where you want it. Excel automatically displays a dialog to give you a chance to select a macro triggered by the click event of the button  or to create a new one. There are several ways to find the last row in the target worksheet so the program can copy a row at the bottom. This example chooses to maintain the number of the last row in the worksheet. To maintain the number of the last row, you have to store that number somewhere. This might be a problem because the user might change or delete the number. To get around this, place it in the cell directly underneath the form button. That way, its inaccessible to the user. (The easiest thing to do is enter a value in the cell and then move the button over it.) Code to Copy a Row Using Excel VBA Sub Add_The_Line() Dim currentRow As Integer Sheets(Sheet1).Select currentRow Range(C2).Value Rows(7).Select Selection.Copy Sheets(Sheet2).Select Rows(currentRow).Select ActiveSheet.Paste Dim theDate As Date theDate Now() Cells(currentRow, 4).Value CStr(theDate) Cells(currentRow 1, 3).Activate Dim rTotalCell As Range Set rTotalCell _ Sheets(Sheet2).Cells(Rows.Count, C).End(xlUp).Offset(1, 0) rTotalCell WorksheetFunction.Sum _ (Range(C7, rTotalCell.Offset(-1, 0))) Sheets(Sheet1).Range(C2).Value currentRow 1 End Sub This code uses xlUp, a magic number, or more technically an enumerated constant, which is recognized by the End method. Offset(1,0) simply  moves up one row in the same column, so the net effect is to select the last cell in column C. In words, the statement says: Go to the last cell in column C (equivalent to EndDown Arrow).Then, go back up to the last unused cell (equivalent to the EndUp Arrow).Then, go up one more cell. The last statement updates the location of the last row. VBA is probably harder than VB.NET because you have to know both VB and Excel VBA objects. Using xlUP is a good example of the kind of specialized knowledge that is critical to being able to write VBA macros without looking up three different things for every statement you code. Microsoft has made great progress in upgrading the Visual Studio editor to help you figure out the correct syntax, but the VBA editor hasnt changed much.

Impact transportation has on the economy and the environment Research Paper

Impact transportation has on the economy and the environment - Research Paper Example Products produced in a certain locality can be transported to other regions where they are scarce. In these regions, the prices will be a bit higher. This additional income economically empowers the producers. Efficient transport enhances mobility of people and goods. This saves on time and costs. The people can move easily to their employment places and the businessmen can also transport their products to the markets. This enhances economic activities in the country. Transportation companies also offer employment to many people (Rodrigue & Notteboom, 2013). This employment provides income to the people and reduces unemployment in a given country. A low level of unemployment is an indicator of economic growth. Another economic impact is that transportation enables access to a wider market. This enables division of labor and specialization. This is because when a variety of products can be availed to consumers when they are required from any region, then the producers of that particular region do not have to produce all sorts of products but can specialize in some of the products. Specialization leads to better production methods, which eventually lead firms to increase their production. Increased output leads firms to enjoy the economies of scale hence greater profitability. Higher production also leads to a higher demand for transportation services, which leads to greater profitability for those in the transportation business. Transport also enables companies to get access to inputs and skilled labor. Skilled labor enables firms to use the most efficient and cost effective methods in production. This lowers the cost of production and increases profits for businesses (MaÄ iulis, Vasiliauskas & Jakubauskas, 2009). Indirect effects include lowering of product prices, increase of product variety and purchases by companies in the transport sector. Since transport enhances the mobility of people and commodities, goods can be availed to any region from all

Curriculum Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Curriculum - Term Paper Example To demonstrate its holistic nature, the FIU BSN curriculum framework has a concept of a â€Å"globe.† The â€Å"globe† is a demonstration of the cohesiveness of the curriculum, its goals and values. The global model is characterized by levels that run from bottom to top of the â€Å"globe†. It is also characterized by organizing threads (pervasive and vertical) that start from the base of the â€Å"globe† to the top. The base of the â€Å"globe†, which is the curriculum starting point, has the behavioral sciences, general education and biological sciences. From this point the students to the nursing knowledge foundation, basic knowledge in nursing specialty and nursing knowledge synthesis as they accomplish their study plans. The levels have seven pervasive threads of organization: cultural competence, Ethics, Process of Decision Making, Globalization, Genomics, Quality and Safety, Technology and Globalization. The vertical threads of organization a re four: Professional Nursing, Scholarship and Research, Practice that is Evidence Based, Systems of Global Health and Illness/ Health Management (FIU). The influences of the design of the curriculum are the factors that are pervasive in the thread. In broad these include communication and collaboration, Quality and Safety, the process of decision making, cultural competence, Genomics, Globalization and Ethics (FIU). The Commission for Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) gives the accreditation standards for the nursing programs. The standards are divided into four categories which include: the Governance and Mission; the Resources and institutional commitment, the Teaching and Learning processes and the curriculum; and the Program outcomes assessment and its achievement. Emphasis will be laid on the 3rd standard that deals with curriculum (CCNE, 2013). FIU nursing curriculum is developed according to the nursing program goals, mission and

Arms and International Relations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Arms and International Relations - Essay Example There had been considerable unrest and tension between the countries of Eastern and Western Europe. As such, the West European Arms Industry suffered a serious setback due to European integration. There have been rapid developments to address the disruption of the relations between the military and the industry. These changes in the production of arms resulted in several issues, relating to employment, technology, national security and foreign policy. It was perceived that the European nations would find a solution for these challenging tasks. The decisions taken by these countries will invariably affect the employment of a large number of workers in the arms production industry. Furthermore, these decisions could also affect national and international policies, in the areas of technology, economics, arms procurement and international integration (Brzoska & Lock, 1992. Page 4 – 5). The annual toll in human life, exacted by small arms, all over the world comes to nearly half a million. Furthermore, the number of people who succumb to small arms is more than the number of people who are slain by missiles or weapons of mass destruction. The international arms control agreements are deeply concerned about this extremely distressing situation; and almost a hundred companies are lobbying to suitably change arms regulations, so as to address this alarming phenomenon. These companies want to form a new treaty that will be aimed at regulating the trade in small arms. The United Kingdom, Japan and several other nations are forging ahead to create such a new treaty. This new treaty would prohibit the sale and purchase of small but lethal weapons, like hand guns and grenade launchers (Falby, October 15, 2007). In the earlier stages this prohibition will be implemented on the rogue states that have a dismal record, regarding human rights. It would also be applied to countries, which employ these

Entrepreneurship in the global evironment Essay

Entrepreneurship in the global evironment - Essay Example His entrepreneurial prowess is evident from his engineering work and being an inventor of dual cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner, roles that have made him allegedly over 1 billion pound rich. Dyson’s idea of vacuum cleaners started back in 1970 when he innovated his first product named the sea truck and later he invented the ball barrow, which resembled a modified wheelbarrow. Dyson faced some challenges in marketing his product in the United Kingdom since no distributor was willing to distribute his product because of fear that his vacuum cleaners would overtake the replacement cleaner bags. He then opted to launch his product in Japan where he made profitable returns and even won the international design fair prize in Japan, in 1991. As a result of manufacturers failing to sell his product, Dyson decided to take that as a challenge and set up his own company in 1993 in a small town named Malmebury. Luckily, in 2005, Dyson’s vacuum cleaners were leading in sales in the Un ited States and employment had increased in Malmebury by 1,200. Indeed, Dyson was awarded with the Queen’s award for enterprise for the outstanding growth and success abroad (Loch, 2008, pp 119,120). According to BBC News (2006), after dyson received a Knighthood, he told BBC that he is an entrepreneur who produces things that people want to buy. He adds that he has failed 5,126 times and has learnt that success alone teaches one nothing, but failures teach someone everything, since when one makes a mistake, he/she learns from that mistake to better on the product. According to BBC News (2006), by then, the company had 1400 staff in the United Kingdom and 4,000 workers placed in Malaysia plants. Therefore, Dyson is the best choice of an entrepreneur, since he has come a long way by putting his innovation into practice, beaten all odds of marketing, and failed numerous times before achieving the best and being contented with his products. Why James Dyson is classified as an en trepreneur According to Bolton (2004, p. 134), â€Å"Dyson is another entrepreneur who has challenged the industry giants with a revolutionary of vacuum cleaner, since his dual cyclone cleaner has a UK market share in excess of 50% and his international sales are prospering.† The main admirable aspect of Dyson as an entrepreneur is that he is always innovative and creative, thus focuses on what the customers want, and he always desires to improve his products. Dyson has also proved to be a risk taker, since he invested his resources on his dream of appropriate vacuum cleaners. Finally, he succeeded and his returns tell it all. Dyson’s idea of a vacuum cleaner started back in 1979 when he was only 31 years of age. At that time, he needed a machine that would separate particles from air. He faced many challenges, one of them being that manufacturers rejected his idea, since they did not want his machine to interfere with the replacement dust bags market. In 2000, Dyson m anaged to launch the dual cyclone cleaner that used battery to operate. He later launched a washing machine with the ability to spin and almost dry clothes. These were some of his achievements after being rejected by other manufacturers (Bolton, 2004 pp 135, 136). Dyson portrays the spirit of a true entrepreneur, since entrepreneurship is about opportunities and risks in business. Successful entrepreneurs usually spot an opportunity especially where others

How the Hip Hop Music Culture Spread Into Eastern Countries Essay

How the Hip Hop Music Culture Spread Into Eastern Countries - Essay Example Through the mandatory learning of the modern English language in Eastern countries during the 80s, to the technological revolution, including the accessibility of the internet and television, hip-hop music has been embraced, as well as evolved, within the East, as well as the rest of the world. Hip hop music originated in the United States of America in the 1970s, primarily in the â€Å"Bronx† in the state of New York in New York City (History, 2011). Though America, back then, was a for the most part considered to have a â€Å"white† majority, with many of its most successful business people being â€Å"white†, hip-hop music was actually created primarily by the African-American and Latino-American cultures (History, 2011) who chose to share their hard life and street experiences as a â€Å"minority† in a primarily â€Å"white† society through the use of â€Å"street poetry†, or â€Å"rap† music, if you will. The rhythm, rhyme and out rageous party themes of hip-hop/rap became so overwhelmingly popular that it drew crowds of all races and ages, especially the youth. However, in several of the Eastern countries, the lack of exposure to the genre caused a delay, especially in Europe, of its acceptance and evolution. Once introduced in America; however, it wasn’t long until the business people of America, regardless of the question of morality or immorality of its themes, realized that hip-hop music and the African-American and Latino-American cultures had the power to make music that could be marketed for a horrendous profit. Underground hip-hop artists and various rappers and â€Å"hip hopsters† began recording and distributing music across America. Though hip hop/rap music was not considered mainstream American music, the artists and their investors were making profits off marketing the â€Å"underground† releases.  

Business Law (7) Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Business Law (7) - Assignment Example Likewise, it was also emphasized that â€Å"employees bring a range of career development issues (orientation, outplacement, work, and family) in the workplace† (Mallor, Barnes, Bowers, & Langvardt, 2013, p. 459); as such, career development models would assist in designing policies and programs that were indicated to be instrumental in addressing these issues and at the same time, provide ways and means for professional growth. 2. Why should companies be interested in helping employees plan their careers? What benefit can companies gain? What are the risks? Companies should be interested, be involved and be committed in helping employees plan their careers because the benefits that would be accorded to the employees would reverberate in terms of higher productive and performance that is likewise beneficial to the organization. From among the benefits that the companies gain when they are involved in career planning and development are: ensured continuous supply of talented an d competent employees as exemplified from the positive image that these companies exude; higher employee morale and commitment; maintaining a highly motivated personnel; and effectively using the resources which would be instrumental in achieving organizational goals and sustaining financial success. The risks in assisting employees plan their careers are very minimal, which could include shouldering additional costs for career planning, development and management. 3. What are the 3 components of career motivation? Which is most important and why? Which is least important and why? The three components of career motivation are: career resilience, career insight, and career identity. Accordingly, career resilience is the ability of the personnel to address organizational dilemmas that affect implementation of their responsibilities. Career insight was explained as the ability of the personnel to discern their strengths and weaknesses and to relate these to the goals which they have ea rmarked for their respective careers. Finally, career identity was defined as â€Å"the degree to which employees define their personal values according to their work† (Mallor, Barnes, Bowers, & Langvardt, 2013, p. 448). One firmly believes that the three components are equally important; but if one were to select the most significant, it would be career resilience, or the ability of the employee to cope with the problems and challenges that are being encountered in the work setting because it takes innate skills of introspection and problem-solving to be able to resolve problems and bounce back to the level of performance expected in the organization. On the other hand, from among these components, the least important could be career identity because if the two other components are eminent, ultimately, the employee would eventually perceive personal and professional values (either consciously or subconsciously), as long as the organizational goals are effectively achieved. 4 . What is a psychological contract? How does the psychological

How the Hip Hop Music Culture Spread Into Eastern Countries Essay

How the Hip Hop Music Culture Spread Into Eastern Countries - Essay Example Through the mandatory learning of the modern English language in Eastern countries during the 80s, to the technological revolution, including the accessibility of the internet and television, hip-hop music has been embraced, as well as evolved, within the East, as well as the rest of the world. Hip hop music originated in the United States of America in the 1970s, primarily in the â€Å"Bronx† in the state of New York in New York City (History, 2011). Though America, back then, was a for the most part considered to have a â€Å"white† majority, with many of its most successful business people being â€Å"white†, hip-hop music was actually created primarily by the African-American and Latino-American cultures (History, 2011) who chose to share their hard life and street experiences as a â€Å"minority† in a primarily â€Å"white† society through the use of â€Å"street poetry†, or â€Å"rap† music, if you will. The rhythm, rhyme and out rageous party themes of hip-hop/rap became so overwhelmingly popular that it drew crowds of all races and ages, especially the youth. However, in several of the Eastern countries, the lack of exposure to the genre caused a delay, especially in Europe, of its acceptance and evolution. Once introduced in America; however, it wasn’t long until the business people of America, regardless of the question of morality or immorality of its themes, realized that hip-hop music and the African-American and Latino-American cultures had the power to make music that could be marketed for a horrendous profit. Underground hip-hop artists and various rappers and â€Å"hip hopsters† began recording and distributing music across America. Though hip hop/rap music was not considered mainstream American music, the artists and their investors were making profits off marketing the â€Å"underground† releases.  

IT Doesn’t matter Essay Example for Free

IT Doesn’t matter Essay â€Å"If a company needs evidence of the kind of money that might be saved, it need only look at Microsoft’s profit margin† Excerpts from a company’s strategy document †¢ the company will ensure that it will have at least 2 plug points in each room with AC connection. †¢ The switches will be white in color and will make a ‘click’ sound on pressing †¢ Press to hear the click sound Disclaimer †¢ We all agree to the fact that IT plays a crucial role in running an organisation. †¢ All that we are driving at is that the existence of IT does not grant a competitive advantage to a company, anymore In other words, IT lets you remain in the race, Winning is a totally different ball game altogether The (lost) Edge †¢ Can IT provide an edge for you? †¢ You only gain an edge over rivals by having or doing something that they can’t have or do. †¢ By now, the core functions of IT – data storage, data processing, and data transport – have become available and affordable to all. †¢ And hence they are becoming costs of doing business that must be paid by all but provide distinction to none Risk Advantage †¢ When a resource becomes essential to competition but inconsequential to strategy, the risks it creates become more important than the advantages it provides †¢ Lets classify technologies into †¢ Proprietary technologies †¢ Infrastructural technologies. †¢ Proprietary technologies can be owned, actually or effectively, by a single company. †¢ Infrastructural technologies, in contrast, offer far more value when shared IT has all the hallmarks of an infrastructural technology. †¢ Its mix of characteristics guarantees particularly rapid commoditization. †¢ IT is, first of all, a transport mechanism–it carries digital information just as railroads carry goods and power grids carry electricity. †¢ And like any transport mechanism, it is far more valuable when shared than when used in isolation Hence the technology’s potential for differentiating one company from the pack – its strategic potential – declines as it becomes accessible and affordable to all. Mainframe timesharing local area networks Ethernet networks Internet †¢ Each stage in the above progression has led to Greater standardization of the technology and hence greater homogenization of its functionality. †¢ The benefits of customization would be overwhelmed by the costs of isolation. †¢ Because most business activities and processes have come to be embedded in software, they become replicable †¢ Both the cost savings and the interoperability benefits make the sacrifice of distinctiveness unavoidable The arrival of the Internet has accelerated the commoditization of IT by providing a perfect delivery channel for generic applications Signs that the IT has reached Saturation †¢ First, IT’s power is outstripping most of the business needs it fulfills. Second, the price of essential IT functionality has dropped to the point where it is more or less affordable to all. Third, the capacity of the universal distribution network (the Internet) has caught up with demand – indeed, we already have considerably more fiber-optic capacity than we need. Fourth, IT vendors are rushing to position themselves as commodity suppliers or even as utilities. Finally, and most definitively, the investment bubble has burst, which historically has been a clear indication that an infrastructural technology is reaching the end of its buildout. Do the Right Thing†¦ †¢   The operational risks associated with IT are many – technical glitches, obsolescence, service outages, unreliable vendors or partners, security breaches, even terrorism–and some have become magnified as companies have moved from tightly controlled, proprietary systems to open, shared ones. IT may be a commodity, and its costs may fall rapidly enough to ensure that any new capabilities are quickly shared, but the very fact that it is entwined with so many business functions means that it will continue to consume a large portion of corporate spending. IT buyers should throw their weight around, to negotiate contracts that ensure the long term usefulness of their PC investments and impose hard limits on upgrade costs. And if vendors balk, companies should be willing to explore cheaper solutions, including open-source applications and bare-bones network PCs. Most of the major business technology vendors, from Microsoft to IBM, are trying to position themselves as IT utilities, companies that will control the provision of a diverse range of business applications over what is now called, â€Å"the grid. † The upshot is ever greater homogenization of IT capabilities, as more companies replace customized applications with generic ones. Wal-Mart and Dell Computer are exceptions to this though. In2002, the consulting firm Alinean compared the IT expenditures and the financial results of 7,500 large U. S. companies †¢ The 25 companies that delivered the highest economic returns, spent on average just 0. 8% of their revenues on IT, while the typical company spent 3. 7%. †¢ Larry Ellison, one of the great technology salesmen, admitted in a recent interview that â€Å"most companies spend too much [on IT] and get very little in return. † †¢ The key to success, for the vast majority of companies, is no longer to seek advantage aggressively but to manage costs and risks meticulously. Thank You